The #CANCrown Awards Are Open!

, by

Christian Authors Network Crown Awards #CANCrown on social media The CAN Crown Awards Celebrate Excellence in Christian Media and Marketing by Authors. Purpose of CAN Crown Awards: To recognize, educate, and encourage excellence in marketing and promotion skills of all Christian authors. Why? One crucial career area for Christian authors is marketing. (I know, stop rolling your eyes. Marketing can be fun!) The problem is that an author now has to wear so many hats. So many hats that the marketing hat may cause the whole stack to tumble if you don’t know how to make and follow through with a…

Read More

FOLLOWUP FROM FACEBOOK PARTIES

, by

Hello, it’s Darlene Franklin (http://darlenefranklinwrites.com/) again! I enter the marketing arena with some fear and trembling, since I sit at the knees of people are masters of the craft, such as my publisher, Cindy Hickey. But I also know that I do more social media marketing than many other indie published authors. So . . .I share what I’ve learned by trial and error. Something is working right. A popular and fun use of Facebook is a “party.” I’m not discussing how to hold the party today, but what next? How can you utilize the momentum from the party?

Read More

USING UNUSUAL HOLIDAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS

, by

Hi everyone! This is Darlene Franklin (http://darlenefranklinwrites.com/) in my first ever Marketing post for CAN. Do you ever wonder how to inspire interest in an older title? One that I’ve used with some success is finding unusual holidays. Of course we can use major, federal or Hallmark holidays, but for almost every book you can find a matching holiday. Consider the holidays between now and Christmas: MacIntosh Apple Day (Oct 3): Perfect for An Apple for Christmas, since the hero owns an apple orchard and is named “Mac”Intosh Cortland German American Day (Oct 6): Works for my three books featuring German…

Read More

Social Media Mistakes to Avoid

, by

Marketing Ideas From Cheri Cowell Social media is an important part of an author’s marketing strategy, but it can also work against an author if you make one or more of these big blunders. To make your social media a real winning strategy, avoid these ten social media mistakes.

Read More

Risk to Reach

, by

  In this ever changing world, it is easy to want to sit back and watch others sink or swim. Have you ever been with a group and you all want to do something that appears fun, exciting, thrilling—like jumping off a rock ledge into a lake on a hot summer day? There is a moment when everyone dares everyone else to “go first”. Finally, the bravest (or maybe just the craziest) runs and jumps in! Often new options of social media feel this way. There was a time when Youtube, Vimeo, LinkedIN, Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or Periscope…

Read More

6 Social Media Trends for Authors and Speakers

, by

Greetings from Jackie M. Johnson! Keeping up to date with the latest social media trends isn’t always easy for busy writers and speakers. Things change quickly in the digital world, and we don’t always make time to read the most recent tech blogs or social media news. Yet, authors are required to “grow our platforms” so we can build our brand, market our books, build community and connect with readers and potential readers—and much of that is accomplished online. So I’ve culled 6 social media trends that may be helpful in your social media strategy.

Read More

Marketing Section of a Proposal Part 1

, by

Aloha from Karen Whiting Proposals are important even if you plan to self-publish. They layout a plan for the book and help you define the purpose, competition, and marketing plans. The marketing section of a proposal is becoming more important all the time, so let’s focus on that!  

Read More

Power and Benefits of Groups in Marketing

, by

Aloha from Karen Whiting CAN offers great benefits to readers and blessings to members. It’s good to follow CAN because we post about marketing that others can adapt. It’s also good to see what a group does to glean ideas for your own group. Let’s chat about how to multiply efforts greatly through team efforts that benefits all the members and blesses others.  

Read More

Uping the Game With Social Media

, by

Hi everyone! Pamela Meyers here with another discussion on marketing your novel. Recently, while in a discussion with a couple people from my church, a woman asked me if I had a publicist. I replied that the publisher for my book releasing next spring has a publicist on staff that is available to me, but for my small press books, the marketing is pretty much up to me. At that point the man with us spoke up and recited the old adage, “To make money, you have to spend money.” I assured him I agreed, but with a very slim…

Read More

I finally took the Pinterest Plunge: tips

, by

I’ve been a lurker for several months. There were several reasons for my reluctance 1. I didn’t want to spend time on a fad that would fade, 2. I couldn’t see adding one more social media need-to on my list of must-dos, and 3. I just didn’t get it. I didn’t see how I’d use Pinterest and how the time invested would offer a worthy return. But, after several months of reading the stats, I finally decided to take the plunge. Here is what I found.

Read More