Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

In the Future, Will We Need Bookstores?

Most of the publishing world desperately hangs on to any thread of the old way of doing things. Many bookstores, publishers and many authors are convinced that Google and Amazon are out to put them out of business.

Read about the current lawsuit against Google

Google Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers, Google book deal, Google publishingAs part of the settlement, Google will not show any part of in-copyright books online that are not included under its new “partner program,” according to Google chief legal officer David Drummond.

At the same time, Drummond claims that the settlement will help to boost Google’s scanning of books, and allow it “to begin offering in-copyright, out-of-print books for preview and sale directly online,” MarketWatch wrote. Google has already made more than 7 million books available to Internet users, and Drummond said, “We’re just getting started.”

The settlement also tasks Google with creating the Book Rights Registry, an independent nonprofit service meant to “resolve outstanding claims by authors and publishers and to cover legal fees from class-action lawsuits against Google,” The Daily Telegraph reported.

I take a different point of view. Readers ultimately are the market. We want to get our information in whatever form we like, whenever and wherever we desire.

The market for books will not go away, but the institutions that cling to the past are doomed. I do hope the stores come up with a good reason for us to shop there.. I do like strolling through the shelves.. but the won’t survive if they just fight progressTechnorati Tags: , ,

What’s the Secret Trick to Becoming an Amazon Best Seller?

I just received an email from an author hoping to drive his book to best seller status on Amazon.

This is a common question I get.. Authors learn that sales on one day can boost them to best seller status, the know that best seller on Amazon will add to their credibility and give them one more advantage in all the other promotion and marketing for their book.

Just how many books do I have to sell?

http://www.colinthompson.com/graphics/Prints/bookshelf.jpgThe simple answer comes from Amazon.. Sell one more book than the highest ranked book that didn’t make the list. #1 sells more than #2, which sells more that #3.

On some days, and in some categories, there are thousands of copies of a book sold. Others categories, especially over longer periods of time, result in less books sold, and the best sellers are books that continually promote.

If you book is not selling well, going to Amazon with some sales from one day will not make for a good marketing program. By itself, the rank won’t change your unseccessful book to a success.

You spend months, or years writing and getting to the point where you have a published book. Congratulations on that accomplishment. If that’s what your goal was, you should be proud that you have a published book.. most of the authors and writers I talk to are still stuggling to get to that point.

The real questions should be Why did you write the book? and What do you want to accomplish now that you’ve become an author?

If your goal is to say that you are a best seller.. Our best seller campaigns will get you that. But I suspect that when you think about it.. you really won’t be satisfied with that as your end goal. I suspect that you are like the clients I’ve worked with.. success as an author is not your primary goal life.. You want to get your message out to more people who need it, attract business leads from people you can help, and boost your career as an author.

Most authors never make money from their books.. especailly their first book. Most successful authos make more money, advance their careers and spread their message to wide audience by leveraging the process of becoming a best seller. They follow the advice of mega best seller Mark Victor Hansen of the Chicken Soup series:

“Getting the book published is 10% of the work an author does.. The other 90% is promoting the book and author”

To be a best seller, first look at book marketing and promotion as a means to an end. Getting to your real goal.

Our authors tell us that a best selling book is the best thing they ever did for their business. The payoff comes in many ways, but rarely in the form of a royalty check for books sold. The differnce is.. successful authors have a book marketing strategy

Think about your long term strategy?

Here’s a hint: If it’s “to sell as many books as possible” you may want to think beyond that. Decide what selling a lot of books would allow you to do. If that is anything other than “cash big checks and maybe write more books” you have a good chance of getting it.

New Book Announcement: “Blitz the Ladder: A Team-Based Approach to Getting Ahead in Business” by Todd Rhoad.

Blitz the Ladder: A Team-Based Approach to Getting Ahead in Business by Todd Rhoad.

Improving your career involves developing your own team of supporters who focus on managing the team’s perception to managers and the organization. It’s a simple active technique that doesn’t require one to learn complicated concepts or figure out how to apply the typical academic advice to their situation.

Blitz The Ladder The book is presented from the viewpoint that the reader has hit the proverbial glass ceiling, rendering their career mobility totally stagnant or wandering aimlessly. It is designed to put the “mobile” back into mobility without the need to totally reinvent yourself to overcome your flaws. The book starts out painting a rather stark portrait of the average organization and the resources within it which employees consider critical in developing their careers. While most books seek to motivate more than educate, Rhoad explains how in most companies these resources aren’t very useful and are quite often misguided. He analyzes the employee, immediate manager, human resources, and informal networks in terms of both their pro’s and con’s.

Brian Tracy, Bestselling Author and International Expert on Entrepreneurship and Selling says “With this book, you can save yourself months and even years in moving upward and onward in your job and your career.”

In spite of the normal complications in moving up in a company, the book provides a new method, termed the “Blitz,” which is designed to easily overcome many of the barriers to upward mobility. This group-based technique is compared to the common individual method of career progression. Rhoad guides the reader in determining the team size, selecting team members, developing career strategy, avoiding plateauing and maintaining sufficient team and individual motivation.

Read more about Blitz the Ladder here

Media Moves Faster to Promote Authors Who Know How To Connect Online

My PhotoI just read Guy Kawasaki’s post:

How to Change the World: The Wall Street Journal Lesson

Great lesson for authors who want to get media coverage for their books.

You’ve probably taken a class, or listened to a teleseminar where you are told “how the media works”

Guy sets us straight, talks about how he learned something new.. and offers suggestions for reaching out to media today.

Before you hire a PR firm or agent to get you media coverage, make sure you use the online tools we’ve been talking about here. Post to your own blog, interact on other blogs and read the blogs of the media outlets you hope to connect with.

Then, make sure the professionals you hire know to do the same.

Have you received media coverage from your social media connections and blogging? Post a comment here and share your story.

For Those Just Getting Started.. 2 Essential Posts

Over the weekend, I received an email that’s been on my mind ever since.

Joe wanted some help. He’s been trying to start his business and very frustrated.

I answered him here: Does Joe Need A Mentor

Since then, I been reading and responding to comments about what I told Joe (at the bottom of that post) and looking at more resources to share.

One that I especially liked was another answer to someone just starting out by Microbusiness Mentor Jane Chin