New Service: Newsletter Creation

Hi everyone,

This is just a quick note to let you know that Writer Marketing Services has added a new service to its portfolio: newsletter creation.

For more information and pricing, click here.

Thanks,

Lucy

Creating a Universal Amazon Link for your Book

(Click any of the screenshots in this article to enlarge them)

It’s a pet hate of mine when authors post book links and only include an Amazon US link. Yes, it’s the biggest market. I get that. But there are lots more of us all over the world who shop at Amazon and might want to buy your books – so make it easy for us – and yourself.

First step – sign up for BookLinker. Create your account, and when it’s all sorted and ready to go, carry on reading.

1. Navigate to your page on Amazon (it doesn’t matter whether it’s UK, US, CA or wherever…)

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2. Select the entirety of the link in the address bar, and copy it (just like you’d copy and paste anything else)

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3. Open a new tab/window, and navigate to Booklinker.net. Then go to the ‘create link’ page. Paste your link into the space provided, and hit ‘create universal link.’

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4. You’ll then be prompted to select a prefix from the drop down menu on the left. Do that, selecting your preferred prefix. Then type your preferred suffix in the box next to it. When you’re happy, click ‘create link.’

045. That’s it! It really is as simple as that. You don’t have to worry too much about remembering the URL, because it’ll always be stored in your BookLinker account. All you have to do to access the menu is use that little blue box with the three white lines in the top-right hand corner.

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6. Now go on… share your link with the world! People will click on it and automatically be directed to their local Amazon store. And the best part? Log back into BookLinker afterwards and you’ll be able to see statistics for where in the world people are when clicking your links. You’ll be surprised…

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As well as for books, this also works for your Amazon author page. And, for those of you that are members of Amazon’s affiliate scheme, be sure and visit the ‘My Account’ page, scroll down and enter your affiliate tags to increase your earnings potential.

Happy Linking!

Lucy

Why Use Triberr?

Hi everyone,

I’m writing this post due to popular demand. I’ve had several clients ask me about Triberr, what it is, why they should be using it and how much time it will take up. I’ll do my best to answer these questions, and probably more, without writing a blog post that will be the same length as my latest novel 😉

Here goes…

Screenshot 2014-03-13 10.19.02

1. What is Triberr?

Triberr is a type of social sharing site where a user will join “tribes” that are relevant to the content they create on their blogs. So, for example, I’m in several writing, erotica, erotic romance and romance-type tribes. Once a user’s account is set up correctly, their blog’s RSS feed will automatically add each new post into the streams of people who are in the same tribes as them. The idea of this is that because people in tribes share similar interests, the posts they will see in their streams are things they will want to share with their own followers. Which brings me neatly onto point #2.

2. Why should you be using it?

Because it increases your reach. Massively. At the time of writing this post, I have 5,653 Twitter followers. So when I go into Triberr and approve other people’s relevant posts (this is key for me. I don’t want to alienate my followers by Tweeting stuff about children’s books or young adult), they will automatically be Tweeted onto my account. Not all at once, but at intervals set by me, which are half an hour.

Imagine this reversed. Because each of my blog posts are fed into Triberr, they’ll appear on my tribemates’ feeds and they’ll share them. So without Triberr, my Tweets would be seen by 5,653 people and probably then by others because my followers have Retweeted me. But with Triberr, my blog posts are automatically fed to the Twitter feed of every tribemate that approved my post – and because I’m in tribes that are relevant to my work, this is most of them. So, depending on how many Twitter followers each of my tribemates has, you can see how much my reach increases. The biggest reach of the tribes that I’m in is 452,533 people! That’s HUGE!

3. How much time will it take up?

Not much is the short answer. If you simply join us as a member and don’t have a tribe of your own (there are currently enough tribes out there that you don’t need to worry about setting up your own), it’s a quick and easy thing. Now I have everything set up correctly, I probably spend ten minutes per day approving relevant posts. I know we’re all busy people, but this is a tiny portion of time compared to the potential benefits. Because if you’re seen to be active, to be approving other people’s posts, then they’ll approve yours, too. So where your blog posts might have only reached 6,000 followers beforehand, with Triberr this is multiplied many fold with a small amount of time on your part.

I realise this is a really, really short piece which doesn’t go into the nitty-gritty of setting up Triberr, finding tribes and so on, but as I said I didn’t want to write a novel in a blog post 😉 . Ultimately, even if you’re not technically-minded, once Triberr is set up, it’s just a matter of going in once a day, going to your stream and hovering over that share button for each post you want to share. Technology does the rest for you. If you don’t want to share a post, then click the hide link. You’ll soon get into a rhythm. Once your stream is empty, give yourself a pat on the back and move onto the next item on your to-do list. But don’t forget to watch traffic to your site increase, especially if you’ve taken the time to write engaging blog post titles – something I personally am working on improving, and am already seeing results.

So, there’s Triberr in brief. If I end up with lots more questions and feedback on this post, then I may well write another article in a couple of weeks about the more nitty-gritty side of things. Alternatively, you could just pay me to get you set up on Triberr then sit back and reap the rewards 😉

P.S. If you’re an erotica or erotic romance author and want to get started – come check out my tribe.

Confirmed Speaker at Smut by the Sea

I’m delighted to announce that I will be speaking at this year’s Smut by the Sea event, which takes place on the 14th June in Scarborough, England.

I’ll be giving a talk on promotion and marketing from 1pm – 1.50pm. Come along to receive hints, tips and advice on how to handle the dark art of selling your books once you’ve written.

There’s lots more going on, too, including talks and workshops on inspiration, writing better erotica and an erotic reading and poetry slam. There will also be a bookstall, a craft stall and an erotic tombola.

So, what are you waiting for? If you’re up for some smut by the sea, then come to Smut by the Sea! Tickets and full details are available at http://smutbythesea.co.uk

Another Satisfied Customer

Jane Jackson contacted me to help her out with getting her books onto relevant Goodreads lists in order to increase her exposure on the popular book networking site. Having finished the project (for now), Jane kindly sent me a testimonial to put on the site. Here it is:

It was through posts between two authors on a writer’s loop that I learned of Lucy Felthouse’s Writer Marketing Services.  Having little technical know-how I was in desperate need of help to get my list of published books onto Goodreads lists.  I emailed Lucy and told her what I needed. She said  ‘fine’, we agreed a fee, she requested cover images which I sent, then I left her to work her magic. She completed a demanding job in a remarkably short time, and did it brilliantly.  With four more titles due out between January and May 2014 I will be calling on Lucy’s expert skills again. If you need help to market your book/s, she’s your woman. I’m delighted to recommend her.

Cyber Monday Deal!

How about an awesome Cyber Monday deal? Yeah, I thought you’d like that. So how about this:

Book any length of blog tour, and get it HALF PRICE!

That’s right – a one week blog tour will set you back just £10, two weeks £20, and so on.

And yes, you can book and pay now, and save the tour until later.

So, what are you waiting for? Go here to see prices and options, and book your blog tour. I’ll send you an email within a couple of days with the next steps.

This offer is open until 10am GMT on the 3rd December, so be quick!

Increasing Reach on your Facebook Page

Here’s a handy tip for increasing reach on your Facebook page. “Reach” is Facebook’s word for how many people have seen your posts in their timelines. And I’m talking “fan” pages here, not profiles.

Normally, if you’re promoting book buy links, blog posts, etc, you’d type your message and the link into the box, then hit “post.” It’ll then go out and a percentage of the people that like your page will see it. To increase that number, give this a try:

Instead of posting the link in the same box as your text, try writing your text, then saying you’ll include the link in the comments. Post it, then post your link as a comment on that particular post. See screengrab:


Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge


I’ve tried this myself, and in the statistics of my page, it’s roughly tripling the number of people that see my posts. So it may take a few seconds more, but it’s worth it for that many more users to see what you’re posting.

I’m not 100% sure why Facebook do this, but I suspect it’s a) because they don’t want people linking out of Facebook, taking traffic away and b) because they want you to pay to use that “boost post” button. Can’t blame them for wanting to make sure cash out of page users, I suppose, but it’s pretty annoying as that’s the only way users are supposed to promote things, as opposed to on their personal profiles.

Give it a try. I hope it helps!

Testimonial from Liia Ann White

I just received this fab testimonial from Liia Ann White – who booked a blog tour for her latest release through WMS.

I used Lucy’s Writer Marketing Services for a blog tour and was instantly left wondering why I hadn’t used her earlier. I’ve used other promotional companies to organise blog tours and appearances, but none of them compare to Lucy. Within hours of emailing her regarding the tour, she responded – not an easy feat with the time difference between the two of us – and she had great spots booked up within days. The entire process ran smoothly and I couldn’t have been happier.

The tour was a great success and Lucy promoted my guest spots on both her personal Twitter and Erotica For All accounts.

I plan on using Writer Marketing Services again and again and again.

What You Need To Know About Blog Tours

  • What is a blog tour?

A blog tour is a way to publicise you and your book. You write guest blog posts or answer interviews which are then posted on carefully chosen host blogs on a set date.

  • What are the advantages?

It’s great publicity which boosts sales! As you’ll be appearing on a different blog each day you have the chance to gain yourself new readers, let existing readers know about your new releases and get your work added to those all important to be read lists! You are given the opportunity to speak to readers and engage with them, increasing your chances of them checking out your books.

  • What is a guest blog post?

A guest blog post is where you write something that will be of interest to readers, whether it’s about your writing process, your characters, your inspiration, etc. These are then posted on a host blog along with your book cover and buy links to make readers aware of you and your work.

  • What should I write about?

See How To Write Guest Blog Posts for more information on this.

  • Should I write something new for each stop on the tour?

You don’t have to, though it’s highly recommended. Some tour hosts will insist that your content is unique  as sending the same thing out to more than one blog has several drawbacks: the search engines penalise for duplicate content, meaning your post is less likely to be ranked highly; it looks like you can’t be bothered to write new content; there may be people following you on each stop of your tour and they won’t be happy to see the same posts appearing and with each new discussion you have more chance of drawing in different readers as you’re giving them a new ‘hook’ and making them interested in you and your work.

  • What happens after the post is made live?

The post will be publicised on social networks as outlined in the Blog Tour Packages information, but you will also need to publicise this yourself. Send emails to your friends, post something on your own blog and send out links via your own social networks. The more visitors you have, the better. Also, you must check back periodically to see if there have been any comments on your piece and answer them and any questions where applicable.

  • How long does a blog tour last?

That’s up to you. Packages range from one week to four. For more information, visit the Blog Tour Packages page.

  • What do I need to supply for a blog tour?

See Blog Tour Requirements for a list.

  • Your prices are all in GBP – does that mean you only work for UK authors?

No, though I’m in the UK so you’ll need to pay me in GBP. Use a free currency converter to find out the rough cost in your currency. Then you can use PayPal to send funds to me in GBP.

  • I want in. How do I go about booking a blog tour?

Visit the Blog Tour Calendar & Sign Up Page to find out what dates are available and send me your information.

Getting Started with Amazon Author Central

Amazon Author Central is a great free tool to help you promote your books. Once it’s all configured and all your books are added, a link to ‘More About the Author’ will be included on each of your book pages. This means readers can easily find out what other books you’ve written/appeared in, more about you, see a link to your website, find out about upcoming events, and more.

Once it’s set up you just have to make sure it’s kept up to date, i.e. when you have new releases or arrange signings/events.

What many people don’t realise is you need SEPARATE accounts for the UK and US versions of Amazon. If you want to make the most of it, setting up just one account won’t do. It’s a nuisance, but you’ll have to do everything twice, and be aware that the two versions vary slightly.

Amazon Author Central UK: http://authorcentral.amazon.co.uk

Amazon Author Central US: http://authorcentral.amazon.com

Just sign up for free accounts on both sites and follow the instructions to set up your page.

Here’s an outline of what you can do:

  • Add an author photo (and additional photos)
  • Add your books (if you’re listed as the author, this should be straightforward. If, however, you’ve contributed to anthologies, you may find you’ll have to contact Amazon and have them manually add the book to your page.)
  • Add a biography (make sure to update this accordingly)
  • Add a blog RSS feed (a great way to get your blog in front of new people and encourage them to follow you – currently only on US version)
  • List events
  • Add videos (great if you have trailers for your books)
  • Add your Twitter handle so people can see your latest Tweet and easily follow you
  • See sales information for your titles
  • See customer reviews for your titles
  • Amend and add to product pages (a great way of adding great editorial reviews you’ve had for your books to your product pages – though unfortunately this is only currently available on the US version of the site)


Make sure to take full advantage of everything offered here – it’s free promotion, and a great way to make people aware of you as a writer and hopefully buy more than one of your titles!

All of the features are self-explanatory and easy to use, so get signed up today and make Amazon work for you!

Here are my author pages on both sites so you can see what’s possible:

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lucy-Felthouse/e/B003ZA5I5E/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Lucy-Felthouse/e/B003ZA5I5E/ref=sr_tc_ep?qid=1316187928

**ALSO**

You can also do the same on the French and German Amazon sites now. Your books will be listed under English-language titles, unless of course you’ve had books translated and sold in those languages.

Use your browser’s translate function or have one of the English language sites open in another tab to help guide you through the process on these two sites, as the layout is identical.