Sarah R. Yoffa's Blog: -sry's Goodreads Blogosphere, page 8
November 6, 2012
First-Ever Webbiegrrl Giveaway To Be Held Tues Nov 20th
The first-ever Webbiegrrl Giveaway will be held on Tuesday, November 20th featuring Paranormal Romance Tracking Shadows by Regan Black get deets on the Webbiegrrl Writer Blog at:
http://webbiegrrl.blogspot.com/p/giveaways.html
November 5, 2012
MONDAY MARKETING Branding Relies On Divergence - Branching Like Trees #pubtip #indie #selfpub #promo #branding
I'm going to keeping talking about branding because defining a strong brand is the key to creating a position, and a position in the consumer's mind is the key to selling products. It's like a domino effect; if you miss one connection along the way, the process stops. Click through the jump-break to learn how to begin the chain of events.
Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing strategies are fairly straightforward: find out what consumers want and then give it to them, just make it "better, faster, cheaper" to use a saying from my rocket science past.
Traditional marketing focuses on products, not brands and certainly not categories of brands. The problem is, categories don't divide or diverge, spawning off new categories, unless or until there is a new brand for consumers to purchase. Why should you care about spawning off a new category? Being a leader in a category insures you a greater share of of the category's profits and it's much easier to be the leader when you're first.
So how do you get be first? Learn how by reading my book on marketing for Indie Authors (haha) or in short: be the one who creates the new category. By definition, the creator of a category is the first to arrive in it. (See Immutable Law of Branding 8 (for Indie Authors): Law of Category for more on spawning new categories).
Marketing Through Branding
If your primary activity is anticipating what the customer will want to buy in the future so you can provide it in time for them to buy it--at that moment when they actually want it--then you are constantly battling against the unpredictability of the market (See Immutable Law of Marketing 17 (for Indie Authors): Law of Unpredictability). No one can predict the future. Stop trying. Learn from the past and live in the now.
If you have defined a strong brand, then your brand will sell your products. If your readers are interested in you, the Author Brand, just as much or more than they are in any particular book you wrote in the past, then they will buy your future products simply because you wrote them. It's called a "must buy" author. Many readers have them. Not a lot of them, but a select few that come, stay for a few years, then go when they are replaced by "The Next Big Thing." It's likely half of you have one of these short lists yourself.
When readers buy an author's work, sight unseen, on the basis of their name--that is, their Brand Name, it's because the Author Brand is strong. If you want to build a successful Author Name Brand, step one is to be first. To be first, you must understand divergence--the spawning of new categories.
How Does Divergence Occur
Divergence is when a known category or grouping of something splits off - a parent has a child, a tree branches, a flower cross-pollinates and a new flower is born. Even in Digital Publishing (especially in digital publishing), new categories of books flare to life, fizzle and die. The new categories don't ever converge, even to save themselves. A category will diverge, branch off into 2 or more new categories, and either they thrive or they die.
Think about it for a second. You never see a tree where two branches converge and form a new, single branch (well, if you do, take a picture and post it to Twitter because it's gonna be downright weird and unusual). What you'll see is one really solid branch, spawning offshoots or smaller, fledgling branches. A tree branch will spawn new attempts only when it is healthy and robust--and needs more room to grow. This applies to book categories, too.
The time to spawn a new category of book, or to name a new genre, is when the current category you're in is strong and flourishing. In fact, when a category's competition peaks is the time to strike out on your own--and invite the competition to join you in a "quieter" category where everyone gets more of the pie (customers, sales) because there are fewer authors competing.
Divergence--or the spawning of a new category--will always happen when a category gets large and crowded. That's guaranteed by Immutable Law of Marketing 10 (for Indie Authors): Law of Division. The trick is to be the one to push the new category into existence, to draw attention to it, to name it . He who names it, OWNS it. As always, being first is the goal; being perceived as first is just as good ^)^
What's Next....
Next time I'll delve into another aspect of branding, but I'll be taking a week off to move residences (Yes, again! Hopefully, for the last time until next spring.) I'll be back on Monday, November 19th with a Monday Marketing look at competition, pros and cons. Tomorrow's Tuesday Tip will be a Nanowrimo special.
Coming up:
On Tuesday, November 20th, I'll be running a fabulous giveaway for my friend, Paranormal Romance Author, Regan Black. Be sure to check in on the Webbiegrrl Facebook Page and on Twitter @webbiegrrl for details of how to enter and what you could win. I'll have more for you over the next few days (in between packing and moving *haha*)
Thanks for stopping by!
-sry
Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer
@webbiegrrl
Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing strategies are fairly straightforward: find out what consumers want and then give it to them, just make it "better, faster, cheaper" to use a saying from my rocket science past.
Traditional marketing focuses on products, not brands and certainly not categories of brands. The problem is, categories don't divide or diverge, spawning off new categories, unless or until there is a new brand for consumers to purchase. Why should you care about spawning off a new category? Being a leader in a category insures you a greater share of of the category's profits and it's much easier to be the leader when you're first.
So how do you get be first? Learn how by reading my book on marketing for Indie Authors (haha) or in short: be the one who creates the new category. By definition, the creator of a category is the first to arrive in it. (See Immutable Law of Branding 8 (for Indie Authors): Law of Category for more on spawning new categories).
Marketing Through Branding
If your primary activity is anticipating what the customer will want to buy in the future so you can provide it in time for them to buy it--at that moment when they actually want it--then you are constantly battling against the unpredictability of the market (See Immutable Law of Marketing 17 (for Indie Authors): Law of Unpredictability). No one can predict the future. Stop trying. Learn from the past and live in the now.
If you have defined a strong brand, then your brand will sell your products. If your readers are interested in you, the Author Brand, just as much or more than they are in any particular book you wrote in the past, then they will buy your future products simply because you wrote them. It's called a "must buy" author. Many readers have them. Not a lot of them, but a select few that come, stay for a few years, then go when they are replaced by "The Next Big Thing." It's likely half of you have one of these short lists yourself.
When readers buy an author's work, sight unseen, on the basis of their name--that is, their Brand Name, it's because the Author Brand is strong. If you want to build a successful Author Name Brand, step one is to be first. To be first, you must understand divergence--the spawning of new categories.
How Does Divergence Occur
Divergence is when a known category or grouping of something splits off - a parent has a child, a tree branches, a flower cross-pollinates and a new flower is born. Even in Digital Publishing (especially in digital publishing), new categories of books flare to life, fizzle and die. The new categories don't ever converge, even to save themselves. A category will diverge, branch off into 2 or more new categories, and either they thrive or they die.
Think about it for a second. You never see a tree where two branches converge and form a new, single branch (well, if you do, take a picture and post it to Twitter because it's gonna be downright weird and unusual). What you'll see is one really solid branch, spawning offshoots or smaller, fledgling branches. A tree branch will spawn new attempts only when it is healthy and robust--and needs more room to grow. This applies to book categories, too.
The time to spawn a new category of book, or to name a new genre, is when the current category you're in is strong and flourishing. In fact, when a category's competition peaks is the time to strike out on your own--and invite the competition to join you in a "quieter" category where everyone gets more of the pie (customers, sales) because there are fewer authors competing.
Divergence--or the spawning of a new category--will always happen when a category gets large and crowded. That's guaranteed by Immutable Law of Marketing 10 (for Indie Authors): Law of Division. The trick is to be the one to push the new category into existence, to draw attention to it, to name it . He who names it, OWNS it. As always, being first is the goal; being perceived as first is just as good ^)^
What's Next....
Next time I'll delve into another aspect of branding, but I'll be taking a week off to move residences (Yes, again! Hopefully, for the last time until next spring.) I'll be back on Monday, November 19th with a Monday Marketing look at competition, pros and cons. Tomorrow's Tuesday Tip will be a Nanowrimo special.
Coming up:
On Tuesday, November 20th, I'll be running a fabulous giveaway for my friend, Paranormal Romance Author, Regan Black. Be sure to check in on the Webbiegrrl Facebook Page and on Twitter @webbiegrrl for details of how to enter and what you could win. I'll have more for you over the next few days (in between packing and moving *haha*)
Thanks for stopping by!
-sry
Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer
@webbiegrrl
October 30, 2012
TUESDAY TIP Digital Publishing Expansion is Astronomical #pubtip #indie #selfpub
On the other side of the jump-break, I bring you this week's roundup of Digital Publishing news (If you've already checked out the Smashwords Site Updates page, you've already seen this week's news). Click through for booming numbers from Bowker / Publishers Weekly and Apple.
Digital Distributors - Smashwords Tops the Market
As much as Amazon would like to think it's topping the market on eBook distribution, the fact is, they are no longer the #1 distributor of eBooks around the world. According to the US top registrar of ISBNs (the numbers by which book production is tracked worldwide), Smashwords was the holder of record on more ISBNs in 2011 than any other producer.
Bowker says Smashwords did a little over 40,000 titles last year though Smashwords authors and publishers actually released about 65,000 books through the Digital Self-Publishing platform last year). In fact, Smashwords also had to purchase another 100,000 ISBN's just over a month ago--and it'll probably not be enough to make it through more than another 6 months!
Amazon also purchases and distributes ISBNs but they did not distribute more than Smashwords did. Read the whole story at Publishers Weekly.
Apple Expands Global Distribution Again
In keeping with Apple's commitment to global distribution, they expanded the reach of the iBookstore to 18 new countries this week, bringing the total reach of Apple's iBookstore to 50 countries worldwide.
That means that over 120,000 Smashwords titles now enjoy global distribution through the Apple iBookstore. In case you cannot read the labels or recognize the national symbols on the graphic to the left, this means eBooks published through Smashwords now will be distributed to Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, and New Zealand. This is in addition to the 32 iBookstores previously included in Smashwords distribution.
For the month of September, the largest markets to which Smashwords distributed (outside the US) were Australia, the U.K. and Canada, in that order. With these new stores--dominated by Spanish-language nations--eBook distribution will reach more bilingual readers than ever before.
One of the biggest obstacles faced by non-US authors (in particular, those based in Brazil) has been selling to their local markets. Yes, Brazilians are not allowed to buy or sell books through Amazon. Not a clue why Amazon decided to exclude Brazil, but I'm sure it had to do with how much money they could or could not make off the deal.
Apple, on the other hand, has the exciting implication of allowing international authors to sell their books everywhere, including in the Brazilian market! Why are we harping on Brazil as a market? Because Brazil might eventually become one of the world's largest eBook markets. The trend has been obvious in South America, overall, and held back solely by the issue of access to the books.
And it's not just Brazilian authors and readers who benefit. An author in Costa Rica can upload a book to Smashwords today, and within several days that book will have distributed through to the Apple iBookstore channel and can be on sale not just in their local market of Costa Rica, but to Spanish-reading audiences throughout Central and South America, Mexico, the United States, Canada, and around the world. Yay!
Thank you to Mark Coker of Smashwords for continuing to pursue the best distribution channels and opportunities for the 50,000+ Smashwords Authors. Thank you also to Apple for keeping the iBookstore in a growth trend, rather than stopping at the first success. Apple has always been an innovator in hardware. Glad to see they are maintaining the trend in their digital sales markets as well.
What's Next....
Next week's Monday Marketing blog will be another copywriting tip, I think. I've just started a new day job and PR is a quick and easy--and endless --topic for review.
Next week's Tuesday Tip will be some new Nanowrimo tips because Nanowrimo starts in two (2) days on Thursday, November, 1st. If you weren't following my blog last year, check out my NanoTips from 2011 now, before you get started.
To be clear, I am not participating this year but if you'd like to buddy me there, please do. I might stop in to chit-chat with the nanos :) My Nanowrimo username is "-sry" with the hyphen and the address is (I think) as follows:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/sry
Indie Authors, don't forget you now can sign up to be featured on the Webbiegrrl Blog. Click here to learn more.
Digital Distributors - Smashwords Tops the Market
As much as Amazon would like to think it's topping the market on eBook distribution, the fact is, they are no longer the #1 distributor of eBooks around the world. According to the US top registrar of ISBNs (the numbers by which book production is tracked worldwide), Smashwords was the holder of record on more ISBNs in 2011 than any other producer.
Bowker says Smashwords did a little over 40,000 titles last year though Smashwords authors and publishers actually released about 65,000 books through the Digital Self-Publishing platform last year). In fact, Smashwords also had to purchase another 100,000 ISBN's just over a month ago--and it'll probably not be enough to make it through more than another 6 months!
Amazon also purchases and distributes ISBNs but they did not distribute more than Smashwords did. Read the whole story at Publishers Weekly.
Apple Expands Global Distribution Again
In keeping with Apple's commitment to global distribution, they expanded the reach of the iBookstore to 18 new countries this week, bringing the total reach of Apple's iBookstore to 50 countries worldwide.
That means that over 120,000 Smashwords titles now enjoy global distribution through the Apple iBookstore. In case you cannot read the labels or recognize the national symbols on the graphic to the left, this means eBooks published through Smashwords now will be distributed to Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, and New Zealand. This is in addition to the 32 iBookstores previously included in Smashwords distribution.For the month of September, the largest markets to which Smashwords distributed (outside the US) were Australia, the U.K. and Canada, in that order. With these new stores--dominated by Spanish-language nations--eBook distribution will reach more bilingual readers than ever before.
One of the biggest obstacles faced by non-US authors (in particular, those based in Brazil) has been selling to their local markets. Yes, Brazilians are not allowed to buy or sell books through Amazon. Not a clue why Amazon decided to exclude Brazil, but I'm sure it had to do with how much money they could or could not make off the deal.
Apple, on the other hand, has the exciting implication of allowing international authors to sell their books everywhere, including in the Brazilian market! Why are we harping on Brazil as a market? Because Brazil might eventually become one of the world's largest eBook markets. The trend has been obvious in South America, overall, and held back solely by the issue of access to the books.
And it's not just Brazilian authors and readers who benefit. An author in Costa Rica can upload a book to Smashwords today, and within several days that book will have distributed through to the Apple iBookstore channel and can be on sale not just in their local market of Costa Rica, but to Spanish-reading audiences throughout Central and South America, Mexico, the United States, Canada, and around the world. Yay!
Thank you to Mark Coker of Smashwords for continuing to pursue the best distribution channels and opportunities for the 50,000+ Smashwords Authors. Thank you also to Apple for keeping the iBookstore in a growth trend, rather than stopping at the first success. Apple has always been an innovator in hardware. Glad to see they are maintaining the trend in their digital sales markets as well.
What's Next....
Next week's Monday Marketing blog will be another copywriting tip, I think. I've just started a new day job and PR is a quick and easy--and endless --topic for review.
Next week's Tuesday Tip will be some new Nanowrimo tips because Nanowrimo starts in two (2) days on Thursday, November, 1st. If you weren't following my blog last year, check out my NanoTips from 2011 now, before you get started.
To be clear, I am not participating this year but if you'd like to buddy me there, please do. I might stop in to chit-chat with the nanos :) My Nanowrimo username is "-sry" with the hyphen and the address is (I think) as follows:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/sry
Indie Authors, don't forget you now can sign up to be featured on the Webbiegrrl Blog. Click here to learn more.
October 29, 2012
MONDAY MARKETING 3 Tips for Writing Clickable Headlines: Learn How to Get ur Readers 2ur Book #pubtip #promo #marketing #indie
Today I'm going to talk about headlines. Why? Because we Indie Authors use headlines for promo Tweets, for a book's short description or just to introduce the long product description in an eye-catching manner. Most people will read a headline even if they don't read the article behind it. By writing an effective headline, you can get the click-through (i.e., to your book's sales page). Click through my jump-break to learn more now.
Tip #1 - Keep it Short
Whether you're using it for promotion on Twitter or just to title your book's description, a headline should stay under 100 characters. In fact, under 80 is better and 50 characters is idea. That's characters, not words. If you're a novelist like me, your eyes are wide at the mere thought of communicating a complete message in 80 characters or less! It's do-able. See Tip #2 for more.
Tip #2 - Keep it Readable
People cannot read headlines that make no sense. It should contain a subject (using "you" is popular) and an active verb and then have some announcement or message following the verb. The message is the "meat" of the headline, the plot point or twist you're using as a hook. I prefer to use the imperative form of a verb (e.g., Learn how... Get this... Want to know....) but write in your own style. Your headlines should be as branded as your books and your promo tweets.
Tip #3 - Edit it Carefully
Your headline should be in "Title Case." That is, using initial capital letters, NOT ALL CAPS LIKE THIS, and it should be correctly punctuated. It's not a sentence, but if you need a comma, use one. Don't put a period at the end, however. Spell-check it. Because it's short and not correctly structured grammatically, misspellings and typos will glare at the casual reader. Don't use more than one or two sentences (see Tip #1 above), and plan on readers who might skim it. Yep, even though it's 1-2 sentences, a mere 80 +/- characters, there will still be people who'll skim your headline. Make sure your message has a hook. Don't bury the lead ^)^
What's Next...
Tomorrow's Tuesday Tip will be an update of news from Smashwords. If you haven't been keeping up with all the news of Apple and Amazon and the digital publishing world, I'll have a roundup of the biggest and most-notable news for you tomorrow.
Next week, I'll give you some Nanowrimo tips because Nanowrimo starts in two (2) days on Thursday, November, 1st. If you weren't following my blog last year, check out my NanoTips from 2011 now, before you get started.
Indie Authors, don't forget you now can sign up to be featured on the Webbiegrrl Blog. Click here to learn more.
Tip #1 - Keep it Short
Whether you're using it for promotion on Twitter or just to title your book's description, a headline should stay under 100 characters. In fact, under 80 is better and 50 characters is idea. That's characters, not words. If you're a novelist like me, your eyes are wide at the mere thought of communicating a complete message in 80 characters or less! It's do-able. See Tip #2 for more.
Tip #2 - Keep it Readable
People cannot read headlines that make no sense. It should contain a subject (using "you" is popular) and an active verb and then have some announcement or message following the verb. The message is the "meat" of the headline, the plot point or twist you're using as a hook. I prefer to use the imperative form of a verb (e.g., Learn how... Get this... Want to know....) but write in your own style. Your headlines should be as branded as your books and your promo tweets.
Tip #3 - Edit it Carefully
Your headline should be in "Title Case." That is, using initial capital letters, NOT ALL CAPS LIKE THIS, and it should be correctly punctuated. It's not a sentence, but if you need a comma, use one. Don't put a period at the end, however. Spell-check it. Because it's short and not correctly structured grammatically, misspellings and typos will glare at the casual reader. Don't use more than one or two sentences (see Tip #1 above), and plan on readers who might skim it. Yep, even though it's 1-2 sentences, a mere 80 +/- characters, there will still be people who'll skim your headline. Make sure your message has a hook. Don't bury the lead ^)^
What's Next...
Tomorrow's Tuesday Tip will be an update of news from Smashwords. If you haven't been keeping up with all the news of Apple and Amazon and the digital publishing world, I'll have a roundup of the biggest and most-notable news for you tomorrow.
Next week, I'll give you some Nanowrimo tips because Nanowrimo starts in two (2) days on Thursday, November, 1st. If you weren't following my blog last year, check out my NanoTips from 2011 now, before you get started.
Indie Authors, don't forget you now can sign up to be featured on the Webbiegrrl Blog. Click here to learn more.
October 23, 2012
TUESDAY TIP New! Author Features at Webbiegrrl's Writings #indie #promo #marketing #pubtip #selfpub #IAN1 #WLCAuthor
I'm launching a new feature at the Webbiegrrl Writing blog. Check it out here: http://webbiegrrl.blogspot.com/p/author-features.html. You can submit your request from the link at the bottom of that page and you can always find that link at the top of the blog labelled "Author Features." I hope to see email from some of you soon!
-sry
@webbiegrrl
-sry
@webbiegrrl
TUESDAY TIP - Book Review - SEAL of My Dreams (anthology) #SOT #SOV #VRC
Title: SEAL of My DreamsAuthor: See the book's web site for a full list of the assorted authors: http://www.sealofmydreams.com/
Genre: romance, short story, military fiction
Cover: I liked this cover though my inter-library loan copy had a huge sticker completely covering it. I had to go somewhere else to see what the cover actually had on it. Why'd I bother? Well, for one thing, nice backside! ((grin)) For another, there's a note inside the book's cover asserting that this is a photo taken a while ago of a guy who was (at the time of the photo) an active-duty US Navy SEAL preparing for a real mission. I've seen a lot of naked male backsides and while they have always been a pleasant sight to see, I wouldn't have bothered but for the notation inside the book. Then, I "had' to see it. I know! I'm such a pervert! Then again, this is the kind of view that inspires me to write lines like "Nice ass! " which I am happy to report I have done. Repeatedly. There are never enough nice asses in the world.
Why I read this: I was recommended this book by a friend of mine who shares a love for Suzanne Brockmann SEAL stories (i.e., Suz's Troubleshooter series). There are 18 short stories written by 18 different authors, many of whom have won "Best Seller List" status. In a couple of cases, I can definitely see why.
I like milfic and romantic suspense so it wouldn't have been a hardship right there, but I also noticed the proceeds of this book go to the Veterans Research Corporation (VRC) which supports medical research specifically for veterans of US Military Service. It's a good cause.
Overall rating of the collection: 3.5 stars out of 5
Why not a 5? (not that 3.5 is oh-so-low but it's not great either). I took 1/2 star off for all of the editing errors I found. There shouldn't have been any at all, let alone many, so if you want an edited rating, based just on the story content, it goes up to a 4 out of 5 stars easily. Now it doesn't feel so bad, right? I really enjoyed most of the stories. While I was reading, I "statused" each of the 18 stories after I finished it, one by one, on Goodreads, so I'll collect and summarize those remarks here for your edification.
My Top 3 Picks (from the 18 stories, in order of preference):
1st pick: #5 FINDING HOME by HelenKay Dimon
2nd pick: #18 LETTERS TO ELLIE by Loreth Anne White
I'm torn between 2 stories for 3d place. It's a tie, either
#4 GOING DARK by Helen Brenna -OR-
#7 PANAMA JACK by Tara Janzen
SHORT REVIEWS:
Story #1 COMING HOME by Jami Alden. I was immediately swept up and felt my heart clutch in this one. Some really great characterizations here. I'll definitely read more of this author's work. The story ended a little abruptly though, as if she ran out of allotted word count or something. Despite the abrupt ending, I felt it was worthy of 5 out of 5 stars for a thoroughly enjoyable "Reader Experience" with no other faults until the very end.
Story #2 BABY, I'M BACK by Stephanie Bond was cute but a little long. It didn't drag at any point but was a little slow-paced for my tastes. Then again, the characters were well-developed early on, so I didn't mind reading. It just felt like Bond is used to writing novels and couldn't cut herself down to short story length. I'm likewise afflicted so I can relate. I enjoyed the story despite the relaxed pace. I'll knock this down to a 4 out of 5 stars due to the occasional rambling.
Story #3 SEALed Fates by Kylie Brant is, by comparison to the first 2 stories, really bad. The first indication was as I started Ch 3 (a) I had no idea there'd been a POV change from Hero to Heroine then (b) once I figured out it was the Heroine talking about 5 other guys, I had no clue what the Hero's name was anymore. Uh, he should've been more memorable, yeah?
Next problem was the melodrama, the forced emotional content that's not at all believable. Forex, the Heroine opens the door and "steps into his arms" except he wasn't extending his arms. THEN Brant spends the next 3 freakin pages fixated on this alleged "embrace" - you know, the one that wasn't an embrace? She had the Heroine lurch through the doorway and grab at the guy. That's called assault in some states (wink) I definitely did not dial into Ms. Brant's mindset. Ever.
By the time I'd read the final 10 pages of this story, I'd decided I NEVER want read anything else by Kylie Brant! This went from bad to worse to intolerable. She had a frakkin Navy SEAL fighting like a girl (sigh) I guess to her mind, Ms. Brant thought the choreography sounded tough and tumble or some similar phraseology. She obviously lacks a sense of maturity in her authorial voice. This comes out in her thin plotting, choppy pacing and flawed character development, not to mention POV and dialog-construction failing to guide the reader through the storyin any sensible fashion.
If all that wasn't bad enough, this story was twice as long as the previous 2 combined while delivering none of the necessary punch to justify its length. I give this a meager 1 out of 5 stars but that 1 star is only for the child characters who were minor in every way. If she'd focused on the kids, I'd probably give it a zero.If you missed it the first time, I'll never read more by this author--or not on purpose. Maybe if she changes her name and sneaks one by me after she learns how to write.
Story #4 GOING DARK by Helen Brenna has redeemed the anthology back on track :) This story jumped right into action, filled in the Hero and Heroine's first meeting through a backfill that was not at all like infodumping. I felt the characters were fully developed after just 2-3 pages. As an Author myself, I'm in awe of anyone who can do this so thoroughly and so quickly.
Brenna's piece actually reminded me a lot of NYT Bestseller Suzanne Brockmann's SEAL stories. Another reason I liked GOING DARK so much might also have been in part that Brenna's story was depicting a SEAL in the field, "in action" as it were; whereas the first 3 stories were SEALs at home, after they'd been WIA. Brenna did a great job making the field work crunchy enough for my milfic tastes. Her Hero reminded me of Kenny "the Wild Card" in Suz's Troubleshooters stories. I'll definitely read more by Helen Brenna. 5 out of 5 stars!
Story #5 FINDING HOME by HelenKay Dimon is a hard one to review because I have mixed feelings. If you noticed my list up top, though, you'll see it was my first pick for top three choices of stories from this collection. Why? It was cute--I LOVED the Heroine, even more so than the Hero--but there wasn't much meat to this story. I kept noticing how plot points got clearly defined--then dropped. I didn't mind or even care because the relationship between Hero and Heroine continued to develop, almost like the plot was merely a mechanism to allow them an excuse to interact, but the failure to follow through on a couple of plot points lost one star from this story. Still, at The End, I smiled and felt a warm-fuzzy in my belly, maybe even fuzzy like little pink bunny slippers :) 4 of 5 stars (though I'm tempted to give it 5 out of 5 just for the Heroine's snarkiness)
Story #6 SEALed WITH A KISS (A Black Ops, Inc. Story) by Cindy Gerard spent way too much time being "A Black Ops, Inc. Story" instead of just being a short story with a point of its own. That lost it 1.5 stars up front. I've never read this author, and now, never will again. Her characters were sort of interesting but pretty shallow on development. She did way more telling w/little or no showing and as a result of her lecturing at me, I found myself questioning everything she claimed about her characters.
The worst was that I doubted her claims about the Hero being a hero (let alone a SEAL) because she kept telling me how he was so great rather than demonstrating it through his taking any action (now or in the past). I began to discount and disbelieve everything at that point. Antithesis of suspension of disbelief, eh? The characters were supposed to be sexy people and since she described attractive, scantily clad bodies, I suppose they were, but that's all she got from me. They seemed to be in love with each other though I had no clue why so I gave back a half star for that flavor of "romance." I give this 2.5 out of 5 stars w/ZERO intent to read her work again. In fact, just seeing "Black Ops, Inc." will be my roadsign to avoid the story.
Story #7 PANAMA JACK by Tara Janzen is in sharp contrast to the previous story. Whereas Gerard did a bunchaton of telling w/no showing, Janzen has shown me in 3 paragraphs who the Hero is and gotten me fully-vested in him. She hasn't talked at me and by the 4th paragraph, I am loving the Heroine too! Not to mention the opposites-attract chemistry between them.
A big part of the difference might be the setting, to be fair, but that's author's choice. Even setting aside the choice of locale, I think Janzen has accomplished something stupendous to get me fully-hooked into her story by Page 2. For me, characterization is key, and Janzen has this skill down pat. I already know I'll want to read more by her.
This story had edge, suspense, credible tradecraft AND credible sizzle; basically, all the elements any romantic suspense story should have PLUS a light, humorous banter that really works between the Hero and Heroine. Wonderfully done! This one gets an unqualified 5 stars out of 5 stars and Tara Janzen is now on my must-read list.
Story #8 WRAPPED AND SEALed by Leslie Kelly. Very cute story. It's sweet, tender, a good Christmas-themed vignette with likeable characters that were well-developed. Just one gripe--well, two, I suppose, taking off one star for each of these complaints. First of all, there's nothing much to the story. It's just a Christmas story. I'm not Christian and although I sometimes enjoy the heartfelt Christian-centric Christmas stories, I did not find this one plucked at my heartstrings for "holiday" reasons (though there was one point, which I'll get to in a minute).
Second gripe was that the Epilogue was abrupt. In fact, I'd've been better off without it at all. So I was down to 3 stars but I'll add one star back in because Kelly actually brought a tear to my eye with the whole side vignette about the elderly veteran who'd served on the Indianpolis and to whom the Hero spoke to thank him for his service. I just felt such a sweetness plucking at my heart at that idea--and it's truly what a real SEAL might do. She got that absolutely RIGHT. I give this 4 out of 5 stars and I'd probably read more by this author, but tentatively.
Story #9 WORTH THE RISK by Elle Kennedy. Not sure how I want to rate this one. It was a nice slice of small town Americana, always a nice thing but the whole relationship pre-existed the story + the re-hookup was utterly predictable, so nothing engaged me there. I liked the characters but they didn't grab me as others have. I guess 3.5 out of 5 stars for good characters suffering from an authorial lack of imagination in plotting.
Story #10 TWENTY-ONE HOURS by Alison Kent. This was a really unusual "SEAL Story" in that the SEAL Hero was a former firefighter who'd returned home to help fight a wildfire. No water in sight. Odd for a SEAL, eh? Despite this, I really enjoyed this story because I love firefighters and the characters, pacing and plotting were all well-written. I'd definitely read more by this author. 4.5 out of 5 stars, taking 1/2 star away only due to the abrupt ending. If you're looking for a SEAL story, though, this is going to disappoint.
Story #11 NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING by Jo Leigh. I'm barely more than one page into this and already I dislike the language--vocabulary, diction, author's voice and style. It's a purely personal reaction not Leigh's ability to construct a sentence. Rather, her authorial voice just grates on me. Her style is personally offensive to me. She must speak some kind of non-urban dialect where slang is prevalent and of course, it comes through in her writing. People write the way they "hear" things and some people misspell words believing them to be correct because that's how they've always heard it said. Just because a lot of people do something for many years does not make it right, sadly. Jo Leigh's voice isn't dramatically wrong in grammatical terms; it just sounds weird to my Boston ears and makes it unpleasant to read her story.
I pressed on despite the unpleasant voice, but from beginning to end, the tone opf this story was sharp and angry and nasty--it wasn't snarky, but I think Leigh intended for it to be. She simply failed (utterly) to make anything light or witty and got instead just snide or mean sarcasm--and I'm from Boston where funny sarcasm is prevalent. She failed to make the sarcasm funny, perhaps by actually writing the character SAYING they were being sarcastic. You know, if you have to explain a joke, it's probably not working O_o
Overall, the tone was just negative, which I don't think a romance story should ever be, given most romance readers want to be uplifted by The End. Add to the negativity her huge amounts of infodumping and backfill--for a short story! I got so much backstory on these characters but never actually NEEDED the backfilled info that had been dumped. The characters were not likeable even with the backstory though I guess they were interesting because of it. I liked that they liked each other but neither was ready/able/willing to actually admit it, even though they'd been friends "forever," which point was repeated not less than 12 times.
I was going to give it 2 out of 5 stars for poor English composition but I changed my mind and will make it 1.5 out of 5 stars due to the very anti-climatic "reveal" of the emotional obstacle defeating the Hero. Not only was it an anti-climatic reveal, but Leigh also never actually RESOLVED the issue. Having a woman hug a man is not resolving anything (though I confess some men practice avoidance of problems by having sex instead and this is usually NOT considered a good thing). I shall never read more by this author, actively avoiding her work.
Story #12 HER SECRET PIRATE (A Crossfire SEAL Story) by Gennita Low. This was 5 out of 5 stars right from the start. Unlike the "Black Ops Inc." story that spent 75% of its time BEING a series intro, I had no clue this was a series story until looked a 2d time at the title. Then I decided I'd really like to read the series. Awesome job there! Her characters were fully-developed, the narrative and dialog had light snark that was well-balanced with tense action. Her military crunch was sufficient to sink my teeth into without overwhelming. I'll DEFNITELY read more by this author, maybe even add her to my "must read" list. This was like "mind bleach" for cleansing out the previous disappointment.
Story #13 SEALed BY FATE by Marliss Melton. This one took a while to get into but once I'd warmed to the characters, I was hooked. Unfortunately, it's more of an opening chapter to a novel than a self-contained short story so I cannot give it a glowing review here. It has a beginning but NO middle OR end. Very cute, though. I'd like to read the whole book if it's ever written. I give it 3 out of 5 stars for the characterizations, pacing, writing style, but she's lost 1 star each for the missing middle and missing ending.
Story #14 SIGNED, SEALed AND DELIVERED by Christie Ridgway. Very cute story--as many in this collection are. I was starting to feel that many of these stories lacked the creativity to be original or standout but several of the authors did manage a 5-star piece of work so I'm holding my high standards up and not making concessions just because there are SEALs in the story. I did not buy the instant attraction between the Hero and Heroine at all but I didn't really care because the whole tone was very sweet. That's both good and bad IMO. I mean, I should care enough to have an opinion, shouldn't I? The story lacked enough meat or crunchiness to sink my teet into and it ended a little too AuthorConveniently so I'll knock it down to a 3.5 out of 5 stars. I might read more by this author, but not guaranteed.
Story #15 DOG HEART by Barbara Samuel. This was a very sweet story about rescuing a Military Working Dog (MWD), which is a subject near and dear to my heart but honestly, it had nothing to do with SEALs, specifically, from what I could tell. I take 1 star off the top for that. It was also not a romance--so we're down 2 stars now--but it was a wonderful short story. I can give it a clear and solid 3 out of 5 stars as a vignette about people caring enough to save a dog. Great characterizations, good writing style and of course, great dog. I do love dogs. I will probably read more by this author.
Story #16 WHIRLWIND by Roxanne St. Claire. Another sweet/cute story that had an Alpha Male but I'm not so sure what made this guy a SEAL other than the author telling me he was--which I didn't really buy. I guess I've known too many Alpha Males in real life. This guy's personality was fun, the Heroine was fun, (despite being in a panic most of the time), with a fairly fun snarky dialog passing between them. The story was madness--and having lived in Florida, through several hurricanes and tornadoes, I kinda liked the mood of the wild storm in the story. The story was a little too AuthorConvenient though, so I took 1 star off for that and 1 star off for no real "need" for a SEAL in this story. I give it a solid 3 out of 5 stars the for great characters though.
Story #17 HOLDING ON by Stephanie Tyler. Before I've even read one word of this story, the author has a "note to readers" to explain to me that this is a series-dependent story. I'm not sure why she would deliberately set me up to expect not to understand references to the larger series (which I have definitely not read); nor as a writer myself can I see any possible advantage to putting this note before rather than after the story but I suppose she just really really wanted to be sure people knew she'd written a series? Bad idea. I've yet to read anything by this author and now I start my first experience of her work feeling apprehensive. She'd better "wow" me or she'll have lost 2 stars (1 for the note, 1 for the series dependency) just for that mistake.
As I moved into this story, I could see, even without the author's heads up, that this was a series-dependent story. How could I tell? She spent a page and a half launching into a recital of almost a dozen characters' names. I kid you not. A page and a half of naming names--NO ACTION, no dialog, no nothing but series backfill, which I kinda suspect is totally irrelevant to this story, assuming there *IS* a story starting here sometime soon? Then again, if I'm 2-1/2 pages into a short story and I still am just getting series backfill, I can't imagine what the story is supposed to be about...eventually...whenever the author finally stops talking AT me.
I think I'll skip the rest of this short story, which appears to be aiming towards being some kind of "aww, gee" Christmas story since I don't care about any of the dozen characters yet and have totally lost track of who I'm supposed to have been focusing on in the first place. Plus I doubt it's got any kind of actual story beyond Christians gathering for the Christmas holidays. I give this 1 out of 5 stars for the author being able to write sentences but I'll NEVER read more by this author. Definitely.
Story #18 LETTERS TO ELLIE by Loreth Anne White. In sharp contrast to the previous 1-star story, this gets an easy 5 out of 5 stars. This story had very well-developed characters, a solid plot and backstory (all accomplished in the first 2 pages and w/only 1 paragraph of backfill). The way White built up the setup so quickly and fully was in sharp, sharp contrast to the catastrophe of the previous story by Tyler.
There's only one thing that she got wrong which keeps distracting me. The story opens on Friday night--then the kid goes to school the next day. On a Saturday? And again the next day - on Sunday? What?? Oops. I only take off 1 star for that but I have to give it right back for the amazing story premise executed effectively and with such finesse.
What was it? The letters...these guys, POW/MIAs, were "writing" and sharing letters back and forth between them. I'm a member of Soldiers Angels and I know military appreciate the letters more than the cookies or "stuff" because the human connection means more than "stuff" but I still teared up over this. The MIA/POW desperation to survive being second only to the love & devotion. The wedding ring inscription FLOORED me. I'll DEFINITELY read more by this author! Might even have to make her a "must read" name on my list. As I said, great way to close the book and 5 out of 5 stars for this clever and brilliantly-executed short story.
What's Next....
Not sure which book review I'll be posting next week (I have almost 2 dozen in reserve to edit, refine and post as well as almost a dozen books to read yet!) I start a new "day job" this week but plan on continuing the blog - that is, Monday will be a marketing / promotion tip and Tuesday will be another book review. Hope to see you then!
October 22, 2012
MONDAY MARKETING 3 Headlines and Hooks to Get You the Click #pubtip #marketing #indie
One of the hardest things for an Indie Author to learn is how to write a hook. Unless you've spent a great deal of time writing headlines for newspapers or online news services, your headline-writing skills are either absent or not often used. Novelists don't write headlines. We should--it's the best method to "hook" a reader on Page One of our novel--but it's a completely different set of skills than say, waxing prosaic for 150,000 words. Click through the jump break to read 3 tips for how to force yourself into hooking the reader so they'll click through to take in your whole pitch.
1) Don't Bury the Lead
This is a phrase we've probably heard in popular culture even if we've never worked in journalism, but any newsie knows, you never preface and prologue and preamble. Just cut to the chase--so the reader will chase your story from Page One through to The End.
A mistake often made by new authors who want to try to be clever is to withhold information from their readers. I remember doing this--I shan't say how long ago (smirk)--and I remember the rationale. I wanted them to yearn to know more. Unfortunately, as I found out with age, experience and much disappointment, readers don't "yearn" for more of nothing. You have to give them enough actual meat to bite into before they'll want to chew on the rest of the story to get to the payoff. Don't bury the lead is a tried and true journalistic rule of thumb for a good reason. You don't have to give away the punchline, but deliver the punch up front so you get a chance to deliver the rest of the lines.
2) Sell, Don't Tell
I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again. When you're trying to get readers to click through to your sales page and buy your book, you have to actually sell something. You don't have to tell them a long, drawn-out explanation of your book and why they should want to read it. You have to sell them on the idea of your book and trust them to want to read it on that basis.
A sales pitch is never long. Less than 10 words, maybe less than 5 words. Try coming up with a phrase, a question, a comparison, an offer of some reward your reader will want to obtain enough to click the link through to your book's sales page. If you ask a question, make it a yes/no question--and one to which the reader will answer "Yes!" is far more likely to get you the click. Then actually ask for the click. Say the words "Click here!" Amazing that we still have to tell people to actually click and where but we do. Accept that and just do it ^)^
3) Be Specific
This is extremely hard to do in 10 words or less but do try to specifically tell the reader what your book will give the--a rollercoaster ride? That's a fairly common promise but if your book has twists and turns and grips a reader by the throat, say it--just say how, why, with what mechanisms your product is different from mine, and the next guy's. Be specific about your book's uniqueness. Otherwise, there's no specific reason the reader should click your link and not mine.
What's Next....
Tomorrow's Tuesday Tip will be my first book review in the new format. I'll be reviewing the anthology of romance short stories SEAL of My Dreams for you.
I'll also post information about how Indie Authors can request an opportunity to be featured here. I hope to see you tomorrow!
-sry
@webbiegrrl
1) Don't Bury the Lead
This is a phrase we've probably heard in popular culture even if we've never worked in journalism, but any newsie knows, you never preface and prologue and preamble. Just cut to the chase--so the reader will chase your story from Page One through to The End.
A mistake often made by new authors who want to try to be clever is to withhold information from their readers. I remember doing this--I shan't say how long ago (smirk)--and I remember the rationale. I wanted them to yearn to know more. Unfortunately, as I found out with age, experience and much disappointment, readers don't "yearn" for more of nothing. You have to give them enough actual meat to bite into before they'll want to chew on the rest of the story to get to the payoff. Don't bury the lead is a tried and true journalistic rule of thumb for a good reason. You don't have to give away the punchline, but deliver the punch up front so you get a chance to deliver the rest of the lines.
2) Sell, Don't Tell
I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again. When you're trying to get readers to click through to your sales page and buy your book, you have to actually sell something. You don't have to tell them a long, drawn-out explanation of your book and why they should want to read it. You have to sell them on the idea of your book and trust them to want to read it on that basis.
A sales pitch is never long. Less than 10 words, maybe less than 5 words. Try coming up with a phrase, a question, a comparison, an offer of some reward your reader will want to obtain enough to click the link through to your book's sales page. If you ask a question, make it a yes/no question--and one to which the reader will answer "Yes!" is far more likely to get you the click. Then actually ask for the click. Say the words "Click here!" Amazing that we still have to tell people to actually click and where but we do. Accept that and just do it ^)^
3) Be Specific
This is extremely hard to do in 10 words or less but do try to specifically tell the reader what your book will give the--a rollercoaster ride? That's a fairly common promise but if your book has twists and turns and grips a reader by the throat, say it--just say how, why, with what mechanisms your product is different from mine, and the next guy's. Be specific about your book's uniqueness. Otherwise, there's no specific reason the reader should click your link and not mine.
What's Next....
Tomorrow's Tuesday Tip will be my first book review in the new format. I'll be reviewing the anthology of romance short stories SEAL of My Dreams for you.
I'll also post information about how Indie Authors can request an opportunity to be featured here. I hope to see you tomorrow!
-sry
@webbiegrrl
October 9, 2012
TUESDAY TIP Reviews + Indie Author Features Coming to Webbiegrrl's Writing Blog #pubtip #indie #selfpub #promo #IAN1
Starting in two weeks (on Monday and Tuesday, October 22-23, 2012) I'll be making some changes to the Webbiegrrl's Writings blog. Rather than running tips and tricks and reviews of tools of the trade on my Tuesday Tips blog, I'll start interspersing those discussions with book reviews, giveaways and author features. Mondays will remain devoted to marketing topics and promotional advice, but Tuesdays will start focusing more on the Indie Author community and my playing a more active role in it.
Indie Authors: Please stop back the week after next to see some of the changes and learn more about how you can get your book featured.
Readers: Look for giveaways and tips on how to get free reads.
Thanks for stopping by! See you in two weeks, after a much-needed but short break.
-sry
Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer
@webbiegrrl
Indie Authors: Please stop back the week after next to see some of the changes and learn more about how you can get your book featured.
Readers: Look for giveaways and tips on how to get free reads.
Thanks for stopping by! See you in two weeks, after a much-needed but short break.
-sry
Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer
@webbiegrrl
October 8, 2012
MONDAY MARKETING Branding Law 22 (Singularity) + Series Wrapup #pubtip #indie #selfpub #howto #promo
some image rights reserved by Paulo BrandãWelcome back to my marketing series on the Immutable Laws of Branding (for Indie Authors). I've been going through, rewriting the concepts by Al Ries in his landmark book, so that they apply to the "unique and special snowflake" that is an Indie Author in the Digital Publishing industry. Neither of those concepts even existed when Ries wrote his book 20+ years ago, so I've had to do a bit of reinterpretation.I've maintained his definition of "branding," however, as follows:
A brand is an idea in the mind of the consumer whose power lies in the ability to influence purchasing decisions.
Some truths never change. The key point is that the brand's only power is its power to influence. A brand can only influence when people know what it is, so defining your brand in clear and easy-to-understand terms is the critical step. The first step. Focus.
That's the (ahem) focus of today's entry in the series, the last chapter, Immutable Law of Branding 22 (for Indie Authors): "Singularity." In this chapter, Ries appears (to me) to be rehashing the idea of Immutable Law of Marketing (for Indie Authors) Law 5: Law of Focus. Because you can never focus your brand "too much," I'll revisit this discussion today and then do a recap of the entire series for you. Click through the jump break to begin.
Focus, To a Point
In the Immutable Laws of Marketing (for Indie Authors) Law 5: Law of Focus, we discussed the new paradigm of book-selling: consumers buy books; we don't sell them. I explained to you the thesis behind the Law of Focus: If you can narrow your brand down to "one word" or a singular concept, the consumer will accept it into their minds more readily. This is called positioning yourself in their mind with that "one word."
After you own a position, the consumer--not you--will seek out the other 100,000 or so words of your novel to fill the position with all that makes you you. This is why it's important to choose the "one word" that actually does describe your brand--for all of your books, not just this one. You want your position inside the consumer's mind to be like a bookshelf they try to fill with everything you write and sell. Ideally, their demand will exceed your supply rate. This can only happen if there is one common thread--one word--connecting all of your products.
Own one word in your reader's mind...the other 100,000 will follow.
A Review of How to Find Your Brand's Focus
It may seem like I'm handing out a lot of great ideas without the practical, hands-on tools to implement your branding efforts. That's because branding is a very individual activity that only you can conduct for your self, your own Indie Author career. What I do for myself as "Sarah R. Yoffa" won't work for, say, what I do for "Marjorie F. Baldwin" (my SciFi pen name) nor will it necessarily apply to you. The key steps, however, aren't hard to figure out. Here are 3 to get you started.
1) Identify Your Category (Genre)
If you already know what category you write in--or want to be perceived by readers to be writing in--just name it. You might feel your true "voice" (aka "Author Brand") crosses genres or combines them. Consider naming a new genre and then inviting others to join you in this new category. How to invite others? Explain what it is in exciting terms--that is, tell other Indie Authors what you love most about the new genre you write in and actually ask/invite them to try writing a story in that genre to see if they like it.
Maybe run a contest or a blog where authors can get exposure for their writing if they contribute something in your newly-named genre. If fellow producers of fiction aren't writing what you write, you must take the intiative to spur them to do so. Why is that your job? You cannot be the leader in a category no one knows about and you cannot establish a new category alone. You must have competition for you to be discoverable--and to be the leader, you must be the first in the new category, the founder, leader, original.
2) Pick Your "one word" Then Stick to It
There has to be one word or concept -- a 2-word or 3-word phrase -- that accurately and uniquely identifies you and only you to the readership out there waiting to discover you. If you pick your word wisely (by narrowing your focus not crossing multiple genres on purpose just to "reach a wider audience") then your potential readers will be more aware of your ability to deliver what they want in direct proportion to the narrowness of your focus. That is, the more focused you are, the more likely your potential readers are to realize you--and only you--are providing those kinds of books. Once you start selling books, don't change marketing and promotion tactics based on what others tell you worked for them.
They're not you. If you promote the way they do, you're promoting their brand and allowing your own to die a slow and quiet death. Instead, choose a strategy based on your own long-term objectives and your own branding intentions. If you need ideas about what to do, at a task level, review the different marketing strategies presented in my series, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (for Indie Authors) , which is also available as an ebook or paperback for offline reference. Copy others' effective strategies if and only if they are exactly the same as what you already decided you wanted to do. Never copy anyone else's behavior blindly.
3) Don't Sell, Ask for the Sale to be Given
You have to pitch and you have to ask for the sale but you can't take what's not being offered. The biggest mistake made and hardest paradigm shift to achieve is when an Indie Author thinks they are selling to the customers. The customers are buying from you, not the other way around. If you truly don't see a difference in these opposing flows of intent and activity, then you need to read it again. Sales do not flow from you TO the customers; but rather, FROM customers to you. You do not push your books; they pull them.
You need to make yourself and your books known and discoverable--get them available anywhere and everywhere you possible can, in every last nook (pun intended) and don't limit yourself to either-or situations.
If your books are what a consumer wants to read, they'll seek you out. If your books change everytime you publish a new title--or if you only have one book and never follow up with a full selection all carrying the same branded flavor--your potential customers won't know you are what they want. You will possibly capture one sale by accident. You will miss out on followup sales of future titles on purpose.
What's Next....
This is the end of the series on branding. I'll begin random promotional tips and marketing ideas in two (2) weeks, on Monday, October 22, 2012. I'm taking next Monday off to get things set up for the changes coming. In tomorrow's Tuesday Tip I'll announce what those changes will entail and what opportunities there'll be for each of you. I think it's going to be a good change that many of you will welcome. I hope to see you tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by!
-sry
Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer
October 2, 2012
TUESDAY TIP New Sales Tools for Your Apple iBooks
Apple has some nifty new sales tools and widgets. I'm not sure they're all working at 100% (yet) but they sure do look nice. I've got a couple of them installed here on the blog.
Look to the right of this post, and you'll see the "Book Discovery" widget for my RomCom/Inspirational, Dicky's Story. I made it here:
WidgetBuilder: http://widgets.itunes.apple.com/builder
If you try it out--that is, try reading the book's description--you'll notice that the scrollbar appears and even changes to a clickable object but it doesn't actually scroll when selected. Ooops. There is no access to the widget's source code (typical not only of Apple but of Java-driven scripts) so I can't even fix the problem myself. Despite not scrolling the description, I think it's nice to have a book badge that links through (dynamically) to my book's Apple iStore page.
I also tried out the "Book List" widget for my SciFi Series of books, The Phoenician Series. Scroll down and look at the right-side column of widgets and you'll see the multi-book list below my Twitterstream feed widget. This also has a visible and clickable but non-functioning scrollbar. It's a shame, but at least it can display all of my books in the Apple Store in one place--and clicking on one of the books, switches the widget into one of the "Book Discovery" widgets mentioned above.
Today's third and last bit of nice Apple news today is the Apple affiliate program. This program is open not only to US Citizens but also to non- US Citizens. Unfortunately, as is the case with Amazon, my residency in the state of No. Carolina prohibits me from selling my own books off my blog. The reason? No. Carolina's tax laws. Basically No. Carolina wants to collect twice and neither Amazon nor Apple are playing that game.
If you're living in a state that does not have such screwed up tax laws as to inhibit your sales of your own books, try the Apple Affiliate Program. You can point fans to a book page at the Apple Store and receive a 5% commission on all purchases made from that click within 72 hours. Sell my books for me!
Sign up for the Apple Affiliate Program by clicking here. Apple has stores in 32 countries and 19 of them support the Affiliate Program, administered by 4 separate affiliate networks worldwide. Inside the USA or not, if you sell books at the Apple Store, you need to make this extra 5% commission. It's "free money" so why not? You will, however, need to make a separate Affiliate link for each country's Apple Store as each country has a unique identifier and of course, currency exchange on which to calculate your 5% commision.
To start making money as an Apple Affiliate, even if your own books aren't in the Apple Store (you can sell other people's products, don't forget!), you'll need an affiliate code (register at this link) and a link to the Apple product you want to sell on your web site--one book per link. You can get a correctly-formed link using Apple's LinkMaker here:
http://itunes.apple.com/linkmaker/
It'll come out as text, or if you select to use the button, as I did, it'll look like this:
If you're an "eBook news service" (and there are a LOT of those popping up on Twitter these last six months) but haven't been able to offer Indie Authors free listings, consider using the Apple Affiliate program. You collect from the Apple Store instead of from the Indie Author--that's truly supporting our community!
What's Next....
Next week's Monday Marketing will be Immutable Law of Branding (for Indie Authors) 22: Law of Singularity. Unlike the Immutable Law of Marketing (for Indie Authors) Law 16 (also called Law of Singularity), this is call to focus your branding efforts into a singular idea.
You can get a head start by reviewing the Immutable Law of Marketing (for Indie Authors) Law 5: Law of Focus. I'll also do a wrapup of all the concepts covered in this branding series.
Look to the right of this post, and you'll see the "Book Discovery" widget for my RomCom/Inspirational, Dicky's Story. I made it here:
WidgetBuilder: http://widgets.itunes.apple.com/builder
If you try it out--that is, try reading the book's description--you'll notice that the scrollbar appears and even changes to a clickable object but it doesn't actually scroll when selected. Ooops. There is no access to the widget's source code (typical not only of Apple but of Java-driven scripts) so I can't even fix the problem myself. Despite not scrolling the description, I think it's nice to have a book badge that links through (dynamically) to my book's Apple iStore page.
I also tried out the "Book List" widget for my SciFi Series of books, The Phoenician Series. Scroll down and look at the right-side column of widgets and you'll see the multi-book list below my Twitterstream feed widget. This also has a visible and clickable but non-functioning scrollbar. It's a shame, but at least it can display all of my books in the Apple Store in one place--and clicking on one of the books, switches the widget into one of the "Book Discovery" widgets mentioned above.
Today's third and last bit of nice Apple news today is the Apple affiliate program. This program is open not only to US Citizens but also to non- US Citizens. Unfortunately, as is the case with Amazon, my residency in the state of No. Carolina prohibits me from selling my own books off my blog. The reason? No. Carolina's tax laws. Basically No. Carolina wants to collect twice and neither Amazon nor Apple are playing that game.
If you're living in a state that does not have such screwed up tax laws as to inhibit your sales of your own books, try the Apple Affiliate Program. You can point fans to a book page at the Apple Store and receive a 5% commission on all purchases made from that click within 72 hours. Sell my books for me!
Sign up for the Apple Affiliate Program by clicking here. Apple has stores in 32 countries and 19 of them support the Affiliate Program, administered by 4 separate affiliate networks worldwide. Inside the USA or not, if you sell books at the Apple Store, you need to make this extra 5% commission. It's "free money" so why not? You will, however, need to make a separate Affiliate link for each country's Apple Store as each country has a unique identifier and of course, currency exchange on which to calculate your 5% commision.
To start making money as an Apple Affiliate, even if your own books aren't in the Apple Store (you can sell other people's products, don't forget!), you'll need an affiliate code (register at this link) and a link to the Apple product you want to sell on your web site--one book per link. You can get a correctly-formed link using Apple's LinkMaker here:
http://itunes.apple.com/linkmaker/
It'll come out as text, or if you select to use the button, as I did, it'll look like this:
If you're an "eBook news service" (and there are a LOT of those popping up on Twitter these last six months) but haven't been able to offer Indie Authors free listings, consider using the Apple Affiliate program. You collect from the Apple Store instead of from the Indie Author--that's truly supporting our community!
What's Next....
Next week's Monday Marketing will be Immutable Law of Branding (for Indie Authors) 22: Law of Singularity. Unlike the Immutable Law of Marketing (for Indie Authors) Law 16 (also called Law of Singularity), this is call to focus your branding efforts into a singular idea.
You can get a head start by reviewing the Immutable Law of Marketing (for Indie Authors) Law 5: Law of Focus. I'll also do a wrapup of all the concepts covered in this branding series.
