This week’s Indie Author Update ranges from metadata to blogging curation to how to develop a platform. All worthy topics for indie authors from experts in the publishing field.
So how is your summer so far? I’m enjoying all of my regular weekend activities: dancing, hiking, and cycling. I hope you have a chance to be active as well.
Indie Author Updates
Author Blogging 101: Your Quick Guide to Content Curation by Joel Friedlander: “Curators have traditionally been found in museums and libraries where, relying on their expertise in a specific field, they acquire, organize, and present selections of works with something in common. Enter technology, and we’ve had an explosion of online content aimed at specialized audiences. The last time I looked, there were a reported 73 million blogs online (although you and I know that probably 72 million of them are abandoned, with their last post in 2013).”
Do You Have a Platform? by Sarah Bolme from TheBookDesigner.com: “The problem is that most authors focus on where they will build their platform and how they will build their platform. They fail to identify what their platform is and whom they intend to reach. I frequently run into authors who cannot identify the target audience for their books. It seems many independently published authors fail to identify who their target audience is and whattheir unique take on their message is.”
Should Indie Authors Blog? – Self-Publishing Advice Center from the Indie Author Alliance: “With readers and writers ever more pressed for time, can indie authors justify spending valuable writing time blogging? Personally, I love blogging on my author website, and I started blogging in order to launch my writing career. Not only did it provide discipline and practice, it helped me find my voice as a writer and gave me the instant gratification of reaching readers during the long run-up to completing and self-publishing my first book.”
7 Keyword Tools to Help Authors Create Good Book Metadata by Carla King from BookWorks: “When you upload your book to online retailers and distributors like Amazon, Smashwords, and IngramSpark, you’ll need to decide what categories your book belongs in and insert information (metadata) such as your book description, author bio, BISAC codes, and keywords. But don’t wait until you’re ready to upload your book to figure this out. Below you’ll find a list of some of my favorite keyword tools.”
Quote of the Week
Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference. In addition, she’s a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com, and blogger and Social Media Expert for BookWorks. She’s written several social media books including the 2nd edition of Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, finding new readers, and selling more books. Her clients include authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for my free email course.
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