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Archives for March 2015

Self-Published Authors: Technology Tips and Tools to Increase Your Visibility

Image from canstockphotoSelf-published authors,  have you uttered this sad tale: I have a garage full of books. How do I sell them?

If so, you made the mistake similar to planning a party, but forgetting to send out the invitations.

Potential readers must know you exist before they can buy your book.

Too many authors groan that they didn’t sign on to be salesmen, but without making yourself and your book visible, you stand almost no chance of selling any books.

Help is on the way.

Here are 6 articles and one free webinar to help you come out of hiding so you can enjoy the book sales you deserve.

Free Webinar on March 12, 2015:  Joan Stewart with Ben De Reinzo
Start Selling Books and Building an Audience in Minutes with Book Sales Pages
Register here.

This is for authors who are launching a book but don’t have the time, money or patience to build a website. It’s also for anyone who can’t rely on Amazon alone to sell their books.

On Thursday, March 12, Joan Stewart is hosting a free webinar with Ben De Reinzo from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. He’ll introduce you to a powerful new technology that gives authors more control over the sale of their books, even if they can’t afford a webmaster and have zero techie skills.

Drew Hendricks on Website Magazine
4 Critical Steps to Make Your Website Responsive

As of last year, more people are using their smart devices to browse the Web instead of computers. Due to the change in information medium, it’s important for businesses to create a responsive website that meets the needs of its consumers through a page that can be displayed fully and comfortably no matter what screen size is accessing it. By making your website responsive, you make your business’s information more convenient and therefore more accessible to anyone searching for it.

Mal Darwen on Wordtracker
An Introduction to Long Tail Keywords

The long tail of keyword research is fundamental to your online success. That’s really important, so I’ll say it again. The long tail of keyword research is fundamental to your online success.

I’ll tell you how to work with long tail keywords on your site to benefit your customers, improve conversions, and boost your visibility in search results.

Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Land
Google Search Algorithm Adds Mobile-Friendly Factors & App Indexing To Ranking

Google announced it is making two significant changes to its search algorithm for ranking the mobile search results.

Google will be using mobile-friendly factors in its mobile search results starting on April 21, 2015, and it will rank mobile apps participating in App Indexing for signed-in users better in the mobile search results starting today.

Caitlin Muir on Author Media
Why You Need a Hashtag for Your Next Book

Twitter isn’t going anywhere. The sad thing is, most authors are ignoring it.

They can’t afford to.

Janice Clark on BizmSolutions
11 Tools for Those Suffering Social Media Overwhelm

For a busy entrepreneur, the days can often fly by, with a workload so overwhelming that it seems impossible to get it all done.  Manage clients, market the business, stay on top of the latest trends and don’t forget to be authentic, creative and take some time to chat up your target audience on at least three different social platforms!  Whew! Sound familiar?
. . .
Here are eleven tools you can use to help you pull it all together and get more done in less time.

Aubre Andrus on Mashable
10 Quick and Easy Marketing Tools for Authors

Regardless of whether you’re self-published or have a Big 5 publisher behind your book, all authors are doing the same thing: promoting themselves and their book. While marketing takes away time from what we authors do best — writing — it’s a necessary evil.

 

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Article by Flora Brown

Flora Brown is an author, blogger, speaker, and book coach. She’s the creator of “Rockin’ Your Book” an eCourse delivered to your emailbox.

If you like this post, you can keep up with the latest information from Color Your Life Published by subscribing to updates at the top of this site. When you do, you’ll be able to download a free copy of the eBook, “It’s Time to Write Your Book.”
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Write, Pitch, and Market Your Book–from March 2-6, 2015

book self publishing

Writers greet me after I spoke to California Writers Club of Long Beach, CA

Writers love helping one another. Here are ideas to help you write,  pitch, and market your book from blogs this week.

Samantha Fountain at Where Writers Win
New Launch of WriterPitch

There’s not another industry that has a community that takes care of each other the way writers do. Everywhere you turn there’s a helping hand extended. I want to be one of those helping hands. WriterPitch.com was built on the belief that we’re all in this together and writers and agents alike are looking for their “Perfect Match.”

Joanna Penn at The Creative Penn
interviews video marketer, Jerome McClain
Book Trailers and Using Video for Book Marketing

I’ve been doing audio podcasts and videos for nearly 5 years now and I think it can help stand out from the crowd since authors, unsurprisingly, mostly use text based marketing. I’ve also made my own book trailers before, for Pentecost and also for Desecration.

Trailers can certainly be a very different way to get attention for your book and today, I’m going more in depth on the topic with Jerome McLain from Book Frenzy Studios.

S. Lakin at  WritetoDone
How to Find Your Trademark Writing Style

There is no right or wrong, good or bad—only personal tastes. We can all name writers we can’t stomach whose books are bestsellers.

But what do you need to consider if you’re hoping to develop a trademark writing style? Here are some tips.

Joel Friedlander at The Book Designer
Marketing Your Book

Writing is a creative, often solitary work. Marketing means connecting with a larger network of people, bringing the work you’ve created to a larger public.

Anthony Ehlers at Writers Write
The Writer’s Journey–Finding Your Personal Theme

When we write, we want the reader to see the world as we see it. We want to share our truth. But before we even put the first word on the page, we sometimes have to ask ourselves: ‘What do I want to say?’

 

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Article by Flora Brown

Flora Brown is an author, blogger, speaker, and book coach. She’s the creator of “Rockin’ Your Book” an eCourse delivered to your emailbox.

If you like this post, you can keep up with the latest information from Color Your Life Published by subscribing to updates at the top of this site. When you do, you’ll be able to download a free copy of the eBook, “It’s Time to Write Your Book.”
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Seven Tips For Spring Cleaning Your Way to Your Writing Goals

As winter eases into spring, it’s traditional to clean a house thoroughly from top to bottom. For those who live in cold climates, it helps get rid of the winter blues. For everyone it is a time for decluttering, organizing, and maintaining your home for another year.

Whether you engage in this annual tradition or not, you must agree it can clear not just the cobwebs in your house, but lighten your mood, brighten your outlook, and boost your well-being.

But why stop at spring cleaning your home. As an author, this is a good time to spring clean your way to your writing goals.

Here are seven tips for getting started:

1. Start on the inside

What are your values and goals? Are you choosing activities and behavior in keeping with your values and moving you toward your writing goals?

How are you feeling physically and mentally? Listen to your body and mind. Pain,discomfort or troubling thoughts are signals of potential problems. Don’t ignore them. Examine them and if necessary get help from a doctor, coach, or other professional.

As a writer you can help relieve troubling thoughts by journaling about them. Some writers use these ideas and thoughts from the past to begin their memoirs. For additional help in unblocking your creativity, see The Artist’s Way
by Julia Cameron

2. Discard what no longer works for you

  • Replace tattered thoughts. I’m referring to that self-talk about what you don’t want. It’s time to change to positive affirmations about what you do want.
  • Remove stains of the past. They have no place in your present. Start with the “if-only-I-had-done-this” thoughts about events you cannot change. If you’ve always wanted to write a book, don’t dwell on how many years have passed, get started now.
  • Eradicate those moldy thoughts. You know the ones I mean, the ones that hold you back. Perhaps no one in your family or anyone you know ever wrote a book, so you didn’t think you could either. Or maybe you always wanted to live in another place but your family made you believe that you couldn’t survive away from them. When you change these thoughts, you will change your circumstances.

3. Enlist support of family members, friends or colleagues who believe in you

Surround yourself with friends, family and colleagues who share your values. Combine your efforts and share your growth and celebrate your successes.

Negative Nellies and toxic people have no place in your life. They only celebrate when you fail.

4. Polish your strengths to a high shine

Use your strengths to move toward your writing goals and help others. Perhaps you are great at decorating, for example. Beautify your own space, then volunteer your services at a nonprofit organization or a senior citizen in your neighborhood who lives alone. Finally, write about your experiences in an article, ebook or book.

5. Make those unfinished tasks/repairs you’ve been postponing

You know what they are. For some it’s going to the doctor for an exam. For others it may be finishing school. Perhaps you promised yourself you were going to take better care of your feet, hair, hands. You may have thought of improving your eating habits. Now is a good time to make even one small change and use those experiences to help you have the energy and confidence to complete your writing.

6. Plant new seeds

Spring is a great time to do something new. If you’ve been thinking about writing a book but didn’t know how to start, sign up for a class or hire a coach. Even one small step forward, like my eCourse, Rockin’ Your Book, will put you on your way. Get started now.

7. Commit to maintaining your changes, improvements, and new growth

By committing to the changes you made and continuing to work toward your goal, you will ensure that you reach them. The time spent in spring cleaning your life to achieve your writing goals pays off.

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Article by Flora Brown

Flora Brown is an author, blogger, speaker, and book coach. She’s the creator of “Rockin’ Your Book” an eCourse delivered to your emailbox.

If you like this post, you can keep up with the latest information from Color Your Life Published by subscribing to updates at the top of this site. When you do, you’ll be able to download a free copy of the eBook, “It’s Time to Write Your Book.”
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Originally published on April 11, 2012. Updated on March 4, 2015.