Feeling overwhelmed by book marketing can lead authors to look for shortcuts. Shortcuts lead to expensive complications. Expensive complications lead to dead ends. Dead ends lead to suffering. Yoda would call this “The path to the dark side.” Does this sound familiar? How do you escape this overwhelming cycle? There are ten different stressors that can lead to book-marketing overwhelm. Most authors face at least one, and if you are completely overwhelmed, you may be facing all of them. In this week’s episode, you’ll learn: Ten factors that may be causing your marketing stress How free courses ..read more

Being an author requires you to have hundreds of online accounts for different software and services. Websites such as Amazon, ConvertKit, Publisher Rocket, Patreon, K-lytics, Bookvault, AuthorMedia.social, AuthorsXP, BookBub, Kickstarter, Teachable, Bluehost, WordPress, Grammarly, and Plottr (to name a few) all require a username and password. Some authors avoid using helpful tools simply because they don’t want to create and remember yet another username and password. It seems like too much hassle, and their writing and publishing efficiency and quality suffer as a result. But what if there ..read more

Can you make a living as an author without selling through Amazon? Many authors wonder. Amazon is the sole revenue source for many indie authors, but Amazon’s algorithms can disable your KDP accounts and cut off your income without any human reviewing the action. Authors find themselves pleading with a computer to reactivate their accounts while their livelihoods hang in the balance. While this scenario is rare, it does occur. That’s why some authors connect with their readers without relying on Amazon. How do you do that, and what type of author can pull it off? In this week’s episode, Connor ..read more

Authors around the world are trying to reduce their reliance on Amazon. However, most of us still use and like Amazon. In fact, many authors earn most of their money from Amazon. But any company with a 90% market share can't be fully trusted. One way indie authors can reduce their reliance on Amazon is by selling directly from their own author websites. Selling directly provides protection from the changes at an international company. It allows you to retain more money, control, and flexibility over pricing, bundling, and so much more. In this week's episode, you'll learn about a new service c ..read more

One key to becoming a bestselling author is the selling. And one element of sales is the sales pitch. Some authors think pitches are only to be used for pitching agents at writers conferences, but you can actually use a sales pitch whenever you talk about your book. Your sales pitch convinces readers to care about and read your book. The stronger your pitch, the better your sales. I’ve talked a lot about pitching novels in the past, but in this week’s episode, we’ll discuss a powerful recipe for pitching nonfiction that works so well that it can even work for fiction. You’ll learn What elemen ..read more

My first DOS computer had no mouse. Its screen had two colors: green and white. Today, computers have mice and complex graphics, and there is no need to be a computer programmer in order to use a computer. Technology gets easier to use each year. Even though it's easier than it used to be, sometimes you still need help. Many authors find that the biggest obstacle keeping them from writing, publishing, or marketing is technology. Authors lacking technical sophistication often get pulled into overpriced schemes like hybrid publishing and struggle to succeed. So, how can you learn to learn techno ..read more

A few months ago, we released an episode called The Starving Author: How to Market Books When You Have No Money. After the episode aired, several authors asked me a similar question: “What do we do if we do have money to spend?” You see, not all authors are starving. Some writers have spent years saving money, and they want to know how to get the best return on that money when they invest it in book marketing. So, how do you supercharge book sales if you have money to spend? In this week's episode, we’ll discuss marketing opportunities available to authors with a sizable marketing budget. You ..read more

Author Media has a list of over 10,000 subscribers, and around half of them open our emails, which means our open rates hover around 50%. That’s a high open rate! It’s partly because new subscribers join our email list through webinars I present for writers and authors. By the end of each webinar, attendees know enough to want to open emails from Author Media and me. Plus, the comments, questions, and polls associated with the webinar allow me to get to know my audience better. If you want to get to know your “Timothy” and grow your email list by adding subscribers who want to open your emails ..read more

An Uber driver's most valuable asset is his car. A photographer's camera is critical. An Uber driver with a broken car can't make money, and a photographer with a cheap camera will slowly starve. What is the critical tool for an author? What tool will help you earn money and keep you from starving? Your laptop! You write, edit, and promote your book on your laptop. A reliable, compatible computer is key to your success. Put another way, an old, unreliable computer is a terrible liability. Investing in a good laptop is not just a smart move, it's a potential tax-deductible business expense for ..read more

When readers browse Amazon, they have already decided to purchase a book. The only question is: Which book will they choose? What if there was a way to reach readers at this pivotal moment and persuade them to pick your book from the list they're considering? There is! It is called Amazon Advertising, and it has become one of the most popular forms of book promotion for indie authors. However, many authors feel intimidated by the idea of running Amazon ads. In this week's episode, you'll hear from Alana Terry, a USA Today bestselling author of over 40 books and Amazon ads expert. You'll discov ..read more