SPA Girls Podcast – EP437 – Facebook Ads For Beginners
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Creating and running Facebook ads has gotten a lot easier! Wondering how to delve into facebook advertising or had poor experiences in the past and wondering where you went wrong? This episode is for you!
We’re joined by Senior Marketing Manager of Written Word Media, Clayton Noblit, who’s an expert in getting authors books in front of the right readers through advertising and promotion.
Clayton generously shares his top tips for getting your ads working well, and takes us through setting up your first facebook ads, the campaign structure, as well as the best targeting, budget and ad creative tips for beginners.
We then discuss Promo Stacking, which is broadly defined as “a lot of marketing tactics conducted over a short period of time to increase your books’ rank and get more sales”.
And finally, Clayton covers off some key insights from WWM’s Author Survey 2023 results: specifically around AI and Direct Sales.
Links mentioned:
Written Word Media is the company behind promo sites like Freebooksy and Bargain Booksy. Premium membership is a must-have if you are serious about growing your author business. Premium members receive 10% off all Written Word Media promos, 14 days of advance access to inventory, access to the exclusive Limelight promotion, and much more.
Our previous podcasts with WWM are here and here
David Gaughran’s advice for authors: https://davidgaughran.com/blog/
About Clayton Noblit
Clayton Noblit is a senior marketing manager at Written Word Media. He is passionate about helping authors find their readers and finding ways to sell more books. When he’s not helping authors, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing sports, and making beverages.
www.writtenwordmedia.com
💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your burning questions.
⭐ Get personal online coaching with the SPA Girls each month through our $100 tier. Spots for this are strictly limited and on a first-come-first-served basis.
All the info is at http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
✍️ Visit http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info
😊Watch our weekly show on http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast @spagirlspodcast
Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen, so you don’t miss an episode!
SPA Girls Podcast – EP436 – Fast Decisions, Big Results
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Ever hesitate over making an important decision because you were trying to figure out what the ‘right’ thing to do was… and then miss out on an awesome opportunity because you didn’t take a leap of faith? Yeah, us too. That’s why this episode is all about making good decisions in your author career.
In fact, we’re not only advocating making decisions and moving forward, we’re also suggesting that a FAST decision is even better than an average speed decision. Research has shown that fast decisions are often higher quality, perhaps proving that our subconscious brain can move faster than our conscious brain… or maybe it’s just our intuition is more capable than our overthinking brain? Whatever the reason, it’s a powerful reminder that we know more than we think we know…
In this episode you’ll learn some ideas and techniques on how to assess decisions, learn when to make fast decisions and hear about some of the decisions we did and didn’t make in our careers and what we learned from them.
💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your burning questions.
⭐ Get personal online coaching with the SPA Girls each month through our $100 tier. Spots for this are strictly limited and on a first-come-first-served basis.
All the info is at http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
✍️ Visit http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info
😊Watch our weekly show on http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast @spagirlspodcast
Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen, so you don’t miss an episode!
SPA Girls Podcast – Episode 435 – Interview with Dan Wood from Draft2Digital
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Today we’re interviewing Dan Wood, Chief Operating Officer at Draft2Digital, one of the best known distributors for eBooks, print and audio books.
We last spoke to Dan in 2019 and a lot has happened since then!
D2D has not only merged with Smashwords to make their reach even stronger, they build tools and services that let you focus on writing while they take care of layout, publishing, distribution, print-on-demand paperbacks, and more.
If you’re a new author or simply want to level up and expand, Dan has lots of tips to help you, including promotional opportunities and Books2Read, an author promotions powerhouse that includes New Release Notifications, Universal Book Links (UBLs), B2R Author Pages, B2R Book Tabs, and so much more!
Books2Read is a reader-facing, author-empowering tool, loaded with industry-first and industry-leading tools to help promote you and your books.
Universal Book Links (UBLs) — a single link that lets readers click through to your books everywhere they’re sold online. Customize your UBL to use in marketing materials, and never worry about them expiring or becoming obsolete. They can be updated manually or automagically, with just a click.
B2R Author Pages — consider these your home away from home page. If you don’t have a website, our Author Pages can do the job, giving you a place to send readers when they want to know more. Or use them as the “Books Page” for your existing website. Each Author Page can include your photo and bio, plus customizable carousels of your books, organized however you like.
B2R Book Tabs — Powered by our Universal Book Links, a Book Tab is a product page that promotes your book without distractions. No ads, no also-boughts, no “find it cheaper” recommendations. Just your cover and book description, and a handy “GET IT NOW” button. You can also include a custom carousel if your book is part of a series.
Find out more at: https://draft2digital.com/
💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your burning questions.
⭐ Get personal online coaching with the SPA Girls each month through our $100 tier. Spots for this are strictly limited and on a first-come-first-served basis.
All the info is at http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
✍️ Visit http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info
😊Watch our weekly show on http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast @spagirlspodcast
Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen, so you don’t miss an episode!
SPA Girls Podcast – EP434 – Top 3 Mindset Tips For Authors with Heather Hildenbrand
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Your brain is a liar!
Heather Hildenbrand is a bestselling author and business coach for creatives. This episode she demystifies how our results are determined by our beliefs first, and our efforts, second.
Listen up for amazing (and do-able!) mindset tips for authors and how to overcome our blocks with less woo and more “do”!
About Heather:
Heather Hildenbrand was born and raised in a small town in northern Virginia where she was homeschooled through high school, and says she’s only slightly socially awkward as a result.
She’s an award winning author who has written more than 50 paranormal, urban fantasy, science fiction and contemporary romance novels, and in 2016, her Imitation series was purchased by Warner Bros and optioned for TV by Jerry Bruckheimer studios.
Heather also offers business and life coaching to authors and other creatives to create more abundance and attract the life & business they desire. A certified life coach, Reiki master, and public speaker Heather helps authors understand how to better attract their desires AND heal their wounds in the process.
Find her at:
💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your burning questions.
⭐ Get personal online coaching with the SPA Girls each month through our $100 tier. Spots for this are strictly limited and on a first-come-first-served basis.
All the info is at http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
✍️ Visit http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info
😊Watch our weekly show on http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast @spagirlspodcast
Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen, so you don’t miss an episode!
SPA Girls Podcast – EP432 – What To Do When You’ve Finished The Book
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You are your own publishing house when you self-publish. There’s lots to do, and lots to think about, especially the first few times you publish a book.
That’s why we’ve created this helpful, back-to-basics SPA Girls Podcast episode – to help you go from rough manuscript to published book, with our notes on what you need to plan for and schedule, and how to figure out what you’re going to need to actually do to get your book published on all the platforms.
We haven’t given a specific order for these tasks to be done in – we know too many successful authors who get different aspects of the checklist done at different times. There are also tasks that can be done quickly and others that will take time. The important thing is to know what you need to do, to work out a schedule that suits you and your life, and then to actually do the tasks!
To help out, we’ve also created a handy checklist for you to download; just click the links below!
SHOW NOTES:
I’ve finished the Manuscript, what now?
- Take a break – it’s always good to give yourself a bit of time to get perspective on your manuscript.
- Edits – once you’ve had a bit of time off, you can dive back into your edits with a fresh eye. We’re talking both self edits and then a professional edit.
- Get a friend to read through or get beta readers to check it over. Sometimes it takes someone who is completely removed from the book to spot the little niggling errors.
- Identify the genre, and where it sits on Amazon bookshelf, and find comparable books to yours. This will help with your marketing and to figure out what your blurb and cover should look like.
- Blurb – look at other blurbs, know what’s right for the genre you’ve chosen, write it, get feedback. The blurb is often the hardest piece of writing for this whole project! Don’t be afraid to get feedback from author friends.
- Cover – find a cover designer, or get a pre made cover that fits the genre.
- Set up the business side of things – this includes taxes, bank account, postal address, sole trader vs company etc, and your author email.
- Author nuts and bolts – this includes choosing a pen name, deciding on wide vs exclusive, setting up your social media, creating your newsletter and website, writing an author bio, and getting a headshot.
- Uploading prep – this includes formatting, choosing your categories and keywords, setting up the various platform accounts, Author Central.
- Press the go button, Good luck to you all!
PLEASE NOTE: There are a million other things that could be added to this list, but in the interests of avoiding overwhelm, we’ve kept it simple. We’ve also very specifically avoided talking about overt marketing (other than cover and blurb etc), because we have many other podcast episodes that cover marketing off separately.
Free Downloads For Listeners : I’ve Finished My First Manuscript … Now What Do I Do?
💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your burning questions.
⭐ Get personal online coaching with the SPA Girls each month through our $100 tier. Spots for this are strictly limited and on a first-come-first-served basis.
All the info is at http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
✍️ Visit http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info
😊Watch our weekly show on http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast @spagirlspodcast
Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen, so you don’t miss an episode!
SPA Girls Podcast – EP431 – Graphic Design For Authors – with Book Brush
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This episode, we’re joined again by the effervescent Kathleen Sweeney from Bookbrush. Book Brush is a platform where authors can easily create their own professional-looking ads and marketing images for social media.
Kathleen is going to update us on best practices, new additions to Book Brush software and added service options that can save authors time and stress producing graphics.
Kathleen’s kindly given us a coupon code for listeners that gives you 15% off a single author plan. Visit bookbrush.com and use SPA15
Bio: Kathleen Sweeney is the Customer Service Manager & Marketing Lead at Book Brush. She loves creating images. She brings over 20 years of client service experience, business assurance, strategy and problem solving to Book Brush.
💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!
⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your burning questions.
⭐ Get personal online coaching with the SPA Girls each month through our $100 tier. Spots for this are strictly limited and on a first-come-first-served basis.
All the info is at http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast
✍️ Visit http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info
😊Watch our weekly show on http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast @spagirlspodcast
Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen, so you don’t miss an episode!
