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The BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge

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2017 Readers’ Favorite Silver Award Winner (Non-Fiction)!5/5 STARS, Readers Favorite!4/4 STARS, IndieReader! THE SINGLE BEST TOOL every writer needs NOW to build, boost, and grow their author platform.THE SINGLE BEST TOOL every writer needs NOW to build, boost, and grow their author platform. Unsure how to market your book or feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of author platform options out there (or not even sure what the term means)?Ever wish someone could break it down for you in simple steps?Then this is the book for you!Over the course of one month, Rachel provides you daily challenges containing a wealth of information, and easy-to-follow assignments to help energize your book sales. If you haven’t released your book yet, this book will help you set the stage necessary to build the strongest foundation possible for success.

Topics

Twitter secretsFacebook page must-do’sSocial media ideas you might not know or haven’t thought ofPromotion, giveaways, and other book marketing secretsWebsite, blogging, and SEO tips designed just for authorsAll writers, bloggers, and small businesses can benefit from this guide.“When it comes to social media marketing for authors, no one knows more than Rachel Thompson. She practices what she preaches and has helped dozens of our authors enjoy significant leaps in their social media standing.~ Steve Bennett, Founder & Creative Director, AuthorBytes“This book is an amazing compilation of data and resources that only someone with years of experience could pull together. As a book marketing specialist myself, I’m still blown away by the amazing content Rachel provides. If you’re writing or marketing a book, this is a MUST-HAVE.“~ Alexa Bigwarfe, Author Coach & Owner of Kat Biggie Press Digital Media Co.Buy this book right now and get started. Your only regret is that you waited so long!

171 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 25, 2017

108 people are currently reading
93 people want to read

About the author

Rachel Thompson

71 books16 followers
There is more than one author with this name

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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
Profile Image for Tony Riches.
Author 27 books471 followers
January 19, 2018
I’ve been following Rachel Thompson since I first started publishing five years ago – and have been grateful for her advice, which has helped my last three novels become Amazon best sellers. As well as being an author, Rachel has 184,000 followers on Twitter and 12,000 likes on Facebook.

You might think I don’t need her advice now - but things are changing all the time so it’s easy to miss something important. There is no shortage of well-intentioned advice and guidance out there but this is one book I’d recommend to all authors - as it can save you valuable time when you could be writing.

Updated for 2018, Rachel’s BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge offers one good idea for each of the thirty days. Week one focusses on how to get the best from Twitter and I found I was picking up new tips despite being an active user.

I still find authors who think it’s a waste of time or have a picture of their cat and no links in their bio. I’ve met many interesting writers and connected with readers through Twitter, although like most things, what you get from it depends on what you put in.

Week two looks at Facebook – and I’ll admit to being a late and somewhat reluctant adopter. I found this section particularly useful as Facebook keep changing the rules. I’m always amazed at the ‘reach’ the right post can have on Facebook and it offers a very different level of engagement with readers. As Rachel points out, some readers are only on Facebook, so it’s worth creating an author page and following her advice.

Week three considers broader promotion, such as Amazon author pages, beta readers and the sometimes bewildering world of paid for promotion. It took me a while to understand the benefits of giving books away for free but Rachel makes a good case for it. (I watched one weekend as readers downloaded hundreds of free promotion copies of one of my books – then only three left a review.)

In the final section Rachel discusses author websites, rankings, SEO and blogging. The section on understanding the demographics of your readers is very useful, as well as the states on the differing audiences for social media. I had a blog post go ‘viral’ once but never understood why, so it helps if you can use analytics to learn what’s going on.

I’ll leave the last word to Rachel Thompson: “Accept that nobody owes you anything. It’s a privilege when anyone reads our work, let alone shares it or reviews it.”

Tony Riches
Profile Image for Alexis Chateau.
Author 2 books17 followers
December 13, 2020
Helpful book

The book was helpful and well-written, but I'm not gonna lie: it's taken me a very long time to read it. I've ditched it a few times, gone to read dozens of other books and then finally decided I'm going to finish it before the end of the year. That said, while helpful, it just didn't pull me in, which is why I gave it four stars instead of five. A lot of the information was also really outdated, such as Google Plus (discontinued) and a few other social media features mentioned. You can also now do all your tweet scheduling via Twitter. I did see that she published an updated 2020 version. I'm guessing mine just didn't update or it was published as a second/separate book.
Profile Image for Jacquie.
Author 84 books885 followers
March 4, 2018
This is an easy to follow course on upping your social media presence. It has daily exercise links to guide you through the maze of SEO, blogging, making a good headline into a GREAT headline, and so much more!

I found some really great information here and plan on going through it a few more times. It's one of those books every author should keep next to their laptop!

I give The BadRedHead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge 5 lovely kisses- A Must Read!

First posted on It's All About the Romance
Profile Image for Darlene Burns.
Author 17 books59 followers
April 17, 2020
I have been an avid fan of Rachel's body of work. This book was a lifesaver! While trying to decide what my next project will be, Rachel's book gave me the tools to refresh and update my marketing strategy. She is amazing.
Please do yourself a favor is you're an Indie author. You can't go wrong with her tips and guided information for any marketing challenges you may have.
Profile Image for BellaGBear.
672 reviews50 followers
February 12, 2020
Super useful for everyone who is intimidated by social media marketing but has to learn it somehow. The step-by-step guide in this book is enough to help even everyone's grandfather to market his bridge club online!
Profile Image for DK Marie.
Author 10 books160 followers
April 2, 2020
Incredibly Helpful

Great book, filled with a plethora of useful information. It's perfect for any writer new to marketing, or one who's looking to learn more.
Profile Image for Matthew Samuels.
Author 6 books13 followers
January 2, 2020
This is a really good starter guide to social media marketing for authors (and to be honest, almost anyone needing to do marketing over social media). It focuses mainly on twitter, facebook, websites and blogging, before moving onto other bits and pieces.

As the title says, it's split into day-long chunks of advice, which are incredibly digestible. Rachel sets a couple of assignments per day, all of which are very manageable, and she gives solid advice about how to get stuff done, starting with the very basics - have a twitter photo, for example, use hashtags. It's all very pragmatic and hands-on, which is great!

The tactics become more and more advanced as you go through the book - ultimately, linking to articles on things like how to reduce http requests on your website and using the developer portal.

Rachel's tone is chatty and conversational; for some people, this will really resonate - it's friendly, and not overly formal. There's a weird section towards the end where she almost sounds worn out by the act of writing a book - for example, saying things like 'you're asking me *that* question?! I can't even. No.' - this is very 'her brand' and I think aimed at being funny, but seemed like an odd way to relate to your readers!

The other thing - that Rachel does answer a bit further through - is that she recommends a lot of paid-for tools (up to getting a personal assistant) - and I suspect that few authors will be able to pay for *all* of them. She answers this in the Q&A later, saying that you should pick and choose, but I would have liked a few more free tools (or smart alternatives) in the book throughout.
Profile Image for Kay.
1,406 reviews
April 14, 2018
Updated at the end of 2017, this is the best guide to online book marketing out there. In the world of the author-who-must-market and limited by a 24-hour day, this handbook—for social media marketing—is the most-thumbed thing in my eReader. The book, as the online course before it (which changed my life) makes the deluge manageable. After going through the steps of the day, I just ask, “Is this for me now? If not now, when?” And I relax, because Thompson has shown just what needs to be done and how to do it (with screenshots so you can really SEE HOW!). Voilà … it’s manageable!
Starting with Twitter the first week (I LOVED learning how to “verb my bio”!), we move into Facebook the 2nd week—but I stayed with “marketing plans” for a while—so happy this became Week Three. A how-to for this is something I need and the week offers so much--plus clever ways to market on Amazon. The last week shows us all about our author website and “other” social media. I chose Instagram to spend most time with and was rewarded richly! Tips for Instagram had appeared earlier in the book, making a full package for this outlet.
I especially liked Day 22 -- Importance of a Professional Website, Ranking Data, Domains -- the area out of all the 30 days where I have most to learn. Again, the scary topic was made manageable and I sighed with relief and hope for my own site improvement!
What I hope is that the ebook will be updated along with important changes to the social media venues Thompson describes. Meanwhile, it’s my go-to for social media book marketing.
p.s. One of the most valuable things I learned and always pass on, is that “marketing” does not mean “the hard sell”—it means promoting the book (and the author!).
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Vaneka Rich.
149 reviews34 followers
January 22, 2023
Useful Tool

I purchased this book in Aug 2018 and I’m just now reading it (Jan 2023). I purchased it to give me fresh and/new ideas (that I may have not been already using or just simply unaware of) to assist with book marketing campaigns for my author-clients. I found some of the information very helpful, because I’ve used the strategies myself &/ learn about some that I haven’t been aware of.

What I disliked about the book was that it was a bit outdated (even thou the book was updated July 2022). And, I didn’t agree with some of the delivery: posting links to read more information on a topic, when it should have been included in the book as the author’s expertise/experience and/or perspective/advice, or the fact that the author kept telling us to "Google It." Honestly, we could have googled it instead of purchasing the book, but we purchased the book to get the info from the author. Yet, we still had to end up googling, so in my opinion… money was wasted for that very reason. Not to mention the broken links (404 links) and the constant promotion of the author’s platforms, as well as the author’s colleagues/contacts platforms throughout the book. That was overbearing.

Overall, the book has potential to be a useful tool. Was it helpful, yes! However, it should have been no self-promotion (except at the end of the book) and more details &/or content instead of all the links to other articles, etc.
Profile Image for Anniken Haga.
Author 10 books90 followers
September 21, 2018
I picked up this book for free a little while back, and I know it supposed to be a 30-day read, but I ended up reading it all now anyway.
I will also be honest and tell you up front that I did not do all the challenges. Why? I didn't start reading it for the challenges, but for the info.

And, on that note, there was a lot of info here!
Sure, most of it is pretty self explanatory. Do this, do that. It wasn't anything I haven't really heard before.
The big difference was that this book actually explained how to do those things. It actually gave me links to where to do this or that, and told me how best to do the other things. It was actually really interesting and informative!

It was also fairly easy to read as it was spaced out the way it was. There was some info dumping, but not so much that my head felt like it would fell off as some of those marketing books or blogs can do to you.

My biggest problem, I think, was the constant ''follow me here or there''. I totally see it in such a book, and the first few times I actually laughed a little at it, but it got to a point where I rolled my eyes. With my current health issues, I didn't want to use energy on reading the same thing multiple times. I don't have that to much to give.
Profile Image for Colin.
Author 5 books141 followers
February 21, 2018
A fantastic guide to marketing for the modern author

This book was sadly not as useful for me as it might have been - after 3 years of publishing my work, I found out most of the useful stuff in this book the hard way, on my own. That having been said - how I wish I had this book 3 years ago! I would not have HAD to figure it all out on my own! Thompson lays things out in simple terms that even the fairly computer-illiterate like me are able to follow! Any authors looking to build their platform and market online should check this book out!
Profile Image for Kay Castaneda.
Author 4 books27 followers
August 18, 2018
Excellent!

I am so glad I read this book! Rachel Thompson explains what authors can do to market their own books. She organized the information in small manageable sections, with an assignment each day, so readers won't be overwhelmed. I learned valuable information about how to use social media that I never would have discovered on my own. I plan to keep this book handy as a reference for market my book. The list of resources at the back of the book is a plus for readers who want to advance their book marketing education.
Profile Image for Rae Stoltenkamp.
Author 24 books12 followers
Read
April 17, 2020
A no nonsense approach my mother would have thoroughly approved of. Chock full of tips and links to guide the way. Would recommend getting the latest edition. Had some trouble getting mine to download but that may well be down to my internet connection. You may notice it's taken me two years to get up the courage to give this a try. It seems Lockdown has helped me sort out that fear at any rate.

If you're like me, chewing your fingernails to the quick and beyond with anxiety about this. Just follow Rachel's advice and get even a teeny bit more savvy. Go. Go. Go do...
Profile Image for Susie Ramroop.
Author 16 books11 followers
October 21, 2020
Must read for Authors

I've read a lot of books on book marketing since my book came out and this is the most direct, simple, straight forward, actionable one. It's highly curated so while short will send you into clickdom so read it over 30 days and absorb the articles she recommends. Great book.
Profile Image for Andrea Hintz.
Author 30 books91 followers
December 2, 2021
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it as a staple to any new author. It really teaches about building web presence, which is a must. I’ve had this book for a couple of years now and go back to re-read it when my book marketing skills get a little stale. I seem to absorb something new each time. Thank you to the author for sharing all of this wisdom and God bless!
Profile Image for Carin Camen.
Author 27 books41 followers
January 4, 2023
Funny and Fast Paced Do It Guide

I quickly read through this 30-Day book marketing challenge to gain insight to the time commitment needed for each day. I found the book to be informative and filled with Thompson's funny personality.

I was pleased to find that I had much of what she discusses already completed. I'm now looking forward to delving deeper into the days that I'm needing to take action on.

I highly recommend reading and taking action.
Profile Image for K.N. Tristan.
Author 3 books26 followers
April 25, 2018
Lots of good info that manages to skillfully span the ability levels from beginner to advanced marketers. One star off because there were a lot of typos and not a lot was done to transform it from an email course to an actual ebook.
Profile Image for Karen Hugg.
Author 11 books107 followers
November 15, 2018
Excellent resource for writers who want to promote their books primarily through online means. Thompson goes step-by-step through the entire process: social media, author platform, blogging, SEO, etc. She's an amazing woman.
21 reviews1 follower
February 2, 2019
A must read for any author

In easy to digest bite sized chunks, Rachel provides a simple way to increase your fan base and get your books and yourself out of your cave and into the light in 30 days. Where can you be one month from now?
1 review1 follower
September 8, 2019
Incredibly Helpful

Super helpful, direct and clear. I cannot wait to put this in action. I had to keep reading because it was so exciting how she helps you build up.
I wonder if there will be an updated version at some point?
Profile Image for Iseult Murphy.
Author 32 books137 followers
April 12, 2022
Amazing resource

Wow, this book covers EVERYTHING about creating your author brand and marketing your brand and your books. Everything is covered, and the 30 day format breaks each step down into manageable pieces. Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Horace Jr..
Author 4 books17 followers
April 12, 2018
A must-read for every author. Great insights on setting up and creating your author platform in preparation for launching/marketing your book/s. I highly recommend this book!
Profile Image for David Shorb.
Author 5 books5 followers
June 24, 2018
This book is awesome, and well worth the time and money. Lots of great advice here.
Profile Image for J R Reed.
Author 1 book2 followers
June 26, 2018
My book is about dating on the autism spectrum, a very niche topic and I think a lot of what I read will work even for a niche book. I’m excited to try it out
Profile Image for Ailish Sinclair.
Author 11 books457 followers
April 18, 2019
Extremely useful resource for any writer, and an enjoyable read too.
Profile Image for David Sexton.
7 reviews
July 7, 2023
A Great Resource for Any Author

I am new to book marketing and Rachel covers it all. Now I just need to get to work! This book will be a resource that just keeps giving.
Profile Image for Si Clarke.
Author 16 books107 followers
March 9, 2020
This review applies to the paperback edition of this book.

Are you an author? Do you read books on Kindle? If you answered yes to *both* of these questions, then maybe this book is for you.

I use Apple Books, I use Kobo, and I read paper books. I do not have a Kindle device and I do not have the Kindle app on my iPhone.

This book came highly recommended by other indie authors, so I checked it out. I saw it was available on Kindle or paperback, so I bought the paperback.

Why?

Seriously, why is this book available in paperback? What's the point? It's full of hyperlinks. Now, sometimes those are long strings of texts I can faithfully type into my browser to check out, fair enough. But other times, they're just random bits of underlined text. For example:
"Give her a follow on Twitter here."

Erm, sure. Why not? Oh, wait. I can't.
Or how about this:
"Treat your writing like a business because it is."

Is that a hyperlink? Emphasis? [shrug]

Anyway, this book may well contain all the wisdom in the world when it comes to book marketing. I wouldn't know.

If you don't have a Kindle, you may as well pour your money in the toilet. But don't really do that; it'll clog your pipes.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews

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