Showing posts with label self publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self publishing. Show all posts

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Authors and Marketers and Self Promotion


     Most people feel uncomfortable drawing attention to themselves. Oh sure, its fine if you’ve got a good joke or an interesting tale but nobody wants to be sucked into a sales pitch, especially by someone who is selling their own wares.

   However there is no other way to sell your stuff unless you have lots of money to pay an advertising firm to create a sales campaign. So if you don’t have venture capital, the only other option is to stand around pounding the proverbial bass drum and exercise your carnival barker skills while people slink by with their index fingers press together in the form of a cross or whispering the word ‘Unclean, as they pass.

   As the late Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “We can’t get no respect.

   However, if we’re clever we can disguise the sales pitch as a form of entertainment, or as a learning experience or as a quick joke.

   As all writers know: People love CONTENT.

   So instead of showing you another picture of my book cover (as seen here)

   I’ve created a YouTube video that entertains, educates and is fun to watch. It’s a little over two minutes and well worth your time, so why not have a look?


   Then again as writers and marketers we’re often get grief for self promotion. The premise being how good can you be if you have to hawk your own product?

   Well apparently VERY GOOD as Author Gigi Gait points out in her tongue-in-cheek blog post titled ‘Authors who self-promote-Oh the Shame of it all!
Here’s the link: http://gigigalt.com/

   Author Kimberly Grabas makes no bones about the importance of author self promotion and has written a blog post containing 71 ways to do it.

Thanks ladies.

   There is nothing wrong with self promotion especially if you’ve worked very hard to create a product well worth the price. Lately, because I own a small publishing company and understand how much effort is required to get a company off the ground, I prefer to purchase products from people online.

   They work harder to satisfy you as a customer and value your business. Plus I’d much rather see my money go into the pocket of a fellow small businessmen/women than into the pocket of the CEO of a big box store.

   So when the opportunity arises, purchase from a small online business. Or from a company that supports online business like Amazon. Once your product starts selling regularly they help promo it to their customers at no cost to you.

   A friend forwarded me this email he received, I took a screen shot of it. 

And there is my novel Noon: The Rise to Power.
Thanks Amazon!

     So when the opportunity arises support the people rebuilding the economy and maybe someday those very same people who will offer you a job.

Friday, July 26, 2013

How to Write, Publish and Market your Novel into a Bestseller

Hello fellow bloglidites. I am in the process of wrapping up a book on Writing, Publishing and Marketing. 

   I wrote it because I noticed that a lot of my fellow authors were having trouble getting their books noticed and securing book deals. 

   So incorporating my experience as a writer, publisher and marketer I put together this book to share my knowledge of the industry and to give back to the many people who pointed me in the right direction and helped me along the way. 
    
   It will be especially helpful to new writers, writers considering self publishing and publishers who need to learn how to increase sales online. 
   
   I'm looking for some beta readers to post reviews on Amazon following its launch in a week or so. 
    
  It's a straight read, no filler and includes How to correctly upload a manuscript to Kindle, the 10 most common grammar mistakes writer's make. How to copyright your novel, how to create an audio book and book trailer. How to create professional looking book covers at low cost, and how to find specific keywords to get your book on Google's first page. Plus much more. 
     Only nine spots left so if you want a copy email me at czarrichards@gmail.com and I'll send you a PDF. *Please Note-All material is copyrighted and may not be reprinted or forwarded to third parties.   

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The Future of Books!


Hi gang!
Sorry if I’ve not been blogging as regularly as usual but I am in the middle of creating an independent website that will be dedicated to helping authors get started as well as helping those already established improve their product and marketing.
If you come here and discover that the blog hasn’t been updated please be patient, I’ll resume regular postings as soon as I complete this new project.

Here’s is the name of the site and the headline picture. What do you think?
Should I go with the top one or the bottom?