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What Indie Authors Should Understand About Amazon’s Algorithms

What Indie Authors Should Understand About Amazon’s Algorithms

by on May 17, 2013 in eBook Distribution, Self Publishing

Understanding Amazon Algorithms

Cracking the Amazon Algorithms

Our friend Joanna Penn recently took a look at a book by David Gaughran called ’Let’s Get Visible: How to get noticed and sell more books.’ 

Joanna is a savvy indie book-marketer; when she recommends something, I believe it’s worth checking out — so check it out. But I wanted to also highlight a couple of the points she summarizes on her blog regarding Amazon’s algorithm:

* Amazon algorithms behave differently for different sales charts and territories (and a smart author can make use of “the differences between the Sales Rank, the Recommendation Engine, Bestseller Lists, Popularity lists, Top-Rated in Categories, Hot New Releases, Movers & Shakers and all the other ways you can target the lists and prime the sales pump.”)

* A big initial spike in sales after your book launch can be bad for long-term sales. 

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Funding for Writers: How to Get a Grant

Funding for Writers: How to Get a Grant

by on May 14, 2013 in Self Publishing, Writing Tips

Grants for WritersA writer’s guide to getting grants

[This article was written by guest contributor C. Hope Clark, editor of FundsforWriters.com.]

Grants exist for many writing opportunities, and authors dream of that magic money to jumpstart their careers and support them as they embark in their profession. These are funds that do not have to be repaid and are to aid you in your writing efforts. However, grants are tools, not a mainstay, and as long as we see them as an occasional resource like winning a contest or landing a gig in a magazine, we can utilize them in furthering our profession.

But no two grants are alike. Let’s look at the types of grants out there and see which might be opportunity for your efforts to become a full-time writer.

State Arts Commissions

Each state in the US has one, and each state has different programs.

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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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How to Sell Your Printed Books: Tips from Teresa L. Irvin

How to Sell Your Printed Books: Tips from Teresa L. Irvin

by on May 8, 2013 in Self Publishing

How to Sell Physical BooksBookBaby Print Services’ Author-of-the-Month: Teresa L. Irvin

We spend lots of time on this blog talking about how to promote and sell eBooks. so we thought it’d be a good idea to offer periodic tips on how to sell physical books too!

And who better to ask for advice on this topic than independent authors who’ve returned to BookBaby for multiple printings of their book. They’re obviously doing something right, right?

In this author-of-the-month series, we ask writers who have a proven sales history to give us a few tips and tricks on how they attracted attention to their book, and how they converted that attention into sales. Not all of their advice will apply to you, but you might find a few good promotion ideas you haven’t tried yet.

This month, we hear from…

Teresa L. Irvin, author of I Want to Know How to Grow

I’ve been a busy lady!

Besides utilizing social media, blogs and websites pertaining to children, parents and grandparents, and having a website of my own, I’ve mailed…

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What Authors Need to Know About Crowdfunding

What Authors Need to Know About Crowdfunding

by on May 7, 2013 in Self Publishing

Crowdfunding for Authors

Crowdfunding tips for writers

[This article was written by guest contributor Justine Schofield of Pubslush, a crowdfunding publishing platform.]

Crowdfunding is the next big thing in the publishing world. Crowdfunding platforms offer artists a way to mitigate financial risk and gauge initial market viability for creative projects.

In an age where even established authors are choosing to self-publish, crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly prominent facet to the publication landscape. So, as an author, what do you need to know?

1. More than half the work of crowdfunding happens pre-campaign.

By the time you launch your campaign, you should have already built your network and developed a clear and proactive marketing strategy. At Pubslush, we suggest our authors develop a week-by-week plan prior to the launch of their campaign. You can’t expect to throw your book up on a crowdfunding site and have people financially back you. Networking and planning are the keys to success.

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Web Tips for Authors: The April Roundup

Web Tips for Authors: The April Roundup

by on May 1, 2013 in Self Publishing

Web Tips for WritersBest-practices to smarten-up your online book marketing

Checked out The HostBaby Blog lately?

Every week, we’re posting new web and social media tips for authors, musicians, and artists. You’ll learn how to grow your email list, how to get readers to engage with your online content, how to draft newsletters that convert to sales, how to optimize your site for search, and more.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping tabs on the HostBaby Blog…

Here’s a recap of April’s HostBaby Blog articles:

1. Is Your One-Page Website Hurting Your Career?

2. How to Add Google Analytics to Your HostBaby Site Builder

3. Does Your Website Reflect Where You Are in Your Career?

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Book Promotion Tips for Twitter: Tweet Your Book from the Inside Out

Book Promotion Tips for Twitter: Tweet Your Book from the Inside Out

by on April 30, 2013 in Self Publishing, Social Networking Tips, Writing Tips

Tweeting a Novella

Steven Soderbergh is tweeting his new novella

The Hollywood director who brought you “Traffic” (and, umm… “Magic Mike”) is tweeting his new book, a novella called GLUE.

That’s right. Imagine Steven Soderbergh sitting for hours in the darkness of his home office, tweeting and tweeting and tweeting and tweeting. Well, that’s how I choose to imagine it went down, anyway.

You can see chapters 1 through 7 HERE. 

You don’t have to tweet your entire book to create a buzz

I wouldn’t recommend reading a book this way. Nor would I recommend writing a book this way. I wouldn’t even recommend tweeting the whole thing once it’s written!

But it is an interesting story, and one that shows how much fans like to catch a glimpse of the creative process unfolding.

So instead of tweeting your entire book…

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How to Crowd-Fund Your Next Publishing Project

How to Crowd-Fund Your Next Publishing Project

by on April 30, 2013 in Self Publishing

BookRiot Volume 2

Crowd-funding for authors and publishers: an interview with Clinton Kabler of BookRiot.com

The folks at Book Riot raised enough funds to put together Volume 1 of their Start Here: Read Your Way Into Amazing Authors series through a Kickstarter campaign.

Now they’re launching a Kickstarter campaign for Volume 2, letting financial backers direct the contests of the book itself — and we thought it’d be the perfect time to ask them about the intersection of crowdfunding and book publishing.

Here’s an interview with Clinton Kabler, COO of Riot New Media Group, the folks behind the “Read Your Way…” series:

What/Who is Book Riot?

Launched in October 2011, Book Riot is a community dedicated to the idea that writing about books and reading should be just as diverse as…

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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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How to Correctly Format Your Book Interior Using Word: Word Templates for Proper Book Formatting

How to Correctly Format Your Book Interior Using Word: Word Templates for Proper Book Formatting

by on April 23, 2013 in eBook Formatting, Self Publishing

How to Design a Book Using WordThe good, the bad, and the ugly in book interiors. 

Yes, I’ve seen them all. For years, as a book designer and a blogger at The Book Designer blog, I’ve looked at hundreds of self-published books, and let me tell you, it’s not a pretty picture.

Sure, there are lots of authors who have taken the time to learn the details of how books are put together, and made a good job of their books.

And there are plenty of enterprising authors who have hired a professional designer to create the interior of their book, and of course those look quite fine, no problem there.

No, it’s the other ones, the books put together by well-meaning authors who really want to succeed but, for one reason or another, are unclear on how exactly to go about it. Those are the ones that have big problems.

The Problem with Amateur Book Interiors

What kind of problems? For something that looks as simple as a book, you might wonder where exactly these people go wrong.

Here’s just a taste of the kinds of errors I’ve been seeing in self-published books:

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