by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I’ve made a lot of marketing and social media mistakes, especially when I was just starting out.
And since the author who inspired this post is just starting out…I’m not going to reveal his identity. I did love his debut novel–there were parts that made me laugh out loud, which is unusual for me, as a reader.
I decided I’d give him a little publicity, if I could. He was already getting great reviews on Amazon, so I thought I’d find him online, find a worthy blog post, and send out a tweet or two.
You probably know where this is going.
So…I started out at Amazon, which has (somewhat sadly) become a hub of author info. And…yep, his author page wasn’t filled out. So he wasn’t on Amazon Author Central. The publisher (his is a trad-published book) did a good job with everything else on the book page, but he wasn’t there.
I turned to Google and the author did come up. He was miraculously on Twitter but his avatar was his book cover. I know most of y’all know this—branding ourselves to our book cover is a bad idea. We want readers to remember our face. Because, hopefully and with any luck, our face will change slower than our most recent book cover.
The author had no content online that I could tweet.
And…his website, lovely though it was? It was one page. With the cover of the book, the (starred) Library Journal review, and links to the novel.
It’s so easy to find ourselves in a similar situation, starting out.
If you’ve got a book or if you’re in that stage where you’re getting ready to release a book, there are a few marketing basics that I think everyone should set up.
The absolute bare minimum:
An Amazon Author Central profile
A website (even a free one) with your name as the site name. On that website, there should be a buy-link to your books at every retailer, a bio, and (important!) a way of contacting you.
Still bare minimum, but taking it a step farther:
Reserve your name on all the popular social media platforms, even if you don’t plan on having an immediate presence there. You may need those profiles later on. Make sure those social media platforms are in your name, not your book’s name.
Create a newsletter signup for your readers on your site. MailChimp is free for up to 2,000 subscribers. Link to this on your website, any social media, and your email signature. Even if you’re not ready to send anything out, you should still be collecting names and addresses from readers who want to sign up .
Add a tagline/signature to your emails.
Have a picture of yourself if you plan on writing more than one book. That way you’re centering your branding on yourself instead of your books. The covers will change, your face…well, it will change too. But hopefully slower than your covers will.
Again, just to reiterate…it’s so easy to get caught up and overwhelmed with all the information on book marketing. Maybe that overwhelming amount of information makes it easy to freeze up and procrastinate starting on an author platform. But a little effort goes a long way.
What do you think are the basic elements for an author platform?
Basic elements of an author platform: Share on XImage: MorgueFile: mconnors
I’ve encountered a few new authors like that. One recently emailed me for advice (after finding my Book Goodies profile and books) and when I tried to track him down, an Amazon profile was all he had. (And he’d written several books.)
I never got around to the newsletter, but I did snag my name on Blogger, Twitter, Goodreads, and Google+.
Alex–There really, these days, just needs to be a bigger imprint online for someone to find us. You’re smart to reserve your name on those sites.
I couldn’t agree more, Elizabeth, about the need for a solid online platform for authors. And I like your ideas for developing one. In fact, I’ve even read articles that suggest you should build your platform before your first book is published. In either case, people can’t spread the word about an author and her/his work if they can’t find that author online.
Margot–I think that it *is* useful to build your (small) platform before the first book comes out so that you’ve already got a listing on Google, some SEO, etc. As long as it doesn’t distract from writing the book. :)
I do agree that all author’s need some sort of a platform, especially now and especially new authors with so much competition out there but I honestly don’t think a new author should devote very much time to it. The 80/20 rule applies. Spend 80% of your time writing and creating new books for readers to discover and only 20% or your time marketing (platform building).
To site a couple of examples, a cozy mystery author I love has dozens of published books. She has a nice website (with a contact form that takes you right to your email) a Wikipedia entry and a basic Author Profile on Amazon. She has a Facebook page that she rarely updates and not much else. I think she’s claimed her Goodreads profile but she isn’t active there. She does very, very well.
An author friend of mine has written two books. He built his author platform like crazy for the release of the first one just over 3 years ago. He did well with it. Instead of continuing with the series though or even in the same genre, he went a completely different route and published a 2nd novel in a different genre in September of 2015. That book he likewise pounded out to the platform he’d paid so much attention to over the two and a half years since the release of the first novel. It did well for a month and then fell off the face of the earth but he’s still yammering away on his platform. The eBook versions of both books are ranked in the 1.7-1.8 million range on Amazon despite all of the promotion. He’s lucky to sell a book or two a month. He’d be better off writing but he’s out there plugging away, talking about his ‘new’ book to anyone who will listen. He’d be better off writing.
Anne–I think you’re absolutely right. So, with a project like this, I’d say schedule 20% of your book-related time *each day* (that’s writing and promo time) to a portion of the platform set-up.
Some of what I’m recommending can be done in about 5-7 minutes (the email tagline, for instance). The Amazon Author Central could be as little as 10, if you already have a short bio, headshot to upload, etc. Anything above and beyond that amount should be broken down into segments/tasks which can be knocked out in consecutive days. So 7 minutes to research how to get a free or paid WordPress or Blogger site. 7 minutes to secure it the next day. Writing a bio/about the next day.
I think some authors get carried away with promo and some authors put too little into it. The most important thing remains writing…but, if we’ve got a couple of books out and no readers/no way to be found, some authors may lose motivation for continuing to write.
Definitely a delicate balance and a good point you bring up.
Yes, get your name and domains early. I was using Spunk On A Stick in social media and as my speaker name. When I went to get the domain, the .com was taken (by a company who wanted $1000 for it) and I had to settle for the .net. (Last year, they finally released the .com and I snatched it up right away.)
Diane–These companies that reserve domains are annoying! I lucked out with mine and just got my Instagram yesterday (I’d been meaning to do that for a while).
This is clear and to the point. I don’t think it seems like too much though I do believe the 20/80 rule that Anne purports. I finally have a ms that I believe is going to sell so I’m trying to get my ducks in a row for when that happens. I’m storing all these great ideas both here and on the Knowledge Base. I don’t want to lose my mind and I’m probably going to go a fairly simple route but I don’t want to miss out because I didn’t take a few extra steps either.
Jan–I think as long as people can find a home base for us (and you’ve got a good one!) then we’re so far ahead of the field. I was just so stunned that an Amazon Author Central hadn’t been filled out. Ugh.
Not losing our mind is a good thing, though, ha! Keep it basic. Baby steps.
Another basic element is a separate landing page for each book. This helps with SEO.
Stephen–That’s another worthwhile marketing endeavor for authors. Thanks!
In this day and age it is actually sort of shocking his publisher didn’t require some of these things. And I know… still need to convince myself to have a newsletter…
Hart–Or not even *have* a newsletter, just have a newsletter signup. :) That’s very passive and when the list grows, you can send newsletters when you’re ready.
Great information again. I do have some information out there just in case my writing ever takes off. I’ll be doing these things, if I haven’t already.
BTW, I love books and shows that make me laugh out loud. It’s not as easy to make me laugh as one might think.
Teresa
Teresa–Me too! And it’s very rare for me that I’ll laugh during a book, especially. Such a treat when it happens.
I’ve done all of those but the newsletter — the internet seems to be drowning in newsletters. People receive too many in their inboxes as it is without me adding to the numbers.
I believe it is wise to be ready should the lightning ever strike with one of our books though! :-) Thank you for your kindness with my Anti-Book Tour book tour.
Roland–I feel exactly the way you do! But I have been told time and time again that readers don’t think like us. :) So these are people who sign up, on purpose, to hear when our books come out…and they actually *want* to hear from us. I do find this hard to believe, but the research is there, ha! I’m not the best person to speak to this because I came into newsletters about 3 or 4 years after initial publication. This, I think, was one of my bigger mistakes!
I loved your Anti-Book Tour! Thanks for posting here.
This post was really on point. There is a definite need for a solid platform for writers, especially with the new platform of the internet.
Gina–Thanks! In some ways, the internet makes things a lot easier. For one, we don’t have to spend money on postcards or bookmarks or other marketing materials. But it can be a time suck, on the other hand…we just have to keep an eye on it!
Hi Elizabeth – so true to read and so necessary to act on – and think about and be prepared for when we actually start publishing … your chap I hope gets his act into gear …
Cheers Hilary
Hilary–Hope he does, too! Such a good book. But it sure is going to be tough to discover it.
The only part I might push back on is social media. I’ve lost count of how many platforms there are, and a lot of them aren’t going to be much help (if they last more than a couple of years). I put my name on Ello (anyone remember that?) a few years ago, and I don’t think I visited more than three times.
I also recently deleted my Twitter account because it has quickly become something that I don’t enjoy or find useful, especially for public relations (and selling books- ha!). Everyone else’s mileage may vary, but I grudgingly believe that Facebook is the only social media site authors need to be on, and really only for the Pages, not the individual profiles. (And I realize Facebook’s utility is also controversial for small businesses.)
I agree with the person above who said that internet users are being pummeled with newsletter signup requests (I’m paraphrasing!). Nice to know we’re not the only people who read that advice…? But for now I think creating an email list is the best, most-surefire marketing strategy of all, especially for a new author.
Deborah–I’m with you on the social media exhaustion! I think the way I’m mostly thinking about it now is as an investment of sorts. I’m reserving a spot, making a tough password so the thing won’t get hacked, turning on notifications in case something weird happens to the account (or if it *is* actually hacked), and then waiting to see if the site hits it big. Jane Friedman recently expressed why we should do this in much more eloquent terms (even addressing the SEO of the matter, which was something I hadn’t even considered): https://janefriedman.com/join-new-social-media-networks/ . She does recommend taking things a bit farther than I do…going so far as to link back to our site, make a few friends, etc.
But just because it *does* hit it big doesn’t mean that it’s going to stay big, of course (the tragic fall of MySpace, ha!)
Definitely agree on the newsletter signup requests. I try to make mine inconspicuous so that only readers who really want to find it can find it. Those pop-up kinds drive me a little batty, but that’s because I’m on so many sites curating links.
MySpace…ha!
As long as we agree that new authors shouldn’t use those newsletter pop ups, we’re good ;)
Deborah–Those pop-ups are obnoxious! :)