Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

Manage Your EBooks To Reach More Readers

More than a decade ago, while working in the computer hardware industry, I saw some data on the trajectory of screen resolution and capacities for the future.

Many pundits were saying that screens as good as paper were coming very soon, but one smart futurist showed us a graph of memory and processor capacities, the number of pixels and resolutions of display materials and just what it would take to have screens that weren’t a strain on eyes and cheap enough to be ubiquitously available.

The DATE for his chart where all of this came together was 2010.

Recent announcement of Apple’s iPad, improvements in Amazon Kindle devices and a multitude of other readers confirm what we’ve known is coming… That feeling that books are a better way to read is going to start fading away.

You may be like the hundreds of authors and readers I’ve talked to over the past decade who claim that they will never enjoy reading on a computer as much as holding a book. Culturally, that makes sense. We’ve had decades of lousy screens and centuries of wonderful books.

Book aren’t going away anytime soon. However, every author should get ready for a much more rapid growth in eBook and alternative electronic distribution.

We’ve been advising clients to get an eBook reader, try out the technologies.. see where the clash among format, digital rights management, hardware vendors and publisher is moving. Feel for yourself where the market is going.

One of the last big hurdles has been the complaint that you don’t get to own a hard cover book when you purchase an eBook.. and must rely on the storage system that too often breaks down.

That’s changing too.

Watch what Calibre Ebook Management Software has to offer.

I suggest downloading a copy to manage all those downloads you can’t find on your hard drive. You may still not ever read them, but just watching this video, I could see real progress from the tools I was using just a few years back.

Apple got us all using MP3 when they got the iPod right.. Maybe they will do this for books.. maybe not.

What do you think?

Is This the Worst Business Letter Ever?

I know I’ve said it before.. calling a inane letter or email the worst ever.. so I won’t proclaim that here.

Then again, this one is certainly a candidate:

Hi, Warren.

GuiltyInc has been talking with your company intermittently about helping address your company’s vague requirements.  I am currently planning a trip to your area in March. Is it possible for us to meet to talk about your vague strategy?

GuiltyInc is the largest vague firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. Since we are very familiar with your company’s products and technology, I think we might be able to contribute meaningfully to your vague program.

If you feel it would be better for me to talk with one of your colleagues, I would appreciate your letting me know the name of the appropriate person to contact and forwarding this email.

Thank you for your help and I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

GuiltyInc Rep

letter_writing[1]I’ve changed the company name to GuiltyInc and their vague description of what they do to vague.. not to protect them, just to keep us from discussing that technology. But trust me when I tell you that there is no way that they know anything about my “products and technology” as I don’t have such things!

I imagine that you could look through your standard business letter books and find this letter as a template. The sender likely spent as little time putting in their company name as I did changing it to post here.

Don’t Be a Dull Salesperson When You Talk About Your Book

I’m a firm believer in sending cover letter, introductory emails and any other means of getting you and your book in front of prospects for publicity or sales. Just remember, we all get tons of spam, bad letter and inane requests. It take just a moment to be real and open a dialog with people.

Just use my marketing mantra .. listen and love

1) Find out something unique about your prospects. They have a web site or blog, read it first.

2) Comment to let them know you read up on them.

We all know that people approaching us have business interests and selling desires. We accept that if you have just a modicum of personality. If you can approach the media, book distributors, prospects yourself, do this and you’ll get better results. If you have someone helping you, teach this to them.

Whatever you do, don’t put this off because you think there is more important things to do. You are asking for a human being to allot some of their time to listen to you. They deserve this much attention.

Best of all, the return on investment here is immense. Spending a few extra seconds yourself, or paying your help to add real person al contact will pay off 100x

Calling All Aspiring Authors

iaaa logo

Last night was the launch of the International Association of Aspiring Authors.

The program was kicked of with a webinar with publishing industry trainers and I was included to talk about social media and book marketing.

You can view or listen to the presentation here

Are you aspiring to be an author? Start with the FREE Book Marketing Strategy Course for Authors I gave away during the call. As a reader of Best Seller Book Marketing Blog, you get it too.

Get More Buzz For Your Book With Google Buzz

There are so many social media tools, sites and systems coming online that an author might think about a wait and see approach

Please don’t fall in this trap.

The world is moving so fast that you really need to budget some time to catch a wave as soon as possible. You will need to manage your time.. social media is not a replacement for all other marketing.

Use Google Buzz to Jump Start Your Social Media Plan

Announced just two days ago, Google’s BUZZ has been tried out by 10 million users and updated

If you have been holding back on other social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.. Google Buzz might be just the thing you need to jump start your social media marketing for you and your book.

Signing up is easy.. if you have a Google Talk or Gmail account, you likely already have seen it. If now, now is a good time to get one (FREE).

Publishing is not a one-way street any more. Smart authors are learning to listen to the readers, research their market, establish connections and get quick feedback on ideas.

Have you tried Google Buzz? Connect with Warren Whitlock on Google Buzz and share your experiences via Twitter and comments here.

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein Is Annoying

I just heard that the search term “elizabeth potts weinstein is annoying” can get you to the always entertaining Elizabeth Potts Weinstein blog site.

According to her web site, Elizabeth is:

My full name is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, and I empower solo entrepreneurs to live their truth in their businesses & lives. I’m also a mom, attorney, author, speaker, entrepreneur, video blogging addict, lover of passion, tweetup connoisseur, people loving introvert, and truth evangelist. To keep up with me,subscribe to this blog or follow me on Twitter!

Is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein annoying?

Elizabeth Potts WeinsteinI don’t think so.

She may have done a few annoying things. (check out the Elizabeth Potts Weinstein blog to see for yourself) but I’m pretty sure that you could search for just about any combination of words starting with Elizabeth Potts Weinstein and get similar results.

The photo shown here notwithstanding, I don’t think Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is annoying.

Authors Can Learn From Elizabeth Potts Weinstein

It wasn’t long ago that Elizabeth Potts Weinstein was just another awesome author that I didn’t know. She started engaging me in conversations… some of it silly, some of it about whatever the topic of the day was, but always insightful and fun to read.

She started blogging a few months ago and shared some interesting photos and experiences along with a good dose of wise advice for her readers. The momentum started to grow.

Now I read much of what Elizabeth Potts Weinstein has to say and consider her a friend.  Yesterday, she was commenting on the odd search queries people have used to find her blog (are you looking for these.. you can learn a lot about what readers are looking for) and tweeted a message about the “Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is annoying” query used by one person to find her blog.

Not the kind of self promotion you’d expect for an author to use but it worked. Here’s the proof, a post on my own blog inviting you to read more about Elizabeth Potts Weinstein and see for yourself if she is annoying.

What are you doing to stand out online?

Share your comments below. Who knows, we might find something useful you never would have imagined using for self promotion of your book, blog.