Showing posts with label networking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label networking. Show all posts

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Must Do Marketing: Phase One







There are three primary reasons you must market your writing. Promotions are  free,  offer name recognition, and help to sell your books. Here are 10 quick and easy steps to jump start your book marketing plan.

1.  Create a 25 word blurb. It must sum up the essence of your book. Practice saying it, so you will be prepared when asked what your book is about.

2.  Email tags. After your name, this information should also be in your signature line: your book titles and all of your contact information, email, web page, Facebook, Twitter, and blog addresses.

3.  Create a web page. This can be simple or complex. You can obtain a domain name and use a template that is provided. It's important to have all of your contact information on every page and to update your web page frequently.

4.  Have business cards. Be sure all of your contact information is on your business card.  Do not put your home address or personal phone number. On the reverse side you can list your book titles or put a title with a blurb.

5.  Join a writers' group. This provides networking opportunities with authors, agents, editors, and publishers. You learn invaluable tips and information and become known as an author.

6.  Attend writer conferences/seminars/workshops/presentations. This provides a larger group for networking and learning. You can also find out what successful authors are doing beyond your local area.

7. Always have books available. You should have a minimum of five books in your car. You should always carry at least one of your books when attending a writer event.

8.  Donate your books: They can be given as door prizes, not only at writer events, but also to local charitable organizations or a non-profit that supports a cause related to your content.

9. Write an interesting bio: Tell about yourself, your education, credentials, awards, and what led you to write this particular book.  You can offer a brief bit of personal information, such as your dog's name, or you have triplets, or hiked the Grand Canyon. Write several different bios to suit different target groups.

10. Always acknowledge those who support you as an author: Offer to read and review their book for online book sellers. Thank any journalist or media person who gave you a write up. Especially acknowledge those who make referrals to you or give your book to someone as a gift.

Marketing Phase II will be here on WGT on 3/29/15. Watch this space!



~ Valerie Allen ~
VAllenWriter@cs.com                                          ValerieAllenWriter.com
Amazon.com/Author/ValerieAllen
 Beyond the Inkblots: Confusion to Harmony
Write Publish Sell!
Summer School for Smarties
Bad Hair, Good Hat, New Friends
Amazing Grace
Sins of the Father
Suffer the Little Children
'Tis Herself: Short Story Collection, Vol 1
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Sunday, March 1, 2015

Five Writing/Publishing Tips You Should NOT Follow



                I have some bad habits. I’ll share some of them with you. These are from the Don’t ever do this and the If you’re doing this – stop right now files.

1.           Never write a book using the method I’m about to describe. Every time I sit down to scribble away at my work in progress I begin back at the beginning. I start from the first line and revise away until I catch up to where I left off last time. Sometimes I get sidetracked in deleting or adding to a section and it can take a long, long time to reach the point where I progressed to last time. After ten or fifteen sittings I leave the first couple of chapters alone and begin at the third or fourth chapter until I catch up. It’s time consuming and laborious and probably not the most efficient use of my writing time. I seem to be stuck with this method; I just can’t shake it. There may still be time for you though.
2.     If you plan on writing a trilogy of books don’t tell anyone, especially your readers. I released my first book at the end of 2011. I was lucky; it was quite successful. The plan for my next project was to write a story that I’d had in my head for many years. My readers had other ideas though. They wanted to know more about Gerald Hardly McDougall, one of the characters from my first book. This was a true privilege. So, I decided to turn my single, stand-alone novel into a trilogy and wrote the second book of the trilogy. I was able to release that book – My Name Is Hardly, during 2012. It is now 2015 and book three, the third book in this well-intentioned trilogy is still a work in progress. If you’re going to write a trilogy or any type of series of books that involves the completion of the last book – keep the information to yourself.
3.     Don’t respond to reviews. I’ve done this and it did not end in a nightmare scenario, but it could have. As the wise sage said, reviews are for readers, not for writers. Read them, take the hit or the glory and move on.
4.     Be prepared to listen to the truth. Do not surround yourself with other authors who are only going to tell you of your brilliance. You probably are brilliant; we all display brilliant streaks from time to time, but it takes work to become a better writer. It’s more important for me to hear what I’m doing wrong than what I’m doing right. I want to know that my story has plot holes or characters that are unnecessary, and I want to make those changes before I expose my work to my readers. I want to release the best work I can and that means I need to hear the truth.
5.     There’s kind of a mental no-man’s land that I fall into when I’m not working on a book. The longer I’m between creations the deeper I sink into this land and the less relevant everything around me feels. I need to make up stories and tell those stories. Without that I’m not only incomplete, I’m incompatible, inconsolable, incon…I just don’t fit in. So, I need to write. I don’t always do this though. I sometimes devote hours of time to networking (yes, this involves Facebook), as I try to determine the best methods of promoting my work. This is important, but as a professional writer and self-publisher I need to write more than perform non-writing related tasks. So, I created a spreadsheet that helps me balance the work so that the majority of my working day is devoted to writing. My readers want new books, and that’s where my efforts should lie. A wise writer commented on a thread recently and observed that self-published authors who have hit those top levels and connected with thousands of readers have produced lots of words. They turn those words into books and then repeat the same process. Readers have a short attention span. If we can’t provide them with product they’ll go elsewhere, and they’ll forget about us. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the last few years it’s that there are a lot of great writers out there. And, they’re producing some fantastic work. So, keep writing.
I have other bad habits but I’ll keep those to myself for now. If you’d like a copy of the spreadsheet I put together that helps me balance my writing versus non-writing time email me and I’ll gladly send it on. And, good luck connecting with your readers they’re out there!
Martin Crosbie 
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Thursday, January 22, 2015

Welcome to the world of Social Media ;-)


Marketing a book feels like an endless journey. There is never enough hours in the day to fulfill everything you have wanted to accomplish. Now I know why it’s called “Social Media.” It’s pretty much as social as you can get without changing out of your bath robe. All the hours of reading about authors books, their cats, dogs, favorite foods and so on. I mean it is endless! I barely have time to brush my teeth. My day seems to go by in a fury as if I am in some sort of a race but the only race is one with the clock. Not sure where the times goes? How does anyone even have time to take a bath let alone write a manuscript? How can we have the next best-seller when we are all so busy whittling away the hours enjoying a little “conversation.”


Don’t get me wrong. I love the interaction, the sharing of stories and the knowledge. There is a wealth of information out there in the World Wide Web. Well, at least sometimes there is. One thing I know for sure is I will never be lonely at home by myself again!!! Facebook has solved that fundamental problem.

I used to find pure satisfaction in sitting down, pen to paper, writing for hours at a time. My mind was a buzz and I wrote without a care in the world. I never felt rushed or hassled like I do now. I didn’t have to consider how many messages I was missing or how many notifications I was receiving. I simply wrote for the pleasure of it. There is nothing better than the feeling when you are writing something and the puzzle pieces come together. It is instant gratification even if it didn’t happen in an instant. When the writing is going well, it feels as if I am floating above my body as my imagination and recollection come together. These days I don’t seem to have the luxury to spend hours on end writing. I am far too distracted and frankly too darn busy!

Now to learn how to balance my time better. For a start I have had to learn to use the word “no” more often. That is not always an easy thing to do. It feels so good to help support someone that is doing the same thing you are. It can be so rewarding but at the same time can be all consuming. There needs to be boundaries, I have discovered. That is if I want to have a life outside of all this self-promotion thing. I have friends and family outside of the computer and my books. Sometimes I do forget that but that is my New Year’s resolution. Take more time out for the people that matter the most. Myself included.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and I am constantly struggling to find this balance. For me I have to make a conscious decision to make these changes I need to give myself a calendar and break it all down. How much time do I spend marketing (playing) and how much time writing. It needs to be done and I know it is possible. Are you with me in following a time calendar? Can we stick to it? I do know if we set our minds to it, anything is possible. So why don’t we give it a try and see how it goes.  Break out the licorice and let’s start writing again. :-) 

Brenda Perlin
Amazon Author Page  
Twitter
Goodreads
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