WWoW: How to Use Your Blog and Guest Spots to Gain More Fans

If it's your first time visiting me here at Not Enough Time in the Day, you may be wondering what WWoW is all about. Each Wednesday, a "smart and savvy group of authors" use their blogs to share what they've "learned about writing, editing, getting published, book (and self) promotion, and more along the way."  I"m a part of this amazing group of authors and we call our weekly feature "Writer's Words of Wisdom."

Welcome to my post about using blog hops, guest spots and giveaways to gain more followers and fans of your work. Do you have to always giveaway a free copy of your book to achieve this? NOPE.

I bet you didn't expect to see that answer, but it's true. Yes, we all love to get free books, but think about it. How many of those free books on Amazon and Smashwords have you actually sat down and read from start to finish? I'm not saying you will never read them, but if you're anything like me, you grab the freebie first and think about reading it later. As a newly published author, it feels great to see your book rise up the ranks of the freebies, but will those numbers translate to sales later when your next book comes out? Did all the people who picked up your free book decide you were a writer they wanted to learn more about and enough so that they PURCHASE your next book? Will these people who own your free book read it and then write an honest review of it?

Here's where those giveaways for blog hops, book tours, conventions and other celebrations comes into play. Go with a theme for your giveaways. Put together prize packages that go with that theme. Include some swag items such as ink pens, bookmarks, trading cards, coffee mugs, t-shirts, stickers, mouse pads. Use Rafflecopter to help you set up the contests. Make it a requirement that they have to leave a comment in order to get an entry in the contest, but also include other ways to get more entries. These would include becoming a fan of your Facebook Page, following you on Twitter, and following you on your blog.

Change it up so that you don't always offer a copy of your book or books in the prize package, but do so here and there. The most fun I have with giveaways are the naughty blog hops. For example, I participated with two pen names (and two blogs) for the Candy Cane Kink Blog Hop last month. Here are pictures of the prize packages I put together for that.

This one was on Lia's blog called The House of Taboo

And this one was the package I put together for Sassy Vixen Publishing






There were all sorts of naughty prizes there that one person could enjoy with their partner...adult fun. I didn't give my book out at all, just these prizes that I found at Spencer's Gifts. That store sure has changed over the years! LOL I did similar prizes for the virtual release party for the second book in my Now and Forever series. Let me tell you, those whip ticklers are a very popular prize. People FIGHT over them during my blog hop giveaways.  I also gave away items that had my Sassy Vixen Publishing logo on it and my author logo. Like this

The same thing goes for author meet and greets. If your books are only available in ebook format and you want to give something away with your signature, print up calenders and bookmarks with your covers on them. No matter what it is, make it memorable so readers and fans will keep coming back for more. They will recognize your name in all the titles they have on their "to be read" lists and start reading your books. Once they read one and you have them hooked, your sales will grow. The people who stop in to read your posts on your blog will tell more people about you and your followers will increase. More followers means more fans and ultimately more sales. This in turn makes you happy happy happy and you crank out more stories!

It's that what it's all about?

Keep writing. Keep pouring your heart and soul into your characters and their stories. Share bits and pieces of that with all of us on your blogs and social media, have fun with some blog hops and giveaways. Trust me,  when you receive your first fan email or positive review from someone you never knew read your book...all of it will be worth it!

A few more of our group are sharing their words of wisdom today. Won't you stop in and say hello and see what they have to say?

Melinda Dozier

Lacey Wolfe

Paloma Beck

#WWoW Promotional Swag

Here I am at the start of my virtual book tour to promote The Island (Now and Forever 2) and I've been coming up with some ideas on what to hand out to folks to get their interest in me and my novels. As a veterinarian, I've attended many conferences over the years and was always inundated with "stuff" from vendors, exhibitors and of course my conference notes for the lectures. Back in the day when you didn't have to worry so much about how many checked pieces of luggage you were allowed to have, I could easily come home with an entire suitcase full of the freebies I picked up. Many of the items I eventually tossed into the recycle bins. 

Now that I have to watch my promotional budget like a hawk, I didn't want to create items that would immediately end up in the ole' circular file. I could pass out business cards and flyers until I'm blue in the face, but if they are tossed aside without a glance, what good are they?  Talking to my author friends who've gone down this road before me, I've found out a few good tips.

Ink pens are always a hot item. I know this one from my veterinary conference days. You have a "clicker" pen, and you have folks stopping by to pick one up. Magnets and key chains are hot items as well as lip balms and mouse pads. Some people found little mints or other candies and put them in special boxes with their websites on them. Food is a good item, but not so much if you have to ship it somewhere. Who wants to open up a box with melted chocolate smeared over your contact information?

There are many places available to order your promotional items. The most popular appears to be Vistaprint. You can have all sorts of items printed up with pre-made designs, or using your own logos and photos. I created some key chains, pens, mouse pads, book bag/totes and  coffee mugs. All of these are kept in my portfolio. Those I ordered as well as those I wish to order in the future are kept there for me to do with as I see fit. The prices are pretty reasonable and you can find specials at times. One of my author friends found a fabulous Groupon offer for Vistaprint and was able to many items for a fraction of the cost she thought she was going to have to pay.

Here is the basic logo I designed using my own picture and some of their pre-made graphics

This wrapped around the pen nicely and on the other items. Take a look...

Something I won from another author's contest during a blog hop were trading cards. These were fantastic! They had the covers of all the books in her series with some fun facts on the back of some, and blurbs on others. In my search for where to get these, I came across Romance Trading Cards website. Here authors of multiple genres have created and uploaded cards to share and collect. They have a tutorial on how to create your own cards. 

In the videos, the instructor shows you step by step how to create the cards using the free program GIMP. It looked a bit daunting at first, but using the tutorial, I was able to get through it all in no time flat.  I've created cards for two of my books using the templates provided by RTC. These templates were in fact created from the downloadable templates provided by GotPrint.com.

One more item I used last year were printed post cards. I made those myself using my portable Canon Printer. I was able to print off my covers on 4 X 6 postcards. I handed them out to people before the first book's release, signing the back of them. People loved them and are asking me to do the same for this book. 

Might as well give them what they want! LOL

Take a look at what some of these sites have to offer. Plan a portion of your promotional budget for these items and above all, have fun with it!

WWoW is a smart & savvy group of authors who write a weekly feature for their blog -Writer's Words of Wisdom- each Wednesday. The goal is to impart what we've learned about writing, editing, getting published, book promotion, and more along the way.

Check out this week's other participating authors

Paloma Beck

Melinda Dozier

Jessicca Collins