Guest Post - The 7 NF Tips Every Fiction Author NEEDS

Today, I have a special guest at Da Muse!  It's none other than the awesome and talented Christine Fonseca, whose new book 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids is racing out of the gate with a bang.  Without further ado, take it away Christine.

Thanks, Eric, for hosting my last stop on the tour. Eric asked me to talk about the things I’ve learned on this little journey into nonfiction publishing – things that apply to my life as a fiction author. Things every fiction author needs to know.

Wow – what I’ve learned. There are so many things I discovered on this path of publishing two nonfiction books, one geared for adults and one geared for kids. Both are niche books, both are published through a very very small publisher. One is considered an educational title, with a very limited distribution, and the other is a trade publication. And both are heavily marketed by me.

The results - The first has significantly exceeded publisher expectations. The second – well, it was just released, so time will tell on that one.

So, what did I learn throughout this experience? First, nothing replaces writing a good book! NOTHING. As new writers we spend a lot of time fretting about our platforms and marketing. Sometimes we allow this fretting to get in the way of writing – bad idea. This entire journey starts, and continues, with a good book.

That said, a good book isn’t enough to get it in the hands of readers unless you are backed by a big publisher. For the majority of us, this means we are going to have to promote our work, whether we like it or not. And that is where the lessons I learned in publishing my nonfiction books can really help all writers:

1. Know Your Market.

Before you design a promotional campaign of any form, it is important to have a clear understanding of your primary and secondary markets. With nonfiction, most authors figured this out when they wrote the “marketing” section of their proposals. Fiction authors should go through this process too. Ask yourself who the book is for – teens, children, adults? Who is the secondary market for the book? With Emotional Intensity, the primary market is parents and educators. Psychologists and other personnel involved in gifted education for a secondary market.

For 101 Success Secrets, the primary market is kids. Parents form a secondary market.

2. Know Your Comfort Zone.

As with all forms of social networking and marketing, it is important to know your own personal strengths and weaknesses. Are you comfortable speaking in person to a large group, or is Skyping or chatting more your thing? Do you like to cold call potential hosts for tours, or does the thought of that give you hives? Knowing your comfort zone is important. Don’t spent a lot of time doing things you hate – you will only make yourself crazy. Instead, spend your time promoting in ways that you are comfortable with. In today’s market, you are really only limited in terms of promotion by your own comfort level. So, get to know what works best for you and your book. Then repeat it over and over again.

3. Set Clear Goals for Promotion.

I have a background in marketing in sales (before my days as a psychologist), so the first thing I did was set clear monthly goals for promotion. I planned one major event – blog tour, book signing, speaking engagement – monthly. I’ve really tried to space out the events to keep the message from getting muddled and maintain a regularly presence. I have maintained these goals for both books

4. Blog Tours and Book Tours.

These are both fabulous ways to connect with readers. The important thing to remember – planning. With blog tours, ask people in your particular niche to host a leg. If you are targeting teens, for example, try to have a blog that is frequented by teens host a leg of the tour. The same is true with book tours – market to both chain and independent booksellers. Do your homework; know which stores are well connected with your niche. A couple of other things to keep in mind:

·         Start early – proper planning of events is really a key.

·         Know the expectations of the host. Ask questions about how they envision your visit, or what they see as their role in the blog tour.

·         Stay organized – use spreadsheets and other organization tools to keep track of the places you pitched too, the hosts of your tour, and any giveaways.

·         Send reminders to participants. We are all busy and it is easy to forget things. Take on that burden and don’t be alarmed when things get forgotten. Just be prepared.

·         Remember to follow-up with a thank you. There is no substitution for good manners! Personal thank you notes go a long way to letting your hosts know how much you appreciated working with them

5. Other Venues to Connect with Readers.

I love doing Author chats. In fact, my author chats are really the reason I have sold as well as I have. In addition to in-person events, I am involved in webinars and events on SecondLife. These are amazing ways to connect with readers and enable you to “go global”. I cannot tell you how excited I am to host a global bookchat in a few weeks.

Be willing to get creative and look for new ways to connect your message to your market. For my newest book, 101 Success Secrets, I have created all new reader-experiences to bring to my book chats. I can’t wait to see how they work out.

6. Using Social Networking sites.

Promoting your message is about creating buzz. In this day and age, it is easier than ever to create buzz on a large scale. But, how do you separate yourself from all the noise out there? That’s easy. Be creative. Do something unique and different – and then make sure EVERYONE knows about it. For my niche, the message itself is unique to the market. So my job was getting it to the right people. Utilizing niche-specific social networking venues (#gtchat on twitter, participating in gifted groups on facebook), I have been able to bring awareness to my message, and my books, directly to those most likely to read it.

This same process applies to fiction – if you are a YA writer, for example, utilize creative sites that teens frequent, and find tie-ins for your specific project. Connect with your readers – that is the key.

7. You Are Only As Good As Your Last Book.

Finally, people have short attention spans. This means the message you have is easily replaced by the next greatest thing out there. To keep your sales up and your message heard, it is important to keep writing. Produce new content – either on a blog, or in a newsletter. Respond in fresh ways to the questions readers have. And write new books. This is how you cultivate a writing career – fresh content of the highest quality.

In fiction, this really means KEEP WRITING. If you want a career as an author, it is important to continually hone your skills and continue writing.

The bottom line – the things I’ve learned promoting my books for NF can really be applied to fiction as well.

Thank you very much Christine, for stopping by and for giving us so much good information.  And for all of you out there, there’s an extra bonus to this post – a contest.  That’s right, one lucky winner will be the recipient of Christine’s new book 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids.  All you have to do is comment on this post and your name will go into the drawing.  The last date for entries is going to be on Tuesday, May 17^th.  That gives you 5 days to get your comment in, but don’t procrastinate too long.  I’d hate for anyone to miss out on this one.

If you’d like to learn more about from the ever-awesome Christine Fonseca or her book, here are all the ways to find her:

Website

Blog

Find me on Facebook or Twitter

Order the book.

Read an excerpt here.

Oh, and if you're wondering where I am during all this fun, I'm lucky enough to be guest posting at Christine's blog.  Go check it out!