Top 3 Writing and Marketing Tips For Any Author

As we head into 2015, I thought I’d share some thoughts on writing and marketing books. Many authors tell me they just don’t have time to do both, that they think marketing is stupid, or that social media and author platform seem like options they’re not convinced are worth learning about or spending time on.

I’m not here to convince anyone otherwise, though I find those questions ludicrous because being an author is no different than being a small business. Think of it this way: if you opened a restaurant and did no advertising — told nobody about it, did no social media, ran zero ads, didn’t even put up a sign — would you be in business for very long? No way. So how is releasing a book any different?

Let’s deconstruct.

MAKE TIME FOR BOTH — here’s how

It is difficult to find time to write and market. I totally understand that. As a busy working mother of two demanding kids, I empathize completely. I not only have (almost) four books out, I’m also under contract now with Booktrope to write more. I also own BadRedhead Media, helping authors and small businesses with social media, branding, and marketing. Fitting in time to write and market my own work is challenging, to say the least.

But not impossible. I use social media management tools like Hootsuite and ManageFlitter (some people prefer Buffer or Pluggio) to schedule and grow my accounts. They cost money, but not exorbitant amounts. What they cost in money I more than make up in time spent on other things.

I schedule in some content (mostly articles or blog posts) across my various social media channels, and live interact when I can. I grow my account every few days using targeted keywords, unfollow people who don’t follow back (I give people thirty days — that’s plenty of time), and block fakes. It’s easy and effective.

Scheduling allows me to work on my next books, as well as work on client accounts, and be a mom or do laundry or you know, burn a meal. We all have real lives to lead — there are plenty of tools out there to make it work. You have to spend a little bit of time to set them up, and time to find and schedule in content, but it takes only minutes. Surely, you have minutes.

SOCIAL MEDIA/MARKETING IS STUPID — not

Get with the program, folks. Marketing has been around forever, and social media has made it easier than ever to connect with readers. Even without marketing experience, you too can learn without paying a dime by doing what writers do best: research. Google stuff, read my biz blog, check out BookPromotion.com for great suggestions and tips, or look at top blogs like CopyBlogger or Social Media Examiner to find tidbits. Is there a writer you like? See what they do to market their work and copy their methods.

Regardless of whether you think Twitter is for your teen girl or what you ate for lunch (please, that’s so 2005), your readers don’t think that. They are there, interacting with thousands of writers daily. You are missing out on opportunities!

Check this: Some 73% of online adults now use a social networking site of some kind (Source: Pew Research, December, 2013). Facebook is still the dominant social network of choice, but Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest have risen in popularity within many demographics, particularly women. Keep on thinking it’s stupid. The rest of us will be over there developing relationships with readers.

AUTHOR PLATFORM — what it is and what it’s not

What is an author platform anyway? Many writers are so confused by this seemingly nebulous concept that they cower in fear at the very mention, or make derisive comments to hide their ignorance. I get it. When I started in 2009, I had no clue what a platform was. My background was in selling, advertising, and marketing Big Pharma, not books! But instead of making fun of it, I researched, asked questions, and learned.

I really like Jane Friedman’s definition of author platform, because it has four key components of what a platform is and also what it’s not. What a platform contains:

Visibility
Authority
Proven Reach
Target Audience

What it’s not:

It is not about self-promotion.
It is not about hard selling.
It is not about annoying people.
It is not about being an extrovert.

‘Platform is not about bringing attention to yourself, or by screaming to everyone you can find online or offline, “Look at me! Look at me!” Platform isn’t about who yells the loudest or who markets the best.’

Here’s a simple breakdown of what any author needs for their platform:

an optimized website
a blog with fresh content (minimum once weekly)
social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Facebook page, Google+, Goodreads, and either Instagram or Pinterest)
reviews when your book is released
a newsletter
advertising
most important of all: a spectacular, professionally edited, designed, and formatted, book!

You can’t create your platform overnight, and it’s not a race. If you don’t know how to do all these things (I didn’t. Most people don’t.), hire people to help you, or trade services with pros. If you can’t afford it, don’t just throw up your hands and say, “I can’t afford it, so I’ll just copy and past my book into a Word doc, upload it, and see what happens,” because that’s not a book; that’s a school project. That’s what gives self-published authors a bad name.

Raise the funds. Go to Pubslush.com, start a crowdfunding campaign (anything you raise, you keep except their small cut), even if you don’t fulfill your goal.

FINAL WORDS

Social media will not sell books. Get off the “Buy my book!” link dump if that’s how you use it. Instead, spend time interacting with people. Why? Because social media leads to relationships with readers, which then leads to selling books. And start early, at least three to six months before you release your book. Develop relationships with readers as well as book bloggers and reviewers. Create electricity, some buzz, so when you do release it people are interested.

This is why you have to write and market. Remember, change your expectations: it’s not about one-way broadcasting or link-dumping. That’s lazy and ineffective. Think like a businessperson, set goals, and be smart.

Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Broken Pieces is still going strong, #1 on Amazon’s Women’s (paid) Poetry list. Pick up a copy today, on sale for just 99cents, or one for a friend. Broken Places will be out after New Year’s from Booktrope.
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All content copyrighted unless otherwise specified. © 2014 by Rachel Thompson, author. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author.
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