Before the advent of Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, an author only needed to demonstrate to agents, editors, and publishers that his or her book had a potential audience. Today, an author has to show customers waiting to buy the book when it is released. Book marketing in the digital era of transmedia is about pulling readers in to the author’s platform rather than pushing books… [Read More]
You’ve heard about the mechanic who never has time to change the oil, bang out the dings, clean out the pop cans or repair the ripped upholstery in her own car? I’m behind the dashboard seven days a week. I drive at high speeds and over rough terrain on the electronic byways of the internet. I keep clients’ motors running smooth and fix them when… [Read More]
On 01/16/2013, Google updated their Analytics Interface. The updates changed some navigation interfaces, added new functionality, and made certain areas easier to access. The Swenson Book Development Google Analytics for Author blogs written before this update have been updated to reflect these changes. If anything has been noticeably altered in the blogs, it will be clearly marked to reflect the update. Luckily, many of the… [Read More]
What good is all of this information if you can’t put it to use? By now, you know all the lingo to establish a baseline and understand where your site is currently at. A baseline is an essential combination of information – it’s the only way to see meaningful change. There are a lot of tools in Google Analytics for comparing your data – but you are an author,… [Read More]
Analytics for Authors blogs have been edited to reflect the 01/16/2013 Google Analytics update. — To navigate to Visitor Flow, click on its name on the left hand menu when you’re logged into Google Analytics. What you’ll see is a visual map of how visitors used your site. The large veritcal columns are nodes: Nodes represent a single metric – the first column defines where the… [Read More]
Analytics for Authors blogs have been edited to reflect the 01/16/2013 Google Analytics update. — Mark Twain wrote to a friend, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.” – and the same can be said for Google keywords. It’s the difference between ‘swimming pool’ and ‘swimming pool installation… [Read More]
Authors may be surprised to learn that before an agent or publisher reads a word of their manuscript, they make judgments based on the query letter or proposal. They read your materials to assess the potential for successful publication based on the information they gather about the book, about the audience, and yes, about the author. In the last two posts, I focused on questions… [Read More]
When you write a query letter and book proposal to an agent or acquisitions editor, there are certain things they want to know before considering your manuscript. They want to hear about you and your book, but what they really care about is the audience. What audience is your book intended for? Describe your readers in demographic detail. Where do your readers live? Work? Learn?… [Read More]
If you’re an author on Facebook, you’ve certainly noticed that your personal timeline and your page exist as two seperate entities – at least on Facebook, your ‘Author-Self’ and ‘Everything-Else-Self’ are as divided as the North and South Poles. It’s not even possible to write on your own personal timeline; you can only communicate with other business pages directly. What’s a well-connected and sociable author to… [Read More]
Much of the labor of creating a snappy and engaging blog is visible to the outside world – your carefully crafted content, your punctual updates, your original style and creative voice… But under all of that outward cultivation lies a rushing river of information, a spring of data that you need to tap. Who is visiting your site? How long are they staying? How did they get… [Read More]
