7 habits of highly successful authors

 Sowing The seeds of Publishing Sucess

Social media has become an integral part of an author’s life. From research to marketing, getting it right can often be the difference between a bestselling book and one which slips into oblivion. Authors ignore the influence of social media at their peril, but it can also be an unwanted distraction. A few minutes browsing can turn into hours and with more and more of us watching TV shows online it’s frightening how much time we can squander when we could be writing. Of course, it’s all about balance and importantly there are a number of powerful habits we can form to ensure we get the balance right. It’s a sobering thought but always remember that time is finite and tomorrow is an aspiration, not a given! Visit the BookViral blog to read this article in full.

1.    Setting yourself a realistic daily word count target is a great way to manage your time and your own expectations.

2.    Writing is a creative pursuit that comes from within and setting aside some ‘You’ time is not only an important part of re-energising but for subconsciously tapping into the well of creativity inside you.

3.    Don’t neglect family and friends. Time with the ones you love will provide you with the stability and support that will carry you through those times when your motivation and confidence are at an all-time low.

4.    The old adage we are what we eat has never been truer than for authors. Head down working on a new book it’s easy to lose track of meal times and lean towards quick fixes. Eating healthily helps to recharge the mind as well as the body.

5.    Publishing continues to change at an alarming pace. There are more demands on authors than ever before. Remember that you are first and foremost a writer and to succeed you need to put words on paper. Be realistic about what you can and can’t do effectively and don’t be afraid to delegate.

6.    It’s easy to forget we have limits. There’s a certain romanticism about an author burning the midnight oil to complete a book but long hours lead to burnt out which will have a negative impact all around. Set yourself a routine and stick to it. Most importantly know when to stop. Turn off the phone and don’t be tempted to look at your emails!

7.    Repetition leads to monotony. Few authors can write day in day out without the need for a break. Find the time to do something different. Learning something new not only provides an opportunity to relax but allows the creative mind to recharge itself.

Taken in turn these are simple habits to adopt but taken together they will help build the foundations for your success.

We all cope with the rigours of writing in our own way and we'd love to hear what you do to ensure a sense of balance and if you have a title you would like us to review you can find further details HERE

The Best Book Awards For Authors To Enter

Recognition that great books deserve.

With the advent of self-publishing has come an ever growing number of book awards with much disparity between those whose primary focus is on making money and those recognising the literary accomplishments of authors. Invariably there is a cost associated with entry, even with the most prestigious, and authors need to consider both the award and the benefits before submitting a title for consideration. Some awards have evolved to cater purely for the self-published authors, but with the demarcation becoming ever more blurred in terms of quality it is rapidly becoming an even playing field.

There may be more book awards to choose from, but both readers and the media are still attracted to them and it’s a fact that winning a book award is likely to pique the curiosity of agents and booksellers with the added interest potentially leading to a surge in book sells. The mere fact that a book has won an award speaks volumes and no less than in the credibility stakes. A book award is still a badge of distinction and with thousands of self-published books being released on a weekly basis, the right book award tells a reader that the book they're considering has been vetted by and more importantly endorsed by publishing professionals. It’s this assurance that often makes the difference between a potential reader purchasing your book or not.

Authors should keep in mind though that readers are becoming ever savvier about the value of individual awards. Unless it’s the Nobel prize for literature, the Man Booker prize, or a mere handful in this esteemed league, a reader is more often than not likely to google an award to find out more about it. Far too many now offer an endless list of genres with first, second and third prizes in each one in addition to a host of other honourable mentions which find their way on to medallions. In short, you pay your entry fee and with so many winners up for grabs you are all but guaranteed some sort of recognition. Consider for a moment Margaret Atwood’s Booker win in 2000 with The Blind Assassin and ask yourself in all honesty if it would have been the same notable achievement if she’d been just one of a hundred other winners. 

Now there are always two sides to any perspective and it may be that any award will suit an author’s need for recognition but when we started the Millennium Book Award we wanted to do something a little different. First of all we wanted to limit the number of entries to just 1000 titles a year, at which point we don’t accept any more entries, Secondly we wanted to create a book award that not only recognised distinguished fiction but by limiting the number of winners made it an award worth winning and would add real gravitas to an author’s body of work.

It’s great to say you’re an “award winning author” but as with all things in life, there is far more satisfaction and prestige to be gained from something that is a little more elusive. We’re in no doubt that recent years have seen the emergence of some truly brilliant author-centric awards but with the constraints of budgets and time that the majority of authors have to juggle it’s ever more critical to pick the right awards to enter. It’s important to do a little reconnaissance up front. Consider the categories, but look at the calibre of previous winners and the judges too.

Whichever award you chose to enter make sure to follow their guidelines and above all make sure editing and cover design don't let you down. Publishing a book is incredibly rewarding and receiving the recognition of a book award is tremendously uplifting.

Whichever ones you choose to enter the team here at BookViral wish you the very best.

How to build the right author connections to sell more books.

With the growth of indie publishing has come a dearth of organisations providing author services and alliances that bring them together, but when you really think about it the words of Ernest Hemingway are as true today as they were when he spoke them.

Hundreds of new authors appear on the scene daily and often see themselves as a part of a global tribe of authors, all pulling for each other, but to succeed as an author, especially as a self-published author, often requires a reality check. Unless you’re publishing for vanity, you have probably set your sights on building a growing following, readers who will rush out to buy your next book, but when it comes to promoting your book the ‘global author tribe” will only take you a short skip and a hop along what is often a long and arduous journey. 

As authors we gather together in increasingly virtual spaces, we invariably applaud the new releases of those we know and sing each other’s praises, but unless you are already at the top of your game the reciprocal impact on book sells is more often next to nothing unless you are lucky enough to attract the attention of a heavyweight influencer. So how far do we go when building connections that have a significant impact on book sells and more importantly how much time should we dedicate to it.

As - Edgar Rice Burroughs said, “If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favour.” Publishing has become one of the most competitive industries in the world. Few authors make it with their first book and if they are unable to satisfy the wants of their readers they will lose them. It’s as simple as that. With the advent of self-publishing readers now have an enormous choice of fiction and authors have to write and release at a fervent pace or risk anonymity. That’s why we believe eighty percent of an author's time should be given to their writing and twenty percent to what is broadly termed marketing.

The ‘Global Author Tribe’ is made up of a myriad of sub-tribes catering to all genres and of course there are the reader tribes to which so many authors are forever indebted. The trick is to pick the right tribes in which to invest your time. You can’t engage with every tribe, even with social media scheduling tools to take the lion's share of the burden and keeping your interaction authentic is critical.

You have probably heard that email lists are a great way to build connections. Don’t believe it. Ten years ago they certainly delivered big returns for canny marketers who made the investment of time and money but with personal email addresses constantly filled with spam, an overwhelming majority of people simply hit the junk mail option. Email lists are invariably built on the basis of giving something free in return for an email address but there‘s an enormous heavy hitting Gorilla called Amazon that provides all the free books a reader could ever want. Email lists do not work for the majority of authors so don’t waste your time. If you don’t believe us look out for our author survey with the statistics to prove our point.

No. When it comes to making the connections that work always make word of mouth your focus and contrary to much-touted marketing lore don’t invest the bulk of your time in online social mediums. Not everyone is on Twitter or Facebook. In fact at the time of writing this blog Twitter and Facebook are woefully silent on the number of dormant and fake accounts that litter their sites. Do something that has consistently delivered results for authors and start small but with big ideas. Remember that word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing in the world and it begins with one person turning to another and telling them to read your book. 

Yes, it can happen online but a tweet and post are gone in the blink of an eye and word of mouth recommendations that simply flare and wither on the vine are not worth a major investment of your time. Think of the connections you make and your word of mouth strategy as your big guns and like all big guns they are at their most devastating when concentrated in one area for a period of time. So start with forums and communities that are local to you or niche genre communities online.  These are the areas in which you will build real and meaningful connections and ultimately where you will find the advocates who will help promote your books. The most important thing to remember is that whether face to face or online, the connections you build need to be authentic to prosper and your fellow authors are often the most avid readers. Build these connections, reciprocate, and in the medium, to long term, you will reap the rewards with a growing following and increased book sells.

Should authors pay for book reviews?

Information that every author needs.

It’s a question that’s courted more than a little controversy over the years, but there’s a significant difference between paying for a book review with no influence over the resulting review and paying for a review that is guaranteed to be overwhelmingly favourable, Aka those commonly found on the likes of Fiverr. Unfortunately, the distinction is often lost and in doing so a powerful marketing opportunity may be overlooked for the sake of allowing prejudice to influence thinking.

Let’s be honest, every author hopes his or her book will receive glowing reviews, but a handful of two line reviews from friends and family or poorly worded reviews from someone who’s been paid $5 to read and write a review for your book, simply doesn’t cut it. Now, before you take umbrage with that last sentence, we certainly aren’t demeaning the support an author gets from friends and family, in fact it often proves a godsend, but the truth of the matter is that a positive review from a widely known, professional and trusted reviewer is worth its weight in gold. Every book, whether it be by a known or unknown author publishing for the first time stands a chance of becoming a best seller, the deciding factor is often how quick it can build momentum and professionally written, insightful and compelling reviews are a major part of the success factor. The problem for most authors is that they sit on the fence, unsure which side of the argument to come down on.

At BookViral we believe that information is the foundation of success and we wanted to offer something more substantial than hearsay and conjecture. Now before we do, and for those reading this who are unfamiliar with the services we provide, let’s be absolutely clear and say we don’t provide paid reviews. We commission reviews as part of our promotions, providing exactly the same service as Kirkus or Publishers weekly. The difference is that whereas those esteemed bodies will take an author’s money and are quite happy to return a bad review, we screen the books we promote and if our commissioned reviewers return a bad review we return the authors money and we don’t publish it. Life is hard enough in modern publishing without paying good money for a bad review!

Now it’s clear that we all have ‘skin in the game’, so simply asking the authors we’ve worked with if they favour paying for professional reviews would add little value. We wanted to dig a little deeper and find a correlation between paid book reviews and increased book sales. We’ve worked with over 1800 authors in a little under two years and have an ever-growing author mailing list of over 25,000 so we are reasonably well placed to ask the most pertinent questions.

Whilst any information collected can be presented with a bias we wanted to keep our survey as succinct as possible. Now keep in mind that paying for reviews is a commonplace practice and when it comes to professional reviews they aren’t cheap. You’re paying for professional insight garnered over many years, often decades, and you can be confident that a highly experienced reviewer will read your entire book in full and follow clear guidelines in writing your review. The costs vary but  on the date this post was first published typical fees were  Kirkus, (standard service $425, express service $575), Blue Ink Reviews ($495 for the review to be completed in 4-5 weeks), and BookViral ($152  for review to be delivered in 12 working days).

Our survey was responded to by 1,237 authors and the questions we asked were:-

1. How many times have you paid for a book review?
2. How much have you paid for professional book reviews?
3. Do you believe paid reviews have had positive impact   upon your book sells?

So, should authors pay for book reviews? We would rather you cast an eye over the responses from our latest survey and draw your own conclusions, but it does still seem that a five star review from a top book review site still carries a great deal of kudos. In our first blog post titled The Secret Of Viral Book Sales we shared a formula for creating viral book sells and it should be remembered that compelling, professional reviews are one of the most powerful forms of publicity you can get. 

As always, it's great to have made the connection with you and we hope we have given you something to think about. We'd also like to draw your attention to the 2016 BookViral Book Awards. We value originality and great writing and if you are confident your book will meet our expectations you can submit it by clicking on this link SUBMIT BOOKS.

 

The Best Book Reviews For Increased Book Sales

There’s one truth we are loathed to admit. Book reviews no longer sell books like they used to!

It‘s a bold statement that needs quantifying and of course there are exceptions, but in the main this post is aimed at the 95% of traditionally published and indie published authors who struggle to get more than a handful of reviews for their books. More importantly, it’s underpinned by quantifiable data from our first white paper survey of over 1000 indie and traditionally published authors, along with a sample of our reader subscribers. We also need to be quite clear and say we are talking about crowd-sourced book reviews with entities such as Fiverr and Amazons poorly regulated reader reviews leading the way.

It would be wholly disingenuous to say that these reviews don’t have an impact on sells, but unless they run into the hundreds, with a weighting towards 4 and 5 star reviews then the impact is predominantly negative. There are three reasons for this. First the continuing purchase of fake reviews by spurious authors periodically raises its head. Most recently with Amazons action against fake reviews offered by sellers on Fiverr. Secondly, a handful of reviews are readily discounted when they are all 5 star and add little in terms of critical insight, and thirdly the impact of 1 star reviews is proportionately greater than 5 star reviews, especially when they remain highly visible and persist for perpetuity alongside your book.

Now we aren’t saying you should discount good reviews, but it’s the quality of the review which increasingly leverages the greater impact. That’s why the likes of Kirkus have continued to prosper, but poorly worded, over the top reviews that lack genuine insight do little more than act as fodder for publishers and authors to spin in their promotions. 

Look at Facebook book groups. Often numbering tens of thousands, in terms of members, with automated posts every couple of minutes, the mind boggles at the number of 5 star book reviews which are touted. Click on the link and in the majority of cases you will find the books sales ranking leaves little to be desired. That book may have 20 or 30 glowing reviews, but readers are becoming far cannier and a quick glance at a books sales rank and the way a review is written speaks volumes. There’s an old saying that good reviews help, at best, incrementally, and bad reviews hurt, at worst, incrementally but rarely do statements like these come with any quantifiable evidence to support them.

It’s worth taking a breather here and looking to the past. Yes, everything must change, but there are still lessons to be learnt. Pre kindle and the advent of the eBook revolution a great book review in the Times, Guardian or the Independent could propel an unknown author into the limelight. It seemed every major and regional paper had a book review section and their critics were held in high esteem. Now a days they are almost non-existent. Yes, they have been replaced by countless thousands of book review bloggers and websites dedicated to carrying the torch, but obscurity quickly prevails. In many ways we have come to expect far too much from book review bloggers. They are, in the main, the unsung heroes of the publishing industry, but reviews rapidly disappear into their archives and far too often the impact is readily lost. Of course, there are a few revered names in book reviews that endure, the most obvious being the The New York Times Book Review and The Sunday Times book club here in the UK, but look beyond them at the likes of Publishers Weekly and authors predominantly pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege of a review that engenders little real impact beyond book covers and author websites, whilst free reviews seem weighted towards big name authors who attract readers to the sellers site. It's no wonder then that authors game reviews on Amazon and the like.

So let’s return to where we started when we said book reviews no longer sell books like they used to! Award winning author Scott Wilbanks says "No matter how good a book may be, it doesn’t sell itself, not in today’s environment where the number of new publications is in the thousands per day.  You simply have to promote. There’s no escaping it. And to do so effectively, you need to leverage your voice” With the success of his debut novel ‘Lemoncholy Life Of Annie Astor’ Wilbanks is an author who speaks from experience.

A well written, insightful and above all credible book review is a great place to start, but it’s what you do with it that ultimately distinguishes its ability to have a significant impact on book sells. A powerful book review should not only be insightful and well written it needs to be highly marketable. If in doubt, look to the film industry. Each new release is preceded by a raft of reviews from notable reviewers that offer glowing testaments. They also form the backbone of most prerelease marketing strategies, leveraging the full power of the web and SEO. Unfortunately, woefully few authors have the breadth of knowledge to leverage SEO to its fullest potential and it’s placing many of them at a distinct disadvantage in an increasingly competitive industry. Even those who amass a decent number of reviews will not gain the impact they should if they simply rely on promoting links that send potential readers to a buy page.

It’s the right review that can propel an obscure author into the limelight. Kirkus has been the gold standard for many years and no one can deny that they’ve helped make a number of high profile bestsellers, but at $425 for their standard service and a 7 – 9 week turnaround or $575 for their express service and a 4-6 week turnaround there’s no commitment to long term promotion and no refund if they give you a bad review. Authors need to be selective in choosing partners to work with and more importantly need to find review partners that will work alongside them to actively promote their books.

Now we criticized Amazons poorly regulated reader reviews, but they have also provided authors with the means to maximise the impact of their best reviews. It’s called Editorial and is available through Amazons Author Central portal. If you are not using it you should be. Combined with proper HTML formatting there is real advantage to be gained here with the right reviews.

Of course, there will always be differing views and as always we aim to spark meaningful debate. We believe that book reviews no longer sell books unless they are highly leveraged using ahead of the curve SEO, well written, and insightful. In our white paper survey we asked a number of questions, from the authors we have worked with and a select number of our subscribed readers. We think the data speaks for itself.

 

We hope we have given you food for thought and as always we welcome feedback and comments.