branding Archives

September 5, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: Social Media Promotion, Part 2 ~ Best Practices for 2020

This article, written by Mindy Klasky is from the September 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Author Note: Social media remain a linchpin for many authors’ promotional efforts. This article outlines current best practices for five relatively under-utilized social media networks: LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, WeChat, and WhatsApp. (It also includes a brief update about Tumblr.) Last month, we looked at some of the more established players in the field: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube. Please note, paid advertising on social media platforms is beyond the scope of this article.

Editor’s Note: As of Aug. 6, President Donald Trump issued an executive order which will ban any US companies or citizens from making transactions with ByteDance, the parent company of the video-sharing social networking service TikTok, in 45 days. Trump also issued an order taking similar action against Tencent, the Chinese company that owns WeChat. On Aug. 5, Instagram debuted Reels, its version of TikTok.

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New social media networks seem to pop up every day, and as they do, authors might want to target these apps, even if there is no guarantee they will be around, for these networks attract users who are international and young. Each platform’s unique rules and configurations encourage users to develop new modes of engaging users. As with legacy social media, savvy promoters choose platforms that play to their strengths, keeping abreast of changes at those sites.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn was created specifically to connect business partners (sometimes referred to as building “B2B leads”). According to LinkedIn, the network includes over 660 million users in more than 200 countries. While some authors use LinkedIn as yet another platform to correspond with readers, the network’s strength is in bringing together publishing professionals—authors, book designers, editors, publishers, etc.—to discuss matters specifically related to the publishing business. The following best practices, therefore, focus on that business mission, rather than on socializing with readers.

Optimize your profile. LinkedIn’s algorithms favor profiles that list at least five relevant skills, include a professional profile picture with an appropriate background photo, and are complete with up-to-date information. LinkedIn recently added a “Services” feature helping members highlight their range of services; authors should complete that profile section. Users can endorse the skills of business colleagues, which frequently leads to reciprocal endorsements. They can also request recommendations (personal testimonials).
Be engaged. LinkedIn’s algorithms reward engagement. Therefore, users should be active. Follow industry influencers, comment, message, add connections, and otherwise interact with other members on the site.
Create long-form content. The most successful content on LinkedIn solves members’ problems by providing specific answers to users’ questions. How-to information and lists result in the most popular posts. Individual entries can run up to 1300 characters; titles of 40-49 characters perform best.
Build real relationships. LinkedIn users tend to be savvy business people who don’t respond well to spam, hard-sell messages, or general posts. But users who focus on building true business relationships through the system see responses. For example, LinkedIn claims that its in-system messages (“InMail”) are 300 times more likely to receive a reply than a standard email.
Observe traditional business hours. Because LinkedIn is primarily a business tool, its users are most active during traditional business hours midweek—from 8 a.m. Tuesday to 4 p.m. Thursday. Users tend to be less responsive on Mondays (when they’re catching up from a weekend off) or on Fridays (when they’re preparing to leave the office for the weekend.)

Snapchat

Snapchat is a social media network with more than 218 million daily users, the majority of whom are under 35. The mobile-phone app allows members to post “snaps”, photos and short videos that can be modified with filters, stickers, and text. Each snap has a timer, limiting how many seconds that snap can be viewed. “Stories” made of multiple snaps persist for 24 hours. (Snaps can also be saved as screenshots.) In 2019, rumors flourished that Snapchat was losing business; however, its parent company set a new record for quarterly revenue in the first quarter of 2020. Therefore, Snapchat seems likely to stick around, at least for a while.

Be original. Snapchat users enjoy access to exclusive material that isn’t available on any other platform. Originality is more important than perfect photo composition, lighting, or other formatting.
Show “behind the scenes” activities. Snapchat users love the impression of participating in everyday moments of one another’s lives. This makes the platform especially useful for teasing not-yet-released books, including pre-orders. Authors can also share live events, writing conferences, or one-off celebrations, such as selling the 10,000th copy of a book.
Be succinct. Snapchat users are looking for fun, quick interactions. Users tend to be distracted easily; therefore, stories should be no longer than two minutes. Strip all unnecessary information from your posts.
Post frequently. Since snaps disappear in 24 hours or less, frequent posting is vital to preserve your Snapchat presence. At a minimum, you should post 1-5 times each day.
Partner with influencers. Like other social media network, Snapchat has established influencers who court numerous followers. Connect with influencers in your genre to spread information about your books.

TikTok

TikTok is a social media network offering short (15 seconds, by default) video content. It boasts 800 million active users, 41% of whom are 16-24 years old. The average user spends almost an hour a day on the mobile phone app. As of Aug. 5, Chinese tech company ByteDance owns TikTok. Because of alleged national security concerns, some companies and the military have banned employees from putting the app on their phones.

Complete your profile. At the moment, only select users are allowed to add a website link to their bio; however, all users can add Instagram and YouTube profiles to their TikTok profiles. (TikTok and Instagram seem to have a substantial affinity for identical or similar content; however, the feed post dimensions differ. Instragram feed posts are 4:5; TikTok videos are 16:9.)
Follow the trends. Music and dance are hugely popular, with many videos earning “copycat” viral spread. Other popular trends include lip syncs, fitness workouts, pranks, and a wide range of challenges.
Make videos fun. Keep your posts humorous, and don’t attempt to engage in serious communication. TikTok’s short videos are intended to be “snacks,” not rigorous nutrition.
Create unique content. TikTok users expect unique content, created and distributed within the app. Repurposed content is typically ignored; some users will call out repurposing and urge others to mock it.
Unclear algorithms. TikTok is so new that no industry leaders have fully parsed its algorithms. Nevertheless, it seems as if those algorithms begin by spreading videos based on similar geo-locations. Using trending hashtags and sounds seems to boost discoverability as well. Videos (even older ones) can go viral in a flash, often because a hashtag or a sound spikes in popularity.

Tumblr

Tumblr is included on this list of social media platforms, but its network has largely fallen into disuse. Extensive research on best practices revealed no articles more recent than 2018, with most of the articles substantially predating that. Current user data was virtually non-existent from any credible source. Therefore, authors are likely better served to focus on other platforms.

WeChat

WeChat is a social media network based in China. Its “Moments” platform allows users to post images, text, and short videos. Moments can be linked to Facebook and Twitter accounts. WeChat’s more than one billion monthly users are regularly tracked by Chinese authorities. The service censors topics it believes Chinese authorities will consider politically sensitive. At present, very little content at WeChat goes viral.

Target Chinese citizens living overseas. Many Chinese citizens live abroad as students or as residents. They’re prime contacts for this evolving social media network.
KOL v. KOC. WeChat doesn’t have “influencers” like those found on US-based sites. Rather, there are Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) and Key Opinion Consumers (KOC). KOLs build up large numbers of followers, and they accept money to promote goods or services. They don’t, however, yet have the social legitimacy to make posts go viral. Instead, KOCs are perceived by many users to be less cynical and less likely to have their opinions purchased by outsiders. Even though KOCs have smaller groups of followers than KOLs, they might actually have greater influence. Focus on finding KOCs who communicate with people likely to read your books.
Follow the format. WeChat posts resemble blog posts. When crafting posts, maintain user interest by getting to your main point quickly. Finish strongly, in hopes of getting users to click the “Wow” button.
Hone content. WeChat posts aren’t likely to be seen by a large community of users. Therefore, it’s very important to have a specific goal for each post—provide book launch information, inform readers about sales, etc.
Harness in-app search. WeChat has an internal search feature designed to help users find specific content amid the huge number of posts made on the platform. Standard SEO practices (e.g., including strong keywords in titles and headings) is important to make the best use of this feature.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a social media network with two billion users located primarily in India, Brazil, and other non-US countries. (WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014, but it has been maintained as a separate platform.) While it began as a messaging service, allowing users to send text messages to other users’ telephone numbers, it now permits users to share media. Its simplicity, encryption of files, and refusal to share information with third parties have proven attractive to younger users. Users have a median age of 36, and 71% of all users are in the age bracket 18-44.

Get permission. WhatsApp terms of service prohibit you from searching for or buying contacts. Instead, you must ask users to share their phone numbers with you or to message you first. This restriction results in an audience that is highly motivated to hear what you have to say.
Engage with your contacts. WhatsApp messages enjoy extremely high engagement rates. According to HootSuite, 98% of WhatsApp mobile messages are opened and read, and 90% of those messages receive a response within three seconds of receipt. Harness this engagement by actively communicating with your WhatsApp contacts.
Keep it short. One marketing firm found that its WhatsApp messages enjoyed the most engagement when they were 15 words or shorter.
Do not share newsletters. Mass-mailing users is strictly forbidden by WhatsApp’s terms of service. The app reserves the right to sue any user who distributes newsletters or similar communications through the service.
Consider doing consumer research. WhatsApp Business (a separate, pay-to-play service that runs on the WhatsApp platform) provides many tools for consumer research. Business users can ask direct questions, send surveys and polls, and respond to individual queries, such as customer-service complaints.

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USA Today bestselling author Mindy Klasky learned to read when her parents shoved a book in her hands and told her she could travel anywhere through stories. As a writer, Mindy has traveled through various genres, including romantic comedy, hot contemporary romance, and traditional fantasy. In her spare time, Mindy knits, quilts, and tries to tame her to-be-read shelf.

August 5, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: Social Media Promotion, Part 1 ~ Best Practices for 2020

This article, written by Mindy Klasky is from the August 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Author Note: Social media remain a linchpin for many authors’ promotional efforts. This article outlines five current best practices for five of the oldest, best-established social media networks: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube. Next month, we’ll look at some newer players in the field, including LinkedIn, Snapchat, Tik-tok, Tumblr, WeChat, and What's App. Please note, paid advertising on social media platforms is beyond the scope of this article.

No author can possibly interact with readers on all social media channels; there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. Successful promoters pick and choose among platforms, selecting the ones that play to their strengths (e.g., long and detailed essays, short and witty observations, photos, or video.)

While many services allow authors to create one post and disseminate it across multiple platforms, those distributed posts might not put the author in the best promotional light, because each platform’s users expect interactions consistent with the platform’s design. (For example, Twitter’s 280-character limit means that a long, insightful observation about the publishing industry will be reduced to a hyperlink or Twitter thread many users will never follow.)

The following best practices should help authors identify the social media networks most in line with their skill sets. All facts and figures on social media usage cited below come from the Pew Research Center’s Social Media Fact Sheet, which was last updated June 12, 2019.

Facebook

Facebook, the second-most-popular social media platform in the United States (after YouTube), counts approximately 69% of US adults as users. Among all Facebook users, 74% visit the site daily, and an additional 17% visit the site weekly.

Facebook applies complicated often-changing algorithms to determine which posts to show to which accounts. While the precise nature of those algorithms is secret, the system favors posts that generate a great deal of interaction (likes, shares, and comments) from users. In recent months, the algorithms seem to favor the distribution of posts from the profiles of family and friends over those of commercial pages.

Polish your cover photo. (“Cover photo” is Facebook’s term for the banner at the top of a profile, page, or group; it is not the “profile picture,” which is often a user’s portrait.) Your cover photo, which is your first chance to snag a passing user and make them a fan, should reflect your brand, instantly conveying your genre and your specific books. View your cover photo on multiple devices; the entire photo is not visible on mobile devices. As there are still millions of users who access Facebook via computer make sure your cover is optimized for that platform. The new desktop interface places a user’s profile picture in the bottom center of their cover photo (a change from past placement, to the lower left.)
Engage your followers. Facebook’s algorithms promote posts that receive a lot of engagement. Therefore, authors should post with the specific goal of creating interaction. Consider asking direct questions (especially ones with easy, straightforward answers). Acknowledge responses to your posts by clicking “like,” adding stickers, or making a comment. (Those acknowledgments build a personal bond with your followers. At the same time, they increase your points of contact with your followers for future Facebook algorithms.)
Use videos and images. According to Social Media Today, more than 8 billion videos are viewed on Facebook every day. Still photos, memes, and other images also catch readers’ eyes as Facebook posts scroll by. Similarly, short text-based posts stand out when accompanied by one of Facebook’s prepared background designs.
Create groups. While Facebook notoriously limits the visibility of posts to profiles and pages, they give far greater visibility to posts made in groups. Rumors abound that Facebook will start to charge for group; however, no charges are yet in effect. Your groups can be relatively small (e.g., a street team or an ARC team) or quite expansive (e.g., a book club for your genre.) Many authors foster the appearance of exclusivity by making their groups private.
Avoid hashtags. While Facebook supports hashtags, they are not commonly used on the site. If you do use hashtags, never use more than two in a single post. Multiple hashtags may send a message to Facebook’s algorithms that your post originated on another social media network.

Instagram

Approximately 37% of US adults use Instagram, with 63% visiting the site daily and another 21% visiting the site weekly.

Deliver quality posts. Of course, all social media require quality posts—but quality photos really matter for Instagram. Learn your camera’s settings. Consider creating a uniform feel by using the same filter on all your posts or by adopting a color scheme for specific periods of time.
Use hashtags. Instagram followers respond well to two types of hashtags: A) Long, witty, and entertaining hashtags that may be unique within the Instagram world and B) Precise, common hashtags that link communities of users. Study the hashtags commonly used by authors in your genre and plug into their networks.
Use stories. Stories are built from images and video, with added text, GIFs, stickers, filters, and polls. They last for 24 hours before disappearing from your feed.
Run a contest. The best contests are simple ones—ask your followers to comment on one of your posts, then select a winner. You don’t have to give away expensive new technology like a Kindle or an iPad; instead, you can award your own ebooks. If you run a contest, make sure you follow Instagram’s rules.
Remain social. Perhaps because of the relatively sparse textual interaction on Instagram, many users forget to engage with their followers. Respond to comments, answer questions, and thank people who compliment your posts.

Pinterest

Approximately 28% of US adults use Pinterest. Statistics about daily and weekly visits are not readily available.

Pin fresh content. Fresh content goes beyond merely adding new pins. Rather, Pinterest wants to encourage the addition of pins that aren’t available anywhere else on its site. If your pin isn’t unique, consider adding unique (but relevant) titles, using a different font in the text overlay, and using different graphics, patterns, or colors. (Generally, it’s not sufficient to use only one of those methods to create content considered “fresh” by the Pinterest algorithms.)
Pin the most important items first. The first five pins you post each day will get more engagement than the rest of your board, no matter what time of day you make those pins. Consider which items are most important and pin them first.
Emphasize quality over volume. Pinterest finds more value in quality pins (fresh content, quality images, etc.) than in the number of pins you make. Use your limited social media time to create consistently good pins, rather than a multitude of mediocre ones.
Use keywords. Keywords increase the value of your pins to Pinterest users. Use keywords in descriptions, focusing on the terms a user is most likely to type when trying to find content like yours. When possible, include relevant keywords in your profile and board descriptions.
Limit use of group boards. Pinterest created group boards to allow communication about specific, limited content. Over time, those group boards became ways for authors and others to cross promote. Pinterest has now indicated that it will provide greater distribution of relevant individual boards, rather than group boards.

Twitter

Approximately 22% of US adults use Twitter, with 42% visiting the site daily and another 29% visiting the site weekly.

Optimize your profile. Make sure your handle is short and simple, without extra characters. (Consider creating a new account if your handle is hard to use and remember.) Review your bio, the first thing on your profile that most people will see when they consider following you. Don’t forget to use relevant hashtags to integrate your profile into existing Twitter communities.
Pin a tweet. Create your very best content, and then pin it to the top of your feed. Along with your bio, a pinned tweet is your “first impression” to newcomers. Consistently put your best foot forward, including when you change your pinned tweet when launching a new book or series.
Build relevant followers. Early marketing efforts on Twitter emphasized increasing the number of followers and harvesting contacts without regard to how relevant those accounts were to yours. Contemporary best practices emphasize building relevant followers—authors, readers, agents, editors, etc. Consider trimming your list of followers so that you’re only broadcasting to people who are interested in you, your books, and your genre.
Engage your followers. As with most forms of social media, followers want to communicate with the genuine “you” (or, at least, your genuine author persona); they aren’t looking for sales pitches and endless promotion. The oft-cited 80/20 rule remains a useful guideline—spend 80% of your time engaging with your followers and only 20% selling to them. (Engagement includes responding to your followers’ tweets, retweeting, and @mentioning others. You might also ask relevant questions, conduct polls, and tweet about trending news. Humorous accounts tend to thrive on Twitter—possibly as an antidote to the flamewars that tend to rage on the platform.)
Use visuals. As with other social media, visuals are increasingly important. Followers engage more with photos, videos, and other media than they do with long strings of hashtags.

YouTube

YouTube, unlike other social media, functions as a search engine, allowing users to initiate research queries. Arguably, this “search engine” function exists separately from the site’s “social media” function. Nevertheless, approximately 51% of US adults visit YouTube daily and another 32% visit weekly, making YouTube the most popular social media site in the country.

Create quality content. YouTube’s primary goal is keeping viewers watching. Therefore, the site’s algorithms heavily favor “sticky” videos, so create your videos with that goal. Eliminate fluff from your introductions, and get to the meat quickly. Script your videos so you don’t have dull moments where a viewer might exit. Provide interesting visuals, like graphics, animations, and changing backgrounds to break up your speaking.
Optimize your title. You want viewers to choose your video over all the others reported following a search. To maintain energy, keep your titles short, use relevant keywords, and keep in mind the words and phrases people are likely to use when searching for videos like yours
Use compelling thumbnails. Most of your viewers are going to see your thumbnail at a tiny size. Therefore, use bright, contrasting colors (ideally not red, white, or black, because those are the colors YouTube uses for its own design.)
Create playlists. Remember—YouTube wants to keep people on its platform. Playlists make that easy, by presenting viewers with jumping off points for their next video. Create playlists for your videos and display them on your channel page.
Recruit subscribers. Once you’ve invested time and energy in getting people to watch a video, you want them to watch all your future videos. Encourage them to subscribe to your channel. Add a Subscribe button to every end screen, to capture people before they leave the “territory” that you control.

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July 20, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: Lifestyle Brands ~ Next Level Trademarks

This article, written by Mindy Klasky is from the July 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Hey! Author! What’s your brand?

In general, authors are increasingly sophisticated about branding. Many of us use slogans, taglines for our websites and emails. We have logos—general ones for our websites and specific ones for our series. We use trademarks such as series names to convey the source of our books. We use color schemes and fonts and designs of book covers and websites to make ourselves recognizable to our readers.

But few authors have conquered the next frontier in branding: becoming a lifestyle brand for their readers.

What is a lifestyle brand?

A lifestyle brand embodies the values of a specific culture or community for marketing purposes. While a simple trademark indicates the source, sponsorship, or origin of a product, a lifestyle brand goes further, inspiring and motivating consumers.

Nike is a classic lifestyle brand. Its familiar “swoosh” logo and its slogan Just Do It do more than connote the manufacturer of a T-shirt or a pair of shoes. Instead, Nike inspires its customers to compete, to rise above ordinary limitations and to achieve the impossible every day.

Similarly, Southwest Airlines embodies the notion of a lifestyle brand. Expanding on its start at Dallas’s Love Field airport, the low-cost, no-frills airline incorporates “love” into its marketing, from a heart logo on its planes to heart-shaped swizzle sticks for drinks. That “love” is further conveyed for customers through the airline’s forgiving cancellation fees and luggage checking fees. Even the in-flight magazine is filled with empathetic stories advancing the notion of Southwest as an airline that cares for its customers.

As a result of their extreme enthusiasm, lifestyle brand consumers are more likely to remain loyal, regardless of the price of their beloved goods. Therefore, most lifestyle brands convey a sense of luxury—or a thrifty aversion to luxury. In addition to Nike and Southwest, popular lifestyle brands include Apple, Lululemon, and Mrs. Meyer’s.

Lifestyle brands create such an emotional connection that their consumers are often described as members of a “cult.” For example, one of the most popular blogs about Apple products is online at cultofmac.com, and thousands of articles reference Apple products, Apple founder Steve Jobs, and cultish behavior.

Can people be a lifestyle?

Individual people can successfully market themselves as lifestyle brands. For example, Oprah Winfrey has a cult following, willing to follow her from television to movies and from magazines to bookstores. Similarly, Gwyneth Paltrow has crafted a lifestyle brand that transcends her career in film.

As with Nike and Southwest Airlines, these individuals promote a way of life. Oprah inspires her followers to realize their potential, repeatedly asking her viewers, readers, and followers to define their own dreams and develop plans for achieving them. Gwyneth fosters a more introspective inquiry, urging her followers to explore the mind-body connection. Both of these women guide their followers to a more complete, more satisfying life, with the not-so-incidental endorsing of products along the way.

Neil Gaiman is one of the few authors who has achieved this status. Gaiman writes in a wide range of genres, inspiring his dedicated followers to follow him from graphic novels to adult novels to middle-grade books to children’s picture books to retellings of Norse myth. His public appearances are mobbed by faithful readers who wait in line for up to ten hours for his signature. Avid fans permanently tattoo themselves with references to Gaiman’s books. For several years, he has sold out events styled as “An Evening with Neil Gaiman,” where entertainment takes the form of whatever interests him at the moment—songs, dramatic readings from his books for adults or children, or simply answering pre-submitted questions from the audience. Gaiman isn’t promoting a specific book; rather, he’s promoting himself.

Arguably, authors’ characters can become lifestyle brands as well. Ian Fleming’s MI6 agent, James Bond, has been portrayed by six different actors in two dozen movies. Regardless of the specific image on the screen, the suave character’s luxury tuxedo, martini, and high-end cars become aspirational for avid fans. That enthusiasm persists even though Bond himself does not exist.

Can a lifestyle brand be crafted?

Sadly, there’s no exact formula for developing a lifestyle brand. (If there were, of course, every trademark owner in the world would apply it, basking in the power and prestige of cultishly devoted fans.) There are, however, some marketing methods that make “lifestyle” status more likely:

Focus on the reader. How can you, the author, make your readers’ lives better? Can your books or your online presence answer questions, meet their emotional needs, or otherwise solve their problems? What community can you build for your readers? Can you give them an online home, such as a Facebook group? What about a forum to communicate with you and with each other? What unique aspects of culture can you offer your reader? Can you develop a catch-phrase or slogan and offer it on merchandise? Can you foster inside jokes with a unique vocabulary in the places you share with your readers? Can you create merchandise for them to identify themselves and each other in public spaces?
Keep it simple. At the same time that you’re building solutions for your readers, remember to keep your presence simple. Use a logo, but keep that design as straightforward as possible. (Think of Nike’s “swoosh” or Apple’s line-drawing of a bitten piece of fruit!) Use a distinctive font, but be certain it’s legible. You never want your fledgling community of fanatics to need to work hard to join you.
Maintain consistency. Once you’ve identified your simple logos, fonts, and other trademarks, use them consistently. Maintain a uniform color scheme. Apply similar designs to all of your social media. Communicate frequently with your readers on a regular timetable—releasing books, sending newsletters, posting to social media, and reaching out in other regulated, predictable ways.
Reach out to influencers. Every community has powerhouse members, people who enjoy an out-size effect on others. Some influencers can be courted with honest communication. Others are swayed by the offer of free books. Still others offer their influence for purchase, especially in the high-powered world of YouTube influencers. A high-powered influencer can be the difference between a merely successful brand and a powerhouse lifestyle brand.

Dangers of lifestyle branding

Building a lifestyle brand requires a substantial investment of time, to study readers’ behaviors and to develop solutions for their problems. It also requires a substantial investment in energy, to become consistently present in your readers’ lives. Most lifestyle brands also invest substantial money in reaching their audience, purchasing advertisements wherever their followers are likely to be found.

In interviewing authors for this article, I uncovered another potential danger to lifestyle branding: alienating readers who perceive authors as being too wealthy. Multiple authors reported a negative response among their readers when the authors displayed cars, shoes, or other purchases that were perceived as luxury goods. The authors were chastised for charging too much for their books or for wasting time playing when they could be writing. The affected authors noted that upset readers did not have a similar reaction to actors, athletes, or musicians sharing similar high-end acquisitions; there seemed to be a negative reaction unique to authors’ sharing.

(Of course, not all lifestyle brands connote wealth or luxury, and sharing one’s high-end purchases is only one way to build a devoted community. Anecdotes from a subset of authors are not hard data. Older authors such as Danielle Steel and Jackie Collins certainly built careers as “glitzy” authors, with a flamboyant style. But contemporary authors might choose caution if they’re building a luxury lifestyle brand.)

Building a lifestyle brand isn’t easy. But with a focus on existing readers, a simple, consistent message, and the amplifier of community influencers, authors can build communities of dedicated readers that might make the leap to true “lifestyle” status.

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June 5, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: Be Your Own PR Person ~ The Real Secret To Writing A Good Press Release

This article, written by Michele Dunaway is from the June 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

In a previous installment, we worked on the idea of your “Home Base” or your key message. This concept revolves around the idea that you don’t have to hire an expensive public relations firm to be able to stay on message with the media, and that with a little work, you can develop and disseminate your own talking points.

In this article we’re going to focus on what really matters when you write a press release. What we won’t focus on is stuff you can learn when you go online and Google “press release samples.” When you do that, dozens of images are going to pop up and they will tell you exactly what needs to go where. They’ll tell you what you need to include and give you sample formats where you can slot your words right into the fields of headlines and body copy and contact information. Easy peasy. Poof.

You’re done… only to have your hard work sent off and immediately deleted and discarded. After all, how many pieces of email come into your inbox only to be deleted unread? How many newsletters do you send to your readers that do not get opened, or if opened, are not really read or converted into sales?

Before we go on, I’m going to send you to this site. Seriously. Go read it. Or give it a quick skim.

While all that information is relevant and important, you probably overlooked one line that seemed like a throwaway: “Don’t waste the journalist’s time with a long-winded, self-absorbed introduction to yourself or your business. They probably don’t care.”

I’m going to repeat that last part: “They probably don’t care.” It’s tough to hear, but true.

What’s in it for them?

I ask my high-school journalists two critical questions when I’m coaching them on writing their news and feature stories: “Are you bored writing this?” and “Why should the reader care?”

Think about it. Every year there is a homecoming dance. Every year there’s a varsity football team. Every year there are final exams. School starts sometime in August. Graduation is always the first Saturday of May. For 17 years, I’ve guided my students through the creation of award-winning yearbooks. We know, every year, we’re going to cover the exact same stuff.

So do newspapers. There will be the sweet stories published on Valentine’s Day. There’s all the election coverage that ramps up every two and four years. 2020 was a leap year, and of course a story on leap year babies ran. The same principle applies for magazines. Fashion follows a cycle, so does sports, so does gardening, etc.

Your book release is one of all the other book releases out there, and with the advent of self-publishing, the noise of those wanting to be noticed is even louder. In order to get the press you want, to get to that interview stage or to get your press release to simply be printed almost verbatim if the media doesn’t have time for anything else, the content has to make the reader care. In Part I of this series published last month, this all boiled down to answering the simple question the consumer wants to know: “What’s in it for me?”

Your message map keeps you on point. However, when you looked at the sample, were you bored? Did you care? Most likely no, you didn’t care.

Pretend you’re a journalist. If University of Missouri Extension sent you a press release about one of their programs, you would look at it because you had to look at it, not because you think it’s the most exciting thing on the planet to receive.

As much as our latest book is the most exciting thing on the planet to us, it’s not necessarily the most exciting thing for everyone else. So, as the next part of your media message, you have to figure out how to make your message the most exciting thing.

Making them care

Let me digress with an example that I promise will make sense, so bear with me and please keep reading. I teach Walt Whitman, who is considered one of the most important American poets ever. Except if you’re a high-school junior in regular English III. However, I usually introduce Whitman in the last week of January/first week of February, right around the Super Bowl. Spoiler: high-school kids are into the Super Bowl. So I ask how much does a Super Bowl commercial cost for 30 minutes? (Someone will know. They always do.) Okay, I say, Apple made this commercial a while ago and not only paid for a minute and a half or airtime (we calculate that amount in today’s dollar value), but then they had to get the rights to the voice-over you’ll hear and then film and edit it.

Then I play the commercial. Take a minute and a half and go watch how Apple introduced the iPad Air.

Kids all know Apple. They have iPhones and iPads. Some may know Dead Poets Society, and most still know Robin Williams. And let’s face it, it’s a pretty awesome commercial with excellent visuals.

By the end of the commercial, it’s clear that Apple made Walt Whitman cool again, and I let my students know that when this commercial came out, all over Twitter people were like “That’s Robin Williams’s voice” and others were “That’s Dead Poet’s Society.” We talk about how Apple built an entire campaign around the slogan “What will your verse be?” (which excites all the kids who like business class best) and how the campaign went beyond the Super Bowl. Suddenly Whitman is relevant again, and “O Me! O Life!” suddenly matters.

To get people talking, you have to make them care. You have to show them why it matters to them. The secret to making them care all comes down to this: Stories are about people, not things or events.

Your book launch is an event. Your book is a thing. You are the real story.

So how do you make the story about you, while still talking about your book and its launch? You have to find the hook that makes the reader care.

Your company has its message, but now that message must translate into newsworthiness. When editors decide what to cover, they look at various elements that make the story newsworthy.

Newsworthy elements include but are not limited to:

Celebrity and prominence: How famous or important a person is. The more famous, the more attention.
Conflict and impact: As writers we understand conflict and how it will impact or effect people.
Emotion: Emotion means the story pulls on your heartstrings. Think of the old adage “if it bleeds, it leads.” Blood, tears, and laughter get attention because we feel them in a visceral way.
Proximity and timeliness: Proximity means we care because it’s close or local, while timeliness means the story matters now and has a sense of immediacy.
Novelty and unusualness: Novelty means it’s different, while unusualness might mean it’s weird or odd—like the guy who at ate 20 hot dogs in one minute.
Human interest: Human interest is a bit of a catchall, but it’s understandable as to why we love stories about puppies, kids with lemonade stands, a girl who conquers cancer, or why we want to help when we read about those who need help.

Looking at each of these elements is how my yearbook staff and I find a new and different angle for the stories that are essentially the same event each year. Like the books you write, the characters are different. Stories are about people, not events or things.

The unique hook I often use is “teacher by day, romance writer by night.” It’s novelty. When I spoke at the Kirkwood Public Library, the press release played up I was a local native, so proximity. The article began: Twenty years ago, author Michele Dunaway was shelving books at Kirkwood Library for $2 an hour. Now the library has all seven of her books on hand and Dunaway is the library's June "Author of the Month." You can read the rest here.

Finding your hook

Now go back to your message map. Your hooks, your newsworthiness, should come from your positive, proof-positive, and more specifically, your distinguishing points. Your distinguishing points should explain how you are different from everyone else. This is your newsworthiness. What can you do to hook the person who will receive your press release? What can you do to make them care about you? Or be intrigued? Or curious?

Your uniqueness is what makes the reader care and why they will want to know more. There are tons of authors putting out books. So what makes your story the one that should be told? How can you sell them that writing about you is a different approach to the same old story?

Here’s an example from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan. 19, 2018, the fifth anniversary of the death of Stan Musial, baseball Hall of Famer, the first million-dollar player, and a St. Louis icon. The challenge for the reporter was how to find a new angle to commemorate the day of his death. Ben Frederickson started his story like this:

Swap a Stan Musial story today.
If you don’t have one, hear one.
It’s not hard.
You can’t throw a four-seamer in this city without hitting the glove of someone with one to share.
On the five-year anniversary of the day we lost “Baseball’s Perfect Knight,” find a moment to remember what made him so much bigger than the game.
I’ll go first.
Leo and Jane Garvin can’t forget their Musial story, because without Stan, there wouldn’t be a Leo and Jane.

Trust me, go read the rest of the story, hyperlinked under the word read. I’ll wait.

Now that you have, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Jane is my late father’s sister. Leo’s my uncle, and Patrick is my cousin. I don’t know Ben. I knew about the birthday party, but not about the fact there wouldn’t be Leo and Jane without Stan.

I had a reason to care when I read this article. But did you care? This story has emotion, human interest, and celebrity. If you said yes, if you kept reading even if you didn’t know Leo and Jane, or if you found yourself finding yourself thinking “this was cool,” even though you aren’t a St. Louis Cardinals fan, this is because the story is about people (Stan, Leo & Jane), not events (in this case, the anniversary of Stan’s death).

When you craft your press release, when you write your story, if you are bored, the person reading it will be, too. The secret to a successful press release is figuring out how to make the reader care, so don’t be afraid to dig deep and focus on you. Trust me, your story is worth telling.

________________________

Michele Dunaway is in her final year as the Nink editor. Writing press releases and giving interviews don’t scare her. The fact that her term is almost over and she’ll really miss doing Nink does.

August 5, 2019 by Laura Resnick

Nink Knowledge: Author Almost Crushed by Billion-Dollar Gaming Company—It Could Happen To You!

This article, written by Michael Banner, is from the August 2019 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

***

The following story is true. The names and book titles have been changed out of respect for the actual author. What he experienced could have happened to any of us… until now.

John Smith is a bestselling author and award-winning screenplay writer, who recently found himself facing a serious legal problem.

Someone had filed for a federal trademark on a brand name that John was already using for a fictional series he had penned three years earlier. Potentially worse, that someone was a billion-dollar video-gaming enterprise, with millions of subscribers. They were seeking an “Intent to use” trademark in

"Computer game software and related items" and also "downloadable digital media and downloadable audio files." The word they wanted to trademark, “Blacktree.”

“Blacktree” is the name of John's Amazon #1 bestselling two-book series, and the name of the protagonist and hero of that series, Bobby Blacktree. His series included eBooks (legally described as “downloadable digital media”) and audiobooks (“downloadable audio files”).

John’s ultimate plan, after a highly successful test-market of a five-book series in the same genre, was to leverage the “Blacktree” brand he had created and launch additional books in the Blacktree series in 2019 and 2020. After which he would complete the screenplay and market it to Hollywood.

That was his plan, before he received notification about the pending trademark registration from one of his Google Alerts watch phrases.

Legal Concerns

John had previously established (by publishing his books) a prior claim to the rights of the series brand name. However, if this gaming company was granted their federal trademark registration, they would have obtained all rights to that name under the rules and regulations established by law and managed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The gaming company would then have total control over whether John could use the Blacktree name, not only for his two existing eBooks and audiobooks (and the main character name in the series,) but also for future Blacktree books and screenplay.

At minimum, the gaming company could have had Amazon take down his Blacktree series in all its forms, simply by filing a complaint with Amazon and presenting a copy of their trademark. And, because this gaming company had a long history of aggressively protecting their registered trademarks, John could have been looking at a devastating lawsuit if he tried to use the name Blacktree in any future works.

Simply put, if John wanted to sell any more books (current or future) in his series, and the gaming company proceeded forward with their trademark application, John would have had to change the name of his series and main character; update the eBook and audio files; and rebrand future planned books, the screenplay and everything else associated with it.

John clearly had only one choice: he filed an opposition to the gaming company's trademark with the USPTO. Simultaneously, he filed a trademark registration of his own for the brand Blacktree. Legally, John had a clear case of establishing the brand three years prior and thus, he would have a clear path to have the gaming company's trademark request quashed by the USPTO, and then have the USPTO approve his own trademark registration. Simple, right?

Wrong! We are forgetting something disturbing about our legal system: “Whoever has more lawyers and money, usually wins!”

In this case, the gaming company really wanted this name. They also had time on their side because it normally takes a few years to have an online computer game developed, tested, and released. Even though John legally had first use rights, the billion-dollar company and their team of lawyers could easily have buried John in appeals and requests for extensions, and if they desired, lawsuits. At hundreds of dollars an hour for attorney representation, essentially, they could have financially ruined John with just the legal fees alone, forcing him to give up, so that they would prevail.

Other Concerns

John’s financial well-being was not all that was at risk.

The national news media covering computer gaming caught wind of this battle, and incorrectly reported that John was “suing” the gaming company. Additionally, they erroneously reported that John was responsible for stopping the gaming company’s next release of their beloved online role-playing game; a game that boasted millions of over-zealous, fan-boy players.

That’s when the backlash started.

Immediately, thousands of gamers began posting their comments of hatred against John, sending John angry and physically threatening emails, and blasting him with endless social media posts. Some even posted negative reviews on his books. All this because John had the nerve to defend his brand.

Before revealing the end of this story, let us look at the lesson we should all learn from John’s experience.

Lesson Learned

Authors must proactively protect themselves against trademark infringement.

That is, you must take two actions to preemptively protect yourself and avoid a potential battle like the one John faced.

Thoroughly research your series name and book titles before publishing, and
File for a federal trademark under one or more publishing categories.

Thoroughly Research Your Series Name

You have probably already searched Amazon’s database for similar sounding book titles, just to see what is out there. Maybe you have even Googled your prospective book title or series name to see if someone is using it in your book’s genre. That is a good start, but do not miss another very important resource. Before pushing that publish button, search the USPTO database to make sure your series name and book titles are not infringing on a registered trademark in the publishing space.

To do this, go to USPTO.gov. Under the “Trademark” banner, choose “Searching trademarks” from the drop-down menu. Now find the “Search our trademark database (TESS)” link. You will want to use the “Basic Word Mark Search (New User)” option and type in the name of your prospective title.

You may see several hits. Make sure you review them all, one at a time. What you are looking for are “LIVE” registrations. If there is already one registered (and Live), and you see that its “Goods and Services” section includes a series of numbers starting with either IC 009 or IC 016 (the two classes for books), then someone has already registered that name in the publishing space. You will need to modify your series name and/or book titles, otherwise you risk Amazon turning your books off at some point in the future for trademark infringement.

However, if you do not see your prospective titles already registered (and Live) or they are listed in the database but are not in the two publishing classes, you are good to go for publication.

File Your Own Federal Trademark

If the name is available for trademark under the publishing classes, then immediately after you publish your series, file for a federal trademark on that series name.

A strange quirk in trademark law that most authors do not know about, is that while you can trademark a book series title as a brand, you cannot trademark a single book title. You must use the same name for more than one book before it’s considered a brand and eligible for trademark protection. In other words, you can trademark a name if it is used on two or more books because it is now considered a “brand.” That’s true for book titles and series titles. More than one book with the same title or series name must exist and be used (or intended to be used), before it’s eligible for protection.

This brings up another point to consider.

Even if the USPTO database does not show a trademark issued for your series or book name, you need to look on Amazon to see of anyone else is using that exact name on more than one book in their backlist. If so, then they have prior trademark rights, having established a brand for that name, even if they have yet to file for the trademark. You will need to pick a new series name or book title to avoid potential infringement problems down the road. None of us want another “Cockygate” scenario.

[Editor’s note, for more on this and to read Nink articles written about this topic, please review the July 2018 issue in the Nink archives.]

Trademarks are filed in one or more Goods and Services classes. Again, the two International Classes (or IC) covering books are 009 (for eBooks and audio books) and 0016 (for print books). Each class will cost $225 to file, or $450 for both. If you are worried about costs, file for at least one: class 9, since that is likely your most profitable book class. While not cheap, think of this as an “insurance policy” to protect you against someone trying to steal your brand and/or threaten your ability to sell your books under that name on various platforms like Amazon.

Bottom line: What we do as authors is a business. Businesses have assets that need to be protected. Our books and their names are some of our most important assets. Smart business practices dictate we proactively take steps to protect our series names and book titles, before someone else takes these rights from us. Or worse, someone with deeper pockets crushes you financially, just for using a name they want, even though you had all prior rights to it.

Epilogue

“So, what happened to John?” you ask.

After thousands of dollars in legal fees, John and the gaming company reached an amicable agreement. The terms are confidential, so the actual settlement remains unknown. My hunch is that John is both relieved and pleased with the result. And yet, the settlement only occurred after his reputation took a beating and he suffered many sleepless nights. Don’t put yourself in the same position as John.

________________________

Michael Banner is an international best-seller, penning eleven novels as ML Banner. Next up, his Self-Publishing Empire Series of books, beginning with Set-Up: The Easy Way to Start Your Own Publishing Entity. A serial entrepreneur, Michael has formed dozens of businesses over thirty-five years, including SmallBiZ.com, which has helped more than 100,000 to start their own corporation or LLC. He serves on boards of other start-ups and has consulted thousands, assisting them on how to setup and manage their own enterprises. Recently, he and another NINC member, co-founded Mission Critical Publishing LLC. On his “off” days, Michael’s wife “forces” him to relax at their Mexican beach or cruise to another foreign port.

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