Coming June 10th… Feedback & Critique

Goodreads. Amazon. Twitter. Your aunt Linda while passing the potato salad at Thanksgiving. Once your book is out there, people are going to tell you what they think about it. Sometimes it’s soaring praise that gives you a special glow all day/week. Sometimes it’s soul crushing criticism that makes you question if you should even be doing this. Sometimes it’s uninformed bullshit that makes you want to fire back with a storm of facts (probably don’t do that).

Learning how to receive feedback and critique graciously, and how to corral the feelings associated to their proper place, is a necessity for a career in publishing. Join us on Sunday, June 10th at 4pm PT | 7pm ET to discuss how we handle it, and how we could handle it better.

Coming March 18th… Instagram

romance writers chat topic march 18th instagram and snapchatWe’re continuing Social Media Marketing Month this Sunday with Instagram!

Scrolling through Instagram can be the ultimate time waster with the emphasis solely on the visual senses. It’s not the marketing heavy giant of Facebook and Twitter, but many writers say it’s on it’s way, and it’s selling their books. Do you have an Instagram author platform? Is it important or not to selling books? (We might touch on Snapchat this week too. Do you use it? How’s it different from Instagram? Does it do anything for marketing books?) 

Let’s chat about it, Sunday 4pm PT/ 7pm ET.

Coming March 11th… Twitter

romance writers chat march 11th social media marketing month twitterFor March 2018, we’re doing Social Media Marketing Month. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Goodreads… to name a few. We’ll be chatting about each one in the coming weeks.

Sometimes the Twitter timeline can feel like chaos, and tweeting can feel like you’re shouting into the void. While RWchat provides built-in engagement through the question and answer format, engaging on Twitter outside of the chat can be a bit trickier. Oversharing, undersharing, how much is too much? Let’s talk about engaging on Twitter outside of RWchat on Sunday, March 11th, 7pmEST/4pmPST.

Coming March 4th… Facebook Marketing

RWchat topic facebook marketing march 4th

For March 2018, we’re doing Social Media Marketing Month. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Goodreads… to name a few. We’ll be chatting about each on RWchat in the coming weeks.

Facebook is an ever-changing beast. Just when you think you’ve figured out how to get engagement, they change the algorithm and everything falls into chaos. But lots of authors have great success with sales and have a significant fan base on Facebook. Tell us about your experiences with the social media giant. Is there any way for us to be authors and sell books without it?

Join us Sunday 7pm ET / 4pm PT.

Coming Feb. 11th… Kissing

It’s Flirty February! Join us for a whole month devoted to romance-specific chat topics.

Romance Writer chat topic February 11 Kissing

First kisses. Last kisses. Soft and sweet. Grab you by the hair and ruin your life (in the best way). No matter what heat level you write, there’s a lot riding on the kiss. In fairytales, true love’s kiss is magic, but that’s a lot of pressure on the page. How do you live up to the kissing hype and do it justice for your readers and your characters? Let’s talk about all the ins and outs of locking lips on Sunday, February 11th.

Coming Jan. 28th… Making A Marketing Plan

Romance Writer chat topic January 28 Making a Marketing Plan

Love it or hate it, marketing isn’t something you can wing—not if you want it to be successful. Before diving into the specifics of any individual platform, the first thing you need is a plan. When done right, your overall marketing goal weaves together frequency and different types of platform content to create a comprehensive blanket that is thoughtful and timely. Join us Sunday, January 28th 4pm PT / 7pm ET and dive into making a marketing plan that helps take the mystery (and maybe the misery!) out of marketing your books and your brand.

Coming July 9th . . . Summer Goals

2017-07-02

Graphic by Alexis Daria

How’s the year going so far? A lot has happened this spring and so far this summer. Come chat with us about your successes and your struggles. We’ll check in with our expectations for the year and reassess our goals for the rest of 2017.

Join us Sunday 4pm PT/ 7pm ET on #RWChat.

 

Coming July 2nd… The “Starving Artist” and Other Damaging Creative Myths

Graphic by Alexis Daria

We studied those “Starving Artists” in school. Those creative types lauded for making self-sacrifices and mining their depression for the sake of their art. But this leads to a damaging stereotype: we’re not great creative minds unless we’re shrouded in misery. No. We can use our life struggles to help us write, but suffering is a not a requirement to write good books.

Come chat with us about how you combat artistic stereotypes. Sunday 4pm PT/ 7pm ET.

See you then!

Making the Library Your *Fan(girl)

arcs and reviews graphic

Graphic by Alexis Daria

Our guest today is romance specialist librarian, Frannie Strober Cassano. She’s a sought-after panelist for RWA and RT, a crusader of diverse books, and a presenter at RWA chapter meetings. She’s here to tell us the secrets about getting our books onto library shelves and into the hands of patrons. 

—-

If you are anything like me, you are spreading your love of Romance through professional discussion, hanging with friends, and on social media. Since I am a librarian, I also do this through Collection Development (purchasing guidelines). I handsell and do what’s called Readers’ Advisory at my Reference Desk, in the stacks, or elsewhere in Libraryland.

 

Like you, we librarians look for creative and unique ways to make your books stand out (by new-release and/or appeal, etc.). Marketing can be a huge part of what makes that successful.

Continue reading

Guest post from Kristan Higgins: Organic Marketing

 

We’re thrilled to have an article from Kristan Higgins, New York Times Bestselling author. It was originally published on Romance University, but she’s letting us share it with you here!

—- 

Please no, you’re saying. Not another article on marketing! I know, I know. They’re such a drag (except THIS one, of course). And we authors do so much already. We’re tired!

 

Don’t worry, my lambs. Organic marketing is different and in some respects, easier, because all it requires is authenticity, an eye for why your readers reach for your books and a little time.

Continue reading