Book Visibility and the Single Author

Every once in a while, I’ll look up from my keyboard, stare out the window, and daydream about having a PR team.

Chin in the palm of my hand, plot lines and characters forgotten, I imagine a flurry of activity around my make-shift office. There’s someone on the phone, arranging radio and newspaper press releases. Another has a calendar, making mad notations about yet another book signing. A quiet guy in skinny jeans and a Club Monaco shirt is returning emails from bloggers and reviewers, sending out review copies and queuing up interview questions. And there are no less than half a dozen interns, legs shackled to a long table, each pounding away at their laptops, sending out Tweets and Facebook statuses and checking in with every single social medium that has my name on an account. If they are lucky, I will let them have a water break around noon.

Then, my focus returns, and it’s just me again. No interns, no Club Monaco shirt guy. Just me, and my book, and a red spot on my forehead from face-planting on my desk, defeated.

THE AUTHOR: A TEAM OF ONE

When my first book came out in 2012, I had only one burning plan. It was THE PLAN. I was gonna have myself a blog tour. I figured it would be a great way to get my new book in front of the audiences I wanted to woo.

Visibility. That was the target.

I researched book blogs and review sites and other authors in my genre and I emailed each one, announcing my soon-to-be released book and asking if they’d be interested in hosting me. I had review copies. I had graphics. I had blurbs and links. And I had a mountain of hope in my soul.

And nearly had a coronary as the responses came in. The huge majority were happy to help. Would I like to do an interview or send in a guest post? I responded enthusiastically. Of course I would---I’d love to! I ended up booking a full month of blog stops... and I could not wait to get started.

Looking back, I wonder how I survived it all. I learned very quickly the tremendous amount of work that goes into a blog tour. The emails. The organizing. The scheduling. The writing of guest posts and original material. The visits to each stop, several times a day, to thank and engage and respond. The reminders to my socials to invite my readers and friends and family and the strangers who friended me on Facebook and everybody within shouting distance to visit that day’s stop.

Work, work, work, work, work.

Was it effective? Sure. The book got a ton of exposure, and I met readers and bloggers along that tour who have stuck by me since. Most of all, I attained the main objective: visibility. I even learned loads of new stuff, including the most important lesson of all—you can never do too much promotion.

That’s exhausting. I get tired just writing about it.

So why write about it?

Because promotion is still a key element in the success of my books. I’m an indie writer. I’ve published novels with small presses, self-produced several ebook anthologies of my shorter work, and am preparing to enter the final stages of production on my first self-produced novel. (And, because I have so much free time *snort* I’m developing a poetry chap book.)

However, I don’t get to just sit and write and plan and produce…I have a backlist to promote. I will always have a backlist to promote. Difference between 2012 and today is that now I have a handful of irons in the fire, and I simply don’t have the time to run an exhaustive blog tour.

I’d already known that visibility is essential for success, and that being a trending topic wouldn’t hurt, either. But how can we get that visibility without losing precious writing time?

Good thing that the big wide world of book promotion is huge and varied and full of helpful people and services. After all, a great philosopher once said “A single view alone does not a trend make.”

THE AUTHOR’S FANTASY PR TEAM

BOOK PROMOTION COMPANIES have taken most of the stress out of planning tours. For a fee, you can schedule the blog tour of your dreams, whether it be a one-day blast or a four-week tour. Best part is that they come with built-in connections to bloggers and reviewers, something a new author may not yet have.

GOODREADS is a writer’s best friend and is essential for the success of your book. My favorite parts? Participating in group Read and Review programs and offering print copies of my book in the First Reads giveaway program.

FACEBOOK and TWITTER are by now old hat for writers. We know the importance of using our social media powers and the benefits of having a healthy following. The trick most of us need to learn, therefore, is not the why…it’s the how. How can we get use of social media, knowing that Facebook can turn on us at any moment and pull us into its time-sucking vortex of memes and kitteh pictures?

Multi-tasking, that’s how. Use a platform that gets one message sent across all your outlets. Hootsuite lets you organize your accounts, pick any or all of them for a particular message, even schedule announcements. It’s free. It’s got owls on it. Win, win, win.

SMART PHONES really are clever little things, with their cameras and their Candy Crush and their awesome little app stores. My phone is my main command center, even when it comes to engaging my readers. I multi-send my announcements from my Windows phone using Unishare. And I love Instagram because I can send a picture AND a text message to every single medium I have. In a world where I have less time than ever before, I adore a time saver.

Another thing that would help is everybody talking about your book, preferably at the same time, so that you might attain the enlightened state of virality.

THUNDERCLAP and HEADTALKER are another no-cost way to make a big noise with a single message. These crowd speaking platforms allow you to create a message, enlist the help of fellow social media addicts, and launch a campaign that, if successful, will get your announcement sent out on a particular day and time by everyone. People can “donate” a Tweet or a Facebook status to promote your message. Hit it just right, get enough help, and you just might start to trend. I created a Thunderclap and a simultaneous Headtalker campaign to promote free Kindle days for my last release, along with a slew of other promotional efforts. The bulk of my downloads came shortly after those campaigns went live. Never underestimate the power of a crowd.

Remember that great philosopher, who said it best: “What is the sound of one Tweet tweeting?” That’s deep thinking there.

(For a first-hand look at Thunderclap and Headtalker, check out my current campaigns at http://thndr.it/1wm1k1J  and  https://headtalker.com/campaigns/smart-steamy-fantasy-romance/  I hope you’ll even join the crowd.)

FREE & BARGAIN EBOOK SITES are officially too numerous to mention them all. Some offer you an opportunity to submit a listing at no cost, while others will list your book for a fee (I’ve found the fees can range anywhere from three to three hundred dollars.) Such services may list your book ad (basically cover, blurb, and links) on their website, include your book in their daily emails to targeted subscribers, and may even pimp it out on their various social media. I query Bookbub for each of my promotions but have yet to get my golden ticket from them. (Kind of like the good old days, when I’d send out submission after hopeful submission, only to get yet another form rejection. Ah. Good times…)

Entire lists of websites like these can be found with a simple search for “free sites to promote ebook”. Some of my favorites include Fussy Librarian, Awesome Gang, Ebook Soda, Ebook Lister, and Book Gorilla.

If you have free Kindle books, try hitting up these Tweeters: @DigitalBkToday @kindleebooks @Kindlestuff @KindleEbooksUK @KindleBookKing @KindleFreeBook @FreeReadFeed @4FreeKindleBook (Of course, there’s a billion more like them so keep looking!)

AND THE LISTS GO ON…

There’s no practical way to get every possible option into a single article…so thank goodness for comment forms. Take a moment to share your favorite promotion tip with the rest of us.

And remember... keep writing. A wise person once said "The way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time." (That's a goofy one, but I swear somebody said it.)

Click to Tweet:

"Book promotion tips for #DIY authors"

"Visibility & the Single Author #book #promo #tips"

My recent release, a fantasy romance called WORDS THAT BIND, is on sale for a limited time…I'd be thrilled if you shared with your readers. See crowdspeaking in action! : )

"Some wishes should be Forbidden... WORDS THAT BIND by @AshKrafton #fantasy #romance #ebook on sale $.99"

 

Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer who, despite having a Time Turner under her couch and three different sonic screwdrivers in her purse, still encounters difficulty with time management. Visit Ash at www.ashkrafton.com for news on her urban fantasy series The Books of the Demimonde (Pink Narcissus Press). Her paranormal romance WORDS THAT BIND (The Wild Rose Press) is available and on sale for 99 cents through January 22, 2014.

12 Tips For Increasing Your Book’s Visibility (Even Before You’re Published)

There is a simple rule when it comes to selling your book. If the reader doesn’t know it exists, she won’t buy it. The solution is easy: make sure the reader knows about your book. Here are some popular (and not so popular) methods to increase your book’s visibility.


1. Run down the street naked with your cover painted on your chest. This will increase your book’s visibility (among other things), especially when you make it to the evening news after your arrest.


2. Create a website and list your current books and upcoming releases. Include the blurb and covers (when available). Make sure that all your social media sites are linked to it and are working. There is nothing more frustrating for a reader than to clink on an author’s link only to receive an error message.


3. Become involved in Facebook and/or Goodreads groups that pertain to your story. They can be genre specific (e.g. for New Adult authors or YA paranormal reads) or topic specific (e.g. breeding horses). Make sure you are actively involved. By that, I don’t mean annoy the members with spam. Read the rules of the group. If promotional activities are not allowed, then don’t ignore the rules and post your latest picture teaser. If you do, you’ll be kicked out faster than you can say your name. If promotional activities are permitted (e.g. cover reveals), make sure that you aren’t just posting promotional announcements and not participating in other discussions. Regular members tend to ignore promotional posts by individuals who only promote in the group. They are much more supportive to those individuals who regularly contribute to discussions.


4. Email everyone in your address folder (including people you haven’t talked to in years), and asked them to buy your book. Better yet, beg them to buy your book. And there’s no need to personalize the emails. Address it to ‘Dear Insignificant Person’ and CC everyone on your list. That is guaranteed to put your book on the bestseller list.  


5. Become active on the various social media sites. You don’t have to be a pro at all of them. Pick the ones most relevant to your target audience, and try to maintain a regular schedule. This might be as simple as blogging or using Tumblr once a week. The more often you’re on it, though, the more likely you’ll make friends with people who will love to help you out (e.g.  creating picture teasers or tweeting about your book).


6. Email total strangers, act like you know them, and tell them to buy your book.


7. Send DMs and Facebook messages to people who just followed or friended you, and tell them to check out your books.


8. Research and write an article related to a topic in your story, and submit it to relevant newspapers and magazines. Even if you can’t mention the title of your book in the article, you can list it in your bio.


9. Hire a blog tour company to help spread news of your book beyond your regular blogging circle. Even if you have a PR person assigned to you through your publisher, you can look at hiring outside help to increase your reach. The publicist might arrange to have your book mentioned on a few big blogs, but the more people who see your book the better. A reader usually has to see the cover three times before she decides to buy the book (or at least check out the blurb). With the number of new books released every day, it’s easy to forget about a book if you only hear it mentioned once.


10. Conduct a workshop. This could be a writer workshop, or it could be a workshop specific to some element of your story. For example, if you wrote a knitting book, teaching a knitting class will help increase the book’s exposure. Now, if you conduct a workshop on creating emotion in the story, the odds of attendees reading the book drops if they write genres different to your novel. But if your workshop is genre specific (e.g. new trends in YA), then you’ve increased the odds that attendees will check out your book. Make sure you don’t bore them by mentioning the title of your books every other sentence. They will quickly tune you out or leave the room if you try that. If you mention other authors’ books, as well as your own, you will gain credibility and will sell more books than the individual who talked incessantly about his book. I’ve seen this happen a number of times.


11. Create a street team. This is hard to do when it’s your first novel. You don’t have fans yet. In this case, you can start off small with friends who have read your book. As your fan base grows, you can add to your street team. Or if you know someone with a great street team, she might share them to help promote your book.


12. Tweet only about your book. Don’t waste time having conversations with other people (especially readers). Don’t waste time talking about anything but your book. Your goal is to spam, spam, spam.


As you may have guessed, not all of these are best practices when it comes to gaining visibility for your book. Unfortunately, there are many authors who do them and wonder why their books never sell (or don’t sell much). Can you identify the promotional no-nos*? What increases the odds that you will check out a book (i.e. read the blurb) or buy it?


(*1, 4, 6, 7, 12 in case you’re wondering)

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes New Adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and can be found at her blog/website.  She is represented by Marisa Corvisiero, and finds it weird talking about herself in third person. Her debut New Adult contemporary romance TELL ME WHEN (Carina Press, HQN) is now available. LET ME KNOW (Carina Press) will be available Sept 1^st, 2014.

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The Rites of Feedback

It doesn’t matter where you are in the publication pathway, feedback is something we all deal with in one form or another.

Critique Partners and Groups

This is the essential first step when it comes to feedback. Most often, it takes place with the exchange of material between critique partners or within a group. Often the writer will send a chapter or several chapters to her partner for detailed feedback (including line edits). Some writers attend monthly meetings and read their chapter to the group. The firing squad individuals will then provide constructive criticism. Your goals, writing level (both yours and those providing the feedback), time frame in which you want to finish the story, and how you respond to feedback will determine which method is best for you. Some people thrive on face-to-face feedback. Other people would rather have their teeth extracted without sedation. For them, online feedback is the ideal choice.

When you receive feedback, it’s best that you zip your mouth shut before you say something you’ll regret. You need time to digest the information. You might not agree with the person now, but 24 hours later you might decide they’re the most intelligent person to walk this planet, because they pointed out something you missed. Now, if you didn’t keep your mouth shut and you ranted on about how the individuals are idiots, you might not be invited back to the group. Or worst yet, your poor behavior will become common knowledge.

Contests

Some contests provide feedback via blogs. Other writers, and possibly an agent or editor, do drive-by critiques. Sometimes the agent or editor will request partials and fulls. The feedback can be as simple as ‘Loved this!’ which does nothing to help you improve the piece if it’s lacking. Or it can be more helpful, by pointing out what you excelled at and what left the reader confused. Sometimes it can be misguided in an attempt to make your entry look weak so the judge will select another one—most likely the one belonging to the person who cut yours to pieces. This usually doesn’t have the effect the individual was looking for, but it doesn’t help you, either, if you’re looking for constructive feedback. The other issue that can happen is similar to the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ scenario. One person finds fault with something (that might not even be a real problem), and everyone jumps on it and echoes the same sentiment. This is often the result of lazy critiquing. The writers involved in the contest have to critique five to ten other entries, and this is the easiest way to do it with minimum effort.

The best thing to do with contests is say nothing when you get feedback. And please don’t waste your time justifying why you did something or waste time answering questions left by an individual (which were most likely rhetorical anyway). You will only come off as defensive. Take what you need from the feedback and ignore everything else. Do, though, pay attention to what the industry expert says. I’ve seen agents love an excerpt that everyone tore apart. Trust what the expert has to say.

Querying

Yes, querying, the word so many writers dread—and for good reason. Unfortunately, there are a lot of writers who believe querying is a fancy word for feedback. But alas, this is not so. These days you’re lucky if you even get a form rejection. The benefit of this is you now know your  query or requested material wasn’t lost in cyberspace. Sometimes an agent or editor will reject your material, but with a kindly worded explanation as to why the story or writing didn’t work for them. Remember, it is subjective. Just because one agent didn’t connect with your characters, it doesn’t mean you need to rewrite the book. However, if your query or requested material continues to be rejected because agents and editors didn’t connect with your characters, that is a warning you need to do some serious rethinking about your characters, your story, and possibly your writing.

No matter how the agent or editor responds to your query, DO NOT email back and tell her that she is a moron for not seeing how brilliant your book is and how you will be the next JK Rowling. I can guarantee that won’t change her mind. And if you keep harassing her with your tirades, news will get around to other agents and editors. I don’t think I need to spell out what that potentially means to your career.

Reviews

After all the feedback and rejections you’ve dealt with along the way, your skin might be a little thicker, but the ultimate test comes now, once your book is published. Your baby has been released into the world, but that doesn’t mean everyone is going to love it. There will be people who dislike your book because they don’t like your trope, they don’t like your characters, they don’t like that your heroine’s favorite color is indigo. But that’s okay because you haven’t love every book you’ve read, right? Now, there will be people who thrive on cutting books down and thrive on calling authors names that should never be spoken in public. No one knows why these people are bullies, and it doesn’t matter the reason. The main thing is you IGNORE THEM. Never feed the trolls. And while you’re at it, don’t let your friends and family feed them, either. The trolls could retaliate, and you’ll be the victim not them.

And it’s not just the trolls you need to ignore. It’s best for everyone concern that you don’t respond to reviews, especially when you don’t agree with them. Remember, reviews aren’t for the author; they’re for the reader. Let readers do their thing, and you do yours—writing the next book.

Where are you on the ‘rites of feedback’ pathway?

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes Young Adult and New Adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and can be found at her blog/website.   She is represented by Marisa Corvisiero, and finds it weird talking about herself in third person. Her debut New Adult contemporary romance TELL ME WHEN (Carina Press, HQN) is now available.

 

Changes to Goodreads Policies

The last year has featured quite a few dustups on Goodreads, whereby reviewers tussled with authors over reviews. Some of these incidents involved authors who were overly sensitive, and some of them involve reviewers who were downright vindictive. As with every other corner of the human experience, misbehavior has been varied and creative.

As a result, some authors and Goodreads users signed a petition, hoping to get Goodreads to police its review space. And Goodreads listened. You can read Goodreads announcement here.

In short, Goodreads has said they'll police (delete) reviews which are not about the book. If a so-called review is a critique of the author's words or actions, the review will be deleted. (Example: *one star* "Don't buy this author's books, because she argued with my review.")

Likewise, "bookshelves" (really tags) devoted to author behavior will be deleted. (Example: authors-who-criticize-reviewers will no longer be allowed as a bookshelf.)

Some authors have received this news with great joy, and some Goodreads users are feeling cranky. Evidence: there are currently 1,991 comments beneath Goodreads' new statement. Some of the comments read like this:

"Will probably be deleting my Goodreads account now if I cannot use my shelves the way I wish. And to think that I have contributed almost 700 reviews to the site. They will be going with me. This is censorship, and it is wrong."

And some is more supportive:

"To be fair, they are cracking down on authors behavior too... did anyone read the new author guidelines? ANY author responses to negative reviews will bring their account under review and even excessive responses to positive reviews will be deemed "spam" and put under review too. Seems like they are just trying to enforce a truce on both ends and frankly, both sides have behaved appallingly at times. (No doubt, I'll get attacked for saying that now)."

Authors, when in doubt, review the published author guidelines. However you feel about the changes, it really isn't so hard to stay on the right side of the law.

Sarah Pinneo  is a novelist, food writer and book publicity specialist. Her most recent book is Julia’s Child. Follow her on twitter at @SarahPinneo.

Social Networking: Snubbing a Potential Fan?

The reality for today’s author is that we need to promote our books in order to reach our intended audience. It is then hoped that our intended audience will buy our book. Each time they buy our book, we make money. Each time they recommend our book to their friends and their friends buy it, we make money. Pretty simple, huh?

One of the best ways for readers to find out about our books is through social media. It could be that they read a review about your book on a blog. It could be that someone—a fan, perhaps—tweets about the book. Or it could be the reader follows your blog or Facebook page or Twitter feed. There’s no discounting the power of social media.

But while you’re promoting your book, don’t ignore the benefits of relationships developed through social media with writers within your genre. Typically, these writers also read the genre (or at least they should be), which means they could become fans of your books. If these individuals follow you on Twitter and you ignore them (either you don’t follow them back or ignore them when they attempt to engage in a meaningful conversation with you), that’s not going to help you in the long run. If you’re releasing a book, and are relatively unknown, why ignore the people who could help increase your book’s visibility? You never know when that new friend could help you down the line. Maybe her book will become a bestseller, and wouldn’t it be great if a bestselling author blurbed your book?

Considering how flooded the market currently is with New Adult contemporary romances (for example), authors need all the readers they can get. By snubbing a writer of your genre, she may decide to buy someone else’s book instead of yours. This is especially true if all you ever do is tweet excerpts from your book and only have conversations with authors within your circle of friends (or with the big names you’re trying to be noticed by).

And what are the potential consequences for your book if you do this?

The writer won’t have a chance to fall in love with your book (or really enjoy it) and rate it on Goodreads.

She won’t post the cover on her blog.

She won’t give away a copy of your book on her blog or on Twitter or in a newsletter giveaway. So there goes another potential review or rating.

She won’t tweet about the book or mention it on her Facebook page.

She won’t post the cover on her ‘Books I Love’ Pinterest board.

Can you see how many promotional opportunities an author could miss out on, all because she discounted the power of social media relationships with writers and authors within her genre? Granted, not every writer uses all the platforms listed, but even having your book mentioned on one of these sites could benefit you.

How do you decide which followers on Twitter to follow back?

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes Young Adult and New Adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer, a blogging addict, and can be found hanging out on her blog (when she isn’t writing).  She is represented by Marisa Corvisiero, and finds it weird talking about herself in third person.