MOVING TO A NEW HOME
The articles related to Self Publishing and marketing on KarenBaney.com are moving to a new home: My Author Services - a new site run by Karen and her husband, Jim, to help authors learn the Business of Writing.
Karen loves sharing advice with writers and often writes articles with marketing tips, information on self publishing, and general writing tips.
Tech Phoenix Presentation
Presentation from Tech Phoenix – Self Publishing 101 presented by Karen Baney at Tech Phoenix, Nov. 10, 2012
Sales & Marketing
7 Ways to Market Your eBook – Seven different tips on book marketing.
500 Books in 12 Hours: Look for Unique Marketing Opportunities - My experience marketing a novel on EReaderNewsToday.
Affiliate Programs – Link to my guest post on Joshua Bedford’s site about why authors should use affiliate programs for marketing their books.
Author Marketing Guide - List of different marketing avenues for authors including the type of marketing, goal of using that avenue, sales generation rating, and cost.
Author Marketing Guide 2.0 – What you need to know about online advertising, including a list of places to advertise.
Are You Leaving Money On The Table? A Must Have Distribution Channel - Concrete numbers from a study on my sales by distribution channel.
Defining A Target Audience – Why defining a target audience is important for authors during the writing process and marketing process. Tips on how to define a target audience.
eReader Trends – InfoGraphics labs was kind enough to let me use some of their graphics and research from early 2012 about trends in the eReader market, buying habits of eReader owners, etc. Great market research info to help any author understand their readers better.
Finding and Working With Book Reviewers - tips on how to find and work with book reviewers.
How To Avoid A Black Hole? Ways to Maximize Author Internet Presence - Things for authors to consider when setting up social media accounts, websites, etc., to help maximize their internet presence and make it easier for readers to find them.
How To Double Your Sales - Tips on three key things I did that resulted in my sales doubling month over month for a three month period, including sales information.
How To Price Your eBook - A practical approach for authors to determine how to price an eBook and come up with a pricing strategy.
Managing Your Brand - tips for authors on how to maximize their internet presence and how to avoid black holes (or leaving the reader wanting to buy your book but not giving them a way to buy it).
I Can’t Buy It, If I Can’t Find It – Targeted marketing tips to help authors reach readers.
The Business of Writing: Marketing Mix (Part 1) - A discussion on the first two “P”s of marketing: Product & Price
The Business of Writing: Marketing Mix (Part 2) - A discussion on the final two “P”s of marketing: Place (Distribution) & Promotion
Tracking Your Sales – Helpful ideas on how and what to track regarding your sales and what to do with the information.
Twitter Hash Tags For Authors - Common twitter hashtags that are helpful for authors to promote their books.
Work Smarter Not Harder: Quick Marketing Wins for Authors - A short list of marketing quick wins for authors
Self Publishing
15 Easy Steps For Publishing Your Book To Kindle - Step by step guide for publishing a book to Kindle.
eReader Trends - InfoGraphics labs was kind enough to let me use some of their graphics and research from early 2012 about trends in the eReader market, buying habits of eReader owners, etc. Great market research info to help any author understand their readers better.
Links Every SelfPub Author Should Know – Links to: retailer websites, ebook distributors, finding graphic designers, finding editors, where to advertise, and more!
My Kindle Is On Fire - My feedback on what I like and don’t like about my new Kindle Fire.
Paperback Formatting Guidelines for Self Publishers – Tips on how to make a professional looking paperback edition of your self published book.
Retailer Market Share – Is Amazon really #1? Check out this article on the different retailer market shares as of 3/20/2012.
Should You Self Publish? - How to decide when a manuscript is ready for publication.
Why I Self Publish - Reasons why I decided to self publish.
Pricing
Emotionless Pricing - Pricing Strategy and tips to help take the emotion out of pricing.
How To Price Your eBook - A practical approach for authors to determine how to price an eBook and come up with a pricing strategy.
Kindle Select / KDP Select
While I’m no longer participating in the KDP Select program, I believe there is some value in doing so for new releases and / or new authors. Here’s several articles on the topic. In April or May of 2012, Amazon changed their algorithms for their Paid and Free best seller lists, so some of the results described in these article are much more difficult to achieve.
Maximize Free Days on Kindle Select - Checklist and tips on how to prepare for your free days on Kindle Select.
The Pros and Cons of KDP Select - My experience at the end of the 90-day exclusive period and why I decided to part ways with KDP Select.
Writing & Researching
Dialogue: Common Mistakes Part 1 - Avoid overusing character names in dialogue.
Dialogue: Common Mistakes Part 2 - Misuse of unspoken words as a tag for dialogue.
Dialogue: Common Mistakes Part 3 - He said, she said Merry Go Round
Dialogue: Common Mistakes Part 4 - Perfect English syndrome.
Difference in Writing Historical vs Contemporary – Tips on things to consider when writing a historical novel.
Executing A Solid Plot - Avoid meaningless word count filler.
Research Tips and Tricks for Museums - How I used my iPhone and Evernote to gather research notes at a museum.
Show vs. Tell - Using “show” techniques in writing to engage the reader versus “telling” the reader something happened.
Writing Faith in Fiction - Tips on how to integrate faith elements into a novel seamlessly without preaching to the reader.