Marketing Advice from C.A.N. Crown Award Winner Susan Neal

The Christian Authors Network’s innovative Crown Awards celebrate excellence in Christian Media and Marketing.

Purpose: To recognize, educate, and encourage excellence in marketing and promotion skills of all Christian authors. The awards are given in three categories:

• Visual Media
• Broadcasting
• Web Presence

You pulled a few titles together under one brand. How did you do that and why does it help an author in marketing their books?

I wrote a series of the three nonfiction healthy living books:

• 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates won the Selah award and sold over 17,000 copies in three years
• Christian Study Guide for 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates helps many overcome an emotional relationship with food
• Healthy Living Journal supports the reader to track their healthy eating and living habits for improved health and well-being

I combined all three of these books into a mega book, Healthy Living Series: 3 Books in 1. The reader benefit of the megabook is they get three books for the price of two and they have everything under one cover.

Writing a series is always a good idea because if a reader loves your first book, they will buy all the books in your series. Tell the reader about your other books inside of each of your books (about 3–5 times sprinkled links or mentions in the manuscript) and at the end of the book under Other Products. Since I am a self-published author, I edited all of my books and incorporated this information along with my course, 7 Steps to Reclaim Your Health and Optimal Weight. I also explain that I am a Certified Christian Health & Wellness Coach with the American Association of Christian Counselors. As authors, we make more money from coaching and courses than books. Therefore, we need to diversify our portfolio and let our readers know these resources exist.

What led you to write what you do?

Ten years ago, I suffered a health crisis. An abscessed tooth poisoned my body and within fifteen months, I suffered from ten medical diagnoses and two surgeries. Five years after I was healed, I received the calling to write about my experience along with my background as a registered nurse with a masters in health science.

How does your passion motivate you to promote your books? What keeps you motivated?

My books are written from a Christian perspective. If it was easy to change our eating habits, we all would. But it is not. So I incorporate God’s tools into the steps for improving one’s health and weight. My books are not about me, but about improving the health of the body of Christ. As authors, we should not be shy about telling the public about our Christian books, because they help further the kingdom of God.

When I receive Divine-inspired ideas for books, I feel motivated to write them. For my newest release, Eat God’s Food: A Kid’s Guide to Healthy Eating, my motivation is to teach kids in their formative years to eat healthy foods and not be tricked by the food manufacturers to eat junk food.

You won a Crown Award for your broadcast campaign. Tell us a little about your strategy.

My goal was to be interviewed on a podcast or radio show every week for eight months. I queried about 100 shows and was interviewed on twenty-nine during that time. I created a course, How to Book a Podcast Tour, to help other authors obtain interviews. A podcast tour increases your exposure through online influencers who have a large audience. As a show guest, they promote you and your book without paying for advertising. This new audience acquires a taste of who you are during the interview. And the interview lingers in the podcast arena for as long as the show is listed on any platform (iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, PodBean, etc.). I sold over 7000 books during that eight-month period.

What do you include in your query that you send to media outlets?

Before I query a host, I listen to a show and write an iTunes review for it. I recommend including the following in a query letter:

• Address the host by name
• What you like about their show
• Wrote an iTunes review for their show
• Who you are and why you are an expert
• Three topics
• Include a link to your media page or attach a media kit/one-sheet
• Short—less than 300 words.

How do you craft your pitch and message to various audiences?

You want to be interviewed on podcasts in different categories so more listeners hear your message. After you listen to the show come up with three different topics that would benefit that host’s audience. For example, I was on many podcasts about healthy living but also on a couple writer podcasts and one about starting a new career after the age of fifty.

Changing categories in Amazon helps authors and helped you place in the top 100 in various categories and a number one spot on Amazon. What are the benefits of using several categories and how do you choose the best ones?

A couple years ago, Amazon allowed authors to increase the number of categories that their book is in from three to ten. When I added additional categories, 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates moved from #98 in the diet category to #1 in the healthy diet category. It has remained #1–5 for over a year. If your book ranks from 1 to 100 in any Amazon category, your book is placed in that categories Amazon Best Sellers list. Readers check the Best Sellers list for the best books to buy in their preferred genre.

When you expand your book’s categories, you want to add some smaller categories that only takes a few book sales to get your book in the top ten for that category. Authors need to learn additional tactics to improve book sales. Expanding categories is one of them, so I created the course. Improve Your Books Amazon Rank by Expanding Categories & Strengthening Keywords. You use Publisher Rocket to find your categories.

Self-published authors and traditionally published authors with small presses can usually expand their book’s categories. I checked with my publisher, Elk Lake Publishing, about expanding my book’s categories. I sent the editor my new categories and within a day Eat God’s Food was listed in six Amazon Best Seller lists. A friend checked with New Hope Publishing, and they also expanded her book’s categories.

What are the benefits of placing number one in an Amazon category?

When your book becomes #1 on Amazon in any category, Amazon places a red “Best Seller” sticker under the book’s title. Now that’s advertising at its best!

You also worked on improving Pinterest and hired help that increased your Pinterest views from 2000 monthly to 1.5 million views. What helps authors do better in Pinterest?

Pinterest is the second largest search engine behind Google. Pinterest is a social media platform that can easily drive traffic to your website. In January 2021, my website, SusanUNeal.com, had over 9000 website views. I achieved this through hiring a Pinterest social media expert. She worked on my Pinterest account and made it look visually appealing. She also adds three gorgeous Pinterest pins to the bottom of each of my weekly blog posts. These pins drive traffic from Pinterest to my website, and that is the primary way readers find my website.

When is it beneficial to hire help and how do you choose who to hire?

I am not very tech-savvy, so if it is going to take me a half-day to figure out how to create a landing page or use an email platform, it would save me time to hire someone. I work with a graphic designer, virtual assistant, and webmaster. I use their expertise in creating the best products. My virtual assistant (VA) and I have worked together since 2015. She trains VAs. If you would like to be matched with a VA that will meet your needs, check out her matching services here.

You track your efforts with a spreadsheet. What is important to track and how do you keep good records?

If you don’t measure your marketing tactics, how do you know if they were effective? I created a spreadsheet that includes the marketing effort, three-day website views, book sales, and Amazon rank. When you are ready to launch your next book, you can look at what strategy was most effective.

Where did you start in the planning of your marketing, and did you focus on one main component or area?

After I published 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates, I tried to publish one guest blog and magazine article and be on one podcast or radio show per month. Last year, I focused on the podcast tour. But my marketing strategy primarily remains the same.

Did you try marketing strategies that did not work for you? What did you learn from them?

Yes, publishing a guest blog post on websites that do not receive adequate traffic or have a low domain authority brings your website’s Google rank down. Domain authority is a search engine ranking score that measures the probability that a website will be listed on a search engine result page. You can measure a website’s domain authority at moz.com.

A domain authority between 40 and 50 is considered average and between 50 to 60 is good. I would not write a guest blog for a site with a domain authority below 15, as that can lower your website’s rank on Google. But writing for a site with a domain authority above yours will improve your website’s rank on Google. I teach authors about this in the course, Improve Book Sales by Enhancing Public Relations Through Media, Retailers, & Consumers.

Which aspects of marketing do you enjoy the most?

I like to outsmart the tech giants—Amazon, Facebook, etc. For example, to get Facebook to show my followers my new book, I displayed two versions of Eat God’s Food book covers and asked for their opinion. Within one hour, Facebook showed the post to sixty people. Within two days, the post was shown to over 250 people. Facebook does not like you to include links on your posts because that takes the person off of Facebook; but they like it when you ask for your followers’ opinion.

Which aspects do you find most challenging?

“Pay to play” on social media platforms is a discouraging. If I post a blog link on Facebook, only three to five people see it. That is disappointing.

What marketing advice can you give writers you wished you had gotten, or that you wish you would have heeded?

Don’t give up, and it takes money to make money. The first few years, I put all the money I earned back into publishing more books, marketing, creating audiobooks, etc. My first book was published in 2016. It took five years to accomplish all that I’ve put into place. Take a long-term approach.

What are common marketing mistakes you see writers making?

Not developing a plan for marketing. I created the course, How to Sell 1000 Books in Three Months, to help authors develop a six-month marketing plan. Having an intentional plan in place is key to successful book marketing.

Also, not getting fifty book reviews. I found that is the magic number to achieve. After your book has fifty reviews, more reviews occur organically.

You are the new owner and director of Christian Indie Publishing Association (CIPA) for authors. Please share a little about the benefits for authors who use your services.

Christian Indie Publishing Association (CIPA) was created in 2004 to provide independently published authors, small publishers, and authors published by small presses with resources to publish like a traditional publisher. Learning the publishing industry and how to market your book is challenging. CIPA discounts, educational materials, and marketing tools make your publishing experience easier and more profitable. Why do it alone when you can join CIPA?

The CIPA membership includes over seventy products, including:

• Monthly 20-page CIPA newsletter with industry trends and marketing tips
• Courses: How to Book a Podcast Tour, Improve Your Book’s Amazon Rank by Expanding Categories & Keywords, How to Get More Book Reviews/Endorsements, Improve Book Sales by Enhancing Public Relations Through Media, Retailers, & Consumers, branding, content marketing, etc.
• Guides: Author Media Kit, Media Interviews, Media Pitches, Finding & Using Beta Readers, Book Launch Marketing Checklist, Book Launch Teams, List of Over 125 Podcast & Radio Shows, List of 50+ Book Contests, Tracking Spreadsheets, Press Releases, Online Giveaways, etc.
• Discounts: Free title setup with IngramSpark, 15% off ISBN, $150 off ProWritingAid, $50 off BookFunnel, 30% Website Domain Authority Boost, 30% off Publisher Rocket, $25 off Reedsy Services, and more
• Bi-monthly live take-action workshop about marketing

If you use the discounts, you can easily recover the $90 annual membership fee.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers about your marketing or writing journey?

I’ve focused on benefiting my reader. First, it was through healthy living tips, now it is through savvy book marketing techniques for authors. Serving my audience is my focus. It is not about profit, but about furthering the kingdom of God and doing what God has called us to do.

You can follow Susan on:

• Facebook: ChristianIndiePublishing
• Twitter: ChristianIndie2
• Linkedin: susannealyoga
• Pinterest: SusanUNeal_created

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