#PubTip—The Elevator Speech for Authors

You never know where you’ll sell your next book. At your kid’s football game, during an impromptu chat on Facebook, or while standing in line at the bakery—potential readers are everywhere. Making a memorable impression, and sealing the deal, is easy when you’re equipped with an elevator speech. An elevator speech—or elevator pitch—is a quick…

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Launch Your Book with Great Reviews: 4 Tips to Get You Started

Searching for rocket fuel to launch your book? Great reviews can shoot your masterpiece right up the Amazon lists.  Potential buyers demand an unbiased critique of a book’s merits to simplify the task of finding the next great read. Most expect to find at least ten glowing reviews on a book’s product page before they’ll…

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The Blogger-Author Relationship—Gaining 5-Star Status

If your relationship with the blogging community consists of a mass email dump to Dear Blogger every time you release a new book, you’re missing the point. Book blogs don’t just add to the string of 5-star reviews you’re hoping to wrap around your new release. Book bloggers also host authors, participate in book hops,…

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Using Goodreads to Increase Book Sales

Tell the truth: After indie publishing your book, did you rush to Goodreads and attempt to “friend” dozens of authors and attract hundreds of new followers in a misguided belief the effort would ignite book sales? No doubt many of those authors who ignored your friend request wish you nothing but good fortune—they’re simply too…

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In the John with Ginger Rogers

In the early 1980s, I attended a benefit at the Palm Springs Art museum alongside a host of movie stars and business tycoons. The goody bags handed out at the door to the women swishing their way inside the marble palace brimmed with expensive perfumes and silk scarves from Saks; the sculpture gardens glittered with…

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In Praise of Book Bloggers…and A Few Confessions

In preparing my most recent release, The Road She Left Behind, I set out to find ARC reviewers as well as rounding up contact lists for book blogs in those countries where I  know I have a following. This is part of my approach to launching a new book. However, this time I wanted to…

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How to Grow a Vibrant Twitter Following

This Chatty Cathy can’t lie: I love Twitter. Some authors think of tweeting as just another chore, but I find the site invaluable for connecting with readers and sharing publishing industry news with other authors. Book reviewers find me on Twitter. So do families that have adopted children, as I have. Why is Twitter fabulous?…

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4 Strategies for Creating Book Buzz

  Nothing strikes fear in an author’s heart like the prospect of self-promotion. Most of us are introverted bookaholics content to spend our days blissfully writing. Yet, creating a sellable book is just the beginning. Without promotion and a lot of buzz, readers will never know your book exists. And as an Indie Author, it’s…

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Building a Review Team for Your Book

I was a year into indie publishing and preparing for my third release before I got serious about developing my first Review Team. Review Teams have many benefits including gaining reviews pre-release and creating buzz in reader-focused social sites. They can also help with word-of-mouth marketing (leading to preorders of your book) months before your…

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Writing Books in a Series

Many authors consider writing a series. Some writers shy away from the idea because the task can seem daunting—which is true. When I began writing the Liberty Series I had to think about how to approach the series. How would I continue the story in book after book? Should I have a cast of characters…

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