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: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lady Gaga’s Four Tips for Captivating your Audience

February 15, 2013 by 1 Comment
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Last Wednesday I (Dara) had the privilege of seeing Lady Gaga in concert. My good friend Oscar and I enjoyed Gaga’s “Born this Way Ball” and it was a night to remember. Between you and me, I’m not a Gaga die-hard, otherwise known as a “Little Monster.” In fact, I went as a cynical observer. It was all that you might imagine: loud, fun, crazy, and otherworldly. I danced, screamed, and cried–and I’m only talking about the first five minutes. From the costumes, to the dancing, to Gaga antics galore, I could hardly catch my breath the entire show. Her audience loved every second. By the end of the night, I had a different opinion of Lady Gaga. I also… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience Tagged With: , ,

The 3 Top Reasons Readers Hate Good Books

September 26, 2012 by 1 Comment
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I was recently trying to get through a memoir. The writing was fine. The topic was interesting, but I wasn’t engaged as I thought I would be. All the signs were there that I would love this book. But it wasn’t working out. I quickly moved on to something else and haven’t thought about that book since. Not until this post anyway… It got me thinking: Why didn’t I like that book? Here’s why: I felt lost. The language, tone, style — all of it didn’t enhance my reading experience. A good book cradles my imagination or for nonfiction, thoughtfully leads me down a path I’m excited to explore. This book just couldn’t get me there. Here are the top… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Editing, Revising, Writing Tips Tagged With: , ,

Book Marketing Tips: 5 Golden nuggets for newbie self-published authors [Guest Post]

September 7, 2012 by 1 Comment
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1. Give yourself permission to use your voice on your blog, on social media, and everywhere else.  How do you write when you write an email to a friend? Keep this in mind whenever you create new content. Be human. Be you! You’ll attract the right readers and fans, and speak directly to them about something they actually care about. 2. Social media is no more complicated than making friends at elementary school. Really! Note I said no more complicated, not no more difficult. Making friends isn’t always easy for everyone, but it certainly isn’t rocket science. We all know that to connect socially and have a good conversation, we need to listen, ask questions, and say something funny, interesting… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Book Marketing, Guest Post, Self-publishing Tagged With: , ,

Interview with Indie Author Matthew J. Beier, “The Breeders”

August 31, 2012 by 2 Comments
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With self-publishing, you either pay for quality control, or you do it yourself. This week, Matthew J. Beier, indie author of The Breeders, joined me for some Earl Grey tea and some conversation. Beier has several other books in the works, including a seven-book series that begins with The Confessions of Jonathan Flite, coming  fall of 2013. His July 9, 2012 article in Publishers Weekly titled “Of Decisions and Dream Chasing” explores his decision to self-publish, even though he was getting enough attention from agents to trust that a deal was likely to come through at some point. As it turns out, the self-publishing route allowed The Breeders—which subtly and not-so-subtly deals with many high-profile social justice issues—to come out right at the perfect… [read more]

Filed Under: Agents, Audience, Editing, Indie Publishing, Literary Trends, Pub. Industry, Publishers Weekly, Quotes, Self-publishing, Traditional Publishing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

A Deadline to Publish: Amanda Hocking Doesn’t Let Hundreds of Rejections Stand In Her Way!

August 29, 2012 by 6 Comments
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We love Amanda Hocking. She’s that fabulous success story author who really did know better than the hundreds of agents who rejected her seven novels. But, she had the goal of being a published author by the time she was 26, just like Stephen King, and used it as a “deadline” for herself: If she didn’t get a publishing deal by the age of 26, she’d do it herself. As we know now, she DID do it herself, and it ended up leading to that big publishing deal she had been pushing for for so many years. We know that the biggest (and safest) slush pile out there right now for traditional publishers is self-published authors who are making waves…. [read more]

Filed Under: Agents, Audience, Authorpreneur, eBooks, Indie Publishing, Literary Trends, Pub. Industry, Royalty Publishing, Self-publishing, Traditional Publishing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Well-Rounded Authorpreneur: Make Your Content an Experience (Part 2 of 2)

August 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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In being a well-rounded authorpreneur (an author who recognizes what it takes to be successful as an author in today’s world), we know that authors have to think of themselves as thought leaders. With that mindset supporting your book marketing endeavors, the horizon is much more expansive. An author’s goal is to sell books; a thought leader’s goal is to sell an experience. This brings us to the second piece of being a well-rounded authorpreneur:   Make your CONTENT an EXPERIENCE.   So what does that mean, exactly? Of course, we all put out content whether we know it or not. A text message is “content,” even though it’s probably only seen by one person. A book is made of content. A… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Authorpreneur, Content, Pub. Industry, Self-publishing, Thought Leader

The Well-Rounded Authorpreneur: Be a Thought Leader (Part 1 of 2)

August 15, 2012 by 4 Comments
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In today’s world, there are about as many ways to publish (self-publishing, scholarly publishing, nonprofit publishing, digital publishing, etc.) as there are reasons (fame, passion, creating a movement, legacy, preservation, etc). In any publishing realm not solely for personal/family reasons, every author should be an authorpreneur. An authorpreneur (author + entrepreneur) is an author who recognizes what it takes to be successful as an author in today’s world–not twenty years ago. An authorpreneur takes habits from highly successful entrepreneurs and implements them into selling their book. An authorpreneur isn’t just a writer; an authorpreneur is a speaker, social media strategist, networker, etc. The  authorpreneur recognizes that the book is just a piece of the puzzle, a product that supports and is… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Authorpreneur, Book Marketing, Branding, Literary Trends, Motivational, Pub. Industry, Speaking, Storytelling, Thought Leader Tagged With: , , , , ,

5 Tips to Great Writing

July 16, 2012 by 2 Comments
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In the words of Richard Bach, “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” Below are five tips to getting past the “I want to write a book” stage to “I’m on draft ____ of my book!” 1. Read, read, read! Before you become a famous writer, you should read the works of famous writers. Lots of writers with lots of variety. Pay attention to the different and subtle ways they connect with their audience. You might read two fantasy books, but one may be all about world building while the other is all about character building. Even though I love the fantasy genre, I know that I’m much more invested in character-driven plots than world-building plots, or rather I appreciate when authors are clever… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Motivational, Revising, Storytelling, Writing, Writing Tips Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Words to Avoid When Pitching Your Book

June 15, 2012 by 7 Comments
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Right off, we want you to know that you should be shameless when it comes to marketing your book. Your success as an indie author depends on it. But there is an art to pitching your book to agents, booksellers, media, bloggers, and ultimately to your readers. If you have a Facebook or Twitter account there are even rules to pitching there, especially on Twitter. You can read our take on that here. As you’re moving toward a marketing strategy for your book, including developing copy for your book summary, resist the urge to use the following words in your updates, tweets, pitches, elevator speeches, and in any of your other marketing endeavors. These words are overused, redundant, and don’t… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Book Marketing, Media, Pitching, Planning, Press Releases Tagged With: , , ,
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