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Almost every author we encounter claims to dislike marketing — yet most of us spend far more time on it than is necessary. And unfortunately, the fault lies with each one of us who is not already taking advantage of the free marketing assistance at our fingertips.
I’ll make this short and sweet. Over the past few weeks, we have been soliciting the writing community for authors who’d like to gain greater exposure by way of guest blog posts, online interviews, podcasts, and a variety of other featured content. That means there have been email exchanges, texts, direct messages, and… yes, more emails.
How would something as simple as exchanging emails with other writers get me on (another) rant? Hey, have we met? By now, you should be used to me — it’s the simple things that get me going. While I certainly don't claim this tool is the be-all and end-all of book marketing, it's another important addition to your author tool kit.
Peek-a-Boo?
Peek-a-Boo?
But, first, a question. I know a lot of you are introverts, but why do you make it so darned hard to find you? Especially when, with about ten minutes of work, your email is 100% willing and able to stand in for you as your very own, personalized, free marketing assistant.
You may or may not be aware that most (if not all) email programs come with a feature called a “signature.” And that’s what you’re going to use to create your personal marketing assistant.
Before taking the time to set up the signature feature on your email, take a brief inventory. Here are a few questions to get you started:
Where are you online?
Do you have a website?
Are you on GoodReads?
Is your book on Amazon?
Do you have social media profiles such as Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, or a Facebook author page?
How about including those links under your name — or at least some of them — as part of the signature that automatically appends to each and every email you send? Some authors include pictures of their book covers or even a small version of the author's photo they use on social media. But please do not use the stationery feature offered by some platforms — it rarely looks the same when it lands in an inbox — and has the added downside of eating up little bits of additional memory. (Those tiny bits add up over time.)
Now get going and put that lazy email program to work for you. Today.
Andrea Patten is a co-founder of Amelia Indie Authors and writes non-fiction. She is an extreme introvert and is happy to share her lazy email signature marketing assistant below.
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-Andrea-
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