SPA Girls Podcast

By SPA Girls podcast - self publishing for authorsBusiness Entrepreneurship Education Arts Books How To

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SPA Girls Podcast episodes

March 20, 2019 SPA Girls Podcast – EP179 – Interview with Tara Cremin from Kobo
This week we talk to Tara Cremin, Author Experience Manager from Kobo Writing Life. It’s always great to chat to someone from each of the platforms for the real insider information, and Tara didn’t disappoint!
For those of you who’ve never loaded a book to Kobo, Tara talks us through the process and why you should load direct instead of through one of the other aggregators. She also gives us the down-low on boxed sets, pricing, and promotions through Kobo, and how to make sure you get the best possible results. Then she talks about some of the exciting new opportunities, including their brand new audiobook service, which is super exciting!
What we really like about Kobo is that they’re innovators and experimenters, just like us. We’re all ready to take up jobs in the New Zealand office of Kobo when it opens, *wink, wink*.
“We’re just a bunch of book-nerds,” was our favourite quote from the interview, and sums up Kobo quite nicely, we think. 🙂
Check them out at Kobo Writing Life
36 min
March 12, 2019 SPA Girls Podcast – EP178 – Newsletter Strategies with Larissa Reynolds, Part 2
What's the one objection you have to overcome to get readers to buy your book?
That question is the cliffhanger that Larissa Reynolds left us on in part 1. And now, here it is! The episode where you get to find out the answer...
In this second episode about newsletters, Larissa Reynolds talks to us about how to sell your books consistently via your list.
She's been writing newsletters for more than 20 years, and says it's about more than just sending regular emails. It's about knowing your readers, and making sure you're approaching them in the right way.
She talks to us about how to get the right mindset with regards to your newsletter, how to focus the newsletter in the right direction, and how to ensure you're connecting with your readers so they want to go out and buy your books.
47 min
March 12, 2019 SPA Girls Podcast – EP178 – Newsletter Strategies with Larissa Reynolds, Part 2
What’s the one objection you have to overcome to get readers to buy your book?
That question is the cliffhanger that Larissa Reynolds left us on in part 1. And now, here it is! The episode where you get to find out the answer…
In this second episode about newsletters, Larissa Reynolds talks to us about how to sell your books consistently via your list.
She’s been writing newsletters for more than 20 years, and says it’s about more than just sending regular emails. It’s about knowing your readers, and making sure you’re approaching them in the right way.
She talks to us about how to get the right mindset with regards to your newsletter, how to focus the newsletter in the right direction, and how to ensure you’re connecting with your readers so they want to go out and buy your books.
Larissa’s website: www.authorlistlab.com
47 min
March 06, 2019 SPA Girls Podcast – EP177 – Successful Newsletter Strategies with Larissa Reynolds
Have you been worrying about whether your author newsletter is working as it should?
Or perhaps you’re wondering if you should even start one? This is the SPA Girls episode for you!
Today we’re talking to Larissa Reynolds – a marketing guru with years of experience working with authors on their newsletters – about what you need to have in your author newsletter.
It can be overwhelming when you first start out, and a newsletter can sometimes seem like a step too far. And while some people swear by them, others say they’re a waste of time.
So who do you believe?
Personally, I believe Larissa. In her calm and measured way, Larissa breaks it down into five simple steps that will ensure your newsletter is going out to the right people, with the right content, at the right time.
Perfecto!
Find Larissa at : www.authorlistlab.com
This is the first episode in a two part series on newsletters, so be sure to listen again next week as well!
46 min
March 06, 2019 SPA Girls Podcast – EP177 – Successful Newsletter Strategies with Larissa Reynolds
Have you been worrying about whether your author newsletter is working as it should?
Or perhaps you’re wondering if you should even start one? This is the SPA Girls episode for you!
Today we’re talking to Larissa Reynolds – a marketing guru with years of experience working with authors on their newsletters – about what you need to have in your author newsletter.
It can be overwhelming when you first start out, and a newsletter can sometimes seem like a step too far. And while some people swear by them, others say they’re a waste of time.
So who do you believe?
Personally, I believe Larissa. In her calm and measured way, Larissa breaks it down into five simple steps that will ensure your newsletter is going out to the right people, with the right content, at the right time.
Perfecto!
Find Larissa at : www.authorlistlab.com
This is the first episode in a two part series on newsletters, so be sure to listen again next week as well!
46 min
February 27, 2019 SPA Girls Podcast – EP176 – How to Speak Self Publishing
Ever listened to someone talking about self publishing and been mystified about what they're actually saying? Maybe understood about one in every three words?
It's a common problem, and one we sometimes come across ourselves, as things change in the industry and new jargon hits the streets.
Added to that, even if you decide to look it up online, it's sometimes not easy to understand.
That's where the SPA Girls come in. This episode we go through all the self publishing jargon we could think of, and explain what it is, and talk a little about why you might need to know each term and how it's useful for you in your Indie career.
This episode is packed with great tips around each word, and will hopefully give you an idea of what on earth is going on!
29 min
February 27, 2019 SPA Girls Podcast – EP176 – How to Speak Self Publishing
Ever listened to someone talking about self publishing and been mystified about what they’re actually saying? Maybe understood about one in every three words?
It’s a common problem, and one we sometimes come across ourselves, as things change in the industry and new jargon hits the streets.
Added to that, even if you decide to look it up online, it’s sometimes not easy to understand.
That’s where the SPA Girls come in. This episode we go through all the self publishing jargon we could think of, and explain what it is, and talk a little about why you might need to know each term and how it’s useful for you in your Indie career.
This episode is packed with great tips around each word, and will hopefully give you an idea of what on earth is going on!
Self-Publishing Glossary / Jargon
A
Active
Campaign
Platform
for your mailing list. In return for a monthly fee, they host your list, and
you can send out emails via their platform. They integrate with your website to
manage the sign ups, unsubscribes etc. Expensive platform, but allows a lot of
flexibility in terms of sending out emails.
Advertising
lists / email marketing promotion sites
Services
that have large email lists that they use to promote discounted and free books.
Authors pay a fee to the service, in return for their book being sent out to
the readers on the list. The most well known service with millions of readers
is BookBub. Other options include eReader News Today (ENT), FreeBooksy,
Bargainbooksy, Robin Reads and Books Barbarian.
Affiliate
Links
Services
like Amazon Associates offer the opportunity to receive a bounty in the form of
a percentage of the profit for promoting sales of their products.
Algorithm
An
algorithm is a set of rules used by computer programmers, usually to
automatically analyse and sort big data (large volumes of information). Amazon
has an extremely sophisticated algorithm that helps them figure out which books
are bestsellers, which are more popular, and which ones should be promoted to
which readers. There is a lot of information on the magical Amazon algorithm, because
many believe catching the algorithm helps with sales.
Amazon
The
main ebook publishing platform in the world. Can purchase both ebook and print
books via Amazon. Accounts for 80% of sales of ebooks. It uses an algorithm to
determine which books will be promoted.
ARCs
(Advanced Reader Copy)
Copies
of your book that you give out to your ARC or Street Team so they can read the
book before it’s out, and put reviews up on the various platforms for you when
it goes up. Giving out ARCs can help with promotion and marketing—the more you
give out, the more buzz you can garner.
Author
Bio
About
the author blurb.
Author
Brand/Platform
An
author brand is the feeling/general vibe surrounding your author personality.
It should be consistent with the kind of books you write. For example an author
who writes sweet contemporary novels shouldn’t write a blog full of the f-word.
It is to do with how your readers see you, the author. An author platform can
include everything from your website, your newsletter, your facebook page, any
facebook groups you run, or are in.
Author
Central
The
Amazon website where you put up your author details and connect your books to
your Amazon author page. You can also check your overall author ranking, your
book ranking and your sales ranking.
Author
page (Amazon)
A
separate page set up under your profile, for you to use for your author
activities, and also Facebook Ads.
B
Back
matter
This
is the information found at the back of your book, after the main novel. It can
include the author’s note, newsletter sign up page, or excerpt of the next book
in the series at the back. Or any combination thereof.
Bisac
Code
BISAC
(Book Industry Standards And Communications) subject codes are essentially
genre codes used by retailers and are part of your metadata. They help
categorize your book in the primary genre, topic and theme so readers can find
them when searching the online store. Choose Bisac codes that accurately and
clearly describe the content of your book as a whole.
Beta
readers
Readers
who will read your book before you publish to give you feedback on any issues
or problems with your book. They read it as a reader, not an editor, and will
generally find things like inconsistencies, plot holes and character problems,
and some grammar issues.
Blog
tour
Part
of promotion of a new release book, authors can pay to go around several blogs
by readers and other people interested in books in your genre. They can include
posting and excerpt, a post written by yourself, or a question and answer
session. They used to be very effective, not sure that they are considered
particularly effective any more.
Blurb
/Book Description
The
information about your book that gives readers the hook, and sells the book to
potential readers. In the old system of traditional publishing, a blurb was
also the quote that you got from other authors on the cover saying how much
they loved your book.
It
is most definitely not a description in the sense that you must describe the
plot like you would in a synopsis.
C
Call
to Action or CTA
Part
of the sales jargon. It is the one thing that you want your audience to do
after looking at your product. It might be buy the book, buy the next book, or
join your mailing list.
Categories
The
categories that your book falls into on the various sales platforms that help
readers find the books they love to read. They used to go by the BISAC (Book
Industry Standards and Communications) system which was used by the traditional
publishing industry, but in recent years this has evolved, especially on
Amazon, and they now use a wider selection of categories.
Copyright
Automatically protects your original works. You may use the
symbol © to help you demonstrate that you claim copyright in a particu- lar
work, but you do not need to. Protects original works. Copyright is automatic
in NZ; in the US you can to apply to register it.
Copy
editing/ Line editing
Usually
used interchangeably, this level of editing will fix problems with grammar and
spelling, but will also go more in-depth and find inconsistencies of plot or
character, sentence structure issues, etc etc.
CreateSpace
A
print on demand service owned by Amazon where Indie authors can use a pdf print
file, an ISBN and a cover to create print books to be sold at Amazon. (And
other places if you want to do extended distribution.) It has just been
announced that this service is being discontinued, because Amazon also has KDP
Print.
D
DRM
Digital
rights management. It is possible to check that you want to have DRM on your
ebooks, but it’s generally considered a bad idea.
Draft2Digital
An
aggregator who you can use to put your ebooks up to all the different platforms
if you choose to go wide (instead of being exclusive with Amazon). You can also
do audiobooks through Draft2Digital.
Developmental
editing / substantive editing/ structural editing /content editing
This
is a high level critique of your book, usually commenting on the overall
structure and storyline, and usually working with you to fix the overall book.
They won’t make changes to grammar and spelling.
E
Epub
files
The
type of file you will need format your manuscript into to publish your book to
be published by Kobo, iBooks, Nook etc (basically everyone else except Amazon).
.EPUB
F
Facebook
profile / Facebook Page
Your
facebook profile is your personal profile on Facebook. Facebook frowns on using
this for business. Instead your profile creates a Facebook Page for your author
name—this allows you to run ads from that page.
Final
Draft
The
completely edited and polished final version of your book that you’re going to
put up on the publishing platforms.
First
draft
Your
first version of your novel. Your first draft should never be the draft that
goes up on the publishing platforms.
Foreign
Rights
Usually
rights are for certain areas, and you can sell your print/ebook rights
separately.
Formatting
Formatting
refers to the process of changing a novel that is in a format such as word or
scrivener into a file type that can be used on one of the sales platforms like
Kobo, Amazon, or iBooks.
Forums
An
online forum such as Romance Divas where you can go and talk with other authors
about publishing, writing craft and anything else. It’s all in written form.
Front
matter
This
is the information found at the front of your book, before the main novel. This
could include the copyright page, your news- letter offer, the contents and the
dedication page.
G
Goodreads
A
social media platform for readers. Includes lists of books, people can mark
their favourites, talk in forums with other readers about their favourite
books, and give ratings for the books. Ratings on Goodreads tend to be harsher
than on Amazon, and the users can be quite vicious if they feel authors are
going on there and trying to sell or market their books aggressively.
Google
Play
A
publishing platform for ebooks, run by google. Locked to new accounts.
H
Hybrid
author
Someone
who is both traditionally and Indie published.
I
iBooks
A
publishing platform for ebooks, owned by Apple. It uses a curated system to
decide on which books are promoted.
Indie
Publishing
Another
word for self publishing (used by some people in preference to self publishing,
because of the negative connotations to SP.) In- die stands for Independent.
Indie authors are business owners who must organise everything themselves (even
if it is simply organis- ing the people who are going to do aspects of the work
for them).
Instafreebie
A
promotional tool used to gather newsletter subscribers, usuall via a free book
(called a reader magnet) or cross promotions with other authors. It worked
really well for a while when it first came out, but its effectiveness has
waned.
ISBN
The
unique number used in the publishing industry to count the number of books and
estimate sales. It’s not necessary to have an ISBN on Amazon, they will asign
an ASIN to your book, which is their own internal numbering.
In
the US it costs a fair amount of money to purchase ISBNs, but in New Zealand
they are available for free from the National Library. You need a separate ISBN
for each format of your book (ebook, print, etc), and if you’ve substantially
changed the book.
ITTN/ITIN/EIN
Tax
numbers for the US systems. We no longer need them, as we have a tax agreement
with the US, which means we can put our own NZ tax numbers into the system.
J
Jutoh
A
computer programme that can be used to format book files for publishing. Can be
used on both PC and Mac.
K
KDP
Print
Amazon’s
print on demand service, started after it purchased CreateSpace. It is done
through the same dashboard as KDP, making it quite convenient.
Keywords
In
this context they are the words used by the agregators to help describe your
book for potential readers. For example Amazon allows you to have seven
keywords or phrases, and you should find ones that describe your book’s main
tropes and genre traditions.
Kindle
Direct Publishing or KDP
Kindle
Direct Publishing is the publishing platform used by authors to put their books
onto Amazon.
Kindle
Unlimited or KU
Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service that allows Amazon
users in the UK and US to access a large selection of titles from the Kindle
store for a single monthly payment. Subscribers can keep up to ten titles to
read on any Amazon device or Kindle reading app and there are no due dates.
For authors, to have your books available to KU readers, you
must be part of the Select programme, and therefore exclusive to Amazon. (This
exclusivity is only for ebooks, you are able to put print on demand books on
other sites.)
Payment for authors whose books are in the KU service is via
KENP, or pages read. Each month there is a pool of money allocated to be shared
among all eligible authors, which is worked out on a per page read basis.
Kobo
A
publishing platform for ebooks, owned by parent company Rakuten. Publishes to
more than 60 countries worldwide. It uses a curated system to decide on the
books being promoted and pushed through the service.
L-N
MailChimp
Platform
for your mailing list. In return for a monthly fee, they host your list, and you
can send out emails via their platform. They integrate with your website to
manage the sign ups, unsubscribes etc. Probably one of the most well known
mailing platforms.
MailerLite
Platform
for your mailing list. In return for a monthly fee, they host your list, and
you can send out emails via their platform. They integrate with your website,
and manage the sign ups, unsubscribes etc. Excellent back end, a few
deliverability issues, good price.
Meta
data
Background
information used to help searches. This includes keywords and categories used
on retailers. On a website, it is the back- ground information that you have on
the site that is not visible to visitors, but helps them be found in search
engines.
Mobi
files
The
type of file you will need to format your manuscript into to publish your book
to Amazon. .MOBI
Netgalley
A
service, mostly used by traditional publishers, to provide ARCs of books due to
be released to people in the industry such as librarians, bloggers, reviewers
etc. You pay a monthly or yearly fee for the privilege.
Newsletters/mailing
list
This
is a personal mailing list of people who have signed up to hear from you
specifically about your books. Mailing lists need to be or- ganised via a
mailing list platform. Authors can send out to their list weekly, fortnightly,
monthly or whenever they release a new book.
OP
Permafree
Permafree
means a book is permanently free. It’s a pricing strategy where your ebook
(usually first in series) is permanently free on all the booksellers. It is not
possible to just put a book permanently free on Amazon, but you can do it by
having the book wide, and making it free on at least two other platforms (Kobo
and iBooks) and then letting Amazon know and ask nicely for them to pricematch.
POD
Print
on Demand. This is a service that will print individual books, rather than
requiring publishers to print thousands of books at a time. New digital
technology has enabled this kind of service to be viable.
Podcasts
On-demand
audio shows, that can be listened to anywhere. A must listen is
www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com 😉
Preorders
Used
on Amazon, where you can put your book up to be sold, before the actual book is
able to purchased.
Proofreading
The
last part of the editing process, the proofreader will pick up grammatical
errors, and spelling mistakes etc, but will not comment on structural,
developmental or larger issues.
Publishing
Aggregators
A publishing aggregator is a service that lets you upload your
manuscript in one place, and then distributes your work to multiple
channels—the retailers who sell you work, such as Apple iBooks, Kobo, Amazon,
and more.
QR
Reader
Magnet
A
free book that you use to entice people to start reading your series, or to get
onto your mailing list.
Reviews
Readers
leave reviews of your ebooks on Amazon, and Amazon is rumoured to use these
reviews (possibly both the overall score and the number of reviews) as part of
their magical algorithm. There are rules surrounding who may leave reviews of
your books – family and friends are not allowed to leave a review and you can’t
offer anything other than an ARC in return for an honest review.
S
Scrivener
A
writing programme used by authors. It allows for notes, extra information,
photographs, extra folders and everything else you might need to be kept all in
one place while you write.
Smashwords
An
aggregator to put ebooks up on all the different platforms. One of the first
aggregator platforms.
Social
media platforms
All
the different platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, SnapChat,
etc etc.
Street
team/Review team
The
loyal readers who will read your ARCs before your book is published, and give
you reviews on the different platforms once your book is live. They can also
help with word of mouth, and other promotional activities.
Synopsis
A
description of the plot of your book.
T
Target
Audience
The
people who will most enjoy your books.
Traditional
Publisher
The
traditional publishing houses who have a team of editors, marketers,
booksellers who purchase the rights to sell your books to bookstores, both
online and bricks and mortar. They take a large percentage of the profits in
order to pay for the printing, distribution and housing of print books. They
are the traditional “gatekeepers” to publishing.
Trope
Commonly
recurring themes or ideas in a genre. Different genres will have different
tropes, for example romance tropes include am- nesia, enemies to lovers, secret
baby. Urban Fantasy tropes include kick-butt heroines, magic in an urban
environment. Epic fantasy tropes include an outsider hero, or an evil king who
must be defeated.
U-Z
Universal
Link (Bitly)
A
trackable link that you can use in your books, on your website or other places
where you use links to obtain data.
Vellum
Vellum
is a computer program that can be used on Mac computers to format ebooks.
Wide
vs Exclusive
Wide
is when you have your books up on all the different platforms like Kobo,
Amazon, iBooks, and Nook. Exclusive is when you only have your books up on Amazon,
are part of the Select program and have your books in KU.
When
you are on Amazon but not in KU or Select, you earn money via book sales but
not page reads.
A
Active
Campaign
Platform
for your mailing list. In return for a monthly fee, they host your list, and
you can send out emails via their platform. They integrate with your website to
manage the sign ups, unsubscribes etc. Expensive platform, but allows a lot of
flexibility in terms of sending out emails.
Advertising
lists / email marketing promotion sites
Services
that have large email lists that they use to promote discounted and free books.
Authors pay a fee to the service, in return for their book being sent out to
the readers on the list. The most well known service with millions of readers
is BookBub. Other options include eReader News Today (ENT), FreeBooksy,
Bargainbooksy, Robin Reads and Books Barbarian.
Affiliate
Links
Services
like Amazon Associates offer the opportunity to receive a bounty in the form of
a percentage of the profit for promoting sales of their products.
Algorithm
An
algorithm is a set of rules used by computer programmers, usually to
automatically analyse and sort big data (large volumes of information). Amazon
has an extremely sophisticated algorithm that helps them figure out which books
are bestsellers, which are more popular, and which ones should be promoted to
which readers. There is a lot of information on the magical Amazon algorithm, because
many believe catching the algorithm helps with sales.
Amazon
The
main ebook publishing platform in the world. Can purchase both ebook and print
books via Amazon. Accounts for 80% of sales of ebooks. It uses an algorithm to
determine which books will be promoted.
ARCs
(Advanced Reader Copy)
Copies
of your book that you give out to your ARC or Street Team so they can read the
book before it’s out, and put reviews up on the various platforms for you when
it goes up. Giving out ARCs can help with promotion and marketing—the more you
give out, the more buzz you can garner.
Author
Bio
About
the author blurb.
Author
Brand/Platform
An
author brand is the feeling/general vibe surrounding your author personality.
It should be consistent with the kind of books you write. For example an author
who writes sweet contemporary novels shouldn’t write a blog full of the f-word.
It is to do with how your readers see you, the author. An author platform can
include everything from your website, your newsletter, your facebook page, any
facebook groups you run, or are in.
Author
Central
The
Amazon website where you put up your author details and connect your books to
your Amazon author page. You can also check your overall author ranking, your
book ranking and your sales ranking.
Author
page (Amazon)
A
separate page set up under your profile, for you to use for your author
activities, and also Facebook Ads.
B
Back
matter
This
is the information found at the back of your book, after the main novel. It can
include the author’s note, newsletter sign up page, or excerpt of the next book
in the series at the back. Or any combination thereof.
Bisac
Code
BISAC
(Book Industry Standards And Communications) subject codes are essentially
genre codes used by retailers and are part of your metadata. They help
categorize your book in the primary genre, topic and theme so readers can find
them when searching the online store. Choose Bisac codes that accurately and
clearly describe the content of your book as a whole.
Beta
readers
Readers
who will read your book before you publish to give you feedback on any issues
or problems with your book. They read it as a reader, not an editor, and will
generally find things like inconsistencies, plot holes and character problems,
and some grammar issues.
Blog
tour
Part
of promotion of a new release book, authors can pay to go around several blogs
by readers and other people interested in books in your genre. They can include
posting and excerpt, a post written by yourself, or a question and answer
session. They used to be very effective, not sure that they are considered
particularly effective any more.
Blurb
/Book Description
The
information about your book that gives readers the hook, and sells the book to
potential readers. In the old system of traditional publishing, a blurb was
also the quote that you got from other authors on the cover saying how much
they loved your book.
It
is most definitely not a description in the sense that you must describe the
plot like you would in a synopsis.
C
Call
to Action or CTA
Part
of the sales jargon. It is the one thing that you want your audience to do
after looking at your product. It might be buy the book, buy the next book, or
join your mailing list.
Categories
The
categories that your book falls into on the various sales platforms that help
readers find the books they love to read. They used to go by the BISAC (Book
Industry Standards and Communications) system which was used by the traditional
publishing industry, but in recent years this has evolved, especially on
Amazon, and they now use a wider selection of categories.
Copyright
Automatically protects your original works. You may use the
symbol © to help you demonstrate that you claim copyright in a particu- lar
work, but you do not need to. Protects original works. Copyright is automatic
in NZ; in the US you can to apply to register it.
Copy
editing/ Line editing
Usually
used interchangeably, this level of editing will fix problems with grammar and
spelling, but will also go more in-depth and find inconsistencies of plot or
character, sentence structure issues, etc etc.
CreateSpace
A
print on demand service owned by Amazon where Indie authors can use a pdf print
file, an ISBN and a cover to create print books to be sold at Amazon. (And
other places if you want to do extended distribution.) It has just been
announced that this service is being discontinued, because Amazon also has KDP
Print.
D
DRM
Digital
rights management. It is possible to check that you want to have DRM on your
ebooks, but it’s generally considered a bad idea.
Draft2Digital
An
aggregator who you can use to put your ebooks up to all the different platforms
if you choose to go wide (instead of being exclusive with Amazon). You can also
do audiobooks through Draft2Digital.
Developmental
editing / substantive editing/ structural editing /content editing
This
is a high level critique of your book, usually commenting on the overall
structure and storyline, and usually working with you to fix the overall book.
They won’t make changes to grammar and spelling.
E
Epub
files
The
type of file you will need format your manuscript into to publish your book to
be published by Kobo, iBooks, Nook etc (basically everyone else except Amazon).
.EPUB
F
Facebook
profile / Facebook Page
Your
facebook profile is your personal profile on Facebook. Facebook frowns on using
this for business. Instead your profile creates a Facebook Page for your author
name—this allows you to run ads from that page.
Final
Draft
The
completely edited and polished final version of your book that you’re going to
put up on the publishing platforms.
First
draft
Your
first version of your novel. Your first draft should never be the draft that
goes up on the publishing platforms.
Foreign
Rights
Usually
rights are for certain areas, and you can sell your print/ebook rights
separately.
Formatting
Formatting
refers to the process of changing a novel that is in a format such as word or
scrivener into a file type that can be used on one of the sales platforms like
Kobo, Amazon, or iBooks.
Forums
An
online forum such as Romance Divas where you can go and talk with other authors
about publishing, writing craft and anything else. It’s all in written form.
Front
matter
This
is the information found at the front of your book, before the main novel. This
could include the copyright page, your news- letter offer, the contents and the
dedication page.
G
Goodreads
A
social media platform for readers. Includes lists of books, people can mark
their favourites, talk in forums with other readers about their favourite
books, and give ratings for the books. Ratings on Goodreads tend to be harsher
than on Amazon, and the users can be quite vicious if they feel authors are
going on there and trying to sell or market their books aggressively.
Google
Play
A
publishing platform for ebooks, run by google. Locked to new accounts.
H
Hybrid
author
Someone
who is both traditionally and Indie published.
I
iBooks
A
publishing platform for ebooks, owned by Apple. It uses a curated system to
decide on which books are promoted.
Indie
Publishing
Another
word for self publishing (used by some people in preference to self publishing,
because of the negative connotations to SP.) In- die stands for Independent.
Indie authors are business owners who must organise everything themselves (even
if it is simply organis- ing the people who are going to do aspects of the work
for them).
Instafreebie
A
promotional tool used to gather newsletter subscribers, usuall via a free book
(called a reader magnet) or cross promotions with other authors. It worked
really well for a while when it first came out, but its effectiveness has
waned.
ISBN
The
unique number used in the publishing industry to count the number of books and
estimate sales. It’s not necessary to have an ISBN on Amazon, they will asign
an ASIN to your book, which is their own internal numbering.
In
the US it costs a fair amount of money to purchase ISBNs, but in New Zealand
they are available for free from the National Library. You need a separate ISBN
for each format of your book (ebook, print, etc), and if you’ve substantially
changed the book.
ITTN/ITIN/EIN
Tax
numbers for the US systems. We no longer need them, as we have a tax agreement
with the US, which means we can put our own NZ tax numbers into the system.
J
Jutoh
A
computer programme that can be used to format book files for publishing. Can be
used on both PC and Mac.
K
KDP
Print
Amazon’s
print on demand service, started after it purchased CreateSpace. It is done
through the same dashboard as KDP, making it quite convenient.
Keywords
In
this context they are the words used by the agregators to help describe your
book for potential readers. For example Amazon allows you to have seven
keywords or phrases, and you should find ones that describe your book’s main
tropes and genre traditions.
Kindle
Direct Publishing or KDP
Kindle
Direct Publishing is the publishing platform used by authors to put their books
onto Amazon.
Kindle
Unlimited or KU
Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service that allows Amazon
users in the UK and US to access a large selection of titles from the Kindle
store for a single monthly payment. Subscribers can keep up to ten titles to
read on any Amazon device or Kindle reading app and there are no due dates.
For authors, to have your books available to KU readers, you
must be part of the Select programme, and therefore exclusive to Amazon. (This
exclusivity is only for ebooks, you are able to put print on demand books on
other sites.)
Payment for authors whose books are in the KU service is via
KENP, or pages read. Each month there is a pool of money allocated to be shared
among all eligible authors, which is worked out on a per page read basis.
Kobo
A
publishing platform for ebooks, owned by parent company Rakuten. Publishes to
more than 60 countries worldwide. It uses a curated system to decide on the
books being promoted and pushed through the service.
L-N
MailChimp
Platform
for your mailing list. In return for a monthly fee, they host your list, and you
can send out emails via their platform. They integrate with your website to
manage the sign ups, unsubscribes etc. Probably one of the most well known
mailing platforms.
MailerLite
Platform
for your mailing list. In return for a monthly fee, they host your list, and
you can send out emails via their platform. They integrate with your website,
and manage the sign ups, unsubscribes etc. Excellent back end, a few
deliverability issues, good price.
Meta
data
Background
information used to help searches. This includes keywords and categories used
on retailers. On a website, it is the back- ground information that you have on
the site that is not visible to visitors, but helps them be found in search
engines.
Mobi
files
The
type of file you will need to format your manuscript into to publish your book
to Amazon. .MOBI
Netgalley
A
service, mostly used by traditional publishers, to provide ARCs of books due to
be released to people in the industry such as librarians, bloggers, reviewers
etc. You pay a monthly or yearly fee for the privilege.
Newsletters/mailing
list
This
is a personal mailing list of people who have signed up to hear from you
specifically about your books. Mailing lists need to be or- ganised via a
mailing list platform. Authors can send out to their list weekly, fortnightly,
monthly or whenever they release a new book.
OP
Permafree
Permafree
means a book is permanently free. It’s a pricing strategy where your ebook
(usually first in series) is permanently free on all the booksellers. It is not
possible to just put a book permanently free on Amazon, but you can do it by
having the book wide, and making it free on at least two other platforms (Kobo
and iBooks) and then letting Amazon know and ask nicely for them to pricematch.
POD
Print
on Demand. This is a service that will print individual books, rather than
requiring publishers to print thousands of books at a time. New digital
technology has enabled this kind of service to be viable.
Podcasts
On-demand
audio shows, that can be listened to anywhere. A must listen is
www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com 😉
Preorders
Used
on Amazon, where you can put your book up to be sold, before the actual book is
able to purchased.
Proofreading
The
last part of the editing process, the proofreader will pick up grammatical
errors, and spelling mistakes etc, but will not comment on structural,
developmental or larger issues.
Publishing
Aggregators
A publishing aggregator is a service that lets you upload your
manuscript in one place, and then distributes your work to multiple
channels—the retailers who sell you work, such as Apple iBooks, Kobo, Amazon,
and more.
QR
Reader
Magnet
A
free book that you use to entice people to start reading your series, or to get
onto your mailing list.
Reviews
Readers
leave reviews of your ebooks on Amazon, and Amazon is rumoured to use these
reviews (possibly both the overall score and the number of reviews) as part of
their magical algorithm. There are rules surrounding who may leave reviews of
your books – family and friends are not allowed to leave a review and you can’t
offer anything other than an ARC in return for an honest review.
S
Scrivener
A
writing programme used by authors. It allows for notes, extra information,
photographs, extra folders and everything else you might need to be kept all in
one place while you write.
Smashwords
An
aggregator to put ebooks up on all the different platforms. One of the first
aggregator platforms.
Social
media platforms
All
the different platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, SnapChat,
etc etc.
Street
team/Review team
The
loyal readers who will read your ARCs before your book is published, and give
you reviews on the different platforms once your book is live. They can also
help with word of mouth, and other promotional activities.
Synopsis
A
description of the plot of your book.
T
Target
Audience
The
people who will most enjoy your books.
Traditional
Publisher
The
traditional publishing houses who have a team of editors, marketers,
booksellers who purchase the rights to sell your books to bookstores, both
online and bricks and mortar. They take a large percentage of the profits in
order to pay for the printing, distribution and housing of print books. They
are the traditional “gatekeepers” to publishing.
Trope
Commonly
recurring themes or ideas in a genre. Different genres will have different
tropes, for example romance tropes include am- nesia, enemies to lovers, secret
baby. Urban Fantasy tropes include kick-butt heroines, magic in an urban
environment. Epic fantasy tropes include an outsider hero, or an evil king who
must be defeated.
U-Z
Universal
Link (Bitly)
A
trackable link that you can use in your books, on your website or other places
where you use links to obtain data.
Vellum
Vellum
is a computer program that can be used on Mac computers to format ebooks.
Wide
vs Exclusive
Wide
is when you have your books up on all the different platforms like Kobo,
Amazon, iBooks, and Nook. Exclusive is when you only have your books up on Amazon,
are part of the Select program and have your books in KU.
When
you are on Amazon but not in KU or Select, you earn money via book sales but
not page reads.
29 min
February 20, 2019SPA Girls Podcast – EP175 – How To Make Facebook Work For You
We often get asked what authors should post on Facebook, and whether it’s worthwhile even being on the platform at all.
The answer from the SPA is a firm yes, we believe Facebook is a really useful tool for authors, especially in romance. There are many positives to having a presence on the social platform, not least of which is the ability to find and connect with readers and other authors.
So this week we break down the platform and talk about the different areas that are useful to know about as an author, plus give you ideas to use for ongoing content, some etiquette to bear in mind for using Facebook, and ways you can use Facebook to amp up your book sales.
Show Notes:
Shar’s tips:
Tip 1: It’s still worth having a facebook author page. Yes, organic reach has dropped but Facebook is STILL the biggest social media platform by far. Having an author page keeps your penname secret (if required), and means you can run ads.
Tip 2: Note sure what to post? Create a weekly schedule to ensure you mix up the content/chat/connection with readers posts versus SALES posts (should be 3/4:1 and then preschedule using the inbuilt facebook scheduling system to streamline the process – eg #MondayMovieFavs #TuesdayExcerpt #WednesdayWanderings #ThrowbackThursday #FridayFunny #SaturdaySnack #SundayShare
Tip 3: Experiment with Facebook ads and prepare to learn. Two things first: Understand how to calculate your readthrough on your series / Understand your audience (other authors they like via also boughts, movies that tie in, themes in common etc) Start with $5/day and try six ads in one ad set. Leave running for 3 or 4 days and then see which image is most successful. Then using that image create another six ads but this time change out the text. This is iteration and a way of testing. Facebook requires a LOT of testing.
Tip 4: Facebook Groups are a good way to communicate with your superfans – less so for new fans. To be effective they require clear rules, good moderation, and regular input. I personally believe they come about as a result of book sales success, rather than driving that success.
Trudi’s tips:
Join other author’s groups/pages and see what they’re posting about and how they’re engaging with readers.
Ask questions, use polls, reply when people post on your comments. Builds up your organic reach if you have more comments and engagement.
Content curation is a valid way to post. It doesn’t all have to be original content from you.
Know your readers, and know the kind of content they’d be likely to respond to.
Consider working in with other authors if you can’t manage on your own. Make sure you’re in the same genre though, or it’s all for nothing.
Wendy’s tips:
Doing short video clips of yourself is a great way to get your fans to interact. They love the personal touch, and seeing you talking directly to them is something they will respond to. I use Quick Time on my Mac to record, but there are other options depending on what computer/laptop you have.
FB polls are a great way to interact at the same time as gaining valuable information. For example. What story trope do you like A. Friends to lovers B. Cinderella story C. Second chance at love. D. Secret romance.
Engage/like other author pages. See what’s working for others, and mimic them. Save their posts to use at a later date.
Keep your posts short, most people are looking at FB on their mobile devices and are doing so for short periods of time.
Cheryl’s tips:
Taking time one day a week to schedule posts will make life a lot easier than thinking about it each day and using a themed hashtag as Shar suggests means you know the type of thing you want for each one. (Sunday works for me) I have a folder with graphics specifically for my posts separated into funnies, inspirational, animals etc.
Share on other pages that you own to save time by using the same post. (personal v author page – only if it’s relevant). Use the share option on the bottom right hand of your post.
Share in groups but be mindful of group rules and make sure you are on topic. If not, you could find yourself banned from that group.
To gain likes, invite people who have already liked one of your posts to take the next step and like your Page. (The two things are different) To do so, just click on the list of names below the post. In the window, scroll down and click the Invite button.
HELPFUL LINKS:
Free video – how to set up a Facebook ad from Dave Chesson:
https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-advertise-book-facebook-facebook-ads-for-books/
Mark Dawson’s free guides: https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-resources/
Recommended read: Michael Cooper’s Help My Facebook Ads Suck!
https://www.amazon.com/Help-My-Facebook-Ads-Suck-ebook/dp/B078NBW3M3
34 min
February 20, 2019SPA Girls Podcast – EP175 – How To Make Facebook Work For You
We often get asked what authors should post on Facebook, and whether it’s worthwhile even being on the platform at all.
The answer from the SPA is a firm yes, we believe Facebook is a really useful tool for authors, especially in romance. There are many positives to having a presence on the social platform, not least of which is the ability to find and connect with readers and other authors.
So this week we break down the platform and talk about the different areas that are useful to know about as an author, plus give you ideas to use for ongoing content, some etiquette to bear in mind for using Facebook, and ways you can use Facebook to amp up your book sales.
Show Notes:
Shar’s tips:
Tip 1: It’s still worth having a facebook author page. Yes, organic reach has dropped but Facebook is STILL the biggest social media platform by far. Having an author page keeps your penname secret (if required), and means you can run ads.
Tip 2: Note sure what to post? Create a weekly schedule to ensure you mix up the content/chat/connection with readers posts versus SALES posts (should be 3/4:1 and then preschedule using the inbuilt facebook scheduling system to streamline the process – eg #MondayMovieFavs #TuesdayExcerpt #WednesdayWanderings #ThrowbackThursday #FridayFunny #SaturdaySnack #SundayShare
Tip 3: Experiment with Facebook ads and prepare to learn. Two things first: Understand how to calculate your readthrough on your series / Understand your audience (other authors they like via also boughts, movies that tie in, themes in common etc) Start with $5/day and try six ads in one ad set. Leave running for 3 or 4 days and then see which image is most successful. Then using that image create another six ads but this time change out the text. This is iteration and a way of testing. Facebook requires a LOT of testing.
Tip 4: Facebook Groups are a good way to communicate with your superfans – less so for new fans. To be effective they require clear rules, good moderation, and regular input. I personally believe they come about as a result of book sales success, rather than driving that success.
Trudi’s tips:
Join other author’s groups/pages and see what they’re posting about and how they’re engaging with readers.
Ask questions, use polls, reply when people post on your comments. Builds up your organic reach if you have more comments and engagement.
Content curation is a valid way to post. It doesn’t all have to be original content from you.
Know your readers, and know the kind of content they’d be likely to respond to.
Consider working in with other authors if you can’t manage on your own. Make sure you’re in the same genre though, or it’s all for nothing.
Wendy’s tips:
Doing short video clips of yourself is a great way to get your fans to interact. They love the personal touch, and seeing you talking directly to them is something they will respond to. I use Quick Time on my Mac to record, but there are other options depending on what computer/laptop you have.
FB polls are a great way to interact at the same time as gaining valuable information. For example. What story trope do you like A. Friends to lovers B. Cinderella story C. Second chance at love. D. Secret romance.
Engage/like other author pages. See what’s working for others, and mimic them. Save their posts to use at a later date.
Keep your posts short, most people are looking at FB on their mobile devices and are doing so for short periods of time.
Cheryl’s tips:
Taking time one day a week to schedule posts will make life a lot easier than thinking about it each day and using a themed hashtag as Shar suggests means you know the type of thing you want for each one. (Sunday works for me) I have a folder with graphics specifically for my posts separated into funnies, inspirational, animals etc.
Share on other pages that you own to save time by using the same post. (personal v author page – only if it’s relevant). Use the share option on the bottom right hand of your post.
Share in groups but be mindful of group rules and make sure you are on topic. If not, you could find yourself banned from that group.
To gain likes, invite people who have already liked one of your posts to take the next step and like your Page. (The two things are different) To do so, just click on the list of names below the post. In the window, scroll down and click the Invite button.
HELPFUL LINKS:
Free video – how to set up a Facebook ad from Dave Chesson:
https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-advertise-book-facebook-facebook-ads-for-books/
Mark Dawson’s free guides: https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-resources/
Recommended read: Michael Cooper’s Help My Facebook Ads Suck!
https://www.amazon.com/Help-My-Facebook-Ads-Suck-ebook/dp/B078NBW3M3
34 min
February 13, 2019 SPA Girls Podcast – EP174 – How To Write A Regency Romance
This episode we talk to our very own Wendy Vella about writing Regency romance. Since 2013, Wendy has forged a very successful indie career writing historical and contemporary romance. Her Regencies have been on the Amazon's top seller lists many times and collectively she's sold over one million books to date. Wendy covers how she goes about researching her novels, the advantages of writing in a series and the elements that every aspiring historical romance writer needs to be aware of.
31 min