How to Knock on New Doors

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As writers, it is important to get our books in front of new people on a consistent basis. It’s why in these articles, I encourage you to make new connections on LinkedIN and other actions. In this article, I want to give another resource so you can tell others about your book and stories: podcasting.

During a recent meeting with David Hancock, the founder of Morgan James Publishing, we were talking about how to get more traffic to my special offer. He suggested I use PodMatch. It’s a monthly subscription but he also told me that if you schedule too many podcasts, you can also put it on hold for a few months. It’s important with these different opportunities to see the potential and also the different options with it--some which might not be obvious when you sign up with it. 

After I joined PodMatch, I carefully filled out my profile (which is often one of the first steps whatever you are starting). I made a point to focus on my 10 Publishing Myths book and my special offer. Every aspect of my profile points to this book. Follow this link to see my profile. 

PodMatch has internal training about how to use their system. These videos are short, interesting and to the point. I watched each one of them as I began working with the program.

This program uses the keywords and other data in your completed profile to match you to podcasts in their system. On the dashboard you can get these matches several times a day and they come in trios or three matches at a time. With the matches, you read the profile of the host which tells you the type of guest they are looking for, then I crafted a message or pitch to each match with an emphasis on the type of guest they want or targeted to that host. 

Within the first week of pitching, I booked six new podcasts and more of them are on the way. Also podcasts hosts can pitch you through their internal system. A journalist in India, Khudania Ajay pitched me to come on his podcast live. I've done a number of podcasts before PodMatch but they were all recorded, then produced and launched. I had never done a live podcast but accepted Ajay’s offer which was filmed in the morning in India but I’m in California so it was midnight here. Before the recording, Ajay moved me to an earlier time so it was locally 10:30 pm. My point is to take the offer and do it--no matter what time of day it happens. I made a point to tell stories and if I’m honest it was not my best podcasting appearance but it happened. I gave Ajay a five star review and he gave me one for the appearance. All of these details add up to more exposure and more podcast bookings. My key point is to take advantage of the opportunities whenever they happen for you. It's not easy to pull off but take a risk and try it.

I booked six new podcasts in the first week and I have more podcasts which I will be booking through this service. Maybe you are like me and reluctant to join another service where I make another modest monthly payment. Here’s another way to look at it, if I get on these podcasts and sell more books, then it is worth the regular investment. 

Within PodMatch on the dashboard there is a ranking of the top performing members. I noticed one of my Morgan James authors was placing among the top ten in the system. I reached out to him. He had no idea of his ranking and told me he has done about 15 podcasts. I learned it does not take a lot of activity to get on this list--just consistency and willingness.

If you look at my PodMatch profile, you will see that I am intentionally pointing to one place which is my special offer of 10 Publishing Myths. I have made a simple way to do that with the website www.publishingoffer.com which someone can remember orally and it goes directly to the place.

Through their syste, PodMatch will match my profile with different podcasts. What I've been doing consistently is looking at the pitches and what type of guest the host is looking for their program. After reading that material, I use it when I shape my pitch. If I don’t see a connection then I pass on pitching that podcast and go on to the next one. I’m consistently pitching and I continue to book new opportunities.

When I make a connection and see they are based in the US, I offer to send a signed print copy of my book to the podcast host if they send their mailing address. It’s a way to stand out from other possible guests to send this signed book. What steps can you take to stand out and be distinct in your pitch?

 

When I do the podcast or speak with a podcast host (such as a pre-interview), I make a point to tell stories and be entertaining. Why because these hosts are looking for people who understand their podcast and know how to tell good stories. It makes you memorable to that podcast host. From my experience, success breeds success. As I have a number of successful podcasts, these hosts will talk with each other and they will book me so I can speak to their listeners.

What are you going to do to apply this opportunity for your own writing life? I hope you will take the action, join PodMatch and spread your message to new readers. Let me know your plans in the comments below. 

Tweetable:

If you want to reach new readers with your book marketing, you have to knock on new doors. This prolific author and editor gives some action ideas and resources in this article.  (ClickToTweet)

When I’ve worked with different publishers on a variety of  books, I’ve learned the hard way that much of the publishing process is outside of anything an author can control. As an editor, I’ve spoken with different authors about their books, I’ve found many unrealistic expectations. There are actions every author can take with their books. I wrote  10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses.  

Don't Forget Some Marketing Basics

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Last week I told you about launching my special offer on my newest book, 10 Publishing Myths. Today I want to talk about several simple marketing basics every author can use to tell new readers about your book. As authors, we want to try new marketing efforts yet also we don't want to forget (or neglect) some basics.

If you blog (and I hope you do), your blog has a profile. Does this profile include clickable links to your latest books? A while back I wrote an explanation of clickable links. Just follow this link to get this information. I have not updated my blog profile in ages but last weekend I dug into my settings, found the location and made some changes. It's something I suggest you do as well for your latest offering to cover the marketing basics.

I've mentioned in these articles about tweeting 12–15 times a day using Hootsuite. Twitter has a feature that I've known about for several years but never used—called pinning a tweet and image. You can pin this tweet to the top of your various tweets. Until you change the pinned tweet, it remain at the top. While I've tweeted  thousands of times, I had never pinned anything—until last weekend.  As I pinned, it was a process to get it to look right. Here's this tweet.  At first, it did not so I deleted it and reworked it until I got it like I wanted it. Are you pinning a tweet?

Throughout every day, each of us send email. Do you have a signature in your email? Does this signature promote your latest book? I changed my personal email address and my work email address to add this promotion. Until I revise it, this promotion will be in my emails. Why are these signatures important? Throughout the week I write emails and adding these words point people to my 10 Publishing Myths special offer. The receiver may not notice it the first or third time we email—but they may eventually look at it. The marketing is something simple and consistent.

Finally I updated the website with my name www.terrywhalin.com  I do not drive a lot of traffic to this site but it is a common way that people will search for me and go to it. I added my special offer right at the top of this site. Admittedly I have not updated this site in a while—and it probably needs a whole new make over but that will have to wait until a later date.

I've been making sure I cover the marketing basics for my 10 Publishing Myths special offer. Have I left out something or you have a different marketing basic? Let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Are you covering the marketing basics? Get some ideas from this prolific editor and author. (ClickToTweet)

Tired of Politics?

News organizations are in the final push of 21 days until the presidential election. In some regards, I've been tired of reading about the political scene for weeks. The printed election ads are stuffed into my mailbox and dominate the news media.

Political science was one of my majors (along with journalism) for my undergraduate work. I've had a life-long interest in politics and studied it for many years. I take many different magazines and groaned to see the thick October 13th issue of The New Yorker covered politics.

Yet I found the issue fascinating and read it cover to cover. The range of stories and depth of coverage was well worth the reading time. If you don't get the magazine, I encourage you to pick it up on your news stand and read it because the diversity will surprise you.

In particular, I want to encourage you to read The Oracle, The many lives of Arianna Huffington which is available online. Lauren Collins has written an in depth-profile of Huffington and the New Yorker does a masterful job of showing the diversity in her personality and experiences. Even the photograph of Huffington (also online) is revealing. Notice she's holding her Blackberry--and the article tells us that it is one of three that she uses constantly. I love the varied picture of Huffington that you gain reading this story. She's not perfect (none of us are). Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you can gain something for your writing life if you study these types of personality profiles.

Finally no matter who you are supporting for the Presidential Election, I encourage you to be praying for the results. I've started using the daily emails from the Presidential Prayer Team. My only objection is the small print they are using for their web page. Each day, I've been cutting and pasting the material into a Word document then increasing the size of the typeface so it can be easily read. I've appreciated the focus of the prayers and connection to Scripture--and hopefully you will as well.

Like many seasons, we will soon move into something different for the news media focus.

The Value of Papers

Allow me to speculate about something for a moment within publishing. I doubt few authors realize the value of their paperwork when they are in the process of creating it. I'm talking about the numerous drafts of a novel or the various gyrations that a nonfiction book passes through during its path to completion. Or what about the correspondence between authors and well-known people for the gathering of endorsements and other parts of the business.

Several years ago, an author now turned agent talked asked me if I had a plan for donating my papers some place. I scoffed at the idea of my paperwork being valuable. Actually I've moved and sorted about three or four times since that conversation. Another one of my author friends told me that three moves equals a fire. I believe there is some wisdom in that statement since each time we move I pare down the extra paperwork from different projects. In other words, I toss them into the trash in the moving process. If I really stop and think about it, my files do have a few letters of correspondence with well-known personalities. In terms of single letters, they probably don't have much value but the gathering of them might.

I started thinking about this matter from an article in today's Book Section of the New York Times which profiles a true paper chaser, Glenn Horowitz. It showed me a different side of the publishing business which is active and viable yet rarely highlighted.