7 Tips for Marketing Your Indie Book

Publishing on your own is a big job--authors are not only responsible for writing, but all the editing, cover design, layout, and back cover copy. And then there's marketing.

Some writers have natural gifts for marketing. Others struggle to make the shift between writing and promotion. I've collected seven helpful posts that might make things a little easier.

Reviews
Reviews are a huge part of marketing. Many authors join sites like Goodreads (recently purchased by Amazon) to connect with readers. But if your book is an indie (self-published), it's sometimes difficult to find readers willing to post reviews. Empty Mirror lists ten ways to find reviewers for self-published books.

Buy Buttons
Your book is live on Amazon, and everywhere else. You've got a website set up. Now it's time to let readers purchase books from your site. I never knew how many potential problems could crop up with a 'book page' on a website. Thomas Umstattd is about to solve them all. He's created an easy way to add attractive buy buttons to your site, while still participating in affiliate programs. Imagine, getting paid twice for each book purchase. Right now (for just a few more days), he's running a Kickstarter project, where donors can receive discounts on the product. It's called My Book Table.

Kindle Direct
The Kindle Direct Program at Amazon can give books a much-needed boost at any stage of the marketing game. However, Amazon changes things from time to time. Check out what Lindsay Buroker has to say about what's working (and not working) right now at Amazon.

Kickstarter
If you haven't heard of Kickstarter (and others like it), it's time to check out what this site can do. This site is crowd-sourcing at its best. Worthwhile ideas make money, the not-so-great don't fly (kind of sounds like publishing, doesn't it?) Thomas Umstattd's idea above has nearly tripled the monetary goal he set. But it's important to plan carefully, and learn from others who have traveled there before. One of those is Clinton Kabler, who lays out three basic steps to using Kickstarter for literary projects. He focused on several realities that are important to understand for a successful experience. And Chuck Wendig at Terrible Minds covers some typical misunderstandings with Kickstarter.

Readers
Most authors want readers. And sometimes the best way to find them is by giving things away for free. My post last week highlighted some of the positives and negatives of pricing books low or free. Joe Warnimont lists the reasons why direct email marketing has such a big impact, and how you can entice potential readers to sign up.

 If you're marketing already, what techniques have worked best (or not at all)?  When you become convinced to buy a book, what made the difference in your decision?

Photo courtesy of Stock.xchng

Book Review: Blogging Made Simple: Powerful Strategies for Blogging Success

Many writers blog. Many writers don't. The decision about whether or not to blog is a complicated one. Maintaining an active blog can help authors establish their platform. But some professionals question whether it's always necessary. Like agent Rachelle Gardner, who asks Should All Authors Blog?

If you do have a blog, you want it to be the best it can be. That means learning your way around the blogging platform you choose, creating great titles and content, and maximizing your search engine visibility. (Thanks to my friend Scoti Domeij for letting me know this book is free right now.)

Blogging Made Simple: Powerful Strategies for Blogging Success is a book that can answer those questions in a concise way. Authors Michael Fleischner and Justin Fried, both well-versed in marketing and social media take a step-by-step approach to help readers make effective use of their blogs.

Chapter one helps potential bloggers with the decision of whether to blog and what to blog about. Topics addressed include: blogging for fun or business, what you should know about blogging, and setting goals.

Chapter two describes three main blogging platforms, and how to choose between them.

Chapter three gives specifics on how to set up your blog on each of the platforms. Choosing a theme, layout, and ways of content management are included.

Chapter four goes into managing your blog. This section covers making strong headlines, creating dynamic posts, using images and videos, and even the consideration of monetizing your blog, among many other topics.

Even though I'm not a new blogger, I definitely learned a few things about the Blogger platform, and some of the ins and outs of search engines that I wasn't clear on before. It's a quick read, but worthwhile.

What's your favorite tip for improving your blog? Mine is remembering the best way to tag photos so they show up on search engines. How about you?

 Update: here's a bonus I just found: a double-sided printable blog post planner. It's a free download.

How to create an online newspaper from your tweets

 Today we have a guest post from Dianne E. Butts, an author and screenwriter. I had never heard of Paper.li before, and Butts explains it so well. I've been reading her newsletter for several years, and she always posts helpful information. All her newsletter articles are on her blog, Dianne E. Butts About Writing, if you'd like to check it out.

Image courtesy of Stock.xchng

Twitter and Paper.li, by Dianne E. Butts

Last month we talked about Making the Most of Twitter including how to write effective Tweets, the 3 Parts every good Tweet needs, and programs that will schedule your Tweets for you.

Another exciting program I've learned about since then uses your Twitter Tweets to create an online newspaper! Some of you many already know about Paper.li. (http://paper.li/).

I had seen a few Paper.li's, but I didn't know much about them. Then recently author and speaker Linda Evans Shepherd set up a few of these papers and taught me more about them. I so appreciate Linda! I've known her since my very first writer's conference more than twenty years ago. Linda has written more than thirty books and has been a mentor to me for all those twenty years I've known her. Let me tell you what I've learned from Linda about Paper.li in the past couple of months, and I'll use her Paper.li's as examples.

Paper.li is a daily newspaper system that picks up links off of Twitter to create the newspaper. I haven't set one up yet, but it seems you can put in the Twitter handles of the people whose Twitters you want to include. So, for example, Linda set up The AWSA Daily and included the Twitter handles of the members of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. That includes me! ;-)

So now, Paper.li searches the Tweets from AWSA members searching for links, and when it finds them, it compiles them into a newspaper!

Is it legal? Yes. Is it plagiarism? No, because the paper doesn't use your whole article, it only picks up the first few sentences (within fair use) and then links to your article. So people who want to read your article are taken straight to the source.

How to get in: Just a Tweet will not do. You must include a link to an article to get into the Paper.li newspaper. It will pick up photos in the articles you link to also.

Please note that the creator of the Paper.li newspaper has absolutely no control over which Twitter links of yours get picked up. And when they are picked up, they cannot be removed. So don't put a link in your Twitter that you might find embarrassing later and you'll have nothing to worry about. (But, honestly, you shouldn't be doing that anyway, right?)

You don't have to be informed that you're Twitter handle is in some one's Paper.li. I first started seeing Paper.li's a year or so ago when my articles starting showing up in one about Colorado writers. I think maybe someone sent me a link to the Paper.li. Yeah,I was surprised. I had no idea why...or how...I got in that paper. Now I know!

You can subscribe to Paper.li's. They're free. Here's another one of Linda's. Look for the "Subscribe" button in the upper right corner: The Shepherd Post. As a matter of fact, why don't you subscribe for a while so you can see how this works? You can always unsubscribe if you don't want it any more.

You can choose whether you want your Paper.li's to come out daily, twice daily, or weekly. I believe all of Linda's are daily papers.

I can hear that questions you're asking: So how can I use this to benefit my writing? Here are several ideas:
* Getting more exposure for your online blogs and articles in an obvious answer, but there's more.
* You can make your own Paper.li's. Create one for your organization, a topic that is your passion, or the topic you write on. Then your own writings will get featured in your own Paper.li.
*  Create a Paper.li that serves people on an issue that is close to your heart. Another one of Linda's Paper.li's is all about suicide prevention: ThinkingAboutSuicide.
*  Do you need ideas or resources for your writing? Then subscribe to Paper.li's on topics that interest you and have a daily feed of resources.

When you find you've been included in a Paper.li, use it's Twitter link to Tweet a link to that issue. Retweet when other's Tweet your favorite Paper.li or one you're featured in. And use the Facebook share button to send a post to your Facebook account.

Remember, for Paper.li to pick up your articles, you must Tweet it and include a link to your article. Paper.li searches for links, and picks them up at random.

Whether you want exposure for your own writing, need information coming to you to use for your own writing, or see other uses for Paper.li, it is a great resource and it is great fun to see your articles featured in them! Start a Paper.li...and have fun!

Dianne E. Butts has been writing for periodicals for twenty years with 300 articles published in more than 50 Christian print magazines and has contributed to nineteen books. Her latest book, Deliver Me, offers hope for those in an unexpected pregnancy by sharing true stories of others in that position. Her first book, Dear America: A Letter of Comfort and Hope to a Grieving Nation, written after 9/11, shares what she's learned about getting through grief, why she still believes in God even when horrible things happen, the story of the gospel, how to go on with God, who the Muslims are...and more. She's ridden motorcycles for more than thirty years. Member: Christian Motorcyclists Association. Member Advanced Writers and Speakers Association.

Gumroad: A New Way to Self-Publish

I love my dad. He often sends me links to websites that might be interesting to feature on my blog, and this one is no different. Gumroad is a brand new way to sell your content online, eliminating the middlemen (read Amazon and Barnes & Noble), and netting the author more in the process.

Created by Sahil Lavingia, a Pinterest designer, Gumroad is a no-frills, no-fuss way for entrepreneurs to put their products in the hands of their followers.

Gumroad hosts, takes payment, and delivers your product for you. Whether it's an ebook, a photo, or software. Any kind of digital file. Here's an example of a book for sale on Gumroad.

Gumroad gives creators the bulk of the money. The cost for using Gumroad is just 5% + $0.25 for each transaction. If you sold your ebook fo $2.99, you keep all but $0.40, which is immediately deposited in your PayPal account. There's no earning cap, or pricing restrictions.

Gumroad makes buying easy. It doesn't have a long form for buyers to fill out with their name and shipping address. Why collect all that information, when the product is sent via email. Check out how easy it is to make a purchase with this simulation. As Lavingia says in this interview, "I just want the online equivalent of handing you a dollar in person!"

Gumroad is designed to go hand in hand with social media. Having been so connected to social media already, Lavingia wanted to make it easy for creators to sell their products to those they were already friends with. Gumroad is intertwined with both Facebook and Twitter, making it simple to connect with those you already know. See how it works.

For more info, see the FAQ page, or this review on Wired.com.

What do you think about a new way to sell books? Do you think you'd give it a try?

Agent Friday: Amanda Luedecke

I haven't done an Agent Friday post in a while, mostly because I ran out of blogging agents. I was looking into Amanda Luedecke, a new agent with MacGregor Literary, since she'll be attending the Pikes Peak Writer's Conference next week, and I found she does have quite a few articles online. 

Luedecke represents literary fiction, YA, romance, women’s fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, steampunk, African American fiction, middle grade fiction, nonfiction, and Christian non-fiction/fiction.

Here's a sampling of some of her posts:

Does an MFA matter?  Should you spend the money and time?

10 marks of a new writer Are you guilty of any of these? 

How to format your manuscript for submission and Kindle upload

How to attract an agent with your YA project Four tips to remember.

For inspirational writers: Breaking into Christian YA and The Current Status of Christian YA

Social Media

Luedecke's surprising thoughts on authors using Twitter: who's doing well and who's missing the mark. Also check out How to Write a Great Tweet and Why Authors Should Be On Twitter.

GoodReads: How to promote your book on GoodReads and 5 steps to build book hype on GoodReads.

Marketing:

How to host a successful book giveaway

10 steps to growing a public speaking platform

Platform:

How big should a writer's platform be?

Growing a platform is like dominoes.

Success with writing articles to build your platform.

Blogging:

Blogging as a fiction author

7 Ways to Grow Your Blog Readership

5 Rules of Blogging Well

And here's an interview on Chiseled in Rock, where Luedecke talks about the trends she's seeing in publishing, and what may be the next big thing.

How important is social media in your writing life?

How writers can prepare for next week's Facebook changes

Are you ready for the new Facebook changes? The new Timeline format will be mandatory starting April 4th. I've been dragging my feet about setting it up, but I found some sites that make it less of a challenge. Facebook is one of the huge foundations of social media, and a presence there is almost an essential for authors.

One nice thing about Timeline is that users get to choose a main photo to highlight. As writers, this is a great way to express your genre or focus on the books you've published. It only takes a few minutes to arrange photos in a powerpoint program and add text if you like. The arrangement I'm thinking about is above.

You'll have until April 4th to tweak your timeline before it goes live (unless you choose to publish it sooner). Some creative types have incorporated their profile photo into their design. Here are some pages with examples to get your imagination running.

How to make the most of the new Facebook Timeline cover photo

Ten Fresh Designs for Creative Inspiration

Facebook Timeline: Ten Stunning Designs

If you're not up to speed on what Timeline is, Facebook has a video introduction to give you an idea of what's different from the previous Facebook "wall". For even more details, check out the Timeline Help page.

Here's a page linking to Five sites for customizing your cover photo

A couple of things to note:

+You'll be able to delete anything you don't want seen on your Timeline.

+You can choose who gets to see each post on your Timeline.

+You can highlight posts on your page, which makes them double width. Great for important announcements, or focusing on a particular blog post.

+You have the ability to "pin" a post to the top of your Timeline for seven days.

+When someone arrives on your page, they'll only see the bottom half of your cover photo, unless they scroll up. I may change the placement of my text so it will be seen no matter what.

And if you're concerned about privacy with the new set-up, check out this article on how to take control of your privacy.

If you do Facebook, have you already switched to Timeline? What do you see are the advantages or disadvantages of the new look?

How Pinteresting! Pinterest for Writers.

Writers write. But in this day and age, writers sometimes feel they're sucked into a black hole of social media. It seems every time you turn around there's another site that promises to be the solution to all your marketing dilemmas.

I've toyed around with the idea of Pinterest, but I haven't yet taken the plunge. I'm worried that I'll be sucked into another time waster. So when agent Rachelle Gardner wrote a couple posts about the benefits of Pinterest for writers, I paid attention. 

I did a little searching around the web, and I'm coming around to the idea that Pinterest could be a useful addition to my social media arsenal. I figured I'd share what I found, since I may not be the only one pondering "pinning".

Rachelle Gardner wrote two posts about Pinterest:

13 Things Writers Should Know: this includes some compelling reasons for considering Pinterest

Ten Tips for Authors Using Pinterest: a list of ways to use the site, and a link to frequently-asked questions about Pinterest

If you're looking for a nitty-gritty explanation of how to use Pinterest, consider downloading the free ebook How to Use Pinterest for Business from Hubspot. Though it's not just for writers, it has a lot of information on how to grow followers and why Pinterest makes sense for business.

And a few more posts to help you think it through:

Allena Tapia lists ten creative ways to use Pinterest (and describes the site really well, too)

Susan Johnston highlights four authors and how they use Pinterest to its best advantage.

Christina Farley has collected a list of Pinterest boards that relate to publishing (like agents and the books they represent).

I really like the idea of using Pinterest to research inspirational photos for my novels. Since I already collect images for characters, costumes, and setting, I imagine one day my readers might like to see the photos that brought the novel to life.

What about you? How do you use (or envision using) bulletin boards like Pinterest?

Free eBook: How to Monitor Social Media in 10 Minutes a Day

Authors and aspiring authors get bombarded with the message: Establish your platform. Increase your exposure. Spread your name via social media.

The problem is that these things take time. Time that could have been spent writing. A quick check of Facebook turns into an hour of flipping through photos and status updates. Dip a toe into Twitter, and some feel they get swallowed by the staggering amount of links to check out.

Rebecca Corliss at HubSpot tries to answer these concerns with a free ebook: How to Monitor Your Social Media Presence in 10 Minutes a Day. Ten quick and colorful chapters will introduce the reader to the best social media channels, and how to use them to your best advantage.

Corliss helps readers to streamline their choices and the time spent checking the social media avenues they're connected with. By setting goals and using some helpful online tools in new ways, users can master social media instead of feeling like they're drowning in information.

The folks at HubSpot offer all kinds of helpful information for those of us trying to navigate the web and social media. Check out the many articles they offer.

How do you keep social media from controlling your life? Do you have a schedule, a timer, or something that keeps you from getting sucked in?

Book Review: Twitter For Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time

Let's face it. Twitter is here to stay. Whether you've embraced "micro-blogging" or stayed far away from hashtags and @ symbols, authors need to know what Twitter can do in the promotional world. Thanks to my eagle-eyed friend, Stacy Jensen, I found Twitter For Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time, by Claire Diaz-Ortiz.

I'll admit, it's been tough to wrap my brain around why Twitter is helpful. I 'get' Facebook, but I hadn't spent much time on Twitter, besides the occasional tweet. Diaz-Ortiz works for Twitter, leading social innovation and philanthropy. She also co-founded Hope Runs, a non-profit helping AIDS orphans in Africa.

The book is comprehensive. Not only does Diaz-Ortiz help you get started if you're a newbie, she helps you set goals for what you want to accomplish and then meet them. Diaz-Ortiz has mastered the art of using Twitter for highlighting projects, like the one she founded. Many of the points can also be translated into marketing ideas for authors. 

Avid Twitter users will find in-depth chapters on how to use multimedia in their tweets, connecting with target audiences, and using Twitter overseas. Diaz-Ortiz goes details the best way to write tweets, and how your 'voice' can make a difference. The book ends with questions and case studies to help the information sink in. Definitely a book for today's authors!

Find more information on Diaz-Ortiz' website.

Do you use Twitter? How do you see it helping you as an author?

Free Ebook: 279 Days to Overnight Success

Some people achieve success. Some people achieve success and tell others how they did it. Chris Guillebeau is one of those.

Guillebeau is an entrepreneur, world traveler, and writer. His newest book is The Art of Non-Conformity: Set your own rules, live the life you want, and change the world. But Guillebeau also gives away two books on his website, along with dozens of articles on writing, entrepreneurship, and the traveling life. His website is listed on Writer's Digest Top 100 Websites for Writers.

279 Days to Overnight Success: An Unconventional Journey to Full-time Writing is a book for bloggers and writers seeking to expand their presence online using social media. From Guillebeau's site, here's what you'll learn:

* How he became a full-time writer in 279 days

* How to establish your brand

* Avoiding the 'vampires' who would like to see you fail.

* Whether to use web advertising or not

* How to become a problogger in 10 months

Basically, Guillebeau shares how writers can create an online community in less than a year, without resorting to paying for advertising. He shares what he did right, along with the mistakes he made.

If you're interested in Guillebeau's other book, check out A Brief Guide to World Domination. Tour around his site for many more articles on all kinds of topics.

How important is it for you to establish an online community?