Swipe Right: Author Lessons from Tinder

Let me preface this post by saying, no … I am not on Tinder. Nor do I have any desire to take part in the shit show that is online dating. For those of you who brave those tumultuous waters, I bow down to you. My husband and I often joke about how screwed we’d both be if we had to navigate dating in this day and age. Therefore, he’s never allowed to leave.

Even still, there are lessons that we, as authors, can learn from Tinder. The idea of “Swipe Right” is so insanely relevant and obvious for authors, that we need to stop and take a moment to really appreciate the simplicity of it all.

Continue reading

Will I see you at Romance GenreCon?

Local Author Book fair FB Post

Calling all Kansas City and Midwest Romance Fanatics and Authors!! Did you see that the Mid-Continent Library is hosting its first-ever Romance GenreCon?

This two-day event on August 3rd and 4th, aims to help authors hone in on their craft with tons of workshops and ends with an awesome Author Fair signing right in the library. Many of the sessions require pre-registration, so be sure to sign up in advance.

And do you see that lil’ session called “Big Time Marketing Tactics for Indie Authors” on the list? Yeah. I’m leading that workshop. So if you want 90 minutes of my nuggets of wisdom and overall ridiculousness, feel free to register and join me. We’ll be diving into the organic and paid landscape of book launches.

If there is anything specific you’d love for me to cover, shoot me an email or drop a comment below. Eventually, things I share in the workshop will make its way to the blog … so it’s a win for all!

Hope to see you there!

7 Things You Need on your Author Website

It amazes me the number of authors who don’t have websites — or worse, have a website and do absolutely nothing with them. In this technology driven-era, it is imperative to have your own digital home beyond the realm of social media.

We are so reliant on Facebook and other social channels to carry our digital presence, and that’s a risky approach to take. Far too often have I seen authors land in “Facebook Jail” at critical times like release week or get completely banned from running ads.

But rather than wax poetic on the importance of having a website, I want to talk about some of the key elements you absolutely, positively, 120% HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE on your author domain (and yes … you want an actual, ownable domain).

Continue reading

7 Types of Emails To Send to your Readers

In today’s edition of Authors Helping Authors, we’re chatting more about email … more specifically about the five types of emails you can (and should) be sending to your mailing list.

Don’t have a mailing list yet? Don’t worry. Everyone starts at the same place … zero. Check out this post that talks about list building strategies.

Continue reading

10 Strategies to Build your Mailing List

There’s a lot of chatter going on about email, list growing, and the GDPR these days. With list building methods now needing official trails for compliance, I think it’s going to push authors to become more creative on how to grow their mailing list.

List building, in my experience, has been nothing short of mind numbing. But I want to take a moment to say don’t get discouraged if you don’t have many contacts on your mailing list. As long as your contacts are engaging with you–that means opening those emails and clicking inside them–you’re in good shape.

An engaged mailing list can truly be a powerful tool when it comes to release time. But the truth is, the size of your list isn’t as significant as the QUALITY of your list. It’s kinda like the old adage of it’s not the size of the wave, but the motion of the ocean.

Yeah. That. But with emails and not sex.

So in an effort to help us all find our own league of engaged readers who want to receive our newsletters, I’ve gathered together 10 list building strategies.

Continue reading

Book Pricing Strategy: Royalty & Volume Calculators

Goal setting for my upcoming releases has been something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I’ve never set any defined goals with my book launches and the prospect of putting tangible numbers against sales or a desired royalty is a little bit terrifying.

But it’s necessary so I can market my books correctly.

So I created some some calculators to help me with the big picture. And when it comes to the nifty lil’ author tools I create, what’s mine is yours!

Continue reading

Learn to Love the Numbers

Pardon me, my inner nerd is about to show in glorious fanfare.

I love words. I love them so much I write them down in semi-sensical fashion in the hopes that someone will pick up one of my books and read it. And by some divine intervention, they do.

But you know what else I love? Numbers.

Numbers are usually terrifying, especially for people who love words, but over the past year I’ve taught myself to embrace the suck … and embrace the numbers.

Numbers are critical for goal setting. Analytics. Understanding your performance both present and historical.

Continue reading