This week I published a side project – a book I hadn’t planned to write but developed in under 1 month – as a way to test out some things. I was motivated to write it because a group of my Facebook friends were putting a joint promotion of productivity and time-management titles. I didn’t
I wanted to participate in Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) so I offered to do some book covers for Nanowrimo authors. Here are the results. I did them all in under one day, so they aren’t my finest work, but some of them are plenty good enough to use. I made duplicates of a few.
I keep telling people to make their books free, followed by 99cents, and they keep ignoring me. So here’s a short case study to show how freaking effective pricing hacks can be for dominating Amazon. Take a look at #2 up there, the “Feel Good Myth.” Prime real estate you couldn’t even buy –
I see a lot of small publishing companies and book publicity “experts” offering book marketing packages that look something like this: Standard Author website Fan e-mail list for your website Social media accounts with weekly updates (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+) Search engine optimization Book listing on Goodreads...
Hopefully you’ve figured out that you want your authors website to sell books. Maybe you also know you need to get people to sign up to your email list somehow. But here are 5 other important things you’ve probably never thought about. 1. Get out of the way You’re a writer, not a photographer or
If you are publishing a book and thinking about getting an author website designed, you probably having something fancy in mind – something glossy and sleek and professional, fully customized to match your brand and genre and book. Something totally amazing. Because that’s what all the bestselling authors with big platforms...
My friend Amy (@ALSVossler) emailed recently to tell me about a My Little Pony episode she’d been watching. I’ll let her give you the details: “I found myself thinking, “Oh my goodness! This is Derek Murphy’s life in My Little Pony format!” “The premise is that a dress designer generously agrees to make...
I wrote recently about why you should use WordPress for your author website. Now allow me to recommend some themes that might work for you. But first, let me make sure you’re in the right place: #1. You are not a celebrity If you are, then you can make a totally personalized expensive website with
For the last couple of years I’ve been helping authors market books. But I haven’t really offered book marketing services. That’s because the best marketing is done by you. There are some things you can outsource, and you could pay for advertising or promotions, but real, long-term, successful, author platform building...
I spent months working on my first novel. When I was halfway finished, I sent email queries to some literary agents, and got a few positive emails back and even a phone call based on my pitch. But the project festered, I couldn’t wrap it up, I didn’t know how to develop it. I
This is an older post, but my position is unchanged: I’ve even seen this strategy adopted from people with large platforms: Get the ebook out quick, make sure it sells and leave time to fix stray typos, or unclear passages (edit/add depending on reader feedback and reviews. THEN make a very nice, perfect print book
I almost, but then didn’t, start writing a novel this November. I’ve got way too much to do. But I did hire two writers to work on my book ideas for me, which is thrilling. And I want to do something fun to participate in the NaNoWrimo movement – which is a huge and
