Novel Marketing

In this episode, we are going to talk about a few of the myths and lies writers are prone to believe which can derail us or send us in wrong directions or keep us from going in the direction we should be headed.   Patreon Update: Hit our first Patreon goal Negotiated to extend the free website course for another month. * Learn more about the Novel Marketing Patreon Page Listener Question Roland Denzel (EatMoveLive52.com): I’d love to hear you talk about other cliches (or lies) on book marketing. …like the best marketing is writing your next book OR writing a good book is your best marketing Myths: Myth: Word of Mouth is Enough to Make Your Book a Success. Truth: people live in bubbles and word of mouth is not enough. Myth: If you sign with a traditional publisher you don’t need to worry about marketing. Truth: You are always responsible for your marketing, even if you are traditionally published. Myth: Indie authors don’t make money. Truth: Some Indie authors make millions a year. Myth: Traditional authors don’t make money. Truth: Some traditional authors make millions a year. Lie: You can make a living writing from your heart. Truth: you can make a living writing for your readers. Myth: don’t read other writers work, or you’ll end up imitating them Even if you try, it will come through your filters and ultimately sound like you Practicing writing like other writers can help you develop your voice Myth: Don’t share your story ideas … they’ll be stolen It takes a community to write a novel That’s another myth, that writing is a solo endeavor. Ideas are a penny a dozen, the execution is the hard part Featured Patron: David Winters Driver Confessional by David L. Winters, A Christian ride-share driver lands in hot water with the Russian mob. Antonio and his cop brother must solve a murder before it’s too late.   More Myths * Myth: Posting about your book on social media is an effective form of marketing. * Only a fraction of your followers will see your post and only a fraction of them will click your link. Only a fraction of them will then buy your book. Social media is for listening and conversation, not for promotion. * Myth: You Should Never Write for Free * Writing for free can open up doors for you * Your enemy is not piracy, it is obscurity. * Myth: If you blog a book first no one will buy it. * Truth: your blog readers will be the first in line to buy your book just like book readers are the first in line to watch the movie based on the book. * Julie and Julia Monthly Resource Sponsor: * Patreon … https://www.patreon.com/novelmarketing * All patrons who back in the next month get Thomas’ $25 course on how to have an Amazing Author Website. Power Close: You have been listening to James L Rubart and Thomas Umstattd Jr. on the Novel Marketing podcast, giving you novel ideas on how to promote y

Question: Meredith Abernathy Beyond the Midnight Mountain 25% on her 6th draft … She loves: Dr. Pepper Musicals Road trips Details of everyday life of everyday people in other times and places Details in general (I tend to over research) Brownies   “I keep hearing the advice to start marketing/start a newsletter as early as possible, even before you’re published. But whenever I ask for help in my Facebook writer groups, they say I’m putting the cart before the horse.   I have no books to offer free in exchange for newsletter signups, so of course I have 0 signups. I’m not sure about offering sample chapters of my novel, in case they change again between now and publication. So, is there something I can offer that readers care about, or am I doomed to launch a book to 0 readers?”   Meredith, we have the answer for you and in two words it is this: Short Stories.   Talking Points:   Introduction: In our five year plan, we talk a lot about the value of writing short stories for developing your craft. Short Stories Make You a Better Writer I was in my neighborhood swim team for over ten years as a kid. We won every meet every year for at least five years in a row. We won the championship all but two years I competed. Our secret: we swam mostly drills in practice. Focusing on specific aspects of technique. We might swim for 15 minutes with kickboards to work on making our kicking faster. The other teams swam hard. We swam smart. We did not swim a lot of “garbage yardage.” Writing a full length novel as your first project is the slowest path to publishing success. As a beginning writer, you are just reinforcing bad habits you don’t know you have yet. You typically don’t get a lot of feedback on it until you are finished writing the whole thing. Then you end up re-writing it over and over again fixing the same problems over and over again. This is exhausting and a lot of authors give up on this process. Writing short stories allows you to focus on specific aspects of your craft to improve on them. David Story: My brother is one of the writers going through our five year plan. One of the things he struggled with in his early days of writing was character voice. All his characters sounded the same. So to work on it, he started writing short stories in the voice of various characters to learn how to make them sound different. He wrote a whole short story from the POV of a computer to force himself to see the world in a different way. The short stories are fun and it allows him to work on specific writing muscle groups. They are the writing equivalent of the drills we swam in swim team. In one of his short stories, there is no dialogue. That was not what David was working on, so he left it out. The short story is brilliant and fun. It wouldn’t work for a whole book but it works great for the drill he was working on. Some of the stories are from the POV of unimportant characters in his storyworld. So the short stories are also a way for him to do world building. Short stories make it easier to get feedback. Short stories make it easier to make changes. Short stories are easier to abandon if things are not working out. Adam Grant- Originals. Making pots. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XIYGCDO/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1   Next we are going to talk about how Short Stories help with marketing. But first, we have our first ever Patron Plug. If you want to hear your book plugged on the podcast,

Should you blog your book ahead of time? Recently, there have been several blog posts hinting it’s a bad idea. This advice can cripple authors. They fear that once they blog something, it can never be in their book. This pushes them into boring, off-topic blog posts that don’t resonate and hurt their marketing. If that is you, I have good news. (TL;DR) Blogging Your Book Lets You: * Test Your Ideas Build Your Audience Make Your Book Better You can blog your book ahead of time. You just need to do it the right way. Quick note: I am writing specifically about blogging non-fiction. Fiction is a different animal. I am not a huge fan of blogging fiction but it can work. Rachelle Gardner has a good post about The Pros and Cons of Blogging your Novel that I encourage you to check out if you write fiction. I know a little about this. I wrote a blog post, Why Courtship is Fundamentally Flawed, which went viral (over 1 million views) and turned into a Kickstarter Campaign that raised over $11,000 and ultimately became a book, ebook, and audiobook (affiliate links). Joshua Harris read Courtship in Crisis and other similar books and changed his views on his own book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. Not only did the book kick off as a single blog post, drafts of some chapters still exist as blog posts today. Your reach with a blog is wide. Your reach with a book is deep. Far more people read my blog than buy my books. That is ok with me. My ultimate goal is to get the message out as widely as possible. And while the reach of the blog is vast, five minutes with a blog post is not going to have the same impact as two hours with a book. Blog reading and book reading are fundamentally different experiences. Someone can read your content in one medium and then have an entirely different experience with the same content in another medium. “Saying nonfiction readers won’t read your book after they read your blog is like saying that fiction readers won’t watch a movie after reading the book the movie is based on.” Click to Tweet The movie is the same story as the book, and yet the change in medium makes it entirely different. “Fans of a book are the first in line for the movie and fans of the blog are the first ones in line for the book.” Click to Tweet And some movies (like Julie & Julia) are based on books that are based on blogs. Takeaway: People who read your blog will also want to read your book. Don’t listen to people who tell you otherwise. Blogging your book makes your book better. Blogging is a two-way dialogue between you and your readers. It allows you to hone your ideas as you get reader feedback. While the “first drafts” of some chapters appear on my blog, the edited final versions in the book take into account the comments and criticism I received on the blog. A few of the things I wanted to say were being misunderstood and I was able to make corrections before my book came out. I also was able to cut whole sections that were not connecting with readers. Other sections I thought would be boring turne...

Show Outline Introduction: Episode 1 was on Oct 7, 2013 A lot has happened over the last four and a half years. Jim has won half a dozen book awards Thomas spent time as the marketing director for a publishing company. We went a couple of years only posting every other week. Starting summer of last year we went back to a weekly show and we’ve loved it … it’s been a ton of fun. Now we would like to talk about the future of the podcast. We Want to Make the Podcast Even More Useful to You and More Beneficial to us Monthly Resource (Like the spreadsheet we gave away last week) We are excited to announce: The Novel Marketing Patreon Page $2 Level Warm (maybe even toasty warm) feelings inside you, knowing you’re keeping Thomas and James on the air Access to the Patron Only Community Discussion Monthly Resource Archive Exclusive Patron Only Discounts: 20% discount on back cover copywriting 25% discount on the MyBookTable Pro WordPress Plugin 25% discount on the MySpeakingEvents Pro WordPress plugin 25% discount on the MyBookProgress Pro WordPress plugin 50% discount on The Five Year Plan to Become a Bestselling Author 50% discount on The Tax & Business Guide for Authors Over $160 in discounts. You would have to be a Patron for 6 years before you caught up to all those discounts. All that for $2 a month! $5 Level  Exclusive Monthly Q&A Episode (like a more exclusive version of the Q&A extravaganza) Special Monthly Episode Bundle where we package several popular episodes on a specific topic and give you private access. Ebook of your choice of one of James’ novels, Rooms, Book of Days, or The Chair $8 Level Everything in the previous levels. This level is limited to only 16 people. Your book and website featured on Novel Marketing.com & on Patreon.com Your book(s) and website mentioned on the show every quarter Two ebooks of your choice from any of James’ nine novels, Rooms, Book of Days, The Chair, Soul’s Gate, Memory’s Door, Spirit Bridge, The Five Times I Met Myself, The Long Journey to Jake Palmer, The Man He Never Was Stretch Goals: $100 Stay a Weekly Show $200 Episode Transcripts $350 Legacy Transcripts $500 Live Q&A What Won’t Change We will still have free episodes for you here every week (assuming we hit our first goal) Otherwise, we will still have free episodes every other week. The podcast will keep getting better as we are more connected with our listeners and have more energy to devote to the podcast. You can still ask questions for free. We will still spend whole episodes answering significant questions. You can still get the monthly resource for free the month it comes out. At this point, you’re probably asking, okay, well how do I get connected? Easy: Go to NovelMarketing.com and click “Become a Patron.” Sponsor: Our sponsor this week is of course, the Novel Marketing Podcast Patron Page!

In this episode, you’ll learn how to connect with anyone in the world. In the last two episodes, we talked about why Word of Mouth is not working and How to Make Word of Mouth Work for You by connecting with Mavens, Connectors, and Salespeople. But HOW do you meet these people? We’ll show you. Plus, we’re giving you a Spreadsheet that will make the process simple. It will keep you organized and help you track the people on your “I Want to Meet Them!” list. But first, Jim, we have to talk about Jim’s new book! The Man He Never Was (affiliate link) just came out. Monthly Resource Show Notes Introduction As we said earlier, we talked about how Mavens and Connectors and Salespeople are the most powerful way for us to spread word of mouth about ourselves and our stories, but how to we get introduced to them. Six Degrees of Separation * Kevin Bacon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon * Make a list of the people you want to meet- DON’T edit yourself. Dream big * List people who might know that person * * You’d be surprised to find out who your friends know * Delilah Rene * * Define your reason for getting in contact with this person Tools: * Linkedin * Twitter is a tool to use to contact folks directly. People (even ultra famous people) don’t get as many tweets as you’d think. So they read them for the most part. Ask * The hardest part * You will strike out * You will get base hits * You will hit home runs * If you don’t swing the bat, none of these things will happen * Make it worth it for them. * Think CONTACTS, not CONTRACTS … Our Challenge To You * Reach out to three people in the next week and then, let us know how it went Sponsor: MyBookTable, 3.1 is here. * Added Universal Buy Button. * Added Audio Book Resources metabox to book pages. * Improved search from Buy Button editor functionality to automatically search for book title. * Added Powell’s affiliates integration. * Added IndieBound affiliates integration. * Book pages can now be selected as the front page of your website via Reading settings. * Various CSS styling improvements * Learn more about MyBookTable 3.1

Last episode we talked about why Word of Mouth ISN’T working for you. In this episode, we talk about how you can make Word of Mouth work for you. Spoiler Alert: some people are more important to spreading your idea than others. Find out who those people are and how to reach them. Target The Important Few    Mavens Mavens care about the quality of the product. Make sure your book gives them what they want. You can’t add your own books to GoodReads lists, Mavens do that for you. Send free books to the super nerds of your genre. Focus on Connectors Connectors care about if they know you personally or not. Invest in Influencers (Popular bloggers, people with platforms. ) Go to conferences that the influencers go to. Build relationships. Focus on other writers, not just on agents and editors Focus on Salespeople Salespeople care about you if are one of them or not. Take a stand. How to Craft a Viral Message Be controversial – Animal Farm Be sticky – Have a simple pitch that can spread for person to person. How to Win Friends and Influence People. Be remarkable – Be shockingly different. Amish Vampires in Space. Jimmy Fallon/The Tonight Show Advertise – Throw rocks in the ponds you want to see ripples in. Incentivize – Reward People for sharing your content. Enclave Viral Contest Sponsor: Rubart Writing Academy This episode of the Novel Marketing podcast is brought to you by The Rubart Writing Academy. This spring my son Taylor and I are doing our second and third live, in person, Rubart Writing Academies … where you’ll learn what you need to do to become a bestselling, award winning author. It’s a four day event where I’ll teach you what exactly what I did to reach those writing dreams and I’ll design a personalized road map for you, that will get rid of the confusion and frustration, and show you precisely what you need to do to make your writing dreams a reality. The first one will be April 12 – 15 in the Spokane/Coeur d’alene area, the second one is May 3 – 6 in Lake Chelan, Washington. Space is limited, so if it sounds interesting, go to Rubart Writing Academy dot com.

In this episode of the Novel Marketing podcast, we’re going to talk about what has been consistently cited as the number one way to sell books … Word of Mouth.     You’ve heard that, yes? Studies have shown that Word of Mouth sells more books than any other marketing method by far … but today we’re going to turn that idea on its head, well, at least on its side. Here’s how: We’re going to talk about why word of mouth is not helping your sales.   First we’ll talk the good about Word of Mouth, then the bad, then the downright hideous … So Thomas, get us started. What’s the good part of Word of Mouth?   The Good: Highest credibility form of marketing Cheap It snowballs When it works, it works very well.   The Bad People live in bubbles. This limits the spread of ideas from Bubble to bubble. For example, the average number of friends people have on Facebook is 338. Word of Mouth tends to only kick in after you already don’t need it. Relying on “Word of Mouth” can be an excuse for laziness. There are so many books out there these days, it’s harder than ever to be the book everyone is talking about Word of Mouth primarily benefits the very best books. People don’t talk about every book they read. And most people don’t ask “what’s on your bookshelf”? Word of Mouth is Hard to measure. Who is talking about you? Who is listening? There is no way to know. You don’t control it, if it doesn’t work, there is nothing you can do.   The Hideous People self censor and your book may never come up. Some non-fiction books just don’t qualify for Word of Mouth People might worry that their taste is wrong. Have you ever recommended a TV and had people say “Ugh.”? How many times have you recommended a great book to a close friend? How many times to an acquaintance? Most people don’t have that many close friends.   Bottom Line: You can’t rely on Word of Mouth to sell your books.   Now a bit of good news … next episode, we’re going to talk about how you CAN use Word of Mouth … how you can make it work for you.   Sponsor: 2018 Tax & Business Course for Authors Where you will be after you take this course: You will feel like you understand taxes for authors. Less stressed, more savings, better at making money.  

In this episode, we talk with bestselling author Joanna Penn about how to reduce your pain, improve your health, and build a writing career for the long term. If you need more energy to promote your book, you will not want to miss this podcast. Joanna is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author, as well as a non-fiction author who writes book for authors. She’s sold over  500,000 copies of her 23 books in 84 countries and 5 languages. She’s an indie author, speaker, an international speaker and voted one of The Guardian UK’s Top 100 creative professionals 2013. She’s based in Bath, England although she lived in Australia and New Zealand for 11 years and she’s a travel junkie! Great to have you on the show again, Joanna! How has the year started off for you? We’re excited to talk to you about her latest release, The Healthy Writer: Reduce Your Pain, Improve Your Health, And Build A Writing Career For The Long Term   Questions What made you want to write this book? How did it come about? Why should authors care about their health? Isn’t that just for athletes? How does our health, or lack of health, affect our writing and our stories? How important is sleep? I (Jim) find that after an intense period of writing, I’m exhausted, not just emotionally, but physically too. Am I alone in that, or do we have to take into consideration the toll writing takes on our physical health? After coming off a season of writing, what are the best ways writers can refresh and restore themselves? What can we do during an intense writing time to stay healthy? What health challenges do authors create for themselves that they don’t have to with a little preventative thinking? Speaking of willpower… We WANT to take action to be healthier writers, how do we go from wanting to doing on a consistent basis? You would take care of your child if they came to you, so why wouldn’t you take care of yourself? Read Why We Sleep Book Read Mini-Habits book As an author, you are your biggest asset. Don’t wait to try new things, like dictation for example, until there’s no other alternative (James) If you could only pick one, what is the one lifestyle change that you would put first with regards to being a healthier writer in 2018? Where can folks buy The Healthy Writer?

The 2018 changes to Facebook are changing what works and what does not work for authors. Listen to this episode to learn how to make Facebook work for you. How Facebook’s News Feed Works: In the early days, everyone saw everything. If you have 500 friends that each post one thing and 100 brand pages that each share 5 things that is 750 pieces of content. Most people have more than 500 friends and they post more than once a day. The result is thousands of content pieces. That is more than you can physically go through. Algorithm prioritizes the content so that you see the things that would be most interesting to you. The Facebook Algorithm Looks At: User Preference (See First, Close Friend) Recentsy Social Proximity Content Type Likes / Reactions Comments Shares Promotion What Has Changed in the Last Year: Faster Loading Webpages to Get Priority in News Feed GT Metrics Google penalizes as well for slower loading pages Engagement Bait” Posts Demoted in News Feed Who is going to win the Super Bowl News Feed to Weigh “Reactions” More Than “Likes” Video Prioritized in News Feed Based on Completion Rate Did they FINISH watching your video? What is Changing The Most Recently: Posts from “human pages” aka friends and family will get more priority. This means your BRAND page gets less attention. So if you post on your profile, you’ll get more punch than on your page. Blog Posts and News Stories Shared By Brand Pages are getting less priority. Comments are now more important than likes and reactions. Meaningful comments Long comments A Lot of People Are Saying Facebook is Bad for Society Trying to encourage uplifting interactions What this Means for Authors More important than ever to earn comments. But don’t bait them! Ask questions. Be a place come for discussions. Even as simple as asking, “What do you think?” Pre-recorded Videos are now de-prioritized Live videos are getting even more juice. So now is a good time to experiment with Live Videos. Ask your followers to mark you as “See First” Groups still work well, especially if they have good engagement. Fan group, a place to talk to each other, you’re the party host, but not the entire focus of the group. Ads are going to get more expensive. It is all a matter of supply and demand. Brand pages will have to spend more to reach the same number of people. Also Zuckerburg is predicting that use of Facebook is going to go down which means the overall number of pageviews will decrease. Supply is going down. When supply falls and demand rises prices soar. Books are by definition low ticket items. I predict that it will be harder to make Facebook ads work in the future.   Bottom Line As a savvy author, you should not build your house on Facebook’s shifting sands. Your email list, your website, and your Amazon page are far more important to selling books than your Facebook presence.   Sponsor: 2018 Tax & Business Course for Authors Many of you may not know this but Thomas graduated Cum Laude with a Business degree. He started his first company while in college and he has started many businesses since then. He also consults with companies who are wanting to reduce costs and increase revenue. You could say he knows a thing or two about business. In this course, he sits down with his father Tom Umstattd CPA and they talk about

The new Trump tax plan has some big changes for how much authors pay in taxes. This is arguably the biggest change to the tax code since the 1980s So, we brought in a CPA who has coached authors, celebrities, and small businesses for over thirty-five years. He is the guy that the other accountants turn to with their questions. He is honest, creative and smart – a unique combination. He also happens to be my dad, Tom Umstattd CPA  He has asked me several times not to call him an “expert” so I’ll let you make that determination on your own.” Questions: What are some of the biggest changes for authors under the new tax plan?   Do you have to make a profit to be a business? How much should authors pay in taxes? Render unto Caesar only that which is Caesar’s What should authors start doing in 2018 to reduce their tax bills in 2019? Business Plan Auto Expenses   Home Office Separate bank acct Do I need to be a business entity? LLC Is it better to be a corp or an LLC? What are some expenses that authors can deduct? When does an author need a CPA? Where can people find out more about you? Links: Tom Umstattd CPA * 2018 Tax Course  Sponsor: 2018 Tax & Business Tips for Authors Course We are re-recording an all new course updated for the Trump Tax Plan. In the course you will learn: Whether or not you qualify for tax deductions for your writing-related expenses (not all writers qualify). You will also find out about the 9 factors the IRS uses to determine if someone is a professional author or not. About a simple tool that will help you make more money as an author while helping make you become more audit-proof. How to start making a writing income even before your first book comes out. Whether or not you need to form a business entity, and which entity is best for authors (S Corp or LLC). We will also share a cheap and easy way to form a business entity. 19 different tax deductions authors can take advantage of. 5 ways to reduce your chances of being audited by the IRS. How to avoid common mistakes that often get authors in trouble with the IRS. Not just tax advice, also a lot of general business advice including a special Indie Business Plan Template a Training. Spending an afternoon talking with a CPA would cost you hundreds of dollars. The course is only $99 for focused advice specifically for authors.  It comes with a 30 day refund, if you are not totally satisfied. AuthorMedia.com/taxtips  

In this episode we are going to talk about Email Marketing for Humans. Email Marketing is the #1 tool for driving book sales. It is the tractor that pulls all the other marketing efforts behind it. We talk a lot about how important growing your email list. Today we will be talking with email marketing expert Bryan Cohen. Bryan is a two-time USA Today bestselling author and the co-host of the Sell More Books Show Podcast. He’s also written over 850 book descriptions for other authors in a variety of genres and he boasts over 30,000 email subscribers for his fiction and nonfiction email lists. I will add that the sell more books show is a good companion to Novel Marketing. They cover news while we cover tend to cover timeless marketing fundamentals. Questions: * Why should authors bother with email when readers get so many messages already? * You’re playing the percentages … a higher percentage will interact to email than any other social media platform. * Why do authors have trouble connecting with their readers via email? * Uncomfortable … feels weird to be selling … * Spotlight Effect * What are some of the mistakes you see with author newsletters? * Infrequent … once a quarter isn’t going to do it * No meat, just “buy”! Or rambling emails, where the link is buried at the bottom. * Links to seven different things … no real point, you’ve watered it down * Being genuine is key/real stories/be yourself * How do authors usually set up emails to go out to their readers? * Automated emails to the new subscribers … * How do you get more subscribers? * QUALITY subscribers? Organic. Not the popular answer, but the real one. * Have a website, great content, * I like what you were saying about organic: Make it super obvious how & why to subscribe. * Does setting up automatic emails make you seem like less of a person and more like a company? * Ask a question * Add the first name * Don’t go crazy with the graphics * How do you make this process more comfortable? * Block out a day and write your emails. You’ll start to get into the flow. * What’s the best place for our audience to connect with you, Bryan? * And, since our audience are readers, as well as writers, which of your novels would you suggest they start with? Sponsor: * Five Year Plan to Becoming An Overnight Success

In this episode, we are going to talk about how to find out more about your readers. This is a critical topic because the better you know your readers, the better you can connect with them through your writing and marketing. When do you really connect with authors? When you feel like the two of you are friends. If your readers are strangers to you, you will not be able to write to them and your marketing will fall. Why Get to Know Your Readers The better you know your readers the more you can tailor your books to what they are looking for. You’re supposed to write your books for readers? Jim’s latest novel … If you are writing nonfiction, the better you can answer their specific questions. It keeps you from writing for your editor. At the end of this episode, we are going to teach you a trick for writing to a specific reader. 5 Tools to Find Your Readers 1. Facebook Insights 66% of Thomas’ Facebook Fans are women, 25 – 35. 70% of Novel Marketing’s listeners are women. 1 out of 5 of our fans are women between 45 and 55. (Many of these women are quiet listeners. Most of the messages and questions we get are from men. Ok maybe half.) 73% of Author Media’s fans are women 2. Google Alerts Google has a service so you can be notified anytime someone talks about you on the open internet. Doesn’t pick up on most social media. You can also do a google search for your name and set it to show only results in the last month or year. This is important as the list that comes up without this filter won’t necessarily show you the most recent results. 3. Google Analytics (you can add this for free on your website) Location Operating System What Pages They Are Viewing How Much Time are they spending on what pages. 4. GoodReads Reviews Click to the profiles of your GoodReads reviewers. 5. Kindle Underlined Passages What in your book is resonating with your readers? Create Reader Personas Persona Exercise: Age Gender Family profile, how many kids? Married? How long? Passions, hobbies, what kinds of movies they watch Where do they live? How much money does she make?   Non-Fiction Persona Exercise Felt Needs How to Thrill Primary Pain Point Sponsor: 5 Year Plan to Become a Bestselling Author Thomas’ story of talking with an industry insider. How much would you price it at? His guess? $400 or $500. We totally missed the mark. That is why the price is going up on January 31. Just go to Novel Marketing.com

In this episode, we’re not going to be talking theory, but real-world examples of an author using the principles we talk about on Novel Marketing. And you might have figured out that author is Curt Isles. Curt, so good to have you on the show. Curt and I met … Curt says about himself, that he’s a Southern writer who is passionate about sharing about the unique  pineywoods region of western Louisiana. It is a unique area, long called “No Man’s Land” as well as the “Outlaw Strip” and I deeply love its history, culture, and people. I’m a storyteller and am always searching for remarkable stories, especially those that reflect my heritage. He has thirteen books published as well as over a thousand blog posts . www.creekbank.net/blog. Questions: * Tell us a bit about your journey as an author. * Kickstarter, pros and cons (Crowdfunding Course Link) * Talk about new books their impact on evergreen sales * Beta readers What are beta readers? Why would you want beta readers? Who do you look for when looking for beta reader How do you find beta readers. Sponsor: Novel Marketing Five Year Plan to overnight success … Step by step guidance for the next 5 years of your writing career.  

Introduction Alright, let’s dive into Sales Funnels. This is one of the most important aspects of Marketing. Anytime we work with someone who is not getting the sales they want, this is where we start. The problem is usually somewhere in the funnel or a poor product-market fit. For this episode, we’re going to assume you have good product market fit. In other words, you’ve written a stellar book of staggering genius, and there’s an audience out there who would love to read it. Which means, if you’re not selling as many books as you’d like to, there’s a problem with your funnel. Now some of you might be saying, “What the heck is a sales funnel?” Glad you asked, let’s start there. What is a Marketing Funnel? * Marketing Funnels are sometimes called sales funnels. * Readers want to read from authors they: * Know * Like * Trust * Picture an upside-down pyramid. At the top we have strangers and at the bottom we have readers. * Attract * Engage * Convert * Or put another way: * Awareness * Interest * Action * The marketing funnel is all about building that relationship with the reader so they trust you with their money. * Like dating. You went on a lot more first dates than second dates. Not everyone is going to trust you with their money. Attract/Awareness (Know) * Attract attention so readers know who you are. * This is the most expensive piece in both time and money * Advertising * PR (Radio Interviews, TV Interviews, Podcasts Interviews) * Referrals (Other authors talking about you to their tribe) * Guest Blog Posts (On other authors blogs) * Downloading a free book on Amazon or Bookbub * And remember, frequency sells Engage/Interest (Like) * Blog * Podcast * Content marketing (Episode # 113/talk with Joanna Penn on content marketing) * Earn email address * Drip email campaign (We will do this soon, in the meantime, subscribe to our newsletter to see our drip campaign.) * Social Media * Reading the free book they downloaded Convert/Action (Trust) * The ask. * The email that asks people to buy the book. * Sales, discounts * The last page of the book that tells the reader about the next book in the series. Sponsor: * Five Year Plan to overnight success … * Step by step guidance for the next 5 years of your writing career.

In this episode, we are going to talk about how to make your next year your best year. And joining us today is a special guest and good friend of ours, Tracy Higley. Tracy is a bestselling novelist, CEO of an extremely successful retail business, a part-time college professor, president of Impactivity, and mom of four.   Yes, you’ve probably already guessed that Tracy has figured out how to clone herself. Seriously, Tracy obviously knows what it’s like to be super-busy and handle it well. But, she definitely went through the process of crashing and burning More than once. But that means she’s figured out how to be highly entrepreneurial, and at the same time, find balance in her life. And now she loves teaching and showing others how to get centered and pursue a healthy life that has lasting impact.   Questions: * Why is planning important? Can’t authors just wing it? * How important do you feel goal-setting is when it comes to writing and marketing a novel? * What do you think is the most effective way to plan next year’s marketing efforts? * What does a budget look like? Money, energy, time. * What advice do you give to people who have a plan, but have trouble motivating themselves to implement the plan? * Plan to measure next year. * Book Keeping * Rescue Time * What’s your advice for people who hate marketing? * Where does work/life balance fit into all this marketing work, for someone who is trying to add marketing to an already crazy-busy life? * Tracy where can we find more about you?   IMPACTIVITY: Impactivity helps you discover and embrace the unique adventure of your life, so you can shift the way you naturally do your best work into a lifestyle that has lasting impact.  With books, workbooks, articles and a podcast, Impactivity is helping people find their dream, get free to follow it, and do it all in a healthy way. You can start checking out the many resources at impactivity.com. Links * impactivity.com/cure * Impactivity Podcast   Sponsor: Five Year Plan to Becoming a Bestselling Author Speaking of planning Thomas and I created a course to help guide you through the first five years or your writing career. We like to call it the five year plan to instant, overnight success. If you want to become a best-selling author, this course will walk you through everything you need to do to get there. It is a lot of work, but the results are guaranteed. It has two guarantees. A 30 day any reason guarantee and a 5 year “I tried it and it didn’t work” guaranty. This is one of the most comprehensive courses of its kind and the price will be going up next year.