For years now I’ve been a big believer in the power of the “Blog” to sell books. But in truth, a blog is more of a platform building tool than a sales tool. An author’s platform is his/her credibility and audience. If you start a professional blog about your subject matter, you will begin to position yourself as an expert in your field. As you continue to blog, you will also create a following; a following you can track by the unique visitors to your blog.
A few months after I started my blog about publishing books, I had a Wall Street Journal reporter calling me about book publishing. That’s credibility. On my blog, I have a place for people to sign up for our community, Authors On The Net. With each sign-up, my audience is building. This, in my opinion, is the power of blogging. Credibility and Audience. Most authors will probably experience few direct book sales from their blog, but if done correctly, all authors can build their credibility and their audience for their book.
I am a strong believer that to publish and promote a book, an author should use a blog as the centerpiece for their book promotion. The key concept is platform. Selling books begins with a strong platform.
I’ve read many articles on the subject of giving away books for free in order to create critical mass distribution, i.e. prompting word-of-mouth sales. The articles all concluded that giving away free books neither hurt book sales nor helped them. However, for authors looking to self-publish and self-promote books, I remain opptomistic about this tactic. So that is why I decided to share the following article by Andreya Stuart.
In her article, Ms. Stuart makes a good point and that point is to give away your entire book, not just a portion. I think this might be one of the keys. So what if you give away 50,000 ebooks? It doesn’t cost you anything. Whether this makes sense or not may depend on if your goal is to sell books or build your platform. For many beginning authors, building their platform is more important than selling books. The reason is that once you have a following, you will have readers eager to buy your subsequent books. If you are planning on getting rich with one book, you are in for a long ride. But if your strategy is to write multiple books, then giving away one book in order to find your audience makes a lot of sense. Here’s Andreya’s article . . . Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve started building my lists on Amazon. This feature is called Listmania. I started two lists, one I call “Books That Matter,” which is a personal list of books that I have read and have influenced my life. The other list is titled, “Authors On The Net - 1″ I thought I’d take author books on our site and build a list. I can only put 40 books per list so that is why it is Authors On The Net - 1. I’ll work on this over the next few weeks and try to get everyone’s books listed.
I am somewhat surprised at how many of our authors are not on Amazon. I’m searching pretty hard and some authors just are not coming up. If you go to my profile and look at my list and do not see your book, let me know. Your book needs to be listed on Amazon for me to list it. Not sure if this will be of much use, but it can’t hurt. I recommend all authors be on Amazon and to learn how to use Amazon to build your platform. I’ll keep sharing info on how to do this.
If you are serious about building your platform, you need to first (in my opinion) build your Amazon profile. This is the beginning of building your Amazon platform. Once you create your free account on Amazon, you can create your profile. Over the next few weeks, I’ll discuss the ins and outs of how to build your profile and use this tool effectively. Of course, you can go to Amazon now and get started. Amazon has a lot to offer and this is the starting line for an author’s platform.
A key part or your Amazon profile is your signature. Every time you do something on Amazon (like leaving reviews) other people will see your signature. My signature is “CEO, Authors On The Net,(www.authorsonthenet.com)” By putting my website in my signature, I can promote my site. To see my profile click here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2Y200C07X1N5T
Author Blasts is the Authors On The Net Podcast. If you are a member of AON and you have a book, we would like to interview you. Simply send us an email at info@authorsonthenet.com. We are also interested in speaking with publishers, distributors, book designers, editors and other people who have a publishing or book promotion message.
In today’s podcast, we speak with author Joseph Langen. Joe Langen is a retired psychologist who is now writing full time. He has self-published three books. Commonsense Wisdom for Everyday Life is a collection of reflections on everyday experiences. Young Man of the Cloth is a memoir of his nine years in a Catholic seminary and monastery. The Pastor’s Inferno is a novel about a priest seeking redemption after being accused of molesting a young parishioner. Joseph is currently preparing for publication of his second novel Marital Property, a book about a couple facing a crisis in their marriage. Joe is also working on Commonsense Wisdom for Teens, a book of reflections for teens about their issues. To see more of Mr. Langen’s works, you can visit his websites: www.commonsense-wisdom.com, www.slidingotter.com and www.commonsense-wisdom.blogspot.com
Note: depending on the speed of your Internet connection, this file may take a few minutes to download. You can also download the interview through itunes. To subscribe to this podcast, go to the itunes store, click on podcasts and search for “Authors On The Net.” Subscribe and you will receive our podcasts directly to your itunes.
I received the following email in my Facebook account and thought I’d share. If anyone is interested, please contact Paul directly. Thank you.
Hi Philip, excuse the intrusion but I’m trying to get writers, readers and artists involved in a new project called Bigger Than The Bible. Basically I want to create the longest book ever by encouraging writers to battle it out against each other to produce the best chapter. This chapter then gets added to the book and so it starts again for the next chapter. Artists can then get their brains working to create the book cover! Readers, you can enjoy and vote for the best chapters and artwork to go into the book. And that’s it, so show your interest at http://www.biggerthanthebible.com now and start writing. Oh I forgot, there’s £500 to the best chapter that gets voted into the book first, you can also earn money if future chapters written by you get added!!
Author Blasts is the Authors On The Net Podcast. If you are a member of AON and you have a book, we would like to interview you. Simply send us an email at info@authorsonthenet.com. We are also interested in speaking with publishers, distributors, book designers, editors and other people who have a publishing or book promotion message.
In today’s podcast, we speak with author CaNon Harper, author of When Your Associates R More Dangerous Than U. You can reach CaNon directly through his website at http://grownmanpublishing.com/ CaNon introduces his book, reads a passage and we discuss some insights into the world of publishing and promoting books. Enjoy!
Note: depending on the speed of your Internet connection, this file may take a few minutes to download. You can also download the interview through itunes. To subscribe to this podcast, go to the itunes store, click on podcasts and search for “Authors On The Net.” Subscribe and you will receive our podcasts directly to your itunes.
Get creative. I found this video in a group I joined on Facebook and thought I’d share. Most successful authors became successful by figuring out a unique twist. That’s why at Authors On The Net, we emphasize the need to “invent” your own strategy. Click here to watch the video:
Author Blasts is the Authors On The Net Podcast. If you are a member of AON and you have a book, we would like to interview you. Simply send us an email at info@authorsonthenet.com. We are also interested in speaking with publishers, distributors, book designers, editors and other people who have a publishing or book promotion message.
In today’s podcast, we speak with author Michael A. Minton, author of Mr. Right Opinion - Unplugged & Unashamed: one man’s musings during perilous times in America’s history. You can reach Michael directly through his website at http://mrrightopinion.blogstream.com/ Michael introduces his book, reads a couple passages and we discuss some insights into the world of publishing and promoting books. Enjoy!
Note: depending on the speed of your Internet connection, this file may take a few minutes to download. You can also download the interview through itunes. To subscribe to this podcast, go to the itunes store, click on podcasts and search for “Authors On The Net.” Subscribe and you will receive our podcasts directly to your itunes.
Author Blasts is the Authors On The Net Podcast. If you are a member of AON and you have a book, we would like to interview you. Simply send us an email at info@authorsonthenet.com. We are also interested in speaking with publishers, distributors, book designers, editors and other people who have a publishing or book promotion message.
In today’s podcast, we speak with author Misti Sandefur, author of Help From Above and On The Net Resource Guide for Authors. You can reach Misti directly through her website at www.mistisandefur.com Misti introduces her books and we discuss some great insights into the world of publishing and promoting books. Enjoy!
Note: depending on the speed of your Internet connection, this file may take a few minutes to download. You can also download the interview through itunes. To subscribe to this podcast, go to the itunes store, click on podcasts and search for “Authors On The Net.” Subscribe and you will receive our podcasts directly to your itunes.
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