Someone said in a Facebook authors’ group that hey, we were all in competition with one another. Yeah, no. That’s zero-sum thinking, and it does not quite work with books and stories — especially now. It’s 2019. Books have shelf life. Scarcity is not ubiquitous Yes, some things are governed by scarcity. For example, people buy maybe one house. They either buy this one or that one. (Let’s not discuss the superrich who buy several houses....
Do as I do: Cover a wide variety of topics. Post sporadically. Write various lengths, from quick dashed-off notions to long think pieces. Get personal one post, professional the next. Take long breaks. Give people the strong impression that your mind runs all over the place. I’m trying to do better, but blogging is not in even the top five of my daily A tasks. Therefore I’m doomed. Don’t be like me!...
As a reader, how do you find a good book among all the choices out there? As a writer, how do you get your book noticed by readers? Photo by Madhava Enros (Creative Commons) A couple of days ago, Chuck Wendig posted a long expletive-rich rant about the proliferation of low-quality books—which he blames on self-publishing’s lack of gatekeepers—and how that makes it harder for everyone because the signal (quality books) is being buried in the noise (poorly written/edited/packaged books)....
MailChimp is one of the good guys of the online marketing services. Photo: SeeMidTN.com aka Brent (Creative Commons) Every now and then, I do a little bit to build my “author platform.” Today I signed up for MailChimp and configured my newsletter, to which people can now subscribe! I don’t actually know what I would say in a newsletter, but I figure when I have a book coming out or something, this will be useful....
Brands have a way of happening whether you want them to or not. It’s not about selling. It’s about perception.