Book Launch Ideas - Tips for Authors

Launching a book and planning your book birthday events are fun, exciting, and often overwhelming. These are suggestions that I’ve learned over the years:

Organization

1. Get organized. Create a four-month calendar (2 months before the date and 2 months after). Record all of your tasks and promotional events.

2. Make a list of all the places (physical and online) where you’d like to promote your book.

3. Be creative. Look at your list above and think of other options to add. For example, we had wine-themed anthology, so we looked for wineries, wine festivals, and wine shops that would host of us for book signings.

Tasks

1. Make a list of all the places you need to update with your book information (e.g. social media biographies, webpages, blog, Amazon author page, BookBub page, etc.).

2. Update your blog and website with your book information.

3. Order swag for events and give-aways. Make sure that what you order is easy to mail.

4. Send out press releases to your local media outlets. Don’t forget the weekly publications and the shopper give-aways.

5. Create a book information sheet with your synopsis, updated biography, social media links, and book links. Make sure you include this with all blog tours and interviews.

6. Create a page on your website for all of your books. Include a short summary and buy links for multiple outlets.

7. Look at your task list and add “tell everyone you know.” Don’t forget to submit your announcement to the member news sections of groups you belong to. Many groups have newsletters where they recognize accomplishments. I send all my releases to all my alumni newsletters.

Promotion

1. Contact all your writer friends who will help you promote your book on their blogs or newsletters. Schedule those on your calendar.

2. Decide how much and what you’re going to spend your marketing dollars on. What are you going to spend on pre-sales, launch events, and after-launch? Are you going to pay for blog tours, email blasts, or Facebook boosts?

3. Decide if you plan to host Facebook parties, Facebook takeovers, newsletter takeovers, or Twitter parties. You’ll need to schedule, plan, and recruit other authors to help with the promotion and give-aways. (Check out my past posts on Hosting Twitter and Facebook parties and Facebook Hops. They are fun, but they take a little bit of work to organize.)

4. I also look for volunteer or charity events for causes that I support. I often donate a prize and book basket for raffles or give-aways. And these are always stocked with book swag.

What else would you add to my list? It’s a time to celebrate your accomplishment!

Ideas - How to Keep Them Organized!

I have way more ideas for stories and characters than I can use at any one time. I used to jot them down on paper or sticky notes. I’d clip articles out of newspapers and magazines, so I had folders of ideas. But it became unruly quickly. Here’s how I keep it all organized and usable.

Electronic Links and Pictures: If it’s a picture, web page, or blog post, I have Pinterest boards to organize ideas. For example, I was researching vintage trailers and tiny houses for a WIP, so I built a Pinterest boards to keep my information in one place.

Single Spreadsheet: I finally created a single spreadsheet for all of the hundreds of sticky notes that were cluttering up my life. I created a column to tag each idea (e.g. character name, dialogue sample, story idea, etc.). That allows me to sort by the category when I’m looking for something specific. I also add notes if I’ve used the idea. I may still jot things on sticky notes or paper, but they now get transferred to the spreadsheet.

Web Favorites: If you mark favorites in your browser for websites, you may want to export it from time to time to ensure that you have a backup in case of a crash or device failure. (In Internet Explorer, locate your “Add to Favorites” button. Click the down arrow and select Import and Export. Follow the screens to export your favorites to a file.)

Character and Place Name Table: I also build a Word table for each series I write. Each book gets a column. I put basic information about each character and location. I track which books these appear in. When I’m done, I sort my list alphabetically, so I can make sure that I’m not reusing names or naming characters with similar names. This helps me keep the character details consistent in each book.

What other ideas would you add?

Why Writers Need a Facebook Author Page

I’ve heard from several writer friends that they don’t want to maintain another social media site. That’s valid. To do a good job, it takes time, but I’d argue that as a writer, you need this platform to promote your work. And here are my reasons for having a site (separate from your personal page).

1. There is a 5,000 connection limit on Facebook accounts. You could reach a ceiling and be limited.

2. Based on your number of followers on an author page, you have access to analytics that you don’t get on a personal page. I can see all kinds of demographic information such as visitor numbers, time visited, gender, age, country of origin, etc. These help you get a better picture of your followers. And you can target ads to your biggest audience at the day/time when they are most likely to visit.

3. Facebook lets you schedule posts on author pages.

4. You can boost posts or run ads on a Facebook author page.

5. These pages allow you to see the number of people who viewed or interacted with your posts. This gives you information about what is most popular and what your fans are interested in.

6. Make sure that you check Facebook’s terms of service regularly. There are limitations on selling items on your personal page. (Facebook’s terms change frequently. I check them before I do each promotion.)

7. My friends and family post on my personal page or tag me in photos. I have security settings on this site for what I share with the public. If you have these settings in place, you have to remember to loosen them if you are doing some kind of book or event promotion, or people are not able to share your post.

8. On an author page, you can add “buy my book” links. There are also plug-ins and apps that you can add to the page.

What would you add to the list?

What Advice Would You Give to a Younger You About The Writing Life?

What advice would you give to a younger you or someone who wants to be a writer? Here are my thoughts.

1. Don’t give up. If you want to be published, be persistent.

2. Work on your craft. You get better by writing and revising your drafts.

3. Stick with it. See a project through to a good solid draft.

4. Find a group of like-minded people. You need the support and guidance from other authors.

5. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

6. Learn from criticism, but don’t dwell on it. A bad review shouldn’t send you into a tail spin.

7. You are not in competition with other authors. You need to work to improve your skills.

8. Help others when you can.

9. Learn how to say no nicely. People will ask a lot of you. If you take on everything, you’ll stress yourself out.

10. Guard your writing time. Schedule it if you have to.

11. Find a good critique group or writing partner. You need a sounding board to read your drafts and to provide constructive feedback. Make sure everyone contributes.

12. Celebrate other’s successes. And celebrate your own. Writing is hard work.

Who is Your Target Audience? Analytics Tips for Authors

Who is your target audience? When I started writing my answer was, "Everyone who likes mysteries." That is a broad category. To be effective and to know your audience, you need to narrow that down a bit. You need data to see who your primary readers/followers are. And you can glean that information from your social media platforms. All of these bits of information will help you put together a picture of your readers and their likes. 

How do you know who's interested in your type of book? You can use analytics and demographics from your followers.

Facebook - The amount of analytics you have access to on Facebook depends on the number of followers you have. Every time you reach a follower milestone, you'll be able to see more details. On your author page, click Insights. You will see information about page views and page likes. You can click on any of the information for more details like age, gender, and city/country of origin. This information helps you to target readers in certain age or gender groups.

Click on the Posts link to see how well your posts do. You can see the number of interactions, time of day when people visit your site, and which posts get the most/least attention. This will help you if you decide to do Facebook ads or boosts. This information helps you target the right groups and times for posts/ads.

Twitter - Twitter also has an Analytics link. There is a dashboard that will show you your top followers, top tweet, and number of follower mentions. If you click on the Follower Dashboard, you can see high level interests, occupations, buying styles, gender, and household income of your followers. It will also show you the top language. This gives you insight into who is following you and what type of tweets get the most attention.

Your Blog/Website - Check the analytics on your website. I get numbers on visits and comments. I also get yearly, monthly, weekly, or daily data about popular posts, who's visiting, what browser they use, and what country they are in. If you know when people visit your site, you can target posts on other platforms to drive traffic to your site. I get a lot of overnight visits when I'm sleeping. I use an app to schedule tweets in the early morning hours.

Goodreads - Use the information on your Goodreads author dashboard to view your followers. Each of your books has a wealth of statistics on the page. Also there is a link (far right) for See Top Shelves. This shows you who has saved your book and what keywords they used to find you. This is helpful if you're trying to build your keyword lists or to see how others view your book.

This is like an Easter egg hunt. Each site gives you different information that is often platform specific. But if you look at it holistically, you will get a better picture of your average reader. Mine is female between the ages of 35 and 65 from the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. It can also help when planning your marketing campaigns. 

Best wishes with your writing and book marketing efforts. There are no hard and fast methods that work every single time, but your data will help you make decisions and provide you information on who's visiting your social media platforms.

Book Promotion Tips for Authors - What I Learned at JRW's The Writing Show

l-r Karen Chase, Sarah Lapallo Beck, Angela Dominguez, and Ellen Whitfield - James River Writers' "The Writing Show"

Recently, I attended James River Writer's "The Writing Show." The topic was Discoverability: Beyond Social Media with Sarah Lapallo Beck, Angela Dominguez, and Ellen Whitfield. Here are some of the things I learned about book and author promotion.

1. Being an author is a job, and you need to be professional.
2. You need a unified presence (e.g. website, give-aways, blog, social media sites, etc.)
3. Always do your research on agents, publishing firms, and those you hire to assist you with your book.
4. Networking is key for authors. Go to conferences, book events, and join writers' groups.
5. Newsletter swaps are a great (low cost) way to expand your audience. Find another author who does a newsletter, and be a guest or do a take-over of his/her newsletter. When you share, you introduce your book to new readers.
6. We almost always think about editing and proofreading our work. Sometimes, we forget about our marketing materials and website. Make sure that your materials are as polished as they can be.
7. As an author, you need a press or media kit.
8. Make sure that you have a professional author photo (no selfies).
9. Blog tours are a great way to get the word out about your book and you as an author.
10. Make sure you have an elevator pitch for your book. Write it out and practice it. It needs to be a few sentences with a hook. Your goal is to create a connection and for people to want to buy your book. Practice delivering your pitch and find others who will critique it for you. 
11. Look at your promotional materials and social media sites.Find ways you can improve.
12. If you're sending out advance reader copies (ARCs) for reviews, and they're ebooks, you may want to explore companies like NetGalley and BookFunnel.

Why Collaborators Need a Style Guide - Advice for Writers

Years ago, I hired a technical writer at my day gig, and we quickly realized we needed a style guide to define how we do certain things. We had a division called Multifamily, and the title appeared as "Multifamily," "MultiFamily," "Multi-family," and "multi-family" in our technical manuals. Consistency was important, so we created some definitions of how things were going to be used. 

I use the Chicago Manual of Style as my reference guide, but others prefer the AP or the MLA guides. 

If you're creating a collaborative work such as an anthology or collection of stories, a style guide will save a lot of time and headaches during editing. It will also stop a lot of arguments about who is right and who isn't. And it's also a good idea if you give the contributors the guide during the writing phase.

Here are examples of things you should include:

• Specify how you want the submissions formatted (e.g. spacing, font type, font size, etc.)
• Decide how you want paragraphs indented. Some folks use the tab key, while others use the margin/first line indent feature on their word processor.
• How are you going to define story or scene breaks? Do you want the author to use symbols (e.g. ###) centered on a line?
• How do you feel about the Oxford or serial comma? (e.g I'm bringing apples, peaches, and grapes to the picnic.) I'm #TeamOxfordComma.
• Define how the dialogue tags or attributes appear. Example:
  • "Go away!" said Fred.
  • "Go away!" Fred said (preferred)
• Italicize names of movies, TV shows, magazines, and books.
• Are you going to use the American or British spelling of words? (e.g. canceled or cancelled)
• Is it T-shirt, t-shirt, tshirt? What about Ok, OK, or Okay? TV, t.v., or tv?
• Use All Right and A Lot. Both are two words.

Start with some standard guidelines and then add ones that are important to the group. Remember that many publishers and editors have their own style guides, so more changes could come in the final editing stages.

I keep a style guide for myself too when I'm writing my novels, so that I am consistent between the books in a series. 

What else would you include in your style guide?

It's Okay to be Choosy!

When I had my first short stories published, I was excited to be a part of every writing and book event that came along. For the first two anthologies, our group did about fifty events a year to promote the books. Some of these events were wildly successful, and others were less than stellar. As I go along my writing journey, I've found it's okay to be selective about the events you attend. Here's what I've learned...

1. Your time is valuable. You need to guard your writing time and ensure that you are writing the next book. 

2. Look at the event. Is it inside or outside? (I sunburn easily!) Look at the logistics. Do you have to bring your own tent and table? Look at the schedule. When do you have to be there and how long are you expected to stay?

3. Is this the first time for the event? It's exciting to be a part of an inaugural event. Just make sure the host publicizes the event. It's fun to be on the cutting edge, but keep in mind that there my be some snags since this is the first time for everyone.

4. Is there a cost to participate? Make sure that the spend can be covered by your sales. I've split a table with other authors before. We shared the cost and the schedules. Book sales are unpredictable. Sometimes, you sell 50 books, and other times, you'll sell 2. The latter is more disappointing if you invested a lot of money in the entrance fee.

5. What is your purpose for attending the event? If it is only to sell books, then you need to evaluate your return on your investment of time and money. If you're there to support the library or to network, then sales may not be your first concern. I've given away hundreds of bookmarks at events, and many of those interactions turn into online book sales.

6. Consider the travel, meals, and overnight stays when you budget for an event. 

7. I keep a calendar, so I can look at what I did last year and also see what's on the horizon. I have a little paper one that I carry around with me. And I record everything -- in person events as well as social media ones.

8. It is okay to say no. If you're lucky, you'll be approached to participate in a lot of events. If you have a conflict (and you're interested), ask the organizers to keep you on the list for next year. Your time is valuable, and you need to consider how much time will be needed to prepare for a panel, workshop, or class.

9. How are books sold at the event? Is there a book seller, or are you responsible for sales? I have some author friends who don't do events where they have to sell books.  Make sure you know the logistics ahead of time. Also if the books are sold on consignment, make sure you know how/when you'll be paid. (And even if there is a book seller, I always have a stack of books in my car. I've been to events where there were book mix ups.)

Don't feel guilty that you turn down events? You need to make the best decision for you, and if you're stressed or too busy, then you're not writing your next book. What else would you add to my list?