Matt Ashdown author coach from Friesen Press speaking at a Self-Publishing Writers Workshop Nov.4 2011 in Victoria BC at The Well Cafe Bookstore. Organized by 3PennyPublishing.
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Matt Ashdown from Friesen Press speaks at the Nov.4th Writers Workshop
30 people attended this free writers workshop held at The Well Cafe Bookstore on Fort Street in Victoria BC organized by 3PennyPublishing. Matt Ashdown, author coach and 'Director of Inspiration" at Friesen Press led Part 1 of the workshop sharing his insights and experience in helping writers identify and overcome any internal barriers that might be getting in the way of their efforts to promote and sell their books.
From Matt's talk:
I love working with authors and helping them get through their personal barriers to success. As human beings, we are not always conditioned to achieve the success that we want. I've had the privilege of working with a number of different authors and I've seen those who have gone out and created real success, and I've seen those that have struggled. In talking to both of them, I've been able to understand from my background in coaching how authors can end up getting in their own way when it comes to the marketing side of things. My job at Friesen Press is to work with authors, to coach them through this, and help them with some of the fears that come up along the way. If we don't address the fears, then we can end up sabotaging ourselves and our process. This comes up for a lot of authors. Unless someone can work through those fears, they can't necessarily see the fears within themselves. I listen to the language authors use when they talk to me about marketing their book; I listen to the way they talk about themselves. If there are any of those fears that are preventing them from moving forward, then we can address them early. I like to push them outside their comfort zone because that is where they are going to produce new results. The authors who are getting the most results are those who are most committed to their vision for their book, to sharing it, and are willing to move beyond the obstacles that come from within.
He shared stories from his experiences with authors who had very different approaches to selling their book, as well as his own dramatic personal story of success and failure and how he got through it. Matt ended his talk with 11 practical tips for authors that they could use to help them to be more effective at promotion and marketing. And of course, since Matt is also one of the GratiDudes, by popular demand from the participants, he had the whole room smiling and doing The Gratitude Dance.
Part 2 of the workshop featured the Friesen Press social media team — Tak, Brianne and Amanda — who shared tips about using their top two recommended social media tools for authors, Twitter and Goodreads, to connect with potential readers. Tak, the social media team leader, emphasized that using social media to promote your book is not about saying to people "buy my book". Instead, authors should use Twitter's advanced search feature to find people interested in the topics related to their book (and to find people in a particular locale if that is relevant). In this way Twitter is much more effective than Facebook because you can to search and find anyone who has tweeted on a particular topic over the last 2 weeks.
Once you find people with relevant interests, interact with them: read what they are tweeting about and share something helpful with them. "I have something of value that I can tell you, or I can relate to what you are talking about." In this way authors can connect, interact, and build trust with people who have similar values and interests.
Amanda, another Friesen Press social media team member, talked about how to find your target market and zero in on specific groups. In this way, you can follow them and converse with them, and then invite them to check out your blog post. She also emphasized never to say 'buy my book'. Instead follow a philosophy of: here is some information for you, and if you find it useful, you can find more in my book. Amanda recommended using blogs to interact with others; you can find bloggers with similar interests and topics and comment on their blog. "Everything is all really interconnected and it all leads back to you and your book, without you having to say 'buy my book'."
Thank you to Matt, Tak, Brianne and Amanada from Friesen Press for coming to share their knowledge at this workshop, also to The Well for hosting it and to the Writers' Choice Review for helping to spread the word about it.
(video and write-up by 3PennyPublishing - Victoria BC
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The Well Victoria - Author Panelby 3PennyPublishing160 views
Thanks for the this event...I learned a lot.....
jasannaservices 3 months ago