Why all that anal fussing over your book cover design? It’s not supposed to win design awards… what you want is for it to look legit. To help with sales. What you don’t want is that crappy homemade DIY look (speaking of which, what’s up with that? Are you nuts?).
When was the last time you went to YouTube to check out book trailers when you wanted to find and buy a book to read? Oh please. Quit with the book trailer BS, unless you’ve got a specific book marketing job in mind. It sure isn’t discovery.
Why are you spending all that time hanging around other authors in online forums? Hang out with your readers.
You’re not just an author — you’re a reader. Think like one, and you’ll find where others just like you are hanging around online.
And here’s probably the most powerful book marketing tip ever, and it’s very old school: Go find an influencer and get them to do an honest-to-goodness review of your book on their blog, newspaper column, etc. None of this rinky dink ARCs for Amazon reviews you’re all screwing around with. Get ARCs in the hands of influencers.
That’ll do it for now. Enjoy today’s featured selections!
— EES
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Indie Author/Publishing
![1+tip[1]](https://wordpreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1tip1-167x130.jpg "1+tip[1]")
“Can’t you give me just 1 tip (for getting book reviews)?” she asked
“The other day a newly published author who had befriended me 5 minutes earlier asked me if I could give her just one tip how to get book reviews from Amazon top reviewers.
I told her to read my book.
She came back with, ‘Can’t you give me just 1 tip?’
Hmm… Apparently this author was not aware how much in demand these reviews are; on average Hall-of-Fame reviewers get 250+ review requests per month.
So, I told her that getting a book reviewed by an Amazon top reviewer isn’t a ‘1-tip thing,’ especially if the book did not have any reviews yet. Getting reviews is a challenging task that encompasses many steps; which is why my book has 100 pages.
She immediately un-friended me.
I guess that says it all. Just another wannabe author who does not really want to learn the trade. The indie author industry is overrun with people like that. The sooner they get out and make room for the people who really hone their craft and all skills, the better for all.
Of course, from experience I know that most indie authors work a lot harder than this one.
So, here is one tip for authors whose books received already a few reviews (including from top reviewers).
‘Like/find helpful’ the reviewers’ reviews!!!”
Continue reading @ Gisela’s Straightforward Blog »
“Self-Made” is a Myth; Here’s the Real Formula for Success
“[T]hat’s what most people get wrong. They never learn how to reach out. You’ve got to be willing to put yourself out there…”
» Medium
$4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book Only Spending $30 on Advertising
“I had a plan. A big plan. Heck, I had the plan of the universe — to sell thousands of copies of my new release Science Fiction book, Project Atlantis, during the first month I published it.
This plan started six months before I started writing the book. The plan entailed rapidly finishing three books in a series — Project Atlantis, Destination Atlantis, and Colony Atlantis — and once it had been edited, beta-read, and sent out to my ARC reviewers, I’d release Project Atlantis, then Destination Atlantis seven days later, and Colony Atlantis fourteen days after Destination Atlantis. Additionally, I’d have the fourth book, Beyond Atlantis, almost 100% written. Yet, I’d have Beyond Atlantis’s pre-order already up and running before Colony Atlantis was released, all the while dropping over $1500 dollars in Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, and on Promo Sites, and whatever else I could get my greedy paws on.
Well, I did none of the above.
Here is what happened that led me to only spending $30 on Facebook and Amazon ads and how I was able to make $4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book.”
Continue reading @ Medium »
10 Actionable WordPress Security Tips for the Layman
“[T]he more popular something is, the more people want to leverage on it for nefarious means… Fortunately, WordPress is a platform that offers you a multitude of opportunity to defend yourself.”
» WHSR
Free
Don’t Beat Yourself: 3 Tips to Win the Writing Game
“We all make plans for our writing. We’re going to submit a proposal to that editor who requested it at a conference. Or we’re going to plot our next novel. Fast draft it. And then we make decisions, day in and day out, that hinder our progress.”
How To Make Money With Udemy (The Right Way)
“There is a lure to the idea of attaching yourself to a big company with a lot of resources, using their marketing power to then generate a revenue. And that’s something that Udemy promotes to course creators.
You can post a course on Udemy and make money selling it. And they have a lot of eyeballs.
All this is true. But, it comes with a huge ‘but’.
Publishing on Udemy has perks – and money can be made. But, if you go into it blindly without knowing the limitations, you may find yourself working FAR harder to make the money you want than would otherwise be needed.
On the flip side, if you create training content and already have your own platform, you can use Udemy to promote your business and build leverage inside an established community who is actively looking for learning.
So, let’s talk about the right way to make money on Udemy…
My Own Experience With Udemy
… [F]or me, Udemy was always a ‘value add’ to my business. I don’t need Udemy, but hey, let’s see what I could get out of it.
So, some time ago, I published a free course on Udemy. It is the 30 Day Blog Transformation Challenge. A free course I created for the purposes of building my own list.
A couple years ago, I decided to re-publish the course on Udemy. The idea was simple…
Provide a very valuable course to the Udemy community. Maybe get some exposure on their platform. And, if people want to come on over to the Blog Marketing Academy for more, they can. So, yes, my strategic intention was to use Udemy as lead generation.
At the time, my review of their guidelines didn’t include anything that would disallow that. Plus, the Challenge had a very important email component that was there way before Udemy. I felt that students wouldn’t get the full value of the Challenge if they didn’t have those emails. So, it made perfect sense for me to invite them – optionally – to opt-in to receive those emails.
And I’m not going to BS anybody about it…
I have made far more money because I own THIS platform than I EVER would have if the Challenge were a paid course on Udemy. But, more on that in a minute…
Fast forward a couple years later…
I get a warning letter of policy violation from Udemy. They take issue with the invitation to subscribe for the emails. That invitation was at the beginning of the course because those emails were designed to be sent as you progress through it. Well, apparently, I had to move that to the bonus lecture at the END of the course.
That kind of defeated the point of the emails, but I said ‘fine’. So, I moved it around and sent it to the back of the course. No more emails, at least for that purpose.”
Continue reading @ Blog Marketing Academy »
![BajuWah[1]](https://wordpreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/BajuWah1-167x130.jpg "BajuWah[1]")
The Growth of Audiobooks
“…
According to QZ, audiobooks are growing more than ebooks. MarketWatch wrote that some audiobooks are selling more copies than their print counterparts, and according to The Digital Reader, ‘audio can outsell print when audio is treated as its original format and not produced as an after thought.’
Audio may be growing because of accessibility, according to The Bookseller and DBW. In just one year, between 2014 and 2015, audiobook sales grew 20% to about $1.78 billion, according to Publisher’s Weekly.
According to the WSJ and DBW, audiobooks are the fastest growing format in publishing. Edison Research found that 43% of Americans over the age of 12 have listened to an audiobook, and that audiobook consumers listened to an average of 6.7 audiobooks in the past year. More people are recommending audiobooks, even the NY Times. Audiobooks are also popular among children, who are used to using mobile devices, according to this slideshare. Audiobooks are also gaining popularity globally, in countries such as India, according to DBW. Free audiobooks are also available online, through sites such as Librovox, according to Wired.
Some audiobooks do really well. The Harry Potter audiobooks, for example, sold 345 copies per hour at one point when they were first released on Audible, according to MarketWatch.
Continue reading @ Digital Pubbing »
SEO is not working on my site – Here is the fix
“Everyone looks at SEO as the holy grail to get search results and it is just not. SEO is just really a list of optimizations that the Google search algorithm finds favourable.”
Marketing
“Can’t you give me just 1 tip (for getting book reviews)?” she asked
“The other day a newly published author who had befriended me 5 minutes earlier asked me if I could give her just one tip how to get book reviews from Amazon top reviewers.
I told her to read my book.
She came back with, ‘Can’t you give me just 1 tip?’
Hmm… Apparently this author was not aware how much in demand these reviews are; on average Hall-of-Fame reviewers get 250+ review requests per month.
So, I told her that getting a book reviewed by an Amazon top reviewer isn’t a ‘1-tip thing,’ especially if the book did not have any reviews yet. Getting reviews is a challenging task that encompasses many steps; which is why my book has 100 pages.
She immediately un-friended me.
I guess that says it all. Just another wannabe author who does not really want to learn the trade. The indie author industry is overrun with people like that. The sooner they get out and make room for the people who really hone their craft and all skills, the better for all.
Of course, from experience I know that most indie authors work a lot harder than this one.
So, here is one tip for authors whose books received already a few reviews (including from top reviewers).
‘Like/find helpful’ the reviewers’ reviews!!!”
Continue reading @ Gisela’s Straightforward Blog »
“Self-Made” is a Myth; Here’s the Real Formula for Success
“[T]hat’s what most people get wrong. They never learn how to reach out. You’ve got to be willing to put yourself out there…”
» Medium
$4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book Only Spending $30 on Advertising
“I had a plan. A big plan. Heck, I had the plan of the universe — to sell thousands of copies of my new release Science Fiction book, Project Atlantis, during the first month I published it.
This plan started six months before I started writing the book. The plan entailed rapidly finishing three books in a series — Project Atlantis, Destination Atlantis, and Colony Atlantis — and once it had been edited, beta-read, and sent out to my ARC reviewers, I’d release Project Atlantis, then Destination Atlantis seven days later, and Colony Atlantis fourteen days after Destination Atlantis. Additionally, I’d have the fourth book, Beyond Atlantis, almost 100% written. Yet, I’d have Beyond Atlantis’s pre-order already up and running before Colony Atlantis was released, all the while dropping over $1500 dollars in Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, and on Promo Sites, and whatever else I could get my greedy paws on.
Well, I did none of the above.
Here is what happened that led me to only spending $30 on Facebook and Amazon ads and how I was able to make $4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book.”
Continue reading @ Medium »
10 Actionable WordPress Security Tips for the Layman
“[T]he more popular something is, the more people want to leverage on it for nefarious means… Fortunately, WordPress is a platform that offers you a multitude of opportunity to defend yourself.”
» WHSR
Writing
“Can’t you give me just 1 tip (for getting book reviews)?” she asked
“The other day a newly published author who had befriended me 5 minutes earlier asked me if I could give her just one tip how to get book reviews from Amazon top reviewers.
I told her to read my book.
She came back with, ‘Can’t you give me just 1 tip?’
Hmm… Apparently this author was not aware how much in demand these reviews are; on average Hall-of-Fame reviewers get 250+ review requests per month.
So, I told her that getting a book reviewed by an Amazon top reviewer isn’t a ‘1-tip thing,’ especially if the book did not have any reviews yet. Getting reviews is a challenging task that encompasses many steps; which is why my book has 100 pages.
She immediately un-friended me.
I guess that says it all. Just another wannabe author who does not really want to learn the trade. The indie author industry is overrun with people like that. The sooner they get out and make room for the people who really hone their craft and all skills, the better for all.
Of course, from experience I know that most indie authors work a lot harder than this one.
So, here is one tip for authors whose books received already a few reviews (including from top reviewers).
‘Like/find helpful’ the reviewers’ reviews!!!”
Continue reading @ Gisela’s Straightforward Blog »
“Self-Made” is a Myth; Here’s the Real Formula for Success
“[T]hat’s what most people get wrong. They never learn how to reach out. You’ve got to be willing to put yourself out there…”
» Medium
$4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book Only Spending $30 on Advertising
“I had a plan. A big plan. Heck, I had the plan of the universe — to sell thousands of copies of my new release Science Fiction book, Project Atlantis, during the first month I published it.
This plan started six months before I started writing the book. The plan entailed rapidly finishing three books in a series — Project Atlantis, Destination Atlantis, and Colony Atlantis — and once it had been edited, beta-read, and sent out to my ARC reviewers, I’d release Project Atlantis, then Destination Atlantis seven days later, and Colony Atlantis fourteen days after Destination Atlantis. Additionally, I’d have the fourth book, Beyond Atlantis, almost 100% written. Yet, I’d have Beyond Atlantis’s pre-order already up and running before Colony Atlantis was released, all the while dropping over $1500 dollars in Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, and on Promo Sites, and whatever else I could get my greedy paws on.
Well, I did none of the above.
Here is what happened that led me to only spending $30 on Facebook and Amazon ads and how I was able to make $4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book.”
Continue reading @ Medium »
10 Actionable WordPress Security Tips for the Layman
“[T]he more popular something is, the more people want to leverage on it for nefarious means… Fortunately, WordPress is a platform that offers you a multitude of opportunity to defend yourself.”
