Today I will be talking to you about some of my pet peeves as an author business coach. I teach people how to build a business and market their books effectively so they can earn an income from their writing. But, everywhere I look, I see more desperate authors spamming people.
Americans are so inundated with advertising that we have become blind to them. So, where does that leave an author trying to sell a book? I’ve seen authors trying to sell books at craft festivals, street fairs, and book sales at the local library. I also see a lot of writers making these marketing mistakes. Please understand this article comes from a good heart, but you must have some class when selling online.
Below are my top pet peeves. Make sure you don’t do these things, and you will have a better experience when it comes to marketing your work online.
#1. Spam comments on posts: I have a writer we will call Bob who likes to create an entire advertisement for their book in every comment they make on Facebook. It doesn’t matter if the original post was about this writer or his book at all. Bob will still write out an entire book ad in the comments section two paragraphs long. Do not do this! It makes you look unprofessional. It will not sell books for you.
#2. Shifting Fonts & Caps: I have seen other writers type in different font sizes. It looks unprofessional, and to make it worse; they also type half of their words in all caps. After that, they add in a half dozen exclamation marks and emojis. (Yeah! That really looks professional.)
#3. Spamming live videos: I’ve seen other writers regularly watch people’s live videos and then spam the video’s comments with another book ad. Not only is this spammy, but it’s also rude. Don’t bother a person on a live video with your book ad. It breaks their focus while they’re trying to talk, and it makes you look bad. Have some class people! Come on.
#4. Book ads in groups: The next thing I see is writers creating a paragraph-long book ad for their latest release. Then they will go to 187 groups and post the same book ad in every single group. This practice will not help you in the least. In fact, it will get you blocked on Facebook. Do not do this.
So what can you do to advertise your book? It’s real simple. Hire a coach like me, or take online classes to learn about marketing. Basically, you need to do whatever it takes to build an audience of people who want to read about your work. If they are not your target audience, then forget them.
Do not spam random people with information about your book. Even if they were interested after receiving your spam posts, they will block you and lose a sale.
Message me or comment below if you would like some help marketing your book.
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