Tuesday, January 15, 2013

17 Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts You Might Find Helpful & Comments From Author James Moushon


Please welcome my friend James Moushon (@jimhbs), author of CALL OFF THE DOGS and BLACK MOUNTAIN SECRETS (a Jonathon Stone Mystery Series), to Tabor Lane. James is currently wearing Three Hats. He is a mystery author, book industry blogger, and a computer consultant. Please visit him at “The eBook Author’s Corner”

Today, James is talking about the need for "helping hands" to succeed in the publishing world. 

Indie Author: You Need a Helping Hand to Succeed

No matter what anyone says, you need help to succeed in book publishing today, especially if you’re an Indie author. There is just too much to do to even have modest success.

The good old days. You know, the days when the book industry was controlled by a small group of publishers and an even smaller group of successful authors. To get into the group, you had to write what the publishers wanted you to write in the correct genre; a book that the publisher could forecast a profit and stay within budget.

At least at the start, they took care of everything. That included marketing, creation and distribution, returns, pricing, editing, cover design, reviews and advances. You know: an all of the above approach.

You did have to write good material, make appearances and sign some books but the good reviews were always going to be there. They were the author’s support group along with the agents. When you got to the second tier of authors, the marketing shifted more and more to the author but the rest of the support was still there.

Then along came the ebook and the online world. Self-publishing became easier and the royalties increased. You were selling books where you never had exposure before.

Along with this came a problem. The publisher’s support was gone so the online community started scurrying for a solution. Authors needed help and support of all kinds to bring their book to market.

You see, the Indie Author is now responsible for everything. Enter the online support groups, stage right.

Click here to read the rest of the article on “The eBook Author’s Corner.” After you've read the article, we hope you will share your "helping hand" story. 

 ~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

  1. Whoever Told You Editing Was Easy is Nuts: http://t.co/UZewwyNz @behlerpublish RT @elizabethscraig
  2. How to Cut the Filler and Tighten Your Book: http://t.co/nuYJlV3 @KMWeiland RT @elizabethscraig
  3. Generating Buzz Through Book Reviews http://t.co/hhVYgVXE  RT @Janice_Hardy
  4. Blending it all together – there’s one important ingredient… http://ow.ly/gMemr "Be sure your understand your book's marketability"
  5. Relationships Building with Potential Readers http://ow.ly/gMet0  via @Karen_Baney baney
  6. How To Improve Your Vocabulary Using Twitter http://ow.ly/gMeCm
  7. Report Predicts Foursquare Will Fail This Year http://ow.ly/gMeHb failing to meet investors or internal projections “quarter after quarter
  8. Infographics: The Revolutionary Social Marketing Tool [INFOGRAPHIC] http://ow.ly/gMeVz
  9. 5 Quick Tips For Better Dialogue In Fiction http://ow.ly/gMfSs 
  10. Marketing your book - it all starts before you've even written anything http://ow.ly/gNhZK @Nick_Stephenson
  11. You Need Stakeholders in Your Writing Life http://ow.ly/gNkFF via @JaneFriedman
  12. Marketing Strategies: Who, Access, Willing? http://ow.ly/gNqiT via @fictionnotes
  13. Top Five Book Marketing Strategies for Authors, plus Bonus Report http://ow.ly/gNVtL @Nickdaws
  14. How to Keep Strong Female Characters Likeable http://ow.ly/gNVQk @MarcyKennedy
  15. Pinterest: Ten Tips for Authors http://ow.ly/gOamz 
  16. How to Engage Your Reader — A Guest Post by Matthew Turner http://ow.ly/gN3Xs via @StoryFix
  17. Fragmentary Sentences and Sentence Fragments http://ow.ly/gN3Om via Daily Writing Tips


I’m always looking for great content to share. If you have a writing and/or marketing blog, or have a favorite that you visit often, please leave a link in the comment section. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy writing & running, Kathy

1 comment:

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