business Archives

Because just about everyone in NINC is smarter than me about advertising, I reached out to three people who I know are experiencing success on different ad platforms. And since they were all so generous, this grew into a two-part article; come back in December for more ad advice. Pam Kelley, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of women’s fiction, family sagas, and suspense, sai…

After a recent interview with my author friend, she proudly shows me the covers for the next four books in her Christian romance series. My marketer’s eye immediately sees that the designs mimic each other too closely and aren’t distinguishable from one another. Their muddy color palette won’t pop against competitive titles, especially as a thumbnail online. Wanting to support her success, I pr…

Authors are always on the lookout for ways to garner more publicity for their books. One way that’s been around for quite a while is to enter a contest. But there are many contests out there, and some of them charge high fees to enter, or require that you mail printed books to judges at your cost. The first thing to consider is what you want from the contest or award. Is there a cash prize, whi…

An author’s job: It’s not just writing It’s no secret that only half an author’s job is the actual writing of a book. The other half falls squarely in the realm of marketing. If you’re like me, spending that much time trying to build your brand and reach a wider audience is not what you want to be doing. Social media While it’s true that social media has become a critical component of marketing…

Traditional publishers offer the whole gamut of getting a book to market. Certain titles can receive attention from everything from editorial crews to marketing departments to teams devoted to online and digital sales. There could even be the boost of imprint-wide campaigns as well as outreach to influencers. The author, however, drives few, if any, of these decisions. On the flip side, publish…

This is it. You’ve made it. You’ve gotten a call from an agent, or you’ve received a contract from a publisher, or you’re taking that step to put your books up for sale as an indie author. This is your moment to shine and take on the world! But wait … let’s hit pause for a moment. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s that creative individuals allow our emotions to rule us so…