The following have been screamed over and over:

YOU MUST BLOG
YOU MUST USE SOCIAL MEDIA
YOU MUST BE EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME
YOU MUST START NOW!

Wow, really? I must?

I don't subscribe to that so much.

Just because I love to do everything all the time doesn't mean I can or that you should.

Of course all these wonderful marketing tools are only as good as your enthusiasm for them.

People forget that enthusiasm is the key factor that makes something great.

I blog because I love to blog. Look at my stats--nobody pays attention to my blog, but I still blog because I love it!

I do use social media because my fans love me and talk to me and it's fun. And just so you know, I didn't start my blog or do anything to ramp-up my author social media before my book was done and I don't regret it.

If you're in a rush, if you're dying to do everything and you just can't wait--go for it! Hard-core research predicts that going this route will cause burn out in no more than 3 years time.

Long haul takes mental stamina, a plan and patience. Do your research on what action you want to take. You can see the pros and cons but I have a chart for you to consider:

Marketing needs to be fun for you or you need to make it fun. That's the only need-to-do in this game.

ACTION ITEM: Figure out how you plan on marketing. 

Today is the first day of Luke's Tale KDP promo!

Click the picture to get your download!

And while I love Amazon and the Indie tools they provide, I can't help but feel that this type of promo is getting more difficult for new authors to use successfully.

In January, I was still confident in the KDP Select program. I still felt it was a good deal being exclusive and having a promotion to plan.

I believe the KDP program still works, but for relatively known authors.

Somewhere between January and now, the KDP Select program seems to have shifted to give better known authors a chance to gain more readers.

When I signed on, KDP Select still gave new authors the edge to get known. But here's what I've noticed.

~ I can't find the FREE eBooks section on Amazon even when I search.
~ Free ebook lists have cut down on the number of free books they'll feature.
~ There are tons of books going free and uploaded to Amazon every day.
~ There are more books that are free than one can read in a lifetime.
~ Free seekers aren't necessarily your market.
~ It takes about 20,000 downloads to make a bump in sales. (And that's not easy anymore.)

I know you're thinking I'm getting down on KDP Select, but what I'm saying is, this type of promo has changed.

I see free as a viable marketing promotion because I know it works. It's how I got hooked on Sylvia Day, Michelle West and a few others. But, the free thing needs to be done wisely.

I'm still in. I'm still experimenting and I'm still waiting to see what this promo retrieves. I'll find out! For now, click on the picture and get your copy!

I'm not here to tell you guys what your marketing plan should or should not be. I'm here to help you with what you decide your marketing is.

Remember that you can take or leave these tips and only you can tell you how much time, effort and money you want to place in each forum.

Today's Book Planning is for the Twitter users. Below is a link to an article I found very comprehensive. And, comprehensive is what we need! I agree with everything the article says except about sitting down and planning the tweets. For me, when I say something it's sporadic, unpredictable, but that's also a part of me. You can count I'll be there, but you can't count on what I'll say.

If you want to make twitter work...this is the plan--give or take a few minutes! If you call yourself a social media expert (not just a Facebook expert), you really need to know what that means. Below is the no bullshit guide.

Action item: Read this link then take it or leave it.

http://www.socialmediatorch.com/daily-twitter-plan/

Today, I want to discuss the difference between Marketing Tips and Marketing Strategy.

I discussed it at length as to the differences in this post HERE. 

It boils down to Marketing Tips=actionable items. Things you can do/spend money on. These are the things like putting your book out for free. Buy advertising. Going on a book blog tour.

Marketing Strategy tend to be vague ideas. Things like --

Step one. Write the book.
Step two. Find readers.

OR

Step one. Research the market for popular topics.
Step two. Find funding.
Step three. Write the book.

My strategy happened to be the first. Neither one is better than the other. I know plenty of people who will contradict me and say I did it backwards, I know. But I understand myself too well. I could research forever and never write. So my strategy works for me!

Now the actionable item for MY writers is--give me one Marketing Tip that you would like to see me do for your strategy. My authors already have their Marketing Strategies in place, but I'd like for them to think about it for 15 minutes and see if they can come up with a marketing tip that I haven't thought of. Go!

For everyone else...do you have a marketing strategy? What do you think of mine?

Have fun with Marketing!

Really all marketing consists of is an expression of your creativeness. As a creative person I think of ways to delight my audience. To get to know them. Engage. But it is like being up on stage. Your whole audience can't all speak at once when there's only you.

But there are venues where you can interact with them just by listening. Social media anyone? Facebook lets you be a voyeur in everyone's lives!

But getting back to marketing...I think if you change gears and express yourself, you might find you love marketing!

As a publisher I get to explore the "technical" side of getting a book out to the audience. I get to be a movie producer/director/camera person by creating trailers for books. I'm a motivational speaker whenever I post an update on Facebook. I talk to my people in a very intimate way in my newsletters-giving a part of my soul to others.

All these things are creative in their own right. I don't think of marketing as selling. I think of it as giving. What can I give you? I'll continue to have fun thinking of ways to entertain you! All of this is exciting and fun! Most of all it's rewarding to see the creative things I've made out there! So don't bemoan opportunity! Embrace creativity and release it out in the wild!

Listening to advice of writers and seeing how others put themselves out there makes me:
 
1) Awed they are doing it.

2) Realize how different strokes for different folks really applies.

When thinking about who your reader is, you make up this fictitious person and try to get into the head of who these people are. 

But, readers are real people.  And there are so many different types of people and different genres people enjoy. 

I'm listening to a podcast called the self-publishing podcast with three hosts and three different opinions.  The thing is all these opinions are based on what is working for those authors.  So instead of trying to bottle your marketing into a tidy conglomerate check-marked boxes, why not open that pandora's box and see who comes to it? 

Some people will like your stuff, some people won't.  Don't sit on your laurels.  Instead, I see it as a way to observe and identify your reader.  Which is why a call to action in the back of your book is a must for reader engagement.  Reader experience is important. It's also how you can find more readers.

So, I have links I found very inspirational, educational and productive all for finding more readers:

Jeff Goins is very inspirational -- http://goinswriter.com/find-your-tribe/

Jonathan Gunson shows you a productive step by step "how to" with twitter -- http://bestsellerlabs.com/how-to-find-readers-on-twitter/

Richard posted a very awesome, educational study with stats and charts! -- http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/343-how-do-books-get-discovered-a-guide-for-publishers-and-authors-who-want

If you have a link you found valuable please post it in the comments!