Jo Linsdell and the Toughest Marketing Lesson Ever

Today, I'm welcoming my friend and fellow author (and marketer extraoirdinaire) Jo Linsdell to Fabianspace.

Jo Linsdell is a best selling author and illustrator, award winning blogger, and freelance writer. She is also the founder and organiser of the annual online event Promo Day (www.PromoDay.info). Her latest release Virtual Book Tours: Effective Online Book Promotion From the Comfort of Your Own Home is now available from Amazon. Find out more about her at her website www.JoLinsdell.com

I've learnt a lot of marketing lessons since I first started out in my writing career. The first one that springs to mind is how much time is involved. When you think of being a writer you don't take into account the amount of time you'll be putting into your marketing efforts. And let me tell you, the time you'll be investing is considerable. Between creating media kits, writing and submitting press releases, commenting on blogs, working various social media sites, etc.... you'll sometimes wonder if you'll ever have time to write another book.

The second is the importance of a marketing plan. You're marketing plan is the most important tool you'll create. It gives you focus and shows you what you need to do in order to reach your goals. It can also help you deal with the previously mentioned time issues.

The toughest lesson I've learnt though is asking for help. I'm a D.I.Y. kind of gal by nature and a complete control freak. Whilst growing up I always felt I could only really count on myself if I wanted to make things happen. As the saying goes "if it's meant to be, it's up to me". This is true... to a certain point. You can't always count on others to help you succeed. People can let you down. They might not fully understand your view or just be hell to work with. That said, you need other people. Sometimes you just have to accept the risks and concentrate on the benefits.

As a writer having a support network can make a real difference to your marketing efforts. Just think about it, You post a promo that your book is going to be released soon to your Facebook page. You could just put it out there and cross your fingers that someone happens to see it in their newsfeed and like, comment on, or share it (changes of these actions actually happening are slim to none). Alternatively you can ask your followers to share the post. Yep by simply adding a call to action to "like", "comment", or "share" has been proved to make a big difference in levels of engagement.

The same thing applies to marketing campaigns like virtual book tours. During a tour you need people to host you on their sites. One way or another you're going to have to ask people to support you. Whether you do a general appeal via your social media sites or send out individual queries, you're going to need to ask. The good thing is you'll be surprised by how many people will help solve your problems if you just let them.

Buy Virtual Book Tours at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ELNAQ92

Excerpt from Chapter 1: What are Virtual Book Tours?

 

Book promotion has changed a lot over the years and the introduction of the internet, and with it blogs, started a revolution in how authors can reach their target audience and connect with their readers. In the past authors would do book signings, readings, radio and television interviews, and aim at book reviews from noted publications in a hope of spreading the word about their books.

Whilst these methods are still valid in today's market they are limited. For a start, organising such promotions is difficult especially for new authors and even more so for those self publishing. It's true the reputation of self publishing has changed immensely in recent years and it no longer has the same stigma attached to it... that said some of the larger bookstore chains and publications still prefer to work with agents and well known traditional Publishers.

This is just one of the many reasons why virtual book tours are such a great idea. Everyone can do one. No exceptions. With a little knowledge of social media and blogging you can easily set up a virtual book tour to promote your latest release or put new life into an older project.

So what is a virtual book tour? A virtual book tour is when you tour the web over a set period of time promoting your book. (I'll go into the different types of stops you can include in your tour later in chapter 3).

There are various ways you can set up your tour. Some authors choose to do a tour lasting anywhere from a week to a couple of months where they are hosted on different sites each day. Others prefer to do a tour that lasts for several months but only has one or two hosts per week.

Then there's the question of content. Some are review only tours where the only type of stops on the tour are for reviews of your book. Others include a large variety of stop types and use all kinds of media and technology during their tours.

All these elements come down to your goals for the tour, the type of content you feel most comfortable doing and the amount of time you have to work on your tour.

 

What do you want in a bio?

We're discussing bios on a Facebook group I'm in "Where Writers and Authors Meet."  It's been kind of interesting the variety of opinion. 

Some folks are of the "do it like the big wigs" camp:  Author writes x, y, and z, and lives in CITY with a cat.

Some sugest more background:  hobbies, family, inspirations, etc.

Others suggest something more professional:  awards, other books, professions, etc.

Personally, I'm somewhere between the first and last camp.  I don't think anyone cares about my family situation (unless it pertains to the book), and I don't think I'm especially interesting.  Anyway, I want you to love my characters, not me.  I'm the channel of communication between them an you.  However, I do default to "common wisdom" by tossing in a few things about myself.

Of course, writing a book bio is different, IMHO, than a general bio for a website.  In a way, they are easier.  I want to mostly focus on stuff that relates to the book, so in my Neeta Lyffe bios, I think funny and zombies. 

Winner of the 2010 INDIE for best Fantasy (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem) and a Global eBook Award for Best Horror (Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator), Karina Fabian’s writing takes quirky twists that keep her--and her fans--amused. Nuns working in space, a down-and-out Faerie dragon working off a geas from St. George, zombie exterminators—there’s always a surprise in Fabian’s worlds. Mrs. Fabian teaches writing and book marketing seminars online. 

For Why God Matters, I thought faith-filled and family.

Karina Lumbert Fabian was born into the Catholic faith, but truly grew to love it as an adult. As a busy mother of four, she finds some of her strongest encounters with God's love happen in the ordinary events of the day-to-day. Karina started her writing career with diocesan newspapers but has settled into writing fun-filled fantasy and science fiction that nonetheless incorporates the principles of faith-filled living.

For the website, however, I had to find a way to combine all my loves and quirks.

Karina Fabian breathes fire, battles zombies with chainsaws and window cleaner, travels to the edge of the solar system to recover alien artifacts, and has been driven insane by psychic abilities. It’s what makes being an author such fun. She won the 2010 INDIE Award for best fantasy for Magic, Mensa and Mayhem (her first DragonEye, PI novel) and the Global E-Book Award for best horror for Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator. She’s an active member of Broad Universe and the Catholic Writers’ Guild, and teaches writing and marketing online. When not writing, she enjoys her family and swings a sword around in haidong gumbdo.

But I have to tell you:  every time I have to write a new bio, I wonder "Does it really matter?"  So I ask you, do you read bios?  If so, what do you like to see?

Authors: Don't Spam on Me

Is it just me, or is there a growing trend among authors to use their e-mail to spam friends, acquaintances and business associates alike with their writing news?

I'd already seen it on Yahoo groups.  Some of my groups are more "I'm blooging about this today!" than the discussions, requests for help, offers of assistance, etc. that I used to enjoy.  In the last couple of months, I've been getting LinkedIn e-mails from people announcing this or that event as well.  A couple of weeks ago, I gave my e-mail to someone for a particular reason...and found myself subscribed to his newsletter, and another person e-mailed me and (I guess) all his mailing list about a local book signing--never mind that we don't even live in the same state.

The social networking era has given us great opportunities for getting our own personal news out to the masses--however, it's also given us a way-too convenient means to annoy those masses, and thus turn off potential readers.

Yet, too often the advice is: use your e-mail and contact lists!  Announce your writing, yes, even your blogs posts!  Get the word out!  So where's the happy medium?  I'd like to suggest some guidelines:

1.  FB and Twitter are great places for announcements.  People expect them here.  There are also venues for announcements on Goodreads, LinkedIn,etc., where people can mark their settings if they are interested in such things.

2.  It takes a little more time, but rather than sending a blanket e-mail to everyone on your list about your local event, find out where you can post about your event in your local online newspaper or author events pages (AuthorsDen has something, I think).  Find out if there are bloggers who post about events in your area and send them the info.

3.  Press releases for the big events!

4.  Use your e-mail list to occasionally invite people to sign up for your newsletter, and use that to send out announcements.  You can make this even better by providing a couple of ready-made tweets and asking your readers to use them to share your news.

5.  Print up some nice flyers and post them in your local businesses for your big events, and if you are part of a big event that is already being advertised, offer to help with publicity for some in return.

Finally--BE INTERESTING.  "Come to my signing at..." will work with friends, family, and fans, but if you want to get new readers, give them the payout.  "Like zombies? Like to laugh? Like signed editions?  I'm signing I Left My Brains in San Francisco at..."

My Writer's Journey: Tired of Busting Butt. So what now?

*Whine Alert.  Grab some cheese before you read on.*

"Karina, you do great work...but people don't believe it."

I was a first lieutenant in the Air Force when my supervisor told me this.  Twenty-two years old, working hard and apparently producing great work, but nonetheless, for the most part, I did not have the confidence of my chain of command and my coworkers that I could actually do the job--even when the fruits of my labors were there for them to see.

I still remember my first reaction--to get upset.  My second was to ask my commander, "And what are you doing about that?  Because I am doing good work and busting my butt for this organization."  However, the Major was being sincere and seemed frustrated over it, too. Plus, he was a Marine, and you don't whine or demand entitlements of a Marine.  Besides, I was an officer--give me a problem and I'd handle it.  So I said, "Okay, why, and what do I do about it?"

"I don't know," he replied. 

It's 23 years later, and I find myself having the same conversation.

I am a very good writer.  I write tight prose and fast-moving, complex plots.  People love my characters.  My humor can make people laugh out loud in public and even spit out their drinks.  And this isn't me bragging--this is what I get told by folks who have read my work.  My novels and anthologies have won popular and judge-based awards, and have four or more stars on Amazon.  My publishers tell me I'm one of the hardest working marketers they have--and more than one has hired me to teach the basics to their other authors--which I do well.  Even when I've asked for help, I get the same advice I'm already following.

And yet...  My Amazon rankings are low.  My sales are low.  My blog and website hits are low.  I work hard, do the same kind of things other more successful authors do, and even with high-quality work, my books are not thriving. 

Karina, you do great work...but people don't believe it.

When it comes down to it, that's why I'm tired of writing.  I love writing, but I'm tired of working so hard to create great books and to promote them, yet to achieve so little in terms of readership.

I left the active-duty Air Force in 1993 to stay home to raise our first child.  I have to admit, much as I wanted to be a stay-home mom, some of it was because I was tired of working hard and yet not getting the recognition commensurate to my work.  I didn't enjoy the Air Force that much.

However, I love writing.  I've never had such fun or felt such satisfaction as I do when creating and polishing a story.  But I'm tired, tired, tired of busting butt for such small returns.  And it's not even the money, per se.  We're financially well-off; money is a measure of success and readership--though I do feel I should at least get back what I invest.

 So, now I'm back to the question I had asked my commanding officer nearly two decades ago:  "Okay, why, and what do I do about it?"

Nine Ways to Promote Your Book When Your Book Isn't Ready for Promotion

We get told to start promoting early--earlier the better!  But in the age of Internet, attention spans are as fast and fleeting as the click of a mouse.  When we're balancing work and home, family and writing, does it make time sense to put a lot of effort into promoting a book when you don't have the cover much less a purchase link?

Online, that pre-promotion is less important as well.  You are not competing for shelf space, so you don't have to make big sales in those critical first few weeks.  You also don't have the benefit of a bookstore reinforcing your promotion efforts or taking names of folks who want to buy your book before it comes out.  So, while you could lose impulse readers who see something about your book a month before it comes out, then forget to buy it when it comes out, you have the luxury of taking a longer term approach and promoting months or even years after it's out.

Personally, I don't push a book online until I have at least a pre-order link.  However, that doesn't mean I'm not promoting and marketing. Here's what you can do to be ready for the big day:

1.  Gather your stuff!  Prepare a promotional package with the following”

• Tag Lines
• 140 character summary
• short summary
• medium summary (200 words)
• Long summary (400 words)
• 140 character bio
• 30-word bio
• 75-word bio
• 300 word bio
• Short excerpt
• Medium excerpt
• Long excerpt (make this one that’s good for readings, too.  No more than 5 minutes.)
• Video Trailer Codes
• List of where folks can find you—include all social media as well as blogs, etc.
• Links for purchase.
• Keep this file where you can fill it in as you get the stuff.  Use it for book tours or whenever you need the information.

2. Build contact list.

3. Build relationships.

4. Sell yourself as a writer.

5. Sell your book in general terms:  short stories, blogging about your writing adventures with that book

6. Build your marketing plan.

7. Make some teaser videos.  I did that with Live and Let Fly.  Short, snappy and of the “coming soon” variety, they got folks interested.  Later, when I got the book cover and date, I redid them.

8.  Pull out quotes you can use as tweets and excerpts for the blog tour, etc.  This is a good thing to do in the editing process.  Pick your favorite one-liners, esp those of 140 characters or less. Then when it comes out, you have a ready-made list of tweets you can post easily.

9.  Get endorsements.  Start finding a famous author or celebrity who will read and comment on your book.  You might be able to make a blurb page in the book or back cover and if not, you’ll have them for the website.