by Laura L.
on June 18, 2013
in Book, Marketing, Marketing And Sales Strategy
If you have a decent webcam on your computer you can create short videos about your book and post them on your site, on YouTube and share them on social media sites.
This should be particularly easy if you write fiction because you can create a video for each important character. You can talk about their history, motives, feelings, etc. The list is endless.
For non-fiction you could create a video for each chapter. Expand on the main theme, offer additional resources, discuss reader feedback, etc.
There are many people who are visual learners and video appeals to them more than any other medium. Learn how to optimize your videos for search and drive your website rankings higher in the search engines.
by Laura L.
on June 13, 2013
in Blogs, Book, Marketing, Marketing And Sales Strategy
Communicating with readers and potential readers is your main goal with promoting your book. Consider creating a Twitter account for your main character(s) and using it to communicate with readers. Some authors are having luck with this but be sure to read Twitter rules first. If you decide to do this create a robust profile for your character but make sure that you disclose that your character is fictional. If you already do this successfully let us know in the comment section and we’ll feature your account on our blog!
by Laura L.
on June 11, 2013
in Blogging, Book
No, we don’t mean guest post and push books on readers. No sane blogger would allow this anyway. What we mean is to offer guest posts that cover the topic of your book and the blogger will most likely allow you a link to your book website. Before you start offering guests posts be sure to read the rules (if there are any) offered by the blogger and be aware that you will need to offer unique content not used anywhere else!
by Laura L.
on June 6, 2013
in Book, Marketing, Marketing And Sales Strategy
You see book buyers everywhere you go. In the drugstore, library, grocery store or at the local beauty salon. Readers are everywhere. An innovative idea to sell to these potential readers is to create business cards featuring your book and hand them out to people you meet. For example, if you wrote a children’s book hand out your cards to people with children. Romance books… hand out your cards to women. Business books… hand out your card to business people. The options are endless. One place where you can get affordable business cards is Vista Print.
by Laura L.
on June 4, 2013
in Authors, Google +1
Everyone creates content on the internet but not everyone has claimed their content ownership with Google. In order to do this you must open a Google+ account using your normal Google account. Once you do that you’ll need to setup your profile and tell Google where you contribute content. To learn how to do this read this article by Caitlin Muir.
by Laura L.
on May 30, 2013
in Book Reviews, Marketing, Marketing And Sales Strategy
You already know how important reviews are for Amazon and Goodreads but have you thought about reviews for your Facebook Fan Page? If you have an active and well developed Fan Page ask your readers to post their reviews on it. You can add a link to your book on that post and pay a small fee to sponsor it so everyone that “Liked” your page will see the review! This is a great idea to help you sell more books without selling. If you decide to try this out come back here and leave us a comment on how it went!
by Laura L.
on May 28, 2013
in Book Marketing, Marketing, Marketing And Sales Strategy
This is me with books!
We’re always looking for marketing ideas for our authors and we just came up with this one. Whens someone buys your book ask them to take a picture of themselves with your book. With their permission you can post this picture on your blog and social media sites and if your reader has a website of their own offer a link to that site with their photo! Start a Pinterest board with these pictures. Each month select your favorite photo and send that person a special gift. This could be another book you wrote, a bookmark, a special report, etc. Get creative and have fun.
by Laura L.
on May 23, 2013
in Book, Book Covers
Courtesy of GoodReads (recently acquired by Amazon.com) we have a list of past USA Best Book Award Winners. If you’ve ever wanted to be on this list read the list of award winners and you’ll get a good idea of what a winning book looks like. Some of the books on the list include reviews from GoodReads readers.
by Laura L.
on May 21, 2013
in BookBaby, E-Books, PressBooks, Self Publishing, Sell Books
Authors who use PressBooks for the free ability to upload and format e-books now have a distribution option thanks to a deal made with BookBaby. In the past if you used PressBooks you would have to export your e-book and upload it to a distribution site. Now, thanks to a deal announced in April, you can sell your books directly from PressBooks. There is a fee for selling on BookBaby but the convenience might make it worth it for some users.
by Laura L.
on May 16, 2013
in Punctuation, Self Publishing, Sell Books
Author Deborah Plummer has been published in the traditional, old fashioned way and she has self published a book. In “10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author That I Learned the Hard Way” she shares insights learned from going through the publishing process in two totally different ways. To learn what she has read the entire article here.
by Laura L.
on May 14, 2013
in Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Self Publishing
Have you ever used the Barnes & Noble Pubit self publishing system? In order to better compete with the Kindle self publishing platform B&N have changed the way self publishers submit their books. The new system, Nook Press, allows authors to write and edit within the system rather than uploading a Word document. Authors that used to use the Pubit system need to create a new account in Nook Press. To learn more visit Nook Press. Make sure you read their contract as it has some clauses in it that are new.
by Laura L.
on May 9, 2013
in Authors, Book Marketing
Selling your book is hard enough if you are self published but getting book reviews is even harder. The 42Ruleds blog often offers review resources and today we have one more for you. There is a group of people, on Facebook, who offer book reviews in exchange for a free copy of your book. If you’d like to join and offer your book for review visit the group here.
by Laura L.
on May 9, 2013
in Authors, Editors, Self Publishing
The Catherine, Caffeinated blog has a great guest post about hiring an editor by Robert Doran. Catherine is a great fan of self published authors hiring an editor and has pointed this out in many venues and at various times. She is hoping this post by Mr. Doran will get through to those stubborn self published authors who don’t believe in using an editor.
by Laura L.
on May 2, 2013
in Authors, Book, Book Marketing
Book Hitch offers a free option to add your books to the site. This includes a 60-word description, 5 search keywords and a link to the site where readers can purchase your book. If you don’t mind paying a yearly fee you have the option of a more detailed listing. To see what other authors are doing visit Book Hitch and then open your free account!
by Laura L.
on April 30, 2013
in Authors, Book, Book Marketing
Here’s a nifty website: Nothing Binding. Authors can register for a free account and upload information about their books. Another important feature is that you can meet and network with other writers. That’s always a good thing. Already using the site? Let us know how it’s going for you!
by Laura L.
on April 25, 2013
in Book, Book Reviews
If you are looking for reviews and promotion of your book consider submitting to BookBrowse. They have a fairly short list of topics they review and rigorous requirements. You can learn what they are looking for at BookBrowse.
by Laura L.
on April 23, 2013
in Authors, Book, Book Marketing
If you want to get noticed as a writer visit authonomy. This site was created by Harper Collins in order to find new talent and join writers and readers. You’ll need a few chapters of your work to get started. You can learn more at authonomy.
by Laura L.
on April 18, 2013
in Authors, Book, Book Marketing
Link to your Amazon.com to Shelfari and import your books. You can interact with potential and current readers and build your platform and audience!
by Laura L.
on April 16, 2013
in Amazon.com, Authors, Book
There are lots of places to post free books that are part of the Amazon.com KDP promotion. One place you may not have known about is the Kindle Boards the Book Bazaar subforum. You’ll need a free member account first and be sure to follow the rules before posting your freebie!
by Laura L.
on April 11, 2013
in Authors, Book
BookTalk.org is a free online reading group with thousands of members and hundreds of forums. If you have a book you want to introduce to readers find the fiction or non-fiction forum and watch what others do before you make your first post. Also, don’t forget to introduce yourself in the forum for introductions!
