I’ve already covered writing to market in episode 174 and this post, but this is a big topic! In this post, I want to look at the concept of writing to market backwards. This post will be all about how to position a book you’ve already written into the market for better sales.

If you’d like to go more in-depth, this month’s workshop is all about writing to market. Find out more HERE. 

Reminder: What is writing to market?

As I’ve talked about, writing to market is not a way of selling out just to make money. Writing to market simply means writing and marketing a book in a way that meets reader expectations for a particular genre.

There are really two parts to writing to market: the writing and craft of the book itself and the marketing and sales piece. The second part is where we’re going to focus.

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LISTEN TO EPISODE 181 – HOW TO POSITION YOUR BOOK FOR BETTER SALES!

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

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So, You’ve Written a Book. NOW WHAT?

Ideally, you’ll be thinking about the market before you write and as you write. But that’s not always the case! If you find yourself in the position where you’ve written a book, you can still use the principles of writing to market to help sell your book better. It’s all about positioning.

Research Categories and Niches

I don’t mean big genres, like romance or sci-fi. Well. START there. But you need to go deeper. Go to the bigger categories on Amazon and then drill down into the smaller sub categories to find the exact place your book fits.

As an example, if someone says their book is romance, you’ll have a GENERAL idea that it’s a love story. But do you know how many kinds of romance novels there are? There are historical romances–and different kinds of historical romances at that! Cowboy romance. Clean romance. Romantic comedy. Paranormal romance.

While all of those fall under the big category of romance and fit into that umbrella, there are nuances to each. The more you’re clear about where your book fits, the more clear your readers will be and the more likely those readers will be to pick up your book.

The following books are ALL in the top 50 Romantic Comedy category:

The following books are ALL in the top 50 Science Fiction category:

 

The point being: the larger categories have way more diversity and are harder to see the unified themes and how/where your book fits in. DRILL DOWN.

There is always some pollution in categories. Meaning: authors trying to get more visibility by putting their books in the wrong categories. Choose categories that MAKE SENSE FOR YOUR BOOK.

Spend Time Reading in Your Niche

Once you find some smaller niches, spend a lot of time reading. Look for indie authors (if you’re publishing independently) are writing who have made the bestseller lists in one of the smaller categories. What do they have in common? What are the expectations?

Read until you know the genre well. This does take time, but if you do this, you’re much more likely to have your finger on the pulse of what the readers expect. You might find that the sub-niche you thought your book fit into isn’t correct at all. Either you need to change some things or find a different sub-genre to position your book.

Communicate Clearly with the Cover and Blurb

Readers are looking for clear signals. They may not REALIZE this is what they’re looking for. They might just think they’re looking for a particular kind of book, but not what exactly signals that kind of book.

We connect with things sometimes emotionally and subconsciously without even realizing it. Covers and blurbs need to send those clear subconscious (and also conscious) signals to readers. A book featuring a cover with a shirtless man in low-slung jeans and a cowboy hat signals a steamy cowboy romance. Where a clean, historical western romance might feature a couple in the clothing of the period, one of whom is a fully clothed cowboy.

We want to send the immediate signals that tell our readers what they’re getting. Then continue from the cover to the words in the blurb.

Warning: Don’t Trick People

I’ve sometimes seen authors try to shove a book that doesn’t really fit a market into one that’s selling well. That tends to backfire.

Make sure your book ACTUALLY fits where you’re trying to tell people it fits. Don’t fake it. Don’t get confused. This is where reading comes in again.

If you tell people your book is one thing through the way you position it, but deliver something else, you will get low reviews.

Give Readers the Experience They Want

If you’ve already written a book and want to sell more copies and connect with readers, send super clear signals as you position your book. Make sure it’s drawing in the right readers and then satisfying their expectations.

Wherever possible, consider all this before you publish. But it’s still possible after you’ve written a book without considering this to position your book best to make sales.

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SIGN UP FOR APRIL’S WORKSHOP: WRITING TO MARKET

APRIL WORKSHOP – WRITING TO MARKET 

PURCHASE THE WRITING TO MARKET WORKSHOP

DATE: APRIL 15TH, 8PM CST

COST: $50

INCLUDES: Live workshop (~2 hours), replay, other helpful resources

 

• Why write to market doesn’t mean what you think it means
• How writing to market helps your writing craft
• Identifying your market and doing the right kind of research
• Mistakes people make in trying to write to market
• Positioning your book correctly for launch
• And more!!

 

 

Does launching a book sound stressful to you? You’re not alone. Here’s the thing: a book launch has a lot of moving parts, but it doesn’t have to be INSANE! And it all starts with me telling you to stop wasting time on your book launches.

Specifically? On things that DON’T SELL BOOKS. Just… stop.

via GIPHY

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LISTEN TO EPISODE 179- STOP WASTING TIME (AND MONEY) ON YOUR BOOK LAUNCHES

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

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A HUGE CAVEAT ON DEFINING “WHAT WORKS”

I need to give a big caveat before I dive into things that people waste time on with their book launches. Why? Because things an vary widely depending on genre.

What might work for a nonfiction book doesn’t necessarily work well for fiction. Or, even within fiction, what works for me with romance and what works for me with YA aren’t always exactly the same. Also? Even within subgenres of romance, what works might be different.

Also? Some people might have one experience and another person might have the complete opposite experience. I’m sure I’ll get some comments saying, “But that worked really well for me!!” And I’m sure they’re right.

SO, HOW CAN I POSSIBLY TELL YOU WHAT WASTES TIME AND MONEY?

Great question.

First of all, I want to keep in mind what the goal of a book launch is. Or, more specifically, the goal of a book launch FOR THIS POST. And that goal is: to find readers who buy your book. Aka: sales.

I’ve had book launches with another purpose and I defined success in a different way. You might also! But for the sake of this post, we’re talking about the bottom line: what sells books.

As for the “data,” I don’t have hard data. I’m not a data nerd, nor do I have the resources (or time) to do a sweeping study of launches. What I DO have is experience launching almost twenty books in various genres over the past six years.

I also talk to a LOT of authors and gathered anecdotal information from them. I saved posts in Facebook groups on things that work and don’t work RIGHT NOW.

If you’re a hard-and-fast data person, you may sneer at this post. THAT’S FINE! But even anecdotal experiences coming from authors publishing and launching right NOW is important to at least consider before you throw down your cash and your time.

Please, PLEASE! If any of these things did work for you, I’m happy for you and happy to hear about it in the comments!! Feel free to share that.

HOW TO STOP WASTING TIME AND MONEY ON YOUR BOOK LAUNCHES

 

1 // HAVE A PROFESSIONAL, GENRE-APPROPRIATE COVER + GOOD BLURB

I have to start here. Even if the dead horse I’m beating has been dead for quite some time.

Why am I starting here? Because we can often have blinders on when it comes to our own work. I’ve seen countless people ask why their book launch isn’t working well, only to look and find that they have an unattractive or unprofessional cover, or a nice cover that says NOTHING to the reader about the kind of book it is.

If you want success with your book launch, you HAVE to start with the cover and blurb.

Research. Know what other covers in your genre look like. If you’re an indie author, look at the INDIE covers. Not to discount the traditionally published covers, but they have an ad budget you don’t. So your cover needs to send an INSTANT signal to people visually about the book.

Same with your blurb, but no one will get to your blurb if the cover is off, so start there. Then craft a blurb that has a hook, gives intrigue, and draws in the right kind of reader.

My source for writing blurbs: Mastering Amazon Ad Descriptions *this is an affiliate link

 

2 // RECONSIDER PR FIRMS AND PAID BOOK LAUNCHERS

While I’m sure there are some fabulous services out there for book launches, these tend to cost more than they’re worth.

One reason that people are so eager to hire out book launches is because WE DON’T WANT TO DO IT. And the idea of a PR company sounds fabulous. It’s what traditional publishers do.

They also do a lot of other things that waste money on launches. Like, sending expensive gift baskets to bloggers for a book launch.

(A friend with a traditional publisher bemoaned the launch dollars her publisher spent sending expensive gift baskets to bloggers who didn’t read the book and simply copied and pasted the press release on their blogs.)

Sometimes, as indies, we want validation. And doing things that we know traditional sellers do sometimes FEELS like that validation.

If a PR company or launch company sells books for you, great! Use this method. But overall, this seems to be something that gets the word out about a book, but may not translate to sales. Exposure is fantastic! But exposure does NOT equal sales. And remember, that’s the goal in this post. Sales.

I’m lumping launching services in here because I this is another area where I think the expense outweighs the cost. It sounds LOVELY to pay someone to do all your marketing for you. But often the services I’ve seen for this are FAR MORE than what you need to launch a book and make sales. They aren’t all scams, but they do prey on our desire to avoid marketing.

 

3 // BLOG TOURS

Similar to the whole PR idea, blog tours are often about getting the word out. They can provide exposure. And, a few years ago, these worked really well for many authors across genres.

I have not seen more than a handful of authors in the past year saying they work NOW. There are a lot of reasons this may be, one of them being that social media platforms like Instagram have in many ways become what blogs were five or so years ago. Blogging still has a place, but people don’t read blogs as much, or in the same way.

This can also be costly, especially if it’s just giving exposure, not necessarily sales. This might be something a PR company sets up or a launching service does, but you can also pay for a blog tour through a company that organizes them.

My question is always: what else could you have purchased with that money?

At the end of the day, what does exposure BRING you? Sometimes… something. Sometimes… nothing. It’s very hard to measure what being talked about around the proverbial water cooler does for you.

And if you aren’t paying for blog tours, that means you’re researching and spending time seeking out bloggers and contacting them directly about this. So, if you’re not wasting money, you might be wasting time.

 

4 // FACEBOOK PARTIES

Another thing that used to work really well in specific genres is having a Facebook party in a group or groups. These still happen, and I’ve taken part in a number of takeovers or parties.

If you haven’t seen these, they can work in different ways. Some are more massive events, planned and using Facebook events for a specific day and time where the author hangs out in a group and does giveaways. I’ve seen these with multiple authors showing up almost like guest celebrities.

There are also more low-key takeovers where an author has a specific day or time slot where they can post about their books and do giveaways, games, and contests.

While I know in some genres, these can still work well, they don’t tend to move the needle on sales as much. I’ve taken part in these (and still will) across genres. I’ve seen them sell a handful of books. They aren’t BAD to do and I will often plan to do them, but it’s good to realize the limitations.

With the YA urban fantasy I write, I saw one group that was SUPER niched down to specifically academy books sell some copies. It helped probably move 50 preorders over a month of time spent posting once a week and doing a brief takeover. With sweet romance… I’ve tracked maybe a few brief sales from takeovers in a few different groups. Barely a nudge.

I would file these under free marketing that is mildly effective. You CAN do them, and they might be good to include in your marketing under your free promotions. But unless other authors in your genre are still finding this effective, I would say that this is something where you don’t want to invest too much time or pin too many hopes.

You can plan takeovers and parties, but don’t spend three hours creating graphics for games in a FB party or book so many of these that you’re spending your writing time hanging out in groups where you MIGHT make a sale or two.

Here’s are a few examples of a few graphics I created for a parties, in case you haven’t seen these kinds of things. I used these graphics multiple times in various groups, including my own, so I didn’t waste too much time churning out graphics for no ROI. 😉

One for Sullivan Gray:

 

And one for Emma St. Clair: 

*Side note: When looking for graphics for parties and things, be careful of the source. It’s best to create your own rather than take a graphic if you don’t know where it came from or have permission to use it. I’ve seen people get in trouble over this. 

 

5 // ANYTHING THAT SOUNDS “FUN” OR IS “WHAT PEOPLE DO” THAT DOESN’T TRANSLATE TO SALES

I have hit a few big things that I see people doing that wastes time and money, but there are tons of tiny things that we might do that, when added up together, amounts to way more than we realize.

I’m not sure what all those things might be for YOU. If you’ve already launched a book, you might be able to look at what you did and ask if that translated into something measurable.

How about that cover reveal party? (Or paying for graphics for a cover reveal…) These can be great for building excitement, but I wouldn’t spend a ton of time and money on this.

How about that podcast interview? Unless it’s a podcast that is SPECIFICALLY for readers of your genre, this might not translate. A friend who got on a VERY popular podcast saw no sales… but some Instagram followers. That’s something, and maybe they’ll buy books sometime… or not. (Podcast interviews CAN be amazing for nonfiction!!)

How about a series on your blog about the behind-the-scenes of your book? I mean, this can give readers an insight into your process. But these kinds of things work best when you ALREADY have superfans and they’ve probably already purchased your book without you needing to blog about it.

What about trying to get family and friends excited? Unless you have a mom who loves your book so much she becomes your personal saleswoman (looking at you, Suzy’s mom!), your friends and family can’t be counted on. And, likely, they SHOULDN’T be, as they might not be your ideal audience. I found that with my first books, friends and family were hugely supportive. Then it trickled down to only those who really loved reading that genre. You don’t want to irritate them. And it’s not the best method for sales.

 

SO, UM, WHAT DO YOU REALLY NEED TO LAUNCH A BOOK?

What you REALLY need is to get your book in front of people who read and buy books in your genre. If I had to pare down what really sells books and what I need to make a dent, it would look like this:

• Writing a good book with a solid cover for the genre and a good blurb
• Building my own email list so I have readers prepared
• Running a sale and paying NL sites to send my book to their readers
• Swapping with other authors in my genres as a free way to get in front of readers
• Paying for ads on Facebook or Amazon
• Sharing in relevant FB reader groups

And… repeat.

You can do these things over time and you can write a new book and do these for the new book, which will likely give older books a boost as well.

The long and short of it all is that you shouldn’t do things JUST because you see other people doing them or because they work for traditional books or worked five years ago. Keep it simple.

Do what works to sell more books to the right readers. The end.

Want more resources? Keep scrolling.

I go into more detail on many of those aspects of book launching in other posts, and I’m going to go even deeper in my workshop coming up in March.

Sign up for the paid workshop HERE if you want a more in-depth, practical guide to launching books. You’ll walk away feeling confident about your book launch, and ready to do more while wasting less. 

Or, check out these relevant posts!

• SIMPLE BOOK LAUNCH PART 1 – a simple framework
• SIMPLE BOOK LAUNCH PART 2 – getting other people to share your books
• SIMPLE BOOK LAUNCH PART 3 – using paid promotions
• SIMPLE BOOK LAUNCH PART 4 – building your email list
• BOOK LAUNCH DISASTERS

 

 

I have avoided this topic for … as long as I’ve been writing and podcasting. I do not like teaching productivity. I do not think that I should be doing it.

That said, I’ve consistently written at least one novel a month for the past two years, while also running this site and podcast (with some podcast breaks here and there), and being a full-time mom to kids who are ages three to eleven.

So, fine. I’m productive. I guess I’ll talk about it.

But the reason I’ve been hesitant is that I feel like productivity is really relative and it’s incredibly specific to individuals. What I’ll cover is not a one-size-fits-all approach to productivity.

Instead, I’m going to share tips for finding your OWN productivity, starting with another thing I hate talking about: mindset.

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LISTEN TO EPISODE 178- TIPS TO INCREASE WRITER PRODUCTIVITY

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

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FIRST! CAVEATS.

I want to start by saying that this whole conversation has the potential to derail people. When we talk about productivity, the danger is comparitivitis. You see someone else’s output and compare your own to it. No.

Productivity is not about how well you produce on a sliding scale. It’s not graded on a curve with all your peers.

When we talk productivity, it’s about getting the most bang for your buck. The BEST result with the least amount of wasted time, energy, and maybe even money.

I am NOT encouraging anyone to write as quickly as I do. I love it. Sometimes I burn out, but I still love it and come back to it. My head is FILLED with ideas and stories begging to get out. I feel fulfilled letting them out. Fast.

That may change at any time for me. And it’s not something I recommend. It’s what works for ME.

What this whole conversation should do for YOU is to help you discover the best methods to produce the best result with the least amount of wasted time, energy, and money.

I also want you to consider productivity without ANY negative thoughts. No guilt for what you’ve not done in the past. No feeling like you’ll never achieve what you want. No comparing.

Got it?

Let’s move on.

THE MINDSET FOR PRODUCTIVITY

While I do often say that Create If Writing’s mission is to help reframe the conversation about author platform and marketing, I don’t love the term “mindset.”

Why?

It often goes hand-in-hand with another M-word I like even less: manifestation.

{shudder}

These are two different things, but both seem to deal with the idea of focusing on your inner workings. I’m an action girl.

I don’t want woo-woo. I want TO DO. 

But how you frame things in your mind (see how I avoided the term mindset there?) is crucial. And I’ve seen in my own life how changing my attitude or how I viewed something had an visible and measurable impact.

My Personal Re-Framing

For years, I told myself and stated in podcast interviews that I wouldn’t write fiction until all five of my kids were in all-day school. (Which is still two an a half years away.) I was SURE of this.

Every time I tried to make writing novels work in my life with young kids, I failed.

I got angry. With them. With me. With life.

Frustration only made my writing worse. I didn’t want to be the mom angry with her kids because she’s working and they’re in the way. So, I told myself it was out of the question.

When our financial circumstances changed a bit and we were in need of some income, I decided to try writing something I hadn’t written before: clean romance. (Another mindset shift. Especially considering that I HATED romance before that time.) I wrote my first novel in a few months–far faster than the year plus it took me to write the novel that was my MFA thesis.

And then I wrote another novel in six weeks. Then one in two weeks.

Oh, and then I found that I actually love writing and reading romance. WHO KNEW. Not me, obviously, or I would have started in 2013 and made tons more money.

Identifying Your Blocks

When you’re thinking about productivity, you need to get out of your own way MENTALLY. This really goes two ways.

 

You need to stop putting too much pressure on yourself to live up to unrealistic standards.

and…

You need to stop selling yourself short to think that you can NEVER do something.

 

This whole idea of productivity starts here. When you feel guilty and like you can’t ever do something, that is a dark cloud hanging over you. No–it’s like the cloud of dirt that follows Pigpen around in the Peanuts cartoons.

It has an impact. STOP IT. Easier said than done, but when you catch yourself in that negative spiral, remind yourself to step away. We call that stinkin thinkin in my house. No stinkin thinkin!

As for the second, when we put limits on ourself, we might miss what we’re capable of. I NEVER would have considered that I could write most of a 60k word novel in two weeks on an elliptical machine at the gym. That’s RIDICULOUS.

But in desperation to get out some words, I discovered that this works well for me. If I had been listening to my logical, though limiting, voice, I would have laughed and told myself not to write on my phone. I would have said to wait until I got home from the gym, until the kids were napping (ha! that doesn’t happen), or some other time that made more sense.

Instead, I discovered that I’m actually SUPER productive, maybe the MOST productive, tapping words into my phone on an elliptical machine.

So, when you’re being too limiting, you might miss learning something about yourself. Which brings us to the next big bit of productivity…

IDENTIFYING HOW YOU WORK

The “you” is very important here. I’m not saying that you need to identify what works well for someone ELSE. This is where you identify what works for YOU.

And not just YOU, generally.

You, right at THIS SECOND AND IN THIS SEASON.

Seasons Matter… and They Change

Seasons are important. While MAYBE I could have written novels sooner if I’d shut that limiting voice up in my head, maybe NOT.

Yes, we have more kids now and I’m writing more. But I also am doing a little more… coasting. (That’s a joke–there is NO COASTING in parenting.) What I mean is that I’ve gotten through toddlerhood with five kids intact.

NO ONE HAS DIED ON MY WATCH. (Yet. I’m such a worst-case scenario person, and am now knocking on all the wood.)

I feel like I’m struggling or limping through parenting five kids, but I have a rhythm and routine that I didn’t have four or five years ago. In some ways, having the first two was the hardest, as I was transitioning to the loss of that independence you don’t realize you have until you have kids.

Seasons matter.

That’s not to say that you can write off TRYING to be more productive. (That’s the next section.) Don’t let your season be a limiting belief, but also rest in it.

I wasn’t wrong when I told people a few years ago that I just couldn’t write novels at that season. I couldn’t. I can’t go back and what-if myself. It was TOO HARD. Not an excuse. A season.

It wouldn’t shock me if in a few years, I move away from this season where I feel like I have to get the words out and get them out NOW. Maybe I’ll burn out in a blaze of glory, or just need some rest. Or I’ll work on more literary novels, which are slower for me.

Ask yourself: What impact does my current season have on me? How does it shape my productivity?

Then, keep on pushing those limits. Try something new and ask yourself if your season has shifted to allow change. If not, keep on plugging away. But allow yourself to have the rhythm you have.

Figuring Out Your Best Work Habits

This is that space where it gets really personal, really fast. And I don’t have a lot of things to offer you. This little section is why I don’t tend to teach productivity.

Because I feel like what works for me is a little weird. I’M a little weird.

But it’s not about ME. It’s about YOU.

I asked in the Create If Writing Facebook group what tips people had and I’m going to list some here. (Once you’re in the group, this is the permalink for the conversation.)

First, you need ideas. You might need to read books on productivity or listen to podcasts. Ask your friends. See what people say in a Facebook group.

Then you try things. Again, don’t pressure yourself to fit in someone else’s box, but also don’t get stuck in a box of your own making. You might be surprised.

Here are some ideas from me, and some from the community:

• Timers
• Time-activated playlists
• Planners
• Calendars
• Dividing up daily tasks
• Creating daily schedules
• Using a to-do app
• Starting the morning looking at your day
• Planning out your week in one night
• Batching like tasks (as in: doing all images at one time, all social media scheduling another)
• Distraction-free devices or blocks of time
• Finding the right work zone
• Committing to one set time a day
• Having your favorite beverage, food, or other motivator

These are just a few ideas and things to consider.

Here are a few very specific things that have helped me the MOST.

Writing on my phone, not the computer. This one, as I’ve mentioned already, is huge. I can write about 3k words in an hour on the elliptical, which is USUALLY faster than my speed on the computer. Who knew! Must be endorphins.

Writing in Google Docs. I have my phone everywhere, so sometimes I’ll be random places and start writing in Google docs. It syncs with my computer. Recently, I went to work at the YMCA with my kids in their childcare… but forgot my computer. No worries! I sat and wrote on my phone in Docs.

Doing timed writing sprints. Usually people talk about sprints meaning a short time where your plan is to write quickly. I’m less about the word count (though I love a good word count) and more about the not doing ANYTHING ELSE while the timer is on. I like 27-minute timers (see? I’m weird) and a 3-5 minute break. Then I go again, if I have the time.

Scheduling a set writing time. This week, I’ve started planning my writing time between about noon and three. Most days, I have the ability to get at least two hours done with those 27-minute sprints. I have gotten SO MUCH DONE this week.

Accountability. I started the sprinting with a writing accountability partner (you rock, Jenna!!!) and also have been posting in Facebook threads in the Collective, the paid membership group I host. Even if we don’t start the timers at the same time, I know other people are writing and checking in at the same time that I am.

Finding my ideal workspace. Hint: it’s not at home. I CAN work at home, but usually I am distracted by the mess (especially in our current renovation) and the things that I also could do. It’s hard. Plus, no one leaves me alone. They just don’t. If kids are home, they WILL FIND ME. So, typically I leave and go to a coffee shop or the YMCA. Which brings me to …

Creative childcare options. I still remember the light bulb going off in my head when a mom mentioned in a Facebook group that she joined two gyms. They each have two hours a day of childcare included in the membership. So, as a stay-at-home working mom, she used those four hours to get much more affordable childcare than if she’d hired a babysitter. Kids were happy; she got work done. I’ve used our YMCA for that purpose for the last four years. I get 12 hours a week of childcare for something like $100 a month. Babysitters? Are like $20/hour.

Seek out different productivity solutions and try them.

Take personality tests to help you understand how YOU best work.

Let other people’s ideas inspire you, but then adapt them to work for YOU.

CHALLENGING YOURSELF

This last one is pivotal. If you do not challenge yourself, you may never realize how productive you could be.

Again, no guilt.

If you try and get a higher word count and can’t, DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP.

If you want to write a novel this year, one single novel, and your debilitating headaches won’t let you, LET IT REST AND COME BACK TO IT.

The point of challenging yourself is to discover what new or limiting beliefs you may have. It is to account for changing seasons and new rhythms.

It’s continual, not a one-time thing.

Try New Things You Don’t Think Will Work

This week, I started reading books on plotting. And I’m going to attempt to plot my next novel. If you’ve listened to the podcast, you may know that I’m a pantser. I have an idea for a story, maybe a middle, and an end, maybe just a start, and then I GO.

Remember? I’m an action girl.

And it works for me. I have no complaints right now about my productivity. Except that I would like to write MORE books. So. Many. Ideas.

So, why try something new?

Well, what if by considering myself a pantser, I’m missing out on how plotting could help me write better or faster? What if I can learn a NEW way of mixing plotting methods with my current working method to be even better? To have more cohesion and better stories? That’s more productive, even if I get slower.

But I might also get FASTER if I have more of a set framework.

This is me, challenging myself.

It might fail. And that’s fine too! I’ll keep the status quo. Then I can challenge myself again with something else later. Or, try plotting again in a year and see if it works better in that season.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON PRODUCTIVITY

For a woo-woo-hating, mindset-rejecting person, there sure is a lot about your frame of mind here.

Maybe you were expecting more specifics. Ones I can’t give.

I can’t tell you what to do. But I can share examples and ideas to get your wheels turning.

Because, again, productivity is about finding your BEST output with the least amount of wasted time, energy, and money.

Note that I didn’t say least amount of time, energy, and money.

It’s the least amount of WASTED time, energy, and money.

This might take time.

Your productivity output might not EVER be as fast as someone else. As long as you aren’t wasting your own time, energy, and money, THAT’S FINE.

We can challenge ourselves, learn from others, and try new things, but we can’t always change our circumstances and seasons. We also can’t really change much about how we’re wired. We just need to find better ways to work with ourselves.

Don’t let other people’s productivity cause you to stumble on your journey. Don’t get in your own way, either.

Find what works best for YOU, for RIGHT NOW. Then every so often, take a step back. Challenge yourself. Try something new. But keep on making the choices that are best for your own personal productivity.

DON’T MISS OUT ON THE COMMUNITY!

CHECK OUT UPCOMING WORKSHOPS!

 

Other productivity resources:

• Pomodoro + movement from the Indestructible Author
• Apps writers might consider for productivity
• 5 Ways to Be More Productive

This post may be a review to some or completely new to others. But I wanted to get super basic on how to set up the very basic author platform. If you don’t have much time, money, and experience, but want to do this for the long haul, here’s the best foundation.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 177 – HOW TO SET UP A VERY BASIC AUTHOR PLATFORM

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

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WHAT IS PLATFORM?

Your platform is your people. It’s not made up of numbers but actual people who follow you and will (to a greater or lesser degree) support you and your writing.

Platform matters if you want to traditionally publish, because you’ll be expected to bring something to the table. Namely, sales. In my talk with Maria Ribas in episode 40, you can learn more about this.

If you’re an indie author (self publishing independently), you’ll need a platform to sell books and get reviews.

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HOW TO SET UP A BASIC AUTHOR PLATFORM

Your platform will include other areas, that people often refer to as platforms: email, social media, blogging, and podcasting. Email is about direct communication with your readers. Social is like hanging out with them in a room with other people. Blogging, podcasting, YouTube and other platforms can be about connection, but involve a higher level of creating more content. If you’re already writing books, you may not have as much time to devote to creating other content.

PART ONE: SET UP YOUR EMAIL LIST

• Create a freebie that relates to what you plan to send AND your paid products.
• Set up a single form or landing page to give away that freebie.
• Create a name for the group or list or create a tag for the people who join by downloading your freebie.
• Set up a super simple automated welcome series of 1-3 emails.
• Promote your free thing through Bookfunnel, Story Origin, Book Cave, Prolific Works, or by sending paid traffic via Facebook ads.
• Show up consistently in people’s inboxes.

Other email resources:

• I’m an affiliate for and use both Mailerlite and Convertkit. and highly recommend both if you’re looking for an email service provider!
• Check out my post on how to create the perfect freebie and how to deliver your freebie.
• How to grow your email list.

PART TWO: PICK A SOCIAL MEDIA

• Choose a platform that you love, know, and where your readers hang out.
• Get your basic bio, images, and info up to date.
• Promote your social media to your email list and vice versa.
• Show up consistently with a mix of conversational and promotional content.

 

SHOULD AUTHORS BLOG, PODCAST, AND CREATE VIDEOS?

Maybe. Those things require time that could be spend writing your books. Will they serve to help sell and promote your books or find new readers? If you understand SEO and how to create content, then yes. Blogging and podcasting and other content-heavy platforms might bring you new readers.

For non-fiction, this can be vital. You need to not only find readers, but build authority. You can also do this by guest posting on other blogs with authority or being a guest on relevant podcasts or other places. Just be sure it’s RELEVANT. Does it help serve your ultimate goals? Is the audience YOUR audience?

 

Platform doesn’t have to be complicated. It does take work and upkeep. But platform is really about connecting with your ideal readers and helping turn them into raving fans.

I’m getting a little bit real in this post about what it takes as an author to sustain your book sales and yourself. 

Books don’t sell themselves. To keep them selling, you have to actively DO things. But between the writing, marketing, and life, it’s easy to burn out. Let’s try to avoid that, shall we?

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LISTEN TO EPISODE 175 – SUSTAINING YOUR BOOK SALES AND YOURSELF

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

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Earlier in 2019 I wrote a post celebrating my success–going from making $30 a month to over $8000 in a month just from digital book sales. I’m still totally in awe of that! (Read this post if you want to know how I did that.)

I don’t tend to talk about income a lot, because that’s just … not something I want to do. But I also wanted to address what happened after my giant celebration.

What I expected: passing the 5-figure mark that next month

What happened: my sales continued to fall through the year and are still falling

Yikes! One thing I’ve noticed in the online community is that people love to share the big numbers, but it’s much harder to share the low ones.

I mean, duh, right?

Part of this stems from the fact that it’s just plain embarrassing. (Even though I have to remind myself that it ISN’T. I’m still making solid 4-figures monthly from just book sales. Yay!) I had huge goals, and it was disappointing not to meet them.

Admitting disappointment? Uh, no thanks. I don’t even like admitting them to myself! I don’t check my income as frequently because I kind of don’t want to know.

Which brings me to this place: I want to talk about sustainability for your sales and for yourSELF.

Sustainable is a word that gets thrown around a lot. In this context, sustainable is what you can do and continue to do over longer periods of time. 

SUSTAINING YOUR BOOK SALES

Enough time has gone by that I’m examining why my sales dropped. A few key things happened.

1. I joined a multi-author series and wrote a book that was NOT in my bestselling series.
2. I stopped running ads on Facebook.
3. I stopped putting books out as frequently.
4. The hot trend I was writing in cooled off.
5. I finished a series and started a new one in a less hot niche.

These are all factors in my sales drop. I might dive deeper into each of these later, because these are BIG THINGS and I could say a lot about them.

What I’ve realized as I’ve looked at these things is that overall, to sustain sales, you have a few choices as an author.

YOU CAN:

• Rely on paid advertising (Facebook, Amazon, Reddit, etc)
• Work on smart marketing (updating old books, finding new places to promote, growing your list)
• Continue writing books quickly to boost your backlist

Honestly? I’m not sure what else is in your control. If your book gets great word of mouth reviews and people start snapping it up, that’s amazing! But you can’t make that happen.

Sometimes, all three of those things fail. Your books may simply not be connecting with readers or they may not be written in genres that are easily targeted or where there are a lot of sales. (This is where I see most people struggle–their book might be great, but it’s not in a more profitable market or is harder to market.)

The biggest thing, though, is that you cannot STOP. Which is a scary thought.

Book sales won’t happen very organically (in other words, without you ACTIVELY doing something). If you want to see your sales continue, you must continue writing and marketing.

It can start to feel like a very terrifying and fast hamster wheel. Which brings me to the next point…

SUSTAINING YOURSELF

If you want to sustain book sales, you need to find ways to continue to get eyeballs on your books. Ads, newsletter swaps, paid email services, social media marketing, or a million other creative things.

But as you’re planning out how you’re going to sustain those sales, consider how you’ll sustain yourSELF.

I’ll be honest: I never thought I’d write a book a month.

What I’ve found is that I could write several books a month. I love being fast at things, so I shouldn’t be so surprised. My fastest-written book has over 100 reviews on Amazon. The average rating is 4.8 stars. I wrote it in just over two weeks, mostly while on an elliptical machine, typing with my thumbs into my phone.

I NEVER WOULD HAVE PLANNED THAT. It just happened.

Then when I started publishing monthly or every six weeks, I saw a bump in all my old books. This REALLY worked for me.

The problem is this: I can write fast. But I also have to get things like covers done, edits done, emails sent, and MORE. There is all the marketing stuff.

I don’t mind marketing, which I know might make me a weirdo.

But I love writing.

If I could write and do nothing else, I might put out three books a month. I really might. My ideas file? Is HUGE. And I can’t wait to write each book. I’ve written over a book a month this year and love love love the writing.

Without marketing the books, though, they don’t sell. I have to actively market. Even if you release a book a month, without marketing, you aren’t going to make sales. It’s not magic.

Here’s the conundrum authors face: You have to keep marketing to SELL books. But you have to keep yourself alive to WRITE books.

That means you need a writing and marketing plan that’s sustainable for YOU.

What does this look like? I’M NOT SURE.

I’m figuring this out for myself right now. But I can tell you that I don’t want to lose the joy I have in writing. I also hate writing great books and seeing them languish on Amazon, dying a slow death because no one can find them. Because: no marketing.

I want to challenge you to think about sustainability.

What are sustainable goals? (Ex: My $10k a month goals are not, right now, sustainable.)

What are sustainable writing habits? (Ex: Writing a book a month IS sustainable. I love it and can do it.) 

What are sustainable marketing habits? (Ex: If I’m writing MORE than one book a month, it’s hard for me to carve out marketing time.) 

This looks different from everyone. It may look different for you year to year. But these are big questions. If you aren’t thinking long-term about what you can maintain, you’re likely to burn out or get frustrated. You might lose your joy or your income.

Make sustainable goals. Set sustainable writing habits. Create sustainable marketing plans.

Then adjust whenever necessary. And believe me, it WILL be necessary.