Books, Blogs & Business | Book Marketing + Self-Publishing Tips

If you want to be traditionally published, I 100% recommend doing the self-publishing route first...here's why? Many writers have their reasons for wanting to be traditional publishing. After all traditional publishing is the oldest publishing type out there and there are a few advantages like: 1. Monetary advance before publishing - I read in a recent article that traditional publishers are payin...

So Nanowrimo is a challenge where you write 50k words in 30 days. When you head across to the NanoWrimo website you have the opportunity to announce your project.  Now when you decide to announce your project, you're able to include your title, if you already have one, genre, type of book, the project summary and your blurb or excerpt. You can even link your playlist and pinterest. And then c...

This is week 6 and the final week of nano prep and the nano series. In just three days you along with over 500k writers will embark on a writing journey like never before. How do you feel? Are you excited? Are you pumped up? Are you nervous? I'm sure so many of you are getting all the mixed feelings. And rightly so. Writing 1,667 words a day can be a challenge we know… but it’s a challenge made ea...

For the last four weeks, I've been releasing episodes to help you find your perfect idea, flesh out believable characters, craft a detailed plot, and build strong worlds and settings. And you've been hard at work preparing yourself for one of the biggest writing challenges in the world. You along with over 400k writers will embark on a journey like never before. NanoWrimo is like a marathon. You'v...

A great story is based in vivid, bright descriptive settings. A story setting is when and where the action takes place. Your story’s setting establishes the environment of the fictional world that you have created that will be planted in the reader’s mind. Most stories have multiple settings, an overall, large setting and then smaller settings. In this episode, I explore the reasons for having a g...

There are many different types of plotting methods to choose from and as a writer, you need to figure out exactly which plotting method is right for you. In NanoWrimo there are 5 plotting methods that are discussed. NanoWrimo also has a plotting method quiz that you can take to decide which plotting method is best for you. In this episode I want to help you plot your way to 50K. This episode is br...

"Steve Goodhold was a good kid. He got good grades and was never late to class. Little did everyone know that he spent his nights working as an internet hacker for a modern Mafioso who he met through his older cousin, Peter." "Steve didn’t need much sleep, which was a good thing. He slept maybe two hours a night, and spent the rest of his time stealing identities,wiring funds, and making more mone...

Today marks episode number 29 on this podcast and we are one episode away from celebrating 30 episodes on the Books, Blogs, & Business podcast show. And while most podcast shows never cross the episode 7 mark, I'm thrilled to say with almost 30 episodes down and 52 more to go, I'm confident we'll enter 2023 on a positive note. In this episode, I share with you my top accomplishments for the th...

National novel writing month starts November first. And for those who don't know, it's a challenge where you attempt to write 50k words in 30 days. Now I've taken part in this challenge so many times as well as Camp Nanowrimo and the goal is basically to just get writing done. It's all about focus and determination and most importantly community and fun. I want to walk you through step by step the...

I feel like if we change our perspective a little if can make a huge difference. Something I did. If we look at book marketing from an aerial or birds eye view everything will look jumbled up and difficult. Book marketing is building a relationship with your ideal readers. How do we formm relationships? If I'm trying to get to know you then I would find out your name, probably where you're from an...

Having an author website is on the most important things an author can possess. It's also part of the trifecta of book marketing. Without your website you can lose out on potential sales, building your community, and perfecting your author craft. However, having the website is one thing, but many don't know how to maintain it. What's the do's and dont's of website building and designing? In this e...

So one thing I like to ask when my students are not get sales on their books is what have you done to market their book. What are some of the marketing strategies you've implemented and what has worked and what hasnt? Now you would be surprise how many times authors would tell me that they published the book on Amazon and shared the link a facebook group. Or they tried the "buy my book strategy",...

What's the first thing you do when you hear of an author's name? You Google them. We all do. Why? Because you want to see what they've written and who they are. When I hear about an author it's what I do. I head across to Google and search for them or I head to their social media pages and I click the link in their bio. I want to get onto their website as fast as possible because I want to see wha...

A few years ago I wrote my first ever mystery thiller book. It's a psych thriller and one my most proudest accomplishments. Now it took me 60 days to officially prepare for that book. This was around the time of NaNowrimo and usually nano is where you write 50k words in 30 days. To help ith that you have the two months to prepare starting sept 1. Now before I did that, this was in 2019, earlier th...

I remember back in 2019 I told myself that at the end of 2020 either I will have a thriving business or I would learn from the journey. I'm three years in and my business has transformed. My ultimate goal back then was to help writers with their writing, today I do that in a totally different way. When December 2020 reached and I had made money from my business, enough money to buy groceries and t...

Email marketing is the number one most effective way to promote oneself and their books to their audience. And its because it allows you to have a one on one in touch experience with your audience. You have direct access to their inboxes, you’re cutting through the noise of social media and there are less distractions in their inbox. However the truth is that many writers still do not use emails a...

As was discuss in episode 12, building your email list is the number one way to establish a relationship with your audience. Those who sign up to your email list are your target readers or ideal audience and these are the persons that you can convert into book buyers. Because only 3% of your content gets seen on your social media platform, having an email list allows you to send emails directly to...

In today's episode I answer all your burning book marketing questions and then some. We go through a list of frequently asked questions and I show you how you can increase books sales and hone in your writing skill. This episode is brought to you by Siteground. Looking for afordable hosting with free business emails, backups and ssl security. Then try Siteground for all your web hosting needs. You...

Human interaction is what builds relationships. And book marketing is all about building relationships with your target audience. Yet many of us struggle to actually make connections and build long-lasting sustainable relationships. Why is that? Because we use social media as an avenue to advertise, promote, and market our books. When in reality social media should remain social by trying to conne...

In any stage of your business, career or 9to5 an email can be a very useful tool to have. Not sell to them, form a relationship. And because relationships take time to build and grow I always suggest you find your readers before you start writing. However is never really to late to find them. Unlike social media that only shows your content to 3% of your audience, email list is more direct. You ne...

In today’s episode I wanted to talk about your readers pain points. I want to push some buttons. Get to know what makes your readers tick, what makes them happy, what do they desire and what fears are preventing them from achieving their desires. Remember that when you write you’re either creating and experience or an escape for your readers. Books and reading becomes their entertainment, a time t...

If you guys have been following for the past few episodes, you would have realized there is a common theme with regards to finding your readers. We talked about the reasons and your why behind finding your ideal readers, we talked about using IG & FB to find your ideal readers, how you can optimize those profiles to attract the right audience, and next week, I will be discussing questions that...

If you think you can't write because...then this episode is just for you This week on Journey to Published, I talk about how a tree crash landing into my house sparked inspiration to write over 3000 words in 2 writing sessions. I share the lows of the week and how it didn't stop me from writing but actually gave me the boost to finish my rough draft. And I'm sharing all the wonderful details with...

The Facebook algorithm prioritizes content that sparks conversations and meaningful interactions between people. This means Facebook is a prime spot or platform for you to find your readers and connect with them. It’s a great place to form a community and to bond with your readers. So how do you find them? In today’s episode, I discuss three places you can optimize on Facebook to find your readers...

If you're struggling to write your book, you need to hear this! This week on Journey to Published, I talk about how my full time job is sucking the life out of me and making it extra difficult to find time to write in my book. I also share where my happy place is currently and why I love is so much. Despite not spending much time writing this week, I think it was still a fruitful week. This mini s...