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Writing for the Reader and Not Writing to Sell to the Reader (Or, How I Fought the War with the Amazons and Won!)

Geri Clouston
More from author Jim Musgrave- When I wrote my first historical detective mystery, Forevermore, I had a clear goal in mind: I wanted to write the best story for my reader to enjoy. This is the goal of every independent author out there, and the reason I want to communicate this fact of indie publishing is that many of the "big publishing houses" are not publishing the best stories for their readers. Please allow me to elucidate. I have been published by a big publisher. It was called "Harcourt-Brace," and it was the small professional arm of the corporation, "AP Professional Press" that published my book, The Digital Scribe: A Writer's Guide to Electronic Media. Notice the quaint reference to "electronic media." Back in the late nineties, we were still bedazzled by the newness of digital technology and its "multimedia" aspect. Today, digital multimedia is part and parcel of most of the "packaged novels" that get submitted by the big agents out there. They've already looked ahead to all the money to be made on movies, computer games, translations, Chinese edited versions, ads on the walls of urinals, and on and on with the corporate merchandising aspect of business. This…

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Don’t Confuse Independent Publishing with Self-Publishing

Geri Clouston
by Judith Briles - The Book Shepherd   Indie, Independent and Small Press Publishing Are So, Soooooo Different from Self-Publishing, Vanity Presses and Pay-to-Publish "Publishing" I've said it once, I've said it a zillion times: yes, dear author-to-be (and those already published), there is a difference between self-publishing, vanity presses, pay-to-publish, a small press, and independent publishing. Don't mix them up. Don't get confused. Use Wikipedia as an initial guide: "The terms "small press", "indie publisher", and "independent press" are often used interchangeably, with "independent press" defined as publishers that are not part of large conglomerates or multinational corporations. Defined this way, these presses make up approximately half of the market share of the book publishing industry. Many small presses rely on specialization in genre fiction, poetry, or limited-edition books or magazines, but there are also thousands that focus on niche non-fiction markets." Did you read that? One-half of the market share of the book publishing industry! Do you understand what it says/means? It means most authors today whose objective is to be successful create a small or independent press. They create their own "imprints"—publishing houses only on a mini scale. Authors find that books breed books, more will come.…

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Promote your latest book with a book trailer

Geri Clouston
Words of Wisdom from Chris Robley at BookBaby- People love short videos. They're easier to watch and easier to share, and that makes them easy to talk about. One of the most fun, creative, and effective ways you can promote your new book on blogs and social media is by shooting (and then sharing) a book trailer– a video advertisement for your book similar to a film or TV trailer. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you're developing your book trailer ideas. 1. It's gotta be good! There are a lot of crappy book trailers out there. And to the big, bad, scary world of publishers, editors, critics, and agents, a crappy book trailer looks worse than NO book trailer at all. So if you're going to do it, it's worth doing right. The better your video, the more likely fans will share it, bloggers will post it, and critics will take notice. That being said, quality and budget are not always directly proportional. It's quite possible to shoot a great trailer yourself with consumer-grade gear and a little old fashioned elbow grease. Likewise, you can hire the world's most talented production team with all the…

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Blog Series on the “three Rs of Writing” #3

Geri Clouston
Finally let's deal with Respect Respect is perhaps the hardest of the three "Rs" to acquire. Being financially successful and well-known does not necessarily mean you will be respected. This is especially true for self-published authors who enter the publishing ring with one hand tied behind their backs. Although the stigma is lessening, self-published books are still not accepted by professional reviewers such as the NY Times, or accepted by prestigious writing competitions. There are a lot of well-written indie books out there; I have personally read several that are every bit as good as, or even better than, the best that the big publishing houses have to offer. It is because of this literary snobbery that self-published books are held to a higher standard. If you want to be taken seriously as an author – and assuming that you have written a good book – then you had better make sure that it is meticulously edited: copyedited at a minimum and line edited if you can afford it. Not to do so plays directly to the indie stereotype, and will doom your work to the trash heap of broken dreams and forgotten titles. Now to end this blog series…

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Blog Series on the “three Rs of Writing” #2

Geri Clouston
  Now let's deal with Recognition. You might think that recognition and wealth go hand in hand but that's not always the case. I'm sure you've heard about movies that critics loved but nobody went to see. The same applies to books. You can write a really good – possibly even great – book but it will not bring you fame and fortune unless you identify your audience and go after them. How? Find bloggers, reviewers and events that focus on your genre. Use social media to get your name and your book out there. And build a website. A good one. Some authors don't do this, which is a big mistake! You may think that if no one knows you how will they find your website? But it is a self-fulfilling prophesy – without a website how will your audience ever get to know you? Today readers want to reach out and touch you (figuratively and in some cases perhaps even literally). They want to connect with you on a personal level. You must be prepared to bare your soul to them. Websites that simply list your books won't get many return visits. In my last blog in this…

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Blog Series on the “three Rs of Writing” #1

Geri Clouston
  Writing a book – hard! Editing a book – much harder!! Making it a bestseller – nearly impossible!!! The first two require talent and commitment along with hard work and time. The third takes all of those plus introspection and honesty. You must decide which of the "three Rs of writing" you want: Reward, Recognition, Respect? Most authors (if they're being honest) would say they want all three. But they are not necessarily mutually inclusive: First let's talk about Reward. If wealth is all you seek, then you had better write romance novels – and lots of them! Many of the top selling eBooks are in this genre and most are by authors who have written more than one. There seems to be a huge and insatiable demand for them. But once you get an audience, you need to keep them by giving them more of the same and quickly. A book a year is not an option. Good romance sells! (With emphasis, of course, on the word good). When Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and best-selling author, Anna Quindlen, was asked what books we might be surprised to find on her shelves she replied: "A pretty full set of Georgette…

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IF YOU WANT OPPORTUNITY TO NOTICE, GO KNOCK ON ITS DOOR!

Geri Clouston
indieBRAG is excited to be a witnesses to/and participant in the dramatic upsurge of self-publishing. Once considered a second-class citizen (or worse) in the world of publishing, self-publishing is now a force to be reckoned with; it has awakened the heretofore sleeping giants of traditional publishing. Clear evidence of this was Penguins' acquisition of Author Solutions last year. The executives at Penguin and other traditional publishers may be arrogant but they are not stupid. They seek to create a self-sustaining and highly efficient business model in which an indie author pays them to have their book published; does all the work promoting their book; and, if/when the book somehow manages to gain some meaningful measure of recognition and success, the big boys swoop in to offer the author a contract. They have, in effect, created a give and take relationship with indie authors whereby you give and they take! Only time will tell if signing a contract with a traditional publisher is something that a successful indie author will or should want. One advantage of such a deal is that a publisher can gain distribution in retail book stores; something that indie authors have great difficulty achieving. However, as eBooks…

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FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS AND LEAVE THE ALGORITHMS TO OTHERS!

Geri Clouston
At The Media Briefing's Digital Media Strategies conference in London recently, it was reported that less than 3% of book sales on Amazon came from buyers who were simply browsing, and only 10% were derived from their "bought this/also bought" recommendations. These pale in comparison to 48% of sales from buyers who already knew the author or book they wanted, and were simply buying it online. The obvious conclusion is that most indie authors spend entirely too much time trying to get their title ranked higher by Amazon's algorithm! Instead, authors should focus on gaining name recognition. How? By connecting with their target audience: by reaching out to the people who are interested in their genre - bloggers, genre-specific websites and Facebook pages, as well as other relevant social media forums. Another interesting fact cited in London was that 17% of book sales were influenced by a book being listed on "Bestseller" or "Top 100" lists. For those indie authors who are fortunate enough to have their book placed on such a list, but find it near the bottom, another way to stand out is by having an appealing cover. This is true even if the book is only available…

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How To (Really) Sell Your Novel – The Shocking Truth

Geri Clouston
Re posted with permission of John Yeoman Originally posted on The Wicked Writing Blog Friday, April 5, 2013 Under: Libels & Wickedness   How do you sell a novel? That's the number one problem for every self-publishing author and it probably accounts for all the other numbers too. Unless your novel sells, you may well be a writer but you're not a novelist. Here are four ways that don't work. 1. Banner ads don't work. Many sites will sell you a banner, in a choice of sizes, to promote your book and each at a fancy price. None will yield a profit. You might not even get a single click-through. Why? The average click-through rate for banner ads is just three tenths of one per cent or 0.3%. That's the industry average according to imedia connections.com. So only three in 1000 people who see your banner ad will click on it. And only about 4% of those people will buy your book. (That's the average conversion-to-sale ratio at Amazon.) So you'll make just one sale for every 10,000 people who see your banner. How much will you be charged for that banner? Anything between $100 and $1000. Result: you'll lose…

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A conversation with Bestselling Author Colleen Hoover

Geri Clouston
COLLEEN HOOVER Colleen lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. She released her debut novel, SLAMMED, in January 2012 and the follow-up novel, POINT OF RETREAT, in February, 2012. Both books have been optioned for film as of October, 2012. Her bestselling Romance novel Hopeless has been on the New York Times E-Book Best Sellers list for 20 weeks! indieBRAG: Thank you, Colleen, for spending this time with us. Colleen Hoover: Thank you so much for having me. iB: You have written three very successful books in the Romance genre. I wonder if an author sets out to write in a specific genre or do they just write the book that is in them? In your case, did you choose the genre first and then create the book, or was the story already in your mind and it just happened to fit that genre? CH: When I began writing SLAMMED, I didn't even think about where it might fit if I tried to sell it. I wrote the book thinking I was going to be the only one to read it besides a few family members. Once the book was complete and I decided to upload it…

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