Anne Janzer

Author

Buffer

A Few of My Favorite Apps (for Authors)

favorite things

In the spirit of the holiday gift exchanges, let’s share our favorite resources for writers and authors. I’ll go first.

This post includes a list of tools and apps that either make it easier to get your book out into the world (writing and publishing) or that simplify the task of creating and maintaining the online author platform so you can write.

In return, you can leave your suggestions in the comments, or send them by email and I’ll update this post.

So, here are a few of my favorite things. (Are you humming yet?)

Writing and Publishing Books

Researching with Scribd

Scribd is my new literary and research love. It’s an online a subscription to books, articles and audiobooks. The catalog is pretty extensive, and I love that it combines ebooks and audiobooks. My only problem is that I haven’t figured out how to get it to carry my own books. Sigh.

Writing and Planning in The Right Margin

The Right Margin is an online writing environment that helps writers break the work into multiple tasks, build goal-driven schedules, and stay motivated to get the work done.  Plus, they have a great Slack community (WriterHangout). Check it out.

Maintaining a Freewriting Practice

No matter what phase of the writing I’m in, I maintain a practice of 750 words a day of freewriting. What better tool to use than 750words.com?  Because it’s web-based, I can write my words from almost anywhere, so there’s no excuse for skipping the practice.

Testing Titles, Covers, Descriptions with PickFu

Not sure about a book title, or trying to decide which cover will be more effective? PickFu makes A/B testing painless and, dare I say, fun? Well, I find it fun.

You create the head-to-head matchups, define an audience, and sit back as the results pour in. You get detailed input from people you don’t know – so they’re not trying to say what they think you want to hear. And it happens so quickly, you can run a virtual tournament of book titles to come up with the final contenders.

[Disclaimer – I signed as a PickFu affiliate because I’m a fan and regularly refer the solution anyway. You can go the site directly if the affiliate link distresses you.]

Creating Beautiful Ebooks with Vellum

Want to create a beautiful ebook for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, or any other ebook reader? Vellum lets you do it quickly and easily.

You can write directly in the app or import a Word file, fix up the interior, choose the style you like, and export it painlessly into the right formats for countless ebook platforms.

It’s a MacOS application, and charges a small fee only when you are ready to export the book for upload to other services. The price is a great deal, considering that you don’t have to spend hours formatting.

Building and Maintaining the Author Platform

Author Website, Email, and More: Rainmaker Platform

Rainmaker runs my website and email list, and I’m just scratching the surface of what it can do. Using Rainmaker makes my life easier by putting everything under one umbrella. I don’t have to learn and integrate a bunch of different tools. That leaves me more time for writing!

Also, their tech support is wonderful. Learn more here. [Disclaimer: That’s a Rainmaker Platform affiliate link.]

Social Media Scheduling with Buffer

Social media can become a time sink pretty quickly.  Instead of letting social media drive my life, I spent some time each week scheduling posts in advance. Buffer lets me do that easily, while collecting new posts to share as I encounter them. I upgraded to the paid version for its ability to schedule bunches of posts.

I love the automated scheduling, performance analytics, and the ability to look at a calendar by weeks and months.

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Now it’s your turn.

What are your favorite tools? Share them in the comments, or send an email and I’ll update this post.

 

Sound of Music Gif via Giphy

The Magic Moment for Value Nurturing

evan kirby hands flowers unsplash

The moment when someone signs up as a customer, your relationship with that person shifts.

If you come from a traditional marketing and sales environment with a linear funnel, you might ring a gong to mark the deal and hand the customer off to another part of the business.

But if your business depends on long-term customer relationships, recognize the fragile beauty of this moment. Here’s your chance to set the groundwork for the relationship going forward.

During hours and days after the initial sale, switch your focus to value nurturing — investing in the value experienced by the subscriber or customer. From this moment forward, the task of marketing shifts to making the customer happy and successful. And first impressions count.

Use the initial interactions with customers — the welcome email, online receipt, or onboarding messages — to invest in the future:

  • Helping customers find success
  • Building trust
  • Communicating your values and story
  • Setting the tone for the ongoing relationship

Today’s post looks at two examples I’ve encountered recently of companies turning ordinary transactional emails or communications into something special.

Slack’s Magic Link

“Check your email for a confirmation link…”  We’ve all seen that message many times.

The email confirmation link is a standard part of the onboarding process for many services, and for good reason. Sending a confirmation link to an email address validates that the person signing up for the service is associated with the account that they’re claiming.

But the confirmation step can be a barrier between the new subscriber and the service. If the recipient delays opening the mail, the link may expire. The necessary security measure can become an annoying hurdle from the customer’s perspective.

I made my first foray into Slack recently, signing up for the WriterHangout group. Instead of the usual, bland instruction to check my email, Slack told me to watch for a “Magic Link” in my email.

slack magic link

The Magic Link concept made me curious. The email itself arrived immediately, so I clicked through.

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Behind the scenes, this appears to be another confirmation email. But the presentation and style of the message sets the expectation of a different kind of enterprise software company.

By approaching the ordinary in a creative way, Slack encourages its customers to get over that initial hurdle, while setting up an ongoing relationship.

Buffer’s Awesome Welcome

Buffer is a social media sharing and scheduling application. After using the free service, I was enticed by the scheduling and analytic capabilities in the paid plan. So I signed up for the “Awesome” plan.

Two emails arrived right away.

The first, signed by co-founder and CEO Joel Gascoigne, welcomed me to the Awesome plan. Written with a personal tone and style, it set the groundwork for an ongoing relationship.

He also  reminded me that I could cancel at any time — a gesture that builds trust. Buffer is not trying to trap me into a subscription.

The second email was a receipt for my payment — an essential and usually boring transactional email. Like the first, this one felt personal.

buffer

The email included a picture of the Buffer team at a work retreat, showing me the people behind the service. It ended with this quote, guaranteed to warm the heart of someone who preaches value nurturing:

We will also do our best to provide great value for you day in and day out.”

Both emails welcomed replies. So I took them up on the offer. When I replied to the receipt email, the team responded quickly, reinforcing my trust that the company is listening to its customers.

Buffer clearly embodies the practice of value nurturing. It’s taken two mundane, transactional emails, and used them to build the relationship.

Lessons for Marketers

What happens the moment a customer signs up with your product or service? Are you taking the opportunity to start building a relationship?

Examine every ordinary transactional email you send to new subscribers or customers. See if there’s anything you can add to build trust, accelerate customer success, or otherwise begin a beautiful relationship.

Interested in more?

Read the related post on value nurturing:  When Marketing Adds Value: The Case for Content.

Download the free chapter on value nurturing from the Subscription Marketing book.

Get the Subscription Marketing book.

Image by Evan Kirby on Unsplash