social media Archives

Sometimes, I think I might be a little psychic—and not always in a good way. Earlier this summer, I chose our topics for the fourth quarter of 2025. Marketing dread is something I’ve been thinking about for a while as I hear friends and colleagues gripe about how much they do NOT like that aspect of publishing, so that fit for October. Planning for a new year was also a natural fit for December…

If you’re a professional author, chances are you’ve had a love-hate relationship with Goodreads. Maybe it’s the clunky interface. Maybe it’s the Wild West of one-star ratings. Or maybe it’s just the nagging feeling that your beautifully crafted book deserves a little more …  sparkle. The good news? New kids on the block—The StoryGraph and Fable—are offering fresh alternatives that are built w…

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…

Amazon “We may also suspend your Program account at any time with or without notice to you, for any reason in our discretion.” —from Amazon Terms and Conditions Fenella Ashworth panicked after she discovered her Amazon account had been closed, and she got only 90 minutes of sleep over the next three days. “You might think it could only happen via a staged process after lengthy discussions, but …

We made it through 2022! A round of applause and therapeutic chocolate for everyone. Now it’s time to look forward to 2023, and I’ve put together a list of resolutions based on trends I suspect will drive book marketing throughout the new year. Where does this list come from? My own extensive research and experience running a small marketing think tank. I’ve been tracking data and trialing diff…

Marketing via social media can be an author’s full-time, unpaid job. Our publishers expect that we’ll do it well, consistently, in our author voice, making readers feel such a bond with us that of course they’ll buy our books, preferably by preorder or within the first week it’s out. A good portion of any marketing plan is based on the author doing more and more, and it can be exhausting. To ha…