[T-Shaped Marketing for Authors] Online Tactics Used by the Top-Selling Independent Authors

Yesterday, I read a thread on here started by cjsparacino123 ... I feel bad for the newbies ... that I found more obnoxious than helpful. It came across as more of a "bait and switch" marketing tactic than any sort of useful information for the newbies on this forum: "...Once you figure it out its butt **** simple how to make money online. I'm not going to give away my secret, that took me about 5 years to figure out. But the big guys know it, Grant Cardone knows, all the high earners on this forum knows it." PLLLEEEAAASSSE!

I did take one positive tidbit from that thread, though: "Success is something you figure out on your own through trial and error, its a choice you will realize." And it inspired me to start this new thread, so I'll consider that a good thing.

T-Shaped Marketing for Authors Requires a Different Approach than T-Shaped Marketing for Other Warriors

I joined Warrior Forum, first and foremost, to learn how to increase my email subscriber base quickly. I already know all about the book biz. I've spent the last several years teaching authors how to write, publish, market and sell their own books using various traditional and online methods. But I was new to email marketing when I joined this forum, and I wanted to figure out how to best utilize it in the sale of books--not only for myself but for the authors I coach.

In addition to searching through hundreds of threads on Warrior forum for applicable answers, I've also Googled various search terms that I've learned here (e.g., T-shaped marketing) which has led me to even more helpful resources. I'm a voracious reader when it comes to my own industry's trends and what today's authors are doing to see commercial success with their books.

The Best T-Shaped Marketing Mixes for Authors Include Prolific Writing

A while ago, I posted a thread about Mark Dawson's incredible success as an author: This Author Earns $450,000 Per Year from Email Marketing. Since writing that, I've done more thorough research about him. I also recently attended a writers' conference where I met two more independent authors--Liz Schulte and Sheri Fink--who are earning six-figure incomes from their book sales. They all seem to have one thing in common: prolific writing skills. (These two ladies have agreed to guest post on my blog very soon. And, unlike cjsparacino123, they've graciously agreed to help out the newbies by sharing some of their secrets to success free of charge. So, stay tuned for that because other Internet marketers will also be able to glean some helpful tips and strategies from their posts.)

For Mark and Liz, in particular, it wasn't email marketing that led to massive sales. Actually, it was the other way around--massive sales led them to email marketing. And what led to the massive sales, you're asking? Prolific writing. Writing, writing, writing, writing, writing. Both approach authorship as a business, and they view writing as a vital cog in their sales and marketing machines: email lists can be built by responding to fan letters with thoughtful replies; these subscribers can be kept engaged by receiving regular emails about what and how the author is doing and when the next book will arrive; and more sales ensue when launching their latest titles to these subscribers as often as possible (which means writing lots and lots of books on top of all these emails). Keep the machine fed by writing, writing, writing.

Which is good news for writers, isn't it? That's what we love to do! That's what we live to do!