From author Catherine Ryan Howard:

We all know I love publishers. I still hope, should I ever finish The Novel, to be published by one of them. Say silly things like legacy or gatekeepers, or use something as serious and tragic as the Irish potato famine—or rape or Stockholm Syndrome, for that matter—to describe the relationship between the author and the business that has risked its money to get that author’s book to market, and you go straight onto my Naughty List.

(Well, there isn’t actually a Naughty List. Who has the time? I will roll my eyes at you though.)

I don’t believe for a second, for instance, what is pretty much an accepted ‘fact’ by the majority of the self-publishing community: that traditional publishers don’t publicize and/or care about the books they publish. I’ve seen for myself that this is simply not true. The bad publishers might not, but it’s up to you not to sign contracts with them. (Or at least not sign contracts with them twice, or tarnish all publishers with the same brush just because of one experience.) Even if I took away what I’ve seen firsthand, there would still be the evidence of logic: publishing is a business, and any business that isn’t run by morons wants to recoup their investment, i.e. any advance paid, printing and staff costs. They market and publicize and support their product as much as they can because it’s in their interests for it to sell.

. . . .

Anyway, I tell you this because I want to make it clear that despite my self-publishing background, I ain’t a publisher-basher. But there is one area where some of them do need a stern talking to, and that’s their attitude towards using social media to promote their books. The Big Ones are all over it (that’s probably why they’re The Big Ones) but others aren’t even making an effort, which is crazy as they’re the ones who stand to benefit the most on the internet’s level playing field.

. . . .

Do any of these statements sound at all familiar?

• ‘But does Twitter really sell books? So-and-so has 10,000 followers and he only sold 500 books…’
• ‘Ugh. I can’t be bothered with Facebook and all that silly stuff.’
• ‘Why waste your time on that when books have sold fine without all this rubbish until now?’
• ‘There’s no evidence social media does anything except suck away time.’
• ‘I have NEVER bought a book because someone on Goodreads recommended it to me. NEVAAAH!’
• ‘Is this over yet? Call me when Twitter is gone.’
• (From the writer) ‘But I want just to WRITE!’

. . . .

But Wait… Does It REALLY Sell Books?

Yes, it does. It sold mine, it sells the books of my self-published friends, and it’s worked wonders for countless traditionally published titles. But most of the time, we can’t prove it. No one listens to self-publishers because for some reason self-published success is still treated like a total fluke. Even when the author says ‘Well, I did this and then I did this and then sales really picked up when I started doing this’, no one listens. They just think wasn’t he lucky?! And publishing houses use lots of different methods to sell books, so they can’t reallysay for sure why a certain book was a bestseller, only that, as a whole, the campaign worked. The other problem is that it doesn’t sell all the books, and the skeptics latch on to each Twitter-flavored failure and hold it up as high as they can. If it fails, it means they don’t have to worry about it.

Link to the rest at Catherine Caffeinated and thanks to J.M. for the tip.

From Smexy Books:

Recently I read a short story that I quite enjoyed, and when I went to the author’s website to find out if there would be more (it was an Urban Fantasy type world), what her plans were, and if I could expect another installment soon I found nothing. No information at all other than the fact that the book in my hands was coming out.

. . . .

Right off the bat I must state that I do not ever believe any author owes me anything. I understand that things happen and life can change and that sometimes a book is delayed, or cancelled even. That said, I also know that somebody who is an author is publishing their books, most likely, as a means of income. It is a profession, authors create a product to sell, and I am a consumer of stories.

So as a consumer, I do like to know what I’m getting into. If I’m thinking about starting a series, trying a new book, or especially when I read a book I really like, I immediately visit the author’s website. I want to know if they have books I’m not aware of, what they’ll work on next, and generally any information I need to make note of for future reading goodness.

. . . .

This could be done by having an “about” page for the series, a FAQ page, or just a “thanks for visiting my site, here’s what I’m working on…” type paragraph or two that you keep as up-to-date as possible. Even if the note is “I’m writing the next book, expect it in a 2014”,  or “at this time I am developing a new series, more information to come this summer” this is information I want.

Link to the rest at Smexy Books

From author Russell Blake on KBoards:

I’ve gotten a number of PMs from authors asking for counsel on one matter or another, so I thought I would take the time to lay out my thoughts so that the info is available to everyone. This doesn’t represent the only way to do things, but it’s my way, and is the synthesis of everything I’ve learned over the last 23 months of self-publishing.

By way of background, I write conspiracy-based action/adventure novels. I published my first novel on Amazon June, 2011. I published my 20th novel in April, 2013. My first month I sold about 7 books. In 2013, from the start of the year to today, May 7, I have sold just shy of 100K books, and look good to exceed 200K for the year by a decent margin. I do not sell books at .99, or $2.99, or $3.99. The vast majority of my titles are $5-$6.

. . . .

1) Pick one genre that’s popular and with which you are extremely familiar, and then write in that genre. Stick to it. Don’t hop around. It confuses your potential readers and muddies who you are in their minds, and will hurt your sales. If you want to write different genres, use a pseudonym, and if you like, let your readers know that moniker is you. But stick to one name, one genre, because you’re building your brand, and brand building is a function of clarity – clearly communicating what you do, and what your product is.

2) Write a series. Why? Because readers like series, and you want to give readers what they like. Or you won’t sell as much. You can try stand-alone – I have – but my series outsell my stand-alone books 4 to 1. Once you have at least three books in the series, make the first one free. Make your money on the rest, but give readers a whole novel to decide whether they like you or not.

3) Write a lot. By that I mean try to write at least 3 novels a year. Don’t bother with short stories or novellas (40K or under) if you’re writing fiction (non-fiction might do better) unless it’s erotica or your name is Hugh. If fiction, write 60-90K installments in your series, and release them AT MINIMUM every four months. Every three months would be better. Every two, better still. Momentum breeds success, and readers have short memories.

. . . .

7) Stay off the internet when you’re writing. Set aside the writing time, and do only that. Leave placeholders for stuff you need to research later (XXX city is Y distance from ZZZ city, etc.). Stopping your writing to research breaks your momentum. Don’t do it. Checking your e-mail, checking in with your facebook group, reading a tweet – none of these are going to write your book for you, so stop it already.

. . . .

13) Price competitively and intelligently. Look at your genre. Where are most books priced? Are you undervaluing/underpricing your work? Price to sell, but don’t go cheap, no matter what Locke or Hocking did years ago. Use low prices occasionally to move product, as promotional pricing. But price your product consistently with the rest of your peers. Over time, you can increase prices, if your product warrants it and your readership is willing to pay it. My advice here is don’t price too low, or too high. Obviously, if you are racing up the charts at $3.99 and believe that moving to .99 will get you into the winner’s circle, go for it, but that’s rare. Price intelligently, and constantly play around with. By way of example, I tried $2.99 and $3.99, and then $4.99, and my sales were basically the same. So my readers are willing to pay up to $5 with no issues. My new releases are always $5.99. I do that because I want to brand myself as a quality read, and also because that’s still a bargain compared to my trad pub peers. I’m nosebleed level for indies, but I’ve only been pricing there with success this year. All last year, $4.99 was the ceiling.

Link to the rest at KBoards and thanks to Barb for the tip.

Standard Disclaimer:

There are lots of book blogs. The Passive Voice is not one of them.

PG doesn’t do book promos or reviews. Once in awhile, he receives requests to do this, but he politely says no.

There is one exception to PG’s rule – Mrs. PG’s books.

Mrs. PG is running a free Amazon promo for The Duke’s Undoing today. Since her Bookbub email hit, about two thousand books per hour have been flowing out of Amazon’s computers.

The Duke’s Undoing is the first book of a Regency romance trilogy. If you want take advantage of the promo, go to Amazon.

The story?

A duke. Falls in love. Eventually.

From L.L. Barkat via Jane Friedman:

“Blogging is a waste of time.”

The panel burst into protestations. Jana Riess, Lauren Winner, Cindy Crosby, and Andy Crouch were at the Calvin Festival, discussing social media in 2006, before it was a foregone conclusion that if you were an author you should have a blog.

Andy Crouch was being a bit bald-faced in making his proclamation.

. . . .

I had finally decided that Andy Crouch was right. Six years later.

Last spring, an author approached me via Twitter to get my advice about blogging. How could she make it work for her? Was it worth it? Should she move to WordPress, get a new design? What did I think?

I told her to forget about blogging. And one week later, after a Skype conversation about writing and platform-building, I hired her as an Editor for Every Day Poems, a publication of the site where I currently serve as Managing Editor. “How many people are visiting your blog per month? One hundred?” I had joked gently. “Work with us and serve a much larger audience. This will be more worth your time.”

Does this mean I would recommend that everyone stop blogging? No. I encourage new bloggers, just the way I always have. It’s an excellent way to find expression, discipline, and experience. But if writers already have experience, and they are authors trying to promote themselves and their work, I tell them to steer clear. If they’ve already found themselves sucked into the blogging vortex, I suggest they might want to give it up and begin writing for larger platforms that don’t require reciprocity (an exhausting aspect to blogging and a big drain on the writer’s energy and time).

Link to the rest at Jane Friedman

From Digital Book World:

This is an informal blog that will chronicle a book promotion for my novel The Frog Prince taking place March 14 and 15, 2013.

. . . .

Beginning Saturday, March 16, 2013, I will provide a post-promo analysis to let you know how things look once the book is moved back into the Kindle Paid Store.

. . . .

February 28, 2013: Contacted Bookbub via email:

Can you tell me what availability you have for March for The Frog Prince?

Settled on March 14th ad placement and a promo to run two day through midnight, Friday the 15th.

Filled out and submitted online forms for both Pixel of Ink and eReader News Today, asking if they’d be willing to feature The Frog Prince on March 14th. Received a verification of receipt email from Pixel of Ink:

Thanks for telling us about your upcoming promotion! Please note: Due to the high volume of submissions, we may or may not be able to feature your book during the time it is free.

March 1, 2013: Received Bookbub invoice in the amount of $190 for 190,000 subscribers. Paid it.

. . . .

12:10 PM: 12,350 copies of The Frog Prince given away so far, which is more than halfway to the goal of 20,000 free copies downloaded. And there’s another day left of the promotion.

4:13 PM: Well, that was fast! Just checked the sales totals and rankings. The Frog Prince is #4 overall in the Kindle Free Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store) as well as:

• #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction
• #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

Link to the rest at Digital Book World and thanks to Alicia for the tip.

From author Robert Bidinotto:

[D]espite the clear advantages of “indie” over “traditional” publishing, the prospect of “DIY” publishing still scares the hell out of many writers. Their most common worry?

“But…how would I market my book on my own?”

That fear is the main reason why so many hold out forever for a traditional contract, then accept lousy ones. They want a publisher to take the burden of marketing off their backs.

Well, let me share a dirty little secret that publishers don’t want newbie authors to know. Despite all their advance promises to give you lots of promotional support, they mostly will leave the marketing of your book up to you.

That’s right: They save their promotional budgets for King, Evanovich, and Grisham—not for struggling beginners or “mid-listers.” So, if you’ll have to promote your book all by yourself anyway, then why surrender most of your royalties and rights to a publisher?

. . . .

In addition to writing a good book, the next best marketing tactic is to write more good books. Each new title will broaden your name recognition and generate more sales for all your previous ones. That’s because many readers are “binge readers.” They find an author they like, and they then seek out and scoop up every single title that the author has written previously.

Even better, write a series. Books linked together by some connecting theme (think of John Gray’s “Mars and Venus” books), or by some appealing character (think: Harry Potter, Jack Reacher, Stephanie Plum, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, Mitch Rapp, Mike Hammer, Scot Harvath, Sean Dillon, Spenser, Elvis Cole, Joe Pike, etc., etc.), will foster a virtual addiction in your fans, who will then eagerly await the publication date for every new installment in the series. Better yet, each new book released will attract new fans, prompting them to go back and buy all the prior books in the series.

. . . .

1. Narrowly define your target reader audience. Do they share a demographic profile (age, sex, ethnicity, background, etc.)? What are their values and interests? Who are their heroes? Write a profile of your “ideal reader.”

2. Next, find out where they hang out. What books and magazines do they read? What movies do they like? What online sites do they frequent? What groups to they belong to? Compile lists of these things; you’ll want to target them later.

3. Now, think like that reader in all aspects of your marketing. No, this doesn’t mean pandering to readers as a writer. But in every marketing decision and action, ask yourself: How would this be perceived by my target reader? Never view marketing decisions as aspects of your artistic self-expression. Marketing is simply the effective communication of values. It means connecting your work with the values and interests of your targeted customer.

. . . .

6.  Don’t be dull! Carefully craft compelling promotional copy on your Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online product pages.

This is one of the biggest failings of most self-published authors. They knock themselves out parsing every sentence inside their book—yet they treat what they say about their book, in its product descriptions and marketing materials, as an afterthought. Many of their book blurbs are about as exciting as cooking recipes. And then they wonder why their books don’t sell.

You must craft compelling product descriptions, with endorsement blurbs (if you have them), for your product pages on Amazon and elsewhere. Because most prospective buyers eventually will wind up on online product sales pages, your product description will be your book’s final sales pitch. Its only purpose is to “close the sale.” So, make sure it is as colorful and persuasive as possible.

. . . .

Then test some drafts of your blurbs on members of your target audience and see what language grabs them. If your description arouses just enough interest and intrigue to prompt a purchase, that’s good enough.

And remember: Promotional copy is supposed to be only a teaser—not an exhaustive presentation of the story. Its job is to build curiosity, not to satisfy it. You build intense curiosity not by revealing everything, but by what you don’t reveal.

Ask any successful stripper.

Link to the rest at Robert Bidinotto

From GalleyCat:

An 11-year-old writer named Lauren raised more than $5,500 on Kickstarter to self-publish her first book, The Clown That Lost His Funny. She will use the money to cover the costs of print production and commissioning an illustrator.

Link to the rest at GalleyCat

From The Huffington Post:

Blog tours are all the rage right now for indie and traditionally-published authors. My advice: think it through, and then talk to other people who’ve done them, and think it through again.

I’d heard mixed reports about them, and decided to try one myself. Now I wish I hadn’t wasted my time.

Working with one of the tour-organizing web sites, I arranged for a two-week blog tour that ended up with 14 “stops.” The organizer was thrilled by the strong response.

. . . .

One blogger never ran a review, re-scheduled, then still didn’t run it. Nine other reviews did run, ranging from good to excellent. But some were cursory, and a number of them were by bloggers who apparently didn’t believe in proofreading, and weren’t very good writers to begin with.

Link to the rest at The Huffington Post and thanks to Barb for the tip.

PG wonders if book signings and blog tours are about as effective as peddling your book door-to-door.

From Smart Bitches, Trashy Books:

There are some authors who are superb at engaging with readers through various forms of social media like Facebook, Twitter, or personalized email newsletters. Susan Mallery is one of those authors. Her Facebook page is always active. Like, umpty-thousand comments active. I’ve seen her ask or help naming characters’ children, or future heroes. A few months ago, she invited her readers to send a snapshot of themselves, which Mallery and her crew Photoshopped to add a picture of Mallery’s most recent book, making it look like the person was reading the book and peeking over the top. Readers were invited to use that as their photo on Facebook – which is just some savvy inclusive marketing like whoa.

Recently I noticed that she’d started a Review Crew, a group of dedicated readers who were invited to receive copies of her books in exchange for an honest review of the book itself.

. . . .

How would you like to receive an advanced copy of my books? I have a crazy idea… I want to put together a Review Crew, a group of readers who will get my books early – and for free – if they promise to post a review online. Nothing formal! I’m not talking about a long, drawn out review. I’m talking about a sentence or two. What does a real reader think about this book? What would you say to your best friend about it? (emphasis mine)

The world of publishing is changing. On sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, the number of reviews helps “goose” the website doohickey into showing my books more often in search results. (Yeah, doohickey. I’m not very techie. All I know is, the more reviews the better.)

Here’s the deal. I have 200 copies of ALREADY HOME to give away. ALREADY HOME was first released last year in trade paperback. It’s coming out next month in mass market paperback. If you’re picked for the Review Crew, we’ll send a copy of the book to you. Then, if you post a review on Amazon and BN.com, you’ll be invited to sign up for an advanced review copy of THREE SISTERS (Blackberry Island Book 2) if we do this again. And if you post a review of that, we just might do it again with the Fool’s Gold romances.

. . . .

Reviews are a tricky subject for authors and readers, and you’ve addressed the question of reviews directly by asking directly for reviews, explaining why they’re important to the books’ success, and inviting readers to join your Review Crew, wherein they receive a free copy of the book in exchange for leaving a review on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.  Do I have that right?

Susan Mallery: Yes, but I’ll clarify. There’s no way I could send a free book to everyone who promised to write a review. We launched the Review Crew with the mass market paperback reissue of Already Home in November. My publisher kindly provided me with 200 copies of the book, so we invited readers to submit their names to be included.

I was extremely nervous that we wouldn’t find 200 readers who were willing to commit to posting reviews on both Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com. . . and I was shocked and gratified when thousands of readers applied. The only fair thing to do was to choose at random, so that’s what we did. Everyone who followed through was invited to join the Review Crew for Three Sisters, leaving us with a limited number of slots to fill.

More than 5,000 readers applied in the second round!

We chose at random and sent the book. This time, reviews must be posted during the first two weeks of release in order for them to receive an invitation to join the Review Crew for Just One Kiss (Fool’s Gold book 10). As long as the program continues, those readers who follow through will be invited to join the next Review Crew.

Link to the rest at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and thanks to Amy for the tip.