Digital strategy, do you have one?

An agent’s job is changing as rapidly as the publishing industry itself. We’re carving out new territory for our authors and ourselves. The support we give our authors is more complex in recent times and if you didn’t think you needed an agent before you certainly need one now to help you with your online presence, digital strategy for ebooks and otherwise, negotiate tumultuous and evolving contracts, and all the traditional publishing problem solving.

With the limitless abilities to upload content and provide your readers with entertainment I caution against thoughtlessly self publishing. Even while you are pursing a traditional publishing deal and think that will be your main market your self published works reflect on your author brand more than you know.

It is all too easy, and unintentional, to confuse readers and the marketplace with a website that is ineffective as a platform, and self published work that doesn’t support your growing brand. Things like consistent visual identifiers between your blog, social media, website and cover images are the easiest way to create a brand. This being colour, logos, cover images, tag lines and more.

Think of your website as a hub for the spokes of your brand.

Social media style, it says a lot about you

Are you an observer or a networker? A curator of content or a tastemaker?

Who you are online is part of your brand. The tweets you send out. The Facebook updates you post. All of these attract followers and sometimes your brand is built around you without you knowing.

Think about it: you’re just being you online, but the people that follow your thoughts are attaching themselves to you and these are the people you are projecting your message to when it comes time to promote your book. On Twitter the people you follow aren’t necessarily the people that follow you–so when you’re trying to grow online remember to think about your following and those that are interested in your message. These are the people that are going to buy your book if you market it correctly to them.

The more information you know about your Twitter followers and Facebook friends (i.e. by engaging with them!) the better you can pitch your message and make it successful (i.e. at book promotion time). People want authentic engagement, so bring your followers the relationship building experience and the product they can care about (and buy!).

How Writers Build Successful Online Communities

A recurring conversation I have with editors and clients is about the importance of building online communities that engage with fellow writers and readers. I bring this up again and again because writers in the earliest stages of their querying and publication process need to know how to navigate this unchartered territory.

Here are 12 reasons why you need to be captain of your digital ship in a big way:

Manage your own brand

First impressions make the difference between someone clicking the ‘buy’ button and someone navigating away from your site. Websites and blogs need to be: cleanly designed; clearly communicate your name, book, the hook, and sales links; have an up to date author photo; link to social media platforms; and be updated frequently. Do not make the mistake of putting something up just to save your domain name. Make it count. Get a fantastic graphic or website designer and never let them go. Be objective: is this an author site you would buy a book from and/or be inclined to find out more?

Increase discoverability of your work (and thus sales)

With smooth linking between Facebook, Twitter and your website/blog you can seamlessly guide readers from one experience to the other and lead them to buy your book. Clunky navigation and unclear purpose leave visitors confused. Some visitors may overlap between your platforms, but some visitors might be unique to each platform. What information do they each need to know? How will each type of visitor be able to find your book? These are the answers:

1. Good hook
2. Great cover photo (when it’s available)
3. Links to e-commerce sites
4. Links between your platforms to increase engagement

Meaningful relationships

Unique visitors is one way of measuring online success, however editors and marketers are increasingly interested in the community you’ve build in recurring and engaging visitors. How do you keep your readers coming back? Consistent and frequent posting? Are you known for your writing tips? Find out what is making your visitors come back and grow in that space. In time they’ll feel like they’ve grown with you and this leads to communities that promote via word of mouth and feel like they are championing one of their own.

Fan loyalty

Once you’ve secured your visitors and build that community how to you keep them loyal?

1. Exclusive content
2. Cover reveals
3. Pushing information out yourself rather than have your publisher feed the information to you

Again, this makes readers feel like they are on the inside instead of the outside. Everyone wants to be the first to discover a cool new band, right? Think of how new readers are going to discover and promote you in an indie way.

Virtuous circles of engagement

When you learn to engage your fans, deliver what they want, make them feel included and cross promote in the community this brings in new fans. Reward them with exclusivity, bonus content, and contests.

Understand opportunities

Social media is not for broadcasting, it’s about individuals interacting around content that is meaningful to them.  Never forget that. That should be the biggest take away from this post. Take the opportunities to do guest posts and be open to new platforms because you’ll never know which will take off and which will lead to new opportunities and connections.

Why Winning Awards Helps Author Recognition

In the spirit of awards season I want to delve into the facts behind literary prizes, how they help sell nominated copies, build author brands, generate publicity, sell backlist editions and how rising writers can use this information to their advantage.

The biggest literary prize is arguably the Man Booker Prize whose shortlist was announced yesterday. The prize does more than award prestige–and a smart sum of  £50,000–to the winner. The award is a publicity machine sparking debate, bets, reviews and interviews for the finalists. The prize nominations sets the tone for the fall publishing season, acts as a shopping list for avid readers of literary fiction, not only selling copies of the author’s current work but also backlist works to inquisitive minds coming across nominated authors for the first time.

How the publishing market is bias to author brands: ‘The personal brandification of the publishing business’

On Twitter yesterday Jane Friedman, Writer’s Digest publisher turned media professor, engaged in an interesting dialogue about how the publishing process is becoming bias to author brands (i.e. authors who can market, publicize and promote their own books).

The concept of the author brand has become more important in recent years, and one that is essential for writers entering the book biz to understand. Long gone are the one-size-fits-all marketing plans and grand publicity tours. Now, marketers need to fine-tune their research analytics to find readers that are not only interested in a certain book’s topic and theme, but also optimize online book discovery. (Self-publishing authors must take on this massive role themselves to be successful.) Agents are now using freelance publicists to cross-promote their clients and maximize book coverage. And writers are now expected to help in this entire process. The writer’s job is no longer done when the book is written.

Q: What can writers do to make agents’ lives easier?

Twitpic from 'Agenting Today' (via @kingvonelk)

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of co-hosting the BookCampTO ‘Agenting Today’ session at Ryerson University with my esteemed colleagues Sam Hiyate, The Rights Factory, and Chris Bucci, Anne McDermid & Associates. We fielded great questions from writers and industry professionals alike. Didn’t make it to BookCamp? Want to know what we discussed? Here’s one question that generated a lot of conversation:

What can writers do to make agents’ lives easier?

Here are 10 answers from the BookCamp session and debriefing afterwards:

1. Don’t announce deals until they’re public knowledge.
2. The agent and author relationship is a mutually beneficial relationship. Be honest with yourself and your agent if feelings ever change.
3. If you are a writer wanting to be ‘found’ make sure you have clear and up-to-date contact information on your website, blog or Twitter bio.

Social Media for Authors

Social media not only has the ability to connect like-minded readers, but help authors find their online genre niches and build long-term, engaging relationships with their readers. Below I have highlighted tips for social media beginner and intermediate authors who are looking to partake in this important brand building task.