An Author's Monthly, Weekly and Daily Branding Checklist

Re-sharing for those who missed it the first time!

Here is an article by book marketing expert Pam Perry.

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Most authors will not become millionaires unless they have multiple works or multiple streams of income that can keep their income level consistent. Otherwise, they will not be able to give up their “day jobs.”

But there are ways to build momentum, expand your platform and solidify your brand so you are successful. Most authors tell me, “I don’t have time” or “I don’t know what to next” or “I hit a brick wall – and I can’t seem to get motivated to market anymore.”

You can market yourself every day just by doing these things. When I coach clients, these are the things I tell them to do on an ongoing basis:

Monthly

• Attend a writers meeting or critique group.
• Ask for reviews or endorsements from those you’ve given “comp” copies too.
• Attend a civic organization and tell the members what you do.
• Read trade publications like Writer’s Digest or The Writer.
• Take a teleclass or attend another type of live internet event.
• Look for contests you can enter or awards you can nominate yourself for.
• Create a YouTube video message or be a guest on a local cable show.
• Hold or plan a teleseminar.
• Update your media list & research for new ones to add.
• Invite a media person you’ve admired to lunch.
• Participate at an event by speaking, presenting or teaching.
• Write articles and submit to article directories.
• Post reviews of other books you’ve read on Amazon.
• Write and post press releases.
• Write and pitch feature stories to the media.
• Create and distribute an online or direct mail newsletter.
• Reach out to bloggers and see if you can do a “blog tour” with them.
• Meet with your advisors, mentors or “master mind” partners.
• Add additional information to your website or blogsite (i.e. a blog article, a link).
• Keep in touch with key bookstores that are selling your books.
• Email mini-courses to those who sign up via an Eblast that you send out.
• Manage back end tasks such as customer support, accounting, sales, etc.
• Look for easier ways to do business. Ask others what systems they use.

Weekly

• Give someone you meet one of your books and follow up in 30 days.
• Visit an online forum and participate or get some PR coaching.
• Look for new articles to read on internet marketing and joint ventures (Google).
• Listen to podcasts (look for the topic of interest online in a podcast directory).
• Send an eblast to your email list – giving them a tip or link to blog post you found helpful.
• Mail a handwritten note or postcard to someone you met in person or connect with online.
• Post to your blog & add a new feature to “amp” it up (get cues from other blogs).
• Drop postcards or bookmarks at places where you regularly go – bookstores, libraries, hair salons, cleaners, restaurants, coffee shops.
• Update your website or blogsite by adding current “media hits” and interviews.
• Send an email to someone online you would like to connect with.
• Interact with a “group” on Facebook or LinkedIn.
• Get to know the key authors / leaders in your field. Follow their blogs or Google them to see what they are up to.
• Keep track of your stats on your website, blogs and Ezine opens.
• Do at least one blog talk show or at the very least call-in to one.
• Post a bulletin on your MySpace or Facebook and add some new blogs.

Daily

• Write. Write. Write. That’s your main job. Content is king!
• Read some trade pubs or read magazines in your niche.
• Comment on someone else’s blog.
• Make a phone call to a media outlet you’d like to be featured on.
• Read the daily newspapers looking for topics you can comment on.
• Scan columns by the regular columnists and give feedback their blogs.
• Add friends to your Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn accounts.
• Follow someone new on Twitter or Shelfari.
• Add people to your database that you meet or have not been in touch with (with permission).
• Add an automatic signature to all the emails your answer.
• Twitter by sending a link to your blog, or a favorite blog, or a free report they can download.
• Participate in message boards, chat group or yahoo groups that are industry related. This helps to increase exposure and give your information to stay on the cutting-edge.

For a creative writer and author, time is managed with calendars – not with clocks. What you are doing is leaving a virtual “footprint” everywhere you go – online and offline. These elements can be implemented with little or no outside help.

If implemented correctly and consistently, these mini-marketing tactics can help revolutionize your ministry or business in no time. By continually branding yourself with the key message of your platform, people will come to you for information and expertise.

Remember to have a marketing mindset and let people know why they should buy your book (mention the benefits of what the book will do for them.) Keep the main thing “the main thing” – focus on changing lives and making an impact for the Kingdom.

Building solid relationships is critical at every stage of branding. Don’t expect instant results though. Trust is the basis of all relationships. Trust is never freely given – trust is earned. Demonstrate your solid commitment and be willing to stay the course.

Enjoy my blog?  Read it on your Kindle! Just click below.

Ministry marketing pioneer, Social media strategist and PR Coach Pam Perry helps African American Christian authors garner publicity and leverage online strategies. As a 20-year PR veteran, she is also the co-author of “Synergy Energy: How to Use the Power of Partnerships to Market Your Book, Grow Your Business and Brand Your Ministry.” For a free MP3 of “What Every Author Should Know,” go to [http://www.PamPerryPR.com]http://www.PamPerryPR.com. She’s also the creator of the ChocolatePagesNetwork, a social network for Christian authors and the Chocolate Pages Show on Blogtalkradio. She offers free help at her blogsite: http://www.MinistryMarketingSolutions.com with her podcasts, Ezines and teleclasses.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?What-to-Do-Daily,-Weekly-and-Monthly-to-Brand-Your-Book&id=5232314] What to Do Daily, Weekly and Monthly to Brand Your Book

Coming Out of the Closet

Apparently someone has gotten fed up with me hiding, so I guess I had no choice but to make a Coming Out video. So - here it goes . . . eh-hem!

Take the next step - click here and like me on Facebook.



Now click here!

Can I get a Hoot-Hoot! More Marketing Tools

Click HERE to get started on Hootsuite.  It's FREE! :-)

Sweet Deal for You!

Extension for Bubblin' Brown Sugar

		Submission Deadline Extension Writers: The deadline for submissions for the anthology Bubblin' Brown Sugar has been extended. If you are still interested in submitting your short story for consideration, submissions will be accepted per the submission guidelines until June 10, 2011. The new projected release date for Bubblin' Brown Sugar is June 15, 2011. To review submission guidelines, click the cover image.  Feel free to share this email. Sincerely,  Kimberly www.kimberlytmatthews.com

What in the World?

See the girl in the picture? If she were a bit more brown, (well maybe a lot more brown) and her hair was much shorter, she could be me.

See that big stack of papers right beside her monitor? In my case, those would be submissions I received for the Bubblin' Brown Sugar Anthology.  Yeah, I got quite a few.

So why the frustrated expression? Well I am confused as to why so many writers refused to follow the submission guidelines. They were simple enough so I thought.  But maybe somewhere I tangled up my words and wasn't as clear as I'd meant to be.  Can you help me?

Must be a Word Document - Help me understand why I received submissions as pdf files.  Or maybe you can explain to me why some sent their work in the body of an email when it was clearly noted that the submission would be disregarded. I don't get it. Was I wrong for hitting the delete key on submissions like those?

Send your bio with a photo - Doesn't that sound easy? Apparently not easy enough. If you are going to be showcased in a publication, wouldn't you want people to know that you are YOU and not me? Wouldn't you want to be credited for your work?   I received several submissions with no photo . . . or no bio . . . or neither. Sigh. Am I being mean if I trash those submissions?

Double spaced, Times New Roman, size 12 font - Maybe I should do a YouTube video on how to double space a document. Judging from some of the submissions I received I'd probably get like a million hits. Obviously, lots of people don't know how to do this. Either that or they just decided "Nope; I'm going to send it the way I want to send it! With blue boxes to frame things and pretty columns so it looks good on the page. And oh yeah!  Times New Roman is blah and bland but this Curlz MT font is so cool and really expresses my poem like I want it to! Forget the guidelines, I'll do it MY way."

I'm shaking my head right now. You don't know how many times I have heard an aspiring author say "I really want to get published but it's so hard! I don''t know what to do!"  Well here is a quick and easy tip; start by following the submission guidelines.

Seeking Contributing Authors for Anthology - Bubblin' Brown Sugar

In search of 10-12 authors to contribute to an anthology of love short stories.
Selected works will portray wholesome and healthy love and relationships, and must be tastefully and sensually written.

Complete the form below to receive full details.

I'd like details for contributing to Bubblin' Brown Sugar. Send it to this email address:


Email Newsletter by VerticalResponse

Look What I Found!!

You know how you open your email, (or get an email buzz to your phone) and roll your eyes at the email from an organization that somewhere along the way you've signed up for their newsletter but have lost interest? You keep saying to yourself, "I'm going to unsubscribe," but you put it off a million times until FINALLY you decide to put an end to it?

Well - that happened to me this morning. As soon as I saw this email, I scrolled to the bottom and clicked on unsubscribe, determined to stop these messages from cluttering my inbox. It was some author site I'd signed up for a couple of years ago. Once I got there, of course they were ready for me with all kinds of benefits of belonging to the group. That got me to thinking and just like *snap* that  I got sidetracked and I typed my name in the search box. Here is what I found:

Five Star Rating for - A Little Hurt Ain't Never Hurt Nobody
This was kind of an amazing book, and here is all I can say about it. This novel belongs to a particular genre that I am not very familiar with. To give context as to why I read it, I'll just say I was in a Master's course that explored information seeking behavior in a cultural and societal context, so there was a lot of reading. Some how I chose this book, because somehow, just by the cover, it didn't make sense. I was curious. What was this book? The title didn't even make any sense, and not just because it was a double negative, but in addition to the fact that it was a double negative. Obviously, hurt by definition is harmful (it hurts you). But to flaunt that paradox seemed kind of bold. I found that fascinating. I don't want to ruin it for you, but if you want to learn why this title makes sense, read it. Go for it. It's not that expensive, I even found my copy at the public library. 

Here are some awesome things about it:
The main character's name is Jream (pronounced like dream).
The entire prologue is just a few pages and is about Jream's husband "battling lung disease," and delicately brutal.
A lot of it takes place in a lingerie shop for married people. 
It's neat how they try and deal with female sexuality through a Christan framework. 

I am totally serious, not joking. I liked this book a lot. 
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Wow! God just keeps ON being good to me!  I think I will hold back on the unsubscribe a little bit longer.


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