Common Questions by Authors
I was talking with an old friend this week, who is one of the most knowledgeable retail marketing specialists I know. He’s written a number of books over the years, but his self publishing skills are by comparison, almost non-existent. Sometimes life’s like that – we know so much about what we do, but learning new tricks, especially in an industry that is increasingly complex and fraught with pitfalls, is just too hard. And this is how it is with my friend. Despite having attended a number of great training events over the last few years, and having had some moderate success with his books, crossing that hurdle of knowing enough to get real traction with his books is just too hard.
We agreed that I’d help him with that. I’m very excited about doing so – because he’s a great marketing specialist. And I respect him immensely, so it’s a joy for me to be able to ‘show him a bit of good stuff’ around what I do well.
The most common misconceptions about any topic are that we think ‘everyone knows that stuff right?’
Wrong! When we think what we know is basic, and we find out that no, everyone doesn’t know that little thing or trick, we need to go deeper and really think about the vast knowledge we have. And how best to share it.
FAQs Like These:
- How long should my book be?
- How can you be sure of good structure?
- What should I write in – which program?
- Is it really necessary to write it all or can I just record it and get it transcribed?
- I know Amazon is important, but really do I have to be on there?
- What’s KDP Unlimited?
- How do I get an Author Page set up properly?
- Why can’t I get better reviews?
- How do I get reviews?
- Why are reviews important?
- How do I decide which categories are right for my book?
- Should I use Facebook Ads for promoting my books?
- What kind of files should I create my ebook in?
- Should I do a book launch? What kind?
- What is Ingram Spark exactly?
Content Planning 101
Something I keep on discovering is that little things we take for granted are easily overlooked. But when I work with someone on how to write a book, it’s critical to go deep and think about all those FAQs you get asked when you tell anyone something about what you do. Think about the last time you were at a dinner party or BBQ and met someone who asked this question… “So what do you do?” When you tell them, do their eyes light up a bit and they are clearly keen to ask about something reative to your work?
I’ve posted up my FAQs above, and if I was going to write another book about writing books or publishing, these are the things I’d ensure are part of my book. Actually all these are covered in both my books and my online APP for Authors.
So ask yourself this question next time you’re in need of creating a content plan, writing an article, or posting a blog… what are your most commonly asked questions. Start there.
If you’d like to get some easy DIY help with your content planning, or want to know how to get better marketing outcomes for your books, blogs and blah blahs…. look for the Keep In Touch tab on your right and sign up for my newsletter – you’ll immediately get access to some cool tools for this.
Oh and the newsletter thing is only about once a month… I promise not to bombard you with rubbish just to meet some kind of SM quota.