Jane Friedman's Blog: Jane Friedman, page 125

When Should You Write for Exposure? 5 Questions to Ask

Photo credit: ishane via VisualHunt.com / CC BY

One of the easiest ways to get a round of vigorous applause at a writing or publishing event is to condemn those who ask (or expect) writers to work for “exposure” rather than dollars.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to writers—it applies to nearly all creative professions, from photography to art to music. There’s a certain segment of the population that assumes professional musicians, artists, and writers are OK working for free because of their “love” or “passion” for their work—while others are just crudely trying to take advantage.

Here’s the rub, however: in some instances, being more visible to a particular audience or market is just as valuable (sometimes more valuable) than getting paid for the work. This can be especially true for people at the start of their career.

When deciding whether to write for free—or for exposure—here are five questions writers should ask.

1. Is it a good method of lead generation?

Lead generation is a marketing term and “leads” are potential paychecks. For example, if you place a personal essay at a website that doesn’t pay, but it’s a well-known site read by editors and agents, you may be contacted by people who read it, asking if you have other work or a book project.

Blogging is a classic method of lead generation—especially for nonfiction authors—and as someone who has blogged since 2008, I can report that every bit of my “writing for free” activity has been critical to earning a living. It gathers an audience of people interested in what I have to say, and my name becomes associated with certain topics and categories—so that my work is front of mind whenever people think about “the business of writing.”

2. What’s your career stage? Do you need leads?

Emerging writers usually need leads more so than established authors. Back in the very early days of my blog, for instance, I frequently wrote guest posts for other sites, for free, in order to build visibility and traffic for my own site. Today, I very rarely guest post because I have far more leads than time to pursue them.

This is why it can be dangerous for early career writers to heed the advice of established authors who say that you should never write for free, or that you should say “no” to social media or lead-generating activities that suck your time away from writing. Established authors often have the freedom to say “no” because they have a range of paying opportunities or a well-developed readership. If you have neither, then the default strategy for career building is typically to say “yes” to everything that comes your way. Eventually, assuming you gain momentum, you will hit a point where it makes far more sense to say “no” (especially to non-paying or low-paying opportunities) because you need to dedicate your time for opportunities that pay—or that genuinely excite you.

3. What’s market demand like?

If you’re a poet, personal essayist, short story writer, or haiku professional, then you may find that it’s very difficult to score sufficient paying opportunities for your work because the market demand is nonexistent (or the market value of the work is very low).

Also, the more you produce “prestige” or literary content, the more difficult it may be to find publications with the budget to pay something even close to a living wage. For more on this, I recommend reading this post at Gawker.

If you’re in the unfortunate position of loving to write things no one wants to pay for, then you’ll likely need to get used to writing for very little (or free), or finding your audience on your own and learning how to monetize it. It’s not impossible—see the story of this poet—although it typically requires some serious digital media savvy.

There’s also a chance that, over time, what you write will become more in demand. Here’s what Ta-Nehisi Coates said about deciding to write for free during a portion of his career:

I was not a “young journalist.” This was not my chance to break into the profession. … I had a style and voice that had never seemed to fit anywhere. I could not convince editors that what I was curious about was worth writing about. Every day I would watch ideas die in my head. I was ecstatic any time anyone took my ideas seriously enough to offer them a platform. Most people never get that.

4. Can the publication afford to pay?

Even if you’re willing to work for free, before you agree to do so, you should (to the best of your ability) assess the financial means—or the business model—of the website/publication that is asking for free content. Are the editors or staff being paid, or are they volunteers earning nothing or very little? Is the website/publication turning a profit? Are the readers paying for the writing through subscription or donation?

5. Are you marketing and promoting something that does pay?

The classic example here is when an author markets and promotes a book during its launch. Many book authors guest at my site without payment because they know the audience is significant and engaged enough that they can expect sales as a result of appearing here.

This question ties directly back to the very first one: will writing for free help generate leads—and thus payment of another kind? This is the key question that every strategic and business-minded writer needs to ask. Writing for free is a classic, frictionless way to make people aware of your work or services. And just about every industry has some way of using “free” to their advantage, from grocery stores to game developers. If you can get a sufficient number of people to pay attention to the free material, you can begin to establish a relationship that leads to paying opportunities down the road.

Parting advice

I don’t find it useful to offer a one-size-fits-all verdict on whether writers should work for free, because unless we can tie it to a particular strategy for a particular author at a particular time, it’s impossible to evaluate it properly. If writing for free leads to paying work down the road, it’s smart. If it leads to no further action, then it should be reconsidered.

I don’t believe that writing for free leads to the general or cultural expectation that writing ought to be free, or that writing has low value. As the cliche goes, you get what you pay for. Publications that have been around awhile know and understand the difference between quality work that requires payment, and everything else.

A Round-Up of My Columns for Publishers Weekly

Photo credit: @mist3ry30 via Visualhunt / CC BY

Last year, I began regularly contributing to Publishers Weekly on the topic of independent authorship and publishing. Here’s a list of all my columns so far:

How Indie Authors (or All Authors) Can Master Their Online Presence
Making the Most of E-mail Marketing
5 Marketing Models for Self-Publishing Success
The Library Market: What Indie Authors Need to Know
Not All Hybrid Publishers Are Created Equal

If these topics interest you, also take a look at my series of columns for IngramSpark.

I’m always open to suggestions of what issues you’d like to see addressed in the future; leave a comment and let me know.

What Writers Too Often Overlook: Having a Call to Action

Photo credit: Pulpolux !!! via Visualhunt / CC BY-NC

Note from Jane: This Monday, my new course on online writing will begin! If you want to learn the best practices of online writing—and how to make it pay—learn more and register.

Just about every writer would love to have more readers—more readers of their books, their blog, their articles, or whatever creative work they’re producing.

But few writers have given much thought to having a call to action that’s associated with their work. “Call to action” is a marketing term that refers to the one thing you’d like someone to do if they’ve enjoyed or otherwise been affected by your work.

Writers are often the most guilty of magical thinking that goes something like this: My work speaks for itself, and if it’s good enough, then wonderful things will happen.

Well, sometimes your work does speak for itself, but it may not spur any action. Or, if it does spur action, people may not take the action you’d most prefer.

So with every piece you plan to write, it’s helpful to first think through: What would I like to see happen as a result of publishing this piece? What would I like to see the most engaged readers do?

Sometimes your goal is to generate interest in your books (especially around the time of a book launch), or maybe you’re hoping that people will follow you on social media or sign up for your email newsletter. The purpose of this post that you’re reading now is to bring awareness and visibility to my upcoming course on online writing.

The call to action for each piece you write may be different, and it tends to change depending on your current projects or initiatives. Don’t try to determine your call to action based on what other people are doing; it only makes sense when you base it on either your own short-term or long-term goals.

While online articles, interviews, and blog posts are very commonly associated with a call to action, they can appear in a lot of other places, including:

The homepage of your website
In your bio note on social media
In your email signature
At the beginning or end of your book

Here’s an example of a call to action that’s included in a bio note by Kirsten Oliphant:

Here’s an example of a soft call to action in a Twitter bio—the link goes to a newsletter sign up.

Here’s an example of a call to action on a homepage at School of Book by David Moldawer:

Don’t be shy about including calls to action alongside or at the end of your work. They’re the most beneficial when you already have someone’s attention, and they’re most interested in either more great stuff from you, or staying up to date on your new stuff.

If you want to learn more about being a savvy online writer, take a look at my new course starting Oct. 10: Make Your Online Writing Pay.

Are You a Push Marketer or a Pull Marketer?

Today’s guest post is from social media expert Chris Syme (@cksyme).

When I was growing up, traveling salesmen were common occurrences at the front door. I’ll never forget the time a vacuum salesman showed up eager to demonstrate how effective his product was. Being polite, my mom invited him in for a demonstration and the first thing he did was take out a container of dirt and dump it on our rug. My mom was horrified. I doubt she ever heard a word he said. It did not matter if he had the best vacuum cleaner in the world. All she could think of was how quickly she could get him out the door so she could clean her dirty rug.

The vacuum salesman embodied a common flaw in marketing: his approach relied on pushing a message rather than pulling the customer in by addressing what was important to them. He had a method that relied on his message and not the customer’s interest. He was a push marketer.

When selling anything from books to refrigerators, we need to be an advocate for the buyer, not for our product. We want to draw people to a conclusion to buy, not push them. We want to be a pull marketer.

Push Marketing Repels

The era of push marketing began with the advent of TV commercials. Brands had a message they wanted to get across and they put together ads informing consumers about the benefits of their products. Their products were at the center of their messages, not the consumers’ needs. They were the sources of information and we trusted them. They created an inflated need for their product and we bought in. Basically, selling was based on hype.

After the internet became a cultural mainstay, consumers discovered that they had a wealth of information at their fingertips. They gathered their own information, made comparisons between products, looked at consumer reviews, and made buying decisions based on their real needs. And so began the era of pull marketing. Smart brands spent time and money crafting content that pulled in buyers based on identifying and meeting a real consumer need.

Social media has created a buying culture where the consumer is in control. As Jay Baer wrote in his book Youtility, “Smart marketing is about help, not hype.” If you want to be successful at selling today, you need to quit pushing your needs (please buy my book) at potential readers and concentrate pulling them in by putting their needs above yours. Give them something valuable.

What Is Valuable Content?

Valuable content meets the needs of the consumer. And what are their needs? In two studies, one done by marketing expert Amy Porterfield and the other by Buffer, we find two sets of needs that drive people when they go online. The two look very similar:

Six things people want from you online:

Giveaways/discounts
Advice about a need (dating, childcare, laundry, buying a car, etc.)
Warnings
Amusement: everyone loves to smile and laugh
Inspiration: stories of humans beating the odds, being generous and caring
Amazement

Deliver content that makes an emotional connection. People want to feel:

Happy
Inspired
Compassion
Informed
Supported
Connected

You’ve Got to Give to Get

In The Content Code, author Mark Schaefer talks about the reciprocity we create when we give our fans something of value and connect with their needs. They feel obliged. If you are stumped about how to create valuable content, chances are you are stepping up to the marketing plate thinking about your needs first. In the words of John David Mann and Bob Burg, you want to be a Go-Giver, not a Go-Getter.

I use a simple formula to define the reciprocity culture of social media, called the 80-20 Rule. In order to earn the permission to sell in social media, 80 percent of social media posts need to be giving value and making a connection with the buyer’s needs, and 20 percent of posts should be about direct selling.

In my online classes I go into detail about how to set up, organize, and schedule content using the 80-20 Rule. I call it the Content Bucket System. You have to give value to gain trust. And trust is the basis of loyalty. Loyalty builds repeat sales and motivates your fans to help you sell your books by word-of-mouth.

You’ve Got to Let Them Know You

I listened to a podcast recently with well-known wellness expert Doctor Josh Axe. He was asked for his No.1 key to building millions of followers and customers just using Facebook. It didn’t surprise me when he said “You’ve got to let them know you.” Sounds simple, but those words drive fear into many an author’s heart. You mean I have to talk with my fans? The more you befriend your fans, the more they will gravitate to your content. That is pull marketing. Author and business coach Chris Brogan puts it this way: “Don’t treat your customers like a bunch of purses and wallets.” Be a human, be a friend.

If you’d like to learn more about how to write valuable content and master pull marketing, I recommend you subscribe to my free weekly tips sheet on book marketing. Currently I am giving away a three-resource book marketing pack as my thanks. You can find out more here.

When the Writing Life Isn’t About Talent, Discipline, or Stubbornness

Photo credit: Julien Sanine via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-ND

The act of risking and enduring failure is celebrated at length these days. I don’t know if this is a new phenomenon, perhaps arising out of Silicon Valley startup culture, or if it’s an old philosophy that’s become newly relevant. Certainly humans have had to face their fears again and again, and fear of failure is one of the most significant.

Author Melissa Yancy (@melyancy), in her essay The Upside of Failure, shines a new light on what failure brings to the writing life. Her exploration isn’t the usual reflection on rejection, but rather a contemplation of what it means to keep writing when you don’t or can’t launch into it full-time, and it’s a day job that pays the bills. She writes:

… over the last decade, I’d seen many of my friends stop writing fiction, or stop writing altogether. It wasn’t from lack of talent, and more surprisingly, it wasn’t about discipline, either. The writers I knew who had taken their writing most seriously—working part-time, freelancing, and making significant financial sacrifice to spend more time on their work—were the ones who most easily gave it up when a stable career opportunity came around.

For years, when all else failed, I would think of something I’d heard Ron Carlson say: the writer goes to the stubborn. If I didn’t feel disciplined, or inspired, or talented, I knew I could be that: I could be stubborn. But when I talked to friends who had been able to give it up, I realized it was no longer stubbornness that kept me coming back.

Read Yancy’s entire essay in the latest Glimmer Train bulletin.

Also this month at Glimmer Train:

Every Bit as Hard as It Sounds by Robert Schirmer

On Writing as Theft by E.A. Durden

Laziness in Molecular Transformation by Vi Khi Nao

Expository Dialogue and Student Fiction by Gabriel Brownstein

5 On: Caroline Leavitt

Author Caroline Leavitt reveals the fears behind her middle-of-the-night writer anxieties, the contents of her colored book tour folders, her reaction to the praise her latest novel is receiving, and more in this 5 On interview.

Caroline Leavitt (@Leavittnovelist) is the author of eleven novels, most recently Cruel Beautiful World. Two of her previous novels, Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow, were New York Times bestsellers.

Pictures of You was named one of the best books of the year by Kirkus Reviews, San Francisco Chronicle, and Bookmarks magazine, and it was also a Costco “Pennie’s Pick.” Is This Tomorrow was an Indie Next pick, was long-listed for the Maine Readers prize, was a San Francisco Chronicle Lit Pick, was named a best book of the year by January Magazine, and was winner of the AudioFile Earphones award.

Caroline is a book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, and People magazine.  Her essays and stories have appeared in Real Simple, Modern Love in the New York Times, New York Magazine, the Manifest-Station, and more.

The recipient of a New York Foundation of the Arts grant, Caroline teaches novel writing online for both Stanford and the UCLA Writers’ Program Extension. She also works with private clients.

Fun facts: Caroline is also a professional namer with Eat My Words, and she wrote Wishbone books for kids.

5 on Writing

Cruel Beautiful World receives this praise in a BookBrowse list of the ten most-anticipated fall novels: “Veteran novelist Leavitt has been writing since the 1980s but really came into focus in the last fifteen years. Expect her to reach ‘overnight sensation’ status with Cruel Beautiful World.” Other reviews have been equally effusive. Does the anticipation being generated—and would that kind of “overnight sensation” success—make you nervous about expectations for the books to follow, or are you simply excited, or … something else / a combination of the two?

It makes me want to have an IV that floods my system with Valium all the time. I’m terrified because I never know what people are going to respond to. I honestly dug deep and wrote this particular book—well, at lot of it—for my mother and for my sister and for my own failures at trying to fix or repair fissures in our relationships.  So it’s deeply personal on that level. And also, these are just premonitions from critics—what if it doesn’t come true? You never know what is going to make or break a book.

And also, this makes me nervous about my next book. I need to get into the zone and just keep myself really really calm and hopeful.

You shared recently that you were up in the middle of the night worrying about your writing. What kind of writing worries do you have when you’re lying awake in the dark?

I worry that I am a fraud. I worry that I get reviews and attention because people feel sorry for me because they know I am a fraud, but I’m also a nice person. I worry that I didn’t do a good enough job and I will be skewered. I worry that I can’t write anything ever again because I am a fraud. I worry that I am not good enough. Another popular worry is that the literary community is laughing at me and they don’t think I am literary enough.

Obviously, I am very neurotic.

You write novels and essays and book reviews, you teach writing, and you have a husband, a son, and a robotic cat. When you’re working on a novel, how do you manage your writing time? Is there a schedule you stick to, or do you write around everything else? When you take a day off, is it a day you’ve planned in advance, or does it happen because the writing just isn’t cooperating that day?

I love that you mentioned Leon, my robotic cat! Thank you! I work really hard. So does my husband. We have a rule that we have to leave our offices, which are on the top floor, by ten at night. I always start with the novel first, because that is what obsesses me, but I can’t write for more than four hours without feeling depleted. Then I do book reviews, which I love, and usually after dinner I will check in on my classes and private clients. And it doesn’t matter to me if the writing isn’t cooperating—I still do it, but I have to bribe myself with copious amounts of chocolate and coffee!

You’re currently writing two novels simultaneously. Related to that, you posted recently on Facebook that ever since you were young you’ve felt like you have to hurry up and do things, that there isn’t enough time. If you were to die tomorrow (cutely and painlessly licked to death by turtles), how would you feel about where you are now as a writer? Would you be satisfied that you had achieved what you set out to achieve, or is there a project you have in mind that is important to you to complete before the turtles come for you?

Ha! I laughed at the turtles. Yeah, I’ve always had this feeling. I’ve had a few brushes with death. In ninth grade I had a terrible secondary lung infection, and they were not sure I would live. After I had my son, I had a rare blood disease and was put into a coma and was in the hospital for months and they never thought I’d survive. But I did. So I can’t help but feeling that I have to cherish every second and do as much as I can and be as kind as I can.

If I died tomorrow? I think the thing I’m most proud of is my son. I never thought I could be a good mother, and then he came along, and he’s cracked open the world for me. He’s twenty now, so I know he’d be okay. I’m proud that after zillions of horrific, brutal relationships, I finally found someone who is funny, kind, adoring—the whole works. But the real thing I’m proud of is that I changed myself. I grew up in a very troubled family. And my way of protecting myself from that as a kid was to withdraw or to use anger to push people away. I began to realize this when I was in college, and I worked really hard to change, to be a kind person. And I feel that I was able to do that. Being kind, helping others—that’s why we’re here, I think.

Before the turtles come (And could you throw in some cute leopard turtles? The baby ones that are tiny?), I want to finish these two novels. And because everyone has to be happy or I won’t be happy, I want Jeff to already have found a loving, kind, doting woman who will be with him, and I want Max to succeed beyond his wildest dreams in the film and theater world.

What would it mean to you to have one of your novels adapted for the screen, and are you one of those writers who can easily say, “The book is my story, but the movie is yours—have at it,” no matter what they do to change it?

Ah, Hollywood, breaking my heart at every turn. I’ve had about four options on work of mine. One, Into Thin Air, was supposed to be Madonna’s directorial debut, then she went off to go on tour. I had a deal pending at Sundance where Vera Farmiga was going to direct and star in Pictures of You, and then she was handed Bates Motel. Gillian Armstrong loved Is This Tomorrow, but she wanted a script. So I began to learn how to write scripts myself, and I got good enough to become a finalist in both Sundance Screenwriters Lab and in the Nickelodeon Screenwriter Fellowships. I’m writing a pilot now with the debut novelist Gina Sorell—and she’s brilliant, so I’m learning a lot.

I know people in Hollywood—producers, directors—and I have an amazing manager out there, but while they are always happy to read my work, they want to see actors attached. Or they want the story to be less internal. Or more internal. Or with car chases.  But I’m always hopeful. Or foolhardy.

5 on Publishing

You’ve prepared several different folders for your Cruel Beautiful World book tour. Why so many, and what goes in them?

I always prepare folders for a book tour. I’m totally OCD. I get confused easily by disorder, so rather than have everything on my tour (there are about forty places now, confusing me), I put each event in its own cheerful folder—everything to do with it goes in that folder—and the different colors of each folder help me differentiate. When I go on tour I take only the folders I need, and when I’m done with the events, I can toss them. Plus, I have to admit, the colored folders are kind of pretty.

On the covers, I write the date first (so I can order all the files by date, from first to last), then the event, the time, and the address. I always put a contact phone number on the cover so if I’m in a panic about something, I know who to call fast! That makes a quick and easy visual for me. Inside, I’ll put the printouts that have to do with the event. Maybe it’s my speech. It might also include hotel reservations, plane tickets. I always include my itinerary of the days I’ll be at the event. What time is the author breakfast and where is it? What do I do next? What happens the next day? Since eating is important, I also include a sheet of restaurants I might want to try in whatever area I am. And I don’t forget to include things I want to see—and people I want to see—if I have any time.

I start to fill these folders out as soon as I have the information. As time goes on, I’ll add more to each folder as I get new information.

Of course, I also have all this on my calendar, but it doesn’t make me feel as secure as the colored folders do!

One byproduct of writing publicly is reader reaction, good or bad. In an interview with BookBrowse , you mention a time you received negative feedback on “ Dating the Birth Mother ,” a Salon article you’d written (someone wrote that someone like you shouldn’t be allowed to adopt, in one case). Have you received harsh reader emails or letters in response to any of your books, which deal with some intensely personal issues, and—more generally—how sensitive are you to attacks that get personal, and how do you handle them?

Ah, yes. I’ve gotten better at this. After the birth of our son, I couldn’t have any more kids because they weren’t sure the blood disorder would come back, so we thought we’d open-adopt. The whole process was so demoralizing and devastating for us that we gave it up after a year. And part of writing that essay and my book Girls in Trouble was to try to get people talking about why there isn’t more dialogue with both birth parents and adoptive parents about really important things. You’re going to be jealous. You’re human, so of course you will, whether you are the birth or adoptive parent. Adoptive agencies don’t always tell you what is going on. So when that piece and the novel came out, the adoption agencies were furious with me because they felt I was telling people not to adopt (not true), but the birth mothers made me their heroine, and that was wonderful.

I used to fall apart at personal attacks. I had one Kirkus review for my third novel that began, “More psychopathology from the previously white hot and now tiresome Leavitt.” I cried and wouldn’t go out of the apartment. Becoming a book critic myself has helped me tremendously. I know that a review is one person’s opinion. I’ve reviewed books I’ve loved and every other critic hated. I’ve hated books that were critics’ darlings.

I try to read every review just once and consider it. Is there something I can learn from it? Then that’s okay. If it’s just mean-spirited and nasty—and some of them are—the only thing that makes me feel better is to write the reviewer a charming note that says: “Although you didn’t like my novel, I’m deeply appreciative that you took the time to write a thoughtful review.” Then I feel better. Otherwise it can eat away at you. There is this wonderful Martha Graham quote (I think it’s her) where she says the critics may try to eat away at you, but you go on creating.

You’ve said that, if your current publisher rejected a book, your agent would then try other publishers—and that if those publishers rejected it, “It would go in a drawer, I would be deeply upset and cry, and then I would start writing something new.” If you felt it was good enough to submit to publishers, why would it sit in a drawer with so many publishing options available?

Because a lot of wonderful books sit in drawers. Sometimes the timing is wrong. Sometimes you may be ahead of the times—or behind them. You never know.

Of the TV interviews you’ve done, which one stands out in your memory (for any reason—exciting, nerve-racking, educational, odd), and why?

Oh, this is a great question! I wrote this essay “High Infidelity” for an anthology edited by Victoria Zackheim. It was about a summer when my marriage was breaking apart, my sister-in-law was sleeping with her shrink (who, in turn, murdered her dog), and everything fell apart in a colossal way. So I was asked to be on the Today show twice! And it was funny. The first time was in my home, and all I own is black clothing, and they said, “Oh no, no, you can’t wear that. We have a black backdrop.” I owned nothing else. Luckily there was another woman from the anthology there, and she loaned me this wonderful little beige jacket! But the second time was in the Today studio. They took me to hair and makeup and said, “Oh no, we love curls, but they have to be TV curls.” I had no idea what TV curls were, but they sprayed my hair to an inch of its life.

So there I am on the Today show. Big deal, right? And I happen to look at the monitor, expecting to see the legend under my name, “NYT Bestselling Author Caroline Leavitt.” Instead it says, “Her husband cheated on her and her best friend knew it!” I felt nauseous. During the break, I asked if she could at least say that I was an author, and the producer said, “Sure! Of course!” So I looked at the monitor and it said, “Her sister-in-law arranged trysts with husband and girlfriend!” under my name.

I laughed it off, started to walk home, and then two women jumped up from a bench. “You’re the woman from the Today show!” one shouted. And I said yeah, I was, and she said, “So your husband cheated on you?” That was my Today show fame!

What embarrassing mistakes have you made as a professional writer approaching professional people, whether early or later in your career?

Oh, I have a doozy. I wrote a letter to the head of Sony wanting to pitch some movie ideas. He said, great, I’d love to have you come in. So, in my haste, I wrote, “I’m so glad, because everyone knows that nobody makes movies like HBO.” Needless to say, they never called me in.

Now I tend to just be honest and tell the truth. I’ve written to writers I admire just to tell them I admire them, not expecting anything. Sometimes I will write, “I’d rather hammer my hand to my forehead than annoy you, but….” I tell myself everyone is a person. Everyone is also broken in some way, and that’s the part that might be making someone sharp with you. I’m fearless with email. I’ve approached actresses, directors, and I would say that 99.9 percent of them have been wonderful. You just have to take the risk, and if it fails? Well, it’s a funny story.

Thank you, Caroline.

The Publishing Industry in 2016: A Status Update

Photo credit: ActuaLitté via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-SA

A quick preface: Tomorrow is the 1-year anniversary of The Hot Sheet, an email newsletter for authors that I write and edit with journalist Porter Anderson. In honor of the occasion, we’re offering a flash sale on Friday, Sept. 23: you can subscribe at 30% off the annual price. Use code HOT30 at checkout. 

This is the first public discount we’ve ever offered. Learn more about The Hot Sheet.

Several times per year, I write up a summary of the latest industry developments that have meaning for authors. The latest one was The Myth About Print Coming Back and Bookstores on the Rise. Here’s the picture now developing.

Traditional publishing is in a funk—is it temporary?

A Publishers Weekly article in late July pointed out that no new novel had cracked the top twenty print bestsellers in the first half of 2016—that the year lacked a blockbuster novel similar to 2015’s The Girl on the Train. The article speculates that current events (the election cycle, terrorist attacks) may have squeezed out book coverage, but also that the division of sales between print and digital formats may be a factor.

According to Nielsen Bookscan, for print book sales (primarily traditional publishing sales):

During the first quarter of 2016, frontlist adult fiction sales were down by 17% compared to 2015
During the second quarter, they were down by 4%
First quarter backlist sales were up by 4% compared to the prior year
Second quarter backlist sales were up by 9%

The fact that backlist sales are up while frontlist has declined may mean that readers aren’t hearing about new books as much as before, or that they may be price sensitive and are waiting to buy. Really, it could mean a lot of things.

But the picture became more clear when the biggest New York publishers released their financial results for the first half of 2016—compared to the prior year:

Penguin Random House (PRH): sales down 10.7 percent
Hachette Book Group USA: sales down 6.6 percent
HarperCollins: sales down 2.5 percent
Simon & Schuster: sales down 3.5 percent

For Penguin Random House, the CEO said the shortfall was related to “the absence of newly published megasellers,” as well as the  poor performance of ebooks in the United States and UK. Helping make up for the losses: steady print book sales and audiobook sales.

Industry consultant Mike Shatzkin recently wrote, “Higher ebook prices reduce the speed with which a book can catch on in the marketplace. It feels like there is a consensus in the big houses now that it is harder to create the ‘surprise’ breakouts. … The Girl on the Train phenomenon is always unpredictable, but big publishers still could count on it coming along often enough to keep the sales revenue trend line rising. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. High ebook prices—and high means ‘high relative to lots of other ebooks available in the market’—will only work with the consumer when the book is ‘highly branded,’ meaning already a bestseller or by an author that is well known. And word-of-mouth, the mysterious phenomenon that every publisher counts on to make books big, is lubricated by low prices and seriously handicapped by high prices.”

Barnes & Noble losses mean even more grief for traditional publishing

The largest bookstore chain in the United States is once again without a CEO. In August, he was given the boot by B&N’s board of directors, who cited a poor fit. The company continues to lose sales even while other retailers—both Amazon and independent booksellers—enjoy increases.

Here’s a brief look at B&N milestones over the past year:

September 2015: New CEO Ron Boire takes the helm; the stock plunges 30 percent upon news of a surprise loss. Media outlets wonder if Barnes & Noble can be “saved,” since the Nook business shows a decline of 22 percent against the prior year.

December 2015: Boire hopes to turn B&N into a lifestyle brand, saying “Barnes & Noble has become a destination for personal development, learning, and entertainment.” Overall performance continues to look stagnant, at best. The BN.com website suffers reduced traffic and sales to the tune of 22 percent due to its problematic relaunch over the summer. Nook sales are 32 percent lower against the prior year.

March 2016: Nook pulls out of the UK market; it now operates only in the United States after previously operating in forty countries. Nook’s digital content sales are down by 56 percent since 2012.

June 2016: More information is released about B&N’s new concept stores, with the first set to open in October 2016. For fiscal 2016, B&N overall sales are down 3.1 percent from the prior year, and print book sales decrease 1.5 percent.

According to Publishers Weekly, the Big Five publishers were unhappy to hear about the CEO’s exit, which was not at all anticipated. Some worry it will set the retailer further behind than ever, right as the industry heads into the critical holiday shopping season. The Wall Street Journal said the new B&N leadership believes the bookseller “‘shot itself in the foot’ by cutting store personnel and aggressively reducing in-store inventory.”

B&N financial reports consistently show increases when it comes to sideline items, such as toys and games. The new concept stores are expected to decrease shelf space for books and provide space for customers to just hang out. The most widely touted feature is the inclusion of full-service restaurants, complete with wine and beer offerings. B&N hopes that such features will drive more traffic to stores and keep customers around longer. Once again, Mike Shatzkin has some of the best insights, this time on what B&N needs to do to survive.

Meanwhile, Amazon increases its physical retail footprint

A little less than a year ago, Amazon opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore in its hometown of Seattle, and apparently it’s doing well enough that Amazon is moving ahead with stores in other locations across the country. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of Amazon’s stores, here’s what you need to know:

They have a relatively small square footage when compared to Barnes & Noble. The most recently opened store is 3,500 square feet, and the average Barnes & Noble is ten times that size, sometimes more.
All the books are face out, so the emphasis is on curation.
No prices are listed; customers have to check book prices on their phones. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the sales staff’s most frequent refrain is, “Do you have the Amazon app on your phone?”

Perhaps even more interesting: Amazon is investing in pop-up stores across the country. Such efforts are separate from the bookstore initiative and focus on promoting Amazon’s hardware, particularly the Echo; each has a small footprint—about 300 to 500 square feet—and they are found primarily in malls. According to Business Insider, “Given Amazon’s obsession with data, the decision to expand the network of stores may indicate that the company has seen an uptick in online sales in the regions where it already has pop-up stores.”

Some media analysts have speculated that it matters little how much Amazon profits from its stores; the real play is about customer data-harvesting, particularly in relation to dynamic pricing, and selling such methods to other retailers. For more on this theory, check out this On the Media episode.

Two years of Kindle Unlimited: the question of Amazon exclusivity still looms large

Amazon’s ebook subscription service, Kindle Unlimited, launched in July 2014; for $9.99 per month, Amazon customers can have “all-you-can-eat” access to more than 1 million ebook titles and thousands of audiobooks. It remains one of the most important services to keep an eye on for both traditional publishers and self-publishing authors.

For those who aren’t aware of KU basics, here’s a quick recap:

None of the major publishers offers its titles through KU. It is populated predominantly by small to midsize publishers and self-published authors.

KU pays self-published authors based on pages read. For indie authors with titles available in KU, Amazon sets a monthly per-page payment rate retroactively. (Yes, that means authors don’t know what they’ll earn in KU until Amazon tells them—after the reading takes place.) Furthermore, authors can enroll titles in KU only by being exclusive to Amazon through KDP Select.

Amazon must continually root out scammers. Some unscrupulous people have accumulated falsely high page reads in KU by deceptive means; Amazon has to remain vigilant to prevent underhanded tactics that hurt all indie authors, since there’s a fixed amount of money to go around each month.

Despite the flaws, indie authors, as well as some small and midsize publishers, are going all in with Amazon on ebooks and KU because it makes financial sense, at least in the short term. But the question remains: Does it pay to stay enrolled?

Established authors have less to gain by being in KU and exclusive to Amazon. Bestselling authors, especially, favor having their books distributed as widely as possible; they have a reliable fan base and a steady stream of sales for new releases as well as backlist. Joanna Penn is one established author who goes wide, not exclusive, but does make exceptions for some of her titles with little to no audience outside of Amazon.

Established authors are more likely to view KU as a short-term marketing tool. They enroll specific titles in KDP Select and KU for ninety days knowing they may earn less overall for that title, but accept that fact as the cost of marketing. KU page reads do contribute to a title’s Amazon ranking, and thus can make a title more visible and discoverable. Indie author Lindsay Buroker said in December 2015, “KU really only helps if you can leverage it into being in the top 100 in your category, and if you’re selling a book or two a week it’s probably not going to change anything.”

New or unestablished authors have less to lose. Without an audience in place, authors may benefit both from the increased visibility that comes from KU reads and from the income from those reads. Lindsay Buroker has a good explanatory post on this.


For an outlying perspective: Hugh Howey has been an advocate for KU and exclusivity. Read his blog post.

To see charts and data about the historic performance of KU payouts, take a look at Written Word Media’s comprehensive description. As long as Amazon represents 80 to 90 percent of most indie author ebook sales, there’s little risk to new authors to enroll in KU for ninety days at a time. That said, other ebook retailers have (understandably) tried to discourage authors from going exclusive, saying that sales aren’t being given a reasonable chance to grow at other channels.

What do you think were the most important publishing developments this year? Share in the comments.

And if you enjoyed this post, I think you’ll love The Hot Sheet. (Use HOT30 to get 30% off your subscription on Sept. 23 only.)

Getting Ready to Launch a Book? Start with These 5 Questions

by Richard Saxon | via Flickr

Today’s guest post is from Andrea Dunlop (@andrea_dunlop), formerly a publicist at Doubleday.

I’ve had quite an interesting year. I got married a couple of weeks ago, and six months before that I published my debut novel. Here’s one essential thing that holds true whether you’re hoping for success in love or book publishing: in order to find what you want, you need to know what you’re looking for!

Whether you’re hiring help with your promotional efforts, going the DIY route, or a mix of both, you need to have a good idea of not only how the marketing process works but also how this process will work best for you. When I’m working with clients, I start by getting as much information as possible about where they are in their authorly lives and what they’re looking to get out of the experience. Helping them articulate their vision is the only way to make sure they don’t end up throwing good time and money after bad.

Here are five big-picture questions to make sure you start your marketing off on the right foot.

What do you want from this process?

Wrong answer: to write the next Eat, Pray, Love / be the next Cheryl Strayed.

First: a reality check. If you include self-published titles, somewhere around 4,000 books are released every day. Bestselling authors are outliers on the level of Hall of Fame baseball players. I don’t say this to discourage you, only to encourage you to set more realistic standards for yourself.

Second: chasing trends is a losing gambit as a writer. No one needs the next Eat, Pray, Love, because Liz Gilbert already wrote it. Frustratingly, publishers sometimes give in to the lure of trends (mid-Twilight craze, I was told by an agent that it was too hard to sell anything without a paranormal element). However, as an author, even if this was a good idea (which it isn’t), you’d never be able to produce something fast enough to catch a trend before it passed.

Better answers

I want to bring my work to the widest audience possible and establish myself as a thought leader in my field.
I want to meet as many fellow authors and readers as possible.
I want to learn as much as I can to set myself up for success with this book and all the rest I hope to write.

I encourage you to think about why you want to be successful as an author and what that would mean for you specifically. People publish their work for all different kinds of reasons. Zeroing in on who you want to be as an author will give you the best chance of making that dream a reality.

What are your goals?

Wrong answer: to sell lots of books.

Of course you want to sell books; this is a given. But this is nowhere near specific enough. How many books do you want to sell?  Five thousand? Fifty thousand? Furthermore, which one of those might you actually achieve? Goals should be specific, measurable, and actionable. They should also—and this is crucial—be realistic. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim high, of course, but if your goals are so stratospheric that you can’t envision the path from A to B, you’re only setting yourself up for a massive disappointment.

Better answers

I’d like to go on a ten-city speaking tour in conjunction with the promotion of this book.
I’d like to build up a readership of at least 10,000.
I want to build an audience who is excited and ready to purchase my next novel when it comes out.

These are great examples of ambitious goals that are still realistic. Once you pass that first bar, you can feel free to set the bar higher on your next round—in fact, you should! Giving yourself mileposts along the way will help keep you motivated and on-track.

How much time can you spend on your marketing efforts?

Wrong answer: none.

Hiring help—whether in the form of a developmental editor to help you polish your manuscript or a publicist or social media manager to help you market it—is a good idea if you have big goals. But this does not give you a free pass to be hands off. So much of book marketing now revolves around the author herself: creating and placing original content, doing events and cross-promotion, being active on social media. You need to be involved. When your manuscript is finished and off to the printer, your job as a writer is done, but your job as an author is just getting started. These are separate and distinct roles, and if you don’t have any desire to participate in the latter functions, guess what: that makes writing your hobby, not your profession.

Better answers

10 hours per week during the launch cycle
1 hour per day
5 hours every weekend

I’m less concerned with how much time an author can spend than with knowing what that number is and then working backward to devise a strategy that will work within those parameters. I get that you have a life, but if you’re taking this seriously, you’ve got to make room for book promotion. Always remember: no one will care about your book more than you do.

What is your budget for marketing?

Wrong answer: zero / that’s my publisher’s job.

A few questions: Do you happen to already have a million followers on YouTube / Instagram / Snapchat who will be eagerly awaiting the release of your book? Did you receive a million-dollar-plus advance from a publisher who is going to dedicate a huge share of the year’s marketing budget toward promoting your book? Are you a Kardashian?

If you answered no to all of the above, then you’re likely going to have to dedicate some of your own resources to marketing your book. If you’re traditionally published, you should look at allocating a portion of your advance to this. If you’re self-published, this should be a consideration when you’re laying out your overall budget; otherwise you’re investing a lot of time and money in producing a book that no one will ever see.

Better answers

I’ve allocated $5,000 from my advance.
I have $1,000 to spend on social media ad campaigns.

Again, it’s less about how much you have and more about how you use it. Needless to say, it takes both money and time to successfully launch a book. If you have a lower budget, don’t fret; just be prepared to make up in sweat equity what you lack in cash.

Who is your audience?

Wrong answer: everyone / everyone who reads.

Again, the key here is specificity. No book is for everyone, but most books are for someone, and your job is to reach as many of those people as you possibly can. Casting too wide a net in your marketing efforts will get you nowhere, especially considering the absolute deluge of new books that become available to readers on a daily basis. You don’t need to hit all readers, just those who have the best chance of becoming your readers.

Better answers

My audience is mid-career urban professionals looking to invest in start-ups.
My audience is women between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five who love dogs and travel.

For this question, use the Marketing 101 exercise of building an audience “persona”—i.e., a character sketch of exactly who your reader is. How is old is he or she? What does she do for a living? Married or unmarried? Kids or no kids? Not only will this visualization help guide your overall marketing efforts, the more you can hone in on these exact details, the more effective you can be with tools like Facebook advertising.

Learn more about author and marketer Andrea Dunlop’s services.

How to Leverage the Power of Someone Else’s Platform (Without Being Smarmy)

by Truthout.org | via Flickr

Today’s guest post is by author and blogger Kirsten Oliphant (@kikimojo).

Working to build an author platform often feels like a long, slow climb. (And much of the work is more of a marathon than a short sprint.) You create quality content to increase your traffic, engage to grow followers on social media, and do the work of building an email list. Then hit repeat.

Another tool in platform-building is to leverage the power of someone else’s audience. This allows you to get in front of new people, gain authority in your space, grow your audience, and also build relationships with other authors or influencers in your space. This might look like guest posts on that person’s blog, a joint venture (like a workshop or promotion together), an interview on their blog or podcast, or interviewing them on your blog or podcast.

The challenge is that, if you approach people in the wrong way, it can be at best ineffective and at worst burn bridges. This post will help give general best practices for reaching out; Jane has written a post specifically about asking people to promote your book at IngramSpark.

How to Maintain the Correct Mindset

Though we are talking about leveraging another person’s platform, this should not be mistaken for using someone else or climbing over another person’s back to land on top. Instead, the goal should be to make lasting connections with other people in a way that can benefit you both. Consider what you are bringing to the table. What do you have to offer the other person? Think in terms of a long-term partnership rather than a one-off favor.

It becomes clear very quickly when people try use others solely for their own benefit. My favorite word for this distasteful practice is smarmy. You don’t want to establish a reputation as someone who is self-centered or uses others. Be helpful and generous with other people and do not simply look for what you can get out of a collaboration.

What to Look for in Partnerships

Leveraging other platforms is not simply about looking vertically, or reaching up to those people with a larger following. You can also connect horizontally, working with people at or close to your current station. And you can also reach out to people who may have a smaller following or be newer in their journey. Each kind of partnership can have benefits.

Typically people want to reach up, thinking that those big platforms are the key to growth. But the number of pageviews or followers someone else has does not always indicate the return on investment (ROI) for your efforts. I have written guest posts for blogs that have two million pageviews a month without seeing more than five or ten referral visits to my own site. I’ve also had someone with fewer followers than I have tag me in a single tweet that resulted in shares and follows.

A good metric to consider is engagement: How does this person’s audience engage with content? Are there blog comments? Retweets? Facebook shares?

You can also consider how this person generally treats partnerships. Are they generous in promoting guest posts on social media? Do they reply or retweet shares on Twitter? Are they engaging in comments on the blog or on Facebook posts?

The more present and engaged someone is, the more engaged their audience tends to be. Look past the numbers to see interaction.

How to Lay the Foundation for a Warm Ask

The worst kind of request for collaboration is a cold ask. This is when the very first contact with someone is a request. I constantly receive and delete form emails from people who I’ve never connected with and who are clearly not familiar with my blog or my work. It takes a considerable benefit to me to respond to a cold pitch.

Do some groundwork to lay a foundation for a warm ask so there is some level of interaction leading up to an ask. I tend to keep a list of people that I would like to work with at some point, perhaps as a guest poster or a guest on a podcast. Or perhaps I’d like to team up on a project.

I created a private list in Hootsuite (see more on how I use Twitter) called Radar. (Note: Be aware that public lists will send a notification with the name of your list to each person you add. If you set your list to public, don’t choose a name like “People I Want to Leverage.” Or keep the list private.) On a weekly basis I share relevant content from my Radar list or reply to their tweets.

You can also comment on a person’s blogs, subscribe to their email newsletter, or follow that person and interact on their social platforms. Don’t be creepy, but do try to get on that person’s radar before sending an email proposing some kind of partnership.

Share genuinely and not just the week before you plan to send an email with an ask. If you follow someone on Twitter an hour before you email to ask something, it doesn’t seem genuine, especially if you claim to follow their work or be a fan.

When and How to Ask

Before you approach your dream person with a proposal, try to work with someone at the horizontal level or even someone a few steps behind you. Get a feel for how these partnerships can work before you approach a person with a larger following. When you do reach out, here are some tips for writing an effective email. Your pitch should:

follow that person’s guidelines (if applicable)
be succinct
be personal
include a clear and concise pitch for collaboration
demonstrate the value for that person

Some people have information about how to contact them or pitch them on their About page or a Work with Me page. Do check before you send an email. If you send an email when you should have instead emailed a different address or filled out a contact form, it shows that you did not do your homework. Pay attention also to the person’s latest tweets or social shares. Sometimes I have been on the verge of sending an email when I checked Twitter to realize that the person I wanted to contact was taking a blogging break and would not be checking email for a month.

Be succinct. My biggest pet peeve is other people wasting my time. A very small way to show respect to someone else is to value their time. A short email will also likely return better results than a long one. Get to the point. Be clear and concise.

Don’t mistake succinct for dry. You should be personal and personable. Talk briefly about that blog post you loved, or share a quick anecdote about how that person has impacted you. If you have previously interacted on another platform, mention that. (Especially if your Twitter handle is different from your email address.) Have a friendly, personable tone.

State exactly what kind of collaboration you are proposing. Be specific in the requirements and what you think it might cost in terms of time. This is a good time to consider (if you haven’t already) the scope of what you are asking.

I’ve had people request something from me with a lot of extra bits baked into the pitch. I may be asked to speak at an event, but I’m not paid and have requirements for social sharing. This requires way more than, say, a twenty-minute podcast interview I can do from home in my pajamas. The more you ask, the less you are likely to get a yes. Depending on the level of relationship you have with that person, you may be able to ask for more. But be aware and don’t ask for too much or make an open-ended pitch.

Demonstrate value. Be up front about why your proposal would benefit them. Why should they allow you to guest post? What do you bring to the table that is a win for them? Why might they want to get in front of your audience? What’s in it for them? Don’t over-promise, but do be as tangible as you can get with why this is a good fit.

Follow Through

Crowded inboxes may mean that you do not get an immediate response. This is not necessarily a no. Wait a week, search in your sent folder for that email you originally sent, and hit reply to it. This will send another email to that person with a RE: in the subject, containing your original pitch as a reminder of what you asked. Make this follow-up short and to the point. Some people will continue to follow up, but, typically after one follow-up, I will not pursue further.

If you do get a yes, be sure that after a successful partnership, you continue to give. Don’t stop sharing that person’s content on Twitter once you’ve scored that interview. Write an email (or even a written note) to say thanks for partnering. Be gracious and continue to give generously after the collaboration.

It is also a good practice (where applicable) to make promotion easy if that person chooses to share. When I interview people on my podcast, I send an email with links to the show notes and the various platforms where the podcast is hosted. I even send a custom image for their episode. I also tag that person in social shares.

Final Thoughts

The biggest requirement to partner with someone is to make the ask. Sounds simple, right? But I talk to so many people who are scared to email their dream writer to ask for an interview or guest post.

You will never get a yes if you never ask. You may not get a yes if you ask, but you will never hear yes without taking that leap.

When people ask me how I got some bigger names (like Darren Rowse from ProBlogger) in my first twenty podcasts, I can honestly say that I simply took a risk and asked. After, of course, making connections, sharing content generously, doing my homework, and asking for something that was an easy win. I’ve had a few rejections, but for the most part have had a lot of success with sticking to these best practices.

You won’t always get a yes. If you get a lot of negative responses or non-responses, step back and ask why. You may need to rework your pitch or what you are asking. You may be asking the wrong kinds of people or reaching too high vertically. Ask an honest friend to read the emails you are sending and give you feedback.

Seeking ways to leverage someone else’s platform is a great way to grow your own. Don’t be afraid to ask. But be sure that you are asking genuinely and offering value in return.

Visit Kirsten at CreateIfWriting.com.

 

The Power of Pods: Ask Your Friends to Lead a Mini-Brigade on Your Behalf

Today’s guest post is from author Robert Wilder (@RobertTWilder).

An old college friend of mine is a very successful venture capitalist (VC) dealing mostly in the tech world. Since I’m a curious guy, I often ask him about the latest apps or cutting-edge marketplace ideas. And since I’m in my classroom or at my writing desk most of the time, I need someone to help keep me current. When I was shopping my upcoming novel, NICKEL, he suggested that I crowdfund it through Kickstarter or a similar platform. I knew very little about crowdfunding and even less about crowdfunding books, so I started to research the idea. In addition to reading (a lot), I interviewed people in the know. While I was in New York visiting friends, I went to the very hip Kickstarter offices and met with the person in charge of publishing outreach. She helped me understand how Kickstarter ultimately wants to partner with publishers by raising funds to offset the risk publishers take when making and marketing a book.

I then took my research a step further, and met with a successful entrepreneur who, in 90 minutes, taught me about what it takes to fund a small startup. His philosophy was that real entrepreneurship is when people invest in you, not in one of the many products you will create in your lifetime. When I asked him what people gain from investing in my book or someone else’s bakery or software program, he gave me a funny look. He is so invested in community-based philosophy, my questions made no sense to him. Why wouldn’t we invest in our friends, colleagues, and neighbors?

After all my research and interviews, I ended up selling NICKEL to Leaf Storm Press. Even though I didn’t choose crowdfunding for my novel, I realized that the lessons I learned from my research connected directly to book launches and book marketing. These ideas could apply to any part of trying to gain readers for your work, over and above sales—raising awareness, promoting events, getting reviews, advertising, creating news.  Here are a few of those lessons.

1. Define your networks and identify your pods

We all live busy lives and move among many spheres. You need to identify those spheres and start researching. One sphere could be your daughter’s soccer league. What do the parents do? What are their hobbies? Are any of the parents in the media? Publishing? Do they participate in book groups? Other spheres can include work, religious affiliations, high school or college friends, businesses you frequent, and local clubs and groups, including your child’s school. Don’t forget to dip into your past, either. Try to recall former co-workers, students, teachers, coaches, and the like. Title each pod and keep a list of the members and their contact info.

2. Elect a captain

A lot of what we read, view, or eat comes from personal recommendations. Because self-promoting is so hard for many of us, we need champions of our work. Sit down (or email) with each captain of each pod and ask if they will help. Be very clear and specific about what you want them to do and how long you need them to do it, and give them resources and tools to make it easy for them to help and to lessen their load.

3. Gather your tools

Before you reach out to your captains, you need to get your ducks in a row. If you are able to compile an email list of your pod, pass it on. If you are using social media (and you should), connect them with your event, product, or author page. Then, make sure they have an author photo and bio, book cover image, book summary, and any other promotional materials necessary. It might help to draft a letter that they can send other pod members.

4. Respect people’s time and energy

Some of your friends may have more energy for your book than you could have possibly imagined, but others may be too busy to do more than one thing. So make sure you ask your captain to help in one specific way only. Besides encouraging sales, do you want them to rally the troops to all post photos of the book on the publishing date? Do you want them to promote your book launch? Do you want your book trailer to try to go viral? Get your book in local book groups? Try to get your book in local stores or reviewed by local media outlets? Each pod can unite around one task or do a myriad of them. That’s up to you. Strategize, but limit each pod and captain to only one thing. You want everyone to be excited for your book, not grow tired of all the work surrounding it.

5. Pay it forward

If you are going to ask others to help you, you need to return the favor. (And the ideal scenario is if you’ve already been helpful to people in the past—that you don’t turn up only when you need something.) Be sure to reach out to your captains and thank them (obviously), but also ask how you can help them. Make a thank-you list and post it on your Facebook page or website. Throw a thank-you party. Bake some brownies. Print up some T-shirts or hats or tote bags and spread the merch. And, when they ask you to be captain for their project, say yes.

Some experts say you have three months to promote your book in a way that seems newsworthy to others. If you can identify and define the different spheres in your life and rally them during that brief window of promotional time, your book’s reach will be a whole lot wider. It’s like that classic ’80s commercial for Faberge Organics shampoo, in which customers “told two friends about it, and they told two friends, and so on and so on.…”