Yesterday was the launch of my Thunderclap Campaign as we count down the days until Launch Day. One of the reasons I scheduled it so close to Launch day is because it helps keep the book fresh in everyone’s minds. I also will not have so much online time on the day of release. This weekend coming up is going to be very hectic and I will need the help of my blogging friends and social media buds to help keep the thunder alive online while I handle my thing on the ground.
So my first day and first time hosting Thunderclap went very well! Now, by very well I mean I only reached 6% of my goal lol. But over 10,000 people through social media have at least seen it. We just have to get 94 of them to thunderclap!
That was yesterday. Tonight concludes Day 2 of the campaign and I am now at 8% of my goal with a social reach of 15, 613. I’m really excited about everyone who put their hands in to assist me in this endeavor and I hope that you will continue to spread the word.
Calling All Authors and Aspiring Writers! Promotional Opportunities Available on Harsh Reality. Jason’s offers are very reasonable for anyone seeking to increase visibility of their work.
Help Me Launch for just 99 cents! Pre-Order Stella Book #3 on Kindle before the price goes up! You have until Wednesday, February 24th. Your downloads will help me to move up in rank. I’m trying to make the top 100 before Launch Day!
(Don’t look at me like that, yes I said Top 100. I believe in setting reasonable goals. Gotta crawl before you walk!)
As of today, Friday, February 12, 2016, there is exactly 2 weeks left before The Stella Trilogy is complete. The early reviews are vitally important to authors like myself and your support is greatly appreciated. While you can’t leave a review now, here’s what you can do to help spread the word about this book:
Writing a novel is an immense undertaking, and before you finish it you think it’s the most daunting thing you’ll ever do. Then you DO finish it, and suddenly you need to figure out how to get people to read it.
Before long you realize you need to learn this strange sorcery called marketing, so you start asking around, reading blog posts, and digesting anything else you think will help. Then you start posting ‘look I wrote a book’ to Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else you think people might see it.
People throw rotten tomatoes, and you quickly retreat back into your introvert shell. You realize that all the Facebook groups you joined are full of other people like you who are also yelling BUY MY BOOK as loudly as possible.
The method described above is the hunting approach. Your prey are readers, and you are stalking them through the…
Close up of a social media results report with pen and calculator
Social Media is a different world from offline. As such, I think interaction on and offline must apply to book promotion and be fitting for each. I’m learning, and trying to better implement, a well-balanced combination of both off and online tools because each is so different, yet similar too. Now the following are just my personal thoughts and opinions and are by no means that of an expert. These thoughts are not supported by any advanced data or statistic aside from my own experience; they are just my thoughts because, well, I was thinking about some stuff.
Me and Offline supporters from Canada and Philadelphia at The Pearls Before Swine release, The Double Tree Hilton Hotel, Chicago IL 2014
In my opinion, offline offers opportunities not always present online and online offer its benefits as well that are not always present offline. There are things I would do online as to appeal to this community that may not be required offline. Or that may not attract as much attention to offline supporters. For instance, I think offline activities are great to share with your online friends in the form of pictures. It’s always exciting to see photos of book signings, public speaking engagements, and varying social engagements with offline supporters. I think these, pictures, are far more engaging to your online supporters than ads and constant promos concerning updates of what is done offline because it gets boring after a while.
Online communities want to engage online whereas offline communities who are not as into “internet-ting” want to engage offline. Offline supporters and readers want to hear your voice and see your face. They can care less about how many Facebook Likes you have. As such, I believe balance of both on and offline activity is good but that there also need to be a limit to merging the two. Its OK for them to be separate. I believe, for instance, that a social media presence should rightly fit the online community.
I know this looks good, but Social Media is very deceiving. While numbers such as is in this photo is exciting it can mean absolutely nothing or it can mean everything. You will probably never know for sure. This is where offline activities come into play. Offline book promotion handles much of the foot work. It is the physical act of pushing the book.
Social Media on the other hand, in my opinion, is not necessarily about selling books as much as it is about building; though through building come sales, social media is best utilized to help generate buzz about a book without blatantly asking people to buy it. Its purpose is to serve as a networking platform that helps connect writers to other writers, readers to writers, digital marketers and professional experts, editors, book groups and workshops, reviewers, beta readers, and gives authors room to connect with readers who enjoy the genre in which the writer writes by way of a platform. What I hope to accomplish as an author in general but especially online, is to show my support for the books content itself. I aim to raise awareness concerning the social or political message behind the writing. Why is this topic relevant today? How does it help people to grow? What value does my subject hold and can it start conversations that lead to greater understanding? By striving to answer these questions, it will help garner offline attention and lead to radio interviews and social engagements. In short, I try to forget for a moment literally selling the book, and to instead focus on why my book is different from the next and thus why it is even worth your time in the first place.
Social media is about connections and should be used to reach the people you can’t reach offline (because they will become offline supporters). It should be, not merely an advertisement of the book, but a presentation of the books message and an introduction of the author on a personal level. By focusing on the content of the book and getting to know the author, I believe readers become interested in the book itself because of their passion for the topic and their trust of the author. In this way, I think we Indies have the potential to reach lots of readers and to be more productive in our service to the online literary community.
Before we all tuck in this weekend (don’t you just love Fridays?), I have to share what came into my inbox today.
Timothy Pike of “Dream, Play, Write” has presented what looks to be a great opportunity for Indie Authors. I couldn’t find a re-blog button so here’s an excerpt of the post below. For the entirety, please follow the link at the end of this post. Otherwise, have a great weekend people. Rest well.
“Traditional publishers have top-notch teams of editors, graphic designers, and marketers, all ready to descend upon your manuscript, turn it into a book, and sell it.
But for the self-publisher, where does one begin?
That’s where MyDreamBookTeam comes in. Need a great editor? She’s here. A fantastic book cover designer? He’s waiting. How about writing coaches? You’ll find them here too.
It’s all about hand-picking your own “Dream Team,” so that you stay in control of your own book, yet don’t feel intimidated or overwhelmed by having to do everything yourself.
I’ll be introducing some of these professionals in this mailing in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
And if you know someone who may be in need of these services, forward this e-mail along. There will be some great deals coming your way, and many opportunities to connect with publishing professionals who will exceed your expectations as you turn that Microsoft Word document into a shiny new book on the shelf.”
The PBS Blog 