For the past twenty years I have been fully immersed in the publishing world as an author, book publicist, and literary agent. I even filled 23 hours of CDs with all of the incredible information I have learned about succeeding in this business but this weekend I finally hit the wall.
I'm not sure I can take in any more information on what I need to do next to succeed as an author using social media and internet marketing. I think it's all just too much for one mere author to handle.
Here's what I just found out that I am either doing wrong or don't know how to do:
- My websites are not meta-tagged
- I don't have any plug-ins (what is this anyway?)
- I am not using auto-responders at www.soulmatesecret.com
- I haven't a clue about social book-marketing (but I hear Google wants me to use this to get higher rankings)
- I don't know how to tweet from my Blackberry
- Apparently tweeting and posting to Facebook a couple of times a day is not enough according to the experts I have yet to figure out how to post photos or videos on Twitter
- My articles aren't online in enough locations NOR do I have enough backlinks (why is this important and what if my content isn't relevant to a backlink?)
- I have a few videos on YouTube but I don't have my own channel yet
- I still don't get what an RSS feed really is.
- The Call to Action buttons on my sites are lousy
- Even though I know what an ethical bribe is I still haven't put one any of my websites...
... and this is just a partial list.
When I look at this list I just want to throw up my hands and go to a tropical island and say goodbye to technology. It's making me crazy. It used to be that being an author meant having excellent writing skills and great communication skills and some basic marketing 101 chops help sell the book. No, it is not enough. Now you must also be a certifiable tech geek or a zillionaire to hire a team of tech geeks. Oy!
I am sure some of my list items are easy to fix and it would only take a few minutes to implement, but the fact that the list keeps growing and online strategies keep getting more involved stresses me out.
Ok. Deep breath. Think positive. All of the above may be true and my book The Soulmate Secret continues to sell. My radio interview and best seller campaigns are in really good shape so what am I so panicked about? I think I am developing so new kind of author anxiety... anybody out there have a remedy?
Arielle Ford has launched the careers of many NY Times bestselling authors including Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Neale Donald Walsch & Debbie Ford. She is a former book publicist, literary agent and the author of seven books. To learn how to get started writing a book please visit: www.HowToWriteMyBook.com