Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

M is for Momentum and Motivation

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MMomentum: something I’m sorely lacking tonight. It’s 11:30 pm and I’ve been staring at the M-word for several hours, trying to come up with something super-encouraging to talk to you about. Inspiration hasn’t hit me yet. But I did get hungry. In fact, I’ve started craving chocolate. And that reminds me of the cake I used to bake–before we gave up eating sweets. 🙁

So now I have momentum and motivation because I want to share my recipe with you.

This is the perfect recipe if you’re a dieting writer or a writer on deadline, or a writer who has written all day and forgotten about baking a cake for the church social or book club.

This is a busy writer’s cake that will come to your rescue over and over again because it only has two ingredients. It’s good and it’s a no-brainer.

cakesTake your favorite chocolate cake mix and pour in one bottle of Chocolate Slim-Fast. Mix well. You can bake in a sheet pan, cup cakes or traditional rounds. Just follow the baking directions on the box. This cake is super moist and delish. Feel free to pile on the whip cream and drizzle chocolate syrup. Bake nuts in it, or sprinkle on top. Anything goes, get creative, because this is a writer’s cake! It can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be.Slimfast

Book Release – TODAY!

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Today my book is up on Amazon. I didn’t schedule any blog tours, and in fact, I haven’t even announced it on Facebook yet. I have trouble promoting myself. Maybe I should pretend this book belongs to someone else. I can always sing someone else’s praises.

If you haven’t read Alex Cavanaugh’s guest post on maintaining momentum, scroll down to the previous post and read it. My problem is … I don’t have a lot of momentum to maintain!

So I’m telling my followers here … if you purchase The Last Daughter, I hope you’ll review it on Amazon, tweet about it, talk about it on GoodReads. Even if you don’t like it, I hope you’ll review it. It’s the silence that’s the killer–not the bad reviews.

This is an exciting day. Very different from holding a print book in my hands, but fun just the same. Celebrate with me.

MEET ALEX J. CAVANAUGH

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Alex Cavanaugh is one of my writing heroes. He is founder of the Insecure Writers Support Group, and almost every blog I visit, I see an encouraging comment from him. He does a great job of promoting others too. During the month of September, Alex starts a challenging blog tour promoting his new book, and he’ll participate in his first twitter party. Get dates and details HERE. Alex knows his blog subject well; he maintains momentum!


Maintaining Author Momentum
by Alex J. Cavanaugh
 
Building an author platform takes time. Looking back, I now understand why my publisher wanted me online a year before the release of my first book. It took me a while to network, make friends, and build momentum.
 
Most authors grasp the efforts required before and during a book release. They do blog tours, appearances, interviews, giveaways, and start planning the next book. When the dust settles, they retreat back into the writing cave and out of the spotlight.
 
Call me clueless, but I missed that last part!
 
I slowed down while writing and ventured online just a little bit less, but I never ground to a halt. Hey, it took me a year to build that momentum! If I lost it, I’d have to do it all over again. I was determined that wouldn’t happen. (I’m ambitiously lazy.)
 
Now some writers maintain momentum by producing a lot of books in a short amount of time. I’m a slow writer though, so I knew that plan wouldn’t work for me. I had to keep promoting, which meant maintaining my online presence.
 
Of course, I don’t like promoting my own books, so did other things instead. I just kept building my blog and Twitter following, co-hosted the A to Z Challenge, participated in blogfests, and started the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. After all, I wasn’t online just to promote my book – I was there to support and encourage others.
 
Did it work? Well, eleven months after its release, my first book hit the Amazon Best Seller chart.
 
I also wrote my next book during that time, and when it was released, it also hit the Best Seller charts. Both books eventually soared to the top of the Amazon UK charts as well. And while I’m blessed with a publisher who promotes my work, even they said my online activity had a huge impact on sales.
 
Maintaining momentum is important. So is consistency. Together it’s like a heartbeat, one that keeps your platform alive.
 
I know every author is different, but if I’d pulled back and vanished, my chances of success would’ve also vanished. No Amazon Best Sellers. No Insecure Writer’s Support Group. No blog growth or opportunity to really make a difference in this community. And it would’ve been a great loss.
 
Guess there’s something to be said about being clueless!
 
Alex J. Cavanaugh
 
Alex J. Cavanaugh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design and graphics. He is experienced in technical editing and worked with an adult literacy program for several years. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and movies to music and games. Online he is the Ninja Captain and founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The author of the Amazon bestsellers, CassaStar and CassaFire, his third book, CassaStorm, will be released September 17, 2013.