Tag: Marketing

Coat-Tailing Your Book to a Bestseller

get a rideAs we scramble to find new ways to reach readers we discover that there are things that work and things that don’t work. I’ve tried everything from handing out business cards to kindle-carrying travelers at an airport to running ads on Craigslist. And I’ve done all the regular things too – interviews, promotional sales, blogging, etc. Just as there are things that do and don’t work there are also things we probably should or shouldn’t do. One of the things that’s been done in various different forms is coat-tailing. Coat-tailing is the process of attaching your book to another book that is selling well. In the interest of determining where the grey areas are I’m going to describe various forms of coat-tailing and ask for your input on whether it’s ethical or not to coat-tail.

Here are the types that I’m familiar with: Continue reading “Coat-Tailing Your Book to a Bestseller”

Are Author Interviews Worthwhile?

Interview ShowWhen we first started Indies Unlimited, one of the regular features here was the author interview. Authors love to be interviewed. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of people love to read author interviews. We like to do stuff that moves the needle, so to speak. Once we realized the interview features were not getting a lot of views and did not seem to be moving books for authors, we discontinued the feature.

Not to say interviews don’t work at all or ever, but the return on investment is often quite small for both the interviewer and the subject of the interview. Continue reading “Are Author Interviews Worthwhile?”

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”