Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram announced the layoff of 11,000 employees this week. The massive layoff came after the company announced historic financial losses earlier this year. You’re probably wondering why this matters to you. Do you remember MySpace, Friendster, or Google+? Maybe you don’t remember them anymore. Then you see where I’m going.  If you have all of your author marketing eggs in the Meta basket, what happens if Mark Zuckerberg overplays his virtual reality hand in the Metaverse and Facebook joins the Wikipedia page of former social media platforms? Wha ..read more

List Building for Visibility Every author wants to increase visibility of their platform and work. How you do that can vary, depending on the author’s goal, genre, platform, and audience. Today, it’s common for authors to rely heavily on social media to increase visibility. And it’s true, social media is still important when it comes to maintaining contact with your readers, improving your overall SEO (search engine optimization) and increasing visibility, but it just doesn’t work like it used to. The frustration with social media is palpable these days. Algorithms and posting guidelines seem ..read more

Understanding the Limitations of AI in Book Writing and How AI-Powered Tools Can Aid Authors in Other Ways (Stick with me to the end or scroll to the bottom for the spoiler!) The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked concerns among writers and authors that their roles may become redundant as a result of AI’s capabilities. Some individuals have voiced their belief that AI may eventually replace authors in writing books. However, this assertion is unfounded. This article aims to explain why AI will not replace authors in writing books and explore how AI can assist authors in other w ..read more

What does author mindset sound like? I give up. This is pointless. I’m wasting my time. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have time for this. Or maybe I’ve got this. I’m going to sell 10 books this week. I’m going to get 50 reviews by the end of the year. I’ll spend one hour a week learning how to market myself. These are all examples of mindset. What is mindset? Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. It influences how you think, feel, and behave in any given situation. (source). According to Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, your beliefs ..read more

You probably haven’t noticed, but you’re already using Ai. With all the fuss over artificial intelligence over the last few months, most recently by the big tech guys calling for a slowdown, I thought I’d do a bit of research to see how impacted we are by Ai in our everyday lives. Especially from your perspective as an author.  I’m a little skeptical when I hear someone like Elon Musk, who’s been talking about implanting humans with a chip for a few years, wants the developers of ChatGPT to slow down. Afterall, Elon was on the board and an early investor at ChatGPT. Is it really beginning ..read more

Email marketing still reigns It seems like everyone is talking about list building these days. And for good reason: email marketing is still the most effective way to reach readers and grow your platform. Your book, email list, and website are truly the only assets you own. Still, if email marketing is new for you, it can be confusing. There is more than one way to build a list. You might go to events, hold contests, or do ads. But the one method you can use year-round, is hosting a lead or reader magnet on your website. It should be something so valuable, so irresistible that your reader won ..read more

Tracking your marketing results Now that you’ve begun to build your flawless author foundation, it’s time to track your results. All the work you put into building and growing your author platform won’t matter if you’re not monitoring your metrics. Failing to track means you’ll fail to understand what’s working and what’s not working. Don’t be a pantser. Flying by the seat of your pants, aka being a pantser, might work when it comes to weekend plans, but it’s not the best approach when it comes to marketing.  Algorithms and marketing trends change constantly on social media, are you sure ..read more

It’s time to talk to that email list. This week, we continue our series on . If you’ve created a lead magnet and have begun to collect email addresses from fans and followers, congratulations! Now what? It’s a serious question. Once you’ve begun to collect email addresses, you must communicate with your list. I have some good reasons why you should and some guidelines on how. Let’s take a look to see which apply to your circumstances and which you might need to consider later. Why nurture your list? This happens to everyone. You get an email with a subject line so interest, you have to click o ..read more

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s okay to rest. As I publish this, I’m coming back to work after a brief, but restful three-day break for the Easter holiday. I notified clients that I would be unavailable for three days. I planned and scheduled work ahead of time so that everything was managed. No one would know I was away. My plan was to unplug. And that’s what I did. And I didn’t write a blog! Your free pass. I’m not an expert on burnout. I do know enough about myself to know when I need a break. I hope you do to; and I hope you give yourself permission to rest. In fact, if you n ..read more

What is SEO and why do you need it? SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to ranking in a search, typically Google. The goal is to have the first few page results of a search filled with references about you to make it easier for people to find you. That might be results from your website, social media profiles, Amazon author profile, sites where your book is sold, interviews, or other mentions. Many of these results are out of your control once you publish your book. What you can control are your Amazon author profile, getting interviews, and the content of your website. For now, let’s t ..read more