How I Made Over $42,000 Selling My Kindle eBooks

In March 2012 one Canadian author boldly went where few have gone before—into the land of making real money with Amazon's KDP Select program, where she has now earned over $210,000 in 11 months.

This is her story…

My name is Cheryl Kaye Tardif and I am an international bestselling suspense author who earned over $42,000 dollars in March 2012 selling ebooks via Amazon's KDP Select program, captured the interest of a major literary agency, and went on to sign with a foreign rights agent. And I'm about to tell you HOW I did all that.

I don't normally tell people how much money I make, but I believe writers need to know it IS possible to earn a real income from your books. Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can—if you have the right combination of criteria and techniques.

In this book, I'll share with you what I believe are four key elements you must have in place to see high sales. And I'll reveal the strategic techniques I used during my KDP Select promotions that resulted in earning over $42,000—with $32,000 of that from ONE title alone.

Not only did I earn over $42,000 in ebook sales, I was contacted by one of the leading literary agencies in New York. The chairman noticed my success when my one title made #4 in the Top 100 Bestselling Kindle ebooks, right under The Hunger Games trilogy. Since then, I've signed with an agent at Trident Media Group, and a senior editor at Penguin, who also contacted me after my Amazon success, is awaiting my next novel.

So, if you're ready to earn some real money with Select, let's begin…

Available at Amazon (Kindle) for only $2.99.

Twitter 101: Tweet Marketing

Twitter Tips:

Most of you probably already use Twitter. If not, you really should be! Some of you may be wondering: what's the big deal? The potential for selling your book is only surpassed by the potential for making great relationships with readers―ones who will spread the news to all their friends, and they'll tell 100 friends, and so on and so on…

Author John Locke, a publishing sensation, credits Twitter as largely responsible for his success. He's the first independent author to sell over 1 million ebooks on Amazon. And there are only 8 authors who've achieved the million ebook mark. Maybe you'll be the next.

So how do you use Twitter to market your ebooks? Simple, you create relationships. You get to meet people from anywhere in the world. There are some pretty cool people out there. By showing a genuine interest in people, you'll gather more followers. Eventually, some will read your book. Maybe they'll tweet about how much they enjoyed it. Maybe they'll write a review. Maybe they'll suggest it to their book club, or to a producer they know. This actually happens.

There are a variety of ways to find readers on Twitter, some of them quite obvious, I think.

1. Search Twitter for:

Kindle suggestions

Kobo suggestions

Nook suggestions

#books

#fridayreads

#amreading

#ebook (s)

#bookclub (s)

Don't just pitch your book to them, create relationships. Read their profiles. Read their last few tweets. Talk to them at least once before pitching your book to them. Ask them what genres they like? RT one of their tweets. Ask them questions. Answer a question. Yes, you can suggest one of your books, or give them your website, but do try to either answer their question about a suggestion or get to know them.

2. Search for your genre:

#romancenovel

#fantasy

#western

#historicalromance

#thriller

#mystery

#mysterynovel

#technothriller

Look for tweets where people talk about your genre in a positive way. Add to the conversation. See above tips. Always get your URL in there. 

3. Search for authors you think people would compare your writing (for your novel) to. Chat first unless you're already friends with them online or unless they're asking for suggestions.

When pitching them, say something like:

I saw you liked (author). Me too. In fact, he inspired me to write (name of novel) (Amazon URL shortened)

Or…

Since you enjoy (author), I think you may like (name of novel) (Amazon URL)

Using Amazon customers with Twitter:

Step 1: Go to your book’s page on Amazon and look in the Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought section.

Step 2: Make a list of the book titles that appear. These are titles YOUR customers have also bought. This means they like those books, plus they think they’ll like yours. This means anyone who likes those other titles may also like yours.

Step 3: Go to twitter and search for those book titles one at a time. When you find someone who has liked that other title, tweet them and say that they may like your title too since they liked ____.

Step 4: Word your tweets differently each time, make them personal, and include link to your ebook on Amazon. Use URL shortener like TinyUrl...or I highly recommend you get Hootsuite. You can then schedule tweets. Huge marketing time saver!!!

If someone says they prefer another genre other than yours, recommend one of your author friends or another author you like. Be helpful. What goes around comes around. :-)

Twitter is a leading, successful social network for one reason: it's social. From personal experience, I can tell you I've sold more ebooks via social networks in the past two months than I have doing 80+ book signings for 2 years. And I've met more people; maybe not face-to-face, but they're still quite happy to meet me on Twitter and buy one of my books. 

And don't forget to follow me: http://www.twitter.com/cherylktardif and http://www.twitter.com/imajinbooks

Happy tweeting!

How to be a Tease

Last weekend, I explained how writers need to learn to become a tease and tease readers with bits of information BEFORE their book is released. Creating buzz is important to your success. This weekend, I'm giving you some ideas on how to be a tease.

1. When you sign a book contract or when you decide to self-publish a book, make a small announcement that you have a book deal or that you will be publishing a new work within the year.

2. If working with a publishing company, blog about the process, but don't go into too much detail on the specifics. Always keep in mind that you really want to talk to your target audience, your readers. Give them only enough info about the process that you think they can identify with. Help them identify with the process by comparing it to a more mainstream type of career.

3. When your publisher has shown you the cover, blog about seeing it, but don't describe it. Mention that you'll post it as soon as you can, once your publisher has given you permission to do so. Use the same technique, though obviously different wording, if you're self-publishing.

4. When you see the back cover text, blog about seeing it. Let people know how awesome it is. Again, tease them and let them know you'll post it ASAP.

5. When you are about 2-3 weeks to publishing, post the back cover text. Later, post review blurbs. Post them one at a time. Ask your readers for feedback. What do they think about the description?

6. About 1-2 weeks before, mention that you'll be posting the cover soon and that they should check back. Again, tease them.

7. Post the cover. Make it large. Ask readers what they think? What do they like best about your cover?

8. On release day, let everyone know your book/ebook is available and give them a live link so they can easily click on it and buy it. Always make it easy for your readers to find information on your book and give links to major retailers so they know exactly how to buy a copy.

The above list will always be subject to what your publisher wants you to do. When unsure, always ask. Never post something they send you without clearing it with them first. Often you'll see early drafts of a front cover, or a rough draft of back cover text. Your publisher may also want you to do things a bit differently than the list above.

Becoming a tease is easy for some and more difficult for others. What may make it easier is to always ask: if I were the reader, what would I want? What would tease me? Putting yourself in their shoes is one of the best marketing practices you can learn. Learning to be a tease is another. And this kind of teasing doesn't require nimbleness. Or a pole.

There are other things you can do to tease: post a book trailer video, write a short post about one of your characters, or become a guest blogger/interviewee on someone else's blog.

What else can you do to tease a reader prior to publication?

Cheryl Kaye Tardif,

bestselling author of Children of the Fog

www.cherylktardif.com

Writers Must Learn to Be a Tease

A good writer knows that when writing any novel, they must tease the reader with bits of information, plant red herrings, leave cliff-hangers and dangle a trail of action and emotion to keep the reader in suspense, but what they may not know is that once the book is completed, the real teasing must begin―teasing readers.

Marketing a book is generally divided into two sections: pre-publication or pre-pub marketing and post-publication/post-pub marketing. If you promote your book by dumping all the information in a reader's lap at once, you probably won't see the best results. But if you slowly tease them, heighten their awareness of your book and your name, and build up the anticipation, you'll have readers throwing dollar bills at your new creation.

Like any budding relationship, it's all in the tease. Think of a great romance movie. The lovers didn't just dive into their romance. It built up over time. It started with a look, a laugh, a soft touch, the first date, the first kiss, the challenges they must overcome to be together, the longing for more until finally the couple has had enough of teasing. Why do people go to movies or read books? They love a good tease.

Many expert marketers use the term "create buzz". You want people talking and thinking about your upcoming release. You want them telling their friends so that those friends will tell two people, and so on and so on. You want them anxiously awaiting release day so that they buy your book right away. If they wait too long, something will come up to distract them. Creating buzz should be like a slow strip tease, only instead of stripping, you're adding layers and layers of anticipation.

Teasing effectively is a bit of an art, but it can be learned. Stop by on Saturday for step-by-step instructions on 'How to Be a Tease'.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif,

bestselling author of Children of the Fog

www.cherylktardif.com

Marketing your book "isn't always about sales figures"

Today's special guest is debut novelist Eileen Schuh. Today she's going to share some of what she's learned about marketing books. Take it away, Eileen!

Measuring the effectiveness of promotional efforts

One can’t measure the success of one’s promotional efforts simply by sales—although one wouldn’t want to put a lot of money and effort into publicity activities that don’t net sales, results are often far from direct and take time to appear. 

I started my publicity campaign back before I even had a book to sell.  With the help of Cheryl Kaye Tardif’s book marketing services, I established a strong cyberspace presence with a blog, a website, and Facebook and twitter accounts.  I joined writers’ groups, participated in online discussions and forums, posted book reviews, and researched all aspects and angles of the writing and publishing industry.

Even before that, though, I was campaigning.  I was always actively engaged in multiple facets of family, education, and community life.  I travelled, joined sports teams, engaged in activities with my children and their friends (and the parents of those friends.)  I volunteered. 

Specific to marketing The Traz, in addition to my social networking notices, I sent out press releases about THE TRAZ.  I spent the time to locate the contact information for the media in my home town and my former home towns.

The very next day, the local radio station emailed me for a phone interview.  What a wonderful bit of free advertising that was!

Perhaps a week later, I was asked to read the book written by an infamous serial killer’s defence lawyer and interview the author—not sure how that happened.  Crime fiction is what I write.  True Crime is what I read and this was a great opportunity to get my name associated with important people in the industry—especially when the book proved to be well-written, interesting, and unique. 

I forwarded Smashwords coupons for free copies of THE TRAZ to those I’d met during my community sojourns who also happen to work with at-risk-children (including the commanding officer of the local RCMP detachment.  A little brazen, perhaps, but he’d expressed interest in my career when I’d handed him my business card in regards to a totally different matter.)  

Through my Special Education contact, I found out the local school is instituting a learning e-café and wrangled an invitation to slounge there come September and read passages from my books.  What a wonderful chance to not only promote my book sales but to meet my other goal of directly helping kids-at-risk and the adults in their lives.

My municipal library contacts have assured me of purchases and will advertise a reading and signing event once the paper editions of my books are released.  I’ve been tentatively invited to participate in sci-fi conferences (one in Denver) to promote Schrodinger’s Cat.  These opportunities may seem to have come along for free, but they are in actuality the results of my promotional efforts—personal efforts, paid efforts, and professional efforts.

I’m one to try new things and when I connected on Twitter with Pauline Barclay, an author blogger in the UK http://paulinembarclay.blogspot.com , we decided to swap guest blogs and attempt to tap into each other’s overseas markets—a promotional strategy that will cost us nothing (but time) and has the possibility of rewarding us greatly.

Another thing I did was forward coupons for free copies of THE TRAZ to authors and reviewers well-known in their fields.  These Smashwords coupons don’t cost me anything, so they’re DEFINITELY my kind of promo!  I’ve been astounded at the positive blurbs and reviews that I’m receiving.  Again, having my name and work associated with others who are successful in this career is a bonus.

Promotion is time consuming.  It’s a slow process.  Results are slow to appear.  But the most unexpected and wonderful opportunities can and do at times rapidly appear. 

The radio station’s news director interviewing me?  Me interviewing a serial killer’s lawyer? A guest blog in Europe?  Doing a reading to teens from a lounger in an e-café?

Can life get any better?

p.s. I take my coffee black.

Eileen Schuh

Author of THE TRAZ and SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT

http://www.eileenschuh.com 

http://eileenschuh.blogspot.com

To sample/buy THE TRAZ:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005199RFE

http://smashwords.com/b/60190

Giving Away Books in Contests Can Promote Your Novels

If you’ve ever won a contest or lottery, you’ll know that soaring sensation you get when you’re proclaimed to the world to be a “winner”. We all love to get something for free, don’t we? Some of us also love giving things away, and I’m one of them. Authors, like me, have found many opportunities to give away their ebooks, print books or gift certificates, and by doing so we’re creating relationships with fans and readers, which in turn help me to promote my books.

Over the years I’ve witnessed many ingenious contests held by authors and I’ve learned some things along the way. People don’t really want to just ‘enter’ a contest, they want to participate, interact, be part of the action. If a contest asks them to do more than submit their name, they tend to take more of an interest. So if you’re holding a contest, make it entertaining and interactive.

I’ve held 2 main contests that have been quite successful:

My ‘Create a Corpse Contest’ asks entrants to send in a name (could be fictional or their high school bully or boss or ex-friend) and I “kill off” the character in a novel. In my romantic suspense Lancelot’s Lady, you’ll be meeting one of the corpse winners--Winston Chambers. Trust me, it’s not only amusing to enter this contest, it’s very therapeutic.

My ‘Become a Character Contest’ has entrants submit their own name (or someone else’s) and their character gets to live but might be a good guy/gal or a bad one. In Divine Justice, a thriller my agent is pitching to publishers, you’ll meet one of the winners--Deirdre Dailey. The incentive for people to enter is that they get to choose a novel character’s name and I often give them a free copy. How exciting is that?

How do these contests benefit me as an author? First, they give me something cool to announce, something a bit different from the norm. They appeal to people with a sense of humor--or those who want some secret form of revenge. You can bet they’ll be talking about it, telling their friends. Word of mouth advertising is still one of the best ways to get the word out about virtually anything. Imagine if your best friend told you she was going to be a corpse in a new suspense thriller.

I’ve also held contests on Twitter. Here’s a great way to get your name out, get people re-tweeting for you and create some excitement. I asked other authors to sponsor the prizes. In exchange, I promoted them on my contest page on my website. Twitter is basically “live”. Get their attention now and get them interacting by asking for a reply, something very specific. Limit your winners. In a recent Twitter contest, I gave away free ebooks and asked people to email me if they wanted one. First three to reply won.

How does this benefit me? First, I’m creating a sense of excitement--and we can all use excitement in our lives. I’m also creating “winners”, and who doesn’t want to be one? I’m getting my name out there. People re-tweet my contests to more people “and they tell two friends and so on and so on and…” Plus, I’m building up my email data base with people who are interested in future novels.

Other authors see the value in giving away free books:

“I think the giving away of books for free can be a useful tool as long as it is part of a smart, focused, targeted promotional activity or event,” says Anthony Bidulka, author of the Russell Quant Mystery series.

Betty Dravis, author of the celebrity book Dream Reachers, says, “Giving free copies is a great way to reach out; the more exposure, the better. I mostly give free copies to reviewers and the print media, but blog contests are another good way of reaching more readers.”

“Offering a book for FREE is a good and rewarding idea when you are building readership,” states Edward C. Patterson, author of The Jade Owl. “It should be a temporary measure to stimulate readership or to introduce readers to a series. The exception, I find, is when you are providing information to a specific community, other authors for instance, where it can become an information service and builds into your brand. The other time FREE books are important is as a community donation, such as Operation eBook Drop, where you donate your titles to the men and women in the Armed Forces.”

Next time you need a little buzz and excitement, try an innovative, creative contest that invites your readers to participate. Promotion is hard work, but it should be fun too!

http://www.cherylktardif.com

http://www.cherishdangelo.com

And follow Cheryl on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cherylktardif

The Top 10 Reasons Why Authors Should Network with & Market to Libraries

When one of my coaching clients asked me what I thought were the top 10 reasons why authors should network with libraries, I created this quick list.

1. Libraries BUY books.
2. People still use libraries and will continue to do so.
3. Libraries are getting into ebooks.
4. Libraries love author visits.
5. Libraries often have other events you can attend.
6. You can arrange to sell your books to patrons during events in a library.
7. Libraries know other authors to which you can connect.
8. Libraries give your books more exposure.
9. Public Lending Right Commission will pay Canadian authors every year based on how many of their works are in public libraries, while Access Copyright pays authors for the use of their work in educational systems (& elsewhere).
10. You’ll be able to tell readers your books are in the library.

Authors and libraries go hand in hand. Both have a love for the written word, for books and ebooks. Both can work together compatibly to give readers what they want--access to books and ebooks. It's a win-win for everyone concerned.

Is Your (Internet) Marketing is Paying Off?

So you're out there marketing. You're doing all the right things (or so you think). You're following the book marketing advice of some leaders in the industry. You've got a checklist and you're methodically checking off your goals. But how do you know you're doing everything right? The fact is, most of us don't. Yet we forge ahead, keeping pace with our marketing plan, without ever knowing if it's paying off. We don't see it in sales. Does that mean it's not working? Not at all. You could be seeing the effects in other places but just aren't keeping track of it.

I find that especially in social media you need to keep a close eye on what's working and what's not. If you've spent *any* kind of time online you know that you can be in front of your computer for what seems like 20 minutes and yet three hours have gone by. If the three hours of marketing is paying off, then it's fine to spend the time. But you need to know the difference. Here are a few things you can review to measure the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of your marketing.

1. Jumping in without a plan: Set clear, measureable goals because most marketing is invisible. Let's face it, you send an email and wonder half the time if the intended recipient got it or if it ended up in a spam filter, never to be seen again. That's the power behind goals. You need them and you need to run your campaign by them. So what are your goals? And no, you may not say sell books. Yes, that factors in - but there are a million small steps along the way before you even get to sales. Consider these goals and see if any of them fit your book, topic, and future:

a. Establish yourself as an expert or get known in your particular field. Hey, maybe you just want to be known as the go-to person for everything related to paranormal romance. That's great and it's a realistic, attainable goal.

b. Increase the visibility of your brand. OK, sort of the same as the bullet before this one but more geared to the non-fiction author.

c. Increase traffic and incoming links to your website. This is a great goal. Whether you are fiction or non-fiction, it's a great focus.

d. Do what makes sense for your book: If your followers aren't on Twitter then why have you spent the last month or so promoting yourself on there? Mind you, Twitter works for most of the books we manage, but there are a few that don't make sense. Twitter skews older than most people think so don't be surprised if your YA reader isn't on there. Before you launch head first into a campaign, make sure it fits your demographic.

2. Neglecting other marketing: I know it's easy to get all a-twitter about Twitter, but what else are you doing to promote yourself and your book? If you're good at events and speaking, are you still focused on that? Don't get too myopic on doing just one thing for your marketing. The truth is, you need to do a lot of different things, balanced out over a week or a month for your marketing to really make sense.

3. Set goals - be clear on what you hope to achieve in social media: What are your goals for Twitter? If it's just about gathering followers then you are missing a big piece of this social networking tool. For many marketing people it's all about the number, but numbers don't make as much sense unless they are driving interest to you and your book. If the numbers keep growing, along with traffic to your website, then you're on the right track. But if you're just growing numbers for the sake of being able to say that you have 10,000 followers then it makes no sense. That's like buying a fancy car you can't really afford. Eventually the debt of it will drag you down. It's the same with Twitter and Facebook and any other social media site. It's not about the numbers. It's about the activity.

4. Be clear on who you are trying to reach: Many of you say you're trying to reach readers, but is that really true? We all want to sell books, but who are you really going after? In all likelihood you will have a variety of different targets you are going after. Consider these: booksellers, speaking opportunities, interviews, bulk sale targets, reviewers, and readers to name a few.

5. Measure effectively: In order to know if stuff is working you'll need to measure effectively. As I pointed out earlier on in this article you may not want to do that by fans or followers - instead consider these ideas as ways to measure your success:

a. Retweets on Twitter: The best sign of success on Twitter is the amount of retweets. Are you getting them and if so, how often? If your tweets are good and your followers are active, you should see a few a week at least (depending on the amount of followers you have). If you're curious about the amount of Tweets that get RT'd - check out retweetrank.com. Twitter Analyzer (twitteranalyzer.com) is another great tool for determining how far tweets have traveled.

b. Site hits: Are the hits to your site increasing? Are you watching your analytics to be sure? If you're not, you should be. Watch your site stats closely and monitor the increase in traffic and where it's coming from.

c. Inbound links: How many new ones are you getting? Did you do a vanity search before you started this campaign? If not, do that now. Make sure you know how many new incoming links you're getting as a result of your efforts.

d. Sign-ups to your mailing list: Are they increasing? If you're doing the right stuff in your social media they should be increasing weekly.

6. Increasing the contacts in your industry: Remember that social media marketing is just like going to a networking meeting. You want to expand your reach and get to know others in your industry. If you're not increasing your reach and contact base, then you need to be. This is another great way to gauge how effective your marketing is.

We always want to make progress in our marketing but we're not always sure how to do it or if what we're doing is making a difference. Follow these steps and see if it doesn't help your marketing momentum. If it's paying off, you'll know sooner rather than later and you can keep doing the good stuff, and punt the bad.

Bonus: additional tools for tracking marketing

Bit.ly: This site serves as both a URL shortener and also as a measurement tool. Bit.ly can help get you real-time results on clicks to links you are posting to Facebook and Twitter.

Google Analytics: If you don't have any back end web analytics (and even if you do), Google gives you a lot of valuable data.

Trackur: This is a great monitoring site to see what's being featured on you online and off. It's not free like Google Alerts, but much more comprehensive. Their basic package is $18 a month.

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Crafting a Message Your Audience Will Care About

Book marketing expert Penny Sansevieri shares valuable advice on inbound marketing.

So at this point, you probably all know that Internet/inbound marketing is not only the wave of the future, but the best way to sell yourself, your book, your product, or your service. So maybe you're on Twitter, Facebook, you might even have a blog that you keep updated but if it feels like nothing seems to be meshing.

Before you plug in another tweet, take a moment to step back and really focus on who you're tweeting to. The point really of a good inbound marketing campaign is to bring consumers "in" and you can't do that if they don't care about what you're saying.

How can you determine what your reader wants? Well, ask them. If you do a lot of speaking events, or any at all, you probably get questions. I find that audience questions can really help to seed ideas, meaning that the Q&A portion of any author event is often a great resource to gather the needs of your market.

There are other ways that you can figure out what your reader wants, the first is to stay current. You can do this by subscribing to blogs, following industry leaders on Twitter or getting Google Alerts (which you should do anyway). Getting Google Alerts for your keywords is a great way to see who's writing what about your market.

Let's say that you have identified a message, maybe two, that is crucial to your market. How do you know if you've hit on your right marketing model? Well, the numbers never lie. By "numbers" I mean site hits, increased Twitter followers, etc. Here are a few ways to measure results:

1) Measure effectively: in order to know if stuff is working you'll need to measure effectively. Here are a few ways to do that: Retweets on Twitter: the best sign of success on Twitter is the amount of retweets. Are you getting them and if so, how often? If your tweets are good and your followers are active, you should see a few a week at least (depending on the amount of followers you have).

2) Site hits: are the hits to your site increasing? Are you watching your analytics to be sure? If you're not, you should be. Watch your site stats closely and monitor the increase in traffic and where it's coming from.

3) Inbound links: how many new ones are you getting? Did you do a vanity search before you started this campaign? If not, do that now. Make sure you know how many new incoming links you're getting as a result of your efforts.

4) Sign-ups to your mailing list: are they increasing? If you're doing the right stuff in your social media they should be increasing weekly.

Finally, before you launch headfirst into any marketing campaign, be sure and set some clear goals. For example, you might ask yourself, what are your goals are for Twitter? If it's just about gathering followers then you are missing a big piece of this social networking tool. For many marketing people it's all about the number but numbers don't make as much sense unless they are driving interest to you and your book. If the numbers keep growing along with traffic to your website then you're on the right track. But if you're just growing numbers for the sake of being able to say that you have 10,000 followers then it makes no sense. That's like buying a fancy car you can't really afford. Eventually the debt of it will drag you down. It's the same with Twitter and Facebook and any other social media site. It's not about the numbers. It's about the activity.

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com 

Review: The Newbie's Guide to Publishing by JA Konrath

 4/5 stars ~ J.A. Konrath's blog has been a popular must-read for authors for a long time, and now he's consolidated his posts into one book, a reference every author should have, especially if you're new to marketing your books. He shares his expertise on publishing, self-publishing, Kindle sales, book signings, online tours, blogging and so much more.

Considering this author is earning more with his ebooks than many traditionally published authors with big publishers, his advice is worth listening to and following. Though most of what you'll read in The Newbie's Guide to Publishing isn't new (if you've been in the marketing biz for a bit), you could spend months searching for this same info online.

My only constructive criticism of this book is that it could have been better organized; there is a fair amount of repetition. And it could have used a decent editor. But if you can overlook these issues, the book has great value as a marketing tool. Along with Steve Weber's Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors, Book Publicity through Social Networking, The Newbie's Guide to Publishing should be on every writer's bookshelf.

I find it helpful to have this book on hand for reviewing marketing techniques and reminding myself of what's important to me as an author and promoter of my works. As a book marketing coach, I recommend this book to my clients.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif
bestselling suspense author & book marketing coach

Guest Post: Ten Things You Can Do Now to Promote the Novel You Haven’t Even Sold Yet

Today's guest blogger is Gina Holmes, author of the novel Crossing Oceans, and she's sharing some valuable tips. Here are Ten Things You Can Do Now to Promote the Novel You Haven’t Even Sold Yet:

1. Buy your website URL and begin to build it. You can go very expensive and pay thousands for a professional site, or you could start small and do something like godaddy, where you build your own site. I took a third route and hired someone to make me a template and then set it up like a blog, so that I could tweak and update it easily.

2. Get professional headshots. I hired a friend whose work I admired but who is still considered an amateur. For fifty dollars and my husband agreeing to baby-sit for an afternoon, I got a few really great and professional looking pictures. Don’t let anyone convince you that a good headshot is a waste of money for a novelist. On Novel Journey we post lots of author photos, many of which look like candid shots that other people are cut out of. Remember how important perception is. I look at a substandard picture and I subconsciously think this author is no perfectionist, and am less likely to want to read their work. Spend the money and get a good promo picture of yourself.

3. Keep a file filled with the names of magazines you come across that fit your writing. For example, if you write Victorian era historicals, Victorian magazines might later be interested in an article written by you. Jot down the names of them and any other publications you come across that might be a fit. This will save you a lot of research time later on.

4. Keep a folder of book reviewers you’ve come across that seem to enjoy the type of  stories you write. I send myself emails with the reviewer’s name, books they’ve reviewed and liked, their email address and, if I know them, how I know them. While it’s true that they might not still be reviewing when your book finally releases, it won’t hurt to try. 

5. Start reading marketing/publicity books now and take notes. My personal favorite is the simply titled Publicize Your Book. If you can only afford one book on marketing/publicity, I highly recommend you make it that one.

6. Read The Tipping Point. It will explain some very important concepts on what makes things popular. It’s an easy and surprisingly entertaining read.

7. Read How to Make Friends and Influence People. The book has been around forever for good reason.

8. Keep a list of natural influencers. You’ll call upon these folks later for help in getting the word out about your book.

9. Help anyone you can. For one, it’s just the right thing to do, for two, what goes around comes around.

10. Start building your platform now. Write articles, create a blog with excellent and frequently updated content, volunteer to teach classes on what you’re an expert in, or for whatever committees in ACFW, or other writing organizations you belong. People are much more likely to be interested in your book if they feel like they know you and you’ve shown interest in them.

About Gina: In 1998, Gina Holmes began her career penning articles and short stories. In 2005 she founded the influential literary blog, Novel Journey. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in Southern Virginia. Her debut novel, Crossing Oceans released April/May 2010 with Tyndale House Publishers.

Visit Gina at: www.ginaholmes.com and www.noveljourney.blogspot.com  

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

Marketing at a Minimum - by publisher Jerry D. Simmons

Selling books without a minimum marketing effort will result in poor sales. Here are the basics every author should follow when marketing their book: (1) seek book reviews prior to launch, (2) write a press release announcing the publication and availability of your book for sale distributed to all online outlets, and (3) pitch yourself and your book to local print, radio, television and online for publicity.

Remember the local media is not interested in the fact that you wrote a book, they are interested in one of the following: (1) the story, (2) the author, or (3) the message. They must have an interesting angle in which to promote you as a guest. Figuring out the proper angle can be difficult; however this is the only way to give you the best opportunity for publicity which is what sells books. That angle may be the facts surrounding the writing of your book, or your background as a writer, or even the unique message from your book. The key is figuring out how to find and focus on that angle.

If you want to go beyond the basics and aim a bit higher then consider: (1) sending a free sample of your writing in an email promotion, (2) alert genre specific web site to your book, or (3) create a social networking campaign. The best marketing approach is a combination of all of these parts taking into consideration the category, price, title, format and a variety of other components that go into creating a targeted marketing program.

Marketing is the most difficult part of successful book publishing. A publisher can get everything right and fail due to a poor marketing campaign. It's so easy to publish in today's marketplace but extremely difficult to sell books. If you find yourself struggling then consider a professional marketer, someone with experience and publishing knowledge to give you the best chance at becoming a successful author.

Copyright 2010 Jerry D. Simmons

Reprinted with permission from Jerry D. Simmons and http://www.writersreaders.com/

Whose responsibility is it to market your book--the publisher or yours?

While the answer to the title of this post may seem obvious to most, the answer is: BOTH!

This topic recently came up in the Murder Must Advertise Yahoo group, and when Karen Syed, publisher at Echelon Press, joined in and shared her experiences, I am sure there were a few horrified readers. What do you mean authors aren't promoting their own books? That must only be a few, right? Wrong.

Talk to a handful of writers about what they've done, are doing and how many books they've sold as a result and you'll discover that there are a lot of uneducated, lazy writers out there who feel it's up to a publisher to sell the book.

They're wrong. Authors need to think of their publishers as their business partners. Or even as a coach. A partner or coach can only assist you so far; you still have to do some of the work and carry your fair share of responsibility. Then you can both celebrate your success.

I wandered over to Karen's blog and wasn't surprised to see she'd blogged about this. Hey, look what I'm doing. Book marketing, or lack thereof, is an important topic--and it's my livelihood, as an author and a book marketing coach.

Here's the comment I left on Karen's blog:

ALL of Karen’s authors should “die trying”. You should all realize how fortunate you are to have a publisher who took a risk on you and your book and then did all the things she does to promote it. Many authors with other publishers are lucky to get even half of what she offers.

As an author who has shamelessly promoted her books everywhere I go, I can tell you Karen is right. It’s YOUR book! If you haven’t got the time, money, energy or interest to promote your “baby” and your possible future as a career author, then why should she?

Please note: I’m not one of Karen’s authors. I’ve never met her. I don’t even know if I know any of her authors. But I can tell you from experience and from working with other authors as a marketing coach, her experiences are common.

Too many authors are either uneducated about the book industry or they’re too lazy to market their own work or they’re too lazy to learn or they’re just not interested in writing as a career.

As the former creator and organizer of Authors’ Row, a multi-author event that no longer exists, I can assure you I’ve seen and heard it all. All the excuses why you can’t or won’t market your book. I’ve watched authors read their own books at signings and completely ignore potential fans.

Connect! That is a hugely rewarding part of signings and events–meeting people. Hand out bookmarks or promo items. Have a draw for a gift basket. SMILE!

Sorry, but if all you want is a book published so you can sell a handful (or 100 in a year) to your family and friends, then self-publish it.

When a publisher takes on the risk, especially financially, they have the right to certain expectations. That you’ll market your book is one of them.
If you don’t know how to market your book, learn.

If you don’t WANT to market your book, step aside, so that those of us who will “die trying” can have a chance with your publisher.

For those authors who still haven't figured this out, I suggest you check out Karen Syed's blog post You've Got to be Kidding!

How do I have a successful book signing?

So you’ve written a book, had it published and you are now facing the dreaded book signing or book launch. Your palms sweat at the thought of facing droves of people and actually having to talk to them. You are a writer, not a salesperson, right? Wrong! If you do not have the guts and determination to sell your own work, then why should anyone else do it for you?

Book signings are your lifeline―your best friends.

Before you step out into virgin territory and cross that boundary that is called a book signing, endless questions will bombard your brain.

How many books should I expect to sell?


What if I don’t sell any books?

And what if someone should ask you that one little question that makes you shake in your shoes: “What’s your book about?”

Hire me as your personal Book Marketing Coach and learn how to promote you and your books at any book signing event.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
Canadian suspense author

Create an Internet Identity - For Authors

Quick! Go to Google and do a vanity search. If you don't know what this means, it's simple. Type your name in the search bar. See how many direct hits to your site (or anything that pertains to you) come up. A few years ago, I did this and was quite depressed to see that I was nowhere to be found. In the internet world, I simply did not exist. Since then, I have learned a few tricks of the trade, and I am now deeply entrenched in the most popular search engines. What does this mean? It means that anyone, anywhere, can view information about my books and me. What this means to you is that if you are not at least 10 pages deep after a vanity search, you have a lot of work to do.

Your job as a published author is to "get known". The fact is, the more your name is out there in cyberspace and the more people who read about your exciting action-packed thriller or suspenseful murder mystery and the more people who see your name pop up when they search for ‘Canadian mystery authors’ or ‘American romance novels’, then the more potential customers you have reached. People buy more of what they know, what they frequently see. This is branding. Online, it is known as creating an internet identity.

Read my article: Create an Internet Identity - For Authors.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
Canadian suspense author

Will a publisher do the book marketing for me?

I often receive emails from aspiring authors who want to know if they can find a publisher who will do all their marketing (or most of it) for them. Sometimes the author isn't confident they can promote their book; sometimes it's a matter of the author having no money to invest in their marketing endeavors. Getting a book published is only half the battle, and authors need to recognize that and prepare for the other half--marketing their books.

In my experience, and from everything I've read and heard from publishers, agents and other authors, there is no such 'free' ride. Authors must be willing to promote their books if they want them to sell. Publishers nowadays only want to take a risk on new authors who are enthused about marketing their books. In fact, they often ask you upfront, before they sign you, what your marketing plans are. And you have to have some. It's that simple.

Most publishers do little marketing beyond their initial catalogues, industry notices, ads in magazines or newspapers--unless you're a big-name author. It's really up to authors to get the word out. Your publisher might print some promotional material for you--posters, bookmarks or business cards. Most authors pay for their own expenses during book tours, including travel, lodging and meals. The distributors have sales teams who go into bookstores to try to sell books to the store owner/manager. Sales teams often don't do much for authors who don't promote their books. Why should they when they have other authors out there busting their butts to sell books? :-)

An author in today's world--who wants to be successful and actually make some money back to pay for their marketing endeavors--must be proactive.

The five musts that every author should have:

1. a professional author's site with domain name and no free hosting
2. a blog that's updated at least once a week
3. Facebook account and knowledge in how to use it properly
4. MySpace account and knowledge in how to use it properly
5. Twitter account and knowledge in how to use it properly

Those are the basics in today's marketing. Nothing is free. It takes hard, dedicated persistence to make a book successful. The meaning of success can vary from person to person. I look at success in two levels--basic level: lots of readers who love the book and enough sales to pay for the $5000+ it costs to market a book efficiently; and advanced level of success: major traditional publishing contracts, great distribution, and major bestselling status, which all equals money I could live on.

What I've described above is the real world of publishing. It's a tough industry to break into because the competition is HUGE! You're competing against billions of authors. If you want your book to sell and be successful, you have to be part of the marketing--a huge part.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling author & book marketing coach
http://www.shamelessbookpromoter.com
http://www.cherylktardif.com

Creating mock book covers

Book covers can make or break a book, and I've been lucky to have 4 published novels with 4 covers that were well received by readers. Often when I'm working on a novel, I'll design a "mock book cover". It helps to inspire me to really visualize the finished product, even if it isn't the most professional cover. Of course, the published cover isn't even close to the mock one I design.

For the "Next Best Celler" novel contest, sponsored by Textnovel and Dorchester Publishing, I'm working on a romance novel. Lancelot's Lady is the name of the romantic suspnese I've entered, and it very quickly took off, making the #1 spot out of all contest entries for the month of June 2009. Last time I checked, Lancelot's Lady was also #5 in Most Popular Stories.

To keep me motivated, I designed a mock book cover early on (cover #1), using a few elements from the story. This early design was simple enough to add some color and excitement to my entry, while also respecting that Dorchester Publishing will have the final say in a book cover.

Weeks later, I designed a new, more romantic cover (cover #2), yet hopefully the darkness still lends to some suspense. I'd be interested in hearing what you think, but of course please keep in mind that these aren't real covers. They're really just for fun. I have no doubt that Dorchester Publishing (should I win the contest) would do a far better job at designing a suitable cover.














...........(cover #1)...........................(cover #2)...........

So readers, now you have some extra insight into the mind of a reader--at least this one. And authors, you now have a great idea for keeping yourself inspired--create a mock book cover. :-)

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Please vote thumbs up for Lancelot's Lady (you must sign up at Textnovel.com first, then go to and click on thumbs up icon at top of page.)

Top 10 Tips to Help Authors Successfully Promote Their Books

Most authors should know that it's really up to them to promote their books, not the publisher. The publisher will do what they can do, of course, but the author is the one who can really get the word out there to the masses. So here is my Top 10 list of things authors can do to successfully promote their own books.

1. Promote your book BEFORE it's even published. Think of this like movie trailers. Film companies are super intelligent; they give people a sneak peek to get them interested, then hook them with anticipation by announcing a release date. Authors can do the same. Give your readers a sneak peek--a free sample, a book trailer. Then as soon as you know the release date (and about 1-3 months in advance) start promoting this new release.


2. Have your book PROFESSIONALLY edited. If you want longevity as a writer, you must treat this like a career. This means that even self-published, author-originated works must be edited professionally by someone who knows HOW to edit. NEVER be the only editor for your book. If you put out an inferior product you will lose fans and sales, and bookstores will not promote you. If you're going to do this, do it right! You're competing with every other book out there, and there are millions, so find a good editor.


3. Once your book is published, promote the heck out of it! Too many authors leave marketing up to their publisher. This is your baby, no one else's. As soon as your book is released, you have a window of about 3 months to get it off the ground, and another 3 months to keep things rolling. Not even a publisher can market your book as well as you can, and if you don't know how, LEARN. If you don't know where to start, I'm a book marketing coach; I can teach you.


4. Create a solid internet identity. What will we find if we Google your name right now? Will we find someone else with the same name who sells lawn ornaments? Are there 10 hits? 1000? 100,000? Are the first 3 pages of any search engine all about you or at least 90% you? If not, you've got work to do. Make sure you have a professional looking website and blog. Don't use a free host with ads for your site. Invest in a domain name (your name preferably) and pay for hosting.


5. Blog at least 2-3 times a week. On numerous blogs. Blogging about anything sells books. Readers like to see the human side of their favorite authors, so blogging should not be a hardcore sales pitch every post. Find a controversial or thematic angle within your book and blog about that. My novel Whale Song dealt with assisted suicide. I not only researched the topic, but I blogged about it and was then contacted by a radio station because of my blog post and then was interviewed. Blog about the journey you took to get where you are in your writing career. Blog about editing, rejections, writer's block, courses, anything that might be helpful to other writers.


6. Hold a virtual book tour. VBTs are an excellent and inexpensive way to get the word out about your book. Other bloggers are now promoting YOU. There is, however, an effective way to do this and an ineffective way. Successful blog tours have the following main elements: thoughtful planning, research, themed articles/posts, calls to action, proper scheduling, advertising and high sales. Your book should reach the bestsellers lists on Amazon, at the very least.


7. Sell your book on a specific day by holding a contest. If you ask people to order from one major retailer, like Amazon for instance, on a specific day and offer them some kind of incentive, you will have the opportunity to make Amazon's bestsellers list. Pick a day, offer a prize they can't turn down (remember: never make your book your prize-at least, not the book you are trying to promote) and have a proof of purchase to ensure sales are submitted on one day. Once you make Amazon's list (and don't forget, books are broken into categories), you're a "bestselling author" with a "bestselling novel". That statement alone attracts more success.


8. Find out where your readers are. The goal is not to have your book in every bookstore. First, very few books achieve that. Second, having them in a store is no good if no one is buying them. So find out where your readers are. If you write mysteries, find out where mystery readers meet in your town. Become a guest author at a book club. Look for online reading groups or sites like GoodReads and start schmoozing with readers.


9. Cultivate personal relationships with bookstore staff. Most authors underestimate the power of signing books in a store. Too many authors focus entirely on sales, or lack of sales. Forget sales! Think about relationships instead--with store staff, customers and potential fans. That is what is important. When you build these relationships you will have store staff who will hand sell your book and go out of their way to promote you, invite you to special events and feature you on special front-end shelves that publishers have to pay for. Customers can turn into media contacts and interviews. Potential fans can turn into lifelong fans who will buy everything you write and recommend you to their family and friends.


10. Contact media for every event or set of events. If holding a bunch of signings during October, call it your "fall tour" and promote it. Send out press releases to local TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. Send out online releases to services like 24-7pressrelease and free online services. Just Google 'press distribution services'. Many authors consider interviews a form of success, and the more you create a need for your area of expertise (whether writing, getting published, or a particular theme from your book), the more media will want to interview you.

It takes a combined effort and partnership between author, publisher and retailers to make a book successful. A partnership. That's how you must think of it. So don't just throw your "baby" out in the world and expect someone else to baby sit it or expect it to fend for itself.

Take control and responsibility seriously. Being a writer is the emotional, creative side; being a successful author of a published book means you have to recognize the business side. It comes with the territory. Accept it. Embrace it. And be the most successful author you can be.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling author and book marketing coach
http://www.cherylktardif.com/

Author Cheryl Kaye Tardif interviews Vikram Narayan from BookBuzzr.com

This interview was recently featured on The Write Type.

Hello Vikram, and welcome to The Write Type ~ Multi-Author Musings. We are so happy to have you visit us. Since I’ve used BookBuzzr and fReado.com myself, I can say that you offer a terrific service for authors and their readers. And it’s free!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Are you a writer? Reader?

I’m a serial entrepreneur who’s obsessed about building the next big thing on the Internet. I earned an MS in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University some years ago. I’m also a keen martial artist and practitioner of Aikido. I’m an avid reader of books and listener of audio books. I do have a book inside me that is waiting to come out some day soon.

Where did the idea for BookBuzzr come from? Why did you decide to create it?

A few months ago, an author friend of mine – Chetan Dhruve – was describing the pain that authors face in marketing their books online. There are two problems with traditional author sites:

1. Most of the traffic goes to 'destination sites' such as Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo or the New York Times. So your author site may not receive the kind of traffic that you would want.
2. Even if a fan of your book comes to your site, it's not easy for her to easily share information about your book with her friends.

So how do you market your book in an era where the attention-spans of consumers measure a few micro-seconds? How do you tempt your potential readers to flip-through the pages of your book? How do you allow easy sharing of your book on networks such as Facebook, MySpace and other social networks?

So I asked him what would be a dream online marketing tool. Chetan, in a few moments of inspiration, described what he’d want and we sketched out the screens of the ultimate online book-marketing tool. I got the product developed in a few months using developer resources at another software business that I own.

What exactly is BookBuzzr and how does it work?

BookBuzzr is a free, online book-marketing technology that can be placed instead of your book-cover image on your author website, Facebook profile and blog. BookBuzzr is more than just a replacement for your book-cover image. It's a portable author website that allows your book information and extract to be shared on Facebook, Blogs, MySpace and more. So every time a fan of yours decides to post your book-widget on his or her blog, your entire information (including where to buy and buzz about your book) becomes available there. It’s like your business card on the Internet!

Apart from the easy share-ability, we've worked hard at making the pages of your book look and act like a real book. So when a reader clicks on the edge of the book, the page turns like a real book. Somehow, this seems to elicit a "wow!" from most people who try BookBuzzr.

fReado.com is the site which carries all the books that are available in BookBuzzr format.

Is it difficult for an author to set up a BookBuzzr widget?

Putting up your book into BookBuzzr format is quite simple. If you know how to share your videos and photos on Facebook or MySpace you know how to use BookBuzzr.

How many authors are using fReado?

We expect to have over a 1,500 authors & books on fReado by the end of this month.

Are there any recognizable names using BookBuzzr? Any “big” authors”?

We have quite a few big name authors using BookBuzzr. Chetan Dhruve whose inspired vision gave us the start for BookBuzzr is a pretty well-known name and his book has become an international sleeper-hit that’s been translated into 5 languages. Author Tony Eldridge whose book “The Samson Effect”, acquired by a Hollywood studio, is also using BookBuzzr.

Are publishers using your service to promote their authors’ books?

Yes. We’re making it easier for publishers to mass upload their books and author information with just a few clicks. We’ve got about 60 Publishers who have begun using fReado and BookBuzzr.

Can you give us an example of a BookBuzzr book widget?


Where do you see BookBuzzr in 3 years?

The other day, we got a testimonial from the author Lee Murphy and he said, “I think you have a terrific service and I know I have already sold one copy on Amazon as a direct result of it.”

So we know that we have a unique little book-marketing technology that every author needs. Our challenge is to let authors know about this free resource that can help every author in building and extending their platform. So in terms of where we see BookBuzzr in 3 years … we want to be the first place where every author goes when he or she begins to think about marketing books online. If every book-cover image on every author, publisher and book-seller’s website is replaced with the BookBuzzr book-widget, then I would say that most of our mission has been accomplished.

Towards this end, we’re making several improvements to BookBuzzr in the coming months to make it easier for fans to distribute a book-widget on their Facebook profiles, Twitter, blogs, social networks and cell-phones.

Thank you, Vikram!! I am sure that authors will be very excited about your service/product, especially after they've tried it once.

For more information on BookBuzzr and fReado, please check out http://www.bookbuzzr.com/ and http://www.freado.com/.