Is Your Author Brand Trustworthy?
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April 13, 2021

You may resist the idea that as an author you are a brand. It sounds so commercial, so corporate, so corny. But remember publishing is a business, and people buy books based on what they think about an author. Your brand becomes your reputation. “A brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room,” Jeff Bezos is credited with saying…. [Read More]

Audit Your Author Platform
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February 18, 2020

Whether you are preparing to launch your new book, still writing the manuscript, or marketing your book a year after its release, you can’t ignore the importance of your author platform for your success as an author. Today you need to demonstrate to a publisher you have built a big enough platform to sell a sufficient number of books before they’ll offer you a contract…. [Read More]

Knitting Together Your Social Media Strategy
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June 25, 2019

Ravelry is a social media platform with 8 million members of the knitting and crochet community. It’s a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, felters, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, and patterns, and share ideas and inspiration. Knitting has always been a part of my life. Grandma Swenson knit me Barbie Doll outfits out of fine sock yarn. I learned to… [Read More]

Who is Your Reader?
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December 11, 2018

Every writer hopes to captivate an audience. But who are you writing to? When you write a letter, you address your reader directly. When you write a speech, you anticipate a particular group of listeners. If you write a news article, you have a strong sense of who the readers will be, and your writing reflects your grasp of how best to address their subscribers…. [Read More]

Positioning your Product
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March 20, 2018

Publishing is a business. Books are products. When you want to publish your book you need to understand that you are introducing a new product into a crowded market with decreasing demand. The number of books published each year has exploded. The average number of sales for each book continues to decline, despite the increasing number of titles published. For every spot available in bookstore… [Read More]

GoodReads Begins Charging for Giveaways
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February 6, 2018

On January 9, 2018, the social media site for readers, GoodReads.com, changed its policy regarding Giveaways. What used to be an inexpensive and clever marketing tool for books is now a new revenue stream for GoodReads, which is owned by Amazon. GoodReads, established in 2007, had more than 65 million members registered in 2017. Until Amazon purchased GoodReads in 2013, it was a rival to… [Read More]

What to blog about?
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January 23, 2018

Does an author really need to blog? Not necessarily. If you are writing fiction or a children’s storybook, probably not. If you’re writing nonfiction or memoir, probably so. To answer the question, you must ask yourself whether you can reach the audience who will buy your book with a blog. Children rarely make consumer choices about books, but their parents do. Tina L. Peterson wrote… [Read More]

Finishing Touches to Your WordPress Website
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January 16, 2018

If you’ve been following this blog the past month as you build your new author website, you’re almost ready to launch! Now that you’ve uploaded your text and images into your new Pages, you can see what each one will look like when it goes live if you click on the Preview button as you are customizing the Page. When you are satisfied, hit the… [Read More]

Ready to Build Your Author Website Using WordPress?
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January 9, 2018

Have you completed the steps I’ve outlined in the last four blog posts? 1) Picked your official author name and purchased the domain? 2) Decided on your internet service provider and webhosting, and ready to install WordPress? 3) Put together a list of your design preferences? 4) Prepared the text and images for the pages on your new site? If so, then it’s time to… [Read More]

Content Development for Your Author Website
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January 2, 2018

Before you get lost in the design details of a WordPress website, it’s important to keep in mind what type of site you want to build. For most of our clients, we recommend a site that says “successful, professional author.” But beyond this vague aesthetic, what will your site actually look like? What will it say about you and your writing? What message are you… [Read More]