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Book Marketing and Publishing Tips for Authors–

eZine Issue #62 March 13, 2019
Publisher: Judith Briles

Practical Publishing Advice and Guidance for Authors

In This Issue
      
1.   April First Saturday meetings … it’s a social media blitz

2.   Something to Noodle ... Get Ready to Seed and Weed Your Social Media Garden

3.   Speaking Unplugged is in March … do you want to soar your book sales?

4.   Author Tools …

5.   Webinars Scheduled … March and April

6.   Hot podcasts for March… 4 to put on your calendar (always archived)

7.   Question of the Week … when should I start to market my new book?

     8. Book Shepherd "Fun" of the Week … honor the mouth that feeds you!

This Week Under The Book Shepherd’s Roof:
Hello and Good Publishing Day to YOU.

This past weekend was all about authors and publishing. Saturday was a good day. It’s been a few years since I’ve done a program for the Denver Women’s Press Club and was delighted to be invited back. Founded in 1898 (now, that’s an ear-opener!), my favorite writing muse Anne Randolph was the program chair for the Spring workshop and asked if I do a full morning workshop on the twists and turns of today’s publishing market. Saying yes, it pushed me to do a full revamp of what I typically go along with a trashing of old slides and creating all new ones. Great group of attendees and feedback has been excellent. Anne steps in as the club’s president in a few months...
Last week I mentioned the webinar we did on creating slides that will knock a participant’s socks off. It was excellent and the slides I created for the Denver Women’s Press Club were terrific based on what I learned during the webinar and taking the course offered. The replay was sent out to all. Be smart and make sure you watch it.

Sunday was the monthly AuthorYOU Circles—normally held on the second Saturday—but I was speaking that day. I always love the energy, insights, and ahas that pop up. There’s always a holiday around the corner with this coming weekend, St. Patrick’s Day. I’m going to do a very special buy on two of my books for 99 cents each. Watch for the email and social media announcements that will roll out Friday through Sunday.

Loved yesterday’s special webinar for AuthorYOU VIP members. Andrew Darlow delivered excellent photography tips and strategies to use for author and book marketing. He created a terrific Take-Away sheet of the tips.

You can grab it here:
www.FocusAndFilter.com/author .

Get ready for the ultimate grab of two of my books for the wee amount of 99 cents each. We are celebrating St. Paddy’s Weekend.

Watch for details on a special Friday
e-blast and social media posts. It’s the Book pot of Gold!

This is a HUGE ask ... and I know that I've asked multiple times. Many of my book reviews on Amazon are just ONE review away from crossing the Amazon "hot" line for cross promotion. If you have a copy of AuthorYOU, Snappy Sassy Salty, How to Avoid 101 Book Publishing Blunders, Bloopers & Boo-boos, How to Create a $1,000,000 Speech, The CrowdFunding Guide for Authors & Writers -- take less that 5 minutes of your time; go to Amazon; post a review--you can mention the readability, the aha you took away, how you are using the tips. Thank you.

Tic Tock … the March Speaking Unplugged is coming in 16 days … are you joining me? Only 3 spots left. That is, if you want to sell truckloads of books. I’m going to be giving a full Book Review strategy game plan with book reviewers contact names to one lucky attendee—value is $400. Details below.

And, how was your week and what are you planning as you go forward?

 
JOIN the new AuthorYOU …

If you didn’t it’s a publishing boo-boo. Feedback from Saturday’s in-person gathering was excellent. Several first-timers joined immediately.

If you didn’t it’s a publishing boo-boo. Feedback from Saturday’s in-person gathering was excellent. Several first-timers joined immediately. The online NO PITCH one-hour only webinar that focused on new strategies for the New Year yesterday got "fantastic" feedback. And wait ‘til you see the bundle of goodies and discounts we are starting to post on the website for Members only. All will be up before the end of the month. Yup, it’s a good idea. Not a paid-up member?

JOIN AuthorYOU today. https://mp.gg/e9d1o
And a heads up—hold the FIRST Saturday of each month for our live event meetings—


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April 6th  AuthorYOU monthly meeting
Social Media … Do you Love It … or, Do You Hate?
Either way, you need to live with it!

Social media has flipped the way people interact; connect; find resources … and market and sell books.

This "intense" workshop for authors will reveal:

• Ways to know what your true Target Market is and where they hang out
• How to Create a Social Media Strategy for today’s fans
• A myriad of ways to leverage LinkedIn Contracts
• What the science of Facebook Marketing of all about
• How to gain mega Instagram followers
• What Tools you need to connect the Dots And bring sanity to your online life!

Get registered NOW … It’s $22 for AuthorYOU members and $30 for nonmembers. Prices will increase $10 on March 29th.

Register here
:  https://authoru.org/events.html

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Get Ready to Seed and Weed Your Social Media Garden


Social media is the town hall of marketing for most authors. It’s a landscape that has pros and cons and is in a constant mode of change. Below are 5 Social Media Tips to start now … or continue doing. And there are 5 Social Media Oh-Ohs … meaning "be on alert" … change is in the air.

Let’s start with smart things to do, starting now.

Social Media Tip #1: Always be thinking—build your community. LinkedIn and Facebook Groups offer opportunities to engage with your followers, customers, and colleagues in real and asynchronous time. Secondary and niche social media formats and forums offer similar opportunities. Get the other 9 tips HERE.


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Join me for
Speaking Unplugged


Only 2 spots left!

Twice a year, up to 30 authors join me to take their publishing careers to the next-next level of success over two days. The #1 way to sell truckloads of books is through speaking. Will you be one of them. The March dates are the 22nd and 23rd here in Denver. Be there … that is if you want to be seriously successful. Details and registration below.

REGISTER: http://bit.ly/JBSpeakingUnplugged2019

And, stay at the Hilton Inverness Hotel—it’s a lovely hotel and I got rates down to $99. PLUS … here’s the bonus … one of the attendees will win a $400 Book review program that includes all the contacts to send requests to.

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Author Tools
I love gizmos and gadgets and discovering new tools for we authors. Here’s two for this week: Heepsy and Pinterest
In every talk I give to authors at any level, I drill in the need to know who "the players are"— the top influencers are in their genre and expertise. The Heepsy tool may be the ideal one for a quick search that incorporates social media channels, how many followers they have, where located, and even if there is a possibility of collaboration. There’s a free and fee version: https://www.heepsy.com

Do you think of Pinterest as a "search engine"? You should. You can find new customers and clients. Here’s what to do. First, go to your Account Settings. Turn the Search Privacy to OFF. Now, your boards and profile will appear in search engine results. Remember, it’s all about the metadata you include—which means that you include key words in your board titles.
5 Webinars to come …
There has been a huge demand for the repeat of the excellent webinar we did with Dr. Jaclyn Kostner on Eye-Popping PowerPoints. Meanwhile, if you are a member of AuthorYOU, the second Tuesday of each month is reserved for you for an exclusive members-only benefit webinar on April 9th at 4 p.m. Mountain time. Yesterday’s was on Photography power with Andrew Darlow. The replay has been sent out to AuthorYOU VIP members. Details will be mailed to the AuthorYOU community in a separate email to register.

Hold these Webinar dates

Tuesday, March 11 – 3 Pacific, 6 Eastern
special webinar for AuthorYOU VIP members … it’s all about photography tips and strategies for you, your blog, your YouTube … your anything that involves a camera. A special invite will go out on Friday and follow up reminder on Monday.

Tuesday, April 2 –  4 Pacific, 7 Eastern get ready for awesome—and I mean awesome – mockup images with your choice of photos and book covers. It will only go for one hour, including questions. Short. To the point. There will be an offer from the presenter … and it will be under $85. Just information. Effective. Details will be posted soon on the website.

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Hot podcasts slated for this month
You can always listen in via our websites: www.AuthorYOU.org  (click on the On the Air image on the Home page—wait for it to upload. Or www.TheBookShepherd.com (click on the Resources tab).
· Printing Ahas and Strategies with Sandy Gould
· Legal Potholes and Insights with Helen Sedwick
· Book Designing with Nick Zelinger
· Photography Pop with Andrew Darlow
 
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Questions of the Week:


Question: When should I start to market my new book?

Answer: For me, that’s an easy question: the day you start writing. Okay, you might have missed that time frame. What then? The answer is: NOW. And when do you stop marketing? When you don’t care about selling any more books.

You may think that my responses are glib. They aren’t. They are reality. One of the biggest author mistakes is that they don’t want to think about book marketing until they have a book in hand. Your book is a product. Products need time to set up a buzz ability. If you wait until the horse is alright out of the barn … then you miss a huge opportunity to build fans and followers. And book sales.


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Book Shepherd "Fun" or an "Uh-Oh" of the Week

Loved this less than a two-minute video of a swan feeding koi fish. Never underestimate the mouth and neck that can feed you …  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9nk9_ms0z0




Get your copy today – Available in Print, eBook, Audiobook  http://bit.ly/1000000speech

I Love giving away free stuff to—if you've never bought an audiobook via Amazon—my newest book is free to you NOW-grab it with this special link for anyone who hasn’t subscribed to Audible via Amazon HERE: http://bit.ly/FREESpeechAudio

wait, Wait, WAIT—there’s more: grab your bonuses by emailing Judith@Briles.com a copy of your receipt after you invest for your speaking success when you purchase my print book, eBook or audiobook.

Buy one book and get:

#1 the Word document of my Speaking Contract/Agreement featured in Chapter 14

#2 the pdf or eBook of How to Avoid 101 Book Publishing Blunders, Bloopers & Boo-Boos

Buy 10 books and get:

#1, #2, and #3: one hour of my consulting time (value $475) when you purchase 10 print copies  (1 for you; 9 for gifts or giveaways)

Join me on MONDAYS at Noon Mountain Time for Facebook Live with Live at Noon with Judith Briles – The Book Shepherd. For me, it’s a shorty—always less than 30 minutes. Grab an early lunch (or a late one) and get the latest in publishing tips, author strategies, and book marketing goosing ideas. Most times, it will be just me. Sometimes, I will have a guest—someone within my team of publishing pros that I work with and refer my clients to.

Here's how to join in: you will find it on the Judith Briles - Publishing with The Book Shepherd group or on my Time Line—I never know where it will land. If it’s within the Publishing with The Book Shepherd group ... it's a "closed group" meaning that you have to join it to participate.

JOIN here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BookPublishingHelp/.
I’ll post an announcement on various Facebook pages in the early AM and then again 30 minutes before we start.

You can pick my brain … minimum time is 30 minutes. If you need one-on-one-time with me, I’m always open for a few minutes to give you some quick input. But, and it’s a BIG BUT, many call and expect far more than a few minutes.



This is called a "consult" and I would be delighted to schedule time with you for "just you and your many questions" that need answers. You can book time with me it at: https://thebookshepherd.com/pick-judiths-brain


Author Friendly Friday this week …

Join Author Friendly Fridays: a fun, sharing and a dynamic closed group. You can join in the next week. It’s a full hour when you can ask questions—any question. And, I always include a few strategies to get your authoring life ahead of the competition.

It’s for paid subscribers ONLY and we do it on Zoom.



This is how each call starts: I share a few strategies, tips and tools that attendees can immediately start to use. All share … and ask plenty of questions. They get answers. Definitely an excellent way to start a Friday. Those of you who aren’t participating, you are making a mistake. I love the variety of books and authors who have chosen to participate. What’s also fun, is the energy that can be felt with what everyone is working on. Love it!

Here’s the link to take advantage of it and subscribe: https://thebookshepherd.com/product/author-friendly-fridays-subscription  



Podcast expands to 7 networks … Follow us and learn … new shows every Thursday.

Here’s the master link for iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/author-u-your-guide-to-book/id493527713?mt=2&ign-Jampt=uo%3D4

And, if you have listened, support our podcast and post a review. Thank you!

The AuthorYOU – Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast is now heard on SEVEN podcast channels. How cool is that? Listeners can tune into the weekly (always new – no repeats) show on:


Get the latest #AuthorU-Your Guide to #Book #Publishing radio podcast with @MyBookShepherd via iTunes here:   http://bit.ly/PublishingPodcast


That’s my author and publishing news for today … what’s yours?
About Judith Briles, The Book Shepherd

Book Publishing expert Judith Briles, aka The Book Shepherd
has shepherded more than 1,000 authors and created 500 best-sellers and award-winning books. She knows publishing inside and out from both the traditional and independent sides. Judith is an advocate for authors within her blogs, podcasts and speaking engagements. What’s her pet peeve? Two words: publishing predators.

She hosts the podcast AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing that generates over 100,000 downloads a month. Her website is www.TheBookShepherd, email: JudithBriles.com and phone: 303-885-2207.

The Book Shepherd
 
 
 
 


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