6 Ways to Promote Your Band Online

Posted on May 15, 2013 by

promotebandWhen it comes to promoting creative stuff online, I think bands might have a bigger problem than anyone, even authors.

Now that bands can upload music to a Bandcamp page in about five minutes, they can give their stuff away. You know, the music they made. For free. To no one.

They can also charge money for it, which no one will spend because everyone is an entitled content thief.

So what’s the secret formula for bands trying to break through the noise with their own noise? How can they get discovered in a way that actually helps them… make money?

Here are the first six steps in that journey:

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How Amazon is Trying to Rescue Literary Fiction

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

literaryfictionheroWho’s going to save literary fiction?

Prominent agents have said that big publishers these days are just focused on pushing out blockbuster titles. You know, things that will sell millions.

That leaves self-proclaimed “literary authors” that write “literary fiction” biting their nails.

But never fear, literary authors… Amazon is here.

That’s right – the online retailer has just launched a literary fiction imprint known as “Little A.”

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A Fictional Serial Killer Starts a Blog… Then What?

Posted on May 1, 2013 by

personabookmarketingI forget what I was Googling, but I found a very unique press release that caught my eye: “Serial Killer Starts Blog Ahead of 2MCH4YA Book Completion.” Yes, a serial killer featured in the upcoming novel, “taRNished,” now has a blog.

The blog is an example of what I’ve been thinking about a lot when it comes to book marketing: the power of personas. The only thing I wonder is… is this really going to work?

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How E.L. James Promoted Fifty Shades of Grey

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

When it comes to promoting your self-published work, there’s no author that comes to mind as quickly as E.L. James, the woman who wrote Fifty Shades of Grey.

There’s no doubt that this is a self-publishing miracle. Anything that sells paperback copies faster than the Harry Potter series has done something right.

Here’s how James originally promoted Fifty Shades of Grey before it went more or less viral.

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Social Media, iPhones, and Memory

Posted on April 20, 2013 by

facebookmemory

I had a friend in high school who had garnered a lot of attention after high school. Because we went to college and he did other things that seemed a lot more exciting, like climbing rocks all day. Collectively, those of us doomed on the coast often lamented that this friend seemed to be doing so much cool stuff.

Then, I met with someone who lived with that friend.

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A Video Game or an eBook?

Posted on April 19, 2013 by

You may have heard the term “enhanced” eBook lately. Maybe you’ve heard… from people like me, even… that eBooks are going to have to include more multimedia as people ditch eReaders and go for tablets.

Well, the picture to the left is evidence of that effort: pulling in more stuff to immerse the reader in the experience. The thing is, when I look at this picture, and read about how these next-generation eBooks  allow readers to ”unlock dozens of achievements and items to collect on their reading journey, and explore hundreds of hand-painted digital environments,” I thought to myself…

Isn’t that a video game?

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eBooks, Blogs, and Redefining What It Means to Be an Author

Posted on April 12, 2013 by

americanauthorI’m accustomed to reading grim things about the future of books. That’s what a lot of this blog is about: how writers can just keep it all going in this day and age.

Now, I’m a hardened veteran of indulgent speculation concernign the demise of eBooks and literary novels and making a living by making art.

But this piece, “The Death of the American Author,” from Scott Turrow, the president of The Authors Guild, was a bit much for me.

Turrow writes about how the sudden destruction of copyrighted art is going to make it impossible to make a living as an official American Author.

But that makes me wonder: what does being an American Author mean now?

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