Tag Archives: Marketing

Goodreads for Authors: 8 Easy Ways to Raise Visibility for Your Books by Lynn Emery

Book geek heaven, that’s a good description of Goodreads. Even now that Amazon owns the site, it’s still very much reader centric. The czar of customer service seems to have recognized this and mostly left the way GR works alone. If you want to increase your reach with serious book lovers I recommend considering these tips to leverage GR.

Disclaimer: I’m not trying to convince writers that they MUST be on Goodreads NOW or their writing careers are OVER! I have few extra hours or energy to invest in another time suck, like many writers. Still there are low cost ways to get your info flashed to readers without spending a lot of time.

1. Do giveaways. Ignore the GR advice. Have short giveaways of 5 to 15 days. Why? GR promotes new giveaways and those about to end, urging readers to hurry before the deadline. In between your giveaway is merely listed with thousands of others.

You don’t have to give away 10 + books. Do less. Some writers do just one. I think that’s a bit restrictive. I’d say 5 is a good number. But you should open the giveaway to all countries, or at least multiple countries. I hear you, “But Lynn, GR only allows print books as prizes. That’s a lot of postage!” Drop ship your books directly from your POD company. Mail books to foreign winners from Book Depository (www.bookdepository.com). You can ship one book to worldwide for free! Check their list to make sure your winner lives in a country they ship to, but it’s a long list. Tip: you can only send one book to another country for free during a shopping episode, but I found a work around. I had three foreign winners. I discovered that if I waited a day to send the next one it was still free.

2. Add books to your shelves. GR members love seeing what other members are reading. They want to know you’re not just hanging out to push your books, but you’re a reader, too.

3. Post what you’re reading so your friends (and their friends) will see the books you like.

4. Post reviews. Members read reviews. It’s word of mouth. While they’re doing that guess what? They notice you’re an author and check out your titles.

5. Post book trailers on your author profile. We’re living in a visual world like it or not.

6. You don’t have a GR author profile filled out? Create one.

7. Try GR ads. They’re surprisingly affordable.

8. Open up the new “Ask the Author” feature. One tip I read is to pose a question yourself, answer it and give visitors insight into your process. I just started using in the last month, so far no questions. Still it’s another useful took to reach out.

None of these will guarantee your sales will jump. What you will do is get your name and book covers in front of hungry reader eyes. The goal of advertising is to reach your target audience so as not to waste time and money. GR members are some serious book fans.. I don’t hang out on GR a lot, and I haven’t searched for and added a bunch of friends. But I actually enjoy posting my current reads, when I finish each book, and doing short reviews.

My results: sales increased about 7%. Several hundred GR members added my books to their “To Read” lists. GR sends out updates to members, so others see my book covers listed in their friends “To Read” lists. GR reviews increased significantly (about 35%). Admittedly I don’t have a huge number of reviews per book, but that’s a lot more than I had before. Updates also show reviews to the friends of those members, therefore e visibility for my books increased. This led to more reviews. Print sales went up, but not significantly.

Give it a try. You don’t have to spend any money or a lot of time. Where else can you find millions of book-a-holics looking for their next favorite read? It just may be worth it.

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Lynn Emery: Mix knowledge of Louisiana politics and forensic social work, with the dedication to write fiction while working each day as a clinical social worker, and you get a snapshot of author Lynn Emery.

She sold her first novel in 1995 to Kensington publishing for their groundbreaking Arabesque line. NIGHT MAGIC went on to be recognized for Excellence in Romance Fiction for 1995 by Romantic Times Magazine. Her third novel, AFTER ALL, became a movie produced by BET and aired on December 3, 1999. Holly Robinson Peete stars as Michelle Toussaint, an investigative television reporter. In 2004 Lynn won three coveted Emma Awards. She was chosen Author of the Year and her novel KISS LONLEY GOODBYE won Best Novel and Favorite Hero. GOOD WOMAN BLUES was nominated for the Romantic Times Best Mainstream Multicultural of 2005.

Visit Lynn Online: http://www.lynnemery.com/

Don’t have a copy of the SECOND EDITION of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US) or Barnes & Noble

Five Reasons Authors Need GoodReads By Terry Whalin

I am no GoodReads expert. Millions of readers are on this site talking about books. Over four years ago in 2011, I learned about this site through some email or article or bit of information that came across my computer screen. I registered at GoodReads then for three years I almost never returned.

Earlier this year, I saw GoodReads likes book reviews. I have reviewed over 450 books on Amazon (who also owns GoodReads). I took about an hour and cut and pasted some of my Amazon reviews on the GoodReads site. Currently I have reviewed about 85 books.

Almost two months ago, my friend Sandra Beckwith interviewed Cynthia Shannon, the Author Marketing Coordinator at GoodReads. The teleseminar was excellent and if you did not hear it, you can follow this link and get this inexpensive educational teleseminar.

As I listened to this event, Cynthia spoke about the need for authors to claim their Author Profile Status. While I had not done much on my profile, I had taken this step to be identified on GoodReads as an author. Next Cynthia talked about the incomplete profile which didn’t have the author’s photo or links to the Author’s website or twitter account. As I followed along online during the event, I discovered, I was one of “those” authors.

Immediately I fixed my GoodReads profile. I added my photo and filled out my profile adding my twitter link and much more. Yet I didn’t complete the teleseminar and was pulled away from my computer. It wasn’t an issue because the event was recorded and Sandra sent us the recording (which is still available). Days and weeks passed before I caught the final portion of this event this week.

There was a place for book trailer videos so I uploaded my two videos. Also I saw a little shadow image at the top of the GoodReads home page with a number next to my small photo. It read 495. To my horror, I discovered this number was people who had requested to be my friend on GoodReads and I had not responded or answered. Thankfully I’ve resolved all of these requests and accepted these friends and grown my friends on GoodReads.

Now you can tell the truth of my opening statement: I am no GoodReads expert—but I am learning and growing in my knowledge of this site. In fact, this week I learned the salesmen at Ingram Publishing Services can see a little icon when they look up our names. It is a GoodReads icon and shows whether the author has an active GoodReads presence or not. IPS is the distributor of the Morgan James books. My Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham biography are both published through Morgan James Publishing. It is important that I work at reporting my promotion activities to these sales people because they sell the book into the bookstores. Every bookstore buys books based on the perception of what the author is doing to promote the book. See why I became more interested in being active on GoodReads?

If you are an author or want to be an author, here are five reasons authors need to be on GoodReads:

1. There are 30 million readers on GoodReads. Yes 30 million. Earlier this year they touted 25 million and now it is 30, so it has increased five million in nine months. Just look at the growth curve for this site and that is a good reason for your involvement.

2. You want to interact with people who love books. GoodReads is all about readers and reviews and finding good books then talking about them. Marketing Expert Penny Sansevieri had a lengthy section about GoodReads in her Ebook HOW TO GET REVIEWS BY THE TRUCKLOAD ON AMAZON. I wrote about Penny’s book several months ago (follow this link).

3. You want to be involved in reading and talking about books. On GoodReads, there is a section called Groups. There are thousands (no exaggeration) of groups on any imaginable topic related to talking about books. Join a couple of groups and just like any forum or group, observe and read the conversation before jumping into it. If you can contribute to the discussion, then that is terrific. You will find more readers through tapping into these groups.

4. You want to get more reviews of your own books. I’ve discussed this important aspect of books in other articles but book reviews sell books. If you want to get more reviews, then as an author I encourage you to participate in Giveaways.

5. If you are a book author, you need to claim your GoodReads author profile. One of the relatively new features on GoodReads is a section called Ask the Author. The author has to turn on this feature. Then on your dashboard (that only you can see), you will see new questions to answer. It gives you a place to interact with your readers.

I’ve only scratched the surface of this extensive site. There are many more reasons than these five to regularly visit and learn about GoodReads. It will pay off for you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. To help writers, he has created 12-lesson online course called Write A Book Proposal. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com.

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Pre-Orders Amazon Style by Deatri King-Bey

I have a love/hate relationship with Amazon, as many authors do. But I have got to give them their props. They promote the products they distribute better than any other distributor out there. Now they’ve added the ability for self-published authors to set up their eTitles for pre-order. Bravo!

I must admit, I do not like pre-ordering books because I know I won’t keep up with if I actually received them but a lot of readers love to do pre-orders. Soooo, with this new functionality, I decided to give it a try so I could tell you about it. They began this option two weeks before my new title was released, so my title was only on pre-order a week, but I learned a lot from that week.

Setting up for pre-order is very easy. Go into your Amazon KDP account and upload your manuscript as usual and select the option for pre-order. A week before your release date, you must upload the FINAL version of your manuscript. If you do not upload the final version, you will not be able to place another title on pre-order for a year. Once you have uploaded your final version, you will not be able to change the file the last week before the go-live date.

Great news. Your title DOES NOT have to be enrolled in KDP Select in order to set it on pre-order. KDP Select is the program where you give Amazon exclusive distribution rights to your title for ninety days and in exchange they allow you to give the book away a few days and they add it to their free library. You are paid for the free downloads from their library.

So a little over a week before my title went live, it was available for pre-order. The night before the book was available for everyone, the people who’d pre-ordered it received their notice that they could download the book. I had a few readers contact me saying they’d read the book and two even posted a review the morning it went live. Having reviews from users with the “Verified Purchase” is a good thing.

I wondered how they’d do the sales rank. I had hopedthe titles that were sold during pre-order wouldn’t count until the title went live, but that was not the case. They count during pre-order then they also give your ranking a little boost when it becomes available. I don’t know the algorithm they use to calculate how much and I’m sure they’ll be changing it often.

From the KDP Reports Dashboard, you’ll see the Pre-Orders option that will give you the number of pre-orders your title has.

Back to ranking. You need to understand how pre-orders will affect your ranking. My last seven titles hit the top twenty in their first day of release. In my category, that’s around fifty-sixty copies. By the second day, the new title is usually in or close to the top ten. Then my sales usually shoot off and stay pretty good a few weeks. I promote initially, but don’t do the continual promotion that I know I should, but that’s a different post.

I discovered that getting into the top twenty and even better yet the top ten your first few days is crucial. The higher your rank, the more Amazon pushes it. That was why I wanted to know how the pre-sale copies would affect the first day sales. For me, if my new title can get into the top twenty the first day, that title will do good.

The night before my title was available, the sales rank was 103,000. According to the report, there were twenty-seven pre-orders. The morning it was live, without any additional sales yet, it was 42,000. So there was a bump up in ranks as a result of the pre-orders.

During the course of the day, thirty-eight additional units of the book sold. I checked at 9 p.m. before I went to bed. So my first day sales were 27 (pre-order) + 38 (first day sales), which, when combined, is in the range of what I usually sell on the first day. So what do you think my Amazon ranking was? Did it make the top twenty as usual?

As you see, it did not. I have a base of around sixty readers who usually buy my new title on the first day. This puts my title in the top twenty quickly for my category, which did not happen because the pre-orders didn’t count as full units. This ranking isn’t bad, but I’ve noticed a huge different between being in the top twenty on the first day.

Here are the rankings from 6 p.m. the day after it went live.

Second Day For Keeps

The title continued to climb the charts, but not enough for my liking. That loss of twenty-seven sells makes a big difference. So for me, I will not be doing pre-orders again anytime soon, because I don’t have a large enough base that pre-orders will not hurt my ranking. I need that big bang on the first day. You will need to do what works for you.

Deatri King-Bey

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $8.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Book Buzz by Deatri King-Bey

How do you get people talking about and wanting your book before it’s released? If you’re a multi-published author with a track record of releasing high quality reads, it’s easier because you’ve already built your brand. What about new authors? What about those authors who may not be as new to the game but need a little boost? I think we could all use a refresher on building book buzz every now and again.

One of the great things about creating buzz is it isn’t expensive. What it is and must do is call attention to your book. Your writing. YOU (the author)! Once the buzz grabs the attention, it should create excitement and wanting for your book. So how do we do that?

RESEARCH
Yes, the dreaded “R” word. You must do your research and find your target audience. Why waste all of your wonderfulness on people who don’t want what you have to sell in the hopes of finding those few who do want it. Instead, set yourself up for success. Find large groups of your target audience and get to buzzing there. How, you ask? The web has been a great place to find pockets of target audience since well before Facebook and Twitter. Long ago before the social media craze there were Yahoo Groups, MSN Groups and other types of groups online. Find groups specific to your genre.

Many authors are focused on taking over the World Wide Web, that they forget to start at home. Find your local target audience. I love the site http://www.MeetUp.com. You can also do an Internet search for literary events and groups in your area.

Get to know the readers who love your genre and let them get to know you, because these are the most important ones who will be spreading the buzz about your book. Yes. You need to be personable. Many authors are like me. Introverts. But when I talk books, I open up. Warning, don’t just talk about your book. Show the readers you are about more than just you all the time. Show your interest in other’s works in the genre.

Compile a list of authors and bloggers who write and/or focus on your genre. Eventually you’ll be asking these folks to buzz about your book via their blogs and such.

Compile a list of reviewers for your genre.

So now that you know where to find the readers, authors, and bloggers who will buzz for you, what’s next? Give them something to buzz about.

FREE
Many years ago, when I began my publishing journey, there was no Facebook or Twitter and many people didn’t have computers or know much about going on the Internet. There were also no smart phones… It was a very different time. Though times have changed, people haven’t. They still love getting free stuff. Back in the day, I wrote several short stories and had them edited. Stories that fit my genre. As you get to know readers, give them a free story. The best are prequels to your upcoming title. Get them invested in your characters and wanting to hear their whole story. Warning: Be sure to have these edited. This is your brand. Don’t just throw anything out there. You want it to represent what they can expect to see from you. If the readers enjoy your free story, trust me, they’ll be telling other readers about it (buzzing).

I like to upload free stories at http://www.Smashwords.com then have them distribute it elsewhere. It can take MONTHS to finally appear on Amazon and BN, but I’d rather do that than give Amazon exclusivity. I also like to post the free books on my website to draw traffic there so readers can see my other titles also.

SAMPLE CHAPTER
Post a sample chapter on your website. Yes, you need to have a website where you aren’t in competition with all the noise on social media. Where you control the tone and content of the pages. Of course share your sample chapter online and everywhere else people want to hear about it.

CREATE A CONTEST
Have fun with the readers. Create contests.

A few years back, I wrote a series about four brothers. I allowed the readers to decide what order the books were written in.

I’ve had contest where I allowed readers to submit Titles for the book.

Scavenger hunts are fun. This is where you ask questions that are easy to find on your website. The reader who answers the questions correctly wins.

Stay away from contest such as rewarding for giving a review. That looks like you are paying for reviews.

GUEST BLOGS
Break out that list of authors and bloggers you compiled and get to making guest appearances. Write posts related to your title.

STREET TEAM
Street teams are great in some aspects but bad in others. Street teams are readers who you get to promote your book to other readers. These are great for spreading the word about your book quickly. On the other hand, many readers are starting to ignore the posts from street team members. It’s like they are starting to be considered promoters instead of readers. It’s great to have readers who are enthusiastic about your books. It’s SMART to ask them to spread the word, but if you organize a street team, make sure you don’t have them hitting the same places. Make sure they are hitting places that they usually frequent about things other than YOUR book, so when they talk about your book, it doesn’t look like they are a promoter instead of a reader.

EVENTS
The first thing you did was research, now go where your readers are. Everyone wants to do everything online. There’s nothing wrong with online, but when you can, get out and MEET the readers. You don’t have to conquer the world in a day or spend a lot of money. Start the buzz locally and allow it to grow organically. The readers you get to know locally usually have broader connections. You can also create events.

REVIEWS
Obtaining reviews from review groups is a pain, but a great way to spread the word. I’m not a fan of paid reviews, but some people swear by them. Do what works for you. Obtaining reviews can take months, but go for it anyway.

ENGAGE
When posting online, be sure to have great visuals to draw the attention of readers and be engaging. Posting a “Buy My Book” type promo falls on deaf ears. Post something of substance about a topic in your book and have a discussion. ENGAGE the readers. Keep them coming back for more and BUZZ will follow.

CONCLUSION
The most important thing about building buzz is to be genuine. I love reading and writing my genre. I am a reader first. So I always try to look at things from a reader’s point of view. Why do I tell people about so and so’s book? What draws me to so and so’s book? What will makes me want so and so’s book now? Get to know the readers and let them get to know you.

Now get out there and create some BUZZ.

Deatri King-Bey

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Build Publishing Habits by W. Terry Whalin

If you are writing a novel or a nonfiction book, what are you doing each day to succeed with this writing project?

Yes, it is important to craft an excellent work with terrific storytelling and craft. We learn these skills through our own reading and continual practice. Writing should be a habit which you continually cultivate and practice on a regular basis.

Yet what about other areas of publishing where you need to develop habits?

Recently I heard from an unpublished author who was getting rejected or no response from literary agents. She was sending out a children’s book and couldn’t understand why she could not succeed. I wrote this author that she needed to do more to understand the marketplace. Only a few literary agents that I know represent children’s books for several reasons. First, the advances are very low for children’s books.

Also it’s hard to get a children’s book published and much of the writing work is Work Made for Hire or something an agent wouldn’t be involved in. Finally agents are looking for writers who demonstrate that they have been published. You have to show this skill through writing for print magazines or other recognized forms. This unpublished author was floundering because she had not done the basics to understand the market. As a daily habit, she needed to be reading published authors and how-to books as well as connecting with someone to help her.

Reading in the field is another publishing habit that every author or would-be author should be developing. There are free newsletters and many ways to learn from others. Are you tapping into these resources?

Another publishing habit is to constantly build your connections to others. It doesn’t require tons of time but it does require consistent effort. For example, posting on Twitter and Facebook in your area of expertise is a publishing habit. You can use tools like Hootsuite so it does not have to consume much time but the consistency will pay off.

I spend the majority of my days working with authors as an acquisitions editor at Morgan James. My personal goal is to help as many authors as I can to achieve their dreams of getting published. As a result of these goals, I’m on the phone with authors or literary agents. Or I’m answering emails or interacting with my Morgan James colleagues about book projects. I have a series of habits that I execute each day related to my work at Morgan James.

What goals do you have for your publishing life? Have you written them down and are you looking at them on a regular basis? What habits do you need to develop in order to achieve these goals?

As you are consistent, it will pay off for you in the marketplace. I have a great deal of free information in my ebook, Platform-Building Ideas for Every Author. If you haven’t read this Ebook, I suggest you get it and study it, then apply the lessons to your writing life.

What new publishing habits are you developing?

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W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Irvine, California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. To help writers, he has created 12-lesson online course called Write A Book Proposal. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com.

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Book Signing 101 by Kisha Green

You just got booked for a book signing and you do not know what to do? Don’t fret, below are some basic yet effective tips that will ensure a good time and most importantly books sold.

Book stands for your book to stand up on the table. (Target or Walmart)
Take a lot of pictures and or video to share online after the event that will hopefully generate a buzz in who you are what people missed.
Book marks to give to the consumer that isn’t ready to spend but is slightly interested. (www.nextdayflyers.com)
Get a fishbowl that visitors can place their business cards in and for those without card have blank index cards available with pen for them to write their contact info on.
Make sure you have plenty of singles and change to break large bills and for those with no cash have you Square credit card attachment for your cell phone. (www.squareup.com)
Candy dish filled with mints and small candies.
Comfortable shoes.
Smiles and a positive attitude.
Street team and this can be one person or more walking around handing out bookmarks and flyers that should drive traffic to your table.
24×36 poster with your book cover. (Staples or Office Depot)
Advertise! Advertise! Advertise! Network! Network! Network! Promote your book signing using social media and create events on Facebook and advertise your e-flyers via Instagram and Twitter. Create a Meet Up event.

Kisha Green is no stranger to the literary world. She is the well-informed, knowledgeable publisher of DivaBooksInc.(www.divabooksinconline.com). Green is a senior writer and founder of the Writer’s Vibe (www.writers-vibe.com) a literary site to help promote artists.

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Advice for Aspiring Authors by Deatri King-Bey

• Listen and verify: You’ll want several mentors with a mix and match of strengths such as writing, editing, business, marketing and networking… Realize that the publishing world is ever changing, so take lessons from others to use as a base for your own research. I’m not saying finding mentors is easy, but you must try. Attend conferences, workshops, join local groups, take online courses, network…. There are many affordable options out there. Get to know the publishing community.

• Learn the craft: Great storytellers are not always great authors or even halfway decent authors. Never stop learning the craft and improving. The moment you think you know it all and there is no room for improvement is the moment you start to lose your edge. I’ve seen many seasoned authors fall prey to losing their edge because they didn’t see room for improvement in their writing.

• Don’t abuse your muse: There are those who say you must write every day. I do not believe in that philosophy. Writing fiction is creative. If you force your creative side to write daily, you can cause writer’s block—or what I affectionately call your muse going on strike. I think you should do something related to your writing most days of the week. Besides writing, you may read, take courses, attend workshops, read articles, teach others…

• One genre at a time: Know what genre you write. I’m dumbfounded how many authors say their books don’t fit a genre. That their books have something for everyone. That all readers will love their books. Sorry, but no. Am I saying your books must fit 100% into a single genre? Nope. There are cross-genre hybrids, but you should understand the rules of the genres to know how you are creating a hybrid. Once you lock in your genre (even if it’s a cross-genre hybrid) start mastering it and building your audience. After you have a nice sized audience, then branch out to include other genres in your portfolio if you’d like.

• Get an editor: The other day, a debut author told me she didn’t need an editor because she was confident in her work. Confidence is a good thing. It’s also not the editor’s job to give you confidence. Editors help you make your manuscript the best it can be. Stop making excuses. All authors need editors. Even NYT best selling authors have editors. Is it expensive? Yes. It’s an investment in your writing career and business that you can carry into future works. With each developmental edit, you should learn more about the craft.

• Know the business: Whether you go the self and/or traditional route, you need to understand the business side of things.

• Avoid the promotion trap: Promotion and marketing are important, but the best way to grow your audience is releasing outstanding books. Be smart when promoting and marketing. Know your genre, then promote to large groups of that genre. Cross promote with other authors in the genre. Stop trying to convert romance lovers to horror. Stop wasting time running after readers. You’re an author. Writing should always be your main focus.

Deatri King-Bey

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The Power of Consistency By W. Terry Whalin

W. Terry Whalin

If you want to get your writing published, are you consistently working at that goal? From interviewing more than 150 bestselling author, many authors set a specific word count they want to produce in a day or a week. With this goal firmly in place, they sit in their chair and put their fingers on the keyboard and crank out words toward their goal. There is immense power in working toward a goal on a consistent basis.

If you want to write a novel, then you need to be writing ___ words a day consistently for __ days to achieve this goal.

If you want to be published in magazines, then you need to be writing query letters to editors and pitching your ideas on a regular basis. Then when an editor gives you the assignment, you consistently write excellent material and return it on their deadline.

If you want to write a nonfiction book, then you need to create a riveting proposal which captures the attention of literary agents or editors. A good proposal isn’t created in a single session but takes time and energy to craft one.

If you want to build your social media presence in the marketplace, then you need to consistently work at growing your Facebook friends or increasing your twitter followers. I’ve written about my methods to do this in the past. It is one of the reasons that in the past month I’ve gone over 100,000 twitter followers.I’ve worked at this goal on a regular basis.

Besides working to increase my numbers, I’m also delivering good content to my twitter followers and my Facebook friends and my LinkedIn connections.

At a recent writers conference, I met with a writer who thanked me for the good content that I put on my twitter feed. She had noticed that it was consistently worth reading. I appreciated this feedback. It is true that I do not spend a great deal of time on what I post on twitter—but I am consistent. It’s why I’ve tweeted over 18,000 times since the summer of 2008. There is power in consistency.

If you want to be selling your book to people and having them talk about it, then you need to be consistently working to build a larger audience and get in front of people and the media. Whatever your goal, I encourage you to follow what Jack Canfield calls The Rule of Five. In this short video (less than two minutes), Jack explains the rule and how it will help you tap into the power of consistency to accomplish your goals and dreams.

Consistency doesn’t have to take a lot of time but the results will add up for you. Eventually you will achieve your goals if you take regular and consistent action.

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Author Interview Prep by Kisha Green

Let’s start with the basics. If you are interested in being featured on a radio show or on a website and etc., first contact the person who is in charge of that and send them your electronic press kit (EPK). This should include but not limited to;

Book Cover jpeg
Synopsis
Page Count
Genre
Distribution Information
Publisher
Author/ Publisher website
Book Reviews
Author Bio

The same check list applies if you are contacting a bookstore about carrying your book but also include flyers and bookmarks (if possible visit the store and deliver your information personally so the owner can get a face with the name/book).

After sending your press kits, wait about a week and then follow up. Do NOT harass anyone asking them “Did they get it yet?” that is annoying and you do not want to get on anyone’s nerves and you haven’t even got the confirmation that you will be interviewed or featured.

Make sure you are in a quiet place when time to do your radio interview. Pay attention to the host but try to relax because listeners will be able to pick up on you being nervous. You do not want dead air or a lot of pauses so make sure you can answer the basics about yourself and your book. Do not try to sound scripted but you do want to appear you know what you are talking about. If it is a written interview, make sure you answer all of the questions thoroughly.

Just like your book is a direct reflection of you, so is your interview.

Good Luck!

Kisha Green

Kisha Green is a Author/Publisher who has a passion for writing and sharing her witty personality with many through social media. For more info about Kisha, visit her website www.divabooksinconline.com and you can also follow her on Twitter @KishaGreen

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A Look Into BookBub by Bettye Griffin

Secrets and Sins The days of simply uploading a book to the various online retail sites and having people download it are over. Now, with thousands of new titles being released each week, it’s all about discoverability. How to get your book noticed in a sea of literature?

Prolific author Kristin Kathryn Rusch recently wrote a series of articles on her blog about this topic that you might want to check out. They are lengthy, but quite informative.

Advertising is one logical answer to this dilemma, and just about the best way to get the word out about your book is by advertising on BookBub. These people have somehow managed to amass huge numbers of subscribers (the more subscribers, the higher their fees) who receive emails 365 days a year listing bargain books in multiple categories (mystery and contemporary romance being the most popular, but also including thrillers, action, women’s fiction, literary, nonfiction and others).

Advertising on BookBub is not cheap, but there’s no denying its effectiveness. I first heard about this service in April 2013 through an article at author D.D. Scott’s (now inactive) blog. I immediately subscribed and did some monitoring of how advertised contemporary romance books fared. They way they shot up the rankings impressed me, but I had reservations about how my book would do in what I suspected was a majority Caucasian marketplace. Ultimately I decided to go for it (after expressing these doubts and being encouraged by others on the blog), and I submitted a request to feature my romantic comedy Accidentally Yours as a free offering (yes, you pay them handsomely to advertise, but http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/do-bookbub-ads-work-to-find-new-readersd they have to accept you, which struck me as downright nutty…but one reason their advertising is so successful is that they strive to offer high-quality books).

I was approved, but due to personal travel plans, did not set my date until early June, to give myself plenty of time to get both the book file and its pricing in order. I was thrilled when Accidentally Yours went to #1 in the entire Free Kindle Store. Better still, sales of my other books experienced a nice bump, obviously from readers who enjoyed reading this freebie (I made sure to upload a new version that included brief excerpts from a few of my other titles).

The same thing happened when I did my second BookBub promotion for A Love of Her Own in September, although the sales of paid titles didn’t get as high as the first time. That was about the time the market was starting to get glutted, but I did well enough to make a profit from my ad, and the title I included an intriguing excerpt from in the freebie shot back onto the Top 100 some eighteen months after its original publication.

Here are some recommendations I’d make in regard to using BookBub:

Don’t even consider doing it unless you have at least three eBooks published, preferably more. You want to have more product to offer people than the one discounted or free title.
I have yet to be turned down for an ad, and I understand that the main reasons for rejection are length (BookBub does not advertise novellas or short stories), quality (I’m not sure just how they make this determination to what’s behind those covers, but it’s listed as a requirement on their site), and a professional presentation (in other words, your cover shouldn’t look like you put it together yourself at your kitchen table unless you’re a design professional or are truly gifted in that area). While there is no minimum number of reviews required, a book with five reviews with three or four of them 3 stars or below will not likely be accepted, whether those reviews are truly deserved or not, i.e., someone giving you a low ranking because of downloading.
Use an older title, particularly if you’re doing a freebie. I personally don’t like slashing the price on an eBook less than two years old; I don’t think it’s fair to readers who paid full price.
The first book of a series works well to spur sales of the remaining titles in the series…just make sure that readers know it’s a series.
Pay close attention to your front and back matter. Two suggestions I like are to include the book’s description in the front, right after the copyright page, to remind the reader of the plot (suggested by J.A. Konrath) and to include a listing of your other books in the front (suggested by Deatri King-Bey right here at Become a Successful author) with purchase links, of course (I used to provide Amazon links in the Kindle file and Barnes & Noble links with the Nook file, but now I simply link to my eStore, which has both, as well as links to purchase directly from my eStore at a cheaper price. I also like to include a brief note to the reader with a link to whatever excerpts I’ve included (which are also in the table of contents). Every piece of front matter should be absolutely necessary; you don’t want the reader to have to thumb through (or the electronic equivalent of) pages and pages before getting to the actual start of the book. All the other stuff can go in the back matter.
As I mentioned above, BookBub’s rates are pretty hefty. It bases its prices (which are increased regularly as their subscriber lists continue to grow) on both the number of subscribers in the desired category and your sale price. A free book is cheaper than a 99-cent book, which in turn is cheaper than a $1.99 book.
I personally feel it’s better to pay more for a 99-cent listing than to do a freebie, and to maximize earnings, consider enrolling in Kindle Select (a must if you plan on offering a free book) and subsequently in the Countdown program running simultaneously with your promotion, which will still net you the 70% royalty rate even for a 99-cent book.
With regard to pricing, BookBub recently introduced an African-American category. This is virtually the same as being segregated from the general book population in bookstores in the African-American section, but the rates are very affordable because of the smaller number of subscribers (50K vs. nearly 700K for contemporary romance and over 500K for women’s fiction), which makes it worth considering. If you like the results, you can always run another ad (but not within six months if it’s for the same book) and put it in a more broader category (BookBub retains the right to make a final determination about your chosen category).
Put your best work forward. You might want to do a complete read-through of your work and upload a new file if necessary. Some avid readers will snap up everything under $1, whether it’s their preferred category or not, read them, and can be very critical. When I advertised A Love of Her Own , some readers complained about a continuity error that hadn’t been caught in the original Kensington print copy (because editors aren’t perfect). I went in and corrected it and uploaded a new version, and reviews after that have mostly been positive. If you seek universal adoration or are in the habit of replying to negative reviews (something I strongly advise against doing, no matter what the circumstances), BookBub probably isn’t for you. It’s reading reviews or emails from people who say they are buying my other books after having read the sale or free book that make it worthwhile, at least for me.

Happy Sales to You!

Bettye Griffin

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Build OFFLINE Relationships with Readers! by Deatri King-Bey

The other day one of my new mentees asked me why I attend reader events when most readers want eBooks now days and you can promote your books online for free. First off, print books have more sells than electronic, but that’s neither her or there. Secondly, time is money. So the hours of time she spends chasing down readers should be calculated into her marketing cost. What worried me is my she thought there was no need to meet the readers in person anymore. She told me she doesn’t waste time with conferences because she won’t make the money back in sells. Soooo, I decided it’s time to write an article about why you should meet the readers.

In a few weeks, I’m headed to the Romance Slam Jam—the place for readers and authors of Black romance to meet. I’ve been attending this annual even over ten years. I originally attended as a reader of Black romance, then became an aspiring author and finally a published author of Black romance. I attend reader events quite often, because I am a reader, but this is the only conference that I attend regularly as an author. Readers read all year around. So by the time the conference comes around, the regulars already have my books, thus I don’t sell many books at the conferences. So why continue to go?

Because this is my way of saying “Thank you for investing in me over the years and your continued support. The least I can do is spend a few days to hang with you.” You’d be shocked at how much readers appreciate authors not just being in sell mode. How much they appreciate you taking a little time to talk about what they love to read—your genre books. They want to see you as more than the author who just shows up when they have a new release saying, “Buy my book.”
Because this is where a large group of my target audience meets each year with the purpose of talking about what I write. Yes, having people travel across the country or even across town who want what you have to offer is a good thing. They are there for your genre, not to weed through Facebook and other social media to happen upon a post you made.
I choose to attend one conference in my genre regularly because I want to get to know that set of attendees and the new attendees each year. Building relationships with readers and others in the business (offline) is a good thing. If you are a new author (new to the reader) they are more willing to give your work a try if they know you. If they already know and like your work, they are more likely to spread the word about your work if they know you personally.
My opt-in mailing list grows every time I attend a reader event for my genre. The opt-in mailing list is your most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. Unlike social media where they control when and who gets to see your promos and post, you own your opt-in list. It’s like I say, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. Especially a basket someone else owns (social media).
Speaking with others in the publishing business in person, learning from each other. Getting leads. Giving pitches. Taking workshops… As an author, you should invest in your business. This means networking, learning the craft and the business. Conferences and reader events are great places to do all of these.

So do I get a good return on investment by attending this yearly conference? Yes I do. I get an outstanding return on investment. Not from the books I sell at the conference, which will be minimal, but from the connections I’ve made. Because of those connections, when I have new releases, I have a pretty sizable base that purchases my books and spreads the word about them. This base took years to cultivate and is ever growing. Many of my readers promote my titles not only because they like the book, but because they’ve gotten to know me as more than that chick on Facebook who starts to pop in a few weeks before she has a new release.

Now get out there and find a conference that focuses on your genre. You want readers who are there for what you have to offer! Can’t afford to travel, use the good ol’ Internet and find something local.

Deatri King-Bey

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Increase Your Sales Numbers by Deatri King-Bey

I write because the characters in my head will drive me crazy if I don’t. As I like to say, I put my psychosis to work. I enjoy writing and love sharing my stories with readers. That’s the artistic side of me. I sell my titles to make money. I know a lot of authors who say they aren’t in it for the money. Granted, that’s not the only reason I’m in the business, but if making money weren’t part of it, I wouldn’t charge for my titles.

There are no quick fixes, and overnight success is luck that most of us don’t have, so take steps to increase your sells. Below are a few tips to help you along your way.

Plan For Success: No groaning. It takes time, but proper planning will save you time and money while increasing your sells. Set measurable goals and strategies to reach them. Work your plan and make adjustments where needed. Don’t know how to set goals? Here’s a little help: Creating S.M.A.R.T Goals that you can apply to creating your plan. Here’s an article I wrote a while back that shows planning in action: Proper Planning Testimony: A Key To Publishing Success.

Invest In A Successful Outcome: If you are not willing to invest in your product, why should your customers? Learn the craft and strive to make each novel better than the previous. You can not edit your own book and expect it to be the best it can be. Pay for professional editing (developmental, copy and proof reading—a different editor for each type of editing). If you can’t create professional quality covers, then hire someone to do it for you. The same goes for the other steps in the production process.

Use Your Prime Realty: How many of you include a list of your titles in your novels? I know numerous authors who do, but they put that list at the back of the book. Many readers do not continue reading to see what’s included after the novel ends. Move that list to the front matter. I experimented with this, and sells of my backlist drop when I place that list at the back of the book.

Same goes with your website. You should have a product page for each of your titles AND a page that list purchase information on all of your titles. I can’t tell you how many authors’ pages I’ve gone to that don’t have product pages or it’s hard to find the product pages for their older titles. Your website is your personal showroom.

Make It Easy For Readers To Buy Your Books: I make a few thousand in sells on Barnes & Noble a year. Nowhere near as much as I make on Amazon, but I’ll take it. One of the reasons I do okay on Barnes & Noble is I make it just as easy for readers to by my Nook titles as I do my Kindle titles. I’m shocked at how many authors only place their Amazon link or say “Available on Amazon” then forget about the other online sellers. I know numerous users of devices other than Kindle who ignore post that only say Amazon or Kindle because they figure the author must be a part of that KDP Select program where they have given Amazon exclusivity.

Work Smarter Not Harder: Direct your marketing/promo for readers in your target audience. I manage and belong to several genre specific, online readers groups. It amazes me how many authors come into the groups and post promos that do not belong to the groups’ genres. Many groups have begun blocking authors for continual promotion and promoting non-genre titles. You do not want to become a pain in the butt to readers.

Instead of joining every group that allows authors of your genre to promote, pick a few and actually participate in them. You’ll get a much higher return on your investment (more sells) than if you just pop in to promote your titles and it will take less time. That includes participating a few weeks before your book comes out, then promoting your book and disappearing. Yes, many readers pay attention to that type of thing.

Stop Spreading Yourself Too Thin: It seems like every few months there is a new type of social media out there you can use to promote. Do you know which is the best social media site to use? The one you utilize to its full extent. Each one has its own flavor. Pick the one that you like best, then focus your energy on building your fan base through that site. Once you are comfortable, if you have time, then expand to a second. Remember, each of the major social media hubs have millions of readers for you. You don’t have to be everywhere. Get the millions from the hub you find works best for you, then expand.

Cross Promote: Work with authors in your genre to cross promote. I don’t know of any reader who says they only read one author’s work, but I know many who say they only read one genre. Stop competing with each other. Readers read. Even if they don’t purchase your book today, if they want it, they will buy it.

Cross promotion is as simple as posting in social media when an author has a New Release. Have guest bloggers on your website. Do signings with other authors. Create online groups and web sites with other authors in your genre.

I’m all for cross promotion, but ensure the people you are promoting are interested in releasing as high of quality work as you do.

That’s It
There is no secret or magic behind increasing your sells. Just keep releasing quality products and building your audience. With each title, your base will grow, and you won’t have to work as hard promoting.

Deatri King-Bey

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Five Steps to Connecting with Your Niche Market by Barbara Joe Williams

Niche marketing is the process of concentrating all your marketing efforts on a minor but specific and well-defined segment of the population. In other words, your goal is to be a big fish in a small pond instead of being a small fish in a big pond. With new authors and publishers seeming to appear daily, the publishing industry has definitely turned into an ocean where it’s easy to drown if you’re not connecting with readers.

In this blog, I want to help you understand five important steps for connecting with your niche market by defining your genre, defining your audience, finding your audience, practicing effective ways to reach them, and building lasting relationships with them.

1. Define your genre. The first step in determining your niche market is by defining your specific genre. Knowing what category your writing falls into is the key. Are you a mystery writer or romance novelist? Are your books self-help, historical fiction, or erotica? There are a lot of categories in the publishing industry, it’s up you to decide where you want to fit in. I write African American romance and women’s fiction. However, some of my readers have defined my work as Christian fiction and Urban fiction, and I accept that. On Amazon, you can only list two classifications, so you should decide where you can reach the widest range of readers who match your genre and let them determine how they want to classify your work.

2. Define your audience. Every book will certainly not appeal to every reader. Therefore, knowing exactly who your audience is makes it easier to reach them. If you try marketing to everyone just because they’re a reader, you probably won’t get your books into the hands of those most likely to read them. My first novel, Forgive Us This Day, was about a long-term married African American couple having some problems, but they were determined to stay together or get back together in their case. So I knew that my primary audience would be middle aged, African American women, married or divorced, with children, and mainly southerners since my novel was set in Florida. Did some African American men and Caucasians buy the book? Yes, but my target was AA women.

3. Find your audience. If you think all you have to do is publish a good book and people will automatically buy it, then you should think again. Realistically, it’s up to you to find your readers by putting in the time and effort to see where they spend their quality time. What other websites do they visit? What other interests do they have? This information will help you when you’re ready to advertise your work. Think about it, they can’t find you because they don’t know about you, yet. After my first book was published, I made a list of all the women I knew who fit my criteria and made contact with them (co-workers, former co-workers, friends, close family, distant relatives, etc.) via email or telephone. My goal was simple, if they didn’t buy my book, it would be because they didn’t want to read it, not because they didn’t know about it.

4. Practice effective ways to reach your audience. Now that you have defined your audience and know how to find them, the next step is figure out how to reach them. I visited all the local bookstores/libraries and introduced myself to the store managers/librarians and asked them about specific book clubs in the area. I joined online romance book clubs like SORMAG (Shades of Romance Magazine) and advertised with them. Please note this, if you write Science Fiction, you need to advertise in Sci-Fi magazines, not in romance magazines because you want to reach a wider audience.

Social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter has revived many writing careers. It has also helped many new authors reach more readers by consistently maintaining an online presence and connection. Facebook has a variety of genre specific book clubs like mystery, romance, urban, women’s fiction, historical fiction, poetry, paranormal, and more. Blogging is another way of reaching a specific community that might be interested in your genre. Connecting with other bloggers and being guests on their sites will also help increase your visibility. Another key to being successful at blogging is to having a way of directing prospective readers to your website with intriguing topics. Yes, it’s important to have a website as a base where people can always find you. Be sure to include links to your Facebook and Twitter accounts from there.

5. Build a relationship with your readers. Building a relationship with your readers will sustain you as an author, build your credibility, increase reader loyalty, and ultimately boost your profits. Your readers want to see you as a person, so you’ll have to share some of your personal stories with them in order to create a lasting connection. Show them your uniqueness and what you bring to your genre that’s different from what everyone else is selling. What’s your philosophy of writing? Why do you write in a certain genre? Why should they read your novel? Let your readers know who you are, where you’ll be, and how they can find you and your books online or locally. My favorite way of connecting with local readers will always be through book signings. Not only can they meet me in person, they can buy autographed books, and sign up for my mailing list!

In addition to social media, there are several ways of connecting with potential readers by joining writing groups, attending book conferences, participating in book festivals, and by joining local and online book clubs or groups. The Internet and Facebook are loaded with special reading groups and genre-related book clubs. However, some of them are much livelier than others. You need to find the ones that are active and then become active in them. Don’t try to use the group as a daily billboard for promoting your work, but try posting about books you’ve read to pull in other readers. (This is why it’s importing for writers to be readers. You have to connect with them on their level first, then let them know that you’re an author). The more you participate in online discussions, the more you connect with readers who are actually interested in buying books. And maybe, just maybe, some of them will buy yours when they are published.

In closing, please remember that more than anything, it takes time to connect with your niche market. If you’re in the publishing business for the long haul, take your time, do it right, and readers will be talking about your classic books for years to come.

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99(print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Ever Changing Publishing World by Deatri King-Bey

The publishing world is ever changing, and you need to change with it or be left behind. With so many moving pieces, it can be difficult to focus. The key is to pick one area at a time to follow.

This is a two-part article. Let’s Get Down To Publishing Business delves into the parts of the business that move, but not so much they are hard to keep track of as much such as taxes, earnings and proper planning. I find this stuff boring, but you have to learn about it, so don’t skip it.

Now back to the not so boring part. Let’s look at some of those moving parts of the publishing industry.

BARNES & NOBLE
In the past year, Barnes & Noble has changed quite a bit. To upload your ebook, instead of going to pubit.com you should now use http://www.NookPress.com. I have always liked the sales reports better on Barnes & Noble. You have a breakdown of what you sell each day and the royalty. So if I run a promo campaign on the 4th, 5th and 6th, I can see how many and what titles I sold on the 4th, 5th, and 6th.

The Nook Press platform for uploading the book isn’t much better than it was before. You can actually edit your manuscript in Nook Press, but I haven’t used that feature. I don’t like the idea of keeping my manuscript there. I’ll do it the old fashioned way. Write it on my computer and upload it.

It used to take around three days for my titles to show for sale after uploading. Lately, I’ve been averaging about a day. The Nook Press system is more touchy with the files. Follow their guidelines or the system will not accept your manuscript. When formatting, please note that using a “Page Break” no longer starts chapters on a new page. You must now use “Section Break.” They have also changed the cover dimensions and file size. Read their guidelines. They are ever changing.

Unfortunately, they don’t have any new promo opportunities, their customer service is still poor and the newsletters they send out to customers with recommended reads aren’t the best at introducing readers to books similar to those they’ve purchased in the past. Hopefully, things will improve.

Many authors have given up on Barnes & Noble, but I’m not one of them. I’ll take my little $200-$600 a month from them for now and be happy.

AMAZON

Amazon has so many changes. Where to begin? Where to begin?

Subgenres: There are additional subgenres that you need to pay attention to. For example Interracial Romance and Science Fiction Romance. If your book actually fits into one of the new subgenres, use the Contact option from the KDP site and ask them to add your title to that subgenre. Remember, Amazon only allows you to link your title to two genres, so you’ll only get to choose one genre when you are updating your product page information.

One of my mentees had her title added to the appropriate subgenre and her sells took off. Since she changed in November, she’s gotten around 65 sells. Previous to that she’d only had 20 and her book had been out over a year. She also has not been promoting her book, so this is all from the change in genre.

Kindle Book Formatting: Amazon now wants you to have a Table Of Contents in your ebooks. They’ll let you upload the file without the table of contents, but eventually, you’ll get a nasty gram saying you need to update your book with a table of contents. They also have a “spell check” of sorts now that calls out errors in your book after it’s been uploaded. Don’t rely on it. Hire good editors and proof readers.

Review Removal: In an attempt to decrease phony reviews, Amazon added a new policy for not allowing reviews or “Sentiments by or on behalf of a person or company with a financial interest in the product or a directly competing product (including reviews by publishers, manufacturers, or third-party merchants selling the product)” –Amazon Policy

Technically, authors could not write reviews for other authors. You also couldn’t have your family and friends writing glowing reviews for you. At first numerous reviews were removed, but Amazon has pretty much backed off this.

Kindle MatchBook: If your eBook is also available in print, through your KDP dashboard, you can link the two, so that when someone purchases the print edition, they can also purchase the eBook version as a discounted price. I’ve done this with my eBooks that are available in print and haven’t seen a measurable increase in print sales. Here’s more information on Kindle MatchBook.

Be careful if the print version of your book was ever released by a different publisher. Ensure Amazon knows which book to link the MatchBook promotion to. Many authors have gotten their rights back, but their old publishers are still selling print copies of their titles.

KDP Reports: The reporting is greatly improved. You no longer have to wait until the 15th of the month to see the previous month’s sells. I like the at a glance look at how many of each title I sold for the month. Granted, you will not have the royalty report for the previous month until the 15th, but if you really wanted to know, you can always look at your previous six weeks report. You can also toggle between locations. For example how well are your titles selling in the UK or Germany? Take your time and go through the reports section. You’ll find lots of goodies.

KDP Payday: There is no longer a minimum royalty payout. So if you sell one copy of your .99 title in February, you’ll receive your royalty check for that .99 sell at the end of April.

Release Date: Numerous authors found out that the release date on their product page had been updated to a current date without their knowledge. What happened? A few months ago, Amazon changed the programming in the background. Before this change, if you didn’t select a publishing date when you uploaded your title, it used the date that the file was uploaded and that was the end. You could go in and change your product information and have no issues. After the change, if you have not selected a publication date, the system can automatically update your publication date.

Yep. You can end up having a publishing date YEARS after review dates if this happens. Have no fear. Just go into the KDP dashboard then to the titled product page information and update the release date to the proper date. On the KDP dashboard, it will list the original release date.

GOODREADS
Amazon purchased Goodreads. Many were worried that would be the end of Goodreads, but the site is still thriving. One of the biggest changes on Goodreads is now authors can “own” their profile. It’s a way of keeping information up to date on your titles. Read more about the Goodreads Author Program

One thing I really like about Goodreads is the quotes. Readers can post quotes from books they’ve read. I’ve found this is a great conversation starter. Soooo, be sure to encourage your readers to showcase their favorite quotes from your titles. Here are a few from one of my titles.

Goodreads quotes: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/25520642-the-only-option

FACEBOOK
I know you don’t want to hear this, but your opt-in mailing list is your most powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal (outside of releasing outstanding books). Building a high quality opt-in list is time consuming, but worth it. What does this have to do with Facebook? Well, those of you who follow my teachings have heard me say several times that your social media friends and likes are not YOURS. They belong to the social media site.

I think Facebook, Twitter and such are great for promotion, but don’t only rely on them. Keep growing your opt-in mailing list. So let’s look at what has happened over at Facebook since this time last year.

Actually, we need to go back a little over a year when Facebook began warning users not to promote on their personal pages. They encouraged users to create fan pages, which were for business and had just as far of a reach of a personal page AND the added bonus of your being allowed more than 5,000 followers.

So people started following the rules and creating Fan pages. In came a Facebook business model change. They decided to start charging you for you to post to more than 10% of your list of your fan pages. In came another change on your personal pages. Your statuses are no longer posted to all of your “friends” newsfeeds. They are only posted to “friends” who you have interacted with recently.

So now authors who only relied on Facebook are having difficulty reaching their followers unless they are willing to pay. How much does it cost? Here’s an article that breaks it down nicely: Facebook I Want My Friends Back

Expensive, huh? Soooo, get to working on your opt-in mailing list. Again, social media is great. Use it, but don’t put all your eggs into a basket you don’t even own. You do not control what business model those social media sites will follow. You do control your mailing list though.

Before I change the subject form Facebook, I came across an interesting article about why you should Like Your Own Facebook Post.

TWITTER

Twitter now allows you to post images! I love that feature, but still don’t get Twitter. Every year I try some new marketing technique. Last year was the year of Twitter for me. I actively participated. I set up my Hootsuite tool to repost blog post and promos. I retweeted and was retweeted. I gained followers and followed…. All that good stuff. I usually send people from social media over to my website so I can see where my promo traffic is coming from and guess what? I barely saw anything from Twitter. For me, it wasn’t worth my time. I still go on Twitter from time to time, but it’s just not my thing. If it works for you, GO FOR IT!

YOUR TURN
Okay, there are more changes. What have you noticed has changed over the last year? Enlighten us.

Deatri King-Bey

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Cross Promotion Is Your Friend by Deatri King-Bey

It’s not complicated. Cross promotion is one of the best ways for word of your book to spread to new readers in your target audience. So why do so many authors have such a hard time doing it?

Many authors are stuck in the promote my book, promote my brand, promote everything me cycle. Stop the insanity.

Am I saying not to promote your own work? Heck no. You’d better promote it. Find a few groups that focus on your genre(s) and actually participate in them. If there isn’t a group, create your own but don’t make it all about YOU. Self-promotion is not the only way to go.

Why Cross Promote?

Word of mouth from a friend the reader knows and trusts is the best form of promotion there is to expand your reader base. So let’s say your loyal readers have a buzz going on about your book. GREAT! So what now? Do you plan to promote the title to those readers again, and again, and again… After they’ve seen your promo once or twice, they’ve already decided if they will be purchasing it. Sending additional promos can turn the reader off.

In steps cross promotion.

I have a following. They know about me, my books and my reading habits. These folks love to read, and not just my books. As a matter of fact, I don’t know of any reader who only reads one author’s work, but that’s a post for another day. Back to cross promotion. Just about every day, I promote some other author. I point people to a blog, book into, share good news, reviews… Every once in a while I hear from a reader thanking me for introducing them to [fill in the blank with an author whose work they hadn’t previously read].

Other authors have promoted my work, and I’ve benefited from it directly. I’ve also received emails from readers saying they learned of my books from author So and So. Does it work as well as a recommendation from a friend the reader knows and trusts? No, but it’s a great addition.

Here are a few ways to cross promote. It is best to cross promote with authors/readers in your genre. You want to get the most bang for your buck.

On your blog, invite authors to be guests. This will bring readers to your site, where the readers will also notice your fantastic covers displayed, and your content will always be fresh. For example: http://deatrikingbey.com Or create a genre specific blog. For example: http://readinginblack.com
Set up a blog with several other authors in your genre. Invite bloggers, conduct reviews… anything to keep the content fresh. For example: http://romancenovelsincolor.com and
If you do a guest post, do not expect to receive a lot of comments. People rarely comment. I don’t know why, but that’s how it is. Think about it. Major blog sites receive MILLIONS of hits yet only a few thousand comments. Yes. My ego would love a thousand comments to show the world that people are engaged with whatever I’m posting, but I’d rather have the silent sales that come later from people who have read and shared the post. I just wish there were a way to track it.
When an author whose work you know and like has a new release, do a short Happy Release Day post that also includes a buy link. You’ll find authors will do the same for you.
Create an in person event with authors from your genre.
Set up a sale (online or in person) with authors from your genre. Be sure to promote the titles of the sale, not just yours. Remember, the people you are promoting to probably already have your book.
Create an online group with several authors that is genre specific. Again, don’t make it all about you.
Create a scavenger hunt using other authors’ web pages. Here’s an example: Scavenger Hunt: The Blind Date by Delaney Diamond
Set up a Twitter party where you and other authors Tweet a post
You get the picture. Here are a few helpful hints when cross promoting
When you are a guest on a blog, be sure to promote that blog. For example, I did a virtual tour with my last book. The people I promote to already know about my book, so for each stop of the tour, I told them to go and see what the author whose blog I was on had to offer.
Just as readers don’t want to see you continually blast promos about your book in the groups, they don’t want you to do this with another author’s book.
Target all of your promotions to large groups of people who read the genre of book you are promoting.
When participating in multi-author events, be sure to mention the other authors. You’re readers hear from you every day. Just as you are guiding readers to the event for other authors, those other authors should be doing the same towards you.

Cross promotion benefits all parties involved. A year or so ago, I created a Cross Promotion group on Facebook. This is a non-promo group where you can leave your information and find other authors who write in your genre to cross promote with: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CrossPromotion/

Now get out there and cross promote!

Deatri King-Bey

If you found this post helpful, please use the SHARE buttons to help your fellow authors.

Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or$9.99(print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble