More than Writers

  There’s a random hay bale in the field outside my house. It’s too old to use as hay. It got damp and mouldy a long time ago. So why is it there?   Well, my husband dragged it there with the tractor and pinned a target to it for the kids to practice archery on. The target had to come down when it rained, but the hay bale is still there, waiting for the next session.   When there’s daylight, it’s already pretty hard shooting the target, especially with a compound bow designed for adults not children (they’ve each been promised a suitable bow for their birthdays – like it, or not.) But suppose they should go out there at night time? What then? Would they stand any chance of hitting that target, shooting arrows in the dark? I think not. Book marketing sometimes feels like shooting arrows in the dark. There are so many things we’re meant to do, yet so few of them seem to make the blindest bit of difference. I feel like I’m constantly removing arrows from a quiver and letting...

Firstly, apologies to all fans of The Bard for such terrible misquoting. With that over, let’s get down to business. This is my first post with More than Writers. So you might be wondering, who am I and what am I doing here? I shall try to answer. I'm Natasha. In 2022, I published my first two Biblical fiction novels. It had taken a year to get from completing my first draft to publication, and I could never have done it without ACW. So many people held my hand, encouraged me to publish, showed me what to do, beta read, endorsed and reviewed my books. If you were one of them, you have my heart’s genuine gratitude. Thank you. Due to the genre I write in, I had few choices regarding publishing. Self-publishing it was. Knowing that no-one was going to sell my books except me (and my mother), and never one to do things by halves, I knuckled down on marketing. I set up a website, Facebook page, Instagram profile and TikTok account. I signed up for conferences, giveaways, Amazon ads, pod...

This week I’ve been on two different social media courses. Pinterest and LinkedIn. These are two very different platforms but a similar message came from both training courses. Tell your story.  The wisdom is, if you use social media, you should make sure that who you are and what your ‘product’ can do for others should be in your bio. The bio section in your social media profile is extremely powerful. It’s helpful for the readers to get a full picture of who you are, but not only that; a well crafted bio also helps the algorithm show your profile to the right people.  Think of your ideal reader. The person you wrote your book for. If they are searching the internet for a new read, what would they type into the big G?  Cozy mystery, Christian, comedy, crime, romance, historical, devotional, fantasy?  If you are trying to sell your books online, you should make sure your genre is in your bio. If your bio says, ‘I’m a Christian who writes, and loves cats,’ the algorith...