Giving a Webinar--Should You, Could You, Would You? (Part One)

by Linore Burkard

I recently gave my first webinar.

In the past, I'd wondered if it was something I could do, should do, or would do. I am a big proponent of continuously strengthening one's platform, and right off the bat, giving webinars in an area of expertise qualifies as a way to do that. I enjoy teaching, and I have a heart for helping other writers. So what was my hesitation?

The idea of being on camera intimidated me.

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Blog-Flinging——Should Authors Use Their Platform To Preach?

By Peter Leavell

Disciples of political and doctrinal ideals are lobbing blogs at each other in attempt to articulate their position. I’m not really a blog-flinger myself—but I’d love my own work hurled at people. There’s a problem though.

I’m not a political advisor. Or an opinion piece writer. I don’t chat with the political pundits weekly, nor do I dig through the volumes of work daily that necessitate a semi-informed position.

I have to face facts. I write novels.

I’m an entertainer. An entertainer of the highest quality, but still, an entertainer.

At Novel Rocker, we’re all entertainers.

For some odd reason, people listen to entertainers.

Do you know what it takes for me to be comfortable sharing my opinion? I’m going to share my opinion about how a person should offer their opinion.

A few years ago, I wrote myself a letter, and I’m sharing the highlights with you.

Dear Peter,

—You get angry at Hollywood actors who mumble their opinion and their quote is heralded as high thought. You’re as much an entertainer as actors. Don’t be a hypocrite. Learn your subject before you offer opinions.

—Offend as few as possible. Your platform wasn't built on offense. The goal is to obtain fans, not alienate them. Yes, truth sometimes divides. But remember Winston Churchill said “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”

—If you’re not having fun, they’re not having fun. You’re an entertainer, Peter, and people pay money for your work.

—Peter, airing your thoughts might make you feel better that you’re doing your part for what’s right, but ramifications for the position might not be best for the future.

—Apologize for being wrong yesterday but be right today.

—Put forward ideas that have ramifications not for one presidency or immediate policies, but for generations into the future. The founding fathers of the United States had classical educations in Roman, Greek, and modern European traditions, and you cannot offer opinions unless you’ve studied in a similar vein. All that is said should ring with the truth of eternity.

—Make sure you are good friends with one enemy of every position you hold.

—There are two political parties, but several movements. Champion the movements, and you’ll outlast any party.

— Remain forever positive.

—Chose battles with utmost care. Remember? This has happened many times—regret strikes a few seconds after a comment is delivered.

—Peter, most of all, remember—you’re a Christian. They’ll know you by your love. Finding it hard to love, and instead want to fling blogs to fix people? Then Peter, are you sure you’re a Christian?

TWEETABLES

Blog-Flinging:ShouldBloggers use their platform to preach? By Peter Levell (Click to Tweet)

There are two politicalparties, but several movements. Champion the movements, and you’ll outlast anyparty. ~ Peter Leavell (Click to Tweet)

Peter Leavell

Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.

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Platform ~ It Isn't a Dirty Word

by +AneMulligan  @AneMulligan

Everyone hates the word platform. But stay with me here. If you're a writer, you need one. These days, only the top 10% or less of writers have people who do all the marketing for them. Let's face it, the rest of us have to market. And you have to have a sphere of influence to market to. So here are some things you can do. 

7 Proven Tips for Building a Platform Before You're Published

1. Plan to spend an hour each day on building a platform. Think of it as

pre-published marketing. You may as well get used to it; once you do get a contract, you'll be spending hours marketing. That's in addition to writing the next book.

Editors will look for your online presence. Besides your website or blog, you want them to find a large Internet presence. Spend time web surfing and commenting on blogs. Each time you leave a comment or publish a blog entry, you leave a Google stamp of your name.

2. Find something no one else is doing. When I first started writing, not much was online about how author's got published. Most interviews were in print magazines, and no one blogged about their writing journey. In 2005, Gina Holmes, decided to chronicle her first novel journey. She soon realized for all the work it demanded, there were three readers, and I was two of them. We talked about it and she decided to interview some authors. Novel Journey (now Novel Rocket) was born. She soon brought me and Jessica Dotta, on board so we had fresh articles every day. The rest is history.

3. What can you do to make yours unique? Combine interviews with a favorite hobby, or charity. Have you wanted to fund a home for retired cloggers? Perhaps you love Olympic curling. Find novels that have athletes in them and interview the author. Do you raise bees? Feature a video from The Sting. The point is to integrate your hobby, other job, and/or passion into your blog to draw another segment of the market. You'll have a built-in fan base when your debut novel releases.

4. Set how often you'll blog and keep to it. Best is every day, but if that won't happen go for once a week or partner with a few other writers. Find authors in your genre and start a genre blog, like Kill Zone where some great thriller authors blog.

Author Michelle Griep does short blog posts Monday through Thursday. On Friday she does a vlog (video blog post). Her blog, Writer off theLeash, is informative and her wry humor shines through.

5. If you can join with other writers, it splits the workload. We split the work between three of us when we started Novel Journey. We posted new interviews each day. Then, we added teaching posts by authors we had previously interviewed but who had new novels to promote. Now, we have a regular crew of 29 and our own writing contest.

5. Follow other blogs. Another way to build your Internet presence is commenting on blogs. Lots of them. One very clever author, Bonnie Calhoun, realized the potential for marketing through blog tours. She amassed a large contingency of bloggers and contacted a number of publishers, who supplied the books for reviews posted. Most of these bloggers are writers and building platforms for themselves.

6. Network and trade links with other writers. Join a professional writers organization like ACFW or RWA. Offer to swap posts with other members, do guest posts, and even ask what they'd like to see on your blog. The more links to your blog, the higher your Google ranking.

7. Social Media. Choose two or three and be active. There are several great sites for writers. One of my favorite social media sites is unique. Started by Nora St. Laurent, who isn't even a writer, it's called The Book Club Network (TBCN). Most of the members are book club leaders. TBCN connects them with authors. She has them share what works and doesn't in their book club. Besides offering a tremendous resource for book clubs, one of these days, she'll write a book and will already have a platform in place.

So get creative and get busy so when your book is completed, you'll have your marketing platform in place. 

While a large, floppy straw hat is her favorite, bestselling novelist Ane Mulligan has worn many: hairdresser, legislative affairs director (that's a fancy name for a lobbyist), drama director, playwright, humor columnist, and novelist. Her lifetime experience provides a plethora of fodder for her Southern-fried fiction. She firmly believes coffee and chocolate are two of the four major food groups. President of the award-winning literary site, Novel Rocket, Ane resides in Suwanee, GA, with her artist husband, her chef son, and two dogs of Biblical proportion. You can find Ane on her Southern-fried Fictionwebsite, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and Pinterest.

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Because the Story Matters Most

by Allen Arnold

Many years ago, a hallmark of publishing houses was their ability to continually discover and launch new voices.

The editorial, sales, and marketing team would gather around these proposals with two primary questions:

How big is the idea and how good is the writing?

That was then.

Now, the first—and often dominant—question when considering a new voice is usually: 

How big is the writer’s platform?

It would be easy to shrug and say—well, that’s just how it works today. 

But that would miss the cost to both publishing houses and authors.

In publishing houses, the shift is in how new authors are being selected. Publishers used to find content that they would then introduce to readers – growing the author’s fan base book by book. Now publishers expect new writers to have a pre-existing fan base before taking them on.

When social media and platform influence the gatekeeper’s decision about a new voice more than the quality of the story and their passion for the writing itself...something is lost. The criteria for internal evaluation shifts from the potential of the words and ideas to the potential number of facebook followers a personality has.

The shift is deep and changing the DNA of how publishing houses select tomorrow’s new authors. 

I say that as a friend of publishing houses and a believer in social media. I spent two decades with one of the world’s largest Christian publishing houses – the last ten years as Fiction Publisher. It isn’t an easy business. At the end of the day, a publishing house has to sell enough books to keep the lights on in spite of the fact that a large percentage of book advances never earn out. And as industry consolidation continues to grow, staff continues to shrink...as do marketing budgets. 

As a result, it becomes more difficult to bet on unproven voices. 

It feels safer for a publisher to go with someone who – while unpublished – has a “proven” on-line following. And sometimes that makes sense. But other times, it’s like choosing which high-school writer has the most potential based on how popular they are in the halls rather than on whether folks will actually read their book. A large social media following doesn’t automatically equate to a robust book buying audience.

And that brings us to a somewhat hidden cost to new writers.

As publishers elevate this criteria as a top reason for signing a new author, it creates a culture of writers who feel they must spend as much time growing their social media presence as they do writing. Even if that isn’t their gifting or passion. Even though it leaves far less time for them to actually create their stories. Because, it seems, that’s what matters most.

I think we’ve lost something here.

It would be fun to see what we could gain simply by trying something different...and a bit disruptive.

If you’re part of a publishing team, I invite you to try this in your next pub board meeting. Discuss the proposals from new writers without any mention of their platform or social media presence.

Focus on the writing. Savor the ideas. Feast on the story.

Sure, there will be time later to strategize ways to grow or maximize that writer’s social media skills. Just have that discussion after you’ve decided to use your publishing strengths to make the book a success.

You can’t do that with dozens of books. But you can start again with one.

If you are a new or unpublished writer who feels a bit overwhelmed by the ever-present, ever-changing world of social media, I extend to you an invitation of freedom.

Forget blogging, tweeting and growing a following while you write your next book. Simply fall in love with writing again without worrying about social media for a season. Imagine creating without the pressure to simultaneously grow a readership and give birth to a story.

If God has called you to write, he will see you through. 

He doesn’t stir a desire in you to leave it unfulfilled.

Spend the time in creative fellowship with him – and then trust him with the destiny of your story. I’m not saying he will make your book a bestseller or that you should avoid social media after taking a sabbatical from it. As I said earlier, I believe in social media. I just believe even more in your gifting and in God’s ability to help your dreams come true.

My hope is more new voices will be discovered by publishers who savor the content so much they – at least momentarily – forget to check the writer’s social media following.

Because what the world needs is more artists who spend time in the presence of God and then create from that experience. And more publishing teams who savor the content so much they have no choice but to champion those books.

Because the story matters most.

Allen Arnold loves the epic adventure God has set before him. From the mountains of Colorado, he leads Content & Resources for Ransomed Heart Ministries (led by John Eldredge). Before that, he spent 20 years in Christian Publishing - overseeing  the development of more than 500 novels as founder and Publisher of Thomas Nelson Fiction. He was awarded the ACFW Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. But that doesn't really describe the man. Allen savors time with his family, craves the beach, drinks salsa by the glass, is hooked on the TV series "Once Upon a Time" and is passionate about helping storytellers tell better stories from an awakened heart.

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Lay the Foundation—Three Crucial Steps before Self-Publishing

By: Heather Day Gilbert

One day when I was throwing a piece of pine in our outdoor wood-burner, a thought hit me. Before we could deposit and position this extremely heavy stove in our yard, we had to build a sturdy foundation for it. My dad and my husband had to dig out a large area, build a frame, and fill it with concrete. And then we had to wait for it to set.            

I couldn't help but notice the similarities to the self-published author. Yes, you can jump in fast and just plant that stove (novel) any old where. But over time, it will sink into the ground, go crooked, or possibly even topple. 

You want a firm foundation, and foundations take time. Please understand—I myself am allergic to waiting. Yet this advice is consistent throughout self-publishing circles, and I want to give you the biggest head start on success if you decide to self-publish.

The first thing to square away is your writing. Don't skimp on perfecting it as much as possible before releasing your first novel. Sorry, I know this is ye olde "work on your craft" advice, and I've never loved it, either. When I first jumped into the querying arena, I was convinced my novel was perfect. Several years and *ahem* several rejections later, I can recognize that my very first "perfect" novel will take extensive edits before I'll ever self-publish it. I've learned some tricks of the trade along the way—from agents, editors, critique groups, and my crit partner. This is where making friends in the industry really helps you—finding a mentor a few steps ahead of you, who has been edited and knows things you don't yet. Listen to and integrate sage advice (if it resonates with your novel and writing style!).

Platform-building is also crucial in this electronic age. I firmly believe authors need a blog "home base" where readers can find them, but you don't have to knock yourself out talking about every topic under the sun to build your audience. One brilliant new way to build an early reader base is to share your actual writing on your blog. (Caveat—don't share stuff you want to enter in contests or submit to an agent/publisher). But it's a great way to let people know if they like your stories or not.

Another way to build platform is to interview other authors or review books. While it's no guarantee of said authors' support when your book releases, you get to know them better, bring helpful content to your readers, and extend your sphere of authorly influence. 

There are plenty of other platform-building techniques. I like the advice that agent Amanda Luedeke  of MacGregor Literary gives: you utilize the social media outlets you feel most comfortable with. Try them all—twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever—you might be surprised where your readership migrates. I was unprepared for how much I would love my FB Author Page, which has become a crucial and easy way to reach my readers.

Besides working on writing and platform, the self-publisher needs to lay a firm marketing base. I believe you need at least three months to really focus on marketing before your novel releases. For me, this translated into three months of spending at least two hours a day, brainstorming early readers, asking for endorsements and reviews, and just trying to be fearless with approaching the unapproachable. Not to mention hours spent perfecting an eye-catching book cover and Amazon blurb.

Even now that my book is out on Amazon, guess what? I'm still marketing. Yes, the burden is lighter as I now have readers who will seriously go to bat for my book. But, to be blunt, self-pubbers have a more expensive route to get their novels noticed. Most larger review sites, like Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly, require a substantial fee to join, and even then, there's no guarantee your novel will be chosen to be reviewed. 

So you have to think outside the box...tapping into the haunts where you know your readers hang out, finding smaller free review sites, and incorporating techniques you see working for other authors. Free Kindle giveaways are a great way to reach readers outside your online sphere of influence, but it's tricky to do if you use only Kindle KDP versus Select (I'll save that for another post). 

One blog I love following for updated tips on indie publishing is Joanna Penn's The Creative Penn. Joanna got into the e-publishing world early-on and she has learned many things she's happy to share. 

You might wonder who on earth I am, thinking I know all this stuff. Trust me, the past few months, I spent plenty of time wondering if I'd done anything right as I geared up for my book release. There were some marketing hits and misses. There were plenty of people who ignored my emails (but hey, I've been out on submission—I was ready for being ignored or rejected!). And yet there were also many people who got back to me, loved the book, and endorsed or reviewed it. 

Guess what? On release day, my Viking novel, God's Daughter, hit three Amazon best-seller lists. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn (it was totally God!), but I do feel that laying the foundation was crucial to getting that out-of-the-gate buzz. Maintaining the buzz requires an extended and relentless marketing effort from the author, but it can be well worth it. God's Daughter has stayed on the Amazon Norse/Icelandic historical best-seller list for two months now, largely due to the various guest interviews/blogposts I've been blessed to be part of. I can see a direct spike in sales when those go live.

I really believe self-publishing is going to bring new voices to the fore in Christian fiction—voices that can't be ignored. But for your voice to be heard above all the din of traditional publishers' marketing techniques, you have to lay that foundation, wait, and offer the best product you can. 

And then trust your readers. They will find you.

One Viking woman. One God. One legendary journey to North America.

In the tenth century, when pagan holy women rule the Viking lands, Gudrid turns her back on her training as a seeress to embrace Christianity. Clinging to her faith, she joins her husband, Finn, on a voyage to North America.

But even as Gudrid faces down murderous crewmen, raging sickness, and hostile natives, she realizes her greatest enemy is herself—and the secrets she hides might just tear her marriage apart.

Almost five centuries before Columbus, Viking women sailed to North America with their husbands. God's Daughter, Book One in the Vikings of the New World Saga, offers an expansive yet intimate look into the world of Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir—daughter-in-law of Eirik the Red, and the first documented European woman to have a child in North America.

Heather Day Gilbert enjoys writing stories about authentic, believable marriages. Sixteen years of marriage to her sweet Yankee husband have given her some perspective, as well as ten years spent homeschooling her three children. Heather is the ACFW West Virginia Area Coordinator.

You can find Heather at her website, Heather Day Gilbert--Author, and at her Facebook Author Page, as well as Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Goodreads. Her Viking novel, God's Daughter, is on Amazon and Smashwords.

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