Episode 256 – Plagiarism, Target Readers, and Customer Avatars

Question of the Week: If you found out that your books had been plagiarized, what would you do to handle the situation?

Do you have a strategy to deal with plagiarism of you books? Bryan is back and recovering from his soccer-related concussion. Jim gives an update on the progress on synthetic audio books. This week’s Happy Book Reviews winner is William Oday. The featured Patrons for this episode include Gone, Inharmonic, and Kept In The Dark. The Hot Tips for you are why dictation could be the productivity tool you need, why you should put your phone in airplane mode when you’re on the ground, and how GoCreate.me can help bring order to your online chaos. The five News stories that matter most to the indie community include what you need to know about author blogs, how Kaitlin Bellamy is creating her success one baby step at a time, why creating an ideal reader avatar is critical to your writing, which steps Paul Park took to move his writing into the four-figure lane, and when plagiarism is OK—spoiler alert—never. Question of the Week: If you found out that your books had been plagiarized, what would you do to handle the situation? read more

Episode 255 – Superfans, AI, and Choose Your Own Audio

Question of the Week: Would you ever want to write a chose your own ending style book? And in what format would you want to do it?

If you wrote a choose your own adventure style book, what format would you choose? Jim welcomes guest host Mark Lefebvre from Draft2Digital. This week’s Happy Book Reviews winner is RJ Beam. Jim thanks our Featured Patrons: The Thing Speaks for Itself, The Cordova Vector, and Somebody’s Darling. The top tips include how to get the most out of your Author Central profile, what steps you can take to grow an email list from zero, and why the superfan is a myth. The news stories that matter most to indie authors this week are why AI is getting dangerously good, who is profiting from the new choose your own audio books, what steps Brianna Boes took to increase reader engagement and boost her launch, why Patreon is flip-flopping, and how testing several methods led Bridget Baker to success with Facebook ads. Question of the Week: Would you ever want to write a chose your own ending style book? And in what format would you want to do it? read more

Episode 254 – Echo Reminders, Creative Joy, and Shifting Your Mindset

Question of the Week: What’s a question you could ask yourself that you think might change your author business mindset?

What question would change your author business forever? Listen in as Jim and Bryan share the latest in publishing and marketing news. If you have yet to leave a review, then now is the perfect time to review us on iTunes. Thanks so much for listening! Bryan is a little under the weather and gives a “hats off” to supportive partners everywhere. Jim announces the 20Books Edinburgh Writing Retreat. The Happy Books Review Winner is Troy Hill. Jim thanks the Featured Patrons: Planet Dead: (A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Horror), A Turn for the Worse: Grant Wolves Book 1, and Achieve Anything In Just One Year: Be Inspired Daily to Live Your Dreams and Accomplish Your Goals. This week’s Top Tips include how to boost creativity by pursuing a hobby, what are the benefits of a pen name, and why due diligence is so important in getting an agent. The five hot news stories that matter most to indies are what’s the truth about Amazon’s sales in the academic world, how artificial intelligence can help you market your book, what steps did Jen Pretty take to hit her $500 sales month, why challenging your author mindset can get you out of a rut, and what Amazon Echo can do for your author career. Question of the Week: What’s a question you could ask yourself that you think might change your author business mindset? read more

Episode 253 – International Success, Thumbnail Covers, and a Million on Scribd

Question of the Week: What kind of success have your books had outside of the U.S. and off of Amazon?

How are your books selling internationally? Jim and Bryan experience a little technical difficulty with the audio at the beginning of the podcast, and Bryan’s Relentless Authors Advertise update is missing. Pop over to Bryan’s Friday podcast to get all the details on the RAA project. This week’s Happy Books Review winner is Milissa Story. Jim thanks our featured Patrons: Write! Shonen Manga, Star Flame: A Story From the Meclauks, and More than Monsters. The Hot Tips this week include how to expand your online ebook sales by targeting more retailers, how to improve your ability to edit your own work, and why a test drive of PublishDrive may be the easiest way to experiment with Amazon ads. The Top News stories that matter most to the indie publishing community are what reader benefits that will come from Scribd hitting the one million mark, how online book buyings affects cover design needs, what steps did Eliza Boyd take to move her author career to an intentional path, how one indie author is knee deep in movie deals, and why Sarah Williams inspiring success story is an indie win. Question of the Week: What kind of success have your books had outside of the U.S. and off of Amazon? read more