Promotion Mindset - Part 6 Are You Committed To Your Promotion?

DAY 6  – TODAY’S TOPIC IS:  ARE YOU COMMITTED TO YOUR PROMOTION?

PROMOTION FEAR: I don’t have enough time to promote or I’m not promoting enough or am I promoting too much.

Staying consistent with your promotion includes working your plan daily.  If doesn’t mean you have to do things every day, but it does mean you can schedule things to happen daily, so you look like you are promoting ever day even if you under deep deadlines.

I’ve learned that you can’t do everything and be every place.  When I published my first book, by the time the year was over I was burnt out on promoting.  I had tried to do everything every day.  I wore myself out.  It taught me that I wasn’t Super Writer and you don’t have to be either.

You can make time for promoting and be consistent without wearing yourself out.

I teach my clients that it’s about getting your books/products in front of the readers or customers daily.  You can do this by scheduling promotion, daily, weekly or monthly.  You can sit down every day and send out promotion if you don’t want to schedule it.  It’s your choice how you want to promote, just promote.

You can’t expect to write books or create products and not do the promotion.  Eventually you will have all these books or products that no one knows about, and you aren’t making any money.  Then all those fears you’ve been working so hard to get past, will return in full force. 

YOU HAVE TO MAKE TIME FOR PROMOTION

Include it in your schedule.  Take 15 minutes each day to get you started and then build on that time.  As you get into the habit of taking 15 minutes to promote, you will get into the habit of talking about your book or product more and sharing it with others.  It will become something you look forward to doing vs resenting it.  You have to make time for your promotion.

Staying consistent doesn’t have to be a chore.  Look at it as an opportunity to meet a new reader.  You want to share your book or product with this person and you want them to be excited and hopefully purchase it.  They will never know about your book if you don’t tell them about it. 

GETTING HELP

Do you have a fear of asking for help?  This use to be one of mine,  I didn’t want to bother anyone, or I didn’t want them to say no.

Ask for help when you need it.  Yes, you will need help.  Everyone needs help when they’re promoting.  Don’t keep thinking you’re going to get free help.  There’s only so much people can do for you.  If you’re a newbie, we’re going to help you as much as we can, but if you have ten or fifteen books—you need to make a plan and you need to come correct when you contact people.  If you don’t have the time to promote, then outsource the job to other people.  You need to get your VA (virtual assistant) to help pull things together.  People are so overwhelmed with promotion when they really don’t have to be. 

You can outsource a lot of things when it comes to promotion.  For instance, you can get me to do your e-blast for you or your social media campaigns.  You can go to other sites, too.  You don’t have to do it alone.  You do have to make the time and ask for help—but it won’t always be free help.  Even if you’re working with a VA, she’s not going to work for free.  She needs to pay her bills just as you need to pay yours.  Always be considerate when you’re working with other people.  They have families to feed, too.

Promotion Training is another form of help. Someone is always teaching the latest platform or services.  Invest in yourself.  If you’re having problems and don’t know what to do, get some help.  Don’t do it alone.

 Don’t sit there and believe you can’t sell anything, you can’t get in front of readers and it’s a done deal.  No, it’s not.  Get help.  Come talk to me.  Or talk to another writing coach so you can get your books in front of people.  You didn’t come into the business as a writer knowing how to promote your book.  That is something you learn every day. 

I didn’t know how to promote.  I had to learn.  It took me fifteen years to get it and I still don’t know everything.  It takes time to learn the promotion process. 

I want you to get help and get your books in front of people.  Don’t wait until the last minute, then say nothing is happening and you’re done.  I hear those words all the time.  I see it on Facebook a lot.  People are saying they’re done with writing.  They can’t find a readership.  They can’t sell any books. They’ve let the fears take over.

It’s because they don’t have a plan.  I ask writers what are they doing to promote their books and they tell me they’re on Facebook.  That’s it. Nothing else.  You can’t move forward with your promotion if you don’t have a plan. If Facebook is all you are doing, you need a strategic plan to work Facebook, so you are meeting readers daily.

ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER

Don’t promote alone.  Find a fellow writer you can help each other promote and help each other stay consistent.  When you have a partner, you don’t feel so alone in the promotion world.

You can brainstorm together, you can create campaigns together, you can help support each other.

YOUR CHALLENGE ASSIGNMENT: 

1.    Schedule 15 minutes to promote.  Set it on your clock/calendar

2.    Sign up for a promotion training or find a site to help you with your promotion.

3.    Find an accountability partner

POST THIS ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA:

I’m committed to my book promotion. #promotionmindset

Part 7 Promotion Mindset 

 https://sormag.blogspot.com/2019/11/promotion-mindset-part-7-promotion.html

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Featured Author: Shelly X. Leonn

Shelly X. Leonn is the author of The Broken Series. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism, Shelly worked at her hometown newspaper as the web and youth editor. During her time advising the youth staff, Shelly realized her true calling was teaching. Her years in education have been spent in middle school and high school language arts classrooms. She is also an adjunct professor. She and her two boys reside in Affton, and she enjoys reading, writing, outdoor activities, anime, video games, and other dorky pastimes. Shelly is represented by Stephanie Hansen at Metamorphosis Literary Agency.

How can readers get in contact with you? 

shellyxleonn@gmail.com

Instagram and Wattpad: @shellyxleonn

www.drsxl.com

What would you like readers to take away from your book?

I wrote this book with many of my favorite students in mind. As a teacher, I've always gravitated to the kids on the fringes, the students who want to meld into the background and be ignored. These are often the kids with the most creativity and spirit. I hope readers learn to see the beauty in everyone's "broken" after reading my series.

 What did you learn while writing this book?

I already knew a lot about paranormal investigation, but I had to research some of the finer points, especially with proper equipment. I also had the opportunity to learn more about Bellefontaine Cemetery, which is one of the most stunning historical sites in the St.  Louis area.

What did you hope to accomplish with this book?

My first goal was always to tell a weird, cool, scary, intense story about a bunch of weird, cool, intense kids.

Which character did you have the most fun writing about?

Lex! I call Lex my firstborn creative son. While some of the other characters took some time to develop, Lex popped into my head fully formed. He and Penelope are the two protagonists of the book. He is brilliant, angsty, isolated, and damaged—just like most of my favorite people in my life.

What do you believe makes your stories stand out?

I think my focus on setting makes my stories unique. I've been told that some of the locations in this first novel stand out to the point of almost being their own characters.

What do you do when your book isn’t selling?

It just released!!! I'll get back to you on that one. 

What literary event can we find you this year?

I'll be presenting at the next meeting of the St. Louis Writers Guild with my best friend, LL Montez!

Who was the first author you ever met?

Wow, I don't know! I've met many authors through the years through the various teaching conferences I've attended. I will say how much I enjoyed meeting Matt de la Pena before he got really big. He visited my classroom, and he really knew how to connect with my students.

What’s the most interesting change in your life as a result of being a published author? 

Too new to tell!

What has surprised you most about being a published author?

I've been most surprised by the amount of time the entire process of being traditionally published takes! I knew this going in, but the reality is very difficult to face. I was so eager to hold that print copy in my hands, but I've had to rediscover the importance of patience.

What about writing do you wish non writers would understand?

I wish nonwriters understood that just because someone is a good writer doesn't mean they're going to be picked up by an agent. I know how lucky I am, and I'm grateful every single day.

Can you give us one do and one don't for those aspiring to be an author?

DO think about more than one definition of success. Traditional publishing, Kindle Unlimited, Wattpad, small press publishers ... The options are endless!

Do NOT think querying agents is the only way to make it big as an author. I know plenty of self-published authors who are killing it!

When you're not writing, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Like my characters, I love visiting historic sites and cemeteries. I'm a huge reader, of course. Doing anything outside makes me smile. My two sons bring me the most joy, and we're always hanging out outdoors together.

Oprah always asks, what do you know for sure?

Write your truth, no matter what the cost.

Any last words for our readers?

LaShaunda is a beast and I'm honored to be interviewed by her!!

Penelope, a student reporter, struggles to find her identity after a childhood of tragedy. Desperate to prove herself to her peers, she chases a story tip on a secret organization of teen urban explorers called “The Broken.” The group demands she complete a test before they let her write the story. While following the clues of their twisted scavenger hunt, she encounters Lex, a paranormal investigator with a knack for hacking, and together they work to uncover the organization’s darkest secrets. As they tag along on some of the group’s urban exploration missions, including an abandoned farmhouse, a vacant mall, and a haunted truck stop, they became entangled in the group’s inner fighting and their leader’s plans that turn out to be much more nefarious…and deadly…than they’d believed. Realizing her mistakes too late, Penelope will have to fight for her own life and the lives of her friends as she learns what it means to be one of the broken.

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