I came across a conversation on LinkedIn today. Just the title of the topic of discussion says it all: Internet blogging, social networking et al has no effect on sales for 99% of new self published writers well certainly not for this one. Agree? Sadly enough, most of the people who participated in the conversation […]
Are Authors Feeling Discouraged? Read More »
This week, we feature another author who has drawn a great deal of traffic to his website. His name is Mark Hamel, and he’s the author of Kaizen Event Fieldbook. Most of us won’t understand a word of the book. But that’s okay, because what we really need to know is how he got so
Author Success Story: Mark Hamel Read More »
Websites should be fun places to visit. They should be full of stories, tips, ideas, and things that can improve your life. Unfortunately, most author websites don’t do that. Too many authors use their website more as a portfolio — a place to feature their work and themselves, but not really offer anything of value
8 Ways to Make Your Author Website Less Boring Read More »
It’s one of the most important aspects of building and maintaining a website: creating new content. Without it, an author website is nothing but a static portfolio that people may visit once, but they’re certain not to return. Yes, folks, creating new content is super-important. Not only does it help to get people to return
The Importance of Author Website Content (and How to Create It) Read More »
Remember the old days of publishing: you’d get your book picked up by a publisher and then some magical publicity department would start booking you to do lots of high-profile signings and readings at book stores, schools, etc… My, how times have changed. Nowadays, authors have to do all of their own online publicity. Unless
Are Author Readings/Signings Worth It Any More? Read More »
The results from the Book Industry Study Group’s “Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading” survey are now available! Thanks to Publishers Weekly magazine’s interpretation of the findings, here are the trends that we found to be important: Kindle and Nook are growing in popularity. Even those who were reading e-books before on different platforms are jumping
5 Facts About the Latest E-Book Buying Trends Read More »
On most author websites, it’s the most important thing: the link to buy the book. After all, if you’re not selling the book, then what’s the point? However, too many of the authors I work with don’t put enough oomph in their “Buy” link. Sometimes they create pages with no “Buy” link at all. Other
5 Ways to Make Your “Buy” Link Stand Out Read More »
I work with many authors who wonder if they should publish an e-book. On the other hand, some ONLY want to publish e-books. But which one is really going to sell? To find that out, we go to the source: the readers. What exactly are readers’ preferences in 2011? Paper books or e-books? First, we
Paper Books or E-Books? Which Ones Are People Really Reading Read More »
Can social media really turn your book into a bestseller? Well, first and foremost, it has to be a good book. If it’s not, even the best marketing tactics won’t make you sell hundreds of thousands of copies. But using social media to your benefit can make the difference between a good book that doesn’t
Tweeting Your Way Onto the Bestseller List Read More »
We all heard the news earlier this week: Border is shutting down all its stores. So how does that impact the average author? Here are some quotes, collected from various sources (with varying opinions), that should help to shine a light on things. ——————- “Borders was known as a retailer that took special care in
The End of Borders and What It Means for Authors Read More »
