Becky Robinson's Blog, page 21

Episode 16: DEI Resources with Guest Shabnam Banerjee-McFarland

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Welcome to The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, Christy Kirk, and special guest Shabnam Banerjee-McFarland! In this episode, we make a shift from our typical content.

There has been so much pain and distress in our world around the racial inequalities in our society. So in this episode, let’s think about how we, as individuals, whether authors or readers, can support POC voices and bring their books and thought leadership to life as we all seek to create a better, more equal world. 

During this episode, we talk about how authors and readers can support POC book marketing efforts, how we can bring attention to their books and platforms, and how we can learn from their important perspectives. 

Our guest, Shabnam Banerjee-McFarland, works in the digital marketing department at Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Berrett-Koehler is an independent publisher with the mission of connecting people and ideas to create a world that works for all. A key element in doing so is through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Berrett-Koehler has many titles from authors of color that work with organizations and individuals to do the deep work of examining bias, inequality, and how to make more inclusive communities and organizations. 

A resource to help you examine your own biases is Overcoming Bias: Building Authentic Relationships across Differences by Tiffany Jana and Matthew Freeman. 
The next step after examining your personal biases is addressing individual and interpersonal biases. Erasing Institutional Bias: How to Create Systemic Change for Organizational Inclusion by Tiffany Jana and Ashley Diaz Mejias scales up the framework to impact systemic change in organizations.
A useful book on building a sustainable culture of inclusion is Diversity Beyond Lip Service: A Coaching Guide for Challenging Bias by La’Wana Harris. 
The most difficult change is societal change. A great resource on how to close the racial wealth gap with philanthropy as a tool is Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance by Edgar Villanueva. This book denounces the reproduction of systems of oppression while also advocating for an orientation towards justice to open the floodgates for a rising tide that lifts all boats.

Along with these great books listed above from authors of color, Berrett-Koehler offers a resource guide that lists their entire library of books related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), with a majority of the books written from POC. This resource guide gives you all of the books you may need to start or deepen your DEI journey.

“Berrett-Koehler truly believes there should be a book for every goal. There should be a solution to every problem, and that’s especially true with DEI.” – Shabnam Banerjee-McFarland

Today’s action steps to help us think about how we can bring attention to important and diverse voices in our world:

Buy or share a DEI book. If you have never read one of these books, we encourage you to use Berrett-Koehler’s resource guide and begin your own DEI journey today. 
Follow diverse thought-leaders. We encourage you to seek out and follow authors in the DEI space, including Dr. Tiffany Jana and La’Wana Harris.

Watch the webinar we mentioned in today’s episode here . During this webinar, author Dr. Tiffany Jana talks about creating a culture of belonging and fostering inclusivity in an age of remote working. You can follow Tiffany Jana on Twitter here and LinkedIn here . 

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Episode 15: Why You Should Consider an Ebook Promotion

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Welcome to The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson and Christy Kirk! In this episode, Becky and Christy share how an ebook promotion strategy might land your next book on an Amazon bestseller list. 

In last week’s podcast episode, we mentioned a fiction book author who used an ebook promotion as a means of distributing her book to a wider audience, and as a result, she received hundreds of organic reviews of her book. This week, we dive deeper into the topic of ebook promotions. 

What is an ebook promotion? Ebook promotions are when the digital version of your book is discounted through companies that typically have large email lists. When you work with a partnered company, you get exposure to their entire email list which is extremely valuable to you as an author. Your book is getting in front of people who would have never been exposed to it otherwise. 

Why should you do an ebook promotion? It might seem counterintuitive because you want to sell your book and make money, and a marketing tactic we are recommending is to discount your book or give it away for free. We recommend this tactic because it widens your audience, grows your Amazon reviews, and gets more people interested in your work. At the end of the day, selling books is important but if you’re writing leadership and business books, your real goal is to get your ideas into the world. 

An added bonus to ebook promotions is higher Kindle rankings. By selling an increased number of books, due to the lower cost associated, your ranking goes up and gives you better chances at reaching the Kindle bestseller list. So when people are searching for books in your genre, they are more likely to come across your Kindle edition because it is ranked higher on the Kindle bestseller list. Therefore, you are not only getting additional sales of your book at the discounted price, but you’re also making your book more discoverable on Amazon. 

Here are popular ebook promotion websites that we recommend. Keep in mind that if you want to do an ebook promotion through one of these services, you not only discount your book but also pay a fee. 

Bookbub is one of the most popular and talked about websites because they have an extensive email list. 
Riffle is also a very popular option. 
Free Booksy is ONLY for those who offer their Kindle version free for a limited time. 
Bargain Booksy is if you have your Kindle version listed for $0.99 to $5.99.
New in Books is for books that are no more than 90 days old.

When should you do an ebook promotion? While it’s enticing to do an ebook promotion early on, we don’t recommend an ebook promotion during launch week because you want to give your book the opportunity to drive all the revenue it can at your list price. As you think about your long-term book marketing strategy, we recommend doing an ebook promotion 6 months after your launch to bring new life to your book.

If you’re preparing to launch a new book and you have another book that’s been out for a while, you could do an ebook promotion of your first or previous book(s) to bring awareness to you as an author. So when people buy your ebook deal, they’ll see you have a new book for pre-order. 

Today’s actions steps:

Get familiar with the ebook promotion websites. Subscribe to one, two, or all of the sites above as a reader to see the types of books they include (it’s free!). 
Follow-up and understand the websites from an author’s perspective. Do some personal research about the sites we’ve featured to find out what it takes to sign up and the price to feature your book. 
Coordinate with your publisher. Check with your publisher to see if they are willing to work with you on an ebook promotion. If you are self-published, you can skip this step. 

Let us know below what action steps you will take today. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here and Christy Kirk here. 

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The post Episode 15: Why You Should Consider an Ebook Promotion appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 14: Why Are Amazon Reviews Important?

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Welcome to The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson! In this episode, Becky Robinson and Christy Kirk talk about the importance of Amazon reviews and walk you through the steps of creating a successful Amazon review strategy. 

If you shop on Amazon, the answer to the question, “Why are Amazon Reviews important?” becomes exceedingly evident. Whenever we shop on Amazon, we look at reviews as an important social proof marker. With books, it might seem like the process is different because most often, the book you are looking to buy is the only book with that title, so you aren’t comparing products like you would with other items on the internet. 

Yet, even still, if you land on a book on Amazon or if a book has been recommended to you, you want to see other people have read it. For any book, Amazon reviews are important because they provide social proof, credibility, they show readers your book is worth reading, and they help readers decide if your book is right for them.

When you see breakout best-sellers, they are the ones who have hundreds or even thousands of reviews on Amazon. It’s obvious that those are organic reviews that come because the book has been widely bought and widely read. But the reality is, most of the authors we work with don’t always have credibility in the world, the following, or the fame to propel them to best-seller status which would give them the exposure to get that type of organic traction around Amazon reviews. 

As a result, we recommend that authors give a lot of attention to an Amazon review strategy and plan for those reviews. For an author who may not have launched a book before, every single one of those Amazon reviews is hard to get. 

You may be wondering, “How many Amazon reviews do I need?” We recommend setting a goal of 50 Amazon reviews in the first month. Often, this is easier said than done. Even though our baseline recommendation is 50 Amazon reviews within the first month, sometimes we need to reevaluate and have different milestone goals along the way. 

For example, if we are working with an author whose book has been out for four months and they only have 5 Amazon reviews, we might set the goal of getting 15 Amazon reviews by the end of a set amount of time. It really depends upon where you are starting but if you are just beginning to plan to launch your book, you definitely want to craft your strategy toward that goal of a minimum of 50 Amazon reviews in the first month. 

Now, you may be asking yourself, “How do I get Amazon reviews?” First, think about the investment you are willing or able to make in sharing advanced copies of your book with people who know you, like you, follow you, and want to support your book launch. Most often, what we ask authors to do is to work backward. We have seen that no matter how committed your friends, family, and followers are you can expect only about a 10% to 30% return of reviews on advanced copies of your book.

That means, if you want 50 Amazon reviews in the first month, you want to send between 300 to 500 advance copies of your book. If you think you will get a more favorable return from your audience, you can always send fewer copies. 

Oftentimes, authors will ask, “Is it enough to send out just a PDF version of my book?” and it really depends on your audience. Sometimes people are fine with receiving a PDF version of your book and others will find it extremely cumbersome, which means they won’t read your book and leave a review. To create the best possible chance of receiving an Amazon review, we recommend sending a print copy of your book with a personalized letter and multiple follow-up emails reminding people of the commitment they made to leave an Amazon review.

Once you start receiving reviews, it’s important that they aren’t all 5-star reviews. Why? Because if you only have 5-star reviews for your book, people tend to not trust those reviews. Although receiving a 1-star or even 4-star review might hurt, it shows people are leaving real, honest reviews on your book. Don’t stress about receiving a 1-star review because it won’t have an impact on the long-term viability of your book and it shows readers a variety of opinions.

If your book has launched or is launching in the future, here are today’s action steps we encourage you to take:

Start thinking about a list. If you are planning on launching a book in the near future, start creating a list of people from your network who would be willing to leave an Amazon review. Write down their names and contact information, and start thinking about what kind of investment you can make in getting your advanced copies into the world. 
Don’t stop asking for Amazon reviews. If your book has already launched, we encourage you to choose 1 or 2 people who have read your book and follow-up with a repeated ask to leave a brief Amazon review. 

If you have any questions about developing a launch team to get Amazon reviews, we are always prepared to partner with you, email Becky Robinson here. 

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Episode 13: Don’t Freak Out About Endorsements

 

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Welcome to The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson! In this episode, Becky Robinson and Christy Kirk give you practical tips and action steps to finding the right endorsements for your book that you can be proud of. 

While endorsements are important, they are not the most important element of your book. Authors spend a lot of time and stress over finding the perfect endorsements. We hope this episode will alleviate some of the stress you may be experiencing as an author!

Endorsements add social proof and value to your book, but they typically won’t sell your book. If you’re an author beginning to think about endorsements for your book, here are some practical tips based on questions authors frequently ask.  

What’s the danger of having only big-name authors on your wishlist? As you’re creating your dream wishlist, be practical about who you want to endorse your book. If they are all famous, big-name people, they are probably inundated by the number of requests to write endorsements. We encourage you to include those big-name authors, but also create a safety list that includes people with whom you already have great relationships. It’s important to know you have definite endorsements as well as some high-in-the-sky endorsements.

Should your wishlist be diverse? YES! You want your book to serve everyone, not just your particular demographic. When creating your wishlist, include people who think, act, look, and exist in different stages of life and industries than you. It’s important to be mindful of diversity and really make a conscious effort to have your book endorsements be representative. 

What is the best way to get connected with big-name authors? The easiest way is through a publisher. If you have the same publishers as a big-name author, your publisher can make those connections and sometimes leverage their relationship. Another way can be looking through your network and seeing if any of your connections are connected to a big-name author. 

What is the best way to ask the people on your safety list to give you an endorsement? If you know them and they’re already supporters of your work, write them a personal message when you ask. Don’t use a mass email. Make sure it’s personal—it could even be a phone call. When asking, it’s important to explain why their endorsement is important and include some sample endorsement content, because everyone is time-crunched and it makes it easier on whomever you are asking.  

When should you start seeking endorsements? You might think your book has to be completely finished and edited to start seeking endorsements; however, it’s always better to have more time on your side. You can start reaching out for endorsements before your book is even complete, when you may only have a sample of your book. 

How many endorsements do you need? Quality over quantity. Having a smaller number of powerful endorsements from diverse people, individual names we recognize, and company names we recognize is more powerful than 20 and 30 endorsements that have no weight behind them.

Today’s action steps:

Take a few minutes and make a list of people you’d like to contact about an endorsement. You can do this no matter what stage of writing your book you are in. 
Take an hour or two and write a list of ten sample endorsements. Use rich language that is powerful—if you could write your own endorsement, what would you like people to say about your book? Once you have those samples, you can send these out in your request emails. 

In today’s episode, Becky mentions Making the Ask, a free ebook for getting people to endorse your book. Learn how to seek endorsements with our step by step guide, including a template for making the ask, and advice about how to best approach your dream endorsers.

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Episode 12: Do You Judge a Book by its Cover?

 

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Welcome to The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson! In this episode, Becky and Christy Kirk share the importance of a good title and book cover, and the difference they can make. If you’re a self-published or traditionally published author, this episode will guide you through picking the perfect cover and title for your new book.

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but we all do. Your book title and cover are crucial because it’s the first thing a shopper will see. While it is possible to change your title and cover later on, once you publish your book, you begin to build name recognition and your book cover becomes recognizable, making it harder to change later on. 

If you’re transitioning from the place of working on your book to selecting a title and cover, here are 3 general ideas for selecting a great title and cover for your new book.

Don’t fall in love with your title. The biggest trap authors fall into is creating a title as they are writing their book. If you fall in love with your title, it will be harder to change it down the road. You have to make sure your title resonates with your audience as much as it does with you. While writing your book, create a working title that you will hold on to loosely, but won’t get heartbroken about when it changes. 
Create a title survey. We recommend creating a title survey with subtitle and title options for your audience to see what resonates. This allows your audience to give you feedback, and gives you a feel for what is resonating with people and what isn’t. Make sure your survey is anonymous to create an opportunity for honest feedback.
Know what is selling. Your cover is crucial for your book marketing efforts because you will use it on Amazon, social media platforms, and your website. Anywhere your book shows up, the visual identity of your book is defined by your cover. Know what is happening in the marketplace by asking yourself, “What do bestseller book covers look like right now?” and identify what is selling. Your cover should visually reinforce your title.  

If you are self-publishing your book, it should be indistinguishable from a traditionally published book. Here are 2 important tips if you are self-publishing your book.

Do NOT skimp. The design of your book cover is the time to really invest in your book. You will get advice to hire someone on Fiverr (there are a few talented people on Fiverr), but we encourage you to hire a professional graphic designer or artist when it comes to your book cover. This will give you the opportunity to co-create your cover with a skilled, professional artist or graphic designer. Your cover will make the difference between sales and no sales. 
Get feedback on your cover. Just like we recommended you create a survey for your title, we also encourage you to create a survey for your book cover. The best feedback will come from people who are in your target audience. 

We often serve clients who have partnered with an independent or large traditional publisher to bring their book to the market. Here is our advice for people who are traditionally published.

Speak up. One of the frustrations we see the most often is that our authors dislike the covers their publishers deliver to them. You have the power and the voice to change the cover, don’t be afraid to speak up and work collaboratively and proactively with your publisher to create a great cover and title. 
Get feedback. Work with your publisher to get feedback from others on your title and cover. As we’ve mentioned, the best feedback will come anonymously from people who are in your target audience. 

Here are two quick action steps you can take to set yourself up for success with your upcoming book project.

Research top-selling books in your category. Go over to your favorite online bookseller (our new favorite is bookshop.org) and look at the top-selling books in your category. This will give you a sense of the covers that are performing well and what a successful book covers look like.
Create a title survey. Plan in advance that one of the steps in your process towards the publication of your book will be a title survey so you can get market feedback on the title you are selecting.

If you are an author who is in the midst of a book project now and could use some help with your book cover or title, we’d encourage you to contact Becky today. We would love to talk with you about the way our team can support you with any of these initiatives related to selecting the right title or cover for your next book project. 

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Episode 11: Book Launch Dates During A Crisis

 

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Welcome to The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson! In this episode, Becky and Christy Kirk share their expertise in launching a book during a crisis. If you’re worried about your summer book launch, we hope this episode gives you the guidance and resources you need to move forward with confidence.  

As the pandemic has progressed, our opinions have changed on pushing your launch date to the fall. If you have a June or summer launch, we encourage you to move forward with your launch instead of rescheduling for a later date. We’ve seen that books are still selling. 

We are hoping September will be better, but we don’t know what the future holds. A book launch is not about the first two weeks—it’s a marathon—it’s about years of work. 

Here are a couple of tactics that may be needed for a summer book launch during this pandemic:

Focus on your ebook. Because Amazon is slower in shipping books right now, focus on the digital version of your book during your launch. Digital book sales are up right now; people may not want to buy a hard copy if they know it will take weeks for it to arrive at their door, whereas they will get the digital book instantly. Another reason to make the switch to your digital book is that Amazon ads are still working, and working very well. 
Drive traffic to your local bookstore. Pushing hard copy sales to your local and independent bookstores is also a great option. People not only get their copy of your book quicker than ordering it off of Amazon, but it also keeps your local bookstores in business during this time. This helps you as an author, as well as your independent bookstores, which we all want to still be around after the crisis is over. 

If you’re debating whether or not to proceed with your book launch this summer due to the global crisis, we encourage you to move forward, because it’s possible this fall could be even more crowded with books which could make it harder for your book to stand out. Many of the big publishers have put off a lot of book launches until September, and by the time we get there, the news cycle related to the election in November will be heightened even more—so a business book or nonfiction book at that time may have a harder time being seen and heard. 

You’ve spent years writing your book, and the world needs your wisdom. It’s a crazy world right now and we could use all the help we could get. Don’t delay sharing your brilliance with the world. 

Action steps to take for your upcoming summer book launch:

Commit to your summer book launch. If you’ve been on the fence about your summer book launch, begin to shift your thinking. Your launch is not just one week: create a long-term plan to keep your book in the conversation. 
Investigate bookshop.org. Drive sales to independent bookstores with a new website called bookshop.org. You’ll need to investigate and make sure your book can be listed there, but once you do, it’s a great resource to support your local bookstores. 
Drive sales to your ebook. When promoting your book on social media, drive your audience to your digital version. This is a great way for people to get your book faster. 

Let us know below what action steps you will take today, or email Becky Robinson here and Christy Kirk here. 

In today’s podcast, we mention Glennon Doyle, author of New York Times bestseller, Untamed. Glennon posted on Instagram saying, “Indies are struggling hard during this crisis—many are on the verge of going out of business—and to know that your orders of UNTAMED are keeping community bookstores like Copper Dog Books alive makes my heart explode with gratitude.”

We also encourage you to read Brad Chase’s recent blog post on this topic. Brad, author of Strategy First, talks about the decision behind keeping his original launch date of June 16th and how he adapted to the tides. 

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Episode 10: Sustaining Energy for Your Book Marketing

 

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Welcome to The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson! In today’s episode, after returning from the Berrett-Koehler Book Marketing Workshop, Becky continues the conversation about The Advancing Phase of your book marketing journey as well as how to keep building interest in your book after your launch week is over.

If you haven’t listened to the previous episodes on the four phases of your book marketing journey, we encourage you to do that. Those four phases are:

Building (6 months prior to launching)
Working (4 months prior to launching)
Launching (week of your publication date)
Advancing (1 month and beyond post-launch)

The Advancing phase happens right after your book is launched. Most authors during this phase are asking the question, “What do I do next?” As Becky mentioned in the last episode, the primary goal of The Advancing Phase is to keep your book in the conversation. You can achieve that is by consistently showing up with value from your book. 

Here is a practical formula you can follow:

    Content you create (value from key themes from your book)

+  Buzz from content you create

+  Buzz from others’ sharing that content 

=  Your book in the conversation 

This can lead to book sales and interest in your other offers.

What you want to do is consistently think about how you can bring the value from your book into the world in a way that can create buzz, in a way that will cause people to want to share it with others, and in a way that continues to make a difference in the world. 

There are a lot of different ways I’ve seen authors do this; one way is by creating free virtual events around the content in their book. We have partnered with many authors for these webinar events in which authors have the opportunity to share key concepts, invite discussion about their book, and remind people of the fact that their book is a valuable resource. 

A couple of thoughts about sustaining energy for your long-term book marketing . . .

Consistently show up with value. What you want to do in order to sustain your energy for marketing is to show up in a way that feels fun and enjoyable for you. Because so many authors often have a resistance to marketing, it’s critically important to find those parts of marketing that you love and choose to invest your time in those things, instead of forcing yourself into a mold of doing what you think you need to do. 

Choose a sustainable pace. Choose a sustainable pace with your investment in marketing as it relates to both time and money. Choose to implement actions you can repeat over time, even if that means you have to start small. You want to invest in marketing activities that you love. Make sure you can implement these activities into your regular routine—and for those activities you don’t love, outsource them or let them go. 

Action items to sustain your energy for long-term book marketing:

Set aside time for what brings you joy. Set aside time and ask yourself the question “what marketing activities do I find joy in?” As you look into the next week or month, make sure you have set aside time to invest in the marketing activity that brings you joy. 
Choose one activity to let go of. What is one activity you have been doing that isn’t serving you well? Give yourself permission to let go of that activity. 

We encourage you to continue to consistently show up with value in the days and weeks ahead. Let us know below what action steps you will take today, or email Becky Robinson here. 

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A Crisis is Not a Marathon – But It Is a Call for Endurance

Throughout this coronavirus crisis, I’ve seen people refer to our current state of physical distancing and at-home isolation as a marathon, not a sprint.

As a leader facing disruptions to my own business, dreams, and goals, it feels right to first acknowledge the sense of utter despair that these difficulties bring. In fact, having run 10 marathons over the last six years, I’ve used distance running as an analogy often, both to describe my journey as a business owner and to describe the need for authors to have a long-term view of marketing their books.

While it’s a useful analogy as it evokes the need to face difficulties with perseverance and sustained energy over time, after that it breaks down.

Here are the ways the coronavirus pandemic is not like a marathon.

This crisis is not predictable. A marathon is a predictable challenge, a distance premeasured and predetermined. When you start, you not only know where the finish line is, but you can also likely predict your time to get there. You know the path you’ll take and some scenic milestones on your journey.

We did not train for this. Marathon runners train their bodies to be prepared for the challenge by increasing their mileage over time. Marathoners train their minds to navigate the distance, breaking it down into smaller distances and mentally checking each one off to measure progress.

We are isolated from our support crews. Most marathons include supportive crowds, enthusiastic cheerleaders, support stations that provide any needed comfort items and fuel, and a triumphant and emotion-filled finish.

We can’t see the finish line. Not only that, we’re not sure if there is one; and if there is, there are no warm hugs waiting there. Running a marathon is a bit like childbirth in that, as soon as you finish, the pain you’ve endured fades in light of the heady sense of accomplishment and completion. It’s difficult to envision any sense of satisfaction or any fading of the pain of this crisis.

The only similarity between this crisis and a marathon is the need to dig deep, the need to keep going when we’d rather quit. Both this crisis and running marathons require extreme perseverance.

So how do we keep running?

By not allowing an analogy to dismiss and sugarcoat the realities of the times.

First, the macro realities: People are sick. People are dying. Millions of people are unemployed. Every day brings news of more layoffs and bankruptcies.

Then the micro realities: People we know are sick. People we know are dying. People we know are out of work.

Having acknowledged the realities, I can then move on to the only moment I need to face: this one.

This is the marathoner’s most helpful meditation, drawn from American half-marathon record-holder Ryan Hall’s recent book, Run the Mile You’re In.

At the start of a 26.2-mile race, the distance is overwhelming, but the only mile I have to run is the one I’m in. Worrying about the miles remaining could paralyze me in the current moment, could discourage me or drag me down. I know I can run a mile. I’ve run thousands of miles in my lifetime.

As a leader facing multiple business challenges, I am paralyzed when I worry too much about next quarter. Long-term planning is critical, but I’ll find the strength to endure if I show up for what’s needed in this moment.

During this coronavirus crisis, with so many changes to our lives and business realities, we can be easily overwhelmed if we spend too much time thinking about all the months of difficulty that might lie ahead of us.

The call to run the mile we’re in is a call to stay present in this day, in this moment. When we do, we find strength and endurance, one moment at a time.

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Now Is the Time to Start Your Podcast

Podcasts have quickly outpaced blogs as the most powerful way to share content right now. According to the New York Times, one in three Americans listen to at least one podcast each month. That’s a sizable audience. 

If you’ve been thinking about launching a podcast, we believe there is no better time than now to begin. Why now? Because it’s a positive investment of time and energy during difficult circumstances, an investment that can pay off in future growth and work opportunities. 

We believe in the power of podcasts so much, we recently launched our own: the Book Marketing Action Podcast. Here are a few pros and cons we considered when deciding to launch our podcast. 

Cons

There is a lot of competition. True, but there’s a lot of competition on any platform. The key is to create a podcast focused on your core audience, and forget about being everything to everyone. There is great opportunity for niche podcasts.

Podcast downloads are dropping. According to Podtrac, downloads are down 10% since March 9, and unique listeners dropped 20%. That’s likely because a majority of podcast listening happens in the car or during exercise. We believe this dip is an opportunity to soft-launch a new podcast, or go bold and capture those who are still listening. These podcasts are new and taking the bold approach.

Pros

You have time to focus on a podcast. Many business and leadership experts have more time right now to focus on projects that have been on the back burner. Podcasts are powerful examples of your work and presentation—and could lead to future conference, speaking, and consulting opportunities.

80% of listeners are STILL tuning in. While listening has dropped, the majority of podcast listeners are still tuning in!

Record now, launch later. We recommend recording 4-8 podcasts in advance of launch. Even if you choose to launch a podcast in the fall or later, now is a great time to brainstorm a title, find source music, create intros and outros, and record your first shows. Preparation is the foundation of success!

Guests are available! It can be a challenge to book guests, but many of the people you would like to invite to participate on your show are also finding themselves with extra time. They are likely eager to be a podcast guest to share their work, and support yours.

It’s not expensive. We are in very uncertain times, and it’s wise to be careful with investments. However, we believe a podcast is an investment in your future success. Launching a podcast can be done with a modest spend for technology and support.  

We believe in seizing opportunity, even during very uncertain times. Podcasts are a clear opportunity with strong potential for the future!

If you are interested in learning more about getting started or would like to know how we can support you, contact us to learn more about our podcast packages.

The post Now Is the Time to Start Your Podcast appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 9: The Advancing Phase

 

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Welcome to The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson! In today’s episode, Becky finishes the series on the four phases of your book marketing journey with the advancing phase, and gives you creative ways to keep your book in the conversation.

If you haven’t listened to the previous episodes on the four phases of your book marketing journey, we encourage you to do that. Those four phases are:

Building (6 months prior to launching)
Working (4 months prior to launching)
Launching (week of your publication date)
Advancing (1 month and beyond post-launch)

The advancing phase comes after the launch of your book. Many times, after all of the excitement, momentum, and energy of the launch, authors are confused about what happens next. How do you keep the momentum for your book post-launch? Here are some things to keep in mind.

Book promotion isn’t self-promotion, it’s message promotion. Remembering this can help you overcome resistance to continue to promote your book after the launch. You might feel like you’ve been talking about your book all the time or that the topic of your book is tired, but you’ll be surprised by how many people say, “What, you have a book!?”

Don’t stop mentioning your book on social media. You can talk a lot more about your book on your social platforms because people show up sporadically, the algorithms are wonky, and people may not be seeing your posts. It’s important to keep using different ways of telling about your book and adding value to your audience. Because chances are, even if you think everyone has heard about your book, they may not have yet.

Here are 4 key ways to keep your book in the conversation:

Find ways to mention your book that add value and aren’t directly selling. One of the best ways to do that is by mentioning any podcasts or articles in which your book may have been featured. You can share those with your audience in a way that will help them, because the content will be of value. This will be a gentle reminder that your book is available.
Intermittently but gently remind people to buy your book or leave Amazon reviews. You could post once a month, “Did you read my book? If so, one of the best ways you can help me is by leaving a review on Amazon”—or you can remind people the book is for sale by mentioning the various formats in which it is available. For example: “Did you know? My book is available on audio,” or “Did you know? My book is available on Kindle.”
Relate your book and its topics to relevant holidays, events, or news. If there is something happening in the news that is relevant, timely, or interesting, get people’s attention and link it to your book. If you can very easily and seamlessly link your book to that news event, holiday, or top of mind activity, that will be a way to gently add your book back into the conversation.
Think about one way each month to bring your book into online conversations. A word of caution: if the only time you show up on social media channels is to talk about your book . . . STOP! The important thing is to show up every day with a wide variety of content such as interesting stories, pictures, and glimpses of your life, so that when you drop in your book once a month or so to keep the momentum going, it won’t seem like that’s the only time you show up. Have an approach of showing up regularly, but sharing your book intermittently.

If you’re going to write a book, you need to be married to the message and believe in the content that you’ve written and are sharing in the world. And if that’s the case, then it’s only going to be natural for you to continue to bring up your book over time, at moments when the value is there for people.

Here are today’s action steps to keep your book in the conversation.

Write out the next 12 months and come up with one idea each month that you are willing to try, in order to keep your book in the conversation. 
Is your book of particular value as it relates to some news story, holiday, or other event happening now? If so, brainstorm ways to tie your book to those current events and share them with your online networks. 

Remember: book promotion isn’t self-promotion, it’s message or story promotion. We encourage you to realize your book is—and can be—an asset for you for months and years to come. Let us know below what action steps you will take today, or email Becky Robinson here.

In today’s podcast, we mention author Bill Treasurer, who was a recent guest on The Daily Connection: A Leadership Learning Series. This series is a daily 30-minute virtual event with various guests and topics. Registration is free! To watch the webinar with Bill Treasurer, click here.

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The post Episode 9: The Advancing Phase appeared first on Weaving Influence.