There are differences between what some people consider to be a successful writer or author, but in most cases everyone wants to be a professional writer.
Question is: do you have what it takes?
If you ever had the courage to call yourself a writer, you probably saw the amazement and slight disbelief in your conversation partners’ eyes. A writer? Is that something that can actually pay the bills? What are you writing?
Many of us have this image of the writer: a person, who is doing something for a living, but she finds herself regularly typing away in her spare time, and after a considerable amount of time, she shows her writing to other people. And guess what, it turns out to be a best seller! And she has become a millionaire, within the blink of an eye. So finally, she can be a writer, because she now has financial security. She can write whatever she wants, actually.
And there the millions of others, who do the same thing, but fail at producing a best seller at the first try. Why? Well, obviously because they are not talented enough.
This is how we generalize. Simplistic, yes, and of course, could not be further away from the truth.
I have some bad news for some of you: talents actually do matter. If you don’t find writing easy, enjoyable, and if you don’t get positive feedback regularly from people outside your family (professors, editors, random people on the Internet, friends with decent tastes and honest words), chances are you are chasing a profession that is substandard (for you).
But with hard work, you can still get there. Problem is: it is real hard work and does require a certain amount of talent as well. Read more…
Benefits of Authors Blogging
In our previous blog article Why Fiction Writers Need to Blog, we discussed the importance of blogging for writers and what to blog about. In building upon this topic, here we discuss the benefits of blogging and how it can be a great supplement to your overall marketing strategy and author platform.
As you write and plan out future articles, there is no question that you will become more proficient at blogging and more confident in your writer’s voice, but you will additionally be building your author platform by gaining an online audience you would otherwise not have, just by having a static website. While the benefits of blogging appear endless, some are more important than others. Below are my top five benefits to authors blogging that helps to expand your platform and in order of importance. Read more…
Cyrus Webb of Conversations Live interviews Author, Speaker and Fitness Pro Tamara Jackson.
Of all the PR and promotional strategies we use to promote our Author and Speaker clients, booking internet radio interviews is my top favorite approach. Internet radio makes it easy for us to reach a broader audience, and with many shows that interview guests in all different niches, it is very effective for aligning our clients with the right fan base.
My favorite internet radio platform and the one we use to promote our clients is Blog Talk Radio (BTR). BTR has provided us an excellent opportunity to promote our clients’ books, e-courses, and knowledge in specific areas or expertise. As opposed to paying for scripted radio spots that rarely convey enough substance to connect with your audience on a personal level, interviews on BTR are featured spots, more personal, and completely free to conduct. Interviews can run anywhere from 30 minutes up to an hour. Read more…
Getting your book into libraries is a great move for any author, but it’s not as straight-forward as you would think. Two important steps in the process (that I also advise my clients on) is understanding how libraries purchase their books and what is the best way to approach them/sell your book.
How Libraries Purchase Books:
Collection Development is the process of selecting books and other materials for the library. The Librarians who specialize in this area are called Collection Development Librarians or Collection Managers. As with any company or product, purchasing decisions are majorly based on product reviews. The same decision-making process is applied to purchasing books. For sourcing books, Librarians turn to major book review journals and are also influenced by consumer demand or requests made by library visitors. A Librarian can also get ideas for future book purchases from flyers or book sell sheets they receive by mail, attending library trade shows, and searching online stores and communities such as Amazon and GoodReads. Before you begin the library submission process, Read more…
While some consider book sell sheets to be unnecessary these days to promote a book and is an old fashioned method of promotion, I couldn’t disagree more. I can bear this direction of thinking if the slumping sales of paperbacks are the reason (as the publishing houses no longer in business used them), but most of the time the former ways of doing something are those that are proven with experience and the newer ways are yet to be determined. Grounded on this alone, I believe book sell sheets are an industry standard we should not forget about.
In my 3 years of experience working with authors, developing cost-effective book marketing plans, and writing my new eBook Book Marketing & Publicity: A Strategic and Effective Marketing Campaign Any Author Can Implement – I have come to determine there are limited opportunities where an author can promote their book for free or talk around it. At some stage, Read more…
