• website / blog site
• traditional media
• events and activities
• social media
• communities

A printed mini marketing plan was provided for participants so they could choose which areas they wished to focus on and prioritise their scheduled actions.

Below is a PDF copy of the presentation which will give you an idea of what we covered, and a copy of the mini marketing plan if you wish to go through it on your own.

Note: If you are interested in a facilitated workshop based on this presentation and marketing plan, please register your interest by email or at a meeting.

Marketing for Authors Presentation

Author Mini Marketing Plan

Becoming an Expert – The Book, The Journey and The Lessons

In 2008, author and speaker Sally Thibault set a goal to write a book, after the encouragement of friends at a dinner party.  After the second bottle of wine, it sounded like a great idea, and five years on and three books later, the journey can only be described as exhilarating. From speaking at Rotary clubs on freezing winter nights, sometimes to an audience of five people – to appearing on National TV and Radio, featuring on a global telesummit with over 2,000 people, developing a career as a recognised professional speaker and recently being interviewed on American television, the road has been both challenging and extraordinary.

Whilst writing a book was an achievement, learning to master various social media platforms, self promotion and marketing was the key to establishing credibility and expertise.

Sally Thibault is a professional speaker and author specialising in inspiring people to live happy, healthy and conscious lives. She is the author of three books, David’s Gift, Aspergers, Life and Love; Aspergers Bullying and School and Wise Mothers, Raising Children in the Social Media Era, currently the basis of her new progamme – How to be Happy, Healthy and Free.

She is passionate about raising awareness of families living with Autism through her role as Guest Lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland and Research Partner with the Centre for Autism Studies, Bond University.  She has featured regularly on National Television, Radio and Print media and is currently the Parenting Expert on 96.5FM’s, Live Well, Be Well Radio Show. She is a Trustee of the Goda Foundation and current Committee Chair of the annual Goda Foundation Gala Ball.
Website: www.davidsgift.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aspergersparentconnect
Twitter: www.twitter.com/SallyThibault

ne of the reasons for my being inducted was because I’d won the Telstra Businesswomen’s Award and a couple of innovation awards for work I’d done with technology.

There are an ever growing multitude of options available for author marketing which can be confusing to navigate. We’ll take a look at what social media channels you can use, identify what is most useful to your needs, and develop a custom mini marketing plan for you. Please make sure you bring a pen to complete the take home worksheet.

Julie Boyd

Julie Boyd is a published multimedia author and a prolific writer. Julie has written and published professional learning books for many years, and has been published in numerous national and international journals, national and online newspapers and magazines. Julie has also made major sales of her publications through the strategic use of technology and social media. julieboyd.com.au/writing/

Jeannie Barker

Jeannie Barker has extensive online experience in marketing, publishing and creating websites and blogs for authors, businesses and individuals. Recently creating the online magazine, Authorpreneur, Jeannie has worked for educational organisations in their marketing and publishing departments and her articles have been published in magazines, newspapers and on the internet. www.jeanniebarker.com

Date: Wednesday 20 March
Time: 10:00am-Noon
Venue: Broadbeach Library, 61 Sunshine Boulevard, Mermaid Waters

My goodness, the year is flying. March already. This year has certainly started with a bang, with some rather memorable experiences over the past few weeks.

I was fortunate enough to have some dear friends visit from California. Having not seen them face to face for fifteen years, their physical presence was made even more unforgettable when they took me to Dreamworld to walk with the tigers. To feel the muscles and energy of a 200kg animal tensing as she crouched into pouncing position under threat, made overcoming all types of adversity seem possible.

A second personal experience comes from having grandbabies who are Japanese-Australian and being able to share in some wonderful, ancient, traditions. This week ‘little girls day’, Hana Matsuri, is celebrated by all girls, their mothers and aunties across Japan, and is a lovely opportunity for my girls to try on their new kimonos.

A third experience is that I’ve been going through my accumulated ‘stuff’ in a major cleanout, and I’m having great difficulty parting with many of my books. I had the same problem when I had to let go of my library of 3,500 books in moving here from Tasmania, but they were mainly professional books and I did find them a good home. The ones I have left now all have memories attached to them, therein lies the problem in letting them go. No doubt many, if not all, of you also have books which are precious to you. I’d like to invite all of you to bring your favourite, or most precious book, or books, along to the next GCWA meeting for a small activity I’d like to share. Be assured our books will not be harmed in this process.

Below are some links you may find interesting or useful. Don’t forget to check the GCWA website to see the new updated version if you’ve not done so already. I’ll look forward to seeing you all at the March meeting.

Favourite Quote this month

So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters. Virginia Woolf

Don’t forget

The Stringybark Erotic Short Fiction Award 2013 Closing date for entries is 31 March 2013. Details at: www.stringybarkstories.net Entries for Finch Memoir Prize ’14 open 1 July & close 20 August. www.finch.com.au/node/9

Bits and Pieces: Some links for you

The changing face of libraries. http://ow.ly/i9wAQ

A fascinating profile of New York City’s next great poet who’s only 12 years old. http://ow.ly/i2OiF

A self-publishing success story: www.randomhouse.com.au/blog/my-selfpublishingsuccess-story-1515.aspx

What is it like publishing a short story collection?: www.zenashapter.com/blog/?p=5588

Insider advice from bestselling authors and industry experts in Publishing Talk Magazine: http://bit.ly/ptmagazine

What Agents Really Want www.publishingtalk.eu/web/what-agents-really-want/

A great interview of a famous author today www.clancytucker.blogspot.com.au (via Darryl Greer)

Why abandon “criticism as we know it and start sitting down with audiences” at readings? Lattter excludes former? http://jacket2.org/article/bookhistory-and-poetry-reading

A bookstore tour of England velvetescape.com/2013/02/bookstore-tour-of-england/

Cheers, Julie

Accomplished with many online tools and concepts, Jeannie assists writers with the technology to build their ‘brand’ by educating them in using WordPress to manage their website / blog, utilising social media to build their fan base and promote their books. She also offers her services for creating self-managed websites and has completed sites for numerous authors, individuals and businesses. Jeannie specialises in setting up custom WordPress websites because she loves the WordPress platform: “it empowers people to manage their own website / blog and makes it easy for authors to rank well on Google because Google loves fresh content.”

Ever eager to expand her knowledge base, Jeannie regularly attends workshops and training to keep her skills honed in an ever expanding online market. She also enjoys attending seminars and conferences on personal and business development by world-class presenters; most recently having attended Dale Beaumont’s vibrant New Rules of Business seminar in Brisbane.

Jeannie’s latest creative project is the development of a magazine for author entrepreneurs – Authorpreneur Magazine. It is available online on the website www.authorpreneurmagazine.com, as a digital magazine, in the App Store and as a print-on-demand magazine. She has received a great response from noted authors worldwide offering contributions of articles and stories about their authorpreneurial journeys and is excited to share knowledge on the constantly evolving opportunities available for authors to build a brand and market their products.

Not one to sit back and take it easy, Jeannie is also kept very busy with family, including caring for her mother and spending time with her very active and ever-curious 4 year old grand-daughter – who may just be taking after her grandmother with her love of technology.

Annette Henderson

Annette Henderson was born and educated in Brisbane. Her love of remote travel and other cultures began in 1973, when she and her husband drove overland from Calcutta to London in a Kombivan. Two years later, working in an isolated mineral camp in Gabon, West Africa, close to the Congo, Annette’s lifelong love affair with Western Lowland Gorillas began. Inspired by her close interactions with the gorillas, she returned to Australia and took an Honours degree in Anthropology. She has taught in universities in Australia and Indonesia, and has worked as a middle manager in higher education for 17 years. She has been a full-time writer since 2005, and holds a Master of Philosophy in Creative Writing.

Wild Spirit

Her first book, Wild Spirit How a year in the African rainforest changed an Australian woman’s life, was published in 2009 by Random House Australia. Annette’s wildlife articles and photographs have appeared in Wildlife Australia Magazine, and she actively supports great ape conservation. Annette has recently completed her second book, also set in Africa.

Scorched

In a Volksagen Kombivan, long before the advent of global positioning systems or satellite phones, they risked all to pit themselves against everything the desert could hold. Searing temperatures, shifting sands, hostile officialdom and trackless wastes challenged them daily, and forced the 29-year-old Annette to discover strengths she was unaware she had.

Scorched is the inspiring story of an extraordinary adventure and a journey of self-discovery, rich with unforgettable human encounters across language and cultural barriers.

Told with passion, humour and insight, Scorched takes the reader into a world few independent travellers dared to tackle in 1975, and is a thrilling prequel to the story of Annette and Win’s life in the remote mountainous rainforest of Gabon recounted in Wild Spirit.

“Annette is a mesmerising speaker. You will find yourself wishing she could continue to talk well on into the evening!”

Book Launch – Van Derek ‘The Neptune Vortex’

This is a multifaceted occult mystery set in Australia, Hong Kong and Yangshuo in China. The characters are caught in a time vortex during the devastating Queensland floods of 2011, whirling them back to the 1860‘s Gold Rush and a Chinese Rebellion.

Caroline Glen is having some new business cards printed to promote her poetry editing service. And, as usual, she is busy writing poetry and entering poetry competitions. If you are interested in poetry, have a chat with Caroline when you see her at the next meeting.

Next meeting 23 February, 9am (QLD time)

Topic: Use an idea of a well-known story and ask, what if?