Digital Well Publisher

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How to Create an Audience for Your Book Using Your Blog


 

How to create an audience for your book using your blog - Halona Black, DigitalWellPublisher.com

One of the biggest mistakes many emerging authors make when writing their first book is neglecting to build their audience. I don’t know if they think that the audience will just magically show up as a result of writing the book or what (it doesn’t…). However whether you choose to write your book as an independent publisher or via a traditional publishing outlet, building an audience is essential to the success of not just your book, but your career as an expert.

Tip #1: Write posts that are relevant to your book.

Your blog can be used as a sounding board for your book or your book idea. For example, if you want to write a book on how to avoid financial disaster as an entrepreneur while building a business, then you can write posts on

  • How entrepreneurs can save money for retirement
  • How to plan for marriage and family as an entrepreneur
  • Top 5 most important financial documents for entrepreneurs

I can go on, but I think you get the point. Each of these blog post topics can very well be included as a chapter in the book. When you write the posts, be sure to monitor which get the most shares, likes, and comments. This feedback is essential to your success as it gives you an idea of what your readers are most interested in learning about.

Tip #2: Share photos and videos of people, places, and things that inspired you to write your book.

Photography and video are part of what make surfing the internet exciting. While written posts are still the foundation of your blog success, your photos and videos can bring more focused traffic to your blog in a shorter amount of time. Was it your trip to Brazil 5 years ago that spawned your interest in writing a book about traditional herbs and medicine? Why not showcase pictures of some of the more unusual plants and herbs and what they were used for. If you are a health coach, do you have before and after pictures of your transition into creating a more healthy body? Are you a family therapist who wants to write a book about how to create open lines of communication with your children? Do you have video of you and your children using gardening as a suggested activity to help families communicate with one another? There are a million ways to share photos and video from your own life that are relevant to your book or book idea. Bonus tip — Repurpose your photos and videos as content on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Pinterest to get even MORE traffic.

Tip #3: Create a relevant call to action that asks readers to join your email list.

While capturing people’s attention on social media is a great strategy to grow your business, you still want to direct your fans and followers to your email list. Why? Because your email list is the space you own and control. Instagram has been hinting at making changes in its algorithm making it more challenging for people with a big audience to get their photos seen on the platform. Facebook’s algorithm changes almost daily. The point here is that you cannot depend 100% on a platform you don’t own to grow your business. You have to be flexible while making sure to migrate everyone back to your home base.

So how do you get more people on your email list? First, create an irresistible lead magnet. What is one small thing that you can offer to your readers that will help them solve a problem. Is it a template, a short audio course, a webinar — whatever it is, make it good! Finally, be sure to remind them that only those on your email list will get exclusive updates on your book.

Tip #4: Share posts with related groups in social media.

Once you have the posts on your website, you have to incentivize people to go to your site and read it. There are a wealth of affinity groups on Facebook and Linkedin. Join a few of these groups with a spirit of connection and sharing. Once you join the group, be sure to introduce yourself and tell them about the book you are working on. Next, make nice and read other people’s posts and make helpful comments. Add even more value to the group by posting your own blog posts. However, just don’t drop a link and leave. Let people know why they should take the time to read your post by leaving a brief description of what you are posting. Tell them why reading your post will be worth their while.

Tip #5: Write guest posts for people with a larger audience than yours.

Yes, writing guest posts is still relevant.  In my e-course, Easy Publicity for Authorpreneurs: How to Grow Your Business with Interviews, I talk about how to use other people’s platforms to grow your visibility. The trick is to find blogs that have a larger audience than your own. It is also important to find blogs that connect with a similar audience as your own. If your business is all about teaching menopausal women how to move through this new stage in life with confidence, it doesn’t make sense to approach a blog on ice fishing in Canada about doing a guest post — even if it does have 100,000 readers. When writing your post, again, be sure to lead readers back to your site by offering your lead magnet in your bio.

The BIGGEST Key to Audience Growth for Authors

Growing your audience for your book using your blog requires a calculated content strategy. Doing so from the very beginning will help you to know exactly what you need to write and when. So many emerging authors miss out on the opportunity to grow their audience simply because they leave their content until the last minute.

If you are looking for support in creating your personalized content strategy that will help you create buzz for your book — or even just your book idea — email me at Hello (at) DigitalWellPublisher (dot) com and ask for a 1-hour consultation.

 

 



TWITTER CHAT RECAP: How to Build Your Online Platform

Build your online platform with Halona Black #coachingwithvette

One of the biggest mistakes I see coaches, speakers, and experts who write a book make is that they did very little to build their platform.

A platform is the foundation upon which you build your career. Very similar to a political platform, your author platform uses your message as the base upon which everything else in your business is built upon.

I was invited to do a Twitter Chat all about creating your own platform hosted by Sharvette Mitchell of Mitchell Productions, LLC. Sharvette is excellent at doing web and graphic design. You can check out the recap here.

 



Are Ebooks Still Relevant?

Are Ebooks Still Relevant-In a word… YES!

Ebooks will never really go out of style for two reasons:

  1. Easy to produce
  2. Easy to consume

As an entrepreneur who uses ebooks to teach and market my business and that of my clients, I always recommend ebooks as a great place to begin building your publishing empire.

 

Ebooks can do more than just make you money

The success of your ebook lies in the planning. I see so many entrepreneurs put all their time and energy into writing an ebook, only to have it sit on some obscure page of their website, or be completely ignored on Amazon. It’s no fun putting all your energy into a project that doesn’t make you money.

My advice is always to think through what you want out of your ebook. While we all want ebook sales, you should also be thinking about how writing one ebook, or an ebook series, can position you as an expert. I did a webinar at the end of August on how I made $25,000 with one ebook. Listeners were surprised to find that most of the money I made from my ebook came through pitching myself to companies and organizations that had the money to pay me for my expertise.

I talk a lot about eating well and healthy living in my ebook, Loving My Fibroids Away: A 10-Day Detox Plan. Mind you, I’m not a trained chef or dietician, just someone who had an experience with fibroids who wanted to help make life easier for other women suffering through the same thing. Because I had an ebook along with an online presence, I was able to beat out other trained chefs and nutritionists in places like the Whole Foods healthy eating club in Tribeca, NYC. As a matter of fact, I had trained chefs assisting me in making sure my ingredients were prepped and ready to go. Families allowed me into their homes to provide fast, healthy meals cooked in their own kitchen — all because I dared to declare my expertise with an ebook!

Are you ready to write your ebook?

If you are ready to write your own ebook, I want to make sure that you have the right guidance to get started. That’s why I started the B.O.S.S. Guide Series. Book one is about Planning, Writing, & Publishing Business Building Ebooks. I literally hand walk you through

  • positioning your ebook for success
  • identifying tools and systems you need to market your ebook and make sales
  • how to be a productive writer
  • creating an ebook title and ebook cover that sells

If you are ready to add this powerful ebook to your professional library, then you want to purchase it on my website. For a minimal investment, you’ll have the blueprint that will help you finally get your first ebook done in a matter of days — not years.