Heather Hart's Blog, page 36

What's Your Job?

Day 69
“When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd jobs.”~ Margaret Laurence
Ms. Laurence and I disagree on this point. To her, work is writing - writing is work. For me, work is marketing – writing is just my hobby. No matter which side of the bridge you fall on, it’s important that both get done. Without writing, we have nothing to market. Without marketing, our writing will never sell.
But just because it’s work, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. I’m sure Ms. Laurence enjoy...

Friends

Day 68
“Book marketing is about forming relationships with readers, not promoting yourself or your work.”~Me
When we originally think book marketing, we instantly think about promoting our books. But marketing is so much more than that. Effective marketing comes not from telling others about your book, but forming relationships with them.
Book reviews, tweets, and blog posts can only take an author so far. Real sales come from real people. People who want to read your book. I like to think of i...

I Think I Can

Day 67
“Don't be too quick to discard an idea, thinking that you can't do it or it won't work for you.” ~ Cathy Stucker
Just because you've never done something, or thought of doing it, doesn't mean that it won’t work for you or that you can’t do it. Sometimes it’s easy to discard ideas that are new without giving them a chance, but without giving something a fair chance, we can’t ever know if we would succeed. The rest of Cathy’s quote from above reads:
“Just because you've...

Day #66

“My father–in–law says that you should never have to tell people how wonderful you are – your actions should speak for themselves.”~ Gabrielle Meyer
There is only so much that we can say about our own books. People know that we think it’s great – we wrote it. They want to know what other people think of our books – that’s why reviews and testimonials are so important. On the flip side of that, it’s always a good idea to say good things about other books as well. Reviewing top books in your nic...

Day 65

A Year of Book Marketing:Day 65
“Treat this as if you’re applying for a job.”~ Howard Yoon
Most authors dream of making a living from their books, but in order to do that, it has to move beyond a hobby. Instead of looking at your writing wistfully, start looking at it as if it were your job – your dream job. Put in the effort to get yourself where you want to be. Don’t do anything halfway, but make sure you’re acting like a professional author.
Marketing prompt:
Add or optimize a press room on yo...

Hop to it!

A Year of Book Marketing:Day 64
“You are the person with the vested interest in getting your book read by people.”~ Philip Ragan
Sometimes, you’re just not in the mood to market your book. It happens to all of us. We look at the tasks before us, and we would really rather just spend the day doing something else. While it’s actually a good thing to spend time doing things besides marketing, I've found that those things are more enjoyable if we finish our marketing tasks first. Otherwis...

Reach For It!

Day 63“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”~ Bill Cosby
When I hosted my first Q&A session, I was scared. I was terrified that someone would ask me something I couldn't answer or that I would just look like a fool. Well, that didn't happen. I now host Q&A sessions monthly in a private book marketing community for Self-Publishing-Coach.com. The point isn't that I was able to do it, the point is that if I...

E-mail Marketing

Day 62
“E–mail lists work!”
Do you have an e-mail list? I love e-mail marketing. I have seen great results from it in the past, and I know it works – and works well. Some of my best marketing results have been from e-mail lists. Building a list of readers who want to hear what you have to say is probably the single most valuable thing you can do as an author. You can use this to announce sales, give away free short stories, or announce new books. No matter what you use your e-mail list for, it...

Running a Marathon

Day 61“The book marketing game is not a race…”~ Novel Publicity
Don’t become overwhelmed by trying to do everything to market your book at one time. 365 days is a long time, and you’re not that far in – but you’re making a dent. Each day is a step in the right direction, and a day closer to our finish line.
Pay close attention to where you are and what you've come through to get this far. Watch your statistics to see if it’s making a difference.
Marketing prompt:
Evaluate your statisti...

The 1st of March

Day 60
“Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to.”~ Henry Van Dyke
For some reason it seems like two months in is usually where people start to give up on things they have decided to do. If you’ve made it this far, the novelty of marketing your book daily for a year is probably wearing off – but hopefully you’re seeing results.
Your book wasn’t’ destined to be a best seller – but if you’re working hard on your marketing, and are determined to co...