Another Indie Author Tip

Because I've been promoting my books like mad lately, I've come across some useful tips for independent author like myself. Now, this one could be very useful indeed. I found it whilst popping into book seller sites to support and tweet for fellow Indie authors. Several authors had free books to download mostly in the US so being from the UK I copied and pasted the title into the UK site. That got me to the book in question right? Wrong, you would be amazed how many writers use the same titles for their books.

I thought I was being clever when I put together a collection of very short stories and called it 'Five Minute Fiction'. I got a big shock when I pasted my book title into the site search and up came about 50 books all with the same name. Of course my book was nowhere the top of the list and there were probably more than the 50 I saw, but I got fed up scrolling through the pages.

So my Indie friends, when you write that next block buster and you just know you have a kick ass title; go put it into the book sellers search box and see how many other clever writers had the same great idea. Then before you publish, go think up another mind blowing title to fit your block buster and put yourself at the top of that list. Oh, and check out your current titles you might just want to change them.

Carol x

A must do list do for authors

A bit cheeky I know but I’ve decided to write a must do list do for Amazon authors on both sides of the pond. If anyone finds I’ve left out something vital post it here:

1)   Make sure you sign up for Amazon membership on both US and UK sites, trust me it’s worth it.

2)   Get an Amazon US authors page from https://authorcentral.amazon.com/ and make sure you put all your books on here. You also need to add a Blog feed, your Twitter link and any video promotions you have, to this page.

 

3)   Do the same thing on Amazon UK https://authorcentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/landing yes you need this because they only link the reviews if you’re a member on both sites.

 

4)   Join Amazon’s affiliate program US  https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/login/login.html and UK  https://affiliate-program.amazon.co.uk/gp/associates/login/login.html trust me you need both.  With these memberships you can earn money on all your book sales. You can also add widgets for linking your books and something they call an aStore in which you can list not only your own books, but those of others and anything else that Amazon sells, to your website, blog and anywhere else you call home.

5)   Remember to tag all your books on both sides of the pond and don't forget to add your name as one of the tags. Now if you're brave enough, you can also sign into your Amazon account in Germany, France, Spain and Italy where you can also tag your books. However, you won't be able to like your own books (you are liking your own books aren't you) unless you have made a purchase in those countries. 

• Ok, now you need to consolidate all your places on the net. It's not easy people; here is a list of other places to consider joining and posting your books:

https://plus.google.com

www.blogger.com 

www.shelfari.com 

www.goodreads.com

https://twitter.com/

https://www.facebook.com/

www.youtube.com

www.authorsden.com

http://digg.com/register

www.stumbleupon.com
www.angiesdiary.com

Did I leave anywhere out? Every time I think I've got it licked, another place needs my attention.

Whew! When you’ve done all that you’ll need a holiday or as my friends over the pond say a vacation. 

Carol x 

Tags & Likes are they vital?

Yes, for a struggling indie author tags and likes are vital, they help us stand out from the crowd, get us noticed, especially on Amazon. We even  get stumbled across sometimes due to those clever little tags. I've just been wandering round some other blogs, and stumbled upon something else that I think is useful to all of us indie writers. One writer I viewed had their name in the tags on their books, now I might be a bit thick here but, why on earth didn't it occur to me to do this? Not only does it guide readers to you it also shows said readers what else you have up there. Put your own name in your book tags folks and if you haven't yet added tags to your books then tut tut tut do it now.

Now, I have to admit it took me a while to realise tags were useful and it's nice if people click on the 'Agree with these tags' spot at the bottom of the book page and even create their own. You never know, they might even click on my name now, to see what else I've written.






Because I've been banging my head against a brick wall trying to get readers to hit the like button when they download my books. I thought I'd show them where to find it, just in case they don't know. This is what it looks like:

 Carol x

Another Freebie

For all my friends and anyone else who downloaded my free book Five Minute Fiction; I’ve decided to do another special promotion. My children’s book A Titus Adventure will be free to download from Amazon for 2 days starting tomorrow 7^th of March.  If you don’t have a Kindle you can download an app for your PC.  

Here are the links, and if you do download; please take the time to hit the like button and maybe leave a comment if you have a moment.

A Titus Adventure US

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006H3JK32

A Titus Adventure UK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006H3JK32

Enjoy.

Carol x

Free book

For all my friends and anyone else who would like to read my stuff; I’m doing a special promotion. My book Five Minute Fiction will be free to download from Amazon for 2 days starting tomorrow 4^th of March. 

If you don’t have a Kindle you can download an app for your PC.  

Here’s the link and if you do download please hit the like button and leave a few words on what you think.

Five Minute Fiction US

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MG2A96

Five Minute Fiction UK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005MG2A96

Enjoy.

Carol x