My greatest challenge as a writer isn’t staring at a blank page, or coming up with stories. It’s the business necessary to get my writing in front of the reading public.
I’ve found that
even if you’re fortunate enough to get hooked up with a publisher, the lion’s
share of sales is generated by the author’s social media skills. One of the
first questions a literary agent, or publisher will ask today, is what does
your Author’s platform look like? How many friends do you have on Facebook,
followers on Twitter, clicks on Snapchat, or Instagram? It’s just the cost of
doing business, and you better have the answers.
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| http://amzn.to/2CkMr5x |
Most authors
sell about fifty books. And if that’s the sum-total of your sales, you’ll spend
the next few months trying to find a new publisher.
Social media
can be very intimidating for the uninitiated. But by taking it slow, and
learning the ins-and-outs of one media site at a time, you can start attracting
‘friends,’ and building an audience for your work. You’ll also build a
community of like-minded people who can act as a support system to share ideas,
and help bolster sales.
I started by
creating an Author page on Facebook. The easiest way to check out other
author’s pages and getting some idea of how they use social media to increase
their readership, is by looking inside the cover jackets of the books you enjoy
reading, books in your genre, and then going to their website. There, you’ll
find the URLs of all their social media sites.
Wherever you
start, It’s all about developing personal relationships. Nobody likes to be
‘sold.’ But if you start developing friends, and bringing them into your
writing process, and sharing parts of your life that make you unique, outside
of your book, you may be on your way.
By sharing
activities that interests you, you’ll find other like-minded people that share
your interests. And once your FB friends start responding to your posts, or
your twitter feed, or your Instagram account, you might see an uptick in sales.
The first marketing
specialist I worked with broke it down into a three-pronged philosophy.
Thirty-three percent of what you post should be something that interests you,
or the main character of your book. My protagonist, Jack Bertolino, likes to
cook Italian. So do I. Every so often I’ll add a recipe that I’ve discovered
online. Sometimes just the photograph of a great dish of pasta gets people
engaged.
I love to share
photography. It elicits emotion from readers and I get to share a visual art
form that informs my work, without having to explain too much. That becomes the
second piece of my pie chart.
The third piece
of the pie is related to books. And not all of my books, all the time. I’ll add
quotes of other authors that write in my genre. Crime/thrillers. Something like
this:
“I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life
insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was
a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room.” Raymond Chandler- Farewell, My Lovely
I’m a big fan
of Walter Mosley. He’s someone I read and share. I just posted this interview,
he gave to The Paris Review, on my FB Author page:
INTERVIEWER Which
writers inform your work? Clearly you’ve read Dashiell Hammett. MOSLEY I read a
lot of Hammett, Chandler, Ross Macdonald.…Share
THEPARISREVIEW.ORG
Click on his
name above and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
As you develop
relationships with other writers you respect, you can support their efforts,
share their posts, and review their newest releases. The more reviews you
write, the more you can expect to receive in return. The more reviews your book
collects on Amazon, the more Amazon will promote your book.
And now it’s
time to promote your own book, with your reviews, press releases, and
promotions on social media. Again, mix it up with the other aspects of your
life you’ve shared, and people are more likely to give your book a read, and
then hopefully a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Both sites are extremely
important to selling books.
Amazon, because
more books are sold on Amazon than any other retail outlet, and Goodreads,
because as you build a following on their site, you’re being read and reviewed
by your target audience, people who love books. And Goodreads is an audience
who shares what they like. And that’s how social media is supposed to work.
Lansing closed up his Tribeca loft and headed for the West Coast where he landed a co-starring role in George Lucas’ “More American Graffiti,” and guest-starred on numerous television shows.
During his fifteen-year writing career, Lansing wrote and produced “Walker Texas Ranger,” co-wrote two CBS Movies of the Week, and co-executive produced the ABC series “Scoundrels.”
John’s first book was Good Cop Bad Money, a true crime tome he co-wrote with former NYPD Inspector Glen Morisano.
The Devil’s Necktie, his first Jack Bertolino novel, became a best seller on Barnes & Noble and hit #1 in Amazon’s Kindle store in the Crime Fiction genre.
Jack Bertolino returns in John’s fourth novel, "The Fourth Gunman."
A native of Long Island, John now resides in Los Angeles.
Catch Up With John On www.johnlansing.net, Goodreads, Twitter, & Facebook!
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2 Comments
I have seen the art that Mr. Lansing posts on FB and it's beautiful. As for this book, it was an exceptional read!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks to Writers and Authors for hosting me today. Your support is always appreciated.
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