Index to John Kremer's Book Marketing Tip of the Week
Book Marketing Bestsellers Blog
Book Marketing 105: Choosing a Book Distribution System - This vital mini-guide includes criteria for deciding how you will distribute your books. Also includes complete information on 30 distributors, 4 library distributors, 89 book publishers who also distribute for other publishers, 3 sales representatives to the chains, 27 bookstore wholesalers, 34 library wholesalers, and 23 Spanish-language wholesalers. Plus a sample book distribution contract. Ebook download, $30.00.
Top 700 Independent Bookstores - This database features 740 stores with address, book buyer, owner, event coordinator, phone, fax, email, website, and more! Cost: $40.00. This data file features an updated list of the largest indie bookstores that work with authors and buy books from indie publishers. The report comes as a data file download (your choice of Microsoft Access, Excel, or rich text format). The data files do require that you know how to use a database or word-processing program.
Author Showcase Websites
The following author showcase websites have been featured in my Book Marketing Tip of the Week newsletter. If you know of other author showcase or paying websites, please email me at johnkremer@bookmarket.com.
Author Showcase Sites
The Book Marketing Network: http://www.thebookmarketingnetwork.com - Now featuring 6,200+ book authors ready to network with you. Free to join. Free to stay and use year after year.
GoodReads: http://www.GoodReads.com - A website that attracts avid book readers. You should be sure to become a part of this social network for book readers.
I hadn't paid much attention to GoodReads.com until I noticed that 56 readers had posted reviews of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books on this network: http://bit.ly/9KYSrr. That got my attention. So I'm going to be spending more time on this network.
If you want to get involved with this social network, check out this page which describes how authors can participate most effectively: http://www.goodreads.com/author/how_to
Short Fiction: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-websites-enjoy-reading-short-stories-flash-fiction - This is a great webpage from MakeUseOf.com on websites that feature short fiction. If you write short stories or novels, check out these websites and find ones where you can feature samples of your work and interact with readers.
Write to Sell: http://www.writetosell.com - Allows authors to list and promote their books for free. Quick and easy to use.
Author Payment Sites - Get Paid to Write Articles
AOL's Seed: http://www.seed.com - Pays writers and photographers to create content for AOL websites (DailyFinance, Engadget, AOL Food, Games.com, AOL Home, AOL Health, Black Voices, Paw Nation, TripVine, Parent Dish, and many others: http://www.seed.com/aol-network). Payments are small, but exposure is great (again, no links to your website).
Demand Media: http://www.demandmedia.com - They are looking for experienced, passionate, creative professionals (writers, filmmakers, bloggers) to join their community and lend their talent to their network of leading publishers. Their properties include eHow, Livestrong.com, Answer Bag, Cracked.com (humor), Golf Link, and Trails.com. I looked all around their site, but could find nothing about how much they pay for content, but they are actively looking to add more writers, bloggers, and experts.
Once you are approved, writing for Demand Media is easy. First, claim titles you want to write by searching within categories or sites you are interested in. These titles are yours alone and you have seven days to submit the completed article. After review and fact checking by a copy editor, your article is approved for publish and payment is processed.
I'd be very cautions about signing a contract with them until they specify how much is paid. Their current Contributors Agreement states that they will pay you the amount set out in the Additional Terms AND then states that the agreement includes only what's in the contract. I couldn't find a link to the Additional Terms.
On one of their sub-websites, I saw a reference to earning $15 to $25 per hour.
Examiner.com: http://www.examiner.com - Pays authors to write local columns on many different subjects. Examiner.com has 20 million unique visitors every month. Note: This website also has a roster of 400 book reviewers. If you'd like to apply to be one of their paid columnists, click here: http://www.examiner.com/Become_an_Examiner.html?cid=nf_target-general
They have writers covering entertainment, sports, recreation, family, home, lifestyle, health, beauty, and news as well as regional topics.
HubPages: http://www.hubpages.com - An online publishing community that rewards writers with money, recognition, and readership. They currently have 205,000 published users. Authors retain ownership of their content.
HubPages gives writers a free, search-enabled, online ad-equipped writing platform. HubPages then uses its in-house technology to run the best possible ads within the content, and shares 60% of the ad revenue with the writer.
Yahoo! Contributor Network: https://contributor.yahoo.com/signup.shtml - Pays writers, photographers, and videographers to create content for Associated Content (http://www.associatedcontent.com) as well as the Yahoo! network of news, sports, finance, local, TV, movies, celebrity news (http://omg.yahoo.com), and beauty/fashion (http://shine.yahoo.com). Payments are small, but exposure is great (again, no links to your website).
Shauna Zamarripa, who writes on real estate, finance, social media, and marketing, has written 200 articles for the network, with an average of 800 views per article.
The Writers Network: https://www.writersnetwork.com - This IAC site is paying member authors $10 to $25 to write short articles for their Home & Garden Ideas website (http://www.homeandgardenideas.com). Chances are that they will expand to other IAC sites as well: CitySearch, Pronto, College Humor, The Daily Beast, Match.com, etc.
Sample article include: How to Grow Nursery Shrubs, How to Host a Luau Party, How to Throw a Golf Party, Cocktail Party Food Ideas, etc.
When I check them out they were paying $15 for a 100 calorie cupcake recipe, $12.50 for an apple streusel muffin recipe, $20 for a 3 bean salad recipe, $17.50 for most popular Christmas gifts for 2010, $20 for great ideas for 1st birthday cakes and $20 for 21st birthday cakes).
As a member writer, you claim the article and then write it. If they like it, they accept quickly and pay you right away. If you write home, garden, food, or related books, this is a great way to feature excerpts from your book. But you won't get a link back to your website. Currently about 50 authors write for the network. One author who join in December has already written and been paid for 4 articles.
IAC makes money by running Google ads on the Home & Garden Ideas website as well as featuring products for sale that relate to the article - for example, pruning shears for the nursery shrub article noted above.
Free Teleseminars Alert!: http://www.bookmarket.com/audio.htm - Sign up here to get free email alerts on great book marketing, publicity, PR, and online marketing teleseminars.
Here are some useful online marketing tools that were featured in my Book Marketing Tip of the Week.
