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Friday, June 21, 2013

4 KEYS TO SUCCESS THAT WILL DEFEAT YOU! And beware the ZOMBIE CAT!

 
 
I am weary of reading advice that novice authors might haplessly gobble up, written by snake-oil salesmen like John Locke

(Of the LET ME BUY AS MANY FAKE REVIEWS AS I CAN and tell the world reviews are the secret to success in eBooks.)

Here are

4 KEYS TO SUCCESS THAT WILL DEFEAT YOU:

1.) TARGET YOUR GENRE BEFORE YOU START:

a.) If you force yourself to write what is hot at the moment, by the time you finish your novel your genre may well have cooled to an Ice Age.

b.) You might Google “Google Keyword Tool.”

This tool will show you how many Google Searches your idea or genre is getting monthly, before you write your book.  But that number will change come the completion of your book.

c.) Write what amuses you.  You will have fun.  It will show.  And the reader will have fun, too.

2.) TITLE YOUR BOOK WITH SEARCH ENGINES IN MIND:

a.) Sounds good, but do you know how many eBooks with ZOMBIE as part of the title there are out there?  You want to stand out as original not as a copy cat.

b.) Do you really want 50 SHADES OF LUST in your resume?  Perhaps in your memories ....

c.) Search Engines are good to keep in mind when you list your categories and key words in your book description on Amazon.

  (This is where the Google Keyword Tool should be used.)

d.) Remember THE KEY WORD that is hot today in titles may well be HO-HUM in only 6 months.

e.) MYSTERY, DANGER, HUMOR, ORIGINALITY

Those are the things that are eternal in good book titles.  Wouldn't you pick up books with titles like

RIGHT TURN ON DEAD or THE MORTICIAN'S BRIDE.

f.) SHORT AND SNAPPY are guidelines for you to follow on titles, too.

3.) OTHERS HAVE BECOME MILLIONAIRES, YOU CAN, TOO!  BUY MY HOW TO BOOK!

a.) Take that brown paper bag you brought home from the market and breathe into it slowly until you come back into touch with reality.

b.) Understand that anyone who has found the secret to making millions would be too busy making MORE millions to write an ebook telling you her secrets.

4.) YOU NEED A BLOG OR A WEB PAGE

a.) As an unpublished author, you need a blog/web page like a fish needs a bicycle.

b.) Having a internet presence is nice;

using your time to write three books before publishing the first one is Essential.

c.) Say lightning strikes, and readers love your book. What is the next sentence they speak after saying, "That was a great book"?

d.) "Man, I hope she/he has another book for me to buy!"

e.) In the year it takes you to write another book, their interest in you has faded. 

Have an inventory of books for readers to gobble up after discovering you.

f.) AFTER you've published your first book, then put up a web presence that is humorous, helpful, and down-to-earth.

Yes, it used to be conventional wisdom to build an audience for your book by blogging first.  But that wisdom has retreated into the convent of the past.

Now, when everyone is jumping up and down on Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, screaming: "Look at my book!"

You must look Beyond What Once Worked.

g.) Readers go to Amazon or Google looking for a book and type in the Search Box the kind of book they want to read.

THAT IS THE TIME YOU WANT TO DIRECT ATTENTION TO YOUR BOOK!

i.) The person is in the mood to BUY.

ii.) The person wants to read the genre you write.

iii.) If you put the correct KEYWORDS in your category and Key Word sections in the book description of your Kindle book,
 
iv.) AMAZON or GOOGLE ( not your blog) will direct the reader with money in her hands and the desire to read to your book page.

HOW COOL IS THAT?
***
Gypsy, my ghost cat, pointed out Brad Pitt faces the very worst enemy possible in WORLD WAR Z: a zombie cat!


***
For those interested in Google Keyword Search, here is a great tutorial.

You will have to adapt it to your use of selecting keywords for describing your book on Amazon.


16 comments:

  1. good advice. i think you should be true to yourself, write what interests you, and create something you would want to read. and remember that what works for one person, may not necessarily work for someone else.

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  2. That trailer for Z is creepy. But, I want to see the movie.

    Very helpful advice Roland. There are so many writing books, it's hard to sort out the good from the bad. Some people want motivation, some want examples (like I do), and some are willing to pay ghostwriters.

    After you read a few of them (which I have) they all start to sound alike. TMI=too much info. I know some of my weaknesses, and I look for instruction in that. No one size fits all.

    Hope you have a good weekend!

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  3. Words Crafter:
    Some excellent advise from yourself, too!

    D.G.:
    As I am working solo this weekend with an all new SOP (rather unsettling by myself), I will not be able to see WWZ - apparently with the higher brain functions dead, all that is left is hunger without any sense of self-preservation!

    Yes, no one-size-fits-all advise. I liked Stephen King's ON WRITING and I liked the snippets Neil Gaiman has written to help struggling authors.

    Cross your fingers for me this weekend! :-)

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  4. More excellent advice. I would add the caveat that some agents and/or editors do want to see an early web presence. Yes, yes, yes, you and I know it matters not, and that such a presence is going to attract kindred writer-folk not readers, but sometimes TPTB hold up a hoop, and all we can do is jump.

    Pet Peeve Alert!
    I don't know if it's the sheer number of books being released or what, but there are so many that share similar titles—it boggles the mind. Doesn't anyone do title searches anymore? For example. I have a story in an annual anthology whose 2013 edition was called BLOOD MOON. The anthology shows up on page 3 of an Amazon search for books titled, "blood moon." It's not simply about poor placement, it's confusing. 80% of the books have a cover with—you guessed it—an image of a red moon. Why make it so easy for someone to accidentally purchase the wrong book?

    BTW, I left a review at Audible a while back for Hibbs et. al. and I'd like to add it to Goodreads, but the audio version is listed separately from the print. Are you able to combine the two? I don't think having a review under a separate listing makes a lot of sense.

    VR Barkowski

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  5. Awesome advice! Going to have to Tweet this...

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  6. Some good stuff. I didn't have another book ready to go, which probably did hurt sales.
    My publisher told me to get my butt online when I signed the contract. So I think that once you know when your first book is coming out, you need to start building a presence online. As I discovered, it's not the power of you promoting, it's the power of others promoting, and you can't do that if you haven't made friends online before the book comes out.
    Unique book title? Never planned it, but all three of my titles are original!

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  7. VR:
    I am Goodreads-Challenged I fear. It is like a strong-willed two year old: it will do what it wants!

    Alex got into blogging just from such a publisher request. But things have changed even in that so short a time. Agents and publishers can want all they wish, but the publishing world has changed.

    I know we must sometimes relent to the greater power of the editors if we wish to be traditionally published -- still tradition sees our books spend nano-days on physical book shelves where eBooks always stand ready to be bought.

    Good titles are so hard to come up with. Can you believe it? Hemingway and Fitzgerald felt all the good titles had already been used -- and that was long decades ago! :-)

    J.C.:
    This is very kind and gracious of you. Thanks.

    Alex:
    John D. MacDonald's famous Travis McGee series got off to a hot start in the 1960's when his paperback publisher put out 3 of his books a month apart. I have tried to put that lesson to good use!

    You're right: word of mouth is the key ingredient for hot sales. :-)

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  8. Thanks for such a great post. I've always had a love/hate relationship with blogging; the only reason I started one was because I was told "I had to." Oh well, here am I still.

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  9. Holly:
    I bet you've made some good friends you wouldn't have made otherwise. I think friendship is why many of us stay. :-)

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  10. Millions? I'd be happy with hundreds.
    Great post!

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  11. Take what you need and leave the rest. I thank you for this particular blog. It has been very helpful. Well done.

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  12. You've outdone yourself in this post, Roland.

    I particularly like A.) 'As an unpublished author, you need a blog/web page like a fish needs a bicycle.' :)

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  13. Roland you are so cool.

    Hugs and chocolate,
    Shelly

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  14. THE DESERT ROCKS
    You and me both! :-)

    S.K.:
    And best of luck with your first book!

    Wendy:
    You made my weary evening better!

    Shelly:
    If only! Thanks for the smile tonight.

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  15. i am so coming to you for all my press needs...

    to you "John Locke" you can google that in your pipe and smoke it...

    this guy you speak of reminds me of an old business card that said on one side..."how to keep an idiot occupied for hours, flip card over" on the other side it said "how to keep an idiot occupied for hours, flip card over"...

    i wish i could have crazy success like this guy... my book tour is coming, i need all the help i can get...

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  16. Jeremy:
    I will gladly help you as much as I can when your first book comes out. I feel that Alex's spotlight on your book will shoot it up in sales though. :-)

    Locke spent $6000 for his 300 fake positive reviews. Wow. That is some price! Yet it jump-started his success. And when he wrote how he did it -- he wrote not a word ."about his "secret

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