Susan Colleen Brown, Writing instructor and author will be teaching at CAC17 and took a little time out of her busy schedule to tell us more about the session she will be teaching:
High Touch Marketing in a Digital World – As technology migrates into more aspects of our lives, forging personal connections with readers is crucial to an author’s success. In this session, we’ll discuss high-touch approaches and incorporating them into your marketing efforts. We’ll explore authors’ communities and how you can enhance your book events. We’ll also brainstorm ways to bring more of a personal touch to online interactions and look at authors who have mastered high-touch outreach.
Have you been riding the social media book promotion train without getting much traction? Maybe it’s time to try “high-touch” marketing strategies—making real-world connections to share your book.
I first heard about high-touch marketing from Chanticleer’s fearless leader, Kiffer Brown, at one of her talks to a local writers’ group. Coined by Tesla CEO and game-changing thinker Elon Musk, the phrase “high touch” has taken on a new resonance as the publishing industry continues to shift and evolve more rapidly than ever. So how can we leverage high-touch to our advantage?
When I published my first book, a backyard farming/follow your dreams memoir, face-to-face, hands-on reaching out was standard: visiting and/or phoning bookstores and libraries, lining up lots of author talks and events, getting into print media and distributing hard copy marketing materials. These venues took lots of time, energy, and money, but they were effective!
Two years later, publishing my second book, I was dealing with a different genre (women’s commercial fiction) and an entirely new publishing landscape. With the exploding popularity of ebooks, who needed all that promotional heavy lifting? Even unknown authors could release a good story with a halfway decent cover online, and voila! Ebook sales happened organically! Several glorious years passed in which ebook sales overall rose steadily. All you had to do was sit back and let the good times roll while you worked on your next book.
As they say, all good things must come to an end. The last two years or so, the publishing world has taken another ground-shifting turn. Authors are now releasing their books into a market flooded with titles, and reaching out to consumers inundated with entertainment choices. Social media content continues to explode. Tried and true marketing strategies are losing effectiveness as authors scramble to find the next magic book-promotion pill.
So, how do we authors distinguish ourselves, our brands and our books in this crowded marketplace? Refocusing on high-touch tools, whether online or off—might be the “special sauce” you’re looking for! In the CAC17 session I’m leading, “High Touch Marketing in a Digital World,” we’ll share and discuss both face-to-face and digital marketing venues, how to cross-pollinate the two, and how high touch can help you negotiate the publishing industry’s ever-changing new normal.
I look forward to meeting you at the Chanticleer Author’s Conference 2017!
About Susan
Susan Colleen Browne weaves her love of Ireland and her passion for country living into her Village of Ballydara series, novels and stories of love, friendship and family set in the Irish countryside. She’s also the author of an award-winning memoir, Little Farm in the Foothills, as well as the Morgan Carey fantasy-adventure series for tweens. A community college creative writing instructor, Susan runs a mini-farm in the foothills of the Pacific Northwest. Coming up: Book 4 of the Ballydara series, and a sequel to Little Farm in the Foothills!
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