advertising
The Rule of 5 for Book Marketing
So many of my posts focus on specific tools or micro details that you can use in your book marketing efforts, but for this post I’d like to step back and talk about a mindset that will increase your ratio of success and help you not feel so overwhelmed. (A win-win, yes?)
John Maxwell, the great leadership guru, has taught for years about his “Rule of 5” daily practice. The Rule of 5 is simply a series of activities that you do EVERY DAY that are fundamental to your success. For John, his Rule of 5 are as follows: every day he reads, every day he files, every day he thinks, every day he asks questions, and every day he writes.
Picture a forest of trees in your backyard – massive pecans and oaks. If you choose one tree to strike at with five swings of an ax every day, eventually you’ll cut down that tree. If you take five swings at five random trees each day, what will you end up with? An ugly forest full of scarred trees.
I love this concept for so many reasons, but mostly because it makes succeeding at huge tasks manageable, and helps build productive habits. Read the rest of this entry »
Troubleshooting Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads can be finicky things.
Getting an ad to perform well (meaning actually sell books at a cost per click that doesn’t break the bank) can be a complicated formula. In theory, it should be simple:
- One part good ad copy (that’s attractive to your target reader)
- One part finding the right audience (again think about your target reader)
- One part good landing page (your Amazon book page or other sales page)
So if you’ve got all those things right, your FB ad should perform well! 
But what happens if it doesn’t? How do you know which part of the formula isn’t quite right?
Here are a few tips to troubleshoot: Read the rest of this entry »
Three Proven Strategies for Marketing a New Fiction Book Release
I’ve been quiet on this blog over the past few months, as my life has taken a turn for the busy! With two new book releases and the birth of my third daughter, prioritizing has become a necessity.
But I’ve also taken the opportunity to spend focused time learning from some of the top teachers in the world of book marketing – experts like Mark Dawson (of Facebook Ads for Authors fame), Tim Grahl (teaches a fantastic course called Launch a Bestseller), and Nick Stephenson (Your First 10,000 Readers).
I applied many of the approaches I learned to my latest release (The Lady and the Mountain Call), and released the book with over 3,700 preorders. While not enough to reach the NY Times Bestseller list, these did give the book a nice kick-start as my baby entered the world. This was book 5 in my Mountain Dreams Series, and was available for preorder purchase on all the major sales platforms for just under 90 days (the most allowed by Amazon).
When I sat down to hold my launch post-mortem, the results were quite interesting! Over the next few weeks, I’ll share my data and observations about how each of my strategies worked, with the numbers to support each. Not sure what a post-mortem is? We’ll talk about that, too!
So stay tuned!
But before then, let me share a quick overview of the three main strategies that have proven successful for marketing a new fiction release.
Facebook Ads Demystified
Updated April, 2017
We’ve discussed before how Facebook Ads have become one of my “go-to” marketing tools. I get a lot of furrowed brows when I say that, so today let’s take a moment to walk through the ad set-up – especially the crucial pieces to make sure the ad:
- is seen by your target market and
- gives you the highest possible ROI (return on your investment).
First, let me outline a few of the particular advantages of Facebook advertising: Read the rest of this entry »
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