Recently Barbara Vey, a contributor editor for Publisher’s
Weekly with the highly popular Beyond Her Book, spoke at the
Florida Romance Writers’ meeting. An avid reader, she’s also a strong supporter
of writers and loves the romance genre.
She addressed how an author can build
reader loyalty and offered these suggestions. [These are garnered from my notes
and any mistakes in paraphrasing or interpretation are mine].
- Brand yourself and be consistent with it. You are the product. On social media avoid alienating the reader by using foul language or discussing politics or religion.
- Be prepared. Not only carry your card everywhere but talk to people everywhere. Restaurants, hotels, airports, supermarkets. Case in point. While with a group of FRW members, Barbara struck up a conversation with a woman using a Kindle and introduced the writers with her. One author had a book on her that she gave to the woman and hopefully gained a new reader.
- Places to be seen and heard: Goodreads, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. When people mention you on whatever social media, visit and comment. Say ‘thank you’ to those have made a positive comment or review, but avoid confrontations with the negative reviewer.
- Link to website and author page.
- Be yourself. Ask questions and reply.
- Retweet, use hashtags and tag people with @ symbol.
- On FB, set up author page right away and use it as your primary page, not the personal page.
- Use a plan of action, map out comments and questions in advance. For the unpublished, now is the time to start marketing.
- Follow people who are fun and who say interesting things. Comment, like and share.
- Connect Twitter and Facebook.
- On websites have ‘buy’ buttons.
Ms. Vey also touched on what do readers want from the author: series with characters
who become like your family, respect for the reader and consistent writing. Street
Teams are your fan clubs. Post daily and share yourself. Engage readers by
asking opinions and questions. Do giveaways and promote others.
Barbara does Giveaway Mondays for which she needs the
information a week in advance and New Release Tuesday, again needing the jpg of
the cover a week ahead of time. Here’s where you can find Barbara Vey:
Website: http://www.barbaravey.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barbaravey
Twitter: @BarbaraVey
:) Carol Stephenson
6 comments:
Great tips, Carol! I met Barbara once at a conference - wonderful woman.
@Carol, was the Florida Romance Writers conference you mention the one held on February 15th in Estero? That was sponsored by my RWA chapter, Southwest Florida Romance Writers and deemed a huge success by all who attended. Every point you mention, Barbara did bring up at that conference. Good stuff, well worth following--if time permits! And I guess for us writers, we'd better find the time.
Barbara sounds like a woman who could succeed at anything she turned her hand too. Inspiring.
This is good advice. I just wish there were a few more hours in the day!
Elise, Barbara's personal story was inspirational. Jean, Barbara spoke a week before your conference at our chapter. I had a memorial to attend or otherwise I would have followed her across the state to attend your conference.
Thanks for all this great advice, Carol. I need all the help I can get with branding and the rest of it.
Post a Comment