Pre-order. You might be surprised to learn that pre-ordering a book is critical to the launch of a book. Publishers may make decisions about how much marketing support to provide a new release based on the volume of pre-orders. Some even determine the size of a first print run using those numbers. If a book has strong pre-order sales, reviewers are more likely to review it, the media is more likely to hype it up, and retailers are more likely to carry it in stock and give it premium placement. If you know an author has a book coming out, please pre-order it. Write a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. It doesn’t need to be very long or a deep literary analysis. The number of reviews a book receives affects the algorithms for getting found online. If you don’t like the book, don’t leave a review. As my mother used to say, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Spread the word. Let your friends and family know how much you enjoyed a book. Share this on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or wherever you do social media. Take a book-selfie. Post a picture of the book, your cat lying across the couch with a paw on the cover, you falling asleep on the couch with the book. Follow. Many authors have Facebook Pages you can like and follow. On Twitter, many authors have accounts and you can follow them and retweet to amplify their voices. Follow authors on…
Yes, it is Tuesday. Yes, I am late in posting this blog. Yes, I owe my sanity to the digital divas I work with at Swenson Book Development, LLC. Like many authors, I just want to write. When things go awry, I want to cry. In the last 10 days, the email server went down, my webhost crashed its system, my company email account popped… [Read More]
When I use technology, I can’t help but think of this driver’s refrain, passed on to me by a former (slightly suspect) driver’s ed instructor: if you aren’t sure where you’re going, it’s best to travel on the road you know. It sounds dull and silly, but sometimes the shortcut gets you lost, takes longer, or causes an unnecessary headache. Take the road well-traveled if… [Read More]
A decade ago I kissed the golden handcuffs of tenure goodbye. I walked away from teaching journalism and media studies at Ithaca College in May 2002. No one bothered to ask me why. The conditions and experiences haven’t gotten much better for female faculty and in some ways worse. In 1980, 49 percent of full-time female faculty had tenure, compared to 70 percent of men…. [Read More]
A quarter million people descended on Austin, TX, to partake in SXSW this weekend. Yesterday I arrived at the Austin Convention Center to pick up my badge and discovered a que that wound around the entire building and back again. Two hours standing in line provided ample time for observing the social behavior of new media folk. Not surprisingly, most people held smartphones in their… [Read More]
Did you ever ask yourself, is there really a God? Is Heaven for Real? Is there life after death? Just ask 4-year-old Colton Burpo from Imperial, Nebraska, who emerged from life-threatening surgery with astounding details about his near death experience. This is a true story of Colton’s account as told by his father, Todd Burpo, to Lynn Vincent. Colton describes floating away, looking down on… [Read More]



