This book marketing update might be short but it’s packed with great information.

New Shelves Books wrote a post reminding all of us to do some spring cleaning online, and specifically with our social media accounts. Our platforms definitely need sprucing up from time to time with new avatars, banners, and more current bios.

Although the topic isn’t book marketing, I encourage you to read the Psychology Today blog post with Lisa Tener. The topic is creativity.

I hope you’re enjoying spring. Keep writing and stay healthy.

Book Marketing

The Magic Number: The Number of Books You Need to Sell from Bard Press: For as long as I have worked in publishing, I have wondered what makes some books work and others don’t. I am sure everyone who works publishing books wonders the same things. When things shift, like they did in 2020, you wonder a little more—what is still true about your incomplete view of how it all works.”

Get Reader Reviews Now to Drive Sales Later from Jane Friedman and by Mike O’Mary: The first step to getting book reviews is this: write a great book. Then use book tours and giveaways. The author has a additional suggestions so check them out.

Publishing

Navigating the Parallel but Uneven Ecosystems of Traditional and Self-Publishing from Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: “To sell books, whether traditionally published or self-published, visibility and access to points of sale are critical, and with more than a thousand new books published every single day, the old adage, ‘if you build it, they will come,’ is not true for the writer.”

Social Media

Social Media Spring Cleaning from New Shelves Books: Love the advice here. Definitely follow these steps.

Of Note

How to Use Your Five Senses to Stimulate Creative Flow from Psychology Today and with Lisa Tener and Eric R. Maisel Ph.D.: “Creativity is a whole-person activity. Of course, brain involvement is primary; but so is the involvement of our senses.”

Quote of the Week

I have a new Book Marketing Update for you today.

But as I look at the blog posts I collected over the week, it is really more of a publishing update.

In this edition, I included two posts about the Kindle Vella and a couple of references to posts about publishing as widely as possible.

I hope you enjoy this update and have a great weekend.

Book Marketing

2021 Book Marketing: How Authors Are Promoting Their Novels from BookBub: “We’ve compiled a list of strategies we’ve seen authors buzzing about so far this year. Some tactics can help directly increase book sales, while others may help expand an author’s platform, which can lead to future sales.”

Kindle Vella

Kindle Vella: Description, Features, and Tips for Authors by Dave Chesson: “Amazon continues to push its own boundaries in the reader market, this time spreading into a micro-industry that has been gaining traction elsewhere, resulting in an exciting leap forward for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and potentially for authors as well. The product is the newly announced Kindle Vella, a new Kindle platform created as a “mobile-first” approach to serialized storytelling. In it, authors will have the chance to engage with readers in a new way, ‘one short episode at a time.'”

Amazon Announces Its Wattpad-Style ‘Kindle Vella’ Platform from Publishing Perspectives and by Porter Anderson: “Opening a new route to self-publishing, Amazon’s Kindle Vella capitalizes on the popularity of online serialized storytelling.”

Publishing

Going Exclusive with Serialization: Is it Worth It? by Monica Leonelle: “I believe that Kindle Vella is worth paying attention to as it will likely shake up the industry of fiction apps and be the first in many changes the general makeup of how authors sell their fiction to readers.”

How the Pandemic Is Affecting Book Publishing by Jane Friedman: “In a recent article at the New York Times, you’ll find a big-picture overview of what’s happening to US book sales as a result of the pandemic. Despite print sales being up around 8 percent overall—a record-breaking year—the NYT article paints a doom-and-gloom scenario, with considerable nail biting about the ‘profound impact on literary culture.'”

Global, Wide Self-Publishing with Mark Leslie Lefebvre and from Joanna Penn: “How can you reach every reader on every platform in a global, distributed reading environment? How can you take a long-term, relaxed attitude to your author career? Mark Leslie Lefebvre talks about self-publishing wide in this interview.”

Social Media News

Facebook Announces a Range of New Audio Tools, Including Audio Rooms, New Sound Clip Creation Tools from Social Media Today: Not to be outdone by Clubhouse, Facebook has developed its own version of audio social media.

Quote of the Week

Hey, I’m Frances Caballo and I’m a social media expert for writers, building and managing author platforms to enhance book sales. A writer all of my life, I also provide content writing and email marketing services. If all you need is some training, I enjoy offering one-on-one training sessions as well. Of course, check out my free, email-based social media training course (you’ll get a free, 64-page Twitter ebook with it). Or, sign up for one of my social media audits to find out how you’re really doing.

This week’s Book Marketing Update references seven posts that I felt were important to include.

I always listen to David Gaughran and Dave Chesson because they really know their fields. So, you’ll find two of their posts this week included below.

Whereas the social media news that I normally include is fairly generic, this week the information is squarely for authors like you.

Enjoy the posts, have a great weekend, and keep writing.

Book Marketing

How to Create a Professional Author Page in Amazon Author Central by Dave Chesson: “Using Amazon Author Central and creating an Author page can make a big difference in your book sales. It proves your legitimacy as an author and gives you certain functions and capabilities on Amazon to convert readers into fans.”

How Library Distribution Works for Indie Authors from Alliance of Independent Authors: “We all know that having our books in a library is a good thing. More readers, a segment of readership we don’t always reach, and, in some territories,  income. But how do you get your books into a library and how does their distribution system work? These are questions we answer today in this post about how library distribution works for indie authors.”

15 Rules for Successfully Advertising Books by David Gaughran: David Gaughran knows what he’s talking about when it comes to book marketing and advertising. He has experience and wisdom so definitely read this post.

Publishing

Publish Wide, Sell More Books And AI for Voice. Google Play Books With Ryan Dingler and by Joanna Penn: Ryan Dingler is a product manager at Google. In this post, Joanna and Ryan discuss the difference between Google Books and Google Play Books, the importance of metadata, and other topics. Don’t miss this episode.

Author Branding

How to Introduce Yourself as an Author and Build a Strong Author Brand from Anne R. Allen and Ruth Harris and by Mike Bohdan: “Like a sculptor over wet clay — you have unprecedented control over your brand. Shape it as you will. Doing it blindly can lead to a bad result though. A shapeless mess that harms more than benefits. On the contrary, brand strategy can help you avoid such an outcome.”

Social Media

A Debut Novelist in a Pandemic: How to Navigate a Launch Through Social Media from Jane Friedman and by Kathleen Marple Kalb: How do you launch a book during a pandemic? Read this author’s account of her book launch in April 2020.

Content Creation and Social Media for Writers from Sabrina Ricci: “When it comes to marketing on social media, there are two things to consider: content creation and platform/distribution.”

Quote of the Week

This book marketing update is heavy on publishing and a little light on marketing but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

Keep reading and writing and following your dreams.

Book Marketing

Lead Magnet Ideas for Authors by Ruth Tuffnell: If you want more subscribers on your email list, entice readers with a gift they will love. In this post, Ruth Tuffnell has some suggestions for you.

The Key to a Successful Novel Lies in Genre by C.S. Lakin: “If you asked me what is the most important thing an author needs to know to ensure they will have the best chance of success with their novel, I could sum it up in one word: genre.”

Author Blogs

Blogging Trends for Authors and Writers from Sabrina Ricci and by Stacy Walden: “Blogging is one of the best ways to build a platform, both as a book author and as a freelance writer. With over 3.5 billion searches on Google every day, it’s estimated that 77% of internet users read and interact with blogs.”

Publishing

How to Publish an eBook from Alliance of Independent Authors: If you’re an Indie author and you plan to publish an ebook, be sure to read this blog post first.

How To Self-Publish A Book In 10 Steps by David Gaughran: If you are new to self-publishing, read this comprehensive guide.

Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know Hybrid Publishing from Jane Friedman and by Barbara Linn Probst: This post thoroughly describes hybrid publishing and lays out its advantages.

Email Marketing

What Every Writer Needs to Know About Email Newsletters (They’re Not Going Away) from Jane Friedman and by Catherine Baab-Muguira: “Newsletters are an older medium than most writers—or most people, period—understand, one that has stood the test of time, proving monetizable through multiple centuries.”

Quote of the Week