Book Marketing, Trojan Style - LA Festival of Books 2013

It was a beautiful spring weekend in Los Angeles and it was time for the 18^th Annual LA Festival Books sponsored by the LA Times. This weekend there would be over 150 thousand in attendance.

The football field at USC was covered with tented booths and the adjoining buildings were filled with various panels, seminars and readings. The sideshow even included Carol Burnet doing her Tarzan call. If you missed it, here is a link to a YouTube version.

For authors and everyone else involved this is a really, really big deal. Everyone loves a parade and readers love a Book Festival.

It is time to give your pitch

So you’re an author seating or standing (mostly standing) in a booth, greeting prospective customers. You have a great red cover on your book, begging for attention.

The first thing that comes to your mind is “have I remembered everything”. You’ll find out soon enough.

You can forget almost anything but you need to bring a plan. You know, a goal of what you want to accomplish and how to get there.

Most authors have a set of common goals. They want to sell books, gain exposure, meet people and have fun. You are meeting readers and potential customers.

Sales

One thing you realize before you get started is this is an expensive proposition. So you must be prepared to get the most ‘bang for your buck’.

At the minimum you need sales materials. If the prospect shows an interest, he has to leave with something.

It would be nice if it was an autographed book.

I suggest something of value like a pen with your information on it. Something that they won’t put in the trash can at the end of the aisle.

With all authors vying for attention, they must have something of yours that will refresh their memory later.

You need a sales pitch. Like Terry Ambrose told me at the Tucson Festival of Books last month, “[Long ago I] learned the importance of the hook. Depending upon the reader, the author has on average 10-15 seconds to describe their book and get the reader interested. I have three different opening lines that I'll use depending on the question I get from the potential reader.”

Get your radar going. Qualify your guest and give them your best pitch.

Writer’s Groups

Writer’s groups seem to have it figured out. First of all, most of them are genre-oriented. That immediately qualifies your visitor.

They share cost, help fellow authors and carry the atmosphere of the genre because everyone is talking about the same type of book, like a Mystery.

I thought it would be interesting if I could single out a group and get their observation on the festival.

This time around, I connected with the Murder, We Wrote writers group.

I thought it would be fun to ask the members of a group about their experiences at the show and pass that on. I solicited Terry Ambrose’s help and here is what we came up with. (Author credits at the end of this post.)

Making connections at a Book Festival is one of the things we discussed with the group. Here is their take.

Connections

Mystery writer Teresa Burrell had this to say: “Two different attendees approached me to do speaking events this fall, both for legal organizations.”

Mystery Author and Humor columnist Gayle Carline continued the thought:

“Sometimes I meet people who are interested in speakers, and I never turn down a speaking engagement. This year, I was interviewed on two different radio stations. You never know where that kind of publicity will lead.”

Mystery and Psychological Author Jenny Hilborne said, “I met the Vice President of Advertising for the LA Times. She purchased my latest release, STONE COLD, a thriller set in Oxfordshire, England. As a fellow Brit, I'm hoping she will enjoy it and maybe include a review in the LA Times.”

Mystery writer Terry Ambrose had a good connection also. “I met a lady who does a radio show with a significant audience and hope to get an interview on her show. I also may have lined up a slot on the program for the Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference. I have my fingers crossed on both!”

Now those are the type of connections you want. If those come through they can be worth more than selling dozens of books at the show.

Writer’s Group Event

Synergy is one of the major components in a Writer’s group. You can just fill it.

Gayle Carline had this to say about her group. “I love being with this crew of writers.”

 

I can fill her motivation, can’t you? Most authors who are not rockstars in the industry need help with the costs in a large event like this.

Mystery Author Pam Ripling had a comment on Costs.

“… authors lose the opportunity to meet and market to one of the biggest gatherings of readers in America. Costs of exhibiting solo are also prohibitive for most independent authors, so it makes sense to share resources in a cooperative fashion. Murder, We Wrote is just such a co-op.

And on Sharing Space, she said, “The MWW authors also come home with inspiration, ideas and knowledge they didn’t possess when they arrived.”

Teresa Burrell had this to say about one of her takeaways. “What I enjoy the most is seeing the same readers come back year after year to buy the next book in my series.”

Author Gayle Carline echoed that. “[This was] the opportunity to meet people.”

Learning Experience

One of the areas that we don’t read much about is the opportunity that a Festival affords authors to learn more about the other aspects of authorship besides writing their novel.

Mystery Writer Paul Marks had this to say about the experience. “And since we all write different sub-genres of mystery it was good to have a booth where almost anyone interested in mystery could find something to enjoy. And it was good to see how the other writers work and promote their work.”

Watch and observe other authors. This can be a learning experience that can help build your audience.

Making the Sale

Terry Ambrose commented on group sales. “All during the event, we were able to ask reader’s questions and then have the most appropriate author(s) talk to that person.”

Mystery Author Jim Stevens said this about closing the sale. “Finding that one phrase that 'clinches the sale' can be worth its weight in printed paper. I also met some TV and film people that bought my book; sure hope they like it.”

There were many authors and writing groups like Murder, We Wrote sharing their booth with writers.

Takeaways

1. Qualify your visitors. Adjust your pitch. Make the sale.
2. Group/Team efforts like Murder, We Wrote can be like a tag team match. Work together to make the sale.
3. Try to make a connection. You can only do that if you quality your visitor. You never know who will visit your booth.
4. Hand them something of value to refresh their memory later.
5. This should be a learning experience. Soak it all in.

Final Thought
If you participate in Amazon’s KDP program or have giveaways to promote your books and your brand, consider giving away free ebooks at a festival.

You display your book with that great cover. You give the prospect your pitch. Then you close by handing them a flyer or other sales media with directions on where the free ebook can be downloaded.

Your focus is on building your brand and increasing your Amazon ranking and get some reviews.

Remember you are one on one with a reader. You are not fighting with hundreds of free book offers online. It is just a different focus.

Related Articles:

Free Books: Give it away. Just give it away.
Book Marketing, Desert Style: Tucson Festival of Books – 2013
Crime Fiction Collective

Credits:

Terry Ambrose - Mysteries with character

The Snitch - Contests, recipes, and tips to stay ahead of the con

Photo Finish - A killer. A con. Island secrets uncovered.
License to Lie - Never trust a soul...even your own.

Web: terryambrose.com

Facebook: suspense.writer
Twitter: @suspense_writer

Teresa Burrell

The Advocate Series

www.teresaburrell.com

Gayle Carline

Humor Columnist, Mystery Author

http://gaylecarline.com

http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/gaylecarline
http://www.twitter.com/GayleCarline

Jenny Hilborne

Author of mysteries and psychological thrillers

Madness and Murder, No Alibi, Hide and Seek, Stone Cold

It's a twisted world we live in....

http://JFHilborne.com

http://jfhilborne.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/jenny.hilborne.5
https://twitter.com/JFHilborne

Paul Marks

PaulDMarks@gmail.com

www.PaulDMarks.com
www.facebook.com/paul.d.marks
www.amazon.com/author/pauldmarks

Pam Ripling (Also writing as Anne Carter)

Buy CAPE SEDUCTION here!

Visit me at Beacon Street Books

Jim Stevens

jimstevenswriter@gmail.com

JimStevensWriter.com

Follow me:

Follow Me on Twitter: @jimhbs

Or EMAIL at: jim@jamesmoushon.com
View my website: James Moushon – Mystery Writer
Or visit my blog: The eBook Author Corner
Take a look at my Author’s blog: HBS Author’s Spotlight
And the HBS Mystery Readers’s Circle

Check out the Jonathon Stone Mystery Novels:

Call Off The Dogs

Or newly released

Black Mountain Secrets

Book Marketing, Desert Style: Tucson Festival of Books 2013

A book festival is always fun. You get to meet so many interesting authors. This time I trekked to Tucson, AZ, for the Tucson Festival of Books. This was the fourth year for the event and even with below normal temperatures and a brisk wind, the attendance was close to 80,000 for the two days.

Even though I have been to many gatherings like this, being a veteran of Comdex and the LA Book festival among many, I was anxious to visit my first Tucson festival.

My goal was to talk to as many authors as I could to expand my list of HBS Author’s Spotlight candidates and to see how the authors were trying to sell their books and themselves.

There were over 400 authors, I was told, with about 20% being in the Romance and Mystery genre.

One of the first booths I came upon had one of my Spotlight crew, R.P. Dahlke and Mystery writer Terry Ambrose. That was the start of a fun day.

Stumble Upon

I quickly found out that my work was cut out for me. You literally had to stumble upon an author. If you had a task of talking to Mystery Writers, you had a big challenge. They were scattered everywhere and so were the readers, 55,000 that Sunday.

The authors were divided into two types of booths. There were three Author pavilions with authors sitting at tables with their books and sales pitch in hand. And there were exhibitor booths with affiliated authors signing at scheduled times.

Author’s Goals

When you attend an event like a book festival, you should have a set of goals going in like selling your book AND getting the reader/prospects to look further after they leave. If you sparked their interest, they will check your book out online. They may even tell someone else about meeting you.

A book festival requires a different approach than a regular book signing at a bookstore, to be sure.

I asked Author Terry Ambrose about his approach.

“The great thing about the Tucson Festival of Books is that there are readers everywhere you look. In a book signing, the readers come specifically to see you, so your audience is composed primarily of those you know directly or peripherally. At an event like the book festival, you're meeting new readers whom you never would have met had you not gone to that event.”

Observations - Sales Tools

Let’s take a look at what I observed while I made my rounds talking to the various authors. I will start with the sales tools. Allow me to jump ahead of myself. When I got home I went through all the literature I picked up. I thought it would be fun to give credit to the top item in each category of the sales items. This should be a shopping list for authors attending book events.

Business Cards

The cards ranged from 4-color quality cards with cover pictures to computer stickers on cardboard to none at all. One author said he forgot them. My top card of all the cards I received was from:

Darrell James for Nazareth Child

Bookmarks

Most of the bookmarks were professionally done with covers, review snips and contact information. Why in the world would you go to the expense of creating a bookmark without contact information but I saw that also. I had a tie in my little contest on this one:

Sharon Skinner for The Healer’s Legacy and Susan Oleksiw for Anita Ray Mysteries

Post cards

Most of the post cards had copies of the author’s book covers. All the authors who had them had done professional jobs. My top picks came out in a draw again:

Terry Ambrose for License to Lie and Todd Borg for Tahoe Trap

Flyers

I saw several flyers on colored stock. This was something that I thought I would see more of. There is so much area (letter size) to get your message across. Besides, the cost factor is a plus. My top pick here was:

Betty Webb for The Llama of Death

Display Banners

Most of the banners were bland, I thought. The one that really caught my eye was my top pick for this category:

All Mystery e-Newletter (See banner below)

Books

There were lots of books with great covers. The authors were more than willing to sign a purchased copy. There were too many really good ones to pick here. One author even gave me a copy of her book after I introduced myself.

Thanks so much Katherine Monk for giving me your book Joni. @katherinemonk

Sign Displays

The same great quality was displayed here, also with cover blowups. It was hard to pick one here too.

Action

Here was my biggest surprise of the event. I was confronting authors at their sales point. I talked to a lot of authors with mixed responses. Some had long pitches, some had none.

A book festival is more than signing a book. It is a sales opportunity for than and in the future. The most effective pitch was the short, quick one, in my opinion. With that many readers in one area, a long pitch surely lost some opportunities.

I asked Author Terry Ambrose, a veteran of the festival, about his festival pitch?

“[Long ago I] learned the importance of the hook. Depending upon the reader, the author has on average 10-15 seconds to describe their book and get the reader interested. I have three different opening lines that I'll use depending on the question I get from the potential reader.”

One of my observations was that almost none of the authors qualified me. They saw a live one, and there were many at the festival, and jumped right into their sales pitch. We are talking 55,000 people on Sunday.

How about these questions? Do you read Mysteries? Do you like Suspense?

As I saw, there was a variety of people at the festival. You had readers. You know people that love to read. And then you had tire kickers. There were people who were there for a good time but were not buyers. Note: Tire Kickers sometimes buy books and a good impression will last.

There was a lot of foot traffic and the authors needed to work the prospects. Talk to them. Socialize with everyone. Hand them a copy of your book. Here take a look? You never know.

My Takeaway Ideas

Idea 1

After observing a trash can filled with Author’s literature and plastic bags, I had a flash back to my Comdex days. I had learned a lesson there. Give your prospect something of value. Something they won’t throw away. Not expensive stuff. Maybe a pin with your book title, your name and web address or twitter tag. How about a pad of paper, hotel type, with your book title, your name and contact information?

Idea 2

This looked like a perfect place to offer free ebooks to reader. If you can have Amazon give away your ebook for 5 days, why not give the attendees a shot at it. If you make this a primary objective, give your prospect an opportunity at one of your ebooks. If they like your work, they will buy your other books.

Idea 3

Because of the loose organization of the festival, the reader/prospects really had to do 'on the spot research' to find out what genre the author was selling. Have a name plate made up and place it on the table beside you. Something like: Mystery Writer - James Moushon – the Jonathon Stone Mysteries.

Prospects who weren't looking for Mysteries would move on but others might stop. Qualify. Qualify. Qualify.

At the end of the day

So I needed to ask a veteran of the Tucson festival what she thought of the event. Rebecca Dahlke responded with this:

“As for the Festival audience, it was wonderful! People come prepared to buy books, and aren't afraid of trying new authors. Anyone who can pitch a book to a reader surely sold some books at this event.

This year, I concentrated on ‘pitching’ All Mystery e-newsletter to new readers instead of selling my books: http://allmysteryenewsletter.com

I had authors, Terry Ambrose and Clark Lohr in my booth with me, and bad weather on Saturday didn't keep people from buying books. The guys sold multiple copies both days, and I think they would consider it a successful weekend!”

So a good time was had by all. I hope there were lots of books sold and relationships formed.

One last word for authors. You never know who you’ll meet at the show and what that relationship will mean to you. The passerby could be a buyer, a tire kicker or they just may be someone who will write an article about you for a magazine or the Internet.
 

Related Articles:

Free Books: Give it away. Just give it away.

eBook Marketing: Include Live Contact Information in Your eBook
eBook Marketing: How Do You Target Your Reading Audience

Follow me:

Follow Me on Twitter: @jimhbs

Or EMAIL at: jim@jamesmoushon.com

View my website: James Moushon – Mystery Writer

Or visit my blog: The eBook Author Corner
Take a look at my Author’s blog: HBS Author’s Spotlight
And the HBS Mystery Readers’s Circle

Check out the Jonathon Stone Mystery Novels:

Call Off The Dogs

Or newly released

Black Mountain Secrets

Bestselling Author: An Interview with Tara Sivec

Today I have an excerpt of a recent interview on the HBS Author’s Spotlight with Bestselling Author Tara Sivec. She is the author of the Chocolate Lovers series and the top ranking novel, 'A Beautiful Lie', the first book in the Playing with Fire series.


Author Genre: Romance/Suspense, Humor, Chick Lit
 

Author Description:
Tara Sivec is a wife, mom, chauffeur, soccer coach, babysitter, short-order cook, genius and the funniest person she's ever met. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two kids. In her spare time she likes to write and make people spit Diet Coke out of their nose. Most of her material comes from real life experiences with family and friends. Lucky for them, the names have been changed to protect the innocent (aka, drunk).

SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

Let’s start with what’s next. Are we going to get to read another Playing with Fire novel soon? You know you still have Chocolate Lovers out there. Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?

Yes! I’m in the process of writing the next Playing with Fire book right now. It’s called “Because of You” and I hope to release it early April. Each book in the series will be about a different Navy SEAL from the first book. This will be Brady’s book. Brady has been to hell and back since the SEAL mission in the Dominican and he’s opened his own PI firm. He’s hired to investigate a stalker that’s been sending notes to one of the biggest pop stars in the world – Layla Carlysle. Layla has suffered through her own tragedies and behind closed doors, doesn’t live the glamorous, amazing life that everyone thinks she does. Brady and Layla are quick to judge one another but they’ll need to trust each other and put aside their differences before the letters being sent to Layla become a reality.

You have a good following on Twitter. How important have your social media relationships been? Do you see a carry over to your writing success?

I absolutely credit social media for my success. Without it, I doubt anyone would have ever read my books aside from family and friends, who kind of have to or I’ll disown them LOL! As an indie writer, you have to rely heavily on things like Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and word-of-mouth to get your name out there. I have met so many amazing and supportive people throughout this process and I am so grateful they took a chance on a new author and continue to promote my work.

You do a lot of book signing, interviews, speaking and personal appearances? When and where is the next place where your readers can see you? Where can they keep up with your personal contacts online? Are you scheduled to come to Phoenix and who are you signing with?
(Orlando Wicked Girls Book Weekend/Book Signing: February 15 - 18, 2013)

I wish I could do book signings every single day! It is amazing to meet fans and my fans are the best – they are so much fun! My next book signing is in Orlando, Florida next weekend. You can keep up to date with all of my upcoming signings under the “Events” tab on my website: www.tarasivec.com or on Facebook.

There is actually a book signing in the works for Arizona, I have an organizer looking into locations right now so hopefully I’ll have news on that soon.

What kinds of support groups do you belong too? Do they help with the writing, marketing and the publishing process?

No real support groups, per say. I have a handful of absolutely wonderful indie authors and book bloggers who I’ve made friends with the past year that are always there for support or to lend an ear when I send them rambling emails or text messages! It’s amazing to have made friends with people in the indie world who know exactly what you’re going through and are willing to help you and answer questions for you.

Between your book writing, book signings, marketing, family and all the other things that can get in your way, how do you manage your time? Do you have a set schedule or do your sort of play it by ear?

I seriously have no idea who I do it! I just quit my job of 14 years back at Thanksgiving and I look back on the last year and I’m amazed I even wrote a sentence, let alone four books! I try to have a set schedule. I drop the kids off at school in the morning and then I have the house to myself all day to focus. But being the creative type, my brain doesn’t have a schedule to follow so when something hits, I can’t ignore it. I don’t go anywhere without my iPhone, the notepad app open and ready for some notes or an actual notepad and a pen. Having a smartphone means I never really stop working. You can find me answering emails or responding to Facebook posts at 2am most nights when I should be sleeping!

What has been your experience in giving your books away free? Have you been involved in any other type of giveaways and how did that work out? What was your main goal in doing this? Did you run into any obstacles?

I didn’t go into this thinking I was going to become a millionaire. I started writing because I love it. I have a tattoo on my arm that reads “I write because there is a voice within me that will not be still.” I HAVE to write and I am happiest when people are reading the words I’ve written. If I have to give away free books to get my name out there more, that’s okay with me. One free book could bring in five new fans when the person tells them they loved the book, and that is totally worth the price. I do a lot of giveaways on my website and Facebook page. I love giving back to the fans who have been such amazing supporters. I’ve never really run into any obstacles aside from running out of books and having to order more. But that’s an obstacle I don’t mind!

How effective has your book tours been? Do you see an uptick in your sales and ranking after a tour?

I actually never knew what a book tour was until my third book in the Chocolate Lovers series! I’m so glad I did some research! They definitely help with the sales and getting the word passed around that I have a new book out just in case someone missed the information on my own personal social media pages. My last tour had over thirty blogs participating, it’s mind boggling! Each blog posted information about my latest release and the links where you could buy it, which is huge. They each have an amazing number of followers and it’s a great way to reach so many people at one time that I would never be able to do on my own.

Your latest release was a romance/suspense novel. Did changing hats create any problems? Which genre do you enjoy writing the most? Does moving from one to the other give you some breathing room or change of pace?

Romantic suspense is my absolute favorite genre to read so I knew writing a book in that category was going to be in the cards for me at some point. I think the only problem is that I am known for my comedy. A lot of people were nervous to read something completely different from me and they weren’t sure if I could pull off such a huge leap. I don’t know if I really enjoy one more than the other. It’s almost like asking me which child I love more! I love them both equally, but some days one is definitely easier than the other. Comedy is easier for me to write most days because I write my characters the way I talk and they interact with others the way I interact with others. Romantic suspense though is more challenging and sometimes more fun. It involves a lot of research and a lot of notes trying to remember the timeframes and the facts I’ve already made known so I don’t get confused. When I write romantic suspense, I have post-it notes littering my desk and my walls and a dry-erase board to keep track of time lines. When I write comedy, I have lots of bottles of wine handy.

It was definitely nice taking a break from comedy and doing something different. If I stuck with the same genre, I feel like I would get stale and everything would start sounding the same. I hope that bouncing between genres will keep me fresh.

I think your Merchandise Store is a unique approach. Do your readers/fans buy products from the store so they try to get as much of you as they can or is it the unique stuff their after?

I love my Cafepress store and I wish I had more time right now to add additional items to the inventory. I think they are definitely after unique things. Their favorite quotes from the books on a shirt is definitely a top seller.

Author's Book List

A Beautiful Lie - Playing with Fire, #1
-------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon  - Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
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Troubles and Treats - Chocolate Lovers #3
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Amazon  - Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
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Futures and Frosting - Chocolate Lovers #2
Amazon  - Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
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Seduction and Snacks - Chocolate Lovers #1
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Amazon  - Barnes and Noble - Smashwords
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Takeaways:

How much do building relationships and social media play in your marketing plans?

Do you do book signing, interviews, speaking and personal appearances?

How effective has your book tours been?

What has been your experience in giving your books away free?

Have you tried to setup a Merchandise Store to publicize your books?
 

Tara’s Contact Information

Website: tarasivec.com
Twitter: @tarasivec
E-Mail: tara@tarasivec.com
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest

Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the HBS Author's Spotlight.

Original Post: Tara Sivec – HBS Author’s Spotlight
Check out the index of other Spotlight authors. Spotlight Index.

Indie eBook Marketing: When You Get to the Fork in the Road, You Must Take It.

So you just created your first book and you’re done with the editing. You have someone lined up to help you with the formatting and to help you upload the ebook to the online retailers.

You’re an indie author and you’re going to self-publish. The ebook will be available for anyone in the world to buy. Look out Patterson and Hocking. Your Romance novel is in a hot genre. It won’t be long until you’re helping find someone to play your lead character in Hollywood. It’s the author’s dream.

One of the first things you realize is that you’re not alone. There are hundreds of authors in your same position with that ‘must read love story’ and they are all fighting for the reader’s attention.

The next thing you realize, you didn’t start marketing soon enough and there is no one to hold your hand while you do it. You will find out quickly that trying to sell your novel is a full time job. 

Marketing

The first big decision: Do you go the social media route or do you hit the pavement?

Do you try to build a large social network or do you rely on the online retailers, word of mouth and a website to do the selling for you?

There are a lot of questions and the answers aren’t easy to come by. 

The Paper Route

If you are from the old school and you’re trying to adjust to online marketing, going Indie presents some problems. Your sales will rely directly on your marketing approach and you find out quickly it is going to be a long journey.

There are a dwindling number of book stores and there are no publishers helping you will drive. The covers and the blurbs are up to you or someone you engage to write them.

Your book may get great reviews but your challenge is to get someone to read them and then buy your book.

There is no shelf space limit to worry about. In fact, the problem is just the opposite. The shelf space is limitless and so is the number of authors, all trying to find a way to attract readers to their book.    

The Need for Speed - Online Marketing

You are how competing in the online world and the Internet Super Highway speeds up the whole process. Readers can buy your book 24/7, if they can find it.

This approach is what I call the Conventional Online Method. You self-publish your book and post it at an online retailer’s site. In turn, they provide the reader/prospective buyer with information, so they can make a buying decision. That may include reviews, star-ratings, book descriptions, your author profile and a bestseller tag, if you’re lucky.

This is, in itself, a passive approach to marketing. You need to use more of the Internet to make your presence felt and to sell your books.

There are many things you can do at this point to draw attention to yourself, as an author.

You can create an author’s blogs and have an Internet site with contact information. You can conduct giveaways and promotions or participate in book tours. You can provide your readers with free content and samples of your work.

There are a lot of things you can do online to promote your book.

The web is a vast arena for the Indie author. If you look hard enough you will find book trailers (live movie trailers), videos, pictures and other promotional material marketing books.

So you are all set up. Now how do you get readers to look at your book and buy it? 

Now the Fork - Enter Social Media

The questions that really stand out if I go down this road are:

How do I target my genre and the readers in my genre?

How do I jump start my marketing activity?

How do I engage readers and get them to take a look at my book?

Should I make that turn in the road and get in the fast lane?

Should I get involved in social media? I mean really involved.

When I am talking about social media, I am talking about Twitter and Facebook. They are the most popular communication methods with the most activity and the biggest audience.

What will you find if you go down that road?

1. When you take this fork in the road, you will really have to shift your direction.

2. You will need to develop friendships and relationship with readers and other writers.

3. You will also find out real quick that you need more time in the day to work your social media crowd and write and do all the other things that will get in your way.

4. You will find interaction with others is the key to developing an audience.

5. You will find that this is not a smooth road.

6. You will find crazy drivers and lots of traffic.

7. You will find if you’re use to writing your thoughts in an email, 140 characters are not enough to get your message across.

8. You will find once you start building your following that Twitter has a barricade of 2001 followers plus 10%  and that can be a problem.

9. You will find you need to keep working the system.

So do I go all in and take the turn to the left, down the fast lane or do I go the conventional route? 

How do I get in the fast lane and step on the gas?

With the ‘how do I’ part of this, I turned to two veterans of the social media trip.
 

M.R. Mathias

Author M.R. Mathias @DahgMahn (http://www.mrmathias.com) is an award-winning self-published Fantasy Writer. At the last count, he had over 88,000 followers on Twitter. He is a true student of the social media game.

His words of advice are:

1, Use social media to get the word out there.

2. Push followers but not too hard.

3. You must keep working it.

4. Be patient. It is a slow building process.

His book is a must read for new Indie authors: The First Ten Steps - To Take AFTER You Publish Your New eBook.
 

Claude Bouchard

Another veteran of social media is prolific Twitter host Claude Bouchard @ceebee308 (http://www.claudebouchardbooks.com). At the last count, Claude had over 300,000 followers.

He is a Canadian, Best-Selling Author who has chosen to use social media big time. He shares his theory with us on going all in with social media.

“It is simple logic…the more followers I have the more people would learn about my thrillers.”

 When asked if he could measure the impact of social media on his sales, he said,

“The honest and correct answer is, ‘I don’t have a clue.’ I do have people occasionally telling me they just bought one of my books but most don’t comment.”

He outlines his process of building a following on Twitter on his blog: How I Really Got a 1/4 Million Followers. 

Is it Worth Taking the Social Media Highway?

What are the benefits by using the social media highway? Here is what some awarding-winning authors had to say about the benefits they got from social media.

(Note: Author’s name links are to their personal profiles with a Q/A session and their book list.) 
 

Benefit: Connection

Joanna Penn @thecreativepenn

“I find social media brilliant for connecting with people, mainly my writing peers and people in the industry.

Here’s my breakdown of how social media can help sell books: Sell Books with Social Media.”
 

Benefit: Discovery

John Needham - @jakeneedham

“I get 20 or 30 communications from readers through it every day. Happily, not a small number of those communications are from readers who tell me they are happy to have just discovered my books through something that somebody said on Twitter.

Facebook is a completely different story for me. It's been absolutely useless as a communication tool. I hear from virtually no one on Facebook.”

Stacy Eaton - @StacySEaton

“I do … try to stay in touch with fans. I communicate with them when I can on Twitter and get on Facebook ... I like to work with other authors and help them by doing interviews and posting them on my blog …”
 

Benefit or NOT: Effective

Amy Metz - @goosepimpleisms

“I try to like, and share, and post something on Facebook, as well as tweet something on Twitter, every day, but I’m not sure how effective it is.”
 

Benefit or NOT: Avoid Overkill

Cheryl Bradshaw - @cherylbradshaw

“Social media is my primary focus. I use it to promote, but only when I have a new book out or if I am running an incentive, like a freebie.

The main importance for me is using it to connect with my fans and fellow authors. Many authors don’t understand why Twitter doesn’t work for them—and it’s because they are going about it all wrong. They use it to promote their books 24/7. It’s overkill.”
 

Benefit: Sales equals Followers

Katherine Logan - @KathyLLogan

“I’ve discovered that sales are directly related to the number of followers. As one goes up, so does the other. Most of my marketing efforts are Twitter related. I’ve made some incredible friends.”
 

Benefit: Spread the Word

Monica Mathis-Stowe - @MMathisStowe

“Social Networking is an excellent marketing tool. I use Facebook and Twitter … to help spread the word about my novel.”
 

Benefit: Foreign Authors

Maree Ward-Russell - @mibbymw

“Social media is all of my marketing plan. Living in New Zealand has its geographical limitations – especially when your target market is on the opposite side of the world. Twitter and Facebook have become vital for me to reach the masses, without them I would be lost.

You must be prepared to engage with your followers. A reciprocal relationship is the key.”

Anne Allen - @AnneAllen21

Anne is a UK author. She says, “You need a prominent profile before a book is published. I now know that having a writer’s blog is paramount.

I think I’ll just have to keep trying to raise my profile through blog features, book reviews etc.”
 

Benefit: Small Press Experience

R.P. Dahlke - @rpdahlke - @allmysteryenews

“I love hearing from my readers. When I was with a small press, no one could contact me directly. It seemed so silly. Now I have Facebook and Twitter and I've made wonderful new friends, as well as a whole new world of readers for my books.”
 

The Red Flag Review

Rebecca’s comment raised a red flag. Where their groups actually trying to stop authors and readers from communicating via social media? I needed to check this out so I did a quick review. I am sure there are other groups that do not follow this pattern but here is the review anyway.

I decided to check out a small press and see what was going on. I choice a popular small press with over 100 authors in their fold. I was looking for Twitter and Author blog/site activity.

Wow. I wasn’t ready for the results. I stopped after the first 20 authors. I found that 2 authors had Twitter accounts and 4 had their own Internet sites. Apparently everything was being handled by the small press. I realized this was not a big sample, so I had to go the extra mile. 

Top Indie Author Survey

I needed to check the big guys. You know the top Indie Authors as defined by online retailers.

The questions I had to survey were:

How are the very top authors marketing their books?

Are they using social media for their marketing or the conventional method?

Which fork in the road did they take?

The TOP author was driving in the HOV lane at a very high speed. He had in excess of 220k followers on Twitter and he had the 3 top places on the retailer’s best seller list. I think in his case, it’s the quality of the car he is driving rather than being in the correct lane on this one.

What about the rest of the authors? There were 58 more authors to research. My results were all downhill from my star Indie driver. Here is a quick summary of what I found.

Of the 59 Indie Authors, 9 DID NOT have a Twitter account (15%) and 6 DID NOT have an Author’s site or blog (10%).

After analyzing the author’s followers, my conclusion was that 40% of the authors did not use social media to market their books. They had taken the conventional online fork in the road and were letting other online vehicles sell their books.  (Note: The average number of followers was 3000.) 

So what does all this mean?

Here are the takeaways I got:

1. You need to keep working it to get anything out of social media if you’re going to take that route.

2. Social media will help you develop relationships with readers and other authors.

3. The results will be hard to measure.

4. It will be very time consuming to do it big time.

My personal question is: If I chose Twitter and Facebook to market by books, how do I target my genre (Mystery) and the readers in that genre?

What is your takeaway? Which direction will you take? 

Side note:

At the end of the day, Yogi Berra, the famous Yankee baseball player, had the best advice: When you get to the fork in the road, take it. (This quote is classified as a Yogi-isms and makes perfect sense in our Indie marketing effort.) 

Follow me:

Follow Me on Twitter: @jimhbs

Or EMAIL at: jim@jamesmoushon.com

View my website: James Moushon – Mystery Writer

Take a look at my Author’s blog: HBS Author’s Spotlight

Check out the Jonathon Stone Mystery Novels:

Call Off The Dogs

Or newly released

Black Mountain Secrets

Indie Author: You Need a Helping Hand to Succeed.

No matter what anyone tells says, you need help to succeed in book publishing today, especially if you’re an Indie author. There is just too much to do to even have modest success.

The good old days. You know, the days when the book industry was controlled by a small group of publishers and an even smaller group of successful authors. To get into the group, you had to write what the publishers wanted you to write in the correct genre; a book that the publisher could forecast a profit and stay within budget.

At least at the start, they took care of everything. That included marketing, creation and distribution, returns, pricing, editing, cover design, reviews and advances. You know: an all of the above approach.

You did have to write good material, make appearances and sign some books but the good reviews were always going to be there. They were the author’s support group along with the agents. When you got to the second tier of authors, the marketing shifted more and more to the author but the rest of the support was still there.

Then along came the ebook and the online world. Self-publishing became easier and the royalties increased. You were selling books where you never had exposure before.

Along with this came a problem. The publisher’s support was gone so the online community started scurrying for a solution. Authors needed help and support of all kinds to bring their book to market.

You see, the Indie Author is now responsible for everything. Enter the online support groups, stage right.

Support groups are not new. There are many traditional author organizations. For example,

Novelists, Inc. is a national group who helps authors.

Patricia McLinn @PatriciaMcLinn, NINC Past-President, said in a recent post:

“Now, NINC is my primary support group. One of NINC’s many strengths is the collegial attitude among the members. From this one group several others have grown where we share information on writing, marketing and the publishing process.”

All of the Traditional organizations have established local and area chapters to get closer to their members to support them.

Online Support Groups

Online support groups are Internet based. They are support groups with no borders. They have the ability to support authors wherever in the world they lived. Some of them have become as large in membership, as the older, traditional organizations.

There are many groups online now. Some are here for the long run. Others will come and go because Indie authors are requiring more and more from them.

Why should you join a group of strangers?

That question leads into this one. What kinds of support are you going to need and how can an online support group help out?

All online support groups are friendship bound. They rely on the Internet communications between members. Authors can get all the hand holding they need. The groups supply lots of education and training opportunities and they give authors a direction in adapting to the online environment. If you are looking for connections, sympathy, criticism or a helping hand, you are in the right place.

Most groups have, as one of their goals, helping authors market their books. Self-promotion of your book can be quite difficult if you have no help. You can get a host of marketing aide from these online sources. From just displaying your book for sale to book tours and giveaways to expensive sales plans to reviews, you will be able to find help. Some charge a fee, some don’t.

Online groups do offer writing courses, critiques with feedback, almost all online. If you seek it out, you will be able to get help somewhere.

One of the major obstacles for Indie authors is creating the book itself. The proper formatting, cover design, compiling of the document, has a direct relationship to sales.

If you need a hand, the online support community will be there, a mouse click away.

So what can you gain from belonging to a support group?

Let’s check out what experienced authors are saying about support groups? As always, I go to my support group: the HBS Author’s Spotlight crew. They always bring their experience and knowledge to the party.

The following is a list of a few support groups and Spotlight Author comments about their experiences with the groups. (This list is not in any order and not anywhere near all the helpful groups.)

World Literary Café (WLC) + FOSTERING SUCCESS (FS)

This group was formed by Melissa Foster @Melissa_Foster. The World Literary Cafe is an online community that bridges the gap between readers and authors, with the mission of paying-it-forward in the literary field, promoting great literature, and bringing together the literary community. The WLC offers helpful promotions to authors, reviewers, bloggers, and editors by creating avenues to bring them together under one umbrella in an easily navigable venue.  

Also, they provide AUTHOR SERVICES including editing, cover design, formatting, publishing and marketing.

Here is a comment from the founder, Melissa Foster @Melissa_Foster.

“All of my endeavors are pay-it-forward driven. Readers, writers, bloggers, reviewers, and anyone interested in the literary field can join the World Literary Cafe (WLC).

Our goal is to unite the literary community, bring new-to-you authors to readers, and help author promote their work, while teaching them how to take control of their own success. 

The educational arm of WLC is Fostering Success.. At Fostering Success, we offer affordable, effective, easy to understand, courses for writers to learn everything from self-publishing and social media to branding, platform building, and book marketing.”

One of the prominent members, Author Stacy Eaton @StacySEaton had this to say:

“They are a great group! I love the WLC and Melissa is amazing. Those of us that work with the WLC do it because we love it. … we want to help others to succeed.

The biggest benefit that I get from the WLC is the network I have built and the friendships I have formed with so many authors and readers who visit and use the site on a daily basis. 

Other members including authors Rachelle Ayala @AyalaRachelle and Mohana Rajakumar @moha_doha echoed the same praise in their HBS Author’s Spotlight interviews.

I would say Synergy is the hallmark of this group.

The Independent Author Network (IAN)

Founded by William Potter, The Independent Author Network is a group of like-minded authors who are self-published or published by a small indie press. The group is open to authors who are active social networkers at sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. The group works together to support and promote each other online. 

One of our Spotlight Authors, Dani Amore @authordaniamore, talked about the IAN.

“Before I published my first book, I reached out to quite a few authors. I'm sure some of them don't even remember me. I like talking to other authors and I think as a community we're very supportive of each other.”

M. R. Mathias @DahgMahn, another Spotlight author, had this to say:

“When I was spending tons of time on twitter I interacted with these great folks day in and day out. I stay offline most of the time now, as I am writing Dragoneers Book Four - The Emerald Rider but the members of IAN have a great social networking advantage over other Indies.

IAN (#ian1 on twitter ) members retweet each other, "like," read, and review each other's books. They have a forum where readers can interact, and a few hundred blogs between them. If you are just starting then you should look into the IAN.”

Independent Author Index (IAI)

Faydra D. Fields is the creator of the Independent Author Index. The IAI is designed to offer independent authors another avenue of exposure. It is also designed to be engaging and interactive.

Faydra said “Independent authors can definitely use all the exposure they can get since they’re usually responsible for their own marketing.”

Author Devin C. Hughes @DevinCHughes said recently in a Spotlight post about the IAI:

“Faydra Deon's group is awesome and I do occasionally look there for support or clarity around issues or challenges that I encounter since other writers can relate to my situation.

Long Island Romance Writers

Pamela Burford @PamelaBurford is the founder of Long Island Romance Writers, a chapter of Romance Writers of America. When she was asked what the main benefit she got from the group she said:

“Founding LIRW is one of the shining points of my writing career. That was 17 years ago, and that group has blossomed into a thriving writers’ community that offers mutual support, education, and networking opportunities. LIRW is my writing family, and I wouldn’t be the novelist I am without them.”

Indie Writers Unite

Cheryl Bradshaw @cherylbradshaw is the founder of Indie Writers Unite group on Facebook.

“When I was writing my first book, I had so many questions, and I was frustrated about the lack of groups I found over the internet. I knew some traditionally pubbed authors, but they didn’t know much about the self-publishing industry, so I thought maybe I could create a group where writers could come together and get the answers they need when they’re getting started. I cannot express how important the group is in my life. I’ve made lasting friendships, and I credit much of my success to the helping hands I received from my fellow authors when I was just starting out.”

Julia Crane @juliacrane2 answered the following question in a recent post?

What other kinds of support groups do you belong too?
“I’m in many author groups on Facebook (too many to mention). Indie Writers Unite was the first group I joined and I’ve made some wonderful friends there. I think it helps to get ideas from others, and see what is working and what’s not. I’m always looking for new marketing ideas.”

Indie Chicks

Speaking of synergy, this is a small group of outstanding women writers who are together for the long haul. They support each other in many ways: keeping a constant flow of twitter chatter, supporting each other’s books and marketing activities and doing group writing projects. They keep up a constant swirl of activity on the social network.

Cheryl Shireman @cherylshireman started the Indie Chicks.

“I love the Indie Chicks. This is such an extraordinary group of writers. When I first came up with the idea of the Indie Chicks, I discarded the idea immediately. It seemed like such a huge idea - fraught with so many logistical problems. But the idea kept returning.

And, eventually, I could no longer ignore the idea. I came up with a list of my “dream team” of women writers and started contacting them. I asked them if they’d like to be part of a group of women writers who worked together to support and encourage one another, not only in writing but sometimes in life. Almost all of the women I contacted replied with a heart.”

One of the authors from the Indie Chicks, Donna Fasano @DonnaFaz, had nothing but praise for the Indie Chicks.

“I am so lucky to a part this group of talented women. They offer support and a wealth of knowledge, and they're always willing to help in any way they can. I believe the book (Indie Chicks: 25 Independent Women 25 Personal Stories) is successful because we wrote our stories from the heart. When emotion is poured into a story, readers can't help but notice.”

Julia Crane @juliacrane2 commented on a recent writing project with Indie Chicks members.

“I’ve co-written with two separate authors Heather Adkins and Talia Jager. I was friends with both women before we decided to write together. I think we feed off each other when writing, and the process is a lot faster. It’s fun to brainstorm with someone that is also mentally in the head of the characters.”

Historial Fiction Groups

Sarah Woodbury @SarahWoodbury commented on her involvement with support groups in her main genre, Historical Fiction.

“I belong to several groups including, Pasttimes Books and Historical Fiction ebooks. In some ways, those groups are more a way for me to connect with other writers than a way to reach an audience. Word of mouth is still the best way to find people who like my books…

Kentucky Romance Writers

Katherine Logan @KathyLLogan, in a recent interview, talked about a writer’s group she belonged too.

“I’m a member of RWA, Kentucky Romance Writers, and Kentucky Independent Writers. To be a member of KYRW, you have to be a member of RWA. KIW is by invitation only, and you have to be a Kentucky author.”

Kentucky Indie Writers (KIW)

Diane Strong @DianeIStrong comment about support groups:

“I am a member of KIW (Kentucky Indie Writers), a small group of (mostly) independently published authors in Lexington, Kentucky and the surrounding area. They have been a huge support. I'm not sure what I would do without them. I feel very fortunate to have a group of friends I can go to with promotion, publishing, formatting, editing and life questions. They have taught me so much.”

Dawn Ireland’s Critique Group (Houston)

Dawn Ireland @dawnireland said:

“My critique group is just about 20 years old now, and only one person in the group is from the original team. It is very gratifying to help new writers get on the right track. 

One of the hardest things to get across is that they should not be offended by criticism. It only makes your work better, and let's face it, if two or more people have the same comment, that's proof there's something wrong. Some people are shell-shocked when they receive their marked-up pages back and they're covered in red ink.” 

 

Social Media and Retailers

Of course, you can use the common support group like Twitter, Facebook, Google + and Goodreads but it just not the same. Even Amazon provides some help. But when you go to list your book through one of their free book promotions and find out your book is on a list of 75,000 free books, you need more help than that.

So what is next? Do you belong to a support group that will help you get through the rough patches? I think you need help from followers and groups with common interests to yours. What groups do you belong to? Let’s build a list of support groups that have given you a helping hand.

Follow me:

Follow Me on Twitter: @jimhbs

Or EMAIL at: jim@jamesmoushon.com

View my website: James Moushon – Mystery Writer

Or visit my blog: The eBook Author Corner

Take a look at my Author’s blog: HBS Author’s Spotlight

Check out the Jonathon Stone Mystery Novels:

Call Off The Dogs

Or newly released

Black Mountain Secrets