Online reviews are EVERYTHING for the sale of indie books. I focused almost exclusively on reviews as a marketing strategy when my first novel, Saving Grace, was published. Three and a half years later, it has more reviews (2300+ with 4.3-stars) on Amazon than Janet Evanovich’s One for the Money (the book it’s most often […]
Tag: indie publishing
Career Strategy: When to take and when to tank well-meaning advice.
Here’s a blast from the past from Pamela Fagan Hutchins, who has since published ten novels and a novella and one more nonfiction book, quit her day job, and is writing novel number twelve and novella two as we speak. Catch her brand new show, Wine Women & Writing Radio, debuting Friday May 4 at […]
How to Stretch Yourself as a Writer (without breaking)
Back in the day, my brother had a Stretch Armstrong doll that we loved as kids. He’d yank that poor guy one way and I’d pull him the other way until we s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d him as far as we could. We thought it was hysterical and spent hours torturing playing with him. Sometimes, I feel like Stretch Armstrong. Writers […]
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Indie Publishing with Pamela Fagan Hutchins
If you follow this blog, you know I’m a big fan of Kobo, for their international presence, their forward-mindedness with indie authors, and the human touch to their service. You can read about those things HERE and HERE. I am also blessed to have spent time with Christine Munroe with Kobo Writing Life. She presented at the […]
Build Reader Subscriber Lists For Sales Independence
There is no greater marketing advantage than to be able to send welcomed email straight to your readers’ inboxes, any time you want, for any reason you want. Think about it. Amazon doesn’t share with you the emails of its reader-customers that buy your books. Nor do the other sales sites. If they, in their […]
Amazon KDP’s #PoweredbyIndie Celebration of Great Writing
This month, October 2016, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is highlighting great writing by indies with its #PoweredbyIndie Celebration. From what we can tell, the inclusion of titles is based on direct author upload to KDP, Createspace, or ACX, paid sales, number of reviews, and average reviews. There may be other criterion, of course. They’re promoting […]
Drawing In Readers with Rock Star Book Events
Well, I recorded another class from the wilds of Wyoming . . . and here’s the scoop: We’ve all seen the downcast author hiding behind his towering table of unsold books, alone, at one of the big box stores, haven’t we? We veer to avoid him, lest he shatter our vision of a packed house […]
How to Score a Bookbub Promotion and Take Your Book to the Top
We’ve been busy at our new online SkipJack Publishing school. We released our first ever free webinar (How to Sell a Ton of Books) and our first two full-length courses: How to Get More Book Reviews in 10 Surefire Ways and How to Score a Bookbub Promotion and Take Your Book to the Top. You can learn more about them […]
Holy Wear-Me-Out Workshop versus Webcasts
There are some things as an author I always say yes to. Speaking about publishing and promotion to other writers is one of them. But man is it exhausting work! Plus sometimes I’ll randomly start doing or saying something part way through, something unplanned, that later makes me cringed. That’s me in the picture above, […]
Revise or Die Trying: Tips and Techniques
Revising Your Drafts As Presented at Comicpalooza 2014, Houston, Texas Thoughts from Moderator Author Pamela Fagan Hutchins Draft v. Rewrite v. Revision v. Editing (Pamela’s working definitions) Draft: Your original work from once upon a time to the end. Rewrite: Your first draft was so bad that you have to redo major elements of […]