I definitely felt this. What kills me, sometimes, is how many times I’ve come so very close to giving up. To putting the pen down. Fortunately (I guess) I am unable to do that. Something inside just won’t let me quit even when I have nothing to show for it. I’m trying to be more interested in marketing these days, even though I am so uninterested in marketing.
I kind of hate even the word marketing, you know? Half the problem (maybe more) is that once the internet came along, the direct response marketing folks found it and that style of marketing took over. It's not the only way. But lots of people think it is. Real writers are the ones who say do you think I do this by choice? No. I can't stop. Those are the real writers. :)
I have really only one good marketing experience and I just went with my gut. I only marketed through Facebook and Instagram. I tried to do TikTok too, but the time required was too much.
The marketing I did was for a local interest book I co-wrote. And my co-writer and I did NOT agree on any of the marketing... he wanted to wait until a couple of weeks before the book was published. I googled everything I could about marketing a book, and knew the sooner you start, the better. He seriously threatened and harassed me over it. (Because he’s published over 50 books and always does things the same way - and no, he is not making decent money in the least)...he basically posts the exact same thing about each book he promotes on his Facebook page... it gets old super quick. I believe he did have a “please buy my book” post last week (for a different title).
The marketing for this book I did was a great learning experience. I felt so much more comfortable marketing this book because I wasn’t exactly marketing myself. I also had a clear audience. The book is Quad Cities Beer: A History. It’s about the history and renaissance of breweries in our area.
Once we got the cover art, I went to all 15 of the local current breweries and took pictures of the cover art at the breweries. I posted every other day, and then did a second round of posts from each brewery with photos and videos - reels. I like to think I garnered a lot of interest and reached a lot of people. We had a release party at a local brewery that was pretty successful.
After this experience, I would like to think that the next time I publish a book, I will be better with being able to market it!
The part of your story that amuses me most is the co-author not agreeing with you. So many people want to keep their work a giant secret and have a big announcement when it's ready, only to discover that they are announcing their big news into the void.
Don’t write with him again. What you were doing is great local marketing. And btw, when I read he published fifty books, I question if they are actually books. 20 pages is not a book. I’ve got a few under my belt, with advances and publishers, and it is not easy to sell books- the competition is fierce. Hang in there, you’ve got the right idea.
I'll be looking forward to your articles on marketing. Do you submit to The Writing Cooperative or Better Marketing? I tend to get some solid traffic from those publications. I know a few tricks when it comes to book marketing, but I have no doubt you possess information I need to hear! I've had a terrible month when it comes to boost nominations, but I finally got one accepted today. I was deliberately trying to avoid my various work emails this morning just to recharge. Wishing you a happy holiday season!
I am a writer for Better Marketing, but haven't posted there for ages. I work in marketing so I run to Medium for a break but I know I should probably post there more often. Boost has been tough this month. I was glad your last post for On Reflection was accepted because wow I've had stuff rejected that I didn't think should have been. Wishing you a Merry Christmas too, Walter. :)
I'm sorry to hear that, but it's a relief to know I'm not the only one seeing good stuff get rejected. I went back to using a headline analyzer tool this week and a lot more of my stories were accepted. I don't know if it's a point of emphasis to use a good title this month, but it's been working for me. Once you get going on your marketing articles, I'll send you some questions. Some of my best performing articles were a result to long answers to what I thought were basic concepts. (here's the headline tool I use...try for 75+: https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer)
I have the paid version of that one but I use up my points too fast. I've upgraded but I still burn through them. lol. I sometimes think they have a flavor of the month with regard to topic. On the Medium blog they've been featuring top posts of the month and it seems like every month there's a heavy lean towards a specific topic. Maybe that's just coincidence, I don't know.
I learn something new each time I read you and hope to learn more in the future :)
One of the platforms I write on is Substack - have a relatively small but dedicated audience - my niche is relationships (lol no surprise there) - I do a bit of self promotion on social media but my audience is mainly in house
I am curious, do posts that receive high engagement automatically get disqualified from the boost nowadays? For example, I thought this was a good post with a glimpse into navigating love in the context of a conservative culture with deep rooted societal norms and belief systems - though it connected with the audience, it was a no go for the boosters https://medium.com/p/36664bd5d22c
What they tell us is that engagement has nothing to do with whether a post gets boosted. They said sometimes readers enjoy a post and it does well, but that doesn't factor into whether it gets boosted.
I'm not good at marketing. It all seems so smary -- but you are correct, some people can do it and it doesn't feel like smarmy marketing. I write non-fiction as Holly Thompson and fiction as Holly Newman. The fiction is particularly hard for me to toot my own horn. I see writers having paid subscriptions like with Patreon and Ream, also Substack. I've seen authors selling merchandise on their websites in hopes it will keep their names front and center, Have YouTube videos, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
I do want to connect with my readers. Yes, I have a newsletter, albeit small because of that smarmy itch between my shoulder blades. I've read, studied, and thought. Through the Facebook ads I have run I know the demographics of the people who click on my ads. It is fairly uniform. How do I connect deeper with these people. This is a wacky cross marketing notion, but I decided to open an Etsy store geared to the demographics of my readers. I create POD for readers. What does a reader want when they steal time in their lives to read? I'm experimenting with offering my readers comfort. Started a couple of months ago and already I can tell what products resonate with readers. Will this work? Too soon to tell, but it is fun -- another way to stretch my creativity.
Omg Holly, I think you're going to like the section on how to connect without feeling smarmy. It's got some fun Venn diagrams and writing exercises. Also I'd love to see your Etsy store. I have been considering opening one too, for fonts and literary art and just random creative stuff I make because I am crazy that way, but haven't got there yet.
Omg Holly. Now I am so intrigued! Are you using a print on demand place to produce those or how on earth do you do that? And do they connect directly to Etsy for the orders to go to the printer, or do you have to manage that manually? That looks fun. Great job.
I’ve been out of the loop for so long - things medical, etc - I’ve got to start writing again! Then marketing. I’ll get there. Nothing huge. But I did write 2.5 novels a my cat’s memoir (in her voice) while I was sick for a very long time. What else???
Omg Dana, I am laughing. Several years ago I started a cat's memoir when I was sick. Never finished it, but I thought I was the only weirdo to do something like that. lol
Writing that cat memoir was the "funnest" thing I've ever written! And I wrote it in a tiny notebook - no reason, just where it started! But that cat (Violet) deserved it just for her personality and behavior. I had to call my vet to find out about cat sex and pregnancy - she said she'd never been consulted on writing about "cat sex!" So NOPE, you aren't the only "weirdo" to do that!!!
I DO recommend reading "The Dalai Lama's Cat," though - written by a Buddhist author!
Tbh I haven’t promoted my work a lot on social media nor do I have a newsletter yet. Marketing is something I need to work on next year. I have a bad habit of writing and publishing my story and then forgetting to spread the word about it lol. I think we also need to get past the idea that it feels wrong to promote our work. We don’t want to appear spammy but at the same time, how else will people know we’ve written something?
I'm guilty of that, too. I don't promote posts on Medium at all. I cross my fingers and hope it gets boosted so Medium can take care of that for me. lol
I get close to giving up also, but writing helps mitigate the isolation from post-COVID alone living,and I have made some wonderful close friends on Medium's platform. In any event, pushing through hopelessness I wrote this to express and perhaps share one way we might be able to stir a smidge of hope in a world gone crazy. https://medium.com/illumination-curated/looking-for-hope-841d11984cc9 Thanks for all you do Linda, and especially for your brilliant writing!
I use Substack myself and I'm planning to do a lot more with it in 2024. This past year has really made me aware that I can't rely on Medium, much as I enjoy it. The new membership policies make it a lot harder to share pieces for casual readers and I don't love that. Substack isn't perfect either but at the end of the day I'm glad to have my own email list of interested readers.
I will be sure to include the Marketing Light among the talents I reach for just prior to being squeezed out into my next incarnation, because I sure missed it this time. So I am avidly looking forward to whatever wisdom you are willing to share, Linda. Yes, I have a mailing list on Mail Chimp and then there's my Substack and my subscribers on Medium, and I am so grateful to all those folks (it's a small number, but still) and yet I know I'm not connecting with them as well as I could. I don't even know what I don't know that I don't know!
"I read about a guy who uses ChatGPT to write ten or twenty posts a week to drive traffic to a site where he sells affiliate programs and I get it, we all need to eat. But Christ, we need more real artists to float to the top."
As a mere internet user, this frustrates me. So many times these days, when I'm trying to find information on something I don't know much about, I end up on some website which was obviously written by ChatGPT (or some similar AI software) and even as someone who doesn't know much about the topic I can spot logical inconsistencies. Which makes me wonder if websites which also have trash AI-generated sources but lack the obvious red flags are disinforming me without my awareness. It's pushing me to be even more careful about my online sources than before, which can be tough to do when I lack the background knowledge.
You make a very good point, Sara. I saw a job posting on a writing board -- it was looking to hire someone to add personal bits to ChatGPT posts so it was less evident they were AI written. We all need to be really careful with sources now. More so than ever.
I would like to provide a couple links for you to check out as potentially boost worthy. I appreciate you putting out so much information on boosts and that you look for them. I played with the titles a little so they are a bit different than the ones listed in these URLs. Have a great weekend!
lol, I have done that, too. Changed the title and then they didn't match. Thanks, I will have a read. I have a whole day off tomorrow to play on the internet.
It's sometimes a dilemma between more straight forward vs more creative. Depending on the audience, one may not work as well. Anyway, I look forward to your thoughts.
I definitely felt this. What kills me, sometimes, is how many times I’ve come so very close to giving up. To putting the pen down. Fortunately (I guess) I am unable to do that. Something inside just won’t let me quit even when I have nothing to show for it. I’m trying to be more interested in marketing these days, even though I am so uninterested in marketing.
I kind of hate even the word marketing, you know? Half the problem (maybe more) is that once the internet came along, the direct response marketing folks found it and that style of marketing took over. It's not the only way. But lots of people think it is. Real writers are the ones who say do you think I do this by choice? No. I can't stop. Those are the real writers. :)
This feels very validating, thank you. 🤗💕
I have really only one good marketing experience and I just went with my gut. I only marketed through Facebook and Instagram. I tried to do TikTok too, but the time required was too much.
The marketing I did was for a local interest book I co-wrote. And my co-writer and I did NOT agree on any of the marketing... he wanted to wait until a couple of weeks before the book was published. I googled everything I could about marketing a book, and knew the sooner you start, the better. He seriously threatened and harassed me over it. (Because he’s published over 50 books and always does things the same way - and no, he is not making decent money in the least)...he basically posts the exact same thing about each book he promotes on his Facebook page... it gets old super quick. I believe he did have a “please buy my book” post last week (for a different title).
The marketing for this book I did was a great learning experience. I felt so much more comfortable marketing this book because I wasn’t exactly marketing myself. I also had a clear audience. The book is Quad Cities Beer: A History. It’s about the history and renaissance of breweries in our area.
Once we got the cover art, I went to all 15 of the local current breweries and took pictures of the cover art at the breweries. I posted every other day, and then did a second round of posts from each brewery with photos and videos - reels. I like to think I garnered a lot of interest and reached a lot of people. We had a release party at a local brewery that was pretty successful.
After this experience, I would like to think that the next time I publish a book, I will be better with being able to market it!
The part of your story that amuses me most is the co-author not agreeing with you. So many people want to keep their work a giant secret and have a big announcement when it's ready, only to discover that they are announcing their big news into the void.
Don’t write with him again. What you were doing is great local marketing. And btw, when I read he published fifty books, I question if they are actually books. 20 pages is not a book. I’ve got a few under my belt, with advances and publishers, and it is not easy to sell books- the competition is fierce. Hang in there, you’ve got the right idea.
I'll be looking forward to your articles on marketing. Do you submit to The Writing Cooperative or Better Marketing? I tend to get some solid traffic from those publications. I know a few tricks when it comes to book marketing, but I have no doubt you possess information I need to hear! I've had a terrible month when it comes to boost nominations, but I finally got one accepted today. I was deliberately trying to avoid my various work emails this morning just to recharge. Wishing you a happy holiday season!
I am a writer for Better Marketing, but haven't posted there for ages. I work in marketing so I run to Medium for a break but I know I should probably post there more often. Boost has been tough this month. I was glad your last post for On Reflection was accepted because wow I've had stuff rejected that I didn't think should have been. Wishing you a Merry Christmas too, Walter. :)
I'm sorry to hear that, but it's a relief to know I'm not the only one seeing good stuff get rejected. I went back to using a headline analyzer tool this week and a lot more of my stories were accepted. I don't know if it's a point of emphasis to use a good title this month, but it's been working for me. Once you get going on your marketing articles, I'll send you some questions. Some of my best performing articles were a result to long answers to what I thought were basic concepts. (here's the headline tool I use...try for 75+: https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer)
I have the paid version of that one but I use up my points too fast. I've upgraded but I still burn through them. lol. I sometimes think they have a flavor of the month with regard to topic. On the Medium blog they've been featuring top posts of the month and it seems like every month there's a heavy lean towards a specific topic. Maybe that's just coincidence, I don't know.
Linda is magical at her craft. Join her magic.
Thank you David, what a nice thing to say. I've been meaning to email you. I will do that today or tomorrow so look for me in your inbox. :)
I learn something new each time I read you and hope to learn more in the future :)
One of the platforms I write on is Substack - have a relatively small but dedicated audience - my niche is relationships (lol no surprise there) - I do a bit of self promotion on social media but my audience is mainly in house
I am curious, do posts that receive high engagement automatically get disqualified from the boost nowadays? For example, I thought this was a good post with a glimpse into navigating love in the context of a conservative culture with deep rooted societal norms and belief systems - though it connected with the audience, it was a no go for the boosters https://medium.com/p/36664bd5d22c
What they tell us is that engagement has nothing to do with whether a post gets boosted. They said sometimes readers enjoy a post and it does well, but that doesn't factor into whether it gets boosted.
I'm terrible at marketing, but that's not what I'm good at. It's writing I know how to do....
You and so many others, David. Hope you have a nice Christmas. Any snow there? There's none here.
I'm not good at marketing. It all seems so smary -- but you are correct, some people can do it and it doesn't feel like smarmy marketing. I write non-fiction as Holly Thompson and fiction as Holly Newman. The fiction is particularly hard for me to toot my own horn. I see writers having paid subscriptions like with Patreon and Ream, also Substack. I've seen authors selling merchandise on their websites in hopes it will keep their names front and center, Have YouTube videos, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
I do want to connect with my readers. Yes, I have a newsletter, albeit small because of that smarmy itch between my shoulder blades. I've read, studied, and thought. Through the Facebook ads I have run I know the demographics of the people who click on my ads. It is fairly uniform. How do I connect deeper with these people. This is a wacky cross marketing notion, but I decided to open an Etsy store geared to the demographics of my readers. I create POD for readers. What does a reader want when they steal time in their lives to read? I'm experimenting with offering my readers comfort. Started a couple of months ago and already I can tell what products resonate with readers. Will this work? Too soon to tell, but it is fun -- another way to stretch my creativity.
Omg Holly, I think you're going to like the section on how to connect without feeling smarmy. It's got some fun Venn diagrams and writing exercises. Also I'd love to see your Etsy store. I have been considering opening one too, for fonts and literary art and just random creative stuff I make because I am crazy that way, but haven't got there yet.
Here's a link: https://readercomforts.etsy.com
Omg Holly. Now I am so intrigued! Are you using a print on demand place to produce those or how on earth do you do that? And do they connect directly to Etsy for the orders to go to the printer, or do you have to manage that manually? That looks fun. Great job.
I’ve been out of the loop for so long - things medical, etc - I’ve got to start writing again! Then marketing. I’ll get there. Nothing huge. But I did write 2.5 novels a my cat’s memoir (in her voice) while I was sick for a very long time. What else???
Omg Dana, I am laughing. Several years ago I started a cat's memoir when I was sick. Never finished it, but I thought I was the only weirdo to do something like that. lol
Writing that cat memoir was the "funnest" thing I've ever written! And I wrote it in a tiny notebook - no reason, just where it started! But that cat (Violet) deserved it just for her personality and behavior. I had to call my vet to find out about cat sex and pregnancy - she said she'd never been consulted on writing about "cat sex!" So NOPE, you aren't the only "weirdo" to do that!!!
I DO recommend reading "The Dalai Lama's Cat," though - written by a Buddhist author!
Tbh I haven’t promoted my work a lot on social media nor do I have a newsletter yet. Marketing is something I need to work on next year. I have a bad habit of writing and publishing my story and then forgetting to spread the word about it lol. I think we also need to get past the idea that it feels wrong to promote our work. We don’t want to appear spammy but at the same time, how else will people know we’ve written something?
I'm guilty of that, too. I don't promote posts on Medium at all. I cross my fingers and hope it gets boosted so Medium can take care of that for me. lol
Lol I do that too! I need to change my strategy since boosts aren’t always guaranteed.
I get close to giving up also, but writing helps mitigate the isolation from post-COVID alone living,and I have made some wonderful close friends on Medium's platform. In any event, pushing through hopelessness I wrote this to express and perhaps share one way we might be able to stir a smidge of hope in a world gone crazy. https://medium.com/illumination-curated/looking-for-hope-841d11984cc9 Thanks for all you do Linda, and especially for your brilliant writing!
Thanks for the kind words, Patricia, and I will go give that a read, too :)
Yeah, we got some in Winnipeg. But the temperature keeps going up and down like someone is playing with the thermostat!
lmao. Same here. +3 C. today and the skiff of snow we got a couple of days ago is gone again.
Climate change!
I use Substack myself and I'm planning to do a lot more with it in 2024. This past year has really made me aware that I can't rely on Medium, much as I enjoy it. The new membership policies make it a lot harder to share pieces for casual readers and I don't love that. Substack isn't perfect either but at the end of the day I'm glad to have my own email list of interested readers.
That being said, here's a Medium piece that never got boosted but it's a topic that's important to me and I worked hard on it so I shall link it, since you kindly asked. https://medium.com/@amycolleen/i-would-rather-elevate-the-good-than-play-whack-a-mole-with-the-bad-505726aa2840
Have a great holiday, Linda. I really enjoy this newsletter and I appreciate all the work you put into it every week!
Thanks Amy, I will go give it a read. And yeah -- I plan to lean heavier into Substack too. At least the list is mine.
I will be sure to include the Marketing Light among the talents I reach for just prior to being squeezed out into my next incarnation, because I sure missed it this time. So I am avidly looking forward to whatever wisdom you are willing to share, Linda. Yes, I have a mailing list on Mail Chimp and then there's my Substack and my subscribers on Medium, and I am so grateful to all those folks (it's a small number, but still) and yet I know I'm not connecting with them as well as I could. I don't even know what I don't know that I don't know!
If I didn't do it for a living, I'm not sure I would either.
I count myself lucky that you do.
"I read about a guy who uses ChatGPT to write ten or twenty posts a week to drive traffic to a site where he sells affiliate programs and I get it, we all need to eat. But Christ, we need more real artists to float to the top."
As a mere internet user, this frustrates me. So many times these days, when I'm trying to find information on something I don't know much about, I end up on some website which was obviously written by ChatGPT (or some similar AI software) and even as someone who doesn't know much about the topic I can spot logical inconsistencies. Which makes me wonder if websites which also have trash AI-generated sources but lack the obvious red flags are disinforming me without my awareness. It's pushing me to be even more careful about my online sources than before, which can be tough to do when I lack the background knowledge.
You make a very good point, Sara. I saw a job posting on a writing board -- it was looking to hire someone to add personal bits to ChatGPT posts so it was less evident they were AI written. We all need to be really careful with sources now. More so than ever.
Hi Linda,
I would like to provide a couple links for you to check out as potentially boost worthy. I appreciate you putting out so much information on boosts and that you look for them. I played with the titles a little so they are a bit different than the ones listed in these URLs. Have a great weekend!
https://medium.com/new-writers-welcome/choosing-self-care-why-i-stopped-going-home-for-christmas-0ff3a16822ba
and
https://medium.com/thirty-over-fifty/i-dated-my-plumber-even-after-he-nearly-blew-up-my-house-1f1caf1a1d06
lol, I have done that, too. Changed the title and then they didn't match. Thanks, I will have a read. I have a whole day off tomorrow to play on the internet.
Glad I am not the only one! lol
It's sometimes a dilemma between more straight forward vs more creative. Depending on the audience, one may not work as well. Anyway, I look forward to your thoughts.