Create If Writing - Authentic Platform Building For Writers & Bloggers

I wanted to do a quick post talking about the two big ads platforms most authors use: Facebook and Amazon ads. There are some major differences between them, and it takes some work to figure them out. This is by no means a big overview, but a few key differences as well as some things they have in common.  A lot of people will debate the merits between one and the other. Usually people don't champion both, but find one that works for them and then use that. For me, that's mostly Facebook ads, though I'm starting to see some traction with both. Key Differences Between Facebook Ads and Amazon Ads Facebook will spend your money. Amazon MIGHT.  If you give Facebook a budget of $100 a day, Facebook will spend that. If you give Amazon a budget of $100 a day, your ad may or may not get served at all.  On Facebook, when you say you want them to spend an amount per day, they believe you. Amazon ads are really different in how they're set up and what that budget means. If you're setting a higher cost per click on Amaz

Author collaborations can be fantastic ... except when they aren't. In this post, we'll look at how to avoid bad author collaborations and the questions you should answer before you dive in! It's no secret that I'm into collaborations. I wrote a whole book on working with others called Creative Collaborations. And yet ... I've had some bad ones. I still recommend working with others, but I've learned a lot and am way better at choosing good projects and good partners. I hope this helps you avoid those bad author collaborations! KINDS OF COLLABORATIONS First of all, if you haven't worked with other authors, you might be wondering about the kinds of collaborations you can have. Really, the sky is the limit as far as ways you could partner up and support other authors or work together. But here are some of the common ways authors work together all the time. newsletter swaps (sharing other authors' books in exchange for sharing yours) joint author box sets or anthologies series or shared, connected worlds co-wri

Everyone's saying go audio: should you? The buzz is all about audiobooks. The audio boom. Audio is the future. But are audiobooks for everyone? Let's find out by diving deep into the reality of audiobooks in 2020.  SHOULD YOU AUDIO? THE SKINNY ON AUDIOBOOKS IN 2020.  Why is everyone talking about audiobooks? Simple. Audio is growing. People are consuming more things by audio, from podcasts to audiobooks.  Even if YOU DON'T, other people ARE.  I'm going to link to more articles with data, but suffice to say that the US market alone has been increasing in audiobook consumption 25% per year, with a 40% increase in 2018. It's alive, and it's growing. (Those numbers come from the first link below.)  Data on podcast and audiobook consumption.  Check out this report on audio from all of 2019, collected by Findaway Voices. It seems like a no-brainer answer to say that YES, you should be putting your books into audio form.  Not so fast. Let's look at the current landscape and some of the struggles for indie author

I've covered Facebook groups before to the point that I wasn't sure what else there was to say. But, right now, many of us are turning to the internet and online communities, so learning to foster that is more important than EVER.  The thing is? Fostering community can be HARD. It's tricky. And sometimes we miss the line we need to walk. I've covered much about Facebook groups before. If you haven't checked out these posts first, you might want to. Or, circle back after you finish this one.  How to Create a Facebook Group How to Not Be Smarmy in a Facebook Group Join my free Community! HOW TO FOSTER COMMUNITY IN FACEBOOK GROUPS SET THE TONE First, you have to realize that YOU set the tone. And you definitely WANT to set a tone. Your group shouldn't be for everyone. If you're doing this right, some people might join and then want to leave.  SHOW UP When you first start a group, it will feel like talking to yourself. It's hard, sometimes embarrassing work. Because you post and ... crickets. But that's when y

I've already covered writing to market in episode 174 and this post, but this is a big topic! In this post, I want to look at the concept of writing to market backwards. This post will be all about how to position a book you've already written into the market for better sales. Reminder: What is writing to market? As I've talked about, writing to market is not a way of selling out just to make money. Writing to market simply means writing and marketing a book in a way that meets reader expectations for a particular genre. There are really two parts to writing to market: the writing and craft of the book itself and the marketing and sales piece. The second part is where we're going to focus. So, You've Written a Book. NOW WHAT? Ideally, you'll be thinking about the market before you write and as you write. But that's not always the case! If you find yourself in the position where you've written a book, you can still use the principles of writing to market to help sell your book better. It's all about positionin

Even--maybe especially--in times of chaos and crisis, people need your voice. Your story. Your message.  But you can't give if you're empty. Feed yourself, then feed others with your words and your creative work.    Join the community: http://createifwriting.com/community

Does launching a book sound stressful to you? You're not alone. Here's the thing: a book launch has a lot of moving parts, but it doesn't have to be INSANE! And it all starts with me telling you to stop wasting time on your book launches. Specifically? On things that DON'T SELL BOOKS. A HUGE CAVEAT ON DEFINING "WHAT WORKS" I need to give a big caveat before I dive into things that people waste time on with their book launches. Why? Because things an vary widely depending on genre. What might work for a nonfiction book doesn't necessarily work well for fiction. Or, even within fiction, what works for me with romance and what works for me with YA aren't always exactly the same. Also? Even within subgenres of romance, what works might be different. Also? Some people might have one experience and another person might have the complete opposite experience. I'm sure I'll get some comments saying, "But that worked really well for me!!" And I'm sure they're right. Get the full show notes here: http://createifwriting

I have avoided this topic for ... as long as I've been writing and podcasting. I do not like teaching productivity. I do not think that I should be doing it. That said, I've consistently written at least one novel a month for the past two years, while also running this site and podcast (with some podcast breaks here and there), and being a full-time mom to kids who are ages three to eleven. So, fine. I'm productive. I guess I'll talk about it. But the reason I've been hesitant is that I feel like productivity is really relative and it's incredibly specific to individuals. What I'll cover is not a one-size-fits-all approach to productivity. Instead, I'm going to share tips for finding your OWN productivity, starting with another thing I hate talking about: mindset. ***FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, HEAD HERE: http://createifwriting.com/178

This post may be a review to some or completely new to others. But I wanted to get super basic on how to set up the very basic author platform. If you don't have much time, money, and experience, but want to do this for the long haul, here's the best foundation.   WHAT IS PLATFORM? Your platform is your people. It's not made up of numbers but actual people who follow you and will (to a greater or lesser degree) support you and your writing. Platform matters if you want to traditionally publish, because you'll be expected to bring something to the table. Namely, sales. In my talk with Maria Ribas in episode 40, you can learn more about this. If you're an indie author (self publishing independently), you'll need a platform to sell books and get reviews. HOW TO SET UP A BASIC AUTHOR PLATFORM Your platform will include other areas, that people often refer to as platforms: email, social media, blogging, and podcasting. Email is about direct communication with your readers. Social is like hanging out with them in

When authors share success stories publicly, it can be incredibly encouraging and provide a great resource for other authors.  There is also a dark side to this.  Namely: backlash from posting, misinformation or missing information in posts, copycats, and comparisonitis.  Questions to ask before sharing your success and questions to ask before READING success stories. 

I'm getting a little bit real in this post about what it takes as an author to sustain your book sales and yourself.  Earlier in 2019 I wrote a post celebrating my success--going from making $30 a month to over $8000 in a month just from digital book sales. I'm still totally in awe of that! (Read this post if you want to know how I did that.) I don't tend to talk about income a lot, because that's just ... not something I want to do. But I also wanted to address what happened after my giant celebration. What I expected: passing the 5-figure mark that next month What happened: my sales continued to fall through the year and are still falling Yikes! One thing I've noticed in the online community is that people love to share the big numbers, but it's much harder to share the low ones. I mean, duh, right? Part of this stems from the fact that it's just plain embarrassing. (Even though I have to remind myself that it ISN'T. I'm still making solid 4-figures monthly from just book sales. Yay!) I had huge goals, and

I hear a lot of confusion about writing to market and writing to trend. In this post, I'm going to explain MY personal view and my experience with both writing to market and writing to trend: how they're different, how they're related, and help you figure out what's right for YOU.   WHAT WRITING TO MARKET IS Chris Fox coined the term "write to market" and talks about it in his book called ... (wait for it) ... Write to Market. In the Introduction, Fox states that the book will teach you "how to analyze the market, and to use that information to write a book that readers want." (Check out the book HERE.)  Often, writers start out by writing that story that's in their head. They have that one idea that they just can't shake, or the story they HAVE to tell. That's writing for love and it's author-centric. Writing to market shifts the focus from the author to the reader. What does the READER want? I mean, we all WANT them to want that story that's been on our heart to write, but that isn't always the case. (There

I'm tackling a question that I think more authors (blogger, creatives, and influencers) should ask before they establish their online platform. If they don't ask before, they for SURE should ask soon after. The question is: how close should authors be to their audience? You might be wondering what this question even means. Stick with me. I think you'll understand why I feel like this is so important. FROM THE IVORY TOWER TO INSTAGRAM We are living in a glorious digital age, where more than ever, authors and readers can connect. My 12-year-old self would have DIED to be able to tweet at or email or DM my favorite author online. I remember LOOKING in the backs of my paperbacks to see if there was an address so I could write fan mail. Usually? There wasn't. Authors were in ivory towers, out of reach, out of sight, and far from readers. Now? You might be able to find out what your favorite author ate for lunch, because they've posted it on Instagram. You could know their kids' names. What shoes they bought yester

It's a well-known fact that many authors hate marketing. But more and more, marketing is something authors must understand and take part in, EVEN if you're doing the traditional route. My goal? Is to help teach marketing for authors who hate marketing.  First of all, we need to reframe the conversation about marketing. What comes to mind when you think of marketing? A sleazy car salesman? That person who is constantly shouting BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! on Facebook and Twitter? Maybe the direct sales rep who keep sending you private messages? Put those ideas out of your mind. Let's shift how you see marketing. For authors, marketing is about connecting with the ideal readers for your books. You are serving up your books to readers who WANT them. The end. Sounds much better, right? Whenever you're feeling frustrated about marketing and promotion, take a moment to shift your mindset back to this. You are writing books for readers, then helping those readers find them.   FOUR PILLARS OF MARKETING While there are

After sharing how my co-author and I wrote and launched a book in (almost) thirty days, I wanted to have a simpler episode geared toward YOU. Here are some ways to market your book while you write and where to stop wasting your time.  You want to write a book. You want to self-publish (or, as I like to say, publish independently) on Amazon and/or other retailers.  But marketing?  Ick. Overwhelm. No. Help!  If that is YOU, then I want to help make this a little more accessible. Ready for it? Here are some tips for marketing your book WHILE you write.  HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK WHILE YOU WRITE Many of you might think that you don't want to market while you write. You want to write a book and THEN figure out marketing.  That's not BAD...necessarily. But you want to talk about overwhelm? That is someone who has written a whole book and now thinks, "Oh, I guess I should consider marketing." Honestly, even if you aren't taking steps to think about marketing actively, you should at least consider marketing in terms o

When I wrote this post, I got overwhelmed. You might too! Fair warning. But in the moment, this was FUN. Not overwhelming. I'm going to share what I did with my co-author and then will have follow up posts that are more geared toward a practical-for-YOU way to launch. There will still be takeaways here for you in the details. Just pinky swear you won't read and then get overwhelmed and stop writing? Please? Okay. Great. Let's go! Over the past 18 months, I've written more books than I ever thought I could write in a year. I had no idea I was capable. Truly. I've written over ten books in the last year along with some shorter works.  So, let's just start with this fact: I write fast. Maybe or maybe not fast than you. But fast. I'll be sharing the timeline here for my most recent book, but that does NOT mean you need to ever attempt my timeline. Just focus on the launch and the actions. You can even move them around! You do you, friends. You'll get some good nuggets on how to launch a book, EVEN if you know in

Have you ever wondered if should write under a pen name? Or why some authors choose to write using a pseudonym? In this post, you'll learn why you might want to write under a pen name (or not) and how to navigate having multiple pen names. A year ago, I tried an experiment. I found a genre that was selling well where I thought I could find success. I didn't really want to use my already-established email lists and social media, so I started almost completely from scratch. You can see how that worked out after one year in this post. (Spoiler alert: month to month it's up-and-down, but has been four figures--sometimes closer to five-figures--a month for over a year.)  So why write under a pen name? For me personally, it was more about marketing and testing the waters than anything else. In terms of marketing, I have a few nonfiction business books under my own name. These are NOT the same genre as the clean romance I wanted to write as Emma St. Clair. That can provide a muddy brand and reader confusion. A new

If you're having trouble growing your list, it's like a matter of eyeballs (traffic) and hooks (creating relevant, attractive content). Learn more in this episode or check out resources at http://createifwriting.com/168

Which paid promos should you use when it comes to your FIRST book? For more links and details on paid promos, check out episode 142 and the show notes: http://createifwriting.com/142

This post comes after the news that Mailchimp is making some big changes in 2019. I'll break down what these changes mean for YOU and whether or not you should switch. Spoiler alert: YES. I'd recommend changing.  When I very first got started with email in 2013, I used Mailchimp. I heard a speaker talk about the importance of an email list and that's what she recommended. They had a free plan for up to 2000 emails and were a trustworthy company. I stayed with them until 2015, when my goals were different and Convertkit won me over with their fabulous features. I haven't looked back. I've still recommended Mailchimp to readers as an okay place to start, though they aren't my favorite. But coming on the heels of their announcement in May 2019, I'm changing my tune. Here's why and what YOU need to know. WHAT'S CHANGING IN MAILCHIMP Mailchimp has been providing a service: allowing businesses big and small to send emails to their customers. (LEGAL emails. Read more about being legal HERE.)  Now Mailchimp is moving