by Theresa Garee | Nov 12, 2020 | Blog
You Made the News! Now What?
A media outlet interviewed you. Congratulations!!
Contributing to articles is a fabulous way to become a well-respected expert in your field!
But once the article goes live, your work isn’t over.
First, share it all around.
I’m so grateful to have landed with Mango Publishing Group. My editor and their social media coordinator share pretty much anything I send their way. So my first step is to send a link to any new piece to them.
Tweet the link and tag anyone else in the piece, including the publication and especially the journalist who wrote it.
Post on Facebook. If you have a business page, start there, but there’s rarely harm in sharing to your personal page at a different time for more visibility. If your friends won’t celebrate your success, why are they your friends? Don’t overdo the promo, of course. But people want to know what’s going on and might be interested enough to share the article.
Also post in any Facebook groups that allow promotional links. Find ones that are the right fit for you and your topic. I belong to many groups but also started my own wellness group where I share relevant information.
Are you on LinkedIn? That’s where the biz folks are. If there’s any business angle post it there.
Pin to a board on Pinterest. Create a board for a specific topic or a “Where I’m Quoted” or “Featured Ins” or some other catchy title related to your topic. Things pinned on Pinterest have a very long shelf-life.
Instagram allows you to use Link Tree to create a link in your bio where you can add articles, social media platforms, and your website since Instagram only allows one link. Post a photo from the article, preferably the one closest to your quote, then say the link to the article is in your bio.
Don’t forget other relevant organizations. Would the piece interest your high school, college, or professional association? Send it all around.
Hashtags
Be sure to find relevant hashtags because that’s how strangers find articles on social media. Check out Frances Caballo’s excellent post on hashtags for authors. Sometimes that’s what you’ll want, but if your feature covers more than writing, use a hashtag appropriate for your topic. Tons of articles cover hashtags. Here’s one I like. Choose hashtags for the correct social media channel. Popular Twitter hashtags may not trend on Instagram.
Blog It
If you’re new to this process, you could blog about the experience of pitching to a journalist and doing the interview. Write about moving forward with a more involved marketing strategy. Or blog about your topic and link to the piece. Be sure to use the WordPress plugin Yoast or another search engine optimization (SE)) tool. I love Yoast because it removes the guesswork.
Email It
Do you have an email newsletter? It’s lovely to include a link to this new “featured in” with your next newsletter. If you were quoted at length, send the whole quote as the newsletter content with a quick “Not sure you saw this” note. People subscribed to your newsletter because they want to stay in touch.
In the News Page
If it’s your first interview, now’s the time to start an “In the News” page on your website where you collect these things. Leave it as a draft at first, until you collect a few, but have them all in one place on your site.
Save It
And do save a pdf of it. In Chrome you can “print” to “save as pdf.” I do that with every article. Sometimes articles disappear and you want to save it for posterity.
Go you!
![Easily Create Amazon Review Links]()
by Theresa Garee | Jun 7, 2020 | Blog
Easily Create Amazon Review Links
What author doesn’t love reviews of her book?
Would you love to make it easier for readers to write reviews?
What if instead of requiring our readers to scroll and scan an Amazon page to find the review page link, we could send them directly to the page where they write the review?
We can!
Here’s the trick. In just a few simple steps, you can easily create Amazon review links that open directly to the Amazon review page of your book. With one click, the reader is at the review page.
Use this simple formula:
Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin= + your book’s ASIN or ISBN 10 at the end of the link
The ISBN for Depression Hates a Moving Target is 1642500135, the ebook ASIN is 1642500135, and the audiobook ASIN is B07WT5M3SP.
Use the same formula for each format: paperback, hardback, ebook, audiobook, etc.
Here’s how the link to the paperback looks:
Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=1642500135
It opens to this page.
This one’s for the ebook:
Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B084GRLRXK
And finally, one for the audiobook:
Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B07WT5M3SP
I used the same formula to create Amazon review links for You Should Be Writing:
Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=1642502553
And this one is for the ebook:
Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B084GRLRXK
Follow this simple formula for each of your book formats.
Create your own to post on social media, in your blog, and email newsletters.
Have fun and go get those reviews!
by Theresa Garee | May 3, 2019 | Blog, Write Now Columbus Essay Archives
NOTHING ILLEGAL.
Seriously. I cannot think of one single legal thing you should not do when you hold that very first brand spanking new copy of your very first, brand spanking new book in your shaky hands.
Not. One. Legal. Thing.
But what should you do?
BEFORE you take 10,000 selfies or ask your poor, exhausted husband to take 10,000 photos of you and your book, and you share 5,000 of those images on social media, take a breath. Pause. Have a private moment with your lovely new baby. Just the two of you.
Stare at it!
That name on the cover? THAT’S YOU!!! I recommend a small shriek or maybe a full-out ROAR!
Smell it!
There’s not much better than that new book smell and when it’s a book created by your very own hard work, sweat, tears, and sadly, yes, agony. Smell it all. It’s all in those pages. Sniff. Sniff. Who’s cutting onions?
Open it!
Riffle through those pages. Look at that type. Find your name on the title page, your bio, and your photo. Admire your handiwork.
Hug it!
Wrap your arms around that lovely baby and pull her to your chest. Embrace your creation. Perhaps wrap your arms all the way around yourself and, with your brilliant book against your chest, hug both of you long and hard.
Dance around!
Or not. But at least give a little hop or maybe a shimmy. Let your body express your joy.
Thank the entire world!
Now that you’ve had your private moment, remember gratitude. Writing is a team sport. Chances are, while you may have spent countless hours alone, hunched over your keyboard, it took a tribe to bring your effort into the light of day.
Spread the news!
Get the selfies and the photos and the videos and let the world know your baby is for sale!
Okay. That metaphor didn’t work. I think you understand.
Here’s what the moment looked like for me.
Nita Sweeney
And YES! My lovely baby is FOR SALE!
by Theresa Garee | Jan 4, 2019 | Blog
“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
The holidays are over. Perhaps you have extra time on your hands. You’re back at work, but bored. Maybe you also have an Amazon gift card burning a hole in your pocket. I’m here to help.
Just head over to amazon.com and type “Nita Sweeney” in the search box.
In the late 1960s, a grade school girl from a central Ohio farm presented her project, a handmade book, to her teacher. The plot of “Sheshak the Wild Stallion” closely followed that of Black Beauty. The book’s pages stuck out, the cover edges didn’t meet, and the ragged construction paper letters making up the title formed more of a jagged scar than a straight line.
Regardless, the girl beamed as she held the book. She didn’t even mind the B+ she received. The book represented something she always wanted: her name on a cover.
If you were in central Ohio last Friday, you might have heard that young girl (now a 57-year old woman) cry with joy after she typed her name into the Amazon search box.
This is a long way of telling you that my memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink, is available for preorder.
We’re still working on the cover. Endorsements continue to come in. The editor will send revisions. The book won’t be released until May. This process is far from over.
But that little girl? She doesn’t care about all those big girl details. She’s says it’s time to party!
by Theresa Garee | Dec 7, 2018 | Blog
I just read this lovely piece by Karla Crisostomo, “Congrats On All The Times You’ve Tried Even When The Outcome Felt Impossible To See.” In it she proclaims, “[F]or every moment you try, you already win.” This is my experience.
After I graduated from law school, when I was first a research consultant and then the administrative services director for a labor-relations consulting firm, the company president held regular meetings in the big board room. We all knew what was coming. He would stand tall above us, pound on the wall, and shout, “If you throw enough manure on the wall, eventually something will stick.”
Like me, he grew up on a farm. He did not use the word “manure.” This was his sales strategy. This was how he brought in new clients. An outgoing man who never knew a stranger, this method came easily to him. I would have rather undergone root canals without Novocaine. It would take me a decade to realize I was not cut out for his brand of glad-handing.
Still, as an author, I too must “throw manure on the wall.” Hopefully it is more akin to scientifically developed fertilizer than the stuff we used to muck out of the horse stalls, but still. It needs to stick. And I have to do the throwing. I must “try.”
Bear with me while I continue to do what Crisostomo congratulates us all on doing: essentially driving blind. I ask other authors what works for them. I read books about “guerilla marketing.” I attend online seminars on how to market a book. I do my best to improve the odds of success by listening and mimicking and learning from successful authors. But in the end, I have to find my own spin. And that’s okay. That’s what makes it special and hopefully, that’s what will also make it sell.
