WriterCube empowers authors with book marketing insight

By now, authors know that they need to find their target audience and reach out to bloggers. The question I get a lot is, "OK, so I know I should do that, but where do I start? How do I actually do that?"

There are many answers to those persistent questions, but not that many great ones, and even less that are efficient and effective. Most of us authors work other jobs, have families and many other important things that demand and deserve our time. So for me, the question is really, "How can an author do her or his own marketing efficiently and effectively without breaking the bank?"

Enter WriterCube. Called "A handy box of know-how," the quick description is that "WriterCube is the first suite of marketing support tools created for authors and publishing professionals."

WriterCube is the brainchild of Kristen McLean and her team at Bookigee. These are smart, committed people who have been working in the publishing industry for decades. WriterCube exists because they are digging into the changes that are happening in the publishing industry and want to help authors succeed.

I asked McLean over email about why she and her team created WriterCube. Here's what she said:

"We created our WriterCube initiative because I'm betting on authors being major drivers in the future of publishing.

There are an amazing number of choices in front of authors these days when it comes to putting a book out. But then what? If they are really going to have creative control over their projects, they better have great tools to back them up.

That's what we do--build great professional tools for authors that help them own their own market."

What is WriterCube?

Currently, WriterCube offers two tools for authors. One is an experimental prototype focused on mapping your social media followers against comparable book sales to support personal outreach through social media. The other is a database of who authors and publishers can reach out to for everything from sales to reviews. 

1. WriterCube Audience Research (Free Beta): "The WriterCube Audience Research tool allows authors to map their own social media audience against the geographic audience of the top 500,000 books in the U.S. market."

That's the starting page for my own audience research page. I put in my Twitter and Facebook accounts and WriterCube automatically maps out my followers, alerting me to areas where my followers are concentrated. I'm also able to see my book readers and opportunities in those areas, and WriterCube analyzes those markets for my primary book type and comparable ones. It's a fantastic starting point for me to think about geo-targeted marketing outreach to my existing network and readers.

For example, I've got 73 friends and followers in the San Francisco Bay area. The inference is that I would have a great network for support if I wanted to reach out in this area. Within WriterCube they offer DIY marketing tips specific to me, as well as a feature where I can set and track my own goals. I love it.

And right now, because it's in beta, the tool is free. You can go in, add your accounts and get a look at the layout for your own social media and get instant insight into where you have opportunities for network building and marketing. For FREE. Kristen tells me that there are plans to refine this tool to make it easier to use, and possibly to integrate some of it's information into a reporting service, or the WriterCube Book Marketing Database (see below). Either way, I love what that they are trying to give authors a whole new way to understand their opportunities.

2. WriterCube Book Marketing Database: "An affordable database with thousands of book marketing contacts including libraries, bookstores, reviewers, conferences, publicists, book designers, editors and more—all in one place!"

This tool is amazing. They have more than 20,000 listings of potential contacts. Their search tool allows me to type in the category and keyword(s) I'm interested in, and within seconds gives me back dozens of listings with descriptions and contact information. And the WriterCube team has already vetted the contacts, so I know that the person on the other end is active and the email address is going to work.

I do a lot of this kind of research on Google, etc. and it takes hours. Then it takes more hours to vet them. The work that went into creating this database saves me days of research and vetting work. I'm using it for my own book and for clients. This one isn't free, but it costs less than $1 a day, which is a huge deal when I think about it in terms of the time I save.

Discount: Kristen kindly offered a discount code for DIY Author readers, so if you want to try out any package on the database, use "RedHat50" (case sensitive, no quotes) to get 50% off. And maybe send a thank you through their contact page since that's such a cool offer from her!

I recommend WriterCube!

As you can tell, I'm a big WriterCube fan. I am currently using both tools and they are working for me. I recommend you go try out the author research tool right now. And if you do, please comment and let me know what you think.

Like I talk about all the time on this blog, the publishing industry is changing. For the most part, us authors are on our own to wander the wild west of the Internet and find the right people to contact, and then try to stand out in a crowded book market. It's a rare treat to find a tool specifically designed with us in mind to help us in that venture.

Image courtesy of WriterCube screenshots