Your Writer Platform

Build your platform. Engage your fans. Sell more books.

Why Every Author Needs a Book Sales Funnel and How to Get Started Today

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Why Every Author Needs a Book Sales Funnel | YourWriterPlatform.com

A book sales funnel is a series of steps carefully designed to guide readers toward your book, your brand, and ultimately toward making the decision to purchase from you. In this guest post, bestselling author and co-founder of BookAds.co, Brian Berni, shares his insights on why book sales funnels are a critical component to growing your book sales (while still allowing time to write).

Most writers got into the game to write, not spend every waking hour of the day promoting their books. 

However, there is a way to sell more books, reach new readers, and build your audience, all while giving you more time to write. 

It’s through building a book sales funnel.

Ultimately, the goal of a book sales funnel is to bring new readers into your world. A solid book sales funnel will help you get reader email addresses, so you can stay in touch, build a connection, and sell more books with ease.

Below you’ll learn how book funnels can help your author career, and the steps you can take to build a funnel today.

Why You Need a Book Sales Funnel

Imagine spending hours pouring over your new book. You’ve done rounds of editing, have the cover designed, book copy all finished up, now it’s time to launch your book to the world. 

[Read more…]

Using Audiobooks As Part Of Your Author Marketing Strategy

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Using Audiobooks As Part of Your Author Marketing Strategy | YourWriterPlatform.com

In this guest post, professional editor, Ashley Halsey, walks us through some of the benefits of adding audiobooks to your marketing mix. If you’re ready to take your author business to the next level, adding audiobooks to your marketing strategy may be the next logical step.

Many of us love audiobooks. They are a great innovation, can save time, and are a desirable option for those who would not normally be inclined to pick up a print book.

They’re also immensely helpful for people with certain disabilities, getting kids engaged with literature from a young age, and increasing comprehension and focus.

So if you’re considering using audiobooks as a means of getting your work to a broader audience, you may be on the right track.

The audiobook industry is growing rapidly. Audiobook sales rocketed by 43% in 2018, while those of print books declined (by 5%) for the first time in five years.

If you choose to take the plunge, you’ll be tapping into the fastest-growing segment in the publishing industry.

[Read more…]

Best Practices for Authors Looking to Optimize Their Marketing Strategy

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Best Practices for Authors Looking to Optimize Their Marketing Strategy | YourWriterPlatform.com

Ilan Nass and his company have consistently helped businesses launch, track, and improve their social media marketing and ad campaigns. In this guest post, he’ll share his expertise and social strategies, outlining simple ways authors can optimize their marketing strategy to grow their network and increase book sales.

It’s an unfortunate truth that writing a good book doesn’t guarantee an author’s success.

With so many others vying for readers’ attention, it’s important to implement an effective marketing strategy. Various brands rely on best practices instilled by a Facebook advertising specialist or Instagram expert to promote their products, and authors may consider doing the same to attract a broader audience.

However, if hiring a professional is not currently in the budget, the onus is on authors to understand which marketing channels are available, and which will fit best with their marketing objectives.

Popular options include various social media platforms, a website, and email marketing. The tips here will help you sell more books by explaining how to independently optimize each channel.

[Read more…]

Build Your Writer Platform: Create a Strategic Plan to Grow Your Writing Career

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Create a Strategic Plan to Grow Your Writing Career _ YourWriterPlatform.com

If you’ve been trying to build your writer platform, grow your author biz AND still find time to write (and failing miserably), make sure to read this entire post because I may have the answer…

I’ve spent over two years developing and testing Believe, Plan, Act: A Platform + Productivity Planner for Writers, spurred on by the frustration and overwhelm of writers just like you, struggling to gain traction and build a career around their work.

I knew there had to be a way to streamline the process, improve focus and efficiency and empower writers to take an active role in both the creative and business aspects of their writing career.

So I created a complete author business planning system, designed to specifically address the needs of writers, and to help you build the FOUNDATIONAL elements of your platform and author business – everything from clarifying your creative and career goals, to strategic marketing, launch planning, and developing your author brand. [Read more…]

Social Media for Authors: Quick Tips to Get It Right

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Social Media for Authors_ Quick Tips to Get It Right _ YourWriterPlatform.com

No matter how difficult it proves to be to get your ideas and stories down on paper, it’s more often the promotional aspects of “being a writer” that become the biggest obstacles for today’s author. In the following post, professional writer, Jessica Fender, shares a bit of her struggle in “getting the book out there”, as well as her suggestions on how to effectively use social media channels to engage readers and build relationships you’ll leverage for this, and every book you write.

Have you managed to finish your book and are you publishing independently? Great! Now, for the hard part – getting people to read it. ‘The hard part?’ you mumble. ‘Do you know how difficult it is to write a book?’

Yeah, I do. It’s difficult. Unfortunately, the marketing and social media plan can be pretty tough as well. In part, that’s down to the idea that you feel you’ve finished it. That’s certainly how I felt. I really didn’t want to go out there and sell it to people.

Actually, that’s not exactly how it went. First, I assumed the book would sell itself. People would read it. They would like it and tell other people about it. And so it would grow. If that was your plan as well then here’s my advice: Get another plan.

Books don’t sell themselves. Marketing sells books. So, if you really want to get your baby out there and read and you don’t have (or want) a publisher, you’re going to have to do that part as well!

Now, the good news

That sounds depressing? It is a little bit, I’ll freely admit. At the same time, there is a silver lining to this marketing cloud. Today it has become easier than ever to actually get your book out there in front of people. Mainly because of social media. If you know how to implement social platforms into your marketing strategy correctly, you can get some serious traction without having to spend some serious dough. In fact, there are plenty of authors who managed to do so. [Read more…]

Authors with Platforms Sell Books.

It’s that simple.

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