Want to sell more books? Optimize your Keywords
I recently heard the author Nick Stephenson say that to be successful as an author you had to think of Amazon is a search engine and not a book retailer. It was light bulb moment. To ensure being found by readers, you have to optimize your book’s search engine metadata—the keywords (and categories) associated with your book. Keywords are the words or phrases you use to…
Are you reaching your maximum profit at KDP
I recently uploaded a large file to Kindle Direct Publishing. The book had a little over 31K words and 150 images. In spite of its size, KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) had no trouble converting the .doc to a .mobi. I sold four books and earned a royalty of $0.00. Trying to maximize my profits, I had…
Kudos on the first book. Now what do you do?
You’ve just published your book. You feel a sense of accomplishment and a relief that the work is over. Friends and family congratulate you and are happy to have you back in their social circles. Soon you realize that writing a book is not the end-all, but the first step in your career as a writer. Now that the…
How to have a successful book launch
Indie authors have so many things to do when launching a book. For a successful book launch, and to help you keep on track (and from going crazy), use these checklists. First develop your media-kit. Include a book synopsis, author’s bio, press releases, interview questions, photos sized and formatted for online and print, cover letters for reviewers,…
Publishing caused me a tsunami of work
I knew publishing my second book was going to be demanding, but I had not anticipate the tsunami of work it caused. For the past several months, the pressure to release bore down on me. At times I felt as if I were suffocating under successive tidal waves of work. I was finally able to gulp lungfuls of air…
What walking the Camino de Santiago taught this indie author
Four years ago today I left for the Camino de Santiago, and my life changed forever. One of the unexpected results was becoming an indie author—with all the work that it entails. Today, on Labor Day, I reflect on the lessons I learned on this adventure and how they affect me as an indie author. The Camino de…
Turning your art into an eBook
Janette Watson recently published Camino Sketchbook. As the name implies, the book is filled with her Camino drawings. In a tweet she wrote ” “I didn’t realize how hard it was to put images onto Kindle, and none of the how-to books agreed on a formatting method.” Intrigued, I ask Ms. Watson to write a…
Become comfortable with indie publishing, and then write
Since publishing my book about ten months ago, I have been busy learning the business of indie publishing. It was a struggle. There seemed to be too much to do in too few hours, and what I needed to do differed from one expert to another. It took me a while to learn the various…
Dead Calm
I have been a fan of Adam Nathan for several months. His is one of those rare emails that I enjoy opening and then linking to his webpage. I love his engaging and soul-bearing writing style. The excerpts from his upcoming book, Walking Backwards (A journey of a thousand miles on the Camino de Santiago) are…
Using the author’s platform to sell—not your books, but yourself
Perhaps after reading Is an author’s platform necessary? Pros and Cons you decided to create an author’s platform. You spent countless hours creating a blog, joining various social media, and collecting emails addresses. You are proud to say, at last, that you have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, and…