Building Your Brand with CJ Lyons Part 2

Here's Part 2 of How to become a Bestseller and Preserve your Sanity

You can find CJ's (absolutely fabulous) writing resources at her website No Rules, Just Write!  If the ideas in the handout are helpful, there's more on this in her Break Free from the Slushpile e-book.

[recap]
I'm going to tell you to ask yourself three questions.


Here we go!

1. Why did you write this book?

2. Who did you write this book for?

3. What are you willing to do for this book?

Dig deep with your answers! Why? Because the answers will frame your entire marketing strategy--and make it a custom fit tailored to you and your readers!

How?

Why did you write this book? Answer that truthfully and you'll find yourself telling all sorts of stories about what the book meant to you and what inspired you and why this character did that and how you researched various things, etc, etc, etc.

Key word in all of that? Stories!!!

Right there is the heart of every answer you need for interviews, guest blog posts, QandA's, press releases, etc, etc, etc.

Look at your answer. If you dug deep you'll find that you've placed a human, emotional face onto dry facts whether you're talking about your research or how you juggled your schedule to find time to write this book you were so passionate about.

Let that passion and emotion shine through--it's how we connect to an audience!

Answer that question truthfully and you'll never have to worry about a paint-drying-boring press release or interview or feature article again! Because you--the "real" you, authentic and passionate and honest!--will be at the heart of each story written about you (or by you).

Okay, so that's pretty much all the content you'll need. Now, you need to decide who to send that content to.

Sounds like the answer to question #2, doesn't it? Who did you write this book for? That's your target audience.

It might be one person, say your mother. That's fine, but dig deep, ask yourself why? Is it because you've been estranged and you're reaching out through your characters for a chance to reconnect?

Guess what? A large number of people have been there, done that! Use them, reach out to them via blogs, online groups, etc.

Did you add a Calico Cat character because you wrote the entire book with your calico cat sleeping on your lap and the keyboard (kinda like I'm writing this article, lol!) Then reach out to all the Calico Cat lovers out there!

Does the book wrestle with a social or political issue that you feel passionate about? Then reach out to the others who feel the same way!

This is targeted marketing. Reaching out and connecting with PEOPLE, not just anonymous blogs or websites or demographics. You want to connect, start conversations, tell stories.

Do not simply post a bunch of tweets, blogs, comments and turn tail and run….in other words, it's NOT about YOU--it's ALL about THEM!

With every audience you aim to connect with, first ask yourself: what do I have to offer them? What can I give them? What do they want?

Which brings us to question #3: what are you willing to do?

Knee jerk answer for any debut author is: ANYTHING or EVERYTHING.

Great way to burn out, fast!

Answer this one thoughtfully and honestly.

If you're terrified of public speaking and getting up to give a talk would make you lose a week of sleep and decrease your ability to work (remember your main job is to write the next book!) then acknowledge that and incorporate it into your plan: I won't do any live presentations.

Doesn't it feel better just to say it? Feel that weight off your shoulders? And hey, you're not ruining your career by focusing on the things you're comfortable with--in fact, you are PROTECTING THE WORK!

That's right, your job isn't to promote your work, it's to PROTECT it.

So make a list of promotional possibilities and impossibilities….play to your strengths. You may find only a few things under the "I know I can do this and rock it!" column--that's fine, then really focus on those.

They might not seem like promotion at all. They might be more along the lines of writing short stories, things totally in your comfort zone. No worries. As long as you're doing something to keep your name out there (and short stories are a great promotional tool!) you can count it.

You'll probably find that you have a third column: I'd like to do…but I'm not very good at…type of things. Great! Those are fun to try--as long as they don't get in the way of your writing.

For instance, you're an Introvert but really, really want to go to RWA so you can walk around smiling and wearing your First Sale ribbon.

Figure out a way to do it that won't sap your creative energy. Partner with an Extrovert friend who will introduce you and keep the small talk flowing. Schedule down time alone in your room so you can re-charge. Prepare a few topics of conversation ahead of time so you don't feel like you have nothing to say. Make appointments to meet people for meals so you don't end up eating alone in a crowd and feeling left out.

Bottom line: very, very, very few debut authors made it "big" because of their own promotional efforts.

BUT, if you know your strengths and play to them then you'll not only have fun but you'll be able to write the next book and build name recognition with YOUR audience.

And that's how bestsellers are made…one reader at a time.

Thanks for reading!

CJ

Building Your Brand with CJ Lyons Part 1

Bestselling Thriller Author CJ Lyons had some fantastic seminars at the Pennwriters Conference. She was kind enough to let me share her handout from her Branding Workshop. You can find her (absolutely fabulous) writing resources at her website No Rules, Just Write! 
If the ideas in the handout are helpful, there's more on this in her Break Free from the Slushpile e-book.

How to become a Bestseller and Preserve your Sanity


CJ Lyons
There are tons of places debut authors can find information on building a brand or platform--so many that it's often overwhelming. It's easy to feel like all you want to do is hide in your hermit cave and write the next book.

No worries--even I feel like that most of the time!!! You see, I'm an Introvert and my strength comes from my ability to sit alone and focus, get the job done.

I can put on a "party face" when needed, but it takes work and a lot of psychic energy--so much so that often for days after a convention I can't write.

Now, Extroverts--they usually don't need any help with promotion, they're walking/talking promotional powerhouses. Which can be a good thing as long as they learn to channel that energy and focus on the real work: writing the next book.

Because here's what I'm going to tell you that is different from all the other how-to-promote advice for debut authors:

Number one thing a debut author should do to promote their work and build their career? WRITE THE NEXT BOOK!

Number two thing? WRITE THE NEXT BOOK!

Number three? Repeat after me….WRITE THE NEXT BOOK!

Okay, you guys got that. Now, what else should you be focused on while preparing for your debut?

Most how-to posts will give you a checklist. In fact, I have a pretty good one that I wrote a few years ago called Birth of a Book: What to Do While You're Expecting. It's a pdf and you can download it here http://cjlyons.net/extras/for-writers/

But I'm not going to give you a checklist here. Instead, I'm going to tell you to ask yourself three questions.
Here we go!

1. Why did you write this book?



2. Who did you write this book for?



3. What are you willing to do for this book?



Dig deep with your answers! Why? Because the answers will frame your entire marketing strategy--and make it a custom fit tailored to you and your readers!


(I'll post Part 2 tomorrow, where CJ tells you how to use the answers to these questions.)

Pennwriters: Character Driven Stories

I'm (finally) home from Pennwriters! Can I just say: I love this conference. You can smile at anyone and start a conversation because you know you have something in common with them: You're both crazy.

But that's another post.

My adventures at Pennwriters started on Thursday, a three-hour workshop with CJ Lyons. Not only is she a national bestseller, CJ has insight into how she got there. Her classes don't disappoint and this workshop was no exception.

The class was based on her e-book No Rules, Just Write: Crafting the Character Driven Novel. I can guarantee you I'll be reading this book. The class was so helpful!

Here are some highlights:

Your main character should have an outer goal (the main conflict of the novel) that's concrete and easily defined. This is what he wants.

He should also have a weakness or flawed way of thinking, some way in which he needs to grow over the course of the novel. This is what he needs (although he probably doesn't know that he needs it).

So, what does your character keep doing that's holding him back? Maybe he's quiet and reserved because in the past, getting attention has always led to bad things in his life.
Maybe she distances herself from people because she's afraid of being vulnerable (or, she's afraid of getting hurt if she made herself vulnerable).

What is it that your main character really fears? Abandonment? Poverty? Not being in control?
And what does your character do to avoid it?

Once you have that, you can use it to motivate his actions as he works toward his outer goal. (Cool, huh?)

CJ used techniques like this to explain the three-act structure in a way I've never seen before. I've read about it dozens of times. It's always seemed like more of a checklist to me. Set up the character. Bring him into the conflict. Make things worse. Have him lose hope. He triumphs. Blah, blah blah.

This was different.

This made sense. And when I broke my WIP into the right pieces, I saw rich conflict that I didn't even known was there. Now I know what to emphasize. Ivy is going to be so much more compelling and real.

After this workshop, I was a little torn. On one hand, I was excited that I'd learned so much and that I knew how to tear my book apart to make it better.

On the other hand, now I have to tear my book apart to make it better.

Getting Your Novel Pitch-Ready: What I Learned at Pennwriters

I mentioned in an earlier post that CJ Lyons gave an amazing seminar on pitches. Basically, she told us to whittle our books down to as few words as possible. This helps us to understand what our book is really about.
There are different kinds of pitches. I gave a ten-minute pitch at the conference to an agent. That's a pretty long time. With those, it's important to let the agent ask questions and let it be more like a conversation. Otherwise, the agent will probably lose interest. (I'm not sure I would want to listen to myself for ten minutes straight.)
But you may have also heard about elevator pitches. These are pitches that are so short, you could give them to an agent if you were caught in an elevator with them--maybe 15 seconds. The goal is to give them just enough that they want to know more. CJ said,

The trick with elevator pitches is to use something universally known (like Indiana Jones) or something current and trendy. You need to use comparisons your audience will understand, nod their heads and say, oh yeah, that sounds like something I'd read

Start with your tag line/log line/hook. This is one sentence, as few words as possible, while evoking as much emotion and imagery as possible. If you're familiar with archetypes, this would be perfect. For example, we had one guy give his pitch, which included "creationism" in it. CJ said "God exists" is more powerful. Everyone has some idea of what God is, where creationism takes thought. Many don't know what it means. Keep it simple.

The hook that CJ helped me make for Shadow Bound is:
A ghost comes back from the dead to save the girl he loves.

Okay, so you have a hook line. Sometimes that's all you need, the conversation will evolve naturally from there. [It did for me.] Other times you use it simply to attract attention and move into a more detailed description. This is where that 15-25 word story summary mentioned above comes in handy. The hook line hooks the reader into wanting (or asking to hear) the short summary.

CJ Lyons loves to help writers, so she gave us a handout with a ton of useful resources. First, she listed some books (the comments in parentheses are from me):
Noah Lukeman THE FIRST FIVE PAGES (read it. loved it.)
Stephen King ON WRITING (a must-read)
Christopher Vogler THE WRITER'S JOURNEY
James Frey THE KEY
Donald Maas WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL (another must-read)
Dwight Swain TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER (this, for me personally, is my all-time favorite, most helpful book.)

Next, she gave some great websites:
Association of Author Representatives (check out the FAQ for great questions to ask potential agents)
Publisher's Lunch (industry news)
Buzz, Balls, and Hype (book marketing advice)
Backspace (writers forums and articles)
Publishers Weekly: news, blogs, features, deals, reviews
QueryTracker (an absolute must for anyone submitting to agents and now publishers!)
Nathan Bransford (an agent at Curtis Brown, great blog, wonderful links to everything!)

About CJ:
As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge suspense novels. Her award-winning, critically acclaimed Angels of Mercy series (LIFELINES, WARNING SIGNS, and URGENT CARE) is available in stores now with the fourth, CRITICAL CONDITION, due out December, 2010. Her newest project is as co-author of a new suspense series with Erin Brockovich. Contact her at cjlyons.net