No Motivation for Marketing Your Romances? #MFRWorg #romance

For those of you that are out there killing it in terms of your marketing (you know...writing on your own blog, guest-posting, great Twitter and Facebook presences, a thriving and regular newsletter, a community of people who love your books and share them regularly...), YAY! Good for you.

This blog isn't for you. It's for the rest of us, those of us who struggle with balancing a full-time other career, possibly a spouse and children, the actual writing of the novels, and then marketing on top of all of that.

I do a lot of marketing for my career as a life coach. A ton. But I don't do much at all for my romance novels, which means that those poor little novellas that I wrote three years ago suffer in obscurity and are dying a slow, lingering death. (I've since written four more complete novels and am actively subbing, but that is a subject for another blog.) So I do know what it takes to succeed in the marketing arena, even if I'm not always doing it for my little romances.

My point is, if you are in the same space: I hear you. I feel you.

Most of us already know what we "should" be doing. It's like someone who wants to start exercising. She's not trying to convince herself that sitting all day is healthy. She just can't seem to find the motivation to get out there.

And like our friend who wants to exercise, for us romance writers, marketing is usually one of the last things that we do. It's so tiring. It's a slog. Someone might reject me. People might not like what I post. Yuck!

And yet, there are plenty of people out there in exactly the same boat, and yet, they still manage to find the time to do a good bit of marketing. So how do they do it?

Okay, so let's get down to the nitty-gritty. How do you motivate yourself to keep going with your marketing, even when everything else (including your own thoughts) gets in the way?

1. Find your why

Why, exactly, are you even bothering to market your books? Do you want more money for your next vacation, more readers so that you can spread your message of peace and love and aliens-are-invading, or possibly you just want to have a deeper connection with the readers that you already have?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's probably mainly so that we can have more readers, more people who buy our books. But what, exactly, does that translate into for you? What are you hoping that money will buy?

Now here's the fun part: Spend a few minutes today writing and dreaming about your the experiences and things that money would buy. If you sold JK-Rowling-like numbers of books tomorrow, what would that enable you to do? What charities would you support? Which vacations would you take? With whom would you spend more time?

Spend 10-20 minutes really getting into the details of what you want from that expanded readership. How would you be helping those readers? What is your message that you want to get to them?

This exercise has been extensively studied by positive psychologists (in terms of increased happiness), but it also really helps to awaken our subconscious mind to possibilities that we might not ordinarily see.

2. Plan, plan, plan

I'm a pantser. I love spontaneity in my life. I would jet off to Europe tomorrow if you asked me to (and gave me a plane ticket. And a babysitter. Minor details.)

But for anything that has to get done in my week, including marketing, blogging, and submitting to other, bigger blogs, I have to block it out in my calendar. And then, like a meeting with my boss (who also happens to be me) I don't allow anything to interfere with that time.

Don't mistake urgency for importance

Most of us make this mistake. We see an email pop up and we think we have to answer it. Or a text. That little bell is a Pavlovian response to "oh, someone needs me. I must answer them right now!".

But what's truly most important to you? Getting out requests for reviews, or posting a new Facebook meme? Contacting other bloggers for possible guest posts, or answering your mother's phone call during your prime working hours?

This gets back to blocking out your time. Turn off your phone, shut off the internet, and get it done.

3. Challenge your thoughts

This is number three, but it's actually the biggest one to take on in terms of  our marketing challenges. We have these little fears that masquerade as actual reality, things like "Last time I did a blog hop, no one even commented. It's pointless to even do it."

But challenge that thought. Did you truly get zero comments? You probably got at least a few. I also like to remember that everyone starts from somewhere. That all great marketers started out with just one Facebook follower. That all of marketing is a slow build, until eventually it becomes an avalanche.

You can use this process, called thought-refuting, with any of your fears. What are you really most afraid of in putting yourself out there? Once you've identified it, turn that thought on its head. There's always a counter-argument or thought to negate the uncomfortable one.

Something is always better than nothing.

What can you do right now, today, that will get you back on the path? Even twenty minutes of beautiful sharing (sharing - not selling - you know this!) will get you back on that path.

Have you struggled with your own marketing? What do you do to overcome it? We'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Erin writes sensual paranormals and historical romances as Erin Moore. In her other life, she's also a life coach, helping women to answer the question of how to add value in their lives and careers in a vibrant and meaningful way, even while navigating the chaos and frustrations of everyday life. She believes that everyone deserves an amazing life of abundance, and her free e-book "Your Kick Ass Life: A Process for Answering "What Do I Do With My Life" is available on her website.

The Importance of a Target Audience for Authors #MFRWauthor #mfrwblog

By now, we’ve all heard of the “long tail” in sales, from music to television shows to books. With the advent of the digital age, no longer are we all resigned to watching “Leave it to Beaver” together. Instead, we can download a mermaid ménage story or a YA fantasy romance, as we choose.

But what that means is that our marketing efforts are also more spread out. From genre-specific blogs to niche groups on Goodreads, from Pinterest boards to Youtube channels, there is a marketing avenue for all of us.  The problem, though, is that we all have limited time and resources. So we have to determine where our specific audience hangs out the most.

Where is my target audience?

Broad audience better?

Many of us write our books and hope that they appeal to a broad audience. But in all likelihood, we do have a targeted audience in mind already. For instance, if we write slightly steamier or erotic romance, we are probably not expecting the inspirational crowd to pick up our book, or vice versa.  And, we all know the feeling of having picked up a book that we thought was something else, only to be disappointed by its contents. (Will we ever go read that author again?)

However, if we have defined our audience, then everything from our cover to our taglines will reflect what the reader wants, and our readers will be happy to have their expectations met!  

So here are some ideas for determining our target audience:

Do a survey, either on Facebook, or better yet, through your newsletter subscriptions. Keep it simple – no more than ten questions – and, along with demographics like age and nationality, ask deeper questions about preferences and themes.  Ask what their favorite social media is, too.  

Your ideal readers:

Think hard about the type of person that you would want to read your books.  If you could dream up a reader, what would he or she look like? Define these:

• Personality
• Attitudes
• Values
• Interests/hobbies
• Lifestyles
• Behavior

Once you have those people in mind, it is easier to determine where they hang out, and then, market accordingly.

Ways to Market:

 Search blogs on your topic of interest (even if they are not romance-related), and ask to guest blog. For instance, my latest novels are set in the Paelolithic. I will be heavily targeting all of the Paleo lifestyle sites, too. (And loving that Paleo hashtag!)

Most people would normally recommend, too, that we buy more targeted ads on Goodreads or Facebook, however I still cannot find convincing data that says that these ads generate great sales. As many have said before me, the most important thing an author can do is 1. Write a great book and 2. Engage with readers on a personal level.

So finding your target audience will allow you to find those readers, and then engage with them where they are.  (Of course, like most things, this is easier said than done…)

What about you? What sort of target audience have you defined – or not – for yourself, and how has that helped your sales? Love to hear any and all comments!

About the Author:

Erin writes sensuous paranormal romances set in exotic locales. Her latest book is a sexy minotaur shifter story set in Crete.  A regular blogger for Marketing for Romance Writers as well as Heroes and Heartbreakers, Erin lives in Atlanta with her two little paranormal beings and one unruly husband.

Erin also now offers editing services, including help with bios and queries, on her website.  She's giving away a critique of a first chapter with a subscription to her newsletter! 

#MFRWorg Newbie's World: Does Social Media Help to Sell Books?

And by work, I mean, does it actually sell books?

There are many different theories out there about what actually sells books in terms of social media, but as far as I can determine, there is no direct correlation between numbers of social media followers and book sales.  For instance, even if you spent time to amass 20,000 Twitter followers, how many of those will actually buy your book? Perhaps 1%?

We tend to look at the followings of best-selling authors and think "wow, they have a lot of followers, they must sell a lot of books that way." But really, when do we usually follow other authors? After we have already read (and liked) their books.

There are always exceptions, of course, but pinning our energy (and hopes) onto gaining a large following will probably not get us where we want to be.

There are few who will  stand up and say:  don’t waste your time on social media. And far be it from me, either, to say that it is a waste of time. Social media is a good way to make ourselves available to our fans, to communicate with other authors, and to find like-minded individuals. As a social tool, it is invaluable.

But as a book marketing tool, we would be better off applying ourselves to the tried and true methods of marketing.

Find Your Mavens:

Find influencers to promote your work for you. If you’ve ever read the Tipping Point, or heard about how Stephen King’s tweets sent asldjf onto the best-seller lists, then you know what I mean. Use (in the nicest possible meaning of the word) other people’s networks to promote your work.

How to do it? Well, by being social, of course. The first approach is always email, of course, and should consist of the following:

1.      A reason you are writing – what does this person mean in your world – do they write the same genre, share an affinity for hat-wearing cats or gnomes, let them know whatever it is that connects you.

2.      Brief (incredibly brief) intro of you and your work

3.      Call to Action (what would you like the influencer to do? Review? Tweet about the work?)

If you don’t get anywhere with email, though, try social media. Reach out via Twitter or Facebook and be relevant.

Making your book(s) as awesome as possible:

Of course, the other part of marketing is having a product that people really, really want. Your book, in all of its facets, has to be as awesome as possible (writing, cover, and editing.)

Another thing to consider here is the power of a series, and the power of free. Putting out a series in rapid succession, including a free novella, can be a great way to garner sales.

What do you think? What ways have you used social media to garner sales (or not)? What do you think has helped you to sell the most books?

Erin writes sensuous paranormal romances set in exotic locales. Her latest book is a sexy minotaur shifter story set in Crete.  A regular blogger for Marketing for Romance Writers as well as Heroes and Heartbreakers, Erin lives in Atlanta with her two little paranormal beings and one unruly husband.

Erin also now offers editing services, including help with bios and queries, on her website.  She's giving away a critique of a first chapter with a subscription to her newsletter! 

#MFRWorg Newbie's World: Why NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS Won't Work @ErinMoore

Why Your New Year’s Resolutions Won’t Work

A new year is often a time for new beginnings, a refresh of our priorities and our goals.  We often accompany this time of reflection with a wave of resolutions: I will write 4,000 words per day, I will do two blogs posts per week, I will wake up at 5 am every day in order to market my books. 

But how many of those resolutions do we actually follow through with for the entire year? How many do we keep for longer than a month? Probably not many. Pretty soon, we start slipping back into our old ways. We start hitting the snooze button or saying “not today.”

Resolutions are doomed to fail.

Here’s what I want you to get from this blog, though: that’s normal. In fact, it’s so normal that most psychologists and therapists encourage us not to make resolutions for this very reason: not only do we put added pressure on ourselves, but when we (inevitably) fall into our old patterns, we now also have the guilt of a promise broken.

I found this explanation from Carl Buckheit very illuminating:

The main reason they don’t work for most of us most of the time is because the New Year’s resolution operates by imagining a different future and then putting that future into conflict with the version of us who is doing the imagining in the present. In other words, as soon as we make a New Year’s resolution we have at least two of us there: the one in the future behaving differently and theoretically behaving better, behaving more responsibly, whatever it might be; and we have the present person who is imagining that better future. We have a problem; we have a conflict. 

We have attempted to ally ourselves with the future self against the present self.

What he’s saying is that we need to respect who we already are, and know that what we did in the past was not wrong (or bad). We are simply going to re-align, not change our entire person.

So change is possible! If you do it the right way, you can make all of your marketing goals come true.

Here are some tips:

1.       Little by little is the easiest way to make changes. Just like you can’t lose all twenty pounds in one day, you also cannot write an entire book or complete an entire marketing plan in a few days. Know that each step on the journey takes you closer to being that amazing writer and marketer you want to be.

2.       Make your goals easier on yourself. You are not going to be able to go from zero to sixty, but if you go from zero to five…then that seems more doable for both you and your brain to accept. So maybe “get 50 reviews” is easier to achieve if you think “ask/follow up on one review per week”.

3.       Realize that a little bit is better than nothing. Even if you can only write or market for ten minutes, it is better than not doing anything at all. All of those little ten minute increments during the week add up!  (One trick is to use a timer for a ten or twenty minute sprint.)

4.       Consider putting more energy into your mental state than into actual “doing” something. Affirmations, meditation, and envisioning your dreams can all help you to feel good about everything you do.

So go ahead, tear up that sheet of resolutions. Instead, make one small change this week that is easy and sustainable. And then next week, make one more.

What do you think? How have you brought about changes in your own life?

#MFRWorg Newbie World: Is Your Blog Gaining You New Readers?

Is your blog gaining new followers?

(How to Transform All of Your Blogs Into Evergreen Content)

It’s a question most of us avoid asking ourselves. We know we’re “supposed” to blog, and so we dutifully crank one out at regular intervals. Sometimes, the blog is about something trivial, like our cats. Or it’s a clear promotional piece for another author or for ourselves.

Don’t quote me as saying that either of those things are unimportant. But will they get you new readers? Probably not.  So what does work?

Evergreen Content!

Let’s talk about something that marketers call evergreen content. I first learned about it from Jeni Elliott (aka The Blog Maven). Evergreen content is that content that people come back to again and again – those posts with engaging titles and easy quotes that we love to forward, comment on, and share.

The main question is: Will people still read this and think it’s interesting a year from now?

Now, I know for sure that most of my blog posts are not that kind of content. Are yours? Are they the type of things that your readers are searching for, year after year? For instance, let’s say that you write paranormal romances (ahem). You could do a post on your top ten paranormal romances, ever. Or try a post on a popular but timeless book, TV series, etc., and what you think about it. Like “How Anne Rice Transformed Paranormal”. (And be nice! We all know karma’s moniker.)

What we don’t want to do, though, is just continue to post because we feel that we have to. If it’s not something great, then don’t post it. Don’t we all tend to filter out or delete posts and emails that we feel have no relevance in our lives? Our readers are doing the same thing, so make your post amazing.  Or at least great.

Make use of keywords.

Even though Google has tamped down on allowing us to find the best keywords, you probably already know what these are for you. For instance, I should have paranormal and romance in my content somewhere, because that’s what my readers are searching for.  And try these  other ways to search for trending keywords.

Know your Reader.

Of course, all of this only helps if we know first who our ideal reader is. Who is that one reader out there that you think of when you sit down to write your blog – that one reader that retweets, shares, and comments on your posts? What does that reader most want from you? Is it recommendations for new books, insight into your writing process, or just general personal information? Thinking of what that person wants will help to shape your writing.

A reader survey is also a great way to get to know your readers. If you already have a newsletter (and if you don’t, start now!), then you can include a very short questionnaire on the reader’s wishes. A give-way helps here to get responses. Try to see if there is something that the reader gains from reading your books and blogs – what sort of emotional transformation do they get from reading what you write?

TALK TO US.

What are your tricks for bringing more readers to your blogs? Do you feel as if you are hitting your target audience, or just struggling to find stuff to write about?

Posted by Author Erin Moore

Erin writes sensuous paranormal romances set in exotic locales. Her latest book is a sexy minotaur shifter story set in Crete.  A regular blogger for Marketing for Romance Writers as well as Heroes and Heartbreakers, Erin is sadly neglectful of her own blog. She lives in Atlanta with her two little paranormal beings and one unruly husband.

Erin also now offers editing services, including help with bios and queries, on her website.  She's giving away a critique of a first chapter with a subscription to her newsletter!

#MFRWorg Newbie's World: Is Fear Holding You Back? @AuthorErinMoore

Is Fear Holding You Back from Your Marketing Goals?

Do you have a marketing plan, but have been unable to follow through with it? Do you feel like there are things you should be doing to market your books, but you can’t seem to get a grasp on any of them?  Do you feel as if it’s all just too much of a bother?

What might be at the heart of all of these excuses is fear. Most people think of fear as the “I just saw the girl from The Grudge in my backyard” feeling, but for most of us, fear is really that constant little voice in our heads, whispering “you’re not good enough”.

That voice also tells us things like:

• No one will want to read my newsletter, so why bother writing it? 
• The first two people didn’t reply to my request for a review, so I really don’t want to write a third request (or twentieth).
• I got a bad review, so I’m not really willing to put myself out there and ask for more. 
• If I do a Facebook party, no one will show up, and it will be horrible. 
• I don’t write great blogs, and no one will read them. 

If your little voice speaks that clearly to you, congratulations! If you are already connecting the cause with the effect, then that’s half the battle. So many times, though, we don’t even realize that something is holding us back or that the little voice is even speaking to us. We just simply never follow through on our marketing plans. That marketing thing that sounded like a good idea when we first wrote it down – asking to blog on someone else’s site, or sending out a request for newsletter subscribers, or a Facebook party – whatever it is, we just don’t seem to make the time to do it.

But as Freud once said, the lover always makes his appointment.

What he meant was, that if marketing was something that we yearned to do, something that we enjoyed doing and looked forward to, it would never fall off of our to-do list or get pushed to the side by things like television or Facebook. We would meet our lover, damn it.  

So how do we start to love marketing (and possibly ourselves, in the process)?
One great trick is to write down a mantra. Or a few mantras. 

Here are the mantra rules:
1. They must be stated in the positive (i.e. not  “Don’t waste time” but instead “I only spend my time engaged in revenue-generating or name recognition activities.”)
2. They must resonate with you and make you feel joyful as you say them. So if you feel like something like “I am a best-selling author” is too much of a stretch to write and speak, try “I am doing everything I can today to be a best-selling author”. 
3. They must be written in present tense and reflect where we want to be. Even if you don’t feel as if you are where you want to be right now (and who ever does?!) then speak as if you already are. As Mary Kay said, Fake it till you make it. 
4. After you write them down, put them somewhere you can see them every day – next to your computer or on your mirror, perhaps. 

Here are some examples – feel free to steal them:
1. I engage in fulfilling and exciting marketing opportunities on a regular basis.
2. I am filled with joy when writing blogs (or newsletters, or Facebook posts). 
3. My life flows with ease and expansiveness, and I always find time for things that are important to me. 
4. I allow for fun and creativity in my marketing. 
5. Marketing is fun, easy, and I enjoy it. 

Do any of those help you? What are some of your tricks for getting motivated to stay positive about marketing? How do you know when you’ve gone off track? 

Posted by Author Erin Moore.
Erin writes sensuous paranormal romances set in exotic locales. Her latest book is a sexy minotaur shifter story set in Crete, Erin is a regular blogger for Marketing for Romance Writers as well as Heroes and Heartbreakers-which means she is sadly neglectful of her own blog.

She lives in Atlanta with her two little paranormal beings and one unruly husband. She’s also (way too frequently) on Twitter and Facebook. Find her free short story,To Love a Shaman, at her website. 

She's also giving away a critique of a first chapter with a subscription to her newsletter!

#MFRWorg Newbie's World: #SEO for Authors @AuthorErinMoore

SEO for Authors

What it is, and Why it matters

As Newbies, navigating the internet can be one of the hardest things we have to tackle. And one thing that we can really use to our advantage – without doing any (well, much) work at all – is Search Engine Optimization. Put simply – we want people to come to us through Google.

Of course, there are the obvious searches – someone searching for us under our name or pen name. And we definitely need to make sure that the right “me” is being found. (See my other article on blogging and  Google + Authorship.)

But less obvious is how we come up in the organic results. We want our names, and more importantly, our books, to come up first (or second, or third – as long as it’s on that first page of results) when someone searches for, say “shaman romances”.

So how do we best set up our website for search engines?

First, we need it to be active. That means changing something every so often, even if it’s just the “updates” or “news” page.

Blogs count.  And, as we all know, we need to be producing great content for those blogs. But did you know that you should consistently be linking to other sites within your blogs? Or that you should be linking back to other blogs you have written? And, of course, it’s even better if a higher-rated site can site your blog. All of these things earn us higher rankings in the might search engine. For more information, try this great article on blogging for authors.

And, if you are writing blogs, make sure to name them something catchy. There are a bunch of tools that you can use to research this. Unfortunately, Google no longer lets you use its tool without an Adsense sign-in, but here are some other great tools for finding keywords.  

Privacy Policy: Here’s one that most of us don’t know about. You will have to drop in a little bit of code onto your website. The way I did mine was to just add in a small link to a hidden page on my home page.

There are a bunch of different (and free) sites out there that will provide you with one. The one I used was: http://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/free-privacy-policy-generator.php. It’s probably a bit more in-depth than most of us need it to be, especially as we are probably not actively selling anything on our website (processing credit cards, for instance).  Or, alternatively, an easy one:

This blog does not share personal information with third parties nor do we store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies.

You can turn off the use of cookies at anytime by changing your specific browser settings.

We are not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without our permission.

This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on Month, Day, Year. If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly here: xxxx@xxxx.com.

[Source: http://john.do/privacy-policy/]

Disclaimers:  These are yet another layer of trust for Google. It can be something simple like: The views and opinions on this website are solely those of the author. Any advertising on this site should not be considered an endorsement.

                [Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, so don’t trust anything I write, either.]

Why does any of this matter? Because when our website comes up first, and people land on our page, then they have a higher likelihood of buying something – i.e., our books! It’s just another way to find readers, and if we haven’t done these things already, then it should only take about 20 minutes to implement them.

Let me know if you have any SEO best practices!

Posted by Erin

Erin writes paranormal romances as Erin Moore and contributes to the MFRW Marketing Blog with her monthly column, A Newbie's World. Her latest book is a sexy minotaur shifter story set in Crete.

She manages two monsters and one unruly husband in Atlanta in between writing and main-lining chocolate and tea. Look her up on www.AuthorErinMoore.com or, of course, on Twitter: @AuthorErinMoore.

Newbie World: Multiple Pen Names for #MFRWauthors

The Question is... 
Multiple Pen Names: Good idea, or not?

As writers, we know how important names are. We meticulously research our characters’ names, bandying

about ideas for each with the care given to newborns. And for those of us just starting out in the romance industry, this includes one of our biggest decisions: choosing our own name. We want it to sound romantic, but not porn-star, despite what my husband might think. And we also want it to represent our genre. Someone who writes historicals will probably lean towards something different than someone who writes BDSM stories.

There are many reasons to choose a pen name: our job requires us to protect our real identities, we don’t want our neighbors to know what we write, or even just to keep a distance between the interwebs and our “real” selves. But I’m assuming if you’re reading this, you might have already gotten past the first pen name issue, and now are tackling an even bigger one: do I need a separate pen name when writing in a different genre?

Like any good question, the answer is a little gray.

First, here are some reasons we might choose (or have the decision chosen for us by an agent or publisher):

· Our first books didn’t sell very well, and we (or the publisher) want to distance ourselves from that. A re-branding, if you will.

· Or, we are writing more books than our current publisher can publish/market (oh, what a nice problem to have), so some authors choose to go with a different pen name and avoid the contract issues by going to another publisher with a different series or book.

· We’re writing something that is very different from our “normal” genre – something that our fans might not be expecting. Even in staying within romance, if you’ve previously written sweet historicals and are now branching into grittier, racier, contemporaries, your fans might not be expecting it. This seems to be especially true if switching to a totally different genre.

· From Kim Harrison: big book retailers have a habit of purchasing only the same number of books that an author sold on their last release. If it was a bad release, then the store will only by that many books of the next release, but if it's an unknown author, the stores will buy more in the hope that it will be a blockbuster. So you write under a different name, and get a better shot at selling through your books.

Great. We know why, but now, how?

Like with our first pen names, here are the rules:

· Keep it easy. No hyphens, no strange pronunciations – you want it to be something that your readers can easily look up. Should be easy to spell.

· Keep it memorable. Jane Brown is probably not going to stick for someone. But I love the way, for instance, Kresley Cole rolls off the tongue. (Though I would say “Kresely” probably breaks rule #1. As in writing, know the rules and then break ‘em.)

· Keep it unique. It’s pretty easy now to do a Google search on names and see the number of hits generated. Don’t expect that a reader will use “author” when searching for you; you want to be one of the very few that comes up when someone searches for your pen name.

Here’s the thing that needs to be emphasized, though...

Each of these names needs to be managed. Think website, Facebook, Twitter, etc. And while not every one of these needs to be an entirely separate account, you will have to have virtual real estate built up around each name; at the very least, a website.

You’ll want to think long and hard about your time management and how much effort it will take to keep up various other online personalities, Sybil. My other caution here is that readers read not just for genre, but also for voice. What I’ve seen on many reader forums while researching this topic is frustration from readers for a perceived lack of intelligence. They are fully aware that an author can write across multiple genres, and get frustrated when they can’t find a backlist because of a pen name. So I would just say here that if you do choose an additional pen name, make sure it is abundantly clear in your books’ bio so that readers are able to easily track you down.

Talk To Us.
As with everything, it’s a very personal decision. Let us know what you think – have you chosen a second (or third) pen name? What are the pluses and minuses?

ADDITIONAL REFERENCE LINKS:
http://www.writing-world.com/business/pen.shtml
http://jamigold.com/2011/06/branding-101-to-pen-name-or-not-to-pen-name/
http://www.justaboutwrite.com/A_Archive_What'sInAName.html

Posted by Erin

Erin writes paranormal romances as Erin Moore and contributes to the MFRW Marketing Blog with her monthly column, A Newbie's World. Her latest book is a sexy minotaur shifter story set in Crete.

She manages two monsters and one unruly husband in Atlanta in between writing and main-lining chocolate and tea. Look her up on www.AuthorErinMoore.com or, of course, on Twitter: @AuthorErinMoore.

#MFRWorg Newbie's World: Why Authors Need Facebook @AuthorErinMoore

Facebook: Why we need it, even if it drives us crazy.

Facebook. It’s awesome for our personal lives, letting us share pictures with others, keep up with our schools and communities, find people with common interests, stalk our ex-boyfriends…oh, wait.

But as an author, it can sometimes be a little daunting and confusing. For starters, what type of page should we choose? And then, once we have it, how do we go about liking other pages – some pages wants us to switch back to our “personal” page before we can like them, and I am not entirely sure I want everyone to know when I’ve liked something like “Sex With Romance.”  And once we’ve figured that out, how do we get those cool little tabbies for our blogs and other stuff on there?

And yet, it’s worth it to figure it out. Most of our readers are on Facebook, and Facebook also brings in new readers; a lot of inbound traffic to Amazon and other ebook sites comes directly from Facebook. So we need to be on there, and we need to be on there in a professional manner.

As some of you already know, I’m a big fan of “do as I say, not as I do” on this blog. So some of the advice below will be recommendations from knowledgeable sources that I may or may not have already implemented myself (just in case anyone is checking my Facebook page –which, if you do, make sure to like it).

Ahem. Now, first things first: What type of page should you have?  Well, really, as an author, there is really only one for your author self.  I will put gold stars there in case you are in doubt.  And you will need to start from your personal profile in order to do this – don’t create a whole new page (with a separate email address) from the initial FB log-in page.  Main reason: you can’t usually like another page as your author page, otherwise. 

Types of pages:

Local Business or Place

Company, Organization, or Institution

Brand or Product

Artist, Band, or Public Figure

Entertainment

Cause or Community

Adding a page for individual books:

If you are already sort of big time, you may want to consider adding pages for each of your books. The downside to this is that you may split your audience – people may miss updates if you post to the book, or miss them if you post only to your author page. However, if the book does blow up (in a good way), someone may make that page for you, and you don’t necessarily want to cede that control.  Food for thought.

Now, onto the fun (read: complicated) stuff.

Yes, you can like other authors’ pages. You may have to go to their page and then click on the down-arrow near the like button. Then there should be a line that says “like as my page.” That’s it! But it seems that most authors have gotten with the program – if it’s set up as an author page, then you should be able to like it with the “like” button. 

Help with Facebook Tabbies (aka apps, aka sort of a pain);

So, most of us would like our blogs to be linked to Facebook. The best way is to use an app – you know, those cute little buttons. There are a few different apps to use for blogs: RSS Graffiti, Networked Blogs (though this will now direct you to their spin-off, Symphony), and Social RSS. 

They all work essentially the same way. They are going to ask you for a lot of permissions from Facebook (you can’t escape The Man), and then import your blog (or blogs) to the pages you direct. I used Symphony and found it pretty self-explanatory. And then I got this awesome new tab called “blog” on my page.  It will also post updates to my FB newsfeed any time I post on my blog.  

What else do you need as an app? You can also load in Goodreads, Pinterest, or Youtube videos – entirely up to you.  Goodreads is an easy one – you can do it from Goodreads, and then it magically loads the app onto FB.

For Pinterest, it’s a a little bit trickier. If you use the link here, then only follow steps through #7 – looks like Facebook has had a few changes since 2012 (ya’ think?) and it loads up a little “Pinterest” link fairly nicely with only the first seven.

YouTube: There is either Woobox (which I used for my Pinterest tab, very helpful) or YoutubeApp. Again, make sure to accept all permissions and then edit later.

All in all, Facebook for businesses is not necessarily a walk in the park, but with a little bit of help, it can (and should) be done. Happy Facebooking! Let me know what you think – what do you see on others’ pages and wish you had on yours? What has worked well for you?

-Erin

Just in case you want more to read:

http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/so-facebook

http://socialmediatoday.com/tara-urso/2281751/your-facebook-pages-organic-reach-about-plummet

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/new-facebook-pages/

http://weblogs.about.com/od/socialnetworking/ht/AddBlogFacebook.htm

Newbie's World #MFRWorg @AuthorErinMoore What is my brand?

Branding. It’s a question that new authors have a lot. And it should be one that we can define
easily for others. But how do we know what it is? And what do we do about it once we know?

credit to Miguel Anxo at deviantart.com

First, a definition, for which I give heartfelt thanks to Theresa Myer’s amazing white paper: Today when we talk about an author brand we are talking about building an image, perception or identity that is used to create "emotional Velcro" first, a perception of higher quality second and that little "something special" that no one else can offer third.

If you happened to read my article on a similar topic on Savvy Authors (of course you did!), we discussed getting readers to 1. Know us, then 2. Like us, and 3. Love us. This is the same concept. The example Theresa gives is a reader walking into a bookstore and asking for the latest Nora Roberts book. They are not asking for the title – they are asking for the brand, Nora Roberts.

So how do we get the Nora Roberts brand?

1. Define your own brand.
Writing Exercise: (some my own, some stolen from Ali Cross’ amazing post). Answer any or all.

• Look up your favorite authors, musicians, artists and see what resonates. What emotions are they evoking, and is it something that grabs you, or turns you off?
• List out seven adjectives for your books.
• List out seven adjectives for your ideal reader. 
• Determine what makes you unique – everyone can be hot, smexy, playful – let’s dig a little deeper. 
• What message do you hope that your readers will walk away from their interactions with you and/or your books? 
• What do you bring to the world – not just to writing, but to the world? 
• Do you need one brand, or multiple? Perhaps an umbrella brand could work, keeping in mind keeping up with various brands. (Though, if you write in many different and distinct genres, trying to keep it all together may be even harder…)

2. Refine your brand.
a. Tagline – this should be the synthesis of everything you went through in the exercises. Short, different, and easy to remember.

b. Website/blog—blogging on your topic, at least 25% of the time, will help readers come to trust you on your expert subject.

c. Logo—what images define you/your brand? This may be something you need some help with, in which case, experiment by yourself first so that you have an idea of what you do and don’t want before paying someone else.

d. Twitter/Facebook—Again, talking about your expert knowledge at least 25% of the time will bring readers back to you. They will come to know and expect your advice/insight/humorous take on whatever subject(s) you have chosen.

This will be a continually evolving process, one that will always need refinement. But the core of your brand should not change drastically. And if you find that it needs to, then it’s possible that you will need to create a different brand entirely (with all of the same work involved) for that new brand.

In closing, I would like to say “please do as I say, not as I do” on this topic. I’m a WIP. Now, talk to me... let me know about your brand! What has worked for you?

Erin
Erin writes paranormal romances as Erin Moore and has only just begun to learn all about marketing them! She contributes to the MFRW Marketing Blog with her monthly column, A Newbie's World.

She is usually found on Twitter, but may soon be on an Amazon binge, so look out! She manages two monsters and one unruly husband in Atlanta, main-lining chocolate and tea. Look her up on www.AuthorErinMoore.com or, of course, on Twitter: @AuthorErinMoore.

#MFRWorg Newbie's World: Do I Need A Blog?

Newbie’s Corner: Do I need a blog?

Big question. There are as many opinions on this one as there are, well, you know how that adage ends…

The question always comes down to, will this bring me more readers? Will more people buy my books if I’m blogging?

Let’s explore.

Advantages:

• Trust: In order for readers to buy your books, they want to trust you, the author. So if you are continually serving up great content on your blog, then a potential reader might e more willing to buy your books. 
• Writing skills and time management: blogs are a great way to get out short, great messages, as well as a way to improve your dedication. 
• SEO: You want to be on the first page of Google, right? Well, blogs are liked by the magical Google spiders because they are updated more regularly than a static site. 

Disadvantages:

• Time: Ah, if only we had days and days filled with nothing but time to do what we wanted. But in our crazy writer lives, we are limited. So in between Facebook, Twitter, updates to our regular website, and actually writing, do you need another weekly commitment? 
• Platform: what are you writing about? It’s great that you have kids, recipes, and writing in your life. But do others want to read about that? (this is not meant sarcastically at all – some people have great blogs on all of the above. But is that your platform?)
• Reciprocity: A big part of blogging is the reciprocal aspect. Blog hops, sharing other’s posts, gaining new followers by posting comments to others’ blogs, linking to Google+ and Goodreads blogs, Triberr…it’s a long list, once you go down the rabbit hole of blogging. Do you have the time and energy for it? 

There is no easy answer for this question. For me, personally, I know that my readers like to read paranormal romances. But I don’t feel that I read enough in this genre in order to generate new content on a weekly basis.

My compromise with myself has been to write for others’ blogs or group blogs (like Heroes and Heartbreakers). This way, I’m reaching a larger viewership with established readers. And, the pressure is off for a weekly (or monthly) commitment.

However, I still need to relate everything back to Erin Moore, the author. That means keeping my messaging consistent – any of my readers could read anything I wrote. Here are some other general rules for writing for others:

1. Google Authorship: You want to make sure that you own your content so that Google searches for your name or books will link back to you. Here’s a very detailed explanation of how to do this.

2. Search for blogs in your genre with a large readership, but don’t neglect the small or medium blogs, either. These may have very dedicated followings. Trying to land a big blog? Try these tips.

3. Promote your guest post as you would for your own blog.

I know, I know…I still haven’t answered the essential question. Unfortunately, hard data on whether blogging promotes sales seems extremely hard to come by. If anyone has seen any real numbers on blogs increasing book sales, would love to hear about it!

For authors with their own blogs, the only way to determine if it is truly bringing in readers is by measuring traffic. Do blog readers click on buy links after finding your post?

In the end, like everything, it is a personal decision. Hope some of this information has been helpful.

Tell us what you think!

Is a blog necessary, or not? How do you negotiate the world of blogging?

Sources: Small Blue Dog  |  Jane Friedman  |  Savvy Book Writers  |  Boost Blog Traffic  |  Weblogs  |  Pushing Social

POSTED BY ERIN MOORE

Erin has been writing her entire life, but only recently found her voice in the paranormal romance world.

She's an avowed chocoholic, loves travel and good tea, and finds her inner peace by meditating and writing. Fantasy, historical fiction, and romance are her inspirations.

Newbie's World: Most Efficient & Most Effective Author Marketing

A Newbie's World with Erin...

What is the best use of my marketing time and will bring me the most sales?

Starting out as a new author, I had little idea how much time I would be expected to devote to marketing my book. And it all seemed overwhelming: Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, Pinterest, blog posts… But do any of these really generate new sales? It is my belief, backed up by some marketing experts, that most of our social media is merely an avenue for fans to find authors they already like and admire, not necessarily a place to generate new sales[i].

Social media is all about engagement, i.e. after that fan/reader has already bought your product, then they will want to know more about you and your other works. But not necessarily before. If you have to go looking for followers or likes, or use give-aways to get more people there, then you are probably not generating sales via social media. Yet.  

So what will bring a reader to you? REVIEWS. 

Reviews help Amazon to promote your book for you. I read somewhere (though of course I can no longer find the source!) that after 30 reviews, Amazon starts to list your book in its recommendations.  In addition, the more reviews, the more likely a potential reader is to buy your book. Think about it – we want a trusted source – other consumers – to tell us that this book is great!

So how do you get them? Unfortunately, it involves EFFORT.

There is no easy way to get more reviews. Here are the ones I have discovered:

1.  Friends and family: your network is always your best shot. Ask people who you know have read your books in a personalized email (not a mass email), and explain why reviews are important to you. I also include some tips – ask them to talk about why they liked a specific character, setting, or theme in your book.

2. Review groups: reviewing other authors’ books for a review in turn. These should never be reciprocal reviews, however, as Amazon frowns on this practice. And, it might give a bit of dishonesty to your review. MFRW often offers up new review groups starting up.

3. Bloggers: check out bloggers who review your type of books. Simply Google your genre and reviews and you should get a bunch. Also try the same search on Facebook. Personally, I have not had as much luck with bloggers, however one good trick is to include a few pieces of personal information on the specific blogger in your request. For instance, “I read your review on…and thought you might be interested in my novel___ because of its themes of ____.” Also be sure to always find and use the blogger’s name and some other piece of information about them (likes, personal preferences, hometown, whatever).

4. Regular people: search on Amazon for books like yours, and then find reviews that don’t seem to be from a friend or family member. If the reviewer has an email address listed, send them an email and ask if they would be interested in your book in return for a review. No obligation.

5. If possible, in your next release, include a note to your readers about how much you appreciate their feedback (listing all of your contact information), and then make a request for reviews. Note how important they are for you.

---

[i] recent Verso survey estimated that barely 12% of books are discovered from social networks whereas 50% are passed on via personal recommendations. (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/06/become-an-ebook-superstar)

Sources:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/RNCWTLEMV71VM  (great information here!!)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/352865-you-want-your-book-tagged-on-amazon

http://thefutureofpublishing.com/2012/04/what-have-we-learned-about-amazon-book-reviews/

Think Twitter is better for generating sales? Leave your thoughts!

Erin
Erin writes paranormal romances as Erin Moore and has only just begun to learn all about marketing them! She contributes to the MFRW Marketing Blog with her monthly column, A Newbie's World.

She is usually found on Twitter, but may soon be on an Amazon binge, so look out! She manages two monsters and one unruly husband in Atlanta, main-lining chocolate and tea. Look her up on www.AuthorErinMoore.com or, of course, on Twitter: @AuthorErinMoore.