Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

Authors. What is Your Story?

I was working with a marketer today who want help selling a book full of tips put together by another marketer hoping to tap into a rich market.

I asked “What is the story?"

We can market a book by and anonymous author.. we can sell a product that contains 102 great tips.. but everything will work better when we establish a story.  Not the story in the book, the story of the author and the reason for the book. That’s a major part of what people buy. Readers want to hear, emulate, or even become part of your story.

The story may be a myth.. but must be true to itself, honest and authentic for the market (readers) you want to reach.

This is one of the many reasons to use a story. Watch this short video and let me know if you agree that life is the story we make it.

13 Mistakes Authors Make on Their Blogs

Guest Post by Denise Wakeman.

Denise will be our guest on Profitable Social Media radio on March 26th. Details on the Profitable Social Media show page

Denise WakemanAre you getting results from your book blog? Is it getting harder for you to spend time on your blog because you’re just not seeing how it is going to pay off? If so, you’re not alone. Hundreds of blogs are started each day and many of them are abandoned after several months because it takes time and energy to keep a good book blog going.

Make no mistake, blogs are a great tool for building community, interacting with readers, and marketing your book. And, it’s not enough to set one up and post occasionally. You have to use it effectively to drive traffic and attract readers.

I’ve discovered several common mistakes authors make with their blogs. Most aren’t using features available with blogging software. Eyes glaze over with the mention of RSS, pinging, trackbacks and permalinks. Does this describe how you feel? You may be ignoring these things, hoping you don’t really need to know. But you do if you want great results from you book blog.

Here’s a list of what I found on a recent trip around the author blogosphere:

Content:

  1. Not posting frequently enough.
  2. Content is not focused or optimized for the search engines.
  3. Articles are too long.
  4. Not linking profusely to sources. Links are the currency of the blogosphere.

Design

  1. No author name on the blog home page.
  2. No author photo.
  3. No subscription form; no way to get blog updates through RSS or email.
  4. Readers can’t leave comments or have too many hoops to jump through.
  5. Too many categories or none at all.

Marketing

  1. Blog isn’t listed in the 200+ blog directories.
  2. Blog posts are not being syndicated to social networking sites.
  3. There’s no call to action to buy the author’s book.
  4. No contact information.

If you’re using a blog to build your online visibility, optimize it by taking time to learn how to leverage your content to get the widest reach. A blog is like any other marketing tool – you’ve got to use it effectively to get positive results.

© Denise Wakeman, The Blog Squad, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Denise Wakeman is Founder of The Blog Squad and is an Online Marketing Advisor. Get more blogging tips at http://Facebook.com/BlogSquad. And, you’re invited to claim your free instant access to a 5-part video course on how to get the best out of your blog. Visit http://masterbusinessblogging.com

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Another free book marketing resource http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/

Numbers An Author Should Know

We know that bookstores, publishers and old media are in trouble.

But not authors. There are more outlets begging for content than ever before. If you know a subject well enough to create a book, you are going to do just fine.. if you cater to the exploding global audience.