November 19th is National Entrepreneur’s Day.
According to National Today, “In 2010 entrepreneur Siamak Taghaddos started a petition to create a National Entrepreneur’s Day. He didn’t understand how America, though considered the most entrepreneurial country in the world, didn’t already have a day dedicated to recognizing entrepreneurs.
“Six months and thousands of signatures later, President Obama proclaimed the last day of 2010’s National Entrepreneur Week as National Entrepreneur’s Day.”
Authors need to celebrate, as we’re entrepreneurs too! We convert new ideas into successful (we hope) innovations. We take on risks and deal with uncertainties. We create businesses from scratch.
To honor the entrepreneurial part of you, here are three business-oriented tips for authors.
1. Up Your Content Production
Content is king, as they say, and it is for authors, too. Blogs, guest posts, social media posts, videos, and more are all content that helps you connect with potential readers.
It’s a matter of exposure. The more content you have out there, the more likely people are to see what you’re doing.
Content also allows you to connect with your readers as someone who can help them. Each time you share a blog post meant to help improve your readers’ lives in some way, you give them a reason to come back in the future to see what else you may have to offer.
“So, why does everyone believe content is king?” writes author Desere Davis. “Well, basically because without it, there is nothing to get you connected with your customers…High-quality content helps to build brand reputation and trust, leading to more customers. Content helps to lure in new customers while also keeping previous customers happy.”
If you’re not producing at least one or two content pieces a week to share with your audience, you’re robbing yourself of opportunities to build your readership. I would add that if you’re not guest posting on someone else’s blog at least once a month, you’re missing out on the chance to expand your audience beyond those people you can reach on your current platform.
2. Own Your Expertise
When it comes time to market their books, many writers struggle to focus the attention on themselves. The good news is that this is not necessary. You don’t have to focus on you. Instead, focus on the skills and expertise you have to offer your readers.
If you balk at calling yourself an expert, get over it. We’re all experts at something! All you have to do is identify that something, and then use it to draw readers to you.
Let’s say you’re a romance writer and you’re ready to launch your first book. You want to build some content to talk about it, but you don’t know how to approach it. Ask your family and friends: “What am I good at?” Ask yourself: “What do people ask me for help with?”
Maybe you’re a great baker. You could write some blogs and guest posts including tips for making delicious cookies no one can resist, then tie those into some romantic ideas for dates.
If you’re the perfect support for stressed-out friends, write a blog or film a video sharing your top three tips for helping your friends through a stressful period, then offer your readers a free giveaway that includes more tips plus a link to your romance book.
The possibilities are endless, but you must identify your strength and own it. Don’t be shy. Use your expertise to help others. This isn’t about bragging or promoting yourself. It’s about helping others—a much more satisfying way to market!
3. Connect with Other Authors
The writing community, on the whole, is a supportive one. When you connect with other authors, you build a team that helps encourage you when you’re down, but that can also help get the word out about your new books, share your expertise, and work with you on marketing projects toward a result that is much greater than that which you would have achieved on your own.
I recently participated in a joint special sales event with about eight other authors. By combining all of our audiences, we were able to increase sales on all of our books to a much greater degree than we would have had we gone it alone.
I’ve also paired with another writer to conduct writing workshops, to the great benefit of us both in expanding our audiences and sharing our expertise.
How you might work with your author connections to improve your business is limited only by your imagination. Some authors I’ve interviewed have joined together to launch new books, write new books, create new websites, and start new podcasts. All of these projects have the potential to reach much greater audiences when authors work together to share the load.
You can connect to other authors in several ways:
- Share their content and/or books on social media.
- Pitch them a post that will fit well on their websites.
- Introduce yourself at writers’ conferences and workshops.
- Write an email sharing what you admire about that author’s work.
- Offer to help when another author asks for beta readers or book promotion.
However you connect, do it with a giving attitude. No matter what the outcome, you’ll always learn something, so don’t get too wrapped up in the results. Share willingly and happily, then see what happens. Most likely you’ll find some authors that you “click with” more than others. Nurture these relationships and they can take you far in your author business.
What advice do you have for author entrepreneurs?
Photo by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels.