• Marketing your book to reach holiday shoppers

    Maximize Your Reach with Holiday Shoppers

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    At this point, many of us know that the holidays are the biggest book-buying season of the year. That being said, books don’t sell themselves (usually). You’ll need to be sure that you’re doing your very best when it comes to marketing your book to help maximize your reach with those holiday shoppers. Just how many holiday shoppers are we talking? Check out this chart for the details. So, what are some of the ways you can ensure your book is one of the gifts that contribute to the $680 billion spent by holiday shoppers? We teamed with a few…

  • writing prompts, writing sprints

    Writing Sprints: What They Are, How to Do Them, and Why You Should!

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    There are two writing woes that affect our writing more than than anything else—writer’s block, and editing when we should be freeform writing. Sometimes writing prompts can help infuse life back into a dry spell, but the newest writing trend is an activity called writing sprints (also known as word sprints), and they can actually help with both writer’s block and taming our inner editors. What Are Writing Sprints? Writing sprints are short bursts of focused writing time that can be done alone or with a group. Twitter and Instagram are also growing in popularity for writing sprints. Anyone can…

  • Why writing contests matter for self-published authors

    Why Writing Contests Matter for Self-Published Authors

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    Writing contests are one of those hit or miss spots for authors. People either love and trust them fully or they question everything about them. Generally speaking, most require a fee. If not, you should probably be a bit skeptical of where the funds are coming from and how much said contest will actually benefit you. What is often overlooked is the value they hold for self-published authors. Even more so, if the writing contest is hosted by a decently sized self or traditional style publisher. The benefits Depending on the particular writing contest, prizes vary and can include a…

  • personal branding part three

    Personal Branding for Authors: Part 2

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    In the first part of this two series blog, I talked about the purpose of branding and where to begin. In this part, I am going to dig into some of the resources you can use to develop and maintain your brand. If you missed the first post, I recommend you check that one out first before you continue.  Visual Aesthetics People respond to visually appealing things. That being said, you should know what your audience wants to see—which means first and foremost, understanding them, and second, being able to create said visually appealing content. A common misconception is that…