Find Readers and Get Amazon Reviews

by Marylee MacDonald in Book promotion, For Writers Who Need Readers

New authors need to find readers who will leave Amazon reviews, but if you’re a new author, how do you do that? Your friends may not understand why authors live and die by the quantity and quality of Amazon reviews. And, certainly, as a new author, you can’t be expected to have the name recognition […]

Could ARCs Help You Get More Amazon Reviews?

by Marylee MacDonald in Book promotion, For Writers Ready to Publish

Ever wondered how authors get tons of reviews the first week of their launch while you’re writing groveling emails to your family and friends, asking them to please, please, please read your book and write a review? The answer is that authors who get reviews provide free ARCs (Advanced Review Copies) to avid readers. Avid […]

Death of a Pen Name

by Marylee MacDonald in Book promotion

Whether to write under a pen name or under one’s own real name is a choice authors make early in a career. That choice can have unforeseen consequences. When Facebook blocked his pen name, author Peter Rendell had to relaunch his author platform and reevaluate his marketing strategy. Let’s give him a hand, because what […]

Getting Your Book Into Bookstores

by Marylee MacDonald in Book promotion

What is the biggest frustration authors face? Getting into bookstores. Authors and independent publishers who produce print books through Amazon’s Createspace confront a nearly insurmountable hurdle. Even though the book has a great cover, bookstores still know the book has been produced by their sworn enemy–Amazon! How can they tell? Amazon places a bar code […]

Book Promotion on a Budget

by Marylee MacDonald in Book promotion

Book promotion is the biggest challenge all writers face. I face it. If you’ve published a book, you face it, too. Every writer I know confronts the stunning reality that fewer and fewer people are reading books, even though we writers are pouring our souls onto the page. Prior to publication, most of us have […]

Literary Magazines: Insider Tips On Getting Published and Dealing With Rejectiion

by Marylee MacDonald in For Writers Ready to Publish

I’ve met many writers so focused on their novels that they’ve never explored the world of literary magazines. Did you know that some literary magazines accept novel chapters? Maybe you could convert one of your chapters into a story. When you’re bogged down in a longer work, seeing your name in print will definitely give […]

Journalism vs. Fiction: What’s the Difference?

What’s the difference between journalism and fiction, and why should you care? Well, if you’re a writer in this day and age, you’re likely to do more than one kind of writing. Long-form journalism often pays. Fiction rarely does. Or, at least, it can take time for people to find you and buy your books. […]

Publishing Myths I Wish I’d Known | 10 Misconceptions About Writing and Selling Books

Which publishing myths cloud your vision? By “publishing myths” I mean misconceptions about the world of publishing today. To succeed as a writer, you must write a great book. To succeed as an author (meaning you intend to have a career writing more books) you must educate yourself about the marketplace of books. Publishing is an […]

How Much Should You Be Spending on Book Awards?

by Marylee MacDonald in For Writers Ready to Publish

Book awards can help your book gain traction. When you’re attending a book fair, having a shiny sticker on the cover draws attention. And when you’re setting up your author’s pages, featuring the “bling” can’t hurt. Several of this blog’s subscribers stand on the brink of publishing first or second books. Every one of these […]

A Productive Rant About Building An Author Platform

How do writers in general, but particularly late-life writers, establish an author platform? By “late life” I mean writers over sixty. By “author platform” I mean a soapbox that is slightly elevated above the crowd and that allows authors to shout to passersby that our books exist. That doesn’t mean the crowd will necessarily buy […]

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