Today’s Writing Tip

No matter how you feel about it, social media presence is important for readers and fans to connect. This is one thing that has made being an independent author possible beside ebooks and print on demand publishers. Having a lot of followers helps find your audience, though quality is important. Whatever you do, don’t waste your money buying followers. First of all, in most cases the people aren’t real and second of all, even if they are real, there’s a good chance they are not your audience.

One way to connect with those who will like your work is to post engaging content to draw them in. Selling yourself as an interesting person is another way to draw them in. Some authors seem to think that if they send out a daily email or dozens of daily tweets promoting their books that they’ll eventually connect. This could not be farther from the truth. Spamming doesn’t work any better for authors than anyone else out there.

Personal connections are best. The very best by far is face to face, such as at book signings or local clubs where you volunteer to speak. These are not always possible, however, if you live in a remote area or are too much of an introvert to get out there and promote yourself.

That would be me….

 

Today’s Writing Tip

Book trailer videos are a great way to entice readers to read your book. Rather than simply words on a page, they employ visual and audio stimuli to capture the essence of your work, whether it’s fact or fiction.

Depending on your marketing budget, it’s possible to find various sources to create one for a reasonable price. However, if you enjoy creating in various media, it can be fun to create one yourself. This can be done virtually for free by using one of the free online apps, such as http://spark.adobe.com. This one has limitations, but is great for your first effort. If you’re familiar with Power Point, you can create simple videos with it as well. A previous blog of mine explains how here.

Once your ideas exceed its capabilities, there are others, though some require a subscription to access all their features, such as WeVideo. Like all promotional vehicles, this one requires marketing savvy to catch potential readers attention and motivate them to buy your book. As you’ve probably already discovered, nothing is ever simple about promoting your book.

Today’s Writing Tip

One of the biggest author challenges is finding the people who will love your story. The first step is to identify who they are. This is not always simple, but one place to start is their age. This is not always readily apparent, however, because many stories span a huge range, from elementary school to retirees, like the Harry Potter or Twilight series.

Nonetheless, it’s a start, at least for where you expect the majority to be found. After that, the next step is to figure out where they hang out. In today’s social media saturated world, this is likely to involve finding Facebook pages and hashtags that your target audience would relate to.

If you don’t have a clue, then maybe that group doesn’t comprise potential fans, because you should have something in common with them if you expect them to embrace your work. If that’s the case, then maybe you need to go back to the drawing board.

Today’s Writing Tip

When promoting your book, comparing it to similar stories with which everyone is familiar can help find readers who will like yours. Of course you have to do this is a way that’s not arrogant or could get you in trouble for infringing on copyright laws.

Nonetheless, if your book has similarities to the Harry Potter series, readers who love that series might be delighted to find another source of fantasy. There’s a risk, however, because if you fall short when they can’t find adequate parallels, their disappointment may result in a rather brutal review.

Thus, weigh the pros and cons carefully before using this method. A safer approach is to simply refer to some of the elements your story has in common with a popular series or movie. Sometimes you get lucky and a reviewer makes the comparison for you, in which case you can quote them and let any ire at possible deficiencies fall on them.

A Cool New Way for Authors to Package Their Books

What you’re looking at are photos of the latest and greatest way to share your books! As an author I think this is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Its actual size and dimensions are the same as a credit card, but the awesome part is that it contains a USB drive loaded with my Star Trails Box Set and latest novel, “The Terra Debacle: Prisoners at Area 51”.

These work great for book signing parties, especially for those who prefer an ebook, as well as for giveaways, drawings, and anything else you can think of.  They have a variety of styles, but I thought this particular one was best suited to show my books on one side and have the website and QR Code on the other. Just think how much easier it is to haul a box of these around versus print copies!

I got mine from https://www.usbmemorydirect.com. Check it out!