Question of the Week: How do you get your book reviews? What are some ways you might use to gather more?

Bryan and Jim headed deep into autumn with their latest episode on Amazon’s Fiverr reviews lawsuit, building giant email lists, and a comparison between indie and trad pub income. After thanking their wonderful Patrons for the week, Jennifer Evans Kochalka’s Grand Theft Auto and Other Misdemeanors ( http://amzn.to/1GRIzFb ), Tara Ross’ Cubicle Jail to Laptop Lifestyle ( http://amzn.to/1ZNNHWl ), and Mark Cooper’s Merkiaari Wars Box Set ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FU5LSME ), the stalwarts of self-publishing news took on a trio of tips about word count, writing productivity, and getting more reviews. The news stories included million-reader email lists, indie author advice from the CEO of Hachette, Google book scanning project, Sela Lyons’ indie success, and Amazon’s lawsuit against Fiverr book reviewers. This week’s Question of the Week: How do you get your book reviews? What are some ways you might use to gather more?

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Question of the Week: Which non-Amazon ebook retailer would you like to see at #2 in the market and why?

This week, Bryan and Jim tackled another wild week in publishing, including stories on the VATmess expanding, the Author Earnings ebook market report, and the Amazon Crossing announcement. First, Bryan talked about the successes and failures of his insane last week activities, such as an attempt to hit the NY Times list with a BookBub and his March to a Bestseller 3 event. You can opt-in to get his free training course for authors at http://sellingforauthors.com Our Featured Patron of the week was Thomas Umstattd of the Novel Marketing Podcast (http://www.novelmarketing.com ). Jim and Bryan also covered tips on free book promotions, pre-orders, and writer’s block. This week’s Question of the Week: Which non-Amazon ebook retailer would you like to see at #2 in the market and why?

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Question of the Week: How would you create a high concept brand around your books?

This week, Bryan announced a million things (actually three things) to help indie authors, including his new free video training (go to http://authorcopy.com to get on his list), his attempt to hit the USA Today Bestseller List with his writing prompts box set) (get it on Nook at http://bit.ly/noblocknook ) and his new Selling for Authors Facebook Group ( http://bit.ly/sfagroup ). Don’t forget, he’s also got March to a Bestseller 3 coming up this Friday ( http://marchtoabestseller.com ). With the promotional parade over, Jim and Bryan talked tips and news after thanking their latest Patreon patrons (Susan Illene’s Stalked by Flames http://amzn.to/1Q80kFr ) and (Chris Syme’s SMART Social Media for Authors http://amzn.to/1JLTwYI ). The tips included the next level of marketing, Blab, and better author bios. The tumultuous twosome also talked Facebook Groups, a year-long marketing plan, to KDP Select or not to KDP Select, the evolution of authorship, and high concept branding. This week’s Question of the Week: How would you create a high concept brand around your books?

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Question of the Week: Should we keep the sounders? And how has KBoards helped you during your indie author career?

After introducing their latest patron, Michael Allen Peck and his book The Journeyman, Bryan and Jim tackled the latest tips and news. Tips included myths about author marketing, Draft2Digital’s new back matter feature, and passive book marketing. Stories focused on an Oyster update, the growing pay-per-page model, indie author post-production, the mahogany desk flu, the Author Earnings individual report, and the passing of an important figure in self-publishing. The Question of the Week is: Should we keep the sounders? And how has KBoards helped you during your indie author career?

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Question of the Week: Do you think Google will try to compete in the book subscription market? How else do you think Oyster’s integration will impact the Google Play store?

Jim and Bryan took on a big week of news in the self-publishing with their latest episode. After Bryan officially announced the latest March to a Bestseller event (available at http://www.marchtoabestseller.com ), the tag team re-featured one of their $3 patrons, Sandy Williams and her book Shades of Treason. They also took on tips about whining, selling on iBooks, and collaboration. The news stories included the ad-blocking iOS9 browser, the latest month of KU earnings, getting readers to finish books, Amazon’s server outage, and Google’s acquisition of Oyster. This week’s Question of the Week is: Do you think Google will try to compete in the book subscription market? How else do you think Oyster’s integration will impact the Google Play store?

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Question of the Week: Do you buy books at Walmart? How hard would you work to get your books on the shelves there?

Jim and Bryan brought the thunder in their landmark 75th episode! After the two talkers gave props to their latest Patreon supporters (Mark E. Cooper’s Merkiaari Wars Box Set, C. Steven Manley’s Awakened, Kate Curran’s She’s Out of His League, and Honoree Corder’s Prosperity for Writers), Bryan introduced his $1,000 Copywriting for Authors Giveaway. Enter and get his book description cheat sheet at http://authorcopy.com This week’s tips included solutions for top writer excuses, how to create an indie collective, and why you should track your marketing efforts. News stories focused on the Wall Street Journal’s piece on ebook pricing, Facebook marketing, Kindle Scout, judging books by their covers, more zombie publishing memes, and Jamie McGuire’s Walmart shelf placement. This week’s Question of the Week: Do you buy books at Walmart? How hard would you work to get your books on the shelves there?

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Question of the Week: What’s your best estimate on when the New York Times Bestseller list will either cease to exist or have to change drastically? If it does have to change, what will that change look like?

This week, Jim and Bryan welcomed Honoree Corder, the bestselling author of Prosperity for Writers to the show. They also mentioned their newest Patreon pledges on the air, including Crissy Moss (the author of Witch’s Sacrifice), Marc Gunn (the creator of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast), Alinka Rutkowska (author of How I Sold 80,000 Books), Parker Hudson (author of On the Edge), Jonathan Small (author of Ascent), and Sandy Williams (author of Shades of Treason). You can contribute to the Patreon page at http://patreon.com/smbs Jim, Bryan, and Honoree took on a trio of tips about turning your book into a brochure, getting blurbs, and a rule of thumb for marketing budgets. News stories included the Author Solutions settlement, why librarians don’t seek out self-published books, Simon & Schuster’s small entry into KU, the Authors Guild’s campaign against non-competes, Stephen King’s unintentionally pro-indie argument, and the self-publishing print-on-demand #1 worldwide bestseller. This week’s Question of the Week: What’s your best estimate on when the New York Times Bestseller list will either cease to exist or have to change drastically? If it does have to change, what will that change look like?

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Question of the Week: If you were on the shortlist to get a Hugo nomination in the midst of the Sad Puppies controversy, would you have withdrawn your name? Why or why not?

Jim and Bryan started the episode by announcing their new Patreon page. By becoming a patron of the show, you can get your book mentioned on air and contribute to several awesome milestones like extra episodes and an SMBS road tour! Check out the page at https://patreon.com/smbs During the episode proper, the sluggers of self-publishing news tackled tips on improving Dragon Dictate, selling direct, and pricing your books. News stories included the last-second acquisition of PubSlush, the closing of HarperCollins Authonomy, Ann Jacobs’ attempt to join the Ellora’s Cave lawsuit, Konrath and Eisler’s take on the “Amazon is a Monopoly” meme, Amazon’s new Also Boughts drop-down menu, and the massive Hugo Awards controversy. This week’s Question of the Week is “If you were on the shortlist to get a Hugo nomination in the midst of the Sad Puppies controversy, would you have withdrawn your name? Why or why not?”

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Question of the Week: What were your July KU numbers? Are you happy with the results? Why or why not?

After Jim teased two new Author Marketing Club resources and Bryan offered a free consultation for new Best Page Forward subscribers, the triumphant team tackled the latest tips and news. The three tips included building a launch team, creating captivating Facebook cover images, and increasing your engagement on Google Plus. The top five newsworthy stories focused on the closure of PubSlush, John Scalzi’s diversification claims, St. Martin’s Press allegedly failing to live up to its contract, Liz C. Long’s frustration at the self-publishing stigma, and July’s Kindle Unlimited payout numbers. This week’s Question of the Week: “What were your July KU numbers? Are you happy with the results? Why or why not?”

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