I must confess. Up until today, I had a profile page on Facebook. It wasn’t the same as my personal account (I’m not that 2005), but it was still an account for the individual with the name “Smart Author Sites,” not the business “Smart Author Sites.” Finally, today, I made the migration. Yes, I’m now […]
Authors on Facebook: Profile Pages vs. Fan Pages 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 »
William Eamon is a Regents Professor of History and dean of the Honors College at New Mexico State University. He’s also the author of Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture and the co-editor of Beyond the Black Legend: Spain and the Scientific Revolution. In addition, he
Author Success Story: William Eamon Read More »
Every week, I see a new piece on Publishers Weekly about a new app related to a book. Here’s this week’s piece. And here’s last week’s. Notice anything? Yes, they’re all apps related to children’s books. Some of the cool things that these apps offer include games, an audio reading of the book, artwork, zoom
Apps for Authors: When Is It Going to Saturate the Adult Market? Read More »
Several of my clients have asked me to send out newsletters to their mailing lists recently. But none of them seemed to understand exactly what a newsletter can do (or the information you can cull out of sending a newsletter). With that in mind, I thought it might be helpful to outline exactly what an
Author Newsletters: Tips, Misconceptions, and More! 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 »
It used to be that an author could just be an author: sitting at home and doing what they love. That’s no longer the case. Whether today’s authors are self-publishing or going through a publishing house, one thing is a given. They have to do their own promotion. Publishers will only put time and money
5 Ways to Market Yourself as An Author (Even If You Don’t Want to) Read More »
It’s one of the first questions I ask every author when we first get on the phone: “Do you plan to blog?” Obviously, every author answers differently. But the answer I get most often is something along the lines of, “Well, I’ve been advised to blog, but I have no idea what to blog about
Author Blogging … It Can Be Easier Than You Think Read More »
