Hi everyone thanks for having me here!

Today, I’m going to talk through some budget-friendly techniques to get your book out there. Because let’s face it – we are not all Stephenie Meyer and we won’t all get much from a publisher. That means we either don’t have tons of money to spend or our publishers may not give us much.

First of all – you will spend some money. So, this is really about putting your money in the right place. To me, that is in designing any materials to be sure they look good and crisp and professional. But there are many things you can do that are fairly inexpensive.

Here are a few things I think you can do to push your book and save money.

Local avenues – You’d be surprised at the marketing support such activities can bring.

• Local radio shows and television appearances are good but are often forgotten within hours of the broadcast;
• Join local organizations that provide business-networking opportunities, or start your own.
• Do volunteer work for a large charity. Partner with one that aligns with your book.

Reach out to your contacts – it’s about spreading the word

• Any groups you are a part of
• Any alum organization – high school, old jobs, college etc.
• Friends and family
• Rebuild older connections

Library or school visits

• Start tours locally, by state, then move to regional and national. Driving is cheaper than flying.
• Visit places where you know people that can help spread the word. Friends or family.
• Come up with a talk that they might pay for.

Organize before you start – Focusing your energy will help you do the right things for the right people. Don’t waste money doing everything.

• Figure out your top 3 target audiences
• Create a marketing plan for each of those – who are they, what swag do they want.
• Spend 15 min a day building out a detailed plan.
• By starting now and focusing – you will prevent yourself from wasting money on the wrong things.

SWAG – Be sure to do the right thing for the right people.

• Find out what is appropriate for each audience.
• Not everyone will use a book marker or postcard.
• Vistaprint and iprint – do inexpensive printing
• If you pay – pay for the design aspect – not the printing

Email Marketing

• Always be gathering email addresses
• Use chimpmail or constantcontact to create pretty marketing email campaigns
• If you pay for anything – pay for someone to set up the newsletter so you can populate it each month.

Online Marketing

• Blog Tours – look for well-visited blogs that target your audience. Contact them and offer a post. Blog writers are always looking for content.
• ARC tours – have an arc tour and have readers sign up – send an ARC around and require a post about it.
• EZINE – same thing – look for groups that do ezines and offer an article
• Press releases – Don’t underestimate the value of a good press release for making book sales.
• Skype tours – reach more people.

Website

• HAVE one – and make sure it is professional
• Go daddy, blogger, word press – all free
• If you have to, spend the money on the design to get you started.
• Create online press kit – generic press release, bio, professional picture, flyer about book, reviews, etc Also, make sure it is downloadable from site. This will safe on printing costs and mailing costs.

A few Recommended Resources

• Complete Guide to Book Marketing – the basics
• Plug your book – online marketing
• The Frugal Book promoter – Inexpensive ways to sell your book
• Publicize Your book

I hope that gets you started. This ends the marketing series, but you can come visit me at my blog, Market My Words, where I continue to talk about how authors can best get the word out about their book, whether it be traditionally published or indie published.

Shelli Johannes-Wells (AKA S.R. Johannes) lives in Atlanta Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world. After earning an MBA and working in corporate america, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing. You can find her hanging out online and visit her at srjohannes.com. Her first book, Untraceable, is a teen wilderness thriller that debuted last week on Amazon’s How New Releases.She has a new tween angel book, On The Bright Side, coming out Jan 31, 2012.

Thanks, Shelli! If there’s any marketing questions that Shelli’s raised that we haven’t answered, please leave them in the comments, and we’ll respond as quickly as possible! I also hope to have some great marketing news of my own to share shortly – stay tuned.

Let’s say you have sold a book that comes out next summer.

Now, what do you do?

Nothing right? I mean, your publisher will handle all the marketing and publicity.

Wrong.

Did you know about 10% of authors get about 80% of the marketing budget at the big 6 houses? It’s true. The chances of you getting tons of marketing support are slim to none. Some houses may provide some support: swag or calling a few places for your launch. But generally, you cannot sit around and wait for them to handle everything. They have tons of authors. You have you. You need to get started at least 6 months out because a lot of magazines require at least a 3-month advance.

So, how do you get started? Where do you go if you have never done marketing before?

It’s really very simple. I think with buzz words like branding, marketing, swag platform, and social networking, we make it harder than it really is.

It’s about finding out who might like your book and contacting them to pitch it or to pitch a story idea.

First, you need to REALLY know who you’re writing for. And don’t say, “I write for teens” or “I write for adults” because that is a macro market and about 2/3 of the Earth’s population. You have to break it down and find your “micro” markets. Drill down into teens. What kind of teens? Where are they? How do you reach them?

For example, I have a YA Wilderness Thriller, Untraceable. My market is broken down into kids who love nature, hiking teens, kids who love animals, kids who are into being green, kids who love outdoors, kids who love thrillers, kids who love Hunger Games, moms who love Hunger Games. I could probably keep going if I spent time on it.

After you identify all your micro target markets, you simply start researching each group, recording their information in some kind of spreadsheet by each micro market, and contacting them.

In my case, let’s start with kids who love nature. I would then Google “kids who love nature” and search for nature clubs, nature societies, nature magazines for teens, nature forums, nature e-zines, etc. etc. You want to look for every possible channel: online, magazines, TV, radio, and so on.

Then contact each of these and make note of the contacts. Know who they are and what they do first or it could be embarrassing when you send am email that tells them you know nothing about them. Be sure to contact them based on their policies.

And, make sure you pitch your book based on the subject they cover that relates to your book.

For example, I have about 5 different pitches for my book. I have “strong girl in contemporary”, one based on the environmental aspect, one based on the animal aspect, one based on the rarity of a YA contemporary thriller.

So when I come across a nature organization, I WOULD NOT send them the thriller pitch. That would possibly be a tip off that I didn’t know anything about them and that is rude.

I would send them my nature pitch (or animal depending on who it is). And most importantly, I would not send that to a whole list. I believe you should personalize your note with something so they don’t feel spammed.

Then you do the same process for your next micro market.

That is how you build a marketing plan one piece at a time.

Shelli Johannes-Wells (AKA S.R. Johannes) lives in Atlanta Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world. After earning an MBA and working in corporate America, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing. You can find her hanging out online and visit her blog. Her first book, Untraceable, is a teen wilderness thriller that debuted on Amazon’s Hot New Releases.

A lot of people ask me about building an online platform. I personally don’t like the words marketing, networking, or platform. But they are buzzwords in this industry that gets people talking.

So first, what is a platform?

Your platform communicates your specific expertise or specialness in a field. Basically, it’s your online business card. It could include how people see you on the web or at speaking engagements. It could be from the workshops or articles you’ve done. If others can recognize you and your expertise, then that is your platform.

In a simple sense – YOU are your platform. It’s about putting yourself out there. It’s about how people know you. Their perception of you as a writer or author, but more importantly, you as a human being.

But make no mistake. Your book is what matters. Your platform just gets it seen and heard.

When the time comes, you want people to recognize your name. Does it get you a book deal? No. But it could get your foot in the door of an agent. It could get you to stand out of a slush pile. Or it could get you a blurb for your book. It could help you stand out among thousands of writers.

You don’t have to spend lot of money on a platform, but you have to understand WHAT it is and then commit to putting in the time to build one from the bottom up. But, don’t start building a platform until you know your focus. Or you just waste time.

To get started – there are a few things you need to do first.

1. Decide on your author brand – what can you and you writing offer? How are you different? Have some understanding of your writing style and voice. Find a special talent. For me, it was marketing.
2. Think about your goals in building a platform. Who do you want to reach and for what?
3. Find the readers that match your outlined goals – this can be through groups, blogs, forums etc. Make sure you are focusing on the right people. Be sure to step out of the writer circle sometimes.
4. Think of building a platform as connecting. “Networking” is so impersonal. It should be about building a reciprocal relationship.
5. Get online – blogs, twitter, tumblr, Facebook, Myspace – whatever matches your goals. Don’t do something you are not committed to or it will show.
6. Connect to GIVE and not to take. Volunteer, offer advice, and promote others. Don’t go out and ask for promotion or blurbs or referrals. Then you are cheesy marketing person and people will shut you out.
7. Start something unique. I started “Marketing Mondays” on my blog about 2 years ago and it is what got me building my platform.
8. Be yourself – whatever that is. Don’t be boring and don’t be a jerk. You can turn people off more than your book. Find a way to put yourself into whatever you do so it is more personal and not a walking marketing show.
9. Be consistent and communicate frequently so people don’t forget you.
10. Get away from your Internet – go meet people. The Internet is not the be all, end all. You have to meet people too. Go to conferences, workshops, seminars, and writing socials.
11. Meet people other than writers, agents and editors. Find ways to meet other readers, librarians, youth book clubs, and media specialist.
12. Don’t fall into the illusion that followers equal buyers.

Most of all – keep writing! After all, who cares if you have a platform if you don’t have anything to put on it?

You must find what works for you and make it your own. You are unique, your work is unique, and your platform should be unique as well.

Thanks again to Shelli for contributing to this conversation about marketing and branding! I would be remiss, however, in not mentioning a counterpoint argument from Maureen Johnson, as found here. For the discussion: can these two opposing ideas co-exist?

Shelli Johannes-Wells (AKA S.R. Johannes) lives in Atlanta Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world. After earning an MBA and working in corporate America, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing. You can find her hanging out online and visit her blog. Her first book, Untraceable, is a teen wilderness thriller that debuted on Amazon’s Hot New Releases.

For today, let’s start with your basic branding. Branding begins way before you sell a book.

What is branding? To me, branding is the thing that sets you apart from the rest. It is a personal statement about you.

We, as people, all have our own brand. Think about it. Me, for example, I’m a jeans girl Always will be. I will never be the cute little sundress girl. (Sorry mom!) So what does that say about me as a person? I’m casual, not too feminine (which is true – I am a total tomboy at heart). But what else, go deeper. It says I am dependable and not too serious. Just in that one item, you can tell a lot about me. That’s why it often takes us girls so long to shop! We are trying to figure out – what represents me? How many times have you stood in the mirror and said, “this is cute but it’s just not me”? That is branding.

Branding as a writer is multi-layered. To keep it simple, you have your author brand and your book brand. An author brand is who are you are a writer – what makes you different. What do you write and why? It stays with you. You web site runs around an author brand that promotes book brands.

A book brand is totally different and more short lived – it’s the personality of the book. But it does not sustain your author brand.

For example: I write contemporary thrillers with a conservation theme so my web site would gear towards that. My book comes and goes. I don’t brand myself around my book but around the themes I write about. Make sense?

A book brand and author brand get mixed up regularly. Authors and publishers make the mistake of only focusing on a book brand. But the author brand is critical. Readers want to follow an author – NOT just a book or series. An emotional connection to a person far outweighs the connection to a story.

I believe both are important and should definitely be integrated in some way but should not be treated as the same thing

For example, Meg Cabot. She has books for adults, teen and tweens and her blog is not all Princess Diaries. It spans all of her writing and does not focus on any single book. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter is a good example of book branding! She has branded herself around that. But because of that – it might be harder to break into another market unless she goes with a pen name. Now for her it might not be an issue but for the average writer, you may get pigeonholed. You might be associated with your books and not your writing.

Shadow branding is the brand you are giving off without knowing it. It is the unintended branding vibe you give off. Usually it is a negative vibe.

Here is an example of a shadow brand. A writer is working very hard to get published for her humor stories. But her blog is basically her complaining about the writing process all the time. That complaining is a shadow brand that impacts her view in the public but she may not even be aware of it.

Another example, if you want so bad to be published but never query your book – then your shadow brand is that you 1) are scared of success, 2) do not think you are good enough, or 3) that you don’t deserve it for some reason.

I’ll use myself. For a long time, I think people saw me as the marketing person and not the writer. That was a shadow brand I didn’t intend when I started building a platform. And I think it hurt me at times.

There are many things you can do to get started on defining your brand as an author. You can take branding classes. Jenn Stark has a great one as well as articles on branding. There are also books on branding.

Think about yourself as a writer. What kind of writer do you want to be? Who is your audience? What do you write? What qualities connect your writing? What is holding you back (shadow brand!) and how can you stand out?

The key to branding is to build an emotional connection with you as a brand and for people to see how you are different.

Shelli Johannes-Wells (AKA S.R. Johannes) lives in Atlanta Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world. After earning an MBA and working in corporate America, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing. You can find her hanging out online and visit her at srjohannes.com. Her first book, Untraceable, is a teen wilderness thriller that debuted last week on Amazon’s Hot New Releases.

Kate/Daphne has asked me to do a series on Marketing covering a wide variety of topics for authors/writers from branding to social networking to book publicity.

First I’ll tell you a little about myself. I got an MBA specializing in Marketing, and worked for a consulting firm doing marketing and communications before quitting and taking an executive job at a bank doing associate communications and product marketing. After 15 years of being in corporate America, I left and started my own marketing company where I have worked with clients like Delta, Spanx, and Goody Hair Products. I have also worked with authors on creating web sites, swag, blogs, and book publicity.

Today I want to start by saying this: Don’t be afraid of the M word! Marketing is not a scary beast that you can’t touch. It is not anything that you as a writer can’t do. It is not anything in which you have to have a degree in order to do it right (don’t tell my parents that!). Because in our world – the book world – marketing is just a fancy word for “reaching out to your readers”– whether it be teens or librarians or booksellers. We as authors have to find a way to feel comfortable in identifying our customers, reaching them (in a non spammy way) through different channels, and building a loyal readership so they want to read more.

The word marketing is thrown around all the time in this industry. There are new terms and old terms. Buzz words that are thrown around. But really in the end, marketing for an author is just finding a way to connect to your readers.

The biggest problem many authors have with marketing (in my opinion) is that they don’t do it. There are tons of excuses that I hear as a consultant. They are afraid of it. They don’t make time for it. They don’t think they need it. It’s beneath them. They want to spam people. They don’t think they know how to do it. They can’t do it. They just want to write. They don’t feel they need to do it. They think the publisher should do it.

But I respectfully disagree. We as authors in this online world have such a huge opportunity to take the initiative and reach so many users. With all the forms of technology available, those barriers are broken down. We don’t have to pay advertising agencies to find ad space. We don’t have to pay publicists to drop press releases. We have a chance to really connect through a variety of ways. And we would be crazy not to take advantage of that.

When my kids ask me why they have to brush their teeth, I say, “Only brush the teeth you want to keep.” So to you, dear author, when you ask me “why do I need to do marketing?” I say, “Only market the books you want to sell.”

In today’s world, the lines between agents, editors and authors are blurring. Now hold onto your computers because I am about to say something really groundbreaking – we can’t just be writers anymore (pause for horrific screams from the crowd). We have to share and wear hats to help make a book be successful. We are the writer, the editor, the marketer, the author, and the reader.

Because if you think that your publishers and agents will pick up all the marketing pieces or even do most of it, you are kidding ourselves.

The success of our book lies in our own hands.

So where do you start? At the beginning. Before the book deal. With you as a writer knowing what you write and who you write it for.

In this series, I’ll talk about more than just “marketing”. I’ll talk about:
• Branding – nailing down yourself as a writer and your writing
• Building a platform from the get go (i.e. getting yourself known)
• Create a strong and authentic online presence
• Effective social networking (not just any social networking)
• Building a marketing plan for your book
• Online marketing at its best
• Marketing on a budget
• Balancing marketing with writing

I hope you find the series helpful. Leave any questions you have and I’ll try to answer them along the way.

Happy Marketing!
(Ok that was cheesy but it seemed to fit)

Shelli Johannes-Wells (AKA S.R. Johannes) lives in Atlanta Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world. After earning an MBA and working in corporate america, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing. You can find her hanging out online and visit her at srjohannes.com. Her first book, Untraceable, is a teen wilderness thriller that debuted last week on Amazon’s Hot New Releases.

You know what I want to see? I want to see the family tree of publishers. Who are the Grandparents (and what do they do), and who are their kids (and what do they do), and who are their grandchildren, and what do those children do?
I just feel like there’s so many imprints and stuff out there, and my impression is they’re all actually owned by, like, four main houses. I want someone to break those down for me.

Luckily, Publishers Marketplace has just the thing for you! Now, before you click on that link, I’ll warn you that it requires a subscription. Which, if you’re an aspiring author on the hunt for an agent, you very well may already know, and have one for yourself. Why? Well, Publishers Marketplace is a great resource for authors, with individual web pages for many great agents, plus links to recent sales, so you can see what those agents are selling, and to whom. I don’t normally recommend that authors part with their hard earned money when there’s a lot of great resources out there that are free, but if you have the spare $20 a month, I think it’s a great investment — just like joining SCBWI or RWA, or, if you qualify, SWFA.

So, if you do have a Publishers Marketplace subscription, that first link up above goes to a great listing of all the major publishers, broken down into their divisions, and then further subdivided into imprints. And for each imprint, you can see the last few deals reported. It’s a great resource!

Readers, what other sites do you find invaluable on your hunt for representation and publication?

But I was really excited by how well the second workshop went. Entitled “Your Writing is Rock Solid… Now What?” I gave the participants a step-by-step timeline of what you should do after typing that initial “The End” on your manuscript, and before you send out a single query. Of course, after I mapped the whole thing out on two white boards in three different colors, I forgot to take a picture of my brilliance. I’m trying to recreate it as a new Powerpoint presentation so I can give it again, but I wonder if you guys want to help me out. Here’s how I see it:

–> Finish writing. Celebrate!
–> Put your manuscript in a drawer.
–> Let it sit. Do something else.
–> Pull it out and take another look. Revise as necessary.
–> Share the revision with a critique group, online or in person.
–> Revise it again.
–> Repeat as necessary.

Somewhere along here, if you haven’t done so already, I expect you’ll make a decision as to publication. That is, are you seeking a traditional trade publication, or do you wish to self-publish? The self-publishing process is another blog post entirely, probably by another person altogether, but if you’ve decided on trade publication, then read on.

While you’re waiting on feedback from your critique partners, or once you feel you’ve polished your manuscript to its utmost, and every word is perfectly placed, hit the bookstore or library.

–> Know your category. Be prepared to say where your book would be shelved.
–> Read your competition. Take notes. Who published it, and who represented it? Check the acknowledgments.
–> Start researching the names you’re coming up with. Use primary sources — the agent’s own blogs, twitter feeds, etc. — as well as secondary sources like Publishers Marketplace, Agentquery.com, Predators & Editors.

When you have a good list of agents, and you know their guidelines for submissions, the MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do is this:

TRACK YOUR SUBMISSIONS.

–> Follow guidelines.
–> Submit.
–> Wait.

Of course, while you’re waiting, you should be starting the entire process all over again, and by that I mean go back to the very beginning. Work on something else, get to “The End,” and once you do, evaluate where you are in your submissions with Book #1.

What do you think? Have I missed anything major in the process?

Anyway, I was THRILLED to open the latest issue to read about EW’s new blog about books, Shelf Life! Huzzah! I’m already added it to my Google Reader, and look forward to the same chatty, informative blogging about books and publishing that they’ve brought to their Hollywood reporting.

So while I’m adding great new sites to my Reader, I’m hoping you’ll let me know if there’s any other great book blogs I should be reading. The following are just some of the blogs I read (I’ve left out editor or agent blogs, but you can assume I already hit a whole bunch of those as well). Some may be out of date, but I’m eagerly looking for new sites to follow!

A Fuse #8 Production
Bookburger
bookshelves of doom
Jacket Whys
GalleyCat
ShelfTalker
Teen Book Review
tor.com
Trashionista
Wands and Worlds

What are some of your favorite book blogs to read?

Normally, a question like this sends me running for the hills — there’s just SO much I can say — but in the spirit of the holidays, I’ll answer it.
First of all, Gabby, the best first step you can take is to finish your book. Finish writing it out longhand, or typing it up, or scratching it on your walls. Just finish it. Something crazy like 75% of people think they have a book in them to write but only a teeny tiny fraction of those people actually manage to finish writing it. And of those, an even smaller percentage actually get published. So once you’re on your way, with a completed manuscript in your desk drawer or computer hard drive, join a writing group — whether it’s something local, maybe out of your library or nearby independant bookstore, or national like the SCBWI or RWA. Go to a few workshops, practice your craft, talk to other writers, read other unfinished works, learn to critique others and find a way to apply other readers’ critiques to your work.
Once you’ve done all that, and you’ve realized that you need to pull that manuscript out of the desk drawer or file folder and make some serious revisions, you’ll find a new use for your fellow critique buddies or members of your writing group. Revise, revise, revise!
Somewhere along the way — it’s not a definite point, but you’ll know it when it happens — you’ll reach that moment when every word is as perfect as you can make it, and then — and only then — should you begin the process of seeking an agent. Look at your favorite books and scan the acknowledgments for reference to the author’s agent. Do this with all the books you love, and then cross check the agents’ names you find with the listings on Absolute Write, Verla Kay, Predators & Editors, and Publishers Lunch. Ask around. Google them. read their websites and blogs – not just this week’s posts, but browse through the archives. Search for terms that describe your book. You don’t want to send a thriller query to someone who, days before you started reading their blog, professed a hatred for that genre. You won’t know unless you look, so look, Look, LOOK! Do all the research you can.
Then, prep each letter/email, depending on the agent’s preference, and personalize each one. I’m not in the habit of recommending other agents — if something’s not for me, it’s YOUR job to find the next agent you want to submit to. Yes, I keep company with other agents, but unless I have a very specific reason for saying no to something, and unless we have a personal connections, chances are my “no” is a dead end. Find another route.
That doesn’t mean to come back to me in a week with another novel. Just in case you were curious.
Gabby, there’s a lot of work involved in making it as a writer. This is just the very tippy-top of the iceberg. Readers, what other advice do you have for someone starting out in this business?