Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Writing Biz

How Do Author Web Sites/Blogs Reflect Multiple Genres?

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by Kimberly A. Cook       (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Last week I took a web site and blog tour of my favorite authors for research purposes. Since I write both non-fiction and fiction for publication, I wanted to see how the best are handling this split personality marketing challenge.

Two of my keeper shelves of favorite author books. Okay, maybe floor to ceiling keeper bookshelves is more accurate, truthfully.
Two of my keeper shelves of favorite author books. Okay, maybe floor to ceiling keeper bookshelves is more accurate, truthfully.

It seems there are as many answers as there are authors. It also depends on where the author’s main focus is, writing only or writing and speaking gigs. This makes sense since we all write for our own reasons and goals.

Looking at the queen of romance fiction, Nora Roberts solved the problem when she wrote mystery books by making her J.D. Robb namesake another person. When she came out of the mystery closet with her two different author photos on the back of one book, it was a true split personality. Now she links to her mystery blog from the top of her main website www.noraroberts.com

Author Kate Carlisle proudly shows off her split personality by letting the visitor choose whether she wants romance or mystery, since she publishes both. Her great mystery series is one of my favorites, so this is working for both her romance and mystery fans. Her blog is the same for both sides of her website. See her beautiful landing page at www.katecarlisle.com

Non-fiction and fiction author Joanna Penn has her blog for writers and writer education at www.thecreativepenn.com where she shows her fiction and non-fiction titles. Her fiction thriller website at www.jfpenn.com has a thriller fiction blog attached to it. She split her online marketing footprint on purpose to separate her fiction readers from her non-fiction readers.

Still leaves me up in the air about how I want to handle the non-fiction vs. fiction issue. So who is my marketing mentor, my go-to-guru when I wonder about these kinds of decisions? Debbie Macomber. Not only is she an amazing romance fiction author, she is a non-fiction and children’s book author too. She keeps it all together on her main website and lists all her books under books. So simple yet classic. Love it. Check out her printable book list at www.debbiemacomber.com to see the elegant way she lists and groups all her books. She makes it easy for her readers.

Simple is best for me. I like to think of it as the Coco Chanel guide to author website design. Fine lines and no clutter. Is my website like this? Not now, but this Fall I think a re-design is required. In a publishing world where we can finally pick and choose what we write and when and how we publish, this is one decision I’m glad I can quit tearing my hair out about; a book is a book is a book. What a concept!

 

Want To Be A Successful Indie Author?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

My brain has been on fire the past two weeks. I’ve been reading a new book, “Write. Publish, Repeat.” by Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant and with David Wright of the Self Publishing Podcast. The book is chockfull of great advice for career indie authors and I mean folks who want to publish lots of books. Many books.

(Truth in blogging: Book buy link in graphic below. I think I get about 5 cents per copy if you buy from this link, so there might be a McDonald’s Happy Meal in my future! Could not figure out the image size thing – sigh.)

These three writers are making a full-time living by producing like crazy and having a viable marketing plan on how they group their products. It’s like taking the book series concept and putting it on Red Bull – hard-charging. The majority of their work is fiction, which we know is an even bigger challenge as an indie publisher, so these guys have got game.

They also are very clear; building a publishing career takes time and hard work. Period. I purchased the ebook and it ended up being 900+ pages on my Nook with the larger font size I use. At 5.99, a bargain. In the back of the book they had several interviews with self-published indie authors. C.J. Lyons mentioned the book, “Start With Why,” by Simon Sinek in her profile, so I bought and downloaded that gem. Another great read, halfway through it.

Now the interesting part is some of the ideas in the Why book contradict a few things in the “Write. Publish. Repeat.” book. What does this mean? Nobody has all the answers and fairy dust may be the ultimate answer.

With both traditional and indie authors crossing the lines in both publishing directions, what remains is each writer/author makes the best choice for how they want to build a publishing career. Technology has put the publishing power back in the hands of authors. We get to decide what we want with the most flexibility since Benjamin Franklin self published.

And with “great power comes great responsibility,” like Spiderman was told. We need to be professionals and wear two hats, artist and CEO/CFO. Both books are helping me clarify my current vision from what I was thinking back in 2006 when I decided to self publish.

Back then I thought “Why should I pimp my writing out to someone else and pay them when I care the most about my work?” It’s the same reason I have a target retirement stock fund and not a stockbroker; I can churn my own money, thank you very much. If anybody is going to pimp/promote my work, it’s me. It’s a lot faster to publish too when you have a polished and pristine manuscript ready to go.

Check out the book and you don’t have buy it, but it’s a great read if you want a career as an indie author.

P.S. Book is NOT an April Fools Day thing. Really. It’s legit.

Do You Have Writer Persistence?

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by Kimberly A. Cook            (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Cleaning out the papers in my office last weekend , a lifelong quest, I stumbled across my production worksheet for 2013. Very organized, all my writing projects listed, it was a plan. Unfortunately life intervened and not one of those projects got finished.

Persistence gets bulbs out of the ground to become flowers. Make like a bulb and bloom. Spring rocks!
Persistence gets bulbs out of the ground to become flowers. Make like a bulb and bloom. Spring rocks!

But, it does give me a head start on my 2014-2015 to do list! The cliché “life is what happens while you’re making plans” is a cliché because life does happen. The older I get the more I’ve learned to give myself a break, to put on my big girl shoes and keep moving. The universe does respond to action and it’s harder to hit a moving target, so serpentine! as my Drill Sergeant would say.

So it was with heartwarming glee that I read about an author who was rejected 111 times over nine years trying to get his fiction novel “The Lost Get-Back Boogie,” published. When it did get published, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. See, it does happen. Persistence can pay off.

The author? James Lee Burke. A co-worker at the day job was reading his book, “In The Moon of Red Ponies.” I’m always spying on what people are reading; market research. She told me his words were “strung together like silk.” Now that makes me sit up and stare. What writer wouldn’t kill to have a reader describe their prose that way?

Needless to say, I will be getting a book or two of his to put in my read pile. Whenever I get a little blue about where my writing career is not going, these kind of success stories lift my spirits and make me keep chugging along. Am I doing this for the money? Hell no. I write because I must, pure and simple.

If I can entertain and educate along the way, that’s gravy. Maybe one day I too will be one of those 45-year overnight successes. It could happen! Be persistent with your writing dreams, they might come true. Surprise yourself.

Link:      http://jamesleeburke.com/about_the_author.html

Do We Really Need Every Social Media Platform?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Working at the day job last week an invite popped up from my sister to add her to my LinkedIn account. Since I don’t participate in LinkedIn for my day job, thought this a tad bit odd. Checked with her and she didn’t send it.

Travelocity Gnome is going to need more backup than the M&Ms kids to protect my digital footprint these days.
Travelocity Gnome is going to need more backup than the M&Ms kids to protect my digital footprint these days.

Either LinkedIn was prowling, there is another virus on LinkedIn or her computer, or yada yada yada. I am so tired of defending my digital social media space from viruses, hackers and spammers while I am trying to get real writing work done.

More than once I’ve thought of taking all my computers offline and keeping one dummy for surfing. I’d be safer unless the others were physically stolen. The only reason I got on Facebook and LinkedIn were for the writing biz for one and a volunteer job on the other.

I have several author/writing friends who use LinkedIn and like it. I, however, might be shutting it down. I don’t need a job right now and I can’t reply to anybody while I am trying to find time to write. Then I stumbled across this Wall Street Journal article about how they are going to have folks write for LinkedIn and be influencers, but only 500 or so, and they won’t be paid. Sounds like free content to me!

When I got on Facebook for the business I was immediately found by a ton of folks from high school outside my little clique; most I barely remembered! For us writers who need some safe space to create and write, it felt like Facebook was rustling through my lingerie drawer. Enough!

Between this blog, Twitter and my web site, I’m thinking that might be enough digital real estate for now. Maybe more than I need. Because in the end, writing and finding time to write come before marketing, really. It’s hard to sell a book that isn’t written or won’t be written this year or next. Get thee writing!

Link:     http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/19/linkedin-to-allow-all-users-to-post-articles/

Four Marketing Lessons From The Budweiser Puppy

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest marketing platforms on the planet. That’s one reason why I watch the tv commercials so closely. Ad folks at the top of their creative game come to play. The take away for book marketing is always educational.

Budweiser Puppy Tweeting on a very large keyboard!
Budweiser Puppy Tweeting on a very large keyboard!

Four classic marketing rules were demonstrated by the Budweiser Puppy ad this year:

One: Babes, Beauties and Beasts: Working on the newspaper it was widely known pictures of babies – (i.e.*etrade),  good-looking men or women – (GoDaddy) and beasts, (Budweiser Puppy, Clydesdales) always resonate with readers. Us humans like to see pint-sized people, pretty people and fun animals. Score one for Madison Avenue using the age-old rule since the time of the real “Mad Men.”

Two: Hold the viewer/reader to the screen with feeling: We adore the puppy who finds a friend, is taken away from his home and buddies, then rescued by his buds and brought back home. Not one shot of a beer bottle.  Budweiser knows they are selling a feeling, commitment, brand loyalty and family and friends, not a bottle of beer.

Same with selling books. We writers are selling escape, education, thrills, solving problems, providing comfort and laughter.  It’s not really a book or a bottle of beer; our books offer an experience, touch feelings and/or help fix problems.

Can’t get much more heart-string pulling than a puppy, unless it’s the homecoming parade for the soldier from Afghanistan Budweiser used as their second commercial. We still have troops at war and when only his wife greets him when he comes home, then everybody is there it’s a tear-jerker. Besides the fact a crowd like that might freak out a returning combat vet it does send a heartfelt message. (By the way, women veterans come home too and I don’t see much of that, note to advertisers.)

Three: Use the three-act play structure for commercials, movies or books. Commercials are mini-mini movies or short, short stories but the same plotting and structure needs are present. The Budweiser puppy commercial has a set up, turning point and climax complete with a dog adopter villain and a happy ending all in 60 seconds flat. The B-story line sets up a possible human romance too.

Four: Social Media is here to stay and both Super Bowl ad and book launch campaigns require planning. The Budweiser Puppy Love Super Bowl ad was released online Wednesday, by Thursday it had gone viral and the Budweiser Puppy had his own Twitter account and was tweeting. According to the #HashTag Bowl, in 2012 only 25 percent of Super Bowl ads used hashtags, this year hashtags were used by more than 50 percent of the advertisers. So Twitter is here to stay and that Budweiser doggie is one smart social media puppy! #BestBuds

Links:

Budweiser Puppy Twitter Account: http://www.twitter.com/BudweiserPuppy

Budweiser Puppy Wins Super Bowl! http://marketingland.com/1-3-million-shares-budweiser-puppy-love-ad-declared-years-super-bowl-winner-72922

Twitter Rules Hashtag Bowl http://marketingland.com/game-over-twitter-mentioned-in-50-of-super-bowl-commercials-facebook-only-8-google-shut-out-32420

Which Cat Food/Book Publishing Option Is For You?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Sometimes there are just too many choices. Last month when my family life was crazy, Spec Ops Cat decided to get in on the act and he got very sick. Long story short he is much better, but not before I opened 22 cans of cat food, baby food, tuna and spent big bucks at the veterinarian on my favorite pussy cat.

Cat food refrigerator chaos!
Cat food refrigerator chaos!

My vet had me try many different kinds and brands of food to get him to eat. I cooked up everything from poached fresh chicken breast to Fancy Feast blue can Chicken Primavera; which when I popped off the can top I would have eaten it. Cat? No. In the end, when Spec Ops Cat finally decided to eat one of his regular brands, Friskies salmon shreds with gravy, I of course did my happy dance out of his sight so as not to scare him.

Now a wad of cash and happy cat later, the varieties of cat food reminds me of today’s publishing environment. (How’s that for a transition?) You can go from poached fresh chicken – Smashwords, to baby food – independent print on demand, or choose basic cat food – CreateSpace, or move on up to traditional publishing with Fancy Feast. Pretty much the choices can make your head explode.

Reminds me of an episode from the book “Mig Pilot: The Final Escape of Lt. Belenko,” by John Barron – a defecting Mig pilot who was taken to an American store thought they had made it just for him. He’d never seen so many choices of toothpaste! We Americans do like our choices.

So while I’m trying to figure out what to be and write when I grow up and all the publishing choices overwhelm me, luckily author/former Green Beret Bob Mayer writes a great blog post about what he sees coming in hybrid publishing. Bob reminded me that in the end it all doesn’t matter if you don’t actually FINISH a book or poem or short story.

There’s the rub of it. So my action plan is to finish the manuscripts and then worry about what choice of cat food/book publishing option I will take from the menu; which will probably have more choices by then. First things first as author Stephen Covey would say.

And that is why when it comes to which publishing option is best for any author, I can refer people to the cat food aisle. Pick what is best for you and your book. Or ask a cat for advice, but remember; cats don’t shop, they have staff.

Bob Mayer’s Blog Post here: http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/the-illusions-of-traditionalself-publishing-the-reality-of-hybrid-publishing/