David Gaughran's Blog, page 4
June 30, 2020
This Brand New Self-Publishing Guide is Free
The new edition of Let’s Get Digital is here and it costs nothing – anyone can download this free self-publishing guide from the retailer of their choice, whether they purchased previous editions or not; it’s freely available to everyone.
Amazon | Apple | B&N | Kobo | Google | Other Retailers
Huzzah!
This fourth edition of Digital has been completely revamped to reflect the needs of self-publishers in 2020. The structure has been completely streamlined to reflect the ten steps involved ...
June 16, 2020
Three New Books For Authors
This blog has been a little quiet in 2020, but I’ve been beavering away at a veritable smorgasbord of stuff for authors which I can finally start talking about.
The headline news: three new books for authors, a huge surprise which isn’t book-shaped, and then lots more cool resources coming to this here website; let’s expose each of these projects to the merciless glare of publicity.
New Guide to Platform Building
First out of the traps is Following: A Marketing Guide To Author Platform ...
May 18, 2020
Facebook Engagement Bait and Shadow Bans
This post on Facebook was originally written for my newsletter back in January. Im making a handful of those emails public to highlight the growing list of benefits when you sign up to my Friday newsletter. More details at the bottom.
Websites try to keep your attention as long as possible, but the stakes are higher on Facebook where a drop in engagement can cost millions of dollars. Or FACEBOOK as it now insists on calling itself, like a shouty man outside a pub.
Content which keeps people...
May 8, 2020
Apple Books For Authors – Now With PC Access
Apple Books For Authors has launched and the all-new site now provides help with every stage in the publishing process. And here’s the biggest news of all: PC users can now publish direct with Apple Books. That’s right!
Before now, anyone using a PC device could not easily publish direct with Apple Books and many had to use a distributor to reach all of Apple’s customers. Now that has changed, and the new Apple Books publishing portal is accessible by web browser, and on a PC too.
That’s g...
Apple Books For Authors Launches – With PC Access
Apple Books For Authors has launched and the all-new site now provides help with every stage in the publishing process. And heres the biggest news of all: PC users can now publish direct with Apple Books. Thats right!
Before now, anyone using a PC device could not publish direct with Apple Books (unless they went to the trouble of using a Mac emulator) and had to use a distributor to reach all of Apples customers. Now that has changed, and the new Apple Books publishing portal is accessible...
March 30, 2020
13 Ways To Increase Your Email Open Rate
Want to increase the open rate on your emails? Youre in the right place. First, a couple of quick disclaimers:
The MailerLite links in this post are affiliate links. It is the mailing list service I strongly recommend, for all the reasons outlined in this post (which also explains why I left Mailchimp, and no longer recommend that service). If you also want to move from Mailchimp to MailerLite because of recent price hikes and service changes, read this guide. But if you are with another...February 1, 2020
Going Viral: A User’s Guide
This post on making something go viral was originally written for my newsletter last year. I’m re-running some of those older emails to highlight the growing list of benefits when you sign up to my Friday newsletter. More details at the bottom.
What truly makes something go viral? It’s hard to say.
Sure, afterwards, we can all point to something — with the crystal clear vision bestowed by hindsight — and list off elements which contributed to the explosion: it had a cute dog bouncing on a...
January 23, 2020
7 Expert Tricks To Improve Your Author Newsletter
There is so much more you can do with your author newsletter these days beyond simply telling your fans that you have a new book.
Email isn’t just good at bringing you new readers, it’s uniquely good at deepening engagement with your audience. These tricks won’t just help you increase the responsiveness from your list – they’ll also help you make some cold, hard cash too.
Before we dive in to these next-level strategies, please note this is primarily intermediate/expert level stuff. If you...
January 21, 2020
Content Marketing – what the heck is it?
This post on content marketing was originally written for my newsletter last year. I’m re-running some of that content in January to convince you to sign up to my list. Check out the growing list of benefits at the bottom of this post.
A classic authorial flub is beating your readers over the head with all that painstaking research you conducted while suffering from Level IX Procrastination. After going to the trouble of boning up on the mating habits of fruit flies – so your supposedly smart...
January 18, 2020
What The Piña Colada Song Teaches Us About Marketing
You may love it, you may hate it, but you’ve definitely heard it:The Piña Colada Songis one of the most recognizable and enduring hits of the last fifty years – the only song ever to hit No. 1 in America in two different decades.
But it almost sank without trace.
The artist behind it is Rupert Holmes, who is primarily known to many for penning this one tune, but he has led an interesting and varied life. While he currently lives in New York, Holmes was born in Cheshire in 1947 as David...
