#289: How Using a Simple Tool Has Helped Ruth L Snyder in Marketing Her Books

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

September 202021 has been a month of celebration for CJ&I. Hi, my name is Shelli Hitz and this month marks a decade since I resigned from my physical therapy job and my husband CJ and I have been working full time in our business and ministry since. It hasn't been easy. There have been so many times we've wanted to give up, but God has provided what we needed and he has brought us to the place where we are today. And one of the things we're doing to celebrate is our Kingdom Writers Conference and it kicks off today, the 15th of September. So if you have not joined us yet, make sure to go right now and claim your free ticket@domencewritersconference.com you will not want to miss this. Fifteen different speakers and over the course of five days. And we're going to have this fun Facebook community. If you've been part of any of my pop up Facebook groups, you know they are fun and it's, you know, a time to really get your questions answered but also get inspired to take those next steps. And so today I wanted to introduce you to one of our Christian Book Academy members, Ruth L. Snyder. And she has been taking some action in her marketing. She's going to be sharing today how using a simple tool that that we provide in Christian Book Academy has really helped her to move forward in her marketing and even on a recent post she was able to get 15 book sales. Ruth is also one of the speakers at our conference, so I hope you enjoy hearing from her and get inspired for your marketing of your books as well. Welcome. My name is Shelley Hitz and I'm CJ Hitz. And today we're here with one of our Christian Book Academy members, Ruth L. Snyder. Hey Ruth.

Hey Shelly and cj Good to see you.

And we're just doing a series of just featuring different Academy members. And the thing I love about you, Ruth, is you joined us from the very beginning.

Like from the initial Beta group. And so it has been over six years that we have gotten to know you. You invited me to speak at a conference in Canada, so I met you in person and we've just grown to be friends and so I just really appreciate you but also love Seeing all that God is in and through you, and just wanted you to share a little bit of some of the things that God has been doing through your writing and marketing.

Thanks, Shelly. It's been great to be on this journey with you and you provide such wonderful value. That's why I stick with you because you just keep coming out with new things. And one of the latest things that you've come out with has been helpful for me too. It's the mini marketing messages. So I started out as an author wanting to learn how to self publish myself, and I did that. And then people started asking me how to do it, how, you know, if I could help them do the same thing. And marketing seems to be one of the toughest aspects. Right. It's. Right, it's hard to write a book, but that's not the hardest part. Marketing. Getting it into the hands of people is the hard part.

Yeah, yeah. And you know, the many marketing messages, for those of you that may not know, they're templates that you can use in four different categories that we recommend and then you make them your own, but you're not starting with a blank page. And it's also teaching you how to use permission marketing on social media so you're not pushy or salesy. And also just connecting with your audience and building those bridges. I have the bridge building system. And, you know, so it's, it's, you know, just years and years of just learning and growing and, you know, just saying, okay, what is it that can really work? And the thing is, like, I'm not promising that when you get these many marketing messages, templates, you're going to, like, instantly, like, sell thousands of books. Right. It's one book at a time. And each book always kind of tears me up a little bit. But each book represents a person, a reader that has the potential to be impacted by God. And so one of the things that I thought was neat for you, Ruth, is you recently used kind of a variation of one of the templates and you posted about your anthology book and you actually got some sales, right?

I did, yes. And I think that's important to realize that not every post is going to get results, but every once in a while you get a post that really resonates with people. And I did participate in an anthology, and so I shared my excitement about pulling it out of the box and holding it up and having it in my hands. And I had over 150 people like and comment on the post. And then 15 of those people followed through and Purchased a copy from me.

Yeah, you know, that's 15 more lives. And you know, we have the kingdom. Writer's path inside Christian Book Academy, the book launch stage. The milestone is finding your first 100 readers. Now that's whether or not they're reviewers, they're in your book launch team, you know, KDP free promo or selling books. But it's like, you know, I think so many times as authors we just think big, right? It's like we've got to have these big results. And yet what if we just do the little things every day that we're building those relationships and then little by little, one book at a time, time or 15 books at a time or whatever it is that we begin to see God to work. And so I love that. I love how you're using those templates and, you know, just already seeing some results. And what advice do you have for writers who might be struggling with marketing right now?

Well, just like you say, marketing is about building relationships. And it's not, it's not a sprint, it's. It's not something that you're going to do for a month and be done. It's something that you need to continue to do all of your writing life and beyond. It's a marathon. So if we can find things that we can do, every however often we, we focus on marketing. I, I read a book and they suggested that you do one thing every day to help market your book. And I have found that that has helped a lot. And it doesn't have to be buy my book like Shelley suggests. There's four different areas that she talks about.

When sharing posts and just ways that people can get to know you. Get to know about your book, get to know about your family, maybe.

Building those relationships. That's what it's all about. Because when people know, like, and trust you, they will buy from you.

Yeah. And so what I've really tried to do with the many marketing messages is to try to make it a lot easier with less stress and overwhelm, to stay consistent. Because it really is that consistency over time, like what you were saying, that yields the biggest results. You know, the book, the compound effect, you know, it's similar with marketing. And yet so many times, you know, I'll get excited, I'll go and then I'll burn out and stop. And then I'll get excited and go and burn out and stop. And I've seen that same cycle with so many authors and even entrepreneurs. And so with the templates, it just, you just one chunk of time, one day a month, you sit down, you do it, and then you decide on the dates and then it's just 15 minutes a day. Right. You can even do it in less if you need to, but it really helps just to simplify the process. And I'm so excited they've been helpful for you and then you've been using them. Because that's what makes me happy. I want to create resources that are getting used. Right. And that's helping you to reach more people with your message and that God can use you and the messages in your books to impact lives. So thank you so much for being part of the Academy and for all that you do. And how can people find you?

My website is ruthlsnider.com and you can find links there to other resources and find out what I'm all about.

Yeah, well, thank you so much. We appreciate you. We love having you as part of our community of writers. And thank you so much for sharing just a little bit of your story.

Thanks, Shelly and cj.

Bye. Bye.

Bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.