Kelsye Nelson's Blog

Forget book sales?
Yep. Many extraordinarily successful authors use another goal to maintain career longevity.

Want to learn the big secret? Watch the video below to learn how achieve your writerly dreams by attracting true fans rather than chasing after book sales.

This lesson comes from my course Small Town Writer, Big World Audience. You can join the class and watch more lessons here. Enjoy the free class and good luck on your platform building endeavors!

P.S. Watch your inbox in the next few days for an invite to a free workshop for folks looking to set up their first marketing funnel. Watching the lesson above about true fans will give you the background you need to get the most out of the marketing funnel workshop. Not on my email list? Craziness. You should sign up so you don't miss out on all the freebies. Sign up now and I'll send you my Freebie Cheat Sheet with 33 giveaway ideas for authors.

Want to know the best way to entice someone to join your email list? Offer a high-value, relentlessly helpful or entertaining freebie. (Also called lead magnets.)

These giveaways provide excellent opportunities to nurture your relationship with your audience and move people down the path from mere online acquaintance to true fan. Make things easy on yourself with digital freebies that don’t cost a thing and may be instantly delivered through tools such as Mailchimp or LeadPages.

Fiction authors in particular may struggle with coming up with things they may offer for free. Even if you don't publish instructional material, you can offer enticing giveaways such as audiobook samples, book club activities or even collections of journal prompts to help get other people writing.

If you write non-fiction, there's a plethora of perfectly pleasing perks you may publish. People seem to really love checklists and how-to guides - anything that makes it easy for them to do whatever it is they're trying to do!

I've listed 33 giveaway ideas for authors on this free download. I also included tips on getting your freebies out into the world and what tech tools you may use to collect email address.

Awesome! Give me the Freebie Cheat Sheet.

Want help figuring out how to use these freebies to entice new readers to sign up for your email list? This is exactly what I teach in Small Town Writer, Big World Audience. >> Check out the class.

Thinking about self-publishing your book?

I'm opening my popular self-publishing course in September. Since it's been over a year since I've offered this class, I must update the content to include the information independent authors need right now. The publishing world moves fast! So,  for 48 hours only , I'm opening up the course for pre-registration to writers willing to act as course evaluators.

As a course evaluator, you'll receive access to the entire course at a drastically reduced rate. In return, you'll share your current self-publishing challenges and needs with me. Your input will help me update the course.

Why take the self-publishing course?

This webinar series will walk you step-by-step through the self-publishing process. If you would like to self-publish, but are overwhelmed with the process or simply don’t know where to start, this class is perfect for you. Even if you have no publishing experience and little technical ability, you’ll be able to publish a professional quality book and avoid the errors that plague so many un-supported indie authors.

By the end of the 4 week program, you will know:

- Which platform works best for your publishing goals
- How to publish on Kindle, Google Play and other ebook platforms
- How to publish your book as a paperback or hardcover
- How to prepare your manuscript and find an editor
- What tools to use for formatting your ebook and print interior
- Where to find excellent graphics for your cover
- Step-by-step how to market your book launch and get your first reviewers

You can view a course syllabus here. (Subject to change based on evaluator input!) 

What does a course evaluator do?

The responsibilities aren't difficult, just incredibly valuable. (Hence the extremely reduced class price.) As a course evaluator, you would promise to:

1. Spend 15 minutes on the phone with me to discuss your self-publishing challenges.
2. Complete a questionnaire about your self-publishing goals and needs.
3. Complete a review of the course when finished with the modules.

In return, you get access to the full course for $37. That's $260 off the retail price of $297.

You will not be able to register for this course at a lower price. Once we hit midnight tomorrow, this opportunity is gone for good.

Course evaluator registration will only be open for 48 hours. 
>> Register now.

I GREATLY appreciate the input you have. By signing up to be a course evaluator, you're helping me understand the challenges independent authors and writers face now.

Plus, you'll be able to access my well-reviewed and extensive self-publishing course for a fraction of the price offered to the general public. Win-win!

Click here to learn more about the course and registering as an evaluator.

Thanks for taking a look!

Simply put, your author platform is your audience.

Your audience is composed of your social media networks, your email list, your professional contacts, the folks you know in real life, any groups where you speak or lead, etc.

There are as many ways to build an author platform as there are authors. A strong website can serve as an anchoring base, hosting a blog and promoting and new releases or events. Social media provides a fantastic way to connect with a large audience around specific topics of interest. In-person events such as speaking opportunities or conferences enable you to build visibility in your field and create new connections.

Do you need an author platform?

If you write only for the sheer joy of the experience and are satisfied with any readers luck sends your way, no. You do not need an author platform.

If you hope to build a readership, attract an agent or sell books, yes. You need an author platform.

As Jane Friedman wrote, "Editors and agents are attracted to authors who have this thing called 'platform.' What editors and agents typically mean by platform They’re looking for someone with visibility and authority who has proven reach to a target audience."

While your book may be brilliant, it will be difficult to sell if there isn't a built-in audience for your topic, or if you have no existing audience. Brook Warner of She Writes Press suggests that before you publish, you take the time to build your author platform.

Starting from scratch

Building an author platform with strong credibility, reach and authority takes time. However, there is much you can do in a short time to create your author platform base. Here's what I recommend to get started:

1. Claim your name and create accounts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+ and any other networks of the moment

2. Choose one or two social networks to experiment with and start building a following

3. Create a professional website

4. Start building your email list

5. Become active in the communities surrounding your topics of interest and publication

Once you have a solid base established, every action you take will gradually build your author platform and increase your actual reach and audience.

Need more help? This September, I'm hosting a four-part webinar series that will walk you through the steps needed to build your author platform. We combine lectures with lab sessions and weekly task lists to make the process as easy as possible. If you're feeling lucky, you can enter my raffle to win a free pass to the class.

Click here to enter the raffle.

First, let me be clear. You are not going to sell a lot of books on Twitter alone. Unless you have hundreds of thousands of adoring followers, the likelihood that a stranger will go from seeing a tweet to immediately getting out their credit card and making a purchase are remarkably slim. Luckily, there are more effective ways to use Twitter to sell your books than the ubiquitous "Buy my book now plus link" approach. Professional salespeople use the concept of a funnel to illustrate the sales process.

Consider Twitter is the widest part of the funnel, where people first discover you. It's your job to get them to move down through the funnel to that glorious moment they click the "buy" button and transform from follower to reader. Here are my top ten ways to use Twitter to sell books.

10. Follow potential readers
First, it's all about getting noticed. If you have a profile in mind of the people who would enjoy your books, you can search them out on twitter and follow them directly.

9. Link to your author website in your Twitter profile

This may seem obvious, but just double-check your profile to make sure the link is there and working properly. Go on, we'll wait.

8. Include a picture of your books in your header image

The image of your books provides a friendly, constant reminder that you have even more pleasurable texts published, available in passages longer than 140 characters!

>7. Include the word author in your profile

Again, folks won't buy your books if they don't know you wrote them. If you write on a specific topic or for a particular genre, you may consider adding these hashtags to our profile as well. For example: #SciFi author with keen interest in #Dystopian worlds.

6. Fill your tweet stream with interesting content that has nothing to do with your books

You know that guy, the one that constants tweets links to his books, reviews about this books, awards and news about his book? Don't be that guy. No one is listening to him. No one is clicking his links. He's getting more and more desperate, as revealed by the increased number of exclamation points following each assertion of brilliance. Instead, fill your stream with content that your readers will enjoy reading. For this, I use a magical combination of Feed.ly and Hootsuite. You can see exactly how I do it here.

5. Remember to actually tweet about your books

While it's important to avoid tweeting constantly about your books, don't fear self-promotion so much that you never tweet at all about the wonderful things you created. Your followers WANT to know about your books. Give them a link occasionally. Or perhaps tweet a fabulous line from your book.

4. Tweet links to interesting content on your author website

One of the reasons I love Twitter so much is for its incredible ability to direct large amounts of web traffic to specific places. Remember that sales funnel I mentioned at the top of this article? Getting folks from that first discovery moment on Twitter to actually click through and visit your website is part of moving them through the process. Well written blog posts for fiction authors, and articles for non-fiction authors, provide juicy incentive for folks to visit your site.

3. Run campaigns to collect email addresses

If you can convert a Twitter follower to an email subscriber, you're going to have much better luck enticing them to buy your books. Tools like Rafflecopter make it fall-down easy to run a fun campaign to collect email addresses in exchange for entry into a raffle.

2. Set up a lead generation "Twitter Card"

This paid feature allows you to create a tweet that collects the email addresses of those who choose to click. It's pretty cool and a great way to build your email list. Here's the official Twitter tutorial.

1. Attempt fun

While Twitter can generate some serious traffic and interest in your work, its really not a serious place. People are there to connect with you, the mad mind behind the Twitter handle. Experiment. Play with your posts. The more enjoyment you receive from your interactions, your longevity and effectiveness on the platform will grow. If you hate Twitter, quit Twitter. Try something else instead. There are as many styles of Twitter interactions as there are people. Find what works for you, your readers and your personality.



Want more help with your social media?

Schedule a private social media training: 

Two Skype sessions (or in-person meetings) showing you strategies and tools for growing your tribe and selling your books through social media. Covers Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and YouTube.  Buy it now.  $250 Summer Special

By building an author platform and getting my writing out into the world, I was able to attract a literary agent without writing a single query letter. I am now happily signed with Gordon Warnock of Foreword Literary.

Here are the exact steps my agent took before he decided to reach out to me.

1. He saw my Kickstarter campaign.

I funded my Book Lush project through Kickstarter. While researching another potential publishing project, Gordon stumbled across my Book Lush Campaign. I had a compelling video, professional graphics and a clear description of my book project. Also very important, my Kickstarter campaign contained links to my author website and social media networks. Amazingly, I only had my website up for about three months before Gordon found me.

Lesson learned: Just do it. If I never took a chance on crowdfunding, it's likely my agent would have never noticed me. If you have a project in mind and need funds to get it going, don't wait for a publisher or agent to approve it. Try using crowd funding platforms to raise the money and gain your first readers. I'm going to try Pubslush for my next campaign.

2. He visited my website.

Gordon clicked from my Kickstarter campaign over to my website. Using a custom wordpress templates and my own graphics, I created a professional website presenting myself as an author. From here, Gordon was able to learn much about me.

Lesson learned: Don't wait until you're well-advanced in your author career to get your website set up. Do it now! Even if you have no books to promote, you can still host a blog and other samples of your writing.

3. He checked out my social media networks.

From my website, Gordon was able to click over and view my Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest accounts. These demonstrated that not only do I have an existing audience, but I am willing to use social media as an outreach tool.

Lesson learned: Start building your online community now! Consider it play and experiment with different networks and content strategies until you find what works best for you. Show that you will be a savvy marketing partner for your own books.

4. He bought my books on Amazon.

Just six months prior, I published my Breakup Girl collection of short stories on Amazon. Gordon was able to easily get a sample of my writing and see if my style and voice was a match for him.

Lesson learned: Get your writing out there! If your writing is ready for publishing, find a channel and send it out! A word of warning, some agents and publishers will not consider work that has already been self-published. If you have a novel you would like traditionally published, consider publishing a short story collection, or articles on various media sites, rather than the work you hope to get picked up.

5. He sent me a message through my site.

One of his first questions was something to the effect of, "Do you perchance have a novel as well?" Why, yes! I've been working on a novel for a good eight years (gasp) and am polishing up the final draft now.

Lesson learned: First, have an easy way for people to contact you through your website. I have a contact form. Second, always be planning and working on your next writing project. If you desire a writing career, rather than a single experience, you should have at least one more project to follow whatever you're working on now.

6. He gave me a call.

I got the first call from Gordon when I was on my drive home. I ended up sitting in my car in my driveway for about an hour talking to him about books, writing and publishing. Clearly, we have the same beliefs about the pleasure that comes from books and the brave new world of publishing. We were clearly a match.

Lesson learned: Perhaps you don't have to like your agent for your books to be successfully published, but it sure makes the whole experience a lot more pleasurable if you do.

So what can you do now? If you haven't already, start building your author platform! Get your website up, start building your social networks and get your writing out to readers. There is no one way to publish or become an author. You have your own unique path. However, your path may well be very long and difficult if you do not get yourself and your writing out into the world where readers, agents and publishers may find you.

If you need help building your author platform, I'm running a webinar series in September called How to Build Your Author Platform in 30 Days . If you enter the discount code agent20 you'll get $20 off the cost of the course. Click here to register.

Best of luck on your publishing journey!

When do you know that you're a real writer?

Is it the first moment you pick up the pen and scratch out a sentence, or is back when you are thinking about wanting to write. Is it when you get an agent, or when your first book is published? If you publish traditionally, are you more of a real writer than if you publish independently? Is it when you sell a hundred copies, or become a bestseller? Perhaps after your win a big writing contest you'll be a real writer. Maybe it's when your mom introduces you, "This is my daughter. She's a writer."

So often we wait for external validation to confirm the identifies we long for. We may wait a really long time.

I first admitted out loud that I wanted to be a writer when I was 21 years old. I was living in the French Quarter of New Orleans, furiously scribbling away in black journals while sipping sugary coffee at back alley cafes. My favorite writing spot was right next to the William Faulkner house. My lines dripped with imitated southern gothic sentiment. Certainly I was an artiste, even if I kept a day job at Shell Oil and hadn't actually published anything ever.

When my daughter was born a few years later, it became clear that if I expected her to follow her dream, I better damn well follow mine. To move this whole writer fantasy out of the dark alleys and into the light of day, I signed up to finish my four-year degree at The Evergreen State College, my concentration listed as writing. Here I learned that writing is a craft, something that may be learned and improved upon. Excellent mentors such as Bill Ransom, Steven Hendricks, Bruce Benderson, and Leonard Schwartz taught me how to evolve my prose to something both meaningful and readable.

After a couple brief years of admittedly dramatic improvement, I deemed myself brilliant and ready for the world. I self-published a book of short works and queried at least 50 agents and editors. Thumbing through one of the 500 copies of my book I had printed in advance of certain fame, I realized that perhaps I could have benefited from the assistance of an editor. I found quite a few grammatical errors. Oh well, surely a few spelling errors would not diminish the overwhelming genius of my work, right?

Not so much.

I received about 20 rejection letters, the rest simply ignored my queries. With no distribution, platform or marketing channels, the error-ridden books I paid for with my limited fund simply rotted away in my mother's barn.

Too soon. I went out too soon.

Disheartened, but a tiny bit wiser, I took a job teaching English over seas. Life in Japan inspired me to start work on my first novel. I wrote with abandon. Most importantly, I also read and lived with abandon. I collected experiences and authors as though storing up a great war chest - my writer's war chest.

Ten more years I worked on my craft, starting my own writing group and getting regular feedback, reading across genres and periods, learning about the business of publishing. When I compare myself now with the writer I was when I was twenty-five, I can see how far I've come. I know also have a sense of how very far I have to go. How do you become a writer? You write, read and live. Repeat.
"If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission." - Eddie Colla

No one will point at you and say, "You are a real writer." It's not their job. It's your job. You declare, "I am a writer." And then you write and you learn and you read and you write.

I had stopped waiting for permission when finally an agent knocked at my door. Youthful impatience be damned, it was all those years working on my craft and learning about the publishing world that made me suddenly a beacon for those I once considered gatekeepers. When I had my author platform built, when I had well-written stories self-published and available on Amazon, when I was out in the world joyfully working on publishing projects, that's when I got the call from the agent.

Here's the secret...

 There is no gatekeper.

There is only what you do and what you don't do. It doesn't matter if you want to be a writer, or an entrepreneur or an airplane mechanic, the path is the same. Name your dream. Practice. Learn. Live. Repeat.

One of my clients has written a book called, "My Husband Died, Now What?" and needs to find some readers who would be willing to give her feedback.

For recently widowed women, times are hard enough-without having to worry about money. You may be left in financial chaos after a spouse's death-and become vulnerable to costly mistakes and even outright scams. With this in mind, Debra put together a step-by-step guide specifically for widows: "My Husband Died, Now What? A Widow’s Guide To Emotional Recovery & Smart Financial Decisions"

Any chance you might be interested in being a review reader? If so, sign up here:

What do Chuck Palahniuk, Ursula Le Guin and Louisa May Alcott have in common? They all belong (or belonged) to writing groups.

Writing may be a solitary pursuit, but the solidarity of writing in the company of other writers may drive and focus your effort. A reliable, anticipatory audience makes for a great motivator. It may be that the only people who read your recent words are the five with which you meet weekly, but those eyes may be all the reward you need.

Once you’ve refined your craft and gotten that book deal or independently published, these will be the same people who make sure your first book signing isn’t a ghost town. These are the folks that can tell you that selling 500 books really is quite an accomplishment. They’ll be the ones to tell you how you really sounded when you start your NPR interviews. At the very least, they will write beside you and walk with you on your author journey.

A great many writing groups exist. I guarantee writers regularly meet somewhere close to you. Check meetup.com, look at the flyers in your local libraries and writerly cafes. If you can’t find one that’s right for you, start one yourself! That’s what I did with my group, the Seattle Daylight Writers . Five years later, we’re still going strong!

Here are my eleven secrets to building a better writing group.

1.)  Pick a day, time and frequency that works for you.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is actually very easy to acquiesce to scheduling times that don’t really work with your schedule in order to please the vocal folks that aim for their own convenience. You are the leader and organizer. If the time is difficult for you, you may be able to make it at first, then will struggle, then will skip. Without a consistent leader, the group will falter, weaken and disband. This time won’t work for some people. That’s okay. They can start another group at a time that works for them.

2.)  Be consistent.

Once you find a time to meet that works for you, stick to it. The more regular and reliable you are, the more likely your group will go the distance. There will always be weeks some writers will miss. Or there will be the first timer and will take a couple months of canceling before getting the courage to make their first appearance. If you are always there, Fridays at eleven at Caffe Vita on Pike, writers will find their way to you, or back to you, eventually.

3.)  Respect every writer.

All writers are equal. Every moment of a writer’s journey is valid and worthy, from those just starting and struggling with basic clarity, to those churning out best-selling literary prose on a daily basis. We were all beginners once.

4.)  Decide what you really want out of your group.

Not every writing group is the same. My group gathers to communally ignore each other for 45-minutes of feverous writing. If so moved, we follow this writing period by reading out loud what we just wrote. Perhaps you’re looking for deep critique and your group will share pages beforehand and exchange comments when you meet. Still other groups meet to share prompts, exercises and writing games. Make it whatever you want. There will be other writers seeking the same thing.

5.)  Create an online page.

Your group’s webpage will allow you to schedule sessions, provide information and manage and attract members. I love using meetup.com for my writing group. I never advertised. I simply put it up on Meetup and the writers found me. You could also use a Facebook page, a Google+ group, or a custom site.

6.)  Personally welcome every person that comes.

With as little as a nod and a “hello”, you can make each writer feel welcomed and at ease in your group. It’s amazing how many people feel great trepidation and insecurity to say they are a “Writer” or to do anything that may bring their writing to light or fear of being rejected by “real” writers. A simple, “Hello. I’m glad you came,” can go a long way to transforming a nervous newbie to an impassioned participant.

7.)  Location. Location. Location.

Setting has a tremendous impact on the tone of your writing group. Busy, loud coffee shops may be excellent for inspired writing sessions, but terrible for structured conversations. Quiet libraries work well for editing sessions and one-on-one critiques. Private homes are great for groups of people that already know each other, but uncomfortable for strangers.

8.)  Consider parking and transportation ease.

Things like free parking and bus accessibility can be the deciding factor people for many people if they want to make the trek out to writing group today or not. Groups meeting in urban areas may want to share the best parking strategies, or post which bus routes run close by.

9.) Enlist as many co-organizers as possible.

Your instincts may tell you to protect your precious group by keeping control close and limited to your own whims. However, this is the quickest way to kill a group. Imagine that your writing group will last years and years. One day, eventually, you will go on vacation, or suffer an illness, or perhaps even fall out of your writing groove for a bit. With co-organizers, you don't need to worry about the group dying off during your absence. Plus, the more ownership members have, the better the quality of the group.

I should note here that for my own group I retain sole control over finances and the ability to charge dues. I have not passed that on to any one else. However, I have many co-organizers that host more events. Our group meets three times a week, but I only can make it to one.

10.) Set the tone, diffuse, feel free to boot.

You have the power to set the tone of your group. Whether you would like a group heavy on criticism or instead focused on positive encouragement, your words and actions provide the model for other members. Feel free to speak to any writer who damages the experiences of others. (Preferably in private.) It's very rare, but I have even banished a few people from our group. I welcome all kind of crazy, warmly. Our group is the people's group and open to all, regardless of writing ability, psychosis or quirks. The only time I booted people has been when their crazy interferes with other member's ability to have a positive experience.

11.) Show up.

Remember what I said about consistency? I mean it. You are the heart beat of the group you start. If you skip too many times, it will die.

I love all the people that come to my writing group, whether I know them or not. The camaraderie can't be beat. You're all invited to try out my group if you're in Seattle. If you are in another city, perhaps leave a comment letting us know if you are looking for a group, or if you have one to recommend.

You may read thousands of books in your lifetime, but there will always be those few special ones that impact your mortal trajectory in major ways. Books inspire us, show us glimpses of the kind of lives we want to live, of the kind of people we want to be. For those of us who discover the nature of our souls vary greatly from the people that surround us in real life, books can show us understanding, give us a familiar home.

Three books in particular influences my awareness of myself as an artist and thinker in the world. Without these books, I may possibly have believed the story I was told as a child. The story about how a life of purpose means a life of work at a desk, preferably on computers, 8-5, government-based all the better.

Enter Frederick by Leo Lionni. The particular copy you see in the picture hiding behind my Royal I picked up in Japan. However, I first read this book when I was very young.

This slim children's book tells the story of a little mouse with an artistic soul. While the other mice labor for winter stores, they deride Frederick for sitting and daydreaming. Frederick does not budge. He states his purpose, he is collecting colors, sensations. When winter comes, he freely eats of the food the other mice collected. What a lout!

But then the food runs out, and winter's coldest nights fall over the mice. Now Frederick's work may be appreciated. He tells the suffering mice stories of summer, of plenty, of warmth and sunshine. The little mice feel comforted. They gain peace, joy even, and the strength and perseverance to survive to springtime.

Collecting food is valuable work. Building computer programs is valuable work, so is teaching and business and labor. So also is art, and writing. The way that I work may look very different from the way much of the modern world works, but it is still work.

You know, I did find a life of purpose at a desk, on a computer. My mom was right about that.

Next is Irving Stone's imagined biography of Vincent Van Gogh, Lust for Life . Van Gogh was one of my early obsessions. The Starry Night, Irises, Cafe  Terrace at Night, The Yellow House... I can go on and on. I studied these paintings for hours, captivated by the color, by the audacity of the thick strokes of paint.

Many people have told me this biography is far from fact, and there are better ones about Van Gogh out there, but this is the one that I read when I was thirteen. This book revealed to me that an artist I considered a master actually toiled his entire life to build his craft. It wasn't as if he picked up a brush and BAMN a masterpiece happened.

Van Gogh lived unapologetically off the support for his brother, doing the work that made him happy. Ultimately, his work impacted millions of people, but he never knew that. He just knew that painting called to him, so paint he did. Van Gogh was poor. He received almost no external validation. My own art is certainly no better than Van Gogh's, so how may I be discouraged if money and recognition do not come easy to me?

And finally I offer you Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. Despite the great teachings of the books above, I often find myself caught in corporate clutches, or confused about the importance of things like money and titles. When I find myself stressed to the point of nightly glasses of wine, or when the greatest anxiety I have in my day revolves around A-Thing-That-I-Want-Really-Bad-But-Can't-Actually-Afford, it's time to reread Siddhartha.

I discovered Siddhartha in my twenties, when I was living in Japan. The sweeping view of a life spent began in anxious unease, but ended in sublime peace pours a calm into my spirit that lasts for weeks. Of course, it also entirely kills my productivity, so I must be careful of when I choose to read it. I'm the girl who gets things done. A little anxiety helps me along.

These books have properly ruined my ability to hold a "regular" job or find satisfaction in a daily grind. For that, I am eternally grateful.