Published on December 26, 2007
I can’t understand why my book is not selling? Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Target.com, etc. advertise the book, as I do on my website. It’s been online for two years now. Why isn’t it selling?!
Many authors make the mistaken assumption that putting a book online means people will actually see it and that this will automatically translate into sales. Since there are so many websites, and so many online bookstores, and so many books in those bookstores, nobody can expect sales from just putting a book online.
Marketing a book online should be considered at least a part-time endeavor. The authors who are really successful are the ones who make marketing their books a full-time job. You have to get online daily and spread the word, through an ezine (an ezine is more effective than a blog because you contact your readers directly; you don’t wait for them to come back and visit your site whenever they happen to remember you’re there), through networking, through requesting links on other websites, through offering excerpts for other websites and online publications to run, and through participating in online discussions about your book’s topic/your book.
Assuming that simply having a book page on Amazon will mean you’re going to start making money on your book is probably one of the most common misconceptions I hear from newbie authors. Nobody is going to know about your book until you start telling them about your book.
Published on December 19, 2007
Things have been incredibly stressful here lately. Did I buy everything I was supposed to? Are all the books that MUST be done by Christmas formatted and uploaded to the printer? Did Frank remember to turn on the outdoor Christmas lights tonight? Is the baking on schedule? Who’s going to shovel that half inch of snow and ice off the front steps in the morning? Did I just hear Max say he has a sore throat? Did Zach remember to ship the packages to the grandparents yesterday? Shouldn’t Ali be home from basketball practice by now??
Published on December 19, 2007
Letters will return next week.
Published on December 19, 2007
Most of us, the first time around the publishing block, have a clear vision of life as an author. We see ourselves holding our new books in one hand while raking in thousands of dollars in royalties or profits with the other. What a shock to discover that your wonderful book – the manuscript into which you poured your heart and soul – isn’t flying off of bookstores shelves into the hands of eager readers. The fact is that you may not even find it in bookstores at all.
Published on December 19, 2007
My publisher will let me order postcard and other things with my book’s cover on them but they seem awfully expensive. Do you have any sources that might be less expensive?
Published on December 19, 2007
I went to an Israeli wedding tonight. The wedding proceeds, dinner begins, and we dance, dance, dance. Tired dancers leave as younger, more energetic celebrants hit the bumpy stone floor adjacent to King David’s grave. The band strikes up a Celtic sound in the starlit night. We get jiggy with it, and the wait staff joins the foot-stompin’ party. Women and girls toss glitter, wave paper pompons and metallic streamers of many colors, ululating to the beat. Teen girls wind paper leis around their arms and necks and rock-sway with them to the music. Guys perform acrobatics or dance with full-throated song.
Published on December 12, 2007
This weekend, we’ll be having our annual Gingerbread gathering. The children will get together with some close friends and spend the evening making anatomically correct gingerbread people. You really don’t know how creative your children can be until you give them free reign on a project like this. We’ve had everything from squalling newborn gingerbread babies to saucy gingerbread ladies-of-the-night…and some pretty hilarious characters in between.
Published on December 12, 2007
Last week, I wrote about paper sculptures, personalized dolls, and personalized snow globes.
The snow globe materials arrived this week but it’s slow going so I don’t have any pictures of the finished goodies to show you yet. We took photos of the children that make it appear they are holding their breath and swimming in the globes.. I originally took photos of the backs of the children, too, so there wouldn’t be just white photo paper on their backs. Well, that didn’t work…
Published on December 12, 2007
Letters will return next week.
Published on December 12, 2007
Contests are everywhere for short stories, poetry and essays. One almost has to wrack his brain to name others. But to a novelist or book-length author, such competitions are rare; for self-published writers they are practically nonexistent. Everyone knows that using “award-winning” after one’s name may make someone take notice. But where does one find book contests? Not many people award self-publishing authors, but the few that do, do it quite well.
