Author: Sue Canfield

9 Ways Your Fans Can Support You

Posted on by Sue Canfield
My wife Sue provides social media marketing services for authors. I am, of course, her most important client. I’ve asked her to share some of her checklists and tools with you. We’d both love to hear if this type of information is helpful.—Joel

Sue L Canfield
When your fans share your writing with others it carries more social proof than your own marketing efforts because it comes from a third party. Make it easy for them. Real fans are glad to help.

Do you have all the following in place so your fans are connected with you and sharing your posts with their friends?

  1. Connect with your fans on the following social media platforms.
  2. Ask your fans to share your social media posts by doing the following.
    • Retweet something you shared on Twitter.
    • Share a post from your Facebook Author page on their own Facebook timeline.
    • Repin something from one of your Pinterest boards.
    • Share one of your status updates on LinkedIn.
    • Comment on one of your Instagram posts.
    • On Goodreads, recommend one of your books to your friends.
  3. Ask fans to sign up for your newsletter.
  4. Ask fans to share the link to sign up for your newsletter.
  5. Ask fans to subscribe to your blog and to comment at the blog. Write a blog post about how they can support you. (See Joel’s at his author website)
  6. Directly ask them to buy your books.
  7. Encourage fans to buy a copy of one of your books for a friend who they think will enjoy it.
  8. Ask fans to review your books on Amazon.
  9. Let fans know you’d love to hear from them and to send you an email.

Let your fans know that supportive things like reviews at Amazon, comments at the blog, enthusiastic shares on social media and even personal emails help make you enthusiastic about continuing to write.

Author Bio:
Sue L Canfield has been working with social media since 2005. She blogs regularly about how to use social media and consults on best social media practices at Chief Virtual Officer. She specializes in helping authors create and maintain their online presence. She currently manages a team of four social media account managers and over a dozen social media clients.

Nice Guys Make Boring Reading

Posted on by Sue Canfield

edgesGreat character advice from Steven Pressfield in the form of a question:

“How close are they to the edge?”

When a character teeters on a knife-edge, we can’t take our eyes off them.

My characters feel a bit safe. For my light mysteries, that’s okay. For the deeper Chandleresque cozy I’m working on, Jake needs to be closer to the edge.

But wait and see what “edge” he’s close to.

Married to an Author

Posted on by Sue Canfield

Joel and Sue CanfieldI’m married to an author. I work with an author. In fact, many authors. In my work for Someday Box I’ve worked with a dozen authors or so this year. In my virtual assistant business I’ve worked with another dozen or so this past year. So I know quite a bit about authors.

If you are married to an author, you know authors can have their quirks.

Continue reading “Married to an Author”

What Question Can You Answer Best? (Guest Post by Phil Wrzesinski )

Posted on by Sue Canfield
I’ve known Phil for some time. His intense love for his family sometimes outshines the fact that he is a brilliant marketer and incredible teacher.

?My first book started writing itself the day a local childcare owner asked me, “Phil, I shop a lot, and I have to say, your store has the best customer service I’ve ever encountered. What is your secret?”

The short answer was simple. I hire good people.

She pressed me further. “Can you do a presentation to our Child Care Association about it?”

Sure.

Now I needed a longer answer. Fortunately, the answer was there and pretty soon I had a presentation and the outline for a book.

The funny thing is that I never set out to write a book. I think the book had a life of its own, born when the question was asked. At least a dozen times throughout the process I wondered what made me think I was capable of writing a book. Mostly I ignored that thought and kept writing. After all, I was just answering a question.

Your business has the answer to a question, too. There is something you do better than most other businesses. You have a philosophy, a reason, a method for why you do what you do and how it makes your business better. It may be one of your own design, or one you stole from someone else, or one you pieced together from several sources. Someone has probably already asked you why or how you do what you do.

You just have to start writing it down.

My second book started the same way – with a question.

Continue reading “What Question Can You Answer Best? (Guest Post by Phil Wrzesinski )”

Growing Up with Burl Ives and Perry Como

Posted on by Sue Canfield

[az]B000XU8VY4[/az][l1]W[/l1]hen I was growing up I don’t remember my dad ever listening to music for pleasure – not on the radio or records. My mom occasionally put on a vinyl record. We did have a record player and a small collection of vinyl records. A very small collection – less than two dozen I’m sure.

Continue reading “Growing Up with Burl Ives and Perry Como”

Ropin’ the Wind with Garth Brooks

Posted on by Sue Canfield

[az]B000EN0TIG[/az][l1]B[/l1]ack in 1992 I was introduced to Garth Brooks by a friend from Texas. I hadn’t really been a huge country fan before then. My friend was staying with me at the time and wanted to watch the Country Music Awards. I was hooked after hearing Garth Brooks perform. Today, though I don’t listen to even new country much, I still love to listen to Garth Brooks.

In the summer of 1992 Garth came to San Diego, California, where I was then living. Continue reading “Ropin’ the Wind with Garth Brooks”

“Practical Advice to Help You Get the Job Done”

Posted on by Sue Canfield

Stephanie Chandler, Author, Speaker and Publisher, reviewed the book, Getting Your Book Out of the Someday Box. Her review, as found in the book, follows: Continue reading ““Practical Advice to Help You Get the Job Done””