Question of the Week: How do you think Authors Direct will disrupt Amazon? Will you publish your audiobooks through Authors Direct to contribute to that disruption?

Do you think Authors Direct can provide Amazon with serious competition, and would you use them? Bryan is joined by four co-hosts as the Best Page Forward team takes over the podcast. The Happy Books Review Winner is Jim Heskett. Our featured Patrons are Plain Talk About Marketing Blog Tours, Blogging for Authors, and What Sells Books. Bryan gets into the Hot Tips which include how to usage issues with stock images, why self-doubt will take a toll on your creativity, and which promo sites could benefit your marketing. The story receiving Honorable Mention is the KU reporting crisis that’s making authors crazy! Bryan and the gang jump into this week’s top five news stories, including what is the fate of the Createspace DVD program, a great author success story from Mary Crawford, how will the Kobo/Walmart partnership affect online ebook sales, why rebranding was the change that helped Jeremy Williams reach his financial goals, and how Authors Direct could change the audiobook market. Question of the Week: How do you think Authors Direct will disrupt Amazon? Will you publish your audiobooks through Authors Direct to contribute to that disruption? read more

Question of the Week: If you were forced into a “make or break moment,” what would you do differently with your author business to get the money you needed in time?

What’s your do or die author strategy to get the money you need for your business? Jim tells us a little about AuthorAccelerate.com and how it can benefit authors with a big bundle of helpful services including one-on-ones. The Happy Book Reviews winner is Allen Alright. Bryan thanks our fabulous Patrons – Email Lists Made Easy for Writers and Bloggers, Sanyare: The Last Descendant, and The Ten-Year Turnaround: Transform Your Personal Finances and Achieve Financial Freedom in The Next Ten Years. The Hot Tips this week include how IngramSpark allows you to personalize your paperbacks for $1 per copy, why a writing routine is critical for author success, and what you need to know about keywords in your Amazon book description. The five stories that made the cut this week are which trademark dilemma is rocking the author world, why the Audible bounty increase may have a hidden downside, how constant care and attention to your marketing and content can add to your bottom line, how book stuffing and gaming the system is losing momentum and indie authors are finding huge success, and why giving readers something they don’t know they want can pay off BIG! Question of the Week: If you were forced into a “make or break moment,” what would you do differently with your author business to get the money you needed in time? read more

Question of the Week: If Amazon goes through with its changes to limit also-boughts, will you add more advertising to your marketing to compensate or keep on keepin’ on?

How will you adapt your advertising strategy to accommodate Amazon’s shifting policy on also-boughts? Bryan and Jim are both on hand this week and Bryan has a no-pitch webinar coming up and you get to choose the topic! Last week’s winner of the Happy Book Reviews feature is Laura Martone. Bryan thanks the awesome featured Patrons The Author’s Guide to Ebook Bundling, More Than Monsters, and A Band Director’s Guide to Everything Tuba. Three useful tips include how to effectively bend Amazon’s algorithm to you advantage, why writers underestimate the physical strain that writing takes, and what sales techniques will keep you stuck in the past with you book marketing efforts. We have an Honorable Mention news story regarding server issues for Amazon and Mailerlite. The top stories that are worth a listen this week include how a new Bookfunnel gifting feature can benefit you, why Amazon’s also-boughts could affect your ad strategy, author Galen Surluk-Ramsey’s personal success story, why collaboration and tropes in titles could be the boost you’ve been looking for, which literary writers are looking for television adaptations and why it’s so lucrative. Question of the Week: If Amazon goes through with its changes to limit also-boughts, will you add more advertising to your marketing to compensate or keep on keepin’ on? read more

Question of the Week: Aside from an income survey, what kind of survey of the author community do you feel would be the most helpful for you and why?

If you could design a survey for the author community, what information would you gather? Jim is back on the show this week and he and Bryan had a great July 4th. Bryan announced the Happy Book Reviews winner Will Brown and the guys thank their iTunes reviewers for the great feedback. Bryan thanks the wonderful Patrons Nightblade, Gone, and The Cordova Vector. The fabulous weekly tips include how to get creative about your writing time, which tips can save you tons of time during the edit, and what marketing mistakes you might be in danger of making. Honorable mention story is who got the boot at Barnes and Noble. The top five stories that matter this week include how Amazon is expanding the ebook market, what’s pushing Createspace toward obsolescence, how one author revived old books, are author surveys uncovering truths or muddying the waters, and how mindset can increase monthly sales by ten times. Question of the Week: Aside from an income survey, what kind of survey of the author community do you feel would be the most helpful for you and why? read more

Question of the Week: Do you think Association for Library Service to Children made the right decision to rename its award? How do we best distinguish between racist themes, characters, and authors when looking back on books from the past?

Do you think the Association for Library Service to Children made the right decision in their attempt to airbrush history? Should history be rewritten? Bryan Cohen is flying solo this week, but the sound effects king Jim Kukral will be back next week! Our fabulous featured Patrons include Slow Burn: Zero Day, The Final Arrangement, and Wanderer’s Escape. This week’s Happy Book Reviews Feature winners are Darren Sapp and Franki Kidd. Get ready for hit tips including how to use the Dome of Silence to get great feedback on your writing, why extreme calendaring is the new sport for you, and which milestones and achievements can motivate your future projects. The five news stories that deserve your attention this week are why pronouns won’t double your income, which sales strategies can help you go wider than wide, how Wattpad is becoming the launchpad for original film and television content, when is it all right to airbrush history—if ever, and how author Barry Hutchinson combined a backlist and a rapid release strategy to explode his income. Question of the Week: Do you think Association for Library Service to Children made the right decision to rename its award? How do we best distinguish between racist themes, characters, and authors when looking back on books from the past? read more

Question of the Week: Would you ever consider relaunching any of your books? If so, what strategies would you use to get them right the second time around?

If you could have a “do-over” on launching any of your titles, what would you change? Bryan’s voice is back and Jim survived a horrendous landscaping accident! Remember to take advantage of the payment plan for the Sell More Books Show Summit tickets before it disappears on July 4th. Bryan thanks this week’s wonderful featured Patrons: How to Fight Fair in Your Marriage, Divorced Dad, and Somebody’s Darling. This week’s Happy Book Reviews Feature winner is Steeven Orr! Some great tips include how to integrate Scrivener and Vellum, What the hot new marketing GIF collection can do for you, and why you might want to use a tone analyzer to evaluate your writing. Honorable Mention goes to the launch of Prime Reading in France. The five top news stories in this episode include how to use your existing social media to launch your first book, a relaunch success story from Danielle Romero, how to keep writing in spite of health issues, why you might want to serialize your rough draft to build readership, and you may have to collect sales tax in the near future. Question of the Week: Would you ever consider relaunching any of your books? If so, what strategies would you use to get them right the second time around? read more

Question of the Week: If you were to become a big-name author, how would you handle your finances to ensure that unscrupulous people wouldn’t siphon your funds behind your back?

When you hit the big time how do you plan to be smart with your money and protect your financial future? This week’s Happy Book Reviews Feature winner is Randy Green! Bryan is a little under the weather so Jim takes a moment to thank this week’s wonderful Patrons: Guild of Tokens, Planet Dead One Shot, and Gold Frankincense and Myrrh. This episode’s tips include how to compare KDP Print and Createspace, why you want to control your Also Boughts, and what price points will actually hurt your sales. The stories that fought their way to the top this week are how Amazon is bundling short stories and audio, what author M. A. Robbins did to hit his biggest month ever, why Amazon’s new gifting feature won’t actually effect sales numbers, when a rapid fire release strategy can really boost sales, and why you should take control of your finances with confidence. Question of the Week: If you were to become a big-name author, how would you handle your finances to ensure that unscrupulous people wouldn’t siphon your funds behind your back? read more

Question of the Week: Do you see Amazon sticking with the Audible model of $15 for one book (and its Channels content) per month or will it shift to an Unlimited model and why?

How confident are you that Amazon will keep current pricing with Audible? Bryan and Jim marvel at 219 straight weeks of podcasts and remind listeners to get Summit 2019 tickets before they are sold out. Bryan calls for indie author success stories and announces the QOTW winners. The guys thank ALL our wonderful Patrons. Bryan and Jim have some helpful tips like using the right credit card to get points from your ad spend, how to re-invigorate your New Year’s resolutions, and which activities will help increase your productivity. The big news stories this week were how Chance Carter had to pay the piper, what are Apple and Amazon’s reader conversion plans, why one author is going wide for a launch advantage, why Amazon is taking a page from brick and mortar for pricing, which author’s series reboot hit the Top 1,000 in the Kindle Store, and why Amazon and Apple are in an audio content war. Question of the Week: Do you see Amazon sticking with the Audible model of $15 for one book (and its Channels content) per month or will it shift to an Unlimited model and why? read more

Question of the Week: Given the fact that Amazon likely can’t stop ALL of the scammers ALL of the time, how will you best carry on without letting stories of bad practices dismantle your writing and marketing tasks?

What can you do to avoid getting derailed by stories of scammers on Amazon? Bryan returns from his trip to Virginia and he and Jim have a fantastic announcement about the Sell More Books Show Summit 2019. There’s a quick clarification regarding Reddit, a shout out for SMBS Bingo and then on to thank the Patrons, including Awakening Forever, Character Sketch & Color, and Twins of Prey. This week’s hottest Tips cover how to prevent procrastination with a daily routine, how to design a quick and useful logo, and which tools can create the launch buzz you need. The stories that made the news this week are why the Barnes and Noble CEO is out of touch, what happened to the author of Fight Club, why indie sci-fi and fantasy titles are keeping pace with trad pubbed ebooks, why diamonds aren’t always a girl’s best friend, and which strategies are not okay with Kindle Unlimited and who doesn’t seem to care. Question of the Week: Given the fact that Amazon likely can’t stop ALL of the scammers ALL of the time, how will you best carry on without letting stories of bad practices dismantle your writing and marketing tasks?

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Question of the Week: Were your books impacted by last week’s purge of Amazon reviews? What will you do to ensure you continue to get more legitimate reviews in the future?

Are you taking steps to get more legitimate reviews on Amazon? Jim is back from fishing and he and Bryan both have great sales this week there’s the Happy Book Reviews summer deal from the Author Marketing Club. And it is the LAST day on Bryan’s book descriptions sale. The guys offer up a big thank you to this week’s Patrons – The Awakening, Carnal, and Twisting Fate. Also, Leo Petracci joins the fellas for their first lab segment in ages! There are three Hot Tips in this week’s show including when to relaunch a lagging series, how authors can rebuild their creativity by unlearning what they know, and what makes a successful cross-promotion. This week the five stories that made the news are why indie romance authors are finally getting a say in the UK, what prompted Amazon to crack down on serial returners, which tale of eBook woes and wins holds true, how to get out of Audible Romance, and who gets to review and who has limitations. Question of the Week: Were your books impacted by last week’s purge of Amazon reviews? What will you do to ensure you continue to get more legitimate reviews in the future?

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