Category Archives: book marketing

New techniques for marketing books

Tracking Coffee House Commuter Culture – An Interview with Gregg Taylor and Lori Thiessen

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Tom Masters

We have often discussed the benefits of blogging for authors.  Blogs are a great platform for building an audience while you develop your work.  But blogs can also serve as an excellent vehicle for researching your book, especially when you are … Continue reading →

Posted in author tools, blog to book, book marketing, Interviews, open publishing, readership strategies | 2 Comments

Giving the Author Elevaotr Speech a Lift – An Interview with Media Skills Expert Lorraine Howell

Posted on April 21, 2009 by Tom Masters

Ironically, often one of the toughest things for an uthor to do is talk about his or her book in a way that gets people interested in buying it or at least learning more about it.  This is especially true when … Continue reading →

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Losing Hope, Banishing Fear and Following Ad Dollars to the Web

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Tom Masters

Book Vid Lit by Sheila Clover-English Sheila Clover English, the CEO of Circle of Seven Productions, is a pioneer in book video production, marketing and distribution for authors and publishers. There is much debate in the advertising and marketing world … Continue reading →

Posted in book marketing, Book videos, Columns, open publishing, readership strategies | Leave a comment

Books by Number – Super Crunching to Find Profitable Titles

Posted on April 3, 2009 by Tom Masters

In his book Super Crunchers: Why Thinking by Numbers is the New Way to be Smart, Ian Ayres outlined how statistical methodologies are challenging expertise and intuition in a multitude of fields including seemingly unlikely areas such as film making.   In the book, … Continue reading →

Posted in book marketing, open publishing, publishing analytics, publishing technology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

ebooks – Toward a Tipping Point?

Posted on March 27, 2009 by Tom Masters

The ebook continues on a roll.  March 8-14 was national Read an e-Book week and by all accounts was well received.  As if to underscore the continued success of the electronic reading format, the American Association of Publishers announced that … Continue reading →

Posted in book marketing, open publishing, publishing strategy, publishing technology, readership strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Teaser Books and Micro Market Testing

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Tom Masters

Recently, Penguin Books announced it would be bringing out more ultra short run teaser editions to better test the market for new titles and avoid the risk of longer book runs.  This cautious attitude is not surprising given the economic climate … Continue reading →

Posted in book marketing, open publishing, publishing analytics, publishing strategy, publishing technology, readership strategies | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Settling In with Google Book Search

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Tom Masters

Search is the primary way most of us navigate the Web.  Google has continually looked for new ways to improve the results of searches and today it’s index of websites is the most comprehensive in the world.  Yet the largest body … Continue reading →

Posted in author tools, book marketing, open publishing, publishing strategy, publishing technology | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Sticky Goodness of Testing Book Titles with Google AdWords

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Tom Masters

Tim Ferris wrote his highly popular book, “The 4 Hour Workweek, about how to become one of the NR (the New Rich), back in 2006.  But rather than relying on his or his publisher’s intuition about a catchy book title, … Continue reading →

Posted in author tools, book marketing, open publishing, readership strategies | Tagged , , , , | 24 Comments

Could the Children’s Book Market Sink like a Lead Balloon?

Posted on January 11, 2009 by Tom Masters

The tough economy looks like bad news for the children’s book market – for example children’s publisher Scholastic and bookseller Children’s Placehave reported declining sales and earnings.  But now publishers and booksellers are learning that with the passage of the Consumer … Continue reading →

Posted in book marketing, open publishing, publishing strategy, readership strategies | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Publishing’s Month of the Long Knives

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Tom Masters

OUCH!!  The retrenchment of consumer spending which has led to declining book sales is now beginning to ripple through book publishing.   Book sales have fallen dramatically in both the US and UK during the final four months of the year and … Continue reading →

Posted in book marketing, open publishing, publishing analytics, publishing strategy | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments