How to Prepare & Promote a Facebook Live Broadcast

Last week, I did a freebie book day for Write On Blogging: 51 Tips to Create, Write & Promote Your Blog. I submitted it to several book sites, emailed people who I used as examples in my book, and sent it to a few different writer forums. I shared it on all of my social media profiles leading up to it, and inside different Facebook groups the day of my promotion.

As I prepared for giveaway day, I realized I wanted to do something a little bit different. So I also scheduled a Facebook Live, to talk about blogging and answer questions from my community. Video is hot right now, and gets a lot of visibility in the Facebook feed. I determined that the primary goal was to share information via video, the bonus (or by the way) was the book giveaway.

Here's a peek into the process and a checklist of how to prepare and promote a Live video broadcast.

1. Set a day, time, and topic for your Facebook Live.

2. Create an event for the broadcast through your business page, and schedule it.

3. Invite people who you know will attend. Also message good friends to give them a heads up and make sure you have a base audience at that time.

4. Post reminders in the event discussion the days leading up to the event.

5. Share on all of your social profiles, not just Facebook. Add graphics to make them stand out. Also, add the event to your newsletter and do an email blast.

6. Plan what you will say. Don't necessarily write a script. Instead, create an outline with key points you will cover.

7. If you are doing a live Q&A, source questions ahead of time, so you are sure to have something to talk about.

8. Set up and test your camera ahead of time. Set your audience to "Only Me" to run a test.

9. Message the people on your event that you will go Live on your Facebook business page. Then, go Live. And ave fun.

10. After the event, share the replay on your personal profile, write a blog post and embed it, and share on your platforms yet again.
Bonus:  Repeat ... when inspired or regularly.

Live video is a wonderful way to get who you are in front of your fans. When you film yourself, and interact with people in real time, it enables to form a connection. And as people get to know you, they are more likely to become your clients and customers. 

What do you think? Have you gone Live on Facebook? How have you promoted it?Please share your thoughts in the comments. 

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Debra Eckerling is a writer, editor and project catalyst, as well as founder of Write On Online, a live and online writers’ support group. Like the Write On Online Facebook Page and join the Facebook Group

She is author of Write On Blogging: 51 Tips to Create, Write & Promote Your Blog and Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages and host of the Guided Goals Podcast.

Debra is an editor at Social Media Examiner and a speaker/moderator on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

Pen Names

Image from Bookcovercafe.com
Recently I was doing an author interview and the question came up whether I'd ever considered using a pen name.  

It's a tricky topic.  I write in several genres, and I've heard other authors recommend that you use pseudonyms for the different types of work you do.  One reason is that you don't want to confuse your readers.  Let's say that you write sweet historical romance and then write a steamy paranormal romantic thriller.  If your original readers pick it up without realizing and then read it expecting what they're used to, they may be disappointed or even feel betrayed.  

In my case, I've decided that my travel writing and my fiction are so different that I don't think I'll confuse my readers if I use the same name. They won't likely pick up Cruising Alaska on a Budget and assume it's a YA fantasy like Far-Knowing.  

I've also published contemporary and sci fi short stories, all under my name.  I haven't quite decided if that's a good move or not.  On one hand, my work may seem a bit scattered--various target ages, various genres.  Some readers don't like reading outside of a certain type of fiction, so it may be harder to build a solid following.  On the other hand, I know authors who write in different genres or for different age levels and I seek out all their writing.  Plus, using the same name streamlines the marketing and allows all my work to build on itself.  

It would be interesting to hear more thoughts on the topic, so leave your comments and experiences below.  

Some of my different work, all under the same name:


Far-Knowing, a YA Fantasy
Leaving Home, a collection of flash fiction, short stories, and travel essays across various genres


Being an Arizona girl, Melinda Brasher loves glaciers, streams, whales, bald eagles, and real trees with green leaves.  That's why she's in love with Alaska.  If you want to see a bit of Alaska for yourself, check out her latest book, Cruising Alaska on a Budget; A Cruise and Port Guide.  Read it for free with Kindle Unlimited.




Press This! Part 2


In Part 1, I describe the Pro's of using a Press to publish your book. This post contains the Con's. The big Con for me is that they don’t do any marketing. I didn’t realize marketing was such a HUGE part of having a book for sale. I know, gullible me. Create it and they will come. Not! Anyway, I paid them an extra $300 for a Press Release that got me only scam-type phone calls and emails. And another $300 to take my book to the New York Book Expo. They said I would get the poster that was used at the Expo to use for my own events. I never got the poster. I’m not sure there ever was a poster. 

In addition, as part of my package, they had sent me wonderful sample letters with addresses and even names of who to contact at major bookstores for me to send my books to request to be placed in their stores. Only Barnes & Noble replied and said they couldn’t take my book because it didn’t have the title on the spine. I almost spit nails! Why would this Press not tell me that the book is too small for a title on the spine and send me names of places to request my book be placed when there’s no way that it would be accepted? I was really devastated. 

Also, their minimum order of books was 250 for me to purchase upfront and sell at local events. The cost for that order was $1200. You can quickly add up how much I’m in this for--$4300! You can guess that I haven’t made that money back yet.

So, I was gullible yes, but they did deliver on a quality product that I could not have done on my own. I had no connections to other authors, no local groups, no online groups. I needed help and help they did give. Had I stuck with the original plan of $1776 with no additional add-on’s, except editing but they should edit your book for $1776, just saying, and if there was no minimum order so I could have ordered maybe 50 books, this would have been a more affordable option. I would have been in for under $2000. Still expensive but not break the bank, expensive.

However, once I had that book in my hand and I began networking, I found all sorts of helpful authors and groups and can now bring a professional book to market for under $1000, sometimes under $500 (depending on how much editing and formatting I do on my own). 

So, in conclusion, the con’s are that it is very expensive (especially when there’s another way to do the same thing) and if you’re not careful, you can be taken for even more expenses than are necessary. And please, do NOT ever pay a Press to market your book. They don’t really care about marketing your book. They only want what's in your pocketbook!

I don't want to leave you thinking all Presses are bad; they most certainly are not. Some local small presses can be wonderful. They tend to have more reasonable prices and they are people you can see and meet with which makes them much more accountable to you. Also, they do care about your book sales because if your book does well, so do they. 

So, in the end, it's really about finding the right people to do all the different parts of bringing a book to life such as creating a professional cover, professional editing/proof-reading, and formatting. Or, of course, you can learn to do some of these things yourself. I know a few authors who create their own covers and do their own formatting. It is recommended to have a professional edit your manuscript, so I wouldn't try to get along on my own with that. 

Bringing a book from your mind to real life is a wonderful process and now with all the access to self-publishing, it's easier than ever to make that happen. Think through your options, network locally, do your research, and make the choice that is right for you to publish the book that is in your heart!

Wanda Luthman has her Masters of Arts in both Mental Health Counseling and Guidance Counseling from Rollins College located in beautiful Winter Park, Florida. She worked at a local Community Mental Health Center for 10 years before transferring to the Public School System as a Guidance Counselor. She’s worked at a High School for the past 18 years. She has also been an Adjunct Professor at the local Community College and worked with teens who had lost a loved one through Hospice. She has always loved reading and writing and wrote many books and poems as a child growing up in Missouri. She presently resides in Brevard County Florida with her husband of 21 years and 2 dogs. Her daughter is away at college. You can follow her on her blog at www.wandaluthman.wordpress.com



To read Part1 - the pros of using a Press - click the link:
Self-Publishing – Press This! Part1

PLR for Blogging and Content Marketing

PLR is an acronym for Private Label Rights. What this means is you buy content from a source and use it as your own.

The content you buy can be used for blog posts, articles, ebooks, video scripts, and so on. The pricing is usually minimal and it's a definite time saver.

I know many might be reluctant to buy content, but it's done all the time. And, until Sunday, you can try it for FREE. You can get an over 3,897 word ebook (report) with a cover image and interior images for free. The offer should be good through May 8th. Click the link to try it out:

Increase Your Focus for Better Productivity

Keep in mind you can break this report into bite size pieces, say blog posts. You can also use it as a great lead magnet (freebie for your subscriber list or other CTA). You can use it for multiple purposes.

I'm not an affiliate for this product or company. I got an email from the company (I use them) with this offer and thought it'd be a great way for those of you who were thinking about trying PLR to do so with spending a penny.

Yes, ListMagnets is also selling PLR that you can buy when you click on the link, but don't buy them. Just pick up the free report.

I use PLR occasionally, usually for reports. And, they're a great tool to have if you're too busy to write the content yourself. I think it's a very useful content marketing tool. I did get this freebie.

If you do try it, be sure to proof it before publishing it. This goes for any PLR you may buy.

MORE ON WRITING AND BOOK MARKETING

The Social Media Marketing Smorgasborg
By-Pass Marketing and Book Selling
Series Writing - Chart the Details

Want to take your blogging up a notch or make it a freelance writing skill?

Check out:

Become a Power-Blogger and Content Writer in Just 4 Weeks

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Reluctant E-Mail Signatures May Not Be Courteous Signatures

Your E-mail Signature: 
Choosing Courteous and Great Marketing 

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson 

In a public e-mail to her clients, someone near and dear to me (an expert) said most people look at the first two lines of an email. That’s it. They aren’t interested in fishing through pages of post-signature blather. People need to have ways to learn about you, not reasons to put up shields.” She advised three or four lines, tops. Boy, did that set me off. So, these people we send mail to are in such a hurry that they’d rather spend time looking up in dozens of places for the information that could just as easily have been in the contact’s e-mail signature?  Here’s my rant—er . . . rebuttal:

 My old friend, I so disagree with this. 

For one thing, there are no fast rules. Much depends on the genre an author writes in. Another depends on the author’s personality. But more than either of those, a complete signature is a courtesy to the person an author is corresponding with. Put that word in caps! COURTESY!

There is nothing more annoying than getting an e-mail from someone who doesn't have proper contact information in it. And the trouble is, depending on what the recipient plans to do with the email, it is difficult for the sender to know exactly what will make the life of that contact easier. Will she need your website address? Will including your Twitter moniker help her in some way? Won't the repeated visual of your book cover to your contacts help your branding? And if your contact has seen your cover before, will it hurt her that much to see it again? Especially considering that old marketing advice based on research that people need to see something seven times before they act on it.
  
And don't you––as someone whose business it is to help authors--want your authors to sell as many books as possible and to get as much media attention as possible? In the PR world the winner is the person who makes it easiest on the gatekeeper to do her job. It is a busy world. She doesn't need to be searching for information, especially information that could easily go into a signature.

To arbitrarily tell anyone how to sign their emails without any idea of the tone or purpose of the email seems very presumptuous to me.

I hope you will give your authors this alternative view. Many authors are already far too reluctant to get the word about their books out there. Telling them to arbitrarily limit information in their signatures may encourage their reluctance to do right by their books—and their own careers.

Hugs, [Yes, hugs. Even rants are mostly designed to help rather than make enemies!]
CHJ

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a former journalist, retailer, and marketer who started publishing how-to books for writers for the classes she taught for UCLA Extension’s renowned Writers’ Program. Members of the California Legislature named her Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment. Learn more about her how-to books and her creative writing at http://howtodoitfrugally.com  Learn more about book promotion (and avoiding being the reluctant book promoter!) in her The Frugal Book Promoter and the rest of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers at http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo

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