A professionally designed author website is a great tool for you to start building a platform of followers and, to my mind, WordPress is by far the best option for authors.

In this post I’ll take you through the 7 basic steps needed to set up your own author website via WordPress.org.  None of these steps are particularly complicated, but when I first set up my own site I had to research every last bit – which can slow things down.

What I hope this post will do is guide you through the process (I’d have loved having this information on hand when I first set up my own site).  In an effort to keep things as simple as possible, I don’t go into all the different options at every step, but rather try and put you on a fast-track to getting your own site up and running – in a way that I know works.

1.  Buy your own website address.

When choosing a name, the simplest option for most authors is firstnamesurname.com – if that’s available, then go for it!

If it isn’t (as it wasn’t with my name) you have a few options.  One is to add a hyphen.  Two is to add a word (like books or author).  Three is to go for a different extension – such as .net or .co.  My recommendation would be to approach them in that order.

In terms of actually buying your name, there are lots of options – I use GoDaddy.com who I’ve always found to be very good, but there are hundreds of choices. Expect to pay around $12 per year for a .com address.  You’ll probably be offered a lot of additional extras – rest assured you don’t need them.

TIP:  Buying your web address from the same company that will be managing your hosting keeps things simple as it means that you can skip step 3.

2.  Set up web hosting.

If you’re using WordPress.org (which I recommend) then you’ll need to find a company to host your website.  You’ll only need a basic hosting package – I’ve mainly used BlueHost for my websites, which currently costs just $4.95 per month.

3. Re-direct your website.

*Remember that you can skip this step if you got your hosting from the same company that you bought your website address from.  Give yourself a pat on the back and skip ahead to step 4.*

You will now need to let the people managing your domain name know who is hosting your site.  To do this, your web host (for example BlueHost) will give you the DNS (Domain Name System) information for your site.  This will look something like:

Nameserver 1:      NS1.BLUEHOST.COM

Nameserver 2:      NS2.BLUEHOST.COM

Now all you need to do is to enter this information in Nameserver Management section of the company you bought the web address with (eg. GoDaddy).  And wait.  It will take around 24 hours for the change to take effect (though it can take as long as 72 hours).

4. Install WordPress.

Most modern hosting companies will allow you to install WordPress with a simple one-click installation – BlueHost and GoDaddy certainly both do.  Simply locate ‘Wordpress’ in your control panel (c-panel) and click.  It really is that easy.

5. Choose a WordPress theme.

This is the fun part!  One of the brilliant things about WordPress is the availability of hundreds of different themes to customize your website design.

There are hundreds of free options, but for just $30-$45 you can have a premium theme with loads of added functionality and some awesome design.  ThemeForest, WooThemes, Elegant themes and Themify.me are all recognised providers and you can view demos of the theme in action before you buy.

I prefer buying from Theme Forest as it allows me to see other user’s ratings for the theme – and to read through the comments made by people that are running the theme on their own website.

When choosing your theme, I’d suggest looking for a ‘responsive’ theme – basically this means that your theme will adapt to fit mobile phones and tablets – which is increasingly important.

6. Upload your theme to WordPress.

Once you have downloaded your theme, you’ll need to upload it to your own site via your WordPress dashboard.  To do this, simply click on Appearance > Themes > Install Theme > Upload theme

Upload your theme as a zip file and then select ‘Activate’ when prompted.  Congratulations – your theme is uploaded and ready to go!

7. Customize your site design.

Once your theme is uploaded,you can just use it straight ‘out of the box’ but you’ll probably want to play around for a little while to get your theme set up exactly as you want it.  Premium themes especially tend to be packed with options to customize the way the theme looks and works.

You can take this a step further by using Plugins.  Plugins are additional tools that you can ‘plug in’ to your site to give it greater functionality and can be uploaded for free straight from your WordPress dashboard (unsurprisingly in the ‘Plugins’ section).   Try not to go overboard, as this can slow your site down, but carefully selected plugins can add some really cool stuff to your website.

And you’re ready to go!

Tick off these seven steps and you’re well on your way to establishing an awesome author website using WordPress.  Not only will you have a more professional looking website, but you’ll also be establishing skills in online marketing which are going to be an excellent investment in years to come.

I hope you found the information here useful – if you did, please share with other authors!

The post WordPress for authors: 7 steps to a great WordPress author website appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.

I’d like to let you into a little secret.  My website design cost just $40.  It’s fully responsive (which means it works well on smart phones and tablets too), from an awesome design team and has loads of functionality.  All for just $40.

It was really pretty simple to set up too.  Producing the content is a different matter, but getting the site ready to go was done in an afternoon.

If you’re planning on setting up an author website, or upgrading your current site, I’m hoping this post will be invaluable advice in how to quickly and cheaply establish your own website.  I’ve done a lot of research, but I want to boil that down for you into a few key points so that you can get on with the important stuff – creating great books.

Now I’m not holding my own site up as a shining example of ultra advanced web design.  But it does what I want it to do, looks professional and most importantly works well (I hope) for you, the reader.  And it does all that without me knowing anything about coding or having to spend lots of time and money.  That’s the kind of web solution I like.

Now, there are A LOT of options out there for authors in terms of websites, and navigating through the pros and cons of each can be a headache, especially if you’re new to running a website.

I’m going to cut through all of that and give you my personal recommendation: use WordPress.org.

If you’re looking for a simple but powerful system which is easy to use and powerful enough to grow with you, then look no further.  Yes, there are free website options available, like Blogger, Tumblr, Weebly, AboutMe and WordPress.com but none of them give you the freedom and power of WordPress.org.

In this post I’m going to tell you why I think wordpress.org is the best solution for most authors.  Hopefully you’ll agree, and join me next week when I’ll take you through some very simple steps to set up your own WordPress site.  If you sign up for my e-mail newsletter (at the top right of this page) then I’ll give you a gentle nudge when the post is ready.

One important clarification before we go any further – in this post I’m talking about wordpress.org, and not wordpress.com.  Both are based on the same system, but using wordpress.org involves arranging your own hosting and web address – and that opens up a whole world of additional options.

Who else uses WordPress?

You don’t have to just take my word that WordPress.org is a winning solution for authors – here are some great author and publishing related sites that are all built on WordPress.  Between them, these websites get millions of visits every month – and exactly the same system they use is available to you, for FREE.

So what makes WordPress right for me?

1.  It’s easy to use

Wordpress is what is called a Content Management System (CMS).  You enter your content (blog posts, images, web pages etc) and WordPress organizes them all for you and translates them into a website.  The great news is that makes running your own website easy and means that you don’t need to know anything about coding.  Better still, most web hosting companies offer simple ‘one click’ WordPress installation – meaning you can be up and running in minutes.

For an absolute beginner, the WordPress system will take a little while to get the hang of – but overall it’s pretty intuitive and there’s excellent support content available.  I’d say that if you can use Microsoft Word or Powerpoint, then you’ll be able to teach yourself to use WordPress.  Hint – YouTube has some great video tutorials available for just about anything you’re looking for.

There’s also more than enough functionality to keep even the most tech saavy author satisfied.  And if you want to get some specialist help then  Elance.com has an army of reasonably priced WordPress experts to help you out.

2) There are hundreds of website designs for less than $50 – many of them FREE

Because WordPress.org is a huge open-source system, hundreds of web developers are working all the time to come up with great new functionality and designs for users.  I can’t emphasize enough how important this is to making WordPress such an incredible tool.

There are loads of website templates – which are called themes – in every size and shape, with many of them FREE.  There’s also some absolutely incredible premium themes (like this one, which you can see here) available for less than $50.  Themeforest.net (my personal favourite), Woothemes and Elegant themes all have a great array of different designs for you to chose from.

Themes effectively allow you to chose a website design that you like and upload it to your site. Premium WordPress themes often come packed with fantastic functionality – giving you access to professional standard web design for less than $50.

Uploading your theme takes a matter of minutes, but with so many options, choosing the right theme for you can take a long time.  Don’t worry, I’m currently working on a list of my top WordPress themes for authors so watch this space.

3) You can customize your site to do almost anything using plug-ins

Another benefit of the open source WordPress system is the availability of plug-ins created by web designers that help bring added functionality to your site.  A Plug-in is essentially a piece of code that (you guessed it) ‘plugs in’ to your existing site.

Want to allow your readers to share your posts via social media?  There’s a plugin for that.  Want to add an e-mail sign up form? There’s a plugin for that too.  As an example, this site uses a number of plugins, including ShareThis for social sharing (which you’ll see at the bottom of this post) and a MailChimp widget for the e-mail sign-up (in the sidebar and footer).

A lot of plugins are free, and can be simply uploaded through your WordPress dashboard in a matter of seconds.  There are also plenty of premium plugins available from the likes of codecanyon.net costing anything from $2 to $30.

In an upcoming post, I’ll also be looking at some of the must have WordPress plugins for authors.

4) Get your content found

WordPress is really well set up for search engines – which gives readers a better chance of finding your posts.  Add in a plugin like All in One SEO or WordPress SEO by Yoast – which will help you optimize your content – and you’ll give yourself the best start possible.

5) Great value

Setting up your website with WordPress offers incredible value.  You will need to buy your own web address and hosting, but these costs are very reasonable – expect to pay around $10 a year for a web address and $5 per month for hosting.

Even running a premium theme, you can be up and running with a great design for a little over $100.

What next?

Doesn’t that sound fantastic?  Having a custom website designed for you can easily cost upwards of $2,000.  WordPress provides you with ready made, ‘off the peg’ solutions for a fraction of the cost.

All it takes is the investment of a little time and effort – and within days you could have a great looking author website. Still find the prospect  of setting up your own site a little daunting?  That’s perfectly natural, but once you’ve learnt the basics, you’ll be amazed at what you can do.

To make things easier, next week I’ll walk you through 5 simple steps to setting up your own WordPress.org site. I hope you’ll join me.

The post A great author website for $40: The benefits of WordPress for authors. appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.

Great book cover design has always been a crucial part of successful publishing, but does cover design matter for eBooks? If it’s possible to hit the Kindle top 10 with a badly designed book cover, isn’t it tempting for us all to lower our standards – and our costs?

Or does the rise of visual social media and the struggle to stand out make creative, well-designed book covers and author branding more important than ever?

Book cover design has the power to fundamentally change our view of a book – how we feel about it and how likely we are to buy it.  I’ve seen sales teams and retailers instantly change their view of a book based on a re-designed cover – from ‘not interested’ to ‘potential bestseller’.  I’ve also seen the very real impact of changing a book cover – and getting it right – on actual sales.

That’s because browsing in physical book stores is an important way of readers discovering books – a cover that sells your story effectively can attract browsers – and convert them into buyers.

But does the same apply digitally?  After all, the way people buy books is very different online to a traditional book retailer.  Very simply, you have a LOT more information to base your decision on when shopping on Amazon – from ratings, to reviews, to chart positions and even what other people bought.

Price also plays a bigger role in purchase decisions and for an eBook that’s free or 99c, with good ratings, many readers can see past poor cover design.  And  of course the book cover is so much smaller online – with no opportunity for the additional impact of multiple facings.

With all those factors to consider, is a book cover really still worth investing in?

There’s certainly a shift in balance at the point of purchase.  Gone are the days when a great cover alone could guarantee you success, even with a below average book.

There’s also a need to design differently to take into account the new rules.  Just taking the same approach for an eBook cover as you would have done with a physical book won’t optimize your performance.

But yes – eBook cover design is still massively important – and with the rise of social media and online book discovery it’s becoming even more so.

Here are 3 reasons that cover design is important for eBooks, and what we can learn from them.

Browsing and the 2 second rule.

Readers still browse for books online – whether that be checking the Amazon chart, Goodreads lists, or eTailer promotions.  That’s why chart position can be such a powerful driver of sales.

That means that you have 1 or, at most, 2 seconds to catch reader’s attention and sell your story.  This is the job of your book cover – readers don’t scan titles or ratings – they scan covers.  Sure, they’ll then go on to check the rating and probably read some reviews – but its your cover that will get them there.

A great cover design won’t close the deal – but it’ll create the attention in the first place.

So what can we learn from the 2 second rule?

Stand out – even when small.

Your cover isn’t viewed in a vacuum – it’s fighting for attention with all those around it.  Chose something that stands out – and test your cover design concepts alongside your competition.

Bear in mind that, when browsing, readers are going to see your cover in thumbnail size – meaning it has to work extra hard.  Test you cover design options in the size that readers will see it and make sure it still has impact.  Can’t read the tagline?  Maybe you’d be better losing it and allowing more room for everything else.  When you have so few pixels to work with, prioritizing what’s most important is key.

Instantly position your story. 

Readers know what type of book they like – and what they’re looking for.  Your book cover design needs to make it easy for readers to identify straightaway what it is that you’re offering.  Is it a humorous, light-hearted romance, or an epic historical drama?

Creating author brands

The visual representation of an author is no longer just about book covers.  Readers interact with authors via their websites and social media feeds as well as any advertising or content marketing – all of which have visual elements.

Developing an author brand that gets to the heart of what you mean to readers should guide everything that you do.  Getting the visuals right will help you to communicate what you’re about quickly, powerfully and persuasively.  It will help influence people to pick-up one of your books for the first time and will resonate with existing readers.  It will make you easier to recognise – and to remember.

But what does the importance of author branding mean for book cover design?

Be distinctive

If a book cover design is the starting place for your author brand look (and more often than not, it is) then it needs to provide a distinctive identity.  What is it about your look that is going to separate you from your competition?

For Stephanie Meyer, it is the crisp colour scheme and impacful icons – despite her author name being small, each book was instantly recognisable.  For Maggie Stiefvater, it is an illustration style and typography.  For Veronica Roth it is a dystopian setting and eye-catching icons.

You don’t have to completely break from the conventions of your genre, but keep an eye on what’s going to distinguish your look from everyone else’s.

Think beyond the book cover

Your brand identity is going to have to work across a whole range of visual medium – so what are the elements that will transfer across.

The key elements that are recognized as part of your author brand could be a colour scheme, icons, illustration style, photography style or typography. The key thing is that your design has enough depth to work across multiple facets.  A simple stock photograph with some plain type isn’t going to give you very much to work with.

Identify what are your key design hallmarks and make sure they’ll work outside of a book cover.

Social media – and the power of imagery.

The impact of social media in some ways makes book covers more important than they ever have been.  More people are sharing more images than ever before through sites like Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest.  And images generate more engagement from users than any other form of media.

It’s not just via social media that people will share your cover – there are hundreds of book websites and blogs that are potential targets for sharing your cover.  And of course every share will also show up in search results on Google and the like.  Type ‘Divergent book cover’ into Google and click on image results to see just how powerful this can be.

People sharing your book cover is important because every share is an opportunity for more people to discover your book.  Some shares might only reach a few people, but they all add up – and if an influential blog features your cover reveal you could be reaching thousands of readers in one hit.

The more shares that you get, the closer you’ll come to a ‘tipping point’, where readers have seen your book so many times, they feel like they should find out what all the fuss is about.  Advertisers work on a principle that consumers need to see an advert at least 5 times before it will have any impact – and the same principle applies to your book.

So what does social sharing mean for book cover design?

Think – what does your cover say about the reader?

When people share a book cover, it says something about them – not just you.  They will not share your book cover if it sucks - no matter how much they loved the book.

E.L James took a bold move with Fifty Shades of Grey by breaking with the cover design conventions of the Erotica genre.  She avoided showing copious amounts of flesh and signposting the content in the most obvious of ways.  Suddenly, here was a book that women were happy to be seen reading and associated with – because it didn’t scream ‘I’m sex-obsessed’.

With a gently suggestive, sophisticated approach, she helped open up erotica to a whole new readership and spawned a litany of copycat covers.

So think, what does your cover say about your reader?  And are they happy with that label?

Dare to be creative

To look at it book covers and social media another way, the more readers love your book cover, the more likely they are to share it.  Hell, people who haven’t even read your book will share the cover if they love the design.  I have a Pinterest board full of cover designs that I love even though I haven’t read most of the books.  And it doesn’t matter that most people who view or share your cover won’t buy the book.  What matters is that a small percentage will.

The more creative, original and downright awesome your book cover is – the more likely it is to be shared.  It’s difficult to get this right – but work with great designers, and give them the remit to be creative – you might just find that your book cover becomes its own marketing campaign.

Summary

Whether you’re published traditionally, digital only, or self-published, your book cover design matters.

The rules for eBook design are slightly different.  At point of purchase consumers now have much more to go on than the cover alone.  BUT.  Book cover design is still the best way we have of grabbing a readers attention and instantly positioning a book.  The opportunities for it to do that are now spread far wider than just at the point of purchase – and are growing every day.

Make sure that every reader interaction with your book cover counts by investing in great design.  Getting it right might just be the thing that makes your ebook a bestseller.

If you enjoyed the post – please share with others!  And remember you can sign up for e-mail updates in the sidebar.

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The post Book cover design: why eBook covers matter appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.

Make Pinterest part of your book marketing strategy

Pinterest was one of the big success stories of 2012, as it became the fastest website ever to reach 10 million registered users.

For many authors, Pinterest is already playing a significant role in their book marketing and social media strategy.  I expect to see the number of authors using Pinterest to connect with readers grow rapidly in 2013 – so isn’t time that you took a second look?

This post will give you an insight into the benefits of Pinterest for authors, along with some really simple guidelines to get you started.  Want to learn more? Follow my Pinterest Marketing boot camp for authors – with great tips for those at a Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced level.

Remember to sign up to receive e-mail updates and enjoy the ride!

So what is Pinterest exactly?

Pinterest is a social media network for the organization and sharing of imagery.  It’s incredibly simple, fun and addictive.  In the words of Pinterest themselves:

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse boards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

People use boards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.

Check out this video for a quick explanation:

What’s all the fuss about?

In a nutshell, Pinterest is BIG, growing very fast, has highly engaged users and is great for reaching women – especially younger women. That makes it a great fit for many authors.

• The quickest website ever to reach 10 million registered users.
• 79% of users are women.
• Users spend 1 hour 17 minutes on Pinterest (compared to 12 minutes for Facebook).
• 67% of Pinterest users are aged 18-45 (vs 51% of Facebook users).

What can Pinterest do for me?

Inspire you.

Pinterest is great for creative inspiration and, being image based, can provide a healthy break from words for authors.  Use it to spark ideas for locations, characters, scenes, or even cover design.  Sharing and collaborating with others can make the experience even more rewarding.

Connect you to readers.

Images that you like are a great way of discovering others with shared tastes and interests.  If a picture paints a thousand words… then your Pinterest boards will tell readers a LOT about you as an author.  Equally, you can discover, follow and collaborate with your readers, bloggers and other authors.  And you’ll likely connect with readers that you wouldn’t otherwise have ‘met’ through Twitter or Facebook.

Developing your audience in this way will be key to the success of your marketing as these connections will give you the opportunity to ‘talk’ (through pictures) to others about your books.

Help readers discover your book. 

Members use Pinterest to discover content and products.  So sharing your books and content related to them (book covers, trailers, quotes, reader pics) will help pinners discover your work.

There are a number of different ways that people discover content on Pinterest.  Understanding those and optimizing your profile, boards and pins will improve your chances of people finding your stuff.  Following my beginners, intermediate and advanced tips for authors is a great place to start.

Drive traffic to your website.

Pinterest drives more referral traffic (people who click through to another site) than LinkedIn, Google Plus and YouTube – COMBINED.  It is also growing more quickly than those sites – so will become even more significant.

This is important because it means that, used effectively, Pinterest will help people find your website (or your Amazon, or Goodreads page) – taking you one step closer to selling your book.

Who else is on there?

There are already a number of authors connecting with readers on Pinterest and doing a fantastic job.  Equally there are loads of other great book-focused pinners, from Publishers, to book bloggers, to libraries.  Here is a very short list of some of my favourites.

Michele Hauf

A collection of amazing fantasy imagery, as well as writing and character inspiration – and boards on everything beautiful, from Mendhi to Shoes and Sparklies.  A sumptuous treat of visual awesomeness.

Jellybooks

With 80 boards and almost 15,000 followers, Jelly books is the home to all things bookish including the inspired Books and Cats.  And of course, Jelly.

Sherrilyn Kenyon

A real lesson in reader engagement, Sherrilyn has boards devoted to Fans Who Made My Day, Fan Tattoos and Caught Reading Kenyon. Do you love your readers this much?

D Cm

A real book aficionado, with over 30 boards related to books and reading, including Books and Body Parts and Cozy Reading Places.  Celebrate your inner book geek – along with over 10,000 other followers.

Of course, learning and borrowing ideas from other authors is a great place to start – and you’ll likely find people that you share tastes with and want to follow.

Finding other authors on Pinterest can be tricky, so I’ve put together a pinboard with some great authors to follow to get you started.  If there are people that I’m missing, please let me know in the comments section!

What do I need to know?

Whether you’re new to Pinterest or a seasoned veteran, there is loads to learn.  As with any social network, Pinterest can be a significant (if fun) investment of your time.  Optimizing that time by getting things right is essential in making that investment a worthwhile one.

The tips that I’ve put together for Pinterest marketing at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels should definitely help with that.  However if you’re raring to get started, or prefer to learn as you go, here are three simple guiding principles – I’ve also put them in a handy infographic for your Pinterest boards:

Share cool stuff.

That is not the same as ‘share loads of stuff’.  It’s also not the same as ‘just share popular stuff’.

People want to follow Pinners who add value by sharing and curating great, distinctive content; those who have similar tastes and interests and deliver them the very best the internet has to offer.

So remember – concentrate on quality over quantity and be yourself.  Also, make an effort to share original content – not just re-pin other people’s.

Make connections.

Pinterest works at it’s best – and you reach the most people – when you’re connected to others who share the same interests.

So connect Pinterest to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and get involved with the Pinterest community.  Invite friends, follow others, like, comment and collaborate.  That’s how you’ll ‘meet’ other people.

Make it easy for people to find your stuff.

Pinterest is a search engine as well as a social network.  Always ask yourself – ‘how are people going to find this?’.  So add descriptions containing key words to pins and target your boards at what people are looking for.

So where do I start?

Pinterest is here to stay and, as it grows, will be an increasingly important way for authors, bloggers and publishers to connect to readers.

For readers, Pinterest promises cool new ways of connecting to and discovering authors and books – it’s up to all of us to make that experience as rewarding as possible.

So step right this way to start making Pinterest a key part of your book marketing strategy…

Take me to the Beginner’s Pinterest tips!  I’m all ready for the Intermediate tips.

I’m soooo good I’ll skip straight to the Advanced tips

If you found this post useful – please share it with others!

The post Book marketing on Pinterest: an author guide appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.

How get started with Pinterest

Pinterest can be a essential part of an author’s book marketing strategy – helping readers to discover your books and driving traffic to your website.  And it’s also a whole lot of fun.

Not signed up to Pinterest yet? Or have a profile surrounded by empty boards?  Here are some essential tips for authors to get you started.

Follow these simple Pinterest marketing tips and you’ll soon be pinning like a champion.

1) User name – make sure people can find you

If you have a fairly common name (for example there are over 200 Jane Smith’s on Pinterest) then consider adding ‘Author’ to help people narrow down the results.

Also remember to fill out the ‘about’ section of your profile, including any keywords that will help people to find you (start by adding ‘author’ and the genre you write in).  This will help people to discover your profile and boards.

2) Use a headshot for your profile picture

People like to connect to other people – not book covers or logos. This is Joy Cho – and yes, she has over 12 million followers.

3) Use Pinterest for fun first

Using Pinterest without a marketing agenda to begin with will help you to understand how it works and to get a sense of Pinterest ettiquette.

4) Tie in your existing social networks

Link your Pinterest account to Facebook and Twitter and follow your connections (or at least some of them) on Pinterest too.  Hey presto – you already have friends.

5) Get yourself a Pin It Button

Add a Pin It button to the book mark bar of your browser and you’ll be ready to grab an image from any website you visit.  You’ll find it under the ‘About’ menu – or just click here.

6) Follow new people

Part of the joy of Pinterest is finding other people with similar tastes.  Find some of the top pinners in subject areas that you’re interested in and prepare to be inspired – and to learn how it’s done.  Don’t know where to start?  Follow me here, and I promise to follow back – BINGO, you have your first follower!

7) Create some boards – and add a description.

Start a few boards (under the +Add menu in the top right of your screen) and get pinning.  The best boards have a specific theme – whether it be ‘Reading and Books’ or your favourite book cover designs.

Make sure that you add a description to your boards – and include keywords that will help people discover them (use these in the board titles too).

8) Tweet a pin

Share your very best pins (not every pin) via your other networks – it’s a great way of broadening your reach and encouraging people to follow you on Pinterest.

9) Pin regularly

That doesn’t have to be every day, but do try to build Pinterest into your routines.  Little and often will ensure you gradually build your presence without spamming your followers with hundreds of pins all at once.

10) Pin brilliant, original stuff

Don’t just re-pin other people’s pins.  Where you add real value is finding great stuff on the web and sharing it with others.

11) Add a price to your book covers

Simply add a $ or £ and a price point to the description of your pin and Pinterest will add a price flash.  Pins with prices are also eligible for (though not guaranteed to get into) the Pinterest Gift section.

12) Interact with other Pinners

Re-pin, like and comment on others Pins.  These interactions will all bring your profile to the attention of others.

13) Make sure people can discover your pins

Add descriptions to your pins that contain words that people are likely to use to search for them.  If you’re pinning a book cover, then include the author name and title – but also the genre and ‘book cover’.

Right, got all that?

As a beginner at Pinterest there can be a lot to take in, but the site is also great fun and very intuitively designed.  Follow these simple tips and you’ll soon figure things out and see your following increase week by week.  Just make sure it doesn’t take over all your writing time.

Hope you found the tips helpful – if you did, then please share!

Ready for the next step?

Take me to the Intermediate Pinterest tips!

The post Pinterest marketing tips for authors: beginners appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.

How to take your Pinterest marketing to the next level

You know Pinterest can be a great way for authors to connect with readers, you’re already up and running and you’ve mastered my beginner’s tips.

So how can you use Pinterest to take your book marketing to the next level?

It’s time for our Pinterest Marketing boot camp part two.  Master these 13 simple Pinterest marketing tactics and you’ll soon be a veritable Pinterest ninja.

1) Turn your own quotes into Pins

Use online tools like www.recitethis.com or www.pinstamatic.com to turn your favourite quotes from your book, or reviews of your books into pinnable images.

2) Pin videos

Pinterest also allows you to pin videos from YouTube – what about a board for your favourite book trailers?  Simply use the Pin It button on your toolbar (you’ve added that, right?… see beginners tips no. 5) to pin directly from YouTube.

3) Improve you board names

Having distinctive board names is great – but they also need to work with the terms that people are searching for – so that they can discover them.

If you’ve got a board dedicated to your favourite book covers, you might like the sound of Cover Love, but it won’t show up in searched as well as something like Book Cover Design.

Bear in mind Pinterest Boards will show up in Google searches as well, so don’t miss out on this opportunity for extra traffic.

4) Rearrange your boards

Put your boards that get the most re-pins at the top of your profile where most people will see them.  That way you’ll be more likely to get follows and re-pins.  You’ll find the button on your profile page, at the top next to the ‘edit profile’ button.  Just drag and drop your boards to where you want them.

5) Edit your board covers

Choose your most powerful image or most popular pin as your board cover – you’ll have more chance of pulling people in.

To edit a board cover, simply hover your cursor over the current board cover and select ‘Edit board cover’ – note that you can also drag your chosen image to position it for maximum impact.

6) Tag your friends

Just like Twitter, you can connect with your Pinterest friends simply by entering @theirpinterestname in a pin description.

7) Focus on image quality

Pinterest is all about stunning visuals – and the better the quality of the images of your pins, the more likely they are to be re-pinned.  Aim for at least 554 pixels wide – and no longer than 5,000 pixels tall (or it takes too long to scroll up and re-pin!).

8) Get the app

Can’t bear to miss a pin? Looking to share creative inspiration on the go?  You’ll need the Pinterest app – available for both iPhone and Android HERE.

9) Make the most of #hashtags

As with Twitter, Pinners use hashtags to search for content – so take some time to discover key hashtags for your genre or interests.  Want more tips on how to market your books?  Try #bookmarketing.

10) Pin directly from your site to Pinterest

Always pay attention to where your Pins will lead if clicked.  Pinning items directly from your own site will deliver you referral traffic whenever Pinners click-through from a Pin.

11) Run Pinterest browser plug-ins

There’s a plethora of Pinterest plug-ins (try saying that fast) for all major internet browsers.  Some of the most popular are Pinterest Right Click for Firefox, and Pin Search for Google Chrome.

12) Have Pinterest integrated into YOUR site

You can pick up Pinterest follow buttons direct from Pinterest.  If your website allows you should also integrate Pinterest into your social sharing to make it easy for people to Pin your content.

You can even pull a feed from Pinterest of your latest pins – if you’re using WordPress, I’m running the Pinterest Pinboard plug-in from Codefish in the sidebar of my site.

13) Check what’s working

Both pinreach.com and pinpuff.com are great FREE tools to help you track how your pins are doing.  Remember, it’s not all about how many followers you have – how active you are on Pinterest and how many people like or re-pin your pins are important factors too.

Whoah – got all of that?

Once you’ve mastered these tips, you’ll be pinning like a superstar.  Give yourself a big pat on the back.  Do you still have any time left in your day, or have your lost hour after hour to looking at pins of cute kittens and delicious food?

Back to using Pinterest to promote your books and connecting to readers – it’s time to get serious about achieving what you set out to do.

Are you ready to take it to the next level?

Take me to the Advanced Pinterest tips!

But before you go, if you found the tips here useful, please share them!

The post Pinterest marketing tips for authors: intermediate appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.

How to optimize your Pinterest marketing for better results

OK, so you’ve established yourself on Pinterest, and you’ve mastered my beginners and intermediate tips.  You’re starting to see results – but what will catapult you into the Pinterest stratosphere and improve your book marketing?

The bad news is that there is no getting around the time spent putting together quality pins and connecting with other pinners.  The good news is that I’ve got 13 Pinterest marketing tips here which should help to give you optimize your efforts – making sure your time is richly rewarded.

1) Check out some of Pinterest’s top Pinners

Use Repinly.com to discover some of the very top Pinners via their directory.  It’s really worth checking out what others do well – and these are the best of the best.  Want to make the top 100?  Well, you’ll need over a million followers – better get pinning…

2) Be first – set trends

The more newsworthy your pins, the more likely they are to be re-pinned by others.  One easy way to do this is to do book cover reveals for your latest titles, but maybe you can expand that to working with other authors to reveal their covers too?  There are lots of things to be first at – find yours.

3) Timing is everything

WHEN you pin is important to ensure that the maximum number of people see your pins – and therefore you get more likes and re-pins.  The optimum times for pinning are 2pm-4pm and 8pm-1am – check out this handy infographic for more detail.

Not around then?  Use Pingraphy.com – a great FREE service that allows you to schedule your pins ahead of time – and you can also upload images in bulk.

4) Collaborate

Invite friends or fellow authors to Pin on some of your boards.  Working together on a project is a great way to pick up followers from each other.  Note: you can invite others to pin under the ‘Edit boards’ section.

5) Create content for Pinterest

Create new and original content, post it to your site and pin it to one of your boards.  The aim? Attract attention and drive traffic.

6) Pay attention to file names

When you’re creating and uploading files – either to your own site or to Pinterest – pay attention to what you call them.  Using the right keywords in your file names will mean that your pins perform better in Pinterest searches.

7) Involve your readers

Social media works best as a conversation, not a broadcast.  Why not involve your readers in your Pinterest boards?  Sherrilyn Kenyon does a great job at this – including the board featured here, which shows pictures sent in by fans of them reading her books.  What a great marketing tool – showing such dedicated readers – others are sure to want to know what the fuss is about.

8) Get creative feedback

Pinterest is a great way of getting creative feedback.  Why not ask your followers to vote on options for your latest cover design?  For readers, it’s a a fascinating look behind-the-scenes and a chance to have an input.  In return you’ll get valuable feedback about what’s popular, as well as great interactivity on your pins.

Note: Just make sure you have the image rights to do this!

9) Create boards to supplement your blog posts

Do you have a blog?  Boards can be a companion to a post – offering added depth to your blogging.  You can check out my board on Pinterest here.  You’ll find more helpful statistics and information about marketing on Pinterest… I couldn’t fit everything into my posts.

10) Create a board of your blog posts

Put together a board featuring your best blog posts – ones that add real value to an audience.  Pinterest will be another way for readers to discover your blog and also a way of nudging your Pinterest followers to check out the latest post.  You can check out the board for my blog here.

11) Find out what’s being pinned from your website

I love this one!  To discover what other people are pinning from your own site, simply entering the following url:

www.pinterest.com/source/yourwebsite.com/

You’ll see both what people pinned – and who pinned it.  This can be a good way of discovering other Pinners who like your books – why not follow them?

Even better, you can use this simple tool to check what is being pinned from other people’s sites – it’s always worth checking out what is working well for your competitors…

12) Authenticate your website

Under the ‘settings’ menu, you can verify your website by either uploading a html file to your ftp, or adding a meta tag directly into your html header.  This allows Pinterest to display your web address and gives added authority to your profile.  When done correctly, you’ll see a little red tick next to your web address (see below).

13) Check your Google analytics for traffic from Pinterest

Always check what is working for you.  How much traffic is Pinterest driving to your site?  Look under ‘Traffic sources’ for Pinterest referrals.  The more effort that you’re putting into Pinterest, the more important it is to understand this.  Check out this great article from Mashable for more guidance.

All read and understood?

Awesome – you now have all the tools that you need to create a Pinterest profile that brings you more readers, web traffic, and book sales.  All you need now is a little creativity, hard-work and perseverance.

I believe Pinterest can be a great tool for readers to discover books and authors that they’ll love.  And it’s up to all of us to make that happen for them.  So let’s get pinning…

I hope that these tips have been helpful – I’ve certainly learnt a lot myself doing the research.  Is there anything that I’ve missed – do you have any useful suggestions that you’d like to share?  Please let me know via the comments section.

And if you’ve picked up a few pointers, please share with others!

The post Pinterest marketing tips for authors: advanced appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.

Why Goodreads?

Here’s one good reason why, as an author or publisher you should be on Goodreads:

13 million readers are.

A great infographic released by Goodreads at the end of December sums up the progress they have made in 2012 with some very impressive numbers.  At the rate it is growing, Goodreads should reach 20 million readers by the end of 2013.

That’s why one of my New Year’s resolutions is to spend more time exploring and interacting on Goodreads.  I think it’s a resolution that most authors and publishing industry folk would benefit from making too.

I first joined Goodreads back in April 2011 – but I hadn’t spent a lot of time on it until recently.  Over the last month or so, I’ve really enjoyed discovering more.

As a marketer and publisher, what I love about Goodreads is perfect targeting for authors of an audience actively looking for recommendations on what to read next.  Not only do you know that you’re reaching readers, but these are some of the heaviest readers around – early adopters who are passionate about books and will recommend those that they love to friends.

In this post I wanted to share some of my observations as a marketer about how you can use Goodreads to effectively market yourself and your books.

Using Goodreads

As with most social media sites, the more time you spend on Goodreads, the more you get out of it.  Also in keeping with other social media sites, just using the site to aggressively self-promote your book to people you don’t know won’t be either well-received or effective.

Having said that, there are lots of ways that you can help readers connect with you and your stories – in ways which add value to other members, rather than spamming them.

With a marketing eye, I wanted to highlight some of those opportunities here – with a quick list of simple tips to help you make the most out of Goodreads.

10 tips for authors to get the most out of Goodreads

1)   Use Goodreads as a reader, not just an author. 

If you haven’t done so already, then sign up now (use Facebook to login – it’ll take one minute).

Rate books you’ve read.  Write reviews.  This will help you become part of the community and to understand how readers discover books on the site.

2)   Set up an author profile.

Most importantly, this will enable readers to connect with you.   You’ll also be able to add a picture, bio and videos so readers can learn more about you.

Get started here.

Tip: There’s a great ‘how to’ page on Goodreads.

3)   Be sure to link you blog to your author profile.

OK, maybe technically this could have been part of point 2 – but this feature is so cool it’s worth the extra attention.

Any author with a blog will know exactly how hard it is attract followers.  This Goodreads feature makes it easy for readers to follow your blog.  And if you make something easier to do, more people will do it.

Once you’ve linked your blog to your author profile, your updates will show up in the feeds of those following you (as long as they’ve kept that option ticked).  You’ll be reaching more readers with your content – with NO extra effort.  How cool is that?

4)   Connect to your friends and followers from other social networks.

More friends means more people that you can talk to about your books.  And in turn their friends have the chance to learn about you too.

Don’t be shy – invite people from your other social networks to connect here.

Don’t know anyone?  You can add me here.

Also, remember to integrate Goodreads into your own site so your visitors can easily connect with you.  Pick up a widget (like the one used in the sidebar to the right ->) from the widget tab under ‘My Account’ on Goodreads.

5)   Connect to your readers.

As a Goodreads author, you can see in your feed whenever someone rates or reviews one of your books.  These are YOUR readers – if they’re not already a fan or friend, why not send them a friend request?

Every reader you add is someone that you can send a message when your next book is out, for your latest giveaway, or when you need votes for an award.

These connections are incredibly valuable.  They are how you start the buzz about your book.

6)   Giveaway books

The average giveaway on Goodreads attracts 825 entries.  If giving away 3 books costs you $25, that’s a pretty good return for the amount of attention that you’ll attract.

Get your first giveaway (physical books only) started here.

7)   Join groups, join in.

Whatever your genre or niche, you can bet there’s a group that covers it.  So join up!  That’s not to say join up and immediately spam everyone with posts about your books.  Listen. Talk to people.  Contribute opinions.  Then, and only then, mention your books.  Do it sparingly and do it in context.  Just being a contributing member of groups will get you noticed.

Why not join your first group now?

8)   Use lists

Does your book belong on the ‘Books that should be made into movies’ list (30,000+ voters); or  ‘Best Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction’ (10,000+ voters); or even ‘Best Book cover art’ (3,500+ voters)?

Lists (see the ‘Listopia’ under the ‘explore’ menu), which are voted on by Goodreads members, are a great way for readers to discover books.

Add your book to a list by voting for it – and ask your friends and followers to do the same.  The higher you can get on the list, the more readers will discover you.

Lists also show up well in Google searches – so you’ll reach people looking for book recommendations that aren’t even members of Goodreads.

Here’s an example of just how powerful that can be:

• Type ‘paranormal romance books’ into Google.
• The top result is a list from Goodreads.
• 10,000 people do that search in Google every month (source Google Adwords).
• If Goodreads get just 20% of that traffic, that’s 24,000 visits a year.
• Now, if you were a paranormal romance author wouldn’t you want your book to be on that list?

9)   Add quotes

I love the quotes section of Goodreads.  It’s basically a ‘best bits’, with the wit, wisdom and inspiration from books that members love.

So add the very best bits from your books – and ask your followers to do the same – whether it be profound insight, a touching love scene or laugh-out-loud dialogue.

Quotes that members add, or like, will show up to their friends.  What could be a better advert for your book than someone sharing the parts that they loved?

As with lists, Goodreads quotes section also attracts A LOT of search traffic.  6 million people search Google for ‘funny quotes’ or ‘inspirational quotes’ every month – and Goodreads is right up there at the top of the search results.

Tip: remember to add tags to your quotes so that readers can find them.

10)   Figure out who are the key people to talk to.

Some Goodreads members have huge networks of friends, moderate groups or also run blogs.   Keep an eye out for these ‘super-users’ and get to know them – a great review or recommendation from them will influence a lot of people.

11)   Measure your progress

Take just a minute each week to track how you’re doing.  Enter the info from the stats section of your author dashboard into a spreadsheet.  Look at the change week-on-week.

See a big uplift?  What did you do that week that made a difference?

These are just a few quick tips to get you started.  So spend some time figuring Goodreads out.  Try a bunch of things.  Measure what works.  And do more of it.

One thing’s for sure – with 13 million readers, it’ll be worth your while.

Got your own tips for what works for you on Goodreads?  Why not share them in the comments section.

More good stuff on Goodreads:

Check out some great presentations on the Goodreads Slideshare page.

Links to some great hints and tips on using Goodreads.

The post Goodreads: top tips for authors appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.

Understanding author brands

You might find that thinking of yourself as a brand is a bit of an alien concept.

It’s easy to accept that Amazon is a brand, or Simon Cowell, and even authors like James Patterson – but does the same really apply to you?

In a word, YES. But let’s look at it slightly differently.

Substitute the word reputation for brand.

Brands aren’t just about logos and advertising. Your relationship with a brand is about every point of contact that you have with it. And what you think or feel about a brand – its reputation – is crucial.

Take the example of Amazon. Your view of the brand isn’t limited to their logo, or the latest advert for Kindle. In fact those things often come bottom of the pile. More important is how quickly they send your latest order, how cheaply you can buy your Christmas presents, or how many copies they sell of your books.

All of these things influence how you feel about Amazon. And of course how you feel about them will affect whether you’re likely to shop with them, publish with them, buy their devices, or recommend them to friends.

The same applies to you.

You might not have as many touch-points with consumers as Amazon, but that makes those you do have all the more important.

So why is your author brand important for you to take good care of?

It will influence whether people read your books or not, whether they review your books, whether they share your social media streams, or recommend you to their friends.

And what can I do about it?

What people think and feel about you will be influenced by every encounter that they have with you. You need to make sure that each of those experiences is saying the right thing.

So where should I start?

Here are three steps that will set you on the right path to taking a professional approach to your author brand.

1) Accept that you are in charge.

In your writing career Agents, Editors and Publishers might all come and go – you are the one assured constant. You also have more than anyone else invested in your success. And that means you are in charge.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t accept direction from others – but it is important that you have a vision for where you want to go as an author – and that those you work with share or enhance that vision.

You won’t always have control over everything (take a deep breath) but the decisions you do make will make a difference.

At Bookouture, we create publishing proposals for each of our authors. The reason? We want to be sure that our vision is aligned with that of our authors, because that is when the Author-Publisher relationship works best.

2) Decide what you want your brand to say – and to who.

Brands – or reputations – are essentially shortcuts for the brain. They boil all of the information about a company, or person down to a ‘summary’.

It’s not practical for us to consider every last detail each time we make a decision. So we use the shortcut. So, for example – a few of my personal brand shortcuts:

Amazon – great value, reliable and efficient
Apple – make really cool stuff that works beautifully
James Patterson – guaranteed thrilling page-turners

What do you want your short-cut to be?

What do you stand for? What’s your ‘trademark’? What emotional reaction do you want from readers? What can your writing deliver to them time and time again?

HINT – the best brands tie in to emotions, deliver something unique and do it consistently. Here’s a few examples…

JK Rowling – enthralling, magical escape
Jodi Picoult – heart-wrenching moral dilemmas
Lee Child – thrilling tough justice from Jack Reacher

This is surprisingly hard to do but definitely worth it. Once you understand what you mean to readers it will help guide everything you do.

Want some help? How about looking through your reviews on Amazon? Or asking your Twitter followers to describe your writing in a tweet?

Who do you want your audience to be?

You can’t please everyone. Who are the key people who are (or are going to be) your loyal readers? What are they like? What do they enjoy about your writing?

Focus on them. If other people don’t like your books, your covers, or your blog it doesn’t matter. Keep your readers happy.

3) Make sure everything you do enhances your author brand

OK – so now you know what you want people to think about you, that idea should work as the guiding principle for everything you do.

Understanding your brand will actually make many things easier – because you have something to measure them against. Does your latest cover fit with your brand? If not, you have a clear reason for your publisher, or designer why not.

Of course ensuring that everything is consistent and meets the right standards is a big task. But you accomplish it one part at a time.

And remember – the most important part of your author brand is not your cover design, website or Facebook page. It is your books.

Readers are investing their money and – more importantly – their time on your writing. The quality of their experience will impact your future sales through repeat purchases, reviews, and recommendations.

Time spent perfecting your writing is invaluable and can be the difference between a good book and a great one. Editing is a must, even if you are self-publishing. If you’re serious about writing as a career, it’s worth your investment.

Of course, getting your stories right doesn’t matter if no-one is reading them. You need every part of your author brand to reflect clearly and creatively what it is that your writing offers.

It won’t be just you doing this. You’ll be working with many other people – from Editors to Designers. Set high standards, work with the best people, accept other’s expertise – and always keep an eye on what you’re trying to achieve.

Remember – it’s your brand. If you want to be a bestseller, you need to act like one.

Originally published as an article for Romance University.  Check out the article with comments and responses here.

The post Your author brand – and how to make the most of it appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.

OK, so digital book covers miss out on the tactile, shiny finishes of physical books… no gold foil or glitter, no spine or back cover.  Can animation give digital book covers an added edge over their physical counterparts?

I worked on some of the very first animated book covers available.  Some were better than others, but when they worked, they had impact.

One of the inspirations for me was the work of the brilliant Jamie Beck – creating truly stunning cinemagraphs.

Here are some of the animated book covers that I worked on with the guys over at Movie-Book.

The frustration is that online retailers don’t have the capability (or possibly the inclination) at the moment to display animated covers.  Because of that, their use is somewhat limited for the moment – but I am sure that, in time, we’ll get there.

One of the most effective covers was My Soul to Steal – very simple and relatively subtle.  Achieved by replacing the original butterfly from the cover shoot with stock footage of a similar one.

The post Animated book covers – the future? appeared first on Oliver Rhodes.