A Failure Primer
I've heard a lot of authors lately complain about their failing sales. Heck, even Mark Dawson was complaining that his sales have dropped. Explanations range from the impact of politics--from the midterms to the American President's antipathy toward books and...
Infographic: Sell More Books Using the 6 Principles of Influence
IceCube Marketing has recently shared an infographic that explains how to use six principles of influence in online marketing. These can be of special interest to authors, as they are aimed specifically at digital sales and come with simple-to-follow ideas for using...
Free Story: Shh—the Baby’s Sleeping
In April, I posted my thousandth post on this blog. To celebrate, I will share here all my short stories. Every couple of weeks, I'll be posting one story from my celebrated Exciting Destinies series for you to enjoy. With over 30 stories so far, I hope you'll have...
Goodbye, Google+
Google+, Google's answer to Facebook, announced a few days ago in a simple blog post that the company will be "sunsetting consumer Google+." Almost hidden within talk of Project Strobe (a sort of audit for third-party apps and data privacy) was this simple...
So, you’ve Moved your Books to KDP Print. Now What?
Last month, I shared here the details of moving my books from CreateSpace to KDP Print in 3 easy steps. I also promised to see if there's anything else you need to do next. Amazon has done all it can to ensure an easy move but it turns out that yes, there are still...
This Halloween, Escape to Greece with an Evil Witch
This month, Amazon bestselling author Effrosyni Moschoudi is releasing her new novel in four compelling kindle episodes. If you’re looking for a cracking good read to enjoy this Halloween, this is a great choice! Lizzie waited twenty years for her return to Corfu......
How to Follow your Dreams through Writing
Getting started with a writing project can be daunting. It is difficult to know if the ideas in your head will look any good on paper, and whether anybody else will want to read them once they’re written down. It can be especially intimidating when you’re starting a...
Electra on Izzy
This is a guest post by none other than the missus herself, who insisted she offers her side of the story. You may remember Electra from her popular post, The life of an author as lived by his wife (or husband) - an expose of this author's life (and...
KDP Keywords Revisited
Readers of my blog will no doubt be aware of the importance of the categories and keywords your book uses. From using Amazon categories to increase your rankings to the perils of using keywords like Free, Bestseller, and Kindle, they can be used to optimize your book...
Steven Pruitt, Unsung Wikipedia Hero
Steven Pruitt reminds me of an archetypal superhero: mild-mannered federal contractor for information management with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the mornings. WikiGnome -- a wiki user who makes useful incremental edits without clamoring for attention -- at...
How to Optimize your Book Page on Amazon
This post is based on an article I helped write for SearchNurture titled How to Hit Your Target ACoS on Amazon. Optimizing your Book Page Amazon is, in effect, a giant search engine of products. To ensure that your book shows up first, you must target specific...
Using Kindle Create to Create your Manuscript
Like most of us, I suspect, I upload to Amazon my Word Doc whenever I have a new book or wish to make changes to a previously published one. However, there is a way that gives you far better control over the finished product, while being user-friendly enough for most...