Review by BellaGBear -- The BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book...

[BellaGBear]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge" by Rachel Thompson.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The BadRedHead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge by Rachel Thompson is not a novel. This book is also not a traditional non-fiction book. It doesn’t tell a story or explains all the ins and outs of a certain topic. Rather, this book is an expansive how-to-do list on book publishing. But this book is not only relevant for authors, because it discusses both the foundations of online marketing and the specifics of book promotion. I have a fabric art blog myself and I learned a lot of useful tips on how to grow that blog from this book!

This 30-Day Marketing Challenge book started as a 30-day challenge on social media for writers to set up their relevant social media platforms for book promotion. After its success, Rachel Thompson decided to write this book to reach even more people. The book is divided into 30 chapters, one for every day of the month. Those 30 chapters are divided in four weeks each with their own topics. Week one discusses Twitter. Week two is about Facebook and the different uses of a personal account and an author’s page. Week three tells us how to make a marketing plan. Lastly, week four shows the importance of a professional website and a blog. At the end of each chapter, a challenge is given to activate the readers, such as starting a Facebook page. Also, each chapter is filled with links to articles where the reader can learn more.

What this book does well is to give the readers a very easy-to-follow guide on how to set up a successful online marketing strategy. The social media landscape is often overwhelming, and it is difficult to see where to start and which pursuits are worth our time and money. Rachel Thompson shows us which tools to use based on her own experience. In this way, we can use our time more efficiently and have more time left to do the writing we actually love. The challenges can be as easy as opening a twitter account or tweeting your first tweet. For someone who has always been intimidated by social media, and especially Twitter, this was very helpful. Also, the steps Rachel Thompson takes in each chapter are small enough to do in less than half an hour which makes it possible to follow the challenge even for people with a busy schedule.

The book is aimed at authors, but it is useful for a much broader public. For example, the tools she gives to create a successful blog are valuable for anyone looking to increase the visitor numbers and google search results of their website. Rachel Thompson makes a good argument that everyone who wants their book, website etc. to be successful needs to write a blog and create an engaged audience online.

The only negative thing I have to say about this book is that most of the paragraphs are very short with very dramatic distinctions between each section. This made the design of the book more like a bucket list or a to-do list than a proper book. It made reading the book easier, but it took away the feeling of reading a real book like a novel. My soul is more drawn to prose, so the design of the book did not resonate with me. The editing of this book is done superbly as I couldn't find any typos

All in all, this book is recommended for everyone who is intimidated by online marketing. I give this book four stars out of four because of its sheer wealth of information. Also, this book is good at what it claims to be: namely, a practical guide anyone can follow, and that is admirable. Furthermore, this book made me believe that I can market a book successfully, and I have been scared to start serious social media marketing for years! This book makes online marketing seem easy and possible, which consequently helped to take myself more seriously as an online entrepreneur. I think that is exactly what Rachel Thompsons wanted to achieve with this book.

In short, this step-by-step guide with all its tips and links to useful articles to learn more is enough to help even the most social-media illiterate grandmother on her way to internet fame.

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The BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge
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