Book Marketing Blogs

We had a fantastic show with guest Karen Robertson about what authors need to know to develop a children’s book app.

About our guest: Karen Robertson is a children’s author who turned her book, “Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island,” into a book app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

The “Treasure Kai” book app launched in 2011 and has won recognition and awards including being a Digital Storytime “Top 25 Most Essential Children’s Book App,” and winning “Best in Category” for apps at the New Media Film Festival in San Francisco.

After launching her first book app, Karen wrote her first eBook, “Author’s Guide to Book Apps.”

What is a book app?

A book app is a software program that runs on a mobile device or phone (iPad, tablet, iPhone, Android phones, etc.). Book apps are an eBook on steroids, offering sound, interactivity and other features. (more…)

Guest post by Jessica Wiener

Modern book publishing offers authors more opportunities and a wider array of options than ever before. Innovations such as e-book publishing and POD (print-on-demand) services have allowed authors who are unable to interest a traditional publishing house in their book idea to pursue publication on their own, using either a Web-based publishing platform or a custom printing service. Traditional and self-publishing each offer specific advantages that authors should weigh to determine which arrangement would work better for them, based on their individual needs, goals, circumstances, and skills.

Advantages of Traditional Publishing

Published! (Photo credit: JoshuaDavisPhotography)

1. Compensation: According to WritersServices.com, traditional publishing houses typically pay their writers an advance on the royalties they expect a title to earn, followed by the balance in actual royalties based on sales. Royalties can range anywhere from about 7.5% to about 15% or higher and are usually set by the publisher. Many writers prefer receiving this lump sum up front and consider it one strong advantage of traditional publishing companies.  (more…)

Get some inspiration from these book marketing Tweets from the past week, courtesy of bloggers, marketers, authors and others. The topics include ways writers can use Pinterest, how to find great content to Tweet, methods to promote your virtual book tour, and much more. Happy marketing!

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* Top 10 Ways to Promote Your Virtual Book Tour

A step by step guide to making your Virtual Book Tour a success:

http://blog.publishedandprofitable.com/2011/12/09/top-10-ways-to-promote-your-virtual-book-tour/ (more…)

Guest post by Danielle Rodabaugh

If you’re trying to market your published work, chances are you’re using the Internet to promote it in one way or another. If you’re developing the promotional content on your own, understanding a few key rules can help you write for the web more effectively. You’ll benefit from knowing how writing for the web is both similar to and different from traditional writing forms.

How writing for the web is similar to traditional writing

Many traditional writing rules apply when writing copy for online marketing.

• Support your claims with research. Directly linking to outside research makes citing sources online extremely easy.
• Connect to your specific audience. As with traditional writing, well-written and highly informed pieces will go unread if you can’t keep readers’ attention.
• Use action verbs. When telling a story, action verbs drive the storyline. In marketing, action verbs encourage people to buy your product, which, in this case, is your writing.
• Edit with a vengeance. You wouldn’t publish an article or book without having it thoroughly edited. Promotional copy should be no different as errors divert potential customers.
• Be consistent. If you use a blog to promote your work, you need to update it regularly and with a similar style and tone. (more…)

Guest post by Victoria Heckstall

Words are all around us, and there are many people who desperately want to learn how to use them for self-expression. But the sad fact is that even though learning a language and its functions can be relatively easy, learning to express yourself openly is not the easiest thing to do.  Developing your voice as a writer is a process that takes self reflection, dedication and practice. Thankfully, there are a few tips that you can use to become a better writer regardless of your level and experience.

Read as much as possible

The journey to becoming a competent writer starts with research, but unlike boring school research, as a writer you have the freedom to research expression itself. Not only is reading beneficial to your intellect, it will also help you to pick up and assimilate the techniques and feel of great writers. If you can take the things that you like from a broad spectrum of writers, and manipulate them so that they become your own, your writing will immediately improve. Also, reading a lot will show you what has already been done so that you can steer clear and keep your own work as fresh as possible. (more…)

Enjoy some of the most informative book marketing Tweets from the past week, courtesy of bloggers, marketers, authors and others. The topics include the best time to post content, how to increase your book’s Amazon rank, Facebook marketing tips, and much more. Happy marketing!

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* The New Author Pitch: Show, Don’t Sell

http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2012/01/16/the-new-author-pitch-show-don%E2%80%99t-sell/ (more…)

We had a great show with guest Dave Ursillo on cultivating a personal leadership style.

About our guest: Dave Ursillo’s book, Lead Without Followers: How to Save Our World by Radically Redefining the Meaning of Leadership, teaches people how to become “leaders without followers” in any walk of life by discovering a personal and profound sense of inner leadership.

Since its inception in 2009, DaveUrsillo.com has reached over 75,000 readers in 173 countries. In June 2011, his site was seen in a feature story on nationally-televised CBS Sunday Morning about the world of blogging.

About the book: Lead Without Followers not only explores the cultural, social and political origins of today’s “Leadership Problem,” but cuts into the heart of the human source of today’s convoluted definition of what it means to lead. (more…)

Guest post by Bill Johnson:

Narrative tension is the tension characters in a novel feel about unresolved and unfulfilled events and needs. When characters in a story are blocked from gaining what they want, they experience narrative tension.  When acting to gain something increases a character’s pain (because the story/storyteller increases the obstacles) a character in a story experiences increasing narrative tension.

Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet, is a great example of narrative tension.  To act on his love for Juliet is to turn against his clan and family; to not act on his feelings for Juliet is to violate his sense of what’s important to him.  But any action he takes increases his pain. (more…)

Here are a few of the top book marketing Tweets from the past week, courtesy of bloggers, marketers, authors and others. The topics include how to monitor Twitter, publishing advice for authors, ways to use Pinterest, blog content ideas and much more. Happy marketing!

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* 30 Inspiring Ideas To Develop Content For Your Blog

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2010/12/17/30-inspiring-ideas-to-develop-content-for-your-blog/ (more…)

Guest post by Harry Bingham:

Most authors exploring a book marketing website won’t be thinking about the merits of a creative writing course. Aren’t you beyond all that? If your book is in its tenth draft, if you’ve got your cover design chosen, your blurb written, your marketing under development – aren’t you beyond learning the ABCs of writing?

Well, maybe. I used to think so. I should say that I’m a working writer myself. I’ve been published by HarperCollins, Random House, Bloomsbury and others. I’ve had novels become bestsellers and others make prize-shortlists. I’ve been published most places that matter between Japan and New York – so I’ve been around the block. I’m not a newbie any more.

But the notion of a creative writing course isn’t so foolish, all the same. For one thing, most writers just charge in to their first novel. I did. Bash your first draft out on a laptop convinced you’re Dan Stephen King / Nora Roberts / Jonathan Franzen. Mess around with it, trying to get the darn thing into some kind of shape. Send it off to a literary agent. Hope you get lucky. (And I did.) (more…)