3 Great ways to get your self pubbed books noticed

We wish there were more self published authors that are striking gold and platinum in the news but there remains the very few who have made.

We wish even more that we make it ourselves. All of our time spent publishing on CreateSpace, Amazon, Smashwords, Lulu.com and other sites seem to be bringing in very little if any money at all. After working on self publishing my own books and reading some online articles, I find there are a few things that will keep you from popularity and/or earnings and these same few things can be your saving grace.

Having a Classic, but Unique Storyline.

Romance, romance, and more romance.. Guys won’t admit it but action flicks with love interests are cool too. According to Guardian’s report on books that earn well:

Romance authors earned 170% more than their peers, while authors in other genres fared much worse: science-fiction writers earned 38% of the $10,000 average, fantasy writers 32%, and literary fiction authors just 20% of the $10,000 average.

Networking…On the Networks.

Another blockage could be that you are not really talking about your book. If not you, then who? Personally, I don’t like having too many social media places to visit, yet its fun and addicting at the same time. One thing I do is frequently let people know that I have free items. I love free. You love free. We all enjoy free stuff. Why not offer free copies of your book? Make one of your shorter works free to download? Let people know on Facebook, G+, Pinterest, wherever. Hiring someone to do it for you is an option to although I prefer networking on my own. Yes, it can be time-consuming which is why you have to plan.

For instance, most days  I am writing or editing anyway. Blogging, social networking, etc. may be done only twice a week or once a week. Or maybe just take a half hour. Either way, I’m trying to network.

Editing, Copyediting, and Professional Looking Covers.

This is spoken from someone who doesn’t always have the professional money for “professionals” but if you would like to see more sells and downloads of your work, having a nice cover for your book and having your manuscript at least copyedited is a must. This will put you right up there with those high sellers of self pubbed books.

Confession: Before,  I found editing books from the public library very helpful until I could actually afford an editor for my books. You can practically Bing or Google freelance editors or try C.S. Lakin at livewritethrive.com-   I hope to work with her soon Lord willin’.

I hope this has encouraged you as a writer to write more. It is a tough world out there and publishing even tougher. Becoming a published author means facing keen competition and just know I am right here for you. I too am writing my heart out and have actually seen some of the benefits, but to have readers matters more than money.

Even though money is quite nice.

*Other article to consider: “Another Self pubbed Author Strikes Gold” http://thewriteweb.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/another-self-pubbed-author-strikes-the-gold/

IMO: Nook may be failing but only to the least devoted…

Barnes and Noble

I’d like to start  by saying: “I pledge to read the printed word.”

However, that does not mean I do not own an e-reader and see its many benefits. However, the Barnes and Noble Nook, which I currently own, could have some economic trouble.

Recently,  Paidcontent.org put out this statement:

A holiday sales spike following the launch of the Nook Tablet in November 2011 hasn’t been enough to sustain the Nook business. And despite the launch of the front-lit Nook e-reader in April 2012, Nook business revenues are flat compared to this time last year.**

The entire article can be found here: “Why the Nook is Failing”, but after reading it I find I can condense it a little better to show you exactly what is happening with Nook in comparison to other reading devices. Four reasons for its failure according to the article is: 1)E Reader problems, 2) falling prices, 3)international delays, and 4)slowing eBook sales.

The first problem is due more to comparison of features. Nook  released the Nook Simple Touch last year(I did not know this) and Amazon will be releasing its front-lit tablet this Fall. B&N’s Simple Touch without the glow light had “such poor sales” that filling orders for the Simple Touch with GlowLight just didn’t happen and Amazon may pick up where it left off. IMO(in my opinion): What is up with this GlowLight stuff? Look at the picture below of the soon to be released Amazon front-lit eReader:

The Illuminated Kindle engadget.com

This Illuminated Kindle will allow readers to “tap and slide” on the screen causing a soft light to appear that doesn’t hurt the eyes. Sounds cool! However I am a newly converted Nook fan and if I want to dim the lighting I can from the tablet.

The second issue with Nook sales seems to be its falling prices. IMO: So of course the sales records will reflect that but as a consumer I enjoy the low prices and quality I get at the same time. With other eReaders, like these  may you get low/medium quality for cheap prices. Although some are great.

The third reason why Nook may be failing is international delays.  Nook is just now considering overseas sales of its device in the U.K through its storefront. IMO: I do think Barnes and Noble should have thought ahead on international sales as Amazon done two years ago. But as I said before, I enjoy my Nook and slowing prices and international delays could be detrimental to their bottom line…we’ll see how things turn out.

The final reason for falling prices of the Nook is its growing app and digital content sale more than eBooks sales. IMO: The Nook does need apps for most things than I realized before. I can’t access a dictionary without going to one my eBooks and I found I needed an app for PDFs and organizing, etc. Well, the PDFs I just read in the reader like normal but anyway if B&N is doing good on apps and not eBooks, they should really seek out what that means. I am not a publisher or  behind the scenes as to what is happening, but I can tell you that personally some of  B&N’s books are priced higher  than Amazon’s or Smashwords and so I download from those sites more than B&N- but then again I really hadn’t shopped for B&N books in some time now.

Alright so those are my “uneducated” opinions about the Nook’s failing sales. To many this is not that important, but for others who seriously read eBooks all the time and downloads  the apps and other content, this could mean something more.

Monthly visits to your blog, a sincere thanks

Photographer |Hamed Saber

How often do we visit each other’s blogs? Is it of high importance?

It can be.

Then why don’t we?

I think it is because after thinking on our topic, then posting, we rarely feel like reading anymore or we have busy lives which prevents us from visiting and sharing comments on each other’s pages.

Not anymore.

I want to thank all my visitors, subscribers, and commenters for their contributions and in return, since I am always so busy, I will schedule “monthly” visits. Not the Aunt Flo stuff, but will take time once a month to visit and comment or share posts and your blog could be featured here on mine! If you check your stats often, you will be able to see referral links from those who like your posts and have shared it.

I am not sure when I will be able to start these visits, but I am hoping to by next week to see how all of you are doing.

Think of it as inviting folks to your home.

Again, thanks so much for enjoying this blog and I will be posting more soon!

From The Write Web