[Link] The Biggest Business Mistake I Ever Made

by Joel Friedlander

I didn’t know it when it happened, but it was the teleconference call that changed my life—my business life.

It was a monthly call with a mastermind group. We talked about marketing and tried to help each other get better at it.

Although my blog was becoming popular, I was struggling trying to find ways to make it profitable.

I was describing my frustration about this when one of the group members asked how my email list was doing.

“Pretty poorly, to be honest,” I replied. “I started a newsletter a few years ago, but haven’t kept it up, and there aren’t a lot of signups anyway, so why bother?”

“Well that’s your problem right there,” he said. “You’ve got great traffic, all you have to do is start building that list and you’ll be amazed at what happens next.”

He went on to give me some specific ideas about how to go about doing that.

So I started working on growing my email list, and eventually I found out my friend was right. This one effort has completely changed my business, my relationships with my peers, and the number of opportunities that are open to me.

Read the full article: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2015/05/the-biggest-business-mistake-i-ever-made/

[Link] Quick Book Marketing Tips for Fiction and Nonfiction Authors

by Joel Friedlander

When we talk about book marketing, fiction authors are always asking, “Will this work for me too?

And I don’t blame them. Nonfiction authors may just have it easier, at least at the beginning. On the other hand, nonfiction sales don’t always reach the stratospheric levels of popular novels.

This whole topic came up recently while preparing for a presentation on how to navigate the varied and confusing publishing paths now available for authors.

I thought about the many authors I’ve talked to recently, and what’s happened for them once they finished the publishing process and got their books into the market.

Looking back, it’s often easier to see where you could have done something different, something that might have made a difference. Yes, we all have “20/20 hindsight.”

To “cook down” the advice I put together for these authors, I separated it into separate lists, and here they are.

Read the full article: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2015/03/quick-book-marketing-tips-for-fiction-and-nonfiction-authors/

[Link] Fiction Writers: How to Find Your Ideal Reader

by Joel Friedlander

In my last post, I covered how to find your ideal reader for nonfiction authors. For nonfiction, your ideal reader is identified by what problem he’s trying to solve. Fiction, on the other hand, is trickier. You’re trying to discover your reader based on how he finds new novels he enjoys.

You could say his “problem” is finding books that satisfy his particular tastes, especially when he doesn’t have anything new to read – all his favorite authors are between books, he’s read all their offerings, and now he’s forced to search for something else to feed the craving. If you’re a hard core fiction fan, you know just how real this craving can be!

Before you can identify who your audience is, you need to know what you are offering. To do this, answer the following questions...

Continue reading: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2015/02/fiction-writers-how-to-find-your-ideal-reader/