Back to Balance… and Marketing

A few weeks ago I mentioned that one of my current goals is to balance things in my life in order to rejuvenate and celebrate the joy in what I do every day. (That’s not to say I’ve been miserable, simply that it’s incredibly easy to get swept up in the myriad of ‘shoulds’ and forget to have a complete and utter blast.)

As if hearing the cries of aspiring (and published) writers, literary agent Nathan Bransford posted his ideas on marketing and balance. The long and the short of it is that writers should have some sort of Googleable web presence, but that trying to do ‘everything’ in terms of promotion–and there are a zillion ways to do this these days–you are going to dilute yourself and not do anything well.

Here, here.

It all comes back to balance. (I love it when things come full circle.)

Jean Oram

Create Your Badge

Lately, I’ve been reading here and there little somethings that reflect my own thoughts on Twitter and Facebook and all those ‘follow/friend’ social networking opportunities. That is: Don’t follow everyone just to count coup. (There is an actual term for those who do this, but my brain is letting me down.) Their advice (and mine too): Follow those you are genuinely interested in.

In other words: So what if you have 1200 followers? If you are following 1200 people we know exactly how you obtained those 1200 followers. You can’t possibly read all those tweets and create a true relationships with those followers. My warning is: Don’t kid yourself into believing all those followers are a true platform and that they are all going to run out and buy your book if you ask them to (if you are an unknown).

Interesting fact that I can’t back up (it’s in a book around here somewhere–Later note: Here’s an article on Dunbar’s Number): People bottom out around 150 relationships. After they reach that threshold, they are unable to maintain and sustain more relationships. True relationships take time, energy and memory making them genuine and rewarding for all involved.

Now, a little clarification on my rant–there is nothing wrong with using social networks and gaining a following. You don’t have to know someone’s favourite colour or know their lineage to have a relationship that will result in them supporting your endeavours. In fact, I recommend building online platforms and using social networking sites. I guess what I am trying to say is: keep it genuine. As Nathan says, if you don’t ‘feel’ it (blogging, tweeting, etc), your audience is going to know. So, do what you are good at. Do what feels genuine and it will get you a whole heck of a lot farther in your promotion or platform building.

Nobody can do everything. And nobody can do everything well.

Jean’s book montage

Jean Oram’s favorite books »

So, another tough question for you blog readers–where is the balance between writing and promotion? How do you keep it fresh when you are blogging and tweeting and facebooking? Or do you?

Book Review: Plug Your Book: Online Book Marketing for Authors

Book Review: Plug Your Book: Online Book Marketing for Authors
By: Steve Webber

This book is a study guide for Book Promotion 101. Even though I have been studying up here and there on book promotion–should the time come when I have a book to promote–there were many, many goodies and explanations for how and why to do things in this book that taught me more than a few new things.

In the past 5 years, things have changed dramatically in the ways authors successfully promote their books and this book has a bit for every kind of writer. Fiction, nonfiction, self-published or not. Even if you are just writing up a proposal for your planned nonfiction book, Plug Your Book can be very helpful. (Particularly helpful in terms of outlining your book’s marketing plan seeing as more and more writers are expected to do the majority of their own publicity.)

If you are a technophobe, fear not. Webber takes the time to describe and explain different aspects of online marketing as well as provide examples. Generally, he also takes the time to relate it back to the writer publicizing their book.

With the use of online marketing as described by Webber, books in niche markets are no longer subject to languish as ‘unknowns’. With a little well planned online marketing, they can take the book market by storm by using the web to find their diverse, wide-spread market–and at little cost. This book explains how to reach that niche market. (And bigger markets too, of course.)

Plug Your Book walks authors through online social communities/social networking, online book sellers (with a lot of attention spent on Amazon–dispelling myths, gimmicks and describing how to really make Amazon work for you), blogs (yours and others), blog tours, social searches, and basically 101 ways to drum up electronic word of mouth with little cost to you other than time.

Webber frequently provides online examples (one or two URLs are listed in the book for readers to use as further research) to further flesh out a topic. As well, Webber also has a website dedicated to the topic of online promotion and updates as well–essential seeing how fast things change online.

All in all, it is a book you will want to read slowly, pen in hand to mark all the good stuff. And if you are a writer, it is never too late or too early to pick it up.

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