Marketing 101 -- Tricia Goyer

About Tricia:

Tricia is the author of 30 books and has published more than 500 articles for national publications such as Focus on the Family, Today’s Christian Woman and HomeLife Magazine.

She won the Historical Novel of the Year award in both 2005 and 2006 from American Christian Fiction Writers and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mr. Hermon Writer’s Conference in 2003. Tricia book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion Book Award in 2005. Tricia’s co-written novel, The Swiss Courier, was a nominee for the Christy Awards.

Time Management: Marketing and Speaking

Just a few quick tips that worked for me...

Marketing:

1. I’ve hired a nearly full-time assistant to help with marketing. She posts my blogs, formats my newsletters, sends out packages, etc.

2. I fit my radio interviews, etc. into my calendar. I also schedule in things like e-mail interviews, mailing signed books, etc. I don’t have specific days but rather specific slots to meet the need.

Speaking:

1. I used to speak two times a month. Now I limit that to four times a year. It takes me days to prepare, days to travel, days to “get back into life.” At this season in my life I need to give time to my family first. This is out-of-town stuff. This doesn’t count in local engagements, which I will take if they fit.

I’m an Author. Do I Need a Newsletter?

Many authors have newsletters. I have one that goes out about every other month. I share an inspiring story, news, and information about me and what I'm up to.

Every book signing, conference, or speaking event I do I hold a drawing. In addition to their name and address I include three other things:

1. I would like to receive Tricia's email newsletter [ ] yes 
2. I have another event I'd like Tricia to consider speaking at, please send me a press kit.
3. Comment:

The majority of people click yes to signing up for the newsletter, which is great! Building a dedicated readership, I've discovered, is worth giving away free books.

As for whether it's worth the extra time and effort, people who are signed up for my newsletter are people like older friends from church who don't spend time on social media or reading blogs. I also encourage readers to pre-order my novels and it seems to be working!

Your Audience

We've talked about marketing and publicity before, but I'd like to discuss how you reach your audience.

1. Let's talk about who your audience is.

2. Let's talk about unique ways you reach them.

According to Alexa.com, here is info on who is visiting my website the most: "Based on internet averages, triciagoyer.com is visited more frequently by females who are in the age range 25-34, have children, are college educated and browse this site from home." Looking at other information Alexa told me, the websites they visit before and after my site is Facebook.

When I think of my reader, I often think of real women I know to help me picture "her" in my mind. One is Alana. She's a friend from church who's married to a great guy from Guatemala. They are involved in missions outreach in his home country. She's college-educated but put her career aside to raise her two kids. At church we chat about my new books and the research behind them. She's invited me to her home to talk to other young moms about homeschooling. She posts adorable photos of her kids on Facebook, and she works at a preschool part-time, mostly because she likes the connection with other moms and kids. I have readers from other age groups and lifestyles, but I know that I have a nice following from this audience.

There are obvious ways I connect with them:

-By doing guest blogs on mommy and homeschooling sites

-By blogging about marriage and family on my blog (I throw books stuff in now and again :)

-By posting about my writing (which is following my dream), life and family on Facebook and Twitter

-By hosting Facebook contests

I also try to be aware of other places my core readers and followers are congregating. One of those places is Pinterest

I've discovered that you can pin anything to your "bulletin boards" that has a photo. I "pin" my books under subject headings like "World War II" or "Amish." I also started spending five or ten minutes each day finding old blog posts and "pinning" them. For example, recently I pinned a blog post from July 2010 on "How to Be a Better Lover" to my Marriage board. In the first few hours I pinned it, more than 250 people went and viewed that old blog post. It's continued to get a few hundred views each week. If people like your pins, they repin them on their boards. And then people look at their boards and repin them, too. Sweet!

Recently, because of things like Pinterest and Facebook parties, the daily views on my blog/website have jumped from an average of 6,000 page views a month to more than 11,000 in November. I've also seen my book sales numbers growing, too. Yeah! And the best part is it's fun for me! (Yes, I find Facebook and Twitter fun, too.) Because I like it, I don't feel like I'm marketing (so much), and readers don't feel that I'm only concerned with trying to sell them something.

Even though the majority of books I write are fiction, I'm making a connection with my main readership who connect with me over family and real-life issues, and then run out to buy my novels. They also buy my books for their parents and grandparents, too, which I love!

All that to say, instead of casting a wide net and attempting to reach a variety of readers, I've been doing more to connect with those who respond most positively to me and my books.

Twitter It!

Are you sick of hearing about Twitter yet?

For three months I put off checking it out. I already had a presence of MySpace, Facebook, and ShoutLife, and I didn't understand how this new social marketing opportunity would be any different.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? You have 140 characters (letters) to answer that question. You can “tweet” once a day or twenty times a day. It's up to you.

You may wonder who reads these twitters. They are your “followers.” People follow others they know, those they respect, or those recommended by other.

In the six months since I started tweeting, I accumulated 3,600+ followers, and I get twenty or thirty new followers every day. (I received five new followers in the time it took me to write this article!) My follower count now is more than 56,000. Not every follower reads each of my posts, but many of them read most.

Throughout the day I send updates about my devotional time, writing, editing, and even my errands. People follow the progress of my books, and they are often eager to spread the word about my project. They comment back, which gives me a sense of community. I’ve also used Twitter when doing research. I post questions, and I ask for feedback. I’ve even asked for suggestions for chapter titles or character names. Fun!

Twittering may sound like work, but it takes less than one minute to post 140 characters—about two sentences, or as much as this paragraph.

As a writer there are benefits to Twittering

1) People do enjoy hearing about everyday lives of interested people. As a writer you are one of them. (This is the reality television generation, remember?) As you’re working on a book, you can become interesting to a wide variety of people—many who may later be readers.

2) Seventy-five percent (or maybe more) of the people I've connected with are those who I haven't connected with before. Score! My followers include radio hosts, television producers, editors, and many potential readers.

3) My Facebook account is also connected with Twitter. When I update the status of one, the other is updated. Because of this, my Facebook network has grown, too.

4) When I promote my interviews or articles or books, I have a wide variety of people who are eager to hear the newest news. For example, when I was recently on Focus on the Family radio, I tweeted about it, and many, many people responded, telling me they turned into the radio. It was a great feeling!

Following back

Personally, I follow thousands of people on Twitter. No, I do not keep updated with this many people all day long. Rather, I have a select few that I follow via my cell phone. The rest (those I don't follow on my cell phone) I keep updated on by scanning on the web four or five times a day. If I see something interesting, I may comment on their post.

The people I follow closely are writer friends and professionals in our industries, such as Michael Hyatt (CEO of Thomas Nelson), Sheila Walsh, and Ed Stetzer (CEO of Lifeway). I can honestly say I know more about what’s happening in the publishing industry today than I did a month ago. I also follow a few “non-famous” closely. One is Kristen, a farm mom. I’m writing a series of books set on a farm, and it’s free research!

So if you are interested in connecting with people, building relationships, and spreading the word about your writing, Twitter might be worth checking out. Go ahead and try it. It’s not hard to dip your toe into . . . since it’s only 140 characters at a time.

In Their Words: Veteran's Stories

By Tricia Goyer

As early as 1940, prisoners started arriving at the small train station at Mauthausen, where nestled in the hills was a hidden concentration camp. A full two years before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this once peaceful community was already experiencing the horrors of war. And by January 1941, the Mauthausen-Gusen camps became the only 'Category I' camps in Third Reich history, meaning "camp of no return." Prisoners were used as slave labor in quarries and munitions factories. These men and women were worked to death or killed not long after their arrival.

 

The estimate of the number of people killed in the Mauthausen camp system is between 120,000 and 300,000. Most who entered the large gates never exited, but in May 1945 everything changed. American troops had fought through France, Belgium, and Germany and had now crossed the Austrian border. They were headed toward the camp, though they didn’t know it yet.

The first American US GIs at the camp were the 41st Recon Squadron, 11th Armored Division, Patton's 3rd Army. The men opened the gates and brought the prisoners what they never expected—freedom—followed by food, clothes and the care of medics.

When the camp’s historian, Martha, told me about these men, I knew I wanted to meet them and to hear their stories. What was it like to grant these prisoners their freedom? How had it affected these men? When I arrived home, I researched their experiences and contacted their division’s veteran organization to ask if it would be possible to interview any of the men. I was overwhelmed with the response. The men invited me to their annual reunion in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Those I'd connected with through letters were waiting with their photos, their stories, and their tears. After all these years they had not forgotten. I talked to Arthur and Charlie first. They'd been best friends during the war and 55 years later still finished each other's sentences. Thomas, LeRoy, and Tarmo were next … each one telling me their story. Many more men, each with their own personal experiences, poured out their hearts to me. During the week they had a special ceremony to honor their friends who'd died and to remember the people they liberated. Even after all these years they knew what they did had mattered.

***

I’d been a Christian since I was a small child, but I had even greater faith after feeling the protection of the Lord pressing upon me. I’m still a strong Christian today because of that experience. Many people can deny the fact that God exists, but not me. I’ve felt His hand . . . and heard His whisper in the midst of war. LeRoy Petersohn

***

On our way to Austria, there is one thing I will never forget. The image of what I spotted from my perch on that tank still brings tears to my eyes nearly sixty years later.

“Major,” I says.“I believe the whole German Army must be down there. The road is full of people. Just a black line.”

I couldn’t distinguish what kind of people they were, but I could see that black line stretched out for miles. I said again, “The whole German Army must be down there waiting for us.”

He answered very quietly. “No, son, that’s the prisoners from Flossenberg concentration camp. The Germans wanted to clear them out before we got there.”

The prisoners reminded me of walking skeletons. Yes, from the top of that tank I’d seen it all—the battles, the barbarity of men, and the joy of liberation. From my perch I witnessed what I’ll never forget—the fight against good and evil. And I was thankful I was part of bringing in the good.” Tarmo Holma

***

I was just a young kid straight out of high school; a replacement for killed or injured troops. Nothing had prepared me for the sight of thin arms and legs poking out of striped uniforms, their distorted faces staring at us, reminding us we were too late. Charles Torluccio

***

I attended two more reunions over the years, in Buffalo and St. Louis, and interviewed hundreds of veterans. I wrote two historical novels about their experiences, From Dust and Ashes (http://www.triciagoyer.com/historicalfiction.html#DustAndAshes) and Night Song (http://www.triciagoyer.com/historicalfiction.html#NightSong), and now Remembering You (http://www.triciagoyer.com/contemporaryfiction.html#RememberingYou), but it was the relationship with the men that forever changed my life. It's their stories that I will never forget.

Many people walk out of Mauthausen concentration camp with a sadness of what took place. I experienced that, but as I sought out the men who opened the gates I've found so much more.

So much more.

Tricia Goyer is a homeschooling mom of four and an acclaimed and prolific writer, publishing hundreds of articles in national magazines. She has also written books on marriage and parenting and contributed notes to the Women of Faith Study Bible. Tricia's written numerous novels inspired by World War II veterans, including her new release Remembering You. Tricia lives with her husband and four children in Arkansas. You can find out more information about Tricia at www.triciagoyer.com.

My thanks to Tricia for sharing these insights from WWII. And a special thanks to all those who have served our country past and present.