It's Okay to Be Picky - Tips for Authors

I am a picky eater, but that’s a whole ‘nother story. This is about being choosy about your promotions. Writers, your time, money, and sanity are valuable, and it’s okay not to do every conference, book signing, and event that comes your way. It’s hard. You want to be a part of things and to sell books, but life obligations and writing your next book are important, too.

When we started out with the anthologies, we did just about every promotional event that came along. One year, I had something bookish to do every weekend, and a lot of them included travel. There were some weekends where there were multiple events in the same day. I love to meet readers and talk about books, but I have two series now, a day gig, and everything else that life throws at me.

Events

• I try to choose events where my readers are. I did some ComiCons early on. They were so much fun, but the audience wasn’t really for cozy, mystery readers.

• Evaluate the cost (including travel and your time) for events that charge. Sometimes, there is value by gaining newsletter subscribers, networking, or the opportunity to talk to readers. It may not always be book sales.

• Be creative. We’ve had some really good book sales at “non-book” events (e.g. an art festival at a winery, a happy hour at a museum, a table at a beach-themed store, a table outside a card shop ahead of Mother’s Day weekend). Try new things and learn what works for your readership.

• Know where you will be at the event. I sunburn easily, so if it’s outside in the heat, I need shelter or a tent. Will you be expected to bring a tent, chairs, and a table? We did an outside event in January once and almost froze to death. I always have a box of books in the trunk of my car, too. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve sold out or the book order didn’t arrive at the venue on time.

• Be prepared. I pack an event bag with swag, giveaways, a tent card, table cloths, extra pens, tape, painter’s tape, scissors, and seasonal things like sunscreen and sunglasses. I also pack a little cooler with drinks and snacks.

It’ Okay to Say No, But Be Professional

• Sometimes, we take on too much because we don’t want to or can’t say no. Give yourself permission to be choosy and don’t feel guilty about it.

• Be gracious and professional when you decline an invitation. Don’t burn bridges in case you may want to participate at another time.

• If you accept an invitation, try not to back out unless it really is an emergency. Think about the event planner. It is often difficult to get last-minute replacements.

• Be on time and be prepared.

• It’s okay to stand up for yourself and to push back when there are issues. Just be professional. Tirades and outbursts on social media make you feel better for a moment, but they can damage your reputation for a long time. You are your brand.

• Don’t be a diva. A lot of events and conferences are staffed by volunteers. Many bloggers, bookstagrammers, and podcasters don’t get paid for their efforts either. Demanding authors get a negative reputation pretty quickly and word spreads.

Facebook Takeovers - What are They? What Do I Do?

A Facebook Takeover is when another site (author, book group, etc.) on Facebook lets you control the content for a short period of time to talk about your books and interact with the readers. Usually the administrator of an established group will give you access to the site, so you can post. This allows you to meet an established following, and only members of that group are able to participate in the event. (This means you can’t invite your friends and fans unless they join the group.) Sometimes, takeovers are set up as Facebook Events, and you can usually invite your friends to participate because they are open to anyone who is interested.

Facebook takeovers are promotional tools to help you market your book and meet new readers. I love to interact with people on social media, so I’m excited when I get to introduce my cozies to a new group. Here’s what I’ve learned about takeovers....

• It’s usually a good idea if you’re part of the group or community and that you are familiar with the members and their interests. If you’re not a member, join and visit ahead of your takeover, so they get to know you.

• Follow all the instructions the administrator provides you for posting. Many want you to do a series of give-aways, and they provide guidance about dates, length of the event, prizes, and ways to interact.

• Find give-ways that you can easily mail. Remember, most of these sites have a worldwide audience. If you have restrictions on your contest, you need to specify it up front. (It’s really expensive to mail a book or a mug to another country.)

• Make sure all links work and you have access before your takeover begins.

• Once you agree on a date and time, make sure to create a reminder for yourself, so that you’re not late. Also verify the time zone with the host.

• Check out other takeovers on the site to see what the readers are expecting. Bright, fun graphics and short posts are usually best. I use Canva or BookBrush to create graphics that are sized correctly. I also like to have them branded with my book and website.

• I open a Word document ahead of my event and post a copy of my graphics. and the text that I’m going to use. This allows me to proofread it and make sure it covers everything I want to highlight. Then during the take-over, I just have to copy the block and post the graphic.

• The event is a place for you to introduce yourself and your book. Many authors talk about themes or places in their books and ask questions for the participants to answer in the comments. I make my questions related to an upcoming holiday and my book. (I talk about my sleuth’s job or hobbies and have a contest question about that. There is always a fuzzy sidekick in my book, so I do some kind of question/game with pets. People love to tell you about their pets and show pictures. Clothes, styles, food, and pop culture make great conversation starters.)

• The idea is to have fun and get people to respond to your games or questions. Don’t over-complicate things with too many rules or conditions.

• Some takeovers have multiple authors, and you get usually only one post, but you can add more information and links in the comments. Other events allow multiple posts. Remember, if you do twenty posts, you have to respond to all of them. For a take-over that lasts several hours, I usually do an activity or give-away every 30 minutes.

• This should be a fun time for the participants where they can interact with you. Don’t just post and return only to select a winner. Check in periodically and make sure you react and comment.

• If given a choice, I like to leave the contests open until the next day. This gives people in different time zones a chance to play.

• Let the participants know where they can find you and your books.

• Always thank your hosts and your participants. I usually create a “thank you meme.”

• Check with your host; sometimes they announce the winners. If not, I make a graphic with all the winners. I also post it on my author page and tag the winners.

• Remember that most of these sites or groups are administered by volunteers. Be a gracious guest and not a demanding diva.

Book Marketing - A Marathon Not a Sprint

I hear a lot of disappointed comments from new authors as they struggle to promote and market their books. Posting a couple of “buy my book” links is not all there is to book marketing. Good promotion is a marathon and not a sprint. It’s a lot of work, but if you put the time in, you will see results. Here’s what I’ve learned through the years…

While You’re Waiting - There is a lot of down time while you’re querying and waiting for edits. Use that time to build your author platform. You need the foundation for your promotional efforts.

• Spend at least 30 minutes a day on your main social media sites. Interact and share others’ information. Work to build your followers. Follow people who have similar interests to you.

• Build your email list. Participate in online contests to add readers of your genre. Take a sign up sheet to all of your in-person events. Put a sign up option on your website.

• Create your marketing contact list of librarians, bookstore owners, and other authors. Relationships are important.

• Make sure you have an author website. This is the hub of your promotions. Check to make sure everything is up to date. The look should match your social media sites.

• Start driving traffic to your website. The easiest way is to have a blog with fresh content that will bring people back. (You will also need to promote your posts to build an audience.) Most websites don’t have frequent enough updates to bring people back regularly.

Network - Writing is often a solitary adventure, but you do need those special people who share your celebrations.

• Find a writers’ group where you can share the good times and the disappointments. The support is invaluable.

• It is much easier to get reviews, blurbs, and promotion opportunities if you’re part of a writing community. Plus, they are a wealth of information and experience.

• Be a good citizen. Don’t show up on pub day and ask for a bunch of help unless you’re willing to return the favors.

• Be willing to volunteer and help where you can.

Be Creative - Look for different types of virtual and in-person events.

• Make a list of themes in your book. (For my latest, some of these are: vintage trailers, glamping, Blue Ridge Mountains, and Jack Russell Terriers.) Look for places that cater to these. My Delanie Fitzgerald mysteries feature a Sears Catalog house, and I was a guest on a blog that restores these classic houses.

• Look for sales opportunities that aren’t book stores. I have friends who have book displays in restaurants, giftshops, and museums. We’ve done a lot of book signings at wineries and craft breweries.

• Volunteering to conduct workshops, give talks, or teach classes is a good way to get your name out to new audiences. Some will even feature your books. And even if you can’t sell books, you can pass out bookmarks and share your contact information.

Book marketing takes a lot of time and effort. Start early and build your base. (I started with 3 Twitter followers.) Best wishes on your writing projects and marketing efforts!

Things to Do When I Have a New Book - Tips for Authors

When you have book launch, there are hundreds of tasks you need to do for promotion and marketing. Here’s my list of things authors should remember to do to ensure that your sites are current and show off your new book.

Website:

• Update your cover and your book links.

• Make sure that the new book is listed in your press kit.

• If you offer book club discussion questions, create a new set for this book.

• Update your events page with all of the tours and signings you’ve scheduled.

• If you sell books on your site, make sure to update that section, too.

Social Media Sites

• Review all of your biographies on your sites and update. (Facebook Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, BookBub, Amazon Author Central, Goodreads, etc.) If you have some that you don’t use as often as others, check to see that the information is current there.

• Update any graphics or photos. You want your readers to recognize you when they visit your social sites. Your brand should be on each site.

• If you have a commerce/shopping site on any of your pages, make sure you’ve included this one.

• Upload any new graphics of the book.

Other Documents

• Create a document that contains your story’s summary (long and short version), biography, and social media links.

• Add all of the book buy links to your documentation. That way, you have one place to go when someone asks for your information.

• Create bookmarks and email signup sheets for your events and presentations.

• Draft your press release and add it to your press kit.

Best wishes with your book promotion!

What's on Your Book Launch Checklist? Tips for Authors

I’m a firm believer in checklists and reminders, and with all the details and planning that go into a book launch, here are some ideas for your checklist.

Planning is the key. Many bookstagrammers, podcasters, book reviewers, and book promo services schedule their calendars MONTHS in advance. As soon as you have your date, start your planning.

First Things First

• Get some kind of calendar to record deadlines and event dates. Figure out what works for you. For me, I print out a monthly calendar three months ahead and three months after the big day. This also helps me not to overload certain days with similar items.

• I also create a launch spreadsheet and list every type of promo that I want to include with all the links and contacts.

• I keep my lists from previous books, so I always go back and look at what I did last time. If it worked, I try it again, and I jettison the items that weren’t worth the time, effort, or money.

• Reach out to the podcasters, reviewers, blog tours that you really want to target as soon as you know the date, especially if you’re planning a cover reveal or a big bang event for your launch week. Many book their calendars three to six months in advance.

Do What You Can Early

• When you start to schedule interviews and guest blogs, start crafting the posts when you have some free time. I record what’s needed for each submission in my spreadsheet (e.g. headshot, book cover, book links, etc.). If you’re doing a blog tour, it takes a lot of time to complete all the interviews and to come up with interesting posts.

• Always be professional. I make sure all my deadlines are on my calendar. If you commit to something, do your best to deliver.

• I also list all of the “go-live” dates on my calendar for when the posts/podcasts are available, so that I can promote them on my social media sites. Most reviewers, podcasters, and bookstagrammers don’t get paid for the book promotions, and authors need to do their part to share and comment.

Be Creative

• Think about all angles when you’re planning events and book promotions. Interesting or unusual stores/museums/places might be willing to host you for a talk or a book signing. (We’ve done some really successful book signings at wineries, coffee shops, gift shops, and museums.)

• I keep a massive spreadsheet of contacts. I cruise through it when I start to plan a launch and book promotions.

• Look at all the groups/organizations that you’re a member of. Many are looking for guest speakers. They also have newsletters that have spots for member announcements. Don’t forget your clubs, neighborhood groups, and alumni groups.

• Make a list of the key things in your book. Look for groups that are interested in these. They might be willing to interview you or partner in some way to promote your book. Examples from my Delanie series are female private eye, English bulldog, Central Virginia setting, 80s rock music, roller derby, drag queens, larping, Comicons, Sears Catalogue houses, and Poe. We had a lot of success promoting our Virginia is for Mysteries series at tourist spots and our Mutt Mysteries at dog-themed events.

Be Organized

• I have a Word file for each book with my current bio, social media links, book links, ISBNs, and book blurb. This keeps all the information in one place when I need it for interviews or posts.

• I also create a folder on my laptop that has difference sizes of the book cover and my headshots. It helps to keep things together, so you can put your hands on them

Planning is really important, and with all the pieces and parts, it’s easy to miss something. These are some things that have worked for me.

Best wishes with your book launch and promotion!

20 Bookstagrammers You Need to See

#Bookstagram is a phenomenon of Instagram. It’s a popular hashtag used to showcase books in pretty settings and arrangements. There are all kinds of themes and challenges. If you’re a book lover, check it out. Bookstores, libraries, readers, reviewers, interior designers, and others feature their latest reads and reviews with so much creativity. Here are 20 of my favorites.

In no particular order:

• @ElleryAdamsOfficial

• @SocraticKicks

• @Bookishly_Overdue

• @Kamis_Korner

• @OverflowingShelf

• @The_Reading_Beauty

• @Amandas.Bookshelf

• @neelhtak

• @CozyMysteryCorner

• @ashleyisbookish

• @neverlandbooks

• @teryn_books

• @whatsbethanyreading

• @alysonbookishthoughts

• @Books_and_Benches

• @NeverLoweonBooks

• @berkleyrosereads

• @inked.in.pages

• @escapetothebookshelf

• @wiltedpages

Make it Easy to Share Your Book News - Tips for Authors

Book promotion is a necessary part of the writing life. Here are some ideas of ways that you can make it easier for others to share your information.

Facebook - Use your author page as your hub for your Facebook book news. If you do share announcements on your personal page, make sure to check the security settings so that they are sharable. You want to get the word out, and you want folks to post the information on their pages. Security and privacy settings are good protections, but if you’re trying to promote something, it doesn’t work if it’s locked down.

Email Signature - Put a few of your key links (e.g. website, blog, social media) in your email signature. This helps identify you, and it’s an easy way to share your author website with all of your email connections.

Links - If you’re promoting links to an event, make sure that you add comments to the original post or you post multiple times to keep it at the top of your feed. If it’s not an event that people subscribe to, it’s often difficult to find the link again. Some Facebook parties are held on pages, while others are events with their own location. Make it easy for people to find you and attend your event.

Graphics - Posts with graphics, videos, or movement tend to get more attention. Take a minute to create a graphic for your announcement. Posts that are all text are often overlooked.

Be Succinct - Do not include lots of text in your announcement posts. Remember, people are scrolling through a newsfeed of lots of stuff. It needs to be like a newspaper headline. Catch their attention and give them the important information up front. Facebook will also truncate longer posts, and you never can predict where they’ll add the “read more” link.

People Need Reminders - While, we don’t need hourly updates, a gentle reminder of an event is often helpful. You could post a reminder the day before. Then the morning of, you could do another type of post where you talk about how you’re looking forward to attending the event, and you can tag people you know are going. Then afterwards, post pictures. Don’t forget to tag people. People like to feel connected and involved.

Don’t Forget to Comment - Likes are nice on social media sites, but shares and comments are better. Each site has its own algorithm, and posts with more activity get shown to more people. So, when you get comments, respond to them. Conversations lead to more comments. You can also tag people in your comments, and that often is a way to continue the conversation.

Always Celebrate - If you have contest or give-away winners, create a graphic and a post to celebrate. If you’re donating a gift basket or a prize to something else, make sure to add a picture and let people know if they can contribute to the cause or participate.

It’s like Staples’s old advertising campaigns with the “Easy” button. People are more apt to share your information when it’s crisp, clean, interesting, and easy.

Writerly Lessons Learned - Tips for Authors

I have done hundreds of events, workshops, and classes over the years, and I have learned a lot along the way. Here are some that I can laugh about now…

Know Where You’re Going to Be - We did a museum event one time in January. When I booked it for our anthology authors, it never occurred to me to ask where we would be sitting. It was outside in the dead of winter. Thankfully, one of the gals lived nearby, and her husband dropped by with portable space heaters.

Always Confirm - Get the details before an event and confirm everything. I attended a friend’s book launch at a chain bookstore. When her guests arrived, the book seller told her that the book order didn’t arrive on time. She didn’t have any extra copies with her.

Lips Don’t Lie - We did a panel event at a library with a packed house over 250 people. During the signing, a woman approached the table, and she told me she had to tell me something. She wanted to tell me that “my lips disappeared in the back of the room.” At first, I thought she was trying to sell me cosmetics. I was a little baffled at the comment. It seems my lipstick had disappeared somewhere along the way, and she wanted me to know, so I could wear a darker color next time.

Some Assembly Required - We did a signing at a beautiful winery once, and my partner in crime brought her tent and table. I’m sure it looked like two women doing some kind of weird dance. We had to wrestle the tent. (We are both under 5’ 3”, so it was quite an adventure to raise the canopy over our heads.) I hope no one was filming it. Thankfully, a tall person assisted.

Thanks, Mom - At my very FIRST book signing at the Library of Virginia, I pocketed my keys, phone, and a pen. I didn’t want to have to keep up with a purse during the talk and signing. When I went to sign the first book, I realized my pen had dried up. Thankfully, my mom came to the rescue with the stash of pens from her purse.

Censored - We did a Facebook take over one time on a site owned by a blog tour company. The company did book promotions for mystery and romance writers. Somehow, its erotica promotions caused it to have an adult rating with some of the web monitoring tools. We found out later that a lot of our readers’ computers blocked the site as pornographic.

What Time is it? - Make sure you clarify the time zone. I’ve done interviews and panels based in Europe and the West Coast, and I had to check the time conversions several times. I was up once at o’dark thirty many a time for a live, morning interview in England.

A Rose by Any Other Name - When we formed a group of writers for a joint blogging venture, we Googled the name and hashtags that we wanted to use. We ended up with Lethal Ladies Write because “Lethal Ladies” belonged to a group of wrestlers. When I was looking at pennames, I thought I’d use my first and middle name, Heather Leigh. When I Googled it, it belonged to an exotic dancer and adult film star in California. Her following was slightly different than mine.

The writing life is an adventure. These are some of mine that were also learning experiences.