The Problem

I was using Twitter and Facebook as sources of constant distraction from my work, family, and spiritual life. I wanted to use social media as a tool to communicate with potential readers, to network with fellow writers, and to keep in touch with friends. Instead I checked them both an unseemly number of times in search of links, conversations, or anything that I could read.

I responded to any mention or post immediately. Links to interesting posts were pursued, and I left comments without thinking about the time they consumed.

Any time I hit a tough spot in my writing, I’d drop by Twitter or Facebook.

I needed to break my dependency on these tools, while learning how to use them in healthy ways. It wasn’t going to help me if I could quit cold turkey for 40 days, learn a few lessons, and then gradually forget them over the following months while rediscovering the lure of social media again.

I needed a practical way forward so that my personal, spiritual, and work times were equally guarded that would last beyond Lent.

The Plan

I settled on a plan to spend only 30 minutes each day on Twitter and Facebook. To be honest, that seems absurdly long, but in practice the time goes by quickly! I broke it into 3 ten-minute slots. This meant that I needed to make the most of my time online and if I really wanted to interact with people, I needed to space my time out.

This required a decent amount of discipline, since I wanted to think of interesting things to say, but I also wanted to read what other people were sharing. I didn’t have unlimited time to follow blog posts and links.

In addition, effectively tracking your friends on a tool like Tweetdeck, as I do, I needed to leave Tweetdeck open for a while before I could look at it. I hide my menu bar so as to limit the temptation, but I still knew it was there.

The Results

While I certainly missed my sources of distraction, I soon appreciated the limits of my fast. Sometimes I followed links and ended up reading them beyond my time limit, so I had to subtract time from my next 10-minute session. I probably interacted online a lot less to my detriment in some ways, but I also thought a lot more about effectively using my limited time, which is a real benefit.

I’m most grateful that I broke the habit of checking social media first thing in the morning. Instead I spend my early morning time writing fiction, drinking coffee, reading scripture, and praying. My mornings are SO much better without Twitter and Facebook.

Waiting until 11 AM or later for social media really helps me use my most productive times in the most effective ways—both for work and spiritual growth. I never catch myself thinking, “Damn, I wish I’d spent 30 minutes on Twitter this morning instead of praying or editing my novel!”

In addition, HubSpot marketing found that more people are willing to retweet something on Twitter around 11 AM, so I really have no reason to use Twitter before 11 AM. I can share my links and socialize at 11 AM just fine.

Perhaps my biggest problem was that I found new distractions such as checking my e-mail, but even that was a bit easier to resist since it’s much easier to convince myself that no new e-mails have arrived in the past 15 minutes. Twitter guarantees fresh content. In addition, an empty inbox isn’t all that distracting even on my worst day.

Here are some outcomes from my limited fast:

• I now budget an extra 30 minutes for blog reading and networking.
• I stick to the 3 ten-minute social media sessions on Tweetdeck and Facebook. I aim for 11 AM, 2 PM, and 5 PM.
• I try to avoid social media at night. If I want to drop someone a note or need to send a message via Facebook, I can drop in, send the note, and then log off.
• I allow myself to visit Twitter online if I want to post something, but I can’t do anything else.

How have you dealt with your bad habits in social media? Have you tried sometime different that worked? 

“Actor NAME will be dramatizing the birth of Jesus.”

I wrote the release late one night, sent it to someone else, edited it the next day with that person’s feedback, and then I opened it the following day to give it one last read-through.

Then I caught it.

Two sets of eyes reading through the release a total of four times before catching that whopper of a sentence. And that got me thinking, are there any other forms of communication where we need to exercise extra caution with the words we use?

If there’s one medium that welcomes, nay begs, for gaffs and awkward statements, it has to be Twitter. Designed for quick, instantaneous communication, Twitter allows us to share anything we’re thinking with thousands of people with a tap of the finger.

The possibility of saying something so stupid, so quickly to so many takes my breath away.

I worry about having moments like Michael Scott (a la The Office) where I’ll mean one thing and inadvertently say something offensive or rude when the words leave my lips. That’s why I fear on Twitter.

While I may have deleted a few tweets in my day, more often than not I simply abstain from tweeting anything that could possibly be misconstrued. In addition, I read and reread my tweets before I send them out into the world.

And yet, I still worry about writing something dumb.

How I communicate with others is important, and I want everything I send out to have some kind of value as information, humor, a question, or encouragement. Misspelled words, bad grammar, or a careless phrase damages the overall impact and value of the rest of my communication on Twitter.

Even if a tweet can be deleted, damage may be done among those who read an errant tweet before it’s removed. The words we use matter, even they’re part of an endless stream of 140-character messages that flood the internet. The last thing you want is to be noticed for the wrong kind of message.

Think about it. No one will visit a book store and stumble upon your book. No one will find it on a publisher’s web site. No one will read about it in a catalogue. No one will want to stock in a book store because it’s self-published.

Oh, of course you can sell it online, but how will readers find it?

That is the trick. Can you assemble a realistic marketing plan that will sufficiently take into account all of the setbacks that self-publishing brings, while still connecting with readers on a scale that will ensure you sell enough copies to at least break even?

Ah, distribution is a huge problem for self-published authors. Heck, when self-publishing A Path to Publishing, I still didn’t quite grasp the amount of work ahead of me or the sheer quantity of potentials readers I needed to connect with in my niche.

Where should you start if you’re self-publishing?

For starters, check out my free online marketing guide. That gives both traditional and new ways to market your work.

However, the most important principle in selling books is to make a real connection with a potential reader and to communicate clearly why he or she may want to buy your book. Someone else may be able to do that for you by way of an endorsement or a review, but kicking it all off depends on you and you alone.

I began this series saying that “self” is the key word when it comes to “self-publishing”. If you have any hopes of selling your book, make sure you have more than Plan A and B for distributing your book. You’ll probably need to have plans that range from A to Z.

Your job is to find the communities, blogs, forums, Twitter users, Facebook users, groups, societies, and any other group of potential readers in your content niche. That is the publishing sales game in a nutshell, and it’s a tough one on your own!

In conjunction with the release of my self-published book

When you’re self-publishing all of the work falls on you, the author. No matter how much published authors complain about the lack of marketing support provided by their publishers, which can be spotty at times, the worst publicist will do more than upload a file to a web site, which is all you’re doing when self-publishing.

The Basic Ways Publishers Market

Publishers have established lists of contacts who receive their catalogues, e-mail newsletters, and browse their web sites. They represent authors at book stores and can send releases out to major press services—something that can be quite costly to do on your own.

The staff at publishers generally have social media accounts and blogs, and they may even generate some buzz for your book through these tools. At the very least these publishing professionals will tell potential readers about your book. You’ll at least have a few warm bodies with a measure of interest in selling your book.

Any way you slice it, the least that a publisher provides still puts their authors way ahead of the self-published ones.

What Self-Published Authors Need to Do

While it’s important to seek out some reputable endorsers and reviewers who have a large group of readers, I don’t think self-published authors realize the number of readers they need to pull off a self-published book that sells more than 25-50 copies. Simply put, self-published authors need a massive number of connections with potential readers.

The “potential reader” part of this is crucial. Authors may have lots of “connections” through social media, their blogs, or more traditional means, but many of these connections may not view their books as something they’ll want to purchase.

I’ve done quite a bit of networking, but I have been reading Crush It! by social media expert and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, and he’s been blowing my mind. I usually drop by some blogs to leave comments and contribute to writing forums, but he advocates a scale of networking that few would ever consider.

I sure didn’t!

I could try to describe it to you, but to be honest, I’d be doing you a disservice because I can’t do his methods justice. Crush It! is available at a pretty low price as a Video Book, which I highly recommend, though it’s also available in print. You may not do everything Vaynerchuk suggests, but I think he’ll give self-published authors the reality check they need about how involved the marketing process will be for their books.

An author who is new to the publishing process will underestimate the amount of work necessary for marketing. Count on it. As a published author I still underestimate the amount of work I need to do. Before you invest heavily into a book, begin marketing yourself and making connections today. It’s a worthwhile investment you won’t regret.   

Next Steps

• Check out the free online marketing guide at www.pathtopublishing.com.
• Pick up Get Known Before the Deal, a must-read for authors new to marketing their work.
• View a sample of Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk at vook.com.

Create an Ad

Fun in Hartford

Like

Did you know that Hartford, Connecticut is located along the beach and the women have freakishly long hyper-extending legs???

Is there a neighborhood in Hartford that I’m missing? I mean, I haven’t seen the whole city yet, but I’m pretty sure there’s an advertising intern who needs a geography lesson pronto.

These are all essential and important details that can help you sell books, but they are not the most important factors in selling a book.

• Great Endorsements
• A Great Forward
• Great Reviews
• Social Media
• A Web Site

Two Things That Sell a Lot of Books…

These are the two most important factors in selling books according to my own experience and to other authors I know.

• A well-written book that is targeted to an audience
• A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform

While reviews, social media, and web sites are all part of extending a marketing platform, these pieces should not be confused with making very personal connections with readers. Twitter and blogs are great, but they have their limits.

The Kind of Connections Authors Need

From what I can tell, my greatest success in selling books has come from personally talking with readers whether through personal conversations, events, e-mail, or interaction on web sites.

When I have a chance to share my passion for my book, I have a much greater chance of convincing readers to spend their hard-earned money on it. However, reaching potential readers with your personal message and creating enough trust for them to spend money on your book requires a fairly significant number of connections with readers.

I personally would not endorse every method used by authors out there to sell books and some will be more difficult for new authors to use effectively, especially radio and television, but there are lots of ideas out there about building a platform that will help you speak directly with readers and develop a level of trust for you and your book from a monthly newsletter with valuable information to a niche-focused public event.

How to Connect with Readers

Building a platform begins with the question, “How can I effectively connect with readers interested in my topic?” Keep in mind, this isn’t the same as advertising, and posting to a web site is probably the least personal way to do this, making it generally less effective.

I’m building my e-mail newsletter, working on some videos, leading workshops with local community and arts organizations, and connecting with various podcasts, but the possibilities are endless. I’ve been encouraged to hear from a respected author and friend that he finds my newsletter very valuable, and many of those who attend my workshops give me positive feedback. It’s good to know I’m doing a few things right, even if there’s always a lot more to do.

The hardest part about building these connections with readers is starting small. You may begin with twenty newsletter subscribers and workshops with only five attendees. However, if you continue to make connections, to help people with your material, and to build on those relationships, you should be able to connect with enough readers who will not only trust you enough to buy your book, they may also recommend it to others.

Previously in this Series:

Two Things That Sell a Lot of Books: #1

Also in this series: Five Great Things That Don’t Sell a Lot of Books

Great Endorsements

A Great Forward

Great Reviews

Social Media

A Web Site

While authors can’t control the economy, the trends in popular culture, and even unexpected reader preferences, there are two factors that will disproportionately influence how well their books sell.

Today we’ll cover the first thing that sells a lot of books: A well-written book that is targeted to a specific but wide audience.

Writers can’t simply sell books based on the merit of an idea or the quality of their writing—though these things are very important. They need to write clear sentences, paragraphs, and chapters that guide readers from chapter to chapter and convince them to keep reading and, on a related note, address the needs of a wide but specific audience.

Write Clear Chapters That Engage Readers

After reading what other writers do when composing drafts of their books, I’m often impressed with the number of drafts they complete and the detail of their revisions. They think about word choice, introductions, conclusions, transitions, and edit with a fine-tooth comb several times. The amount of text some delete is astounding.

Good writing isn’t an accident.

My own editor encouraged me to think about why I’m making a particular point, how it relates to the next point, and how each point ties in with the larger argument or concept of my book. As I read bestselling authors I’ve noticed their skill at hooking readers with an problem, a concept, or a mystery. They convince me that I need to keep reading in order to find that information.

Step-by-step, a good book walks readers through a story, an argument, or lesson. The writer can’t abandon the reader part-way through the book. No matter how good the idea or how important the information, if readers feel overwhelmed with information or confused by dots that aren’t connected, they’ll put the book down. Typically, writers will fail in this regard because they have ignored the closely related principle of writing for an audience.

Address the Needs of an Audience

While good writing is important, authors must also adopt a targeted approach to their book’s intended audience. Besides merely addressing a need of potential readers, authors should address that need in a way that is accessible and hopefully remarkable. When many readers find themselves inserting caveats such as “I liked this book, but I found it hard to follow at times…” some wind is taken out of its word-of-mouth appeal.

I have learned how easy it is to get wrapped up in covering my bases or in addressing every possible angle of a topic that I miss readers in the process. Most readers of my book don’t take any issue with my ideas, but some weren’t too happy about the amount of information I included. Though many readers were tracking with me, I’ve found that I sometimes warn new readers, who may be completely new to theology, about two chapters in particular that are a bit… dense. In other words, my desire to be thorough trumped my ability to connect with all of my intended readers.

We can pick up books from the library, look up information online, and hear authors talk about their books on the radio, therefore, if writers want readers to say, “I really need to own that book,” and to take the next step of saying, “All of my friends need to own that book too,” we need to get into the minds of our audience. This is an ongoing struggle to figure out the best way to connect our ideas with the preferences and needs of our readers.

It’s easy enough to think of an idea or concept that may appeal to a wide group of people, but to present that idea in a way that addresses the questions and concerns of a broad group of readers, meets a felt-need, walks readers through step-by-step, and prompts them to tell others is the holy grail of publishing—that is, if you ask me.

The next step…

Our next topic in this series will be the second thing that sells a lot of books: A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform

Also in this series: Five Great Things That Don’t Sell a Lot of Books

Great Endorsements

A Great Forward

Great Reviews

Social Media

A Web Site

To really make a web site work takes quite a bit of time and effort.

For starters you need to develop a plan for composing posts and learning how to write for a blog. A good place to start includes:

• Writing a series each week on a particular topic.
• Keeping your word count to a lean 200-400 words.
• Focusing on “How to” content to make sure you connect with readers.

Besides this you’ll need to make sure your web site is optimized for search engines, that your posts appear on social media, and that you’re leaving useful comments on the sites of fellow bloggers. Are you feeling a bit dizzy yet? Well, I’m leaving a lot out!

The trouble is that authors can invest a ton of time into their web sites and even draw a nice crowd of readers without necessarily succeeding in selling a lot of books. In addition, a web site can fall on hard times when writing and promoting a book comes into play—especially for writers who have day jobs!

Great content and high numbers of readers are certainly important for any author looking to promote his/her work. Readers need to be able to find you and to learn about your writing based on your site.

However, a web site is not an active marketing tool. Rather, it’s more of a landing and conversion tool. Marketing campaigns need a web site that readers can visit, but having a web outpost does not guarantee readers. Web sites can be designed poorly or marketing can fail to draw in readers.

By all means invest in a web site, but don’t forget there are two other things you can do that may well effectively sell more books in the long run… That’s where we’re going next.

The rest of this series:

Great Endorsements

A Great Forward

Great Reviews

Online Social Media

A Web Site

Two Thing That Do

A well-written book that is targeted to a specific but wide audience.

A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform

While there is much to commend about building up a presence on social media, and it can work over time, I’ve spoken with plenty of experienced publishers and marketing experts who caution authors about the danger of giving up on traditional marketing tools in favor of, as one put it, sitting at their computers all day to do online networking.

Don’t get me wrong, it can be incredibly powerful, especially when someone can read something you’ve written or a video you’ve made and click through to a sample of your book and then a sales page.

However, many times social media may only result in more blog views, followers, and interest rather than actual book sales. Online tools may still only make a weak connection with readers.

You can take Seth Godin’s discussion of faux followers vs. viral growth as a great example of this. Someone could spend a lot of time amassing followers on Twitter or friends on Facebook, but how many of these connections will actually become invested in your book, buy it, read it, and tell their friends about it? Godin suggests, “A slightly better idea defeats a much bigger but disconnected user base every time,” but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

In order for book sales and referrals to happen, you certainly need to use social media and to become a contributing member of the community. However, for people to actually buy your book there needs to be a bit more going on than a weak social media connection. While social media is essential, it’s not powerful enough on its own to help authors put books into the hands of readers.

The rest of this series:

Great Endorsements

A Great Forward

Great Reviews

Online Social Media

A Web Site

Two Thing That Do

A well-written book that is targeted to a specific but wide audience.

A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform

a) This person said this on January 2nd.

b) This person doesn’t like the same kinds of movies as yourself.

I’ve found that with friends and family it can be very hard to recommend a book or a movie. At a recent gathering of friends several discussed their take about the Twilight series. To a person they all thought the books were poorly written, but some admitted that the books made for great leisure reading.

Since books can serve a variety of functions, providing an escape or valuable information, it’s hard to discern based on a review and even a friend’s recommendation whether a book will be a good fit. A reviewer may praise an author’s use of description and ability to set a scene, but perhaps the story doesn’t connect. A review may lambast an author for writing a book lacking essential information about a topic, but perhaps you found just enough to make it helpful.

Reviews are a wonderful tool for drawing attention to worthy books. They may play a significant role in convincing some readers, who may have been sitting on the fence, to pick up a book.

However, when it comes to making that personal connection with readers a review is still a very limited marketing tool. Reviews should be part of every author’s publicity plan, but a good review does not automatically translate into book sales. Those who rely on them to do this will only be disappointed.

The rest of this series:

Great Endorsements

A Great Forward

Great Reviews

Online Social Media

A Web Site

Two Thing That Do

A well-written book that is targeted to a specific but wide audience.

A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform

However, the more I talked with people about the forward, I realized that many hadn’t even noticed it. Once they read it, they found it a persuasive case for buying my book. However, I began to realize that forwards aren’t quite as powerful a force for book sales than I had imagined.

The forward certainly leant me a little more credibility and I’m very glad that I had it, but it wasn’t the earth-shattering force that I expected it to be.

While a great forward should be the goal of any author, we can make the mistake of trusting things such as endorsements or forwards to do a lot more than they are designed to do. I’m very grateful for my colleague’s kind words, but his forward could only do so much by way of actually selling books.

I didn’t realize that selling lots of books had more to do with my own abilities.

The rest of this series:

Great endorsements

A Great Forward

Great reviews

Social Media

A Web Site

Two Thing That Do

A well-written book that is targeted to a specific but wide audience.

A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform

From what I can tell, I assembled a pretty good group of endorsers. They were all respected and published authors in their own rights, and they said very kind things about my book.

While I’m sure that some folks picked up my book based on their endorsements, an endorsement can only take readers so far. An endorsement may convince them to pick up your book and look it over, but a potential reader’s interest may well stop there.

I invested a lot of time into the endorsement process, which I don’t necessarily regret, but I think I put way too much trust into it. In addition, I probably didn’t work as hard on some other things that were much more important since I trusted that the endorsers would expand the appeal of my book.

Endorsements are great, but they aren’t the most important factor in selling books.

The rest of this series:

Great endorsements

A Great Forward

Great reviews

Social Media

A Web Site

Two Thing That Do

A well-written book that is targeted to a specific but wide audience.

A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform

While there are a lot factors that go into a book’s sales from the marketing ability of a publisher to the state of the economy (which was at rock bottom at the time of my release), I’d like to process a few things in public about marketing my book and what I learned.

These are things that you the author can control. Results may vary depending on any number of factors, and the rules of publishing are generally made to be broken. However, there are some trends I have noticed.

The more I speak with other authors and industry professionals, the more I think I missed a few strategic opportunities to improve my book’s chances because I focused on developing some areas that were certainly important, but not quite as critical when it came to selling books. They may have helped sell some books, but they were not the most important factors when it came to selling LOTS of books.

I’ll spend this week and the next unpacking some of this a bit more, including how my publishing strategy has changed over the past year.

Here are the lists that I’ll dig into over the coming days:

Five Great Things That Don’t Sell Lots of Books

Trustworthy Endorsements

A Great Forward

Great Reviews

Social Media

A Web Site

Two Things That Sell Lots of Books

A well-written book that is targeted to the needs of a specific but wide audience.

A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform (One note: the 5 things in the list above are part of a platform, but there is much more to a marketing platform than those 5 things)

When I started reading blogs in 2004 and then started my own blog in 2005 there were three primary ways to drive traffic to your blog.

• Share an RSS feed so that readers can subscribe.
• Ask other blogs to list you on their blog roll.
• Participate in the discussions on other blogs.

While some of these methods still work, especially the third one, the first two are not quite as relevant anymore. In fact, there are a few other ways to market your blog that may be even more necessary these days.

As I mentioned in my previous post, competition is fierce. There are a lot of great blogs out there fighting for the limited attention of readers. Here are some thoughts on why marketing your blog is more important than ever:

Readers Want You to Find Them

Folks are using Twitter, Facebook, and other social media tools to share their information with others. When big news happens, many people don’t have to look much further than their facebook or twitter feeds. In fact, these days I find out most big stories from social media before I hear them on the news. Readers expect the best content to find them, even if they won’t admit it.

Today’s Online Tools Give Immediate Access to Your Blog

Rather than praying for someone to subscribe to your RSS feed, you can stick your posts right into the Twitter and Facebook feeds of hundreds, if not thousands of readers. It’s very easy to promote a link on social media a few times a day, so why not plan on it 3-times a day? Those two sites are the most important sources of traffic for my blog.

Blog Rolls are Less Important

While it’s never bad to have your blog listed on the sidebar of a high-profile blog, or any blog for that matter, blog rolls are becoming less important with the large number of blogs out there and the variety of ways the people read blogs these days that render a blog roll link useless.

Online Conversation Has Not Changed

It’s still vitally important to comment on the blogs of those with similar interests. Finding time for this is the most challenging part of blog promotion for me, but it can also be the most rewarding since you’ll make some great friends and acquaintances along the way. Some of these friends have become friends in person or have become collaborators in projects.

Align Your Promotion Plan with Your Goals

A big part of determining how hard you want to work at promoting your work will depend on your personal goals. Perhaps you just want to write as a personal discipline or as a way to share ideas with your friends. That’s a good and viable plan for a blog. However, if you want to be a major contributor to an area of knowledge or even a leader, then you’ll need to think of ways you can ensure that readers have multiple opportunities to run into your work.

It’s one step removed from having a conversation with yourself.

I’ve heard lots of people unfamiliar with Twitter deride it as a silly exercise in narcissism. For those new to blogging and social media, it’s either intimidating or simply beyond their comprehension.

However, if you want people to read your blog, to learn about your work, and to hopefully pass it on to others, Twitter is an indispensable tool that you’ll learn to love once you figure it out. By signing up and then learning a simple program such as Tweet Deck (or HootSuite), you’ll soon find yourself tweeting the praises of this service. Here are a few reasons why you need to start tweeting:

It’s Easy to Follow and Connect

Start off by following all of your favorite bloggers and authors. Also do searches for those with similar interests. Using a tool like “Twitter Local” will enable you to search for users in your locale.

Following them is as easy as a click, they’ll receive an e-mail that you’re following them, and they may even follow you back. Over time you’ll notice mentions and “ReTweets” (RT) that are particularly interesting, and now you have other interesting folks to follow. After you have a few followers, sign in to Mr. Tweet to get recommendations of others to follow.

It’s Easy to Share Information

OK, now you’re on Twitter and you have a few followers, but what’s next? Did you just finish a blog post and begin to worry that no one will read it? Copy the link to your post, type something like this into the status update in Tweet Deck: “New blog post ‘Title’”, and then paste the link in there. Tweet Deck can shorten the link for you automatically.

Once you send it out there, you’ve just alerted folks to your blog post. About three to four hours later post a reminder tweet that your blog post is our there just in case anyone missed it. If someone loves your post, they may Retweet it and share it with others.

It’s a Community

As you post your own updates, share links, and send out blog post alerts, you’ll find yourself in conversations with other users on Twitter. You can either reply with a public comment or you can send a private direct message to someone who has reciprocated your follow.

You’ll find your network of friends and colleagues expanding, your knowledge of blogs and other valuable information growing, and your own work reaching new readers. I find that I rarely check my RSS subscriptions these days since I’m already following my favorite bloggers in Twitter.

The Love You Take…

Twitter is only as good as your last tweet, so be sure to write up valuable updates, share solid content, and ReTweet generously when you find something excellent. Twitter is one of those services that can become a huge waste if you don’t manage your time and content wisely.

As the Beatles said, “The love you take is equal to the love you make.”

Put into it’s proper place, Twitter is an indispensable networking, marketing, and friend-making tool that in many cases thrives on excellence and generosity. For bloggers worried about finding readers for their posts, Twitter is the perfect place to spark the conversations all writers long to have.

Amazon has added a great new feature for Associates that integrates an associates ID with links to books on Twitter. Users can now post links to books right from the Amazon home page, much like posting from a news site.

This is a great way to utilize Twitter in both making book recommendations and providing an extra revenue stream. This will not be for everyone, but for those engaged in recommending books, products, or in sharing expertise in a particular field, I see some potential for growth.

After using Amazon Associates for a good two to three years on my blog and e-mail newsletter, I personally haven’t seen too much of a need for it in those mediums. For the most part this is tied to my blog’s topic (Christian theology), the number of readers I draw, and the income generated per sale doesn’t make it worth the effort to embed my associates ID with every book.

To make it worth my while I would need a wider audience and more marketable products to sell. An economic recovery wouldn’t hurt either. If I blogged on politics, technology, marketing, or online commerce, I could very well see the value in generating revenue from an associates account on book and other product purchases.

Nevertheless, from time to time I recommend books, mark some for my wish list, or save others in my del.icio.us bookmarks. Using this Twitter feature is yet another way to share content with friends. The potential to earn even a quarter adds a little incentive to do something I would consider doing without the promise of revenue.

The e-mail notice I received from Amazon said the following:

By clicking on the Share on Twitter button in the Site Stripe, a new window will open and an Amazon-generated message is pre populated in the ‘What are you doing?’ text area of your Twitter account (you may be asked to log in to your Twitter account). That message will include a shortened URL that already includes your Associates ID. You’ll have the option to edit this message or simply hit the ‘Update’ button to post to your Twitter account. When Twitter users click on the link in your post and make a qualifying sale, you’ll earn referral fees.

With the immediacy, large number of potential readers, and ability to share that Twitter provides, I think this is a great idea. Though I’ve given up on using Amazon Associates on my web site, I think I’ll give this Share on Twitter feature a shot.

The goal of an influencer mailing for a newly published book is to put your book into the hands of folks with trusted names, contact with a large audience, and a willingness or ability to endorse your book. Missing any of these three things will mean your book either ends up on someone’s shelf or at least doesn’t reach a wide group of potential readers.

The solution is to carefully balance the kinds of influencers you contact. It is rare to find an influencer who meets all three criteria perfectly. Nevertheless, it’s worth sending copies to well-known influencers in the media or in your field, especially if you’ve had contact with them in the past.

Let’s say you send out 5-15 of your 50 influencer copies to folks in this camp. Maybe they won’t have the time to take a look at your book, but should they endorse it, you’ll have a chance to reach a broader audience. It may be worth taking a chance on some radio personalities, especially if their shows connect with your potential readers.

The next 20-30 copies should go to those who have a solid following or niche that trusts them and will be willing to interact with your work. There are a lot of very good blogs and podcasts out there with readers and listeners who may very well give your book a shot. In fact, because these are highly interactive networks with a higher trust factor than perhaps those with a bigger name, the potential readers in these networks may be more willing to buy your book.

I think this segment is easy to overlook because their reach may be in the hundreds or low thousands. However, keep in mind that these influencers will be easier to contact, more likely to interact with you, and have a lot more to gain if you can provide content for their blogs/podcasts as opposed to a major media player with lots of options for their shows. In addition, providing these bloggers and podcasters with a free book or two to give away always helps.

Lastly, never underestimate those the power of those with small audiences who are still very trusted and willing to endorse your book. Be sure to set aside about 10-15 copies for this group. With Twitter and Facebook even the smallest blogs can easily plug a book among hundreds of people. If you can provide an influencer who is passionate about your book with some great interviews, excerpts, and a free copy to review, your book may receive a lot more attention than a brief endorsement from a well-known influencer.

At the end of the day, it’s most important that authors connect with influencers who are passionate about their work and willing to talk about it. If you can put a free copy of your book into the hands of someone willing to talk about it, you’ve done the most important part of an influencer mailing.

Nevertheless, your work is not done. Authors need to make themselves available to help each influencer talk about their work, supporting them, and driving traffic to their web sites. Book publicity is always a two-way street. There is no room for the entitled author.

Previously…

• Selecting influencers for a book release: The Goal
• Selecting influencers for a book release: The Problem

When you begin selecting influential people to help spread the word about your book, keep in mind the three qualities that you’re looking for: trusted names, contact with a large audience, and a willingness or ability to endorse your book.

In compiling my own list of influencers I worked very hard to contact those with large audiences and a trusted name, but I didn’t necessarily gauge the likelihood that they would plug my book. Keep in mind that the bigger a name, the more books he/she will receive. They can’t read every book that comes onto their desks, and so the question is, “Will this person both read and talk about my book?”

If an influencer doesn’t read your book, it’s nothing personal. There are only so many hours in a day. In addition, some may hope to read and talk about your book with their audience only for your book to fall through the cracks. Within days of receiving my book one well-meaning influencer realized he wouldn’t have time to read it and so he gave it away on his web site.

No exactly the ideal publicity you’re aiming for.

And so the challenge you face is balancing the audience size and trust of an influencer with that person’s ability to plug book whether in conversations or in an online or on-air review. However, the right kind of influencer for your book may not have that large of an audience and may even look quite different from what you expcet.

The next installments in this series…

• Selecting influencers for a book release: The Solution

Previously…

• Selecting influencers for a book release: The Goal

Selling a book tends to be a very personal, one on one process. Advertising may raise awareness, but anything from a friend’s recommendation, a book seller’s comments, or an online review often makes the difference between a book staying on the shelf or ending up on the nightstand. In addition, a series of solid reviews do not guarantee brisk sales, just as negative reviews do not equal a book’s doom.

There is plenty of competition these days for not only the public’s attention, but also for the public’s disposable income. When trusted authorities recommend a book, authors have one more way to connect a book with readers. Influencers can vouch for an author’s credibility and provide a broad point of connection with potential readers.

The ideal influencers will have trusted names, contact with a large audience, and a willingness to endorse your book. Influencers may lead to direct sales or at least give readers another reason to recommend your book.

An influencer without one of these three qualities may not be a helpful contact. In the next post of this series I’ll look into some of the problems authors encounter in putting together an influencer list.

The next installments in this series…

• Selecting influencers for a book release: The Problem
• Selecting influencers for a book release: The Solution