11 Quick Marketing Strategies to use Before Breakfast

As writers, or indeed in any industry, the biggest challenge today is getting our books seen. Yet, mention the word Marketing in any group of writers and a collective groan will go up. Marketing is seen as both a necessary evil and a time suck. I can fully understand why you feel that way. So today's blog brings you quick and easy ideas you can use to get you started.

1. Write 5 tweets. Schedule them to go out at optimum times throughout the day. You can use a social media scheduler such as Hootsuite or Buffer to do this. You can use this handy article to check the best times 

2. Set Buffer or Hootsuite to post to Instagram and Facebook. One caveat, if you post the same content to all your social media accounts at once people will know you are autoposting. This might annoy some of your readers. However, you need to make your own decision about this.

3. Change your Facebook Business Page to a Shop Page. Details of how to do this can be found here 

4. Write a facebook post for your Facebook Page. Make it unique, funny, helpful, an article about some aspect of your book. In fact anything that doesn't say buy my book. What? Yes, that's right don't sell your book. However, if you have made your Page a Shop then you will be able to link to your books on any post. See point three on how to do this.

5. Start a Facebook Readers Group for your books. Many authors are now doing this as it gets around the throttling of posts on pages.

6. Write a blog post. Again don't make this specifically about your books. However, provide pictures of your books and links

7. Write a newsletter to your mailing list. Again, not specifically about your books, but add a section saying if you haven't read them all yet then now's the time or whatever variation of this you would like to use.

8. If you haven't got a newsletter then start one. Use an email service provider such as Mailchimp,  AWeber or ConvertKit

9. Jot down 30 ideas for blog posts. This will speed up the process when you want to write a post. Your brain will also percolate the ideas and will be ready to produce when you sit down at the keyboard.

10. Join a Facebook Copromote Tweet Group. Use this to get retweets for your posts. Retweet others in the group to provide helpful content to your followers

11. Join a Facebook Marketing Group to get more ideas and to collaborate in marketing each others groups I have one on Facebook called Killer Marketing Techniques for Writers 

12. yes, I know I said 11 but there's always a bonus tip. Go to twitter or Facebook and share for three of your friends. Being nice to people is free and usually everyone will be nice back

I hope these help. Tune in soon for more Killer Marketing Ideas

About the Author

Wendy H. Jones is the bestselling author of the Award Winning DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries and the Fergus and Flora Mysteries. She lives and writes in Scotland. She is also the author of 'Power Packed Book Marketing'. You can find out more and get a free ebook on her website

Power Packed Book Marketing

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Branding Your Book Covers

There is a lot of advice out there when it comes to author branding. Most exhort authors to ensure they have a brand that is recognisably them. Branding includes a number of areas such as author name, genre, book titles, and also, crucially, covers.

The cover above is for my forthcoming release, Killer's Crew. This is the fifth book in the DI Shona Mckenzie Mysteries. All my books have a similar layout. The bottom part of the cover is an image from Dundee where the books are set. The top half is an image which portrays something which happens in the book. The titles all have Killer's in them and there is always blood dripping from the writing.

The books are instantly recognisable as crime books. They have the Wendy H. Jones factor. Readers instantly know this is one of my books.  Anyone in the know would recognise them as having something to do with Dundee. The name of the detective Shona McKenzie certainly sets them out as having something to do with Scotland. 

Each book is a different colour so they stand out from each other. However, together they are branded as being part of the same series. They certainly stand out on the shelf. The covers for Killer's Countdown, Killer's Craft, Killer's Cross and Killer's Cut are below.

  

I am sure you will agree the cover designer has got the branding spot on. Cathy Helms of Avalon Graphics  is an outstanding designer who takes great care to ensure that the covers meet the needs of her clients. In this series she has excelled herself. 

One thing I will say about the covers. There is an argument that you should not put the book numbers on the cover as human nature means people think they should be read in order. However, readers like to know the number of the book in the series so I went with the readers views in this case. They are stand alone books and can be read in any order. 

It is worth taking time to ensure that your branding reflects both your books and who you are. Well maybe not who I am unless I am a despotic serial killer. But you get my drift.

I have one more cover to present to you. This is for my free book DI Shona Mckenzie's Guide to Killing Your Boss. This is available form my website Shona is feisty, funny, sharp and dedicated. She also has the boss from hell. For the first time she shares her secrets of how you can bump him off. This book also doubles as ideas for deaths in your crime book so a double whammy. 

If you would like to find out more about the books you can do so on my website or on my Amazon author page 

  

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Book Marketing: Opportunities and Fun

One of the biggest challenges that writers face is what happens once the book comes out. Most creatives have little, or even no, understanding of marketing. However, I have found that opportunities abound if you are willing to look for, and grab, them. Guesting on blogs is once such opportunity. I read a lot of blogs and listen to a lot of podcasts. When bloggers are looking for guests I put myself forward. This involves giving a few topics which are suitable for the blog's approach.  Recently I heard that the Book Marketing Tools blog had opportunities for guest posts. I applied and was successful. I was talking about marketing being fun. You can read the post on the link below

Putting the Fun Into Book Marketing

The Book Marketing Tools blog is a superb blog for writers and it is well worth subscribing. 

I have been interviewed or a guest on a number of blogs. I also interview and host others on this blog. This is a good example of collaboration. When writers work together the sum is greater than all the parts. Everyone wins. Another example of collaboration is joint book signings or events. These can go with a bang especially if you also make them fun. This is exactly what another couple of crime writers and I plan to do at an event later in they year. Watch this space for details. 

I bid you adieu my Bookaholic friends. Enjoy life, see you soon.  Until then, keep reading and writing 

The New Rules of Sales and Service

Another one for writers, and anyone in marketing and sales, today here on Bookaholics. For all my fiction readers we will be back to normal service soon. This book is so good I need to get it out there so my writer friends can find out about it.

This is not just a how to book but an in depth look at the way markets are changing and the way in which sales and service is changing in response. It is detailed and interesting and uses case studies to good effect. The writer has a lot of experience in sales and marketing and this shows. The case studies are excellent and cover most areas of the market. There is something for everyone in here. I was particularly interested in looking at it from a writers point of view and I was not disappointed. It even shows how this can be used in the marketing and promotion of books. There is a lot of sound advice and I am sure most people who are engaged in marketing and selling a product would get something from it. I certainly intend to use some of the advice in my own business. It is not a book to dip into, but one to read cover to cover. It is also worth taking notes on the ways in which you could apply the advice to your own business.

Overall an excellent book which I would highly recommend.

         

So there we have it for another day my Bookaholic friends. See you all back here soon with another great review. Until then go find a book. It's the perfect day for reading. 

I was given a copy of this book from Amazon in return for a fair and honest review. This review is based on my reading, and enjoyment, of this book. I was not asked at any point to provide a positive review. The links above are affiliate links and I will receive a small payment if you should buy the book through these. You re under no obligation to use the links and can look for the book on Amazon.