By Judith Briles

Do you pride yourself in multitasking? Many do … are you one of them? For decades, multitasking was the mantra for those who wanted to get a lot done. It was believed to be the high achiever’s secret sauce. Something that had to be integrated into your DNA—no matter what.

The question is … should it?

As someone who is a “reformed” multitasker, my reveal is: yup, I got a lot done. But here’s the “but”—sometimes things weren’t as they should have been if I had taken a bit more time AND I was pooped.

Now, those who know me well, know that I sleep less than most—six hours is max for me. I can operate quite well on four and five-hour sleep days. And usually do. And, I’m an early morning person—four and five in the AM is quite common for me to start my day.

This past weekend, my husband said to me as I was working on a couple of chapters for a client on our deck,

“I see how you do this all—you completely tune things out. You are myopic. You get that something is out in the peripheral, trying to get your attention, but until you are done with the task you are working, you ignore it.”

Yup, he was right. That’s me. He was the peripheral that AM and was chewing over a column in the New York Times that he wanted to read to me. Right then.

I ignored him until I finished the chapter I was working on. Then, I gave him my attention, “Tell me what you wanted to say.”

It bugged him that I didn’t drop what I was doing—or at least acknowledge him, give him some kind of OK to continue to talk to me. I didn’t … I needed to complete my other task.

A few years ago, Psychology Today showed that “Multi-tasking is a myth. You are really task-switching, and it’s costing you time.” It added, “If you do a lot of switching in a day, it can add up to a loss of 40% of your productivity.” Holy Moly, that was in 2012. And it’s today as well.

The belief is: When you handle more than one task at a time you save time and you are more productive.

The truth is: Multitaskers can’t and don’t say NO … they are the old reliable of a team, even when the team only consists on one.

As indie authors, so much of our work and efforts go into online marketing, and content on the web. With that in mind, here are some tools (both free and paid) that can help you build your platform and promote your books.

If you’ve hung around the indie sphere long enough, then the audio boom isn’t news. The question is, are you capitalising on it? Starting an author podcast is work, but it’s good work that will reap benefits for the long term. Author member Holly Lyne is here to teach us how to start an author podcast.

Social media. Love it or hate it, there’s no getting away from it. Whether you’re using it because you feel you have to or because you’re a social media addict who can’t get enough, there is a role for social media for indie authors. In today’s post, author member Rachel McCollin teaches us how to avoid wasting writing time.

When it comes to getting new inquiries and sales for your local business, local SEO is found to be extremely effective.

In fact, a recent article from Search Engine Watch shows that “there was a 20.1% increase in clicks to call, clicks for directions, and clicks to a business’s website” with Google My Business (GMB) interactions when comparing stats from 2017 and 2018.

This is HUGE!

But in order to generate these clicks, your website’s GMB profile needs to be visible to interested searchers.

To give your business the highest probability of showing up in Google Maps for searches relevant to your business, we have provided a checklist below of GMB optimizations to help you achieve this.

I recently asked some authors what they were struggling with the most with book marketing and social media. The resounding answer was the lack of time.

In today’s world, more responsibility for marketing and promoting a book is on the shoulders of authors. It doesn’t matter if you’re self-published or have a traditional publishing house – most of the book marketing responsibility falls on you.

So how in the world do you manage it all? How do you find time to write, market, and live your life without losing your mind?

I wish I had a foolproof, 100% sure answer for you. But I do have some tips that will set you up to make the process much easier.

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.