The Lost Art of Word-of-Mouth

In a world dominated by algorithms, paid influencers, and obnoxious advertising, we've lost sight of the oldest and most powerful marketing force of all: genuine human connections. As an author, the most valuable tool at your disposal isn't a multi-million dollar ad budget or the latest AI-powered marketing platform. It's your ability to directly engage readers in an authentic way that inspires them to spread the word.

Email lists and social media offer unparalleled potential for authors to foster these influential word-of-mouth networks. However, simply blasting promotional messages or farming followers won't cut it. The key is to cultivate communities of true fans who feel a personal attachment to you and your work. Do this right, and you'll have an army of passionate advocates who voluntarily sing your praises far and wide.

It's Not About Eyeballs, It's About Engagement

Many authors mistakenly believe that more followers and bigger email lists automatically translate to better book sales. However, you could have a million followers and not sell a single copy if those followers are disengaged. Likewise, an email list packed with inactive subscribers does little beyond inflating your stats.

Ultimately, it's not about racking up superficial vanity metrics. The only thing that matters is creating meaningful engagement that develops real fans. These loyal supporters not only buy your books, they actively promote them to friends, family, and their own audiences.

A small yet fervent band of devotees can generate far more sales and buzz than a giant group of indifferent followers. So instead of trying to simply accumulate eyeballs, focus on nurturing genuine connections.

Craft Your Online Persona

Making authentic ties requires revealing your true self, warts and all. However, that doesn't mean being an open book or oversharing personal details. You still need to carefully shape how you present yourself online.

Your author persona should align with your brand identity and attract the type of audience you want to serve. That said, it must be grounded in reality instead of a fabricated caricature. Readers can sense fakery, which undermines trust and relatability.

Show glimpses into your writer's life while also opening up on a more personal level when appropriate. Let your personality shine through in interactions. Be generous with humor and goodwill. Ultimately, the goal is to form bonds that go beyond books to forge real friendships.

Seed Your Inner Circle

Start by identifying and engaging super fans who will become your inner circle evangelists. These dedicated supporters positively live and breathe your work. They buy every book, read every blog post, listen to all interviews, and interact frequently on social media or in your email community.

Make sure to show extra appreciation for their dedication, whether that's responding directly to messages, sending small gifts, or recognizing them publicly. Also encourage them to leave reviews, share content, and spread positive word-of-mouth. This influential inner circle will organically amplify your efforts and recruit more true fans.

Cultivate Scarcity

Nothing drives demand like scarcity. Making followers feel special not only increases engagement, it also generates buzz when they share exclusive content with others.

Give inner circle members sneak peeks at works-in-progress, opportunities to name characters, invites to private online gatherings, or early access to limited merchandise. Also create insider-only content for email subscribers such as bonus chapters, short stories, playlists matched to books, printable book club discussion guides, or even simple behind-the-scenes photos.

This selective access makes fans feel like VIPs, cementing their dedication and inspiring them to act as brand champions. Exclusivity also fuels word-of-mouth promotion when recipients excitedly tell others about the privileged content.

Go Behind the Scenes

Fans don’t just want your finished products, they want an inside look at the creative process. Give them a glimpse into your writer's journey, including both victories and struggles.

On social media, post short videos showing your workspace, scribbled notes and early draft excerpts, nature photos capturing inspiring outdoor writing spots, or even just you typing furiously on your laptop. Livestream writing sessions so fans can watch works-in-progress develop in real time.

Send email updates detailing your latest projects, editorial battles, or frustrating bouts of writers block. Make fans feel invested in books before they’re even completed. This transparency and inclusion into the messy realities of writing forges an intimate creative connection.

Spark Two-Way Conversations

Social media and email newsletters inherently allow for two-way discussions, but many authors use them as one-way megaphones blasting out promotional announcements. Don’t fall into this trap! Fostering genuine dialogue is key for establishing rapport.

Make a habit of responding directly to all messages and comments even when participation grows. Ask followers questions and pay attention when they answer. Spotlight user-generated content like book reviews or fan art. Feature subscriber photos, playlists, recipes, and other creative works inspired by your books.

This active exchange helps transform fans from silent consumers into vocal brand partners. It also organically infuses your online platforms with fresh user-driven content.

Gather Reader Insights

Your fans offer an invaluable resource when tapped effectively. Their first-hand input can help guide creative choices to craft books tailored for their sensibilities.

Launch social polls asking about preferences on genres, characters, settings, themes, etc. Send email surveys querying opinions on outlines, early excerpts, titles, cover designs, and more. Gather focus groups of beta readers when developing rough drafts.

Follow up with supporters afterward to share how their feedback directly shaped decisions. Readers will feel deeply honored to play an active role. You benefit with books organically optimized to resonate with target audiences.

Co-Create Content

Take fan participation to the next level by co-creating content collaboratively. Reader writing contests offer lots of inventive options, such as submitting endings, spinoff stories, character biographies, poems, songs, or artworks inspired by your books.

Have fans vote on their favorites then professionally publish the top submissions. Integrate winners into canonical works by featuring their writings as in-world texts referenced by characters. Not only does this deliver rich expanded universe content for diehard devotees, the chosen fans will eagerly endorse books containing their own work.

Another engaging tactic is collective worldbuilding, whereby followers collectively contribute ideas that get incorporated into new books. This could include naming systems, historical events, geographical features, cultural elements, and more. Explicitly credit contributors in the acknowledgements. Allowing fans hands-on input in building the fictional universe fosters tremendous ownership and advocacy.

Embrace Influencer Allies

While directly engaging your own supporters is crucial, you can significantly extend reach by partnering with outside influencers. These industry pros, including fellow authors, bloggers, bookstagrammers, booktubers, and podcasters, wield their own audiences who may align well with your target market.

Most influencers love spotlighting new books, often in exchange for free advance copies. Be generous, but focus on those with engaged followings closely matching your readership. Prioritize micro influencers in the 1,000 to 100,000 follower range, as their audiences often prove more passionate and responsive than mega stars.

Brainstorm creative collaborations, like multi-author Instagram takeovers, crossover short stories uniting fictional universes, or even spinoff subseries entries co-written with other genre writers. Such inventive partnerships draw major attention while forging connections with entire new communities.

Let It Spread Organically

While actively fostering word-of-mouth through social media and email marketing is essential, you also want buzz to spread more informally. Equip and encourage fans to organically advocate for your books in their own online spaces.

Make it effortless to share content with pre-formatted posts they can simply re-publish on their own channels. Provide eye-catching graphics sized for various platforms like Instagram and Goodreads. Deliver sample emails, highlight blurbs, suggested messages, and testimonials to easily plug into existing communications.

Don’t try to control the narrative. Allow supporters to authentically express their own unique passions and perspectives. This genuine third-party endorsement carries far more weight than any heavily curated promotional post ever could.

The Power of Word-of-Mouth

In today’s fragmented media landscape, breaking through the online clutter to reach readers feels harder than ever. However, the fundamental human desire to share powerful stories remains unchanged. Savvy authors who build communities of deeply engaged followers unlock the holy grail of marketing—genuine word-of-mouth buzz.

While a million disengaged followers may feel impressive, a small yet fervent tribe of true fans can drive far greater success through their voluntary advocacy alone. By focusing on meaningful engagement over vanity metrics, authors inspire the type of personal recommendations money just can't buy. In the end, a single voice authentically sharing why they love your book still proves the most influential endorsement of all.

The Elusive Yet Alluring Lifetime Value of a Book Lover

As book marketers, we often obsess over metrics and models in an attempt to maximize profits and quantify success. Cost per lead, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, conversion rates - the list goes on. Yet in our quest to parse readers into numbers and funnels, we risk losing sight of the very people we serve - the book lovers. These are not faceless data points to be tracked and targeted but living, breathing human beings with rich inner lives.

What if we flipped the script and instead of reducing our readers to metrics, we expanded our metrics to better reflect the humanity of our readers? This brings us to the concept of customer lifetime value. Lifetime value considers not simply the revenue a customer generates from an initial purchase but the potential value they represent to our business over months and years. It's a long view - one that recognizes that a book lover's relationship with stories, authors, and publishers can span a lifetime.

The Lifetime of a Book Lover

We've all had that one teacher, librarian, or family member who instilled in us a love of books from a young age. They taught us to cherish books not just as products to be consumed but as portals to imagined worlds and vehicles for ideas that transform us. The book lovers we nurture as children carry that passion into adulthood and one day pass it onto others.

The initial interaction that sparks a lifelong book obsession may involve a minimal financial exchange or none at all. A single trip to the library has little measurable value but immeasurable potential value. That child may one day work for a publishing house, start a book club, teach literature, or simply buy a heck of a lot of books over their lifetime. Even those who read only occasionally will likely purchase books as gifts and recommendations for others.

The point is we can't always trace the long arc of a reader's development or fully grasp the network effects of book lovers influencing others. We may spend heavily on ads to acquire a customer only for them to fizzle out in a few months. Meanwhile that one elementary schooler inspired by a librarian may end up a literary evangelist who indirectly generates thousands in sales.

The Imperfect Calculus of Customer Lifetime Value

So how can publishers and authors better incorporate the lifetime value of book lovers into their marketing strategies? We can start by expanding our calculation of customer lifetime value. The standard equation is:

Average Purchase Value x Purchase Frequency x Average Customer Lifespan

But this formula assumes an unrealistic linear relationship between purchases. It fails to account for the ebbs and flows over a lifetime of reading - years where one gobbles up books voraciously followed by quiet periods of minimal reading activity. We all go through reading slumps!

Nor does this calculation capture the previously mentioned influence factor of book lovers impacting others. An avid reader may only spend a few hundred dollars a year themselves but inspire friends and family to spend exponentially more.

While incorporating these indirect network effects may seem impossible, we can at least improve our understanding of customer lifespans and purchasing fluctuations. Here are a few suggestions:

Expand data collection window:

Aim for 3-5 years of customer data rather than a few months. The longer the time frame, the more insights into peak purchasing periods and lulls. These patterns inform more accurate projections.

Track influencer metrics:

Look beyond individual purchases to see which segment of book lovers exhibits the highest follower count and engagement across social media, blogs, book clubs etc. They likely indicate who influences the wider community.

Factor in life stage targeting:

Certain genres lend themselves better to specific life stages - children's books for parents of young kids, travel books for recent retirees. Targeting the right demographics helps ensure your ads reach book lovers during a likely period of peak purchasing.

Now I realize this still leaves much of the lifetime value equation unquantified. We simply cannot track every book purchased that our marketing indirectly inspires. Nor should we want to in an age where data collection raises valid privacy concerns. But that is precisely the point - the limitations reveal the need to balance quantitative modeling with qualitative empathy for what motivates book lovers. Data and emotions aren't mutually exclusive but rather complementary forces. So let's bring them together...

The Emotional Drivers of Lifetime Value

In his seminal paper on customer lifetime value, business theorist Werner Reinartz found that emotions and relationships are twice as influential as quality or satisfaction when it comes to customer loyalty and retention. This research should come as no surprise - stories stir our souls in profound ways transcending transactional measures.

Book lovers don't just read for information or entertainment. Books provide us refuge, open our eyes to new perspectives, help us make sense of both inner turmoil and global complexities. They affirm we aren't alone in the most vulnerable corners of the human experience. A single book can stay with a reader for decades, shaping their worldview in untraceable ways.

And because books carry such emotional resonance, recommendations from those we trust pack more punch than targeted ads ever could. I'll gladly try a new author my best friend raves about but remain immune to even the savviest Facebook behavioral targeting.

The challenge then for publishers and authors is building genuine connections and community with readers rather than viewing them solely as consumers. What sustains engagement over the long run isn't slick promotional messaging but rather nurturing relationships rooted in shared passions, dialogue, and mutual support.

The success stories I've observed over years in this industry always come back to authors actively engaging with fans and cultivating community - whether on book tours at local indie stores or via fan fiction sites. The most influential book marketers facilitate these meaningful connections.

Lifetime Relationships for Lifetime Value

So where does this leave us in calculating lifetime value for book marketing? We must accept that much remains immeasurable. But rather than giving up on modeling customer lifetime value, we should get creative with the intangible qualitative drivers of long-term loyalty and influence.

Here are a few ideas:

Community building metrics:

Consider newsletter open and clickthrough rates, website engagement, book club/Goodreads group size and interaction rates. These indicate who your influencers and loyalists are even if their purchases fluctuate.

Reviews analysis:

Reviews reveal the depth of reader relationship with your books - analyze not just the star rating but the language used to identify your biggest champions.

Qualitative surveys:

Directly ask your most active community members about their history with your work and books in general. Their stories will guide your understanding of lifetime reader development.

The key is maintaining perspective. Lifetime value projections will always be estimates but it is the emotional connections that drive real influence. So while obsessing over granular cost per acquisition details, don't lose the lifelong forest for the transactional trees. Allow your book community's passion to kindle your marketing spirit and lead you to right-size your models.

For at the end of the day (or rather the end of a lifetime!) it is the spark we help ignite in readers young and old that holds invaluable potential to spread the written word for generations to come. That spark lives in the heart, not the numbers. Our mission as book marketers is to keep it burning brightly.

The Feline Method for Capturing Five-Star Reviews

Ah, reader reviews. The catnip of book marketing. We know we need them, crave them even, but how do we get readers to lavish praise on our precious tomes?

I call it the Feline Method. Now before you picture coaxing reviews out of readers with laser pointers and feather toys, let me explain. Cats, as we know, are masters of getting what they want. A well-timed meow, an irresistible head bump, some strategic purring - cat tactics, when applied to review gathering, can yield spectacular results.

Step 1: Make Your Presence Known

Cats don't hide when they want something. No, they saunter in, head held high, and make their desires plainly known. Take a page from the feline playbook and put yourself out there. Join reader groups on Goodreads, Facebook and beyond. Comment on bookstagram posts. Engage in literary Twitter threads. Don't aggressively pounce on readers - gently insinuate yourself into their world. Once you've established a warm, purring presence, readers will be more inclined to check out and hopefully review your book.

Step 2: Show Some Leg (Or Book Cover)

Now that readers are aware of your existence, it's time to entice them with a peek of leg...or rather, a glimpse of your cover art. Just like cats know the power of flashing some fur to grab human attention, an eye-catching book cover paired with a tempting synopsis reels readers in. Share tempting snippets not just online but with print postcards featuring your art. Send advance review copies to bloggers and bookstagrammers. Give readers a look at what they're missing out on - and make sure your book is available wherever cats and readers roam.

Step 3: Bring Out the Catnip

What gets readers purring with joy? Scrumptious samples of course! Let them nibble the first chapter. Dangle a juicy excerpt that leaves them hungry for more. Even flash some peeks at the climactic conclusion - don't worry, cats can keep secrets. Just like cats go crazy for catnip, a tempting literary sample makes readers lose their minds with anticipation. Once you've left them deliriously rolling around in pages of your prose, they'll eagerly leave five-star reviews simply to get their next fix!

Step 4: Ask for a treat

Now comes the crucial step - asking readers for the ultimate cat treat, also known as a glowing review. Take inspiration from cats shamelessly begging for treats and attention. If your readers have enjoyed a sample, entice them to leave feedback by asking sweetly yet persistently - perhaps with a postcard or email reminder down the line. Purr and nudge them towards reviews sites or offer to feature their write-up on your own platforms. Remember, cats don't hesitate to meow repeatedly when they want something...and smart authors won't hesitate to politely request reviews either.

Step 5: Show Your Appreciation

Cats expect worship for even the smallest good deed. While readers may not demand the same adulation for leaving a review, that doesn't mean you shouldn't heap on the praise! Just like cats preen under affection, readers glow when their reviews receive recognition. Repost their feedback on social media. Send a thank you email or letter. At a book signing, announce a special shout out to early reviewers. Spin some cat-level flattery by telling them their golden words are going straight to the cover of your paperback edition. Dramatic? Perhaps. Effective? Absolutely.

Follow the Feline Method from making first contact to ultimate appreciation, and readers will happily curl up with your book - then tell all their friends to do the same. Remember, cats always get what they want...so channel your inner feline and let the five-star reviews come pouring in! Just beware of hairballs. Hacking up reviews tends to turn off readers.

So there you have it - the inside scoop on gathering reviews with help from our furry overlords. Let the cats in your life be your guide as you gently yet shamelessly collect praise from readers. Stay tuned for my next book marketing guide: Using Laser Pointers to Increase Website Traffic. It promises to be a real page turner!

The Art of the ARC: Creating Buzz on a Budget

In the competitive world of publishing, making your book stand out is no small feat. As an author or publisher, you pour your blood, sweat, and tears into crafting stories and polishing prose, only to send your darling out into the big bad marketplace. The question then becomes, in a sea of millions of titles, how does yours get discovered?

This is where ARCs come in.

ARC stands for “advanced reader copy” and it is one of the most useful tools in a publisher’s kit for generating buzz around a new release. In short, an ARC is an early version of your book that gets sent out before publication day to drum up interest and reviews.

But in today’s fast-paced, digital world, what are some savvy, cost-effective ways to distribute ARCs to maximize exposure? Read on for tips, tricks, and insight from publishing pros.

Defining Your Goals

Before diving headfirst into ARC distribution, take a moment to clearly define what you hope to achieve.

Do you simply want to spread the word about your book’s impending arrival? Are you focused on garnering pre-publication reviews? Do you have a specific target audience in mind for your ARCs?

Outlining your objectives will determine the best platforms and distribution methods. It will also help shape your pitch when reaching out to reviewers and influencers.

For example, if snagging book reviews is your top priority, you’ll want to target book bloggers, BookTubers, librarians and other avid readers. Make your pitch review-focused.

Whereas if you’re published by a small press with limited funds, spreading general book buzz on social media might be more feasible. Frame your ARC pitch to engage potential brand ambassadors.

Getting Digital

Physical ARCs printed and shipped en masse can blow up a book budget faster than an inflatable bouncy castle.

Luckily, the growth of e-books and reading devices makes digital distribution an accessible option. Digital ARCs (sometimes called eARCs or e-galleys) offer big savings by eliminating printing and mailing costs.

Top digital ARC platforms include:

NetGalley: The veterans of digital galleys, NetGalley partners with publishers to offer eARCs to industry influencers in exchange for fair, timely reviews.

Edelweiss: Offers eARC programs specifically for small presses and self-published authors seeking reviews.

BookFunnel and Instafreebie: Allows uploading ebook files to share free ARC copies. Useful for targeting genre-specific readers.

Keep in mind that digital ARCs don’t necessarily mean your book won’t get a print run later. Many publishers use eARCs solely as a pre-pub promotional vehicle. Print books still thrive, but digital ARCs help control that all-important budget.

Getting Social

In our tech-driven times, an obvious way to spread ARC buzz is by leveraging your social media platform.

Hashtags like #Bookmail and #Bookhaul let influencers share scored ARCs and finished copies. Consider gifting ARCs to Bookstagrammers or BookTubers with engaged followers in your genre.

Facebook and Twitter posts announcing your ARC giveaways can also widen the net. Just be sure to tailor your posts and target relevant reader groups on each platform.

For example, run an ARC Goodreads giveaway to tap into the passionate bibliophile community. Or post in niche Facebook groups like Voracious Readers of Sci-Fi.

Speaking of Goodreads, don’t forget its sister site: BookishFirst. This platform allows the first 50 readers to enter to win free advance copies. It’s an easy, built-in vehicle for ARC giveaways.

Thinking Local

Digital platforms offer great exposure, but don’t overlook your physical backyard. Local opportunities abound for garnering regional buzz and reviews.

Is there an indie bookshop in your town that hosts author events? See if they’d be interested in selling ARCs in advance of your on-site reading.

What about area book clubs? Offering ARCs in exchange for picking your book as their monthly read (and reviewing it) is a win-win.

Libraries are also ideal partners. Drop off ARCs at your local branch or regional system to see if they’ll purchase copies upon release.

And let’s not forget book-loving friends and family! Having a squad of personal cheerleaders leaving early Goodreads reviews makes a difference.

Reviewpalooza

As critical as pre-publication reviews are, many reviewers understandably won’t commit without seeing a finished book.

For hotly anticipated titles, some publishers throw ARC parties, bringing together top reviewers for exclusive sneak peeks. Unless you’re already an established author, however, throwing a lavish ARC gala likely isn’t realistic.

A more budget-friendly alternative? Host an online Reviewpalooza by partnering with fellow authors to offer free eBooks to review subscribers.

The concept is simple:

Each author contributes some stockpiled book codes for reviewers to choose from. Compile all codes into a master list. Then promote the ebook giveaway through blogs, newsletters and social media.

For reviewers, it’s a chance to score free reads without obligation. For authors, it puts your book directly into the hands of readers guaranteed to leave reviews. Cost to organize? Just your time.

Reviewpaloozas illustrate the creative grassroots strategies vital for independent authors with more vision than budget.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, ARCs should be viewed as seeds planted to reap future rewards.

Done strategically, they create crucial word-of-mouth buzz around your book release. They garner those all-important reviews essential to a successful launch.

And best of all? Digital distribution and grassroots hustle make ARCs accessible for indie authors and small presses.

So be bold, be creative, and be frugal in spreading your ARC wings. This is the foundation that can help your book take flight.

How Blockchain Could Impact the Publishing Industry

The publishing sector is now being influenced by blockchain and NFTs. NFTs are used by conventional publishers to create communities and interact with readers. Let's examine how blockchain has drastically altered the publishing sector.

In the realms of business and finance, blockchain technology is no longer a buzzword. The potential of blockchain technology has been brought to our attention throughout different business sectors because of the popularity of bitcoin. 

To unleash the potential of blockchains, numerous industry experts have recently analyzed the technology and developed use cases within their respective fields.

Technology has the ability to completely change how publishers, writers, distributors, and merchants conduct business in the publishing sector. The entire publishing supply chain will benefit from blockchain technology.

The digital transactions of peer-to-peer networks are recorded in blockchain, because it is a decentralized public ledger. It was initially created to act as the foundation for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but it is currently widely used in a variety of applications.

One of the biggest and most significant industries in the global economy is publishing. It has been around for an extremely long time and is a multi-billion dollar market. With many of the largest brands adopting the internet, publishers have taken the lead in online product sales.

Some people in the industry believe that blockchain's advantages for publishing platforms could be the solution to a lot of the problems faced by the industry.

There are two significant ways how blockchain technology can transform publishing:

1. More Affordable Payment Alternatives for Content Producers
By eliminating the need for an intermediary in online transactions, blockchain technology increases the financial gain for authors, photographers, and editors. 'Smart contracts,' which automatically release funds when publishers approve the content, is also possible at the same time.

2. Assistance in Managing Digital Property
By granting intellectual property rights, such as the prohibition on readers being able to resell or even share a publication with another person, blockchain can help boost the popularity of digital publishing platforms.

Additionally, Blockchain can assist publishers in the following ways: 

• Identify unauthorized sharing and stop it.

• Maintain a certain set of rights and modify them in a way that will increase the possible profit from their current agreements.

• Better collaboration will result from their ability to monitor all workflows in real time.

• Improve digital advertising so that they can provide their audience with a reason to interact with their content.

Publishers should understand blockchain now, whether that is signing up for a social network or creating a cryptocurrency wallet. These are small efforts toward investigating this new, disruptive technology that may have a strong influence.

THE USE OF BLOCKCHAIN IN THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY IS EXPANDING
Digital publication is likely to be disrupted by the blockchain. Simply by streamlining content distribution and enabling more efficient payments, this cutting-edge technology can address the problems that publishers have been dealing with for a very long time.

As of today, there are some forward-thinking initiatives using blockchain technology to build abrasive platforms for the publishing sector. The blockchain world is revolutionizing and several crypto pr service providers have changed the way we look at the publishing and distribution industry.

MORE ADVANTAGES FOR A PUBLISHING PLATFORM THAT IS USING BLOCKCHAIN Every sector of the economy, including publishing, might undergo a change, thanks to blockchain technology. Every industry that has embraced it has experienced success. The publishing sector may actually experience flexibility, integrity, and reliability thanks to its dynamic standard features.

SHARE OF PROFITS WITH STAKEHOLDERS
The advantages of blockchain technology will be experienced by all parties. Designers, editors, and other stakeholders will be compensated in accordance with the blockchain database regulations.

Blockchain technology allows for the permanent tracking and linking of a person's contributions to the advancement of publishing.

Smart contracts enable the digitization and automation of a wide range of processes. Without the need for manual assistance from human intermediaries, people and organizations can conduct business with one another.

It won't be necessary for someone to constantly fix all the bugs or mail checks, because contracts that are also on the blockchain will conduct and distribute sales among the stakeholders automatically.

BUILDING THE ECONOMY FOR PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS
Authors must rely on third-party service providers to provide secure content delivery, banking transactions, or private internet activity.

The content market is significantly impacted by Amazon and App Stores. As a result, writers and developers don't get paid as much as they should for their efforts.

Blockchain technology, on the other hand, has the ability to deal with intermediaries.

Authors will be able to trace the dissemination of their content and establish an electronic cash system for users thanks to blockchain technology. Additionally, authors will take back control of their work, moving up from the position of content distributor to primary source.

ADMINISTRATION OF SUPPORTING PROJECTS
A book is not the only source of income for an author or publisher. Fan fiction, movie adaptations, and spin-offs can all generate money from a book that has been published.

Some of these supplementary activities are referred to as "accessory items," and they are employed to raise awareness of a book and maintain customers' interest in a brand's storyline. Authors and publishers will be able to secure these auxiliary projects for their benefit by using a blockchain.

Blockchain technology will make tracking easier because it is a decentralized ledger that allows any transaction to be carried out without seeking anyone's consent.

SMART WALLETS
By utilizing smart wallets, blockchain can provide a safe payment method for publishers and authors. These encrypted wallets will be able to work with cryptocurrencies or tokens that are already known to be utilized inside an ecosystem for a project.

Blockchain can also be used to develop encrypted smart wallets that are more secure than any other kind of wallet currently available. These wallets make it simpler than ever to make payments without dealing through an intermediary like Google Play or iTunes since they can handle tokens for specific projects or commercial settings.

BLOCKCHAIN CAN ASSIST IN THE MANAGEMENT OF DIGITAL PROPERTY
Blockchain's ability to grant intellectual property rights can serve as a catalyst for the digital ecosystem. E-books can't experience the same growth cycle as physical books due to cultural conventions. You aren't allowed to sell or even rent your electronic book under this method.

This makes it impossible for readers to recommend their favorite books to friends and family members and for authors to get royalties from secondhand sales and borrowing fees.

Store-bought books are a rare breed that are vanishing. By monetizing their use, e-books and blockchain provide a potential to increase their value beyond anything originally expected, yet this is just the tip of the oceanic plate.

Imagine if we had the option to freely sell or share our e-books with others, including libraries, schools, and institutions all around the world.

The most secure method for electronically storing data is now blockchain. A tale cannot be modified after it has been written without leaving a mark. Blockchain keeps track of every transaction for each copy of the book, making it impossible for someone to copy or steal your story and profit from your personal project.

READY FOR BLOCKCHAIN PUBLISHING!
Publishing could change its criteria, thanks to the groundbreaking technology known as blockchain. Authors would be able to profit from their work and own their intellectual property without having to worry about plagiarism or copyright violations.

Blockchain will play a significant role in the future in digital publishing.

CONCLUSION
It is evident that some publishers are apprehensive about engaging with technologies like AI and Blockchain. But having a basic understanding of these concepts will make them more adaptive and open to embracing these technologies, which will ultimately increase their chances of growth and diversification in the years to come.

Lessons Learned From Working With Authors on Book Marketing

You’ve completed your book, edited it, and designed the cover. Now, you’re ready to promote . The good news? The Internet has made it easier than ever to market your book and get your name out there. The bad news? The Internet is a big place, and it’s hard to know exactly where to start. The following online promotion strategies can help.

1. Optimize your website.

Setting up a website for yourself, as an author, and/or for your book is a basic step in online promotions. Make sure you optimize it though. One way to do so is buying your domain name, which should be your pen name or book title. You should also pay for web hosting. When choosing a host, go for a service provider that makes it easy to add relevant metadata in your site. Those metadata should contain keywords that potential readers use when looking for books in their favorite genre.

So many authors I work with have a website but don’t go deep enough on the technical end of setting up the website with title tags, html structure, and meta tags that allow the pages to get indexed on Google and gain organic traffic from Google.

All other marketing you do will just provide more signals to Google that your website is an “authority” and help grow traffic and build your email lists (which can also be  set up on your site). If you haven’t built an email list before, this guide might be helpful.

2. Utilize Author Groups.

Never underestimate the benefits of having a network of writing and publishing professionals. These people can help you improve your craft and turn it into a profitable career. 

You can create and expand your network by joining online groups for authors and publishers. In these groups, you can discover upcoming releases, share blog ideas and learn other marketing tactics from your fellows.

Be selective about which Facebook group for writers you join and which members you connect with. Choose online communities that offer quality advice. As for members, find those you can collaborate with, especially in book promotions. In that way, both parties benefit from the endeavor.

Perhaps you are already part of many author groups. However, the real trick to making these groups work for marketing is via partnerships. Ask in the group if other authors are willing to partner with you on giveaways or bundles, especially authors in the same or adjacent genres. Then, using your combined email lists and social media connections, you can drive huge reach and sales by coming together and creating a bundle of your books. We’ve done this with great success for a number of authors we’ve worked with.

It’s important that authors taking part have some built-in audience already, otherwise you won’t be promoting to anybody. It works best with people with similar audiences.

3. Gain exposure through book giveaways.

Goodreads Giveaways is a great starting point to dabble into book giveaways if you’re just starting out or don’t want to do a lot of heavy lifting. Goodreads attracts millions of views each month. When you sponsor a giveaway, your book and free offer are advertised on the platform and marketing emails. This has great reaching potential.

The best way to do a giveaway is via social media. This requires an existing social media audience who likes your books. If you have an audience, you can ask people to “compete” for entries by tagging friends, inviting friends to participate, and more. This can help you take an audience of 2k and multiply it to reach 10k. We’ve seen even bigger results with some campaigns.

Don’t just leave everything to the site though. Promote your giveaway on your social media pages, too. Feature it on your website or blog. If you have an account on Wattpad, Tumblr or Commaful, you can announce it there, too. Place posters at nearby libraries and cafés as well. 

The more creative you get with giveaways, the better the results.

4. Get into guest blogging and blog tours. 

Guest blogging and blog tours are pretty commonly done and most authors I work with know how to do them already.

The best tip I can share is to start small and niche if you’re not well-known yet. For example, Wired for Youth is an easy target if you’re writing a nonfiction book. They clearly have traffic and they’re still updating the blog, but they’re still small and would be an easy target to land an interview or post on. Start small, build up momentum, and then once you have some reputation, use early interviews as examples to pitch larger blogs. For best results, you should pitch on blogs or sites that have a sizable audience. I’ve had authors start with tiny blogs and end up in places like the Huffington Post.

Guest blogs and blog tours do two main things for you. First, they help build credibility for you when people Google your name and your book. The posts will show up and prove you’re legit. Because you are targeting specific niche blogs, you will also build a good targeted audience from the posts as well.

It’s a great way to build some reputation and start a flywheel effect for yourself when you do it early on.

5. Run a book launch party.

Book launches are events designed to kick off your book release, hold your readers captive, and ultimately give them a good feeling about your work. They’re also a great opportunity to get your friends and family invested in your creation. More importantly, they help you sell copies.

People think these are a gimmick and often skip the launch party. If done right, the launch party is actually huge for morale and makes it feel real for authors. Don’t do it right when the book launches. The trick is to do it when you have some local followers already.

This is fun, gets fans involved and builds community.

6. Utilize Twitter To Connect With Readers

Twitter is a great way to build an audience and build your network. There are a few ways to utilize Twitter, depending on the genre you’re targeting.

To come up with Tweet ideas, study popular influencers in your genre. If you’re writing YA, for example, study popular YA writers. You can search popular hashtags used within YA to find these influencers, like #YALit or #YoungAdult.

Studying popular writers in the niche will inform you of what the audience wants to see. Learn from the best and try to emulate the tweets that work well, but with your own ideas and your own unique spin.

If you already have an engaged audience on Twitter, you should start seeing immediate results. If you don’t have an audience yet, your initial tweets will be going into a void. The easiest way to build an initial audience is to regularly engage with influencers in your genre. Vary who you reply to, you don’t want to just engage with the top influencers, but also up-and-coming influencers. By adding value in these tweets, you’ll begin to get noticed by their audience and thus build your own. This doesn’t happen overnight.

Consistency is the key to Twitter.

7. Start collecting leads for your next book. 

Running a marketing campaign has two stages: before and after release. If you’re working on a series, you can treat your current promotional period as an opportunity to market your current release as well as the following one. 

After your first novel is published, plan a book tour, a Facebook ad campaign, a sponsored story, or a video about the theme of your book. If you’ve written a social issue book, speak out on your social media profiles about topics relevant to your book. 

Given the current limitations of what is available to attend in-person due to the pandemic, consider hosting online events about your book. These may include utilizing Zoom, or other live platforms within social media. Another option could be to request a guest spot on a current online event from one of your contacts, or reaching out to another event organizer in your genre.

Depending on the restrictions in your location, consider attending live events about your book. These may include reading at a bookstore, hosting a film screening, making an in-person talk at schools or having a conversation night at a local bar.

This is going to be a long process. Thus, you should stay visible and open to anything you can do for your book once it’s published.

Online promotion strategies work effectively when they’re collaborative. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your loved ones, fellow writers and industry professionals for help. 

Hayley Zelda is a writer and marketer at heart. She's written on all the major writing platforms and worked with a number of self-published authors on marketing books to the YA audience.

How to Increase Your Amazon Book Sales

As an author, it would be wonderful if all you had to do was come up with an idea for a book, write it, and have it be an instant success. But the reality is that modern book publishing, especially on Amazon, is a lot more complicated than many authors assume. Marketing your book is at least as important to its success as the writing itself.

You’re also not the only author attempting to ‘make it big’ on Amazon, as a new book is published on the platform every five minutes. That means you have to do more than ever to stand out from the crowd and gain popularity online. 

Beyond Amazon marketing, there are many ways to increase your online audience. If you’re committed to becoming a full-time author, these strategies will help you augment your income and reach a wider audience.

Leverage Social Media Marketing

While social media platforms were once simply a place to stay in touch with friends and family, they’re now among the best ways to market almost any product. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the vast majority of young adults follow at least one brand on a social media platform.

Social media enables you to keep your audience updated with developments in your work, including the release of a new book. You can also keep people engaged with periodic content pieces about different aspects of your writing. This will help generate discussion and allow you to create a long-term relationship with your audience.

Create Your Own Website

Social media is a great way to start, but it can also be extremely valuable to create and operate a personal website devoted to your work. It will act as a hub for your audience to take a variety of actions, including purchasing a book, signing up for email updates, and getting connected with your social media presence.

It’s now easier than ever to build a personalized website, and there are tools available at nearly any price point (including free!). A few top-rated, free website builders that you can try are Wix, Weebly, and Strikingly.  

While cheaper options can help you get started, we recommend investing in high-quality, professional solutions – like an expert web developer – as you get more serious about promoting your brand. When searching for a web designer, consider the following:

• What’s your budget? There’s no set industry standard, so consider what your cap might be as you begin looking.

• Who do you want to work with? There are freelancers, design agencies, and full-service agencies. If you’re looking for services beyond web design (e.g. digital marketing), a full-service agency could be the right choice. If you’re budget-conscious, a freelancer is your best bet.

• What’s their experience level? Take a look at the portfolio of either the individual web developer or their agency. Do they have experience working with authors or are there other case studies that are relevant to you?

• What do their clients say about them?  Read testimonials, request references, and do your homework when it comes to confirming both the legitimacy and efficacy of a web designer.

• Are they responsive? Before hiring, ask them questions about their process and what they would suggest in terms of web design for you specifically if hired. You can get a good sense if they’re the right fit based on how they speak about the design process and their approach. 

Advertise on Amazon

The most direct way to reach out to potential customers is by advertising on the platform itself. Amazon offers two types of ads: Sponsored Product Ads and Product Display Ads. The former  are pay-per-click (PPC) ads that attract visitors looking for keywords similar to yours, and the latter target users who have made relevant purchases or searches in the past.

Both varieties can be extremely valuable when utilized effectively, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building a presence on Amazon. We recommend continual A/B testing to ensure that you’re getting the best possible return on investment from all your advertising channels.

Marketing a book is a difficult challenge, but it’s important to give yourself every possible chance for success. Even the best book won’t sell if it gets lost in the midst of hundreds of new books being published every day. These tips will help you rise above the competition and achieve the short- and long-term success you deserve.

Ilan Nass is an experienced performance marketer with 9 years experience helping B2B and B2C companies grow. He spent 6 years running Taktical Digital, a direct response/performance marketing agency where clients have included WeWork, Ellen Degeneres, BarkBox, Bustle, Casper, MoviePass, Rachel Zoe, Univision, Chase Manhattan and others. Skills include SEO, SEM, Content Marketing, Paid Social Ads and more.

What to Know About Using Amazon Marketing Services to Boost Your Sales

Amazon offers a very useful marketplace for anyone in the publishing industry. That said, leveraging this platform to its full potential involves understanding how to take advantage of Amazon Marketing Services (AMS). Like advertising on Facebook, taking the time to learn about selling on Amazon and how it can help your business is important.

Like Google AdWords, AMS charges pay-per-click fees to help sellers reach potential customers. Using it effectively can have a major impact on your book sales.

The following tips will help you get started.

Requirements

Amazon requires users to have one of the following before they can access AMS:

• A Vendor Central login

• An Advantage Central login

• A Vendor Express login

• An invitation to represent a vendor

• A Kindle Direct Publishing account

If you don’t yet have the right login or account, set one up before registering for the program.

First Steps

Once you’ve registered with AMS you can begin advertising your products. To do so, sign in to your account and find the “Advertising” link in the navigation toolbar. Click it, then click on “Create your first ad.”

However, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the types of ads Amazon allows you to create before getting started on one.

Sponsored Product

This ad type is ideal if your goal is simply to boost sales. It allows vendors to choose a product, select keywords to ensure it appears in appropriate searches, and set a daily budget (the minimum is one dollar). Your sponsored product ad will then appear in searches. Best of all, Amazon only charges users for clicks their ads receive.

Headline Search

Headline Search ads are very similar in concept to Sponsored Product ads. They key difference is increased visibility. A Sponsored Product ad will appear on the bottom or right-hand side of a search results page. A Headline Search ad, on the other hand, will appear at the top of the page.

That said, increased visibility comes at an increased cost. The minimum budget for this type of ad is $100.

Product Display

Sponsored Product and Headline Search ads target customers via your chosen keywords. With Product Display ads, users can target customers based on interests by having their ads appear on pages for related items. The minimum budget for these ads is also $100.

Increase Sales with Amazon Marketing Services

Knowing how AMS works is important. However, once you understand the basics, it’s also important to learn how to leverage this service to actually increase sales. The following points explain how to maximize your return on investment:

• Opt for Manual Targeting: You have two essential options when targeting customers with ad: automatic or manual. With the automatic option, Amazon analyses your book and targets customers based on said analysis. However, if you’re willing to research which keywords other authors like you have used effectively, you’ll get better results with manual. This option lets you choose your own keywords when targeting customers.

• Test: There’s no universal answer to the question “Which type of ad is right for my book?” It varies on a case-by-case basis. Thus, it’s best to try different types of ads with low budgets first. Monitor the results for each to determine which is most effective. It’s also important to experiment with different keyword combinations.

• Promote a Series: Do several of your titles belong to the same overall series? If so, you can leverage one to boost the sales of the others. Promote the first title in the series and revise your product description to ensure readers clearly know it is one of several books. Ads that yield sales for the book you’re promoting will also increase sales of other books in the series as a result.

• Consider the Season: Seasonally-appropriate titles will often deliver better results if you promote them accordingly. For instance, if you’re considering running a campaign in October, and you have a book that relates to Halloween either directly (it takes place during the season) or indirectly (it touches on scary/supernatural topics), promoting that one instead of another title will boost your ROI.

Keep these best practices in mind as you get started with AMS. This service is valuable, but the value it offers will increase substantially if you know how to use it most effectively. These tips will help.

Ilan Nass is an experienced performance marketer with 7 years experience helping B2B and B2C companies grow. Spent 5 years running Taktical Digital, a paid social performance marketing agency. Skills include SEO, SEM, Content Marketing, Paid Social Ads and more

How Top Publishers Use Keywords

In 2015, Kadaxis (with some help from Bowker, Firebrand and OnixSuite) set out to investigate whether publishers were adding keywords to book metadata. The conclusion was that of the 150,000 publishers reviewed, most weren't adding keywords, and of those publishers who did, the volume and quality of keywords was low.

Anecdotally, we've seen a significant shift in the past three years in the priority publishers give to keywords. We wanted to understand this change more deeply, but instead of taking a large sample of publishers, we adopted a qualitative approach and narrowed our analysis to 846 fiction titles with significant sales. By looking at how keywords are used on a publisher's most important titles, we can infer how important keywords are to a publisher and gain some insight into different keyword methodologies.

Findings

Keywords matter to the top publishers: of the 846 books we analyzed, 69% had keywords - a significant increase to three years ago.

Most publishers still target a 500 keyword character count. Of the books with keywords, 44% had a character count between 480 and 500 characters. See our investigation into why 500 keyword characters is not optimal for selling more books on Amazon:

Optimization savvy publishers are emerging though: 6.2% of books had keyword character counts above 500, while 2% had character counts above 1000 characters (many of these are Kadaxis clients).

Keyword Content

Almost all of the top fifty most commonly used keywords across all books in our set related to category names.

The keywords "fiction" (most common) and "fiction books" (6th most common) were seen throughout the sample set. Search engines are able to derive whether a book is fiction or not by examining the book’s categories, so adding these terms as keywords is often not necessary. Likewise, BISAC and browse node (Amazon only) category names are also indexed by search engines, so if a book is assigned to a category, repeating the category name as a keyword won’t increase the book’s visibility in search. Category and genre names are relevant and appear to make sense as keywords, but understanding how search engines index metadata can often mean a more efficient use of the keyword field.

Rule Breakers

One observation we've made from working with publishers, is that Amazon applies rules discriminately. Large accounts are generally afforded more relief from the rules, and it appears many publishers may be aware of this extra freedom. (See section "Keywords to avoid" from Amazon's rules for KDP authors).

Of our sample set with keywords, 4% of books included the term "bestseller", while 15% broke the "Subjective claim about quality" rule by stating that their books were the “best”, for example: “best horror books”, “best selling fiction author”, “best american novel” and “best fantasy series”.

We also found countless examples of keywords comprised of competitive author and title names, along with the the use of Amazon program names (e.g. "kindle" as a keyword). One publisher even tried to cash in on deal days with the keywords: “cyber monday deals” and “black friday deals”.

Amazon likely filters out prohibited terms, but one exception is the use of competitive title and author names which, when indexed, do improve search visibility.

Conclusion

Publishers with high sales volumes take keywords seriously and in most cases add keywords to their book's metadata. The quality and volume of keywords has improved significantly over the past three years as we've seen publishers move from rarely adding keywords to commonly adding keywords. While keywords were generally well considered, when assessing phrasing, term redundancy, volume and other characteristics used to assess keyword efficacy on Amazon, the trend highlights coverage as a priority for most publishers, ahead of the more involved specifics of optimization. The industry is evolving though, and gaining a more sophisticated understanding of how search works. Our prediction is that in our next review we’ll see an even greater incidence of highly optimized keywords, incorporating this growing body of knowledge.