Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Wow, it feels like it’s been forever since I last posted here! As always, we’re going to talk marketing and platform-buidling, but since we haven’t done so in awhile, let’s ease into things with a fun post.

Have you ever thought that you’re doing the marketing thing right only to find out that your sales pitches and strategies are falling on deaf ears?

Have you ever been convinced that so-and-so was CERTAIN to buy your book only to discover that they walked away empty-handed?

Have you ever felt that people are lying to your face, acting interested when you tell them about your book but then completely forgetting it exists when you leave the room?

Have you ever wondered why no one retweets or shares your statuses with others?

If so, you may suffer from Overly Aggressive Marketing Syndrome. Here are its symptoms:

- Conversation domination. Test for this symptom by interacting with a potential reader, and then when finished ask yourself what you know about them. If you come away only knowing their name and where they’re from, chances are, you suffer from this symptom.

- Social media saturation. Test for this by looking at your recent Tweets, personal Facebook status updates, and blog posts. If multiple times per day your updates and Tweets focus on your book and/or career, chances are you’re either in the middle of a book release or you suffer from this symptom.

- Solitary administration. Test for this by looking through your correspondence for times in which fans, bloggers, friends and family have come to you, seeing how they can help. If you have very few instances in recent months in which others have taken the initiative or the lead…heck, if you feel alone in most of your marketing endeavors, you may suffer from this symptom.

- Unbalanced application. Test for this by noting the time you spend with family, the time you spend with yourself, and the time you spend with work/marketing your book. If you’re spending more time on your book than in the other areas of life, chances are you’re either in the middle of a book release, or you suffer from this symptom.

If any of the above symptoms fit you, you may have Overly Aggressive Marketing Syndrome.

If two of the above symptoms fit you, you definitely have Overly Aggressive Marketing Syndrome.

If three or more of the above symptoms fit you, stop. Stop now and seek help. You’re annoying people to death.

How do you treat these symptoms and find a cure for Overly Aggressive Marketing Syndrome? Stay tuned. The doctor will be in next Thursday.

We’ve all known an aggressive marketer or two…so what other symptoms have you noticed that are tied to this disease? I want to know!

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

Emily Dickinson once said “To write good, you have to learn to write bad.”

Okay, so she didn’t say that. She probably never even thought it. But, what I HAVE heard respected authors say is something to the effect of “First you must learn the rules so that then you know how to break them.”

Deep stuff, eh?

This week on the blog, we’re all about breaking the rules. We’re running our annual Bad Poetry Contest, so if you haven’t already, get out your pen and paper, rouse up that teenage angst that still lurks behind your Toyota Corolla, nine-to-five, everything’s-perfect facade, and start writing.

Badly.

To get the juices flowing, here’s a bad limerick I wrote in high school:

There once was a servant named Jasper,

Who wanted to marry his master.

So he grabbed her and fled to the church to be wed

And was painfully forced to first ask her.

Your turn. Submit your entries here.

I’ve got a special thing going on over at my Facebook page…Submit your novel’s opening line TODAY and I’ll give free feedback! Check it out, and I hope to see you all participate.

Okay, diving into some more social media critiques:

1. Ardis Nelson provided her website and Facebook page

• I feel there are too many options on your site’s navigation. Music, Current Projects, and Resources could probably be done without. They just don’t provide much to the reader, while they clutter the site and distract us from the book!
• What incentive does the reader have for visiting this site? It’s very much focused on you, but readers are selfish! They want to know what’s in it for THEM. What will they get out of reading your blog. What will they learn?
• Again, I’m not quite sure what readers get out of frequenting your Facebook page. Think about rewarding them for their time with tips, advice, interactive questions, giveaways, and more.

RECOMMENDATIONS: I’d try focusing less on yourself and more on your readers. By including them in the conversation, I think you’ll find your online experience will be much more lively.

2. Jo Huddleston provided her website and Facebook page

• This is a funny comment, but the image at the top of your site is realllllly big
• Think about eliminating some of your pages and tabs. For example “Mail” can be made part of the “Contact” page and “My Thoughts” seems to fit more naturally into your “Blog”
• Until I get to your “Books” page, it’s not very clear what you write
• For Facebook, you shouldn’t be using your personal profile. I encourage you to create a professional page where you can best interact with fans.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Your site could use a redesign, and it could be cleaned up. For maximum impact on Facebook, try starting a professional page. It’s a great way to interact with fans.

3. Well Rounded Home provided their Blog

• I really like how this blog is organized! I never felt lost. Everything was clear to me.
• I take it you don’t have a book you’re promoting? That’s fine! Just wanted to make sure.
• I think you could post more pics of your home and family to your blog! I think readers want to see more of you.
• Content on our blog NEEDS to focus on your goal of providing insights and help on parenting, homemaking, etc. Anything that doesn’t fall into these main categories (like a Kenny Chesney music Monday) should be left out.

RECOMMENDATIONS: You have the framework! Now fill this awesome space with content that hits home on reader expectations. And then promote the heck outta it.

What thoughts do YOU have on these sites? And how do you find content that fits your readership?

“Erin? Who’s Erin? I didn’t even know MacGregor Literary HAD an agent named Erin,” you might be saying. I actually started just about a year ago, but have been keeping a low profile where the blog is concerned while I learn everything there is to know about the business in preparation for staging a coup and re-naming the agency “Buterbaugh Literary.” I’m almost ready to put my plan into motion. In the meantime, thanks to Amanda for letting me fill in today! *Step one: replace Amanda– Check.*

With all the outlets clamoring for authors’ time and attention when building a social media presence, it can be easy for authors to get into the habit of constantly feeding their Internet pets- Tweet four times, update Facebook status, post new blog, chime in on Goodreads discussion group, engage, engage, engage! While it’s true that you have to make regular appearances at any of these places for them to be truly effective in building your platform, I’ve noticed a negative side-effect of the “feed the Internet” mindset among authors: namely, a lack of good judgment when it comes to responding to both positive and negative feedback/commentary at their various Internet watering-holes. Your responses to reviews and comments have the potential to seriously derail your PR train, so take a look at some of the scenarios in which authors tend to sabotage themselves  and see how your response practices measure up!

Responding to reviews:

-Don’t respond to negative reviews.
This is hard. I’m a person who always likes to have the last word, and when a bunch of strangers who don’t know you and don’t seem to understand your book begin to post lackluster reviews to Amazon or to Goodreads, it can be extremely tempting to provide an explanation or defend an aspect of the book the reviewer dislikes. I saw this recently on Facebook; an author posted a link to an online publication’s review of her upcoming book, and the review, while very polite, made reference to a couple of issues presented in the book on which the reviewer disagreed with the author, and pointed out a few areas where the reviewer found room for improvement. Not a rave, but not a horrible review; nothing personal or devastating or mean-spirited about it, but the book’s author commented on the post where the review appeared and defended herself on every front, saying the reviewer had “misunderstood her” on a few issues, quoting parts of the text to prove to the reviewer that certain criticisms were invalid, and maintaining that some of the other areas found wanting by the reviewer were the result of conscious choices as a writer. To someone who’d never read the book, met the reviewer, or met the author, the author came across as insecure and unprofessional. A review is an opinion piece, not an attack against which you have to defend yourself, and hijacking the comments to justify your choices as a writer or to try and make the reviewer retroactively like your book better by explaining it is inconsiderate and ineffective.

-Think twice before responding to a positive review.
It’s only polite to say “thank you” to someone who posted a good review of your book, right? It might seem like good manners to respond to a positive review, but for a reviewer who doesn’t know you, having you show up in the comments section can be a little uncomfortable, even if you’re just thanking them for a good review. It can cause readers to assume a bias on the part of the reviewer– the author thanked him for the good review, does that mean it was written as a favor to the author?– and wrecks the comfortable feeling of anonymity that fosters honest reviews. This is especially true on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads, where most reviews are not written by professionals in the industry, but by regular readers/fans: they may have loved your book, but that doesn’t mean they want to be your internet buddy. Book reviews are written for the benefit of other readers, not for that of the author, and an author who makes a big deal out of good reviews can give off a bit of an Oscar-acceptance-speech vibe- they already gave you the award, you don’t have to thank each individual person who voted for you! The exception to this is when thanking people who did write their reviews as a personal favor- friends with blogs, authors you traded reviews with, etc. These people will usually make reference to their relationship with you in the review, i.e., “SET IN STONE is the debut novel of my good friend and writing partner Gary Morningside.” In these cases, it’s completely appropriate to post a brief thank-you, either as a comment or as a post on your site– “Thanks to Rick Waverly at the New England Book Collective for reviewing SET IN STONE!” Your best response to a positive review is to post a link to it on your Facebook page or blog so as to get as many people as possible to read it.

Responding to comments:

The internet has gone a little nuts with interactivity. There are hardly any social media outlets without a comment feature where users can dialogue with each other and respond instantly to new content. People can comment on your blog posts, Tweets, Facebook statuses, YouTube videos, and, in most of these places, they can comment on other comments. As an author, you have to be especially careful with how you interact with people in these forums. Having a firm policy in place regarding how and when to respond to comments could literally save your career.

-Comments on your blog
Comments made directly to your blog or Facebook posts are usually the most personally relevant and the most openly friendly. Blog comments tend to be made by regular readers who’ve read your blog for awhile, like what you have to say, and feel comfortable engaging with you. The way they see it, you started the “conversation” by posting a blog entry; their comment is an indication that they’re engaged and willing to talk back. Responding to comments on your Facebook page or blog is a great way to build relationships with your readers– to thank them for reading, to comment on things you have in common, and to show that you appreciate the time and attention they’re devoting to your posts. Depending on the amount of comment traffic you get, you may not be able to respond to every comment, and in fact, you probably shouldn’t– a page full of rubber-stamp “Thanks for commenting!” responses from an author devalues that response very quickly. Three or four personal responses per post, evenly distributed between regular readers and first-time commenters, make every visitor to your site feel more significant because they see that you are actively engaged with your readership and responding thoughtfully.

-Negative comments
Negative comments about you or your work can show up anywhere: your blog, a blog that links to yours, a book trailer on YouTube, a Goodreads discussion board, a review– you get the idea. YouTube is a shining example of why users shouldn’t necessarily have the option of responding publicly to everything posted to the Internet– pick a video at random and take a look at the first page or two of comments. No matter how non-controversial the content is, nearly every comment thread contains political rants, racial slurs, personal attacks, debates on religion– your basic smorgasbord of potentially offensive remarks. Because of the personal and informal nature of most comments, you may be more tempted to respond to a negative comment than you would a more formal post, such as a review; after all, you reason, people comment because they want to dialogue, so it’s fine for you to engage. So, you respond to a few negative comments, just  to clear up a misunderstanding on the commenter’s part, or to assert yourself when you’re being bullied in a thread– I mean, if you don’t defend yourself, those negative comments could wreck your image, right!?

Wrong.  This kind of thinking is responsible for thousands upon thousands of stupid, pointless, winner-less Internet fights, and nine times out of ten, the best move for your career is to WALK AWAY from negative comments.  If you don’t have a thick skin and a whole lot of self-control, the Internet comment monster is going to chew you up and spit you out.

You may remember the Applebee’s receipt debacle from a few months back. Long story short, an Applebee’s employee compromised a customer’s privacy by posting a photo of a receipt on which a customer had given a really lame religious excuse for being a crappy tipper. Internet-commentland got riled up for a bit, as it does, with people criticizing and name-calling on both sides, and the whole thing would have gone away and been forgotten if not for Applebee’s complete and total self-destruction on their Facebook page. R. L. Stollar, news editor at the Eugene Daily News, wrote a fabulous and comprehensive synopsis of the whole train wreck, but it boiled down to some poor Applebee’s PR rep using the company Facebook page to argue with and attempt to pacify thousands of individual commenters- for every one defensive response to a comment, a hundred more ridiculing the company’s actions flooded the thread. Though an extreme example, the Applebee’s events still serve as a warning against what can happen when one well-intentioned, level-headed person attempts to force the Internet at large to play fair– it’s not going to work, so your best bet is usually not to play. (Note: if you are lucky enough to find yourself on a comment thread where everyone is being civil, dissenting opinions are being presented without name-calling, and people are offering cyber-hugs to their enemies, by all means, engage– I’m not saying such an environment is nonexistent, just very, very rare. Like, unicorn-rare.)

Finally, remember that there are always going to be a few people with horrible grammar whose sold aim in life is to sit at home and tick you and the rest of the Internet off. Don’t let negative reviews or comments scare you away from smart social media use, and don’t let one jerk with a third-grade grasp of punctuation get under your skin. Keep going with what’s working well for you, continue to take advantage of every opportunity to improve, and, as always, don’t forget to make time to WRITE, because a great platform is pretty dang worthless without a book to sell.

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

I’ve been hard at work this month, marketing my book The Extroverted Writer…and I’ve learned A LOT.

So before I offer a few Social Media Critiques (the offer is now closed, for those of you wondering), I figured I’d give a few marketing pointers, based on what I’ve learned.

I’ve appeared on numerous blogs this week.

• I blogged at Devotional Diva (where I’m giving away a free book)
• I was interviewed on Jennifer Murgia’s blog (You need to scroll down to view)
• I was interviewed on Melissa Tagg’s blog
• I was interviewed on Rebecca Jacoby’s blog
• I was interviewed on the My Book Therapy blog

Am I missing anything? I feel I am. Which leads me to my point…

When you’re in the midst of heavy marketing, it’s so easy for things to spiral out of control–for you to forget what you’ve done where and when and then miss opportunities to connect with others. I can’t stress how important it is to stay organized during this process. Spreadsheets, calendars, and obsessive compulsive disorder are your friends at this stage in the game. Without them, you’re going to sink.

Another truth that was reinforced is that appearances on blogs and the like don’t always translate into big sales. But what they do is plant the seed. You see, readers aren’t going to buy a book on a whim. But they’ll buy it if they see it popping up in numerous places or if they read something about it and then a few months pass and they hear someone talking about it. You see, readers like to be wooed. They like to know that the book is going to be a good fit before they take the plunge. So when you’re in the midst of marketing craziness and you don’t feel as though you’re making any headway, remember that it takes time. You’re planting the seeds now, and hopefully one day you’ll get to reap that harvest.

Okay, now for a couple of SOCIAL MEDIA CRITIQUES:

1. Marie Andreas submitted her blog, Faeries, Dragons, and Spaceships

• With a title such as yours, I expected a blog on fantasy and science fiction…but this is a blog for writers. I’m not sure the two mesh quite like you’re hoping. I also feel as though if you write science fiction and fantasy, you’ll get more traction in the long run by having a blog that caters to those fans (as opposed to having a blog that caters to other writers).
• Your short story looks cool. I wonder if it should be highlighted more?
• I’m not a fan of the writing progress widgets. First, if you don’t keep them updated they make you look like you never write. Second, they make you seem like a writer that hasn’t really finished anything.  Not sure either are what you’re going for

RECOMMENDATIONS: I really really like your writing voice, by the way. Just not sure it fits with this blog theme. If you have a site for writers, make it writerly. If you have a site about spaceships, make it…spaceship-ish.

2. Chris Plumb submitted his blog, Plumbed Down

• I have a hard time reading the black text against the purple background at the top. This may seem minuscule, but it’s actually very important.
• To look more professional, I wonder if you should have something designed for that top space where you have your blog title, etc? Just thinking it could be spruced up for a maximum good first impression.
• Your right nav was difficult for me to notice. I kept thinking “where is his ABOUT ME page?” and it was hiding in plain sight all along

RECOMMENDATIONS: I wish I could impart great wisdom that would help you blog take off, but I think this is just one of those blogs that is more of a personal journey. Therefore, people don’t really read it to glean info or advice or help. They read for entertainment. So if you want to grow your blog, you’ll probably have to start hanging out online with others who write similar blogs so that you can team up and cross-promote.

3. Lynn Martin Cowell submitted her website and Facebook page

• I like the look of your site. You may want to rearrange the items in your top nav so that the ones that people would be most interested in come first. Ones such as “Blog”, “Books”, “About Lynn” and “Freebies” are always fan favorites. So bump the others to the end of the line!
• Reorganize your Freebies page so that the most-downloaded freebies are at the top
• Your post on April 8 got a strong reaction! What did you do differently? Was it the fact that it was a reader-submitted question? A tough topic? Or the fact that your daughter helped answer? Was it because you did a giveaway along with it? Think through that, because more posts like that one could help grow your readership.
• Your Facebook page needs to be a professional page…not your personal profile. So I suggest starting one right away!

RECOMMENDATIONS: Work to dial in your blog posts so that they draw a more consistent readership and better interaction. And start that Facebook page!!! You really shouldn’t be using your personal profile as your author hub. Give the page a try, and if you need more info on how to do it right (and why the page is better than the profile) check out old Thursdays with Amanda posts or my book.

Has anyone been through marketing craziness before? What did you learn?!

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

Last night was our GET PUBLISHED teleseminar with Michael Hyatt. What a great time, talking business and answering questions! It was a blast.

We weren’t able to get to some of the submitted questions, so I’ve gone ahead and answered them below. Would love your thoughts on what was discussed during the teleseminar, or what is talked about below.

And don’t forget! We have a special opportunity for friends (that’s you!) of MacGregor Literary. 

Michael Hyatt, former CEO and Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers (one of the largest publishers in the world), has recently released a comprehensive solution for authors called GET PUBLISHED. It’s a 21 session audio program, accessible online, that distills Michael’s 30+ years of publishing knowledge into a step-by-step guide to help authors get published and launch a successful career, even perhaps a bestseller!

Michael is offering a special limited time discount on GET PUBLISHED. Not only can you save significantly on the program, you’ll also get access to several bonuses worth over $150. Bonuses include items such as Michael’s popular “How to Write a Winning Book Proposal” ebook and more.

For details and to take advantage of this special offer, go to http://michaelhyatt.com/getpublishedoffer

(Note: This discount offer is only available through April 17).

Okay, on to those questions!

Brooke asks: What makes an agent take a chance on a first-time author?

When we fall in love with a fiction author’s story idea and writing, or when we see the potential of the book idea, writing, AND platform of a nonfiction author.

Mark asks: What do you think about publishing a “book” as a series of blog postings over time, or self-publishing a free e-book, rather than through traditional publishers?  If the purpose is to gain readers/audience, what is the best way to collect that information?  And then what do you do with it (esp in terms of monetization)?

I think this can be a great idea of done right (great cover, professionally edited, targeted to a focused audience). If you publish through an epublishing site, you should keep track of your sales numbers, and in terms of monetizing it, you’ll be able to set a price for your items, which will make the whole thing a bit more worth your while.

Terri asks: What are the most effective ways to attract your audience to a blog or website? I’ve previously produced blogs and ended up spending too much time on the content compared to the number of views received.  Also, what recommendations do you have on balancing the time demands of building platform vs. completing works in progress?

First, it takes time to grow a readership. I don’t know how long you pursued your blog, but it’s going to take 1-2 years or more to build a solid following. There are many ways to grow a readership (I have a whole section on this in my book), but the easiest is to find other blogs that hit the same readership as your own and spend time there leaving comments and interacting with others. You can also do giveaways, include the right SEO, and attend blogging conferences where you can team up with other bloggers and present a unified front. Really, the ideas go on and on.

If you’re serious about growing your blog, you should spend half your time writing and the other half going out and getting your readers. Depending on how long it takes you to craft a blog post, this could be tricky. But if it takes you an hour to write a post, you may want to spend an afternoon knocking a bunch out and then 30 or 45 minutes every day, going out and interacting with your potential audience.

Melissa asks: We see many big name authors supplementing their income by self-publishing titles themselves along with their traditional books, at what point do you think authors should consider this route? Do you think it will harm their career or enhance it?

I think this is a great idea if they do it right and are willing to pay for a great cover, great edit, etc. Too many authors dial it in. It needs to be professionally done, but then they also need to realize that in order for the book to be a success, they need to promote it like crazy—no one is going to stumble upon the book on a store shelf. And of course they also need to make sure that epublishing won’t violate any contracts they have with publishers.

Anne asks: Please comment on how the rapid changes in publishing, stimulated by e-publishing, have affected quality, increased competition, and whether this necessitates amp-ing it up with a paid edit before submission.

There’s a lot more competition all around, but I don’t think paying an editor to clean up your manuscript is the solution. I think hunkering down and truly learning the craft and taking time with your ms is where it’s at. Too many authors want to write only one or two drafts and then be done. The business requires more than that these days…especially if you’re a debut author.

C asks: I’ve had five commercially-published romance novels and I can’t seem to get another contract. Would you recommend my self-publishing some e-books (romance novellas)?

Absolutely. You don’t want to lose your current readership, and you need to make money. If your agent supports it, I think this is a great option. But don’t do it flippantly. Be serious about it, because if your sales are strong enough this could help you get back in with a traditional house.

Jeremy asks: I’ve been looking for an agent for my first ms via the query method with no success.  I have been thinking about going to a conference, but the cost is quite high.  Is there any other way to acquire an agent for the Christian Market?  Are conferences worth the expense?

Conferences are absolutely worth the expense, and there are so many that there’s probably one relatively close to you. It’s only at a conference that I can truly feel comfortable with the authors who are pitching me, and I’m much more likely to sign someone after meeting them at a conference than if I were to simply read a query from them. It’s that face-to-face aspect that changes everything.

Greg asks: It seems that literary agents are very busy and as a first time author how do we get their attention?

Try to attend a conference or see if we’re active on Twitter and other social media sites. But still…conferences are where it’s at.

Jane asks: I heard a popular author say that you don’t have to be a GREAT writer, just persistent. Do you agree or disagree?

If we’re talking about having a traditional publishing career, then I disagree. Editors have a lot on their plate, and more and more they’re looking for projects that require minimal edits. There will always be exceptions to the rule, but overall, a GREAT manuscript has much more potential than a so-so manuscript written by a persistent author.

*Note: MacGregor Literary is not profiting from this reccomendation nor is this an affiliate link. We only recoomend GET PUBLISHED because we truly believe in it’s impact as a resource for authors and because of the vast knowledge that Michael Hyatt provides.

Is it REALLY a good time to be in publishing?

Should I traditionally publish or do it myself?

What do I need to know to get started?

Get your publishing questions answered TONIGHT!

Just a reminder to sign up and join us (Chip & Amanda) and Michael Hyatt, bestselling author and former CEO of Thomas Nelson, for a complimentary LIVE teleseminar on Wednesday, April 10 at 8pm Eastern Time (7pm Central, 5pm Pacific).

The call will last about an hour. It’s free for all to join and there will be an MP3 recording / replay shared with all who register. Plus, when you register you will have the option to submit a question for us to answer

To register now, click here.

Lot’s of good information to be covered in the teleseminar. We hope you join us!

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

I received a question the other week on the danger of posting ideas, content, and other deliciously stealable things online.

Then this week, I fielded a few emails from authors who are seeing their books available for free on some pretty sketchy sites.

So, BECAUSE I’m a big fan of ebooks, and BECAUSE I’ve encouraged writers to throw their content online and therefore subject it to the all of the content pirates that lurk about, I figured I should say a few things about this very unfortunate…yet inevitable…problem.

1. There is no way to fully prevent others from stealing your work. Especially if you publish anything digitally. Amazon brags about their DRM anti-piracy thing-a-majig, but it’s really a bunch of fluff. There’s zero way for us to adequately patrol and safeguard digital content.

2. There will always be people looking to get things for free. There will always be people who abuse creative content. The good news is these people aren’t as prevalent in the book industry as they are in, say, the music industry. Piracy FOREVER changed music. We aren’t seeing it doing much to change publishing, because while it exists, it’s not as prevalent, and the music industry paved the way for lots of anti-piracy legislation that has helped minimize the problem.

3. There is always a chance someone will steal your book idea. And this doesn’t just happen online. Go to a writer’s conference or critique group or MFA program and tell your idea to the wrong person and BAM. It’s stolen.

4. There is always a chance someone will steal your words. I mean goodness…plagiarism has been a problem long before the Internet. That’s why in high school we all had to learn how to cite things properly. A few years ago, there was a major novel with a major publisher that was pulled because of plagiarism allegations–and the novels being stolen from were all published print books…not ebooks. Plagiarism happens regardless of the medium.

Okay, so what can you take from all of this? 

1. Realize that piracy isn’t the end of the world. So, you find your book on a weird foreign website and they’re giving it away for free? Keep calm and demand they take the book down. Chances are the people who read free books aren’t going to buy them anyway–I mean these aren’t your current fans you’re going to be losing. These are people looking for a literal steal. So keep calm, do what needs to be done, and move on.

2. Recognize that any time you communicate an idea or a first chapter or a chunk of text, you’re running the risk of it being stolen. Be smart with how you share your work. If you’re communicating a book idea, make sure that it’s not going to take you the next five years to crank the thing out! For my novel that’s currently being shopped, I told only a handful of close friends my idea. Once I had it written, I told a few more. And now that it’s on submission, I’m open to telling the world.

3. Know the alternative…Okay, so you panic and take down your blog and lock up your manuscripts and require agents and editors to sign a release form before they look (this has happened before…we NEVER sign). What are you left with? You’re left with a story idea that’s never going to see the light of day. You’re left with meaningful blog posts and online content and short stories that will never help or entertain others. Understand that while there is risk in putting your stuff out there, THE REWARD IS FAR GREATER.

What questions do you have about book and idea piracy? 

Join us (Chip and Amanda) and Michael Hyatt, bestselling author and former CEO of Thomas Nelson, for a complimentary LIVE teleseminar on Wednesday, April 10 at 8pm Eastern Time (7pm Central, 5pm Pacific).

During this call you’ll have the ability to get your publishing questions answered by the three of us. You’ll also learn many of Michael’s insider secrets on getting published and building a platform for success.

The call will last about an hour. It’s free for all to join and there will be an MP3 recording / replay shared with all who register. When you register you will have the option to submit a question for us to answer

To register now, click here.

FAQs

Q: What is a teleseminar?

A: Think of it as a giant conference call. You dial in (or listen via streaming web audio), along with others and listen while we share and answer questions.

Q: How much does this cost?

A: It’s free. If you choose to access the LIVE call via phone, you may incur standard long-distance charges if you choose a dial-in number that is not local to you (there are multiple dial-in number options). Other than that, no fee at all.

Q: What is the date and time?

A: The LIVE call will take place on Wednesday, April 10 at 8pm Eastern Time (7pm Central, 5pm Pacific).

Q: How can I access the LIVE call?

A: You’ll have two options. Our call capacity is 3,000 total. Five hundred can access the call via phone, the rest via streaming web audio (listening via your computer). Access is on a first-come, first-served based on registration and which access option you chose. We will notify you prior to the call with the specific phone number and web address.

Q: I can’t make the LIVE call. Will there be a recording?

A: Yes, we’ll make the recording available to all who registered after the LIVE call.

Q: How do I ask a question for you to answer during the call?

A: When you register there will be an option for you to submit a question. We’ll also take a few LIVE questions during the call itself.

Q: Do I need any special equipment?

A: No, nothing special needed. You won’t need to download anything to access the call. If you use the dial-in access then you simply make a phone call. If you use the streaming web access then you simply open a web browser, click play, and listen. We will send the instructions to you via email.

Q: When do I get access information after I register?

A: We will send you access information via email a day or two before the call and a reminder email on the day of the call.

Plan to listen in! We’d love to have you there.

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

In the spirit of full disclosure (because that’s what I feel Thursday’s with Amanda are all about), I figured it would be helpful to demystify Amazon’s Sales Ranking system. Well, okay…it’s AMAZON, so we can’t completely demystify it, but I think there are some clues that if every author knew them, it would make the whole thing less confusing and more do-able from a marketing perspective.

We all know that the sales ranking is an indication of how well a book is selling on Amazon in comparison to all of the other books sold on Amazon. Okay, that part is easy enough.

And we also know that the top 100 rankings show up on a special list. Furthermore, we know that there are lists for each category, and a book can rank in THOSE top 100 lists without ranking in the big one. And we know that a book that appears on a top 100 list (ESPECIALLY the main top 100 list), will get more attention and lead to more sales.

Again, this is pretty basic stuff.

What isn’t as easy to determine, is HOW MANY BOOKS DOES AN AUTHOR NEED TO SELL TO GET INTO THE TOP 100? Heck, how many do they need to sell to get into the thousands? The ten thousands?

Here’s where I get very transparent with you, folks. So brace yourself, because I’m about to throw myself and my book out there to the wolves.

My book, The Extroverted Writer, was e-published on March 15. I did a soft launch, because I knew I’d be super busy, and plus, the conference season doesn’t really start until April. So, knowing I’d do a much stronger push come April, but also knowing that book release week is one of the few windows of time in which you can do a hard sell, here’s what I did…

1. I announced the book on my Facebook page.

2. I announced the book twice (I think) on Twitter.

3. I appeared on the Spacefreighters Lounge blog on March 18.

4. I announced the book’s release on this here blog and enlisted your help on March 21.

5. I asked my authors beforehand to Tweet and review the book as they were able (with zero pressure to do either, of course).

And here’s how those couple weeks have gone…

Out of the gate, my sales ranking hovered in the 20- and 30,000s. It dipped during the weekend, but when the blog post hit, it was right back up there. It stayed there for the rest of that first week, as Tweets went out and all of you gave a helping hand (THANK YOU!).

Now are you ready for the truth?

In that first week, I sold less than 100 books.

So what does this tell us?

For a book priced at $4.99, apparently it doesn’t take all that much to get a decent ranking.

Now, this past week, in which I haven’t done much to promote the book at all, I’ve been selling about 1-2 books a day. And my rank? I hover in the 60- and 80,000s.

Again, not too shabby for such small sales numbers.

So why am I telling you this? Why am I baring my soul and my “meh” sales numbers?

I think it’s a wakeup call. It shows that you don’t need to sell millions of books to position well on Amazon. 

Next month, I have about 5 blog posts lined up, along with a webinar, a writer’s conference, and I’ll probably be doing a Facebook promo campaign. So next month, I’ll be seeing whether I can break into the 10,000 ranking range…and again, it’s not as difficult as you may think.

In my experience helping authors do ebooks (a service we offer our authors), I’ve noticed three very valuable things that I’m taking to the bank:

1. Once a book sells 300-400 copies, Amazon begins helping your efforts by recommending the book much more. I’ve seen this double sales by the following month nearly every time.

2. A book with a ranking of 5,000 or so is likely selling 500-800 books per month. That’s not impossible to achieve no matter who you are.

3. Most authors, when they sell 1,000 or so books in a month, they start to give up. They figure they’ve done their part, and now it’s time to sit back and enjoy the ride. Or life gets in the way and their marketing plans become optional.  And that’s when their sales immediately start to fall, meaning Amazon really is a top of mind type of deal. People buy your book depending on how aware they are of it. If you fall off the radar with your marketing, they’ll stop buying it.

Because my book is an ebook that I published myself, I have all the time in the world. I can choose my promo months and schedule it out for what works for me. But any author working with a traditional publisher doesn’t have that luxury. You need to hit the ground running the moment your book releases, and you shouldn’t stop for a breath until 6 months out, when your publisher is beginning to gather and analyze sales info.

A hard truth, but after seeing these numbers…after seeing how it’s really not that hard to make a good impression on Amazon…The whole thing seems a bit less daunting and impossible, doesn’t it? I know it does for me.

Because I KNOW I can sell 300 books in a month. Three hundred books, being the tip of the iceberg.

Do you KNOW the same thing? Do you believe you can do it?