Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

How To Be A Rich, Best Selling Author

I’m reading posts from New York Times Best selling author Ramit Sethi on his blog named after the book.image

Like many modern authors with a tech background, he’s naturally doing many of the techniques I teach.

I could list them here (I have in other posts) but today, I think it’s best to say “Go watch this guy, model what he does and BE RICH”

How To Get My Coaching FREE (one time)

I help authors sell books, build a business and take their messages to the world.

We do that in two ways here.. a lot of free information on the web, and high paid clients. Unless I get a crazy idea to test new software and give away the paid consulting.

I am trying out a new webinar system for my private coaching sessions. So you get this same ME, hopefully a great show, and the fun of watching me bumble through with new technology (OK.. you can get that anytime)

The only catch.. I’m just doing this ONCE.. it will NOT BE RECORDED (no evidence if I screw up) and it is on SHORT NOTICE.

Friday at Noon Eastern (9am Pacific) on July 16th (yes, that is tomorrow.. I did say SHORT NOTICE)

Grab a slot here –> Warren’s free coaching session

I’m going to share some new tests from what is working on FACEBOOK, how partners are getting 10x the publicity on the MEGA SUCCESS DAY promo for next week and other freebinarific advice. I may talk about Twitter if you twist my arm.

I will answer ANY question… show any secret site.

You can still ask your question in a comment, on Twitter or whatever.. but you won’t get the real live me with a mouse in my hand showing you exactly what YOU need to succeed unless you register here

Do You Want MEGA Success?

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On July 21st, millions of readers will get an email about a book that can change their life forever.

We’ll ask them to order a copy from Amazon.com.. and maybe send another as a gift to a friend.

Ordering a book is easy, inexpensive and can bring a tremendous value on its own, but we know how busy people get.. so we want to make sure they have a reason to buy the book on this day and have assembled more life changing audio downloads, eBooks, courses and SUCCESS information we can from dozens of partners who have their own great content.

The result will be a best seller rank, allow author Barbara Hofmeister to publicize here work at a new level.. and thousands will get the opportunity to connect with new ideas from Barbara and our many partners.

The book is called To Be or Not To Be – The Choice is YOURS! .. More than a motivational book, it can be an action plan that will help you roadmap your life.

Mark your calendar for July 21st. It’s MEGA SUCCESS DAY.. better yet. Go to the MegaSuccessDay Facebook Page now and click the LIKE button to see more exclusive content there.

Where ‘Six Degrees’ is Wrong

It’s fun to play the Kevin Bacon game and explore the connections between movie stars.

The game is based on the idea that you can reach any person on Earth through six other people. Studies and experiments in connectivity and networks are good ways to build the case that the more connected we are, the happier we will be, the more we’ll get done and the world will be a better place.

That’s the good part.

Sunday’s New York Times carried a piece with the headline “Twitter, a Close Knit Network” .. reporting on a study done by Sysomo (read the study to get the real facts.

Problem is, they concluded that

If Kevin Bacon had a Twitter account, he would most likely be within six degrees of separation from nearly everyone else on the site.

On Twitter, movie star numbers don’t count. It’s likely that Kevin Bacon would look much more connected but assuming he doesn’t find the time to have a conversation with millions, it’s not likely those connections would make much of a difference.

A lot of the science, surveys, ratings and calculations we’re seeing in studies about Twitter are using old school broadcast media assumptions on what it takes to spread a meme.

They assume that if someone has a lot of follower, those followers are reading what gets posted and counting it that way.

The calculation of “average number of degrees of separation” is interesting and does point to us getting better at interconnecting through technology, but seems to me to rely too much on the old idea of treating the mass as a group instead of realizing that we each have our own network and belong to many more now.

It’s as if a TV or radio station bragged that were reaching every person in their coverage area.. regardless of whether they ever turned on a set or tuned in

We Are Getting More Connected

Local-ness of the Twitter network

The connections that matter are much closer than the ones the “trace the six degrees” people are counting. We are forming tighter bonds with people in our networks buy communicating more frequently and letting them in on more of our lives.

Add this to the technology that allows each of us to spread or share a meme or message to more connections and you get the most powerful group of interconnected social networks ever.

And some fun.

Do you feel more connected? Will you have more real friends 5 or 10 years from now? Post a comment and let me know how you connect.

What Authors Can Learn From the World Cup

Guest post from Joanna Penn, from TheCreativePenn.com:

clip_image002You might not think soccer has much to do with writing, but authors can learn a lot from the World Cup about marketing, branding and creating multiple streams of income.

  • The brand stands even though the players change over time. Each of the national teams in the World Cup have a following from their country, but they also have a character of their own. People debate Brazil, Germany or England as if they are the same team every competition. The brand of the country’s team is what persists. This is key for authors who are concerned about whether to build websites around themselves or their individual books. Think about it. Each of your books will be hyped for a short time and then will fade away and it will become part of your backlist. You do not have the time and energy to build sites around each of the books.Build yourself as the brand and you will persist over time. You do need to market each book but this should feed into your overall author brand.
  • Build merchandise around the key product to create multiple streams of income. Soccer fans don’t just pay to watch games. They also buy millions of dollars worth of merchandise to support their team and show their dedication. Let’s face it, unless you sell a blockbuster, authors don’t make a huge income from book sales. What you need is multiple streams of income that sit around your book and provide extra income. Think online courses teaching people valuable information about writing, genre specific tips for fiction writers, or giving additional information about your niche for non-fiction writers. Think speaking and running seminars, live or on the internet. Think audio products, either straight audio versions of your books, or additional information that people are interested in. This is not selling out to commercialism, this is paying the bills!
  • Create loyal and fanatical followers. Soccer fans are some of the most loyal and crazy fans in the world. They wear the badge of their team, they travel round the world and they are passionate and even violent in support. You want to create loyal fans for your author brand and your books. These are the people that will buy your book on preorder as soon as it is announced, or will buy the whole backlist to make sure they have read every word you have written. How can you encourage followers like this? Firstly, it is a given that you need to write great books that create a marvelous experience or are packed with information. You also need to create relationships by giving people more than they expect. You can blog and reveal some of your writing practices, create audio interviews so people can find out more about you, do live events, be accessible on social media. The new crop of successful authors are out there connecting with people, selling books by creating fans, one person at a time.

So, keep an eye on the World Cup and learn what you can about marketing, brand building and fanatical followers as you do.

Joanna Penn is the author of 3 books, a speaker and blogger at The Creative Penn.com : Writing, Publishing Options, Internet Sales and Marketing…For Your Book. Click on the following links to get your free article on Author Branding, plus an audio on Book Marketing and theAuthor 2.0 Blueprint: Using Web 2.0 Tools to build your author platform online. Joanna is also on Twitter @thecreativepenn