Category Archives: Guest Posts

A guest post by Holly Dawn Hewlett.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last decade, you have some knowledge of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. The question is, do you understand the value of Social Media to your success? I don’t care what genre, what topic, what country, what age you are…if you want your work seen, and checks in your bank account…then you need to embrace Social Media. And why not? IT’S FREE!!!

So, I want you to Google yourself…now check those entries…are they really you?

Now I want you to Google, Holly Dawn Hewlett, Winchester, Va. Yes, ALL of those entries on the first THREE pages are me! What does that mean? When someone is looking for me, I have 3x the chance of them finding me than you. Why is this important? Because the way to get on the first page of Google is to have good quality content. The way to have good quality content is to have work on every channel you can in the digital world.

I can hear you now, here comes what I call “The Writers’ Soliloquy”

I don’t have time

I have family, friends and a community to buy my work

I write serious prose/poetry and I am not going to peddle it on Social Media

Shakespeare, King, Koontz, and Sandberg didn’t need Social Media!

All of the above statements are true…and false. The reason you don’t have time is you have not learned to leverage your time. You run around trying to catch every opportunity to show your work. Marketing studies show that the average person actually knows about 420-450 people and is acquainted with 2200-2500 people. On a good day only 30-40% of those will actually buy your work. I don’t care if you write the greatest novel that has ever been written, if no one sees it then no one buys it and you are a talented, broke writer. Speaking of Shakespeare, he is THE most downloaded author in the world, to the tune of 2-4 Billion dollars a year….Yes, that is BILLIONS………..

Still think you don’t need Social Media?

Lets’ look at how Social Media can help you. First, some hard learned lessons:

The Digital World is fast, furious and forever. Keep your personal life and writer life separate. The digital world is not secure, you have to use common sense. I keep a note book with all my accounts and passwords separate so that if someone gets into one of my accounts, they can’t get into my personal life, ie: my bank account. Yes, your fans will want to know all there is to know about you, which is a blessing. Establish boundaries now so you are not in danger later. Even as good as I am, I have made mistakes. You’re at an event and hand out your personal # or email…when those people contact me, I redirect them to my public info. If they continue to use my private info…I block them. Don’t fall for the crap that you have to be accessible to all people. Stephen King and Anne Rice have had long lucrative careers being private people.

Now to nuts and bolts.

Social Media is NOT a retail store, it takes time to build a reputation. You need to be engaging and patient. The days of sending out sales emails and ads are gone. Today’s customer is engaged, educated, and discerning. They still want fast service, but they will have googled you before you ever hear from them.

A basic Social Media set up for an author is: LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, a blog, a YouTube Channel and Twitter.

The Golden Rule: Good Content, Good Content, Good Content!! Post at least once a week on some of your sites. Connect with the people in your field who are seen as experts. Comment on others’ content. If you are referencing anything…make sure you say so!! It is a digital world, but lawsuits are very real!!! Be real, Be you!

LinkedIn…is your professional page. This is the place you act your best. Yes, you can express your opinion, but always think of yourself sitting in a board room. Linked In is where all the powerful and successful people of your field are. As you establish yourself, you will find some of the experts of your field will wind up connecting with you. This is the place for intellectual discussions. Be studious about who you connect to, you never know who knows who.

Facebook…You will have a personal page which is connected to a Fan Page. Your Fan Page is the place to casually engage your audience. This is the place for all the events of your public life, to have fun, within reason. Remember…the digital world is forever. Find something that you are passionate about that is relevant to your work. I am an Eco Warrior, so my fan page is all about eco living around the world, from schools that are using public space to grow gardens to the latest technological advancements in solar, wind, and geothermal.

Pinterest or Instagram…These are visual based sites. Depending on your personality, the one you choose is up to your taste or engagement. Instagram is like Twitter in that you can send something out to all your followers. Pinterest is like having a limitless portfolio. Visual is the largest growing segment of interaction in the world. The trick with these sites is a conversation. Think: “How do I show people what my work is about” If you visit my Pinterest page, I post how my life is affected by what I do. I post ALL my videos and all the things I am passionate about.

Your Blog…Why have a blog? Well, all those Social Media sites have rules, regulations, and space limits. A blog is the place that you are free to just be who you are. The value of a blog is that YOU control it. It is a place where your most loyal customers will come to have a more intimate conversation with you. It is also the place where you will make money in the future from those loyal customers!! I have a blog on Empower Network, full disclosure…this is another revenue source for me, so yes, I will make a commission if you set up your blog through my link. Go check it out: http://unapologeticjourney.empowernetwork.com/

YouTube…If you have a gmail account, You have a YouTube Channel! As a writer, you will be asked to do readings. A great way to interact with your audience is through videos!! YouTube has a very easy download and edit template that is sweet! Make sure you go through ALL the tabs on your first few videos so it becomes second nature. You will thank me! Finally, ALWAYS MONETIZE YOUR VIDEOS!! Monetizing a video means that you give YouTube the permission to run those ads you see across videos you already watch. There is no sense in turning down free money! How much money? In 2012, YouTube made 2.4 Billion!! 40% of that went to all the people who monetized their videos. Part of monetizing your videos is to make sure you put true and informative titles. AND, if you cuss like I do, you always put that in the description!!

Twitter…This is the place you interact with your audience in real time with 140 character sentences, which are called tweets. Twitter is the place to do media blasts that let folks know you have a new book or an appearance somewhere. This is a great place to have short sweet fast interactions with your fans. Learn the lingo and you will be a twitter master!!

At this point, you are probably feeling overwhelmed, remember what I said about leveraging your time? Take a breath! I got you covered.

The final steps:

Continuity!! Pick a name and use it for ALL of these accounts! If you have not gone to someplace like GoDaddy and registered your “Domain” name, then go do that. Use your whole name, this sets you apart. If you want to be creative, think before you pick a name. Make sure it is relevant! Nothing worse than hearing about how your whole online image does not match what the customer sees when they see your name…..forever.

Set up one or two accounts at a time, do not try to set up everything all at once, you will fry your brain. Take your time! I am telling you to set up in this order because Google owns YouTube, so as you build more sites, google already knows you exist! LinkedIn and Facebook are two of the largest, most trusted sources for content, so google will grab this content easily.

Set up your accounts in this order: Gmail and YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest/Instagram, and Your Blog.

As you set up your accounts, you will be asked to “connect” them…DO IT…this is the trick!! When you connect your account, whatever you post to one site will then post to all your other sites! Don’t be lazy, visit all your sites at least once a week and post from them. The more different original content points you use the quicker you will rise to the top of Google.

After you get all your accounts set up, tell everyone you know about them!! Now that you are being Social, find me and connect @

Holly Dawn Hewlett on

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, and my blog, UnapologeticJourney

Guest Writer Bio:
Holly Dawn Hewlett is a published poet, Slivers of My Soul on Amazon.com. Her passions are print media, Pitbulls, and Reduce Reuse and Recycle!! She is an Energy Consultant for Ambit Energy, working to save people money on their electricity and natural gas bills, check out www.Killthemeter.energy526.com

Writing and the Marketing Mix

October 17, 2013

fictorians

Guest Posts Marketing Publishing The Writing Life No Comments

A guest post by Jace Sanders.

There’s a bookstore not far from where I work, filled with older pieces of literature, many of them discontinued works of authors past. The words, messages, and stories they present were at some point in time considered brilliant, or at least relevant enough to publish. Its amazing to think of the countless hours spent plotting those words, writing, type setting each page, binding, shipping, and then promoting the books for sale. I love to get lost in the store, thumbing through the old pages, and gazing into a forgotten author’s mind.

With heroes like C.S. Lewis, Mark Twain, and Victor Hugo, I’m grateful that their words made it to print for my enjoyment and education. I imagine that there were many great writers, never published because they didn’t know the right people, or make the right connections, or maybe they merely failed to finish their book.

In most ways, getting our words into a sellable format is a much easier venture these days. But just because a work is published doesn’t mean it is read.

It’s no secret that the world of writing and publishing has changed drastically over the past several years. We’d be fools to think that it won’t continue to change throughout our lives.

We’re not only competing with other writers for a chance to entertain a mind. We’re also competing against television, movies, radio and video games just to name a few.

For many writers, including myself, the goal of becoming a published writer has changed into developing a readership. It is one thing to be published and another thing to be read, discussed, blogged about, shared, and analyzed.

Let us discuss the four Ps of marketing (or the three Ps and the one D) and how they apply to developing a fan base and to writing in this day and age.

Product – Your product is your work and you are the brand. It’s important to write well, tell a good story, develop great characters, and have excellent prose. All of these help enhance the product. Branding is equally important.

Pricing – Pricing used to be a mathematical formula based on the cost of printing and promoting the books. With Kindles, iPads and Kobo Ereaders the cost of printing is nil. In many ebook platforms pricing can be somewhat arbitrary. I have seen many writers find success in promoting their works and helping their brand by offering discounts to a book for a time. This is most effective when compounded with adequate promotion.

Traditional publishing has its costs and still plays into the economics of book pricing. I’ve noticed that the Big Five are slowly becoming versed in the flexibility and cost benefits that come with epublishing.

Promotion – You are the brand. Take care what you put your name on and how you treat others. Pay attention to Genre. You may want to develop multiple brands under pen names.

Social media has made it much easier to find out about people, the good and the bad. In branding, consider setting up a fan page on Facebook, a twitter account, a YouTube channel, a blog, and a personal website. All of these are tools that can help generate brand awareness that in turn will help you better promote your products.

I have seen many, very effective Book Bombs used to increase product and brand awareness. This usually involves a discounted price for a limited time, followed by massive promotion of said discount using Facebook, Twitter, blogs and websites. Share the news with your friends and get your friends to share the news with their friends. Usually this helps to generate positive reviews and a fan base. Of course it helps if you have more than one product for them to look at.

I have participated in four successful Kickstarter campaigns for writers publishing their books. Collette already wrote a great article with everything you need to know about Kickstarter, so I’ll refer you to that, but I believe that this and similar platforms will have a significant place in the future of writing.

Placement/Distribution – The publishing industry has changed, and will continue to do so. To be effective in marketing our products we need to stay on the forefront of writing platforms. Take an indesign or another epub class online. Become familiar with tools like Scrivener, Audible.com, Kobo Writing Life and many others that help us develop our product and prep it for alternative forms of distribution.

You can start to build your brand today, even before you have a product to promote. Join groups, network, write on blogs, and find a tribe and/or build your own. Before you know it, you’ll have a following.

I set up a fan page on Facebook. Check it out and like it at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jace-Killan/359810990808236

Thanks for reading.

Guest Writer Bio: Jace

Jace lives in Arizona with his wife and five children. In addition to writing he enjoys music, photography, and anything outdoors. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Utah State University and is the Chief Financial Officer of a biotech company.

Planning a Book Launch Party

October 9, 2013

fictorians

Guest Posts Marketing The Writing Life 4 Comments

A guest post by Marie Bilodeau.

Your new book is about to be released – yay! Give yourself a pat on the back, drink your celebratory drink of choice, eat some chocolate and then start thinking about next steps: promotion. Part of that promotional package includes a book launch, and planning could make all the difference. Here are a few things to think about (I like lists):

Timing
What else is coming out or happening in your launch city? For example, Karen Dudley, who writes funny as all get out historical fantasy set in Greece is planning her next launch in Ottawa during the same week as a full retelling of The Iliad at the National Arts Centre. Weather can play havoc with a launch, too. Not much you can control on that end, but something to keep in mind for outdoor and/or winter launches.

What you want attendees to say: My, that was a lovely, perfectly timed book release at which I purchased ten copies in celebration of the perfect timing.
What you DON’T want attendees to say: I don’t know why they released their Book of Love during the Annual Ninjas Attack Day. Dude, is that a throwing star sticking out of your head?

Venues
A restaurant, bar or coffee shop can be great venues so people can get their own drinks and food (keep your budget in mind!). All the better if you can get a private room or area – reading in an active spot can be tough. Independent bookstores also make great venues. I usually go for a bar, but my books lend themselves well to that atmosphere. Don’t get a venue that’s much bigger than your lowest anticipated turnout, or it’ll feel empty.

What you want attendees to say: Wow, that author is really popular. That venue was full/bursting at the seams/Godzilla-destroyed worthy (avoid that last one when at all possible).
What you DON’T want attendees to say: I heard crickets and joined their song of despair.

Food
If you do get a venue where you can buy/bring food, try to bring something appropriately themed. Mystery author Peggy Blair invited friends to bring a Cuban-inspired dish to go with her latest release of her Cuban-inspired mystery, The Poisoned Pawn. It definitely added flair to the event.

What you want attendees to say: That was a perfect seasoned drumstick to go with the release of When Good Chickens Attack.
What you DON’T want attendees to say: That cyanide wasn’t real, right? (Tempting for mystery authors, I know. This is why I put this example in.)

Promotional Items
At my first book launch, a friend made me these awesome coasters since it took place in a bar, and attendees loved them. Make sure to at least have bookmarks. Bookmarks are cheap and easy to share, and hopefully generate more book sales.

What you want attendees to say: Ninja stars are a wonderful accompaniment to my Book of Ninja Love.
What you DON’T want attendees to say (to their therapists): It was a book on the history of arachnophobia, and they handed us live tarantulas. TARANTULAS!! WHY!!!!

Spread the word!
Facebook Events are popular. Post the event in relevant, interested groups, as well (with permission from the moderator). Don’t forget to blog about it if you blog, and update your website (if you don’t have a website, read this post by Alice Black right now). Posters in the venue sometimes generate extra sales, and send out a well-crafted press release to local media.

What you want attendees to say: I believe I’ll attend this book launch.
What you DON’T want everyone else to say: Book launch?

Reading
You’ve found the perfect venue, timed your event, invited everyone. Now, turn toward the flow of the event. Usually there’s a reading. Get a microphone if you need one. Select a great portion of your story – you don’t have to read the first chapter. Pick a scene you love to read and that works as a hook. Practice reading before the launch. Remember to speak up, to pace yourself and to look up at your audience once in a while.

What you want attendees to say: I’m moved. I shall purchase every copy of this book, for I must share it with the world.
What you DON’T want attendees to say: WTF? Was that the end?

Get help
The worse thing that can happen at a book launch is not the lack of food or drink, it’s not the imperfect venue, nor the accidentally double-booked room. Rather, it’s a frazzled author. People can forgive things going wrong (to a certain extent). But if you’re a crappy host, they won’t forget that. Remember, these people are there to support you. So get the help you need with the details in order to ensure you can focus on what’s most important: your readers.

What you want attendees to say: The author was so charming I shall name my first child after him/her.
What you DON’T want attendees to say: I shall never again speak their name, no matter that my child is named the same. From now on, you shall be known as Child-of-Mine.

Expectations
I kept the most important for last. Keep your expectations realistic. How many people do you think you can get out in your hometown? Think of the max, and then halve that number. Keep your expectations low and be surprised if numbers surpass them. Launches in other towns are tough. How well known are you? How well do your books sell there? Can a bookstore or a group of friends help with promotion? If you’re not sure, don’t overstretch. A good hometown launch will go a long way and save you monies, especially if your publisher can’t afford to send you around the country. Keep it real and adapt for the next book, since you’ll have many in your fine career.

What you want to say: I had fun. This was great. I’d do it again.
What you DON’T want attendees to say: I’m never writing another word ever again because nobody cares or eats my cheese balls.

Guest Writer Bio:
Marie Bilodeau’s space opera series, Destiny, was a two-time finalist in the Aurora Awards and won the Bronze Medal for Science-Fiction in the Foreword Book Awards. She is also the author of the Heirs of a Broken Land, a fantasy trilogy described as “fresh and exciting” by Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo award-winning author of WAKE. Her short stories have appeared in several magazines and anthologies and have also been nominated twice for the Aurora Awards. Marie is also a professional storyteller, telling adaptations of fairy tales and myths, as well as original stories of her own creation. She’s a passionate advocate for paper airplane contests, peach desserts and caffeine consumption.

Web Design Hell

October 7, 2013

fictorians

Guest Posts Marketing The Writing Life 5 Comments

A guest post by Alice Black.

Okay, all you writer-types out there, I want you to take a deep breath. We’re about to get into some heavy stuff: Websites. If you aren’t familiar with the Oatmeal’s commentary on web design I suggest you go look at that now. It’ll come in handy later.

This post will run you through the pros and cons of having a writer’s website for yourself and your work, as well as taking a look at how best to approach the strange beast that is a ‘successful website’, even if you’ve never written a line of code in your life.

Why should I have my own website?

A personal website lets you raise your hits by having a direct address to point people to, and also by increasing the number of references to you that a search engine will pick up on. It’s not just fans who will be looking for your website but editors, and agents too.

That sounds awesome! But…

What should I put on it?

Good question. Each writer is different and so are their needs. For example I’m just starting out with one story published, whereas GRRM is one of the most prominent writers there is right now. What our websites do, and what they have on it will be different.

My needs are: simple navigation, who I am, what I write, and status updates about important news.

George R.R. Martin‘s needs are: consistent branding with his novels, merchandising space and a blog for his fans to keep up with his thoughts and upcoming releases.

So take a moment and list the things you want to get from your website. If you’re not sure what you need, the list below covers the basics, and you can always add or remove things later.

Who you are
What you write
Where to find your work
Where else the user can find you

Now what?

Now we have our list of what we need on our site, it’s time to go and actually set up a site. There are two main options you can follow: Pay to have someone else do it, (like GRRM) or do it yourself.

I’ve made a table below to help figure out which option is best for you.

	Paid professional	DIY
Cost	$500 – $3000	free* – 100$
Custom look and feel	Unique to your brand, completely customizable. You get what you pay for in quality.	Some customization, unless coding the site from scratch.Reliable navigation with preset templates.
Scope	Limited only by what you are willing to pay.	Limited by the effort you are willing to put in.
I was a Romance writer but now I write Horror. I need to change my website!	That’ll be another couple hundred dollars.	Your site has time if you do! You can swap to a new template, or if you coded by hand… it’ll be a while.

So Building my own…

There’s a whole bunch of different options from Wix to Weebly, Blogger to WordPress. For today, let’s look at two of the most common website builders that offer free accounts: Weebly and WordPress.

Basically it breaks down to how you want to use your website. Are you comfortable with formatting in a text box (like word document) environment? Then use WordPress.

Or would you rather drag and drop items in and move them around until you’re happy? Then use Weebly. There are some further differences, so I made another table for you, comparing the two below. Keep in mind this is only the currently available information, and plans change year to year.

	Weebly	WordPress
Cost	Basic: FreeStarter: $48/yrPro: $96/yr	Basic: FreePro: $99/yr
Storage Space	Basic: < 500 MBStarter: 500MBPro: 2GB	Basic: 3 GBPro: 13 GB
Templates	100+ (unclear if they’re all free, or some are premium)	Basic: 144Pro: individually priced, $60-$80Third party: individually priced
Ease of use	Very Easy: drag and drop	Easy: Very similar to word processor
Customizability	High, Allows for HTML	High, Allows for HTML
Domain	alice.weebly.comalice.com for $	alice.wordpress.comalice.com for $18, able to be added to a basic account
Statistics	Basic: number of hitsStarter: referrers, which pages are seen and how often in last 30 days	Basic: Referrers, Number of users vs number of views hourly and then daily
Mobile app	Yes	Yes
Ads	No	Basic: MaybePro: No

Okay, I have an account on Weebly/Wordpress

Great! We’re getting there. But before us lies the path of Design which many an unwary author has fallen into. Remember that Oatmeal comic? Good. Now is when you sit down in front of your screen and take a good hard look at your design skills. Unless you are legitimately comfortable using photoshop and/or familiar with the tenets of good design, use a free template/theme. Most let you customize the headers and backgrounds.

Commandments of [Writer] Web Design

Comic Sans is the joke of the typography world; don’t use it.
Limit yourself to two fonts per page: 1 for headers, 1 for text. Using a third font for your Site title/logo is also OK.
You can use Serif or Sans Serif fonts for headers, but use sans-serif for bodies of text.
Dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background. Pick one that fits your genre.
For text over a textured background, be sure that the text is readable. Step back a couple feet and see if you can still see the letters clearly.
Don’t use images that you aren’t licensed to use. It’s the same as a website putting your story up without asking, and not linking or crediting you.
For the love of all that’s holy in the internet, please do not put music on your website. At least music that automatically starts when the page loads. Very little can make a user click ‘back’ as fast as the blare of music into our earbuds.
Test and Preview the design before going ‘live’ (which means the world can see it).
Links away from your page should ALWAYS open in a new window, otherwise you’re directing traffic away from your site instead of supplementing it.
Update, Update, Update! There is nothing more frustrating for users than an out of date website.

Guest Writer Bio:

Alice Black has a degree in Interactive Multimedia Design and experience teaching multimedia to technology to adult students. She writes SFF and Horror and has a short story coming out soon with Wily Writers.