Novel Marketing

Talking Points: How Affiliate Programs Work Percentage of Gross sales 2%-8% Cut of the cart Pay monthly Tracking Amazon’s Affiliate Program Pro: Easiest to Sign Up For Pro: Easiest to Use Pro: Largest Customer Base Pro: Cut of the cart brings in a lot of extra $$ Con: Not Available in all states Barnes & […]

Listen to our other podcasts 065 – 7 Tips for Effective Email Newsletters 062 – 7 Ways to Avoid the Spam Filter 057 – What to include in an Author Newsletter   Public Service Announcement: Avoid MeMail. Spam is in the eye of the beholder. Listen to our other episodes on email to learn how […]

* Listen to our other podcasts 065 – 7 Tips for Effective Email Newsletters 062 – 7 Ways to Avoid the Spam Filter 057 – What to include in an Author Newsletter   Public Service Announcement: Avoid MeMail. Spam is in the eye of the beholder. Listen to our other episodes on email to learn how to do email well. Create emails worth subscribing to. Offer a Carrot Short Story Tips  / Guide Free book. Audiobook Discussion Guide Easter Egg Guide Host a Viral Contest (and promote via Social Media). I recommend KingSumo Host a Webinar and Promote on Social Media Simplify Your Signup Form.   Collect Email Addresses at Offline Events (Warning no business cards) Tear off cards Website on phones Sign up sheet Walk us through … Include a privacy policy near your sign up form. Use a non-evil popup (SumoMe). Install MyBookProgress When people ask how they can stay in touch with you …  

Talking Points: Kinds of editors: Developmental editor (Successful authors) The macro edit Line edit editors Beta reader editors Copy editor (Grammar Nazi) Proofreaders (Details person) Places to find an editor: Writers’ Conference (Ask the faculty for recommendations. They will likely recommend fellow faculty who you can talk with. 15m consult) Recommendation from a successful author […]

Talking Points: Kinds of editors: Developmental editor (Successful authors) The macro edit Line edit editors Beta reader editors Copy editor (Grammar Nazi) Proofreaders (Details person) Places to find an editor: Writers’ Conference (Ask the faculty for recommendations. They will likely recommend fellow faculty who you can talk with. 15m consult) Recommendation from a successful author The acknowledgements of a book with a similar style. Editor marketplace like ChristianEditor.com What to look for in an editor By their fruits you will know them. Looks for a track record of commercial success. Level 0 Editor: just starting out Level 1 Editor: only edited for self published books (only a some of which are on Amazon). Level 2 Editor: has been editing for a while and occasionally freelances for traditional publishing house. Level 3 Editor: used to work full time for a traditional publisher. Level 4 Editor: has edited a New York Times bestselling book. Level 5 Editor: has edited multiple New York Times Bestselling books. Do they match your personality style? How will you work together? Places NOT to find an editor: Your friend from college/church who has an English degree The editor who is doing a lot of marketing (the best editors are booked solid) Someone who loves to read and has always wanted to break into editing so they’ll save you a ton of money and do your edit for free   Final Tips: Find a happy client before hiring someone and talk to them about the editor’s style Ask for a sample edit first. Ask all the editors to edit the same sample so you can make an apples to apples comparison. Make sure your editor is a good fit for your writing style.   Sponsor: * MyBookTable: use coupon code “novelmarketing” to get 10% off.

Denica McCall, author of Flowers in the Darkness Question: While I do write novels, I have just put out a poetry book(my first published book). The book is partly being used to raise funds for a local organization fighting human trafficking. What I’m wondering is, what kinds of places should I look to connect with that might help me sell the book, and also: how would it work if, say, a church wanted to buy several copies? It’s self-published through amazon, so would they buy the copies at print cost, and then split up the profit between themselves and me? Or would that be up to each specific location? Thank you!     Michael Emert, author of Dwarves of Getallumane Question: Asks about cover art rights. Jamie Foley, author of the book Sentinel Question: We all know about the importance of a ‘hook’ in writing, but I’ve heard two very different definitions. The book ‘The First Five Sentences’ defines a hook as a sort of marketing ploy in the first sentence and first few paragraphs to grab the reader’s attention. But the loose definition sounds something like an event that occurs somewhere in the first few chapters that delivers a promise to the reader regarding what the full story has to offer. Which definition is correct, and how important is the hook for marketing reasons such as free sample chapters? Thanks! Keep up the great work.

Denica McCall, author of Flowers in the Darkness Question: While I do write novels, I have just put out a poetry book(my first published book). The book is partly being used to raise funds for a local organization fighting human trafficking. What I’m wondering is, what kinds of places should I look to connect with […]

Question from Samantha Johnson Book Title The Beginner’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening How do you stand out when your name fits in? When your name is something super-common, it’s next to impossible to find unique domain addresses, and Google Alerts are ineffective because there are so many other people out there with the same name.

Question from Samantha Johnson Book Title The Beginner’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening How do you stand out when your name fits in? When your name is something super-common, it’s next to impossible to find unique domain addresses, and Google Alerts are ineffective because there are so many other people out there with the same name. […]

Today we are answering a listener question from Name Erica Borgerson Website http://www.LazyGirlGuides.com Book Title The Lazy Girl Guide to Healthy Eating & The Lazy Girl Guide to Fitness Question So, since you don’t really recommend spending money doing a book trailer to promote our books, what would you mention us spending money on? You mention Goodreads ads (a place I never knew used ads) but is this one of the best places to pay for advertising? Any other low-ish cost places to be sure we place an ad to reach readers if you had to pick one or just a few? I write several separate series of non-fiction books, but am also working on a coming of age novel, so I’m interested if the answers are different for fiction vs. non-fiction. Thanks so much for the podcast!   Talking Points: Spending money on marketing is like buying money at the store. The goal is to buy money for less than it costs. Q: How much would you be willing to buy a $1 bill from me for? A: up to $0.99. Q: How many $1 would you buy from me for $0.99? A: As many as you could. So it is not about how much you spend overall. It is getting the cost of reader aquisition lower than the revenue you get from the book. There is a time to spend more on a reader than you make from him and that is during the launch when you are trying to get the momentum and buzz going for your book. If you can get enough people talking about your book then your readers will find more readers and so on. We can break expenses into three categories infrastructure and book launch. Author Infrastructure: Author Portrait $50-$500 Training (Media Training, Marketing Training) Website / Blog $2000 (build one yourself from a $250 template) Email List (Free up to 2000 subscribers then $30+ a month after that) Book Infrastructure Book Cover ($300-$1500) Copywriting ($250-$500) Audiobook Free through ACX or $1000-$5000 Book Launch Review Copies $7/copy Giveaway Copies $7/copy GoodReads Ads $50-$500 Facebook Ads $50-$500 BookBub $200-$2500 PR Campaign Things Not to Spend Money On Book Trailer a “Marketing Package” from the company that printed your book. Blog Tours (For Fiction) Trade Show Anything Book Signing Tour TV Ads Radio Ads Links: www.bookbub.com www.acx.com www.99designs.com www.GoodReads.com www.mailchimp.com Sponsor: One great thing to spend money on is MyBookTable. This plugin is one of the cheapest ways to upgrade your website and boost your book sales. It also helps you make more money per book by integrating with Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you use coupon code “novelmarketing” on checkout you can get 10% off.   Learn more at MyBookTable.com

Today we are answering a listener question from Name Erica Borgerson Website http://www.LazyGirlGuides.com Book Title The Lazy Girl Guide to Healthy Eating & The Lazy Girl Guide to Fitness Question So, since you don’t really recommend spending money doing a book trailer to promote our books, what would you mention us spending money on? You […]

In this special bonus episode we talk about the launch of MyBookProgress. MyBookProgress on Kickstarter

In this special bonus episode we talk about the launch of MyBookProgress. MyBookProgress on Kickstarter Subscribe

A lot of authors are addicted to checking email. Poor email habits hold many authors back from success because it wastes time and zaps mental energy. If you can learn to do email better you will have more time to market your book and more mental energy to write. Talking Points: Authors are not great […]

A lot of authors are addicted to checking email. Poor email habits hold many authors back from success because it wastes time and zaps mental energy. If you can learn to do email better you will have more time to market your book and more mental energy to write. Talking Points: Authors are not great at email. Addicted to getting that email from our publisher. Old way to do email. Folders. Lots and lots of folders. Email Rules & Filters Checks for new email every 5 minutes. Merlin Mann: inBox Zero Recommended Folders Need Action Need Reply Need Read Archive Waiting On Rules for Time Effective Email   Turn off auto check for email (or at least notifications). Schedule email Don’t check email. Process Email. Only touch each email Get rid of your topical folders and rules. Don’t be Afraid to start with Email Bankruptcy The emotional side of e-mail What does it give you? What does it distract from? The lies we tell ourselves about e-mail About checking e-mail first thing in the morning Tools to Cheat: Boomerang for gmail Boomerang for yahoo mail Links: Original Inbox Zero Video Unroll.me RescueTime.com Sponsor: MyBookTable 2 – MyBookTable the premier bookstore for WordPress now comes with GoodReads integration. You can show GoodReads reviews right on your book pages. Readers can also add your book to their bookshelves with one click within MyBookTable. Learn more at MyBookTable.com