177 Search Results for thursdays with amanda


  • August 28, 2014

    Thursdays with Amanda: How to Focus Your Book Marketing Efforts

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    Amanda Luedeke Literary AgentAmanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    Last Saturday and Sunday, we offered our Marketing Seminar first to MacLit clients and then to the general writing public. There was a ton of great content, all focused on book- and brand-marketing. But one theme…one rule seemed to really rise to the top regardless of the topic or who was speaking.

    When it comes to book marketing, you don’t need to do everything.

    Whenever anyone talks about marketing (myself included), it turns into a kind of free-for-all. We cover Pinterest and YouTube and blogging and Facebook and LinkedIn and Google+ and soon it all seems very overwhelming, and authors come away thinking they need to sign up for this or that or they need to relaunch things that they’d previously abandoned.

    Nothing could be further from the truth.

    We cover all of these topics because there’s no one-size-fits-all marketing approach. What works for one romance novelist won’t work for another. So, we cover the bases in hopes that you will know what to filter out. That you’ll stay abreast of your options, but that you’ll only spend time on the areas that are a fit for YOU and YOUR audience.

    But of course, this assumes that you know what those areas are.

    Identify the areas in which you’re strongest.

    Here’s how we helped the folks at our seminar uncover which areas were working the best for them…

    The following is a list of potential author platform areas:

    • Facebook:
    • Twitter:
    • Goodreads:
    • LinkedIn:
    • YouTube:
    • Instagram:
    • Google+:
    • Pinterest:
    • Newsletter:
    • Blog:
    • Website:
    • Articles:
    • Events:
    • Radio:
    • TV:
    • Other:

    Go ahead and fill

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  • August 21, 2014

    Thursdays with Amanda: THE EXTROVERTED WRITER GIVEAWAY!

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    2013amanda2Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    I had a few guest posts hit the web this week.

    I talked about FINDING TIME FOR BOOK MARKETING over at Routines for Writers.

    And if you’ve ever wondered WHAT IS AN AUTHOR PLATFORM, then check out my post on SalomaFurlong.com.

    AND while you’re at it, enter to win a FREE copy of The Extroverted Writer!

    Goodreads Book Giveaway

    The Extroverted Writer by Amanda Luedeke

    The Extroverted Writer

    by Amanda Luedeke

    Giveaway ends August 31, 2014.

    See the giveaway details
    at Goodreads.
    Enter to win

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  • August 14, 2014

    Thursdays with Amanda: Book Marketing Challenge, week 3

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    2013amanda2Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    Last week, I invited all of you to participate in ANOTHER Book Marketing challenge! We did one the week before, and it was so much easier than I think any of us anticipated that I figured we should give it another go.

    Truth be told, I’m just trying to get all of you into the habit of doing this 🙂

    Okay, so the rules are that you challenge yourself to complete 5 marketing tasks for your book or author brand (or what-have-you). You then have one week to complete those tasks.

    Here’s how I did this week:

    5 MORE Marketing tasks for The Extroverted Writer

    1. Comment on five blogs (oh yeah…you heard me! I’m upping my game). This was harder than I anticipated, so I ended up commenting on a few blogs and then taking to Twitter. Twitter is much easier to search and find conversations that you can infiltrate. I did this and had great results. My Twitter feed seemed to really be buzzing there for a bit.

    2. Look into a Goodreads giveaway (and set one up if possible). Haha I did exactly this…I looked into it. I’m probably going to schedule one in the next week or so.

    3. BUY MY WEB DOMAIN!! Time to stop relying on the agency site as my main hub…gonna get my own space. Ugh, I am at times a major deliberator. And I’ve been deliberating about my website for AGES. Who should host? Where should I buy my domain? What template should I use? I’m drowning in my

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  • August 7, 2014

    Thursdays with Amanda: Book Marketing Challenge, Week 2

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    2013amanda2Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    So last week I bemoaned my book sales and chalked it up to my overall lack of marketing enthusiasm this summer. To get myself out of the rut, I decided to make a list of five thing that I was going to accomplish to market my book over the next week. I then invited YOU to join in.

    5 marketing ideas. 1 week to get them done.

    Ten or so of you took me up on the challenge. HOW DID YOU DO? I’m asking you, Diana, Edward, Melissa, Raj, Robin, Chelsea, Rachel, and Saloma? And anyone else out there who played along maybe a bit more unofficially??? Let me know how your week went!

    Here are my results…

    5 MARKETING TASKS FOR THE EXTROVERTED WRITER

    1. Find a blog that I’ve never appeared on before and approach them about doing a post.  Done…we’ll see if they take me up on the offer.

    2. Follow up on that article that I wrote for that one online magazine and push them to run it. Done…they’re choosing not to run it 🙁 WAAHHHH!!!

    3. Think up an event/party/contest that I can do on social media in the next few weeks. Ugh, will need more time with this. Just can’t think of anything that will be super worthwhile for writers but also doable on my end.

    4. Send a newsletter out to all those people who first signed up to be notified when the book released. Let them know it’s now in print. Done!!

    5. Find two writer-related blogs and leave comments.

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  • July 31, 2014

    Thursdays with Amanda: My Book Sales are Terrible…but I Don’t Care (A CHALLENGE!)

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    2013amanda2Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    There is a major downside to self-publishing. Okay, there’s more than one downside to self-pubbing (just like there’s more than one downside to traditional publishing), but for the sake of this post, we’re going to focus on the one that is staring me directly in the face…

    My book sales are bad. But I have the luxury to not care.

    And that’s a dangerous, dangerous thing.

    As I write this, my print Amazon ranking (if you care about such a thing) is #869,526. Ouch.

    My digital Amazon ranking is #244,632. Considering this version is $5, that’s a big YIKES.rsz_images-3

    It’s been like this since I took a break from conferences a months ago. Basically, I stopped being visible. I stopped talking about my book (aside from an occasional mention here on this blog), and sales slowed to a pace that would have any publisher going UGH. Except I’m my own publisher. Meaning there’s no one to hold me accountable. No reason for me to change my ways.

    But the worst part…the part that is soooo embarrassing is that I really don’t even care.  I don’t have anyone to impress but myself, and right now my self is saying “Meh…we’re not in the mood.”

    This is a dangerous spot, and I venture to say that if you’ve published or self-published, YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT.

    This is when careers fizzle out. This is when authors begin to tell themselves “Next time…I’ll do better next time.” And this is when the Book Burden first begins to take shape. You

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  • July 24, 2014

    Thursdays with Amanda: Do Sequels Deserve a Marketing Plan?

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    2013amanda2Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    I have a story for you…a story about one of my authors (and yes, I’ve asked and been granted permission to share said story). But to protect the innocent, and to add a touch of humor, let’s call this author DOG-TIRED.

    Dog-Tired is your typical author. Dog-Tired has a number of books out and a bunch of writing to do and a few websites to manage and some events in the pipeline and, you know, a life to lead. So it came as no surprise when Dog-Tired emailed me and asked about the need for a marketing plan for his/her third book in the series.

    Now, if there is ever a good excuse for not doing a marketing plan, this is probably it. A third book doesn’t necessarily generate sales in and of itself (aside, of course, from selling to readers who are staying on top of the series). That job still rests on the shoulders of the first book. So really, a third book can be thought of as no more than a nudge to buy the first book…and then the second…so that one can get to the third…

    Which almost never happens. I mean what sane reader would commit to a series simply because a latter installment looked interesting?

    So, Dog-Tired asked me about whether or not he/she had to create this marketing plan…whether or not it would be useful…whether or not it would result in any sales whatsoever…whether or not the publisher would even notice.

    And I knew how dog-tired Dog-Tired was. I knew that

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  • July 17, 2014

    Thursdays with Amanda: I’ve Done Everything to Market My Book and No One is Buying It

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    2013amanda2Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    Ever paid for a book ad that did nothing for your sales numbers? Or maybe you scheduled some book signings that saw only a handful of people in attendance. Or you ran a giveaway only to see a few measly entries. Or you got some big-name Tweeter to give your book a shout-out, but it resulted in … crickets.

    Sound familiar?

    I wish I could say that marketing, no matter what the strategy, always pays off, but I can’t. Many times, authors find themselves spinning their wheels, frantically trying this or that, hoping that SOMETHING will stick. And you know what? Large companies do the same thing. Sure, they have the money that allows them to have some marketing successes, but for the most part, marketing is a gamble. It’s a risk. It’s time and investment in a strategy that no one can be sure will pay off.

    If you’re a self-published author, you have a much better scenario going for you, because you don’t have a publisher breathing down your neck, waiting for those sales to hit.

    If you’re a trad-pub author, well… Sure, you get a boost from store distribution and a some other perks the publisher may off you, but if sales are bad you have to deal with the fact that your publisher may not want to do another book with you right away…or they may be talking about putting your book out of print…or they may…just…go… dark…

    So what do you do in this time of frustration and panic?

    First, remember these things:

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  • July 10, 2014

    Thursdays with Amanda: 5 Musts for an Author Website

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    2013amanda2Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    Websites…every author should have one. They are your central hub; your validation point. They are what will tell the world that you’re up and running and serious about this writing thing and that you aren’t going anywhere soon. All because you have a website.

    It may seem silly, but that’s how we view these online spaces. They have a way of making everything OFFICIAL in a way that Facebook and Twitter and Google+ can’t. Weird, yes. But it’s true. I mean how many times have you googled a band, a company, a service provider and winced at the fact that while they may have a million Yelp recommendations or a slew of Facebook follows, they don’t have a site?

    There’s something about a website…it’s like an online stamp of approval. And so yes, every author should have one. In the past I’ve talked about the components of a website, and I also touch on this in my book, but I wanted to provide a down and dirty list of 5 MUSTS FOR AN AUTHOR WEBSITE.

    My hope is that you’ll spend the weekend adjusting your site to hit on each of these five things.

    1. LINKS TO SOCIAL MEDIA. Take a look at your site’s home page. Is there a clear way for visitors to connect with you on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram? Do you have those buttons clearly displayed? This is important, because you don’t know how your fans will want to interact with you. When they show up to your site, it’s an opportunity to
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  • July 3, 2014

    Thursdays with Amanda: Attend a “Thursdays with Amanda” Workshop!

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    2013amanda2Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    _____________________

    If you love my Thursday posts on marketing, and if you’ve ever wished for an in-person “Thursdays with Amanda-type” event, then you’re in for a treat.

    You’re invited to come hang out with me (and Chip, of course!), for a marketing intensive on Sunday, August 24th, in Nashville, Tennessee.

    HERE ARE THE DETAILS! And no, this will NOT simply be a rehashing of the info found in my book, The Extroverted Writer. Sure, we’ll touch on that a tiny bit, but we’ll also be bringing to life the content found in my blog posts, as well as new material. Plus, there will be plenty of time for you to ask questions, share your marketing struggles or victories, and learn from others in attendance.

    Questions? Sound off in the comments below! And please share with your friends!

     

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  • July 2, 2014

    You're invited to a LIVE version of "Thursdays with Amanda"

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    On SUNDAY, August 24, we’re going to try something new… a LIVE version of Amanda’s wonderful marketing information, set into a seminar format. Amanda and I will be in Nashville, at the Airport Embassy Suites, from 9 to 4, talking with authors about how to create a marketing plan for their books. Here’s what our outline looks like:

    — The New World of Author Marketing — What’s Working (and not working) in Today’s Market
    — Finding Your Audience and Reaching Your Readers
    — Choosing the Tools You’ll Use to Promote Your Book
    — Creating Your Own Personalized Marketing Plan
    — Building Your Author Platform (we are bringing in a specialist to offer some advice and direction)
    — Marketing with a Traditional Publisher vs Marketing Your Indie-Published Book

    We’ll also be spending some time talking about working effectively with your publicist, and how to work with a freelance publicist, and we’ll get into a bunch of discussions on related topics — one of the most fun aspects of doing this type of seminar is the chance to talk with other authors who are going through the marketing process. But that’s our basic outline for the day, and we’d love to have you join us!

    The cost is just $99 for the entire day, if you register in July (it will go up on August 1). Again, the focus of this day will be on doing something PRACTICAL — not on theory or on promoting a product. We just wanted to get authors together and have time to explore how an author can create his or her own marketing plan by focusing on ideas that actually work, so the emphasis will on on what an author can take and do, rather than on theory or philosophy. We hope you’ll join us. Please let me know if you plan to come by RSVPing me. Thanks, and we hope to see you in Nashville

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