First Word

Let's discuss an important topic when it comes to publishing a book - building your following . Many of my authors aspire to either traditionally publish their next books or attract the attention of our foreign rights agents (we have two of them). Key to both opportunities is a strong following to justify the acquisition or overseas sale of the book. So what tips and tricks can you apply to your marketing and promotion to build aforementioned following?   The easiest way to build a following is social media . Social media has different affects: it can justify the case to the agents or traditional publishers. What if your sales aren't commensurate with your following, though? Well, if you have book fan page with thousands of fans, then you can show the potential of followers interested in what you're doing. Every little bit helps. And remember this one important factor: PUBLISHERS ARE A BUSINESS! A SURE THING IS THE ONE THING THEY WANT TO INVEST IN . Pleas...

What are the easiest ways authors can promote books on their own? Now many of you may read these 15 things and feel daunted. Just know that 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com) offers marketing and public relations services, too. We can help you and guide you through this process. Social Media (it's free)-Facebook, Twitter are great starts. The jury is out on SnapChat and Instagram. Goodreads (social media for readers and authors to connect) Blog ( blogger.com )-blogging services are free, too, but you have to provide your own content Book launches -it's a party so why not celebrate your accomplishment and sell books Book signings via your regional independent bookstores. Leave some books on consignment if they're open to it or maybe they will purchase the books on their own. Newsletters like this one focused on promoting your book reviews and signings and sharing excerpts and experiences with your book. Regional nonprofit book festivals (not all boo...

How do you grow your followers without having to do the outreach? I have one key tip: Keep your posts interesting! I didn't say salacious, profane or hateful. Keeping your posts interesting doesn't require you post your bare skin, bikini pictures, or anything that resembles Playboy . Keeping it interesting requires lots of pictures (people like visuals), thoughtful or provocative, and generally intelligent. When you're out and about look for the opportunity to photograph something different. Food shots are marginally interesting if it's a great meal or wine or even coffee. Beauty is all around you. Interesting things happen all around you. Make note of these things on social media. Write your own great quotes and thoughts. Inspire other people. Use your life events and lessons learned to share and help other people grow from your experiences. Use humor or be humorous in your responses to other people's posts. All business these days benefit from social me...

When I speak to audiences I often get asked, "Should I have a fan page or a personal page?" The answer depends on you and what you want to do with the personal page. I do not have a personal page, but rather a professional page with a "personal touch," which means I do include some personal information or reflections. My rationale is I don't want to maintain two different pages, and I'm not using social media to "socialize". I am using social media to promote our business 3L Publishing ( www.3LPublishing.com ). I don't have time to maintain a personal page and another business page. Also, most people aren't as interested in professional-only information. They use social media often to get to know the person they are going to do business with. I suggest if you're going to "mix business with pleasure" you set your own guidelines and rules about it. I like to keep my page "interesting" so I pull a general audienc...

The Daily Cup: Issue 6 ​ Q: Is social media replacing traditional networking to attract business? A: In some respects, yes. When it comes to social media vs. networking you almost have a chicken before the egg situation. You have to build following in social media to effectively market, and you can't build an adequate following without networking -- and round it goes. My advice is to start by doing traditional networking and have your fan pages set up ahead of time. Make sure you've got the requisite "find me" on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. on your marketing promo. As you're networking encourage people to follow you. Once you've got a big enough following then you can begin to enjoy the results on social media. Remember, though, to participate in your social media community. While in-person networking can be slowed down once your social media is established, you still have to be a "member" of that social media community. In...

Many of my readers know that I have been a loyal user of Facebook. I do believe we attract certain energies, and my Facebook account has unceremoniously become a magnet for inappropriate posts and distracting and uninvited "come-ons". Now my relationship status did change, and that brought about a deluge of unwelcome attention. I also encountered some "haters," which is common (so don't take it personally). You should never take anything personally, and especially from someone you don't even know. Unhappy people equal unhappy and negative lives. I mutinied to Twitter. Why? Well outside of the Facebook behavior that became (how shall we say) unruly, I noticed my "reach" diminishing. Facebook restricting numbers and requiring paid "boosts". Also, I noticed the hip and in-the-know users had migrated to Twitter. My favorite TV shows ( John Oliver on HBO among them) began using hash tags strategically to promote their efforts. My business p...

Here I am awake and ready to blog. I check my stats every time I go online. My curiosity piques as I see that in one day I had 350 page views, which for this blog is way off the charts. Now I'm curious, "Why?" I ask myself. What appeared and where that drove up traffic? Blogger allows you to see sources, but most of these sources came from Google, which is nonspecific. These systems rarely come with classes. When it comes to blogs or even social media, it's all "figure it out." Asking questions of others is always good, but the answers are varied and sometimes inaccurate. I think it's more trial-by-fire. We had a writers' group meeting last night. The focus was on building your followers on social media. What I noticed that was missing from the discussion was traditional marketing and promotion. So much emphasis exists on using the free and seemingly easy resources with Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and the many other tools that charge nothing but y...

It has been a while since I've just quipped or been interesting on my blog. Why, you ask? Well, have you ever had your brain so full it's leaking? We have so much going on right now with the national exposure of the book Chocolate Flowers . The phone calls and requests for ghost-writing services and full-service publishing (see our company at www.3LPublishing.com) have been nonstop. I just got off the phone with a woman from South Carolina. So many compelling and important stories to tell from people who call in from across the country. Most of the interest is coming from social media since the Dr. Phil show didn't directly promote Chocolate Flowers or even reveal its title. The social media attention has proven the importance of having a strong presence. I'm about to max out my "friends" on Facebook . I think the biggest lesson: Don't automatically exclude someone on Facebook and accept "new" friends if you want to grow your business. I o...

Social media has its upside and its downside. People using Facebook or Twitter or Instagram to do business are often nonplussed by the habitual social aspects that makes it great, but also annoying. When I'm friended on Facebook my initial consideration to accept is based on two things: 1. is this a prospective customer/client or 2. is this another person only interested in a date? Since I'm looking for clients/customers for our business 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com) that second question has merit. Those looking for a date will start almost immediately bothering me. The no. #1 thing I don't like though ... getting in touch with me and using business as a means to your end. Men (and even some women) who approach me about my business and act like that is what they want to know about and then do bait and switch. What I really want to know is: are you single? Not only is that a very cheesy and dishonest way to approach me, but it's offensive. I was taught manners...

You have to love Facebook. Yes, it's a great business marketing tool; but on the personal front it is a place to reconnect. I have a sweet story for the morning "musings". Several years ago we used to get pedicures with a Nail place near my old house. Ann, the owner, just adored my children. She hugged and loved on them like her own, especially my daughter. I got a divorce, and Ann moved her shop to places unknown. Well as the story goes, fast-forward to 2014 and she's got a new shop and doing my friend's Stacy's nails. Stacy and I worked together in the same profession. Ann takes note and asks if she knows me. Stacy says "yes" and so it goes. Ann then finds me on Facebook. Voile! Reconnect. Turns out her new shop is near where I live now, too. So I told her I would bring my daughter for a visit and to get her nails done. You have to love Facebook.

Does it matter what that picture says about me? Does it matter what my Facebook wall image suggests about me? Are you a business owner? Are you aware that people work with people they like? So back to those first two questions: yes. It matters in a direct and indirect way in how people form impressions about you. Those prospects who are researching and trying to figure out who they want to do business with are scrutinizing you. I've had several clients outwardly admit they watched me sometimes for over a year to see what I was about. This means I want to project positive messages (because I also want to attract positive people). When I post on Facebook, here are some things I gauge mentally against as I do it. Is this going to help someone else with insight that might not otherwise have about business or life? One of my main purposes with education-based marketing (and that is how I market) is to reach out and help other people. If I attract business from it -- great! But helping...

So I was perusing my blog's most-read items and noticed my posts about social media seem to be popular among readers. In fact, my most popular post for the month of August was about Facebook an social media. So it seems social media trumps True Blood . All right so I have learned everything I know about social media marketing via hands-on experience. I am by no means an expert per se. I am an expert on marketing, public relations and communication -- and these days social media plays an integral role in getting the word out about your business. The most common complaint or more like "whine" I hear about social media is that it's a time-suck vortex. I give this simple advice on how to manage your social media activities. First, I don't want those of you caught in the vortex to feel guilty. It's easy to get sucked in. I advise users with basic rules to apply. 15/15 Rule --only devote 15 minutes at the beginning and end of your work day to social media. If y...

We all assume that most people with manners know that social media can be either a positive or negative marketing tool. In terms of personal image management, social media plays a critical role in sculpting impressions of what people perceive about you. Unless you close off your privacy settings, which in business is unproductive, you have to manage your image carefully. We were talking about this subject in my writers' group. One of the members mentioned many people do not realize that now employers are looking at your page. They do not realize in the competitive race for a great, often-coveted position, employers scrutinize everything including your social media. Something (and seemingly as harmless) as being photographed with a glass of wine or cocktail in your hand can send a message you don't want an employer to see. Those social media users who also notoriously are photographed with that glass of wine at social events might think, "What's the harm? It's a...

I was chatting with 3L Publishing author Jason Kraus about his forthcoming book Late Bird . The subject of work ethic came up in the conversation. Jason admitted he chose 3L Publishing to create his book for two key reasons. He had watched my posts on Facebook to observe my viewpoints on key social and political issues, and he noted that I had an amazing work ethic. Without digressing into my stand on social issues, which I really don't spend much time revealing on social media but I guess I showed enough, I'll address the work-ethic discussion. What happened to good-old fashioned work ethic? I've asked that question many times over the years? Without making sweeping statements, I'll give examples. The younger generation, which I'll suggest is from about ages 20-30 give or take have some perspectives that baffle me. My operations manager who is in this age range says this generation thinks they are all "special snowflakes" -- and honestly that made me ...

People don't amaze me anymore. I've seen enough in the world not be amazed. I should maybe be pleasantly surprised and delighted, but amazed and in a stupor -- sometimes. Social media is often one of the biggest culprits of said amazement. I love social media. I've met so many people I might not have otherwise met. I've stayed connected to some people I have met and got to know better and thoroughly enjoy. I've enjoy the community support, and it gives me a place to "hang" out much like the water cooler only in a more productive way (via marketing). At the same time, I've connected with people who are a whole other breed of "folks" -- and sometimes they are odd ducks with different stripes of color I don't get. I'm an old fashioned girl. I am polite, well-mannered, and as my fiancé aptly puts it, "have social skills". I care about people. I try to help them. What I don't understand is the raw nature of social media whe...

The last six months roughly 80 percent of my new business leads are coming from social media (Facebook). I began by accepting "friends" who were connected to  my other friends. I personally friended about 200 people way back in 2009. Since then I have build up 3700 connections off the 200 base. I get about 5-10 friend requests per day. I accept most, but if it's a foreigner with no connections I avoid those ones. A lot of those men only want a "bride catalog" and no way and no thank you. It was a snowball effect in terms of the payoff. At first, I received the occasional query. Now I get anywhere from 1-2 solid leads from Facebook. I also get general questions from people who just need help. So what do you need to know about why I am getting steady interest? Here are my social media tips: Be Authentic . People like to work with people they like. So whatever you're posting let it reflect your personality and the real you. Don't try to manipulate your ...

What is social media etiquette when it comes to marketing your business in this growing area of community connection? We don't have a rule book on what is appropriate, but we do have common sense and a pretty good idea of what we don't like to see done. Here are some basic "rules" when it comes to using your social media "ecosystem" to promote business and not lose "friends": Marketing Promo Shared or Tagged on My Wall -- Big No, No ! I call this "hijacking" another person's social media connections. When you hijack another person's wall for your promotional purposes and post what is essentially a billboard on his or her wall you run the risk of being "de-friended". I find it very offensive when someone posts what is nothing more than an advertisement on my wall. Now... there are exceptions: The person is someone I really do know and talk to either in-person or on social media . This real friend hijacks my wall for h...

In giving my marketing presentation (especially in front of older audiences), a theme has developed. A contingent of the audience has what I'll call the folded-arm social media "disgust" attitude. The demographic here usually consists of those whose hair (how shall we say) has grayed. They don't accept social media, and most of these folks don't even know what to post or more importantly "why" they should post at all. Social media has become a lynchpin to my marketing mix. For me not to post on social media I would be missing a tremendous and valuable percentage of the market segment. Now the gray-haired naysayers who typically look at me almost with an incredulous disdain when I say it's mission critical to have a social media presence don't seem to understand social media in general nor do they even want to deal with it. The next contingent of naysayers will look at me with their eyes glazed over and push back by saying, "Who has time?...

I was recently criticized by an associate for "living my life" on Facebook. Today I came back from a very productive meeting with a Facebook connection who observed me for approximately six months before he pulled the trigger on a meeting. He is not the first business associate to use Facebook as a tool to keep an "eye" on a prospective business partner or employee. In the course of our conversation we discussed the whole Facebook "thing," and he made some interesting comments that I don't want to digress off the topic. So the question of being one of those people who lives their lives on Facebook I'm going to shove in the cubby hole I'll call "and that's your opinion". Here is my opinion: I do think there is a fine line between TMI and smart business. I do think there is a balance to strike. People like to work with people they like. So meaningless fluff or comments that border on salacious or inappropriate fall into what I cal...

Did you know you have a personal brand? It is funny but even you as an individual are in a way a brand. What do you project about yourself? Personal image is a part of a personal brand. If you're in business you do have to consider your self-image as a part of your personal brand, and what you project to the world. Your personal brand can affect who hires you. Your personal brand can affect whether or not you receive that promotion at work. Are you now wondering, "What is my personal brand?" A personal brand extends beyond self-image, but self-image is a part of your brand whether you realize you had a brand or not. Most people don't think of these things in business terms. Beyond what you project to others is any personal communication you put in the public arena that defines you both professionally and even personally. Personal brand identity starts with what people associate with your name and what you do. Everything about you out on the Internet is defining that...