Tag Archives: ALWAYS writer’s tribe

Authors, generate outrageous readership-building ideas, ALWAYS

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Celestial Seasonings tea bags create this dress and its accessories. If you wore this, would people talk about it? Duh. So, what creative idea can you come up with to get people talking about your book? We'll brainstorm ideas together at our next ALWAYS authors lunch. Photo: ©2013 ANVidean

Celestial Seasonings tea bags create this dress and its accessories. If you wore this, would people talk about it? Duh. So, what creative idea can you come up with to get people talking about your book? We’ll brainstorm ideas together at our next ALWAYS authors lunch. Photo: ©2013 ANVidean

Topic for our gathering:
“Marketing Outside The Book: Outrageous Ideas to Build Readership:” a brainstorming session

At our next authors’ Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors & Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS) gathering in Tempe, AZ, I’ll lead a mini brainstorm to generate unique ideas to entice readers to buy your book. I’ve conducted thousands of hours of marketing strategy sessions with entrepreneurs and authors to generate “out-of-the-circle” ideas to make people want to chat you up. I assure you, you’ll leave the meeting with at least one powerful idea to use immediately.
– Ann

When:
Thurs., Sept. 12, 2013
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
(Due to a concentration of writers’ meetings the last week of each month, ALWAYS will meet now on second Thursdays.)

Where:
Tea Infusion
2000 E Rio Salado Pkwy # 1064
Tempe, AZ 85281-4927
(480) 967-1141
(I am taking suggestions for another meeting place at or near Tempe Marketplace.)

Cost:
A writing tip, and your own lunch.

RSVP:
PLEASE show the consideration of reserving your spot at the table by:
• RSVPing through the “Join” link on our Facebook Event page
or
• Contacting Ann Videan, avidean@videanunlimited.com

If you’ve RSVP’d, please SHOW UP. If you run into a conflict, please let me know BEFORE the event so I can make the necessary adjustments for the group meeting. Cheers!

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ABOUT ALWAYS
• Need contacts to help your writing?
• Want advice about your writing?
• Like to hang with other cool writers?
The Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors & Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS) is an informal group of established fiction and nonfiction writers in the Phoenix area who want to support each other’s work, share ideas and best practices, and just discuss writing topics. I’ve led this group since 2006.
Any established writer can connect with us online through our ALWAYS Facebook page, get listed in our directory of writers on our ALWAYS LinkedIn page, or you can meet with us in person at a lunch meeting. We’d love to have any experienced writer join us at our next meeting … anyone who spends a significant part of his/her week writing, and wants to rub elbows with other writers.

#3 Writing tip: Develop your book or content idea

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Before you can write anything—a book, a Web page, an article, a post—you must create a concept to intrigue readers, emotionally grips them, and keep them reading. “The idea” serves as the foundation for your content.

Suffering from a lack of inspiration or imagination? Here are my tips for getting started:

Picture your audience

    • Treat this as THE starting point, always. Don’t start to write anything without knowing the exact reader you want to reach with your message/story. Picture one person in your mind: their look, their economic level, their interests, their need (as addressed in your writing). You may even want to give them a family, a background and a pet. The better you know this reader, the better your writing will flow.

    Brainstorm

    • Begin by jotting ideas by yourself, create an outline, use stream-of-consciousness writing until “the idea” hits you.
    • Ask a friend to join you in bouncing ideas around. This happens nicely over a cup of tea.
    • Seek advice from a professional to help you with a strategy session. Although, my Videan Unlimited Marketing Strategy Session descriptions are geared to marketing rather than just writing, looking through them might help you see how strategy help can move you toward an idea.

Participate in blogs/listservs 

You don’t have to come up with the idea yourself, you know. We build networks for a reason. Use them! A couple of my favorite places to find writing inspiration and ask questions of other authors include:

Other ways to inspire ideas

  • Listen to music.
  • Look at artwork or photographs.
  • Take a walk or do something away from “idea generating” for a while.
  • Read others’ writing.

Tell us your favorite ways to generate ideas.

#2 Writing Tip: Use your book cover as a profile picture

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Rhythms & Muse’s back cover. You want to click on it so you can read it, don’t you? I’ll let you watch my Facebook page at Ann Narcisian Videan for the front cover to appear in a few days, or check it out at http://www.tinyurl.com/ANVamazon.

Change your profile picture to your book cover.

Twice a month I meet with a group of established Phoenix, AZ-area writers in my Alliance of Literary Writers, Authors and Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS) “tribe.” We share writing tips, ideas and resources, which I pass along to you.

The authors attending our May 22, 2012, gathering came up with a number of great ideas, which I will parse out in the near future, but Eduardo Cervino shared a real winner, an easy way to gain a bit more visibility.

He suggested authors change their profile photo to their book cover every once in a while on their social media sites. You know when you see the same image over and over, you tend to ignore it? A change in scenery can pique interest and entice your friends and followers to actually click on your little image to see it in better detail, especially a book cover.

Just make sure you offer valuable information next to the photo, such as a photo description in Facebook which includes your Web site address.

Thank you, Ed! I’m going to do this whenever I’m running a special promotion or on the  verge of a big book event.

Do you have a savvy writing tip to share for authors or freelancers? Please post a comment. (And, don’t forget to ALWAYS write!)