In our first show of year two, we introduced a new segment and still came in at under 50 minutes! Thriller author and marketing expert Mark Dawson helped us kick off “The Lab,” a new feature in which successful authors help us experiment with our own books! He’s offering a one-hour consultation giveaway through April 14th at SelfPublishingFormula.com. Jim and Bryan’s trio of tips focused on audio marketing, going mobile, and free image sites. The news stories touched upon virtual book readings, self-publishing in high school, the reader’s journey, the post-gold rush trough, and what self-published authors should focus on. This week’s Question of the Week: Is it time for self-publishers to get over self-publishing?
Podcast
Episode 52 – Safety, Censorship, and Our One-Year Anniversary
Jim and Bryan celebrated their one-year anniversary this week! They also awarded episode 50’s big video contest winner. In their 52nd episode, the Midwesterners discussed a trio of tips on writing in the cloud, using physical book cards, and adding bonus content to your fiction books. The news focused on digital growth, safety for book reviewers, the Clean Reader app, Joe Konrath’s EbooksAreForever library business, and the controversy over Jane Litte’s pen name. This week’s Question of the Week: What do you like and dislike about our show? What could we do better?
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Episode 51 – PubSense Summit (Featuring Joanna Penn, Porter Anderson and More)
With Jim and Bryan at the PubSense Summit in Charleston, SC, the dynamic duo decided to get the opinions of some of the great speakers on hand. Joanna Penn (The Creative Penn), Porter Anderson (The Bookseller), Mark Lefebvre (Kobo), Cevin Bryerman (Publishers Weekly), Andra Miller (Algonquin), Shari Stauch (Where Writers Win), and Kristina Radke (NetGalley) gave Bryan their expert insights on the latest developments in self-publishing. Tips included handling one-star reviews, gaining visibility, and using Facebook ads. The news focused on a new Goodreads change, the buyer’s market vs. the reader’s market, author attitudes, the odds of self-publishing success, and the acquisition of Overdrive by Kobo’s parent company, Rakuten. This week’s Question of the Week: If you became a successful author would your attitude change? If you found success would you be corrupted?
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Episode 50 – How Bad Do You Want It?
In their landmark 50th episode, Bryan and Jim had rants and insight, motivation and tough love, and tips and news for your listening pleasure. Listen to the show to learn how to enter their big 50th episode giveaway to win over $150 in prizes! Their trio of tips includes a better way to get ACX bounties, scrappy conference marketing tips, and why you should create courses. The news included stories on deep, philosophical novels, the reality of the writing dream, the next step in Facebook marketing, how to market a series, and five reflective lessons on the authorpreneurial life. This week’s Question of the Week: How bad do you want it?
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Episode 48 – Copyright, Ageism and Author Solutions
Back by popular demand (with over 130 comments), Jim joined Bryan to discuss the latest book-selling news. Before they got down to business, Bryan announced the pre-order of his latest fiction book and the ongoing Spring Multi-Author Facebook Event pitch (which you can find at bryancohen.com/pitch). The trio of tips included advice on reading more, what digital tools to use, and how to publicize your old content. News included stories on an author’s DMCA battle, Amazon advertising success and failure, ageism by a former MFA teacher, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s thoughts on indispensability. This week’s Question of the Week: How will the latest news about Nook affect how you do business with them going forward?=&0=&
- How to read more books every year
- What 5 tools Jane Friedman keeps going back to
- Why old content should be a part of your marketing strategy
- How to deal with a DMCA copyright claim
- What some authors are doing to make AMS ads work
- Why authors don’t fit into the boxes of age or income
- How to become indispensable
Ted #4: The Light, the Dark and the Ugly (Pre-Order)
Episode 47 – Middlemen, BookBub Analysis, and Real Authors
Bryan and Jim started with two big announcements. Bryan is opening up a multi-author Facebook event for April, and authors can apply at bryancohen.com/pitch. Jim and Bryan will both be on hand at the PubSense Summit in Charleston, SC in March. The traveling troubadours discussed three tips on book cover split testing, blog post topics, and mobile marketing. They also touched on bookstore crowdfunding, the theoretical purchase of Nook by Google, trad pubs skipping over agents, if self-publishing makes you a real author, and trad pubs going direct. Question of the Week: Are you a real author if you self-publish? Why or why not? (Note: Jim says he refuses to do episode 48 unless we get 100 comments)
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- How you can be a part of Bryan’s next multi-author Facebook event
- Where you can meet Jim and Bryan in March
- How split-testing your covers could lead to more book sales
- 54 different kinds of blog, podcast or video posts
- Ways to get in touch with readers through mobile platforms
- Why Bryan thinks BookBub rejected him again
- What one book store did to stay in business
- Why Google buying Nook would be a good idea
- How some trad pubs are finding new authors
- What Michael Kozlowski thinks about indie authors
- How Digital Book World called trad pubs out on direct sales
Pitch Your Event Idea to Bryan
Episode 46 – Digital Resale, Virtual Assistants and Shorter Books
On this week’s show, Jim and Bryan tackled their latest trio of tips, including sharing your book’s title, using Fiverr for short story covers, and hiring virtual assistants. The dynamic duo also discussed news stories related to Mark J. Dawson’s 10,000 reader survey, used e-books, Bob Mayer’s thoughts on traditional publishing, Dean Wesley Smith and the tale of how novels got their length, and Amazon’s new giveaway service. Jim also ranted twice, and it was glorious. The Question of the Week: Would you be okay with a reader re-selling your ebooks? Why or why not?
Episode 45 – Controversy, Trends and a BookBub Competitor
In the latest Sell More Books Show, Bryan and Jim asked listeners if they’d be willing to come to Vegas for a workshop in April. They also covered tips on blurbs, price promotions, and a collection of free book-selling tools. The news focus on augmented reality books, the Harper Lee controversy, the France legal action against Kindle Unlimited, writing trendy books to make money, and BookBub’s recent Q&A session. Jim and Bryan also discussed how they would create a BookBub competitor. Question of the Week: Have you ever written a book strictly to get money? Side Question: Would you be able to come to Las Vegas for a workshop hosted by Jim and Bryan in April?
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- How Bryan’s getting through his tough sales week
- What makes a strong book description
- The ways traditional publishers are changing price promotions
- 21 free ways to increase book sales
- What the future could look like for books
- How Jim and Bryan feel about the Harper Lee controversy
- Why French publishers may have a case against Kindle Unlimited
- How writing trendy books can change your career
- What BookBub has coming up for the future
- How Bryan and Jim would start their own BookBub
Blowing Up The Blurb
Episode 44 – KDP Ads, ISBNs and Author Value
Note: Sorry about the last update that appeared to be in French. Someone got into our WordPress install and posted some nonsensical content. We have since deleted that content. The funny thing is, neither Bryan or Jim speak French. 🙂
After two weeks off, Jim returned to the Sell More Books Show with a loud, sound-filled clang. The dynamic duo discussed tips related to product funnels, long-term strategy, and turning fan devotion into a game. They also chatted in-depth about the Gravity lawsuit, authorpreneurship tips, free books, Amazon Marketing Services, and the latest Author Earnings report. This show’s Question of the Week: Do you feel like giving away books for free devalues your work and the work of other authors?
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Episode 42, Parts 1 & 2 – Nick Stephenson on Getting More Readers
In the first part of this massive two-part episode, Bryan and guest co-host Nick Stephenson discussed tips related to masterminds, high page rank blogs, and his Nick’s own mailing list tips for fiction. They talked about Nick’s strategies in depth, including what he emails his readers and how he rewards fans for joining his mailing list. We also chatted about the #5 news story about Nielsen’s print book stats and Seth Godin’s chat at Digital Book World. Check out part two for the rest of the episode.