Create If Writing

This post will be part one of a series on social media changes from 2018. This doesn't JUST include social media, but also touches on Amazon and blogging and more. 

It can be SO hard to keep up with all of the changes that happen on the internet in a WEEK, much less a year. But I want to go over some of the big news and social media updates that you need to know. Most of these took place in 2018, while some were a little earlier and some are currently rolling out or have been announced, but haven't taken effect!

HOW TO KEEP UP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

As a tip to start, if you find yourself overwhelmed trying to keep up, the best thing you can do is follow people and sites that do a good job of keeping you apprised. Here are a few sites or emails that will help you keep up:

The Quick Fix - my weekly email with news, tips, resources, and more

 

• The Sell More Books Show - podcast with news related to writing & publishing (especially indie publishing)
• The Digital Reader - more writing and publishing news, updated daily
• For tech and social news, I check Mashable, The Verge, Product Hunt, and Social Media Today.
• As far as experts, I follow Madalyn Sklar for Twitter updates, Jenn Hermann for Instagram, and Sarah Ahl for Pinterest.

Let's dive into those links!!

FACEBOOK CHANGES

I'd sum these up by saying privacy and groups. Because of the Cambridge Analytica issue, FB has made some changes with regards to privacy that affect ads.

• Business manager required for custom audiences - If you have targeted by uploading your email list to Facebook (yep, you can do that), this will now need to happen in the Business Manager. Which is its own special circle of heal. MORE HERE.
• New square images for ads - Um, yes please! Older versions of FB may not show these, but Facebook let me know in my ads manager that I can choose a bigger image. Can't wait for this!

• Posting within groups as your PAGE - So we're clear, your PAGE is what people can LIKE, as opposed to your personal profile, where you ad friends. FB is rolling out the option to post as your page, but the group has to okay it. I haven't had this rolled out to my groups yet. READ MORE.
• Groups may have mentors and mentees - This is a weird one and I've seen it happening more in a testing way, with it being added by FB to a group without the owner's permission. Members can sign up to mentor or be mentored. I feel like this is a disaster of smarminess waiting to happen where people in a group trying to get clients will sign up as mentors and try to "help." READ MORE
• Groups can now be paid - This is another rolling out change where you can have a paid Facebook group. This has previously been against terms of service, so all those courses with a bonus group had to be careful how they worded that to avoid violating TOS. READ MORE
• Groups can have learning units - Going hand-in-hand with paid groups, this would make a group function as a kind of course. READ MORE

INSTAGRAM CHANGES

• New app for IGTV - Instagram added Instagram TV, which allows you to broadcast within the separate app for up to an hour. Word on the street is people are underwhelmed. READ MORE

I big-time love Kami Huyse and she has a fabulous show on IGTV. Here's a link to the show notes, which have updates on social media as well! CHECK IT HERE!

New shopping features - I don't know how this will trickle down to people like you and me, but this is fun. MORE HERE

New quick replies to DMs - If you want to reply fast, you can do this much more easily now.

Nametags - This works like Snapchat ghost codes, from what I gather. Because Instagram has copied everything else...

IGTV previews can be shared in Instastories - Oh, and Instastories can be longer now too.

READ ABOUT THE 2018 UPDATES TO INSTAGRAM HERE!

BLOGGING CHANGES

Gutenberg is coming to Wordpress - This is the biggest change to Wordpress since...uh...forever? You might want to stick with the Classic Editor til they fix some bugs. READ WHY HERE

 

EMAIL CHANGES

GDPR happened and we didn't die - I would love to never talk about this again. But the privacy policy enacted in the EU had worldwide repercussions. Mostly things are fine. You can read my posts about it HERE and HERE.

 

AMAZON CHANGES

• Createspace morphed into KDP Print - If you used the print on demand company Amazon owned, it's now gone and merged into the same dashboard with your ebooks in KDP. This will in the long run be great, but it's been a bumpy transition.
• Affiliates can share their influencer page link in email - Amazon doesn't allow sharing affiliate links in email. But they did update (maybe in 2017) to allow Amazon Influencers to share a link to their page in email. This is a separate program within the affiliate program. APPLY HERE.

Curious? Check out my influencer page! All those links are affiliate links, to provide disclosure.

 

TWITTER CHANGES

• Maybe we'll finally get to edit tweets - This has been the most-called-for feature by users and Twitter is "thinking about it." I'll believe it when I see it. READ MORE
• Have live audio - This is a neat feature that works on the app or in Periscope. It's like a live video...but audio. READ MORE. 
• Twitter will let you use a chronological timeline - Go under your settings & privacy and uncheck the "see best stories first" thing.
• Testing new desktop features - You can check out screenshots HERE.

 

GOOGLE PLUS CHANGES

Google Plus is dead - If you've still been using this, you can chill and have one less thing to do. READ MORE. 

So far in this series, I've shared a simple book launch formula, how to get other people to share your work, how to utilize paid promotions, and in this post, I'm tackling how to grow your email list. This WILL have applications outside of book launching!

If you're new around here, you may have missed that I'm a little nerdy about email lists. I've got under 10,000 people on my combined three lists (for fiction, nonfiction, and my lifestyle blog). Not huge! But size is NOT the only thing that matters when it comes to your list. The goal should be a group of active, interested, and perhaps even RABID fans.

First of all, let's talk about a few email basics. When I say "email list," what I mean is the group of people who have actively signed up to receive emails that you send through an email service provider like ConvertKit, MailerLite, Mailchimp, Mad Mimi, or any other trusted provider. I do NOT mean you sending emails to all your contacts in gmail.

HOW TO GROW YOUR EMAIL LIST

Growing an email list really breaks down into two main pieces:

1. Content Strategy
2. Traffic Strategy

Without great content, no one will want to sign up for your list. Without traffic, no one will know about your great content. These go hand-in-hand. There are also tools and ways to optimize your website for email growth, but I'll tackle that in another post.

 

Note for People Who Hate Email: 

It's all about your MINDSET. If you're frustrated about email or not really "into" it, you need to reframe the conversation. Consider email your direct connection with your superfans! It's not a chore and it's not THAT complicated. You CAN do it and I hope that if you think of it as connecting with your fans.

If you are JUST getting started, check out my FREE EMAIL COURSE!

CREATING YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY

I'm all about the two parts in this post. There are two parts to your email content strategy that you need to consider. The first is the kind of content that you are creating openly on the internet, whether on a social media platform like Instagram, a blog, a YouTube channel, or even in books you sell on Amazon. The second part of your content strategy is what you'll send people through your email.

PUBLIC CONTENT (blog, social media) -> EMAIL SIGNUP -> EMAIL CONTENT

To get subscribers, you need to have fabulous content that they can interact with BEFORE they sign up. If you have great blog posts, they may be motivated to sign up to get more. If you have Instagram posts that they just love, they might want to go deeper and get updates via email. You must have some great public-facing content that they can engage with before you ask them to sign up.

You also need to have a compelling reason that people want to sign up. No one wants to "sign up for my newsletter." Nope. You need to clearly and specifically let people know WHY they should sign up for your email list. That looks like creating an email content strategy.

It doesn't have to be complicated! For my fiction list, I tell people that they'll hear about new books first and get my Weekly Clean Reads email with great book deals. For Create If Writing, you'll get the weekly Quick Fix where I share news, tools, and resources for your authentic-platform building.

Do you see how both of those are clear and specific? They may not speak to EVERYONE, but I don't want everyone on my list. I want superfans!

A freebie (aka: lead magnet or reader magnet) is another type of content that may get people to sign up. This usually looks like a free book, checklist, form, resource, guide, etc that people will get for signing up for your email list. Freebies can still work really well, but they also need to be specific and targeted to the right people.

• Read more: How to Create the Perfect Freebie

If you are trying to figure out how to grow your content or develop a content strategy, I'd recommend Meera Kothand's book the One Hour Content Plan. It's focused toward blogging, but will be helpful in thinking about a framework for content strategy.

  GETTING TRAFFIC TO YOUR CONTENT

A lot of people stop after working on content. They think the issue is really all about creating a great freebie and having a nice website, perhaps with a snazzy opt-in form or pop-up. Those things are great! But if you have no traffic coming your way, then you won't have any people who see your content to sign up.

Ways to get traffic to your website:

• SEO - Search engine optimization as with Google
• Social Media - Sharing on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest (which is more like search engine traffic)
• Use email - but this is a chicken and egg problem- you can email people when you have a new blog post, but this doesn't help if you don't an email list
• Guest posting - not all created equal (check out my post over at Jane Friedman)

Ways to get traffic to your email list directly:

• Ask others to share - in email or in guest post
• Use paid/free services - My Book Cave, Bookfunnel
• Use a giveaway - Booksweeps, Kingsumo
• Opt-in in the back of books

You can use a variety of ways to build traffic to your website or even just a landing page for your freebie. A combination is often best, but you could have several different kinds of

• Read more: How to Get Traffic to Your Site

 

Are you feeling a little better about email? Just a LITTLE? I hope you are!! Remember: you need to think about the kind of content you're going to provide and then get that content in front of people. 

Yeah...it's a little more complicated in practice. But break it down into those two pieces to start. You can do it! 

MORE EMAIL RESOURCES AND LINKS

• Blog Elevated Conference 
• Laura Fuentes is the one I mentioned who got me into email!
• GDPR INFO
• More email resources!

It's a scary thing to consider spending money when you are just starting out. Or even sometimes in the middle. When you aren't yet making money, it can seem crazy to SPEND money. But investing wisely can lead to greater results. I'm going to share the two main ways that you can invest as you launch your book and some things to consider as you do. 

Listen to Episode 142- How to Use Paid Promotion to Launch Your Book 

 

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

THE TWO MAIN TYPES OF PAID PROMOTION

Much of this series focuses on books, but could apply to other launches, but this post will be more specifically geared toward book sales. 

The two main options for paid promotions are:

• paid newsletter promotions (like BookBub or BookSends)
• paid advertisements (FB & AMS)

There are lots of other ways you could advertise, but these are the two main branches that I'm going to talk about today. 

PAID NEWSLETTER PROMOS

Email outperforms social media for sales, period. (Read some research on that here, or listen to Tim Grahl.) If you don't have a big list, that's okay! You can use paid email promotions that utilize other companies big lists. Essentially, they spend the money to build a giant list, then they charge you to have your book featured to their big audience. 

Things to consider:

• Do you need reviews or other requirements?
• Does it break down into specific genres? 
• What is the cost?
• What do other authors say? 
• Does the book have to be live to set up the promotion? 
• How far in advance are they booked up? (Some are booked up for months in advance)
• Is it email or is it a social media post? 

Before paying for any of these promotions, I asked other authors which sites they personally had luck using. Not everyone agrees, but it's a good idea to ask people, not just see reviews. I also tested and found which ones seemed to work well for my books and tracked those daily sales with a spreadsheet so I could know which ones to try again. 

 

Kindlepreneur's List of 127 Promo Sites

Reedsy's List of Promo Sites 

 

 

PAID ADVERTISEMENTS

The biggest of these are Amazon Services Ads (formerly known as AMS ads, now just AS ads) and Facebook Ads. Many people have found success with these kinds of ads, but the downside is that you have to either learn the skill and platform, or hire someone. 

Things to consider: 

• Do you have time to learn something new? 
• Do you have the money to test? 
• Do you see other authors in your niche having results? 

TIP: Now you can go to a page and see what ads that person has run. You won't see the effectiveness, but can see the image they used, their copy, and any interactions on the post. 

 

Kindlepreneur Free Amazon Ads course 

 

Test, but ask others what works

Pay for the ones with ROI - email!

It's not always about the money you make back, but what it gets you. ROI, but with a grain of salt because visibility matters to your ranking, KU page reads, people reading through to other books. Some people have a formula for this, but it makes my head spin, so I can't even.

SO HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHICH KIND OF PAID PROMO? 

Difference between running ads and paid NL promos. Both risky, esp if you're trying them for the first time, but ads tend to have more risk. With an NL, if you ask for reputable suggestions, people will tell you. Doesn't mean you'll get what you want or hope for, but often it's easier than trying to figure out the right audience to target on FB ads or how to bid on BookBub ads or what the heck with AMS, or AS ads.

Conclusion: Invest and Test

The biggest thing is that you're going to have to invest. Invest in your own growth of newsletter. Invest in ads for your books. Invest in the things that make your book succeed, like a great cover and time to write well. Test what you can and track your sales and pagereads and rankings on Amazon. You can't always get this down to a science, but you can get a good idea of what works for you and what doesn't. 

In the last post I shared a simple book launch framework. Now I want to break down some of the specifics related to promotion, because this is where people really struggle. Because this is a huge topic, this post focuses on getting other people to share your work.

Having other people share your work? Well, that sounds smarmy. Isn't this the blog and podcast all about NOT being smarmy?

Yes. Yes it is.

But there is a way to ask others to share your work that is NOT smarmy. I heavily rely on other people sharing my fiction books for Emma St. Clair, and I've built some amazing relationships along the way. I'm going to break this down a bit, but if you want more on how to work well with others in non-smarmy ways, you should really check out Creative Collaborations. Yeah, I'm plugging my book. But literally, that's what the book is about. So if you want more... get it.

 

It sounds simple to say that you should ask people to share for you. But if you're starting out and aren't sure how to do this, it sounds weird and gross, like those 100 emails I get every day from strangers asking me to add this super relevant link to my blog post! (Nope.) 

The two main ways to do this are: 

• simply asking people that you have a relationship with (including newsletter swaps)
• having an affiliate program for your thing

Let's go a little deeper into the details so you can put this into action! But first... a few quick reminders. If you didn't already check out the first part of How to Launch Your Book, you should do that. I'll give you a summary of the three main kinds of promotion: 

1. sharing with your people (email, social media, etc)
2. asking other people to share with their people (what this post is talking about!)
3. paying for ads and promos

Clearly, we are focusing on part two. But I'll go back to part one and also we'll look at ads and promos in the future. (If you want a head start on email lists, you can check out my email list resources!) 

YOUR MINDSET ABOUT PROMOTION

Also before we start, let's get your head right. If you hate thinking about promotion and marketing, you need a mindset shift. Stop thinking of this in those terms if you don't like them. 

Marketing and promotion is basically YOU connecting with your ideal audience and readers. Don't you want to do that?

Don't you want to get emails from people saying they loved your book and your course and think you are the best thing ever?

Don't you want people joining your email list after they read your great blog post?

Don't you want to know that readers were up all night reading your book? 

Marketing and promotion are just fancy words for you finding your ideal people who want your stuff. Doesn't that sound much better, albeit less fancy? 

Writers all struggle with different parts of the craft. Some struggle with the start, while others get stuck in the middle, and many find editing to be a challenge. But one shared struggle for most writers I talk with is the actual book launch.

Book launching brings to mind the idea of marketing and promotion and publishing, whether you are working alongside a traditional publisher or you are an indie author. I'm going to share a simple book launch formula here geared more towards indie authors. But if you are working with a traditional publisher, these principles can still work for you! You simply might have other help or confines to work within.

 

I'm calling this a framework not a formula or a step-by-step guide because I like the loose structure of a framework. I definitely am a do-what-works-for-you person, so within a larger structural framework, you have freedom to try many different strategies. This is meant  to help you understand the bigger umbrella of a book launch so that you can shift the smaller, moving pieces in ways that work for you and your book.

A SIMPLE BOOK LAUNCH FRAMEWORK

When I say "simple," what I mean really is that I'm breaking this down into the simplest overarching things you need for a launch. I'll be following up in detail with later posts, but for now, the goal is to avoid overwhelm. SIMPLE. Got it? Let's go. 

Three Stages of Your Launch Timeline

1. Pre-launch - writing the book, editing, proofing, formatting, cover design, platform-building

2. Launch - three kinds of promo (more on that next week). Telling your audience, having others tell their audiences, and then paying people to tell people

3. Post-launch - keeping your book afloat, more evergreen strategies on your site, guest posting, AMS ads, continuing to do the launch-type promo paying or emailing, etc

That doesn't sound so bad...right? Let's take each piece and break it down a bit more. Again, this is about the framework, so I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on how to do a lot of these things. Before you get to the details, I want you to have the mindset. 

PRELAUNCH

Goal: Prepare the product, building your platform

Actions: In this section of your launch, you'll be preparing your product. You'll write and polish your book, get the editing and proofing, formatting, and cover. All the things you need to be ready for launch.

You'll also be building your platform so that you have an audience to launch TO. I would primarily recommend growing your email list or a Facebook group. But if you have engagement on a social platform (people like, comment, click through, share), then definitely utilize that! 

LAUNCH

Goal: Get the message out about your book, make sales

Actions: This is the most obvious section, but there are many ways to handle the actual launch! I'm trying a slow launch method where I don't really make a big deal about my book until it's been out for a few days, then I stagger promotional efforts to keep a steady rise. You might go for a big explosion on one day. 

The big thing to note is that there are only three basic kinds of promotion: you telling your audience, getting other people to tell their audience, and paid promotions and advertisements. 

POST-LAUNCH 

Goal: Keep your book from gathering digital dust

Actions: Books typically don't just sell and keep selling. You have to continue to drive traffic. This can look like continued ads, writing blog posts related to your book and linking in the blog posts (you also have to then promote the blog posts!), setting up other paid promotions, reminding your readers, and other actions that you did in the launch stage. 

If you're using Kindle Select, you get a free promo or Kindle Countdown every 90 days. Now that I have a backlist of books, I try to set up one extra promo a month, in addition to launching a new book. So I'm doing all three of these levels every month. THAT MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU. I write rapidly. Find the balance, but don't forget to give your books love after they launch. Usually they will not keep selling if you don't. 

I hope that you are finishing this post feeling a sense of peace. Book launching (or just launching!) doesn't HAVE to be overwhelming. Yes, there are lots of little details within this big framework. But understanding the overarching ideas and the big picture can help you see just how doable this is! You've got this. 

We'll keep moving forward in this series, going a little bit deeper each time. Next up: more on promotions!

If you haven't written a book, I want to convince you. And if you have written a book, I want to help you focus your efforts toward getting the most out of it! This post will share three big reasons you should write a book.

I'm not trying to take over Honorée Corder's job and tell you that you must write a book (more from her in episode 104!), but I do want to give you three reasons you should write a book and even break those down into some specific WHYs. 

(If you're new around here, I'm all about the WHY.)

These three reasons you should write a book are partly reasons...but also just as much goals for your books. Books don't just make money. They can accomplish a few different purposes and sometimes people miss that. 

THREE REASONS YOU SHOULD WRITE A BOOK

1. Building
2. Being Known
3. Banking 

 

BUILDING

Audience building

Empire building

 

BEING KNOWN

Gaining authority

Gaining visibility

 

BANKING

Book sales

Other product/service sales

The beauty of the internet is all the knowledge you can find at the touch a button. My husband replaced the starter in our minivan last week after watching a video on YouTube. EPIC! But the downside of the internet is the same--all the "knowledge" you can find at the touch of a button. 

I want to break down some really popular advice and why you might want to ignore it OR why you need more information to make it make sense. 

POPULAR ADVICE YOU SHOULD IGNORE The money’s in the list

If you know me, you know I'm into email. Research also shows that more conversions and sales happen through email than social media platforms. Yes, email has the best conversion rate for sales. But it takes work to get the right kind of email list and to sell the right kind of product in the right kind of way. Not automatic. Lots of work, but pays off.

Focus on getting the right subscribers, offering something that meets those subscribers' needs, and then honing in on your sales copy. 

• If you need more help with email, start with my Free Email Course!

Do what works for you

People sometimes think of this as do what you want. They ignore best practices and research and just do what they feel like doing. That MIGHT work, but it would likely be an exception to the rule OR you're just more stellar than everyone else at what you're doing. 

Doing what works means that it works multiple times and over time. It isn't a fluke or happy accident. There are many ways to do things, but you should really know the best practices first and not write those off.

Show, don’t tell

This is one of the most common pieces of advice for writers and I think it SHOULD be. However...there are some big mistakes people make in light of this advice. Tim Storm has a great post on this, where he talks about how often there is so much description that the unnecessary showing it slows the story down.

Sometimes you have to TELL. And other times, using gesture or a symbol or something else can really show something. In a book I recently read, the author SHOWED that a character was stressed by the way he counted the grains of wood in the table during a heated conversation. She didn't write, "He was stressed." She showed him counting as the discussion moved on around him. I LOVE that kind of showing. But super long descriptive paragraphs feel like they maybe belong in classic lit. Forever. 

Do one thing really well

This has variants, like when people talk about rocking out one particular social media platform. While focus is so important (I talked about that in episode 136), it’s also a good idea to diversify.

When Facebook changed algorithms back in 2012 or even more recently, some businesses literally closed up their doors because all their eggs were in that basket. It’s good to be diversified in our income streams and in our social platforms. (Email is also still the most SURE bet for longterm connection.)

Doing one thing well is a great start, but as you start to master something and maybe get some systems or schedules in place, you can extend outward and master some other social platforms or find other revenue streams.

You have to write every day

Yes, I get it. Writing is a craft and a commitment. Setting a schedule can be a good idea. Being disciplined is important. Writing is an art, but it is also a work.

But this phrase can really lead to guilt, which can short-circuit the brain and make you less productive. Write as often as you can. Write as discipline. Write for love. Some days it might be more discipline. Some days it might not happen. Some days you will love it. And some days you love it, but you can’t DO it. It does not mean you are not a writer if you don’t write every day.

• More on why this can be bad advice

Kill your darlings

Why there is no small debate about who said this first, this is still popular (and very solid) advice! But... some people misunderstand this and think that it means you have to kill off what you love. Nope!

No, you kill off what you love that doesn’t work. I have a tendency to use the word “So” when writing, often to start dialogue. While this may be something I often SAY a lot or people say when they are speaking, it doesn’t work on the page. If you can identify those natural tendencies that you have in your writing, you can see when they are overused and have become a crutch for you, rather than a support for great writing. 

You Have to Spend Money to Make Money

Yes, sort of. The problem here lies in the extremes. Some people say they have NO money and aren’t willing to invest. My friend Jami Albright sold bone marrow to buy good covers for her romance novels. She wrote two novels and the sales were so good, she is now full-time. But her original budget took some creative straining to pay for the necessary things for success. (Also, her covers were great, but still on a budget.) 

On the other extreme, I hear people saying they paid $1k for a blogging course or some kind of author marketing thing and they haven’t made the money back. You likely need to invest, but at the beginning stages, that doesn't HAVE to be a bazillion dollars. Start and scale. But don't scimp on the really key things. 

Hit up episode 137 if you need to know Six Questions to Ask before You Invest!

What did I miss? Share any other pieces of advice you've heard in the comments OR what I may have not covered all the way in these common pieces of advice!

Advice is rampant all over the interweb about where you should invest. Rather than giving you specific advice that may not work, I'm going to give you six questions to ask before you spend any money!

I've wasted a lot of money. I've bootstrapped. I've seen how investing early in the long-term can pay off...even if not right now. I want to share with you some of those specifics, but within the confines of six questions you can ask yourself before you invest. Where I spent money may not be where you should! My advice may not work for you! 

These questions, however, should really help you with these decisions!

SIX QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE YOU SPEND MONEY

1. What do I NEED right now?
2. What will benefit me in the long run if I invest NOW?
3. What can I wait for?
4. What can I get now for less and upgrade later?
5. What's risky, but worth a try?
6. What's the shiny object I need to ignore?

Ready to break those down?? Let's do it! 

WHAT DO I NEED RIGHT NOW? 

I sometimes hear people telling authors that before they launch a book, they need a website. Guess what? NOPE. If I didn't have a website, I would have made JUST as much money this year as I would have with my website. I'm not selling books primarily there. What I NEEDED was a book I wrote, a great cover, editing, and a way to promote. 

You need to really separate what other people say you need and what you actually NEED to meet your goals. It's often way less than you think! If it helps to think about this backwards, consider what you don't need to accomplish your immediate goals. 

What I recommend always getting NOW: An email list. This has the best ROI for all the things. Whatever else you're doing now, get an email list. Check out this post on which provider is best for you.

WHAT WILL BENEFIT ME IN THE LONG RUN IF I INVEST NOW? 

I'm all about counting the ROI--return on investment. Sometimes that return doesn't come for a while. But for certain things, you should invest anyway. 

I mentioned email in #1 and fully believe you can invest there first. But you also may consider investing in growth there. NOT buying subscribers (gross!), but in giveaways or other surefire ways in your industry (that's important) to really grow your list. I used a paid service called Booksweeps and got like 1000 new subscribers for $120. Um, ROI. Now, that didn't pay off til I had books to sell, but it was a long-term investment. 

WHAT CAN I WAIT FOR? 

If you're primarily a blogger, obviously you need a website. But you don't have to have a killer one that has custom designs or a custom logo. If you are a writer, you may not need one at ALL for a good long while. Sure, it's great to have and you'll need one later, but again-- the fact that I have a website has not in any way at any time impacted my fiction book sales. The end. 

If you can wait and you're on a tight budget, WAIT. 

WHAT CAN I GET NOW FOR LESS AND UPGRADE LATER? 

When it comes to waiting, some things are good to have now, but maybe they could be okay for now and then LATER you can have your dream. Perhaps you start on Squarespace and then LATER hire that designer. Create a simple logo for yourself or barter services or use fiverr. Later hire someone better and get things exactly the way you want them!

If you aren't sure on this one, consider the ROI of whatever that thing is you are considering. When will it pay off? WILL it pay off? Is your audience actually going to notice or be impacted? 

WHAT'S RISKY BUT WORTH A TRY? 

There are some things that you have to go out on a limb for. Things like AMS ads or Facebook ads or even hiring a coach or taking a course. They may NOT give you surefire results. If you are considering something risky, here are a few follow-up questions: 

• Do I personally know someone who can vouch for this thing/person/service?
• Have I researched the best practices? 
• Are there other people in my niche who have found success with this? 

WHAT'S THE SHINY OBJECT I NEED TO IGNORE? 

Okay, y'all. Get real. We all have things that we want just...because. We like them. We think we need them. SQUIRREL! If you can't be objective, ask a friend who's honest about this. Don't invest in things because they are pretty, cool, or because you really, really want them. 

Links I mention in the episode:

• Free Facebook Group
• Quick Fix- my weekly email
• WPTech Cafe- website design
• Media Texan - website design
• Go On Write - cover design
• Booksweeps - email list growth, primarily fiction

 

 

I'm going to gloss over the conversation about whether or not you should make money with your creative endeavors. I firmly believe that there is a happy place where you can get paid to do what you love.

Yes, you can also sell out. I can't tell you where that line is, but I think you know it in your heart when you do it. 

Here are some common revenue streams for creative people: 

1. books or ebooks
2. online courses
3. coaching- group or individual 
4. membership sites
5. paid teaching - at a school or workshops online or in person
6. affiliate sales
7. sponsored blog posts or social media posts
8. ads on your site
9. physical products
10. side jobs - editing, freelancing, being a virtual assistant, etc

Those aren't all the ways you can make money, but some of the more common ways creative people are making money online. I see a lot of people talking about the ways you can make money with these various revenue streams, but not a lot of people are talking about the COST. I don't mean financially, though that is a factor. I'm going go dive deep into how you can consider the costs of these revenue streams. 

In this blog post and podcast episode, I'm sharing about the power of having a single focus. I don't do well with one thing at a time, but I'm telling you to pick one thing and sharing what happened when *I* did! I am a serial starter. I am reading probably eight books right now. I have no less than four half-finished paintings in my house. I am currently working on three books. I DO NOT LIKE TO NARROW DOWN. But I learned something this summer. Even though I don't like doing one thing at a time, there is incredible power when you pick one thing and have a singular focus. Listen or read to learn the whys and hows of narrowing your focus for powerful results. LISTEN TO EPISODE 135 - THE POWER OF A SINGLE FOCUS Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Listen on Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify WHY HAVING A SINGLE FOCUS IS POWERFUL Everyone works differently, so please take what I say here with that in mind. I am NOT advocating for all people at all times to do just one thing. I'd like to just start with that. Always: do what works for YOU and YOUR goals.  Having a single focus serves two big purposes: It helps you actually attain your goal It helps you learn to do that task more efficiently and automatically Research shows that you’re 2-3x more likely to accomplish something when you’re specific about how you plan to implement. Creating a goal isn't enough. You need to have a  BUT that only works if you have a single focus. (Read more about that in this blog post from James Clear on mastering one thing.)  A habit becomes more automatic if you continue to do just that one thing over time. It becomes habit forming. The more reps, the more second nature it becomes. When I played roller derby, one of the big things you learn FIRST is falling. You learn to fall well and practice falling well until your body naturally falls well every time. When you focus on one thing over time, it's like muscle memory. You're teaching your body how to do that task correctly and with ease.  My Results of a Single-Focus Summer This past summer I stopped almost everything. I closed my Facebook group to new members. I stopped blogging and creating new podcast episodes.  And I wrote four books and had a $3500 month on pure book sales. (SQUEEEE!) I learned that I can write a book in two weeks, but generally can write a novel now in a month. I had NO idea until I shifted my focus to this one thing. It's been amazing and now I'm slowly adding things back in. You can find Emma's books HERE if you're interested. HOW YOU CAN SUCCESSFULLY FOCUS ON ONE THING If you want to have a single (or even mostly single) focus, you need to plan. It's rough. Set your mindset - no guilt! Do what you need to do! Make a list of all the things you're doing. Figure out what HAS to stay on your to-do list. Figure out what CAN go. Make the final decision based on the ROI- what is actually performing?  Make a plan. This may mean planning your daily time and over months. Consider retreats. I did 2-3 this summer to finish edits. Hire out what you can. It's hard to let go of things. But you might be surprised how letting things go doesn't matter. Not blogging for three months? Had ZERO negative impact on my financials. (Or my traffic, which stayed about the same. Thanks, Pinterest!) Not podcasting? Same. I kept up with my email (because PIVOTAL) and with my Facebook group, which is the heart of my community. When you focus, you can really accomplish something. If you’re pivoting like I have been, you may need to do this and have a seriously focused time.  CALL TO ACTION Consider whether you need to have a focus. If so, then go through the things you’re doing and what you can get rid of. Make a list of all the things that go along with the new single focus and then do those things.