Marketing as Ministry

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, marketing, Newsletters, Readers, Social Media, tips, writing 4 Comments

by Elle E. Kay @ElleEKay777 It’s common in the Christian fiction market for authors to believe that promoting their own writing is prideful and self-promoting. I get it. I’ve felt it. I’m an introvert, which makes talking to people hard enough. Add my fear of looking like I’m bragging, and I can become paralyzed. But what if we’re looking at …

Every Writer Needs a Room of Strangers

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, marketing, tips 7 Comments

How I Learned to Stop Relying on Favors and Start Finding True Fans by Fayla Ott When I first started this journey, I imagined that one day, everyone I knew would be utterly amazed that the literary genius they’d overlooked would rise from the ranks of the ordinary. And no, I wasn’t picturing myself dancing with Patrick Swayze. That would …

Lessons Learned from Birthing a First Book

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, Books, marketing, writing 6 Comments

by Linda Dindzans, M.D. Authors often compare the writing of their books to the birthing of a baby–– the fleshing out of a spark of an idea, the crafting of a plot that encourages the growth of well-developed characters, and the striving and pushes at the end to meet deadlines. The launch of our first book is celebrated with friends …

The Invisible Pillar of Author Platform: Money

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, marketing, Newsletters, tips, writing 10 Comments

By Barbara M. Britton Does social media sell books? In the recent webinars I have attended, the answer is no. Social media may help in the “Rule of Seven” where a reader has to see a book seven times before they buy it, but purchases from social media do not seem to be significant. Not to mention the horror stories …

Branding: Isn’t that for cows?

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, creativity, Faith, marketing, writing 2 Comments

by Melody Morrison Apparently, nearly everyone on the planet has some degree of ADHD or ADD. We have a society that requires it. The speed of life and volume of input is dizzying. Most of us never knew a name for it besides “scatter-brained” or disorganized or distractable. The good news discovered by educators rests in strategies. Categorizing, using planners, …

How To Find Your Audience by Honing Your Brand and Genre

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by Donna Wichelman @DonnaWichelman In a November 4, 2020 blog post, Tyndale House Publishers CRAZY4FICTION TEAM asked, “What genre novel should you write?” To help readers hone in on their genre, they had to answer ten multiple-choice questions that narrowed their options to one. Interestingly enough, when I took the test, Tyndale House’s final answer to which genre I should …

Doing Big, Crazy Things

ACFWAuthors and writing, Encouragement, Faith, Fear/Doubt, marketing, writing 3 Comments

By Sara Davison Have you ever made the spontaneous decision to do something you know is crazy but that you also know is absolutely the right thing to do (but it’s still scary)? That’s how I felt a few weeks ago when I decided I was going to release a book, The Color of Sky and Stone, this November that …

Five Things I Learned from Launching a Book

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, creativity, Encouragement, marketing, Social Media, tips, writing 4 Comments

By Felicia Ferguson @Felicia_writer 1: Marketing a book is more than hosting a launch party. From guest blogs, to book reviews, to social media posts and ads, the author must be 70% marketer and 30% writer. Yes, I know. Most of us writers didn’t major in PR or Marketing in college. If you’re like me, you have nightmares that book …

Mismatched in the Yoke

ACFWAuthors and writing, Friends of ACFW, marketing, Social Media, writing 13 Comments

by E.V. Sparrow With all the social media ads, gurus, and writing organizations flashing their beacons before us every time we do searches on any platform, how do we choose which ones are good for us as authors? Instead of flashing neon words telling us things like, “Stop here, we promise you success, or we love all authors, and will …