Traditional Labor Day celebrations offer tips for Savvy Book Marketers

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This post originally ran on September 5, 2011. I’ve updated it for 2012.

Labor Day is an annual celebration of workers and their achievements that originated during the late 1800s at the height of the Industrial Revolution. At the time, the average American worked 12-hour days,  seven days a week, in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 worked in mills, factories, and mines, earning a fraction of adult wages. Workers of all ages faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities, and breaks. Congress legalized Labor Day as a national holiday in 1894.

The Labor Day holiday is still marked across the country with celebrations like parades, picnics, barbecues, and fireworks. What can a new author trying to market her book take away from these simple celebrations? Lots! Focus especially on the simple part! Book marketing doesn’t need to be expensive or elaborate to be successful. We’ve talked at great length about the importance of relationship marketing, particularly for a personal product created by ONE person: your book!

COMMUNITY EVENTS. A simple celebration like a parade, picnic, or barbecue is the perfect backdrop for a book signing, but you needn’t wait for a holiday like Labor Day to come around. Why not stage your own event – and tailor it to your book? Say you’ve written a book of chicken recipes. How about staging a cook-off or a parade with a “best chicken costume” contest? If you wrote a book of ghost stories, perhaps you could host a bonfire reading as your book launch.

ART DISPLAYS. A second traditional Labor Day celebration involves public art displays. The sky’s the limit when it comes to art events surrounding a book launch, signing, or reading. Every Labor Day weekend, the many artists who live and work in Toledo, Oregon, open their doors to the public for the annual Toledo Art Walk. Several galleries and studios hold special receptions and events throughout the weekend. There’s no reason you couldn’t get some artists and authors together to do something similar in your community!

NICHE MARKETING. The traditional idea of celebrating Labor Day with workers and their families is a reminder to target your marketing to the proper niche and/or industry. Look  for ways to tailor your marketing to specific employees, companies, workplaces, or industry groups,  if appropriate. And remember to work your family into your marketing plan, whenever possible.

SPEECH-MAKING. The last of the traditional ways to celebrate Labor Day includes speeches by prominent people. What better way for an author to get the word out than by speaking in public? First, get comfortable with public speaking; sign up with a Toastmasters club near you if you’re not practiced or comfortable with public speaking. Then, get busy. Community, church, and industry groups are always in need of speakers. Reach out and offer to speak. Plan to give a talk anywhere from 15 to 40 minutes in length that contains informative content on your niche topic. Ask ahead of time if you can bring copies of your book for sale, and offer to sign them at the end of your presentation.

Take a tip or two from traditional Labor Day holiday celebrations and take your book to the people!

MARCIE

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We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

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There’s still time to get in on our 10-week program: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS. It starts Sept 5 and goes for 10 consecutive weeks. Sign up for single classes or pay for all 10 and receive a 25 percent discount. Week 1: Facebook Fan Pages (9/5/12); Week 2: Twitter (9/12/12); Week 3: LinkedIn (9/19/12); Week 4: Pinterest (9/26/12); Week 5: SlideShare (10/3/12); Week 6: YouTube (10/10/12); Week 7: StumbleUpon (10/17/12); Week 8: Ning (10/24/12); Week 9: Blogging 1 (10/31/12); Blogging 2 (11/7/12).

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If you’d like us to add a link to your writing/self-publishing/book marketing blog, please send us a note. If we think it’s a good fit, we’ll be happy to add you. Of course, we’d appreciate the reciprocity of the same!

Additionally, Marcie would be happy to make a guest appearance on your writing/self-publishing/book marketing blog. Just let us know the theme or your idea (preferably including a 6-panel concept), and we’ll see what we can draft for you.

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When networking comes full circle

People tend to either love networking or hate it. I remember when I first moved to Phoenix and a VERY connected woman I met asked me, “Do you know So-and-So? How about this other So-and-So? What about the So-and-So from that important organization?” I didn’t know any of them – and what’s more, I was flummoxed at the expectation that I should know them. How does one get to know such people? I remember thinking.

One gets to know such people through networking.

OK, so is networking the best way to market your book? Not directly, perhaps, but there are loads of ancillary benefits that can help you indirectly.

As we’ve established, I didn’t know anyone when I first started my business. So I networked my little butt off. For my first year or so in business, I had two, maybe three clients. So I kept networking. And between finding my own clients, I spent a lot of time connecting the other people I was meeting to each other. I’d go to an event and meet a tax attorney. Then I’d go somewhere else and meet someone who mentioned in conversation that they were looking for a tax attorney. So I’d connect the two. There’s actually an art to doing this that I’ll discuss in a later post, but the general gist was that I put a lot of people together. It’s easy to do when you listen well. And when you don’t ask for anything in return, it creates a ton of goodwill.

Eventually the leads started coming in for my business – and it began growing. That was 10 years ago, and some of the seeds I sowed all those years ago are still paying off in referrals today.

One of the first people I met through my slowly burgeoning network was my friend Connie, an impressive international sales trainer. Connie works on the self-sabotaging mindset that keeps people from prospecting and self-promoting. And she, herself, is fearless.

Last week, we attended a local meeting of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA), and Connie shared a success story that contains a great tip for almost any business owner, including you – my dear Marcie Brock readers. A few years ago, I introduced Connie to a website called Help a Reporter (HARO). Have you ever wondered where news sources like The New York Times, NBC, USA Today, or national radio broadcasts find the people they interview for their stories? Often, they use a site like Help a Reporter.

Through this site, you can register to become either a “source” or a “reporter.” As a source, you plug in your areas of interest and you sign up to receive daily e-mail alerts with news queries on those subjects. As a reporter, you can submit a request to find a source on almost any topic under the sun. And, the “reporter” status is loosely enough defined that you can register as an author, a blogger, or simply as someone conducting research in a given area. (There are a few caveats – please see the comment below.)

Best of all – there is no charge for the service. That’s right – it’s completely free. Each e-mail begins with an ad – and these notices go out to tens of thousands of sources daily, so the ads really pay off for the advertisers. This site gives you the chance to become a source for major organizations like The Wall Street Journal as well as smaller venues like our very own Marcie Brock’s blog. So chances are that if you’ve written a book, you’ve got some specialized knowledge – and a stroll over to Help a Reporter could prove extremely beneficial to you.

It sure proved beneficial to Connie. She answered a HARO query a few months back from a CNN reporter and was quoted in the reporter’s story. Then Connie followed up with the reporter, asking if she might be interested in a column Connie had written on the same subject as the initial query. The reporter said, “Sure!” I edited the column, Connie emailed it to her, and the reporter used parts of it in another story. Connie then followed up again, asking the reporter if she knew of any organizations looking for speakers on this same topic. Guess what – Connie has booked speaking gigs in Dallas and San Diego as a direct result of this follow-up call, and three more cities are pending!

Morals of the story

I met Connie almost a decade ago through networking. She’s become a great friend and a valued client. I shared with Connie the useful information about signing up for HARO, and she jumped on it. She’s landed at least a half-dozen opportunities from it – but this latest one was huge. And Connie brought it full circle by sharing her success at our ABWA group. She gave me credit for introducing her to HARO, but she created her own goodwill by passing the info along to the other members.

I’m guessing you can do the same in your own spheres of influence.

Here’s to great networking, maximizing leads, and marketing your book!

Laura

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We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

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There’s still time to get in on our 10-week program: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS. It starts Sept 5 and goes for 10 consecutive weeks. Sign up for single classes or pay for all 10 and receive a 25 percent discount. Week 1: Facebook Fan Pages (9/5/12); Week 2: Twitter (9/12/12); Week 3: LinkedIn (9/19/12); Week 4: Pinterest (9/26/12); Week 5: SlideShare (10/3/12); Week 6: YouTube (10/10/12); Week 7: StumbleUpon (10/17/12); Week 8: Ning (10/24/12); Week 9: Blogging 1 (10/31/12); Blogging 2 (11/7/12).

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Building a platform from the ground up

OK. You likely noticed that I’ve been away for a while. Turns out two blog challenges in a row – one as a participant and one as the host – kicked my ass. I was a little tired in early July and just decided to take a couple weeks off. Then, I had a wholly unexpected allergic reaction to some lavender oil, and it set me on butt for an additional month. Headaches. Very pretty bumps on my face. Sleeplessness and ensuing exhaustion. I did just enough work to meet client needs, and even that was slow and cumbersome. I don’t recommend such an experience to anyone.

I’ve been touching my toes back in the social media waters these last couple weeks and finally feel it’s time to get back to my blog – which I love. I have missed being a part of things! So, here’s the first thing to come to mind.

Laura

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I have a new client who came to me as a referral – a new author. Her book is a 122,000-word World War II romance. She was seeking information/help with publishing it. In our first conversation, we discussed print options as well as eBook distribution. Since her primary goal was just to “get the book out there,” she decided to go for the simpler eBook option to start. To save her the money and effort involved in formatting/layout for each individual platform, we went with the one-size-fits-all Smashwords for distribution.

Smashwords is a good solution for an all-text book like a novel. It does not work as well, however, for books that incorporate any sort of graphics or variation in headings/font sizes. All we had to do was design a cover, fully justify the text, remove the page numbers, slip it into a Word ’97-2003 doc format, and it was good to go. Uploading it to Smashwords took a matter of minutes, and voila – there it sits. Ready and waiting for people to come and buy it. Keyword: WAITING.

This is virtually every new author’s dilemma. The book is done – now how the hell do I get the readers-cum-buyers to show up?

It was an especially challenging question for my client, because she had zero  online presence. I am NOT exaggerating. No mailing list. No blog. No website. No Facebook. No Twitter. No LinkedIn. No social media of any kind. She has a computer which she used for writing her book, and she has email. That’s it. So we are literally starting at the bottom to build her an online presence.

While there are many different paths to the same end goal – marketing her book – it was her choice to begin with blogging. I believe every author must start with the thing that is the most comfortable for them. It’s not going to do you any good if I help you build a Facebook fan page but you just don’t want to be on Facebook because you’re so uncomfortable with it.

So we set up the blog. It’s called Fox Tales, if you want to check it out – but don’t expect any posts yet. Baby steps … did I mention we’re starting from the ground floor?

Next she’ll start exploring the blog. Practice posting. And begin writing. She plans to follow my recommendations for the 6 steps to blogging success:

1. Writing 40 to 50 posts in a ROW (weekends included) from the date of her launch.
2. Writing quality content that is of interest to her targeted readers: lovers of historical fiction and romance.
3. Using an image with every post.
4. Selecting good keywords for every post.
5. Posting on a regular schedule after the initial 40 to 50 posts.
6. Commenting on other blogs on similar topics, and being generous with her feedback to commenters on her blog.

Will it be an uphill battle? Sure. Is it going to take a while? You bet. Can it be done? Of course!

Regardless of where you are in terms of writing or publishing your book, it’s not too soon to be thinking about marketing it! Take an honest survey of your online presence. How big is your platform, really? Your email list? Your social media contacts? Your speaking gigs? Your networking circles? Who will be clamoring to buy the book the minute it goes on sale? How excited will they be to share it with the others in their circles?

If this all scares you just a bit, that’s OK. No need to panic. Just pick up the phone and give me a call (602.518.5376) or drop me an email. The initial consultation is complimentary.

You wrote/are writing a great book. It deserves a great readership. Make sure your prospective readers have the chance to become actual readers!

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We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

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There’s still time to get in on our 10-week program: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS. It starts Sept 5 and goes for 10 consecutive weeks. Sign up for single classes or pay for all 10 and receive a 25 percent discount. Week 1: Facebook Fan Pages (9/5/12); Week 2: Twitter (9/12/12); Week 3: LinkedIn (9/19/12); Week 4: Pinterest (9/26/12); Week 5: SlideShare (10/3/12); Week 6: YouTube (10/10/12); Week 7: StumbleUpon (10/17/12); Week 8: Ning (10/24/12); Week 9: Blogging 1 (10/31/12); Blogging 2 (11/7/12).

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12 independent publishing facts for Independence Day

1. According to a USA Today poll, 82 percent of Americans want to publish a book, while The New York Times reports that 81 percent of people believe they have a book in them.
2. Almost 900,000 books were self published in 2011.
3. According to R.R. Bowker, there are presently some 73,000 “small” publishers in America. “Small” means having one to 10 active books in print.
4. Males make up 54% of small independent publishers, while 42 percent are female and 3 percent won’t say.
5. On average it takes 475 hours to write a fiction book and 725 hours to write a nonfiction book.
6. It takes an average of 10 to 15 hours to design a book cover.
7. On average, the editing process takes 61 hours to complete.
8. Fiction is considered successful if it sells 5,000 copies. A nonfiction book is deemed successful when it sells 7,500 copies.
9. Most authors never sell more than 150 copiesof their book.
10. According to Self Publishing Resources, nonfiction books outsell fiction by two to one, but at least 20 percent more fiction is being published via the Internet and POD.
11. Juvenile and poetry are the most popular self-published fiction genres, while self-help, how-to and business lead in the nonfiction genres.
12. The largest advance ever paid for a self-published book was the spectacular $4.125 million Simon & Schuster paid for Richard Paul Evans’s The Christmas Box.

Laura

RESOURCES:

http://www.mypublishinguniverse.com/a-few-facts-about-self-publishing-283.php

http://makemarketpublishyourbook.blogspot.com/2012/03/us-publishing-facts-and-exciting-time.html

http://chilawoychik.com/2012/05/15/publishing-facts-fancy-with-a-few-surprises

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We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

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There’s still time to get in on our 10-week program: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS. It starts July 18 and goes for 10 consecutive weeks. Sign up for single classes or pay for all 10 and receive a 25 percent discount. Week 1: Facebook Fan Pages (7/18/12); Week 2: Twitter (7/25/12); Week 3: LinkedIn (8/1/12); Week 4: Pinterest (8/8/12); Week 5: SlideShare (8/15/12); Week 6: YouTube (8/22/12); Week 7: StumbleUpon (8/29/12); Week 8: Ning (9/5/12); Week 9: Blogging 1 (9/12/12); Blogging 2 (9/19/12).

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7 tips for getting back on track after a diversion

I have a friend who recently returned from a month-long spiritual retreat in New Zealand. We met a few days after her return, and she apologized on several occasions for being a bit spacey and disconnected in her conversation. The retreat was an incredible experience for her, but returning to her busy entrepreneurial life in Phoenix was taking some adjustment. “There’s definitely a transition process – time needed to readjust and recondition myself to being here,” she explained.

Diversions are an inevitable part of life. We may have a goal (like publishing or marketing our book) and be moving along toward it quite swimmingly. Then something happens – either through our choosing or otherwise, we find ourselves going in another direction (like a 28-day blog challenge). So how do we get back on track?

Here are seven ideas that may help you refocus and get back in alignment with your original path.

1. Reassess your goals. Perhaps in the diversion, you’ve found that you want to realign your goals. Maybe on reviewing them, you see that a few need reprioritizing. Just as it’s hard to get where you’re going without a map (or GPS), you won’t meet any of your goals if you don’t know what they are. But there’s absolutely nothing wrong with changing them!
2. Take it slowly. Don’t expect to be back up to full speed in an instant. Give yourself some time to get back into the swing of things.
3. Give yourself a break. It’s really easy to become our own worst enemy by setting unreasonable expectations and then dumping on ourselves when we don’t achieve them. Yes – there’s a difference between stumbling a little to get back on track and simply avoiding the track altogether. As long as you’re making an effort, give yourself the credit you deserve.
4. Take care of yourself. Make sure you’re eating properly, sleeping enough, and getting regular exercise. It’s unreasonable to demand superior performance from a body that’s receiving shoddy treatment, so make sure you do the things your body needs to stay healthy.
5. Create – or review – your vision board and affirmations. Images help anchor your goals and make them immediately real. If you’ve already got a vision board, take some time to look it over and let it reenergize you. Review your affirmations. All those dreams are still waiting – they just need you to reconnect with them to get the energy flowing again.
6. Ask for support. Accountability is one of the best ways to see your goals through to completion. First set realistic deadlines for them. Then find someone who will check in with you periodically to make sure you’re staying on track. Whether that’s a life coach, a fellow author, or your best friend – knowing they’ll be asking about your progress is sometimes all it takes to reignite the success fire.
7. Celebrate the victories. As you begin to cross things off your to-do list or make progress with your micromovements, celebrate each one! Little victories pave the way for bigger, better things to come.

Laura

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We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

__________________

There’s still time to get in on our 10-week program: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS. It starts July 18 and goes for 10 consecutive weeks. Sign up for single classes or pay for all 10 and receive a 25 percent discount. Week 1: Facebook Fan Pages (7/18/12); Week 2: Twitter (7/25/12); Week 3: LinkedIn (8/1/12); Week 4: Pinterest (8/8/12); Week 5: SlideShare (8/15/12); Week 6: YouTube (8/22/12); Week 7: StumbleUpon (8/29/12); Week 8: Ning (9/5/12); Week 9: Blogging 1 (9/12/12); Blogging 2 (9/19/12).

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Grab your flag, sparklers, and bunting – July 4th book marketing ideas!

(Please click on image to enlarge.)

Well, Independence Day falls on a Wednesday this year. That means you either get a gloriously long weekend – or you get an extra day off in the middle of the week. Either way, it’s a perfect opportunity to market your book, regardless of the topic! Freedom, history, and patriotism are just a few of the themes of this holiday. Your job is to find the natural tie-ins and leverage them as best you can.

If these it”s too late to use thes ideas THIS year, keep them on hand for next year and/or decide NOW how you can apply some of them to the NEXT HOLIDAY or seasonal event. We’ve got a few coming up between now and the end of the year:

• Back to School (August/September)
• Labor Day (September 3)
• Halloween (October 31)
• Election Day (November 6)
• Veterans Day (November 11)
• Thanksgiving (November 22)
• Hanukkah (December 8-16)
• Christmas (December 25)

Remember, the ideas here are just suggestions. Your goal should be to try them out and see what works for YOU. Even better, though, would be to use this list as a jumping off point, getting really creative and coming up with your own unique book marketing strategies!

Have a wonderful July 4th holiday!

1. Get out that digital camera for your own holiday celebration. Your readers want to CONNECT with you. You don’t have to take them on a detailed tour of your home or interview every relative at the family picnic … but giving them a glimpse of your life so they can feel closer to you will go a long way toward building rapport and a lifelong fan.
2. Purchase or dust off your banner, head to the dollar store for an Uncle Sam hat, and get yourself a spot in your local Independence Day parade. If vendor booths are available, you may be the only author there!
3. Host your own Independence Day event. Sponsor a pancake breakfast at a local restaurant or do a holiday book signing at the flag shop.
4. Drape your car with red,white, and blue bunting and a big sign with your book cover and website on it. Don’t be afraid to BE memorable!
5. Make sure to carry business cards and/or postcards with you at all times so that you can hand them out when you meet new people. Leave them behind at coffeehouses and shops that allow it.
6. Give away free flags at your book signings. This tip doesn’t have to be limited to July 4^th. Find flags for all the holidays – or that match the theme of your book. Put your website on them somewhere so they serve as ongoing reminders of how to find you.
7. Use www.GotPrint.com to send holiday postcards to those on your list for whom you have mailing addresses.
8. Use your blog or social media sites to give away a couple free copies of your book to celebrate the holiday. Throw in a couple 4th of July bookmarks with your website and contact info.
9. Write an article for your community newspaper, tying your book to local Independence Day traditions. You may have put on your creative thinking cap, but as an SBM, I know you can do it! (Note – most small monthly papers have about a 2-month lead time, meaning that’s how far in advance of publishing they need to receive the article.)
10. The 4^th of July is all about picnics and comfort food. Come up with a dozen of your favorite recipes (if they’re related to your book, all the better) and put together a little pamphlet or eBook to give away for free via your website, blog, or social media platforms. Write a media release about the recipe book giveaway.

MARCIE

*Savvy Book Marketer

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We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

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There’s still time to get in on our 10-week program: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS. It starts July 18 and goes for 10 consecutive weeks. Sign up for single classes or pay for all 10 and receive a 25 percent discount. Week 1: Facebook Fan Pages (7/18/12); Week 2: Twitter (7/25/12); Week 3: LinkedIn (8/1/12); Week 4: Pinterest (8/8/12); Week 5: SlideShare (8/15/12); Week 6: YouTube (8/22/12); Week 7: StumbleUpon (8/29/12); Week 8: Ning (9/5/12); Week 9: Blogging 1 (9/12/12); Blogging 2 (9/19/12).

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Please — A book marketing haiku

As you may recall, I’m not much of a poet. I hated poetry in college but now wish I’d listened to my advisor and taken more of it. In response to a reader comment, I did a post with several ideas for how to market your poetry. Then I came across this quote by Seth Godin, which is a nice reminder that most poets and bloggers are in it for the love of their craft:

“Just as we don’t spend a lot of time worrying about how
all those poets out there are going to monetize their poetry,
the same is true for most bloggers.”
— Seth Godin

I am tackling poetry again in today’s blog as a part of the 2012 Word Count Blogathon. Today’s is Day 21 in the 31-day blog challenge. The theme for today is haiku, which means … you guessed it. I’ve written one.

For those unfamiliar with this style of poetry, a haiku is a very short form of Japanese poetry that typically possesses three qualities:

• The essence of haiku is cutting, which often is represented by the nearby positioning of two images or ideas with a “cutting” word between them that serves as a sort of verbal punctuation mark signaling the break separating them.
• A haiku consists of 17 syllables or sounds: 5, 7 and 5 respectively.
• Haiku traditionally contain a seasonal reference.

According to WikiHow, “a haiku is meant to be a meditation of sorts that conveys an image or a feeling.” In reading many haiku (there is no plural word for haiku), you will notice they either present one idea for the first two lines and then switch quickly to something else, or they reference one thought with the first and last line, and another thought with the middle line. “Haiku has been called an “unfinished” poem because each one requires the reader to finish it in his or her heart,” the WikiHow article continues.

Like any writing or forms of art, haiku takes practice. I am not practiced at it. One of Marcie’s subscribers, however, is quite practiced: read Five Reflections’ daily haiku here.

OK – without any further delay, the unveiling…

To sell books I work

Branding and marketing them

Won’t you buy one, please?

Though there is no seasonal reference, I do think it hits the idea of conveying a feeling, a somewhat plaintive pleading to make all my efforts worthwhile. See, I can even tie in book marketing to a poetry challenge – and I’ll bet you can, too!

The idea is to learn to think like a marketer. Not that the first words out of your mouth when you meet someone new are: “Hi. I wrote a book. Do you want to buy a copy?” But that you keep marketing at a low simmer on the back burner, so that when an opportunity or idea you can leverage into an opportunity does show up, you will recognize it and be ready and able to act on it.

If you’d like to take a break from your own book marketing and try your hand at haiku, definitely read the WikiHow piece on writing a haiku.

Happy haiku!

MARCIE

SOURCES

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Haiku-Poem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku

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We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

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In honor of our 1-year anniversary (May 2, 2012), we’re hosting the Author Blog Challenge! It starts June 2 and is open to published authors, authors-in-progress, and would-be authors. Come check us out and register today!

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PREVIOUS POSTS

Thursday, May 10 – Roundup: A summary of our Author Blog Success Tips

Monday, May 7 – Blog tour tips from A to Z

Friday, May 4 – 4 great reasons to participate in a blog challenge

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Roundup: A summary of our Author Blog Success Tips

For a little more than two months, we’ve been exploring some success tips for your author blog. Today, we’re going to recap the best of these tips as we prepare to shift to discussions of other social media sites.

Our first exploration was a general overview of blogging statistics, where we learned things like:

• The most popular time for blog reading is 10 a.m.
• Bloggers are generally highly educated, with as many as 75 percent having college degrees.
• As many as 83 percent of book bloggers are female.

Next we explored whether or not you should even start an author blog. Questions to explore around this include:

• Why are you writing?
• Do you have the time to devote to a blog?
• How patient are you?
• How much will you enjoy it?

Of course, I had to go on a little rant about a particular pet peeve of mine: Reposting someone else’s content is NOT blogging!

We then looked at 18 benefits of starting an author blog. The first 5 are:

• Gives you a reason to write regularly.
• Hones your writing skills.
• Helps you get to the point.
• Allows you to explore many different writing styles.
• Bolsters your research skills.

Of course, we can’t offer benefits without giving you some specific success tips for your author blog, things like:

• Make time to blog.
• Decide how often you will post.
• Calendar your blogging time.
• Write ahead and post later.

One big boo-boo I noticed during my author blog series was a number of blogs that were very challenging to read because the background image overpowered the text. Note to self: this mistake is avoidable!

Next we posted 9 signs that you might be a great author blogger, things like:

• Strong writing skills
• Exceptional research and organization skills
• SEO skills

Guest blogging is a great way to increase your author blog’s exposure. For one reason, it instantly puts your message in front of an audience it took the blog owner perhaps years to develop.

Commenting is another essential aspect of developing your author blog. This includes commenting on other relevant blogs, as well as encouraging thoughtful comments on your blog.

Though blog ideas are like soap bubbles for some people, they may be harder to come by for others. Here’s a list of 27 .ideas for your author blog.

Can your blog become a book? Is it better to have the book first, and then the blog? Chicken … egg … you decide.

Of course, one of the most important things to your author blog success is traffic. But there’s a BIG difference between general traffic – even in huge numbers – and targeted traffic.

In your zest for followers and comments, you may also notice other metrics about your blog. We like the maps that allow us see where in the world our readers are.

You work so hard to create the posts on your author blog. Here are a few thoughts on protecting your author blog content.

Some basic author blog questions – but if you’re a newbie, how will you know if you don’t ask? What’s the difference between Tags and Categories? And how important are pages?

Besides the tags and categories, another important but often underused aspect of author blogs is the sidebar. Are you using yours to your best advantage?

Then, of course, there are the ubiquitous keywords for your author blog. Choose carefully, as they make a HUGE difference in how well your blog gets ranked in the search engines.

After all that effort authors put into their blogs, an amazing number commit a huge error: failing to make their contact info readily available.

You’ve got it all set up, you’re posting regularly, and now you’re just waiting for the traffic to start pouring in. Here are 17 tips for marketing your blog. (Hint: many also work to market your website.)

But the biggest mistake of all is losing your content because you committed an unknown violation of your blog host’s rules. Best advice: migrate it to a site you own yourself. (We are taking our own medicine and are in the process of migrating the Marcie Brock blog in the next week or two.)

One additional excellent way to market your blog is by joining a blog challenge. If you’re an author who’d like to take part in one, we invite you to join the 28-day Author Blog Challenge, which will kick off June 2, 2012.

And, lastly, we offered tips from A to Z about setting up a blog tour to promote your book.

There you have it. Just about everything we know about blogging. If you follow these steps, you should see some significant success with your author blog. Make sure you ALWAYS remember that the main ingredient in social media is SOCIAL – and blogging is one of the earliest forms of social media. Also, be sure to master the four most important ingredients of a successful blog:

1. Quality content
2. Regular posting
3. Always use images
4. Comment your butt off

Happy blogging!

MARCIE

__________________

We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

__________________

In honor of our 1-year anniversary (May 2, 2012), we’re hosting the Author Blog Challenge! It starts June 2 and is open to published authors, authors-in-progress, and would-be authors. Come check us out and register today!

__________________

PREVIOUS POSTS

Monday, May 7 – Blog tour tips from A to Z

Friday, May 4 – 4 great reasons to participate in a blog challenge

Wednesday, May 2 – In honor of Marcie’s first anniversary, we’re launching the Author Blog Challenge!

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Blog tour tips from A to Z

While the old-fashioned book tour still exists, going from city to city and bookstore to bookstore, it’s certainly much rarer, and tends to be an event reserved for bigger named authors with more publishing caché. Thanks to the Internet, lesser known and self-publishing authors still have a means of “getting around” via the virtual blog tour. Those who have done it will tell you it’s still a LOT of work, but much less costly than booking plane flights and hotel stays.

The following, while not necessarily in chronological order, are tips for creating a successful blog tour.

ADVANCE. Start early. Figure out how much time it will take you to compile a list of potential participants, contact them, agree to the terms, send them  a copy of your book, and schedule your tour. You will not start a blog tour today and get it ramped up by the end of the month – or even the end of next month. Note, as per Pump Up Your Book: Be prepared to send a second copy to the contest winner once you receive their mailing info from your blog tour participant.

BIGGER BLOGGERS. Approach the bigger bloggers. Sure, they may be inundated with requests, but if you write a solid pitch and you have a good book that falls into their particular favorite genre, they may say yes. And the worst they’re going to say is no, which means you’re no further behind than you were before you asked them. You might go on a list with 20 authors ahead of you – but if exposure on their blog is worth it, you’ll agree to wait.

COMMENTS. Look for blogs that are well trafficked and receive lots of comments. One caveat, however: blogs that offer contests often use the comment section to manage contest entries. So READ the comments; don’t just look at the numbers. Look also for bloggers who are posting content from lots of different sources, as those writing only about their own books are unlikely to be good targets for your tour.

DATES. Choose the dates for your tour. Make sure to publicize them on your website calendar, blog calendar, and social media sites.

EXPECT TO SUCCEED. Attitude is half the battle in virtually every undertaking. If one blogger says no, you say, “Next!”

FOLLOW UP. Create a checklist of steps and make sure you follow it with every blogger. Remember, the bigger, better bloggers are deluged with these kinds of requests – so after they say yes, make sure to follow up to be sure you’re on target for your guest appearance.

GOOGLE BLOGSEARCH is the place to begin your research for book bloggers who read and write on your genre.

HELP. If you can’t devote the time it will take to create your own tour, you might want to think about hiring a tour organizer. Certain virtual assistants are now specializing in this type of work. (If you’re a blog tour organizer, send me you’re link and I’ll add it to my Resources section.)

INTERVIEWS. Interviews are probably the easiest way for an author to take part in a blog tour. Get a jump on this by writing some prepared questions for the blogger to ask you – and have your answers ready to go, too.

JUST ASK. No one is likely to beat your door down inviting you to guest post on their blog, so you’ve got to go after them. Get over your fear that you’re just little old you, your concern that your book’s not good enough, and your worry that you don’t know what you’re doing and JUST ASK.

KEEP THE GREMLINS IN CHECK. A lot of bloggers are reluctant to review indie books or participate in blog tours for self-published authors. This is not necessarily a reflection on you – but simply a means for the blogger to streamline his/her requests. Again, if you hear no, you say, “Next!”

LIST. Make a list of the bloggers you will approach. You might start with 25 to 30, and eventually winnow that list to about a dozen.

MESSAGING. Make sure you and your host bloggers are on the same page, in terms of the way they will present your information and what they will say about your book. If it’s a review, they may not tell you ahead of time – so be prepared for anything.

NOTES. Make sure you take good notes and keep good records. Know which bloggers you’ve contacted, and at which step you are with each of them. Record things like:

• Contact name
• Blog name and link
• Genre reviewed
• Required format (Paperback? PDF?)
• Other promotions offered by the blogger
• Twitter handle
• Personal notes (how you found them)
• Email address or link to their submission form

OFFER. With about 6 weeks’ lead time, decide what you will offer the blogger for your blog tour. You can offer to do a guest post, prepare an excerpt, or do an author Q & A

PARAMETERS. Determine what you want the blogger to do. Is your preference for the blogger to interview you? Review your book? Host a giveaway of your book? Feature your book in a post they write? All of the above? Be clear about your goals, but willing to negotiate a bit with each blogger, accordingly.

QUERY LETTER. Draft an email invitation to the bloggers you want to participate. Make it professional, succinct, and interesting – no different than the letter you’d send to an agent or publisher. Keep it simple, something like this:

——————————————————

Hello, [BLOGGER'S NAME],

I love your blog about [SUBJECT]. I’ve recently written a book that falls into your genre of [NAME OF GENRE]. I would really appreciate it if you would consider being part of the blog tour to launch the publication of [TITLE OF YOUR BOOK]. Would you consider running either a brief review or an excerpt from the book on its publication date [INSERT DATE] or within the week thereafter? The excerpt can be of your own choosing, or I can supply you with one, and as such, be your guest blogger for that date. Or, if you prefer, I am happy to do a Q & A via e-mail.

I appreciate your consideration and hope you will participate. Please respond at your earliest convenience. If yes, please send me your mailing address so I can send a copy of the book to you. If you’d like to do a giveaway, please let me know that, as well, so I can send an extra copy.

Best regards –

[YOUR NAME]

——————————————————

REVIEWS. Request a review as part of the blogger’s participation. Ideally, the blogger will post the review on their blog, but you will also post the review (or a link to it) on your Amazon page, on other book sites, and on both of your social media sites.

SOCIAL MEDIA. Make sure the bloggers you’re considering have a good social media presence before you approach them.

THANK YOU. These bloggers usually do these reviews/blog tours for no compensation other than a free book – so if they participate in your tour, the very least you can do is say thank you publicly! A small gift card would be an even nicer gesture.

UNUSUAL GIVEAWAY. Giveaways are almost ubiquitous with participation in a blog tour. Consider giving away your book, of course, but something additional as well that’s special and perhaps unique (e.g., a PDF of your revised first chapter, so the reader can see your process as an author).

VARY IT UP. If you are providing the content for your blog tour hosts, make sure each post is a little bit different so you don’t get dinged in the search engines for too much duplicate content. Where possible, tailor the content to each blogger’s specific style or needs.

WIN-WIN. Don’t head into a blog tour with your hand out. Begin several months in advance and build relationships with the bloggers you plan to approach. Make sure that when you do approach them, you’re proposing a win-win opportunity for the blogger. One great way to do this is by offering to reciprocate by promoting them on your blog for a certain amount of time.

XTRA MILE. Go there! Reach out to book blogger groups, asking even those who aren’t part of your tour to promote it.

YOUR OWN BLOG. If you don’t already have a blog, start one now! Even if your book is just in the planning stages, it’s NEVER too early to get your blog up and running and scoring in the search engines.

ZOOM IN. Follow every blog you’re targeting every day leading up to your post. Comment, where appropriate. And once your post hits, with the blogger’s OK, respond to any comments on your post.

Best of luck with your blog tour. If you want to the Marcie Brock blog to be one of your stops, just ask!

Happy touring!

MARCIE

SOURCES:

http://www.sandragulland.com/writinglife/how-to-set-up-a-blog-tour

http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-organize-a-blog-tour

http://www.epublishabook.com/2011/11/01/how-to-organize-a-blogtour-in-6-steps/#axzz1uA4tbT2N

http://www.gabrielle-edits.com/2012/04/30/leah-blog-tour/

http://hazelmitchell.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-organize-blog-tour.html

__________________

We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

__________________

In honor of our 1-year anniversary (May 2, 2012), we’re hosting the Author Blog Challenge! It starts June 2 and is open to published authors, authors-in-progress, and would-be authors. Come check us out and register today!

__________________

PREVIOUS POSTS

Friday, May 4 – 4 great reasons to participate in a blog challenge

Wednesday, May 2 – In honor of Marcie’s first anniversary, we’re launching the Author Blog Challenge!

Monday, April 30 – 17 tips for marketing your author blog

Read Full Post »

Sunday Creativity Reboot

No matter what we do for a living, if we have any sort of balance in our lives, we cannot be that person 100 percent of the time, living around the clock in whatever role we’ve adopted. Sure, we probably perform certain roles like wife and mother 24/7, but I’m talking more about professional roles, like banker, personal shopper, chef. This includes the role of Book Marketing Maven.

A large percentage of marketing success hinges on creativity. As I see it, creativity has three components:

• Creativity is making, inventing, or designing something – or seeing the old in a new way.
• Creativity requires openness and the ability to tune into your intuition. It requires that you let go of pre-conceived ideas.
• Creativity must be infused with joy, delight, bliss, happiness – emotions that happen naturally as a result of our well-being, success, or good fortune.

Creativity is about viewing world through a prism of possibilities. Sometimes, though, even the most creative among us just need some down time to rest, relax, and reboot. Or perhaps we’ve never perceived ourselves as particularly creative.

Years ago, I taught a workshop called “If You Have a Brain, You ARE a Creative Person!” One of the biggest challenges with some participants was getting them to move past their own gremlins that told them they weren’t creative. Perhaps you have just such a creature running amok among your gray matter, telling you things like, “Oh, sure, you wrote a book, but you’re not clever enough to think of interesting ways to market it.”

First, thank your gremlin – for the only way to silence the gremlin is to acknowledge it. Then in no uncertain terms, tell it that just for today you’re going to approach things a little differently.

Once you’ve sated the gremlin – however temporarily – take a look at the list of suggestions below for ways to reboot your dormant or fatigued creative neurons. Try any or all of them. Use them as a jumping off point for your own list of ways to rekindle the childlike creativity that was once so readily accessible.

1. Personalize your work space, making it colorful and fun. Use plants, pictures, your kids’ drawings, vacation souvenirs, etc.
2. Take a different route home from work tomorrow.
3. Meditate.
4. Lie down on the grass and look for shapes in the clouds.
5. Go browse in a toy store – without the kids.
6. Visit a museum you’ve never been to before.
7. Watch TV with the volume off and make up your own dialogue.
8. Read a book or watch a movie from a genre you usually avoid.
9. Go shopping for cute socks, new earrings, a bright new tie.
10. Test drive a car just for the fun/experience of it.
11. Go to a playground and listen to the sound of children’s laughter.
12. Plant sunflowers in your front yard.
13. Get some crayons and color in a coloring book.
14. Visit a thrift store or yard sale and, spending no more than $2, buy the first object that inspires you.
15. Hit the bargain rack at a record store and test out a new kind of music.
16. Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe something you’ve never noticed before.
17. Sing in the shower.
18. Rearrange the furniture in one room of your house.
19. Visit a costume shop and try on something outrageous. Bonus points if you rent it and wear it out.
20. Journal.
21. Go to your favorite restaurant and order something you’ve never ordered before.
22. Write a letter to yourself using your nondominant hand.
23. Buy a sketch pad and carry it with you wherever you go. Use it – even if you think you can’t draw.
24. Learn a new language. There are great CDs and programs available at the library.
25. Buy or build a bird feeder and hang it in your yard. Watch the birds congregate around it.

What do any of these things have to do with marketing your book? Nothing, necessarily. But if they coax a sleepy brain cell or two into stretching enough to consider a new idea, they’ve done their job. Whatever you do, realize that all of life is a choice. You have a brain, so you are a creative person – and an SBM*, if only a fledgling one.

Enjoy your Sunday creativity reboot. And come Monday, get out there and start thinking like a marketer!

Laura

* Savvy Book Marketer
__________________

We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

__________________

In honor of our 1-year anniversary (May 2, 2012), we’re hosting the Author Blog Challenge! It starts June 2 and is open to published authors, authors-in-progress, and would-be authors. Come check us out and register today!

Read Full Post »

4 great reasons to participate in a blog challenge

You’re an author, you already have a blog, and you post regularly. So why participate in a blog challenge? Lots of reasons, but in my opinion, the four primary ones are:

1. Improve your traffic.
2. Increase your subscribers.
3. Become part of a supportive community.
4. Make great new friends and connections.

IMPROVE YOUR TRAFFIC

A blog challenge gives you reason to post regularly, and the more often you post, the better your blog will rank in the search engines. By expanding your participation to your social networks, you can leverage the power of all the participants in the challenge to increase exposure for everyone’s blogs. Additionally, the blog host will usually create links to the home page of your blog, and possibly to certain individual posts, further helping drive traffic your way. And, according to a guest post by Michael Ooi at AllBloggingTips.com, visitors who are recommended to your blog by other bloggers generally spend twice as much time reading your posts than those who find you through search engines.

INCREASE YOUR SUBSCRIBERS

More traffic is good; more targeted traffic is better; additional subscribers and regular readers are like gold. Since beginning to participate in the Ultimate Blog Challenge on April 5, the Marcie Brock – Book Marketing Maven blog has seen our subscribers increase by 25 percent. According to a post by Alana Garrigues at Technorati.com, “If the quality is there, that increase [can be] sustained in the long term, and the blogger gains followers, which can translate [in]to potential friends, contacts, and buyers in the ‘real world.’”

BECOME PART OF A SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY

Managing your own blog can be a lonely endeavor. You write, hoping people find your posts, read them, and interact via the comments section. Those comments and “likes” are a form of validation, and who can blame us for desiring some sort of confirmation that we’re on the right track with all our posts? Participating in a blog challenge gives you a built-in community of like-minded bloggers, particularly in a themed challenge like the Author Blog Challenge. While your reasons and goals for participating may differ somewhat, you all have certain things in common, and you’re in the perfect position to read, comment, and support each other.

MAKE GREAT NEW FRIENDS AND CONNECTIONS

Further to the idea of a supportive community, you may find through your blog participation significant new connections, and who knows where those connections can take you? You should not feel obligated to read every post from every participant; in fact, certain bloggers will likely resonate more with you. However, give as many blogs as possible a chance, and you may find yourself creating unlikely alliances that would never have happened under any other circumstances.

For more benefits of participating in a blog challenge, read Heather Stephens’ post at CleverMarketer.com. She offers a list of 20 personal benefits and 20 blog benefits. My favorites from each list are:

PERSONAL

• Get noticed by industry leaders.
• Expand your comfort zone.

BLOG

• Create content you can turn into products, other than your book, for sale on your blog.
• Receive suggestions for improving your blog posts, layout, SEO, etc., from more experienced bloggers who are participating in the blog challenge.

The Author Blog Challenge begins June 2, 2012. Hope to see you on our participants’ list!

Happy blogging!

MARCIE

__________________

Download your complimentary copy of the highly useful Website Design & Marketing worksheet from Write | Market | Design.

__________________

We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

__________________

If you’d like us to add a link to your writing/self-publishing/book marketing blog, please send us a note. If we think it’s a good fit, we’ll be happy to add you. Of course, we’d appreciate the reciprocity of the same!

Additionally, Marcie would be happy to make a guest appearance on your writing/self-publishing/book marketing blog. Just let us know the theme or your idea (preferably including a 6-panel concept), and we’ll see what we can draft for you.

__________________

PREVIOUS POSTS

Monday, April 30 – 17 tips for marketing your author blog

Tuesday, April 24 – Blog keyword selection: Good for rankings, research, and connections

Friday, April 20 – Are you making the best use of your author blog’s sidebars?

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17 tips for marketing your author blog

Bloggers participate in an average of 5 activities
to drive traffic to their blogs.
— Adam Singer

We’ve been on this blogging topic awhile now, but it occurs to me that we haven’t given you an aggregated list of ways to publicize your blog to the world. While most of these tips would apply equally to your website, the most important tip of all is that you ACT on them!

1. Post Regularly. Yes, I am aware that I sound like a broken record, but you’ve got to post regularly if you want people to find and read your author blog.
2. Stand Out with a Unique Look. You don’t have to spend a ton of money on it, but make sure your blog has a great look that is unique from all the other author blogs out there. This means, more than just adding your book cover and/or head shot. At the very least, use a custom header that reflects your colors, fonts, and brand. If you can do your own graphics, great. If you can’t – it will be worth it to find a professional to help you create a finished look that is different and eye-catching.
3. Write a Clever Tagline. Most blog platforms have a place for you to create a tagline. Use this to share a short, keyword-rich description of your author blog.
4. Proper SEO. Much like your website, your blog needs you to tend to it and manicure it in order for you to see real SEO results. This means proper tagging, intermittent use of bold and italics within your posts, good titles, and a dazzling resource box, at minimum.
5. Link to Other Bloggers. A great way to boost your own blog traffic is by linking to other blogs you like that are relevant to your book/topic. You may love your friend’s gourmet cooking blog, but unless she’s written a cookbook, linking to her is going to be much less effective for the SEO on your dog obedience training blog than to other animal-themed blogs.
6. Comment, Comment, Comment. Regularly write smart, relevant comments on other people’s blogs and be sure to include a link back to your own blog.
7. Reward Your Readers. Our blog does a pretty good job of filtering out the spam comments. That means we can see all the legitimate comments in one spot. Make sure to note, respond to, and take the time to thank those who stopped by to spend some time on your blog.
8. Write Articles. Submit articles on your topic to directories like EZineArticles.com and IdeaMarketers.com. In the resource boxes for your articles, place links to your blog, to specific posts in particular if they are relevant to your article topic.
9. Write Guest Posts: Invite others to write guest posts for your author blog, and take any opportunities to write guest posts for other author/writer blogs. This expands your audience and exposes you to other readers who might not normally find/read your blog.
10. Post Links to Your Blog on Your Social Networking Sites. Linking to Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn is so ubiquitous that most blogs have an almost-automatic function set up to allow these kinds of links. Whether you automate it or not, make sure you routinely place links to your posts on all of them.
11. Create a Specific Pinterest Board and Pin Images from Your Blog to It. Rather than grouping them in with a catch-all board, create a specific board on Pinterest dedicated to your blog. Make sure to use good keywords when describing the image – and links back to your blog.
12. Bookmark Your Favorite Posts. Use social bookmarking Sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. to share your posts.
13. Add a Link to Your Website. If your blog domain is separate from your main website, make sure the two are linked.
14. Add a Link to Your Email Signature. Don’t overlook these seemingly obvious places to let new people know about your blog.
15. Make It Easy for People to Subscribe. Your subscription field should be displayed prominently at the TOP of your sidebar. If people can’t find your subscription link, they’re not nearly as likely to come back.
16. Make It Easy for People to Share Your Posts. Again, most blog platforms make this almost automatic. Make sure your sharing buttons are enabled.
17. Enter a Blog Challenge! This is one of the fastest ways to meet other like-minded bloggers, increase your traffic, and grow your subscribers.

You’d think these steps would be common sense, especially after nearly two dozen posts about blogging, but you might be surprised how many people skip these easy, necessary steps and then wonder why no one visits their blogs.

Attracting targeted readers to your blog isn’t rocket science, but it does take a time and energy investment. Make sure you don’t cut corners or skip steps in the interest of time if you have any sincere desire to grow your blog subscribers and sell more books.

Happy marketing!

MARCIE

SOURCES:

http://www.pronetadvertising.com/articles/four-ways-to-market-your-blog.html

http://www.youngprepro.com/how-to-market-your-blog/

http://www.ricardobueno.com/ways-to-market-your-blog/

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/3-new-ways-to-market-your-blog/

http://www.dailyblogscoop.com/2011/10/11/how-to-market-your-blog/

__________________

Download your complimentary copy of the highly useful Website Design & Marketing worksheet from Write | Market | Design.

__________________

We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

__________________

If you’d like us to add a link to your writing/self-publishing/book marketing blog, please send us a note. If we think it’s a good fit, we’ll be happy to add you. Of course, we’d appreciate the reciprocity of the same!

Additionally, Marcie would be happy to make a guest appearance on your writing/self-publishing/book marketing blog. Just let us know the theme or your idea (preferably including a 6-panel concept), and we’ll see what we can draft for you.

__________________

PREVIOUS POSTS

Tuesday, April 24 – Blog keyword selection: Good for rankings, research, and connections

Friday, April 20 – Are you making the best use of your author blog’s sidebars?

Tuesday, April 17 – If you don’t know, ASK! A couple blog explanations that might seem obvious, but are not necessarily crystal clear to new bloggers

Read Full Post »