A bumper crop of idea-ism...

This week is a bumper crop of tips and ideas! I've just returned from holiday and I'm behind with updates, so this week I have 14 steps to share with you for:

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author 

Action 1:
I've been talking to bands, caterers and theatre groups and added an update to the crowdfund website:


https://www.fundsurfer.com/pies-music-and-other-consumables

Action 2:
The second edition of The Bronze Box is now complete and is the version that will be available through the crowdfund:

https://www.fundsurfer.com/project/independently-publishing-solomons-secrets-event

Pledge now to be the first to get it - when it comes out!

The First Edition of The Bronze Box will no longer be available so if you want to own a book that will soon be rare, get in there quick.

Original, first edition cover

First Edition - Get it while you can

Action 3:
This is what the new book will look like

Second edition cover art

I'm tempted to add the Epilogue to this update but wouldn't want to set loose a spoiler, so here's a tiny bit of it...

The Bronze Box, Epilogue sample

Action 4:
I'm setting up some meetings with some bands. This week I'm meeting Evie Woods - here's her awesome music:

https://soundcloud.com/eviewoodsband

Action 5:
I sent Word documents of The Bronze Box and Solomon's Secrets to the theatre producer I'm using, Byron Mondahl and highlighted a couple of passages that can be scripted for the actors to perfrom. Here's a teaser:

Script extract from Solomon's Secrets

Actions 6 & 7:

I've written full character profiles for Tom and Sasha to help the actors out

Action 8:
The Solomon's Secrets event is now listed on several event listings sites

Here it is on Skiddle:
http://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Bristol/Averys-Wine-Cellars/Solomons-Secrets/12184668/

Actions 9 & 10:
I've printed some sample leaflets for Solomon's Secrets with a few short chapters and blurb.
I've left them on trains, in aeroplanes and in a few bars and cafes in Lisbon, Porto and Madrid

Action 11:
I sent press releases to several local publications. An article was printed in the Wellington Weekly News.

I grew up in the small town of Wellington in Somerset, but the paper came out when I was away and the article is not on their website, so I'm hoping my dad has picked up a copy. If he has, I'll post it on here.

Action 12:
Knowing that I'd be away and not regularly online, I scheduled in lots of tweets before I went  to keep up the momentum for the crowdfund.

Action 13:
One of my beta readers has bought back a copy of Solomon's Secrets and I've started my re-edits. I'm waiting for feedback from several others.

Action 14:
Like most writers, once I've written the first draft of a book I'm already thinking about the next one. Being on holiday gave me the space to take a notebook and start writing passages for the next book, Gabriel's Game. Here's a teaser:

Extract from Gabriel's Game

Hopefully some of the actions I've taken in the past couple of weeks will give you some ideas and inspiration...

What marketing tips would you offer to a writer 

trying to build their platform? 

Keys, scrolls, cheesy videos and crowdfunding

My seven actions this week for 

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author 

have largely been about keeping up the momentum for the crowdfund pitch.

https://www.fundsurfer.com/project/independently-publishing-solomons-secrets-event

• I registered the new book, Solomon's Secrets on iAuthor - http://www.iauthor.uk.com/solomon-s-secrets:5296

• I've updated my Amazon Author page http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amy-Fitzjohn/e/B00DQBCQZM/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

I've finished the edits for The Bronze Box now too. The second edition is the edition I will be offering through the crowdfund, having corrected mistakes that slipped through the in first edition, added a new Epilogue and updated the cover. Thanks to my very talented brother Lewis: https://twitter.com/MrLewisFitzjohn,  for contributing the artwork for the cover.

• I met with Olly and Derek from Fundsurfer this week and went over my marketing plan with them.

• I also had a 1 to 1 with a business adviser from a new enterprise support agency in Bristol.

• I've created some leaflets and had an idea about rolling them into a scroll so they look like a treasure map

The first batch of keys that I made up with labels on them have now all gone out to various places across Bristol and I went into a key cutting shop in Bedminster and got another handful of keys from his reject box in exchange for a donation to the charity pot. These key labels are different to the first batch and are just for the crowdfund

• I've posted an out take video on You Tube that was cut from my crowdfund pitch but it's worth a watch if you're curious about my stories:

 

Watch my video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ui7N8C19_k&feature=youtu.be

What do you think?

Is there anything here that inspires you?

 

It's alive! The beast lives!

My Operation Author: 365 Actions to Succeed as an Author this week has all been about my crowdfunding pitch.

By talking the time to put together a good pitch and offer some attractive rewards, and by choosing a local start up, I am maximising the chances of getting some widespread publicity for Solomon's Secrets.

The fund was launched this week...

It's ALIVE!

Here it is: https://www.fundsurfer.com/project/independently-publishing-solomons-secrets-event

Take a look and tell me what you think (and have a giggle at my cheesy video).

My seven actions have been related to publicising and launching the crowdfund and have included;
 

• I was the speaker at the Fundsurfer launch party on Thursday night. I'm a confident public speaker and find that I have most impact when I get in front of people - my challenge is to find ways to do this

• I did some networking at an event at The Greenway Community Centre on Friday and met a couple of really useful contacts. One who edits a couple of local magazines so I'm going to meet with him for a coffee to discuss writing some content for them.

• Putting together a marketing plan for the crowdfund. I'll be meeting the guys at Fundsurfer next week to go through it and pick their brains

• Sending out lots of emails to my network with links to the crowdfund

• My Klout score went up, I spent so much time on twitter spreading the word and responding to people

• I've written an article on my experience of crowdfunding. It will go in the next issue of Prowess Women in Business. I currently have an article in there about the power of telling stories to attract customers - http://www.prowess.org.uk/stories-about-your-business

Have you ever tried crowdfunding?

If so, what worked for you?

Crowdfunding, Spreadsheets, Videos and Golden Gifts

I'm struggling to identify seven individual actions this week for

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Succeed as an Author

I've been putting lots of time and energy into my crowd funding pitch so most of my actions are related to that.

I've made enquiries with Silverwood Books who are a publisher in Bristol that work with authors to self publish. If I publish Solomon's Secrets with them, their package would give me more scope and support than going it alone, but I would also have to sell around double the number of copies of Solomon's than I have of The Bronze Box to get my money back and start making a profit. I would like to support them, my Fundsurfer pitch is all about supporting Bristol businesses after all!

I need to give it some thought. When I launch the Fundsurfer pitch, I think I'll see how well it does and see what budget I'll have.

I've been sketching images of characters, I never ended up using them in the pitch but here's one of Jon Solomon:

I put together a spreadsheet of all the rewards for pledging. 

The idea of crowd funding is that you pledge an amount and get a reward in exchange. 

My rewards start with £1 for a thank you, signed copies of books, being mentioned in the acknowledgements right up to being the guest of honour at the launch event.

I've spent hours uploading my list of rewards and creating appropriate images for them. One of the rewards is two eBooks and here's the image for it

I've enlisted the help of my long suffering and very lovely husband Graham with editing the video for the pitch and here's what we've come up with so far

Watch the video pitch here: http://bit.ly/1pzz4X3

I've been industriously adding progress updates to my Facebook Author Page, including the video: https://www.facebook.com/AmyCFitzjohn

The only actions this week not related to my crowd finding pitch have been going to a couple of business events.

I went to a 'Start Up Scale Up' event. I was there on one of my non working days as, Amy Morse Freelance Writer, but within seconds I became Amy from Outset Bristol when I got caught up chatting to clients and connections from work, I'm too well known in the Bristol Business Community for Outset and I'm struggling to break down that barrier that I'm also a Freelance Writer.

Help! Any advice?

I did some networking at an event at M Shed,  'An Evening with Deborah Meaden' in aid of Above and Beyond Golden Gift Appeal.

Deborah was brilliant, really inspiring and engaging and the charity is such a great cause.

Above and Beyond, go 'above and beyond' what the NHS is able to fund in Bristol's hospitals, by improving the care environment for patients and their families. With the NHS's limited funds, they understandably have to priroitise clinical care, but the path to recovery is more than just the right medicine and equipment, it's also important to be in a comfortable and healing environment - hospital's don't have to be depressing places that stink of chemicals.

I'd like to support the charity in the future and I'm already thinking about an event, perhaps involving Southville Writers.
 
I'm must be a crazy person, I'm in the middle of one project and already thinking about the next one!

How do you manage and prioritise your projects?

Keys, Wine Cellars, Crowdfunding and My Number One Fan...

This week I've found any excuse to be outside in the sun and away from the computer.
My seven actions for:

 Operation Author: 365 Actions to Succeed as an Author 

have mostly involved preparing for my crowdfunding pitch to publish Solomon's Secrets and host a big event celebrating independent creative talent in Bristol .

I started completing the fields on the form for my Fundsurfer crowdfunding pitch. 

It's not yet published on line, I'll be starting the clock on 5th May which gives me a couple of weeks to get the rest of it together.

I went out into Bristol with my camera and took lots of images of locations featured in the book to use in the video. I also had a look at some venues for the launch event.

I've provisionally booked Averys wine cellars for the event and planned it for Friday 5th September at 8pm. 

Averys are a wine merchants that have been operating in Bristol since 1793. Under the shop they have this amazing 18th century brick cellar that I guess would originally have been used to store barrels of wine. It's really atmospheric and would look awesome lit up with candles.

This is a picture from their website of the space. 

My event wouldn't be a sit down affair like this, it would be more of a mingle and a few tables dotted about.

I've been doing the sums and working out what's possible so I can add it to the pitch. The event will include plenty of wine (sourced from Averys), food (provided for by local caterers), some live music (by a local band) and pop up theatre performing short scenes from Solomon's Secrets (by a local acting troop).

I've been recording audio and some short video clips to stitch together for a video pitch. I'll be including some sketches of my characters. Here's Sasha Blake:

And here's a short piece of audio about Sasha, unedited, to be stitched into my video pitch.

 https://soundcloud.com/amy-morse-2/meet-sasha-blake

I've enlisted my husband Graham to help make the video, I'll share it here too when it's done.

Other actions have been: 

I had an idea about some guerrilla marketing for Solomon's Secrets and went around some junk shops to find some old keys. I have been making tags with them. I'll be leaving them all over the place and asking people to tweet me if they find a key for a chance to win a copy of the book.

Another action:
I had previously had a Facebook page for The Bronze Box and finally got around to having a Facebook Author page. Check it out and like it for regular updates:

https://www.facebook.com/AmyCFitzjohn

Action 6: 
I read a really useful e-book  'A Weekend of Book Marketing' by Duolit and followed their tips. I've created a profile for my Number 1 Fan. By having an idea of who my ideal customer/reader is I can then be a lot more targeted in my marketing. I can select blogs to guest for and publications to write for based on the sort of things that may appeal to my target customer. Here's a profile. I've highlighted keywords:

Action 7:
I created a CV just for my writing and have registered with several freelance job boards

What marketing advice would you offer to other writers?

 

Seedlings, silliness, showcases and Solomon's Secrets

This week has been very bitty. It's been my first week of part time employment but with my new found free time I ended up spending the day with my brother for his birthday and it was a rare sunny April day in Bristol so I got out in the garden and potted up some seedlings. 

Satisfying and enjoyable activities but not especially productive!

My seven actions this week for Operation Author: 365 Actions to succeed as an author, have been small.

Action 1: I did some more real world networking and went to the Business Showcase Southwest where I handed out lots of business cards and chatted to a few people.

Action 2: I caught up with the Fundsurfer guys at the event and found out that I could start adding my crowdfunding pitch to the site without it going live. I'll be doing that and then arranging to meet them at the end of next week to go through my ideas.

Action 3: I've had the proof copies of Solomon's Secrets and I've finished my first read through and initial edit.

I know It's self indulgent, but it was a great read and I really enjoyed going through it with the eyes of reader.

The worst thing about being a writer is that with each new work, I reflect back and think how much better this book is than the last one. I imagine this will happen with each book I write in the future!

Action 4: I put a call out to anyone else who would like to be a beta reader and have been handing the books out to my volunteers. Thanks to Debbie, Dave, Graham and Jo.

Action 5: I'm going back through The Bronze Box with more experienced writers eyes now and re-editing it for a second edition.

Get the first edition while you still can, soon it will be limited edition - http://amzn.to/1jd0sDE

Action 6: After joining Bristol Creatives last week, I have now updated my entry on the directory: http://www.bristolcreatives.co.uk/directory/amy-morse

Action 7: I've registered with some freelance writing websites and need to work on a writing resume to upload.

How have you got on with online Freelance Writing job boards? 

Which would you recommend?

Fridges, Sumurai Rabbits and Red Trousers...

April already. I'm very glad to see the back of March and all the stress of the past few weeks. Now I can make plans *mwa ha ha*

My seven actions this week for Operation Author: 365 Actions to Succeed as an Author have involved lots of real world networking.

For writers, it's very easy to fall into the trap of relying on online networks to spread your message, but, as with any marketing activity, there is no substitute for going out and meeting people. 

To successfully market a product, in the case of writers, a book, you need a good mix of activities. Generally speaking, people need to see, hear about or notice something at least 3 times before they respond to a call to action.

My week started with my leg of the blog tour.  I spread it around the interwebs. I also actively commented on threads about it and helped out my writers who are on the next leg of the tour to find their next 3 writers.

See the Blog Tour here

On Tuesday I went to a Fridge Networking Event at the The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer pub in Bristol.  The event is on the first Tuesday of the month

The pub, affectionately known in Bristol as The Volley, has recently undergone a refurbishment and has an awesome selection of craft beers. It's well worth a visit:  http://www.navyvolunteer.co.uk/

The guys who run Fridge Networking are a really enterprising bunch and I would encourage any entrepreneurs in Bristol to connect with them: https://twitter.com/FridgeNetwork

If you're reading this, and decide to come to the next meeting, come and find me there, I've love to meet my blog readers in person. The trouble with blogging, is sometimes is feels like you're writing to no one!

On Wednesday I went to a Bristol Creatives networking event where creative entrepreneurs in the city heard from a new crowd funding organisation that are launching in Bristol. 

Sally at Bristol Creatives is lovely and really passionate about creative businesses. Another action this week was that I became a member. I'll add myself to the directory as an action next week.

The presenters at the event were Fundsurfer https://www.fundsurfer.com/. Fundsurfer is an innovative new platform for crowd funding and Derek and Oliver that run it are really passionate about supporting independent businesses and in particular, to support the creative industries. Look out for them, they will be having a launch event soon.  Love their Samurai Rabbit logo too!

It did spark an ambitious idea for me: Could I crowd fund the publication of Solomon's Secrets and put on a spectacular launch event involving other creative talent in Bristol?

My next action was to immediately start putting a pitch together.  I sent some copy to Fundsurfer for their marketing. I'll be working on my plans and putting some more concrete proposals together next week before setting up a meeting with them. I'm really excited about the ideas.

My next action was to go to a Bedminster Town Team Arts Led Regeneration Conference at the fantastic Tobacco Factory Theatre.

The Mayor of Bristol, George-red-trousers-Ferguson, opened the event with a great presentation about his experience of breathing new life into a derelict factory and creating one of the Bristol's treasures, The Tobacco Factory. 

As Mayor, he's been making some radical changes in Bristol that have attracted some criticism.  He has a great vision for our beloved city and has really put us on the map. Personally, I have a lot of time for George. Bristol needs some radical action after suffering years of indecision and neglect. Change will always scare people, but in time Bristol will be the richer, culturally and economically, for it.

(Plus, I'm a biased because last year George did buy a copy of my debut novel, The Bronze Box with his Bristol Pounds!)

 

I attended the event with 3 hats on: as an interested resident of Bedminster, an Enterprise Coach for Outset Bristol and a creative business myself.

It was a great event, with some encouraging developments in the regeneration of Bristol, through our powerhouse of creative enterprises. It just makes me love Bedminster all the more!

Lunch at the event was courtesy of Marks Bread and was delicious. https://twitter.com/Marks_Bread

I particularly enjoyed the talking carpet performance by an actor from Show of Strength Theatre Company. They do amazing street theatre and have been doing pop up theatres in shops in Bedminster. 


I met Sheila from Show of Strength and am looking forward to meeting her for coffee soon as I'd love to involve them in the launch for Solomon's Secrets in some way. A bit of guerrilla theatre would be great. I already have a couple of scenes from the book in mind that I'd love to get a couple of actors to play out.

In this busy week, I've also somehow managed to find time to start proof reading Solomon's Secrets.

Tell me what you think: 

If you could recommend one networking event in Bristol UK, 

to attend, what would it be?