Top Self-Help Books Across the US, By State

At Shane Co., we know self-care always comes first. That’s why we were curious: which self-help books are capturing the attention of Americans this year? We turned to Google Trends to uncover the most searched titles across different states and regions. Whether it’s about decluttering, finding inner peace, or just not sweating the small stuff, there’s a book out there resonating with people. So, if you’re looking for a mid-year boost or just curious about popular picks, let’s uncover the most sought-after self-help reads of 2023! Report and chart here.

How Permafree ebooks Helped Author Sell More Via BookBub

Alicia Rades: In January, 2023, I gave away 60,301 books on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo combined. And that’s just for one title. I nearly died of excitement. Not only did it mean 60,000 people were willing to take a chance on my book, but it meant exposure, sales and several other big wins for a tiny little author like me. How’d I do it? It took blood, sweat, tears and a little luck. More tips in The Write Life here. To understand my marketing strategy, we have to rewind about a year. Around March 2022, I decided to make the first book in my series, Fire in Frost, permafree.

Permafree is a term that simply means the book is always free or “permanently free.” Though I don’t make any money on downloads of this book, the idea is to capture readers’ attention so they’ll hopefully buy the next books in my series. When I made this decision, I had already self-published the first and second books, and the third was almost ready.

Fast-forward to December 2022. I submitted my free book to BookBub for consideration — for the tenth time. You can only apply once per month, and I was determined to keep trying.

I couldn’t believe it when I got the email saying they’d accepted my book for a feature and were planning to run my ad on January 4, 2023.

How a loss leader helps you sell more books. Writer's Relief.

Best-selling novelist Lauren Groff on opening a bookstore in Gainesville. Lit Hub.

Barbershop Books organization distributes books to Black barbershops across the country to promote reading. Blavity.

Life inside the fiction factory: Dan Sinykin on conglomerate publishing. Public Books.

Simon & Schuster marks centennial with list of 100 notable books, from Catch-22 to Eloise. The Well News.

5 best print-on-demand books services of 2023. Forbes.

How to craft an attention-grabbing book title that actually sells. Entrepreneur.

WSJournal Dumps Best Seller Lists, Leaving NYTimes & USA Today

Rob Eagar: If you follow my e-newsletter, you heard the shocking news three weeks ago that The Wall Street Journal discontinued their bestseller lists for books. This surprising move comes on the heels of USA Today pausing their bestseller lists for several months earlier this year due to company layoffs. The Wall Street Journal was widely considered one of the "Big 3" bestseller lists along with The New York Times and USA Today. It was especially beloved by authors in the business, technology, and entrepreneur genres. Now, the list is gone. In all my years of consulting, I’ve never seen a major bestseller list suddenly disappear with no warning. Thus, one of the top three lists vanishing forever begs an existential question that affects every author: What if ALL of the bestseller lists disappeared? Website.

The bestseller list is broken. Book Riot.

Authors on Amazon Should Use the Image Rich A+ Content

This week's book marketing tip is... A+ Content. Don't know what that is? It's the “image-rich'’section you get about half way down your book's page on Amazon. You can control it via KDP and it's great extra real estate to show off how good your book is (especially for childrens books), writes Brian Berni of FictionMarketingAcademy.com

Amazon's official A+ help page. Should you have it? Yes, absolutely. But do make sure you know what you are doing when creating A+ content. We always recommend having graphics made by a pro, and even better if they actually have a proven track record of creating stunning A+.

So what's the big tip there? Glad you asked. If you've used A+ before, you know that each graphic can be coupled with a line of text. Officially, Amazon calls this "Alt-text", and recommends you include a brief text description of the image.

BUT (and this is where it gets interesting)... We've actually discovered that the words you use in these text fields is a ranking factor! In other words, Amazon's bots 'read' these words and they take them into account when deciding what keywords/search-terms your book ranks for. I know, crazy!

37 of the most popular book genres to browse—because there's more than just fiction and nonfiction. Parade.

How to set the price of your book to maximize royalties. Entrepreneur.

My first time attending a book festival, and why you should try it too. Her Campus.

Reasons to Stop Buying from Amazon, via Ariel Curry

“So Amazon is helping itself to almost 60 percent of each book purchase. That $12.49 net receipt to the publisher of the $30 book on the left might not look disastrous, but the publisher is also paying a $3.00 royalty to the author and another $2.50 (roughly 20 percent of the net of $12.49) to a distributor and sales agent. If the cost of printing the book is $3.00, that leaves the publisher with $4.00 out of which to pay the editor, designer, proofreader, typesetter, publicist, marketer, rent, etc. It’s virtually impossible to sell a new book profitably on Amazon. And it’s not like you can protest these terms by going down the street to another online retailer with massive reach. None exists.” - Ken Whyte, Amazon and the Big One on Substack.

Book publishing's broken blurb system—how to get book blurbs. Esquire.

How Will China-Based BookTok Influence Book Publishing?

Creators on China-based TikTok are fighting for a more diverse book world — and running into some deep-seated problems in the industry, reports Rolling Stone.

Chinese-owned TikTok is changing the way books are recommended and sold. The Economist.

How to Sell More Books in Less Time. Use 4 Pillars

In this article, I’d like to share with you how I spend 30–60 minutes each day marketing my wife’s books, and how you can do the same, writes author Matt Holmes on JaneFriedman.com. Marketing for 30–60 minutes per day came about as more of a necessity than anything else; with three children under the age of three in the house, time isn’t something either my wife or I have much of! 

Instead of Discounts, Aim for Non-Traditional Buyers

Giving away ebooks for free or charging $ .99 for them defines the value you place on your content. Give buyers a reason why they should pay for your content. Follow Intuit’s advice to “Delight, don’t dilute.” Instead of selling greatly discounted ebooks, one at a time to consumers, you can sell them to non-traditional buyers in large quantities. They can give them away as a promotional item. You can make more money, reach more people and still maintain the value of your content, writes Brian Jud at bookapss.org

5 Tips to Buff Up Your Author Bio. Write Once, Reuse Many Times

As a writer, you know how crucial it is to grab reader’s attention and keep them engaged with your work. Have you thought about how your author bio can help you achieve this goal? Your author bio is often the first introduction readers have to you and your writing, so it’s essential to make it stand out. Five tips for crafting a compelling author bio from BookBaby.

An Indie Author’s Guide to Using Stock Photos for Your Covers

Book marketer Dave Chesson: Using photos in your book covers is almost a requirement, since many authors cannot afford custom illustrations for books. So, making use of a stock photo website like Depositphotos or Shutterstock when creating your book covers is likely something that your book cover designer will do. There’s a problem though. If you or your designer aren’t careful, there’s a good chance that you could violate copyright permissions for certain images. We might assume that by downloading an image on a stock photo website, this automatically gives us the right to use that image however we choose. But, it depends on the license.

The power of first impressions: how your book cover can make or break. DarlingAxe.com

"Amazon doesn’t care about books": how Barnes & Noble bounced back. The Guardian.

How Bookshop.org survives—and thrives—in Amazon’s world. Wired.

Spark a lifelong love of reading with the best book subscriptions for kids. People.

Crime author gets revenge on rogue reviewer after string of one-star ratings on Amazon. The Mirror.

The 9 dos and don'ts of book signing events. Entrepreneur.

Nobody showed up to a best-selling author's book launch. She called it a career low point but found out she's far from alone. Business Insider.

What’s going on with all the empty author signing pics? Lit Hub.

Debating Whether to Give Away a Part of Your Series for Free

Before I get started, it’s only fair to reveal that I am a self-published author who gives her first-in-series away from time to time, writes author and editor Kim Catanzarite. They Will Be Coming for Us is not permanently free, but once in a while, I discount it 100 percent and let the free-for-all ensue. After advertising a free day, I see an uptick of sales and Kindle Unlimited reads. But that doesn’t mean I can’t weigh the pros and cons of both sides of this coin.

Why You Should Be Writing on Social Media

Social media doesn’t sell books in any provable way. No one strolls into their local independent bookstore to ask for “This book I saw in a tweet!” We don’t check a box marked “Found it on Instagram” on our Bookshop order, writes Allison K. Williams. Authors can’t get social media impact statements with their royalties, because publishers can’t get that information either. Even the platform isn’t the point. If you’re a memoirist, you may never build one big enough, and novelists don’t need it. You should still be writing on social media.

Wrestling with an Elevator Pitch? Here Are 60 Examples

Whether you're trying to write an incredible query letter or deliver an engaging pitch at a writing conference, one of the most important elements is an impeccable hook for your book. Sometimes called an elevator pitch, because it can be delivered during a short ride in the elevator, a great book hook helps agents, editors, and ultimately readers understand the basic concept of your book while also enticing them to learn more, writes Robert Lee Brewer of Writer's Digest. I’ve collected actual examples of hooks for recently published books to actually show how to write effective elevator pitches in a variety of writing genres, including many fiction genres, nonfiction (both general and memoir), children's writing, and even short story collections. 

Melodie Edwards: On the art of a solid elevator pitch. Writer's Digest

“The Goliath is Amazon.” After 100 years, Barnes & Noble wants to go back to its indie roots. The Verge

Best Web Hosting Sites for Authors, and Those to Avoid

Dave Chesson: I’ve used 16 different hosting services, and have made a lot of mistakes along the way. Plus, having to move sites is painful. So, to help you with this, and ensure you skip those mistakes, we recently created the ultimate guide for finding a web host for your author website. I’ve broken the possible hosts into three categories:

The super-cheap hosts you should avoid

The hosts I recommend for most authors

The heavy hitters for those who need a lot more power.

When in Doubt, Get Permission for Blurbs, Endorsements, Photos

We know, permissions aren’t fun or sexy – but they’re necessary, so stick with us.

Any time you’re using someone else’s words, praise, input or inspiration there are right and wrong ways to go about it, writes author and book marketer Penny Sansevieri.

We had an author come to us recently that has this fantastic historical fiction title based on a well-known band from the 1970s, but he neglected to factor in permissions, and some of the band members are still alive – so now he’s dealing with that – and believe me, it’s not fun.

Yes, that’s an extreme example, but a more common one that’s relevant to a lot of you is Amazon’s relatively new A+ Content feature.

Mark Mathes: Get permission first. I have a form to help.

How to Maximize Success Working with a Book Publicist

Hiring a book publicist can lead to excellent exposure for your titles, but there are techniques that independent publishers and author publishers can do to best maximize that experience and things that they can do that will actually hinder that experience. Smith Publicity book publicist and marketing associate Olivia McCoy is joining us to share tips from her many years in the industry to ensure publishers have a beneficial experience during this process. Episode 38:54.

Freelance Publicists and How to Contact Them

Ariel Curry: Contact information is your #1 commodity in the publishing industry, and Publishing Trends just gave us all a gold mine: a list (with contact info) of publicists in the industry. I can’t thank them enough. Download the free Freelance Publicists Contacts.

BOOK MARKETING

Chesson's New ReaderScout to Fight Pirates, Find Followers

Doug Sahlin shares this update from Dave Chesson: A bit ago, I created a free chrome plugin called ReaderScout that was designed to help authors identify and fight against book pirates and scams on Amazon. It's called ReaderScout. And if you’d like to learn more about it, and how it works to help fight pirates, then be sure to read this here.

However, I’ve got some super cool news that I think you’ll love. We just added a couple of new features that make it even better! ReaderScout now tracks and lets you know your Amazon Followers Number. Just click on the plugin and ReaderScout will tell you how many Amazon Followers you have. Plus, we added the following features as well:

You can now add up to 50 books.

Automatically sync with your KDP account to list all of your books.

Soon, we’ll also add international markets, ABSR tracking and a whole bunch more.

So, if you haven’t downloaded the free ReaderScout chrome plugin, then be sure to do that. It only takes 3 minutes to set up.

4 Tips for Setting the Ideal Book Price. Generally, Lower the Better

Setting the right price for your book is one of the most important marketing decisions you'll make. You've poured your heart and soul into your book, so you want to make sure that the price reflects its value, according to Book Marketing Tools here. But you also want to sell lots of books, so you can't set the price too high. Finding the sweet spot for the price of your book is tricky, so here are some tips on how you can determine the price that will optimize your sales, attract more readers and boost your bottom line.

If you do the math, it's easy to justify setting a high price for your book. After all, when you consider the time it took to write it along with the costs associated with editing, cover design and other factors, you've invested quite a bit in your endeavor. There's also the instinct to price your book higher due to the conventional wisdom that says a higher price will make up for sluggish sales. What we've found is that a lower price is generally better for your bottom line. According to none other than Amazon, lower prices correspond with a significant increase in revenue.

How Writers Can Use Google Trends for Ideas, Data, Popular Topics

From Mark Mathes: Google Trends is a daily barometer to topics and content searched by users globally in a time period, nearly real time. This free gauge can be useful insight and trends for writers and journalists and most professions. The August 30 email summarized hurricanes and other topics. How Google Trends works. I use the newsletter daily to discover popular topics, comparable books, for sidebars and back matter and more.

Hurricane Idalia

Florida is the top state searching power outage, storm surge, flood and flood insurance over the past day

“what does a tornado sound like” is up +1,500% over the past day, and is the second top trending question on sound in the US. Florida is searching it more than any other state

“how to prepare for a hurricane” is the top trending “how to” in Florida over the past week, and “how to mark safe on facebook” is the top trending “how to” in the past day

The top trending “is…open” searches in Florida and Georgia, respectively, are “is courtney campbell causeway open” and “is walmart open today”

Top questions about the aftermath of hurricanes

past day, US

Is fishing good after a hurricane?

How long does a storm surge last after a hurricane?

Does a storm surge come after a hurricane?

What to do after a hurricane?

Out of the Box Book Launch Ideas from Reedsy

As an author, your book marketing tool belt is probably bursting at the seams with countless strategies. You’ve set up a mailing list. You’re aware of the importance of reader reviews. You’re running ads on BookBub. You’ve got it all covered, right? Well, maybe not.

The team at Reedsy reached out to their freelance book marketing professionals with one request: offbeat, unorthodox marketing tips that can help an author stand out in unique ways and generate buzz for a book launch. These book launch ideas might not be for everyone, but they demonstrate that in order to succeed, authors should think outside the box.

Friday essay: what do publishers' revisions and content warnings say about the moral purpose of literature? The Conversation.

Get to know Canadian book consumers: Ages 55-64. BookNet Canada.

The blurb problem keeps getting worse. The Atlantic.

Critics upset at Jordan Peterson book jacket that cunningly quotes their criticism as praise. BoingBoing.

Jordan Peterson: Critics complain over “misleading” book cover quotes. BBC News.

Goodreads is terrible for books. Why can’t we all quit it? The Walrus.

Fifty Shades of Hay! Amish community up in arms over “tame” romance novel where characters' lips meet.  Daily Mail.

Phonies: J.D. Salinger and wielding copyright as protection for privacy. Crime Reads.

Denise Mina Takes on Philip Marlowe and Chandler's Los Angeles. CrimeReads.

Bookish is a bad thing? A history of the word “bookish.” BookRiot.

Why John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is the ultimate spy novel. BBC News.

SCBWI panelists assess children's publishing trends. Publisher's Weekly.

The hidden history of CrossGen, Tampa Bay's almost comic book empire. Axios.

Successful Launch Needs Author Email List, Confirmed Influencers

After working with authors on dozens of book campaigns, I’ve found that the success of a book launch usually hinges upon these two key elements, writes book marketer Rob Eagar.

1. The size of an author’s email list

2. The number of confirmed influencers.

Notice that I didn’t mention social media, print advertising, or traditional publicity, such as radio/TV interviews. That’s because those channels have proven to be inferior at selling books compared to email and online influencers. Sure, if an author has their own TV show or is filthy rich, then the possibility for success increases. But, most authors don’t have those options. So, let’s focus on what it takes for a typical author to succeed.

EbookFairs Review: A New Book Marketing Platform?

A great marketing tactic to sell your books is to combine forces with other authors in your genre to create a group promotion, writes Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur. But for authors just starting out, coordinating these promotional efforts can be difficult, and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up with a bunch of authors who aren’t pulling their weight. So, for these authors, you might want a platform that helps coordinate these promotions. There are several great platforms for doing this, but I want to highlight a new one that I think has a lot of potential and I wish had existed when I first got going in this industry. It’s called EbookFairs, and what intrigues me (among other things), is that it gamifies the promotion for the authors involved, which further ensures that your promotion or “Ebook Fair” will perform better. This isn’t the only aspect that I liked, and you can read more about it in my review.

Publisher drops author after dual TikTok and GoodReads backlash. Gizmodo.

The 12 best book covers in May. Lit Hub.

Smoothie King used ChatGPT to print a promotional romance novel. Promo Marketing magazine.

How should we feel About Barnes & Noble now? BookRiot.

A reader is not a consumer of books. Tor Publishing.

Why Cross Out Your Autograph? Some Authors Explain this Habit

Kevin Kuhens shares the Writer’s Digest story: When I attended my first book signing (for the Market Book series), a fellow editor advised me to cross out my name when signing copies, writes Robert Lee Brewer in WD. It's a practice I've kept up since, and I've seen other authors do it as well, but I still wonder, "Why do authors cross out name when signing book?" Of course, like any well-connected editor, I knew how to get feedback on my question. I took to Facebook with the following query: "Authors! When you sign books, do you cross out the printed name in the book before signing your own? If so, why?"

How the China-government influenced BookTok trend has influenced nearly every aspect of publishing. BusinessInsider.

Right to Read Program Feb. 24 Open to Authors

Brenda Spalding: The Right to Read Festival is happening February 24, in Venice.

I have added it to the coming events list. The event is outside, a tent, tables and chairs required.

The fee for authors is $49. This is an outside event, table tent and chairs required.

I fully support the right to read and oppose the banning of books. Let your conscience be your guide. I will be attending this event and have an extra tent and table.

If you are interested, I have attached the application. It's rather long and cumbersome as this is their first time hosting the event, not as direct as most applications. The application is not available on the website yet. There is a limit of 24 authors.

Upcoming author and book marketing opportunities in SW Florida from Brenda Spalding.

Deadline for Bookstore 1 Local Author Book Fair is Feb. 22

Georgia Court: We love our local authors at Bookstore 1! Once in the spring and once in the fall, we host a Local Author Book Fair on a Saturday from 10 am-1 pm outside in the breezeway of our "forever home" on 117 S. Pineapple. On this day, your book will be in the spotlight and for sale in our store! We give space to up to 16 authors to sit at one of our bistro tables and promote their titles and sign books. If you're interested in applying for our Spring Local Author Book Fair on Saturday, April 27,  please fill out the application by midnight on Thursday, February 22. Because of the volume of applications, incomplete submissions or submissions beyond the deadline will not be considered. You will receive a decision by midnight on Thursday, February 29.  

Bookstore1

117 S. Pineapple Ave.

Sarasota, FL 34236

Historical Thriller Author Solomon at Bookstore 1 Feb. 19

Georgia Court: Burt Solomon In Conversation with Eileen Normile discussing "The Murder of Andrew Johnson: A Novel." Feb. 19, 5-6 pm at Bookstore1 Sarasota. Register for free ticket here. Join Bookstore 1 as we talk to award-winning political journalist and author of the next John Hay historical thriller, Burt Solomon. This time, he focuses on one of America's most controversial presidents: Andrew Johnson.  Andrew Johnson was called The Great Commoner, appealing to the masses, loathing the establishment and anyone he deemed elitist. Once Johnson made an enemy, you became his enemy for life. He saw insults where none were intended, and personal loyalty meant everything…and his devoted fans would follow him into the depths of Hell. He was also the first US president to be impeached. Burt Solomon is a contributing editor for The Atlantic and National Journal, where he has covered the White House and many other aspects of Washington life. In 1991, he won the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. He is also the author of the acclaimed Where They Ain't, a history of baseball in the 1890s. Solomon, his wife, and their two children live inside the Beltway.

The Best Book Cover Designs of 2023.

Jason Kottke: The book cover is one of my all-time favorite design objects and a big part of the reason I love going to bookstores is to visually feast on new covers. I don’t keep an explicit list of my favorites from those trips, but there are definitely those that stick in my mind, covers that I’ll instantly recognize from across the room on subsequent trips. Kottke.

How to promote your book through podcast interviews and guest posts. Entrepreneur.

Dona Lee: Help Fellow Authors with an Online Review

Dona Lee: We are also going to ask a bit more of all local writers this year. As many published writers are aware, book reviews are extremely important to online sales. Amazon does not allow associates of the author to publish reviews due to past bad acts by a few mean, defamatory players. This prevents our closest fans and readers from posting reviews.

Each month I plan to mention two to five published books by local authors and I want you to write book reviews for the mentioned books. Most will be on Kindle Unlimited and cost $2.99 or less if they are not. If you felt the book did not deserve a rating of 4 or 5 stars, please don’t review the book on Amazon. Reviews posted with 3 stars or less are considered negative by the algorithms. You may message me with a poor review and I will pass it on to the author so they can revise if possible. I have contacts with over 500 Florida writers. If only 20% of you write a short review and post on Amazon, that is 100 reviews. Most of us struggle to get our readers to write reviews; let’s BE the Reviewers. We can do this together.

Any questions? Contact me. January Plotting Success newsletter.

StoryGraph is the Goodreads alternative worth switching to. Polygon.

How do you stand out in a crowded marketplace? Reviews. Book reviews not only boost your search engine ranking, but they also raise customer confidence in your books. So, how do you go about getting them? Let’s spell out what you should do — as well as what you shouldn’t do — to get book reviews on Amazon. Tips from BookBaby.

BookNet Canada reading: Stats and staff picks 2023. BookNet Canada.

Find Your Target Audience before You Begin Book Marketing

BookBaby: We all know that writing a book is no small feat. And once that’s done, it’s time to bring your book to market, where you might discover that finding your target audience is even more difficult than the actual writing of the book. Defining and engaging your target market is crucial when it comes to promotion (in fact, it’s critical to understand your reader as you’re writing your book). Your book will be less likely to connect with readers and may struggle to get momentum in the market if you don’t know who your target demographic is. So let’s consider six steps you can take to define your target audience and help make sure your book finds success. Tips from BookBaby.

What booksellers can teach us about reading, writing and publishing. Lit Hub.

Don’t judge a book by its advance. Airmail.

How to Sell Direct to Readers

Joanna Penn: If you sell direct, you can produce higher quality books and products, make more money per sale, get paid faster, and reach readers directly, but there are challenges to publishing and marketing this way. Thomas Umstaddt Jr interviewed me about tips for publishing, selling, and marketing direct to readers. We cover:

How the tools and services have improved for selling direct, and recommendations for which to use

Why selling direct can be better for the author — and the customer

The mindset shift needed if you want to be successful in selling direct

Optimizing ads for conversions, rather than clicks

Content marketing for selling direct

Adding a Reading Order to your website, store, and back matter

Integrations with social media for social commerce

The importance of bundles for selling direct

Direct-only, and direct-first products

Educating readers to buy direct

The power of authentic scarcity

Complete article and podcast.

Penny C. Sansevieri's Blog: How to market your book with 12 pre-order strategies. Goodreads.

What Amazon’s Goodreads is doing to stop negative “Review Bombing.” Book Riot.

Daniel Magariel on the trouble with titles. Lit Hub.

The Best Book Cover Designs of 2023 

Jason Kottke: The book cover is one of my all-time favorite design objects and a big part of the reason I love going to bookstores is to visually feast on new covers. I don’t keep an explicit list of my favorites from those trips, but there are definitely those that stick in my mind, covers that I’ll instantly recognize from across the room on subsequent trips. Kottke.

The 11 best book covers of February. Lit Hub.

BOOK REVIEWS

Dona Lee: Help Fellow Florida Authors with Online Review

Dona Lee: We are also going to ask a bit more of all local writers this year. As many published writers are aware, book reviews are extremely important to online sales. Amazon does not allow associates of the author to publish reviews due to past bad acts by a few mean, defamatory players. This prevents our closest fans and readers from posting reviews. Each month I plan to mention two to five published books by local authors and I want you to write book reviews for the mentioned books. Most will be on Kindle Unlimited and cost $2.99 or less if they are not. If you felt the book did not deserve a rating of 4 or 5 stars, please don’t review the book on Amazon. Reviews posted with 3 stars or less are considered negative by the algorithms. You may message me with a poor review and I will pass it on to the author so they can revise if possible. I have contacts with over 500 Florida writers. If only 20% of you write a short review and post on Amazon, that is 100 reviews. Most of us struggle to get our readers to write reviews; let’s BE the Reviewers. We can do this together. 

Any questions? Contact me. January Plotting Success newsletter.

Why Amazon Books Get Ratings of 3 Stars or Higher

A 2021 study found that a whopping 91% of books on Amazon are rated 3 stars or higher — meaning nearly every book in existence is average, above average, or even excellent. That can’t be true, can it, asks Medium's Harris Sockel. Reputation inflation happens to varying degrees in most digital marketplaces: You feel pressure to give your Uber driver five stars, to rate that dingy Airbnb “above average,” or to clap 50 times on your friend’s Medium post. As a result, ratings tend to become more inflated and irrelevant over time, especially on peer-to-peer platforms where leaving a negative rating could reflect poorly on you. Ratings are a bit more honest on platforms that are not peer-to-peer: Yelp, Amazon, or Goodreads, say. But those sites suffer an equally vexing problem: fake reviews. A few months ago, fantasy author Cait Corrain lost a book deal after she was caught creating an army of fraudulent Goodreads accounts to give herself five-star reviews and pan her competitors. On Medium, novelist and book editor Daniella Gaskell asks whether it might be time to abandon Goodreads altogether. Trolls, scammy reviewers, and “review bombing” (tons of fake negative or positive reviews) abound on the Amazon-owned platform. That’s not to mention the site’s notoriously janky UI.

That 2021 study did find one accurate predictor of sales: not star ratings, but highly emotional positive text (i.e. effusive first-person statements like “I LOVED THIS BOOK, it changed my life”) within the first 30 reviews on a book’s Amazon page. I think that’s a little more difficult to fake. AI could probably do it, but we can all tell the difference between an AI-written rave review and a human one… right?

Just 10 minutes: how I actually started reviewing all the books I read. Book Riot.

StoryGraph is the Goodreads alternative worth switching to for reviews. Polygon.

How do you stand out in a crowded marketplace? Reviews. Book reviews not only boost your search engine ranking, but they also raise customer confidence in your books. So, how do you go about getting them? Let’s spell out what you should do — as well as what you shouldn’t do — to get book reviews on Amazon. Tips from BookBaby.

How to promote your book through podcast interviews and guest posts. Entrepreneur.

What booksellers can teach us about reading, writing and publishing. Lit Hub.

Don’t judge a book by its advance. Airmail.

Find Your Target Audience before You Begin Book Marketing

BookBaby: We all know that writing a book is no small feat. And once that’s done, it’s time to bring your book to market, where you might discover that finding your target audience is even more difficult than the actual writing of the book. Defining and engaging your target market is crucial when it comes to promotion (in fact, it’s critical to understand your reader as you’re writing your book). Your book will be less likely to connect with readers and may struggle to get momentum in the market if you don’t know who your target demographic is. So let’s consider six steps you can take to define your target audience and help make sure your book finds success. Tips from BookBaby.

Dave Chesson Outlines New ReaderScout to Fight Pirates, Find Followers

Doug Sahlin shares this update from Dave Chesson: A bit ago, I created a free chrome plugin called ReaderScout that was designed to help authors identify and fight against book pirates and scams on Amazon. It's called ReaderScout. And if you’d like to learn more about it, and how it works to help fight pirates, then be sure to read this here.

However, I’ve got some super cool news that I think you’ll love. We just added a couple of new features that make it even better! ReaderScout now tracks and lets you know your Amazon Followers Number. Just click on the plugin and ReaderScout will tell you how many Amazon Followers you have. Plus, we added the following features as well:

You can now add up to 50 books.

Automatically sync with your KDP account to list all of your books.

Soon, we’ll also add international markets, ABSR tracking and a whole bunch more.

So, if you haven’t downloaded the free ReaderScout chrome plugin, then be sure to do that. It only takes 3 minutes to set up.

BOOK MARKETING

Top Self-Help Books Across the US, By State

At Shane Co., we know self-care always comes first. That’s why we were curious: which self-help books are capturing the attention of Americans this year? We turned to Google Trends to uncover the most searched titles across different states and regions. Whether it’s about decluttering, finding inner peace, or just not sweating the small stuff, there’s a book out there resonating with people. So, if you’re looking for a mid-year boost or just curious about popular picks, let’s uncover the most sought-after self-help reads of 2023! Report and chart here.

Lit agent landscape diversifies some as anxieties over book business grow. Publisher's Weekly.

After WSJournal Dumps Best Seller Lists, Leaving NYTimes & USA Today

Rob Eagar: If you follow my e-newsletter, you heard the shocking news three weeks ago that The Wall Street Journal discontinued their bestseller lists for books. This surprising move comes on the heels of USA Today pausing their bestseller lists for several months earlier this year due to company layoffs. The Wall Street Journal was widely considered one of the "Big 3" bestseller lists along with The New York Times and USA Today. It was especially beloved by authors in the business, technology, and entrepreneur genres. Now, the list is gone. In all my years of consulting, I’ve never seen a major bestseller list suddenly disappear with no warning. Thus, one of the top three lists vanishing forever begs an existential question that affects every author: What if ALL of the bestseller lists disappeared? Website.

Authors on Amazon Should Use the Image Rich A+ Content

This week's book marketing tip is... A+ Content. Don't know what that is? It's the “image-rich'’section you get about half way down your book's page on Amazon. You can control it via KDP and it's great extra real estate to show off how good your book is (especially for childrens books), writes Brian Berni of FictionMarketingAcademy.com

Amazon's official A+ help page. Should you have it? Yes, absolutely. But do make sure you know what you are doing when creating A+ content. We always recommend having graphics made by a pro, and even better if they actually have a proven track record of creating stunning A+.

So what's the big tip there? Glad you asked. If you've used A+ before, you know that each graphic can be coupled with a line of text. Officially, Amazon calls this "Alt-text", and recommends you include a brief text description of the image.

BUT (and this is where it gets interesting)... We've actually discovered that the words you use in these text fields is a ranking factor! In other words, Amazon's bots 'read' these words and they take them into account when deciding what keywords/search-terms your book ranks for. I know, crazy!

37 of the most popular book genres to browse—because there's more than just fiction and nonfiction. Parade.

How to set the price of your book to maximize royalties. Entrepreneur.

My first time attending a book festival, and why you should try it too. Her Campus.

Reasons to Stop Buying from Amazon, via Ariel Curry

“So Amazon is helping itself to almost 60 percent of each book purchase. That $12.49 net receipt to the publisher of the $30 book on the left might not look disastrous, but the publisher is also paying a $3.00 royalty to the author and another $2.50 (roughly 20 percent of the net of $12.49) to a distributor and sales agent. If the cost of printing the book is $3.00, that leaves the publisher with $4.00 out of which to pay the editor, designer, proofreader, typesetter, publicist, marketer, rent, etc. It’s virtually impossible to sell a new book profitably on Amazon. And it’s not like you can protest these terms by going down the street to another online retailer with massive reach. None exists.” - Ken Whyte, Amazon and the Big One on Substack.

The bestseller list is broken. Book Riot.

Book publishing's broken blurb system—how to get book blurbs. Esquire.

How Will China-Based BookTok Influence Book Publishing?

Creators on China-based TikTok are fighting for a more diverse book world — and running into some deep-seated problems in the industry, reports Rolling Stone.

Chinese-owned TikTok is changing the way books are recommended and sold. The Economist.

How to Sell More Books in Less Time. Use 4 Pillars

In this article, I’d like to share with you how I spend 30–60 minutes each day marketing my wife’s books, and how you can do the same, writes author Matt Holmes on JaneFriedman.com. Marketing for 30–60 minutes per day came about as more of a necessity than anything else; with three children under the age of three in the house, time isn’t something either my wife or I have much of! 

Instead of Discounts, Aim for Non-Traditional Buyers

Giving away ebooks for free or charging $ .99 for them defines the value you place on your content. Give buyers a reason why they should pay for your content. Follow Intuit’s advice to “Delight, don’t dilute.” Instead of selling greatly discounted ebooks, one at a time to consumers, you can sell them to non-traditional buyers in large quantities. They can give them away as a promotional item. You can make more money, reach more people and still maintain the value of your content, writes Brian Jud at bookapss.org

5 Tips to Buff Up Your Author Bio. Write Once, Reuse Many Times

As a writer, you know how crucial it is to grab reader’s attention and keep them engaged with your work. Have you thought about how your author bio can help you achieve this goal? Your author bio is often the first introduction readers have to you and your writing, so it’s essential to make it stand out. Five tips for crafting a compelling author bio from BookBaby.

An Indie Author’s Guide to Using Stock Photos for Your Covers

Book marketer Dave Chesson: Using photos in your book covers is almost a requirement, since many authors cannot afford custom illustrations for books. So, making use of a stock photo website like Depositphotos or Shutterstock when creating your book covers is likely something that your book cover designer will do. There’s a problem though. If you or your designer aren’t careful, there’s a good chance that you could violate copyright permissions for certain images. We might assume that by downloading an image on a stock photo website, this automatically gives us the right to use that image however we choose. But, it depends on the license.

The power of first impressions: how your book cover can make or break. DarlingAxe.com

"Amazon doesn’t care about books": how Barnes & Noble bounced back. The Guardian.

How Bookshop.org survives—and thrives—in Amazon’s world. Wired.

The best South Florida bookstores. Burning Tree Bookshop.

Readers’ Choice: The South’s best independent bookstores. Garden and Gun.

Spark a lifelong love of reading with the best book subscriptions for kids. People.

Anatomy of a megadeal: how flight attendant-turned-novelist T.J. Newman sparked a Hollywood bidding war for ‘Drowning.’ Variety.

Crime author gets revenge on rogue reviewer after string of one-star ratings on Amazon. The Mirror.

The 9 dos and don'ts of book signing events. Entrepreneur.

Nobody showed up to a best-selling author's book launch. She called it a career low point but found out she's far from alone. Business Insider.

What’s going on with all the empty author signing pics? Lit Hub.

Debating Whether to Give Away a Part of Your Series for Free

Before I get started, it’s only fair to reveal that I am a self-published author who gives her first-in-series away from time to time, writes author and editor Kim Catanzarite. They Will Be Coming for Us is not permanently free, but once in a while, I discount it 100 percent and let the free-for-all ensue. After advertising a free day, I see an uptick of sales and Kindle Unlimited reads. But that doesn’t mean I can’t weigh the pros and cons of both sides of this coin.

Why You Should Be Writing on Social Media

Social media doesn’t sell books in any provable way. No one strolls into their local independent bookstore to ask for “This book I saw in a tweet!” We don’t check a box marked “Found it on Instagram” on our Bookshop order, writes Allison K. Williams. Authors can’t get social media impact statements with their royalties, because publishers can’t get that information either. Even the platform isn’t the point. If you’re a memoirist, you may never build one big enough, and novelists don’t need it. You should still be writing on social media.

Wrestling with an Elevator Pitch? Here Are 60 Examples

Whether you're trying to write an incredible query letter or deliver an engaging pitch at a writing conference, one of the most important elements is an impeccable hook for your book. Sometimes called an elevator pitch, because it can be delivered during a short ride in the elevator, a great book hook helps agents, editors, and ultimately readers understand the basic concept of your book while also enticing them to learn more, writes Robert Lee Brewer of Writer's Digest. I’ve collected actual examples of hooks for recently published books to actually show how to write effective elevator pitches in a variety of writing genres, including many fiction genres, nonfiction (both general and memoir), children's writing, and even short story collections. 

Melodie Edwards: On the art of a solid elevator pitch. Writer's Digest

“The Goliath is Amazon.” After 100 years, Barnes & Noble wants to go back to its indie roots. The Verge

Best Web Hosting Sites for Authors, and Those to Avoid

Dave Chesson: I’ve used 16 different hosting services, and have made a lot of mistakes along the way. Plus, having to move sites is painful. So, to help you with this, and ensure you skip those mistakes, we recently created the ultimate guide for finding a web host for your author website. I’ve broken the possible hosts into three categories:

The super-cheap hosts you should avoid

The hosts I recommend for most authors

The heavy hitters for those who need a lot more power.

When in Doubt, Get Permission for Blurbs, Endorsements, Photos

We know, permissions aren’t fun or sexy – but they’re necessary, so stick with us.

Any time you’re using someone else’s words, praise, input or inspiration there are right and wrong ways to go about it, writes author and book marketer Penny Sansevieri.

We had an author come to us recently that has this fantastic historical fiction title based on a well-known band from the 1970s, but he neglected to factor in permissions, and some of the band members are still alive – so now he’s dealing with that – and believe me, it’s not fun.

Yes, that’s an extreme example, but a more common one that’s relevant to a lot of you is Amazon’s relatively new A+ Content feature.

Mark Mathes: Get permission first. I have a form to help.

How to Maximize Success Working with a Book Publicist

Hiring a book publicist can lead to excellent exposure for your titles, but there are techniques that independent publishers and author publishers can do to best maximize that experience and things that they can do that will actually hinder that experience. Smith Publicity book publicist and marketing associate Olivia McCoy is joining us to share tips from her many years in the industry to ensure publishers have a beneficial experience during this process. Episode 38:54.

Freelance Publicists and How to Contact Them

Ariel Curry: Contact information is your #1 commodity in the publishing industry, and Publishing Trends just gave us all a gold mine: a list (with contact info) of publicists in the industry. I can’t thank them enough. Download the free Freelance Publicists Contacts.Successful Launch Needs Author Email List, Confirmed Influencers

After working with authors on dozens of book campaigns, I’ve found that the success of a book launch usually hinges upon these two key elements, writes book marketer Rob Eagar.

1. The size of an author’s email list

2. The number of confirmed influencers.

Notice that I didn’t mention social media, print advertising, or traditional publicity, such as radio/TV interviews. That’s because those channels have proven to be inferior at selling books compared to email and online influencers. Sure, if an author has their own TV show or is filthy rich, then the possibility for success increases. But, most authors don’t have those options. So, let’s focus on what it takes for a typical author to succeed.

Substack Commentary Can Be a Book’s Best Friend

On Substack, authors have a direct line to their most committed readers, and a space for new ones who discover them by reading their books. Here, Sophia Efthimiatou speaks to author Luke Burgis about getting to know his readers through Substack and creating steady sales for his book through continued conversation. “Whether you are a writer or a reader, I hope this conversation gives you hope: there is a booming economy for writers here at Substack, with positive spillover effects in the book industry,” writes Sophia. Listen to and read the full interview here.

EbookFairs Review: A New Book Marketing Platform?

A great marketing tactic to sell your books is to combine forces with other authors in your genre to create a group promotion, writes Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur. But for authors just starting out, coordinating these promotional efforts can be difficult, and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up with a bunch of authors who aren’t pulling their weight. So, for these authors, you might want a platform that helps coordinate these promotions. There are several great platforms for doing this, but I want to highlight a new one that I think has a lot of potential and I wish had existed when I first got going in this industry. It’s called EbookFairs, and what intrigues me (among other things), is that it gamifies the promotion for the authors involved, which further ensures that your promotion or “Ebook Fair” will perform better. This isn’t the only aspect that I liked, and you can read more about it in my review.

Publisher drops author after dual TikTok and GoodReads backlash. Gizmodo.

The 12 best book covers in May. Lit Hub.

Smoothie King used ChatGPT to print a promotional romance novel. Promo Marketing magazine.

How should we feel About Barnes & Noble now? BookRiot.

A reader is not a consumer of books. Tor Publishing.

Why Cross Out Your Autograph? Some Authors Explain this Habit

Kevin Kuhens shares the Writer’s Digest story: When I attended my first book signing (for the Market Book series), a fellow editor advised me to cross out my name when signing copies, writes Robert Lee Brewer in WD. It's a practice I've kept up since, and I've seen other authors do it as well, but I still wonder, "Why do authors cross out name when signing book?" Of course, like any well-connected editor, I knew how to get feedback on my question. I took to Facebook with the following query: "Authors! When you sign books, do you cross out the printed name in the book before signing your own? If so, why?"

How the China-government influenced BookTok trend has influenced nearly every aspect of publishing. BusinessInsider.

How to Use In-Person Bookstore Outreach 

You've reached out by email and/or phone call to bookstores for them to carry your book. No response? 

Try this next, suggests children’s book author Karen Ferreira. What to say to overcome objections.

How to Mobilize Key Influencers to Talk about Your Book

You probably know by now that good word-of-mouth is what sells books. You want people to love your book so much that they tell others about it…and they tell others…and on it goes. The next thing you know, you’ve sold a lot of books. This doesn’t happen by chance, writes book marketer Sandra Beckwith.You have to start the ball rolling. One of the best ways to do that is to get your book into the hands of the people who influence your audience the most. They’re called “key influencers.” Don’t know who yours are? Today’s article will help with that. 

Amazon Changes Rules Again for Book Reviews

Yes, we said more changes to Amazon book reviews. The company is on a roll lately with the changes that are impacting authors and in this episode we unpack some recent changes to book reviews and everything you need to know to navigate the updates and ensure you’re still benefitting from quality engagement with readers. Join book marketer Penny Sansevieri for this lively discussion on the new changes, what we see, and one type of Amazon review that we really dislike! Podcast here.

Amazon is beta testing a new library system for audiobooks and ebooks. Goodreader.

The Wrath of Goodreads. Don’t review a book that you haven’t read. 

The Atlantic.

Texas author reunites with TikToker who made him overnight bestseller: ‘It brightened up my life.’ People.

Publishing’s blind spots miss significant sales. Publisher's Weekly.

Don’t Leave Home without Your Bookmarks

Mark Mathes: The recent Florida Writers Association and Florida Authors and Publishers Association annual meetings brought hundreds of state authors to introduce themselves and their books to colleagues. Sadly, only about one in ten authors came equipped with bookmarks or business cards. If these professional meetings were packed with consumers and readers, those authors missed many opportunities. In my experience as a book editor and publisher, here are some tips about bookmarks. They are the cheapest and among the most effective book marketing tactics you can use. Here's why.

How Bookmarks Help Readers and Authors Throughout History

Save my place! A brief look at the history of bookmarks. Book Riot. According to the 1907 book, The History of Development of the Bookmarker by Frank Hamel, the “general style and shape” of bookmakers, what bookmarks were called in history, haven’t changed much. Also called a register or a “registrum corula” in the Middle Ages, bookmarks at the time held quite a bit more weight than the tossed-in pieces of paper that often come with a book purchase in the modern day.

Author Merchandise Ideas to Boost Revenue

BookBaby: Lots of authors are offering custom merch to add additional revenue and strengthen and define their author brands. More tips here.

Beyond the Newsletter: Advanced Email Marketing Strategies for Writers

Ginnye Lynn  Cubel: Whether you attended the Florida Writers Association Beyond the Newsletter: Advanced Email Marketing Strategies for Writers or Don’t Follow Me: How to Create Impactful Marketing Without Social Media (or both!) at the recent Florida Writers Association, I hope you found the information helpful and the session inspiring. Link to book marketer Ginnye Lynn  Cubel here.

Below you can access the presentation decks and accompanying toolkits. I hope these resources will help you develop marketing you feel great about. Presentation deck (PDF download)

 Advanced email marketing strategies for writers toolkit (PDF download)

Marketing resources for writers (webpage link)

How to Sell Direct to Readers

Joanna Penn: If you sell direct, you can produce higher quality books and products, make more money per sale, get paid faster, and reach readers directly, but there are challenges to publishing and marketing this way. Thomas Umstaddt Jr interviewed me about tips for publishing, selling, and marketing direct to readers. We cover:

How the tools and services have improved for selling direct, and recommendations for which to use

Why selling direct can be better for the author — and the customer

The mindset shift needed if you want to be successful in selling direct

Optimizing ads for conversions, rather than clicks

Content marketing for selling direct

Adding a Reading Order to your website, store, and back matter

Integrations with social media for social commerce

The importance of bundles for selling direct

Direct-only, and direct-first products

Educating readers to buy direct

The power of authentic scarcity

Complete article and podcast.

Penny C. Sansevieri's Blog: How to market your book with 12 pre-order strategies. Goodreads.

What Amazon’s Goodreads is doing to stop negative “Review Bombing.” Book Riot.

Daniel Magariel on the trouble with titles. Lit Hub.

USA Today Relaunches Its Weekly Best-selling Booklist

After editorial layoffs forced USA Today’s Best-selling Booklist to go on hiatus in December 2022, the list relaunched in late June. Like the old list, the new list will consist of 150 titles in all genres, including self-published books, and combine print and digital sales numbers. Previously, compiling the list was a manual process, but now is automated. A release explains that the list is "based exclusively on sales analysis from US booksellers including bookstore chains, independent bookstores, mass merchandisers and online retailers."

"The relaunch is an automated effort that still uses the same algorithm we already had in place but now we are pulling our data from a wide variety of sources that encompasses the various consumer journeys to buying a book," USA Today svp Erik Bursch said.

The list will run online every Wednesday at 6 am and the top 50 will appear in print on Thursdays, using sales from the previous Monday through Sunday. A new feature allows online users to sort books by genre: children’s, business, cookbooks, sci-fi, true crime, and more, reports Publisher’s Lunch.

The new list partners with the ABA and Bookshop.org. Bookshop buy links are posted prominently with each title, and there is also a drop-down menu with links to Amazon, Apple Books, and B&N. The list is also partnering with St. Louis, MO indie store Novel Neighbor, which will create book content for USA Today. The paper will highlight the store’s book subscription products. The list will also spotlight an "Independent Bookstore of the Week" and include author interviews. Reporting stores include Amazon, B&N, Costco, Walmart, Books Inc, and indie stores in markets including Pasadena, CA, Lexington, KY, Portland, OR, St. Louis, MO, Madison, CT, Grand Rapids, MI, and Denver, CO. Any store that wants to report can be quickly added to the list.

USA Today is bringing back its bestseller list—with some improvements. Lit Hub.

Secrets of the Book Designer: Blending Type and Images

When it came time for my novel, Planes, to get a cover, I was thrilled to learn that Linda Huang had been assigned to make it. I met Linda in the fall of 2004, when we lived on the same dorm hall. I’ve long admired her work as a cover designer; more than once, in the years since graduation, I’ve found myself admiring a cover on a bookstore table, then realizing it was one of hers. So I knew I was in good hands—and I was happy to feel some different chapters of my life intertwining. I also had no idea what to expect. I’d tried coming up with cover concepts on my own—just as an exercise—and everything I came up with felt dumb or untrue to the book. Peter Baker on Lit Hub.

Tips for Your Title and Book Cover

Let’s face it - people do judge books by their covers, so make sure you have a cover design that’s professional, and visually appealing. Do not skip this step or create your own  cover unless you are a graphic designer!  Handy 10-page worksheet outlines tips from title and cover design. From Self-Publishing School.com.

17 Best Book Covers in May

Cheek and irreverence abound in my favorite book covers this month. I also noticed an unusual number of interesting textures at play, some excellent uses of text as image, and at least a few geometric echoes bouncing around in there. But as ever, though I love to try to draw connections here in the introductory paragraph, there’s no real theme to speak of, just a bunch of good art on a bunch of good books, writes Emily Temple in Lit Hub.

Why do most book covers have the same horrible abstract blog design, asks writer Mark Frauenfelder in BoingBoing.net.

How to Know If You Should Try TikTok for Book Marketing

It’s time for a book marketing column and podcast episode on TikTok because while we realize it’s not a new-new platform per se, as social media sites go it’s relatively young, and it’s gotten such great buzz. Especially with the #BookTok hashtag building so much interest for books- which we always love, writes author and book marketer Penny Sansevieri.

Benefits of Working with a Book Marketing Firm

As a self-published author it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the things, especially the marketing. And I get it, I’m a self-published author too, so I totally understand the desire to want to focus more on the writing. And that’s why when I need to shift over to doing my own promotion, I don’t actually do it on my own, according to author and book marketer Penny Sansevieri. Here are some major benefits to working with a book marketing company and why leveraging the help of a team can really improve your chances at success.

5 Tips to Create Your Indie Book Marketing Plan

If you’re self-publishing your book, you’ve probably budgeted funds for the cover design, professional proofreading and content editing, and other elements of a well-designed book. Of course, while you don’t want to scrimp on your book, it’s important to save money wherever you can. Don’t skip this important step: Your book may be great, but if no one knows it’s available, no one will read it. An effective book launch can make the difference between selling a few books and potentially selling a few thousand! 5 tips from Self-Publishing Relief.

The 12 Best Book Covers Published in March

Another month of books, another month of book covers. This month, the weather began to allow for outdoor displays of jackets—both light and literary. My March favorites included dreamy paintings, unsettled animals, otherworldly miniatures, and more than one unsettled animal, writes Jessie Gaynor in Lit Hub. I find this cover equal parts whimsical and creepy, and I can’t look away from it. Would it also work as the cover of a horror novel about a pseudonymous writer trapped inside her own story? [In the Margins book cover left.] Yes! Honestly, the possibilities are endless (just like those of a blank page)!

5 Takeaways from Author, Book Marketer Angelina Assanti at ABC

Award-winning best-selling author and humorist Angelina Assanti shared writing, publishing, book marketing and agent tips with members of ABC-Books at their Sept. 14 meeting at Fruitville Branch Library. Here are notes compiled by Mark Mathes, an ABC member and president of Sarasota Fiction Writers.

“Angelina Assanti was in rare form and had us laughing the whole time. She is truly an inspiration for what authors can do to succeed,” said ABC president Brenda Spalding later. “She is making money with podcasts and will show any of our members how to do it. I will be sending out her presentation with all the links as soon as I receive it from Angelina.”

Book Cover Design: 2 Stories. Tips for Authors

An author spends months and years on the words in her story. She spends a week or three and a stingy amount on the book cover and image of that product, writes editor Mark Mathes.  This is the story of two book covers for books I edited and published at Pelican Publishing Company, a regional publisher that started in 1926 in my hometown New Orleans. It’s a story of two books where the cover, photos and even the titles demanded more attention by the authors. More importantly, this story illustrates over two dozen tips I’ve compiled for authors who want to publish the best possible cover.

How to Write an Author Bio That Connects with Readers

Your book is riveting, but your author bio is a snooze, writes Chris Robley for BookBaby.

If you’re afraid the above sentence describes you, well, don’t be too hard on yourself; plenty of brilliant authors freeze up when it comes to writing about themselves in sound bites. They’re more comfortable creating lush fictions, not highlighting their own career achievements and personal anecdotes in (as Morpheus from The Matrix says) “the desert of the real.”

Comfortable or not, you need to create a brief and compelling author bio for use on your website, book jacket, press releases, etc., so let’s take a closer look at the key elements of an interesting bio — while determining which details should be omitted. Nine tips.

How to Write Your Author Biography. Plus, Checklist from BookBub

Writing your author bio can be a daunting task, but a well-crafted bio can help readers learn more about what makes you and your books so interesting. You should regularly maintain your bio on places like your BookBub Author Profile so fans and potential readers seeking you out can learn more about you and why they should pick up your latest book, writes Diana Urban for BookBob. Stuck on what to include? While there is no one-size-fits-all formula, here are some examples of author bios we love so you can get some inspiration when crafting your own bio. We’ve also created an Author Biography Checklist with recommendations on what to include, as well as where to keep your author bio up to date online.

New York author Ceil Warren's newest book in her Stones End Series is promoted with a two-sided bookmark that showcases each book on one side. The flip side carries information on retail and online storefronts. She signs and numbers each bookmark, much like a signed, limited edition print. How else can you sign something for an ebook buyer? CeilWarren.com It's a charming love story with mysterious twists and turns. Mark Mathes edited all three books.  She uses the Universal Book Link from Books2Read to make it easy to share all the online storefronts where her series is available. The reader can choose.

Book Wars: The Digital Revolution in Publishing. Hear Author John Thompson.

Washington Post Book Reviewer Ron Charles: I’ve been slowly working my way through Book Wars: The Digital Revolution in Publishing, by the British scholar John B. Thompson. At 500 pages, it’s an extraordinarily comprehensive and revealing study of what Thompson calls “a technological revolution that is as radical and far-reaching as any that came before in the long history of the human species.”

Thompson starts with Andy Weir, an amateur writer who finally gave up trying to get published and started posting his science fiction stories online. But through the new alchemy of the internet, Weir’s “failure” led to his first best-selling novel, The Martian, which was later adapted into a movie starring Matt Damon. Alas, fame and fortune are not the typical rewards for self-published authors, but The Martian offers Thompson a striking example of the way technology is transforming the old practices of storytelling and publication.

Book Wars looks at the ascent of Amazon, the dramatic rise (and surprising plateau) of e-books, the new relevance of backlists, the explosion of self-publishing and the wonderful resilience of bound books. I heard a great interview with Thompson on the Biblio File podcast that lays out many of the main points of Book Wars. Listen here.

What Digital Blockchain NFTs Could Mean for the Book World and Authors

Blake Butler had given up on publishing Decade. He’d written the novel in 2008, and its complicated structure and dense language rendered it virtually unpublishable by both commercial and avant-garde standards. For years, he set Decade aside, occasionally opening the Word document and scrolling through as fast as he could, remembering all the work he’d done, then closing the window, writes Walker Kaplan in Literary Hub.

Then this February, as NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, flooded the Internet, everywhere from Twitter to The New York Times, Butler had an idea: he turned that scrolling action into a GIF, pages flashing before the viewer’s eye, and minted the GIF as a non-fungible token. With cryptocurrency, a buyer could purchase proof of ownership of Decade, represented by the GIF, as well as receive a PDF of the novel upon purchase. Overnight, a stranger bought the NFT for 5 ethereum—a $7,569.50 value at the time, now the equivalent of $12,377.30, much more than Butler had made off several of his published books. Said Butler, the sale was “like a bolt of lightning to his brain.”

The buyer, who goes by the pseudonym null_radix, bought Decade because he was “curious what was inside.” When he read it, Null_radix didn’t understand Decade, but he still has no plans to resell. Now, Decade sits in null_radix’s digital wallet next to a picture of a forest and a pair of digital socks.

It’s hard to make sense of what the NFT creative landscape might mean for otherwise underpaid writers.

Pine Island Novelist Macomber Publishes 15th in His Honor Series. How He Connects with His Readers

Mix equal parts intrigue, history and maritime warfare. Blend with generous portions of honor and integrity. Spice up with some pirates, inept superiors and other villains.

Add vintage maps and helpful endnotes.

That’s the winning recipe for award-winning historical thrillers by Robert N. Macomber. The Pine Island writer just released “Word of Honor” ($29.95, Naval Institute Press), his most recent novel in his honor series. It is the 15th novel in the series in which each book includes the word “honor” in its title. The arc of the books follows Captain Peter Wake from the Civil War to the Spanish American War, with the last three titles a trilogy about the Spanish-American War. Read the Florida Weekly article here.

With his novels he, says, he attempts to tell the story of our history and the ordinary people who make it.

“They frequently didn’t anticipate what they were getting into,” he says. “They weren’t trained for it. “History is the story of people making decisions, only with consequences. I weave my stories around the real places and people and events that changed world history.”

Macomber’s books attract fervent and loyal readers. In honor of the books’ protagonist, Peter Wake, they call themselves Wakians.

“I work at that,” he says of his relationship with his readers. “I’m a big believer in maintaining connection with your readers.

“I’m so proud of my readers. I have so much fun with them and get great ideas from them. I get a real pick up, a real rejuvenation of my spirits when I’m with them.”

Not only that, but he gets ideas and research help from them.

“A number of my readers have really arcane skills, access to research things, and they end up becoming what we call the SMART Wakians: Subject Matter Advanced Research Team.”

3 Sentences That Could Catapult Your Writing Career to Success

They say every author should have an “elevator pitch” ready. The theory is that you run into your dream agent or publisher, or your all-time favorite author, on an elevator. You have just as much time as it takes to get to the lobby to pitch your book, writes Al Pessin inthe Florida Writers Association.

What do you say? How do you summarize in a few sentences the passion you’ve poured into your book over many years?

Although the elevator scenario is not very likely, it’s a useful exercise to write those few sentences—to boil your proposal down to its essence.

And as we dream of a return to in-person conferences, there are pitch opportunities via online video chat and Twitter. So, it’s worth getting ready now.

Book Launch Parties: A How-To List

Now that in-person social gatherings are coming back, I’m looking forward to being able to hold launch parties for my upcoming releases again. Previously, I’ve given two launch parties, for my novels Vicious Circle and Threadbare, both of which went well, so I thought I’d write about what I did to make them successful, writes Elle E. Ire in the Florida Writers Association.

Budgets and resources will vary, and I understand that, but hopefully you’ll find some ideas you can take away and make work for you. The idea here is to draw attention to your work so that your guests will buy other books from you down the line, as well as the one you are launching. And you should also take the opportunity to celebrate your hard work and success in getting a book published.

Stuck for Ideas for Virtual Events? Here Are 40 Fresh Ways

Virtual events are replacing in-person events in many industries. From virtual happy hours with employees to full industry conferences, online events allow businesses to reach people around the world. If you’re looking to host more events for your small business, here are some ways to leverage virtual venues. 40 virtual event ideas from Small Business Trends.

22 Must-Have Resources for Book Marketers in 2022

I don’t know about you, but I love great resources – so for all you serious book marketers out there, this list is for you! And I’ve done lists like this before, but this year I decided to create something a bit different, writes author and book marketing expert Penny Sansevieri. This year I’m digging into resources, but I also included some fun check lists, and even a link to our free book marketing planner to help kick the new year off right.

3 Ways to Improve Your Author Platform

I talk a lot about your author platform and how important it is. Your author platform is how your author persona shows up in the world and -unsurprisingly- it can impact your sales, writes author and book marketing expert Penny Sansevieri. So, if you have spent some time on your author platform, but you know it needs some updating, or if this is your first time really considering this, I have good news: it’s a lot easier than you think.

Figure out something that really works for the kinds of books you write now, and the kind of vibe you want to put out there. Your website, social media, and book covers should match across the board. Author platforms rely on visuals just as much as the content you put out. It’s important to stay consistent and mindful about what you send to your readers or followers, because it’s all a reflection of you.

8 Ways to Build Sales for Your Indie Book, from Freebies to Fan Base

After navigating all the complex ins and outs of the self-publishing process, you’ve finally pressed “publish” and your book is available for sale, according to Self-Publishing Relief. Yay, you! But, like many self-published authors, you may soon be surprised that your book isn’t flying off the virtual bookshelf and into the hands of eager buyers. At Self-Publishing Relief, our marketing experts know that writers—both traditionally published and self-published—need to be actively involved in promoting their books. If your sales are in a slump, here’s how to improve your self-published book sales.

Google Play Books Widget Gets New Design, Including Audiobook Indicator

When I buy books and audiobooks, I want to be proud of them, and this just ain’t it, Chief, writes Michael Perrigo in Chome Unboxed. He’s referring to the old Google Play Books widget. I don’t want to go on too long about how bad it is, because I’m sure you get the point, but the fact that it sits off to the left just a tad even though it’s centered, and can’t be laid out in a landscape or wider way has just always perplexed me. Luckily, in a blog post today, Google announced that over the next few days, it will be rolling out a replacement widget that’s built completely from the ground up and displays much more useful information and with a more appealing design.

Why You Shouldn’t Give Your Book Away for Free

Why buy the cow when the milk is free? We’ve all heard that saying. Basically, the meaning behind it is that someone isn’t going to pay for something that is offered for free. Whether it’s your virtue or your book, the issue is still the same, writes Ronda Penders for Build Book Buzz.

When a writer devalues her work to the point of giving away her book, isn’t that what she is really doing? Just giving it away as if it were nothing? I have to wonder if an author is so desperate to have someone, anyone, read her book, that she’s passing them out like pamphlets on the street corner.

Anatomy of an Attractive Book Description in 4 Parts

This is Part 3 of 4-part series explaining how to write an attractive book description. If your book sales aren’t meeting expectations, the culprit is probably a lackluster description that fails to entice readers, writes book marketer Rob Eagar of Wildfire Marketing. I’d like to help you fix the problem. Here's what we've covered so far:

Step 1 of a great book description starts with displaying a marketing hook that grabs people’s attention.

Step 2 involves differentiating your book from the crowded field by presenting accolades or a connection to popular titles that readers already love.

Step 3 brings us to the heart of your book description. Now it’s time to tell people about your book’s content in a persuasive manner. This is where too many authors make mistakes. They focus on describing the synopsis of their fiction story or the instruction provided in their nonfiction material. However, this approach overlooks a vital principle: Logic makes people think. But, emotion makes people act.

How to Improve Your Book Blurbs, Author Page and Keywords

Here are tips to go beyond book blurbs to optimize your sales page and sell more books, writes Bryan Cohen of Best Page Forward. How readers interact with your book’s sales page and how your blurb, cover, and metadata work together. Why it’s not enough to have a “good cover” and how to make sure readers recognize your cover as part of a certain genre. How to pick better keywords and categories.

9 of the Best Reader Magnets for Both Fiction and Nonfiction Books

There’s a lot of advice out there about reader magnets (i.e. ways to entice readers to part with their email address in exchange for some awesome freebie). What’s not up for debate is how effective the right reader magnets can be, according to the BookFunnel blog. Building an email list is one of the most important things any author can do, whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. So, I thought I would address this by telling you about 9 of the best types of reader magnets—both fiction and nonfiction.

Many Ways to Give Away Free eBooks. Start with Your Own Website.

There are a hundred and one different sites on the web where authors can give away an ebook. They can use services like InstaFreebie, forums like MobileRead, or blogging platforms like BookLikes. I was just revising a list post on this topic when I was reminded of one option that almost never makes this type of list, writes Nate Hoffelder in the Florida Writers Association.

Their own website. An author’s website is both the most common place for an author to give away an ebook and the most overlooked.

Novelist Creates 10-page Book Club Guide: Characters, Setting, Motivation, A Recipe

Random House author Sanjena Sathian created a 10-page Book Club Guide for her novel Gold Diggers. In the downloadable PDF, she elaborates on her creative process, characters, setting, motivations, theme and more. It includes a Q&Q and even a Golden Dream Cocktail Recipe. Readers and groups get helpful insight and the author and her publisher get fans for email marketing and awareness. 

The Ultimate Guide to Reader Magnets for Indie Authors

Reader Magnets, Lead Magnet, Freebies. All words that get flung around the indie sphere a lot. But what do they mean? Why are they so useful and what sort of thing should you create anyway? These are the questions we will cover in today's post: The Ultimate Guide to Reader Magnets here. The post appeared first on Alliance of Independent Authors: Self-Publishing Advice Center. The most common kinds of reader magnets are:

--e-books–chapters, whole books, in some cases whole libraries of e-books

--Discount coupons

--Audio files

--Downloadable, printable resources e.g. infographics, checklists, cheat sheets, reports, quizzes

--Courses / training in text, audio or video

--Swipe files for social media posts or other communication templates

--Consultations

How to Use a Short Story or Novella as a Reader Magnet on Your Website

When promoting your book, you always should have a website, send out press releases to bloggers and mainstream media, and arrange book readings/signings to ensure the title is properly promoted. But those aren’t the only things you can do. In fact, they may not be enough.

A great way to attract readers to your book’s website is to offer on it free samples of your unpublished writing. For example, a novelist might include a short story or novella they’ve written but have been unable to find a home for. This offers a double benefit: You’re not giving away the book you want to sell, and readers get to sample your writing style while meeting your characters. Particularly effective for fiction writers is offering a backstory or prequel to your published novel, writing a short story about what occurred to your characters between two novels, or providing a story about an interesting secondary character who appeared in one of your published books. More tips by Rob Bignell here.

How to Spin Negative Book Reviews into Gold

From Niki Kantzios in the Florida Writers Association: I’m sure we’ve all read lots of advice about letting bad reviews roll off our back, not taking the criticism personally, etc. I leave it to your therapist to deal with that side of the bad-critique syndrome. Instead, I’d like to offer some ideas for using those negative reviews to a good end. When the bad fairy gives you straw, spin it into gold! More tips here.

Why Reviews Are a Big Deal for Every Author

Reviews are a big deal for all authors. Whether they’re publishing with Simon & Schuster or self-publishing a few thousand copies, early reviews can make or break a book’s long-term success.

There are exceptions, of course. Novels like For Whom The Bell Tolls, To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Handmaid’s Tale all had bad reviews but went on to be classics. Yet for the overwhelming majority of books, reviews are the key to notoriety and sales.

The online review has also grown in importance since most people now read content online. These reviews are shareable and in some cases even influence your book’s exposure, writes Mckenzie Cassidy in the Florida Writers Association.

5 Tips to Optimize Your Books for Voice Search

You’ve most likely heard about voice search over the past few years. Maybe you’re wondering if voice search really is the next big thing.

While you shouldn’t place all your focus on voice search, digital marketers and content creators can no longer ignore the importance of voice search in SEO and organic search.

According to Statista, there would be over 4 billion digital voice assistant devices in use in 2020. Google found 20% of searches are conducted on a voice-enabled device.

As the number of online users increases and voice assistant devices grow, writers and publishers must incorporate voice search into their strategy. Five tips here.

ALLI’s Ultimate Guide to Indie Author Resources

Author resources have imploded over the years. There's fifty answers to every question, five different tech solutions and an array of experts to help. This is good news for Indies searching out answers and tools to help them in their creative businesses, but a little overwhelming. The Alliance of Independent Authors alone has a monumental list of resources at it's members disposal and many more open to the public. Below is ALLi's ultimate guide to indie author resources for 2021. Read more here.

Google Docs: 16 Tips for Authors

Google Docs is a popular word-processing tool that lets you access your documents and files from any internet-connected device. I for one have found it to be immensely useful as an editing tool; I like to review a Doc on my iPad, and then make changes on my laptop before sending the updated Doc to my collaborators. I also love Google Docs because it’s a great tool for collaborating with people both near and far. (And did I mention Google Docs is free?) Over the years I have accumulated a long list of tools and add-ons for Google Docs; here are a few of my favorites, says Nate Hoffelder for the Florida Writers Association.

Some Recommended Book Promo Sites from Author Nicholas Erik

From independent author and book marketer Nicholas Erik: “This is a curated list of promotional sites that I personally use to sell books (I’ve booked ads in almost every major genre). Last updated on May 18, 2021. I can’t guarantee results; all I can say is that I assembled this list for my own use and refer to it when booking my own promos. Many sites offer book of the day options or special packages. Stick with the standard vanilla offerings unless noted otherwise; they often provide better results on a cost-per-download basis. There are exceptions, but it’s difficult to keep dozens of options straight, and expensive to separate the wheat from the extreme chaff.” His list here.

Emma Lombard: Published Authors Share Tips, Biggest Blunders

Whether traditionally or self-published, book marketing is every author's number one need-to-know. I asked these fiction and non-fiction authors to share their experiences with traditionally published or independent, writes published author Emma Lombard.

How Author Can Make Effective Posts on LinkedIn Using MVP Tips

Over this past year, I’ve discovered that LinkedIn posts work best when they are Most Relevant, provide Value, and are Professional, writes Carol Van Den Hende on diyMFA.com. You can remember these criteria with the acronym MVP.

How and When to Use Paid Advertising for Your Blog or Site

If you want to drive more traffic to your blog or website, you might be considering paid ads. The problem? There are dozens of platforms to choose from – and you’ve probably either lost money yourself on paid ads or know someone who did, writes Sarah Peterson in SmartBlogger. Paid advertising can be one of the most effective ways to drive traffic (and sales), but only if you understand how it works.

How to Find Compelling Comps for Your Book

Every writer needs them eventually: comp titles. You not only need them for query letters to agents and publishers, but they are also enormously helpful for book marketing research, writes author and writing coach Jane Friedman, here. A writing podcast now offers free help. If you leave a message for them, with a bit of info on your plot and genre, an independent bookseller will suggest comps for you. Of course, if you already have a relationship with an indie bookseller, I suggest paying them a visit and having a conversation.

Top Elements for Your Author and Book Website

Two goals for an author website: sell books and build awareness for your book. Build your email list of fans, writes Mark Mathes. Some tips here. Start with your front and back cover, navigation, unique value proposition, author headshot and bio relevant to your book, where to buy this book. (Use the Universal Book Link from Draft2Digital's Books2Read.) And more.

Tips to Build an Author Website Quickly, Cheaply

You’ve written an amazing book, but now you need a website. It goes without saying that every writer needs an author website. A web search is the first place people go when looking you up and you want to make sure they find a website that you own and have control over. It allows you to put your stake in the ground and own your own little corner of the internet.

However, as someone who has worked with over 100 authors and gone through at least 1000 author websites, I constantly get a first-hand look at how much authors need help getting their website put together, writes Tim Grahl. My goal with this article is to walk you through exactly how you can get your website up and running for very little money and, if you have all the content ready, just about an hour of your time. I’m going to walk you through the best practices I’ve learned over the past ten years of working with authors to build their online platform as well as share a few of my favorite tools for getting it done quickly and affordably.

45 Tips to Guide Your Author Website

Many successful authors have websites that are the hub of their online marketing activity — they provide a central platform for everything from blogging to book sales and email newsletters. But what should you include in an author website? BookBub has compiled 45 stellar examples to give you some ideas. These sites can provide inspiration for any authors or publishers looking to launch or redesign an author website. Compiled by Diana Urban here. 

What’s the Crossover Point Between Craft and Marketing?

Craft is obviously a huge part of the mix, says author and book marketer Nick Erik as he talks with podcaster Stacey Horan. She interviewed me recently about my new urban fantasy series, writing process, and some of the things I consider as I'm putting together a book. So if you're interested in my thoughts on the crossover point between craft and marketing, and how I approach that, here's the interview. 30 minutes.

5 Marketing Strategies for Writers Who Hate Promoting Their Own Work

Marketing strategies for writers who hate promoting their own work. We all know the importance of self-promotion, yet many of us are horrible at it. We’re conscientious in every other aspect of our craft. We outline, we edit and we do everything else we can for our work to stand out. Except self-promote, writes Hugh Smith in The Write Life.

Why Indie and Traditional Authors Need Websites

An author website acts as a hub for your book sales. The biggest goal of any self-published author is, of course, to sell books! There are many things you can do to boost your sales, but having an author website will streamline and centralize your efforts, writes Self-Publishing Relief. Readers will visit your author website for information about you and your writing, and you can include convenient links to the online retailers selling your books: Amazon, the Nook store, or iBooks. With all these links in one convenient online hub, readers won’t have to go searching.

Make a Personal Connection with Readers by Adding Audio to Your Website

Making a personal connection with your readers marks a great way to sell your books – and one solid way to do that is to use audio on your website, says Rob Bignell of Inventing Reality Editing Service. When website visitors hear your voice, they’re more likely to pay attention than if they simply read text that they know is polished. Further, speech allows you to vocally emphasize points that readers might miss when they just scan your website.

Tolkien Estate Adds Images, Paintings, Audio, Maps to Author’s Site

To create his fictional world of Middle-Earth, English author J.R.R. Tolkien used nearly every creative tool at man’s disposal, be it calligraphy, cartography, prose, poetry, or painting according to the Good News Network. To grease the gears of his mind so as to churn out the endless layering and details typical of the novels and appendixes, Tolkien often turned to ink and graphite, and many of his sketches and paintings are available to view on the recently-updated section on the Tolkien Estate website. Enduring audience members can also enjoy images and paintings done outside of his work on Middle-Earth, as well as audio clips and other documents related to his personal life and efforts as a mapmaker, calligrapher, and artist.

How Can You Make a Bad Book Review Work in Your Favor?

Can bad book reviews really be helpful for an author?  After all, as writers we put our heart and soul into our work.  We give birth to the story and watch it take off and flourish.  To then have someone come along and criticize our “baby” can be quite hard to take.  Nevertheless, in life there is always a positive side to everything if you look hard enough.  Below are some top reasons why bad book reviews can actually work in your favor, writes Leonard Tillerman.

Why Authors Love It When You Leave a Review Online

All it takes to get any of us to read a book is one recommendation by a trusted source. And authors love it when you talk about their books in real life or on social media. But usually, it takes more than that, writes Claire Handscombe in Book Riot. Think about it: if you see a long line of people waiting for something, do you immediately wonder what they’re queuing up for, and maybe ask them about it – or even join the queue yourself? If you see multiple Bookstagrammers post about one book, do you search for it on Goodreads? And if you see a book with just seven or eight reviews online, what is your immediate reaction? We humans are largely pack animals, and it’s wired into us to  believe that if lots of people are doing something, that something is at least worth investigating. This is known as social proof – a term coined by psychologist Robert Cialdini in the 1980s. It’s essentially the tendency people have where they do what they see other people doing in an attempt to exhibit correct behavior. So, if 1,000 people have reviewed a book, maybe you pay more attention to that book when you’re browsing through an online bookstore.

What to Do After You Build Your Email List

I talk constantly about the importance of setting up an email list. It’s the single most important thing you can do to build your author platform, writes book marketer Tim Grahl. I make this very clear in my book Your First 1000 Copies: “Your #1 goal as an author should be to grow your email list as much as possible. Write that on a post-it. Recite it to yourself every morning. Tattoo it on your forehead. Do whatever it takes to make sure that developing your email list is the #1 goal of your platform strategy.” So let’s say you’ve got that working for you. You’ve set up an email list with a solid email service provider, and you’ve started getting subscribers.

Now what?

Social Media Hashtags for Writers from Dave Chesson

This is what Dave Chesson has to say about his new tool:  “Hashtags are a great tool to increase discoverability on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. My problem is – I never know which hashtags to use. And it can take a long time to do all the research, make a big long list, type it all up in the appropriate platform, and do it again and again for every post. … That’s why with the help of Y. Eevi Jones, of Children’s Book University®, we designed a hashtag generator for authors to use.”

Book Marketing:

A Team Effort. You’re Leading the Team. Where Do I start?

Mark Mathes. Writing a book is a solitary effort. As you complete your self-revision, it becomes a team effort. The good news is there are many qualified experts who can help you in editing, book design, book marketing and publishing. Whether you publish one book, or a series, in independent publishing you are the CEO of your publishing company. More on book marketing, writing, editing and publishing.

9 Author Website Trends and 45 Top Author Sites, from BookBub

Many successful authors have websites that are the hub of their online marketing activity — they provide a central platform for everything from blogging to book sales and email newsletters. But what should you include in an author website? BookBub has compiled 45 stellar examples to give you some ideas. These sites can provide inspiration for any authors or publishers looking to launch or redesign an author website. When reviewing author websites to include in this list, consider guidelines about nine author website trends you need to know about. BookBub's top 45 author sites.

Mobile-First on Your Website

Authors and small publishers must have their own mobile-friendly, professional looking website—it is, by far, the most important element of a book marketing strategy. I've developed over 150 author and publisher websites, and although a lot has changed when it comes to developing websites, some things remain fundamental, writes John Burke.This includes domain names and costs to specific content categories. The purpose of your  website, what to consider when you're choosing a domain name, and how much it costs. Tips from John Burke at IngramSpark. Then, the content you need and how to use your site as part of overall strategy, with 4 pillars of successful book marketing from Brian Jud.

Do You Know What Your Website’s Analytics Say about You? 

Do you know what kind of web traffic you’re getting and which articles or stories are your most popular, asks Eric Deckers for the Florida Writers Association here. Reading and understanding your website’s analytics is not that difficult. You just have to know where to look and what to look for. The problem is that Google Analytics analyzes so much stuff that you easily be overwhelmed by everything. So instead, just focus on a few statistics that will give you a general idea of how you’re doing.

Authors: Own Your Real Estate, Starting with Website, Social Media, Amazon Pages

My favorite token was the Scottie dog; maybe yours was the race car. Whether you played the game on long ago rainy summer days with your siblings, or your last round was just last week with members of your pod, if I say the word Monopoly, I’ll bet a vivid image comes to mind, writes book marketer Penny Sansevieri here. Hold on to that image because today we’re going to talk about what indie authors can learn from an 86-year-old board game that has been played by over 1 billion people worldwide. Two words: real estate and exposure.

These two words are also important in book marketing. The more places you show up, the more likely your potential buyers will find you. And that’s why it’s important to own and manage your author real estate, so let’s look at your options. If it gets you motivated, picture each of these as a little deed, and claim them! Author website: This is your Boardwalk.

How Author Can Make Effective Posts on LinkedIn Using MVP Tips

Over this past year, I’ve discovered that LinkedIn posts work best when they are Most Relevant, provide Value, and are Professional, writes Carol Van Den Hende on diyMFA.com. You can remember these criteria with the acronym MVP.

Twitter Resources and Tips for Authors

Most of the misgivings people have with Twitter are because of their own lack of knowledge about how to engage on Twitter, how to connect with others, and how to use it effectively as a marketing medium, according to Book Marketing Tools. For many authors, they have a feeling that they should be on Twitter, they just don’t know exactly what they should be doing. If you didn't see this post, 5 Things for Authors to Tweet About (That Aren’t “Buy My Book!”), you should check it out now. We have compiled a list of the top 10 for authors to learn how to use Twitter effectively to sell more books and engage with readers better. 

Why Novelists Should Consider Instagram for Marketing

Are you using Instagram to promote your novel? If not, you should. Instagram is one of the top social media platforms for writers. While it’s a visual medium that you may not immediately associate with the written word, many novelists and readers alike use Instagram to discover new books, share recommendations with others, and connect with their favorite writers.

If you’d like to learn how to use Instagram for self-promotion, the Novelist's Guide to Instagram here.

What Independent Authors Should Know about Wattpad

Launched in 2006, Wattpad is a free online publishing platform with over 70 million writers and readers. Authors of every possible genre have been flocking to Wattpad to discover, cultivate, and build a community of their own unique readers by instantly publishing work on this social media site. Most recently, Wattpad has caught the attention of HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Paramount Pictures, and NBC, among others.

Sounds great, right? But is it right for you? Self-Publishing Relief wants you to know the pros and cons so you can decide for yourself if Wattpad is the best way for you to build your fan base. Wattpad can be great for building community and finding readers—but take a look at the pros and cons before you publish on this platform.

How an Author Can Start a Mailing List from Zero to Launch a Newsletter

You are reading the second post in a in a series on author newsletters. When I first published this series a couple years ago, I started with the idea that I would solve my problems one post at a time, and explain how I did it, writes Nate Hoffelder for the Florida Writers Association. But as I sat down to revise the series with all that I learned in the past couple years, I realized that I needed to also help authors start their mailing lists.

Let’s start at the very beginning. This post is for those authors who do not yet have a mailing list, and are not sending out newsletters.