Category: Staff Articles

Writing advice and insights from the staff of Indies Unlimited.

Creative Book Marketing Ideas

easel with ideas graphic-3748761_640I was talking with a class that I was teaching this past week about marketing strategies and realized we haven’t had a marketing post in a while. Twitter and Facebook are what I think of as old marketing standbys, but there are other, more creative ways to market. Of course, as the kids say, YMMV (your mileage may vary) with all of them. Below is a summary of what we discussed.

Before I begin, however, don’t forget Martin Crosbie’s huge list of book promo sites.

And now, a few creative ways to market your book without constantly saying (or typing) “Buy My Book” (or the equivalent): Continue reading “Creative Book Marketing Ideas”

Make Free Book Trailers with Lumen5

When was the last time you had fun doing book promotion? I know; not my favorite thing, either. However, that was before I discovered Lumen5.com.

Lumen5.com is a site where you can make a short book trailer video—for free. And it’s tons of fun. Ever since I found it, I’ve been having a ball making up videos for all my books. Well, not all: after all I do have 32 current titles out there. But I’ve been doing quite a few. Here’s a quick tutorial. Continue reading “Make Free Book Trailers with Lumen5”

Making Time to Write When There’s No Time

juggler-1938709_640Back in October, I think I put many readers in a tailspin over how I manage to run a large farm, and the joys of when things don’t go your way. This month, (on the advice of our fearless leader, Kat) I’ll tell you how I do manage to get words on “paper” when there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. Without further ado, let’s get to it: Continue reading “Making Time to Write When There’s No Time”

Mob Rule and Other Rules for Authors

anger-18658_640This post is going to have a bit of a split personality. Two entirely different subjects with the flimsiest connection. Consider yourself forewarned.

The inspiration for this is a blog post from Nora Roberts who many of you will recognize as one of the most successful and prolific romance authors in the world. Those who don’t know that name might still be familiar with her pen name of J.D. Robb, also extremely successful. For those who don’t want to read her full post, I’ll give a quick summary. (If you’d prefer you can go read the whole thing. Just remember to come back here afterwards.)

Another author, unnamed in Ms Robert’s post, noticed that Ms. Roberts had a book with the same title. So, she did what anyone with a hair trigger temper and a persecution complex would do. She posted on social media, accusing Ms. Roberts of stealing from her. By the time Nora heard about this, pointed out to the other author that her theory had some major holes, one of the biggest being that Nora’s book had been published first, and the other author posted her retraction, the damage was done. Continue reading “Mob Rule and Other Rules for Authors”