Getting the Blurb Right by Ken Magee

Author Ken Magee
Author Ken Magee

You’ve just spent six hard months slaving over a hot computer. You’ve now written and polished your book, and then polished it a little bit more. It’s your baby and you love it. You spend another three months finding a publisher and a further three agreeing everything from the title to the cover design. So a year of your life is invested in a fantastic novel and now you’re ready to go… not quite, you need to sort out the blurb.

Is it important? YES, it is, in fact, one of the most important components of the whole book package. How can I be sure, well, I ran a poll on two well known sites for readers in the US and the UK. The poll was entitled “Top reasons for buying a book”. Once the voting was completed it was very clear what really mattered. High on both lists were things like genre, recommendations and read other books by the author. However, the blurb came number one in the US, and number two in the UK. That shows you just how important it is to get it right… your book will not succeed without a well written blurb. Continue reading “Getting the Blurb Right by Ken Magee”

Freebie Friday Ramp-Up

Let’s get ready to rumble! You’ve got books to give away, there are people waiting to jump at em. It’s a marriage made under the blue-light special. Or something. Whatever it is we want to help. That’s what we do here.

This is how it works: Each Thursday, we will put up a post like this one, calling for anyone who has a book to give away for FREE should provide ONLY the following in the comment section below:

1.  Book title
2.  Author name
3.  A one sentence blurb
4.  A link to download the book

The book must be free to anyone who clicks over to the link – not just Special Secret Squirrel Club members or whatever. You know who you are.

On Friday morning, we will randomly select five of these titles to post in the Freebie Friday Frenzy, a special vitamin-fortified post which will include book covers, link and blurb.

So let’s give it a try, shall we? Please make sure to follow the RULES above. Now, go ahead and tell the world about your free eBook:

An Author’s Expectations: A Real Christmas Story by Deborah L. Parker

Author Deborah L. Parker
Author Deborah L. Parker

Twas the night before my book came out “published”, and all through my network’s computers not a click was heard, yet even the send noise “swished.”

Like many I waited with anticipation that 19th day in which my POD publisher informed me my book was now “LIVE” to buy on the internet at amazon.com as well as on my personal link. This was my Christmas in July 2011, with great gifts to be had.

How could I best get the word out about this wonderful news, a miracle in my life? “Oh I don’t want to overload the ordering system,” I mused, so I did a phased email alert to my network of family, friends and organizational connections. Pulling up my group lists, emails went out at 9p.m., then 5a.m., then 1p.m… After all they knew of this forthcoming achievement since I’d sent out pictures of my book’s cover and articles to review, asking for their feedback. Checking the sites for clicks and dollars, I waited and waited. As online sales trickled in, I thought that residual purchases would soon show up as this trusted network of mine spread the word to their networks. Not! Disappointed, I thought back to those days of my youth and wondered why Santa had not come through. Continue reading “An Author’s Expectations: A Real Christmas Story by Deborah L. Parker”