Above my front door is a high window I can’t clean without a ladder. I like to position it so it’s rock steady before I grab a rag and step up. Authors feel the same way about launching their books – and in 2013, there are more ways than ever to secure a sure footing.

When I wrote my first Prospective Author’s Perspective after Digital Book World 2011, it was early days for e-books and it seemed that all of book publishing was in flux. At this year’s DBW, the dust had settled to reveal that content creators have more control – and more options. Continue reading →

To sell more books, authors and publishers need to actively manage how their books are discovered, including which excerpts potential buyers can read for free.

“Every author writes different kinds of books and has different audiences, but your audience always wants value,” says Rob Eagar, president of WildFire Marketing. Fiction readers are looking for emotion and stories that inspire, while non-fiction readers want to learn new information or how to overcome a challenge.

So, as Rob advised at Digital Book World’s recent Discoverability and Marketing conference, when doling out free content, don’t just settle for the first chapter. Instead, answer the reader’s age-old question: What’s in it for me? Continue reading →