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.

Alright. Confession time. Before I could write this post I had to go watch “Jenny From the Block” music video by Jennifer Lopez. Because whenever I think about marketing locally, that song starts playing over and over in my head.

But I’ll spare you from having to watch it, unless you really want to (WORTH IT), as I try to collect my thoughts and be eloquent and practical without busting into rhyme.

J-Lo’s song is about keeping it real. Not letting fame and fortune change the fact that she came from humble beginnings. Being the same person now (despite the rocks that she got) that she was then.

But I think in a backwards way, that theme could also be applied to book marketing. The Internet, though flashy and trendy and popular, shouldn’t give us license to live a double life. In other words, it’s so easy to go online and be a strong marketer, and then turn it all completely off the moment we step away from Facebook. It’s like we go from “Famous Author” to “Car Pool Driver” or “PTA Member” or “The Person Who Always Brings Cookies to Work” or other lackluster personas that follow us in our day-to-day lives. When in fact, being an author pursuing the dream is actually quite extraordinary.

So let’s pretend that I’m an author with a book.

I live in a city of 250,000. While I’m online, trying frantically to find people who enjoy reading, there are about a dozen library branches in my city. Not only that, but there are at least a dozen bookstores. Furthermore, my contact with the city goes beyond those typical venues.

• I go to a salon, a dentist office, a doctor’s office, and a church.
• I know people involved in clubs and organizations that cover everything from Junior League to Easter Seals.
• I frequent two different Starbucks and one Dunkin Donuts, and though I don’t have go-to bars that I frequent, I’m beginning to think it wouldn’t hurt for the sake of promotion.
• I’ve held five different jobs here, meaning I have strong relationships with lots of businessmen and women.
• I went to college here, so though I don’t have a strong family network, I have professors, classmates and more within mere miles of me.
• I know people in the radio, print, and news industries here.

So imagine if I mobilized these businesses, clubs, organizations, individuals and networks. Imagine if I got them excited about my book–if I constructed some sort of incentive to get them buzzing. (Truth be told, many of them will be incentivized just by knowing you’re an author).

Imagine if I viewed the 250,000 people living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the same way I view readers on the Internet.

An author I know (and one that i now work with), epublished her first book on her own. To promote it, she turned to Fort Wayne. In one year she sold 20,000 copies. It just goes to show how a little hometown connection can get people excited.

So as you’re making your marketing plan and devising your promotional strategy, don’t forget where you come from. The connections you already have. The people who already love you. Because “hometown hero” isn’t just a term for high school athletes and soldiers (though I’d argue the soldier would be the most fitting of the title). It can be for authors, too.

What local resources do you have that could help you with promotions?

Amanda Luedeke is a zombie literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform and eating brains. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her life as both an agent and a zombie.

A few weeks ago, I offered free social media critiques to those who replied before the 14th. You see, social media is a specialty of mine. Before becoming an agent, I worked for some years as a social media marketer at a marketing agency outside of Chicago. I worked with clients such as Vera Bradley, Peg Perego, Benjamin Moore and more. A somewhat longer description of what I did can be found in the first critique post.

1) Memoir of a Mermaid is a site by Adrianna Stepiano

• Very visually appealing. I’m wondering, though, about how it appears you have two banners/mastheads. I’d get rid of the stuff at the top and just add “A Young Adult Fiction Series by…” to the main one.
• It doesn’t seem your blog content is connecting with readers. This may be because it’s focused on your writing journey rather than reader interests. Brainstorm ways that you could provide content that interests readers but also keeps the focus on the YA genre, storytelling, myths, folklore, etc.
• I don’t see a picture of you anywhere or anything that ties this to a real person. If you want that strong connection with readers, you’re going to have to put yourself out there a bit more.

RECOMMENDATIONS: You do a lot of things right, but I think the main thing lacking is a clear goal. This doesn’t strike me as strictly a sales-oriented site, and yet at the same time, there’s not much of a reason for readers to come  back once they’ve purchased the book. Answer these questions: Why did I build this site? What do I want it to do? What can  I change to make sure that goal is reached on every page?

Adrianna also submitted her Facebook page:

• With many of your status updates, you’re targeting lovers of aquatic life and mythology. But is that really your readership? I imagine your readership is more interested in paranormal/fantasy fiction as opposed to science and folklore.
• Again, there’s not much info on who you are.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Why would someone who doesn’t know you “like” this page? What’s in it for them? Answering these questions and then asking “Is that enough?” will probably help you start to think of more appropriate content that appeals to readers and gets them coming back for more.

2. Press On is a website by Crickett Keeth

• I’m really not getting the “Crickett Keeth” thing. After reading your bio, it clicked, but I think to new readers, it will throw them off. It sounds like a children’s name as opposed to the name associated with a blog about developing a relationship with God. Furthermore, I was confused when it wasn’t the name of your site. Rather, your site is named “Press On”?
• The “Follow my Blog” title makes me think that I go there to sign up for the RSS feed. It’s just not clear that that’s the only way to view the blog. I’d rename it “blog”.
• Your blog posts are appropriately titled, but I wonder what makes your content stand apart from all the other blogs out there that claim to help people in their spiritual journeys?

RECOMMENDATIONS: For this blog to take off you need to separate it from the pack. What makes it different? Maybe you could devise a unique approach or catch that readers can’t get anywhere else? Also, it takes a lot of trust-building for people to talk about their spiritual lives on a blog. Especially when it’s with a person they don’t really know. Think about how you could create a safe environment for interaction.

3) Lucy S. R. Austin is a website by Lucy S. R. Austin

• It’s not clear what the goal of this site is. After poking around, I take it you want to sell books to the homeschooling community? If so, and if your goal for this site is to generate sales, you’ll have to rework the copy to be more sales-y
• Your bio needs a bit of a refresher. I’d move the important content (your writing credentials, publishing and job histories) to the top. Then, further down the page you can talk about who you are. (In fact, I’d almost just do away with the first two paragraphs altogether).

RECOMMENDATIONS: If the goal of this site is to entice homeschoolers to buy your books, then I recommend you 1) re-do the design to appeal more to that audience. Maybe have pictures of you homeschooling your kids or something. 2) Make the copy on the site more sales-oriented. WHY should they buy your books? Why should they choose your books over other literature and composition books? 3) this can be done by changing the home page. Offer a call to action along with convincing, sales-y copy that encourages visitors to consider the books.

If this site is simply a way for you to showcase your experience (kind of like a resume site), then be a bit more up front about that. Tell me how I should use your site on the home page.

Lucy also shared her Facebook page

• Again I’m not sure what the goal is here. Are you wanting to develop an author fan page? If so, who are your readers and how can you better appeal to them?
• This page seems underpopulated. Really fill it with content that sets the tone and lets followers know what to expect. We just don’t know much about you based on this info.

RECOMMENDATIONS: It seems that you like sharing writerly things on this page…so maybe re-purpose it to be a Facebook group of “All Things Writerly” or something. This would target a clear audience and help you build numbers more quickly. You could focus on great pictures of writerly things, quotes, etc.

Chim in! What are your thoughts or questions on these site critiques?

NOTE: Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

So now you know what to shoot for in terms of numbers (if you missed it, last Thursday we talked about how big an author platform should be). But as many of you pointed out, those numbers seem impossible. The time and effort required to grow such a following had some of you envisioning yourself with an impressive platform sometime in the year 2030. While others flat out admitted that they didn’t have a single sales bone in their body. You’re artists, after all. And artists don’t always make the most sociable, friendly, outgoing, spin doctoring bunch.

So what’s the secret? How can these numbers be achieved?

Let me explain it like this…most authors, when embarking on a quest to tackle the platform demon, treat it like spaghetti. They throw everything against the wall to see what sticks. They start a Facebook group, a Twitter account, a blog, a website, a Goodreads account, a newsletter and on and on and on until they feel they have all of the possible platform-building areas covered.

And then they’re surprised when nothing happens. When their Facebook group hovers around 50 followers—most of which are personal or family friends. When their Twitter account has more spam followers than real followers and their website stats don’t climb above 30 visits a day. They’re surprised by this, because they’re doing everything they’re supposed to do and nothing is working. And more than anything, they’re exhausted. They’ve spread themselves so thin, they can barely keep track of what was said where. At this point, most give up. They tried their best, and it didn’t work.

But platform is nothing like spaghetti. It’s more like a game of dominos (as in the game in which you set them all up and they fall over). Select one thing. One thing out of that list of 10 or so possibilities. Pour all you have into that one thing. Your time, your creativity, your resources. Stick with it, and when it starts to go, you’ll find that if you already have some of the other platform-related areas set up (most of us do), they’ll start to grow with it. And if you don’t have those areas yet set up, then you’ll find that it’s that much easier to get them going.

More importantly, you’ll find that you won’t be selling your soul to SOCIAL MEDIA. Sure, it takes sacrifice and commitment. But focusing on one thing and doing it well will save you from burning out and giving up.

Ok, so I know your next question is going to be how? How do I grow my Facebook? My Twitter? My blog?

We’ll get there. Come back next Thursday and we’ll start to talk about the how. See you then!

P.s. I loved the discussion last week. Feel free to weigh in again!