Is Marketing Important for an Author? By @MimiBarbour

Originally published by Inspiration for Creation

 

Today special guest Mimi Barbour talks a little about why marketing yourself as an author is so important.

Thank you Becca for letting me be a guest on your site today. It’s always a pleasure to meet new friends.

As an overworked author, I began to question whether or not all this extra work in keeping up my Social Media streams was worth the effort. And I came up with a resounding YESSS!!! So I decided to do a bit of research (which is not like me at all to take on even more work ) to find out what kind of a prerequisite students might benefit from having  if they decided to pursue this line of work. And this is what I found.

To have a career in Public Relations, there are many steps an undergraduate can take to help lift off their career. Volunteering or working student jobs for a specific company they wish to get hired by eventually is one way. But there are many others:

a. Intensify your communication skills.

b. Develop your own channels in Social Media.

c. Explore market strategies in your industry.

d. Learn suitable time management – advanced planning is key.

e. Become informed about your product and the competition.

f. Adapt and quickly learn new methods.

g. Be persistent.

h. Work hard on building brand recognition and customer loyalty.

i. And don’t give up or slack off – there’s always someone climbing up your backside wanting the slot you leave open.

As much as you might consider these to be issues a student should be familiarizing themselves with as they study for their degrees, these steps are just as pertinent to an author who is competing in our promotional jungle.

And anyone who is ready to, or planning to, dip their toes in this book-writing world had better not be under the delusion that they can wait until they actually have a book to sell.

Do not play that silly game with yourself. Warding off the evil of advertising that lurks in your future today only makes it a bigger boogieman for tomorrow.

If you are serious about wanting a writing career and if you fully intend to make any money whatsoever when you put your book on the market, then mark my words. These steps are difficult but in no way impossible. By putting them off, thinking you haven’t the time to write and also take on these extra, time-consuming chores is not a good choice. All you’re doing is setting yourself up to either fail or you’re forcing the universe to provide you with a miracle in order for success. And trust me; miracles don’t come along very often. Hard work, consistent publishing and making connections are the way to a solid achievement.

Taking my own advice, I have blatantly added my contact list below so you can all follow, friend or link with me….. (I’m so ashamed!)

My website:  http://www.mimibarbour.com/

Or my blogspot:  http://mimibarbour.blogspot.com

Or follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Mimibarb

Or on Facebook: http://bit.ly/mimibarbourfacebook

Or on LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/mimibarbourlinkedin

I just released my first contemporary romance.  So… if you like love stories about babies, with exotic settings like Santiago, Chile, then please grab your copy now. And if you want to let me know if you liked the book, a review is the best way (hint, hint).

MiMi Barbour is the author of The Vicarage Bench, Angels with Attitudes & Vegas Series.

 

 

 

 

 

~