Tag Archives: children’s book

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Final Day: Please & TY

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform, Writing Children's Books by

THANKS

It’s now our final, 31st day. Take a deep breath. You’re about to make it through all 31 tasks of the Author Platform Challenge. Go, you! As we start the month of December with new followers and a renewed brand, take a moment to pause and give thanks.

Day 30: For a nice way to end things, join me in tagging friends that have helped you along the way in improving your reach and attaining your growth goals. (You know I’m going to say only no more than five at a time, and only grouped on same post if they are connected to each other in some way.)

If you feel you’ve maxed out on shout-outs or tags, I get it. Just one more. Goodwill will take you far!

Thanks to everyone who supported me, and us, in this challenge!

Please

I have final requests before signing off: please share any feedback you have on the challenge, advice you’d like to share, key learnings, and suggestions for tasks. I’m open to all ways to improve this for next time! Social media is always evolving and we need to evolve with it. As mentioned, I’d like to do this entire thing again in the fall, with tweaks and edits. You don’t have to answer now–but consider a refresh with me later in the year.

Stay in touch. We can keep learning from each other! If you haven’t shared your preferred handle in the comments, please do so we can all follow each other.

If you liked the challenge, please not only RT the original post to share the love but consider joining me yet again when I assemble all your feedback and work it into expanding our reach in the spring challenge.

And, if you don’t already, please follow my blog or sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss any updates.

Talk soon.

Kindly,

Bitsy

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 28: Listicle love

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform by

Take note

notebook
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood
on Pexels.com

[Before we start, have you followed 10 new people yet?]

Have you heard the term “listicle?” Weird word, I know. A listicle is a type of blog post that is formatted as a list–like those Reddit posts you see all the time “13 Ways to Clean Your Bathroom Sink.” They are actually a great way to share information and tips in a way that is easy to scan and understand. Don’t know why I haven’t done one here myself!

These past Author Platform Challenge posts aren’t considered listicles because even though I’ve had lists in almost everyone (including this), the posts aren’t based around the lists. As in, none of them are the type of post such as “9 Ways to Create a Listicle.” There’s a difference. Does that make sense?

One Day 28, you’re going to create a listicle today to share with your followers.

You can chose any topic. Suggestions for lists you could create include topics like “10 Best Travel Books for Toddlers,” “5 Favorite Bedtime Books with Elephants,” “7 Ways to Strengthen Your Story Arc.”

You can’t post a listicle on, say, Twitter because it’s not the right venue and there isn’t enough room. But you can certainly post a link and direct followers to where you’ve created the listicle (such as your website or your FB Author Page). Create it on any topic. The entire thing can be as short as 100 words.

You want to demonstrate expertise, build trust, and engage with your peeps.

Win, win, win.

Listicle tips:

  1. Choose a topic that you are passionate about, or know a lot about, or can research the heck out of.
  2. Make sure your list is on brand, and of use to your audience.
  3. Pick a catchy title that (probably) no one else has used, such as “9 ways to Ruin a YA.”
  4. Come up with a list of 5-10 items. For some reason, studies show readers prefer odd numbers.
  5. Write a brief introduction that introduces your topic and list.
  6. Consider subheads for easier reading.
  7. Use active voice to keep it engaging.
  8. You know I’m going to suggest images if not video!
  9. Include a call to action at the end of your listicle. “Sign up for my newsletter for more great tips!”

FWIW, listicles are a great magazine article idea to pitch. Think of topics related to your book and create a listicle around it…maybe it’s even Top 7 Books About Parenting in the Digital Age and yours just happens to be on the list. Use today as your list creation practice.

Can’t wait to see what you come up with! Heck, I can’t wait to see what I come up with, lol. Tag the rest of us, #31DayAuthorPlatformChallenge, and share.

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 23: Offer Thanks

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform, Writing Children's Books by

<NUDGE NUDGE Have you followed 10 new people yet?>

**Don’t make a jpg like this! Use real, clickable hashtags**

Let’s take advantage of the national day of thanks-giving. Our task today is about uplifting others in a Thank You post. It will feel so good! And will take mere minutes.

If you haven’t been a part of the #writerslift movement on Twitter/#, now is your time to join the party.

Think about critique partners, for example. Find the right ones and they are worth their weight in gold, amiright? These gems of fellow writers, whom you trust to read your work-in-progress, provide constructive feedback and help you improve your craft. They can act as a sounding board for ideas, catch typos and plot holes, and offer fresh perspectives on your writing. They are not only helpful, but supportive and committed. Aren’t they worthy of celebrating? Let’s give them a shout out of gratitude today.

If you don’t have CPs at the moment, think about people who have helped you in any way this week or month or year. There are plenty of people that are helpful! You don’t have to know them personally. Maybe their mentor texts or inspiring feeds got you through a rough patch. These fellow creatives you’ve never met would love to know you appreciate them. Why not reach out and and connect by tagging them with a short flattering post?

Today, Day 23, we are showing fellow authors some (virtual) love.

We’ll do that by giving them a shout-out across all your social media outlets using the hashtag #writerslift. This task is another example of how an automation tool is handy. You only have to post once if you use a scheduler, and it’ll go out to all your outlets at once.

Publicly acknowledging people not only shows gratitude, but boosts their profiles and helps to establish them as respected members of the writing community. You know they’d do it for you! In fact, they probably already have. It’s a part of supporting each other. Rising tides lift all boats, right?

Make it pretty with a Canva-type app, or make it a simple text post. Your call. While of course it’s honestly the thought that counts, this is one rare time I suggest a regular post vs creating a graphic. Why? As you can see in the .png I created above, there is no way to tag my CPs in the image, so I have to tag them each all over again in the post–and I have to add the #writerslift tag to the post anyway. WHY DO I MAKE THINGS SO HARD FOR MYSELF lol. Just make a simple post for this.

Some tips for creating feel-good #writerslift shout-outs:

  1. Be specific: Details, baby! Use full names and highlight what they’ve done to help you. Did they catch a major plot hole? Publish a PB that inspires you to be a better writer? Support you when no one else thought you could do it? Give credit where credit is due.
  2. Be generous: Don’t be shy. Offering praise to someone who has helped you means A LOT to them, esp if you’re not the touchy-feely type. It can help strengthen the CP bond. Knowing it had an impact on you can help encourage them to be helpful to others again in the future. And it will warm your own heart at the same time!
  3. Be authentic: Don’t write a generic post just for the sake of giving a shout-out. A list of names is great, but it’s virtual lip service. Write with sincerity and share genuine appreciation. If you can’t be specific to any one piece of feedback for whatever reason, it’s okay to thank them for their support over the years or months. The important thing is you are sharing gratitude.

You DON’T have to go big or go home

The kidlit industry is FULL of kind-hearted, helpful people like you. Shout-outs like this keeps that supportive feeling alive. Simply saying thanks to one person can make you both feel good! (No need to gift them, a simple THANKS is all that’s needed.)

One great example of an AMAZING week-long show of author love in May, created and run by fellow PB author @SylviaiChen. It’s a (free) weeklong co-celebratory event with prizes that is everything our Day 23 is about: uplifting and recognizing our fellow writers and illustrators! What an effective and thoughtful way to give mass shout-outs! This goes above and beyond any shout-out Tweet I would have thought up. Don’t worry, I don’t expect level that from you! She probably worked on that for months. You can take 11 mins 🙂

Recap: Send (several) posts thanking your crit partners and anyone who has helped make you a better writer, and use the #writerslift hashtag. Be specific with the appreciation if you can, and don’t tag too many people in one post.

Share the love!

PS I am thankful for you, cheering me on and helping keep me accountable this month!

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 16: Did You See That?

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[Hang on–have you followed 10 new people yet?]

Making moves, and movies

young woman in trendy outfit with notepad recording vlog
Photo by Anete Lusina
on Pexels.com

Today we make and post a short, quick video.

We’ve posted a bunch of things so far, from the comfort of our rooms or office (and probably PJs). Time to up the ante. Studies show videos get far more views and engagement than simple photo posts on social media. According to Forbes in late 2022, social video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. And get this: viewers retain 95% of a watched video message compared to 10% of a text.

“Why the hay haven’t you been encouraging video all along?” you may ask, in a rather aggressive (and unappreciated, quite frankly) tone. Well, I’ll tell ya. We are authors. And almost by definition that means most of us are introverts. Or maybe extroverted introverts. Who else volunteers to lock themselves up in a proverbial cave most of the day to crank out words on a page that will be edited and rewritten 10,000 times? (That’d be us.) I get you. I get us. The very thought of me asking you to create a video may fill you with dread.

But hear me out.

The video doesn’t have to be of you! You don’t have to appear on camera! (some ideas below) You don’t even need sound! You DO need text, though. Studies show 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound–but 80% of videos WITH sound and/or text get much higher results. People need to know what they are watching, and why. (They also tend to watch in places they aren’t supposed to have their phones, so the volume is off. Captions are very helpful.) Tweets with video are said to get 10x the engagement than a static post!

It’s time to shine, cupcake

As you can see, to maximize the eyeballs on our content, to drive a higher number of RTs, to encourage engagement, to increase our author platform…we need to graduate to video. I have been an actress since the third grade [not to brag but yeah that was me playing the lead bunny in the school play]. I am a ham, I seek out the camera in every instance — and yet, I am still dragging my feet on video when it comes to promoting my own work. It feels so personal, right?! You’re not acting, you’re you. And that’s much harder, I get it. We just have to rip off the bandaid and get creating. Or recording, as the case may be.

I know once we get started, it will be easier and easier. We just have to make and post that first one. Or that first five.

I mean, don’t we want a 1200% increase in shares? Of course. If we are in control of that, why wouldn’t we go for it? Today we are.

Instagram makes it super easy to make videos with text and “stickers.” Canva allows taking a template and adding animation which is ALMOST a video, but that won’t count for today. Find yourself an app or service you feel comfortable working with, like Vimeo, YouTube, Visme, ClipChamp, etc.

Please tell me which [free!] app/sites you like best! I like trying new stuff.

The video can be 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds. Animoto reports Instagram videos that are around 26 seconds long receive the most comments. Don’t be thinking your vid has to be two minutes! (Who has time for that, really.)

Worried about how you’ll look on camera? I have a ton of getting-camera-ready tips on this post: https://bitsykemper.com/zoom/.

Some great tips on creating effective content (do you want to explain a new fact? do a tutorial?) is here from later.com, here from eclincher, and there’s a list of ideas from sproutsocial here.

Camera shy?

Let’s say you loathe the idea of being on camera. You can still use video to up your author platform. Here are some ideas of videos (with sound and text!) that will build your brand that DON’T need to have your smiling face.

Here are some ideas on effective videos you can make where you aren’t playing an on-camera role:

  • Book Quotes: Use text overlays to display your own, your favorite, or popular book quotes. Zoom in and out while reading the quote. [Or be holding the book as you read, be standing in front of the printed quote that’s on a wall, etc.]
  • Show Your Bookshelves: Give an inside look at your bookshelves while explaining how they made you a better writer (or reader). Ask viewers to share their experiences. [Or be there Vanna-White-ing it.]
  • Create a Book Trailer: iMovie and other apps make this easier than ever. If you have picture books, talk to your illustrators first–they might have ideas and/or equipment.
  • Start a Live ‘Ask Me Anything’ Session: No need to have yourself on camera, just zoom in a whiteboard with those words as you talk over a short script “Time to ask me anything! Write a question in the comments…” [Or of course, you can have cam focused on your pretty face.]
  • Answer Those Anythings: Record yourself answering those Qs while writing on a whiteboard, flipping through pages, waking through the woods, whatever.
  • Recommend Books: Share fun book recommendations, including your own book(s).
My personal brainstorming space

Those are just a few thoughts. I can’t wait to hear what you end up doing! Tell me all about it.

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 14: How to Boost Sign-ups

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform, Writing Children's Books by

[Oh, wait, before we start, have you followed 10 new people yet?]

cheerful young woman screaming into megaphone
Photo by Andrea
Piacquadio on Pexels.com

On Day 14 of our platform challenge we are going to go back to getting people to sign up for our email list by dangling our freebie; we’ll create and kick off a giveaway campaign. Yes, today. No sense wasting time.

As we talked about in Day 11, the most effective way to entice people into giving up their email address is to offer them something exclusive (and free) such as a downloadable set of coloring pages/activity guide/curriculum tie-ins, discount code, or exclusive content. Those freebies are called a “lead magnet” (as you know from earlier posts on Day 10 & 11) and we have already worked on them (Day 12) so yours should be shiny and ready to roll.

Online promos are another option, are easy, and can work magic. “RT and win” is a social media example that we’ll create today. You can pick a milestone (“to celebrate 3K followers, I’m giving away…”). Or a seasonal/holiday theme (“you’ll Fall for this freebie…” and “here’s a boo-tiful giveaway….”). Or personal reason (“it may be my birthday but I’m the one giving gifts…”). You’re creative! Find a fun reason!

This post is kinda long but the campaign task is in the second half, and honestly isn’t too much work. But before we get there…

Ways to get email sign ups–with or without the pop-up

Here are some ideas besides giveaways on ways to get people to sign up for your newsletter (or, quite frankly, to follow you on social media). I wasn’t sure where to put this info, and it’s not an exact fit here, but here ya go…

  • Social media ads: I have never tried them TBH but at some point I will. It’s always an option and I like it because you can start at like $1/day and see where gets you before deciding to go further. You can do ads for your newsletter with or without offering a freebie (but I bet if you try both, the freebie will have higher return). There’s a great breakdown on true cost of social media ads; bear in mind that article is for small businesses that are looking for much larger output than we are as authors. But it’s a great frame of reference. If you’ve used social media ads before, please share your experience! I’d love to hear your feedback and experience. I do know one couple that have earned over $900K on their self-pubbed fantasy series almost completely off targeted FB ads. But they work very hard at it.
  • Be prepared: When you attend industry events or signings, either have your laptop open to the SUBSCRIBE (or Follow/Like) page so all they have to do is enter their name, or have an old-school clipboard handy for them to write their email. Incentive optional (but more effective).
  • If in person such as at a conference or signing where you have a table, offering a “onetime day-of-the-event giveaway raffle” for those that sign up is a huge incentive! Giveaway could be as little as a $15 card to a local bookstore or credit to your personal bookstore, one of your signed books, a small trinket, or a free ZOOM author visit which costs you nothing but time. Have a professional-looking posterboard with the specifics announcing your giveaway and how/what they’ll win. The more generic the poster, the more often you can use it–no need to personalize it and create a new one for every event.
  • Post on social media: Share your newsletter signup (or social media handles) link across all social media channels and encourage your followers to sign up. Facebook author pages allow direct link; Shopify says you’ll need something like LinkTree for Instagram and others. You can also try social media ads to target people you think you might not otherwise reach. Again, the freebie is optional but bound to help.

Given all that info, today we are still going to focus on freebies and create a promo around it–one that you’ll post across social media.

What freebie did you decide on a few days ago, and is it ready like it’s supposed to be? Get on it because the promo plan should go live TODAY. It’s going to be a “RT& Win” campaign.

Let’s test out that freebie!

RT & Win Campaign

Going back to Day 10–is your pop-up installed and active yet? I hope yes. It needs to be, as we have a game to play! As soon as you are done creating your free lead magnet, hold a “RT, Follow & Win” contest across your social media platforms. The rules are that if people sign up for your newsletter (give them the direct link) and also RT the post, and they’ll be sent the FREE [insert freebie here]. Give a deadline so people have to “act now.” A few days or a week is probably good, as you never know when the RT will be seen by the people who RT the RT.

RT & Win

It will take some work for you to verify each new newsletter subscriber has RTed (they only get freebie if they do!), so FOR NOW un-check the pop-up option that has new subscribers automatically getting the welcome email and download.

But how exciting. You are building your list!

Isn’t this fun?

You should get a sense of whether or not your freebie has legs based on the excitement it generates. If people aren’t RTing it, that means not only do they not see value, but they don’t think their peers will either. This is good information to have! Now you know and you haven’t wasted your pop-up offer on something lame. Move on to the next item on your list and try that on for size.

A lack of RTs could also simply mean you haven’t promoted it well enough. Ask your critique partners and a few close friends to help you promote it. I don’t think it’s worth a $5 social media ad yet but you might, your call.

Recap: Time to start collecting emails from that pop-up you created! Create a quick “RT & Win” promo and set it live TODAY! [Your freebie has to be complete, and your email list collection has to be set up first.]

You can change it up and redo this “RT & Win” several times a year, basically any time you have new content or news to share, or need a boost. You can have them RT your book cover and win swag, for example; it doesn’t have to always be signing up for your newsletter. People LOVE free stuff!

Come back here in a few days and tell me how this promo shakes out for you! I’m excited to try it myself.

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 13: Little Known Facts

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Since the last few author platform pumping days have been rough ones (Day 10 was toughest so far you’ve said), Day 13 of the 31 Day Author Platform Challenge is gonna be super easy.

Today you’re going to find a little-known fact that supports your brand or your book(s). Then you’re gonna create and publish a pretty little post about it.

If your main character is a whale, post surprising whale facts. Is the MC shy? Post “The wrong way to help a child overcome shyness.” Looking to become an expert on your future book about critique groups? Share a top surprising tip on making them more effective. You see what I’m getting at, right? Make sure you verify it’s FACTUAL (check more than one resource), and reference the source in the post, so people know it’s true. Don’t forget to add your website or social media handle.

Here’s an example of fun facts that “just happen” to not only support an author but have thumbnails of two of her books. It has her @handle, the source of data, and kindly references the illustrator’s name. (Yes it could be a little cleaner but still. Well done!)

Little Known Facts the support a picture book author

Once you create yours, as you can guess, you’ll plaster that sweet nugget across all your social media outlets. Like this.

Don’t have a book to promote? It can be something like a fun fact about the writing industry or a statistic on books sold each/last year. Keep it in line with your personality as a writer. If you write charming board books, for example, don’t quote stats on horror novels.

Here’s the catch (there’s always a catch. You know me!)

>>You’re going to add animation AND sound in addition to images on this “Little Known Fact” meme. <<

If you’ve never done it before, I trust you can figure out how to do it simply by poking around. Literally look for “add animation” button. Google how-to if not; it’s not that hard, I promise.

With the interesting new info you share, you’ll look like a genius.

Or at a minimum, a source of reliable information.

The sound and animation will make the post stand out even more.

Can’t wait to see what you come up with! Feel free to share a link, below. We’ll RT it!