Jun 18 2014

5 Things You Should Never Do On Your Author Blog…

A great list with tips.

The Owl Lady's avatarViv Drewa - The Owl Lady

Author Blog HeaderWhether you’re published yet or not, a vibrant author blog should sit at the heart of your promotional efforts – the “homebase” for your author brand.

Used properly, your blog will help you to impress agents and attract a publisher.  And if you’re already published, it can be used to attract new readers, create a successful launch of your next book, generate buzz and bring your work positive reviews.

But it’s crucial that you use your blog the right way to achieve all of this.  There are certain blogging mistakes I’m going to tell you about that can seriously hurt your book sales and your reputation as an author.

To help you avoid these pitfalls, here are five things you should never do on your author blog and what you should be doing instead:

1. Projecting That You’re A Beginner Or That You’re Unsuccessful

blog fireworksWhile being a retiring…

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Jun 17 2014

So Your Friend Is an Author…

Judge

Amazing, Isn’t It?

Yes. It is.

How many authors do you actually know?

Now your friend is one.

The key word there is friend.

This was your friend before. Becoming an author doesn’t change that.

Sure, you can tease your friend about this, if your relationship ordinarily involves teasing.

But your friendship is based on more than just teasing:

  • You support one another. Even if one of you writes a book.
  • You’re honest with one another. Even if you think the book isn’t quite, well, you know.
  • You know each other well. How to get on one another’s nerves. How to put things gently. So you can figure out the right way to share honest feedback.
  • You motivate one another. So in addition to honest feedback, you’ll provide encouragement, motivation, and direction.

Your friend wrote a book. That’s a huge accomplishment. Treat it as such.

There are some things you should know about writers:

  • Writing is a lonely process. Literally: Alone with the computer, writing. Marketing can be lonely, too. This same author, all alone, is reading reviews, which sometimes tear down the author’s hard work. Friends can remind that author that he or she isn’t alone. They can help the author handle criticism, and prevent the author from doing anything rash.
  • Once in a while, the author needs to be dragged outdoors into the real world, kicking and screaming. But if you try this when the author’s muse has just shown up after a long absence, it could prove to be a fatal mistake. You have to judge how vigorous the kicking and screaming is.
  • Writers can be a little eccentric at times. Your friend has some personality. You’ll be occasionally entertained. What’s not to like about this?

There are many ways that you can support an author (and still be honest and scrupulous):

  • Read the book, especially if it’s a kind of book that you’d normally be interested in. But if it’s not your kind of book, you can still support the author without reading it.
  • Help spread the word, especially if you’ve read the book and enjoyed it. But even a “Hey, my friend, Joe, just wrote a mystery” mention is valuable advertising for your friend. Most authors feel uncomfortable with the necessity of promoting their own books (even if they do this, they often feel uncomfortable doing so). Readers, also, sometimes put more stock in what someone else says about the book than the author’s own self-promotion. Gee, if only that author had some wonderful friends who could help spread the news… Hint, hint.
  • Do you know someone who read the author’s book? Ask that person to write an honest review. Authors need reviews, but asking for reviews of your own book… can look unprofessional (and again, authors can feel uncomfortable doing that). But an author’s friend, taking the initiative to do this (i.e. the author didn’t ask you to ask for reviews)… you could be that secret helping hand. You’d be like a superhero with a secret identity.
  • Follow the author’s blog, tweets, and Facebook posts. Encourage the author to keep separate Facebook pages for personal and authorship (e.g. there are author and book pages at Facebook). You should follow both. Expect to get tired of hearing about your author’s book. Don’t feel obligated to read and comment on every one of the author’s book-related posts. Your name is there. You participate occasionally. This means a lot.
  • If you have your own blog or website… just imagine if you mention the author’s book. Don’t even tell the author. Let him or her happen to come across it someday. “Wow! When did you do that? That’s so cool!”
  • Check out your friend’s product page at Amazon. Vote on reviews. Offer some feedback to the author on the cover, description, and Look Inside.
  • Visit local libraries and bookstores. Ask them why they don’t have this most amazing book right there on the shelf.
  • Attend a signing or reading. Encourage your author friend to do these. If you don’t feel like attending yourself, you can still help spread the word and encourage other people to attend.

Your friend spent months finding a little extra time each week, typing tens of thousands of words, massaging those words into a book. That’s no small achievement.

Your friend has considered agents, publishing houses, and self-publishing. There is no easy answer, no clear road to success. It’s a challenge.

Your friend is navigating the deep waters of marketing. It’s a strange world, but necessary to share the book with others. It’s daunting.

A little support from a friend would go a long way.

Mix that with some patience and understanding.

Remind the author that there is a real world here, which the author is part of… which the author needs to physically seem be a part of from time to time.

Remind the author that friendship works both ways. You have needs, too. It’s not just all about the author.

Throw in a little teasing, perhaps.

If your friendship survives authorship, it’s mean to last forever.

Copyright © 2014 Chris McMullen

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.

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Jun 14 2014

Why Does Your KDP Report Show all Zeroes?

Sales Zero

Showing All Zeroes

It’s now possible to see all zeroes across your month-to-date Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) sales report.

In the past, if you didn’t have any sales, returns, or borrows for a title, that title simply wouldn’t show up on your month-to-date report.

Things have changed with the introduction of the new KDP sales dashboard.

You may observe a discrepancy between your KDP sales dashboard and the KDP month-to-date report.

Why?

Evidently, when a customer buys the book, the sale shows in your sales dashboard, but the sale doesn’t show up in your month-to-date report until the payment is processed. There can be a significant delay.

As a result, something strange can now happen.

If a title that hasn’t yet sold in the current month suddenly sells, the order shows up on your sales dashboard and a string of zeroes shows up on your month-to-date report for that book at KDP.

You’ll see a zero for sales, returns, borrows, and freebies when this happens.

Eventually, once the payment is processed, one of the zeroes will change to indicate the sale.

It would have been interesting to notice this for the first time today, on Friday the 13th (with a full moon, even). 🙂

Copyright 2014 © Chris McMullen

Jun 13 2014

Superstition Squared: Friday the 13th, Full Moon

Moon 13

Run for Your Lives!

Oh, no!

It’s Friday the 13th.

And in some places on earth, it was a full moon this morning.

You know what that means, don’t you?

Well…

…it means one of three things:

  1. If you walk under a ladder and there is a werewolf on the ladder, you’re in for the biggest chase of your life.
  2. If a black cat crosses your path and you turn into a werewolf, that might be the unluckiest dinner you ever eat.
  3. If you look at a mirror and it breaks, it means the werewolf you turned into is having a Medusa-level hair-day.

Why is it so rare?

  • There can be as many as 3 Friday the 13th’s in a calendar year.
  • There can be as many as 13 full moons in a calendar year. (Don’t let that number go to your head.)

Doesn’t it seem like it should be more common? The next one is set for 2049 (well, some times zones get “lucky” and will see it in 2017 or 2019).

Read all about it

  • Slate explains that it’s no more rare than, say, having a new moon on Monday the 22nd. (If you really want to get rare, try a blue moon on Easter Sunday!) This article also explains the time zone issue, and how some time zones will see this again much sooner.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/06/13/full_moon_and_friday_the_13th_not_so_rare_after_all.html?wpisrc=burger_bar

  • If you want to participate in some of the Facebook frenzy on this subject, here is a good place to start:

https://www.facebook.com/TheMindUnleashed/photos/pb.432632306793920.-2207520000.1402585736./737748626282285/?type=3&theater

  • Want to learn two new really long words for a couple of cool phobias (fear of Friday the 13th and fear of the moon)? Check out this article:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/13/321633197/its-friday-the-13th-and-there-was-a-rare-full-moon

Copyright © 2014 Chris McMullen

Jun 13 2014

The three reasons I have fallen in love with writing short stories

Here, a successful author shares how she has used short stories effectively. Series authors may be interested in the comments section, as I specifically asked how she handles short stories with her series (the answer surprised me, and the more I think about it, the more her strategy makes sense). Every author is unique, but it’s always helpful to study ideas that work for some authors.

loulocke's avatarM. Louisa Locke

stories_vol1_cover_1600x2400F-2I am the last author you would think would be writing short stories. As a writer who tends to be prolix, the short form wouldn’t seem a good match for me. I don’t write anything short––not emails, not blog posts, not books. Twitter, forget it––the most I can do is retweet those of you who are good at being succinct. I don’t even read many short stories, (except by 19th century writers like Alcott, Wharton, and James).

Yet, this spring I took time off from doing the research for Deadly Proof, the next book in my Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, to write my third and fourth short stories, which are now part of a collection, Victorian San Francisco Stories, that I just published on Kindle, and I have every intention of putting out more short stories in the coming year.

So what happened?

Dandy Detects, my…

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Jun 10 2014

Quality vs. Profit—Is it a Choice?

Quality

Why not Both?

Jack Eason posted an interesting article recently entitled “Profit or Quality” (click the title to check it out). While that post analyzed this in the context of video games, it got me thinking about this in terms of self-publishing.

You might be wondering whether or not it’s really a choice. Shouldn’t lesser quality result in lower profits in the long-term? Shouldn’t better quality be favored in the long run?

Well… to an extent.

You could spend an outrageous amount of money publishing a book in the highest possible quality:

  • First off, how about a nice textured hardbound cover with full-color images. If the book costs over $100, you might not sell any. So much for profit! Suppose we restrict ourselves to e-books and inexpensive print-on-demand publishing.
  • Well, you could spend thousands of dollars on formatting and editing services. If you aim for the highest possible quality (not necessarily given by the most expensive service), you might not make any profit at all even if you sell a thousand books.
  • A few writers claim that you should spend years honing your craft, perhaps you should even pay good $$$ to develop the skills you need. Invest hundreds of dollars and wait a few decades and surely the quality will be better, right?

Okay, so going to great lengths to make the quality extreme might not lead to any profit at all. It might leave you considerably in the red.

Let’s look at the other extreme. Suppose you spit out a new novel per month. You’ll have a platform of dozens of books on the market in no time. You’ll always have a book in the Last 30 Days new release category, helping to give exposure to your previous books. Assuming you succeed in drawing in readers, your fan base will grow, so that when you release each book, there will be more and more people waiting for it.

But how much quality can you provide spitting out a book per month? Won’t the ideas, storyline, editing, and more suffer greatly?

The best solution probably involves some compromise:

  • Achieve the best quality you can at a reasonable cost.
  • Invest extra time to significantly improve the quality. I’m not saying to hold off publishing for years. But if a few months could greatly improve the quality, consider that your book might be available for decades. Those few extra months could greatly improve sales over those decades, and the sales of other books that you haven’t even published yet.

Each reader has expectations. Some are higher than others. The higher the quality of the book, the more likely it will exceed those expectations. When it doesn’t, that leads to no sale or no recommendation (maybe even a bad review).

Quality is important for the long-term. Exceed a reader’s expectations and you can gain valuable word-of-mouth referrals in the long run. You can build a fan base that eagerly anticipates your next book. But don’t rush that next book out for all your enthusiastic fans, or there may not be much anticipation for the next one. Once you create high expectations, you must work to deliver on the promise.

Chris McMullen

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

  • Volume 1 on formatting and publishing
  • Volume 2 on marketability and marketing

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

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Jun 7 2014

The Value of Your Book

Value Book

What’s Your Book Worth?

Your book. The idea you conceived, nurtured for months, and eventually gave birth to. The book you love and defend like it’s your baby. Thousands of words written passionately. That you slaved over. So that others might find some joy, entertainment, emotions, wisdom, or knowledge for your effort.

That book. What’s it worth?

It’s worth much more than any buyer will pay to read it.

Its value far exceeds the royalties that you will draw from it.

It’s definitely not worth any painful criticism.

So why do we writing artists suffer through months and years of labors to write books. Earning in many cases less royalty than the cost of a cup of coffee. Suffering sometimes harsh criticisms.

It’s because your book has value that extends well beyond royalties and reviews.

Your book has value as a work of art.

Your book has value to you as a complete and meaningful project. And a book is no small undertaking.

Your book has value to the niche audience who discovers it.

Art is meant to be shared, and finding your target audience, big or small, is a wonderful thing in and of itself.

Your story is a work of art. Craft it until you feel like it’s a masterpiece.

Frame it with editing, formatting, front matter, back matter, and a cover fitting the artwork.

Even your blurb and marketing are art forms. See the art in this and they become part of your passion, a hobby and not a chore.

Marketing isn’t advertising and business to the artist, it’s sharing your passion with others.

Art is the self-published author’s advantage.

We have no overhead. We’re not a business. We’re creating works of art to share with others.

Art’s value goes way beyond dollars. We create art for art’s sake. The rest is just gravy.

Copyright © 2014 Chris McMullen

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Jun 6 2014

Morning Check-up for Artists

Writing

Imagination On. Check.

Motivation On. Check.

Quiet On. Check.

Distractions Off. Check.

Comfort Zone On. Check.

Eyes Ready. Check.

Mind Open. Check.

It’s a go.

Take a deep breath.

Creativity blasting off in 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0.

Let those creative juices flow.

Copyright © 2014 Chris McMullen

Jun 3 2014

How To Prepare For An Author Signing…

Some good tips here. 🙂

mandyevebarnett's avatarMandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

articlesWith any new experience on our writing journey, it is always best to prepare and gather assistance from more experienced authors and writers. Although, I have attended several author readings, this coming Saturday 7th June, will be a new venture for me. A book signing!

While my publisher, Dream Write Publishing, will be present and has organized the promotional element as well as the initial contact with the venue’s owner’s, there are still several things I can do too.

The first is to ensure I have my own ‘book signing kit’. This will comprise of several pens, book marks, visual representations of the book, which in this instance is my Rumble soft toy for Rumble’s First Scare, a mailing list sign up sheet, a pre-order sheet for my next children’s book, a copy of a child’s review of Rumble, business cards, a notepad to write down the spelling of people’s names –…

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Jun 3 2014

Will he finish the book?

A great little poem for readers or authors. 🙂 To be, or not to be? It’s good motivation not to lack attention writing the middle of the book.