Preparing for change: part 1

Last weekend Chip MacGregor posted a fascinating blog about where he thinks publishing will be in 5 years. Rather than the usual list of non-information you can find on some blogs, this posting is very thought provoking. Over the next couple of posts I want to comment on three of Chip’s points. I urge you to go back and read the entire blog to get a full understanding of all the changes he sees ahead.

Chip’s 1st point: “You will own an electronic reader.”

The reason I found this idea so striking is the multiple marketing channels that are available when you consider instant gratification in book reading. While it offers authors the opportunity to sell their books online through their own website [and have the reader see them instantly] it calls in to question current marketing practices like book signings, influencer copies [that are then passed along to other readers who become fans] and sales based on scanning the shelves.
On the positive side, it can also mean an increase in impulse buying.

Chip’s 4th point: “The concept of convergence will jump from newspapers and magazines to books.”

This is a really neat concept that I hope comes soon. This is having links, video, audio and bonus footage in the electronic books. I love the bonus features available on DVDs and many smart authors have recognized the benefit of bonus chapters or other special gifts on their website, but to have an ‘interactive book’ is awesome. When I consider the kinds of things that are possible with this technology my creative and marketing centers of my brain start doing flip flops. In fact, I can hardly wait 5 years to see some books using this. I can’t wait to use my creativity to maximize this technology with my own book.

Friday we will look at his 8th point. Make sure you go over and read his post, comment on my blog and then come back Friday to talk more.
So, if either of these are the future of book publishing, how do you need to start adjusting your marketing strategy and your platform development so you’re prepared to maximize your book sales?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://writingcareercoach.com/contact.htmlTiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

How to apply the great ideas you learn

Yesterday I talked about the stickiness factor in marketing. If you didn't read that blog go back now and do it. You can click the link here.

So, what does the stickiness factor tell us. How can we apply it to marketing our own writing. This will require some thought because each person will be different [if not, what is there to attract someone to you rather than to me?]

Think about this a minute. What did I do in the blog yesterday to increase your likelihood of reading the article I suggested. I included a link.

What did I do to increase the sales at my garage sale? Had a bag sitting in each box of clothes.

One thing I didn't include yesterday was that EVERY person thought it was a great deal. Two or three people called others on their cell phone to let them know about my great deal. Countless people decided to purchase when they hadn't planned on it ["For 25 cents I can give them away if they don't fit."] and two people actually gave me double the amount due "because it was a such a huge bargain".

I want you to seriously consider what lessons for your own marketing efforts you can glean from these examples. There is a wealth of information you can learn from this. What small change to your blog, website or marketing would draw more readers to you? It isn't an easy question. I had to experiment a few times on Saturday with the placement of the bags until I found that actually putting them in the boxes full of clothes made them sell. You will have to experiment a bit with your own marketing efforts until you find what works.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Small steps to increase your readership

Since reading The Tipping Point, I have begun to look at the way I reach out to my target market differently. The premise of the book is that a series of small action or small changes can cause something to take off [or suddenly stop]. One of the 'pillars' of the theory is called stickiness. It is essentially how responsive a person will be to a particular idea. Will they follow through.

What do I mean by "follow through?" I mean, will they go the next step to buy the book? Will they check out the next blog? Will they act on your recommendation or will they simply say "Wow, I should do that."

Consider this. I wrote a series on increasing your readership at my Examiner.com articles page. If you google my name and Examiner you should be able to find it. Many of you have read my articles before there, so it will be fairly easy for you to find. A few clicks at most.

But I also wrote a quick article on doing book reviews of other books to increase your own book sales. This is the link to it.

How many of you clicked over [or just decided you'd click over as soon as you finished reading this post?] I didn't really do anything differently. The content was equally helpful. In fact, the stories I didn't link to were SEVEN DIFFERENT ARTICLES each providing help from books I read. The book review article included some information from a single source, but it also contained a bit more analysis of the information from me. You were likely to read one quick article than seven articles that would require you to google.

That small step increased your likelihood to read my article.

I tested this theory further at my garage sale Saturday. I was selling a large amount of clothes my kids had outgrown for 25 cents a bag. For the first hour we sold them and did fairly well. People were excited to hear about the deal and most filled a bag.

Then we next separated the kids sizes by the box. Each box had its own size. Most people bought a bag or two that way too...but we were getting more people filling two bags.

Then we laid bags in each box. When a person came up we said "The clothes are 25 cents a bag. As many as you can stuff in there." You know what happened? People started buying 2-3 bags full.

There were only VERY small changes in each scenario.

Think about this and consider how this may affect your marketing. Tomorrow I will analyze this a bit further and tell you how you can use this to grow your own writing.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Where is your growth potential?

Yesterday I talked a bit about the research I'm doing for the new Writing Career Coach product. One thing I've had to ask myself is, as a writer, where is my greatest growth potential.

Like many of you I have a variety of legs to my platform. I write articles for E-zines and magazines. I write/contribute to 3 blogs as well as writing articles for online journals. I speak to writer's groups and business groups regularly and teach webinars. I also have newsletters that I distribute. This is in addition to my business which is coaching aspiring writers, writing fiction and writing non-fiction.

When you are a writer, especially one working to breakout in book length writing, you must always balance your need to write with your need to pay your bills. For most people that means you work, work, work for pay until you have something paid for, then you start working on your writing until you find you need money again...then the cycle repeats. Many people don't advance because they are not looking at where their real growth potential is. Furthermore, they aren't willing to invest the time to build up the weaker areas to reach their dreams. By that I mean people who want to write novels may not be strong at that YET but what are they doing to make that their strength?

Admittedly, this is quite a bit to juggle. Most of us have responsibilities beyond simply writing our stories. It can, at times, seem overwhelming. That is why it is so important to find where your current growth potential is, then build on your strength. Once you feel confident in that area you can work on the next. My writing career has been built almost entirely in 30 minute increments. I never had the time to sit down for hours and write. Therefore, I had to take advantage of 30 minutes of quiet, 30 minutes where I could read, 30 minute lessons.

Find where your growth potential is and build on it.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Three things to do today to market your writing

I'm in the process of writing a whole new product from Writing Career Coach and that has led to a great deal of reading and research. I want to share a few things with you that I have learned this week. These are things that you can begin to do right now, today to help you market your writing [or any other business really]. I will go in to these in much more detail when I release my new project [more on that in coming weeks] but right now here are some of the broader concepts that we will cover in more detail.

1. View your marketing from the customer's perspective. In his book, Guerrilla Marketing for Free, Jay Conrad Levinson makes this point. It is one that I have shared in previous blogs as well. It is simply crucial that we recognize that every day, not just in a tough economy, people have choices about where to spend their money. They are more likely to purchase things that make them feel good about that purchase. All of us have had times where we bought something and then immediately felt taken advantage of. Don't ever do that to a reader or customer. If you offer, deliver! If your marketing is jazzier than your customer service, you won't last long. So today take a look at the marketing strategy you are using. Look at your customer service and reputation. If it isn't where you think it should be, find how to improve it.

2. Recognize your true competitor. One interesting point Harry Beckwith makes in his book "Selling the Invisible" is that our true competitor isn't always the other person selling a similar produce [other authors and freelancers]. You are trying to convince someone that they NEED your product or service at all. Why should they read YOUR book? Why should they hire YOU as a copywriter when they can write things themselves? Why does a church need your help? That is why they have a church secretary. Once you recognize that your true competition isn't the other provider, but rather the misconception that they don't need your product/service, you will shift your approach. You will no longer be adversarial or confrontational. You will no longer show why what you do is better than what the other guy is doing. You will instead show the customer the VALUE of your product or service [which includes the simply joy of a great novel]. Armed with that information you will be able to build relationships with clients. Not only does that make them long-term clients, but it will help you to be better equipped to service them better.

3. Distinguish yourself. As you will hear later this week on this blog, Scott McKain has written a wonderful new book called "The Collapse of Distinction: Stand out and move up while your competition fails." The premise of this book is essentially that capitalism leads to an incremental improvement AND/OR imitation of competition. Neither of which will distinguish you enough to have the real growth you'd like. So, today begin by defining who you really are. What is your business really? What is it you're aiming for and what are you willing to do to accomplish it? These questions will help you when we talk more about this book later, but begin to think about them now.

So have you done each of these things? If you haven't done them during the course of reading this blog stop now and take a few minutes to brainstorm. It may seem like a complete waste of time but what you will discover is that these questions are the rudder that moves your marketing ship. Just like we need to fully understand our characters to make our stories flow, we must fully understand our businesses to make our marketing flow.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Tiffany can speak to your group or organization details here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.[www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Don't throw money at the problem

It is interesting to me the different approaches people take to the whole idea of marketing. Some think that it requires a large outlay of money. Others believe that it has to be an all consuming task with publicists, assistants and others scurrying to get you to events.

I'd like to suggest that effective marketing is possible with little or no money. In fact, I'm not the only one who believes this. Entire books are written on the topic. I've been reading many of these books for research on a new Writing Career Coach teaching I'll be releasing soon.

Here is the key to effective marketing, are you ready?

Consistently acting on the knowledge you already have.

Yep, that's right. If you would take the time to consistently do one thing you've learned at Writing Career Coach [look at the buttons down the right for topics] you would be marketing.

I think it seems easier to throw money at it. I've been guilty of this myself. We feel like the more money we throw at a problem, the more we're doing to solve it. Unfortunately, that isn't the solution in any area. It only leaves you with less money.

There ARE things that you have to pay for as PART of marketing, but take the time to research ways to market your writing at no cost [or little cost]. We will talk about these more next week but it is worth it for you to start thinking of it now.

I'd appreciate it if you'd retweet the Writing Career Coach blog by clicking the link below.




Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

You now have insider information!

How many of you have read about how much best sellers actually make? L Viehl shares in this blog how much they actually earn. While it was a little discouraging for me to see that she received a $50,000 cash advance and only began to receive royalty statements about a year after the books RELEASE, it also is a very useful article to see how a best selling author determines her marketing budget [yes, even best sellers use some of their cash to promote their books.]

What is great is that in this blog posting we're able to see the wizard behind the curtain and get an idea of what our actual potential is in publishing.

Here is the positive view. This is ONE book! For a writer who wants to build a business as a writer it is likely to do more than write a single book in a year. Furthermore, 1/2 that advance is still $25,000 which is a decent wage.

This demonstrates again the need to have multiple streams of income in your writing business. You need to have a marketing strategy that not only points to your current book but to your developing back list [books you've previously published]. This is a growing warehouse of products you're creating. Think also of the teaching opportunities that come with a best selling book. What articles can you write? What auxiliary services can you provide [remember those from a few weeks ago?]

What this shows you is that the book can be the "infusion of capital" that fuels your writing business. Rather than being the end result, a cash advance can actually be the ongoing income stream that helps you build your actual writing business [which includes not only books and articles, but speaking, teaching and other products/services.]

It's about thinking flexibly about your writing career. It is about seeing how everything works together and then creating a business plan that will capitalize on the REALITY rather than the ILLUSION.

You have information that most people only dream of. Use it to your advantage!



Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Why Should You Care?

What differentiates your writing from that of others? What is it that makes your craft more exciting than that of other writers.

Do you have a unique angle?

While it isn't always necessary to have a specific thing, like Koontz has Dogs, it is necessary to know what it is that distinguishes your writing from that of other writers.

Many times as part of our marketing we do a comparative analysis. We look at similar books. The purpose of this is to say that the READERS of those books will likely be among the people who would also enjoy your book.

However, you must always be aware of what it is that makes you unique. Build on it. Integrate it in your marketing. Make it a part of your website. Use it in giveaways.

Begin to determine what is unique about you, your writing and your stories.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Perception is Truth

I know, I'm being a bit philosophical for a Monday, but let me explain. I am currently reading three business books. One of them is on presentation skills. In this book, the name currently escapes me, the author makes the assertion that our marketing is skewed because we think that the facts will win out.

That was startling to me...of course the facts will win out.

He went on to say that rather than the facts, a customer will purchase based on perception.

And I realized he is right.

Imagine I cracked two eggs in a bowl. Which would you perceive to be the healthier, the one with a pale yellow yolk or the one with a deep yellow yolk?

What if I presented you with two apples, one is shiny and red the other is dull yellow and pink with a bit of green. Which would you determine to be the best to eat?

What if two men walked in for an interview, one with a scruffy beard, the other clean shaved.

Do you perceive your brand of toothpaste to be the best?

I started thinking about this idea and I realized how much we are driven by our perceptions rather than facts. It is actually a bit scary!

However, armed with this information we can design a marketing strategy for our books and stories that will reach to our target reader. That is why knowing your reader is so important [look at last weeks blog for more on that.]

Look at the websites of other writers and see which appeal to you and which do not. What do you want a reader to feel when they read your books? They should feel that when they visit your site.

Their perception of you will be shaped by their contacts with you. Most of their contact will be through your website and your books.

It doesn't matter who you are or what your writing actually is. The perception a potential reader has of you will determine whether they give you a shot. Then their perception of your writing will determine their opinion of you overall.

And no matter what writing contests, experts or facts say...the perception of the readers IS the truth.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

How are you perceived?

I am currently reading "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Al Reis and Jack Trout. It is an interesting and quick read. Id suggest you take the time to grab it at the library or bookstore and see what nuggets you can glean from it.

Tonight I was reading over a few things and I stopped on Chapter 4 "The Law of Perception". According to this chapter it is perception, not fact, that is crucial to your marketing strategy. This is very interesting to consider and has major implications to a writer's marketing plan.

But this does explain a few things...

For example, a best selling book isn't always the one that is the best written [as many writers will tell you].

Despite their decades in the industry, publishers continue to be shocked when a book breaks out.

It also shows us why a website is crucial!! You are PERCEIVED to be more of a professional if you have an online presence. Furthermore, the perception of you is heightened or diminished based on the quality of that online presence.

It is why my publicity photos are of me in a nice top with make-up on and my hair done RATHER than the jeans and pony tail I usually wear when I'm writing.

So consider how you are perceived. I am not asking you to be fake or to be someone you are not, but your online presence is your 'job interview' to future readers. Your interactions with editors and agents today will shape your reputation in the industry for years to come. You want to be seen as a professional who is reliable.

When you are marketing your services you want to exude professionalism and instill confidence.

When you are marketing your writing you want your website to give the feel of your books.

Now that you've considered it-what do you need to adjust or enhance to give the impression you want others to have of you?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Two Sides to Personality Part 2

As I promised yesterday, today I'm going to talk about the two sides of our own personality and using that in marketing.

When I was in Network Marketing there was a #2 income earner in the whole company. In about 15 years she'd build her group to the point that she earned over $800,000 a year consistently.

One thing I found interesting about her story was how she started out. She had a very slow start, but after a few months of "playing" with the business she decided to get serious. She pretended to be her own assistant and called large numbers of people to book shows. From there her business began to turn around.

She knew her personality. She was horribly shy and afraid of rejection. So she made adjustments.

We understand we need professionalism in our business but I wonder how often we allow the wrong things to influence us. Many writers work from home, and thus, in comfortable clothes. It is not uncommon for us to be at our computer working on a story at 5pm in sweatpants and a ponytail. While this makes us more comfortable, does it sometimes make us less professional? I think sometimes it does.

What do you have to do to put yourself in a professional mindset? To some people the casual clothes make it more relaxing so they are better able to focus on their work. To other people those comfortable clothes create a distraction because they don't take their work seriously.

I used to color pictures when I made sales calls because it allowed me to separate myself from the rejection.

Take some time to think about your unique personality type. Remember it could manifest itself really sneaky. Shyness could really be drive without hope. You fear you won't make it.

Then look at ways to overcome the negative, and encourage the positive. I'm reading a few books right now on seminar presentation and marketing. Friday I want to talk about a few things I'm applying to my business that might help you.

In the meantime, continue to work on your craft and considering how to work WITH your unique personality and style to create a marketing plan.

See you the end of the week.


Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Get the Publishers to want you! How Linore did it.

I am very excited to have Linore Rose Burkard, author of Before the Season Ends, today. Linore did an amazing thing. She self published a book that was so successful that she was picked up by a Royalty publishing house. Now she is working on a multi-book deal. I am proud to call her friend. I asked her if she would tell us a bit about how she did it.

WCC: You are not only a writer but you also speak on marketing your writing. This has served you well because you have great reviews of your craft and also great book sales. What are a few of the things you've done to really help launch your books? What would you suggest that a writer do while they're in the process of submitting manuscripts to really help them build their platform?

Linore: Every writer should begin by establishing a web presence, and I've got an article about that posted HERE called, "I've Submitted My Work--Now What?" But even if you haven't finished your first book, yet, it's never too early to begin with a blog and by joining online groups. Some of the things that have worked best for me are getting book reviews, touring the blogs of readers and writers, and trying tohelp others with good suggestions, recommendations, and information when it is asked for on email groups that I belong to. When you help other readers or writers, it enhances your own image, so it's a win/win situation. And, by offering good resources or references you also become known as a "go-to" person; someone who is knowledgeable. This goes a long way with online exposure.

WCC: Your books are Regency Romance. For other authors who like to write in historical settings what unique ideas do you have for marketing these kinds of books?

Linore: Since so much of marketing takes place online, today, I recommend doing an in-depth search for your ideal readers. For historical writers, this means finding out where other readers and writers of historical romance hang out on the web. Check Shoutlife groups (Christian), or MySpace, Facebook, and YahooGroups, etc. You find these groups by entering keywords into the search engines, like "readers", "historical" "historical fiction," "book lovers," etc. Enter every pertinent keyword you can think of until you find a list of groups. Then, begin to introduce yourself and learn their rules for posting. Eventually, when they recognize your name, or know you, they'll be happy to learn of your new books or free resources, and you'll gain readers. Which reminds me, creating and having free resources for readers is the best way to offer something of value to others without having to "sell" yourself. Let your work speak for you, and if they like it, they just might decide to try your book(s) as well. I have a number of great free resources on my website, which you can look at to get an idea of how to make your own. Here

WCC: I believe that your book was first released as a subsidy published book but then it was bought by a royalty publisher. How did that happen? How are you able to sell the same book twice? When do you suggest a writer go the subsidy publishing route? Why did you do it?

Linore: These are a lot of questions, and each one could be addressed in length! Briefly, however, I went the subsidy route because I had a lot of confidence in my book, and I like to exert a lot of control over my own projects. But using a subsidy publisher is NOT the same as selling your book. Actually, it's the opposite: you are buying the service of publishing, in order to then sell your book to readers.

I became an author for Harvest House Publishers after my editor found me on the web, and saw that my book had garnered a lot of rave reviews on places like Amazon. I still owned the rights (and anyone considering subsidy publishing should be careful to retain the rights) so that I could sell it to Harvest House when my editor asked to see the book. So, first I would say that you must write the best book you are capable of, and don't even consider self-publishing, or seeking a publisher, until you've finished it. I also don't recommend self-publishing unless you are widely known,or have well-known friends who will help you, and are prepared to devote yourself to marketing full-time. People think, "If I write it, they [readers] will come." It doesn't work this way unless you're already a big name.

WCC: You do workshops of writers; could we see the topics that you teach about?

Linore: My speaking topics are posted on my website Here.

WCC: Thanks so much, Linore. I knew you'd have great advice!

Linore: My pleasure, Tiff.

Linore said she'd stop by and answer questions from people who left comments in the comment section so leave a note for her.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Oh how quickly they fall

I've learned many lessons about life, marketing and writing over the last 10 days. One thing I learned was the fleeting nature of blog traffic.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about you loyal readers. What I'm talking about is how current content must remain in order to maintain a readership.

While my average readership between my three blogs is up an average of 78% over last month I saw a drop of nearly 50% in the last week.

Why? Because I wasn't updating. Without a steady stream of new content on my blog there is no reason for you to come read. When you don't read you aren't sending others to read.

Soon...my blog fades to oblivion.

SO, how can you avoid this?

1. Always learn. Make sure you are reading books [or at least chapters] as well as online information about the industry you blog on.
2. Be a reliable source of information. I try to post 3 times a week, every week on each blog.
3. Anticipate your reader's need, then fulfill them.
4. Practice what you preach! Make sure that you have credibility with your readership. For me that means applying the principles that I suggest to you. For you it might mean keeping up to date on changes in gardening techniques or the political landscape. Whatever it is, stay relevant and credible.

And above all else, value your readership. Make them a priority and don't waste their time with fluff. I could have posted gibberish the last few days, but you are busy people. I'd rather post nothing that to build a reputation as someone who will do anything to have a blog post.

Don't forget to take advantage of my conference special. You have until today to email payment and until Monday to send your entries. I've received glowing reviews of my work. Here is one from someone who took me up on my offer. Jody Hedlund bragged about me on Rachelle Gardner's blog. Thanks so much Jody!

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Try new things

How is it that some people simply seem to be successful no matter what they do. As I continue to read about successful people and study business and marketing it seems that there is this 'inner circle' of people who have the midas touch.

Everything they touch works.

I also begin to see a pattern among the most successful individuals. They know the basic success formula but they also recognize that small tweak that seems to send them over the top.

So, recently when "Blog Rush" shut down I was faced with a dilemma. How to replace that traffic.

I was slow to decide on a new way. I was so focused on training to take over the speakers' bureau and work on my book projects that I simply wasn't taking the time to find something new. Besides that I had all of you telling others about my website.

But I'm not happy with my level of growth. As a writing career coach I've always taught you to build platform and leverage. While many of you enjoy my content and email me to tell me what you've learned, the word was not getting out as much as I would like.

So, I needed to give you a tool to leverage that.

I have recently caught up to the times and will now include a 'digg' and 'del.icio.us' link at the bottom of each blog posting.

"Why?"

Because, as my husband pointed out, I need to give my readers the tools they need to let others know about the blog. You may not know other writers but other writers are interested in learning about what we talk about here [I know this because of the large volume of email I field daily.]

So, even if you don't personally use digg all you need to do is click the digg link to let people know that this was a useful post.

If you use del.icio.us then you can share the bookmark with others in your community of writers or business owners.

Now, I've shared some ways I'm adjusting to continue to meet growth benchmarks, look at your own writing business, blogging, small business and marketing. What areas do you see shrinking? What new things must you do to continue a positive growth trend?

Did you find this useful: Let Digg know


Do you want to follow this on del.icio.us?: Bookmark it

Interview with Multi-published Author Robin Jones Gunn

I'm very pleased to welcome Robin Jones Gunn author of 70 books. You can find out more about her at her WONDERFUL website www.RobinGunn.com

Writing Career Coach: What are some of the things you've done to help build your brand?
Robin Jones Gunn: I was first published over 25 years ago and back then writers were more invisible. We were coached to make the book titles or the characters more memorable to the readers than the author’s name. Things have changed in the past decade. While many readers recognize “Christy Miller” “Sierra Jensen” or “The Glenbrooke Series” or “Sisterchicks®”, they don’t recognize “Robin Jones Gunn”. That was always fine with me. Then I finally signed with an agent a few years ago and soon learned I had some branding work to do if my agent was going to be able to sell my next project. Publishers want to sign authors who have a following, not a series that has a following.
First thing I did was become deliberate about collecting email addresses to build my data base. I think this is the most important marketing step any writer can take. I now invite readers to sign up for my e-newsletter via my website as well as invite them to give me their email at all book signings and speaking events. At first I felt funny asking but now I don’t. While I sign their book, I invite them to sign my guest book. It feels friendly.
Then I hired someone part time to input and organize the data base and help put together newsletters. We’ve been doing this a little over a year and the rhythm of it is beginning to fall into place. The crazy thing to me is how the data base grew so quickly. The e-newsletter has become an excellent way to keep in touch with interested readers and offer giveaways as well as list where I’ll be signing or speaking. I’m using my name now as the “brand” or umbrella and all the various books fall under that one umbrella.

WCC: In addition to excellent writing, what have you done to connect to fans and potential fans?
RJG: Now that our two children are grown and living outside the home, I’m taking on more speaking opportunities. While they were home I didn’t want to be gone too much because I knew those years would go quickly – and they did! I don’t regret passing on speaking invitations in the past but now that I have more invitations I’m being selective and yet doing as many as I can. This is the best way to connect with readers. Again, it’s about being deliberate and making the best use of time and opportunities.
I receive a crazy amount of emails from readers. I make sure all of them receive a response. It may take awhile, but I want them to know they have been heard and that I appreciate them. I’m going to meet these readers in heaven. It’s a privilege to start the friendship now.
Facebook has been an easy way to connect with readers. Come be my friend! My ID is robinjonesgunn@hotmail.com. I also have been having way too much fun twittering! My twitter ID is RobinGunn

WCC: How did you get your start in writing?
RJG: The whole story is on my website www.robingunn.com Basically, I’ve always been a storyteller. I wrote kids books and articles when our children were little. It was a bit of a hobby then, I think. I saw writing as a fun way to make a little money and express a creative part of me that was not being used at my job at the bank where I worked for 6 years.
I wrote “Summer Promise” in the Christy Miller series as my first novel for teens because the girls in our youth group challenged me to write a book for them. They even helped me write it page by page. That first novel took two years to write and I received ten rejections so you can imagine how excited I was when the book was finally accepted. I thought that was it. One YA novel. I’m done. That was fun. But God had oh-so much bigger plans! I just turned in my 70th novel, “Coming Attractions”, which is book 3 in the Katie Weldon Series. Combined sales of all books is just over 4 million copies sold. Yes, I would say God had bigger plans than I did!

WCC: Tell us about your latest book.
RJG: “Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes!” releases in May of this year and it will probably be the final installment in the 8-book collection of Sisterchicks® novels. Writing this series has been a writer’s dream. My publisher gave me a travel budget with the last five books of the collection so over the past five years I’ve been to Australia and New Zealand, Paris, Venice, England and the Netherlands in order to do the all-important research for each story. I love to travel so this has all felt like a special gift from God.
I have loved hearing from midlife women who have discovered themselves inside the characters in all the Sisterchicks novels. So many have told me that the Lord used these stories to reignite their love for Him and to open their eyes to possibilities of what God has in store for them in their next season of life.
This is truly the message of joy for all of us. God has dreams for us. For all of us. When we surrender to Him completely, He makes His path known. Life happens inside the obedience. And it is an abundant life! Trust in the Lord with all your heart and hang on. His ways are definitely not our ways. But, oh, what wonderful ways they are!

I'm so happy that Robin Jones Gunn took the time to answer our questions. I hope that you'll take to heart what she has shared and that you will visit her website. It has beautiful layout, graphics and is very interactive. You fell like you're sitting in her living room.

Reaching your goals, multiple websites

Why would you need to have multiple websites?

This is a reasonable question. There are so many websites out there, how are you going to attract people to your particular website? And wouldn't that split your traffic to send them to a bunch of different websites?

Well, yes and no. By having a website targeted to each of your markets you can reach each of them and then point all of them to a central website.

That is why it is so important to secure domains you might need to do this-and secure them BEFORE you need them.

How will I keep the content relevant?

This will require some consistent effort on your part but you can consider simple things link integrating twitter in to your website and posting as you find articles of interest to your target market.

You can interview people whose opinion would interest your readers.

You can also write articles based on your experience and research.

Content should be the easiest part....we are, after all, writers.

How can I build traffic?

Build your readership by offering something they want to see. Write your blog and point people to articles and content on your website. Then on your website point to your newsletter. Your newsletter can provide short articles monthly and point to archived posts on your blog. You don't want to make everything a duplicate [in case you have people who check out all three]. Make sure each place has something the other two things don't provide, but it is okay to use content from each in the other.

I am personally using mailchimp and I love it. Here is a link to check them out.

MailChimp

I am not a computer person, so at first some of the work with the templates confused me. However, once I looked at the quick tutorials [most lasting no more than a minute or two] it gave me AWESOME looking newsletters. [so be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter]

What I really like is that I can either go monthly [starting at $15/month] or I can pay $15 to get 500 mails. This is great while I'm building my lists. It also allows me to work in this system for clients without relying on them for sign ups etc.

They have a free trial offer with 500 free emails so go to the link and play around with it. See what you think. If you get a newsletter, email me through my website with a description of the newsletter and we'll tell others.

Of course there are other programs but I have told you that I only tell you about what I've directly seen results from. This doesn't mean there aren't other great programs out there; this is what I'm using and I'm thrilled with their product.

Reread Tuesday's post and today's post and start to think bigger about your marketing efforts. And if you'd like help my monthly coaching program is $30/month. We can delve in to specifics for your particular writing goals and put something together

But keep moving forward. We're going to get you to your dreams.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Naming free online conferences

I need your input!

In an effort to always increase the value for my readers I am going to be introducing a great new feature in the first quarter of 2009.

They will be 15 minute archived audio lessons. They will be posted once a week and will come with a free handout mailed directly to you the day BEFORE the lesson. All of this will be 100% free for participants. The only charge will be for the lessons if you want them AFTER the mailing goes out. They will be $2 and available through a digital download.

In these online lessons I'll cover some of the topics that I teach at writer's conferences and provide relevant information to help you develop your writing business and grow as a writer. Because of their business focus these will also be helpful to non-writers.

So what would you like to call this new feature? I'm open for ideas. Put your thoughts in the comments section. As an exercise put after the title what made you think of this title? Does it have keywords that would be picked up by search engines? Is it a play on words that would intrigue someone? Is it a title you could build off of? Does it relate to the theme of my blog? These are the things that we need to think of as we brand ourselves so practice on my brand.

I look forward to your ideas as well as sharing more details on the format, topic and launch of this new feature. This won't be an informercial, in fact, I'm currently doing research in a number of online resources and books. I will provide bibliographies in my handouts so you can dig deeper if you'd like. Not a bad deal for FREE!!

Have a great week and I'll see you in a couple of days.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.

learning from others in related industries

One thing about running a successful business is that there are so many different things that businesses have in common-especially when it comes to marketing-that it is useful to look at them to build your business. While there are some things that are specific to each industry [like for writers perfecting POV is something an author would need to know but an accountant might not]. Branding, however, is something that professionals in both industries will benefit from.

Therefore, as authors, we can learn a great deal from the music industry and how they have adapted to the recent innovations.

Consider for a moment the iPod and its impact on music [and more specifically cd sales]. While the Time Life Music collection still targets the generation who is accustomed to listening to CDs, the iPod is revolutionizing the way todays teenagers buy and consume music.

Authors are seeing similar online products in ebooks, digital downloads, Sony Readers, Amazon's Kindle and other related materials.

While originally the music industry sought to fight these changes [a la Napster] they eventually embraced the change and capitalized on it. Now I see websites big and small selling music by the song [99 cents per song and up].

Likewise MTV brought out the music video but now artists are using YouTube to deliver videos on demand for any person with internet access. With PDAs and Cell Phones now offering Wi-Fi technology-this is nearly constant.

I remember in jr high [around 1990] that the first ads were on TV for Satellite television. One of the characters for "Murphy Brown" [his name now escapes me] was trying to explain in 30 seconds that now you could watch your favorite movies WHENEVER YOU WANT!! This was followed by increased access to Pay-per-view.

So this brings us full circle...With these new technologies that allow instant access to a book in a Sony Reader, a website that offers instant access to your favorite author and a world wide web that offers instant information.

How can writers follow the lead of music and movies to build their marketing for the online generation?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.

More ideas to reach people

Hello everyone,

Thank you for the questions you've already sent in about ways to make money in this economy. Keep them coming. I'm very excited about the product and want to make sure I'm giving information you can use immediately.

First, a little 'housekeeping'.
Since this week is Thanksgiving in the US I am only posting on Monday and Tuesday of this week on my main blog. I will still be posting Tuesday on Writer's Rest and I'll post Tuesday and Friday on my fiction blog. [To my Canadian readers: I'm sorry I forgot to wish happy thanksgiving to you last month. I try to keep on top of those things.]

Today I'd like to present more ideas on ways to network to build your platform and to learn from others. You will notice I now have my "Tweets" [which are twitter postings] running down the side of my blog. I'm finding that my initial assessment of using Twitter as an accountability tool didn't work as well as I had hoped HOWEVER it serves an even better purpose for me. I am able to immediately tell all of you when I read something that will immediately help your business. It would be like me calling you on your cell when I just learned a new nugget of information or something useful for your business. Think of the potential.

In the last few days I've read two really interesting articles about using Twitter to get jobs. Here are links to the articles.

http://www.twitip.com/leverage-twitter-for-your-job-search/

http://www.webinknow.com/2008/11/how-david-murray-found-a-new-job-via-twitter.html

By following me on twitter you would have learned about this the moment I read this awesome article [11:48am Friday, November 21, 2008] instead of now. How would this article have changed your learning last week? If this article wasn't particularly helpful there could be others. Imagine learning great tips moments after I find them.

And then by following other leaders in the industry you could draw on their wisdom as well. So while it may not always work the way you initially expect [accountability] learning about the benefits of new technology and marketing idea can keep you ahead of the rest.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
Read her postings specifically targeted to Christian Writers at Writer's Rest.

Measuring your reach

As a writer it is important that you are able to assess the reach of your marketing. Hit counters on blogs may be able to give you a snapshot but it is only a partial picture of your actual level of influence. Today I'd like to suggest to you a few different resources that you can use to help determine your reach. These are only three of the things I am currently doing to determine my reach. Start by using these and see your level of influence.

Google Alerts
This service alerts you when word you specify are accessed. I have mine programmed to alert me for Tiffany Colter, Tiffany Coulter or Writing Career Coach.

How this helps: I have found a number of blogs that have mentioned me. I am able to go and personally thank them [which is simply polite] as well as find out the kinds of blogs/bloggers who find things helpful on my blog. Also, I am able to see whether it is an individual blog or my website in general that is most helpful. This allows me to adjust my blogs to be more helpful to my readers.

Google Analytics
We've looked at this a number of times but this bears repeating for those of you who have not heard of it yet. This free service offers many useful things to the owner of a blog or website. It is VERY user friendly and tells you what pages are most popular, daily hit count, source of those hits and a variety of other useful information.

How this helps: I am able to determine where my traffic is coming from [whether a link on someone's website or marketing I've personally done]. I am also able to assess the strength of blog tours and online e-zines by tracking hits following the release of those blogs/articles.

Search Engines
I go in to Yahoo, google, askjeeves and others to see where I am coming up. I also google things like "Writing Coach" or "Writing Career Coach" to check my ranking.

How this helps: I am able to see what people are first learning about me when they do a search. This varies by search engine so checking a few different places is helpful. You need to know what others are learning about you. You also need to know if your blog is ranking well in search engines on your topic. If not, what can you do to improve?

So, for Monday you have some work to do. Go out and determine your reach. [And write blogs with my name in them so I will come. Laugh. You know I'll be watching!]

Tomorrow we will talk about how to use the information you've learned at all of those writer's conferences, articles, blogs and coaches.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.