Email Marketing For Writers

Wishing you a Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Hello friends! Long time no blogging, eh? I know...I know! It's been a while but the end of the year is always rather insane for me what with my shop being busy and wrapping up photos for conferences I've been to etc.

Hope this blog finds you well AND I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Alex & Bounce hope so too!

Today, I'm really excited because I have a resource to share with you! Before we get going, please note this is a sponsored post* from Campaign Monitor.

If you've read my blog for any length of time (at least in the past) you'll know that I really enjoy talking about marketing. This is usually geared toward writers and authors, but the beauty of marketing is that it is widely useable for all sorts of business and vital to any type of product or brand you may have or wish to promote.

Today, we're going to take a look at Email Marketing geared toward writers and authors!

10 Myths about Marketing Your Book by DiAnn Mills | Guest Post

Excited to have the lovely DiAnn Mills on the blog today! I've met DiAnn in person a few times at conferences and she's been a frequent guest on my blog. I love when she shares about her books here, but she's got something different for us today. This month we'll be taking a closer look at book marketing and this post is perfect for this. Join in as DiAnn shares about 10 myths we commonly hear about marketing your book. 

4 Tips to Successfully Using Instagram as a Writer

My oh my...who doesn't love Instagram? Maybe I'm jut crazy about it because I'm a photographer? That's more likely I'm sure, but I did want to take a few minutes to chat about using the Instagram platform as a writer. Not to worry, if you aren't a writer you'll still enjoy this post because I'll include pretty pictures ;)

4 Tips to Successfully Using Instagram as a Writer

1. What to post

Ok, I'm not really going to tell you what to post, but I will give some helpful tips in how to decide what you should post.
1) Ask yourself what type of account you want to have. Writing/book promotion, for fans, personal use, or a mixture of these.
2) Think about sharing photos that fit with the type of account. For example, my Instagram account is for my photography business and writing but it's got a personal flair to it. My point of consistency is in the look of my photos though. We'll talk about that later.
3) Like with any/all social media for promotion sake, think about sharing things that fit with your brand. This picture of a typewriter fits with my writing and I could talk about what I'm up to writing wise in the comments (also more on that in a minute).
4) Consider your audience and followers. If your account is personal, then 10 pictures of your kids may be expected. BUT if you are trying to gain followers, consider their feeds. 10 pictures of your kids in a row (though they may be the cutest kids EVER) will quickly have your followers considering unfollowing  you.
5) Ask why you are posting each picture. This may seem extreme, but if you're serious about gaining followers and posting within your brand (to an extent) then have a purpose behind your post. No, this doesn't have to be some grand concept and you could use a random photo to tell your fans you just wrote "The End" but it helps to have a reason for each post - even if that's just to share a fun quote.

2. What to say

The comment section of Instagram is a hugely untapped resource (in my humble opinion). I know there are Instagramers out there who are super clever and just post one word captions (or no captions). I've done this. BUT, we're writers! Use your words ;-)
I've personally found that people are more willing to connect with me (and like my picture) if I've got something worth saying. Again, that's not to say that my captions are life changing, but they should be relevant to you, your brand, and your followers.
Use Instagram to give out fun info about your day like you do Twitter, but tie it to a picture. Maybe it's your work space, your coffee, your editing screen, or your TBR pile. Whatever it is, share about it. People can love your images, but they can also begin to love your voice even over Instagram.

3. How to make it pretty

Yes, I know that Instagram comes with it's own filters...but there are some awesome apps out there that give you even more control over what your photos look like.

VSCO Cam
This is my personal favorite! It's what I edit every photo with on my phone. Maybe that's because I like to tweak things (the photographer in me) but they've also got some great presets.

Afterlight
There are some fun things with this app, like the ability to add some old-school flair to the side of a photo, overlays, and great presets.

ProCam
This app gives you a LOT of control. Maybe too much for those of you who just want to snap a shot but hey, here it is.

Diptic
Want to combine two photos - or more like I did here? Use this app! It's one of my favorites for the ease and ability to do a whole bunch with it.

P.S. I was in our local Christian bookstore and saw one of my author headshots on the back of this lovely novel. Eik! See that...E.A. Creative Photography. That's ME :D Ok...back to Instagram stuff...

4. How to be Effective

• Make your account public (and don't post anything you wouldn't want "everyone" to see)
• Use hashtags (research popular writer/genre hashtags like #amwriting or #books or #scifi etc.)
• Tag people and products (as long as it's relevant to the photo of course)
• Use personal captions when possible
• Post around 2AM or 5PM and on Wednesdays (so they say...?)
• Follow Instagramers in your "field" as well as book bloggers/reviewers and comment on their images
• Be interactive! Comment and reply to those who comment to you (don't for get to tag them specifically with the "@" sign or else they won't see it)
• Be consistent! Build up a fun gallery of images that represent YOU and what you like. Your readers will love seeing that. 

I hope this has been helpful! Instagram is a great platform and can definitely help you connect with more readers on a personal and fun level.

Are you in Instagram? I'd love to connect with you! 

@createexploreread

A Look at Marketing for Writers

Writing. Reading. Creating....Marketing?

Um, one of these things is NOT like the other. Or is it? Why is the word "marketing" so scary? Why do we as writers (or, at least some of us--myself included at times) think that marketing is beyond what we're capable of?

Let's start with a definition. We're writers, we like words, right?

Oooo, that may be part of the problem. Words like "promoting" and "selling" don't feel creative (at least not to me). They sound more like work or self-promotion. What if we took a step back and first asked ourselves a few simple questions:

1) Why do I create?
2) What do I create?
3) What makes my creations different or unique?

The answers to those three questions are quintessential to marketing. It's easy to start to see dollar signs or people only out for opportunities and networking when we talk about marketing, but for Christ-followers I boil it down to this:

Marketing means showcasing your unique, God-given talents in a way that points to the Creator, not the created.  (tweet this)

Pinterest

Woah, I took it there, didn't I? I know, we try to make marketing this business-y thing (which it is) but we forget that, without creative inspiration from the Lord, we wouldn't have these great ideas in the first place.

Plus, as this quote points out, this life isn't just about us. It's about how God will use us and our talents, for His glory! How exciting is that?

Now, take a step forward with the thought that you are now sharing the beauty of God-given talent with others. It's not about you, it's not even about your product, as much as it's about owning up to the fact that you can point to the Creator through the act of marketing. Okay, back to the business realm (without forgetting what we just discussed, of course).

 The Other Side

Pinterest

Marketing does require a type of self promotion, but the key thing to remember here is how you package your marketing ideas and materials. Your audience is who you're trying to reach with this. It will take some creative brainstorming and often help from professionals for materials or even print copy, but it can be done well without feeling overly "sell-focused".

My number one piece of advice for all forms of social media and any marketing you will do is to showcase who you are (this is technically your business). You establish your brand and then you promote, discuss, and talk about everything in reference to that brand (we'll talk about branding next week).

This looks like: 

Blogging: Choosing a theme that matches (or is complimentary) to your genre.
Facebook: Your author page interacts with you audience through fun posts in relation to your topic, shared posts from authors in your genre, questions that delve into a personal nature, giveaways focused around your novels/topic.
Twitter: You follower popular authors in your genre, retweet them, create tweets that focus around your genre, and post personal tweets in relation.
Instagram: Posting pictures of your life, your interests, and maybe your writing in line with your brand.
Guest Posting: Picking blogs that support your brand (ie: Historical blogs that offer guest posts if you are a historical author).

In all of these realms of social media, make sure you are consistent (to an extent) with the overall look and design of your platforms. I'm not the best example of this since I have varying passions of writing and photography (for example almost all my social media is @eahendry but my twitter is @eacreativephoto...*sigh* the perfectionist in me wants to change it but I probably won't ha!). But the more uniform you can keep your online presence, the better established your brand will be.

Flickr by asenat29

The last thing I'll say is marketing for writers a matter of balance (tweet this). You will easily find there is a bit of discrepancy between you and your brand. That's understandable since you aren't selling something tangible (aside from a book, of course). Plus, books cycle through very quickly in today's market and by the time you are talking about one, the next one is lined up and ready to go.

 

Marketing you will never go out of fashion or print. If you take time on anything, focus your effort on establishing solid connections to your readers. It's there that you'll strike marketing gold!

Your Challenge:

• Write out your answers to the questions above
• Tweet one of your favorite quotes from this blog
• Comment honestly: do you struggle with marketing? Why?

(Don't forget to use the hashtag: #ttmediachallenge when posting!)