Your Book is Just the Beginning: Multiple Income Streams and Author Platform Building

Multiple Income Streams from Your Book 
by J.Q. Rose

 Money Maker
Photo by Mister GC. Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Your book is just the beginning of a new career for you. I had a "light bulb" moment last summer when I discovered D'vorah Lansky's website, Build a Business with Your Book and her amazing program for authors, Book Marketing Challenge. While the 30 day program emphasizes building your author platform, in the third week D'vorah opened my eyes to using a book as a springboard to new opportunities for enlarging your platform and earn multiple income streams. I was intrigued with the idea because I never thought beyond writing a book. I guess I was so focused on the writing, publishing, and marketing, I never thought about ways of making money with it other than selling it.

D'vorah Lansky
Founder, Build a Business with Your Book

Did you write a fiction book whose character is into designing clothing? Then focus on sewing or tailoring to extend your reach. Did you write a non-fiction how-to book? Use your expertise in the topic to expand your audience and build your list.

Whether your book is fiction or non-fiction, here are some ideas to add some pennies to your piggy bank:

• Write articles on your topic for magazines and ezines
• Monetize a blog you write on the book topic
• Speak in front of audiences about the topic and you will be known as an expert. You may get paid for your speaking engagement and/or sell books at the back of the room.
• Appear in webinars/teleseminars as a guest or host experts/authors
• Interview on podcasts experts in the field
• Be a consultant or coach and get paid for it!

These action plans may help you get your name out there and sell more books as well as open doors to new opportunities.

Have you tried any of these methods to build your platform and/or earn more from your book? Can you add to the list?
Leave a comment for us. We'd love to hear about your experiences.

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Quick Tips on Vegetable Gardening: Starting Your Garden
First in the series

One of the ways to build your author platform is to have a LOT of great books in your list. So if someone likes your book, have one ready for them to come back to buy. The series idea works for fiction and non-fiction books. 

I am trying this idea out by publishing an eBook series with my husband, Gardener Ted, on vegetable gardening. This is the right time of the year for sure. When I released the eBook on Amazon on Feb 15, 2015, the book was a top 100 seller in crafts/hobbies and vegetables categories. At this writing it is in the top 100 in the seasonal category. That is exciting!

Back of the Book:

Do you want to savor vegetables grown in your own back yard? Save money on food? Add healthy vegetables to your diet? We can help you with quick, practical tips on growing a vegetable garden. Learn how to get ready for gardening, how to plan a garden for four seasons of eating enjoyment, how to start seeds, and more. Quick Tips for Vegetable Gardening is dedicated to offering you quick tips and advice for you to grow veggies in a garden plot, container, raised bed, or vertical gardening. This eBook is written with clear and concise tips to get you started.

The purpose of sharing these gardening tips is not only to advise you on best gardening practices, but also to afford you the opportunity for a satisfying and fulfilling experience with a garden that produces delicious vegetables for your eating pleasure year after year. 

The authors have years of experience growing their own vegetable gardens, producing plants in commercial greenhouses, and owning and operating a garden center. They know how to grow a productive garden. Order the first book in the Vegetable Gardening Series, Quick Tips on Vegetable Gardening: Starting Your Garden, and watch for more eBooks in the series jam-packed with information to help you produce delicious vegetables for your dinner table.

Get your copy today for 99 cents.

Buy Link: Amazon

Tell friends and family who are interested in gardening about these quick tips. Thank you!

Time to Celebrate at the Book Marketing Blog Hop

Welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog! Thank you for stopping in. Today is party time!! Help yourself to the cake and punch on the festive table decorated with these gorgeous red roses. We're getting together to celebrate the completion of the 30 Day Book Marketing Challenge with an amazing Book Marketing Blog Hop. 

For 30 sessions D’vorah Lansky of Build a Business with Your Book hosted informative guests who shared their knowledge and experience in their special fields of book marketing. What a fun time for learning about new methods for marketing and getting to meet and network with professionals who try to shed some light on the overwhelming task of getting the word out about our books. D’vorah was so organized and her speakers were generous with their tips and information.  I learned many new-to-me strategies, and I am anxious to try them!

The next time I'm a guest blogger on an author’s blog, I plan to use a tip I gleaned during the workshop in my own book marketing. (A guest blogger shares stories about writing their book, speaks on a topic chosen by the host, or answers an  interview style Q & A. She also has the opportunity to promote her book.) When guesting, I will include a link back to my blog so the reader will pop over to my blog to download a free gift such as a list of tips on my topic, a report. or even a teleseminar. I have compiled recipes in cookbooks that I think would be a worthwhile free gift for readers. When they hop over, they may spend time looking around the blog and sign up for the gift.  I’ll add the reader’s email address to my list and hope to have an ongoing relationship with website visitors.

You're invited to hop on over to visit the other authors who are also throwing a party at their blogs. You’ll pick up some useful tips on book marketing too. Remember,  cyber party food and drinks contain no calories! Enjoy!

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Inspiring and empowering girls
to achieve success in their dream careers

Take a peek at my non-fiction book for girls--

Girls Succeed! Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women is an interactive e-book filled with dreams and passion to inspire, entertain, and empower girls. Fifteen remarkable career women in a variety of occupations share their stories in these pages. Explore careers which include women who have discovered cures to stamp out disease, made people laugh, earned Olympic and p\Paralympic gold medals, and drove across the country in the cab of an 18 wheeler.

To discover more about the book and to learn about incredible role models and trailblazers, visit The Girls Succeed Blog.

Girls Succeed! is available at Amazon and major online booksellers.

Teleseminars and Webinars--Are They for You? This Week, Giveaway

Webinar Time

Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This past couple of months I have been taking time to listen and watch teleseminars and webinars You've heard of seminars so you are probably familiar with the idea of a group of college students or in our case, writers, getting together to exchange information and discuss a topic. 

A teleseminar is an audio only seminar and a webinar is a video with slides and/or live presenter leading the workshop. The ones I have watched are FREE. Yes, free. I know you are thinking the information is worth just what you pay for it. Think of the FREE seminar as a promotion tool because the last ten or fifteen minutes are devoted to explaining the presenter's book, e-course, program and offering it for a good discount. I don't begrudge them the time to reach the audience with their goods because most of the time I have gleaned a nugget of information that I will try out for myself or been inspired to continue a project. Sometimes I do check further into their books and make a purchase when I feel more in-depth information would benefit my goals for my books.

Looking over my calendar I see I have attended several presentations this month either live or in replay. The replays are fine for me since I can watch them on my own schedule. When watching or listening to the live seminars, you can ask questions and interact with the speaker and guests.

Recently I watched a marketing seminar by Danny Iny, a Scrivener tutorial, information on how to make a tips booklet, and probably more that are not on my calendar. 

I am now attending a thirty day Book Marketing Challenge with D'vorah Lansky.  D'vorah is a book marketing guru with lots of experience in marketing non-fiction books, but this challenge can also be used by fiction writers. 

http://buildabusinesswithyourbook.com/

 If you have not published a book either traditionally or self-pubbed, you will not realize how much time and effort is needed to sell your book. I'm sure you suspect writing your ms is just the beginning--editing, re-writing, submitting, and then the marketing once you have signed the contract (or even before.!) Let me tell you, the "getting the word out" about the book is very important and can become all-consuming.

D'vorah and her guests have opened my eyes to many possibilities for more exposure for my book  She is well-organized and very professional. I'm sure she is reaching a lot of new people who will opt in for her program. And I am sure many of her guests are selling their books and information because of the Book Challenge. Yes, I am checking out all the resources mentioned on the Challenge too.

Have you participated in any seminars online? What was your experience with them? Are you thinking of producing a teleseminar,  webinar, podcast, or appear as a guest or host on blog talk radio? Please share your ideas for your book promotion ideas.

This Week:

Thursday, May 22--We are wrapping up the Seeds of Inspiration Spring Event this week with my turn to share my inspiration for writing and to give away my cozy mystery/sweet romance, Coda to Murder. Please stop in and share your inspirations and leave a comment to enter the drawing for the e-book.

Monday, May 26--Happy Memorial Day in the USA. Burgers, brats, and hot dogs will be on the menu for sure. This weekend is always the official unofficial opening for camping in Michigan. Whatever you do and wherever you are, I hope you have a fantastic holiday weekend!