Platform, Brand and You

What does it take to reach your audience and promote your writing?  Your Platform, your Branding, and your Website

Your Platform and your brand, presented via your website, tell your readers who you are and what you are about. These three, closely aligned will present a consistent message. Readers will return often to ask; “What do they have for me today?” “What more can I do to build my writing business?”

What is Platform?
Your Platform is useful if you are a blogger writing essays, articles, or books. Our success requires visibility, thus we must communicate with our readers. Work to make your message clear and valuable, fostering trust. As for me, I want people to know where I am, what I offer in the way of writing craft, and the pieces I’m working on. How do they connect with me? My Website.

OK, so what is my Brand?
You Are! You are your brand. We build brands through words, images and actions—your actions. Your brand is your promise, so deliver. Be consistent. Know who you are writing for and write to resonate with them. Make sure you send the same message through your words, images and actions. You are establishing an ongoing relationship.

Your writing is your business. Agents represent brands, publishers work with brands, readers buy brands, and companies hire brands. Develop your brand—it’s a strategic business practice.  Newbie’s: it’s not too early to start developing your brand. Get started; people are watching.

How do I get my message out to my readership?

• Always be authentic, be personal and professional.
• Provide valuable information; you will build authority in your niche, through communication.
• Announce your website and purpose on social media sites.
• When you post to your site, do the same on your social media pages and provide a link to your website.
• Build an email list by offering subscriptions on your website and send out newsletters.
• Invite Guests who will contribute to your message by sending you articles to post.
• Provide added value resources.
• Take advantage of speaking engagements.
• Offer on-line courses, webinars and podcasts.

Add value - it’s the best path to grow your readership and promote your work.

 Grow Content = Successful Marketing

Content Curation and Content Aggregation are marketing strategies: https://www.writersonthemove.com/2019/07/content-curation-aggregation.html   
Great Content Strategy: https://www.writersonthemove.com/2019/06/create-strategy-that-delivers-great.html 

 

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.

Visit her web-blog: https://deborahlynwriter.com/
Facebook at: Deborah Lyn Stanley, Writer

What Does It Take To Promote Your Writing?

What Does It Take To Promote Your Writing?

That’s a BIG question. What does it take? It takes attention to your Author Platform, Branding, Identifying your audience, an Author Website, and building a Connection with your readers. All this can get overwhelming, particularly when we just want to WRITE! But, we want to reach folks to read our stuff, so let’s get going.

Many writers are fully setup and operating in all these areas. We want to hear your “lessons learned”. Please comment.

Kimberly Grabas founder of YourWriterPlatform.com defines platform succinctly. Platform describes the ways you connect and engage with your ideal readership – the readers that are most receptive to your work. It also denotes your influence, visibility and authority.

Platform, established and maintained, is the action you take to promote your writing.

Branding is who you are and how you are known. We market ourselves through our branding.

You have a book in you. Write it and get it out.
But, who will buy your book, your story or your blog posts? We need to know who wants or needs our work and how to connect with them. This is our target market.

Your Author Website/Blog is your vehicle. Is it set up yet? Own it through WordPress. Select your own domain name, not a group name e.g. blogger. Host Gator is my host—consistently helpful and reasonably priced. WordPress.org is the go to place for website themes that work well.

Next, you need a path for the easy way to stay in touch with your readership. MailChimp, Aweber, and Convertkit are worth looking into. They are a subscription channel for connection with your team; delivering automatic post emails, announcements, course offers or a free gift.

More next time.
**Resources worth your time to check out:
Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s “The Frugal Book Promoter” https://howtodoitfrugally.com/the_frugal_book_promoter.htm 

Kimberly Grabas:  https://www.yourwriterplatform.com/

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.
Visit her web-blog: Deborah Lyn Stanley : MyWriter's Life .

Write clear & concise, personable yet professional.
Know your reader.
Use quotes & antidotes whenever you can.

Create Visibility Before Getting Published

The road to publication can be long and winding...and filled with rejection. So, what do you do while you’re submitting your manuscript and waiting patiently? Okay, maybe not patiently, but waiting nonetheless.

That’s easy. And, it’s very important. You begin creating visibility.

I don’t mean standing on the street corner singing at the top of your lungs, I mean creating an online presence that depicts who and what you are. In other words, you need to create your platform.

As founder and editor of Writers on the Move, I meet a number of writers who are reluctant to begin promoting themselves because they haven’t landed a publisher yet. Or, they’re still learning the craft. This mentality won’t cut it today. You need to begin that visibility.

First step in your platform journey is to create a blog. Obviously, you will want to create your platform right from the beginning by posting to your blog with content that is in the genre you are writing.

But wait a minute, let me backtrack. For those who aren’t sure what a platform is, it is a means to let readers know what your area of expertise is. Yes, I know, you might be shaking your head and thinking that you don’t have an area of expertise, but this is how you create it.

The next step (step two) in your journey is to create your platform and online visibility. Learn your craft and as your learning, write about what you learn. In other words, if your book is about cooking, blog about cooking – you will be creating your area of expertise.

The third step - once you feel comfortable adding content to your blog, start writing articles and submitting them to ezines and querying about guest posts. Again, keep them focused on the area of expertise you are trying to create. You may not get paid for them, but they will establish an online presence. And, if your articles are beneficial or interesting to others, it will bring traffic to your site.

The publishing and marketing industry has changed. In today’s writing market publishing houses, big and small, expect you to:

1. Have and online presence (website or blog)
2. Have a platform
3. Have a following
4. Have the potential to increase that following
5. Have a marketing strategy
6. Be able to sell your book

Selling books today is a joint effort between the publishing house and the author. And, if you’re venturing into the self-publishing arena, promoting yourself is even more important. Don’t procrastinate. Start creating your online presence and platform today.

Karen Cioffi is a content marketing instructor for WOW! Women on Writing and Working Writers Club. She is also an author, editor, and ghostwriter.

If you'd like help building and maintaining your author/writer platform, check out:

Give Your Author/Writer Business a Boost with Inbound Marketing
Basic Website Optimization, Blogging Smart, Email Marketing, and Social Media Marketing

MORE ON WRITING AND BOOK MARKETING

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4 Book Marketing Strategies That Are Guaranteed to Keep Your Online Platform Moving Forward

By Karen Cioffi

Your author or writer online platform is all about numbers and reach. It’s about how many people are aware of you within your niche and how many of those people think you have authority within your niche. In other words, it’s about how many connections you have. You might equate it to a popularity contest.

Unfortunately, there are millions of contestants in the online platform arena trying, as you are, to get the golden subscriber email address and get the emails they send opened.

Because of the sheer number of marketers, people are bombarded with marketing emails on a daily basis. This in turn has caused a drop in email opt-ins and a drop in marketing email open rates.

So, what can you do to fight the odds and keep moving forward to reach your goals?

There are four strategies you can use to keep you connected to people and keep you on the visibility radar.

1. Connection frequency

You need to connect with your subscribers and target market on a regular basis.

This doesn’t mean adding to the email inbox bombardment, it means to be visible in multiple places. How many times a week are you connecting with your subscribers and your target market?

This matters.

Are you taking advantage of the different venues you can reach people? Are you being active in groups? How about social media, such as Facebook, Linkedin, GooglePlus, Twitter, and Pinterest? Are you offering valuable information on a regular basis?

Each of these connection venues is another layer of visibility and familiarity. This frequency helps establish a relationship and helps it grow.

2. Consistency

Everyone when first starting a platform is determined and motivated. You diligently keep on top of social networks, blogging, article marketing, sending out a newsletter on a regular basis, and so on. But, then, when results aren’t what was expected or don’t come quick enough, the motivation and effort slows down.

Well, being consistent is what will help you reach your goals. In fact, without being consistent you most likely will never reach your goals.

Coleman Cox says it best: "Even the woodpecker owes his success to the fact that he uses his head and keeps pecking away until he finishes the job he starts."

Create a plan of action steps and stick to them. Be consistent.

3. Authority and Usefulness

According to pro-marketer Travis Greenlee, statistics show that published authors have a 300% higher credibility rating than non-published authors.

That’s quite a difference and gives the published author a big advantage in authority. If you’re not published yet, a quick remedy is to create an ebook and get it out there. With that said, your ebook needs to be a quality product.

But, having an ebook isn’t the cure-all. In addition to this, you need to deliver quality (useful) information to your target market on a regular basis.

The point here is that you need to be perceived as a person of value to your target market. Your actions and offerings need to demonstrate that you can help them with their problem, need, or want.

If you are perceived as having high authority (knowledge and experience) and value (capability and usefulness), people will want to be connected with you.

4. Visibility

Visibility and frequency go hand-in-hand. While you need to make frequent connections, you need to know where and how to make those connections. That’s where visibility comes in.

How many different formats are you using to be visible to your connections and make new connections?

There are a number of marketing formats you can use to generate visibility, including:

•    Blog posting
•   Guest blogging
•    Creating podcasts
•    Creating videos
•    Creating e/books, reports, etc.
•    Sending out newsletters or ezines
•    Offering webinars, teleseminars, or workshops
•    Staying current on social networks, such as Facebook, Linkedin, GooglePlus, and Pinterest

You get the idea. Keep it fresh. Don’t use the same formats to bring information to your subscribers, readers, and visitors.

You need to use all four of these strategies to keep your online platform moving forward.

Karen Cioffi is an author, ghostwriter, and online marketing instructor for authors and writers. Get her weekly newsletter with must-know writing and marketing tips at: http://thewritingworld.com

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How to Build Your Online Authority With Focused Writing Goals

By Karen Cioffi

We’re in the last month of the first quarter. It’s time to reassess.

As each year comes and goes, you need to put your writing focus and writing goals under a microscope. Take the time to analyze if you’re known for who you want to be known for.

In other words, if you ‘really’ want to be known as a top-notch ghostwriter is your focus and goals leading in that direction? Are your actions leading in that direction? Or, are you here, there, and everywhere? Are you lacking online authority in your niche?

You don’t want to be known as a ‘jack of all trades, master of none.’

While it can be that you have a number of different areas you’re involved in, you need to pick and choose to be ‘master’ of one or two.

It’s this focus that will enable you to gain authority in your niche and to attract customers or clients.

It’s this focus that will motivate you to take the necessary steps to reach your goals.

So, how do you focus in on who and what you want to be known for?

This is interesting, because it can change as the years come and go. For example, I started out as a children’s writer, and while I still love this aspect of my writing, I have evolved into a freelance/ghostwriter (specializing in business incentive and health writing) and an online marketer (specializing in helping authors create and build their online platform).

Taking my freelance writing and marketing skills a bit further, I created a new business, the Article Writing Doctor.

Finding my focus, I took the time to analyze my actions and revamp my websites to reflect what I want to be known for.

While I have three businesses going, they’re all very closely connected – my focus is intact.

Updating this article, there are times when your 'calling' or what you should be doing pushes you in a certain direction.

As I mentioned, I started out as children's writer and veered off in other directions. But over the past two years or so, I've marketed myself as a children's ghostwriter and people have been coming to me to ghost their stories. I could have four or five clients at one time. So, obviously, my focus is back on being a children's ghostwriter.

Fortunately, I'm passionate about writing for children so it works out well.

I still do marketing e-classes, but it's separate and I don't market them. I work through sites like WOW! Women on Writing.

What about you?

Maybe you write for children. Maybe you're a romance writer, a technical writer, or business writer. Maybe you're a freelance writer or ghostwriter. Maybe you're all these things.

But, what do you specialize in? What are you known for?

Do you have online authority in a particular niche?

To help determine your area/s of focus you need to write down the questions below and answer each one (write your answers out):

•    What writing arenas are you involved in?
•    Do you find yourself leaning toward one or two more so than the others, if so what are they?
•    Can you effectively market yourself in these areas?
•    Are you writing and marketing as a hobby or to earn an income or a supplemental income? If your goal is to make money, write down how much?
•    Did you have a writing/marketing goal for last year? Did you reach it? If not, why?
•    What does success mean to you – what does it look like?
•    Do you really want success? If so, is there anything blocking your path to it (often we sabotage our own success)?
•    What do you want to be known for?
•    What can your new ‘signature’ tag be?

You’ll need to think about these questions. It might be helpful to actually have someone ask you each question and quickly give answers. Sometimes this helps you get a glimpse of what’s going on subconsciously.

Once you have your goals in sight, write them down; be sure to include the tasks of increasing your online presence and mailing list. You’ll need to keep those goals front and center and read them every day. The reason for this is our ‘intention’ can quickly be sidetracked if we don’t continually keep it in sight and in mind.

After you have your goals in place, write down action steps to get there. It’s advisable to have a yearly calendar with goals to reach each month. Then prepare a weekly writing/marketing plan to achieve those monthly goals. Again, you need to keep those goals and action steps visible. Remember: out of sight often really does mean out of mind.

Creating focused writing goals and implementing focused action steps to reach them will definitely help you increase your online authority.

This works even if you switch niches as I have. It just takes more focus and work to become known as an authority in a different niche of field. But, it can be done.




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WANT HELP BUILDING YOUR AUTHOR/WRITER ONLINE PLATFORM?

You'll want to check out: 
Build Your Author/Writer Platform

It's a 4-week, in-depth, interactive WOW! Women on Writing e-class that covers basic website optimization, blogging, email marketing, and even social media marketing. All the elements needed to boost your visibility, authority, and sales.

Check it out today: CLICK HERE

Keyword Search and Article Marketing Content Tips for More Effective Book Marketing

As an author you may not realize the necessity of keywords. You may feel they’re something a marketer or affiliate marketer needs to be aware of. It’s their area of business and their problem to find these mysterious words that help increase the ranking on search engines. But, that’s not really the case, not by a long shot.

Authors and book marketing go hand-in-hand. This area of online marketing is like any other and needs to use the same strategies to be effective.

Today, if you are promoting yourself and/or your book, service, business, or product, you need readers to now several things:

•    Who you are
•    Where you are
•    What you have to offer
•    Why what you’re offering is what they need
•    Why you’re qualified to be offering this product/service

Yes, there are a lot of requirements that need to be met in order to be successful in this ever expanding and competitive internet arena.

One of the basic strategies used to get noticed is writing or providing content – this is considered article marketing. I’m sure you’ve read or heard a hundred times that “content is king.” It is absolutely true. Imagine being a spec in the sky . . . so tiny and far away that you are invisible to the human eye. Well, that’s you in the internet universe.

So, how do you get a flickering light going and build it into a steady strong beam?

Valuable Content and the Keyword Search
The only way to get on the internet radar is to create valuable content, provide it regularly, and make sure it is keyword effective. As I mentioned, content is essential, without it you don’t have a chance. But, even with it, you need to fine tune your ‘must read information’ with a keyword search tool.

Don’t fret though. Finding and using keywords is not difficult to do; the search tools make it easy. Most of it is really common sense, using words you would use to search for your topic.  But, a keyword tool affords a much larger pond to fish from and is search engine specific.

For this article I plugged in the word “keywords” at freekeywords.wordtraker.com (a free tool). The number one phrase for this keyword is “keyword research,” number two is “keyword analysis,” and number three is “keyword.” I really didn’t have to do a search to realize the word “keyword” would be there, I didn’t know, however, that “research” would be part of the number one phrase. Knowing the number one keyword phrase provides valuable information; this also means it is a highly competitive keyword.

The Long Tail Keywords

To make your keyword rich content even more effective look for what’s called long tail keywords. These are words that will move you away from the general querying crowd—and the heavy competition.

For example, if your niche is children’s writing your key words would be: writing, children’s writing, and possibly children’s fiction and/or children’s nonfiction.

To elaborate on these keywords - to get more specific and narrow your target audience - you might use: writing for kids, children’s fantasy chapter books, picture books, middle grade fiction books, or kids’ nonfiction magazine articles. You get the idea; you need to focus in on your niche. Instead of aiming at the outer rim of a bull’s eye, go dead center, or at least very close.

To get started in this area of book marketing, try a free keyword search tool from the three listed below:

http://wordstream.com/keywords/
http://keyworddiscovery.com
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

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MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING

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Guest Blogging – Advantages for the Guest Blogger
Your Author Online Platform and Social Networks – Blog Page Views and Twitter Followers

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P.S. If you haven't yet, please sign-up for The Writing World newsletter (top right sidebar). 

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Karen Cioffi
Award-Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter
Author-Writer Online Platform Instructor

Create and Build Your Author/Writer Online Platform
6 Week WOW! Women on Writing E-class Starting May 6th

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Do You Really Need an Author Website?

The idea of creating an author or freelance writing website may seem overwhelming to many who are new to the writing arena. This may lead to a hesitation in regard to taking the website step.

But, don’t let fear or procrastination get in the way of your online presence. A website is a necessary online marketing element that is at the foundation of your author platform.

Here are a couple of statistics to demonstrate the need for a website if you have any intention of building an author platform:

According to PCMag.com, there are 694,445 Google search queries made and 1,500 blog posts published each minute.

The internet is the place for people to search globally for what they want or need. Having a website allows you to be in on that action.

If you want to create visibility for you and your book or product, a website is the initial spark that will ignite your internet presence. And, it will be the hub or central location where you will let people know who you are and what you have to offer.

To further cement the need for a website, it’s through your website that you will attract readers, get email subscribers, and sell your books and products.

There’s really no way around the fact that you need to create your author platform, and it should be before you are ready to submit your manuscript, according to Chuck Sambuchino, in his book “Create Your Writer Platform.” The reason for this is that now having an author online presence and platform is a factor in whether a publishing house will say YES to your manuscript. And, the first step in creating that author platform is to setup a website.

It’s easy to see that a website is positively, absolutely necessary, and it’s not as difficult as you may think to create one. The first step is planning.

Plan Your Way to a Website

As with any project you undertake, the first course of action should be to plan out your course of action. This is usually considered a business plan or writing plan.

Your website is your online calling card or business card. It needs to be as professional as you can get it and needs to have all the necessary elements of an effective site.

So, if you’re not familiar with websites, one of the first steps in your course of action should be to learn about all the elements needed to create an effective website.

As an example, one of the first elements that you’ll need to work on is the domain name. Choosing a domain name is serious business. It needs to be searchable, convey what the site is about, and relate to you. It should be part of your platform, your brand. And, if at all possible, it should have your keyword in it.

Other elements of an effective website include: optimization, specific pages, posting fresh content regularly, an opt-in, and a freebie.

While a website is an absolute necessity, it also needs to be effective. The saying, “if you build it they will come,” doesn’t cut it in the internet world. Your site needs to attract visitors, be engaging / informative, be reader friendly, and convert. It needs to be planned out and optimized.

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There are hundreds of thousands of searches done every day and there are around 2,000 blog posts published every minute. In all that internet noise, how do you get noticed? How do you become someone's search results? How do you create an optimized online platform?
 
Let me answer your questions and show you how in my next WOW! Women on Writing e-class on creating and building your author/writer online platform.


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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi
Award-Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter
Author-Writer Online Platform Instructor

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What Is An Author Platform and How Do You Create It?

Building a writing career can be a long, and at times, difficult road. And, many new authors think writing itself is the tough part, but that’s not really the case.

Writing a story that you intend to publish traditionally or self-publish has a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can create an outline as kind of a GPS to get you from point A to point B. There are steadfast rules and tricks to help you complete your writing journey.

There is an end to that particular writing journey.

With marketing, that’s not the way it works. Marketing your book is the roll-up-your-sleeves part of a writing career. It’s the ongoing job of creating and building your online presence, your author platform. And, the rules and tricks of the game are in constant motion, always changing.

While many of the rules may change, there is one constant in your author platform, and that’s visibility.

It should be noted that the definition of an author platform encompasses multiple genres and freelance writers, and even marketers who create and sell information products, so it may vary, depending on who is providing the definition. But, in regard to your author platform, web editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review Jane Friedman notes that editors and agents are “looking for someone with visibility and authority who has proven reach to a target audience.”

So, the bare-bottom basics of an author platform are: visibility, authority, and proven reach.

Breaking Down the Three Basic Elements of an Author Platform

1. Visibility

This is the promotional aspect of marketing. It’s the element of becoming known in your particular niche and building on that presence.

With online marketing strategies and Google’s updates always on the move, the face of creating visibility has changed. Today, visibility is created through ongoing connections and relationships with your target market, your audience.

2. Authority

Authority is built through ongoing communication. As an author you need to provide valuable information to your readers. Providing this information on a regular basis establishes you as an authority in your niche.

3. Your Reach

Elements one and two of your author platform help take care of number three, your reach. By using effective marketing strategies to create an online presence, such as building a website and creating your authority through ongoing information/article marketing, your reach is automatically broadened.

Other strategies you can use to further broaden your reach include:

•    Guest blogging
•    Article marketing
•    Joint ventures
•    Presenting webinars
•    Presenting workshops
•    Offering ecourses

Today, your author platform is about what you can offer your audience. It’s not about what you’re selling.

Providing ongoing ‘wanted or needed’ information builds a relationship. In the marketing arena a general rule of thumb was to offer 75 percent free, valuable information and 25 percent promotion. Now, it's recommended offering 90 percent free, valuable information and 10 percent promotion.

It’s this ongoing author/reader relationship that will build your author platform and help sell your books, other products, and services.

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning author, ghostwriter, and online marketing instructor for authors and writers. You can check out her e-class through WOW! Women on Writing at:
Build Your Author-Writer Platform

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CREATING AND BUILDING YOUR AUTHOR ONLINE PRESENCE

 

CREATING AND BUILDING YOUR AUTHOR ONLINE PRESENCE - Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales

I'm instructing a six-week online workshop through WOW! Writers on the Move:

It'll be six-weeks of learning how to create and build your author online presence, from creating a website right on through beyond book sales.

The course will be information packed and will have at least two live screen-sharing webinars to help with understanding. Because it's so comprehensive, students are limited to 10, so if after reading what you'll be getting, and you want to learn effective book marketing strategies, click on the link.

For more details and to register:
http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html#KarenCioffi_AuthorOnlinePresence

HERE'S A BREAKDOWN OF EACH LESSON:

Week One: The Bare-Bottom Platform Basics: Creating an Author Website and Blog Content

Lesson One is divided into two sections:

1. 14 Steps to Creating an Effective Website, which includes:
2. Effective Blog Posting

Week Two: Article Marketing: 10 Steps to Writing for Article Directories with Properly Formatted and Optimized Content
`
Week two is an A – Z lesson on article marketing. From finding article ideas to summaries to submissions. It's all covered in this lesson.

To take it further, we’ll discuss how to properly format and optimize your content, so search engines will easily find and index it and readers will value and share it.

Week Three: How to Create eBooks for Freebies and for Sale, including creating a cover with Microsoft Office 2010

This week offers a step-by-step lesson showing how to create your own ebook and cover. The lesson is divided into two sections:

1. Creating an ebook
2. Creating an ebook cover

In this lesson you will actually create an ebook and a cover to go with it. We’ll also discuss the benefits of creating an ebook to offer as a freebie on your site.

Included in Lesson Three is a live 30-45 minute screen-sharing webinar that will demonstrate how to use Microsoft Office to create a cover.

Week Four: How to Create PayPal ‘Buy Now’ Buttons for Your Site/s

Lesson Four provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a PayPal Buy Button and how to upload the code onto your site.

The lesson also goes over the elements needed to create an effective landing page for your ebook, if you choose to sell it.

Week Five: How to Create a Product Line and Attracting Customers Through Information Marketing
Through lessons Two and Three you will have the foundation for creating a number of products within your market. Lesson Five is divided into two sections and discusses what products you can create and how to get visitors (potential customers) to your site. It includes:

1. How to Create and Sell Information Products:
2. Attracting Customers (Generating Visibility) Through Information Marketing

Week Six: How to Create Your Own PowerPoint Webinars

Presenting webinars is one of the top marketing tools. The final lesson will have you creating your own webinar. This lesson explains what a webinar is; what a PowerPoint webinar is; about services; preparation; presentation, and more.

Lesson six will also has a 30-45 minute live screen-sharing webinar to help demonstrate the basics of creating a PowerPoint document.

Note: A replay of the webinars will be available.

For more details on each lesson and to sign up go to:
http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html#KarenCioffi_AuthorOnlinePresence

AND, THERE WILL BE A BONUS LESSON AND MOST LIKELY A THIRD WEBINAR.

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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars - signup for The Writing World newsletter on the right top sidebar!

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012


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The Many Hats of Writers

With fewer traditional publishers willing to publish new authors and the overall publishing industry getting harder books published, today's writers must wear many hats by necessity.

Today’s writer has two options, DIY or outsource. Outsourcing can become expensive and some writers may not be able to afford outsourcing, so that leaves DIY.

The hats of DIY that writers must wear.

1. Writer
2. Editor
3. Proofreader
4. Publisher
5. Promoter
6. Marketer
7. PR person
8. Video Creator
9. Retailer/Wholesaler
10. Booking Agent
11. Web Designer
12. Content Creator
13. Web Manager
14. Content Manager
15. Social Media Manager
16. Networking Manager
17. Shipping Manager
18. Bookkeeper
19. Entrepreneur
20. Record Keeper

So much for time to write. If you want to be a writer, you’ll find the time to write. No one ever said the writing is easy in today’s writing market.

Writing take dedication and hard work to be successful, whatever that means to you. Only a few writers make it big, the rest work hard and with some luck and hard work can make some money writing.

Writing is a calling, not a way to get rich unless you come up with the next “Harry Potter”, which rarely happens. There is a good deal of luck in making it big. J. K. Rowling the author of the “Harry Potter” series, was rejected 12 times before a friend of her daughter read it and told to her father about how good it was. He took a chance on publishing it, we know how well that went.

If you are a writer that must DIY everything because you just don’t have the money for a literary agent, which can cost thousands of dollars, if you can find one to take a chance on your book, you will have to wear many hats and learn what you need to get your book in front of readers.

This article is to enlighten you about the uphill battle you face as you work toward publication, and getting your book into the reader’s hands.

Robert Medak

Freelance Writer/Blogger/Editor/Proofreader/Reviewer/Marketer

http://www.authorsden.com/robertmedak

http://rjmedak.wordpress.com

http://twitter.com/freelancewrtr

Tips for Online Marketing and Building Your Author Platform

My best advice is to get a quick medical check-up before you publish that book.  Exercise, eat healthy and take your vitamins.  WHY? Because you will need every ounce of strength and energy to put you book in reader’s hands.  Let me tell you, writing that darned book is the easy part.  I’ll take rewrites over bookstore research any day. 

Bottom line: you have to get out there and blow your own trumpet, or find others to blow it for you.  Even if relatives think your writing career is a big yawn, the reading public LOVES to meet authors.  If you come to them they WILL buy – think Field of Dreams!  This is why you have to gird your loins (don’t wear tight pants) and march into the panting hordes, waving your book in the air, pen ready to offer autographed copies.

Shy writers take note.  You and your book are a package deal.  You need to sell yourself and your book.  Make your name synonymous with writing books for kids. This is called branding.

The secret of promotion is finding free ways to KEEP your name + the title of your book, in the reading public’s eye.  Regular Blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, etc is a huge help.  Just mention something about your book at least once a day, along with your other comments. Promote other authors and they will return the favor. Try for posts that HOOK reader interest. Add book covers whenever possible, along with other pics you fancy.  And ALWAYS end with a signature that sells YOU and your book

The easiest and cheapest thing to do is design a short and sweet signature.

Name

Current Book title

Link to your blog

Put this under everything you write – e-mails, letters, documents, bills you send out – whatever!  When people see it enough times they begin to take notice. 

Going online and finding where home-schooling moms, teachers, and librarians hang out is a profitable plan.  Get to know the teachers and librarians in your school district.  Offer to do a writing class ( a chance to sneak in your latest book), and you never know – they might pay you.  Even if you don’t get paid, you will have fun, and have a chnce to meet all those future readers of YOUR books.  This applies to libraries as well.  Ask your local library if they would like in-person visits by you – readings, writing chats, or impromptu writing sessions.  These are all great ways to BRAND yourself as an author of books for kids.

Some writers are going all techno crazy, and where possible, they visit far-away places, schools particularly, using Skype and its onboard camera.  Technology now allows us to promote our books, writing talents or whatever else we do, via our computer – YEA!!  No long car trips to get there, or strip searches at airports.  Double YEA!  Authors who live in more isolated locations should snap up this technology and run with it.  I am one of the many small county authors, and I am working on the Skype way of widening my field of promotional opportunities right now.

Things you MUST become proficient at:

* Asking established writers for promo advice.  Let it be known far-and-wide that you are

   looking for book reviewers, and are willing to help those who help you.

* Writing an interesting blog with frequent updates.  Fun, catchy headers work best.

* The art of writing a catchy and simple Press Release.

* Compiling lists of reviewers, newspapers, radio stations, bookstores, school districts, and any

   other organizations that might be interested in a book signing, talk, interview or promotion.

* Embracing Facebook and Twitter.  Get with the apps they offer and use them to promote you

   and your book.  Linkedin and JacketFlap are two other sites that might prove helpful.

   However, be selective.  Join groups and lists that relate to your writing goals and your books.

* Promoting and helping out other writers. They will return the favor.

* Joining online Lists and Blogs that might have an interest in the topic your book covers.   

   Finding a good niche market is not to be sneezed at.
* Designing an appealing Logo and offeing it to everyone.

There are lots more ways to promote your book, but I think this will do to get you started..

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Margot Finke is an Aussie transplant who writes midgrade adventure fiction and rhyming picture books. Margot didn't begin serious writing until the day their youngest left for college. This late start drives her writing, and pushes her to work at it every day. Margot said, "I really envy those who began young, and managed to slip into writing mode between kid fights, diaper changes, household disasters, and outside jobs. You are my heroes!"

Her first books, a 7x book rhyming series, "Wild and Wonderful," offers fun facts about animals from the US and Australia. Educational and fun, eBooks can be read on a computer, laptop, or various color e-Readers. They are great for classroom or home schooling moms.

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