Past, Present, Future Marketing Plan Realtime Board

Scatterbrained Marketing Plan Realtime Board

Trickle Down Marketing Plan Realtime Board

How to use Google products and Services to your Advantage #1

I'm writing this blog as the first in a series about how to use Google to further your business and make your life easier. We'll start off with a list of helpful services and a short description. These are all free services and most of these and more can be found by clicking on this link: http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/

Blogger
Blogger is an easy to use blogging platform that you are able to customize and integrate into your brand. This is the blogging platform I use because it's simple and yet still has the capability to house great gadgets. One thing I will recommend is that you use the Google Chrome browser when using Blogger, there are a few bugs when using some other browsers.

Google Chrome
This browser will make any Google service or product work better and without bugs. It is also just an all around top-notch browser. I've been using it for months now and have only had one issue. Occasionally when using Google Image Search it freezes up and I have to close down the browser completely, but the positive part of this is that if that happens, Google Chrome remembers every tab I had up and asks if I'd like to restore them.

Gmail
Gmail is a great email platform. I also have a Hotmail account, but I do like the Gmail one better. It's easier to navigate, it has an advanced search so you can pull up all emails from a certain person or all emails with a specific key word. No cons yet.

YouTube
This is a part of Google and it's the best video hosting site on the web, hands down. YouTube has limited ads and you can share and embed videos anywhere. Get an account and upload all your videos to YouTube.

Google Drive
I LOVE Google Drive. Google Drive is basically a storage space online, but you can also create documents, spreadsheets, forms to embed on your website and SOOOOO much more! If you don't have it, get it, because they are adding new programs for it all the time.

Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a program that helps you keep track of your many events and important dates. You can make more than one calendar, you can embed it on your website for people to see, and you can have email reminders for marked dates. You can also invite others to your calendar and share it publicly.

Google Earth
Google Earth is great for research and just fun to play around with. I'm sure most of you have popped on there to check out the satellite view of your home and played around with some of its features. I think it's pretty neat.

Google Maps
Google Maps is also a cool feature. You can make your own maps and share them with friends, you can find places easily and map out an entire road trip. I see this program overtaking MapQuest in the near future.

Sketch Up
If you haven't discovered Sketch Up yet, you should definitely check it out. You can map out the interior and exterior of building with this free program. There is a bit of a learning curve, but if you are one of those visual people who need to map out a scene in your book, this is the tool for that.

Google Trends
This handy tool will be useful when predicting publishing trends. For instance, by typing in "erotica books" you can see that this search trend peaked in June 2012 and is now on the decline. By typing in "vampire books" you can see that this trend peaked in November 2009 and May 2010 and is also now on the decline. By seeing where these search terms are headed, up or down, you can tailor blog posts to go along with the trends and you can also write books that may be popular in the near future.

Blog Search
You can use this specialized search engine to comb through blogs that are related to the topics you write about. From there you can follow these blogs, contact the owner and talk about possibly exchanging guest posts, or even search for book reviewers.

Google Sites
This is the website hosting program from Google. I do use them to host my website and I'm pretty happy with it. The features are not basic, but the aren't advanced either. I'd recommend it for a first website. It's easy to operate and can look very nice if you have it set up right.

Google+
This is the social media site run by Google. GET AN ACCOUNT! There have been predictions that Google+ will overtake Facebook and Twitter for the top social networking site by 2015. So, get an account now and by the time that happens, you will be set. You'll have plenty of followers and you will be towards the top of the social network food chain before anyone else. Not to mention, the features are awesome.

Google+ Communities
This is part of Google+. What it is is a place where anyone can post their content related to the community topic. Once you create a community you can make your own rules. It's fun to scroll through these and blog hop. You can also post videos, pictures and plain text. I love Google+ Communities.

Google Hangouts
This program is integrated into the Gmail and Google+ programs. You can host webinars, talk to people by video, organize a group of people for a meeting and so much more. Check it out and see what you can use it for.

There are so many more products and services that Google has to offer, but we'll start with these for now. Soon I'll tell you more about Blogger and we'll go down the list to discover ways to use these free programs available to you.

TDE: The Trickle Down Effect Marketing Strategy

Today I'm telling you about a marketing strategy. I either invented it or thought it up without knowing it already exists. I'm sure it does, but let me tell you about it any way. I'm calling it the Trickle Down Effect.

The Trickle Down Effect consists of three levels.

The first level is the "Followers" level. This level is all the followers you have on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and everything else. These followers have minimal loyalty. Some of them may only be following you because you are following them. You still have some influence over them and can tell them about your projects, your books and all that. What you really need to do is connect with them to get them to trickle down into the next level. You can do this by generating interest in you and your books and also asking them to sign up for your newsletter.

The second level is the "Subscribers" level. Subscribers are those who get your weekly or monthly newsletter, read just about every blog post, and ultimately are pretty loyal to you. You have more influence with your subscribers than you do your followers. Eventually, by strengthening the connection you have with your subscribers, you will be able to make more sales to them and turn them into loyal customers. You also need to give them some love by offering little freebies here and there.

The third level is the "Loyalty" level. These are the people who actually buy your books and love them. Loyal Customers will keep coming back for more as long as you treat them good. Keep your books high quality, offer up a free short story every now and then or maybe even a postcard. You should also ask their opinions when you need it. Just keep them happy and you'll find that more and more people are becoming your Loyal Customers.

With that, I'd love the chance to make you happy. If you'd like to sign up for my newsletter, head over to my website at the link below. I'll be giving updates on my projects and giving out free short stories every so often too! If you'd like to join the fun, check it out!

https://sites.google.com/site/kaylacurryauthor/subscribe

Twitter: A 4 Step Guide on How to Get More Legitimate Followers.

Twitter can be a scary place for beginners, but don't be discouraged if you only have a few followers after the first week. There is a great way to get tons of followers that legitimately want to follow you.

Step 1: Search for people that have the same interests as you. If you are an author you want to search for these: books, authors, writers, reviewer, book blogger, book lover, publishing, and other book related words and phrases. Also search for the genre or genres you write in. The search will lead you to people who tweet about this stuff. Follow them.

Step 2: After you've followed these people, retweet them. By retweeting some of their key tweets, you are both endorsing them and telling them that you care about this stuff too. When you retweet, you will not only get followbacks, you'll start to gain followers who notice that you retweet. These people will follow you in the hopes of getting a retweet themselves.

Step 3: Start tweeting about your own blog posts, books, interests and other stuff. Be sure to keep some tweets personal. Don't over do it on the promotion. Remember all those people you retweeted? They can now begin to repay the favor. Twitter is about the balance of give and take. The more you give, the more you will get in return.

Step 4: Don't forget to have actual conversations with your followers and read their tweets too! Keep the social in social media!

There you have it! If you want real followers who actually care about what you tweet, follow these simple steps and avoid the temptation to buy followers. Most of those are scams anyway.

Looking for a future publisher? Try mine!

Moonstone is in the queue over at Martin Sisters Publishing. We'll be prepping it for release very soon. Before the second book in the series is released, however, I must give a shout out to my awesome publisher.

Martin Sisters Publishing is a quickly growing small publisher that really cares about the books they publish.

I found this publisher through Writer's Market. If you don't have a current Writer's Market and you are planning on going with traditional publication, you really need to pick one up.

MSP is run by two sisters who do most of the work themselves. They are good at what they do and they are passionate about putting out great books from all sorts of genres. Also, like a true publisher, they take care of all costs associated with publishing and they walk you through the entire process.

You can learn more about them and all the awesome books they've published on their website www.martinsisterspublishing.com. You can also visit and follow their Martin Sisters Book blog which will soon be busy with posts from the authors who have worked with MSP.

Also, don't forget to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!

Ways to get featured or tweeted!

Hello! I've come up with a new way to help promote you and your books!

There are actually two ways on my Get Featured page over on Paranormal Lounge.

The first is a feature on the Paranormal Lounge blog, and it is for paranormal books only. Just fill out the form and I'll be in touch.

The second is a tweet to my 2,000+ followers on twitter. The tweet can be about any book or writing related subject and you can send me a tweet once per week. The only thing I ask in return is that you follow me on twitter. I will follow you back too, which is a win/win situation.

Both of these services are FREE, but please respect the rules. Do not try to get your mystery featured on Paranormal Lounge and do not send me more than one tweet per week.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you on these forms and can't wait to help you expand your reach!

The Importance of Having a Blog

In the land of book marketing, blogging is an important part of expanding your reach and CONNECTING with readers. Here are some reasons you need to blog if you have a book out:

1. It helps you practice writing more. You may not be writing the next best seller, but blog posts are a great way to practice your writing and improve on the craft.
2. You can direct people to important blog posts easily on twitter and facebook. Posting a huge article on Facebook is not cool and posting a huge article on twitter is impossible. So, that's why you need a blog.
3. You can connect with your readers through the comments field. Also, if they like what they read, they'll come back for more!
4. CROSS PROMOTION!! Yeah. If you can host other authors on your blog, they will be mor elikely to host you in return. That expands your reach and your audience!
5. It's nice to get things off your chest every now and then. Don't go on a rant every time you post, but sometimes it's okay to let out a little steam.
6. You can tackle important industry issues and let people know where you stand.
7. It increases your discoverability. The more places you are, the more likely you are to be discovered.

Honestly, I come across authors every day who don't have their own blog, and I find it surprising every time. Up-keeping a blog shows you are serious about expanding your platform as an author. Also, with a blog, you can participate in the upcoming Blogger Book Fair.

If you are thinking about setting up a blog I would recommend Blogger for beginners. The interface is easy to navigate and everything is simplified.

If you STILL don't want to take the time to actually set up a blog, let me do it for you! Check out the details on my fiverr.com gig: HERE.

Announcement and apology!

Hey guys! First of all, I want to apologize for not keeping up with this blog. My blogs have been on hold for now as I regroup and reorganize. Not to mention I have tons of projects I'm working on.

My announcement deals with my new account as a seller on fiverr.com. I have decided to take on some side jobs through this site. Here is a list of my gigs:

The first one is my Virtual Assistant gig. For a limited time I'm doing 30 minutes for $5. That's a great rate, and I will probably drop the time down to 20 minutes some time in the future. I'm trying to build up experience right now. If you'd like to take advantage of this, the gig is listed here: http://fiverr.com/kaylacurry/be-your-virtual-assistant-for-30-minutes

The next one I have listed is my Online Image Consultation gig. This is where you can send me links to all your social media profiles, websites, and blogs. I will then visit each one and compile a report on what you are doing right, what you could improve on and what you could add or subtract. This will help you present a consistent image and help you brand yourself. This gig is available here: http://fiverr.com/kaylacurry/analyze-your-online-image

If you need new marketing ideas, I have a gig for that too. For $5 I will come up with 5 to 10 new and fun ideas on how to market your service or product. Check out the gig here for more details: http://fiverr.com/kaylacurry/give-you-marketing-ideas-for-your-business-or-product

Another gig I offer is advice on how to manage a bad press crisis. Simply tell me what problem you are having and I will help you come up with ways to fix it. This is similar to my online image consultation. If you point me towards the problem, I will check it out and send you a report with advice on what to do and what not to do. See all the details here: http://fiverr.com/kaylacurry/help-you-manage-a-bad-press-crisis

I also have other gigs, not related to marketing. A birthday planner gig and a wedding decoration planner gig. Check out my fiverr page for these and other upcoming gigs. http://fiverr.com/kaylacurry

Associating your book with best sellers the RIGHT way.

We are all tempted to say things like, "My book is just as good/better than (Name your best-seller here)" We all get inspired by top books and movies and sometimes our work ends up being something that fans of that book or movie would love and we want to tell them that. Unfortunately, telling people that your book is as good as Twilight (or whatever) is not the right way to go about it.

Wrong: Posting an image of your book photo shopped with images associated with other popular books and movies.

Right: Posting images of your book. Then later, posting images supporting those books and movies that are similar to yours. This tells people that you are a fan too and that your book might be up their ally.


Wrong: Saying that your book is as good/better than (insert popular title here)

Right: Letting reviewers say these things. (Don't tell them to say these things. Let it happen naturally.)


Wrong: Posting an image of your book side-by side with the other, more popular book.

Right: Trying to get on lists on which that popular book is on. Lists on Goodreads and Listmania would be perfect. This also improves your chances of being discovered.


So there you have it. Not only does doing things the "wrong way" make you look unprofessional, it can also be illegal. Using copyrighted images, for example, is illegal. Piggy-backing on someone else's fame or popularity isn't illegal, but should be.

Tomorrow we will talk about one of my biggest pet peeves in the marketing world.

Competition is tough--Take it from me.

Along with the indie revolution, comes extremely low prices on books. Most are around $3-$5 dollars for dgital copies. SOme are een as low as $.99. This is where I'm struggling. Yes. I'm admitting that I am struggling with the competition. My book is published through a small publisher, and I really love my publisher. They have done so much for me. My book is also $7 for a digital copy. That's al least $2 more than my competition and most often $4 more than my competition. That's more than double their price.

So what's a girl to do? I know WHAT I have to do. I just don't really know HOW to do it.

What I have to do:
I have to convince people that my book is worth the $7 price tag.

How can I do that?
How do I tell people that my book is worth the price without telling people that my book is "better" than others or that it's "higher-quality" than others? I can't do that because there are so many good indie books out there that are just as good and sometimes better than mine. Granted some are worse, but it's not like I'm going to point them out.

How do I say that my vampire series is the best without actually saying it? How do I convince people to spend those extra dollars on my story instead of buying that other one for $3?

Right now I'm trying out the old post-a-quote-from-a-review trick. I'll let you know how that goes. I'm also testing out facebook ads by running a week long campaign, so I'll let you know how that one goes too with stats and a short report.

This is the hard part about marketing. It's something I'm really struggling with and all I can do is hope that something I'm trying eventually works. Take it from me, if you want to sell books, you either need a great contract from a big publishing company, or you'll have to compete with the low indie prices.

Tomorrow we'll discuss the right ways and wrong ways to associate your book with best sellers. Why telling people out-right that your book is as good as the Twilight series is bad and posting stuff about Twilight on facebook is good!

8 Tips on creating ATTENTION GRABBING headlines!!

I've recently picked up a few books on generating interesting headlines, my favorite is 555 Hot Marketing Headlines. ($.99 on Amazon)

The book mentioned above gives you examples of headlines and has a hos of other resources at the end.

Anyways, here's what I learned from this book and other books:

Use numbers! People like lists so if you are blogging a list. Be sure to say how big your list is. If it's a huge list you can say that too. (5 Ways to Sell More Books! 20 Tips on Improving Your Social Media Profiles! Big List of Books!)

Use words like FREE, Giveaway! and Sale! People love deals. If there is a giveaway in your post, mention it in the headline!

Ask questions! People like putting in their two cents. A question will get them thinking and reading!

Use words like Guide, How-To and Advice. People like to learn stuff. Telling them that you are sharing your knowledge will mean that they may be able to learn something and they may be able to teach you something too!

Use words like New, Never-Before-Seen, Announcing and Exclusive! People like to be the first to hear about new trends, products and services. Using these words, tells them that they will have the first opportunity to tell their friends, family and co-workers about something new.

Controversial headlines draw them in too. People love controversy, but use this one with care.

Capitalize. People see capital letters easier. Just don't go overboard. One or two capital words are just fine. More than that might be excessive.

Combining a few of these will be even better!

Checking out Tribber and page views form my blog, I can see that my most popular recent headlines from Paranormal Lounge have been:

Big list of Paranormal Books! (List)
If you were a character in a novel, what role would you play? (Question)
BE MINE Giveaway for Obsidian: Mystic Stones Series #1 (Giveaway word use)
50 Shades Stance (I think this falls more under the controversial category than the number category)
Announcing a new short story series from . . . ME! (Announcing)

How do you draw people in with blog headlines? Come back tomorrow for a post on why I'm struggling to sell books and how you can learn from my struggle.

The best times for you to post to facebook and twitter.

As marketers, we need to know the best ways to reach the most people. I'm a big fan of taking stats and analizing them, so that is the subject we're on today. I've already talked about twitter, facebook, triberr and other subjects. Today we are going to talk about the best times to post to twitter and facebook. This means the best times of the day and the best days of the week.

In doing my research I've found conflicting statistics and reports on the best time and day to post on twitter. In my experience, the best days are Monday through Thursday. Here's an article that backs me up on this from Ragan's PR Daily.  The article shows that the most "click-throughs" happen Monday through Thursday around noon. Less specifically between 9a.m. and 3p.m.

Why are these times so popular?

My guess is that people start taking their mid-morning breaks and their lunch breaks during this time of day. Logically, people are still hanging on to their weekends on Mondays and also catching up on things they may have missed over the weekend. The early time of day id most likely due to procrastination. Things seem to get put off til later in the day and that's why the later hours are filled with actual work and checking off items on the to-do list.

Another reason?

Stay-at-home moms and dads don't have too much to do while their kids are in school, so they enjoy a little "me time."

Why are weekends dead on twitter?

Well, I'm not entirely sure myself, but I theorize that people are bust enjoying life. They go to events, birthday parties and go shopping in REAL stores. That's a good thing! It gives you time to come up with content to post during the week and time to enjoy life yourself!

One feature I love about Hootsuite is their new auto-schedule button. This tweets your message at the opportune time. It automatically calculates the next time a spike in twitter visitors will occur by using data from the past.



On to facebook posting. Facebook is apparently another story. Some unexpected reports show that facebook has differences and similarities to twitter. Here's an article that may help you with facebook. There are a few twitter stats too, so be sure to take note of them in this article from FaceItPages.

The infographic shows us that facebook thrives on weekends--particularly Saturday. It also shows that shares spike around noon and seven. It also claims that one post every other day will garner the most page likes. I'm not sure about this particular stat, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

Basically, the facebook crowd grows during lunch on weekdays and in the afternoon on Saturdays. Keep these times in mind when you are posting, and you'll do great!!

So there you have it. The best times to post and tweet. Come back on Friday for headline tips for blog posts.

Scrivener: The best $40 I ever spent on writing!

Okay, I was introduced to Scrivener by a friend of mine. What is Scrivener you ask? It's a word processor specifically for writers. Using this extremely inexpensive program, you can write, edit, format and publish anything from a full novel to a short story. There are also templates for scriptwriting, comic book writing and non-fiction writing.

Scrivener has a lot of features that will really help you get organized. The best part is, you can try it for 30 days and once that 30 days is up and you decide you like it, it's only $40. There are versions for Mac and Windows, and the Windows version just got a free update with more features that were only available for Mac before.

Let's start with how it helps you organize while writing:

Scrivener lets you create a separate text document for each chapter or section--you can set this up however you'd like. Then once you are finished, you can compile the all the documents, or just selected documents into a host of formats including kindle, .epub, .doc and SOOOO many more.

There are also some fun features.

Want to set a manuscript and or session word goal? Just go to Project>Project Targets and you can set the manuscript goal and your goal for the session.

You can also see an estimate of how many pages your book would be printed out or in paperback by going to Project>Project Statistics.

Stuck on what to name your characters? Forget searching for your baby name books or scouring the Internet, there is a name generator. Go to Tools>Writing Tools>Name Generator. You can even customize what origin the first and/or last name comes from, the gender, and choose whether you want first name only, last name only or both. I believe you can even add up to three last names. You can also find the meaning of first names and search names by the meaning you are going for.

Next, let's talk about how Scrivener helps you organize while editing:

If you have separated your chapters, after writing your first draft, you are able to go through and label each chapter in two ways. The first way is a color label. You can choose to have No Label (grey), Idea (yellow), Notes (orange), Needs Work (red), Good to Go (green), and Scene (blue). You are able to edit these colors to mean what ever you want, but these are the defaults. The next way you can label is by assigning each folder or text a status. The statuses are none, to do, first draft, revised draft, final draft and title page. You can add, remove or customize these too. Here is a screen shot to show you what I'm talking about. To get to the screen I'm about to show you, you would click on "Manuscript" in the left-side binder panel in Scrivener.

As you can see, I am able to tell exactly where I am in the editing process. Before Scrivener I had to write down what chapter I was on since when ever I closed out of my word document, it would not save my place. With Scrivener, not only does it automatically open to the project you last worked on, it opens to the very place you left your cursor.

Okay, on to the subject of formatting and publishing with Scrivener:

So far, I have only published short stories to Amazon with Scrivener. But I have found it to be very easy to format to .mobi by using the compile button. Compile on Scrivener, takes all those sections, and combines them into one document. You can pick and choose which ones to include as well as which titles and subtitles to include. I suggest going through the tutorial and learning more about this. I decided to wing it and got dinged a couple times. Once you figure out how you want to format your work, you start to remember the settings you used. It's probably not a bad idea to write them down. I think you might even be able to save the settings too, although I have not yet figured out how to do that. Soon I will be formatting for .epub, so I will keep you posted.

I have been extremely happy with Scrivener and I suggest that every writer at least try it out. The 30 day trial is risk free and fully featured. The fact that you can do everything from writing to publishing in one program is amazing. If you are publishing to kindle (who isn't these days?) I would suggest getting the kindle for desktop app downloaded so that you can check out your .mobi files before you upload them to Amazon. It's really easy to check them out, find an error, fix it, compile the new file, replace the old file with the new, check it out again on the kindle app and finally publish when you have found no more errors.

For more info or to give it a try, head to this link: http://literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

See you tomorrow when we talk about the best times to post to facebook and twitter!

The benefits of writing and publishing a short story.

Many authors are struggling with sales on their debut novel. The problem is that there is only one piece of work under their name and readers are reluctant to spend money on a "newbie" especially when they can't get a proper sample of their work.

You may say, "That's what excerpts and kindle samples are for!" Well, while excerpts and kindle samples do help, they don't tell the reader about your writing style and how you can write a full story. They want to read something from beginning to end. This gives them a true sense of who you are as a story-teller, not just who you are as a writer.

Writing and publishing a short story is a great way to get your work into the hands of readers, especially if you price it at $.99 or give it away for free. You get an added bonus in the story is a companion to your novel. The same goes for long stories and novellas.

A short story about the characters in your novel will add interest to the novel itself. Once someone reads and like the short story, they are bound to want to read the novel. It's a good idea to try to make it a story that can be read either before or after the novel, since people who have read and liked the novel won't want to miss out on any important story lines that involve the characters they fell in love with.

Once you write this short story, be sure to put in the blurb for your book at the end. Here is my format for short stories:

Cover
Table of Contents
Title/Copyright Page
Story
About the Author
About Obsidian: Mystic Stones Series (Insert blurb and link to the book on Amazon--or where ever--here)

And that is that. I've only published to Amazon so far and I tend to run the KDP free promo days one or two days at a time. After I run these, I usually see at least a few sales for my novel. The rest of the time they are at $.99 and I see a few sales each week. Eventually, I plan to publish to Smashwords, but I haven't had the time yet.

Here is a list of  the short stories I've published and the ones to come!

Oomph! (horror)
Journey in an Unknown Land (speculative fiction)
Falling Leaves, Falling Leaves: The Book of Life, Falling Leaves: A Seed of Hope and Falling Leaves: The Complete Three Story Collection (speculative fiction)

Ruby: A Mystic Stones Jewel (Companion to Obsidian - Coming Soon!)
Vibe (A 9 Story Series - Coming Soon!)

The more quality work you have out there, the better! Some one could fall in love with one of your short stories and decide to pick up your novel. Give it a try and you might be surprised!

See you tomorrow when we talk about the best $40 I ever spent on writing, and the program that will help you write and publish that short story I mentioned--Scrivener!

5 Must-Have Marketing Books for Authors.

Here's the list of marketing books I promised with links to amazon:

100 Ways to Market Your Book for Free (or really cheap) by Carol Denbow. $.99 at time of posting.

My Book Isn't Selling! The Chargan Book of Marketing Ideas by Philip Ragan. Free at time of posting.

Smashwords Book Marketing Guide - How to Market any Book for Free (Smashwords Guides) by Mark Coker. Free at time of posting.

Book Marketing Basics: How to Use Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and Email Marketing to Connect with Readers by Doulit. $.99 at time of posting.

What's Your Purple Goldfish? How to Win Customers and Influence Word of Mouth by Stan Phelps and Drew McLellan. Free at time of posting.

Watch for more lists/ an extended list in the future as I make my way through a few I just downloaded!

Next week, on Monday, we will talk about how writing short stories and novellas can boost the sales on your full length novels. Plus on Tuesday, a post about the best $40 I ever spent on writing.

5 tips on word-of-mouth marketing!

Finally, after deleting the post yesterday, I am retyping the blog on word-of-mouth marketing. Here are some tips for getting your name and the name of your book out there.

Tip #1: Make sure you have a signature on your emails. This should include your name, author of _____ and some links to your website, blog, book . . . Well, here is mine:

Kayla Curry
Author of Obsidian: Mystic Stones Series #1
Website - Blog -Twitter
Facebook Page - Martin Sisters Publishing

Why should you do this? Because, in order for word-of-mouth marketing to work, people need to know your name and the name of your book.

Tip #2: Always say thank you when someone goes out of their way to mention you in a post, on facebook, or twitter or any other media. Showing appreciation lets people know that you care and they feel rewarded for helping you out even if it's just a thank you. Thank you's can go a long way.

Tip #3: Give people something to talk about! If you want people to talk about you and/or your book, you need to give them something interesting to say. Just make sure it's something positive. Post announcements on your achievements, your goals and your projects. If you are participating in a community event, or donating to a charity, those are more things you should announce so that your supporters have something to talk about.

Tip #4: Asking people to refer your book to a friend. There are a few right and wrong ways to go about this. I haven't tried many of them out yet, but here are some ideas to do it the right way:

• Make it a contest! Have the followers of your page send their friends to your page and have them tell their friends who sent them. The follower to bring in the most new followers wins something. This can be done easily on facebook.
• Every once in a while (not everyday) send out a tweet or facebook status that says something to the effect of, "If you liked my book, feel free to recommend it to your friends!"

Tip #5: Return the favor, or be the first one to pay the favor. Refer the books that your friends have written to others. Whether you are returning the favor, or paying the favor first (even without being asked), your author friends are likely to remember you next time they are in a position to recommend a book. It's easy to say, "She's my competition. I'm not going to help her out." That's what we are taught--that people in the same line of business are our competition. It's true, but it's also not a bad idea to work with your competition. In the book world, competition is just a chance for cross promotion. Cross promotion is a great way to gain a larger reach. In the book world, readers are always looking for new books. Once they have read your friends' book, they are going to want something else comparable. That is why cross promoting is so important. Your fans become their fans, and their fans become yours. The great thing is, when you come out with another book, your fans will still be there.

Well, that's all I have for today. I might have more on this subject in the future. Tomorrow I'll be posting a list of books that gave me some great marketing advice with links to them on Amazon! Don't miss it! Most will be free or very cheap. That's what I'm all about--marketing on a very tight budget.

Hometown Marketing: TV Exposure

Yesterday we talked about local newspaper exposure.  Today we are moving on to TV exposure.

Now, when you send out your press releases, be sure to send them to local TV stations. Landing a spot on the news is a big thing. If you are contacted by  your local TV station, or any TV station for that matter, be sure to take advantage of any exposure they offer you.

In my case, I was contacted by my local news station via email. They wanted to do a story on me and they asked if they could send a reporter to my house. I was ecstatic and told them that would be fine. The appointment was set for a few days later, but I instantly started to prepare.

They didn't give me the questions they'd be asking, but I figured I could practice the ones that were general. So I came up with my own set of questions and began to practice answering them out loud. I also cleaned my house from top to bottom and spent hours on figuring out what I was going to wear.

When they actually came by to interview and film me, I felt ready. I was still nervous, but ready. It went pretty well for my first TV appearance, and I think if I ever do another one I'll be even more prepared and perhaps a bit more relaxed.

As for radio exposure, I haven't had the opportunity to be featured on the radio yet. Our radio stations are mostly music only around here, they read off the news, but they only interview musicians and singers.

Do any of you have experience in radio/TV exposure?

Tomorrow we'll talk about word-of-mouth marketing!

Hometown Marketing: Newspaper Exposure

Today we're talking about marketing your book to people in your hometown and surrounding areas too, but mainly your hometown.

The first subject of the week is getting exposure in newspapers. Newspapers are a great way to find an audience. Why? Because people who read the paper actually read! Yeah. They don't just watch TV for news and entertainment, they actually read the paper. There are a few ways to use a local newspaper to market your book.

When you publish your book, you or your publisher should put together a PRESS RELEASE. Yes, newspapers and other media still accept press releases and you need to have one. We'll talk more on this subject next week, but for now, let's pretend that you do in fact have a press release.

You need to send the press release to the newspapers, radio stations and news stations. It's also a good idea to follow up about a week after you send them if you haven't heard from them. More often then not, your hometown will publish at least a short snippet of your press release.

Sometimes your press release leads to interviews, reviews and other feature stories. For example, a newspaper in my hometown originally published a short announcement of my book from the press release. Soon after, they contacted me for more and I landed a centerfold article with an excerpt from my book and pictures.

One place you might want to look up especially if you write for young adults, is your local high school(s) newspaper. I was actually on the school newspaper when I was in high school and so when I went to my old supervisor and asked him if they would be interested in publishing a story, he was very happy to have the teens feature me. I showed up at his class one day where I was promptly thrown into a class wide Q&A. (I should have expected it from my old teacher--he really knew how to put you on the spot.) After the Q&A, I was then interviewed by a student who would be writing the story that I was featured in. I donated a signed book to the school library, and I was very pleased with the results I got when the article came out.

On another note, most newspapers will also publish their stories online. This is an added bonus for you, since people are going more and more paperless everyday. The moral of the story is: Do not put newspapers out for the count just because the industry isn't doing as well as it used to. ANY exposure is better than nothing at all--except, in my opinion, bad exposure.

Return tomorrow for how to get exposure on your local news station and what to do when they want to film a segment!