How to Write a Kick-A** Amazon Bio to Sell More Books

By Penny Sansevieri (@bookgal) 

Editor’s note: It’s rare in these articles that I have a guest blogger. I’m including this post from marketing expert Penny Sansevieri because of her detailed insight to one of the largest booksellers, Amazon. I highly recommend her book, The Amazon Author Formula. I use it here with her permission. Penny’s topic is an important one. This week I saw a new book on Amazon from a publishing friend which didn’t include any bio much less one like you are encouraged to write in this article. I encourage you to do more than read this article. Apply the information to your own Amazon books.

Authors often don’t spend enough time crafting their bios. Most of them write up a quick “about me” to satisfy the basic requirements and never give it a second thought. I often see authors treat their bio like a resume. Approaching it this way means you’re likely to bore readers, and worse,  risk making yourself look  not only less interesting, but less interested in your own work and how you’re coming across to readers.

Have I hit a nerve? Good!

Unless you tell me that you know with certainty your bio is helping turn more browsers into buyers, I know for a fact I can help you make it better!

Start with an Outline and All Book Tie-ins

Before you begin, create a list or an outline of everything you’ve done related to the book. This can include life experiences, personal motivations, passion projects, research, past work in a related industry, accreditations, lectures and classes you’ve conducted, other books you’ve written, and awards you’ve won. You may want to include some of these elements, but not all of them. The rest of these bullets will help you determine which to include.

But It’s Not Really About You

Remember that while we start out by focusing on you and your achievements, this bio actually isn’t about you. It’s about your readers and knowing what your prospective audience is looking for, what interests them, what catches their attention, and most importantly, what speaks to their needs.

Let’s take a close look at a bio on Amazon by Mark Shaefer. His bio is keenly focused on his expertise as it relates to the book. Having read Mark’s other books and having seen him speak, I can tell you he probably has a lot more he could have added to this, but he kept it short and relevant to the book.

Write in Third Person

When it comes to writing a bio, never use words like “I” and “me,” because a bio written in the first person can make for an awkward read, especially when you’re listing all your accomplishments. There are other options for getting personal, don’t worry!

Show the Reader Your Expertise Without the Ego

When it comes to the credible portion of the bio you are creating or reworking, this may seem tricky. But remember, this is where the importance of your initial work comes in. How long have you been writing? Did you utilize any special techniques or resources in this book?

Check out Pete Ryan’s bio. He’s a first-time author, but he leads this bio with his background as a journalist, which tells the reader he is an experienced writer. Pete is also a marketing guy and has a successful business in SoCal. You’ll notice he doesn’t even mention it, because it won’t matter to his fiction readers, and Pete knows this.

Add Keyword Strings Particular to Amazon

As we’ve explained earlier, keyword strings matter greatly on Amazon. If you’ve already done your keyword string research, work some into your Amazon bio if you can keep it natural.

Don’t cram your bio full of keywords just for the sake of having them there.

Why does this matter? I’ve talked about how Amazon is a search engine. Like a search engine, Amazon will “spider” or “crawl” your book page for keyword strings, so make sure at least one or two of the ones you’ve found are in your bio, but don’t overdo it because you’ll get dinged by readers for being inauthentic.

Get Personal (If Appropriate)

There’s a time and a place to include personal information in your bio. Obviously, it’s essential to a Memoir of course. For self help, your connection to the topic is crucial. But novelists can also get personal in a creative way because your personality says a lot about your brand.

The key is finding the right balance. For example, if you write paranormal fantasy, the fact that you coach your daughter’s softball team may sound endearing, but it doesn’t fit your genre. On the other hand, if you’ve always had a fascination with mythology and history, and it fuels your stories, that’s great insight into who you are.

Be Funny (If Appropriate)

Be like what you wrote about. That means if your book is funny, then be funny. Check out this bio from Karen Alpert. Her book is I Heart My Little A-Holes: A bunch of holy-crap moments no one ever told you about parenting.

Short Is the New Long

The days of bios that rival the length of your book are gone. Keep it short because, while people do care who wrote the book, they don’t care enough to read paragraphs upon paragraphs about you. Save the long bio for your website, the foundation of your infrastructure, and where readers will go when they want to learn even more about you!

Include a Call to Action & How Readers Can Find You

Do you want your readers to take any action besides buying your book? Are you giving something away on your website? Do you want readers to join your exclusive reader group or your newsletter? Then mention these offers in your bio. Don’t forget to add your website address so they can find you.

Customize It & Change It Up

Your life isn’t static, and your bio shouldn’t be either! Is there something going on in the world that ties into your book? Mention it! You should also modify your bio when you win awards, get more mentions, or get some fab new reviews. For example, “The New York Times calls this book ‘groundbreaking…’” is a review quote you could easily add at the end of your bio for a strong finish. An upcoming release or mention of your other work is also another reason to tweak it a bit.

Find reasons to change up your bio! You can do it as often as you want, and don’t forget the algorithms notice and respond when a book page is updated.

If you’re reading this and you’re with a traditional publisher, you may be thinking, “The publisher won’t let me change my bio!” Trust me, you don’t need your publisher to make changes. Just do it on your Amazon Author Central dashboard and—voilà—done and done.

Your bio should be a fluid extension of your author brand, so update it as part of your monthly book marketing plan. This may seem tedious, but it serves another purpose: it gets your eyes on your entire book page, and once you’re there, hopefully, you will be inspired to cast a critical eye on other parts of the page to make updates that could help drive more sales.

Penny Sansevieri is Founder and CEO Author Marketing Experts, Inc., best-selling author and internationally recognized #bookmarketing and #indieauthor media relations expert. Go to Penny’s website to get more marketing insights at:amarketingexpert.com After studying this article what actions are you going to take with your Amazon bio? Let me know in the comments below. 

New Podcasts 

Several times a week (almost daily), I’m booking new podcasts. Here’s a couple from last week:

Maxwell and Dean Rotbart and I spoke on the Monday Morning Radio - Podcast. Watch W. Terry Whalin: Harnessing the Power of Books for Profit and Influence at: https://bit.ly/40bu9Rc

I enjoyed a LIVE conversation about Publishing Myths with Gillian Whitney on the EasyPeasyBooks Podcast at: https://bit.ly/4amtv8a Watch a video clip at: https://bit.ly/40wVQVM

Sue Pats (@suepats) and I spoke about The Truth About Publishing on the Solopreneurs Nubeginning Podcast at: https://bit.ly/40gBwGW 

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Throughout my many years in publishing, I’ve co-authored over a dozen books and reviewed thousands of submissions (no exaggeration). As a part of the process of working with these authors, I speak with them about their dreams and plans. Many of these authors have  unrealistic expectations about what will happen with their published book. Many aspects of the details of publishing are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses. 

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Don't Overuse This Word and Get Blacklisted

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Words have incredible power to influence and affect our life and work in the publishing community. There is a common word which authors will often use but in this article I want to give specific examples and discourage you from overusing this word and having the retailers blacklist your book.

Years ago when I was on the faculty of the San Francisco Writers Conference, I spoke with a bookseller and learned not to use this word in my conversation. I showed this retailer the first edition of Book Proposals That Sell and in my pitch I told him the book had over 100 Five Star Amazon reviews. Instantly he frowned and told me that he didn’t care about Amazon reviews. Yes the single word not to overuse is Amazon.

Instead of touting that you have an Amazon bestseller, you can say your book was a bestseller in _____ category. Instead of saying you have 56 Amazon reviews, you can promote your book has 56 Five Star reviews (or whatever number of Five Star reviews you have received). It is a slight revision but a significant one.

Amazon is a large player in the book retail market but many bookstore people believe Amazon has destroyed their business. The book market has made dramatic shifts and Amazon has been a factor in those changes. For example, at Morgan James Publishing, Amazon accounts for about 24% of our overall business. When I meet an author who has only published on Amazon, I tell them they are missing 76% of how Morgan James can distribute and sell their book. Our books are in 98% of the bookstores in North America including the brick and mortar bookstores. Recently I was looking for a book cover image on one of our novels and the first place I located it was at Target.com. Morgan James sells our books at Target along with over 180 other online retailers.

Give Your Readers Options

When you set up your website and the page to sell your book, what link or links do you include? I was looking at the books from a long-time author friend. He writes a new blog each week and sends it like clockwork. I admire and respect this type of consistent action from any author. Today I checked his book sales page. Each book had a single button that said, “Click Here to Buy on Amazon.” He used a publishing company to create his book and I didn’t recognize the name of his publisher. Yet he was giving his readers one option to buy the book: Amazon. As I’ve been saying in this article, it’s the one word you don’t want to overuse. 

Instead of sending your readers to a single place like Amazon, I encourage you to give them options like Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, their local independent bookstore or getting it directly from you (even encouraging readers they can get a signed copy from you). It’s how I set up my sales pages and here’s a couple of examples for some of my books. The sales page for Book Proposals That Sell is here. The sales page for 10 Publishing Myths is here. The sales page for Billy Graham, A Biography of America’s Greatest Evangelist is here. The reader is going to buy the book where they normally purchase books. As an author, you want to give them options and don’t just send them to a single place. 

A Little Known Bookselling Fact

While on the surface, the community of booksellers looks large with thousands of bookstores from chains like Barnes & Noble and independent bookstores. Most of the sales people for these chains have been in the book business for many years. As a part of their work, they cultivate and maintain relationships with owners, authors, editors and many other people in the industry. These sales people know each other and have developed friendships. On one level they are competitors but on another level they are colleagues. These colleagues speak together and share information. When an author is only focused on sending readers to Amazon, these sales people notice and can blacklist your book from the brick-and-mortar bookstores. According to my recent conversation with David Hancock, the founder of Morgan James Publishing, such a blacklist practice is happening.

Sometimes You Can’t Avoid the Word

In 2019, Morgan James Publishing released Steve Anderson’s book, The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business like Amazon. Even before the release date, this book garnered a great deal of attention. The Morgan James foreign rights person sold the book into multiple languages including the highest advance received in this area for a book in the 21-year history of the company. The Bezos Letters has hundreds of Five-Star reviews and a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller. It’s unusual for a book to achieve this level of success which translates into many book sales. 

Yet this book could not avoid using the word Amazon. According to David Hancock, “The brick-and-mortar bookstores blacklisted The Bezos Letters from the release in 2019 until this year. Now in 2024, the brick-and-mortar bookstores began to order and sell this title.”  The success and continued sales of this title eventually removed it from the blacklist. At the end of the day, retailers want to stock and sell books which will move off their shelves and into the hands of buyers. The steady and continued sales of The Bezos Letters eventually won over the retailers who want to serve their customers and sell books.

What actions will you take?

I’ve written this article to encourage you as an author to take action for your website and sales pages. Will you remove the word Amazon in your social media and promotion efforts? Will you give your readers a wide variety of bookstore options to purchase your book? What actions are you going to take? Let me know in the comments.

 

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Four Ways To Get More Reviews

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Recently one of my Morgan James Publishing authors contacted me. Her book was released a few months ago and she told me a couple of moving stories about the effect of her book on her readers. 

Out of curosity, I looked at this author’s book on Amazon. I was expecting to see a few reviews yet was surprised that no one had written a review. These reviews are a critical sales tool because every day people are looking at these pages, reading the information then making decisions whether to buy the book. 

I was listening to american psychologist Dr. Robert Cialdini speaking about the power of influence. He read an article which said 97% of people buying online will check product reviews before they make a purchase. This statistic should motivate you to get more online reviews for your book.

Every writer has to be aware of the importance of reviews. With over 4,500 new books going into the market every day, any book needs these reviews. Also last week I received two self-published books from a long-time writer friend. One was published last year and the other in 2021. I checked the book page on Amazon and of the two books, one had one review and the other had no reviews.  

Years ago, you used to be able to get your friends and relatives to write reviews for your book. Amazon and other online retailers have created sophisticated algorithms which remove these reviews. If you write a review, it is best not to mention any connection to the author. Instead you approach the review as a reader and tell about the book. 

There are simple steps every author can take to get more reviews and I want to give some ideas in this article. 

1. Ask your readers to write a positive review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads and other websites. For my last several books I’ve included a page in the back of each book encouraging readers to review the book and even I provide some short links to specific websites.

2. When you get feedback about your book, encourage them to write a review and include a link to write it. If someone writes or emails you about how much they enjoyed your book, respond with gratitude. In addition, ask them to write a few sentences of positive review and even include the link to your book page. 

3. Get some training. Several years ago, I interviewed Dana Lynn Smith about how to get more book reviews. The free webinar and ebook are free at: YourBookReviewed.com I encourage you to use this resource, hear the recording and take action from what you learn. While the steps sound simple, you would be surprised how people will download the material then never listen to it or not take action from what they hear.

4. Create a web page to encourage others to write reviews. For my Book Proposals That Sell, I created a page with a variety of ways the reader can promote my book including writing a review. If the reader doesn't know how to write a review, I’ve provided a free template with these details. I created a similar page for 10 Publishing Myths. 

A reality of the publishing world, you have to work or take consistent action to gather reviews. As a bonus tip, I would encourage every writer to have a goal regarding the number of book reviews. My first goal would be 25 reviews. Then when you reach that mark, I would revise my goal to 50 reviews. When you reach 50 reviews, I would revise again to reach 100 reviews. Behind the scenes, your online retailer will notice when you reach these different benchmarks and expand their own promotion of your book through their tools. 

Do you have other ideas how you can stir people to write reviews? Let me know in the comments below. 

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Just Do It

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

How in the world have I written thousands of book reviews? Like the Nike slogan says, I just do it. My commitment to writing book reviews springs from several motivations.

 

First, I want to support other authors who write good books. Also I want to encourage other writers to write book reviews—selfishly for my own books—but also for books from other writers. Finally I write reviews because good books can change lives. I know this firsthand because years ago reading a book changed the direction of my life.

 

Through the years, I’ve worked out a detailed routine of what I do when I write a book review. First, I create a short link for the book that I store in a text file. Then I download a copy of the cover and upload it to MockUpShots where I quickly create a unique image for the book. I use this image on social media but also on my Amazon review. This different image helps the book standout and get attention from readers.

 

I’ve created my own book review template with my information. Next I pull up this template in Word and add the short link then save the review in a book review folder on my computer. When I write a review, in my mind, I have an idea of the shape of this review. Because I’ve done this mental work, it does not take me long to create my book review.  It begins with an eye-catching title. Then I write a short summary of the book and give some overall impressions. As I read the book, I will often mark a quotation or two in the book. I will quote a brief section in my view which show readers that I actually read the book. I end my review with a simple recommendation for the reader.

 

Because I’ve written my review in Word, I will often print my review, then wait a bit (sometimes even a day). I re-read my review and make any changes or modifications. Then I go to the book page on Amazon and cut and paste my review. Sometimes my review appears right away and other times it will take a day or two for it to appear.

 

Next I go to Goodreads where I have 5,000 friends and have written over 800 reviews. My reviews get a lot of attention on Goodreads. I will cut and paste the same review into Goodreads and post it.

 

If I know the author or publicist for the book, I will create an email with the links to my review on Goodreads and Amazon. Why? Because when the author or publicist receives it, it shows them them what I have done. Then when they have another book, often these authors will reach out to me. It happened a week or so ago with an author who has a new book coming out in a couple of months. Your activity can breed more activity if you communicate about your review work.

 

Finally I promote the book on social media. When I craft my post for social, I look and see if the author has a Twitter account. If they do, I include their twitter name in my post. Why?  It’s another subtle way to get that author's attention that you have reviewed their book. You never know where such attention could lead such as a future opportunity. In January 2014, I reviewed Piers Morgan’s book, Shooting Straight and included his Twitter handle in my social media post. He responded with appreciation through Twitter which showed me that Morgan read it. It’s another little detail that I just do it.

 

Help With Writing Reviews

If you don't know what to write for a review, my friend Sandra Beckwith has created a nonfiction and a fiction template. I have both of these tools and they give wise and experienced guidance.

 

How do I do it over and over? It's simple. I just do it. I tell you about it here because you can do it too. It takes no special creditials. If I do it, you can do it too. Some of the keys to the writing life is consistency, persistence and perserverance. The honest truth is I never get it all done but I continue to take action day after day. Have you created a writing routine which you do over and over? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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How to Write a Book Review

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Last week I gathered with a group of local writers for a backyard barbecue to celebrate the beginning of our school year and to begin again our monthly meetings. One of the writers brought her first book which was going to release in a few weeks. I asked if she had a launch team or any other plans to get her book into the market. She looked a bit lost how to answer my question then said, “I'm going to put the cover up on my Instagram account and tell people it is available.” 

 

I encouraged this author to get friends and others to write book reviews because readers are making buying decisions every day when they read reviews online at any place books are sold and not just Amazon. I understand the influence of book reviews and it's one of the reasons I've been writing book reviews for decades in print publications as well as online. As you read or listen to books, writing a simple book review is a way to support other writers. If you want to know more about how to get reviews, I have created a free teleseminar on this topic (follow the link). 

  

I've seen many people write a sentence or two for their review but I believe a more detailed review is helpful to the readers (and the author). In this article, I want to give you more of the details about how I write a review. While each review is individually crafted, there are some consistent elements in my reviews to give you some ideas for y0ur reviews. The books that I read and review come from a variety of places. Sometimes publishers will send them to me, others will come from authors, and other times I learn about books from reading other reviews or news releases. I'm often reading one book and listening to a different book. As I read the book, I will open a Word file and sometimes make some notes about the book. These brief notes often turn into the review. Also as I read, I will mark interesting quotes or sections with post-its to be able to easily reference these sections with my review.

 

Every review begins with a headline. This headline can be a summary statement about the book but involves using a few words to draw the reader into reading your review.  Spend a few moments crafting your headline for the review.

 

In my review, I summarize the contents of the book, point out key sections of the book and in general, I include a few sentences which I quote from the book and reference the specific page where it comes from. I inelude this quote to show the reader that I've actually read the book and it gives the reader some more insights about the book. I conclude each review with my recommendation about the book.

 

In recent years, I've learned to use an online program called Mock-Up Shots which has a set of diverse marketing tools. One of those tools allows me to upload the book cover then I select a unique image with the book which I add to my review on Amazon and also use the image to promote my review (and the book) on social media. If you want to learn more about these tools for your use, follow the link. You can get lifetime access which is well worth it in my view and I use these tools almost daily.

 

The bulk of my reviews are about 150 to 200 words in length and afterwords, I will often print the Word file with my review, then read it again and make any changes before posting it on Amazon and Goodreads. The Goodreads review appears right away but Amazon sometimes takes a day or two or three before it appears. When the Amazon review appears, I will post about my review on social media to my different channels (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn).

 

The final step in my process relates to how I received the book. If I got it directly from an author or publisher or publicist, I will send the Amazon and Goodreads links to my review along with a link to my posting on social media. Taking this step is important to affirm to the receiver, I have completed the review—and it opens the door to additional books for possible review.

 

Do you write reviews for the books you read or hear? Do you have a pattern or system you've created for these reviews? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Put Your Spin On Your Writing

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Within the writing world, there are countless stories to be told in many different formats such as blog posts, magazine articles and books. As a writer, I enjoy helping other people shape and write these stories. It gives me a chance to put my own spin on these stories and get them out into the world. Each of us have an endless supply of such stories and personal experiences. One of the keys is to get your fingers on the keyboard and create them in the first place, then do the work to get them out into the world so other people can read them. Without pitching and making that right connection to an editor or agent, it remains something in your mind but not into the world.

 

Like the picture of the the spinning top in this article, the toy does not spin without someone taking action. Action is what we do as writers—day in and day out—especially if we want our words to get into the world. In this article I want to give you a couple of examples of how I put my own spin on my writing.

 

Social Media Posts

 

Through the years I've posted thousands of times on social media. In these articles, I've told about using tools like Hootsuite and ClickToTweet in this process. These tools help me be consistent and ClickToTweet gives others an easy way to pass on the article. In my social media plans, I will highlight articles and other writings from others. Each time I post, I make sure to include an image (since this image often draws people to read the words with the post). If the article I am highlighting has an image, I will use that image or if not, I will quickly find one to use with it.

 

For my social media posts, behind the scenes I've created my own “standard” and it's something I encouorage you to do as well. In addition to a photo with each post, I attempt to include the name of who wrote the article along with their Twitter handle (not everyone has a Twitter name but I search for it and try to add it each time). If the person has a tool to pass on the article, I use that as a starting point, then I add the name, shorten the link and if not there (add a couple of relevant hashtags). It does not take a lot of time to meet this standard but it brings consistency to my various social media posts—and yes I put some effort into these posts—something I encourage you to do as well.

 

Most of the time, I hear little from my social media posts (12–15 times a day) but then someone will comment or share or indicate some way they have read the post. Sometimes these posts are new and other times they have been out there for a long time. The interaction shows me that people read this material—whether they say anything or not. Don't be surprised if you don't get a lot of response. The key is go keep on going and be consistent.

 

Book Reviews

 

I've been writing book reviews for a long time with over 1,100 on Amazon and over 700 on Goodreads (follow this link if you want to see some of them). My reviews are my own spin or perspective on a particular book. Often I will quote part of the book (especially on print and not so much on audiobooks) which shows the reader that I've actually read the book and found a relevant quote to include in my review.  Throughout any week, I receive many more books that I can possibly read—much less write about—but I continue doing some of them on a regular basis (even though no one pays me for these reviews). If you read a book or listen to it, I encourage you to take a few minutes and write a review. It will be a way to support the author and also good for your writing life.

 

How are you putting your spin on your writing? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Small Things Matter

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Last week an online group had a discussion about small or short writing projects. Do they matter and do they lead to longer writing projects? Yes they do and in fact the small things matter. Many forget big doors turn because of little hinges. A small or short writing project can lead to bigger things.  In this article I want to give you some specific examples and ideas for your own writing life.

 

Your relationships with others in the writing community is important. Often who you know as much as what you know or pitch is weighted with importance. For example, people recognize birthdays and anniversaries on Facebook. Do you particpate and say something? If you do it's a way for you to be back in the thoughts of that person. When someone passes, do you say something on Facebook? Do you mail a physical sympathy card? I have a box of these cards and when I see that someone's relative has passed, I will often reach for a card, fill it out and mail it. It doesn't take much time but the gesture is appreciated and remembered.

 

In these articles I've talked about getting your book into libraries and the importance of promoting these books to others so the books get checked out and used. It's a small effort but I have a series of social media posts that I've created to promote my own books to a local writer's group. I don't use them very often but from time to time I post that my books are available at our local library. In my short post, I include a link which goes to the place where they can check out my book and use it. I make this small effort occasionally but it helps others to know about and use my books in the library.

 

Recently I noticed one of my long-term writing friends is speaking at a nearby church. We had not seen each other in decades but I reached out to him and we arranged to meet for coffee. During the time we have known each other, this writer has published about 30 different books. He was telling me about one of his books which consistently sells about 50,000 copies a year. I don't have any idea about the sales of  his other booksl but this one book has consistently earned year after year.  You may have written many books but if you write one like my friend with consistent sales, then that book will be a small portion of your overall books but something huge for you personally.

 

Follow-up Opportunities. Often throughout the day I will think about a social media post or an email to send or a phone call to make.  Everyone is busy and often it takes a gentle follow-up with this person. I use the word gentle because if you push, you can easily hear no response. Are you taking action when these ideas come into your mind? To have the idea in the first place is great, but the people who take action are the ones who get it done.

 

Write Reviews and Articles. The ability to write a short book review or short magazine article is a different skill than writing a longer book project (nonfiction or fiction).  I don't want to get rusty in this skill I've developed over the years. I continue to write book reviews (over 1,100 on Amazon and over 700 on Goodreads). I continue to write articles for magazines and blogs. I encourage you to write these shorter pieces as well.

 

In the world of publishing, there are many other important yet small actions which matter. What small actions are you taking which matter? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Try Something New

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Within the world of publishing, people fill many different roles such as writer, editor, agent, publicist and many others. Recently one of my writing friends released a new book from a major Christian publisher. As I've mentioned in these articles, this release event happens with about 4,500 books every week.  

 

The Advanced Reading Copies (ARC) for this new book arrived at the author's home the day before the release date (late to be of much use since the book is out). I have not seen this particular ARC but typically these books are created in advance of the book release, have different information about the book and release date on the back cover and printed in small numbers for book reviewers, the press and a few other categories. These books are costly to create because of the small printing numbers. With over 4500 new books published every day, ARCs are reserved for a few titles the publisher believes is important and worthy of the limited marketing dollars to create these specialized books. My friend told me about the late arrival of his ARCs and on my own I offered to ask some writers if they would read and review, then compile a list of addresses to send to this friend. It's something I've never done before and I have no financial gain from promoting this book. I was simply willing to help.

 

I turned to a couple of Facebook groups with Christian writers. I wrote a short post about the author, the book. I asked the writer to email their mailing address and willingness to post the review on at least Amazon but hopefully some other places as well. These groups had many members and I had no idea the response. 16 people responded. These people get a free copy of the book and the opportunity to make a new relationship with the author (who will be grateful for their help). I encourage you to look for these opportunities and take advantage of them because they can be the start of something else in your writing life.

 

I've been reading ARCs from publishers for decades. My first time was at an American Bookseller convention in Los Angeles in 1987.  At the Doubleday booth, I picked up an ARC for a new book called Covenant House. The meeting was in May and the book released in the fall or at least six months before the release. I was interested in reading the book (always the first step because not always the case). I thought, “I can write about this new book.”  I wrote a query letter to a Christian magazine (no longer in print) and asked if I could review Covenant House. As I look back on my query, it was not in perfect alignment with this evangelical magazine. Covenant House was from a Catholic priest who was rescuing homeless children. Yet my pitch to the editor worked. He said yes (probably on speculation) and gave me a deadline and a word count. I read the book, crafted my review and sent it to the magazine. It was accepted and published for my first published book review. I began to write more book reviews. For years, I reviewed each month for a Christian trade publication. I've also written book review columns for a couple of magazines (no longer in print). I selected the books for these magazines (which reached thousands of readers). Publishers added my name and address to their list for new releases and the books poured into my mailbox. 

 

Back to my friend and the late ARCs on his new book. I emailed him the addresses from those who volunteered to read his book and review it—something I had never done before but I was trying something new. Notice I've left out some details in my story—the author, the title of the book and the publisher. I tell the story so you will see there are many missed opportunties in this business. I don't want to do anything to hurt my own relationship with the publisher or author—who will be around hopefully for many years in the future. As I've mentioned in the past, you never want to publish anything to hurt your relationship. While it may seem big on the surface, the publishing community is small and interconnected.

 

What are you going to try that is new? There are many opportunities in publishing but you have to pitch and take action for them to actually happen. You could publish in a newspaper, a magazine, be on a podcast or radio station or any number of other possible things. You have to reach out to that editor or the person running the radio station or podcast and make a compelling pitch.

 

Throughout publishing, there are many opportunities but you have to take the first step. This prolific editor and aiuthor details trying something new. What new things are you trying? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Are you trying something new? This prolific editor and author gives the details here. (ClickToTweet)

Every book (fiction or nonfiction) needs a business plan. Get this resource.

What Is Your Back Up Plan?

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Sometimes even the best plans have hitches. For example, these weekly articles I write about the writing life. For many years, I've been writing and putting up these articles. Ahead of time I write the article, set up the details and check it. Then early on Sunday morning, I check to see if it worked.

 

Last week, I went to my blog—and nothing was posted. Behind the scenes, I checked and my post had a headline but nothing else. The day before I had carefully written my article, added links like my ClickToTweet and others. I had checked everything and scheduled it to go live online. Yet my article was not there. It was completely blank.  

Many writers in this situation would panic. I did panic for a few minutes but then I sat down and went to work—because I had a back up plan. While I rarely use this back up plan, it is there and something I'm going to explain in this article so you can create your own back up plan.

 

For years, I've been writing my original articles in a different program—reviews, articles and blog posts. My back up didn't have everything—but had the majority of the information. Years ago for my blogging, I began to use a program called BlogJet and that's where I had my original article. In fact, I use this program to keep my ideas and notes for future blog articles. 

Some of these notes are never used. Throughout my day when I get an idea for an article, I will often go to BlogJet and create a new file, then scratch a few words of an outline. Later I use this outline to craft my article. When I looked for my blogpost and nothing was there, I turned to my article on BlogJet which had most of my original article. I still had to re-do some of my work but not all of it to put it into place.

 

Back-up Is For More Than Blog Articles

 

I've written over 1,100 reviews on Amazon and over 700 reviews on Goodreads.  I begin the process writing my review in a Word document—not online. I craft my review in this document, sometimes even print and read it later then rewrite before I post it on Amazon and Goodreads.  I create my reviews in this way because it gives me a back up place.

 

Through my decades in publishing, there have been a few rare times  I've lost writing and it is painful to have to recreate something. I've learned the hard way the importance of planning a back up plan ahead of time. It's a simple concept to write and preserve your material in another location than the online place but a regular part of my practice. Then when the rare day like last week happens, I don't panic and can still meet the deadline.

 

I captured this experience in this article as a part of my writing life to help you. What do you have as a back up plan for your writing or online work? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Tweetable:

When something unusual happens in your writing,  what is your back up plan? This prolific editor and author gives the details of how he handles this writing situation. (ClickToTweet)

Whatever you write, every book needs a business plan. Get this resource.