An Author and Reader Guide to StoryOrigin - Part One - Signing Up with SO and Integrating Mailing Lists

Hey all! I hope you're doing well and staying out of the way of the mess hitting the fan right now. Today, I'd like to introduce you all to a platform that's been getting a lot of traction called StoryOrigin. I'm not gonna lead in with a bunch of yakkity, so just grab your coffee or tea and let's get going!

*******AS ALWAYS, THERE IS NO COMPENSATION FOR ME TO DO THIS AND NO AFFILIATE LINKS ARE USED****** That being said, know that all opinions are my own, and I'm free to give them. ;)

First off: What is StoryOrigin?

StoryOrigin is a platform for authors to gain new subscribers to their newsletters through group promotions and swaps, give out ARC copies, have a universal book link page, and distribute audio codes. Newsletters are a huge part of most authors' marketing efforts, so you need to know how to make the most out of every tool available!

But there's more! I know, right? StoryOrigin is also a site for readers to find ARC copies and keep up with how they're doing on their reviews.

If you don't have a mailing list and want to use StoryOrigin for some other reason (ARCs, audio code distribution, etc...), this post isn't for you. Scroll to the bottom of this page and find the links to the next parts!

Best of all, right now, it's free, so let's get you enrolled!

There's a lot to go over, but we'll start with signing up, integrating all the mailing list types, and press forward from there. All posts will be listed and linked on all posts for easy navigation.

Start by going to the StoryOrigin homepage:

Click Login in the top right hand corner.
Click Signup! Where it asks if you're new to us. If you've already gotten this far, feel free to skip to the relevant content. :)

Enter Name and Email Stuffs. I'm making dummy accounts that will be deleted once this tutorial is done. If you have an author website, feel free to click to add it. You also need a privacy policy IF you have an email client that requires one, so go ahead and link it.
Next, you'll see a page that looks like this. We're gonna start at kinda the bottom and work our way up.

Go all the way to the bottom and click Author Profiles.

Right now, you have to have a new account to manage more than one profile, but hopefully, this functionality will be available soon. You should see your author name and website (if you added one) listed.
Let's go one higher and click on Integrations. This is where you'll connect your mailing list and a VERY important function of the site.

MAILCHIMP

Click the blue button to integrate and select your provider from the list. I'm going through each one, starting with MAILCHIMP, so if your provider is different, scroll down until you find that instruction. Select Mailchimp from the dropdown and click Authenticate Mailchimp.

Sign in to your Mailchimp account and click Allow.

There you go! All done! You should be taken back to the page on StoryOrigin that shows your Integrations. Your Mailchimp account should be listed like so:

MAILERLITE

On to the next one: MailerLite Click Integrate Email Provider and choose MailerLite from the dropdown. You should see this:

Your API key is found by clicking your name in the top right hand corner on MailerLite, selecting Integrations, then clicking USE next to Developer API. Will look like this:

Copy it. Go back to StoryOrigin and paste the string of letters and numbers in. Click save. MailerLite is now on your list. You should see it back at your Mailing List Integrations page.

ACTIVECAMPAIGN

Now, we'll go on to ActiveCampaign. Click Integrate Email Provider and choose ActiveCampaign from the dropdown. StoryOrigin walks you through this one:

Follow the directions (copyable text on ActiveCampaign is a little difficult to see, but it DOES copy):

and click Save. ActiveCampaign should be added to your Mailing List Integrations page.

AWEBER

Now we're headed to the next one! AWeber! Click Integrate Email Provider. Choose AWeber from the dropdown.

Click Authenticate AWeber, log in to your AWeber account, click Allow Access, and it should appear on your Mailing List Integrations page (I couldn't do this one because they want a credit card up front).

CONVERTKIT

But we're moving on to ConvertKit! Integrate Email Provider. Choose ConvertKit from the dropdown.

Click on the hyperlink: Click here in the text. It will bring you to the page shown below. You can also get there by logging into ConvertKit, choosing Account, then Account Info. The arrows show where the info is on the page. You have to click SHOW to get the API Secret.

Click save, and ConvertKit will be added to your Mailing List Integrations page. And that's it! Super easy to add your mailing list(s)!

Next time, we'll go over the next two tabs up: Subscribers and Posted Mailing Lists.

Links to all other posts in this series will go below this line (I'll add them as they're completed).
Part Two - Subscribers and Posted Mailing Lists

Thanks for reading, and remember to WRITE ON!

Jo

Meet a Book Blogger - Platypire Reviews (J. Hooligan)

Hey all you spiffy people! I'm J. Hooligan and I run the blog Platypire Reviews, which mostly consists of shenanigans and book reviews.

I started the blog a little over 4 years ago because I do what I want. Really though, I'm a bit eccentric for most blogs and I wanted to be free to express my "creative" silliness without having to do things like convincing someone to let me do book reviews in a platypus onesie. I also wanted to make a place for people to write book reviews however they wanna (legally) with no obligations or genre requirements.

As for me, I am an eclectic reader. I don't have a favorite genre, I read all sorts of books in whatever formats I can read them in. I just prefer them to be good.

Places you can find me:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/platypire
Blog: http://www.platypire.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/platypire
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/platypire

Thanks all your fabulous people for taking some time out of your day to get to know me a little bit more. You're wonderful and I appreciate your awesomeness.

~~~

What are y'all waiting for? Get to following!

How to: Make a Sound Marketing Plan

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm going to talk about that thing we all hate the most (besides blurb writing), marketing. Scary word, eh? It's not when you get into the nuts and bolts of it all. Why? I'll tell you below. So, grab your drink of choice (yes, it's too early for those drinks), and let's get going!

Let's begin with timing.
I always hear folks asking when the best time is to start marketing. Ideally, it's a year out, but who writes a book and waits a year to publish it nowadays? Not me.
You can start six months out, three months out, or one month out, depending on what kind of traffic you're wanting to get.
A six month plan would include teasers and things being shared that far out first. Get people excited about the release so they're foaming at the mouth by the time the book hits the shelves.
My last successful Facebook event, and my bestselling book on release, was planned six months before the book went live. I had over 1k attendees, and a ton of interaction leading up to the release day. It was a LOT of work, but the results were well worth it.
Will I ever start that far out again? I'm not sure. I think a lot of folks were weary of hearing about the book by the time it went live. Do what works best for you. You'll have to test things, play around with dates, and dive in head-first if you want to see results. A failure is just a learning opportunity, after all.

ARC reviewers.
Start looking for them at least three months out, and deliver the book at least a month (some prefer two) ahead of time. They need those hours to get your book read. Why? Well, they have lives, too.
A gentle reminder sent two weeks out is best for getting follow-through.
Sign up more of these than you need reviews. Not everyone will do what they say.
Protect yourself! I give some handy hints on how to nail a pirate here.

Finding your audience.
Let's be honest, my horror and thriller books have a MUCH different audience than my historical fiction or fantasy novels. While some may cross over, chances are most of them won't. I've found my target thriller audience, and I love them to pieces. None of them read other genres. So, where the folks who read erotica hang out, you likely won't have good luck with a gory horror novel.
Where are they hiding? Keep looking. You'll find them!

Cross promotion.
This goes hand-in-hand with the item directly above. Find authors who write in the same genre to do this with. Backmatter inclusions in a YA sci-fi novel of your NA contemporary romance won't do jack. Ask those authors in your genre to also share your stuff on their pages.
RETURN THE FAVOR. Put their previews in YOUR book and share on YOUR page, too. I cannot stress this enough. Be sure and get it all out there a good month in advance.

Now that you have all the things you need to think about, make a list. Start however far out you want, but remember to include tasks and dates for each of the above. Don't rely on social media alone. Go where the readers of your genre are and interact (organically--not just "buy my book" posts).

A sound marketing plan might look like this (you should've already found your readers by this point):
24 Weeks out -

• Schedule author interviews with blogs
• Start posting to social media about what's coming
• Blog about writing the book
• Schedule Facebook party 
• Make a landing page for the book on your website

16 Weeks out -

• Finalize list of bloggers willing to help (yeah, they schedule way ahead of time)
• Add the book to Goodreads with a release date
• Find ARC reviewers

8 Weeks out -

• Have cover designed
• Order swag and vehicle imagery (I drive around ATL with huge magnets on my car)
• Contact radio station and local papers
• Contact authors in your genre willing to swap materials

6 Weeks out -

• Send book to ARC reviewers
• Send book to editor
• Schedule other marketing venues (I love NetGalley)

4 Weeks out -

• Prep posts and send HTML to bloggers
• Get book formatted and print book ready to upload

and so on.

Keep up with this stuff in something like Asana, so you get emails to remind you what's about to happen or what needs doing. I wrote a post on navigating that platform here.

What do you think? Have anything to add? Questions?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Book Landing Pages Spare You Headaches and Irritated Bloggers

Happy Monday, everyone! So, today's post is because I've seen a number of bloggers over the weekend talking about last minute postings showing up in their email inboxes and how it annoys the crap out of them. When given less than a day to put up a post and make it pretty, giving it to them 24-48 hours ahead of time just isn't kosher. It chains them to their blogs and email inboxes. Worse, they may simply not see it in time.

Guess what?

You just missed out. Plus, you managed to annoy bloggers that are working for free and only trying to help.

As I've always said, make it EASY for people to share your stuff. This isn't hard.

So, to help you help them, today is all about book landing pages. Get those pencils ready, and let's get going!

A book landing page is any page that showcases your book and provides buy links. It can be a page on your website or blog, but it needs to focus on just that one book. Make it pretty, and make sure there's not a lot of visual confusion.

Here are some examples of landing pages:

This is from the Frayed Fairy Tales website.

This one is from Alessandra Torre's site.

And this one is from Geneva Lee's site.

As you can see, the things all these pages have in common are buy links, book covers, and info. There's not a whole lot there because there doesn't need to be. Keep it simple. If you do a web search for "book landing page," you'll get a ton of generic ideas on layout and such.

When you're making your HTML to send to your bloggers, send them the link to that page on your blog or website (shortened with bit.ly so you can track the clicks) instead of waiting for a purchase link.

On release day, go update your site BEFORE time for those posts to go live. It's so much easier to update one website than a ton of blog posts.

Save yourself time and emails, and save your bloggers the stress of rushing. They'll thank you and be much more likely to share your stuff in the future.

I'm just going to add my own little note to go along with the above. I feel like it's important.

When a blogger shares your release stuff, go to the blog and type out a quick thank you. This goes for shares on social media, too. It takes time, YES, but it's worth it. They work hard, and they don't get paid for what they do. Show that you appreciate them. It matters.

Okay, off my soapbox for today.

Anything to add?

Well, that's all for this edition, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

PA vs PR vs MA - What's the Difference and Why it Matters

Happy Friday, everyone! Well, today's post is going to be a long one, so strap in and get ready to go! Today, I'm talking about Personal Assistant vs Public Relations vs Marketing Assistant. Yes, there's a difference, and not a lot of folks know what it is.

Personal Assistant: A secretary or administrative assistant working exclusively for one particular person.
Basically, this person is there to keep you on track, schedule things for you, and remind you when you have something coming. They handle what you can't. Think of a CEO and his secretary. Those are the things this person does for you.
Average cost (for authors): $150 per month 
 
Public Relations: Is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) and the public. Public relations is the idea of creating coverage for clients for free, rather than marketing or advertising. 
These people are the ones who keep your public image out there. They spread the word that you're a thing and that you have books for sale.
Average cost (for authors): $150 per month

Marketing Assistant: A person who helps to promote and sell products or services, including market research and advertising.
These are the folks who pimp books, do market research to see where/how your book will sell best, and suggest advertising strategies based on their findings.
Average cost (for authors): $500 per month average (could be plus marketing fees for promotions and such as well but may be included--every MA is different)

To sum up:

• If you need someone to keep you on track, organize your life, and help you remember when things are due, you need a PA.
• If you're looking for someone to help you with getting your face/name out there, let you know about opportunities to attend events, etc... then you need a PR firm.
• If you're looking for creative marketing solutions that get you results sales-wise, you want an MA. Most of them focus on your target market, and that's what's important.

No matter which option you go with, what you need to ask yourself (honestly) is: "How much money can I make back in return for my investment?" Pay close attention to your ROI. It's all that matters.

A bonus bit of information:

When you do your own promos, keep track of what works and what doesn't. Use one series as a Guinea pig. Do a promotion on book one and send it to one or two places with links you can track clickthroughs and sales on. Write down how many books you sold throughout that promo. Do the same with book two, and so on and so forth.

Then, when you're ready to release that next book/series, you'll know exactly where to put your hard-earned money.

I hope this post helps you make some decisions. As always, hit me up in the comments with questions or thoughts. Remember to play nice!!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Overhaul and New Topics

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Well, I did what I said I was going to. You now will find new topics on the Writing, Contract, Formatting and Other Tips part of my blog. There are two new sections to explore:

Blogging Tips and Blog Tours
Marketing Tips

I felt each needed their own page.

I also updated all the other pages with the links to various articles I've written over the last 12 months. There are a ton on the Writing Tips page. Woohoo! Viva la 2016!

Check them out and tell me what you think!

Are you looking forward to exploring all the new stuff happening around here?

Because I'm off writing, that's all you get here today. Be sure and check in Monday when I have my second news post of the year. Exciting times!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Marketing: Things I Learned by Working at the Telephone Company

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today, we're talking about marketing and some things I learned from my time at two different telecommunications companies. Ready? Grab that pen and notebook and let's get going!

I was lying in bed this morning, my brain ticking away, and for some reason yet unknown to me, my brain attacked my past work experiences in the telecommunications industry. Yeah, okay, I was thinking about marketing and how different approaches yielded different results. For reasons of anonymity, I'm going to call them Company A and Company B. In both companies, I was a customer service representative.

Now, I worked for Company A in 2003ish. I had over a month of training before they'd even allow me to get near a real telephone and consumer. What I learned in training was how to provide customer satisfaction, and how to sell, sell, sell.

You see, Company A gauged performance on sales and disclosure. Problem solving was tickled, but we didn't get down and dirty with how to listen and respond to issues the customer was having. No, we were taught how to turn those issues into sales.

What was unique about Company A is how they taught us to approach the pitch. If you called in with an issue about having a prank caller, I would offer you XYZ product that would allow you to see who was calling and block them or offer you a number change (for a fee, of course).

When a customer called in wanting a cell phone, I was to listen and ascertain how fancy that phone offer should be. Was it someone who appreciated all the bells and whistles, wanted something basic, or wanted the latest and best thing on the market so they had a certain level of status socially? I then sold them a product based on their needs/desires.

Even if you called in and didn't want a cell phone, I was told to prompt you for a story about a scary experience where you had a flat or were worried about your teen. Then, in order to soothe your fears, I was to sell you a mobile device.

There were only three hard and fast rules: 

1. Don't piss anyone off (because a satisfied customer tells maybe ten people, but a dissatisfied customer tells anyone who'll listen).
2. Don't lie (that's lawsuit material right there). 
3. Don't hang up on the customer no matter what (see item one).

I worked for Company B in 2006ish. I had nearly three months of training, the last of which was done talking with actual customers while a coach sat nearby to answer questions or provide guidance, before I was allowed "out on my own." I was trained on how to make the customer happy and give accurate information.

Company B rated performance on customer satisfaction, problem solving, and accuracy of information given. Period. We were taught how to make our customers giddy.

This company's unique approach was not in the customer having the latest and greatest gadget or upgrade, but having the plan that was right for their usage. If you didn't sell anything, that was okay. They wanted people paying for exactly what they needed and no more.

Why? They were looking at it from a retention perspective.

You see, customers aren't profitable for at least two years. If you can't keep your customer around, you lose oodles of money. So, it was still needs based, but it wasn't about the upsell.

I was told to examine every customer's account and make sure they had the plan that worked best for how they used their phones. If that meant removing a product, then so be it. When you hung up, you knew Company B had your back and wasn't trying to price gouge you.

There were only two hard and fast rules:

1. Listen closely and provide the best customer service possible.
2. Don't get belligerent or hang up on the customer no matter what.

How does this pertain to book sales?

I'm getting there! Hang with me.

What hit me after I had a little while of contemplation was: Both companies were after customer satisfaction, but one focused on sales while the other focused on retention. Each method worked (they're both huge companies), but the difference in the people working there was astronomical.

At Company A, everyone in the office was on some kind of antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication.
At Company B, everyone was genuinely happy. Every single day.

So, here's what I'm getting at with my lengthy retelling:
If you create a novel that's well written, well edited, and tells a great story, you'll be able to sell it because the level of reader satisfaction rises. Those readers will keep coming back because they know you'll produce a great product and you care about their experience.

But you have to market according to why those readers need to read your book.

Marketing and selling are just phase one. Reader satisfaction is the biggest chunk of pie imaginable. So, focus on the reader and writing a book you know will bring them back for more, and you'll be selling oodles of novels in a short amount of time.

My question for you today is: Why does a reader need to read your book? Give me your best pitch in the comments!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

How Many Books Should I Bring to XxX Author Event?

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're going to address a question that gets asked allll the time:

How many books should I bring to this author event?

Well, I have an answer for you that works with every author event you'll ever attend. So, get your clicking fingers ready and let's get going!

An author event is a lot like a trade show. There will be people buying, browsing, and selling. For this calculation, you'll need numbers. Most of the time, if you look around or ask, someone will be more than happy to share ticket sales numbers in order to help you out.

You should bring books based on the number of people at the event. If you're afraid you'll run out, do a pre-order form for folks who'll be attending so you can guarantee you'll have copies for those who are interested.

But how many, right?

I'm getting there.

Besides your pre-orders, you should bring 1% of the total number of bodies coming through the doors, and you should bring twice that many of any new release you might have.

Let's go through my books and use a number of 1,200, and we'll assume it's a conference for readers and authors of young adult and new adult.

1% of 1,200 is 12. So, I'd want 12 each of my YA and NA titles, and 24 of any new release (which I don't have right now).

Will I sell them all?

No. But I'll have enough on hand. For older works, I usually cut it to .5% of the number.

Here's a rundown:
I, Zombie - 12 (it sells reallllly well)
M -12
The Bird - 6
Mystic - 6 each of the smaller, individual books (novellas). Total would be 30.
Markaza - 12
Mystic collection (5 in 1) - 6
Fractured Glass - 12
The Indie Author's Guide - 6

So, in total, for a YA/NA conference, I'd have 96 books on hand. If there will be adult readers, too, I'd bring this in addition:
Yassa - 6

That makes it 102. No way do I sell all these, but 1% is a good rule of thumb to follow (business wise).

That was about how many I took to the last conference I was at, and I only brought home 40 books.

I know that seems like a lot to have afterward, but I sold 62, which comes out to around 5% of the total number of people attending. That's realllly good, and I didn't have to turn anyone away without a novel in hand.

I could probably have taken half that many, and I wouldn't have had so many to cart back home, but I always go big. *shrugs* At least I have giveaway books on hand! I was able to donate a number of them to a hospital recently, so that made it all better!

There you have it. I hope that clears up some questions. 

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Creating Your Own Blog Tour - Step One - Signing up Bloggers

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today, I'm talking about how to create your own blog tour. This will be a series of posts that will include how to sign up bloggers (today), how to create your promo materials (including HTML posts), how to find reviewers, how to create a Thunderclap campaign, and how to throw a Facebook launch party. If you've ever wanted (or needed) to do some (or all) of the things yourself, strap in, grab a pen and a notebook, and let's get going!

In this series:
How to Sign up Bloggers
Creating Promotional Materials and HTML
Finding Reviewers
Creating a Thunderclap Campaign
Throwing a Facebook Launch Party

If you all remember my post a while back about blog tour companies, you'll know why I'm about to tell you how to set up your own. It takes a lot more work from you to do it yourself, but that doesn't mean it's impossible.

To start off, you need to head over to The Paisley Reader and learn how to set up a Google Form. Yes, it's about pre-orders, but it all works the same way, so it's relevant.

Here's something to think about: What kind of blog tour do you want to do? Options include:

• Cover Reveals
• Book Reviews
• Promo Blast
• Release Day Blast
• Author Interviews
• Meet the Character(s)
• Excerpt Blast
• Combo of Above

There are also things you can offer the blog's followers to increase signups. Maybe you'd like to give away a copy of your book or a gift card (or both). Yes, those things matter on two fronts!

One: You offer something to the bloggers for agreeing to handle your content.
Two: You offer value to the readers of the blog(s) for checking out your stuff.

Remember the rule of a great giveaway: What does everyone need or want?

Go with that and your click rate will increase tenfold.

You need to start this process a good two weeks ahead of time unless you want reviews. If you're doing a review tour, you'll want to start a month out.

So, decide if you want to have an enticement, and go create your form now. Once you're done, come back and we'll go into where to post the signup link.

Questions that should be on your form:

• Name
• Blog or other URL where you plan to share
• E-mail address
• Date you can post/share (you usually have dates in mind, checkboxes matter here).
• PLAIN TEXT OR HTML. We'll get into why this matters in the next post. 

Ready? Let's continue.

Places to ask folks to sign up:

• Street Team - If you have a street team (those folks who tirelessly promote your books everywhere), you'll want to start there. After all, they're already fans of your work and have agreed to share.
• Facebook Author Groups - Chances are, you're a member of an author group where writers of your genre go to collaborate. Many authors have a blog, and many of them will be willing to share your content with a copy/paste option.
• Facebook Reader Groups - Again, chances are, you're a member of a reader group where readers of your genre hang out. With an incentive, they'll likely sign up, too!
• Goodreads Groups - Authors or readers, this is a great place to increase signups!

Good rule of thumb: Don't be annoying! Post once and leave it alone.

Plan to take responses for at least a week (include a weekend). Now, in your Drive, you'll have a "responses" document that'll give you the hot info! If you want, print it out once you're done signing people up and have turned the form off.

You're all set! Hold on to that piece of paper or document in Drive so you can follow along with the rest of the series. This is just the beginning, but once you do it a couple of times, you'll be an old hat.

What do you think? Helpful? Anything not in the lineup that you'd like to see added?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Using Groupon for Book Sales

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Wow, do I have an awesome idea for you all today. Strap yourselves in and grab a cup of coffee, because this is gonna be one wild ride!

As I often do, I was thinking of new and innovative ways to sell/market books. I have a friend named Eva Pohler (find her on Facebook here), and this idea comes from a little snafu she hit a little while back with Barnes & Noble booksellers. No, this doesn't trash B&N (I love that store!); it's just information about what happened with her books. Plus, if you've encountered this particular problem, it might be information about how to unload books.

I'm gonna start with Eva's story, and work my way up from there. Stay with me, folks!

So, Eva wanted to have her book in a brick and mortar store (don't we all?), and she decided that was her goal for 2015. Please understand, when Eva goes after something, she goes after it; nothing gets in her way. Gosh, I admire that. Anywhoooo... So, she speaks with someone from B&N and they tell her, in order to stock her books, those titles need to be returnable.

Quick aside: Books are the only (yes, only) retail merchandise that's returnable for a 100% refund. How crazy is that? Okay, back to the story!

In order to make a self-published book returnable, you must go through a company like Lightning Source. Eva did that, made the book returnable, and B&N ordered a great number of copies of her titles.

Needless to say, she came home one day to find boxes and boxes of her books sitting on her doorstep. This is where my idea begins. I only told you enough about Eva's tale to give you an idea of what we're dealing with: tons of books sitting in your living room that you have no way to sell.

For the rest of Eva's story, check out the interview she did with S. M. Boyce here. It's a long video, but it might save you some money someday, I suggest you check it out.

Moving on!

I started thinking: How the heck is she gonna sell all those books? Marketing is difficult enough without a crapload of inventory sitting in your house. If Amazon can't sell them, how can you?

Enter Groupon. Why this never occurred to me before, I have no idea. But it's been a growing platform for sales for years. If you find yourself in a position like Eva did, why not create a Groupon to help move that stock?

I did a little digging before I started this post, and creating a Groupon is free.

But how the hell does Groupon make money, Jo? I know they charge you something! And how can I guarantee they won't oversell my stuff and me end up scrabbling to get more?

Great questions! I asked them, too. From their site: Groupon charges a marketing fee that's a percentage of the revenue from sales. You can set the number of items available, and they'll only sell that many Groupons. For answers to other questions, check out the FAQ here.

Now, the big question here is (you totally knew I'd look this up, right?): How many people actually buy Groupons? Here's an article from 2011 that gives a pretty good rundown of the numbers then. The projected growth is off the charts (no pun intended). Yes, that's billions with a B.

Can you imagine your book in front of that many people?

It's a huge marketing opportunity, and we Indies have to always be looking for the new idea in marketing. I love my iPhone, and I have Groupon. My husband and I use it often (browsing there created this idea). But I never looked at it as a market for books until now.

*face/palm*

Has my head been up my arse all this time? Or have I just never thought of it because it hasn't been done by anyone else? Either way, it's time to try something new, don't you think?

You may start here. Good luck!

What do you think? Will you try it?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

YouTube for Bloggers and Authors

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm gonna talk a little bit about You Tube and how bloggers and authors can use it to their advantage. Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

You Tube. I bet most of you have watched a video or two hundreds of videos from this little channel, either via your Facebook feed or by browsing for something you were interested in, right?

Well, I invite you today to expand your horizons and look beyond browsing and watching; let's go into making.

If you've never made a video, you're not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of people just like you in the world who either don't have time or have no idea how to get started. So, first, I'm gonna walk you through a quick lesson on creating and uploading that video, then we'll get to how you can use the platform to your advantage (what you might consider recording to share).

You'll (possibly) need the following equipment:

• Something to record yourself with (this can be an iPhone, iPad, computer camera, or other camera that captures video)
• A video editing tool (on Windows, you have Movie Maker - FREE, and I'm not sure about Mac, but I believe they come with something similar)
• An image editing tool (Paint will do fine)
• A noise cancelling microphone or headset (if you plan to only speak)
• This link for music (if you want to add some beats - these are FREE for YouTube use)

Now that you have those things, we're ready to create an awesome video. Here are the steps:

1. Create a script (this is what you want to say once you're on camera) so you aren't stumbling all over the place
2. Set up your recording device on a stable surface so there isn't a ton of camera shake (if you're only doing audio, this is where you strap on your headset or affix your freestanding mic to something)
3. Get your screen grabs (if you're doing a walk-through to show someone how to do something, you'll want to go step-by-step through the screens - Use Ctrl+PrtScr then open Paint and use Ctrl+V to paste the shot in - be sure to save them with labels like Screenshot1_tutorial1, Screenshot2_tutorial1, etc...) You can skip this step if you plan to record yourself talking.
4. Get to recording. Lay down all audio and video tracks now
5. Open Movie Maker and create an intro section (it's pretty self-explanatory), then drop in the other images you plan to use and set their run times.
6. Add your audio where you want it and tweak the video where necessary. Be sure and save your project often in case of a crash.
7. Render it (again, it kinda walks you through it), and save to your hard drive.
8. Go create a YouTube Channel.
9. Upload your video, add tags, and click publish.

You're done!

I bet you're thinking: That's awesome, Jo, but what the hell do I have to record that people will give two craps about?

Everyone has a skill, and most people know something they can share with or teach others. If all else fails, read a portion of your novel so people can have a taste of it, or do a book review. You can also create a cool book trailer. Once you graduate from Movie Maker, you can get into more technical editors that might cost a little money, but produce studio grade results. But cut your teeth on something easy to use first.

Here are a couple of little videos I did with Movie Maker:




So, you can see the possibilities are there. Crafts, books, technology, marketing, allathat and more!

What are you waiting for? Get going!

Do you have a YouTube channel? Share the link!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

BookBub and Favorite Authors

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm gonna talk about something I got in my e-mail yesterday that might just flip the way BookBub does things on its head. If you're ready, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Are you a subscriber to BookBub? If not, why is that?

It's been said that one BookBub ad can launch you from zero to hero overnight. But they're picky about the authors/genres that get featured. I know authors who've taken this route, and they say it changed their career.

Now, it seems as though there's yet another way to get "in" if you haven't already.

I'll get to that in a moment; first, I'm gonna tell you what BookBub is if you haven't heard of it.

If you like free and discounted books that have great Amazon reviews and an author with a strong backlist of titles, BookBub delivers that to your inbox once a day.

Readers can find e-books like Prey by Michael Crichton (I've read this and it's an awesome book), for just $0.99 rather than the $9.99 it usually costs, without having to hunt those deals down or make guesses, with a free subscription. This is one of the deals I saw on the site today. You tell BookBub your favorite genres, and they tailor your e-mail to your tastes.

Authors can be included in the daily e-mail for a fee, after they submit the book and get approval by the BookBub team.

Here's the link to sign up as a reader: Join BookBub.

A team of folks at BookBub research every book submitted to see if it'll be an excellent fit for their reader base. If yes, they notify the author and the book is included in the ad. If no, they decline the offer and move to the next title on the list.

But what if an author has a huge fan following on the site? Don't you think that might just influence those folks doing the choosing one way or the other?

Now, you can follow your favorite authors on BookBub. There's a simple search and follow system (I sought out a number of Indies to see if they were on the list, and I found them with relative ease).

You see where I'm going with this, don't you?

If you're considering a BookBub ad, you might want to cinch the deal by having your fans (who are subscribers to the daily list) go add you as a favorite author. Why? Well...

Say I have a novel that's usually $3.99 on Amazon, and I want to discount it to $0.99 for three days. I've published twenty books to date and most have at least ten reviews above three stars. But another author who has the exact same deal and backlist stats also submits a book to be included in the ad.

How do the folks doing the picking make a decision between the two?

If I have two hundred people who've added me to a favorite author list, and the other submitter has only fifty, which author do you think will win that tossup?

Yeah...

So, it may behoove you to ask people to add you to their BookBub favorite authors list. Now. Before the site is flooded by others doing the same.

Here's an easy, step-by-step list to share on your own blog or social media that can help you guide your readers to listing you as a favorite author (feel free to share this snippet, and shoot a link back to this post for your author friends):

• Sign up for BookBub here
• Decide your preferences
• Go here and add your favorite authors
• Click save

Did you add your favorite authors yet?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Publishing News Hubs

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! I'm stepping outside the box a little today and giving you all some insight to where people go to find their publishing news. Perhaps you'll want to check them out! Grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

I got the following numbers by running a little poll on Facebook. Sixteen people answered (myself included), so the data isn't great, but it's something to go on. These results might surprise you.

First and foremost, with a whopping twelve votes:

Now, this isn't limited to the newsfeed, though that was specified by one person. It's author groups, pages, and whatnot that top the list.

Second, we have printed or digital publications such as:

InD'tale Magazine (1)
Publisher's Weekly (2)
USA Today BOOKS section/Thursday edition (1)
Writer's Digest (2)
The Writer magazine (1)
Digital Book World (1)

Amazon Newsletter (1)
Galleycat (1)

Coming in third, there's blog subscriptions.

Five people said they get their publishing news from blogs they found on Google, subscriptions, or the ones on popular sites like Writer's Digest.com.

With two votes each, e-mail and Twitter come in fourth.

Lastly, there were three items with singular votes:

word-of-mouth
forums like Absolutewrite
Createspace's page

So, what does this tell you?

For me, it says I might be marketing wrong. I do plenty on Facebook, but I need to branch out into printed publications.

Where do you get your publishing news? Are these numbers a surprise?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Book Backmatter

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today, I'm gonna talk a little about what you need to do in your book's backmatter. Yeah, that stuff that comes after the novel ends. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Open up that document that contains your book. Pan over until you get to the end. What do you see?

For most authors, you probably see something that looks like this:
About the Author:
K. Littlegross is...

Then maybe social media links.

After that...?

How about we change the way you think about your book's backmatter. Everything that comes after the last page of the story is considered backmatter. If someone just read all the way through your book, chances are they like your writing. If they didn't, they would've quit reading a long time ago (unless they're just one of those people who can't stand not finishing something they started).

Let's use that to your advantage, shall we?

On the FIRST page after your book ends, try adding something like this:

"Thank you for reading my (novel/short story/serial/etc...). I hope you enjoyed it. If you wouldn't mind, would you kindly leave a review? Not only does it help others gauge the book's worth, it also helps me know what I did right and what I might be able to do better. Readers are the reason I write! I love hearing from fans."

Give them a way to subscribe to your newsletter and tell them why they should. Do you do exclusive giveaways in your newsletters? Mention it! Or, ask them to like your amazon author page. Don't forget the LINK!


Now, here are a couple of other things to include before your About the Author page:

• An excerpt from another work of yours (don't forget the sales page link at the end!).
• An excerpt from a fellow author in the same genre (don't forget the sales page link at the end!).
• Acknowledgements (I suggest putting this in the back so it doesn't interfere with the sample percentage).

These are things to include on your About the Author page:

• Your author photo (resize to small [72dpi], please)
• Your bio
• Your bibliography (don't forget to link them to the sales page!)
• Perhaps a review quote or two
• One synopsis from a book in a similar genre you've written
• Awards you've won for writing
• How to find you on social media
• Another request for that review

Why should these things be in this order? Because a reader will get bored wading through author "stuff" unless they've become super fans.

You'd be surprised at how much difference these little things make. Remember to update past books when you publish something new. It isn't difficult, and it'll keep your fans coming back for more.

How many of the above do you implement now? Were you aware of what you could do with the back of your book? Tell me about it!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Marketing Plans

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I know you've probably heard the term Marketing Plan a billion times, but do you really know what it means to have one? Do you even know what a marketing plan is? Well, today I'm gonna do my best to lay it all out there. Heck, you might even get a handy checklist by the time it's over. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Definition of Marketing Plan (from Wikipedia):
Marketing strategy is the goal of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing strategy includes all basic and long-term activities in the field of marketing that deal with the analysis of the strategic initial situation of a company and the formulation, evaluation and selection of market-oriented strategies and therefore contribute to the goals of the company and its marketing objectives.

In author layman's terms: Marketing Plans are goals you set for the launch or publication of a novel, and it includes details on how you'll keep it selling long term.

You need a marketing plan so you don't just throw your book out in the world and hope it hits someone who might enjoy it. Yeah, I've done this. I imagine you have, too.

So, let's go over the things you need to think about when you're halfway through your novel and the things you need to answer once it's off to the editor. You can do these things while you work on your book!

Grab a sheet of paper (if you haven't already) and write down the following questions:

1. What's my book about?
2. What genre is my book?
3. What age is my target audience (Don't write all - be specific)?
4. Will more males or females enjoy my book?
5. What other books will they have read?

Now that we have those questions down, let's go into some channel specific stuff. Next:

1. Where does my target audience hang out?
2. What social media do they use most often?
3. What activities do they enjoy?
4. Who would they most likely get a book recommendation from?

Let's say my book is about a young skater boy trying to escape the oppressive dictatorship his family has endured for hundreds of years. Genre is young adult urban fiction. Target audience are males between the age of thirteen and seventeen who've read Outsiders. They hang out at skate parks, hip coffee shops, and restaurants like McDonald's after school. They'll read books suggested by friends or forced by teachers.

Make a list of things you can do to get your book in front of those readers. Be detailed. Examples:

Advertisement:  I'll put an ad on my car that appeals to skateboarders and go to McDonald's every day for an hour to have a coffee and write for an hour. My car will be parked in the lot in a highly visible area. I'll put free bookmarks at every hip coffee shop within a fifty mile radius of my house and replenish them weekly. I'll put an ad on the local teen radio station with my blurb.

Social Media: I'll post images of skateboarders doing cool tricks with a link to my book and a twenty-five word blurb every week on Instagram. I'll use Twitter to increase hits by having my photos auto-tweet.

And so on. Also, write down what you'll do with folks you know. E-mail list, friends and family, etc...

After you've done all of the above, create your launch plan. Start four to six months out. It should look something like this:

24 Weeks out -

• Schedule author interviews with blogs
• Start posting to social media about what's coming
• Blog about writing the book

16 Weeks out -

• Finalize list of bloggers willing to help (yeah, they schedule way ahead of time)
• Add the book to Goodreads with a release date

8 Weeks out -

• Have cover designed
• Order swag and vehicle imagery
• Contact radio station

6 Weeks out -

• Send book to beta readers
• Ask for ARC reviewers

4 Weeks out -

• Send book to editor
• Schedule Facebook party and collect giveaways

and so on.

As you can see, it's a long and arduous process to properly launch a book.

I found a couple of apps that may help you along the way! They're all about creating a business plan.

Get them here for iPad and Android. They're called: MyBizPlan and MarketMyBiz

How do you plan for a launch? Share!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Facebook Pages Gives You Insights to Your Fans

Happy Tuesday, everyone! What I have for you today is gonna make you jump up and down and squeal. While poking around Facebook one day, something interesting caught my eye. You may know how it works, and you may not. I know I'd never even paid attention to it. Well, you can bet I'll be looking a lot more closely now. Grab a cup of coffee and let's delve into this thing called Facebook Page Insights.

You know those e-mails you get each week with your page stats? Yeah, the ones your eyes glaze over when you open and you promptly delete? You're aware it's great information, but who has time to care? Well, those are insight snippets. It's a tiny look into some of the data Facebook is collecting about the folks who interact with your page, and you need to care. But they give you oh so much more if you know where to look.

Open Facebook to your main news feed and look on the right-hand side:

See that thing titled Recent Posts? Look at the bottom. Here:

Click it, click it! You'll get something that looks like this:

Oh, but wait! Our fun is just getting started! Look at the bottom again where it says See All:

Yeah! Now, click that one and be amazed at what you get. Should look something like this:

Holy Information Overload, Batman! Wait! Don't get your knickers in a twist and start crying just yet. I know it's a lot to take in, but let's get to the juicy stuff so your brain doesn't seize up. Scroll down to where your posts are displayed and look at one that's performed well. You can tell by the length of the pinkish bar under the Engagement heading. Mine is a post on Rachael Brownell.

Click the post text, and you'll get this. Yours won't have Rachael's smiling face, but we can't all be cool!:

Look at all the tasty information your brain has to analyze on the right side! As you can see, that post got 12 likes, comments, and shares. It even goes as far as telling you exactly how the post was engaged with. Wow. Let's look at another one where I did a flash giveaway:

As you can see, this post did way better. Most fans will engage if there's something in it for them. I gave away two copies of Fractured Glass. It kinda went bananas. Let's go back to the Rachael post and click Boost Post. Here's where you can use Facebook ads if you see a certain post is doing well and think more people might enjoy it.

But, that's just a quick foray into the world of Facebook Page Insights. Once you close the popup window, take a look at the top of the page and go bananas with your clicking finger. Check out all the tabs!

This lesson only went over the Posts tab. Can you imagine what secrets the others hold?

What are you waiting for? Go find out!

Did you know about this nifty feature? If you did, how do you use it?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo