L. C. Scott is the founder of eFrog Press and an author. Her many years of teaching at the high school and university level and her freelance writing career have prepared her to lead a team of experts to guide both fledgling and experienced authors through the maze of indie publishing. Today on Take the Leap she reflects on a book she can’t stop thinking about—the very best kind!
I don’t usually reread books, unlike my daughter who has read Harry Potter countless times, but for Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It, I made an exception. I found it as I scoped out the techy section at my local library. Great title—had to pick it up. As I began reading, it became obvious that this book was not just for businesses—it was for new authors, especially indie authors. Of course, that makes sense because successful indie authors view their writing as a business and understand that writing a great book is just the first half of the process—marketing is the second half.
Because sales and marketing do not come naturally to many authors, I knew Mitch Joel’s advice would be enlightening. As president of Twist Image (an innovative digital marketing company) and author of Six Pixels of Separation, he has much to reveal about the present and future of business and especially marketing. As I read through the print copy of his book, I inwardly lamented that I did not have a digital version so I could highlight important sections (Do you do that? More on sharing ebook comments in a future post!). As it was a library book, I could not use a highlighter to flag quotes I wanted to read again, and I was too caught up in reevaluating my business and marketing my book in new ways to stop and type up these gems. Then as I began the last section of the book, I realized I had to own it. I had to buy the ebook. I needed to reread this book and digest Joel’s predictions and revelations. Renewing the library book just did not give me enough time.
I also knew I had to blog about it so authors struggling with the marketing part could share these insights into the changing marketplace and ignore the time and money intensive approaches that used to work (or did they?).
Blogging and Tweeting and Facebooking, Oh My!
Blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking and more take time away from your writing so you need to think carefully about which channels to use and how to use them. Read our social media marketing posts here on Take the Leap to find some great how-to posts on different channels but remember less is more. Where do your readers hang out online? That’s where you want to be. Joel says:
The true opportunity going forward is for your business to develop a direct relationship with our consumers.
Read that statement again and substitute “you” for “your business” and “readers” for “consumers.” Got it? As Joel goes on to emphasize, it is not about how many followers you have but about relationships. How do you develop quality relationships? Joel advises:
Find and nurture your true fans. Your heavy users. As that relationship delivers, they will become evangelists for you and you will begin to experience the network effect.
Evangelists–got to love it! Let your true fans, your passionate readers spread the word for you. Think about how to nurture a direct relationship with readers and never again will you tweet “Buy my book.”
An Indie Author Learns to Tweet
Last week I spoke with an indie author just dipping her toe into social media. I read through her recent Tweets and was amazed by the back and forth with several of her followers. She was genuine, friendly, and enthusiastic as she connected with her new followers and began relationships with an agent and a well-established author. She was concerned that she did not have many followers yet, but I was dazzled by the quality of the relationships she was developing just by being herself in this new-to-her environment. Since mid-September she has over 800 tweets and 203 followers, but I expect her follower count to grow exponentially as people discover a writing teacher and indie author with something to say and a willingness to share. Curious? Check out @SLLipson on Twitter.
So follow Mitch Joel’s advice for this year and ask, “What does your reboot look like?” Not sure? Read the book and get inspired.
Please Share
How have you nurtured relationships with readers and potential readers?
