Ask for help—and sell more books!

Sue Collier | February 2, 2011

Folks generally enjoy being helpful. You’re much more likely to get people to accommodate you if they know what you want. When my colleague Marilyn Ross launched the first edition of Jump Start Your Book Sales, she created the following checklist; it was enclosed with every individual copy of Jump Start that was shipped out. [...]

13 easy tips for virtual author book tour hosts

Sue Collier | October 22, 2010

Virtual  book tours continue to grow in popularity with authors. From the comfort of their own computers, authors can tour the world, saving time and money while reaching a potentially large audience. Bloggers benefit as well since tours can drive new traffic to their sites. If you’d like to host a virtual author book tour [...]

11 Questions for the Indie Publisher…Featuring Lillian Brummet

Sue Collier | October 20, 2010

This is another installment from our series 11 Questions for the Indie Publisher. This time we are featuring indie author Lillian Brummet. Please let me know if you would like to be featured! Your name:  Lillian Brummet Your website/blog: www.brummet.ca; http://consciousdiscussions.blogspot.com Your bibliography: Lillian Brummet is the co-author of the books Trash Talk and Purple Snowflake [...]

23 ways to promote and sell books

Sue Collier | September 20, 2010

This checklist, courtesy of association publishing expert Jack McHugh, is designed to help you quickly review your methods of marketing and promoting books. Says Jack: “In order to fully exploit each book’s full potential, you should be using each tool and technique listed below. Also, this checklist will remind you to evaluate your books’ sales [...]

Speak to sell books—tips for authors and self-publishers

Sue Collier | September 3, 2010

Now that I’ve got my own book out (The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, 5th Edition), I have big plans to hit the speaking circuit. Although I have taught classes on self-publishing, presenting myself as a “speaker” is new territory. I thought it would be useful to write about what I’ve learned from talking with other speakers, [...]

Author marketing via social media

Sue Collier | July 26, 2010

Guest blogger: Fiona Ingram I live in South Africa and I am published in the USA. Distance has made it impossible for me to go the traditional marketing route. Online is all I have open to me. I have worked very hard to go from “Fiona Who?” to not quite “Aha, Fiona Ingram, the famous [...]

Building your author platform—Connections

Sue Collier | July 7, 2010

Guest blogger: Dana Lynn Smith This post, the third of a three-part series on building an author platform, highlights the importance of connections. Part one of this author platform series covers branding, while part two discusses reputation. When selling your book, it’s not just what you know, it’s who you know! To sell books in [...]

Self-publishing does not necessarily equal slush-pile publishing

Sue Collier | June 30, 2010

So I read a post on self-publishing over a Kidlit today. I’ve commented there, but I couldn’t resist more pontificating. I’ll start by saying that I am not the average person who has no idea what lurks in slush. I spent many years in the trade, going through those very awful slush piles that blogger [...]

Promoting your book by using your natural talents

Sue Collier | June 25, 2010

When I talk with most authors, I find that writing their book isn’t the biggest challenge; marketing is. Many authors tend to be more introverted, so blatant promotion of their work makes them very uncomfortable. It’s disappointing when I see authors invest so much of themselves—emotionally and financially—into their book only to see their enthusiasm [...]

The business of writing and self-publishing–a Q&A

Sue Collier | June 7, 2010

(Cross-posted at the Writer’s Digest website.) What message do you find yourself repeating over and over to writers? Sue: The difference between true self-publishing and the so-called “self-publishing companies”—and why that difference is so important for authors to understand. Marilyn: Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. It’s mandatory in today’s publishing environment to be proactive and get behind [...]