177 Search Results for thursdays with amanda


  • May 23, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: 5 Questions to Ask a Web Designer

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    Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor 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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

    There’s one thing I’ve noticed about expectant moms these days (and no, this isn’t a post about pregnancy or motherhood)…Moms will spend weeks visiting various hospitals in their area, looking for the perfect match for their needs and expectations. They consider everything from doctor availability to space to freebies to distance from home to overall comfort level. They weigh each item against the other until a clear winner emerges.

    It makes sense when you think about how important having a baby is.

    But what if I told you that they do the same thing when purchasing a stroller or crib or carseat? What if I told you that moms these days tend to turn every babygear decision into an extensive list of pros and cons?

    We always talk marketing here on Thursdays with Amanda, and we’ve frequently mentioned the need for a professional webpage, website, or blog. But one of the most common mistakes authors (and people in general) make when venturing into a relationship with a web designer is that they don’t view their career as their baby. They fail to ask questions. They fail to vet those that they hire and truly understand what they’re signing up (and paying!) for.

    So, before enlisting some Joe Schmoe designer to do your website, present him with these five questions:

    1. 1.     Can you show me examples of your previous work? Just like every author writes with a unique voice, every artist creates with a unique point of view. So before you ever consider hiring anyone
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  • May 9, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: Bad Poetry Contest

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    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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

    Emily Dickinson once said “To write good, you have to learn to write bad.”

    Okay, so she didn’t say that. She probably never even thought it. But, what I HAVE heard respected authors say is something to the effect of “First you must learn the rules so that then you know how to break them.”

    Deep stuff, eh?

    This week on the blog, we’re all about breaking the rules. We’re running our annual Bad Poetry Contest, so if you haven’t already, get out your pen and paper, rouse up that teenage angst that still lurks behind your Toyota Corolla, nine-to-five, everything’s-perfect facade, and start writing.

    Badly.

    To get the juices flowing, here’s a bad limerick I wrote in high school:

    There once was a servant named Jasper,

    Who wanted to marry his master.

    So he grabbed her and fled to the church to be wed

    And was painfully forced to first ask her.

     

    Your turn. Submit your entries here.

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  • May 2, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: Social Media Critiques, Part 13

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    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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

     

     

    I’ve got a special thing going on over at my Facebook page…Submit your novel’s opening line TODAY and I’ll give free feedback! Check it out, and I hope to see you all participate.

     

    Okay, diving into some more social media critiques:

    1. Ardis Nelson provided her website and Facebook page

    • I feel there are too many options on your site’s navigation. Music, Current Projects, and Resources could probably be done without. They just don’t provide much to the reader, while they clutter the site and distract us from the book!
    • What incentive does the reader have for visiting this site? It’s very much focused on you, but readers are selfish! They want to know what’s in it for THEM. What will they get out of reading your blog. What will they learn?
    • Again, I’m not quite sure what readers get out of frequenting your Facebook page. Think about rewarding them for their time with tips, advice, interactive questions, giveaways, and more.

    RECOMMENDATIONS: I’d try focusing less on yourself and more on your readers. By including them in the conversation, I think you’ll find your online experience will be much more lively.

    2. Jo Huddleston provided her website and Facebook page

    • This is a funny comment, but the image at the top of your site is realllllly big 🙂
    • Think about eliminating some of your pages and tabs. For example “Mail” can be made part of the “Contact” page and “My Thoughts” seems to fit more naturally into your “Blog”
    • Until I get to your “Books” page, it’s
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  • April 18, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: Marketing Tip and Social Media Critiques, part 12

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    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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

    I’ve been hard at work this month, marketing my book The Extroverted Writer…and I’ve learned A LOT.

    So before I offer a few Social Media Critiques (the offer is now closed, for those of you wondering), I figured I’d give a few marketing pointers, based on what I’ve learned.

    I’ve appeared on numerous blogs this week.

    Am I missing anything? I feel I am. Which leads me to my point…

    When you’re in the midst of heavy marketing, it’s so easy for things to spiral out of control–for you to forget what you’ve done where and when and then miss opportunities to connect with others. I can’t stress how important it is to stay organized during this process. Spreadsheets, calendars, and obsessive compulsive disorder are your friends at this stage in the game. Without them, you’re going to sink.

    Another truth that was reinforced is that appearances on blogs and the like don’t always translate into big sales. But what they do is plant the seed. You see, readers aren’t going to buy a book on a whim. But they’ll buy it if they see it popping up in numerous places or if they read something about it and then a few months pass and they hear someone talking about it.

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  • April 11, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: Questions from Last Night’s GET PUBLISHED Teleseminar

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    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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

    Last night was our GET PUBLISHED teleseminar with Michael Hyatt. What a great time, talking business and answering questions! It was a blast.

    We weren’t able to get to some of the submitted questions, so I’ve gone ahead and answered them below. Would love your thoughts on what was discussed during the teleseminar, or what is talked about below.

    And don’t forget! We have a special opportunity for friends (that’s you!) of MacGregor Literary. 

    Michael Hyatt, former CEO and Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers (one of the largest publishers in the world), has recently released a comprehensive solution for authors called GET PUBLISHED. It’s a 21 session audio program, accessible online, that distills Michael’s 30+ years of publishing knowledge into a step-by-step guide to help authors get published and launch a successful career, even perhaps a bestseller!

    Michael is offering a special limited time discount on GET PUBLISHED. Not only can you save significantly on the program, you’ll also get access to several bonuses worth over $150. Bonuses include items such as Michael’s popular “How to Write a Winning Book Proposal” ebook and more.

    For details and to take advantage of this special offer, go to http://michaelhyatt.com/getpublishedoffer

    (Note: This discount offer is only available through April 17).

    Okay, on to those questions!

    Brooke asks: What makes an agent take a chance on a first-time author?

    When we fall in love with a fiction author’s story idea and writing, or when we see the potential of the book idea, writing, AND platform of a nonfiction author.

    Mark asks: What do you think about

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  • April 4, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: Book Piracy, Idea Piracy, and What Happens When You Live in Fear

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    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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

    I received a question the other week on the danger of posting ideas, content, and other deliciously stealable things online.

    Then this week, I fielded a few emails from authors who are seeing their books available for free on some pretty sketchy sites.

    So, BECAUSE I’m a big fan of ebooks, and BECAUSE I’ve encouraged writers to throw their content online and therefore subject it to the all of the content pirates that lurk about, I figured I should say a few things about this very unfortunate…yet inevitable…problem.

    1. There is no way to fully prevent others from stealing your work. Especially if you publish anything digitally. Amazon brags about their DRM anti-piracy thing-a-majig, but it’s really a bunch of fluff. There’s zero way for us to adequately patrol and safeguard digital content.

    2. There will always be people looking to get things for free. There will always be people who abuse creative content. The good news is these people aren’t as prevalent in the book industry as they are in, say, the music industry. Piracy FOREVER changed music. We aren’t seeing it doing much to change publishing, because while it exists, it’s not as prevalent, and the music industry paved the way for lots of anti-piracy legislation that has helped minimize the problem.

    3. There is always a chance someone will steal your book idea. And this doesn’t just happen online. Go to a writer’s conference or critique group or MFA program and tell your idea to the wrong person and BAM. It’s stolen.

    4. There is always a chance someone

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  • March 28, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: Demystifying Amazon’s Sales Ranking System

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    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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

    In the spirit of full disclosure (because that’s what I feel Thursday’s with Amanda are all about), I figured it would be helpful to demystify Amazon’s Sales Ranking system. Well, okay…it’s AMAZON, so we can’t completely demystify it, but I think there are some clues that if every author knew them, it would make the whole thing less confusing and more do-able from a marketing perspective.

    We all know that the sales ranking is an indication of how well a book is selling on Amazon in comparison to all of the other books sold on Amazon. Okay, that part is easy enough.

    And we also know that the top 100 rankings show up on a special list. Furthermore, we know that there are lists for each category, and a book can rank in THOSE top 100 lists without ranking in the big one. And we know that a book that appears on a top 100 list (ESPECIALLY the main top 100 list), will get more attention and lead to more sales.

    Again, this is pretty basic stuff.

    What isn’t as easy to determine, is HOW MANY BOOKS DOES AN AUTHOR NEED TO SELL TO GET INTO THE TOP 100? Heck, how many do they need to sell to get into the thousands? The ten thousands?

    Here’s where I get very transparent with you, folks. So brace yourself, because I’m about to throw myself and my book out there to the wolves.

    My book, The Extroverted Writer, was e-published on March 15. I did a soft launch, because I knew I’d be

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  • March 21, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: Available Now! My Book on Building an Author Platform

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    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, all of you Thursdays with Amanda fans out there! I’ve got something for you…

    Each week I try to tackle the big, bad topic of how to build an author platform. We’ve looked at Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, blogs, websites, and more, and the backlist of posts has become quite daunting and difficult to search.

    SO to put an end to the madness and help all of you navigate the tips, rules, and tricks we’ve discussed on our Thursdays get-togethers, I’ve released an ebook.

    THE EXTROVERTED WRITER: An Author’s Guide to Marketing and Building a Platform is a compilation of my Thursdays with Amanda posts PLUS a bunch of great new content (new content includes LinkedIn, strategies for building a Twitter following, how to identify your audience, and more). All in a shiny digital package! Categorized, organized, and hopefully quite navigable, this little ebook is perfect for those who have come to love my weekly blog posts.

    Here’s an excerpt from the chapter on knowing your audience:

    How to Find Your Audience

    All right, enough theory. Let’s get practical. How do you take a book that is loved by everyone and your mother and find its basic readership—those who are most inclined to shell out fifteen dollars to buy it (or those who are most inclined to get their parents to shell out fifteen dollars)?

    First, you must identify other movies or books or plays that are similar to your work. So, go to the bookstore or get online and put on your researcher jeans.

    The first similarity should be genre. Match mysteries with mysteries, cozy mysteries with cozy mysteries, police procedurals with police procedurals, and so

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  • March 14, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: Book Release Marketing Timeline

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    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. Her book on author marketing, The Extroverted Writerreleases March 15.

    In the months leading up to a book release, I oftentimes find authors doing one of two things. (1) They’re sitting at home, waiting for their edits to come in or waiting to see the cover art or waiting for the ARCs. Or (2) they’re panicking, because they know they should be doing SOMETHING. They just don’t know what.

    So at the request of one of our wonderful readers, here’s a snapshot of what you should be doing as you approach your book’s release. Remember! This isn’t set in stone, and because each marketing plan is different, there needs to be lots of flex room. Also, things are bound to happen to put you off course. But don’t worry about it. Stay flexible. Stay committed, and you’ll be fine.

    BOOK RELEASE TIMELINE (FOR PRINT BOOKS)

    6-8 months before release: Write up your marketing plan and compare it to that of your publisher. You want the two plans to build off one another as opposed to going in opposite or duplicate directions. For example, you may have plans to put a media kit together only to find out that your publisher will be doing that as well. In that case, you could simply ask them to send you 25 kits or so.

    6 months before release: Begin gathering your info. Your marketing plan may include hitting up blogs, speaking at schools or businesses, launching a new website, asking for reviewers, and more. Now is the time to begin research on those things, which can include Googling reader blogs, compiling a list of potential speaking opportunities, talking with

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  • March 7, 2013

    Thursdays with Amanda: Rejections Don’t Determine Your Worth as a Writer

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    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. Her book on author marketing, The Extroverted Writer, releases March 15.

    I usually post marketing and platform-building stuff, but today I’m gonna get all warm and fuzzy on you. Because, well…I think it’s high time for a pep talk.

    As an agent, I see lots and lots and LOTS of rejection on behalf of my authors. There are days when the rejections just seem to roll in, and the very relationships that I’d been counting on coming through for me don’t. So then I have to go to the author, explain the rejection, and try to help them through it.

    And here’s what I’ve noticed…too many times, authors look to editors and big publishing houses to validate their ability as writers.

    So when the rejections come in, it’s so common for authors to begin doubting and questioning and “oh, if I can just fix that one thing…tweak that one chapter…” I’ve seen this happen over and over, and you know what? I’M SICK OF IT.

    When you’re on my side of the desk, the picture is much bigger. Yes, there are lots of rejections…sometimes for good reason. But there are also AMAZING books that never get picked up. Blame it on timing, budget constraints, weird personal preferences, or a bad day at the office, but it’s true. There are great novels and book ideas that don’t receive offers. They don’t see that one “yes” that makes all of the rejections fizzle into nothingness. So for me to say that a string of rejections from editors means that there’s something wrong with my author or their writing or their ability would be to say there’s something “wrong”

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