All of Your Author Business and Book Marketing Activities Should Do a Minimum of 3 Jobs
Leverage everything you do to work smarter not harder
In a previous article I wrote about one important 3-to-1 ratio in business — a “magic” reflective tool that can be used as often as you like in almost any situation related to book marketing, your writing career, and your overall author business. It’s a useful practice when you’re learning and building an enterprise, and it’s beneficial with maintenance, polish, and ongoing incremental improvements too.
It’s this: When evaluating your performance, your attitude, your technique, your systems, a relationship, or any other aspect of your author endeavors, note three things you did well/work well and one thing that could use more work. That’s it.
Here’s a second critical 3-to-1 ratio for your author activities: Make sure that everything you spend your time on is doing three worthwhile jobs for you.
This practice will:
help you focus your time and tasks appropriately,
encourage you to work smarter not harder,
spark an awareness of what all is possible in a given situation, for a given activity,
create a habit of making the most of tangible and intangible resources,
instill the discipline of maximizing and optimizing practices, and
encourage you to then find 4, 5, 6, and more ways to expand your efforts.
When you read the examples below, don’t be lulled into a dismissive, that’s so easy, that’s so obvious, or I already do that.
Perhaps you do, or don’t, or don’t always.
This 3-to-1 ratio is about deliberate attention to the value you’re creating for yourself and your author business, a new habit of intentionally leveraging all tasks and situations to your advantage from now on with a minimum threefold approach. (The assumption is that your activities are also creating real value for your readers and customers.)
One byproduct of this practice is a heightened awareness of the nuances of your specific marketing and business activities so that they don’t just collapse into a jumble of busy work or become just another event that whizzes by with your minimal conscious involvement. You are doing multiple things on purpose because they have worth, bring you desired goods, create additional results of some sort.
See the Strategic Mailers section of this article for a perfect example:
Writing
What three or more jobs could you be doing every time you sit down and write? How about…
getting your next book written,
improving your craft,
stimulating your creativity,
honing your thinking,
fulfilling your contract with a publisher,
engaging your audience,
building an audience,
challenging your audience,
delivering for your audience,
creating a market, or
something else strategically chosen?
Website
Your author website should do well more than three jobs for you. Make sure it’s doing as many as possible. In enumerating the jobs your website and its various components are doing, you will begin tuning in to how you can improve and refine each element. Is your website…
collecting names for your mailing list,
selling books and, possibly, other products or services,
delighting existing fans and enticing new ones,
sharing information on your books, your activities, and who you are,
listing your upcoming events and appearances,
offering your readers freebies, discounts, and special perks,
directing fans easily to your social media sites,
organizing your reviews and media appearances for easy access, or
other important goal?
Social Media Posts
Social is a place where most of us feel fuzzy about what we’re accomplishing and whether it’s even worth our efforts, which sounds exactly like a scenario where we want to squeeze as much value as possible from our endeavors. How can one social post be optimized to accomplish at least three things for you? Things like…
sharing something of interest or value to your followers,
creating the possibility of hooking new followers (hashtags, photo, theme, virality),
connecting with your followers,
reinforcing your brand or reputation,
participating in a worthwhile conversation, and
other creative point of leverage you desire?
Newsletter
From now on, make sure every newsletter you send out to your mailing list is accomplishing at least three things for you, perhaps things like…
entertaining or educating recipients with an excerpt from your latest book,
inviting readers to an upcoming virtual or in-person event,
pitching your products and services,
giving a coupon or discount for your books or services,
requesting reviews and speaking opportunities, or
another benefit that matters to you?
Booksignings
Every booksigning you do at a bookstore from here on out will be a success, whether or not anyone or an abundance of people show up, because you will create at least three meaningful opportunities for yourself based on the situation at hand. You could…
take photos for social media — on your own, with customers, and/or with store staff;
ask your audience for sales, event referrals, social media posts, online reviews;
hand out bookmarks, postcards, and flyers for other events;
have attendees sign your mailing list and email them within the next couple of days;
introduce yourself to as many staff members as possible and learn what additional promotional opportunities may be available for you and your book. Special displays? End caps? Newsletter mentions? Can you supply bookmarks or postcards for bag stuffers?;
ask staff members if they know other bookstore owners or event opportunities in town — and, can they make an introduction or share a name and contact info?;
get a testimonial from a staff member if your event was a hit;
book a second event if this one was underattended (bad weather?) or if it was so popular that there may be demand for another or if you have an idea for a different type of event (e.g., cooking demonstration, slide show, writing class);
arrange to sign additional books if permitted so they can be included on an “autographed copies” table or have an “autographed copy” sticker added; or
other amazing thing you think of next.
12 Days of Author Gifts, Day 6: 25 Calls to Action for Your Author Events and Why Using Them Matters
You get the idea
Which of your author activities will you audit first to see what three or more benefits you’re deriving from them?
The ebook version of my coming book, The Profitable Author: 1,001 Ways to Build a Business You Love Around Your Book, is now available for pre-order on Amazon, for a 1/24/2025 deliver. The print book will be available shortly.
I need to print this out and hang above my desk! It is far too easy to lose track of the intention behind social media posts or the next round of author website updates. Thanks, Sharon!