Category: Kelly Speaks

Alternative Marketing Methods, Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Uncategorized

Taking It On the Road

Whether you’re facing the stresses of commuting home for the holidays–like sitting in a car or airport for hours–or the stresses of hosting and feeding your extended family for days on end, you’re probably not getting much time in as far as writing or book marketing goes. The past few weeks we’ve done blogs focused on how to bolster your marketing efforts during the holidays, but you may find yourself unable to make time for those efforts.

on the road asphalt

While some holiday stress may be unavoidable, your support team at a company like mine (Outskirts Press) may have some suggestions for at least mitigating it and remaining as productive as you can in the midst of the flurry of holiday travel, shopping, socializing, hosting and dining.

Let’s say that your flight has been delayed due to inclimant weather and you’re stuck at the airport. This could be seen as a wild inconvenience, or as an opportunity to sit down and write a chapter of your book, or maybe even spend some time on book marketing. Write a blog and broadcast it on all of your other social media networks to get more traffic on your pages–then your time has inadvertently gone from being wasted to being productive!

Squeezing out these windows of productivity doesn’t have to come from unfortunate travel mishaps, though. If you find yourself stuck in the kitchen waiting on Christmas cookies, ham or pie, why not bring along the laptop and get some work done? And when you present your goodies to your company, maybe suggest that everyone bring along a favorite holiday themed poem or writing clip to read before you feast. This will provide you the opportunity to share something you love–writing–with those you love most. I’m always surprised by how excited people become when sharing a few words of their favorite authors. This seems to give me newfound motivation to produce more thoughtful material, especially after experiencing a shared enthusiasm for the written and spoken word!

While those are two small examples of how to stay sane and at least slightly engaged in your writing and marketing during the holiday season, that’s not to say that you’ll make an abundance of progress in any small window of time. Mitigating stress should be your number one priority, and if thinking about marketing your book during the holidays is too overwhelming, never forget the power of asking for a helping hand. We at SPA are always here to help you get through the holidays, and if I can put in one little plug for my employer, Outskirts Press’s Holiday Marketing Bundle is a great way to make sure your book marketing doesn’t falter just because you’re a busy bee!

Thank you for reading!  If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or contributions, please use the comment field below or drop us a line at selfpublishingadvice@gmail.com.  And remember to check back each Wednesday for your weekly dose of marketing musings from one indie, hybrid, and self-published author to another. ♠

Kelly

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com
Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing News: 12.5.2016

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

While a lot of the focus on self-publishing is focused on literary pursuits, this wonderful article from Publisher’s Weekly puts the spotlight on photographer Jeremy Enlow. Enlow admits that he was overwhelmed when he saw 1,500 books being unloaded into his studio, but was happily surprised that he sold them all in just ten days. With the help of some marketing professionals through both social media, television, print and web media, Enlow’s book marketing was a giant success. However, he is very direct in admitting that you have to be prepared to spend double what you spent producing the book on your marketing efforts, or else you will end up with a stock pile of books as he expected to when they were first unloaded at his studio doorstep. Heed some advice from this successful self-publisher on why you shouldn’t second guess yourself and why quality and deadlines are so important by reading the original article above.

This week I wanted to go down another avenue of self-publishing that we often don’t talk about; self-publishing for business owners. In this article by Business News Daily, a compelling argument is made for why business owners should consider self-publishing as a means of ‘building their brand.’ There is some fantastic advice for business owners thinking of going down this path such as: surveying your potential audience and keeping them involved in the process and figuring out your message and ‘believing in it.’

The strategy of looking at writing a book as a business pursuit is something that can be helpful for authors in general, “Because writing a book is work and a contributing factor to your income, it should be treated as such.” This can mean taking measures as far as setting strict hours for yourself to work on your book like you would at an actual job and holding yourself accountable to upholding those hours. Think about making your publishing efforts public via social media so that you have people interested and invested in your progress. Find more advice on marketing and securing a return on your investment in your book by clicking the link above.

For the last article in this week’s roundup, I chose Charlotte Ahlin’s 7 quick tips for self-publishing, as it is an extremely streamlined and thoughtful list. Ahlin begins by reminding readers “that self-publishing is not a shortcut to success. It’s difficult, and rarely glamorous. But if you work hard, it can be well worth the effort.” She goes on to stress the importance of not relying on spell check to catch all of your errors, but instead insists that you should take the time and spend the money to get your manuscript professionally edited. Ahlin provides useful tips further down the list for how to potentially raise those funds, such as making a GoFundMe or Kickstarter account. Click the link above to see more of Ahlin’s poignant advice.

spa-news

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry. This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

Kelly

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.
from the archives, Kelly Speaks, NaNoWriMo, Uncategorized

From the Archives: “How NaNoWriMo Can Explode Your Writing Career – Yes, Really!”

Welcome back to our Tuesday segment, where we’ll be revisiting some of our most popular posts from the last few years.  What’s stayed the same?  And what’s changed?  We’ll be updating you on the facts, and taking a new (and hopefully refreshing) angle on a few timeless classics of Self Publishing Advisor.

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[ Originally posted: October 19th, 2012 ]

National Novel Writing Month, shortened to the kitschy NaNoWriMo (nan-no-RYE-moe), is an annual, Internet-based creative writing project that challenges writers to pen a whopping 50,000 words in the month of November. Though it started in 1999 with fewer than two dozen participants, it’s estimated that more than 200,000 speed-writers tackled the challenge in 2010.

NaNoWriMo can kick-start a newbie’s writing efforts, or helped experienced authors loosen up and try freestyle for a while. Many NaNoWriMo participants have even gone on to have their projects published! At the very least, the project is a great writing exercise – and an chance to promote yourself as an author or your future book. In the true spirit of this virtual writing challenge, use the Web to turn NaNoWriMo into a prime marketing opportunity.

  • Start by crowing about your plans. If you don’t already have one, build a blog page on WordPress or another free blog site. Give readers daily reports on what work you’re doing to prepare for NaNoWriMo. Perhaps you’re reading Moby Dick for inspiration, attended writers’ conference, or you’ve bought a new thesaurus. Bring your audience along with you and get them excited about your adventure. Duplicate your efforts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and any other social media platform you wish.
  • Solicit feedback. Engage your readers in the process by sharing potential plot points and asking them for their ideas. People love the be involved in the creative process, and you may be surprised what scintillating characters and plot twists could spin out of these virtual brainstorming sessions.
  • Poll your potential audience. Ask your friends and readers to answer simple, multiple-choice questions: Should my protagonist be male or female? Which name do you prefer for the main character? Should the hero get the girl – yes or no? It’s a quick way to get people invested in your success and to gather a general consensus when you’re not sure which path to take.
  • Choose cover art. This could be as simple as changing your Facebook photo for the duration of the NaNoWriMo challenge or as involved as designing a prospective book cover. The idea is to associate an image with your project that will set a tone, create an image, inspire you and engage your readers.

Once November 1 rolls around – and, trust me, it will sneak right up on you – it’s time to hunker down for real. To successfully complete the NaNoWriMo challenge, you’ll have to write consistently most days from November 1 through November 30. You’ll need to average 1,667 words per day to meet the 50K quota, more if you take any days off. That means at least a couple solid hours of writing most days. (And leave a little extra writing time to update your blog or Twitter followers and post progress reports on Facebook.) The trick is not to get caught up in achieving perfection in a few short weeks; the goal is a lot of words in a short time, so focus on quantity in November — you can sort out the quality later.

I highly recommend joining a regional group so you can communicate with other participants, listen to ideas, share writing tips and gather suggestions from others. Many past NaNoWriMo authors have valuable advice that can help you make the most of the NaNoWriMo experience.

Now get writing!

– by Elise L. Connors

On this, the second-to-last day of NaNoWriMo 2016, I thought we might take a quick peek back a the beginning of things—not because, at this point, any of us want to travel full-circle, but because sometimes it’s important to be thinking more in terms of beginnings than endings. (And trust me, there will be plenty of time to talk about what comes next over the coming weeks and months. We’ll be checking in with you on what you do with your NaNo projects, dear readers.)

nanowrimo

In the beginning, when you decided to dive into this NaNoWriMo thing, you were excited. Passionate. Completely blinkered to the outside world as you dove into this other world, the world of your own creation. (Even if you were writing about the “real world,” it’s never quite as magical as what you put down on the page, is it?) As the days passed, you began to feel the grip of pressure tighten and the weight of responsibility begin stalking you seriously down the block. And at some point or other, you considered giving up. Maybe you did, in fact, give up.

That’s okay.

But again, let’s go back to that beginning—where everything was golden and rose-colored glasses weren’t even necessary to see things as bright and full of opportunity. Every author needs that moment, once in a while, to reinvest the writing process with joy and meaning. And it’s so elusive, so fragile, so easily lost.

Don’t give up on yourself, even if you gave up on NaNoWriMo or your latest lengthy writing project. Don’t despair of never getting that golden moment back. It will come. It might take its time in coming, but it will come. It might crop up unbidden, or it might crop up as you work hard to cultivate it.

Whether you finished NaNoWriMo or not, go back to those early structures and habits and practices—like the one in Elise’s list from 2012, above—and evaluate: what worked? What hurt? What can you use or adapt moving forward? Don’t beat yourself up about what’s over and done and beyond altering; keep one eye on the past and one eye on the future, and you’ll find a way forward.

And as always, we’re here to help you with that.

Thanks for reading.  If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them.  Drop me a line in the comments section below and I’ll respond as quickly as I can.  ♠

Kelly

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.
Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing News: 11.28.2016

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

This fantastic article from the Star Tribune puts the spotlight on Laura Vosika, mother of nine, author and musician who still somehow finds time to run an independent publishing company out of her home. Voskia inhabits a world where self-publishing has highly inflated the number of books being published per year. The rise of self-publishing has turned authors into simultaneous entrepreneurs who must be tuned in to the world of marketing and design. With this rise in quantity, however, there has not necessarily been a rise in quality, which is why Voskia adds a weekly writing group to her already jam packed routine.

Find out how this inspiring woman balances all of these aspects of her life and still was able to sell over 60,000 copies of her book as a self-published author by reading the article above.

When Ben Batchelder took to the backroads of Brazil with his black labrador retriever, he claims that his new book essentially ‘wrote him.’ Of course, after the book was written, self-publishing did not come nearly as easily. Batchelder says that self-publishing should be see as a grand opportunity for learning how to market, how to proof, how to design a book, etc. etc.

While Batchelder learned these important new skills focused on publishing, he also learned how to be patient and persistent, and the importance of reaching out to friends, old and new. He says,  “[Publicity] events have flushed out old friends, made new ones, built contacts lists, and provided fodder for blogs and various social media platforms.”

In this poingant article, Tom Chalmers addresses some harsh realities of the publishing world in general balanced with the corresponding silver linings of those realities. For example, he points to the fact that prints sales are finally not falling, ebook sales have stabilized and authors have accepted digitization as a core aspect of the publishing world who have learned to work with online conglomerates such as Amazon, rather than against them. He goes on to say that authors have acknowledged and accepted that bookshops will not be on the rise, and that “the all-powerful customer will continue to demand more for less, or preferably for free. We are long past any return to the past.”

While acknowledging those realities, Chalmers makes clear that self-publishing authors have been paving the way in this revolutionizing world of book publishing in general. Self-published authors have shown the importance of being close to the customer, of tireless marketing and promotion online and elsewhere, and of business savvy practices. So if self-published authors are leading the way, does traditional publishing have anything to offer authors anymore? Chalmers makes it clear that traditional publishing companies cannot simply try and rehash the innovations of the self-publishing market, but need to find new ways to prove that they are still contributing unique and relevant things to the field. The question is, will traditional publishing companies make this a priority, and if not, what does the future look like for them?

spa-news

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry. This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

Kelly

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.
Holidays, Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

Ringing in the Holidays: New Year’s Eve Edition!

Blogrunner’s Note: This is the post which was scheduled to post on Wednesday, November 23rd. For some reason unbeknownst to us, it failed to post successfully—so we’re bringing it to your feeds today! And still in plenty of time for NYE, thankfully. Thank you for your forebearance.

As New Year’s Eve approaches, we authors can often be found meticulously scribing resolutions for becoming more active writers or more active in our book marketing in the coming year. Some of these resolutions are probably rehashed from last year’s list, resolutions that we just couldn’t seem to uphold. They are resolutions that have become Ghosts of New Year’s past, ever returning to haunt us and remind us of our floundering in hopes to try to inspire “real change” this time around.

2017 happy new year

Hopefully when you look back at 2016–presuming you aren’t actually the Scrooge–you will have done some great and productive things that can be built on in the year(s) to come. That’s one of the great things about New Year’s: it forces us to look ahead. It is a unique day–much like a birthday–that reminds one of the passing of time, and that another year of our lives has “just begun,” so to speak.

So with 2017 about to begin, as an author it is important to evaluate what are important aspects of your writing and publishing that you need to improve upon. If you’re like most authors, when you’re trying to formulate goals, resolutions or whatever label you want to give them, you are probably at least in part motivated by a desire to sell more books.

While marketing is not every author’s forte, it is essential to be as skilled at marketing as you are at writing, that is, if you ever want anyone to read your stuff. If you set aside time each day for writing, why should you not also set aside time for marketing?

This year, I implore self-published authors to set aside 30 minutes a day for marketing efforts. 30 minutes is a  small enough amount of time that the tediousness of such a task won’t weigh on you, but over days and weeks, it is enough time to help you make huge strides in building your audience.

In those 30 minutes you can do a myriad of things. Reach out to people on Twitter, Facebook, Google+. Reach out to blogs that have a similar subject matter as your book. Gues what? Getting featured on a blog means that you get to do what you actually love–writing–while also promoting your book. It’s a two for one!

Creating a Goodreads profile, updating your Amazon author page and updating your headshot are all also quick and easy ways to revamp your book marketing.

Another relatively easy task that can fill your 30 minute time slot is to send emails to potential reviewers. Reviews are a monumentally important marketing tool, especially when they’re reviews from respected authors or professionals. Speaking of respected professionals…it’s never a bad idea to send a signed copy of your book to your college alumni magazine as well!

In summation, this New Year, commit to a small, daily marketing effort that will pay off for years to come.

Thank you for reading!  If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or contributions, please use the comment field below or drop us a line at selfpublishingadvice@gmail.com.  And remember to check back each Wednesday for your weekly dose of marketing musings from one indie, hybrid, and self-published author to another. ♠

Kelly

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com