BLOG: Eye-Popping Tips

From Karen Saunders

Your Branding, Marketing & Self-Publishing Coach



Archive for the ‘Independent Publishing’ Category

August 27th, 2014 | By: Karen Saunders

What’s the Difference Between Content Editing, Copy Editing and Proofreading?

Smart self-publishers have their manuscripts edited and proofread by professionals. To meet this need, we offer an assortment of editorial services, from content editing to proofreading. Our award-winning team of editors and proofreaders specializes in a wide range of genres with a variety of skill sets in both fiction and non-fiction. It’s so important to find the right fit for each client, and we feel it is our responsibility to educate our clients about the different types of editing and proofreading services. As a visual person, I like to make analogies with visual images. I think about editing from the…

Read More


March 26th, 2014 | By: Karen Saunders

Self-Publishers: Use GoodReads to Promote Your Book to Your Target Market

GoodReads is a like an online book club or a social media network for people who like to read books. Amazon owns GoodReads, so if you buy a Kindle and you open a GoodReads account you can synchronize your Kindle with GoodReads. It will offer recommendations of books to read based on your past reading history and how you rate books. GoodReads Author Program This free program is great way for authors to reach their target market. Readers may add your book to their recommended list on GoodReads and authors can promote their books to passionate readers. Here’s how to get…

Read More


October 31st, 2013 | By: Karen Saunders

20 Copyright and Clearance Tips for Self-Publishers

A recent Colorado Independent Publishers Association meeting featured copyright and permissions presentations by John R. Tandler of Ryley, Carlock and Applewhite, and Joyce L. Miller of The Copyright Detective. Here are my notes from this very informative meeting on copyright clearance Not everything can be copyrighted. Only items that can be “fixed in a tangible medium” which then can be reproduced. For example, music that is recorded onto a tape or printed on a sheet, words that are printed on paper, a painting that is on canvas, a photo that is printed on paper or stored digitally all can be copyrighted….

Read More


September 26th, 2013 | By: Karen Saunders

3 Creative Ways to Sell More eBooks: Matchbook, Kobo, Ganxy

Kindle Matchbook Program Amazon has just unveiled Kindle Matchbook for ebook publishers. This special program encourages their customers to buy two copies of your book; the printed version at the regular price and the ebook version at a discounted price. Publishers receive approximately 50% royalty on the ebook sold and a standard royalty on the printed book sold. What this means for the publisher is increased revenue; they’re selling two books at one time. The book buyer can immediately download the Kindle version while waiting for the printed version to arrive in the mail. Publishers will need to discount the…

Read More


July 30th, 2013 | By: Karen Saunders

Tips on Creating Eye-Catching Book Covers

Shown below are a few covers our team recently designed for our clients. We strive to create unique eye-catching book covers with attention-grabbing graphics and compelling titles and subtitles. To reach the right target market we need to understand what intrigues and interests those folks. By using carefully chosen keywords and appropriate fonts in the title, selecting symbolic colors and imagery, and using the right style of photos and/or graphics we can create the most effective message for each specific target market. As a result, each book cover appeals to the right audience. The following 2 books are for managers, leaders and directors…

Read More


May 28th, 2013 | By: Karen Saunders

How to Use Radio Talk Shows to Publicize your Self-Published Book

Radio talk show producers are always looking for quality guests, and this is the perfect way to publicize your book at no cost. There are 900 radio talk shows that need guests every day. You can do the interviews right from your home phone. Here are the guidelines to securing an interview and maximizing the experience to promote book sales. Contact the Producers Radio talk show producers – not talk show hosts – are responsible for arranging guest interviews. You should send an email to the producer first to schedule a time for your phone “audition” to pitch your topic….

Read More


May 23rd, 2013 | By: Karen Saunders

5 Self-Publishers win CIPA EVVY Book Awards

Five of our clients won won book awards at the 2013 Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Book Awards banquet held on May 18th. Here are the 5 award-winning books we designed. Noted below are the team members who have participated in the production of each book. John Hall is all smiles with a copy of his book and his award certificate. John’s book Do What You Can! won 3rd place in the “Self-Help” category. Several team members participated in the production of his book: Barbara McNichol edited the book, I came up with the cover concept, Kerrie Lian designed the cover and interior, Helena Mariposa proofread…

Read More


April 1st, 2013 | By: Karen Saunders

Use Google AdWords Keyword Planner to Help Market Your Self-Published Book

You can use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool to research and choose productive keywords to use in your book marketing campaigns. This free tool allows you to type in a word or phrase then see the results of your search term and additional keyword ideas. Each word or phrase is ranked by competition and by the number of global monthly searches on Google. You want to select and use keywords and phrases that have low competition and high search volume. Go to this page: https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner For this exercise, let’s suppose I’ve published a book on puppy training. I’ve typed in…

Read More


February 26th, 2013 | By: Karen Saunders

Build a Powerful Author Platform to Sell More Books

Publishing industry leaders say successful authors and publishers build their book sales by having a strong author platform. What is an Author Platform? It is a combination of how you share your core message, what exactly is marketing message and who is listening to you. The larger the number and the depth of your personal relationships with your followers, the stronger your platform. This is what’s called “relationship marketing.” It is optimal to have a powerful platform before you launch your book, but it is never too late to begin building your platform. An author’s goal is to develop a funnel of…

Read More


November 26th, 2012 | By: Karen Saunders

It Takes a Community to Make Your Book an Amazon Bestseller

At a recent Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) meeting we had a panel speak on the topic of how to make your book an “Amazon Bestseller.” One of the panelists was Marcia Reece whose book, Secrets of a Marriage Mouse became the #1 bestseller in three Amazon book categories: Marriage, Personal Relationships, and Health. She shared with us a few of the many very specific techniques she used to sell 3700 books in 3 days on Amazon.com. Marcia occasionally offers one-day workshops where she explains ALL the important steps in this process. Shown below are some of the highlights of her…

Read More