5 Ways Authors Can Use Pinterest as a Marketing Tool

Guest blogger: Erin MacPherson We’ve been talking about Pinterest as a marketing tool for authors (here and here) and today I want to get your creative juices flowing by telling you about some innovative approaches to Pinterest marketing. There are many more, so please share your ideas in the comments and we can turn this post into a great Pinterest resource for writers. Here are my favorite ideas: 1. Recruit a Guest Pinner I’ve used this strategy to great success for about six months now and it’s not only helped me to build my Pinterest boards up, but it’s also allowed me to have new, fresh content to share on my Facebook page each week. I love it. And it’s so easy! Invite another author/blogger/writer to pin on one of your existing boards (or a secret... [ Read More → ]

MyBookTable – A Better Way To Sell Your Books

http://www.rachellegardner.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Thomas-Umstattd-200x300.jpg This is a guest post from Thomas Umstattd (@ThomasUmstattd). Today he’s introducing a terrific new idea for authors that I thought you all should know about. * * * Most publishers require authors to have a website before they will publish them. The reasoning behind this is simple. The purpose of the website, for the publisher, is to sell books. The problem is that books can be really hard to sell on your website.     5  Problems With a “Books” Webpage Most authors add a “books” page to their website, listing all their books along with links to buy them on Amazon. It sounds like a simple solution but it often creates problems, such as: Bookstores get mad. Barnes & Noble gets ticked when excluded from the list. They have threatened to pull... [ Read More → ]

Never Again Hate Self-Promotion

If you’re like most people, you’re probably uncomfortable with the idea of “self-promotion.” As a blogger, an author, a public speaker, or a business person, you need to promote your offerings so that people will know about them. But you’re self-conscious about it. You don’t want to bombard and annoy people, and you don’t feel right tooting your own horn. When you think of self-promotion, you think of people like Paris Hilton or the Kardashians… people who self-promote like crazy, and for what? Nothing of much value, as far as we can tell. So you’re turned off by self-promotion. Today I want to change that. After reading this, you should never again feel uncomfortable with “self-promotion.” There is ONE secret to embracing... [ Read More → ]

Building a Platform vs. Promoting a Book

http://www.rachellegardner.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/megaphone-150x150.jpg You can’t promote your book without first having a platform. However… A platform is not enough. To sell copies of your book, you have to actually promote the book. Shocking, huh? You can have a huge platform — thousands of Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and blog readers. Maybe you’re even a public speaker, have a popular newsletter, you’re a go-to expert on your topic, or you’re already a bestselling author. But if you don’t actually put your latest book in front of people and make it easy and advantageous for them to immediately click-to-buy, nobody is going to buy it. It seems obvious. Even bestselling authors and celebrities have major “launches” for each book—they don’t just sit back and assume people will find the book... [ Read More → ]

Can I Make More Money via Traditional or Self-Pub?

These days, authors are carefully considering the merits of self-publishing versus traditional publishing, and many are doing both at once. (My upcoming e-book: How Do I Decide? Self Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing, will help with these decisions.) I’m having almost daily conversations with my clients, most of whom are already traditionally published, about various ways they can extend their brands, increase their income and/or grow their readership by self-publishing e-books “on the side.” I’m coming across some interesting questions during these discussions. One that I’ve been hearing lately comes from authors trying to figure out how they can make the most money with their next book: through traditional or self-pub. They’re trying to estimate... [ Read More → ]

Does Your Project Need Funding?

Guest Blogger: Caleb Jennings Breakey (@CalebBreakey) Imagine finding hundreds of people eager to read your book. Now—are you ready for this?—imagine those same people financially backing you to write it. Enter the crowdsourcing awesomeness of kickstarter.com, faithfunder.com, and indiegogo.com. These sites are funding platforms for creative projects. But their concept isn’t centered on folks just shanding you money—it’s centered on connecting you with people who want exactly what you’re creating. Like your work in progress. SIX WEEKS, $10,000 I started my Kickstarter campaign after learning that enthusiastic backers pledged $100,000,000 to projects in 2011, a 300-percent increase from the previous year. How amazing, I thought. People believing in what their artists believe... [ Read More → ]

How to Create Your Own Marketing Team

Whether or not you have a book to sell right now, you probably have reason to build a platform and gather a “tribe.” Monday we discussed blogging as one possible avenue for this, and I also gave you a list of several other ways to use the Internet to connect with people. But this is not an easy task, especially when you’re sitting at your desk by yourself trying to come up with creative ideas. Wouldn’t it be great to have a whole team of people with whom to brainstorm, exchange ideas, discuss successes and failures, and share encouragement? You CAN have your own marketing team — and it’s simpler than you might think. Most of you are familiar with the concept of a writers’ group or critique group, even if you’re not part of one. Your marketing... [ Read More → ]

Should All Authors Blog?

A few years ago, the standard wisdom was that authors, both fiction and non-fiction, should have blogs in order to gather an audience and build relationships with readers. Now, not so much. As social media and online marketing have evolved, my thoughts on blogging have changed. I think each author needs to carefully consider whether blogging is an appropriate vehicle for them based on: 1. If they can do it well; 2. If they enjoy it; and 3. If their writing career can benefit from it. If blogging doesn’t suit you, don’t spend too much time trying to make it work. Why aren’t blogs the appropriate vehicle for all authors?  The proliferation of blogs in the last five years has made it increasingly difficult to stand out in the crowd. Many authors are blogging faithfully... [ Read More → ]

Who Needs a Platform?

I was talking with a friend about a new consulting firm being built by a small group of professionals. I learned that, in creating their business model, they made a decision: a prerequisite to being a partner in the firm is that each individual must be building and maintaining a solid platform. The method is up to the individual: writing books and/or blogs, speaking to large groups, interacting with the public via social media or traditional media. It’s an acknowledgment that each primary member of the firm has the responsibility to: 1. Personally be proactive in reaching out to people who might potentially become their clients; and 2. Personally take part in increasing the company’s public visibility and reputation. Isn’t this the job of somebody in the marketing... [ Read More → ]

6 Tips for Successful Networking

Whether you’re a writer, a publishing professional, or in any other job or field, you’re probably going to be networking at some point. These days we do a great deal of networking online; but there are still the old-fashioned ways of building networks: face to face. You may be at a conference, a cocktail party, or industry event where you have the opportunity to meet people who can become part of your “network.” What are the best ways to bring people into your personal and professional networks? These tips apply to Twitter, Facebook, conferences, and every other networking situation. 1. Focus on relationships. The strongest network is made up of real relationships. Treat people like people—not as a means to an end. 2. Be genuine. People can tell when you’re... [ Read More → ]

How to Build a Readership for Your Blog and Books

Guest blogger: Jody Hedlund, @JodyHedlund Let’s be honest. We all want readers. Whether for our blogs or books, we crave the validation of having others read and enjoy what we write. But with all the blogs and books competing for the limited attention of readers, we face an uphill battle in building our readerships. In fact in the crowded marketplace, sometimes it can feel next-to-impossible to glean readers. I’ve been blogging for the past three years and now have three published books. And one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that there is no quick path to success (at least for most authors). Whether with blogging or with our books, the growth in our readerships happens gradually over time. If I were to graph my blog readership statistics during the past several... [ Read More → ]

13 Simple Tips for a Better Blog

I was talking with a client who has a book releasing in about a year, and she was concerned about how to begin building her blog and increasing the traffic. At the moment she doesn’t have a great deal of time to devote to it, since she is still writing her book. We brainstormed and I gave her several tips off the top of my head — simple things she could immediately begin to change about  her blog, that wouldn’t change her blog traffic immediately, but over time would have a positive effect. Here are the things we discussed. 1. Focus first on improving the content of your blog rather than any fancy strategies for increasing traffic. The better your content, the more your blog readership will naturally grow. 2. Make sure every post contains a single main idea. It can be... [ Read More → ]

8 Tips for Promoting Your Book Online

1. Begin well in advance of your book launch to build an email list of people who “opt in” to your newsletter or monthly email. 2. Avoid the “Buy my book!” tweet or Facebook post. ALWAYS offer value to your reader… Tweet a quote, a question, or something fun, along with a link to your book online. 3. Start talking about your book online long before the launch, but don’t just talk AT people. Get them engaged and invested in the process by sharing your writing and publishing process, by letting them help choose the cover, title, etc. 4. Use Pinterest to pin quotes from your book. You can piggyback off of this and hold a contest on Pinterest. 5. Get people involved in conversation related to the themes in your book. For example, if your book deals... [ Read More → ]

From Blog to Book: Building an Online Platform

Guest blogger: Erin Reel @TheLitCoach When I was a literary agent I received a nonfiction book proposal, Twinspiration, from Cheryl Lage in 2003, right about the time when “platform” started to become a buzz word in publishing and before the blogging craze really took off. I immediately fell in love with the work. I was excited to read the About the Author section of the proposal to see who else knew about Cheryl. Aside from her role as a volunteer twins lactation consultant for her local hospital and a few locally published articles, the world was missing out on what Cheryl had to offer — delightfully refreshing advice on how to have a successful twins pregnancy and first year of twin parenting. Although a little deflated by the lack of platform, I felt this author... [ Read More → ]