Pre-order for books is a fairly new tactic, now wholeheartedly embraced by Amazon, iBooks, Smashword and other on-line sellers. My newest Zack Tolliver, FBI novel Under Desert Sand will be placed on pre-order at Amazon.com immediately after Easter. In this article I will discuss what I feel are the advantages and disadvantages of using pre-order … Continue reading Why Pre-sale?
Publishing
Crunching The Numbers
As the old year wanes, the time has come to evaluate my book sales and learn from the data, hopefully to improve sales in 2017. Many charts and graphs are available to authors through the auspices of various retailers and distributors. In part, because these businesses must keep the data for their own purposes, in … Continue reading Crunching The Numbers
The Sky Is Falling
Several respected bloggers have begun to back away from self publishing books. They have crunched numbers, which most recently suggest an increase in the percentage of traditionally published books along with a decrease in self published Ebooks this past year. There is a rise in hybrid publishers (authors who do both) and an increase in … Continue reading The Sky Is Falling
Are You Reading The Author You Expected?
It came to me after reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code first, his preceding novel Angels and Demons second––this awareness of author growth. I found both books enormously entertaining, yet the greater sophistication of the former in contrast to the latter was clear. I suppose I had not previously thought in terms of author … Continue reading Are You Reading The Author You Expected?
Why An Audio Book?
The hot topic in my writing circles lately is audio books. I sense a fascination among my fellow authors. Several have made them, many want to make them. And why not? Audio books are enjoying an enormous surge in popularity, having more than doubled sales in the last several years. For the author, it's never … Continue reading Why An Audio Book?
Free Choice for Readers
Life in the digital age is user-friendly, full of choices. The choices we make determine the choices available. The path not taken tends to disappear. This is certainly true in the world of books, for readers as well as writers. These creators and consumers maintain a symbiotic relationship, the writer dependent upon the choices made … Continue reading Free Choice for Readers
THE POWER OF READERS REVISITED
This article is for readers and, of course, writers who are readers, as all writers must be. So perhaps this article is for everyone, other than those who disdain either reading or writing (poor souls). This piece is a compilation of several posts I have previously published on this site, as far back as June … Continue reading THE POWER OF READERS REVISITED
Five Best Marketing Approaches for Self-Published Writers
IndieRecon (an independent publishing on-line conference) recently presented an interview with Mark Coker of Smashword. The topic, among other things; new marketing approaches for self publishing authors. He had five central thoughts: 1. Write a good, no, a great book 2. Forget Social Media - it won’t help 3. Write a lot of great … Continue reading Five Best Marketing Approaches for Self-Published Writers
It Ain’t Necessarily So
In the absence of knowledge, we assume. Such assumptions can be erroneous and lead to fallacious thinking which can create problems for us. This is particularly so in publishing a book.Once the author has completed a work and committed it to the public, nothing remains but to await the court of public opinion. Yet often … Continue reading It Ain’t Necessarily So
Why Their Success Story is not Your Success Story
Recently, while reading an encouraging piece about someone’s ten steps to successful book marketing, it dawned on me that there might possibly be more authors of how-to-succeed books than people who are actually successful authors. Let’s face it, how-to-succeed books are a tremendous market. We are drawn to them like bears to honey. In a … Continue reading Why Their Success Story is not Your Success Story
R Lawson Gamble 