Best Seller » book marketing

Book Promotion Video Shows Cover Design Tricks

warrenwhitlock — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:34:30 +0000

Here’s a fun way to let the world in on your upcoming book. The video is a look at the work required to create a book cover

Blameless, but Gail Carriger, debuts in April.

del.icio.us Tags: blamelss,gail carriger,book cover marketing,book promoiton video,online promotion

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Microsoft Gives Us Another Step Toward Paperless Books

warrenwhitlock — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:13:46 +0000

From EnGadget Microsoft’s Courier ‘digital journal’: exclusive pictures and details

We’ve been dying to know more about Microsoft’s Courier tablet / e-book device ever since we first caught wind of it last September, and while our entreaties to Mr. Ballmer went unanswered, we just learned some very interesting information from an extremely trusted source. We’re told Courier will function as a "digital journal," and it’s designed to be seriously portable: it’s under an inch thick, weighs a little over a pound, and isn’t much bigger than a 5×7 photo when closed. That’s a lot smaller than we expected — this new picture really puts it into perspective — and the internals apparently reflect that emphasis on mobility: rather than Windows 7, we’re told the Courier is built on Tegra 2 and runs on the same OS as the Zune HD, Pink, and Windows Mobile 7 Series, which we’re taking to mean Windows CE 6.

Numbers An Author Should Know

warrenwhitlock — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:57:16 +0000

We know that bookstores, publishers and old media are in trouble.

But not authors. There are more outlets begging for content than ever before. If you know a subject well enough to create a book, you are going to do just fine.. if you cater to the exploding global audience.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

del.icio.us Tags: book marketing online,internet content,blogs,facebook authors,writing social media,social media growth,networking,creaing onlne content,best seller books

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The Magic Bullet For Getting Publicity

warrenwhitlock — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:49:00 +0000

One question that comes up over and over in the hundreds of interviews I did last year.

“How can a author get known when nobody knows about them?”

I thought you might like to know the answer.. quite simply, it’s the one thing that successful best selling authors do that most others miss…

I use this story of my friend Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Hold, on.. Did you see what I did there? … Mark has sold many millions of copies of his book series yet insists that I introduce him as “co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series”. Why? Because, believe it or not, there are many people who don’t know who he is.

Mark and partner Jack Canfield did many things to boost their book from “a cute pile of stories” to the record breaking success it is today. You could say that the one thing was persistence on multiple fronts.

And then there is that Magic Bullet I promised you…

You have to keep doing this one thing for as long as you want to sell a lot of books. I know it’s the key to separating yourself from all other authors and media competing for your reader’s attention.

Keep doing publicity interviews everyday… every single day

Don’t dismiss this with a “yeah, I know that and I try to…”

How Many Interviews Have You Done This Month?

Let’s get serious for just a moment. This is your career we’re talking about.

Do you have a daily habit of booking more interviews?

Mark and Jack do 5 interviews each and every day to promote a book… and they started this back when we didn’t have tens of thousands of online radio talk shows, teleseminars and millions of blogs looking (sometime begging) for content.

I asked Mark how he booked so many interviews. He explained that they paid retainers to multiple booking agencies and spent heavily to get started. He still retains a publicist today.

Howver, there now are some low cost and FREE resources that will get you started.

Just follow this plan.

How to Get a Ton of FREE Publicity.

I’ve taught this system to hundreds of authors. The ones who follow these simple steps get free publicity. It will take a little while to get results, but once you do this, you’ll be well on your way to continued publicity.

Start with the mindset that you must do this. Only you can be you
Sign up for Author Media Connection. A FREE resource will get you tons of leads
Contact reporters as soon as you receive the daily email
Follow up on email, phone, etc. No excuse that you are too busy.. This has to be done
Ask for referrals from everyone in your network

Once you get started, you’ll want to add more resources and get some help to filter all the leads or book your schedule. If you have an assistant, you can speed up the process, however you can get started yourself. I’ve booked myself on hundreds of shows, speaking gigs and press just by following the steps above.

Don’t wait till your book is done, or till it comes out, or till you have more time… that will not happen.

Make a decision. You want the world to get your message, this is the magic bullet that will propel you to the reach more readers, boost your book to best seller status, and leverage your career success.

Author Media Connection is a FREE service from my friends Steve and Bill Harrison. They know author publicity and have the connections to accelerate everything you do.

The one thing you must to do use this magic bullet.. Click now and start getting more media leads.

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Manage Your EBooks To Reach More Readers

warrenwhitlock — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:37:00 +0000

More than a decade ago, while working in the computer hardware industry, I saw some data on the trajectory of screen resolution and capacities for the future.

Many pundits were saying that screens as good as paper were coming very soon, but one smart futurist showed us a graph of memory and processor capacities, the number of pixels and resolutions of display materials and just what it would take to have screens that weren’t a strain on eyes and cheap enough to be ubiquitously available.

The DATE for his chart where all of this came together was 2010.

Recent announcement of Apple’s iPad, improvements in Amazon Kindle devices and a multitude of other readers confirm what we’ve known is coming… That feeling that books are a better way to read is going to start fading away.

You may be like the hundreds of authors and readers I’ve talked to over the past decade who claim that they will never enjoy reading on a computer as much as holding a book. Culturally, that makes sense. We’ve had decades of lousy screens and centuries of wonderful books.

Book aren’t going away anytime soon. However, every author should get ready for a much more rapid growth in eBook and alternative electronic distribution.

We’ve been advising clients to get an eBook reader, try out the technologies.. see where the clash among format, digital rights management, hardware vendors and publisher is moving. Feel for yourself where the market is going.

One of the last big hurdles has been the complaint that you don’t get to own a hard cover book when you purchase an eBook.. and must rely on the storage system that too often breaks down.

That’s changing too.

Watch what Calibre Ebook Management Software has to offer.

Technorati Tags: ipad,apple,amazon,kindle,Calibre,ebook reader,ebook manager,best seller books,author promotion,book marketing online

I suggest downloading a copy to manage all those downloads you can’t find on your hard drive. You may still not ever read them, but just watching this video, I could see real progress from the tools I was using just a few years back.

Apple got us all using MP3 when they got the iPod right.. Maybe they will do this for books.. maybe not.

What do you think?

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Is This the Worst Business Letter Ever?

warrenwhitlock — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:25:18 +0000

I know I’ve said it before.. calling a inane letter or email the worst ever.. so I won’t proclaim that here.

Then again, this one is certainly a candidate:

Hi, Warren.

GuiltyInc has been talking with your company intermittently about helping address your company’s vague requirements. I am currently planning a trip to your area in March. Is it possible for us to meet to talk about your vague strategy?

GuiltyInc is the largest vague firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. Since we are very familiar with your company’s products and technology, I think we might be able to contribute meaningfully to your vague program.

If you feel it would be better for me to talk with one of your colleagues, I would appreciate your letting me know the name of the appropriate person to contact and forwarding this email.

Thank you for your help and I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

GuiltyInc Rep

I’ve changed the company name to GuiltyInc and their vague description of what they do to vague.. not to protect them, just to keep us from discussing that technology. But trust me when I tell you that there is no way that they know anything about my “products and technology” as I don’t have such things!

I imagine that you could look through your standard business letter books and find this letter as a template. The sender likely spent as little time putting in their company name as I did changing it to post here.

Don’t Be a Dull Salesperson When You Talk About Your Book

I’m a firm believer in sending cover letter, introductory emails and any other means of getting you and your book in front of prospects for publicity or sales. Just remember, we all get tons of spam, bad letter and inane requests. It take just a moment to be real and open a dialog with people.

Just use my marketing mantra .. listen and love

1) Find out something unique about your prospects. They have a web site or blog, read it first.

2) Comment to let them know you read up on them.

We all know that people approaching us have business interests and selling desires. We accept that if you have just a modicum of personality. If you can approach the media, book distributors, prospects yourself, do this and you’ll get better results. If you have someone helping you, teach this to them.

Whatever you do, don’t put this off because you think there is more important things to do. You are asking for a human being to allot some of their time to listen to you. They deserve this much attention.

Best of all, the return on investment here is immense. Spending a few extra seconds yourself, or paying your help to add real person al contact will pay off 100x

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Calling All Aspiring Authors

warrenwhitlock — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:21:57 +0000

Last night was the launch of the International Association of Aspiring Authors.

The program was kicked of with a webinar with publishing industry trainers and I was included to talk about social media and book marketing.

You can view or listen to the presentation here

Are you aspiring to be an author? Start with the FREE Book Marketing Strategy Course for Authors I gave away during the call. As a reader of Best Seller Book Marketing Blog, you get it too.

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Get More Buzz For Your Book With Google Buzz

warrenwhitlock — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:56:00 +0000

There are so many social media tools, sites and systems coming online that an author might think about a wait and see approach

Please don’t fall in this trap.

The world is moving so fast that you really need to budget some time to catch a wave as soon as possible. You will need to manage your time.. social media is not a replacement for all other marketing.

Use Google Buzz to Jump Start Your Social Media Plan

Announced just two days ago, Google’s BUZZ has been tried out by 10 million users and updated

If you have been holding back on other social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.. Google Buzz might be just the thing you need to jump start your social media marketing for you and your book.

Signing up is easy.. if you have a Google Talk or Gmail account, you likely already have seen it. If now, now is a good time to get one (FREE).

Publishing is not a one-way street any more. Smart authors are learning to listen to the readers, research their market, establish connections and get quick feedback on ideas.

Have you tried Google Buzz? Connect with Warren Whitlock on Google Buzz and share your experiences via Twitter and comments here.Popular Posts:

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein Is Annoying

warrenwhitlock — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:05:58 +0000

I just heard that the search term “elizabeth potts weinstein is annoying” can get you to the always entertaining Elizabeth Potts Weinstein blog site.

According to her web site, Elizabeth is:

My full name is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, and I empower solo entrepreneurs to live their truth in their businesses & lives. I’m also a mom, attorney, author, speaker, entrepreneur, video blogging addict, lover of passion, tweetup connoisseur, people loving introvert, and truth evangelist. To keep up with me,subscribe to this blog or follow me on Twitter!

Is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein annoying?

I don’t think so.

She may have done a few annoying things. (check out the Elizabeth Potts Weinstein blog to see for yourself) but I’m pretty sure that you could search for just about any combination of words starting with Elizabeth Potts Weinstein and get similar results.

The photo shown here notwithstanding, I don’t think Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is annoying.

Authors Can Learn From Elizabeth Potts Weinstein

It wasn’t long ago that Elizabeth Potts Weinstein was just another awesome author that I didn’t know. She started engaging me in conversations… some of it silly, some of it about whatever the topic of the day was, but always insightful and fun to read.

She started blogging a few months ago and shared some interesting photos and experiences along with a good dose of wise advice for her readers. The momentum started to grow.

Now I read much of what Elizabeth Potts Weinstein has to say and consider her a friend. Yesterday, she was commenting on the odd search queries people have used to find her blog (are you looking for these.. you can learn a lot about what readers are looking for) and tweeted a message about the “Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is annoying” query used by one person to find her blog.

Not the kind of self promotion you’d expect for an author to use but it worked. Here’s the proof, a post on my own blog inviting you to read more about Elizabeth Potts Weinstein and see for yourself if she is annoying.

What are you doing to stand out online?

Share your comments below. Who knows, we might find something useful you never would have imagined using for self promotion of your book, blog.Popular Posts:

How to be a Superhuman Author

warrenwhitlock — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:53:00 +0000

Today, more than ever, it’s important for authors to share lots of fresh content with their readers.

Blog posts, articles, information products, presentations. How do you get it all done?

My output has gone up by 3x since I started adding told like Evernote. Here’s a fun video showing how elephants in the clouds help you remember everything.

You readers expect to be in contact with you.. asking questions and getting a fast response. As you become better known online, this demand will continue.

Let’s all step up our game. I’ve put Evernote on all my machines and updated other systems and tools that I will share here soon (thanks in no small part to Evernote).

What are you doing to step up your content creation schedule this year?

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A Touch Screen for Your Kindle?

warrenwhitlock — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:26:56 +0000

Coming to the Kindel?

The New York Times reported

Touchco uses a technology called interpolating force-sensitive resistance, which it puts into displays that can be completely transparent and could cost as little as $10 a square foot. The capacitive touch screens used in the iPad and iPhone are considerably more expensive. Unlike those screens, the Touchco screens can also detect an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points.

The e-ink technology used in today’s Kindle products is much easier on the eyes than the lighted displays of most devices but we know that on screen viewing will continue to improve.

Do you need color on your book reading app?Popular Posts:

The Draw of Books. Why Your Readers MUST BUY

warrenwhitlock — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:27:15 +0000

When asked about the power of books, especially in this era of ebooks and supposedly less reading, I point the stats or 570,000 books published each year and the irresistable draw we have to book stores.

Best seller books will be most of what catches a reader’s eye becuase they are in heavy distribution and reader recognize the names. Once they do.. many readers can’t help but to pick up a copy. It’s what Daniel Pink calls Intrinsic Motavation (Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us)

Here’s one fun review of what happens to a reader when they see interesting titles.

It’s NOT just a question of whether you book is a good read (it better be).. but how many places readers can see you and your bookPopular Posts:

What Drives You To Succeed?

warrenwhitlock — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:02:05 +0000

New York Times Best Selling Author Daniel Pink says that most people are note motivated by the 20th Century carrot and stick management we’ve all grown up with and would do our best when was have

Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose

as our goals.

I just finished reading Pink’s lates book “Drive” and WOW!.. this is a must read for authors and entrepreneurs on what motivates people today (actually, always has).

Be sure to check out Daniel Pink’s book marketing.. his blog, web sites and media show him to be following what I teach as “Listen and Love”.. a two way communication between authors and readers.

Here’s one example of many online videos from Daniel Pink

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.Popular Posts:

Who Controls What Price You Get For a Book?

warrenwhitlock — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:13:29 +0000

Reading more on the Amazon/Macmillin dispute and the old school bullying tactics both are using in the fight.

I’ve stated in previous posts my position.. I think the consumer (readers) will ultimately control what price we can sell a book for.

Amazon is letting the market decide.

Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the “big six” publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

Thank you for being a customer

What do you think?Popular Posts:

Pricing Changes for Amazon eBooks

warrenwhitlock — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:04:48 +0000

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The $9.99 best seller that helped Amazon.com Inc. build a dominant position in the now-thriving e-book market was at risk of extinction Sunday after Amazon capitulated in a battle sparked by the launch of Apple Inc.’s new iPad.

Amazon conceded defeat Sunday evening after halting sales of all books published by Macmillan in a dispute over higher e-book prices. Having made the $9.99 e-book a fixture, Amazon now faces the prospect of raising its prices to match new terms Apple is offering publishers.

This is not over folks. We’re going to see a continued power play from the old school publishers as the Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad and others take over the market.

As we discussed here, the winner will be the player that controls distribution. Will that be the traditional publishers?Popular Posts: