Ginger’s Guide to Marketing & Advertising Your Books: Part Four – PROMOTIONS
By: Ginger | Posted on November 30, 2018
Hitting ‘publish’ on your book is the biggest step in the road towards self-publishing success, but only the first one. In this final part of his four-part series, self-published author Ginger gives a top-level introduction to how to promote your book, using paid and free methods, to get as many potential customers to see it as possible. Last week, we nearly broke the website with a massive post about advertising your self-published books – and we barely scratched the surface! In fact, as reader Erin Wright pointed out, there were other advertising opportunities we hadn’t even explored in that post; like Bookbub. We’ll be revisiting options like that in both the original post and future ones – so stay tuned, and don’t be shy about letting us know what you think we missed! Today, though, we’re going to be looking at the adjacent avenue to advertising: Promotions. There’s some crossover with promotions… Read More >
More Really Good Mystery Books We’ve Reviewed Recently
By: Hidden Gems | Posted on November 27, 2018
Hidden Gems offers subscribers the chance to review FREE books each and every day, from over 15 different genres. As a continuing feature of this blog, we’ll be looking back every now and again at the best recent books from individual genres; and sharing why we liked them. Keep checking for the latest lists, and become part of the action yourself by signing up to Hidden Gems. Fall is the season for hot cocoa, crackling log fires and curling up with a good mystery book- cozy, or chilling. This fall, we’ve shared some fantastic mysteries with subscribers and have picked some of their favorites down below. Rocky Road & Revenge by Erin Huss If the hot cocoa I mentioned earlier doesn’t appeal to you, maybe some Rocky Road ice-cream will? That’s certainly the case in this book, which is the second in Erin Huss’ Cambria Clyne Mysteries. It follows smart… Read More >
Ginger’s Guide to Marketing & Advertising Your Books: Part Three – ADVERTISING
By: Ginger | Posted on November 23, 2018
Writing your book is only the (biggest) first step in the road towards self-publishing success. In a four-part series, self-published author Ginger is giving a top-level introduction to what happens next. Here in part three, he gives an overview of advertising and where you need to focus in order to get all your hard work in front of potential readers. Last week, in part two of this series, we discussed Marketing – an umbrella for all the materials and strategies you need to come up with to put your book in front of potential readers. Today, we’re drilling down into one of the two most important aspects of that; and the one that most new authors have questions about: Advertising. Advertising isn’t something that needs much explanation – each and every day you’re bombarded with countless advertisements for services and products. Advertising is and always has been a ubiquitous presence… Read More >
Author Spotlight Interview: Luke Smitherd
By: Hidden Gems | Posted on November 20, 2018
Continuing our series of author interviews, we were delighted to sit down live with Luke Smitherd, the best-selling author of The Stone Man and many other critically-acclaimed and popular novels. One of the defining characteristics of the novels of Luke Smitherd is that they defy easy classification – which is somewhat true of himself, too. A former singer and guitarist – well-liked for his traveling homage to the likes of Michael Buble – Luke also played his hand as a professional darts play, commercial copywriter and much, much more. Today he’s a full-time writer with a loyal following who enjoy his unique and thought-provoking books; which I once described as “Stephen Kings meets Ben Elton.” Luke very kindly sat and chatted with us live, and here’s what he had to say: HG: Luke – your books aren’t easy to pin down as a specific genre, although you’ll often find them… Read More >
Ginger’s Guide to Marketing & Advertising Your Books: Part Two – MARKETING
By: Ginger | Posted on November 16, 2018
As we discussed in part one, actually writing your book is only the first step of your journey as a self-published author. The path to success has many hurdles, but our four-part series aims to clear them all away. In this week’s installment, veteran self-published author Ginger dives in deep, giving you everything you need to know about how to market your book effectively. Last week, I spoke about the importance of marketing and advertising when it comes to your self-publishing career, and recently that’s become more important than ever. In the past, every book page you visited on Amazon was stuffed with thumbnails of ‘also boughts’ – books that were purchased by the same customers who bought the book you’re looking at. Being included in that list was a fantastic – and totally free – way to drive potential customers to your own book. In the last few weeks, Amazon… Read More >
Best Romance Books Recently Reviewed
By: Hidden Gems | Posted on November 13, 2018
Each day, subscribers to Hidden Gems are sent the opportunity to review hundreds of complimentary books spanning more than 15 different genres – and have become well-known for the honest reviews they choose to leave. A continuing feature on this blog is a periodic highlight of some true ‘Hidden Gems’ our subscribers discovered, and why you might want to check them out yourself. Keep checking back for the latest lists, categorized by genre, and learn about some of the best books that we’ve sent out. Or, join our list of readers and help discover future gems yourself! It’s always the season for romance – but as the winters cool down, more and more people like to warm up with a nice steamy read! In September, Hidden Gems subscribers received the opportunity to read and review a plethora of the best romance books around – and we picked ten from the list which… Read More >
Ginger’s Guide to Marketing & Advertising Your Books: Part One
By: Ginger | Posted on November 9, 2018
Actually writing your book is only the first part of your journey as a self-published author. You’ll have to think about a lot more on your road to success, but resident author Ginger is here to lay it all out for you. This is part one of a four part series, and below Ginger shares some of the basic techniques you need to understand in order to get your book in front of the eyes of potential customers. Links to the next installments are posted at the bottom of this article. Okay, so you’ve written and published a book – that’s the hard part, right? Well – yes and no. Once your book is in print, it’s important to get as many pairs of eyes on it as possible. For a lot of new authors, though, they have no idea where to start – and not much money to waste… Read More >
Author Spotlight Interview: C. J. Tudor
By: Hidden Gems | Posted on November 6, 2018
Hidden Gems regularly tries to sit down with some of the most exciting authors in print today, and although we (barely) missed Halloween – we still have a super-spooky writer to chat with today. C. J. Tudor is the author of The Chalk Man – a horror story so chilling that Stephen King himself recommended it. She kindly spared us some time to talk about her writing journey, inspirations, and what she’s working on next. Those who know author C.J. Tudor in real life call her ‘Caz’ – and this British-born writer had a plethora of careers before her lifetime of writing finally led to the publication of The Chalk Man in January of this year. The Chalk Man is a breathtaking horror debut and you don’t need to take our word for that (although we did recommend it back in August). The sovereign of modern horror himself, the inimitable Stephen King,… Read More >
Tax Tips: When Should An Independent Publisher Use A 1099?
By: John Endris | Posted on November 2, 2018
With tax season approaching, authors in the USA have to start worrying about the IRS and various forms they need to fill out – especially if they aren’t making enough money to warrant hiring an accountant to handle it all for them. One of the forms that independent publishers have to think about most is the 1099, and when it should or shouldn’t be used. That’s why we’ve asked John Endris, a guy who wrote the book on this sort of stuff, to give us all a quick primer. Most independent publishers cannot afford to hire editors, cover artists, and assistants as a full or even part time employee. Therefore, they usually maintain a network of independent contractors (IC) to do these jobs for them. Like them, those workers are also small businesses, who have the same ability to make a profit or sustain a loss. Since they are also… Read More >
