Post #19 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Business – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
We’ve been talking about leverage here for the last couple of weeks and from your comments, I think we’re connecting with you. So let’s stretch this discussion out a little longer. I’ve put together
This is NOT leverage...we can do better than this. Stop pulling a heavy load.
some practical things you can do to leverage yourself, your book and your network of friends, followers and readers. It’s as easy as 1-2-3-4-5. Let’s go:
Leverage 5 NEW blogs today that talk about writing or memoirs. Get engaged. Start leaving comments regularly…be sure to include a link back to your blog or website. Build your presence. Be a good blog citizen…give of (don’t sell) yourself. Do this regularly, and you’ll make new friends.
Don’t treat the words “sell” and “marketing” as 4-letter words. I know that many of us don’t like selling because we conjure up images of the quintessential used-car salesman. Erase that image; think instead of the times sales people helped you make good sales choices. How did they do it? They shared their knowledge and let you make an educated decision. They didn’t shout or intimidate. That’s how a good salesperson does her job. Embrace the educator-sales style.
Nurture 3 peer relationships. In an earlier post, I suggested that three authors holding a joint book signing could leverage one another’s list. Here’s another idea: Get three author friends to agree to support you and each other by regularly commenting on one another’s sites, linking to each other’s posts, Tweeting and posting on each other’s Facebook Fan Page. You’ll all benefit and improve your Google ranking and Technorati authority. This is a win-win-win-win. But don’t assume your friends will support you; make a pact to work for one another.
What, you don’t have a Twitter account or a Facebook Fan Page?!? Then get these 2 social networking tools immediately. Start building a Twitter following and Tweet at least once a day. It will take a while to feel that what you are doing matters (and I’ll talk about this more in the future). Don’t worry, just keep plugging away. All of a sudden, one day you’ll see that you’ve built a very real following. People will begin ReTweeting your messages and sending you direct messages. Your Fan Page also will start to grow without any outside help…and by the way, get your 3 peers to invite their Facebook friends to join your Fan Page.
Learn from 1 new marketing guru every month. I have a lot of people I’ll be introducing you to in the weeks and months ahead. Today I’ll just put you on to Rick Frishman’s Author 101 Newsletter. It’s free and it’s a fast read; most important, you’ll find links to a lot of marketing tools, training and programs. Sign up for Rick Frishman’s Newsletter here.
memoir writing
publishing
book marketing
memoir blogroll
memoir
