Celebrating Independent Authors
At BookDoggy, we often receive submissions from authors that are missing important items which could totally help them connect with more readers. We’ve put together a rant, I mean a list of things that drive us crazy, I mean things that will help you. Anyway, here it is.
1. Do you write books in a series? Continue reading “9 Things Authors Aren’t Doing (And Should Be Doing)”
Do you write books in a series? Do your readers know that your book is part of a series? They want to know. They need to know. And, they need to have an easy way to access the other connected books.
Nowadays, there’s such a thing as a “whale reader.” Whale readers gorge themselves on books, and they tend to prefer books that are in a series because, like everyone, their time is valuable, and they want to invest that time wisely. What could be wiser than investing time in a character they will be able to continue to read about?
So it makes sense for writers to be wise as well, and attract whale readers by letting them know you have a series. But how can you do that? When publishing on Amazon’s platform, you’re given a wonderful opportunity to have your own series page, and it’s very easy take advantage of. Here’s what you have to do. Continue reading “Do You Write Books in a Series? You Need a Series Page!”
Between 2011 and 2017 I wrote and published seven books. I’m not a fast writer, in fact compared to many authors I write quite slowly. I ponder and I stare out of windows. Then, I write and I rewrite. In fact, my methodology is to start over at the beginning of my work-in-progress each time I sit down to write. I know, it’s masochistic, but it’s what I do.
During those years, writing became an almost daily part of my life. I even quit my day job for a short period of time to write full-time. When that didn’t go as planned and I went back to the daily grind, I still managed to put some words together and create some books. I’d put in my eight-hour days at the office and I’d write on days off and evenings. It worked out fine. Then, last year I stopped writing. No more fiction. No more made-up stories spilling from my head onto the paper. I just stopped. Continue reading “Stop Writing. Right Now!”
I’m sixty days into my new position as top dog at an eBook promotion site. It’s been a ton of fun and along the way I’ve had several mini-epiphanies. I want to share them with you because I think as writers and marketers, the things I’ve learned might help you. And, if you’re like me, you might find some of this truly surprising.
1. Readers are really, really grateful that the service is there.
I thought the whole world knew about Bookbub and ENT and whatever other book promotion site is currently flavor of the month. This is incorrect. Either they know about those other services and they want more choices, or they haven’t heard of them. I’ve received multiple emails thanking me for the service. Right after the “thank you”, the one sentence I hear over and over is “I love your books”. Continue reading “Secrets I Learned from Running a Book Promotion Site”