What is ROI? It’s Return On Investment. Another one of those business-ey terms authors need to become familiar with.
ROI is about creating measurements which will tell you how effective a particular marketing effort is on your marketing goals. This is why you need to be sure your goals are as specific as possible. The more focused they are, the easier ROI is to measure. As time goes by and you’re following your marketing plan, doing the promo, and twittering your little heart out, you need to know if what you are doing is working. Or not. Was it a time suck, or a success?
Let’s say for your marketing plan, you set your timeline for one year. The first quarter flies by, and then before you know it, your looking at the end of the second quarter. You need to take time out, look at your measurements and see if things are moving in the direction you want them to. This really depends on the goals you set at the beginning of your plan. Are you garnering more readers? Selling more books? Are more people wanting to engage with you?
You need to be sure you are moving in the direction of your goals. If you are not, then what you are doing may not be working, and you’ll want to adjust your strategy. The unfortunate part about all of this is that there is no hard and fast rule about what works and what doesn’t. It really seems to be unique to each author and how they connect with people.
How do you track ROI? With analytics. Which is the next post. Don’t worry it’s not as awful as it sounds.
And I can hear you naysayers out there. ‘Some things you just can’t measure. You have to go with your heart.’ IMO, that’s an excuse to be lazy and to allow failure. Save your heart for your stories. This part requires your head.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
A Visit to the Windy City
This time, it wasn't particularly windy. The weather was gorgeous. Which only made the trip that much more enjoyable.
Little did I know, there were surprises in store for me. Like a surprise birthday party for one. And a new Sony reader for the other. Doesn't that just rock? I think so. Count me totally floored by both. And totally thrilled. I'm very lucky to be surrounded by people (okay, so they're a couple hundred miles away, who's counting?) who would care enough to take time out of their busy schedules to participate in such an event.
Honestly, I'm telling you this as an explanation of sorts, as to why there have been no posts the last few days. And to let you know that as soon as I recover from the travel, which one good nights sleep in my own bed should take care of, I'll be back to the regular posts.
To that end, tune in tomorrow, for the next installment in the Writer Biz segment.
Little did I know, there were surprises in store for me. Like a surprise birthday party for one. And a new Sony reader for the other. Doesn't that just rock? I think so. Count me totally floored by both. And totally thrilled. I'm very lucky to be surrounded by people (okay, so they're a couple hundred miles away, who's counting?) who would care enough to take time out of their busy schedules to participate in such an event.
Honestly, I'm telling you this as an explanation of sorts, as to why there have been no posts the last few days. And to let you know that as soon as I recover from the travel, which one good nights sleep in my own bed should take care of, I'll be back to the regular posts.
To that end, tune in tomorrow, for the next installment in the Writer Biz segment.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
You Know You’re Lost When...
You’ve taken a detour, and come upon a hand-painted sign on the side of the road that reads, The GPS is wrong, turn back.
No kidding. We laughed ourselves silly. And then drove for two hours trying to find our way around a rock slide. Some days are just like that.
Have a great weekend!
No kidding. We laughed ourselves silly. And then drove for two hours trying to find our way around a rock slide. Some days are just like that.
Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Writer Biz #10 - Taking the Pain Out of Promotion
Let’s see. You’ve set your goals, created a timeline, and figured out at least one or two target markets. Now it’s time to contact them, and let them know about your fabulous new story. Preferably starting about three months before its release date. And how will you do that?
Promotion, promotion, promotion.
There are several ways to reach out to your target market. You can do it online, by several methods. Social networking, press kits, chat groups, author interviews, review sites, podcasts, blogs, websites, blog talk radio interviews, and the list goes on and on. You may also reach your markets face-to-face by doing book signings, teaching workshops, social networking(the face-to-face kind), advertising, radio and television interviews and so on. You need to decide what will work best for you.
One way to take the pain out of promotion is to initially focus on doing the types of promotion which don’t make you feel terribly uncomfortable. For example, if you like talking to groups of people, workshops may work well for you. If you are not comfortable with groups, you may prefer to do more online promotion.
This is where knowing your personal strengths and weaknesses will help you. Be honest with yourself, and be prepared to grow. No one is comfortable with every type of promotion. People just get more practiced at doing it, and some are more natural than others. If you start with something that doesn’t make you too uncomfortable, then you can work your way up to the next thing which may make you a feel a little awkward, but with practice, you should be able to do just fine. Simply know at some point, you will be outside your comfort zone. That is probably the most natural thing about promotion.
Another way to take the pain out of promotion is to realize that selling books, or selling anything for that matter, isn’t about standing up, or emailing people and saying, “Buy my book.”
It’s about building relationships. Perhaps that will make it more tolerable for you. Beside that, it’s true. You’ll build relationships with your publisher, your readers, booksellers, and other authors. All of which will at some point, in some way, help you to sell your book.
Don’t worry, no one will drag you kicking and screaming in front of people to promote your book. Either you will do it. Or you won’t. It’s really that simple.
Promotion, promotion, promotion.
There are several ways to reach out to your target market. You can do it online, by several methods. Social networking, press kits, chat groups, author interviews, review sites, podcasts, blogs, websites, blog talk radio interviews, and the list goes on and on. You may also reach your markets face-to-face by doing book signings, teaching workshops, social networking(the face-to-face kind), advertising, radio and television interviews and so on. You need to decide what will work best for you.
One way to take the pain out of promotion is to initially focus on doing the types of promotion which don’t make you feel terribly uncomfortable. For example, if you like talking to groups of people, workshops may work well for you. If you are not comfortable with groups, you may prefer to do more online promotion.
This is where knowing your personal strengths and weaknesses will help you. Be honest with yourself, and be prepared to grow. No one is comfortable with every type of promotion. People just get more practiced at doing it, and some are more natural than others. If you start with something that doesn’t make you too uncomfortable, then you can work your way up to the next thing which may make you a feel a little awkward, but with practice, you should be able to do just fine. Simply know at some point, you will be outside your comfort zone. That is probably the most natural thing about promotion.
Another way to take the pain out of promotion is to realize that selling books, or selling anything for that matter, isn’t about standing up, or emailing people and saying, “Buy my book.”
It’s about building relationships. Perhaps that will make it more tolerable for you. Beside that, it’s true. You’ll build relationships with your publisher, your readers, booksellers, and other authors. All of which will at some point, in some way, help you to sell your book.
Don’t worry, no one will drag you kicking and screaming in front of people to promote your book. Either you will do it. Or you won’t. It’s really that simple.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Travelin' Blog
I'm the guest blogger today over at The Lyrical Press Blog. I've talked about five reasons why you need a marketing plan. Stop by and add your own. I'd love to know what you think.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Writer Biz #9 – What’s A Target Market?
Now that you’ve set your goal and come up with a time line, you’ll need a target market. Preferably more than one. Let’s keep it simple for now, and you can expand it on your own later.
When marketing types work their magic, they use what’s commonly referred to as market segmentation. It’s a complicated way of saying they divide us up into groups by different variables.
The groups can be (notice, I said ‘can be’ NOT ‘must be’.) divided by demographic areas, geographic areas, psychographic areas, and behavioral areas. Still clear as mud? Let’s go a little deeper.
Demographic areas – these are based on variables such as age, gender, education, occupation, and income.
Geographic areas - are based on regional variables such as region, climate, population density.
Psychographic areas - are based on variables such as values, attitudes, and lifestyle.
Behavioral areas - are based on variables such as usage rate, price sensitivity, and brand loyalty. And yes, as an author you are a brand.
Once the segments are decided upon, they are usually profiled. (Not in a bad way.) In other words, a description is written for the segment and it’s given a name which represents the area which will be one of the targets for the marketing plan.
Sounds awful business-ey doesn’t it? Don’t worry. It’s really just a way to help you narrow your focus, so you can achieve your goals. The above list is to make you aware of things you may not have thought of when trying to figure out who your target market is.
I hear you, I hear you, already. “Readers, readers by books!!” “My profile is readers, you dummy.”
Yes, that’s true. But not all readers have the same taste in stories, so to make your plan more effective, let’s narrow it a little more. How about your existing readers for one segment. Perhaps prospective readers for another. Here’s an example of how the profile would look:
1. Existing readers – people who currently read my books.
2. Prospective readers – people who haven’t read my books but might read them based on the fact that they read another authors work which is similar to mine.
If you think about it, you can probably come up with a couple more. Give some thought to others in the book world who may be able to influence the sales of your book. They can be a considered a segment as well.
Remember, the better you define your target markets, the more effective your marketing plan will be.
When marketing types work their magic, they use what’s commonly referred to as market segmentation. It’s a complicated way of saying they divide us up into groups by different variables.
The groups can be (notice, I said ‘can be’ NOT ‘must be’.) divided by demographic areas, geographic areas, psychographic areas, and behavioral areas. Still clear as mud? Let’s go a little deeper.
Demographic areas – these are based on variables such as age, gender, education, occupation, and income.
Geographic areas - are based on regional variables such as region, climate, population density.
Psychographic areas - are based on variables such as values, attitudes, and lifestyle.
Behavioral areas - are based on variables such as usage rate, price sensitivity, and brand loyalty. And yes, as an author you are a brand.
Once the segments are decided upon, they are usually profiled. (Not in a bad way.) In other words, a description is written for the segment and it’s given a name which represents the area which will be one of the targets for the marketing plan.
Sounds awful business-ey doesn’t it? Don’t worry. It’s really just a way to help you narrow your focus, so you can achieve your goals. The above list is to make you aware of things you may not have thought of when trying to figure out who your target market is.
I hear you, I hear you, already. “Readers, readers by books!!” “My profile is readers, you dummy.”
Yes, that’s true. But not all readers have the same taste in stories, so to make your plan more effective, let’s narrow it a little more. How about your existing readers for one segment. Perhaps prospective readers for another. Here’s an example of how the profile would look:
1. Existing readers – people who currently read my books.
2. Prospective readers – people who haven’t read my books but might read them based on the fact that they read another authors work which is similar to mine.
If you think about it, you can probably come up with a couple more. Give some thought to others in the book world who may be able to influence the sales of your book. They can be a considered a segment as well.
Remember, the better you define your target markets, the more effective your marketing plan will be.
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