The rise of AI-generated books is sparking concern among many. We all know the book market is huge, yet the speed at which new works are being added prompted Amazon to place a ‘3 books per day’ upload limit. I think we all agree that’s more than a little worrying.

It’s frustrating, too. Vying for a reader’s attention has always been challenging, but this new competition has some authors fearing it will soon become too hard (and expensive) to grab the reader’s attention. Dread rises in the form of a question: in this widening sea of books, what are my chances of being found and read?

It’s easy to give over to anger and depression when things change, especially when it feels unfair and unjust. But as authors have always done, we must use our emotions to fuel transformation.

The board has changed. It’s time to change with it.

We’ve weathered disruptions in the book industry before, and while AI is reshaping all industries, as people, one of our biggest strengths is our ability to adapt. Marketing will become more challenging for authors, but we can use our human edge to come out on top. It’s time for us to push ourselves and leverage our strengths, showing readers we have much more to offer them than machines.

Let’s talk about how we do it.

1. Write an amazing book.

Seems sort of obvious, right? Sure, but the real message here is that AI books will only get better in time, so we must continue widening the gap. Readers will have many choices on what to read so our books should be exceptional. To date, many authors have focused on volume to make a living, but moving forward, writing better books will become as important (if not more).

Amazing books in the age of AI should contain something else, too: emotion, insight, and depth rooted in human experience. This is something that machines can’t replicate (although they will try). As humans, we understand how isolating life can be when we experience certain things that stir deep emotions, struggles, insecurities, and vulnerabilities. Who better than us to create authentic characters that our readers can truly relate to and connect with? (Read: How to Leverage Humanity in Stories to Outshine AI.)

2. Embrace authenticity, building trust and connection.

AI isn’t only impacting the book industry–it’s everywhere, with readers being as exposed to it as us. AI curates searches at Google, chatbots claim the bottom right corner of every website. Meta AI bots piss everyone off with their uncanny ability to ignore hate speech but flag that cute picture of someone’s cat as harmful and inappropriate.

Fake social profiles. AI-generated images everywhere.
Every third ad is a new AI tool or service.

It’s the gold rush of AI, but guess what follows? Saturation. People get sick of all things manufactured, simulated, and fake. It’s early still, but a looming saturation is coming. Authors should be ready because, in an increasingly artificial world, people will crave one thing above all else: Authenticity. They will be drawn to human presences, voices, and interactions.

This is an incredible opportunity for authors. By recognizing the universal need for authenticity and connection, they can draw their potential readers in by being someone who shares their human side!

Go deeper with your interactions with readers. Think about points of common ground: What experiences do you and your readers share? Which of your thoughts and perceptions will resonate, making them feel seen and heard? How can you share anecdotes, ideas, sparks of humor, and bits of your personal life alongside discussions about your creative work? What topics and themes in your book suggest areas of common interest? Start some conversations.

It might take practice, but being open and authentic can turn readers into lifelong fans…of you. These relationships are incredible–knowing people are in our corner sustains us when life gets hard. Too, not only will devout readers look forward to the next book, but they’ll want others to discover your books, too.

3. Create a “clubhouse” for your readers.

Adding to the point above, I have always believed marketing is about relationships, not sales. We build strong relationships by caring about others, making them feel valued, and giving them something they need. When this is done right, sales follow naturally.

It’s great to use social media as a way to find potential readers and connect with them, but trying to be everywhere at once is overwhelming. People can become fatigued by social media too. This is why thinking about creating a meeting spot away from the noise of the online world can be a great way to forge meaningful bonds with readers.

Your “clubhouse” can be anything that works for you: an online community or group, a personal newsletter or Substack, a private forum attached to your site, etc. Whatever your clubhouse looks like, don’t bombard folks with promotion. These people aren’t dollar signs and trust me, AI will be targeting them everywhere, trying to sell, sell, sell. So be different. Focus on the relationship: share content they’ll like, ask and answer questions. If you’re communicating through a newsletter, be the person they are always happy to hear from! Your clubhouse should make people feel seen, cared about, and valued.

4. Think we, not me.

As the fight over a reader’s attention heats up even further, we may think we need to isolate ourselves from other authors because they are our competition. Not so. Human authors are our allies.

No matter how well you write or how big your audience is, you only have a sliver of the potential reading audience. Authors with similar books also have loyal readers, and many are different from your own. Collaborating with authors who write similar, high-quality books can be a win for you both as you’ll each reach new people.

Collaboration is about more than sharing audiences—it’s about creating a sense of camaraderie. Readers will notice and appreciate authors who prioritize relationships over sales pitches. Too, every author has unique experiences, ideas, knowledge, and connections. Joining forces with other authors and sharing what you each know means less trial and error.

5. Educate yourself and watch for scams.

Whenever there’s a disruption, people look for opportunities to monetize whatever has changed. Part of thriving as an author will be staying informed and watching for profiteers selling “easy solutions.”

Self-publishing created a ramp-up in vanity presses, predatory promotional and editing services, and low-skill freelancers looking to bleed authors of their cash. This era of AI will be the same.

If you need AI solutions for marketing, research before investing in courses, ad services, or tools. Look to trusted industry leaders like Jane Friedman, David Gaughran, or the Alliance of Independent Authors for guidance. Don’t fall for pressure tactics, FOMO, or fear-based marketing. And remember, if someone is selling something that seems too good to be true, it probably is.

One area to be especially cautious of is Ads. As the book market becomes increasingly huge, pay-to-play platforms (Meta, Amazon, etc.) are the real winners as people run ads (or more ads) to gain visibility. Likely we’ll see a rise in ‘Ad experts’ pitching their company to run your ads or use their AI tools and platform solutions. Some may be a good investment. Others will drain your pockets. Investigate and talk to other authors. Make sure the ROI is clear.

6. Decide how (and if) you’ll use AI as an author.

AI is a threat and a tool. Creatives (and folks in other industries who had their content scraped without content) are rightfully upset about AI. But it’s here to stay so we will all need to eventually decide if (and how) we’ll use it. This is a moral question and a practical one.

You may decide that while you’re morally opposed to using it to write, you use AI solutions to help you with other tasks–researching, marketing, time management, whatever. Or you are a firm no. But whether you use it or not, it’s important to understand how others are incorporating it, and the impacts this may have on our business.

The Key to Thriving:
Using Your Humanity

AI may be here to stay, but so are authors. We can’t control AI’s disruption over our industry, only how we respond. By focusing on what makes us uniquely human, we can create stories that resonate far more deeply than AI-generated books. Best of all, by simply being ourselves, we can forge genuine connections with readers and fulfill a universal longing for authenticity—an ironic consequence of the rise of AI.

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post How Authors Thrive in a World of AI-Generated Books appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

By Eleanor Hecks

Whether you publish traditionally or independently, getting the word out about your books requires a lot of work and monetary investment. Social media is an obvious choice for promoting your writing because you can zone in and target your reader base.

You also don’t have to spend a fortune for a chance to succeed. However, knowing which social media platforms work best for your particular genre can be a bit trickier.

Making the situation even more complex is the fact that many authors cross genres with their work. For example, a writer might create a science fiction novel with some elements of romance. Effectively branching out into other genres’ communication channels can expand your reader base and bring you more sales, catapulting you onto bestseller lists.

Fantasy/Paranormal/Science Fiction

Out of the thousands of writers in America, fantasy and paranormal writers have a very narrow niche in which to attract readers. Promoting your books where your target audience spends the most time is crucial to success in a saturated marketplace. For this genre, the best places to promote include:

• Reddit: The amount of fantasy and sci-fi conventions available for readers of these genres proves that people who love fantasy often enjoy engaging with other fans. These readers want to discuss the complex worlds authors have built in-depth. Finding a communicative audience is easy if you join the right subreddit — for example, r/Fantasy, r/horrorlit and r/scifiwriting all boast large communities on the platform. Be careful about how and where you post as some subreddits frown on any type of self-promotion.
• Discord: Discord is a platform with a chatroom format that makes it perfect for encouraging readers to chat about your fantasy worlds or roleplay as your characters. You can even create your own section to directly interact with your readers.

Mystery/Suspense

Mystery has several subcategories, such as cozy, suspense, true crime and hard-boiled. Figuring out where you fit can help you narrow down the best places to market your writing.

• Facebook: The largest demographic of mystery readers are those over the age of 65, so it’s important to build your community around platforms that older readers navigate towards. Since Facebook is the most popular social platform among this age group, it’s beneficial to join Facebook groups aimed at mystery readers. Be sure to read the group rules to make sure you are allowed to self-promote. Once you get a feel for the group and participate in some other posts, it’s okay to share your own special offers and new releases.
• YouTube: YouTube is the second most popular social media platform frequented by older adults, so you might consider marketing your writing towards YouTube’s vast reader community. As of 2024, YouTube attracts around 2.49 billion active users each month. Consider creating a thrilling video trailer for your book or film a series of live or uploaded book readings for your audience.

Romance

Romance is one of the most varied genres with subgenres such as historical romance, sweet, steamy, suspenseful and inspirational. Finding the right place to promote your books may boil down to tapping into reader emotions.

Romance is a genre marked by emotion, so your social media efforts should likewise pull at readers’ heartstrings and create emotional bonds with your audience. Since emotion often has the most significant impact on customer loyalty, doing so could help you develop lifelong readers who anticipate every future romance novel you release.

• Instagram: The age range of romance readers is especially broad — while the average age range is between 35 and 39 years old, half of frequent romance readers are ages 34 and below. Thus, it’s important to find a social platform that appeals to a wide audience. Instagram is one such app in the top social platforms among both millennials and Gen Z readers. Posts could be aesthetic images that encapsulate the vibe of your novel or a video sharing your book’s synopsis.
• TikTok: In recent years, many romance authors have turned to TikTok’s #BookTok community to spread the word about their books. A short video clip that plays like a movie trailer can attract readers. Look at the types of posts going viral, which hashtags the users included and try different tactics to attract new readers.

Horror

If you think of Stephen King when you hear the horror genre mentioned, you aren’t alone. However, there is a huge range of possibilities you might have as a horror writer. Some books focus on realistic crimes while others add paranormal or supernatural elements.

• X (formerly known as Twitter): The Horror Writers Association has a strong presence on X, so it makes sense you’ll find a lot of posts and engagement from horror writers. Keep posts short and to the point. Also, because of horror’s particularly political nature, X is a great place to keep up with current events and trends related to your work.
• Goodreads: Goodreads is an Amazon-owned platform that allows readers to review books and interact with authors in the form of polls and discussion threads. You’ll find numerous groups dedicated to the horror genre in particular, such as Horror Aficionados and Paranormal and Horror Lovers, which makes the platform a particularly good place to market your writing and communicate with fans.

Children’s/Young Adult

Knowing where to reach younger audiences for your books can be a bit tricky. If you write picture books, you’re promoting more to the parents than the kids. However, young adult novels can be taken directly to Gen Z.

• TikTok: A vast audience of millennial parents and young adult Zoomers frequent the video-based app. This audience is also the most likely to buy a product directly from a social media app, so a sponsored post or TikTok Shop ad could go a long way with this target market.
• Snapchat: Millennials, in particular, seem to enjoy Snapchat’s immediacy. While you will have to promote a bit differently on Snapchat’s platform than on others, if you can gain a following with engaging content, you’ll make regular sales by adding details on there.

Pssst…Mindy popping in to say that there’s an amazing, rapidly growing kidlit community on BlueSky–plus gatekeepers such as teachers and media specialists! If you’re new to BlueSky, check out these helpful tips.

Finding Your Niche

Creating a personal brand as an author takes time and trial and error. Try different platforms and ideas until you hit the ways that drive the most traffic to your books. Over time, you’ll grow your reader base and wind up selling more books each time you release something new.

Eleanor Hecks is Editor in Chief at Designerly Magazine, as well as a freelance writer who’s passionate about helping other writers of all genres grow their following and community. You can find her work featured on publications such as IndependentPublishing.com and Self-Publishing Review, or connect with her on LinkedIn to keep up with her latest work.

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Most industries are competitive. Athletes go head-to-head for the medal or trophy. Car companies vie for market share as do grocery stores, restaurants, and delivery services. Reality TV show contestants duke it out for prize money, prestige, and in some cases (ugh) roses. And our favorite retail Godzilla, Amazon? They compete with everybody.

Know who isn’t your competition? Authors.

Sure, on the surface, it appears a competition is taking place. After all, look at the sea of books on the market, the sky-high submission piles. Think about how we need to list comparable titles when we pitch our work to agents and how past book sales and current platform numbers carry weight acquisitions decides which author will receive a contract offer.

Is it true that agents only take on certain clients and publishers only publish certain books? Yes. But the “I’m competing against other authors” idea is a sacred cow leftover from a time when keeping authors divided suited a publishing monopoly (that has thankfully been broken).

Other Authors Aren’t Competition, They’re ASSETS.
Here’s Why.

1. Of the bazillion books out there, only a small fraction are ones your exact audience may be interested in.

So, skip any hand-wringing over how flooded the market is — it doesn’t matter. You only need to consider books like yours. And even then, far from being your competition, these books and the authors attached to them can HELP YOU SELL MORE BOOKS. Which brings us to…

2. Your goal is to find your audience. Other authors are a gateway to them.

What now, Batman? Yes, that’s right…your so-called competition has been there, done that and has the t-shirt. They’ve found their readers. In fact, every day they reach more. So, if you do your research and find authors who write books a lot like yours, their readers can become your readers.

In today’s world, authors have online platforms to reach readers no matter where they live, giving you a starting point for finding and connecting with your potential audience. Pay attention to where comparable authors spend their time and you’ll find potential readers. It might be a Facebook group, Instagram, special interest forums, blogs, etc.… Wherever you see authors who write similar books to you spend their time with readers, this is also a good place for you. Start spending time getting to know people in this space.

Don’t jab promotion at people, just join the conversation, enjoy common ground, and build relationships. If this truly is your audience, there will be topics that tie into your books that will be a subject of conversation and because that’s what you write about and are interested in, you’ll have lots to contribute. Eventually it will come out you ALSO write books about X and sooner or later, folks will check you out. And hey, while we’re talking about how established authors in our niche can help us…

3. Each author is a megaphone to their audience, meaning marketing collaborations with certain authors can help you build your readership more quickly.

When you research other authors to find ones in your niche, read their novels. Is the genre, style, and content a match to yours? Is the book well-written? Can you see yourself recommending this book to people?

If the answer is yes, this author may be someone you wish to collaborate with. If your values align, cross promotion will be a win-win. They encourage their readers to check you out and you do the same for them and you both gain new readers. So, find a good author match and think how you can help THEM sell books and gain visibility.

But wait…that doesn’t sound right. Shouldn’t I be trying to sell my own books, not someone else’s?

Glad you asked, because this ties into a truth we all have to bend our heads around:

4. No matter how fast you write, readers read faster.

One dangerous mistake we can make with our readers is to only think about US, not THEM. It’s ALWAYS about them, which means we need to take care of our audience even after they’ve finished reading all our books.

It takes time to release the next book, and in the meantime, our readers need good books to read. If we do nothing to stay in touch, they might forget about us and the next book, but if we make it a priority to give them more of what they love, we stay on their radar. Recommending books we know our readers will love shows we want them to have a great reading experience over and over again, whether it’s our book or not.

So rather than fearing losing our readers to someone else, we should encourage readers to seek out specific authors. Not only does this encourage reader loyalty, it’s also a great way to gain new readers ourselves. How? Because other comparable authors are in the same boat, and they will be looking to recommend books to their readers, too. Reciprocity is something that’s hardwired into us, so if they see us openly pushing people to their books, they will want to do the same in return.  This brings us to a final point:

5. Other authors have a wealth of knowledge we may need.

There’s a lot to publishing and marketing well, and we’re all constantly running into new situations that exposes a gap in our knowledge. Maybe we’ve never tried for a Bookbub and so don’t know the tips and tricks. Or we’re just starting out with newsletters or Amazon ads and have no idea how to do either right. What’s better in these cases – spending a bunch of time and money on research, courses, and trial and error, or talking to another author who is successful in that space and asking them to point us to the right information?

And just as others can use their experiences to help us, we can do the same for them. A rising tide lifts all boats!

Honestly, this is just the tip of the ice cream scoop as far as why authors are assets, so I urge you to think about your own genre and who fits your niche. Reach out to your not-competition. Consider ways you can help them, and how you can collaborate to gain bigger readerships!

What was the best advice another writer shared with you?

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Authors Are Assets, Not Competition appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

I hear writers talking all the time about building their enewsletter subscriber list. Build a subscriber list, the thinking goes, and you’ll sell more books.

Except it’s not that simple. These authors are focused on only the first half of their job: attracting new subscribers to their list.

They’re missing—often, completely neglecting—the other half: pleasing those subscribers once they get them.

Are You Too Focused on Numbers?

Holding a giveaway where you gather a long list of new subscribers may feel exciting in the moment. But how excited will you be when most of those subscribers unsubscribe? Or ignore your enewsletter completely, letting it collect dust in some unchecked inbox?

Dead weight on your newsletter may boost your numbers, but that doesn’t help you much. Those who aren’t regularly opening, reading, and clicking aren’t doing anything except giving you a false sense of how large your email list is.

It’s only by pleasing subscribers that you have any hope at all of ever selling anything to them. That’s because most people need to know you and the value you can deliver before they’ll be willing to part with their hard-earned money for something you created.

You have no hope of establishing that relationship if you don’t keep them opening and reading on a regular basis.

It Starts with Targeting the Right People

First, you have to be sure you’re targeting the right people when you’re building your list. (I’m assuming you’ve established your niche—if not, check out this post.)

However you’re reeling in new subscribers—through a freebie, giveaway, or other dangled carrot—the more that carrot fits your readers’ needs, the more likely they will be to stay with you for the long term. (We’ll talk more about newsletter carrots in a future post.)

In other words, if you write cozy mysteries, it’s not going to help if you join a multi-author giveaway where the rest of the books are in the horror genre.

A report on vacationing in the most famous cozy mystery settings—or even in your favorite cozy mystery settings from your books—might work out great.

3 Ways to Please Your Subscribers and Keep Them Coming Back

Think about how often you open an e-newsletter and READ it. Or click on a link to check it out.

Most likely, there are fewer than five that earn this special place in your life.

That’s because we’re all busy. Managing our email inboxes is just one of a zillion things on our to-do lists. Your subscribers are in the same boat. They’re looking for any reason to dump your email from their inbox so they have one less to deal with.

Not only must you avoid giving them that reason, but you must also give them lots of reasons to keep opening and reading. Yours has to be one of the few newsletters that earn that top spot in your readers’ lives.

How do you do that?

1. Give Them Something They Want

Too often authors fail to focus on that age-old question when it comes to their e-newsletters: “What’s in it for me?”

That’s what your reader is asking. If all you do is talk about you—without relating to them—they’re likely to leave pretty quickly.

Again, think about what you are looking for in your newsletters. Most likely, it’s one or more of these things:

• Helpful information
• Something funny or entertaining that will brighten your day
• Awesome deals you wouldn’t find anywhere else—on something you want

This is where a blog can come in handy. Every time you have a new post—if your posts offer readers something they value—alerting them to that post in your e-newsletter is one way to give them helpful information.

You can also alert them to other posts you’ve found that you think they would be interested in. Share some news that affects your niche, or alert them to a deal on a piece of equipment they may regularly use.

The key is to provide value to your reader. Go beyond talking about your latest book. In general, fill 80 percent of your newsletter with things meant to benefit your reader, and only 20 percent with self-promotional material.

2. Establish a Connection with Them

People stay on a newsletter list for several reasons. One of them is that they feel some kind of connection with the person who’s sending it.

You can help establish that connection with every newsletter you send. Write it as if you’re talking to a friend. One of my favorite newsletters is from Nick Stephenson of “Your First 10,000 Readers” fame. I often open and read his newsletters just to see what crazy story he’s sharing that day.

Nick is very good at taking stories from his life and turning them into valuable takeaways for his readers—all while talking in a way that makes you feel like he’s chatting away with you.

Of course, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. One, stay professional. You want to treat your reader like a friend, but obviously, keep some boundaries in place.

Second, remember to always think in terms of what your reader needs, not what you need. This is not the time to rant about your crazy editor, for example—unless you have some valuable lesson to share at the end of your rant that will benefit your reader.

Protect yourself—you don’t know who most of your readers are or what their intentions are. But sharing a few safe details or stories that help them to get to know you a little better will increase the odds that they stay with you over the long term.

3. Surprise or Delight Them Now and Then

A couple of writing friends of mine regularly give something away in their newsletters. They do this frequently enough that their readers feel compelled to open their newsletters “just in case” they may find some sweet giveaway there that they want to enter.

What to give away? You’re limited only by your imagination. Free books, reports, prizes, swag, quote cards, recipes, special graphics, coupons, and more will work. You could also hold a contest and award the winners.

Another way to surprise and delight is to include photos of your subscribers. If you recently went to an event where you met up with some of them, snap some selfies and then be sure to give those subscribers a shout-out.

You can also ask their opinion about something and then include quotes from some in your next newsletter.

The general idea is to regularly provide value, but now and then, provide a little more just to make your readers happy. That way they’ll be more likely to stick around.

Are Your Subscribers Still Reading?

I have several subscribers that have been with me since I started the Writing and Wellness e-newsletter in 2014. I love reviewing my audience data and seeing that most of those subscribers are highly rated—meaning after all this time, they’re still opening and reading my e-newsletters.

These are your most valuable readers by far, so do all you can to keep them coming back!

“The bottom line is that a newsletter can help you make more sales and reach more readers than any other marketing technique,” writes Catia Shattuck for Book Cave. “The key is to build an audience over time. Remember, you’re in this for a lifetime, not just a few months. Happy emailing!”

Note: Get Colleen’s free report on finding your blogging niche plus free chapters of her award-winning books for writers here!

COLLEEN M. STORY - Resident Writing Coach

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. In addition to writing several award-winning novels, Colleen’s series of popular success guides, Your Writing Matters, Writer Get Noticed! and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue, have all been recognized for their distinction.

Colleen offers personalized coaching plans tailored to meet your needs, and frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Colleen below. Free chapters | Master Writer Mindset

The post Three Things Your Author Newsletter Must Do to Please Subscribers appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

How can you make your author blog more successful?

Whether you’re just starting a new blog or you have one you’ve been working on for a while, the following steps will help you increase your readership.

1. Ask Yourself: What’s in It for My Reader?

By far the biggest mistake I see writers making with their author blogs is making it all about them.

They talk about their books, their writing process, their cats and dogs, their irritating family members, their travels, and sometimes, their meals.

Some writers can create entertaining posts on these topics, but not for long. (There’s only so much you can say about your cat, after all.)

What writers must remember is that they’re competing with millions of other blogs for their readers’ attention.

Think about what makes you stop and read a post. Usually, it’s because the headline promises to tell you something you want to know. Or it intrigues you for some other reason—often because you’re interested in the topic the writer is covering.

When writing a post, pretend you’re standing up in front of a group of strangers to talk about something for 10 minutes. You don’t want your listeners turning to their cell phones because they’re bored. Whatever you talk about, make it interesting to them!

2. Find Your Niche

Roughly 70 million posts are posted on WordPress sites alone each month.

To stand out amidst all that competition, it helps to have a unique niche—something to talk about that sets you apart from the rest.

I recommend you combine your personal strengths (are you funny? romantic? organized?) with your writing genre to come up with a unique niche that sets you apart from others.

Let’s say Paula is a thriller writer who is also passionate about flying airplanes. She could combine those two into a niche that would serve her well on her blog. Maybe she writes about thrilling flight adventures, exciting places to fly for vacation, or thrilling crimes that have taken place on or around airplanes.

How about Rose? She is a romance writer who loves gardening. Maybe she could have a blog that combines the two somehow. She could blog about the unique way that plants bring people together, plants that inspire romance or signify love, or how getting back to nature can help relationships.

As long as you choose something that you’re interested in, you can usually blog about it for years to come without getting bored. Choose a topic that’s at least distantly related to what you write about (it doesn’t have to be exact), and you’ll be likely to attract people to your blog who may be interested in your books.

3. Write Longer, Quality Articles

When people first started writing blogs, they were encouraged to write short—500 words or less. That’s changed today.

According to Backlinko, the ideal content length for maximizing social shares is 1,000-2,000 words. SEO company AHREFS also notes that long-form content (about 1,000 words) gets more backlinks than shorter articles—and that helps your posts show up higher in search engine results.

Then, make sure you’re creating quality posts. That means that your posts are deemed helpful, informative, and/or entertaining by your readers. In a survey by GrowthBadger, “quality of content” was the #1 most important success factor among all bloggers.  

Take some time to craft a good post every time you write one. Make sure you have at least a few solid takeaways for your readers—things they can use to make their lives better in some way.

4. Write Great Headlines and Subheads

There’s a science to creating “clickable” headlines. Fortunately, several companies have researched that science and made it available for us to use.

I highly suggest you use Coschedule’s free headline analyzer to check every blog headline you write. It will “score” your headline so you can see the difference between high-performing headlines and those people tend to ignore.

The Advanced Marketing Institute also has a headline analyzer and some helpful information on writing good headlines.

Then don’t forget to include subheads in your post. These are minor headings placed about once every 300 words or less to break up the text.

Most blog readers skim articles rather than carefully reading from beginning to end, so subheads are critical to keeping them on the page.

Headlines and subheads also help increase your SEO score. (Read on!)

5. Learn SEO and Use It!

You’ve probably heard about search engine optimization (SEO). If you’re already using it, you’re good to go. But if you haven’t started yet, don’t wait another minute.

SEO activities are those that you use to help your post show up sooner in search engine results. It sounds intimidating, but it’s not.

All you have to do is choose the keywords you want your blog to rank for—words that someone looking for your blog or stories might type into the search engine. Then use those keywords in your headlines, subheads, and articles.

You can learn more about SEO here. Once you have a general idea, make sure your blog has an SEO plug-in on the backend of the website. Yoast SEO has a good one you can use for free that will guide you toward improving your SEO score for each post.

6. Post Consistently!

A blog is a commitment. Promise yourself that you will post at least once a week (twice is better) for at least six months. Then check your results and see how you’re doing. (Google Analytics is the best way to see how your posts are performing.)

Orbit Media Studios found in a survey of bloggers that those who published more often were more likely to report “strong results.” I’ve found that choosing one day (or night) a week to write a blog helps keep me on track.

It’s easier to post more often and increase traffic if you invite guest authors to your blog. Interview people who are “experts” in your niche. You’ll expand your network that way, plus get more quality content for your blog. A win-win.

Yes, there are a lot of blogs out there. But if you find a niche that sets you apart, create quality posts, use SEO, and post consistently, you increase your chances of attracting new readers to your website and potentially to your e-newsletter as well. (I’ll talk more about e-newsletters in my next post!)

Note: Get Colleen’s free report on finding your blogging niche plus free chapters of her award-winning books for writers here!

COLLEEN M. STORY - Resident Writing Coach

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. In addition to writing several award-winning novels, Colleen’s series of popular success guides, Your Writing Matters, Writer Get Noticed! and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue, have all been recognized for their distinction.

Colleen offers personalized coaching plans tailored to meet your needs, and frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Colleen below. Free chapters | Master Writer Mindset

The post Six Ways to Make Your Author Blog More Successful appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

It’s 2023. Should writers have a blog?

It’s been the subject of debate for several years now. There was a time when, if you intended to publish and sell books, you were expected to write a blog too.

But it’s not so clear-cut today. There are a lot of ways to communicate with your potential readers, and blogging is only one of them.

Here are five reasons why I think it’s still one of the best.

1. Blogging Gives You Something to Talk About Besides “Buy My Book!”

Whatever online platform you’re on, you need something to talk about. You have your book(s) of course, but what else? Maybe you talk about your pets, your daily walks, your traveling adventures, or your culinary talents.

Some writers can manage this well, providing consistent entertaining content for their followers, but for others, the “What do I talk about now?” question comes up pretty quickly.

If you have a blog covering a topic you’re passionate about, you don’t have that problem. I’ve been managing my blog, Writing and Wellness, for eight years now, and I’ve yet to come up against any serious struggles when it comes to thinking up topics. (If you have a blog and you are struggling with this, you may not have found your perfect niche.)

Anytime you write a blog, you have a great source of information to share on all your other social platforms. That can be a lot easier than asking your cat to pose for the hundredth time.

2. Blogging Helps Attract New Visitors to Your Website

Yes, you can post pictures and text on your choice of social platforms, but will that draw readers back to your website?

You may not think that’s necessary. But how else can you introduce your reader to your work, or lure them into signing up for your newsletter?

Sure, you can ask people to subscribe on your Twitter or Facebook pages, but if all they have to review are your posts on those platforms, they are less likely to sign up than if you lure them back to your website where you have a juicy freebie to offer them.

Yes, you can offer freebies on other platforms too, but the point is that there are more limitations in design and presentation on these sites than there are on your website.

And then what if your social media platform of choice changes the rules? Suddenly you may not be able to reach some of your readers as well. Your website, on the other hand, remains strictly under your control no matter what.

People need to get to know you and believe you have something of value to give them before they’ll sign up for your newsletter. Everyone is more reluctant to give out their emails today than even a year ago. They’ll look for an excuse not to sign up, so it’s more important than ever that you make the idea enticing.

Having a blog that you regularly update with new information can keep a reader coming back again and again until they finally succumb to that tempting offer and join your list.

3. Blogging Helps You Become an Expert at Your Niche

When you find the right niche for your blog, you can then write about that niche over and over again. As you do, you’ll find yourself becoming the expert in your readers’ minds, which will only broaden your reach.

Let’s say you’re a romance writer who writes about the perfect vacation spots for couples on a budget. Do that for a couple of years and you’re soon to become the expert on it. Your site will be the one people come to for information when they want to find a unique, affordable romantic getaway.

If you do it right—post regularly (once a week at the very least) and follow SEO recommendations—you may soon find that Google is helping to send people your way when they search for topics you cover. Hello, new readers!

4. Blogging Can Open Up New Possibilities for Your Writing Career

Don’t be surprised if the more you blog, the more opportunities open up for you in your writing career.

My blog, for example, is the reason I’ve written three (so far) nonfiction books for writers. I never imagined I’d write and publish nonfiction books until after I’d been writing my blog for a while. I soon realized that writers needed more information on the topics I was writing about, and I could give it to them in the form of a book.

Now I’m both a novelist and a nonfiction writer.

I’ve also received several invitations to speak at writing conferences completely because of my blog—it’s helped establish me as an expert in my niche, and increased awareness of what I have to offer.

5. Blogging Gives You a Reliable Home Base

We all know that the writing life has its share of ups and downs. It can get tough at times, and if your books are all you have, you can feel easily discouraged.

If you have a blog too, however, it gives you a kind of “home base” you can return to no matter what happens with each book launch, or with anything else in life for that matter.

One of the writers I interviewed on my site shared how her blog became her writing refuge while she was battling a difficult illness. She didn’t have the energy to write another book, but she could continue to communicate with her readers and subscribers through her blog. She said it sustained her until she became well enough to write a book once again.

The market can be fickle, but a blog can give you a reliable conduit to your readers no matter what happens. Positive feedback from those readers can also be a lifeline when you’re going through a rough time.

Bottom line: A blog can give you a welcome outlet for your creativity even when you may not be up to writing another book for whatever reason.

And any kind of consistency in a writer’s life can be a great thing!

Pssst: Mindy here to say that a great way to draw people to your blog is to share an amazing guest post at a popular blog. Check out the Guest Post Guidelines at Writers Helping Writers. I hope I’ll see some incredible post proposals from our readers.

*Keep your eyes open for Colleen’s April post full of tips for making your blog successful.

Note: Need help setting your goals for the New Year? Check out Colleen’s FREE report here. It includes 7 questions you can ask yourself to determine what goals will work best for you.

COLLEEN M. STORY - Resident Writing Coach

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. In addition to writing several award-winning novels, Colleen’s series of popular success guides, Your Writing Matters, Writer Get Noticed! and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue, have all been recognized for their distinction.

Colleen offers personalized coaching plans tailored to meet your needs, and frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Colleen below. Free chapters | Master Writer Mindset

The post 5 Reasons Why It’s Still a Good Idea for Writers to Have a Blog appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

We’re all feeling the pinch of inflation, so Black Friday deals are even more welcome than usual, am I right?

Well, I’ve been scouting deals for you, so have a look at what I’ve found below.

Hopefully you’ll be able to get all the help you need without stressing your wallet!

Writing Mastery Academy:

Writing Mastery Academy offers on-demand writing courses, live webinars, and an online community to give fiction writers the knowledge, skills, and support they need to achieve all their writing goals. Get 50% off your first 3 months with coupon code BLACKFRIDAY22-50, or 20% off your first year of membership with coupon code BLACKFRIDAY22-20 by December 4th.

ProWritingAid:

Save up to 50% on select packages so ProWritingAid can give you clear, easy steps to improve your writing so you can share your stories and ideas with confidence. Sale ends November 28th.

Novel Factory:

Save 30% on annual subscriptions and learn the craft of writing to become more productive and profitable with their selection of templates and tools. Use the code BLACKFRIDAY2022 by November 28th to grab this deal.

Fictionary Storyteller:

Editing a manuscript is a big undertaking. StoryTeller makes editing easier by applying universal storytelling structures to each and every scene. Evaluate and revise your manuscript against 38 Fictionary Story Elements and save 40% while doing it. Grab this deal on monthly and annual subscriptions between November 23-30th using the code BLACKFRIDAY2022.

Women In Publishing Summit:

The publishing world can feel lonely and frustrating at times, so come learn from women in the industry and gain new knowledge and support as you write, publish, and sell. Save $50 off early bird ticket prices (so $100 in total) and get your ticket to the annual Women in Publishing Summit using the code WIPBF50. Ends December 4th.

Write | Publish | Sell:

TikTok is rapidly growing as a major platform driving book sales, so if you’re looking for a basic level course to get started without the overwhelm, we’ve got you covered in TikTok for Authors! Get 40% off this course with the code BF40TIKTOK by December 4th.

Spark Your Story Online Writing Program:

The Spark Your Story Lab will help you sidestep blocks, craft powerful memoir AND streamline the publishing process. Save 30% off the 12-month enrollment with the code BLACKFRIDAY2022 up to December 4th.

Publisher Rocket:

Get their signature Mastering Keywords Course free with the purchase of Publisher Rocket, a powerful tool to help you determine the best keywords for your book ($97). This sale runs from November 23-30th.

Savannah Gilbo’s Workshops:

If you want to Hook Readers in the First 5 Pages or Write Compelling, Well-Structured Scenes, use the code BLACKFRIDAY2022 from Nov. 23 – 28 to save 30% off enrollment.

Sacha Black’s Select Courses & Books:

Save 30% with the code BLACKFRIDAY30 by buying direct, whether it be to enroll in her Villains Masterclass, Anatomy of Prose: The Senses course, or her catalog of writing guides! On now until December 4th.

Shut Up and Write the Book:

Save 50% on your preorder until November 24th using the link here, and when you do preorder this step-by-step guide to writing your novel, and you’ll automatically be eligible to receive a free PDF digital workbook! Simply submit your proof of purchase to preorder@jennamoreci.com to receive your gift.

And of course, something from us: story support tools to help you write your very best book!

One Stop for Writers:

Save 40% on the ultimate story support tool! One Stop’s arsenal of ground-breaking resources was designed by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi to help you think and write like an expert:

SHOW-DON’T-TELL DESCRIPTION DATABASE
CHARACTER BUILDER
CHARACTER ARC BLUEPRINT
TIMELINE TOOL
STORY & SCENE MAPS
WORLDBUILDING SURVEYS
IDEA GENERATOR
TEMPLATES & WORKSHEETS
THE STORYTELLER’S ROADMAP
INSIGHTFUL CRAFT TUTORIALS & MORE

Confidently build characters with depth, craft fresh plots, and design worlds your readers won’t want to leave. Not a story expert? Don’t worry. One Stop’s Storyteller’s Roadmap guides you step-by-step as you plan, write, and revise your way to a publish-ready novel. Use the code BF2022 to receive a 40% discount on the 6-month plan.

(Deal ends November 30th.)

We hope you find a few things on this list that help you on your journey. Happy writing & saving!

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Top Black Friday Deals for Writers appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

By Becca Puglisi

Guest posting can be a great idea for a number of reasons. First, you’re helping a fellow blogger by providing valuable content that they don’t have to write themselves. Most bloggers are crazy busy, so having someone write a relevant, quality post for them is usually a godsend. At the same time, you’re providing that valuable content to potential followers who aren’t part of your regular audience—people who just might traipse on over to your blog and find out more about you and your books.

Angela and I love to host quality guest posters at our blog, but the process of finding those people can be frustrating. We have to turn away many more potential posters than we accept—usually for superficial reasons that can easily be avoided.

So if you’re a writer who’s interested in guest posting (or podcasting, being interviewed on a radio show, etc.), read on through today’s therapy session as I work through my angst about common pitfalls in this area. 

To maximize your chances for success, here’s what you should do…

When You’re Requesting to Guest Post

Follow the Blogger’s Preferred Procedures for Guest Posting

Bloggers have different ways of signing people up to post at their site. And if the blog you’re interested in is sizable, chances are, you’re not the first person to ask about writing for them. To simplify their lives, bloggers will typically create guidelines that provide the important details so they don’t have to answer the same questions over and over. 

A cursory search of the blog’s menu bar will usually show you those guidelines. If you can’t find them, try the search bar. If you’re still unable to unearth them, send a quick message to the blog owner letting them know that you’re interested in providing a guest post but you were unable to find their guidelines, and asking them to point you in the right direction. This tells the owner that you’re willing to follow any parameters they have for submitting a post. Believe me: they’ll be happy to hear that you’ve made an attempt in this area.

Offer Content That Hasn’t Been Done to Death

While posting at someone else’s blog can absolutely benefit the writer, it only works because if it also benefits the host. And it only benefits the host when your post offers new or fresh material for their readers. 

So before you pitch an idea, look at what’s already been posted there. Most blogs have a Category function that groups content according to its kind. Look up the categories that fit your idea, and read those posts. (You can also use the search bar if you can’t find a breakdown of categories.) If there are already a few posts covering your topic, or one was just posted a few weeks prior, that blog may not be the best fit for your idea.

BECCA’S PET PEEVE: Refrain from asking the host which topics they’d like you to write about. This sounds like a thoughtful thing to do, but it actually creates more work for the blogger as they have to look back and see what hasn’t been covered—essentially doing what you, the potential poster, could have done on your own. Remember: one of your goals in obtaining a guest post should be to make things easier for your host. So do your own homework here and you’ll likely get a better reception.

Offer More than One Topic

If you have multiple post ideas (and you’ve checked to be sure they haven’t been covered too much at the blog), give the host a choice. Our blog has been around in one form or another since 2008. That’s a lot of blog posts and finding new topics that we haven’t just pummeled into the ground can be a challenge. I LOVE when a guest poster provides options because it increases the likelihood that at least one of them will be a viable possibility.

Proofread Your Request before Submitting It

This should go without saying, but…it needs to be said. Your guest post request is kind of like the query letter for your book: it’s the host’s introduction to you and your work. If your submission is wordy, rambling, filled with mistakes, doesn’t provide the requested information, or otherwise needs more work, the host will know that your post is going to be more of the same. So read your request over carefully before sending it.

BECCA’s PET PEEVE: Include your contact information. And make sure that email address doesn’t have typos. /facepalm

When You’re Writing the Guest Post

Follow the Host’s Guidelines

By the time you’re given the green light for your idea, you’ve likely been provided with all the info you need to write it. The person you corresponded with (or maybe the guidelines themselves) will have told you the target word count, how much promotion is allowed, what kind of rating is preferred in terms of language, and other blog-specific dos and don’ts. If you have questions, just ask. Again, bloggers want you to have the information you need before you provide the post because it cuts down on the work that has to be done once the post comes in.

Take It Easy with the Promo

Whether you’re reading a blog post, participating in a Facebook group, or engaging with someone on Twitter, one thing remains true about self-promotion: too much is a turn-off. This is especially true in a blog post, because the purpose is supposed to be providing practical information to the reader. If every other paragraph contains a plug for the author’s book, product, or service, it starts to get old.

This became such a problem for Angela and me that we decided to restrict promotion to the poster’s bio. This doesn’t have to be your rule; many bloggers offer more latitude in this area. But the principle remains: too much promotion defeats your purpose of helping the host and their audience. So keep it to a minimum.

Proofread, Proofread, Proofread

There comes a point when the effort to edit a guest post just isn’t worth the host’s time. Like your manuscript when you start sending it out, your efforts are much more likely to be rewarded if your post is clean, practical, and concise.

After the Post is Published

Respond to Comments

DO NOT skip this one. It’s one of the best ways to gain new followers. Continue the conversation. Make real connections. Provide more help by answering commenters’ questions or pointing them toward people and resources that can. Even a simple Thanks so much for reading, or I’m so glad the post was useful can make a lasting impression.

Promote the Post on Social Media

Again, the guest posting opportunity is all about quid pro quo. A great way to help out your host is to share your post on your own channels, encouraging your followers to head over and check it out. Sure, they’re going to be reading your post, but they’re also visiting the host’s blog. It would be great for the blogger who gave you this opportunity to pick up a few followers they didn’t have before.

Now, maybe you don’t see this as a good thing. Maybe you’re concerned that turning your readers on to other blogs will pull them away from yours. In all honestly, this is not something to worry about. As a writer, how many bloggers do you follow? Don’t you have different go-to people, depending on what information or specific experience you’re looking for? Writers benefit from helping other writers. They just do. So get out there and share the love.

And get moving on those guest post requests! Everyone has something to say, knowledge to share from their own unique perspective. Put these tips to use, expand your audience, and help out a fellow writer at the same time.

BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Tips for Landing a Guest Posting Gig appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Every December we put together a gift-giving list for writers for those of you wanting to pick up a little something for critique partners & book buds, or to source ideas for your personal Holiday Wish List.

This year, we’re doing this early. Quite early. Why, you ask?

Supply Chain Issues

You may have heard whispers about paper shortages, printers being backed up with orders, and delivery snags. Well, this isn’t some sort of urban legend. Unfortunately, the pandemic has caused havoc with the supply chain and word is, we all need to brace for some challenges as the holidays ramp up. (If you’d like to read more about this problem, Jane Friedman talks about the supply chain issues that may impact writers this Christmas and Writers in the Storm looks at strategies for authors to work through these challenges.)

By posting our list early, we’re hoping you’ll get a jump on ordering print books for the holidays and won’t be affected by any supply chain problems. Let’s dig in!

Angela & Becca’s Book Recommendations

When it comes to suggesting books as gifts, the hard part is narrowing it down. But over the years we’ve come across some real gems you may want to pick up. (May contains affiliate links because heck, they help pay the bills.)

Books to Help Writers Grow Their Creative Skills

Luckily there’s a ton of great books out there to help us strengthen our writing skills. Personally I am a fan of ones that tackle a specific topic and explore it in depth. If you’re like me, check these out.

Blueprint for a Book is written by one of the smartest women I know – Jennie Nash. She’s helped thousands of writers craft powerful fiction using her blueprint method. Jennie drills down to what makes a story meaningful and shows writers how to bring key elements together to build a solid foundation. The result? Writers know what to write and why, and can focus on delivering a story hardwired to create an emotional impact.

The Anatomy of Prose is a terrific book if you feel your storytelling is solid but maybe your writing isn’t quite as strong as it could be at the sentence level. Add a ton of ideas to your writerly bag of tricks and laugh as you do so as Sacha’s bawdy humor is legendary. And tippity-tip, while you’re picking up this book, snag her Heroes and Villain books, too.

On Writing really doesn’t need a summary from me because, well, it’s Stephen King. That’s really all that needs to be said. I loved this book because it shows where his life experiences and fiction collides, and it’s full of good, writerly advice to carry with you. A staple for all writers.

Boundless Creativity is for writers wanting to let go of self-doubt, impostor’s syndrome, and just move forward and create. This book takes a holistic approach to writing, and I don’t think you can read it and not come away unchanged. It will help you get in touch with why you need to create and show you how to let go of the mental blocks holding you back.

Writing Your Story’s Theme is one on my pick-it-up list. K.M. Weiland is a master of writing craft and all her books are an auto-buy. Theme is something that can seem like an afterthought for some writers, not something to think too hard about. And as Katie herself states, “Theme is the heart, the meaning, the point. Nothing that important should be overlooked.” My gut says if you want to level up your fiction, you should read this book.

The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Vol 1) released in October and the response to it has been huge (don’t tell The Emotion Thesaurus, but some have said this may be their favorite guide yet). So if you want to write conflict that targets your character’s soft spots and creates an impact, this is the book for you. In addition to master-level advice on leveraging conflict and tension, it showcases over 100 conflict scenarios and supplies endless possibilities for adapting each.

Now might also be a good time to complete your collection if you’re missing any of our show-don’t-tell thesaurus guides. So if your bookshelf needs a rainbow to spruce it up, or you want to be a writer friend’s superhero, you can find all our books here, in print, digital, and PDF.

Books to Help with the Business Side

Becca and I have four businesses between us, and most days, I’m not sure how we juggle them all. I do know we’d be a twitching mess if not for our need to consume education wherever we can. Here are some of our favorite reads.

Start with Why is all about the power of authenticity and how to inspire others, and it’s an amazing book. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, success means building connections with readers and influencers that are meaningful and genuine. People love a good read, but it’s an author’s authenticity and passion for what they do that converts readers into fans.

Drive is all about understanding what motivates people. It may be I got more from this book as I work with others and knowing what makes them happy and productive is key to retaining good help, but I also came to understand more about myself and how to be happier & more self-motivated. This can be a tough business and motivation must come from within.

Author Branding is a great how-to book that helps writers define their brand and use social media to showcase it effectively. So, if the whole idea of putting yourself out there gives you hives, pick up this book. It’s easy to understand and is filled with great advice and helpful tips.

Wide for the Win: I’ll round things off and suggest a read that looks at going WIDE with your books, leveraging all platforms for selling your book rather than focusing exclusively on Amazon Kindle Unlimited. Mark Leslie Lefebvre has vast experience at all levels of publishing and knows a ton on selling fiction for a living, so you may wish to add this book to your bookshelf.

Books to Help Writers Flex Their Marketing Muscles

The 1-Page Marketing Plan is aimed at business owners, but here’s a secret…your writing is a business. Sometimes looking outside the publishing industry can lead to a fresh perspective and deeper insight into marketing in general. While I used this more for our SaaS business, you might find it helpful to go through this book and create a 1-page marketing plan to identify important components like identifying your audience, messaging, and what you want to accomplish.

Copywriting Secrets is a great primer on understanding how certain language choices will lead to stronger sales. There wasn’t a lot here I didn’t know (but I read a lot of marketing books), but this one has great coverage, so it’s a good all-in-one source. Just remember to always be authentic and use your best judgment. If your sales copy feels blatant or manipulative, people will notice.

Newsletter Ninja is another one on my “to buy” list, because it’s one I see referred over and over. And sure, I know some say email is dead and it’s all about TikTok, Facebook, and the Gram, but you can’t argue with the intimacy of a personal readership. Email subscribers are often the people most invested in what you write, so you want to cultivate those relationships. The key is knowing your readers well and generating engagement, so I look forward to upping my game in the newsletter arena with this book.

What Books Are on Your Wish List?

Is there a book you’ve heard good things about, and you’re hoping it will end up in your hot little hands this holiday season? Let us know in the comments so we can check it out!

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Bookish Gifts for Writers (TIP: This Year, Shop Early) appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

How can you tell if your book marketing niche is the right one?

There are three signs to look for.

But first, let’s review what we’re talking about.

What is a Book Marketing Niche?

Your books appeal to a certain type of reader. As the author, you have to not only determine who those readers are but then fashion your author platform to help attract and retain those readers.

Finding your “niche”—your unique place on the market—helps you do that.

But that’s easier said than done.

Let’s take Ruby, for example. She writes paranormal romance books, so she needs to appeal to readers who are interested in paranormal circumstances and characters.

She could simply blog about paranormal romance. But she’s up against a lot of competition in that category, so she’s likely to disappear in the vast wilderness that is the Internet.

She needs to find a way to stand out.

How Authors Can Find Their Unique Niche

After I got my first novel publishing contract, I struggled to find a marketing niche.

When I got my second publishing contract, I knew I had to step it up. I did a lot of thinking and finally decided to try combining my professional skills as a health writer with my passion for creativity.

It was that decision that helped me create Writing and Wellness, my motivational website and blog. Once I did that, my career took off simply because I was talking about something (wellness for writers) that no one else was.

Today, I recommend that you combine your personal strengths (are you funny? romantic? organized?) with your writing genre to come up with a unique niche that sets you apart from others.

Examples of How to Create Your Perfect Book Marketing Niche

Let’s go back to Ruby. She sits down and takes inventory of her skills. Maybe she asks her friends and family what they find exceptional about her.

She zeroes in on two special skills/passions:

• She’s a fierce researcher. She knows and loves the details.
• She’s got a wicked sense of humor her friends love.

Considering these strengths and her genre, Ruby tries a few combinations in a potential author site tagline:

• Paranormal romance for smart readers who know their spirits.
• Ghost stories that answer the questions you were too terrified to ask.
• Romantic ghost stories that will tickle your funny bone.

She continues playing around with the ideas, and finally lands on:

Ruby Lovett’s Romance: Where paranormal love is fun!

Now I’m just playing around here—I’m sure you could come up with something better if you wanted to. But you get the point.

Now when readers visit Ruby’s site, they’re going to get a good idea of what she writes about. If that topic appeals to them, they’ll stick around to read more.

Already, Ruby is on her way to establishing a powerful niche in her genre.

How to Tell if You Have the Right Book Marketing Niche

Now that Ruby has a niche—as communicated in her tagline—she needs to test it out to see if it’s going to help her attract readers, build her subscriber list, and eventually sell more books.

Ruby starts blogging about fun paranormal love. Maybe she publishes a blog post on where ghosts like to go for dates. Or she creates a video about the three most important questions ghosts should ask their partners. She may interview a relationship expert on her podcast and ask about the unique challenges ghost couples face.

As she works on these things, she can ask herself the following questions to see if this niche is working for her:

1. Are we bored yet?

Authors who find the right niche never get bored with what they’re talking about.

If this is the right niche for Ruby, she’ll never tire of exploring this whole idea of how paranormal love can be fun. She will have no trouble coming up with new ideas for posts or podcasts, and she’ll find that the more she does it, the more she loves it.

If, however, this is the wrong niche for Ruby, she’ll get bored with it rather quickly—say, in about 3-6 months. She’ll run out of ideas and will start to stress about what to blog about. Her posts will get hum-drum and dry, and the fun will drain out of her work.

Question for you: Are you bored with your book marketing niche?

2. Are the readers coming?

The second sign that Ruby has found the right book marketing niche is that her readership is growing.

She’s getting more visits to her website, more “likes” and shares on her social media posts, and ultimately, more newsletter subscribers. People are commenting on her content and sharing it with their friends. She’s building a reputation for herself as the queen of fun paranormal love.

If, on the other hand, Ruby has been working this niche for 3-6 months and nothing is changing—no one is reading the blogs, her number of subscribers has stayed pretty static, and her social media posts are going unnoticed—it may be time for a change.

Question for you: Is your book marketing niche attracting readers?

3. Are my opportunities expanding or shrinking?

Once you find your best marketing niche, your opportunities will start to expand.

As Ruby becomes the “expert” in fun paranormal love, her reputation for hosting hilarious podcasts about ghost dating challenges spreads.

Soon the coordinator of a writing conference emails and asks if Ruby might be willing to do a workshop on why authors should consider starting a podcast. Or a fellow writer contacts her to find out if she’d like to collaborate on a paranormal dating cookbook.

Ruby may want to self-publish a coffee table book filled with photographs of spooky haunted dating spots or use her research skills to investigate stories of supernatural lover’s revenge.

If your opportunities are, on the contrary, shrinking—no one’s calling, no one’s stopping by, and no grand ideas for future projects are popping—it’s time to re-evaluate your niche.

Be Flexible When Figuring Out Your Book Marketing Niche

Keep in mind too that once you’ve established yourself in one niche, you can easily do it again if you want to branch out into another genre. Several authors have more than one niche to help them market different types of books and related products.

The process is the same: Identify who your reader is, combine your genre with your skills/passions, and create something unique that will allow your creative nature to soar.

Note: For more help on finding your unique book marketing niche, see Colleen’s award-winning book, Writer Get Noticed: A Strengths-Based Approach to Creating a Standout Author Platform (affiliate link). Get your free chapter here!

COLLEEN M. STORY - Resident Writing Coach

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. In addition to writing several award-winning novels, Colleen’s series of popular success guides, Your Writing Matters, Writer Get Noticed! and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue, have all been recognized for their distinction.

Colleen offers personalized coaching plans tailored to meet your needs, and frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Colleen below. Free chapters | Master Writer Mindset

The post How to Tell If You’ve Found the Best Book Marketing Niche appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

In the past two posts we’ve covered where to turn when you want to improve the quality of your writing with the help of Critique Support, and how to find motivation and inspiration by finding Mentors. It’s time for us to shore up that final leg of your Writing Support Triangle. The part that helps us get in the day’s words, or edits, or marketing. 

If balancing all of the responsibilities of life, plus our ambitions as a writer, feels impossible and you find yourself doing everything but writing, it’s time to reach out to your Accountability Support.

Accountability is tricky. You have to dig into your personal motivations and fear. Once you understand your motivations, it is a lot easier to find the right accountability tools.  

If you highly value other peoples’ opinions, consider a public commitment

• Declare “I am a writer.” Publicly. This creates psychological ownership of your writing aspirations. People will ask you what you write, and avoiding the awkward, “Ummmm, nothing right now…” is great motivation to keep you writing. Work up to telling your friends and family after practicing on a few strangers.
• Create a newsletter. Decide how often you are going to send out the newsletter (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.). Tell people you’re trying an experiment for three months and would they please sign up. Stick to it for one quarter. After three months, if you’ve enjoyed the experience, keep going. You’re creating a direct link to readers, which translates to building your platform. And publishers love to hear you have a platform when you’re shopping that manuscript or book proposal.  
• Post on social media about your writing goal every business day for a month. The internet is always watching. Someone will be inspired by you following your dream. Someone is counting on you to succeed in your writing, because if you can do it, then maybe they can too. Someday, a random stranger may say, “You inspired me. I just finished my first short story.” 

If you hate wasting money, consider a financial commitment 

• Pay to join a class, workshop, or Patreon offered by one of your writing mentors. Classes and workshops provide the opportunity for feedback on your work. Patreon subscriptions let you see behind the scenes of an experienced writer’s career and get you a step closer to your mentor. It’s always beneficial to surround yourself with like-minded writers committed to finishing their work, and these new acquaintances may end up being good accountability partners.
• Invest in an editor, coach, or therapist. Editors know industry trends; they will dissect books in a way your average critique partner can’t. An edit letter tells you how to move your project forward. A book coach provides accountability and moral support. You may be surprised how much more progress you make when someone is reading over your shoulder. A therapist helps dig into mindset issues that are holding you back. Maybe you thought your problem was a lack of craft or experience, but a therapist might help you realize the real fear that’s holding you back. 
• Reward yourself. If your goal is to write every day for one month, go to the bank and take out thirty dollars in $1 bills. Every day you write, add $1 to a jar. At the end of thirty days take the money out of the jar and treat yourself. Want to make the stakes even higher? If you miss a day, take all the cash out of the jar and start over, from zero, on your next writing day.  

Financial investment is often a great stepping-stone to other forms of accountability. For my U.S readers, keep track of the amount you invest in your writing career. It’s likely a business investment that you can (and should) write off on your taxes.

If you hate letting other people down, consider a one-on-one commitment

• Find yourself an accountability partner—an acquaintance whose opinion you value, who is also working toward a goal. Your AP doesn’t have to be a writer, and they don’t have to have the same goal as you. Texting each other daily updates on your individual progress is great motivation.      
• Swap work with a critique partner. CPs are writers you exchange work with and provide feedback for, on a regular basis. Ideally you will find someone at a similar level in their writing career. Agree on a page count, deadline, and frequency of work exchanges. 
• Schedule a co-working session. In the digital era, we can co-work with friends halfway around the world, via video-conferencing. I run two-hour co-working sessions. We chat for fifteen minutes, work for forty-five, chat for fifteen, and work for forth-five. Looking at all the Zoom boxes and knowing other people are working as well is motivating.  An added bonus for people with chaotic households is you can say, “I have a meeting.” Your family will leave you alone for two hours while you get your words in for the day. Co-working sessions can be a great gateway for people who are transitioning from corporate/work environments with a lot of inherent structure to a free form/self-motivated work environment. 

It took me ten years and a lot of experimentation to find the right mix of support, but once I understood my motivations I was able to hone the tools that stuck. If you want to dig into your motivation a little farther, Gretchen Rubin’s four tendencies quiz is a good place to start. The quiz is quick and lets you know if you’re the type who needs internal or external accountability 

With a strong writing support triangle, you can move your career forward as you deepen relationships and help others. Taking time to build your Critique, Mentorship, & Accountability triangle now will give you a strong foundation that keeps you in this industry for decades.  

Jessica Conoley connects story tellers and tells stories. She writes essays, creative non-fiction, flash fiction, and fantasy. Her coaching services demystify the business aspect of writing by drawing on her past experiences as president of a non-profit and managing editor of a literary magazine. In addition to developmental editorial services, she offers virtual workspaces and critique groups as a way to foster creative community for writers. Learn more at my website or on Twitter.

Guest Contributor

Interested in posting at Writers Helping Writers? Review our content guidelines to see what we’re looking for and how to pitch us your ideas.

The post Building Your Writing Support Triangle, Part 3: Accountability appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Last week, we talked about the critique leg of your writing support triangle. Critique support is great for those words-on-the-page writer problems. But we all know success in this industry isn’t just about words; it’s also about inspiration, motivation, and believing that your writing dreams really are achievable. 

If you’re lacking motivation and inspiration, it’s time to find some Writing Mentors. The great part is you don’t even have to be able to access that person in real life. 

I have mentors on three levels.

The Rockstar Titans

Mentors-from-afar, like Neil Gaiman, V.E. Schwab, and Stephen King are the authors with million-dollar book deals and fans who tattoo quotes from the their books onto their flesh forever.  

Luckily these seemingly inaccessible mentors have:

• Books you can read and study. How they execute their craft teaches me how to refine mine.
• Videos. With a quick google search of YouTube, speeches, lectures, interviews, and book launches are available. Snippets of relevant wisdom find their way to me with each viewing. 
• Social media you can engage with. How they interact with their readers and promote their work can serve as a blueprint for my own online presence. Sometimes they do something I don’t like, which teaches me as well. 

Rockstar Titans have done the impossible—which means it’s possible for us, too. 

Writing Genius Authors 

These writers are five to ten years ahead of me in their careers. And yes, they’ve amassed awards and published multiple books, but they still walk the same streets as mere mortal me. If I encounter a Writing Genius in real life I could probably muster the courage to talk to them. 

Writing Geniuses are still building their platforms, which means they actively engage with their audiences. Luckily, I am their audience.

• Retweets, shares, and comments on a Writing Genius’s social media gets your name (and avatar) in front of their eyeballs. After years of my retweeting and positively commenting on a Writing Genius’s posts, she followed me back! More importantly, when I had a technical question on a project I tweeted her for advice and she responded.  
• Subscribing to a Writing Genius’s email newsletter puts you in direct contact with the author.  Unlike social media, where algorithms can filter or bury the authors insights, a newsletter is delivered to your inbox. This direct connection ensures you don’t miss out on the important wisdom the Writing Genius is willing to share. Reading the emails keeps you up to date on what the author is doing. Replies to their newsletter with a short thank you and information about what you found helpful in the article lets the Writing Genius know their work is appreciated. Remember, you’re not entitled to a response to an email. Mentors are busy and guarding their time by not responding to every email is a great lesson in how you may need to employ boundaries with your time. Regardless, if they write back or not, it’s good literary citizenship to tell other authors when their work has positively impacted you.
• Membership to a Writing Genius’s Patreon shows them you are long-term invested in their success, and therefore they are more likely to engage with you. One of the authors I support on Patreon offers monthly virtual classes and work sessions to her patrons. Initially I was too shy to ever speak up in the Q&A sessions, but over time I got more comfortable and learned to ask her for advice. 

Writing Geniuses have shown me how to navigate the tricky higher levels of this industry, and I owe them a thank you —so when I meet them in the flesh I will muster the courage to let them know how grateful I’ve been for their guidance. 

Working Role Models 

These are the authors I have face-to-face access to. Often these mentors took it upon themselves to encourage my growth out of sheer generosity and good literary citizenship. They have read my work. They have seen my potential and encouraged me to try new things. They send opportunities my way because they believe in me. 

It takes courage to approach someone and ask if they would be willing to help with a few questions regarding our career. You should applaud yourself for reaching out. But if they say no or don’t respond to your e-mail, remember: they just mentored you. They showed you the most important writer lesson of all: our time is precious, and we cannot say yes to every request and/or opportunity that comes our way.  

If they say yes, be respectful of the irreplaceable time they are investing in you. Be prepared. Have questions laid out that you think they can help with. Show them the work you have done to get where you are and let them know where you want to head next. Then, sit back and listen. Listen with your whole body, down to the marrow of your bones. Hear what they’re saying and what they aren’t saying. Ask clarifying questions and delve deep whenever you can.

Working Role Models are two steps ahead of me in their career, but if I work hard we might become colleagues. Maybe one day I will be able to send opportunities to them the way they have so generously sent them to me. 

If it’s time for you to find a mentor, who do you admire? What avenues to you have to connect with them? If you’re unable to connect with them, what are three ways you can learn from them right now without one-on-one access? 

Next week, we’ll close out the series by digging into the oddest bit of your support trinity: Accountability. This support leg helps you actually get the words onto the page, and the fun part is that you can tap into resources other than people to hold yourself accountable.

Jessica Conoley connects story tellers and tells stories. She writes essays, creative non-fiction, flash fiction, and fantasy. Her coaching services demystify the business aspect of writing by drawing on her past experiences as president of a non-profit and managing editor of a literary magazine. In addition to developmental editorial services, she offers virtual workspaces and critique groups as a way to foster creative community for writers. Learn more at my website or on Twitter.

Guest Contributor

Interested in posting at Writers Helping Writers? Review our content guidelines to see what we’re looking for and how to pitch us your ideas.

The post Building Your Writing Support Triangle, Part 2: Mentorship appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.