An alliterative title for my first blog post of the month – and it’s a Monday too! I’ve been hopeless at regular blogging these past few weeks, and excuses of bad backs, holidays with the family, and a major book launch just don’t cut it! But I’m back now (watch out), and ready to take on the new task of marketing not one but two novels. And I need your advice …
Having two novels out has caused quite a lot of extra work already. My spreadsheet where I track my sales and royalties has had to be updated, for one thing, causing all sorts of problems with links to my accounting sheets … well, you don’t need to hear about all that. But the new systems I’ve set up allow for the fact that there will be more novels, an indefinite amount, and that got me thinking. Prior to the release of The Family Trap, all my marketing efforts were mainly focused around Can’t Live Without. It was like, this is my book, guys – take a look! But now, and in the future, this approach seems awkward and unlikely to work. (It didn’t work so amazingly well anyway, to be honest.) So, what I need is a new plan. A proper, bona fide, Marketing Plan.
I sort of have a marketing plan already, but it’s more of a list: promote book, Tweet about it, go on Facebook etc. Nothing concrete. Nothing measurable. I need a clear vision of what I’m supposed to be doing, and how to do it.
Most authors I know, or know of, do some or all of the following online activities:
- Goodreads
- Blogging
- Forums
- Other social media sites
We’ll leave ‘other social media sites’ out of the discussion, as there’s enough to do without confusing it any further. Now, while I love my blog – and will never stop blogging – it doesn’t bring me in front of many new potential readers of my novels. Not pure readers, anyway. But it’s fun, so I’ll still devote time to it. Forums I’ve tried and just don’t get on with. I think you have to be really careful in these cynical times that readers don’t think you’re there purely to sell your book – and let’s be honest, you are! Lots of authors have built up a great following with relevant forums, but I don’t think they are for me.
Goodreads I get as a reader, but as an author I can’t see how activities translate into sales of books. I do all the usual stuff – events, giveaways – but I’m not sure how far I can go beyond that. Which leaves Twitter and Facebook. Now, the problem for me is this: I don’t have time to do both well. (And I think it’s important to do one well rather than both half-heartedly.) Some authors I see in my Facebook feed seem to link their Tweets and FB posts, but when this results in a FB feed of meaningless hashtags and @names it just gets annoying! Other authors market their books almost exclusively on Twitter, and it works for them. But I find just Tweeting lines of a book, or snippets of reviews, a bit boring and repetitive. I’ll do it, but I don’t like it. Likewise, taking a photo of my dinner and popping it on Facebook isn’t really me either, but lots of authors do this kind of thing …
So, I need advice. Should I focus on Facebook or Twitter? And whichever I choose, what do I have to say that’s interesting to readers? Readers, readers, readers … how can I connect with them in an ongoing and meaningful way? And how can I do all this and still have time to write? Over to you 🙂
Related articles
- Marketing to Readers vs Networking with Authors (graceandfaith4u.com)
- 2 Basic Rules To Follow for Your Books Success (savvybookwriters.wordpress.com)
- Connecting With Readers On Goodreads (writingbytheseatofmypants.com)
- Marketing Monday: Just What is GoodReads Good For, Anyway? (and other thoughts on Social Media Sharing Sites) (robertatrahan.wordpress.com)
Joanne Phillips 
March 4, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Focus on Twitter and Facebook as best you can. Once you start getting a lot of followers, take a look at the Headliner.fm website. It’s an ad exchange website that helps you diversify your marketable audience. Otherwise, be a social as you can. Talk to other writers and artists through your social media, comment on their stuff, and take an interest in the online community at large. Also, branding is a good idea. Using and re-using readily recognizable symbols and logos for your work helps people identify you more easily and remember you. That’s the best advice I’ve got for a basic marketing strategy. 🙂
March 4, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Thanks Ryan, that’s a great tip. It’s also encouraging that you feel that doing the best you can on Twitter is enough. I’ve not even looked at it for a week, though – I think I need to step it up a bit! 🙂
March 4, 2013 at 3:23 pm
I’m like you…. I avoid forums. I stick mainly to social media and goodreads. I’ve had success building up a following and making acquaintances friends, which is not only fun and awesome on a personal level, but the first step in getting people interested in what you do.
March 4, 2013 at 6:33 pm
Hi Victoria,
More great advice. That’s what I like to do, and it feels so much more authentic. Of course, it takes longer – but marketing should be fun if you can possibly make it that way. 🙂
March 4, 2013 at 3:46 pm
Hi Jo! My vote definitely goes to Twitter, because it’s MUCH better for connecting with people that you do not already know and who have never heard of you, via strategic use of hashtags and via retweets from people that you DO know.
It’s also much easier to operate Twitter on a grand scale without exposing too much about yourself, because, unlike “friending” on Facebook, it’s not reciprocal: you can have people following you without having to follow them. (I keep Facebook for real-life friends and family, with the exception of a couple of closed discussion groups about publishing.)
You’re so right about hitting the right balance with Tweet content. It’s dull when authors only ever tweet “buy my book” messages and people will unfollow you if that’s all you do. Therefore focus mainly on other, more interesting/valuable content, most of which shouldn’t be about your books at all. This may sound counter-intuitive, but it will win you a bigger and more loyal audience than self-advertising.
So what should you tweet? Links to useful or fun stuff that will interest your readers, witty or insightful comments on topical events, and observations on daily life, interspersed with only the kind of info about your books that will be useful and helpful to them, e.g. when you’ve put a new blog post up that they’ll like to read, when you’ve arranged a new author event or have put your book on promotion. The odd tweet about a fab new review is palatable, if phrased subtly, and it’s also a nice way to thank your reviewer! “Big thanks to the lovely @joannegphillips for her thoughtful 5* review of “Sell Your Books!” {link}” is much more acceptable to your fellow tweeps than “OMG MY 17TH 5* REVIEW – HOW CLEVER AM I? Order your copy here right now and write the 18th one!”
Tweets don’t have to be pearls of wisdom. Normal human chat and banter is great too, as other tweeps will get to know and like you as a person.
Check out @BenHatch’s timeline as an example – sharing all kinds of engaging things, including jokes against himself, so you don’t mind him making occasional mentions of his book (especially when it’s on offer or gets a new fab review). He also very sweetly tweeted me a thank-you when I reviewed his book on Twitter. I started following him because I’d read a book of his enjoyed, and now he’s got me hooked, I’ll be among the first to buy his next book when it’s out. I reckon that’s the kind of approach that would work well for you, Jo.
(As you know, Jo, there’s lots more about Twitter for authors on my Off The Shelf Book Promotions blog – won’t put the link here because links upset WordPress spam detector, but googling “Debbie Young Off The Shelf” will find it!)
March 4, 2013 at 6:31 pm
Thanks Debbie! That’s such good advice, and I’m going to put the link up here for anyone who’s interested http://offtheshelfbookpromotions.wordpress.com/
Debbie’s blog is full of really helpful stuff, guys. x
March 4, 2013 at 8:04 pm
Great post! I’m really with you on the this question of marketing, Jo, and how best to allocate your time – while not losing sight of the primary goal of writing! I’m interested to see your replies, and, as aways, Debbie provides useful and worthwhile information. I’ve got her book, so will revisit the section on FB and Twitter. Probably about to set up a Twitter profile – eek!
March 11, 2013 at 2:22 pm
Hi Lindsay,
There are some great replies here, aren’t there? I can’t believe I’m so lucky to be on the receiving end of so much free advice. Just goes to show – all you have to do is ask … 🙂 x
March 5, 2013 at 8:45 am
Hi Joanne,
absolutely love your blog by the way, spent 2 hours reading all your self-pub posts and spreadsheets last night!
I notice you already have some press clippings on your site, so why not try a fresh burst of media coverage. Go to WHSmith and look for the magazines that you think your readers would buy. Have a flick through to the features pages and make a note of the name of the journalist.
They are often on the look out for unusal profile stories. Email them and pitch your story to them e.g. How I published my own book, Indexer by day author by night, come and look at my beautiful house ….etc The beauty of mags is that they hang around long after a tweet has disappeared. Plus most of these mags have websites that you can link to, run comps etc.
Sorry I haven’t answered your Twitter v Facebook dilemma, I’ve suggested more work. But sometimes doing something different can lead into new opportunities and one piece of well-placed editorial could expose you to thousands of new fans who’ve never been on FB or Twitter.
best wishes
Cathy
PS who did you use to publish Family Trap CS or LS?
March 11, 2013 at 2:25 pm
Hi Cathy,
Thanks so much for those brilliant ideas! What a great, fresh look at the whole marketing question. That’s definiely going on my list of things to do – watch this space.
I’m glad you’ve found the self-publishing info helpful – anything specific you need to know just email me joanne g phillips @ gmail . com. I used LS to print The Family Trap, but I will probably move to CS with my next book as they are becoming more accessible to UK authors and too cost-effective to ignore!
Keep in touch, Jo x
March 5, 2013 at 9:21 am
Glad to see you back Jo 🙂
Wow, it sounds sooo stressful! I don’t envy you that’s for sure, but, when my times comes, which I’m sure it will, I will definitely be referring back to your great posts 🙂
Xx
March 11, 2013 at 2:25 pm
Yes, Vikki, you’ve got all this to come … 😉 x
March 12, 2013 at 4:27 pm
Dont remind me! lol 😉
xx
March 5, 2013 at 12:16 pm
Looks like you’ve received a ton of Twitter advice, so let me share a FB suggestion just in case it is something you are not doing yet . . . don’t just settle for posting on your own Facebook author page. Do a search in the ‘search for people, places and things’ box for FB pages that are just for readers. So, type in words or phrases that would describe your readers, find pages that readers frequent and join them, too. Then, you can post to those pages promoting your own books and/or anything else pertaining to reading.
When I did this for SLIW, I joined pages that were very generic like ‘Reading Lovers’ and very specific like ‘Young Adult and Teen Readers’. Some pages had larger followings than others. I did not discriminate. I joined them all and then posted our latest publication news on all the pages. I kept the message simple and the same for each page so that posting was quick and painless using copy/paste.
I hope this helps. Oh, one other thing . . . no one has mentioned Pinterest.
Lots of authors have boards on Pinterest, and since their following is something like 96% female ages 25-34 I think that might be right up your alley.
Good Luck!! Clare @ SLIW 🙂
March 11, 2013 at 2:46 pm
Thanks Clare! Some fantastic suggestions there – and I’ve already taken your advice and joined Pinterest so I’m getting to grips with how to use that too. Do the owners of the pages you mention mind people posting on their pages? This is where my lack of knowledge of FB ettiquette pulls me up short – I’m never sure what’s OK and what’s frowned upon. (But if you’re already doing it then it must be fine, duh!) 🙂 Thanks again, Jo x
March 12, 2013 at 12:50 pm
Since Facebook pages are ‘public’ forums, there is typically no problem with posting on them as long as you keep the information relevant, timely and concise. Don’t overstay your welcome by posting too often, either – that’s a no-brainer I think!
Glad you joined Pinterest 🙂
March 5, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Hi Jo,
I’m currently doing some marketing for two authors (can’t disclose their names) 🙂
I’ll give you a few advice on things that I’m doing for them. If you are confused on what to use either Facebook or Twitter, I have to go with Facebook. This is because you can always connect your Facebook account to your twitter account through a third-party website which is quite good. I’m using IFTTT, just search for the term since they rank on position number 1. If you need further help or explanation regarding IFTTT then send me an email and I’ll try my best to give you a quick explanation.
1.) When posting Facebook status updates, limit it to 225 characters as research shows that more people are less likely to view long status updates.
2.) Do you have a Facebook page? If so, then studying a little bit of your Facebook page insights will greatly help in terms of the type of status updates that goes viral on your friends list.
3.) Also take note of the best time to post status updates depending on the majority of your Facebook friends or followers. If you post during the time that most of them are sleeping then nobody will see your post. Being actively posting status updates on weekends might be a good idea since most of the time people are at home and browsing Facebook. Additionally, if you post your status updates during the time when there is a high volume of other status updates then you are naturally in direct competition with these other updates that have higher EdgeRank. (discuss below)
4.) EdgeRank is the term used for Facebook’s internal algorithm (like Google has their own algorithm). This EdgeRank is the determining factor on which updates will show on your friend’s list. EdgeRank is affected by 3 factors – AFFINITY (this is based on how often your friend or follower visits your page, checks on your photos, and the amount of time they stay on your page), INTERACTION (this is based on how your interaction with your friends or followers, the number of likes, comments, and shares on your posts are taken account on this factor), and last is TIMELINESS (this is based on how quickly your post receives interaction.)
This is just a quick advice as it will take up a huge space if I’ll discuss in-depth regarding social media with you. 🙂
Hope that helps Joanne!
Cheers
March 5, 2013 at 7:16 pm
Hi Jo
Will be following this thread with interest as I am a marketing virgin (beyond the odd tweet). However already the different views expressed say to me ‘nothing is guaranteed to work’. At this moment in time I believe that most of an authors energy should go on writing – I’m yet to meet someone who read a book then recommended it because the advert was good.
Keep in touch
James
March 11, 2013 at 3:04 pm
Thanks so much for this! Wow, I feel so honoured to be getting so much free advice 🙂 I’ll be collating all the suggestions here and coming up with a new marketing plan very soon, and sharing it with everyone of course. Thanks again for this, so useful and generous. x
March 6, 2013 at 10:57 am
Seconding the recommendation for Pinterest! Everyone I know is addicted to it – mom, sisters, sisters’ friends etc etc. And you can link to your FB, Twitter, Blog there too.
Bonus? It’s super fun!
March 11, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Thanks Carissa, I need to find out more about how to use, just feeling my way at the moment. I like pinning stuff, and I’ve figured out how to repin and like. How else does it build up a community? What do you use it for, mainly? x
March 10, 2013 at 2:51 pm
I spent 3 days last month soaking up marketing advice at a writers conference; came away with a huge to-do list but a few insights:
~ Do a few things well rather than trying to be everywhere
~ Beware of spending too much effort on FB; since their recent algorithm change, only x % of your followers see each post, unless you pay (and they could change this again)
~ Top of everyone’s advice was building your own email list, so you can reach ppl directly, regardless of the current hot social media trend. I know you have MailChimp already. Experts advised developing free content (short story??) as an incentive to get ppl to sign up for your email.
~ Bella Andre who has made (literally) millions from self-publishing, says the best mrktng you can do is to write the next book. Suspect this is where I’m falling down!
~ Have you tried a blog tour?
~ Consider joining http://go.helpareporter.com/
~ I found the marketing advice here useful, including creating a media kit and review request pdf: selfpublishingteam.com
March 11, 2013 at 3:08 pm
Thanks Pauline! That’s great of you to share what you learnt – some brilliant tips too. The newsletter is something I’ve been working on for a while, but it’s such slow going. I only have about 60 people signed up for it, and short of shoving it under everyone’s nose constantly I’m not sure how to get more people to sign up. I think it’s just one of those things that takes time to grow organically.
My two favourite suggestions: Do a few things well, and write the next book! Jo xxx