Resources

1 November, 2013

13 reasons you should add a guestbook page to your Author website

By |2023-06-09T11:24:41-07:00November 1, 2013|Marketing, Resources, Social Media|Comments Off on 13 reasons you should add a guestbook page to your Author website

Are you looking for a fast and easy way to connect with your readers?  Don’t have time or the desire to keep up a blog? Here is an easy fix: provide a guestbook.

A guestbook is basically a page on your website on which readers can leave comments. All comments are then found in one place on your site. This is great for first time visitors to get a feel of your writing, your following and, best of all, for them to find out that other people love your book(s).

While it’s great to blog regularly and get comments on your posts, sometimes getting those comments is difficult for new bloggers. A few comments spread out over 15 or 20 posts can seem pretty sparse, but if you put all those comments in one place, you have instant reader appeal.

Here are 13 reasons why a guestbook should be next on your “To […]

31 October, 2013

Find new readers for your book by offering an Author Phone Chat

By |2023-06-09T11:24:48-07:00October 31, 2013|Marketing, Resources, Social Media|Comments Off on Find new readers for your book by offering an Author Phone Chat

Want to meet your readers?

Offer an opportunity to have a phone chat.

Phone chats can be as simple as using a speaker phone within a group setting or creating a virtual phone chat by using a teleconference service like freeconference.com.

Both methods offer a way for readers and authors to get together.

Six simple steps to set up your first phone chat:

1. Decide what book or books you will discuss during the phone chat.

2. Select the length of time you will be available for the chat. 30 minutes seems to be a time that works for many authors and readers alike, but you can adapt to what suits you and your readers best.

3. Create a separate web page about the chat opportunity. You can let readers know what times and dates are available for you to participate, or you can simply include a form or other contact information for them to get […]

20 October, 2013

Ten jet-propelled ways to ignite more sales from one book review

By |2023-06-09T11:24:54-07:00October 20, 2013|Marketing, Resources, Social Media|Comments Off on Ten jet-propelled ways to ignite more sales from one book review

Just starting out? Have one review but feel that you need a hundred more before your book will take off? Fear not. Here are ten ways you can spin that one small review into ten fantastic book promotions:

1.  Put the review on your website. If it’s short, include it on the sidebar. If it’s longer, put an excerpt on the sidebar and the full review on an inner page.

2. Include a snippet of the review in your email signature. This is an easy way to get a lot of mileage every day with no extra effort.

3. Use a sentence or two of the review on the back cover of your book. Easy to do if your book is in digital form or you are using POD (Print on Demand). If you have hard copies, print stickers on gold foil and add them to the copies.

4.  Include a reference to […]

19 October, 2013

Why authors should have 3 to 4 business cards to maximize book sales

By |2023-06-09T11:24:59-07:00October 19, 2013|Marketing, Resources|Comments Off on Why authors should have 3 to 4 business cards to maximize book sales

How many business cards should you have?

A good estimate for an author is four.

That may seem like a lot, but there are several reasons why having more than one business card to support your writing is a good thing.

Many writers wear different hats. Whether they write fiction or nonfiction, they can have different areas of expertise. A good way to gain an interview, speaking assignment, or book promotion is to address each area individually with a different business card.

There is never just one way to sell a book. While some ways will work better than others, it doesn’t make sense to leave books on different tables, hoping the right audience will find them. Having a variety of business cards allows you to promote yourself as an expert in a subject to a particular audience.

For instance, if you want to sell books during a business conference, a card that merely states […]

15 October, 2013

Too much competition for your book?

By |2023-06-09T11:25:06-07:00October 15, 2013|Marketing, Resources, Social Media|Comments Off on Too much competition for your book?

It used to be quite easy for someone to start a small business in a small town and make a success of it. Granted there weren’t ten million customers available for whatever they did, but there was a small group of people that were available and these people would stop by and give the new shop a try. Or at least take a peek in the window. After all, there wasn’t that much going on in the small town and you were something to look at.

Today with the Internet, every business is toted to be available to a millions of people all at once.

It’s true. It’s amazing. Millions of people.

But there’s a catch!

Just because your online business is available to millions of people doesn’t mean millions of people are going to take a look.

In fact, maybe none of them will.

There’s nothing wrong with your business perhaps, but your business itself […]

8 October, 2013

Word of mouth begins with a listening ear

By |2023-06-09T11:25:16-07:00October 8, 2013|Marketing, Resources, Social Media|Comments Off on Word of mouth begins with a listening ear

Looking for a better way to sell books?

Not comfortable with standing on a street corner and waving your latest edition in the air?

How about doing something that authors forget to do?

It works perfectly for the introverted author who’s more comfortable listening than speaking. In fact, that is what the way is. Listen your way to selling more books.

You see, most people would rather have someone listen to them than listen to someone else.

Wouldn’t you like someone to listen to you? Really and truly listen?

In this day of mass communication and social media overdose, many people are overwhelmed with tons of words being thrown at them from every direction. Everything is coming in mega doses. Email boxes overflow, Facebook contacts pop in from every corner of cyberspace, and Twitter, text and instant messages multiply faster than the national debt. Who’s listening?

If you give some quality listening time to your readers, you […]

7 October, 2013

9 reasons authors should still commit to sending press releases

By |2023-06-09T11:25:25-07:00October 7, 2013|Marketing, Resources|Comments Off on 9 reasons authors should still commit to sending press releases

Google has new rules about press releases. Writing them simply to get links back to your site and create Google synergy is no longer a favorable action but there are still plenty of positive reasons that authors should use online press releases.

After all, when it comes to selling more books, there are other entities to impress, besides Google, in the bookselling world. Think of people like book readers, book reviewers, bookstores, publishers, media-hungry folks looking for a good story, bloggers looking for someone to interview, radio and TV stations looking for the next great guest on their program.

Still not convinced? Here are nine reasons that writing press releases every 30 to 90 days should be part of your yearly book marketing strategy:

1. Exposure. This goes without saying. Wonder why no one is buying your books? One good reason may be they simply don’t know your book exists. Let people know.

2. […]

4 October, 2013

Create an audio excerpt of your book for more book sales

By |2023-06-09T11:25:31-07:00October 4, 2013|Marketing, Resources|Comments Off on Create an audio excerpt of your book for more book sales

Here’s a great way to get new visitors to your site to read your book: Let them hear an audio excerpt!

An audio excerpt from your book is simply another medium that your potential audience can consume. Why not let them have it?

Many bestselling authors offer at least one audio presentation of their books. While you may not want to create a complete audio version of your book, adding the first chapter or pages of your book in audio form is easy to do.

Here’s an audio excerpt from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

If you have a blog website, it can be as easy as creating a separate page and adding media to it in the form of an mp3 audio clip.

How do you get the audio clip?

The process is fairly simple. (Or at least it can be as simple or as complicated as you want […]

30 September, 2013

Why you should create small realistic book marketing goals

By |2023-06-09T11:26:27-07:00September 30, 2013|Marketing, Resources, Writing|Comments Off on Why you should create small realistic book marketing goals

Every author would like to sell a million copies.

More authors can achieve this goal if they go about it with a realistic plan.

For instance, while you may not sell a million copies in a week or a year, there is a much stronger possibility that you might sell that many books over a longer period of time.

It’s better to make a reasonable goal that you meet and then, once it is achieved, set the bar higher for the next round. Make the first goal easy and doable. Success builds upon success. With each achieved goal you will have the knowledge and expertise, contacts and methods for raising your next level of book selling.

The first goal should be small because you will be putting in a lot of the ground work for future sales. That ground work will take more time and have a deeper learning curve as you get started. […]

24 September, 2013

Paid book reviews by Publishers Weekly: A dangerous place for self-publishers?

By |2023-06-09T11:26:39-07:00September 24, 2013|Marketing, Resources|Comments Off on Paid book reviews by Publishers Weekly: A dangerous place for self-publishers?

Getting book reviews for your book is one of the prime ways for authors, old and new, to sell more books. Unfortunately, the stigma of self-publishing, though rapidly disappearing, is still a factor to be dealt with in seeking the more established book review channels.

Publishers Weekly has a program called PW Select that is open to self-published books. It comes with a catch though. And, a price tag.

For $149, you can enter your self-published book and get a possible review. They state that approximately one out of every four books is reviewed in their magazine. Now for a regular, mainline, published book getting a book review by Publishers Weekly is usually a good thing. Even with a poor review a sentence, or even a part of a sentence, can be found redeeming and be put to good use.

The fact that Publishers Weekly has broad-mindedly opened their book reviewing doors to […]

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