Heather Hart's Blog, page 30

If At First...

Day 129
“If at first you don't succeed, try try again”~ W.C. Fields
Did you know that the first “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book was rejected 140 times by various publishers? It gives a new meaning to try, try again. Today, the 65-book series has sold over 80 million copies and is published in over 30 languages. The small publisher that originally took a chance on it is probably very glad that they did. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen? They kept trying, and they eventually did succeed. We...

Stubborn Marketing

Day 128
“Never let your persistence and passion turn into stubbornness and ignorance.”~ Anthony J. D'Angelo
Ouch, Anthony, ouch. Persistence and passion are good – stubbornness and ignorance… not so much. Being persistent about your marketing is a must, being stubborn and refusing to try anything new, or give up something that isn't working, that’s not so good. Being passionate about marketing your book is awesome! Using passion as an excuse for ignorance – not so awesome.
What I’m tr...

What's Your Brand?

Day 127
“Brands establish trust.”~ Joel Friedlander
One of the best book marketing tips that I can give is to not neglect your author brand. Your brand is how you and your work are identified, and a good brand can be a powerful marketing tool. 

An author brand is made up of several different things including your writing voice, author photo, screen name, tagline, and the overall feel or design that surrounds you. In a good brand, all five of those things will be tied together and will work...

Keep On Keeping On

Day 126
“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”~ Thomas A. Edison

Have you ever been ready to quit something, but only continued because you’d put too much effort into it or already told someone else that you would do it? I've been there. When it seems like quitting would be easier. Thomas Edison said it best though, we’ll never know just how close we were to success if we give up. Giving up shouldn't be an o...

Grab It!

Day 125
“The attention economy is not growing, which means we have to grab the attention that someone else has today.”~ Brent Leary
Readers aren't running short of books to read. The number of books that are published each day is on the rise, and the number of people reading, isn't growing by much. As more authors learn to market their books, the amount of competition for reader’s attention grows as well. People are busy, their lives are already full. In order to get their a...

Be Picky

Day 124
“There is no ‘one–size–fits–all’ way to build an audience.”~ Stuart Mills
I've said it before, and I’ll say it again, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all marketing plan. What works for me and my book, might not work for you and your book. While it’s always a good idea to pay attention to what other authors are doing, it’s not such a good idea to imitate them.
I read a blog post where the author said she lives by the rule of monitoring the world of book marketing as a whole, and...

I'm An Author

Day 123
Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”~ Charles Kettering
I always kind of liked the quote, “If you believe it you can be it.” I don’t know where it originated, but I totally believe that our mindset plays a part in our success. When we have faith that we will succeed, we are far less likely to fail. However, if we believe we are going to fail, we rarely succeed.
What’s your marketing mindset look like? Do you be...

See and Be Seen

Day 122
“Put yourself in your networks' world often.”~ Tammy Redmon
Social networking is important. Letting people know who you are, what you do, and that you really are there is essential to successful marketing. With the mass amount of people on social media today, you don’t want to be one of the ones that just posts and runs – you actually need to build connections. You need to see and be seen. Respond to posts. The more they see you, the more they will think of you. Whether it’s through Twi...

Fix It

Day 121
“Fixing problems is the most powerful marketing you can do.”~ Andy Sernovitz
Do you have a broken link on your website? An uninteresting book blurb? Taking the time to go through your website and marketing materials to make sure that they are accurate, working, and up to date, is one of the most important things you can do as a book marketer. If potential buyers can’t buy your book, then you have a problem – a problem worth fixing.
Don’t look at problems that arise as setbacks, but as p...

The Time Is Right

Day 120
“This is the most incredible time in history to be an author. Power, freedom and, yes, money, are there for the taking…if you get what’s really happening and are willing to act on it.”~ Jonathan Fields
It really is an incredible time to be an author. The days of submitting work to big publishing houses and waiting months for a reply are over. We no longer need permission to get our books into the hands of readers. We have the power to make our dreams come true.
But having the power and...