Guest Expert: C Kay Brooks

Regardless of whether you are ‘only’ a reader, a budding author ‘wantabee’ or a published author, you should consider owning a website and posting blogs.

As a reader, you can challenge yourself personally as to how much you read and document what you read while making new friends along the way.

In sharing what you read, you help other readers to find interesting and informative reading material. If you find a new author that you enjoy, become a benefactor by encouraging and assisting the author — be a cheerleader to bolster flagging spirits of a discouraged author. Being an author can be a lonely, isolated occupation. Many beginning authors give up in frustration, not being able to continue for lack of an audience. Your blog with friends and followers could feature budding authors that you have found. The author would have a refreshing moment in your spotlight. You could be the catalyst or helping hand for that author to find a road to success.

As an author, you can use a blog to fill in details about a location, occupation or a character’s history (back story) to enhance the reading experience of your books. Once you have a following, you can engage them as partners with brainstorming for endings or new story ideas. Engaging in the creative process gives a sense of ownership, creates a vested interest in the outcome. Your finished novel, the outcome, will have a waiting audience eager to read what you did with their suggestions.

Your blog can be shared on your platform and re-shared by followers, fans, friends and those who stumble across you post. Think of your blog as the starting place of your streaming link to the world. It can be a platform or foundation where you can share yourself and your creations to build a fan base. Your blog can be the vehicle enabling you to reach out and touch the world.

So what do you blog about? Not what you had for breakfast, unless you are a gourmet cook giving instructions, a diet consultant or a “biggest loser” offering ideas on becoming healthy and slimmer.

If you are a non-fiction author, posted articles with hints that didn’t make your book, or small portions of your book working as teasers would be good. Posting success stories of how your book information was implemented could be interesting and very strong selling points for your book.

If you are a memoir author you can post more detailed information about places, people or experiences featured or mentioned briefly in your book.

A fiction author is often more challenged but should look for a non-fiction hook that people might be interested in and be searching for. You can use your story research, gathered before or during the actual writing of your novel. It might be history of vampires, theories, myths and famous vampire characters that refuse to die throughout years of literature. What about a review of vampires portrayed in the movies?

Oh, you don’t write about vampires? In the above paragraph substitute you character’s profession, personality or problem for the word ‘vampire’. Let’s say you write cop dramas.

It might be history of police, theories of law enforcement, myths and famous cop characters that refuse to die throughout years of literature. What about a review of cops portrayed in the movies?

In our digital and ever shrinking world by way of the internet, blog and websites now act as “landing destinations” where diversified people can meet on an equal footing to share, regardless of physical location and sometimes regardless of physical disability. ‘Reach out and touch someone’ is taking on a whole new meaning.

Blogging readers and authors alike can own and develop these havens of sharing where touring authors can stop by to share and interact with people — people who might become fans and purchasing customers. It’s a win-win situation for the blog/website owner and touring author alike. Both are spotlighted to new people and may grow their personal fan-base. And it’s fun, like a party with a traveling guest. It’s what fond memories and hopefully profits are made of.

What’s the one ‘No-no” of polite behavior? Don’t say ‘buy my book’. You can offer multiple links and even mention specials for purchases during the tour, but it should appear as an afterthought. A treasured guest doesn’t come into your home and hawk their wares. The treasured guest brings gifts, exciting news and is begged to stay a little longer and to come back soon.

Just think, you can stay in your PJ’s and house slippers while touring the world, visiting exotic places, playing games, winning prizes and having fun meeting new people. Yes, you can! Whether you go as a fan or as an author on the newest from of travel, mark your calendar and follow along on a Virtual Book Tour! It’s the new ‘magic carpet ride’!

What is KDP Select?

KDP Select is an option for KDP publishers from Amazon. Through KDP Select, for an initial period of 90 days your Digital Book is exclusive to Kindle and is included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program where it will earn a share of a monthly cash fund when readers borrow it. Also, you can promote your Digital Book as free for up to 5 days during these 90 days.

We have had a few authors asking if it is okay for them to continue to promote their book using BookBuzzr Technologies while on the KDP Select Program. Based on our understanding of the KDP Select terms of service and their FAQ and extensive research on various forums on the Internet, here’ why we (the BookBuzzr team) have concluded  that KDP Select DOES NOT affect BookBuzzr Authors. Of course, we expect that you will do your own research and draw your own conclusions. Feel free to jump in the comments section and let us know if we’ve misunderstood something.

Authors who use BookBuzzr technologies DO NOT violate KDP Select Terms of Service

If your book is on the KDP Select program, you are perfectly within your rights to market and promote your book through other sources. For example, you can go ahead and tweet about your book on Twitter. And you can talk about your book on your blog. If you use BookBuzzr technologies to market your book, you are not distributing your book through BookBuzzr or selling your books through BookBuzzr. Therefore, you are not violating Amazon terms of service. So go ahead and continue with your BookBuzzr subscription. It may even help complement your efforts on the KDP Select program.

Distribute Means Giving Away or Selling Your Book in it’s Entirety

The KDP Select FAQ Page states: “When you choose KDP Select for a book, you’re committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of exclusivity, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. However, you can continue to distribute your book in physical format, or in any format other than digital. See the KDP Select Terms and Conditions for more information.”

It’s important to understand that distribution refers to the act of giving away or selling your book in it’s entirety on ebook distribution sites such as Smashwords, BookBaby etc. or in the form of PDF or other digital or electronic versions of your ENTIRE (FULL) book.

Giving Away Your Book Excerpt is NOT the Same as Book Distribution

However, when you provide your book excerpt it DOES NOT constitute a violation of KDP Select terms of service. Book excerpts have always been a valid form of book marketing for authors. The BookBuzzr Flipper Widget and Book Sampler is best-suited for book excerpts. If you are part of the KDP Select program, please do not upload your ENTIRE book. But feel free to put up your excerpt.

Amazon’s Exclusivity is for Distribution and Sales Only

Amazon states, “When you include a Digital Book in KDP Select, you give us the exclusive right to sell and distribute your Digital Book in digital format while your book is in KDP Select. During this period of exclusivity, you cannot sell or distribute, or give anyone else the right to sell or distribute, your Digital Book (or content that is reasonably likely to compete commercially with your Digital Book, diminish its value, or be confused with it), in digital format in any territory where you have rights.”

“Sell and distribute” is very different from marketing, promotion and publicity which is what BookBuzzr does.

Putting up Your Book Excerpt on the BookBuzr Flipper Widget DOES NOT violate KDP Select Terms of Service

Putting up an excerpt of your book is different from putting up your whole book. Amazon does not restrict you from promoting your own book via a book excerpt. They don’t want you to put up your entire book on places other than Amazon as it will affect their sales. However, putting up a book excerpt on the BookBuzzr widget will actually help Amazon by driving traffic to Amazon.  Having your excerpt up on BookBuzzr does not cause loss of revenues to Amazon since the final sale or distribution of the book happens on the Amazon – Kindle platform itself. If you sell your book on your site then you are in violation of KDP Select terms of service.

BookBuzzr DOES NOT Do eBook Distribution or eBook Sales

We don’t sell books or eBooks. We’re a software technology company that builds technologies for book marketing.

We’ve consciously stayed away from eBook distribution or sales. We do not compete with Amazon or any other eBook distributor or seller.

BookBuzzr only develops technologies for book marketing 

Our focus is on helping you promote your book through the power of technology. Some of our technologies are:

- QuickQuiz – to help you to rapidly create fun little quizzes for Facebook

- AuthorPage – a Facebook fan page widget to help you engage with your fans

- Amazon Alerts – a reporting service that gives you information about your book’s Amazon sales rank

- Book Tweeter – a technology that sends out automatic tweets to your followers.

- Flipper Widget – a technology that grabs that attention of visitors to your blog or Facebook page.

- Freado.com – a website where readers can win free books

Conclusion

As an author, you need all the visibility that you can get and BookBuzzr provides you with the highest value for money when it comes to marketing your book using technologies.

Vikram Narayan is the founder of BookBuzzr Book Marketing Technologies. (Twitter – @bookbuzzrCEO ) Vikram is a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to starting BookBuzzr, Vikram founded another software company that has been successfully serving clients from all over the world since 2001. When he is not dreaming up ways to help authors accelerate their earnings and book sales, Vikram spends his time playing the guitar, practicing Aikido and spending time with his family.

Guest Expert: Laurel Marshfield

eBook Writer
In the mid-1960s, the Beatles recorded “Paperback Writer,” a song that could be said to mirror the controlled frenzy currently surrounding eBooks. Why so?

With its good-natured satire, the song lends a soundtrack to the hopes that many authors have for this new publishing medium. And if the Beatles had written their hit tune today, surely they would have titled it “eBook Writer.”

While the Fab Four here underscore the uncertainty of a would-be paperback writer’s life, eBookville’s road to success is no sure thing, either (largely because few things in publishing ever are). And yet.

Beyond that inherent “iffiness” — the more-than-partial antidote for which is a good book and persistent, focused promotion — there is an important subtext to the eBook success stories we’ve seen so far.

eBooks, the Subtext

And that is: a striking disparity exists between the relatively tepid eBook sales that quite a few authors have encountered, and the absolutely sizzling eBook sales that a select few have enjoyed. I’m thinking, of course, of such giddy superstar success stories as Amanda Hocking, John Locke, Joe Konrath, and several others. Not coincidentally, all are authors of genre fiction. (For more, see: http://bit.ly/vAkOPU)

But there’s also a second subtext within the larger one. The astonishing, wealth-making sales figures that the above few authors have garnered are counterbalanced by something else — something difficult not to notice.

Exactly zero nonfiction authors have seen eBook sales that are comparable to the sales that these genre fiction authors have attracted.

What the Statistics Say

Looking at this phenomenon from a statistical perspective, a relatively recent Sourcebooks.com post (http://bit.ly/t6Nucm) cited some revealing figures.

In the first quarter of 2011, adult nonfiction print books represented 42.3% of total sales (by far the biggest slice of the sales pie). Adult print fiction, by contrast, accounted for a much smaller 25.2% in the same period — a percentage slightly smaller than even juvenile print sales at 25.5%.

But in eBook sales for the same period, those figures were turned inside out. Nearly three-quarters of the eBook sales pie goes to adult fiction, while adult nonfiction eBooks garner a bit less than the quarter-pie that is left. The remaining sliver, meanwhile, goes to juvenile eBook sales — fiction and nonfiction, both.

Nonfiction eBooks at a Disadvantage

The question that naturally arises is Why. Why are nonfiction digital sales so comparatively miniscule, when print sales in nonfiction are, and have been for years, the most lucrative slice of the overall book market pie?

The answer may be hidden in plain sight — in the reason why people use eReaders in the first place, and the current limitations of eBooks themselves.

As the above Sourcebooks post pointed out, readers using eReaders seem to prefer books that tell stories; i.e., fiction and narrative nonfiction (history, memoir, biography, and the like). That’s because this largely text-only medium is ideal for a “linear” — beginning-to-end — reading experience. But it’s not so ideal for reading that inspires a non-linear approach (comparing and contrasting parts, referring to previous bits, making notes in the margin for future reference).

In other words, readers turn to eBooks primarily for entertainment, and “revert” to print books for enlightenment – for information. They are not misguided.

Digital formatting hasn’t evolved enough to support the graphic features that most nonfiction books need in order to make their points (tables, graphs, pictures, and diagrams). That is, until very recently.

Will Kindle Format 8 Make a Difference?

In the fall of last year, Amazon released Kindle Format 8 at the same time that it launched its new eReader tablet, the Kindle Fire (conveniently, the Kindle Fire displays eBooks with KF8 features).

According to Amazon, this new formatting capability is their response to the fact that earlier generations of the Kindle could not handle graphically rich or complexly formatted books, and that barred some book categories from publishing eBooks (at least for the Kindle).

But now, “KF8 allows publishers to create great-looking books in all categories,” says the Kindle Direct Publishing page explaining the innovation, “particularly those that require rich formatting and design, such as technical & engineering books and cookbooks.” Additional features built into KF8 will produce “fixed layout books like graphic novels, comics, and kids’ books.” (For more, see: http://bit.ly/xz9e0y)

Will KF8 make a significant difference for non-narrative nonfiction authors?
It could. Though only the Kindle Fire supports KF8, at the moment, and it will take time for authors and publishers to start using this new tool. Especially as its complexities represent a far higher formatting barrier to entry than KDP (Kindle Digital Publishing) did, and that may discourage some self-publishing nonfiction authors from seeking an eReader audience. Especially as the print realm is where readers expect to find the nonfiction they’re looking for.

Meanwhile, some publishers of reference nonfiction have turned to websites (think Writers Market); they’ve also turned to apps in order capitalize on the ever-growing appetite for digital content. And children’s picture book publishers have used apps to create digital picture books, thus circumventing the limitations of (non-KF8) eBook formatting.

Time Will Tell

It’s impossible to know whether Amazon’s KF8 will turn things around for non-narrative nonfiction authors who want to enter the eBook marketplace.
But such authors will still suffer an intractable disadvantage vis á vis digital publishing — because, unlike genre fiction, they can’t capitalize on a lengthy series of books to create a cascading income stream.

Even if nonfiction authors write a long list of books, those titles will not be part of an evolving story, the way a mystery or thriller series is. And, unfortunately for them, that’s where the money is in eBook publishing – in the series.

So Why Not Innovate?

But maybe all is not lost. The current impasse in non-narrative nonfiction eBooks could simply mean that it’s time to innovate around it. What might nonfiction authors do to attract a digital audience?

One idea is to group-publish an anthology that explores ten or twenty authors’ methods of handling a single self-help problem (time management, say). A reader looking for time management solutions could buy their $0.99 text-only eBook anthology, scan the methods for one that appeals, and purchase that author’s print book at a discount (using a special code).

Publishing an eBook anthology would allow nonfiction authors to group-promote their offerings and attract readers they wouldn’t otherwise reach. Once attracted, those readers could be given an incentive to migrate over to the traditional book format that has long displayed nonfiction content best: ye olde print book.

Got Ideas?

Since authors are a fairly creative group, it’s probably only a matter of time before the nonfiction authors among them figure out new ways to market their titles to an eBook readership. Meanwhile, though, can you help out?

Can you think of alternative ways for nonfiction authors to get into the eBook marketplace? If you can, please post your ideas in the Comments section below. Nonfiction authors worldwide will be truly grateful.

Laurel Marshfield is a professional writer, developmental editor (aka “book doctor”), and ghostwriter who helps authors shape, develop, and refine their book manuscripts for publication. She offers manuscript evaluation, developmental editing, co-writing, collaboration, ghostwriting, book coaching, and consultation for authors.

Her blog publishes inspiration and advice for the author’s journey: Blue Horizon Communications Blog And her free eBook, available for newsletter signup (see the upper right-hand corner of her homepage) is titled: I Need to Be a Bestselling Author – Is That True?: The Five-Destination Roadmap to Authorship.
On Twitter, you can find her at: @BookEditorLM

An author recently asked the following question on the BookBuzzr Pro Authors Forum:

What kind of impact does the number of Facebook fans have on your book sales?

To answer this question let’s do a thought experiment:

Consider two authors of the same genre, both of whom are equally unknown to you. Let’s call the authors Joe and Jill. Joe has 24 fans on his Facebook fan page. Jill has 2000 fans. Assuming you’ve got just 5 minutes to investigate one of these authors’ books, whose book are you more likely to learn more about?

When I visit a Facebook fan page of an author whom I have not heard of, the first thing I glance at is the number of fans that the author has. While this ‘social proof’ may not be the sole criterion for making a purchase it is one of the important determinants for me to proceed forward about investigating the book or the author. I guess that I’m unconsciously asking myself the question, “Is this author worth my time?” and if a number of people seem to think so (as evidenced by the number of fans on Facebook, or the number of reviews on Amazon) then I will tend to dig deeper and see if it is for me.

Of course, there are situations where I have bought a book serendipitously … when I stumbled upon a book in a physical bookstore. But those situations are becoming more and more rare in the online world. This is because the Internet makes it easy for “birds of a feather” to congregate in a single place. However arcane the topic, if an author has any kind of following, chances are that they will have gotten together at one place (Facebook, Twitter, the author’s blog).

Now, this may not be a fair system. And I’m sure that there are several world-changing or hugely entertaining books out there that remain hidden gems because of a lack of social proof. But that is just the nature of the game. And until a better system comes out there, we’re likely to rely on the opinions of others to vet what we choose to investigate deeper.

What do you think? Do let us know in the comments section below.

Vikram Narayan is the founder of BookBuzzr Book Marketing Technologies. (Twitter – @bookbuzzrCEO ) Vikram is a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to starting BookBuzzr, Vikram founded another software company that has been successfully serving clients from all over the world since 2001. When he is not dreaming up ways to help authors accelerate their earnings and book sales, Vikram spends his time playing the guitar, practicing Aikido and spending time with his family.

Guest Expert: D’vorah Lansky, M.Ed. and Author of Book Marketing Made Easy: Simple Strategies for Selling Your Nonfiction Book Online.

You may be familiar with the concept of a traditional book tour. This is where the author travels from city to city, or state to state, signing books and doing book talks. This can be costly, time intensive, and exhausting. Additionally, there is no guarantee that people will actually show up, even for the most famous of authors.

Imagine being able to multiply your results by taking your book on tour, around the globe, without leaving home! Enter…the virtual book tour concept! A virtual book tour is where you take your book on tour, via the Internet. Your book tour can include written articles, book excerpts, book reviews, audio recordings, and video!

Conducting a virtual book tour will literally “put you on the map” as an author and connect you with a wide range of new audiences. While there are several virtual book tour models, ranging from a one day audio interview to a multi-day book tour, from a multi-day visit to the same site to a one day blog blitz, the most effective approach is where you participate as a guest blogger on numerous sites that attract your target audience. By having your articles, reviews, interviews, and videos displayed on other blogs, your book will be discovered by potentially thousands of new readers. By being a guest blogger, you gain credibility as you are being endorsed by the site owner and this adds to your being seen as an expert in your field.

Guest blogging is a powerful way for you to become known for your expertise and a powerful tool for growing relationships. Guest blogging is where you share blog posts on other blogs or where you host guest bloggers on your site. How this works is, blog owners are constantly creating and looking for fresh content for their blogs. By offering to be a guest blogger you are creating a win/win/win. You benefit by being discovered by new readers, the blog owner benefits by having relevant, new content for their site, and the reader benefits because they have access to new information and ideas, on a topic of interest to them.

During your tour you can discuss your book, your journey as an author, and topics related to the topic of your book. Your blog posts can be written articles, audio recordings or videos. You can share audio interviews, book reviews, video tips, book excerpts, book reviews, and more.

As you begin to plan out and schedule your tour, you will be growing and strengthening relationships with bloggers who will be welcoming you to their site as part of the tour. While you are a guest blogger on their site, you will have opportunities for building relationships with their readers. As a guest blogger you gain endorsement by the blog owners. This will provide you with opportunities to gain exposure, across new networks, and get to know more people.

During your tour encourage readers to comment on and share links to your blog posts, on the social networks. Many new people will discover you this way and will begin to follow your progress and your book tour.

How Much Lead Time is Needed?

You can pull together a virtual book tour in as little as eight weeks; however it is advisable to begin planning four months in advance. This will give you plenty of time to line up hosts, build relationships with potential hosts, prepare content, map out your schedule, and promote the event.

Locating Tour Hosts

In identifying potential tour hosts begin by making a list of blog owners you know who attract your target audience. This is a natural fit as you will be providing related content of interest to both the blog owner and their audience. This is the easiest way to get started as people who know, like, and trust you are more likely to agree to be a host for your book tour.

Another way to locate potential tours hosts is to make a list of blogs you’d like to be featured on. Begin visiting these sites once or twice a week to engage in and initiate conversations. In this way you can begin to build relationships and become seen as an expert in your field. A natural progression would be to reach out to the blog owner regarding you becoming a guest blogger.

Before you reach out to blog owners view their “about” page or other relevant areas of their blog to see if they have a guest blogging policy listed. Some site owners welcome guest bloggers and have a procedure in place for potential guest bloggers to follow.

Another way to locate tour hosts is to search for blogs in your niche. As you visit sites focus on the ones that look attractive and up-to-date and that have articles of interest to your target audience. If you find a site you like, check the sidebar of the site for links to other relevant sites. Blog sidebars can often be seen as mini directories to sites in the same niche.

Additionally, you can conduct searches via blog search engines such as:

• www.Technorati.com/pop/blogs/search
• www.blogsearch.google.com
• www.BlogPulse.com
• www.IceRocket.com
• www.Blogarama.com
• www.GlobeofBlogs.com
• www.BlogSearchEngine.com
• www.GoogleFight.com (a great keyword tool!)

Now is the time to prepare for your tour, line up your tour hosts, start writing posts and take your book tour on the virtual road!

Here’s to Your
Virtual Book Tour Success!

Guest Expert: Dana Lynn Smith

It’s that time of year again, when our thoughts turn to the future and what we want to accomplish in the upcoming year. As you make your New Year’s resolutions, don’t forget to include resolutions for your book and your business.

Here are five action steps to help you sell more books in the coming year:

1. Define your mission.

Authors define success in many ways, whether it’s sharing their story, inspiring or entertaining others, earning money, or promoting their business or cause. What does success look like for you? How can you get from where you are now to where you want to be?

2. Evaluate your progress.

Look back over the past year and evaluate how far you have come, what’s working and what’s not working for you. There are a number of metrics that you can measure, such as book sales, number of subscribers on your mailing list, blog subscribers, and social network followers. Set up a way to track these figures on a regular basis.

Consider what type of book promotion activities have worked best for you, and plan to do more of those things. If some promotional activities aren’t working well, do you need to learn new skills or should you focus your energy elsewhere?

3. Develop a solid book marketing plan.

Do you have a written book marketing plan? A book marketing plan is your roadmap to success—make it a priority this month. If you’ve already got a book marketing plan, take some time to evaluate it and make any necessary updates.
To learn more about how to create your book marketing plan, download this free report: Create a Book Marketing Plan That Sells Books.

4. Set weekly and monthly goals for your promotional activities.

Review your book marketing plan and schedule promotional tasks for specific days, weeks and months. For example, your goals might include submitting an article to a blog or article directory each Monday, making new contacts on Tuesdays, writing next week’s blog posts on Wednesdays, working on publicity on Thursdays, and commenting on other blogs on Fridays.

5. Consider publishing new products.

If you haven’t yet published your book, make a commitment now to get it done and write down a specific timeframe. Find publishing resources here.

If you have already published one or more books, think about how you can expand your revenue. Does it make sense to publish your books in multiple formats such as paperback, Kindle ebook, and PDF ebook? If you’re a nonfiction author, can you turn your content into teleseminars or training programs, or write a new book on a related topic? Novelists, can you write a sequel to your book or write another novel? Decide on a strategy and create a written plan.

Invest some time now in good planning, and you’ll reap the benefits all year. Happy New Year!

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. For more book promotion tips, get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebooks at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com

Guest Expert: Michelle Hughes

As an exclusive Amazon user I was very interested in the debut kdp Select program that was unveiled this month. This program boasted of allowing authors the opportunity to distribute books through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, earn royalties from a new source, promote their books for free, and get instant feedback on how well the book was doing through the program.

For those of you not familiar with the kindle owners’ lending library, it’s a collection of books that Amazon prime members who own a kindle can borrow once a month, with no due dates. This information is available on the Amazon site if you’d like to research it further. The royalties for the month of December was $500,000 and it’s reported that for the January those funds will be matched. The author is given a share of those royalties depending on how many of their titles are borrowed from the library.

The promotional part of the kdp Select program is what I was truly interested in. The opportunity to get a title promoted for free sounded like an offer that was very hard to turn down. With the program you grant Amazon exclusive rights to sell your book for increments of three months. This wasn’t a hard choice for me as they are the only platform I am currently using. This program only required the digital platform of my book for this promotion while leaving my paperback out of the equation. This decision would probably be much harder for someone who also had their books published on another digital platform if they were seeing sales there.

On the promotion days that I was able to choose, there are five days granted for each 3 month increment and you have the ability to pick the days, my book was completely free on Amazon to all customers. During the one day free promotion I selected for my book, which had previously been ranked at 48,000 in sales, made a great jump to #883 free in kindle store and #12 in kindle store under the kindle eBooks : fiction > genre fiction > horror > occult. I have to say that I was ecstatic with these results and it made a wonderful Christmas day present.

The next day my book returned to the paid category and I was devastated to see my book ranking in at #198,000. I’m an avid watcher of my rankings so this was a huge disappointment. As the day wore on though my numbers began climbing again and even made it to #24,872 at one point. This result I have to accredit to the kdp Select program because I hadn’t done any other advertising that would cause such a change. As of today my book is ranking back at # 37,201 which is still better than where I started off. And I have to also say that I received many compliments on Twitter thanking me for sharing my book with them. I’d like to believe that I have reached new readers thanks to this promotion as well. I’ve been discussing this with other authors on Amazon that have seen some incredible results and I’d like to share those with you as well.

Barbara Ivie Green, the author of treasure of egypt (treasure of the ancients) has seen phenomenal results with this program. She has increased her readers from approximately 150 to 3,500 in just a week. Violet Patterson, the author of rider on the storm, emerald seer #1 has also seen positive results and saw her book in the top #10 during her three day promo and an upswing of sales since it returned to the paid format. J. Fields, Jr. author of Casino Shuffle a new author, did a 2-day free promo for casino shuffle and over the 2 days it was downloaded over 1600 times. After his free promo ended he’s still seeing the results and very pleased with the program. There is one other author i would like to mention, Jan Hurst-Nicholson. While her book breadwinners hasn’t seen a huge increase in sales since her promotion, her other titles are now moving up. A waterfall effect from seeing her other book possibly?

I find it very hard to argue with the results I’m seeing and will do another kdp Select promotion myself. I chose Christmas for my first one, as a way to give back to the friends on Twitter and Facebook that have been so supportive of my writing. If you’d like to keep up with how this program is working for me I encourage you to visit my Amazon Kindle page for A Night at Tears of Crimson and see what happens for yourself. I will keep researching the results for the kdp Select program in the future as I’m anxious to see how the royalties work out as well.

Currently Michelle resides in Rockford Alabama with her husband and their five children. When she’s not writing you can find them enjoying the beautiful scenery in Alabama from their boat and exploring the wonderful resources their state possesses.

Guest Expert: Aggie Villanueva

Are We Unintentionally in Violation?

Are Amazon book and review deletions actually inexplicable? I’ve been following the controversy about Amazon deleting thousands of book reviews, even authors’ entire books, with no explanation to them other than that they are in violation of Amazon rules. See Reviews Accidentally Deleted by Amazon or Cover-ups and Denials? for info, links and comments from a multitude of authors starting last March, 2011.

 
Are the Book/Review Deletions Actually Inexplicable?

Many authors have reported that despite repeated contact begging for an explanation from Amazon, they were denied. But now I’m wondering if there is an explanation, or two. I’ve spent much time researching this issue. I am absolutely the last person who can explain legal/copyright matters, but my own research has uncovered the following, if I understand it correctly.

Authors and professional book reviewers are up in arms and for good reason.

• Reviews are our life blood. There is no other way readers can find unbiased descriptions and recommendations.
• Amazon reviews are the only way to make their readers’ choice Top Rated list, which is frequented by readers to the extent a top listing there, can create an instant bestseller.
• If our book is banned from being sold on Amazon we lose hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of their ingenious free book promotion.

Since I write extensively on the limitless marketing value of listing and selling our books from Amazon.com I covered this question in a section of my upcoming how-to book about using their Categories to earn bestselling status, and untold other promotional benefits not available elsewhere. The following is excerpted from Amazon Categories Create Best Sellers.

Excerpt (my own humble research)

Why Should I Care How to Get an Amazon Category Bestseller When They Can be a Bully?

It’s true Amazon can seem like an obnoxious giant child at times, but like it or not, readers have made it clear that Amazon is where they want to purchase books and eBooks. And like them or not, Amazon makes bestsellers out of more writers than any other site. So why not take advantage of their system that makes it possible to sell more books than nearly anywhere else?

Many in the industry have had irreconcilable differences with them. We’ve all heard the highly publicized publisher’s beefs. And I personally know authors and reviewers who have suffered ongoing injustices from some of Amazon’s automated ‘bots. These algorithms are actually set up to keep the system fair but occasionally they read things wrong. And boy howdy if they err against your book!

To cover just a few complaints, a multitude of reviewers have had hundreds of their reviews permanently deleted for no apparent reason, and met with refusal from Amazon to correct mistakes made by their own ‘bots or even be given an explanation of their offense. I posted here about one such reviewer, and at several of my online professional groups. It sparked a lot of debate.

One angry author wrote,

“Amazon accused me of posting my own review for the first book of my series and “threatened” to delete my book’s listing if I didn’t take it off. I offered them proof that I did NO activity on the day in question.

”After a lengthy dispute with Amazon, and some investigation, I discovered Amazon mines sites it is linked to and PULLED the review that was actually a ‘press release’ I emailed to several affiliate sites on the day they claim I posted it on Amazon. I again confronted them with this discovery and they backed off and my book remains listed, but the review deleted. Since then I don’t do any activity on Amazon.”

Occasionally the author/reviewer is in the wrong too because they didn’t read Amazon’s regulations, or the regulations are vague and/or nearly impossible to find as is so often the case. But whether a transgression is innocent ignorance or not when Amazon’s ‘bots detect offense anywhere online they treat them all as guilty.

Amazon owns copyright to all the reviews on their site. If they see their review reprinted in full anywhere else they will delete that review and possibly your book. But we are allowed Fair Use rights to excerpt a few lines from our best reviews. See How to Get your Book Reviewed by Dana Lynn Smith for more in depth information pertaining to Amazon’s review regulations. And I’d recommend periodically Googling it to see the newest reports and ongoing dialog.

In support of their full rights to anything written upon their site’s pages here is the Amazon help file reference to those who write the review. But this is pertinent to authors too, whether regarding reviews that we wrote about other books or readers wrote about our books.

Excerpted from Amazon’s reference file: “If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Amazon a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media.” Unspoken here: or delete it without explanation.

They also prohibit: “The upload, download, or transmission of any domain names, URLs, or hyperlinks. The use of the Service for commercial purposes such as advertising, promotion, or solicitation.”

Did you catch the relevance of this prohibition to the use of our book reviews? We are prohibited from using hyperlinks & domain names, such as you’d naturally include in a press release where you quoted in full their review of your book, or say a blog post quoting a great Amazon review, etc. etc. These are all places where we are definitely reprinting it as “advertising, promotion.”

How many of us have already done something similar? There are so many ways authors can unknowingly break yet another of their regulations. When it comes to reprinting anything from an Amazon page it might be best to call and ask where to find their guidelines before doing so.

Amazon is unrelenting in their enforcement of perceived violations, whether justly or unjustly. Make sure you’ve read their guidelines thoroughly. If you still have questions, contact Amazon with them before proceeding and possibly inadvertently violating their rules.

End of Excerpt

Obviously there are many more layers to this issue. If you have any experiences that may help shed light please post them below so we can all benefit. Maybe if enough of us are talking about this online it may come to Amazon’s attention. Possibly we’ll get some answers straight from the horse’s mouth.

Published at Thomas Nelson before age 30, award-winning author Aggie Villanueva is now a self-published multiple fiction & nonfiction Amazon/Kindle category bestseller, for The Rewritten Word and Rightfully Mine. Aggie founded Promotion á la Carte, author promotional services and 6 months later was voted #2 at Predators & Editors in the Promotion category. She teaches author promotion across the Web. Aggie founded My Book Marketing Systems to save authors $100s – $1,000s, allowing them entry into the author app market of billions.She is also a critically acclaimed photographic artist represented by galleries nationwide, including Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ.

Expert: Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Aha! It is resolution time!

I’d love to give authors advice on setting goals for the New Year. Here’s the thing: I’ve done that and—in the doing of it—realize that no one author can help another set goals because each author and each title is so different.

I guess I sort of gave authors a whole book of possible resolutions to make in 2011 when I finished the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo). I even got general and told authors to pick and choose their goals from the book. That they wouldn’t be able to do everything that is in it and shouldn’t. I mean the whole idea behind writing it was to keep other authors from falling in the same potholes I did. I advised them to choose promotions based on their personalities, the titles of their books (different books call for different kinds of marketing campaigns!), and the health of their pocketbooks.

Still, I’m tackling this post because I do think there is one thing that almost every author could and should put on his or her resolution list. Are you ready?

Buy books!

I often get e-mails from authors saying that their fellow authors don’t buy their books. And I do understand how that can happen. The longer we’ve been writing, the more author-friends we have and, at some point it’s impossible to support them all. Having said that, we as authors shouldn’t expect fellow authors to buy books that don’t interest them. Books they don’t have time for. Or books that aren’t published the way they want to read them (paperback or e-books, anyone?) That’s why we promote rather than just depending on friends and relatives—which, after all, isn’t the biggest pool of buyers in the world.

Still, we authors should buy some books each year and I think we should set aside a budget for that. It’s about Zen. It’s about supporting the industry that we expect to support us. I even tell authors that they shouldn’t limit themselves to buying only my book on, say, editing or book proposals or wordtrippers or the marketing of books. Even authors who have read extensively on a particular subject may very well get new ideas from a book on a similar subject or be inspired by it.

But there are other ways to support our industry besides buying books we want to read. Authors on strict budgets should find books make relatively inexpensive gifts for holiday giving, for hostess and thank you gifts, for birthdays, and even to give to business associates on appropriate occasions.

But we all know that we tend to get lax with our resolutions. So, to make your “Buy Books” resolution work all year, go to your gift-giving list for 2012 and see how many people on that list could get the gift of reading in 2012 instead of something that will be promptly tossed in the Goodwill bin or re-gifted. Staple your gift list to your resolution list. And then make another resolution to read your resolutions and that attached list of gift-giving idea list at least once a month.

Heck, you could even give your own book to folks on that list. You are proud of it, aren’t you?

If every author gave books as gifts, I could see a bright, shiny year ahead. A year where agents take on more clients because more publishers are selling more books. And when that happens, just think! Books will be the gifts that keep giving. Books will be the gifts that give back as well.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally books, a series for writers and a series for retailers. Learn more about them at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com. And yes, she does give books for gifts. She often gives her how-to books to clients. She gives her poetry chapbooks on most any occasion, from Christmas to Valentine’s to Mother’s Day. And, she does buy others’ books for her own shelves or Kindle reader but only when she actually yearns to read them or needs to read them.

Welcome to this tour of QuickQuiz – the world’s first viral book marketing technology for authors.

As an author, you probably realize the importance of reaching out to your readers on Facebook. As you know, most Facebook users are looking for fun and relaxation unlike average blog visitors. These users have very short attention spans and don’t want to spend time reading lengthy blog posts. Most authors create a Facebook fan page and assume that this is more than enough. The reality is that once a reader visits your fan page, there is very little reason for the reader to like your page. Even if the reader likes your page, there isn’t enough incentive for the reader to return to your page on a regular basis.

As an author, here’s what you need:

• New readers for your books
• A new way to engage with your Facebook audience
• A low cost advertising method for your books

And you need all of this without you having to spend hours of your time marketing your book.

At BookBuzzr, we’ve thought long and hard about this problem.
After months of brainstorming, development and testing, we’ve created QuickQuiz – the world’s first viral marketing technology for books.

What does this viral marketing technology do?

QuickQuiz allows you to rapidly create and deliver short, interesting quizzes that are fun for your readers on Facebook. These quizzes can also be embedded on your blog or website. They can also be found on Freado.com – a site owned by BookBuzzr and visited by tens of thousands of visitors every month.

Each QuickQuiz consists of only 5 questions. When a reader participates in a QuickQuiz, he or she earns points that can be used to win prizes on Freado.com

Most importantly, the viral features of QuickQuiz make sharing of your QuickQuiz really easy and compelling for your readers.

So what’s the secret ingredient that makes QuickQuiz such an important book promotion method for your book?

The secret ingredient involves the idea of attention transfer which is best illustrated by an example. Let’s say, you want to promote a vampire romance book. You create a QuickQuiz on the best selling Stephanie Meyer book – Twilight. A fan of this book decides to take your QuickQuiz on the book. The fan discovers your book in the course of playing the QuickQuiz since information about your book shows up at strategic points in the quiz. You’ve just found a potential new reader for your very own book!

Let’s take a quick look at what the reader sees when he or she plays a QuickQuiz.

• On the right hand side, you see a reverse timer which gives the reader 30 seconds to complete each question.
• Below that you will notice the 3 Quiz-Keys. These are clues and tools that assist the reader in completing the QuickQuiz.
• And below that you will see the points tree which shows the points earned for each question.

You will notice that we’ve taken elements from popular television game shows to make the QuickQuiz interesting for your readers. Your book’s messages show up at over 10 strategic points in the game. Through extensive play testing, we’ve ensured that your message shows up without interfering with the Quiz experience of your reader. If you’ve created a quiz that’s correctly targetted, it’s likely that the reader will click through on your ad.

Every time the reader utilizes one of the Quiz-Keys, the reader will be asked to “Like” the QuickQuiz on Facebook. If the reader finds your QuickQuiz interesting, the chances of the reader liking your QuickQuiz are very high. This will expose your QuickQuiz and your book to the reader’s facebook friends. On completing the QuickQuiz, the reader will also be urged to share the quiz on his or her facebook wall. The reader is likely to share the quiz on Facebook, if the quiz has been entertaining or informative.

QuickQuiz is a powerful and innovative method to get the word about your book out there. Extensive analytics and reporting make it easy for you to find out which of your QuickQuizzes are working and which of them need to be tweaked to improve the user experience.

QuickQuiz is an easy, fun, new technology to market your book in a viral manner on Facebook.

To get started use these three simple steps:

Step 1 – Log on to your BookBuzzr ‘Book Marketing Home‘ page
Step 2 – Click on QuickQuiz
Step 3 – Add your questions and publish your QuickQuiz

For more information, email us or follow us on Twitter

Thank you and happy book marketing.

Vikram Narayan is the founder of BookBuzzr Book Marketing Technologies. (Twitter – @bookbuzzrCEO ) Vikram is a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to starting BookBuzzr, Vikram founded another software company that has been successfully serving clients from all over the world since 2001. When he is not dreaming up ways to help authors accelerate their earnings and book sales, Vikram spends his time playing the guitar, practicing Aikido and spending time with his family.