Authors Academy Archives - Page 6 of 6

7 November, 2014

Is the book dead?

By Grael Norton|2023-06-09T11:16:22-07:00November 7, 2014|Authors Academy, Marketing, News|Comments Off on Is the book dead?

My friend and client at Wheatmark Frank Babb recently sent me the link to this thought-provoking essay in The Economist.

As the article notes, people have been predicting the death of the book—and even the death of reading itself—for more than a decade.

I’m not so sure about that, but one thing is certain: there are more books being published now than ever before!

According to Bowker, around 8,100 ISBNs were issued in 1960… compared to around 1.4 million in 2013!

That’s a lot of books—and that doesn’t even include all the self-published books that the author didn’t get an ISBN for.

Suffice it to say that the competition for readers is fiercer than ever!

That’s why it’s so important to invest in training programs like the Authors Academy and attend live, in-person events whenever you can.

Knowledge (and it’s application) is your greatest asset as an author.

I’ll be presenting on Choosing a Publishing Service […]

12 October, 2014

A social media site that costs nine thousand dollars to join?

By Grael Norton|2023-06-09T11:16:58-07:00October 12, 2014|Authors Academy, Marketing, Social Media|Comments Off on A social media site that costs nine thousand dollars to join?

A social media site for the 1%? No, this isn’t a joke. It’s real!

You can check out the article about it here.

I didn’t link to this article just to shock you, or to piss you off.

(Though if you’re signing up for the site as others are reading this, I tip my hat to you, Richie Rich!)

I linked to this article to remind you of the incredible power of targeted marketing.

This is marketing that is targeted at a particular audience—not just “everybody.”

“My book is for everybody,” authors say to me.

No, it’s not.

Every book has an ideal target audience, an “avatar reader.”

This is the kind of person who would buy your book based on the title alone.

For example: The Rich Person’s Guide to Social Media—How to Keep the 99% from Cluttering Up Your Online Feeds

Or: The Thrifty Buyer’s Guide to Coupon Clipping—Save an Average of $20 Every Time You Visit the […]

16 September, 2014

“Never have so many said so little to so few”

By Grael Norton|2023-06-09T11:17:31-07:00September 16, 2014|Authors Academy, Marketing|Comments Off on “Never have so many said so little to so few”

A lot of people would have you believe that blogging is passé, or even dead. They think if you’re not on the “bleeding edge” of technology, you’re wasting your time.

“Never have so many said so little to so few,” they say. And they have a point: many, many people’s blogs are read by their family and close friends only.

Is blogging dead? No, but writing a boring blog is!

You may have noticed that we’ve been playing with a new format here at Wheatmark for the last couple of days.

That’s because I just attended a GKIC Fast Implementation Bootcamp in Tempe last week.

Dave Dee, one of my mentors, taught a course on email marketing that was just incredible… but when I got home and reviewed my notes, I realized I’d already learned these exact same techniques… four years ago!

I just hadn’t bothered to implement what I’d learned.

The moral of the story? You’ve […]

14 January, 2013

The easy button for building your author platform

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:33:31-07:00January 14, 2013|Authors Academy, Marketing, News, Social Media|Comments Off on The easy button for building your author platform

Over the years, we’ve probably heard one statement more frequently than any other from our author clients: “I don’t want to market my book, I just want to spend my time writing.”

But as an author—and as an entrepreneur—you have a message for your audience. It’s your duty to let them hear it—and you accomplish this task through marketing.

Naturally, you may just want to write—to focus on crafting your message. You may even wish someone else would take your message to your audience. But the truth is, if you really care about your audience, you’ll want to deliver your message yourself because you are the best possible messenger. Don’t be like the mailman who landed in jail for throwing away all the mail in a dumpster instead of delivering it!

Now, suppose there was a way for you to just “sit and type all day” but still be able to connect with […]

9 May, 2012

Book Marketing Strategy vs. Tactics

By Grael Norton|2023-06-09T11:36:53-07:00May 9, 2012|Authors Academy, Marketing, News, Resources|Comments Off on Book Marketing Strategy vs. Tactics

It’s one of the most common misconceptions in marketing: that a marketing tactic is the same as a marketing strategy. Not understanding the difference between the two leads to a whole lot of pain and frustration for many authors as well as entrepreneurs, speakers, and other professionals who use the written word to grow their businesses.

Have you ever heard someone say “I’m going to use Twitter to market my book,” or “I’m going to use the Internet to market my business?”

This sort of statement rarely leads to success.

This is because most of the time, the speaker is already talking about marketing tactics but has skipped not just one but two critical steps: setting a specific, measurable goal and developing a strategy for reaching that goal.

(If you’ve ever said this sort of thing yourself, don’t worry, practically everyone has at one time or another. I’ve made this same mistake myself; multiple […]

8 May, 2012

How to Create a Strategic Marketing Plan for Your Book

By Grael Norton|2023-06-09T11:36:58-07:00May 8, 2012|Authors Academy, Marketing, News|Comments Off on How to Create a Strategic Marketing Plan for Your Book

It’s one of the most common misconceptions in marketing: that a marketing tactic is the same as a marketing strategy.

Not understanding the difference between the two leads to a whole lot of pain and frustration for many authors as well as entrepreneurs, speakers, and other professionals who use the written word to grow their businesses.

The blueprint for your book’s marketing strategy is your book’s marketing plan.

This is the single most important piece of marketing collateral for your book you will create – besides the actual book itself!

Join us on Friday, May 11 as marketing plan expert Echo Surina walks us through “How to Create a Strategic Marketing Plan for Your Book.”

During this LIVE online presentation, you’ll learn the secrets to:

Creating your big picture
Applying SWOT analysis to your project
Identifying your target audience
Crafting your key messages
Selecting your outreach methods
Evaluating your […]

16 April, 2012

Give Away My Book for Free?

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:37:05-07:00April 16, 2012|Authors Academy, Marketing, Publishing|Comments Off on Give Away My Book for Free?

It’s one of the most common misconceptions in marketing: that a marketing tactic is the same as a marketing strategy.

Not understanding the difference between the two leads to a whole lot of pain and frustration for many authors as well as entrepreneurs, speakers, and other professionals who use the written word to grow their businesses.

The blueprint for your book’s marketing strategy is your book’s marketing plan.

This is the single most important piece of marketing collateral for your book you will create – besides the actual book itself!

Join us on Friday, May 11 as marketing plan expert Echo Surina walks us through “How to Create a Strategic Marketing Plan for Your Book.”

During this LIVE online presentation, you’ll learn the secrets to:

Creating your big picture
Applying SWOT analysis to your project
Identifying your target audience
Crafting your key messages
Selecting your outreach methods
Evaluating your […]

1 February, 2012

Get Motivated!

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:37:20-07:00February 1, 2012|Authors Academy, Marketing, News|Comments Off on Get Motivated!

Recently, I attended the all-day Get Motivated! seminar when it came to Tucson. I didn’t actually go to get motivated—an entrepreneur for many years now, I’m plenty motivated as it is. I also didn’t go to buy any of the stuff they were selling—they didn’t have anything I need right now. I went to hear the celebrity presenters, and to study one of most successful marketing processes in the world. First, for $2.95 (essentially free) Get Motivated! attracts nearly 10,000 attendees with the promise of seeing celebrity presenters like Colin Powell, Terry Bradshaw, Steve Forbes, Rudy Giuliani, Kurt Warner, and many more. (Pictured: Terry Bradshaw getting ready to motivate.)

In between celebrity speeches were presentations from companies with something to sell. One such company was Ameritrade, a major discount brokerage firm, whose representative gave an exceptional sales presentation demonstrating the impressive array of online tools Ameritrade now offers to help clients […]

6 December, 2011

7 Writing Mistakes Editors Constantly Fix to Make Your Book Saleable

By Grael Norton|2023-06-09T11:37:33-07:00December 6, 2011|Authors Academy, News, Writing|Comments Off on 7 Writing Mistakes Editors Constantly Fix to Make Your Book Saleable

Do mistakes that authors commonly make keep your writing from being powerful—and saleable?

How can you fix them before you hand over your manuscript for editing?

Barbara McNichol presents an hour-long teleclass on Wednesday, December 7 that addresses seven writing problems you might not easily recognize on your own—and how to fix them.

By participating in this teleclass, you’ll learn how to avoid these seven writing mistakes so your editor won’t have to fix them:

Losing awareness of what your reader experiences.
Addressing readers as readers, not as a single important person.
Skimming the surface, not going deep enough.
Having no rhyme or reason to the order of the paragraphs.
Overusing weak verbs, extraneous phrases, and wobbly words.
Using multi-word noun phrases when one active verb will do.
Writing sentences that ramble on and on and on and on.

Don’t miss this opportunity to “go deep” and learn what fixes can strengthen your writing!

About […]

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