The Author Store [Part Two]
July 5, 2018 by Tracy Reed in category Writing
Happy July…smile.
Last month I started talking about my Author Store. I finally have it up and running. That’s the good news. Now for the bad or not as good as I would like it news. No sales, yet. However, there’s been plenty of traffic. Last month the store had almost one thousand visitors. YEAH! But no sales so far.
I have to admit I thought this would be easy, especially because I come from a retail background. What I forgot is this is a new venture and most new ventures need time to garner momentum.
So what’s my plan? Post about the store on social media. Run Facebook ads and possibly reach out to some bloggers and do giveaways.
I’m also working on a marketing campaign for the boxes. The Facebook ads are great and so are the blog posts and mentions, but it’s that in your face mentality that will hopefully generate sales.
Here’s a little info on my Author Store. I’m using Shopify. I already have a store on Shopify and feel comfortable with them. They have amazing customer service.
Before I switched to Shopify, I designed my own site in Adobe Muse. I liked it, but when I decided to offer signed print books as well as set up a store, I knew I had to switch to a shopping cart system. I could have gotten Shopify Lite, which would allow me to add a cart to my existing site for only $9.99 per month. It was too complicated to attach my old site to this vehicle. Instead, I opted for the basic Shopify plan which gave me more options.
Switching to Shopify gave me access to some really amazing templates and things I wasn’t able to do with Adobe Muse. One of the cool things about using one of their FREE templates, is you can adjust it for your needs. I did some minor tweaking to a free template and was very surprised when Shopify complimented me.
Another added perk to using Shopify, is the KIT VA Bot. This is one of my favorite tools. Kit sends me data based on internet activity and how it might relate to the products in my store. As well as marketing suggestions. I’ve tried Kit on Facebook Ads, but they weren’t as targeted as I’d hope. However, Kit is good for social media posts. Shopify also offers pretty good analytics. They may not be as detailed as Google, but they’re pretty good. There are other website hosts you can use, but Shopify happens to be my favorite.
So what’s in my store? I have curated a small selection of items to start: A mug, book plates and subscription boxes. In the next few months, if not sooner, I’ll be adding exclusive print books. I don’t want to overload my readers with a lot of choices in the beginning. I want to keep things fresh, which may mean rotating the inventory.
In the beginning, there will be a lot of trial and error and much needed feedback as to what to offer. But I believe my Author Store will become a valuable and profitable asset for me.
If you’d like to see my store, stop by www.readtracyreed.com.
Have an amazing month.
0 0 Read moreNow Open…The Author Store [Part One]
June 5, 2018 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Marketing. Advertising, subscription boxes, writing
Happy June.
I have been researching a new project. No, it’s not about writing an insane amount of books in some crazy time span. I want to talk about Author Stores.
I don’t know if you’ve paid attention to something that seems to have popped up over night…Author Stores. I’m not sure who’s store was the first to grab my attention, but I know I’ve visited quite a few in the past few months. How did I miss this? I come from a retail background and I missed the launch of this marketing concept. As an Indie Writer, I understand I wear several hats: producer, manufacturer and wholesale distributor. Retail Proprietor, apart from selling signed book, never occurred to me.
In my retail business, occasionally, I produce or private label items. However, it never occurred to me to do the same for my books. At one time, I did briefly post my poetry book on my lingerie site, but took it down. It didn’t feel right. However, that’s about to change.
My awakening to this phenomenon came after reading a Brenda Novak post on BookBub [9 Book Advertising Tactics I’ve Tried… And Which Ones Worked!]. In the nine advertising things she tried several caught my eye, but the one about subscription book boxes really stuck out.
Now I was familiar with subscription boxes and to be honest, who hasn’t? Let’s talk, author friend to author friend. There are subscription boxes for everything. And I mean that literally. In my quest to research this, I found boxes for mixology, your pet, coffee/tea/hot chocolate, beauty/spa, fitness wear, clothing and my favorite feminine hygiene. Let’s take a pause, that last one really caught my eye. It include the obvious item, plus jewelry, chocolate and tea. Man, why couldn’t I have created that one.
Back to what I was saying. After reading Brenda’s blog post, I began researching. In my search, I discovered, apart from the companies that sponsor book subscription boxes, which seem to be more difficult to get into than my skinny jeans from ten years ago, but authors doing their own boxes. Bingo! That was it. If all these premium and newbie authors could do it, why couldn’t I. Pause for reflection. The last time I tried something someone else did, I wrote and published twelve plus titles in a year. I’m sure this will be a lot easier to copy.
This is where the Author Store discovery happened. In stalking, I found out not only were authors selling subscription boxes, but a host of other things as well. I saw stores with mugs, blankets, stadium cups, t-shirts, hats, journals, jewelry, candles, the list goes on. Oh yeah, and signed books. Here I thought I was doing well to offer links for my ebooks plus signed copies on my website.
Retail selling is my world. I know about online shopping, that’s what I do. I know wholesale shopping, private label products, gift packaging. Heck, I started out selling gift baskets and know how to get stuff. So how is it I missed this? It’s bad enough I have no swag to mention. Now let me explain that. I forgot as a writer that I have to think like a reader/consumer. I personally don’t collect a lot of branded items. Let me clarify. I collect designer clothes, shoes, bags and accessories. I do like to collect those cards Kate Spade puts out every month. But, I’m not the chip clip, pen, button, bag, mug, stickie notes girl. It has to be really amazing for me to get it. But after several conversations with the swag lady, she opened my eyes. It’s not about what I like, but about what will attract the reader. These little things I find insignificant, help to keep my name in the reader’s face. And if they like the item and your book, they’ll tell their friends, “Hey you have got to read this author. Oh yeah, and she gave me this amazing….”.
In my quest to sell more books, I forgot a key marketing principle “Seven Touches”. There have been studies about this. Apparently it takes seven touches before someone makes a decision to buy your product. Now I get it. The little things I thought were a waste of money are my seven touches.
This is bigger than just a few pieces of swag and the occasional reader contest, this is a side hustle and only limited by your imagination. And if it’s done correctly, it could become very lucrative. Plus you could sell a lot of books.
I’m putting on my retailer hat and building a new store, “The Sophisticated Reader Store”. Step one: A Coming Soon Sign…done.
Have an amazing month.
0 0 Read moreFirst Quickie…Video Trailer
April 5, 2018 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as birthdays, Promo, Spring, Tracy Reed, video trailerHappy Spring! I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe the first quarter of the year is done. It’s even more shocking for me, because my birthday is in the first couple of weeks of spring. I always ask myself the same thing, “I can’t believe it’s April…why is time moving so quickly? And how am I suppose to get things done, with time moving so quickly?” Then I finish it by saying, “Yeah, thank God for another birthday.”
I’m the person that likes to do everything myself. Let me rephrase that. Being a small business owner, I’ve learned that if funds are tight and it’s not possible to hire someone, I need to do the task myself. The other side of that coin is, I need to know how to do it, so when I can afford to farm it out, I know how to effectively shop for the best person. As well as how to do it, if time doesn’t permit for outsourcing.
When I released my last book, DESPERATE DESIRE, I wanted to do a video. I studied television production in college, but that was a while back. Technology has changed greatly…for the better. Hiring a production facility to create a promotional video for me wasn’t an option for several reason: cost and time. I got this brilliant idea, a few days before release day. So I looked at what I could do.
I went to YouTube for answers. Turns out, I had a major tool at my disposal…Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Creative Cloud. Adobe Creative Cloud gives you access to every piece of software Adobe provides for $49.99 per month. I like it because it’s a month to month subscription and I don’t have to worry about buying new software. [There are a few rules to adhere to.] I simply install the updates when available. In addition to Photoshop and InDesign [is InDesign to format my print books]. They recently added TypeKit…a sea of amazing fonts. Until recently, I used Muse to create my website [the reason I changed websites is a post for another day]. The possibilities with the Adobe Creative Cloud are endless.
As I was saying. I wanted to do a video for my book. Armed with an few hours on YouTube and help from my godbrother, I was able to do my first video. I’m still learning how to do these trailers, but I’m pretty excited about my first try. I found the music on a free YouTube download and added my cover image and one from another book for the eye candy. It’s a simple process with a little learning curve. I encourage you to try it at least once.
If you have a problem viewing it, go to my Instagram page www.instragram.com/readtracyreed and view it.
See you next month.
Oh, yeah, Happy Birthday to Me.
Tracy
Have You Ever…Reread Your Own Book
March 5, 2018 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as editing, Growth, reading, writing
Happy pre-spring. It’s almost time to shed the winter gear and replace it with light weight fabrics.
A couple of months ago, after I completed my Goodreads reading goal for 2017, I got the urge to read one of my own books as a reader…a fan. It was never my intention to “edit” it. But sixty plus pages into reading the print copy, I spotted a typo. I was all set to ignore it. But then I spotted another one. When I finished, I had eight typos. Crap.
I like the story and wanted to continue reading the series. The second book was worse. It felt like the typos wouldn’t stop coming. I couldn’t believe I released a book with so many typos.
This little exercise made me aware of something…not every book is free of mistakes. As a creative, it’s difficult to wrap my head around the fact that I could have been so careless…unprofessional…and a host of other adjectives I care not to use.
So here’s my question. Have you ever read your own book for pleasure? Did you enjoy the story as much as when you wrote it?
This wasn’t the first time I’d read one of my books, but it was the first time, I experienced this many typos. I have no idea how I missed the typos.
Something amazing occurred from this exercise. I saw my growth as a writer. Of course I’m going to fix the typos. But although it’s only been a little over a year since I wrote the books, I was tempted to go back and mature them up. By that I mean, I could have gone in and changed the writing style to be reflective of my growth as a writer. But if I did that, it could effect the tone of the book and the series.
Did I enjoy the story when I read it again? Yes, I immediately wanted to read the next book in the series, which I did. I can honestly say, it’s horrible. Because the story was written when I started writing. It’s filled with so many mistakes, it’s embarrassing. Here’s the sad thing, when I wrote it, I thought it was good. Fast forward and I couldn’t even finish reading it.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished reading the books and I am faced with the inevetible…end the series. Or re-write the book.
What would you do?
Tracy
A California native, novelist Tracy Reed pushes the boundaries of her Christian foundation with her sometimes racy and often fiery tales.
After years of living in the Big Apple, this self proclaimed New Yorker draws from the city’s imagination, intrigue, and inspiration to cultivate characters and plot lines who breathe life to the words on every page.
Tracy’s passion for beautiful fashion and beautiful men direct her vivid creative power towards not only novels, but short stories, poetry, and podcasts. With something for every attention span.
Tracy Reed’s ability to capture an audience is unmatched. Her body of work has been described as a host of stimulating adventures and invigorating expression.
http://www.readtracyreed.com/
https://www.facebook.com/readtracyreed
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tracy-reed
https://www.instagram.com/readtracyreed/
https://twitter.com/readtracyreed
https://www.pinterest.com/readtracyreed/
Replay: Is There A Difference
February 5, 2018 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Christian, CIF, Faith, Inspirational, romanceHappy Valentine’s Day. And if you’re flying solo, Happy Galentine’s Day.
Let’s do a little replay. I wrote this blog post back in 2015 and thought the subject was worth revisiting. Enjoy the month.
IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?
I want to talk about the preconceived notions people have about Christian, Inspirational or Faith based books. When someone hears a story has one of the three aforementioned tones, they immediately shut down thinking the story is going to be sweeter than cotton candy dipped in chocolate and covered with gum drops.
There’s CIF [Christian, Inspirational, Faith] fiction that falls into that description and there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s written extremely well and packs a message for the reader. However, it’s the misconception that all CIF books are like that which provokes a closed mind to experiencing some really great stories. [I swear I’m not preaching.]
When I decided to start writing, I’d dabbled a little in high school and college. Even so far as to writing a couple of plays. I found them later and felt they’d be a good base for a barbecue fire. When I read them again, I realized, although they were poorly written, they had a few things in common. The characters were all Christians but in real life situations. Let me explain. In a lot of CIF books, the story centers around the church with conflict between the pastor, the board, the choir director, pastor’s family and some evil person not affiliated with the church. There’s nothing wrong with those books. I’ve read a few and like them, however, they weren’t the kinds of stories I wanted to tell.
I have always loved God, fashion and cute guys. I liked “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Bergdorf Blondes,” “Elements of Style” and “The Debutante Divorcee.” These were characters I could relate to. The books are filled with the most incredible fashion and very handsome men. The only thing they didn’t have was a faith based theme. It was reading these books that it occurred to me, why not write a book with similar content, but add a little CIF to it.
My first attempt at writing a book sounded very much like ChickLit. I was fine with it until my beta readers ripped it to shreds. After a lot of re-writes, I finally had a book I was pleased with. Problem was, it wasn’t considered acceptable. Why not? Response, Christians don’t act like that, Christians don’t care about designer clothes, Christians are happy being upper middle class at best, Christians don’t get challenged, tempted, have racy dreams or wicked thoughts, Christians only have sex for procreation and on special occasions. And there is no way a Christian would get divorced, commit adultery, fornicate, swear, drink wine or dance.
Needless to say, I was stunned at the comments because I know a lot of Christians that have experienced and or faced a few of those things. So I set out to write books for “my people.”
It ticks me off when I hear people say no one will read books about Christians [or people of other religious beliefs] in real life situations. I want to read about “my people” dating, regretting, marrying, divorcing, falling in love, wearing designer clothes, traveling and being pursued by wealthy men. I don’t want my heroine to be naive and deceived by an evil protagonist whose only objective is to steal her virginity or corrupt her. What about the sexy, fun Christian girl who works hard and falls for her boss, or divorces her cheating husband or who used to be a little slutty and is now in love with God struggling not to slip back into her old ways. These are great stories and if they’re written well, you can take the CIF elements out and they’ll still be great stories.
My next book is a take on Sex And The City. It’s five successful women all searching for love while wearing amazing clothes. I hear you saying that’s not possible because that book was all about sex. Not really, the core of that book was friendship. Sex was just one of the supporting characters, much like the clothes, men and New York.
I think it’s a little more challenging to write a CIF book because you have to determine how far is too far. Although I want my books to have a little heat, I’m very careful about crossing the line. I want my kissing scenes to be as passionate as those found in traditional romance. Although most of my characters are Christians, I don’t want their passion or desire to be watered down. I have chosen to share my characters thoughts. If my heroine finds the protagonist hot, she’s going to say so. And if he’s having a lustful thought, I want you to read it. These little nuances make the characters feel real…just like in traditional romance.
So back to the original question, IS THERE A DIFFERENCE? Not really, just different levels of intensity.
A California native, novelist Tracy Reed pushes the boundaries of her Christian foundation with her sometimes racy and often fiery tales.
After years of living in the Big Apple, this self proclaimed New Yorker draws from the city’s imagination, intrigue, and inspiration to cultivate characters and plot lines who breathe life to the words on every page.
Tracy’s passion for beautiful fashion and beautiful men direct her vivid creative power towards not only novels, but short stories, poetry, and podcasts. With something for every attention span.
Tracy Reed’s ability to capture an audience is unmatched. Her body of work has been described as a host of stimulating adventures and invigorating expression.
https://www.facebook.com/readtracyreed
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tracy-reed
https://www.instagram.com/readtracyreed/
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