Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

J.T. wrote: "Just remember how hard you worked on the book and put that emotion in selling it. You will be surprised how quickly you begin to promote it. ..."

Hi J.T--EXCELLENT advice! Also, a friend of mine told me: "if you don't let people know about it, they won't know to read it, and they will miss the opportunity to do so and it will be your fault..."--nothing like a bit of guilt induction to make promoting the book sound like a good idea... ;)

It's not easy getting found. I've spend many hours in the last three days trying to get noticed by Australian readers. I finally received one download for my free book. One of the ways I get noticed is by having a presence in different forums. Goodreads is great, but you need to be on others.

Na'ama wrote: "J.T. wrote: "Just remember how hard you worked on the book and put that emotion in selling it. You will be surprised how quickly you begin to promote it. ..."

Hi J.T--EXCELLENT advice! Also, a fri..."

Everyone should have a big bowl of guilt with breakfast

I was reading a marketing article the other day. It was talking about how the big Trad Pubs did not necessarily spend a lot on marketing newer writers but they got more bang for their marketing buck. In other words it wasn't how much marketing they did it was the specific marketing they did. Now I just have to find out what marketing they do use.

J.T. wrote: "Everyone should have a big bowl of guilt with breakfast"

Yep, nothing like guilt to get you moving in the morning... ;)

Mark wrote: "... fact is I'm so anal about it I spend three to four times as long editing my work as I do writing it ... "

Hmmm, Mark, I'm not sure that's anal. I'd consider that normal if not a bit light.

Let's say it takes me a month to write a full length novel. It then easily takes me six to eight months to polish and edit it fully, because I read, and re-read, and tweak, and change things until they all flow just right.

I know many authors who take even longer on the editing process, to ensure the end product is absolutely perfect (as perfect as it's going to get) for the readers.

Then it gets handed to the editors.

Lisa

Judy wrote: "I keep debating whether or not I should start an author Facebook page. The thing is, I hate Facebook. I really do, so I'm not sure how effective it would be for me. I love my blog, and I love my fo..."

Judy -

Marketing is about reaching people where they live. People don't live on your blog. They live on Facebook. So your daily posts there reach them right where they're already looking. Your posts show up in the stream they're already viewing.

You don't have to love Facebook. You just have to use it as a tool. And it only takes 30 seconds to cut and paste your post into the box.

Lisa

Nihar wrote: "Lisa, I thought your idea of releasing a new book version every year was pretty interesting. Have you tried this before? It seems like a great idea - I was just wondering if people would buy the newer version. "

I sell TONS more ebooks than paper copies - and the ebook buyers already get a free update of their book. So it encourages people to buy, because they get those free updates. It boosts sales. It also then draws in fresh buyers who see that the book is newly updated and polished.

It also encourages those who want it in paperback to get it because it's fresh and new, not old and stale.

As far as people who already have paperback book version 1 to then buy paperback book version 2, I imagine that might happen.

Lisa

A general comment on Facebook. I do quite a lot of research and testing on Facebook posts, because I run a number of fan pages on there both for myself and for others.

Facebook changes its timeline system daily. It's just what they do. The best approach is to accept that and watch what works and what doesn't work. The better you are at understanding it, the more efficient your efforts can be.

It used to be that images got good visibility. Then people gamed the system by making everything an image and users got annoyed. So Facebook now makes text posts- JUST text no links no images - show up the best. That is what users have indicated they'd rather see.

So make just a text post. If you want to promote your book, make it just a text post. Then make sure your Facebook page itself has a bright red "read my book" button so that anybody then getting to your page can one-click see your library.

I know sometimes it's hard to understand something without seeing it. Here's my page to show how this works -

https://www.facebook.com/LisaSheaAuthor

You'll see a variety of post types on my page from my testing. Links do poorly. Text posts do great. Text posts with likes and comments do SUPERB. So you want to aim for text posts that get likes and comments - and then on your page itself you want to have that READ MY BOOK link with the actual sales links.

Let me know if you have questions.

Lisa

Lisa wrote: "You don't have to love Facebook. You just have to use it as a tool. And it only takes 30 seconds to cut and paste your post into the box."

That's not necessary. If you have a Wordpress blog, you can simply connect to Facebook and Twitter, and Wordpress sends out a message to both with a short description and a link to your blog. You set it up once and it will publish everything you post on your blog to the social media you prefer.

Looks a bit like this:





Katla Sieltjes published an article on WordPress.
January 11
I’m not writing at the moment. Which is strange for me, because I’m always writing and always having fun with writing. However, I have problems concentrating on my fiction when my life is a mess. November 22th, around midnight, just as I was…

Painkillers Put My Writing On Hold For A Moment...
by Katla Sieltjes

Lisa wrote: "Then make sure your Facebook page itself has a bright red "read my book" button so that anybody then getting to your page can one-click see your library."

That looks awesome, Lisa. How did you set that up?

Lisa wrote: "Judy wrote: "I keep debating whether or not I should start an author Facebook page. The thing is, I hate Facebook. I really do, so I'm not sure how effective it would be for me. I love my blog, and..."

Okay . . . but the real question is, how do you get any friends/followers there to even see your posts? I know I get additions all the time on Wordpress because of their general tags that people can browse. But Facebook is different, I believe.

Na'ama wrote: "J.T. wrote: "Everyone should have a big bowl of guilt with breakfast"

Yep, nothing like guilt to get you moving in the morning... ;)"

I love the smell of guilt in the morning. It smells like .... victory.

I don't want to click on anybody's link to anything, especially blog posts, because most blog posts are insanely boring. Which is why I don't write blog posts anymore--why subject others to something I'd never look at?

Stan wrote: "It's not easy getting found. I've spend many hours in the last three days trying to get noticed by Australian readers. I finally received one download for my free book. One of the ways I get not..."

Hi Stan, I'm an Aussie author and I have a guest author page on my website at www.ritaleechapman.com. I'm always looking for new guests so send me a pm if you are interested.

This is a question I struggle with every day, trying to get the word out about my own books. The main thing I can suggest is through your presence on blogs, forums such as this one, and other networking that you build and maintain positive relationships with potential readers by being genuine with them and not constantly selling to them.

That doesn't mean you never make marketing posts, but it does mean that your marketing posts are secondary, not your main focus. Your main focus is building relationships. That is key.

You also need to have a presence on a variety of sites. If you write in a particular genre try posting short stories on genre specific forums. I've posted at http://www.postapocalypticforum.com/b...
This gives people who are interested in that kind of literature a chance to read my work.

Sally wrote: "I don't want to click on anybody's link to anything, especially blog posts, because most blog posts are insanely boring. Which is why I don't write blog posts anymore--why subject others to somethi..."

Sometimes I get a few, very few I should add, that are entertaining. When I do get a link, I usually recognized the names of people I liked before, so I'll check and read a few sentences. If it doesn't catch my attention I move on. Bore me once though and I will probably skip the next time. Maybe if I were in search of something to read, I would be less selective, but my Ipad is full of books waiting for reviews, and when I review, I prefer giving my full attention to the book, else it's not fair to the author or the future readers.

Martyn -

Here's the link to the full instructions on installing that "read me" app for a Facebook page.

http://lisashea.com/workfromhome/mark...

Lisa

Martyn -

Yes one could certainly trust in a truncate-bot to make posts for you, but sites are extremely unique in what specific phrasing and layout works best. Rather than trust the truncate-bot I highly recommend taking the additional 2 minutes to pop into each site and make the post in the most appealing manner possible. Your traffic differences can be intense.

Lisa

Judy wrote: "Okay . . . but the real question is, how do you get any friends/followers there to even see your posts? I know I get additions all the time on Wordpress because of their general tags that people can browse. But Facebook is different, I believe. "

Facebook provides a wealth of ways in which to build the fan base. I have a bunch of step by step instructions here -

http://lisashea.com/workfromhome/mark...

The gist for those who don't like external links is:

* post at least daily
* make engaging posts so those who are fans already respond. Their friends then see their responses, follow along to see what's going on, and join too. It snowballs
* run contests to lure in more players
* Link to the page from every other site / page you own. Market it regularly
* run some sponsored promotions to get your ads in front of eyeballs who exactly match your target audience.

It can definitely be done quite quickly, and it then means you are reaching your target audience exactly where they "live" all day long. Your posts are immediately seen by them because they are there already.

Lisa

Sally wrote: "I don't want to click on anybody's link to anything, especially blog posts, because most blog posts are insanely boring. Which is why I don't write blog posts anymore--why subject others to somethi..."

Sally - it sounds like you were signed up for boring blogs :). There are many fascinating blogs out there that people crave new posts from!

Make yours one of those :).

Lisa

With my print copies, in bookshops I surreptitiously rearrange the books to my advantage by placing them cover out. In the library I leave copies of my books on the tables, and leave the computer screen showing my book.
Haven't found any sneaky ways to advertise my e-books, lol.