Two Reasons Why I hate AI Art and Advertising
By: Ginger | Posted on October 11, 2024
As the summer slump fades, self-published authors are ramping up their marketing efforts once again, and if you’ve been on Facebook lately, you’ve probably noticed the surge in eBook ads. Among them, one trend is sparking a heated debate—the use of AI-generated art. Is it a smart way to cut costs and boost engagement, or does it risk coming off as cheap and impersonal? In today’s blog, Ginger leaps right into this controversial topic, sharing two key reasons why he isn’t a fan of this approach. While Ginger’s views aren’t unique among authors, the bigger question remains: how effective are these AI-generated ads? If they were proven to boost book sales and profits, would more authors be willing to embrace them despite their reservations? The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and not every decision has a clear-cut answer. Understanding the pros and cons can help you form your own opinion… Read More >
The 30-day Social Media Challenge
By: Ginger | Posted on December 11, 2020
One of the topics I discuss most often with authors looking for advice on expanding their readership is social media, because the importance of building a following cannot be overstated when it comes to self-publishing. There’s no one else to do it for you, so even if you shun social media in your personal life, you can’t afford to ignore it when it comes to your writing. That’s why advertising and marketing expert Ginger is here not only to challenge you into using your social, but he’s also handing out plenty of tips on how to do it effectively. There’s probably nobody reading this who doesn’t know what NaNoWriMo is – the “national novel writing month” in which people commit to writing 50,000 words in 30 days, each November. Well, successful self-published authors spend every month as if it’s NaNoWriMo – because of how important it is to write… Read More >
Choose an Email Marketing Service That Works for You
By: Annabeth Saryu | Posted on September 25, 2020
Most independent authors are well aware of the importance of a newsletter and the benefits of using a mailing list to handle it, but a quick google search will result in plenty of different email marketing services to choose from. Unfortunately, it’s not a one-size-fits-all sort of problem, since every author has different needs. Luckily, author Annabeth Saryu has already done a lot of research into what factors need to be considered, and she’s put it all together here to make it easier to determine how to pick the service that will work best for you. Regardless of where an author is in their career, they eventually encounter a piece of universally accepted advice: build your mailing list. Your mailing list not only consists of your most avid readers, but if cultivated properly, also includes your most dedicated customers. While many experts on author marketing stress the value of… Read More >
Using Amazon Affiliate Links to Promote Your Books
By: Craig | Posted on February 14, 2020
You want to sell more copies of your books? You want to earn a little extra money while doing so? Well, Amazon Affiliate links promise all that and more – but in addition to understanding what they are, it’s important to know the rules surrounding them as well; especially as it pertains to books. Since the dawn of time, salesmen have worked off commission. This is the little percentage of the purchase price they get when they convince somebody else to buy something. It’s a powerful tool, because it means manufacturers can focus on their product, and eager salespeople can focus on getting that product paid for and into the hands of eager customers. As the largest retailer in the world, it’s no surprise that Amazon is all over affiliate marketing. They have a powerful program you can sign up to at affiliate.amazon.com which enables you to generate unique URLS… Read More >
5 Book Cover Checks to Attract the Right Readers
By: Evan Ye | Posted on October 9, 2026
A professional cover can catch a reader’s eye and still send the wrong message about your book. If the design suggests a dark thriller but the story delivers a lighthearted mystery, even readers who enjoy your writing may feel disappointed by what they find. In this week’s guest blog, Evan Ye explores the implicit promise your cover makes to potential readers, and why attracting the right audience takes more than striking artwork. Drawing on his research into book cover design, Evan shares five practical checks to help you spot mismatches between your cover, genre, blurb, and the reading experience your book delivers. From comparing your design with others in your subgenre to recognizing patterns in ARC feedback, he suggests ways to test what your book’s packaging communicates. Together, these checks can help you identify where reader expectations go astray and whether the cover, blurb, or another part of your book’s… Read More >
Write Your Book Blurb One Piece at a Time
By: Morgan Lee Clasper | Posted on August 28, 2026
Writing a novel and writing a blurb may both involve putting words on a page, but the skills involved are surprisingly different. That’s why so many authors have no trouble writing an entire book, but end up staring helplessly at a blank screen when it comes time to describe that book in just a couple hundred words. A blurb is more sales copy than anything else, and the skills needed for writing short and catchy advertising copy are very different from those needed to write a novel. Morgan Lee Clasper has written thousands of blurbs for authors, which is why we were delighted when he offered to put together this article filled with tips and techniques for busting through the dreaded Blurb Block. By using what he refers to as the Puzzle Method, Morgan believes the best way to build your blurb is by breaking the task into small and… Read More >
Five Science Fiction Books That Shaped My Writing
By: Ginger | Posted on August 7, 2026
Every writer can point to a handful of books that permanently changed the way they think about storytelling. Sometimes it’s because of unforgettable characters or immersive world building. Other times it’s the ideas behind those stories that linger, especially when they continue to feel relevant decades later. Looking back at the novels that shaped your own writing can reveal as much about your creative voice as any writing course ever could. This week, Ginger revisits the five science fiction novels that had the greatest impact on his own journey as a writer. Through each one, he explores not only why the story has endured, but also the fascinating history behind its creation and the ideas that have stayed with him ever since. His reflections are a reminder that every author has their own collection of books that helped shape the stories they tell today, often in ways they only come… Read More >
How to Write Books With Film Potential
By: Ginger | Posted on January 16, 2026
The explosive success of Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid proves that indie authors are no longer on the outside looking in when it comes to film and television adaptations, and that the gap between a manuscript and a movie deal has become far smaller than many writers realize. After years of self-publishing, McFadden saw one of her stories become a major theatrical hit in almost record time, and understanding how that happened is essential for anyone hoping to follow a similar path. From its high-concept hook to its cinematic structure and visual storytelling, Ginger breaks down what gave this story such strong film potential, not just as inspiration, but as strategy. If you’re an indie author wondering how to write stories that go beyond the page, attract larger audiences, and potentially catch Hollywood’s eye, this article serves as a practical blueprint for applying Freida McFadden’s lessons to your own work. About… Read More >
Stop Selling Your Book and Start Building Connections
By: Ginger | Posted on December 12, 2025
The advice to use social media to sell more books is common, but what is often missing is the advice on how to do it. Simply opening accounts, making posts, and hoping the algorithm blesses us rarely results in sales. Instead, it often leads to even more posting with little to show for it, and engagement still remains flat. It can feel like shouting into the void while everyone else seems to be succeeding with ease. The truth is, there may not be anything wrong with your books. You might simply be talking about them the wrong way. In today’s blog, Ginger offers some of that missing guidance by showing how to stop pushing your book at readers and instead pull them toward you by speaking to what they value. When you understand your ideal reader and aim to give them what they want, you spark curiosity rather than beg… Read More >
Why do you want to write a book?
By: Ginger | Posted on September 19, 2025
In a world consumed by TikTok scrolling and YouTube binging, it is a wonder that anyone still chooses to spend hours reading a book. Yet despite how instant gratification has chipped away at our attention spans, book sales are thriving. In fact, this resurgence in reading seems to be fueled, at least in part, by a hunger for stories that go deeper than short-form social content ever could. Still, content creators have endless ways to reach audiences instantly with content that takes a fraction of the time and effort to produce than writing a single book. This seems to beg the question: why write a book at all? That’s exactly what Ginger explores in today’s blog as he considers why books still matter, why readers continue to embrace them, and how understanding your personal motivation as a writer can help you find both an audience and lasting fulfillment in your… Read More >
