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

Bryan pushed through his sore throat to chat about this week's news with Jim on our 21st show. Before we got to our exclusive story about Amazon's KDP advertising program, we discussed tips on keywords, nonfiction primers for fiction books and a marketing plan that takes an hour a day. We also chatted about responses to last week's preorder question. Other stories included Kindle Unlimited going international, the total number of books on Amazon, Sports Illustrated's writing evaluation methods, the success of the New Adult genre and the growth of tablets compared to e-readers. Our Question of the Week: How do you read? Do you use an e-reader, phone, tablet, paperback, audio or something else and why?

Direct download: SMBS_21_Sound.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:34pm EDT

To celebrate hitting the big 2-0, Jim and Bryan talked in depth about KDP's new pre-order feature. Before that, they discussed last week's marketing question, a Goodreads giveaway tip, the Fancy Hands virtual assistant service and the KDP Sales Rank calculator. Other news items included the success of Paulo Coelho's social media platform, Amazon's advertising program, the most influential publishing professionals and the first month results of Kindle Unlimited. This week's Question of the Week: Will you use KDP's pre-order feature? Why or why not?

Direct download: SMBS_20_Sound.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:30am EDT

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?

Direct download: SMBS19_fini.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:48am EDT

 

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?

Direct download: Hugh_Howey_Interview_Part_2_Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:31am EDT

 

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. 

Direct download: Hugh_Howey_Interview_Part_1_Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:30am EDT

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