Business of Writing

From Trad-Pub to Self-Pub–Tips and Observations

June 10, 2016June 9, 2016Business of Writing, Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

This is the second time I’ve gotten the rights to my characters back from a publisher and taken a trad-published series to self-pub. The last time I did this was five years ago.

There were some big differences between this time and last time. The first time I’d had only one book released in the series before taking it to self-pub. This time the series had five books in it.

This latest series had a nice following but I found that many of my readers for the Penguin series seemed unaware of my self-published series. They would email me asking when the next Southern Quilting Mystery was coming out and I would tell them…and then ask if they knew about my Myrtle Clover series. Many times they didn’t.

One reason they didn’t is because Penguin didn’t want any non-Penguin books included in my author bio. I can understand this. So not only were my self-published books not included in my bio, the original trad-published book in the series (from Midnight Ink) wasn’t, either.Continue reading

The Danger of Responding to Reviews

June 6, 2016June 5, 2016Business of Writing, Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Last week I read a Washington Post article about doctors who were angered by bad Yelp reviews from patients. They fired back at these patients, revealing confidential information in the process. (“Doctors Fire Back at Bad Yelp Reviews–and Reveal Patients’ Information Online” by Charles Ornstein.)

The crux of this particular piece was that doctors who responded angrily to the patients were violating patient privacy. But to me, it was just another reminder of the inherent danger of responding to reviews. Any reviews.

It’s very difficult for me to imagine a time where an author comes out looking good after responding to reviews.Continue reading

Making Our Books Visible on Google

May 20, 2016May 18, 2016Business of Writing

Making Our Books Visible on Google by Elizabeth S. Craig

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Today I give you what is likely an incredibly boring post on something I know very little about. But, because I think it’s important, I’m trying to learn more about it and also share my kernel of knowledge on the subject with you. With that disclaimer, let’s move on. :)

Much is said by industry observers about the problem of visibility for writers. After all, the number of books is growing and it’s harder for readers to find us.

One way that we might be able to give our books a push is in searches. This can mean making our SEO better on Amazon by tweaking keywords and BISAC. This may also mean tweaking our sites and individual book pages so that Google can make our book stand out in a search.

This means, in a nutshell, structured data markup. This means inserting code/metadata on our site that helps Google understand and organize information to deliver rich results for searches.Continue reading