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Thursdays with Amanda: How to Host a Successful Book Giveaway

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. She posts about growing your author platform every Thursday. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

Book giveaways happen all the time. Whether it be through Goodreads, at a conference, over the radio during an author interview or at a good, old-fashioned book signing, every day, thousands of books are given away free of charge. The goal behind these giveaways is to generate interest—a hope that the person receiving the book will A) read it, B) love it, and C) talk about it, resulting in D) money in the author and publisher’s pockets.

But with thousands of books being handed out daily, how many authors are actually seeing results C and D?

This week, we’ll focus on giveaways in general...the basics of hosting a successful giveaway, and next week, we’ll go over the KDP Select program (the Amazon program that allows you to offer your ebook for free).

HOW TO HOST A SUCCESSFUL BOOK GIVEAWAY

1. Plan in advance. This isn’t a seat-of-your-pants affair. I don’t care how busy you are or whether you gravitate to chaos over organization, the best way to ensure success with your giveaway is to start planning well ahead of go-time. For example, a July 10^th-15^th, giveaway could start being planned June 1. The goal here is to give yourself plenty of time to get the chips in place.

2. Give your giveaway plenty of time. One-day-only giveaways bomb (unless you’re someone with a million followers, of course). Successful giveaways don’t just happen out of nowhere. They build over time. Give your readers 5-10 days to finalize their entries before you choose a winner. This will give your book more time in the spotlight.

3. Research, research, research. Spend time identifying what blogs, forums, message boards and online groups would be interested in your book. Keep detailed records of these groups and try to jump in (creating a profile if necessary) as soon as you can. You want to have a presence in these places before you do the drive-by advertisment.

4. Choreograph an epic web presence for each day of your giveaway. This means:

• Having guest blog posts pop up all over on friends’ and fans’ blogs
• Writing an aggressive Twitter campaign in which you have set Tweets for each day of the giveaway
• Requesting that friends, fans and family members with large platforms Retweet, repost, or share any information you ask them to (you can agree to do the same for them if you need leverage)
• Frequenting each of those URLs that you researched and letting those groups know that you’ve got a book giveaway going on, and that you’d love for them to participate
• Putting links on Facebook, Pinterest, and wherever else you may have a following of friends or fans

5. Request something from entrants. Don’t just ask them to post a comment or send you an email to enter. Make them like your Facebook page, follow you on Twitter. And give them something to Tweet (hate to be captain obvious here, but the “something to Tweet” should be directly related to the giveaway, encouraging others to enter), and something to post. Have them mention your Twitter handle in their Tweets so that you can keep track of who is following through and have them message you links to other places on the Internet where they posted a link to your giveaway. In a nutshell, make them work for that free book by spreading the word about the giveaway.

6. Giveaway more than one book. Sure, one book works, but people are more likely to enter when their odds of winning are higher. And, if you want to throw in some extras to make the deal even sweeter, then more power to you. It’s all about creating too good of an offer to refuse.

7. Announce winners when you say you’ll announce winners. Seems pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised.

8. Follow through with entrants by visiting their blogs, following them on Twitter, ANYTHING to get them to remember who you are after the drawing is over. This will keep you top of mind, making them more likely to talk about and/or buy your book.

9. Push for reviews. Ideally, your winners will love the book. Capitalize on that by requesting they write a review for the book on Amazon or Goodreads.  This way, you get something out of having multiple winners.

10.  Don’t stop there. The worst thing you can do is disappear after the giveaway. Try to offer something new every few weeks to keep potential readers coming back. Whether it be a free chapter 1 download or an announcement for a new book. The goal here is to be in their line of vision over a period of a few months.

 

Well, those are my tips. Would anyone else like to weigh in on what has worked for them?

And don’t forget, next week, we’ll be discussing how to see giveaway success through the KDP Select program.

Thursdays with Amanda: 5 Steps to Build Book Hype on Goodreads

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. She posts about growing your author platform every Thursday. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

Last week, guest blogger and author Jennifer Murgia did a fab job of introducing us to Goodreads.com and many of you asked for more!

While we're not going to do a step-by-step with screenshots (most of your how-to questions can be answered by spending time on the site...see #1 below), we've come up with 5 steps to building hype for your book on Goodreads:

1. Participate. Just like any social media site, Goodreads requires participation in order for the magic to happen. So the first step is to to be a regular, old Goodreads participant. This means reviewing books, tracking your bookreading progress, adding books to your shelves, commenting on friends' shelves and statuses, and getting comfortable with how the site works and how people use it. For any Goodreads virgin looking to use it for personal promotion, I think it would be helpful to spend a month or two learning the ropes. Don't just dive into it with the intention of selling books. Figure out what works and doesn't work from a user's perspective. Follow a few of your favorite authors and see what THEY do. Learning and participating are the first steps.

2. Maintain your author page. Treat your page as you would your author website (check out Jennifer Murgia's Goodreads page for reference). Dump book trailers, blog posts, and information on yourself as often as you can. You can even use both of those mediums (video and blog) to interact with fans, make announcements, and more. Before you start promoting yourself, you want this page to be full of information so that you don't appear to be a ghost author.

And while we're talking about ghost authors, let me take a moment to dicuss the importance of a great author photo. Unless you're Danielle Steele or Stephen King, 99% of readers won't know who you are. It's important to establish that you're a real person and not some wack-o by including a nice-looking author photo on your page. We're not talking about poorly-done self-portraits or photos from 20 years ago when you were thinner and younger or even overly artistic photos in which your face is covered by a paper bag. We're talking about a nice head shot.

A nice author photo will do more for you than any other tip or trick to getting potential readers past any hesitancy they may have regarding your book. So do what you need to do...get a makeover, hire a photographer and put on your best smile (or for those of you writing horror or guy fiction, your best contemplative face). You don't have to look like Heidi Klum or Ryan Gosling. You just have to look like a nice person.

Remember, first impressions count.

3. Host a giveaway. The steps to hosting a giveaway are pretty self-explanatory on the site. You simply go to "Giveaways," click "list a book" and fill out the fields. This is an important component of the Goodreads experience, because it gets your book in front of lots and lots of potential buyers. Sure, most of them are there to try and snag a free read, but BELIEVE ME: free books mean more sales.

Next week, we'll talk about what it takes to have a successful giveaway, but in the meantime, spend some time famiarizing yourself with the information needed to host a giveaway.

4. Join groups. There are a number of author and reader groups on Goodreads. These are like the forums and messageboards of old in which people with similar interests congregate and chat. Use this to your advantage. Remember the post on article-writing when we talked about identifying your readership? The same rules apply here. Figure out who your reader is and befriend them. Eventually, they'll figure out you're an author and buy your book.

Whatever you do, don't spam them with "I'M AN AUTHOR; BUY MY BOOK." Just be nice and engaging and when the time is right, you can mention you have a book. But relationships come first.

5. Make friends and interact with readers. That is really the secret. Yes, it's a time sink and yes, it will require long-term committment. But so does your author career. So suck it up, cupcake, and get out there!

Any other ideas?

Thursdays with Amanda: How to Promote Your Book on Goodreads

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. She posts about growing your author platform every Thursday. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

NOTE: Today's post is from one of my authors, Jennifer Murgia, and it's geared a bit more toward those who on their way to being published (whether with a big house, a small house, a digital house or something they're doing on their own).

Jennifer is one of those authors who started out with a small press. But she didn't let that slow her down. She worked tirelessly to promote her first book, Angel Star, and ended up with the kind of sales numbers that impress both agents and publishers. Here, she talks about one of the methods in which she was able to gain a following.

If you’ve been following Thursdays with Amanda, then you’ll see a growing pattern: promoting yourself as an author via various social networks – and learning to do it well. In recent posts we’ve learned the tips to Tweet to your audience and how to grow a speaking platform. One of the best vessels I’ve been able to promote myself as an author on has been Goodreads.

Goodreads.com is a reader’s social haven. Here you’ll find bookworms, virtual librarians, discussion groups, and the fun part – a complete online cataloguing system catered just for you. It’s the easy way to keep track of the books you’re reading, want to read, and have read, along with a place to share what you think. For an author, this is a promotional wonderland!

Here’s how it works: During the initial stages of publication, your book’s info is fed to Amazon, which feeds directly to Goodreads. In some cases, adding your book manually may be necessary. Yes, it’s true your book will show up here way before Barnes & Noble.com – which is great, because this is where your readers and targeted audience gather! Once you create a member account, you can link yourself to your book. This takes a few days but trust me, the Goodreads fairies are working diligently behind the scenes to create your Author Dashboard and once that happens, you are officially a Goodreads Author.

Your profile page is loaded with possibilities for your book(s) – members can “FAN” you, add you as a friend, follow your reviews, see your uploaded videos or book trailers and most importantly ADD YOUR BOOK TO THEIR LIST.

As a Goodreads author, I’ve been able to host a Giveaway of both my books. The number of copies given is completely up to the author, as is how long the Giveaway will run. There’s no limit to how many copies or which countries can enter. I played it safe. I gave away only one copy of each of my titles, and you know what? My book ended up selling better because those who didn’t win went out and bought it.

On Goodreads, I can create hype over what I write (amazingly enough, I’ve had a Fan Group made for me by some dedicated fans!) and I can join the hype about fellow author’s books (which is something I enjoy far more than talking about my own). But the best part is being able to become accessible to those sharing the love for what you’ve written, or just books in general. As an author, I’ve learned what it means to put myself out there – the digital age holds no boundaries – I’ve been able to speak with fans in other countries about what I like to read and write. I’ve been able to see what they think of my craft, and also accept what someone might not like.

The long and the short of it, if you’ve written a book and are not actively on Goodreads, make a point to check it out, if not for the purpose of self promotion, then surely for the enjoyment as a reader.

Feel free to share questions or suggestions below!

 

Thursdays with Amanda: Authors on Twitter – Who’s Doing It Well and Who’s Missing the Mark

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. She posts about growing your author platform every Thursday. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

Last week, we looked at some basic rules for using Twitter as an author as well as how to write a great Tweet. But what does all of that look like when put into practice?

First, I think it’s important to note that most big-name authors aren’t on Twitter. Take JK Rowling for example. The Harry Potter author stayed away from Twitter until she got so fed up with people posing as her, she created her own account back in ’09 @jk_rowling. She’s Tweeted 10 times since, and most of those seem to be her reminding fans that she’s alive and that the @jk_rowling handle is the real her. Oh, and she has over a million followers. Pretty sure, that number is more related to sheer popularity than it is exceptional Tweeting, but the fact stands: most authors are avoiding Twitter altogether. They've recognized that it's not the medium for them and THAT'S OK. If there's anything I want you to learn from this series on platform, it's that you should choose your social media battles. Start with one medium and go from there. All is not best.

Anyway, back to the post...

There are plenty of published authors who are on Twitter and doing it well...just as there are plenty who are doing it poorly.

 

Good Example

Seth Godin (@thisissethsblog for those of you following along) is a marketing and social media guru. He’s published thirteen books and has most likely sold over a million copies. His Twitter account is the shining example of most everything done right.

Its sole purpose is to Tweet links to his new blog posts. That’s all, folks. No wishing his mom happy birthday. No asking fans to come out and hear him speak at such-and-such conference. No complaining about a delayed flight or rainy weather or all those other things that Tweeters deem important. It’s just links.

Clearly, he gave Twitter a goal: to support his blog. He recognized early on that his time is best spent writing blog posts. That’s where he shines.

Now for all of you who think that Tweeting a link to your blog post will get you nowhere in life, note this: Godin has 160,000+ Twitter followers. That’s 160,000 future book buyers. That’s 160,000 potential retweets. That’s 160,000 people who care so much about what he has to say, they want to be notified the moment he says it.

 

Bad Example

Amanda Hocking is the quintessential example of a fiction author who made her way using social media. Amanda got started by epublishing her own books, then relied on her own marketing chops, as well as Amazon’s splendid purchase recommendation system, to sell a ton of copies. After over a million books sold, Hocking is a millionaire with a publishing contract with a major house. All in all, fairly comparable to our friend, Seth Godin. Maybe even a  bit more successful sales-wise. But let’s take a look at the numbers.

Hocking’s Tweets (@amanda_hocking) cover everything from birthday wishes to her family members to sadness over rainy days. She retweets like it’s going out of style, and rarely posts her own links or hashtags (most of that comes from stuff she retweets).

One thing she does well, though, is interact with fans. She responds to their questions, maintains light dialogue with them and includes them as much as she can.

Now, for those of you who think the personal Twitter approach is way better than retweeting your blog posts, think again. Amanda Hocking, millionaire, bestselling novelist and future New York Times list author, has a measly 13,000 Twitter followers. That’s only 13,000 of her 1 million+ fan base.

 

Recap

So there you have it. Simple and straightforward beats out warm and fuzzy.

But please, don’t misinterpret. I’m not saying that we all should dump our relationships with fans simply because our goal doesn’t leave room for that. I’m just saying that without providing value to our readers through a clearly defined goal, we’re missing out on a lot of potential followers. And for those of us who are unpublished, potential followers mean potential book deals.

 

 

Thursdays with Amanda: How to Write a Great Tweet

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. She posts about growing your author platform every Thursday. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

To write well for Twitter, you really need to change your mindset. I’ve seen 100,000+ word novelists balk when it comes to Tweeting, and I’ve seen successful business types equally fail when they take the hard sell approach. Twitter isn’t a place for you to flaunt your knowledge of the English language or refine your author voice. It’s equally not a place where constantly telling people to buy your book or visit your website will work. Twitter takes a bit more finesse. A bit more thought. And a lot more of a marketing or sales-driven mindset.

Twitter restricts the number of characters used in each Tweet to 140. If you’re curious what that looks like, note this paragraph. Yep, 140.

It may seem like a lot to work with at first, but once you add any @ mentions or links or hashtags, it can get crowded fast. It’s this very crowdedness that hinders authors from being successful with their Tweets.

But the bottom line is if you can learn to write compelling, actionable copy for Twitter, you can write just about anything.

Just like any other social media channel, the basic rule to a great Twitter handle is to have a goal. Do you want to sell books? Generate interest in your website or blog? Position yourself as an expert on a topic? A clear goal will guide each and every Tweet, preventing you from flooding your readers with conflicting information. With a goal, you’ll be sure to attract the very readers that care about every single Tweet you throw at them. And that is where the Twitter magic happens.

But how do you construct compelling copy in 140 characters? I’m glad you asked.

 

The Three Components of a Great Tweet:  

1.      It has a GOAL  à Call to Action

The Tweet must either provide worthwhile information or ask the reader to DO something. For example, if you’re going to be speaking in the Chicago area, you could Tweet about it, encouraging Chicagoans to come out and see you. Or, you could ask readers to check out your speaking schedule (include a link) to see when you’ll be in their area. The ideal strategy would be to do both. Share your speaking schedule link when you’ve got your summer tour nailed down, and then Tweet about each city a day or so before you arrive.  

 

2.      It has a HOOK

The Tweet must grab the reader’s attention. Many Twitter users follow hundreds if not thousands of people…that’s a lot of competition. Get your Tweets to stand out by always ensuring they draw the reader in. Avoid lots of hard sell Tweets, such as Buy my book! This is where creativity is a must.

 

3.      It has LINKS and/or HASHTAGS

A great Tweet will direct your readers to places where they can get more information.

Linking to photos is a great way to connect with your readers through those less sales-related Tweets. For example: Thanks to everyone who came out to hear me speak at the #ChicagoPublicLibrary It was awesome! <link to photo of speaker with fans>

Linking to a website is a great way to provide extra information and a harder sell. For example: Thanks to everyone who came out tonight! Next up, Indianapolis <link to speaking schedule on website>

Twitter will automatically shorten your links to 20 characters, leaving you with 120 to work with.

Hashtags are also great in Tweets. They build credibility and will expand your reach. Hashtags look like this: #creativewriting #allIwantforChristmas . They are a hash sign, followed by a string of words or an acronym that uses no punctuation or spaces. You can create your own hashtags simply by Tweeting them. But you can also search on Twitter and other social media sites to find out what existing hashtags apply to your Tweets.

Readers use hashtags to find other Tweeters who are talking about topics they’re interested in. People who are interested in #ChicagoPublicLibrary will monitor the hashtag so that they can know and discover all there is about that particular topic.

Jumping on a trending hashtag will broaden your readership, because there are tons of people out there also talking about that specific hashtag.

 

So what does a great Tweet look like? They aren’t always grammatically pretty, and the limited character count oftentimes has you talking like a texting teenager. But it’s time to cast any word-related snobbiness aside. Great Tweets are ugly, yet effective. Here are some I put together:

Like Romeo & Juliet? LOVE #vampires? Check out my new book TWILIGHT <linkhere> #YAparanormal  - this Tweet works because it gets the reader answering “yes” to each of the preliminary questions. They’re already thinking “yes” when they come to the pitch. It’s a bit of a hard sell, but it works. Readers feel comfortable with hard sells that are well thought out.

What happens when a #serialkiller runs a hotel at the world fair? Read devil in the white city <linkhere> #nonfiction – this Tweet uses the book’s one-liner for a HOOK.

At B&N 2nite @ 7:30p in Rosemont. Get a #freebook when u upload a pic of us. Details <linkhere> #fiction #bookgiveaway  - this Tweet is a great example of using Twitter to promote. Plus, it will encourage additional buzz when readers accept the challenge and start uploading their pictures with the author. The pictures will reach their friends, thus generating more awareness for the author.

Thing to love #4: dress blues. Find 1000 more things to love <linkhere> #militarylife #militaryspouse  - this Tweet uses a teaser from the book to generate interest.

Does Tweeting seem more doable? Love to hear your thoughts on this topic!

 

Additional resources:

www.hootsuite.com

www.tweetdeck.com

www.topsy.com

Thursdays with Amanda: What I'm Looking For

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. She posts about growing your author platform every Thursday. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

I'm in New York right now, visiting with publishers and pitching books, and though I had every intention of continuing my "Building an Author Platform" series, it just doesn't look like that's going to happen this week. So sorry about that. I know that some of you come here specifically for those posts and I hate to let you down.

So, to make up for the lack of a post this week, I thought I'd share a list of projects that I'm looking for. I'm hoping this is a satisfactory trade. :)

Right now, I'm primarily looking for authors who have published with a traditional house. However, if you're an unpublished author, don't lose heart. The best thing to do there is to try and meet me at a conference (I'm attending roughly 12 this year, and you can find the list on the info tab of my Facebook page). If I like you and I like your book, I'm much more willing to try and make room for you.

Here's what I'm currently acquring:

Adult Fantasy

Adult Urban Fantasy (especially geared to women)

Adult Paranormal Romance

Adult Science Fiction

Any of the "weird" genres, like Steampunk, Dystopian, Horror, etc.

African American Romance

Young Adult Fiction (open to just about anything)

Nonfiction projects from authors with great platforms

Nonfiction for the 20 and 30-something crowd

 

Have a genre in mind, but you're not seeing it on the list? Leave a comment below and I'll let you know whether it would be a fit.

Thursdays with Amanda: Why Authors Should Be On Twitter

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. She posts about growing your author platform every Thursday. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

I was on a plane yesterday with a gentleman who found out I was an agent and started asking me about the industry. He had a book idea, and a bunch of questions to go with it, and eventually he started asking about formatting the manuscript and design and all of that stuff.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” I said. “An author has two responsibilities: Deadlines and marketing. They have to get their manuscript turned in on time and then market the heck out of their book.”

And that’s where the conversation took a turn.

“I didn’t know authors had to be marketers,” he said. “I thought they just sat in their homes and wrote and wrote and didn’t talk to a soul.”

Twenty years ago, he would have been right. But Al Gore’s Internet changed everything. It made the world smaller.

And Twitter is as small as it can possibly get.

Ten years ago, celebrities were untouchable. If you wanted to know about their lifestyles, you read the tabloids or watched Cribs. If you wanted to meet them, you stalked their tour buses or started working out in LA gyms. Or, you’d stand outside of MTV studios in Time Square or set up camp in LAX, studying the faces of passersby. But even these strategies would fail. Meeting a celebrity was an occurance left to chance.

But these days, it’s as easy as sending a text message.

I follow Zach Braff (@zachbraff) on Twitter. He’s an actor/director/writer, most well-known for his work on Scrubs and Garden State. He’s a big-time celebrity, but on Twitter, he's just a regular guy. He dispels tabloid rumors, shares photos of his happenings and tells jokes. He lets his 375,000 fans in on his everyday life and he repays their support and love by interacting with them. He responds to their questions and laughs at their jokes. He’s involved.

Here’s the bottom line: If I can get Zach Braff or Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) or Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) Barack Obama (@barackobama) or some other big-time, hot-shot to respond to my tweets, shouldn’t I be able to get my favorite author to do the same? And at the very least, shouldn’t mid-list authors be more available on Twitter than high-profile actors and musicians?

If the Internet made the world smaller, then Twitter has turned everyone into next door neighbors. And as authors, writers and aspiring future celebrities, it’s your job to be available to your fans.

Next week, we’re going to talk about what makes a great Tweet, and after that I may have a few guests come here and post on how they’ve used Twitter to grow their following.

In the meantime, go set up a Twitter account and follow your favorite celebrity. Then tell me if you don’t feel more connected to him/her in a warm, fuzzy way.

I dare you.

Thursdays with Amanda: 10 Steps to Growing a Public Speaking Platform

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. She posts about growing your author platform every Thursday. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

When I first met Chip, I’d occasionally run a book idea by him just to see if anything sparked his interest. I remember at one point, I came up with this GREAT idea for a book all about making your wedding your own. It was about ditching tradition and going for something that reflected your uniqueness as a couple. But when I pitched this future bestseller to Chip, he kind of glazed over. He gave me a few pointers, patted me on the back and sent me on my way. And I couldn’t figure out why.

But now, years later, I know exactly what he was thinking: I’m not a wedding expert. People don’t ask me for wedding advice and I certainly don’t have an all-things-weddings blog. Heck, I’m not even a wedding planner. I’m a “no one” in the wedding biz, so who in the world would ever pick up my book and listen to what I have to say?

Most nonfiction writers are like I was a few years ago. They think that just because they have this great idea or a fabulous success story, people will want to listen. But think about it...

When we have money troubles, we look to Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey.

When we have health troubles, we look to Jillian Michaels or Dr. Oz.

When we have political confusion, we look to ... Jon Stewart.

We will always pick the expert over the nobody. So how do you cross that divide? How do you become an expert?

Become a speaker, my friend. Become a speaker.

Speaking has gotten a bad rap lately because there’s not really any money in it anymore. Plus, it’s expensive. There’s all that travel, meals in restaurants and time spent away from the home or job or both. But if you’re smart about it, speaking can be a great boost for anyone looking to become an expert.

 

10 Steps to Growing a Public Speaking Platform:

 

1. Figure out what venues work for your audience. People gather all the time and for every reason on the face of the earth. Don’t believe me? Pick up your city’s latest “What’s Happening”-type publication (almost all have them) and take a look. There are events at colleges, high schools, churches, VFWs, libraries, country clubs, and more. Everyone from doctors to academics to parents to students to nonprofit volunteers will be amassing at some point in the not-to-distant-future. But an expert in PTSD isn’t going to hit it off with the First Baptist Youth Group as well as they would the VFW. So think about who your audience is and where they go to congregate.
2. Make a list of all possible venues, gatherings and groups in a 100-mile radius. For new speakers covering their own travel expenses, 100 miles is doable. You can be there and back in a morning or afternoon. There’s no overnight expense and if you’re really watching the budget, you could even pack a lunch.
3. Put together a few talks. Your talks shouldn’t be autobiographies on your life or ways through which you can tout your opinions and stand on your soapboxes. Your talks should provide answers, information, insight or advice to the listeners. They need takeaway value. As agents, we do this all the time when we visit conferences or try to get invited to new conferences. We have our go-to workshops all polished and ready to go...and if you’ve noticed, not a single conference offers a workshop on “How Amanda Luedeke Became an Agent.” Nope, workshops are full of helpful information. Your talks should be the same.
4. Perfect your pitch. You can’t call someone up and say “Hey, I was just wondering if you needed someone to talk about paying and planning for your kid’s college?” Yawn. You need to intrigue them...make them believe that you have a secret that they and their group need to know. Something like “I’ve helped numerous parents plan for their kids’ education with my talk ‘Get Henry to Harvard’, and I’d love the chance to share it with your parent group. It’ll include free consultations and a download of my step-by-step booklet. I’m not looking to make any money on this...just trying to get my name out there, so if you want a sample of my style, you can check out my video on YouTube...”
5. Start scheduling. This is the hardest part, because it’s a bunch of phone tag, calendar-checking and polite refusals. But stick with it and form friendships. You’ll find that groups will ask you to come back...they’ll even recommend you to their friends, social groups and more. But you have to be persistent and aggressive with following up and making the whole scheduling process as easy as you can on the event organizer.
6. Bring your own gear. The easiest way to uninvite yourself from ever speaking again, is to be high maintenance. Don’t demand that they have all this high-tech equipment ready. Don’t get angry when you get there and all they have is an overhead projector that they’re really proud of. And above all, don’t complain. Ask politely what type of equipment they have and fill in the gaps yourself. Come armed with a plan B and C, extra printouts, your powerpoint presentation on a flash drive, your own computer, and an idea of what you’re going to do should you end up with no technology at all.
7. Give listeners a place where they can get more. A website, a blog—someplace you provide frequently updated information, a way for them to contact you and the details of your future speaking engagements. This will come in handy when shopping your goods or when you’re trying to get audience members to remember you post-event.
8. Consider the power of webinars, Skype, Youtube, epublishing and other such media. Once you have things moving forward, you’ll find that you have a following. A real, growing group of people who know who you are, believe in what you do and share it with their friends. But you’ll soon find that there’s no way to get in front of this growing group when you’re just one person doing one venue in one town at a time. By offering online webinars, ebook downloads, weekly podcasts and the like, you can keep in touch with your audience...even when you only make it to their neck of the woods once a year or so.
9. Track your numbers. Keep a ledger of how many you have in attendance for each gathering, where you go (the more states you can add to your list, the more impressive it looks), website stats, ebook downloads and any other pertinent information that shows the size of your following and potential promotional reach.
10. Stick with it. Speaking builds off of itself, and when you take lengthy breaks it affects your momentum. DON’T STOP MOVING. Even when life gets busy, sneak in a talk here or there. Vacation can be a great time to build a following outside of your intial 100-mile radius. Don’t let that opportunity pass you by!

 

That’s all I have for now, although some seasoned and fledgling speakers alike probably have more to add. Sound off in the comments below!

 

UPDATE: check out SheilaGregoire's comment below...she has a free public speaking training website and advice/encouragement for those starting out.  

Thursdays with Amanda: Blogging as a Fiction Author

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

The thing that’s going to make every fiction writer reading “Thursdays with Amanda” let out a big sigh of relief is this: publishing houses don’t expect new fiction writers to have huge platforms. In fact, for the most part they don’t expect you to have any sort of platform.

But before you shut down your blog and Tweet your good-byes to social media, know this...while they don’t expect you to have anything impressive, they do expect you to have a social media presence. And to that, I say if you’re going to do it, you may as well do it right. Because you never know when the thing that tips a house toward publishing your great American novel is the fact that you have a devoted following. Even if the following is a mere 1000 (In his book TRIBES, Seth Godin talks about how 1000 devoted followers are all you need).

For the past two weeks, we’ve talked about blogging. First, we went over some of the rules of a great blog and a great blog posts. Then, we discussed what makes your blog searchable and how to get readers to find it. So this week, we’ll wrap up the blogging portion of this author platform series by discussing how to blog as a fiction writer.

Blogging as a fiction writer is difficult. So difficult, that if I were in your shoes, I’d probably choose something else to build my platform. Maybe Facebook or Twitter. Something easier. Because unlike nonfiction authors, fiction authors aren’t really experts at things. They don’t have people coming to them, looking for answers or solutions or world peace. They don’t have that clear topic to drive their blog. They just have themselves and their imagination. And that doesn’t always make for an interesting blog experience.

So, how do you make blogging work when you’re a fiction author, trying to grow a platform? Here are my thoughts:

 

1.      Know your book’s reader. While research is the best way to find your reader, you can get a rough picture of your reader through genre and theme.

Genre – You can make assumptions about your reader based on what you know to be true of the genre or category you’re writing in.

EXAMPLE: If you write YA fiction, then your readers are teens. If you write testosterone-driven thrillers, then your readers are men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. If you write contemporary romance, your readers are women.

And if you’re in the league of writers who insists that everyone loves your books, then it’s time to step away from your circle of friends and family members who are telling you this and take a hard look at what type of stories you write. If it helps, try to find a movie playing in the theatre that is within a similar vein as your stories. Buy a ticket and take a look at who’s sitting in the seats.

Theme – Themes, elements or hobbies that appear in your writing may also point to a certain readership.

EXAMPLE: You write contemporary romance. Great. But on top of that, you tend to pepper your stories with characters who scrapbook or scrapbooking themes. And you know that scrapbooking draws a specific kind of reader. This gives you a much narrower target than just saying your readership is “women.” Your readership is now “women who scrapbook.”

 

2.      Build your blog around your reader. Now that you know a bit about your reader, you can create a blog that is geared toward them and their interests.

EXAMPLE: You’ve determined that your contemporary romances appeal to women who scrapbook. So instead of blogging about your day or the stresses of writing, you decide to start a blog all about scrapping. You share tips, photos and links to things that inspire and you quickly realize that the people who are drawn to your blog are the very people who would be interested in reading your book.

 

3.      Follow the steps outlined in my last blog, 7 Ways to Grow Your Blog Readership. Your keywords should be related to whatever theme you’ve chosen for your blog and your post titles should be appealing to your readership.

EXAMPLE: For your scrapbooking blog, you post things like “10 Scrapbooking Trends” and comparisons on what embellishment brands you like the best and what stores you prefer: “Michaels vs. Hobby Lobby vs. Archivers.” You don’t talk much about your novel writing, but focus it all on the latest scrapbooking news.

 

4.      Go out and get readers. Visit forums, message boards, blogs and groups that are packed with people who have an interest in whatever theme you’ve chosen for your blog.

EXAMPLE: You get on a bunch of scrapbooking discussion forums and post your blog’s URL in your signature. You make friends and link to your blog in discussions. You post pictures of your scrapbooking work and invite others to come see your scrapping portfolio. You also return the favor and visit their sites and view their portfolios. This builds trust.

 

5.      Give away the goods. Develop flash fiction or chapter downloads to get your blog readers interested in your fiction. You’ll come out of that experience with a number of people who are dedicated to seeing to your success.

EXAMPLE: You write a handful of scrapbooking short stories. You then announce this on your blog and get people curious. You can either post the stories as blog posts or publish them on Smashwords and then gift them to the readers who ask. Try to be consistent with this, coming out with new material every 3 months or so. Eventually, you’ll have some people who come to love your fiction. These are your first true fans.

 

6.      Organize a street team. Once you have your quota of dedicated followers, put together some sort of official team or fan club or group. Then when you pitch your novel to agents or publishers, be sure to indicate that you have a team of 500 or 1000 who are ready to do aggressive guerilla marketing to see to it that your book is a success.

 

This is just the tip of the iceberg...one path toward seeing success with your blog as a fiction writer. There are many other ways of doing this, and if you have a method or idea, I’d love to hear it!

Come One, Come All (a marketing guest blog)

Janice Thompson is the author of numerous novels -- most in the "romantic comedy" genre. When she read some of the discussion we've been having about book marketing, she sent this in...

 When one is known for her comedic writing, she thinks twice about taking on a story about the sinking of the Titanic. Imagine my surprise when the team at Summerside/Guideposts Publishing fell head-over (pun intended) for my story idea involving the great ship. Queen of the Waves is a twisted tale, loaded with all the elements—romance, intrigue, and a cast of characters with more luggage than the kind one can carry aboard. Writing is done, and the story is set to release later this year.

So how does one go about promoting a story like this when one is known for comedy? My answer came from a Facebook friend who suggested I take an anniversary cruise. On the morning of April 10, exactly 100 years to the day after the Titanic set sail from Southampton, the Balmoral will set sail carrying 1309 passengers. She will follow the path of the Titanic, pausing in the spot where the great ship struck the now-infamous iceberg on April 15th. 

My response to my friend’s suggestion? No thanks! However, the wheels started turning in my brain as I thought the idea through. I might not be interested in boarding a real ship, but what about a “Virtual Titanic” cruise to commemorate the 100-year anniversary? Now, that sounded like fun. I put my feelers out, and within minutes had a response from several readers: “Yes! We want to board your cruise!” With their enthusiasm building, I quickly created a “Queen of the Waves” group on Facebook and put out the following invitation to all interested parties:

Please join me for a "Virtual Titanic" cruise of the Atlantic, leaving April 1st and ending on April 15th. Meet with me in my "Queen of the Waves" Facebook group where we'll spend the first nine days of April learning how/where the Titanic was built, who boarded, and what was at stake. We will also share tidbits about life in 1912 in England and New York. Early on the morning of April 10th (exactly 100 years to the date after the real Titanic set sail from Southampton) we will begin our virtual cruise. You can choose to travel in first, second or third class. Your choice. I think it would be fun to mix it up a little, so don't everyone opt for first, okay? And we'll need crew members, too, so some of you can sign on as workers. More on this later. To join the virtual cruise, just ask to join the Queen of the Waves group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/120336238089159/. Starting April 1st I will post several times a day and you are invited to post, as well. We'll chronicle our days aboard the great ship and experience the journey together. Feel free to spread the word. Come one, come all -- but watch out for those icebergs!

And come, they did. The ship is filling with all sorts of folks who are already requesting specific classes and cabins. Back in 1912 you could get a third-class ticket for $36, but a first class ticket would run you up to $4700. My cruise will cost you nothing at all. Well, nothing but a wee bit of time, anyway. My Virtual Titanic guests are already sharing photos of the dresses they plan to wear to dinner the first night and chatting about who they plan to hobnob with while aboard the ship. We can hardly wait to set sail.

I sent a quick note to my editors to bring them up to speed (pun also intended) and they jumped onboard at once. So my editors will be sailing with me. And, as if I didn’t have enough to celebrate, one of my Facebook friends is the great-great niece of Edward Smith, the captain of the Titanic. She has agreed to serve as our captain while aboard the ship. I’ll serve at the cruise director, of course, offering entertainment all along the way.

So, that’s it, folks. That's how I'm promoting my next novel. You are welcome to join me for the cruise of a lifetime. Pack your trunks. Bring your warmest clothes. Prepare yourself for several days at sea. Get your tickets by asking to join “Queen of the Waves” at https://www.facebook.com/groups/120336238089159/. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me --

Janice Thompson

[email protected]

Facebook: JaniceHannaThompson

Twitter: booksbyjanice

 

SPECIAL NOTE FOR TEACHERS AND HOMESCHOOL PARENTS: I’m particularly interested in having students join us. Perhaps you would consider giving your student an assignment to travel the high seas with us. They can choose their clothing, decide their daily activities, meet friends on the ship and much more. Along the way, they will get a thorough teaching about the Titanic (albeit in a fun, entertaining way). They will also learn a lot about turn-of-the-century customs, manners, and the like.