It’s one of the most annoying things about Facebook: the “higher ups” just keep changing the way it works. From privacy settings to profiles, just when you think you have this Facebook thing figured out, the rules change on you. Thankfully, there are plenty of people following Facebook and keeping people like us informed about […]
Changes to Facebook and How They Will Affect You Read More »
I’ve been telling authors for years that they need to blog, blog blog. Many authors are hesitant to do it, for a wide variety of reasons. Now, there may be some motivation to get authors started: advertising dollars. According to this article, released yesterday, WordPress (the platform on which we build most of our author
A New Way for Authors to Make Money Read More »
I read this great article in Publishers Weekly about a bestselling YA author, Michael Grant, and the incredible multimedia marketing campaign that his team is launching. Here’s a description of it: GoBZRK is a six-month-long interactive transmedia prequel to Grant’s novel; it began in August and uses everything from multiple Web sites to social media,
Authors: Consider Offering an Online ‘Prequel’ and ‘Sequel’ Read More »
Every author I speak to is different … in so many ways: Knowledge of SEO is one of them. I talk to some authors who have never heard of search engine optimization and don’t understand why it’s important. Others tell me that they’ve already written their metadata. Regardless of your level of SEO expertise, the
Search Engine Optimization MUSTS for Author Websites Read More »
Most authors out there who have created a blog are trying every method possible to get traffic to it (see my blog entry last week on the subject). But here’s one method they shouldn’t be trying: link dumping. What is “link dumping?” It’s simply posting links to your blog post wherever you can: LinkedIn, Twitter,
Authors: Avoid the ‘Link Dump’ Read More »
I came across a discussion today on a LinkedIn group for authors. The conversation was started by the following question: How do you find people to read your blog – and on a consistent basis? Here are some of the responses I found to be most interesting. I hope you find them helpful, too. —–
How to Drive Traffic to Your Blog: Ideas from Authors Themselves Read More »
I must confess … I came across this press release weeks ago, and only now got around to blogging about it. But maybe that’s a good thing. Let me explain… According to the release, author Sandra D. Bricker wanted to do something really special for the final book of her four-part series, which is due
A Great Idea for an Author Website (But Poor Execution) 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 »
It’s one of the first questions I ask every author as we prepare for the design process: “Do you have a photo of yourself that we can use on the site?” Surprisingly, a good percentage of the time, the answer to that question begins with hees and haws. Most authors want to have a good
The Importance of an Author Photo on an Author Website Read More »
If you’re an author using Facebook (and really, I hope you are), then you need to look at social networking as a piece of your business. That means analyzing it — just like you would any other advertising initiative — to determine what’s working and what’s a waste of your time. Enter Facebook Insights. Much
Why All Authors Should Be Using Facebook Insights Read More »
