Category Archives: Marketing books

Why you need both CreateSpace and IngramSpark…

Here’s a post on POD printing options from Build Book Buzz featured on The Story Reading Ape. This post provides reasons why my decision to go with Ingram first rather than CreateSpace in publishing a print version of King of the Roses (and eventually Blood Lies) was a sound one. Follow my series on my “Crazy Journey” through the Ingram process: it doesn’t look all that crazy when seen through the eyes of book-marketing expert Amy Collins!

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Extract of an article by Author Amy Collins in Build Book Buzz:

I have been asked one question more than any other: “Do I need IngramSpark if I have CreateSpace?”

I know it’s tempting to avoid the extra expense and hassle of taking on a second print on demand (POD) provider, but I want to take a moment and share some of the experiences we’ve had at New Shelves Books with our POD work. I hope these statements help you determine if you need one or both.

So . . . do you need both?

See the full article (and read the comments already there) by clicking the link, or Amy’s photo below:

Why you need both CreateSpace and IngramSpark

Amy-Collins-Photo-240x300

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Filed under Blood Lies, business of writing, indie publishing, King of the Roses, Marketing books, Money issues for writers, Print on Demand for fiction writers, Publishing, Self-publishing, Writing, writing novels

All About Google+ For Writers | Savvy Book Writers

It looks as if it’s time to get serious about Google+. Let me know of your experiences with this platform. What do you find works best?

Christoph Fischer's avatarwriterchristophfischer

More than 625,000 People join Google+ EVERY DAY, according to Digital Buzz and Huffington Post statistics.  Before I even joined Twitter, GooglePlus (Google+) was my first Social Media network of c…

Source: All About Google+ For Writers | Savvy Book Writers

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Filed under blogging, business of writing, ebooks publishing and selling, indie publishing, Marketing books, Print on Demand for fiction writers, Self-publishing, Tech tips for writers, Writing, writing novels

The art of the hand-sell

King of the Roses POD edition coverNow that I have a print edition, I need tips like these! Let me know your strategies for “hand-selling.” I need help!

If you want to sell books at an event, you’ll have to master the art of the hand-sell. It all starts with a smile.

Source: The art of the hand-sell

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Filed under business of writing, indie publishing, King of the Roses, Marketing books, Print on Demand for fiction writers, Self-publishing, Writing, writing novels

Opinion: To Tweet or Not to Tweet? Does Twitter Worthwhile for Self-published Authors?

I’ve heard varied reports on using Twitter to promote books. Is Anna’s process the best to follow? How do you use Twitter?

Swedish indie author Anna Belfrage reports on her trial to see whether Twitter can sell self-published books and queries whether the return justifies the

Source: Opinion: To Tweet or Not to Tweet? Does Twitter Worthwhile for Self-published Authors?

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Filed under business of writing, ebooks publishing and selling, indie publishing, Marketing books, Print on Demand for fiction writers, Self-publishing, Writing, writing novels

How do readers discover #books #infographic

Do you fit this profile? Where do you hear about the books you end up buying and liking?

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Filed under business of writing, ebooks publishing and selling, Goodreads, indie publishing, Marketing books, Self-publishing, Writing, writing novels

Step By Step Instructions for Promotion of your Book with Twitter Ads

You may want to partake of this comprehensive advice on how to run and manage Twitter Ads.

Joshua Edward Smith's avataralfageeek

I’ve written a couple posts about Twitter Ads now, and most of the feedback I’ve gotten has been: SLOW DOWN! People want a step-by-step on how to (hopefully) reproduce the success I’ve had with Twitter Ads. And I’m the kind of fella who gives the people what they want! (Occasionally, if I feel like it.) There are roughly a zillion steps, so I’m going to do this in a bunch of blog posts.

Before we begin, I need you to take a minute and count how many books you’ve written. I’ll wait. (doo-be-doo-be-doo…) Back? What’d you come up with? Is it one book? If so, then I’ll wait while you go finish the next book. Because what we’re going to do is run a break even advertising campaign. It isn’t going to cost you any money in the end, but you aren’t going to make any money either. This…

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Filed under business of writing, ebooks publishing and selling, indie publishing, Marketing books, Money issues for writers, Self-publishing, Writing, writing novels

Advertising/Marketing for Indie Authors

Brittney Sahin often shares her experiences as a savvy Indie author. This post has lots of good marketing information.

brittneysahin's avatarbrittneysahin

Up until a few weeks ago I was paying $50 to have Facebook ads/banners created. I am not great at graphic design, so I didn’t think I’d be capable of creating my own. But when I saw how much I could purchase images from shutterstock.com (5/$50), I decided I needed to create ads/banners/teasers on my own.

This information is probably old news to most, but if I can even help 1 person I’d love to share what I have learned. After a lot of research I discovered canva.com. This website is amazing. The price for each ad/banner/design is between $0-1. Hmm. Free/$1 or the $50 I was spending before–not a tough decision. I can create so many different ads/banners/teasers.

I spent a lot of time playing around with it, and I am still learning, but here are a few sample ads/banners/teasers I have created. Just note- be careful for the ratio of text to image for Facebook…

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April 27, 2016 · 10:06 am

A Good Review on Basics: Avoiding Writing Scams

This piece from Just Publishing AdviceBlue computer distills some important basic considerations to attend to for those of us trying to learn the book-publishing and marketing process. I get “requests” to submit manuscripts quite often and have usually wondered who it is that’s so desperate to see my work when traditional agents turn down hundreds of submissions each week. This article helps to put the situation in perspective.

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Filed under business of writing, ebooks publishing and selling, indie publishing, Marketing books, Money issues for writers, Myths and Truths for writers, Print on Demand for fiction writers, Publishing, Self-publishing, Writing, writing novels, writing scams

A Serious Question about Goodreads Giveaways

Writer with questionsWhile there seem to be many “advisors” out there telling me that Goodreads Giveaways is a path to selling books, I’ve been reading an awful lot of negatives from people who’ve actually run them. Has ANYBODY who has actually run one found it to be a route to selling books? If so, please share your real-life positive experiences and explain to us how you made the process work. Ideally, I’d like to know if this can be a good route to more sales from people who do NOT already have strong or established platforms. Thanks!

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Filed under business of writing, Free Books, Goodreads, indie publishing, Marketing books, Myths and Truths for writers, Print on Demand for fiction writers, Self-publishing, Writing, writing novels

A Great Site on Increasing Blog Traffic. World, Look Out!

Image of earth planet on hand

I enjoy creating new content, but I’m looking forward to widening my range and sharing more. This site, Torque, has great advice and tools for effective blogging.

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Filed under blogging, business of writing, indie publishing, Marketing books, Myths and Truths for writers, Self-publishing