Market research is an essential step in creating a book marketing plan. But it doesn’t have to be as scary, dull, or time-consuming as you might think. You can’t afford to ignore it. So why not keep it simple? In this post, my goal is to help you do just that — simplify market research for your book marketing plan by helping you focus on
Today marks the first day in a week-long blog series on book marketing plans. In addition to sharing some background on what book marketing plans are all about, I’ll also release a few fun tools and resources to help you create your own. Let’s kick things off with a quick introduction to book marketing plans. Who needs them? What can they do for you and
It’s not enough to simply have an author website. You need to make sure the website you have actually works for you. It has to reach whatever goals you set for it. And if it’s not currently doing that, you should consider making some changes. Not sure if your author website needs work? Conduct a simple website audit to find out. What is a Website Audit? A website audit
While checking my feed reader this morning, I came across this post by Cate Baum at SelfPublishingReview.com: Why Pay for a Book Review? Now I’ve made my feelings about paid book reviews clear here before in: Should Indie Authors Pay for Book Reviews? [Hint: No.] And I went so far as to put my decade-long history in financially-successful Web publishing to work, offering tips for
If you’re an author, you’ve probably heard that you should consider having a blog. Some authors swear by them. Others swear them off as a distraction and waste of time. But the marketing value of blogs is undeniable, and they can be effective promotional tools for both nonfiction and fiction authors. In a future post we’ll take a look at some of the ways you can simplify
For this week’s quick tip, I’d like to bring up an oldie but goodie — a tip I’ve been passing along to freelance writers for years, coming from my background in PR. Instead of using the same writer’s market lists that most other freelancers are also using, find new prospects in media directories instead. How Media Directories Are Different Media directories are similar to writer’s
Here’s a quick tip about how you can more effectively promote your writing every month, whether that means marketing your freelance writing services, your books, or your blogs. Use a monthly marketing calendar. What’s the Point of a Monthly Marketing Calendar? A monthly marketing calendar gives you an easy way to keep all of your marketing information on one handy sheet of paper. I have
Raise your hand if you’re an author who has ever complained that you don’t have enough time to market your books. After all, you’re too busy writing, right? While making time for larger book marketing efforts is a requirement and reality of self publishing today (or any publishing for that matter), there are still plenty of things you can do to promote your book when
For this week’s new resource, let’s turn our attention to promoting your writing business. Whether that means promoting your freelance writing services, marketing a book, or growing your blog, there are numerous ways you can turn to other types of writing to promote your work. To point you in the right direction, here are 45 types of content and copywriting you can turn to when you need
Each Wednesday I try to release a new resource or highlight something worth recommending to you. While I was off most of last week, I didn’t put something up, and I’m making up for it with two freebies this week. The first is a simple downloadable content idea checklist for your author website and blog. About the Author Website Content Checklist You don’t have to
Getting potential readers to visit your author website isn’t enough. You need to convince them to stick around long enough to get a feel for you and your books, and hopefully convince them that they want more. Yet many author websites follow a very boring template. Let’s look at five ways your author website might be boring visitors and convincing them to leave rather than
Have you ever struggled to pinpoint the target market for your freelance writing services? If so, I have a free tool that might help. I decided to overhaul my old target market worksheet, previously only available to those who purchased my Web Writer’s Guide e-book which is no longer available. I’m releasing the updated version as a freebie. You’ll be able to find it in my collection
Many first-time authors don’t spend much time thinking about book marketing until they’ve finished writing their book, perhaps when they’re putting together a book proposal. However, you should think about your book marketing strategy well before getting to that point. “What can I do to market a book that doesn’t even exist yet?” you might ask. Good question. Here are three specific book promotional activities
There is a common misconception out there about author platforms. Many fiction authors seem to think that author platforms don’t apply to them. There is this notion that platforms are only relevant to nonfiction authors. But that’s far from the truth. While the fiction author’s platform might be different than their nonfiction counterpart’s, an author platform will still help a novelist sell more books, and
In my first Busy Author’s Guide, I’ll cover ways you can build your all-important author platform no matter how much, or how little, time you can invest. What is an author platform? Your author platform is essentially your presence and reach among your target audience. When you have a strong author platform, you have a built-in fan base of people who are literally waiting to buy your
I hear it all the time. Authors complain that they’re fed up with book promotion. They want to spend their time writing and not marketing their books. In many cases you can cut down on marketing time significantly. All you have to do is stop making some common book marketing mistakes, doing things to help your book sales when in fact you might be hurting
Have you considered taking part in a virtual book tour to promote your book or e-book? Have you put it off because you’re worried a virtual publicity tour might take too much time? It’s true. There are a lot of ways these promotional events can waste time. But the biggest waste of time is to go through one and not attract new readers. Fortunately there
As a follow-up to my recent post and infographic, Twitter tips for authors, I’d like to share a resource from another author. Anne R. Allen shared this post with me on Twitter, which she wrote last fall. Social Media Secrets for Authors, Part IV: How Not to Spam I hate spam. You hate spam. We all hate spam. It might be the only thing everyone
If you’re an author, you’ve probably heard plenty about the importance of social media marketing. But when it comes to using social networks as marketing and PR tools, there are right and wrong ways to go about it. Let’s look at Twitter as an example. Here are some Twitter tips that will help you build better relationships with existing fans (which ultimately leads to more
The holiday season is a great time to connect with current and past clients. No matter if you do so on the phone, via email, or even in person, this is one time of the year when you should reach out to every current and past client. While job number one is to wish them a happy holiday season, this is also a great opportunity
I doubt any of you are strangers to spam. My favorites, if you can call them that, are all of the terrible pitches I receive from marketing and design firms as well as other freelancers. Here are the most common I see: “Your website isn’t ranking on the first page of Google,” (followed by all of the reasons I need their SEO services to get
Lori Widmer is a fellow business writer, and one of my “go-to gals” for all conversations business or writing-related. On her Words on the Page blog, Lori encourages new and experienced writing professionals alike to realize their worth and strive for something better. Lori inspires freelance writers to pull themselves up out of the low pay rut, and to do so through better marketing and networking. Her e-book, Marketing
In our interview with Lori Widmer of Words on the Page about marketing your freelance writing services, Lori emphasized the importance of building relationships and following up with prospects. If you’re one of the many writers who are uncomfortable with the idea of marketing from a direct sales perspective, thinking about marketing in terms of relationships can help you ease into a more effective marketing strategy.
There are only a handful of freelance writing colleagues that I turn to on a regular basis to bounce ideas around. Lori Widmer is one of those writers. And one issue where I wouldn’t hesitate to consult her for advice is freelance marketing. Lori comes from a business writing background, but also pursues creative writing projects (currently focusing on poetry). She knows how to adapt
As a freelance writer, there is more to your success than producing high quality content. Even though you may not enjoy the sales and marketing process, it is a big part of achieving your goals. With this in mind, these three words should always be close to your heart: always be closing. In other words, you should always be ready to close a deal. You
Lately, we have been discussing cold calling as a marketing method quite a bit. For example, my last post touched on how to discuss freelance pricing during a cold call. This time around, I want to take a closer look at when you should be making cold calls. If you are going to spend time on the phone, you might as well give yourself the
For many freelance writers, marketing is the “hot topic” of the day. Not only are these people looking for a marketing strategy that works, but they want to rely on something that doesn’t take up all their time. If this sounds familiar, you have probably given cold calling a second thought at some point in time. This is something we have discussed before. For example,
One of the main reasons for your success as a writer is your passion. You love what you do and it shows through in your work. Are you able to take this same passion and translate it to your marketing strategy? If so, you will have an easier time generating interest and landing new clients. Here are three ways to let your passion shine through
If you are going to market your freelance writing services, you might as well do whatever you can to achieve as much success as possible. This means following up on all activity, from cold calls to direct mail and everything in between. It is easy to believe that your marketing strategy will take care of itself the first time around. However, this is not always
For many freelance writers, marketing is not something they enjoy. In fact, this is something they fear for one reason or the next. But why? Why do so many people shy away from this when it could help take their career to the next level? Here are three reasons why some writers avoid creating a detailed marketing strategy: Afraid it won’t work. Let’s face it: