SUNDAY INSPIRATIONS: Better to write for yourself…

Sunday Inspirations. Send us your favorite quote, image, poem, idea … anything that has been helpful or inspirational to your writing process. If we love it, we may use it as is, or take the inspiration and modify it in some way. Give us a link to your website or blog and we’ll be sure to give you credit! Email inspiration@writemarketdesign.com or post your suggestion in the comment section below!

Here’s today’s inspiration: “Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”

Laura

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We welcome and encourage your thoughtful, courteous comments below.

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Want to experience the West Coast, sell & sign books, and make some great new friendships? Join us for Great 2017 West Coast Book Tour – July 22-August 12. We’ll visit San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. Space is limited to 6 authors. Reserve your spot today! Details here.

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10 Independence Day book marketing tips for independently publishing authors

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Happy 4th of July weekend! Here’s a special gift for all of our SBMs* – an extremely rare Saturday post, in honor of the big holiday weekend. This is a list of 10 book marketing tips directly related to the 4th of July holiday. I realize that many of these are probably arriving too late for you to implement this holiday, but there are still two things you can do with them: (1) keep them on hand for next year, and (2) decide NOW what you can apply to the NEXT HOLIDAY … the next major one being Halloween, a full four months from now.

This list is a radical departure from the norm for this blog, where we’ve been examining one tip per post in depth. Our plan is to walk you through every facet of a crafting a successful book marketing campaign from scratch. So if you go back to the first post and read in order, you’ll notice a logical progression. Nevertheless, each post also stands on its own.

Certain tips on this list will receive expansion in future posts – but some are pretty self-explanatory. Remember, the ideas here are just suggestions. The goal is to have you try them out and see what works. 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’ll probably 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 title and Web site 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 or 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 for whatever the theme of your book is. Put your Web site on it somewhere, so it serves as an ongoing reminder 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. Don’t have many mailing addresses? We’ll talk in a future post about ways to gather those little pieces of gold.
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 Web site 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 Web site, blog, or social media platforms. Write a media release about the recipe book giveaway.

See you Monday!

MARCIE

*Savvy Book Marketer

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We’d love it if you’d take a few minutes to give us some feedback via SurveyMonkey about an upcoming Author Sales Training Webinar series we’ve got in the works. Anyone who completes the survey and provides a viable e-mail address will be eligible to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

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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.

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PREVIOUS POSTS

Thursday, June 30 – How much TIME will you devote to marketing your book?

Monday, June 27 – Start with ONE book marketing strategy, and BE DILIGENT about it!

Thursday, June 23 – INTERESTED or COMMITTED – What’s the difference when it comes to book marketing?

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How much TIME will you devote to marketing your book?

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In a recent post, we discussed the difference between being interested and being committed. It will come as no surprise that becoming an SBM* requires the latter: COMMITMENT. Today we’re going to talk about one of the biggest commitments you must make if you really want to get the World’s Best Book into the hands of as many readers as possible: TIME.

Ohhhh. I can hear the groans across the airwaves! “Time? That’s the thing I have the least of.” To quote Cher from Moonstruck: “Snap out of it!” Do you want to sell books or not?

OK, I’m really not diminishing the fact that you’re busy. Here I am typing this with one hand while holding my dog’s leash in the other and balancing a laundry basket on my head. I get busy! But busy is just life in our culture these days. What busy CANNOT be is an excuse not to carve out time to market your book.

I have a good friend who has an amazing book concept that has been in development … for more than FOUR years. The reason? Life keeps getting in the way. Don’t let this be you.

This is where a little thing called self-regulation comes in. According to a white paper by Roy F. Baumeister and Kathleen D. Vohs for Social and Personality Psychology Compass, “Self-regulation is the self ’s capacity for altering its behaviors.” Pretty simple definition for a complicated – but essential – learning and behavior process.

Here’s the thing to remember: Life isn’t going to get less busy because you’re embarking on a Savvy Book Marketing campaign. In all likelihood, it’s going to get busier. But if you understand that at the outset, you’ll be better able to manage all the other things that will pull at you when you’re setting your marketing schedule and goals.

Remember, you’ve already given yourself permission to sell your book. Now it’s time to make whatever time commitment it takes. If you don’t make your book your priority, no one else is going to do it for you.

See you Monday!

MARCIE

*Savvy Book Marketer

__________________

We’d love it if you’d take a few minutes to give us some feedback via SurveyMonkey about an upcoming Author Sales Training Webinar series we’ve got in the works. Anyone who completes the survey and provides a viable e-mail address will be eligible to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

__________________

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, June 27 – Start with ONE book marketing strategy, and BE DILIGENT about it!

Thursday, June 23 – INTERESTED or COMMITTED – What’s the difference when it comes to book marketing?

Monday, June 20 – Take a page from the Boy Scouts: Always be PREPARED!

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