Why Online Book Discovery is Broken (and how to fix it) – Fascinating article by Laura Hazard Owen. This is the first time I’ve heard someone describe it as “broken.” Instead we keep hearing that “discoverability” is the main feature of the online book selling process.
Create a QR Code Campaign to Market Your Book – I have to admit, the picture leading this post got my attention. Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
Headline Writing Tips – Whether you are titling a blog post, a magazine article, or a blockbuster novel these tips should come in handy!
3 Common Mistakes Author’s Make While Launching Their Book – Some helpful tips. #3 is particularly insightful.
The First 250 Words of Your Novel – Some excellent advice from Janice Hardy. You have no idea how many proposals fail right here.
Biblio Tech: The World’s First Bookless Library – “Just where I want to go,” he said sarcastically. To a soulless, sterile environment. That won’t be a library…it will only be a fancy Internet Café!
I suppose the question is, do we want to to “fix” online discovery. What we really care about is total books sold, not what percentage were discovered online versus through other means. If the percentage of online discoveries goes up, the the percentage of discoveries by other means will go down. Will we then be saying that we need to “fix” those methods of discovery?
I found “The First 250 Word of Your Novel” very insightful. How many times have I actually picked up a novel, read the back cover blurb, then proceeded to read the first page? Well, how many books are in my library?! lol!
I have read so many novellas, novels, and short stories with too much backstory at the beginning I tempt myself to skip through chapters or give up on the story. I can see why this would be a no-no for a writer in today’s market.
The First 250 Words of Your Novel by Janice Hardy hit the nail on the head for me. That’s how I choose a book and (thanks to Mr. Laude’s advice)it’s been the cause of my writing, re-writing, re-writing….
The book launching blog has me swea…um, perspiring. Selling myself hasn’t been my strong point. I’m learning to blog, trying to get someone patient and tech-savy to help me set up my website, and a blog site, and learn to twitter and…oh my! I’ve just gotten off my dial-up service so can now attempt these things. No more excuses! Thank you for the helpful information posted.
I don’t know how one can have a brick-and-mortar library without real books. Might as well save gas, coffee money, and stay at home with a Kindle/iPad.
“The First 250 Words of Your Novel” is excellent. I’m not sure how many pages that is, but in the library/bookstore, I read the back cover, the jacket, and the first paragraph of the first chapter. If I can’t get past the first paragraph, I put the book back on the shelf, and move on. I fear that’s what people will do to my novels too if I don’t write well LOL.