An Author’s Legacy…

Besides being ‘Luke Skywalker Day’—May the fourth be with you—it also marks the ninth anniversary of this blog: Sharon Ledwith: I came. I saw. I wrote. I started blogging—not really knowing anything other than reading Blogging for Dummies—on May 4^th, 2011, before I even had a publishing contract. If you build it, they will come, right? Funnily enough, the contract came four months after I began blogging. It truly feels like a blur now, and I’ve learned so much since that inaugural date. That said, when I was trying to come up with a post to mark my blogversary (is that a word?), I found an article in our local paper that piqued my interest enough to pass on the wisdom I gleaned from it.

The headline read ‘MAGICAL MEMORIES’, with the subhead, ‘Disney letter among artifacts for Capitol Theatre’s 100^th anniversary’. The article goes on to explain that, in 1938 Walt Disney himself sent a letter to the Windsor Daily Star, thanking it for helping promote a screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Capitol. The article goes on to quote, “Disney is a thing unto itself. That fact that the person who was the head of the Disney empire took time to write a letter to the Windsor Star—Windsor Daily Star at that time—to thank them for their assistance in promoting a Disney film, it’s amazing. Incredible, actually.”

I couldn’t agree more.

The letter goes on to mention the newspaper’s “splendid cooperation” in spreading the word about the movie’s run at the Capitol. Disney continues to write, “May I take this opportunity to thank your staff and especially your artists for their many kindnesses?” Wow, just wow! The letter was ended with Disney’s handwritten signature in large, swooping letters.

Can you imagine that kind of correspondence happening in this day and age? Imagine say, trying to get through to George Lucas if you were showing a Star Wars film. Um, no. Wouldn’t happen. And neither would George sit down and write a personal letter, and send it to you. It just goes to show you Disney’s considerate gesture speaks to a very different time in our world. Kind of makes me sad, in a way.

Then, I thought about what kind of legacy authors can leave behind in this ever-changing, post COVID 19 world. How a small gesture like Disney’s would make a difference in a reader’s life? Kindness and manners still matter in my mind, and never go out of style. There’s a handful of authors I know who do go out of their way to thank others who help promote them, give them a shout out on social media, or read their books and leave reviews. Most good business owners show gratitude to their customers in one way or another. Why not authors? After all, we are the owners of our stories, and publish them out into the world (or cyber-world) to sell to prospective readers.

Which leads me to the point of this post. A small kindness or act goes a long way with people. Sending a thank you card or donating your book to a school you did an author visit at, or adding value to a reader’s day by answering their email or social media message. It’s a little boost that will go a long way in a person’s heart, and probably make their day brighter. So take a page out of Walt Disney’s business book, and take time to connect with and grow your audience. It’s a great investment in your future author-self. Never forget, the world needs YOU!

BTW— For May-June my publisher, MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING is going to promote a giveaway for new readers to try Mirror World books for the first time. The code is FREEBOOK and it can be used once per email address for a free ebook to try one of our books for free. Please click HERE to go to their online store. Happy reading!

Now that you’ve helped celebrate nine years blogging with me, let’s time travel a hundred years from now. What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind as an author? How would you want readers to remember you? Would love to read your comments! Cheers, be well, and thank you for reading my blog.

What Every Author Should Know…

Feeling overwhelmed when it comes to publishing and promoting a book? Are you getting lost in the crowd? Relax. Take a breath. Release it. By focusing on these key areas, you can find the traction your book needs to rise above the crowd.

Understand the Publishing Industry: Writing a book does not guarantee you readers—believe me, I know! So before publishing, ask yourself some important questions. Who are your competitors? What do they publish? How is your genre faring in the industry right now? Knowing your market is vital to finding and connecting with readers, receiving book reviews, and getting book sales.

Book Covers are Key: Pick up a book or view a thumbnail-size cover online. What’s your first impression? Is the cover unprofessional or tacky? If so, chances are you’ll think the writing is sub-par. It’s a smart move to invest in a professionally designed cover by someone who understands book design and the publishing industry. You've put a lot of work into writing your book; apply the same philosophy to your book cover.

Your Best Marketing Tool is Editing: With all the competition out there, you want your book to be the best you can make it. A poorly edited book will not gain you readers, reviewers, or fans. Delegate to the professionals if you must, but don’t put out a book that’s destined to receive one star nods.

Get Good Advice: Honestly, there are so many reputable, free resources available to authors for every phase of their publishing journey. Blogs, social media groups, online forums, and more offer everything an author can imagine to get headed in the right direction. Take advantage of these resources, ask questions, learn from others, and share your insights.

Work Your Market: Cultivate readers via the social media, not by clogging the internet with spam, but by asking if they’d be interested in becoming a beta-reader for you. Many authors have successfully built a stable of pre-publication beta readers who offer their insights. Don’t forget, beta readers are not editors—they help an author understand if the story works, if it's authentic.

It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint: If you're going to publish a book, you have to be in it for the long haul. It takes time to learn the publishing ropes and build a following. Approach your marketing and promotion with the long-term in mind. Basic formula: Time + Backlist (4 or more books) = Sustainable Author Career.

Website 101: Build a respectable sales hub through your website. Unless you know how to convert web visitors into buyers, and know all about web conversion and SEO, you should find a professional to design your site.

Build Relationships: Saying thank you goes a long way. If you guest blog, thank your host. Are you getting book reviews and interviews? If so, be sure to thank them for taking the time to review your book or interview you because these are people you can approach for your subsequent books. Trust me, kindness and manners matter, and people DO notice.

Teamwork 101: If you're hiring people to help you publish and/or market your book, take advantage of their expertise. Look for someone with a good track record, and who understands the market, then trust their advice and let them do what you've hired them to do.

Publishing is a business. In the end, it’s worth the time to invest in your book, your team, and your promotion. Thank you for reading my blog. If you have time, please leave a comment and share what you’ve been doing to get your book in front of your readers. Love to hear them! Cheers!

Why Spying on Your Competition is a Great Way to Be Successful…

Spying is a catchy way of saying “do your research and stay tuned in.” Regardless of what you call it, it’s a mandatory part of being successful. It’s also a great way to build connections. There’s an old saying that to be successful you have to stop obsessing about the competition. I agree with that to a certain degree, but to not be aware of what other authors in your genre are doing is never a smart idea.

Regardless of what you write you need to be dialed into the competitive landscape. Knowing what others in your target market are doing, writing about and promoting can be key to your success as well. Not that I would ever encourage copying, but being in tune with your genre and market can be a fantastic idea generator, not to mention it gives you the ability to stay ahead of certain trends that haven’t even surfaced at the consumer level yet.

First rule of spying: study your target market, the books as well as other authors in the industry. It helps you to also differentiate yourself from them in products, services, and pricing. Again, you don’t want to copy, you just want to be aware. Another lesser known reason for doing this is that if you’re struggling with your social media (like me)—both from the aspect of what platform to be on to what to say to drive more engagement—keeping these authors on your radar will greatly increase your marketing ideas. Living in a vacuum never made anyone successful.

Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, you want to know who else is writing on your topic or in your genre. Google search is a great place to start. The results will not just turn up names and book titles but also show you the best ways to interact with your reader.

Google is packed with names of authors who write about your topic or genre. As you begin to compile your list I want you to do one thing: ignore big brands because it’s likely that they can do anything they want and still be successful. If you’re a middle grade writer, names like Rick Riordan and Brandon Mull come to mind. These authors are big, powerful brands. You want the smaller names, the people you may not immediately recognize. Why? Because they have to try harder. If tomorrow Riordan or Mull decided to put out a book on poetry, while their fans might be surprised they would likely still buy it. But if a lesser-known author did that they’d look like they have writer-ADD. Not good.

So start putting your list together, as you do sign up for their mailing lists, and follow them on Twitter and any other social media site they use. That’s what I do. Aside from the obvious reasons why you want to do this, I’m a big fan of supporting other authors in my market. Share their Facebook updates, retweet their great Twitter posts, etc.

One of the hidden gems of this research is it will also show you what social media sites to be on. If you've been struggling to figure out where your market resides, this strategy should really clear that up for you. Why? Because if you’re plucking names off of the first page of Google you know one thing: whatever they are doing to show up in search, they’re doing it right. Google has made so many changes to their search algorithms that you simply can’t “trick” the system anymore to get onto page one. Look at their updates. What are they sharing and why? How often do they blog? Are they on LinkedIn instead of Facebook? Is there much going on for them on Pinterest? Really spend some time with this. Not only will it help you tune into your market but it will cut your learning curve by half, if not more.

Successful authors leave clues. Are you following their bread crumbs?

3 Ways for Authors to Build Successful Relationships with Readers…

Say Thank You. I know. Floored you, didn’t I? Everyone wants to hear ‘thank-you’. The easiest way to say thank you is verbally—but the most powerful and memorable way is with a hand written note. So, the next time you’re doing a book signing event, always thank the reader for taking the time to come out and meet you, and then include the words ‘thank you’ when you’re signing the book they’ve purchased from you. It’s an easy give and take, and by saying and writing thank you, you’ve created the feeling of gratitude between you and your reader—a relationship that will hopefully last a long, long time.

Have Post Cards, Trading Cards, or Book Marks ready to send out. On my website, under my FUN STUFF page, I mention that I have free signed trading cards available upon request. I have been approached by readers on a few occasions for these signed freebies, which made me feel on top of the world. Depending on what genre you write, it’s a good idea to have something to autograph to send to a reader whether it’s a post card with your book cover and blurb on it, or book marks with a list of your books and head shot, or book cover trading cards so readers can collect them as the books come out. This is a terrific relationship builder, and a no-brainer!

Give Away the Good Stuff! Let’s be honest. Who doesn’t like getting something for free? I certainly do! And the best way to do this for authors is to giveaway their books. I’ve had many Goodreads giveaways, and they are by far one of the best ways to reach out to readers. Now, you must have your book available in paperback in order to qualify to have a giveaway with Goodreads, so if you only have an ebook format, then you must find other ways to give your book away. Book blog hops and Book blog tours are an inexpensive way to build new relationships, and Rafflecopter makes the art of giving away book swag, ebooks, or paperbacks a painless endeavor. I also have a free short story available for download on my website to give away to potential readers of my books. That’s the power of FREE—try before you buy!

What ways have you utilized to build relationships with your readers? What works best for you? Would love to hear your comments and get more ideas to connect. Cheers and thank you for reading my post!

BTW—There is still time to enter my Goodreads Giveaway which runs until February 25^th.  Did I mention I’m signing the book, and throwing in a couple of trading cards to sweeten the pot?

3 Promote Yourself Tidbits…

Don’t say yes to everything.

It’s easy to take on too much work and then try to multi-task relentlessly. Trust me it’s not a good move. It’s like a juggler with too many balls or pins (or chainsaws if you have a wild imagination) in the air. If one drops, it could seriously throw you off your game (or cut your ear off). You should strive to take on fewer projects that have more of an impact on your business and career. Baby steps. Baby bites. Learn to say no if you want to be more productive and less stressed.

Be a team player.

In the business world—especially the publishing world—we all work in teams to complete projects for the good of our companies. Think working with an editor, a cover artist, a book formatter, and marketing or promoting with fellow authors and you get the gist. If you want to be successful, you need to support your team, like I support my TEAM by giving them credit and allowing for open communication. Let’s face it, most marriages or partnerships break down because there is no communication. Be the voice that rallies the team. You'll feel like a WINNER every time.

Acquire more skills.

Skills that were important years ago might not be as relevant today. Three years ago, I had no on-line platform with the exception of Facebook, and even then I hardly used it because I didn’t know how. I threw myself into the blogging pool and learned to create blog posts (not very good ones at first) and as soon as I got comfortable with that skill I tackled Facebook, then I moved onto another. Twitter, anyone?  You need to stay on top of what the top skills are now and project what the upcoming skills are going to be if you want to be successful.

So, how about you? What do you NEED to say no to? Are you a TEAM player? What SKILLS have you acquired recently? Love to hear from you!