Marketing Engagement & Optimization: Balancing Your Process

 

by Deborah Lyn Stanley

Because Promotion and Marketing is about the reader, you’ve created a quick way to find your writing online. You have optimized your metadata, keywords, and search engine data for prompt findability. You have outlined a plan to deliver consistent content of value to your readership.

Today, let’s talk about balancing the work of delivering worthy content and marketing—getting the word out to more readers. You deliver through articles and books: by blogging, podcasting and videos. That’s the work of writing. Without writing, sharing with your readers becomes seriously lacking or old. Further, your readers will move on to follow other authors. So, how do we handle this juggling act?

Scheduling Tips—first creativity, then the business of writing:
•    When are you daily the most creative? That’s when you write. Creative time takes a great deal of energy, plan for it.
•    Do you write every weekday? Good, kept it and guard the time.

•    How do you handle the business end of writing; sending out queries, outlining your next book or article, or meeting with your writer’s circle? Can you move these to a few hours, a couple times a week?
•    Social media posting, promoting and marketing: these business tasks need less energy.
•    Write book reviews and promote them on your social media pages. Also seek outlets for promoting reviews you’ve received for your books (such as The New Book Review https://thenewbookreview.blogspot.com )
•    As Carolyn Howard-Johnson says in The Frugal Book Promoter: “Stay in the Promotion Habit” the longer you stay with it, productivity grows.
•    Take 1/2 or one day away from the computer each week to refresh.

Notes from prior discussions:
•    Metadata is info about your book, the title, sub-title, sales description, categories & author bio.
•    Keywords refer to a word or phrase that is associated with your book or your blog post.
•    Start and keep up your author’s website, include a blog. Consider guest posting.
•    Get involved with Social Media platforms that suit you and your themes and always link back to your website URL
•    Write a newsletter monthly. Create an audiobook. Start a podcast.

You’ve Got This!
You are a "Can Do" Writer!

Book Links:
* How to Market a Book by Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

*The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson https://www.amazon.com/Frugal-Book-Promoter  

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.
Visit her My Writer’s Life website at: https://deborahlynwriter.com/   
Visit her caregiver’s website: https://deborahlyncaregiver.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Lyn-Stanley/

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Can Marketing and Networking Harm Your Writing Career?

Can you market your work and network too much? My writer friends and I have discussed this question several times over and it can be quite controversial depending on where an author is in the process of a writing career. Early on in the beginning of my writing adventure  marketing and networking was part of every course I took. Build your platform, network with other writers in your genre, network with writers, publishers, illustrators on social networks to help get your name out there, blog to build an audience, and offer to write for free to get your feet wet. Everywhere I turned, someone was telling me to get myself out there.

 As I began finding my way, the advice included Query, query, query.... find a publisher you want to write for and send your ideas. Worry about the writing when you have an accepted idea. Write for various free sites and build your article folder, make yourself an expert and the work will find its way to you. Etc. Etc. Etc. New and seasoned writers know the drill. Does all this sound familiar? But when is too much marketing and networking harmful to your career and when is it enough?

Here is what I have discovered over the past 10 years of writing and trying to build a niche...it takes discipline to stay on course and courage to promote yourself in a humble way, Yet marketing and networking is essential even when  it can be too much and it can be harmful. Here is a quick list of when and how it can hurt your career.

1. Marketing and networking can be harmful if all you do is market, network, and never sit down to write or create a product. You loose your authenticity when you say you have a product or you promise your book to your audience but you do not deliver. It is only a positive reflection on you as an author if you have something valuable to offer your audience and you continue to provide what you promise in your marketing campaign. 
2. Social media is a fabulous tool but it is only a positive tool if you are using it to either promote your product, book, or service. It is also a positive career move to promote others through social media especially those in your field of interest and those who can help you to grow as an author. Social media can have a negative impact on your career if you find yourself distracted from your writing or if you get caught up in the negative or false leads that social media can trend or if you use social media to procrastinate from the job you need to be finishing. 
3. If you see positive results with the marketing techniques you are currently using and you can schedule your time like any other task it can be positive for your writing career. If you focus all of your free time on marketing and networking at the expense of writing time or family time it can be detrimental to both your professional and family relationships. There must be a healthy balance between writing, marketing, and family obligations. 
4. Marketing can be self-absorbing if you are the only one saying good things about your work. While we need to be our own best horn blower,, at some point you must count on the opinions of others in the form of reviews of your work, comments on your blog, notes from editors, and such to balance and provide an objective view of your products. Someone somewhere must notice your work... your tried and true product or story. It can harm your career if you are the only one saying you are a great author. Networking with authentic people in your area of expertise can validate your work and in turn promote your career in a positive way. 

Marketing and networking must be guarded and planned just like the story you create or the product you develop. Care must always be taken to make sure the actions you take to promote your career are helping and not harming your reputation as a writer. 

About the author: Terri Forehand writes from her home in Nashville Indiana. When she is not writing, designing, or crafting she spends time working in the neonatal intensive care, spending time with grand kids, and running the small fabric shop she owns with her husband, She is the author of The Cancer Prayer Book and The ABC's of Cancer According to Lilly Isabella Lane. She is currently working on an picture book about first aide for first graders. http://terri-forehand.blogspot.com

Author-Reader Engagement

How to Serve Your Niche Audience

 by Debra Toor

STEP 1 Research your niche readers and create their profiles.

Readers' Profiles

1. Professions:
2. Education:
3. Lifestyles:
4. What do your readers care about?
5. What motivates them?
6. What information, tools and resources do they need, but can't find?
7. Do they need to do more with less time?
8. Where do readers go to network, collaborate, find info, and get assistance?
     Examples of online sites: 
     - professional association blogs
     - trade e-zines
     - Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, Yahoo groups, Google+
     - Twitter Chats, etc.

     Examples of offline sites: 
     - conferences
     - meetings
     - trade shows
     - professional trade print magazines

STEP 2  Research your niche competitors and create their profiles.

Competitors' Profiles

1. How do your competitors fill readers' needs?  
2. Do they provide solutions to obstacles?
3. What service do they fail to provide readers?  How can you fill this void?  Can you provide specific professional expertise?

STEP 3  Combine profile details.  Create a plan and a reader survey.

 1. Design your survey to be brief and easy to complete. 
 2. Ask a select few to provide feedback on your plan.
 3. Focus on tools, resources, and information that they would like to see:

 Some ideas:
 - downloadable worksheets
 - tip sheets
 - checklists
 - handy resource lists 
 - networking venues and resources
 - expertise on specific subjects
 - informative slideshows, infographics, fact sheets, charts, videos, podcasts

Offer an incentive, such as a free copy of your book or a free downloadable resource.

Remember, your blog is your primary forum to engage your readers:

- Make it welcoming, accessible, informative, and entertaining.
- Offer posts that have value and are sharable.
- Encourage readers to share their suggestions, opinions and stories.  
- Offer contests with prizes that are on your niche audience's wish list.

How do you connect with your readers?  Inspire other writers by sharing your story in the comments section.

Helpful Links

"Crawling Inside your Customer's Head" by Copyblogger: www.copyblogger.com/empathy-maps/

"Author Platforms: How to Use a Time Machine to Create Your Author Platform," by Katie Davis, Huff Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/author-platforms/ 
________________________________________________________________

Debra Toor is the author of Survival Secrets of Turkey Vultures, an adventure story for grades 4 to 6 that's based on peer-reviewed science. She's also a ghostwriter for a health blog.

Debra Toor Author, Eco-Literacy Connections, Free Lesson Plans p:905-510-9804 | e:debtoor@gmail.com | w:www.ecostoriesbydebtoor.com