This One Weird Trick will put you on the Bestseller List
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Transcript of This One Weird Trick will put you on the Bestseller List
Congratulations
you’ve written a book
Now what?
This session is for
Anyone interested in the
business of writing
(or in winning a book or a t-shirt)
What you’ll get
Do, don’t, and It Depends
“One Learns from Many Sources”
Quality of the evidence: Variable
DO:
Know who you are
Read in your niche
Genre do’s and don’ts
Top 100 sellers in category
Don’t: Everything to everyone
Do:
Write a series
Readers want to spend time with
your characters
Do:
Use the first book as bait
“permafree” takes some effort
Do:
Find your tribe
Do: Invest
Editing – formatting – cover- Bowker
ISBNs- Contract (Authors Guild) - URLs -
Conferences - Giveaways
Don’t
Author Solutions – paid reviews
Non-Bowker ISBNs - DIY covers
Giveaways
Goodreads - Rafflecopter - LibraryThing
Build your email list
bit.ly/MMMug
Wait, email list?
Vertical Response - Aweber - Mailchimp
Releases, events, giveaways
It depends
Quasi-indie, e.g. BookBaby
FB ads – Mark Dawson
Outsourcing / ghostwriting
Amazon giveaways
Expensive blog tours
Worth it for you?
Do: Have a platform
Readers can find you online
Professional URL
Interests besides “buy my book”
Doesn’t have to be fancy
Don’t want to blog?
Set a static front page
Or reblog
Reblogging: not plagiarism!
Set up IFTTT – Connect RSS to blog
set to draft post – finalize at leisure
Has possibilities
Looks good
Off topic and wonky
Too serious?
Maaaaybe
No.
If it’s a new take?
Will check this out
Off topic
BO-ring
Draft posts
Sample post (APS feed)
Featured image from freepik.com
Brief intro
The original
Sidebar: email signup is on top
Buy my book! Buy my book! Buy my book!
Sample post (APS feed)
Citation (automatic)
Call to Action: Put this after every post
Sharing options turned on
More sidebar stuff: Easy review links
Call to action at the end
Completely automated
(use caution)
Don’t: go overboard
Blog to your level of comfort
and interest
Avoid politics, controversy
unless it’s your brand
1 or 2 URLs
Frankiebow.com -Mollybarda.com- Merriemusubis.com
maritime-club.com - Musubi.ninja - Bananawrangler.com
Simple blogspot page
Set up IFTTT – Connect RSS to blog
set to draft post – finalize at leisure
Fancy custom page
Set up IFTTT – Connect RSS to blog
set to draft post – finalize at leisure
Group blogs
Join one or start your own
Do: BookBub
Expensive, selective, worth it
Others: Fussy Librarian, Choosy
Bookworm, ENT, Pixel of Ink
Do: get interviewed
Don’t overpay for blog tours
$100 or less
Do: use interview quotes
Do: anthology
hawaiianmystery.com
100% donated time and effort
Benefits Read Aloud America
Consider: KDP Select or go
wide?
Kindle Unlimited, countdown deals
No permafree
Consider: Kindle Worlds
Get paid to write fanfic
Consider: Spinoffs
Alice Mongoose & Alistair Rat
Consider: Book trailer
Sales effect unknown
Always: keep writing
Repurpose blog posts, crowdsource
Full outline by Day 14
First draft by Day 49
Second draft by Day 56
Submit to editor by Day 63
Re-submit for second pass by Day 73
Publish on Day 90
Persistent, professional, patient
100’s of queries – rounds of editing
One Weird Trick
ResultSource
Bestselling author Russell blake
Some might say, cynical. I’d say
pragmatic
I wish there were a formula…Pick a genre you love and that’s
large enough to support you, stick to it, write a lot of
seriously good books, focus on improving your grasp of craft
each time you sit down to write…package and quality control
your books like the pros do, market intelligently…above all, be
extremely realistic about everything.
Resources
Always keep writing
Author platform: Jane Friedman
Book design: Joel Friedlander
Querying agents and publishers: Query Shark
Agent & industry news: Published to Death
Community: Kboards, FB author fan groups, Absolute Write
Legal issues: The Passive Voice
Promotion: The Author Biz, Joanna Penn, Simon Whistler, Romance
University, Russell Blake
Tools: IFTTT, bitly.com, wordpress.com, Hootsuite, Buffer/Pablo