After a month of responses were collected and analysed, here are the end results:
5. How Promising is the Future of Indie Writing?
Not surprisingly, most who took part in the survey saw a promising future for independent publishing.
6. How Strong is the Sense of Community Between Indie Writers?
Again, most people who answered the survey found a very strong sense of community among independent authors. Meeting other writers on twitter and other social media makes me feel like I'm not alone in my struggles. On days when nothing seems to be working, I have a small group of supporters who lift me up when needed and give me a kick in the pants when that's what I need.
7. Do You Belong to Any Writer's Groups?
Yes - 45.71%
No - 54.29%
Some people stated they don't have time to belong to a writers' group. The opposite is true. Belonging to a writers' group can actually free up a great deal of your time. How much time do you spend each week on promotion and marketing your product? Wouldn't it be more efficient to have a whole group of writers marketing your product with you? Groups like Authors Social Media Support Group do this extremely well and we have no intention of competing against them. Suckers Guild has a very different focus.
8. What Sort of Help Would You Like from a Writers Group?
Overwhelmingly, most authors said they wanted help with book promotion. In the past, writing groups were formed primarily to improve the quality of each member's writing. Today it's all about increasing sales. The two are not mutually exclusive. All things being equal, improving the quality and quantity of your writing should increase your sales.
When I teach marketing classes, I tell my students quality is defined as "meeting or exceeding customer expectations". Suckers Guild can help you understand the needs of your customers (e.g. your readers). This will increase retention rate (e.g. guaranteed purchase of future books) as well as increase your brand awareness (e.g. become known to new customers).
I recently did a marketing series on my own blog. You can find it here: Marketing Articles
I recently did a marketing series on my own blog. You can find it here: Marketing Articles
One of the key goals of Suckers Guild is to make marketing and promotion of your product much easier and more time efficient.
The last two questions were comment fields. Instead of making this post another 5 pages long, I'll break them into separate blog postings. For many of you they will be the most informative sections.
Check back tomorrow for those.
Questions:
Why do you think so many people need help with promotion?
Why is promotion so difficult?
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