"I can help you!"

I NO LONGER WORK AS A BOOK MARKETING COACH; I'M THE PUBLISHER AT IMAJIN BOOKS.

I've worked for over 25 years in advertising, promotions and sales, and spent nearly 2 years as a motivational speaker for a major international company. Currently a bestselling novelist and 'shameless' promoter, I've shared my experiences and techniques as a Book Marketing Coach for nearly a decade.

Whether you're published or unpublished, I can help. My last publisher called me a "marketing guru" and "whiz", although I prefer to think of what I do as teaching, or coaching.

"Dare to Dream...and Dream BIG!"

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Top Ten Tips for Editing Your Book

There is an important element that will affect how well your book sells, and it's not your sales strategy. It's how well edited your book is.

Readers are smart, savvy, often well educated, and they prefer a book that is well edited over one that is rife with typos, inconsistencies and other errors. So don't skimp. Edit your book and get it edited by someone else, preferably a professional book editor.

Here are my Top Ten Tips for Editing Your Book:

http://bit.ly/a1G1vN

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Recipe for a Bestselling Novel

Wouldn't it be great if there was a recipe for making a bestselling novel and if all a writer had to do was gather the ingredients and mix them in, and voila!―a bestselling novel is created? The reality is there are combinations of ingredients that can either get your name on a bestseller's list or fall flatter than an airless cheese soufflĂ©. However, there are some common ingredients that have helped authors achieve bestseller status.

Common Ingredients for a Bestseller:

• 1 cup of well written novel
• 1 cup of professional editing
• 1 cup of professional layout and interior design
• 2 cups of professional book cover, including gripping back cover text
• 1 cup of decent distribution via major online retailers
• 2 cups of book launch, tours and other events, plus advertising
• 3 cups of contests and giveaways by author, publisher or both
• Countless hours of organization and time
• Dash of excitement

Method:

Take the well written novel and beat in professional editing until light and readable. Add professional layout and interior design, then stir in professional cover art and back cover text until well combined. Sprinkle in decent distribution until coated and roll mixture out with book launch, tours and events. Top with contests and giveaways, and fold in countless hours of organization and time before adding the finishing touch―a huge dash of excitement. Share with everyone and enjoy!

Reality Check:

While the recipe above may seem kind of silly, these ingredients can lead to a bestselling novel. I know because I've used them all successfully. My three novels have made bestsellers lists multiple times on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Whale Song made both lists in a single day. I've also sold over 5000 copies of Whale Song, which in Canada makes it a national bestseller.

So how did I do it? I created an exciting day-long event―a "Bestseller Day"―that had enough goodies to draw people in. It was held on my 44th birthday and I gave away 44 prizes.

There are three main ways to get prizes to offer:

1.) Pay for them (I don't recommend this.)
2.) Get others to donate them.
3.) Find someone to sponsor the event or the prizes. They pay for something you want to give away and get something in return, whether it's free advertising, a mention in your next book, or some other benefit.

Becoming a bestselling author takes persistence, creativity and good organization. Follow this recipe for success and you'll rise like a soufflĂ©. Just don't forget that last ingredient―excitement!

If you would like to learn more about organizing a Bestseller Day, please consider hiring me as your book marketing coach. ~ Cheryl Tardif

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Website design tips for new or aspiring authors

Here are a couple of tips for new or aspiring authors who want to create a website to get them "off the ground", but without the costs.

1. Buy/register your domain name. For authors, the best domain name is your author name. It's the first thing people will put in the browser bar when hoping to view your site. I recommend you get your domain names from http://www.namesecure.com/ but you can use any registry service.

2. Sign up for a Google account. This gives you access to so many tools and allows you to register on Blogger for a blog.

3. Start a blog on Blogger. Blogger has new templates that are customizable. You can also add pages to your blog, giving it more of a "website" feel. You'll have access to lots of easy widgets and gadgets that will make your blog colorful and fun--for you and your readers. Design your new site.

4. Then link your domain name to your blog. This is done in different ways, depending on the domain registry, but at the very least you can forward your domain name to the blogger blog.

5. Don't spend big bucks on website design if you haven't got a book published. Don't pay someone to update it for you either. Save that for when you've got a book out. For now you want to brand YOU.

Happy blogging and have fun creating your website.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif
author & book marketing coach

Friday, June 11, 2010

Cheryl & Cherish talk murder and romance over at I Love Canadian Authors

Please join me and my alter-ego Cherish D'Angelo as we discuss murder and romance, and answer questions from readers over at I Love Canadian Authors on Goodreads.com.

I'll be popping by the group throughout today, so be sure to leave me a question or two and I'll do my best to answer them. :-)

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/21249.I_Love_Canadian_Authors

And be sure to sign up on my website for FREeBOOK FRIDAY. I'll be giving away an ebook sometime on Friday. To enter, sign up for Divine News (top right corner) at http://www.cherylktardif.com/

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Cheryl visits Polished Publishing Group blog and gives her Recipe for a Bestselling Novel

Two nights ago Kim Staflund, a publisher I've recently connected with, asked me if I'd like to write a guest post for their blog. Of course I said yes. I love writing, and even more I love a good writing challenge.

The topic she wanted me to blog about was on becoming a bestselling author. She gave me a good week to complete it. I was finished that evening. :-)

I invite you to check out my post on the PPG blog, and please leave a comment for us if you find it helpful. Now, get your mixing bowl ready...
Recipe for a Bestselling Novel