The Book Marketing Stress Crisis: SOLVED

I just returned from an internet marketing workshop called NAMS (Niche Affiliate Marketing Systems). It’s an intensive marketing workshop weekend full of breakout groups at levels from newbie beginner to advanced. We learned everything from writing press releases to copywriting for your website to what makes a good website to strategic planning for marketing to writing headlines to how to make a quick ebook to… you get the idea—it was full! So I’d like to share with you the top 10 things I learned at this workshop and how they apply to the writing and publishing industry.

Top 10 Things I Learned at NAMS4 and How They Apply to Books

10. Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins has pretty good print writing, but terrible cursive, so apparently they didn’t teach good cursive when he was in school.

How this applies to books: He wrote on a napkin for his book cover. I’ve got the napkin to photograph—stay tuned for an announcement of the book!

9. David Perdew and Jeff Herring look like twins… as long as they’re not in the same room.

How this applies to books: Get yourself something unique for your book cover—hire a professional book designer. You don’t want to look like someone else!

8. Paul Evans is a walking narrative… He loves to describe everything he sees, how he (or the people involved) is seeing it. Sometimes it’s quite funny when he puts words in other people’s mouths.

How this applies to books: Be descriptive. Even when writing non-fiction, description keeps the reader engaged and helps them visualize your concept or scene.

7. Mark Hendricks taught us the difference between strategy (seeing the whole picture) and tactics (“how to create” the whole picture).

How this applies to books: Your book is a strategy—either for your business, personal enjoyment or the pleasure reading of others. But writing the book is hard work and must be broken down into many small steps (tactics) for the whole picture to come into being.

6. Nicole Dean isn’t fazed by an exterminator appearing from nowhere in the middle of her presentation, spraying a room packed with people with ant killer chemicals, and disappearing as fast as he came—all without a word or glance from him to us or her.

How this applies to books: Unexpected things happen! Learn to keep your composure during a speech or reading and just keep going. Your fans will pay attention to you—if you can command a presence in the room.

5. Kathleen Gage is a nut—a fun, smart, witty and silly nut.

How this applies to books: When you write, when you present, when you read—be yourself! The best person to sell you and your books is YOU. People will notice if you’re trying to be someone you’re not.

4. Sometimes a “persona” is necessary.

How this applies to books: Pen names are not old-fashioned. They are still used today. If an author crosses genres, writes about sensitive material or just wants to stay anonymous, he/she will often write under a pen name. And those with pen names still make money, as someone special at NAMS4 showed me. I’d tell you who she is, but then her identity would be compromised. 🙂

3. Lynn Terry is a wonderful, personable, NORMAL person.

How this applies to books: Authors, no matter how successful, are still people. They still breathe, they still eat, they still have problems. They have cats, dogs, kids, friends, enemies and lives. They still laugh, cry, scream, get upset, celebrate and have a blast with friends. They’re PEOPLE. When you become a bestselling author, remember that. Remember the “little guy” and make time for him/her. You will make a difference in a life just by being approachable. And human. And make sure you smile!

2. Dan Morris gave the most helpful information before, during and after the event.

How this applies to books: Make sure your beginning, middle and end are full of great information. Keep out the fluff—readers don’t have enough time to sift through it. Be straight, to the point, and make sure you follow up with ways your readers can get in touch with you (ie: website, social media, email, snail mail, etc.) to learn more about you, your book and other things you may offer.

1. Mark Hendricks showed us a “Madlibs” way to create killer headlines for articles, a tactic I used on the headline for this blog post, “The Book Marketing Stress Crisis: SOLVED.”

How this applies to books: Be creative with your book title, but keep it to the point. It needs to grab, hold and suck in your potential reader long enough for them to buy it. Your chapter titles should do the same thing to keep people reading. And make sure the content in the article matches the title. The worst thing is to pick up a book, have the title be something crucial to the plot or content, and it never to be resolved. I stopped reading a series of books because a title was never resolved. Don’t let that happen to you!

This event was fabulous and many new book ideas were created while I was there.

To get your own connection with others similar to this awesome conference, join us over at The Book Ninja Academy!