¶ Welcome and Amazon Author Formula
Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast . This is Penny Sansevierie and Amy Cornell and we are so , first off , we're super excited . We want to thank Joe for your latest review . Joe , I just read your . We were in the green room . I just read your review to Amy . We're very excited . Thank you , we're so excited , amazing .
We're so glad that you , that you love the show , and to all of our listeners if you're new here , welcome , welcome , welcome . We have a lot of shows . Take a look at our backlist of shows .
In whatever app that you're listening to , we we rarely is our content really out of date , but if anything ever gets out of date , we uh , we definitely create you know , we definitely do updates on shows and things like that . So we want to welcome all of our new listeners and welcome back to everyone who has been listening with us for a while .
I talk to so many people who now who come to us from the podcast , so it's pretty amazing . And the Amazon author blah , sorry , apparently I can't talk . The Amazon author formula workbook is done . I know I've said that , like the last , I think , five shows , but as an author , we all know that there's a , there's a , there's a progress to books .
That's weird , like you tell me , but all my book is done , but it's not really done . Done right , they understand Right . So it's going to get uploaded . I actually started the pre-order upload last week , so it's going to get uploaded , probably this week and we'll put the pre-order on .
So the next time that we record a show or the next show that we record , we'll have a pre-order date and all the good things and all the bonuses and all of that . So I'm very excited about that . This show is really .
It's one of those things that is something that we have not covered before and I have to tell you it's about a guilty pleasure of mine and , I think , also Amy's . So we're talking today about Reddit in particular , doing author events on Reddit , and Amy , you and I talk about Reddit a lot just in terms of some of the research we do and stuff like that .
Yeah , it's amazing . I you know and I it's . I try not to get too far down the rabbit hole because it's so easy to do on Reddit , but there's just something about the authenticity . There's a lot of no filter feedback on Reddit and insight and opinions and things like that .
So I just really appreciate the platform as a source for information and finding out things I don't know . It just seems , I don't know what the right word is for it , but I do it for true crime , I do it for research , I do it for personal things that I like .
I look up dog things , like going on with my dogs , you know and it's just amazing how much great information and insight I've found on Reddit before .
Yeah , and I think that it is often an overlooked research tool . I mean I like it because I mean , even though , like with any quote unquote social media site , you're always going to get people who are you know where it's a little you get weirdos and things like that . I mean that's kind of everywhere .
It's part of being on the internet , but a lot of the information that I find on Reddit , just in terms of research , has been really , really helpful when I'm deep diving in particular topics , whether it's proportional or for the authors that we're working with .
This particular strategy is something that I've read about and it's called doing a Reddit AMA and AMA stands for Ask Me Anything , for Ask Me Anything , and I was reading about this author who did a , who had a little known book , was just at a book launch and did an Ask Me Anything , did an AMA and had over a million views to that Reddit thread , and I
really feel like you know Reddit , you have to be careful on Reddit so you can't be self-promotional , but Ask Me Anythings are designed to basically what the name says , so you ask the author anything , and one of the reasons that I like this is because anybody can really do this .
So this author wrote a fiction book based on a nonfiction premise and basically the Ask Me Anything was about that premise and then obviously she talked about the book . So it was promotional , but it wasn't really promotional , if that makes sense , right .
And we are going to talk about how to get into , how to get a Reddit AMA , because you , you could , you could just tee up a string in under a conversation topic or a conversation topic and start something . But then there's also an AMA track within Reddit that you can email and speak to .
And I have to say something and I haven't told Amy this , I told her in the green room , like I have a surprise for you when we talk about this Reddit show , because in prep for this show , I wanted to do a little bit of research and I actually found the AMA track and I sent them an email and they gave me my own AMA that I can launch yeah , that I
can launch anytime , cool , yeah . So , oh , my gosh , right , any time , cool , yeah , so , right . So I am , and you know we've done ask me anything before , just like we used to do ask me anything Fridays and ask me anything on social media , and part of the challenge with . That is always going to be the follower base , right ?
So if you do an Ask Me Anything , let's say you do it on your Facebook page or something .
If you have a huge and robust following on Facebook , you'll probably get a lot of questions and that's great , but the majority of us don't really have , and you also have to catch people's attention , right , because Facebook everything kind of scrolls past and then people miss it , et cetera .
Part of the reason why I like Reddit and doing these Ask Me Anythings on Reddit is you have a massively engaged platform that really favors authenticity over polish , which is something that I think is one of the reasons why we use it so much for our deep dives in our research . I mean , don't you ?
Yeah , 100% .
Yeah , and I think the other piece of it is that it's really not about followers , Whereas the examples that I gave you previously .
So , if you're doing a Facebook ask me anything or you're doing any kind of an event on Facebook and you don't have a robust following , you're going to feel like you and maybe two other people are the only person at your party , and that's normal , Like I said , unless you were a household name , Right ?
Because I mean , that was sort of the challenge with that's a challenge that a lot of our authors have faced who are doing events on social media profiles that are events on social media profiles that pull from their followers , right ?
Right , it can seem like a lot of work for not a lot . It's hard to stay motivated sometimes in situations like that . I mean you need to do it , but it's nice when you the reward of getting traction for something , because we know this can feel like a slog sometimes and we want you to have wins too .
Right , right , right right . So the beauty of going after a Reddit AMA is that , again , it's really more about being interesting and it's not about followers . And as you're thinking through this , you think I don't really know if I could do this . I mean , if you can find a tangible topic , I mean , obviously , if you've written nonfiction , that's
¶ Reddit as a Research Tool
pretty easy . So my AMA is going to be about everything about Amazon , because I'm getting ready to launch the Amazon author formula and so once that book is up for pre-order , then I'm going to do I'm going to schedule this AMA and we'll certainly let our listeners know when it's scheduled so y'all can hop on there if you're on Reddit and ask me anything .
Let our listeners know when it's scheduled so y'all can hop on there if you're on Reddit and ask me anything . But start to think about what if you've written fiction , like what is your what ? What's the core of the book that you could potentially get a lot of questions about ?
Like , maybe it's about the supernatural , or you know what I'm saying , or I mean , really there's an endless opportunity , I think , for the majority of authors out there listening to this . I mean , would you agree ?
Oh yeah , I mean , this is one of those too where Penny and I talk about this a lot .
When we do , you know , pitching , events , things like that , events , things like that , we really do a lot of pre-show chatting and brainstorming to make sure that we're always framing what we're talking about so it makes sense and clicks for both fiction and nonfiction authors .
And this one was such , it was so refreshing , I think , penny , that when we , when you brought this to my attention , like , should we cover this ? Like this sounds like , and I thought , oh my gosh , yes , because what a great opportunity for both fiction and nonfiction . We're not sitting here trying to , you know , reverse engineer .
So it makes sense for everybody , and you know , but this one really does make sense for everybody .
Yeah , yeah , it really does make sense for everybody and , like I said , I mean when you think about it , you know if you're listening to this and you're like make sense for everybody . And , like I said , I mean when you think about it , you know if you're listening to this and you're like , you know I I just don't know if I had anything to talk about .
83% of Americans want to write a book . So if you have nothing else to talk about , talk about writing a book . Talk about what that experience is , how you published . Talk about how you you know how you prepped If you've written historical fiction , for example . Talk about the history , part of your historical , some of the deep dives that you did .
I mean I've talked to authors who have done , or have read , rather about authors who have done AMAs , who have you know who , deep to do , deep dives into you know , the lifestyle for the time period , the clothing they wore . I talked to an author one time and she said that she did talks in the times .
It wasn't necessarily related to Reddit , but she did talks based on all of the historic little factoids that people really love , like , for example , during Civil War times , a woman could not sit on a chair that a man had just sat on . I mean , I'm sorry , I don't know why that sticks in my head , but that's just like the craziest thing .
People who love history , they just they eat that up , right .
So there's really no excuse that you , you know , in order to do this and you can certainly do so if you're not familiar with Reddit there's something called subreddits , and subreddits are these like Amy was talking about , like she looks up her dogs and I've looked up Cosmo because Cosmo's getting older .
So I've looked up , you know , dog aging and stuff like that . And I own a Subaru . So I know this sounds really super nerdy , but there's a Subaru Forester subreddit on Reddit . There's anything that you can think of . I guarantee you that there is a subreddit for it .
Oh , absolutely , and that's why Reddit is so much , I say , easier I'm doing this in air quotes sometimes , I think than social media when it comes to authors getting creative , because they're , quite literally , is something for everybody , whereas on social media I can understand why some authors go . I really don't have anything to say .
That is , you know , interesting on a like , a more general , broader level . But that's the beauty of Reddit is that you will , you can quite literally nerd out with a group of people about anything .
Yeah , and if you spend a little bit of time on Reddit , so if we've peaked your interest , spend a little bit of time on Reddit , because I'm I promise you right now , your interest is going to get peaked and and I think the wheels are going to start to turn in terms of what you can talk about .
So , if you're listening to this and you're like I have no idea what I would , you know what I would discuss um , spend a little bit of time on Reddit and start looking up you know different subreddits and different topics and things like that . I think you will be really , you will be amazed .
And there is , you know , and one of the things that I find too about Redditors is that they are , they're very generous with information . There are some people on there , you know . You get it anywhere in social media .
Again , technically Reddit's not really social media but , as with anything online , you always get these haters on there , but I find them very few and far between really on Reddit .
Go ahead . Sorry , no , I agree with you . That's interesting and I'm glad you brought it up because I find the same thing that there may be differing opinions
¶ Understanding Reddit AMAs
but for the most part those individuals , even if they don't agree , they're still really invested in whatever that topic is . Yeah , and they have a background in it . They spend a lot of time researching , they spend a lot of time talking to other people about this topic . So you really don't get a lot of the trolling for trolling's sake , if that makes sense .
Yes , like Reddit is so detailed and there are so many different spaces for whatever you're interested in , you really don't see the level of trolling like you do on social media , where people just say nasty things , to say nasty things or to be . You know what I mean . It's like people don't really go to Reddit for that reason .
Like they may not disagree with everybody on their subreddit , but it doesn't mean . But they're still really invested in if that makes sense . They're not just showing up to like drop little bombs in the conversation and then leave , you know .
Right , right , exactly , no , that's , that's definitely . That's very true . Um , so talk about Amy . Do you want to take the talking about pitching ? Yeah , okay .
So this is interesting , and you know , penny , and I have done , we've done at least one show on using AI for things , and I think we've got another one cooking too , don't we , penny ?
Yes , we do . Yes , because I've found lots of fun AI prompts for authors . Again , I'm actually on okay , I'm just going to admit this now I'm on a chat GPT subreddit .
Oh , that makes sense , and it's so weird , it's so weird , oh , but I bet it's super useful and I wanted to mention it here because it does have some crossover here .
I wanted to mention it both for , you know , when we talk about coming up with ideas , like if you're you know , like you're sitting here thinking what would I even talk about , believe it or not , chat could probably be really helpful with that .
Like , if you give them the premise of your book , like give them some background information , and it's a great way to get outside of your own brain and get a different perspective . It's a great way to get outside of your own brain and get a different perspective .
So ask chat or another AI platform what current popular trending topics are around what you wrote , and even if it's fiction , talk about the scene , talk about where it's located , talk about you know what I mean .
Give a description of the main character's characteristics , things like that , and you'd probably be surprised at the suggestions you could get from chat in terms of what other people might want to discuss in terms and how it relates to your book . But I just want to drop that one in there because it could also help with the pitch too .
But it's it's a great tool for getting outside of like getting out of your own way . Is that a good way to put it , penny ? Yeah .
Yeah , it really is . It is a great tool for getting out of your own way , really , because that's something I think that's a lot of what we use chat for too is just yeah , because sometimes you just get too close to something . So I love that idea that you suggested .
Yeah . So use it to get out of your own way and kind of revive what is so cool and interesting about your process , your book , your topic , your area of expertise . Dig into that because you might go wow , I never thought about it that way , but look at all these great things that came up with that people are actually interested in . That I forget about .
But in terms of the pitch and the hook , this is so important . A really good ask me anything is not a sales pitch . You are not showing up there to sell your book .
A really successful ask me anything will sell your book because of the experience that they have with the ask me anything without you even having to say like , and here's where you go to get it on Amazon . You know what I mean .
If you've given the participants a good experience , something interesting to sink their teeth into , something dynamic , they are going to be interested in checking out your book . That is just how this works .
So don't focus on what should I talk about to sell my book , or how am I going to sell the book , or what do I need to say to make sure people buy my book . If you're focusing on that , the experience is probably going to be less than you know , so you really want to focus on the right things . It's kind of like hosting a party , right , penny ?
Yeah , yeah , you know you want to host an interesting party where people don't just sit on your couch and listen to you talk about yourself . Like come up with why . Like come up with something that's that has more depth .
And I loved this was from an example , one from the article , and I was just like I want to be on this , like how did I not know this was happening ? And now I need to also follow the subreddit , because I'm like an book about Edgar Allan Poe , about how Edgar Allan Poe predicted the sinking of the Titanic . Ask me anything .
Right what it's like . I have so many questions .
I have so many questions , it's a lot of people will show up just to kind of see how it goes at first and then they'll jump in . So just the title alone .
I would show up for that , even if I didn't have a question in mind , because I'd want to see what other people are asking and I want to learn from what they're asking and what you know the host is responding with . So like that is crazy . So pique their curiosity , do something surprising , be a little controversial , you know like go for something emotional .
Don't do something basic because nobody's going to show up for basic . So lean into the and this is in a very good way like the clickbaity headline type titles for your Reddit , because that's what's going to get people to go . Wait what you know .
Yeah , yeah , exactly . And you know you could also time your Reddit just in terms of like if you want . So we talk about this in media a lot where if you're pitching your book either to local or national media , you may want to align it with a particular
¶ Why Reddit Works for Authors
calendar date , commemorative date or observance , right . So that's another thing that you potentially do as you're pitching the AMA , because basically what you're going to do is you're going to go to um , so it's Reddit slash AMA , and then you can you know you can pitch them in there .
But um , take a look like again , if you're struggling for ideas , take a look at the calendar and see if there's something coming up that you can anchor your topic to , to make it even more relevant , so it dials into your book . But then you know you're also anchoring to . And it can be something even as obscure as peanut butter and jelly day .
I mean , if you were to cookbook or something , I mean just throwing that , I'm just kind of throwing that out there . I too , though , want to attend that at Edgar Allen Poe one , I know but that's brilliant , Penny , because it's all I mean .
The psychology behind the timing and the topic makes so much sense . So I love that you mentioned that , because you know , and again , if there isn't something timely , then don't stress as if it's not going to work . But why not use that to your advantage ? Because think about everybody's algorithms on social media and stuff like that .
So if there is something that makes sense and it's timely and it's coming up for your topic , people are probably going to be seeing that in other places too . So what you're doing is you're jumping on the bandwagon of this , something that's topical and timely that they're seeing on you know , their social media .
They might see it in a newsletter that they get , or emails that they get based on certain shopping that they do things like that , and if then they're on , you know , they get the announcement that you have this Reddit going on too , that all works in your favor . You know what I mean . That you have this Reddit going on , too , that all works in your favor .
You know what I mean . Yeah , those other things that they're seeing while they're online are also , in a way , psychologically adding value to what you're offering as well , because they can all play off of each other .
Right , exactly . So what I did when I pitched the amas , I basically just said , um , there's a book published every eight seconds in this country . I can guarantee that a lot of your audience are going to be authors .
And then I went into who I am and it was a very short spiel I mean , I think it was maybe three sentences and I'd like like to talk about . I'd like to , you know , geek out on everything Amazon related , and they wrote me back .
They asked a couple of questions and they wrote me back and they said , okay , go ahead and do it so whenever you're ready Now . So again , you could do this in a subreddit , because I actually also emailed a couple of subreddits which I have not heard back from yet .
If you find a subreddit , you can find the moderator for that subreddit and you can certainly email them . Definitely the AMA . I like the Ask Me Anything , because that's literally why people are there they're searching through those and they do show up very well in search anyway . So again , you can pitch the AMA and you can search . I think it's r ? Slash .
You know it's r ? Slash AMA . So Reddit slash AMA . One of the things that they did tell me when I got the confirmation for Miami and I don't have a date yet .
They just allowed me to do it is make sure that in your intro post , you really talk about how you're the expert , shortly and succinctly right who you are , why you're doing this , what they can ask and what your expertise is .
Okay , so be really clear , because I mean , you don't want to disappoint people by getting a bunch of questions about something that you don't really have an expertise in and , depending on how broad your topic is , you want to narrow it down as much as you can you can .
The other thing that I think , and part of the reason why I didn't just accept the date and get a date going , is first off , I want to align it with the pre order , but you want to make sure that you're really ready to be so clear .
The decks Make sure that you are ready to answer questions , because runners love responsiveness to answer questions , because runners love responsiveness , being lively and engaged . So this isn't a question of setting up your AMA , going off to work and then coming back in the evening and answering the questions . Right , don't ghost your own AMA .
So you want to make sure so , if you have to do it on a Saturday or a Sunday , because you could get three people or you could get 300 . I'm betting that that whole Edgar Allan Poe one is probably getting 3000 . Like , oh yeah , so it will really depend . And , you know , you could also
¶ Creating an Engaging AMA Pitch
just join some AMAs and kind of see how they go and get a sense from them what everybody else is doing and , you know , glean some ideas from that . Now , the other thing that I want you to consider too is take lots of screenshots .
So good questions make good social media content after , and they also maybe even might even spark like if you're doing author events or if you have speaking Great questions oftentimes and at least they have for me and other speakers that I've worked with or if you have speaking great questions Oftentimes at least they have for me and other speakers that I've worked
with they help to spark new speaker topics and they may also give you new ideas for social media posts or blog posts or videos that you're doing or whatever right . So grab as many screenshots , quotes , questions just bank them for later , yeah .
That's really smart .
Yeah , just to you know , repurpose them for you know , just to repurpose them for , for you know , for other uses . Okay , so I think we covered everything under the execution .
Can I add one more thing , Penny ?
No , go for it . Yes I had .
I even had to look it up now because , as you were saying , I , like you , know , when we start talking about this stuff in the moment , our brains start going like , ooh , what about this , what about this , what about this . So I did a quick search and when you said , you know , plan for when this is going to happen , you need to be ready . You know .
It's also great . I found out that , cause I was just curious when you mentioned going with the AMA thread and then also pitching some topical you know subreddits and things like that . Go for all of it , because it seems like the AMA thread , reddit , actually promotes those , which is another thing .
So they actually that's another major bonus If you actually get the approval from for the official AMA thread is that they will actually make sure that people on the platform see those , which is really great . And then this is cool , like if you schedule it in advance , you can actually promote the date that it's happening .
Promote the date that it's happening , yeah , and on Reddit there's a remind me option too . So people that use Reddit a lot , they , like you said , they will go through and they'll kind of scan the AMA string to see what's coming up and if it's in the future , they can set it up so they get reminded of something coming up . You know what I mean .
So make the most of if you decide you're going to do this , make the most of it . You know what I mean . Take advantage of all of those little extras . You know , like the planning , sending people there , letting people know in advance that it's happening .
You know , like we always say all the time if you're going to do one thing , find three other ways that you can maximize on it . Right , yeah .
Yeah , no , that's a really , that's a great idea . Yeah , yeah , no , that's a , really , that's a great idea .
Yeah , Make the most of every effort . So if you're going to do this and I hope a bunch of you do and then write us and let us know how it goes , or let us know when your AMA is planned , but make sure you're taking advantage of all those other promotional opportunities to send people there and get the word out about it too .
You know , just like we do with everything else we talk about in terms of planning events .
This is an online event . There's so many things you can do in advance of in-person and online events to kind of make the most of the opportunity . Well , and because , to Amy's point so Reddit does promote their AMAs . They can live on the Reddit's front page and potentially get millions of views .
It's really a hidden gem of an idea that I don't know why we don't hear more about this . I think you know what I mean . It's very flashy to be on TikTok or Instagram or whatever , but I'm telling you right now , reddit is a fabulous structure for this . So a couple of other things . Reddit does not like self-promotion .
Okay , so things like you know pushing I mean , obviously you're there because of your book , but there's a way to structure answers where you're not saying things like well , but if you read my book , if you read my book , you know what I mean .
And then also not replying to some like if somebody asks you something that you don't know , just tell them that you don't know , right ? So you're going to want to make sure to reply to all of them . Don't sound like a marketer , and that's something that I know is
¶ Executing a Successful AMA
like you feel like okay , well , you know , a lot of times , if you get an A , like an author gets an AMA , they might feel like I have so much pressure , like I really want to sell a lot of books . I really want to do all the things .
You want to make sure that everything is lined up so that your book is live or it's up on pre-order , or whatever that your . You know that your website's in the information so people can find you , but you really need to not sound like a marketing person , so you are there to give information .
Okay , all you really need , though , to do this is your Reddit account and a link to like . Go to bitly and get a shortened link to your , to your website or your book . I mentioned your website before .
If the URL is really long , you can create a shortened link for it or something , and then I would just say two or three , two to three hours of availability .
Yeah , Absolutely , and you can . You have control over as the host of your AMA . You have control over how long you take questions for , not just that day , but even leaving it open for comments after the fact you know , so that's another Penny I love that you mentioned .
like , if somebody asks a question , don't just pretend it's not happening , you know , respond to it , and that even gives you the chance to say you know , I don't know , but that's a fabulous question , I will get back to you , and you do have the option to reply to that person at a later date .
You know , especially if it is something that you're like you know what ? That is a really great question and I would have liked to answer that . You know what I mean . So make it personal . You know , also be sure to speak to these and because these are , these are super fans of topics , these are diehards , hardcore people .
So if you get them intrigued like this is gold , you know , if you get them intrigued like this is gold , you know , yeah , yeah , it really is , it definitely is gold and it is like I said , it's great and unique thing and I don't know that that that the AMA track or the subreddit rather is , you know , won't let you do a couple like if you do one really
successfully and you had lots of responses and lots of people you know messaging you on the Reddit , I don't know that they would not let you do a second or a third one , but I think it's definitely an overlooked opportunity to get potentially millions and millions of views to your topic and I think that you know . Just to kind of leave you with this .
I mean , reddit is the success on Reddit is less about being famous and being self-promotional and much more about being interesting . Yeah , so it is a , it's a . It's a very under , you know , in the in the world of social media , which again Reddit really skirts kind of the edge , the fringes of social media .
But in the world of social media , where everything is about being famous and being this or being that , reddit's not about that . Reddit is really more about good information and being interesting and it's part of the reason why Amy and I like to deep dive on there for various topics , both personal and professional .
So and I would really love I mean , as Amy mentioned let us know if you decide to do this and you get an AMA . We'd love to to maybe even just be a lurker and kind of see how you do , but also pitch us your AMA , like if you think about oh my gosh , I want to do this .
I know I'm so glad you said that . I was like please send us your ideas .
I would love to see some of your ideas , yeah we would love to and you know what I will if you just if you send it to us or you get one definitely send you , send us your AMA ideas , but if you get one scheduled , we'll definitely mention it on the show and and just send even more eyes to your AMA even after it's happened , because the other thing about
the AMA is that it still lives on Reddit , so it doesn't evaporate which a lot of things that you do online just evaporate right .
That's a very good point , penny . Even if it's closed for comments , I still have I've read multiple threads that are no longer accepting comments that I've gotten great information from .
Totally , yeah , absolutely . But just remember , show up and be interesting and helpful . Leave your promotional head at home , because basically , that's obviously Reddit , that's what you're doing anyway , but they're too smart for that to Reddit users .
They're not going to fall for that Really .
Yeah , reddit users are really very , very smart about that , um . So I love this idea . I'm looking forward to my AMA . We'll definitely let everybody know when it's going to be scheduled as soon as the book um is up for pre-order . We're going to do that . But very excited about about the show . So cool we . We love your show ideas .
If you have never , if this is your first listen , be sure to subscribe to the show so that you get notified . We drop a show every Friday into your podcast feed . There's a contact . There are contact details in the show notes . Send us your show ideas , send us your show feedback .
We love reviews , reviews , so wherever you listen to podcasts , please leave us a review as well . Thank you so much and we'll see you next time . Bye .