We CAN! promote our books

Newsletters: Connecting with your readers!

One question I get often as how I create my email newsletter. For years I did it on my own, but in the past six years my assistant Amy Lathrop has been doing it for me. Because Amy does such an amazing job she started Litfuse Publicity Group - a full service marketing, publicity and author services company. For more information visit the Expertise page at the Litfuse site. Amy and her team at Litfuse were also kind enough to share with you how they create newsletters for me and some of their other clients.
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Thanks Tricia! Newsletters are a great way to connect with your audience. A well-done newsletter will boost traffic to your website, drive book sales and keep your readers up-to-date. It should be clear and concise - short, sweet, and to the point. And fun, it should be fun to read.

Below are a few ideas for a great newsletter. This isn't a list to follow for every newsletter, but rather choose a few for each newsletter - feel free to alternate to keep your newsletter fresh. Follow these guidelines and you will be a newsletter writing pro in no time.

A few things to keep in mind: It's important that your brand be consistent. Hire a professional to design your newsletter template so that it tastefully matches your website. This is a fairly inexpensive expense, but so worth it. Most web designers offer this service. Also, make sure your newsletter includes links to your website, social sharing links & social media sites. This is very important to stay connected and build your subscriber base. Speaking of building your subscriber list, be sure to include a button on your website that allows people to subscribe to your newsletter while at your site. Another way to build your base, is to run fun contests and offer giveaways (books, gift certificates, etc) to people who sign up to receive your newsletter.

Catchy Title 
A good newsletter will have a title that catches the eye – Maureen’s Musings, Notes from the Therapist’s Chair, Newsy News: Catching Up with Suzanne. You want the title to grab your reader’s attention and compel them to continue reading, however, at the same time you do not want a title that is confusing or lengthy.

Images
Images help break up the monotony of words. They do not have to be grand and fancy photos, but a quality photo (keep those fuzzy, out-of-focused snapshots to yourself) nonetheless. Consider including a face shot or a photo of you in your everyday life – readers always like to see the face on the other side of the computer. If you don't have access to photos, consider purchasing stock photos from someplace like www.istock.com.

A Note from You
A note from you should always be one of the first things the reader sees. It will tell what the reader can expect from that edition of the newsletter. It should also be personal. You don't have to bare all in the first paragraph, but be real. This is not the place to list all your recent awards, accolades, books or speaking events.

Inspiration of the Day
Inspiration of the day is a fun little tidbit to include. You can have words of wisdom, a thought provoking question, an inspiring story, an idea or two of what you could do with your husband/kids/family or something as simple as what is on your heart. The important thing to remember is to know your audience and be sure to write for them.

News
News, perhaps, is one of the easiest things to fill. Update readers on your work, recent articles published or awards received. Inform readers of upcoming speaking engagements or events, such as book signings, release dates, or blog tours. You could also include an update on what is going on with your family.

Articles/Host Giveaways
Articles are the body of your newsletter. Here you can offer a how-to, write a short article on your area of expertise and follow up with a free PDF download with ideas and links to any resources mentioned in your article (readers always love free downloads). Make this section/s readable, educational and don't loose people with jargon.

Another idea is to recommend a book or product that you love and then host a giveaway for said item. Reader’s love giveaways.

Other good ideas are: book excerpts of a favorite book or what's on your nightstand, interviews with someone you think your audience would be interested in, or share favorite recipes – always a favorite around the holiday seasons.

Conclusion 
Wrap up your newsletter with a heartfelt “Thank you for reading”, maybe give them a nibble at what is to come in your next newsletter, and always encourage them to forward your newsletter on to their friends.

One last thing - I mentioned earlier that it's always a good idea to have links to your website and social media in your newsletter. You'll also want to make sure you include links to the resources, books, articles, people, etc mentioned in your newsletter. That way it will be very simple for your reader to learn more about something you've mentioned or highlighted.

Newsletters do not have to be rocket science. They are a great tool for reaching out to your readers and increasing your fan base. Do consider your images and layout, however, and remember that your content is the key thing to consider when creating a great newsletter.

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Litfuse Publicity Group exists to create noise and create a stir in the marketplace for our clients. Visit our site and you will soon discover something unique. We love our clients. We offer a wide variety of services ranging from blog tours, media PR, social media and Facebook launch parties, interactive websites, blog development, author assistants, direct mail, event planning, marketing, and more. If you need your own nest put in order, look no further. Put all your eggs in one basket. Contact one of the hens today, www.litfusegroup.com.

Market Your Novel Through Videos

Greetings from Tricia Goyer!

One of the hardest things to do is explain your novel and get people excited about it in less than three minutes. There's so much going on--the characters, the plot, the themes--how can you explain it all?

If a picture is worth a thousand words then videos are worth 100 pictures. Here are two sample videos I'm using to market my novel Beside Still Waters. Both of them were created by my amazing publisher B&H.

This is a book trailer. It describes my book like a movie.

Build Your Readership Through Contests

Greetings from Tricia Goyer!   

Since the focus on this week is on thankfulness, I wanted to share a group whom I'm thankful for. 

One group of people I'm thankful for are our military veterans. I've got to know hundreds of men and women who served in WWII overseas and home. I've been honored to be able to interview them for my historical novels.

In honor of these veterans, my co-author Ocieanna Fleiss and I created a Facebook/Twitter contest for our novel Love Finds You in Victory Heights, Washington. People can sign up for our contest and the winner will receive a cool WWII Rosie the Riveter gift basket. You can see the contest here.

Won't you follow me? Twitter rant

 
 
Hello from Tricia Goyer. I have a little rant today, and I'm going to talk about it because it's something that bothers me, and I know it bothers readers, too. It drives me crazy when I follow people on Twitter ... and they don't follow me back.

Now, I'm not talking about people like, 'my sister-in-law's second cousin who I met at a family reunion ten years ago.' If that person doesn't want to follow me back, that's fine. I'm sure that not everyone thinks my tweets are as cool as I do.

FREE Kindle books ...

Greetings from Tricia Goyer.

I did something pretty crazy recently. I asked one of my publishers if I could give my books away for free. It all started when I bought a Kindle earlier this year. I discovered that every week there are books--awesome Christian books--that I could download for free. I noticed a few more things:

1. When an author gave away a FREE Kindle book, the sales went up for the author's print book of the same title.

2. When a book stopped being FREE, people kept buying it and it remained on the PAID Kindle books.

3. When readers got a FREE book, they were introduced to a new author and wanted to read more from that author.

4. Readers don't have to own a Kindle to get a FREE book!

Does having a Facebook page and Twitter help your writing?

You bet it does!

In July I went to ICRS (The International Christian Retailing Show). At least two dozen times someone stopped me on the floor, "I'm your friend on Facebook" or "I'm following you on Twitter." From there we launched into great conversations. These were people I'd never met before. Some where salesmen working on one of my books. (I had no clue when I befriended them online.) Some were other people in the industry, from publishing houses I've never worked with ... yet we had a launch point with that comment, "I follow you."

Later that month I was back in my home town, Weed, California, for my 20th high school reunion. I hung out with old friends, some that I haven't seen for 20 years. I'm connected with a few of them on Facebook, and it was nice already feeling somewhat "in the know" about each others lives. We chatted and had fun because we'd connected online.

I was at the local carnival and a woman approached me. She was two years ahead of me in high school. I can't remember one conversation we had in high school, but she recently became a friend on Facebook. "Tricia, I love been connected with you. I follow all your posts. I'm the high school librarian now and I buy all your books and recommend them."

Yeah!

One more story. Last fall I connected with someone on Facebook. (She asked to be by friend.) We chatted about whatever. A month later I was invited to Focus on the Family to be on the radio. The person I'd been chatting with was a producer there. They'd been considering me, and she thought she'd connect. I again had no clue. We are still friends.

Another thing I've noticed is that a sort of Facebook "tribe" has formed. My friends talk with each other on my page. Sometimes about me, sometimes just with each other. One reader in Germany shared a recipe with one of my editors in Chicago ... on my page. (I was off on a cruise, but it didn't matter.) People talk about my books. They chat about stuff like reunions and Weed (the city). How cool is that?

I accept all friend invitations. I follow everyone who follows me. People have my trust until they lose it. I daily connect with old friends, readers, publishing folks, friends from church, new friends. No one gets better treatment. I think it pays off. I know it does.

If you'd like to connect:

www.facebook.com/tricia.goyer
www.twitter.com/triciagoyer

Just my .02!

Team Tricia

A few years ago I was feeling extremely overwhelmed with all I had to do. One Wednesday night at church I was chatting with a good friend about the books we were reading, and an idea struck ... she would make a great assistant! I asked Amy if she'd be interested in doing filing, mailings, and reading for me. She came over once a week or so, and I also emailed her articles, chapters, etc. for her to read/edit before I send them in to my in-house editor. Amy did such a great job I soon started passing other things off to her: updating my blog, creating my newsletters, setting up my schedule, etc.

TWITTERpated

Follow ME

My kids think I need to go to Twitter-therapy, but after "tweeting" for a year I've found great benefits:

Connections with writing friends.

Connections with readers.

Help (advice, experts) for writing projects.

Interview requests.

Book sales!

I've also had people tell me I've encouraged them to read their Bible, to go to church, to be a better mom. How cool is that?

Here are more benefits of what makes Twitter unique:

1) People DO enjoy hearing about everyday lives. This is the Reality TV Generation, remember?
2) 75% of the people I've connected with are those who I haven't connected with before. Score!
3) My Facebook account is also connected with Twitter. When I update the status of one, the other is updated.

Fact:
Personally, I follow 7,271 people on Twitter. NO I do not keep updated with this many people all day long. Rather, I have a select few that I follow via my cellphone. The rest (those I don't follow on my cellphone) I scan on the web 4-5 times a day and comment on their status as I feel led. The people I follow closely are writer friends and professionals in our industries, such as Michael Hyatt CEO of Thomas Nelson, Sheila Walsh, and Ed Stetzer CEO of Lifeway. And I can honestly say I know more about what's happening in the publishing industry today than I did a month ago.

I also follow a few "unfamous" people on my cellphone. One is Kristen a farm mom. Since I'm writing a series of books set on a farm. Free research!

I'm sure I'll include more thoughts later! I love Twitter!

Tricia Goyer
http://www.triciagoyer.com/

Mini-articles for media

The more I try to market my books, the more I understand that success comes when I make it EASY for the media. With the help of my publisher, I send interview questions, photos, blurbs about the book, endorsements ... anything that will make it easy for them to promote me.

Recently, I also learned the value of writing short articles to mail out as press releases. When writing them consider: 1. length (short), 2. advice (helpful), and 3. material (timely). Here's a sample of one I sent for Valentine's Day!

Making it Easy for People to Promote Your Book!

I've discovered that people enjoy helping people. I like assisting authors with their publicity, and I have an amazing group of people who assist me by getting the word out about my books. I appreciate these efforts, and I try to get information to them in a way that will help them most. This is what I send them, maybe it will give you a few ideas, too!