Podcast

Episode 442 – Non-Fiction Niche, French Shipping, and Amazon Returns

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What is the next step Amazon can take to help authors succeed?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Top Tips of the week include how you can master your series while prepping for NaNoWriMo, how to find your next non-fiction niche to write in, and why your prologue could be hurting your sales. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include Amazon fixing the ebook return problem, how BookFunnel can help you deliver lots of books at once, how Amazon Ads can help readers find your book, the biggest problem that keeps books from selling, and how France is fighting back to protect its indie bookstores. Question of the Week: What is the next step Amazon can take to help authors succeed? read more

Episode 441 – Author Pressure, 1-Star Experiences, and Small Books

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What do you think (or want to believe) is behind the mystery of author Ellie Conway? #whereisellieconway

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Last call: Claire’s Reclaim Your Author Career Coaching is open. Go to https://www.ffs.media/coaching to enroll before it closes. Top Tips of the week include relieving the pressure of being an author, riding the algorithms to sell more books, and how to survive your first 1-star review. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include how Amazon is letting sellers ‘talk’ to customers, the way to securely deliver ARC copies that can’t be pirated, the solution to Apple’s demands, the mystery behind a mysterious new movie, based on a mysterious new book, and from an even more mysterious author, and that books are getting smaller, and maybe that’s ok. Question of the Week: What do you think (or want to believe) is behind the mystery of author Ellie Conway? #whereisellieconway read more

Episode 440 – BookFunnel Previews, Finding Focus, and Trad Pub Stat Silliness

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When you’ve been able to focus on a project, what have you usually had to do to make that happen?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. The Kickstarter Webinar with Russell & Monica is Thursday, September 15th. You can sign up at https://bryancohen.lpages.co/kickstarter-webinar/. Claire’s Reclaim Your Author Career Coaching is open. Go to https://www.ffs.media/coaching to enroll. Top Tips of the week include why you should stop kidding yourself that multitasking works, why authors should use Kickstarter, and how slow writing can lead to writing success. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include Bookfunnel’s new sample feature and how it can help sell books, how Big 5 publishing’s own stats are making Big 5 publishers look bad, why showing your work can bring you business, how Spotify plans to sell your audiobooks and whether you should let them, and the new minimalist writing tool on the market. Question of the Week: When you’ve been able to focus on a project, what have you usually had to do to make that happen? read more

Episode 439 – Writing Joy, Gen Z, and Tools of the Trade (with Mark from Stark)

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In the coming years, what’s something you would consider doing to tap into the growing marketing of Gen Z readers?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Top Tips of the week include a few good reasons to do a preorder, the best reasons to step away from your computer and write more, and how to gift your book to fans, friends, and reviewers. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include how those books get onto the bestsellers table at your local bookstore, the new marketing subscription to help sell your books, where to go to learn the best in author tools, how Gen Z is making romance more popular than ever, and how to last for the long-haul in publishing. Question of the Week: In the coming years, what’s something you would consider doing to tap into the growing marketing of Gen Z readers? read more

Episode 438 – Author Habits, Myths, and Big Decisions

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What’s a myth you held when you started indie publishing that you’ve since dispelled?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Top Tips of the week include how easy and quick it is to set up your own author page on Amazon, how habits that once served us can be working against you, and there’s a new print book formatting tool in town, and it’s free. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include making smart decisions about what NOT to do as an author, a great way to make BookBub ads quicker and easier, why author myths could be holding back your author career, why Brandon Sanderson is the biggest threat to traditional publishing, and what Amazon ordering fewer books means to publishers. Question of the Week: What’s a myth you held when you started indie publishing that you’ve since dispelled? read more

Episode 437- Damage Control, Fair Use, and Anticipating Objections

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What’s a situation where you had to do damage control with your book and how will that experience inform how you handle it in the future?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Top Tips of the week include how to quickly recover from common author mistakes, to edit faster by playing a game, and to anticipate objections for your non-fiction books. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include how an author found success on Vella by letting readers help her choose the adventure, how ScribeCount is making Ingram more accessible, how one reader learned that people really do care, why Barnes & Noble might not stock certain books, that fair use isn’t always cut and dried. Question of the Week: What’s a situation where you had to do damage control with your book and how will that experience inform how you handle it in the future? read more

Episode 436 – AI Art, Kate Bush, & The History of Blurbs (with Phoebe Ravencraft)

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If you had to choose between earning some money now but losing future rights, would you take a chance on keeping all of your rights (with no guarantee of a future payday)?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. We welcome Phoebe Ravencraft as our Co-host. She’s the author of Fiction Blurbs The Best Page Forward Way and Editor in Chief of Best Page Forward. Top Tips of the week include the history of blurbs and why they still work today, all the parts of a book, and why you need to know them, and how to manage your screen time as an author. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include why AI’s can’t copyright their work. Even with human help, what Kate Bush’s success tells authors about rights, how one librarian is fighting back against book banning activists, that Amazon has a big problem with fake books on its platform, and about D2D’s new partnership with Humble Bundle. Question of the Week: If you had to choose between earning some money now but losing future rights, would you take a chance on keeping all of your rights (with no guarantee of a future payday)? read more

Episode 435- Travel, Tricks, and the Tingleverse

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How have you gathered information or otherwise found creative inspiration from your roadtrips?

This week we have a great show for you! Join the Sell More Books Show Afterparty group on Facebook and be sure to leave us a review on Apple Podcast! Top Tips of the week include how to make your newsletter easier and more effective at the same time, what crazy way an author got some attention for his book, and how to take a summer road trip and keep up your writing. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include how to get to know your reader to sell more books, how a 30 year old author makes $97k with books about money for young women, what’s so special about Chuck Tingle’s Big 5 book contract, where to find a great opportunity for anyone who loves books and bare feet, and how textbook publishers want to use NFTs to charge students for used ebooks. Question of the week: How have you gathered information or otherwise found creative inspiration from your roadtrips? read more

Episode 434- Acquisitions, Adapting, and Decision Fatigue

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What are some tricks you’ve found for managing decision fatigue in your writing life?

This week we have a great show for you! Join the Sell More Books Show Afterparty group on Facebook and be sure to leave us a review on Apple Podcast! Top Tips of the week include why you should consider selling direct, how insecurity is the creativity killer, and why every decision you make could make your writing harder. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include what new features the Google play store has, how an indie author is seeing his novel come to television, data guy is back and selling his company, why the Internet free library case could have huge copyright implications, and how you and your author career will die if you refuse to change. Question of the week: What are some tricks you’ve found for managing decision fatigue in your writing life? read more

Episode 433- Taking Stock and Measuring Progress

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When it comes to the idea of reviewing your old writing, do you feel more like Bryan and like the idea, or do you feel more like Claire and not want to touch that with a 10ft pole? Why?

This week we have a great show for you! Join the Sell More Books Show Afterparty group on Facebook and be sure to leave us a review on Apple Podcast! Top Tips of the week include how to market your series slowly, deliberately, and effectively, how to see how far you’ve grown as an author, and what spot reviewer services aren’t legit. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include what is a great way to take stock of your author business, how one SciFi author org is opening up to more members, what to do to maximize Google Book sales, how to be more inclusive of disabilities in your author business, and how Penguin is fighting off the DOJ to make the Big 5 the Big 4. Question of the week: When it comes to the idea of reviewing your old writing, do you feel more like Bryan and like the idea, or do you feel more like Claire and not want to touch that with a 10ft pole? Why? read more