Congratulations go to Amy Bovaird, our contest winner. She’ll receive a copy of Jeff Goins’ brand new book The In-Between. Email me at Deb@DebraLButterfield.com with your address and I’ll get it sent right out.
As you can see, I spent my weekend, redesigning, and I hope, making improvements to my website. I still have some work to do, but I’m learning CSS code as I go. We are all on this journey together, learning our craft and the tidbits of everything else that go with being a freelance writer.
Now, let’s move on to today’s marketing tip.
Market Yourself with Free Products
Whether it’s a tight economy or not, people like to get free stuff.
While you build your publishing credits and platform, you can market yourself (and any products you may have) by offering your readers a free eBook you’ve written, or a simple pdf document that focuses on your niche area of expertise (generally in exchange for their email address). Createspace has an eBook option, and I’ve done some research on Smashwords.com as well.
(I’m accepting guest blogs. Do you know about creating eBooks.)
A pdf is easily created on your computer and can be distributed to your readers directly via email, as a download on your website, or even through a mail service such as MailChimp.
Offering these items will build your mailing list, get your name out there, and give your readers a taste of your work (and ready for more). So make sure whatever you offer is the best you have to offer at that time.
Debra L. Butterfield © 2013
Did a good job on your site, Debra! Do you have a post planned on how to use these various options to offer PDF freebies?
Angela, I still have to build a child theme to make more changes to the site. It’s challenging, but I feel good about tackling something new. Always learning! I hadn’t planned a post on pdf’s, but I certainly can. I’ll make a note of it and see what I can do to post on it before the month is out.
That was a great post, Debra! I offer free song lyrics but that doesn’t seem to inspire many people. Your post inspires me to offer some of my short stories and / or chapters for signing up for my blogposts. I’m working on an ebook that should come out in December right before Christmas on CreateSpace. A positive way to start the week! Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed the post, Amy. I admit, it is hard to know just what to offer. It is a matter of offering different things and testing to see which ones do the best. Good luck and God’s best with your eBook.