Anne H. Janzer's Blog, page 34

Subscription Marketing: June Edition

An unseasonably cold start to June got me thinking – the seasons are kind of like a subscription with unpredictable shipping dates. But according to the calendar, the ship date is June 20, so summer is upon us.

This month’s subscription marketing update should include something that strikes your fancy:

Thoughts on free trials
Research on subscription boxes
More entertaining subscription ideas – including ice cream!
Other resources

I’m a terrible free trial customer – and I’m not alone

Have you ever noticed that when you are a customer, you behave one way, but when you create content for customers, you assume they’ll behave better?

The free trial is a case in point. I regularly sign up for things and then forget about them. I’ll bet you do, too. But when you put out a free trial, do you assume that everyone who signs up will start using it right away?

Read more on that topic in this post: Three Myths About the Free Trial.

More research into the subscription economy

Zuora has published its latest Subscription Economy Index – a look at what’s happening in the subscription sector of the economy. A few findings from the latest one:

Subscription revenues grew 8 time faster than revenues of the S&P 500 companies.
The average annual churn rate remains high – 26% for B2B businesses and 35% for B2C. Ouch.

My friends from the Subscription Summit shared some insights presented at the recent conference in Austin, about the subscription box industry. According to the audience insight firm Hitwise:

The leading subscription box companies are on par with leading retailers in terms of online traffic.
Subscription box companies rely more heavily on social media for finding customers than their traditional counterparts.

More fun subscription businesses

This just keeps getting easier. Here are a few, wildly divergent offerings for your summer:

Ice cream! Perfect for summer – subscription ice cream from Goldbely. ‘Nuff said.
Gear for summer adventures: If outdoor adventures are your think, check out The Nomadik – a subscription box filled with gear for your outdoor adventures. Avid campers might love this one.
Stripper-wear. When the weather gets hot, you might want to strip. Stage Gurl has you covered (so to speak.) It is the subscription box for strippers. Kudos to the wonderful Robbie Baxter for pointing this one out.

Send me your weird and wonderful subscription boxes to share!

Other resources

What the Subscription Economy Means for B2B Markers on CustomerThink – which mentions industrial subscriptions like GE jet engines and Caterpillar charging by earth moved.

You can catch the replay of the Mindtouch Webinar I did last month here on how to make your company customer obsessed.

 

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When Fear Interferes With Writing

One morning last week, I woke up with a crushing sense of doubt about the book I’m about to publish.

The manuscript was with the editor, and I was starting the book launch phase. The first step is sending the book to people I know and trust for their feedback.

This is when fear pushed into the room. What the heck am I doing? Instead of working on the launch, some part of me wanted to hide somewhere with a good book and forget about this crazy project.

This experience got me thinking about fear and its role in the writing process.

When I ask people about their biggest barriers to writing, most respond with issues about focus or time. But one or two have given the deeply honest answer: fear.

Most of us feel fear, or its foot solider doubt, during the writing process.

Fear may be the biggest obstacle to productivity, encouraging us to rationalize procrastination. When we find something more urgent to do besides writing, is it because the other task is more important, or because we are afraid to move forward?

Fear Appears at Critical Junctures

Fear barges in to the writing process when it can do the most damage:

Before you start writing
Before you invest the work in revising what you have written
Before you send the work out into the world – to reviewers, to awards, to people you admire

Fear often appears before you do something meaningful. 

When you think about it this way, fear and doubt are a welcome sign. You’re doing something outside of your usual comfort zone.

In my situation, the book launch and publication process gathers so much momentum that once it’s going, fear can’t stop me.  So the moment of the advanced review was doubt’s last chance to derail me.

Having now published a few books, I understand that fear is part of the cycle, at least for me. I (almost) welcome its appearance, as it keeps me humble and careful.

Here are the strategies I’ve come up with for handling fear. See if they work for you.

1. Put the Fears and Doubts Into Words

Face the doubts and fear head on. Ask yourself specifically, what am I afraid of? What’s the worst that can happen? Write down those answers.

When I confronted my own doubts and wrote them down, I came up with answers like this:

The book is no good.
Who am I to write this book?
People will think this stuff is obvious.

When you put fears and doubts into words, they become manageable risks instead of terrifying mysteries.

For example, if you are worried about the quality, hire experienced editors. Worried about your qualifications? Take an objective look at why you’re qualified and write a bio that accurately reflects those reasons.

Doubts expressed become manageable risks.

The doubts and fears contain grains of truth. Some people will not like what you write – you must accept that you cannot satisfy everyone.

2.  Focus Out, Not In

Shift your focus to the reader. If you are serving the reader, the fear will dissipate.

Fear is a sign that you are focused on yourself, rather than the reader.

Why are you writing and publishing? To make yourself feel good, or to communicate with others?

If you write nonfiction, who is your ideal audience? Why would someone read it? To learn something? To be entertained? Are you passionate about sharing a specific idea?

If fiction is your thing, what are your motivations? Why do people read works like yours? What do you owe to the story, or the reader?

It’s not about you.

3. Act With Bravery

If you have a day of fear and doubt, search out other writers for support and encouragement. (See how “courage” is part of that word?)

Try something else as well: take an action that requires you to ignore the fear.

Fear is an invitation to courage.

For example, on my day of crushing doubt, I sent the book out to several early readers – the exact thing that I did not feel like doing.

Doing this demonstrated to my doubting self that it doesn’t control my actions. I practiced resilience and persistence – perhaps the most important attributes of any writer.

Related Resources

Two Books To Build Your Writing Resilience

Staying Silent or Finding Your Voice

Writing, Courage, and Community

Videos on Barriers to Writing

 

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Three Myths About Free Trials

 

Everybody loves a free trial.

Customers love free trials because they can test out a solution before buying it or subscribing, reducing their risk. Marketing and sales teams believe they accelerate the sales process.

The free trial is a favorite marketing and sales strategy for subscription-based businesses.

Yet the free trial is more complex and subtle than either buyer or seller may realize. Many businesses suffer from common misconceptions that can lead to problems either converting the trial user to a customer or in the long-term customer relationship.

Here are three common free trial myths that can hurt your business.

Myth #1: The free trial user is testing the product or service

What are people really testing during a free trial? If you asked them, they would probably say that they’re testing the service – the thing that they are paying for. That’s true, but not the whole truth.

In reality, people are testing the experience of being your customer. What does it feel like? How are their interactions with your business? Can they trust you with their data, credit card, and time? Will being your customer make their life better?

Reality: The free trial is a test of the experience of being a customer.

Their experience isn’t always within your control.  The person who signed up for a series of cycling classes might sprain an ankle, for example. Life happens.

Look at the trial from the customer’s perspective and see what you can control:

If the trial user has a problem and contacts support, what is that interaction like?
If they cannot figure something out, how much time will they need to spend looking for help?
If they wait three weeks to start the trial and then cannot find the login, what will they do?

Myth #2. The trial should convert as many customers as possible

As much as you want to believe that everyone under the sun should be your customer, it’s not true. There is such a thing as a bad fit customer. Signing them up damages your business.

Your solution may not meet their needs. If somehow you still convince them to sign up, you both might suffer:

They’ll realize their mistake and cancel soon or not renew at the first opportunity. Your business never recovers the cost of acquisition for this customer.
They will try to make the solution fit, burning up your time and theirs on endless support calls and feature requests.
They’ll be so unhappy that they feel betrayed and leave negative comments about your business on social media.

Reality: Not every free trial user should become a customer.

Sometimes the problem is a matter of timing. A prospect isn’t  ready to become a customer yet. You don’t want to burn the bridge, but you may not want them to sign up right now.

One of the most valuable roles of the free trial is determining the product fit. Make sure those customers find out and don’t try to sign them up automatically at the end of the trial. If you ask for a credit card up front, give them a chance to cancel before the trial concludes.

Myth #3. The service will sell itself

You’ve invested a lot of effort into the thing you’re selling. You’re excited about it, as you should be. So, it’s easy to imagine that anyone who signs up for a free trial shares your excitement.

Hold that thought.

Think about your own experience. Have you ever signed up for a free service or a trial because it sounded somewhat interesting, but then not followed through? Perhaps even forgot about it? I know I’m not the only one.

Reality: Free trial users may need support, reminders, and encouragement.

Your trial users may be interested, but not committed yet. They may have other things in their lives that are more important or urgent than trying your solution. But with reminders and assistance, you can get them started.

If don’t buy into those three myths, you may approach the free trial differently:

Carefully craft your interactions with trial users to improve the experience, from the welcome email to support responses.
Help and support the trial user with gentle reminders and useful content.
Give the trial user an easy opportunity to exit if they are not a good fit.

For more on the free trial, see the second edition of Subscription Marketing: Strategies for Nurturing Customers in a World of Churn.

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Newbie’s Guide to Sell More Books [Book Review]

A few years back I took a pause from my B2B marketing career to write a book. Then I got hooked on the book thing, and never looked back.

Oddly enough, in learning about indie publishing, I forgot everything I knew about marketing. Or it seemed that way.

Books Need Marketing – Duh!

The B2B technology marketing world was filled with long sales cycles that demanded tons of content. Multiple decision-makers weighed in on every purchase. When I started writing and publishing books, I though I could leave all that behind.

How wrong I was. Yes, a book is a simpler sale, but the marketing basics still apply. It took me a while to internalize that fact and put my big-girl marketing pants on yet again.

You don’t have to suffer through that same struggle.

Start on the Right Path

If you’re just publishing a book or figuring out this author marketing thing, there’s a better way. Read Chris Syme’s Newbie’s Guide to Sell More Books With Less Marketing.

Chris is an excellent guide to the marketing challenges. I first encountered her on the wonderful Smarty Pants Book Marketing podcast. Give it a listen. Then I started reading her books.

Her newest book, the Newbie’s Guide, does a great job of encapsulating practical marketing strategies for people figuring out the book marketing thing.

What Makes This Book Special

The online world is filled with book marketing advice. Here are three things that differentiate this book from the crowd.

1. Simplicity. While Chris comes from a marketing background, she doesn’t assume that you’re going to go on a full-on marketing crash course. As the title indicates, this book about setting the goals and working on the most essential parts of the marketing plan.

For example, she narrows down on three things every author needs: a website, an email marketing strategy, and a Facebook business page. You might want to argue one of those points, but there’s power in simplicity.

2. Understanding your starting point. Every time you see one of those “this is how I sold 10,000 copies” posts, ask yourself: where was that person starting from? Chris makes the starting point explicit. The book describes various platform levels for fiction and nonfiction authors, and discusses how they map to marketing strategies and tactics.

3. A focus on loyalty. Instead of promising thousands of sales, Chris focuses on all three components of the book buyer’s journey: discovery, sales, and loyalty. As someone who has spent a great deal of time talking about the importance of long-term customer retention and loyalty (read Subscription Marketing), I’m thrilled to see due attention given to nurturing existing readers and loyal fans.

The book is on sale now on Amazon, and the book includes access to a free book marketing course.

 

 

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How Much Research Should You Do?

How much research should you do? When do you stop? Are you ever really done?

Nonfiction authors, workplace writers, and historical fiction writers generally write in their genres because they’re interested in the subject matter. It’s easy to get caught up in the research and never let go.

Find your own balance between being diligent about researching and getting the work done.

Context matters. If you’re writing a doctoral thesis, the research must be rigorous. If you spend months researching for a weekly blog post, you won’t get anything done.

As someone who enjoys research but wants to be productive, I’ve wrestled with this problem. Here are five guidelines I use to stay on track.

1. Dive In Early

The sooner you can start the research on a project, the better.

Research primes your brain to work on the topic long before you’re ready to start writing.

Reading and taking notes on a topic triggers the incubation phase of the creative process. Even when you’re not actively working, part of your brain will be tuned to notice connections or think of ideas.

Over the past few months, even while writing a new book, I’ve been researching two other topic areas. I’m reading, collecting my thoughts, making notes, and writing down sources as I spot them.

Because I’ve started the research process, even at a low level, my brain continues to look for ideas and inspiration on those topic areas. If or when I’m ready to get into more detail, I’ll be starting at a different place.

2.  Go One Level Deeper Than Necessary

Research one layer deeper than you think you’ll use.

The most efficient method might be to gather exactly what you need. But what you gain in efficiency by skimping research, you lose in quality.

Going deeper prevents you from inadvertent errors, and exposes problems that lurking beneath the surface. It also improves the writing: to explain something clearly, you must understand it well.

The phrase one layer deeper is subjective.  Aim for having more research notes and sources than you use. Even if you put them aside, they inform your writing and thoughts.

3. Keep Your Eyes Open

There’s another good reason to start the research phase early: with adequate time, you can explore the topic and expand your understanding.

Give yourself permission to wander (for a while) in the research. Following interesting links. With an open mind, you may discover connections and ideas that enrich your work.

One of my favorite stories on this topic comes from Jennifer S. Alderson, author of The Lover’s Portrait, a mystery with an art history theme. In digging through the archives, she discovered details that changed the course of her story. Read her blog post How Archival Research Added Texture To My Novel.

4. Don’t Get Stuck in the Weeds

“How do you gauge when enough research is enough? How do you know when you’re researching as a method of procrastination, versus adding value to the finished product?”

An experience ghostwriter asked me this question. If you love doing the research, you face the danger of getting carried away. Research can be addicting.

You feel productive when you’re researching. Heck, you look productive to the outside world with your piles of books or notes.  It’s easy to feel productive.

But remember: writing productivity is measured in finished work, not hours spent.

At some point, you have enough to move on. You don’t have to stop researching altogether, but you do need to start shaping the content into the end product.

In research as in life, perfection is the enemy of productivity.

5. Don’t Fall In Love with the Research

People who love doing research risk becoming so involved in the facts that they lose sight of the reader’s needs. In these situations, you may end up with a research report.

People remember stories, not data. They don’t really care about the work you did digging up those stories, either.  Return to your reason for writing.

Business writing tip: When writing in a business context, you may be tempted to demonstrate how hard you worked to draw your conclusions or state your case. Most people don’t want to follow you along the mental path you took to the endpoint. Lead with your claim, then provide the research to back it up.

Further Resources

On incubating: Saving Unwritten Ideas for Later

On scoping the work: How Long Will It Take to Write This Thing?

Jennifer’s post about archival research on the Women Writer’s, Women’s Books blog.

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Writing with Authority

How our speech patterns can undermine us when we write at work

If you’ve ever had the experience of reading a transcript of yourself speaking in an informal setting, you might be horrified.

Few of us speak in grammatically correct sentences. We ramble and leave sentences dangling. Worse, we fill empty space with um, er, you know, and the like.

Most listeners don’t notice one or two of these fillers. But use them often, and you sound uncertain.

Something that doesn’t show up in the transcript is upspeak: ending your sentences upward lilt? As if they were questions? When they’re not?

Women sometimes fall into this habit. It’s a problem in the work environment. If you want to be taken seriously, don’t make everything you say a question.

Correcting speaking habits requires time and attention. We have to record and listen to ourselves, and then practice slowing down and catching ourselves when we try to fill empty space with empty words. But when writing, we have the chance to revise ourselves.

The Words That Undermine Us When Writing

We would never accidentally write you know or um. We don’t have to buy time when writing. We can stop and collect our thoughts.

Yet, our written words may be filled with subtle habits and patterns that undermine the image we want to present to the world.

If you write fluidly, as you think, then your thought patterns are reflected in the writing. If you write in a conversational tone, your speech patterns appear as well.

Unfortunately, those speaking and thinking patterns can say things about us that we don’t want to broadcast.

The term weasel word refers to words or phrases used to intentionally add ambiguity to a statement, or to hide our true meaning. For a recent, high-profile example, check out the tweet from United after the violent ejection of a passenger in April:

Can you spot the weasel word? Yes, it’s re-accommodate.

Intentional weasel words happen all the time in business communications. But generally, you’re aware when you are using them.

What I’m writing about here are the small, unintentional weasel words – the accidental ways that we erode meaning or diminish the strength of our writing. They appear in common words: kind of, sort of, somewhat, perhaps, some, just, simply.

When writing in a conversational tone, you may include phrases that you speak. Phrases that sound casual in conversation appear timid in writing:

I thought that perhaps …

I just wanted to…

Do you mind …

Writing with Authority

When writing, we have time to look through our own words and find the ones that aren’t serving us.

Look through your own writing for the accidental weasel words you tend to use. Make your personal list of words and phrases to avoid. You’ll spot them because they pop up again and again.

My own list changes over time. When I’m writing something important, I do a global search for those words and phrases, eliminating as many as possible.

They may not all deserve to go. The word perhaps might be exactly the one you want to use. Evaluate whether you need the word: is the sentence better without it? Does removing the word strengthen the meaning or impact?

If in doubt, remember this rule:

Use fewer words to have a greater impact. 

Dealing with Ambiguity

Those words may slip in because you do not have all of the answers.

That’s fine. Point out any unknowns or ambiguities. Don’t make the reader intuit your uncertainty.

Better yet, if you’re writing something for people at work and have open questions, make them known. In a project plan, for example, create a section “Problems to be resolved” or “Missing pieces of the puzzle.”

Instead of disguising uncertainty, you’re inviting collaboration.

Other Resources

I love this piece rom PR Daily about 21 Phrases to delete from your emails

Find tips on editing and revising yourself in The Writer’s Process.

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Three Keys to Writing Copy That Sells More Books

[This is a guest post from the wonderful Chris Syme – a woman who shares my combined interests in books and marketing.]

Book descriptions, blurbs, social media posts, ad copy. Even though you consider yourself an author, your head may start to spin at the thought of having to write a book description or copy for a Facebook ad.

Yes, copywriting is a different animal with a different goal than writing a book. But fortunately it’s a learned skill. To simplify the process of learning, let’s consider three keys to writing copy that will sell more books.

Put On Your Marketing Hat

First things first. Why is copywriting different than writing a novel or a nonfiction book?

Your goal is not to tell a story or teach, but to get the reader to take an action. If you approach copywriting with your marketing hat on it will make more sense. Before we look at the three keys, let’s define the marketer’s mindset.

Know that a well-crafted book description will sell more books. Your book description is not a throw away. Successful indie author Mark Dawson surveys his readers via email every year. In his recent survey he asked his readers what convinced them to buy one of his books. Of the 5000+ readers, the overwhelming majority said the book description. Don’t think good descriptions sell books? Think again. My reader surveys (much smaller sample than Mark’s) have confirmed the same. The book cover gets them to read the description and the description makes them click the buy button.
Think like a marketer. What influences people to to buy a product? Authors need to use time tested marketing principles to help influence readers to buy.

Social proof: Make sure your books get reviews and recommendations early. When people see a long line at a restaurant, they think the food must be good. That is social proof—lots of people like it; I will like it. Develop a strong advance review team. Use a “street team” to help you promote the book on social media. Build a network of loyal fans.
Make them say yes. Marketers have used this technique for years and it’s critical in copywriting. Getting people to answer “yes” to a question makes it easier for them to say yes again when you ask them to buy. Make sure you touch on an emotion or experience that readers can identify with and say yes to.
Authority. This one is particularly important for nonfiction writers. People respect recognized experts and want to follow their lead. Nonfiction writers should establish their expertise.
Scarcity. The rule of the few. When there is a limited supply of something, people are anxious to act. Do you have a limited time preorder or launch sale? What about a bonus available for a limited time? Create an urgent need.


Remember the goal: get them to read the next line. Think of your copy as a compelling story. But story does not mean regurgitating the book’s plot. It’s about the story of the reader experience. Every line of copy needs to propel the reader to the next line. Remember people don’t buy stuff, they buy an experience. Where is your book going to take them? What problem will it solve? What emotions are you going to connect with? Marketers know how to push their buyers’ buttons.

 

The Three Keys

There are three keys every type of sales copy needs: a hook, compelling movement (or also called the “line”), and a call-to-action. Let’s break these down first as they apply to book descriptions. Then, we’ll take a look at how they may differ for ads and social media posts.

1. The Hook is Gold

Every copywriting expert I’ve ever learned from agrees that your hook is the most important piece of your copy. The hook is an attention-getting statement that will lay the foundation for the rest of your copy. In other words, it can’t be what we call “click bait”, or a sensational headline that grabs attention but has absolutely no relation to the book. Those hooks are cheating and usually make readers mad. Just don’t do it.

The hook is part of the traditional copywriting formula called “hook-line-sinker.”

A good hook is a promise. It will tease readers’ emotions and connect with a need the reader has. In fiction, it’s the need to read a good story or be entertained. In nonfiction, it’s the identification of a problem and promise of solutions your book delivers.

Hooks are not paragraphs; they are one or two sentences max. They may even be a sentence fragment. But one thing they do: make the reader want more information. Copywriter Bryan Cohen describes a hook this way: “If someone was making a movie of your novel, what would be the one liner on the poster?”

Many copywriting experts suggest that you brainstorm a list of hooks, leave them for a day, send them out to trusted friends, and revisit to distill. If you have an advance review team, they might be a good source of feedback. I suggest you not post your hooks in a general author Facebook group. Many of the authors there are not your readers, and different genres have different conventions. You’ll get good feedback from a small group of trusted people that know your genre and your voice.

Here are a list of hooks I’ve run across that grab attention and connect with an emotion readers would be looking for in that genre. Let’s start with fiction; notice the different tone and voice in different genres:

Could you murder your wife to save your daughter? (crime and thriller)
What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light… (thriller and suspense)
Three generations of women. One family funeral business. Two suitors. And a very fat cat. (cozy mystery)
I was born into British aristocracy, but I’ve made my fortune in Manhattan. New York is now my kingdom (contemporary romance)
Something frightening is happening to time. (Young Adult)

How about a couple from nonfiction that identify a problem-solution for readers in that genre?

The difference between helping and selling is just two letters, but those two letters make all the difference. (marketing and sales)
What if you could wake up tomorrow and every area of your life was beginning to transform? What would you change? (business and entrepreneurship)

All these hooks succeed in connecting with the genre’s audience and compel readers to move on to the next line.

NOTE: Sometimes a hook is placed after a declaration that has to do with the book’s bestseller status or its series—I’ve noticed this in the crime and and cozy mystery genres quite a bit. If you begin your description with a declaration—a high profile recommendation, a nod to the book’s bestseller status or the name of the series—make sure that piece of the description is short and the bolded hook follows immediately.

2. Identify the Most Compelling Pieces

Whether your copy is a book description or a Facebook ad, take some time to identify the most compelling pieces of your book. The biggest mistake I see fiction authors make is just regurgitating a plot summary complete with at least four character full names and one or two towns thrown in where the action takes place. This is a mistake.

Sit down and brainstorm a list of the most compelling pieces of your book. What is driving the action? What is the conflict for the hero? Is there an important backstory you can tease? Nonfiction: what is the problem and what are the most important solutions?

Many fiction authors have a severe case of TMI (Too Much Information) when it comes to book descriptions. Here are some problem areas I see often:

Too many character names – one or two will suffice and you don’t need last names.
Too many locations – you don’t need to name every town involved in your book, or even one unless it’s a compelling part of your story.
Spoilers – This isn’t just about giving away endings. Every backstory doesn’t need to be explained in the book description.
Too many words to explain – Be succinct. Weed out the prepositional phrases and other poor writing. Write your book description and then edit, edit, edit. Bryan Cohen calls this cutting to the chase.
Describing the hero’s entire journey- Leave something to the reader’s imagination that will make them want to read on.
Wandering into secondary plots- Stick to the main events.
Citing reader reviews in the description. Unless you have a well-known author or well-known publication’s endorsement, don’t put this in your description. Relegate all this info to the Editorial Reviews section.
Don’t repeat yourself – This is especially true for nonfiction. Start with a list of benefits, prioritize them by which ones are the most life changing and limit yourself to five bullet points that address common pain points for all your readers.

The bottom line is that the description needs to tie pieces of compelling information together—not just the retelling of a story you believe is compelling. When it comes to sales copy, people will quit reading when you don’t keep them moving forward. Read your description out loud several times to make sure it sounds continuous and not choppy. The object in a good description: get readers to move to the next line. Personal note: I like to watch movie trailers in a genre when I am working on a description. Sixty seconds to entice people to see the movie. It’s good creative practice.

3. End With a Call to Action

The call-to-action is the “sinker” part of the hook-line-sinker formula. Many authors forget that a book description is, in fact, a sales description. You are trying to get the reader to buy something. You will be remiss if you don’t include a call-to-action at the end of your description. If they make it to the end, give them something to do to. Don’t be afraid to sound pushy–you won’t be. You got them this far, lead them to the logical conclusion.

Calls-to-action should not be just, “buy this book now.” There are a number of different ways you can ask people to buy. In Words That Sell, copywriter Richard Bayan has a wealth of suggestions. I highly recommend his book for anyone that writes any kind of sales copy. It sits on my desk.

Here are a few of my favorite examples for books:

I invite you to…or You are invited…
Get your copy now…
Start reading today…
Just click “add to cart”…
Put this book in your shopping cart and start reading now…
Can’t wait? Get your copy right now…
Get it now for a limited time price…
Join the story by grabbing your copy today
Start (solution to problem) today…



What About Social Media Posts?

The formula for social media posts is pretty much the same except for the length. Twitter will give you only 140 characters and you should be thinking of no more than 400 or 500 on Facebook unless you are including buy links in your post.

There is a golden rule when it comes to selling on social media that many authors are missing: you must engage with people to earn the right to sell. The majority of your social media posts on any channel should be about adding value or making people feel an emotional connection. When you gain their trust and they see you as a valuable connection, you have earned the right to sell.

“Buy my book” billboard posts on social media without the element of an established relationship will never take full advantage of social media’s power to sell. If you abuse that purpose and just post sales ads, people will tune you out. Just don’t do it. Take the time to develop connections and trust. Then readers will give you permission to sell; and they’ll help you sell by telling their friends about you.

Good social media copy understands the psychology of buying and social media’s particular buying culture. People have different motivations for being on social media. People want to connect with other people and causes that fill an emotional need. According to research from HubSpot, people go to social media to feel:

Happy. People love to laugh, smile, feel good about themselves, others, and their world.
Inspired. Inspiration is a key to perseverance. Let’s face it—the world can be a cruel place. Inspiration gives us confidence and courage.
Compassion. Compassion is the capacity to care about people and things outside ourselves. We all want to live in a caring world.
Informed. It’s not just FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) that drives people to information. Help people stay on top of news, cultural trends, what’s going on with your books, and much more.
Supported. People want to feel that they’re okay and that others identify with their lot in life. Be a friend to everyone and look for posts to share that celebrate diversity and hope.
Connected. We humans have a driving need to connect with others. No man (or woman) wants to be an island.

In my new book, The Newbie’s Guide To Sell More Books With Less Marketing I teach a social media copywriting formula called the 80-20 Content Rule. I explain that if 80 percent of your content is about adding value, readers will expect you to sell 20 percent of the time. You earn the right to sell by adding value first.

Ads

The copywriting formula for ads is much like the formula for book descriptions. You want to remember that the object of an ad is to sell something or sign someone up for something so it’s okay to reference buying in your hook or line sections.

In an ad, your hook is a promise. What are you delivering? An experience, a promise of rise in income, or a particular outcome after reading the book? Many good ad hooks start with a question about a universal problem that will lead to a “yes” answer from the reader, as I mentioned above. You also may hear the term “pain point,” especially as it relates to nonfiction books. What is your reader’s pain? How is your book going to solve that problem?

Good ad copy takes a lot of rewriting, editing, and rewriting again. The fewer character numbers you are allowed in the ad, the tougher the challenge. Amazon ads, for instance, are extremely short. The hook becomes the main attraction there. Facebook ads give you more rope to hang yourself. My college writing professor always said it is harder to write shorter. She was right.

No matter what kind of sales copy you write, it isn’t like writing a book. The three-key formula can guide you into writing effective succinct copy that will help you sell more books.

Chris Syme has over 20 years experience in the communications industry and is the principal of the award-winning agency, CKSyme Media Group. She is a former university media relations professional, a frequent speaker on the national stage, and the author of the popular SMART Marketing For Authors book series. Her new book, The Newbie’s Guide to Sell More Books With Less Marketing is available on Amazon, Kobo, and Nook. She is a co-host of the Smarty Pants Book Marketing podcast with her indie author daughter Becca Syme. Chris and her husband Terry live in Montana and have two grown daughters.

 

 

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Share Your Love of Writing on the Job

What do you enjoy about writing at work? Beyond getting paid – which is always rewarding – what do you find fulfilling and fun about the writing you do on the job, for others?

Is it …

Collaborating with people you like and respect?
Challenging your creative chops in the workplace context?
Stretching yourself and exploring new topics?
Advancing a cause that you’re excited about?

One other question: What would you say to inspire other people to step up and do more writing at work?

The answers may appear in a book about writing in the workplace. You could help me imbue it with positive stories and inspiration.

Leave comments to this post or contact me here. I’d love to hear from those of you who are happy and valued in your writing on the job.

Thanks!

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Writing and Painting: The Art of Layering

Claude Monet: The Japanese Bridge (Image public domain)

I’ve just finished reading Mad Enchantment by Ross King, about the later years of Claude Monet’s life. It covers the many years that Monet slaved over the giant water lily canvases that now grace the Orangerie in Paris.

Reading about the Impressionist painters, you might imagine that they worked quickly, capturing the perfect slant of light. Indeed, when painting outdoors, Monet would often set up multiple easels and move between them as the light changed, working rapidly.

But that quick work is only part of the story.

Monet took the canvases back to the studio and continued to add colors and textures. Many of the effects unique to Monet are the product of many passes with the brush. On close inspection, the ephemeral glance of light on water might result from multiple, thick layers of paint, with visible brushstrokes

According to King’s sources, in some points the larger water lily canvases have up to fifteen layers of paint. Wow.

The Writing Parallels – Layering the Draft

You might say that Monet completed the “ugly first draft” of his paintings as he worked outdoors, and then revised them back in the studio. But what happened in the studio was clearly more than fixing a spot here and there. He was creating and painting. He was layering.

Writers often do something similar. We create the ugly first draft, then go back and add texture, layers, and detail. This phase isn’t exactly revision. We’re still writing the first draft.

The journalist and writing teacher Donald Murray referred to this process as layering, using the painting analogy.

While it would seem to prolong the drafting process, adding a layering pass may make the writing go faster, because it frees you to work fluidly when drafting.

Adding a layering pass can accelerate your drafting.

When you plan to take layering pass through the draft, you give yourself permission to write quickly while your brain is firing, just as Monet painted before the light faded. You ignore imperfections because you know will add layers and depth before revising and polishing. It’s freeing.

Cautionary Tales from Monet

According to King’s book, Monet tortured himself with these paintings, working on some for years. He burned some of his paintings that he could not conquer.

Let’s not go there.

It took pressure from friends and the failure of his health to persuade him to release his final works. He had the luxury of a long and illustrious career behind him, and was focused on his enduring legacy.

Most of us are trying to get the work done; legacy isn’t one of our problems.

Layering turns into revision, but eventually revision must lead to publication. Know when you let your words are “good enough” to be out in the world so you can move on and keep growing.

Related Reading

Two Reasons Not To Revise As You Draft

Revision: When Does It End

Mad Enchantment by Ross King

The Japanese Bridge image is public domain, at Google Cultural Institute

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Focusing on the Writing

Grammar and spelling are important, but focus may be your most valuable writing skill.

Editors can fix the grammar. Only you can fix your focus.

I posed the following question to a group of people who write in a busy corporate environment:  “How do you find the focus to get the work done?”

These are a few of their answers:

Turn on music
Block every Thursday morning from my schedule
Work from a coffee shop
Write at home in the middle of the night
Go hide in a conference room for an hour
Come in to work early
Come back to the office after the kids are in bed.

The answers reveal an important point:

Focus is a battle fought on two fronts: external and internal.

The External Battle for Focus

Did you notice the common theme in those answers? Most involve getting out of the office, or returning when no one is there.

The outside world conspires against the deep focus necessary for drafting.

Everyone has their own preferred writing environment. Some people like to work in a crowd of people bent over their desks. Some can tune out conversations or noise, while others are easily distracted by them.

The first part of the battle is understanding where you do your best writing. Where are you when you find a state of flow while working? Pay attention, and then try to return to that state when you need to focus.

The Inner Battle

Even if you escape to the empty conference room or a quiet home office, focus can still elude you. We bring our own distractions with us, in the form of email, phones, Internet, the waiting Netflix queue, the pie in the fridge…

We are our own worst enemies.

Cognitive scientists have identified several biases or mental habits that conspire against our writing plans:

Because of the present bias, we tend to put off harder projects for the future and pick easier, more fun things to do immediately. (Procrastinators know what I’m talking about.)
The optimism bias means that we we’re pretty bad at realistic planning – again, making us more likely to put off the work in favor of something more immediately rewarding.
Technology exerts its addicting forces on us, calling us away from our thoughts. Nir Eyal writes about this in his book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.

We’re left to find ways to work around our human tendencies and trick ourselves into focusing and working, using strategies and tools like:

Turning off Wi-fi
Using apps like Freedom to silence online distractions
Setting a timer and focusing until it goes off
Leaving the phone in another room (and silencing it)
Writing first thing in the day, before everything else

Writers love sharing our strategies for fighting the inner focus battle. Here are a couple that have been working for me recently.

Categorize Competing Demands

If the writing project is one of twelve tasks on your to-do list for the day, there’s a good chance you won’t get to it. But when there are fewer items, the writing doesn’t get lost as easily.

Group the competing demands into buckets based on projects or your personal goals. Then tackle only the most important task from each bucket on your list for the day, rather than trying to hit everything.

Your working categories may change from week to week. If a project becomes high priority, you may only work from that bucket.

As a by-product of this exercise, you can spot what you may be missing. For example, if you have a professional development category but spend all of your time in other places, you have have a prioritization problem. And if you find yourself doing tasks that don’t fit in any of your buckets, stop and ask yourself why you’re doing them at all.

If the writing is important to you – personally or professionally – make sure you pull from that bucket regularly.

Go On Virtual Lockdown

This next strategy works when you’re sprinting on a writing project: go on a virtual lockdown.

My daughter’s workplace uses the “lockdown” model for teams facing big deadlines. When a team is in lockdown, its member cannot be pulled into outside (unrelated) meetings, and don’t have to do ordinary administrative tasks.

Lockdown mode shuts off competing distractions.

Right now, I’m wrapping up the draft of a book about writing in the workplace. To meet my self-imposed deadlines, I have been putting myself in virtual lockdown:

Limiting extra activities (except those need to maintain health and sanity)
Dialing back on commitments to others (guest blogging, podcasts, speaking)
Giving myself a pass on the many competing demands or things I feel that should be doing
Checking email less frequently (I’m sorry if I’ve been slow to respond to yours!)

I can’t maintain lockdown for long, but certainly helps me focus.

Related content

For a short time, pick up The Writer’s Process on Kindle for 99 cents. (There’s a whole chapter on focus.)

Mark McGuinness offers a number of planning tips in his book Productivity for Creative People. Read my review here.

Check out Nir Eyal’s recent post Tech Companies Are Addicting People.

Read my rant about  writing in the open floorplan office.

 

 

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