Sunday, May 20, 2012

Authors: Help Me Help You!

You may have noticed the new graphic on my sidebar. I will be a stop on author Molly Snow's "Royally Beswitched" blog tour! Molly helped me with my very first speaking engagement. I was asking for advice at an online author community when she chimed in and encouraged me to try it, gave me tips, and even wrote a guest post on how to speak for this blog! She went on to give me a free copy of her book and she has remained in touch.

This is what life is all about, helping each other. All the best principals in life make no sense. You must give to receive, the last shall be first, blessed are those who mourn, failure breeds success, no pain, no gain, the best way to lose weight is to eat more often, turn the other cheek, and I could go on. It's upside down thinking.

The reason to help others is not to help yourself. It should come from a genuine desire to see abundance in the lives of others. I don't believe helping others succeed will rob me of my own success. I don't believe helping others turn a profit will mean there is no money left for me. My worldview is that helping others makes the universe a better place to live for everyone. 

I am happy to promote authors. The following are the types of help I'm able to offer you. I'm also open to your ideas. This blog is about promoting The Pet Washer, but it's grown to include your books too. All my promotions are free, aside from sidebar advertising (unless it's an advertisement like Molly's for a blog tour).

  • Author Interviews
  • Guest Posts on the industry
  • Book Tour Stops
  • Website Promotion 
  • WIP Excerpts
  • Cover Reveals
  • Book Giveaways
  • New Book Releases 

My audience consists mostly of authors, but who in the world are the most avid readers? My guess is authors. So we're both--we write and we read. You can promote your books here to readers and get to know other authors at the same time.

But keep in mind that my audience is also looking for tips and encouragement about publishing. The most popular posts on my blog are posts that give advice. This is why my author interviews focus on book marketing and publishing rather than how authors' spend their Sundays. I want to pick your brain! I want you to share what you know, what you've learned, when you've failed, and when you've succeeded.

To Do: Help me help you. Contact me!




13 comments:

  1. Good idea. Let me send you an email.

    Sincerely,
    Ricky

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is great! What advise do you have for aspiring authors who wish to expand their platform? Those of us who are not yet published but, are on the road to becoming so?
    Sincerely,
    Jennifer

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jennifer, this is awesome. I'll email you directly. There are some great links nowdays to other helpful information that I'm happy to share... things that have helped me in my marketing.

    For instance, this hubspot paper is very useful for building a marketing page for your book:

    http://www.hubspot.com/how-to-master-the-design-and-copy-of-calls-to-action/?source=20120518-email-l-int-cta-ebook&utm_source=hubspot_email_marketing&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2676040&_hse=colleen%40devonjames.com&_hsmi=2676040&_hsh=4102927c96880cddbde49a56d1bf6248

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing that Colleen! I look forward to your email.

      Delete
  4. Hi J.PattersonPrada,

    Thanks for visiting The Jennifer (Author) Diaries! The best time to start marketing is before publishing, so you are off to a great start! You can follow 25 people per day on Twitter and most will follow you back. This will build a Twitter following fast! Be sure to re-tweet people and they will begin to re-tweet you. You can search Twitter for readers in your genre, or people interested in say boats (if you write about boats--which I bet you don't :)--anyway, try to focus on people who might buy the types of books you are going to write.

    Start a blog--they are free. Post at least once a week about your subject matter, your work in progress or whatever reflects your personality AND might be interesting to the type of people who will read your books. If you write mysteries, visit mystery blogs and start reading and commenting. Also, you could review mystery books on your site. (or fantasy, or sci fi). Be sure to mention your WIP (work in progress) and keep teasing your audience and friends with lines from the book, the process of writing etc. Blogs are free.

    Make a Facebook author fan page and put a link to it on your blog, along with a link to your Twitter ID.

    You are wise to start early because it takes time. I've heard that a good platform is 2000+ followers. I'm not there yet. Things appear to happen overnight for people, but it's just an appearance.

    I have some articles at The Jennifer (Author) Diaries about Twitter hash tags, pre-release publicity etc. Poke around and you may find some help. The main thing is to build your blog, facebook and Twitter ID, keeping in mind that you need a brand (your writing name and a consistent photo of you) and then you can join sites like Book Blogs where you can begin to get advice. The deeper you get into all this, the more fun it becomes! People love helping others. You can post a discussion on Book Blogs where you ask the same question you just asked me--and you will get more advice. Start friending people. Oh, and join Goodreads. You can syndicate your blog there and join groups of readers in your genre.

    This is off the top of my head. I wish you luck and keep in touch!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi, Jennifer! I agree with those principles of receiving what we desire and having a true heart for others.

    Someone made an impression on my mother recently by basically saying they can't give away too much, because they always receive more in return. Charity begets success, because we are meant to help each other with that success.

    This is making me think about reaping what we sow. Planting one seed can bring multitudes in the future. As the plant matures during its season, how many more seeds are produced?

    I did a book signing where no one bought my book. A mother knew her daughter read my book in the past, however, and stopped at my booth to hire me for my first speaking engagement. I could have considered it fruitless if I went by book sales for that day. There was something greater in store, however.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Molly,

    Belief in a bigger picture is what keeps me going everyday!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Jennifer! Thank you for your website! How awesome! I'll send you an email.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Jenni...
    i was beginning to feel i will never sell a single copy of my book when i read you. I m a newbie author, wondering like Alice in wonderland regarding the marketing of my book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I understand, Sumathi. It's a competitive business no matter how you approach it. Patience and perseverance are key, it's true.

      Don't give up. Learn more about how you can market yourself. You are not alone!

      Delete
  9. Hi Jennifer
    I am an author. I love how that sounds. I have written two books: Dulcimer X'ing, a children's book and Recipes from an Executive Chef, a cookbook. I am currently working on my second children's book Dulcimer Campfire. I have a website for promoting my books; www.dulcimerxing.com. I have not mastered facebook or twitter. My main character Homer the Dulcimer does have a page on facebook. Promoting is so very hard. I do it from time to time and as I get excited about my current project. I have had limited success but want to achieve the next level. I would appreciate any input or suggestions in taking my promotions to the next level.

    Dennis Waldrop
    dfwaldropdulcimerstories@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking your time to share! I respond to all comments.