tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75492641035228305742024-02-18T18:49:00.408-08:00Author Book MarketingMarketing Ideas and Programs for AuthorsAl W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-31715379593737146622020-05-27T11:44:00.004-07:002020-07-02T15:19:19.134-07:00Circular Book Marketing and Web SEO<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGDFbM9usU3O0u0CAO9P25oli0Ae1D2n1X1_6-nKOTC5hHOnEKAmCszlYklfgKBkD5UY5Xm5hsNzXS-oM7tg4FAIp540OJGHAlEiib9LN5Ih_svsUqD7VOVtE2NfCx7da6HQHCBr1OtSb/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGDFbM9usU3O0u0CAO9P25oli0Ae1D2n1X1_6-nKOTC5hHOnEKAmCszlYklfgKBkD5UY5Xm5hsNzXS-oM7tg4FAIp540OJGHAlEiib9LN5Ih_svsUqD7VOVtE2NfCx7da6HQHCBr1OtSb/s320/search-engine-optimization-4111000_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Circular book marketing used to include book readings at
libraries, interviews on TV and radio, book signings at bookstores and then
talks at the local Rotary and the Ladies Club. The idea was to get a little
grassroots campaign going to garner publicity. Successful book sales started
this way spread like water flowing from a broken dam across the fertile fields of readers. You can still <a href="https://workingauthors.com/2020/05/20/go-old-school-with-a-local-book-launch/" target="_blank">make a dent in your paperback sales</a> by following a similar path.<br />
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For everyone else, the web-savvy sellers, and those who are learning, you've got to produce a circular-style bunch of links to your website and your friendly book bloggers and sales outlets.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I read a lot of books, more than I write, and I also read a lot of book reviews. Usually, I'm looking for something about the story a book brings, but I take everything the reviewer says and let my mind wander over their words before making up my mind. I don't get too hung up on an editing error or two, I want that great story!</div>
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<b>What Book Reviewers Do For Sales</b></div>
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What book reviewers do for everyone is condense three or four-hundred pages down to a couple of paragraphs that either turn us on or turn us off. That means they are marketing for the book and influencing our behavior. That's OK. And sometimes a review goes viral when it's written very well and is truly insightful. Sometimes a little 'ol Book Blog gets picked up by a major newspaper or Social Media giant and then the author gets some real benefits. </div>
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I remember an author and book reviewer having her blog featured on <a href="https://blogcritics.org/" target="_blank">Blogcritics</a>, and then it got picked up by a reviewer at the Seattle PI. The blogger, Leslie Ann Wright, got a huge jump in traffic to her blog, to her profile at Goodreads, and other places. And yes, the book she had reviewed did great!</div>
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That type of circular marketing is a wonderful thing. And, it's free. Along the way, it also creates what the search engines love: organic
links. Google has very sophisticated algorithms for finding popular keywords and they distinguish between what they consider quality pages and
spam. You can't beat the algorithms with junk anymore, and you can't achieve Domain Authority or high page ranks with junk either.</div>
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<b>What Search Engines Get Fired-Up About</b></div>
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The same way that readers want a great
story, search engines want great content - a web of quality backlinks to choose how high
in relevance to rate key words. Without those links, you'll have trouble
getting noticed - and no publicity means no sales. You've got to get the word out,
but it's got to be a good word.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, if you're looking for a point here, it's not just the
review that's selling your books, it's the reviewer and the links into the pages
of the reviewer and how search engines read those links. If
you have an author page or a book page for your work, make sure it has
backlinks (links to the page) as well as links to other quality sites. Without those links, you won’t rank high
enough with the search engines to ever get noticed!<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you are just getting your book launch started, you might want to check out this very detailed <a href="https://workingauthors.com/2020/07/01/the-perfect-indie-author-book-launch/" target="_blank">12-step Book Launch</a>!</div>
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<o:p></o:p></div>
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-75182638355280519662020-05-18T15:29:00.004-07:002020-05-27T22:08:06.336-07:00The Power of a "First" Free Book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7RvWccQPZKidVIj2amqUkRUp2k-hGZvO0qXpHHgbLvkTW7RNAxONPEsaEd05C-PMOCtV6HR46c1Yemt0CfxJW3RnCAs_6txp6or-c9MietL6Epa_d7GpEjcYW9T3BFaQt4RZHDEA2JtX/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7RvWccQPZKidVIj2amqUkRUp2k-hGZvO0qXpHHgbLvkTW7RNAxONPEsaEd05C-PMOCtV6HR46c1Yemt0CfxJW3RnCAs_6txp6or-c9MietL6Epa_d7GpEjcYW9T3BFaQt4RZHDEA2JtX/s320/books-918521_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Want to be a successful self-published author? Consider
sacrificing your first-born new book to the reading (and buying) masses. It’s
not a new idea in self-publishing I blogged about it eight years ago and got a
terse comment from another author who said I was behind the times. That might
be.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>
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Still, driving future sales with a book giveaway is
one of the best features of Amazon's Kindle program. The marketing aspects are
sound - introduce readers to an author's work and hope there's a land-swell of
interest and word of mouth that propels new sales. It’s especially powerful in the
age of KU, or Kindle Unlimited.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Read New Books for Free<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Kindle Unlimited isn’t free books; it’s an unlimited reading of
a large group of what Amazon has to offer, at $9.99 each month. It used to be
that readers couldn’t pass up a free book. Now, with KU, you’ve got a lot more
competition, so, even if the idea of a free book is sound, it only translates
to future sales if the author's book is exceptional. That doesn't mean the
writing has to be great (honest, it doesn't); it means the story has to be
great. Readers don't care nearly as much as paid critics do about an occasional
grammar slip. Readers want a story!<o:p></o:p></div>
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With physical books, a great cover can translate to new
sales. Seeing a book on your friend’s coffee table with a catchy cover is
enough to start a discussion and boom: book sales. Books online via Nook or
Kindle (and other readers) don't have that hook, but free books can help. Again,
a great cover is super important.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Real Key<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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However, the real key to successful book sales (beyond the
obvious STORY, STORY, STORY) when using a free book as a driver, is to have
other books for the satisfied masses to buy. New writers can learn a lot from
those who have already been successful, like M. R. Mathias - he of the Dragon
stories.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mathias figured out his audience, he's prolific (dozens of books
and stories for sale), and he's got a few freebies that are always available.
You can read his 77-page novella <b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/First-Dragoneer-Modernized-Format-Dragoneers-ebook/dp/B003YUCBTG/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+first+dragoneer&qid=1589840918&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The First Dragoneer</a> </i></b>for free and
see if you like the style, which many, many people have done. Then, you may be
inclined to do what about a zillion other people have done:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Pay for Other Books<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Yes, Mr. Mathias gives away a lot of books, but because he
has a back-list of titles, he knows many readers will turn to his "for
sale" books, and he'll make money from those. I know, because several of
his best books, like <i>The Sword and the Dragon</i>, are fun to read and selling
great on Amazon and other eBook devices.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When readers find an author they like, they'll buy all of
their books. Giving away free copies or even 99-cent copies makes a lot of
sense when you have other books to sell. If you have but one book, well, free
and 99-cent books may not be the way to go! $2.99 is probably where you should
be so you can get 70% on the sale from Amazon. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<o:p></o:p></div>
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-68433559021328608632017-01-13T15:28:00.002-08:002020-07-02T15:21:15.354-07:00"Getting Thin is Murder" By Al W Moe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgYqzPdd5iuP9AlTUAjvyfmynlwSg6GS7rJzR1_U53ZQWN1q_08LZfLQsHi9jiiyKMPJ2Ns4qYBFERgpvKsv6B5UvIX0t_UxrMGXfqwj0IRXkRJ5BTPLrGmemZWsBTpe1wGrOcAnuCgLM/s1600/Getting+Thin+Is+Murder+-+Kindle+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgYqzPdd5iuP9AlTUAjvyfmynlwSg6GS7rJzR1_U53ZQWN1q_08LZfLQsHi9jiiyKMPJ2Ns4qYBFERgpvKsv6B5UvIX0t_UxrMGXfqwj0IRXkRJ5BTPLrGmemZWsBTpe1wGrOcAnuCgLM/s320/Getting+Thin+Is+Murder+-+Kindle+Cover.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
Well, it's finally available - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Thin-Murder-Al-Moe-ebook/dp/B01N6MR9A5/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484348987&sr=1-1&keywords=Getting+Thin+is+Murder" target="_blank">Getting Thin is Murder</a>, by Al W Moe is now featured at Amazon as a Kindle offering and a 6x9 softbound book.<br />
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- CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; (January 1, 2017)<o:p></o:p></div>
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ISBN-10: 1542304938<o:p></o:p></div>
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ISBN-13: 978-1542304931<o:p></o:p></div>
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ASIN B01N6MR9A5</div>
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* Description - A year ago, baseball player Blair Saxon was enjoying his Major League Debut. Today, he’s wasting away on a west coast beach, the victim of a 95-mile per hour fastball to the head. He’s direct, abrasive, and speaks without filters, so it’s understandable that the police don’t want his help.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When the killer gets too close, Saxon turns to his one remaining friend, Megan, the only one who will tolerate his strange ideas and strange desires. Together as amateur detectives, they do what the police detectives can't, they find suspects. But are they resourceful enough to keep themselves alive?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I hope you'll take a look at my latest novel. If you've got the time, drop a comment below and tell me what you think about the title, the cover, and maybe the book itself if you get a chance to read it!</div>
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe</div>
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-62052483210368163492015-09-11T15:22:00.000-07:002016-11-10T13:21:24.644-08:00Why Kindle's Great<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIabPiOWy8jQhOOxsBfuoIpYrRXDvJ95iCLFl-4Q9_5XkLyDJ5hcfQEEk3y-ZN8ZdD2mMcnnZhQjH7ZO9YAZgDfI93qrnlScs1fiE9mKzkGxgt_NvJJio_W8AjQwcx0kvgi058WsN10XLy/s1600/Anne+Kelleher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIabPiOWy8jQhOOxsBfuoIpYrRXDvJ95iCLFl-4Q9_5XkLyDJ5hcfQEEk3y-ZN8ZdD2mMcnnZhQjH7ZO9YAZgDfI93qrnlScs1fiE9mKzkGxgt_NvJJio_W8AjQwcx0kvgi058WsN10XLy/s1600/Anne+Kelleher.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anne Kelleher</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are certainly good points about publishing with a mainstream imprint, especially when it comes to marketing. A big first-printing guarantees a big marketing budget, often enough to catapult a good book to best-seller lists. But what about the hungry masses? What about those of us who toil all day and never get a contract? Well, that's the cool thing about eBooks and especially Amazon's Kindle.<br />
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Mainstream book publishers have definitely missed gems on many occasions, the most recent of which is Kathryn Stockett's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002YKOXB6/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002YKOXB6&linkCode=am2&tag=writspublgrou-20&linkId=GRICIQKBZOU4UZNF" target="_blank"><i>The Help</i></a>,
which was passed over by dozens of agents and publishers before being
picked-up and entering the higher echelon of best sellers. It's a great
read. It's also a bit pricey at $11.95 on Kindle.<br />
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That price helps illustrate that there is no better showcase in the world for your book than Amazon. The
audience is huge, the page views are huge, and even without a major publisher, a good author can get their work seen - and still get paid.<br />
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<b>Enter Anne Kelleher</b><br />
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Anne Kelleher is a long-time author with many popular books to her dust-jacket including <i>Daughter of Prophecy</i> (part of a Trilogy) that sold to Warner Books and propelled her to new fame. In turn, Anne went in search of a way to inspire new authors and co-founded the Greater Lehigh Valley Writing Group in Bethlehem, PA. It's now in it's 23rd year of drawing writers from all over the world and agents and editors from across the states. That's a legacy.<br />
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Today, Kelleher loves to teach and lecture on writing at the Writing Group and also plans a new symposium with <a href="http://www.bigislandretreat2016.weebly.com/" target="_blank">Big Island Retreat 2016</a>, held on the Big Island of Hawaii. As for her writing, it's taken on a new life at Kindle.<br />
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Instead of using mass-market publishing, Kelleher has moved to her own imprint and the luxury of publishing on Kindle. With more than two-dozen books, she's certainly prolific, and with Kindle, we can all enjoy new issues like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00UOJ5GEW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00UOJ5GEW&linkCode=am2&tag=writspublgrou-20&linkId=E5UQHG3HIXP4P7K7" target="_blank">Free to Good Home</a> at a very reasonable cost. Her writing is fluid, direct and without pretense. It's always a joy read her work. Kindle certainly isn't all there is to marketing a book, but it's the best start.<br />
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<br />
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-6172647495515576942013-09-03T14:25:00.003-07:002020-05-27T12:00:42.737-07:00Well Kindle Me Happy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifViRGhobALwSiB3MPENIjempUGjTaEukj7JWp8RrGZ7J2VYKflKEftvAk_ZnW6dwzsTPD4SL8pVCs1H9OkFK_aYaOTk4xYiwrePTaMNmqpFvw31jrwLkrKpNcDthyphenhyphenW58fwk6dqHYHUXwr/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifViRGhobALwSiB3MPENIjempUGjTaEukj7JWp8RrGZ7J2VYKflKEftvAk_ZnW6dwzsTPD4SL8pVCs1H9OkFK_aYaOTk4xYiwrePTaMNmqpFvw31jrwLkrKpNcDthyphenhyphenW58fwk6dqHYHUXwr/s320/career-479578_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>After a year of marketing research based on three different authors (and their nine different books), their marketing plans, their previously hard-earned money spent (mostly from non-writing jobs), and their overall goals and aspirations, I have come to one very simple truth: Kindle.</div>
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While most of you already know that Kindle is King for many authors, the overall power of selling on Amazon in digital format compared to actual softbound (Think: Create Space) format is profound. And it doesn't seem to matter what the book genre was. That's what is a bit confusing and strange. But there's a reason: self-published authors aren't any better at getting their books into bookstores today than they were 20 years ago!<br />
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Still not surprised? I guess I shouldn't be either, but at this point I really can't see the good side of spending the bulk of your marketing and advertising budget on softbound or hardbound book sales, regardless of who prints 'em. Using <a href="https://www.createspace.com/" target="_blank">Create Space</a> from Amazon is easy and costs virtually nothing, and it doesn't get any easier, since once you finish getting your book formatted it can go live in a few days.<br />
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However, you'll probably find that no matter how much you press your marketing towards the softbound books that Create Space will ship to your customers, your Kindle orders will outshine your softbound books. Of course this assumes you'll put a reasonable price on both of your products. A softbound book that sells for $14.95 may get outsold by your Kindle edition at $4.95 by five to one. If you knock the Kindle price down to $2.95, you might see your sales of Kindle at 10-1 for softbound sales.<br />
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What's it all mean? It means that as a self-published, short-bankrolled author, your best bet is to put 90% of your marketing efforts into selling your Kindle product. Ignore this advice at your own risk!<br />
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As an aside, once your Create Space layout is approved, spend the $69 and let them format your Kindle book. Yes, you can do it yourself, but you'll spend a lot of hours getting it just right, and you're a writer, not a designer. I've done it both ways, and I'd rather spend my time writing, than saving the $69.<br />
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Don't be afraid to ask for reviews of your book! You might want to look at <a href="https://goodkindlereviews.com/" target="_blank">Good Kindle Reviews</a> they'll get you started.<br />
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<br />
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-73326124061286339602013-04-07T10:53:00.002-07:002016-11-10T13:31:07.930-08:00Vegas and the Mob - Internal Marketing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKAOvXQTn4bt30pTsccHHcR8EDsKy8zbWq24Ax0ZnWLw_aiPAi6c6yCEcZoG7iEnnoFrdT7o1DknRdH1JOaejhuAPiklEYp7UBpI4S4r2RXBOwnYy_pSqyJa7wId0yxj0CKvB5vBtERxNc/s1600/CoverVegasandtheMob.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKAOvXQTn4bt30pTsccHHcR8EDsKy8zbWq24Ax0ZnWLw_aiPAi6c6yCEcZoG7iEnnoFrdT7o1DknRdH1JOaejhuAPiklEYp7UBpI4S4r2RXBOwnYy_pSqyJa7wId0yxj0CKvB5vBtERxNc/s320/CoverVegasandtheMob.jpg" width="221" /></a></div>
Sometimes you've got to throw caution to the wind and plug your own work. No matter how much marketing you have done for your latest book, your own words may be the difference between a successful campaign and a dud.<br />
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Throwing caution and modesty to the wind, I give you my latest work: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vegas-and-the-Mob-ebook/dp/B00C7YDLIU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1365355452&sr=1-1&keywords=vegas+and+the+mob" target="_blank"><i>Vegas and the Mob</i></a>.<br />
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<br />
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The truth about Las Vegas, unlike the watered-down versions
you might have heard elsewhere. Sin City was the Mob’s greatest venture and
most spectacular success, and through forty years of frenzy, the FBI watched,
listened on phone tapes, and did virtually nothing. Thank goodness for that,
because Vegas wouldn’t be what it is today without the Mob!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Two of the nation’s most powerful crime family heads went to
prison in the 1930’s, Al Capone, and Lucky Luciano. Frank Nitti took over the
Chicago Outfit while, Frank Costello ran things for the Luciano Family. Both
men were influenced by their bosses from prison, and both sent enough gangsters
onto the streets to influence loan sharking, extortion, union control, and drug
sales. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Bugsy Siegel worked for both groups, handling a string of
murders and opening up gaming on the west coast, and that included Las Vegas,
an oasis of sin in the middle of the desert – and it was legal. Most of it. The
FBI watched as the Mob took control of casino after casino, killed off the
competition, and stole enough money to bribe their way to respectability back
home.</div>
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<br /></div>
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New York’s “Lucky Luciano” was getting a taste of the
profits in the 1930’s, Detroit, Kansas City, and Chicago weren’t far behind. By
the 1940’s, nearly every crime family in the United States had a stake in a Las
Vegas casino. Some did better than others. Vegas casino owners watched-over
their profits while competing crime families eyed the others success like
jealous lovers. Murder often followed.</div>
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<br /></div>
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You can get a copy of Vegas and the Mob on Kindle for just $3.79 If you prefer a book you can hold in your hand, this new 188 page book is just <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vegas-Mob-Al-W-Moe/dp/1483955559/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365357194&sr=1-11&keywords=vegas+and+the+mob" target="_blank">$12.95 at Amazon</a>! Enjoy <br />
<br />
Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-67823512320477220382013-01-05T19:51:00.003-08:002020-05-27T12:02:47.123-07:00Virtual Book Tour - Get Bang for Your Buck!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5BMMOMFpdPWkkS32B0VMjHEIHZmn85B5w9R3YtBZv_-xR4kLH2NXcNWrGZhrW5n69DSYckH4ORIbo85K-EUYz3mE1mu7ZKSZCy20T5ABXsl9lSZoGf3piRBr0siJSit_-Nby8U_XRj_WD/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5BMMOMFpdPWkkS32B0VMjHEIHZmn85B5w9R3YtBZv_-xR4kLH2NXcNWrGZhrW5n69DSYckH4ORIbo85K-EUYz3mE1mu7ZKSZCy20T5ABXsl9lSZoGf3piRBr0siJSit_-Nby8U_XRj_WD/s320/poster-1663612_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>A virtual book tour can help get the good word out about your latest novel and it can be cheap, quick, and effective. But it’s rare to have all those qualities. Most virtual book tours are centered on book blogs that have little to no readership, little interaction with the blogger, and will require plenty of extra work from you. Don’t expect to pay the fee and be done working!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">Sure, you wrote the book, but the tour bloggers probably won’t. Ideally, every blogger would read your book, do a quality review of it for their readers, and some of those readers would click the links, check out your site, and buy a copy. That doesn’t always happen. Make sure you ask the who, what, where, when, and why questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><b>Who’s Doing My Tour?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">So, who’s going to do your tour, and where are the tour stops? You really need to know which sites are going to be hosting your book. Do they have any readership? Are they going to actually review your book? Are they going to post a question and answer session? Do their blogs ever get picked-up by other blogs or newspapers? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><b>What’s Getting Discussed on Each Tour Stop?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">Find out whether you are getting a simple blog notice that your book is available, or something meatier that a reader might find really interesting. If you are providing guest blogs, ask how you need to tailor them to fit the blogs. No sense doing a piece on romance novels when the blog features nonfiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><b>When’s the Tour Starting and Ending?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">Obviously you need to do your own advertising to coincide with the tour dates. To take advantage of a virtual tour you should schedule some additional advertising by using Twitter exposure, doing a book giveaway, and making sure your book is available when the tour is in full swing. A small tour of six to ten sites isn’t nearly as strong as a month-long tour with 25 blogs which will only cost a little more. Weigh your options carefully.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><b>Where Are the Readers Coming From?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">And where are they going? You need blogs that attract readers, but they need to fit your genre’. In addition, you need to make sure that every reader has a chance to follow a link to your own website or sales center. For most authors that center will be Amazon, but if that’s the case, make sure your book description is awesome, because that’s what the reader sees next and you need to make the sale!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><b>Why Am I Paying For This?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">Could you manage to get a dozen book blogs to cover your book without using a tour service? If so, why are you paying for the service? Find out what else is included in the tour package. Extras that will help make it successful include a personalized tour page, a reviewer’s page, a banner for links to your pages, press release (even if they are group releases), book trailer (even if a group trailer), and social network advertising.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">If you are getting most of the above items, you are getting a high quality service. Expect to pay at least a couple hundred dollars – and expect at least 15 to 25 blogs to be carrying a story about your book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><b>How To Get the Most Impact</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">Make sure you do daily tweets about each new day’s blog listing with a link, and so some advertising on<span> </span>Author’s Den, Good Reads, Google Ads, or somewhere, and have notices on your own website about your tour with links to each book-blog site. Also, a press release should be included by you to some type of web-related service so you get more publicity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">If possible, have a trailer made for your book. You can make your own with power point and place it on You Tube, or you can pay $50 to $150 to have a 30-second spot made. It helps!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><b>Where are you Selling?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">Just wondering where you might be selling your books! Are your books at Barnes & Noble? How about Apple, Sony, Kobo? If you use Smashwords to publish an ebook you'll get those and more. There's no fee, but you'll have to fight a bit with their automated processor to fit your book to so many platforms. The results are good if you advertise a bit - take a look at one of my books at <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/120134?ref=ArizonaA" target="_blank">Smashwords</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">Thanks for reading - Al W Moe</span><br />
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-68780079270214558022012-11-22T19:08:00.002-08:002020-05-27T11:55:20.551-07:00A Gift from John Grisham<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZA1vqqEe8Qa-E8uBcwe3twEkN8a0_iRewO1p-y6reCtMJnI4b0glgPfa22CVrtvh6-5oroysIC_gSZ1cLkzQOvD0i2gAdIajpHOH8_HZK0FsFc6zsJaU41Ia6hiWRpkSItzVYDg58AEi/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZA1vqqEe8Qa-E8uBcwe3twEkN8a0_iRewO1p-y6reCtMJnI4b0glgPfa22CVrtvh6-5oroysIC_gSZ1cLkzQOvD0i2gAdIajpHOH8_HZK0FsFc6zsJaU41Ia6hiWRpkSItzVYDg58AEi/s320/books-918521_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Recently I really got stuck on a writing project. I thought, I paced, I waved my arms at the blank canvas of my computer screen, I bit my nails. Nothing. Just me and the darkness. I was stuck, stranded in limbo. After a day in the dark I was afraid to go forward. There might be a cliff, a wombat, or even worse an editor out there for all I knew. I mean come on, it was really dark and I was scared and hungry sitting there cradling my meager story ideas in my lap.<br />
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Eventually I gathered enough courage to slink away to the kitchen for a tuna sandwich, leaving the story to fend for itself, because I'm a heartless bastard. And that's the way the story would have ended, except for John Grisham.<br />
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Strange as it seems, the man of 100 million book sales clicked on <i>friends</i> on my <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2838155.Al_W_Moe" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> account. I know because the website sent me an email, I looked to confirm this happenstance, and there was a great quote from him:<br />
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<span class="quoteText">"Don't compromise yourself - you're all you have."</span>
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/721.John_Grisham">John Grisham</a>
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Now not even in my fevered mind did I think he was sitting at home in front of a roaring fire reading <i>Nevada's Golden Age of Gambling</i>, but still, I was happy, and suddenly inspired. And, I wanted to pass that along to another author. So, I chose a not-yet-proven but fun-to-read writer and bought a dozen of their eBooks on Kindle and passed them on as gifts, to friends via email. Really, you could do a lot worse for a present these days than a book that can be read anywhere.<br />
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If you buy those gifts on Amazon, your friends can read from any Kindle reader, the device itself, or a web app on a computer or even a Smart phone. And, it's win-win. Your friends get a good book, and the author gets the thrill of seeing some extra book sales and makes some royalty bucks before Christmas. You can pass on a little inspiration and kindness. And, if you happen to see Mr. Grisham, tell him thanks for me.<br />
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Those thanks are heartfelt, because his little mouse click, that tiny act of kindness, inspired me to get that last story, a chapter of my novel, actually, back into play, and now it's nestled between chapters 11 and 13, safe and sound and no longer alone. A random act of kindness can go a long way!<br />
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<br />
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-8334093902849496532012-11-06T10:30:00.000-08:002016-11-10T13:29:42.301-08:00The Secrets of Search Engine Optimization<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Marketing your website or blog without having first provided good content is like capturing water with a net. Even if you do succeed in getting to the source, you won't be able to hold onto it! Readers want quality content - whether you are writing a blog, a web article, or a book. Offer junk and you won't hold your readers, even if you <a href="http://casinoal.hubpages.com/hub/Drive-Traffic-to-your-Web-Site-with-Good-SEO-Practices">provide excellent SEO practices</a>.<br />
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Today's search engines don't just analyze your traffic patterns, they actually have amazingly strong algorithms that measure your actual content. Search engines like high quality, continually updated content that is unique on the web. Provide it and the web will beat a path to your site - using front and back links!<br />
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<b>Know Your Audience</b><br />
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Just as a book author has to know their genre, a blogger needs to know their main subject and their readers. If your blog is about <i>manhole covers</i>, you need to know a lot about them, you need a new slant on them, and you need to figure out what your readers want to hear about them!<br />
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Make sure you use the name <i>manhole covers</i> in your blog title. And, when you do each article, use something associated with them in the title - and whatever the article is about, make sure you use several keywords in the text.That's the first step towards getting some good marks from search engines.<br />
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The second step is proving new and unique content every day. Obviously your readers will return more often if there is something new to read. If they return once or twice and there is nothing new - well, you just lost them. And, the search engines really do love to see new content. Do yourself a favor and make the search engines happy!<br />
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<br />
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-87508027184887244492012-10-16T12:15:00.001-07:002012-10-16T12:15:59.132-07:00The Roots of Reno (Kindle Edition) newly tagged casino<a href="http://www.webgamescasino.com/online-casino-books/5365-the-roots-of-reno-(kindle-edition)-newly-tagged-casino#.UH2yYeSIws8.blogger">The Roots of Reno (Kindle Edition) newly tagged casino</a>Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-12171116993796930182012-10-14T12:43:00.001-07:002016-11-10T13:28:49.127-08:00Author Blog Marketing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Blogging started out as a great way to connect daily with your friends; an open journal. Today we've got Facebook, so the blogging idea has morphed into a more organized way of marketing. That's good and bad.<br />
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When I was growing up, a few friends and I used to do a lot of running, just for the fun of it. One of them, Fred Schumann, went to the extreme when he ran the length of Japan on a 2,000-mile journey that
took him fifty-nine days to complete. He later <a href="http://www.fiftyninedays.blogspot.com/">blogged about it</a> - now that's something you'd want to read about each day. And that's what brings readers back to blogs on a regular basis - great stories.<br />
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If you're using a blog to sell your books, you're going to have to offer something extra each post to get new readers. My <a href="http://nevadacasinohistory.blogspot.com/">Nevada Casino History</a> blog is written because I love old casino photos and stories. If I sell a few extra books in a somewhat <i>organic</i> way, that's just a nice bonus for me. Every blog that offers something nice has a huge advantage over the ones that are all marketing and no substance.<br />
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A good example is <a href="http://jessiebtyson.blogspot.ca/">Jessie B Tyson's blog</a>,
where I downloaded a free copy of SpaceHive today, by author Kenna
McKinnon. You can get your own copy while the offer is still up! Jessie is
herself, an author, with a new book called White Heaven Women, a spooky paranormal story.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvZFrggOZe-rKUBoazufC0-GBv9YCE4e2ZpjBCP6qT6wraH5wXYFryPpLKgv2fTAQrjcfy8w0SBbSdrGU_A-Ih1Sm6g2WCyVX9t4yx88UKEPQm0wgnpUeKqIRkRAfaBrIPqNS-wsfOU4d/s1600/White_Heaven_Woman_Front_CoverCorrectOne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvZFrggOZe-rKUBoazufC0-GBv9YCE4e2ZpjBCP6qT6wraH5wXYFryPpLKgv2fTAQrjcfy8w0SBbSdrGU_A-Ih1Sm6g2WCyVX9t4yx88UKEPQm0wgnpUeKqIRkRAfaBrIPqNS-wsfOU4d/s1600/White_Heaven_Woman_Front_CoverCorrectOne.jpg" /></a></div>
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Jessie says she considers herself to be a Spiritual Christian, but that doesn't stop her from writing paranormal fiction. Her stories come from vision-like dreams that she turns into enjoyable tales. I guess she's not afraid of the dark, but her readers might be after finishing her book! <a href="http://www.amazon.com/White-Heaven-Women-ebook/dp/B008SDDGV6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1350241166&sr=8-2&keywords=white+heaven+women">White Heaven Women</a> is just $3.99 on Kindle.<br />
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<br />
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-20937007795988177452012-10-11T12:58:00.000-07:002019-10-01T09:27:11.027-07:00Neurotic Authors Amazon Author Rankings!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<br />
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-79064383912407602262012-09-28T15:54:00.001-07:002020-05-18T15:11:45.360-07:00Marketing Budget for Self-Published Book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The world certainly has more writers, but apparently it needs more readers, too. According to Bowker (who handles ISBN's), there were 211,000 self-published books put on the market last year, up almost one-third in two years. Did you contribute to that total?<br />
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Turner Publishing expects to crank-out over 1,000 titles this year - and focuses on first printings between 5,000 and 10,000. Their marketing has to be spot-on and conservative to keep in line with those small but realistic numbers. Obviously re-prints are based on performance, and many titles rise in sales to reach six-figures, but what about your book?<br />
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Last year the average (according to Bowker, again) self-published fiction book sold for $6.94 - in softbound. Nonfiction works commanded nearly three times that figure, and sold more copies on average!<br />
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Next, take into account that e-books accounted for 41% of self-published units, but only accounted for 11% of sales dollars, mostly due to the average e-book sales price of $3.18 And where exactly does your marketing plan fit with these insights into national sales figures? Don't know? Better start planning!<br />
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According to Publisher's Weekly (2006) the average sales for a published book is about 500 copies. The chance that any published book actually gets stocked in an average bookstore is 100-1, but I know, your book is special! It's really good! What to do?<br />
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Obviously marketing is everything when it comes to the sales of good books. Nothing can help a poorly written book, not even 99-cent e-book sales. If you spend a year writing your book and $1000 getting it edited and a few hundred on a spiffy cover and countless hours self-publishing and setting up websites and your Facebook and Twitter accounts, how much are you going to spend on marketing?<br />
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The average amount of money spent on marketing from a completely non-scientific poll I've done of dozens of self-published authors is about $500.<br />
Bummer. <br />
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If the big publishers plan on spending $5,000 to $7,000 for a first printing of 5,000 copies, your plan to spend $500 randomly with no experience, is accepting that your book will indeed sell less than 500 copies. Realistically, you can probably expect to sell 50.<br />
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Next we'll talk about an actual plan. <br />
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<br />
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549264103522830574.post-86680620613162673102012-09-21T13:18:00.000-07:002016-11-10T13:27:07.400-08:00Anything to Keep From Working on the Novel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When I'm busy elsewhere it seems like I just can't wait to get to work on my latest novel (<i>Dying to Be Slim</i>), but when I sit at the computer, there I go to Twitter, Facebook, my emails, my book sales.........anything but the manuscript!<br />
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How much time needs to go into marketing and social media these days to be successful? Well, although I have a degree in marketing, so much has changed in the last ten years with regard to selling books I sometimes feel like I have no idea anymore.<br />
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Publishers still use book wholesalers, book tours and good-old-fashioned TV/Radio/print marketing to drive sales, but publishers are increasingly more reluctant to take on new authors. That's understandable, and fortunately it's easier to publish your own work these days, so there are options for those of use who are inclined to self publish.<br />
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In my case, if I actually finish the novel I'm working on (maybe by the end of the next month) I won't be heartbroken if I can't find a publisher. I've got the same self-publishing avenues as other authors, and I've got a small back-list of previous books too.<br />
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The two previous publishers I used for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-From-Bandits-ebook/dp/B0093PF8KK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348512743&sr=8-2&keywords=stealing+from+bandits">Stealing from Bandits</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nevadas-Golden-Age-Gambling-ebook/dp/B002Y26QTQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1348512782&sr=1-3">Nevada's Golden Age of Gambling</a> were sold and then subsequently went out of business. Certainly my modest sales couldn't keep the publishers in business. So be it.<br />
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On the plus side, the books reverted back to me and I've reissuing them on Create Space and Amazon Kindle - where I'll get a monthly deposit straight to my checking account without doing anything else. That's not too bad, except for ignoring my present manuscript to push the old works on Facebook, and Twitter, and on <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2838155.Al_W_Moe">Goodreads</a>, and .......wait, don't go away, I've got more!...........<br />
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Thanks for reading - Al W Moe<br />
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Al W Moehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074419295550893510noreply@blogger.com0