Novel Marketing

This year marks the end of an era. The Book Launch Blueprint is entering its seventh and final year. Since we began offering it in 2018, it has been one of our most popular courses. Launching a book is one strategy that works well for indie and traditional as well as fiction and nonfiction. But why is a book launch so important? In this week’s episode , you’ll discover Who needs a book launch (and...

How much money does it cost to become a professional author? Any profession will cost you when you're just getting started. If you're broke, I recommend listening to my episode titled The Starving Author: How to Market Books Without Money . Assuming you have some money, you need a spending plan. But how much money do you need to budget for the first five years of your writing career? I a...

Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools for connecting with readers and selling books. Obviously, you want a lot of email subscribers, but it doesn't matter how many subscribers you have if they don't open and read your emails. How do you craft the kind of emails that capture your reader's attention and help you sell more books? In this week's episode , you'll le...

A few years ago, the popular buzzword in the author world was "tribe." Building a tribe of readers was seen as the key to success. Reader relationships are still important for authors, so why did the term "tribe" go out of fashion? Having a tribe of readers is still an incredible asset that will help you sell your books and raise your profile amongst readers, but you need to kn...

Two authors recently asked me the same question: “What should I do if I have no money for book marketing?" It’s a question that requires exploration and evaluation. If you have the same question, you may be at a crossroads. You have two options if you want to write but have no money for marketing. In this week’s episode , we’ll examine the two paths forward from the no-money conundrum. You’ll...

Are you thinking about quitting publishing or writing? You started full of energy and optimism, but it has been a hard road, and you feel tired. Should you quit? My answer may surprise you. Maybe you should. Publishing is an industry where almost everyone has a financial incentive to see you keep going. People in the publishing industry don’t earn money if you quit. But there is a lot of money to...

Do you long to see your story on the big screen? If so, I have good news. Every streaming platform is desperate for new content to give them the edge in the ongoing streaming wars, and traditional TV stations and movie companies are as prolific as ever. Even radio stations and theaters are looking for new content. But how do you turn a 100,000-word novel, which would be a 12-hour audiobook, into a...

Google Chrome is the most popular web browser, but if you're just using basic Chrome, you're missing out on some amazing time-saving tools and assistance. Wouldn't it be great if you had an assistant who could correct a typo in your email before you hit send? How much time would you save if you didn't have to think of a new password for every account? Would you get fewer headac...

For those outside the publishing industry, the inner workings of the industry are wrapped in mystery. How do books get published? Who decides which books to publish? How well are books selling? How much money do authors really make? In secretive industries, information is typically leaked through hacks, whistleblowers, and court cases. Cases involving big publishers rarely go to trial because big...

Did you know that one in five Novel Marketing listeners lives outside the United States? Authors living overseas view America as the land of plenty because there are so many American readers. However, foreign authors often struggle to sell their books in America. Why? These United States are made up of 11 ethno-geographic regions, each with its own culture. Your book will resonate with one region...

Most authors build their websites on WordPress, partly because of its powerful and enormous plugin repository. A plugin is like an app for your website. Each of WordPress’s nearly 60,000 plugins can add specific functionality to your website. But how do you know which ones you need and which to avoid? In this week’s episode , you’ll learn Three categories of WordPress plugins How to tell if a free...

For the last 11 years, audiobooks have seen double-digit sales growth year over year. The audiobook market is now $1.8 billion. That means audiobooks are no longer an optional, nice-to-have feature when you launch your book. But how do you make an audiobook? Should you read it yourself or hire a narrator? In this week’s episode , Scott Sigler walks us through the steps of turning your book into  a...

When I was in college, I experimented with cooking Asian food, but my stovetop-cooked rice never tasted very good. Then, one of my Asian friends introduced me to the right tool for the job: a rice cooker. Its only function was to perfectly cook rice, and it worked every time. While I never got good at cooking Asian food, I always had great rice because I had the right tool for the job. When we&apo...

So you're thinking about self-publishing a book. You've heard self-published authors can make more money, control the content and design, and have better access to marketing data. But self-publishing a book can be daunting. There are so many factors involved: writing, editing, formatting, finding a cover designer, uploading to Amazon, setting up a sales page, and promoting your book. Sel...

Black Friday marketing phenomenon is an opportunity, but it's also a threat. In this week's episode , I share some powerful tips to supercharge your book sales! You'll learn What motivates people to buy books on Black Friday Which book promotion tactics work best on the big day Three mistakes to avoid when running your holiday promotion What to do if Black Friday marketing stresses...

There is a new scam targeting authors. An enterprising scammer can use AI to write a book similar to your writing style. They can use an AI-generated cover similar to yours, and publish the book with a pen name that also happens to be yours. Sometimes, Amazon even puts this fraudulent book in your Author Central account so customers see the AI book you didn’t write listed with the books you did wr...

How much should your book cost? Your answer is critical to your book's success and your career as an author. Authors have a wide range of pricing options, from free ebooks to $200 collector's editions. You might be wondering, "What is the best price for my book?" but that is actually the wrong question. Instead, you should ask, "What are the best prices for my book?"...

New York City is home to the Big Five publishers and the newspaper that publishes the New York Times bestseller list. Publishing culture is concentrated in New York City. But since most of the gatekeepers, publishers, and agents live in New York City, many authors ask, "Don't I need to comply with New York values in order to succeed in publishing?" In this week's episode , we&a...

"Most authors sell most of their books on Amazon, and while Amazon has helped indie authors become publishers, they take a large bite of your profits. But there is a way to earn more money on each book sale and connect with your readers via email. You can sell direct from your website. If you’ve listened to Novel Marketing for a long time, you know I haven’t been a fan of authors selling dire...

Success in publishing requires more than just writing a great book. It requires people. People to publish your book, talk about it, buy it, and recommend it. People. People. People.  Some authors struggle in their careers simply because they are isolated.  How do you connect with people who can help make your book successful?  My grandparents’ generation called this “winning friends and influencin...

Novel Marketing turns 10 years old on September 30th, 2024! In this episode, Thomas Umstattd Jr. and James L. Rubart share highlights and lessons learned from 10 years of Novel Marketing. You can find the blog post version of this episode, along with links to everything we talk about here .  Support the show

Find out how running a Kickstarter campaign for your book can solve one of indie authors' biggest challenges. You can find the blog version of this episode here . The post How Karyne Norton Successfully Kickstarted Her Book in 1 Hour appeared first on Author Media . Support the show

Find out how the 2024 Novel Marketing Conference will help you apply your book-marketing knowledge and facilitate in-person connections. You can find the blog version of this episode here . The post Announcing the 2024 Novel Marketing Conference appeared first on Author Media . Support the show

Learn what types of events are available and discover how to pick the best writers conference for your stage in the publishing journey. You can find the blog version of this post here .  The post Workshops, Retreats, and Pitches: How to pick the best writers conference for you appeared first on Author Media . Support the show

If your book isn't a good product, marketing gets harder. Find out whose opinion counts and learn to create a good book readers want to buy and read. You can find the blog version of this post HERE . The post Book Marketing 101: Product appeared first on Author Media . Support the show