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Category : Marketing and Platforms
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Continue Reading "Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 9"Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 9
Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.
A few weeks ago, I offered free social media critiques to those who replied before the 14th. You see, social media is a specialty of mine. Before becoming an agent, I worked for some years as a social media marketer at a marketing agency outside of Chicago. I worked with clients such as Vera Bradley, Peg Perego, Benjamin Moore and more. A somewhat longer description of what I did can be found in the first critique post.
1. Saved Sister is a blog by Wendy.
- Your “Sponsor” and “Contact Me” pages aren’t clickable…just something to look into!
- This is a cute blog, but I feel as though you should be getting more interactions on your blog posts, considering the amount of Facebook and Google followers you have. Think about what posts work and what ones seem to fall flat. What ones get your readers talking and what ones keep them silent? Then, weed accordingly.
- Consider interacting with those who leave comments. You want to acknowledge their participation…it will encourage them to do it again.
- You might be covering too much here…you blog about motherhood, ministry, nonprofits, books, etc. Maybe you’re spreading yourself and your readership too thing?
RECOMMENDATIONS: It seems your Five-Minute Fridays get the most interaction. Think of ways that you can engage readers of those posts on each day or most days of the week. You’ll see your reader and interaction numbers grow.
2. First Comes Love is a blog by Meghan Carver
- Your blog appears active and organized. Great job!
- It’s a bit cluttered, so really think about whether you need so many do-dads at the end of every post and also
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Continue Reading "Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 8"
Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 8
A few weeks ago, I offered free social media critiques to those who replied before the 14th. You see, social media is a specialty of mine. Before becoming an agent, I worked for some years as a social media marketer at a marketing agency outside of Chicago. I worked with clients such as Vera Bradley, Peg Perego, Benjamin Moore and more. A somewhat longer description of what I did can be found in the first critique post.
1. Alicia Bruxvoort submitted her blog.
- Overall, the design is nice, but it doesn’t seem to fit the space correctly. Your tagline is way at the bottom of your masthead, your post titles are scrunched to the left and you have some funky lines going through your email address submission box. I wonder if you’ve tested the site in multiple browsers?
- Your font size is fairly small in your posts, and your post length is quite long. It may seem silly to point this out, but things like these encourage people to skim. The more they skim, the easier it is for them to stop visiting your site altogether.
- There seems to be a lot of clutter at the end of your posts. You have prayers, praises, links to other bloggers, stock images, verses and a conversation-starter question. That’s a lot of takeaway, and it’s probably overwhelming readers.
- I don’t see where I can share posts on Facebook or Twitter.
RECOMMENDATIONS
View your site in multiple browsers and on multiple screen sizes. Tweak accordingly. You should also think about reorganizing your content so that you are flooding everything into your daily posts. I suggest leaving the praises
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Continue Reading "Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 7"
Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 7
A few weeks ago, I offered free social media critiques to those who replied before the 14th. You see, social media is a specialty of mine. Before becoming an agent, I worked for some years as a social media marketer at a marketing agency outside of Chicago. I worked with clients such as Vera Bradley, Peg Perego, Benjamin Moore and more. A somewhat longer description of what I did can be found in the first critique post.
1. dabneyland is a blog by Dabney Hedegard
- Super cute design!
- I feel as though the goal of this blog is to help people navigate sickness/loved ones that are sick/etc? If so, I think a stronger, more obvious tagline would help set the right expectations
- Your “About dabneyland” and “About the Blogger” page are very much focused on you, which is fine, but there isn’t anywhere I can go to get a clear picture of what you want this blog to do for ME as a reader. I suggest tweaking the “about the blogger” copy to make it more about reader takeaway value
- Great blog posts titles; very searchable
RECOMMENDATIONS: You’re doing so much right, that my suggestions are pretty nit-picky. I’d write a new tagline that is makes it clear that dabneyland is a place people can come when they’re in the midst of an illness. I’d also reiterate that in either your “About” or “About the Blogger” sections.
2. The Word Butcher is a blog by Jerry Eckert
I’m just going to give you a list of things I think you could do to make this site fit with your book:
- First, I must note that
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Continue Reading "How can I get noticed?"How can I get noticed?
We’re sticking with answering a bunch of shorter questions for a few days…
One author wrote and noted, “As I research book publishing, I’m intrigued by the ‘platform’ thing. And as I think about how to build my platform, I’m having a hard time discerning whether publishers would consider my platform attractive or small potatoes. I edit a professional magazines (10,000 readers), help manage an advertising agroup (500 advertisers), am busy with the local Chamber of Commerce (another 500 members), contribute to a popular blog site, have access to a handful of other groups, and have been invited to submit articles to some very popular websites. Is that enough to get an editor’s attention?”
That certainly sounds like the start of a good platform. Of course, some of the “platform” issue will depend on what you’re writing and who you’re writing to. If all of your professional contacts are finance related, and you’ve written a romance novel, publishers may tend to discount the value of all those contacts. But if you’re writing a book that speaks directly to your contacts, I imagine publishers would find your data base of people interesting. There’s not really a magic number that you’re trying to hit — other than to say “the bigger it is, the better they’ll like you.” However, you’re really beginning to think like a publisher when you approach your platform this way. How many people do you already reach? How often? In how many ways? How can you approach them about your book? Those are questions to talk about with a prospective publisher or agent.
Another wanted to know, “If my book is published with a small house, what are the chances it will get into Target or Wal-Mart? Do those companies only buy books from big publishers?”
Wal-Mart and Target use book buyers to select the books they sell. The larger companies have full-time sales staff dedicated just to
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Continue Reading "Thursdays with Amanda: Marketing in Your Home Town"
Thursdays with Amanda: Marketing in Your Home Town
Alright. Confession time. Before I could write this post I had to go watch “Jenny From the Block” music video by Jennifer Lopez. Because whenever I think about marketing locally, that song starts playing over and over in my head.
But I’ll spare you from having to watch it, unless you really want to (WORTH IT), as I try to collect my thoughts and be eloquent and practical without busting into rhyme.
J-Lo’s song is about keeping it real. Not letting fame and fortune change the fact that she came from humble beginnings. Being the same person now (despite the rocks that she got) that she was then.
But I think in a backwards way, that theme could also be applied to book marketing. The Internet, though flashy and trendy and popular, shouldn’t give us license to live a double life. In other words, it’s so easy to go online and be a strong marketer, and then turn it all completely off the moment we step away from Facebook. It’s like we go from “Famous Author” to “Car Pool Driver” or “PTA Member” or “The Person Who Always Brings Cookies to Work” or other lackluster personas that follow us in our day-to-day lives. When in fact, being an author pursuing the dream is actually quite extraordinary.
So let’s pretend that I’m an author with a book.
I live in a city of 250,000. While I’m online, trying frantically to find people who enjoy reading, there are about a dozen library branches in my city. Not only that, but there are at least a dozen bookstores. Furthermore, my contact with the city goes beyond those typical venues.
- I
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Continue Reading "Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 6"
Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 6
Amanda Luedeke is a zombie literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform and eating brains. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her life as both an agent and a zombie.
A few weeks ago, I offered free social media critiques to those who replied before the 14th. You see, social media is a specialty of mine. Before becoming an agent, I worked for some years as a social media marketer at a marketing agency outside of Chicago. I worked with clients such as Vera Bradley, Peg Perego, Benjamin Moore and more. A somewhat longer description of what I did can be found in the first critique post.
1) Memoir of a Mermaid is a site by Adrianna Stepiano
- Very visually appealing. I’m wondering, though, about how it appears you have two banners/mastheads. I’d get rid of the stuff at the top and just add “A Young Adult Fiction Series by…” to the main one.
- It doesn’t seem your blog content is connecting with readers. This may be because it’s focused on your writing journey rather than reader interests. Brainstorm ways that you could provide content that interests readers but also keeps the focus on the YA genre, storytelling, myths, folklore, etc.
- I don’t see a picture of you anywhere or anything that ties this to a real person. If you want that strong connection with readers, you’re going to have to put yourself out there a bit more.
RECOMMENDATIONS: You do a lot of things right, but I think the main thing lacking is a clear goal. This doesn’t strike me as strictly a sales-oriented site, and yet at the same time, there’s not much of a reason for readers to come back once they’ve purchased the book. Answer these questions: Why did I build this site? What do I
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Continue Reading "What should I do for my book signing?"
What should I do for my book signing?
Someone wrote to say, “My publisher has scheduled me for a booksigning, but I don’t know the first thing about doing a booksigning, and what I’ve heard isn’t very positive. Can you help? What do I need to know?”
Sure. Let me offer some wisdom on book signings and other pieces of information you can’t live without…
1. Remember that the FIRST rule of marketing is that “YOU are responsible for marketing your book.” So don’t leave the marketing up to the store manager, the publisher, the shipping clerks, or your publicist. Instead, take the initiative. Call people and invite them. Turn it into a party. Let everybody know about it. Contact the local newspapers, radio shows, and tv stations. Send promotional announcements. Get it announced in your church, and in other organizations who know you or have had you as a speaker. Make sure it gets placed in more than one spot in the paper — for example, in the “calendar” section, the “entertainment” section, and the “book” section. Talk with the bookstore management about using their marketing to promote the event.
2. If you want to get more people there, offer to give away free books. I know an author who once got a radio station to do a remote broadcast from a bookstore just by offering to let them give away a few copies of the book. Free books bring people in, and that’s the key to having a successful signing event.
3. Learn to work a crowd… even if there’s a handful of people there. Take the time to talk with people, ask questions, and listen to answers. Tell them about your book, and express appreciation for their coming. Have a couple stories from the book (or a scene from the book, or some wisdom from the book, or something) at the ready so you can share part of your work with the people who come
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Continue Reading "Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 5"
Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 5
Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.A few weeks ago, I offered free social media critiques to those who replied before the 14th. You see, social media is a specialty of mine. Before becoming an agent, I worked for some years as a social media marketer at a marketing agency outside of Chicago. I worked with clients such as Vera Bradley, Peg Perego, Benjamin Moore and more. A somewhat longer description of what I did can be found in the first critique post.
(Picture tweaks provided by Paula at www.yourvervemagazineonline.info )
1) The Glitter Globe is a blog by Stephanie Pazicni Karfelt
- The bit of text under your blog’s title is much too long. It should be one sentence at most–a tagline. If you feel this description of your blog is important, move it to a separate ABOUT page, complete with a close up picture of you.
- For the best SEO (search engine optimization), you should tag your links to actual words instead of dropping the link into the text. See how I did this in my byline at the top of this post?
- Consider the order of your right nav. Place the things that you most want readers to interact with at the top. So, the Followers and Network Blogs widgets should be at or close to the top.
- It’s great that you use pictures, but rarely do I see a picture of you. Try to include yourself more in your photos. It will help readers feel a stronger connection.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Think about how your blog comes across visually. Where does the eye go? What is the call to action? With that big block of text at the top and
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Continue Reading "Thursdays with Amanda: 10% OFF BLOG DESIGN!"
Thursdays with Amanda: 10% OFF BLOG DESIGN!
This week, for readers of Thursdays with Amanda, we have a SUPER SPECIAL OFFER FROM ELEGANT CUSTOM BLOGS!
Melanie from ElegantCustomBLogs.com has offered a 10% discount on her blog design services to readers of this blog. Just head over to ElegantCustomerBlogs.com and mention Thursdays with Amanda.(Melanie works on the Blogger platform only).
Melanie does a great job, and she even designed the website for an author I represent, Melissa Tagg. When Bethany House offered a 2-book deal to Melissa, they specifically mentioned how impressed they were by her web presences. And Melanie can certainly take some of the credit for that! So go check her out.
Sorry to cut things short today, but I have a conference in DC this weekend and a million deadlines. So I’ll leave you with this thought…
We talk a lot about putting the right content in our blogs…about catering to the reader, and knowing your audience, and flooding it with links and keywords and yada yada yada. But at the end of the day, a great blog VOICE trumps content every single time.
In doing your social media critiques, I’ve found this to be truer than ever. When I come across a great blog voice that draws me in and keeps me reading, I don’t think much about whether they’re connecting with the right audience or whether their topics are appropriate. I forget all that and get lost in the beauty of words.
So while you’re tweaking your content to hit the right reader with the right information that’s searchable and all that stuff, keep voice at the top of your blog’s to-do list. It really is the best way to
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Continue Reading "Is social media really all that helpful?"
Is social media really all that helpful?
I’m of the opinion that internet marketing by authors is not only helpful, it’s essential in the new publishing economy. An author needs to engage with people in online communities in order to generate exposure and, hopefully, sales of his or her book. But I don’t think a lot of writers understand how to access it. They start a blog, but don’t understand how to make it successful. They’re on twitter, but it’s about nothing more than “what I had for dinner” and “kids are sick with the flu.” Who cares? And how is that helping to sell books? May I offer ten thoughts on the effective use of social media?
1. Know why you’re doing social marketing. You should have a purpose in mind when you join Twitter, post on Facebook, or connect with people on LinkedIn. You are trying to connect with friends, introduce yourself to people, and share your passion and message. You’re not just trying to sell copies of your book, though certainly any book you’ve written that falls within the boundaries of your interests and personality will doubtless reflect who you are and what you think. Here’s the key: Don’t promote — participate.
2. Study the social media market. Take a look at who is going where, what’s being said, and what the response is. Get involved with forums and discussion boards, participate on consumer review sites, and stay on top of your online communities. Make sure to Google your name, and check out things like BlogTalkRadio. You should know about bookmarking and tagging, as well as content aggregation.
3. Target your audience. The core of author marketing still comes down to this: Figure out where your potential readers are gathered, then go stand in front of them. If you discover people interested in your topic are all reading The Ooze, then by all means start going there yourself. Find a way to get
