The Many ways to say love for the Holidays
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer Red cardinals paired on snow-laden branches. Winter blows making dancing snow swirls. Red noses are filled with scents of cinnamon and mulled wine, filling cold air with warmed recollections of love. We hear favorite Yuletide carols and long for the romance of fireside light. And beyond windowpanes, winds howl while […]
Read MoreThe Future of Video Promotional Content Holds Real Promise
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer While debating on the how to or which promotional avenues work best in transporting your masterpiece into the realms of a digital rock star, consider this. Creating episodic videos to promote your book(s) can propel your bona fides as a high-ranking author and a New York Times bestseller. Like forecasting […]
Read MoreWhy Children’s Books?
T.G. According to the article, Nielsen Summit Shows the Data Behind the Children’s Book Boom, the children’s and young adult genres were the largest areas of industry growth in 2014. Let’s face it, Hollywood loves children’s books. Throughout the years, our local multiplex theater had shown film adaptations of many popular children’s books – Charlie […]
Read MoreFree and Inexpensive Book Marketing really can Shift Your Sales Paradigms.
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer You’ve spent an enormous amount of time and thought into getting your book published. One of the biggest obstacles to success is getting your work front and center to readers and that requires marketing. This is perhaps the biggest hurdle in achieving author stardom. But shifting the paradigms in achieving […]
Read MoreLook who is cooking with Books
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer Celebrity does not guarantee a bestselling cookbook. The making of cookbooks is expensive. Rich imagery, quality products, professional consultancies and food photographers have large price tags. Hardcover cookbooks – although they experienced a short cycle of slow sales in 2014 is enjoying a renaissance. Amazon’s recent debut of its own […]
Read MorePay per Read or Exploitation?
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer Pay per read success comes to the writer who is a compelling storyteller or weaver of cliffhangers. I have received more than a few questions this week about Amazon’s pay per read. Its guidelines detailing what authors are included in the pay per read system are purposefully obtuse. Word about […]
Read MoreThe Indie Author Movement
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer After completing my first book, I held tight to the dogma that a good writer earns his/her bona fetes by way of traditional publishing. Ten years later and a host of publishers who would only accept my work rewritten to mirror their marketing algorithms, I have dispelled that notion. […]
Read MoreDiscover Your True Value as an Author
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer A nexus of cross-purposes is a ghostly presence that haunts all writers. It is their commonality. True and accurate quantification of bookmakers is rare. How do you estimate the real value of an author’s abilities? Nevertheless, creating fiction or nonfiction is a needful requirement in every industry. Gifts of “word-smithing” […]
Read MoreEven if you are on the wrong track…if you stay there long enough, you’ll get run over
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer Or how to make money using my book. Only the gods know how long most authors wait, yearn, and spend marketing dollars to promote their labors of love. Trading your book for a dollar is difficult because Marketing trends change so rapidly. Everyday’s playing fields seem to shift. Most of […]
Read MoreLet the Truth Be Known…About Your Work
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer While watching a network interview featuring nascent cult classic author E L James. I was drawn to the simplicity of the author’s responses and tone. Her choice of words mirrored her art. Surprisingly within her body of work the real world of BDSM, that can be raw, frightening and extreme, […]
Read MorePower Brokers of Media Have Joined Hands
By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer In 2014, there was an estimated $5.25 billion in sales for Amazon. That is 7% of Amazon’s total $75 billion in total revenue. Amazon’s growing monopoly on sales of books is the back-story to the tale of the disappearance of small independent distributors. They have shrunk by 50%. Although sales […]
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