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February 21, 2011

Five (Easy) 5-Minute Marketing Ideas for the Unmotivated and/or Lazy Author

For more 5-minute marketing ideas, check out our 5-Minute Marketing Ideas Generator!

Photo: myphotosshare blogspot | Flickr

I know, I know — using the word lazy is bound to make me the recipient of more than a few nasty looks. I mean no offense, though! Honestly, we take ‘lazy’ as having a negative connotation, but I don’t agree. After all, who wouldn’t like to spend less time working on something and still have it yield a positive result? I call that being efficient!

Let’s face it, we’re all time-strapped and/or motivation-strapped every now and again. Even sparing just five minutes on marketing your book, however, can go a long way towards helping you meet your sales goals. Think of it this way: take just 5 or 10 minutes every day and you’ll quickly have something going!

With that in mind, here’s a few tips to turn even a quick five minutes into a productive marketing opportunity!

Five 5-Minute Marketing Ideas

  1. Find 10 fellow authors to follow on Twitter. Enter the #amwriting hash tag into Twitter’s search box for a great, easy way to connect with fellow authors! You can learn an amazing amount from observing them — how they interact with their readers, what they post on their blog, how they market themselves through Twitter. It’s free education!
  2. Post a contest on your blog. Whether the prize is a free autographed copy of your book, or even just a few items you’re looking to get rid of around the house, contests drive traffic (and potential readers) to your blog.
  3. Comment on a favorite topical blog. Choose a post that has inspired you recently and leave a comment. Be sure to include your blog/website address! Just speaking from personal experience, I often click on the websites of commenters who offer an interseting perspective on a topic.
  4. Complete a quick revision of your media kit. Read through each page, updating any information where necessary. Have you been featured in any media or won awards? Add this information to your author bio!
  5. Post a discussion question on your blog, Twitter or Facebook page. Interact with your fans/readers — it proves to them that you’re a real person and can help them feel more connected to you.

I know you’re all short on time, so go out now and put one of these tips into action! Do you have another quick marketing idea? Try out #3 and leave us a comment below!

Marketing Motivation

Shannon and I are always looking for ways to help you guys stay motivated toward your goals. This month, we’re introducing two new mailing lists to do just that. Last week we unveiled our Writing Motivation list and today we’re following suit with one for those of you in the marketing phase of your book’s lifespan by introducing our Marketing Motivation mailing list!

Signing up for the list is totally free, and each month you’ll receive an article like the one above to help you stay on track, links to other helpful resources and opportunities to connect with other authors in the same phase of the publishing process as you — kind of like a support group! Give it a try today and receive your first e-mail on March 1st (right around the corner)!

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  • I’m a big fan of anything that allows me to to be lazy, so thanks for this!

    Tawna

  • Perfect timing! I attended a frugal marketing seminar over the weekend.

    Thanks for these tips.

  • These tips are good, especially because I’m feeling very unmotivated and lazy today. They’re simple, too, and I never knew about the #amwriting hashtag before this. Works for me. The more I can learn from others the better. With contests I have a harder time. What would the rules be? How would that work? As for Facebook or blog discussions, I’ve had little success getting interest on Facebook discussions but that may change the more I manage to attract readers.

    Thanks for this! Very brief, perfect for a lazy, unmotivated day.

    Elisa Michelle

  • Toni

    So glad the tips could be helpful! Let us know how they work for you :-) I’ll definitely be checking out your websites, too, so #3 worked on me!

    PS – Elisa, if you want more details on contests or how to attract more readers, just shoot us an e-mail!

  • Toni, I might just do that. I was about to start up a contest but don’t really know what to do or where to start or how to even go about it.

    Oh, and I am gaining more traffic. Not too many comments, though I’m commenting more and more on other blogs the farther down the blog hole I tumble.

  • Ilana Katz Katz

    I love this. There are little things we can do to help other authors and to let people know about our own storytelling. Thanks again Duolit. :-) Have a great day!