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From Karen Saunders

Your Branding, Marketing & Self-Publishing Coach



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January 30th, 2013 | By: Karen Saunders

Should Self-Publishers Enroll in Amazon’s KDP Select Program?

Kindle Direct Publishing Select (KDP Select) is a special program that Amazon offers independent publishers, authors and self-publishers to be a part of the digital Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. You can earn a share of a $6 million fund based on how often your ebook is borrowed through the program. In addition, you can use Amazon’s special marketing tools, which include offering your ebook for free to readers for up to 5 days in each 90-day period. You can also earn up to 70% royalties on sales in Brazil, Japan and India. Ebooks not in the KDP Select program only…

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December 27th, 2012 | By: Karen Saunders

Creating a Brand and Website for Lifestyle Hearing Solutions

Client Case Study: Brand and Website Design My creative team recently finished a large project for a hearing aid dispenser. We guided Byron Patton of Lifestyle Hearing Solutions through the steps of creating a brand and website along with a new logo and stationery package for his new company. The process was deliberate and creative and constructed in a way to leverage ideas and concepts to save Byron time and money. Here’s how we did it. First, our branding expert, Patrice Rhoades-Baum held an in-depth interview with Byron and other team members to discuss his target market, the value his company…

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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…

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November 24th, 2012 | By: Karen Saunders

You Can Make Your Book an Amazon Bestseller

You Can Make Your Book an Amazon Bestseller – Even if You’re a First Time Author or a Marketing Novice It’s true…my friend, Marcia Reece Can Help You Make Your Book A Bestseller! If your book is not yet finished, Marcia will show you exactly what you need to do while writing and marketing your book to make it a bestseller–and create more business when your book is finished. If your book has already been published, Marcia will show you how to start a sudden surge of sales carrying your book to bestseller status in your category–even if your book…

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October 30th, 2012 | By: Karen Saunders

Baby Boomers: Get Your FREE copy of Tom Matt’s Kindle eBook, Maximize Your Quality of Life: The 200% Solution

You can get Tom Matt’s Kindle eBook, Maximize Your Quality of Life: The 200% Solution FREE on October 29-30, November 15-16, and November 27th at Amazon HERE: http://ow.ly/eQeyZ This book was #1 in the Amazon Kindle store in the Motivational category! See this previous blog post to learn more about this fantastic book. My team designed the cover and interior of this book. The printed book will be available soon. Every Baby Boomer should have a copy. Get yours FREE here: http://ow.ly/eQeyZ

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October 28th, 2012 | By: Karen Saunders

Guidelines for a Properly Formatted Manuscript

Sometimes our team will receive a partial manuscript or a manuscript that has not been edited or proofread. If a self-publisher provides us with a properly formatted manuscript, we can save them time and money on editing and proofreading services. Once the manuscript has been edited and proofread we can move on to the design and layout stage. Your manuscript should be formatted in a typical 8.5″ x 11″ MS Word document so it is easy for you and our editor to review, markup and make text changes. While your manuscript is in the editing stage it will NOT resemble a book page layout. Our graphic designer will do that later during…

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September 26th, 2012 | By: Karen Saunders

Does Your Book Cover Design Capture the Essence of Its Contents?

Have you ever wondered if a book cover design portrays the message of the contents? More importantly, does YOUR book cover capture the essence of your manuscript? Does your cover design speak to the target market you’re trying to reach? Is it attractive, eye-catching or compelling enough for a prospective buyer to take a closer look? Do you know what to look for when critiquing a cover design? Kerrie Lian, the senior designer on my team recently created the cover of the first book in a series for a new client, Tom Matt. Tom asked Kerrie if she liked what she created….

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August 28th, 2012 | By: Karen Saunders

Proper Graphics File Formats for Internet, eBook, Print

Using the proper graphics file formats and resolution for the job can mean the difference between a professional-looking document and one that looks blurry or is missing graphics. Graphic file formats for the Internet and professional printing are totally different animals. Do not interchange them! Proper Graphics File Formats for the Internet Low-resolution raster graphics are used on the Internet. These graphics are made up of thousands of pixels (squares of color). Internet browsers will read JPG, PING and GIF graphics, which are best scanned at or saved to 72 PPI (pixels per inch). Because of the limits of screen…

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July 26th, 2012 | By: Karen Saunders

Five Ways to Use Pinterest to Market Books

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…

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May 29th, 2012 | By: Karen Saunders

Celebrating the 2012 CIPA EVVY Book Awards

Several of our clients and team members won book awards at the 2012 Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Book Awards banquet held on May 17th. Julia Hubbel of Principled Networking won 3 awards. Her first book Wordfood won 1st place in the Business/Career category and 2nd place in the Self -Help category. Julia’s second book, Tackling the Titans won a merit award in the Business/Career career category. Team members Kerrie Lian designed the cover and interior of both books and Barbara Munson edited both books. Shown below are the covers of both books. Our clients Mary Anne Harvey and Randy Chapman, Esq. of The…

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