Posts Tagged ‘book marketing’

Free Webinar: 5 Things You Can Do To Gain Favor With The Media

The following is a guest post from Mary Lu Saylor, a 30 year veteran in television news. On Thursday, November 13 she’s co-hosting a free webinar entitled “5 Things You Can Do To Gain Favor With the Media.”

I was asked by the folks at Ambassador International to provide a little insight for authors to promote their books. I have a background in journalism and have been on the receiving end of all sorts of information from organizations, businesses, and even publishing houses touting their latest offerings. I also am an avid reader.

Quick tips to promote your message:

Make connections with your local TV stations and offer to do a live interview (it really isn’t as scary as you think!) They may have a day time talk show or slots open during their morning, noon, or weekend newscasts.
See if your local newspaper will do a feature on you.
Local radio stations occasionally will feature people who are doing unique things in the community.

In your pitch to these outlets either via telephone, email, or snail mail make sure the information you provide is short and concise. Give them the who, what, when, where, and why. Most importantly, make sure you tell them you are available.

Insight from authors

I reached out to two authors that I know and they have this advice for you:

Christian author Margaret Feinberg:

“As far as promoting books, we think it’s important for authors to know they are the plan. They are the editing plan. The marketing plan. The design plan. Everything. Authors shouldn’t think that if they sign with a traditional house everything will be taken care of. They need to be intentional about building and maintaining a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and others. They are the marketing plan. Great content is everything.”

Christian author Dwayne Morris:

“My greatest promotional tool was guest-posting on other people’s blogs. I connected with several people who have big platforms and they allowed me to speak into the lives of their audience. They also posted links to my book. (These include Michael Hyatt and Michael Nichols.) The bottom line…make connections with people and serve them and their audience. If you help enough people get what they want, you’ll eventually get what you want.”

I’m one of the presenters for an upcoming webinar “5 Things You Can Do To Gain Favor With The Media” which will give you more ideas about successfully delivering your message. Click here to sign up for the November 13 event.

I’d love to hear from you! Email me ([email protected]) for a free tip sheet with more detail on some of the items I’ve outlined above.

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Author Do’s and Dont’s for Enhancing Twitter Presence

With over 700,000 new books released just this year, the pool of authors is becoming more of an ocean. But, the good news is readers are ready and eager to dive in. This is due largely in part to the impact social media has had on the book industry. Authors are no longer unattainable beings only connected to their readers by words on a page. Social media platforms have not only enabled authors to connect to their established readers, but also expand their readership with practically free PR. Twitter’s easy to use 140 character platform and massive collection of users has made it one of the most valuable marketing tools for authors available today, if used correctly.

Here are 6 Do’s and Dont’s of Twitter to help you use this platform to your full advantage:

Do: Think about the time of day you send out tweets

Understanding the heavy traffic times for social media can be crucial in getting your tweets maximum exposure. The three best times of day to send out your tweets are relatively easy to remember: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. By that we mean, the majority of people are checking social media on their morning commutes, lunch hour, and around 6pm (as they get home from work). So, click the send button with every meal and share your content with the world.

Don’t: Send automatic direct messages

An automatic “thank you” DM can seem impersonal to a new follower, and be a real turn-off. If you really want to express your gratitude, send a personal DM yourself. It will allow you to connect more with your followers and appear truly engaged.

Do: Follow users with similar interests

It is important to build your following around people who share your likes and interests because those are the people most likely to be interested in your book. A large audience is important, but following random users in the hopes of a return follow will not give you the quality audience you want. Plus, you could be labeled as a “follow-spammer” which will decrease your credibility.

Don’t: Become solely self promoting

Twitter is a “give and take relationship” with a community (see below). If your tweets are constant promotions of your work, people will get bored and unfollow. Although, they can be great marketing tools, also use your tweets to express your personality and allow readers to get to know you better.

Do: Interact consistently

Twitter is about satisfying that need for human interaction and communication. By delving into conversations about other users’ works and projects, you build a rapport encouraging others to contribute to your work. Also, keep this up consistently. If your followers do not see regular tweets weekly, even daily, they may assume your account is inactive.

Don’t: Allow your followers to be filled with fake accounts

There is nothing more discouraging then finding out that 75% of your hundreds of followers are not even real users. In fact, more than half of the accounts that follow the President of the United States are fake. Use this Fake Follower Check to find out which accounts are real, and also see who is actively engaged on Twitter. This will give you a better understanding of how to increase your marketability.

Need help finding great people to follow on Twitter? Check out our list of @AmbassadorIntl authors on Twitter!

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She Speaks: Being the Author God Wants You To Be

The following is a guest post from Ambassador author Carrie Daws about her recent experience at the She Speaks Conference, held July 24-26 in Concord, North Carolina.

Overwhelmed. Doing my best. Uncertain. Spinning my wheels.

These are the phrases I would have used to describe my author plan. I know God gave me books to write, but getting the thoughts from my head to your hands is not simple. Bookstores are flooded with a plethora of resources to help me, but I can’t read them all and sometimes they contradict. And who am I to write a book anyway? The great writers are doing a fine job without me. Are you as frustrated as I am?

Walking into the She Speaks Conference by Proverbs 31 Ministries this year, I expected to walk away with tools for marketing, ideas to spark creative juices, and lists of things to do. Instead, God infused my thoughts with truth.

What you think disqualifies you, is exactly what God is going to use to change someone else’s life.

Glynnis Whitwer

I’m not Francine Rivers and may never be as popular as she is, but the truth is that God already has Francine and doesn’t want me to be her. He created me to be me, to accomplish His purposes my way. And the shortcomings and inadequacies I see are often the very things that draw others to me, and thereby to Him.

Authors Carrie Daws, Shaunti Feldhahn and Kathy Barnett at the She Speaks Conference.

God has something amazing for me to do. He is doing amazing things in the process.

Shaunti Feldhahn

Shaunti’s statement is one of those truths that I know but struggle to remember. I understand that God has a great plan that includes me, and I acknowledge that He wants to use me to accomplish incredible things. But the truth is that each step along the way is also amazing. It may not feel like it at the time, but when I stop to reflect back on the journey, I see those little moments that became stepping stones that got me where I stand right now. Every step is amazing.

You already have what it takes to accomplish His plans for you.

Renee Swope

This proclamation by Renee really caught my attention because I struggle every week to understand more about writing and HTML codes and best social media practices. I seem to be a constant flurry of learning what is just outside my grasp of understanding. Yet the truth is that God didn’t give me an assignment and send me on my way. He also gave me everything I would need to accomplish the assignment! Sometimes it’s in the form of books and blog posts and Google searches, and sometimes it’s through real people who make the keystrokes for me. But I am not alone on this journey that often feels very solitary.

Our passion cannot be our words. Our passion must be the Word.

Lysa TerKeurst

I endeavor to find the right words and put sentences in the order that will have the biggest impact. And while that’s important, the truth is that the time I spend with God in His Bible is more important. I must be filled with Him so I can overflow with love and grace and compassion. Otherwise, the words I find will not be the ones that change lives and make His name known.

Ambassador authors of The Warrior’s Bride, Kathy Barnett and Carrie Daws.

This is not a game. We write to free people from bondage.

Christine Caine

Sometimes I put off writing because no one asks for an account of my time. Sometimes I put it off because it’s hard, or boring, or frustrating. Sometimes I just put words on paper and throw them out to the world without really considering what I just wrote. But Christine is right: our writing is not a game. God wants to use me and my writing—all my writing—to affect change. To love people. To free them from the bondages in which our enemy wants to bind them. This is a battle where sometimes, many times, I do not get a second chance.

So while I also learned a couple new tidbits about Pinterest and what Lysa TerKeurst strives to put into every chapter she writes, I walk away from She Speaks with encouragement and motivation from God, whom I’m reminded is my biggest cheerleader. What an amazing thought!

Learn more about Carrie Daws at CarrieDaws.com. Her newest book, The Warrior’s Bride: Biblical Strategies to Help the Military Spouse Thrive, will be released in fall 2014.

Getting the Most Out of Goodreads: Linking Other Social Media Accounts

According to Goodreads, almost 117,000 authors have joined the Goodreads Author programs. So how do you stand out among so many? Combine your social media forces to work in your favor.

In our previous posts, you’ve learned:

Now it’s time to expand your social networking and reach out to the rest of the world. Okay, realistically, how about we just start with Facebook?

Facebook

You may have noticed that you can sign up for Goodreads with your Facebook account. When you sign up with Facebook, or when you connect your Goodreads to Facebook afterwards, Goodreads gives you the option to auto-post your Goodreads activity directly to Facebook.

Like any app that uses Facebook, Goodreads can get a bit “over enthusiastic” about posting on your wall—and you may never even realize it. So I would suggest disabling the “auto-post” feature and just share your reviews, giveaways, etc. manually.

As a side note, having a Facebook fan page the readers can “like” gives you a platform to promote yourself. Remember our discussion about Fans vs Friends in our last post? The same applies to a Facebook fan page. You can’t keep up a personal relationship with all of your fans (you are only human after all), so a fan page gives your readers a way to keep updated on your books and author news. But, alas, I digress. This post is about Goodreads, so let’s get back to it.

Blogs

The Goodreads Author program gives you a blog when you sign up, but you may already have a blog. So Goodreads allows you to stream your blog posts from your website through your Goodreads blog; you only have to write your posts once to reach two websites. Pretty neat? I would say so.

Write reviews on your blog? Well, you can also have the book reviews that you write on Goodreads appear auto-post onto your blog. If you regularly post other book reviews on your blog, this is definitely a feature worth looking into.

Widgets

A widget is a little device that you can place on the side of your blog—follow buttons, mini Twitter feeds, a book shelf from Goodreads—widgets come in all shapes and sizes. Widgets can get really complicated really fast. Fortunately, Goodreads foresaw your need and gives you several different shapes and sizes to fit the style of your blog.

By placing a Goodreads widget, or badge, on your blog, you give your readers another chance to connect with you, to go look at your profile, and, most importantly, see the books that you’ve written. Everything always points back towards your work.

Twitter

You can also connect your Goodreads updates to Twitter. Goodreads will auto-post (auto-tweet?) your Goodreads activities—reviews, books read, etc.—straight to Twitter. Again, this gives your readers another chance to connect with you and be exposed to your work.

All of these social avenues may seem overwhelming, but don’t worry! You don’t have to do them all. Just start with the social media accounts that you have. Don’t have a blog but love Twitter? Then start with Twitter. Every little step towards marketing yourself well is a step in the right direction.

Hopefully these past few weeks have helped you get your feet wet in the world of Goodreads self-promotion. If you have any other questions, please leave a comment below or contact us Twitter @AmbassadorIntl

Getting the Most Out of Goodreads: Creating Book Buzz

More than 25 million people are members of the social reading platform Goodreads. According to the site, every second four books were found on the site. For authors working to promote their books, Goodreads should not be ignored! In our last post, we discussed the benefits of becoming a Goodreads Author. Today’s hot topic: using Goodreads to get readers excited about your book.

How Can You Create Reader Interest?

All authors want people to read and love their books, but if readers don’t know a book exists, they won’t read it. So authors need to spread the word, marketing their own books. Using the Goodreads Author Program, authors have plenty of options to spread the word and express their creativity.

Reviews

The best way to promote any book is to get reviews. There are already more than 29 million book reviews on Goodreads. Reviews and ratings provide the standard from which browsers judge your book. Most people choose books based on the recommendation of someone else—even if that person is a complete stranger. Every giveaway, promotion, and update should all be aimed at getting readers to talk about your book and to generate reviews.

Review and Rate Other Books Besides Your Own

Readers love to know what their favorite author thinks about other books. Some authors have large “recommended reading” lists, but Goodreads makes recommending books a bit easier. As a Goodreads Author, you are also a Goodreads user. So rate away! Review books and tell your readers why or why not you would recommend this book. Readers will begin to trust your judgment and, by extension, your books.

Giveaways

Listing ARCs (advanced reader’s copies) as giveaways on Goodreads is a great way to generate pre-launch buzz. Readers who have never heard of you before may receive your book and become a fan for a lifetime. Okay, that’s a best case scenario, but you get the idea—the more people that know about your book, the better. Check out the giveaway Ambassador is currently running on Goodreads and enter to win one of five copies of Willing to Die by John Muntean:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Willing to Die

by John Muntean

Giveaway ends July 23, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

According to Goodreads, “an average of 825 people enter to win any given giveaway.” That’s a lot of traffic for your book! Even if most of the readers don’t win your book, they are still exposed to your work. Either way, giveaways can be a very effective tool.

Other Ways to Promote your Books include:

Posting videos, such as an interview or video blog
Creating Quizzes
Updating events, such as book signing or appearances
Participating in book groups

Now that you know how to reel readers in, next week, we’ll discuss author and reader interaction. Interacting with readers can be both fun and a bit tricky. What should you do if you get a bad review or a bad rating? Want to ask a question about Goodreads? Comment below or ask Ambassador on Twitter @AmbassadorIntl.

Getting the Most Out of Goodreads: Aiding Authors in Shameless Self-promotion

Since its launch in 2007, Goodreads has grown to over 25 million users discussing, sharing, and reading over 750 million books. That’s a lot of people who could be buying your book. But where to start?

Why Goodreads?

Free Marketing. Two magical words that every author loves to hear. In the world of shameless self-promotion, authors have a steep job ahead of them, so a little free marketing can go a long way. Social media websites, like Twitter and Facebook, make promoting more simple, but Goodreads specifically focuses on making an author’s life easier.

The Author Program

Goodreads created a program just for you, the author. Besides being a popular information hub for obsessive bibliophiles and casual readers alike, Goodreads treats authors like a VIPs, giving them special tools geared towards helping them sell their books. These tools and features are part of the Goodreads Author Program.

The Author Program allows you to

Hold giveaways
Blog and let your readers the latest news
Start a featured author group for yourself so readers can discuss your books
Upload videos
Edit your books’ information and upload covers etc.

These special privileges, and a few others, help you communicate with your readers and create a following. The more people that know about your books, the better your books will sell.

How to join:

Sign up or Sign in. If you don’t already have an account, you can sign up through Facebook , or you can sign up with just your email. If you already have an account, make sure you’re signed in.
Search for your book. The author program is for authors who have already been published or are currently being published. Once you have found your book, click on the author name (yours), and you should be taken to the author page.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Click on the “is this you?” link and join as a Goodreads Author.

Over the next few weeks, we will discuss:

How to better promote your books using the Goodreads Author Program
How to use Goodreads with Twitter and Facebook
Author and Reader Interaction: The Do’s and Don’t’s

In the mean time, look around on Goodreads, become friends with Ambassador International and enjoy your new VIP status–you’re a Goodreads Author.

Beyond the Manuscript: How to organize a successful signing (week 5)

Over the span of six weeks Ambassador COO Tim Lowry will be sharing a series he calls “Beyond the Manuscript.” Whether you’re a new or seasoned author we hope you’ll find this material helpful:

Week 1: Author and publisher marketing
Week 2: Creating a platform
Week 3: Building your fan base
Week 4: Developing your product launch plan
Week 5: How to organize a successful signing
Week 6: Engaging media on a local and national level

For many authors a book signing is high moment in their career as a writer, they get to interact with family, friends and supporters and see the excitement and response first hand from those buying their book. With this in mind you want your signing event to be great!

Signing events are a big deal. If you have a good event managers will want you back and short list you for future events. The work you put in is invaluable.

Select a Time and Location

The first step is obvious, you will want to select a popular local retail store, preferably working with the manager and retail partner you’ve already connected with. When selecting dates keep your area in mind. Certain nights in certain regions or during certain times of year are not good. Think mid-week meetings, football season, local high school games. These are small details that can have a great impact on turnout.

Start Promoting

When a date is selected you want to start event promotion, there are many steps you can take to make your signing a success. Being strategic and paying attention to the detail are a big part of it.

You will want to use the tools you have established. Create a Facebook event, invite all your followers. Make it open to public and encourage fans to share.
Email your contact list, perhaps you already have a eNewsletter you send out, use this list and notify them of your event. If you don’t have an eNewsletter look into signing up for a service like MailChimp.This is a great service that allows you to professionally send and manage your email marketing and will avoid you’re email from being blacklisted or becoming associated with spam. Your eNewsletter is a great way to keep you front and center with your fans.
Go old school and produce flyers or handouts, a good publisher will coordinate with you on this. Distribute them at church, among friends, leave copies at the bookstore. Some stores are open to using a quality flyer as a bag stuffer. Create an event poster, put them up at the store (with the manager’s permission), at coffee houses, church, give copies to friends and ask them to further distribute at the places they frequent.
Reach out to your media list, see if the local paper will interview you and promote the event or perhaps you can get on a local breakfast show the day of your event. Use your well-developed pitch. Alternatively coordinate with your publisher to assist you in your media outreach efforts.
While preparing the ground locally add your event to local event calendars. Many newspapers, cities and local news stations will have event calendars for free on their websites.

The Key to Success

We have put each of these elements into play for many events. As a case study lets take the title Healing Hearts. Earlier this year we had a major launch, we reached out to key regional magazines months in advance, we got an interview and it was circulated to 300,000 readers in a Dallas based publication. We held interviews with local affiliates of national stations. We created a Facebook event inviting hundred of followers. The author sent out emails and mailings to 500+ contacts and announced it among his contacts and at his church. Barnes and Noble advertised the signing on their website and in-store with posters. Our publicist was on the ground in Dallas to assist with media and sales. The event came around and we sold several hundred books and the event ran seven hours making it one of the largest events in this history of this specific Barnes and Noble store. Much work was put into this. The author worked extremely hard coordinating his personal promotional elements and we as a publishing house worked to tie the event and media together. Our efforts combine to make a great event. The volume of sales for this event may have been the exception rather than the rule however we have seen strong sales over and over when the above steps are put into action.

I share this to encourage you. Put in the hard work.

Also, don’t be afraid to be creative with your promotions.

Getting Creative with Promotion

Consider having a blog tour running up to the big event. Each blogger can post a review, link to the title and announce the event through their blog posts. You can then share each post daily through your social media in the run up to the event.

Ask the store (if an indie) to host a Google+ Hangout with you. This can be used to promote the event and store. For an indie store this can be a great way for them to get followers to their social media, they may even be willing to offer a gift card as a prize. Remember that stores are also looking for ways to get attention and if you show you care about getting them exposure they will appreciate it. A lead into a signing such as this also provides you with a media angel.

You also can be thinking of what kind of giveaway you can offer. It could be something as simple as giving away a handful of signed copies through your site in the run up to the signing or a free ebook for the first 10-25 sales at your event. This can be something to partner with your publisher on. Have the buyers email their book receipt from the event to the publisher and eReader type. The publisher could provide a download code.

Final Prep

With the big event about 10 days out, you’ll want to ensure stock is on hand. This seems like something you shouldn’t need to worry about however even the best stores can make a slip up and we find ourselves overnighting books. Avoid surprises, check up on the stock or have your publisher do this. It is also worthwhile having a plan in place seeing extra stock accessible should you sell out.

Finally, this is the one party you don’t want to be late for arrive 10-15 minutes early.

I’d love to hear about your first signing, what did you learn from it?

Beyond the Manuscript: Developing your product launch plan (week 4)

Week 1: Author and publisher marketing
Week 2: Creating a platform
Week 3: Building your fan base
Week 4: Developing your product launch plan
Week 5: How to organize a successful signing
Week 6: Engaging media on a local and national level

We’re now 4 weeks into this series and today we’re going to be looking at Developing Your Product Launch Plan.

Ideally the building of your platform should be in full swing while you’re writing and especially as you advance into publication.

As you move into publication you want to start working on your launch plan. This is very important. If you wait until the book is out then start planning you will have lost valuable time and opportunities.

Developing a launch plan starts with creating buzz.

You need to get people excited.

Why?……

Your book is coming out!! This is exciting, let people feel your energy and enthusiasm, you’ve put a lot of hard work into getting to this moment.

Use your social media, share updates of when and how your book will be available, publicize scheduled signings, readings, book festivals, conferences. Let your fans know. Offer your followers pre-release exclusives, this could be the ebook and print book bundled or personalized copies. You can partner with your publisher on this for joint marketing.

You will want to connect with retail. This is especially important in your home market, this should be were your biggest initial audience and personal sales come from.

Pick a strategic retail partner. You might decide you want to have the support of a local indie store or if your publisher has distribution into a national chain you may take this route. Many writers develop friendships with bookstore managers early on in the writing process so you may already have a store in mind.

Once you’ve picked a retail outlet you feel is central to the local success of your title make those all important introductions. You’ll want to connect with the manager, owner or CRM (community relations manager), share with them about your book (using the title, not “my book”), how you’d like to work with them on a local level for a launch party/signing. They may have questions so be prepared, as I shared in earlier posts you’ll want to master your pitch. This allows you to draw in the manager and get them excited, be prepared to tell them about your local reach, what you’ve been doing to build a following and most importantly be prepared to tell them how and when they can get the book. Is it nationally distributed through a publisher/distributor or is it a self-published title that you will be handling the distribution? If this is the case know your discount scales and terms.

Once you’ve established your local retail partner, link to them on your website. Plug them in your social media and connect with their social media, keep a close eye on what they are doing so you can make yourself available should they be doing anything locally that will help get your book out there.

Stay connected with the manager work with them on your local events.

When planning events you have three main categories you can consider:

Retail: this includes bookstores, gift shops, coffee houses
Non-Retail: covers churches, book clubs, libraries, schools and of course
Online: Google+ Hangouts, blog tours, giveaways

Each of these categories need to be explored and tested by you. You will find that you’re going to have strengths in some areas and weaknesses in others. If you plan wisely you can have each event cross promote another.

Think about your audience and where they will be likely to go.

The next step is creating a media database. A media database along with your retail contacts and fan base will become a go-to list for the ongoing success of your title and any future titles. You will want to compile a spreadsheet including:

Local TV and radio show producers
Local news papers and magazine editors
Local events calendars
Bloggers and reviewers

Do keep in mind national media likes several months lead time. National magazines around 3-6 months lead and national broadcast around 3 months lead unless it is breaking news. If you’re reaching out to local TV and Radio the lead time is not as essential.

Creating this database for yourself is going to take work but it is worth it. If you have a good publisher they’ll have reach into an extensive media databases and will pitch your title as they see appropriate. I do however recommend you make your own connections when possible and build on relationships with any that interview you. You never know when your subject matter ties in perfectly with breaking news.

Your platform is established. Your social media is active and working. You’ve got your pitches down. You have store contacts, media contacts and a launch plan created.

Next week we’re going to put this all into action and help you make your first big event a successful signing.

What retailer do you want to have your first big event at? Have you got a game plan in place to ensure a buying crowd is in attendance?

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