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Archive for the ‘marketing books’ Category

Refocusing on middle grade fiction

Posted in author branding, Author platforms, collaboration, Education, indie publishing, marketing books, middle grade fiction, Online writing courses, platform, Podcasts, series writing, starting over, Time to write, tagged , , on June 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

 

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There’s a little bit of refocusing going on behind the scenes of our site. My three writing books will be available soon, the first which being our free gift to anyone subscribing to my podcast, Writer on the Road, where Cracker will be one of my first and ongoing (if he let’s me win) guests!!

This site will once again be about middle grade fiction as Cracker and I share our writing trials, tribulations and downright fun bits of collaborative writing and reliving our sibling squables, getting the better of each other, and me always winning writing journey.

You’ll all be excited to know Cracker and I have agreed to get cracking (sorry, couldn’t resist) on Book 4 of our Cracker & Gilly Mystery Series and it will be quickly followed by books 5, 6 & 7. Our aim is a baker’s dozen and Book 1, Forbidden, will be our gift for anyone signing up to our Growing Up Writing newsletter.

On the marketing front, I’ve been busy upskilling. My education has included the following courses:

  1.  Creative Freedom with Joanna Penn
  2. Your First 10,000 Customers with Nick Stephenson
  3. Facebook Advertising (new) with Mark Dawson
  4. ebook bestsellers audio course with Derek Doepker

So, to sum up, I can write, produce, market, sell foreign rights, record audio and write some more. Or I will be able to once my kids leave home😇😇

Wadaya reckon, Cracker, you ready?

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Melinda Hammond and me – the ultimate insult of Amazon

Posted in Choosing the writing life, marketing books, platform, pseudonyns, romance writing, starting over, writing life, Writing romantic fiction, tagged , , , , , , on February 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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Just received this email from Amazon’s automated preference service. Alas, no The Miner’s Wife. 

TMWBook

A bit sad really, if it wasn’t kind of funny…can’t wait to see what happens to my ‘Around Australia in 8 Romances’, except I’ve wised up and they will be published under Mel Hammond.

Around Australia in 8 Romance Novels pic

And to make matters worse, my co-author is equally as infamous, sort of…ever heard of a bloke who carried a fridge around Ireland??

From here on in just call us Lindy and Dick😇

 

 

 

 

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Strategies for selling elephants

Posted in indie publishing, marketing books, tagged , , , on February 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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In The 1 Page Marketing Plan, Allan Dib defines marketing as the strategy for getting your ideal market to know you, like you and trust you enough to become a customer.

He talks about the strategy for selling elephants which if you want to know the whole then you need to buy the book because my paraphrasing could get a bit dodgy.

But basically it goes like this: advertising is saying that a circus is coming to town and it has an elephant, publicity is when the elephant escapes and the local media write a story about it, and promotion is when the mayor tells the story about the elephant escaping and squashing  the town’s prized dahlias when he opens the circus. A strategy is when you plan the whole thing.

And to think the elephant looks so innocent🌷🌷🌷

 

 

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On Tour – join us tomorrow at our book stall

Posted in author signings, Book stalls, book tours, indie publishing, marketing books, marketing fiction, middle grade fiction, writing life, tagged , , , on December 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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10 Steps to Running a Successful Book Stall

Posted in Book stalls, indie publishing, marketing books, print books, tagged , , , , on December 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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  1. Choose your market wisely – is the market popular with locals and visitors? Will the market have a large through traffic?
  2. Does it sell artisan products and crafts that will attract the kind of customer who may be interested in your books?
  3. Does the market have room for you? Make sure you ring ahead and check out the requirements and responsibilities – these vary, depending on rules set out of each market
  4. Be aware of the costs involved – each markets has a different fee structure
  5. Do you need to fill out forms and pay in advance or can you just turn up on the day?
  6. Do you have Public Liability Insuance? Is it a requirement of the market you are attending? The minimum seems to be $20 million and costs around $200 a year here in Australia
  7. Do you have the right equipment? Do you need a marquis (is the market outdoors?)? Do you have table, chairs, banners, and an enticing layout for your books?
  8. Do you have bookmarks, business cards and prices for your books clearly displayed?
  9. Reviews – have you laminated a good review of your book so potential buyers can see what others are saying about your writing?
  10. What else can you add to your display to maket it visually appealing (remember to maintain a professional image)? Think about taking your computer and showing a youtube clip if you have one – or make a simple interactive slideshow

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Marketing Fiction: Pre-orders and Perma-free

Posted in ebooks, indie publishing, marketing books, middle grade fiction, Series fiction, tagged , , , , , on December 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

CnGBooksPart of our marketing plan is to focus on increasing sales of our ebooks. Forbidden will be our perma-free ebook and Merinda’s Gold will be our pre-order until we launch early in 2016. And the good, good news is that Cracker has agreed to a fourth book in 2016. It’s yet to be named but I know it will be about Cracker and his team blowing things up with firecrackers.

Jason Matthews over at How to Make, Market and Sell Ebooks talks about the success of such a strategy in Mark Coker’s 2015 Smashwords Survey Key Findings:

https://ebooksuccess4free.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/2015-smashwords-survey-key-findings/

Also of interest is a post by Dan Blank who has a series of blog posts and podcasts about the creative process and dabblers versus doers. Dan has made all his posts and podcasts available for the rest of us as he charts his progress in writing a book of the same title. Dan talks about his choice to publish with a traditional publisher for his book and his reasons why.

http://wegrowmedia.com/dabblers-vs-doers/

The interesting thing that both Jason and Dan stress is the importance of how, as writers, we should be focusing on building up loyal readers for our work.

Only then do all the other parts of marketing come into play. Without readers who love our work and can’t wait for the next book it doesn’t matter whether we choose the Indie or Traditional publishing path, what price point we set for our books or what methods we use to promote our work.

My next job is work on growing our email list but I’ll save that for another post. But just in case you’re more organised than me and can’t wait, here’s our contact details (soon to be plastered all over our car and caravan:)):

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On Tour – Week 1 – Coffs Harbour

Posted in book tours, Choosing the writing life, indie publishing, marketing books, middle grade fiction, writing life, tagged , , on December 4, 2015| 3 Comments »

 

imageFirst, the hard work…logos, shirts, signage and business plan.

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Then the fun…

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Instant Bestseller?? Count me in…

Posted in Author platforms, Choosing the writing life, marketing books, marketing fiction, tagged , , , on February 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I first came across Tim Grahl with his marketing book, Your First Thousand Copies: the Step-by-Step Guide To Marketing Your Book’.

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I followed him when he set himself a goal to sell 10,000 copies of his book in a year – The 10k Experiment – which he did (almost).

Now, he has an online training course, Instant Bestseller (visit http://www.outthink.com).

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I’ve been following Grahl’s blog for so long you think I would have taken some of his advice by now but…err…okay, I admit it, there may be a reason or three why I’m yet to crack the Bestseller list, or any list for that matter, and it’s called Marketing, or in my case, lack thereof. It seems my books aren’t going to sell themselves, at least sell enough of themselves to get on anyone’s list.

So I’m gunna do the course that promises to tell me how to sell my books.

But the question is which one…

This one?

imageOr or this one?

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Anyone want to join me? Or you can just follow my blog as I set myself the goal selling some books.

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The benefits of publishing a book series

Posted in book publishing, Books, collaboration, ebooks, Fiction, indie publishing, marketing books, marketing fiction, middle grade fiction, print books, series writing, Writing, writing life, tagged , , , , on September 26, 2014| 1 Comment »

image The first book in our Cracker & Gilly Mystery series arrived yesterday (Book 2 has been out for awhile but that’s another story) and I suddenly realized the potential of  publishing and marketing a series.

image And, not in any particular order, here they are:

1. We already have a readership

2. We already have a marketing strategy

3. Two books look better than one

4. We can now discount one book in the hope of interesting new readers in our series

5. Writing a book is tough…writing two books shows we’re serious 5. There are more marketing angles with two books

6. There is increased anticipation for Book 3

7. With more books we can sell boxed sets 8. Our books look good between bookends (okay, this one is a gloat:))

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Middle grade Mystery reader reviews

Posted in book publishing, ebooks, indie publishing, marketing books, middle grade fiction, platform, social media on August 7, 2014| 2 Comments »

Anyone game to review Dirt Busters or Forbidden, Cracker and Gilly Mysteries, on Amazon or Goodreads??? Available on Amazon. No pressure….just ’cause they’re sitting there sad, forlorn and lonely…

 

 

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