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Novel Authors and Publishers

If you are a novelist, novel publisher, or novel reader, here's a group where you can share more info, discuss strategies, and create partnerships.

Members: 680
Latest Activity: Dec 27, 2023

51 Ways to Blog as a Novelist

We all know that blogging is one of the best ways to get attention in today's Internet world. A blog is a godsend to your website, bringing it traffic, fans, and more. But you have to post regularly.

Stuck for what to blog about? Here are some tips for novelists, but the same tips can apply to writers of nonfiction, memoirs, children's books, business books, and more.

  1. Review other novels, especially from other lesser-known novelists.
  2. Write a blog post using the voice of one of your main characters.
  3. Have that main character tell some side stories not included in the novel.
  4. Write about the setting - time and/or place. Use some of the research you did to ensure that your novel was accurate.
  5. Invite your readers to review your book. Feature their testimonials on your blog.
  6. Interview some of your readers: via Q&A text or via an Internet radio show or via a teleseminar.
  7. Podcast your book, one section at a time.
  8. Write about trends in your genre.
  9. Write about your favorite novelists, especially those that write in your genre. Include their photos and a sampling of their books.

For the rest of the 51 ways, see: http://blog.bookmarket.com/2011/06/45-ways-to-blog-as-novelist-tips-for.html

If you like this list, help me add more. Email: johnkremer@bookmarket.com.

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Comment by Tracy Krauss on May 22, 2010 at 2:17am
Check out Dallas Woodburn's interview of me on her blog - www.dallaswoodburn.blogspot.com/2010/05/interview-with-tracy-krauss...
Comment by Tracy Krauss on May 22, 2010 at 2:16am
Today I hosted author Michelle Sutton on my blog. She's an 'Edgy Christian' author that you won't want to miss! www.tracykraussexpressionexpress.blogspot.com/search/label/Interviews
Comment by W. S. Gager on May 21, 2010 at 1:39pm
Meet KJ Roberts. She and I have lots in common and mystery writers and midwesterners just have to support and promote each other. Her first mystery book, Pieces of the Star, is out. She talks about how she writes her books, and other great stuff at my blog today: http://wsgager.blogspot.com. Check it out and introduce yourself. Wendy

W.S. Gager
A Case of Infatuation-Now Available, A Case of Accidental Intersection - Coming Soon
www.wsgager.com
Comment by Aggie Villanueva on May 21, 2010 at 12:43pm
Thankx for the link Kaylin. It may just be my connection, but I can't get the page to open.
Comment by Kaylin McFarren on May 21, 2010 at 9:26am
Check out this new promotional site I found. It's totally worth the visit!

http://previewthebook.com/book.php?id=2364

Kaylin
Comment by Darcia Helle on May 20, 2010 at 6:45am
Hi, everyone!

On my blog today, I'm hosting Craig Lancaster, author of 600 Hours of Edward. The book is truly captivating and Craig is a great guy. This is Craig's first book and he writes like a true pro. We'd love for you to drop by and learn about him and his book.
http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com/blog

Thanks!

Darcia
Comment by Aggie Villanueva on May 19, 2010 at 4:27pm
Greetings to all my friends,

I’m so excited. I’m finally ready to open the doors to the VAJ Buzz Club.

Not every detail is ironed out, but people are getting so anxious about it they are urging me to stop the organizing and just open it to the public!
Please excuse the batch email. Many of you have already heard murmurs, the interview Nanci Arvizu did with me , or my just own excitement about this new club. Rather than try to summarize, allow me to just paste a press release here with links so you can check it out at your leisure:

Need to create a huge buzz about your book launch, product, course, webinar, contest, or anything else you’re promoting? Maybe you know how to market, but desperately need help to get the message directly to tens of thousands. Or maybe you don’t know how, but don’t have the $1,000s charged by promotional companies? Need best-seller status for your book? Need to spike your blog visitors and your subscription list year round?

Aggie Villanueva’s VAJ Buzz Club http://www.visualartsjunction.com/?page_id=4047 can make it all happen. Villanueva’s novel, Rightfully Mine, not only made the top #100 on Amazon (best seller status) in three categories for both for print and electronic versions, it made #2 in two categories, and #8 in another.

If she did this for her own novel, imagine what the VAJ Buzz Club can do for your book or event when club members join forces with Villanueva’s marketing savvy?

For decades peers have described Villanueva as a whirlwind that draws others into her vortex. And no wonder. She was a critically acclaimed published author at Thomas Nelson before she was 30, and commenced to found local writers’ groups, the Mid-America Fellowship of Christian Writers three –day conference, taught at nationwide writing conferences, and published numerous writing newsletters for various organizations. Over the years she has worked on professional product launches with the likes of Denise Cassino, http://www.wizardlywebdesigns.com/ a foremost Joint Venture Specialist in the area of product launches.

Aggie Villanueva is a bestselling novelist, non fiction author, and critically acclaimed photographic artist http://www.aggiev.org/represented by galleries nationwide, including Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. http://www.xanadugallery.com/Art/ArtistGallery.asp?ArtistID=429

Aggie founded Visual Arts Junction blog February 2009 and by the end of the same year it was voted #5 at Predators & Editors in the category “Writers’ Resource, Information & News Source” for 2009. http://www.critters.org/predpoll/final_tally_writerinfo.ht

Join forces with Villanueva through the VAJ Buzz Club to promote your book, event, or product while staying well within your budget.

You can email Villanueva at myaggie2@gmail.com. Be sure to type “VAJ Buzz Club” in the subject line. Or go directly to the VAJ Buzz Club for full details. http://www.visualartsjunction.com/?page_id=4047

If you have any questions, just holler. Hoping you’re having the best day ever.
Comment by Gladys Hobson on May 13, 2010 at 2:25am
To get books printed at those prices you need buy in thousands. To sell those books you need skills in marketing and complete confidence in your product. If established publishing houses don't see a profit in your book (no matter how good reviews - unless they be from reviewers for the media) you can find yourself with a home that has become a warehouse with no little room to relax — having a constant reminder of the impossible task you have set yourself.
I have been told that the average sales for a self-published book is 80 copies. Surely better to buy no more than 100 as a start from a POD printer (sending pdf files to download so only printing costs) and, should success come from those book fairs you speak of, then order books accordingly (having large orders sent to the buying firm directly from the printer)
I constantly get offered a place on a bookshelf at the various fairs, but the cost is high per book and there is no telling where the book will be placed on the shelves. Living here in the UK travel to these fairs (around the world) to give a presence is just not possible.
You make everything sound so simple but I know good authors who go to great effort to get known at fairs and such. Nothing is easy and nothing is cheap. But you are quite right about vanity publishers and the like.
Comment by Author Collective on May 12, 2010 at 9:22pm
Self-Publishing...

Here is the truth, the vanity publishing houses charge astronomical rates for their services. A two hundred page book shouldn't cost the author $12.00 to get printed. It also shouldn't sell for $19.95. These companies are building their sale forces and charging their unknowing and unwitting staff members (you the author/customer) to work for them. They promise you that they will place your book in stores and they don't. They also tell you that you are privileged to purchase your own creative license for more than it should retail for, and they ask you to be happy with this arrangement. Well, if you are happy with not making a profit than this is the route to take.

Why as an author would you be so willing to take a forty percent discount from an over-inflated retail price when the bookstores will ask you to give them a fifty percent discount? You can't make money with this formula. A two hundred page novel should cost around $2.95 per copy or less and The Author Collective has helped our members routinely get these kinds of prices.

Many authors get a euphoric sense of pride as they are being taken advantage of by these companies. Ask yourself this question... Does a magazine like Newsweek, Elle, Vanity Fair or Home & Garden, with an average of two hundred full color pages cost its published $9.00 per copy? Of course not! Ask yourself another question... How many wise consumers would buy a 24 page full color comic book for $19.95? Question 3. When is the last time you paid more than $2.00 for a comic book?

Why is it that we are so enthralled with the concept of getting our work published that we cannot see the obvious? People, comic books don't cost twenty dollars! Novels shouldn't cost twenty dollars either. Lower your cost of producing and you can lower the retail cost of your book. This ultimately translates into more sales.

Don't be a SALES PERSON for the vanity publishing companies by purchasing their inflated jobbed-out printing services. Be your own business person and let us help you get your book produced at a cost of between eighty cents and three dollars per copy. THAT'S RIGHT I said eighty cents per copy. Once we help you get this no cost information we will then go to work and sale your book for you. We make money on selling your book which means that you get more sales and "Guess What" you make more money as well.

We attend about forty expos, conventions, tradeshows and conferences to sell books to the retail trade. Our members can attend at no additional cost to help promote their works. Up next week is the Houston Texas National Book festival and then the Book Expo America in New York City. Care to join us?

Take a look at our website and call me with any questions you may have.

Michael Williams
313.446.2262
www.AuthorCollective.com
Comment by lizzie march on May 6, 2010 at 4:09pm


Get your signed copy of 'The Little Insanity' by Janus Kane. Available now http://www.marchbooks.com/Adult.html
 

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