Catherine O’Mara graduated from Truman State University in 2016 with her BA in English and shortly thereafter received her Certificate of Publishing from the University of Denver Publishing Institute. She currently works as a marketing associate for Amphorae Publishing Group.
You can connect with Catherine at: Twitter @cat_omara_
Recently, as part of my marketing duties at Amphorae Publishing Group, I was invited to participate as a volunteer at the 2017 All Write Now! Conference in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Among other opportunities, I attended two workshops. The first, “Marketing Strategies,” was presented by Karen Sargent, author of Waiting for Butterflies. The other workshop, “Narrative Pull: How to Keep Agents and Editors Reading,” was headed by Alice Speilburg of Speilburg Literary Agency.
Most writers cringe at the idea of marketing. After all, they are writers, not marketers. As a marketing associate for Amphorae Publishing Group, marketing books is my primary focus.
Although I don’t often expect writers to know the ins and outs of marketing like I do, I have seen the difference their efforts make when an author markets his or her books.
Luckily for the attendees of the fourth annual All Write Now! Writer’s Conference, Karen Sargent presented a seminar to assist authors with different techniques to not only market their books, but themselves as well.
One important part of marketing, Karen said, is to utilize social media for several reasons: two of which are to ensure a successful book launch, and to boost sales. Even more important is making connections, which Karen said is at the heart of book marketing.
“Writers shouldn’t be looking for book buyers,” instead, she said, “authors should be building a fan base.” She also said that building a fan base should start even before the book is finished. Waiting until the book is published is too late. She explained this idea with a quote from Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.” In other words, if you have built a solid fan base, they will come to buy your books because you have built a relationship with them, and they have a connection with you.
Growing a fan base is a multi-step process, she noted, and, it begins with defining your target audience. Once identified, it is important to interact with your readers and fans online. One of the best ways she found to do this is to search Facebook groups based around her book’s genre and the interests of her intended audience. Then she became an active participant in discussions.
“Writers should become a familiar face in the online forums they join. Most importantly, writers need to be givers—not takers.” In other words, Karen said writers should follow the 10-1 Rule: “You should post ten things about others before you post one thing about yourself. This is the art of building a reputation, and relationships and friendships. A writer, in essence, is not only building a fan base, they are also constructing a brand for themselves.”
Another way to reach an intended audience is to blog, and make sure valuable and quality content is posted regularly. The blog doesn’t even need to be related to the book, but should provide a link between the author and the interests of the intended audience. For instance, Karen’s parenting blog is geared toward mothers. Her book, Waiting for Butterflies, is about the love of a mother for her family. The fans of Karen’s blog, ultimately, became fans of her book because the subliminal link was there.
Just as an author needs to market themselves, their book also needs to sell itself. Literary agent Alice Speilburg, in her workshop entitled, “Narrative Pull: How to Keep Agents and Editors Reading,” shared advice from an agent’s perspective about how to make the opening of a book pop.
“The inciting incident doesn’t need to be earth-shattering or action-packed,” she said, “but it does need to be the catalyst that moves the story forward.” It’s all about creating a gripping and polished first impression.
Alice pinpointed a few additional things to keep in mind when developing narrative pull.
1. Place the main character into an eye-opening scenario
2. Don’t let your protagonist get too comfortable
3. Weave in threads of external tension, and,
4. Make sure the antagonist is always lurking nearby.
Attending the All Write Now! conference as an Amphorae Publishing Group marketing associate was as much an enlightening experience as it was enjoyable. Like other attendees, I, too, left with some valuable advice. I think marketing is all about making positive impressions, and, for writers, it’s about convincing readers to love their book as much as the author does.
Yes, this is an often-dreaded job for writers, but a necessary one.