Today I bring you another whopper of a Book Marketing Update.

The internet seemed to explode with book marketing news this past week and as you can tell, I had a difficult time limiting the number of posts to include in this roundup.

I adored the email marketing post I discovered. There are innovations in email marketing and the post below by Mark Walker-Ford covers all of them.

I included additional information about the best time to post on social media. There are plenty of experts on this topic and they all seem to concur about when to add your updates online.

I really liked the information presented in Dave Chesson’s blog post. It’s a great reminder on the differences between ARC readers, beta readers, and street teams. Don’t miss it.

Enjoy the posts below and have a good weekend.

Email Marketing

11 Email Design Trends to Improve Your Email Marketing Strategy in 2021 by Mark Walker-Ford [Infographic]: “Are you looking for ways to improve your email marketing strategy in 2021? Want to know the latest email design trends to incorporate into your email campaigns? The team from Uplers share their email design trends for 2021 in this infographic.”

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Success for Small Business by Bitly: I hope you don’t postpone reading this guide just because “small business” is in the title. If you’re an author, guess what? You are a business. So give this ebook a chance. You may learn something.

Twitter Shares Planning Guide for Your 2021 Tweet Strategy from Social Media Today: “Two key elements of an effective social media marketing strategy are planning and consistency.” Note: This post contains a link to a free guide from Twitter.

The Best Times to Post on Social Media in 2021 and Beyond [Infographic] from Social Media Today: “Do you want to maximize engagement on your social media posts? Looking for the ideal times to post to each network? The team from Oberlo share their guide to success in this infographic.”

Book Marketing

A Potpourri of Resources by Sabrina Ricci: This blog post is rich with information in a variety in areas, including content and discovery, tech resources, and more. Be sure to check it out.

How to Build an ARC Team to Launch Your Book from Dave Chesson: “There’s no better kick-start to a book launch than to have a whole team of fans pushing your book upon release. With an effective group, and plan, you can get book reviews on day one, swell with initial sales, build real momentum, and help get the word out about your launch.”

Of Note

Focus! From Writing Unboxed and by Dave King: “Your writing is as important as what’s happening in the news. That’s hard to accept when you can’t turn away from CNN. When the world seems to be falling apart, the best response may be an act of defiant creation. Keep writing.”

Quote of the Week

A social media expert for authors (something I never dreamed of becoming), I build author platforms to enhance book sales. I also use my industry connections to promote authors and their books. What else can I do for you? I’m a writer so I provide content writing and email marketing services. Let’s chat! And don’t forget to download my free Twitter ebook.

Today’s Book Marketing Update has more tips and strategies that I’ve ever included in my weekly roundup.

Needless to say, following the holidays bloggers were ready to release new posts into the blogosphere. And there was a lot of news to report about social media with all the flux in that industry.

If you like to post a lot of hashtags in your tweets, you should stop doing that. It’s never been a good practice and it’s proven that loading up your tweets with lots of hashtags reduces engagement.

Plus, all those hashtags make your tweets look spammy. (This isn’t the case, however, for Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.)

Twitter’s newest guidelines suggest that you use just one hashtag per tweet. Using more than that will negatively impact your call to action.

I discuss this week what Kate Kisset is up to on Instagram. Be sure to check her out on Instagram (and me too!)

Enjoy all the news in my update today. It is packed with tidbits and strategies to enhance your book marketing.

Book Marketing

Top 5 Book Marketing Strategies for 2021 from the Nonprofit Author’s Association: ” While you may not be able to get out on the speaking circuit just yet, there are still plenty of effective ways to get the word out about your book.”

77 Resources to Help You Launch Your Own Podcast by Sabrina Ricci: This post provides a lengthy list of articles to read if you’re thinking of starting a podcast. Seeking opportunities to be a guest speaker on a podcast is also a good book marketing strategy.

This Is Not a Marketing Moment from AdWeek: Intended for businesses, this message applies to authors as well. When the country is in turmoil, temporarily stop or reduce your marketing messages; people have their attention focused elsewhere. You don’t have to join that conversation but respect the moment.

Publishing

Publishing Scammers to Watch Out for in 2021 by Anne R. Allen: This is an important post for all authors. Anne clearly addresses the threat and how to avoid falling prey to it.

The Top Ten Publishing Trends Every Author Needs to Know In 2021 from Written Word Media: “Every year at Written Word Media we consult experts and dive into our own data to predict the next year’s publishing trends.”

Social Media News

Optimal Posting Practices for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in 2021 from Social Media Today: This is a must-read blog post. By reading this post, you’ll learn how to be more engagement on social media and more click-through rates.

Facebook Tests New Post Composer to More Easily Add Recent Photos by Andrew Hutchinson: Facebook is testing a visual-focused post composer update that would put the latest images from your Camera Roll in a panel display just below the composer frame. This is cool!

The Best Times to Post Your Social Media Updates in 2021 [Infographic] from Social Media Today: This post breaks down the best posting times on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Instagram Tip

I love to keep up with what Kate Kisset does on Instagram. She’s an indie romance author who knows a lot about book marketing on Instagram.

Over the past few months, I’ve wondered what she was up to as I saw what appeared to be puzzle-pieced-images float through my newsfeed. One day I went to her profile and this is what I found:

All those pieces were parts of one big collage.

Kate, always so astute about Instagram, created these two large images on her profile with all of those puzzle-like pictures. This takes planning and creativity — two attributes Kate easily accesses.

If you’re getting ready to launch a book and it can be tied to a seasonal holiday, take notes from Kate. She is a master at book marketing.

To make the large, puzzle-pieced image collage, she used the app Giant Square. Here’s a link to several apps that will do this for you as well.

Quote of the Week

I’m back with another Book Marketing Update for you.

At the end of a one year and the beginning of the next, there are always posts about predictions for the future and what went well or didn’t go well in the past year. As such, I included below three blog posts for you to review.

Later, an app that I use to schedule my Instagram posts and stories, has a wonderful blog. In its most recent post, the people at Later shared the best posting times on Instagram. Note that the time slots are for Eastern Time.

Enjoy the update and have a great 2021!

New Year Goals

Creative Business Goals For 2021 from Joanna Penn: “As the calendar turns a new page, we get to start again. After a very strange 2020, it feels like hope is in the air, and I’m ready to embark on the next year of my author journey.”

Book Marketing

11 Powerful Book Promotion Ideas for Self-Published Authors from editage: “For authors, marketing essentially involves drawing and engaging your target audience by sharing more about yourself and your book. It really is as simple as communicating. But it involves work.”

Publishing

The Key Book Publishing Paths: 2021–2022 by Jane Friedman: “Since 2013, I have been regularly updating this informational chart about the key book publishing paths. It is available as a PDF download—ideal for photocopying and distributing for workshops and classrooms—plus the full text is also below.”

How Politics, Protests and the Pandemic Shaped a Year in Books from the New York Times: “The year in books, like the year everywhere else, was a simultaneously breakneck and slow-motion mixture of exhaustion, peril, controversy, inspiration and resilience.”

Social Media News

The Best Time to Post on Instagram in 2021, According to 12 Million Posts from Later, an Instagram Scheduling App: When is the best time to post on Instagram? The short answer: it depends on where your followers are located! Later recently analyzed 12 million Instagram posts and found that the best overall time to post on Instagram is between 9am and 11am EST.

2021 Predictions

Agent Laurie McLean Gives 10 Publishing Predictions for 2021 from Anne R. Allen and Ruth Harris: In this post, Laurie McLean gives her predictions for Amazon, libraries, bookstores, fiction, and indie authors.

Of Note

I recently discovered an application called ArtLeap and I love it. Here’s just one of the images I created with it. I also used ArtLeap to create the image at the top of this post. I now use for photo editing apps for Instagram. If you’d like me to write a blog post about them, let me know!

Quote of the Week

A social media expert for authors (something I never dreamed of becoming), I build author platforms to enhance book sales. I also use my industry connections to promote authors and their books. What else can I do for you? I’m a writer so I provide content writing and email marketing services. Let’s chat! And don’t forget to download my free Twitter ebook.

This has been a horrible year, hasn’t it?

Despite COVID-19 and our isolated holidays, I hope this has been a good year for your writing and your marketing.

Here are ten tips for enjoying the holidays from Johns Hopkins:

1. Reflect on what is important to you during the holidays. This may change over time, but thinking about what you want for this holiday season will help you choose more intentionally about who you would like to spend time with and how you would like to spend the time. It’s hard to have a meaningful holiday if you don’t determine ahead of time what will give it meaning.
    
2. Make a plan as early as possible about what you will do during the holidays. Try to plan at least one activity that is important to you for each holiday that you celebrate. Feel free to initiate activities with family and friends. Consider volunteer activities. Making a plan well in advance can give you something to look forward to and help you feel a greater sense of control.
    
3. Communicate clearly how others can assist or support you. Accept offers to help shop, wrap or cook. Some people may not know how best to help, especially if your needs and desires have changed from last year. Most people are happy to help as long as they understand clearly what you want and they have enough time to provide the support.
    
4. Realize the holiday season is a marathon, not a sprint. In other words, pace yourself. While extra social gatherings can be exciting, you don’t want to compromise your physical or mental health by doing too much. Acknowledge that you cannot do everything for everyone. Practice saying “no” without guilt. Allow yourself the opportunity to grieve the loss of giving up some activities.
    
5. Maintain a healthy lifestyle. Try your best to make good food choices and relax to restore energy.  Your endurance will be better if you can stick to your daily routine as much as possible, including exercise.
    
6. Manage your spending. It’s easy to feel the pressure of consumerism during the holidays. Decrease the financial stress by making and sticking to a budget. Thoughtfulness need not come with a hefty price tag. Gift solutions include: reducing the number of gifts; initiating a gift exchange; giving to a favorite charity in family members’ names; and providing gift certificates for babysitting, snow shoveling, a home-cooked meal, or time together. Gift cards can also be purchased for small amounts and the receiver will enjoy thinking of you as he or she enjoys a cup of coffee or music download “on you.”
    
7. Monitor alcohol and medications – individually and together. It’s easy to overindulge in alcohol during the holidays. Moderation is key so that your balance and emotional well-being are not negatively impacted. If you do not usually drink alcohol, consider beforehand how alcohol and your medications may interact, especially if you’re taking a new medication or an increased dose. Maintain your daily medication schedule. Missed doses can cause you to feel less than your best or, worse, cause a medical issue that requires emergency care.
    
8. Manage your expectations for family gatherings. When multiple generations and multiple families celebrate together, it can be challenging to feel heard and understood. Be clear about what you need the most and flexible about the rest.
    
9. Think ahead about stories or observations from the past as a family that you’d like to share. You may know how a specific family tradition began or have a funny story to tell about the holidays when you were a child.
    
10. Reflect on what went well this holiday season and improvements you would like to make for next year.

However you spend the holidays (my husband and I will be by ourselves, cycling and eating), have a safe and wonderful time.

A social media expert for authors (something I never dreamed of becoming), I build author platforms to enhance book sales. I also use my industry connections to promote authors and their books. What else can I do for you? I’m a writer so I provide content writing and email marketing services. Let’s chat! And don’t forget to download my free Twitter ebook.