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5 Tips for Social Media Inspiration when Promoting Your Book

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30189909@N08/2928546233/sizes/m/in/photostream/Once you’ve blogged a book, promoting it becomes essential. Social media is a critical component to any marketing plan, but it’s easy to get bogged down in your social media efforts. You know you need to keep the content fresh, relevant and interactive, but producing quality content day in and day out can be challenging.

Not all social media content needs to be specifically from your book. You should talk about other things that might be related to the overall content or theme. In fact, I recommend following the 80/20 rule of social media, which dictates that 80 percent of your content should be “infotainment,” “edutainment,” tips, tricks, articles, quotes, questions, polls, helpful information, etc. Then 20 percent of the content can be self promotional, where you talk specifically about your book and its content. No one wants to be sold to all the time when they’re engaged in social media. By following the 80/20 rule, you’ll be sure to have compelling content that keeps your audience engaged and still get the message out about your book.

Here are 5 tips to help you keep your social media audience engaged with fresh content.

  1. Be timely. The calendar is your friend. Keep an eye on what’s new, not just in your world but in the world of your audience. Are you writing a book for children? Keep an eye on story times at your local library, share information about an upcoming event at the zoo or let your audience know when Sesame Street on Ice will be in town. Stay attuned to school holidays and time special events for days you know parents will be looking for amusement for their little ones.
  2. Be relevant. Ask yourself what your audience is looking for. Why do they follow you on Twitter? Why do they like you on Facebook? If you’ve written a fitness book, your followers likely have a shared interest in good health. Share a favorite healthy recipe or send out a “move of the day.” Highlight a local park that’s great for hikes, or let your audience know about an upcoming 5k run.
  3. Be interactive. Don’t just post and run – social media is supposed to be a conversation. Read what your friends, colleagues and competitors are writing. Comment on their posts and share interesting information. Bring something to the table!
  4. Keep a list. Inspiration strikes at the strangest times, so be prepared and make a note of ideas whenever – and wherever – you have them. If you overhear something funny on the bus, write it down! If someone gives you a great quote, ask if you can use it. Don’t forget to take pictures at every event you do to promote your book – perfect for Pinterest!
  5. Be Funny. Let’s face it; we all love a good laugh. And if the occasional funny video or silly picture isn’t exactly relevant, we forgive you – as long as it makes us laugh! Spend a few minutes now and then surfing for amusing clips or photos that might brighten someone’s day.

Savvy social media marketers know that while planning ahead is essential, you also have to stay on top of your social media efforts to keep them effective. Be flexible and ready to change course according to what’s going on in your business, your community or in the news, and let social media work for you.

Social media is an important marketing component to building a business around a book. Learn more about best practices for the various social media platforms and how you can truly maximize it for your business at the upcoming Expert Platform Building 101 + Entrepreneurial Fundamentals 102 event on May 19-20 in San Jose, CA. Get the details here.

About the Author

Erika Taylor Montgomery, CEO/Chief Publicist and Founder of Three Girls Media & Marketing Inc. (www.ThreeGirlsMedia.com) enjoyed an 18-year broadcasting career in the San Francisco Bay Area before transitioning to Public Relations. In 2005, Taylor Montgomery launched Three Girls Media & Marketing Inc., a public relations and social media agency that specializes in working with small and emerging businesses and authors.

Taylor Montgomery is also a sought-after public speaker and published author, providing invaluable insider know-how into working with the media, and how business owners can best utilize the press to promote their companies. She is the co-author of the bestselling book, The Spirit of Silicon Valley – Journeys & Transformations Beyond Technology, available on Amazon.com. She is the author of the forthcoming book, PR for the 21st Century – A Step-by-Step Guide for Small Business, Non-Profits & Entrepreneurs.

Join Nina Amir and Erika Taylor Montgomery at
Expert Platform Building 101 + Entrepreneurial Fundamentals 102
on May 19-20 in San Jose, CA. Get the details here.
Filed Under: Publicizing Your Blog Tagged With: , , ,

Boost Your Publishing Business by Becoming a Speaker

May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

public speaking, giving a speach, business around a bookCongratulations on blogging a book or even considering writing and publishing a book. You gain a lot of credibility as a published author. But now the real hard work begins. Unless you are a celebrity with a large publicity and marketing staff—and a huge following of fans, the burden will be mostly on you to get the word out about your book. Most publishers will announce your book to the world and then move onto other projects. If you self-publish, you don’t even get help with that initial launch

The burden of marketing always settles onto the author. Book signings are a great way to reach out to the public, but people want to actually hear what you have to say. Enter the world of public speaking. Verbal communication is what sets us apart in the animal world, and writing and speaking are the longest arrows in your quiver. I often tell youngsters that regardless of what they major in at college, if they can speak and write competently they will be far ahead in the business world. Most universities offer many writing classes, but when have you heard of “Speaking” being an elective course?

Many people are born communicators. I grew up in an American German-Italian heritage household. With four siblings, if I were not vocal I was left behind. Some of us are hams and thrive in situations where we can speak and perform. Others need some help to become proficient speakers. I’ve even kissed the Blarney Stone; the Irish legend has it that if you visit the Blarney Castle and kiss a certain stone in the structure you will be endowed with the “gift of gab.”

Since your new nonfiction book offers written testimony that you are an expert in your field. Now you need to build the confidence to let others hear similar verbal confirmation. We’ve all heard of the classic “elevator speech,” where in  three minutes you need to tell the essence of your passion, product or service. Can you talk for an hour to relate the thrust of your book?

If you don’t feel comfortable speaking in public, no worries. Speaking in public can be learned.

  • Many corporations offer public speaking classes for their employees.Take advantage of them.
  • If you are a true entrepreneur without access to corporate resources, try the Toastmasters organization. It has made a nice business out of teaching people how to speak in public.
  • The Dale Carnegie Program is another program I recommend.
  • Practice makes perfect.

We all need to remember that public speaking is NOT about you – it’s about the audience. Here are some thing to remember when developing a speech to go with your blogged book:

  • While you may walk on water, but they will soon tire listening to you boast. Keep in mind that it’s not about you.
  • You are the band-aid for their pain. Give them solutions for their problems, answers to their questions.
  • They are trying to find ways your topic can benefit them. Offer added value.
  • Your mission is to do one of three things: inform them, persuade them or entertain them.
  • Establish yourself as the expert and the most qualified person to be speaking – then you relate your ideas in ways that apply to them. For example, climbing Mt Everest is an exciting story. The key is to relate how this experience taught you teamwork, responsibility, goal setting etc. and how the audience can apply the same principles.
  • Ever since Neanderthals huddled around a campfire, humans have loved to hear stories. Nothing has changed. If you can develop stories that create visual images in the minds of the audience, they will remember them way more than just facts.

I hope you can see that public speaking is a big subject, worthy of your study. We haven’t even talked about delivery techniques, eye contact, body movement, PowerPoint, and many other topics for successful speaking. Our current president is a master speaker. He can inform, persuade and entertain all in one forceful talk. You can, too.

Most of my training was received in the Air Force, Company programs, classes from the Mandel Communications Company, and Dale Carnegie. I have written two books on Yosemite National Park and managed to sell 10,000 copies. To support this, I write a daily blog and give close to 50 talks a year. I am a member of the National Speakers Association and get paid for my expertise. I also lecture on cruise ships – free cruises for my wife and me. You can, too. On May 19 at the Expert Platform Building 101 program, I will be providing the tools to begin the speaking facet of your book business – an important platform building and promotional tool for all authors. Speaking is fun and it can be profitable. Click here, if you’d like to find out more and register.

About the Author

Rick Deutsch, San Jose, is a veteran of the Cold War and of Intel and Sun Microsystems. He lives the Carpe Diem Lifestyle – Seize the Day. As an author, speaker and adventurer, he has visited every inhabited continent. He’s become “Mr. Half Dome,” having written the only hiking guide to the signature landmark of Yosemite and has done this extremely strenuous hike 31 times. He speaks at museums, outfitters, companies, civic groups and on cruise ships. He’s also a certified Nordic Walking instructor and introduced this fitness program onboard Crystal Cruise lines.  His extroverted style displays his subject expertise while delivering a highly entertaining presentation. MrHalfDome@gmail.com

 Join Nina Amir and Rick Deutsch at
Expert Platform Building 101 + Entrepreneurial Fundamentals 102
on May 19-20 in San Jose, CA. Get the details here.

Filed Under: Build a Business Around Your Book, Increasing Traffic, Publicizing Your Blog, What to Do When You Complete Your Blogged Book Tagged With: , , ,

Book Bloggers Write, But Do They Speak?

February 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

Writers tend to be introverts. They like to hide away in their offices with their computers and not talk to many people. Like most aspiring authors, book bloggers in many cases tend to be introverts, too. However, they’ve figured out that they can build that coveted author’s platform from the comfort of their lonely writer’s garret and never really, truly come out and make an appearance except in the blogosphere—online. They only need to blog and be social in places like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and now Pinterest. All that really shows up in these sites for the networking party is their photo and their words. And they are comfortable sending their words out into the world—even the vast cyber world.

Well, I’ve got news for you. Book bloggers occasional need to step out into the daylight. They need to leave their computers behind and actually meet people face to face. Not only that, they need to embrace the most traditional form of platform building: speaking.

That’s right. I’m suggesting you actually get up in front of audiences and talk about the subject of your book. Today I am writing about speaking. How do you make this huge leap? Easy schmeasy.

Oh, I know. Most people fear public speaking more than they fear death. It’s true. As Jerry Seinfeld jokes, “This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”

Here’s what I have to say about this:

  1. Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real. That means that you think you have a lot of reasons to be afraid of getting up in front of an audience and speaking but actually you don’t. The evidence for that fear is not based on any reality. It’s false evidence–mostly evidence created by your mind. You are making yourself afraid with your thoughts. Change your thoughts. What’s the worst thing that could happen? You bomb. You make a mistake. So what? You’ll do better next time. What’s the best that could happen? You do really well. You make no mistakes. People love you and your ideas and want to read your blog and your book. They purchase your services. You have to start somewhere and sometime.
  2. Fear and excitement are the same. Get over feeling afraid by realizing that excitement feels just about the same and both emotions come from the same place inside you. Stephanie Chandler, author of Own Your Niche, told me that before I got up in front of more than 300 people last weekend—one of the largest audiences I’d appeared before. I’d heard it before, but it helps to remember this.
  3. Remember you are speaking to people. Speak to the audience conversationally. Remember there are people out there in those seats. Look at them. Connect with them. When you see them looking back at you, you’ll feel better. Smile at them. Get off the podium if you can and walk around. Ask them questions. Engage them. If you know someone in the audience, get them to smile back at you. Have that person nod and let you know you are doing okay.
  4. The only way to get better as a speaker and get over your fear is to go out and speak. That means go out and get yourself booked as a speaker and start speaking. I started out speaking here and there at synagogues and churches because initially that was my market as an inspirational and human potential speaker with a Jewish bent. I found a little New Thought church willing to bring me in every few months. Each time I had to speak on a different topic. Over time, I got over my nervousness. Speaking in front of 10-30 people was easier than large groups, although occasionally at other locations I had 30-75 people.
  5. Come up with a methodology that works for you. In those early days for the New Thought church, I planned out my topic on what I call “talk cards,” 3×5 cards with bulletted points. I would write out the whole talk and then whittle it down to these bulletted items with a little bit of content. I’d then hold my cards as I talked. It worked and I’ve stuck with that methodology ever since. Recently, I’ve added in PowerPoint, and I only use the cards for places in my talks where I have additional information. I use talk cards when I don’t have PowerPoint. Practice your speech enough times so you don’t have to read from a paper or cards; it’s okay to refer to a written document, though. Unless they are giving the same talk all the time, most speakers do have their speech written down.
  6. Get evaluated. Use an evaluation form to ask for feedback. This an be very helpful. People are happy to tell you what parts of your talk worked well and what didn’t. Think about video taping yourself or recording yourself so you can see and hear how you sound. This will help you improve as well.
  7. Do short videos to post on your blog. This is a great prelude to your “coming out.” Experiment with making your written message verbal.
  8. Create short audios to post to your blog. This is also a great prelude to “coming out.”
  9. Remember that you know your stuff. Simply talk about the topic of your blog. This is the area of your expertise. You are the authority on this topic. Remember that. Hold your head up high and own it. People have come to hear you talk about what you know.
  10. If you can write, you can speak. To write a great speech, just turn a great blog post or essay you’ve written into something you say into a mike. It really is that simple. Read it if necessary.

You can do this. Really. Every time you write a blog post, you are speaking to your readers through the words on their computer screen. Now just put a voice to those words and a face.

Why bother becoming a speaker as well as a blogger? Because when people meet you, they will like you and what you have to say even more. They will subscribe to your blog’s RSS feed and they will buy your book. (You definitely want to speak if your book is published already or will be soon.) A number of people pre-ordered my book just this past weekend after my session at the San Francisco Writer’s Conference.

Book bloggers write. And they do speak. Try speaking. You just might like it.

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Filed Under: Promoting Your Book, Publicizing Your Blog, What to Do When You Complete Your Blogged Book Tagged With: , , ,

Jonathan Fields on Blog Traffic, Subscribers and Content

January 26, 2012 By 1 Comment

Yesterday I published a blog post on my other blog, Write Nonfiction NOW!, based on a very interesting interview I conducted with Jonathan Fields. In that post, Jonathan and I discussed what it takes to create a bestselling book: author’s platform, a business model, hard work, great release strategies, and a great book. (You can read the post here.) Today on this blog, I’ve published the remainder of our conversation, which covered tips for bringing in blog traffic, getting blog readers to subscribe to your blog and creating a better blog.

Jonathan is the author of  Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love, which was named a Top 10 Small Biz Book by Small Business Trends, and Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance, his latest book, which has generated extraordinary praise for its provocative, science-meets-art approach to embracing uncertainty as a catalyst for innovation and action. It’s a must read for authors—yes, even authors of blogged books! I wrote a short review yesterday, but it bears repeating for those of you blogging with the hope that your book will be discovered in the process. All writers feel uncertainty, and that can stop us in our tracks. When you have no readers—or few readers—to your blog, when you aren’t sure if what you are writing makes sense, has meaning, is touching anyone—or ever will be purchased by a publisher or readers, it’s hard to keep moving forward. That’s why you want to read Jonathan’s book, Uncertainty. There you will find advice on how to make the uncertainty we all feel at times less unpleasant and to use it as a way to fuel your creative process.

Jonathan, a dad, husband, author, speaker and serial-entrepreneur, blogs at JonathanFields.com. Check out his blog if you want  a taste of a successful blog. He’s been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, FastCompany, Inc., Entrepreneur, Forbes, USA Today, People, CNBC, FoxBusiness, Vogue, Elle, Self, Fitness, Outside, O Magazine and thousands of other places. He also runs a book marketing educational venture TribalAuthor.com, where he shares what he has learned about marketing his books and becoming a successful author. (He shared a ton of great info on this topic in yesterday’s post.)

What follows is our conversation on blogging. Enjoy and learn!

For those authors who are beginning to blog, blogging a book or wanting to improve their blogs, can you offer a few tips for bringing in more traffic?

Bringing in more traffic…that’s an interesting question, because a lot of traffic is moving away from blogs these days and towards social media. There’s so much attention getting split. I would say leverage Twitter to build relationships. Where you can, share links to your blog. Make sure that when you share links, it’s both a much smaller part of everything else that you do, so you should be 90 percent other-serving, and 10 percent or less self-serving. Same thing with Facebook, but when you do it in Facebook, you can have more of a conversation. So share a link to a post, but then you can also put in content. Share a paragraph or two from the post, and then ask a question that will inspire a conversation in the comments on Facebook. Sometimes this defeats the comments in your blog, but…

Other ways to drive traffic are to create what we call “flagship content.” Create a major thought piece that’s provocative and establishes a position and a strong voice and builds leadership that people will want to share. It can be a series. It can be a long blog post. It can be a manifesto. We actually used a manifesto to launch Career Renegade.

It was called The Firefly Manifesto and was a PDF.

And once the readers show up, how do we get them to actually subscribe to the blog?

One, offer them something in exchange for their e-mail. That may be a mini-course or an eBook or a teaser chapter from a book. Feature the call to action to subscribe boldly, either at the top of your blog, the top right, or underneath your blog posts.

Second, ask them at the end of your blog post to subscribe. Throw in a sentence that says, “If you’ve enjoyed this…” or some variation of “if you’ve enjoyed this post, sign up for the weekly updates,” or whatever works for your format.

Any other tips you might want to add on blogging well?

I can go way down the rabbit hole with this. Just because you know how to use the technology doesn’t mean you have something to say. Blog because you have something to say, not because you have a place to say it.

One of the questions I get all the time is, “I’ve been blogging for six months, and nobody’s listening.” And I’ll look at the blog, and I’ll realize It’s because the person’s not saying anything. It’s like white-washed content, or there’s no voice, no position, no story, no value. If you’re going to put in the effort, have something to say, offer real value, tell great stories, be provocative (if that’s in your nature), have a voice. Give people something to say “yes” or “no” to. If you don’t, nobody will care.

Take Jonathan’s last comment to heart. It is especially true for book bloggers. Why would anyone want to read your blogged book if you have no voice, nothing to say, aren’t adding any value to anyone’s life, have no story to tell that touches people in some important or deep way? Write a book, blog a book, that matters–that’s worth reading.

Comments or questions about this post? Leave them below! I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Don’t forget about my upcoming “Blog Your Way to a Book Deal” 4-part Teleclass starting next week!  Preorder a copy of How to Blog a Book and SAVE $30 on registration fee! Get all the details here: http://bit.ly/BlogaBookTeleclassOffer

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Filed Under: Building a Better Blog, Increasing Traffic, Publicizing Your Blog Tagged With: , , ,

Chris Garrett on How to Blog a Book or Book a Blog

January 5, 2012 By 4 Comments

 

My last post featured the first part of my interview with Chris Garrett, co-author of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, in which he discussed how to convert blog readers into book buyers using attraction, retention, conversion, and referrals. Today, in part two of the interview, which I conducted at BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Los Angeles, CA, in early November 2011, Chris speaks more specifically to aspiring authors, writers blogging books and bloggers who might want to book a blog, or repurpose their material into a book.

I was quite honored to spend time speaking with Chris, who is an online business consultant, teacher, coach, new media industry commentator, writer, speaker, and all-round web geek. He has been involved in several start ups and has written for some of the web’s best-loved blogs as well as co-authoring four other traditionally published print books and many ebooks. (See the end of this post for a full bio.) He definitely knows how to look at the idea of blogging a book and apply all he knows about blogging, writing books and new media to this endeavor and offer relevant tips and advice. Below, find my questions, and Chris’ answers, in part two of this two-part blog post:

I tell people who want to begin blogging a book to go through a full evaluation process to make sure their book has a chance of succeeding both in the blogosphere and in the online and brick-and-mortar book stores. What are your thoughts on getting started blogging or writing a book?

A lot of people say they have a book in them, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a book somebody would want to read. You are going to save a lot of pain, heartache and effort if you work out if the book you want to write is one the market is going to accept. Plus, there’s a confidence that comes in doing your homework. The more confident you are the more likely you are to carry on, because writing a book is not easy.  It may be simple, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy. The most important thing to know is that if you do your research you understand the audience you’re speaking to; I think that’s vital because you can have great content but miss the mark.

I know you haven’t actually blogged a book, but if you were going to give advice to writers doing so, what is the most important tip might you offer them to help them build their readership?

It’s the point I made earlier: You don’t drive traffic. It’s not like being a cowboy. It’s not getting on horse with a Stetson and driving people to your blog. They have to come of their own free will. You’ve got to attract rather than drive. You have to go where people are, and meet them where they hang out. You’ve got to find what they want and need, what’s going to get their attention and deliver that. You might have to give ¾ of what you know away to get that attention and to get people to know and respect you enough to trust you with their money. Because at the end of the day if they are going to take action by investing time and money in what you have to offer they have got to be sure about you.

Do you work with work with any aspiring authors, and, if so, what do you recommend to them as far as their books?

A lot of my friends are authors—some of them New York Times bestselling authors—and a lot of my clients are authors or prospective authors.

The first thing I recommend is probably the most important:  Look at what successful people have done before them and what is working right now. Things that have worked two years ago will not necessarily translate to now. So you have to look at both. And also look at what people have done that have gone terribly wrong, especially in their specific market or niche.

The second thing I tell them is to have a plan. Someone was telling me that they thought they were going to be able to retire early because they got a book deal, and most people know that is crazy talk. Unless you are JK Rowling, you aren’t going to retire early. This writer had no plans for what would happen once their book hit the shelves. They were so focused on writing and launching that they never thought, “What’s next?” They had no back-up plan, no follow-up plan. Basically, they thought their life was going to be transformed once their book went on sale.

Also, authors need to be realistic. Unfortunately, today the publisher can only do so much to help you and your book succeed; you have to do a lot more. And the best book tour is not going to make your book a best seller without a lot of marketing, a very, very good subject, a well-defined audience, and a lot of effort. Even then it doesn’t mean you are going to be able to live off it the money from your book sales. But people see Amazon Kindle sales are making a million dollars a year and think, “This is for me.” They believe once you get to Barnes & Noble you are a millionaire, but it just doesn’t work that way.

Writers and authors need to need to research what is working, plan and be realistic.

Lots of long-time bloggers would like to turn their blogs into books—or “book a blog.”  What would you tell these bloggers about repurposing their posts into an ebook or printed book?

I’ve found that there are certain markets where there are readers who are very receptive to the idea of you putting a book out, and there are markets that are very resistant to any sort of monetization at all, any sort of business influence. The strangest niches I would have never expected have worked super well. A lady told me the other day that she has a blog where she writes about a hairstyle of the day. All the content was on her site, and she packaged it up into a PDF. It sold really well. It blew me away because I never thought people would pay for an ebook full of photographs of hairstyles. She had a receptive market that really loved it and told all their friends.

At the same time, I’ve seen people in tech fields who are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a workshop but won’t buy an ebook. They will buy a textbook off the shelf, but they won’t buy an ebook. They are technical people who should be okay with it.

Market research is very, very important. But if you’ve been blogging for a while, you have an audience; you have a really good focus group. They are going to tell you what they want, what they don’t like, what they are struggling with. You just have to open your ears to it. If you deliver what people want and need, you’ve got a lot better chance of success.

You can put the content out there and see what your readers’ reaction is, what they share, what their comments are, what they tell you about, or the follow up questions they ask. That’s the first test. This action lets you know you have an audience. You know if the audience wants that stuff. Then you have to find out what they are willing to pay for, which is sometimes a different thing.

Does pricing come down to trial and error or is there a better way to know what blog readers will pay for a book or other product?

Sometimes it’s trial and error. The more you know about your audience, the better.

If you know what else they are buying, that can work really well. You can either ask them, or you can be an affiliate. You can review items and tell your audience about things they could buy in return for a commission. Dollars and cents is the best feedback ever. If they are willing to tell you via buying something that they are interested in paying for something then you know there’s a market there.

More About Chris Garrett

Although Chris Garrett has been “online” since the 1980?s, it was in 1994 Chris first became addicted to the World Wide Web. Since then he has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips such as Heinz, Toshiba, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Durex, amongst others, make the most of the internet.

In 2005 Chris left the advertising agency world and founded a company to help smaller businesses and solo-entrepreneurs profit from their skills, knowledge and experience, achieve more with Online Media, and grow audiences of people who know, like and trust them. See how your business could benefit from working with Chris on the services page here.

As well as coaching and training companies and individuals, Chris also regularly speaks at conferences around the world about internet salesmanship, writing compelling content, and social media for business. He has spoken at events such as BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the Successful Outstanding Bloggers conference in Chicago, Think Visibility, Affiliate Expo, Wishlist Member Live, WordCamp, the Netherlands Social Media Congres and the Institute of Fundraising, along with the dozens of webinars, teleseminars and virtual events he holds or contributes to annually.

Chris was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1974. He lived in the UK for most of his life but now lives back in Calgary with his wife, daughter, cat, and a three-year-old Cocker Spaniel.

www.chrisg.com

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Filed Under: Booking a Blog (Repurposing Content into a Book), Create an E-Book, How to Begin Blogging a Book, Increasing Traffic, Publicizing Your Blog, Selling Books and Information Products, What to Do When You Complete Your Blogged Book Tagged With: , , , ,

Chris Garrett on How to Turn Blog Readers Into Book Buyers

January 3, 2012 By 3 Comments

As part of this blog’s new focus, this is the first of a series of posts I’m going to publish during January based upon interviews I conducted at BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Los Angeles, CA, in early November 2011. While there I had the opportunity to speak with Chris Garrett, Darren Rowse, Liz Strauss, Mari Smith, C.C. Chapman, and a few other successful bloggers, social networkers, and content creators. I hope you will read the posts based upon these interviews, and then start the New Year by applying all the great information provided by these experts. They talked with me about how to produce a better blog, drive traffic to your site, get your readers engaged, sell books and products, and many important things that help  blogged books get discovered by a publisher or, at a minimum, build the readership you need to eventually turn out a successful self-published book. At the very least, if you apply the tips and lessons they offer, you’ll produce a better blog to help you promote your book.

Given that we are discussing blogged books, your ability to create a successful book—one that sells many copies—depends in part upon converting blog readers into buyers. If you also want to make a living—or at least some income—as a blogger and as an author, you need to accomplish this feat. A variety of factors contribute to how many readers you attract to your blogged book and later to the printed book or ebook you self-publish or a publisher produces for you. These same factors determine how easily you sell any ancillary services or products you might choose to offer to loyal readers, such as webinars and teleseminars, coaching or home-study courses, all of which help produce income for bloggers and authors.

So, how do you convert blogged book readers (or simply blog readers) into ebook or printed book buyers? More important, how do you get readers to your blog in the first place and then get them to stay around long enough to later buy your ebook, printed book, other products and services?

I had the opportunity while at BlogWorld to get answers to these questions from Chris Garrett, co-author of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, and an online business consultant, teacher, coach, new media industry commentator, writer, speaker, and all-round web geek. Chris has been involved in several startups and has written for some of the web’s best-loved blogs. He also has co-authored four other traditionally published print books and many ebooks. (See the end of this post for a full bio.) Below, find my questions, and Chris’ answers, in part one of this two-part blog post:

What are the most important things bloggers should do to build loyal readers that translate into book buyers as well as purchasers of ancillary products and services, such as webinars and teleseminars?

There are four main things a blogger has to concentrate on: attraction, retention, conversion, and, referrals, or sharing.

The big mistake bloggers make is they only concentrate on one—traffic, or gaining attention. Instead, bloggers should focus on attraction and then retention.

A lot of bloggers think they have to drive traffic, which is a mistake in itself, and forget about the people they have already attracted. Get people to subscribe (especially by your email because hardly anybody outside of technical geeks understand RSS), and nurture that audience so you get them to stick around.

And then you can take action, which is the conversion. Taking action could be a blog reader making a comment, signing up for your email list, signing up for your webinar, buying your book. But you can’t just get someone to give you their attention and then buy straight away or take an action straight away because they don’t know who you are; they aren’t sure they like you or trust you yet. That retention piece is really, really important.

If you do retention well, then the fourth part is getting referrals, getting people to talk about you, getting people to share, and that’s how all of this becomes less of an uphill struggle. You have that compounding affect because you are attracting what in the corporate word we would call advocates. They are basically your fans, people who are going to talk about you.

Is there one mistake you see often that those building a blog readership and wanting to sell something—like a book—should avoid?

A lot of bloggers try to sell something straight away without building up any good will, or they burn out their audience by constantly asking for things. You see this in social media as well. People say, “This social media doesn’t work. No one is clicking on my links,” but you see that all they are pushing out there are links. This is like going up to someone on the street and asking for ten dollars rather than asking a friend you’ve known for years for a loan.

You have to have that good will, and that comes from building relationships. That means you have to retain people’s attention, and that means you have to keep giving people good stuff and telling them what to expect in terms of their future.

So from the point of your audience, it comes down to “What’s in it for me, why should I care, what am I going to get out of this,” and you’ve got to nurture that.

For a writer or aspiring author blogging—someone who may not be a “blogger” per say—what are the things they need to do to attract, retain, convert, and then gain referrals so they might attract a publisher or buyers to a self-published book?

If you are a writer or an aspiring author, you’ve got lots of content to share. Start telling people about what you have to offer. Don’t tell people about your website. Telling people about what they are going to get, what they are going to achieve, by listening to you or the results they’ll get by taking your advice is always better than saying, “I have this awesome website or book I want to tell you about.” Instead say, “Here’s a tip that will help you achieve your goals or solve your problem.” Even if [your book] is entertainment, the focus is on what’s in it for them. That’s what you start with.

You might begin with a tiny audience of people who know you—your network. If you do a good job of articulating the benefit and the outcome of what they are going to get, word will spread. And you can encourage that by sharing more content relevant to their interests and to what they need.

If there are people in your network who can help you spread the message, that’s always better than you saying, “I’m awesome.”  If someone else says, “You need to check Chris out because he’s awesome, and this is where you go to check him out,” it always sounds better than blowing your own horn.

In Mari Smith’s session [at BlogWorld], she talked about Social Media Examiner going from zero subscribers to 150,000 in a really short time. Mike Stelzner went to Mari Smith, Denise Wakeman and myself and said, “[Social Media Examiner] is going to be great, and will you help me get it off the ground? Will you use your influence to get people to check it out?” We knew it was worth people checking out because he had put a lot of value into the site. It wasn’t like telling people, “Please follow me on Twitter.”  This was going to help them achieve what they wanted to do. So we helped.

Again, the main thing to remember is to focus on your audience and on what they want and need rather than on what you want.

Check in on Thursday for Part 2 of this interview with Chris Garrett. In the meantime, if you have had success turning blog readers into book buyers, please share your experiences by leaving a comment.

More About Chris Garrett

Although Chris Garrett has been “online” since the 1980?s, it was in 1994 Chris first became addicted to the World Wide Web. Since then he has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips such as Heinz, Toshiba, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Durex, amongst others, make the most of the internet.

In 2005 Chris left the advertising agency world and founded a company to help smaller businesses and solo-entrepreneurs profit from their skills, knowledge and experience, achieve more with Online Media, and grow audiences of people who know, like and trust them. See how your business could benefit from working with Chris on the services page here.

As well as coaching and training companies and individuals, Chris also regularly speaks at conferences around the world about internet salesmanship, writing compelling content, and social media for business. He has spoken at events such as BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the Successful Outstanding Bloggers conference in Chicago, Think Visibility, Affiliate Expo, Wishlist Member Live, WordCamp, the Netherlands Social Media Congres and the Institute of Fundraising, along with the dozens of webinars, teleseminars and virtual events he holds or contributes to annually.

Chris was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1974. He lived in the UK for most of his life but now lives back in Calgary with his wife, daughter, cat, and a three-year-old Cocker Spaniel.

www.chrisg.com

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Filed Under: Building a Better Blog, Increasing Traffic, Publicizing Your Blog, Selling Books and Information Products Tagged With: , , , ,

Winning Contests Gives Your Blog More Exposure

December 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s difficult for most of us to toot our own horn. Yet, if we want our blog and our blogged book to get read (attract more readers), sometimes doing so becomes necessary.

We also have to learn to ask others to help toot our horn. Especially because when others get involved, the music gets louder and sounds better.

That’s why contests serve writers and bloggers so well. Winning extends the reach of our work, allowing us to touch more readers.

And that’s why today I’m simply asking my loyal blog readers to lend their voices (or horns) to mine. If you enjoy this blog, please take the time to vote for it  in two very important contests. Getting on either list would give my blog much more recognition and exposure, which would help me get the information I offer on how to write, publish and promote nonfiction out to more people.

1.      The 6th Annual Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest

Please nominate my blog for the Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest, the blogosphere’s biggest contest for writing blogs. DEADLINE DECEMBER 10!

To do so, click here for instructions. The blog url you will need to include is www.howtoblogabook.com (How to Blog a Book).

2.     Writer’s Digest‘s 101 Best Websites for Writers

Please also vote both www.howtoblogabook.com (How to Blog a Book) as one of Writer’s Digest‘s 101 Best Websites for Writers, which is one THE top list of on-line resources published each year by this writing magazine. To do so, follow these instructions:

  • Send an email to: writersdig@fwpubs.com.
  • Write “101 Best Websites” in the subject line.
  • Place the link to this blog – http://www.howtoblogabook.com – in the body of the email. If you want to add why you like the blog, that’s helpful. If not, just send the link.

What contests can you enter with your blog that will help you extend your reach and increase your exposure?

Thank you so much. I appreciate your support. Every comment you leave and email you send brightens my day.

Watch for a brand new blog design coming soon…and a series of great expert interviews to help you succeed in blogging your book successfully!

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A Short, Quick Guide to Social Networking for Blog-to-Book Authors

September 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

I just came back from giving a talk at a local writer’s club. There I heard the same question I hear everywhere I go: What’s the best way for writer’s to accomplish their social networking — especially given the fact that they really don’t want to do social networking at all. They just want to write.

Here’s my very, very short and quick guide to social networking for writers: Blog. That’s right. One word. Blog.

Oh…right. And this sentence: After you publish a blog post, post a link to that post in at least two social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn).

That’s it.

Basically, blogging simply involves writing. Every writer can blog. It’s not too hard. It’s not too techy. It doesn’t take too long. Except for the part about posting the links to social networks, which also isn’t too hard or too techy, it involves doing what you love — writing. After that, it’s all about telling people to read your writing. What writer doesn’t want to be read? A blog allows your writing to be read.

For those of you blogging a book, you’ve got it really easy. The more you work on your book, the more readers you drive to your blog. Hopefully, they share your book/posts with their social networks. Even if they don’t, as you build a fan base — unique visitors to your blog, you build a social network all your own right on your blog.

You should have plenty of good fodder to share. You have your manuscript, so you don’t need to create any additional content to post to your blog. Your book is your blog content. Pretty nice, huh?

If you aren’t on any social networks, go to Twitter.com and Facebook.com (and LinkedIn.com if you provide a service, sell a product or are an expert or professional), and sign up. This is a very easy and self-explanatory process. (LinkedIn is a bit more difficult and requires more information.) Then begin posting status updates – in other words, write a few words about your blog posts and then the link to your post. You can also offer a status update now and then simply about yourself. (On LinkedIn the real action is in the groups.)

That’s it.  You can do more, but that’s all that’s required for this short, quick blog-to-book author’s guide to social networking.

Don’t miss one howtoblogabook.com post — or any information on the  delivery date for the printed version of How to Blog. Subscribe to this blog by email below.

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Four Ways to Promote Your Blogged Book

September 1, 2011 By 5 Comments

As you write your blogged book, or as you try to drive traffic to your blog so you land a book deal (and can book your blog), the Internet provides you with many effective promotion tools. Here are four tried and true methods for achieving your promotion  goals with online activity—activity most bloggers can do pretty easily if they put their minds to it since they like to write and hang out in cyberspace.

1.      Start and maintain a blog.

Google loves fresh content, which is why blogs serve as the best tool for increasing online visibility. The more visible you, your book, your website, and your blog become, the more traffic (readers) your blog will attract. This means more buyers for your book now or when it is released. To create a successful blog, write about something you feel passionate about and do so often and consistently. That’s all it really takes. Of course, a topic other people have an interest in is an essential element of a successful blog as well.

2.      Contribute material to e-zine article directories.

Recycle parts of your blogged book manuscript or blog posts into short articles you can post in e-zine article directories, such as Ezinearticles.com. Each time you do so you are asked to offer a resource box with a short bio and a link back to your website, book, blog, or subscription form. These articles are picked up by other bloggers, newsletter editors, e-zine editors, etc., and each time your resource box is featured. This means their readers get access to the links you have provided and may click through to find out more about you, purchase your book, or subscribe to your blog or newsletter. You can even use e-zine article distribution services, such as www.submityourarticle.com, and get your article distributed to hundreds of e-zine directories at once, making it available to thousands, if not millions, of new readers and possible fans.

3.      Comment on other blogs.

Take the time to find bloggers who write about topics similar to those you write about. When they have something good to say or you can add something to what they have written, leave a comment on their blog. Each time you do so, you leave behind a link to yourself, your website, or your blog. If people who read your comment find what you have written interesting, they will click on the link to find out more about you. They may then decide to become regular blog readers or subscribers, book buyers, newsletter subscribers, or general fans.

4.      Involve yourself in social networks.

Come out from behind your “computer” long enough to show your face on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. If you can post status updates, share interesting links (and your blog posts), and offer great free information, you will quickly become a favorite in these social networks. Why bother? Because your followers, tweeple and connections will later buy your books, read and subscribe to your blog posts and newsletters, and basically become your fan base. That’s what every aspiring author or author wants and needs. Don’t forget to get involved in groups in these communities. By asking and answering questions, you get yourself known and develop more friends and followers. You also leave behind links to yourself, your website, your blog, your book, etc.

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Filed Under: Increasing Traffic, Publicizing Your Blog Tagged With: , , ,

Propel Your Blogged Book With More Content

July 22, 2011 By 4 Comments

One of the thing writers do really well  is produce content–especially bloggers, who produce content all the time. That’s a great thing in today’s online market, because the best way to promote blogged books comes down to producing great content and lots of it–and placing it on the Internet. By strategically using content in cyberspace, a writer or author can actually propel their blogged book–and later sales of the printed book–to the top of the list of other blogs on their topic. They can also launch any business related to that blogged or printed book as far as they want it to go.

I’ve known this for a long time, and this is, of course, the best strategy for most social networking, but Michael A. Stelzner or www.socialmediaexaminer.com has written a great new book that provides some of the most comprehensive techniques I’ve read to date for using content to promote and market any type of product or business. Called Launch, How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition, I’d recommend that every blogged book author get a copy of this book and put it’s concept, tips and tools to use. They are particularly useful for driving traffic to your blogged book.

Not only does Stelzner provide the low down on why and how to produce content–field-tested guidance, no less–he also discusses the importance of strategic partners, outside experts, and developing faithful fans (and how to do this) I really enjoyed the information on the ten most effective types of content, how to actually engage readers (rather than repel them) with the content you create, how to brand yourself, and how to develop content with the possibility of going viral.

Once your blogged book is complete and you are trying to keep the blog alive as you drive sales for the printed version (or continue to try and attract an agent or publisher), you’ll need to continue promoting your blogged book. The techniques in  Launch are perfect for achieving this goal.

Most writers don’t think of themselves or their books as a business to “launch,” but they should. By employing Stelzner’s methods, they might find the have not only launched their book business but also propelled their book sales to new heights. For this reason, I’ve got a great offer for one lucky writer.

I’ve got one copy of Launch to give away…Send me the pitch, or elevator speech, for your book in 25 words or less. That’s right, tell me what your book is about in just one sentence that has no more than 25 words; you don’t have to count the title of the book (or the subtitle). Best pitch wins the book. Send the pitch to me via the comment function in this blog.(I’ll also be looking at pitches at www.writenonfictionnow.com.)

 

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