Meet Kathleen Gage

Kathleen is one of those people who can obviously sell stuff and that makes her a hero in my eyes. A guest post with authors in mind look out for some great tips on boosting your book sales. Every one of her books was reached a #1 on Amazon.

Authors: Piggyback off trending authors and stories to gain visibility

As an author, you not only have to write your book, you must take responsibility for marketing and promotions.

Now, more than ever, you need to find creative ways to get in front of your readers. It takes more, much more, today than in the past to do so.

Early on in my writing career, a popular way to gain visibility was with media releases.  Another was with radio interviews, but often it required going into the station.

These are still viable strategies, but today there’s more available for authors who are proactive in their marketing.

Social media, blogging, podcast shows, joint venture partnerships, affiliate marketing and online article directories offer multiple options in one’s marketing.

Where Have Other Authors Appeared?

A quick Google search on authors who write in a similar genre as you will bring up ample listings of where you can target your message. For example, with my upcoming memoir, my readers also enjoy the works of Cheryl Strayed, Lisa Nichols, Elizabeth Gilbert and Janet Attwood.

By using the search term “Cheryl Strayed blog postings” (or any of the other authors) there are countless listings of where Cheryl has either guest posted or been featured. All of these are potential locations for me to have my work featured.

Although the research is time intensive, the results are worth their weight in gold. The information is put in a spreadsheet to keep it organized.

Hiring a VA (virtual assistant) to do this type of research frees up your time to write your posts, interview and put your efforts into the activities only you can do.

For anywhere from $10 – $20 an hour for a VA’s time, you can get quite a long list of potential locations to have your writings featured.

Breaking Stories

Another way to gain lots of visibility is by piggybacking from breaking stories through the process of newsjacking.

According to the official site for Newsjacking, “It is the art and science of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story and generating tons of media coverage and social media engagement.”

That’s quite a mouthful to basically say, “Newsjacking is a way to utilize trends in the media to enhance traffic to various locations including your social media channels and your blog posts.”

Finding Trends

Trending stories are as close as Twitter, Google, and virtually any search engine.

According to David Meerman Scott, who wrote the book on Newsjacking, “When there is news in your marketplace reporters and analysts are looking for experts to comment on the story. Newsjacking gets you media attention.”

As a story develops in real time, potential clients may be interested in what’s happening moment by moment.

With the ability to post real time on blogs, videos and social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram utilize trending stories to increase your authority positioning.

Specifics to Finding Trends

A simple Google search with the key words, “Trending news stories” will bring up lots of listings where you can position your message. Every major news outlet stays on top of trends. You can also go to Twitter and find out what is trending for Twitter users.

For example, if you own a company that provides disaster relief insurance, there are plenty of current events that you could use to inform consumers.

There is so much going on locally and nationally, you won’t have to do more than a quick Google search to find plenty of opportunity to educate the public on various aspects of disaster relief and preparedness.

More than simply promoting your products and services, educate the public on how to prepare for disasters. This positions you as an authority and “go to” resource.

Book Launches Benefit from Newsjacking

Book launches are ideal for trending topics and newsjacking.  Also look for any holidays or celebration days you might be able to position a story around. As you get closer to your launch, check for hot trends.

During your launch, keep an eye out for anything trending that would allow for your book to have a connection to. This is newsjacking at its best.

Gaining visibility for your book is an ongoing process. One way to get the most for your efforts is to do something every single day to let potential readers know about your book. To learn powerhouse ways to do this, get my FREE report – Hit #1 on Amazon. Click here to access.

Kathleen Gage is the author of several books including, Power Up for Profits; The Smart Woman’s Guide to Online Marketing.

Kathleen works with successful entrepreneurs who are ready to quit playing small in order that they can get their signature message out in a BIG way through speaking, writing, information products and a targeted online presence.  www.PowerUpForProfits.com and www.themarketingmindset.com

Food for thought for many authors here and some new ideas. If, as I read somewhere a new book is uploaded to Amazon every 5 minutes, we all know that competition is getting harder by the day.

Thank you, Kathleen – and I hijacked your other book off your author page too. I watched the video and it looks as if your report will be mega helpful, I’m sure a lot of us have problems honing in on keywords, one of my biggest nightmares.