I work as a freelance writer, which means I create content for blog posts and websites. For the most part, it’s an enjoyable job—and one that is fairly easy. I’ve learned a lot about marketing and keywords in the process, as well as ways to make my information more appealing to readers and the search bots (although I don’t always follow the advice).
In essence, the goal of content creation is to develop materials with keywords so that searchers and search bots can find you. There’s a process of how to find the right keywords, and it can be convoluted, so I’m not going to go into details. The goal of incorporating keywords is to make them sound natural and flow within the writing. Otherwise, the bots are smart enough to know that you are keyword stuffing.
Keywords are important. I’m not saying that they aren’t. However, what’s more important is creating content that your audience wants to read. Stuffing keywords into blog posts will get you found and could have you ranking high on search lists, but if no one is actually reading what you have to say, it’s a waste of time.
Some people don’t understand this. They read that keywords are important and need to be incorporated in their content, so they try to stuff as many as they can into the document. I’ve seen assignments that want 10 (or more) keywords used at least three times each in a 1,000-word document. To put it in perspective, 1,000 words is about 2 pages single-spaced. That may only be 30 words out of a 1,000, but trying to enter those naturally and not disrupt the flow of the content can be a challenge.
And it has to flow naturally. If it doesn’t, the piece will be clunky and hard to read, which means that real people won’t spend the time to see what you have to say.
I’m good at what I do. I’ve learned how to slide some of the most challenging keywords into a piece, and I have placed 10 or more multiple times in one document. However, there are some tasks that are beyond me—I think they may be beyond most writers. Those assignments make me laugh.
My suggestion is this: if you have that many keywords that you need to incorporate into your content, then make more content. Make the pieces shorter and use less keywords in each. This accomplishes two goals: it uses all of your keywords and gives you more content to attract people to your site.
It’s ridiculous to try to insert so many keywords into one piece, and you won’t be fooling the bots. All you are doing is making your content convoluted and hard for real people to read. It’s challenging finding the balance between appealing to bots and to people, but there is a way to accomplish it. And it doesn’t involve adding more keywords to your list.
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
The Fun Side of Author Marketing
I’ve established in some past blog posts that marketing isn’t always fun, but it’s a necessary evil. It can be time consuming and frustrating. It can cost a lot of money. But there are some aspects of marketing as an author that are a lot of fun.
I’d forgotten about the fun side of marketing until recently. With the move to Nebraska and trying to get my feet under me, I’ve been neglecting some of my marketing. Things are changing now, however, and the future looks bright.
So what is this fun marketing I’m talking about? It’s getting myself out there. It’s talking about my books and giving presentations. It’s being involved with author events and conventions.
Sure, for some the thought of speaking to a crowd is the scariest thing in the world. I won’t lie: I get nervous before I stand up to do a workshop or presentation, but once I get into my groove, my nerves fade away. There’s something magical about getting an audience talking and involved with my presentation. It’s so much fun to hear how they would survive zombies or what their favorite horror movie is.
Every so often, I do online presentations for elementary students, and those are a lot of fun too. Kids get so excited to talk about books and what they are working on in school. I love asking them questions and hearing their answers. They can be so funny!
I’d forgotten how enjoyable it is to get out and mingle with people who are like-minded. My focus has been inward lately, so it’s nice to get out. Hanging out and doing presentations and workshops is inspiring and re-energizing—something I really needed!
I’d forgotten about the fun side of marketing until recently. With the move to Nebraska and trying to get my feet under me, I’ve been neglecting some of my marketing. Things are changing now, however, and the future looks bright.
So what is this fun marketing I’m talking about? It’s getting myself out there. It’s talking about my books and giving presentations. It’s being involved with author events and conventions.
Sure, for some the thought of speaking to a crowd is the scariest thing in the world. I won’t lie: I get nervous before I stand up to do a workshop or presentation, but once I get into my groove, my nerves fade away. There’s something magical about getting an audience talking and involved with my presentation. It’s so much fun to hear how they would survive zombies or what their favorite horror movie is.
Every so often, I do online presentations for elementary students, and those are a lot of fun too. Kids get so excited to talk about books and what they are working on in school. I love asking them questions and hearing their answers. They can be so funny!
I’d forgotten how enjoyable it is to get out and mingle with people who are like-minded. My focus has been inward lately, so it’s nice to get out. Hanging out and doing presentations and workshops is inspiring and re-energizing—something I really needed!
Making Business Decisions About Your Books
There are a lot of different reasons to publish a book, and making money doesn’t have to be the top priority on the list. If all you want to do is have people read your story, there are ways to let them have access to it for free—and there’s nothing wrong with that decision.
However, if your goal is to have people read your work and to make money from it, then you’re going to have to start thinking about your writing as a business.
Ugh! Doesn’t the phrase “think about your writing as a business” sound super boring and slightly complicated? Where’s the romance? Where’s the fun and intrigue? Well, it should be in your writing, but when it comes to making and spending money for your books, that should be totally boring and straightforward.
Whether you want to keep track of your spending and earnings or whether you want someone else to do it for you, that’s totally up to you, but tracking the success of your business is something that has to be done. I don’t make mine complicated; I use Excel to record my spending and income. I can see at a glance how much I’ve made and how much I’ve spent.
It is important to keep track of your spending and earnings so you know if your writing is successful. It helps you keep track of how much you are investing in promotion/marketing and how much you are making from sales. The numbers can be skewed, and you might be spending more than you’re making, and that’s okay—as long as you’re okay with it. If not, having the numbers in front of you is a great way to change your marketing technique and develop new strategies that will hopefully lead to more sales.
I like to use my earnings and reinvest them into my marketing schemes, but I have to know how much I have to make it work. I don’t have a ton of extra money to spend on marketing for my books, so I use my numbers to create a budget and stretch my dollars as far as they’ll go.
Because I use this technique for marketing, if I don’t have money coming in, I can’t spend it on promotion. Then, I have to make business decisions about what is best for the funds I have and how I will get the most return on the money I can spend. I’ve had to give some things up with this process, but if the money isn’t there, I can’t make it magically appear.
It’s not easy deciding what to trim and what to keep. After all, just because one marketing idea didn’t work in the past doesn’t meant it won’t work in the future. Plus, what if making a business decision means getting rid of something you’re suppose to have, say, your newsletter.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any easy answers to these questions, and they are decisions you have to make based on your preferences and budget. You have to sit back and decide if said newsletter is bringing you any sales to justify paying the monthly fee. If it is, then you probably don’t want to cut it. If it’s not, there’s probably a better, cheaper way to connect with readers.
None of your decisions have to be forever decisions. If you discover down the road that yeah, the newsletter was totally bringing in sales, then add it back in to your marketing plan. If you find that Facebook ads actually make a huge impact on sales, then maybe it’s worth your time and money to invest in more of those. If they don’t, then you can probably cut them out. It’s trial and error when it comes to marketing, and only you can decide what is best for you, your books, and your budget.
It’s not a whole lot of fun to think about writing as a business, but it’s necessary if you want your marketing/promotion and your writing career to be successful—especially if you have a limited budget. The process doesn’t have to be complicated, and it’ll help you track your success.
However, if your goal is to have people read your work and to make money from it, then you’re going to have to start thinking about your writing as a business.
Ugh! Doesn’t the phrase “think about your writing as a business” sound super boring and slightly complicated? Where’s the romance? Where’s the fun and intrigue? Well, it should be in your writing, but when it comes to making and spending money for your books, that should be totally boring and straightforward.
Whether you want to keep track of your spending and earnings or whether you want someone else to do it for you, that’s totally up to you, but tracking the success of your business is something that has to be done. I don’t make mine complicated; I use Excel to record my spending and income. I can see at a glance how much I’ve made and how much I’ve spent.
It is important to keep track of your spending and earnings so you know if your writing is successful. It helps you keep track of how much you are investing in promotion/marketing and how much you are making from sales. The numbers can be skewed, and you might be spending more than you’re making, and that’s okay—as long as you’re okay with it. If not, having the numbers in front of you is a great way to change your marketing technique and develop new strategies that will hopefully lead to more sales.
I like to use my earnings and reinvest them into my marketing schemes, but I have to know how much I have to make it work. I don’t have a ton of extra money to spend on marketing for my books, so I use my numbers to create a budget and stretch my dollars as far as they’ll go.
Because I use this technique for marketing, if I don’t have money coming in, I can’t spend it on promotion. Then, I have to make business decisions about what is best for the funds I have and how I will get the most return on the money I can spend. I’ve had to give some things up with this process, but if the money isn’t there, I can’t make it magically appear.
It’s not easy deciding what to trim and what to keep. After all, just because one marketing idea didn’t work in the past doesn’t meant it won’t work in the future. Plus, what if making a business decision means getting rid of something you’re suppose to have, say, your newsletter.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any easy answers to these questions, and they are decisions you have to make based on your preferences and budget. You have to sit back and decide if said newsletter is bringing you any sales to justify paying the monthly fee. If it is, then you probably don’t want to cut it. If it’s not, there’s probably a better, cheaper way to connect with readers.
None of your decisions have to be forever decisions. If you discover down the road that yeah, the newsletter was totally bringing in sales, then add it back in to your marketing plan. If you find that Facebook ads actually make a huge impact on sales, then maybe it’s worth your time and money to invest in more of those. If they don’t, then you can probably cut them out. It’s trial and error when it comes to marketing, and only you can decide what is best for you, your books, and your budget.
It’s not a whole lot of fun to think about writing as a business, but it’s necessary if you want your marketing/promotion and your writing career to be successful—especially if you have a limited budget. The process doesn’t have to be complicated, and it’ll help you track your success.
Is Developing a Marketing Plan Easy?
For all my friends out there who run their own business or do a hobby on the side that requires letting people know about your product, raise your hand if you enjoy marketing.
C’mon. Don’t be shy. We’re all friends here. Raise them high.
Yeah, marketing isn’t exactly the most fun thing to do in the world. In fact, it can be incredibly exhausting and frustrating. Marketing takes a lot of time and more often than not, you don’t see a return on your investment. That sucks.
Marketing is a necessary evil. It’s really the only way to get knowledge about your product to the buying public. There are a variety of ways to accomplish that goal, and you can spend no money or lots of money on the process. Either way, we should be doing something to market ourselves and our products.
One of the most important things to do before jumping into marketing is deciding what you want to accomplish. Form a plan. How many times have you heard this? How many of you know what it means? For me, it’s confusing. My “plan” basically boils down to wanting to sell books. So, to do that, I’ve followed all the guidelines, including having a blog, being on social media, sending out newsletters, and developing audiobooks. So why aren’t my sales drowning me in profits?
You can Google ways to develop a marketing plan, but the answers might not be as helpful as you want them to be. They weren’t for me. I’ve sat down before and looked at my goals, when I wanted to accomplish them by, and the different avenues I could venture down to accomplish my tasks, but it quickly became apparent I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was just as lost as I had been before and even less inclined to attempt to market myself but not able to afford a PR company.
My goal for the next year is to become better at marketing and to take baby steps to get there. It’s not as easy as it sounds to develop a marketing plan, and it’s even more difficult to stick to it or follow through to the next stage. It’s also incredibly important to track your progress (if possible) during marketing campaigns. Analytics are so important, but they can be cumbersome to read. Still, I’m going to find a way to figure this all out.
Any of you out there have any good strategies or marketing hacks that have worked really well? How do you stay motivated and focused on your goal? Have you created a plan?
C’mon. Don’t be shy. We’re all friends here. Raise them high.
Yeah, marketing isn’t exactly the most fun thing to do in the world. In fact, it can be incredibly exhausting and frustrating. Marketing takes a lot of time and more often than not, you don’t see a return on your investment. That sucks.
Marketing is a necessary evil. It’s really the only way to get knowledge about your product to the buying public. There are a variety of ways to accomplish that goal, and you can spend no money or lots of money on the process. Either way, we should be doing something to market ourselves and our products.
One of the most important things to do before jumping into marketing is deciding what you want to accomplish. Form a plan. How many times have you heard this? How many of you know what it means? For me, it’s confusing. My “plan” basically boils down to wanting to sell books. So, to do that, I’ve followed all the guidelines, including having a blog, being on social media, sending out newsletters, and developing audiobooks. So why aren’t my sales drowning me in profits?
You can Google ways to develop a marketing plan, but the answers might not be as helpful as you want them to be. They weren’t for me. I’ve sat down before and looked at my goals, when I wanted to accomplish them by, and the different avenues I could venture down to accomplish my tasks, but it quickly became apparent I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was just as lost as I had been before and even less inclined to attempt to market myself but not able to afford a PR company.
My goal for the next year is to become better at marketing and to take baby steps to get there. It’s not as easy as it sounds to develop a marketing plan, and it’s even more difficult to stick to it or follow through to the next stage. It’s also incredibly important to track your progress (if possible) during marketing campaigns. Analytics are so important, but they can be cumbersome to read. Still, I’m going to find a way to figure this all out.
Any of you out there have any good strategies or marketing hacks that have worked really well? How do you stay motivated and focused on your goal? Have you created a plan?
The Cost of Being an Author
When it comes to being an author, you don’t really consider that it’s going to cost anything outside of blood, sweat, tears, and time. However, depending on how you are published, there can be additional costs that you might not be aware of.
Paying for writing doesn’t apply only to being self-published, although there are a lot more costs associated with that avenue than being traditionally published. If you’re traditionally published, there’s a chance you have a house with a marketing team behind you, but it’s possible you’ll still have to foot the bill for some of your own marketing—and every route of publishing nowadays expects the author to market themselves.
Since I have experience with indie publishers and self-publishing, I’d like to share some of the costs you can expect to incur becoming published.
Paying for writing doesn’t apply only to being self-published, although there are a lot more costs associated with that avenue than being traditionally published. If you’re traditionally published, there’s a chance you have a house with a marketing team behind you, but it’s possible you’ll still have to foot the bill for some of your own marketing—and every route of publishing nowadays expects the author to market themselves.
Since I have experience with indie publishers and self-publishing, I’d like to share some of the costs you can expect to incur becoming published.
One of the biggest expenses you’ll have is marketing. It is absolutely more than possible to have no cost for marketing if you know what sites to send your books to. It’s possible to have low cost for marketing too. It’s also possible to spend 1000s of dollars on marketing. Depending on your budget and what you want to accomplish will dictate how much you can/do spend on marketing.
Some of the best ways to let readers know about your books are through ads—both digital and in print. I talk a lot about different marketing ideas, which you can find here and here.
If you’re self-publishing your books, some of the expenses you will incur include editing, cover design, and formatting. Of course, if you have a friend or family member who does any of these things (or you do them yourself), you might not have to pay a dime for these services. Depending on how you acquire your ISBN numbers, that will cost too (Amazon offers them for free, but you have limited distribution with them).
When publishing with an indie publisher, you shouldn’t incur any costs when it comes to book covers, editing, formatting, and ISBN numbers. All of those should be included in your publishing package. If they aren’t, you might want to reconsider your indie publisher.
In addition to the above, there are other costs that you might not think about when getting published. I know I didn’t. These include the following:
Cost of books for giveaways.
Whether you’re sending out signed paperbacks or doing a giveaway on Amazon, you will have to pay for the books (unless you get some free ones from the publisher) and postage.
You can keep your postage costs lower by sending your books media mail, but it may take them longer to get to the reader. You’ll have to decide if you want to pay more to get them into the readers’ hands faster.
You can keep your paperback cost down by ordering directly from Createspace/Amazon’s new paperback platform (if you are self-published) or from the publisher. Of course, it takes a fair amount of time for the books to get to you this way, so you’ll have to plan accordingly.
Giving away books on Amazon is a great way to drum up some interest and not have to worry about sending the books yourself; Amazon takes care of it for you. However, you will have to pay for the books you want to giveaway.
Cost to send out monthly newsletters.
I do my newsletter through Mailchimp, and they have a free program for newsletters until you reach a certain threshold of subscribers. Then, from there, you are charged based on how many people you send your newsletter to. On one hand, it’s nice to know that you have a bunch of subscribers that you have to pay, but on the other, it can get pricey—especially if you aren’t selling a ton of books (which can happen from time to time).
Knowing that you’ll have to pay in advance could help you decide which program will give you the best bang for your buck for newsletters. There are several companies out there that offer their services, so do what works best for you and fits within your budget.
Conferences and conventions.
You absolutely don’t have to do these if you don’t want to, but I recommend going to at least one. They are a lot of fun, and you get to meet and hang out with people who share many of the same passions you do. If you have the opportunity, try to be a panelist or presenter. It takes the experience to another level! You’ll more than likely have to pay for travel to get there (gas or airfare), food, hotel, and access to the conference or convention, which can get expensive. But by planning ahead, you can make it fit into your budget.
Being a published author is an amazing experience, and hopefully you’ll make more money than you spend, but be aware that at some point, you will probably have to spend money to make money. Not every venture you undertake will have a return on your investment, but you won’t know that until you take a chance. Keep in mind that you get to decide how much you want to spend and what you want to spend it on.
Some of the best ways to let readers know about your books are through ads—both digital and in print. I talk a lot about different marketing ideas, which you can find here and here.
If you’re self-publishing your books, some of the expenses you will incur include editing, cover design, and formatting. Of course, if you have a friend or family member who does any of these things (or you do them yourself), you might not have to pay a dime for these services. Depending on how you acquire your ISBN numbers, that will cost too (Amazon offers them for free, but you have limited distribution with them).
When publishing with an indie publisher, you shouldn’t incur any costs when it comes to book covers, editing, formatting, and ISBN numbers. All of those should be included in your publishing package. If they aren’t, you might want to reconsider your indie publisher.
In addition to the above, there are other costs that you might not think about when getting published. I know I didn’t. These include the following:
Cost of books for giveaways.
Whether you’re sending out signed paperbacks or doing a giveaway on Amazon, you will have to pay for the books (unless you get some free ones from the publisher) and postage.
You can keep your postage costs lower by sending your books media mail, but it may take them longer to get to the reader. You’ll have to decide if you want to pay more to get them into the readers’ hands faster.
You can keep your paperback cost down by ordering directly from Createspace/Amazon’s new paperback platform (if you are self-published) or from the publisher. Of course, it takes a fair amount of time for the books to get to you this way, so you’ll have to plan accordingly.
Giving away books on Amazon is a great way to drum up some interest and not have to worry about sending the books yourself; Amazon takes care of it for you. However, you will have to pay for the books you want to giveaway.
Cost to send out monthly newsletters.
I do my newsletter through Mailchimp, and they have a free program for newsletters until you reach a certain threshold of subscribers. Then, from there, you are charged based on how many people you send your newsletter to. On one hand, it’s nice to know that you have a bunch of subscribers that you have to pay, but on the other, it can get pricey—especially if you aren’t selling a ton of books (which can happen from time to time).
Knowing that you’ll have to pay in advance could help you decide which program will give you the best bang for your buck for newsletters. There are several companies out there that offer their services, so do what works best for you and fits within your budget.
Conferences and conventions.
You absolutely don’t have to do these if you don’t want to, but I recommend going to at least one. They are a lot of fun, and you get to meet and hang out with people who share many of the same passions you do. If you have the opportunity, try to be a panelist or presenter. It takes the experience to another level! You’ll more than likely have to pay for travel to get there (gas or airfare), food, hotel, and access to the conference or convention, which can get expensive. But by planning ahead, you can make it fit into your budget.
Being a published author is an amazing experience, and hopefully you’ll make more money than you spend, but be aware that at some point, you will probably have to spend money to make money. Not every venture you undertake will have a return on your investment, but you won’t know that until you take a chance. Keep in mind that you get to decide how much you want to spend and what you want to spend it on.
To Use Auto Twitter DMs or Not
Social media is such an amazing thing. It allows us to connect with people all over the world and share our opinions and our work. As authors, it gives us the potential to find new readers and connect with other writers.
Of course, because there are so many people on social media, it’s easy to get lost and buried in the vast amount of posts. Not to mention, analytics (especially on Facebook) often work against you. Even if you have tons of followers, the vast majority of them probably won’t see your posts.
So, as a way to stand out, you might be tempted to send new followers a DM on Twitter. You can even automate the process so it happens right after someone follows you. This allows you to send more information about where they can find your books or you on the Internet.
However, you might be annoying people more than you’re helping yourself.
Several years ago, when I first started really getting into Twitter and using it to build my platform, everyone was using DMs. If I followed 10 people a day, I probably received 8 DMs. Most of them were from authors, and I found myself confused by some of the messages they were sending.
I get that you want to stand out from the crowd, but sending followers messages like
“I’ll gargle acid if you don’t buy my book!”
or
“Buy my book so gnomes won’t come to your house and kill you while you sleep!”
How are those supposed to sell your book?
Thankfully, I haven’t gotten any like this for a while, but every so often, I still get DMs. Most of the time, they are links to Facebook pages or pages to buy whatever it is the person is selling (authors aren’t the only ones who use DMs). Once, I got a hilarious joke.
I’ll be honest, I might open your DM just to see what you have to say, but I often don’t keep it unless there’s something in there that I think is going to benefit me. Is that awful? Maybe, but I think it’s the mindset of the vast majority of the population. I enjoy helping my fellow authors out, and I don’t mind you telling me about your books, but if you expect a sale, I need to know that it’s worth my hard-earned money and time. More often than not, just sending a link to the buy page isn’t going to do that.
For the most part, the DMs have toned down and aren’t so weird, but some people still find them pretty annoying. There are articles that explain why you shouldn’t send auto DMs and gives you some ideas of things you can do instead. As I said, I may open the messages and see what you have to say, but rarely—very rarely—do I click on the link to buy what you’re selling.
In addition, I find it incredibly annoying when someone sends me an auto DM under the guise that they are not sending an auto DM. I’m sure you’ve seen these. They ask you a question like they are interested in getting to know you. Several times, I’ve responded to these questions and never received a reply. That hurts my feelings. I was truly hoping to make a connection with someone on the other end.
Oh! And then there are the DMs that require me to verify that I’m a real person so that I can follow someone. I get it: being spammed by autobots and people offering to get you 5 million followers is annoying, but so is having to verify that I’m a real person. It’s only one click, but that one click takes times away from my day, and most of the time, I’m not willing to click it.
Auto DMs are so loathed, it may hurt your chances of gaining new followers. If someone is afraid that you are going to send them a message, they might scroll right past you. There are other ways to get followers to click on your links or find you on Facebook, and it’s not in an auto DM. That info should be in your profile so that people can click on it if they want. I know that you don’t have a lot of space, which means you’ll have to be creative in how you present your work.
And, technically speaking, you shouldn’t be using social media to sell your stuff; you should be using it as a way to connect with others. Sure, you can tell them that you’re a writer and share links to your books or let them know when things are on sale, but you shouldn’t be shouting “BUY MY BOOK!” because that doesn’t work to sell books.
As an author, you want to be seen and get your work into the world. Using social media gives you the opportunity to connect with potential readers and fans and other writers around the world. For the sake of their sanity and to increase the potential of getting new followers, perhaps it’s time to think twice about using auto DMs.
What to do When You Hit the Sales Slump
At some point in your writing career, you’re probably going
to see your sales numbers go down. It
could be a gradual decline or a sharp falloff in sales. No matter what happens, keep in mind that it’s
not the end of the world.
The decline happens whether you’re repped by an agent and
published by a Big 6 Publisher, an indie author, or self-pubbed. It’s just the nature of the beast. Oh, sure, there are always those who defy the
rules, that never seem to see a decline in sales, but it’s not true. At some point, the amount of sales on a
particular book or books will slow down.
Some are just lucky enough to have several books that constantly bring in the big money.
On average , most of us probably won’t see the sales that J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and
R.L. Stine have enjoyed—but that doesn’t mean you should give up on your
pursuit. They had to start somewhere,
just like you did. There’s always hope. There are a few things you can do to
help alleviate the depression that comes with hitting the sales slump.
1. Write more books.
One of the best ways to increase sales is to have other titles readers
can choose from. Keep putting out the
best work you can and grow your fan base.
2. Market and advertise.
Having people know about your work might increase their desire to buy
it. Get out and let the world know about
your book(s) and give readers a reason to buy it.
3. Become a speaker.
You’re an expert in something, whether it’s creating characters or
developing new worlds or using a semicolon properly, and you can (and should) share
your knowledge with others. Develop
workshops and presentations to help others become better writers. Become a panelist at conventions and
conferences. Heck, do something as
simple as read at your local library. It
doesn’t matter what you do, just get out there and do it!
4. Stop obsessing about the numbers. This seems like an incredibly simple task to
accomplish, but it’s much harder than it sounds. Trust me, I know. I have access to the analytics for several of
my books, and I check them way more than I should. I also check my ranking on Amazon way more
often than is probably healthy. If
seeing your numbers change upsets you, then stop looking at the numbers. There are so many other things to look at on
the internet. Better yet, get back to
writing!
5. Write more books.
This can’t be said enough. You’re
a writer because you love to write, so write.
Don’t worry about sales, they’ll come with time.
It can be hard (and depressing) to deal with declining
sales, but it happens to everyone. Do
you have any other tactics you employ so you aren’t focused on the numbers?
At Some Point, You Might Have to Give Away Free Books
For some authors, giving away free books makes their heart rate increase and their stomach clench. Giving away free books means that you aren’t selling books, which is the whole reason you’re an author, right? You didn’t pour your heart and soul into that story to go to the poor house. There are even some authors that won’t give copies away to reviewers because they are bound and determined to make money on their creation.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. We as authors deserve to be compensated for our work. Our art and time is worth something, so it’s not too much to ask for people to pay to enjoy it.
When it comes to reviewers, there’s an industry rule (standard, maybe?) that they get free copies of your books. It’s their payment for reading and reviewing your work. But sometimes, you send your books away for said reviews and never receive the review. This is incredibly frustrating. It makes us authors wonder if the person was just looking for a free book.
When it comes to giving your book away for free or not, you make the final call. There are plenty of reasons why it’s beneficial and why it’s not.
Publishing has changed a lot over the last decade, and with the advent of indie publishers and self-publishing, there are a lot more books in the world than there were before. There are also more new authors. Giving your books away for free doesn’t cheapen you or your work. In fact, it could help you.
Personally, I enjoy giving away books. For readers that might be on the fence about whether or not they are going to read me, this is their introduction to see if they like my work—at no obligation to them. If they like the book, I have others they can purchase, which benefits me.
I’m even okay with it if a reviewer doesn’t leave a review. I would like them to, but I can’t force them to, and reviews aren’t about me anyway, they are about the reviewer’s relationship with my story—whether good or bad. I’ve written a couple different posts about reviews and reviewers, which can be found here and here. Obviously, I’ve gotten reviews for my books—some good, some not. It all boils down to the reviewer’s personal preference and experience how they react to my book.
Isn’t that what it all boils down to anyway? How a reader reacts to your book? Don’t you want readers reading your book? I know I do. And in all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve discovered that sometimes the best way to entice a reader to read your story is to give it to them. Sure, you might not get any royalties from that particular book, but you might get a loyal fan who is willing to buy all your other books.
I’ve found quite a few fans (some who have become my friends) using this approach, and I’ve even found beta readers who give me valuable feedback on new work. All they ask in return is a free copy of the final version; sometimes an ecopy but more often a signed paperback, and I’m more than happy to send it to them.
You have to decide what you want out of your writing career and how you’re going to accomplish those goals. If you don’t ever want to give away a free copy of your book, don’t. No one can make you. But if you’re willing to take a chance, take a chance.
The saying goes that you have to spend money to make money, and maybe that also applies to giving away free books.
Finding Time to Market
I recently started a new job, which means that the vast majority of my day is spent away from my computer. When I come home, I’m tired. I still have to take care of my dogs and kids and get to bed at a decent hour. On the weekends, I’m catching up on cleaning and laundry and trying to find time to write.
Most days, it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. More often than not, marketing is the last thing I’m thinking about. I don’t want to look for ad options or contact readers for reviews or do any of the million other things they say I should do to market my book. It’s too much.
Marketing isn’t a lot of fun. And it takes a lot of time—time you’d much rather be spending on writing. But there are ways to squeeze it in throughout your day.
One of the easiest ways to market is to work on your branding. At some point in the day, you’re probably going to be on social media, so take a few minutes to promote your brand. Talk about something you’re reading or share a link to the blog post you wrote—even if you didn’t write that post recently. Take a few minutes to find and follow new authors on Facebook or Twitter. Post a picture on Instagram (you were probably planning on doing this anyway!).
You can even schedule posts. There are a variety of programs out there that help you do this. You’ll still have to take the time to write the posts and schedule them, but it can be done. I spend maybe 5 minutes every morning scheduling the posts I want to go up that day. I could absolutely make more time if I need to, but this schedule works well for me.
Take 10 minutes each day to read some posts from other authors and share them or comment on them. Search for other things you’re passionate about and comment on the articles or share the posts with your followers. It doesn’t have to be book related. In fact, if you’re branding, it probably shouldn’t be related to your book at all.
If you have the means, you might consider hiring a book manager or marketing firm to help you market. Or maybe you can ask a friend or family member who has time to help you (you’ll have to work out the payment details with them). No one said you had to do this alone. Better yet, take some time to find multi-author events that you can be part of. Join a blog hop. Doing a Google search brings up many options, I’m sure you can find one that works for you.
I get that there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything you need to accomplish. I’m struggling too. Marketing doesn’t have to take up a lot of time, but you have to make some time to get it accomplished.
Most days, it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. More often than not, marketing is the last thing I’m thinking about. I don’t want to look for ad options or contact readers for reviews or do any of the million other things they say I should do to market my book. It’s too much.
Marketing isn’t a lot of fun. And it takes a lot of time—time you’d much rather be spending on writing. But there are ways to squeeze it in throughout your day.
One of the easiest ways to market is to work on your branding. At some point in the day, you’re probably going to be on social media, so take a few minutes to promote your brand. Talk about something you’re reading or share a link to the blog post you wrote—even if you didn’t write that post recently. Take a few minutes to find and follow new authors on Facebook or Twitter. Post a picture on Instagram (you were probably planning on doing this anyway!).
You can even schedule posts. There are a variety of programs out there that help you do this. You’ll still have to take the time to write the posts and schedule them, but it can be done. I spend maybe 5 minutes every morning scheduling the posts I want to go up that day. I could absolutely make more time if I need to, but this schedule works well for me.
Take 10 minutes each day to read some posts from other authors and share them or comment on them. Search for other things you’re passionate about and comment on the articles or share the posts with your followers. It doesn’t have to be book related. In fact, if you’re branding, it probably shouldn’t be related to your book at all.
If you have the means, you might consider hiring a book manager or marketing firm to help you market. Or maybe you can ask a friend or family member who has time to help you (you’ll have to work out the payment details with them). No one said you had to do this alone. Better yet, take some time to find multi-author events that you can be part of. Join a blog hop. Doing a Google search brings up many options, I’m sure you can find one that works for you.
I get that there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything you need to accomplish. I’m struggling too. Marketing doesn’t have to take up a lot of time, but you have to make some time to get it accomplished.
Authors Should Collaborate to Potentially Find New Fans
Writing is mostly a solitary activity. As an author, you no doubt lock yourself away for hours at a time—days perhaps. Even if you aren’t physically locking yourself in a room, you’re mentally disappearing into another world. As a writer, it’s hard to be pulled out of that world. And when some does pull you out, it irks you like no other! I mean, how hard is it to focus on what they are saying with the vast majority of your brain stuck in some fantasy world?
But I digress.
When it comes to marketing your masterpiece, it shouldn’t be a practice that you do alone. Sure, you’re the greatest champion of your work, and you’re going to shout the loudest that people should read it. But how many people are listening? How many people care about your message? There are some, for sure. There are those loyal fans and dedicated readers who can’t wait to get their hands on your new story. But how do you attract new ones?
There are the traditional ways, including Twitter, Facebook, your blog, and ads (both print and online). But it’s incredibly easy to get lost in the shuffle of this world. Plus, you’re not supposed to be out there shouting, “Buy my book! Buy my book!” because no one will buy your book.
If you work with other authors to market your work, you might be more successful. Not only will you be able to target your fans, but you might find some new ones because your work is similar to another author’s work—one you’re collaborating with. Plus, as a community, we should be supporting and helping each other anyway.
Some of the best marketing tools I’ve used involved working with other authors. More often than not, these campaigns include having people sign up for your newsletter, but I’ve also had the opportunity to work with other authors to raise money for charities.
If every author shares the fact that they are part of this giveaway or fundraiser, more potential readers are reached. If you send it to your 100 fans, and Beatrice sends it to her 1,400 fans, and Dexter sends it to his 3,600 fans, you’re reaching a lot of people. If those fans share that message with their friends and family, you’re reaching even more.
Sure, there are no guarantees that you’ll increase sales (no one can make that promise), but you might. Someone might look at your book cover, think it looks interesting, and click through the link and buy it—you never know what might happen until you try.
Writing your book was a solitary venture, but selling it should be a group effort. Support your fellow authors, help them and yourself get discovered, find some new fans in the process. Marketing is tough, and you shouldn’t go it alone.
But I digress.
When it comes to marketing your masterpiece, it shouldn’t be a practice that you do alone. Sure, you’re the greatest champion of your work, and you’re going to shout the loudest that people should read it. But how many people are listening? How many people care about your message? There are some, for sure. There are those loyal fans and dedicated readers who can’t wait to get their hands on your new story. But how do you attract new ones?
There are the traditional ways, including Twitter, Facebook, your blog, and ads (both print and online). But it’s incredibly easy to get lost in the shuffle of this world. Plus, you’re not supposed to be out there shouting, “Buy my book! Buy my book!” because no one will buy your book.
If you work with other authors to market your work, you might be more successful. Not only will you be able to target your fans, but you might find some new ones because your work is similar to another author’s work—one you’re collaborating with. Plus, as a community, we should be supporting and helping each other anyway.
Some of the best marketing tools I’ve used involved working with other authors. More often than not, these campaigns include having people sign up for your newsletter, but I’ve also had the opportunity to work with other authors to raise money for charities.
If every author shares the fact that they are part of this giveaway or fundraiser, more potential readers are reached. If you send it to your 100 fans, and Beatrice sends it to her 1,400 fans, and Dexter sends it to his 3,600 fans, you’re reaching a lot of people. If those fans share that message with their friends and family, you’re reaching even more.
Sure, there are no guarantees that you’ll increase sales (no one can make that promise), but you might. Someone might look at your book cover, think it looks interesting, and click through the link and buy it—you never know what might happen until you try.
Writing your book was a solitary venture, but selling it should be a group effort. Support your fellow authors, help them and yourself get discovered, find some new fans in the process. Marketing is tough, and you shouldn’t go it alone.
Diversify Your Marketing Campaigns
Sometimes, I think “marketing” is a bad word. It’s one of those things that we as authors (and business owners) have to do, but it’s hard to do. I certainly don’t market myself and my works as much as I should. I’m pretty good about talking about marketing and marketing for other people, however.
I think the reason marketing is so hard is because we have to talk about ourselves, and most of us were taught that it’s not polite to talk about ourselves. When we market, we’re supposed to talk about how wonderful our product is and how great we are for developing it. It can be difficult to do that, especially if we don’t want to come off as bragging or being self-centered.
It’s also incredibly difficult to be heard and seen in a sea of others who are marketing their products. Consumers are so desensitized to calls of “Buy My Stuff!” or “Check This Out!” that they don’t notice the calls anymore. I’m exactly the same way. I get so irritated with ads, I tune them out. When I watch TV, I even go so far as to mute the commercials.
That’s why it’s so important to find a way to market your product but do it in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re selling something. That’s where branding comes into play. It’s a unique way of showing off you and your product without actually shouting “Buy My Stuff!” to the consumer.
There are a variety of different ways to brand yourself, and I’m not going to get into them in this post. What I want to focus on instead are the different venues you can use to market yourself and your product.
We’ve all been told that the best way to get your stuff out there is to be online. You have to have a blog. You have to be on social media. You have to send newsletters. You have to belong to discussion groups.
The list of “have tos” goes on and on. And while you’re being told you have to do all these things, millions of others just like you are being told the same thing. If all of us are going to be on the sites we have to be on, how do we stand out from the crowd? Of course, that’s the real challenge.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be on these sites, you should. It still gives you a chance to be heard and seen, even if it’s by a small percentage of people. And who knows, maybe you enjoy being on social sites, so by all means, do something you enjoy.
What you need to keep in mind is that while social media has its benefits, it also has its downside, the most prominent being that it doesn’t reach a large percentage of your intended audience. There are so many people on Facebook and Twitter, they have to limit the amount of people who see your feed. If they didn’t, mass chaos would ensue. Either that or our heads would explode from the sheer amount of information in our feeds.
When marketing your product, it’s important to keep in mind that using different mediums targets different audiences. There may be some overlap from the different mediums, but for the most part, you are probably reaching new audiences. That’s why it’s important to diversify your marketing campaigns.
When I worked as an ad rep for my local paper, one of the biggest reasons people didn’t want to advertise in the paper was because it cost money. Why would you spend money when you could get free advertisement through social media? It’s a totally fair question.
It’s hard to justify spending money on something that may or may not get you a return on that investment. It’s much easier to take the low-risk alternative. But, as I mentioned earlier, you might not be reaching all the potential clients through social media posts. Technically, you might not reach them through a newspaper either, but you would at least be expanding your potential customer base.
What makes marketing successful is having a variety of people see your campaign. You can only reach so many people through social media or through a local paper or even on the radio. But when you develop a plan that incorporates all of these mediums, you increase your chances of being seen.
Marketing is tough. It’s hard to know what is going to work and what isn’t going to work. It’s challenging to invest money in something that may or may not see a return on that investment. However, if you run a business—even if that business is being an author—it’s worth it to develop a marketing budget and expand your reach to different mediums.
The list of “have tos” goes on and on. And while you’re being told you have to do all these things, millions of others just like you are being told the same thing. If all of us are going to be on the sites we have to be on, how do we stand out from the crowd? Of course, that’s the real challenge.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be on these sites, you should. It still gives you a chance to be heard and seen, even if it’s by a small percentage of people. And who knows, maybe you enjoy being on social sites, so by all means, do something you enjoy.
What you need to keep in mind is that while social media has its benefits, it also has its downside, the most prominent being that it doesn’t reach a large percentage of your intended audience. There are so many people on Facebook and Twitter, they have to limit the amount of people who see your feed. If they didn’t, mass chaos would ensue. Either that or our heads would explode from the sheer amount of information in our feeds.
When marketing your product, it’s important to keep in mind that using different mediums targets different audiences. There may be some overlap from the different mediums, but for the most part, you are probably reaching new audiences. That’s why it’s important to diversify your marketing campaigns.
When I worked as an ad rep for my local paper, one of the biggest reasons people didn’t want to advertise in the paper was because it cost money. Why would you spend money when you could get free advertisement through social media? It’s a totally fair question.
It’s hard to justify spending money on something that may or may not get you a return on that investment. It’s much easier to take the low-risk alternative. But, as I mentioned earlier, you might not be reaching all the potential clients through social media posts. Technically, you might not reach them through a newspaper either, but you would at least be expanding your potential customer base.
What makes marketing successful is having a variety of people see your campaign. You can only reach so many people through social media or through a local paper or even on the radio. But when you develop a plan that incorporates all of these mediums, you increase your chances of being seen.
Marketing is tough. It’s hard to know what is going to work and what isn’t going to work. It’s challenging to invest money in something that may or may not see a return on that investment. However, if you run a business—even if that business is being an author—it’s worth it to develop a marketing budget and expand your reach to different mediums.
Branding, Marketing, and Trying to Sell Things
For the past month or so, I have been working at my local paper as an ad rep. In essence, my job is to sell ad space in the newspaper to local businesses. It’s one of the most challenging jobs I’ve ever done.
On average, I would say more than half of the people I talk to would rather stick white hot needles in their eye. I’m not a pushy person; in fact, most days I question my ability to do this job at all. I’m not shy, but I’m not going to make anyone buy ads from the paper. But to watch how business owners act, you’d think I had devil horns and a pitch fork.
I try not to let it deter me. After all, my goal is to help these businesses be successful, but to do that, I have to get them to part with their money—and no one wants to part with their money unless they know that it’s going to be worth it. They want to know that they are going to get a return on their investment.
I don’t blame the business owners for wanting a return on their investment. That’s the name of the game: spend money to make money. And it’s their money, so they can do with it what they see fit.
When it comes to marketing, I can talk the talk. I’ve been marketing my books for a long time, and I’m always looking for ways to improve. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert in marketing—far from it—and I know there’s always more that I can do. Like the business owners I deal with, I’m pretty shrewd when it comes to spending money. I don’t have a lot of it, so I have to be careful where I invest.
When it comes to marketing, there are so many different options out there—and it’s hard to know which one is going to be successful and which one isn’t. When it comes right down to it, what works at one point in time might not in the future and vice versa, and there’s no way to know—unless you take a chance.
If you read any kind of marketing articles out there (and there are tons), they all have advice on what you should be doing. Write a blog. Get a Twitter account. Have a Facebook page. Get on Instagram. If you’re like me, you’ve done all that (with the exception of Instagram. I have a Pinterest page, but I’m terrible at posting on there).
The nice thing about these sites is that their free. At one time, I think they were novel and really helped businesses and authors get their message into the world. But like everything, they’ve grown—to the point where it’s super easy to get lost in all the other posts and messages that people put on these sites.
And let’s not even get started on Facebook and their analytics. If you have a business or author page, you are aware the FB limits the amount of people who view your posts—and it’s because they want you to pay for people to view them. If you pay, then they expect you to pay all the time, so there’s no way you can win.
Twitter is so busy. I refrained for a long time before posting on Twitter because I was afraid of getting lost. And I’m sure I do, along with thousands of others who are Tweeting. It’s chaos in 140 characters.
Blogging can be just as difficult. Once you write a blog, you have to get people to read it. Which brings you back to the marketing conundrum.
Advertising in print media can be expensive. But at the same time, people expect ads to be in papers.
There’s no magic bullet when it comes to marketing, and each medium has its share of pros and cons. However, if there’s one truth when it comes to advertising it’s this: if we are trying to sell something, we have to advertise.
Social media and print media get your information in front of different audiences. While there may be some overlap of who sees your posts in both places, more often than not you’re targeting different demographics, but how can you tell if you’re actually reaching an audience?
That’s where the marketing game gets tough. You can’t. Unless someone specifically tells you they saw your advertisement, you have no idea if your plan is working. On Facebook and Twitter you have analytics so you can see if people are interacting with your posts, but you have no idea if that interaction turns into sales.
Marketing is an incredibly frustrating pursuit. And marketing is different from branding, and advertising is a tool of marketing. The whole thing gets convoluted and confusing. It’s no wonder most business owners/authors don’t want to mess with marketing.
But we have to. If we want an attempt at being successful, we have to put ourselves out there. And just because there is no clear-cut way for us to know if Twitter or Facebook or blogging or ads in a newspaper are working, we still have to try. In the long run, it’s better than doing nothing.
My new job has forced me to look at my own marketing methods and scrutinize what I’m doing. I think a lot about how I am viewed and treated when I go in to a business to sell ads, and I can’t help but think the consumers out there feel the same way. I imagine they’re thinking, “Oh, great. Here she comes again trying to sell me one of her books.” And then they try to hide or act busy—anything so they don’t have to interact with me.
It’s hard. We want people to know how wonderful our books are and get readers to read them, but consumers, like business owners, don’t want to part with their money unless they know they’re getting something of value in return.
I wish I had an easy answer for a way to fix the problem, but I don’t. It’s like shooting in the dark and hoping to hit something. Every so often, we get lucky. The one thing I can offer is to not give up. Keep trying new things, revisit some old attempts and see if they make an impact now.
Another thing I can tell you is this: make a connection. It’s not always about selling things, it’s about forming relationships. Don’t always talk about your books or whatever it is you’re trying to sell, talk about other things—your passions, things that make you happy or ask your consumers what they’re passionate about and what makes them happy.
The hardest thing I do as a writer is marketing. I’m trying to get better and looking for different ways to get my name out there, but I’ll be honest, it’s exhausting. Still, if I keep at it, I’m sure my efforts will eventually pay off.
On average, I would say more than half of the people I talk to would rather stick white hot needles in their eye. I’m not a pushy person; in fact, most days I question my ability to do this job at all. I’m not shy, but I’m not going to make anyone buy ads from the paper. But to watch how business owners act, you’d think I had devil horns and a pitch fork.
I try not to let it deter me. After all, my goal is to help these businesses be successful, but to do that, I have to get them to part with their money—and no one wants to part with their money unless they know that it’s going to be worth it. They want to know that they are going to get a return on their investment.
I don’t blame the business owners for wanting a return on their investment. That’s the name of the game: spend money to make money. And it’s their money, so they can do with it what they see fit.
When it comes to marketing, I can talk the talk. I’ve been marketing my books for a long time, and I’m always looking for ways to improve. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert in marketing—far from it—and I know there’s always more that I can do. Like the business owners I deal with, I’m pretty shrewd when it comes to spending money. I don’t have a lot of it, so I have to be careful where I invest.
When it comes to marketing, there are so many different options out there—and it’s hard to know which one is going to be successful and which one isn’t. When it comes right down to it, what works at one point in time might not in the future and vice versa, and there’s no way to know—unless you take a chance.
If you read any kind of marketing articles out there (and there are tons), they all have advice on what you should be doing. Write a blog. Get a Twitter account. Have a Facebook page. Get on Instagram. If you’re like me, you’ve done all that (with the exception of Instagram. I have a Pinterest page, but I’m terrible at posting on there).
The nice thing about these sites is that their free. At one time, I think they were novel and really helped businesses and authors get their message into the world. But like everything, they’ve grown—to the point where it’s super easy to get lost in all the other posts and messages that people put on these sites.
And let’s not even get started on Facebook and their analytics. If you have a business or author page, you are aware the FB limits the amount of people who view your posts—and it’s because they want you to pay for people to view them. If you pay, then they expect you to pay all the time, so there’s no way you can win.
Twitter is so busy. I refrained for a long time before posting on Twitter because I was afraid of getting lost. And I’m sure I do, along with thousands of others who are Tweeting. It’s chaos in 140 characters.
Blogging can be just as difficult. Once you write a blog, you have to get people to read it. Which brings you back to the marketing conundrum.
Advertising in print media can be expensive. But at the same time, people expect ads to be in papers.
There’s no magic bullet when it comes to marketing, and each medium has its share of pros and cons. However, if there’s one truth when it comes to advertising it’s this: if we are trying to sell something, we have to advertise.
Social media and print media get your information in front of different audiences. While there may be some overlap of who sees your posts in both places, more often than not you’re targeting different demographics, but how can you tell if you’re actually reaching an audience?
That’s where the marketing game gets tough. You can’t. Unless someone specifically tells you they saw your advertisement, you have no idea if your plan is working. On Facebook and Twitter you have analytics so you can see if people are interacting with your posts, but you have no idea if that interaction turns into sales.
Marketing is an incredibly frustrating pursuit. And marketing is different from branding, and advertising is a tool of marketing. The whole thing gets convoluted and confusing. It’s no wonder most business owners/authors don’t want to mess with marketing.
But we have to. If we want an attempt at being successful, we have to put ourselves out there. And just because there is no clear-cut way for us to know if Twitter or Facebook or blogging or ads in a newspaper are working, we still have to try. In the long run, it’s better than doing nothing.
My new job has forced me to look at my own marketing methods and scrutinize what I’m doing. I think a lot about how I am viewed and treated when I go in to a business to sell ads, and I can’t help but think the consumers out there feel the same way. I imagine they’re thinking, “Oh, great. Here she comes again trying to sell me one of her books.” And then they try to hide or act busy—anything so they don’t have to interact with me.
It’s hard. We want people to know how wonderful our books are and get readers to read them, but consumers, like business owners, don’t want to part with their money unless they know they’re getting something of value in return.
I wish I had an easy answer for a way to fix the problem, but I don’t. It’s like shooting in the dark and hoping to hit something. Every so often, we get lucky. The one thing I can offer is to not give up. Keep trying new things, revisit some old attempts and see if they make an impact now.
Another thing I can tell you is this: make a connection. It’s not always about selling things, it’s about forming relationships. Don’t always talk about your books or whatever it is you’re trying to sell, talk about other things—your passions, things that make you happy or ask your consumers what they’re passionate about and what makes them happy.
The hardest thing I do as a writer is marketing. I’m trying to get better and looking for different ways to get my name out there, but I’ll be honest, it’s exhausting. Still, if I keep at it, I’m sure my efforts will eventually pay off.
My Challenges as an Author
One of the biggest challenges I face as an author is marketing myself.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love talking about myself and my work. I love talking about things that I’m passionate about, whether that be my family, my dogs, horror and zombies, or writing. The problem comes in when I try to turn those passions into sales.
To be honest, having a book sale isn’t the be all end all. However, sales are a tangible number that shows exactly what kind of impact my PR campaign had. For some people, it’s the only number that actually counts. There are some who believe that you aren’t a real author unless you have a certain amount of sales. And maybe it’s true. Maybe that is the true benchmark of “making it,” but maybe it’s not. Personally, I believe that we have to set our own standards and measure against those. This is something that is taking me a long time to learn.
When I do my presentations, I don’t even take books to sell. That’s not the reason I’m there. I’m there to have fun and talk about topics I enjoy talking about and maybe teach my audience something they didn’t know.
In some cases, I definitely could have made sales. While at MAPACA, there were several attendees at my panel that wanted copies of my books. They asked if I had any extras, and I didn’t. I even told them flat out that wasn’t my goal. I told them that I was there to meet cool people and geek out. One of them responded with, “You’ve done that, and now I’m missing out on a book that I have to have.”
The sentiment was sweet, and I really appreciated it, but it didn’t change the fact that I hadn’t brought any books to sell. Did they get online later and order my books? Maybe. It’s hard to say. I hope so, but without asking directly, there’s no way I can know for sure.
While I’m not necessarily the best at marketing myself, that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to try. In addition to my presentations and workshops, I also do blog tours and look for reviewers. I write guest blog posts and I’ve done radio shows. I’ve set up at holiday craft fairs to sell my paperbacks. I’m always trying to brainstorm ideas of how to get my work into the world.
Sometimes I’m successful, and sometimes I’m not. And the unsuccessful times can be frustrating and disheartening.
I’m not an optimistic person. For those of you who know me personally, you know that I’m pretty cynical and pessimistic. More often than not, I’ll look at the negative side of things just so I’m not disappointed when things don’t work out well. It’s a way for me to protect myself.
When a marketing campaign doesn’t work out the way I wanted it to, I tell myself that it was to be expected. At times, I even ask myself what I did in a past life to have this kind of karma, then I say, “Past life? It was probably this one.” I let the irritation and disappointment settle into a bitter little ball in my chest, and then I attempt to let it go.
I allow myself to recognize that the situation didn’t work out the way I wanted it to and I allow myself to be upset, but then I try not to dwell on it. I try to look for the good things that happen. After all, the bad can’t happen without the good and vice versa. I live and learn and move on to the next endeavor.
I’m still looking for that magic bullet that is going to catapult me into superstardom and make me a famous author. I keep plugging away through the frustrations, disappointments, and small victories because I know that one day, I’ll be able to look back and laugh, saying, “Remember when this marketing campaign failed? Well, look at me now!”
Even if that never happens, that’s okay, because I’m not going to stop trying. Facing challenges only makes me stronger, and the way I’m going, I’m going to be an incredibly strong person. I hope you can say the same.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love talking about myself and my work. I love talking about things that I’m passionate about, whether that be my family, my dogs, horror and zombies, or writing. The problem comes in when I try to turn those passions into sales.
To be honest, having a book sale isn’t the be all end all. However, sales are a tangible number that shows exactly what kind of impact my PR campaign had. For some people, it’s the only number that actually counts. There are some who believe that you aren’t a real author unless you have a certain amount of sales. And maybe it’s true. Maybe that is the true benchmark of “making it,” but maybe it’s not. Personally, I believe that we have to set our own standards and measure against those. This is something that is taking me a long time to learn.
When I do my presentations, I don’t even take books to sell. That’s not the reason I’m there. I’m there to have fun and talk about topics I enjoy talking about and maybe teach my audience something they didn’t know.
In some cases, I definitely could have made sales. While at MAPACA, there were several attendees at my panel that wanted copies of my books. They asked if I had any extras, and I didn’t. I even told them flat out that wasn’t my goal. I told them that I was there to meet cool people and geek out. One of them responded with, “You’ve done that, and now I’m missing out on a book that I have to have.”
The sentiment was sweet, and I really appreciated it, but it didn’t change the fact that I hadn’t brought any books to sell. Did they get online later and order my books? Maybe. It’s hard to say. I hope so, but without asking directly, there’s no way I can know for sure.
While I’m not necessarily the best at marketing myself, that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to try. In addition to my presentations and workshops, I also do blog tours and look for reviewers. I write guest blog posts and I’ve done radio shows. I’ve set up at holiday craft fairs to sell my paperbacks. I’m always trying to brainstorm ideas of how to get my work into the world.
Sometimes I’m successful, and sometimes I’m not. And the unsuccessful times can be frustrating and disheartening.
I’m not an optimistic person. For those of you who know me personally, you know that I’m pretty cynical and pessimistic. More often than not, I’ll look at the negative side of things just so I’m not disappointed when things don’t work out well. It’s a way for me to protect myself.
When a marketing campaign doesn’t work out the way I wanted it to, I tell myself that it was to be expected. At times, I even ask myself what I did in a past life to have this kind of karma, then I say, “Past life? It was probably this one.” I let the irritation and disappointment settle into a bitter little ball in my chest, and then I attempt to let it go.
I allow myself to recognize that the situation didn’t work out the way I wanted it to and I allow myself to be upset, but then I try not to dwell on it. I try to look for the good things that happen. After all, the bad can’t happen without the good and vice versa. I live and learn and move on to the next endeavor.
I’m still looking for that magic bullet that is going to catapult me into superstardom and make me a famous author. I keep plugging away through the frustrations, disappointments, and small victories because I know that one day, I’ll be able to look back and laugh, saying, “Remember when this marketing campaign failed? Well, look at me now!”
Even if that never happens, that’s okay, because I’m not going to stop trying. Facing challenges only makes me stronger, and the way I’m going, I’m going to be an incredibly strong person. I hope you can say the same.
Marketing Panels and Forming a Plan
I attended several marketing panels while at AWP. Marketing is such an important part of being a writer, but I don't ever feel like I'm doing it right. I participate in blog tours and try to do readings at libraries and bookstores, but I'm always open for other ideas on how to get myself and my work out there.
One of the biggest things I learned from all of the panels was that it's not enough for me to promote my book, I have to offer myself. Readers want to connect with the author. They want to know there's a human being behind the writing. One of the suggestions that came from all of the panels was to give something back. They suggested offering to do workshops or presentations.
That thought got me excited. What could I possibly have to offer to other people? What would they be interested in hearing me talk about? Then it hit me: research. For both my fiction and nonfiction I've done research, and for both types of writing, how that research is incorporated varies greatly. I thought it would be fun to share with others what I've learned about research during my writing career. Perhaps they could find something useful in my presentation.
Another thing that was suggested was to pool resources and share the stage with another author. Again, I thought this idea was fabulous and instantly found my friend Tamara to convince her to share the stage with me. It didn't take much. We've been friends for a long time, so helping each other out with our writing and promotion is second nature. Currently, we are working on a proposal about how research is necessary when writing either fiction or nonfiction and ways to incorporate it into your writing.
I'm sure if I thought about it, there are several other workshops/presentations about writing that could be given. The only thing I really need to do them is time. With a full-time job and a family, plus trying to find time to write, I don't have an abundance of it. But I'll do what I can when I can.
The most important thing I learned from all these panels was that you have to put yourself out there. It doesn't matter what kind of promotion you do, just as long as you do something. Personally, I really enjoy talking to people about writing, so I have no qualms about presenting in front of a group. I hope with the new ideas Tamara and I are putting together we'll get to do it often.
One of the biggest things I learned from all of the panels was that it's not enough for me to promote my book, I have to offer myself. Readers want to connect with the author. They want to know there's a human being behind the writing. One of the suggestions that came from all of the panels was to give something back. They suggested offering to do workshops or presentations.
That thought got me excited. What could I possibly have to offer to other people? What would they be interested in hearing me talk about? Then it hit me: research. For both my fiction and nonfiction I've done research, and for both types of writing, how that research is incorporated varies greatly. I thought it would be fun to share with others what I've learned about research during my writing career. Perhaps they could find something useful in my presentation.
Another thing that was suggested was to pool resources and share the stage with another author. Again, I thought this idea was fabulous and instantly found my friend Tamara to convince her to share the stage with me. It didn't take much. We've been friends for a long time, so helping each other out with our writing and promotion is second nature. Currently, we are working on a proposal about how research is necessary when writing either fiction or nonfiction and ways to incorporate it into your writing.
I'm sure if I thought about it, there are several other workshops/presentations about writing that could be given. The only thing I really need to do them is time. With a full-time job and a family, plus trying to find time to write, I don't have an abundance of it. But I'll do what I can when I can.
The most important thing I learned from all these panels was that you have to put yourself out there. It doesn't matter what kind of promotion you do, just as long as you do something. Personally, I really enjoy talking to people about writing, so I have no qualms about presenting in front of a group. I hope with the new ideas Tamara and I are putting together we'll get to do it often.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
