Unleashed! is written, and I'm submitting to Literary Agents. However, as many of you know, this part of the process is slow going.It can take upwards of a month or two or six before I'll get a response on my book, if I get one at all. So, in order to keep from going crazy, I'm building my writer's platform. Ugh.
This means, building and maintaining my website, working on my blog, building a mailing list, and increasing my reach on social media. I don't have 11K followers on Twitter, like Brandon Mull. I don't have thousands of people on my e-mail list. Technically, I don't even have one. Yet. But I do have almost five thousand followers on my Pinterest account. Does that account for something?
I hope so, because what I learned from building followers on Pinterest is this: The first thousand followers are the hardest. After that, the ball begins to pick up momentum on it's own. Any work a person puts in after that, only increases the momentum.
It took a month of hard work - hours upon hours pinning and following others until they started finding me on their own. Now, I average a few hundred new followers per month, putting in minimal work. If only I can translate that effort into an e-mail list.
At the ANWA Northwest Writer's Retreat last Fall, Leah M. Berry presented her book, Story Marketing: How to Have Fun Marketing Your Fiction Book. I was fascinated, enthralled, and excited by all the ideas she presented. Marketing has always been the hardest part of running a business for me. But she presented it in a beautiful little package that sang to my introverted soul!
I bought the book then went home and drafted a list of ways I could use her ideas for my book. Now I have 110 blogs, and a year's worth of tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram ideas.
I know what you're thinking: "That's a lot of work!" But Seriously? If you're like me, you already spend hours in front of a computer editing, writing stories, and building entire new worlds. You've already done the work. Why not use some of the material that didn't make it between the cover of your book to draw more potential buyers?
Right now, I'm in the throws of website creation and integrating the mailing list to the website. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Hopefully it will be good news!
Until Next time...
Good for you! That's a massive accomplishment. Makes me tired, just thinking about it...
ReplyDeleteGood work! I'm going to be keeping watch to see how things go for you! Thank you for sharing these thoughts and ideas! hugs~
ReplyDeleteHmmmm sounds like so much work.
ReplyDeletehahaha! It is hard work. I'm not going to lie. But, it's not like picking up the living room, where you have to start all over from the beginning. It will build momentum as long as you stick to it. I am learning SO much in this process. Maybe next year I'll know enough to teach a class. BAHAHAHA! I kill me! :)
ReplyDeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found the workshop and my book (Story Marketing: How to Have Fun Marketing Your Fiction Book) helpful. Even more, I'm thrilled you've taken the steps to put Story Marketing into action. Well done.
You're proving you're serious about growing your author platform and attracting more readers.
Keep it up!
Writing is a learning experience. I've taken classes but never got that far. Keep it going.
ReplyDelete