Belle Whittington

As they say–better late than never, right? We are getting back on track with this week’s blog post and will have a new podcast to share next week. You can also check out the course syllabuses (syllabi?) for our six week eCourses, the third lesson for each course will be up next week! Now on to this week’s blog post…

What is public relations? It’s a common misconception that marketing and public relations are the same thing. In fact, a good PR strategy is actually one component of an overall marketing plan. In order to promote your book, you’ll need to develop a strategy for attracting media attention. In this day and age, this includes not just newspapers and magazines, but blogs and other online news outlets. We’ve put together five quick steps for you to take to promote yourself and your book in print and online media.

Read the rest here…

Often billed as one of the ebook’s marquee attractions, how well do in-book search tools really work?

Not all ebook search monocles are equal. Options range from non-existent (hey, Kobo! if there’s room in the programming budget for virtual reading awards like the Inverted Comma and the BookLover, then it’s time to spring for a search tool, too), to roughly implemented (Nook), and from nicely polished (Kindle, iBooks) to fully instrumented (Inkling).

To help make sense of what works versus what doesn’t consider first why readers search. If the title at hand is a reference or how-to book it’s often to look up a specific ingredient or procedure. But those kinds of books aren’t actually selling that well in eBookLand; publishing are turning those titles into apps. Instead, ebook fans are gobbling up narrative—fiction and non-fiction alike. Those titles all top the charts and so it’s worth refining that earlier question: For narrative-style ebooks, why do readers search?

Read the rest here…

Posted by A New Kind of Book

I’ve had a few folks ask me about the nitty gritty details of ebook formatting, so we’ll have a couple of guest posts coming up on that topic (my way of formatting my ebooks is having someone else do it for me, so I figured I’d bow to the expertise of others). We’ll have a post coming along that details the way to get in and tinker with the html and such, but today’s post offers a simpler solution. Thanks, Jeff Dvorak, for writing this up for us…

Read the rest here…

Post by Lindsay

I’m attempting to increase the number of “likes” on my Facebook fan page.

I would love it if you’d stop by and click the “like” button! :-)

Click Here to Go to My Facebook Fan Page

You’ve done it! You’ve written, rewritten, polished, proofread, and published your book. Congratulations!

Now what?

If you’ve independently published, your book is available online for anyone in the world to buy. That is a significant accomplishment, but the unfortunate reality is that you have a LOT of competition - I’m talking tens of millions of other titles. That makes the chances of a reader randomly stumbling upon your title extremely slim. Many independent authors have no idea how to get the word out about their books, which is one reason they may not sell as many copies.

If you want your book to stand out, you have to be creative, and you have to work hard. There are many things you can do to promote an independently published title, but before you do anything, I strongly recommend creating the following basic materials:

 Read the rest here…

Article by CreateSpaceBlogger

Your books are published, you’re building a social media presence, and you’ve got an official author website and/or blog. You’re rocking it! But…do you have a newsletter?

I know what you’re thinking:

What? More book promotion I have to do? When will I have time to write the next book??

But keep reading. It’s worth starting a newsletter, and it needn’t be a big time investment.

Read the rest here…

Post by Lindsay Buroker

Imagine for a moment that you’ve hopped into an elevator on your way somewhere. You’re carrying the proof of your book that just arrived from the printer. A gentleman sharing the elevator notices your book and says, “Hey, that looks interesting. What’s it about?”

What’s your response? Do you fumble, start in one direction then go in another? Do you find yourself just getting started when the elevator reaches the floor where this fellow has to get off? Have you made the most of this opportunity?

As an independent author, you will be asked many times what your book is about. Sometimes these inquiries are idle elevator chatter, but sometimes you’ll be asked the question by people crucial to your book’s success.

At a trade show, for example, you might get asked the same question and have about the same amount of time to answer. Talking to a bookstore buyer falls into the same category.

Recently, I met an author who was asked about his book at the airport. Before he left, he had an order for 1,000 copies of his book. His talk with the person who asked about his book lasted a lot longer than an elevator ride, but those first 30 seconds are critical.

Will your pitch draw people in, make them curious about your book, and let them know right away whether or not it’s for them?

Read the rest here…

Article by Joe Friedlander

If you want to quickly build a responsive email list in the next 30 days — especially if you’re just starting online and don’t have a lot of money — the following strategy can get the job done.

Here’s the story:

Article by Ben Settle

I read this blog the other day: The Problem Isn’t the Books

I really think you should read it, mostly because it’s interesting, but also because I don’t want to rehash it. The main bullet points are this:

A NY Times article came out basically saying that teenage boys aren’t reading books anymore, and they (the author of said article) think it’s because of how few books are marketed toward teenage boys.

The blog I linked to is a rebuttle to that, but what they’re really rebutting is this quote:

Read the rest here…

Post by Amanda Hocking

Well, would you look at that?!

Cicada is available at Borders.com, too!

The DBW Roundtable is a live, interactive webcast featuring some of the most outspoken industry professionals gathering to discuss and debate the hottest publishing issues of today.

In this bi-weekly 1-hour WEBcast, the Roundtable offers insight into the greater book publishing ecosystem with actionable case studies from practitioners in publishing.

Following the enormously successful Roundtable Review of Ebook Design and Formatting with Peter Meyers and Anne Kostick, this edition of the Roundtable will look at…

Read the rest here…

“Stories never really end…even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don’t end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.”
— Cornelia Funke (Inkspell)

I think it is safe to say that everyone from the Big Six to smaller publishing houses to the independent author would like to sell more books.  And given the extremely crowded “virtual bookshelf” on Amazon, etc it is extremely difficult to get your book (s) noticed.

How do you rise above the “noise?”

This two part article is going to tackle exactly that question.  The first part of the article will go in-depth regarding the importance of choosing the proper categories for your book and the advanced use of tags to maximize your book’s exposure. The second half the article will focus on what to expect from your book sales and how you can leverage the internal recommendation systems, especially of Amazon, to enhance your bottom line. Also know that the vast majority of advice given in these articles can be applied to other digital sales platforms such as Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc.

Read the rest here…

Article by Carolyn McCray

If you click this link and then click the “like” button on that page, I’ll bake you all a giant batch of fudge brownies :-)

Go here to click the “like” button…

Message me if you do and I’ll do a promo post on Friday listing all who have participated :-)

Thank you so much in advance! :-) <3

Kindlegraph appears to be a new service, which allows readers to request electronic autographs for e-books!

Check it out here! 

While you’re at it, download my novel, Cicada, on Kindle, Nook, and other devices, and request my autograph! :-)

Looking for the perfect late-summer read?  Check out Cicada!  It’s getting great reviews on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

Available at these places for Kindle, Nook, and other e-readers:

• Amazon

• Barnes & Noble

• Smashwords

• Kobo

• Diesel

ATBF 2011

ATBF is a festival connecting teens with authors of books for teens. It’s totally free, and it’s totally awesome!

The festival will be from 10am to 5pm on Oct. 1. Come on out to Palmer Events Center for FREE fun! ATBF is an amazing opportunity to meet your favorite authors, buy some books, and get them signed!
No need to register, just show up! Everyone is welcome! Students do not need to be accompanied by an adult.