Write: Why? Marketing for Writers

In a long-ago golden age, all a writer had to do was write; he churned out pages, presented them to an editor, and let others worry about promotion and advertising. Today, writers must be their own most ardent advocate, marketer and promoter. Self-promotion is as integral to writing success as any tool in the writing toolbox.

We all know the importance of self-promotion, yet many of us are horrible at it. We outline, we carve out time to write, we edit and do everything else we can for our work to stand out. For some fortunate writers, self-promotion is as natural as breathing. In her book Quiet: Some of us are raised not to stand out, so we struggle to post that Facebook update about the great review we just got or tweet about our book being on sale.

No one wants to put themselves out there and hear only crickets. So, we think, why do it all? Indie publishing has opened the door for many writers, and the competition to make yourself heard is intense. When you try, sometimes it leads to…. Marketing and self-promotion is hard work even if you enjoy doing it. From finishing a chapter to hitting a specific word count, setting realistic goals is second nature.

So what makes our marketing goals different? Instead, set more attainable goals, such as:. Once you achieve these goals, set the bar higher for the next round. Achieving modest goals gives us the confidence to attempt harder ones while avoiding the burnout we feel when our goals are overwhelming. Click to tweet this idea.

• Book Marketing, How to Promote a Book | theranchhands.com;
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Most social media platforms allow you to measure your engagement with your audience. Ignoring the deep analytics available for your Facebook fan page and other platforms soon is the equivalent of stepping into the ring without even having watched a video of your opponent during a fight.

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Is Twitter driving sales? Whatever the case, concentrating on the platforms that work for you is not only smart, but will keep you motivated as you reach more and more readers. Research how the experts are doing it, then use their tried and true techniques to jump-start your own marketing efforts. To do this, I use Tweetdeck and Buffer.

In addition to being solutions for my real-time phobia, they save time, as I can set my tweets and updates and forget them. Because I treat what I do like the business that it is. Shifting your focus to seeing your books as commodities to be sold as opposed to the work you hold so near and dear to your heart may help to remove the personal aspect from the equation, thus making promotion easier. You can follow his work on Twitter , Facebook or Goodreads. Want to sell more books? With tools that help with everything from formatting your Amazon description to finding more reviewers, Author Marketing Club can help you share your book with more readers.

I think this is the one area that the majority of writers could stand to do better in.

All the best, and good luck in your promotional efforts. If you are not good at promoting your work straight on the face of it, you can promote it softly. You can use your writing skills to add comments on the other sites, join forums and write guest posts. People will come to recognize your work and wonder what you are about. Dropping subtle hints and offering small pieces of delights is a way of leading people to your work too.

I think I would offer more if them if I could turn a phrase like you do. Thanks for the great advice, Hugh.

So how can we make self-promotion easier?

For me, self-promoting is an agony. What has made it worse is that when I give it a timid try, nothing happens and I become discouraged to try more. And I do mean nothing. This three ton dead elephant blocking my path will be moved thanks to you and others who have led the way by showing it can be done. Keep up the good work, guy. I know exactly what you mean. You finally get the courage to try something and when you do nothing happens, so you figure, why even bother. I also know what you mean about family members. I never understood that. The only thing I can think of is a book is an accomplishment, and some people are hesitant to celebrate any accomplishments but their own.

Thank you so much for reading, the comment and the encouragement. It means more than you know. All the best to you my friend. I realised recently that friends and family are probably not where I should be looking for my audience. It has freed me up no end. I have ceased looking for their approval and started seeking my true readers instead.

If my family or friends pick up on my work on the way then great. But I no longer look to them to validate my writing. I have had the same reaction from those I know when talking about my writing. But looking at it from their perspective, they are being put in a position of having to look at the work of someone who they know — and of then having to give an opinion. It is a very awkward position to be in. Once I understood that, I focused on the general public, and not friends and family who are potentially being put in a no-win situation.

I remember feeling not as alone and more understood after reading her book. In many ways, the computer screen helps me hide behind the screen, but not in marketing. You hit on one major fact of my upbringing…and that is that I was raised not to draw attention to myself. Thanks so much for an article packed with tremendous tips. I felt the same way about Ms. The feeling of not being quite as misunderstood was amazing. I really hope your marketing efforts will bear fruit going forward.

Thank you so so much for your great comment. Bloggers often collaborate to promote other writers they respect. We use tools like Twitterfeed to automate the process so that new content by bloggers we trust is automatically tweeted when it goes live. Besides feeding content, we use sites like JustRetweet and ViralContentBuzz to promote specific pieces of content.

When using social media remember that identifying and becoming active in groups can yield far more readers than simply sharing to your own timelines. Hello Gail, Great advice! Thanks again Gail, all the best. Get 50 new FB author page likes a day? What are your suggestions? Elyse, I wish I knew how to get 50 FB likes in one day without paying for them.

Thanks for the comment! You can easily boost your Facebook likes by joining any Facebook event offered usually on a weekly basis that allow you to exchange likes with other authors. I know what you mean Terry, talk about nervous.

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Glad you liked the Usain Bolt line. I would love a few writers group name on facebook so that I can add them. I will follow that advice and connect with those groups more. I very recently broke free of those chains, however, and am making aggressive efforts to expand literary horizons to bigger and better things. Thanks for the encouragement, Dee Dee.

But tell me something: Do you have any recommendations as to the single-most effective online marketing tool for freelance writers? My problem is that time is so limited due to multiple obligations that I cannot properly research the best marketing strategies. Thanks in advance and sorry for the tardiness of this reply. The minute I say I use the programs, they explode with hostility and drive me away.

The funny thing is even the main-stream comic books are using more digital than traditional media these days. Even kids have enjoyed my books. One fan review put my comic books on the same level as Batman, Thor and Street Fighter. High praise from a reader and others have agreed with the review, but how do I find more of that market?

I even wrote about it here on TWL. If you have a website throw the up there and put the positive reviews front and center for the world to see. I dig a bit of searching and found these 2 articles:. I would reach out to the women in the first article, get some advice, see what they have to say. I would also try to get in touch with the writer for the second, maybe you can be featured on that site. Forgive me if you are already doing these things. Get at me on Twitter hughosmith and I would be happy to RT your work.

Best of luck Jennifer, I hope this helped in some way. Thank you for the ideas. I will check out the articles. On my site and social profiles I insist that if anyone wants to criticize my work, they need to keep it constructive. When you know your audience, you can answer their burning questions in a voice that speaks to them.

New Media Services sums it up well. Your readers are coming to you for reliable information. If you dig deep into your topic and deliver the details with a knowledgeable and conversational voice, your content will ultimately become more helpful. Based on data from Microsoft Corp. Since the Google Hummingbird update, the need for readable content has never been more important. Content writers must continually formulate ideas for either full stories or angles on a specific topic. Why 4 Out of 5 Articles Fail. By finding the right blend of creative writing and keyword use in your titles, you can entice searchers to visit your page.

These skills will also help you improve the aesthetics of your content. The ability to capture attention on social media is one of the most powerful tools in digital marketing. It can generate a wider readership, which boosts site traffic and can lead to higher conversions. Social media platforms are also a magical tool in helping you personally connect with your audience. This connection can develop a sense of community. As content writing continues to dominate the business of online marketing, the demand for expert copywriters with content marketing skills will increase.

By producing high-quality content that provides value for your readers, solves their problems and gives them new insights, you will work your way to the top. To graduate to the next level of content writing success, check out my training: For a content writing team you can count on, learn more about our story here and try us out today. I like that you explain in simple terms how to make your content perfect for your audience and engage them. My fear is being unable to accurately target customer pain points and never turn any new leads. Although, by focusing strongly on the target audience and doing content audits can help adjust content to better fit the audience.

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading, Nida! Great goal you have there — producing effective, targeted content. Glad this blog was useful! As a marketer, I would like to share that great content for the marketers is the one which is relevant for the people who are searching for it, since that will also be great on SEO terms.

Improving the rankings is the major goal of SEO and this happens when the content is well-written as well as totally relevant to the search queries. Thus, being aware of the synchronisation of content with SEO, the writers also know the final goal and are able to write as expected of them, avoiding the unnecessary stuff. As a blogger myself, I find it also quite hard to update regularly and momentum might be the most important rule if you want to be successful with your blog not just on monetary terms but also if you want to be proud of your work.

Your support means a lot to us, Waldo.

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