All Discussions Tagged 'middle' - The Book Marketing Network2024-03-28T22:09:58Zhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=middle&feed=yes&xn_auth=noReviews… what do they mean?tag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2016-04-29:523145:Topic:6826012016-04-29T16:18:22.176ZNeil Ostroffhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/NeilOstroff
<p>The free promotion for my book, IMAGINATION is long over and now, as I had hoped, reviews are starting to roll in. This got me thinking as I read people’s opinions of my story… what do reviews really mean?</p>
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<p>If you’re trying to do marketing on major sites such as Bookbub or Booksends, reviews mean you must have a minimum of them to even be considered for an ad spot, and the majority better add up to four stars or more. Logic being, higher reviews helps weed out books not quite…</p>
<p>The free promotion for my book, IMAGINATION is long over and now, as I had hoped, reviews are starting to roll in. This got me thinking as I read people’s opinions of my story… what do reviews really mean?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you’re trying to do marketing on major sites such as Bookbub or Booksends, reviews mean you must have a minimum of them to even be considered for an ad spot, and the majority better add up to four stars or more. Logic being, higher reviews helps weed out books not quite up to par. Seems fair, right?</p>
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<p>What if I ask twenty of my friends to buy my book and leave reviews? (Better yet, I buy it for them! At $0.99, it’s a bargain for twenty fresh, glowing 5-star reviews). Or maybe, if I’m a college student, I’ll ask my class, or my dorm, or maybe everyone I work with, etc. You get the point. Reviews are like plastic flowers, they may look pretty displayed on the mantle, but they have no true substance.</p>
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<p>I got my first ever 1-star review for one of my books (out of hundreds of reviews for my eleven published novels) and the very same day I got a 5-star for the very same book. One reviewer said it was unreadable while the other said it was incredibly well-written and he/she couldn’t put it down. Who should I believe? These readers are not my friends, but total strangers. Another example is my book DROP OUT which has 60+ reviews, all from complete and total strangers. 92% are four or more stars with the large majority being 5-star. Nearly everyone who reads DROP OUT is affected by it and many people write me personally, yet, there it is at the bottom, a single, solitary, lonesome, 2-star review.</p>
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<p>Everyone in the world has their own personal likes and dislikes for books. It is the same with movies, and sports teams, and food. (I hate sushi!). Does my review of the awful sushi I had at a restaurant mean that restaurant serves awful food? No! It is a matter of personal opinion. With stories, each one will affect a reader differently because each reader relates and identifies to different things in life!</p>
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<p>So, when that first 1-star review comes in and smacks your brain leaving you wondering how this person couldn’t have liked the story you’ve poured your heart and soul into, remember… not everyone likes everything all the time! It is what makes us unique as individuals.</p>
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<p>To learn more about me, my books, and my writer’s journey please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING. Thank you. </p>
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<p><a href="http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com">http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com</a></p>
<p> </p> Educational Mobile Apps For Kidstag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2015-09-22:523145:Topic:6688272015-09-22T15:38:49.639ZAngelina Perezhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/AngelinaPerez
<div><h4><span class="font-size-2" style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">There are so many apps in the Education category of the App Store, but trying to discover new apps can be time-consuming and unrewarding. You can find some of the best educational apps here based on our suggestions.</span><br></br><br></br></h4>
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<h2><span class="font-size-2" style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><a href="http://goo.gl/ThknoQ">Cut the Rope Free:…</a></span><br></br></h2>
<div><h4><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2">There are so many apps in the Education category of the App Store, but trying to discover new apps can be time-consuming and unrewarding. You can find some of the best educational apps here based on our suggestions.</span><br/><br/></h4>
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<h2><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2"><a href="http://goo.gl/ThknoQ">Cut the Rope Free:</a></span><br/><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2">Cut the rope to feed candy to little monster Om Nom®! 500 million downloads around the world of this phenomenal puzzle game. A mysterious package has arrived, and the little monster inside has only one request</span><br/><br/><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2"><a href="http://goo.gl/k8LyCM">The ABC Song:</a></span><br/><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2">An all in one collection of educational ABC activities and games, including the famous alphabet song in a vivid interactive and high quality production.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2"><a href="http://goo.gl/oGEUgR">Preschool EduKidsRoom:</a></span><br/><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2">Amazing Fun Educational Games To Learn Colors, Shapes, Numbers, Letters, Time, Sorting and Much More!</span><br/><br/><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2"><a href="http://goo.gl/jQpbo6">Preschool Memory Match and Learn:</a></span><br/><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2">A unique, educational and fun Memory Match adventure, 130 items in 7 preschool categories with HD graphics and sounds. Preschool Memory Match is a comprehensive preschool activity of memory matching games.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2"><a href="http://goo.gl/ep5ebK">The Wheels On The Bus:</a></span><br/><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;" class="font-size-2">An all in one activity center for children – complete child safe phone environment.Come and enjoy the classic song with your little ones. With 11 beautiful and colorful verses filled with fun interactions your children will play and learn at the same time!</span></h2> Times are a changing!tag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2015-06-25:523145:Topic:6637922015-06-25T14:14:02.245ZNeil Ostroffhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/NeilOstroff
<p>As most authors now know Amazon is going to start paying authors for the amount of pages read and not for each complete book. I’m not certain how I feel about this. On the plus side, it could free readers up to explore more books if they are only going to pay for it if they like it. On the negative, most casual readers never finish a book or do it over a long period of time. And how about if readers skip a section? What will it do to royalties?</p>
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<p>Of course, there are other…</p>
<p>As most authors now know Amazon is going to start paying authors for the amount of pages read and not for each complete book. I’m not certain how I feel about this. On the plus side, it could free readers up to explore more books if they are only going to pay for it if they like it. On the negative, most casual readers never finish a book or do it over a long period of time. And how about if readers skip a section? What will it do to royalties?</p>
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<p>Of course, there are other options for authors. You can publish with Smashwords or through any of the other hundreds of ebook outlets. But let’s face it, Amazon is king! I’m not sure how this new policy is going to change the publishing industry but it will change it. And then what’s next, paying musicians for how much of a song is listened to?</p>
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<p>I, like hundreds of thousands of others, am a slave to Amazon and how they control their merchandise. The industry is changing and I will be forced to change with it. I am an author who needs an outlet to reach his audience and almighty Amazon is my king.</p>
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<p>Please check out my blog ALWAYS WRITING to learn more about my books and myself.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com/">http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com</a></p> Author’s Legacytag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2014-09-29:523145:Topic:6419432014-09-29T19:32:17.994ZNeil Ostroffhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/NeilOstroff
<p>When you buy a book in a bookstore, what do you look for? Is it the cover that attracts you? The fiery description on the back? The author’s profile picture? With ebooks, consumers can’t take it off the shelf and feel its texture, skim through the pages, or get a sense of the thickness and how long it will take to read. They must rely on the ‘look inside’ feature, good unbiased reviews, a blurb that excites and entices, and the promise of a captivating story to make their…</p>
<p>When you buy a book in a bookstore, what do you look for? Is it the cover that attracts you? The fiery description on the back? The author’s profile picture? With ebooks, consumers can’t take it off the shelf and feel its texture, skim through the pages, or get a sense of the thickness and how long it will take to read. They must rely on the ‘look inside’ feature, good unbiased reviews, a blurb that excites and entices, and the promise of a captivating story to make their decision.</p>
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<p>Ebooks are forever. Think about this sentence for a moment. You write a novel, get it formatted, design a nice cover, obtain an ISBN, and then download it onto Kindle, or Smashwords, or any of the hundreds of ebook distributors, and it’s available globally to anyone with an ereader. Not only that, it will be available until the end of time. Fifty years from now I’ll be able to show my great grandchildren my books; they’ll type in the title or my name and poof, there they will be. Talk about immortalizing yourself for all eternity. Isn’t that what art is all about?</p>
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<p> I am very lucky to be living in an age where I can imprint myself onto the world and be remembered forever through my books. I do feel for all the paperback writers throughout the last decades whose hard work and effort only got them a six-week shelf life for their masterpiece to hit it and if it didn’t it would disappear forever, going out of print and into the paper shredder.</p>
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<p>With ebooks I may still be getting royalties when I’m a hundred. I can write and publish what I want and let the worldwide public decide if the book is good or deserving of the litter box. All without worry that the story is being evaluated for the amount of profit it might generate rather than the mind-blowing experience of the story, as is the case with how the big publishing houses (those that still remain) do business.</p>
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<p>My novels won’t sit stacked on some shelf in the back of a dusty old bookstore (if bookstores exist in the future), they will always be fresh and ready for download, ready to draw new readers into noir, eccentric, and illusionary worlds. It’s an incredibly comforting thought knowing my stories will be around forever like the mythology of ancient Greece or fables and folklore of olden times. Ebooks will define me as a novelist until the end of humanity. I can live peacefully knowing my legacy.</p>
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<p>To read more about myself and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING </p>
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<p><a href="http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com/">http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com</a></p> Define Novel Lengthtag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2014-07-28:523145:Topic:6359022014-07-28T19:14:40.073ZNeil Ostroffhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/NeilOstroff
<p>After almost a solid month of plotting, characterization, pacing, and creating setting, I finally wrote the last sentence to my new novel before I start the revision process. Feeling elated I sat back in my office desk chair and beamed, enjoying the pleasurable sensations of finishing this stage of the project. Then suddenly, I was stricken with horror. I had written the story to completion. There was nothing more I could say or add to the story. It was done in my…</p>
<p>After almost a solid month of plotting, characterization, pacing, and creating setting, I finally wrote the last sentence to my new novel before I start the revision process. Feeling elated I sat back in my office desk chair and beamed, enjoying the pleasurable sensations of finishing this stage of the project. Then suddenly, I was stricken with horror. I had written the story to completion. There was nothing more I could say or add to the story. It was done in my mind.</p>
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<p>But… it is only 16,000 words!</p>
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<p>Being a first draft, I know I can expand the scenes and probably drag out another 20,000 words turning this into a 36,000 word manuscript. But I wonder, is that long enough? My fears were quickly assuaged as I began researching the top selling indie authors.</p>
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<p>It seems the days of minimum novel-length requirements have passed. Many authors are selling tens of thousands of copies of their 99 cent 20,000 word stories and getting rich doing it. Lucinda Wilde is one example. Her (it’s actually a husband and wife collaboration) 10,000-20,000 romance novels are selling in droves. Readers want quick fixes these days and are not offended to shell out a little money for a few hours’ worth of reading entertainment. Attention spans are short and so are many of the bestselling indie books.</p>
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<p>Being able to write, publish, and sell a story or novella is not an exact science. The short novella must be top notch. It must grab the reader right away and addictively string them along until the story’s conclusion. There can’t be any wasted scenes or oddly, off-putting dialogue. The story must be streamlined and awesome.</p>
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<p>Many writers will argue that a 15,000 or 20,000 word novel is not a novel but a glorified short story. They argue that a book this length would never make it in the mainstream, and they are right. But today’s indie author isn’t writing for the mainstream, they are writing because they have stories to tell that are outside of the mainstream. Stories that for whatever reason the big publishing houses thought they couldn’t make a profit on. That doesn’t necessarily mean the stories aren’t worth the public’s attention, only that the corporate numbers didn’t pan out.</p>
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<p>Going over my first draft, I can’t seem to find where I could add more plot. The story is finished as it is and adding fluff will only lessen the impact. As I begin the revision process I’m empowered by the fact that there are no minimum requirements for an excellent story. I write scenes that make the story strong not just to fill empty pages. My dialogue is tight; not drawn out to add to the final word count. This freedom to write stories without the leaden weight of a corporate marketing and financial responsibility is what is revolutionizing the publishing industry and the writer as an artist as a whole.</p>
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<p>Please check out my blog ALWAYS WRITING to learn more about my books and myself.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com/">http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com</a></p> Amazon Prime is changing everything!tag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2014-07-21:523145:Topic:6353252014-07-21T18:52:50.553ZNeil Ostroffhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/NeilOstroff
I’m sure if you’re a reader or author you’ve heard about Amazon’s new prime membership for books. For a monthly fee a reader can now purchase an unlimited amount of ebooks for as long as they remain members. I’ve done a bit of research and here’s what I’ve discovered.<br />
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Although Amazon Prime does sound ominous to the author when it comes to royalty payments it actually does have some pretty fantastic perks. For one, an author will no longer see that dreaded return unit in their monthly sales…
I’m sure if you’re a reader or author you’ve heard about Amazon’s new prime membership for books. For a monthly fee a reader can now purchase an unlimited amount of ebooks for as long as they remain members. I’ve done a bit of research and here’s what I’ve discovered.<br />
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Although Amazon Prime does sound ominous to the author when it comes to royalty payments it actually does have some pretty fantastic perks. For one, an author will no longer see that dreaded return unit in their monthly sales reports. Once a book is downloaded and the first ten percent is read the author gets a full royalty whether the book is read entirely or returned.<br />
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Second, the book is now in the prime reading catalog so a reader is much more apt to experiment with an unknown author because it isn’t costing the reader anything to see what the book is about. It also will allow for more experimental stories to be published. Books that a reader may be wary to spend money on can now be read as a part of prime. Imagine how that frees both writer and reader to experiment outside their comfort zones. This may lead to some pretty amazing discoveries and breakthroughs.<br />
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Third, the fund for these books is ever increasing so in the future an author may actually receive more royalty than if a reader had purchased the book for the full retail price. All these facts plus numerous other benefits such as free promo’s and countdown deals makes Amazon, in my opinion, the absolute best place for indie authors to publish their works.<br />
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Some of you may disagree with the exclusivity of Amazon and believe that it is prudent that an author distribute their books through as many channels as possible to gain maximum exposure. I have put this notion to the test for the last three years by having my books also distributed through Smashwords to its available outlets. I have done significant marketing and promotion for both sites. In the end, Amazon outsells all other sites including Nook and Kobo by at least 25 to 1. A huge difference.<br />
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So, now what? As of today I have taken six of my books off Smashwords to concentrate solely on promoting Amazon prime and my titles. I plan on doing countdown deals, giving free promos, and most all, reiterating the fact that it will cost nothing for a prime member to check out my books. That is a huge incentive to sample a story.<br />
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If you own a Nook or Kobo, I regret that several of my titles will no longer be available on those devices. I urge you to become an Amazon prime member. I believe it is going to completely change how readers buy and enjoy ebooks. I see it as the wave of the future and a gateway for unlimited readership.<br />
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Please check out my blog ALWAYS WRITING to learn more about my books and myself.<br />
<a href="http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com">http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com</a> The marketing secret!tag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2014-07-07:523145:Topic:6335432014-07-07T18:34:51.375ZNeil Ostroffhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/NeilOstroff
<p>I’ve been reading a lot of threads and forums lately dealing with the topic of marketing your book. It seems there are a lot of “newbie authors” out there in this relatively virgin explosion of indie publishing and many can’t understand why their book isn’t selling. When asked if they market and promote their books most do say yes, but often complain of the time it takes in a world where we all have limited time.</p>
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<p>Well, here’s a hard truth. To be a successful indie…</p>
<p>I’ve been reading a lot of threads and forums lately dealing with the topic of marketing your book. It seems there are a lot of “newbie authors” out there in this relatively virgin explosion of indie publishing and many can’t understand why their book isn’t selling. When asked if they market and promote their books most do say yes, but often complain of the time it takes in a world where we all have limited time.</p>
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<p>Well, here’s a hard truth. To be a successful indie author you have to market your books as much if not more than you spend time writing them. It takes a lot of hard, persistent work to get noticed in a publishing sea that now includes more than a million new published books yearly. Competition to get reader’s attention is a hundred times harder than it was just three years ago.</p>
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<p>But it is not impossible.</p>
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<p>With the internet, the exhaustive task of promoting your work is now accessible to even the most introverted writer. No longer must writers sit in nearly empty bookstores peddling their signed wares or go out on long book tours just to get a little recognition; that recognition can now be achieved at home. It can be done! You can get noticed! But it ain’t easy.</p>
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<p>Internet marketing does sell books. I’m living proof. A complete unknown three years ago, I’ve since sold thousands of copies of my books to absolute strangers. I’m not getting wealthy by any means but there is an inner peace and nirvana by knowing people enjoy the imaginary worlds I’ve created. I also spend an average of two hours each day marketing my books. It’s tough to find the time, believe me, but I do it.</p>
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<p>Blindly spamming and pushing your book over and over on social media only turns readers off. You come off seeming desperate for anyone to buy your book. I used to pay for website book sponsorships with mediocre results and have placed sample chapters of my books on hundreds of author sites that promise tons of exposure. That worked to some degree, but it was not worth the hours of drudgery downloading material in comparison to sales. Then I discovered the secret to gaining an audience.</p>
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<p>The proper way to promote your book is to build a readership through online discussions and joining groups. Respond when a reader emails you. Get involved in discussions other than about your own work. Get people interested in you by being interesting online. Your audience will grow in time. Marketing on the internet WILL sell your book, but you have to do it properly. And you have to have patience. If you tell a great story and let the world know about it through discussion readers will buy what you’re offering.</p>
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<p>To learn more about myself and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING </p>
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<p><a href="http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com/">http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com</a></p>
<p> </p> Origins of a noveltag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2014-06-30:523145:Topic:6320152014-06-30T18:37:23.614ZNeil Ostroffhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/NeilOstroff
<p>Thanks to everyone who purchased DROP OUT, the book continues to affect lives. For those of you who don’t know the origins of the story and its message, I thought I’d share a portion of a biography interview I did when the book was published. Then please decide if it is right for you.</p>
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<p>I’ve been a thriller, sci-fi writer for more than twenty years and over that span of time my books garnered the attention of numerous literary agents and publishers. In 2005, I signed with a…</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who purchased DROP OUT, the book continues to affect lives. For those of you who don’t know the origins of the story and its message, I thought I’d share a portion of a biography interview I did when the book was published. Then please decide if it is right for you.</p>
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<p>I’ve been a thriller, sci-fi writer for more than twenty years and over that span of time my books garnered the attention of numerous literary agents and publishers. In 2005, I signed with a major literary agent from a major NY literary agency. The agency had sold hundreds of books and film rights, some for seven figures. I was very excited to say the least.</p>
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<p>My agent loved all six (I now have ten) of my books and like any good agent edited and provided free advice to make the stories stronger and more saleable. We had several exciting close-call deals and a few heart-racing moments while waiting for offers. My agent encouraged me to keep writing and truly believed that one day I’d hit it big.</p>
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<p>Then something happened that sent my world into an unrecoverable tailspin; a close friend was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Here’s the kicker… he was given just two weeks to live! He went from his nine-to-five life, to knowing he had limited amount of time left. Having no close family, no insurance, and no money for treatment, he was left with little option except to die alone in his apartment. It is then that my wife decided to hospice him. I wholly supported her.</p>
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<p>It was an incredibly powerful experience watching as my friend’s life slipped away and how he dealt with it psychologically as the physicality got worse. Eight days after his initial diagnosis he was dead. I pulled the bed sheet over his head. I’ve never been the same since.</p>
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<p>As a writer, I wanted to capture something of the moment and relay what I experienced watching and talking with a lucid person as their life was ending. Having never written literary fiction, I suddenly found myself cemented in front of my computer in the throes of typing DROP OUT.</p>
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<p>When I sent the completed manuscript off to my agent, he was extremely disappointed that I had gone this literary route and had no intentions of ever trying to sell the book. I had no intentions of letting the book sit in a drawer, so after a few emails and telephone calls to the agency we decided to end our nearly four year partnership. I published the ebook version of DROP OUT a month later not expecting much to come of it. Then something amazing happened…</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U</a></p>
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<p>To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING </p>
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<p><a href="http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com/">http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com</a></p> Reviews for sale!tag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2014-05-28:523145:Topic:6280712014-05-28T16:38:50.656ZNeil Ostroffhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/NeilOstroff
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I’ve touched on this subject many times but it warrants repeating. Never pay someone to read and review one of your books. Paid reviewers give glowing reports on the books they read even if the books are terrible. Why? Because they want your repeat business. Would you pay someone a second time if they gave your book a bad review the first time? Of…</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I’ve touched on this subject many times but it warrants repeating. Never pay someone to read and review one of your books. Paid reviewers give glowing reports on the books they read even if the books are terrible. Why? Because they want your repeat business. Would you pay someone a second time if they gave your book a bad review the first time? Of course not!</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Fake reviews are one of the main reasons why indie books have been getting a bad rap. For sometimes enormous fees an author can get several good reviews based solely on what the author paid for the review and not the content of the book. The reader buys the book because so many other “readers” said it’s great and then is horribly disappointed by the content inside.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">If you want real reviews then ask someone you don’t know who read your book. How do you do this? Enclose this handy paragraph after the end of your novel and see if it works. It did for Jackie Weger, bestselling indie romance author:</span></p>
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<p><b>Thank you for taking time to read “Title of book”. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated.</b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"><a href="http://authors.choosybookworm.com/book-reviews-where-do-you-get-them-and-why-do-you-need-them" target="_blank">http://authors.choosybookworm.com/book-reviews-where-do-you-get-them-and-why-do-you-need-them</a></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I truly believe a good, honest review is a large part of garnering initial interest in the book and making it successful. Real reviews have passion for the story that comes across in the way the review was written.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Most of my ten published novels have reviews from readers. These reviews come from all over the world, from real readers, real people, and without a price tag attached.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com/">http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com</a></p> Is marketing worth it?tag:thebookmarketingnetwork.com,2014-05-07:523145:Topic:6256222014-05-07T19:26:32.477ZNeil Ostroffhttp://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profile/NeilOstroff
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I’ve been reading a lot of threads and forums lately dealing with the topic of marketing your book. It seems there are a lot of “newbies” out there in this relatively virgin explosion of indie publishing and many can’t understand why their books aren’t selling. When asked if these new authors market and promote their books most say yes, but complain…</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I’ve been reading a lot of threads and forums lately dealing with the topic of marketing your book. It seems there are a lot of “newbies” out there in this relatively virgin explosion of indie publishing and many can’t understand why their books aren’t selling. When asked if these new authors market and promote their books most say yes, but complain that they have limited time for the endeavor, maybe a few hours a week.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">These authors wonder why they have little or no sales. Well, here’s a hard truth. To be a successful indie author you have to market your books as much if not more than you spend time writing them. It takes a lot of work to get noticed in a publishing sea that now includes a million new published books yearly. Competition to get readers’ attention is ten times harder than it was three years ago. But it is not impossible.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">With the internet, the exhaustive task of promoting is now accessible to even the most introverted writer. No longer must writers sit in nearly empty bookstores peddling their signed wares or go out on long book tours just to get a little recognition, that recognition can now be achieved at home. It can be done. You can get noticed. But it ain’t easy.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Internet marketing does sell books. I’m living proof. A complete unknown three years ago, since then I’ve sold thousands of books to absolute strangers. I also spend an average of two hours a day marketing. It’s tough to find the time, believe me, but I do it. I used to pay for sponsorships with mediocre results and placed samples of my books on all those hundreds of author sites that promise tons of exposure. They worked to some degree, but not worth the hours of drudgery downloading in comparison to sales. I earned roughly eighty cents an hour in sales royalties for my efforts. And paid Facebook and social media boosts do virtually nothing. Blindly spamming and pushing your book over and over only turns readers off. You seem desperate for anyone to buy your book. Then I discovered the secret to gaining an audience.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The proper way to promote is to build a readership through online book discussions and joining groups. Respond when a reader emails you. Get involved in discussions other than about your own work. Get people interested in you by being interesting online. Word-of-mouth will cause your audience to grow in time. It will! Marketing on the internet will sell your book, but you have to do it properly and have patience. If you tell a great story readers will find out about you. And they will tell their friends.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">To read more about me, my books, and my latest release, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com/"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com</span></a></p>
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