ULRIKE featured on the Goodology Podcast!! Listen below and click the picture to be taken to the Goodology website! Ulrike Goes From Hollywood to Metaphysics with Modern Thought Theories

Here is where I say, to gain money you spend money. This promotion is $99 (right now). Which means that depending on how successful this is, the price will be going up.

ACTION ITEM: If you have the money you might want to try it! This promotion sounds like a new release opportunity.

Call it a Marketing Plan and I think of outlining. I hate outlining. I only have fun with titles, bullet points and summaries when I'm planning a book. No, when I see the word Marketing plan I think in the lines of promoting a book. But that's not what a Marketing Plan really is.

I've explained the difference between a Marketing Plan and a Marketing Strategy before and today is a continuation of that.

If I tell myself I have a Marketing Strategy, and a Promotions Plan, then things fall into place for me. Years went by before I realized strategy and plans were not the same. A marketing plan are things you do. A marketing strategy is how you think--your motto or tag line for why you are writing. You need a marketing strategy even more so than a plan because a strategy is the long tail. Plans to promote your books are suppose to change.

But that one goal, one one ring, is your strategy. Strategy is not the means to an end it is your life's work. Or said simply strategy is not HOW you sell books, but WHY. Strategy's are a tag line like:
1. Write. Publish. Repeat.
2. Give readers what they want to read.
3. Every story from the soul.

Without a strategy your promotions turn into hydra--for every promotion you do another two confuse you. Kinna like choosing promotions and changing your price to 99¢ (FOR NO REASON). Bringing the price down is good--WHEN YOU KNOW WHY--and not the "I guess I have to bring down my price for this promotion".

So how do you find your Marketing Strategy? I'm not going to tell anyone how to go about their life and telling you how to find a Marketing Strategy is exactly that. But I can tell you mine and how I got there. See the tag lines above? Mine is #1.

I came to the conclusion that my Marketing Strategy should be Write. Publish. Repeat. after reading everything I could in the 5 years of studying book marketing. My stories were not good enough to publish, back then. I needed to put in my 10,000 hours. After those 10,000 hours I'd have to put in another 10,000 hours TO BE GOOD AT IT. I was not so confident that my first 10,000 would make me "an expert". I believed it would give me a comfortable knowledge of what I needed to study. After my first 10,000 hours I realized--I'll never stop studying. Therefore, write, publish, repeat.

Once I had my Marketing Strategy in place I went for the Promotions Plan. I like short sentences when it come to the promotions plan so mine is simple.
1. Publish book
2. Get reviews for book
3. Find free promotions for exposure to book.
4. Purchase promotions for exposure to book.

That's what I do. This promotions plan gives me the creative license details of what I want to do for my book. From here I could spider out all the things I wanted to do in the way of creative promotions. However, this four step plan helps keep me focused and thorough.

Another key factor is time line and due dates. How long do you want to promote this book before the next one comes out? I could say I could do the same kind of promotion for each book, but I've learned each book has different outcomes. Succes relys on your fans and how well received your book becomes.

For promotions I blog about the ones I've used or found every Tuesday. I call it Tuesday Tools--because promotions are simply tools, not a strategy. There are no wrong stratgies. That is the constant--the thing that should remain consistent. Change your strategy and you start from scratch. Which could be a reason why sales are down if you heavily promote. Find your strategy, find your reason for writing, and you gain your promotions plan.

ACTION ITEM: Find your strategy. Find your promotions plan.

This is the last week of our experiment in serial produced ebooks. Snow Blood has been an awesome experience! But, before you start in your own serial adventure plan on:

1. Taking more time than a regular novel.
You have how ever many episodes and they all require ISBN, covers, and the time it takes to upload them into retailers different platforms.
2. Dedication to organization.
If you don't have organization in place, you are going to **** it up. Your cover is going to not match the internal material. There is way more likelyhood that Episode 6 will have the cover of episode 5.
3. More marketing.
You now have more property to work with, and while I don't see that as a bad thing, it's more you have to keep track of.

All in all, I can't wait for Season 2! It has been a blast to market Snow Blood!!

Article Written by ULRIKE

I’ve had this plan for a long time. When I would go to metaphysics class, starting in my 20’s, and listen to my teacher, I thought: “That’s what I’m going to do when I retire.” And yes, it took thirty more years…

I originally started teaching after several years of studying the works of William W. Walter – The Walter Method/ Eschatology. There was a specific, rigorous plan to this study, step by step and it was very methodical. The group was, and still is, a closed society and newcomers are not approached. ‘They’ had to find us. Advertising was out of the question. “When the time is right, the teacher (or student) will appear”, I was told.

It felt special at the time. I had found this private study and I was eager to find out what it was all about. The concepts of ‘all is mental’ and ‘all is good’ were intriguing, and the promise that this was not a religion or cult appealed to me even more.

There were books, booklets, and masses of papers to read and ponder, keeping me busy for a long time. However, the most intriguing and best work of Mister Walter’s writings is certainly his collection of the metaphysical diagnosis, which had been added to and rewritten by several of the Board’s Directors.

In class, the reading of other materials from other metaphysical writers was strongly discouraged. It was explained to me, that the reason for this was ‘not to be deterred’ from the straight path of finding the Truth; we were not to be confused by too many varying concepts and ideas. I, however, wanted to hear, listen and learn and I wanted to read all there was to be read. In hindsight this constraint was a good thing for beginners. It gave the student a solid foundation.

With this basis of a serious and sincere study, I continued to read everything I could get my hands on in the world of ‘thought is causative’. There was an abundance of good reading materials and I was sifting, reasoning and chewing on the ideas until they made sense, and conformed to my proper mental attitude. I also discovered Eastern philosophies and absorbed all teachings of New Age thinking with a hunger that was incredible. I was a living sponge.

Teaching ‘Right Thinking’, no matter what the study or lessons are called, is one of the most rewarding experiences I have had and still have. Learning about the Truth and to realize that all religions, teachings, the writings of the ancient wisdoms and New Age ideas, are in principle the same, was a great awakening. They are all grounded in the searching for Spirit, Higher Power, Universe, God, Consciousness, or the other names given to this all-inclusive limitless Power. The essential concept is that we are Souls, spiritual beings, and that our thoughts, conscious awareness, beliefs, and life attitudes shape our experiences. We are all striving to go ‘up’ in the scale of being.

Being a teacher also means being a student. You must be open to new ideas and concepts. You must to act as a mental receiver, absorbing all that is presented to you every minute of your waking hours. Take it in, reason about it, sift the right from the wrong, stay on the good side only, and make sure that your feelings are kept on the right side at all times.

Writing is part of this awakening. Putting the thoughts down on paper and reading them over and over again, clarifies the picture and allows you to make the necessary corrections. It teaches you patience and diligence.

How blessed am I, and sharing my experience will only add to this blessing!

I've discovered a new promotional site for authors called eBookSoda. They look like they promote to a UK audience and not just a US audience. I've place two books so far and the result was not bad for $5.

eBookSoda promotes your book for a day for $5. Be sure to schedule it early as they have a process. Make sure your book has these 6 criteria they want:

1. A book well-formatted, free from typos and grammatical errors.
2. A great cover. Something professionally made.
3. A rating with a minimum of 8 reviews with an average star rating of 3.5 unless it’s a new release (less than 3 months old).
4. Standard lengths such as:

• Novels should be at least 150 pages (50k words)
• Novellas should be at least 20k words
• Short story collections should have a minimum of 12k words total.
• Children’s picture books should be at least 30 pages

5. Priced at $4.99 or less on the day of the listing.
6. Your ebook should be on Amazon (they only feature books that are available from at least one major retailer.)

ACTION ITEM: Try eBookSoda for $5

I've been attending The traffic Superhero webinars hosted by Marisa and Murray and I've listened to Jo Barnes, Adam Urbanski, Don Crowther and Alicia Lyttle.
For 2 weeks the Traffic Superhero conference brought in high-powered, impressive entrepreneurs to a free forum in which they can give you some tips and hock their wares. The only one I felt intriqued by was Alicia Lyttle's Daily Deal site 'Traffic Siphon Secrets' where...you can probably guess...we use daily deal sites to gain interest in your product.

My first question was, "Do you work with ebooks and digital products?"
Yes, Alicia Lyttle has.
However, I'm going to spare you the 2 hour presentation (for each webinar and presenter) and give you the main focus on what each stressed as the most important thing about marketing. After 8 hours of taking notes and being pitched $197 deals, the results are in!

The most important thing to connect with your customer/reader is to:
1. Get their email.
2. Get their email.
3. Get their email.

Yep. Every presenter funneled everything into a "get their email" strategy and, they themselves, had a way of getting everyone's email in exchange for a prize or offer.

The one thing that I realized is that it's time to stop learning about marketing and set in to find my way of what works for me. I do have ways to funnel people into a list. I believe I can work on directing people to it now.

The traffic superhero summit also helped me find a new promotional idea to try. Which is--Alicia Lyttle's 'Daily Deal Sites'.

ACTION ITEM: If you don't have a way to get emails, like a link inside your book to something like MailChimp, Aweber or other...plan to set one up and make scheduled emails to your readers.  

In the beginning, there is an idea of a cover. If you are lucky, you find it. If you are not, it's probably because you have the idea of the cover stuck in your head and you can't bear to part with it or see another cover for its magnificence.
I agree that most covers "call" to an author. Some respect my eye for covers. I'm not the guru designer end-all-end-all of cover design, but I do the best I can with the budget that I have.

Take for instance, Snow Blood. This series needed 8 covers.

6 for the separate ebook episodes
1 for the ebook full Season One
1 for the print

Why so many? Why so different?

First, sometimes you only have a certain amount of copies you can use for an image. Second, sometimes you want a difference between the print, ebook and audible version. Third, sometimes you want to explore the different possibilities of different styles.

When we did Snow Blood I made a deal with my author. She would get the print cover she wanted, I would get the ebook covers I wanted. It was a compromise.

In the story, Snow Blood is a husky turned vampire dog, but the only creature with enough intelligence and intensity that  could pull-off being "Snow Blood" -- was a wolf.

Also, we needed something for the serialized ebooks that looked similar but could be different enough  from each other so people could understand these are different books.

For the print and the full ebook of Season 1, I wanted everyone to pay attention to the fact that this was a completely different book--that it was an entire season not just another episode.

In addition to all that, we will be doing another season of Snow Blood -- I'm not sure about the episodes being released separately, but I know there will be another season, and I wanted to make sure both the serial covers and the season covers could be continued in the fashion from Season 1.

For Snow Blood, it was easy. For another serialized story--I'm not so sure. But if I did it again I would make sure to be able to stamp a brand on the covers as well as I did for the Snow Blood serials. I'm very proud of them! Sometimes you just see the image that you know is going to work! I love it when the pieces fall into place!