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A Checklist of Basic Promotion Materials for Indie Authors

A Checklist of Basic Promotion Materials for Indie Authors

by on May 10, 2013 in eBook Promotion, Self Publishing

Book Promotion Checklist for Indie AuthorsSo you finished your book. Congratulations! That’s a major accomplishment.

Now it’s time to put together all the stuff you’ll need to help you sell your book once it’s published, including…

1. A short book description

There are a handful of reasons you’ll need a short, compelling book description (one or two sentences at most): as a soundbite in interviews, as a teaser on your website, as the hook in your press materials and communications with folks in the publishing industry, and maybe even as the tagline in your email signature!

2. A longer book description

Once you’ve hooked ‘em with the soundbite, they’ll want to read more.

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Book Launch Tip: Name Refreshments After Characters in Your Novel

Book Launch Tip: Name Refreshments After Characters in Your Novel

by on April 24, 2013 in eBook Promotion, Self Publishing

Promote Your Book Launch PartyAn additional way to promote your book launch party — customized culinary treats!

At this year’s AWP Conference in Boston, BookBaby president Brian Felsen and I were having a conversation with Richard Nash (of Soft Skull Press, Red Lemonade, Cursor, and Small Demons fame). Nash told us about a party Small Demons (a book-discovery engine) would be co-hosting later that night with Grub Street, a Boston-based center for creative writing.

Two cool lit-related groups teaming up to throw a party at a club within walking distance of our hotel? Yes, we were probably going to go anyways — but what really sold us on the event was that the venue would be serving two custom drinks that night: the “Grub Street” and the “Small Demon.”

I don’t even remember what the ingredients were, but they were tasty, and fun, and limited-edition, and the first 100 served were free.

So here’s a quick thought: at your next book launch event, name some of the food or drink items after characters, settings, or chapters in your book.

If you’ve written a historical novel, maybe you’ll want to serve period-appropriate confections or spirits. If you’ve written a vampire story, well… something red will do the trick! If it’s a romance book…

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The Power of a Single Tweet, or How Two BookBaby Authors Got Featured in USA Today

The Power of a Single Tweet, or How Two BookBaby Authors Got Featured in USA Today

by on April 3, 2013 in eBook Promotion, Social Networking Tips

The Mystery of the Ming ConnectionCongratulations to Linda Lombri and Virginia Cornue, two BookBaby authors who collaboratively write under the pseudonym Crystal Sharpe.

They were recently featured on the 1st page of USA Today‘s Financial section (along with their book The Mystery of the Ming Connection) as part of an article about seniors creating “encore careers” after retirement.

Lombri and Cornue were included as the first example in the piece, which dedicated four paragraphs to their story along with details about their book. And all of this thanks to Twitter.

Lombri explains that this opportunity came about because the editor of USA Today began following Sandra Troux (the main character in Crystal Sharpe’s mystery series) on Twitter and decided to check out the book on Amazon.

The USA Today piece mentioned the online outlets where The Mystery of the Ming Connection is available, and on the day the article was published, the book’s Amazon ranking shot up from 200,000 to around 10,000  where it stayed for almost a week. The book’s Amazon ranking is still benefiting impressively from the article (which now lives online at USAToday.com, and has been picked up by a number of other news sources).

Lombri and Cornue’s success-story illustrates something important about Twitter (and probably about life in general):

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Reader Engagement Tip: Tease Your Book Cover on Vine

Reader Engagement Tip: Tease Your Book Cover on Vine

by on March 26, 2013 in eBook Promotion, Social Networking Tips

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Everyone loves a good sneak-peak! It’s like being let in on a little secret.

Well, my co-worker Molly sent me a link to this Tweet today because she knows how much I love Vine, and also because it’s a example of how to effectively use Twitter’s new video tool to generate some early interest in an upcoming release — in this case, the new issue of Rolling Stone. 

The power of curiosity

We love to solve mysteries and decode secrets, even if they’re only half-veiled.

Next time you’re releasing a book, give us a quick glimpse at the cover art. Next time you have a story or poem published in a magazine or journal, show us the publication’s cover except for the title and let us guess which one.

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Basic Book Marketing Tips for Self-Published Authors

Basic Book Marketing Tips for Self-Published Authors

by on March 20, 2013 in eBook Promotion, Self Publishing

Basic Book Marketing Tips for Self-Published Authors[This article is written by guest contributor Melissa Foster, award-winning author and founder of  World Literary Café.]

How to put together a pro book marketing plan

For many authors, book marketing is a lot like walking on water—you’ve heard that it can work, but you’re not quite sure how to find that precarious stance that’s needed to succeed. Don’t fret, I have plenty of ideas for you.

Start with the basics: We all know that you need to start with a well-written book that has been professionally edited and has a professional cover.

Request reviews early: Part of any strong marketing plan is obtaining advanced reviews. You can do this in (willing) Goodreads groups, from friends and previous readers, request advanced reviews on Facebook, or even using your mailing list or newsletter contacts.

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The Top 6 Articles on Twitter for Authors

The Top 6 Articles on Twitter for Authors

by on March 11, 2013 in eBook Promotion, Social Networking Tips

Twitter Promotion Tips for Authors

Twitter promotion tips for authors

Twitter is a great way to promote your book, allowing you to share bite-sized content with your readers across the globe.

But Twitter can be tricky, too!

It took me a few years to really fall in love with Twitter (many of those months spent ignoring it altogether), but now I prefer Twitter to Pinterest, Facebook, and all the other social media platforms I’d just as soon forget.

If you’re new to Twitter, I want to help you hurry through the Twitter growing pains — so you can avoid wandering in the Twitterverse wilderness for months or years like I did.

To that end, I’ve compiled some articles on Twitter promotion tips, etiquette, and more. Some of them are from CD Baby’s DIY Musician Blog, so they deal specifically with music promotion, but the same concepts can easily apply to books and poetry — just substitute the word “author” for “musician.”

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Have You Submitted Your Book for a B.R.A.G. Medallion?

Have You Submitted Your Book for a B.R.A.G. Medallion?

by on March 11, 2013 in BookBaby News, eBook Promotion, Self Publishing

B.R.A.G. MedallionIt’s time for a BookBaby shout-out

BookBaby author Holly Bush (yes, that’s her real name!) has just been honored with a B.R.A.G. Medallion from indieBRAG for her book Romancing Olive. Hooray, Holly!

What’s a B.R.A.G. Medallion?

Well, it’s a kind of award given to outstanding books that were published independently.

indieBRAG’s mission is:

… to recognize quality on the part of authors who self-publish both print and digital books. As such, we are constantly on the lookout for the work of talented men and women who have written indie books across a wide range of genres. Our primary focus is fiction, however, we selectively consider non-fiction books as well.

Here’s how indieBRAG/B.R.A.G. Medallion works:

From the large and rapidly growing library of indie books that are available today, we select those that we believe deserve to be considered. These books are then read and evaluated by members drawn from our reader group. The readers judge the merits of the books based on our proprietary list of criteria. The single most important criterion that we ask our readers to use in judging a book is whether or not they would recommend it to their best friend. Once a book meets this standard of quality, we award it our B.R.A.G. Medallion™, and along with other medallion recipients, it is presented on this website.

How do you submit a book to B.R.A.G. Medallion?

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PR for Authors: Promote Your Book with iReach

PR for Authors: Promote Your Book with iReach

by on March 6, 2013 in BookBaby News, eBook Promotion

Promote Your Book with iReach

Promote your book with a digital news release for as little as $129!

You already know that BookBaby makes it easy to publish and distribute your book. But now we’ve teamed up with PR Newswire to make it easy to promote your book, too.

Introducing iReach. iReach leverages PR Newswire’s industry-leading online distribution, which enables your search-engine-optimized news to be seen on social networks as well as on the internet’s largest news sites including Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL.

Affordable PR for authors

With iReach you can:

  • Post to PRNewswire.com the industry’s most trafficked website
  • Make your news finable by search and news engines
  • Drive traffic to your site with live site preview
  • Reach subscribers and Bloggers with RSS
  • and more!

Click here to learn how you can get some buzz going for your book.

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Booking Your Own Virtual Book Tour

Booking Your Own Virtual Book Tour

by on February 27, 2013 in eBook Promotion, Self Publishing

How to Book a Virtual Book TourThere are plenty of marketing and PR services out there who claim to be able to book you on a solid virtual book tour — and if you have the funds, by all means, try ‘em out! But if you’re promoting your book on a tight budget, it’s also possible to book your own virtual book tour.

What is a virtual book tour?

A virtual book tour is a great way to promote your book to an online audience.

Instead of (or in addition to) traveling from town to town to promote your book at in-person events (libraries, bookstores, schools, etc.), you make virtual appearances on a number of blogs, websites, podcasts, and internet radio stations over the course of 1-4 weeks — going for a critical mass of online media coverage in hopes of boosting your sales, your name recognition, and… oh yeah, your Amazon rankings!

What constitutes a virtual book tour?

An effective virtual book tour can be comprised of a number of different kinds of “content,” including:

  • Guest blog posts
  • Book excerpts
  • Book reviews
  • Interviews
  • Podcast or radio appearance
  • Book giveaways
  • Social media contests
  • Webinars
  • Video content posted by blogs
  • and more

In fact, the more different kinds of content you create, the more fun it’ll be for you,

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How to Submit Your eBook to Pixel of Ink and BookBub

How to Submit Your eBook to Pixel of Ink and BookBub

by on February 20, 2013 in eBook Distribution, eBook Promotion

How to Submit Your Book to Pixel of Ink and BookBub

Promote your free eBook with BookBub and Pixel of Ink

If you’re offering your eBook for free on Amazon and want help spreading the word to avid readers, here are two websites you should check out: BookBub and Pixel of Ink.

On any given day, thousands of free eBooks are available for the Kindle. Both BookBub and Pixel of Ink serve as recommendation engines. Their editors pick through that giant selection to find the best free eBooks. Then they highlight those titles in email newsletters and daily updates on their site.

 Want your eBook to be featured on BookBub or Pixel of Ink?

That decision, of course, is in the hands of their editors — but here’s where you can submit your eBook for consideration:

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