Book Marketing

Steps You Can Take to Protect Your WordPress Site

It’s safe to say that I am a huge WordPress fan—I’ve built more than 70 sites using this platform. And suffice to say that there are a variety of other platforms that I can name that I am emphatically not a fan of. (But that’s fodder for another column.)

My clients also tend to love WordPress as well. Usually within an hour or two, I can train them to update most of the elements on their site with minimal stress. Even some of my most tech-adverse clients have told me that they feel comfortable adding and editing content on their sites—something that gives them a great deal of power when it comes to owning their brand. And it seems that it isn’t just my clients who feel this way. WordPress accounts for nearly one in five sites currently online.

So, what’s the problem? WordPress is a Web-based platform (rather than an application which is downloaded and stored locally). This means that with the correct username and password, anyone with a Web connection can access your site. Also, plug-ins can go a long way towards extending the functionality of a site. But if not maintained and secured, they can provide backdoor ways for hackers to infiltrate your site.

You needn’t abandon WordPress, you just need to be smart about how you use it. Here are some tips for how to keep your site secure.

Backup
You’re already backing up your hard drive, right? (Right?!) Well, the same principle applies to your WordPress site. Make sure that you have automatic backups made of your site at least once a week. I recommend the BackupBuddy plug-in. which not only makes it easy to back your site up, but easy to restore if the worst happens. Another great one is WordPress Backup to Dropbox, which allows you to send the files directly to Dropbox if you need them, eliminating the need of storing and managing a bunch of backup files.

Keep Your WordPress Site Software Up To Date
Staying on top of your current version of WordPress is not just a good practice—it is an essential step to prevent being hacked. Periodically, WordPress offers software updates to both introduce new functionality and address bugs. I recommend updating your version of WordPress and all your plug-ins within two days of a new release—often software updates can be in response to a recently discovered vulnerability.

You know when it is time to update your site when you log in and see a message along the top alerting you to update your site. But if you don’t log in often, you may see this. You can stay on top of WordPress updates by following the WordPress.org blog or Twitter feed. If you’d rather have it automatically taken care of for you, you can contact me to update your site when new updates are released (this is one of the services I offer). Or you can host your site with WPEngine, which automatically updates your site as part of your costs.

Change Your Passwords
First of all, stop using Admin as the login name for your backend. Malicious forces assume that this is your login, and if they are right, they work from there to crack your password.

Use something like the Secure Password Generator to create strong passwords for your site. Document them, and change them often. Using strong passwords that incorporate a number of different characters can go a long way toward protecting your site.

Install a Plug-In to Periodically Scan Your Site
Having a service to regularly scan your site is key to making sure that everything is running as it should. Sucuri.net offers the best plug-in I’ve found to perform these searches, and it’s free. This plug-in does a lot of great things. First, it creates a firewall that automatically blocks blacklisted IP addresses. Second, it sends you notifications if it detects that any of your files have been modified. Third, it creates audit log files that allow you to see everything that is happening on your site. And lastly, it has a “1-Click Hardening” feature that allows you to do the following with one function: check software version, hide the version of WordPress you are running, create secret keys, hardening key files, and PHP verification.

If You Do Get Hacked…
It happens, but all is not lost. There are a lot of things you can do here to try to diagnose and fix the problem yourself. But I highly recommend using Sucuri.net to handle the problem. For $89.99 per year, Sucuri will perform the necessary functions to protect your site. But best of all, if you do get hacked, they will clean it up and restore your site as part as your subscription, with no limit on the pages it will restore. Better yet, it helps remove you from blacklists that may identify your site as compromised in search engines.

Lisa Hazen is a Chicago-based Web Designer specializing in author sites. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, or the WWW. mailto:lisa@lisahazen.com

Book Marketing

Why You Should Join Amazon AuthorCentral

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A lot of my author clients aren’t fans of Amazon. I get it—the advent of Amazon has threatened the existence of indie bookstores and irrevocably changed the way people buy and read books.

But when it comes to participating in Amazon’s AuthorCentral program, in my opinion, this is a case of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” You may never end up loving Amazon, or choose to be their customer. But when you create an author profile through AuthorCentral, you will be helping to promote yourself and your books in the world’s largest bookstore, and for free. One of the things I consistently drill into the heads of my clients is that they need to control their message online. Because if they don’t do this, someone else will do it for them. This is a great way to own your property on Amazon (which already exists if your book is published) and manage the content associated with your name. Plus, creating an AuthorCentral page is just another opportunity to juice up your SEO results.

Start by going to the main Author Central site. If you have one, you can sign in with your existing Amazon account, but if you don’t, you’ll need to set up a new one. Once you verify your account, you will be taken to a page that invites you to build your page in three steps.

Start by building your Author Profile. Your biography is the most important piece of this page. Craft it so it ably highlights your background and achievements, but does so succinctly so the main points can be digested upon first glance. (Remember, people read differently online than they do in print.)

Next, add the RSS to your blog, and Amazon will automatically import your blog posts into your Author Page within 24 hours of posting. What? No blog? You might want to change your mind about that.

The next step is to add upcoming events. This is a great way to pull together all your events surrounding an upcoming book launch or even just let people when you will be traveling to upcoming trade shows or other event. Amazon makes it easy to add and edit these, and even archives them when the dates pass.

To embellish the content further, Amazon offers the ability to share up to eight personal photos. You can also share links to videos that are less than 10 minutes long and smaller than 500MB—these include video interviews, press appearances, book signings or book trailers. Lastly, you can pull your Twitter feed into your page as well. What, no Twitter feed? C’mon now!

When your Author Page launches, it will pull together all your books together on a page that integrates all the information you provided. It also allows visitors to start a discussion on your page—ask questions about your books, share opinions, etc. Plus, visitors can also click a link to be notified whenever you have new releases.

And yes, I do have my own Amazon Author Page. (Thanks for asking.) Please share your own page in the comments below. Or share your feelings about Amazon and their AuthorCentral program.

Lisa Hazen is a Chicago-based Web Designer specializing in author sites. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, or the WWW. Email: lisa@lisahazen.com

Book Marketing

What to Price Your KDP eBooks: an Ongoing Experiment

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As promised, here at BookPromotion.com we are constantly experimenting on our own work and reporting the results back to you. I like to think of this as “trying and failing/ succeeding so you don’t have to.”

As you probably know, Amazon (through their Kindle Direct/ KDP program) wants you to keep the pricing of your eBooks within the $2.99 – $9.99 zone. They do this by penalizing you (in terms of royalty percentage) when you go over or under this window. For instance, you make 70% royalty (in most countries) on a book in the $2.99 – $9.99 price range, but drop below or above this range, and you’ll only get a 35% royalty. Ouch! You don’t have to be able to do algebra in your head to figure out that you’re going to have to sell a huge amount of books at $.99/ apiece to make up for that lost percentage. So, while you might want to keep your book’s prices low to entice your customers, doing so might cost you (literally).

Here are some thoughts on the low/ high ends of the book pricing argument. Of course (of course!) you’ll first want to do a thorough competitive analysis to determine the average pricing for your genre/ niche/ type of book you are selling. The competitive analysis might answer your question about pricing, but if it does not, here are some guidelines:

— Free: Amazon will let you do this for five out of every ninety days if you’re enrolled in their KDP Select program. Our suggestion is that you use these five free days to get as many downloads and reviews as possible. This can be a good strategy for authors trying to build their mailing lists (of course, you’d need a link for email signup in the front or back matter of the book), and can get you some sales in the “post free” lift period that occurs immediately after your book is free. We have been noticing lately that Amazon is cracking down on this “lift” period, however, so don’t count on this being a huge number. If you’re wondering about the “permafree” strategy that some authors employ, there is more information on that right here.

— $0.99 – $1.99: With pricing in this zone, you’re only getting the 35% royalty, so you need to make sure you’re doing a larger volume of copies at these prices. It is true that some books will only sell at this price, and at that point, you should be trying your best to get the reader to perform a secondary action (like signing up for your mailing list or buying another book). Amazon does not want you to use this pricing model, so make sure it is worth your while if you have to take that pay cut.

— $2.99 – $9.99: This is Amazon’s “sweet spot” for self-publishers, and if you stay within it, they will reward you with a 70% royalty. That is awesome, especially if your market research shows that your book can sustain this pricing.

Over $9.99: This is not pricing I would recommend for self publishers (in fact, I even advise large publishers against this, and some of them are starting to listen to me). Amazon’s user base of readers gets savvier every day; if your Kindle book is priced at $19.99, this not only makes you look like you don’t know the eBook market and are clinging on to legacy hardcover pricing, you also are almost daring someone to buy the book at that price and then leave it a scathing one-star review over quality/ pricing. I have seen this happen more than once, so please consider this a warning. Also, remember that big publishers have totally different deals with retailers, so you don’t know what they are getting paid on a book priced at $14.99 for the eBook version.

Here is some excellent wisdom on pricing experimentation from author Dave Hendricks:

I start each new book at 99¢. After I’ve gotten at least 10 reviews I raise the price to $2.99 to get 70% royalties. After that, I raise the price by $1 every 2-4 weeks. The longer testing period is necessary if my sales fluctuate a lot. When the weekly royalties stop rising, I stop raising the prices. Or I stop at $9.87, whichever comes first. Do not judge your price point by the NUMBER of sales, but by the profit you make.

Finally, I will show you this chart (that Dave also told me about), from Smashwords:

Here’s what Dave concluded from the chart: SmashWords did research that revealed that, in general, price points between $3 and $3.99 were the most profitable for most authors. Prices between $6 and $6.99 were the second most profitable, followed closely by price points between $4 and $4.99. But that’s a generalization. Every book and topic is different, so experiment to find out your own most profitable price point.

The bottom line: you should be conducting market research on your book / topic/ genre regularly to see what the market will tolerate in terms of pricing your particular book. If you want to read more about Amazon’s pricing, here is a link.

And with that, I will leave you to consider the all-important questions: is your book priced appropriately? Is the price of your book holding it back? Should you try changing your book’s price today?

Here is a step by step guide, in case you were needing that:

How to Price Your eBooks

Pricing your eBooks can feel like a daunting task. Set the price too high, and readers may pass on your work. Set it too low, and you may undervalue your effort or miss out on potential earnings. Here are some strategies and considerations to help you determine the best price for your eBook.

1. Understand Your Market

Before setting a price, research your genre and audience. Take a look at successful eBooks in your category and note their pricing. For example:

Romance novels often range from $0.99 to $4.99.
Business and self-help eBooks may command higher prices, typically between $7.99 and $19.99.

Consider your target audience’s willingness to pay. Readers looking for entertainment might be price-sensitive, while those seeking professional advice might be willing to invest more.

2. Consider Your Goals

Your pricing strategy should align with your objectives. Are you looking to:

Maximize Sales? Lower prices (e.g., $0.99 or $1.99) can attract more buyers and help you gain visibility.
Establish Authority? Higher prices (e.g., $9.99 or more) can position your eBook as premium content, particularly in niches like business or education.
Encourage Reviews? Offering your eBook at a discounted price or even free for a limited time can help you gather reviews and build momentum.

3. Leverage Price Psychology

Price endings can influence buying decisions. For instance, $2.99 feels significantly cheaper than $3.00 to many buyers. Experiment with popular price points like $0.99, $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99.

4. Test and Adjust

Pricing isn’t static. You can:

Run promotions to test how different price points affect sales.
Use tools like Amazon’s KDP Select Countdown Deals to temporarily reduce your price while retaining a higher royalty rate.
Analyze sales data and adjust your pricing based on performance.

5. Factor in Royalties

On platforms like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), your royalty rate depends on your price:

Prices between $2.99 and $9.99 typically qualify for a 70% royalty.
Prices outside this range usually earn a 35% royalty.

Calculate your potential earnings at different price points to find a sweet spot that balances volume and profit.

6. Offer Multiple Editions

You can cater to different segments of your audience by offering various editions of your eBook:

A basic edition at a lower price.
A premium edition with bonus content, such as additional chapters or resources, at a higher price.

7. Monitor Competitor Pricing

Keep an eye on trends in your genre. If competitors lower their prices or introduce new offerings, you may need to adjust accordingly to stay competitive.

8. Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

Pricing is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. Experiment with pricing tiers, seasonal discounts, and limited-time offers to find what resonates best with your audience.

Conclusion

Setting the right price for your eBook requires research, experimentation, and a clear understanding of your goals. By considering your audience, monitoring trends, and remaining flexible, you can develop a pricing strategy that maximizes your eBook’s success.

Book Marketing

Book Piracy – What It Is and What To Do About It

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Book piracy isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a real and often disheartening challenge for self-published authors. In an industry where many of us rely on direct online sales to make a living, piracy can feel like both a financial and emotional blow. But with the right knowledge and strategies, you can minimize its impact and protect your work while maintaining your focus on growth.

What Is Book Piracy?

Book piracy is the unauthorized copying, distribution, or sale of written works. In the digital age, this usually takes the form of illegal downloads, unauthorized PDFs posted online, or eBook files shared on torrent sites. For self-published authors, piracy not only represents lost income but also risks devaluing your brand and compromising your visibility on legitimate platforms.

I do want to stop and make the distinction here– PIRACY is when someone is representing your book as their work. This is completely different from DROPSHIPPING, which is when other people are selling your book (like on your Amazon listing). It is a very (VERY) common first-time author mistake to confuse the two and think someone is pirating your book when they are actually just a third-party selling it. Dropshipping is an actual legitimate business model, and those people are actually buying the book from you (through a distributor), so eventually you are going to get those royalties.

Let me explain a little more about this so you know the difference. Here is the listing for my book “Funny You Should Ask: How to Make a Website.”

As you can see, you can buy this book for $8.99 from Amazon and it will be shipped to you by the weekend.

By the way, I’m not trying to get you to buy the book (which is why it’s not linked), I’m just trying to show you what dropshippers are because people ask me this all the time, thinking that their books are being pirated. In fact, if you scroll down a little bit, you’ll see this:

ok, you think– no big deal, who cares. But, check out these other sellers who appear to be selling my book!

Right, so– this is dropshippers selling my book. I don’t get their pricing and I’m not sure who would buy one of my paperbacks for $21.80 if they could get the book for $8.99, but this is DROPSHIPPING, not PIRACY. Eventually I am going to get the money for my book that “BigNameBooks” is selling for $21.80.

I’m not talking about this. I’m talking about another author taking your book and publishing it as their own. That’s not what this is. I hope that makes sense. Dropshipping is legal, piracy is not.

ok, back to our regularly scheduled informative article about piracy and how to avoid it.

Why Should Self-Published Authors Be Concerned?

Loss of Revenue: Every pirated copy could represent a missed sale—or several if the file is widely shared. Although, if the pirates are lazy and don’t edit your content and you have your reader magnet and email list signup set up properly, you’ll probably still pick up some new subscribers. Just looking on the bright side!
Brand Devaluation: Poorly formatted pirated copies can tarnish your professional image among readers.
Security Concerns: Some pirate sites distribute malware alongside stolen content, potentially associating your name with harmful downloads.
Emotional Toll: Discovering your hard work stolen can be deeply discouraging, leaving many authors feeling violated. This has happened to me before and I can verify that it super, super sucks to spend a long time writing something only to have someone else pass it off as their own work.

How Does Book Piracy Happen?

Book piracy happens in several ways:

File-Sharing and Torrent Sites: Once a legitimate eBook copy (in EPUB, MOBI, or PDF format) is obtained, it can be uploaded and shared illegally.
Unauthorized Scans: Physical copies of books may be scanned and converted into digital formats for distribution.
Private Sharing: Some readers share files via email or messaging apps.
Hacked Platforms: In rare cases, hackers gain access to an author’s accounts or retailer platforms to redistribute their entire catalog.

Strategies to Reduce Piracy Risks

While there’s no foolproof method to stop piracy entirely, there are effective strategies to reduce its likelihood and impact:

1. Use Digital Rights Management (DRM)

DRM technology limits file sharing and copying, making it harder for casual users to pirate your work. Retailers like Amazon Kindle and Apple Books offer DRM options, but note that some readers dislike DRM due to device restrictions. I’m on the fence about this one. I generally think pirates are too lazy to steal a book from a reader. I think most piracy happens from un-watermarked pdfs floating around out there (although I could be totally wrong about this, and you should turn on DRM if you want to and if it makes you feel more secure!).

2. Publish on Reputable Platforms

Platforms such as Amazon KDP, Smashwords, and Kobo Writing Life offer tools to track piracy and legal teams to issue takedown notices. Publishing through these platforms can provide additional security. If you’re going to sell direct (like from your website), you’ll need to use BookFunnel for delivery so you aren’t just selling pdf files and hoping for the best.

Which brings me to my next point (ok, it’s a rant), which is:

3. NEVER release pdfs of your work. I’m talking never. Not to a friend, not to an editor, never never never ever. I will only release a finalized version of a manuscript on BookFunnel, with watermarking. This is especially true if you haven’t published the book yet, because if you haven’t published it yet, you don’t have a copyright and it’s going to be hard to prove it belongs to you and that you wrote it first. I have an author client who this actually happened to (through one of the ARC services that I am not supposed to mention), so I cannot caution you against this enough. DO NOT upload a pdf into any service, ever ever ever!

4. Use Unique Watermarks

Embed unique identifiers in each sold copy. Watermarks can help trace the source of a pirated file. BookFunnel can do this for you.

5. Control Review Copies

Only provide ARCs (Advance Review Copies) to trusted reviewers. Services like BookFunnel allow you to limit downloads and track file access.

6. Monitor Metadata

Ensure your book’s title, keywords, and author name are correctly and uniquely registered to reduce confusion and accidental infringement.

How to Respond to Piracy

DMCA Takedown Notices
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, you can issue a takedown notice to sites hosting your pirated content. Check the site’s copyright policy for instructions on filing.
Enlist Specialized Services
Anti-piracy tools like Blasty and MUSO monitor the web for pirated copies and file takedown notices automatically. Evaluate whether their subscription cost fits your needs.
Alert Legitimate Retailers
If pirated copies appear alongside your official listings, notify the retailer’s support team. They’ll often act quickly to remove unauthorized listings.
Make Public Statements (With Care)
If piracy becomes widespread, a professional and calm social media post can raise awareness without alienating readers.

Balancing Piracy Concerns with Marketing

While protecting your work is important, it’s essential not to alienate your audience in the process. Heavy DRM or strict anti-piracy measures can frustrate legitimate readers, while fair pricing and accessibility can reduce piracy incentives. Focus on engaging fans and building loyalty—they’re more likely to report piracy and support you by purchasing legitimate copies.

Practical Tips & Best Practices

Register Your Copyright: Strengthen your legal standing by registering your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Set Search Alerts: Tools like Google Alerts can notify you if your book is mentioned or shared online.
Educate Readers: Inform your audience about piracy’s impact on indie authors and direct them to legitimate purchasing channels.
Focus on Growth: While addressing piracy, don’t let it overshadow your main goals—keep writing, marketing, and connecting with your audience.

Final Thoughts

Book piracy is a frustrating reality of the digital marketplace, but it doesn’t have to derail your self-publishing journey. By taking proactive steps, monitoring your content, and focusing on building a loyal readership, you can minimize the impact of piracy and continue to thrive as an author. When in doubt, consult an intellectual property attorney to navigate complex legal situations.

Protect your work, stay vigilant, and most importantly—keep creating.

Book Marketing

How to Publish on KDP

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Ebook reader - Amazon Kindle — Photo credit: BigStockPhoto/ ale_rizzo

We received several requests from authors to summarize digital services and/ or point you toward decent tutorials for doing so. I’m in the process of developing a series just like that, and today we’ll start with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), which is Amazon’s popular self-publishing platform.

I always tell authors to start with KDP for several reasons. For one, Amazon gives you the most control over your book (in my opinion) in terms of categorization, keywording, and giveaways, and I like that they give you immediate access to your sales. I know, publishers have relationships with booksellers so they don’t want to use only one distribution channel, but for first time self publishers, I do think it’s a good place to start, and a good proving ground for books to get used to doing giveaways, getting publicity, getting reviews, and generally getting your feet wet in the business of selling books.

The first thing you’ll need in the KDP process is an account. Amazon makes this super-easy, and they have probably already set one up for you if you’re an Amazon customer. Just go over to http://kdp.amazon.com, verify your account, and you’ll be ready to go.

Next, you obviously need to get your book into digital form. Whether that means digging up the old Word file of the final draft or having someone re-type the original hardcover / paperback edition (this also assumes you hold the electronic rights), there really is no failsafe way to just “scan the book into the internet” as several authors have asked me, so I would say my best advice there is: find the Word file or get to typing. This is also a job an assistant or outsourced worker could do.

Once you have the file in digital form, you will need to publish it through the KDP system. Amazon has not one, but two free books about this that I think you should download and start reading.

In case you’re the kind of learner (like I am) who would rather just see someone walk you through something, I will say that I have watch A LOT of Kindle tutorial videos, and the best tutorial I’ve ever seen on the whole process of Kindle Publishing was made by Jim Kukral from Author Marketing Club, which I totally think you should join if you are an author trying to get books out there. Jim does an awesome job with his training seminars, he’s always making innovative tools to help people sell more books, and he’s generally a great guy, so I think you should go over there and sign up for the AMC right now (either the free version, or the Premium Version, which I belong to myself and which I think is actually underpriced at the annual rate). Once you’re in there, you just go to “Video Tutorials,” where you will find enough information to make your head fall off. The videos are available in the free version, just in case you’re wondering.

Personally, I did my first Kindle book with very little in the way of instruction, preferring the “trial and error” method, and therefore, it took about 100 times longer than it should have. I found the whole thing easy until I got to the actual uploading of the cover and the book file itself, and that is where I would recommend you have a guide or a tutorial in place.

Once you’re done publishing your book, you will need to send a request to Amazon to have the Kindle version “joined” with the paper version (if that doesn’t happen naturally). You might also want to pick up a copy of the book “Making a Killing on Kindle,” which is a solid strategy book, or our book “How to Market a Book,” which covers getting your author platform in order and starting to reach out to bloggers and on social media to get your book some coverage.

This can all sound overwhelming, and that is totally understandable. Having a digital version is definitely something that you’re going to need going forward, though, so it’s good to start working on that process sooner rather than later.

Book Marketing

What Happens When Everyone Can Publish

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My good friend Mike Shatzkin (The Idea Logical Company) recently set forth a compelling rubric to describe what is happening in publishing now that digitally publishing books and other written content can be done by virtually anyone with interesting content. Mike calls this the “atomization” of publishing. He’s aimed his analysis at publishers to help them understand what is happening all around them, and also to help them crystallize their own thinking about what this explosion of publishing means for them and for their businesses, both now and in the future.

I’ve been thinking about Mike’s concept a lot, and think it can be refined just a bit. The atomization of publishing is a key part of the molecularization of communication.

Traditionally, publishing of all kinds requires the organization of complex activities into structured businesses, reflecting the challenges of creating products for sale and distribution in the physical world.

In a digital communications environment, “publishing” (“to make public”) can be made significantly simpler. Yet, as most of us who have worked in publishing know, the digital publishing process still requires a considerable amount of organizing of resources, especially if you want to do more than to reach a tiny number of readers.

The chemical metaphor is apt. Atoms are the most basic components of matter. Molecules are next up the chain, and then increasingly complex amalgamations of molecules make up living organisms (and non-living matter as well).

Following this conceptual framework, I’d say that self-publishing authors are, as Shatzkin says, like atoms, while businesses and other organized entities that publish are more like molecules. It’s likely we will soon see some of these simple molecules joining together to form compound complex molecules, either existing alongside, or themselves joining the more complex and organized compound entities like publishers and distributors.

Clearly there is a wide range of highly structured and organized entities in the publishing communications ecosystem. Book and magazine publishers along with their rapidly evolving distributors and wholesalers are the most organized components in this system.

Self publishing authors are really the building blocks of content. They can operate on their own and likely will form molecular organizations between them. Like atoms in the physical universe, authors are mobile and will frequently join each other to create different kinds of molecules. The businesses, nonprofits and other larger forms that now can publish content that they create and own are more complex molecules – and sometimes like compound molecules – that as they grow and evolve can take on both the roles and structures of existing organisms – what we know today as publishers.

And in this continuously evolving chemical soup of modern communications, it is certain that new forms and combinations of publishing entities will emerge. All involved will adapt or die.

(thanks to Joe Esposito, Jack Perry and Carolyn Pittis for reading this essay in various forms, and for helping me clarify my ideas)

Originally posted at www.booktrix.com – “every trick in the book”

David Wilk provides professional publishing services to writers, publishers, businesses and nonprofits. He podcasts interviews with authors and publishing thought leaders at Writerscast, curates book related video at Livewriters and reports on self publishing news on Tumblr.

Book Marketing

Ten Things To Do Before You Go Viral

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I have touched on this on many occasions, but then I got an interesting
email the other day from a literary agent (who shall remain nameless), asking
me to rank, in order of ROI (that’s “return on investment,” for you
non-business types) each of the the following:
websites, Facebook Fan Page,
social media, GoodReads, Amazon Author Central. Of course, the person in this example is a
writer, so the examples are
writer-specific, but if you’re a musician, “GoodReads” might be equivalent to
“LastFM” or “MySpace” or whatever your favorite musical/ social profile thing
is at the moment. I am assuming the
literary agent was asking me this because writers, for the most part, tend to
be lazy and entitled and want you to pick “one magic bullet” that’s going to
solve all of their marketing problems and sell a million books for them, and if
you know anything about the internet and internet marketing, you know there is
no such thing.

The bottom line? I
don’t just think you need to be one place. I think you need to be everywhere. I think when someone Googles you, there
should be a way to get to you and your awesome stuff in all ten slots of Page
One.

Now, don’t get me wrong.
I actually don’t mean that you should be out there gladhanding the
entire world on Twitter and pushing out your links in an artificial way every
day. I don’t think that works, and I
don’t recommend people spread out their energy and waste their time on things
they don’t like, because that is pretty much a guarantee that you’re not going
to get anywhere with it.

But (and this is a pretty big but)—it’s not an “all or
nothing” situation. I do think creative
types need to responsible business people, and that means creating profiles (with
links) in every place that is relevant to you, so that your interested audience
may follow those links back to you and your awesome stuff. Yes, this means you’re going to have to put a
little time into making a website, and a Twitter profile, and a Facebook Fan
Page, and even a profile on LinkedIn, just to establish your brand equity so if
something you do goes viral, this doesn’t happen, or this. For
me, this kind of “set up and maintenance” is less about that outward, pushy
kind of marketing, and more just about being professional and setting up shop so
the world can find out about you.

You’d probably be really surprised if I told you how many
writers/ creative types get really upset when I tell them this, or sigh, or
cry, or yell about how they “DON’T HAVE TIME TO DO THEIR ART,” and I think this
is a big fat copout. Not being
responsible with your digital life, not having a website, not having a proper
Facebook Fan Page—it’s all part of the same thing, the “Artist’s Mindset,”
which used to manifest itself in saying you were a “starving artist” or that
you “didn’t want to sell out,” but now seems to be an excuse for neglecting
your digital life. This is
mostly the reason why I am not taking author clients for consulting
anymore, because I simply got tired of being wanting me to do their work for them,
then yelling at me when I told them what it would cost.

In the spirit of “I am giving you good information so you
can work on your own behalf,” here is a handy list of “Ten Things To Do Before
You Go Viral,” for your reference. This list was created for creative types, but it also absolutely applies to you, even if you sell soap. What if Brad Pitt suddenly loves your soap, and everyone is talking about your soap? Are you organized and together, and can you handle the traffic and all the soap orders that are going to come in? If not, refer to the list.

Get your website in order.
By “your website,” I mean yourfirstnamelastname.com. I do not mean a Blogger blog, or your Tumblr,
or anything else that you don’t actually own.
I mean your domain, on hosting you paid for, nothing less.

2. Make sure said website has at least a “Contact Us” button,
preferably a Contact Us form (to filter spam), and make sure that you’ve
actually tried to send an email to yourself using that button or form. You would be sad if I told you how many
people don’t do this.

3. Put your stuff up. Do you have books/ albums/ anything for sale? Make sure they are on your site, readily
clickable for people to buy. I don’t
think I can make that any more clear.

4. Make sure you’re google-able.
When I Google you, does your website show up as # 1? If not, you should get on that.

5. Make sure all roads lead back to you. Is there a link in your Twitter profile that
goes back to your website? What about
your Facebook Fan Page? Take a look at
the guy who does this awesome video series, Minute Physics. Is he some kind of website genius? No, but he is extremely organized. If you want to find him, you can—imagine
that!

6. Get prepared to handle traffic.
Is your website going to crash if a million people go to it in one
day? Maybe call your hosting company and
find out.

7. Secure points of access.
Right now, go through your website, FB fan page, twitter, and any other
“open loops” out there that represent you (like LinkedIn or Tumblr, or a random
Wordpress blog). Look at the entire
network as if you were a stranger who happened upon your work. Are there any “dead ends” that you don’t
check, or where people could get stuck?
If so, fix them now.

8. Clean up garbage. If you
know there is something awful out there about you (like you’ve done something
you’re not proud of), now is the time to face it. You might not be able to get it “removed,”
per se, but you CAN be proactive about getting your website and social media in
order, write some articles for other blogs or publications, or start some more
profiles (like at squidoo, about.me, or the zillion other social media sites
out there to push the bad results down to Page Two or beyond.

9. Include a photo, preferable the same one. If/ when your stuff goes viral, people are
going to want to write stories about you, and they are going to ask for
photos. Another reason for this is
simple: people want to associate your
work with an actual person, and it’s better if you don’t make potential fans
tax their brains by having a picture of your dog as your Twitter profile
picture. Get it together with some
consistent branding!

10. Stop
acting weird. Hey, guess what? The internet is like a big recorder that remembers everything. If you showed your boobs on
Facebook or talked some weird political crap on Twitter, maybe go back and clean that
up, because the minute you go viral, reporters are going to dig around for this kind of thing and write about it. This is good advice for you even if
you’re not going to go viral with something, because potential employers are
Googling you to see if they want to hire you, and no one is hiring “Boobs on
the Internet” girl. I promise you, this applies to you if you own a small business. I recently did not buy something from someone because I happened upon her business’ Twitter, and realized that she was using it to espouse some very radical beliefs. I don’t think that your personal beliefs have anyplace in your business, unless there is somehow something wrong with the money from people who don’t share your beliefs. Think about it.

That’s it!

Book Marketing

Anatomy of a Viral Success: Seth Casteel, Underwater Dog Photography

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I know, it totally seems like I harsh on people for not having their sh$t together, so I thought I would take some time to focus on someone who got everything very, very right and is reaping the benefits of that preparation in his career.

You probably still don’t know the name “Seth Casteel,” but chances are you’re
familiar with his work. One year ago, his underwater dog photography series went viral, and because he was prepared, this sudden rush of fame and attention took his career to the next level.

Here is the Facebook album where I (at least) first encountered Casteel’s photography.

Note the caption that appears next to every single photo:

We’re loving this underwater dog series from photographer Seth Casteel.
See more from Seth here: https://www.littlefriendsphoto.com/

If you like Seth Casteel’s underwater dog photography,
please show some love and follow his official Facebook page “Little
Friends Photo” here: https://www.facebook.com/LittleFriendsPhoto

Now, maybe this is the original poster being thorough, but if Seth Casteel hadn’t had an easily-findable website and social media presence, those links wouldn’t have been included, and who knows? Maybe he wouldn’t have gained thousands of new clients, a print calendar, photo licensing up the wazoo, and a book, all in the past year. This, friends, is how you do “The Business of Art.”

Let’s take a look at what happened in the “overnight success” story of Seth Casteel. Here’s what he’s doing right:

Website: well-organized, clear, easy to get in touch with him. https://www.littlefriendsphoto.com/index2.php#!/home.

Here’s one thing I love about Seth Casteel: his website looks great. It is fully functional, up and running, and he was 100% prepared for the onslaught of attention and new work. Good looking, brand-appropriate site, clear e-commerce section, Contact Us button is easy to find. Another thing I love about this site is that the VERY FIRST IMAGE you see reminds you of why you came there—you saw the underwater dog photography on Facebook (or somewhere else), thought it was amazing and innovative, and wanted to see what else this person had going on (or if he could take photos of your dog).

Facebook Fan Page: Once again, well-organized, up to date, the username is right, and he’s properly using a Facebook Fan Page (not a profile). https://www.facebook.com/LittleFriendsPhoto

Twitter: He shoots, he scores again! This Twitter profile is up to date, it has links back to his main site and Facebook page right there in the profile, and he is regularly answering all of his tweets. Another example of a creative type being ready for success when it came along. https://twitter.com/ltlfriendsphoto

Instagram: There he is again. Check the link in the center of the profile, right back to his main website.

Wired magazine story: https://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/03/diving-dogs-are-good-catch-for-photographer/

And, so, to sum up: Seth Casteel has been doing awesome dog photography for many years, and also happens to have been awesomely organized and business-like about his digital presence. Please take an example from him, and use it to motivate yourself to get organized in anticipation of YOUR big success!

Also, I totally have this book, and it is every bit as cool as it looks. Get it!

Book Marketing

To Pen Name or Not To Pen Name? That Is The Question!

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To Pen Name or Not To Pen Name? That Is The Question!

‘I am a corporate consultant with a straight-laced job, but, I write erotica. How do I remain ‘genuine’ online yet keep those two personas separate.’

Very good question, and one people ask quite a bit. What are the disadvantages and advantages of having a pen name? This is tough for people because we say ‘brand the author, not the book,’ right? But this situation is a bit different.

Let’s deconstruct.

1) Privacy. This is the biggest advantage of having a pen name, particularly for the erotica genre. One of my clients is an MBA in a top corporate job, and one of our first orders of business was to set up her branding as an erotica author with a pen name.

Not only did this keep her job out of the equation, it also kept her family protected – especially important because she had teenaged children who would no doubt be horrified! And a husband who also had a conservative job.

She’s also quite active in her church with her family, so this was another important consideration for her.

Another client writes hot thrillers using his real name, but not a real picture. He’s in banking and doesn’t want his real life to mix with his persona.

2) Persona. Choosing a pen name allows you to become, to an extent, the best representative of your content. This allows you to become the content, if you will. For example, if you normally write MG or YA and you want to write BDSM or other hardcore material, it gives you a chance to be far racier in your online life than you would be in real life.

And this is an important distinction with regard to branding: you have written this content, whether it is based on real life or fantasy. You can interact with people you normally never would (which brings a whole other perhaps unwanted element, but that’s another point). The biggest advantage to creating this persona is being consistent – you are representing your books and your content across all channels of your erotica author platform.

This is where you can really delve into your interests as an erotica writer that you may not normally share on your more traditional author profile.

3) Branding. Let’s delve further into branding. I usually recommend that an author use their real name and use their picture as their avatar, but that becomes difficult if you’re trying to keep your private life private. In this case, many erotica authors use a ‘hot’ photo of some sort that has to do with their work.

And that’s appropriate in this case. Regardless of whether you are writing erotica or say, textbooks, it is possible to create different personas.

I do recommend still branding the author no matter the books. How? I think Bella Andre does it best: she has three pen names, each dedicated to a different genre. She personally hasn’t kept it a secret, but initially she did.

Finally, a quote from talented erotica author, Sandra Bunino:

‘I find myself walking a fine line between being genuine for my readers and maintaining the privacy and security of my non-online life. I love to engage my readers on social media and try to be accessible. I believe it’s an important part of the connection between reader and author.

That’s one reason I decided to use an actual picture on social media, my website and book promotions, though I do use a pen name. Of course, that overlap can be risky. There are times when my personal life and author persona collide and I’m okay with that. I’m proud of my work as an erotic romance writer. If it makes someone uncomfortable, it’s their issue, not mine.’

There are a few more considerations, but if you think ‘brand the author, not the book’ in all aspects of your promotion (whether your true self or a persona), you’ll achieve success!

What are your thoughts? Do you have a pen name? Share your experiences with us!

Book Marketing

The “How” of Hugh Howey

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Major news sources cover “self publishing success stories” all the time. Interestingly, all of them tend to leave out the “how” of the story.

I’m an author and am interested in all things internet and marketing (and internet marketing), so naturally I am interested in any and all success stories, especially stories that involve self publishing (which of course combines authorship with the internet). With that in mind, yesterday one of my Facebook friends referred me to a piece that was running on Marketplace. First, I went over to read the story on American Public Media’s website, which you can see here: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/big-book/best-selling-novelist-youve-never-heard

They’ve also now posted the interview—go over and listen!

As I’m reading the story, all I can think is: I hope Kai Ryssdall (the host of Marketplace) asks this author how he did it, because that is (literally) the million dollar question on everyone’s mind when they hear about a self-publishing success story: what did they do that I can do? How can that be me?

That is where I come in. If (as in this case) the reporter does not ask the author about how they actually did it, I ask the author myself, and if they don’t answer, I attempt to reverse-engineer their network so I can tell you what I think they are doing right, and how you can do these things yourself (hopefully with the same results).

The last time a self-published author who got a book deal caught my eye, it was Brittany Geragotelis’ 3-book deal with Simon & Schuster. Right after the news broke about her deal, I reached out to her to get more of the story about how she did it, and she could not have been nicer about sharing her journey. Brittany and I are now friends, and I continually admire her work ethic. Her “secret,” in case you’re wondering, was being very active on WattPad, very organized in her author platform and branding, and very consistent in her interaction with her readers (as well as being a great writer, of course!). Brittany treats being an author like a business, which (in my opinion) is really what you have to do to be successful.

After the Hugh Howey article / interview ran yesterday, I was so curious to know how he did it, I tweeted him to see if he would agree to be interviewed for this website. Here was his reply:

(sad trombone). Can I just say that it bugs me to no end when successful authors are coy about their methods? Dude– you are successful. People want to know what worked for you. I feel like if you’re successful as an author, the LEAST you can do is outline what you think might have worked to get you there.

Because he doesn’t want to comment (and because I do not accept “luck” as a method that can be replicated), I took a look at his network and asked a few other publishing types, and this is what we’ve come up with so far:

–He is a great writer. This is the one thing on the list that will make you roll your eyes, because talent is something you really can’t control.

–He is very prolific. Hugh Howey is less than 40 years old and has written 14 books, has an active website presence, and participates in at least three social media sites that I can count. Does this motivate you to finally finish your first novel? It should.

— He knows his genre. Howey writes in a genre that is compatible with online promotion/ word of mouth. Fellow BookPromotion.com contributor Katherine (Sears) and I recently had a whole discussion about how some genre just sell better online, and science fiction (Howey’s genre) is one of them. Also, his books are series books. Based on work with clients and my own experiences, I will say that it definitely is to your advantage if you can write a series of books, because (at least electronically) you can link them together and keep people buying and reading. It really does come down to the first book in the series having great characters and interesting action, but the series is a great “repeat product” model.

— He is organized and responsive. Just like several other successful authors we’ve profiled, Hugh Howey was ready for his “big break.” When he saw that people were responding to “Wool,” he wrote more books for that series. Same with his “Molly Fyde” series.

—He regularly gives books away for free. This is that topic that authors argue about all the time because they think “free equals no value” and they cite that statistic where 75% of all books that get downloaded for free never get read. Note: I’m not telling you to give your books away for free. I’m simply saying, Hugh Howey does it, and might be part of why he’s so successful.

— He uses social media. Howey mentioned in a recent Media Bistro interview that he likes to go on Facebook and unwind, though it must be mentioned—Mr. Howey, you have a Facebook Profile linked from your main website instead of a Facebook Fan Page. This is not something we recommend, since Facebook can take away your profile for having too many “friends” you don’t actually know. He also tweets regularly (so, he’s not just a “syndicator”). Facebook and Twitter are both great platforms for connecting with readers.

— He blogs. If you are thinking of complaining about how you don’t have time to blog/ regular updates are just too hard/ etc, please check Hugh Howey’s website. Apparently he has enough time to have written 14 books and be at work on three others while updating the blog on his site once a day (on average).

—He’s on Reddit. Here’s an interview he did where he talks about some of his promotional methods (including Facebook and reader recommendations). Reddit is a perfect place for Howey to connect with tech nerds who might also happen to be sci-fi geeks (I mean that in the most loving way possible, sci-fi geeks. I know how to play Magic: the Gathering, ok?).

— He has a newsletter. I signed up for his newsletter (which is run through MailChimp, a service we highly recommend), and I am interested to see if he regularly sends out updates. No way of telling how many people he has on this list, but since he’s sold more than $1 million worth of books, I am going to guess that he a) has a lot of people on that list, and b) is in regular contact with the members. This would explain the large number of Amazon reviews and strong sales of each subsequent book in each series (oh, also? He dances for reviews on YouTube). I would definitely put “build and stay in contact with your mailing list” at the top of my recommendations for authors, although I do find that this is the one thing that most of them are missing.

The bottom line for me is that this is an author who is treating his writing career like a business, and it shows. He’s set up and organized with his website, he regularly connects with his fans, he writes a ton, and he sees what is working and responds accordingly with his work.

With the possible exception of the fact that he really does need a Facebook Fan Page instead of using his regular profile for promotional purposes, I give Hugh Howey an A + in book promotion and conclude that his success has almost nothing to do with luck. If you are confused about your own book promotion, I would encourage you to look at what he’s doing and follow suit. If you are feeling reluctant about getting yourself out there, take a look at his success and let it inspire you to get going!

And with that, I will once again extend an invitation to Hugh Howey as well as Kristine Kathryn Rusch to please come and talk to our readers about your promotional methods.