independent author Archives - S J Miller Communications

Can You Pitch My Blog to Newspapers as an Op-Ed?

June 19, 2017 by Stacey Miller Leave a Comment

What Else Can I Do With My Blog?

Recently, a book promotion client realized he was putting a lot of thought, time, and effort into writing blogs. He knows his blogs are inspirational, and he enjoys writing them. So he asked me, “Can you pitch my blog to newspapers?” Specifically, he was inquiring about whether or not one of his blogs could be published in major newspapers as an op-ed.

My answer was that, yes, I could pitch some of his blogs as op-eds to newspapers. It would require some editing, though.

Avoid Mistakes Authors Make With Book Promotion Interviews

April 15, 2017 by Stacey Miller Leave a Comment

As a book publicist, I’ve booked hundreds, if not thousands, of interviews for authors over the years. Like all book publicists, I have my war stories — you know, the stories about interviews that may seem funny now, but that reduced me to tears at the time.

I really want my clients’ book promotion campaigns to succeed, and when authors make rookie mistakes during interviews, it’s tough for me to see (or hear, read, etc.). So, authors, I’m about to share with you some of this book publicist’s advice about mistakes authors make with interviews — and how to avoid them — to maximize your chances of book promotion success.

Increase Your Readership Through Book Publicity

March 19, 2017 by Stacey Miller Leave a Comment

Authors Have Varying Book Marketing Goals

Would you like to enhance your reader base? Indie authors and publishers have long used book publicity to accomplish a variety of worthy goals, whether it’s to turn their book into a calling card; to build brand; to gain recognition and prestige; to persuade or inform a target audience; or to simply increase their readership.

In other words, although book promotion can be a part of an indie author’s overall marketing strategy, sometimes an author or publisher has a far more straightforward goal: to enhance their readership base.

Advance Book Promotion for Indie Authors

March 17, 2017 by Stacey Miller Leave a Comment

How much advance book promotion do you really need? Can you allot too much lead time and too much of your resources to advance book publicity?

The time to begin a book promotion campaign is before the book’s publication. Every author and publisher knows that. But this is where confusion can set in.

Advance Book Promotion Options Can Be Confusing

For new authors and publishers, it can be confusing to know how long before publication a book promotion campaign should begin. How would you know how much time and money you should invest in advance book publicity?

Tools for Indie Authors: Scrivener for Writing and Publishing

March 16, 2017 by Stacey Miller Leave a Comment

Scrivener: A Tool for Writers and Publishers

I’ll admit to being a fan of technology in general, and I especially like to keep up with technology for writers and publishers. As I come across new tools that might interest authors and publishers, I’ll share them with you.

On a friend’s recommendation, I decided to check out Scrivener. The friend who told me about Scrivener is an indie author who had heard about the writing and publishing software but hadn’t yet tried it. So I decided to be the guinea pig. I bought Scrivener, registered it, and watched a couple of the quick-start video tutorials. That all set me back about 30 minutes and 40 dollars.

What’s in a Name? Potentially, Book Promotion Success.

April 9, 2015 by Stacey Miller Leave a Comment

As authors who have met me (or who have followed my book promotion blog here or at the Huffington Post) know, I’m a strong support of independent book publishing and independent authors. I think it’s empowering to write a book, publish a book, design a book, produce a book, and market a book without the restrictions that might be imposed by a traditional book publisher.

That said, there are times when a book publisher’s imprint can vastly increase a book’s promotion potential. When a major publisher gets behind a book, then that book does have the publisher’s brand behind it. And imagine this: what if you’ve written a book that would be pleasing to Massachusetts-based sports fans (the way that Rob Gronkowski is), and your publisher is Jeter Publishing?

Independent Authors: What’s Plan B if Amazon Fails?

April 8, 2015 by Stacey Miller Leave a Comment

Independent authors: what’s your Plan B if Amazon fails?

Once upon a time, it hardly mattered to authors and publishers if one book printer or book distributor or bookstore failed. There were so many others that nobody would miss it all that much.

But now we have independent authors and small publishers that rely solely on Amazon’s ecosystem (through CreateSpace and KDP) to publish, print, and distribute their books. Need a book cover for your printed book? You can use Amazon’s Cover Creator to design one. Need a cover for your ebook? You’re in luck; Amazon has a Cover Creator tool for your Kindle ebook, too. The only hitch is that, once you’ve used Cover Creator to create the cover, Amazon owns that cover. You can’t take it with you — if, for example, you wanted to bring your book to iUniverse, Lulu, or IngramSpark, or even to a traditional offset printing company.

What Else Can I Do With My Blog?

Authors Have Varying Book Marketing Goals

Advance Book Promotion Options Can Be Confusing

Scrivener: A Tool for Writers and Publishers

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