When the writing is done and it’s time to prepare your passion project for commercial distribution, it’s also time to fully enter the digital age. Becoming a published author means putting your brand name and contact information out on the world wide web for all to see. Obviously authors wish to attract buyers for their books,… Continue reading Scams Targeting Authors – Are You Prepared for the Risks?
Social media offers the perfect way to communicate directly with customers. It is possible for your content to quickly go viral, reaching a huge audience in no time. You can, however, go viral for the wrong reasons, potentially alienating those who would have bought from you. Many social media mistakes are not so catastrophic, though,… Continue reading 6 Social Media Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
by L Dalton White So, my first novel was self-published—almost self-everything—and nothing happened. The second time around, I got a new editor, professional book cover and formatting. Nothing happened. The little I knew from an online course on book marketing wasn’t helping. Do it yourself wasn’t getting it done. I wanted something to happen. Spoiler… Continue reading Publishing with a Side of Self-Sabotage
At forty-two, I herniated my L4/L5 disc and life as I knew it was over. Prior to that, I had been that person…THAT MOM. You know the type: the go-to, never-say-no, initiator-and-follow-through-er, full-of-energy-and-ideas, you-can-count-on-me type of person. I wrote course curricula for a start-up camp at church (my brain child), then was director of the… Continue reading My Herniated Disc Prepared Me for the Overwhelming World of Self-Publishing
Social Networking sites can be scary places. When the world is connected, anything can happen, and it can happen quickly too.
That’s why I’m here to talk to you today. These days, anyone can fall victim to a social networking faux pas, and from hacks and leaks to rules and regulations, there’s always something that could go wrong and damage your reputation.
When it became easy to publish, people published crap. Buckets and boatloads of it. A gate was opened, which was previously closed to just anyone dreaming of becoming a published author. Whether because of budget or ignorance, people published within days of finishing writing and screamed from the rooftops, “Look at me, I’m published!” The… Continue reading Self-Publishing 101: First Impressions
Does your website look a little tired and clunky? It doesn’t dazzle you anymore? Staring at my website one day, I know that feeling. After some procrastination—there are always other things to do—I finally decided something needed to be done. Had I known what I faced, perhaps I should have procrastinated some more. A good… Continue reading “Building Your Website” by Stefan Vucak
Think about how much time you spend on Twitter and what you are hoping to accomplish by using Twitter. One of the most important things that can happen for you is when someone else retweets for you, right? And for you, as you work to increase your network, you are looking for things to retweet… Continue reading Pin a Tweet?
Raymond Esposito kindly gave AHA permission to use his fantastic graph that illustrates the trends and statistics from a Smashwords survey from last year. Enjoy!
So, you are a newbie author and you’re awaiting the release of your book in the next three or four months (heaven forbid, if it’s a longer wait!) After you have wrung your hands and vented to your significant other about why publishers can’t seem to get their act together, you come to a major… Continue reading “Keep Calm and Promote!” by Adite Banerjie
What is marketing indie style? When you began the very personal journey that resulted in a manuscript you then felt compelled to share with the world, you probably didn’t anticipate how difficult it would be to let people know your book is available for sale. Marketing concepts and methods are relative to the consumer’s demands, not… Continue reading Marketing Indie Style
A Self-Publishers Guide to Metadata In the most basic context, metadata means “data about data.” What about when we talk about self publishing—what is metadata? When was the last time you went to the library, pulled out one of the card catalog drawers and rifled through the 3×5 cards printed with the information of each, individual book… Continue reading Getting Your Book Noticed by Ethan Risso
Tips for Running a Crowd Funding Campaign Initially when I first embarked on a Kickstarter project campaign for my first book, The Undead Sorceress, I assumed that it would be a simple task. After all, the media has covered stories about people getting thousands of dollars from crowds, so how hard can collecting free money… Continue reading Tips for Running a Crowd Funding Campaign by J F Garrard
Every budding author wants to see his masterpiece published, preferably by one of the traditional book publishers. After all, that’s where the fame and money is, right? After accumulating a stack of rejection letters, thoughts of ending it all bubbling in the background, reality starts to sink in. There are lots of writers out there… Continue reading “Decline of E-book Publishers” by Stefan Vucak
Flash your Fiction is a new blog that is seeking submissions for already published books. The site accepts excepts of 500 words or less and a link to where your book can be purchased. All genres or fiction and non-fiction accepted. The central concept is to allow for readers to quickly browse the writing style… Continue reading “Flash Your Fiction: A New Promotional Site for Books” ~ by Paul Ruth
Don’t miss out on one of the best marketing techniques on the web today just because you aren’t familiar with the process. Article marketing is one of the easiest marketing methods online, and it’s low-cost too. If you use tips like those referred to in this article, you will find success in utilizing articles to… Continue reading Here’s A Good Summary Of Article Marketing Best Practices
We all like to think appearances don’t matter, that we are nice people and not the kind that judge or treat people by the way they look or what they wear. If only that were true. I personally have never forgotten, a few years ago, watching Susan Boyle shuffling onto the stage for an episode… Continue reading “Judging Books By Their Covers” by Roger Gerald Scott
Just do it! It’s up to you. If you’re uncomfortable about tooting your own horn, get over it, because if you don’t, your book will sink into the vast ocean of eBooks never to surface again. You have to market your book boldly, broadly, and inventively; tell why you’re special and enabled and why readers… Continue reading “On Promoting Your Book” by Charles Ameringer
Try being there for your readers constantly. Make a habit out of interacting with them. Keep the social in social media marketing or it doesn’t work and blogging is as much a part of this type of marketing as Twitter is. You don’t need any advanced degrees to succeed in writing your blog, simply being passionate… Continue reading “Quick Tips for Writing A Successful Blog”
So, what’s the big deal with article marketing? What is it all about in the first place? Well, it is the simple practice of creating written content and publishing such articles online on any of the hundreds, if not thousands, of article directories found on the Internet. Now directories that post article submissions can cater… Continue reading “What are the Top 10 Benefits of Article Marketing?” by Brian Blogs
I’m a self-published author and I want book reviews. So, like all good self-published authors, I troll around to find blogs that review indie books, and I send them sweetly worded book review requests. Sometimes I don’t get a reply back at all. Sometimes the blogger will write me a more personal rejection, and every… Continue reading “Why Is It So Hard To Get A Book Review?” by Nikki Bennett
I remember being mystified about the point of twitter and wondering why anyone could be bothered to share 140 character observations. I am still bemused by some tweets I see – but others can be really thought provoking and every once in a while you see something touching, poignant or laugh-out-loud funny.
The other day I heard, “I need help building a social media strategy.” To that question, I responded, “Tell me a little about your social strategy for your company.” I received a blank stare because, of course, they did not have a social strategy for their company… that would simply be absurd.
Search engine optimization isn’t rocket science, brain surgery or even omelet making but with the way some people talk, you’d think that it was. True, there are some components that make it a little more complicated to understand… after all, that is why SEOs (search engine optimizers) make $15,000 or more per small site just… Continue reading “Search Engine Optimization is Not Rocket Science” by Corey Smith
I watch trends. Trends are defined as the general course or tendency of a specific path or set of behaviors. Trends are identified based on measurements pulled into statistical reports and are based on user level activities. Example, there is a trend for shameless self promotion on Twitter and Facebook that is not effective.
Too often, I hear people complain about social media. I’ve heard all the reasons why social media is bad: “I don’t want people to know what I am doing.” “I can’t mix personal and business.” “I don’t understand why anyone would want to hear what I have to say.” “None of my contacts are on… Continue reading “3 Reasons for Social Media” ~ by Corey Smith
I believe that we should learn how to effectively compete in the business world around us. In order to accomplish that, we have to understand how to use the tools around us. I have always enjoyed learning new things. I am not necessarily an early adopter but I am definitely interested in learning and understanding technology earlier than the… Continue reading “Five Tech Skills You Must Know” ~ by Corey Smith
Mark Coker, Founder of Smashwords, the leading distributor of self-published eBooks serving Apple, B&N, Sony, Kobo, libraries and more, has published a new report that is a MUST READ for authors…all authors, even if you aren’t self publishing, this information is useful for your marketing strategies as well! Covering pricing, book length, title length,… Continue reading New Report from Mark Coker an Eye Opener for Book Sales Strategies!
Creativity is a learned skill. It is something that requires practice. If you would like to be creative you cannot expect that you will naturally be so. Although, children tend to exhibit it a bit more naturally because they are willing to fail a little more than us adults. I think that the most important… Continue reading “Creativity” ~ by Corey Smith
Sometimes we worry about things that we shouldn’t worry about it and we ignore the important things. Commonly this is known as picking the wrong battle. The challenge, I think, sometimes is that, for as often as you hear “pick your battles,” no one really ever says what that really means. If we had the… Continue reading “What’s Important?” ~ by Corey Smith
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