Remember the musical group ABBA? Even if you’re too young to remember the group, you’ve probably heard of the Broadway show and movie Mamma Mia!, which is based on their music. I caught a biography about ABBA on TV the other day, and it got me thinking about the way to market a creative product. ABBA’s creative product was music, but I started to see several points that could be taken from the unique way they marketed themselves which could also apply to books.

ABBA wanted to be the biggest group in the world, so each time they entered a new country’s music scene, they employed the best producers in that country. This was very different from what bands were doing at that time, which was to sign with a label and then use that same company’s team in other countries. ABBA wanted to work with the best in each country.

Another unique marketing strategy they employed was the use of the music video. Today, music videos are done all the time, but back in the 70s this was an entirely new thing. They did this because they wanted to focus on creating new music in the studio rather than going out on tour. Again, a completely different method to market a music group, especially in the United States. Even today, video is important to ABBA, so much so that they even have their own YouTube channel to announce album releases and news items.

ABBA marketed itself more like a corporation than a music group. While ABBA broke up in the early 80s, they still sell millions of records a year. That figure is absolutely astounding, especially for a band that has not been together in a quarter century.

All of this has me thinking about books, and more specifically, authors. The members of ABBA had a definite goal for their group, which helped to define every decision they made. They were in the creative field of making music, but they looked at themselves as a brand. This is exactly the strategy that authors need to promote their work.

First, authors need to understand what their specific goals are, so that they can choose if traditional or self-publishing is right for them. Next, authors need to make decisions on the types of people they will work with to get the word out about their books. Will they ask for a marketing budget from their publishing company? Hire an agent? A publicist?

In determining their brand, authors also need to decide what types of books they will write. This doesn’t mean that an author pigeonholes themselves into one kind of genre, however. Authors can write across different genre’s and still maintain a fan following if their books represent something similar. For example, a Christian author can pen children’s books and novels, and still work with a similar fan base. A vampire novelist can write a screenplay or YA book based on the subject.

What ABBA does is give us an example of a group that knew what they wanted, and figured out how to make the system work for them. They didn’t just do what every group did, instead they found ways to make their name know. At the same time, they continued to focus on the creative part, which was making music.

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