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Pay it Forward

"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone."

I enjoy connecting with other writers. I also know that the writer community is stronger when we share resources and help each other to succeed. The pay-it-forward ideal certainly applies. To that end, this page contains a few tips and resources that I hope you will find helpful in creating and maintaining your writing platform and career.

Teachers/Courses I Recommend:

Nick Stephenson
  • Your First 10,000 Readers
  • The Author Marketing Machine
  • Dream Team Network (join this if possible)
Mark Dawson’s
Self Publishing Formula
  • Ads for Authors
  • Facebook Ads for Authors
  • YouTube Ads for Authors
  • Amazon Ads for Authors
  • BookBub Ads for Authors
Joseph Michael
  • Learn Scrivener Fast

Websites/Services I Recommend:

  • Draft 2 Digital
  • Book Funnel
  • Author Cats
  • Mail Chimp

Your Website:

  1. Have a website!
  2. I prefer WordPress, but you should use what you are comfortable with. Take a course or two as needed, to become comfortable and proficient.
  3. Your site should be self-hosted if at all possible (not a on a freebee site). This will give you more control, more options, and give your site a more professional appearance.
  4. Have a strong landing page that grabs the reader’s attention and doesn’t waste time. You have precious few seconds to connect with your visitors before you loose them. Your landing page should have a mission/goal and a call to action. Decide what your primary goal is and create a landing page that facilitates you goal.
  5. Branding encompasses your entire writing image. Branding is the means by which people will start to recognize you and associate you with your writing, message, website and core values – even from afar. Branding is more than a logo or website, or color pallet. That said, get a logo and use a theme and color pallet that matches your message and style. Where possible, carryover your branding into your other outlets for a more uniform user experience. The two most important things to remember about branding are:
     – Be Authentic!
     – Be Consistent!
  6. Have a means for your readers to find your books, provide feedback, and sign up for your reader’s list/newsletter. Building a reader’s list may be the most important thing you do!
    PRO TIP >> (Checkout Nick Stevenson’s courses mentioned above.)
You want an awesome website like mine? I built this with Author Cats!
Author Cats is a WordPress theme specially designed for authors looking to build a following. Click here to learn more.

On Facebook:

  1. Have a Facebook page!
  2. Here, you can share your writing, news or interests and gain followers for your brand. Be sure to set up your profile with quality images and make your niche/genre clear.
  3. I suggest you join a writer’s community/group on Facebook. Find a group that’s focused on the same things as you (genre, promotions, news, etc.). When you find the right group, make friends, be courteous, share appropriate content from the group page on your page, share your own content, find a way to contribute, stay as active as you reasonably can and help each other. If you have the time and inclination, offer to help the organizers or become one. Here are some questions to ask when considering group membership:
    Do they represent your genre(s)? Do they promote each other and share news about their niche? Are they active? Do they have frequent or regular community events to help members promote or sell books collectively (such as holiday book sales)? Do they connect and/or coordinate on twitter or other social media outlets? Do they have and enforce rules for behavior that fit your values? Are the organizers/gatekeepers selective about who joins and who can stay in the group? Do any members offer author services or interview authors for a blog? Do they have a news webpage?
    Personally, I am a member of a few Face book groups, but one immediately jumps to mind as being helpful, supportive and active: Fantasy Sci-Fi Network
  4. Look into Facebook advertising, but I do not recommend diving in before you know something about it! This is an area where you can stab around in the dark and waste a lot of money before you know it. I recommend taking a course so that you know something about Facebook ads before you jump in.
    PRO TIP >> (Checkout Mark Dawson’s courses mentioned above.)

On Twitter:

  1. Have a twitter account!
  2. Like Facebook, this is a place you can share your writing, news or interests and gain followers for your brand. Be sure to set up your profile with quality images and make your niche/genre clear.
  3. Follow others with similar interests (reading, writing, blogging, art, science, podcasts, genre, niche, etc.). Some of these folks will follow you back, some will not. Don’t worry about that too much. A good place to look for folks-to-follow is to run a search of hashtags that you use and see who else is using them. Then check out their profile and content. Another source is folks who retweet your tweets. Again, check out their profile and content, to make sure they’re a good match. This is social media; it’s supposed to be about positive relationships.
  4. Follow others who first follow you – WHEN it makes sense. Use your best judgement. Sometimes folks are just spam-following in an attempt to grow an audience fast.
  5. It’s not about you! Share (retweet) other folk’s tweets more frequently than you post a tweet about your own books and news. Share interesting articles you read away from Twitter. The 80 – 20 rule seems to work best. Do this daily if possible.
  6. If you use/allow direct messaging be sure to respond to followers who send you a direct message. Connect.
  7. The same goes for people who mention/promote you in a tweet. A response does not have to be time consuming or thought provoking. I have a very tight schedule, so frequently I simply tweet or retweet something that promotes them or their books. Look for what they are promoting (an event or book) and help them get the word out. What do they have pinned? That’s a good indication of the story they want to get out. Sometimes a simple like is enough and all you will have time for.
  8. Learn how to pin tweets to the top of your profile. Pinned tweets grow stale and folks will stop retweeting them. To avoid this, change your pinned tweet from time-to-time, unless it is just too perfect for your top story and it’s still getting play (retweeted).
  9. Never get into a flame-war with someone over something they tweeted.
  10. Unfollow or even block folks who tweet things that upset you! You don’t have time to waste getting mad! The same goes for spammers.
  11. Do not violate the rules of Twitter.
  12. Do not tweet or retweet pornographic material.
  13. Do not tweet about politics or religion unless this is you niche and you are prepared for the consequences.
  14. At this time, I do not recommend using Twitter Ads. If you know a lot about them and get good results, good on ya. Make sure you have a positive ROI. Consider paying it forward by sharing your knowledge!

Other Social Media:

Remember your platform is anywhere you go out there, physically or virtually. Try to be consistent with your brand. Also, I don’t recommend you spread yourself too thin or try to do too much. Make sure social media isn’t taking away from valuable writing time. Try to limit yourself to a set number of minutes or hours per day. Try to work it into your schedule so you are communicating with your audience when they are online (there are tools available that might help with this).
PRO TIP >> Don’t jump on every social media outlet you can find (this will spread you far too thin). Instead, focus on one or two where your fans hang out. If you feel you want to do more, after you’ve “mastered” these, consider branching out to other outlets – one at a time!

I don’t know much about using the following social media outlets for a writing platform, but have heard other writers recommend them: Pinterest, Linked-in, Google+, Instagram, and YouTube

Social Media Tools/Aids:

  • Bitly
  • Round Team
  • Hootsuite
  • Unsplash
  • Excel (or other spreadsheet program)

Other Writing-Related Websites/Newsletters/Resources:

  • Writer’s Digest
  • Wattpad
  • Kindle Spy
  • Scrivener

Joint and Cross Promotions

Authors! Here are some guidelines should you want join me in a joint or cross promotion:

JOINT PROMOTION:
In this instance, I will be hosting the promotion on a Promo page of my site. The promotion will be for a limited timeframe. You and the other authors involved are expected to promote the joint promotion by sharing the link to the Promo page with your reader list and on your social media platforms while the promotion is live preferable in the early to middle of the timeframe. Among other things, you will provide me with a URL to the webpage where your special offer is located. This link could be for Amazon (or another bookseller), InstaFreebee, BookFunnel, your own website, etc. Your goals (book sales or list building) are your own, but must be made clear to me in advance. I will do my best to match up authors with similar goals and similarly sized reader lists into each promotion. The plan is to run each promotion for two weeks to one month.

CROSS PROMOTION:
This is a one-for-one exchange (one of your books for one of mine) – one author at a time. In this instance, I will again be hosting your book on a Promo page of my site and promoting your book to my readers list and social media platform. In return, you will promote and share my book on your website and with your reader list and social media platform. The promotion will be for a limited time, probably one month. Think of it as highlighted book of the month.

CRITERIA:

  • I WILL CONSIDER promoting novels, novellas, anthologies, and some shorter works from nearly any subgenre of Fantasy or Science Fiction, including, but not limited to, Urban Fantasy, Magical Realism, Steampunk and Horror (if the horror has meaningful Fantasy or Science Fiction elements). I will also consider Romance that is clearly Fantasy or Science Fiction first.
  • I WILL NOT CONSIDER promoting works that contain material of a racist or sexual nature (erotic or otherwise) or works that glamorize drugs, drinking, or gratuitous violence; especially when the violence is against women, children, minorities, the elderly or the weak. I prefer not to promote works littered with foul language. I will not take kindly to being tricked into promoting works of these kinds, so be warned.

If you have a work that meets this criteria, please contact me using the information on my Contact page. Provide a brief synopsis, a cover image, and the genre/subgenre of the work. Also tell me about your special offer. How deeply are you discounting your book? Is it free or reduced price? What is your goal (book sales or list building). What time frame will you be offering your special book offer? In order for me to organize and build webpages, etc., it should be at least two weeks in advance. I also need to know the size of your reader list?

*Some of the links above may be affiliate links. In other words, I may receive compensation for referring you to the site if you sign up or make a purchase. This does not add to your cost.*