As much as I’d love to say, “New Year, New Ideas!” that is not the case here. The reality of the part-time marketer is that the best-laid plans go awry.
Three things led my marketing plan astray:
1. Took longer than I expected to finish the last edit of the book, which meant time way from marketing (We’re still good for our April launch though!).
2. Facebook changed its algorithm again, which means I have to rethink (read: ditch and do something different) all the Facebook stuff I was planning.
3. And then I got sick. Dammit.
But on the bright side, this mean you all get to follow me on a desperate journey to figure out how to market the book without much time! How exciting is that? I’m thrilled to go on this adventure! Thrilled! Like Bilbo Baggins with a dining room full of dwarves! Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole! Like Sir Gawain awaiting the strike from the Green Knight’s axe!
All right, maybe “thrilled” is not the word I’m looking for….
But stay tuned! In two weeks I’ll be putting up my first new marketing post of the year: Cutting to the Chase or Biggest Bang for the Buck!
Meanwhile, buy Small Magics and Cold Magics, because you want to know what all the fuss is about, don’t you?
Next Week: This Writing Life 20: My Many Methods of Outlining
Showing posts with label True Magics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label True Magics. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
This Writing Life 19: Fear
First off, Happy New Year, 22 days late!
I suffer from migraines, which are a massive pain (HA!). This week I had one that started as an attack of blind panic. Complete mental immobilization. Scared of everything. I couldn’t think, couldn’t work, couldn’t focus my brain. It wasn’t until my head started hurting that I figured out what was going on, took some drugs and was finally able to focus again. By the time I did, I’d lost a day.
I hate it when that happens.
And much as I’d like to say that was the inspiration for this blog post, it wasn’t. But it did act as a catalyst to finally write what’s been kicking around in my head for about three months. Because there’s stuff I’m afraid of, and it affects my work.
Unfortunately, it’s also the beginning of all the fears:
What if I can’t finish the story? What if it won’t sell? What if I’m wasting my time? What if it’s no good? What if everything I write is actually garbage? What if everyone decides I’m a fraud? What if I never sell anything ever again? What if the people reading this don’t immediately go out and buy Small Magics and Cold Magics? (hint, hint) What if no one buys True Magics (coming in April) and my social media campaign fails and I have to go back to working in offices? What if, what if, what if…
Too many of the bad “What if” questions and suddenly you’re suffering from…
Unfortunately, the freeze reaction that can keep us alive against sabretooths (sabreteeth?) can also overwhelm us when we’re engaged in high-stress situations, like trying to make a living as a writer and all the nasty, self-exposing tasks that are involved in this line of work.
It’s gets so tempting to give into the freezing.
“If I don’t do anything, then nothing bad will happen,” is a wonderfully comforting idea. No risk, no danger, no nothing. Just hiding comfortably under the covers, with occasional ventures out for the bathroom and food.
The problem is, it’s a false idea. The truth is “If I don’t do anything, then nothing will happen. Ever.” No success, no new stories, no chance of ever being something more than an office drone.
But it is so tempting, some days…
1. Do Something Scarier. In my time I’ve scrambled up mountains, earned two black belts, and stood in the delivery room waiting for my daughter to take her first breath long after she should have (she did, eventually, which proves that stubbornness runs in the family). And when you have scary things like that under your belt, you can use them to counter the other fears. Sure, a marketing plan is hard. So is writing a book or sending it to an agent for the first time. But if you can say to yourself “I did this scary thing, so how hard can that be?” it can help you break the paralysis.
2. Use Logic. Much of our paralysis comes from ongoing negative self-talk (to fall into psychology-speak for a moment). We think bad things about ourselves and keep repeating them until we start to believe them. The talk makes the problems bigger and bigger until they seem insurmountable. When we start thinking logically about the problem and questioning that self-talk, we can take control of the fear and that can help us break the paralysis.
3. Count to Three and Jump (and have someone help you). I am afraid of heights. All right, terrified. And when I ran the Tough Mudder (which is not on my list of hard things because really, not that tough) there was an obstacle that was a 15-foot jump into water. So I worked out a plan with my partner. We would stand at the top, count to three, and on three we would jump. We did, I did, and it worked fine (I don’t recall if I screamed all the way down or not, but 15 feet is a relatively short fall). And sometimes, that’s the only way to beat the fear paralysis. Count down and jump.
But have someone counting with you, because scary things are a lot easier to do when you have someone counting with you.
Next week: Back to to marketing with, "What do you mean, start over?"
I suffer from migraines, which are a massive pain (HA!). This week I had one that started as an attack of blind panic. Complete mental immobilization. Scared of everything. I couldn’t think, couldn’t work, couldn’t focus my brain. It wasn’t until my head started hurting that I figured out what was going on, took some drugs and was finally able to focus again. By the time I did, I’d lost a day.
I hate it when that happens.
And much as I’d like to say that was the inspiration for this blog post, it wasn’t. But it did act as a catalyst to finally write what’s been kicking around in my head for about three months. Because there’s stuff I’m afraid of, and it affects my work.
What If…
“What if” is one of my favourite questions. It’s the beginning of all fiction. Without “What if” there would be no stories.Unfortunately, it’s also the beginning of all the fears:
What if I can’t finish the story? What if it won’t sell? What if I’m wasting my time? What if it’s no good? What if everything I write is actually garbage? What if everyone decides I’m a fraud? What if I never sell anything ever again? What if the people reading this don’t immediately go out and buy Small Magics and Cold Magics? (hint, hint) What if no one buys True Magics (coming in April) and my social media campaign fails and I have to go back to working in offices? What if, what if, what if…
Too many of the bad “What if” questions and suddenly you’re suffering from…
Fear Paralysis
The amygdala (fun word to say out loud. Amygdala. Amygdala… but I digress) is the part of the brain that, among other things, controls our basic emotional responses. Originally, there were believed to be only two responses: fight or flight. New research into the amygdala indicates there is at least one more: freeze. Makes perfect sense really. “There is a giant sabretooth tiger out there trying to kill me. If I hold perfectly still, nothing bad will happen.”Unfortunately, the freeze reaction that can keep us alive against sabretooths (sabreteeth?) can also overwhelm us when we’re engaged in high-stress situations, like trying to make a living as a writer and all the nasty, self-exposing tasks that are involved in this line of work.
It’s gets so tempting to give into the freezing.
“If I don’t do anything, then nothing bad will happen,” is a wonderfully comforting idea. No risk, no danger, no nothing. Just hiding comfortably under the covers, with occasional ventures out for the bathroom and food.
The problem is, it’s a false idea. The truth is “If I don’t do anything, then nothing will happen. Ever.” No success, no new stories, no chance of ever being something more than an office drone.
But it is so tempting, some days…
Breaking the Paralysis
So what can we do to stop he paralysis that keeps us from getting things done? Three ideas:1. Do Something Scarier. In my time I’ve scrambled up mountains, earned two black belts, and stood in the delivery room waiting for my daughter to take her first breath long after she should have (she did, eventually, which proves that stubbornness runs in the family). And when you have scary things like that under your belt, you can use them to counter the other fears. Sure, a marketing plan is hard. So is writing a book or sending it to an agent for the first time. But if you can say to yourself “I did this scary thing, so how hard can that be?” it can help you break the paralysis.
2. Use Logic. Much of our paralysis comes from ongoing negative self-talk (to fall into psychology-speak for a moment). We think bad things about ourselves and keep repeating them until we start to believe them. The talk makes the problems bigger and bigger until they seem insurmountable. When we start thinking logically about the problem and questioning that self-talk, we can take control of the fear and that can help us break the paralysis.
3. Count to Three and Jump (and have someone help you). I am afraid of heights. All right, terrified. And when I ran the Tough Mudder (which is not on my list of hard things because really, not that tough) there was an obstacle that was a 15-foot jump into water. So I worked out a plan with my partner. We would stand at the top, count to three, and on three we would jump. We did, I did, and it worked fine (I don’t recall if I screamed all the way down or not, but 15 feet is a relatively short fall). And sometimes, that’s the only way to beat the fear paralysis. Count down and jump.
But have someone counting with you, because scary things are a lot easier to do when you have someone counting with you.
Next week: Back to to marketing with, "What do you mean, start over?"
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Marketing True Magics 14: What is a Marketing Plan?
(Also called "Building a Marketing Plan, part 1." I thought I should change the title to reflect what we’re talking about. I hear that helps people to know what they’re reading and, you know, find stuff on the internet.)
Meanwhile:
No, seriously. It’s fun.
I love planning. Planning is the thing that makes everything else work, and when each step of the plan works you get to do a little happy dance.
Of course, you need to be flexible in your planning because, no plan ever survives contact with reality intact. So you plan in flexibilities and contingencies and hope you’ve thought of everything.
Before I start waxing eloquent on all that (which will be over the next several posts), I thought I’d use this post to define what a marketing plan is and does:
Sounds simple enough, right?
Right....
Background: This section examines all elements of the environment in which a product is being sold, including:
Marketing Objective: How much of what are you trying to sell by when? And yes, you need to have an end date. Otherwise it isn’t a plan, it’s a long, slow march towards obscurity.
Communications Objectives: What things do you want people to think, feel and do so they will buy your product?
Target Audiences: To whom are you selling your products? And which people do those people listen to who could help you sell your product?
Key Messages: What will you say to convince your target audiences to buy the product? What other messages can you use to support that message and who will you say them to?
Channels: What channels will you use to market your products? Note this is not where you are selling them, but where you are convincing people to buy them.
Communications Strategies, Tactics and Evaluations: This is the brass tacks stuff.
Critical Success Factors: Without these nothing else will come together. Example: you are selling a book, but you don’t actually write it. Marketing campaign fail.
Tactical Map: This is where you get to play with spreadsheets! Look at all your tactics for all your strategies and figure out:
Next Steps: Assuming all this works out, then what do you do?
So just a little bit of work to do, right?
I’ll be continuing on about marketing plans in 2 weeks. But first...
Next week: 10,000 Twitter followers. Now What?
Meanwhile:
It’s Planning Time!
This is the fun part of the whole thing. Planning! Figuring out every action you’re going to take for the next six months and justifying your reasons for every single one. Fun!No, seriously. It’s fun.
I love planning. Planning is the thing that makes everything else work, and when each step of the plan works you get to do a little happy dance.
Of course, you need to be flexible in your planning because, no plan ever survives contact with reality intact. So you plan in flexibilities and contingencies and hope you’ve thought of everything.
Before I start waxing eloquent on all that (which will be over the next several posts), I thought I’d use this post to define what a marketing plan is and does:
Marketing Plan – Short Definition
A marketing plan is a detailed document that explains exactly what you will do to convince people to buy your products, and why you are doing it that way.What a Marketing Plan Does
Forbes puts it like this:“The right marketing plan identifies everything from 1) who your target customers are to 2) how you will reach them, to 3) how you will retain your customers so they repeatedly buy from you.”
Sounds simple enough, right?
Right....
Elements of a Marketing Plan
Unfortunately, the devil (and a lot of annoying perspiration) is in the details. And while Forbes definition is correct, there are a lot of things you need to do to get there.Background: This section examines all elements of the environment in which a product is being sold, including:
- Date of product release
- Venues of sale
- State of the market for product
- Competition
- Previous products
- Success/failure of previous marketing efforts
- Financial state of the organization
- Resources available for marketing
- Benefits of marketing the product for the organization
Marketing Objective: How much of what are you trying to sell by when? And yes, you need to have an end date. Otherwise it isn’t a plan, it’s a long, slow march towards obscurity.
Communications Objectives: What things do you want people to think, feel and do so they will buy your product?
Target Audiences: To whom are you selling your products? And which people do those people listen to who could help you sell your product?
Key Messages: What will you say to convince your target audiences to buy the product? What other messages can you use to support that message and who will you say them to?
Channels: What channels will you use to market your products? Note this is not where you are selling them, but where you are convincing people to buy them.
Communications Strategies, Tactics and Evaluations: This is the brass tacks stuff.
- Strategy: What you will do to achieve your communication objectives
- Tactics: How you will do it.
- Evaluation: How will you measure success for each tactic and strategy.
Critical Success Factors: Without these nothing else will come together. Example: you are selling a book, but you don’t actually write it. Marketing campaign fail.
Tactical Map: This is where you get to play with spreadsheets! Look at all your tactics for all your strategies and figure out:
- How are you going to do it?
- When does it start, when does it end? (timeline)
- Who is going to do it and who is going to support them?
- How much you’re going to spend on it? (budget)
Next Steps: Assuming all this works out, then what do you do?
So just a little bit of work to do, right?
I’ll be continuing on about marketing plans in 2 weeks. But first...
Next week: 10,000 Twitter followers. Now What?
Wednesday, October 08, 2014
Marketing True Magics 10 - Things I need to do on Twitter
At this point I can say that I’ve been pretty successful at generating followers on Twitter (7,042 as we speak). And I think I’ve done a fairly good job generating content that will enable me to keep followers interested, and hopefully turn them into fans who will then buy and help me sell my books.
Pity that’s not all twitter is about, or I’d have it made.
Twitter is about conversations; two-way communication in a public sphere that enables my fans to know me, love me and buy my books. And doing that requires more than posting amazing pictures and science articles. Here’s my near-future wish list:
(Sorry, introvert tendencies showing).
But to be a marketer for a moment, a Twitter party is a chance to meet fans, make new fans, and build my brand so I can sell more books.
There’s lots of tips out there on how to hold a twitter party (like this one, this one, and this one), so I’m going to read through them and others and for the launch of my new book, True Magics, at the Ad Astra Sci-Fi Convention n Toronto in April 2015, I will also be holding a twitter party!
Here’s hoping it works!
Yes, I am mercenary about this. Why do you ask?
Like Twitter parties, there’s lots and lots of articles on holding a Q&A, and they do look like fun, assuming people show up. So I guess I’d better hold one in the near future.
Look for a Q&A with Erik Buchanan coming to Twitter soon…
The major one is that I don’t really understand how they work. I know they are useful (according to articles here, here, and here) but every time I see them I think, “What? I have to spend more time managing my social media?”
At the same time, I would love to be able to look at a list of my favourite authors and see what they are tweeting, or one of other writers on twitter and see what they are up to, or one of Fantasy Football fans so I can curse them for using #Fantasy and thus confusing me when I’m looking for fantasy writers (curse you!).
The issue with lists is time and energy. I only have so much of each. And while having lists would make it easier to track the things I want to track, setting them up is going to take time, especially as I have to comb through 7,051 followers to do it.
(Yep, gained 9 followers in the time I wrote this piece).
So yes, I will be doing this but immediately, unless someone wants to be my unpaid, overworked intern who suffers being called “minion”…
Anyone…? Anyone…? Beuller?
So that’s it for this week. I think I’m all Twitter-talked out for the moment, so…
Next week: Time to Start Building Facebook Followers!
Pity that’s not all twitter is about, or I’d have it made.
Twitter is about conversations; two-way communication in a public sphere that enables my fans to know me, love me and buy my books. And doing that requires more than posting amazing pictures and science articles. Here’s my near-future wish list:
Twitter Party!
Because who doesn’t like a party? Especially one where your guests can’t drink all your booze and muddy up your furniture?(Sorry, introvert tendencies showing).
But to be a marketer for a moment, a Twitter party is a chance to meet fans, make new fans, and build my brand so I can sell more books.
There’s lots of tips out there on how to hold a twitter party (like this one, this one, and this one), so I’m going to read through them and others and for the launch of my new book, True Magics, at the Ad Astra Sci-Fi Convention n Toronto in April 2015, I will also be holding a twitter party!
Here’s hoping it works!
Twitter Q & A
Like a twitter party but more informational. A twitter Q&A session allows my friends and fans to connect with me and to ask questions on a topic or topics. It gives them insight into my life and my process, and creates that human connection that allows me to sell them more books.Yes, I am mercenary about this. Why do you ask?
Like Twitter parties, there’s lots and lots of articles on holding a Q&A, and they do look like fun, assuming people show up. So I guess I’d better hold one in the near future.
Look for a Q&A with Erik Buchanan coming to Twitter soon…
Lists
I like lists: to do lists, places I want to visit lists, grocery lists, book lists. So what’s my issue with twitter lists?The major one is that I don’t really understand how they work. I know they are useful (according to articles here, here, and here) but every time I see them I think, “What? I have to spend more time managing my social media?”
At the same time, I would love to be able to look at a list of my favourite authors and see what they are tweeting, or one of other writers on twitter and see what they are up to, or one of Fantasy Football fans so I can curse them for using #Fantasy and thus confusing me when I’m looking for fantasy writers (curse you!).
The issue with lists is time and energy. I only have so much of each. And while having lists would make it easier to track the things I want to track, setting them up is going to take time, especially as I have to comb through 7,051 followers to do it.
(Yep, gained 9 followers in the time I wrote this piece).
So yes, I will be doing this but immediately, unless someone wants to be my unpaid, overworked intern who suffers being called “minion”…
Anyone…? Anyone…? Beuller?
So that’s it for this week. I think I’m all Twitter-talked out for the moment, so…
Next week: Time to Start Building Facebook Followers!
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Marketing True Magics 9: Twitter Ad Copy
Marketing True Magics 9: Twitter Ad Copy
So, last week was all about my “please be my follower” strategy on twitter (and if you aren’t my follower, I’m @erik_buchanan, and don’t you want to be my friend?). This week is all about getting folks to buy my book from twitter, and that means it's all about ad copy.
Good copy has:
1. Something to get your attention (Think: This sounds really interesting!)
2. Something to make you want the book (Feel: I want to know what happens!)
3. A way for you to buy the book (Do: I’m buying this book!)
And because this is Twitter, it has to be done in 140 characters. Ideally in 100 characters so other people can comment and re-tweet.
(Joke: Why isn’t George R.R. Martin on Twitter anymore? He killed all 140 characters. HA!)
So how do we do it?
Small Magics: A young man discovers magic in a world where no one believes in it anymore, except one person who is willing to kill to possess it all.
Cold Magics: A young magician must find a way to end a war before the church finds an excuse to hang him for witchcraft.
(Don’t you just want to go buy them both now? You really should. The link is in the book titles)
Just like your elevator pitch, your ad copy should make folks interested enough to click through to decide if they want to buy the book.
The next step is to take my elevator pitches and shrink them to less than 100 characters. They have to be less than 100 characters because I also need:
Remember: most book purchases are impulse buys. If the person reading my ad has the impulse to buy, I don’t want to make them wait.
I had the good fortune to talk with Tee Morris [link] recently. He knows a great deal more about social media than I do, so I asked him what, in his opinion, was the maximum number of times a day one should advertise so as not to annoy one’s followers?
His answer? Three times a day. Enough to get attention and reach people at different times of the day, not so much as will drive them away.
That said, people don’t like seeing the same ad day in and day out. It becomes boring, so in addition to creating the ad above, I should probably create at least 4 others.
For each book.
And I should put them in a rotating schedule so my followers aren’t being bombarded by the same ads at the same time of day every time.
Really, I am!
Stop looking at me like that…
I am developing 10 twitter ads which will run in staggered rotation through the day and week so as not to bore or drive away followers. You’ll be seeing them soon and, if I do it right, the copy will be spread far and wide across the twitterverse, and all of you will buy my book and my publisher will do little happy dances in the street.
…Here’s hoping.
Next Week: Things I still need to learn about Twitter.
So, last week was all about my “please be my follower” strategy on twitter (and if you aren’t my follower, I’m @erik_buchanan, and don’t you want to be my friend?). This week is all about getting folks to buy my book from twitter, and that means it's all about ad copy.
Ad copy is HARD.
It needs to be clean, concise, interesting and not irritating. Remember the big three of marketing: think, feel, do? It all needs to be in there:Good copy has:
1. Something to get your attention (Think: This sounds really interesting!)
2. Something to make you want the book (Feel: I want to know what happens!)
3. A way for you to buy the book (Do: I’m buying this book!)
And because this is Twitter, it has to be done in 140 characters. Ideally in 100 characters so other people can comment and re-tweet.
(Joke: Why isn’t George R.R. Martin on Twitter anymore? He killed all 140 characters. HA!)
So how do we do it?
1. Getting your attention
A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, so putting in the book cover is good (I have good covers). Also, pictures are more likely to get re-tweets. So I should either use my book covers or find cool photos related to the books and use them to get your attention.2. Making you want more
I find my elevator pitches very useful here. The purpose of an elevator pitch is to make the person listening to it want to hear more. Observe:Small Magics: A young man discovers magic in a world where no one believes in it anymore, except one person who is willing to kill to possess it all.
Cold Magics: A young magician must find a way to end a war before the church finds an excuse to hang him for witchcraft.
(Don’t you just want to go buy them both now? You really should. The link is in the book titles)
Just like your elevator pitch, your ad copy should make folks interested enough to click through to decide if they want to buy the book.
The next step is to take my elevator pitches and shrink them to less than 100 characters. They have to be less than 100 characters because I also need:
3. A Way for You to Buy the Book
I need to link to to my publisher’s website or to Amazon, and since my publisher’s website is under construction right now, it’s going to be Amazon.Remember: most book purchases are impulse buys. If the person reading my ad has the impulse to buy, I don’t want to make them wait.
How Often Should I Tweet?
Some authors send out twenty tweets a day about their books, most of them the same. I tend to tune them out and suspect you do, too. So how many tweets should I send out to get maximum effect with minimum irritation?I had the good fortune to talk with Tee Morris [link] recently. He knows a great deal more about social media than I do, so I asked him what, in his opinion, was the maximum number of times a day one should advertise so as not to annoy one’s followers?
His answer? Three times a day. Enough to get attention and reach people at different times of the day, not so much as will drive them away.
That said, people don’t like seeing the same ad day in and day out. It becomes boring, so in addition to creating the ad above, I should probably create at least 4 others.
For each book.
And I should put them in a rotating schedule so my followers aren’t being bombarded by the same ads at the same time of day every time.
So Where Are They?
I’m working on it!Really, I am!
Stop looking at me like that…
I am developing 10 twitter ads which will run in staggered rotation through the day and week so as not to bore or drive away followers. You’ll be seeing them soon and, if I do it right, the copy will be spread far and wide across the twitterverse, and all of you will buy my book and my publisher will do little happy dances in the street.
…Here’s hoping.
Next Week: Things I still need to learn about Twitter.
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Marketing True Magics 7: Twittering To The Masses, My Journey So Far
The delay on True Magics, final book in my Magics Trilogy, has given me extra time to build my social media presence and following, and take my time in planning out the rest of my marketing campaign. So far, my main focus has been on Twitter.
(Buy Small Magics and Cold Magics so you'll be ready when True Magics comes out and yes, I am getting the sales pitch out of the way early)
And most important of all, it is very, very easy to be found and followed.
I’m still learning Twitter. There’s a lot about it I don’t know, and there’s a steep learning curve ahead as I work on turning my followers into my fans, but here’s what I’ve got so far.
Right?
Right…?
Little love here, folks…
All right. It’s not because I’m stunningly interesting (though I do try). The truth is that if you’re not already famous (or notorious), rich or stunningly good looking, you aren’t going to be building followers at any great speed just by being present and tweeting regularly.
So I’m doing it differently.
After some research I decided to gain new followers as described in this article by C.S. Larkin. The gist of it is this: I follow people who are interested in the same things I am, and the ones that follow me back, I keep. The ones that don’t follow back, I unfollow, usually in 24 to 48 hours.
It sounds fairly heartless, doesn’t it?
I think of it like cold calling in sales. I follow someone. They look over my tweets and decide if they want me to follow back. When they do I send them a direct message. Once they read that, they decide if they want to keep me. If they don't, I unfollow them to make room for those who will.
That said, a properly written direct message is a polite way to tell a new follower that you are glad to have them. Here’s mine:
No sales pitch. No requests for friends on Facebook. No requests to visit my website. No demand for retweets.
Of the 4500 followers I have gained in the last few months, I have had exactly one complaint. So I’d say it’s working just fine.
Another word for them is “fans.” And turning followers into fans is my job. If they aren't interested, they'll leave.
The daily tweets are the hard ones because if I’m not careful they become a variation on “Sitting at #desk. #Amwriting.” Most of the articles I send out get at least 2 retweets. Some get many more, including some of these blog posts. Thanks, folks.
If you are advertising your book/play/web series/comic/event with exciting copy and I read it, I will probably re-tweet it (Put “#Retweet” “#RT” or best of all, “Please #Retweet” in your tweets to improve your retweet numbers). If you have boring or nonsensical copy, I will not. My follower’s time (and mine) is valuable. I’m not going to waste it.
I don’t retweet anything political or religious because my twitter feed is for selling books, not debating beliefs. I don’t retweet anything off-colour because of the demographics of my target audiences.
Don’t be creepy.
One of the problems with JustUnfollow is that, if you follow as many as I do, you tend not to look at whom you follow. This can lead to political or religious connections you don’t want, people you don’t like, and some times, it can make you look creepy.
Case in point: My next series is a YA horror series aimed at young adults, with a possible middle grade audience as well. I thought about following Rick Riordan’s followers, figuring they would like what I write. Fortunately I looked them over first.
As would be expected for someone who writes middle-grade fiction, most of Rick Riordan's followers are minors.
I did not follow them.
As a rule, I try not to follow anyone under 18 years old. Because having a guy in his 40s following you when you’re a minor is creepy.
Don’t be creepy.
Next week: Wait a minute! What about Promoting Your Books on Twitter?
(Buy Small Magics and Cold Magics so you'll be ready when True Magics comes out and yes, I am getting the sales pitch out of the way early)
Why Twitter?
It’s the easiest to use and the fastest to build a following on. Twitter has lots of writers, readers, fantasy fans, horror fans, historical fiction fans, YA fans, etc., etc., etc.And most important of all, it is very, very easy to be found and followed.
I’m still learning Twitter. There’s a lot about it I don’t know, and there’s a steep learning curve ahead as I work on turning my followers into my fans, but here’s what I’ve got so far.
Getting More Followers
I’ve gone from approximately 150 followers to 4,761 at the time of typing this. I expect to break 5,000 by the end of the week. And it’s all because I am, in fact, stunningly interesting.Right?
Right…?
Little love here, folks…
All right. It’s not because I’m stunningly interesting (though I do try). The truth is that if you’re not already famous (or notorious), rich or stunningly good looking, you aren’t going to be building followers at any great speed just by being present and tweeting regularly.
So I’m doing it differently.
After some research I decided to gain new followers as described in this article by C.S. Larkin. The gist of it is this: I follow people who are interested in the same things I am, and the ones that follow me back, I keep. The ones that don’t follow back, I unfollow, usually in 24 to 48 hours.
It sounds fairly heartless, doesn’t it?
I think of it like cold calling in sales. I follow someone. They look over my tweets and decide if they want me to follow back. When they do I send them a direct message. Once they read that, they decide if they want to keep me. If they don't, I unfollow them to make room for those who will.
A Word About that Direct Message
There is debate over direct messages in Twitter. They’re used for advertising and for spam, they’re impersonal (if you write them badly) and they can annoy people.That said, a properly written direct message is a polite way to tell a new follower that you are glad to have them. Here’s mine:
Welcome! I tweet about writing, books, TV, movies, web series, science, stage combat, and stuff that’s just neat. Thanks for following!
No sales pitch. No requests for friends on Facebook. No requests to visit my website. No demand for retweets.
Of the 4500 followers I have gained in the last few months, I have had exactly one complaint. So I’d say it’s working just fine.
So How Do I Find Followers?
I use JustUnfollow to find people to follow because it allows me to search by hashtag or keyword (such as #amwriting #amreading #fantasy #scifi #horror #YA). It also allows me to find people who write similar things and follow their followers. That’s the one that works best for me so far.But are they “good” followers?
Right now, my followers are made up of:- fans
- people who think I’m interesting
- people who think I might be interesting
- people who automatically follow back anyone who follows them
- The odd spam-bot (I'm working on wiping those out).
Another word for them is “fans.” And turning followers into fans is my job. If they aren't interested, they'll leave.
Tweeting!
I try to live tweet at least tree times a day. I also use find.ly every week to gather together articles I like (see the list in my Direct Message) and Hootsuite to send out scheduled tweets with them. This way the account is always active.The daily tweets are the hard ones because if I’m not careful they become a variation on “Sitting at #desk. #Amwriting.” Most of the articles I send out get at least 2 retweets. Some get many more, including some of these blog posts. Thanks, folks.
Retweeting and Favoriting
I do as much of this as I can, when I can. I favorite and retweet causes I support and statements I agree with, as well as articles, pictures or tweets that fall into the parameter of my welcome message, or that I find funny or interesting.If you are advertising your book/play/web series/comic/event with exciting copy and I read it, I will probably re-tweet it (Put “#Retweet” “#RT” or best of all, “Please #Retweet” in your tweets to improve your retweet numbers). If you have boring or nonsensical copy, I will not. My follower’s time (and mine) is valuable. I’m not going to waste it.
I don’t retweet anything political or religious because my twitter feed is for selling books, not debating beliefs. I don’t retweet anything off-colour because of the demographics of my target audiences.
Final Note: Don't Be Creepy
This article went way longer than I expected, both in time to write and length, but I need to say one more thing.Don’t be creepy.
One of the problems with JustUnfollow is that, if you follow as many as I do, you tend not to look at whom you follow. This can lead to political or religious connections you don’t want, people you don’t like, and some times, it can make you look creepy.
Case in point: My next series is a YA horror series aimed at young adults, with a possible middle grade audience as well. I thought about following Rick Riordan’s followers, figuring they would like what I write. Fortunately I looked them over first.
As would be expected for someone who writes middle-grade fiction, most of Rick Riordan's followers are minors.
I did not follow them.
As a rule, I try not to follow anyone under 18 years old. Because having a guy in his 40s following you when you’re a minor is creepy.
Don’t be creepy.
Next week: Wait a minute! What about Promoting Your Books on Twitter?
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Marketing True Magics 6: Reaching Your Target Audience (without being creepy)
Last week we defined Target Audiences. That was the easy part. In case you forget:
A writer’s target audience is the group of people most likely to buy that writer’s books.
This week we’re talking about the hard part: reachin your target audience. Because unlike the old days when I was that kid getting shouted at instead of the one shouting “get off my lawn!” there are lots and lots and lots of ways to reach an audience. Most of them are electronic, but not all, and not the most successful ones.
God, there are a lot of us.
But that’s why I chose the five social media that I chose: Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest and Youtube in that order. Each one of these allows people who are interested in you to follow you and see what it is you have to say.
So how do you get people to notice you? More important, how do you get the right people to notice you?
There are two answers. First, be engaging. Second, seek them out. To be engaging:
Have a full profile on any social media that you are on. Explain who you are and what you do in the most engaging way possible. Put whatever you want them to be interested in first. If you are a writer (like me), it should be the first thing people on your profile. The rest of your profile should show what an interesting and well-rounded person you are, and make the people to whom you want to sell your books, want to follow you after they’ve read it.
Share stuff that is interesting to you. Talk about interesting subjects, post interesting pictures, put up interesting videos, share interesting articles. People who share your interests will follow you and those people are likely to become your target audience. Talk about yourself in an interesting way, and in what you are selling in an interesting way, but not so often as to make them lose interest through repetition.
Share the things your followers find interesting. Repost the things your followers post, if you find them interesting. People who like what you like are good people; the sort of people who will buy your books.
(Speaking of which, have you bought Small Magics and Cold Magics yet? Because it isn’t a blog post without a sales pitch…).
Yes, all this a lot of work. Yes, it’s a time-suck. Yes, it takes away time you could be writing. It also gives you a better chance of selling your writing, which is the point of this whole exercise.
I mentioned that the second way to get people to notice you is to seek them out. The way to do this requires far more space then I have here. So in the weeks ahead, I promise a separate blog post for each of the social media platforms I’m using, explaining my strategy to seek out followers for each one and how well it’s working so far. Meanwhile…
The issue is that most reviewers want a paper copy of your book, and that costs money. My publisher is a small press, and they can only afford to send out so many ARCs (Advance Reading Copies). I can also buy some and have the publisher send them out on my behalf, but that costs money too. So how do I pick which reviewers to send to?
Target professional/semi-professional reviewers who reach your target audience. If you write fantasy (like I do), target fantasy reviewers. If you write romance, target romance reviewers. If you write non-fiction about the erotic life of Kierkegaard as displayed through his philosophic essays… well, good luck.
Target reviewers who like the style of story that you write. There are few things more annoying to book sales than bad reviews, so try to avoid getting them when you can. Look over a reviewers reviews of books similar to your before you send them a copy. If they don't like them, don't waste your money.
Target the reviewers above in order of the number of people who read their reviews. If you’re going to spend money, you want to reach the maximum number of people, so make sure the reviewers who are getting printed ARCs have enough readers that there’s a good chance to make up for the cost of the ARC in your sales.
Target reviewers who reach your target audience and are willing to take an electronic ARC. After you set it up, electronic copy is essentially free. Send as many as you can to as many reviewers as you think will be interested and will take it. Because these are essentially free, you can give them to reviewers with smaller audience bases.
Remember, the point of a review is to get the attention of people who might buy your book – your target audience.
For me, the places are sci-fi conventions, book fairs, and book stores. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but there are a lot around and they are all over the place.
The question is, is it worth the money?
The answer is yes. And no.
Events aren’t going to be the places you build up huge audience. You won’t get massive sales there. If you’re lucky, you’ll break even.
What events will give you are fans. Real fans. Not just people who like you on twitter, but people who have met you, talked to you, listened to you, and actively liked you. These people are worth a dozen facebook followers and a hundred twitter followers because they’re the ones that are going to say to their friends, “I met him/her. He/she is a really nice person and writes such wonderful books. You should definitely buy his/her book so that he/she can afford to write more!”
Fans are worth their weight in gold and need to be properly cultivated. And the more of them you have, the more of them you’re going to get as they tell their friends, “hey, have you read this?”
Don’t be creepy.
Don’t get in people’s faces, don’t ask personal questions, and don’t send out material that is racist, sexist or hate-filled. This makes you a jerk, and very few people like following a jerk.
If part of your demographic is teenagers (and part of mine is) or children (not my demographic, but might be yours) NEVER send out material with explicit sexuality or explicitly violent images. Don’t make sexual jokes or sexual innuendoes, on line or in person, and always be on your best behavior at conventions and events.
As a writer, you are the chief spokesperson for your product. Be the sort of person that even people who aren’t in your target audience will say, “They seem like good people.”
That’s it for this week.
Next week: Twittering To The Masses, My Journey So Far.
A writer’s target audience is the group of people most likely to buy that writer’s books.
This week we’re talking about the hard part: reachin your target audience. Because unlike the old days when I was that kid getting shouted at instead of the one shouting “get off my lawn!” there are lots and lots and lots of ways to reach an audience. Most of them are electronic, but not all, and not the most successful ones.
Social Media
Yay, Social Media! I can reach people there because that’s not cluttered at all, right?God, there are a lot of us.
But that’s why I chose the five social media that I chose: Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest and Youtube in that order. Each one of these allows people who are interested in you to follow you and see what it is you have to say.
So how do you get people to notice you? More important, how do you get the right people to notice you?
There are two answers. First, be engaging. Second, seek them out. To be engaging:
Have a full profile on any social media that you are on. Explain who you are and what you do in the most engaging way possible. Put whatever you want them to be interested in first. If you are a writer (like me), it should be the first thing people on your profile. The rest of your profile should show what an interesting and well-rounded person you are, and make the people to whom you want to sell your books, want to follow you after they’ve read it.
Share stuff that is interesting to you. Talk about interesting subjects, post interesting pictures, put up interesting videos, share interesting articles. People who share your interests will follow you and those people are likely to become your target audience. Talk about yourself in an interesting way, and in what you are selling in an interesting way, but not so often as to make them lose interest through repetition.
Share the things your followers find interesting. Repost the things your followers post, if you find them interesting. People who like what you like are good people; the sort of people who will buy your books.
(Speaking of which, have you bought Small Magics and Cold Magics yet? Because it isn’t a blog post without a sales pitch…).
Yes, all this a lot of work. Yes, it’s a time-suck. Yes, it takes away time you could be writing. It also gives you a better chance of selling your writing, which is the point of this whole exercise.
I mentioned that the second way to get people to notice you is to seek them out. The way to do this requires far more space then I have here. So in the weeks ahead, I promise a separate blog post for each of the social media platforms I’m using, explaining my strategy to seek out followers for each one and how well it’s working so far. Meanwhile…
Reviews
Good reviews help you reach your target audience. A review itself may not be enough to make a person buy your book on the spot, but the review puts the idea of your book in a person’s mind, and the more often that happens, the more likely they are to buy your book when they see it, whether that’s on Amazon, a book shelf, or a table at a convention (which I’ll talk about in a moment).The issue is that most reviewers want a paper copy of your book, and that costs money. My publisher is a small press, and they can only afford to send out so many ARCs (Advance Reading Copies). I can also buy some and have the publisher send them out on my behalf, but that costs money too. So how do I pick which reviewers to send to?
Target professional/semi-professional reviewers who reach your target audience. If you write fantasy (like I do), target fantasy reviewers. If you write romance, target romance reviewers. If you write non-fiction about the erotic life of Kierkegaard as displayed through his philosophic essays… well, good luck.
Target reviewers who like the style of story that you write. There are few things more annoying to book sales than bad reviews, so try to avoid getting them when you can. Look over a reviewers reviews of books similar to your before you send them a copy. If they don't like them, don't waste your money.
Target the reviewers above in order of the number of people who read their reviews. If you’re going to spend money, you want to reach the maximum number of people, so make sure the reviewers who are getting printed ARCs have enough readers that there’s a good chance to make up for the cost of the ARC in your sales.
Target reviewers who reach your target audience and are willing to take an electronic ARC. After you set it up, electronic copy is essentially free. Send as many as you can to as many reviewers as you think will be interested and will take it. Because these are essentially free, you can give them to reviewers with smaller audience bases.
Remember, the point of a review is to get the attention of people who might buy your book – your target audience.
Events
You didn’t think you could sit at home the whole time, did you? Unless you’re writing stories for your kid(s) and family alone (which I have done), your target audience is not just sitting in your living room.For me, the places are sci-fi conventions, book fairs, and book stores. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but there are a lot around and they are all over the place.
The question is, is it worth the money?
The answer is yes. And no.
Events aren’t going to be the places you build up huge audience. You won’t get massive sales there. If you’re lucky, you’ll break even.
What events will give you are fans. Real fans. Not just people who like you on twitter, but people who have met you, talked to you, listened to you, and actively liked you. These people are worth a dozen facebook followers and a hundred twitter followers because they’re the ones that are going to say to their friends, “I met him/her. He/she is a really nice person and writes such wonderful books. You should definitely buy his/her book so that he/she can afford to write more!”
Fans are worth their weight in gold and need to be properly cultivated. And the more of them you have, the more of them you’re going to get as they tell their friends, “hey, have you read this?”
One Last Thing: Don’t be Creepy
I’ll get into this more when I talk about each social media feed (especially Twitter), but I want to mention it here:Don’t be creepy.
Don’t get in people’s faces, don’t ask personal questions, and don’t send out material that is racist, sexist or hate-filled. This makes you a jerk, and very few people like following a jerk.
If part of your demographic is teenagers (and part of mine is) or children (not my demographic, but might be yours) NEVER send out material with explicit sexuality or explicitly violent images. Don’t make sexual jokes or sexual innuendoes, on line or in person, and always be on your best behavior at conventions and events.
As a writer, you are the chief spokesperson for your product. Be the sort of person that even people who aren’t in your target audience will say, “They seem like good people.”
That’s it for this week.
Next week: Twittering To The Masses, My Journey So Far.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Marketing True Magics 5: Target Audiences or Who Are My Readers?
The single hardest thing in any business is getting people to know you exist. And in this business, it can be very difficult indeed.
There were (on a researched guess because stats are hard to find) approximately 2,000,000 books published last year world-wide, including self-publishing.
That’s a whole lot of books.
Add to that, that most book purchases are impulse purchases, and without a powerhouse distributor behind you to ensure your book is in every bookstore, drugstore, airport and Walmart in the country, it becomes very easy to be lost in the clutter.
So how do we get noticed?
Your Target Audience
The writer in me always imagines either a group of people sitting in front of a stage wearing t-shirts with a series of coloured, concentric circles on them, or a large group of people staring eagerly at an archery butt. Both are wrong, though the first one is pretty close:
A writer’s target audience is the group of people most likely to buy that writer’s books.
This is one of the reasons many writers stick to one genre. If you’ve done fairly well with your gritty, realistic detective dramas, chances are your audience isn’t necessarily going to enjoy the fantasy romance with the beautiful magical princess you’ve just written.
(And vice-versa: never underestimate the selling power of the fantasy romance with a beautiful magical princess).
There are ways around this, of course. J.K. Rowling writes her detective series under a different name. Other authors who work across genres do the same. Some write across genres and work hard to make sure each audience knows what they’re getting, which takes some work, but can also yield good results, though it may drive their agent/publisher insane.
“My Book Appeals to Everyone!”
No. It doesn’t.
No book appeals to everyone, and thinking that yours does means that you are going to be wasting your time and your money marketing to the wrong people, and will probably sell a lot fewer copies than you would otherwise.
Take the time to define exactly what genre your books are in.
My first three novels (Small Magics, Cold Magics and in April 2015, True Magics) are Fantasy Genre, and would be considered either New Adult or Young Adult.
By way of comparison, my new series (under development), is Young Adult, Horror, Ghost Stories, Historical (Victorian).
The more specific you can be about what sort of book you have written, the easier it is to find the sort of people who want to read it.
Speaking of which…
Next Week: Reaching Your Target Audience (without being creepy)
There were (on a researched guess because stats are hard to find) approximately 2,000,000 books published last year world-wide, including self-publishing.
That’s a whole lot of books.
Add to that, that most book purchases are impulse purchases, and without a powerhouse distributor behind you to ensure your book is in every bookstore, drugstore, airport and Walmart in the country, it becomes very easy to be lost in the clutter.
So how do we get noticed?
Your Target Audience
The writer in me always imagines either a group of people sitting in front of a stage wearing t-shirts with a series of coloured, concentric circles on them, or a large group of people staring eagerly at an archery butt. Both are wrong, though the first one is pretty close:
A writer’s target audience is the group of people most likely to buy that writer’s books.
This is one of the reasons many writers stick to one genre. If you’ve done fairly well with your gritty, realistic detective dramas, chances are your audience isn’t necessarily going to enjoy the fantasy romance with the beautiful magical princess you’ve just written.
(And vice-versa: never underestimate the selling power of the fantasy romance with a beautiful magical princess).
There are ways around this, of course. J.K. Rowling writes her detective series under a different name. Other authors who work across genres do the same. Some write across genres and work hard to make sure each audience knows what they’re getting, which takes some work, but can also yield good results, though it may drive their agent/publisher insane.
“My Book Appeals to Everyone!”
No. It doesn’t.
No book appeals to everyone, and thinking that yours does means that you are going to be wasting your time and your money marketing to the wrong people, and will probably sell a lot fewer copies than you would otherwise.
Take the time to define exactly what genre your books are in.
My first three novels (Small Magics, Cold Magics and in April 2015, True Magics) are Fantasy Genre, and would be considered either New Adult or Young Adult.
By way of comparison, my new series (under development), is Young Adult, Horror, Ghost Stories, Historical (Victorian).
The more specific you can be about what sort of book you have written, the easier it is to find the sort of people who want to read it.
Speaking of which…
Next Week: Reaching Your Target Audience (without being creepy)
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Marketing "True Magics" 1: It’s Written! Now What?
I’ve got True Magics written! It’s done! And I have a contract with a Dragon Moon Press to publish it! This is amazing! It’s wonderful! It’s…
… the third time I’ve done this. And yes, it is still cool.
My first published novel was Small Magics (2007), my second was Cold Magics (2010). True Magics (2014?) will be my third.
My name is Erik Buchanan. If you read my last post, you’ll know I’m an author, and you’ll know that I am a professional writer. It’s all I do and it’s how I earn my living.
What you don’t know is that I spent seven years working in corporate communications, which is a not-selling-you-something way of saying marketing.
And for those seven years I was too busy, too tired and too wrapped up in making a living and commuting and working over time and dealing with my disintegrating marriage and building a new life after separation to focus on the thing that I really wanted: being a professional author.
Now, things have settled. I don’t have a commute anymore, save from the bedroom to the kitchen table where I work. I do what I love for a living. My domestic life has stabilized and most of the stress that was sucking the energy and life out of me has gone.
And that means I have both the time and resources to properly market my latest book, and use what I build there to help sell the next one.
These blog posts: “Marketing True Magics” are going to document this journey, from picking the tools I’m going to use, to planning out the marketing strategy, to implementation of the tactics that will support that strategy.
And I am hoping that you’ll come with me. Whether you’re an author or an aspiring author, a marketer, an agent or an editor, a fan or just curious to see what goes into making a small press book get noticed.
Together we’re going to see what works well and what works poorly, what helps sell my book and what wastes my time. And at the end of it all, we’ll all know more so that for my next book (or for your next book) we’ll do even better.
Next week: It’s Not Just the Book.
… the third time I’ve done this. And yes, it is still cool.
My first published novel was Small Magics (2007), my second was Cold Magics (2010). True Magics (2014?) will be my third.
My name is Erik Buchanan. If you read my last post, you’ll know I’m an author, and you’ll know that I am a professional writer. It’s all I do and it’s how I earn my living.
What you don’t know is that I spent seven years working in corporate communications, which is a not-selling-you-something way of saying marketing.
And for those seven years I was too busy, too tired and too wrapped up in making a living and commuting and working over time and dealing with my disintegrating marriage and building a new life after separation to focus on the thing that I really wanted: being a professional author.
Now, things have settled. I don’t have a commute anymore, save from the bedroom to the kitchen table where I work. I do what I love for a living. My domestic life has stabilized and most of the stress that was sucking the energy and life out of me has gone.
And that means I have both the time and resources to properly market my latest book, and use what I build there to help sell the next one.
These blog posts: “Marketing True Magics” are going to document this journey, from picking the tools I’m going to use, to planning out the marketing strategy, to implementation of the tactics that will support that strategy.
And I am hoping that you’ll come with me. Whether you’re an author or an aspiring author, a marketer, an agent or an editor, a fan or just curious to see what goes into making a small press book get noticed.
Together we’re going to see what works well and what works poorly, what helps sell my book and what wastes my time. And at the end of it all, we’ll all know more so that for my next book (or for your next book) we’ll do even better.
Next week: It’s Not Just the Book.
Monday, July 21, 2014
This Writing Life 1: Introductions
It's 8:30 a.m. and I am at my desk.
Well, desk is a misnomer. I'm sitting at the kitchen table in our apartment in downtown Toronto, Canada. But this table is where I work, so until the family comes home it’s my desk.
My name is Erik Buchanan. I’m a professional writer, and I make a pretty good living at it. “This Writing Life” is a series about how I got here, how I stay here, how you can get here, and what all of us who write can do to improve our writing.
My desk chair faces a wall. There’s a window beside me but I have to crane my neck to look out, which keeps me from staring at the garden and daydreaming.
Instead, if I look up from my computer I can see two whiteboards. The smaller whiteboard lists my projects. There are about a dozen, and so far everything is running on time.
The big whiteboard shows the story arcs for my new novel, True Magics, (due out this fall). The story arcs are written in in eight different colours and look a mess, but they tells me exactly what I need to fix.
Today’s writing tasks:
Tomorrow looks similar, except it’s six hours of editing True Magics, seven if I can squeeze in the time.
This is where I am: in my office, writing for a living. And I love it.
So how did I get here?
I’ll talk about that next week.
Well, desk is a misnomer. I'm sitting at the kitchen table in our apartment in downtown Toronto, Canada. But this table is where I work, so until the family comes home it’s my desk.
My name is Erik Buchanan. I’m a professional writer, and I make a pretty good living at it. “This Writing Life” is a series about how I got here, how I stay here, how you can get here, and what all of us who write can do to improve our writing.
My desk chair faces a wall. There’s a window beside me but I have to crane my neck to look out, which keeps me from staring at the garden and daydreaming.
Instead, if I look up from my computer I can see two whiteboards. The smaller whiteboard lists my projects. There are about a dozen, and so far everything is running on time.
The big whiteboard shows the story arcs for my new novel, True Magics, (due out this fall). The story arcs are written in in eight different colours and look a mess, but they tells me exactly what I need to fix.
Today’s writing tasks:
- This blog post
- Four hours of ghostwriting for a client,
- Three hours of editing on True Magics
Tomorrow looks similar, except it’s six hours of editing True Magics, seven if I can squeeze in the time.
This is where I am: in my office, writing for a living. And I love it.
So how did I get here?
I’ll talk about that next week.
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