Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Book marketing: should you blog or advertise?

If you’re interested in blogging, the group had lots of tips for using your blog for book marketing. Here are several I found interesting.

1. Post consistently, and promote to get traffic (try Twitter)

We all agreed that if you’re blogging, you need to be consistent. That might mean regular blog posts, or regular social media posts. A couple of authors suggested collaborating on blogging and social media.

An author suggested inviting guest bloggers: “choose authors who write in your genre. I treat my blog like a networking tool. I write a couple of blog posts a month, but I’m on Twitter every day. Although Twitter doesn’t work for everyone, I’ve used it to get subscribers. It makes a huge difference when you’re releasing a new book.”

Explore the tips.

 

Freelance writing challenge: “I need more gigs!”

“I need more gigs!”

Under-employment is a worrying challenge for your freelance writing business. When the “famine” portion of freelancing hits, you realize you need more gigs FAST.

Many freelancers find the roller-coaster ride of freelancing too frustrating and rush back into employment. That’s perfectly OK. Sometimes conditions aren’t right. There’s no shame in freelancing as a side hustle.

“More gigs” solution: diversify

You need to do more marketing. See “I know I should promote my services…” below. Also, consider diversifying.

Luckily, professional writing offers many opportunities to diversify.

Often you’ll diversify for a change of pace, or because someone makes you an offer you can’t refuse. I started my career as a romance writer. I diversified into copywriting and ghostwriting because people offered me gigs.

Get ideas on how to diversify your freelance writing.

 

Build momentum: how to market your book on social media

Make a outline of posts for the coming week on Sunday. Then each day, post one item. Making your outline will take 20 minutes. Each day, it should take no longer than ten minutes to post your item.

(By the way, Trello is free and very useful for managing your social media content.)

4. Rome wasn’t built in a day, to coin a cliche: expect that it will take three months to get your first followers

“Social media is a waste of time!” Have you said this? Everyone’s said it at some time or other. 

It takes momentum to build your presence on any network. Expect that it will take around three months of effort to — get visits to your blog, get readers to join your mailing list, and get followers on your social network.

Read all the book marketing tips.

Marketing your books on social media? You need a strategy

Start with a strategy. Last year, when we discussed social media at our writers’ group, just one member had a social media strategy. The rest of us posted whenever we remembered. Of course we got sidetracked and achieved less than we expected.

Book marketing on social media: start with a strategy

Here’s a simple strategy:

• Decide how many posts you want to make each week, on each platform, as well how much time you’ll spend;
• Generate content ideas you can use repeatedly;
• Aim for engagement: ask questions, even if you only have one follower;
• Track what you’re doing, as well as your results.

Let’s look at these ideas in more detail.

 

You're a writer: you hate self-promotion... But here's how to make it work

How to sell your writing if you hate it: fake it until it’s fun for you

Here’s what helped me. I pretended that I loved writing copy for my own material.

In short, I faked it. Then finally, I began to enjoy it.

Let’s look at some tips to help you to sell your writing.

1. Get attention, without clickbait: give people a reason to read your ad

Have you heard of AIDA, the copywriter’s favorite acronym? It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

If you’re writing online, whether you’re writing ads or not, you need to win attention.

If you’re blogging, try to avoid headlines such as: “Jane Smith’s new book is amazing” or “Book recommendation (name of book)”. Neither headline is inspiring.

Read the article.

 

No budget to market your books? Try this

Online book groups: join a group, or set up your own group

Both Goodreads and Facebook offer many groups for readers of various genres and categories. You also have the option of setting up your own group.

Many authors enjoy creating and posting to their own online group: if this sounds fun, give it a try.

Offline book clubs: they’re everywhere

Book clubs are everywhere these days, offline and online. I’m sure you’ve received invitations to join a club. You may even be a member of one.

To get started, create some end-matter questions and other materials for readers who may want to use your book in their club, and add the material to the end of your book. This works well for nonfiction as well as for historical novels.

Read the article.

 

5 Ways Sell More Books, Even If You Only Have Ten Minutes

A writing student complained that his recently-published book had only sold a few copies.

“What book marketing are you doing?” I asked.

He told me that he’d bought advertising, built an email list, was running a giveaway… I congratulated him on his excellent efforts.

“When should I give up?” he asked. “It’s obvious that I’ll never sell any books. Why am I wasting my time?”

“Who’s in charge?”

I pointed out that self-publishing is a business. And as with any business, marketing is ongoing. A business always markets, through the good times and the bad times. Finally, I asked him “who’s in charge of your business?”

Most writers have a touch of Cinderella syndrome. We want to be discovered. We imagine that there’s just ONE thing we could do and we’d never, ever, have to market again… :-)

Fact: you need to be visible. (We’re currently talking about visibility in the newsletter.)

I suggested to my student that he’s in charge of his business. Moreover, he’s the marketing director.

He responded that he had no time to market.

That’s OK. I don’t know any writers who “have time” to market. We do it anyway, even if it’s only for five or ten minutes a day.

Here’s why a few minutes count. It’s because all the marketing you do is cumulative. (Remember, visibility.)

When you have no time, find ten minutes, even if you’re posting to your blog via your phone, while you’re sitting in your car. Everyone has ten minutes a day. Plan to use those minutes efficiently.

Here are some ideas of ways to sell more books, even if you only have ten minutes.

1. Write a collection of tweets

Please stop thinking (and saying) that “social media doesn’t work”. Give it a try for THREE MONTHS.

And yes, I’m shouting. Most of your marketing efforts will bear fruit in three months. So, write a collection of tweets.

Tweet them, over the next week.

2. Snap a photo of your book’s cover and post it to Instagram

Many authors use Instagram, because it sells books.

From How to Promote Your Book On Instagram:

Believe it or not, Instagram is one of the best social media platforms. It can be a perfect place for your marketing strategy and book promotion.

You can do a lot in ten minutes.

Post another photo tomorrow.

3. Create a new Pinterest board (my favorite)

I choose my marketing venues based solely on what I enjoy. Please try doing that, because when you use a social network you enjoy, you’ll find time to do it. I love Pinterest, so I find time to rummage through it.

Take ten minutes a create a Pinterest board: use your book’s title as the name of your board.

4. Find an interesting character from your novel and blog about him

Tell your readers about your inspiration for the character.

If you’ve got a deleted scene or two, post snippets from the scene — you can do that in ten minutes.

5. Get social: retweet, repost, comment

Social media is social, above all. So retweet others’ tweets; follow people. Mention other authors in your blog posts. Post comments on blog articles you enjoy.

You should be able to retweet several authors in your genre in ten minutes.

Ten minutes to get visible (remember, it takes three months)

Make your own “ten minute” list.

Then take ten minutes a day. You can do it, and when you do, you’ll sell more books. Have fun. :-)

Resources to help you to sell more books

 

A short story of 5,000 words can make more money than a 60,000 word novel

New: Your Short Fiction Formula: The Easiest-Ever Writing Process (Workshop)…

Are you happy with your self-publishing sales?

If you aren’t, there’s an answer. Savvy authors use short fiction (short stories and novellas) to generate sales and income quickly.

Explore Your Short Fiction Formula: The Easiest-Ever Writing Process (Workshop) now. You’ll be glad you did.

Newsletter: How To SELL Your Writing

This coming week I’ll be posting to my new “behind the scenes” newsletter. Our initial theme is how to sell your writing.

Selling your writing will be on ongoing theme in the newsletter. We’ll look at sales for writers, including: content writers, copywriters, bloggers, self-publishing authors, etc.

We’ll start with the foundation: a sales mindset, because “sales” includes everything.

“Sales” includes everything: your branding, platform and more

Not sure about building your platform? Check out Publicity And Marketing Magic For Writers: How To Build Your Writing Platform And Sell More Every Day.

Since I’m redoing my angelabooth.com site from the ground up, it can serve as an example.

As you can see from the image above, currently angelabooth.com is a blank slate. I’ve installed WordPress with the default theme.

In the newsletter we’ll look at the thinking behind setting up a site which sells. We’ll ask some basic questions, and we’ll set some goals. Then we’ll start building out the website to achieve those goals.

Creating a writer’s website: it’s not about the site

I often work with bloggers who want to create a profitable blog. They’re eager to dive into themes and color palettes. Sales are the furthest thought from their minds, even though that’s what they want the site to do.

Today, a WordPress website can do anything: it can be an online store, a major news magazine, an online portfolio.

The newsletter posts won’t be about “blogging” — they’ll be about sales, and how you can make them happen, no matter what kind of writing you do. (Or where you choose to sell.)

Subscribe if want to sell more of your writing. (It’s free.)

Self-Publishing Secrets: Write And Sell A Novella In 7 Days

Boost your Kindle sales FAST with our new program, Write And Sell A Novella In 7 Days: Your Blueprint For Success.

The program’s powerful, practical, and tested. You’ll get results too. Use the strategy to increase your sales — you need a mix of long and short fiction to appeal to today’s readers.

How many novellas would you write if you could write a novella in seven days? Would your novellas boost your sales?

Who Are YOU?

Got a brand? For most writers, their brand is built by default. Few writers bother to create a personal branding statement, and they spend more time thinking about the fonts they use in their documents than they spend thinking about their platform.

This is because it’s a real challenge to see yourself clearly. As I said on my Creativity Factory blog, knowing how to present yourself is hard:

You’re in charge of your own image. You teach others how to look at you. Most of us get an image by default.

Professionals craft their image. Politicians know how important it is to stay “on message”, and movie stars employ PR people to carefully build their image.

You can craft your own image too, so that you present yourself memorably to your audiences. Remember: you teach others how to look at you. To do that, you need to see yourself clearly first.

Read all of the above post on the blog, and create your own branding statement and tagline – it’s the most important advice you’ll get from me all year, I promise you.

Few writers bother to build a brand and platform. However, as I said on this page:

Building your platform was always important for authors. These days, it’s mandatory for every writer, because writers have become a commodity. Anyone can call himself a “writer”.

Since anyone and everyone can call himself a writer, it means that people who hire writers get burned with shoddy writing – or with writers who take their money and disappear. They’re wary. They no longer care if you call yourself a writer, they want some evidence that this is so. In other words, they want to know that you have an audience – a platform.

Spend a few minutest thinking about your brand and platform today. Those minutes will have a far-reaching effect. With any luck at all, they’ll start you thinking about your writing strategically.

"You're a Celebrity" Writing Guide Reveals the Secrets of Advertising and Branding to Writers (PR)

 

Angela Booth has just released a new guide for writers, which helps them to develop name recognition and visibility. This guide is: "You're A Celebrity: Advertising And Branding Tricks For Writers." It's available now, as a prelaunch offering.

The guide helps its readers to make the switch from amateur to professional status, and reap the rewards.

They do this by discovering the importance of promotions and branding. They also learn to avoid some of the common pitfalls of branding. Angela says that she explains why writers should allow their branding efforts to grow organically. This is because as a writer gains experience, he invariably changes focus. He may change from writing for magazines for example, to copywriting for the Web.

Many writers never understand the importance of becoming known as a writer. Name recognition is vital. In practical terms, becoming known means that the writer receives a constant flow of clients and opportunities.

Angela says: "I created this package because my writing students were floundering in this area and missing out on opportunities. Many writers are nervous about self-promotion. Unfortunately, this means that they don't get the opportunities they deserve -- clients who would love to hire them don't know they exist."

The guide helps both new and established writers. It's comprehensive, and includes a series of videos, to help readers to create their first promotion quickly.

Angela has tested the guide on her students. "I wanted to make sure that the strategies worked quickly and well. I'm pleased that the early readers are getting great results," she said.

As with all her writing reference material, Angela includes coaching in the offering. She says: "My goal is to ensure that readers get the results they want. Coaching ensures that they do."
Further information on "You're A Celebrity: Advertising And Branding Tricks For Writers" is available here.

About
Angela Booth is a top copywriter, and writing teacher. She offers many guides, courses and classes to help writers to enhance their skills. She also provides inspiration and motivation for writers on her writing blogs. Angela has been writing successfully since the late 1970s, and was online in the 1980s, long before the birth of the Web. Her business books have been widely published.

Article Marketing for Writing Success

In next week's issue of Fab Freelance Writing Ezine, we cover article marketing.

Here's an excerpt from the Editorial:

Have you discovered article marketing? It's a great way to promote yourself online, and offline. I include offline, because the promotional articles you write for the web will often be picked up by print publications, and will even be included in books (with your permission, of course.)

But what's article marketing? Essentially, it's advertising. You're trading information for the chance to get your name in front of people who can buy your services.

I've been using article marketing off and on for around a decade, as one of my primary forms of marketing.

Does it work? You bet. If you type "Angela Booth" into Google, you'll find thousands of references to my name.

Can it work for you to sell your writing services? Yes it can.  However, there are pitfalls.

You can easily avoid them; let's see how.

This issue is out next Tuesday. Enjoy. :-)

Discover the secrets of highly-paid writers: free each week

Want to make great money writing? Discover the secrets of high-selling, highly paid writers, for free. Each week, Angela Booth's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is delivered in easy-to-print PDF format.

Join the thousands of other writers who are using the information to change their lives. You'll learn how to write, and how to sell. Angela's been writing for 30 years, and shares her knowledge with you.

Your Writing Career: Use Cross Promotion to Extend Your Reach

Are you cross promoting your writing? Cross promotion is a vital form of marketing. Once you have a presence online (a website or blog), it's up to you to promote it.

For example, in Lesson 7 of Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON), I make this point:

Cross-promote all the writing you do online to make more income

The more writing you do online, the more opportunities you will have to cross-promote. For example, you've got a site and blog, so now you can link the two together and can promote your blogging services (which we'll discuss in this lesson) on your article sales site. And vice versa, of course.

Linking helps you to make the most of your traffic. You can lead your site visitors from one of your Web properties to others.

The more you promote your writing, the more your career will build.

Even if you've worked with a client several times, chances are he'll have forgotten your name the next time he's looking for a writer.

Get into the habit of promoting your writing services every day, and your writing career will take off.

Develop a great income writing for the Web - start by writing simple articles

I've developed "Sell Your Writing Online Now" (SYWON) to help you to start making money writing online in 24 hours or less.

Each week, for one full year, you'll receive a lesson, with an assignment which will build your Web writing income – you EARN as you learn.

SYWON is totally unique, and if you want to write for the Web, it's your ticket to success.

Twitter for writers: make connections, get hired

Have you discovered the power of Twitter?

This week I've received a couple of messages from writers who are excited about using Twitter to make connections.

One writer tweeted his annoyance about a magazine editor who seemed to be ignoring him; the editor got in touch right away.

A new writer asked whether a company was a legitimate buyer of writing services -- and yes, the marketing manager got in touch.

People might not respond to email (often your messages end up in a Junk folder), or they just never find the time to respond, but they usually respond to tweets which mention their company name.

In this article, Angela Booth's Writing Blog: Freelance Writing: 5 Reasons You Should Be Tweeting I wrote about the power of your tweets:

"Twitter Helps You to Make Connections and Contact People Fast Once people know you exist, and what you write, they need a way to get in touch with you -- fast. Like most freelance writers who are visible online, I get many offers of writing gigs which I don't have the time to accept. (Note: lots of job offers are a benefit of online reach.) So if I'm aware of you, and that you might be a good fit with someone who needs a writer, I'll let you know, often via Twitter."

If you're new to Twitter, yes, it can be frustrating, but you'll pick up the rudiments quickly, and you may be amazed at the results you get from your simple tweets. Follow me on Twitter.

Befuddled by Twitter? You'll be amazed at how many writers, editors, agents and buyers of your writing use it

Be where the action is with "Twitter for Writers: Achieve Writing Success 25 Words at a Time", your guide to micro blogging for writers.

Freelance editing: finding editing jobs

Do you have editing skills? Editors are in high demand. They're hired by publishers, websites, businesses and agencies. Of course, they're also hired by writers, who want to ensure that their book manuscript is presented in a professional manner. I've had several questions about where to find editing jobs this week.

Check out my article Angela Booth's Writing Blog: Freelance Editing: Find Unadvertised Jobs, in which I gave you a process to follow:

"1. What Specialties Do You Have? Firstly consider your specialties. Publishing houses need specialists when they hire editors. If you've been writing articles for parenting magazines for example, you can consider yourself a specialist in parenting topics. Therefore, approach publishing houses which publish parenting books. Parenting  is an extremely wide field, with many opportunities."

I've recommended Twitter to several editors, who've managed to get jobs very quickly.

Befuddled by Twitter? You'll be amazed at how many writers, editors, agents and buyers of your writing use it

Be where the action is with "Twitter for Writers: Achieve Writing Success 25 Words at a Time", your guide to micro blogging for writers.

Selling Writing Services: Manage Your Reputation Online

Managing the search results for your name helps to manage your reputation online

Want to manage your online reputation effectively? If you're selling your writing services, it's essential that you do so.

Your aim should be that when someone types your name into a search engine, your site, and other references to you, occupy the entire first page of the search results. 

As you can see in the image above, when I type in "Angela Booth" I've managed to occupy the first page of the Google results. Enter your own name into Google, and see what the results are. It's vital that you occupy as much of this real estate as possible.

Managing your reputation starts with your site.

1. Your Website Is You: Add Content, and Promote Your Site

Your primary sales tool is your website. Once your site is online, people can find you via the search engines. You get writing jobs without having to hunt for them.

I've always recommended to writers that rather than using a clever business name, they use their own name for their writing. If you're trying to promote both the business name, and yourself, it gets much too complicated. Unless you have a very good reason not to do so, use your own name as your business name.

So your first step in managing your reputation online is to add content to, and to promote your site. There's no substitute for this. It just has to be done. The more pages you have online, the more opportunities there are for people to find you via the search engines -- and the sooner you can stage an effective land grab for the entire first page of the search results when anyone searches for your name.

2. See What People Are Saying: Create Alerts for Your Name

The second step in managing your reputation online is to discover what people are saying about you.

Google provides an "alerts" system, which is a valuable tool for research. However it's valuable in another way. You can create an alert for your own name so that you'll notified whenever your name is mentioned online.

3. Get Active on the Social Networking Sites

Your activity on the social networking sites provides links back to your primary website and boosts it in the search engines. This means that you'll be found more easily.

These links also help you in your endeavor to grab the first page of the search results when anyone searches for you.

Want to make great money writing? Discover the secrets of high-selling, highly paid writers, for free. Each week, Angela Booth's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is delivered in easy-to-print PDF format. Join the thousands of other writers who are using the information to change their lives. You'll learn how to write, and how to sell. Angela's been writing for 30 years, and shares her knowledge with you.