Mistakes Were Made: Confessions of an Indie Writer

I ran a promotion during the last week of November, and it blew my mind how much help I received from readers, supporters, and of course, my author friends. I felt as though I’d decided to move house, and didn’t tell anybody, yet all kinds of friends showed up to help me anyway. I’ve been lucky. I’ve had that kind of help right from the beginning of my career as a self-published author. There are things I’ve done solo too, though, and there are mistakes I’ve made along the way. Some of them have been significant, and in the interest of continuing to pay it forward, here are my confessions. I mean, here are some mistakes I’ve made. Continue reading “Mistakes Were Made: Confessions of an Indie Writer”

Martin Crosbie Interviews PeopleReads

As authors, we have access to a number of professionally-run book promo sites where we can effectively promote our work. Some offer paid services and others are free. Some will post information about your discounted book and others only feature free books. Here’s a pretty extensive list of book promo sites I shared with Indies Unlimited.

There are blogs and websites that help you gain followers or connect with readers, and that’s great, I appreciate the help. Branding is important, and I participate in those sites from time to time, too. But, if I purchase advertising, or post my discounted or free book on a site, I have one goal – I want to make sales.

Bookbub and the others have built their subscriber lists and done a great job. I love dealing with them, but it’s become fiercely competitive to be considered for one of their spots. So, if you’re preparing your advertising in anticipation of the upcoming Christmas buying frenzy, you’ll want to focus on new book promo sites that are growing very quickly.

I thought it would be interesting to talk with some of the actual people behind the scenes in these sites to get a feel for what goes on and where they are headed. This week, I interviewed Van Heerling, who runs the site PeopleReads.com. Continue reading “Martin Crosbie Interviews PeopleReads”

Martin Crosbie Interviews The Fussy Librarian

As authors, we have access to a number of professionally-run book promo sites where we can effectively promote our work. Some offer paid services and others are free. Some will post information about your discounted book and others only feature free books. Here’s a pretty extensive list of book promo sites I shared with Indies Unlimited.

There are blogs and websites that help you gain followers or connect with readers, and that’s great, I appreciate the help. Branding is important, and I participate in those sites from time to time, too. But, if I purchase advertising, or post my discounted or free book on a site, I have one goal – I want to make sales.

Bookbub and the others have built their subscriber lists and done a great job. I love dealing with them, but it’s become fiercely competitive to be considered for one of their spots. So, if you’re preparing your advertising in anticipation of the upcoming Christmas buying frenzy, you’ll want to focus on new book promo sites that are growing very quickly.

I thought it would be interesting to talk with some of the actual people behind the scenes in these sites to get a feel for what goes on and where they are headed. This week, I interviewed Jeffrey, who has a great new promo site called The Fussy Librarian. Continue reading “Martin Crosbie Interviews The Fussy Librarian”

Top Ten Things an Author Should (or Shouldn’t) Do

Come, my friend, sit with me. Let me share the knowledge that the elders so freely gave to me when it was my turn to sit in that chair.

Let us hold our candles aloft and together we’ll part the darkness and find some wisdom amongst this lunacy. We’ll ignore the far off chatter from Goodreads, and we’ll disregard the smoke from the fires burning in the warring camps of Facebook groups.

I’ll unroll the parchment and together we’ll study these teachings and learn what we should and shouldn’t be doing. Continue reading “Top Ten Things an Author Should (or Shouldn’t) Do”