Author interview no.583 with erotic writer and marketing adviser Lucy Felthouse

Welcome to the five hundred and eighty-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with erotic writer and author marketing adviser Lucy Felthouse. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Lucy. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

Lucy: Hi Morgen. Thanks so much for having me on your site! I’m Lucy Felthouse, I’m 27 and I’m based in South Derbyshire in the UK.

Morgen: Derbyshire is a beautiful part of the country. I’m only a couple of hours south yet I go too rarely. Note to self: go to Derbyshire more often.

Lucy: I’ve always written, as long as I can remember. When I was a child I’d announce I was going to be an author, but as I got older I realised it wasn’t as simple as sitting down and writing a book and people throwing money at you. So I tried to figure out what else to do. I finished college and still had no idea, so I decided to buy myself three more years by going to University to do a degree in Creative Writing. It was then I started writing erotic fiction, as a dare. I left University and started working in PR & Marketing and continuing to write on the side. Now I work for myself and my days are a combination of running my PR & Marketing business (Writer Marketing Services (http://www.writermarketing.co.uk) and writing.

Morgen: And don’t the days go quickly, but I bet you enjoy yours as much as I do mine. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Lucy: I write erotic fiction and erotic romance, and lots of sub-genres within that. I haven’t yet tried any other genres. I have too many erotica and erotic romance ideas still bouncing around my head, but perhaps once I’ve exhausted them I’ll try my hand at something else.

Morgen: You have the same ‘problem’ as me; more ideas than time. What have you had published to-date?

Lucy: I have 16 single-author short stories, one novella, over 30 anthology appearances and four anthologies I’ve edited or co-edited.

Morgen: Yay for short stories, my favourite format. Have you self-published? If so, what lead to you going your own way?

 

Guest post: My Book Promotion Philosophy by Robert Rosen

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of marketing, is brought to you by non-fiction author Robert Rosen.

My Book Promotion Philosophy

It happens to the best of them. Herman Melville, for example. Moby Dick, published to mixed reviews in 1851, didn’t find a lot of readers in Melville’s lifetime and wasn’t recognized as a great book till long after Melville was dead. I’ve heard writers say (though not recently) that they’re writing for future generations.

I was never much into the idea of “making it big” after I was dead. I mean really, what’s the point in spending years writing a book that nobody reads when you’re alive? Yes, I write for money, but the thing that keeps me going day after day, especially during those long stretches between fat (and not so fat) paychecks, is a primal need to communicate, which I’m not counting on being able to do from beyond the grave.

That’s why I’ve always done everything possible to bring my books to the attention of people who might enjoy reading them while I’m still here. My philosophy has always been: Talk to anybody who wants to talk to you about your book for as long as they want to talk about it, and go anywhere people are interested in your work. I’m the only American writer I know who’s traveled to Chile to do book promotion, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself.

Since 2000, when my John Lennon bio, Nowhere Man, was published, I’ve done more than 300 interviews, treating journalists from the most obscure websites as if they were Oprah. ’Cause you just never know. In fact, I’ve turned down only one interview request ever—from a Holocaust-denying conspiracy theorist who believes I’m the Zionist-funded CIA spymaster who gave the order to whack Lennon.

But there’s one thing I’ve never done and never will do to sell books: Pay for a positive review. A recent article in The New York Times pointed out that Amazon has been flooded with bogus five-star reviews written by critics who don’t read the books they’re reviewing and which authors are paying for: one review for $99, 50 for $999.

I wouldn’t do it because fake reviews sound fake; few people believe the reviews they read on Amazon; and even real five-star reviews (or rave reviews anywhere) don’t help much when it comes to selling books. (If they did, Beaver Street would be selling a lot better than it is.)

Which is to say, if I’m going to get more people to read Beaver Street while I’m alive, then I’m going to continue doing it the old fashion way—speak to anybody who wants to speak to me and go anywhere I’m invited.

Absolutely. Thank you, Robert!

Robert Rosen is the author of Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon, an international bestseller that’s been translated into six languages. His investigative memoir, Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography, was published by Headpress in the U.K. in 2011 and in the U.S. in 2012.

Robert’s work has appeared in publications all over the world, including Uncut (U.K.), Mother Jones, The Soho Weekly News, La Repubblica (Italy), VSD (France), Proceso (Mexico), Reforma (Mexico), and El Heraldo (Colombia). His website is http://www.robertrosennyc.com.

Thank you to Marcia Resnick for Robert’s photograph, and Robert will return on Friday 23rd May for our interview.

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If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with cosy murder mystery writer Sharon McGee – the five hundred and forty-second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books and I also have a blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Guest post: How to Use Social Media to Promote Your Book by Heather Green

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of marketing is brought to you by Heather Green.

How to Use Social Media to Promote Your Book

You don’t have to have a big marketing budget or a large publishing house behind you to promote your book and increase your sales. You can run your own marketing campaign with a shoestring budget – and even no budget – and watch your sales grow.

Social media is a fantastic tool for small businesses and entrepreneurs, including self-published or struggling authors. You can use it to spread the word about your book, potentially even garnering viral attention. Best of all: It’s free.

Here are a few simple ways you can use social media to promote your book and increase sales:

Create Multiple Profiles

Fans and followers use social media to advertise their tastes and preferences for their own friends and followers. They may want to “like” you as an author, or they may only be interested in one or a few of your books. Give them every opportunity to engage with you and your work in a way that they choose by creating multiple profiles: One for yourself as an author and one for each of your books.

Multiple profiles will also help you to focus your marketing efforts and to differentiate your promotions for each group of fans.

Share Previews

When you have a new book coming out, you can leverage social media to share previews to get fans excited to buy the full work. You can share sample chapters or passages, or you can even create a “trailer” for your book on YouTube and then share it through your other social media channels.

The key is to have a captive audience of fans and followers before you start posting these previews. Otherwise, you’ll be sharing them with a ghost audience…

Host Contests and Giveaways

Everyone likes to get something for free, and contests and giveaways are a great way to get people excited about your book. There are a number of ways you can use social media and contests to promote your book:

• Offer a free copy of your book to a random person who has “liked” your page or shared it.
• Offer free copies of your book to anyone who reviews it on their blog, including a free copy to give to one of their readers.
• Offer a free gift with your book to a random person who becomes your follower, shares your book on their blog, and so on.

You can think of dozens of varieties on this basic premise. The key is to reward your readers but to also encourage them to spread the word about your book.

Provide Opportunities for Sharing

Don’t forget the “social” part of social media when you start using it to promote your book. Give your fans plenty of opportunities to share your content with their own friends and followers.

Include sharing buttons within the content of your book – such as “like it” or “tweet this” buttons at the end of each chapter or on your footers – and include Facebook comment forms right in the chapters. Readers will be more compelled to act when they are in the process of reading your book. Take advantage of that momentum to get them to spread the word.

Build Relationships

Social media isn’t all about instant gratification. A large part of what makes social media marketing successful is building relationships. You should be putting in the work to connect with your fans and followers whether you have a new book to promote or not. You will encourage long-term relationships that will help you form a loyal reader base.

This will make it much easier to promote any new books you have in the future.

Social media is a valuable tool for authors looking to promote themselves and their work. Social media has only grown in popularity, and it provides authors a great way to connect with millions of potential readers. Use these strategies for promoting your book on social media, and you are sure to see your sales increase.

That was great (especially as I could tick some of the boxes). Thank you, Heather!

Heather Green is a Christian mom, freelance writer, pet lover and the resident blogger for OnlineNursingDegrees.org, a free informational website offering tips and advice about online nursing guides and online lpn program.

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If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with romance author RC Bonitz – the five hundred and twenty-fifth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me. I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Guest post: Your Next Bestseller: Tips for Writing a Book That Sells by Jamie Cawley

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of marketing, is brought to you by Jamie Cawley.

Your Next Bestseller: Tips for Writing a Book That Sells

A major challenge we face as non-fiction authors is choosing a book topic that will sell.

Fortunately, the common availability of information on the internet means you can do a small amount of research to find out if there will be demand before you write a word!

There are five steps to follow that will get you from your idea to a book topic that will sell:

• Step 1 – The Idea
• Step 2 – Market Research
• Step 3 – Target Market
• Step 4 – Reaching Your Audience
• Step 5 – Keyword Research

Step 1 – The Idea

Brainstorm ideas based on your own experience, skills and knowledge.  For non-fiction the reader is often looking for knowledge.  This will typically be knowledge that can improve their life, save them money or save time.

The first quick test to see if a topic will sell is to think of one sentence…

By the end of this book you will be able to _________.

If your topic was about dog training, your statement may be “by the end of this book you will be able to house train your dog.“

For a topic to be successful, it needs to provide a clear outcome for the reader.

Step 2 – Market Research

Perception can be extremely deceptive, and what you assume people want, is not necessarily what they will want to read.

Do a Google search or visit http://www.BigBoards.com to find discussion forums that relate to your topic and see what issues people are frequently talking about to see if your idea has demand.

Step 3 – Target Market

We next identify who our reader would be.  Gender, age range, physical location, economic bracket and education level are some of the basic factors to consider, not only write a great book, but also to market it successfully.

You can do this by visiting large websites dedicated to your topic and then looking at their information with tools such as www.Alexa.com to find out about their readers.

Once you have this understanding of your target market, create a dummy person that fits the profile, much as you set up a character profile if you are writing fiction.  Give them a name, age and basic background so that you can picture a specific individual that you are writing for and speaking to about your book.

Step 4 – Reaching Your Audience

Once you have a clear understanding of who will be buying your book, you need to know how you will reach them.

Questions you need to ask yourself are:

- Will this person read an ebook, or will they only read books if they are printed?

- Which websites will that person visit to find book recommendations?  Whose opinion do they trust?

- Where do they go daily online or offline?

Make sure you are able to map a path for the reader to find and buy your book.  There may be demand, but if you do not have a clear way to reach potential readers, you book will not sell.

Step 5 – Keyword Research

We can now narrow down our topic to look at exact phrasing that potential readers are using when searching for books.

This process is ‘keyword research’ and often gets overlooked by new authors, resulting in far fewer sales.

For your book idea, write down several phrases that you believe readers would be likely to search for.  Then check these with the Google Keyword Tool to find out roughly how many people search for that phrase each month.

For example, 1,900 people search for the phrase “how to house train a dog” each month, whereas 8,100 search for the phrase “how to house train a puppy“.

If your book idea fits both those categories, using a title and description that includes the phrase “how to house train a puppy” would bring more potential readers to you.

By following this five step process before you start writing your book, you can save yourself a huge amount of time and effort by improving your potential for success!

As someone preparing to launch two books (albeit my first two novels), that’s perfect timing. Thank you, Jamie!

Jamie Cawley is the author of over 39 books, including ‘The Self Publishers Guide to Book Marketing’. She started her writing career in 1999 and had her first book published 11 years later.

Jamie has experience writing articles, books, blogging and ghost writing on a wide range of non-fiction topics, and currently writes part-time while teaching new authors, entrepreneurs and small businesses ways to promote themselves and maximize their income. She is an active member of Women on the Web, the Published Authors Network, SEO Professionals Group, and the Women’s Network of Entrepreneurs. You can also find her at www.Alotta.Info, affordable book marketing for self-published authors.

A more about her book ‘The Self Publishers Guide to Book Marketing: Step By Step Guide For Fiction and Non-Fiction Authors’…

When first starting out self-publishing, it can be very confusing and expensive to promote your book.  Featuring step-by-step instructions, templates and examples so that you can quickly and easily promote your book and maximize your sales, this guide can be used by new and experienced authors alike.  All promotion methods covered are either free or very affordable.

Available (self-published) as a Kindle eBook and paperback from Amazon.

What others have said… “I am a published author on Kindle but the marketing part was always something I couldn’t get my head around until now.” -Pauline H, Australia

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If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with multi-genre author Michelle Bellon – the five hundred and twenty-first of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me. I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Guest post: 5 Free Ways to Market Your Cozy Mystery + 1 by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of marketing, is brought to you by Christian and cozy mystery author and interviewee Kathryn Jones.

5 Free Ways to Market Your Cozy Mystery + 1

Cozy mysteries are a mysterious breed. They include a murder, of course, but a sort of prettied up version of the slash murder and guts variety. The murder, with all of its gory details, is not what’s important here but the drawing out of a superb investigation, by an amateur cop no less.

The interesting thing about a cozy, other than the unique writing of it, is the marketing that follows, for not all book reviewers read mysteries, and cozy’s are not for all readers.

But for those who review them and those who read them, marketing your cozy mystery in just the right way will create the interest in your book that you need and want.

According to a recent Verso survey, it was estimated that 49.2% of readers discovered books through personal recommendations, and this beat out bookstore staff recommendations, advertising, search engine results, books reviews, library visits—even blogs. What this tells me is that you have to talk about your book enough that others read it and recommend it to their friends and relatives.

1. One of my favorite free ways to market my books is to open my mouth. That means when I’m at a restaurant, when I’m standing in line at the post office (sending yet another book off to a reviewer) when I’m at the supermarket, I speak. No, I’m not obnoxious, I just begin a conversation. A good start off point: Have you ever read a cozy mystery? If the answer is yes, you’re off to a good start. You can talk about your book. If the answer is no, you’re still off to a good start. You can share what a cozy is, and if the person still retains interest you can tell him/her about your book.
2. Focus on mystery reviewers, even cozy mystery reviewers when seeking for reviews of your book. You want a reviewer that has reads cozies before, or at the very least a mystery. Sure, other reviewers can give excellent reviews of your book, but the cozy mystery reviewer can tap into the elements that he/she knows makes a great cozy. Try:
   1. http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/reviewer-list.html
   2. http://karinafabian.com/index.php?name=content&pid=28
   3. http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers/
3. Get creative at your book signings. There’s nothing worse than going to a book signing with a bored looking author sitting behind an equally boring table. Take a look at your book. My cozy mystery, Scrambled, has scrambled eggs on the cover. So I took an old plate and wrote with permanent marker around the edge of the plate the first line of my book. (If I bake the plate in my oven for 30 minutes at 150 degrees, the writing will never fade and the plate can be eaten off of). I am also giving away free scrambled egg recipes. Yellow paper, of course.
4. Blogs written with a cozy mystery slant. October is coming up, and with that, all that makes Halloween great. If your book is coming out near October, why not create some blogs of a more spooky nature? Are you also a short story writer? At this site alone, there are numerous ways to get the word out about your book: submit your short story to Morgen Bailey, have it critiqued, and she’ll include links to your website and books. Bailey also offers options to submit flash fiction, book listing, poetry, a spotlight, a guest blog or all of the above options if you choose.
5. Get some interviews under your belt. These interviews could be with a mystery blog site or with a radio blog owner. Mystery blog sites are many, and radio blogs are increasing in number. Check out The Authors Show at: http://theauthorshow.com.
6. Try some free video. I have recently discovered a fun site called animoto.com. At the site you choose music, pictures, video and text that fit into a 30 second video. The video is easy to produce and you can share it later with your social media friends. This is a great, fun way to promote your cozy for free.

Keep in mind that the above options for marketing your next cozy are free, but in your searching, paid options will become available. Decide beforehand if you’re going to pay a reviewer or a radio blog personality, or even a video site to help you market your book.

In the end, your cozy will stand out from the crowd the more creative effort you put into promoting your work, while still remaining within your budget.

That was great (especially number five, although I could be biased). Recent interviewee Patricia Rockwell publishes cozy mysteries. Thank you, Kathryn!

Kathryn has been a published writer since 1987. She has published various newspaper stories, magazine articles, essays and short stories for teens and adults.

She is the author of A River of Stones, a young adult fiction novel dealing with divorce published in 2002, and Conquering your Goliaths—A Parable of the Five Stones, a Christian novel published in January of 2012.

One of her newest creations, a Conquering your Goliaths—Guidebook, was published in February 2012, followed by Scrambled in September 2012, is her first cozy mystery.

Kathryn graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Mass Communication and a minor in Creative Writing. Her studies included work in creative writing, public relations and journalism. Recently, she has opened the doors to Idea Creations Press, a publishing services company that caters to writers and their writing, publishing and marketing needs.

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If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with YA novelist Saskia E. Akyil – the four hundred and ninetieth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum and you can follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Author interview no.393 with non-fiction writer Rosanne D’Ausilio

Welcome to the three hundred and ninety-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with non-fiction business author Rosanne D’Ausilio. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Rosanne. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

Rosanne:  My name is Rosanne D’Ausilio.  When I was in my late forties I went back to school and got my Masters’ and Doctorate Degrees (MBA, PhD in business administration with a specialty in conflict resolution), and changed careers.  I had been for 10 years a corporate meeting planner creating trade shows all over the world and I loved it.  Worked hard, partied hard, and the burnout rate was high.  So I had the opportunity to quit and stopped smoking (1998) and became a smoking cessation instructor for a hospital in Danbury, CT, working with their corporate clients.  Subsequently became a stress management consultant and then went back to school.  My case study in partial fulfilment of my doctoral degree took place in a contact center at an all-electric utility company serving three states in New England.  It was focused on their longest and hardest call—a complaint call—everyone’s longest and hardest call.  It was called The Impact of Conflict Management Training on Customer Service Delivery with great results statistically significant for academia, such as shortening the call by 23 seconds which by the company’s calculations saved them $325,000 or 7 people.  Customer satisfaction went up 9.7% in complaint calls and 7% overall.  I more or less fell into speaking at a conference in LA at 4 pm, my worst time, but I was grateful for the opportunity.  I presented my case study, not knowing at that time that conference goers love case studies.

Because of the overwhelming response to my presentation and presenting mode, I was asked by the conference people to write a book.  I, of course, said OK.  However, after I sent them my manuscript they told me no, it wasn’t technical enough.  I said, from the beginning, I was not technical, my bias is on the people side.  Unbeknownst to me I got caught in a hostile corporate takeover.  Luckily I found out about this; otherwise I would have thought it was ‘me’.

Purdue University Press had been interested in my book, but I told them I already had a publisher.  So when that wasn’t true anymore, I called them, and they published my first book which is called Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction Hub, now in its 4th edition.

That started my career.  I am an industrial psychologist by profession, a customer service expert, with a bias on the people side.  I am known as the ‘champion for the human’ in a high tech world.  I’m the one walking around saying “don’t forget the people, we’re who make the difference.”

I’ve since written 6 more books, 5 in the area of customer service, one called Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck (comes with a 32-card deck) of motivational and inspirational readings. All can be seen at www.human-technologies.com. I also have a very popular tips newsletter on How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch at http://www.HumanTechTips. uH

Also just recently we created T.H.E. (The Human Experience) Train-the-Trainer Self Study Course (http://www.drrosanne.com/TtheT.htm)

Morgen: I think public speaking is something that most authors dread so I’m sure we can learn a thing or three from you. In the introduction I called you a ‘non-fiction business author’…

Rosanne: I write for businesses who want to improve their customer relations, whether it is the end user, external customer, or their inside customers, their peers, direct reports, etc.

Morgen: What have you had published to-date?

Rosanne: My books are:
Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction Hub, 4th edition
Customer Service and The Human Experience (also available in e-book format)
Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck (includes 32 card deck)
How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: 101 Insider Tips
How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: ANOTHER 101 Insider Tips
The Expert’s Guide to Customer Service, Volume I – ebook and hardcover
The Expert’s Guide to Customer Service, Volume II – ebook
T.H.E. Train the Trainer Self Directed Course

Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Rosanne: My first rejection was the publisher that had asked me to write the book in the first place.

Morgen: Ah yes.

Rosanne: Quite honestly I was devastated and thought it was all about me and my book. As it turned out I got caught in the crossfire of a hostile takeover, having nothing to do with me.

Morgen: Ouch. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Rosanne: I don’t have an agent.  I think being in the right place at the right time with the right book is what is vital to an author’s success.

Morgen: Which is how most rejections come about – the right thing for the wrong person. Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?

Rosanne: Several of my books are available as ebooks, as well as on Kindle.  Yes I was involved in the process; in fact, I created the ebook version myself, put it in pdf form and then gave it an ISBN # and listed with Amazon, etc.

I read ebooks when / if short; otherwise I save and quite honestly many times I forget I have them.  I do read hard copy books though, do like to hold the book in my hand.

Morgen: I think most people do. I love my Kindle (not having a spine to crease is always a bonus) but can’t imagine a bookless house. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Rosanne: My marketing is three fold.  #1, I post on my website and mail press releases to my database as well as online sites, #2, I write articles and post them and hopefully they go viral, and #3 I speak at conferences so each person in the audience is a potential client / buyer, and as important, I am on the conference website with all my information that goes out to many, many more people than come to hear me speak (and I do fill the room).

Morgen: Did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?

Rosanne: I think the title is of primary importance – it’s what catches the eye or ear of someone immediately.  I had the say in all my books as to title and was also open for suggestions.

Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?

Rosanne: What’s next for me, well the easy answer is another How to Kick Customer Service up A Notch – Volume III.  However, the hard answer is I am in process of writing a book about my father.  I began it about 10 years ago – vignettes of our conversations towards the end of his life.  Because of all the iterations of computers, I lose the stories—about 20 of them.

I have just recently put my house up for sale and in cleaning out the office, I found the file with the hard copy of the 20+ stories and am (slowly but surely) inputting them into the computer.  I have a working title “Snapshots of Dad” and I intend to self publish.  It’s similar to the Sundays with Morrey but I think the stories are more bittersweet.  Never having published something like this, I am a newbie in this arena.  As the time gets closer, I will do my due diligence to see how and where to best go forward.

Morgen: It must make it easier having published other non-fiction but I bet this feels more personal. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

Rosanne: Because of my tips newsletter, I write almost every day.  When someone catches up with me I am forced to create a new tip.  Do I suffer writer’s block?  Oh yes.  In those instances, I walk away and when I go to sleep at night I think about what I need, not knowing what it is many times, and quite often I wake in the morning with a topic or theme to write about.

Morgen: I’ve heard some top authors do the same – leave a sentence half-done and pick up where they left off in the morning, or go to bed with a plot dilemma and it’s all clear when they wake up… the brain is a wonderful thing. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Rosanne: I do a lot of editing. However, I like to get it down on paper first, quickly, and then go back and edit, let it sit a bit, and then edit again.  What I noticed when I found my writing of 10 years ago is that I am much better today.  I think part of the reason is that the editors I have used have taught me by way of example what is more powerful language.

Morgen: It’s all practice, isn’t it, like playing the piano. Do you have to do much research?

Rosanne: For my business books, I did a great deal of research.  I enjoyed that part, left brain, easier than trying to be super creative.

Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Rosanne: I hope not.

Morgen: I’d like to think that everything I’ve written can go somewhere. I feel, after seven years writing / studying, that I can pull the early ones apart to make them shine. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?

Rosanne: My favourite aspect of writing, which I assume is everyone’s, is when you are in the flow, words come pouring out as if you are just the conduit for them.  I find myself very much in the moment and time passes quickly and the words fill the pages.  My least favourite is when it feels like I’m pushing the mountain, trying to squeeze out that last interaction or paragraph and it doesn’t want to come.

Morgen: Most interviewees have said the creation is their favourite (mine too by far) and marketing their least favourite but it sounds as if you have that licked. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Rosanne: Just keep writing.  Don’t edit or correct, just let it flow out.  You can always go back and edit but you can’t always go with the flow.

Morgen: If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?

Rosanne: I’d invite, Edgar G Robinson (because my father looked like him), Winston Churchill, and Maya Angelou and I’d make Jewish chicken soup/comfort food!

Morgen: Sounds great. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?

Rosanne: One of my favourites is “don’t stop before the miracle!”  And I like “cautious optimism.”

Morgen: Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?

Rosanne: I write a column for Nearshore.com, I write articles now and again and post them at article directory sites, I present webinars on various topics for different clients, and I respond to queries on LinkedIn and / or when asked such as “Ask an Expert”.

Morgen: I didn’t know there was one… interesting. What do you do when you’re not writing?

Rosanne: I am an avid tennis player, usually play singles 4-5 times per week.  It’s the only time I’m not multitasking.  I’m also a tai chi practitioner, disciple level and I love it – it’s mind, body, spirit.  And I love the ocean and islands.  I like quiet places such that my mind quiets down.

Morgen: My ‘time-out’ is the cinema, the only time I sit and do ‘nothing’. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?

Rosanne: I’m on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and I use it for business purposes only and to that extent I think the exposure is great.  I belong to many groups that are germaine to my area of expertise (customer service / call center, training etc.) and I think it’s good to have my name out there.

Morgen: Me too – over a dozen writing groups and LinkedIn is why I’m booked up to December. What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Rosanne: I think we writers need to have more flexibility as to what form to put the book in, hard copy, ebook, kindle, chunk it, etc.

Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work?

Rosanne: My main site is www.human-technologies.com.  You can subscribe to my complimentary popular tips newsletter on How to Kick Customer Service Up A Notch at www.HumanTechTips.com and you can always email me at Rosanne@human-technologies.com. If you google my name I’m on many, many sites.

Morgen: If you Google mine I cover a few pages but it’s mainly here. I’d like to be more proactive on other sites and need to put the word out more often. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Rosanne: Just to say I’ve enjoyed the process of this interview; it brings out things in me I forgot were there.  And I’m re-motivated to get back to the book on my dad.

Morgen: Oh, you’re so welcome. Thank you for taking part and for being one of my (probably too few) non-fiction authors. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?

Rosanne: You ask great questions.  How long did it take you to pare down to these poignant ones.

Morgen: :*) Thank you. I was very conscious when I first started (June last year) that I’d be asking the same questions each time and was worried about them being repetitive (I’ve only had one person say they are – perhaps regular readers could comment below?) so weeded out those which had become so and included others over time that I thought would be different (or I’d been asked / seen elsewhere). I think it’s pretty much there but will certainly tweak if with anything I think will improve it). Thank you again, Rosanne.

I then invited Rosanne to include an extract of her writing and this is excerpted from Customer Service and The Human Experience by Rosanne D’Ausilio, PhD, Champion for the Human Press, with permission…

Empathetic Responsiveness

The ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes and see their point of view—not agree with them, not make them right and your company wrong—but hear what they are saying. After all, basic needs of all of us are to be heard and treated with dignity and respect. I think of a call as an ABC process. ‘A’ represents the customer presenting their question, request, complaint or problem .‘C’ is the ultimate resolution. Most times ‘B’ is either skipped or left out—because of metrics, calls in queue, or simply because you know the answer before the customer is even finished speaking. ‘B’ is w here the agent acknowledges what they hear—be it upset, anger, frustration, or fear. Or, a simple ‘thank you for taking the time to call and bring this to our attention.’ After all, if a customer calls in to complain, you have the opportunity/challenge to turn them around. If they don’t call, and only complain to other people, you have no opportunity. Does going through ‘B’ take longer? Not at all. It allows you to move the customer to a more productive interaction and close the call. I’ve heard many customers repeat their opening paragraph (A) over and over, while at the same time the agent is trying to get them to resolution (C). Red alert! Red alert! Acknowledge what is behind the words and you will move them quickly to ‘C.’ I believe you can’t go from A to C without going through B.

ROSANNE D’AUSILIO, Ph.D., an industrial psychologist, consultant, master trainer, executive coach, customer service expert, and President of Human Technologies Global, Inc., specializes in human performance management, providing needs analyses, instructional design, and customized, live customer service skills trainings.  Also offered is agent and facilitator university certification through Purdue University’s Center for Customer Driven Quality.

Known as ‘the champion for the human,’ she authors best sellers “Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction Hub,” 4th ed, “Customer Service and the Human Experience,” “Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck, How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: 101 Insider Tips, and hot off the press How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: ANOTHER 101 Insider Tips, The Expert’s Guide to Customer Service, Volume I and II, and a complimentary ‘tips’ newsletter on How To Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch! at http://www.HumanTechTips.com.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Guest post: The Importance of a Marketing Plan by Rachel Abbott

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of marketing, is brought to you by thriller novelist, guest posted (on planning a novel) and interviewee Rachel Abbott.

The Importance of a Marketing Plan

If you are an indie author, you will probably by now have realised that you have a number of roles to fulfil – only one of which is writing your books! The question is, how successful do you want your book to be? Does this matter to you, or is your pleasure in the writing and knowing that a few people have read your work? Everybody is driven by something different.

When I wrote ‘Only the Innocent’, I had no real aspirations. I wrote it because the story had been in my head for years, and it was just a real pleasure to get it down in writing. I had no ambitions to get it published at all. But then a small number of people read it, and they encouraged me. Finally, I decided to upload it to KDP Amazon and other ebook sites, and just ‘have a go’. It wasn’t thought through any more than that. I did no preparation for a book launch, no marketing, and I had no sales platform.

But then something happened. I became bitten by the bug. In the first few weeks, I sold quite a few. I have a reasonably wide personal network and my friends and family were very supportive and bought my book. When the initial excitement passed, and the sales dried up, I found that I didn’t like that one little bit!

So I realised that if I wanted to sell some books, I was going to have to do some work. But I went about it in completely the wrong way to start with. I went into research mode. I spent weeks researching ways of getting my book noticed. And then I realised one very sad fact – I was doing lots and lots of reading of advice, but I wasn’t actually doing anything at all. It was just so easy to go from one author help site to the next thinking “Ooh, that’s a good idea” and bookmarking the page. My ‘ebook marketing’ bookmarks folder is enormous.

As somebody who used to run a business, I soon had to acknowledge that this was hopeless and I forced myself out of ‘writer mode’ and into ‘business mode’. I wrote myself a marketing plan – seven pages of single-spaced paragraphs. I have it open on the screen as I am writing this, and I thought I would share the first few paragraphs with you. Just remember that this was for my eyes only, so I wrote down what I was thinking – almost a conversation with myself. It wasn’t going to be submitted for board approval!

ONLY THE INNOCENT – MARKETING PLAN

Why do I need one?

Is it worth it? Without a marketing plan and a bit of effort, there is no doubt at all that ‘Only the Innocent’ will disappear from view in days. It has already slipped 5000 places in about 4 days. (note: this was after the initial flurry of friend activity)

Very few authors sell massive numbers of books – so the question is, do I expect to get rich, or do I just want to get people to read my book? The first option is highly unlikely, so I’m aiming for the second – and for this, I need to make sure my book is visible and easy for readers to find.

The next question is, how long do I try for?

Until the end of January to try to make the most of any Christmas sales. I have from now to Christmas to get noticed, so that the people who get Kindles for Christmas might reasonably consider purchasing the book. If there are no improvements by then, I will accept defeat and give up.

And that was it. I was going to give up at the end of January if I wasn’t getting anywhere. But I was – and on 18th February ‘Only the Innocent’ reached number 1 on Amazon UK and stayed there for an amazing four weeks.

There is no doubt in my mind that my marketing plan had a huge impact, but there is no blueprint for success. There are four questions that people constantly ask me when I talk about marketing plans, so let’s consider them in order of priority.

1. Why do I need a marketing plan?

A plan will give your days some structure, and define some clear objectives. You should end up with a list of actions that have focus, rather than a range of random activities, and a timetable so that you don’t spend too long on one activity at the expense of another.

Your plan should enable you to assess the effectiveness of each of the actions that you are taking. With a clear objective for each group of actions, and a timescale for checking how well they are working, you can avoid wasting endless hours on pointless tasks.

My plan was very long, because I looked at all the options that I had discovered in my research. But your plan could be just one side of scribbled A4, as long as you have some clearly stated objectives, and an action plan of how you are going to achieve them.

2. Where do I start?

The first thing is to identify your channels to market – where can people buy your book. Is it just available on Amazon, or are you making it available on other ebook readers as well (and if not, is that a rational decision, or is it because you’re not sure how to go about it?).

For most people, Amazon is probably going to be the most successful in terms of sales, so I will use it as an example. Ask yourself the question – what can Amazon do to help me sell my book? The answer to that is a lot. Amazon provides so many opportunities for increasing the visibility of your book, and you can explore them all. And visibility is the key – if nobody can find your book, nobody can buy it.

I will use one example:  “Customers who bought xxx also bought yyy”. I wanted my book to be linked to as many high profile books as possible. But my problem was that most of my early readers didn’t own Kindles, and had downloaded my book for their phones or computer, so I wasn’t linked to any books at all.

How could I influence this opportunity? How could I make sure my book was linked to other books? I realised that I needed people to buy ‘Only the Innocent’ who had previously bought books by authors in a similar genre. I identified two ways of doing this – by trying to build up a Twitter following of people who love thrillers, and by chatting in the Amazon forums to other thriller lovers.

Sales to start with were slow, but as the people buying my book were people who had bought other books, it gradually became more visible. And as an added bonus, most of these people were prepared to share their enjoyment of my book on both Twitter and in the forums.

This is just one visibility or ‘touch’ point for a single channel. For each of your channels you need to identify all of these points, and then think about a series of actions that you can take that will influence your book’s visibility.

3. How do I prioritise?

This is a huge issue. There are just so many opportunities for exposure, and so many different actions you can take. I have a list a mile long of ideas for the marketing plan for my next book, and I’m going to look at each one to identify the size of the commitment.

With my original plan, I identified six ways of increasing visibility on Amazon alone, and for each of those I had a number of proposed actions. Some of these were simple but essential – such as ensuring that if anybody did find my book, the product description was as good as I could get it, and my author details were up to date. One-off actions such as these are not too difficult to put in the priority queue. It’s the things that you have to do every day that are going to take up your time – social networking, maintaining a blog, requesting reviews, etc.  So when you have your long list, you have to prioritise.

I asked myself these questions:

1. what do I enjoy doing?

2. how big is the commitment?

3. can I automate any of it?

I chose my options according to those criteria. And then I gave a daily or weekly time limit to each of my chosen activities, plus a date for review. For example, I might chose to try a specific forum for two weeks, and see if anybody has shown interest. If I have had no feedback, I must be in the wrong place, and it’s time to move on.

The commitment question is really important. There is no point starting a blog if you are not prepared to update it regularly. It’s just a waste of your initial time and effort setting it up. I am very guilty of that with my Facebook page – and I know it! (Morgen: me too, Rachel!)

But in some cases, there are tools that will help you to automate tasks. With Twitter, for example, you can use software that will find your kind of readers – and automatically follow these people for you in the hope that they will follow you back. This is one area that you do need to research, because some of these tools are free but others have to be paid for.

4. Once it’s done, can I forget it?

A marketing plan isn’t a fixed document. You have to adapt to new sites and opportunities that are becoming available all the time. I learn new things every single day about marketing books. I am now back in writing mode, so I don’t actually do any of them at the moment, but I will.

I could write about this all day! I could explain in detail the options that I chose and my own preferences. I love Twitter and I love chatting to people on forums. I’ve made some great friends that way, and I will continue to do that. But some people I have spoken to have chosen to go out sticking leaflets on cars. Others contact book clubs and offer to give talks. Everybody has their own way. You just need to find yours. And if it’s not too late to say this, write your plan before you launch your book. I didn’t, but I certainly wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Make sure the choices you make are fun for you, and the best of luck!

###

As someone who left their job seven and a bit weeks ago, this was perfect timing, thank you, Rachel!

I’d also recommend an eNewspaper as a way to expand your presence on Twitter (see this blog’s MB Daily page).

What Rachel was too modest to mention was that when she wrote her marketing plan, she had sold c.100 copies. She’s now sold over 100,000 and is convinced that would never have happened if she hadn’t written her plan. I’m off to write mine now…

Rachel Abbott is the author of best selling novel ‘Only the Innocent’. She spent the majority of her working life running an interactive media company that designed and developed software and websites, mainly for education. Her company was sold in 2000, and although she continued working for another 5 years, she also fulfilled a lifelong ambition of buying and restoring a property in Italy, where she now lives with her husband and their two dogs. Her website is http://www.rachel-abbott.com and she blogs at http://rachelabbottwriter.wordpress.com. Her books are available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with another thriller novelist PT Dawkins – the three hundred and sixty-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum and you can follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.  I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Blog creation service designed for writers

Anyone who has been following this blog knows how much I enjoy it but also how important it is these days for an author to have a web presence… whether traditionally-published, self-published or neither.

So, I have created http://icanbuildyourwritingblog.wordpress.com.

I recommend WordPress and for £50 (US$75 / AS$75) I can create your blog (providing the http://____.wordpress.com name is available) for you to then do with as you wish. Alternatively, for a reasonable fee, I can maintain it with the content of your choosing using your photographs (or photographs you have permission to use) to promote your writing, books and other writing-related products. This is ideal for anyone uncomfortable with technology but most importantly frees up your time to do what you really love… to write.

For the initial £50 / $75 fee your blog can have your starter (front) ‘home’ introduction page with an introduction posting, up to four menus (e.g. home, about the author, books, contact). You can have more but there would be an additional charge.

Contact information on the blog would be yours (i.e. pointing to your email) but if you choose that I maintain the blog, all comments would come to me and I would forward them to you free of charge. Unless you take over the blog once it is live, updates that you wish made to it will be charged at an hourly rate of £10 / $15, agreed in advance and paid once they are implemented. No payments are due until your agreed initial blog design is live and you’re happy with it.

So, what you get for your £50 (US $75 / AS $75) is thus…

• A dedicated WordPress blog domain (e.g. http://frankjsmith.wordpress.com) provided it is available (you can tell by typing it in your internet browser, as you would any other website address, and seeing what WordPress tells you or I can check this for you).
• A theme of your choice (examples shown on the Design page).
• Four pages (e.g. home, author, books, contact) to include your chosen content e.g. text you send me or text used from existing pages that you’ve provided me, for example your Amazon author page etc.
• Anything or everything you see here on the right-hand side bar.
• An introduction or summary posting which will appear at the top of your home page and listed in as many categories as you wish (e.g. writing, horror, crime, western, blogging etc) and keywords (e.g. writing, horror, crime, western, blogging, Frank Smith, Frank J Smith etc).
• Advice of any comments that are left on the blog, simply emailed to you for you to reply directly on to the blog or via email. I do not reply to comments on your blog as it is your site and I’m just a ghost in the background of it. :)
• Twice-daily announcements of your new blog on my Twitter feed (currently 2,450+ followers) for the first week and intermittent promotion thereafter.

My WordPress Writing Blog has been compiled using free options and your blog would be based on this format (though its design will be to your specification), this ensures costs are kept to a minimum. You are therefore only paying for my time. My blog regularly attracts over 200 visitors per day (on a ratio of US2:UK1 plus many other countries worldwide) with 474 visits on the busiest day to-date (24th March 2012). I post 2-3 times per day with a variety of content and many visits are due to keyword searches because of that high level of content, over 50,000 visits since inception on 31st March 2011.

I have been a writer for seven years and like this writing blog, am consumed by creative writing. This blog creation service is therefore aimed at, but not limited, fellow writers so if you, or someone you know, would like a blog setting up for them do let me know.

I also welcome manuscripts for critiquing / editing, and being based in the East Midlands area of the UK, am available as a speaker, workshop organiser etc.

My email is morgen@morgenbailey.com and I look forward to hearing from you about any service I may be able to provide you with and / or I’m happy to talk about anything writing-related.

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with Anishinaabe culture and fantasy YA author V R Janis – the three hundred and fifty-seventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum and you can follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Guest post: Do’s and Don’ts of Self-Promotion for Writers by Catherine Lundoff

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of marketing is brought to you by author and interviewee Catherine Lundoff.

Do’s and Don’ts of Self-Promotion for Writers

Most writers learn pretty early on in their careers that they have to promote their own work. Shrinking publisher budgets, the ever-changing landscape of book publishing and the need to grow our audiences keep all of us hustling. There’s a temptation, given all this, to keep looking for new and different ways to self-promote, to take good ideas and build on them. To push it just a little (or a lot) further than the authors we’re competing against.

Self-promotion can be a double-edged sword. At its best, it sells our books and gets our names out there, building a readership that continues to read our work for years to come. At its worst, we promote ourselves as someone that other writers and readers avoid. People remember being annoyed for a remarkably long time.

Here’s a few ways that you can use self-promotion to make a good impression on your colleagues and readers, as well as some of the pitfalls to avoid.

Effective things to do for in-person promotion:

• Practice your reading beforehand in front of a friend and make sure that they can hear you. Mumbling makes for a dull reading.
• Time your reading. The average audience’s attention span runs out at about fifteen to twenty minutes, thirty if you’re good. Read multiple short excerpts or stop for questions.
• If you’re reading with other authors, make sure you show up on time and that you don’t run over into other writers’ reading time.
• Prepare, prepare, prepare. Show up for panels ready to talk about the panel topic. “I don’t know why I’m here” is not a great opening line.
• Do not use appearances with other authors to talk incessantly about yourself and your work and nothing else (known as the “Me, Me, Me!” Song in my household). This includes waving your books or promo materials around whenever it’s your turn to talk.
• Be courteous. Thank the interviewer or conference organizers or bookstore staff or librarians or whoever set up the event you’re at. These are people who can tell others nice things about you and your work. They also probably organize more than one event. Not being a jerk can get you invited back.
• Be reliable. If you commit to doing a personal appearance, show up early, sober and ready to go. Bring a readable copy of whatever you’re going to read. Make sure that nothing short of a natural disaster or death itself stops you from showing upon time. I can’t tell you how many times I get invited back to do things because I’m utterly reliable.
• If you are, in fact, unable to make it, call and let the organizers know as early as possible. And make sure you apologize and offer to reschedule.
• If you are doing events with other writers, find something nice to say about their work. When in doubt, “I really enjoyed hearing what you had to say about…” or “I really liked your description of…” is always popular. I’ve been friends for many years now with the first writer who told me that she “loved” my work. Allies and friends make life better.
• Special note about bookstore readings: if you’re reading or signing at a bookstore, buy a book. If you can’t afford to buy a book, make sure your friends, family, acquaintances and fans show up and do your level best to get them to buy books. This is how bookstores stay open; if you want it to be there when you have another book out, you need to support it.

There are also a wide range of opportunities for authors to promote themselves and their work online, ranging from email lists to social networking to blogs. Each comes with its own degree of effectiveness. Here’s a few suggestions to help them work for you:

• Make sure you understand the rules of a group list for self-promotion and follow them.
• Congratulate other writers on their successes and commiserate with them on their failures.
• Work out exchanges with other writers – trade blog interviews or reviews, for example. “Trade” is the key word.
• Keep your website up to date: your readers will appreciate it.
• Build some variety into your social media posts and blogging. The formula that I try to follow for Twitter is: one promotional post, one retweet for a cause or someone else’s project, and one informational post or retweet. I alternate posts between Facebook, Twitter and Google+, with the exception of announcements such as a new publication or a reading.

General things avoid for effective promotion:

• Never, ever add other writers, or anyone else to your mailing list or group without their permission.
• Do not spam organizational or topic lists (ex. Romance writers, writers of cyberpunk with mecha characters, etc.). Ever. This is a good way to get banned.
• Do not direct message your social network contacts with incessant (or any) “Buy my book, buy my book!” messages.
• Filling your own feed or blog or updates with “Buy my book!” messages and nothing else is also not particularly effective.
• Do not treat your fans as if you’re doing them a favor to bother to show up.
• Do not harass other authors to introduce you to their agents or to provide feedback on your work.
• If they volunteer to introduce you to agents or editors or to give feedback on your work, thank them.

In short, treat other writers and your potential readers the way you would like to be treated. Some rewards are tangible, while some may not pay off for years down the road. Remember it can take a few tries for readers and event organizers to remember your name when you’re a new author – make sure they remember you for the right reasons.

Thank you Catherine, lovely to have you back and as someone (me) just about to leave their (my) day job it couldn’t have been better timed!

Catherine Lundoff is the award-winning author of Night’s Kiss (Lethe Press, 2009) and Crave (Lethe Press, 2007) as well as A Day at the Inn, A Night at the Palace and Other Stories (Lethe Press, 2011) and Silver Moon: A Wolves of Wolf’s Point Novel (Lethe Press, 2012). She is the editor of Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories (Lethe Press, 2008) and the co-editor, with JoSelle Vanderhooft, of the Rainbow Award-winning Hellebore and Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic (Lethe Press, 2011). In her other lives, she’s a professional computer geek and teaches writing classes at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. You can also read our interview.

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with children’s author, scriptwriter, ghostwriter and literary thriller novelist Fiona Veitch Smith – the two hundred and fortieth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords (was that discreet enough, I wonder?)

 

Guest post: ‘Marketability – do you have enough to make a self-published book sell?’ by Bill Munro

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of marketing is brought to you by author and publisher Bill Munro.

Marketability – do you have enough to make a self-published book sell?

Are you a marketable author? Will it be your name on the cover that makes someone take your book to the checkout? Or is poor or non-existent marketability a factor in your failure to secure a publishing deal? If you can’t get your book published, then self-publishing is a great temptation. But will your self-published book fail to sell because you are unknown in your genre? Can the public expect your work to be worth paying for?

Marketability is arguably the most important commercial criterion that a publisher looks for in an author. To understand why it is so vital, we must look at the book trade from the buyers’ end. The retail customer relies on the retailer to offer well-written, well-packaged books. In turn, the retailer relies on the expertise of the publisher to supply those quality books. The author’s name is of great importance in promising quality content. The bookseller will trust a known author, whether front- or mid-list fiction writer, authoritative non-fiction author or celebrity. But with unknown authors, a retailer trusts the publisher’s judgement that the work is worthy of investment, and therefore saleable: a publisher would not (or ought not to!) produce the book if it were not. Thus, to gain credibility with the bookseller and the book-buying public, you as an unpublished author must prove you are a good enough writer, both creatively and technically, can analyse your subject effectively and are capable of writing in a style that is right for your genre.

Against the resources of a traditional publisher, the self-published author will never be on a level playing field when it comes to marketing, but if you are considering self-publishing and want the effort to succeed, you should have those aforementioned writing skills, but you must gain some level of profile in the marketplace. This might be through blogging, magazine articles, competition success, your reputation as an expert in your non-fiction field or whatever it takes to get yourself a name amongst the book-buying public. Without it, your books may end up as expensive dust-gatherers.

Quality content and a sound reputation with the public are key ingredients in a successful book. Continue to improve the quality of your work, create something new and original for the market and keep building an audience by any method you can and you will improve your marketability and bookselling success through self-publishing. You will also greatly improve your chances of securing a traditional publishing deal.

As someone embarking on a freelance career, it’s perfect timing, thank you so much, Bill!

Bill Munro is the author of nine books in the motoring and military vehicle history categories, all published by traditional publishers. After successfully self-publishing a further book through his own publishing company, Earlswood Press, he took on a second author.

He has now signed up another and is moving the company from a part-time operation to a full-time one, as well as continuing to write and publish more of his own books. You can find him at www.billmunro.co.uk and http://cabdriverhistory.blogspot.com, and email him. Earlswood’s ebooks are available via Smashwords.

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say, “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with fantasy, magic realism and satire author Malcolm R Campbell – the two hundred and thirty-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords.