Our guest blogger today is Heather Hart. She works as a self-publishing coach, liaison, author, and author’s assistant. Her desire is to glorify Christ through her work and to help other authors do the same.
Her new book, “A Year of Book Marketing: Marketing Your Book One Day at a Time,” starts off like this:
Most authors are writers by nature; however what to do with the book once it’s written doesn’t come quite as naturally. When we find out the only way to sell the book we’ve written is to market it, it can be tempting to run for the hills. Even if we are up for the challenge, many of us don’t have a clue what we’re actually supposed to do. So we do what we know, we scream out to the world about our book with the hope that someone is actually listening. We tell our friends and our family, we post about it 1,000 times a day to our Facebook and Twitter accounts, but we still don’t see the results that we long for. Well, I’m here to tell you that there is a better way – and you don’t have to run away screaming.
Sound like you? I know it certainly sounds like a lot of authors I know! And I’ve held their hands through this and that marketing adventure. But like she says here, there’s no reason to panic. No, really. There’s no reason. You have written an entire BOOK. You can certainly write up a few summaries/descriptions/tweets/status updates hawking your book online, and memorize them to use in person, too. You have more courage than you think you do!
Heather’s new book will be available January 1, on Amazon and Smashwords. Keep an eye out for it! In the meantime, you can peruse the following information she’s so kindly sent us, on “5 Ways to Boost Your Income.”
The following is a list of options for earning extra money as an author. This is an excerpt of my new book, “A Year of Book Marketing,” that comes out on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords January 1, 2013.
1. Affiliate Marketing: Signing up as an affiliate for Amazon.com, Google AdWords, and Self-Publishing-Coach.com among other places, is an amazing way to earn some extra dough. Whenever someone purchases something through one of your affiliate links, you get money – simple, dependable, awesome. Being an Amazon affiliate should be something that EVERY eligible author does. It’s one easy way to earn more money from promoting your own books. My favorite part of being an Amazon associate is that even if someone clicks your link and doesn’t buy your book (or downloads book during a free promo day), but they buy something else (like a pair of shoes) within 24 hours – you get credit for that sale (and a pair of shoes pays out a whole lot more than your book).
2. Freelance Work: There are lots of magazines that pay for article submissions, or even for regular contributors. If you want to earn a little extra money, submitting freelance articles is a great way to do it. Also, if you are talented in a certain aspect of publishing, you can pick up freelance work helping other authors successfully publish their books.
3. Speaking Engagements: Lots of people will tell you that this is a must for authors – it’s not, but it is a really good idea. Speaking engagements is one of the biggest ways to increase your book sales, but often times you will be paid to speak at an event. It’s a great way to bring in extra income and sales.
4. Teaching: Okay, not in a school, but you can set up a course on Udemy, offer mentoring to authors who are just starting out, or about something else in your niche. You can also sign up to teach a workshop in your community – some of these are voluntary, but others can be paid events. You can also create a training course that you sell from your own website.
5. Joint Ventures: I love joint ventures. This is where you get together with another author or speaker and create something together where you can split the profits. This could be an eBook, online training, speaking event, or something entirely different.
While those are 5 possible ways to boost your income as an author, the sky really is the limit. You can also create your own gear (book bags, t-shirts, etc.) to sell from your website, or come up with a million other ways to bring in some cash. The best part is that each and every thing you do to bring in extra income can also double as book marketing.
Are you speaking at an event? Let them know you’ve also authored a book.
Are you submitting an article that you’ll get paid for? Mention your book in your author bio.
Book marketing doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, once you get the hang of it, it can become almost like second nature. And we all know that book marketing is a great way to boost your income.
Helping other authors since 2009, Heather Hart is the author of “Book Marketing 101: Marketing Your Book on a Shoestring Budget,” among other titles. She lives in Texas with her husband, Paul, where she fills her days caring for their four young children, typing away on her computer, and brainstorming new marketing ideas.
You can learn more about Heather by visiting her website: http://authorheatherhart.blogspot.com/
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