Bryan and Jim reunited in this week's Sell More Books Show. After discussing last week's episode (which featured author Hugh Howey), the dynamic duo talked reading, Ted Saves the World's recent launch, critique groups, email lists and the storytelling app Episode. While Amazon's Readers Unite campaign was the top story, we also talked same-day book delivery services, Big 5 e-profits, subscription services and selling direct. This week's Question of the Week: What's the #1 thing you've done to market your books in the last 30 days?

In part two of the show, Bryan and author Hugh Howey went into this week's news. Stories included reports of an Amazon mobile credit card reader, Dean Wesley Smith's writing in public project, how to improve your craft as a writer, J.A. Konrath's ideal Authors Guild and Amazon's latest press release on book pricing in the Hachette negotiations. Hugh also presented this week's Question of the Week: How many hours a week do you put into reading? Do you consider it part of your job as an author or is it a passion project? How has that reading impacted your writing?

In the longest Sell More Books Show to date, Bryan co-hosted the show this week with best-selling indie author Hugh Howey while Jim was fly fishing in Montana. Before we got into the Tip of the Week, Hugh talked about marketing as an introvert and how YouTube videos help him to connect with readers. The tips included tactics related to release strategy, BookBub and Kindle Unlimited. Bryan and Hugh went into depth discussing what's next for Hugh Howey and Data Guy's Author Earnings project. 

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. 

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. 

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?

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?

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.

While Jim spent all day recording videos for a college course, Bryan and guest co-host Shelley Hitz from TrainingAuthors.com stepped in to deliver this week's news. There was a big focus this episode on forging a personal connection with your readers whether it be through encouraging fans to email you, using social media or contacting librarians to get your books in the stacks. Other topics included using Microsoft Word to create book covers, Google Alerts, the news analysts are missing about the publishing industry, getting featured on BookBub and the myth that authors have missed the indie publishing boat. We also debuted a new feature: The Question of the Week. How do you connect personally with your readers? Let us know via email or through the comments on our website.