Goose 2.0 for Authors: Two Online Platforms to Publish and Market Books
Today is the final installment of the Goose 2.0 series. Day 1 was an intro to the possibilities for authors to use the internet's tool as Geese that lay Golden Eggs. Day 2, we went into the use of blogs and social media as a ways to and directly engage fans and relate to your fans. Today, the final installment, I introduce some publishing and distribution tools to help you bypass printers and bookstores to get your titles directly into the hands of your fans.
[image error]1. Printing – Do you know someone with a Kindle, Nook, or some other ereader? Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few years, the answer is probably yes. This leads to the next question. Why go to press when you can create an ebook instead? Seth Godin blogged about it four years ago and this past fall announced he would produce no more books for print. This is an internationally best-selling author. Why does he thinks it's a good idea? "Some will ask, 'how much money did you make?' he writes. "And I think a better question is, 'how much did it cost you?'"
Your biggest benefit of creating an ebook a very low overhead way to tell your story. Right now I currently sell my titles as ebooks on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble for $0.99. "Too low!" you might exclaim. I agree. $0.99 is a low price point. I'm practically giving it away. But I'm selling books and, because e-publishing costs me so little, I'm making good money in the process. Could I sell my books for more money? Sure. But now a lot more people know me and my writing style because they saw the low price points and had no problem downloading my titles on to their Kindles. I take less profit now and consider it marketing cost that will pay off big when I publish my next novel, soon to be released. What I'm buying right now is easier access for new readers who will like my writing style and be eager to support me in the future. You can do it too.
2. Author Pages – Scribd, Good Reads and Library Thing are great places to easily reference and upload your ebooks for potential fans to read and critique. All these sites have tools for you to find mutual friends and make both you and your titles searchable. You can also feed your blog and post discussion topics about your books (just like a book club).
These are just a couple of Goose 2.0 ideas authors can apply to bypass traditional gatekeepers and take their books directly to their fans.
