Author: SMBS Team

Episode 261 – The RITAs, John Candy, and The New Pre-order Policy

Posted on by SMBS Team

Question of the Week: If you challenged yourself to double your book income without using Amazon Ads, what would be your strategy and why?

What options do authors have to increase income, besides advertising on Amazon? This week’s Happy Book Reviews winner is Dave. Bryan thanks our Patrons: Level Up, Dorothy and the Cane of Destiny, and Flotsam. The Top Tips of the week are how to simplify your Amazon pre-orders, how does Nora Roberts crank out so many books, and why Bookfunnel exclusive content is such a boon. We have an Honorable Mention story about what happens to bad little book pirates. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include how Barnes and Noble coupons can give you an edge, what happened with the white-washed RITAs, why a Facebook Group might be the free marketing your book launch needs, where is Data Guy’s data, and how Alana Terry doubled her income with an ad-supported wide release. Question of the Week: If you challenged yourself to double your book income without using Amazon Ads, what would be your strategy and why? read more

Episode 260 – #Bookfans, Blasted Blasty, and Rising Indies

Posted on by SMBS Team

Question of the Week: What do you think is the purpose of Amazon’s new “quality dashboard”? And do you think it’ll be helpful or potentially abusive for authors?

Should the general public provide Amazon with quality control? Bryan is attending a mastermind retreat and Jim welcomes his guest host, Cecelia Mecca. This week’s Happy Book Reviews winner is John Box. Jim thanks our Patrons are Prometheus Rising, Triumviratus, and Dead Still. The Top Tips include why relevant hashtags are so important on Instagram, how Amazon ads improvements will help indies get more bang for their bucks, and what Bookfunnel’s “buy” button will do for you. The five Hot News stories for indie authors this week include what happened to Blasty, how Audible’s new Spanish-language platform will impact authors, what are the pros and cons of Amazon’s new quality dashboard, why Patreon has rolled out a new tier system, and how indie authors can compete with trad-pubbed authors for the top spots on the charts. Question of the Week: What do you think is the purpose of Amazon’s new “quality dashboard”? And do you think it’ll be helpful or potentially abusive for authors? read more

Episode 259 – Excuse Me, Is This Newsletter Organic?

Posted on by SMBS Team

Question of the Week: What do you think of this new every-other-week format? Should we keep it? Trash it? Expand it?

What do you think of the “in-depth” episode? Avoiding contests and list-building ads may help you to preserve a more organic email list, according to author LJ Shen in a post on the Self Publishing Formula blog. Shen says she spends a “good amount of time,” on social media, feeling that her time is not any more valuable than her readers’. She gathers newsletter followers organically and does not run contests or advertisements to gain new subscribers. She asks for followers on Amazon, BookBub and Facebook, through links available on her website and her Amazon and BookBub author pages. Shen recently used her list to pick up 1,400 Amazon reviews on one of her books in the first 30 days of release. Question of the Week: What do you think of this new every-other-week format? Should we keep it? Trash it? Expand it? read more

Episode 258 – ReedsyDiscovery, Box Set Success, and Supreme Court Decisions

Posted on by SMBS Team

Question of the Week: Will the landmark Supreme Court decision on copyright change whether or not you decide to copyright your book? Why or why not?

How has the new copyright law impacted your decision to copyright (or not) your work? Jim and Bryan celebrate the thaw. Bryan is holding a “deep dive” into simplifying Amazon ads, click the link below to sign up. This week’s Happy Books Review Winner is Darren Sapp. Bryan thanks our Featured Patrons: The Unknown Devil, A Turn for the Worse, and Leading Effectively: Proven Leadership. The Top Tips include what new channels Draft2Digital added, why it’s important to examine the reasons behind your priority list, and what benefits you may experience from organic email lists. Honorable Mention goes to why Amazon is pulling down its popups. The Big Five news stories for indies this week are why there seems to be an outrage in support of piracy, what you may be losing when you fail to file for copyright, how Kimbra Swain took her love of the story straight to the bank, how Reedsy’s new Discovery service will help indies, and how repackaging delivered Kevin McLaughlin the #1 he needed and a fresh audience for his backlist. Question of the Week: Will the landmark Supreme Court decision on copyright change whether or not you decide to copyright your book? Why or why not? read more

Episode 257 – Chirp, Amazon Ads, and the Nebula Controversy

Posted on by SMBS Team

Question of the Week: How do you think BookBub’s Chirp will change the audiobook landscape over the next 12 months? Do you have any books currently locked up by ACX’s 7-year contract?

What does the new audiobook world look like for you and your titles? Bryan is excited to report on what is happening in the author community right now! Jim discusses the effects of Mercury in retrograde. This week’s Happy Books Review winner is Crissy Moss. Our Featured Patrons: Shadow Raiders, Strings of Subversion, and Fighting to Survive. The Top Tips this week include how advanced reader feedback can improve your standalones, why a reading plan is just as important as a writing plan, and what can go wrong with ghostwriters. We have an Honorable Mention story is the incredible tale of an author who could win $100,000 to ditch her smartphone. The big five news stories that matter most to indie authors include how the Books-a-Million closure will affect indies, why establishment sci-fi authors are attacking 20Booksto50K, which tools are providing Dean M. Cole with the keywords that jumpstarted his earnings, what steps did Kristen Oliphant take to jump from $100 per month of writing income to a steady five-figures, and how Bookbub’s new discount audiobooks will impact the market. Question of the Week: How do you think BookBub’s Chirp will change the audiobook landscape over the next 12 months? Do you have any books currently locked up by ACX’s 7-year contract? read more

Episode 256 – Plagiarism, Target Readers, and Customer Avatars

Posted on by SMBS Team

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

Posted on by SMBS Team

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

Posted on by SMBS Team

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

Posted on by SMBS Team

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

Episode 252 – Return on Investment, B&N Ads, and WattPad Publishing

Posted on by SMBS Team

Question of the Week: Do you know how to calculate Return on Investment (ROI)? Even though even 1% ROI is a profit, is there a certain number of ROI you deem to be Good? How did you come upon that number?

If you have a Return on Investment number that you consider “good” – how did you arrive at that figure? Bryan and Jim report on the effects of the Polar Vortex in the Midwest. Bryan gives an encouraging update on the Relentless Authors Advertise podcast and thanks all the listeners who are joining the experiment. This week’s Happy Book Reviews winner is Rebecca Markus. Bryan thanks our Featured Patrons: Awakening Forever, Guardian of the Grail, and The Reluctant Detective. The Hot Tips include the good of reader give-and-take, how to bridge the gap between writing on the side and writing full time, and why focusing on fewer tasks is actually more efficient. Our Honorable Mention story explains why pre-order reviews have disappeared as quickly as they arrived. The Top News stories affecting the indie community this week are the short-lived Barnes and Noble ad experiment, what ill tidings are reported in the 2018 Authors Guild Survey, how Christina DeMara used hashtags to increase book sales, why Wattpad is diving into publishing, and what steps Jen Thorn took to see success with her new pen name in just 30 days. Question of the Week: Do you know how to calculate Return on Investment (ROI)? Even though even 1% ROI is a profit, is there a certain number of ROI you deem to be Good? How did you come upon that number? read more