Breaking Through a Marketing Plateau

You know when you start a new diet, and the first 5 or 10 pounds come off in a snap, and then a few more pounds come, and then, without you changing anything, it just stops? You've hit a wall or a plateau, where one pound feels like a life or death struggle.

Well, I think the same thing happens with marketing. You start a blog, write often, comment on others, use Twitter to bring in readers, everything you know you're supposed to do. And it really does work, you can get some pretty good growth that way. But then after a while it almost starts feeling like your little market is saturated. You're doing the same things as before, but numbers start flat-lining. Not nearly as many new followers, not as many comments. When this trend happens too often or too severely in something like book sales, it can be deadly.

So what can you do? I'll give you some suggestions of what I think might work, but mostly I want to hear your ideas. Those of you who have been in this game for a while, how do you keep things growing, keep the life blood flowing?

First of all, keep going. It's definitely not going to go anywhere if you stop moving. Keep writing, commenting, tweeting, touring, networking, everything. Sometimes, fingers crossed, all you need is time before your next spurt.

Find new places. If your main tributary starts drying, look for new ones. Find websites that you're not already using and give them a try. No need to stress about it either, just add one at a time and see if they give results. Maybe get business cards, or look for local opportunities doing readings, signings, panels, lectures, that kind of thing. Go to conferences and network. Of course those things are more time and money intensive, but they may be worth it.

Change something up. Add something to your blog design or change the time of your posts. Try writing about something a little out of the norm. Try tweeting more often or You might catch the attention of people you wouldn't have otherwise.

Then of course there is always the publicity stunt type stuff. Plan a book drive, organize an event at your kids school, do a blog contest, something like that, and get the news to come if possible. Again, intensive, with potentially little pay-off, but who knows.

So what are your guys' ideas? Even just using your online presence, how do you revitalize it when it seems like the normal methods are slowing down? How do you keep finding new people, and keep them coming back?

Sarah Allen

3 Writing Lessons from Chandler Bing

First of all, I just have to say that I loved having a reason for looking up pictures of Matthew Perry. He makes me happy. I know I just did this kind of thing with Steven Tyler, but I kind of like the idea of seeing what we can learn about writing from really awesome people. Like Chandler.

1. Humor helps. In real life and in writing. People remember you and you're writing more if you're funny or witty or entertaining. Think about it, the most quoted person on Friends has to be Chandler or Phoebe. Chandler's the one with the witty comebacks that you wish you'd thought of first. Even if what you're writing is serious, having moments of comic relief not only helps your audience breath for a bit, but the contrast allows the dramatic moments to stand out and mean more.

2. Awesome is a relative term. Most of the things you think you need to be awesome (ripped body, money, a British accent) Chandler doesn't have. He's got an unglamorous job, is sometimes immature and is always a total dork. And yet he's still totally awesome. He is what he is, and even makes fun of himself for it, and that makes him awesome. Write the best you can and always try to improve, but be yourself and write whatever kinds of things you think are awesome. Just be what you be and write what you write.

3. Don't take the people in your life for granted. Chandler did at first, always looking outside of his group for girls. But Monica was across the hall the whole time. Even if you don't have famous author friends or know a host of New York agents, which most of us don't, if you pay attention you can learn from everyone already in your life. Get to know them deep down, and hear their stories. That always helps with writing. Or one might have done an editing minor in college, or just be a really good reader. And who knows, maybe one of them actually does have an old roommate with an uncle's neighbor's twin sister who is an editor at Random House.

Happy writing!

Sarah Allen

A Character Before Bedtime

I have to credit my sister's friend with this idea. She's a bit of a writer, and my sister told me that every night before she goes to bed she entertains and lulls herself by developing a character. She creates someone, who they are, what they do, the color of their eyes and hair, their background and relationships. I'm a terrible sleeper anyway, and don't know if this will help me with that, but it could be a good use of the trying to fall asleep time. A new character every night gives you quite a stock for your current and future projects. You may even dream about the character, write a novel about it and become the next Stephanie Meyer. Or not. But it sounds like a cool idea, and I thought I'd pass it on. So next time you're lying in bed trying to sleep, instead of counting sheep, create someone in your head.

And speaking of sheep, here's a character to get the juices flowing. James Cromwell as Farmer Hoggett in Babe. Genius going on, right here.



Happy writing!
Sarah Allen

Where do you discover the books you buy?

Yesterday at The Kill Zone, Michelle Gagnon told us the best and worst writing advice she's ever gotten. There were some great tips here, some I've heard before and some I haven't. I definitely think keeping ones day-job is a good idea, for both financial and social reasons, and I've heard several people warn against spending too much on a publicist.

One thing that I'll admit surprised me was the statistic Michelle gave about social networks. She said that only 4% of book sales come from Facebook and Twitter, and probably even less from writer-centered sites like GoodReads and Shelfari. 4% is tiny, insignificant, minuscule, particularly compared to the percent of marketing effort most writers put into these sites.

Assuming that these statistics are correct, here's my question: what other/better options do we poor writers have? If Facebook, Twitter and GoodReads only give marginal results, where are more useful places to put our limited resources? Social networks take a lot of time, but cost nothing and therefore seem like a good choice. I still plan on using them as best as I can, but I want to put my money and time where it will really pay off, so I need some ideas.

I'll admit, I'm not the best at the discovering books from relatively obscure sources thing. This is absolutely something I hope to fix in the future (with the help of my new kindle...eeeeh :), but the majority of my reading picks come from classic lists (Dostoevsky, Austen, Brontes, Dickens, Hugo, etc.) best-seller and critically acclaimed lists (Steven King, Rowling, Kaye Gibbons, Tea Obreht) and recommended from friends and family (Connie Willis, Joan Bauer, Sharon Creech, Louis Sachar). There are many, many fantastic mid-list and indie authors with incredible books just waiting to be discovered. And you have to be discovered before you can become a classic, be put on lists, or be talked about around the dinner table. Since I'm just beginning to dip into this whole new pool of writers, and since for us beginning, un-listed, not-yet-classics, less-talked-about writers doing our own marketing is absolutely crucial, I'm coming to you guys: where do you discover the books you buy? If not Facebook and Twitter, then where?

My two ideas about this are that the most basic thing success in this field requires is great writing, and the second is that as far as marketing goes, blogs have big potential. I'm pretty sure the first idea is correct. I don't think you can really get that far on bad writing, though there are a few exceptions. But what about the second idea? Do blogs really do that much? It seems like Amanda Hocking used blogs and blog tours more than anything else to promote her books, and look where she is now. Of course I could be wrong, but I'm looking for ideas here. I bet a lot of people find books the same way I do, via lists and word of mouth, but what course of action does that leave for us writers, especially if social networking sites don't really help that much? What are the best places and ways to help us get to that listed and talked about point?

Thanks for your ideas, and happy writing!
Sarah Allen

Summer Writing Goals

Happy June 1st, everyone! The days are getting longer and warmer, vacations and family reunions are looming, all great stuff, but sometimes the crazy, lazy, spontaneous nature of summer can make keeping up with the writing a little difficult. Here are a few summer goals that can help keep all of us on track.

Be smart about scheduling writing time. You may not be on a normal schedule, and things might be changing every day. But its still possible to make things work by taking them a day at a time. Plan just a day in advance, and you can be prepared to take advantage of any spare moments you can grab.

Always have a book. While your driving to the beach, waiting to pick up from soccer camp, take the spare minutes to read a page or two. It will keep words and ideas flowing through and rejuvenating your mind.

Learn from and take advantage of all your fun and exciting summer adventures. Vacations are a perfect time to people watch. Learn about and explore the new places you're visiting, you may be able to use the details for plot, characters or setting. Be observant, and don't be shy about promoting your work either.

I hope this helps. What other ideas or plans or goals do you have for your writing this summer?

Sarah Allen