If you’re an author, you’ve probably heard that you should consider having a blog. Some authors swear by them. Others swear them off as a distraction and waste of time. But the marketing value of blogs is undeniable, and they can be effective promotional tools for both nonfiction and fiction authors. In a future post we’ll take … Read more
Raise your hand if you’re an author who has ever complained that you don’t have enough time to market your books. After all, you’re too busy writing, right? While making time for larger book marketing efforts is a requirement and reality of self publishing today (or any publishing for that matter), there are still plenty … Read more
Each Wednesday I try to release a new resource or highlight something worth recommending to you. While I was off most of last week, I didn’t put something up, and I’m making up for it with two freebies this week. The first is a simple downloadable content idea checklist for your author website and blog. … Read more
Getting potential readers to visit your author website isn’t enough. You need to convince them to stick around long enough to get a feel for you and your books, and hopefully convince them that they want more. Yet many author websites follow a very boring template. Let’s look at five ways your author website might … Read more
Many first-time authors don’t spend much time thinking about book marketing until they’ve finished writing their book, perhaps when they’re putting together a book proposal. However, you should think about your book marketing strategy well before getting to that point. “What can I do to market a book that doesn’t even exist yet?” you might … Read more
There is a common misconception out there about author platforms. Many fiction authors seem to think that author platforms don’t apply to them. There is this notion that platforms are only relevant to nonfiction authors. But that’s far from the truth. While the fiction author’s platform might be different than their nonfiction counterpart’s, an author … Read more
In my first Busy Author’s Guide, I’ll cover ways you can build your all-important author platform no matter how much, or how little, time you can invest. What is an author platform? Your author platform is essentially your presence and reach among your target audience. When you have a strong author platform, you have a built-in fan … Read more
I hear it all the time. Authors complain that they’re fed up with book promotion. They want to spend their time writing and not marketing their books. In many cases you can cut down on marketing time significantly. All you have to do is stop making some common book marketing mistakes, doing things to help … Read more
Have you considered taking part in a virtual book tour to promote your book or e-book? Have you put it off because you’re worried a virtual publicity tour might take too much time? It’s true. There are a lot of ways these promotional events can waste time. But the biggest waste of time is to … Read more
As a follow-up to my recent post and infographic, Twitter tips for authors, I’d like to share a resource from another author. Anne R. Allen shared this post with me on Twitter, which she wrote last fall. Social Media Secrets for Authors, Part IV: How Not to Spam I hate spam. You hate spam. We … Read more