Indies and PR

If any Indie author hasn't yet found her or his way to the Author Hangout then it's about time someone gave them a helping hand.

The Author Hangout is the podcasting branch of the bookmarketingtools.com team. People who are most helpful, friendly and full of great ideas about marketing for Indie writers.

The podcasts are interviews with best selling authors, marketing gurus and others successful in the PR business. I have learnt a lot from listening to what has and has not worked as far as sales go for these successful authors. If you, like me, shrink from social media because it is one vast area of confusing interaction then go and listen to those podcasts full of helpful advice about social media.

I no longer shy away from using Twitter for discreet PR purposes and find ideas like the following a great way to mix with 'nice' people on Twitter and talk to other writers.

Seems to me that any Indie not tuning in and taking advantage of the ideas really doesn't want to sell books. And any Indie without their helpful and free list of what to do leading up to and at a book launch really needs help.

'In episode 32 of The Author Hangout, Bestselling author Leeland Artra shared a great way for authors to use Twitter:
"One of the things I do is I participate in these things called Tweet Teams. What you do in the Tweet Teams is you work with some other authors and you give them interesting things to say about you and they give you interesting things to say about them. And then, you talk on your Twitter feeds about them and they talk on their Twitter feeds about you and you mix that in with all the other stuff that you normally do. So I’m always sending out quotes and little factoids and stuff like this all day every day. In addition to that, about 20-30 additional tweets per day about other authors or stuff that’s coming, interesting things like that. In exchange, I have about 10 or 20 other authors that are every day sending 3-4 tweets about me."
This is genius! We always talk about how authors need to partner together, and this is another great way for authors to do that. People have room to read other books, so it isn't a zero-sum game. By promoting other authors who are promoting you, you are able to get a boost that other authors simply do not have.
Start finding authors in your genre who you can partner with in this way, and then start helping each other out.'

Listen to the researchers who know: Independent E-Book Sales are growing.

Independent Writers owe a great deal to the team at author earnings.com. When the publishing industry is busy talking down e-books and e-book sales, telling us they have plateaued or are even dropping, here is the truth from solid research.
Take a look.
http://authorearnings.com/report/september-2015-author-earnings-report/?utm_source=Author+Earnings+Updates&utm_campaign=d11d97a618-September_2015_Author_Earnings_Report9_5_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2438cb1801-d11d97a618-128100545

Seems to me e-book sales are still strong and the research only covers amazon sales!

For those of you in a hurry here is the meat of their latest research:

During that same period in 2015, Amazon’s overall ebook sales have continued to grow in both unit and dollar terms, fueled by a strong shift in consumer ebook purchasing behavior away from traditionally-published ebooks and toward indie-published- and Amazon-imprint-published ebooks.
These “non-traditionally-published” books now make up nearly 60% of all Kindle ebooks purchased in the US, and take in 40% of all consumer dollars spent on those ebooks.

Traditional publishers and publishing industry pundits are claiming that the broader US ebook market has now flattened, or is even shrinking.

But at the same time, the largest ebook store in world is telling the Wall Street Journal that the exact opposite is happening:

“Amazon says e-book sales in its Kindle store—which encompasses a host of titles that aren’t published by the five major houses—are up in 2015 in both units and revenue.”

So which is it?


Indie ebooks without ISBNs have grown from 30% of all Kindle ebooks purchased in January 2015 to now account for 37% of all Kindle ebooks being purchased in September.

When indie ebooks that do have ISBNs are included, then indie self-published books, which made up 36% of all Kindle ebooks purchased in February 2014, now make up 42% of all Kindle ebooks being purchased on Amazon right now.

Unfortunately, we didn’t also go back and retroactively check each book in the 4 earlier 2014 datasets to see which of them had ISBNs. Had we done so, it would have beautifully charted the rapid rise of the untracked ebook “shadow industry,” right alongside the rapid decline in market share held by traditionally-published ebooks.

But right now, as of September 2015:

“Nontraditionally-published” ebooks from indie self-publishers and Amazon publishing imprints make up 58% of all Kindle ebooks purchased in the US.

Traditionally-published ebooks make up 42% of Kindle ebooks purchased in the US.

When the AAP reports “declining ebook sales”, they are describing the shrinking portion of the US ebook market held by their 1200 participating traditional publishers, whose share of the broader US ebook market has fallen in the last 18 months from 46% of all Kindle ebook purchases to less than 32%.

This dramatic market share shift has not gone entirely unnoticed in traditional-publishing circles. In July, influential industry veteran Mike Shatzkin observed that:

“Ebook sales for big publishers may be declining but they’re being replaced by indie sales at lower prices (their USP) at Amazon.”

Way to go Indies!
And thank you guys for your research.

Useful Advice for Indies about Twitter.

I am always grateful for places like IndiesUnlimited because of the sound, practical and useful advice I find there. I am nearly sure these extracts come from there. I am now thinking more kindly about Twitter. See what you think.


'Why would Google want tweets? Twitter has become the first line of communication in breaking events. If an event occurs on the other side of the world, tweets are relaying that information in nearly real time. If Google has access to that information (called the Twitter Firehose) then it can include it in search results immediately and it doesn’t have to rely on crawlers to acquire info.

What does this mean for us? Well, first off, it’s probably a good idea to get on Twitter if you are not already. Does this mean that if you tweet about your book fifty times a day, people will start to see you book show up on Google? No. However, if you are active on Twitter, and you can align yourself with good content, there is a better chance that Google will lend credibility to your tweets.'

Makes sense doesn't it? And Google certainly is aiming to take over the internet world.

Another consideration is current events. If you write spy novels that involve stolen information from the government and today a rogue agent is busted for that in real life, then start tweeting. The more you connect your writing to current events (if possible) the better chance you’ll get visibility. The other day I saw an article about human trafficking in our region and thought of DV Berkom and her book Bad Traffick. With a few tweets and a link to the article, bam, you’ve just brought awareness to this tragic scourge on society and linked yourself to the cause. Meanwhile, you just might end up in a search as people turn to Google for more information.

I’m not suggesting spamming Twitter with tons of promos for your books. I’m suggesting that you now have a chance to connect yourself to issues that are important to you through means that might not have been available before. Please don’t take this as a holy grail.

Nice example and worth thinking about fellow writers?

We struggle every day as authors to get the word out about what we do. It’s important to be firing on all cylinders. The agreement between Google and Twitter might help us in that endeavor. So, if you aren’t active on Twitter, maybe now is the time to reconsider. It will take a few months before the effect is noticed on Google, as the best estimate of the functionality taking place is sometime in the first half of the year. Happy tweeting!

Reviews. We Indies really need them. This advice is simple, easy to follow and comes from one of those nice author marketing groups whose name I cannot remember!

Here is how to find book reviewers on Twitter:
1. Load up Twitter, and using the search form, search "book reviewer" "book blogger" "(your genre) reviews" and other topics like that. Be creative! I don't want everyone contacting the same exact reviewers!
2. This will show you a list of Tweets. Scroll and find the "People" box, and click "View All". You will then find all profiles related to your search topic.
3. Click on each profile and make sure they are a) active with a fairly recent tweet and b) they have at least 100 followers (the more the better).
4. Then, identify possible matches, click through the Website listed on their Twitter profile, and find their rules for review submissions.
5. If your book is within the confines of their rules, then submit your book for review!
That's it! You should be able to find quite a few people willing to review your book! They will have some reach on social media, and they will increase exposure of your book!

The Writer's Choice members are split between those who use Twitter and those who won't. I've found it useful for spreading the word about eco and political things I care about and for sharing markets and tips for writers. I do not spend time there. I cheat. Most sites I visit, or the emails which groups send me, have a Twitter button and a ready made tweet to send. I use those to keep my presence out there. And I limit any marketing to things like Hurray. My novel Tizzie made the short list in the M.M. Bennett Historical fiction comp.

Now this is a magazine of the future.

Indie Writers rejoice. Here is one of the many new zines out to get those gadget driven readers and save the short story. It pays writers too!

‘Cracked Eye’
‘Cracked Eye’ and magazines like it are the future of magazines and the saviour of the short story. The editorial team understand that ‘busy lives force us to squeeze our relaxation and entertainment into small pockets of personal downtime’ People need a different way to read and ‘Cracked Eye’ offers it. ‘Every issue of ‘Cracked Eye’ has ‘stories, illustrations, cartoons, videos, audio-books, graphic novels and serials’ which sounds normal until you realise that all these things are ‘at your fingertips on all devices across all platforms, every month.’ Brilliant and beautifully put together. Have a look at the website and see what the team are doing. Readers can finish an entire story on a commute, view an episode of a graphic novel during coffee break, or listen to an audio-story at bedtime. This is the future.

The editors need short story submissions, 3,000 to 6,000 words for ‘Cracked Eye’. The team ‘welcome submissions from new and established authors, the only proviso is that we are seeking stories that are the best.’ Follow the editorial team’s suggestion and ‘download and read some of our current stories to get a feel for the type of material we like.’ The editors seek compellingly well written stories which entertain, excite and enthral Send a finished and well edited story as an attachment. In the body of the email include all contact details, a brief bio, any Twitter, Facebook or other platforms. Don’t forget a word count and put full name and contact email at the beginning or end of the story. No reprints or sim subs please. Use a standard publishing format, standard fonts such as Courier, Times, Georgia, Arial, or Helvetica and save the work as an MS Word or MS Compatible file.
Response time is 6 to 8 weeks. Payment ‘we pay fees to writers for stories we publish subject to contract.’


Details: ‘Cracked Eye’, website: http://crackedeye.com/writers;
email subs to: submissions@crackedeye.com;
guidelines at: https://crackedeye.com/writers

New Zealand Indie Writers' Month

March, all stops are out for March. March 27th for me actually but the whole month has been taken over by the Indies writers. It used to be New Zealand Book Month but the organisers suddenly changed it to August, leaving quite a few writers' groups and libraries with plans already underway for March. I'm launching my novel, 'Tizzie', promoting my Writer's Choice colleagues' newest novels and selling our already published books at a launch in the library. It will be fun as I'm being supported by the friends of the library to help with food and service and we will enjoy a party atmosphere. I hope! Roll on March 27th.

It seems to me that sales only come if you put in the work, not on social media, but with people. I hate getting tweets about buying someone's books. I'd rather chat. I hate my LinkedIn messages to buy a book. I hate blog tours and bloggers where it's all about 'My Wonderful Book'! I've been talking about Writer's Choice a lot and people are interested in the group and why we are doing what we do as Indie publishers. It's easier to do that than push my novels. This way people don't feel pressured and I also have my colleagues' books with mine and am delighted to chat about them too as a reader, so it's gains all round. I've sold quite a few for them.

And the KiwiReads group grows. We are behind the NZ Indie Writers' Month and are pushing our books into public notice in a good way. So far the website is our main weapon. Tui Allen is working hard to get a perfect site for readers to finds New Zealand books.
We are still stuck on the quality bit. How do you choose without becoming like the agents and traditional publishers? It seem unsolvable.

Too many writers, too many readers and not enough ways to link the two in a sympathetic way. Or is it that there are enough readers for all the writers but we have yet to learn how to connect to the readers who will like our particular books?
I'm working on it!