Archive for December, 2009

Like it or not, an author website really is a sales tool. And whether you’re talking about selling the book or “selling” the author, the philosophy is very much the same as any other sales tool. People like special offers.

But this isn’t a Macy’s holiday sale. How exactly can a writer’s website use special offers to its advantage? Here are a few ideas…

1. Offer a discount. Are you selling your own book (as opposed to selling through Amazon or B&N)? If so, offer a special discount to people buying from you. You’d still make more money than if you sold it through a third party.
2. Prompt people to order in advance. Amazon often does this. Encourage people to pre-order the book at a discount. This can not only increase sales, but give you a better idea of how your book is going to do before its released.
3. Sell autographed copies. Now this is something that no one else can do. Encourage people to purchase autographed copies of your book. You can offer them at the same price as others, or jack up the price to make some money. But it’s certainly a special (and unique) offer. Rick Niece, one of my clients, does this. Click here to see it.
4. Encourage newsletter sign-ups. While it may not bring in as much money as a sold copy of the book, the email address of someone interested in your writing is worth a lot. A hearty list will give you a ready-made audience to send special offers to, or promote your next book. So offer a reward for someone signing up for your e-mail newsletter, such as a free book excerpt.
5. Have a contest. The theme of your contest can vary depending on your genre, but think along the lines of readers submitting stories, book reviews, etc… Then you can have a winner declared each month. That winner would get some kind of prize, such as an autographed copy of your book or their story featured on the website. This is a great way to make your site unique and interactive. Kimberly K. Jones is one client of mine who has done this. Click here to see a sample.

Do you have any other ideas for special offers? Share them with us!

Still not convinced that you should have your own author website or book website?

Phyllis Zimbler Miller, marketing guru, book author, and owner of the Internet Marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, recently wrote an article called “Why Book Authors Need Their Own Websites.”

Here’s an abbreviated version of the list of reasons she gave:

1. If you use social networking sites to promote your book, you’ll want to have a dedicated site to send your “fans” to so they can learn more about you and the book.
2. Your publisher site is essentially a site you share with other authors. You don’t want to potentially have visitors distracted by other books and other authors being promoted on the same site.
3. You want to collect site visitor information, so that you can have a list of contacts to use in the future to promote your current book or a future book.
4. You can incorporate your blog, video, etc.. to your author site to enhance the interactive, multimedia experience.
5. If you have book signings or speaking engagements, you can use your website to promote them.
6. You can add book reviews or testimonials that help make your book look more appealing to site visitors.

All of these benefits mean that your site visitors will have a good experience on your website … and, done properly, that will lead to increased book sales. I’m sure Phyllis will agree with me when I say that an author website will ultimately pay for itself.

Ready to get started? Contact us today for a free consultation!

A special thank you to our author, Sherry Jones, who mentioned that we created her website. In a post on GoodReads.com, she said:

“I have a very cool website with lots of goodies, created by smartauthorsites.com.”

Thanks, Sherry!!

I recently came upon a post in The online journal of writer Jon Gibbs. He proposes that an author’s blog should be completely separate from their website. Here’s how he sums it up:

“From a strictly self-promotional point of view, there are two types of people in the world: those who’ve at least heard of you, and those who aren’t even aware you exist. … Your website is really for people who at the very least, know your name. Your blog, on the other hand, is for everyone, and that’s why it doesn’t belong on your site. It belongs out there in big wide world, where it has more opportunities to add to that list of people who know your name. It’s there to let people know you exist, that you’re an interesting person, and yes, that you happen to be a writer.”

I venture to disagree with Jon. It seems like he’s approaching this from the perspective that people who find your site or your blog do it by actually typing in your URL. So those who know you will go directly to your site. Those who don’t will go to your blog.

But what are the stats on how people really find websites? According to a consulting company called ISL, only 20% of a site’s visitors go directly to a website. The other 80% come from search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc…) or referring sites (sites that link to yours).

So what does that means for authors? Most people who visit your site (or your blog) will actually stumble upon it because they have searched for a particular keyword or visited another site that referenced yours. In my opinion, that pretty much negates the “site for people who know you” argument. They’ll wind up on your site whether they know you or not.

So the next question is this: Where do you want people to go when they stumble upon your content in a search result? Do you want them to go to a blog that’s completely separate from your website? Or do you want them to come to a blog that resides within your website? I would argue the latter. By having your blog as a piece of your site, it allows people to find your site based upon its subject matter, but also gain immediate exposure to your other work — your books, your speaking services, etc…

If that same visitor ends up on a blog that is not tied into your author website, then what do you gain from it? If you’re lucky enough for them to love your blog and want to come back regularly, then maybe, over time, they’ll become familiar with your name and dig further to find your author website. But why make it so difficult? Why not get the most out of the traffic and take advantage of each and every visitor so that they can see your book(s) and maybe even purchase it right away — just because they’re interested in the subject matter?

From a business perspective, I don’t see any reason to separate the two. What do you think?

Author Anna McPartlin is doing something very interesting with her website for the book “So What If I’m Broken.” She’s actually allowing readers to interact with her characters in cyberworld. The feature is being promoted as “A book that talks back.”

Anna says, “What is really exciting is that readers might actually change the story through their own interactions with the character.  So while it will return to the universe of the book by the end, it can go for a user led meander through the public’s contributions.”

You can read more about what she’s doing here.

This is an interesting idea. I love that she’s really bringing her characters to live in the online world and allowing readers to follow their blogs and twitter posts, visit their social networking profiles, etc…

But is allowing the readers to actually change the plot going a little too far? Does that allow people to purposely sabotage the story? I would guess Anna and her crew have ensured that sort of thing can’t happen. But it’s something we should all keep our eye on. Because this could be a great idea … or a great disaster.

What do you think?

The Lord of Death, by our own Eliot Pattison, was chosen as one of the Top 100 Books of 2009 by Publisher’s Weekly. It was one of only seven mysteries to make it.

Congrats, Eliot!

I just stumbled across an article in the NY Times about introverts finding a path to career success in a world of extroverts (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/jobs/01pre.html?scp=26&sq=author%20marketing&st=cse). And it got me thinking about authors…

The majority of people in the world are extroverts (experts say it’s 70%). But there are a fair number of introverts, too (myself included). An introvert is described as someone who is energized by quiet solo activities, as opposed to an extrovert, who is energized by being around people. And I would venture to guess that the percentage of authors who are introverts is greater than the 30% in the general population. It makes sense … people who enjoy spending time alone are more likely to choose career paths that don’t involve heavy interaction. An introvert would enjoy writing for a living far more than they’d enjoy going door to door trying to sell vacuum cleaners.

But here’s where it gets tricky. An introvert may choose to become an author because it allows them some autonomy and privacy. But what happens when they need to market their book? That means they have to go outside their comfort zone and do what they hate the most … “selling” the book.

I can’t tell you how many authors I’ve dealt with who know they need to have an author website but just cringe at the idea of having to blog, gab on a message board, or join a social network. Introverts just don’t enjoy those kinds of things. And in an internet world that’s becoming more and more social — with tweeting becoming a common part of everyday life — introverts begin to feel more and more like outcasts.

But here’s the thing… if you want to have a successful career as a writer, you HAVE to do some selling of the book online. It’s a part of your job — even if you don’t enjoy it.

So create that Facebook page. Start blogging and twittering. Unlike the people who do those things for fun, you don’t have to use these online tools to share your innermost personal stories. You use them to promote yourself as an author and expose as many people as possible to your writing. Just like an actor has a persona, an author needs one as well. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, here.

You can still be a quite, private and, yes, introverted person for 23 1/2 hours each day. But use that last half hour to put on your marketing hat and use the internet to advance your career. Your books will thank you for it.