Top Shelf Author Advice

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

James Moushon - How to expand your Twitter message past 140 characters

Top Shelf Author Advice is a collection of comments made by a group of outstanding authors during Author Interviews and Studies presented by HBSystems Publications. Today's advice comes from:

James Moushon

Author Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers

Author's Blog: eBook Author’s Corner
Website: James Moushon - Mystery Writer
Twitter: @jimhbs
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
E-Mail: jim@jamesmoushon.com
Spotlight Author Interview - James Moushon

Question
How can you expand your Twitter text message past the 140 character barrier?

Answer
Use the Twitter picture feature.

First, create an extended message to add to your regular tweet and save it as a jpg file. I use a simple ‘Paint’ program. A picture frame with the size of 500px by 245px fits nicely on the screen. This size will hold a message of 12 lines and over 1000 characters using 12pt TNR.

Of course, the extended message can be longer but the reader has to expand the view to read the entire message.

Next, create your regular tweet. Remember when you add a picture to your message; the message can only be 116 characters long.

Sample tweet with extended text:

Book Boxed Sets Gain Exposure and Sales - A Study x Outstanding Authors HBS Authors Corner http://bit.ly/1fOKXQH #RT

James Moushon @jimhbs is a Mystery and Esponiage author. He also writes several industry blogs including eBook Author’s Corner, HBS Author's Spotlight, HBS Mystery Readers Circle and the Top Shelf Author Advice blogs.

Advice Source: James Moushon, a Mystery Writer and writing industry blogger and HBSystems Publications, a Publisher of ebooks and the sponsor of the following blogs:
HBS Author's Spotlight
eBook Author’s Corner
HBS Mystery Reader’s Circle

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Diane Strong - Book Giveaway's: Her Goal

Top Shelf Author Advice is a collection of comments made by a group of outstanding authors during Author Interviews and Studies presented by HBSystems Publications. Today's advice comes from:

Diane Strong

Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Short Stories, Humor

Website: The Running Commentary
Twitter: @DianeIStrong
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
E-Mail: dianestrong@ymail.com
Spotlight Author Interview - Diane Strong

Question
What is your main goal in doing book giveaways?

Answer
“The main reason I give books away is to introduce new readers to my work. Ultimately, when I give a book away, I would like to get a review. I don't think readers realize how important it is to review books they have been given. If the readers return for more of my books because of the giveaways, I will continue to do it. Then it becomes VERY worthwhile.”

Source Post
Free eBooks Promotions Can Be Pure Gold for Authors

Author Diane Strong writes Mystery & Thrillers and Short Stories about running.

Author Recommended by: James Moushon, a Mystery Writer and writing industry blogger and HBSystems Publications, a Publisher of ebooks and the sponsor of the following blogs:
HBS Author's Spotlight
Top Shelf Author Advice
eBook Author’s Corner
HBS Mystery Reader’s Circle

Disclaimer
This blog is for information only. It is not an endorsement of the comments or advice discussed in the post. This blog features author’s information gained from the author or the Internet and is by invitation only.

Permission from the author is required via email to publish this information. It is not a group, subscription or forum. HBSystems Publications Copyright 2014

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Claude Bouchard - Book Marketing using Book Bundles with Other Authors

Top Shelf Author Advice is a collection of comments made by a group of outstanding authors during Author Interviews and Studies presented by HBSystems Publications. Today's advice comes from:

Claude Bouchard

Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

Website: Claude Bouchard Books - Crime Thrillers and other Stuff...
Twitter: @ceebee308
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
E-Mail: claude@claudebouchardbooks.com
Spotlight Author Interview - Claude Bouchard

Question
What was your goal in bundling your novel Vigilante with other author's novels?

Answer
9 Killer Thriller Project
Idea: “Sometime in September, I was contacted by bestselling author, Russell Blake, who asked if I was interested in taking part in a book bundle to be released as soon as feasibly possible. Blake's vision was a box set of already successful works by various established authors with the objective of widening the readership base for all participants. The idea had definite promise and the collection of nine authors and novels was soon established, the result being 9 Killer Thrillers. Production was coordinated by Blake with certain requirements overseen by John Betcher, Melissa Foster and me. All participants were involved in spreading the word via their websites and social media platforms upon release.”

Goal: “Since our primary goal was readership expansion versus financial gain, all agreed that a 99 cent price point should improve our chances to maximize distribution all while likely covering production and advertising costs. Less than two days following its October 21st release, the bundle sat at #69 in the Top 100 on Amazon.com. Though it has slid back in ranking since, it's been hovering steadily around the #300 mark for over two weeks. Though I'm not at liberty to share specific sales numbers, I can confirm that all costs have been covered and multiple thousands of copies have sold thus far. I'd say we've met our objective.”

This boxed set was quite successful as the authors attested. Their main goal was to gain exposure at a low cost. It’s like the ebook giveaways that are so popular in our industry. They get readers to sample their product and hope the readers will return for more and/or tell someone else about it.

9 Killer Thrillers

Order the Book From: Amazon
Buy from Barnes and Noble

Source Post
Ebook Marketing: Boxed Sets are Gaining Exposure and Sales

Best-Selling Author Claude Bouchard @ceebee308 writes Mystery & Thrillers novels in the Vigilante Series.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Anne Carter - Book Marketing Using Paid Advertising

Top Shelf Author Advice is a collection of comments made by a group of outstanding authors during Author Interviews and Studies presented by HBSystems Publications. Today's advice comes from:

Anne Carter

Author Genre: Romance, Mystery & Thrillers, Young Adult

Website: Beacon Street
Twitter: @PamRipling
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
E-Mail: annecarter@beaconstreetbooks.com
Spotlight Author Interview - Anne Carter

Question
Is there a value in marketing your books using paid advertising?

Answer
“I do believe that print advertising is no longer very effective in the book marketing world. I once paid quite a tidy sum to advertise in Romantic … Magazine and saw virtually no return.”

Source Post
Book Marketing Using Paid Advertising - A Study

Self-published Author Anne Carter @PamRipling (aka Pam Ripling) is an award-winning writer of romantic mysteries, lighthouse fiction and a variety of other works! She is the founder of Murder, We Wrote.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Matthew Iden - Using Social Media to Connect with your Readers and Reviewers

Top Shelf Author Advice is a collection of comments made by a group of outstanding authors during Author Interviews and Studies presented by HBSystems Publications. Today's advice comes from:

Matthew Iden

Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Science Fiction & Fantasy, non-fiction

Website: Matthew Iden
Twitter: @CrimeRighter
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
E-Mail: matt.iden@matthew-iden.com
Google+: Check Out Google+
Spotlight Author Interview - Matthew Iden

Question
How do you use social media to connect to your readers and reviewers?

Answer
To be blunt, once you're past issues of the writing craft, there's nothing more important to a writer's career than taking advantage of social media, and this applies to both traditionally published authors as well as independent authors such as myself. The landscape of the market has changed--if you want to make connections with your readers and reviewers, you must use social media to reach out to them.

Having said that, I think one mistake is attempting to try everything at once: setting up a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a Pinterest board, a tubmblr page, etc. all on the same day. You'll spend too much time on technologies and not enough time connecting with people (and writing).

A second mistake is sticking with a social media channel that you don't enjoy using or don't understand. For instance, I was a professional web designer and IT manager for years, but I can't wrap my head around Twitter. It's not intuitive to me and I don't use it. It would be a mistake for me to make it my go-to social media channel. But I'm simpatico with Facebook and I love Goodreads, so I spend a lot of time on both and it pays dividends in the form of fantastic contacts, an increase in sales and reviews, and just generally spreading the word about my writing.

Source Post
Getting Book Reviews: The Methods Award-Winning Authors Use

Monday, October 6, 2014

Dani Amore - Book Giveaway's Bottom Line

Top Shelf Author Advice is a collection of comments made by a group of outstanding authors during Author Interviews and Studies presented by HBSystems Publications. Today's advice comes from:

Dani Amore

Author Genre: HARDBOILED MYSTERY Novels

Author's Blog: Dani Amore
Website: Dani Amore
Twitter: @authordaniamore
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
E-Mail: dani@daniamore.com
Spotlight Author Interview - Dani Amore

Question
What was the results of your book giveaways?

Answer
It's been an interesting experience giving away books for free. Probably in relation to the amount of time and effort I spent promoting the free books, my results have been varied...modest spikes in sales of other books, and maybe a few reviews…

Source Post
Free Books: Give it away. Just give it away.

Dani Amore is an award-winning, international bestselling crime novelist.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Kevin Rau - Experience in giving books away free

Top Shelf Author Advice is a collection of comments made by a group of outstanding authors during Author Interviews and Studies presented by HBSystems Publications. Today's advice comes from:

Kevin Rau

Author Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Author's Blog: Kevin Rau's Blog
Website: Kevin Gerald Rau - Author website
Twitter: @kevin_rau
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
E-Mail: kevinrau10@yahoo.com
Spotlight Author Interview - Kevin Rau

Question
What has been your experience in giving your books away free? Have you been involved in other types of giveaways and how did that work out? What was your main goal in doing this? Did you run into any obstacles?

Answer
I keep H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis, the first (and full-length) novel in the series free all the time or at least for the near future. I've got a dozen books out; it makes me feel good to provide something for people to look at and decide if they like my writing, and want to continue with it, at no risk/cost to them.

The goals include giving back something creative to people, another is to allow people to try out my writing, and decide if they like it.

I've tried short-term giveaways, prior to setting up that book perma-free, and they did well, perhaps up to 1-2 thousand given away per giveaway.

I've also tried coupon giveaways on Smashwords that was less than impressive.

The only real obstacle was on getting H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis to STAY free on Amazon. They don't seem to read the "I found a lower price over here" messages very often. Once they finally did it, it's worked okay.

Source Post
Free eBooks Promotions Can Be Pure Gold for Authors

Science Fiction & Fantasy Author Kevin Rau @kevin_rau is the author of the H.E.R.O. superhero book series.