Susan Helene Gottfried is the author of ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes — Year 1, ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes — Year 2, Trevor’s Song, and ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes — Year 3. She can be found online at http://westofmars.com, where you can find The Meet and Greet, among other goodies.

A tone-deaf rocker-at-heart, Susan worked in retail record stores, in radio stations, as stage crew, and as a promoter while earning two college degrees in creative writing.

Susan walked away from a continued career in the music industry in order to write books, so it makes sense that most of her fiction revolves around rock bands. Once you get those record stores, radio stations, and fellow roadies and promoters under your skin, they never leave.

To keep her days full, Susan has taken on select clients for freelance line and copy editing projects.

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In your opinion, what are some of the factors that distinguish novels that sell well from novels that flop?

Genre. I’ve watched people sell hundreds and thousands of books, even though those books were poorly written and/or edited. But they are usually mysteries or romances, whereas the rest of us struggle.

I have to say one thing that can turn me off to a book is a horrible cover and/or horrible synopsis.  What other aspects do authors overlook that can ultimately make or break a sale?

Editing! Grammar, punctuation. I’ve heard too  many stories from bloggers who say to an author, “This is really edited badly,” only to hear, “Yeah, I know, but I really wanted to get it on the market.” Mind you, these bloggers and potential reviewers were unable to finish reading the book. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot…

The publishing/ book world has changed dramatically over the past five years, and is still changing. How have these changes impacted the way we market?

Well, for one thing, the avenues that were wide open five years ago, when I began blogging, are now clogged up. While we authors have more opportunities than ever before, there are also more of us. That makes it harder to market. I’m finding that more and more, the way to go is to be part of an active group that’s highly supportive of each other — and always expanding its audience.

As authors, our main objective is to find readers. What has been the biggest resource to you in finding your readers?

Word of mouth and my own name recognition. Which is a really fancy way of saying networking. Regrettably, I’m not at the point yet where I can generate my own publicity.

What is the biggest mistake you see authors make when marketing?

Being rude to bloggers they’d like to interact with. Arguing when a potential reviewer says no thanks. Also, from a social media standpoint, not interacting and merely shouting into crowded rooms. 

What has been the most successful part of your own marketing campaign?

I’m not sure. Everyone I speak with says the same thing: none of us are sure what works. Even worse, what works for person A doesn’t always work for person B.

Traditional vs. Indie – Do you think indies have to market differently than traditionally published authors do, or is the game the same for everyone?

I don’t think I have to market differently, per se, but I do have to do more marketing. I don’t have a big machine at my back, doing a lot of the work for me. It’s up to me and no one else to get my name out there. Of course, it’s awesome when readers help out, and that’s the ideal — word of mouth is everything — but that doesn’t mean I have to do it differently.  Maybe smarter, but again, that’s hard to define.

How important is blogging to an author’s platform?

I am currently wrestling with that quite a bit. Me, who has published three volumes of short fiction first posted on my blog. With all the people spending time on social media these days, the advantages and community that blogging had when I started has evaporated. Things have changed. I am not sure if my readers would rather get more 99c short stories from me, or if they want the Meet and Greet to continue to be mostly fiction-based. And since that’s what set me apart when I began back in ’06, what will I evolve into that continues to set me apart?

Social media – worth the time or not?

Absolutely worth it. I make a ton of connections via social networking. I have a lot of followers who share links to my books, and I have met a lot of interesting, fascinating people. Yes, it can be a time suck and all those other distractions, but on the flip side, I’m doing as well as I am because of it. I’m counting on it to continue to take me further.

Any other words of wisdom?

Oh, I’d love to be wise. I think the biggest thing to remember is to keep writing, no matter what. Be smart about how you put yourself out there. And have fun while doing it all.

Thanks for including me in your interview series, LM! I appreciate it!

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