How to Create a Social Media Calendar
By: Ginger | Posted on August 25, 2023
Social media provides a HUGE opportunity for authors to connect with their readers – but where do you even begin using it to promote yourself? How often should you post, what should you write about, and how can you find the time to do it regularly? Those are questions we all struggle with, which is why Ginger has put together a quick guide to help. These tips are based on his own experience working with professionals and brands in developing their social media calendars and strategies. Our recent blog about how bestselling author Jack Carr connects with readers inspired several questions from authors wondering how to go about using their social media accounts more effectively. One of the most actionable strategies is to create a Social Media Calendar, which plans and prepares a whole bunch of posts which can go live automatically; removing the pressure of having to remember to… Read More >
Are AI-generated Books Already Ruining Kindle Unlimited?
By: Ginger | Posted on July 21, 2023
With the rising number of low quality AI-generated books flooding the digital bookshelves, there is already cause for concern about how this affects authors and customers alike. This is especially true for those books that are part of the Kindle Unlimited program. Many authors are suspicious of the sheer number of these titles, often with poor covers and questionable content, that have somehow made it onto the bestseller lists. It is believed that many of these books are being artificially pumped up via click farms that are downloading and “reading” the books, not only pushing out more legitimate books from the top charts, but also taking an unfair share of the KU money pool. So what, if anything, is Amazon doing about it? According to some sources, AI-generated books are flooding Amazon’s best-seller lists and causing concerns for both authors and readers enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. When it comes to… Read More >
What can self-published authors learn from Barnes & Noble?
By: Ginger | Posted on June 16, 2023
Normally our learning series of articles is centered around other authors and what can be learned from them. Today, however, we’re looking at the recent moves made by brick and mortar bookstore Barnes & Noble. After unsuccessfully trying to compete head to head with Amazon, Barnes & Noble has taken a step back to focus on it’s core strengths and the factors that differentiate them from their largest competitor, as opposed to trying to compete on a playing field that is far from level. As Ginger explains below, authors can, and should, do the same thing. By focusing on your strengths, the customer experience and what makes you unique as a writer, you can stand out from the crowd and build up an audience that appreciates you for what it is you do best. This May, the third annual U.S. Book Show was hosted by the NYU School of Professional Studies… Read More >
What 3 things can we learn from the Kindle Unlimited price hike?
By: Ginger | Posted on May 19, 2023
This May, Amazon announced the first Kindle Unlimited price increase since it’s inception, taking subscriptions from $9.99 a month to $11.99. What does this change mean, and will self-published authors benefit or be harmed? To answer these questions, Ginger delves into three key factors he believes led to this move. From the plateauing of KU subscriptions to Amazon’s strategic maneuvering against app transaction blockades, he explores what this means for your earnings and the competition within the program. Having already disrupted the entire publishing industry in 2007 with the invention of the Kindle and the self-service Kindle Direct Publishing platform, Amazon took another swing at traditional publishing in 2014 with the launch of Kindle Unlimited. A monthly subscription service, Kindle Unlimited (KU) was essentially “Netflix for ebooks.” Subscribers are able to download unlimited books from the Kindle Unlimited library for one monthly fee, while authors who opt into the program… Read More >
Switch up your subject lines to improve your email open rates!
By: Ginger | Posted on April 28, 2023
Most self-published authors know the value of building a mailing list of fans that you can use for a variety of purposes, from finding reviewers to selling copies of your latest book. But in order to get those benefits, you first have to convince your subscribers to open the emails, which is not as easy as it sounds. Many consider just 20% to be a “good” open rate, and even that can be a struggle for some. There are a variety of factors that play into your open rate, but one of the most important is whether or not you’ve crafted a compelling subject line. Whether your subscribers click or not is often determined solely by that one line, which means it needs to be tough to ignore. As Ginger explains below, there are a variety of ways you can do this – from including one of the 15 most… Read More >
What’s the difference between Affiliate Links and Attribution Tags?
By: Ginger | Posted on April 21, 2023
Before there were Attribute Tags, many authors used Affiliate Links to try and track their Amazon book sales, but there are a variety of drawbacks in doing so. Affiliate Links weren’t designed for this purpose, and are very limited in terms of where they can even be used. Today, Ginger delves into what Affiliate Links are, what they track, how and when to use them, and most importantly, how they differ from Attribution Tags. Both of these tracking tools have their purpose, but understanding the nuances of each can help you effectively monitor your book sales, optimize your marketing strategies, and keep you out of trouble. With so much discussion recently around Attribution Tags, it’s no wonder we’ve recently been getting questions about how they differ from Affiliate Links. If you’re not already familiar with them, Affiliate Links are a tool that authors used to use (and some still do)… Read More >
Should Authors Embrace the AI Revolution?
By: Ginger | Posted on February 17, 2023
ChatGPT exploded onto the scene a few months ago, and I honestly don’t feel like I’m overstating things when I say that it literally changed almost everything overnight. There’s a reason why it set a record for the fastest user growth ever, hitting 100 million active users within 2 months of launch. People are finding new uses for it almost daily, and one of the most interesting (to us) is in how it can help authors. Sure, there are negative stories about how students are using it to write essays or pass their tests, or the sky is falling type articles warning how everyone is about to lose their jobs to AI, but we can either fear change, or embrace it. The reality is, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The cat is out of the bag on this, and it’s NOT going back in. AI is here… Read More >
Are Apple and Google Screwing Over Self-Published Authors?
By: Ginger | Posted on January 6, 2023
As the titans of the internet duke it out for as much profit as they can squeeze out from each other, those of us just trying to earn a living selling our books are getting caught in the crossfire. If you’ve seen a drop in your book sales, digging a little deeper may help you figure out if recent changes are affecting you and give you some ideas on how to combat it. Ultimately, though, the only real long-term solution may be for the big companies to finally realize that their current path hurts everyone, and it’s better to have a smaller percentage of something than a larger percentage of nothing. Is Big Tech punishing small-time publishers with their exorbitant transaction percentage fees? This June, Amazon quietly made a decision to remove the “Buy Now” button for books in the Amazon Android app – something they’d done on their Apple… Read More >
Track Your Subscriber Behavior with Attribution Tags
By: Ginger | Posted on December 30, 2022
Generating a list of readers of your books is an invaluable marketing source that can be used in a number of different ways, and it’s one of the first things that authors should set up when they begin their self-publishing journey. Until now, however, many of the benefits you gain from your list were hard to directly quantify, especially for those that have a tendency to run multiple promotions at the same time as sending out newsletters announcing their latest release. In this final (for now) installment of our impromptu series of posts on Amazon’s new attribution tags, Ginger explains how these tags can take the guesswork out of the whole mailing list marketing process, allowing you to track your subscriber behavior down to the individual book purchase or page read. Not only can this knowledge help you grow your list and earn more money through more targeted advertising, but… Read More >
How to Mine Your Email Mailing List
By: Ginger | Posted on November 18, 2022
There’s a good reason why most authors start working on an email mailing list as soon as they can. Having a list of readers that love your work is not only a great ego boost, but can be an invaluable marketing tool. There are a variety of different ways to build your list, but the different techniques lead to different sorts of readers, each of whom provides a different value, assuming you know how to tell the difference and how to use each type. That’s exactly what Ginger will be going over in this week’s blog. Not only how to identify and separate your subscribers into the types of benefits they can provide, but how best to attain those benefits without alienating anyone on your list. Last month we posted a blog called Is Your Freebie Lead Magnet Costing You Money? The post addressed my belief that the source of your… Read More >
