Brian Whiddon is the Managing Editor of WritersWeekly.com and the Operations Manager at BookLocker.com. An Army vet and former police officer, Brian is the author of Blue Lives Matter: The Heart behind the Badge. He's an avid sailor, having lived and worked aboard his 36-foot sailboat, the “Floggin’ Molly” for 9 years after finding her abandoned in a boat yard and re-building her himself.
Now, in northern Georgia, when not working on WritersWeekly and BookLocker, he divides his off-time between hiking, hunting, and farming.
HowMaster: The Writer's Guide to Beautiful Word Crafting
Author Linda M. Gigliotti draws from years of practice as a private
writing tutor in the guidebook that teaches writers how to format visceral
writing that pulls readers into their book. She explains with instruction
and samples of published works how to craft writing that come to life in the reader's mind.
HowMaster is a wise choice for the writer who wants to weave words around the reader’s heart.
Author Linda M. Gigliotti draws from years of practice as a private
writing tutor in the guidebook that teaches writers how to format visceral
writing that pulls readers into their book. She explains with instruction
and samples of published works how to craft writing that come to life in the reader's mind.
Practical resource outlining the self-syndication process, step-by-step. Packed with detailed information and useful tips for writers looking to gain readership, name recognition, publication and self-syndication for their column or articles.
It's A Dirty Job...Writing Porn For Fun And Profit! Includes Paying Markets!
Fact is, writing porn is fun! It's also one of the easier markets to crack and make money at while you're still honing your skills. "It's A Dirty Job..." is one of the only resources that can teach you everything you need to know to create your stories and target your markets.
So, You Wanna Be a Ghostwriter - How To Make Money Writing Without a Byline
Many freelance writers find it difficult to break into the publishing world. What they don't know, however, is that there's a faster and easier way to see their words in print. It's called ghostwriting, and it's an extremely lucrative, fun, and challenging career.
But how do you get started as a ghostwriter? How do you find new clients who will pay you to write their material? How do you charge? And what kind of contracts do you need to succeed? All these questions and more are answered in So, You Wanna Be a Ghostwriter...How to Make Money Writing Without a Byline.
Writing FAST: How to Write Anything with Lightning Speed
A systematic approach to writing that generates better quality quickly!
Chock full of ideas, tips, techniques and inspiration, this down-to-earth book is easy to read, and even easier to apply. Let author Jeff Bollow take you through a process that brings your ideas to the page faster, more powerfully and easier than ever before.
Writing is a constant dialogue between author and reader.
The craft of writing involves an interchange of emotions between an author and a reader. An author creates a story line, conflict, and characters, gives his characters words to speak, and then hands off these materials to a reader. This process results in a constant dialogue between the mental imagery produced by a reader and that proposed by the author.
TRAVEL WRITING 2.0: Earning Money from your Travels in the New Media Landscape - SECOND EDITION
Completely revised edition of the ground-breaking travel writing book that provides a road map to success in the digital age. It dives headlong into the entrepreneurial world of blogging and digital books, while still acknowledging the real money to be made in declining print forms.
Drawing on interviews and survey responses from more than 100 successful travel writers and bloggers, this is the definitive guide to creating success instead of waiting for permission. Written by a veteran, award-winning writer with two decades of experience as a book author, online publisher, freelancer, and blogger.
Do you want to REALLY keep 100% of your royalties?
Do you want to REALLY self-publish your book?
Do you want direct contracts with the world's largest Print on Demand printer as well as Ingram, the world's largest book distributor, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, and any other ebook retailer you choose?
7.625 STRATEGIES IN EVERY BEST-SELLER - Revised and Expanded Edition
At this moment, thousands of would-be authors are slaving away on their keyboards, dreaming of literary success. But their efforts won’t count for much. Of all those manuscripts, trade book editors will sign up only a slim fraction.
And of those titles--ones that that editors paid thousands of dollars to contract, print and publicize--an unhealthy percentage never sell enough copies to earn back their advances. Two years later, most will be out of print!
Acquisition Editor Tam Mossman shares seven essentials every book needs to stay in print, and sell!
"A real page turner. I can't wait to read the next installment." -Debbie Martindale Behrends, The Elburn Herald
Nic Pappas, a reporter with the Palatine Star newspaper, is assigned to cover a cold murder case known as The Brown's Chicken Massacre. Pappas meets, and falls in love with, Mary Jane Santos, who lost her brother, Roland, Jr., in the tragedy, tempting Pappas to violate the ethics of the reporter-source relationship. Believing the only way to end his dilemma is to solve the case, Pappas and Santos make a pledge to catch the killers...
Have a Freelance Success Story to share? We pay $40 on acceptance, non-exclusive electronic rights only. Success stories run around 300 words but we're very flexible. Our guidelines are here:
Angela Hoy is not only publisher of WritersWeekly.com, she's also co-owner of self-publishing services firm BookLocker.com and works directly with each author.
That's right, you work directly with the owner of BookLocker. No revolving customer service reps, no layers of bureaucracy to navigate, and absolutely no outsourcing to low-paying overseas call centers. We don't use call centers or telemarketing at all. You will never be shuffled from one "customer service rep" to another because we don't have any of those.
You will communicate directly with Angela about any needs you have at all, as well as Richard (book marketing advice), Brian (ebooks and technical issues), Ali (print formatting), Gwen (color-interior books) and Todd or Nancy (our awesome cover designers).
Since we are selective about which books we publish, we are able to work with every author one-on-one. In the past 18 years, BookLocker has published more than 9,000 titles.
Angela's been in the print-on-demand and self-publishing business for nearly two decades. She's seen it all, and is a great source of information. To ask her anything click here.
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Some or all of these links to writing job have expired. See the latest writing jobs by clicking here.
Ask Angela About Print On Demand and Self-Publishing
Angela is the Publisher of WritersWeekly.com and co-owner of the POD firm BookLocker.com
According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is:
"As close to perfection as you're going to find in the world of ebook and POD publishing. The ebook royalties are the highest I've ever seen, and the print royalties are better than average. BookLocker understands what new authors experience, and have put together a package that is the best in the business. You can't go wrong here. Plus, they're selective and won't publish any manuscript just because it's accompanied by a check. Also, the web site is well trafficked. If you can find a POD or epublisher with as much integrity and dedication to selling authors' books, but with lower POD publishing fees, please let me know."
Got questions? Ask Angela about Print On Demand and Self-publishing.
Have a POD Book with another publisher? See if BookLocker can give you a better deal. (BookLocker offers "disgruntled author discounts" to those who want to move from other POD services.)
Follow BookLocker on Facebook to keep track of self-publishing news and marketing resources.
“BOOK-33worstmistakes”
33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Blind Characters
I admire any writer who wants to tackle a blind character. But so many writers take up this challenge and FAIL. They research blindness by reading other fiction books, by observing their blind colleagues and acquaintances, and by tying on a blindfold and pretending to be blind themselves.
I understand the challenges your characters face, their triumphs, their hopes and their fears, because I've lived them. I work with people who have varying degrees of blindness every day, so I've seen every challenge, every situation you could imagine.
Let me share my knowledge to improve your writing. You can create blind characters that readers will fall in love with.
“Amazon has my book for sale from other companies and the price is way too high! That is not fair. The book cost too much money that way. What can I do about it? The book won’t sell at the inflated price.”
– G.
A –
Amazon is continuing to give its main buy buttons to third party sellers, and essentially hiding their direct sales listings (they’re not easy to find!) for those books…or removing those direct sales listings altogether.
I looked at your book online. Amazon has given the main buy button to Book Depository, which Amazon owns. Read more about this controversial practice, CLICK HERE.
Any Amazon customer who wants to pay a lower price can click on the “new” options (it’s a tiny font!) underneath the box that shows the price that Book Depository has it listed for.
If you complain to Amazon, you’ll be fighting a losing battle. And, you’ll waste a TON of time because you’re not going to win.
Amazon is legally entitled to allow third party sellers to use its website and those sellers (and Amazon) can charge any price they want for a product. That’s legal across all industries. Suppliers don’t get to choose what retailers charge for products as long as the suppliers are paid what they are contractually entitled to. You will still earn your regular royalty on those sales. The third party sellers get to pocket the extra profit. And, of course, Amazon gets a cut of that as well.
Perhaps they’re moving more toward a middle-man business model. We’re seeing complaints daily now from authors whose books are listed at high prices by third party sellers on Amazon. Heck, Amazon could also be trying to force more Kindle ebook sales but I think even Amazon knows the hype of the Kindle was over years ago. Print book sales still FAR outpace ebook sales.
Even if an author’s book page gets “fixed,” and if Amazon.com shows up as the primary seller, authors often find a third party seller having the main buy button once again just a few days later. And, around and around they go. Amazon’s database is going to keep changing that book page and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.
Pestering your publisher to get the listing fixed won’t work. Contacting Ingram won’t work. Contacting Amazon directly will only generate a form response that, you guessed it, blames “the publisher,” saying they gave Amazon the wrong price. That’s a lie. It’s not your publisher. It’s all Amazon and their third party sellers.
If you continue to complain, you’ll be beating your head against a wall because, again, Amazon can do whatever it wants with its own website. And, expect to keep receiving form responses from low-paid Amazon employees who are experts at copying and pasting those form responses.
Amazon’s site is database driven. No human is looking at your book page, nor will they change it to your liking. If you think Amazon cares about your book, you, your publisher, or anything that is important to you, you’re living in La La Land. Amazon’s main concern is their own bottom line. If they can make more money selling fewer books through third party sellers than they do warehousing and selling books directly, that’s what they’re going to do.
Yes, it’s frustrating. I recommend sending your potential readers links to BarnesandNoble.com, BooksAMillions.com, your own website, your publisher’s website, or anywhere else your book can be purchased. Leave the link for Amazon OUT of your marketing materials. Sure, some people will go there automatically. But, when more and more people realize they can purchase books far cheaper at BarnesandNoble, they’ll start shopping there for their reading needs. I do!
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
We compete directly with Friesen Press. And, while we reject many manuscripts each year, we would never refer an author to Friesen Press.
Q –
Angela. Thought I’d share … and see what you think of these guys (Friesen Press). Their ad just showed up on my FB page but I thought you might like to know what one of the other guys are doing.
Cheers and thanks for all your hard work.
Linda
A –
I only did a few minutes of research, and found PLENTY of complaints about Friesen Press / FriesenPress.com online.
“I honestly wish I had found these complaints before I gave my heart and soul to this company last year to publish my children’s book.”
“I have recently had the same issues with Friesen as outlined in the complaints above. I am seriously considering legal action through the US Federal Court system and would appreciate hearing from anyone who found their practices deceptive and/or totally dishonest.”
“Had the worst experience as well with this company…”
“Shame on Freisenpress.”
“Four thumbs down.”
“My experience with Friesen Press was almost identical to what is being described in this article.”
“A couple of years ago I hired Friesen to assist me with the finishing end and distribution of my book. It was a huge mistake.”
“Friesen Press has the worst editing team…not in a level of grade 6.”
” I would definitely not recommend this publisher.”
“Throughout their whole process they were totally incompetent especially the professional editor (who introduced so many errors that it took me 3 months to correct) and the professional designers who made a mess of the job.”
QUOTES FROM COMPLAINTS ABOUT FRIESEN PRESS ON DEFAULTERS.COM:
“I met my physician yesterday, because I was thinking to take legal action against FriesenPress, but the doctor suggested as I have high blood pressure, this type of action will not be good for me.”
“The same sort of unbelievable events happened over and over again.”
“Stay away from them and share this info.”
“After my experience of 3 months, checking online reviews, I found a host of complaints that were totally believable and wish I had read those before putting my money down.”
“Their base fee was $3000, and a edit I needed costed another $1000. These fees, on top of insurance for the book and other charges rounded up to a total bill of about $7000.”
AND
“I have only received one of the two royalty checks I was supposed to get. The first check got to me late and the second one hasn’t appeared at all. I call and email the company and do not get responses. They claim to have reissued these checks to me several times, but they have no tracking number for them, and they have yet to reach me.”
The Alliance of Independent Authors gives Friesen Press a “MIXED” rating, saying, “their pricing and customer service still generate sporadic complaints.”
From Reddit: “I ordered $600 of my books for a conference. Purolator never delivered them to my residence as I never received confirmation of an attempt. My books were damaged in transit according to Purolator. Friesen Press authorized the books destruction. Now Friesen Press will not send me new books or refund me my $600. I have two more books to publish …. Not using Friesen Press again.”
90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy
Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.
We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts
and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!
Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor,
which makes it fun for creative folks like you!
Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!
HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK?
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
My friend got online and checked out his book. On AbeBooks.com, he found a listing of stores for distribution of his book. Most of this was in England. All total he found more than one hundred copies that were out there offered to the public for purchase. Can you check this out?
Thank you, T.
A –
Abe Books allows “independent sellers” to “sell” books on their website. If you search for your book’s ISBN on their website, and if you don’t know what’s really going on, you’ll likely be shocked and confused by what you see, and may even accuse your publisher or the distributor of stealing your royalties.
I looked up the ISBN of the book mentioned above on AbeBooks.com. This is what I saw:
GreatBookPrices – 5 copies (Incidentally, their name is deceptive. The author’s book has a list price of only $17.95 so avoid this seller!)
Book Depository International (owned by Amazon): 10 copies
GreatBookPrices – 5 copies (Yes, a duplicate listing from the one previously mentioned above.)
Welcome Back Books – 20 copies
Global Bookshop – 20 copies
International bookstore – 10 copies
PBShop.store US – 15 copies
THE SAINT BOOKSTORE – 20 copies (Not sure how you can call your company “Saint” when you are misleading customers about your inventory.)
Ria Christie Collections – 20 copies
Chiron Media – 10 copies
GreaBookPricesUK – 5 copies (Their third listing!)
GreatBookPricesUK – 5 copies (Their fourth listing! If that doesn’t tell you this is all fake, I don’t know what will.)
Chiron Media – 20 copies (Yes, a duplicate listing for this outfit, too.)
AHA-BUCH GmbH – 1 copy
moluna – 20 copies
Those quantities are NOT book sales. The books haven’t even been printed! Any firm that has an Ingram account (the distributor) can offer books for sale. If someone orders a copy from one of those firms, only then will they order a copy from Ingram. The copies you see online are what the industry calls “virtual inventory.” Those copies do not yet exist.
All total, AbeBooks.com has 182 non-existent copies of this book for sale. How do I know they don’t exist? Easy. They’re all listed as “new” and I have access to the sales information for this book. This book has sold 30 COPIES.
If one of the resellers above had obtained a copy of one of the 30 books that have been printed, it would be listed as “used.” (Or, they could lie, and say the book is new if they are really slimy.) And, of course, since there are 182 copies for sale, when only 30 copies have been printed, the numbers are completely fake.
Those resellers can type whatever number they want into the box when selling books on AbeBooks.com. I call that fraud.
Don’t trust the fake (“virtual”) inventory numbers on AbeBooks. AND, don’t order books from AbeBooks. The prices are WAY too high!!! When a bookstore or a third party retailer prices a book too high, they keep the rest of the money. The author does NOT get anything extra. Your best bet is to order from the publisher directly, from BarnesandNoble.com, or from Amazon. But, keep in mind that Amazon often inflates the prices of books as well, as do their third party sellers.
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
I occasionally hear from authors, writers, and journalists who receive odd and occasionally anonymous emails about the topic that author, writer, or journalist covers on a regular basis. Often, they ask me to help them research the situation, or ask me if I think the information is legit. I, too, receive these types of communications on a regular basis. Do I trust them? It depends…
I received the following email last week:
Scam alert: (Name removed) acting as (company name removed) has been contacting conventions and authors in (location removed) area posing as a “promoter” or “social media manager” to attempt to get free admission/goods. He has no experience as a promoter and fewer than 1000 followers (in some cases, fewer than 100) on most of his social media accounts, and a reputation for harassing female guests (his ex-wife, an author, has a restraining order against him). He has also taken over client social media accounts to “help promote them” and refused to give the accounts back to the owners once they fire him. Buyer beware.
Sounds pretty juicy, huh? I did some googling and I couldn’t find any mention of any of the allegations against this person or his company. I wrote to the person who emailed me to ask for more information but I did not receive a response. I was not surprised. The problem is some in the industry, not knowing the legal ramifications, might post the allegations online. It reminded me of a story I read just last night:
A TikTok personality, Ashley Guillard, has allegedly posted several videos accusing a female professor at the college the murder victims attended of being involved in their murder.
From the article: Guillard posted a video Friday responding to the lawsuit, saying, “I am not stopping,” and questioning why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The fact that she complained about “three lawyers” was the first hint that Guillard is an idiot. How many law firms don’t have at least three attorneys? Not many! Also, while she apparently has shared no proof, she says she’s “not stopping.”
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of someone on social media who clearly does not understand the ramifications of posting unproven allegations online. Guillard clearly doesn’t realize that, if she loses in court, she’s going to be paying damages for the rest of her life to the victim.
I’ve received thousands of pretty outlandish allegations from “anonymous” sources over the years about people and companies. I always, ALWAYS research them before publishing anything. In most cases, there is nothing to publish. And, if you think that some competitor won’t send you false allegations about someone, hoping you’ll publish them, think again. There are truly horrible people in this world who will do anything to put you out of business.
Think about this. The person who contacts you may be in cahoots with the person the false allegations are about. If the person you libel sues and wins, they may very well have a secret contract to share the winnings with the person who sent you the false allegations.
Writer beware!
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
I noticed both of my books are now out of stock at Amazon. I don’t understand. Did they sell out? I don’t see any sales in my publisher’s account for my books.
C.D.
A –
Amazon is in the process of closing warehouses, and laying off thousands of employees. Many assume that having a “print on demand” book means your book will never be out of stock. Amazon used to have “virtual inventory” numbers in their system but they don’t appear to be doing that anymore. Years ago, if Amazon’s site said they had copies on stock, that may not have been the case.
If your book is distributed by Ingram, the largest book distributor, Amazon can order copies. If you book is listed as out of stock, people can still order your book. If they do, Amazon will simply order a copy from Ingram. And, in many cases, Ingram will ship that book directly to Amazon’s customer, even using an Amazon return address label.
As Amazon continues to close warehouses and lay off employees due to the economy, authors and publishers can expect more listing problems. And, if you do contact Amazon about a listing problem on your book’s page, you will likely get a canned answer from an employee overseas that will not help you at all. And, they will often blame your publisher for the error and that is almost always NOT TRUE. It seems that Amazon’s employees habitually send out canned responses in an attempt to get rid of complainers.
This is just another lesson on why authors and publishers should never put all their eggs in one basket. If you rely on just one retailer (even the largest) to sell your books, you’re in for a world of trouble when things start going downhill.
At BookLocker.com, our authors’ books are always available at our website, as well as BarnesandNoble.com, BooksAMillion, Walmart.com, Target.com, Chapters/Indigo, and numerous other retailers across the globe. Our ebooks are available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Apple, Kobo (Canada’s largest ebook retailer), Overdrive (which sells to multi-thousands of libaries and schools), Google Play, and, of course, BookLocker.com.
I also recommend authors always keep copies on hand that they can sell to people directly.
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
How can I get my book, (title removed), to sell as a Prime product on Amazon?
L.Z.
A –
I did some research. Your book was published more than 10 years ago. If a product is not currently selling, Amazon will still have the product on their website, but they will let third party sellers sell the book.
Your book is for sale on Amazon, but only through third party sellers. In order for Amazon to start selling your book directly after few or no sales over the years, they would want to see far more sales coming in now.
However, even that won’t guarantee direct sales by Amazon.com. They are laying off employees and closing warehouses because of the economy and that means they are probably pushing even more products to third party sellers. That saves Amazon from needing to stock and ship those products.
It’s common for authors to get tired of book promotion, and to start writing new books instead. If you stop promoting your book, sales will come to a screeching halt. If you want to keep making money on your book, you need to keep promoting it.
90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy
Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.
We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts
and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!
Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor,
which makes it fun for creative folks like you!
Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!
HOW TO REMEMBER, WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR LIFE STORY
Angela Hoy's popular online class is now available in book format!
Remember Your Past
Write It and Publish It
in as little as 12 weeks!
Angela Hoy's book will get you started!
Using Angela's MEMORY TRIGGERS, recall memories that have been dormant for years
Record those memories in chronological order in your memory notebook
Using the memory notebook as your outline, write your autobiography!
You’d be surprised how many people ask me to share my email lists with them…for free. I won’t even do it for money!! They want the THOUSANDS of email addresses of my WritersWeekly subscribers. They want the THOUSANDS of email addresses of our BookLocker authors. Heck, some have even asked me for a list of my friends’ and family members’ email addresses!
Rest assured that we would never, EVER share your or anyone else’s email address with anyone!! Any company that does this instantly loses the respect of their customers. And, I have a moral obligation to protect my subscribers and authors from unwanted emails even if I think the product is something they might want.
What’s appalling about these requests is that these people actually think it’s a-okay to spam anyone and everyone. And, get this, they get MAD at me for refusing to share the email addresses of others!!
I have been offered lots of money over the past 20+ years from companies wanting my lists but I have refused every single request.
What is Spam exactly? Different definitions abound but, in a nutshell, it means to send someone an unsolicited email of a marketing nature. Whether it’s a mass email or a single one doesn’t matter.
Sending out spam can not only harm your reputation, and get you added to spammer lists (meaning your emails will be flagged in the future – even legitimate, non-commercial ones), but you can also lose your email address altogether. And, if you’re using an ISP to host your website, if there are enough complaints, that ISP can shut you down. Permanently.
There are numerous ways to promote your book online FOR FREE that are ethical, legal, and even welcomed by potential readers.
90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy
Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.
We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts
and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!
Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor,
which makes it fun for creative folks like you!
Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!
7.625 STRATEGIES IN EVERY BEST-SELLER - Revised and Expanded Edition
At this moment, thousands of would-be authors are slaving away on their keyboards, dreaming of literary success. But their efforts won’t count for much. Of all those manuscripts, trade book editors will sign up only a slim fraction.
And of those titles--ones that that editors paid thousands of dollars to contract, print and publicize--an unhealthy percentage never sell enough copies to earn back their advances. Two years later, most will be out of print!
Acquisition Editor Tam Mossman shares seven essentials every book needs to stay in print, and sell!
My webmaster is adding information about my book to my website. I know my book is available at lots of websites now but which ones should I have my webmaster include on my website? I know adding all of them would be too much.
J.W.
I hear from authors on occasion who want me to send them every single link where their book is for sale. I don’t do that because, as you said, it would be too much. And, offering too many options will only confuse buyers.
At BookLocker, our books are distributed by Ingram, the largest book distributor. They send a feed to thousands of their retail clients across the globe. It would be downright silly to list thousands of links on a website.
Here are the links you’ll definitely want to include, and make sure the links go DIRECTLY to your book’s page on each website.
PRINT EDITION
Amazon.com
BarnesAndNoble.com (People who boycott Amazon – and there are many – can shop here instead)
Your Publisher’s Website (if you have a publisher that isn’t selling your book directly on their website, find a different publisher)
Chapters.Indigo.ca (for your Canadian readers)
BooksAMillion.com
Powells.com
EBOOK EDITION
Amazon.com
BarnesAndNoble.com
Apple
GooglePlay
Kobo
Your Publisher’s Website
If your publisher doesn’t distribute your ebooks to all of those sites, again, find a different publisher.
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
There is, on Facebook, a popular group that does reviews of articles, books, etc. (and their focus is on the same niche topic as my book). I sent them an inquiry on how to submit my latest historical novel. They responded by telling me that, per their rules, they will not accept “self-published books.” I found that frustrating and, in a way, a bit discriminating.
I wrote back telling them that I’ve read a lot of books in my lifetime (I am 74 years old), both traditionally published books and self-published books, and I have not seen any difference between the two, especially in their quality.
I know that I, personally, have never turned up my nose at any self-published books, nor do I believe very many customers when they decide to purchase a book, put those back on the store shelf when they discover it was self-published, nor do I believe that most customers can even tell that a book was self-published.
Please, if you don’t mind, enlighten me as to what the problem is with self-published books, a least from your standpoint.
I am still waiting for their response, which I doubt will happen. Personally, when I shop for a book I never look to see if it was self-published, but instead, I look at the quality of the book overall, and, mostly, I look to see if the story interests me. I am thankful that both online bookstores and brick and mortar book stores do not refuse to put books on their shelves simply because they are self-published, at least to my knowledge anyway.
J.J.
Physically, it’s true that you can’t tell the difference between self-published books and traditionally published ones. The reason is because many traditionally published books are printed now using print on demand technology. Self-published books look just like traditionally published ones.
Where you can find the difference, however, is in the text inside. A book can look stunningly beautiful. But, if the writing is bad, nothing can save it.
There are lots of author meat markets out there selling pretty much anything and everything (garbage). Doing that gives a bad name to all self-published authors and, yes, it’s entirely unfair. The large publishing services companies will publish just about anything if the author has enough money in their wallet.
That organization on Facebook should at least agree to take a look at your book before deciding whether or not to review it. It’s unfortunate they are judging your book based solely on the actions of author meat markets.
Some bookstores and libraries do indeed refuse to sell books published by some publishers. See #10 in THIS ARTICLE for an example.
At BookLocker, we do not publish everything coming over the e-transom. No retailer or library has ever refused to purchase any of our books just because they were self-published. But, that’s because we’re not an author meat market.
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
I have a question that may be out of left field, but since you’ve been in writing a long time, I’d like your view to something I posted in my local Facebook writers group:
“For those of you who have significant others or are dating someone, they will know you are a writer rather soon, right? Well, how much do you expect them to be as excited about wanting to read what you write? If they don’t show much enthusiasm about you being a writer or what you write, can that be a hindrance in your relationship or potential relationship?
Obviously, significant others or those we are dating have their own lives and jobs and have to balance all that on top of spending time with us, and on the flip side, we may not get that excited about their jobs either, right?
We as writers do love people reading our work and liking it, and it’s exciting when people closest to us take the time to read our stuff, too.”
Your thoughts, please.
Thanks,
R.B.
Nobody in my family (including 2 husbands!) nor my adult children have read all of my books. I write in a genre they are not particularly interested in – about writing and publishing.
None of my books are memoirs with that kind of excitement!!
Writers need to understand that our loved ones may not be interested in what we write and that’s okay! I would not be interested in following my son around all day for his welding job. I’d be bored out of my mind!! All of this certainly doesn’t mean family members can’t still get along.
Many writers and authors (not all!) are sort of like narcissists. And, I say that in the most loving way. We love reading our own writing more than anything else. We may not understand why a loved one does not want to read the brilliant words we’ve written. But, we need to check our egos at the door. If we need feedback that bad, we need to join a writer’s group. A writer will get far more honest feedback that way anyway.
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com, a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the author of 19 books, and the co-owner of BookLocker.com (one of the original POD publishers that still gets books to market in less than a month), PubPreppers.com (print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish), and Abuzz Press (the publishing co-op that charges no setup fees).
Angela has lived and traveled across the U.S. with her kids in an RV, settled in a river-side home in Bradenton, FL, and lived on a 52 ft Irwin sailboat. Angela now resides on a mountaintop in Northwest Georgia, where she plans to spend the rest of her days bird watching, gardening, hiking, and taking in all of the amazing sunrises.
WritersWeekly.com - the free marketing ezine for writers, which features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday.
BookLocker.com - According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is: "As close to perfection as you're going to find in the world of ebook and POD publishing. The ebook royalties are the highest I've ever seen, and the print royalties are better than average. BookLocker understands what new authors experience, and have put together a package that is the best in the business. You can't go wrong here. Plus, they're selective and won't publish any manuscript just because it's accompanied by a check. Also, the web site is well trafficked. If you can find a POD or epublisher with as much integrity and dedication to selling authors' books, but with lower POD publishing fees, please let me know."
Abuzz Press offers FAST and FREE book publication, but only accepts a small percentage of submissions, and only works with U.S. authors.
PubPreppers.com - "We Prep, You Publish!" Print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish. Offers formatting and design services only, and then provides simple instructions for authors on where to sign up to have the print and ebook editions printed/listed/sold. Cut out the middle man. Keep 100% of what bookstores pay for your book!
Angela's POD Secrets Revealed Series can be found HERE.
Have a POD Book with another publisher? See if BookLocker can give you a better deal. (BookLocker offers "disgruntled author discounts" to those who want to move from other POD services.)
Joel's BookProgram: The Simple Secret To Writing A Non-Fiction Book In 30 Days, At 1 Hour A Day! - SECOND EDITION
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The FINE PRINT of Self-Publishing - Fifth Edition - by Mark Levine
The Fine Print of Self-Publishing has been lauded by many experts as the Consumer Reports of the self-publishing industry. This book has helped thousands of authors choose the right self-publishing company and avoid the ones with unfair contracts or low-quality services.
"If you're considering paying a company to publish your book, don't do anything until you read The Fine Print and consider the alternatives. It will save you a lot of time, money, and heartache." -Dan Poynter, The Self-Publishing Manual
“BOOK-bookproposals”
BOOK PROPOSALS THAT WORKED! Real Book Proposals That Landed $10K - $100K Publishing Contracts - by Angela Hoy
Peek over the shoulders of highly successful, published authors to see how they landed publishing contracts worth $10,000 to $100,000! An enticing yet professional book proposal is the key!
BONUS! Successful ghostwriter, Anton Marco, shares his secret for landing ghostwriting clients. Don’t miss Anton’s real ghostwriting contract at the end of this book! It provides an example of what he charges and the payment terms he requires from each client.
“90days”
90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy
Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.
We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts
and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!
Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor,
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Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!
“SocialMedia”
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“BOOK-QueryLetters”
QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments
Peek over the shoulders of highly successful freelance writers to see how they earn thousands per article! The query letter is the key!
In these pages, you'll find real query letters that landed real assignments for national magazines, websites, and corporations.
Also includes:
Abbi Perrets' form letter that brings in $30,000-$45,000 annually
Sample phone query from Christine Greeley
The Six Golden Rules of Queries and Submissions...and How I Broke Them! by Bob Freiday
Your Rights As a "Freelancer"
and ANGELA HOY'S SECRET for finding ongoing freelance work from companies that have a stable of freelancers, yet never run ads for them!
“COLOR TEST”
THIS IS A COLOR TEST
“Book – Boyd’s Best Blogs”
The Best of Boyd's Blogs: 87 Solutions to a Life of Better Speaking and Listening
Ever wish you could have your favorite blog in book form? There's nothing like flipping through the pages and reading helpful snippets here and there.
In this book, Steve Boyd gives you that very opportunity. He has intrigued his readers and clients for years with his insightful newsletters and blog posts. This book includes some of his most interesting stories and communication tips, from listening to speaking. As he quotes this Chinese proverb, "From listening comes wisdom and from speaking repentance."
You won't need to repent from your next speech if you use these articles to guide both your preparation and delivery. As an avid reader of his blog said, "These articles are priceless! People need what you have to say."
Steve Boyd's articles on motivation and communication-related topics have appeared
in various publications. His books on public speaking have sold over 30,000 copies.
He is a popular after-dinner speaker and conducts workshops for businesses and associations
whose members want to speak and listen effectively to improve personally and professionally.
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