WEBVTT

1
00:00:05.850 --> 00:00:08.000
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Welcome everyone.

2
00:00:08.370 --> 00:00:18.889
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Welcome to horror writers, fest day one. If you can see and hear me drop your location in the chat so we can see where you are joining us from.

3
00:00:20.010 --> 00:00:23.700
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and I'm going to drop some links for you.

4
00:00:24.630 --> 00:00:29.669
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So if you can see and hear me drop your location in the chat.

5
00:00:33.390 --> 00:00:41.889
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Hello! From the Netherlands, Calgary, Utah, Texas, Scotland, New York City. More New York City. Welcome, Hi, everyone!

6
00:00:41.910 --> 00:00:48.550
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: It looks like you can see and hear me. Just fine, so we will get started with our

7
00:00:48.960 --> 00:01:05.069
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: introductory information before we bring our speaker on. So welcome again to horror writers fest I'm Michelle with pro writing aid, and we are so happy to have you here. I'm going to be dropping special links into the chat. Make sure you check those out.

8
00:01:05.810 --> 00:01:30.349
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So 1st of all, how to access your replays. These are all going to be added to the Hub page which is linked in the chat for you. The time it takes for this can vary between processing between Zoom and Youtube, so they will be up as soon as possible. The 1st replay from today is already there on the hub for you, and we will be adding the other session resources there as well. These replays will also be moving to

9
00:01:30.350 --> 00:01:46.990
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: the community page providing aids online free online community page by November first.st So later this week, you can go to the event recording space and check out those replays there, along with replays from all of our other events, too. So there's a lot of great content for you there.

10
00:01:47.470 --> 00:01:59.329
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Your special offer for attending horror. Writers fest we are going to be giving you exclusive early access to our Black Friday sale. This is our biggest sale of the year. It will get you 50% off

11
00:01:59.330 --> 00:02:22.650
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: premium and premium pro plans for both yearly and lifetime. So it's a very, it's a big deal. It's a big sale that we do, and you will be among the 1st to have access to it. So you will receive an email automatically to give you information about this. But if you don't receive anything by November 16, th please reach out to hello@proratingaid.com, and we'll be happy to help you

12
00:02:23.310 --> 00:02:52.029
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: if you would like to keep talking about horror writing, or any writing. For that matter, we'd love to have you over in our online writing community. This is where our replays are going to be living after November 1st as well. You log in with your prowritingaid account information. It's free to join, and there are multiple spaces in there where you can chat with other writers, give fe feature requests, check out past recording information, and we also have some fun upcoming things happening there.

13
00:02:52.870 --> 00:03:08.209
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: We would love if you could share your feedback on the week with us. If you don't want to fill it out today, since there's haven't been much you've seen yet. That's totally fine. But we do want to give you the link now, just so that you are aware of it.

14
00:03:08.550 --> 00:03:28.980
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Feedbacks play such a pivotal role in our future planning for these events. And we love holding these events. But we want to make sure that we are doing the best events that we can for our community. So your feedback is super important for this. Tell us what you liked, what you didn't like, what you'd love to see at a future event. Any feedback is helpful.

15
00:03:30.380 --> 00:03:43.729
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and we also have a fun brand new writing challenge coming up in November called 5 K. In 5 days. You are the 1st group to hear about it today. Everybody attending horror writers fest.

16
00:03:43.730 --> 00:04:08.690
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So we are launching our promo with you all now, and this is where you will write 5,000 words or more between November 4th through the 8, th and we're going to have live write-ins even with members of the Pro writing Aid team who are also participating in the challenge. Because we do have a lot of writers here. We will have daily writing prompts, teachings, discussion forums. And it's just going to be a lot of fun. So we'd love to

17
00:04:08.690 --> 00:04:14.339
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: you. There, you can sign up. It's free. It's in our community, and we'd really love to have you

18
00:04:15.370 --> 00:04:41.319
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: reminders for our session today. If you have any questions for our speaker, please put them in the Q&A box, so that we don't lose them in the chat. If you would like to chat with other attendees, please feel free to do so. If you want everybody to be able to see your messages, though you will have to be sure to select everyone in the dropdown menu beside the word to before you send your messages so that they go to everyone. Otherwise by default they will just come to us

19
00:04:41.850 --> 00:04:53.660
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and links from offers from prowritingaid, and our speakers will be available on the horror writers fest hub. So you'll definitely want to check that out. I'm going to drop the links in the chat again for you.

20
00:04:53.660 --> 00:05:17.250
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: But with that being said, we are ready to begin. So I am so excited to introduce Sue Campbell. Sue has helped hundreds of writers from Newbies to bestsellers, transform their inhibitive mindset around marketing and realize their full potential as authors. Her clients have exponentially increased their email lists and book sales, landed articles and prestigious publications, such as the New York Times

21
00:05:17.250 --> 00:05:23.340
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Done guest spots on popular podcasts and more welcome back sue. We're so happy to have you.

22
00:05:23.700 --> 00:05:37.740
Sue Campbell: Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be back. These are always such fantastic events for writers. Thank you for the Intro Michelle, and I want to dive in because I have a lot to cover today. So let me go ahead and share my screen

23
00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:43.370
Sue Campbell: and we'll get going. So this is what I call my foundations of book marketing webinar.

24
00:05:43.410 --> 00:05:47.999
Sue Campbell: and it's also known as How the hell do I sell this book?

25
00:05:48.412 --> 00:05:59.989
Sue Campbell: That's the maximum of swearing that will be in this presentation in case you're sensitive to that type of thing. But it's what I hear a sentiment, a lot from writers. So I want to walk you through a 4 part

26
00:06:00.110 --> 00:06:11.099
Sue Campbell: underlying strategy, a framework to grow your audience, and then how you customize this framework is going to be up to you, but it will give you a strategy rather than sort of

27
00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:13.189
Sue Campbell: throwing spaghetti at the wall.

28
00:06:13.530 --> 00:06:20.449
Sue Campbell: So let's get started. You might want to grab a notebook or some sort of note taking device.

29
00:06:20.540 --> 00:06:49.740
Sue Campbell: and you might want to just use this time free of distractions, so that you can really get your head wrapped around marketing, whether you've already been doing it or whether you're like. Oh, I know I got to do that at some point, so I would love to hear what your biggest marketing challenge is, because oftentimes I can emphasize things in the presentation that will help if I see a running theme through the participants. So drop in the chat. What is your biggest marketing challenge right now?

30
00:06:51.660 --> 00:07:00.619
Sue Campbell: Okay, getting my book to people I don't know. Yes, that's the big one. That's the goal. That's what marketing is for, Victoria says, turning interest into sales.

31
00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:05.060
Sue Campbell: Jim says, landing sales, Lou says, talking to people

32
00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:11.069
Sue Campbell: cutting through the noise of others, time converting readers to reviewers.

33
00:07:11.150 --> 00:07:19.759
Sue Campbell: I get a lot of engagement on posts, but people don't actually follow through with the buying. I'm guessing you're on social there, Alex, and we'll definitely talk about that.

34
00:07:19.970 --> 00:07:33.320
Sue Campbell: Pbs says, marketing period. Being an introvert and having to feel like an extrovert. Yeah. And the great thing about online marketing is you can kind of pick your level of engagement as an introvert.

35
00:07:33.685 --> 00:07:45.920
Sue Campbell: But we'll get into some of that as well, M. Says, figuring out my audiences, sign up for my free giveaway, because that is exactly what that webinar is about, and I'll tell you more about that at the end.

36
00:07:46.318 --> 00:08:02.600
Sue Campbell: Luca, says Tiktok, is my challenge. I don't really like it, and I haven't used it except to watch the odd thing. Okay, well, you may or may not need Tiktok so that's good news, too. It's like, if your ideal reader not on Tiktok, or if you can find your ideal reader somewhere else. You don't need to be on Tiktok

37
00:08:03.274 --> 00:08:11.710
Sue Campbell: where to start making a plan, taking myself seriously. Yes, and Lou says, having faith in myself and my work. So we've got some themes here

38
00:08:12.580 --> 00:08:22.409
Sue Campbell: where to start when you're brand new, Tom today, or Todd today is a great place to start when you're brand new, because you're going to get the lay of the land and know where to dip your toe in.

39
00:08:22.977 --> 00:08:29.520
Sue Campbell: Lacey says, getting over my marketing fears. Yep, that's huge. That's why I'm a mindset coach and a marketing coach.

40
00:08:29.640 --> 00:08:35.580
Sue Campbell: Alright. So this is very helpful. Thank you. Everyone for sharing that with me in the chat.

41
00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:40.449
Sue Campbell: I can use that to help guide this presentation a little bit more

42
00:08:40.520 --> 00:08:55.359
Sue Campbell: so. What I often hear from writers is that they want to write, not market right? They want to spend the absolute minimum time that they can marketing. They don't know where to start. We definitely saw that in the chat today. Marketing is confusing or overwhelming.

43
00:08:55.460 --> 00:09:00.269
Sue Campbell: We definitely saw a few themes of that today in the chat as well.

44
00:09:01.030 --> 00:09:20.789
Sue Campbell: I'm guessing that you showed up for this webinar, because you want clarity around what is going to give you the best results for your efforts. Right? We don't have tons and tons of time to spend on marketing. So we want to make sure that what we are doing is gonna move the needle as quickly as it can. So here's what we're gonna talk about today.

45
00:09:21.690 --> 00:09:31.829
Sue Campbell: Number one. Why, marketing your book, using a slapdash playbook of tactics from the Internet is likely not going to work. So we'll talk about that.

46
00:09:31.870 --> 00:09:43.599
Sue Campbell: We'll talk about a better definition of marketing. We saw some in the in the comments of like, I don't really like it. I'm not comfortable with the whole idea of mindset stuff around it. So we're gonna talk about defining it differently.

47
00:09:43.780 --> 00:09:53.530
Sue Campbell: which will help. And then we're going to talk about what your number one book marketing goal should be, and it's probably not what you think. Maybe we'll see.

48
00:09:53.890 --> 00:10:10.349
Sue Campbell: And then finally, where we're going to spend the bulk of the time is walking through that 4 part book marketing strategy that will actually help you grow your audience and sell books. So that is what we are after today. I will leave time at the end for questions and my responses.

49
00:10:10.835 --> 00:10:18.550
Sue Campbell: One of the things I'd like to start out with is that when you plug into Google like how to market a book?

50
00:10:20.032 --> 00:10:27.889
Sue Campbell: It, the the, you know, it's Google's really scrolly now. But when it used to be more page driven. The 1st couple of pages were all

51
00:10:28.010 --> 00:10:31.320
Sue Campbell: articles that said, things like, you have to write a great book.

52
00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:53.289
Sue Campbell: You have to have a great cover and a great book description. You have to present yourself professionally as an author, and you already know all of that right. Like we know we have to write a great book if we want it to really catch on and sell, and we know we need a great cover and a great book description. These are very, very basic things, and what I want you to notice about them is that

53
00:10:53.290 --> 00:11:03.880
Sue Campbell: none of these things actually bring people to your book. We saw someone in the chat saying, I don't know how to get my book in front of people who don't know about it right, who don't know me.

54
00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:21.460
Sue Campbell: So that is the problem. With a lot of the advice, one of the problems with some of the advice on the Internet, there's a lot of great stuff out there, but you got to know what you're looking for in terms of your overall strategy to make good use of it, and a lot of it is just very, very basic like, write a great book.

55
00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:29.150
Sue Campbell: Writing a great book alone, having a great book cover alone, presenting yourself professionally alone will not bring people to your book.

56
00:11:29.510 --> 00:11:36.630
Sue Campbell: So I want to give you some tools today to think about this a little bit differently and go a little bit deeper. So you understand the structure of a good marketing plan.

57
00:11:37.610 --> 00:11:40.659
Sue Campbell: So number one, why can't we just Google it

58
00:11:41.040 --> 00:11:43.180
Sue Campbell: right? Why isn't that going to work.

59
00:11:43.380 --> 00:11:47.989
Sue Campbell: The problem with most online marketing advice is that it is

60
00:11:48.210 --> 00:11:49.290
Sue Campbell: tactics.

61
00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:59.230
Sue Campbell: not strategy, a lot of good tactics out there. But if you don't have a strategy. You don't know which tactics are going to be in service of your underlying strategy.

62
00:11:59.560 --> 00:12:08.070
Sue Campbell: And just through the nature of the Internet, a lot of the things that are out there are really bite sized articles. And they're very clickbaity.

63
00:12:08.170 --> 00:12:36.810
Sue Campbell: Right? So there's you know, you Google book marketing. And you'll get a lot of things like 100 ways to market your book in under 10 min. Right? But we don't know of those 10 things. What actually has the return on investment, and is worth doing at all, because I would rather not waste 10 min on something that doesn't need to be done, and apply that 10 min towards something that's actually going to help me build my audience that I can reach again and again, so I can sell my books right, my

64
00:12:36.820 --> 00:12:40.359
Sue Campbell: all my backlist and all of the books that I write into the future.

65
00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:50.809
Sue Campbell: These often don't focus on your return on investment. Right? They're just like, Hey, I tried this. It seemed to work a little bit, and we don't know what happened over the long term.

66
00:12:51.000 --> 00:13:10.989
Sue Campbell: and we don't know how those numbers would apply to us, and often it's a 1. Size fits all mentality right? Like everybody needs to be on Tiktok. Everybody needs to be on x or twitter. So the one size fits all mentality we get roped into, and that can lead to overwhelm, because, like Oh, my God, I need to do all the things

67
00:13:11.070 --> 00:13:33.079
Sue Campbell: everybody says, I need to do this, this, this and this right. These are problems with the way that we can access information. We have a lot going for us that we have the Internet because we can get a lot of information. But again, when we have the underlying strategy, we're going to be better at knowing what to ignore and what to really focus on experimenting with and implementing.

68
00:13:34.130 --> 00:13:48.649
Sue Campbell: So number 2, let's talk about a better definition of marketing. So tell me in the chat, just give me a love or a hate, or a thumbs up, or a thumbs down on how you just feel about marketing in General

69
00:13:54.830 --> 00:13:55.780
Sue Campbell: Yup.

70
00:13:57.300 --> 00:14:07.230
Sue Campbell: So we've got hate it. Hate it. It's a drag. Ugh! Hit and miss. Ugh! Hate it, man, it's okay. Hate it, not my choice of activities. Right? Yep, totally get it.

71
00:14:07.604 --> 00:14:28.380
Sue Campbell: Let's see, Adam says, I find it very difficult. We have a crying, crying Emoji, we have a thumbs down. And it's overwhelming. Right? Okay? So the one of the reasons for that is that we bring a lot of baggage to the word marketing. I actually wish I didn't have to call it marketing at all.

72
00:14:28.811 --> 00:14:50.679
Sue Campbell: But it is a useful enough term, and that at least people know in general what I'm talking about. But we all bring our worst examples right of marketing that we experience that felt yucky, that felt pushy, that felt, you know, just like somebody you don't want to be right. I don't want to be identified as that guy or that person who does it that way.

73
00:14:50.690 --> 00:14:56.429
Sue Campbell: So when we think about it as marketing. We run into a lot of mindset stuff right out of the gate.

74
00:14:57.140 --> 00:15:09.559
Sue Campbell: So the definition that I like to use, which I learned from the guy who trained me in book marketing named Tim Graw, who's sort of book marketing. One of the pioneers of book marketing in the digital age

75
00:15:09.590 --> 00:15:18.019
Sue Campbell: is. Let's not think about it as marketing. Let's think about it as building long, lasting connections with readers

76
00:15:18.710 --> 00:15:25.790
Sue Campbell: right long, lasting connections with readers. Does that feel better. Tell me in the chat, if you like that better.

77
00:15:25.970 --> 00:15:42.659
Sue Campbell: If you're hardcore introvert. That may not sound very good, either. I get that right. But on your terms. You get to build long lasting connections with readers on your terms. Okay? So we got absolutely love it. Yeah, that's better. That sounds better. Better, but still hard, totally fair. Great. Yep, okay.

78
00:15:43.450 --> 00:15:56.319
Sue Campbell: So that is the definition that I want you to start using with yourself. Right? I am not marketing. I'm building a long, lasting connections with readers, and I'm doing it on my own terms largely.

79
00:15:57.300 --> 00:15:58.810
Sue Campbell: Here's the thing about me.

80
00:15:59.150 --> 00:16:08.220
Sue Campbell: I don't actually care about marketing. I know that sounds crazy from someone who is a marketing coach.

81
00:16:08.888 --> 00:16:17.759
Sue Campbell: But really I could do this a lot of different ways. What I care about is the impact that marketing can have and help your book have.

82
00:16:18.160 --> 00:16:20.850
Sue Campbell: And I care about who you become

83
00:16:21.190 --> 00:16:22.750
Sue Campbell: when you market.

84
00:16:23.210 --> 00:16:38.409
Sue Campbell: when you build those long, lasting connections with people. It is a personal development tool with extreme power. Right? Putting yourself out there, putting your work out there, making yourself vulnerable, leads to some really

85
00:16:38.420 --> 00:16:44.690
Sue Campbell: potent personal growth, and that is what I love about it. I love it a lot because you spent

86
00:16:44.800 --> 00:16:49.339
Sue Campbell: blood, sweat, tears, time, energy, money, developing your books.

87
00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:58.930
Sue Campbell: And if you are not going to take the additional step of building those connections and those relationships with readers, you're not going to have the impact

88
00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:04.000
Sue Campbell: that that book is meant to have, and I feel like that's like dishonoring the process.

89
00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:08.730
Sue Campbell: So that's the definition I like to use. And where I'm coming from on that

90
00:17:09.088 --> 00:17:21.520
Sue Campbell: tea says, I think that sounds worse because they're fake relationships. I'm an extrovert. By the way, social media isn't fun for me, either, and we'll talk about social. So why do the relation I just ask yourself to you, why do the relationships have to be fake

91
00:17:22.290 --> 00:17:24.390
Sue Campbell: right? Is that the only way to do it.

92
00:17:25.250 --> 00:17:29.599
Sue Campbell: So I would just question that assumption that those are fake relationships. Okay.

93
00:17:31.122 --> 00:17:55.429
Sue Campbell: talk about. And if you don't like that definition because I see a couple of people totally fair. That's 1 way to think about it. But I want you to reframe it for you. How can you define marketing that's in alignment with your values and in alignment with some marketing that you've experienced, that you've really appreciated and loved and been thankful for. So go ahead and redefine it. Rewrite my definition. I want you to use what works for you. That's the whole point.

94
00:17:56.360 --> 00:17:57.869
Sue Campbell: All right. So number 3,

95
00:17:58.060 --> 00:18:24.540
Sue Campbell: your number one book marketing goal. I'll give you a little drum roll. I'm actually going to get to it in a second. But I want to call it out specifically because I'm going to quiz you on it at the end. It's that important. But I want to give it to you in context of the fundamental strategy. I'm just being slightly melodramatic, so that it will be memorable for you. Okay, so let's jump into the 4 part book marketing strategy. That's going to grow your audience. Okay.

96
00:18:27.100 --> 00:18:50.520
Sue Campbell: so this is called the connection system. I have 2 ways of talking about this, but this one is really like, easy to latch onto and quick to understand. So this comes from Tim Groll, the guy who trained me in book marketing. He doesn't really do it anymore. But we have 4 parts. So it's essentially a content marketing system. But it's for authors. So the 1st step is permission, and I'll explain all these terms. So don't worry

97
00:18:50.879 --> 00:19:03.039
Sue Campbell: content is the second piece. Outreach is the 3rd piece, and selling is the 4th piece, and we'll revisit these terms, and I'm gonna dive into each of these sections. So you know exactly what I'm talking about.

98
00:19:03.330 --> 00:19:19.310
Sue Campbell: So the 1st step is permission. So permission is inherently a non slimy form of marketing, because you are saying, Hey, do you want this? And people are opting in or out? And if someone opts out you don't push it on them ever, ever, ever

99
00:19:19.340 --> 00:19:28.900
Sue Campbell: right. So people are giving you permission to tell them more about you and more about their writing, and they can revoke that permission at any time.

100
00:19:29.220 --> 00:19:46.259
Sue Campbell: Right? So it is. People allowing you into their digital space like if they follow you on social, or they subscribe to your newsletter or your physical space. If you go to a conference and you're speaking at a conference. Everybody sitting in those seats has given you permission to talk to them by virtue of having their butt in the chair.

101
00:19:46.450 --> 00:19:48.470
Sue Campbell: Right? So that's permission marketing.

102
00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:55.690
Sue Campbell: And it lets you get people's attention and drive action in a way to build that relationship.

103
00:19:56.140 --> 00:20:04.729
Sue Campbell: And again, we want to build relationships that are authentic because you're communicating authentically. It doesn't mean you have to share absolutely everything about yourself.

104
00:20:04.740 --> 00:20:14.329
Sue Campbell: But you're imparting your passion for your work and what you do in a way that is authentic, and that's going to attract people who are authentically attracted to the same thing.

105
00:20:14.340 --> 00:20:17.110
Sue Campbell: So that's how we create those relationships.

106
00:20:17.130 --> 00:20:19.540
Sue Campbell: So that's permission. Now.

107
00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:40.759
Sue Campbell: forms of permission, social media is definitely a form of permission. If I follow you on Instagram. I'm giving your, you know, reels and your posts and your photos permission to show up in my feed. Now, obviously with Instagram, we don't always have control over everything that's in our feed. But still, if I follow someone, I'm saying, yes, I want to hear from this person

108
00:20:41.290 --> 00:20:49.169
Sue Campbell: the problem with social media is that the data shows it doesn't sell books very well at all.

109
00:20:49.650 --> 00:20:50.759
Sue Campbell: Not all

110
00:20:51.130 --> 00:20:54.560
Sue Campbell: the current exception to that is Tiktok.

111
00:20:54.720 --> 00:21:11.930
Sue Campbell: But even that I think we're starting to see dwindle a little bit. So they're always going to be exceptions. You can always point to, you know, the Stephen kings of the world who are on X, and have, you know, thousands of followers. You can always point to the people where social media is working for them.

112
00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:17.689
Sue Campbell: By and large the numbers do not hold that up. There are much better forms of permission

113
00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:26.700
Sue Campbell: permission marketing where you can build that relationship with that audience and have a container for your audience. That is not social media.

114
00:21:27.070 --> 00:21:41.560
Sue Campbell: Not that social media doesn't have a place right if you like it. Great. But I want you to think about it as a piece of your marketing plan. But it is not. Your biggest asset. Building. An audience on social has a couple of inherent problems.

115
00:21:41.630 --> 00:21:51.260
Sue Campbell: Number one, it's actually really hard to get readers to take buying actions right? I think we saw that in the chat at 1 point, like I get a lot of engagement, but people don't click through to buy

116
00:21:51.510 --> 00:22:06.260
Sue Campbell: right? Part of. That's the nature of social media where we're in a very scrolly, you know mood when we're on social. There are some users who for sure click off and buy things. But there are many people who do not. The majority of people do not.

117
00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:15.039
Sue Campbell: It's really easy to get buried in someone's feed. But really, it's really easy for the algorithm never to show your stuff at all.

118
00:22:15.090 --> 00:22:20.020
Sue Campbell: Even if you have X number of followers, let's say you have 10,000 followers

119
00:22:20.060 --> 00:22:30.809
Sue Campbell: for any one thing that you post unless you have a history of virality. So the algorithm favors you because it knows you can keep people on its platform.

120
00:22:30.990 --> 00:22:34.780
Sue Campbell: It is not going to show your stuff to all of your followers

121
00:22:35.380 --> 00:22:40.589
Sue Campbell: period. And you can actually look at this on X is a great example, because they'll show you

122
00:22:40.610 --> 00:22:52.160
Sue Campbell: how many views something has had. And so you can look at. Oh, this person has so many followers, and then this particular post right? They have 10,000 followers and 35 people saw this post.

123
00:22:52.210 --> 00:23:06.989
Sue Campbell: Right. Go look at it for yourself. The numbers vary a little bit, but you can go and look and be like, Oh, okay. So I'm going to spend all this time building this following. And then, you know, a tiny portion of my audience is ever going to see something that I post.

124
00:23:07.620 --> 00:23:18.189
Sue Campbell: The other big problem is that these platforms change all the time they come in and out of favor. Their algorithms are updated. What's working today may not work tomorrow.

125
00:23:18.550 --> 00:23:26.550
Sue Campbell: And they can actually just crash without warning. And there was a couple of summers ago where Facebook and Instagram went down for most of a day.

126
00:23:26.650 --> 00:23:45.690
Sue Campbell: Right? And I was just like, Oh, God! What if it's someone's book launch day! And they put all their eggs in this basket right. My heart was just hurting for them. There's always another day. But you know, we get fixated on these things. So those are some of the problems with social media. And you know. Of course, there are other problems with social media that are cultural in nature as well.

127
00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:53.280
Sue Campbell: Yeah, Adam says. Twitter went down for a week in Brazil a month or so ago. So there's another perfect example.

128
00:23:54.143 --> 00:24:08.479
Sue Campbell: So that's social. So that brings us to our number one book marketing goal. Because if the answer is not to build huge followings on social media platforms. Well, then, what do we do? And the answer is, you build your email list.

129
00:24:09.770 --> 00:24:33.700
Sue Campbell: And I'm doing a dramatic pause. Right there you build your email list. This is your number one book marketing goal. That was the 3rd thing on the agenda for today? The answer is that you build your email list. So with an email list, you can easily reach people who loved your 1st book or whatever book you recently published, and then you'll have to keep hustling for new readers every time you publish a book.

130
00:24:33.760 --> 00:24:35.770
Sue Campbell: Right? So let's say, through

131
00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:42.370
Sue Campbell: through a great book and through a lightning strike of luck. Your 1st book is like a runaway success.

132
00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:55.410
Sue Campbell: If you don't have an email list, and if social media won't show your posts to all your followers. How are you going to relay the message that you have your second book out to the people who already loved your 1st book.

133
00:24:55.650 --> 00:24:57.989
Sue Campbell: The answer is an email list.

134
00:24:59.390 --> 00:25:03.579
Sue Campbell: The second wonderful thing about email lists is that you own it.

135
00:25:04.100 --> 00:25:17.910
Sue Campbell: provided you're following the laws, which are very simple to stay in compliance with that list can't be taken from you. Of course, individual subscribers can unsubscribe. We totally want that we want them to be able to do that.

136
00:25:18.730 --> 00:25:27.829
Sue Campbell: Also, you control the message. So you get to decide what your community guidelines are. That's not going to be decided for you from a platform

137
00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:47.840
Sue Campbell: and also email for most of us is a quieter. I didn't say quiet. It's a quieter, more intimate space where people are spending more time with the messages that they choose to open. And it's easier to have somebody click on something and go and do something from an email than it is from social media.

138
00:25:48.180 --> 00:25:48.990
Sue Campbell: Okay?

139
00:25:51.190 --> 00:25:58.630
Sue Campbell: So in order to have an email list you need to have, tell me just, I'm curious in the chat how many of you already have an email list.

140
00:26:00.310 --> 00:26:21.720
Sue Campbell: Yeah, Arthur, that's a great point with my Adhd social media drives me crazy. Yeah, it's it's not a. It's not a calming place for someone with focus issues. We have a ton of neurodivergent clients and an Adhd for writers group program that we do. And our developmental editor, Rochelle is Adhd, and she's not on any social media platforms

141
00:26:21.970 --> 00:26:23.560
Sue Campbell: by design.

142
00:26:23.730 --> 00:26:27.209
Sue Campbell: Okay? So we do have some folks who do have

143
00:26:27.380 --> 00:26:28.779
Sue Campbell: email lists.

144
00:26:29.740 --> 00:26:32.810
Sue Campbell: And then some who do not.

145
00:26:35.800 --> 00:26:36.700
Sue Campbell: Okay.

146
00:26:37.890 --> 00:26:58.990
Sue Campbell: interesting. Okay? So I'm also seeing a few misconceptions about email lists and how you grow them. But we're going to get to that in this framework. So don't worry if you're like, yeah, I have an email list, too. But nobody's joining it right? That's what I hear is like, somebody has a website, and they have a newsletter, and they're like, but no one is signing up and no one's buying my book. So believe me, that's covered.

147
00:26:58.990 --> 00:27:11.020
Sue Campbell: So in order to have an email list for those of you who don't have one, you need to have a website, or at least a landing page. It doesn't need to be a big, full blown website. But you do need to have a landing page where people can sign up for your email list.

148
00:27:11.130 --> 00:27:19.149
Sue Campbell: You need to have an email service provider that specializes in this type of list building. You can't just use. You know your Gmail account

149
00:27:19.330 --> 00:27:25.539
Sue Campbell: or your you know Yahoo account, or whatever you use, you need to have something like, and there are a ton of them out there.

150
00:27:25.980 --> 00:27:53.270
Sue Campbell: Mailer mailerlite is one that I like for writers. Convertkit is one that I like for writers. Mailchimp is one that people have heard of. I don't like that one for writers. A lot of folks are on substack right now. Substack is great for some things, but it's really limited on functionality for more advanced things that you might want to do like when you're preorder pre launching a pre-order for your book, for example. So beware of substack depending on what your future goals are.

151
00:27:53.400 --> 00:28:05.370
Sue Campbell: You need to have some sign up forms on your website and your email service provider will give you the the way to create these lovely, you know beautiful looking sign up forms that can get embedded on your website.

152
00:28:05.520 --> 00:28:11.800
Sue Campbell: I highly recommend that you have a reader magnet or a sign up incentive.

153
00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:18.700
Sue Campbell: so that when people decide to sign up for your email list. They get something of value in exchange.

154
00:28:19.510 --> 00:28:26.599
Sue Campbell: And then I also recommend that you have a welcome sequence, or at least one email welcoming new subscribers to your list. Okay.

155
00:28:27.660 --> 00:28:39.550
Sue Campbell: so that's number one, we need to build that email list number one marketing goal, build the email list the second piece of the permission. System. Excuse me, the connection system is content.

156
00:28:40.150 --> 00:28:52.749
Sue Campbell: So content is very easy for us to understand. As writers it's all the material that you put out into the world to help people decide if you're a good fit, and if they want to keep having that relationship with you.

157
00:28:53.050 --> 00:29:03.829
Sue Campbell: so I'd like to think of the analogy for this as the grocery store sample right? So when you go to the grocery store, this analogy did not work very well during Covid, but I I think grocery store samples are back.

158
00:29:04.183 --> 00:29:10.650
Sue Campbell: So you want to try the blue corn tortilla chip before you decide to put it in your cart and buy it.

159
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:21.290
Sue Campbell: So what can you put out into the world to give people a taste of you and a taste of your work. So that like they can know, yeah, this is for me. I like this, okay?

160
00:29:23.310 --> 00:29:25.190
Sue Campbell: Content. I like.

161
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:35.760
Sue Campbell: it's very wide ranging. What are some examples of content, blog posts, newsletters, your social media posts are content. If you go on a, podcast the words that come out of your mouth are content.

162
00:29:36.076 --> 00:30:04.229
Sue Campbell: If you write blogs for other people, or articles for other websites, that's content. If you go and give a reading that's content. If you write, you know, posts on medium or post on substack. That's content. These other examples are more, a little bit more in the nonfiction space. And I know, you guys are horror writers. But if you do videos or Q&A's, or anything like that, that would also be content. And you can get creative right? If you have artwork, that's part of your work that's also content.

163
00:30:05.300 --> 00:30:30.049
Sue Campbell: So content. There are a couple of things that you need to have right. So for permission, I showed you what are the prerequisites to make sure you need to have for that for content, you definitely need a welcome email, at least one, but hopefully, a sweet sequence. Because you want to make sure this person is building a relationship they want to build. So they need. Do you need to develop that, know, like and trust factor. And you do that through sending them information in your emails. Right?

164
00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:41.570
Sue Campbell: You need to have a regular newsletter for subscribers. Now regular. You get to decide how regularly you send something, but I recommend at least once a month

165
00:30:42.210 --> 00:30:54.409
Sue Campbell: a lot of writers with the best intentions in the world will say, No, I'm going to build this email list. But I don't want to annoy people. So I'm not going to send them an email until it's time for my new book to come out.

166
00:30:54.650 --> 00:30:59.380
Sue Campbell: But the message that actually sends for a lot of your audience is

167
00:30:59.700 --> 00:31:12.669
Sue Campbell: like my friend, who only calls us when he needs to borrow our truck to move something heavy. Right? You're only if you're only reaching out when you want them to do something that benefits you. That's not a healthy relationship.

168
00:31:12.790 --> 00:31:19.020
Sue Campbell: So you want to be offering value on a consistent basis entertainment for them on a consistent basis.

169
00:31:19.080 --> 00:31:23.850
Sue Campbell: so that you have that rapport there, and they're very excited when your book comes out

170
00:31:24.250 --> 00:31:46.070
Sue Campbell: on a practical level. If you send less than that, people are just not going to remember that they signed up for it, and they're gonna unsubscribe, or they might even flag you as spam because they don't ever remember signing up for it. You're just not top of mind enough. So at least once month, twice a month is great depending. If you're coming up on a launch. You're gonna need to send more often than that, or I recommend you send more often than that.

171
00:31:46.360 --> 00:32:06.110
Sue Campbell: And then the 3rd piece of content that you use is content to use with influencers, and I'll explain what I mean by influencers in a moment. But it's like when you go out into the world trying to find your people. You need to have content. You need to have stories that you're ready to tell. You need to have stuff that you're ready to share. So those are all things that you should have in mind for content.

172
00:32:06.230 --> 00:32:17.480
Sue Campbell: This is really the comfort area for a lot of writers, right when I tell them about this, they're like, Yeah, you know, I'll write some blog posts. I'll I'll come up with some content that's cool. But if we only focus on

173
00:32:17.550 --> 00:32:21.500
Sue Campbell: setting up an email list and creating content.

174
00:32:21.530 --> 00:32:37.530
Sue Campbell: This is where people, when I'm talking to them, say, Yeah, I have a website. I'm publishing things on the website, and no one is signing up. And I'm not selling any books because you're waiting for people to stumble into your digital spider web.

175
00:32:38.170 --> 00:32:48.069
Sue Campbell: So that is what brings us to this piece of the system which is called outreach, and this is so often what is entirely missing.

176
00:32:48.150 --> 00:32:53.270
Sue Campbell: or what is missing in a large enough volume or consistent enough basis.

177
00:32:53.780 --> 00:33:23.750
Sue Campbell: So outreach is moving people from not knowing that you and your book even exist in the world to now. Oh, they know you exist, and this is the magic ingredient. If you are not doing outreach of one kind or another, you are very unlikely to be able to grow your audience and sell books again. There are lightning strikes that happen in the world. I get that. But if we're going to do the work of building those relationships. We need to know who we're looking for and then go find them

178
00:33:24.220 --> 00:33:43.780
Sue Campbell: so often. The way we do this is through influencers. So this image is here for a reason, because a lot of people, when they hear the word influencer they think of. You know young people who have these huge social media followings, who are peddling, you know, cosmetics, or, you know, doing tutorials on beauty or food, or whatever.

179
00:33:44.090 --> 00:34:06.429
Sue Campbell: I want you to think about the term much more broadly, and I want you to think of it as someone who can just get other people to buy your book and become your fan. So that is an influencer. So that could be other authors in your genre or influencers. Other horror writers, bloggers, people who blog about or book reviewers.

180
00:34:06.610 --> 00:34:20.959
Sue Campbell: Podcasters people who book the events, even if they're not the big keynote speaker. The people who are doing the conference bookings, journalists can be influencers, librarians can be influencers. And yes, people with large social followings.

181
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:38.840
Sue Campbell: our influencers great. They've already built the audience of 3 million people. Now you're talking some numbers that you can actually penetrate. So if you can get them to talk about your book on their social platforms, then you don't have to take the time to build that 3 million yourself. You can just use somebody else's audience, provided there's an overlap.

182
00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:47.940
Sue Campbell: Also, people who have large email lists are influencers. This is not an exhaustive list, for sure. Just to give you some idea

183
00:34:48.570 --> 00:34:58.149
Sue Campbell: because of you know your particular genre, or what your books are about. You may have influencers that aren't available to the rest of us because of the themes that you're talking about.

184
00:34:59.510 --> 00:35:06.950
Sue Campbell: So outreach sounds like one part of a 4 part system, but you can unpack it further.

185
00:35:07.170 --> 00:35:16.050
Sue Campbell: So I want you to have an understanding of what's involved in outreach. So I'm going to give you a super quick nickel tour of that. So number one is mindset.

186
00:35:16.350 --> 00:35:24.990
Sue Campbell: This is the scariest part of marketing is getting yourself out there in front of people. You're going to get ignored.

187
00:35:25.340 --> 00:35:32.230
Sue Campbell: and you're going to get rejected. And we have to accept both of those things in order to get yeses

188
00:35:32.270 --> 00:35:48.569
Sue Campbell: in order to build the audience in order to sell the books. So mindset is step one, but it's also step 2.1 3.1 4.1 5.1 etc. You're going to need to keep working with yourself. I am writing a book right now called The Story. You tell yourself

189
00:35:48.590 --> 00:36:02.120
Sue Campbell: how to reach your creative goals by changing your inner narrative, because, as writers, I've seen this for years and years and years, and I've talked to thousands of writers we have inhibiting stories that we tell ourselves

190
00:36:02.470 --> 00:36:25.300
Sue Campbell: that get in the way of us being able to make an impact out in the world. So that's I have whole other webinars on this. But I wanted to put that out there, front and center, like you're going to have some mind trash that you need to clean up periodically in order to do this and do it sustainably and like be devoted to it. And I don't mean like this is another part time. Job, like you have to do it 20 HA week.

191
00:36:25.340 --> 00:36:29.969
Sue Campbell: You just need to be consistent drip by drip. We need to be building this outreach.

192
00:36:30.640 --> 00:36:48.449
Sue Campbell: So that's number one number 2 is, I want you to set goals on how much you're willing to commit to for outreach. And this is going to be different for everyone, because we all have different lives. But I want, instead of saying, Oh, I pitched a podcast one time. And I never heard back. So Sue's full of it. That doesn't work

193
00:36:48.600 --> 00:36:54.440
Sue Campbell: right? You have to be able to commit to trying something for a certain period of time.

194
00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:55.995
Sue Campbell: And

195
00:36:56.690 --> 00:37:13.469
Sue Campbell: that's the way we work toward that goal. We don't just try something once. It's like, all right, we're gonna commit to trying this. And you get to define what that is. But really take it seriously and set some goals, not around outcomes, but around what you're willing to do so measurable for you to complete

196
00:37:14.700 --> 00:37:31.860
Sue Campbell: number 3. I want you to know who your ideal reader is. You're looking for a specific type of reader out in the world. You need to know who that is because that's going to help you answer every other marketing question that you need to answer.

197
00:37:31.940 --> 00:37:46.740
Sue Campbell: Right? So what do my book jacket? What does my book jacket need to look like, what does my website need to look like to attract? You know, Kyle, my ideal reader, and your ideal reader, I've got a giveaway for you. The link that Michelle shared.

198
00:37:46.740 --> 00:38:04.420
Sue Campbell: We'll give you another webinar that will tell you how to create a reader persona, because we don't have time to go into it all today, but you need a very specific character sketch of who it is you're looking for out in the world that you can use as an avatar for your ideal reader, and that's going to help you make so many decisions.

199
00:38:04.530 --> 00:38:11.999
Sue Campbell: The next step is research. So once you know who you're looking for. Then you do the research of Okay, who already has an audience full of Kyle's

200
00:38:12.110 --> 00:38:15.620
Sue Campbell: right great. Those are the people that I need to reach out to

201
00:38:16.080 --> 00:38:31.659
Sue Campbell: step 5 is cultivating relationships. The clients I have who are the most successful, and I've worked with best selling authors I've worked with like perennial selling authors. They're the ones who have built up good relationships over time

202
00:38:31.970 --> 00:38:37.440
Sue Campbell: that they can call on when they need them, because they've been helpful to that person in the past.

203
00:38:37.710 --> 00:38:44.480
Sue Campbell: So it's not just relationships with readers. It's also relationships with all of those other types of influencers that we talked about

204
00:38:44.700 --> 00:38:54.680
Sue Campbell: now. You can send cold pitches to influencers and still get a yes, but I do want you to be thinking in terms of building and cultivating relationships over time.

205
00:38:55.760 --> 00:39:10.929
Sue Campbell: This step 6 is doing that. Ask or making that pitch to the particular influencer. And you're looking for a win win. You are not sending a copy of your press release to as many influencers as you can find.

206
00:39:11.010 --> 00:39:22.140
Sue Campbell: Just don't even write a press release. Don't do it. It's it's it makes you think, in a very limited type of marketing way. I hate them. I hate press releases.

207
00:39:22.230 --> 00:39:32.819
Sue Campbell: I want you to think of. I'm going to spend the time to do some research. Figure out this influencer. And what's the win win? Because influencers have to serve an audience. That's their job.

208
00:39:33.110 --> 00:39:42.079
Sue Campbell: They have to inform, entertain an audience, and if you can help them, do that, and you can make a compelling case to do that. It's going to be very easy for them to say, yes.

209
00:39:42.900 --> 00:39:48.839
Sue Campbell: So you're going to send a pitch that is a win-win, and that is very targeted to that influencer.

210
00:39:49.050 --> 00:39:56.839
Sue Campbell: And then finally, you're gonna deliver. You're going to show up professionally with whatever you said you were. Gonna do whatever your part of it is.

211
00:39:56.860 --> 00:40:06.449
Sue Campbell: and you're going to be delightful to work with. And so not only will they want to work with you again, but they're happy to recommend you to their other influencer. Friends. Okay.

212
00:40:08.470 --> 00:40:09.440
Sue Campbell: all right

213
00:40:10.040 --> 00:40:16.719
Sue Campbell: final piece. 1st we had permission, then we had content. Then we had outreach, and the final piece is selling.

214
00:40:16.850 --> 00:40:22.400
Sue Campbell: So this is simply offering your book to the right people.

215
00:40:23.190 --> 00:40:35.169
Sue Campbell: A lot of writers and people in general hate the concept of selling. It makes them feel oogie. They do not like it. They don't want to be a salesperson.

216
00:40:35.410 --> 00:40:48.309
Sue Campbell: I want you to think about this differently. If you don't like the way I'm gonna think about it, I'm gonna explain it. Here we get, find what works for you. But you can sell in a way that is valuable, and where you're serving people.

217
00:40:48.660 --> 00:40:54.030
Sue Campbell: So there's a coach I follow who calls this clean selling. She has her own definition, but this is mine.

218
00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:00.830
Sue Campbell: Virtuous actions have virtuous results. So I straight up stole this from Buddhism

219
00:41:01.630 --> 00:41:05.429
Sue Campbell: virtuous actions. Right? So you are

220
00:41:05.650 --> 00:41:15.030
Sue Campbell: writing a book you're writing to entertain. You're writing to transport someone to another world to make them feel a certain way that they're seeking to feel

221
00:41:15.160 --> 00:41:27.530
Sue Campbell: that is a virtuous act in and of itself. So now the next step in the virtuous act is to find the reader who wants that and offer it to them. That is actually a virtuous act.

222
00:41:27.700 --> 00:41:33.100
Sue Campbell: and that will have virtuous results. It may not be the exact result you want to have.

223
00:41:33.230 --> 00:41:42.659
Sue Campbell: But you know life is very creative about the way it delivers things to us. So you may find a result that's even better what than you could have imagined.

224
00:41:43.050 --> 00:41:54.870
Sue Campbell: Writing books, period making art period is a virtuous act. So I want you to always remember that you are adding value to the world, but you have to share your gifts with the people who want to accept them.

225
00:41:55.170 --> 00:42:00.690
Sue Campbell: So selling gets yucky when you're pushing it on someone who. It's not an appropriate fit for

226
00:42:00.910 --> 00:42:12.249
Sue Campbell: right. If you are trying to push your book on someone who never reads horror because it's terrifying for them, and they don't like that experience that's going to feel yucky if you're pushing it on them.

227
00:42:12.980 --> 00:42:26.889
Sue Campbell: So you're looking for the ideal reader, your Kyle right? Or whatever you decide to name your ideal reader, you can find that person and offer them your book, and that is totally their jam

228
00:42:27.230 --> 00:42:37.420
Sue Campbell: perfect. That's a virtuous act you made that person's life better for a very small monetary investment. If we're talking about a book and what it can do for someone.

229
00:42:37.550 --> 00:42:38.670
Sue Campbell: it's the best

230
00:42:38.690 --> 00:42:40.810
Sue Campbell: best deal you can possibly have.

231
00:42:42.120 --> 00:42:44.890
Sue Campbell: Okay, so how do we put this system

232
00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:46.370
Sue Campbell: all together?

233
00:42:46.900 --> 00:43:03.510
Sue Campbell: We've got our email list, we create some content. We go out into the world and do some outreach. And then we bring people back to our email list and we offer them the book. So that's the selling piece. So I'm gonna walk you through a couple scenarios.

234
00:43:04.240 --> 00:43:25.980
Sue Campbell: There are so many ways to spin this out. It's only because of limited time that I'm only showing you 2. So I don't want you to walk away thinking that's the only 2 ways it can be done. You need to use your writer's imagination and be like, okay, how do I apply these 4 basic principles for what I have going on? So 1st example, you befriend an influencer in your space with a popular podcast

235
00:43:26.070 --> 00:43:53.250
Sue Campbell: this is what social media is fantastic for making one to one connections with people not like constantly pushing out a link to go buy your book. But like, Hey, there's a cool influencer. I love what this person's doing. This is a fantastic podcast i'm gonna start chatting them up on social media, and maybe we can become friends. One of my best friends in the world I met on Twitter when it was Twitter, like 15 years ago.

236
00:43:54.050 --> 00:44:02.119
Sue Campbell: one on one relationships. Real authentic connections. Actually, social media can be great at that. If that's how you decide to use it.

237
00:44:02.440 --> 00:44:18.140
Sue Campbell: So that's step one. You can befriend an influencer in your space step 2, then you can pitch that influencer to be on their podcast again, you can cold pitch to provided you make a very good argument, but certainly it helps to the 1st time that you pitch. Someone is not the 1st time they've ever heard of you.

238
00:44:18.420 --> 00:44:21.330
Sue Campbell: So that helps. So that is

239
00:44:21.380 --> 00:44:25.440
Sue Campbell: content and outreach. So you're asking that influencer

240
00:44:25.988 --> 00:44:29.030
Sue Campbell: to let you go in front of their audience.

241
00:44:29.310 --> 00:44:33.070
Sue Campbell: and you're going to deliver some content as a part of that podcast

242
00:44:33.170 --> 00:44:58.679
Sue Campbell: and if you ever listen to a podcast or you know an interview on the radio or anywhere at the end, you know. Let listeners know where they can learn more about you. And then you send them to your email list. You invite them to subscribe, not by saying, Hey, sign up for my newsletter because nobody cares about our newsletter but by saying, Hey, I have this special thing for people who join my email list, and you tell them about the special thing, and then you tell them where to go. Sign up for the email list.

243
00:44:59.560 --> 00:45:04.190
Sue Campbell: Once that person is a subscriber.

244
00:45:04.300 --> 00:45:09.300
Sue Campbell: Then they're going to get that welcome email that delivers that thing that you promised.

245
00:45:09.340 --> 00:45:14.580
Sue Campbell: and then they're going to get additional content over time related to your work. So that's content.

246
00:45:14.660 --> 00:45:23.850
Sue Campbell: And then every newsletter has a blurb about your book in it, and a link to buy it. That's not all that's in the Newsletter, but that's in there. So that's selling

247
00:45:24.110 --> 00:45:27.650
Sue Campbell: again. Just one way to approach the system.

248
00:45:28.500 --> 00:45:33.029
Sue Campbell: Here's 1 where you don't need anybody to say yes to anything to make it happen.

249
00:45:33.080 --> 00:45:46.500
Sue Campbell: So here's example number 2, you review a book from a well-known author on your podcast or on your blog, or on your whatever you have right, whatever thing that you do. So that's content. You're being the book reviewer.

250
00:45:46.690 --> 00:45:53.470
Sue Campbell: And then when you promote that, you can tag that author on social media. When you promote the post

251
00:45:53.620 --> 00:46:02.320
Sue Campbell: social media. I do not count as outreach because it is so bad at reaching people right for most of us who are just regular humans

252
00:46:02.410 --> 00:46:20.100
Sue Campbell: and don't have time to really devote to becoming like a social media influencer. So I don't count that as outreach. That's content putting that tag out there because only people are going to see are the people who are already following you. If you're lucky and it's not going to be all of them. But when you tag that author, that author, has a different audience than you do

253
00:46:20.100 --> 00:46:34.829
Sue Campbell: most authors, if they're on the platform doing their own social, or especially if they have someone else doing their social and you tag them, they're going to reshare that. So now it's outreach, because it's reaching fresh eyes from that other person's audience.

254
00:46:35.850 --> 00:46:47.189
Sue Campbell: And then on that podcast, people go click on that link and listen and the podcast, ends with a call to action to get the free thing right. That sign up bonus and join your email list.

255
00:46:47.500 --> 00:46:52.130
Sue Campbell: And then your newsletters have a blurb about your book and links to buy

256
00:46:52.580 --> 00:46:56.649
Sue Campbell: right again. Those are just 2 potential ways of doing this.

257
00:46:57.720 --> 00:47:04.469
Sue Campbell: So we're gonna move into QA. Here in a moment, I want to recap what we talked about. So we talked about

258
00:47:04.670 --> 00:47:18.679
Sue Campbell: how problematic it is to just be looking at tactics on the Internet. I want, I don't. There's a lot of good stuff out there. But now you can evaluate that tactic and say, Okay, does that make sense for my ideal reader

259
00:47:18.770 --> 00:47:30.250
Sue Campbell: and for me? And what I'm willing to do, and what I'm not willing to do. Okay? And then what is it? Is it permission? Is it content? Is it outreach? Is it selling

260
00:47:30.390 --> 00:47:42.930
Sue Campbell: right? You can go through right now and make a list of everything that you're doing for your marketing, and then say, Oh, is this permission, content, outreach or selling, and you'll see where your gaps are. And 9 times out of 10 your gaps are in outreach

261
00:47:43.170 --> 00:47:59.220
Sue Campbell: right? But also it's a big gap to have not have a newsletter or an email list that you're building, because then if you go out and do outreach, you don't have a way to hang on to those people once they find you because you don't have them on your email list now. So those are the 2 biggest problems.

262
00:48:00.390 --> 00:48:13.459
Sue Campbell: Then we talked about a better definition of marketing. So create your own if you didn't like mine. But mine is, I'm creating long, lasting relationships with readers with my audience.

263
00:48:13.940 --> 00:48:16.430
Sue Campbell: and then number 3.

264
00:48:16.560 --> 00:48:21.569
Sue Campbell: This is where the quiz comes in. Tell me, what is your number one book marketing goal

265
00:48:27.480 --> 00:48:31.570
Sue Campbell: email address. Tavia wins that one super quick.

266
00:48:31.790 --> 00:48:34.519
Sue Campbell: Yep, create your email list.

267
00:48:35.600 --> 00:48:43.030
Sue Campbell: And then we looked at the foundational 4 part book marketing strategies. Right? So that's the connection system. So permission.

268
00:48:43.090 --> 00:49:10.759
Sue Campbell: content, outreach and selling. That is the strategy. Everything plugs into that. So it needs to make sense. If you already have all your content needs covered. And someone comes through and says, you need to start a Youtube channel. You can question that. Do I really need to create more content? Maybe you do. Maybe then you can repurpose right? But you need to evaluate. Where is this fitting into my strategy? And is that an area that I need to add to, or am I good there?

269
00:49:11.690 --> 00:49:17.570
Sue Campbell: Okay. So your next step is to figure out your reader persona. If you don't know this already

270
00:49:17.910 --> 00:49:38.649
Sue Campbell: who is the ideal person to pick up your book. So if you don't know who that is, and you want to figure out how to figure it out, you can go to pages and platforms.com forward slash pwa, and I'll send you a an on demand, Webinar, where I'm showing you how to create that reader. Persona

271
00:49:38.700 --> 00:49:52.930
Sue Campbell: I'm telling you, reader, persona is going to make your marketing so much easier, because you will know who you are actually looking for, and if you can saturate a space for one type of reader. Those are the people who are going to love your book so much.

272
00:49:52.930 --> 00:49:59.899
Sue Campbell: They're going to, you know, proselytize for you and spread the word about your book. So I'm very, very

273
00:50:00.194 --> 00:50:23.190
Sue Campbell: pushy about knowing who your ideal reader is, and not just in terms of broad demographics like it's oh, it's anyone who's ever read a horror novel between the ages of, you know, 18 and 36 way too broad doesn't help you make any decisions. So you need to get really clear. That doesn't mean we're leaving other readers out. But it gives us somewhere to concentrate our efforts and help get that word of mouth going.

274
00:50:24.050 --> 00:50:26.570
Sue Campbell: Okay? So we have time for

275
00:50:26.730 --> 00:50:46.909
Sue Campbell: questions and answers about 12 min. That's pretty good timing, if I do say so myself. So if you put a question over in the big old chat, I am not going to be able to see it because you guys were crazy in there, and I love good chats. But if you want me to actually answer a question at the bottom of your zoom screen, you'll see a. QA. Box.

276
00:50:47.310 --> 00:50:56.490
Sue Campbell: So I want you to add your question in there. Oh, great question from Dudley. So what are good examples of reader magnets?

277
00:50:56.910 --> 00:51:11.389
Sue Campbell: So, reader magnets I, just for everybody again, are something that you are giving away in exchange for someone signing up for your newsletter. They're giving you something really valuable, which is their email address. So they deserve something really valuable in return.

278
00:51:11.450 --> 00:51:16.159
Sue Campbell: This is a great example of where your ideal reader can help you make a decision.

279
00:51:16.240 --> 00:51:19.220
Sue Campbell: What would my ideal reader want?

280
00:51:19.470 --> 00:51:27.770
Sue Campbell: Right? So of course, a lot of we've seen this a lot. If you've, you know, following other writers, they're going to give away, maybe a prequel.

281
00:51:28.050 --> 00:51:47.089
Sue Campbell: maybe a 1st in series, maybe a short story. Those are obvious fiction examples. We are not all so prolific that we have right endless stuff that we can just pull out and use as a reader magnet. So it doesn't have to be an initial, you know, full work of fiction.

282
00:51:47.380 --> 00:51:56.750
Sue Campbell: It can be other things it can be your guide to, you know, underground horror stories from the sixties and seventies. If that's appealing to your ideal reader.

283
00:51:56.930 --> 00:52:12.920
Sue Campbell: right? You've got to vet this your idea of your reader Magnet, against what your ideal reader wants, so I can't tell you exactly what that would be because I don't know who Dudley's ideal reader is, but it is something of value to that person that is

284
00:52:12.920 --> 00:52:28.450
Sue Campbell: highly related to the kind of thing that you write about right. We don't want to do like. Oh, my ideal reader would love this thing, but it has nothing to do with the kind of books that I write. We want it all to be like an experience where they get your vibe.

285
00:52:28.520 --> 00:52:37.999
Sue Campbell: and that starts with them learning about you and signing up for your email list and getting that reader Magnet all the way through them, reading your books

286
00:52:38.630 --> 00:52:40.150
Sue Campbell: so great question!

287
00:52:40.550 --> 00:52:46.076
Sue Campbell: This might get real annoying, because a lot of times my answer to questions is, it depends on your ideal reader.

288
00:52:47.143 --> 00:52:48.090
Sue Campbell: Let's see.

289
00:52:48.120 --> 00:52:52.060
Sue Campbell: Dudley says, would you recommend traditional publishers or self publishing.

290
00:52:52.160 --> 00:53:03.709
Sue Campbell: I don't recommend one or the other. I'm totally agnostic on this point. I just want authors to understand the pros and cons of each system based on your particular goals.

291
00:53:04.090 --> 00:53:12.059
Sue Campbell: So for example, if you are someone who doesn't have the 1st clue of how to

292
00:53:12.080 --> 00:53:15.640
Sue Campbell: create the actual product of a book.

293
00:53:15.840 --> 00:53:41.349
Sue Campbell: so you don't know anything about cover design. You don't know how to find designers. You don't know about interior formatting. You don't know how to find an interior formatter. Right? Like creating the product of the book is what traditional publishers do. They honestly do. Very little marketing for most writers. Again, not all. I've had a couple of clients that were happily surprised by what their publishers gave them, but by and large. That's not the experience. So

294
00:53:41.910 --> 00:53:49.000
Sue Campbell: if you don't want anything to do, or you think it would be too hard, or you're you don't have the time to do it on your own.

295
00:53:49.030 --> 00:54:01.960
Sue Campbell: Then you do not want to self publish or independently publish is the term that I prefer. In that case you're going to want to go with a traditional publisher, or perhaps even a hybrid publisher. If you do have some, you know money, you can put up front.

296
00:54:02.020 --> 00:54:08.159
Sue Campbell: So traditional publisher. They are going to create the book without you having to pay anything upfront.

297
00:54:08.557 --> 00:54:14.270
Sue Campbell: Maybe you get paid something upfront. Maybe it's a small advance. Maybe there's no advance. We don't know.

298
00:54:14.390 --> 00:54:17.029
Sue Campbell: It's going to depend on your particular deal.

299
00:54:17.140 --> 00:54:21.089
Sue Campbell: But traditional publisher is going to create that product for you.

300
00:54:21.380 --> 00:54:24.399
Sue Campbell: and they're going to create the distribution for you.

301
00:54:24.440 --> 00:54:37.649
Sue Campbell: Independent publishing. You are going to have to be responsible for all that. Even if you don't do it yourself, you're going to be the project manager or the ultimate owner of all of those decisions. So do you have the time for that? Do you have the inclination for that?

302
00:54:38.099 --> 00:54:47.390
Sue Campbell: And again, marketing? You're gonna have to do either way. Sorry folks, either way, whether you're traditional or whether you're independently published, you're gonna have to take on your marketing.

303
00:54:47.874 --> 00:54:53.270
Sue Campbell: That's just the way. The climate is right now, and I don't really foresee that changing. Maybe it will

304
00:54:53.595 --> 00:55:21.699
Sue Campbell: but again, there's a lot of pros and cons educate yourself, and then make an informed decision. Also, if you're really impatient, then you probably don't want to go with a traditional publisher. If you want to have creative control. And you know, you've got something unique. You may not want to go with a traditional publisher there, because you won't have as much creative control. So lots to think about. And again, I want what's best in alignment with your goals, so I don't have a preference. It's up to each individual author.

305
00:55:23.500 --> 00:55:38.769
Sue Campbell: Adam says, I find it very difficult to befriend influencers on social media. Do you have any tips? Do you post regularly on social media? And do you have a platform that works best for you, for making connections. So

306
00:55:38.880 --> 00:55:42.670
Sue Campbell: tips for befriending on social media is to

307
00:55:44.049 --> 00:55:54.289
Sue Campbell: there was a famous sort of personal development speaker named Zig Ziglar, and he's like you'll get everything you want in life if you spend your life helping other people get what they want out of life.

308
00:55:54.370 --> 00:56:02.360
Sue Campbell: Right? So you want to think of how do I make that influencer's life a little easier or a little better? So you can start by.

309
00:56:02.670 --> 00:56:09.539
Sue Campbell: you know, resharing their stuff on social media, leaving thoughtful comments on social media.

310
00:56:10.416 --> 00:56:12.110
Sue Campbell: You can

311
00:56:12.593 --> 00:56:17.030
Sue Campbell: write reviews of their books or reviews of their podcast

312
00:56:17.120 --> 00:56:35.579
Sue Campbell: and this isn't about sucking up right? I want you to have a authentic caring about this influencer and what they do don't just pick someone because you think it'd be good for your career like, let's be thoughtful about this and that way. We don't have any hesitation about like. Oh, this is great. This person deserves even more followers.

313
00:56:35.580 --> 00:56:58.390
Sue Campbell: Right? Also, you can start small. I wouldn't start with the people who are super well known and famous already, because they're probably not doing their own social media. So it's going to be hard to befriend them. So oftentimes this is going to work, for you know, mid tier influencers. It's also great to start out with people who are kind of at the same level as you, because then you come up together

314
00:56:58.470 --> 00:57:01.060
Sue Campbell: right, and you help each other up the whole way

315
00:57:01.980 --> 00:57:17.370
Sue Campbell: again. What platform you choose is going to be dependent on who your ideal reader is, because your influencer that's gonna work, for this is going to be on the platform where your ideal reader is, too. So I can't tell you there's 1 perfect platform to be on

316
00:57:18.170 --> 00:57:30.749
Sue Campbell: I hope that helps. It's it's mainly about authentically connecting, being helpful, telling them why they matter not, you know, blowing sunshine. You want to be really authentic about the way you do it.

317
00:57:33.348 --> 00:57:48.950
Sue Campbell: My friend John, who those he's actually the one I mentioned, who I met on Twitter like 15 years ago. He's a master at befriending people on social media and influencers, and I told him a couple of years ago, you need to make a class on that like he's the one who should be making that class

318
00:57:49.380 --> 00:58:03.080
Sue Campbell: anonymous. Attendee says if you're going down the traditional publishing route, are you responsible for your own marketing. Yep, I answered that. Yes, indeed. And it's way easier to get a traditional publishing deal if you've already built an audience.

319
00:58:03.340 --> 00:58:12.550
Sue Campbell: So the one exception to my social media doesn't sell books rule, that's true. But sometimes a social media following will help you get an agent

320
00:58:12.620 --> 00:58:27.670
Sue Campbell: and a traditional publishing deal, because it's something they can readily verify that you at least have access to that audience. But you can still grow your email list while you're doing that. And that actually has more clout. And then you just want to like, verify for them that you really have that

321
00:58:29.885 --> 00:58:46.830
Sue Campbell: anonymous says, what do you think of book boxes. Are they a good avenue to pursue and get your name and book out there? I'm not exactly sure what you mean by book boxes. I think you mean like those subscription services where they deliver books every month.

322
00:58:46.830 --> 00:59:01.680
Sue Campbell: So if that's what you're talking about, then yes, those are great. If you can get yourself into a book box that's a built in audience where those books are already going to go out, and that reader might not have found you otherwise. So yes, if your book lends itself well to that.

323
00:59:01.910 --> 00:59:09.549
Sue Campbell: you can definitely try that. Be aware of scams like, make sure you vet that particular book Box Service

324
00:59:09.630 --> 00:59:13.510
Sue Campbell: to make sure that they are the, you know, real deal.

325
00:59:13.560 --> 00:59:16.789
Sue Campbell: but it for the legit ones that can help a lot.

326
00:59:19.940 --> 00:59:36.490
Sue Campbell: Lou says. Can you please share some businesses to help with email list. So I'm gonna approach this answer 2 ways, because I'm not quite sure which direction you want. So the types of email service providers are mailerlite and convert Kit are my 2 favorite

327
00:59:36.865 --> 00:59:46.020
Sue Campbell: but there are, you know, Mailchimp, and things like that. If you're talking about. How do you get it? Set up? And can someone help you set that up?

328
00:59:46.456 --> 01:00:05.790
Sue Campbell: You can. I mean, we do that on a somewhat limited basis. We have limited slots for that, but we will set up your email list for you so you can go to info at pages and platforms.com and ask. And then I would just Google like service to help me set up my author, Newsletter. Something like that.

329
01:00:06.170 --> 01:00:30.839
Sue Campbell: You can also, if you know you want to outsource it. That's great, because then you have time for other things and other ways that you could invest time in marketing. But if but it's an option for some of you out there. There are a lot of Youtube videos that will show you how to do it. And there's customer service from the actual email list provider, too. So it is within reach for a lot of people. If you just do your homework a little bit and are willing to watch some videos and

330
01:00:31.260 --> 01:00:33.169
Sue Campbell: do some reading and click some buttons.

331
01:00:34.130 --> 01:00:39.969
Sue Campbell: Alright, we're running out of time. I am definitely not going to get to answer all these questions because Michelle is gonna come and give me the hook.

332
01:00:40.852 --> 01:00:45.549
Sue Campbell: Let's see. Yes, the video will be available later.

333
01:00:45.650 --> 01:01:00.719
Sue Campbell: And Tom says, is this only for self or indie publishing. Absolutely not. But again, like whether you're independently published or traditionally published, you still have to be responsible for your own marketing, and this system works beautifully for both.

334
01:01:01.040 --> 01:01:04.340
Sue Campbell: I think that's all. I'm gonna have time to answer. Okay, Michelle.

335
01:01:05.550 --> 01:01:28.129
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Thank you so much. This was lovely, and thank you, as always, for putting on a great presentation. Thank you to everybody who came to watch, and this will be up on the hub as soon as the recording is done processing, and we will have the slides and the audio transcript file there as well, so we will see you in an hour for our next session. Thanks, everyone.

336
01:01:28.450 --> 01:01:30.449
Sue Campbell: Thank you so much. Everybody. Good luck!

337
01:01:30.730 --> 01:01:31.580
Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Bye.