Showing posts with label book promotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book promotion. Show all posts

Saturday, 14 March 2015

Saturday 21 March Day School :How writers can stay visible

On Saturday 21 March I'm running a day school in Canterbury from 10am -4pm called The Business of Writing 2: Now you see me - how writers can stay visible .  This may be of special interest to indie and self published writers.

With more opportunities than ever before for writers to get their work out to a public readership, how do you stay visible? Is an author also a brand? And what does this mean for a writer? How do you promote yourself?

We will explore ways writers can stay visible, including author websites, book trailers, blogging and blog carnivals, social networking, book signings and launches, readings, interviews, visits, getting reviews, and ways to showcase your work. What is most effective?

We will also look at creating a personal promotion plan.
Cost is just £29.50 and you can book via the link below.
https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/cae/day-schools/spring-2015/the-business-of-writing-2.aspx

What previous students have said about my day schools:

“Jane is very knowledgeable and has a wealth of experience.”
“Fabulously engaging tutor, enthusiastic about her subject, spoke with passion and authority.”
“It was more than I imagined.  Very informative and interesting.”
“Knowledgeable about the topic.  Excellent to listen to. Inspiring.”
“Obvious sound knowledge base and good clear delivery.”
“Useful hand-outs with links that can provide even more information after the course.”
“Inspiring and informative.  Lots of ideas to work with now!”
 “Jane is clearly very experienced.  She has a good relaxed style and is very enthusiastic.”
“Very useful and clearly put across.”
“Excellent content.  Covered more than I expected.”
“Very clear information.  Very generous with the information. Helpful.”
“Very good at answering questions, very clear targets and direction, well prepared.”
 “It was excellent – very informative, well organised, encouraged questions. Engaging.”



Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Book promotion: is it working for you?

So how was it for you?  Promoting your last book? Marketing can be a bit of a mystery sometimes.  Especially when it comes to books.  As I may have mentioned before, one of my early titles outsells all the others several times over.  I've never promoted this book. If I knew why it sells more I could bottle the formula and use it again.  Unfortunately I've never figured it out, so I can't.

What works and what doesn't? Let's look at social media first.  Namely, Facebook. 

Likes and shares do not equal sales! 

Social Media is often hailed as a book selling tool, but it has its limitations.  One of my charity e-books, Coming Home, has lovely reviews, and every now and then, the Cats Protection, who I donate all my royalties to, give the book a shout on their Facebook page.  Each time they do, it always boosts sales and reviews, which is great, because that's more income for cats in need.  This month, their Facebook post about my book has so far garnered 1132 likes and 145 shares.  Fantastic!  Now, for anyone out there who thinks they can solely rely on Facebook to sell books, think again!  I've sold an extra 25 copies of Coming Home from this exposure.  Likes and shares do not equal sales!  Based on this example, there is roughly one sale per 6 shares, and around 2 sales per 100 likes.  It's worth doing the sums. 

"Old skool" techniques

In order to promote my other darlings, I've tried "old skool" (as I believe it may be called now - god, I'm getting old!) techniques, such as paid advertising space in an actual printed magazine.  Since I write books that are aimed at children and teens who love ponies, I chose the best selling UK magazine aimed at this market - PONY magazine.  It's perfect in so many ways, and in my excitement at trialling some promotion, I pre-booked not one, but 4 advertorials spanning from Easter 2014 to February 2015.  With such a targeted readership so closely aligned to my own target market, how could it fail?  

I've had 2 of my books featured so far.   I knew how many EXTRA books I would have to sell to cover the costs of the ad (a lot!)  So, how did it impact on sales? Disappointingly little.  Of course, the only way to be certain of the impact would be to know how many books would have sold without the ad and there's no way of doing this.  I can just go on what average sales were prior to the ad - although these can vary -  since at least with Amazon, you can track how effective any promo is on a daily basis, which is a really valuable tool.  I'm hoping the ads will be a long term investment to build my visibility with my target audience.  And that anyone who did buy the featured book as a result of the ad will then go on to buy my other titles.  But who knows.....?

Any one else out there using "old skool" methods?  And if so, how was it for you?
Oh, and if anyone has the magic formula for why some books sell better than others (or some foolproof marketing technique for authors), please share it with everyone!  Thanks. 


Related post: http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-further-mysteries-of-author.html





Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Visible Writers: Marketing and Promotion for Authors

Now you see me.........


The Business of Writing 3: 
Now you see me – how writers can stay visible

Saturday 10 May, 2014.  10am-4pm at 
Canterbury Christ Church University

Bookings are now being taken for my next Canterbury Saturday school on May 10th.  It's all about marketing and promotion for writers.  As well as being a published writer for nearly 40 years, I've also been in the marketing profession for more than half that time, so I have plenty to share with other writers.  

With more opportunities than ever before for writers to get their work out to a public readership, how do you stay visible? Is an author also a brand?  And what does this mean for a writer? How do you promote yourself?
We will explore ways writers can stay visible, including author websites, book trailers, blogging and blog carnivals, social networking, book signings and launches, readings, interviews, visits, getting reviews, and ways to showcase your work. What is most effective?  We will also look at creating a personal promotion plan.

All Day Schools cost £27.50.  

To book please contact April Doyle via email to education.communityarts@canterbury.ac.uk 
or by phoning 01227 863451
http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/community-arts-education/day-schools/summer-2014.asp