Create If Writing

I hear a lot of confusion about writing to market and writing to trend. In this post, I'm going to explain MY personal view and my experience with both writing to market and writing to trend: how they're different, how they're related, and help you figure out what's right for YOU.

Chris Fox coined the term "write to market" and talks about it in his book called ... (wait for it) ... Write to Market. In the Introduction, Fox states that the book will teach you "how to analyze the market, and to use that information to write a book that readers want." (Check out the book HERE.) 

Often, writers start out by writing that story that's in their head. They have that one idea that they just can't shake, or the story they HAVE to tell. That's writing for love and it's author-centric.

Writing to market shifts the focus from the author to the reader. What does the READER want?

I mean, we all WANT them to want that story that's been on our heart to write, but that isn't always the case. (There are, of course, happy accidents where this happens, sometimes in a big way.) We learn what the readers want when we study the trends of what's selling on Amazon.

Indie authors can do this better, because we don't need two years to publish a book once it's done. I've decided to write a book to market and had it published in six weeks. It's a little harder if you're hoping to secure an agent, because if you study what's hot NOW, realize that in a few years when your book has been through the whole process, it won't be hot anymore.

So, we clear on the idea of writing to market? Study what readers are buying. Find a space that's selling and that you also love. Write that.

More resources:

• Niche It Down a Notch
• How I Wrote and Launched a Book in a Month

I want to be CLEAR about this before we continue. Writing to market is not selling out. Most people who write to market find a market selling well that they LIKE. But even if not, even if you're an author who needs to write in a market they don't LOVE because you have a mortgage to pay, THAT'S OKAY.

Some people write for the love. Some for money. And some for both.

I'm okay with all three of those choices. As long as you're okay with YOUR choices, then go on with your bad self. 

But I want to be VERY clear that if you think "writing to market" is a dirty term, this probably isn't the space for you. Or, maybe you should reframe the conversation. Remember that writers are writing for themselves, but also for readers. Writing to market is serving readers what they want to read.

If that's wrong, maybe I don't want to be right.

Writing to trend is something that I hear people talking around a lot, but it's not always called the same thing by different people. To me, writing to trend is taking the principles of writing to market, but applying them to a particular niche, genre, or trend that is HOT now ... and may or may not stay hot for long periods of time.

As I'm writing this, there is a hot trend for bully romance. Essentially, that's just what it sounds like. A guy (or group of guys) bullies a girl and she falls in love with him/them anyway. Not my fave trend (kind of an extreme example of the enemies to lovers trope) but one that went WILD this year and has made some authors serious bank.

Will this be around next year? Gosh, I hope not. But who knows. Another trend in romance (reverse harem-- one main girl with a bunch of male lovers) was thought to be a hot trend and is still going strong years later. There is a big tie between reverse harem and bully romance.

You don't always know how long a trend will last or when it will fizzle out. But trends tend to show up more suddenly, become THE thing, and might gain ground or lose steam. For a little while, at least, their star burns brighter and hotter than the others.

And they can make a LOT of money if you can hop on while they're hot.

Other resources:

• Writing Gals Video on Finding Hot Markets

When I launched my Emma St. Clair pen name, my goal was to write to market. I made some mistakes (notably in covers and some tropes early on) but quickly figured out that romance needs a happy ending (ha!) and that adult clean romance readers like faces on covers, while photos without faces tend to be either more women's fiction or YA fiction.

My first few books eventually had the right covers, the right tropes, and met expectations in a market that was selling well. They did fine. I went from making $30 a month to $300 a month to over $1000 a month.

While marketing and doing all this research, I kept seeing billionaire books. They were everywhere. I tend to NOT be a trendy person, so it made me eye-roll-y. I'm also not super swayed by dudes with lots of money.

Despite my annoyance, one day I had an idea for a billionaire book. I wrote it fast. And when I launched it (COMPLETELY to market and according to the billionaire trend), in under a month, it outsold what my first two books made COMBINED over the previous three months total.

THAT is the power of writing to trend vs writing to market. Writing to market may have hungry readers, but writing to trend is hitting on a hot button trope, idea, theme, niche, or genre that has VERY voracious readers gobbling up that particular kind of book on a likely more limited time frame.

Like Veruca Salt, they want it and they want it NOW. If you can serve up that golden goose, you've written to trend and may find some solid success.

Finding hot trends is not hard, but can be time consuming. It means spending a lot of time on Amazon, looking at categories you like (again, the goal is writing something you like that also sells) to see what readers are buying. 

Narrow it down to a few categories you're interested in writing in, then spend some time watching what's selling in the top 20 of those categories. 

You'll want to look at:

• covers
• titles
• publishers (it matters whether it's traditional or indie!)
• themes
• tropes
• niches
• settings
• conventions
• keywords
• pricing
• descriptions

And that's just a start. What are the top twenty books in a category doing? What is the rank of the first book in the top twenty? What's the rank of the LAST book in the top twenty?

I already linked to it above, but you can check out my post Niche It Down a Notch to see my slideshow presentation I did on studying categories. You can also check out K-Lytics (affiliate link!), which has paid and free resources based on Amazon data, broken down by specific niches and categories. I first started writing clean romance after studying keywords in a program called Publisher Rocket (affiliate link!), which showed me how many people were searching for Christmas Romances.

You're trying to find a sweet spot: a market or trend that sells well, but not so well you can't break in.

Any category where the top twenty is all traditionally published books (or super well-established indies) or all in the top 5000 will be a challenge. Any category where the number one book is 5000 or above is not going to make you a lot of money.

If you're hanging out in other author groups by genre, you'll also see what kinds of books authors are talking about and promoting. Sometimes I'll spot the trends there first.

More resources: 

• How to Find a Hungry Market (Chris Fox)
• Hot Markets and Trends in 2019

The thing about writing to market is that the demand for bigger niches is more long-lasting. I believe that clean romance overall will be around for a while. Billionaire books? They're still selling, but my sales have started to flag. Sometimes they get too crowded and readers get tired. Sometimes new trends come along and get so hot they push the others out.

I'm currently writing paranormal academy books right now under the pen name Sullivan Gray. (Think boarding schools for magical creatures.) This is a hot trend right now. But are people ever really tired of vampire books? No. They trend hot, then die down, but they never really go away. (JUST LIKE ACTUAL VAMPIRES.) Indie author Bella Forrest may have started near the Twilight hot trend, but she's still making a killing with a 70-book vampire series. And the next time vampires trend HOT, those books can burn bright again too.

All this to say: if you're chasing a hot trend, the books will have more longevity if they fit a broader market as well and can still SERVE those readers when the trend isn't hot. If there is ever a backlash against billionaire (in small groups, there totally is), I could rebrand and retitle my books and they would STILL fit well in the broader clean romance market with other tropes and conventions. There are more CLASSIC elements to the trendy books.

If you want to write to market or go further and write to a hot trend, hang out on Amazon. Talk to other authors. Study. Be a little nerdy. READ books.

Then see if you can find a sweet spot for books you love to write and books readers love to read. Make sure the elements of your books match the ones in the market AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Cover especially. Readers should glance at your book and KNOW where it fits or if they want to read it.

I'm tackling a question that I think more authors (blogger, creatives, and influencers) should ask before they establish their online platform. If they don't ask before, they for SURE should ask soon after. The question is: how close should authors be to their audience?

You might be wondering what this question even means. Stick with me. I think you'll understand why I feel like this is so important.

We are living in a glorious digital age, where more than ever, authors and readers can connect. My 12-year-old self would have DIED to be able to tweet at or email or DM my favorite author online. I remember LOOKING in the backs of my paperbacks to see if there was an address so I could write fan mail. Usually? There wasn't.

Authors were in ivory towers, out of reach, out of sight, and far from readers.

Now? You might be able to find out what your favorite author ate for lunch, because they've posted it on Instagram.

You could know their kids' names.

What shoes they bought yesterday.

What they're struggling with personally.

The switch has completely flipped. Honestly, this all started with reality TV, as far as I'm concerned. We all got nosy (okay, humans have probably always been nosy) and enjoyed getting a front-row seat to all the inane (and dramatic) details of other people's lives.

Then: enter the internet and social media.

We have ACCESS now. You can choose not just to post your lunch, but to do a live video or create an Instagram story about your lunch. And your readers get INSTANT access to your life, lived up to the minute.

This is, on the one hand, really amazing! I love this ... in some ways. And as with social media as a WHOLE for people, this access can also be very, very unhealthy.

Here are a few things I've seen recently (a few details changed to protect those involved):

• authors getting mad at their own Facebook group, make an offhand comment about killing a character to "show" readers, and a massive fallout off the hundreds and thousands of group members
• readers DEMANDING that authors finish their favorite series faster and sending angry emails or posting public rants when books in a series take more than a few weeks to release
• authors promising in their emails and Facebook groups that books are coming out, then readers getting angry because the author breaks those promises, then disappears from public view
• readers bullying authors and personal assistants to authors
• authors rallying their reader groups up to attack other authors or people on twitter or through low ratings on platforms like Amazon
• readers in an author group getting nasty and mean with each other and the author not stepping in to stop it or moderate
• authors receiving nasty personal emails about their families and personal lives because readers didn't like books
• readers giving up on authors (and announcing it publicly) because the authors didn't do what the readers wanted OR what the author told readers they would do
• authors apologizing profusely because they aren't doing exactly what the readers demand

These are all pretty general examples. I don't want to get more specific and share someone else's story. You get the idea.

All this access has allowed for some unhealthy relationships to form! It may sound GREAT to share pics of your new baby in a group ... until an angry reader makes a threat and names your child. (I know it's weird, but stuff like this happens, y'all.)

Look. There isn't one way to do this. It will be different for different authors. And you could do the best job ever, feel great about it, and still have someone lash out. (I've had readers freak out at me for things I 100% never did. Once I responded to an angry email and it turned out they sent it to the wrong person altogether! Still, though: yikes.)

We won't all agree, but here are some things to consider and best practices for keeping and maintaining healthy relationships.

Decide how many and what kinds of personal things you want to share. Reevaluate, as this may change. Will you share the actual names of your family members? Are you going to share pictures of yourself and your family and friends? How much of your real life will your readers see?

Choose the platform that feels the best and healthiest for YOU. Where are you happy? What feels like a space that has a good vibe for YOU as a platform? If you choose too many places, you'll be stretched thin, and that may impact how you feel and interact with your readers.

Consider establishing a space that can offer you control. If you find yourself on the receiving end of an attack, what can you do about it? (Ex: On Twitter, the gloves are off. In your personal, closed Facebook group, you can kick people out, report to Facebook, and block.)

Set the tone in your spaces. Your online space? Is YOUR space. Or, it should be. Really, this won't be true on every space, which is why I suggested finding a place that offers control. This is one reason I love Facebook groups and would recommend spaces you can control. You can decide what stays and goes, what people post, and how people speak to one another. The culture of your group reflects YOU. So if you have a space that allows people to be nasty to each other, that can also turn on YOU.

Don't make promises you can't keep. Breaking trust with your audience is something you may not be able to come back from. Keep this in mind when you share things like launch dates or make commitments. Trust is a HUGE currency and one that's hard to gain back once it's lost.

Make sure your readers know that you're in charge. Serving your readership is great. Creating a connection can be wonderful. But if you let the readers think that they OWN you or that you are going to do everything as they want, when they want, it's not going to end well. They won't be happy. You certainly won't be. Find a balance between making the decisions YOU want and taking into account the readership you've built.

Don't get so emotional, baby. It's so easy to get emotional online. We are emotionally tied to our work. Social media can incite our feelings. But posting in an emotional state rarely brings good things. Take some time before posting. Step back. Sharing your feelings on occasion can be a really good thing, but if you're posting a lot in the heat of the moment, it's going to come back to bite you.

As a final point, let social media and all this connectivity serve YOU. Don't become its servant or let your readers demand things of you.

If you started out and hadn't thought about this, THAT'S OKAY! Take some time to decide how you want to handle the relationship with your readers, where you'll interact, how you'll communicate, and what you won't tolerate.

Have you ever given this thought? What is important to YOU in terms of establishing boundaries with your readers?

It's a well-known fact that many authors hate marketing. But more and more, marketing is something authors must understand and take part in, EVEN if you're doing the traditional route. My goal? Is to help teach marketing for authors who hate marketing. 

First of all, we need to reframe the conversation about marketing.

What comes to mind when you think of marketing? A sleazy car salesman? That person who is constantly shouting BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! on Facebook and Twitter? Maybe the direct sales rep who keep sending you private messages?

Put those ideas out of your mind. Let's shift how you see marketing.

For authors, marketing is about connecting with the ideal readers for your books. You are serving up your books to readers who WANT them. The end.

Sounds much better, right?

Whenever you're feeling frustrated about marketing and promotion, take a moment to shift your mindset back to this. You are writing books for readers, then helping those readers find them.

While there are lots of ways to market, I'm going to break down four main ways that you can market your books:

1. Direct: email
2. Public: social media
3. Paid: ads
4. Networking: cross-promotion with other authors

Again, there are many other things you can do to market. But this is a simple overview of the largest avenues for marketing right now. Let's break them down a little!

Email is my favorite thing. You know this if you've been around for a while. Why do I love email so much? Email is a classic. It doesn't go out of style, though for some, it goes out of favor. It hasn't changed much in twenty years. It has no algorithm.

Email is the best way to connect with your readers directly.

If you are just starting out or trying to build your sales, start with building an email list. Here are some other resources on that right here on the site:

How to Grow Your Email List

Email Resources

Social media is not the best sales tool. It's great for engagement and brand awareness, getting your book out there in front of people.

More than ever, ads matter. But ads also have a learning curve. (Check out my longer post on paid promotions for more.) The main ad platforms that authors use are Amazon ads (formerly AMS ads) and Facebook ads.

Other than email, this is my favorite tool for promotion and can have massive impact. Oh, and it's free. When you work with other authors, you'll not only learn what's working for them and find support, but also discover great cross-promotional opportunities, whether through newsletter swaps, Facebook group takeovers, or other events.

Look to connect with other authors of all kinds of genres. You won't share cross-promotion as much outside of your genre, but might learn what's working for other authors or get ideas there. Or just find moral support.

If your book cover doesn't match your genre or look professional, you'll struggle with marketing. If your blurb isn't enticing, you'll struggle with marketing. Period.

Writing to market isn't about selling out. It's about researching where your book fits, or even better, researching a market that feels like a good fit FOR YOU, then writing books that meet reader expectations.

After sharing how my co-author and I wrote and launched a book in (almost) thirty days, I wanted to have a simpler episode geared toward YOU. Here are some ways to market your book while you write and where to stop wasting your time. 

You want to write a book. You want to self-publish (or, as I like to say, publish independently) on Amazon and/or other retailers. 

But marketing? 

Ick. Overwhelm. No. Help! 

If that is YOU, then I want to help make this a little more accessible. Ready for it? Here are some tips for marketing your book WHILE you write. 

HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK WHILE YOU WRITE

Many of you might think that you don't want to market while you write. You want to write a book and THEN figure out marketing. 

That's not BAD...necessarily. But you want to talk about overwhelm? That is someone who has written a whole book and now thinks, "Oh, I guess I should consider marketing."

Honestly, even if you aren't taking steps to think about marketing actively, you should at least consider marketing in terms of where your book FITS.

What category does it go in? What are the reader expectations for that category? What do the covers look like? How long are the books? 

Those are things to consider before or AS you write. I mean, if you want to sell books. If you are just writing a labor of love, then do what you want. But I'm assuming that I'm speaking to people wanting to SELL books. In that case, you should look at the market, even if you aren't marketing. 

But here is my very big, very simple advice on marketing while you write: 

That's it. The end. Simple. 

Too simple? Yep. So, let's dive into some things that you can do daily.

I'd honestly love to make a freebie for this. I probably will... soon. But not today. 

For now, I'm going to refer you to the GIANT post on how to write and launch a book in a month. There are so many action items there. 

Overall, I would say that you should focus on things that have lasting power, like building an email list. Create a freebie that relates to the series you're launching, or give away a teaser of a few chapters in exchange for an email address with a site like Bookfunnel, Story Origin, Book Cave, or Prolific Works. 

Join author group promos and send paid traffic to that freebie to grow your readership WHILE YOU'RE WRITING. So huge. When you go to launch your book and you have even a few hundred subscribers, that's POWERFUL! 

Also see: 

• A Simple Book Launch Framework
• How to Start Building Your Email List

This is where (if you listen to the audio) I get a little rant-y. Now, hear me: there isn't always ONE way to do things. So, take this with a grain of salt. BUT GENERALLY SPEAKING, these things will not help you sell more books. Period. 

Realize that if you think that building your Facebook likes or Twitter followers is going to sell books, you're probably wrong. Email sells more books. Focus on email lists, not follower counts.

Facebook is amazing for groups and collaborations and newsletter swaps with other authors, but many authors go into FB groups for a genre and then just drop links to their books. Any group that is filled with authors dropping links to books with no likes or comments is a WASTE OF TIME. Look for actual reader groups with actual readers and see what their rules are for self-promo. Or just listen and learn what readers in your genre like. 

I once designed my own book cover. In the time it took me to create a cover (and I'm okay at stuff), I could have paid someone $15 on Fiverr to do it better and saved myself hours. Unless you're GREAT at book cover design (not just graphics) you'll waste time and money and lose sales because your book cover won't hold up against other books in your genre. Stop it. 

Blogging isn't dead. But it's shifted. People don't read blogs like online diaries anymore. Authors didn't get this memo. They either write blogs that are diary-esque (which really only appeal to hardcore fans) or they write blog posts that are not to the right audience. An example of the second one is a fiction writer blogging about writing tips. That attracts other authors and writers, not the people who'll read your romance novels. 

If you want to drive sales on your blog, you'll have to actually take the time to create a content strategy based around things your readers are already searching for. You'll use things like SEO (search engine optimization) and Pinterest to actually drive long-term traffic and then have your site set up for sales. This is a lot of work. Your efforts are likely better spent elsewhere.

I'm biased because I hate bookmarks. But even beyond that, bookmarks don't sell books. They're fun. If you have time and money to put into swag, cool! But don't make this a priority. This isn't how most readers FIND a book. So, if you're focused on sales, then stop focusing on swag. Superfans like swag. But if you're working on your first book(s),  you don't have enough superfans to make this important. 

There have been some successful Patreon campaigns for books. But FOR THE MOST PART, this adds one more thing to do and dilutes your effort. When you sell a book, the most important thing is driving traffic TO THE BOOK. When you add Patreon, that's one more thing to do (set up, giving out prizes, the bonus content, etc) and one more place you're sending people THAT ISN'T YOUR BOOK. 

I see people setting these up trying to help pay for launch and I've looked at the breakdown of what they're paying. Usually? It's too much money on things they don't need to spend money on. My first book launch for Emma St. Clair probably cost under $300. I got a cover (that I still love) from an artist on FB having a sale. I paid $125 for editing. And I think I bought 2-3 paid promos. The end. 

Creating a Patreon just takes away your time and effort and gives another place to send people that is not your book. Keep it simple. Bootstrap. Focus on sending people to your book to buy books, not to a site like Patreon to focus on bookmarks and bonuses.

Was that too mean? Too honest? Feels a little bit that way. 

But here's the thing: I hate wasting time. And I hate the thought of you out there, wasting your time when you could be writing and doing marketing tasks that WILL SELL BOOKS.

Want to disagree? Have ideas of what is or isn't important? Leave a comment or head over to the Facebook group where we can talk and you can call me a meanie. ;) 

When I wrote this post, I got overwhelmed. You might too! Fair warning. But in the moment, this was FUN. Not overwhelming. I'm going to share what I did with my co-author and then will have follow up posts that are more geared toward a practical-for-YOU way to launch. There will still be takeaways here for you in the details. Just pinky swear you won't read and then get overwhelmed and stop writing? Please? Okay. Great. Let's go!

Over the past 18 months, I've written more books than I ever thought I could write in a year. I had no idea I was capable. Truly. I've written over ten books in the last year along with some shorter works. 

So, let's just start with this fact: I write fast. Maybe or maybe not fast than you. But fast. I'll be sharing the timeline here for my most recent book, but that does NOT mean you need to ever attempt my timeline. Just focus on the launch and the actions. You can even move them around! You do you, friends.

You'll get some good nuggets on how to launch a book, EVEN if you know in your heart of hearts you'll never launch that fast. You don't need to! It's not a race! I just like to go super speed. That's me.

Whatever your speed, you'll find the steps you need to launch a book here! Future posts will go into more detail in a more accessible way.

Prepare to be overwhelmed! But remember, this was 100% fun for me! I promise.

...READ THE FULL POST ON THE CREATE IF WRITING SITE!

Have you ever wondered if should write under a pen name? Or why some authors choose to write using a pseudonym? In this post, you'll learn why you might want to write under a pen name (or not) and how to navigate having multiple pen names.

A year ago, I tried an experiment.

I found a genre that was selling well where I thought I could find success. I didn't really want to use my already-established email lists and social media, so I started almost completely from scratch.

You can see how that worked out after one year in this post. (Spoiler alert: month to month it's up-and-down, but has been four figures--sometimes closer to five-figures--a month for over a year.) 

So why write under a pen name?

For me personally, it was more about marketing and testing the waters than anything else. In terms of marketing, I have a few nonfiction business books under my own name. These are NOT the same genre as the clean romance I wanted to write as Emma St. Clair. That can provide a muddy brand and reader confusion. A new name seemed like a good option.

To test the waters, I wanted to know if I could use the knowledge I've gained over the past however-many years in this online space to find success self-publishing without using my already-established platform.

I'm actually about to launch a second pen name (Sullivan Gray) who will do Young Adult paranormal and contemporary books. I'm planning the same strategy as I used to launch Emma and we'll see how it goes.

Listen to Episode 169 - How and Why to Write Under a Pen Name

Authors might choose a pen name if the subject that they're writing about might cause conflict with their actual life. I've seen this a lot when authors write steamy romance and don't necessarily want their mom reading it. Some steamy romance authors also write clean romance and don't want any crossover.

In this case, authors will be very careful to keep their pen name completely apart and separate from everything else they write. It's a lot more hidden.

Authors might choose a pen name if they write in multiple, unrelated genres. This is the main reason I chose a pen name. When we shop online, we don't realize how many quick snap decisions we make on things. Having a pen name can keep ultimate clarity in terms of branding.

Are my sweet romance books that different from my Christmas devotionals or my book on email lists? No... but the readers aren't the same. The crossover is likely minimal at best. And when a reader glances at my author name and the books that customers also bought on the Amazon sales page, it presents a problem to see unrelated books. It would be confusing to see a romance book next to a book on business. Readers need quick and easy cues with clean author branding.

Whenever you're as big as Stephen King or JK Rowling, you could write whatever and people will buy it. (Big authors still sometimes write under pen names!) But when you're starting out, it's much easier to have one author name PER GENRE for crystal clear marketing and branding. I've seen personally how well this has worked for me and I've also seen authors struggle trying to keep multiple unrelated genres under one name as they start out. It was HARD.

• Some people in the space (whom I really respect) say that you don't need to worry about a pen name. I disagree when it comes to branding and marketing, but if you want to see another side to this, check out a post by Anne R. Allen. 

Amazon will only let you have three pen names under one Author Central account. It isn't TERRIBLE to have multiple pen names (more on that below), but if you can keep things easy, DO.

If you're writing books that are related or might have a larger crossover audience, then don't do a pen name. An example might be writing clean romance and clean romantic suspense. These are the same steam level in terms of sexual content (which matters to readers), though the audiences might not be a 100% match.

That said, my Emma St. Clair clean romance books will have a similar steam level to my YA content, BUT the YA books will have more violence and intense action. Some have paranormal elements. The crossover might be there (I read both genres!) but it's going to be a way smaller number. Just look at what these different covers convey!

You can see how these are likely not the same audiences, right? Everything from the color to the tone of these book covers sends signals to the readers, even subconsciously. Pen name = good plan.

If you don't NEED a pen name and already have an established brand or public-facing name that you could use, don't create more work for yourself.

If you don't care as much about branding and sales and just want to write for the love of it, put it all under your name.

If you have a HUGE platform under your name and people will buy whatever you write, then don't worry about a pen name.

If you know it would be easier to write under pen names but you can't handle the idea of juggling them all, you might want to consider not writing under pen names.

Speaking for Amazon, you can create up to three pen names under one author central account. That means that you'll be getting paid in the same place and don't need to worry about technicalities or weird legal stuff. Publicly, they are separate. Privately on the back end, they're all under your account.

That said, some people want more separation even than THAT. This post talks about ways to find more separation.

If you want to know how to set up a new pen name in an author central account, here's a brief video I made walking you through the process.

Now we're getting into the nitty-gritty of what it takes to juggle multiple pen names. It's less than you think! This also may vary wildly depending on how you want to promote books. With my pen names, I'm not very actively blogging (if at all). I don't post much on a Facebook page or Twitter. My main focus was email list (which sells more books), a FB page for ads, and a FB reader group. 

My basic suggestions for a pen name: 

• Set up an email list (this is my main focus) 
• Set up a web page with yourauthorname dot com or something similar 
• Set up a Facebook page (so you can run ads) 
• Set up ONE social media account that you'll use (this could just be the Facebook page) 

Important note about Facebook: It's against Facebook's terms of service to have two personal profiles (where you add friends vs a business page where you get "likes"). Don't create a personal profile for your pen name! You could get completely booted from Facebook. A page may not see a lot of organic growth or reach, but if you want to create ads, you need a page. Plus you can use a small page with few likes to market to a broad audience. 

That's really not that much to do. For one of my pen names, I own AuthorSullivanGray.com, but if you go there, you'll just get a landing page to sign up for my email list. I don't have a full web page set up. 

I focused on growing my email list through Bookfunnel and other author promos and I send weekly content to subscribers. I barely post on my Facebook page, but do run ads. My social media focus is Facebook groups and I am working to build active reader groups where I share my books, teasers or bonus content, other people's books, and have discussions.

I think it's a good idea to check your genre. For some, gender (or perceived gender) may send a signal to consumers. (Joanna Penn talks about that in this post under #3.) I personally chose names I liked that fit more with the genres.

Emma is like everyone's BFF. You can't hate Emma! So of course, she writes sweet romance. 

Sullivan is a great name. (We almost used it for our fifth daughter!) It's tough, cool name that generally is a last name. Because it's not as common as a first name, I think it probably might speak to being a guy's name, but could be either. This felt like a great, edgy pen name for my more intense YA. 

• Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur has a great post on choosing a pen name. 

The answer to this goes back to whether or not you're trying to keep things separate for marketing purposes or SECRET. If you just want some separation, then it doesn't matter as much if you use the same photo or you have the same bio. If you're trying to keep it a secret, then you'll want to consider how to handle the personal info, bio, and images for that person. 

I like to create a PERSONA for my pen names. Emma St. Clair is still me. It's just the part of me focused more on clean romance than the part of me that loves sarcasm and shows like Arrested Development. In my Emma emails, I don't talk about my love for horror movies, but focus on romantic comedies or Hallmark romances.

Emma isn't untrue, but is more an edited bit of who I am. We all have a lot of facets to our personality, so for me, I let the pen names shine a light on a facet that relates to the genre. 

Some people might be fine with creating a fake person, but it's hard to keep secrets in the digital age. Just be aware of that. I'd be fine for anyone to know that Kirsten is Emma is Sullivan. 

• If you'd like get a fun avatar made for your pen name, I've used this artist on Fiverr and been really happy with their work. 

So... do you need a pen name? 

Maybe. Maybe not. 

I think there are strong reasons to create pen names for clear branding and marketing in different genres, especially if you are newer. I don't think you have to do a ton of work to create a pen name. Keep it streamlined and simple. Don't feel like you have to be all the places all the time. Do what sells books. 

One day, my own personal brand might be a large enough umbrella to house everything, but for now, I'll keep my own name and the two pen names to write and publish books across multiple genres. 

If you're having trouble growing your list, it's like a matter of eyeballs (traffic) and hooks (creating relevant, attractive content). Learn more in this episode or check out resources at http://createifwriting.com/168

Which paid promos should you use when it comes to your FIRST book? For more links and details on paid promos, check out episode 142 and the show notes: http://createifwriting.com/142

This post comes after the news that Mailchimp is making some big changes in 2019. I'll break down what these changes mean for YOU and whether or not you should switch. Spoiler alert: YES. I'd recommend changing. 

When I very first got started with email in 2013, I used Mailchimp. I heard a speaker talk about the importance of an email list and that's what she recommended. They had a free plan for up to 2000 emails and were a trustworthy company. I stayed with them until 2015, when my goals were different and Convertkit won me over with their fabulous features. I haven't looked back.

I've still recommended Mailchimp to readers as an okay place to start, though they aren't my favorite. But coming on the heels of their announcement in May 2019, I'm changing my tune. Here's why and what YOU need to know.

Mailchimp has been providing a service: allowing businesses big and small to send emails to their customers. (LEGAL emails. Read more about being legal HERE.) 

Now Mailchimp is moving to become a "marketing platform." They are adding features that allow them to be more of a CRM (customer relationship management) tool. That tells us a lot. The keyword being: CUSTOMERS. 

In simplest terms, Mailchimp is moving its focus toward bigger businesses and business as a whole. Not mom-and-pop blogs or authors (as much as we really are running businesses). Most of the email services I've recommended handle that ONE thing: email. Other big companies like Infusionsoft call themselves a CRM rather than an email service provider. The difference is a different features and a heckuva lot more money.

For most of us, Mailchimp is not focused on providing our needs. But they'll still provide email, right? Yeah. But I wanted to look at the big picture FIRST--they aren't here to serve YOU, the author or blogger or creative with a starting-out to average income and business.

Now let's break down some of the specific changes.

If you are still using Mailchimp and don't have more than 2000 subscribers, you're probably thinking that you're find and can just stay. You CAN. But there are current and coming changes that will affect you. 

What's changing:

• (as noted) the focus is now on bigger businesses as a CRM
• free subscriber count now includes unsubscribes as well as active users
• limited audiences for free plan members
• pricing/credits for month-to-month users
• changes to automation (looks like you can't add new ones now on the free plan)

More things WILL change, but we simply don't know yet. My guess would be that they lower the free plan to 1000 or less. There is no need for them to keep people on who are just using them for the free plan. Plus, if you've been cleaning your list regularly to stay under 2000, those emails you cleaned will now still count. Under that, my old list wouldn't be a free plan anymore.

If you've been on the legacy PAID plan, you're grandfathered into their pricing. If you are on the FREE plan, when you hit paying levels, you'll be getting the new pricing. And the month-to-month users' credits will stop being active.

In short, you're getting less bang for your buck.

You don't HAVE to. I mean, if you have 200 subscribers, you're probably thinking, why waste my time moving?

Here's the thing: before this, I was barely recommending Mailchimp. Their features are clunky and should be way better and easier to use for as long as they've been around. They are a powerhouse and should have had features where you could click a link in an email to add a tag or move you to a group. That kind of thing is so hard in Mailchimp that even after watching tutorials on merge tags, I didn't get it.

They kind of try to hide this by calling some of their features automations and tagging, but where other companies have sophisticated features called the same things, Mailchimps features just don't do the job.

The best thing about Mailchimp has been the giant free plan. That will likely change, and fundamentally does now that they are counting unsubscribes.

With average features, they are trustworthy in terms of a reputable company, but their goal isn't to serve YOU. They don't even have customer service AT ALL for the free plan.

If you have considered a move, I think this is the kick in the pants that you should use to just do it. 

I've tried all the biggies. Well, almost. I haven't tried Send in Blue or Active Campaign or Infusionsoft. But I've tried Mailchimp, Mad Mimi, Tiny Letter, Aweber, ConvertKit, and Mailerlite. That's a lot. I've paid for plans to test things SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO.

Here are my top two recommendations and who should try each one. I'm an affiliate for each and will share my link, which won't cost you extra. (And NO, I'm not promoting them because I'm an affiliate. I became an affiliate because I USE and LOVE them.)

This email provider gives you 1000 free emails. They also have features that Mailchimp doesn't. Their automations are much more powerful and do more. Much more. Once you start paying, it's not that much AND you have customer service on the free plan.

I use Mailerlite for my Emma St. Clair list, where I essentially have an easy entryway onto my list and sell books. The end.

TRY MAILERLITE! 

I've long been an advocate of Convertkit and still am. Their features are fantastic and streamlined. Easy to use and powerful. If you are simply selling books, this is more than you'll need. But if you have other things going on like sales funnels and lots of lead magnets and things like that, Convertkit's features beat Mailerlite's.

I use Convertkit for my Create If Writing List, where I've run webinars and hosted live summits and set up sales funnels.

TRY CONVERTKIT!

If you're still unsure, you can check out my post where I go more in depth on which email service provider you should use. READ IT HERE.

You can also read more about Mailchimp:

• David Gaughran-  Big Changes at Mailchimp
• Written Word Media- Mailchimp Changes: Everything Authors Need to Know

For now, you CAN stay with Mailchimp if you're way under the limit. But you might not want to. Eventually, you WILL want to move and it's much easier to move now than move later. Trust me.

The answer here is a little bit (maybe a LOT) different. I feel like there is a vast difference in how promotion looks for fiction and nonfiction. I've found WAY more free options for promoting nonfiction books. 

Why? 

Well, nonfiction books (other than creative nonfiction, like memoirs) often contain information that can be parsed out and packaged into other content. For example: I have a book on email lists. I have written a TON of content on this blog on email. (Find that here.) Many of the posts allow me to link to the paid book. I can also write guest posts where I gain authority and promote the book on email. I've heard tons of people go on podcasts to talk about the topic they wrote about in their nonfiction book. 

Nonfiction books also may have a different purpose. Rather than just sales and money for the book, many authors write nonfiction books to gain authority. Want to start a speaking career? Write a book on something you know. Want to sell coaching packages? Write a book related to what you'll be doing in your coaching packages. 

You can also use your nonfiction books as a sales funnel. I could use my book on email lists to sell a course (which I used to do, but don't anymore). Or coaching packages (which I also don't currently do). Your $4.99 nonfiction book could help sell your bigger-ticket items. 

All that being said, your nonfiction book may be serving other purposes than just making money in and of itself. That makes the promotional aspect a little different ballgame. 

Readers also don't read nonfiction in the same way. They might read a how-to book on a topic they're interested in, but they aren't necessarily going to go buy ALL of that author's other how-to books. They'll buy if they're interested in that topic, whereas in fiction, if readers like that writer's story, they'll want more of that AUTHOR. 

In case you missed it, YES YES YES YES YES promote your first nonfiction book. Yes. But before you dump in a bunch of money, realize also that you have a ton of other kinds of opportunities to promote that book for FREE by guest posting and going on podcasts.