Are you actively trying to convert social media followers into paying customers?

Do you see an ROI from your social media activity?

Social media is a fantastic digital marketing asset that can quickly skyrocket your business if you use it correctly. It is among the best marketing assets that will enable you to increase your visibility, brand awareness, and create an outstanding online presence.

If you have a growing following on social media, it means you have a group of potential customers waiting to be engaged with.

However, are you making the most of your followers to increase your return on investment (ROI)?

You don’t need to answer that question, instead, contemplate on it as I provide seven action steps that will help you convert your social media followers into paying customers.

Let’s get started…

By BookBaby author Brian Jud

There are two ways first-time authors can plan their book marketing activities. The first is discovery-driven planning, which evolves through trial and error. A second technique views planning as narrative, conducted as you would when writing a novel.

Now is the time to plan your marketing activities for the end-of-year holiday blitz, but many authors and publishers avoid planning in general because they do not know how to do it. Those who do know typically use a conventional, platform-based marketing plan that builds upon previous experience, with goals described as an increase over last year’s achievements. Planners know what did and did not work in the past, so their lists of strategies and actions are based on that familiarity.

Of course, first-time authors have no history of marketing and selling their books, and this inexperience often leads to “winging it.” The results are usually underwhelming because the neophyte author does not sufficiently understand the publishing business.

There are two different ways for inexperienced authors to plan their future marketing actions. One solution is discovery-driven planning in which much is assumed, but the plan evolves over time through trial and error. A second technique views planning as narrative, conducted as you would when writing a novel.

I absolutely love getting to know authors, hearing their stories, and helping them market their books. Even though book marketing and social media are my specialties, I also listen to the struggles authors have with their overall career.

One thing that I see over and over again is the need for motivation.

Now, I have to be honest, when I see motivational speakers doing their, “Ra! Ra! Ra! You can do it!” spiels I tend to roll my eyes and think, “That’s it?”

That type of motivation that just amps up our feelings quickly fades. Without any new practical methods to deploy, we end up just going back to our old ways and getting stuck again, looking for our next pep rally. Motivation that actually changes our thinking incorporates action steps that lead to achievable goals.

Solid advice that actually applies to us and which we can put into practice gives us a handrail to hold on to as we work at moving our careers forward. Hope is the fuel that powers us to keep going because we see promise in what those new methods hold.

So I have seven strategies for you to put into practice to stay motivated as you work on your book marketing campaigns:

By BookBaby author Steven Spatz

As an author, you might wonder why you’d need to build an email list. Short answer: email lists make things happen. But you need to engineer that by engaging, creating a platform for interaction, and building your tribe.

An email list of interested readers is a database that can kick off book launches, tease new content, promote appearances, and keep your readers engaged. They’re an incredible asset — especially as you prepare to publish new works — but authors frequently get frustrated over trying to build the “perfect list.”

Maybe that’s because the command to “build your author platform” isn’t clear. Sure, you can create an author website and blog — and find an email management program — but that’s just the technology. Your platform needs to have more than just characters and bytes on a screen, it needs to reflect your personality. It needs to attract and keep followers.

That’s where Seth Godin’s tribal concept makes sense. Godin’s Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us talks about the different groups we all belong to and how you can tap into them in your work (author) life. For example, I like reading spy novels, so I’m a member of that tribe. I can connect to thousands of other people who enjoy spy novels through online forums and book groups.

And that’s just a start. Where you eat breakfast, the kind of coffee you prefer, the television shows you watch, all of this shapes and influences your connection — membership, if you will — to specific tribes.

Which leads me to my point: your best tactics and techniques for creating an email list are about attracting and gathering your own tribe by giving them information. And don’t fret, regular communication to a list of people who have told you they want to hear from you is not SPAM. These people have freely given you their email address — a very closely guarded destination point — and they expect to get something in return. Namely, your ideas, opinions, thoughts, impressions, and, most importantly, your writing.

This is part of what makes an email list an author’s greatest asset. You have a willing and engaged audience that wants to know what you think and wants to hear more about your writing, and that can easily be leveraged to sell books.

So, in an effort to best utilize this valuable asset, here are six things you can do to make the folks on your email list produce results that can make a difference in your career.

read more https://goodereader.com/blog/digital-publishing/digital-publishers-see-strong-gains-in-audiobooks-and-ebooks

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably already familiar with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Amazon’s self-publishing service for indie authors. But you may be somewhat less familiar with the mechanics of Amazon self-publishing royalties: how much authors get paid, when they receive payments, and of course, how much Amazon takes out of those payments for things like printing/delivery costs.

by Elizabeth S.. Craig, @elizabethscraig

If you’re like me, sometimes you have so much going on that it’s hard to know where to start. Your to-do lists look like bucket lists. And you work all day long and don’t feel you’ve really gotten anything accomplished.

When this happens to me, I radically change what my to-do lists look like.  The most important thing is to triage the most important tasks. Plus, feel as if I’m making some progress.

read more https://elizabethspanncraig.com/motivation-and-the-writing-life/lists-for-overwhelm/