The Business of Writing – Kobo Writing Life

More is more – banding together to boost “discoverability”

May 20, 2013 By Kobo Writer Leave a Comment

When it comes to being an indie author, there’s strength in numbers.

That’s the paradoxical truth discovered by the twelve members of The Jewels of Historical Romance, a group of self-published writers who decided to pool their marketing ideas and resources and cross promote one another’s releases, all for the greater good of more sales for all.

What exactly is The Jewels of Historical Romance and how does it work? We put some questions to the members to find out:

When you created the collective, what did you want to accomplish?

The original idea came out of a kind of necessity. We can each write only so many books in a year, after all–certainly many fewer books than romance readers typically read in twelve months. So it made sense to find other authors with whom we could cross-promote, with the goal of increasing all of our email lists, social media followers, and reader bases.

We didn’t personally know most of the authors before we formed the group. We were looking for authors whose books we’d be comfortable recommending to our treasured fans. We ended up with a list of around fifty possible recruits and started out by contacting our top ten. To our great surprise and delight, every one of those ten were eager to join!

What does it mean to be in a collective group like this?

Because we’re working together, we can combine funds to create a more powerful impact with larger ads, bigger contest prizes, and wider promotions at a much lower cost per author than if we were each trying to do this alone. Whatever messages we send out are multiplied by twelve, casting a wider net and reaching more potential readers. This adds velocity to any promotion for a book.

The collective also works as a referral service, similar to “If you liked this author, you may like these authors as well,” while assuring our readers they can expect quality fiction from anyone in our group.

An unanticipated bonus is the emotional support the group also provides. We have all become great friends, cheering one another for every success and cheering up one another through the tougher times. There’s really nothing like working with a small group of people who truly understand what it means to be a writer, and a self-published writer at that. This collective has enriched our lives in many ways we didn’t expect.

What are some of the successful tactics you’ve used to drive sales?

Sales have increased for every one of us since the group started in summer 2012, even though there is more competition now and some other (non-Jewel) authors are seeing falling sales. A quick look at our “also bought” on the various eBook stores will demonstrate how this is working: Most of us have six or so other Jewels books in each of those “also bought” lists, proving that our readers are trying the other Jewels authors. “The Jewels” is becoming a brand, our version of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval!

We’ve put together a free eBook anthology of our favorite scenes, which has been downloaded many thousands of times, introducing new readers to our works.

We’ve each put links to our free anthology, our group website, and the other authors in the backs of our eBooks–this is something that costs us zero dollars and goes a long way toward growing all of our readerships.

On our website, we’re running a contest every month, which adds many readers to each of our email newsletter lists on an ongoing basis. Because we all chip in for the website and prize, this is a very minimal expense for each of us.

We’re also having great fun in the “Jewels Salon” group we started in late January on Facebook (you can see it at https://www.facebook.com/groups/JewelsSalon/). Here we interact daily with our most ardent fans, with an emphasis on socializing–to the point that we have a “no promotion” rule except for one single post each Friday. Our Jewels Salon membership is growing every day, we’re all currently planning a virtual Jewels Ball, and these readers have begun recommending our books all over Facebook without us asking them to–you really can’t get better advertising than that!

Probably the greatest perk is not having to be pushy promoters of our own books on social media like Facebook and Twitter. Rather than tooting our own horns, we now have eleven other authors to do that for each of us. Bragging about your books can be a big turnoff in a venue that’s supposed to be all about friendly interaction, but a recommendation from another author makes a very different impression.

*Download the free Jewels of Historical Romance anthology here*

Meet the Jewels of Historical Romance Collective – http://jewelsofhistoricalromance.com/

Jill Barnett, author of Wonderful, Carried Away, Bewitching, Wild, Wicked, Imagine, The Heart’s Haven, Just a Kiss Away, Bridge to Happiness, The Days of Summer, Sentimental Journey, Dreaming and Surrender a Dream.

Annette Blair, author of Holy Scoundrels, Captive Scoundrel, Proper Scoundrel, Sea Scoundrel, The Rogues Club Series, Jacob’s Return, Butterfly Garden, A Veiled Deception, Larceny and Lace, Death by Diamonds, Skirting the Grace and Cloaked in Malice.

Cheryl Bolen, author of The Brides of Bath Series, A Lady By Chance, The Earl’s Bargain, The Regent Mysteries, My Lord Wicked, His Lordship’s Vow, Lady Sophia’s Rescue, Christmas Brides, Protecting Britannia, Murder At Veranda House, A Cry in the Night, Capitol Offense, It Had to be You, A Summer to Remember, A Duke Deceived and One Golden Ring.

Lucinda Brant, author of Salt Bride, Salt Redux, Deadly Engagement, Deadly Affair, Noble Satyr, Midnight Marriage and Autumn Duchess.

Glynnis Campbell, author of The Knights of de Ware Trilogy, Passion’s Exile, The Warrior Maids of Rivenloch Trilogy, The Shipwreck, California Legends Trilogy and Danger’s Kiss.

Tanya Anne Crosby, author of Speak No Evil, The Highland Bride Series, Once Upon a Kiss, Angel of Fire, Viking’s Prize, The Imposter Series, Happily Ever After, Perfect in my Sight, Kissed, Sagebrush Bride, Lady’s Man and Highland Song.

Colleen Gleason, author of Night Resurrected, The Vampire Voss, The Rest Falls Away, Beyond the Night, Lavender Vows, Sanctuary of Roses, A Whisper of Rosemary, A Lily on the Heath, Siberian Treasure, The Shop of Shades and Secrets, The Cards of Life and Death and Countdown to a Kiss.

Danelle Harmon, author of The de Montforte Brothers Series, Heroes of the Sea series, Wicked at Heart, Taken By Storm and Pirate In My Arms.

Brenda Hiatt, author of Ship of Dreams, Scandalous Virtue, The Saint of Seven Dials Series, Tessa’s Touch, The Runaway Heiress, Azalea, Gabriella, The Cygnet and Lord Dearborn’s Destiny.

Lauren Royal, author of The Jewel Trilogy, The Flower Trilogy and The Temptations Trilogy.

Laurin Wittig, author of the Guardians of the Targe Series, The Legacy of MacLeod Series and The Devil of Kilmartin.

Cynthia Wright, author of The Beauvisage Novels, The Raveneau Novels, The St. Briac Novels and The Western Novels.

Filed Under: The Business of Writing Tagged With: self-promotion, self-publishing

Podcast: Storytelling in the digital age

April 11, 2013 By Kobo Writer Leave a Comment

If you’d like some insider insight to the self-publishing world, tune in to Emily Craven’s Ebook Revolution Podcast, where she talks with Kobo’s own Mark Lefebvre for a little over an hour. They chat on a variety of topics related to self-publishing, touching on:

The advent of the ‘hybrid’ author
How to sell your book at conventions and other events
Print-on-demand technology
How to organize a global book launch
Pricing strategies

And so much more

Click here to go to the podcast website.

Or right click and download the mp3 file.

And don’t forget to check out Emily Craven’s book, E-Book Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to E-book Success.

Filed Under: The Business of Writing Tagged With: podcast

Book trailers – the next best thing since bookmarks?

April 10, 2013 By Kobo Writer 2 Comments

by Tina Folsom

When I first saw book trailers pop up on blogs and websites, I was frankly baffled. Why would anybody make a book trailer? Who would see it anyway? And would somebody really buy your book because they liked the trailer? After all, a book is not advertised in the same way a movie is.

I tried to find the answers to these questions, because I was curious whether an investment in a book trailer (and the good ones aren’t cheap) would be warranted. Here’s what I found at first: fans love book trailers. For them it’s as if somebody had made a movie of their favorite book, allowing them to dream and live through it once more. It’s really meant for them, as a little thank you and to encourage them to come back. I also found that a trailer can enrich your website, your blog, and any newsletter you might send out to your readers. It can also give you a very professional look. But your website, your blog, and your newsletter are directed toward readers who already know you. Again, you’re marketing to existing fans.

So how can you use this trailer to help make new readers curious about your books? I dug deeper and came up with with several possibilities of how to get the most mileage out of your book trailer:

First of all, make sure you get a really polished book trailer that reflects the feel of your writing. I used www.bookcandystudios.com to get mine done. While they weren’t cheap, they were very professional and great to work with, no matter how many changes I wanted done.

Upload your trailer to youtube and make sure you assign great keywords to it

Update your website and blog with the trailer

Upload your trailer to your Goodreads author page

Post your trailer on Facebook and ask your fans to share the post – to get your FB friends and fans to share your trailer, host a little contest and raffle off a free book, a poster, or anything else you think is appropriate. People are entered in the contest if they share your FB post. It’s a relatively easy and inexpensive way to spread the word.

You can also use the trailer on Facebook ads. I have noticed that people are much more likely to click on a video in a FB ad rather than on a link or cover.

Google Adwords also allows you to advertise trailers, but this can become pricey. So watch your budget on this one.

Occasionally some retailers will allow you to post a trailer on your book’s product page. I recently got one retailer to post my trailer (in English, German, French, and Spanish) to my books’ product pages, really enhancing my listings. It makes the books stand out and entices readers who browse through the books on the site to really take notice. Eventually, more and more retailers might look at this kind of enhanced product listing and allow authors to do this.

If you’re technically savvy and know how to embed a video into an ePub, you can also do that, however, again, in this case you’re marketing to your existing fans.

Other possibilities might crop up in the next few months as retailers become more sophisticated and more willing to work together with authors, helping them market their books. Make sure you’re ready for it.

***********************

About the Author

Tina Folsom is an international bestselling author of paranormal romance with over 15 books published in four languages. She currently lives in San Francisco.

Visit Tina’s website

Check out Tina’s Scanguards series on Kobo

Filed Under: Self-Promotion, The Business of Writing Tagged With: self-promotion, video

Promoting your Kobo books

April 8, 2013 By Kobo Writer 2 Comments

By Maia Sepp

What are some free – or nearly free – ways for the penny-pinching indie writer to promote their Kobo books and build their platform?

Sociable!

These days it’s crucial for indie writers to have a mailing list, website, Facebook page, Goodreads, Google+ and Twitter accounts, and whatever new technology pops up in the next five minutes. Now, not everyone is going to fall madly in love with every social media format – my relationship with Twitter is probably headed for divorce – but there are ways to cross-post your postings and tweets. Generally, it’s recommended that you focus on the one form of social media that you like the most and then distribute that content out to your other social media accounts (via software packages such as Hootsuite, or built-in site plugins.)

One other way to keep up with what’s going on in the industry is to join an indie author organization. For a small fee, you can rub virtual shoulders with other indies as well as established writers who are making a living off of their writing. One that I’d recommend is The Alliance of Independent Authors, a non-profit indie advocacy organization that blogs about the book industry, hosts guest speakers, and is generally full of awesome.

Much Ado About Free Content

There’s been a ton of buzz in the blogosphere lately about using free content for promotional purposes. Putting all that aside, free can still be a component of building an indie writer’s platform. Goodreads, a social reading platform that has over ten million members and growing, is a fantastic place to promote your book. There’s a good amount of confluence between Goodreads and Kobo customers, and one of the great perks of that relationship is that Goodreads reviews can be used to populate a Kobo writer’s product page. (If you haven’t added your book to Goodreads yet, you can take a look at the Goodreads Author Program here.)

One excellent way to find readers on Goodreads is to host a giveaway (running the giveaway is free, but you’ll need to cough up the bucks to mail a hard copy of your novel). I hosted one in January, which became one of the top fifteen giveaways that month, resulting in 3000+ entries, with 10 winners. Winners are expected to post reviews of your book (Goodreads says that about 60% go on to do so). Over 2000 readers added my book to their “to read” list as part of the giveaway entry, some of whom are now reading and reviewing my book. One thing that not everyone’s aware of is that you can do more than one giveaway in a six month period. I’m going to run a second giveaway in April to take advantage of this option. And another perk: lots of “to reads” will result in placement in “also bought” lists, which helps other Goodreads readers discover your books.

Another interesting way to use free content to build readership is to publish a teaser portion of your book for free on Kobo, Goodreads, or a site like Wattpad. Wattpad, another free social media site, allows people to read, like, and follow you as well as comment on your books, so you have a built-in audience when your next release comes out. People who enjoy my teaser chapter have gone on to review and read my full novel (and have been helpful enough to say where they found it). It’s challenging to determine the exact relationship between offering free content and subsequent sales, but what we do know is that it will help expand our online footprint, which is never a bad thing.

Kobo-Specific Promotional Sites

There are a small (and hopefully growing) group of Kobo-specific sites that list Kobo books. One is Kobo Book Hub, which lists books for free, and cross-promotes via their Facebook and Twitter pages. Another site is Trindiebooks, which posts recommendations, reviews and listings. Bookbub is also a site that can be used to promote on Kobo. (I can’t vouch for how successful these sites are in getting the word out, but I’ll be investigating in the next little while. I’ll post the results on my site.)

Kobo Contests and Sales

I’d recommend always putting your books forth for participation in Kobo Writing Life contests, sales, listings, etc. Thanks to the Kobo Christmas sale a few months ago, my debut novel, “The Sock Wars,” ended up on the Kobo Writing Life bestseller list, peaking at #9, which makes participation in Kobo sales my most successful promotional effort to date. Hopefully Kobo will continue to expand these types of promotional tools and offerings so that KWL writers can keep building their Kobo-specific platform.

What are Other KWL Writers Doing?

It’s always important to spy keep an eye on other writers who have been doing this a while, and who are doing well at it. Kobo Writing Life authors who are both successful and generous with their experiences include Joanna Penn, Edward W. Robertson, and Lindsay Buroker. Add these authors to your blogroll (and check out their books!) – you won’t be sorry.

Other Ideas?

What’s worked for you? What promotional tools have you used? Which indie writers do you follow?

About the Author

Maia Sepp left a career in IT to write about home renovations and sock thievery. Reach Maia online at maiasepp.com.

Check out Maia’s books on Kobo!

Filed Under: Self-Promotion, The Business of Writing, Tips Tagged With: self-promotion, tips

Crowdfunding: How to Stand Out

April 4, 2013 By kwlwriter Leave a Comment

By now, most self-published authors have heard about crowdfunding— the technique of collecting small financial donations from large groups of fans to finance a planned project—and many of them are wondering about the best way to make this model work for them.

And they have a lot of options. The typical model is consistent across most crowdfunding websites: an individual artist or entrepreneur pitches their project on creating a webpage with a description of what they will create (usually accompanied by a short video), a funding goal, and a specified time period in which they will be accepting donations. The creator can use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms (as well, of course, as their personal website) to direct users to their project page and—hopefully–they raise the money to meet their goal. You can choose an “all or nothing” style campaign, where you only receive your donation money when and if you reach your goal, or a “keep it all” campaign, where your donation money is available as soon as a donor sends it.

Although would-be users of Kickstarter, the largest crowdfunding site, must live in the US or UK to accept donations through the service, there are now TONS of crowdfunding platforms available to international authors with international audiences, including IndieGoGo and RocketHub.

So you have a great idea for your next book, and want to use a crowdfunding platform to fund your research, marketing, supplies, or time spent. How do you get the most out of your campaign? There are a lot of factors to consider when designing your campaign to succeed, but there is no one right funding goal, one right video pitch, or one right way to do it. The most important part of planning your campaign is tailor-fitting it to your needs.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Make your page personal. Your fans aren’t just supporting the book they want to read—they’re hiring you to write it. The more you let your writing style, sense of humor, interests, and influences show, the more your potential backers will have to go on.

2. Represent your project in an exciting and personal way—this probably means making a video. If you don’t have a $7,000 camera or a film degree, don’t panic. Bear in mind that your video doesn’t need to be—in fact shouldn’t be—extremely long: think TV ad or at longest movie trailer. If you know someone with a great video camera or a professional editing software program, by all means ask them for help (and be sure to offer to credit them on your page or in your video). But if you don’t, remember, the most important thing is that your audience can hear you, see you, and understand why your project is so fantastic. Have some preliminary sketches of the main character in your children’s novel? Include them. Have a wonderful love story to tell? Let your readers know why it’s so beautiful. Spend some time watching others’ pitch videos, and make some decisions about which techniques will work for you and which won’t. Remember, you’re a writer—you already have a huge advantage–so use it and create a concise, authentic message to your potential donors. Also a soundtrack (legally obtained and used) doesn’t hurt.

3. Set a reasonable funding target, and specify good reasons for it. Your campaign is likely to get more attention if you reach your goal—not to mention the fact that if you choose an “all or nothing” funding model, reaching your goal will be the only way to get your donations! So figure out what you’ll need, and stick to that number—you can always create a new campaign for your next book.

You should also tell your audience what the money’s for. Explain what your donors’ hard-earned cash will be covering—a fact-finding expedition, a professional cover design, a truck of Red Bulls for the all-nighters you’ll be pulling? No need to go into the brand of coffee you’ll be buying, but an accurate description will make your audience more interested in backing your project.

4. Make your thank you gifts worth donating for. (Alternatively called “perks” or “goods,” these are incentives you send to donors in exchange for support.) For having some faith early on, give your audience a little extra love. Writing a book about Canadian military history? Make your grand prize a guided tour of an important military site with the author. Writing a graphic novel about vampires? Offer donors a desktop wallpaper download or framed poster. Writing a book of comedic poetry? Offer to write a limerick on your donor’s Facebook wall. You get the idea. The author of this children’s book offered to read his top donor a bedtime story.

5. Don’t stop looking for your audience. Obviously you’re going to be reaching out through facebook, twitter, and your author site, but it pays to put some thought into where else you can find your audience. What sites do they visit, what bloggers do they follow, and how are you going to be able to get their attention? If you have a mailing list, send out a friendly email notification to your readers directing them to your crowdfund page.

6. Be aware of your legal commitments and follow-through on what you promised to deliver to your donors. They deserve it.

To read more about useful crowdfunding techniques, check out Anna Maguire’s Crowdfund It! or Thomas Elliott Young’s The Everything Guide to Crowdfunding.

Filed Under: The Business of Writing, Uncategorized Tagged With: Crowdfunding, The Business of Writing

How turning eBooks into audiobooks can help increase your readership

March 18, 2013 By Kobo Writer 4 Comments

By Lindsay Buroker

As an independent author (okay, as any kind of author), it’s a struggle to get noticed. You’ve written a wonderful book, but how do you get the word out? How do you “build a platform,” “turn yourself into a brand,” and [insert other appropriate catch-phrase here]?

I’ve been self-publishing, in particular e-publishing, my books for a little over two years now, probably not a long enough time to claim any vast expertise, but I have been making a living from my work for the last year. I have seven novels and several shorter works out and sell about 3,000 ebooks a month. In other words, I’m not a huge bestseller (I believe the industry term is “mid-list author”), but as an indie, those numbers aren’t too shabby since you keep a much higher percentage of earnings than you do when you’re traditionally published.

What’s my strategy? It’s been a combination of giving away some of my work for free and of trying to have it available everywhere. You know, in an evil-genius take-over-the-world kind of way. In addition to having my free ebook available at Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords, Apple, Scribd, Wattpad, Feedbooks, and other stores and writer hangouts I’ve forgotten, I also have free audiobooks out there as “podcasts” (meaning people can subscribe to the book at iTunes or Podiobooks and listen to the episodes one chapter at a time). As of last autumn, people can also purchase the audiobooks at Audible, but I’ve kept the free versions out there to help bring people into my world.

If you’ve ever thought of turning your book into an audiobook, here are a couple of reasons why I’m a fan of the practice:

1. There’s less competition in iTunes and at Podiobooks, so it’s easier to “be found.”

I’m not going to lie: creating a high-quality audio version of your book will either take a lot of time or a good chunk of money. I’d dabbled with podcasting and knew I didn’t want to spend the required time on narration and editing (I’ve heard it can take a new narrator ten hours of work for everyone one hour of finished audio that comes out). I decided to hire the folks at Darkfire Productions to handle my books. They are a small and fairly affordable outfit, but they still had a number of voice talents to select from. They suggested Starla Huchton, and I thought, yup, that’s my Amaranthe (Amaranthe is the heroine and main point of view character in my Emperor’s Edge books). And she does a good job with my male aristocratic dandy, Maldynado, too!

In addition to narration and editing, DP handles the file uploading for me, as well as the contracts with Audible. Some indies may wish to keep more control over these things, but I’ve found it great not to have to worry about them.

For authors on a tighter budget, or for those who simply enjoy the thought of narrating their own books (Nathan Lowell did his whole series this way and built up a huge fan base before he ever released his first ebook), you can check out Podcasting for Dummies or another “getting started” book. Everything that’s true for podcasting will apply for audiobooks. You can get a decent equipment setup for a couple hundred dollars, and then it’s just a matter of finding time and a quiet place in the house (I’ve heard of numerous podcasters who record from the closet!).

2. You reach an audience who might otherwise never have heard of you

The world is full of people who don’t have a lot of time to read but who do spend numerous hours a week commuting to their job, working with their hands, exercising at the gym, or perhaps even walking the dog. Those are activities that are tough to do while holding a book but that are perfectly suited for listening to something in the background. I know because I’m one of those people. I listen to 5-10 podcast episodes a week, and I’m usually listening to an audiobook too. When I think back over recent books I’ve finished, four out of five of them have been in audio form.

These busy people might not spend a lot of time digging through Amazon for new books (and when they do, they’re more likely to stumble across bestsellers, not obscure new indie authors in a very crowded marketplace), but they may love your story, if they simply have a chance to find it. As audio fans, they might browse at Podiobooks or iTunes (sites with, as we mentioned, fewer options in any given genre) and find your work if its there.

3. But do “podiobook” listeners become book buyers?

You might be thinking, but what’s the point of courting these readers if they don’t buy books? First off, I think you’ll find that there’s some crossover (I’ve had people email, saying they’ve enjoyed the EE audiobooks, but since I write and publish ebooks faster than the audiobooks are produced, these folks have gone on to purchase the later ebooks in the series). Even if some listeners never buy anything, they can become an active part of your fan community, recommending the books to friends, some of whom will buy them.

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll also find that there are ways to get professional quality podiobooks into Audible, where you can charge people for complete forever-theirs versions. I haven’t made a fortune that way yet, but I am making some money, and every bit helps when you’re looking to make a career as an author. In addition to helping you increase your fan base, audiobooks can be one more way that you can add to your author income.

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Lindsay Buroker is a successful self-published author with a background in blogging, search engine optimization and internet marketing, among other talents. You can find her at her own website or on Facebook, and don’t forget to check out Emperor’s Edge and her other books on Kobo!

Filed Under: Self-Promotion, Self-Publishing, The Business of Writing Tagged With: self-promotion, self-publishing

IndieReCon post: 7 worst mistakes indie authors make

March 15, 2013 By Kobo Writer 1 Comment

This past February was I ndieReCon, an online convention for self-publishers. Every hour, eight hours a day, for three days, industry professionals of all stripes posted articles, vblogs, and hosted live chats. There were also great giveaways and prizes to be won! It’s generated a wealth of information, and the following is an excerpt/summary of one of the fantastic articles that was posted.

Be sure to click through for the full article, and register for IndieReCon when it rolls around next year!

7 Worst Mistakes Indie Authors Make by Joanna Penn

To be an independent author means taking your book project seriously. But most of us haven’t been in publishing for our whole careers, so it’s inevitable that we make mistakes along the way.

Mistakes aren’t bad either. They are the human way to improve and learn. But it helps if we can help each other!

I’m not perfect and I continue to learn along the writer’s journey but here are the worst mistakes I have made and seen others doing too. I’d love to hear from you in the comments about your mistakes as by sharing, we can all improve together.

Not spending enough time learning about you, your book and your audience
Not getting a professional editor
Not getting professional book cover design
Doing a large print run without having a distribution deal
Paying way too much for services you can do yourself with a little education
Doing no marketing at all, or getting shiny object syndrome
Focusing everything into one book

For the whole article and more details, read the whole article here!

Filed Under: Self-Promotion, Self-Publishing, The Business of Writing, Tips Tagged With: cover design, self-promotion, self-publishing, tips

6 tips for marketing your book online

March 13, 2013 By Kobo Writer 2 Comments

by Rob Tucker, Co-founder at ReadWave

In the current publishing climate, writers (whether published or self-published) are increasingly responsible for their own marketing. For the last four years I’ve been running an online digital publishing platform which we’ve recently rebranded as ReadWave,that aims to help writers build up a readership online. During that time I’ve had access to a lot of data on what people read online, when they read, and most importantly, why some writers are successful in getting readers and others aren’t. Here are some of the key insights that I’ve learned over the last four years, which hopefully will help you plan a marketing strategy for your writing.

1) The Importance of Short Stories (even for novelists)

Even if your eventual goal is to sell your novel, start by writing some great short stories and hosting them as free giveaways online. If you’re not yet a well-known author, then readers are 300 times more likely to read a short story of yours rather than the first chapter of a novel. When it comes to online reading, try to keep your stories under 1,500 words as these get by far the most traction.

2) The Limitations of Personal Websites
When most writers decide to market their writing, they usually start by building their own website. If you decide to make your own website the centre of your marketing campaign you’re going to come up against some fairly large problems. Not only is getting people to visit your website extremely difficult, but normally people visiting your site will look around for a few minutes and then leave, never coming back again. You need to RETAIN your visitors and keep them coming back again and again. One solution would be to put a newsletter sign up form on your website (I would recommend MailChimp if you decide to go for this route) but you might be disappointed with the result – getting newsletter sign ups is hard. A better option is to make one of your social networks the centre of your marketing campaign; that means your Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads or ReadWave page. If you decide to make your Facebook page the centre of your marketing campaign then have a go at building your website on Facebook itself using the Static HTML app. There are plenty of guides on how to do this yourself if you’re a bit tech-savvy (it might be easier than you think!), otherwise hire a pro. You can even set it up so that readers get a free giveaway if they “like” your Facebook page. This will be much more effective than driving traffic to your personal website.

3) Building a Mailing List
Every writer needs a database of the names and email addresses of their grassroots supporters, and whether you’ve written anything new this month or not, you need to keep those supporters engaged every month through newsletters. Really you should put the same time and effort into writing your newsletters as you do in writing your stories. Building a mailing list is difficult, there’s no doubt about it. After speaking to lots of writers, we decided to make newsletters a built-in feature at ReadWave since at the moment there are almost no services that are specifically geared towards helping writers get more sign-ups. A word of warning though, beginners at email marketing tend to get a bit scared by sending out thousands of emails in one go and compensate for this by being stiff, or even worse, sounding corporate. If you do this, people will very quickly unsubscribe. It’s better to send out no newsletter than a bad newsletter. Be funny and easy to approach in your newsletters. Think of it as a chance to build a positive brand around yourself, rather than to sell, sell, sell.

4) A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
When it comes to digital content, pictures really are key. Readers are more than five times more likely to start reading stories with interesting pictures than those without. It’s also worth noting that the peak time for online reading is mid-week when people are bored at work. This means that readers don’t want to be seriously engaged with your magnum opus, they just want to flick through something that is quick and easy to read whilst their boss isn’t looking. Think about your online and offline content as two fundamentally different things; online content is very much about surface values. Readers won’t have a lot of time to ponder the hidden depths of your story.

5) Embedding and Linking

The more times a link to your story appears online the better your Google ranking will be, so you should openly share the link to your free online content in as many places as possible. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are a no-brainer, but try to be more creative, think of other blogs and online communities where you might share your link. At ReadWave we’re building an embedding service to help out with this, which means that you can post your story onto blogs and other websites in exactly the same way that you can post a YouTube video. If you’re approaching bloggers to try to get them to post up your story then take the time to actually get to know them, read their blogs, write some comments on their previous blog entries, sign up to their mailing list. Online marketing operates on a favor for favors system, so be generous and you shall receive.

6) Self-promote
Finally I just wish to comment on a strange writer’s affliction that I’ve noticed time and time again whilst running ReadWave. Whereas musicians and artists have no problem shamelessly promoting themselves, the majority of writers tend to be fairly conservative about getting their name out there, as though marketing is too vulgar for them. Often it’s simply a lack of confidence. Whether it’s a colleague; a friend of friend; or just a stranger that you got chatting to, every single person you’ve ever met or will ever meet is potentially a part of your fanbase. This is how marketers think and, without being pushy about it, you should try to embrace that philosophy as much as you can. Don’t be shy.
Best of luck to you all in building your readership, and if you have any questions you can contact me at:

rob[at]readwave[dot]com
Join us on Facebook

@readwave

Filed Under: Self-Promotion, The Business of Writing

The things I wish some pro had told me

March 12, 2013 By Kobo Writer Leave a Comment

By Kevin J. Anderson

When I was starting out as an aspiring writer, I tried to figure out the business, but I felt like an explorer stranded in a strange land where I didn’t speak the native language. I read Writer’s Digest every month, I took creative writing classes (which were usually taught by professors with few, if any, writing credentials), I went to the library to read Publishers’ Weekly. I gathered a group of fellow writers who shared discoveries with one another (made with great effort and often after many mistakes). I learned by taking two steps forward, one step back, two steps sideways. I figured it out, little by little.

Now that I’ve become a very successful writer, with over 120 books published in 30 languages, I spend a lot of time giving talks with my wife, bestselling author Rebecca Moesta, lecturing at writers’ conferences and at science fiction conventions, a talk we call “Things I Wish Some Pro Had Told Me When I Was Starting out.” They’re popular events, often standing-room-only.

But that isn’t enough to cover the material. Finally, four years ago, five of us bestselling writers decided to put together a more extended, intensive three-day workshop, the Superstars Writing Seminar, to go over all the nuts-and-bolts business and career advice that serious writers need to know. Rebeccca and I, along with Brandon Sanderson, Eric Flint, and David Farland, created a curriculum that covers Economics of Commercial Publishing ; How Editors Look at Manuscripts, Novels, and Short Fiction; Dissecting a Book Contract; How to Read and Understand a Royalty Statement; Dirty Secrets: What You Need to Know About Being a Professional Author; How to Leverage Your Intellectual Property; Balancing Acts: Writing World and Real World; Agents , Networking and Self-Promotion for Authors; Understanding E-Books  and Indy Publishing; Pitching the Big Proposal ; Two Heads Are Better than One: Collaborations ; How to Get an Edge with New Media and Social Networking; Movies, TV, and Authors; and How to Increase Your Writing Productivity.

Superstars Writing Seminars have been held in Pasadena, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and the upcoming event (May 14–16) will be in Colorado Springs. In addition to the five original bestselling authors, our instructors have included Hollywood producers and scriptwriters, mega-hit authors Sherrilyn Kenyon and Tracy Hickman, comics writer Howard Tayler. This year’s guest speakers include Baen Books editor Jim Minz, bestselling romance author Joan Johnston, and Kobo Writing Life’s own Mark Lefebvre, to reflect a growing emphasis on eBook and indy publishing.

This is exactly the sort of thing I was desperate for when I was starting out as a new author. I didn’t want a creative writing class, not a critique group, but something that could de-mystify the industry for me. We hope you can join us.

Check out some of Kevin J. Anderson’s books on Kobo!

Or just check out all of them!

Filed Under: Promotion/Event, Self-Publishing, The Business of Writing Tagged With: Event, self-publishing

What to look for in a book cover designer

March 6, 2013 By Kobo Writer Leave a Comment

By Scarlett Ruger

Finding the right book cover designer for you is not as painful as you think, I promise. Let’s imagine finding your designer is like finding the right book. Among its competition you can’t tell much, so you have to pick the book up and check it out to see if it’s right for you or not.

Here are a few things to keep in mind in choosing a desiger:

1: The folio of work (aka the book cover)

When scouting for book cover designers the first thing you should check out is their work. You must see past work in order to make a judgment call, even if the designer was recommended by someone you trust or you’ve come by them through research. Get in touch with the designer and request some samples, and if possible samples specific to what you need. If you write romance, get them to send over any work they’ve done in the romance genre.

If they don’t have anything to supply, go somewhere else. You do not have to just trust someone will do the work; you’re allowed to have confidence in your decision.

2: Experience (aka: the blurb)

So you’ve found someone who has a folio of work, huzzah! So the next step is finding out their experience.

If you are in love with the work of one designer, but all they’ve done are brochures and posters, then consider what that means for you. Posters and brochures and websites aren’t book covers. Book covers have a message, they’re multi-layered concepts, they tell your story. Find out how long the designer has been in the industry, if they have the skills you need, and again, if it’s not immediately apparent then ask.

3: Communication (aka: The story)

I’ve assigned communication as the main point when it comes to looking for a book cover designer. Why is this?

Well you just can’t deny it, the internet has made working internationally incredibly easy. This also means that the majority of your communication to your publishing team (editors, formatters, designers) will be through email. Lines can easily get crossed, or lost. Without a constant stream of communication your attempts at getting a book cover design can be chaotic and stuttered.

I make it a point to be in constant contact with all the authors I work with. I try and touch base with them every 24-48 hours so they know I’m here, they’re my priority, and if there’s been a misunderstanding on time frames we can clarify it quickly.

So how do you know if your designer is good at communication?

Firstly, take note of their website.

Is their website full of information, where to access them, and do they have testimonials? If a website is well-written and I get all the information I need up front that’s always a really good indication the designer is a good communicator. It means they know what their audience wants and they supply it straight away. If there is only a brief amount of info and they want me to contact them get more, I’m usually deterred.

That’s not to say these designers aren’t good at communicating, but it’s important to make the process as easy as possible for the author.

Secondly, it’s all about their responsiveness. When you do get in touch with them are they quick, delayed, have they understood what you wanted, do they seem to be missing things you’ve mentioned? These sorts of things you can usually pick up in the first 2-3 emails.

And if none of that works for you?

And my final piece of advice, which really overrides everything I’ve said, is to go with your gut. Authors are gut-instinct people. You know if it feels right or not, and if it doesn’t you’re not obligated to go ahead with it. If friends tell you, “Oh! But seriously they’re THE BEST,” let it go. It’s your book, your baby; you get the final say as to who you go with.

So go out there and start shopping! Make some queries. This part doesn’t have to be serious, or make you anxious, and as I remind my clients: I don’t expect you to know how the book design process works! Your designer shouldn’t either. That’s their job, not yours. Yours is to become that bestselling author you’ve been working your ass off to be!

*********************

Scarlett Rugers’ job is a book cover designer and a Publishing Identity Consultant. Her purpose is to empower you to be the best author you can be, and collaborate with you to improve the quality of the book industry. She is constantly working to inspire, strengthen and pursue the perception that self-publishing is professional publishing.

For an experience that will make you feel traditionally published you can email her at: contact (at) scarlettrugers (dot) com or visit her website and see her work. She is also on twitter at @thebookdesignr.

Scarlett Rugers is also offering a 10% discount on her design services to all Kobo Writing Life authors! Visit her site for further information about her services.”

Filed Under: Cover Design, The Business of Writing Tagged With: cover design, tips

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