You Need Readers
You Need ReadersAuthors need readers… at least if they’re going to make money with their writing.
It takes consistent effort for your writings to become visible to potential readers. This is not a one time, “get er’ done” situation. It’s day in and day out. When you do something every day, you will see results for a long time to come.
Bottom line; as an author, you need to market your books and yourself. Either you do the work yourself or you hire a support person, a marketing expert, or a team of people. Regardless of who does the actual work, you must market.
Most authors don’t put anywhere near the effort they need to into their marketing. Optimally, schedule a minimum of 30 – 60 minutes a day dedicated solely to marketing. The reason I say, “schedule your marketing” is this; if you don’t have it on your daily activity list, it likely won’t get done.
I’ve got news for you… checking your emails is not marketing. Nor is reading posts on Facebook or watching cute videos.
No! Marketing is a proactive process designed to gain visibility for you and your books.
Granted, social media can be a huge part of your marketing efforts, but you must be strategic and extremely focused in your efforts.
One excellent marketing strategy is blogging… both on your blog and as a guest blogger. With your own blog, over time, you will likely build a loyal readership…if you have valuable, entertaining, engaging and useful content posted.
With guest blogging, not only are you showcasing your writing, you are doing so in front of fresh eyes.
There are several ways to find guest blogging opportunities. Three of my favorite are:
- Google Search
- Blog directories
- Blogs you subscribe to
Google Search
A Google search is as easy as inputting a “keyword + guest blogging” in the search area. You can also use “keyword + submitting a guest blog post”.
This should bring up ample locations for you to submit your work to. Check the guidelines to make sure of any restrictions and limitations that you may not be aware of.
Blog directories
There are countless directories you can find plenty of opportunity on. https://www.blogcatalog.com/ is a great choice as is https://www.bloggingfusion.com/.
A quick Google search with the words Blog Directories in the search area will bring up plenty of locations to keep you busy for quite some time.
Blogs You Subscribe To
Are there blogs you really enjoy reading? Is there great content on the blog? If you said yes, then contact the blog owner to inquire about writing for their blog.
Be sure not to spend all your time researching opportunities. Rather, get in, find various locations and then write high content blog posts in which you can showcase your writing.
Bio Box
An author bio box is an area at the bottom of your post that describes who you are. It can include a short bit of information about you (keep it short and highlight something interesting), an image of you or your book and links back to your website, blog or Amazon page.
Conclusion
The most important tip I can offer is to stop thinking about this and do it. Far too many authors spend an inordinate amount of time analyzing what they should do rather than rolling up their sleeves and putting their ideas into action.
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Action results in book sales. And isn’t that one reason you write… to sell books?
