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Will Amazon’s recent buyout of Goodreads be good for self-published authors?

March 30, 2013 by Sam Henrie, President

In the quest to stay abreast of the reading market, Amazon has now taken over Goodreads, the largest book social media site on the web. Goodreads’ 16 million members will now find a new ereader home on the Kindle. iPad readers will continue to be able to access Goodreads through a Kindle app.

From the news release posted on the Amazon site:

“Amazon and Goodreads share a passion for reinventing reading,” said Russ Grandinetti, Amazon Vice President, Kindle Content. ‘Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike.’”

The move is thought to be a strong offensive thrust against Apple’s popular iPad.

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Books, Blogs, and Pinterest

March 26, 2013 by Grael Norton, Acquisitions Manager

If you have a book and a blog, you can easily add Pinterest to your social mix with the click of a button.

See a few of our previous articles on Pinterest to get started.

An Amazing Resource: Pinterest

19 Pinterest board topics for authors

Once you have your Pinterest site up and running, here are a few tips to finding things to pin and repin.

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How to beat the author blogging blues

March 20, 2013 by Atilla Vekony, Publishing Information Manager

Are you bogged down with blogging?

Starting an author blog is one of those “to do” things that most authors are advised to put at the top of their list. A few actually get around to it and a few actually keep it up. A few.

Most authors though seem to park it by the side of some lonely writer’s highway and walk away from it for months at a time.

Why does that happen? A few thoughts on the subject:

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What do authors, cats and blogging have in common?

March 14, 2013 by Grael Norton, Acquisitions Manager

Marie Rotter recently did a guest post for Copyblogger entitled, 5 Lessons Cats Teach Us about Creating Blissfully Mindless Content.

It’s got everything that every blogging author needs to know and do to create a popular post.

Here are a few power sentences I don’t want you to miss. They’re pure nuggets of gold. Grab onto them, study, and work them into your next post. You’ll be well on your way to creating the one thing that authors, cats, and your blog should all have in common!

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Video: Awkward boss shows employees some dance moves

March 12, 2013 by Atilla Vekony, Publishing Information Manager

One of Wheatmark's authors is apparently more than just an author (and California Conservation Corps member): he's also an Internet sensation thanks to a Youtube video that recently went viral.

With the number of views quickly shooting past 200,000, the UK's Daily Mail reported about it in an article called "Awkward boss learns dance moves from his young employees... then shows them how it’s done in hilarious video. Since then he's appeared on NPR, MSN, Gawker as well.

Enjoy the funny video here:

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6 reasons your self-published book will flop

March 10, 2013 by Sam Henrie, President

Last year over 200,000 million books were self-published. The average self-published book probably sold less than ten copies.

The reasons for a book not to make it are many. Most self-published books need much more time, energy and yes, money, put into them than the author expects. If you plan to self-publish, here are ten important factors that stop most self-published books from making it big.

1. Poor writing. You cannot be your own judge. Nor can you expect your mother, siblings, and best friends to give you honest feedback. Your best and honest feedback will come from readers who judge your writing by the book they hold in their hand. Offer your book for free or at a low price and pay attention to the feedback. If it’s bad, don’t despair. Keep writing. You will get better.

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10 steps to developing your personal brand as an author

March 08, 2013 by Atilla Vekony, Publishing Information Manager

What is author branding? Author branding is presenting yourself in such a way that when readers think of you they associate a feeling, a message, a book with you. A type of book, a style of writing that, like your fingerprint, is you. Even if you write in different genres, the essence of how you write will always be yours.

Laurel Marshfield of Bluefield Communications explains author branding by a simple demonstration. She asks her readers to think of authors and note what image comes to mind. I quote this paragraph from her article, “Do Authors Need to Build Brands? (You Don’t LOOK Like a Box of TIDE).”

“Here’s a small demonstration:  Does the name Stephen King conjure something different for you than the name J.K. Rowling? What about Dan Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jodi Picoult? Or Malcolm Gladwell, Joan Didion, Seth Godin?  What association appears for a second or so when you first see each name?”

Each of these authors has a style of writing and message unique to them no matter what they write about. Their readers come to know, love, and trust their writing.

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Author blogging for beginners

March 04, 2013 by Atilla Vekony, Publishing Information Manager

At Wheatmark, we often suggest to authors that blogging is one of the best and easiest ways they can start connecting and building an audience.

Blogging is not difficult although to the beginner it might seem to be. Basically, it is simply writing a few paragraphs about topics that will relate to the audience of your book.

Both fiction and nonfiction writers can share their story on the blog about how they came to write. Share some of your personal history that is relevant to being an author. Talk about the process of building characters for your book, how they developed and grew. Use bits and pieces from your book that show them in action and conversation.

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7 surprising reasons why you should use demographics to sell more books

February 21, 2013 by Grael Norton, Acquisitions Manager

Almost every author wants to sell more books.

New authors think if they can just get one lucky break the yellow brick road of fame and fortune will magically open and their worries will disappear.

If only that were true.

The truth is even if an author does get a few lucky breaks there will still be periods of time when they will have to grab their bow and arrows and go hunting for readers.

In order to do that successfully you need to find the hunting grounds where your readers are feeding.

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Authors: How to add your profile picture to blog comments

February 19, 2013 by Atilla Vekony, Publishing Information Manager

One of the easiest ways to build up your brand presence as an author is have your picture show up whenever you write a post or leave a comment on a blog.

It’s fairly simple to do. It will take you about five minutes and your profile image will show up automatically whenever you enter your email address when leaving a blog comment.

To get started go to Gravatar. Type in the email address that you want to be associated with your picture. An email will be sent to you to verify that your email address is correct and with a link to get started.

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