Online events are more popular than ever before. Whether it is a book launch, live reading, writing workshop, or even an entire conference, marketing is essential for maximizing your audience, and thus maximizing your success. So how do you get people to come to your event, and even better, spend money there? Here are five tried-and-true marketing strategies that will help make your event a big win. Strategy One: Identify Your Audience This may sound basic, but you’d be surprised … Read More »

I didn’t even know I was supposed to have a media kit, or press kit, or whatever you want to call it. Did you? Do you even know what one is? I had heard of these things before, but I never really gave them much thought. Until now. In doing research for a new book release, I discovered that I should not just create a media kit for the release, but it should also be a crucial marketing tool. This … Read More »

Reviews are a big deal for all authors. Whether they’re publishing with Simon & Schuster or self-publishing a few thousand copies, early reviews can make or break a book’s long-term success. There are exceptions, of course. Novels like For Whom The Bell Tolls, To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Handmaid’s Tale all had bad reviews but went on to be classics. Yet for the overwhelming majority of books, reviews are the key to notoriety and sales. The online review has … Read More »

With a COVID-19 vaccine in the works, it looks like we will shortly be able to go back to holding public events. Here are a few tips to help you get started. Book fairs and other local events can be a great way for authors to connect with readers and make new fans. They are immensely valuable. But at the same time it can be hard for first-timers to get the most out of an event. That was certainly true … Read More »

  It’s quite the cat and mouse game—a user tries to get their post seen, Facebook changes how things are seen, user finds something new that works, Facebook changes, user updates, Facebook changes. Over and over. Well, they’ve changed things yet again. It’s easy to get frustrated at all of this. But frustration doesn’t get your post seen. Try to think of it as a game. How can I outsmart the all-knowing Facebook? How Facebook Decides What to Show its … Read More »

Often when writers hear marketing, they turn and run screaming. Well, maybe not literally, but the word definitely causes anxiety for many. Questions abound: What do I do? When? How do I do it? How much time will it all take? Do I have to? Here is a quick answer: You will get out of marketing what you put into it. No marketing, no sales. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend every waking minute with a megaphone shouting … Read More »