Orlando Reads Books – Workshops Part Two

Orlando Reads Books Convention in Altamonte Springs, FL offers advanced writer workshops for two days prior to a public booksigning. These are my notes, and any errors are due to my misinterpretation. This is a summary of what I learned.

Tackle the Trifecta Touch – Email, SMS, and MMS with Dana Claire

Newsletter Optimization – Create an automation sequence, such as five sequential emails with a welcome message, reader magnet, reviews, author events, birthday gift. Or talk about different aspects of your book.

Connect with your readers where you can find them. Write. Click. Engage.

SMS stands for Short Messaging Service (i.e. text messages). MMS stands for Multimedia Service.

Average 20% open rate for emails and 98% open rate for texts.
Average 2% clicks for emails and 30% clicks for texts.

There are SMS marketing platforms such as Simple Texting, Attentive and others.

Get readers to subscribe via website, forms, popups, QR codes, superfans, social media. Entice subscribers with a reader magnet, discount codes, swag items, or an audiobook freebie. Collect opt-ins and provide an opt-out. You must provide a means for them to unsubscribe.

Give value to get value. With each message, introduce yourself. Use short keywords such as “free” or “book.” Content can include updates, pre-orders, book sales, new releases, review links. Make it about them, not you. Send a birthday gift. Present an inner circle vibe. Include a call to action with links. For texts, there’s a character limit. Make sure you respond to each message. Vary the content for email and SMS.

Elevating Your Author Business with Aria Bliss

Set Goals.
Branding and packaging to market.
Build a backlist.
Core marketing/advertising focus

GOALS should be prioritized.
Production and Publishing – word count, timeline, publication schedule, production
Marketing and Advertising – Set a sustainable monthly income then raise it. Like, start at $500/month then raise it to $1000, $5000, and 10k a month.
Reader Engagement via social media and newsletter.
Superfans/Reviewers/Bloggers

Review sites – BookSirens and Booksprout. She limits copies to 100 arcs. Check how long each site keeps your book up for review.

BRANDING

What is the look and feel of comp authors?
Subgenre packaging
How should your brand look?

WRITING TO MARKET

Evergreen Tropes – Enemies to Lovers, Second Chance, Fake Dating, The Chosen One
Trending Tropes – Reverse Harem, Age Gap, Bully Romance, Stalker Romance, Taboo

See The Trope Thesaurus and TV Tropes

Book One to Book Two 50% sell-through is good. Should be higher for Book 2 to Book 3.

Stay in Your Lane. Stick to one genre and keep your promise to the reader.

Readers love Easter Eggs. Use crossover characters and interactive maps between books.

MARKETING PLAN

Define your goals and set a budget.
What are your desired results: To make money? To revive a backlist? To increase traffic to a series? Promote a new release? Gain new readers? Get Facebook ads to work? Raise your book’s rank on Amazon?

Utilize stacked email promos, Facebook and AMS ads. Skip ads on preorders and start them the day before release.

Writing Action/Fight Scenes Realistically with L.E. Perez

Utilize the five senses.
Set the tone.
Determine how you want the reader to feel.
Avoid gratuitous violence.
Use your own experiences.
Be aware of slang terms, i.e., a whooping versus a beating.
Violence differs upon location, i.e., urban setting versus the suburbs.
Self-Defense is blocking, not attacking.
Break away when you can and run.
Watch the movie “The Forbidden Kingdom” for good fight sequences.

GIVEAWAY

Enter Now to win two free cozy mysteries from Booklovers Bench.

Orlando Reads Books – Social Events

Thursday at the Orlando Reads Books Convention in Altamonte Springs, FL focused on writer workshops. Friday morning had several more workshops, followed by lunch with sandwiches, pasta salad, chips and cookies in the ballroom. After this meal came a Mastermind session where authors could ask questions of industry guests.

Friday night was a Masquerade VIP Reader and Author Dinner. Many attendees wore costumes and/or masks, but others did not. Some authors had reserved tables to sit with their fans. Otherwise, you could sit wherever you wanted. Dinner was a salad, chicken with sides, and cheesecake. I sat with author Corinne Kenner and her husband. Since the dinner started at 8:00 pm and I was commuting, I left early.

Saturday morning had a Book Panel with Elite Authors, a Reader Café for New Releases only; and then Author-Reader Speed Dating. For the speed dating, authors were assigned tables. Our table had six authors and four empty seats. There was little guidance as to how this was supposed to work except someone in charge yelled out every five minutes that it was time for readers to switch tables. We each gave our spiel, and I handed out postcards. It was a good way to meet readers but it would have been better with fewer authors per table and more readers. Also, the moderator could have used a whistle or bell to sound the time.

The Book Fair was Saturday afternoon. I shared a table with cozy author Natalie Palma. Saturday night was a pajama party, but I did not attend.

Note that this hotel was warm, not chilly like other places. But it was also undergoing remodeling with some doors left open to the hot air.

Here are authors JoMarie DeGioia and Jessica Baker:

Coming Next: Writers Workshops

GIVEAWAY

Enter Here to win two free books from Booklover’s Bench in our monthly giveaway.

Orlando Reads Books – Overview

This was my first time attending the Orlando Reads Books Convention. It’s a three-day event held at the Embassy Suites in Altamonte Springs, FL. The first two days were “Industry Days” with workshops for advanced authors. These talks blew my mind with info I hadn’t heard before. Topics included Mastering the Art of Ad Strategy, AI in Your Author Business, Tackle the Trifecta Touch – Email, SMS and MMS, Strategizing Your Way to 10k a Month, and Author Direct Sales. The speakers were excellent. I took notes and still need to absorb all the data.

Saturday held reader events. I participated in the Author-Reader Speed Dating. Authors were assigned tables, and there were six authors at mine with four empty seats for readers. The moderator could have used a bell to ring when it was time for readers to switch tables because she had to shout to be heard. I gave out a lot of postcards and hoped to see some of these readers at the signing.

A lunch break of an hour and a half followed. We were on our own, and I’d brought my lunch from home. At 1:30, we began to set up for the booksigning. VIP Readers would be allowed in at 2:30, and the doors would open to the public from 3:00 to 6:00. We’d been given seating charts ahead of time so it was easy to find my spot.

Overall, book sales for me were disappointing. I sold only 4 books, swapped books with 2 other cozy authors, and gave one away for the raffle. But… I met a lot of people, gave out postcards to readers, and attended some powerhouse workshops. I’d say the majority of writers did contemporary, paranormal or urban fantasy romance. Someone said paranormal romance is swinging toward fantasy. A smattering of cozy authors represented the genre.

I’d signed up to share a six-foot table and that was adequate. It didn’t appear that displaying books on racks made any difference to sales. I had fun seeing what other authors offered for swag. The usual magnets, key chains, candy, pens, stickers and other goodies prevailed. I liked the glow headsets one author provided. QR codes were popular among this crowd. These could send readers to Bookfunnel for a free book, or to a retail site or a newsletter signup. The codes were engraved on a fan, put on a sticker at the back of a lollipop, or came on a business card.