Market My Novel

The results are in from the 2009 Market My Novel Author Marketing Survey!

Of course, these would have been to you much sooner than the end of January, but I'd wanted to create some nice graphs. That was this post's near demise. After struggling to get the program to work for I don't know how long, I chucked the idea and decided to provide these in text.

Here are the highlights:

It was a tie for the top marketing challenge of 2009: Nearly 38 percent of authors authors found it difficult to find the money for promotions and balancing family with writing and marketing.

While nearly 70 percent of authors created marketing plans, 63 percent of respondents said they thought their marketing efforts were only somewhat effective.

Nearly 90 percent y of authors listed Facebook as their top network. Seventy-five percent also used Twitter and half of respondents used GoodReads.

Sixty percent did not hire a PR firm or virtual book tour company for promotions. Nearly half said their publishers did not provide financial assistance for marketing. Only seven percent received financial help from their publishers, which 20 percent had a publisher that actively marketed their books.

Book tour expenses were the top expenses, followed closely by time spent on marketing.

Half of authors said some marketing efforts were worth it, but others were not. Only a quarter of respondents said their efforts were worth it.

So, what do we take away from this? Authors are working hard, on tight budgets and making some headway, but not what they'd like to make.

What are your thoughts on the final results?