“Book marketing is the land of trial and error, not the land of sure bets.”

We chat about promotion strategies for authors with Ed Cyzewski on this episode of The Author Biz.

When an author colleague asks what you do to market and promote your book how do you answer? Do you have a sustainable marketing and promotion strategy? Or do you just copy what you see other authors doing?

Write without Crushing Your SoulIf you have a strategy is it something that’s sustainable, or did it make you miserable during your last launch.

Today’s guest is Ed Cyzewski. He released his latest book, WRITE WITHOUT CRUSHING YOUR SOUL, as a category number one bestseller at Amazon last week. The book teaches a common-sense and more importantly a sustainable approach to building your career as a writer.

Obviously, two components of a sustainable writing career are marketing and promotion, and that’s our focus for today show.

Ed Cyzewski WritingIn this 34-minute episode, we’ll cover topics like making long lasting connections with readers, understanding your audience, networking, social media and the value of an active and growing email list.  

Show Notes:

  • Ed Cyzewski released his new book, WRITE WITHOUT CRUSHING YOUR SOUL, on November 10th. On November 12th, his book ranked #1 in Publishing and books and the top 5 in two other categories.
  • Ed relies on a definition from Tim Grahl (guest in episode 22) when asked to define marketing. “Make long-lasting connections with people, be relentlessly helpful and meet a need for them.”
  • Pray Write Grow CoverThe value of relentlessly being yourself when it comes to connecting with readers.
  • The importance of understanding your target audience and speaking directly to them. Ed targeted WRITE WITHOUT CRUSHING YOUR SOUL, to authors who value a healthy, balanced approach to their writing career and have a spiritual element to their lives.
  • The duality of social media, which Ed sees as both a blessing and a curse.
  • Ed views finding your own specific way, rather than mimicking the practices of other successful authors, as the best way to use social media.
  • We discuss the value of networking to authors and how to ask for promotional help from author colleagues when you need it.
  • We walk through the launch process that Ed used to launch WRITE WITHOUT CRUSHING YOUR SOUL as a category bestseller at Amazon.
  • Ed added roughly 2,000 people to his email list by doing a NoiseTrade promotion before his release. (www.noisetrade.com)

Links:

Purchase WRITE WITHOUT CRUSHING YOUR SOUL at Amazon.

Ed’s Website www.EdCyzewski.com

Learn more about The Examen

Addie Zierman’s WHEN WE WERE ON FIRE

NoiseTrade website

Ed’s post on Jane Friedman’s blog

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.

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Thanks to Ed Cyzewski for joining us this week.

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