Monthly Archives: April 2014

Apr 13 2014

How to Draw Gold, Silver, Brass…

Colors Gold

COLORS

Whether you’re designing a book cover or creating an illustration for a blog post, you’re likely to run into the challenges of creating a very specific color.

For example, if you want to draw gold and silver, these colors aren’t easy to find on many software programs, such as Microsoft Word.

With the convenience of the computer, however, there are numerical methods of creating specific colors.

Two popular color schemes are RGB (red, green, blue) and web colors. If you’re working with Microsoft Word, you can create a specific color by entering the RGB values (click More Colors at the bottom of any of Word’s color palette’s to find this option). When designing on a website, web colors are more common (a 6-digit letter/number combination following the # symbol).

It’s easy to find the RGB and web values for many colors, even gold and silver. Here are a few examples:

  • Gold: R 212, G 175, B 55, web #D4AF37.
  • Silver: R 192, G 192, B 192, web #C0C0C0.
  • Brass: R 181, G 166, B 66, web #B5A642.
  • Chrome: R 227, G 222, B 219, web #E3DEDB.
  • Sapphire: R 15, G 82, B 186, web #0F52BA.
  • Ruby: R 212, G 175, B 55, #D10056.
  • Emerald: R 80, G 200, B 120, web #50C878.
  • Rose: R 255, G 0, B 127, web #FF007F.

You can find several tables of standard (and non-standard) web colors online. For example:

In some cases, it’s better to stick to standard colors when viable.

For example, if you’re creating an illustration that will be viewed on a device that can only produce 16 different colors, you’re better off using just those 16 standard colors (as any other color is apt to change).

Note that in Word 2007 and up, many of the colors on the palette are not standard, including a few rather common colors, like blue.

When printing in color, note that colors often appear much brighter on a color monitor and much darker in print. It’s wise to make several test prints to a deskjet printer (if you don’t have access to the same printer that will be used for the final image, as is the case with print-on-demand publishing, a deskjet can still offer some indication) to test the colors as you design your image. It’s very common for the designer to be shocked and frustrated after the art is complete, to see how much darker it appears in print. (If you’re making a book, you want to use regular paper and standard settings; using glossy photostock isn’t representative.)

Non-standard colors may be harder to reproduce than standard colors.

Copyright (c) 2014

Chris McMullen, Author of the Improve Your Math Fluency series of workbook and self-publishing guides

Apr 13 2014

Author Central Description Reverting to KDP when Republishing

Blurb Formatting

Blurb Formatting

The image with this post shows that your Amazon description can include blank lines, boldface, and bullets. It can also include italics and numbered lists.

One way to do this is by formatting your book’s blurb through Author Central:

Not only does Author Central allow you to edit and format your Amazon product description, but it also provides a preview of what to expect—a feature that Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) doesn’t offer.

Republishing Issues

It used to be that once you edited your book’s description at Author Central, it would become the only means of revising it in the future.

However, this has changed recently, and it’s causing some problems with Kindle e-books.

Presently, if you republish a Kindle e-book at KDP, the product description automatically reverts to whatever is entered at KDP.

So what’s the problem?

Suppose you just want to do something simple, like change your Kindle list price. You have to go into step 2 of the publishing process and “publish” your e-book again. When the price change takes effect (usually in about 12 hours for the US site), the formatting changes with it. That is, your Author Central formatting is stripped and replaced with your original plain KDP formatting.

If you’re just changing your price, it may not even occur to you that your description could change, too.

(At this time, CreateSpace paperbacks do not seem to be affected. However, it may be worth checking this, just in case things change.)

Solution

Before you republish a Kindle e-book, do the following:

  1. Visit Author Central.
  2. Find your book. Be sure to select the Kindle edition.
  3. Click the button to edit the product description.
  4. Click the HTML option.
  5. Copy and paste all of the code into Notepad.
  6. Save this file.

After you republish your Kindle e-book:

  1. Wait for the book to go live. (KDP usually sends an email.)
  2. Return to Author Central.
  3. Open the HTML version of your Kindle book blurb.
  4. If you see the old version there, replace it with the HTML that you saved in Notepad.
  5. Check several hours later to see if it took effect.
  6. Remember to check Amazon UK, too.

Rarely, you can get locked out of your Author Central description. This has happened once to me, and a simple email to Author Central resolved the issue.

Side Note

The best place to format the book description for CreateSpace paperbacks is at CreateSpace.

Why? Because if you use basic HTML at CreateSpace, the formatting will carry over to your eStore, BN.com, and some of the other online retailers that may pick up your book through the Expanded Distribution channel.

If you want to see an example of a CreateSpace paperback with HTML formatting in the Barnes & Noble product description, click here (then scroll down).

You don’t need to know HTML: Simply copy/paste the HTML from your Author Central description into your CreateSpace description. Be sure to remove the space from the <br /> tag, as CreateSpace and Author Central are inconsistent with this.

Important: After inserting HTML into your CreateSpace description, immediately run over to your eStore to view the description. If there are any problems (like a boldface tag that isn’t closed), you’ll be able to catch it and resolve the problem swiftly.

Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 12 2014

Content is King

Content King

Content Marketing

Suppose you’re a writer who receives a visit from your fairy god-muse. Your fairy god-muse gives you a choice. Would you rather have:

(A) A fantastic cover, everything else just okay.

(B) A killer blurb, everything else just okay.

(C) 100 amazing reviews, everything else just okay.

(D) Incredible content, everything else just okay, and you have to start out with three horrible, gut-wrenching reviews.

I pick option (D). Nobody wants bad reviews, but content is king. If the content truly is incredible, I know all I need to do is get the book into the hands of the target audience and content will take care of everything else. Eventually, sales and good reviews will come.

The other options may do better short-term, but it won’t be lasting success. Option (D) will lead to long-term success and will help to sell other similar books.

Establishing Value

There is only one thing that determines the value of a product to a customer: Content.

Amazing covers tend to attract readers, but they will be disappointed if the content doesn’t live up to their expectations. A killer blurb might help close the deal; good reviews may make you feel better; but if the content doesn’t please the reader, this improves the chances of receiving critical reviews and losing out on valuable word-of-mouth sales.

Suppose you see a new candy bar in the store with an eye-popping wrapper that totally appeals to you. So irresistible! You just have to try it.

Sure, those other candy bars aren’t selling this week because everybody is trying the new one.

But if that new candy bar isn’t better than the others, once this craze ends, everyone will go back to what they prefer.

Packaging can help you reach your target audience.

But only content can establish value.

Customers want quality content.

Achieving Success

Pop quiz! Would you rather:

(A) Have pretty good sales right off the bat, then drop off and scarcely sell again.

(B) Have sales start out very slowly, but steadily grow and continue to sell for decades.

I’m going with (B) here as it has much more potential.

Not only will (B) bring lasting success, but:

  • The continued success of this product will help you sell all your other products.
  • The content must be better in (B), which will help garner valuable recommendations.
  • It may help your taxes not to make all your wealth in the same year, but to spread it over decades.
  • You feel better about producing a product that achieves long-term success.

Fashion Trends

Did you get caught up in the social media frenzy?

Are you keeping up with the latest changes in search engine optimization (SEO)?

Do you invest much time trying to stimulate reviews?

Maybe your time would be better spent creating valuable content:

  • Once you have several quality products on the market, each product will help sell the others.
  • As customers try your products out, word will spread and your brand will be associated with quality.
  • Exceptional content, especially at a good value, is more likely to earn recommendations and reviews naturally.

Content-focused marketing can start out very slowly, but it has amazing potential. It may be worth the wait. It can outlast the current trends.

With quality and value, you just need to get your products into the hands of your target audience and good things will happen much on their own.

Packaging is important, as it helps you attract your target audience.

Marketing is important, as it helps to get your target audience to try your products out.

But content reigns supreme.

Search Engines, Too

A website rich in content geared toward the target audience is a content-oriented way to market your products.

The idea is for the content to attract your target audience. This is successful when much of your website traffic comes from search engines, and when the searches are a good fit for the products you offer.

It can take months for this to show results, but can be a highly effective marketing tool because it’s based on content.

Why are the SEO trends constantly changing? Because the purpose of search engines is to provide the most relevant content to the customer, while businesses with mediocre or lousy content are trying to abuse the search criteria to get their results to show up higher in the results. The search engine companies are wise to this game, and therefore update their criteria in an effort to minimize the abuse (or, in some cases, punish it by driving those sites way down in the search results).

The client using the search engine wants to find valuable, highly relevant content.

The search engines want their clients to be happy, otherwise they will quickly run out of clients. The search engines do want to make $$$ from advertising, too, but they won’t be around long if people aren’t satisfied with the service.

Entrepreneurs (including authorpreneurs) want their websites to show up higher in search results.

If mediocre and irrelevant websites show up high in search results, this is bad for the client and the search engine. So the search engine will make some changes to try to fix this.

Everything is geared toward content. Quality content relevant to the target audience makes the client and the search engine happy.

It used to be all about keywords and categories. Now it’s more about finding keywords in the content. But consider this:

Garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage KEYWORD garbage garbage garbage.

Search engines aim to filter out the garbage and find quality, relevant content. They continue to make great strides to improve this.

Content is king. If the content truly is valuable and relevant, it will thrive in the long run.

Garbage won’t survive. It might try to find the right way to sprinkle signs of content among the garbage to look like quality, but it won’t last.

Don’t worry about garbage. It will eventually take care of itself. Focus on quality content and relevance for your target audience, whether you’re developing a website, writing a series of books, or creating products or services.

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles on publishing and marketing by clicking one of the following links:

Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 11 2014

You know you’re an author when…(HBC)

Just in case you don’t already know… 😉

Ionia Froment's avatarreadful things blog

11550 You stand in line at Barnes & Noble to meet an author you have never even read a book by just to mention “I’m an author too.”

You check only blogs that mention someone selling books, hoping for a tidbit of information on how they are doing it.

You have had at least one serious relationship with a character from your books.

Your mind goes on auto pilot at all meetings and you begin seeing your characters as the other people in the room. Fizzle! Get down from there, this is the school board for goodness sake!

You identify with Poe for more than just his history of drinking.

You identify with Poe because of his history of drinking.

You feel guilty when you are on Facebook unless it directly relates to writing or promotion.

You don’t begrudge the other authors who are ahead of you on the lists any…

View original post 220 more words

Apr 11 2014

Amazon: Experimenting with Review Changes..?

Amazon Review Changes

If you’ve shopped for Kindle e-books recently on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk, you may have noticed some changes to the way that search results are displayed.

Or maybe not. Not all shoppers have been affected.

Apparently, Amazon is testing something out with many customers, but not all customers. That would make sense, actually. Then Amazon would have data for two groups: a control group, shopping like normal, and an experimental group, experiencing the changes.

What’s going on?

This doesn’t apply to everybody. Many customers are observing the following:

The review tally and average star rating are not showing up next to Kindle e-books in search results for many (but not all) customers.

Just to be clear:

  • Reviews are showing, but only on the product page. Normally, you see the total number of reviews and average star rating before reaching the product page, but for those who are experiencing the change, you don’t see any review information until reaching the product page.
  • Print books are not affected. Only Kindle e-books are affected (and only for some customers).
  • Some customers who aren’t seeing the review info in search results were able to switch web browsers (e.g. from Internet Explorer to Mozilla FireFox) and then see the review info. The browser switches haven’t been consistent (e.g. for one person, going from Explorer to FireFox works, but for another, it’s FireFox to Explorer that does the trick). Some customers report that no browser changes resolved the issue.
  • The test applies to shopping for Kindle e-books on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. (There are other ways to shop for Kindle e-books, such as right on the device. Most people shop for Kindle e-books from Amazon’s home page.)

The way we “know” this (of course, only Amazon “knows” for sure) is from various customers (including myself) observing this firsthand, and some authors (this time, myself excluded) contacting Amazon to inquire about this and receiving similar responses.

Will the World End?

Predicting the end of the world doesn’t come with many rewards. Whether you’re right or wrong, either way you seem to lose.

Right now, it’s evidently just a test.

Here is my pure speculation. I don’t have any evidence of the following; I just tried to reach a logical conclusion from what data I have. It might be like watching a news story break out: You hear eight theories for what happened, some of which seem reasonable, and they all turn out to be wrong. But sometimes it’s still fun to play along.

  • Amazon is probably looking at (A) sales data between the control group and experimental group and (B) any impact the changes may have on creating a positive shopping experience.
  • A positive shopping experience may include data on returns, review activity, customer complaints, and average review ratings, for example. Maybe they are also listening to publisher feedback.
  • If the changes lead to (A) increased profit or (B) improved shopping experience without any decrease in profit, it would seem logical for the changes to become permanent.
  • If the changes instead result in a decrease in profit or adversely affect the shopping experience, this will probably be a temporary change and things will soon return to the way they were.
  • It could be a long delay. It might take time for affected customers to get accustomed to the change before they return to their usual buying habits.

What’s going to happen? Would you like to call heads or tails?

I’m interested in the outcome, but I don’t feel strongly one way or the other, either as a customer or as an author.

I sort of like browsing through titles and thumbnails without that review tally in search results. I sort of feel that it may (at least, in principle) encourage authors to worry more about writing and marketing and much less about reviews (but in practice…). I believe there could be a few small benefits. But again, I don’t feel strongly about it. Either way, I won’t lose sleep over this.

Some books may benefit from the changes. Some books may be hurt by the changes. Probably, it will balance out to a large extent. If the changes persist, it probably means that it’s helping more books than it’s hurting.

Sales do fluctuate for all books. So any author whose books are presently on the downward part of a typical fluctuation are presently pulling out their hair. It might be pure coincidence that their sales are down, but if they noticed these review changes, they will surely blame the reviews. But those authors whose books are presently on an upward swing will be thinking that evidently the changes are helping them out. One author isn’t a good statistical sample. Even a handful is not a sufficient indicator.

Personally, I don’t expect things to change much if the changes are here to stay. Right now, you still see the reviews on the product pages, so it’s not like reviews have vanished; you just have to get to the product page before you see them.

Maybe some books that are getting clicked frequently because their ratings are really high won’t be clicked quite as frequently. Maybe some books that aren’t getting clicked as much now because the review ratings are really low will get a few more clicks. Maybe not.

Constant Change

There is only one constant in the publishing business: change.

Several months ago, Amazon eliminated the 4-for-3 program for print books. I expected that to hurt sales, but my paperback sales actually improved significantly after that. Perhaps it’s because Amazon started discounting CreateSpace paperbacks more after discontinuing the 4-for-3 program. Or maybe my sales were about to rise for other factors, such as new releases and marketing. It’s a complicated analysis.

Amazon changed the FREE Super Saver shipping price and the fee for Amazon Prime, but these don’t seem to have affected my sales.

Here are a couple of things to consider:

  • The change is fair because it affects all Kindle e-books. It’s not like they just did it to your e-book, but left all others like they were.
  • People still want to read Kindle e-books. Your book is still available. Customers are still shopping for books.
  • Reviews generally have much less impact than authors realize. Sometimes a negative review improves sales, sometimes a positive review deters sales, very often reviews don’t affect sales at all, and when sales do change, it might very well be because of some other hidden factor and a review just coincidentally showed up at the same time.

Don’t worry. Be happy. Just read and write more books.

You can’t change the change.

It may not change at all.

If it does, don’t sweat it.

There are probably more important things that you should be doing right now than worrying about this. 🙂

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles on publishing and marketing by clicking one of the following links:

Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 9 2014

to Write is to Serve

Serve

Authors write books. A book is a product.

But authorship entails more than just making a product. Authorship is a service.

Ultimately, writers want their work to be read, and therefore they serve an audience. Please the audience and gain more readers.

The first step is for the content to please the audience, but it goes well beyond that.

Readings, signings, and other events allow authors to engage the audience in person.

Authors engage with fans online through fan clubs, blogs, and social media.

And let’s not forget one major service that most authors provide: marketing. Many writers spend several hours per week helping readers from the target audience find their books. This is a concerted effort that the author makes to help readers become interested in books that may be a good fit for them, but which they may have otherwise not discovered.

Feedback leads to yet another service: revisions. With the technology of e-books and print-on-demand, a book has become a dynamic product that can be updated anytime. It’s not just to correct issues, but in nonfiction is vital for keeping content up-to-date.

Our aim is to please readers. That’s why we sit at the keyboard typing for several hours per week for months or years. It’s why we revise, edit, and format. It’s why we try to find a cover and craft a blurb that will help the target audience find the right book for them. It’s our motivation to market our books. To serve our readers.

Good evening, Mr. or Mrs. Reader. Thank you for stopping by. We hope you’re having a wonderful time.

We’re at your service. Let us know if you need anything.

— authors everywhere

Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 7 2014

Sales Psychology for Authors

Salesman pic

Introduction

I had been a salesman at Sears for several years paying my way through college.

  • But I loathed salesmanship.
  • So I found ways to help match people with products that didn’t feel like salesmanship.

Now I’m an author who has books for sale.

  • But I still loathe salesmanship.
  • Marketing is an important tool for selling books.
  • So I’ve discovered ways to help match readers with books that don’t feel like salesmanship.

Many authors feel like writing artists.

  • Their writing is fueled by passion, not by finance.
  • The reason they want sales is to share their passion with readers.

Many authors don’t feel like salespeople.

  • Yet they need to sell books in order to share their passion.
  • So they need to find ways to market their books that don’t feel like salesmanship.

Marketing without Salesmanship

What you want to avoid:

  • Hyping up the book to sound better than it really is.
  • Convincing people to buy your book.
  • Feeling more like a businessperson than an author.
  • False advertising, dishonesty, deception, unethical behavior.
  • Trashing other books to make yours seem better.
  • Short-term sales strategies that may limit long-term success.

What you want to achieve:

  • Describing your book as it really is in a way that creates interest.
  • Increased exposure among your target audience.
  • Content so amazing it generates word-of-mouth sales.
  • A loyal fan base that craves your writing.
  • Branding a positive image as a professional author.
  • A professional author platform focused on long-term success.

I’ve been on the sales floor. I’ve heard people say that a product is bad because it’s not in stock then explain why it’s the best when it is in stock. I saw a salesman get caught selling products to his friends who were using stolen credit cards. Many would ignore customers looking at cheap products so as not to miss a customer looking for a high-end product. I’ve been the victim of people who returned products that I sold then “resold” them under their own numbers. It’s amazing what unscrupulous things one can do just to make a few extra sales.

But I also had the honor to work mostly with honest, ethical salespeople. I enjoyed learning the art of helping people find products that met their needs. There were a few shady salespeople with unbelievable numbers. There were also a couple of amazing, honest salespeople with incredible numbers. The trick was to compare yourself to how well you did the previous month, not to what other people are doing. Some of the notorious salespeople eventually met their doom. And the talented salespeople simply played in a different league than I did.

Don’t worry about authors and publishers who may have unethical practices. Those things tend to take care of themselves. Don’t worry about extraordinary authors whose words seem to turn to gold. They live in fairy tale land. Just compare yourself to your previous self. You’re the only person you should hope to improve.

Use sales psychology to help match readers up with books that fit them well. You don’t really want to sell your book to readers for whom it would be a poor fit. You want readers who are likely to enjoy your book, want to read your other books, and who are likely to recommend your book to others.

Here is some sales psychology that you can use to help share your passion without feeling like a salesperson:

  • Ultimately, the product is more important than the package, but consumers are strongly influenced by the packaging. So while the book itself is most important for long-term success, the title, cover, blurb, and Look Inside are critical toward getting discovered. A cover that looks professional suggests that the content may be worthy. A cover that attracts the target audience helps to match readers with your book.
  • Get a cover that appeals to your specific target audience and which conveys your subgenre instantly. The better your cover achieves this, the more interest you will create in your book just by getting the cover discovered by your specific target audience. If you get a fantastic cover, use it as motivation to make the content of your book equally fantastic.
  • Don’t hype the book up in the blurb, but do write in a highly engaging way and hint at the book’s best elements to create interest in your book without giving too much away. Your goal is to create reasonable expectations for your book while at the same time motivating your target audience to peek inside.
  • Prepare a Look Inside that delivers content that the reader will expect from the cover and blurb. Engage the reader’s interest right off the bat, arouse the reader’s curiosity, and make the target audience want to read more. But ensure that the remainder of the book will live up to the expectations created by the Look Inside.
  • The title, cover, blurb, Look Inside, and the book’s content serve as your sales staff. They can help your target audience find your book, and they can do it in your absence. Online, these are the only things standing between the shopper and the sale. But it’s much more than a sale; it’s a chance to share your passion with your audience.
  • Consumers don’t buy features; they buy benefits. Think about the best features of your book. Then figure out how these features benefit readers. But don’t express the benefits as promises (“This book will make you cry”) or bragging (“better than Harry Potter“). These features should be clear in your description and back cover blurb, and the benefits should be clear. In fiction, the benefits need to be much more implicit.
  • Write content that lives up to the promises delivered by the cover, blurb, and Look Inside. Provide content that readers will believe is a good value. Write content that is likely to elicit good recommendations, such as a highly memorable character, an amazing plot, valuable information, or breathtaking descriptions. A wow-factor can do wonders for reviews and referrals.
  • Interact with your target audience, both in person and online. You don’t need to advertise your book; you can wait to be asked a question like, “What have you been up to lately?” Let people discover that you’ve written a book and ask you about it; then you won’t feel like a salesperson. When you get the opportunity to describe your book, show your passion for your writing. You’re sharing your passion for writing more than you’re sharing a book.
  • Create a catchy strap line for your book that works like a slogan. You want something concise, easy to remember, and which conveys the subgenre clearly.
  • Strive to brand a positive image for you and your book. People don’t run to the store immediately after a commercial. Advertising often works months later, when the customer stands in an aisle and recognizes a brand. You want your target audience to recognize your thumbnail, title, or author photo from having seen it a few times before.
  • In person, place your book in the customer’s hands. Keep your hands occupied. If the customer manages to place the book back in your hands, open the book toward the customer and point to a feature. The longer the customer holds your book, the more attached the customer becomes to it. If your book matches the customer’s reading interests, you’re helping the reader visualize the happiness that your book can provide in his or her hands.
  • Treat your readers well. Think highly of your readers. Consider what you like as a reader, and what you like as a shopper. With everything you do, ask yourself if you feel more like a salesperson doing it, or if you feel more like an author who is sharing his or her passion with readers.
  • People are more likely to get interested in a passionate author than a physical book. Interact with your target audience to help create interest in you, with the hope that such interest will carry over to your book. It’s easier for you to engage your target audience than it is for your book because first someone has to pick up your book and start reading it; they just have to meet you, they don’t have to open you up and turn your pages to discover what’s inside. People you personally interact with are more likely to buy, read, review, and recommend your book.
  • There are many different styles of thinking. You’re just one person. Seek feedback from multiple people in your target audience throughout the writing and publishing process. This will help you gauge how people may react to your title, cover, blurb, Look Inside, and the content itself.

Here are a few ways that you can market your book feeling less like a salesperson and more like a passionate writer:

  • Think of social media as a means to interact with your audience, colleagues, and others, rather than a way to advertise your book.
  • Think of a blog as an opportunity to share more writing and to interact with other bloggers, instead of a means to gain exposure.
  • Think of an author website as a chance to provide valuable content to your target audience, versus a place to sell your book.
  • Think of press release kits, author interviews, and blog tours as opportunities to share your passion with readers, not as tools to stimulate sales.

Remember, marketing is about discovery and branding, tools that can help you share your passion, not about advertising and not about the sales or royalties. Personal interactions serve as a valuable tool that every author can utilize; it’s a chance to let your passion show through.

Motivate yourself. Not with money. Not to be a bestseller. To share your passion. Remind yourself that you’re not marketing to sell books, you’re marketing to share your passion with others.

Get inspired. Find things that other authors have done that can inspire you.

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles on publishing and marketing by clicking one of the following links:

Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 7 2014

The Seven Deadly Sins of Writing

Seven

1 Lust

When you’ve lost the joy of writing.

When what you gain as an author outweighs what your readers get from your book.

When you form empty relationships in the writing world just to get ahead.

When the book pales in comparison to the hype.

2 Gluttony

When you would do absolutely anything for your muse.

When you keep on writing long after you realize that not one word will be worth keeping.

When you buy thousands of your own books with no intention of parting with a single copy.

When you love your story so much you rewrite it word for word just to enjoy writing it again.

3 Greed

When royalties become more important than readers.

When the packaging far outweighs the content.

When the writing is fueled by money, not passion.

When your autograph becomes a chore, not a privilege.

4 Sloth

When you refuse to consult a dictionary or even to notice spellcheck marks.

When you know your grammar weaknesses, but never check on the rules when using them.

When you realize the editing and formatting are lousy, but just let them go.

When you have amazing writing talents, but never write books that utilize them.

5 Wrath

When you fashion a character after somebody in order to exact your revenge.

When you delete everything you’ve ever written out of rage.

When you are consumed by hatred for your critics.

When you quit writing because you despise what you’ve written.

6 Envy

When you read a bestselling book for no other reason than to discover it’s faults.

When you leave a bad review for a book that you wish you had written.

When you spend more time exploring other writers’ success than writing your own books.

When you would sell your soul to become a bestseller.

7 Pride

When you believe your status raises you above your fellow authors.

When you believe that your writing has no equal.

When you expect everyone to offer nothing but high praise for your writing.

When you can’t publish for fear of criticism.

Writer’s Heaven

Surely, all passionate writer’s go to Heaven, right?

Seven Deadly Sins of Writing

Chris McMullen

Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 6 2014

Why You Want Fellow Authors to Succeed

Compliments

You want your fellow authors to be successful.

You even want books similar to yours to do well.

And it’s not just about creating good karma.

It makes good business sense, too.

Some would have you believe that the way to thrive in the competitive publishing business is to play the cutthroat game and slam the competition. Unfortunately, you can find stories of a few big authors and publishers slamming one another, not just recently, but even going way back. You can also find gossip about more underhanded activities.

But that’s just foolish.

And again, it’s not just because it’s not nice. Economically, it doesn’t make sense if you take a moment to look a few moves ahead.

Highly similar books usually sell together. Some customers buy them all at once. Some buy one today, another in a month, and another a few months from now.

Similar books help one another out through customers-also-bought associations. They also help one another out through word-of-mouth referrals because they share a common target audience and people within that audience do discuss books they enjoy.

When you buy a book online, Amazon recommends similar books. When you visit your homepage, again Amazon recommends similar books.

Foolish authors look at similar books and think, “Oh no! That book looks good. It might take all my sales.” The immature reaction is to slam the competition.

And shoot yourself in the foot in the process.

Most likely, that book won’t take your sales. Most likely, that book will either (A) help your sales or (B) not affect your sales.

When customers really like a book, they want to find more books similar to that.

But there is one way that similar books can take your sales. That’s when you succeed in hurting that book’s sales.

Then, instead of that book’s sales helping your book out through customers-also-bought associations, it’s hurting your sales by not sending traffic your way.

When authors slam one another and a lot of the competition, it creates a bad vibe for the whole set of similar books. It hurts sales for everybody.

Similar books are free marketing for you. Other authors’ great content and effective marketing helps you through customers-also-bought marketing. You don’t need to do anything to benefit from this except continue writing your own books, developing your own author platform, and marketing your own books.

Applaud your fellow authors and watch them help you without even trying.

Act on your jealousy and watch you hurt yourself.

First of all, your efforts to hurt the competition may actually help the competition because you’re giving those other books more publicity, even if it’s negative. And you have to credit people, who can often smell a rat.

Second of all, you don’t want to hurt the sales of similar books that can only help you out.

And what about those amazing authors who break through and make it big time?

Does that make you feel all jealous inside? Do you look at those books critically and think how childish the storyline is, how poorly edited the book is, and completely miss the big picture?

Applaud those authors. If you self-publish, applaud the indie authors who succeed. They’re helping to make a great name for indie authors. They’re reaching hundreds of thousands of readers and showing them that indie books can be amazing.

If you self-publish, you want other indie authors to be successful. Their success builds a large audience of readers who are willing to take a chance on indie books. That helps you.

It’s not just indie author success. It’s any author success. Any author who makes readers love the reading experience creates future sales for many other authors.

There is no indie versus traditional battle. What’s most ridiculous about that is the increasing number of authors who publish both ways. Should they punch themselves in the face?

There is just one battle. That’s you wrestling against yourself, your emotions, and your irrational instincts.

What’s good for readers is good for all authors.

And if there are readers who enjoy a book, that book is pleasing readers and therefore good for all authors, including you, whether or not you approve of that book.

Way to go, Amanda Hocking! You made a huge name for yourself. You made a huge name for indie authors.

Way to go, Hugh Howey! Way to go, E.L. James!

Way to go, Stephen King! Your great works have hooked millions of readers not just on your books, but on the love of reading.

Way to go, J.K. Rowling! Way to go, Anne Rice!

Way to go, all authors, big and small, whose books have pleased readers.

Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 5 2014

Newbie Author Book Marketing Mistakes

Marketing Mistakes

Introduction

When you first publish, it’s natural to make marketing mistakes. It’s also natural for toddlers to prefer to poop where they are instead of wasting valuable play time by going to the potty. Either way, as you get older, it pays to overcome these natural tendencies:

  • You only get one chance to make a good first impression, and the first impression is often a lasting one. Try not to make yours with your tongue sticking out.
  • Some of your online activity leaves a permanent record; not all of your mistakes can be undone. If only life came with an Undo button… “I’m so sorry!” doesn’t always work.
  • An important part of marketing is branding a professional image of yourself. Mistakes aren’t easy to overcome. Think before you act. And do a little research.

(1) Me Me Me Me Me Me Me

Try this. (Not really.) Walk around the block. Stop at every neighbor’s house. If they’re home, spend a few minutes telling them about your book. A few hours later, walk around the block and do this again. Repeat every few hours for a week.

You wouldn’t really do this, would you? (I hope not.)

Some newbie authors repeatedly tell the same audience over and over repeating over and over repeating over and over (in case you don’t get the idea, I could go on…) about their books.

You do need to help people discover your book. But you don’t need to transform into a human-size mosquito to do it:

  • Chances are that people will be more interested in you than in your book. Let people get to know you and get interested in you, then when they learn that you’ve written a book, that interest may translate into your book.
  • Most people don’t like advertisements. Let people discover your book. You can mention it briefly at the bottom of posts on your website, for example. When talking to people, wait for them to ask you what you’ve done lately. Then they discover that you’re an author. That’s better than shoving your book down their throats.
  • Focus on what is likely to interest your target audience, then let your book become visible once they are drawn in. For example, a content-rich website helps to get your target audience to come to you (instead of you hunting them down like a hound dog). If your book is on sale, that’s worth announcing up front occasionally, but otherwise you want valuable content to draw your readers in, then mention your book at the end or off to the side.

(2) Another Place to Mention ME

Have you ever seen a list of hundreds or thousands of books at a discussion forum with a title like, “Self-Promote Your Book Here”?

Who is reading these lists? Other authors who are hoping to promote their books! Why would readers go there? The books aren’t even sorted by genre.

Strive to find ways to reach your specific target audience. And see point (1).

You know what these “Promote Your Book Here” threads are really for? They are detour signs designed to keep mosquitoes out of the park. 🙂

But some mosquitoes venture into the park anyway and blatantly self-promote where it’s strictly forbidden (or strongly discouraged). Get ready to dodge those flyswatters!

(3) Money Go Bye Bye

Don’t understand the marketing beast? That’s okay. Just throw money at it. Money will solve all your problems, right? Not! If it were that easy, everybody would be making big $$$ selling books. (It is possible to become a successful author, but it takes quality content, perseverance, hard work, and a long-term perspective.)

Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and many other websites will be happy to take your money to advertise your book. Even Amazon will take your money to advertise (but there is a $10,000 minimum, which is a lot more money than most newbie authors want to watch burn in a bonfire).

I’m not saying that advertising can’t be effective. Just that advertising isn’t going to solve your problem of why your book isn’t selling. If your book’s not selling, figure out how to get it to sell on its own before you start playing the advertising game. When you do advertise, start small and work your way up, and have the sense to quit when it doesn’t seem to be working. Advertising a special promotion may be more effective than advertising one book. And waiting until you have a dozen similar books before you spend good $$$ to advertise makes more sense than advertising just a few books.

There are a lot of people and businesses who will be happy to take your money, and some will promise things you really want to hear.

Much of the most effective marketing is FREE (yeah, baby!) and it’s work that you have to do yourself. Even if a publicist arranges engagements for you, you’re still the one who has to show up, do the work, make a fantastic impression, and not manage to stick three feet in your mouth while doing it. Personal interactions with your target audience can be highly effective because it’s easier to draw interest in a person than an inanimate book, and this is something you can do for free all by your lonesome self.

Paid advertising for books doesn’t work the same way as it does for most other products, and it’s even worse for newbie authors:

  • People need toilet paper. People can live without books. (Honestly, I don’t understand how it’s possible, but evidently it is.)
  • There are a dozen brands of toilet paper to choose from. Amazon has 30,000,000 different books to choose from.

Last time you drove down the freeway and saw a Victoria’s Secret billboard, did you weave over to the exit from the fast lane and head straight to the mall? That’s not how advertising works. It doesn’t hypnotize the audience to buy the product immediately. Advertising strives to achieve branding. You see or hear a brand today, next month, a few times this year, and hopefully many consumers will recognize the brand several months from now when they’re in the market for that product or service. When you’re buying a new product, if you prefer a brand name you’ve heard of before, advertising has worked its magic on you.

(4) Hop on the Band Wagon

I’ve got a busload full of newbie authors here. We’re driving off a cliff because that worked for one other lucky author who managed to survive the fall and the publicity did wonders for his books. Hop in!

If it worked well for others, shouldn’t it work well for you, too?

  • One size doesn’t fit all. Each book has a unique audience. Each author has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. Tailor your marketing plan to your specific book, audience, and to your strengths.
  • Marketing is dynamic. What was hot last year might be a dud this year.

Focus on how to reach your specific target audience, especially people who don’t already know about your book.

Consider what fraction of your marketing may actually reach your specific target audience. For example, much of a social media following may be inactive, whereas visitors who discover a content-rich website through a search engine are more apt to be in your specific target audience. This doesn’t mean that social media can’t be effective, just that you need to find a way to use it effectively to reach your audience in order to make it worthwhile.

(5) Please, please, please review my book. P L E A S E.

Oh, no, your book isn’t selling? Maybe some reviews will do the trick. (More likely, they won’t solve your problem.)

  • Don’t beg for reviews. Don’t ask for reviews. Don’t pay for reviews (this violates review guidelines). Do you want to brand a professional author image? Or would you rather look needy? (Maybe you are needy. You need sales. That’s fine. Be needy. But don’t look needy.)
  • If you “recruit” reviews, your reviews will probably look like they were recruited. Recruited reviews are likely to arouse buyer suspicion. Just glowing remarks, a lot of praise without explanation, a lot of reviews for a newly published book with a high sales rank… these kinds of things are like putting a neon sign on your product page: What’s funny about this picture?
  • The unpredictable assortment of balanced reviews that comes about naturally through sales may be the best reviews you can get. (Now getting a blog review posted on a blog is different. That helps to promote your book without affecting your product page.) It’s tough. Buyers want to see reviews, but they really want to see natural comments from strangers. But you don’t have to stimulate reviews to stimulate sales; you can stimulate sales to get natural reviews. (Psst. It’s called marketing and it’s a big secret. If you have memorable fiction content or helpful nonfiction content and you market effectively, sales and reviews will come naturally.)
  • Another no-no: Don’t thank all your reviewers, and don’t defend your book against bad reviews through comments. At first, thanking reviewers seems to provide a personal touch, but many customers feel strongly that authors should try to avoid this customer space. It’s a risk to leave a comment as that may deter sales. Do thank people on your blog—that’s your turf. Your customer review section is the customers’ turf. Don’t get into a turf war. The reviewer will win the battle every time. How? You leave a comment on the review. You know what will happen next? The reviewer will respond to your comment, asking you a question. Now, you have to answer that question, right? Pretty soon what you intended to be one comment turns into a lengthy discussion. You lose; game over.

Of course, you could also do the logical thing and find beta readers from your target audience, join a writing forum, and get your book edited before publishing. You do need feedback. Get as much as you can before your book goes live.

The newbie authors is praying for reviews. Then a bad review criticizes the book and the newbie author is cursing the whole review system.

Newbie authors really don’t know what they want…

Me Me Me Me Me Me Me (Again, but this time it’s really ME)

Chris McMullen, an author who didn’t mention his books at all until the very end of this post (but if you wanted me to shove a book down your throat earlier, all you had to do was ask—it was highly inconsiderate of me not to offer a snack—well, I did sneak one of my covers into the image for this post…). 🙂

A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.