Novel Marketing

By Thomas Umstattd Jr.

The longest-running book marketing podcast in the world. This is the show for writers who want to build their platform, sell more books, and change the world with writing worth talking about. Wheth

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FAQs about Novel Marketing:

How many episodes does Novel Marketing have?

The podcast currently has 639 episodes available.

Novel Marketing episodes:

May 19, 2014 029 – How to Start a Mastermind Group
An author mastermind group can accelerate your writing and publishing career. Find out how you can start one.

You can find the blogpost version of this episode HERE.
The post 029 – How to Start a Mastermind Group appeared first on Author Media.
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27min
May 19, 2014 029 – How to Start a Mastermind Group
Talking Points:

* What is a Mastermind Group? Started with Benjamin Franklin’s Junto and then was recently popularized by some New Age Gurus. But you don’t need to be a New Ager to benefit from a Mastermind Group.
* Benefits of a Mastermind Group

* Encouragement
* Wisdom – Learn from the mistakes and success of others.
* Networking –
* Accountability –
* Marketing Support & Advice

* How Our Author Marketing Mastermind Group Works
* Paid Vs. Free Mastermind Groups

* Paid Masterminds tend to be organized by a facilitator and comprise people who probably don’t already know each other. The benefits of these kinds of mastermind groups is that they are not only good for networking but they can be an inexpensive way to get access to a guru. People tend to be more committed to paid Masterminds.
* Free Masterminds – Typically start as a group of friends who also tend to be peers. Unpaid gurus tend to lose interest.

* Mastermind Technology from best to worst (Our Mastermind is actually a combination of all of these):

* In Person
* Google+ Video Hangout
* Phone Conference
* Email & Facebook

* Our Mastermind Format

* Intros
* Hot Seat / Teaching
* Prayer

* Franklin’s Junto Format

* Discussion Questions:

* Has any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?
* Have you lately heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by what means?

* Each person brings an essay to read to the group and then discuss.

* Classic Format

* Everyone bring a question
* Everyone brings a tip or resource

* Tips on Starting your Own Mastermind

* Set expectations up front. Identify the goal.
* Explain how a mastermind works. Consider sending them a link to this episode.
* Start small. Two people can be enough.
* Pick a format. Some MM meet weekly. Ours meets biweekly with an annual retreat. Some MM meet monthly for 6 hours.
* Set the rules. Are you going to require everyone to sign a nondisclosure?
* Be picky on who you add. One bad apple can spoil the batch and uninviting someone can be awkward. Our group is invite only and we require unanimous consent to add someone to the group.
* Pick people who have something unique to add to the conversation. A little bit of diversity here can really help.
* Pick people who can benefit from the group as well. If they feel like they don’t need the group they won’t make coming a priority.
* Set an agenda and take notes. We use Google Docs for both of these activities.

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27min
May 12, 2014 028 – Book Rollouts Vs Book Launches With James Scott Bell
A popular marketing strategy is to put together a huge launch even focused around the launch date of the book. You are not a fan of the big fan of that strategy. Why not? Walk us through the marketing techniques you used for your last book. Tell us about your experiences with book […]

You can find the blogpost version of this episode HERE.
The post 028 – Book Rollouts Vs Book Launches With James Scott Bell appeared first on Author Media.
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16min
May 12, 2014 028 – Book Rollouts Vs Book Launches With James Scott Bell
A popular marketing strategy is to put together a huge launch even focused around the launch date of the book. You are not a fan of the big fan of that strategy. Why not?

Walk us through the marketing techniques you used for your last book.

Tell us about your experiences with book hub.
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16min
May 05, 2014 How to Create an Elevator Pitch So Good That People will Stop the Elevator to Hear More
In this episode we’re going to talk about the legendary elevator pitch … and how to create one that does exactly what an elevator pitch should do. Talking Points: What is an elevator pitch? Sentence – High concept, the hook Paragraph – Radio Pitch / Back cover copy … Page – Short Synopsis Why do […]

You can find the blogpost version of this episode HERE.
The post How to Create an Elevator Pitch So Good That People will Stop the Elevator to Hear More appeared first on Author Media.
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19min
May 05, 2014 027 – How to Create an Elevator Pitch So Good That People will Stop the Elevator to Hear More
In this episode we’re going to talk about the legendary elevator pitch … and how to create one that does exactly what an elevator pitch should do. Talking Points:

* What is an elevator pitch?

* Sentence – High concept, the hook
* Paragraph – Radio Pitch / Back cover copy …
* Page – Short Synopsis

* Why do you need one?

* Pitching to readers
* Pitching to influencers (taste makers, editors, agents)

* The Subway pitch (especially at conferences) – a few quick stories
* An example, James’ first novel, Rooms:
* Don’t put every worm on the hook
* This is SHOW BUSINESS! Leave the audience wanting more!
* Log lines
* Using the “What if?” motif works well for many writers

* What if you were given a chair and told it was made by Jesus Christ. Would you believe them?

* Practice. Then practice more. Then practice more.
* Twitter –
* You’ll use your elevator pitch forever
* Send us your elevator pitches and we’ll do a show that comments on them.

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19min
April 28, 2014 026 – Author Taglines With Brandilyn Collins
In this episode, we talk with Brandilyn Collins about author taglines.
Transcript
James L. Rubart: And today, we have a guest that I’m very excited about. Thomas, you’re excited about this guest too.

Thomas Umstattd Jr.: I am super pumped.

James: This is a great friend of mine, Brandilyn Collins. And Brandilyn, if you don’t know who she is, she is the award-winning best-selling author of 28 novels. And the problem with having Brandilyn as a guest frankly is we could talk about myriad topics.

Thomas: Almost anything.

James: We really could. We really could. And so, we’re going to have to have Brandilyn. We’d love to have you back at some point. But today, we would love to talk to you about your branding and how you came up with your tagline. We just love to hear the story of that.

Brandilyn Collins: Sure. So thanks for having me. My tagline is Seatbelt Suspense. I have had that tagline since about 2006 perhaps. I came up with it when I decided to write suspense full time instead of writing both suspense and contemporary. And I wanted – marketing is in my background, so I understood that it needed to be alliterative, it needed to be catchy. But how do you put into words what I do as an author?

So what I did is I had kept all of the emails that people – all my readers send me. And I went through them and I started underlining words that came up again and again. And many of them talked about a roller coaster. And strapping themselves in the edge of their seat, OK? Because I realized that my tagline isn’t just about I view myself. It’s how my readers view me and what they expect from me, which may not be quite how I view myself.

James: Right.

Thomas: And one thing I want to point out here is different that process was from what most authors go through. So most authors, they go – they sit on a writer’s; conference panel and it’s like, “Before you leave, you all need to have a tagline.” They haven’t read the book. They have no idea what their style is. They have no idea what about their style resonates with readers.

And so, they come up with some phrase and it’s almost always encouragement in nature and butterflies. And we see a lot of taglines in my business. And the problem with those taglines is that there are no prompts. What I love about Seatbelt Suspense is that there’s a built-in promise to the reader. And I know that that means a lot more than just Seatbelt Suspense too.

So, unpack that first. What is that promise mean regarding your brand?

Brandilyn: Well again, I went back to what people were saying in their emails, and I realized what they were seeing from what I was writing. It came into four different points. And these are the four points that have become the brand promise that goes with Seatbelt Suspense. And those brand promises are fast-paced, character-driven suspense with myriad twists, and interwoven thread of faith.

All four of those points, readers spoke to in my – that they see in my writing. So I saw that, but the point is how do you get that all together in a catchy phrase? And I just messed with it and messed with it until I came up with Seatbelt Suspense that says the basis of that which is, fast-paced, we’re going to go for a ride.

James: I don’t want to belabor the point, but I want to go back to how you came up with this. So in other words, you didn’t say, “This is what I want to be, so I’m going to say I’m this.” The readers branded you. You didn’t brand yourself.

Brandilyn: The readers branded me and also obviously, this means you don’t do this right away before you publish. You need some books that you’ve written to establish what kind of writing you do.
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14min
April 28, 2014 026 – Author Taglines With Brandilyn Collins
In this episode we talk with Brandilyn Collins about author taglines.
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14min
April 21, 2014 025 – 25th Episode Q&A Extravaganza
In this episode we answer questions from listeners like you. If you would like to ask a question for a future Q&A episode click here. Question 1 “My question has to do with a specific niche – my novel is Christian fiction, including dragons, but not your typical fantasy with magic, talking critters, etc., so […]

You can find the blogpost version of this episode HERE.
The post 025 – 25th Episode Q&A Extravaganza appeared first on Author Media.
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20min
April 21, 2014 025 – 25th Episode Q&A Extravaganza
In this episode we answer questions from listeners like you. If you would like to ask a question for a future Q&A episode click here.
Question 1
“My question has to do with a specific niche – my novel is Christian fiction, including dragons, but not your typical fantasy with magic, talking critters, etc., so it doesn’t exactly fall into the genre of fantasy. So… how would you suggest I best go about finding bloggers, podcasters, and reviewers who are sympathetic to this self-published Christian fiction writer’s dilemma? Thanks… again, I love the show!” Carey Green
Question 2
“Love your podcast and did a marathon too of the posts. My question pertains to Goodreads. I don’t do much on the site as an author but I thought of doing a giveaway for my next book release. However, after Googling it, I discovered an issue with Trolls on the site and how an innocent giveaway could turn into a author bashing session in the forums and and comments.” Liss Thomas
Question 3
“My question is this: I’m looking for the next way to expand, and am curious about author blog tours. Are these worth the time and effort? Or is it better to focus on my target market rather than other authors? Also… what about contests? They’re expensive to submit. Worth it?” Lori Bentley Law
Question 4
“Should I mention my website in my query letter to agents? Once my novel is picked up, I plan to market it separately. I am at the very early stages, so I risk looking under-developed, yet if I don’t mention it, I lose the leverage of the efforts I have already put in. I would appreciate your opinion on this. And thank you, again, for the very valuable podcasts.” Cindy Tansin
Question 5
“I’m a bit overwhelmed by the number of marketing choices between Facebook, and blogging, and Twitter and Pinterest, and YouTube. I just don’t have time for everything. If I had to chose one of these things to do for marketing, which is most important one? Could you put them in order of what should be my priority?” Ron Compton
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20min

FAQs about Novel Marketing:

How many episodes does Novel Marketing have?

The podcast currently has 639 episodes available.

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