How to Sell More Books with Less Social Media with Chris Syme

September 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment


Last week, Chris Syme of CKSyme Media Group was my guest on Conversations with Frances. The hour-long webinar was wide-ranging but mostly focused on Chris’s belief that social media needn’t be time consuming as long as you have goal-focused strategies.

Here are a few notes from the webinar. Be sure to watch the video to hear all of Chris’s advice and suggestions.

The best ways to use social media to sell books: Use social media wisely. Social media is just another tool; a community-based tool that has revolutionized everything. It is a powerful tool for both sales and engagement. It’s the only tool that does that.

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Indie Author Weekly Update – September 8, 2017

September 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author Weekly Update focuses on blogging and publishing strategies. I think you’ll enjoy the posts below from Adam Connell, Joan Stewart, Anne R. Allen and Writer Unboxed.

Was there a heat wave where you live? There was one in Northern California and thank goodness the temperature has returned to its more temperate moderate. I hope you enjoy the few days of summer that we have left.

How To Beat Blogger’s Block With Endless Blog Post Ideas from Adam Connell: “Blogging is supposed to be about inspiring your readers. So, how come your blog leaves you uninspired every time you have to write another blog post? You end up thinking: Another week’s gone by and I need to write a post. I have nothing to write about. I’ve written everything I can about my niche. When this happens, the mere thought of sitting down to write feels like there’s a mega-ton rock on your head – which you can’t seem to shake off. No amount of mustering, fighting or even trying some wacky things can make what you’re feeling go away.”

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Indie Author Weekly Update – September 1, 2017

September 1, 2017 By 2 Comments

Indie Author Weekly Update

In this week’s Indie Author Weekly Update, posts range from Mark Coker’s views on cultivating superfans to Hugh Howey’s insightful Part IV of his series on writing and publishing. I hope you enjoy them all.

Where I live, September is starting with a heat wave. Wish me luck as I strive to stay cool and say a prayer — or send good thoughts — to all the people in Texas who are suffering due to Hurricane Harvey.

Indie Author Updates

How Indie Authors Can Cultivate Superfans from Publishers Weekly and by Mark Coker: “Most book marketing advice focuses on how to get readers to buy your books, yet ignores how to care for your readers once you’ve got them. With subtle tweaks to your publishing process, you have the opportunity to cultivate more passionate readers. I call these passionate readers superfans.”

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How I Accumulated 38,000 Twitter Followers

August 7, 2017 By 4 Comments

How I accumulated 38,000 Twitter followersI remember when I joined Twitter six years ago. Within the first day, I had four followers, and I recall running out of my office and into the kitchen so I could tell my husband that four people were following me. “Me!” I said.

I was stoked.

I didn’t know back then that to gain followers you had to follow people, so I did nothing, aside from posting a few tweets every day.

Don’t Be a Twit

Then I did the worst thing possible. (I made other mistakes in those days but, hey, I was still learning.) I signed up for an application like TrueTwit. It might even have been TrueTwit I just can’t recall right now. Basically, the application “verifies” that someone who follows you isn’t a bot or a spammer by making new followers click a link. If they don’t click the link, you can’t follow them back, assuming they’re worth following.

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Indie Author Weekly Update June 9, 2017

June 9, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Indie Author Weekly Update

Today’s Indie Author Weekly Update features posts from Joel Friedlander’s blog, BookWorks’ blog, and a variety of bloggers including Chris Syme. Learn about Facebook’s new inbox and take in some tips from Book Expo 2017.

Indie Author Updates

How to Set Up a Facebook Page for Authors from BookWorks: “Love it or hate it, if you’re an author, you need a Facebook page. With 1.86 billion monthly active users as of the last quarter of 2016, and according to the Pew Research Center, with 79% of all online adults in the U.S. using Facebook, you can’t afford to ignore it.”

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Secrets of Successful Book Launches with Howard VanEs

May 15, 2017 By Leave a Comment

In this webinar, as part of my Conversations with Frances series, I interviewed Howard VanEs about successful book launches. A master at selling books, Howard shared some of his best strategies.

Here are some notes from our conversation:

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Indie Author Weekly Update – April 21, 2017

April 21, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Indie Author News

This week’s Indie Author Weekly Update focuses on social media news including what’s new with Instagram and how best to use Pinterest.

Indie Author Updates

Instagram Just Revamped Instagram Direct, Which Now Has 375 Million Monthly Users from AdWeek: “Instagram revamped its Instagram Direct messaging feature—which now includes disappearing photos and videos, along with texts and reshares—and the Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing network announced that Instagram Direct now has 375 million monthly active users, up from 300 million last November.”

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How to Get Attention for Your Book on Amazon

April 17, 2017 By 4 Comments

search
Amy Collins is the President of New Shelves Books, one of the largest book sales and marketing content providers in the US. As a guest on my webinar series, Conversations with Frances, she wowed the audience with her knowledge of Amazon and how to get your books more visible.

She started her talk with a revolutionary thought: “No one should care about rankings on Amazon,” she said. “Concern yourself with searchability instead.”

Amy Collins

Amy Collins

Amy continued to make numerous points, including these:

For print books, you can  use https://sellercentral.amazon.com to start selling online. That’s assuming you purchased 1,000 copies of your book and need to be a reseller on Amazon. Amazon will charge you between $40 to $100/month.

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10 Quick Tips About Social Media

March 27, 2017 By 1 Comment

10 Quick Tips About Social MediaIf you’re just starting out on social media, it may seem overwhelming. Even if you’ve been using it for a while, the prospect of staying up to date on numerous social media platforms may seem like a full-time job.

Don’t get disheartened.

There definitely are learning curves to social media. That’s a given. But social media needn’t be overwhelming.

Take it from someone who works in social media every day.

As the joke goes, How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Take the same approach to the social media networks you want to learn and keep up with.

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Indie Author Weekly Update – March 24, 2017

March 24, 2017 By 2 Comments

Indie Author Weekly Update

Today’s edition of the Indie Author Weekly Update is jam-packed with seven posts across nearly the entire spectrum of information that indie authors need to know.

Don’t miss Joanna Penn’s podcast interview of Mark Dawson or Self-Publishing Relief’s tips on how to make your book stand out on Amazon. There are great tips in these posts.

Indie Author Updates

Everything you need to know about hashtags from Lilach Bullock: “Ever since the first hashtag was used back in 2007 on Twitter, the popularity of hashtags has continuously grown and they have become a huge part of some of the biggest social networks. So in this blog post, I will be covering everything there is to know about hashtags: the do’s and don’t’s, how, where and when to use them, and the top hashtag tools on the market.”

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