Resources Archives - Page 14 of 18

21 November, 2012

Authors: how to sell more books with news releases

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:35:50-07:00November 21, 2012|Marketing, Resources|Comments Off on Authors: how to sell more books with news releases

Question: What’s the one thing book publishers and authors have in common? Answer: A desire to sell more books.

The only way to sell books is to tell people about them. The more people you tell and the better you tell them the more books you will sell. If you’re already an established author with a large following, your job will be pretty easy. If you’re a well-known celebrity, making it in the news with a book won’t be hard either.

But if you’re a new author the road is a bit steeper. If you’re a new author with a low budget, it’s time to shift into a lower gear and get climbing the book-selling mountain. Yes, the climb may take a bit of work but once you see the view from the top as a best-selling author you’ll be glad of the effort!

I’d like to share with you a great […]

19 November, 2012

3 mental and 4 health reasons that cause writer’s block

By Grael Norton|2023-06-09T11:35:55-07:00November 19, 2012|Resources, Writing|Comments Off on 3 mental and 4 health reasons that cause writer’s block

Every writer suffers from blocks now and then. When no matter how hard you try to get your brain to function, come up with a creative idea, or solve a problem, nothing seems to work. In fact it seems that the harder you try the tougher the resistance.

Here are a few reasons that our brains may go into this catatonic state:

The inner critic has moved into the driver’s seat. This happens when we start thinking negatively about our writing. Remembering old criticisms from parents, teachers, or colleagues seem to take on a power greater than we can overcome.

Having too high an expectation can be just as deadly. In this case, we become our worst enemy by setting up goals that are impossible to reach. I found this quote recently by the American poet William Stafford who stated “There is no such thing as writer’s block for writers […]

16 November, 2012

The 12 Steps of Writers Anonymous

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:36:05-07:00November 16, 2012|Resources, Writing|Comments Off on The 12 Steps of Writers Anonymous

If you’re familiar with any kind of twelve-step program such as that of Alcoholics Anonymous and you’re a writer, you should find these steps, compiled by Patricia Proctor, inspiring:

The Twelve Steps of Writers Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over writing; that our writing efforts had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore our writing from insanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our writing over to the care of God and our editor as being the only ones who could restore the mess we had made of it.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our writing.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another writer the exact nature of all the mistakes we had made in our writing.

6. Were entirely ready to have God and a helpful editor remove all these defects of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other writing […]

13 November, 2012

3 ways to identify your audience before you publish a book

By Grael Norton|2023-06-09T11:36:09-07:00November 13, 2012|Marketing, Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on 3 ways to identify your audience before you publish a book

The first thing you must know before you decide how to publish your book is the age of your target audience.

If your audience is below 18 or over 50, paperback or hardback is still a more viable option.

An article from the 2012 Pew Internet & American Life Project stated that “those who read e-books are more likely to be under age 50, have some college education, and live in households earning more than $50,000.”

Does that fit your target market? Although it is certainly cheaper and faster to go digital, if that’s not where your market is you won’t make many sales.

Children’s books, especially picture books or read-a-loud books, are best in a print format.

While more and more readers are turning to digital readers it may not necessarily be where your audience is. So even though print book sales dropped by more than 9 percent in 2011 and […]

10 November, 2012

How to market a book with an email signature

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:36:14-07:00November 10, 2012|Marketing, Resources|Comments Off on How to market a book with an email signature

Marketing your book can seem like an overwhelming process. So many different things to do, so many decisions to make about what to do.

One way to tackle the overwhelm is to pick a simple and easy task and do that first. Once you begin you’ll have more confidence to continue.

I suggest you start by creating a simple email signature, one you can easily do in less than ten or fifteen minutes. Don’t worry at this point about making it fancy; you can add a picture of your book or some other feature later. Your goal is to keep the project doable and to get it done.

Once you’ve created one email signature, you can create others that include an image of your book or something more visual. Having just a basic message or offer that promotes your book may be all you’ll ever need. The main thing now is to get […]

9 November, 2012

Getting your book in the Library of Congress

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:36:20-07:00November 9, 2012|Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on Getting your book in the Library of Congress

There’s some confusion as to what role the Library of Congress (LOC) plays for a properly published book. This is because the LOC not only provides cataloging information for most published books, but also houses the US Copyright Office, which has nothing do to with cataloging. Let me briefly elaborate on a couple of different reasons your book and the Library of Congress may cross paths.

Wheatmark sends one copy of your book to the LOC upon publication for cataloging purposes. We do this to fulfill an obligation we incur every time we request a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) prior to the book’s publication.

Why do we put an LCCN in your book?

Local librarians want to be able to shelve a new book correctly as soon as they receive it. They don’t have the time to catalog books upon receipt, so they turn to the Library of Congress for […]

2 November, 2012

Book marketing just got a little bit easier: Introducing Screenr

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:36:25-07:00November 2, 2012|Marketing, Resources, Social Media|Comments Off on Book marketing just got a little bit easier: Introducing Screenr

Looking for a fast and quick way to get the word out about your book? Here’s a new tool for book marketing you’ll want to take advantage of . . .

Screenr

It’s fast
It’s easy
It’s fun
It can spread your message like wildfire.
AND best of all . . . it’s FREE!

Authors can use screenr to make a quick and fast book trailer. It can then be placed on your website, loaded up onto YouTube or sent in an email. You can post it on a blog, share it on Facebook, tweet it and pin it on Pinterest.

Here’s how it works.

Anything that you can put on your computer screen can be recorded with audio and made into a screenr video. You have five minutes from start to finish to share whatever you want.

To make it the most effective you will want to plan out exactly what you want […]

1 August, 2012

Turn Your Book into a … What?

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:36:31-07:00August 1, 2012|Marketing, Resources|Comments Off on Turn Your Book into a … What?

Close your eyes and visualize your book as a keychain. Can you do it?

In a previous post I discussed the best way to market your book online: by slicing up the content of your book into smaller pieces and republishing them on your blog and other sites accepting similar content.

However, your book can be turned into other media as well—not just online and not just written. Here’s a list of ideas, both offline and online, just to get your imagination going:

Paper book: The foundation of your “content empire,” from which all other media originate. You can also start with just an ebook, but that doesn’t nearly provide the authority a real book does.

Ebook: Tap into a growing market of ebook readers by releasing yours.

Blog posts: Copy and paste information (chapters) from your book and periodically post them on your blog.

CD: Put your ebook or book preview on a CD […]

31 May, 2012

A Game Changer

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:36:38-07:00May 31, 2012|Marketing, Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on A Game Changer

Ninety-nine degrees is the average high temp in June here in beautiful Tucson, Arizona. As you might imagine, we Tucsonans do just about anything we can to stay indoors during this time. So, while most of the country is outdoors hiking, picnicking, camping, and playing softball … we’re indoors reading books, watching movies, playing volleyball and, yes, bowling. How appropriate then that our current bestselling book is The Game Changer: A Simple System for Improving Your Bowling Scores by Mark Baker. Published in early April, The Game Changer sold over two thousand copies by the end of that month, qualifying it for our Great Expectations program, where we financially reward the author by issuing a credit. In Mark’s case that’s $2,000. At the rate the book is selling it will soon cross the five thousand-copies-sold mark and qualify its author for an additional $5,000 Great Expectations credit. (At Wheatmark […]

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 […]