Hi Matthew!  Welcome to the Pluggio Blog.  It’s always a pleasure to speak with an author.  How do you describe your books?

My writing touches on events that not only I’ve experienced, but others as well.  When somebody picks up a book with my name on it, I hope that they’ll laugh, they’ll cry, and hopefully be inspired, and when they turn that last page they’re able to walk away with a lesson learned. Maybe even feel a little better about themselves and their lives.

What do you write about?

Thus far, I’ve written about events that I have experienced – as a person, husband, father, son and just a regular guy.

I just released the second edition of my book – My Emily.  It tells the story of our first daughter who was born to us some 20-plus years ago with Down syndrome. Just two years later, she was diagnosed with leukemia. It shares our journey from her birth, the diagnosis of both conditions, her passing and how we’ve tried to move on. It’s my hope that our story can help others who have special needs children, little ones battling a pediatric cancer, as well as parents who are grieving the loss of their child.

My next effort will be an attempt to describe spending the last five week’s of my mother’s life as she slowly passed away from vascular dementia.  Some may think I cover sad or depressing topics, but I try to deliver them with sensitivity and splashes of humor. As I said previously, I try to touch and to teach the reader, hopefully making them laugh, perhaps cry and- fingers crossed – be inspired.

That sounds like a really powerful and helpful story for a lot of people.  How did you get started as an author?

My background is heavy in journalism and marketing communications. I’ve worked in broadcast and print journalism, public and media relations, as well as marketing for non-profit hospitals and agencies. Each of these included their fair share of writing. I just love to write and the day came where I turned a newspaper column about Emily into a book that could possibly help others.

What role does Twitter play in your business?

Jason, Twitter plays a massive role in marketing my book. I am a self-published author and it is one of the very key components in spreading the word about my work. In networking with other authors, we cross-promote each other almost each and every day. Why share a handful of tweets with just my followers – when I can have up to 30 or 40 authors sharing it with theirs?  So not only am I promoting my book – I’m promoting for dozens of other authors as well – and some of them are best-sellers who have very loyal followers.

I noticed on your website you’ve been offering My Emily both on Kindle and as hard copies.  Which has been more popular- electronic or physical copy?

Without a doubt – the electronic copy has easily outsold my paperback. There are a couple of reasons for this.

First, the advent of electronic readers now makes it so simple for someone to download a book in less than 30 seconds. My marketing efforts on Twitter have been to promote the electronic version of My Emily.  My tweets take them directly to my book’s page and they can download it in just seconds. If they still love the feel of having a book in their hands, they also can order the paperback then and there.

And the second reason my electronic version is outdistancing the paperback is simple – price.  The electronic version of My Emily sells for only 99 cents, compared to my paperback priced at $9.99. The pricing of ebooks now allows you to have best-sellers in your hand in less than a minute and more often than not, for less than what a Starbucks might cost you.

What social networking sites exist for authors? 

I’ve barely scratched the surface on what’s available out there for authors. I wrote my book and thought that by getting on Facebook and Twitter I was going to have a best-seller in no time.  Boy, was I wrong!

I am currently on Twitter (@myemily_thebook), as well as having facebook pages for My Emily and for myself as an author. These outlets have allowed me to meet and network with some truly wonderful people. On Facebook, I belong to a couple of private groups that solely cater to self-published writers and these have helped immeasurably!

Interesting!

In addition to these outlets, I was introduced to the WoMen’s Literary Cafe (womenslitcafe.com) by best-selling Kindle author Karen Baney.  She is truly a wealth of marketing knowledge, and introduced me to the concept of cross-promotion and that by using it in a book launch, it could really bring my book out to others.

What was her advice?  How did she use it?

Well, the launch for Karen’s book Nickels was be handled by WLC, whose sole purpose is to help the independent author market their work. Their site – created by best-selling author Melissa Foster – is a site coordinated by independent authors for independent authors. It is a family. If you have a question – everyone pitches in to answer.  If you have a last-second tweet to go out to the masses – everyone pitches in and fires them off.

That’s very cool!  Kind of a collective promo team, huh?

I owe a massive amount of gratitude to Karen, Melissa and everyone at that site. It has taught me how to market, how to lose yourself helping others, and that there’s a lot of time and effort associated with marketing a book.

Do you think giants like Amazon or Barnes & Noble will create some sort of network for readers/writers?

Well, just months ago, Amazon created a Kindle Direct Publishing Select program.  It has generated a great deal of conversation, opinions and controversy.  For me, as a self-published writer, it has been so very helpful when I consider the following: reaching new readers and sources of royalties, as well as worldwide promotion.  The details of this program can be long and confusing, but for me, I needed visibility and it has delivered. I think each author and each book are different. For some, it works and for others, it doesn’t. But I do believe that if you’re truly marketing and promoting on-line and specifically, with social media, the odds are in your favor.

What kind of results have seen from the program?

Since Dec. 31, almost 6,000 electronic copies of My Emily have been downloaded. I know there are a lot of other books out there that boast much larger numbers. I feel very fortunate for each and every download or paperback purchase. I was basically sitting at the starting line – point zero.  I can sit here and say the combination of Twitter, Amazon and most importantly, a group of truly invested individuals made My Emily a Kindle bestseller in the categories of Spirituality/Inspirational and Parenting and Families/Special Needs.

Are there any of your accomplishments with social marketing that you are particularly proud of?

Jason, I don’t think my accomplishments come in the form of numbers actually. I’ve been attempting to use social marketing for more than a year now and I’m just starting to make a very small dent when it comes to “success”.  There are a lot of people out there proclaiming they’re the king or queen of social marketing. Perhaps they are. For me, I want to be hands-on with the marketing for my book. Given its content, it’s obviously very important to me. I don’t believe anyone can give it the attention that I could.

People are just starting to learn about me and my book.  I think that says a lot about all the outlets I’ve already mentioned.  It’s a lot of work, but it is exciting and rewarding when you get a very heart-felt review from the other side of the globe or when you see sales are picking up. When you see that, then it makes it all worth it at the end of the day.

2,000 people following you- wow!  How did you build your following?  What kinds of people/businesses are they?

It’s been a long road, to say the least. I had no clue about how to build a following on Twitter.  I figured if I set up my profile – people would follow me.  Similar to the line in the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” Not so.  I initially tried to find anybody or everybody that could help me promote my book – anyone from authors, publishers, local media and PR types. Thing was, not many were following back.

I finally decided I was only going to choose those whom I knew or had met through other avenues on-line.  I primarily look to follow self-published/independent authors, health care professionals/organizations, non-profits, as well as pastors and churches.

How will you choose who you will follow?  What do you look for in a follower?

I tend to be a lot more selective these days. I do recommend to others to do some housecleaning, so to say.  There are numerous websites out there that allow you to clean out followers who may not be following you back or those you later find out aren’t a match for your needs.

I’ve had someone hijack my account once and almost had to start over. Not fun.  It’s not easy to follow someone back at times. For me, I read their profiles and their tweets to see what they’re about. I look at how many tweets they’ve sent out in comparison to their following/follower totals. I look at the last time they sent out tweets.  I think everyone really needs to look closer at who’s following them before they follow back.

If you could go back to when you first began using social media, what is one thing you would have done differently?

I would’ve tried to find another independent author who was generating success and ask them questions. In the beginning, I wasted a lot of time and simultaneously became discouraged.  I got lucky. Through cross-promotion, I met one very successful author, who in turn, introduced me to another successful author who was networking with a group of authors. I finally learned how to market. I would tell people first and foremost to network with people who are in their industry.  I have been blessed to be surrounded by some very genuine individuals interested in my success.  I, in turn, am motivated to help them to the next level.

What does Twitter do for you that nothing else can do?

Short and sweet.  In 140 characters or less, it can lead millions of people around the globe to me and to the story of an amazing little girl. Can’t ask for more than that!

What lessons have you learned about Twitter and online marketing?

I think the biggest lesson is to treat Twitter and on-line marketing as the very valuable tool it is.  You have to be consistent … consistent …. consistent. It won’t happen overnight. Each and every day, make sure you take the time to let people know what makes you or your product remarkable.

Follow Matthew on Twitter here.

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