Book Landing Pages Spare You Headaches and Irritated Bloggers

Happy Monday, everyone! So, today's post is because I've seen a number of bloggers over the weekend talking about last minute postings showing up in their email inboxes and how it annoys the crap out of them. When given less than a day to put up a post and make it pretty, giving it to them 24-48 hours ahead of time just isn't kosher. It chains them to their blogs and email inboxes. Worse, they may simply not see it in time.

Guess what?

You just missed out. Plus, you managed to annoy bloggers that are working for free and only trying to help.

As I've always said, make it EASY for people to share your stuff. This isn't hard.

So, to help you help them, today is all about book landing pages. Get those pencils ready, and let's get going!

A book landing page is any page that showcases your book and provides buy links. It can be a page on your website or blog, but it needs to focus on just that one book. Make it pretty, and make sure there's not a lot of visual confusion.

Here are some examples of landing pages:

This is from the Frayed Fairy Tales website.

This one is from Alessandra Torre's site.

And this one is from Geneva Lee's site.

As you can see, the things all these pages have in common are buy links, book covers, and info. There's not a whole lot there because there doesn't need to be. Keep it simple. If you do a web search for "book landing page," you'll get a ton of generic ideas on layout and such.

When you're making your HTML to send to your bloggers, send them the link to that page on your blog or website (shortened with bit.ly so you can track the clicks) instead of waiting for a purchase link.

On release day, go update your site BEFORE time for those posts to go live. It's so much easier to update one website than a ton of blog posts.

Save yourself time and emails, and save your bloggers the stress of rushing. They'll thank you and be much more likely to share your stuff in the future.

I'm just going to add my own little note to go along with the above. I feel like it's important.

When a blogger shares your release stuff, go to the blog and type out a quick thank you. This goes for shares on social media, too. It takes time, YES, but it's worth it. They work hard, and they don't get paid for what they do. Show that you appreciate them. It matters.

Okay, off my soapbox for today.

Anything to add?

Well, that's all for this edition, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

PA vs PR vs MA - What's the Difference and Why it Matters

Happy Friday, everyone! Well, today's post is going to be a long one, so strap in and get ready to go! Today, I'm talking about Personal Assistant vs Public Relations vs Marketing Assistant. Yes, there's a difference, and not a lot of folks know what it is.

Personal Assistant: A secretary or administrative assistant working exclusively for one particular person.
Basically, this person is there to keep you on track, schedule things for you, and remind you when you have something coming. They handle what you can't. Think of a CEO and his secretary. Those are the things this person does for you.
Average cost (for authors): $150 per month 
 
Public Relations: Is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) and the public. Public relations is the idea of creating coverage for clients for free, rather than marketing or advertising. 
These people are the ones who keep your public image out there. They spread the word that you're a thing and that you have books for sale.
Average cost (for authors): $150 per month

Marketing Assistant: A person who helps to promote and sell products or services, including market research and advertising.
These are the folks who pimp books, do market research to see where/how your book will sell best, and suggest advertising strategies based on their findings.
Average cost (for authors): $500 per month average (could be plus marketing fees for promotions and such as well but may be included--every MA is different)

To sum up:

• If you need someone to keep you on track, organize your life, and help you remember when things are due, you need a PA.
• If you're looking for someone to help you with getting your face/name out there, let you know about opportunities to attend events, etc... then you need a PR firm.
• If you're looking for creative marketing solutions that get you results sales-wise, you want an MA. Most of them focus on your target market, and that's what's important.

No matter which option you go with, what you need to ask yourself (honestly) is: "How much money can I make back in return for my investment?" Pay close attention to your ROI. It's all that matters.

A bonus bit of information:

When you do your own promos, keep track of what works and what doesn't. Use one series as a Guinea pig. Do a promotion on book one and send it to one or two places with links you can track clickthroughs and sales on. Write down how many books you sold throughout that promo. Do the same with book two, and so on and so forth.

Then, when you're ready to release that next book/series, you'll know exactly where to put your hard-earned money.

I hope this post helps you make some decisions. As always, hit me up in the comments with questions or thoughts. Remember to play nice!!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Guest Post - 5 Self-Editing Tips that Will Make Your Book 10 Times Better

Happy WHATEVER, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I have a super special guest post for you all on editing. The fabulous Alicia Rades is going to take you through a number of tips to make your book awesome. Don't forget to give Alicia a follow on all the social media things linked at the end of this post! Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

 5 Self-Editing Tips that Will Make Your Book 10 Times Better

As authors, we go through a lot of stages of writing. There’s brainstorming, outlining, actually writing the first draft, self-editing, beta reading, more self-editing, repeat, repeat, sending to an actual editor, and so on. I don’t know about you, but for me, self-editing is one of the longest and most stressful stages.

It’s also one of the most satisfying. Seeing your story transform into something better than you imagined is a magical experience. What’s better is that you get the satisfaction of knowing you made that happen.

Self-editing should never be used to replace a professional editor. However, tweaking scenes, improving wording, and catching your own mistakes can all help you make your story better. Here are a couple of techniques I personally use when self-editing my novels.

Take a Breather

The first thing I do is set my manuscript aside. I recommend forgetting about it for at least two weeks. I know. It sounds like torture to not be working on your book. But this strategy allows you to approach your manuscript with a clear mind. Once you start to forget a little of what you wrote, it almost feels like you’re reading someone else’s writing. It makes it so much easier to spot your mistakes.

Focus on One Thing at a Time

Don’t go through your manuscript looking to fix everything at once. Instead, take it in stages. The first time back through it, you might read for plot holes or areas that need clarification. Next, identify unnecessary scenes. Then focus on characters actions and their development throughout the story. Do they act like themselves the whole time? Do they grow from beginning to end?

Once you have the bigger kinks worked out, you can move on to focus on your wording. Is there a better way to describe an action? Do you repeat the same words too often? Are there misspellings that spellcheck didn’t catch, such as “weather” versus “whether”?

That’s not to say you should ignore certain parts if you’re not explicitly looking for them. For example, if you are reading for plot holes but notice a misspelling, feel free to fix it. Just don’t try to fix everything at once or you’ll end up missing too much.

Search for Overused or Misused Words or Phrases

Once I get down to the nitty gritty and start looking for ways to clean up my phrasing, one of the most effective tactics I’ve found is to use the search function. In a Microsoft Word document, there’s a “find” button, or you can click CTRL + F. Then type in the word you know you want to clean up throughout the manuscript.

For example, like many authors, I’m a culprit of using the word “that” far too often. As a general rule, you should only use it provide clarification. Overusing it makes your writing seem somewhat amateurish, and it can pull readers out of the story. So by searching “that” in your document, you can identify areas where it’s needed and where it can be removed.

Don’t stop the search at phrases you tend to overuse. Also take a look at words you tend to misuse. Examples include:

• good/well
• affect/effect
• their/they’re/there
• your/you’re
• lay/lie
• that/which
• further/farther

Read Your Manuscript Aloud

It’s a tedious task, but reading your manuscript aloud is worth it. Doing this makes it easier to catch strange phrasing or repeated information in the story. I personally read each of my books aloud to my husband like an audiobook when we’re in the car together. This gives me a chance to hear mistakes while my husband can give me feedback on the storyline. If you’re not comfortable reading aloud to someone else, it can be just as effective to do it in private.

Don’t Over Edit

As authors, we want the work we send out to the world to be perfect. The reality is that it isn’t going to be perfect because you’re always going to want to change something. And when you’re always changing something, you may end up working backward and hurting your manuscript.

The good news? You can get pretty darn close to perfection! To manage that, though, you eventually need to set down your manuscript and say, “I’m done!” Self-edits are an important part of creating a professional product. They work together with a professional editor to make your story the best it can be. Not only that, but working with an editor can help you become better at self-editing.

Do you have any personal strategies when it comes to self-editing? Tell us your secrets in the comments.

Would you like to follow Alicia? Here are all the stalk links!
Website: aliciaradesauthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aliciaradesauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliciarades
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/aliciarades
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Alicia-Rades/e/B00F9ZFTE8/

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

So You Wanna Make a .Mobi from MS Word

Happy Thursday, everyone! Yeah, I missed my post from yesterday, but I needed at least one day off this week. *grin* Today, I'm gonna talk about how to make a .mobi file from an MS Word document. Screenshots are provided. Ready? Let's get going!

Let me be very clear on one thing. You cannot output a .mobi document from MS Word (not yet, anyway). So, I'm showing you how to create one online.

Go to your KDP author account on Amazon. If you don't have one, make one. Click Sign in.

Next, click Create New Title in the little box on the top left:

Scroll alllll the way to the bottom where you see these:

Click the relevant buttons above and upload your book files. Remember!
Images must meet the following requirements:

• TIFF (.tif/.tiff) or JPEG (.jpeg/.jpg) format
• At least 1000 pixels on the longest side, with an ideal height/width ratio of 1.6. 2500 pixels on the longest side is preferred.

Now you wait a few minutes.

A few more...

Okay! When you see this, you're ready to go!

Here's where the magic happens! Click download book preview file:

and Save (NOTE: if you happened to fill out the title info above, then it'll show up here as the file name):

There's your .mobi from your MS Word document! If you don't want to publish this book EVER, you can go back to your dashboard right now by clicking in the bottom left corner:

Then hover over the ... and clicking delete like so:

Confirm deletion, and you're done!

I hope that helps some of you! If you have questions, pop them in the comments!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

EBook Theft - 5 Easy Steps to Help Nail Your Pirate

I'd say happy Friday, but this issue is a serious one, and I need you all to pay attention. I need you all to protect your work. I'm gonna give you some background as to why I'm writing this, then we'll get into how to put it into action.

Twice over the last three days (yes, TWICE), I've seen authors who either have had a book up on a pirate site before release date, or had their manuscript published by someone else using the author's name before release date on one site or another.

Just... NO.

This angers me in more ways than I can count. That author, who spent God only knows how many hours and dollars to produce a book, was ripped off.

But here's the best worst part:
Those authors had only sent the book to their ARC reviewers and/or beta readers. People believed to be trustworthy.

As an author, you don't know who to trust. Let's just be honest about it. I like to believe in the good in people, but that shouldn't stop any of us from covering our own butts.

But there are a couple of ways to cover your butt and find out who's stealing your work.

Best part about this: DO NOT TELL THEM WHAT YOU'VE DONE. When they pirate your work, you'll know exactly who to go after.

Here are two methods:
#1: ONLY send out PDFs, and password protect them with the reviewer/beta-readers' names.

1. Open in Adobe.
2. Click on options.
3. Choose to password protect.
4. Save.

#1 is the easiest option, but also the least secure. There are ways around that password.

#2: Change certain lines in your manuscript. Create an Excel spreadsheet with the line you changed and the reviewer/beta-reader's name.

1. Open your MS.
2. Choose a random line.
3. Change the wording, delete the sentence, or move it to a different part of the paragraph.
4. Make the note in Excel.
5. Save the manuscript with a number: _1, _2, _3... you get the idea (so you can keep up with which one goes out to whom).

If you find the book on a pirate site or seller site, go download it.

Even if they remove the _number, you can do a quick check to see which line was changed.

#2 is my favorite option, because they won't know what you did unless you tell them.

I do hope every author reads this, implements it, and shares the post.

I also hope every slimy scumbag book pirate out there is cringing in FEAR. You WILL be found. Authors WILL prosecute you. And you won't even know what hit you.

May you be infested with a billion superpowered fleas on your body and your arms be too short to reach your butt.


AUTHORS: If you need help password protecting your manuscript (if you use option 1) contact me, and I'll help you.

This has GOT to stop.

Until next time,

Jo

Author Central and You

Hello, and happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're going to be talking about Amazon's Author Central, and how you can make the most of your profile there. If you're ready, grab a pen and notebook, and let's get going!

Everyone knows Amazon is the big pie in the sky every author wants to stand on top of, wiggle their feet into the a la mode, and be covered in the gooey goodness. Why? Because that's the pinnacle of awesome. Readers are reading your books, you're enriching lives with your words, and (hopefully) you're providing hours of entertainment and deep thought. But you have to be seen in order for people to find your work, right?

One of the tools you should be using to accomplish visibility is Author Central. It's not difficult to set up a profile there, and there are some cool features you may not know about available to you. Let's start by setting up an account if you don't already have one.

Go here to the Author Central login page. I'm going to pretend to create a dummy account for the purpose of this tutorial, so you can see what steps to take. Okay, you should be at a screen that looks like this:

If you have an account, log in. If not, click join now.

Now you'll be on a screen like this:

That's where you sign in with your current Amazon customer account (even if you don't have an Author Central page). Like I said, I'm pretending to create a dummy account, so I'll go to "I'm a new customer."

Enter your e-mail address and click continue. You'll go here:

Fill it out and proceed. This is where I back up and login to my own account so I can show you all the goodies there.

Here's your welcome page:

If you just signed up, you won't have any information here. You'll need to fill out your profile and upload an author photo. Click Author Page at the top, and you'll end up here:

You know what to do. Now, click on the books tab, and you'll go to a page that looks like this (yours may or may not have books on it yet):

How do you add books? By clicking this button:

And searching for your title in this box:

I did a search for Fractured Glass. As you can see, it says already added. Yours won't say that, so click the button "This is my book."

It takes Amazon about 24 hours to link your book with your profile. But, once they do, your page will look like mine above and be ready for editing. Because I'm using Fractured Glass as an example, I'll navigate to that book's edit page by clicking on the title:

As you can see, the wide array of choices is staggering. You can also see, by looking in the top right corner, I'm editing the Kindle version of the book (not the paperback).

This is important to know, because you have the freedom to edit each edition's sections separately. I'm going to add an award to the Kindle edition's page, because I'm a dork and only put it on the paperback. So, I click edit on the product description:

And I paste in what I copied from the paperback edition description in this popup:

Then, I click preview:

Of course, I have to remember to click Save Changes if it looks good:

Amazon gives me a pat on the head and tells me it'll take 3-5 days for my changes to show up (most of the time it's just 24 hours or so, but err on the side of caution).

There are six sections available to edit here:

• Review (this is for editorial reviews, because Amazon doesn't allow those guys to publish reviews)
• Product Description
• From the Author
• From the Inside Flap
• From the Back Cover
• About the Author

Go tinker with them all! It's fun!

Because this post is getting really long, I'll go into some of the fun things available to play with on your profile page tomorrow. Hopefully, you'll have it all filled out and ready to rock!

What do you think? Did you sign up? Already had? Learn something new?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo