Tag: author info

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5 Free Ways to Continue Your Author Education

September 23, 2021– We’re almost done with our theme this month: continuing education for authors! We’ve covered topics such as how to launch your book, travel writing sub-genres, how to stand out from the crowd, and everything in between. Be sure to subscribe to our blog (on the right-hand side of your screen) so that you never miss a post!

Today we’re talking about 5 free things you can do to continue your education as an author:

  1. Read books. There are so many books out there on a number of topics! You can find subjects on marketing, social media, how to write for your specific genre, and more. There is an endless array of things that you can study to improve your craft and your business acumen. By using your public library or participating in a book swap/little free library, you can get loads of fabulously free information.
  2. Library classes. The library is another great resource for classes, workshops, and free seminars! I’ve done free talks on self-publishing, traditional publishing, and marketing for authors over the years and have also attended some classes at the library as a student. Check your local listings to see what’s up and coming, and most libraries offer a course catalogue online. Use the resources available to you and take classes in what you’re interested in!
  3. Free online seminars. I can’t even begin to tell you how many free online seminars I’ve taken over the years, and some of them have been absolutely vital to my growth as a publisher. Use Google to search free seminars for whatever topic you want to learn about. You’ll be surprised at what you find. Keep in mind that free online seminars are usually tidbits of info presented so that you’ll enroll in their course, but some of that free info is invaluable!
  4. Blogs.  As you know, this blog is free! There are many great blogs that are also free of charge and contain tons of valuable information, tips, tricks, best practices, and insight. Blogs are great because usually they’re written in a conversational, easy-to-understand tone for even the most difficult fields of study.
  5. Podcasts. Podcasts offer a well of free information that is uniquely portable. You can learn about pretty much anything you want from a podcast, and I especially love them because I pop in my Airpods and go about my day. You can listen to podcasts on the road, while cleaning, while working out, and past episodes are easy to access if you can’t write something down that you want to remember later. Our podcast is available here, and we constantly give away free, valuable information for authors: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-hfi92-10dfda6

Lack of funds is a weak excuse for not continuing your education; there are free resources available to you; you just have to find them and, most importantly, put them into practice! Happy Learning!

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Psychographics

March 16, 2021-Oh boy! Today’s question has me VERY excited because this area of marketing is one of my MOST favourite! Let’s dive right in:

Q: “I’ve recently heard the term psychographic segmentation used by a member of my author’s group. I didn’t want to sound daft, so I didn’t ask what it meant. The internet doesn’t go into great detail about how it works for book marketing. Can you explain?”

A: YES! I would LOVE to get into this subject and I could talk about it all day! Ok, without getting too heavy handed, I’ll explain this as simply as possible. There are four types of market segmentation: Demographics, Geographics, Behavioural, and Psychographics. In marketing and publishing, we segment the markets to gain valuable information about who is reading our books, where they’re from, why they buy, and what their reasons for buying are; that’s where Psychographics comes into play. Psychographics from a marketing definition is focusing on the consumer’s emotions and values so that we can market to them more effectively. For example, in publishing, we look at the area of psychographics to include personality, attitudes, values, interests, and lifestyle. But, what does this mean and why does it matter for your book?

Well, the more you know about your reader the better! As an author/self-publisher, you need to know your audience so that you can help them pick the best possible book choice that you offer to suit their needs. Let’s do a simple case study:
Your reader is a college educated, 35 year old, single father of two six year old twins. He believes in teaching his children about the importance of imagination, saving the planet, and having fun at the same time. The kids go to private school and enjoy activities that include swimming, dance, and rock climbing.

What types of books and products could we recommend to the father based on the information above? Books about twins, books about single parent homes, books about adventure, books about the environment, books about swimming/ competitive sports, books that help with reading and vocabulary, books about imagination and teamwork, and the list goes on. Perhaps we could recommend adventure writing courses for the twins, or other classes that are well within their age group and capabilities, we could offer the father a literacy workshop and how to ignite the love of reading in his children, and whatever else we offer that would be appropriate based on his values, interests, and lifestyle.

So, as you can see, segmenting markets is invaluable to your success in helping your reader find books and courses that they love. Keep the questions coming! Send us yours at pandapublishing8@gmail.com and check out some of our classes and workshops here: Best-Seller Bootcamp – Pandamonium Publishing House, Children’s Book Writing Master Class – Pandamonium Publishing House, Transitioning from Writer to Author (An Introductory Course) – Pandamonium Publishing House