I first met Kim Nash (aka Kim the Bookworm) back in 2012 when she reviewed Can’t Live Without on her brilliant blog. When I heard that Kim was branching out into author marketing I was so excited I invited her on to talk about her new service. If you’ve ever felt that marketing was eating into your writing time, read on. I know I’m going to be adding my name to her list of clients very soon.

Kim

 

Kimthebookworm has been reviewing and blogging about books for nearly 3 years. The idea developed and was inspired by a conversation she had with author Milly Johnson and Kim hasn’t looked back since. Mom to 6 year old Ollie, Kim works for a marketing company by day and also writes and reviews for family travel and review site http://www.havealovelytime.com and also writes for http://www.loveahappyending.com. You can find Kim’s reviews at http://kimthebookworm.blogspot.co.uk

“While I love my day job, which is working for a marketing agency, I also love working with authors and books and that’s where my passion lies.   I’ve recently set up a services page on my website, so that authors who want to concentrate on their writing and want a little help on the marketing side, can come me and see how I can help them to ultimately sell more books.

A couple of weekends ago I met up with an author that I’ve been speaking to on Twitter for a few months now.

This author is someone who loves to write, and has oodles of ideas for her next books up her sleeve, but who has no idea where to start when it comes to getting the word out about her books.

I’ve been able to help her in a number of ways some of which I’ve listed below.

Social media – a great way to get the word out about your books but it is something that does need to be done properly and regularly.

One of the first things I did is to set up a Facebook page, so that she can keep all her “booky/authory” related posts in one place, and keep all her info for her friends separate.   She is happy to post on this page herself so this was just a one-off set-up.

I’m also running her Twitter account on her behalf, until she feels confident in using Twitter.  It’s a great way of getting to know new people and build contacts but is not something you can dip in and out of when you feel like it.  You need to make sure that you are retweeting other people’s tweets, taking an interest, engaging with your audience and building relationships.   Within a week she had emailed me to say that she was really pleased to see that she had got an additional 60 genuine followers.

PR/marketing – so many authors have books out in the market place but don’t have time to tell people about them or don’t know where to start.

We started by putting together a list of local magazines and radio programmes and we have written to them offering the author for features and interviews.   We’ve also looked at local groups, where the author could go along and talk about her writing experience/journey.  Women’s Institute Groups, Book Clubs etc are a great way of getting to know some of the local community.

Our next plan is to arrange with local libraries for her to go along and do a “meet the author” event where readers can go along and listen to her talk about her experience and have the opportunity to post questions and have a book signed.  A lot of libraries love to do these type of events, but it is time consuming and again some authors don’t know where to start.

I also have a section on my blog where people can advertise their book.  Throughout the month, I will tweet and post on Facebook the link to the books that are advertised.  This is another opportunity for someone else to be posting on your behalf.

Today, being an author is so much more than writing a book.  You have to also have to be involved with your own PR and marketing.  So if you are feeling a bit bogged down by all the mullarkey that goes with being an author, why not use someone who loves to do it! As your personal author assistant, let me wave my magic wand and help you!”

You can contact Kim via her website by clicking here Kim will also be around to answer questions on the blog, so please say hello and fire away below 🙂