Do You Have A Plan For Marketing Your Book?

 

Do you have a marketing plan for your book? I have a heck of a time with marketing and do not have a plan. I am very hit and miss, promoting through my newsletter (which has a very low readership), Facebook (through posts, not through paid advertising), Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. So I am semi-organized, but yet to see results. My goal is to support myself through my writing, so something has to give here. There has to be some kind of "Aha!" moment that allows me to move to the other side with promoting my work, to make it part of my overall plan for my books, and to have my promotions be supportive of me, So what should I be looking at?

The first thing that you need (aside from a book or books to promote!) is a website. I use free templates, you may choose to have someone do your website for you. It all depends on what your budget is. What do you want to include on your website? 

• A signup link for your newsletter. (Yes, you need a newsletter! I use Mail Chimp.)
• An updated author's bio. (I hate writing my own bio!)
• A page where you list your books, with a short synopsis, and a link for purchasing.
• Your social media links.

Make sure that your social media on all platforms is branded - that it all works together, that you are using the same headshot and bio. Include a link to your newsletter, and to your blog. (My blog is separate from my website, many people include a blog on their website.) 

When working with your newsletter you may want to send a sequence of automated e-mails that act as autoresponders to new subscribers. Provide some kind of sign-up incentives, such as a PDF or other form of downloadable content. 

You can also promote through podcasting, although this is an area that I am not currently making use of. You can also do live broadcasts on Facebook and Instagram. 

Make sure that you have an Amazon author's page, and that it contains all of the information on your work, including links. You can also include your blog and Twitter feeds, and videos.

Get sneaky! On the last page of your book (whether e-book or hard copy) include a link to your website and promotions for your other books. 

This is just a start, but I think that it is a fairly good start. Make a list of what you want to do, and organize that list by priority. You are a writer, and writing is a business. Make your business flourish!

(c) June 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

Creating Characters That Jump Off The Page!

 

How do we create characters that simply jump off the page? As you know (well, maybe you didn't know, but you do now!) I am diving off the deep end and writing a Kindle Vella book - the kind of book that comes out in episodes to constitute a series. I had no clue how I was going to do this, so I just started writing. I was pleased to see the plot developing as I wrote, and the characters basically writing themselves.  

My protagonist, Anne Devereux, is the owner of Anne's Antiques. After a twenty-year career in New York City, she is back in her hometown of Fairfax, VA, running her deceased grandmother's antique business. Part of what defines Anne is that she is now back in a mid-sized city environment, where she knows many of the people. She is part of the downtown business community and has a committed relationship with Tom. Just "Tom". No last name yet, and no occupation. And the series is almost halfway finished! 

What I do know is that the characters of Anne and Tom understand each other, and work well together. There is another character that will play a small part in this series. He is a police officer and has the air about him of being a very caring person, one that is knowledgable about his job, and one that deals with people well. These are all characters that the reader can see and feel. They can see them in their minds doing their jobs. They understand why they make the decisions that they do.

What is important to me about a character is that they are believable, that they act consistently, and that my readers will want to read more about them. I find myself having conversations with my characters, and I let them write their own dialogue. 

If you want to see your characters more in-depth you could use the Myers-Briggs personality assessment. This will give you insight into how they will act, and why they will act that way. There is an online Myers-Briggs assessment available here - Myers-Briggs Assessment. 

Give your characters skills and the opportunity to use them. Let them be themselves, let them talk for themselves. You will have to do a lot less rewriting!

(c) June 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.