In my family, my beautiful wife is known as “Ashley the Wonderful.” I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a lucky man who totally out-kicked his coverage. However, most people don’t know that the first time I asked Ashley for a date, she said “no.” After that initial rejection, I remember seeing her in
Archives for August 2015
3 Marketing Mistakes A-Level Authors Make
In today’s publishing industry, it’s common for 80% of a publisher’s book sales to come from its top 20% bestselling authors. These “A-level” authors are treasured for their ability to write and market books that sell 100,000 – 1,000,000 copies or more. Plus, their platforms are so strong that their presence at a book-signing or
The 10 Commandments of Book Marketing
Behold, the 10 commandments of book marketing for authors and publishers. Are you breaking any? Thou shalt: 1. Tell people about the results your books create, not just the topics you write about. 2. Test your manuscript on focus groups and get actual success stories before you publish your book. 3. Avoid coveting another author’s
Why Smart Publishers Build Bad Websites
When you compare the online traffic to a news website versus a publisher website, who gets the most visitors? Think the New York Times and Fox News versus HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. The news websites get way more traffic. It’s not even close. Yet, both groups create massive amounts of content that people enjoy
Publishers: Avoid Grading an Author’s Social Media Status
When I was in college, my initial major was landscape design and architecture. For some strange reason, I had visions of designing golf courses with fancy clubhouses around the world. But, my dream was crushed as a sophomore student when I was graded on our biggest project of the year. I was given the task