Busy (Best-Selling!) Beaver, Part 7: A Better Way

Hello World, 

Advanced Apology: Okay, I know this is a long post, and I promise to get better in the future about writing shorter posts, but I'm nearing the end of my Busy Beaver series & I'd just rather squeeze what's left into 1 or 2 long posts than stretch it out. 

So then... this is part 7 of my ongoing series explaining my experiences going from a relatively unknown writing schmuck to an Amazon best-selling author. Today's post is about how I found a better way to network with other authors. (Please excuse the mousetrap pun in the pic... networking is not, IMHO, a trap. But how could I resist using that reference?!)

Anyway, you'd have to have read my posts on January 4th, 11th, and the 19th to understand how powerful and exasperating this "networking" concept has been for me. You'd also have to have read my Jan. 22nd post to see the shocking benefits it all amounts to. 

But I'll be nice and sum them up: 

1/4: LinkedIn had a great way to find new Facebook fans, but it looked like a lot of work. 

1/11: The LinkedIn thing was indeed a LOT of work, but it totally paid off.

1/19: As great as the results were, the LinkedIn experience left me bug-eyed and nearly dead. It was during these days when I was thinking there must be a "better way". 

1/22:  Shortly before I came up with my "better way", I hit paydirt. One of my LinkedIn connections gave me a hell of a tip which led (eventually) and directly to getting my book on Amazon's bestseller list. 

So what does a "better way" of networking look like? 

Short answer: go here, and be prepared to be wowed. 

Did you check it out? Have you been gone for a whole week? I know, I know. It's overwhelming, but amazing, isn't it? (Oh, and if you didn't check it out, you really should do that or you'll be confused from here on out. I'll wait...)

Ok, so now that everyone know what the better way looks like, here's the long answer...

The problems with LinkedIn (and other, similar events I have since experienced on Facebook and Twitter) is that despite everyone's good intentions, human nature quickly takes over and things go horribly wrong. The basic idea was to share author pages (initially just those on Facebook) and "LIKE" each other's pages, then perhaps also have some side conversations, make some friends, share books, and generally learn more about the writing world. However, people got greedy. People got frustrated. People got angry and bitter and childish. The reason were obvious enough. All of these platforms were built for other things, and the resulting long line of comments went on for pages and pages and pages which made it hard to navigate, plus some people just didn't play fair. In order to do it a better way, someone would have to make platform sharing more efficient and less prone to the dark side of humanity. 

This got me to thinking. What would be the most efficient? 

Instantly, a simple list of names & Facebook links popped into my head. It could be as simple as an Excel document. Ooo! An ONLINE excel doc! The school I teach at has forced teacher to start using Googledocs to more easily share plans, tests, & a variety of other things for their own efficiency needs, and suddenly I put 2 & 2 together and got the proverbial 4. 

(What happened to the proverbial snowball?) 

If I may be so bold as to say it, I think that moment was a flash of genius. This spreadsheet would have no comment threads. There would be no mess. No fuss. It was simple & it would work. Heck, it was so simple even I could set it up myself. 

So I did. 

It took me all of 20 minutes to create the prototype. 

Then, just as I was 'finishing' up, I realized some people were sharing their Twitter links with each other. I didn't have one myself, but it would be easy to make a column for Twitter links too. 

Oh yeah, and Amazon. Everyone wants to plug their Amazon page. 

Oh, and their website. 

And their blog. 

And their Goodreads page. 

And why not throw in LinkedIn and Google+ Smashwords and Youtube. 

Oh my God, I've created a monster. 

Nevertheless, this "mega" spreadsheet had only taken me about 2 hours in total to create (though in all honesty I did spend many MANY more hours in the following weeks tweaking & updating & maintaining it).

The next step was to get people on the thing. So on a whim I described it to "Chris", the author I wrote about in my Jan. 22nd post. He/She thought it sounded like a great idea, so I sent the link to Chris and a handful of other authors I had been in closer contact with in the previous couple of weeks. 

The response was incredible. At first only 3 or 4 people went onto the "Author Networking Megasheet" and entered their info, and of course we all already knew each other, so there wasn't much to gain other than learning their Twitter handles or Amazon pages. Then they shared it with other authors they knew and then these authors came on and shared it with other people THEY knew... 

In a week there were more than 30 authors filling up those pages and some were making comments on how to tweak things. "What about a place to leave comments?" I added a place. "What about a place to tell everyone what my genres are?" I added it. 

That first week I continued tweaking the Megasheet and invited more authors. In 2 weeks, there were over a hundred of us and my email account was lowing up. EVERYbody had more questions, suggestions, comments, and so much praise, praise, and more praise. 

As of today's date, the Megasheet has now been live for less than 2 months and if you've already clicked on one of the 5 links I've provided, you already know that there are 230 authors, editors, agents, and publishers bombarding it on a daily basis. In fact, it's getting a minimum of 50 visits from unique users every day. Sometimes there are more than a hundred. (Keep in mind, this thing is only 2 months old).

I now send out a weekly email to all who sign up for it with updates & suggestions as to how we can all network together. Each email I send creates a flurry of activity in that suggested mode. We all benefit. Wow. This thing is actually working. Yes, it's true that just like the LinkedIn feed, some people are clearly just dropping off their info then disappearing, hoping for an easy boost without putting in any real work of their own. And you know what? They'll get that boost. But they also won't annoy the rest of us by having people talk about it. There also aren't people who annoy the rest of us by trying to keep their link fresh at the most recent comment. People aren't bitching, in other words, they are praising.

So, how does all this fit into me being a Bestselling beaver? (That I've been busy is, I feel, ridiculously obvious).

Well, my own Facebook/ Amazon/ Twitter/ Goodreads/ etc. numbers have boomed, and I can personally confirm about 20 additional sales of my books thanks directly to this adventure. I'm assuming there are probably several more. In a world where 300 sales is all it takes to get onto the best-seller list, 20+ isn't chump change, plus, I've learned that consistent sales help keep your book higher on the list. My book is no longer on the bestseller list, but its rank is MUCH higher than the 3.5 million it had been before all of this started. 

Other authors have been reporting similar, if not a little smaller, numbers. (Not so surprising, I guess... I did create the thing & my name is at the top of the list. It kind of feels like I have a bit of celebrity status. Actually, a couple days ago I got invited to check it out from one of my long-ago LinkedIn connections. The guy had no idea I was the one who created it. Fun stuff.) 

So what has all this taught me? I think people really can be very nice, as long as you keep things positive and give them a product they genuinely like. The LinkedIn feed, for example, was a brilliant idea, but it was inherently flawed b/c of the nature of that platform. I didn't reinvent the wheel, you see, I just gave it a better groove. 

So does that mean my "Busy Beaver" line of posts is over? 

Not quite. I still have one or two more things to share. One of them is another online spreadsheet which is actually my favorite writing motivational tool of all time. Also, there's one final thing which... well, I think I'll save that teaser for next time. 

For now, I invite any & all writing related people (authors, agents, editors, audiobook narrators, publishers, advertisers, web designers, cover designers, trailer makers,  etc.) to visit the AUTHOR NETWORKING MEGASHEET and start networking. There's no doubt there are hours and hours of work there, but it organized, its easy, and I promise that you'll see more activity all around your writing world. Just remember, you'll get what you put into it. :)

Until next time,

-K. 

ps: Writing Done Since Last Time: Holy Moly I can't even explain how MUCH I've gotten done. It's literally been MORE than the past 2 months combined. Yes, in just the last week. How? Why? Well, that's where that amazing motivational tool I mentioned comes in. Tune in next time for a detailed answer. :)

Busy (Best-Selling!) Beaver, Part 6: The Advertising Dilemma

This is Part 6 in my ongoing series explaining my experiences going from a relatively unknown writing schmuck to an Amazon best-selling author. Today's post is about the place I did my advertising which led directly to making it onto that best-sellers list. To find out how I learned about it, scroll back to my Jan. 22nd post.

Ok, my loyal peeps. Let's end the torture. The place I advertised is called EReaderNewsToday.com, and
they have an interesting sales model. Rather than charge several hundred (or thousand!) dollars as most advertising agencies do, ERNT instead charges nothing up front but takes a portion of your profits... 25%, to be precise, which admittedly is a little higher than I was comfortable with.  Nevertheless, my friend "Chris" insisted I should use them. I acquiesced. But ERNT doesn't accept just anyone. There are rules.

First, they only advertise eBooks. Nothing in paper copies.
Yeah, I figured that. Keep going.

Next, they only advertise novels. No poetry or collections of short stories.
Ok. Disappointing since I also have 2 collections I could have advertised, but fair enough. What else?

Next, they only advertise books that have at least 10 reviews on Amazon, and average 4.0 stars or better.
Sounds legit. Only higher quality books that already have at least a small taste of success. I'm still listening. Where's the catch?

Finally, they only advertise your book if you sell it at $0.99 or give it away for free.
Oh. Ouch. Dammit.

And herein lied my dilemma. A buck!? Seriously? Or free!?! What about all my hard work for all those years? What about a reader's basic appreciation of an artistic work? What about my integrity!? It was a very hard pill to swallow, but in the end I decided to listen to my friend and give it a try, if for no other reason than to learn from the experience.

So here's what I learned:

1) ERNT led directly to 250+ sales of my novel, "Man Hunt," in only 3 days. I profited about $75.
That's certainly nothing to change one's life, but it was some nice pocket change and more than I had earned on my own without advertising. Besides, I reasoned, won't those people be impressed and write nice reviews and tell their friends? Certainly that's how this works. I was mostly right about that assumption. Mostly.

2) Even after the sale & advertising was over, "Man Hunt" has continued to sell. To date, it's been a full month since the price has been returned to a whopping $5, and I've sold an additional 70 copies, profiting about an additional $75.
This was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. I can attribute these sales to one of two notions: A) The Best-Seller status help garner even more visibility for my book, and B) my assumption was right and those initial 250 people read my book, liked it, and have been telling their friends about it.

3) Getting onto Amazon's Best-Sellers list was a complete surprise, as was their algorithm for what constitutes a best-selling book. But I'll talk more about that another time. ;)

4) My book also received a boost in Amazon reviews. Most of this is good mojo, but some of it is bad. More on that later as well.

5) Without being ready for the event, I had officially and accidentally reached one of my life-long goals... but this had also caused me to reevaluate (and re-write) my goals & realize I still had a hell of a lot of work to do. As you might guess, I'll save the details for another post.

I could comment more on the advertising dilemma, and perhaps some day I will, but I fear this post is already too long so I must end now. In the meantime, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that this post about my advertising adventures is not in chronological order to the events as they took place. ERNT took a little over a week to get back to me once I submitted my book to their advertising campaign, and during that week I did something somewhat insightful, just a little bit crazy, and amazingly powerful. I'm convinced it was another, subtler, helpful push in my sales results. Unfortunately I'll never be able to prove it. But when I write about it in next week's post, perhaps you'll tell me your interpretation. What I can tell you is this: advertising and the great Amazon aren't the only way to get attention and exposure as an author.

Until next time,
-K

ps: Writing Results Since My Last Post: LOTS! I successfully revised another tough chunk of my current novel, made about a dozen new writing friends (several of which I actually met face-to-face), got invited to do a PAID (you read that right) speaking event about myself as an author at a local library, and experimented with another advertising platform. I wish I could contribute most of that to my Amazon Best-Selling status, but the truth is that I've continued to work my ass off and other life wins have resulted.