The Sell More Books Show: Book Marketing, Digital Publishing and Kindle News, Tools and Advice

 

We went deeper into discussions about the subscription model this week on episode #17 of the podcast. Jim and Bryan also talked about a recent Apple acquisition, the Horror Writers Assocation's decision to include indies and Author Earnings' latest report on Nook. Other topics included creating your social media marketing plan, segmenting your email list and selling your first standalone novel. Our biggest news may have been our guest co-host for next week's show: Hugh Howey! Hugh will sub in for Jim on episode #18. Our Hugh-skewing question of the week: What do you think of Author Earnings? Comment on our website or give us a call at (206) 338-0092. 

Direct download: SMBS_17_Sound.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:30am EDT

 

This episode was jam-packed with news, including the biggest story of the week: Amazon's release of the Kindle Unlimited service. The latest Author Earnings report, Steve Scott's massive second quarter, Facebook's new "Buy It Now" button and Apple's conditional $450 million settlement also made the news. Jim and Bryan chatted about sharable content, 15-minute marketing techniques and using Amazon's customer forums to host Q&As. We also unveiled our new voicemail feature allowing listeners to call into the show. You can leave a voice message at 206-338-0092 and we might play your message on the show. 

Direct download: episode16cut.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:30am EDT

After a tiny chat about exercising while writing, we discussed awards, titles and prices during a jam-packed show. The tips of the week included focused emails to your subscribers, hunting down the best blogs in your genre and Twitter's new pinning feature. Our news stories involved Konrath and Eisler vs. the Authors Guild, the importance of awards for indies, Amazon's new KDP pricing feature, the recent U.K. author earnings study and what you need to do to become the CEO of your own author company. Jim also had some Yoda-like wisdom about how to motivate yourself to work hard on your business. In our Question of the Week we asked: Have you ever applied for an indie author award, and if so, why did you do it?

Direct download: episode15cut.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:41am EDT

We discussed multiple angles of the indie movement on this week's show, including going direct, crowdfunding and the path toward becoming mainstream. Some themes that came up multiple times were coming up with your own marketing ideas and giving your fans a choice over what you give them. We also discussed iBooks tips, trading for blurbs, turning your blog into a book, the new Reading Rainbow, making the first book in a series free and Digital Book Day. Jim also took you behind the scenes of the Sell More Books Show and presented a question of the week: If you had the option of asking your readers what your next book or series should be about, would you use it? Why or why not?

Direct download: episode14.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:42am EDT

For Jim's return, we discussed how the big five publishers are using libraries to sell books and analytics to to tell an incomplete story.  Our tips included using author groups, Booktrack and Marketing Grader to strengthen your platform. We also talked about France's "Anti-Amazon Law," the traditional publishing version of Hugh Howey and the new indie authors involved in Amazon's Kindle Worlds. Jim and Bryan finished off the program answering last week's question and posing a new question on libraries selling books.

Direct download: show13_fini.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:20am EDT

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