Market research is an essential step in creating a book marketing plan. But it doesn’t have to be as scary, dull, or time-consuming as you might think. You can’t afford to ignore it. So why not keep it simple? In this post, my goal is to help you do just that — simplify market research for your book marketing plan by helping you focus on
Today marks the first day in a week-long blog series on book marketing plans. In addition to sharing some background on what book marketing plans are all about, I’ll also release a few fun tools and resources to help you create your own. Let’s kick things off with a quick introduction to book marketing plans. Who needs them? What can they do for you and
It’s no secret that when it comes to tackling large writing projects, I’m a planner. I work from outlines for nearly everything I write (even this blog post). I’ve tried several outlining strategies over the years. And ultimately I’ve taken bits and pieces of each strategy to customize my own process. Last year, I came across someone on the NaNoWriMo forums talking about The Snowflake
We recently talked about preparing for NaNoWriMo during October, and I shared some of my own plans such as using the Snowflake Method for this novel’s outline. Today I’d like to share some of the best resources for helping you plan your NaNoWriMo novel (or any novel for that matter). Here are links to character planning resources and some of my favorite more general tools
Last year was the first year I took part in NaNoWriMo. I participated mostly as a challenge that I could document here on the site. It went well. And I’m doing it again this year, although I’ll be following the traditional rules rather than last year’s “rebel” approach where I combined a few projects that I needed to work on anyway. This year I’m working
It’s not enough to simply have an author website. You need to make sure the website you have actually works for you. It has to reach whatever goals you set for it. And if it’s not currently doing that, you should consider making some changes. Not sure if your author website needs work? Conduct a simple website audit to find out. What is a Website Audit? A website audit
The other day I was reading an article about Google working with Barnes and Noble to offer same-day delivery of books in a few locations. It’s no secret that Amazon is also keen on making same-day delivery a reality for more shoppers. And it got me wondering. How might the rise of same-day deliveries affect book buying habits, and how might it affect the business
Warning: If you have a problem with profanity, this post isn’t for you. For any of my readers who are sick and tired of hearing about the Amazon-Hachette e-book pricing bullshit, let me start with an apology. I’m sorry for bringing that topic here. I’m sick of it too. I’ve tried to stay out of the issue thus far because most is little more than
While checking my feed reader this morning, I came across this post by Cate Baum at SelfPublishingReview.com: Why Pay for a Book Review? Now I’ve made my feelings about paid book reviews clear here before in: Should Indie Authors Pay for Book Reviews? [Hint: No.] And I went so far as to put my decade-long history in financially-successful Web publishing to work, offering tips for
As of today, indie authors can qualify for either active or affiliate member status with the Horror Writers Association (HWA) based on earnings from their self published books. Previously, the only way to earn these member statuses from your books was to work through a traditional publisher. I’m particularly happy about this change for a few reasons: I’m an indie author myself and have been for
If you’re an author, you’ve probably heard that you should consider having a blog. Some authors swear by them. Others swear them off as a distraction and waste of time. But the marketing value of blogs is undeniable, and they can be effective promotional tools for both nonfiction and fiction authors. In a future post we’ll take a look at some of the ways you can simplify
Raise your hand if you’re an author who has ever complained that you don’t have enough time to market your books. After all, you’re too busy writing, right? While making time for larger book marketing efforts is a requirement and reality of self publishing today (or any publishing for that matter), there are still plenty of things you can do to promote your book when
One of my favorite productivity tools in my freelance writing and blogging work is a timer. I use something called the Pomodoro Technique which breaks down my work into small, manageable periods of time. It’s a great way to stay focused and push yourself to see how much you can do in a short stretch. And it turns out, it works well for writing books
Each Wednesday I try to release a new resource or highlight something worth recommending to you. While I was off most of last week, I didn’t put something up, and I’m making up for it with two freebies this week. The first is a simple downloadable content idea checklist for your author website and blog. About the Author Website Content Checklist You don’t have to
Getting potential readers to visit your author website isn’t enough. You need to convince them to stick around long enough to get a feel for you and your books, and hopefully convince them that they want more. Yet many author websites follow a very boring template. Let’s look at five ways your author website might be boring visitors and convincing them to leave rather than
Many first-time authors don’t spend much time thinking about book marketing until they’ve finished writing their book, perhaps when they’re putting together a book proposal. However, you should think about your book marketing strategy well before getting to that point. “What can I do to market a book that doesn’t even exist yet?” you might ask. Good question. Here are three specific book promotional activities
There is a common misconception out there about author platforms. Many fiction authors seem to think that author platforms don’t apply to them. There is this notion that platforms are only relevant to nonfiction authors. But that’s far from the truth. While the fiction author’s platform might be different than their nonfiction counterpart’s, an author platform will still help a novelist sell more books, and
In my first Busy Author’s Guide, I’ll cover ways you can build your all-important author platform no matter how much, or how little, time you can invest. What is an author platform? Your author platform is essentially your presence and reach among your target audience. When you have a strong author platform, you have a built-in fan base of people who are literally waiting to buy your
I hear it all the time. Authors complain that they’re fed up with book promotion. They want to spend their time writing and not marketing their books. In many cases you can cut down on marketing time significantly. All you have to do is stop making some common book marketing mistakes, doing things to help your book sales when in fact you might be hurting
Have you considered taking part in a virtual book tour to promote your book or e-book? Have you put it off because you’re worried a virtual publicity tour might take too much time? It’s true. There are a lot of ways these promotional events can waste time. But the biggest waste of time is to go through one and not attract new readers. Fortunately there
As a follow-up to my recent post and infographic, Twitter tips for authors, I’d like to share a resource from another author. Anne R. Allen shared this post with me on Twitter, which she wrote last fall. Social Media Secrets for Authors, Part IV: How Not to Spam I hate spam. You hate spam. We all hate spam. It might be the only thing everyone
If you’re an author, you’ve probably heard plenty about the importance of social media marketing. But when it comes to using social networks as marketing and PR tools, there are right and wrong ways to go about it. Let’s look at Twitter as an example. Here are some Twitter tips that will help you build better relationships with existing fans (which ultimately leads to more
In traditional e-book publishing, authors sell their e-books predominantly on their own websites (mostly in .pdf format, although you aren’t limited by that). Despite changes in the publishing world and Amazon’s perceived takeover attempt of all things e-publishing, selling your e-books on your own site can still be important. That’s especially true when you have an existing author platform with a built-in audience interested in what you
One of the biggest benefits of indie publishing is the freedom it allows authors to assemble the perfect team to develop and represent their books. That includes bringing in the right editors. But what kind of editing help do you really need? You probably know that copyeditors and proofreaders can help you catch things like spelling and grammatical errors. But what about consistency and making
Recently we’ve been talking a lot about writing books, including Karen Wiesner’s recent release on writing fiction series. Today I’d like to delve a bit further into the decision we make as authors between pursuing a one-off novel versus looking for series potential. Both have their place. So let’s look at the pros and cons of both. Here are some of the most obvious upsides
Interview on nonfiction book indexing with Virginia C. McGuire Have you ever considered writing a nonfiction book? Whether your goal is simply to be a published author in a certain niche or you want to publish a book to promote your overall freelance writing business, your book might need an index. How do you create a nonfiction book index? Can you (and should you) do
We’ve been talking a lot this past week about Karen Wiesner’s latest writer’s reference book, Writing the Fiction Series. Today I’d like to share some information about another book you should keep an eye out for. The rights to her book, From First Draft to Finished Novel, have reverted to her, and Karen is set to release a new version of the book through another publisher. The new release
I’ve made it no secret that I’m a fan of the previous two writers’ reference books from Karen Wiesner — First Draft in 30 Days and From First Draft to Finished Novel. So I was thrilled when she sent me her most recent release for writers, Writing the Fiction Series. This was a timely read for me. I’m gearing up to take part in my first NaNoWriMo, when I’ll finish
While we’re talking to our featured guest, Karen Wiesner, this week about writing novels and planning fiction series, it seemed an appropriate time to talk about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). With NaNo just over a week away, thousands of authors and aspiring authors are getting ready to write a novel during November. Before jumping into a first draft, many writers opt to outline their
Karen Wiesner isn’t just our first featured guest here at All Freelance Writing. She is also the author of some of my favorite writing reference books. I was a huge fan of her First Draft in 30 Days in particular — a book that helped me map out my own customized book planning, outlining, and organization process. So I was thrilled when she contacted me about