Team member and social media marketing expert Mary Walewski contributed this month’s article on how authors can sell more books: When it comes to authors selling books, I think the problem is this: People confuse marketing with having to be sale-sy all the time. I can certainly understand wanting to get sales. But when your only message to potential readers is “Buy my book!” people will tune you out very quickly. People buy from you when they know and trust you. If you are struggling to connect with potential readers on social media, take a good look at what you’re posting!…
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…
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…
I’ve asked team member Mary Walewski to contribute an article this month and she introduced me to Pinterest. This relatively new social media site intrigued me because it’s all about images. I posed the question to her, “How can self-publishers use Pinterest to market books?” I discovered this is a perfect way to quickly post portfolio samples from recent projects completed by my team. I’ve already created a set of Pinterest boards dedicated to samples of book covers, logos, business cards, speaker one sheets and branding projects. There are many reasons why you should join interest, and Mary has listed 5…
This article on avoiding grammar mistakes is written by Barbara McNichol, a member of my creative team. Barbara is an expert editor and author of Word Trippers available in Kindle format at Amazon.com. She has edited numerous award-winning and best-selling books. Here’s her article: Did you know grammatical errors are a hot topic? Yes! I learned that when a blog post about writing connected with Ezine Articles took a subject close to my heart and made it relevant to everyone. Within 24 hours of posting an article about 6 grammatical errors that make authors look unprofessional, this blog post received 776…
Quick! Answer this question: What do you think of when you hear the term “relationship marketing”? If the only things that came to mind were your local business networking group, local chamber of commerce, or service club, you might not be aware of new strategies in 21st century relationship marketing. There is nothing wrong with any of these organizations, but if your relationship marketing efforts begin and end with them, you are not only operating under the old rules of relationship marketing, you are stuck in the 20th century. 21st century relationship marketing makes active use of Web 2.0. Web…
My good friend and colleague, Patrice Rhoades-Baum has graciously provided an article for this month’s issue. Last month I showed you how relationship marketing can help your business during bad economic times. Patrice has expanded upon that topic. She provides 5 marketing strategies for staying in touch with your prospects and clients. By Patrice Rhoades-Baum Copyright © 2008 Many years ago in a freelance writing business, I discovered that my clients enjoyed working with me and raved about my copywriting. But shortly after working together, they forgot about me! Here’s when that startling fact hit home: I had worked closely…