Category: Business of Writing

Offering Free Ebooks to Subscribers

Business of Writing

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigmail chimp

Warning: boring post ahead!  But since I’ve struggled with Mail Chimp and Amazon, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned about both platforms. 

Many writers offer free ebook incentives for signing up for their newsletter.  I liked the idea of the giveaway, but I knew one thing: it had to be automated. I don’t have the time to email ebooks to readers in their preferred format.

After researching, I realized that I already had the tools to be able to get the delivery process automated…I just hadn’t realized it.  Here’s what I did:Continue reading

Cleaning Up Our Amazon Book Page

Business of Writing

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigAuthor Central 1

I mentioned in an earlier post that I’m taking author Mark Dawson’s Facebook ad course.  It’s been incredibly helpful for a variety of different reasons. I’ve no affiliation with Mark—I’m just trying to figure out what the heck I’m doing on Facebook…a platform I dislike, but would like to be able to use to my advantage.  The course is closed for registration now (he’s trying to keep it manageable so that he can directly assist enrolled students), but he does have a free mini course which I also took and found useful.

One of the things the course has done is force me do certain spring cleaning tasks that I should have been doing all along.  Mark explains the concept of landing pages, for one.  If we’re running an ad to increase subscriptions to our mailing list, the landing page would be a very basic page on our website that only allows the option of either closing the window or subscribing to the newsletter. An incentive for signing up, like a free book, would be included in the deal.

The landing page when running a Facebook ad for sales generation is our book’s sales page on Amazon.  Mark recommended making sure that this page was in very good shape.  The ad that I’m getting ready to run will promote a box set of mine (this is another recommendation from Mark.)  So I had to look at the sales page as if I’d never seen it before and make sure it was ready for potential readers. Continue reading

SELF-e Gets Indie Books Into Library Catalogs

Business of Writing, Tools for Writers

by Porter Anderson, @Porter_Anderson

SELF-e main logoThe American Library Association’s (ALA) 2015 Annual Conference & Exhibition opened yesterday, Thursday (25th June, #alaac15), in San Francisco with something unprecedented being offered at this year’s gathering: Library SELF-e’s first-ever national curated collection is now ready, an array of 200 indie ebooks that librarians can peruse and consider carrying for their patrons to check out and read.

Big thanks to Elizabeth for letting me jump onto her blog today to tell you about it.

As originally endorsed by indie bestsellers Hugh Howey and CJ Lyons, Library SELF-e is one of the breakthroughs many independent authors have hoped to see.

Until now, self-publishers have been generally stymied in trying to get their work into libraries. And that’s not because librarians weren’t interested in self-published work. No, it’s because there’s so much of it. My Bookseller colleagues and I in London recently estimated that the US alone is producing between 450,000 and 600,000+ new indie titles annually. Do you have time to read all those books? Neither do librarians.Continue reading

Writing With Long Distance Partners

Business of Writing

by Morgan St. James, @MorganStJamesDYLAN AND ME 11.26.14

When I’m asked about writing with a co-author, two questions top the list every time. How do you write long distance? How do you work with another writer?

I find many people assume co-authors each write complete chapters or each write one of the main characters. For many co-authors that is true. Participants at conferences, writers’ groups and readings are always interested in my answer. My sister Phyllice Bradner was the first co-author I worked with. When we began to write together in the late 1990’s, both of us were published writers in other genres with our own credits and strengths. She lived in Alaska and I lived in Los Angeles. And, neither of us had tried our hand at fiction before.

Nevertheless, we launched the Silver Sisters Mysteries series. We make it known that our protagonists Goldie and Godiva, 50-year-old identical silver-haired Mae West lookalikes, are loosely based upon our own personalities.Continue reading

How to Plan Your Blogged Book

Business of Writing

By Nina Amir, @NinaAmir

I know few writers who feel they have enough time to work on their books. Most tell me they want to be more effective and productive because they need to promote their books as well as write them. That’s why I developed the blog-a-book strategy. It allows you to write, publish and promote a book all at the same time.

As you intentionally publish the first draft of your book post by post on your blog, you effectively build a readership for that work. You develop a group of loyal fans ready and willing to purchase the final edition when you release it in print or digital version.

If you’d like to work smarter, not longer and harder, and write a book on your blog—or as you blog, follow these basic steps to plan out your nonfiction or fiction blogged book.Continue reading

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