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

April 30, 2013 by 6 Comments
Macklemore-5

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

Words to Avoid When Pitching Your Book

June 15, 2012 by 7 Comments
shutterstock_104925248

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: , , ,

3 Excuses Authors Use to Avoid Social Media

June 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment
shutterstock_104076407

Like most citizens of the universe, I have been aware of the explosion social media has created in human communication. I have seen how it has localized communities a world away, and created new communities. I have seen how it has allowed so many of my authors to connect with their readers in a direct way that was never before possible. Yet, for some reason, in this era when social media has progressed so many industries and entrepreneurs, I am still having conversations with some of my authors where I am convincing THEM to engage in social media. Let me repeat: I still sometimes have to convince my indie authors to engage in the platforms that have–for the first time… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Book Marketing, Literary Trends, Media, Motivational, Social Media 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