18 Marketing Actions to Sell More Books

At the start of every month I set myself three goals to achieve. Every month the first goal on my list is: 

Sell more books

The vision for my business is to be able to live and work anywhere - that elusive location independence.

My long-term plan is to make enough passive income from selling fiction novels, non fiction books, business support services and other digital information products; but it takes time, even as a relatively prolific writer having published four novels in three years.

I'm trying to develop a habit of doing at least one marketing activity towards this goal every day.

I'm keeping a journal, and each day I make a note of the one action I've completed.

I'm sharing the activities completed in June, to inspire you with your own business, and also because sharing it means I'm accountable...

I started the journal part way through June and so far I have 18 activities on the list:

1. Published a short story blog HERE 
2. Left a mini manuscript at the Watershed
   
3. Left a manuscript in Long Long Ashton 
4. Left a manuscript in Boston Tea Party in Horfield
5. Went to a free writing club
6. Updated my Amazon sales tracking
7. Started writing a blogging book 
8. Updated my Amy C Fitzjohn Amazon Author Page 
9. Created an Amy Morse Amazon Author Page 
10. Shared my author pages on Facebook 
11. Started Amy's Book VIP Facebook Group
12. Updating the VIP group weekly
13. Scheduled Tweets regularly about my books etc.
14. Put a call out for guest bloggers (If you'd like to be my guest, Tweet me: @AmyMorse_Writer)
15. Wrote two guest blogs, 1 has been published: '5 Ways to Unravel Your Story'
16. Organised an interview with Radio Bristol - I'm on the Richard Lewis show on Wednesday 13th just after 12 noon - you don't have to be in the UK, you can listen online here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radiobristol
17. I'm in talks with Radio Oxford about an interview - waiting for them to get back to me with a date

Number 18 is the most exciting one...

I'm working with a film maker to create a book trailer for The Sheridan and Blake Adventure Series!

We've met a couple of times and Ros (who is trying to break into freelance film making, and I'm always keen to support a start up) has got some great ideas. So far, Ros is working up a story board and reading the books and I've put a call out for an actor to play Tom Sheridan and have a few guys lined up, and I've already got a friend of mine to play the part of Sasha Blake!

We're all excited about the project, I'll keep you posted on our progress! 

What marketing activities worked for you last month?

Be Better At Business in Bristol

It's been a busy few weeks for me. Here's what I've been up to and what I'm doing next.

Hope it gives you some ideas and inspiration...

I've been 'the face' of Bristol Festival of Literature and had several media interviews about the festival.

It was a great 10 days of literary loveliness in Bristol, and privileged as a I feel to have been part of organising it, I'm glad it's over for another year.

It's bean a full on, but enjoyable few weeks.

Here's me on Ujima Radio on the Women's Outlook show

Hour 1 - Wednesday 14th October 12pm: http://listen-again.ujimaradio.com/index.php?page=64
Hour 2 - Wednesday 14th October 1pm: http://listen-again.ujimaradio.com/index.php?id=25688

I did a round up blog from some of the events I was involved in for the festival on my website:
http://authorpreneur.amymorse.co.uk/the-power-of-collaboration/

I ran some successful workshops on content marketing and blogging back in September and I have more workshops coming up.

On Friday 20th November from 10am to 12:30pm I'm at the Tobacco Factory running a 'Make The Most of your Markets' workshop.

It's £40 including the booking fee - You can book in on the Eventbrite link below:

Powered by Eventbrite

This workshop will focus on profiling your customer, getting to know them so you can build your business around them, making your business their first choice in the marketplace.

As a writer, I'll be using some unusual approaches to guide participants through. It'll be informative, creative and fun.

I also bring homemade cakes to my workshops!

On the subject of writing, I have  sent of the final draft of Gabriel's Game, Part 2: The Black Knight for proofing and final edits. I'm planning to release the book for Christmas.

Here's the blub:

I recommend reading the first 3 books in the Sheridan and Blake Adventure series first.

The Bronze Box
Solomon's Secrets
Gabriel's Game, Part 1: The White Queen

As an absolute minimum, make sure you read - Gabriel's Game, Part 1: The White Queen - first, as it's the first half of this story.

Only now do I feel like I've caught up on all the things that were neglected while I was immersed in book writing and Bristol Festival of Literature

Now I've come to the end of this series of books I have some ideas up my sleeve for more books as a spin off but separate stories focusing on different characters.

I'll share some of my story 'mewsings' with you as they pop into my brain...

45 Ways to Market Your Book

 2015 is Authorpreneur Almanac year. 

Join me in my 365 Adventures in Writing and Entrepreneurship...

I'm always having ideas and always writing them on lists. 

Last week I asked my readers what list they would like me to share. 

Writers often struggle with marketing their work so this list is 45 ideas you could use to market your book:

1) Host a book launch event.

Make it more of a party. Most writers opt for a rather conservative evening in a bookshop with some readings and maybe some cheap plonk. 

Why not do it a bit differently?

For both of my launches I had a party. For The Bronze Box I hired a boat and we took a trip around Bristol harbour with music and drinks, and bunting (I love some bunting). Everyone was happy to contribute a few pounds towards the cost of the boat hire for the novelty of an unusual evening out.

Bronze Box launch. Me and my husband and cover artist Graham

 

For Solomon's Secrets I had a treasure hunt and had a big chocolate cake with an image of the book on it - every party needs a cake!

2)  Blogging. Have a blog and post useful content regularly. I'm collecting some useful links for tips and advice on blogging on my 'Blogging Brilliance' Pinterest Board

Follow Amy Morse's board Blogging Brilliance on Pinterest.

3) Guest Blogging. Guest for other people and accept guests yourself. I've had some great guest bloggers on this site. I mentioned them in a recent review of 2014: http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/shhthe-secret-to-successful-marketing.html

4) Social Media - Twitter.
I recently wrote a post with 21 Twitter tips: http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/21-tips-to-make-most-of-twitter.html

Tweets by @TomCatDesigns

5) Social Media - Pinterest
I find Pinterest a valuable tool for collecting research, sharing and interaction. I wrote a tips article for Prowess Women in Business: http://www.prowess.org.uk/Pinterest-market-research

6) Social Media - Facebook
It's almost an expectation of every author to have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AmyCFitzjohn
I know some writers who swear by it. Personally, I never get much interaction on Facebook but it still helps Google to find you if you are on Facebook.

7) Write articles for online and physical magazines. Do some research and choose appropriate publications. Write on subjects that are related to your books.

8) Enter competitions. It can be expensive but there are free competitions. Writers Digest regularly share information on competitions: http://www.writersdigest.com/

9) Speaking gigs. Find ways to stand in front of an audience and talk about what you do.

10) Offer your book to local book groups

11) Get plenty of reviews on Amazon. Once you have a few reviews your book starts getting picked up in organic searches.

12) Go to literary festivals and mingle. If you can get a speaking slot or a stall, bonus.

13) Real world networking. Go to some networking events and talk about your authorpreneurhsip

14) Guerrilla marketing. Find a novel way of committing some random acts of marketing. I leave miniature manuscripts wherever I go and encourage people to interact on Twitter

15) Have some merch. Get some pens, mugs, tote bags, bookmarks, notebooks, chapbooks, business cards etc to give away when you meet people

16) Make a book trailer. I've seen some pretty poor quality book trailers. If film making isn't your strong suit, get help to create something professional.

17) Do a book tour - real world or online

18) Do a book signing at a local book shop

19) Get involved in a book fair or start your own

20) Link yourself to a charity and do some fundraising events. Give something back and get some good publicity

21) Work with a publicist who can help you with campaigns

22) Work with a professional marketeer to get a plan together

23) List your book in multiple market places

24) Run some workshops

25) Get involved with local writer events

26) Have a go at a literary open mic event. I recently wrote an article listing events in Bristol UK: http://www.bristolprospectus.co.uk/when-writers-come-out-to-play/

27) Sell your books at a market stall / craft fair

28) Get involved with a local Art Trail. This year I'll be exhibiting at Southbank Bristol Arts in May with 'Project Book 365': http://www.southbankbristolarts.co.uk/

29) Host a giveaway. Give your book away for free for a limited period and invite reviews

30) Optimise your website so that it's easier to find on Google

31) Set up a mailing list and email news regularly to your fans

32) Record a podcast

33) Make yourself available for interviews and approach people. I managed to get an interview on BBC Radio Bristol by being friendly and persistent and having a newsworthy story. The transcript of it is here: http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/a-face-for-radio.html

There are also plenty of bloggers out there inviting interviews.

34) Host a webinar

35) Take part in a webinar

36) Join workshops or training courses

37) Pay for advertising - but always do some research and a cost benefit analysis before committing to anything. You want a reasonable return on that investment

38) Cross promote other writers - say nice things about them and they'll say nice things about you.

39) Submit your book for awards

40) List on websites offering free author listings

41) Be active on Goodreads

42) Be active on Linked In forums

43) Look at what other authors do to get more ideas

44)  Publish short stories and eBooks. The more books you have, the more sales you'll get. If readers like your work, they'll look for more

45) Read. Books, blogs, articles etc. There are always more things you can do or fresh ideas to keep you motivated.

What marketing activities have worked for you?

 

List, Lists, Lovely Lists: Readers Choice

 2015 is Authorpreneur Almanac year. 

Join me in my 365 Adventures in Writing and Entrepreneurship...

Who doesn't love a list. I also love notebooks. Naturally, I have a notebook of lists: 

'Amy's World of Lists'

 

Here's a list of some of the lists I have in my little spiral notebook with cats on it:

• List of goals for my books
• List of places to sell my books
• List of fiction books I want to write
• List of non-fiction books I want to write
• List of tools in my promotional toolkit
• List of places to find book marketing ideas
• List of real world promotional ideas
• List of book marketing activities
• List of things I will do in 2015
• List of blog post ideas 
• List of ideas for business content articles
• List of social media post ideas
• List of ways to stay creative
• List of stuff I love

When I was considering what 365 project to do this year one idea was '52 Lists'. 

Here are some of the lists I thought about:

• List of my favourite films
• List somewhere I'd like to go for each letter of the alphabet
• List of my favourite authors (Stephen Leather  and Kate Mosse - You're on that list!)
• List of books I've enjoyed
• List of books I gave up on
• List of actors I admire
• List of actors I think are sexy (check out my 'Manly Men Pinterest Board for an idea of who'd be on that list...)  

Follow Amy Morse's board Manly men on Pinterest.

• List of jobs I've done (That would be a really long list!)
• List of my favourite flowers
• List of my favourute bars in Bristol
• List of my favourite eateries in Bristol
• List of my favourite cities (Bristol would have to be number 1!)
• List of places I've lived
• List of my favourite wines
• List of things I've collected
• List of articles I've written (with links)
• List of presents I'd like to give
• List of people who inspire me
• List of favourite quotes
• List of favourite songs
• My bucket list
• List of the best days of my life
• List of small things I take pleasure in (like the way Homer the cat uses the drawers in the kitchen as a ladder)
• List of topics I'd like to learn more about
• List of things I believe in
• List of words for Thank You
• List of cars I've driven (my MX5 was the best!)
• List of my favourite shops (Paperchase is up there)
• List of things that scare me
• List of words I like the sound of

 And here's a couple of other ideas for lists:

• List of useful blogs for writers  
• List of free resources for writers and entrepreneurs
• List of useful business books

So, over to you...

I have an idea of which list(s) to use on Idea'ism in the future - but what would you like to see?

Comment or contact me on Social Media with your choice and I'll publish the most popular choice next week:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomCatDesigns

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmyCFitzjohn

 
Tweets by @TomCatDesigns

 

Parties and Books...What else is there?

This update for

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author

covers two weeks.

Last week I had an intensive period of writing to make up some lost time on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and the two big things were my launch events. 

Here are some of the images from the celebration for Solomon's Secrets:

Every party must have bunting!

Goody bags and cutting the cake. It was awesome chocolate cake!

Myself and some friends. Left to right: My amazing husband Graham, me, Becky, Andy, Alice and Linzi

These pictures were from earlier in the evening, before the shots started to come out.

The second launch was decidedly less raucous. It was at Small Bar on King Street.

The books in their box

This week my seven actions have been:

1) I also completed NaNoWriMo

 

2) I have continued to write and I'd like to have the first draft of Gabriel's Game: Part 1, The White Queen, written by the end of the year.

3) I changed the price of the eBooks for The Bronze Box and Solomon's Secrets and started an offer on Black Friday. 

I'm going to to leave the two books at the lower price for the rest of the year.

Both are now available for $2.99 or £1.97

 

4) I've had my first review on Solomon's Secrets - 5 stars, a short but great review and what it now means is that the book is starting to come up organically on Amazon so I hope more people find it.

Thank you Judith Canterbury for taking the time to write it.

 5) My next action is to put an appeal out...

If you've read, or are in the process of reading Solomon's Secrets, please help me out by sparing a few minutes to write a review on Amazon.

If you email or tweet me with your Facebook/Twitter links I'll thank you publicly and follow you

Twitter: @TomCatDesigns

amy@tomcatdesigns.co.uk

(If you would like a free copy of the eBook in exchange for a review, also email me.)



6) My sixth action is to do some research to find out if there are other ways I can get some reviews for the book. I'll let you know how it goes.

7) I listed Solomon's Secrets on BookBzz

Have you found any good book listings sites?

Have you found a good way to get reviews?

Share your experiences here and help out other writers.