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 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 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!
by Laura L.
on April 9, 2013
in Authors, Book, Critique
If you are jonesing for some feedback on your latest masterpiece before hiring an editor check out Wattpad. Register for a free account and load up a chapter or your whole masterpiece and wait for the feedback to roll in! Do you use Wattpad?
by Laura L.
on April 3, 2013
in Book, Publishing, Self Publishing
Midwest Book Review offers resources that will prove helpful to self-published authors, regional presses, specialty publishers, academic houses, and the small press publishing community.
by Laura L.
on April 1, 2013
in Authors, Book, Self Publishing
Writing-World has compiled a great list of resources for self published authors. I really love the fact that they created a button to give you a version suitable for printing! You can see the list here.
by Laura L.
on March 26, 2013
in Authors, Book, Social Media Marketing
The SlideRocket blog has a fantastic freebie that is great for authors. They are giving away a free, customizable social media marketing plan template. If you don’t have a social media plan for your book you need one. This template will help you get off on the right foot AND keep you there!
by Laura L.
on March 22, 2013
in Authors, Book, Social Media Marketing
Mashable is sharing their presentation “Top 10 Tips for Social Media Engagement” on Slideshare. If you already know Mashable skip the introductory slides and go right into the meat of the presentation. Our favorite slide is “10 Commandments Of Twitter Etiquette”. We wish the world would read and follow this list! You can see the presentation, and that slide, here.
by Laura L.
on March 20, 2013
in Authors, Book, Social Media Marketing
Salesforce/Radian 6 has a nifty presentation on Slideshare called “30 Ideas For Your Social Media Plan”. Salesforce went through their most popular posts from 2011 and came up with 30 ideas that you can use for your author social media campaign. This not to be missed presentation is here.
by Laura L.
on March 15, 2013
in Book, E-Books, Publishing
These days readers consume books in various formats. Some prefer paperbacks, others won’t touch anything that isn’t on their Kindle and others like to read books in PDF on their computer. When you set up your sales page for your book make sure you tell your readers how and where they can buy the book in any format you offer. For example, put a buy link for physical copies and link to the Kindle and Nook. Make it easy for your readers to buy your books no matter how they intend to read them.
by Laura L.
on March 13, 2013
in Book, Self Publishing
Before Kindle and before Nook publishing a book yourself was considered the height of stupidity. Publishing houses did not believe that any self published book had value to anyone but the author. Thanks to electronic readers opening the doors to all kinds of self published works we now know that there are many more talented authors out there than previously thought. Apple is climbing on the self published bandwagon by bundling self published books together and highlighting them on the iBookstore main page. This is a great idea whose time has come and we give kudos for Apple finally realizing that everyone has a story to tell.
