Marketing

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Are You Managing Your On-Hand Book Supply?

Merry Christmas!

Since it IS Tuesday, I am honoring the commitment I made to myself back in 2013 that said, “Every Tuesday I post an article and send out my email newsletter.” (Because it’s important to me to keep that commitment TO MYSELF.

And since it IS Christmas Day, I’m bringing you one of my favorite—and timeless—articles!

As an independently published author, MOST of your book sales will come from the mega-online retailer of Amazon. Let’s face it, nobody can compete with Amazon’s sheer VOLUME of users!

And that’s a good thing! It’s fantastic to sell where the eyeballs are!

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a number of your books on hand at all times. The question is:

How many should you keep on hand?

Years ago, I got invited to present at an Outdoors Expo – fitting because that’s what most of my books are written about, outdoor recreation. They were expecting 2,000 people a day for a two-day event.

I figured I’d be safe with 25 copies of each of my books …

And I’ll be you’re thinking I’m going to say, “I was sold out within the first three hours! I wish I’d ordered more!”

Um … yeah … not so much. Unfortunately, the event only had about a eight hundred people walk through the gates during the two days. And with a $10 per PERSON gate fee … Not a lot of folks were interested in buying anything from ANY of the vendors.

Here’s the moral of the story though: I wasn’t READY for this event! I didn’t have ANY books on hand which meant not only did I have to order them (outlay of cash – no problem!) but I had to have them rushed shipped! I paid nearly as much in shipping as I did for the books!

BIG PROBLEM!

Keep Reading!

Are You Afraid of Being Seen?

You have a message to share with the world. And you’re taking steps to get it out—writing your book, launching a bestseller campaign, creating a business, building an email list, being active on social media.

And yet…

You’re harboring a deep-seated fear of having all those efforts actually pay off. You want to make a difference in the world but… do you really have to be a celebrity to do that?

Friend, I’m with you.

For every time when I’m like:

I’m so SICK of being invisible! I’m awesome. My work is awesome! My message matters. I TOTALLY should be serving more clients, having more interviews, and being Out There more! I’m going to be more visible! Post more. More videos. More! More! More!

There’s an equal day that says:

Oh look… my comfy sweatshirt. I don’t want to get out there today—it’s too hard, takes too much time, doesn’t yield results, and I *might* have to comb my hair and put on makeup. I think I’ll hide behind my computer instead.

Being visible is scary. It means that you’re out there in a place where you CAN be judged. (It doesn’t mean you WILL be judged. It just means you COULD be judged!)

So what do you do?

1. Remember your message.

Every time I want to stay in quiet anonymity, I remember MY message:

To help my authors share their messages so that they can be a positive impact on the world.

How can I do that if I’m hiding? So I think about you, my friend, and that if I’m invisible to you, you’re invisible to who needs YOU the most.

2. You’re not as big of a deal as you think.

We’re a big deal to ourselves and we’re a big deal to those closest to us. We want to make a Big Impact on the people we’re meant to serve.

But how many people IS that really?

100? 1,000? 50,000? 250,000?

There are BILLIONS of people on the planet. And the biggest influencers I personally know (not the “celebrities I’m guessing about) have an honest-to-God reach of well under a million people.

Be a HUGE deal to the people to whom you can impact… and forget the rest.

Keep Reading!

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7 Rules for Writing a Kick-Ass Author Bio

I’ve been speaking more and more lately – which necessitated the need to create a formal speaker one-sheet with my bio and an intro. And that led me to remember that it was time to update my author bio sheet for the year!

Here are my top 7 rules for writing a kick-ass author bio!

1. Write in third person
Use your full name the first time. (Be sure to decide which variation of your name you want to use! I’ve been transitioning from Kimberly to Kim – I like Kim better!) You’ll use plenty of pronouns so be sure to intermingle your name in there as well. It’s up to you if you’ll use your first name or your last. Personally, I usually use my first name (Kim) and save the Ms. Eldredge for more formal bits of writing. Now, if I was DOCTOR Eldredge, I might be more inclined to use “Dr. Eldredge” as opposed to Kim.

2. You’ll have different versions of the bio
At a bare minimum, you’ll need three versions:

  • End-of-book (300-500 words)
  • End-of-article (100-200 words)
  • Blurb (25 words or less)

AND you might have different variations on the bio as well. I write in two distinct genres, outdoor recreation and book publishing. My bio for my outdoor recreation books isn’t going to impress the entrepreneurial world; they don’t care many year’s camping experience I have!

#amwriting #bookpublishing You'll need 3 versions of your author bio. Find out what they are here: Click To Tweet

Don’t forget that each version needs to link your opt-in gift!

3. Lead with your credibility
This can be your degree, training or certificates. Just make sure it applies! If you have a certificate in underwater basket weaving but your book is about investing, it might be best to leave that “credential” off. Your credibility can also include awards you’ve won, memberships, and education. This can be a bit dry (okay so a LOT dry) so limit it to the most relevant. Also skip the alphabet soup UNLESS you know your audience will

  1. KNOW what the abbreviation means
  2. CARE that you have earned it.

Keep Reading!

Are You Shouting Into the Wind?

Do you ever feel like you’re shouting into the wind? Yes, you’re yelling. And yet, nobody can hear you. Or the people who do hear you, aren’t understanding what you’re saying; they’re only grasping a piece of your message.

I know that you have a powerful message to share with the world. That you want to help people. And you know you can make a difference in their life—a difference that can be measured.

It’s a highly uncomfortable place to be—feeling like you’re marketing yourself, sharing your message—yet the results are saying that you don’t matter, you’re not making a difference, you’re not even being ignored.

You’re wearing all black, hiding in the dark.

Let’s turn on the light!

Right now, let’s change the story, reach the people you KNOW you’re meant to reach, create the movement from your message that you can feel building, like a wave.

It’s time for you to be the candle in the dark, lighting the way to others.

Keep Reading!

Is the gate down on your marketing?

It’s the end of summer…

And here in Northern Arizona it means it’s mowing season. In the little town where I live, most people have acreage – anywhere from a half acre on up, with the median being around 2 acres. Add in that we’re in the High Desert and landscaping is usually left au natural – the brittle, low water, very-prickly tuft grass. The yards are typically mowed once, maybe twice, never more than three times a year.

All that tough grass and all those big yards equals one thing… riding lawnmowers.

Today, while the husband, son, and I were at the park for a mid-afternoon sunshine and smoothie break, we saw a truck towing a utility trailer with a mower in the trailer. Not an uncommon sight for this time of year.

What was uncommon was that the gate to his trailer was left down, making a horrible racket, shooting sparks off the road, and absolutely damaging (ruining) the gate. (We tried to flag him down but were just too far away.)

I don’t know how far he was going, but he went through the 4-way stop and carried on his gate-dragging, spark-throwing, ruining-that-trailer-gate way. And when he gets to his destination?

At best, he’ll have ground down the metal on the gate but the gate will still be usable.

Are you forgetting that you need to market your book? It's not too late to start promoting it! Click To TweetAt worse, it’ll need to be replaced. (And even worse—a fire sparked along his route!)

Which made me wonder:

  • Did he forget to put up the gate after loading the trailer?
  • Did he forget to latch it after putting it up?
    Or …
  • Did the latch fail somewhere along the way and he just didn’t notice?

So, what does this lawnmower-in-the-trailer story have to do with your book?

Because it’s a metaphor for how so many people market their books.

Your book is the vehicle for your message. Your book is the way that you’ve chosen to take your message to the world so that it can transform the life of anyone who reads it.

  • Did you forget about marketing entirely? (Or maybe you’re deciding to ignore it. Like the bill you hope that if you don’t open, will somehow pay itself.)
  • Did you think about it and then dismiss it?
  • Or did you try something, got lackluster results, and throw in the towel?

Take a deep breath. Keep Reading!

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Video: 3 Steps to a Bestselling Book

In this 3-minute video, I walk you through the TWO conditions that create a bestselling book (as opposed to an “impostor” of a book) and the three steps to create a bestseller.

Here’s the transcript of the video so you can be sure to understand my meaning.

Hey, it’s Kim Eldredge, your Bestselling Book Strategist. I want to talk to you today about what does it really take to have a best-selling book? A free Kindle download is not, and can never be, a bestselling book, because hello, you missed the part where it’s selling. Selling means that we’re exchanging dollars for a good, not just a download, okay?

99 cent Kindle ebooks… come on! You know what a 99 cent Kindle ebook does? It tells your reader that their pain, their transformation, their desire to better themselves, is worth the exact same price as a soda pop from Circle K.

A 99 cent ebook is a slap in the face to your message AND your reader. Here is how to have a real Bestselling Book! Click To Tweet

I know that you have this message that you want to share with the world, and you’re so desperate to get it out that you’re willing to subscribe to this idea of the “best-seller factory” that says a 99 cent book is the way to do it. My darling author, it’s not. It’s not the way to do it, because your message matters. Your readers’ need for you matters, and it’s worth more than a buck.

Want to know what it really takes to have a best-seller?

  1. Your message. What are you sharing heart-to-heart with your reader?
  2. Your marketing, because yeah, let’s get real. You do have to market your book. You can’t allow Amazon to take the impetus and put all of that back on Amazon, or whoever you’re using to sell your book. There has to be powerful marketing, of which price point is a part, and 99 cents is not the price.
  3. You want this book to create movement and momentum in your business, so that you can continue to reach the people that you are meant to reach.

Action Steps:

If you want a bestselling book that creates momentum in your business—as well as sets you up as an expert in your field—then you need to know what your message is AND how to market it.

To uncover your message, ask yourself what is the change you want to create in the world – and why.

Then, join me join me at “Your Bestseller – LIVE! Market Your Message to Bestseller Status” happening September 28-30, 3018 in Prescott, Arizona. During our 3 days together, you will learn:

  • Exactly what it takes to have a best-selling book and how it will open doors to media, speaking, and more clients.
  • The steps to uncover your powerful message so you can move your readers – and change their lives.
  • How to cash in on the momentum and excitement created by your bestseller launch so you can fill your events or programs with ease.
  • How to use your book to be seen as a marketplace expert – and leverage that into opportunities you never thought were possible.
  • Why it’s never too early to think about your marketing – even before the book is written – and how to leverage that plan into your writing.
  • The differences between a best-selling book launch and any other type of online launch.

You will leave this event transformed. Because you are uniquely gifted with a powerful message that will impact countless lives and change countless hearts. So let’s get this this show on the road. Register today – spaces are filling quickly and there is ONLY room for 24 in the event!

Reserve Your Seat.

 

 

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Are You Being Judged?

It’s a human, Universal truth: we want to be liked. We want to be respected. We want to be appreciated.

We don’t want to be judged.

When you’re writing, when you’re putting your precious message on to paper, it’s natural to think about the person at the other end of the message. The one who will be receiving it. The one who’ll be reading it.

And you’ll wonder…

What does that person think?

  • What does she think of the message?
  • What does she think of the writing?
  • What does she *gasp* think of me?

At some point, your brain will start to think of all the ways that unknown, unnamed, faceless, future reader will be judging you. Comparing you to… somebody. Dissecting your message. Evaluating your grammar. Eviscerating your typos or sloppy prose.

It’s a terrifying thought. To know that somebody is reading your words.

It’s often enough to keep fledgling writers from writing at all. Never mind that it’s impossible for somebody to peer over your shoulder and see your words as they’re appearing on your screen or in your notebook.

Projects stall out. Stories stay unwritten and messages unshared.

Or at the very least, you’ll write – but you won’t publish. In any way, shape, or form.

All to keep from being judged. To prevent anyone from forming an opinion about you.

Being judged is scary and unpleasant.

I’ve been judged. I’ve had bad Amazon reviews, mean emails, and negative comments left on my blogs.

I’ve had creepy comments on YouTube videos. I’ve been slandered on forums and whispered at in person. (Here’s part of that story!)

Here’s the thing though: Keep Reading!

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