Elizabeth Spann Craig joins us to talk pre-orders in this episode of The Author Biz.
Will readers respond if you offer your latest book for sale as a pre-order before the release date? If they do is that a good thing, or a bad thing?
As is so often the case the in the author business, the answer is frustratingly unclear.
The prevailing wisdom seems to be that we should all offer pre-orders for our books, either through every digital outlet selling those books or at the very least, at some of those online stores.
But will pre-orders work for you - in your genre, with your writing habits and publication schedule?
Today’s guest, Elizabeth Spann Craig is a best-selling hybrid author with 20 books under her belt. With Cruising for Murder, the 9th book in her Myrtle Cove cozy mystery series, she decided to run an experiment to test the value of pre-orders in her business. She shared the results of this test on her always educational blog, with a post titled An Update on a Pre-order Experiment last week.
In this 32 minute episode, we discuss the different reasons she tried pre-orders, the specifics of her pre-order plan, her expectations, and the results she’s seen so far.
Watch the Interview
Show Notes for Pre-Orders Discussion
Elizabeth explains why she chose to offer pre-orders at Kobo, iTunes and Barnes & Noble, but not at Amazon.
She shares the reasons for her pre-order experiment, and what she hoped to accomplish by making pre-orders available.
We discuss the results of her test, both in terms of sales (disappointing) and time invested to support pre-order program.
We consider Elizabeth’s reader demographics and how they may have contributed to her results.
Elizabeth shares her advice for new authors considering pre-orders.
It’s easy to spend too much time promoting our books, but that’s not a trap into which Elizabeth falls. She explains her minimal new release promotion schedule.
Author and Entrepreneur Fauzia Burke is the guest on this episode of The Author Biz
Today’s topic is online marketing for busy authors. How’s that for a hook to a post and a show, right?
Well, that’s actually the title of a new book by Fauzia Burke. After spending 20 years helping authors promote their work online, Fauzia has finally written a book, which she calls a Step-by-Step guide to help us navigate the dizzying range of online marketing options available to us today as authors.
In addition to her work as an author, Fauzia is the founder and President of FSB Associates. She’s worked in book marketing and publicity for all of her professional life. After starting her career in the marketing departments of two large publishers, she founded FSB, one of the first firms to specialize in Internet publicity and marketing for publishers and authors, in 1995.
We cover a lot of ground in this 48-minute interview, including topics like author branding and the importance of identifying your reading audience. Then we discuss various ways in which you can, and should, engage with your readers, now matter where you are in your writing journey.
Fauzia Burke Interview Notes:
Fauzia shares her professional history as the founder and president of FSB Associates and her 20-year history of book promotions.
We discuss the ways in promoting her first book, ONLINE MARKETING FOR BUSY AUTHORS, is different than her experience promoting the books of her clients.
We discuss the difference between marketing, publicity and public relations.
Fauzia shares her thoughts on the long term benefits of relationship building as an author.
We discuss the importance of branding yourself as an author, with a focus on branding for novelists.
We discuss the importance of analytics and Fauzia shares the metrics she feels are the most important for authors to track.
Knowing your readers is essential for any author. Fauzia shares some tips on how narrowing your focus can help you reach your readers more effectively.
We discuss the importance of reader engagement to the long term success of any author.
Fauzia shares specific advice for both new, or aspiring authors, and for authors who have already published several books.
Despite a few technical problems on my end with Google Hangouts, I’m happy to report that I learned some things from the hosts and guests that I’ll be putting into effect soon on my shows.
Author Michael Anderle is this guest on this first every audio and video episode (see below) of The Author Biz.
Have you seen those year-end articles by indie authors who share sales numbers on their websites? In some cases those numbers are staggering, and it’s easy to read them and ask yourself, how the heck is it even possible to sell that many books.
If so, you’re not alone. It’s hard not to be impressed and happy for those authors. But it WOULD be nice to hear exactly how things started for them.
Michael’s Journey
In December, Michael Anderle heard an episode of The Author Biz where I mentioned being a bit of a spreadsheet geek, so he sent me a link to the spreadsheet he uses to track the major components of his author business. The spreadsheet included daily sales and borrows for multiple books, as well as his marketing costs across using various advertising platforms, including Facebook.
The numbers showed remarkable sales growth in a very compressed time frame, and since this is the beginning of Michael’s career as an author, they also provide some useful guidance.
Here’s the short version: Michael published his first book, DEATH BECOMES HER on November 2nd, 2015 and earned $6.00. He wrote and published two more books in November and generated Amazon royalties of $427 for the month.
In December wrote and published one more book (more…)
Imagine sitting around a comfortable table chatting about books with people who really know and love the subject. I spent a very pleasant hour last night doing a digital version of that very thing on the TBR Podcast, a weekly show that’s all about books. We talked a lot about mysteries and thrillers last night, but the show is not focused on any particular genre.
I’ve been a fan of the TBR (to be read) Podcast since I first learned of it from an author friend, John L. Monk, who has since become a co-host of the show with Patrick Stemp and Michael La Ronn. Michael was unable to be with us last night, and Erica Conroy was his highly capable replacement.
We made for a diverse group. John writes science fiction and some crime, Patrick is the author of children’s books, with a very eclectic reading list, and Erica writes science fiction romance. I love the way the show opens each episode when everyone takes the microphone to talk about what they’ve read for the past week.
I’ve had these “book talk” type evenings before at writers conferences, but this was my first evening of digital book chatting, and I really enjoyed the time.
I made a few book recommendations myself last night, but we talked about a few titles that I couldn’t remember so I’ve linked those below.
The TBR Podcast is recorded using Google hangouts, and this was my first time on that platform, which allows them to present the show both live as a hangout and in podcast format.
I had a great time last night and appreciated the opportunity to spend time with Erica, Patrick, and John.
Please note that Amazon links are affiliate links. You’ll pay the same price for anything you order, but I will earn a small commission.
The prevailing wisdom seems to be that we should all offer pre-orders for our books, either through every digital outlet selling those books or at the very least, at some of those online stores.
Elizabeth explains why she chose to offer pre-orders at Kobo, iTunes and Barnes & Noble, but not at Amazon.
Well, that’s actually the title of a new book by Fauzia Burke. After spending 20 years helping authors promote their work online, Fauzia has finally written a book, which she calls a Step-by-Step guide to help us navigate the dizzying range of online marketing options available to us today as authors.
We discuss the ways in promoting her first book, 
