8 Brilliant Book Marketing Links for Your Toolkit You May Have Missed

May 30, 2012 by 2 Comments
shutterstock_20234632

Wise, Ink does the work so you don’t have to. Here are the best links out there on book marketing. Bookmark these sites using Evernote and reference them regularly. If you want to grab more useful links, follow Wise, Ink on Twitter! How to Get Media Coverage for Your Book by Jane Friedman 5 Ways to Build a Platform (and a bigger writing career) by Pen and Prosper Finding People to Read, Review and Recommend Your Book by Joel Friedlander 3 Selling Tactics Authors Can Borrow from the Internet Marketing Gurus by Lindsay Buroker 5 Mistakes Authors Make that Ruin Book Marketing by Wise, Ink. How To Sell Self-Published Books: One at a Time by Catherine, Caffeinated 5 Simple Ways to Spend Less Time Marketing… [read more]

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

Memorial Day Post: Six Influential Literary Contributors Who Died in 2011

May 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
shutterstock_18345049

Happy Memorial Day weekend, writers! For most people, this weekend is a brilliant excuse to relax by a lake somewhere, eating a hotdog and sipping a beer at 1:00 in the afternoon. For freelancers like me, it’s an excuse to have a three-day weekend to catch up on a few editing projects. Many of us probably don’t let our thoughts linger too long on the original intent of Memorial Day, if it even crosses our minds at all. Memorial Day (originally “Decoration Day”) originated after the American Civil War, its purpose being to commemorate fallen American soldiers. Over time, it became a time of memory and commemoration in general, as families would use the time to visit the graves of… [read more]

Filed Under: Literary Trends, Motivational, Quotes, Storytelling, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

Guest Blog: How Do I Get Maximum Attention with My Press Release?

May 23, 2012 by 2 Comments
shutterstock_66935020

Because of the noise and clutter in the world of news, it is difficult to get attention for your book. Advertising is expensive and seems to have limited usefulness.  The advertising space is really cluttered and it is difficult to cut through the noise! Having a limited budget makes the problem even worse. Because of the reach of the Internet, it is possible to get exposure on the internet, but everyone is trying to do the same.  There are all kinds of schemes that are designed to beat the search engines, but that begs the question of whether traffic driven to your web site using such techniques is worthwhile. With a lot of practice selling products, I have developed a strategy… [read more]

Filed Under: Book Marketing, Guest Post, Media, Press Releases, Writing

31 Twitter Hashtags for the Indie Author

May 21, 2012 by 5 Comments
shutterstock_96094235

Soooo, you’ve got that Twitter account, huh? You’ve got a good follower-to-following ratio? You’ve got quite a few Tweets under your belt? Good for you! As we always preach, it’s extremely important for indie authors (or all authors, really) to be as directly connected to your audience as possible. On a large scale, there’s no better platform than Twitter. As far as Twitter goes, it can look like a jumbled mess of information if you don’t know how to navigate. With the use of #hashtags, however, Twitter is actually designed to group your information (and the information you seek) in a highly organized way. If you’re not already following #hashtags or using them in your own Tweets, you should be!… [read more]

Filed Under: #hashtags, Book Marketing, Indie Publishing, Social Media, Technology, Twitter, Writing, Writing Prompts, Writing Tips Tagged With: , , ,

The Golden Promise You Should Make to Your Book

May 18, 2012 by 1 Comment
shutterstock_87734776

This guest post is by Ken Thurber, author of Big Wave Surfing   Your book is not just a book. It is a product. You have just finished your prized tome and you have managed to get it into “print.” Now what? Where you go from here is based upon your perception of your book. Did you publish a book or did you develop a product? If you “published a book” you may have not completely understood the reality that only now is beginning. You must have a plan to sell your book. If your view is that you’re just publishing a book and not creating a product, you are in trouble. The single sign that your on your wrong path?… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Book Launch, Guest Post, Planning Tagged With: , ,

What Does Your Author Bio REALLY Say About You?

May 16, 2012 by 1 Comment
shutterstock_1225277

Question: How often have you scanned a back cover, specifically to check out the author’s credentials? If your answer is “all the time,” you’re among the majority. If you don’t think you do, chances are that you’ve measured a book’s value against other factors, such as price, return on investment, and good ole fashion worthiness–all linked to an author’s cred. This is why your author bio has to be good. Not only good, but effective. A bio that doesn’t stamp your book as reliable hasn’t done its job. Your bio offers opportunities that shouldn’t be missed.  Consider your author bio, important in these three key ways: 1) It promotes you 2) It promotes your writing career 3) It promotes other… [read more]

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

10 Signs You’ve Hired The Wrong Editor For Your Book

May 14, 2012 by 2 Comments
shutterstock_82645033

You’ve just reread your final draft for the 6,983rd time. Your friends, spouse, co-workers, and mailman all know you’re within an arm’s reach of being done. The next and final step is having your manuscript edited…and by a professional! You’ve carefully screened and chosen someone with editing chops. You’re feeling pretty good about entrusting your baby with this very capable editing wizard who has promised to make your fabulous manuscript even better. But then…like any new parent, something in your gut doesn’t feel right. Your confidence is slipping and you know that as an indie author your editor must rise to the occasion. Chances are, you noticed one or more of the following ten signs that your editor wasn’t going… [read more]

Filed Under: Editing, Self-publishing Tagged With: , ,

“At First Bite”: Is It Worth It to Follow Literary Trends?

May 11, 2012 by 1 Comment
shutterstock_101336755

Once upon a time, Western society as a whole was flushed with anticipation for the END OF THE WORLD. Some thought the rapture was coming, others believed it would be a complete blackout caused by a virtual virus that would completely wipe out our digital structures. I’m not talking about 2012–I’m talking about Y2K. Oh yea–that. The Y2K fiasco really became more about effective branding and bandwagoning than it did about a reality. It led to a slue of Y2K-themed business books, cookbooks, fiction, music (Backstreet Boys’ Millennium album, anyone?), and more. One Amazon reviewer of The Y2K Personal Survival Guide wrote in his five-star review on June 4, 1999, “Pollyanna’s don’t need to read this book. Keep denying! You… [read more]

Filed Under: Agents, Audience, Literary Trends, Pub. Industry, Storytelling, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

The Do’s and Don’ts of Using Twitter to Market Your Book

May 9, 2012 by 2 Comments
shutterstock_95268391

The great thing about Twitter is that it doesn’t take a lot of time to do it right. The problem with Twitter is that its constant flow needs to be monitored daily in order to gain the rewards. You can have a really great Twitter day on Monday, but if you ignore it for the next week, you may have lost your followers already. It’s a much more volatile network than other social media sites because it’s the fastest moving. Below is a list of do’s and don’ts for optimizing the rewards of your Twitter account.   DON’T connect with as many people as you can, no questions asked. You don’t have to follow everyone who follows you; be strategic… [read more]

Filed Under: Book Marketing, Planning, Social Media, Technology, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,

5 Mistakes Authors Make That Ruin Book Marketing

May 7, 2012 by 7 Comments
shutterstock_25265098

You’ve gone through the painful and enlightening process of editing, proofreading, and other general wordsmithing (new word!). You’ve had your designer create the perfect cover for the perfect book. You’ve had your book printed and digitalized in Mobi and Epub files, and it’s finally available everywhere in all formats. In a nutshell, you’re finally there–you’re an authentic, self-made, 14-karat author ready to get out and start selling! Congratulations! I’ve enjoyed seeing hundreds of authors reach this stage, and believe me, it’s a great reward to see an author finally get “there”–if “there” means seeing the book’s live Amazon sales page. The greater reward? Seeing the author achieve a  real sales record, and a solid one at that. In order to… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Book Launch, Book Marketing, Motivational, Pitching, Planning, Self-publishing Tagged With: , , ,
«Older Posts