Authors & Publishers

Authors, thank bloggers when your book is published

Here’s a brilliant idea that can create such a huge buzz online for your new book that it will fly off the shelves. During your research and writing, start keeping a list of bloggers who helped you in some way, either by blogging about you and your book, or by contributing to it, or about mentioning… Read More

Book lovers protest shrinking book review sections

If you’re one of the many authors, publishers or readers concerned that your favorite newspaper is eliminating or cutting its book review section, you aren’t alone. Trade associations, book clubs and other groups, including the academic press, are petitioning newspaper publishers who have decided to eliminate or shrink their book review sections because they can’t generate… Read More

Most successful authors do 7 things differently

For almost two decades, Steve Harrison has worked with more than 19,000 authors. He’s convinced that the most successful authors—the top 3 percent—do 7 things differently than all the others. He’ll explain them all during two free 75-minute telephone seminars today. You can listen at 2 p.m. Eastern Time or 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Steve says you’ll… Read More

Amazon bestseller campaigns not worth it

I’m sick to death of the parade of authors who hit me with sales pitches to buy their books on Amazon.com on such-and-such a day. And I absolutely refuse to pester the 30,000 people on my email list and let them know about these Amazon campaigns. Full disclosure: When these campaigns were all the rage a few years ago,… Read More

Bad book or music review? Here’s how to recover from it

I was a guest on yesterday’s National Public Radio show “Talk of the Nation,” and the topic was “The Web and the Rise of Rotten Reviews” and how to recover from them, whether you’re a restaurant, an author, a band or anyone who is reviewed by anybody. One of the callers was Debra Fine, author of… Read More

YouTube videos build buzz for raunchy book for men

What’s a publisher to do when the content of a new book is so racy and offensive that newspapers and magazines won’t touch it? Build the buzz online by spending only $10,000 to create three short, risque, sexist videos about the risque, sexist book. Then post them at sites such as YouTube and watch as word spreads to other popular social networking sites… Read More

How to promote a book on people who plan their lives before birth

Robert Schwartz of Ashland, Oregon writes: “I wrote and self-published a New Age book called Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth? “It includes 10 stories of people who planned great challenges for the purpose of spiritual growth. The information about their pre-birth plans was obtained by four of the most gifted… Read More

Book marketing: Pitch high-traffic, niched websites

Here’s a great success story on how authors can get exposure at high-traffic websites by writing a regular column. Mike Archer of Firebomber Publications emailed it to me and I’m reprinting it here. My ‘Firebombers Incorporated’ novels relate the adventures (and misadventures) of a high-tech wildland firefighting outfit that employs a high percentage of ex-military personnel.… Read More

L.A. Times to discontinue book review section

More bad news for authors and publishers who want book reviews in top-tier newspapers. The Wall Street Journal says that sometime this spring, the Los Angeles Times will announce that it’s folding its highly esteemed Sunday book review section, shown at left, into a new section that will combine books with opinion pieces. That leaves only five separate… Read More