The Pew Center reports that 57% of American adults use their mobile phones to browse the internet. Among smartphone owners, the number is much higher: 93 percent.
If you haven’t already, make sure your website is optimized for mobile viewing.
As you work with a designer or publisher on your book cover, ensure that it displays well in a thumbnail size.
Keep all your digital pages clean; the faster it downloads, the more likely browsers are to stay a while.
Often I talk to authors about selling themselves to readers as much as their books. It’s natural for readers to want to know more about authors, their motivation for writing a particular book, even about the writing process.
Nowadays, with short books and short stories being produced in ebook and even print formats, there’s an added ability to market your books. No matter what you’re writing, you can create adjunct books.
Consider a self-help author with a workbook…the workbook isn’t the primary self-help book but it adds to the original publication in a helpful manner. Novelists, too, can use this idea by writing short stories about appealing secondary characters in their stories.
These can be sold, of course, or given away to generate interest in the book. Since most adjunct books are short, the time and effort to produce them is often much less than what the original project required.
During the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair, an entire hall will be given over to self-publishers.
The administrators don’t want to be left behind in the digital revolution. Since such a large part of that revolution is about what authors can do on their own, they invited authors, printers, and other service providers to speak and set up booths.
The Fair runs October 9 through 13.
Recently I posted on the discussions about bundling a free copy of ebooks into every print edition sold. Now Amazon has announced that they will be launching a program like that in October.
Called Kindle Matchbook, the offer is not going to be available on every title. Instead, they need to negotiate with individual publishers. They have predicted that 10,000 titles will be available on that program by its launch date.
Now, Amazon has already taken flack for merely predicting that 10K number. But by now, everyone should know that Amazon’s spin often turns out to be self-fulfilling. The real question is why now, and why Amazon?
Of course the idea is timely and readers love it, so it works. If it helps authors expand their reach, that is useful too. For now, though, the impact seems to be limited to well-known authors or well-known titles (even ones that are decades old). For Amazon, though, it’s a way to enhance their date collection. Depending on whether you abhor big data as an invasion of privacy or think big data on reading trends can be helpful, that might sound greatly overreaching or just plain great.
Lately there’s been chatter about whether to automatically bundle ebook copies with print copies…so every reader gets one copy of each.
There is of course the idea that every sale then has added value to the reader. Many readers, in opposition to the idea that individuals favor either print or electronic books, are opting to consume both ways. There are even fans who purchase ebooks and, if they enjoy the work enough, return to purchase the print version for their home libraries.
Publishers have generally been resisting this trend because they are concerned that the value of ebooks will be discounted.
In the meantime, consider bundling your own print and ebook versions in special, limited-time offers to enhance sales.
I’ve posted before on the importance of titles in terms of how they work with algorhythms on websites that sell books. Here’s a great article about some titles that failed due to how they strick potential readers.
J.K. Rowling’s fans (the wizardly ones, anyway) are getting their own annual festival. Warner Bros. and Universal Orlando Resort will host the first Celebration of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme parks in late January of 2014.
For three days, Harry Potter’s books and films will be celebrated. Events feature Q&As with talent and filmmakers, and presentations on things like the art of dueling at a wand masterclass.
Amazon offers a White Glove publishing service. In this program, your agent works directly with Amazon to publish your book.
I wrote not too long ago about agent-assisted publishing, and this is just another incarnation of the same process. You might end up walking this road if the traditional publishers reject your agent’s efforts to place your book. But again, you end up with the agent as your book’s advocate.
On this road, you don’t travel alone. That in and of itself can be a boost to your passion. The fact that it can also boost your career sweetens the deal.
Leonard Riggio, the original founder of Barnes & Noble, is considering buying up the stores and taking them private. He’s thinking about the move because bookstores are still a sound business.
One of the biggest surprises in the constant battle between brick-and-mortar stores and the e-giant Amazon is that after Borders failed, sales of e-books immediately fell. Analysts think it’s because with fewer opportunities to browse, readers just aren’t going to buy as many books.
Congratulate your local bookstore owner with a cup of coffee, a chocolate truffle…and a new sale.
Lately the news has been covering quite a number of agent-assisted books that have sold well. Agent-assisted publishing might sound repetative…after all, doesn’t an agent get authors published with traditional houses?
Yes, and nowadays agents are doing more. If they are unable to place a client with a publisher, they might funnel that client into their own publishing unit. The agent doesn’t become the publisher; they simply help the author self-publish.
The benefits to this kind of self-publishing are many. Agents have long done much more for authors than simply sell their books. They are fantastic advocates with the media and (when appropriate) colleges or other organizations that might offer paid speaking engagements. The agents can often boost sales for the author in a way that the writer could not do himself through regular self-publishing methods.
A new app called BookVibe sorts through your Twitter feed and pulls out information on books people you’re following have recommended.
The app isn’t perfect yet but it’s a great start. Try it to keep up with what your crowd is reading.
Recently Goodreads announced that they doubled their membership to 20 million. That’s a big number of people who love books. And since many of them are interested primarily in fiction, authors should get their profiles upgraded to an author member profile.
Recently I did a giveaway on Goodreads for my first novel. I expected maybe 100 people to sign up for the ten copies; over 400 did. That’s great exposure.
The exposure resulted in specific actions by Goodreads members. More than 200 added the book to their to-read list, and another 200 added it to their shelves.
Sales figures won’t be in for a while, of course. But since the book is available in print and e-book versions, I’ll check that month when it’s available to see what happened.
The other books I’ve written also received some small attention but not nearly as much as the one featured on the giveaway. If you can spare a couple of copies, give it a shot. For only a few dollars in postage, you might gain a substantial number of new fans.
Note: Penguin’s Book Country operates separately from their other self-pub arm Author Solutions.
Book Country allows self-published authors to sell their works through their website. There are the usual marketing packages authors find at many self-pub companies but there is one difference: authors keep 85% of the royalties. This is higher than both Amazon and B&N.
Just connected with a woman who does voiceovers for audio books. She specializes in children’s books but has samples up from a variety of categories. Link here and call or email Becky to see how she can help you.
These days, only folks who cling to old notions of what used to be turn their nose up at self-published books simply because they weren’t backed by a big house. Now the boundaries between the two kinds of publishing are dissolving even more rapidly as traditional publishers, including some of the biggest in the world, enter the self-publishing arena.
Confused? It’s easy to see why. But Simon & Schuster has Archway Publishing while Penguin Random has Author Solutions (and the much maligned AuthorHouse). So if it’s self-published through a company that is part of a big publisher, is it still self-published?
For now, yes. The manuscripts aren’t vetted by anyone; some authors don’t even bother with editing before hitting the print button. And for now, the publishers aren’t likely to look more kindly on any author who approaches them and admits to using the self-pub arm at their company (unless of course that author has managed to sell well on his or her own).
Remember that self-pub is still self-pub. The big publishing house is looking for the same thing as the other printers: a check. The ground is turning to liquid beneath their feet and they’re trying new things to keep afloat. There’s nothing wrong with that, and if it helps them continue on with the old methods, great. Just be aware of what you’re getting…and what you’re not.
Writer's Resource/Sunspot Lit 