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

Facebook.com/Valerie.Allen.520

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

How we do Twitter

We were excited when we discovered Twitter and learned how to use it to promote our material. We’ve “met” a lot of terrific friends there and connected with fellow authors and readers alike. 

Since we started, we’ve developed our own method for using this wonderful social tool. Here it is in a nutshell:

When we get a new follower, we read the profile and then scroll down through the timeline. If we see they regularly retweet others, we follow them back and add them to our private list of retweeters. Then, when we go onto Twitter each day, we first choose tweets from that list to retweet. They deserve it because they are generous enough to RT others.

Each day, we also attempt to RT those under certain hashtags because we like them, and because we know they will return the favor down the line. The top hashtags we favor are #asmsg, #teamretweet, and #click1. But there are others geared specifically to authors as well.

And finally, if we see something we think our friends would be interested in, we will RT it.

Our personal approach to etiquette:

We do not ask anyone to RT for us unless we are willing to RT for them. Any other approach would be selfish on our part.

We try to keep at least one of our tweets near the top of the timeline so our followers do not have to scroll through tons of tweets to find one of ours to RT. We want to make it easy to retweet us, should anyone be so inclined.

We try to return each RT for an RT. This is our way of saying thanks to someone for taking the time to RT one of our tweets. We realize many people don’t do this, and that’s fine, but it is how we have chosen to express our gratitude for an RT.

Thanking us for an RT is very nice, but not necessary at all. A return RT is always appreciated, though! 
When we RT someone, we look for a tweet about the tweeters project or interest; if we can’t find one of these, we send a thank you for the RT.

We try to respond to all mentions, but we may miss a few. We truly appreciate every kind mention, shout-out, and FF.

We avoid RTing anything offensive or divisive. Our Twitter account is strictly for enjoyment and for the promotion of our books and those of other authors or helpful/entertaining information. Of course, every person’s definition of offensive is different, and this should be taken into consideration.

Wodke Hawkinson
Follow us on Twitter @WodkeHawkinson

Wodke Hawkinson is the pen name PJ Hawkinson and Karen Wodke write under together. For the true bios of these fantastic writers simply read on...

PJ Hawkinson grew up in the Midwest. She is a Hutchinson Community College graduate. An avid reader since childhood she is now the published author of Half Bitten. PJ's interest include sightseeing off the beaten path, fishing, and paint-by-numbers. She admits to no favorite writer but enjoys the works of Stephen King, JRR Tolkien, Kent Conwell, and Douglas Adams. PJ envisions life of writing, both on her own and with her long-time friend and co-author, Karen.

Karen Wodke attended HCC and Kansas Wesleyan University. She grew up in the Midwest and has played in various bands off and on since childhood, writing many of the songs herself or with co-writers. She is now narrowing her focus to creative writing. She has always been an avid reader, having a wide range of literary interests. Tangerine is her first co-written novel with co-author, PJ.

Our website: http://wodke-hawkinson.com/
Our blog:  http://wodke-hawkinson.com/blog1 

"The change will do you good"

 

Whenever I picked up the Irish Times at my local news agent’s, the owner would smirk, handing me some pennies back. “Here’s your change…The change will do you good!”
How about you? Are you afraid of change or do you welcome it?
Change affects all parts of life: political change, climate change, job changes; fashion & lifestyle are all subject to change; women know this because they go “through the change.” Some changes we humans have no control over—only our attitude towards it.
Some people hate change because of the uncertainty involved. Some find it easier to deal with the devil they know. The opposite isn’t desirable to me: being stuck in a rut, a predictable outcome, no change for the better? No thanks!
However this is not meant to be a philosophical treatise.  You may have noticed some changes to this website. Due to a two-month sabbatical that is taking me on another home swapping trip to Europe to see my family and hopefully finish my book, Scott Bury will mind the shop. He is a very experienced editor, published author and return contributor who kindly agreed to keep this website afloat in my absence. Now you can follow us on @WritersGT. Submissions will go to his email address for the time being. There have been some changes in layout.
What will not change is our mission statement to publish excellent content by bloggers and writers from around the world while providing a platform to highlight your work. The goal of WGT has been to offer exposure to readers through a growing network of dedicated authors who promote each other’s work. The more…the merrier: So tweet and network away to your heart’s content!
We all love comments! Don't hesitate to give us some feedback. Everybody needs encouragement!
Thanks to everybody contributing here and making this site a success. Wishing you a productive and safe summer,  I’m only an email away on the other side of the pond. Cheers!
Siggy Buckley 

Olympics and Mars

I'm exhilarated and exhausted watching the monumental feats of the physical athletes in the Olympics combined with the mental athletes at JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) successfully setting Curiosity on Mars.  With the massive coverage of both events, it's possible not to miss a frenzied second of it all.

There are indeed similarities.   Physical athletes of the caliber of the Olympics must put their brains and their bodies into overload for years.  Even the youngest competitors have already been practicing for years.  The brilliant JPL scientists have also been devoting many years to perfecting their knowledge of how to tackle the unknown.   The faces of the many blue-shirted scientists at JPL waiting that interminable 7 minutes to learn Curiosity's fate shared the same signs of physical tension as the Olympic athletes.  There was worry, pacing, nervous twitches of the mouth and face.  Both groups talked of how long and hard they had been working for this moment.   The mental athletes of JPL celebrated the same as the winners in the Olympics.  There was hugging, high five's all around, tears of joy, jubilation that their years of hard work had accomplished something never done before.  Yet, I had a funny image in my mind of aliens watching from somewhere and laughing at the jumping for joy naive, backward members of the earthly human race.

I've picked up some differences in the Olympics from previous years.  Old records keep getting broken rather often.  The bar gets ever higher.  Fingernail art and tatoos are very visible, as are skimpier and skimpier attire on the athletes, some looking downright uncomfortable.  Except for the divers, the bathing suits are longer, but the women swimmers seem to endlessly rearrange their suits as well as their bathing caps and goggles.  This was the first time I realized they wear two bathing caps.  And artistic designs of colorful tape decorate the bodies of many of the athletes.  In the age of Twitter and Facebook, little rituals and movements (like the Bolt) aid in "branding" athletes who are in easy contact with well, everyone in the world.  Of course, that can work the other way, and nasty tweets did get a few of the athletes thrown out.

The seesaw of emotions is dizzying.  I've never heard so much talk before of how competing in the Olympics is so much fun and that's why they do it (up), the frustration and despair of losing (down), tears of joy and the hugging camaraderie of team competitions (up), the tears of pain, despair, defeat (down).  I've noticed I'm taking the down parts harder this year because I have a lifelong tendency of  siding with the underdog.  I relate more this year to the agony on the faces of the parents (aren't the cameras spending more time on televising the parents?) watching their child from afar.  Not only does every second count, but now even thousandths of a second can completely change the life of that young person from a superstar to an "also ran" who will live out his/her life in obscurity.

The struggles of these young people to get to the Olympics is not only a matter of talent.  Some countries rigorously groom and financially support promising children from a young age to raise them as Olympians.  In other countries, the financial sacrifices alone of becoming a contender are staggering.  And then there are the young women who have babies during the 4 year breaks and then get back into shape.  Ironically, contrary to the massive advertising of Coke and McDonald's, those tight six-pack stomachs aren't made by downing poisonous Coke or chomping on Big Macs.

Retiring at 27 with titles and billions galore, Michael Phelps is now indulging a wish that I share, but can't fulfill.  He wants to be able to eat anything he wants, any time he wants!  We wish you well, Michael.

Comments?? E-mail Suellen at ZimaTravels.com

"With a little help from your friends"

When Siggy asked me if I'd like to write something for Writers Get Together, my immediate response was “I'd love to!”

Upon further thought, I realized this meant I'd have to come up with something to write. Between writing novels and thinking up mildly clever or vaguely informative things for my own blog, I volunteered to write for someone else's? Crap. Yes, she said I could re-post something from mine, but that didn't seem like the answer – if people want to read that, they can go to my blog, right? I could also post an excerpt from my book, but that didn't sit right, either, because I already spend so much time at shameless self-promotion.

Hmm: promotion. Now there's a thought.

You can read author blogs ad nauseum that will tell you the elements needed to find success in the world of independent (and particularly electronic) publishing: a well-written book, eye-catching cover, intriguing blurb, precise formatting, luck. And a platform.

A platform is like a following – people who will buy your book, read it and share it with their friends, relatives, neighbours, co-workers, the kid down the street and the meter maid. And hopefully everyone else they meet.

“That sounds easy,” I sez reading that.

So out I go into the world of Facebook and Twitter, friending everyone I can find, following everyone with a pulse. More than 1300 people agree to be my friend (see, Ma? I'm popular!), but only people related to me follow on Twitter. That's okay, though, because now I have a platform.

I start sharing news and links to my book, telling people about my blog. I tweet clever quotations, share funny pictures. And what happens? Do my book sales skyrocket? Do people start knocking at my door asking to be my friend? Do tweeps start following me in droves?

Nope.

Select members of my family share my FB posts with their 97 friends (most of whom are my friends, too). A few people I know take the time to click the little 'like' icon at the bottom of my posts, declaring to the world their affinity for whatever I had to say. My ten-year-old daughter tells all her school friends what a great writer her Daddy is (God bless her). My Mom tells me she'd retweet anything I have to say...if she was on Twitter.

Okay, indie publishing gurus, how is this going to help me become successful enough to quit my job and write full-time?

It won't.

The secret to successful promo in the social media world rests in the power of the group. My platform + your platform + his platform + her platform = success.

Does anyone remember the old Pert shampoo commercial with the amazing multiplying woman? “She tells two friends, then she tells two friends, and so on, and so on.” All those tiny woman heads in that commercial added together made for many sales for Pert shampoo, but only because they each told two friends. If I tell my friends, and you tell your friends, and they tell their friends...and then we do it again. For you, for me, for her, for him.

I like to do the Twitter math. When I share a link to my blog, 153 people potentially see it (yeah, I still don't have that many followers, but it's growing). For my last post, I saw my link retweeted at least 7 times, increasing the number of eyes potentially seeing it to over 2500 sets. Far more impact.

But be warned, fellow indies, this can't be done selfishly. Truly care about helping your peers, put their success ahead of yours, and you may be happily surprised at the results. For everybody.

To that end, my platform is your platform. Drop me a line if you'd like to guest on my blog, tag me when you have an important link to share, DM me when you have something to retweet.

It's a big, scary world out there, indie authors and readers who read us, but together we can survive and thrive.

Indie authors of the world unite! And together we'll take over the world!

Mwah, ha ha ha.

Find Bruce Blake at:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640723713

https://twitter.com/#!/bruceablake

http://bruceblake.wordpress.com/

http://www.on-unfaithful-wings.com/

Trying to Catch the Social Networking Bug

Try as I might, I haven't yet been able to catch the social networking bug.  Unlike other bugs that I work hard to avoid, I've been hoping to catch the fervor for social networking.  Up to now, I've been immune.  I am on Facebook, which has allowed me to find some long lost people in my life and to allow some of them to find me.  And it's a good way to see what two of my granddaughters are doing.  But -- I haven't been bitten by the bug.
I have opened a Twitter account, but only follow President Obama so far.  I  have added people to my Linked-In account and must admit feeling awed at how much some people make use of it.  I briefly Branched Out, but let go of the branch for lack of knowing quite what to do with it.  As for all the others too numerous to name, I haven't even tried.
I've been told over and over and over again that social networking is MANDATORY and THE KEY to becoming known as an author in today's world.  Most likely true - as many have shown regardless of whether their books are deserving of fame or not.  While "going viral" is much sought after, the very word "viral" gives me an unsavory feeling.
I watched the movie, "The Social Network," to figure out what I was missing.  The creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, according to the movie, only had one real friend in college whom he eventually betrayed.   A genius geek, he was far more fascinated by the computer technology than linking friends.  That actually helped me to understand why I feel mostly alienated from this modern, impersonal way of making connections.  While not exactly fake friends, they are friends you never have to see, speak to, or truly know.  In fact,  "friends" is a misnomer for these relationships.  I'm used to a different kind of friendship.  I don't even like the image of "networking" or "world wide web" since computers and all the information forever indelibly available therein are also used for nefarious purposes, reminding me of the flailing flies that can't get away from the spider.
Since I'm old, the drain on the precious time I have left to live looms excessive.  Were I born today, I would most likely not feel intimidated by computers or wary of how they might abuse me.  Would I be a more successful well-networked author, or would I still be inundated by the sheer masses of people screaming "me, me, me" in the pack?
And so I search out "how to's" for using Linked-In, Facebook, and Twitter and hope I can make them useful before they, too, are obsolete and replaced.
Suellen Zima

PIRATES, KARMA, AND MY UNLIKELY RISE TO #1

            In the last three weeks I’ve experienced more personal accomplishments than I ever could have imagined. First of all, “My Temporary Life,” became available as a free download in an Amazon promotion. The idea is that folks download it for free and with the momentum that has built, when it becomes a paid download, it sells. Well-IT WORKED! It became the most downloaded ebook in North America for one day, a few Sundays ago.                    

            “My Temporary Life,” built up momentum like a rocket taking off, there was nothing gradual about it at all. By the second day, it was second overall in free downloads. On the third day, well you know what happened, because you heard me. You heard me screaming. Yep, doesn’t matter where you were, you probably heard me. We hit #1 overall.

            So, then, “paid” day happened. It changed over at midnight on Sunday and paid sales slowly started to trickle in. The next morning I expected to see 15 or 20 sales. We had over 200. Over 200 folks pulled out their credit cards and took a chance on my self-published book, that over 120 publishers and agents turned down (oh, did I forget to mention that part).

            Sales continued all day, and the days after. We peaked in the overall rankings at #9, but it didn’t stop there. An independent website emailed to tell us that we were the #7 most downloaded independent ebook of the week; we did a bunch of online interviews, emails and reviews stacked up like crazy, the momentum was deafening.

            We hit 60,000 downloads, 51,500 of which were free There were so many requests for information that we issued a press release. Yep, we issued a press release talking about the book that I wrote in the spare bedroom of my house, and emails kept coming in. A Dallas, Texas television station ran the story. They were interested in the fact that over 120 agents and publishers had rejected “My Temporary Life” yet all these folks were downloading it. We were on the Movers and Shakers list. We were one of the top 10 self-published ebooks on Amazon. We were #2 in Romance/Suspense. We were #2 in Mystery/Thriller. And more 5 Star reviews kept coming in every day.

            At dinner one night, Jacquie and I sat and read the newest reviews. Two of them made us cry. It’s an amazing experience to read about how your work, your characters, can touch another person. The sales figures are amazing, and they really are amazing, but the almost overwhelming part is that you have an opportunity to touch so many people. Our current numbers as of this day are over 67,000 people have downloaded “My Temporary Life.” Now, while all this momentum was carrying us through, it was also getting a little help-I was spreading the word. You see, although, I do trust in Amazon, I was helping it along. I was posting interviews, sales figures, anything I could. I was on Amazon discussion boards, Kindleboards, KDP’s Community site, Facebook, Twitter, even Craigslist! All I wanted to do was tell people about my book. And, in doing all of this, not a lot of other things were happening, including writing. And, you see, there are several things that I have to do in my life to feel good. One of them is running. I need to run long distances. The other is-I need to write. I was running a little bit, and sleeping four or five hours a night, but not writing at all. That was the first problem. The second problem was when the pirates showed up.

            “My Temporary Life” showed up on a piracy site. Someone had taken my work and changed some things, and was giving it away. So, we quickly sent a letter to them, and the owners of the site were kind enough to take it down right away. I remember years ago, sitting in front of my computer and playing with Napster, and I felt karma kicking me solidly on my rear end.

            Our sales have tapered off a little lately, but folks are still buying it every day. And, oh yes, the sequel has been started. “My Name Is Hardly” is underway, and I’m very excited about it. I’m aiming for a December release (gulp), and as you can tell from the title, Hardly’s story is going to be told. So, thank you everybody for Facebooking, and Tweeting, and emailing your friends. Every time you’ve told someone about my book it made a huge difference, and the book that over 120 agents and, oh never mind, that doesn’t matter now, the word is out there, and people are enjoying the book. Thank you all, it’s truly appreciated!

Martin Crosbie
Facebook

Looking Back and Looking Ahead: The Oscars and Job Interviews

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?" is a question you might be asked at a job interview these days.  Employers, who have plenty to choose from, search out the creative job seekers, and test how they work under unusual situations and under pressure.  Applicants to Twitter's internship program must apply in 13 Twitter messages, each limited to 140 characters (NOT words).  Job applicants to Pinkberry "must brainstorm commercials for its frozen yogurt and then work in teams to devise a marketing plan for a hypothetical product."

Some of the oddball interview questions of 2011 compiled by a website called Glassdoor are:  "Name five uses for a stapler, without the staples."  "How would you get an elephant into a refrigerator?"  "What do you think of garden gnomes?"  "Would Gandhi have made a good software engineer?"  "Does life fascinate you?"  So, there's really no way to adequately prepare for a job interview today.  Get a good night's sleep, and ready for just about anything.                                                                           

The opposite can be said for the Oscar nominations this year that were guided more by a nostalgia for the past as well as self-loathing for an industry that pandered to the teenage crowd by making movies "big on bombast turned to noise,  the special effects to exhaustion, and the plots to unimaginative confusion."  Columnist Neal Gabler asks, "Is the film industry tired of itself and of the movies that have defined it for two decades?"

What does the silence of "The Artist" tell us?  According to Gabler, it is about " innovation and the limitations of innovation."  "Hugo" works its "old-fashioned magic through the simplicity of costumes and sets and stop action rather than through computer-generated images."  Both movies prefer "connections to films that are emotional and spiritual, not just physical."
Even the color palette of  "War Horse" re-creates color of the 1950s movies; its story is more about feelings rather than action.  "Midnight in Paris" stars a "numb Hollywood screenwriter searching for inspiration."  He finds it by escaping back to the past.  The film is "a tribute to art that mattered -- to art that did more than diddle."

Gabler's summary of the movie nominations, which rings true, is that "these movies are less about a lost past than they are about an unsatisfactory present."
Personally, I have not yet seen any of the Oscar-nominated movies.  Perhaps I will get to them eventually, but, when given a choice of a movie or a good book, I usually curl up with a good book.  And I'm surely glad I'm not facing any modern job interviews.  Even without movies and job interviews, I, too, feel like I'm neither in the old days or the modern days, but wobbily trying to balance the past, present, and future.

Suellen Zima
Member of the National League of American Pen Woman