Back to Business #writerslife

After a very busy summer, school is back in session, and I have my writing time back. Woot!

Not that I've done any writing. Very little happened in front of the computer this past season. It's put me even farther behind schedule, but it has also give me a lot of time to think.

I thought I had a pretty good handle on this writing career thing. Loose as it might be at times, I had done my research. I'm smart. But nothing is working. Why isn't it working?!

Perhaps I've been too loose. I need to be tighter with my time management and what I put my time into. I need to seriously get down to business.

First, I'm going to put time limits on what I do and stick with them. Usually when I'm on social media, time gets away from me. No more. It takes away from writing time, and as a writer, the number one thing I need to be doing is writing.

Write in the mornings and write in the afternoons. Write. (Includes revising and editing!)

I need better covers. I created a new cover for The 13th Floor Complete Collection earlier this year, and it has perked up interest in it. (Anything from zero interest is an improvement!) My next task is to make new covers for the majority of my books. Yes, I realize there are a lot of them, but it makes a difference. It will be slow going, but one by one, I can do it.

I will be fixing my social media. First, this will mean a new website. I dropped my provider and I'll be setting up on Wix. I'm working on how to keep my domain name and transfer it over. Wix is not only free, but easy to use. I use it for my pen name and love it. I may move my blog to Wix too. I like Blogger, but it would be convenient to have everything in one place. Has anyone had experience with Wix's blog? Any info would be helpful, please.

Promos do help get new eyes on your books, and I want to participate in more. Yet after years of having books for free in promos, I realize it doesn't help. It's a momentary boost in my Amazon rank, but then it goes back down after the promo is over. It doesn't nab me reviews. Readers are much more likely to leave a review if they pay for something. 99c sales are better or 50% off. That way the readers feel they're getting deals, but they're still paying.

Write. Then write some more.

That's the plan. Rule the world. You and me. Any day. I mean, uh, consolidate, strict schedule, new looks, and write.

How do you handle the business of being of a writer?

Word Witch Wednesday - the ever evolving land of book marketing

One of the things that cause me the most stress is marketing. I just want to write! But it's part of an author's job to market their work too. So I do a lot of research. When I think I have a handle on things and make a plan, the world of book marketing changes. And it keeps changing.

1. Newsletters. At the beginning of the year, this was the new big thing. Build your email list! Now people are pulling back from them. There are just too many, and several of them are just vehicles for authors to promote other authors' books. I've unsubscribed from dozens of them, because as a reader, I'm interested in the writer I subscribed to, not ads for other people's books.

Is it still good to have a newsletter? Yes. Remember though, you are sending it out to readers. They want to know about you and your work. I've changed the way I set up my newsletter and send it out only once a month. They're shorter and more personal, like an email to a friend. I've gotten far less unsubscribes this way.

2. Blogs. You can find articles proclaiming blogging is going out of style or has been out for a long time. Yes, some people have left blogging and turned to other social media. Time is precious, and people don't want to spend it reading long articles.

Should you give up blogging? No. If you have the time to invest in it, it can be worthwhile. I use my blog to connect with writers and readers. I love the community of author bloggers I follow. The support and encouragement of fellow writers is invaluable. I've cut back to once a week, but I can't see myself ever closing down my blog.

3. Social Media. We've heard this before: it's like shouting into the void. No one's going to hear you. It doesn't sell books. Many articles counsel stepping back from spending time on social media and just writing instead. Which is good advice. We shouldn't be spending too much time on social media. Writing more stories is the number one priority for an author.

So no more social media? It can help as long as you remember that social media is for being social. It's for interaction, and if that's something you really enjoy, go find where your audience is. Mingle and make connections.

4. Paid Ads. So many seem to fail. Writers aren't rich folks. Spending money on an ad that won't even make you the money back you spent on it is useless. The once popular paid ad sites are no longer attracting readers. Only BookBub gets sales, and very few of us can afford them.

From my research, one thing almost everyone agrees on is that paid ads do work... IF you know where your audience is. It does take a lot of research to find out where best to promote your books. If you're doing a 99 cent sale or offering up a book for free for a limited time, this is when paying for an ad can help.

What have you noticed that has changed in the book marketing world recently?

Wicked Wednesday - reviewing the numbers

I always find it interesting to hear how other authors are doing on social media. Do they focus on one or two sites or a bunch of them? How many hours do they put in? What are their marketing tactics? To give you an idea of what I do, here are my numbers from last year.

Start of 2015:
Facebook: 332
Twitter: 4796
Blog: 523 (GFC)
Newsletter: 18

Last year, I had my first books published with my publisher. This brought me to a new audience. Did it help on social media? I don't know. I'll break each of the four main tools I use down individually.

End of 2015:
Facebook: 409

I don't use Facebook (FB) much for promoting. I post maybe three times a week on my author page. (Mostly I use my personal page to put up pictures of my kid and cat!) I'm not a big fan of FB. My numbers did go up. They rose with my giveaways at the beginning of 2015 when one of the entries was to like my page.

Twitter: 6101

I made the most changes to how I handle Twitter. I promote my books less - only two or three times a day. I used to do it at least a half dozen times. I interact with people more, talking about all sorts of things beyond books. This has helped and has made Twitter more enjoyable to me. I unfollowed all the inactive followers, the spammers, the bots, and the ones just selling stuff. I'm following less people than are following me.

Blog: 522

I always say my blog is my number one tool. I still believe it even though it doesn't seem the number has changed much at all. I can only go by the number on GFC. It has gone up to 528 and dropped to 519 over the year. It's stable. I do know I have new readers following in other ways because they comment. Sometimes people will do so on the blog, but they also email and comment via Twitter or Goodreads. I always do my best to return comments on the blogs of people who comment on mine.

Newsletter: 156

This is the biggest jump. The one that made me most excited. I know exactly where over 120 of these new subscribers came from too. Back in September, the marvelous Graeme Ing posted 35 free ebooks on his blog and the response was astounding. Here's the post in case you want to get yourself some awesome free ebooks! Within the first week, I had over 50 new subscribers. If you have a newsletter, you know it's super tough to get people to sign up for it. I offer a free ebook to new subscribers, but that alone didn't draw in a lot of readers. Graeme's post was the key.

My 2015 review and sales numbers were, well, not even worth reporting. Not a good year. Except I still don't know how my Paramours series has done since they came out in the final quarter, and my publisher has no sales ratings on their site. That check will come to me in a few weeks.

2016 will be a fun year to watch the numbers. I hope to start releasing my newest series, Totem, and it will sing to the 13th Floor fans. (I do wish I kept track of my numbers in 2013 when I was releasing those books!) I'm going to try a few different marketing strategies that don't involve me wearing myself down every time I release one of the books.

Do you keep track of your numbers? What tactics do you use for your social media tools?

Wicked Wednesday - examining newsletters

One of the most handy tools a writer can use is the newsletter. You can promote your new book, share a contest, and tease your readers with a new project. Newsletters are a special tool in our arsenal because they're all about the readers. Or, at least, they should be.

My newsletter - Geeks, Freaks, & EEKS! - is one year old this month. It was intimidating when I started. I use MailChimp, and it took a little while to get the hang of it. Now it's easy to piece together a bulletin when I've decided what I want to say.

I worried that no one except a few friends would sign up for it. I pointed readers to the little widget on the sidebar of my blog and website. All you have to do is put in your email address. So simple! I was right to worry. Very few people subscribed.

Why? How could I entice readers to sign up? I offered contests just for my subscribers and a couple more folks added their names to the list. When I toured earlier this year, I gave the most points on my raffles to those that signed up for my newsletter. It attracted another dozen readers.

Now that I've reached the anniversary of my newsletter, I'm re-examining what I want to do with it and how to draw new subscribers. I've done a bunch of research, and here is what I have planned:

1. I will be sending out my newsletter quarterly instead of every month. (And for special events like book releases.)
2. There will be something in each newsletter exclusively for subscribers that won't be released anywhere else until at least two days after the newsletter has been sent.
3. I'll be attracting new subscribers with a free book.

Oh yes. You read it right! New subscribers to my newsletter will receive their choice of either The 13th Floor Complete Collection or Of Blood and Sorrow. (Sorry I cannot give away my Dice & Debauchery books.)

I'll be sending out my anniversary newsletter this Friday (August 14th). One lucky subscriber will win some swag including one of my special Christine Rains dice. So if you do sign up, you'll not only get a free book, but you'll have a chance to win some more cool stuff!

It's all about the readers.

Do you have a newsletter? If you do, what tips can you share about how to attract subscribers?

Did I Notice Your Book Blogfest

This great blogfest was created by Ciara Knight and Alex J. Cavanaugh. It gives us an opportunity to shout-out about books. You can choose any book except your own or something that has been on New York Times or USA Today best sellers list.

DON'T tell the author you're featuring their book. Instead, shout-out on social media sites and encourage others to do the same until the author notices. Then leave a comment with Ciara or the Ninja Captain when they do.

Check out the other participants' posts and find some great new reads!

I decided to choose a book by an author that doesn't regularly visit my blog. I have so many great friends who are fabulous writers. I'd shout-out their books all the time if I could! But they'd likely see my post before hearing about it on the internet. Here's my pick.

Blurb: My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.It started with the discovery of a young woman's brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I've been hired to restore. The clues to the killer--and to his other victims--lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

Buy it on Amazon!

Author: Amanda Stevens is an avid reader, a wannabe taphophile, and a collector of all things Alfred Hitchcock. When she’s not writing, she likes taking road trips to Austin. And to Marfa. And to old cemeteries.

You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, her blog, and her website.

This one has been on the top of my TBR list for a while. I've heard fantastic things about it, but my local library doesn't have it and I'm a poor writer. This book was recommended to me by a fellow reader on Goodreads. I wouldn't have heard about it otherwise. Now I'm passing on the shout-out!

Social media and time

I've been doing some research on social media lately and how to use it to my advantage without giving up too much more of my free time. I already put a lot of time into my blog and connecting with people through here. For me, this has been the most effective tool in making connections.

I have a Facebook account, but it's my personal account. I check it twice, maybe three times a day. It's mostly for keeping in contact with friends and family, and bragging about my kid. I'm planning to make one specifically for Christine Rains the Writer. I haven't decided if it's best to create a fan page or open a new account for this purpose. Have any of you had the experience of both? And if so, what's your preference? If you use Facebook at all, how often do you check fan pages as compared to accounts?

I don't have a Twitter account. I'm going to start one when I open the new Facebook account. I was never a fan of Twitter, but I do admit that it has a large following and it would be beneficial for me. I've read in a few places that for Twitter to be an effective marketing tool, you have to tweet at least 25 times a day, but no more than 35 or else people will get annoyed. That's a lot. I don't have the time to do it either. For those of you that use Twitter, have you found it helpful in marketing yourself?

I have LinkedIn and Google+ accounts, but I rarely use them. I really like Goodreads, but I haven't done any promoting on there. I just like seeing what people are reading and their reviews. I have no interest in MySpace. My husband suggested Digg (a social news website). He works with marketing at his company and Digg is growing.

Even if I signed up with various sites, I don't have the time to maintain them. I considered a social media management site like Hootsuite. I'm afraid that it might make it all more complicated. Does anyone use any type of social media management systems? If you do, what has your experience been like?

I realize it's important to get your name out there. There are a lot of opportunities to do so on the internet, but it takes time. Time that I don't have. Time I should be writing. And the most important thing I need to be doing as a writer is writing.

I'd also like to give a big thank you to Tara Tyler for awarding me the One Lovely Blog Award. She passed it on in such a clever way too!