Podcast: Promote your book at writing conferences

Promote your book at writing conferences

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an era where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.


Podcast: Tips to ensure a successful book reading/signing

Tips to ensure a successful book reading

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an era where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.


Podcast: Why you need to market your book

Why you need to market your book

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an era where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.


Expand your reach with Goodreads giveaway

Perhaps the Goodreads best way to promote your book on Goodreads is to host a book giveaway.

In a giveaway, readers enter a contest for the right to receive a free copy of your book. Goodreads randomly selects a winner from the entrants, and you then mail a copy of your paperback (ebooks don’t qualify for giveaways) to the winner. A special page is set up on Goodreads in which readers can browse all of the books in giveaways, and also you can notify all of your friends about the contest.

The idea of the giveaway is to get Goodreads users to mark your book as a “to-read.” This marking then is sent out to all of those users’ friends as “notifications.” So if 10 people mark your book as “to read” and they each have 100 friends, then at least the title of your book and a link to its Goodreads page has reached 1000 people. The cost to you is very little – the price of a paperback (which you probably purchased at a reduced cost via CreateSpace) and shipping, or about $10. That’s a penny per person reached…and you probably will have far more people mark your book as “to read” and each them on average probably have more than 100 friends.

Do giveaways translate into sales, though? After all, if readers have a chance to obtain your book for free, why would they ever bother to buy it?

The answer is yes, you will receive more sales in the long run. Some people who didn’t win your book will purchase it after the giveaway is over. More importantly, you got readers to look at your title and hopefully other books you’ve written, which will lead to sales.

I’ve found that I need to reach about 1000 people about a title to make a single sale of my hiking guidebooks. Of course, this average differs for each author and genre and changes significantly based on the season (about 500 reaches nets a sale for me in spring, early autumn, and before Christmas but 1500-2000 reaches are needed in January when no one is hiking and paying their holiday bills).

Based on my personal experiments with Goodreads giveaways during the past five years, as well as anecdotal evidence from other authors who’ve done the same with other genres, I recommend a few guidelines for running an optimal giveaway:
One copy is good enough to give away – Giving away two or three or even ten copies doesn’t significantly increase the number of people who will mark your book as “to read,” but it will raise your postage costs.
Pen a compelling blurb – The giveaway description should not be a copy of the book’s synopsis (which is available at the book’s landing page) but a pitch for why readers should want your book, written as if it were a review. Listing awards and if the title has topped a bestsellers list definitely help on previously released books.
Increase “to reads” by offering a bonus – Readers are more likely to want a book if there’s something setting it apart from all other copies. Two “bonuses” particularly are effective: tell readers you will give away an “autographed copy” or announce that it’s an “advance readers’ copy.”
End the giveaway on a date when few others are doing so – If other authors end their giveaway on Friday, go for Thursday. This will help you move to the top of that Goodreads browsing page for giveaways by decreasing the amount of competition.
Extend your giveaway to beyond your home country – If you live in the United States, opening up the contest to readers in other countries (Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia in particular) greatly expands your reach. If your book is sold on Amazon.com in those countries, then you can purchase it from that site and send it from the printing plant in country as a gift to the winner to keep your costs down.
Run short giveaways – Two or three days is long enough. That’s because with a two to three-day giveaway, Goodreads will put you high on two popular lists, specifically those for “new giveaways” and “giveaways ending soon” at the same time, which usually nets more “to reads.”
Connect with those who’ve marked your book as a “to read” – These are potential buyers of your books because they’re interested in your genre or topic. Invite them to be your friend; it’s like adding another email to your marketing list. Interact with them on boards and with reviews of books you’ve both like or have reviewed.
Send the book to the winner immediately – When winners wait weeks to receive their book, they get cranky. Some will take it out on you by giving you a one-star review and noting that you never received the book. Abide by this simple rule: When the winner is announced, mail the book within 24 hours.

Addendum: In late 2017, Goodreads began charging for giveaways. This article was written and originally published about a year before then. While the same tips still apply for running giveaways, you'll need to weigh the cost of running one against the buzz that it generates. In my personal experience, if you have a solid author's platform with plenty of followers, an extensive email list, and other books already published, the giveaway can be worth the expense. If you're a new author starting out, though, the giveaway's return on investment usually isn't worth it, as there are many other free ways to generate a following that results in book sales.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.


Aim for high production quality of YouTube video

Potential buyers Pexels-freestocksorg-34407of your books or related services increasingly look for information on YouTube rather than via a traditional search engine, such as Google. Because of that, you want to post videos on YouTube to promote your titles or business. Among the elements to consider when posting there is the production quality of your video.

The lower the quality of your video – such as being fuzzy or pixelated – the less likely viewers will be to watch it. That probably means they’ll move on to someone else’s video, resulting in a lost sale or client.

To a degree, the quality of the video depends upon the video player that the viewer uses. The element you can control, however, is the quality of the video you uploaded.

You can upload the highest quality video possible by:
Using the right hardware – A high definition camera with zoom capability and that supports an SD card (to expand your memory capacity) is best. You may need a tripod to ensure stability. All of this is far less expensive than you might imagine, especially if you watch for sales.
Ensuring you have good lighting – Well-lit videos look far more professional than one that is poorly lit. For indoor shooting, halogen lamps offer an inexpensive solution; if outside, aim for a barely cloudy day to diffuse sunlight while still offering some blue sky.
Recording the video in high definition – High definition is a minimum screen resolution of 1280 x 760. The ideal screen resolution is 1920 x 1080. Never use standard definition (such as 240p or 360p). Also, maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio for the video.
Avoiding sound issues – When indoors, eliminate background noises by turning off the radio, television, appliances such as the dishwasher and washing machine/dryer, and all phones, and don’t flush toilets or turn on/off water taps. Don’t record outside on windy days as the mic picks up the whooshing sound.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



4 Tips for Pricing Your Book Profitably

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How to determine your paperback's price 
How to determine your ebook's price 
Try pulse-pricing to boost book sales
Do I need to buy a barcode when self-publishing? 
• BONUS: “Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything good.” 

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



How To Write An Author's Bio

Authors Bio

How to Market Your Book:
7 Minutes a Day to Promoting Your Book shows how to develop a strategy that will get articles about your self-published book in newspapers, magazines, on radio and television programs, posted on blogs, and linked to on websites, while landing you book signings and readings, all at virtually no cost.



Pages Authors Should Have On Their Website

Parts of a Website

How to Market Your Book:
7 Minutes a Day to Promoting Your Book shows how to develop a strategy that will get articles about your self-published book in newspapers, magazines, on radio and television programs, posted on blogs, and linked to on websites, while landing you book signings and readings, all at virtually no cost.



6 Ways to Repurpose Your Writing

Parts of a Webpage

Professional Book Editor:
Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



6 Ways Authors can Brainstorm Ideas for a Video

Brainstorm ideas for a Video

Professional Book Editor:
Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.