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Outwit Writer’s Block

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Are you sitting and staring at a blank notebook on your desk?  It’s a common problem among writers.  You’ll find lots of advice on how to outwit the dreaded writer’s block but here’s an idea that may be new to you.  Instead of starting at the beginning of your book start at the end.  Pretend your book is in your publisher’s hand and they are asking you to write the book jacket copy.  You’ll need to write something concise and intriguing to get readers to buy your book.  You might want to do some research first by reading the jacket copy of books in your genre.  Don’t agonize over this exercise… it’s meant only to stimulate you to write a brief outline of your plot.  Once you have this done go back to that blank notebook and use this copy to outline your book.  You’ll find it much easier to get started in outwiting writer’s block.

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Author’s Quick Guide to Engaging Your Fan Base

The “Author’s Quick Guide to Engaging Your Fan Base” is an e-book for Kindle written by Kristen Eckstein, the Ultimate Book Coach.  From the description of the book Eckstein says “The secret to engaging your fan base is to help them, and help them profitably. By helping them invest in themselves, you’re giving them an incentive to change their world and achieve their dreams. Engaging your fan base in this way will ensure their ongoing support of you in the future. It’s the foundation to an amazing and brilliant relationship!”

This affordable e-book is just one of many written by the author to help you sell more books!

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Author Asks Readers Not To Buy His Book…

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“Vernon Downs” by Jaime Clarke will be available in December from his small publisher Roundabout Press.  Clarke says that the book will be available on Amazon.com in April of 2o14 but he doesn’t want readers to buy it from Amazon.com then or now.  As publishers know Amazon.com offers such discount prices on books that there is little left for the publisher or the author.  Buying directly from the publisher means the publisher, and author, will make more money.

We want to know if this will become the trend.  We all love getting discounted books from Amazon.com but publishing companies and book stores have suffered and/or closed because of this.  What can we all do to change this?

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Biblio Connection Loves Bibliophiles And… Authors!

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Biblio Connection defines bibliophiles as “collectors, readers, authors and sellers”.  The site was created to bring these people together and there are a number of ways authors can benefit from this wonderful celebration of books.  Authors can find potential readers by talking about their books, post listings and giveaway copies to the Biblio Connection audience.

To learn more about Biblio Connection read this list of available features from their website.

  • Connect – find others with a passion for books
  • Enjoy – join a discussion, take a quiz or get inspired
  • Find – browse the Classified Ads and enhance your book collection
  • List – your book related services in the Service Provider Directory
  • Meet – fellow writers, collectors, sellers, authors and readers
  • Organize – schedule a book collectors/club meeting, a book fair, invite friends
  • Promote – your book and brand through giveaways and article features
  • Sell – your used/collectable books in the Classified Ads
  • Share – tell your stories and share your knowledge
  • Start – a group and discuss your favorite books or collecting experiences
  • Win – free books through our sponsored book giveaways

If you have a written a book, run don’t walk over to Biblio Connection!

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If You Write Fiction Giveaway Short Stories

sell more books

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Here’s a brilliant idea we had for promoting fiction books.  There are so many fiction authors out there and more joining the market daily that it makes one wonder how can you stand out from the crowd?

Certainly there are many marketing tasks you should be doing, and we cover many of them in this blog, but aside from marketing how can you give your potential readers a taste of your writing?  Give them a taste by giving them a taste.  Write a short story or two featuring the characters of your book and give it away to potential readers.  There are so many places on the web where you can post your short stories for free that we won’t list them all there but Wattpad is a good place to start.

Your short story may be a prequel to your novel or perhaps a sequel.  It could be an expansion on a plot device in your novel or it could introduce a new character.  Use your innate creativity to create this short story and then promote the heck out of it.  This is a great way to grab the attention of potential readers by giving them a “taste” for free!

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Two Places To Do Book Giveaways

book marketing

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Book giveaways are an essential part of book marketing and it’s best if you set them up before the book is even published.  Our favorite two places to setup a giveaway is GoodReads and LibraryThing.  GoodReads is now owned by Amazon.com and they allow giveaways only for physical books.  LibraryThing is independently owned and allows giveaways for physical and e-books. It sounds strange but giving away a few books helps sales by exposing your book to more potential readers who may purchase when they don’t win.  Check both of these sites out to see if they will work for your books!

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Use Handles That Reflect Your Book Title

book marketing

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On social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. you get asked to create a handle, page name, account name…  If you are going to use a different account for each book or series use the same handle and page name and relate it to your books.  For our book series we use 42Rules for our social media accounts.  Make sure you keep track of your handles and passwords because it’s easy to get confused!

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Why and How to Schedule a Virtual Book Tour

virtual book tour

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eBook Review Gal has created a post that is essentially a blueprint for creating a winning virtual book tour.  We’ve discussed virtual tours before but it is rare to see someone break it down like the eBook Review Gal has done.  To read the post yourself click here!

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Publish An Excerpt Of Your Book On Issuu

book marketing

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Issuu is a new website where people can post publications.  They accept articles, whitepapers, books, magazines, etc.  We suggest you include an excerpt of your book in PDF with links to where the full book can be published.  Users can read the excerpts and compile them into “topical” stacks.

Make sure that you add the full cover of your book to the first page of your document for eye catching results!

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Make Your Amazon.com Book Description Robust

Amazon.comYour book listing on Amazon.com, the biggest bookseller in the world, is critical.  So long as you follow the rules you can make it as robust as you want.  Although you can no longer add pictures to your description you can add special formatting using html to make your description stand out.

In your description consider adding:

An actual one or two paragraph description of the book and characters.
Table of contents for a non-fiction book.
Editorial reviews.
Testimonials or reviews that won’t show up on Amazon.com.
Links to your social media sites.
Your biography.

This space on your Amazon.com description is like gold.  Use it wisely!

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