After reading my review of David Gaughran's self-help guide to visibility-raising for self-publishers, Let’s Get Visible: How to Get Noticed and Sell More Books, Gaughran himself got in touch with me and outlined some of his views on traditional media exposure and self-publishing. As I noted in the review, traditional publicity venues didn't feature much in his book, and Gaughran explained to me why. With his permission, I'm reproducing his remarks, which may help other self-published authors still further with their marketing choices. “Right now ... there are very, very few paths to success outside Amazon, and I felt the book had...

Two great reads came into my inbox this morning, one via Book Riot and one via email, from a blog called Picky Girl, which I have not read. The subject? Reader responsibility. Do they have any? Does being a 'reader' obligate one to perform certain tasks on behalf of the author? It was an interesting dialogue. Picky Girl (aka Jenn) began with an author tweet that read 'I am VERY happy you found my novel at the library, dear reader ... but do realize that if only libraries buy books, authors don't eat.' [caption id="attachment_82572" align="alignright" width="246"] THIS IS HORSESHIT[/caption] After her initial irk...

We've been writing quite a bit lately about book publicity tactics, which is probably why a recent tweet about a Pan Macmillan promo caught my eye this morning. The promotion couldn't be easier: You post a pre-written tweet about a new Richard House series called The Kills, and then the first book of the series (there will eventually be four, and the first is titled Sutler) is automatically downloaded onto your computer, tablet or smartphone. (I just gave the promo a test run myself, and was surprised when I was offered my choice of a Mobi or EPUB file.) The Kills, as the book's...

By now, the success of indie author Hugh Howey has been widely publicized, including here on TeleRead. Howey wrote Wool, a book split into five novellas set in a dystopian future. Read Joanna Cabot’s review of the Wool Omnibus here. Howey recently did a radio interview with Orla Barry of The Green Room on Newstalk, during which he discussed his deal with movie director Ridley Scott (Prometheus, Black Hawk Down), who bought the movie rights to the book. Howey also discusses the rise in popularity of Wool. Howey didn’t expect Wool to take off the way it did, gaining steam without much marketing on...

Thanks to Nate over at The Digital Reader for alerting me to this great blog post by author Lindsay Buroker. Buroker runs through a number of Amazon 'tricks' which, for various reasons, are losing steam as powerhouse author tools. Some tools, such as tagging and keyword manipulation, never worked that well anyway because people don't tend to search for books using those methods. Others, such as freebie promotions, are less potent than they used to be because of Amazon's restrictions on these practices. So, what was Buroker's perhaps surprising conclusion? She points out that authors should not lose heart when these things...

“Showrooming.” While I can’t say I’d heard the specific term before, it’s easy to understand what it’s talking about—the practice of using a physical store as a “showroom” where you can examine something and then go buy it online. This is one of the trends many pro-agency pricing comment submitters noted in their comments to the DoJ, though in the DoJ’s response it was largely referred to as “free-riding.” As I mentioned the other day, a lot of people do “showrooming” in bookstores with their Kindles. However, it’s also long been a popular activity on smartphones for general-purpose...

I had never heard of this Ewan Morrison person before blogging that story quoting him the other day, but all of a sudden it seems like he’s coming out of the woodwork everywhere. I saw a mention on the E-Book Community Mailing List of a column by him on The Guardian. It says it’s third in a series, but I’m not sure what the other two are because there aren’t any links to them there. In this column, Morrison basically pooh-poohs the idea of social networking to sell self-published books, pointing out that if you’re spending 80% of...

EBookNewser reports on an interesting e-book promotion. The publisher of You Changed My Life: A Memoir is giving away free e-books of the title to anyone who goes (to a participating theater) to see the the movie based on the book between July 27 and August 3. Like the book, the movie The Intouchables tells the story of the relationship between a quadriplegic French aristocrat and the Algerian ex-con he hires as a helper. Moviegoers will get a coupon code that will permit download of the e-book from stores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Sony. I...

Earlier this month I mentioned a blog post by self-publishing writer Penelope Trunk on how clueless she found her traditional publisher when it came to marketing her work on-line. The blog post was later carried by The Guardian in edited form. Since then, John Self has written on the Guardian’s Book blog about the (largely unsympathetic) comments posted in reaction to it, and whether it was possible to promote a book effectively on-line. To experiment with how effective on-line promotion could be, Self seized onto an about-to-be-published book he quite liked, Hawthorn & Child by Keith Ridgway, and decided...

On Lit Reactor, Richard Thomas has a primer discussing the tools that exist for self-promotion, that writers can use to get the word out about their books and projects. The article covers Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon, blogs and websites, forums, promoting others, printed matter, readings, and publishing widely. Thomas has decent advice for how to play to each platform’s strengths: use Facebook for fan pages and getting in touch with other people in the writing community. Twitter is best for short posts and links. Goodreads will let you hold book giveaways, which is another good way for getting attention....

It's here!  It's here!  Time to go to your favorite nook (!) and wait for The Great Electron to bestow upon all the good girls and boys some wonderful ebooks (and maybe a reading device or two). For those who haven't been in awhile, the redesigned Read an E-Book Week website has continued to grow and improve, and new deals and freebies await your examination.  The redesign has already received many kudos and congratulations for its improved usability, and has helped to draw a few more supporters under its wing. Rita hasn't heard from anyone yet, but we're hoping a few people...

The Read an E-Book Week website for 2012 is loading up on promotions and giveaways for the March 4-10 week (and a few that will cover the entire month of March, in honor of the proclamation of Read an E-Book Month in Canada). 15 authors are offering free giveaways at the moment, and over 20 ebook publishers are also supplying promotions.  The list of participants come from Canada, the U.S., the Philippines, Argentina, Italy, Australia, Poland and Hungary.  And at present, there are contests to give away as many as five ebook reading devices. Rita Toews would like to remind everyone of...