IWSG - Feb 2018

Click here to find out more and to see a list of other IWSG blogs.

I'm retiring in a couple of months, and I have a lot of plans to improve both my writing speed and my marketing acumen. 

At the end of December and beginning of January, people in a Facebook group called 20BooksTo50K that focuses on marketing, etc. had people posting their results. Now, looking at these, it's easy to be depressed.

I've chosen to be inspired instead. 

What about you?

Monday Meanderings

First Meandering ...

The effectiveness of blogs anymore is being questioned a lot. I know many bloggers who've just given up on it and moved on to other forms of social media to connect with their readers. I understand that, as I've been feeling a bit of blog fatigue myself as I try to decide on blog post topics.

This week, someone mentioned something called ThunderClap as a marketing tool. There's a great article here by Derek Murphy about how to use it. Wikipedia defines it as:

"crowdspeaking" platform that lets individuals and companies rally people together to spread a message. The site uses an "all-or-nothing" model similar to crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, in that if the campaign does not meet its desired number of supporters in the given time frame, the organizer receives none of the donations.

On Thunderclap, backers donate tweets and social media posts rather than money.

Sounds like it could be a great tool. Have any of you used it? If so, were you happy with the results?


Second Meandering ...

I'm not looking forward to going in to work today. In my day job, the county (which handles voter registration) was supposed to get all the names of registered voters to the company that sent our all-vote-by-mail ballots. It appears he forgot to include the names of the people on our permanent absentee list--the people who've always received ballots by mail. All last week my office was inundated with phone calls from these people wondering why everyone else in their homes have received their ballots but not them.

The last of the ballots should have been delivered this weekend. Should have been. I've already heard from one woman who's militantly against all vote by mail and she hasn't received her ballot yet. Ugh.

Monday Meandering - January 26th

First Meander - Marketing

I don't usually track sales on Amazon. That's not what I got into writing for. However, sometimes we need to know what's working (or not) with our marketing.

Friday started a three-day "free" marketing blitz for the Just An Old Fashioned Love Story anthology. Click here to see my post about it. We paid for some marketing that spread throughout the weekend. We topped at #2 for anthologies (#1 was an erotic series). Our highest level (that I saw) was #61 for the Kindle's Top 100 Free. I'm not sure how that equates to overall downloads. Our member over that hasn't reported.

It was an interesting experiment, and we're starting to get some reviews in.Which, of course, is kind of the point of giving the book away, that and exposure.

Second Meander - Genre

It can be your friend or your worst enemy.

I've mentioned before about struggling staying in one genre. Yes, I write romance, but I almost always like my romance served with a nice side of ... something. It's that "something" that keeps sending me into different genres. For example:

• A Change of Plans, Safe Harbors #1 is an adventure romance, though it has elements that place it in women's fiction.
• Hope's Watch, Safe Harbors #1.5 is romance but also deals with women's fiction elements.
• Torn Canvas, Safe Harbors #2 is general fiction with a strong romantic element.
• A Season of Change, Safe Harbors #2.5 is romance but there are some suspense elements.

With Swing Vote, Safe Harbors #3, I've been under the impression that it was a thriller--because it has thrillerish elements. But the more I've been researching, the more I've concluded that I can't/shouldn't write and market it as thriller.

So I did even more research. I've concluded that SV is going to be romantic suspense. And I'm good with that. I have the skeleton of the story down (that's my first draft), but I needed to KNOW for sure what approach to take before I proceeded any deeper into the edits.

Third Meander - Size

The awesome Canda Mortensen post on her blog here about the length of various categories of literature. Since I have various lengths (Hope's Watch and A Season of Change are both novelettes and Second Chances 101 is a novella), I thought I share. I found it interesting.

Did you have a good weekend? Do anything fun?

IWSG - Maybe

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Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

As I write this, I'm on my fourth chest cold (and ears and sinuses) since right after Christmas. Maybe the fact that I've felt like crap for two months is taking its toll on my outlook.

Maybe I'm running out of stories to tell.

Maybe not.

Maybe I'm sick and tired (of being sick and tired? haha) of the marketing part of being a published author. Definitely this part.

Maybe I am just looking back on the carefree days when I wrote for the sheer pleasure of it, when I had no delusions of publication.

Maybe I need to get another hobby.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

Maybe I'll go finish those edits from my editor.

Cost of "Free" Ebooks?

You see it a lot anymore. Free ebooks. It's a marketing move. Some books are free as promos, and others are on perma free. But is that a good marketing strategy for everyone? And if it is, when?

There was an interesting article at Kristen Lamb's blog, entitled
R-E-S-P-E-C-T isn't FREE!

I think writers, especially self-published writers, get overly fascinated with marketing, and the allure of FREE! only makes this worse. I see far too many writers uploading that ONE manuscript and then spending every spare waking moment, promoting that one book to the point of being viewed as spam. They tweet with every imaginable hashtag, “Come get my book for FREE! FREE NOW! A book for FREE!” ….and after the 40th time we get this tweet, we are willing to pay the writer to stop tweeting. 

They remind me of gamblers chasing their losses. Because ONE DAY they had X number of downloads, they are back at the track trying to make that number appear again. If we run around handing our one and only manuscript for FREE! then what good does it gain us? I am sure there is some good that can come from it, but not the real game-changing benefit that I want all of you to enjoy.

You'll want to read the entire article because she raises some interesting points about when and how to make the most of FREE!

What about you? What's been experience, either as a reader or a writer?

My Epiphany and the State of the Publishing Industry

With this being my last post of the year, this seems a good time to share some of my reflections, both of the past year and my hopes for the new one.

Source: PowerPoint

Let me preface this by saying that I was already pretty old when I started this writing gig. I've always had a sense of my mortality and a wish to accomplish certain things before I go on to my "next great adventure". As a result, I've been carrying a hurry, hurry mentality.

You know why, don't you? They say one of the best ways to market your first book is to write a second book.

My problem? I'm not a fast writer. Oh, I can draft really fast. But I'm still stewing on the story and the characters, bouncing ideas around while I'm editing. The end result is in 2013 I took on too many things and spent too little time with my loved ones. That's going to change in 2014.

I want to take the time I need so I don't risk putting out crap.

Have you seen Dean Wesley Smith's post about what 2013 meant for the publishing world?

The US or European courts are still messing with the “First Sale” doctrine ... Right now, electronic books are not sold, they are licensed. (The person buying the book license has no rights to do anything with the book except read it.) But if the courts rule that an electronic book sale is an actual “sale” and “First Sale” applies, then things will shift dramatically in many, many areas. (The very least of which is “used electronic books.”) There are other aspects of “first sale” rulings coming as well that could affect international sales. This all has been in the works now for two years and we might see some cases come down in 2014 finally. 

Lots more stuff in the article, including sections on traditional, indie, agents, and writers. Whether you're traditionally or indie published, you might find it an interesting read. (click here)

How about you? Have you noticed any trends that could impact 2014? 

Any epiphanies about your writing?

Doing anything fun for New Year's Eve?

Happy New Year!

Marketing

Author Marsha Ward and I are members of ANWA (actually she started  it many years ago), and earlier this week one of the members who's a new author posed a question about marketing. Marsha's response was great, and I'm so glad she shared it on her blog, so I can let you folks know about it.

What's the best approach to marketing my book?

So many times, that's a question I hear from first time authors. Here's my answer, and you may not like it, but it's really the truth:

After you have announced your book to your friends via your email contacts, social media sites, and twitter, and have a short "signature" below your name in your email account, the best thing to do in the marketing arena is to write the next book and get it out there.

Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but I cannot emphasize this enough. Too many people with one book available are spending prodigious amounts of time trying in vain to influence sales, instead of writing the next book.

The thing is, the availability of multiple books/short stories/novellas is what seems to drive sales better than anything. And when someone spends all their time drumming up sales for their ONE book (and thus making a pest of themselves), what's the good of it if--when someone reads it and wants more--there is no more work available?

There IS no good that can come of that situation. After the reader exhausts their search engine capacities and their patience and doesn't find anything else by you, your name is then forgotten--once the distastefulness of the frustrating episode fades away.

DO make sure you . . .

Sorry. Go visit Marsha's blog to see the rest.

A to Z - Networking

Earlier this month author Robison Wells (Variant) wrote a great post about marketing that also touched on networking. He said it was a rant, and it was, but I think it was a good rant. Rob's day job for many years was marketing, and he has a lot of good information in the post, so I highly recommend that you go read the whole thing. But I want to share this from the post:

"So, let’s try to hammer one thing into our heads. If get nothing else from this blog, get this:

When you see the term “social networking”, ignore the word “networking” and focus on the word “social“. Some people act like Facebook and Twitter and blogging are a chore, and if you have that attitude, then you’ll always hate social networking. But I don’t see it that way. I log into Twitter the first thing every morning to see what my FRIENDS are talking about, and so I can join the conversation. And a lot of these friends are people who I’ve never met in real life. Some are fellow authors. Some are readers. Some are just fun people who I’ve met and built a relationship with.

Yes, that took time, and in those early days when I had few Twitter followers, it wasn’t as much fun. But it’s definitely worth the investment. Now, I feel like I always have someone to talk to, or someone to hear a joke from, or someone who has something insightful to share. It’s like hanging out with your friends all the time.

It’s not a friggin’ chore. It’s a delight. It’s SOCIAL.

And if you don’t like Twitter, then blog. Build your SOCIAL network there, and interact with your commenters. Or on Facebook. Or on YouTube, or Google Plus, or Friendster, or whatever-the-heck else. It doesn’t matter which platforms you chose. Just chose something, and have a good time. Be social. Be fun. Be interesting.

You’re a writer, for crying out loud. If you can’t be fun or interesting for ten minutes a day then maybe you’re in the wrong business."

How do you feel about social networking and how it relates to marketing your books? Is it just a huge burden or are you having fun?