Using Templates to Multiply Your Efforts- by Cheri Cowell
Last weekend I taught one of my favorite classes to a group of wonderful writers. It is a class on Using Templates for the Query. I want to take this concept further for today's blog and ask, what templates have you or could you create to make the repetitive tasks of marketing easier? Here are a few of my ideas:
Emails: Do you have emails for book orders, questions from writers or readers, or introductory emails to media that are repetitive enough to warrant a template?
Cover letters, query letters, and publicity letters are perfect for templates.
Templates are great for proposals, different kinds of articles, and author interview Q & A's.
I create my templates as a fill in the blank kind of form so I can quickly personalize this application of the template. For instance, in my email template for book orders I have a sentence that says, "Thank you for your order of (book name). This email is to let you know your order has processed and a receipt will be sent via automatic email. However, I want to personally let you know how much I appreciate your order and value you as a reader. A special "gift" has been included in your order as a way for me to say "thank you." This template lets me copy and paste, quickly change the (part in parenthesis), and multiplies my time.
Now it is your turn...what do you use templates for or do you think might be something where templates would prove useful? I'd love to hear your ideas....
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That's great advice, Cheri. I use templates for everything. The book I'm working on right now about book proposals includes a template for the proposal, just as you said!
Posted by: Dave Fessenden | October 02, 2013 at 09:04 AM
Share with us where to create and store email templates, Cheri.
Posted by: ChristianAuthorsNetwork | October 02, 2013 at 04:15 PM
That will make your book of real value. Does it have a title yet? Tell us so we can look for it...
Posted by: Cheri Cowell | October 02, 2013 at 07:03 PM
Within folders for each project I have a template folder. For instance, I have a folder titled website and within that folder is another folder marked Bookstore, and within that folder is my template file where the email response is kept, along with receipt templates, and a bulk rate sales info template.
Posted by: Cheri Cowell | October 02, 2013 at 07:09 PM