Author: Jim Devitt

Jim Devitt’s debut YA novel, The Card, hit #1 in three separate categories on the Kindle Bestseller list in early January and was a finalist in the Guys Can Read Indie Author Contest this past summer. Devitt currently lives in Miami, FL with his wife Melissa and their children. Learn more about Jim at his blog and his Amazon author page.

Developing the Perfect Author Newsletter

Developing an author newsletterNow that you’ve perfected your email list … okay, it takes more than a week … let’s talk about what goes in your author newsletter. I feel that your author newsletter is, or will, become one of the greatest marketing tools you own. Let’s jump in and see what a good author newsletter should look like.

One of the big misconceptions about newsletters is that it needs to be a multipage “book” about you and your writing. Remember, these are the days of 140 character tweets! Keep it simple. Linking your newsletter to your blog or website will allow the reader to access deeper, more extensive content. The number one rule is “The Reader is King.” It’s difficult to do, but you need to think about what the reader wants and design the newsletter for them.

With that in mind, the following are a few ideas to help you design your newsletter. Continue reading “Developing the Perfect Author Newsletter”

Fifteen Ways to Grow Your Email List

news-226931_1280Wow, I never knew you felt that way!

Apparently, many of you are getting fed up with Facebook. Last week’s post generated several comments in regards to Facebook and its effectiveness. Throughout the discussion, email marketing came up as a solid alternative. Personally, I think it is the way to go. It’s a more direct and personal way to communicate with your fans.

I wrote a couple of posts last year on how to get started in email marketing; you can find Email Marketing – A Way to Stand Out in a Crowd and Follow-up to Email Marketing by following the links. Continue reading “Fifteen Ways to Grow Your Email List”

Facebook Changes: Is it Even Worth it Anymore?

Facebook is changing againAt some point, we’ll probably give up on this stuff, but until then, here are the latest changes with Facebook that you might want to know about.

For an author, Facebook is about building relationships and visibility. Facebook groups are great for that, but many times, we want to reach out beyond a closed group. That’s where it gets tough. Continue reading “Facebook Changes: Is it Even Worth it Anymore?”

Wordle Word Clouds

Post Word Cloud
Post Word Cloud

Every now and then, something comes along that is really cool. Completely useless, but cool. Today, I’m introducing you to one of those things—Wordle. You’ve all seen “Tag” clouds on just about every webpage. You can find one here on Indies Unlimited, just below the calendar. It takes keywords or tags and displays them in different fonts based on usage in posts throughout IU. At a glance, you can find topics of interest to you and find the most popular topics on the site. Continue reading “Wordle Word Clouds”