Do Authors Need Business Cards?

Posted by Holly Worton on Apr 19, 2013 in Strategy | 0 comments

You’ve heard me go on and on about how your books are your business, so my answer should be obvious on this. But seriously, if you ever leave your house to do ANYTHING, chances are that you’ll end up in a conversation with someone, somewhere and your books may be mentioned.

So what do you do? Do you pull out a crumpled piece of paper and scribble down the title, your website, and where people can learn more about your work?

Please don’t. Just…don’t. 

For starters, it looks

How to Build a Social Media Following With Integrity

Posted by Holly Worton on Mar 25, 2013 in Social Media | 0 comments

Social media for business can be overwhelming at first. It’s so massive, so public, and it can take time to understand proper online etiquette. No wonder so many people put off building their online platform!

Many new things require us to stretch outside our comfort zone, and building an online presence is a very important part of doing business these days. It’s one of the easiest ways for potential clients to get to know, like, and trust you as a businessperson. I’d like to share ten tips to keep in mind if you’re feeling a bit unsure how to behave on social media.

Read more at my guest post over at Crystal Clarity Copywriting,

How to Design a Great Book Cover

Posted by Holly Worton on Mar 18, 2013 in Self Publishing | 2 comments

You know that old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? Well, that’s a great saying in the metaphorical sense, but it’s a terrible saying in the literal sense. Yes, I did mean what you thought I meant: Judge a book by its cover. Just do it. (You know you already do.)

People are always complaining online about how terrible it is that self publishing allows everyone and anyone to publish their own books these days. The horrors! There are no more gatekeepers to hold back the people who write horrible books that should never have been published! What can we do to filter through the massive amounts of self published books so we can get to the great ones?

How to Stand out From the Competition

Posted by Holly Worton on Mar 15, 2013 in Social Media | 0 comments

One of the biggest mistakes I see solopreneurs (and authors!) making online is that they aren’t clear on who they are & what makes them unique. Or maybe they have an idea, but they’re not expressing it clearly online.

The end result? They end up lost in the crowd on social media. They’re just like every other coach, or practitioner, or whatever it is they do. They’re struggling to compete.

And you know what the funny thing is? I truly believe that if you get clear on who you are and if you learn to express this online, you’ll have no competition. Because there’s only one you.

Read more over at Good in my Soul, the website for soul-centered branding for multipassionates. What’s a multipassionate? Read Candace’s About page.

Treat Your Online Reputation Seriously

Posted by Holly Worton on Mar 14, 2013 in Marketing 101 | 1 comment

Whether you’re new to social media or whether you’ve been using it for years, sometimes it’s useful to have a little reminder: treat your online reputation seriously, and be careful with how you behave both online and on email. Pay attention to details.

I often talk about how important it is to focus on inbound marketing rather than outbound marketing. A quick explanation: focus on attracting people to your product/service/book rather than blasting out your message. Send your email newsletter out to the people who have opted into the list; don’t buy email lists from others.

Make sense? Attract, don’t blast.

And do your research well before contacting people. Take the time to research every book blogger before contacting them to offer a review copy. Don’t cold call or email people who aren’t likely to be truly interested in what you have to offer. Research, research, research. And target, target, target.

Not everyone is interested in what you have to offer.

Here’s a classic example of an outbound marketing fail that caused quite a stir yesterday:

How to Write an Author Bio

Posted by Holly Worton on Mar 13, 2013 in Social Media, Website | 0 comments

I just came across the most unprofessional, ineffective author bio, so I was inspired to share a few tips here. Your author bio is an important place for you to showcase who you are so readers can learn a little bit about you. You want it to be familiar and personal, yet professional. Above all, you want to be authentic and share who you really are.

First of all, start out by looking at bios for other authors in your genre. See how they’ve written them, and what kinds of information they share. This is your first step: look at what others are doing. Learn by example. Read the bios of your favorite authors, and think about what things you want to know about them. Next, get started crafting your own author bio.

As you’re writing your bio, keep in mind the purpose of what you’re doing: you’re writing a brief text so that existing and potential readers can get to know you a bit. This is likely to be their first point of contact with you, whether it’s on your website or social media profiles, or on the back cover of your book.

Top tips on writing your author bio:

How to Choose a Color Palette for Your Website

Posted by Holly Worton on Mar 6, 2013 in Website | 0 comments

I love color. Love it! I launched my first website back in 1999, and since then I’ve worked on more websites than I can remember. I tend to update sites every couple of years, so there have been many. I love working with web developers to create a new website or to update an existing site. And I love adding to sites once they’ve been launched, setting up new pages as needed.

However, I especially love working with a developer on a new site: determining the overall look and feel and choosing the color palette. I know this can be tricky for people who are just getting started with their new website. There are a couple of tools that I love playing around with and that have helped me figure out the color palette for my branding and websites. Here are my two favorites: