The Power of Giving Back

Friends, today we have a special guest--Randi Lee, author of Affected. Randi's here to share what she's learned about the power of authors giving back.

Take it away, Randi!

Writers, there are a lot of us. Strength in numbers is great! Don’t get me wrong. I love all of my writer friends and wouldn’t trade them for the world. However, with so many writers publishing so many books these days, it can be difficult to get noticed—especially by the media. 

I should know. I spent ages contacting media affiliates in an effort to have them promote my book. Newspapers, trade journals, television and radio stations: I tried them all. Through emails, letters, telephone calls and physical visits, I did everything I could to push my book on these agents of the media, to no avail. I even switched my message. When one pitch letter didn’t work, I tried another. If no one responded to my book’s synopsis, I re-wrote the synopsis and sent that out. No one bit. Nothing worked. Colorful language filled the halls of my home as I ranted and raved to friends and family about how amazing my book was and questioned why no one wanted to promote it.

What came to me later, something I should have realized when I first began contacting the media, is that lots of writers contact the media. Lots of writers want the media to promote their amazing book. Lots of writers try through emails, letters, telephone calls and physical visits to get the media to do something for them.

However, in return, what are those writers doing for the media?

Sure, the description of a great book written by a local author might entice a few additional viewers to tune in to the 5:00 news. However, unless that local author is Stephen King or Ann Rice, I doubt the boost in ratings would be all that significant. I was no different. Yes, my friends and family would watch, but who else? I knew I needed to add something to my pitch to the media—something more newsworthy than just an interesting read. I needed to provide them with a story that would benefit their viewers and ensure ratings succeeded. I needed to give something back.

My pitch changed completely. Instead of sending emails to newscasters about my “amazing new book!” I wrote to them about a successful self-marketing campaign I was running at the time and how learning about it could benefit their viewers. “Sales for my book skyrocketed in less than two weeks thanks to this marketing campaign and I did it all on my own,” I wrote. “I would like to tell you, and your viewers, how I did it.”

Suddenly, things changed. My inbox was flooded with responses from local and international news affiliates asking me if I would like to appear on their program or in their newspaper. Last week, I successfully concluded the first of three television news interviews I have lined up. Next week, I’ll be featured in an hour-long interview on the radio, with another radio interview following the week after that. Three local papers have agreed to run articles about my marketing campaign (and, more importantly, my book,) and potential opportunities are still continuing to arise.

Yes, writer friend, your book is amazing, and people should want to read it! However, there are a lot of amazing books out there. Getting yours noticed is going to involve giving, as well as taking. Think about your story. Think about the successes and failures you’ve had and what the media and its readers/viewers can take away from them. Did the inspirational theme of your book motivate someone to donate to charity? Tell them that. Did your book make the Amazon Top 100 in less than a day? Tell them how you made it happen. Empower yourself through your unique experiences as a writer and lend those experiences to the public in a new and thoughtful way. Once you learn to give back, the media will be much more obliged to listen.

Thank you so much, Julie, for hosting me on your blog today. I hope this information proves useful to you, Julie’s readers, and I hope you all continue to pursue your goals in new and inventive ways! 

Randi Lee is an author and blogger, as well as a freelance writer, editor and designer living in New England with her family and two much-loved dogs. She recently released her debut novel, Affected, and is currently working on its sequel, Ascendance. Randi loves sharing tips and supporting fellow authors. She often posts helpful advice and author spotlights on her website: www.randileewrites.com.  Affected, her action-packed dystopian thriller, is available at all store fronts, including: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and iTunes. 

Awesome, right? I love it when fellow authors succeed in the world of marketing their books. Giving back is always a positive way to go. 

Thanks, Randi!

Friends, what's your experience with book promotion and media? Any tips you'd like to share?

Marketing Your Independently-Published Novel

Friends, for today's IndieLife installment, I'm happy to share a guest post by fellow author and blogger, Rachel McCoy! You can connect with Rachel on her blog, on Facebook, and on Figment.

Rachel is tackling the subject of marketing our indie work. Take it away, Rachel!

Getting Out There: Marketing Your Independently-Published Novel

You’ve slaved away for months or maybe even years to develop your baby from notepad scribbles to polished gem. You’ve had it proofread, edited, reviewed and wrapped in a show-stopping cover. You published it through one of the many self-publishing venues. But so far the only sales are the three copies your mom bought. Here are the quick and dirty tips to developing a reader platform and creating visibility for your novel.

Blogging

Starting and maintaining a quality blog is your first line to reach readers. Identify a topic to concentrate on. Releasing a cookbook? Blog about recipes and restaurants. Did you write a book about the Civil War? Focus your blog on military history, weapons technologies and soldier biographies. A well thought out blog with a specific topic will earn more followers than a jumbled mess of daily musings.

Some other tips to keep in mind:

                         1.       Blog well and blog often

                         2.       Post links to related blogs

                         3.       Invite guest blog posters and make yourself available to guest post on other blogs

Author Website

A website is a must-have for any author. You have a defined space to promote your novel, offer promotions and even make sales. Unfortunately, unless you are a true tech expert, you’ll need to hire a copywriter to get the site up and running, which is often more than aspiring authors can or will spend.

(Julie's note: Some alternatives to consider--For my web site, I use web hosting by Yahoo. Cheap and easy to use. Other people have had success using WordPress, which is free)

Facebook/Twitter

These and other forms of social media are easy ways to keep in touch with established readers and maintain visibility, but do not offer much in terms of gaining quality contacts. You may get hundreds to follow you on Facebook, but if they haven’t read your work, they are unlikely to go buy your book based solely on a status update.

Writing Forums

Forums are great for authors who are still at the writing, editing, or reviewing stages. Members can post excerpts or whole chapters to receive feedback, get reviews and helpful suggestions. The key to these sites is to go often and participate in meaningful discussions. Critique the work of others. Offer feedback. Let the other members get to know you as an author. When the time comes, the announcement of a book release will be met with support and interest.

Some forums to consider:

                         1.       www.scribophile.com

                         2.       www.mythicscribes.com

                         3.       www.fictionpress.com

                         4.       www.goodreads.com

                         5.       www.figment.com

                         6.       www.writersbeat.com

                         7.       www.writersdigest.com

If in doubt, a quick Google search will give you a long list of forums that focus on virtually any topic you can imagine.

Writing Contests

While these may take a bit of time and initial financial investment, entering, and hopefully winning writing contests can be your best ally in selling your next book. Contest winners receive a wide range of prizes often including cash, gift cards, interviews, guest appearances and even publication. Aside from the prizes themselves, you can market your book as an award-winning author, and who wouldn’t buy that?

Timing

Above all, marketing for any product cannot be accomplished in a day or a week. It takes time to build up blog followers, get to know authors on other sites and develop a network of contacts. So you need to start soon. Better yet, start now. Ideally, marketing for your book will begin in earnest no less than six months prior to publication. That means you have to work on marketing even while you work on your novel, but in the end, marketing your book early will pay dividends. Good luck!

Rachel, thanks so much for these tips!

How about you, fellow writers? Do these marketing tips jive with what you've done in the past? Anything different you've learned through trial and error? Please share!

WOOL & Brilliant Marketing

As most of you know, I've decided to dive head first into the indie pool. Eek! Since making that decision, I've been obsessively absorbing information about the process. My obsession has made me a lurker at Susan Kaye Quinn's blog. It's totally packed with valuable information about indie publishing.

One of the areas I'm curious about is marketing and free books. I mean, I don't want to be totally annoying and scream to every uninterested passerby, "MY BOOK! MY BOOK!" Like those creepy guys in Las Vegas who pass out fliers about strip clubs, even to moms and dads who are walking hand in hand with their little boys (I swear, it happened to us). I'd rather be the happy sign twirler who's jammin' to Madonna's Vogue while doing those really cool dance moves (strike a pose!). I'm not a seller.

Susan's post Pricing Your Ebook caught my attention. She mentioned the book WOOL, by Hugh Howey, and how it's permanently free on Amazon (download it here). I'd heard about Hugh Howey's amazing journey, and was curious about his book. (Read the Wall Street Journal story here. It's crazy cool)

Using Susan's link, I downloaded Wool. It's free, so what did I have to lose? Nothing. I read Book One. I was riveted. After finishing, I immediately downloaded the Wool Omnibus Edition. My son downloaded Book One. He was riveted. He immediately downloaded Book Two. Howey now has two loyal fans in our household...all because Wool was free.

Brilliant marketing.

It seems to me that pricing Book One in a series low or free is a great idea (upon subsequent releases). Same with pricing a book low or free when we have other books for sale. It invites readers to give us a try. At least that's what I'm learning.

I'm still figuring all of this stuff out, but here are the main points I keep seeing over and over again:

1. Story matters most. When we tell a great story, and people genuinely love it, we won't need to pester people to buy the book. They'll want to. 
2. Get the word out. If no one knows about our book, they can't buy it. If we honestly believe it's worthy, we should feel comfortable telling others about it. I'm still going to be shy about this, but I'll work on it :)
3. Free works best when there are other books to lead buyers to. For instance, Susan has made Open Minds, book 1 of her Mindjack Trilogy, permanently free. As she points out, it's 24/7 marketing for her work. I can see the logic in this.

Have you heard the Wool story? Not only the story story, but the author's story? Have you downloaded free books, then returned to buy books from that author? Have you downloaded free books, then realized that author's style isn't what you like? Do you have other ideas for how to make free books work for you? Please share!