Tag: organization

Be Ready for that Media Opportunity

One thing I’ve learned about this industry is that opportunities come up in a flash, and usually the first people to respond get them. The difference between being prepared and NOT being prepared can cost you. And it’s literally as simple as being organized.

KS Brooks Book Cover Folder
Go ahead, mouse over, see what happens.
Click once to enlarge.

I have a folder in Dropbox with all my book cover jpgs, my two author photos and a couple of other folders with high resolution versions and thumbnail size versions. (I keep it on Dropbox so I can access it from virtually anywhere. You never know when you will be asked for something!) I’ve made sure they’re all named clearly, so it’s easy for the recipient to identify. It also helps, if they don’t rename the file, with search engine optimization. It never hurts to take advantage of every opportunity to get your title in front of someone. Plus, it looks far more professional to have the book cover for Night Undone labeled as “NightUndone.jpg” instead of “niteundonecoverartsmall.jpg”. My author photo is labeled as “AuthorKSBrooks.jpg” instead of  “DSC00013”. Now, you might be thinking, I’ll just put “Author Photo” as the file name. Well, you and about a billion other authors thought that. It’s not going to make your photo easy to find. Continue reading “Be Ready for that Media Opportunity”

The Organizing War

organizeWriters always seem to be busy. Most of us have to work a second job to keep the bills paid. Granted I’m “retired” but I also have a 100 acre farm to look after, which means my time is usually at a premium. I’ve discovered the more books I write, the less I seem to stay prepared for impromptu marketing opportunities. And this is an important thing when you’re an Indie.

So what’s a busy person to do? It takes time to organize all our writing stuff. Not everyone has the skills to adapt specialized software programs to their uses. But even a simple Word document can save you oodles of time when it comes to promotions.

Admittedly I probably spend too many hours on Facebook. Scanning the posts, I laugh, cry, and occasionally find opportunities for free marketing. Why not? There are dozens of pages that WANT you to post your book links. Some require the ASIN, others want the ISBN, and most want the actual buy links to the pages. If you have multiple books this can be a real pain to get everything needed for a promo. Continue reading “The Organizing War”

Keeping Track of Online Appearances

We all know one of the hardest aspects of being an indie writer is keeping our name out there in front of readers. Luckily, we have a zillion ways to do that: Facebook, Twitter, our own blog, guest blogs, review sites, author interviews. There really is no lack of exposure if we go looking for it and ask for it. But for some of us, the problem is not getting the exposure, it’s keeping track of it all.

I’m guessing I’m not the only one who’s made an arrangement to provide a guest post or author interview, and once I got the piece off to the site owner, I completely forgot about it. If I’m lucky, the site owner sends out an e-mail the day before to suggest tweets or FB posts; if I’m not, I hear three days later from someone, “Hey, nice post last week.” Ug. Continue reading “Keeping Track of Online Appearances”

Be Prepared

K. S. Brooks' Desktop Folder
K. S. Brooks’ Desktop Folder

One thing I’ve learned about this industry is that opportunities come up in a flash, and usually the first people to respond get them. The difference between being prepared and NOT being prepared can cost you. And it’s literally as simple as being organized.

I have a folder on my desktop with all my book cover jpgs, my two author photos and a couple of other folders with high resolution versions and thumbnail size versions.  I’ve made sure they’re all named clearly, so it’s easy for the recipient to identify. It also helps, if they don’t rename the file, with search engine optimization. It never hurts to take advantage of every opportunity to get your title in front of someone. Plus, it looks far more professional to have the book cover for Night Undone labeled as “NightUndone.jpg” instead of “niteundonecoverartsmall.jpg”. My author photo is labeled as “AuthorKSBrooks.jpg” instead of  “DSC00013”.

You may think “whatever, the name of the file isn’t that big of a deal”, but honestly, it’s how you’re being represented to whomever you’re sending the files. I’d say about 90% of the files I receive (and I receive a LOT of them on a daily basis) are not properly labeled.  So when I save them to my desktop before uploading them for a post, many times I’m forced to rename them. When I go to look for them, if they’re “DSC00013” – that makes it a little more difficult to find. If you’re sending these files to a reporter or editor, do you REALLY want to make more work for them?  I’d say no. Continue reading “Be Prepared”