Rachel Ellyn's Blog, page 3

Marketing to Your Friends aka Building Your Social Network

Q– As an author when should you start to build your social media network?A– Long before you start writing your book!Q– Why?A– Because selling is a lot easier when you have built the relationship first.Let me ask you a question. Will you buy my book?Unless you know me, you are probably going to say no. Rapid mental barriers will be raised: Who are you? What do you write? How much is the book? But, if I go to my mother and ask her the same question she is going to say, “Yes, dear. Of course. I...

Marketing To Your Friends aka Building Your Social Network

Q – As an author when should you start to build your social media network?A – Long before you start writing your book!Q – Why?A – Because selling is a lot easier when you have built the relationship first.Let me ask you a question. Will you buy my book?Unless you know me, you are probably going to say no. Rapid mental barriers will be raised: Who are you? What do you write? How much is the book? But, if I go to my mother and ask her the same question she is going to say, “Yes, dear. Of course. I should buy two.” Because she is my mother, she will support my every endeavor. Let’s ask my good friends. They too will answer, “Of course, Rachel. Yea for you!”Now, let’s ask all my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram follows and a large percentage will buy my book just because I wrote it. Why? Because I have spent years building relationships with every one of them.It’s not like we are all “besties.” But my posts have shown up in their feed over the last few years, and they have gotten to know me… or at least the public me (which for me goes hand in hand with the private me.)I’ve built my social media persona as a wacky, crazy, drinking, serial divorcee, who writes books. Totally me.So let me ask you, who are you? The public you. The writer. The artist. Is this person different at home? Deciding who you are as the author is very important and I feel the first step you take in establishing your social media presence.– Deciding who you are as the author.This goes hand in hand with deciding what your message is on social media. Are you going to post nothing but cat pictures until you publish you book and then hit people with a buy me book post? Do you think that will work? You guessed it, nope!Moreover, you can’t just keep posting pictures of your books and saying “buy my book.” People will unlike, unfriend, or unfollow you quickly if that is all you post.Do you want to post inspirational writings? Maybe you like College Humor videos and think that will help brand you. Whatever you decide to say or post is what people will start to know you by. So if you all about posting religious psalms and then ask people to buy your racy romance novel you might be sending mixed messages to social media following, just saying.– Deciding your message.Next, you need to know your social media platforms and get set up on them. There are many platforms but the major ones are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google. Get to know what works well on each one by following others and critiquing your response to their posts.I’d say a long winded rant on Instagram is lost on the masses. Most people just want to look at the pretty picture. Just like, posting “Buy my book” and a hyperlink on twitter is going to get you nothing. Do your research!– Know your platforms and what works well on them.Another quick tip, autocorrect does not love you. It doesn’t love anyone. It will mess up your posts quicker than a Kardashian can find good lighting. You’re an author; proofread before posting. Always use good grammar and spelling. My god! If your posts are a heap of misspellings what does that say about your book, especially if you are self-published.And tag and hashtag! Tag the place where the photo was taken. Tag the people in the photo. Hashtag the sentiment (#happy) or the event (#runforthecure). Don’t hashtag to point of overkill, but, it gets your picture out there in front of more people.I have one FB friend who owns a store (which I don’t frequent), but she tags me in every dog picture she posts. And yup, the post is always about her store! My friend’s habit is a clear case of FB friend abuse. She’s using my tag to force her store’s ad on to all my followers. If you do it once a year., or for a special occasion, like a book launch, that’s fine. Hijacking my friends list every friggin’ month… is a big fat “no no!”– Grammar, spelling, tagging, and catching bad autocorrections is a must.One last tip. Don’t drunk post. Unless of course, this trait is part of your public persona. Then post away and deal with the fallout in the morning.Personally, I’m known for silly late night writing and drinking posts and boy, if you take me to a sports game beware of my Twitter feed! (I’m not a sports fan, but I love my husband… and he bought me a lot of spiked hot chocolate to keep me warm at a Chiefs game once… my twitter following spiked at that game.)So, all in all, know who you are. Know what you want to say. Be known for what you say. Be genuine and real and engage in conversations with your audience. When your book publishes you can say “buy my book” with confidence that people will buy it… because they like you. And that my friends gets you started in marketing.XOXOXO Rachel

Writing for Business - The Basics

or welcome back to the 3rd grade.Never assume your reader knows anything you are talking about.Read your writing out LOUD and v.e.r.y.. s.l.o.w.l.y.. to find your mistakes.Don’t trust your typing skills.Don’t trust grammar check.Know your audience and stick to your voice.Follow the Reader’s Digest philosophy – don’t write anything longer than you what you can read in the bathroom or risk losing your reader.Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told...

Writing for Business - The Basics

or welcome back to the 3rd grade.Never assume your reader knows anything you are talking about.Read your writing out LOUD and v.e.r.y.. s.l.o.w.l.y.. to find your mistakes.Don’t trust your typing skills.Don’t trust grammar check.Know your audience and stick to your voice.Follow the Reader’s Digest philosophy – don’t write anything longer than you what you can read in the bathroom or risk losing your reader.Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them.You will never please everyone all the time… You will have critics so be prepared to be told you’re wrong or that you suck.Now go write!

Writing the Perfect Press Release

I recently needed to write a press release for the launch of my newest book. I have had to write a few in the past and I have always found it a bit of an arduous task. So I did what I had done in the past, I Googled . . .How to write a press release for a book?How to write a great press release for a book?How to write a press release that will sell books?Where to send a press release?Who reads these damn press releases anyway?Do you see how my growing frustration was taking over my creative p...

Writing the Perfect Press Release

I recently needed to write a press release for the launch of my newest book.  I have had to write a few in the past and I have always found it a bit of an arduous task.  So I did what I had done in the past, I Googled . . .How to write a press release for a book?How to write a great press release for a book?How to write a press release that will sell books?Where to send a press release?Who reads these damn press releases anyway?Do you see how my growing frustration was taking over my creative process?  Oh, how I got frustrated trying to write the perfect press release for my “newest masterpiece”, “my baby”, my “if all these long hours of work don’t amount to a hill of beans I’m going to bang my head against a brick wall” . . . and I’m supposed to be a WRITER!Then I made a strategic business move, I took a deep breath and let the analytical side of me out of its box to review the situation and defuse my frustration.  Within minutes I realized what was holding me back was my own fear.I had to write about myself.  I had to write about my book.  I had to put myself out there into the world where so much was an unknown.  I don’t know the personality of the individuals reading my press release.  I don’t know if my “news” was news worthy to anyone other than me.  How should I talk about “IT” without sounding arrogant or sounding like I was begging for sales?  Had I explained “IT” well enough?  Would they “get me”?  Would they love “IT” as much as I did?And Lord help us, if you are anything like me, I am terribly impatient.  I had spent countless hours developing my idea, planning, creating, and implementing this book that by the time I was announcing it to the world I wanted instant success.  All of these pieces added to my frustration as I sat in front of my computer trying to write the Perfect Press Release.So I am passing on great advice that was given to me – breathe, relax, and write the first draft.  Give yourself permission to write a “shitty” first draft.  The important thing is to get the words on paper then rework them.Also, there are three additional things to remember and embrace: (1) use your friends to review your writing and listen to their critiques knowing it’s your decision whether to make changes based on their comments or not; (2) always read your own writing slowly out loud to catch your mistakes; and (3) perfect is subjective, so write a good press release and quit worrying about it being perfect.Oh, by the way, my Google search gave me a bunch of great press release templates to follow, so here are a few links for you.Happy writing!Links:http://www.publicityinsider.com/relea...

Writing for Business – The Basics

or welcome back to the 3rd grade.

Never assume your reader knows anything you are talking about. Read your writing out LOUD and v.e.r.y.. s.l.o.w.l.y.. to find your mistakes. Don’t trust your typing skills. Don’t trust grammar check. Know your audience and stick to your voice. Follow the Reader’s Digest philosophy – don’t write anything [...]

Writing the Perfect Press Release

I recently needed to write a press release for the launch of my newest book.  I have had to write a few in the past and I have always found it a bit of an arduous task.  So I did what I had done in the past, I Googled . . .

How to write [...]

My Dear Friends,

For those of you who are not familiar with my work, I write about life and love, divorce, and dating especially as we hit that proverbial “second half” of our life.

Let’s face it, all of it changes when you hit your forties, fifties, and sixties. Life, love, divorce, dating, all has new meaning, [...]

My Dear Friends

My Dear Friends,Let’s face it, all of it changes when you hit your forties, fifties, and sixties. Life, love, divorce, dating, all has new meaning, new priorities, new expectations, and new challenges.So having been there and done that, a few times, I endeavor to share stories – some my own, some of others I have met along the way.Hopefully, you will laugh. Hopefully, you will learn a few things, and maybe even avoid some of the pitfalls I have fallen into along my journey of finding me, reco...