Category: Uncategorized

Writing in Busy Times

Motivation and the Writing Life, Uncategorized

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by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Usually I think of summer as a lazier time when I can leisurely get peripheral writing-related chores completed. I’d put all kinds of things on my calendar to do this summer: Facebook ad experiments, slideshows for LinkedIn, website stuff.  There was no time to do any of the extras I wanted to try.  I did write a book, though, and promoted one that came out in May.  There was a lot of writing on the go.

So what do we do during frantically busy times to stay on track with our writing goals?  I’ve got a few tips: Continue reading

Print is Still Important

Business of Writing, Uncategorized

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by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve found that, bottom-line, readers are still interested in purchasing and reading books in print.  My print income remains a stable monthly source of revenue.  If there is any lag in putting a new release into print format, I do immediately hear from print-loving readers.  Now I start putting a new release through the uploading process for print (which does take a bit longer to go live) before uploading the digital format to retail sites.  I’d recommend that everyone offer their books in this format.

A little more information about print options and costs:Continue reading

Pre-orders: An Update

Business of Writing, Promo Tips, Uncategorized

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by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

As I wrote in this post in April 2015 (a post which landed me immediately on a couple of different podcasts to elaborate), I have not been much of a fan of pre-orders.

Why I originally set-up a pre-order

I started a pre-order experiment last October.  At the time, I had every reason to expect that the experiment would be a success.  I’d heard good things about setting up pre-orders on podcasts and from distributors like Mark Coker at Smashwords and Draft2Digital.Continue reading

Newsletter Signup Tactics

Business of Writing, Promo Tips, Uncategorized

 

facebook_df4bedecf1-compressorby Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Writers read a lot about the importance of our author newsletter.  Industry expert Jane Friedman explains it well in her post “Email Newsletters for Authors: Get Started Guide“:

“Emails can’t be missed like a social media post that disappears in readers’ feeds as more posts follow it. You truly own your email list, unlike Facebook or Twitter accounts. And if you use people’s email addresses with respect (more on that in a minute), those addresses can become resources that grow more valuable over time.”

I was a slow adopter to email newsletters, unfortunately.  I couldn’t believe that readers really wanted to hear from me in their email inboxes.  Once I finally realized the value of newsletters and that readers were volunteering to hear from me, I had a good deal of catching up to do.Continue reading

Distributing Free Books

Business of Writing, Promo Tips, Uncategorized

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by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

It used to annoy me when I’d read about how important it was to offer a free book to readers for newsletter signups or as rewards for newsletter subscribers.

The advice was all well and good, but it rarely got into the nitty-gritty of it.  How exactly were we supposed to give away these freebies?  Surely I wasn’t expected to monitor signups and send out individual emails to subscribers?

The same problem would arise when I’d be invited to participate in group giveaways or when I’d need to submit advance review copies.

How was I supposed to share these files with subscribers or reviewers without manually sending them out?Continue reading

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