Footprints and Baby Steps #IARTG @LiviaQuinn #youcandothis

There's an analogy that's used to describe how writers should approach the marketing of their books. A single "Footprint" vs. many feetprints if you'll pardon the misnomer. But the analogy holds true and has a great deal of merit.

Late in 2011 I decided to self-publish after a series of weather mishaps that threatened to end my writing for good. That book, under a previous pen name ultimately became Undone. It was the right decision for me at the time and I'm not sorry I went that direction, even though there have been so many changes in the market since. I seem to always be at the end of a trend. ;)

So, I published my little book expecting big things... then pretty much walked away. Not on purpose; my business required my time more than ever, but honestly, I didn't know what I was doing. Finding one little book on Amazon is like finding a particular grain of sand on that beach.  I was learning about the footprint theory, and I learned a lot from that experience. In 2014 with more books under my belt, both partials and final drafts, I decided to restart my writing career. I started fresh with a new pen name, set a goal to publish three books before the Romance Novel Convention in July and three by the end of the year. I accomplished that goal and didn't see any reason why I couldn't continue at that pace for a couple years.

I made a small spreadsheet to brainstorm my prospective minimum and maximum word counts for the year (by month). It was an eye opener. It can be adjusted on the fly when you see something coming up like a two week trip, busy summer plans, or a heavy workload. It's a wonderful tool to encourage you when you think your writing isn't getting anywhere. When I convert my smaller total into books, I get two or three novels, one or two novellas, or a possibility of 3-5 books for the year with the minimum written.

I anticipated being able to follow my "maximum" guidelines but then it was like Tom Brokaw came on TV saying, "We interrupt this lofty writing plan to announce some major changes in your dayjob, your husband's health, and the hit to your writerly budget. Oh, and by the way, did you forget to factor in the maintenance of your published books? social media? promo? newsletters? new covers, formatting and uploading revised books and new books?  Add to that, scheduling of events and followup with readers and other authors?"

Boy, did I!  In 2015, I only published 4 books (the reason for that second column ;) It took seven months to write the first one but it got done.)

In December, I decided to remove my books from KDP select and put everything on Kobo, Nook, Itunes and ARe as well to widen my readership and hopefully increase sales. This took almost three months because there was constant correcting of files, pricing, descriptions, formats, links, "also by" pages... the list goes on.

By mid March my business was in FULL swing and I was again behind on book 5 of my paranormal series. So here I am having just put my newest book, Take These Broken Wings, up for preorder on those sites for September.

Once again I'm reminded that I can only do what I can do and have a semi-balanced life. Still the long range plan is to keep adding to that footprint. As of now, I have published eleven books. Hopefully, by the end of next next year, I'll be closer to twenty, but who knows? Life has a funny way of getting in the way.

Self-publishing is very hard work. You're the "man" no matter how things go. And if you're in it for the long haul, you just gotta keep plugging until you look over your shoulder and see a nice wide footprint.

Can you share your experience with publishing either traditional or self-publishing? Do you struggle to stay on track? I'm here to tell you - You CAN do this! Just don't give up.

Baby steps are better than no steps.


See all my books at  http://liviaquinn.com/book.html
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Save time. Put your toolbar to work for you. #IARTG @liviaquinn #IRINK #writerstip

Take a look at the two toolbars above. That long slender line of abbreviations above is my Safari bookmark toolbar. Notice how many bookmarks that one has in comparison to the second? 

No matter what you go online for - bill paying, doing your job, checking out your kids' soccer schedule, looking for recipes - making your toolbar work for you is one of those things that will have you smiling every time you use it, if you follow this simple procedure. 

With slight adjustments, this will work for any browser or operating system, and making the effort once (it's easy peasy) will save you SO much time and effort.

The first time you go to a site you visit often, do this:

Click in the address bar so the little icon is displayed to the left of the actual URL as shown below.

  Left click the icon and drag the url down to the toolbar and release it. In Safari it will look like the screenshot below. Then you simply type in your short abbreviation for it. I chose "30d". 

(In Firefox you'll right click on the new bookmark and go to properties to rename. In Chrome you'll right click and choose edit but still easy.)

    Renamed "30d'


If you can't remember what the abbreviation stands for the first time, just hover over it and you'll see the full link. As you can see on the left, I've created a short link for most of my books on Amazon. I use simple easy to remember abbreviations, HDK Hard Days Knight, HFK Her First Knight, SC Storm Crazy, etc. This one trick has saved me soooo much time. When I'm creating blogs or filling in the link to my books all I have to do is right-click the bookmark and either copy it or click edit and copy the link, and then paste it into my form or blog. Before I'd have to leave the page, either go to the Amazon site or open a Spreadsheet with my links on it. This takes all of three seconds, literally.

The same is true of this image. A simple MC bookmark for my MailChimp newsletter address gives me quick access to that URL to add quickly to an email, blog or form.



This is a handy trick for writers but imagine if you had your child's school site, his soccer schedule, your facebook page, Amazon and Walmart all bookmarked, along with your other ten most wanted links and they are all right there in view. You don't have to go to Bookmarks, then scroll through all the bookmarks until you find it.

               

How might you put this technique to use? If you need to fill forms and return to internet sites on a regular basis, I hope you'll give this a try. And let me know how it works for you.
Livia