Denise Turney’s Tips for Writers During This Pandemic

Unless we are blessed with a writing career that can support us, writers have a common complaint. We complain about the lack of time to write, to edit, and to market around our full-time jobs. This pandemic has been a blessing in disguise, by giving us much more time to devote to our crafts.

Many of us are stuck home, waiting to be called back to our jobs. The time we always wanted to write or market is here. However, just because we have the time, doesn’t mean we are using it effectively. I found myself watching hours of reruns and laying around instead of writing and book marketing. I was hearing the same thing from my writing friends.

Denise Turney came to my rescue, and I suspect that she can also help many of you with some great tips to get back on track. Denise has great resources for writers on her christell.com website,  her newsletter Book Lover Haven, her Saturday weekly blog talk radio program Off The Shelf Books Talk Radio, and her Youtube channel DTWrites1. She has mastered the art of making the most of her time and was happy to help me come up with some tips to assist other writers to meet their publishing goals during this pandemic.

Tip #1 Revise Your Writing and Marketing Schedule
Before you can market or edit you must have written something. This pandemic has freed a lot of time to reach writing goals, but you must make the most use of it. Extra time is like extra money disappearing before you realize it was even there.

Writers who are working from home could use the time that they’d normally be commuting to and from work to write on their new novel, screenplay, poetry, etc.  Another thing for writers to consider is what time of day are they the most creative as that may be the best time to write. Also, celebrate the writings, each page that’s written, each chapter that’s finished.

Tip #2 Use Social Media to Promote Books Online
With everyone stuck at home, internet usage is, of course, going up. Writers should use this opportunity to get their book in front of readers online. Digital postcards, newsletters, and online giveaways are a few things authors could do to promote their work during this pandemic. Make sure to include the website and social media handles on all marketing materials. You want readers to be able to find and engage with you. Amazon has giveaways tools that will help entice readers.  Check out Canva, a free tool, that has postcard, book cover, and announcement templates.

Tip #3 Look for Online Radio Stations and Podcasts Opportunities
Authors can search, Streamfinder, Radio Tower, iTunes, and RadioLine to find stations to get interviews. These places are looking for ways to fill out time so this is a great opportunity to put together a bio and brief book synopsis, and then pitch these places for opportunities to get interviewed. Make sure that that radio outlet is a good fit for your book before pitching.

Tip #4 Use Your Newsletter to Connect with Readers
Denise uses her newsletter, The Book Lovers Haven to announce book sales, author interviews, writing jobs, and book festivals. To yield an ongoing result, publish newsletters on a regular basis (e.g. weekly, monthly, quarterly). Save time by maintaining a newsletter distribution list through an automated system like MailChimp, Constant Contact, Drip, AWeber, and others. Grow subscribers by posting a quick newsletter sign up at your author website.

Another advantage associated with newsletters is that you have subscriber contact information that you can use to send subscribers holiday greetings, etc. This valuable information can help you connect with readers.

Tip #5 Track Progress
Track increases in Instagram and Twitter followers and Facebook Author Page Likes. Without analytics, authors may not know what’s working, what to change, and what marketing steps to stop. When signing up for automated email marketing systems, make sure that these systems have robust reporting. For example, there are systems that track the number of subscribers who open e-newsletters, the number of links embedded inside a newsletter are clicked and the best days/times of the week to send e-newsletters.

Amazon Advantage and Vendor Central sponsored and automatic ads, have reports that track the number of times a keyword is used and clicked in a book marketing campaign, the date that sales are made and the percentage of sales made vs. money spent on ads. It’s this type of data that lets authors know what to tweak and change in their marketing campaigns.

I am a fan of Google Analytics for my website. This is a free program and will provide lots of information about who is clicking on your site, where they come from, and the most active times on your site. You can also pay for upgrades to be able to create reports based on this data.

Please comment if you have other suggestions on how to make use of your time during a pandemic.

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