What is the Inkfort Press Publishing Derby?
The end of May marks the start of Inkfort Press’ annual Publishing Derby. But what is a publishing derby, and how does it work? The short of it is that 100 writers sign up to put their skills to the test — writing and publishing a story of at least 10,000 words for a cover supplied by the event organizers by September 25th.
That’s not even the fun part yet.
Writing at least 10,000 words in 4 months is easy compared to other events such as NaNoWriMo where authors aim to add 50,000 words to their manuscripts. What sets the Publishing Derby apart is its strict adherence to anonymity and a no-spend policy.
When participants sign up for the Publishing Derby, they are assigned a semi-random cover. Writers vote on a preferred cover, and while most end up with their top picks, random sometimes is as random does. In addition to the cover, authors are also given a pen name which is the identity they must use during the event period (Hello! Kriss Gallom here!).
Want to sign up and send your long-time followers to your latest project? Not so fast! While Inkfort Press allows authors to send their fans to the communal Derby page, authors must remain entirely anonymous lest they resign from the challenge. So the Publishing Derby isn’t just about words and writing to suit a semi-random book cover, the marketing side of things is just as important as any other.
The only other catch is that participants may not send a single dime nor leverage any favors from contacts from their personal lives. One’s pen name is a persona they must live and breathe — even if that means marketing from scratch with limited resources.
Is marketing a self-published ebook even important?
Some say ‘If you build it, they will come’. There is an element of truth to this phrase, but in the self-publishing world, a lack of marketing can leave authors feeling like their months of hard work have all been for nothing.
To say that the ebook market is oversaturated is an understatement. Sifting through Amazon’s Kindle store — or other popular booksellers like Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords — will yield a never-ending supply of entertainment. Getting lost in the sea of voices is all but ensured if one doesn’t stand out from the crowd.
The million dollar question is how.
Well, if I had the answer, I wouldn’t be posting here on my site’s blog (and cross-posting to social media sites like Medium Substack) in order to test the waters and see what sticks. Marketing is a skill, not a lump of knowledge one learns and subsequently has a clear avenue to success.
Whether or not I can learn the skills needed in order to effectively market my book before its final publishing date? I’m a man with a plan and… Well, a lot of hopes and dreams so far. Making those dreams reality is what I have until the September 25th publish date to accomplish.
Should I start marketing my ebook before it’s published?
While common sense might lead one to think that marketing something before it’s readily available for purchase is pointless, the pesky world of algorithms and short attention spans makes this a less viable strategy.
The first few days of a new ebook on a bookshop’s shelves are crucial. New books get an initial bump dwelling in the newly-released categories. If it manages to stay under the radar during that time period? That’s unfortunately a chance to push into the algorithm wasted.
‘New’ is fresh and shiny, and being among the earliest readers of an up and coming new book is even more appealing. Pass that point without hype and… Well, that’s not to say a book is truly dead in the water. Having a backlog can often be a great marketing tool for an author’s next book. However, in a publishing contest that only has 4 short months to compete for sales, views, and glory? Yeah, it’s not a good way to win any prizes.
It’s easy to get cynical when looking at the fact that simply writing a ‘good’ book isn’t enough to ensure that readers will flock to one’s creative genius. One can dream of burning the system to the ground. Or they find ways to cater to the system that don’t go against one’s ideals. At least for this project, I’m shooting for the latter.
As I said, I’m a man with a plan. The first step of said plan is getting this blog up and running, but it’s just the start of many more trials and tribulations to come. Want to see an author tackle publishing a book in 4 months while driving up hype (or fail trying)? Then stay and get ready to cheer and/or laugh!