Have you found your niche yet? 05/09/2012
“…an especially suitable place or position…” that’s one way Webster’s defines the word niche. Do you know the most suitable place or position where your writing and specific books fit? If you don’t know that yet, and if you want to be successful in marketing your work, you need to figure out your niche. The complicated part starts now because you have to leave your preconceptions behind and take a look at your work with fresh eyes. When you started writing your book, you may have thought your work fit in one area, but now that you’ve completed it and signed a contract for publication and are starting to market, you’re not so certain if you are in the most suitable place.  So how do you find that niche? You start at the beginning and reaffirm the genre where your book fits into. If you write mysteries, what kind…police procedural, amateur detective, hard boiled, cozies…you get the idea. If you write romance, what kind…inspirational, erotica, historical, regency, contemporary, suspense, fantasy / paranormal, time travel…you get the idea as well. When you know for sure that you have the correct genre for your work, now you need to figure out how your book fits into that suitable place with an audience. Who is your audience? Of course, anyone can read your book, but success really boils down to finding out who really will read your book and focusing most of your marketing attention on that specific audience. Try to really connect with your readers. Join online forums where your genre is discussed, not only because you are trying to promote your book, but because you are trying to discover the pulse of your specific readers. Always be available to your readers. That doesn’t mean that as you get more successful you’ll be able to respond to every email and fan mail you get, but be open and engaging in your blog posts and status updates in other social media networks so your readers feel that they know you. You also need to figure out what sets your book apart from the rest of the novels out there in your genre. What’s so special about your book? Why should someone read it? If you are hard pressed to give an answer to that, you will have trouble in marketing your work. You need to believe in your book and share your work with conviction to the world. Remember, as I always say, you are your biggest fan! If your work is from the historical romance genre, you need to dig deeper into the story and decide if there are any interesting correlations you can make between the time period and setting with the current day setting. Can you somehow connect with the locality of the setting of your book? My current release is a contemporary, romantic suspense novel. The setting is suburban Philadelphia, as well as the Pocono Mts. I need to get the wheels turning in my mind to see how I can make some connection between myself and that first setting and market my book to the local suburban area. If you’re not looking at the location, then do what it takes to find that especially suitable place or position that your book fits into, to make it stand apart from the rest and be successful. If your book discusses any current hot topics or events, even if it’s only a small part of the novel, milk it for all it’s worth. That is another way to get the attention of the media, thus you will be more in the public eye. So many books are published every year and with the advent of self-publishing and new authors being signed to publishing houses every day, the media doesn’t really care about your book, even if you dutifully send out press releases. Your contact with the media needs to make you stand out from the crowd. Find that connection between your book and current topics or events and you will be a step above the rest when it comes to media coverage. I like to always think outside the box and in order to make your book stand out from the crowd; you will need to think that way too. Find that uniquely special aspect to your book and make a concerted effort to draw that aspect out into the public eye to make a deeper connection with possible readers. Show them that your book is not just the run of the mill mystery or romance novel. There is something spectacular about your book and they just need to read it. You must create that intensity about your book. You have a product that is unlike any other, so market it with that mindset. 2 Comments What's the Missing Link? 04/12/2012
What’s the missing link that you need in order to succeed in your marketing mission for your work as an author—it’s a deep-seated need to succeed at all costs…it’s not giving up when things get tough…it’s believing in yourself even if no one else does…it’s keeping the end goal in sight.  So many times we lose sight of the end goal and get bogged down with the daily grind so we don’t focus on where we need to be but instead focus on where we are and get discouraged. Discouragement is normal, but allowing yourself to live there is not good and does not advance your plan towards success. Things don’t always go as planned—that’s a given in this life, but you need to learn to roll with the punches and reformulate your action plan as you go. Change is good, even though we don’t always want to embrace that change. If you are able to keep the end goal in sight even when change is happening, you’ll be better able to deal with the changing circumstances and move forward towards success. When things are going well, we sometimes slack off a bit and let go of the reigns—we need to continue riding forward no matter what the circumstances. In both good times and bad, it’s important to maintain a solid mental focus that reminds you that perseverance is needed and in order to succeed, you need to take chances. Not everyone is a risk taker. Now I’m not talking about parachuting out of planes type of risk-taking, but every now and then stepping outside your comfort zone and doing something for your marketing that you’ve never thought you’d ever do. For starters, I did a radio interview several months ago and I was so nervous to do that, but it went well. I was offered the opportunity to do an interview on an internet TV station for the same radio company, but I’ve been too nervous to accept. I need to practice what I preach and get going on that opportunity. Make sure you stay true to yourself. No matter what marketing opportunities come into your life, only accept those that allow you to remain true to yourself. Stay true to yourself in your writing as well. Write from your heart and your readers will love what you want to share with them. If they know that you’re writing from their heart, they’ll come back for more of your work. If writing is a dream of yours and is your passion, then don’t give up. Those who give up will never succeed. True success is reserved for those who make a consistent effort and never let up. Do you need other authors? 04/09/2012
I’d like to begin by saying that in my short writing career, I have come to realize the answer is definitely—beyond a doubt—yes! “No man is an island, entire of itself.” (John Donne) We need each other and I’d like to share why.  The entire passage Donne wrote: No man is an island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls it tolls for thee. I have been fortunate to find many new friendships online with great authors. I really appreciate this because I haven’t found any local author groups to attend, so finding communities of authors to network with and learn from and share encouraging words with has been—absolutely priceless! It’s something that has kept me going when setbacks came in my career and I needed advice and a friend to lean on. This last year, I started an online yahoo group called Authors and Readers of Romance. The purpose of this group is to provide an online setting where people—authors and readers—can connect and discuss books and accomplishments in their lives, offer advice and where readers can chat with authors. I am excited to see this group growing in members and if you’d like to join, please feel free to hop on over. We’d love to welcome you to our discussions. If I was allergic to networking with other authors, I wouldn’t be moving forward and taking the beginning steps to expand my platform—as I’ve been doing this last year. In order to achieve a healthy following for your blog, you need to provide interesting content. One way that I’ve accomplished that feat is that I host guest authors. They can blog about topics, which I provide (unless, of course, they have something more spectacular that they’d like to discuss); they can be interviewed and I also do book reviews. However, I haven’t forgotten about readers. I am always looking for readers who are interested in guest blogging or being interviewed in my Reader’s Corner. It’s my philosophy that readers are the lifeblood of authors. If no one purchases and reads your book, then you’re not earning anything, except a chance to do what you love to do—write and tell stories. Of course, as authors, we always need to work hard at promoting our work and branding our name; however, that doesn’t mean that we don’t need support along the way. The author who wants to stay closed in and thinks he or she can only succeed by climbing over someone else, will never make it to the top. There will be exceptions to this idea—but generally speaking; it’s been stated most aptly in Ecclesiastes 4:9: “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.” I truly believe that theory! When we work together, we have a greater chance of success. Yes, you will always be out for number one--yourself—however, you need to find a way to marry this philosophy into your marketing perspective. Bring another author or two or three or four along with you as you climb the ladder of success. It will definitely be less lonely at the top if you’re not without author friends. We really need each other. You may not believe me and maybe you want to try it your own way and claw your way to the summit, but I don’t believe you’ll be happy along the journey or when you look down and see the people that you trampled on, as you traipsed towards the pinnacle of success. We work better together. Find critique partners—find friends who can lend a listening ear—find authors who’ve traveled the road ahead of you and ask them for advice—then don’t be afraid to return the favor and help someone else on their journey towards success. You won’t be sorry you did…you’ll only eventually be sorry if you didn’t! Are you standing out from the crowd? 04/02/2012
With hundreds of thousands of books published each year, how do you and your books stand out from the crowded arena of other published authors? It’s enough to make your head spin and then maybe even run away and hide due to the overwhelming task of succeeding. Success goes to the person who persevered and never gave up. Success goes to the person who tried just one more time and said the dream was worth it.  With the advent of the internet and now the eBook, publishing and marketing books has been taken to a whole new level. The playing field is now equal and there is so much free publicity at your fingertips, you just need to know where to get started. One of the main things you need to do is stand out from the crowd. You need an online hub or place where people can readily find you and your books. This would be your website or blog. I have a website and my blog is one of the pages on my site. Your blog can be separate from your website, but you need to link both places together. Blogging is important and may seem tedious and like a thankless task with no rewards, but again—if you keep working at it, you will get blog followers and it is a way to keep drawing people to your website. That is what you want. If you only have a website that is static and never changes, why should people continue to flock to your site? It’s all about online content. People want to read new and fresh ideas and content online and if your blog offers that, you will keep your current followers and draw new readers. Join a blog alliance. It will be another way to draw people to your site. I am a current member of the Clash of the Titles Blog Alliance and Book Blogs (their buttons are on the sidebar of this blog). So what on earth do you blog about every day? If you get all caught up in that and thinking no one will even read what I have to say, then no one will. You need to believe in your blog before anyone else will. When I started my blog back in August 2010, I wrote short posts about my day or the status of my writing projects, but it didn’t even seem interesting to me and I knew it wasn’t interesting to anyone else. I’m a new author; who cares anyway? That’s why I needed to make the blog interesting. I post author interviews, guest blogs, reader corner interviews and I also post book reviews that I do. For this year, I am trying something different—I am having guest authors write on themed blog posts each month. Social networking is very important. Start your own personal facebook page and then a fan page. Open a twitter account. I have my blog linked to post to twitter and also my facebook personal and fan page through Networked blogs and it posts to my book blogs page; this is a great way to get multiple avenues of exposure from one posting. Try to do as many online author interviews or guest blogs that you can do and post links on your social networking pages. Have reviews done on your books. Look into doing radio interviews. Think about doing book giveaways of your books on your own blog or when you are a guest on another person’s blog. Another big part of succeeding in the publishing world is to market your name, not your book. Yes you need to market each book you write, but your name recognition is what will pave the way to continued sales. If a reader likes one of your books, he or she will look into your backlist to see what else you’ve written. You also need to continue writing books. Don’t stop. After you publish one book, go back to the drawing board and get started on a new book. There are so many avenues for success, you just need to keep your eyes open and be willing to think outside the box. What works for one author may not work for you. Be open to that fact and to find what does work for you. Be open to change and trying new ideas. Not everything you try will always work, but never give up. If you give up, you won’t ever find what could have happened if you stayed with it and kept persevering. “…an especially suitable place or position…” that’s one way Webster’s defines the word niche. Do you know the most suitable place or position where your writing and specific books fit? If you don’t know that yet, and if you want to be successful in marketing your work, you need to figure out your niche. The complicated part starts now because you have to leave your preconceptions behind and take a look at your work with fresh eyes. When you started writing your book, you may have thought your work fit in one area, but now that you’ve completed it and signed a contract for publication and are starting to market, you’re not so certain if you are in the most suitable place.  So how do you find that niche? You start at the beginning and reaffirm the genre where your book fits into. If you write mysteries, what kind…police procedural, amateur detective, hard boiled, cozies…you get the idea. If you write romance, what kind…inspirational, erotica, historical, regency, contemporary, suspense, fantasy / paranormal, time travel…you get the idea as well. When you know for sure that you have the correct genre for your work, now you need to figure out how your book fits into that suitable place with an audience. Who is your audience? Of course, anyone can read your book, but success really boils down to finding out who really will read your book and focusing most of your marketing attention on that specific audience. Try to really connect with your readers. Join online forums where your genre is discussed, not only because you are trying to promote your book, but because you are trying to discover the pulse of your specific readers. Always be available to your readers. That doesn't mean that as you get more successful you’ll be able to respond to every email and fan mail you get, but be open and engaging in your blog posts and status updates in other social media networks so your readers feel that they know you. You also need to figure out what sets your book apart from the rest of the novels out there in your genre. What’s so special about your book? Why should someone read it? If you are hard pressed to give an answer to that, you will have trouble in marketing your work. You need to believe in your book and share your work with conviction to the world. Remember, as I always say, you are your biggest fan! If your work is from the historical romance genre, you need to dig deeper into the story and decide if there are any interesting correlations you can make between the time period and setting with the current day setting. Can you somehow connect with the locality of the setting of your book?  Click photo: 50% OFF link My current release is a contemporary, inspirational romance novel. The setting is suburban Philadelphia, as well as England, Ireland, Italy and France. Obviously, my characters did some traveling, but for the first part of the book, they remained in suburban Philadelphia, which is also my own local area. I need to get the wheels turning in my mind to see how I can make some connection between myself and that first setting and market my book to the local suburban Philadelphia area. If you’re not looking at the location, then do what it takes to find that especially suitable place or position that your book fits into, to make it stand apart from the rest and be successful. My book has a contemporary story line with a classic feel. I love the works of Jane Austen and I translated that devotion to the main character, Sophie. She is a huge Austen fan and gets a chance in the book to visit England and there are many aspects of the book that bring the reader into that classic romantic period. If your book has a similarly interesting twist on the old and the new, figure out a way to market that to both contemporary and classic literature fans as well. If your book discusses any current hot topics or events, even if it’s only a small part of the novel, milk it for all it’s worth. That is another way to get the attention of the media, thus you will be more in the public eye. So many books are published every year and with the advent of self-publishing and new authors being signed to publishing houses every day, the media doesn’t really care about your book, even if you dutifully send out press releases. Your contact with the media needs to make you stand out from the crowd. Find that connection between your book and current topics or events and you will be a step above the rest when it comes to media coverage. I like to always think outside the box and in order to make your book stand out from the crowd; you will need to think that way too. Find that uniquely special aspect to your book and make a concerted effort to draw that aspect out into the public eye to make a deeper connection with possible readers. Show them that your book is not just the run of the mill mystery or romance novel. There is something spectacular about your book and they just need to read it. You must create that intensity about your book. You have a product that is unlike any other, so market it with that mindset. Who Likes a Hard Sell? 02/05/2012
I don’t know about you, but I am not a fan of pushy salespeople—I know what I want when I’m going shopping and I don’t like to be bothered. I try to bring this mindset into my book marketing. The question remains—do you think readers like a hard sell or not?  "To sell a product you must inform the world of its existence." (Roger Scruton) I saw this quote today and thought it hit squarely on the mark of the catch 22 situation all authors find themselves in. If no one knows about your book, how can they purchase it? However, doing a blitzkrieg marketing assault will most certainly turn off readers to your book. So, how can you maneuver through this situation and find the middle ground? I truly believe that starts with name recognition. Do you want to be a one hit wonder or make a big splash with your name in the book industry? Obviously, if we want to continue on towards a successful writing career, then we want the latter. When you find an author that you like and you’ve enjoyed one or two books he or she wrote, then it stands to reason that you’ll be going back for more books. That should give hope to new authors. Even if your first or second book doesn’t sell well, keep on writing more books. Eventually with discipline and perseverance, your efforts will pay off and readers will know your name. Once they read your newer works, they’ll check out your backlist. Your fans are not going to always be able to spout off the titles of all your books, but if they like your work and if you’ve become popular, they will remember your name. If they know your name, they can easily find you online or in the bookstores. When they find your website, then they can look up your books. When they go to the bookstores, they can find your specific titles. As you work on building your platform--your online hub and name recognition—you always need to be mindful of how to keep your readers and fans interested in you and your work and that they continually return to your online hub for more content. The hard sell would be to constantly be talking about your book and where readers can purchase it and how many good reviews you’ve gotten. Yes, I’m an author, but I am also a fellow (avid) reader and I don’t want to constantly be thrown this book info. I like to get to know the authors who wrote the books that I enjoy. What is their daily life like? What are their interests? Whom do they follow? Do they like to know about current events? The opposite sell that works, is to share the answers to these questions with your readers. You don’t have to be an open book per se—however, share important snippets of your life with your readers. Don’t always shove down their throats the purchase info for your books. Interact with readers. Show them that you really do care and know that without an audience, you don’t have a career. Always be appreciative of your readers—that will bring true loyalty and increase your fan base. Don’t be afraid to network with other authors. Helping another author will definitely come around to help you out in the future. Create an online hub that is bigger than you. For example, just last year I was praying about naming my blog. I got the name of The Mustard Seed Blog with the tagline of It only takes a mustard seed to make a dream grow. In the Bible when Jesus says we should have faith as a mustard seed, that’s very important. A mustard seed is small, yet grows into something big. In order to accomplish great things, we don’t need an enormous faith--God only asks us to take that one step forward with Him and He will accomplish those miracles in our lives. So, the name of my blog and the tagline mean a great deal to me. It’s my perspective on life—that without God I can do nothing…only in Him will great things be done in my life. One day I would love for The Mustard Seed Blog to become even bigger than it is—currently in its infancy. I truly want my blog to be a place for readers and authors to interact and grow together in their love of books. I want to help new authors get free publicity and help more accomplished authors as well. This is why I say think of the big picture and all that God can accomplish in and through your life. Don’t put God in a box. What's your perspective on book marketing and the hard sell? What has worked and what hasn't in your book promotion? | Click photo to view Blog Trailer
 BLOG BUTTON CODE is listed at the bottom of the blog sidebar  Mystery & Inspirational Romance Author Joanne Troppello, hard at work on her next novel Want to Guest on my blog or do an interview?
Please feel free to contact me. I enjoy having guest bloggers and interviewing authors.  Here are Books I reviewed. Click the cover to read the review and find more info on the book.
  
 ArchivesMay 2012 CategoriesAll DISCLAIMER: Book Reviews In accordance with FTC Guidelines for blogging & endorsements, I want to post this disclaimer. From time to time, I do purchase and review some novels. However, most of the novels I review are given to me as a complimentary review copy by the author or publisher. I do not receive monetary compensation for the reviews I complete.  |
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