“Why do you do what you do?” The question comes to you from the young man sitting next to you on a recent flight. Like yours, his seat back is comfortably angled 30 degrees back, and his tray table is in the down position. You’ve both settled in. The two of you are on a first class flight home from …

One of the benefits of living in the Seattle area is the abundant access to tech leaders at Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook. Recently I had lunch with a mobile app developer to talk through interesting ideas on creating rich reader experiences via a mobile app. While enjoying some chicken mole at a local Mexican restaurant, we were discussing his experience …

Writing compelling book descriptions for books, ebooks and audiobooks means balancing your promotional copywriting between the head and the heart. It takes both wit and a winsome turn of phrase to make your readers fall in love with your book before they even think about buying your work. On the brainy side, your description needs to attract the attention of …

Selling audiobooks can amplify your book sales in a way few other things can. Imagine being able to move your audience and sell your message with the sound of your own voice. Few other methods create such a compelling influence as the spoken word. In another article on mastering audiobook recording sills, we took a look at King George VI …

In the Oscar-winning movie The King’s Speech, England’s reluctant King George VI hated microphones. He had good reason: he stuttered like a Model-A Ford, in need of a tune-up. The movie is a surprisingly upbeat and watchable journey through the real-life king’s struggle with public speaking. He had to record and broadcast messages to his subjects around the globe during …

Audiobook distribution is a great way for speakers and authors to generate a solid income from product sales. An author who can motivate and inspire their audience can make a mint selling audio products back-of-room. Audios have a quality of immediacy that just can’t be found on the printed page, and the numbers don’t lie. The audiobook industry is now …

Have you ever had one of those moments when you just felt “on it”? On top of the world? In the zone? You know what I mean…it’s that feeling you get watching Bruno Mars singing those lyrics during Super Bowl 50 “Too hot. Hot damn!” Maybe it was one of those good-hair days. You were wearing your favorite “go to” …

When it comes to talking about the fundamentals of book promotion, using GoodReads is about as fundamental as you can get. Can 41 million readers be wrong? Probably not. With that in mind, here are steps you can take to maximize the return on your investment of time and attention to your book marketing campaigns. The Goodreads Trifecta of Promotion …

“Gentlemen, this is a football.” Vince Lombardi famously spoke these words to his team when he took over as head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1959. While it’s probably true that the players he was speaking to were well aware of the ball’s name, reinforcing the fundamentals never hurt anybody. In fact, the Packers went on to unprecedented …

UPDATED: NOV. 15, 2022 Is it worth it for an author to do book signings while on tour? As a publisher, I get asked this question often. Authors want to know if they should invest the time and effort in a meet-and-greet with their readers, and what exactly the payoff is. With so many options for promotion – from social …