Fantasy blogging for SEO: Introducing my new bookish marketing services
Today’s fantasy blog is another short and sweet one — but it’s juicy. I’m now offering bespoke, budget-friendly marketing services to bookish businesses! Starting with (drumroll) the viral sensation Paper + Word; the home of fantasy.
When I completed my MA in Creative Writing, I had one goal: publication. But in the meantime, I’d need a job. Teaching would take up too much writing time. So, I settled on marketing.
Flash forward ten years. Here we are.
I’ve helped guide the content marketing strategies of global companies, from start-ups to multi-billion dollar enterprises. Crucially, my clients are usually pretty niche. So, my expertise in search engine optimisation (SEO) is uniquely suited for idiosyncratic clients. My strategies apply to your platform, rather than vague optimisation advice that could apply to anyone in any industry.
Now, I wasn’t planning on merging the two worlds. I thought marketing would fade into the background as I became a world-famous fantasy author. But I kept seeing the same crappy advice on SEO for authors, which put me onto SEO for bookshops, SEO for indie publishers, and on, and on. It was all so generic — and far from what a brilliant local business deserved.
The boring spiel about bookish SEO
Look, I get it. Marketing’s expensive, and most of us are out there doing it alone (or with a minuscule team) on a wing and a prayer. But, the investment can pay off. Here’s some quick maths:
Let’s say 3,000 people per month search Google for a particular subgenre. If you organically rank in position one (top of the results page) you can expect anywhere up to 40% of those people to click on your link. Of the 1260 users who click-through, an average of 3% would be expected to make a purchase. Now let’s say — for ease — they all buy the same £9.99 paperback book. That single position one ranking would lead to an average monthly income of £378.
Nobody’s getting rich off £378 per month, but that’s a single ranking. The goal would be to get you a lot more than that.
This is all hand wavium to express the premise. It’s not a promise of a return nor does it use actual figures. But it does outline a different, often more reliable marketing approach for bookish businesses that seem to focus more on social channels. That’s why I’ve partnered with Paper + Word, the undisputed home of fantasy and my own local bookshop, to demonstrate how all this works. I’ll be guest posting fantasy blogs over on their site, consulting on the organic content strategy, and generally pinching myself that this is my life.
Who could resist writing for and about this place?
For those interested, The Fortune-Teller’s Son is rolling along nicely and I’m hoping to share some beta feedback and excerpts via the newsletter soon.
