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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I thought I’d spend some time today, sharing two minor annoyances that I run into while at conferences…

Since I have branded myself as “the marketing agent” or “the agent who understands marketing,” I always get a few people who sit down across from me at a conference, expecting something beyond a simple “yes, I’m interested in this project,” or a “no, I’m not interested.”

The first type of person is the guy who tells me that he needs an agent because he needs help with marketing and publicity. So, all of the reasons that make most people want an agent (the fact that we can get their work in front of top publishers, the fact that we will negotiate an airtight deal, the fact that we will help them strategize a long-term career), are outshined by his one major need for someone to help him peddle the goods.

Let me be frank, though I do strive to help authors with marketing (it’s why I write here every Thursday!), an agent doesn’t help with the actual act of marketing and promoting a book. We don’t Tweet for you or set up speaking engagements or launch your Facebook page. We don’t create your media kit or provide you with a list of guest blogs or spend time extensively researching your target audience. We don’t do this, because we don’t have the time…and because for a majority of us, it’s not our strength. Now, while I may be different in that I theoretically COULD do these things for you, I chose

BY GUEST BLOGGER RAJDEEP PAULUS, author of Swimming Through Clouds

Life is about give and take. My mom taught me this at a very early age. We learn this on the playground: “Give me a push on the swings. Now your turn.”

But as we grow older, we get confused. We don’t always know what we want. And we’re wary of those who offer to give us something in return for anything. How much will they expect? Will the return be worth the effort? We can all think of a hundred better things to do with our time. Time is limited, after all.

So as a newbie author navigating the torrential waves of marketing, I have decided that I’ve tried sailing, kayaking, and snorkeling with the likes of blogs tours, twitter parties, and spray-painting Swimming Through Clouds across NYC brick walls in the best view of passing subway riders. I suppose the latter is something I only dream about but some day…

 Anyway, the most success I’ve personally had at spreading book news has been with the A-MAZING dessert party put on by the fabulous Amanda Luedeke (of “Thursdays with Amanda” fame, although lately…) and her partners in crime, Chip and Sandra. You can read about all the fun here at Playlist Fiction or here on Chip’s Blog!

Although I like to say life is one big par-tay, the truth is, most of us can’t afford to party Monday through Friday and on the weekends. That’s just not reality.

So back in my little boat, swimming through ideas of how to get the word out about my book and all the fab titles over at Playlist Fiction, I ventured out and researched what other succeeding Indie YA authors were doing. Stumbled upon a new writer who is tearing up the charts with her New Adult book, and one major thing she’s doing differently that I hadn’t seen before

We’re happy to announce that The Extroverted Writer is now available in print from Amazon.com!

So for those of you who enjoy making notes in margins and dog-earing pages, check it out.

NOW IN PRINT

Take control of your writing career and develop an online following that sells books and propels you forward!

Whether you’re a published author or new to the industry, THE EXTROVERTED WRITER gives you the tools you need to gain a readership through:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blogging
• Websites
• And MORE!

Literary agent Amanda Luedeke uses her background in corporate marketing to show readers that even if you’re an introvert you can have a great online author following by tapping into the reader-packed world of social media. From ideas to tips to absolute musts, THE EXTROVERTED WRITER builds on Amanda’s successful “Thursdays with Amanda” blog posts on ChipMacGregor.com. This easy-to-read guide breaks down the most popular social media sites and online options to give YOU the tools you need to be effective when engaging with your readers.

Whether you’re new to social media or a longtime pro…whether you have dozens of books under your belt or are still waiting for your first deal, this book is for you.

I started reading Amanda’s posts on chipmagregor.com about the time my novel was launching. Amanda’s understanding of branding and her insight as an agent were extremely helpful to me as I thought about an overall platform strategy. I had no idea what to do about Facebook, and her thoughts helped me refine what I was doing and better connect with my fiction readers.
~ Charity Hawkins, author of The Homeschool Experiment: a novel.

My twitter following tripled with Amanda’s training and after putting her Google search rules into practice, my blog posts are drawing increased traffic and new shares. Reading The Extroverted Writer is like getting down-to-earth advice from your best friend.

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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

One of the top questions or complaints I get when discussing the whole “You HAVE to market your book!” thing with authors is the  time factor…and the fact that there is not enough of it.

“When do I find time to write?”

“How do I prevent from getting sucked into the social media world?”

“How do you strike a balance between writing and marketing?”

I hear these questions time and again, and they always come from authors who are wearing panicked expressions as the reality sets in that yes, marketing is an absolute must, and yes, the brunt of the marketing burden is theirs to bear, and no, after you get your publishing deal, writing the next book doesn’t get any easier mentally or physically or emotionally.

And my knee-jerk response?

We make time for the things that are important to us. I’ve never met an author who didn’t have time to read the next installment in their favorite series…or who wasn’t able to catch the latest episode of Downton Abbey/Doctor Who/Castle/etc., even if it mean DVR-ing it…or who failed to show up for their day job because they were too busy.

It’s all about priorities, and for most authors, marketing simply isn’t a priority because it’s viewed as WORK. And even worse, it’s a form of WORK that doesn’t result in a paycheck at the end of the week. As far as the author knows, it may NEVER result in a paycheck. So that’s where the trouble sets in.

It’s a mind game, really. I’ve had authors who

For today’s post, I wanted to share with you another excerpt from my book, The Extroverted Writer. This one is taken from the chapter on Blogs:

There are a ton of books on blogging. Each will probably offer you more information than what I’m about to present, and they may even do so in a more entertaining fashion—bells, confetti, and joke after joke after joke. But I’ve been blogging for awhile now, and I’ve also read a lot of equally great and bad blogs. In an effort to condense everything into a digestible sub-section, I’ve identified a few of the many rules of blogging. These are the rules I see broken, mangled, and abused most often. And these are the rules that will quickly make your blog a zillion times better (or thereabouts) should you uphold them.

Five Important and Essential Rules of Blogging

1. Stick to the goal. I can’t stress it enough. Your blog absolutely must have a goal.Whatdo you want your blog to accomplish? Structure your posts around that goal.

Do you want to promote yourself as an author/speaker/expert? Do you want to promote your book? Do you want to connect with fans? Do you want to offer an online experience that ties in with your book? These are important questions, and without answering them, your blog will turn into a mush of information.

For example, many in the publishing industry have come to know and love Chip MacGregor’s blog. He provides valuable information on the industry and is a huge help to writers. But what would happen if Chip suddenly started blogging about the Oregon Ducks? He certainly loves them enough to do so, and those who know him know he isn’t shy about his affections. What if every other post was a recap of their games and dealings? And then what if he shifted gears with his blog on the weekends and

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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

On Monday, I posted the PDF designs of the business cards that I have been using to promote my book, The Extroverted Writer, at conferences. Now, in my book I talk a bit about working with a designer. And, coming from a marketing background in which a lot of the work we did involved print design, I do know a thing or two about making designers happy. But since having my cards made, I feel I have a lot more advice to add to the table. So, here goes…

5 Tips on Working with a Designer

1. Know your specs! While designs can many times be easily shrunk down, they should NEVER be expanded. Expanding or stretching a design will absolutely ruin it. Furthermore, designs/photos used on the web can be of a lower quality than designs used in print. Communicating exact dimensions (including any bleed space) as well as whether the design is for web or print is crucial to avoiding design disasters.

2. Communicate what you want! If you have an idea of what you want the design to look like, let the designer know. They aren’t mind-readers and will 100% of the time come to you with a design that looks nothing like what you’d been envisioning. I have found that it often helps to provide visuals for a designer to work from. To design www.PlaylistFiction.com, I sent the designer a number of stock photography examples of textures and colors so that she could get the feel of what we were going for.

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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

We’re talking about my book this week on the blog (if you haven’t noticed), and so I wanted to share this excerpt with you.

In The Extroverted Writer, I don’t just talk social media. I talk about truly identifying your audience. Because without a handle on who your readers are (what they look like, what they enjoy doing, what they spend their money on, etc.), you’re bound to enact a bunch of marketing efforts that won’t even come close to reaching them. In other words, you’re bound to waste your time.

In the book, I provide a number of strategies and tips on identifying your audience, and this one is my favorite…

The Theater Test
My parents really wanted to see the movie The Iron Lady, a biopic about Margaret Thatcher. So, the three of us went to the theater and took our seats. I really enjoyed the movie and found it quite moving, so much so that I would probably recommend it to my friends if the subject came up.

Right after the movie ended and the lights came back on, I remember standing up and realizing that I was younger than everyone else in the room by at least twenty years (I was twenty-eight at the time). Not only that, but I realized that almost everyone there was with his or her spouse. And they were all white people, probably conservatives (they had that look about them), and they seemed to fall in the middle or upper middle class.

Okay, so basically, they were all

When Amanda Luedeke (an agent who works with me at MacGregor Literary) told me she was writing a book entitled The Extroverted Writer, I laughed. I mean… let’s face it — most writers are simply not extroverts. They tend to be thinkers, who often sit in front of their computers, or who stare out the window, pondering life and characters (and, at least in my case, who they’re going to murder next and how they’re going to get away with it). Sure, there are some writers who are actually extroverts, but in my experience they tend to be in the minority.

But I saw where Amanda was going with her title… Even an introverted writer can use social media to get out there and meet people. He or she can start tweeting, or post thoughts on a blog, or get involved with friends via Facebook, or do many of the hundred other activities available on the web to build a readership. In other words, an introvert can become, in some ways, an extrovert, introducing herself to other people. And, the more I thought about it, the more I liked that concept.

You see, I’m one of those people who sees the internet as being similar to a book. Books aren’t read by groups (at least not past first grade). They are read by individuals, so a book is really an author telling a story to one person at a time. Reading is an individual experience — as is most social media. It’s personal, with the author having a bunch of one-on-one conversations with individuals. And the more a writer does that, the more he or she has a chance to build a community of friends and readers.

Think of the benefits of a strong social media community. There’s a chance for an author to define her voice. There is an opportunity to get close to people, and thereby have an

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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Last Thursday, I blogged about why creating STUFF doesn’t work when it comes to marketing and selling books. In the post I talk about a card that I created for my marketing book. Here’s what I said:

I have cards on hand for my marketing ebook. I give these away at conferences. It works like a gem. But the big deal isn’t that I have the cards…it’s that I’m AT the CONFERENCES. I’m pounding the pavement. And then I’m sealing the deal with the card.

Imagine if I sat home. If I had a book to promote and a bunch of cards that I didn’t know what to do with. I’d end up with TWO things to promote. Two items that need marketing plans and Twitter campaigns and Facebook strategies (though I realize the idea of a Facebook strategy for a card is a bit silly…you get my point).

 

One commenter asked to see an example of the card, and though I still hold firm that it is not the card that matters…it’s my presence at the conference…I figured it may be helpful to show you what info I included (and excluded) on the card.

It’s a business-sized card, and it has a front and a back:

Jam-packed on this card are the following:

1) Cover image

2) A sense of urgency and hype in place of a blurb or endorsement (Available Now!)

3) A hook that answers a NEED authors have. I mean who doesn’t want to take control and build their platform starting

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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

If you don’t mind, I’m going to pull out my soapbox and set up a Ted Cruz-sized camp. I’m going to talk about the strategy of CREATING more STUFF in an attempt to PROMOTE your BOOK and why this strategy is a complete waste of time.

I see author after author spend money and time on book trailers and digital shorts and book-specific websites and splash pages and artwork and THINGS. I see their eyes light up when they realize, for example, “I’m great in the kitchen!” and then they decide that being great in the kitchen means they should create some recipes that are pulled straight from their book and they should offer these recipes online BECAUSE THAT WILL DEFINITELY GET PEOPLE BUZZING!

But then no one downloads the recipes.

Why?

No one knows they’re there. Which happens to be the very reason that a book (your book) may do poorly. It’s not because the book is bad or boring or poorly written. It’s because no one knows it exists.

Marketing is all about showing and telling people that something exists and then convincing them (in a soft, casual way) that they need said thing.

So let’s really dig in to the madness behind this “create” mentality…

You have a book. Yay! You hope people buy the book. I mean you’ve told your friends and family, right? That should count for SOMETHING.

But the numbers come back. Sales are bad. You haven’t even cracked 2,000 copies sold. You need to DO something. In pops this recipe idea. GREAT!