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Inside Marketing: Building A Platform
BY VEENA KASHYAP
My name is Veena Kashyap. I support marketing efforts for Xchyler Publishing, specifically building out the blogger and reviewer platform. By day, I work in Information Technology, helping to develop and implement on-line banking services. But at night, when wife and mommy duties are done (are they ever really done?) and everyone is settled in for dream time, I don my cape and set out to conquer the world of books, writing, reading, reviewing, blogging, searching, promoting—you get the idea.
My love for books started at a young age and has only grown by leaps and bounds. I am passionate about supporting authors fulfill their dreams. This year, I embarked on that passion by launching my site, The Author Visits, a unique publicity platform for traditionally, indie and self-published authors. The Author Visits serves as singular blog tour, showcasing a new author each week through interviews, guest posts and trailer reveals. We also participate in larger blog tours but are very selective about who we work with. Finally, my team and I also review books, specifically paranormal, fantasy, young adult, romance and science-fiction.
Actually, that is how Penny Freeman, editor-in-chief of Xchyler Publishing, found me. Marketing ran across my site and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing J. M. Salyards’ Shadow of the Last Men. (What? You haven’t read the book? The book received five-stars from yours truly and it is one of my top ten picks for 2014.)
My relationship with Xchyler grew from there and I am so lucky to be part of this incredibly talented and dedicated team of editors, artists, publicists and marketers who work tirelessly to publish incredible books from a stellar roster of authors. Our catalog of books continues to grow and I am thrilled to be a part of this venture.
So it makes sense, as part of the marketing team, my first post has everything to do with selling your brand. As a writer myself, I understand the importance of a platform. Every agent or editor I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to or working with has always emphasized the criticality of having a presence. You cannot have a presence without a platform and there is no time like the present to consider building a following even if your book isn’t due out anytime soon. And if your book is out and you do not have a platform, hop to it, you are behind the curve!
So what is a platform anyway? Merriam-Webster describes a platform as “a place or opportunity for public discussion.” Exactly! An author platform is in simple terms, how you connect with and create buzz about you and your work.
Now let’s talk a little bit about what a platform offers. Think visibility, reach, and engagement with your targeted readership. A successful platform should extend your audience and solidify your following. It also provides agents and editors an opportunity to assess you as a writer and how you present yourself and your work. Think about relevance: your platform helps create and stake your claim in the big bad world of books as an author!
You must be wondering about the basics of a building your platform. Let me say this: your social media following does not encompass your platform. It is one component of many that makes up your platform.
In the first of a series of posts, I’ll talk about the author platform. The next several posts will break down each component into its lowest common denominator and provide tools to get you started. Today, let’s talk overview of an author platform and what that entails.
The key components of a solid author platform include the following:
- Sound writing and valuable content (books, blog posts, newsletters)
- Social media
- Website
- Frequent publication
- Membership and participation in networks
- Event appearances, interviews and speaking engagements
- Connections to other authors
You should note, you can implement many of the components before you publish your first book in order to build a following, then extend that reach after your first book is published, and continue building and growing the platform.
Next post, we’ll talk more about the first component, sound writing and valuable content and why that is the true crux of your platform.
In the meantime, keep writing and reading!
Cheers!
Veena
Veena’s love affair with reading began in the fifth grade when she read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Somewhere around that time, she started writing stories that transported her to worlds created by her vivid imagination and knew one day, she wanted nothing more than to write for a living.
Veena continues to read, the owner of way too many e-readers and is notorious for having shelves imploding with books and has resorted to lining her bedroom floor with even more. Currently, she is working on a YA paranormal romance series in between her day job as a geek managing tech projects while running an author publicity site and helping out Xchyler as a book reviewer and blogger specialist
Editor’s Notes: Finding the Right Advice
BY MEGAN OLIPHANT
So You’re Writing A Book: Where to Go For Advice
As with most things in life, there are always people to tell you how to do things. Writing is no exception. There are thousands of books written about it, all kinds of “how-to” articles and innumerable blog posts. There are almost as many ways to write as there are writers.
In all the noise and confusion, however, there are certain things you can look for to help you:
- Someone who has published a lot. They will have the experience of working the process that newer writers lack. Several bestselling novelists have written their version of how to write.
- A book that gives general guidelines rather than dogmatic commandments. Any book that says “This is the only way to do it” is really saying “This is the only way the process worked for me”. Be leery of such types of advice. Look instead for writing advice that leads you to your own conclusions that are best for your novel or story.
- A strong, succinct writing style guide. The rules of grammar are hardbound. Not understanding the proper use of a semicolon or the difference between “lay” and “lie” will undermine your effectiveness at sharing the story you want to. Knowing the rules, internalizing them, will mean that if you need to, you can break a rule here and there for stylistic reasons that will enhance your story, rather than detract from it.
So in those thousands of books and countless blog posts and articles, where do you start? I have three books that I recommend.
- Orson Scott Card’s Characters and Viewpoint. This helps with some truly fundamental things you need to understand to build a story, including the pros and cons of the different viewpoints, such as 3rd limited vs. 1st person. I’ve read it multiple times and each time I learn more.
- The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes by Tami D. Cowden, Carolyn LeFever, and Sue Viders. This one shows you how to build your characters, giving them the many facets they need to become well rounded. It also will help you to figure out how they may react with other characters that are very different from them, whether you are building a romantic relationship or a superhero and his sidekick. Or her arch nemesis. It lays it out so you can figure out for yourself how your characters might behave.
- The Chicago Manual of Style by Chicago University Press. This is actually the online guide, to which you can buy a subscription. I think it’s a critical must have, because as many times as people say there are rules, English is a living language, and therefore will make changes accordingly. That change will be slow sometimes, and it won’t change as quickly as the dictionary with its new words every year, but it does change. If you’d rather have the book, you can order that as well.
So you can add this blog post to all those other out there, and honestly, we all find our own paths to publication, as many paths as there are people. It is a subjective art, after all. But I have found these books to be invaluable to write the best way possible, so our mistakes don’t get in the way of the story.
Megan Oliphant has studied creative writing since college, taking classes from the founder of LTUE, Marion K. “Doc” Smith at BYU and attended Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp in late June. Her primary interests are in fantasy, ranging from dark urban to high epic, but she’s a sucker for a good mystery that she can’t guess the ending to before she gets there. She divides her time between reading, writing, and “familying” with her husband and five children in North Carolina.
Megan joined The X Team in May of 2014. Her first project, Accidental Apprentice by Anika Arrington, is slated for release in September of 2014. She is project lead on Darkness Rising, a young adult fantasy by Elizabeth Lunyou, slated for release in 2015.
Author Event: SHADOW OF THE LAST MEN YouTube Live Feed
Today is the day! Don’t miss this live YouTube event! Leave questions for the author below and enter our Rafflecopter giveaway.
J.M. Salyards (born 1982) lives in Maryland with his wife and daughter and dreams of becoming a man of a million words. Mr. Salyards is passionate about writing bold, entertaining fiction.
Shadow of the Last Men is the first volume of The Next Man Saga, a series that introduces his new voice into the arena of mature, speculative art. Drawing on his experiences in the US Air Force and a lifetime of reading, Salyards is an “artistic and effective” author with an “intense and distinctive voice”. He is a proud member of the Xchyler Publishing ‘X Team’.
Editor’s Notes: Finding Your Voice
BY KRISTINA HARRIS
My husband loves to watch daytime court shows, which are, if nothing else, an interesting study in human interactions. The one thing I always cue in on is the way a vast majority of the litigants speak while they are in court: these people, who have no formal training in the law, suddenly get on People’s Court and start spouting out phrases like “then he proceeded to . . .” and “to the extent that . . .”
It doesn’t make them sound smarter or more official, mostly just pompous and ridiculous. In the same vein, many aspiring authors make the mistake of thinking that writing is somehow a formal discipline that should sound something like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
Voice. Chances are, you’ve heard this term before. Singers and instruments have different voices, which is what makes music so interesting; authors should have different voices too.
It may seem like a no-brainer: if I am writing my own book, surely it’s in my own voice, right? Not necessarily. As an editor, one of the most common mistakes I see is that authors either don’t use a voice, or try to use someone else’s.
How do you know what your voice is? How can you begin to use it in your writing?
First off, relax, and just be yourself. Readers make wonderful consumers in that they actually come into the whole deal believing in you, the writer. They are interested in what you’ve given birth to and want to see it grow and mature.
Now, pin down who you are. Think of some adjectives that describe you as a person and writer. Ask your friends and family to think of some. When you read your writing, do these adjectives come to mind?
Think about who your readers are as well. What are the characteristics that you are trying to appeal to in them?
Finally, the most helpful way that I’ve found to discover your voice is to simply write—not for anyone else, just talk to yourself. Free-write in a personal blog or journal and talk about anything you want: your day, your views on the current political atmosphere of your country, how you didn’t get what you wanted for your birthday—anything that is important to you, so long as it doesn’t feel like “work” writing.
And one last tidbit: I’m not going to say to totally ignore all the grammar and style rules you’ve ever learned (I’m an editor—I’d lose my super secret grammar police membership card if I did that!), but voice can make or break a story, even if it’s technically correct in every other way. So first, learn what your voice is. Once you feel comfortable writing as yourself, then check out advice like Merilyn’s post, to learn how to polish your writing, so your voice can sing.
Kristina has made reading and writing a focal point in her life. No matter how busy she is, she has always found relaxation in books and editing. She started her published career in her high school newspaper by submitting short stories. Now, she has edited three published works: two adult novels and one children’s book, and has written and edited for numerous national specialty magazines.
Kristina holds a degree in business administration, has been a model for a nationally recognized talent agency, and leads the way in her household, managing a husband, three sons, two dogs, two cats, a guinea pig, and a lizard!
Kristina’s first project with The X, Relative Evil by Debra Erfert, was released in July 2014. Her next project, Legends and Lore: An Anthology of Mythic Proportions, will be released in October 2014.
Inside Marketing: Preparing To Launch
BY DIANE JORTNER
This week I was reminded that some old truisms are just plain true.
One daughter reminded the other daughter to Never kiss on the first date—leave the guy wanting more.
- I have learned: the best tweets are questions—which need the reader to click to get the answer.
- I taught my freshman writing students: never start a paper with the thesis statement—hook them with an attention-getter first.
- I read that I should: end chapters in the middle of the action—if you want the reader to turn the page.
- People like a little mystery in their lives. Mystery books end up on the New York Times Bestseller List more than any other.
- Sometimes the best part of a vacation is looking at all the brochures and websites of the places you plan to go.
Launching any genre of book should take advantage of this need to the brain to experience suspense.
An author needs to start building anticipation for his or her upcoming book months in advance of the actual release, possibly in advance of finding a publisher or deciding to self-publish.
First, months before any release date is set, establish a platform with a website, a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn presence, and Instagram connections. Build friendships though associations on all accounts and in groups of similar interest. Use this time to hint at your Work in Progress, get people to ask questions, and even beta read for you as you read for them.
As the launch day nears, build more excitement with pre-release reviews, trailers, Blog hops and give-a-ways. Tease your target reader into wanting more every day.
Pre-release opportunities. Once you establish a date of publication the intensity can build. Just this month Amazon has started offering advance sales options to all authors on their Kindle Website
Michael Kozlowski of The GoodEReader explains in his news post :
“One advantage of pre-order is that authors can begin promoting the book before launch to help raise awareness. There are various avenues in the Amazon ecosystem to drum up hype, such as your book’s pre-order page on Author Central, Goodreads, your own site, and elsewhere. Also, pre-orders will contribute toward sales rank and other Kindle Store merchandising even before the book is released, which can help more readers discover your book.”
Press releases can be sent out every step on the way to take advantage of all the free publicity they offer. Public Relation companies like PRUrgent.com, PRLog.org, and Newsvine offer hints on writing press releases and are always searching for interesting content to disseminate to other news outlets.
Book trailers are gaining in popularity as readers learn about upcoming release on the go-to multie-media platform, Youtube. Gerard Bianco discusses How to Use Suspense In Creating a Book Trailer for Your Novel. Xchyler Publishing novel trailers use music, fantastic graphics and automation in their videos to build suspense. Notice the Relative Evil trailer in particular, as it even uses pages from the actual text to hook readers into wanting to know more.
Plan an event to celebrate the launch. This can be a physical party, a Facebook party, a Twitter event, or as The X is planning this week for Shadow of the Last Men live YouTube video event. When you or your publisher promotes your release, encourage retweets, shares, and attendance at events.
Bloggers help authors in many ways. As the date of your release approaches, you involvement in all social media needs to increase. Now is the time to cultivate the friendships you have created and ask for reviews, and blog posts with author interviews, cover reveals. This week, The Author Visits kicked off a five-day blog blast in anticipation of the Shadow of the Last Men event on Saturday.
Giveaways draw in new readers. What gets people more excited than FREE STUFF? One way to get people to know more about your book and help with your promotion is to offer incentives. Rafflecopter, the most popular web tool for the purpose, facilitates entries and prize distribution. Authors, publishers or bloggers can offer readers chances to win a vareity of prizes for those who watch trailers, share and re-tweet promotions, buy books, write reviews, and participate in many other ways in the book launch.
Take your time. Building a kissable relationship takes time, and so does building a relationship with your potential readers. Just like figuring out when to place that first kiss is difficult, so can timing be when putting together all the elements in a successful book launch. Your date might not be ready when you are, or Amazon might not release your book the day you anticipate. Or your reader might not have been primed enough to get excited about your novel. So be adjustable and go with the flow. Just be sure to give enough time from actual availability to the formal event so that you know that readers will be able to buy.
And once your book is out, take about two minutes to celebrate, and then start to anticipate your next release. If the sequel is in the works, include the first chapter in your book. (The reader will start looking forward to the next one right away).
Make sure that those who participated in this launch, knows they are appreciated. Send out thank-you notes. If someone wrote a great review based on reading an e-book, consider sending them an autographed paperback. Give back and offer to highlight others in need of publicity.
This week, the curiosity and anticipation is building as Xchyler promotes JM Salyards’ SHADOW OF THE LAST MEN with a new cover, blog hop, trailer, Rafflecopter contest, Twitter push, and YouTube interview with the author on Saturday.
The final Truism I know is Good Things Take Time. Just like your novel was not written in a day, neither can your book launch be planned or executed quickly. Take the time to think it through, plan it out, revise, and execute for the maximum anticipation and exposure.
Social Media Specialist Diane Lee Jortner fell in love with the media as a high school newspaper editor. With BA in Journalism/Public Relations from Bowling Green State University and a MALS in English from Valparaiso University, she brings her fifteen years’ experience teaching English Composition and her extensive personal social networking experience to The X Team.
In the past year, Diane launched Kids #5 and #6 who graduated from college, #6, the youngest from high school, written a YA mystery novel, and started to blog. In her free time, besides reading almost all types of fiction, she likes to travel with her husband and children.
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