Resources for Authors, updated

Independent authors are faced with a bewildering new world when they attempt to promote their books on snd offline. But there are lots of free or very low cost resources online. The following authors and sources do an excellent job of making sense of the contemporary publishing and promotional landscape, and all are worth reading.

Euan Mitchell's Your Book Publishing Options

How to Be an Author from Fremantle Press

Let's Get Digital by David Gaughran

Ricardo Fayet's How to Market an ebook

Ricardo Fayet’s How to Market a Book — Overperform in a Crowded Market

Amazon Ads Unleashed by Robert J. Ryan

Amazon Selling Services from Helium 10

Author 2.0 Blueprint by Joanna Penn

Multiple resources and useful links from Joanna Penn

Laneway Press – Writing Coach, Editor and Publisher

From Regina Lane at Laneway Press, a description of her services:

A writing coach is an invaluable investment for the aspiring author. As an author myself, editor and a publisher, I have the experience to help you define what you want to say, who you want to reach and the impact you wish to have.

I can help you set writing goals, a structure and a program of work, and keep you focused and accountable. Even the most successful of authors benefit from coaching; someone to keep them motivated and to help move them through the inevitable blocks all writers encounter.

Whether you need a writing coach to get started, or an editor to fine tune your story, I can help you with:

• Your goal – your vision for success, your core message or storyline. z

• Your audience – what they read, what you want them to feel, know and understand.

• Market research – styles, angles and approaches of other books, where are the gaps?

• Writing and self-editing – knowing the difference and when to do what.

• Assessment – sometimes the first step, if you come to me with a complete draft.

• Editing – structural and copy editing to get your manuscript ship shape for publication.

• Self-publishing – costs, platforms, potential for success, marketing and distribution.

• Self-promotion – guidance in how to engage your audience via social and traditional media.

Contact Regina at https://lanewaypress.com.au/contact/

Doing Your Comp Research

Serious independent authors spend time checking out their competitors, the so-called ‘Comps’ or comparable titles. It is a great way of getting a sense of a particular genre, prevalent trends, the key cover design elements that signal a particular fictional niche. A writer should have a good idea of their specific target readers — and, spoiler alert, it is not ‘anyone who can read’. If you have read a lot in the genre you are writing in (always a good idea), you will already have a fairly good idea of how your title/s relate to the existing literary landscape. Making a list of comparable titles, whether bestsellers or midlist, can also be helpful for book cover designers looking to get a more specific feel for your title. At the same time it gives the author a better sense of the overall commercial literary landscape.

David Gaughran's email archive

The ever-helpful David Gaughran keeps his email newsletter archives here. It is an extensive trove of practical advice relating to BookBub, Amazon advertising, Facebook advertising, marketing with email and launching a book. David says:

“Welcome to the email archive – where I store all the most useful emails from my weekly marketing newsletter. I’ve grouped them into various topic areas so you can dive into the subjects of most interest to you.”

And don’t forget to sign up to his newsletter here.