Jo Linsdell - Marketing As A Bind

Many authors see marketing as a bind. What are your thoughts?

By Jo Linsdell

For me, being a writer is the best job in the world as I get to combine some of my greatest passions; writing and marketing... and in the case of my most recent book OUT AND ABOUT AT THE ZOO illustrating too.

In most cases I start working on my marketing plan before I've even finished writing the book. I'm a real social media junky and have an amazing network of people that make marketing my books a real pleasure.

I can understand why a lot of authors see marketing as a bind. It takes up quite a bit of time and so I have less time to dedicate to my writing projects. That being said, to successfully market through social media platforms you need to be social. No one likes to be sent spammy 'buy my book' messages continually. You need to connect with your followers and build relationships. Think about it. Who would you most likely give credit to 1) someone who says they are an expert in something or 2) someone that shows why they are an expert in something?

Social media is chatting with my friends and colleagues about writing, publishing, books in general, sharing tips on the latest tools and applications or sharing personal experiences about the creation of my books. It's fun and a great way to grow and learn new skills all at the same time.

I'm an avid blogger and have several of my own and often guest post for others too. Blogs are a great marketing tool. I write about the topics that interest me, which are also connected with the topics/genres of my books. For example I have http://writersandauthors.blogspot.com which is a blog for people in the writing industry. This is where I post about writing and marketing related stuff. 


Then I have http://1stTimeMums.blogspot.com which is about pregnancy and parenting. Perfect for reaching the target audience of my children's books. I also have http://AsTheRomansDo.blogspot.com which is Italy related. Again this is perfect for reaching my target audience for my books Italian for Tourists and A Guide to Weddings in Italy. I have others blogs too.

You're probably thinking about the time issue again. How do I manage to update all of these blogs on a regular basis without using up too much of my time? Simple. I allow guest posts. Just like I'm writing this article for Peace From Pieces, I host other writers on my sites. It's an excellent marketing strategy for the host and the guest. The host gets new readers visiting their site and the guest expands their audience.

Successful marketing involves being creative but as writers that's what we're good at right? It can be a lot of fun too.

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Jo Linsdell is the author and illustrator of the rhyming children's picture book OUT AND ABOUT AT THE ZOO. Find out more about her at www.JoLinsdell.com