Author's Bill of Rights

By Andrew E. Kaufman

How Much Time Should I Give Other Authors?

It’s a question I often ask. The truth is, I’d help everyone if I could, because I know how overwhelming being (or becoming) an author can be. I also know how frustrating it is to feel excited about my work, and then struggle to get others to feel the same enthusiasm. By nature, I like to give just as much as receive and find equal joy in both. Besides, I truly love meeting other writers. We are a community, and I enjoy being a part of it.

But with that comes another set of issues: part of it is time; the other is that these days, it feels like there are almost as many people writing books as reading them. 

And it seems the busier I get with my career, the less time I have, with even less of it to enjoy activities in my personal life. Since I signed with a publisher, I’m no longer my own boss. Now there are deadlines set by others that I’m obligated to meet. There are conference calls with my editor, with promotions people, and with my agent. My time doesn’t seem to belong to me as much as it once did.

Despite this, I still want to offer other authors help when they ask for it. I’ve just learned to recognize my limitations. Since my writing and my readers have to come first, I can’t provide everyone with everything they need. I can only do my best, but I have to accept that my best will not always be what I’d like.

So in setting these priorities, I’ve made some decisions, devising a Personal Author’s Bill of Rights. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Amendment 1: Reading Requests/Endorsements/Beta Reads

I have the right to refuse reading or endorsing another author's book when asked.

This was the toughest one for me. I feel bad saying no. It’s not that I don’t want to read another author’s book—it’s that next to writing a novel, reading one is a huge time investment. I usually read at bedtime, but sometimes that only lasts a few minutes before I pass out.

I will occasionally break this rule if I know an author well enough (and their work), and even then, it depends on whether my schedule will permit. But I’ve run into trouble there as well. I’ve made promises, only to find I’m not able to follow through when my workload becomes too overwhelming. So, as much as I hate to say no to a friend (and suffer the ill effects of that decision) I’ve decided it’s far worse to say yes, and then not be able to deliver. The guilt is colossal.

Amendment 2: Offering Advice.

I will always answer emails from authors who ask for advice and try my best to do so in a timely manner.

With limits, that is. If I feel I can answer a question, I will—unfortunately, how much information I’m able to provide depends on the question, and anything requiring an in-depth outline or pages of explanation simply isn’t manageable. But I do try to do my best and be as helpful as possible, and I also apologize when I can’t.  I don’t always have to give advice, but I do feel an obligation to be kind to everyone.

Amendment 3: Promoting Other Authors’ Books on Social Media and Beyond.

I will gladly promote other authors’ books that:

1) I know and trust deliver quality content

2) I know (period).

But even with that, I’ve started to feel I need to clearly state when I haven't read a book I’m promoting, because it feels unfair to readers otherwise. Then the question arises: how do I enthusiastically recommend a book I’ve never read? Haven’t figured that one out yet.

Amendment 4: Appearing as a Guest on Blogs/ Doing Interviews

 I will always make time to be a guest on blogs (time permitting) and will gladly do interviews.

This applies to all of them, no matter how big or small, because I’m honored to be asked, and because they’re doing me a favor by showing interest (Not the other way around).

Amendment 5: Appearing at Writers' Gatherings

I will always say yes (Time and geography permitting) in order to encourage other authors.

 

See above—same reason, and because when I first started out, I never had the benefit of getting advice from experienced authors, and I know what a big difference it would have made if I did. Besides, as I've mentioned, I love meeting other writers, and I benefit from that just as much as they might.

Have I left anything out? And what about you? Both writers and readers: how do you manage time constraints when the requirements of everyday life seem to get in the way?

Do You Know How To Sell?

by C.J. West
Last week I attended a webinar on e-book marketing and was really struck by something the presenter said. “Amazon knows how to sell stuff and they don’t care if they sell your book or James Patterson’s book or a toaster.”

Amazon is a marketing machine and they flex their muscle for big guys and little guys alike.

The immediate contrast for me was Smashwords. Don’t get me wrong, I love Smashwords. They convert and distribute books amazingly well. But I’m thinking of the Smashwords storefront. It doesn’t sizzle. At all. If you buy something from Smashwords, it’s because the author sent you there on a mission. You bought the book because you really wanted it. You weren’t sold.

A few weeks back I told you about the owner of a small store who turned her back on me to sell a customer something by one of the industry heavyweights. Four different books actually. Her reputation with the customer was too important for her to take a risk on me. The only way she would sell one of my books was if I brought the customer to her store to purchase it.

This model does not work. If I have to find the customer, bring them to the store, and sell them the book, what on earth do I need the store for?

At that point in the seminar I realized two things.

First, Amazon can help me reach well beyond my established audience.

Second, I’m the Smashwords of author marketing. Bear with me and I’ll show you what I mean.

There are two groups of people who buy my books. People who have read my work and their friends. My audience has grown steadily, but it takes time to read a book. Sometimes readers have a novel on their TBR pile for a year before reading. By the time they read and recommend that one, I’ve written three more.

When I say I’m the Smashwords of author marketing, I mean that I’m selling books to people who have already been convinced to buy. I could sell them my books at Smashwords or even in that little indie bookstore because they really want a particular book and they are going out (electronically or physically) to get it.

To be successful, we need to captivate folks who are casually browsing. Most authors have turned their books face out on a store bookshelf, but what have you done to make your books stand out on the digital bookshelf?

This week I’ve made great strides and I’ll share some of the things I’ve done.

The most important real estate I own is twelve pages on Amazon that describe my books and allow readers to buy them. This week I revved up the copy on all twelve pages with quotes and improved the readability.

Next, I evaluated my keywords and categories. I discovered that some had been entered incorrectly. Some of my keywords were laughable in SEO circles. I fixed those and by doing that I hope to improve the chances of being found. Remember, when readers are searching millions of times, any minor improvement can mean a perceptible change in sales.

In the next few weeks I’ll be evaluating my covers. I’m thinking about rebranding my entire line of books, but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. We’ve all heard dozens of times how important covers are, but until this week I never realized how much my covers could be holding me back. Covers need to captivate the casual browser and mine just don’t do that.

Finally, the most important thing was to run an Amazon KDP free book promotion. Last week I gave away Addicted To Love for 5 days. It hit #2 in the Free Kindle Store. Since my last blog here at CFC, I have “sold” over 65,000 copies of that book alone.

In the coming months I hope to shed the marketing doldrums and add a whole lot more sizzle.

What have you done to make your books stand out?


CJ is giving away 12 Kindle Fire e-readers this year and will be offering several free books. If you’d like to be advised of his free book promotions sign up for his newsletter or enter the Kindle Fire contest at www.22wb.com.