this one weird trick will put you on the bestseller list

Congratulations

you’ve written a book

Now what?

This session is for

Anyone interested in the

business of writing

(or in winning a book or a t-shirt)

What you’ll get

Do, don’t, and It Depends

“One Learns from Many Sources”

Quality of the evidence: Variable

DO:

Know who you are

Read in your niche

Genre do’s and don’ts

Top 100 sellers in category

Don’t: Everything to everyone

Do:

Write a series

Readers want to spend time with

your characters

Do:

Use the first book as bait

“permafree” takes some effort

Do:

Find your tribe

Do: Invest

Editing – formatting – cover- Bowker

ISBNs- Contract (Authors Guild) - URLs -

Conferences - Giveaways

Don’t

Author Solutions – paid reviews

Non-Bowker ISBNs - DIY covers

Giveaways

Goodreads - Rafflecopter - LibraryThing

Build your email list

bit.ly/MMMug

Wait, email list?

Vertical Response - Aweber - Mailchimp

Releases, events, giveaways

It depends

Quasi-indie, e.g. BookBaby

FB ads – Mark Dawson

Outsourcing / ghostwriting

Amazon giveaways

Expensive blog tours

Worth it for you?

Do: Have a platform

Readers can find you online

Professional URL

Interests besides “buy my book”

Doesn’t have to be fancy

Don’t want to blog?

Set a static front page

Or reblog

Reblogging: not plagiarism!

Set up IFTTT – Connect RSS to blog

set to draft post – finalize at leisure

Has possibilities

Looks good

Off topic and wonky

Too serious?

Maaaaybe

No.

If it’s a new take?

Will check this out

Off topic

BO-ring

Draft posts

Sample post (APS feed)

Featured image from freepik.com

Brief intro

The original

Sidebar: email signup is on top

Buy my book! Buy my book! Buy my book!

Sample post (APS feed)

Citation (automatic)

Call to Action: Put this after every post

Sharing options turned on

More sidebar stuff: Easy review links

Call to action at the end

Completely automated

(use caution)

Don’t: go overboard

Blog to your level of comfort

and interest

Avoid politics, controversy

unless it’s your brand

1 or 2 URLs

Frankiebow.com -Mollybarda.com- Merriemusubis.com

maritime-club.com - Musubi.ninja - Bananawrangler.com

Simple blogspot page

Set up IFTTT – Connect RSS to blog

set to draft post – finalize at leisure

Fancy custom page

Set up IFTTT – Connect RSS to blog

set to draft post – finalize at leisure

Group blogs

Join one or start your own

Do: BookBub

Expensive, selective, worth it

Others: Fussy Librarian, Choosy

Bookworm, ENT, Pixel of Ink

Do: get interviewed

Don’t overpay for blog tours

$100 or less

Do: use interview quotes

Do: anthology

hawaiianmystery.com

100% donated time and effort

Benefits Read Aloud America

Consider: KDP Select or go

wide?

Kindle Unlimited, countdown deals

No permafree

Consider: Kindle Worlds

Get paid to write fanfic

Consider: Spinoffs

Alice Mongoose & Alistair Rat

Consider: Book trailer

Sales effect unknown

Always: keep writing

Repurpose blog posts, crowdsource

Full outline by Day 14

First draft by Day 49

Second draft by Day 56

Submit to editor by Day 63

Re-submit for second pass by Day 73

Publish on Day 90

Persistent, professional, patient

100’s of queries – rounds of editing

One Weird Trick

ResultSource

Bestselling author Russell blake

Some might say, cynical. I’d say

pragmatic

I wish there were a formula…Pick a genre you love and that’s

large enough to support you, stick to it, write a lot of

seriously good books, focus on improving your grasp of craft

each time you sit down to write…package and quality control

your books like the pros do, market intelligently…above all, be

extremely realistic about everything.

Resources

Always keep writing

Author platform: Jane Friedman

Book design: Joel Friedlander

Querying agents and publishers: Query Shark

Agent & industry news: Published to Death

Community: Kboards, FB author fan groups, Absolute Write

Legal issues: The Passive Voice

Promotion: The Author Biz, Joanna Penn, Simon Whistler, Romance

University, Russell Blake

Tools: IFTTT, bitly.com, wordpress.com, Hootsuite, Buffer/Pablo