Maybe “nobody” is a bit of a stretch. But here’s a harsh truth for authors: most people really do not care that you wrote a book. You just published a book. You’re excited. You want to shout it from the rooftops. I get it. So tell your friends and family. Share the news with … Read more
As an indie author, you’ll find plenty of people and companies that would happily try to part you from your money, all in the name of book marketing or publicity. But, again as an indie, you might have a limited book marketing budget to work with. So where should you spend it? This topic came … Read more
Relax. No, our field hasn’t suddenly shut its proverbial doors. No, all companies haven’t suddenly stopped hiring folks like us. Nothing that earth-shattering (or ridiculous). Rather, the above semi-apocalyptic-sounding title springs from, shall we say, a semantic epiphany I recently had. Hang with me here. I think you’ll like this (or perhaps, indulgently, you’ll just … Read more
Last week, a question from Sunayna Prasad came in about building a fan base and how it affects series publishing. Basically, she wanted to know if she should publish the second book in her new series right away, or if she should wait until she has more fans or readers of the first. Here’s her … Read more
Your author blog can be an important, and effective, book marketing tool. But I’ve seen countless authors complain that blogging isn’t worth their time, only to discover that they’re going about it in the wrong way. One of the biggest issues I’ve seen is that authors aren’t targeting the right readers with their blogs. … Read more
A month doesn’t go by that I don’t get an email or two from a (clearly marketing-averse) commercial writer proposing, in various and sundry versions, the following: “Since I’m sure you get plenty of overflow commercial freelancing work (not really, actually…), I’m wondering if you’ve ever thought about farming it out to others for a … Read more
Something a little different for a change… This post originally appeared on Lori Vidmer’s Words on a Page Blog during “Writers Worth Week” in May of 2012. When I first sent it to Lori in response to her invitation to submit something for WWW, I thought it might be a bit…blunt, but she loved it, … Read more
So, I recently got the following email – similar to many I’ve gotten over the years from what I affectionately refer to as “shortcut-hunters.” Can’t blame them – we all want the path of least resistance as we build our commercial writing practices. He wrote: I have been working as a freelancer now for a … Read more
When you try to land reviews for your new book, the last thing you want is to be just another random new author reviewers have never heard of. Yet it’s not uncommon for authors, and especially indie authors, to wait until the last minute to think about book reviews. So for this week’s quick tip, … Read more
In my recent book marketing plan series I shared a book marketing plan outline. One element of that outline involved marketing and PR tactics to support your larger promotional strategy. These are the specific things you’ll do to promote your book and your visibility as an author. While I’m working on a short e-book covering … Read more