Why Your Book Isn’t Selling (Part Two)

May 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Why Your Book Isn't Selling

A continuation from Tuesday’s post. For Part 1, click HERE.   6. Your Efforts are Automated & Lack Flavor So many authors see marketing as a nuisance that they hire a publicist to “just do it.” Or they’re so busy with other things, they put their marketing on auto-pilot so they can feel good. The problem is, competition will kick your ass if you do this. And readers can see right through it. Avoid the spam approach to marketing through email, Twitter, and Facebook (we’ll discuss this more in latter points). Likewise, avoid the generic press release distribution service (it won’t work), and the one-size fits all marketing package purchased online. You wrote an amazing book — it contains purposeful content that… [read more]

Filed Under: Authorpreneur, Book Marketing, Planning Tagged With: , , , , ,

Why Your Book Isn’t Selling (Part One)

May 14, 2013 by 6 Comments
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This week Amy and I are on cloud nine. The launch of Wise Ink as a full-service publishing option for authors is going swell. We’re working with authors and doing what we do best. In the process we’ve encountered more book marketing questions than ever. Let’s just say this right off the bat: It’s hard to market anything. Book marketing is especially challenging for two reasons. 1. Competition is steep and 2. The road to “success” is long (and slow) One author I talked to recently was particularly frustrated that her marketing efforts weren’t working. “I’m giving up if something drastic doesn’t happen this year,” she said to me. I understood where she was coming from. There’s that point when… [read more]

Filed Under: Authorpreneur, Book Launch, Book Marketing, Planning Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Guest Post from Tricia Lorntson: How to NOT Skyrocket from Nobody to Somebody as an Indie Author

May 10, 2013 by 2 Comments
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My name is Tricia Lorntson and I’m an egoholic. Crowd: Hi, Tricia! This is a public service announcement and a cautionary tale for struggling writers everywhere. Your odds of becoming instafamous are only marginally higher than your chances of winning the PowerBall. You? Are not special. Don’t believe your mother—she has to tell you that. Let me give it to you straight, and in third person for dramatic effect:   Once upon a time in 2011, a girl named Tricia was writing a book and had what she believed to be enough of a budget to release this book into the wild where it would surely draw international fame and fortune. She met with the owner of a local collaborative… [read more]

Filed Under: Authorpreneur, Blogging, eBooks, Editing, Guest Post, Indie Publishing, Self-publishing, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Interview with Marcy L. Peska, author of Head Buckets & Hashtags

May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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Today Wise Ink is featuring an interview with indie author Marcy L. Peska, author of “Head Buckets & Hashtags.” Marcy provided fantastic insight about her writing process and publishing experience. Check her book out here.  1. We love the title of your book, Head Buckets and Hashtags. Can you share a little about your book and how you came up with the title? Thank you!  I love it, too because it feels like I’ve uploaded a portion of my personal paradigm to the collective consciousness!  I get a kick out of the notion that someday, hundreds of people will know what a head bucket is.   Head Buckets & Hashtags tells the story of my childhood, much of which I spent… [read more]

Filed Under: Self-publishing

Going Indie: 4 Tips Indie Hip-Hop Group Macklemore Can Teach Authors

April 30, 2013 by 6 Comments
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We lurrrrve Macklemore.           In the past six months, indie hip-hop group Macklemore (Ben Haggerty & Ryan Lewis) has become HUGE. Not Harry-Potter-over-two-decades huge, but they’re certainly inching on Hunger-Games-over-five-years huge. “Thrift Shop,” a funky little ear worm that has everyone talking about poppin’ tags, has dominated YouTube waves with nearly 250 million views as of today and has gone platinum. Macklemore is the first indie group (an artist or group without the backing of a major record label) in nearly two decades to top the Billboard charts with “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us”; another hit, “Same Love” celebrates same-sex marriage, becoming a standard protest/civil rights anthem. Another hit on their 2012 album The Heist is a track called “Jimmy Iovine,” based on the legendary… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Authorpreneur, Branding, Fun, Indie Publishing, Kickstarter, Literary Trends, Media, Self-publishing, Social Media, Technology, Traditional Publishing, Twitter, YouTube Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Guest Post: Authors and the Art of Self-Promotion, by Rachael Oku

April 25, 2013 by 1 Comment
Rachael Oku

Authors and the Art of Self-Promotion by Rachel Oku   In every industry, the cliché goes that you have to “pay your dues” before you can make it. Is this really true of writing? Recently published author Rachael Oku wonders. . . . If someone told me I’d be a published author within five years when I graduated college in 2008, I’d have laughed in their face. If someone told me I’d be a published author within five years when I graduated college in 2008, I’d have laughed in their face. Surely I’d have to labour over my ideas and live as a tortured artist in order to hone my craft? Not so. In this the digital age, it’s easier… [read more]

Filed Under: Authorpreneur, Book Launch, Book Marketing, Branding, Guest Post, Motivational, Pitching, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Don’t Compete, Cooperate [Guest Post from writer Dimitri Halkidis]

April 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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Today’s guest post is from Dimitri Halkidis, an aspiring indie author with two books in the works. Follow Dimitri on Twitter to track his publishing progress.  It’s 1am, and my eyes hate me. They flicker from side to side, following that little mouse icon as it clicks on ‘just one more’ link and catapults me through interspace to another indie author’s little corner of the world wide web. I read the post. It’s the author’s affirmation that they are going to maintain this blog, that their dream of becoming a published author shall not be denied. I check the date. Last update: 20th July, 2011. It’s just one of countless millions of derelict, defunct, destitute blogs that litter the internet, a tiny… [read more]

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The Indie Author’s Guide to Facebook Fan Pages

April 16, 2013 by 4 Comments
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So you’ve got your personal Facebook page going and you’ve got plenty of friends following you, right? Good. Question: does your book have a fan page separate from your personal page? If your answer is yes, that’s awesome. Keep reading. If you’re answer is no, read this excellent article on how to set one up first. We were just speaking to an author this week on the importance of using her Facebook fan page to promote her book and here’s what we explained. Your Facebook fan page is a requirement for your book because it creates camaraderie around your book beyond your reader holding it in their hands. Also: It will attract new fans through shared posts Provides unlimited ability to… [read more]

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3 Ways to Market Your Book RIGHT NOW!

April 9, 2013 by 8 Comments
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If you’re an indie author, you know that writing, publishing, and marketing your book is an incredibly busy job, and one that really doesn’t end once the book is out. In fact, this job doesn’t end as long as you still want your book out into the world. Book publishing is kind of like parenting–it’s not like your job ends after the nesting and delivery process, because then you have to raise your child. The fact is, YOU ARE ONE PERSON! You can only do, in one day, what one person is capable of doing in a day. Also, remember that life you had? With the friends, spouse, kids (real–not paper or e-ink), pets, etc.? Yeah, they’re still important. So… [read more]

Filed Under: Blogging, Book Marketing, Content, Guest Post, Self-publishing, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Your Author Website Working for You or Against You?

April 5, 2013 by 3 Comments
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By now we all know how important it is to have a website for any business. Your book is your business if you’re an indie author, so chances are you have a website. Websites are tricky animals. They’re a necessary evil. We all need one, but few of us can design one ourselves and even fewer of us know what to do after we’ve had one designed. You know the drill: get a website, make obvious updates in obvious places, and let cyberspace handle it from there. Except that’s not enough. Your website is delicate and needy–like a newborn baby waking you up at three in the morning–it needs you. Your website will never be self-sufficient. It’ll never grow and… [read more]

Filed Under: Book Marketing, Branding, Design Tagged With: , ,
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