Quick Link: Checklist for redesigning your book cover – and maximising the marketing opportunities

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Fair or not, people will judge your book by it’s cover, and if it has been a while since you looked at your cover perhaps it is time for a refresh. Roz Morris at Nail Your Novel has some great reasons why you should redesign your book cover and tips to make the redesign work even harder for you.

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Checklist for redesigning your book cover – and maximising the marketing opportunities

The key to good design, is to know what you are doing. Hiring a professional is a good investment.
The key to good design, is to know what you are doing. Hiring a professional is a good investment.

I recently changed the covers of my Nail Your Novels … and got myself a nice long to-do list as a result. But as well as refreshing the look of the books, a redesign is also a chance to smarten up the covers’ marketing potential. Here’s how.

Don’t miss the opportunity to tweak your sales wording

I’ve already blogged about changing the cover design to target readers effectively (the last time I changed the cover of book 1, as it happens). But revising the book doesn’t have to stop at the visuals. Since you published the title, have you had any standout reviews? Work them into the redesign – on the front as a teaser or the back as part of the sales blurb.

Indeed, could you add punch to the back cover copy?  Sometimes reviewers sum up our books much better than we can ourselves. A reader who really got the book might have written you a brilliant logline. Search your reviews in case.

If you have an ‘about the author’ paragraph on the back, should you update it? Perhaps you’ve published more books, or won a prestigious award.

What about your author photo? My Nail Your Novels had three different author photos according to the years they were published (and the hue of my hair), but with this reboot I decided to use a new image to make them look more current and uniform.

I also found I had room on the back for miniatures of the other books in the series – a good visual way to let readers know they’re part of a set.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Facebook profile, Page, or group? An author’s primer

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Facebook is a strong tool in the author’s marketing toolbox. But did you know that there are three different types of Facebook pages you can create? Build Book Buzz explains the differences and how to tell which one is best for you.

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Facebook profile, Page, or group? An author’s primer

ThumbFinal_4.9.15Of all the social networks you can use to help promote your book, Facebook might have the most potential for a few reasons.

First, it gives you several ways to interact with your target audience. Second, it reaches a wider range of people than other social networks, and those users spend a lot of time on the site. Third, it offers affordable advertising options that, when implemented properly, can be effective.

For that reason, it’s important to understand the three primary ways you and your book can have a presence on that social network:

Profile
Page
Group
Do you have a Facebook profile, Page, or group — or any combination of the three? I’ve noticed many authors using the three interchangeably, as if they’re all the same.

They aren’t.

And when you’re unclear about whether you’ve got a profile, Page, or group, you’re going to be equally unclear about how to use each to its fullest potential.

If you’re confused, you’re confusing others, too
For example, an author recently emailed me about an online discussion. She thought she had seen it here on this blog; could I direct her to the right link? I clarified that it was in the Build Book Buzz Facebook group. Since she’s a member, I suggested she go to the group and scroll down to find it because it was recent.

Minutes later, she replied that she couldn’t find it.

I suggested using the group search box.

It didn’t take her long to come back and say that searching didn’t uncover it either.

That’s when the proverbial light bulb went on over my head.

“Are you searching the Build Book Buzz group or Page?” I asked.

“Whoops,” she replied. “I was on the Page.”

A profile, Page, and group all serve different purposes. Here’s a quick primer on each.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Links: Anthologies: How They Can Advance Your Writing Career

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I love anthologies as a way of finding new authors. Alex J. Cavanaugh discusses how anthologies can help writers and has tips to make your anthology experience successful.  Anne R. Allen’s Blog… with Ruth Harris has the full details.

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Anthologies: How They Can Advance Your Writing Career

Anthologies - where too many chefs makes awesome sauce!
Anthologies – where too many chefs makes awesome sauce!

by Alex J. Cavanaugh

Anthologies are an excellent way for a writer to break into publishing. They can also do a lot to expand the audience for your existing titles. Blog ninja and Master and Commander of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, Alex J. Cavanaugh, has edited several anthologies, and gives us the skinny on how they can help your career. 

Anthologies offer something for everyone – the authors, the readers, and the organizing team.

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group recently released its second anthology, Parallels: Felix Was Here. Previously, we’d put together The IWSG’s Guide to Publishing and Beyond.

Comprised of short essays from various IWSG members, the Guide was put together as free gift to our members and to any writer seeking assistance. The second anthology was the result of a yearly contest and offered the authors royalties. Both were a huge undertaking for the IWSG team to put together.

But the anthologies embody what the IWSG is all about – offering support and providing opportunities for writers at all levels to achieve their goal of being published. When you’re in an IWSG anthology, there’s a sense of family. All the winners become friends and offer support for each other. Watching that unfold is worth any amount of effort.

So, for anyone considering submitting to an anthology, putting together one, or even reading such a collection, I offer these tips and advantages.

In The News – Amazon Lowers the Boom on Discount eBook Sites

In The News – Articles Of Interest For Authors

In a disturbing bit of news, it seems that Amazon has shut down the accounts of a few eBook sites and individual authors without warning or explanation. Some speculate that is because those sites are in competition with the new Goodreads features, others that this was part of a crackdown on link mining. Nate Hoffelder at the Digital Reader tells us what he knows about the situation.

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Amazon Lowers the Boom on Discount eBook Sites

Here is a cute kitten to help you feel better.
Here is a cute kitten to help you feel better.

When Amazon-owned Goodreads launched its discount ebook service last month, I wondered whether Amazon would find reasons to prune back its competition.

The first to lose its affiliate status with Amazon was Fussy Librarian, which went under the axe the week before Goodreads announced. At the time it looked like that was an isolated incident, but now it has been followed by two more sites, Pixel of Ink and eReaderIQ.

Fussy Librarian continues to operate, but the fate of the other sites is less certain.

Pixel of Ink announced today that they have shut down. They didn’t give a specific reason, but did say that “due to changes in the eBook world and in our life, it is time for us to move on, and Pixel of Ink must now end”.

I’m still following up with PoI, so I can’t tell you the specific reason for its closure, but I do know that it wasn’t the only casualty. eReaderIQ has made a similar, albeit more detailed announcement today. They’ve posted a notice on their homepage to the effect that:

 

Read the full post on Digital Reader

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Links: What to Do When No One Shows Up To Your Reading

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A lot of prospective authors are held back by fears like “what if no one likes my work”. So what if you hold an author event, and no one show up? Embarrassing, right? How do you deal, besides with lots of wine and Hagan Daz? Literary Hub‘s Matthew Norman survived such an event and gives us his tips for keeping our chins up and our spoons down.

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What to Do When No One Shows Up To Your Reading

Matthew Norman on the embarrassment of confronting an empty room

May 31, 2016
By Matthew Norman
Bipartisan empty seats!
Bipartisan empty seats!

A few days after my first novel Domestic Violets was published, I was scheduled to do a reading at the Barnes & Noble at Johns Hopkins University near my house in Baltimore. It’s difficult to describe how happy I was. I was officially a published novelist, which, at the time, represented the accomplishment of a lifelong dream, and I was about to do my first reading at an esteemed university. Things were good.

I charted my route to the bookstore on my phone, which was just plain silly. It was four miles from my house and had driven by it no less than 15 times in my life. To prepare, I selected a passage and read it aloud over and over, to no one. I spent an embarrassing amount of time picking out my outfit. I wanted to look like a writer, because, of course, I was a writer, but I didn’t want to look like I was trying to look like a writer. Slightly disheveled literary indifference was the goal, so I ultimately chose jeans, one of about 20 nearly identical blue-ish button-up shirts that I own, and a brown corduroy blazer. Sneakers would have been too carefree—too boyish. Instead, I opted for some brown, reasonably casual boots. I didn’t shave.

I got there absurdly early. My phone told me the trip would take about 12 minutes, but I allotted 45 just in case some sort of catastrophe struck along the way. I sat in my car for a while watching people come and go. Whenever someone entered the store, I wondered if he or she was there to see me read.

Quick Links: How to Prepare for Self-Publishing – Covers Design

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A great cover is like a great outfit for your book. And like a great outfit, the cover should look good close up as well as far away. It is also the first thing a potential reader will judge you on. In a sea of titles, a quality cover will stand out and speak to your reader about the wonderful story within.  At Digital Book World, shares her tips for self-publishing authors on how to have a great cover.

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How to Prepare for Self-Publishing: Cover Design

Getting professional help is always a good option
Getting professional help is always a good option

Good cover design is the single most obvious way of making sure your book stands out on the shelf and looks professional.

Do Your Research

Look at your competition, both in hard copy and online. What looks professional and what looks bad? Why? Make your own list of some pitfalls to avoid and features that you like.

Think About the Ebook Version

It’s important to remember that something that works well in hard copy might not look so good as a thumbnail. A great design, though, should work in both formats.

A detailed background and delicate colors can get swallowed up at thumbnail size. That doesn’t mean you can’t use them at all, but you need to make sure that the overall design still works on a small scale.

What Type of Book Is It?

One piece of advice that I’ve heard over and over again is to make sure your cover design correctly conveys the genre of your book. You might not want your work to be pigeonholed, and you probably want it to look different from the competition, but you need to put those feelings to one side. Readers use some basic visual cues to decide whether they think they’ll enjoy your book or not. Embrace a healthy dash of cliché. If you’ve written a romance, the cover needs to say “Romance” loud and clear so that your intended readership will pick it up and have a look at the blurb.

This aspect of cover design has a big impact on completion rates. If people think they’re getting a cozy mystery and it turns out to be gory dystopian sci-fi, they’ll put the book down without reaching the end. They might only read the first chapter. If you’re publishing an ebook, this kind of thing can be tracked, and makes your book look poor when it might be a fantastic dystopian sci-fi novel! You might even get bad reviews if the content doesn’t match readers’ expectations.

Read the full post on Digital Book World

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Author Tools: Self-Publishing: How to Promote Your Book With One Easy Photoshop Technique

Author Tools – things to help you get your writing done

If you don’t have Photoshop, GIMP is a free and well respected alternative. at The Write Life shows you how to make your book(s) stand out and look professional for promotions. I would not recommend using this type of image as a replacement for your book cover at places like Amazon

though.

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Self-Publishing: How to Promote Your Book With One Easy Photoshop Technique

Quick Links: Twitter For Writers – More Proof That It Works – Updated

Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

With only being allowed 140 characters, many writers put their social energy into other areas than Twitter. But Twitter can be a great way to meet other writers, find out great resources, and yes – even sell books.  At BooksGoSocial Book Marketing Blog, goes into great detail on how to use Twitter and what tools are available to help manage your Twitter accounts.

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Twitter For Writers – More Proof That It Works – Updated

Laurence O’Bryan

 vector-social-media-illustration_GJGhCnBO_LTwitter has hundreds of millions of  daily users worldwide. It is both a way to engage one to one with people and a way to broadcast information. Writers use it every day for both. Search for #amwriting on Twitter and you will see some of the activity writers are engaging in on Twitter. Some of it is broadcasting. Some of it is looking for engagement.

If you use it consistently you will get noticed. It’s not a magic wand, but it does reach readers.

Twitter sells books too. On this page you will see actual Tweets from real people who have bought books because of Tweets, and a table showing thousands of people going to book pages on Amazon as a result of book promotion Tweets, all tracked by an independent hit tracking service. You can also see other comments at the bottom of this post from people whose books sold more because they were Tweeted about.

There’s a lot of misinformation around about the value of Twitter for writers. Much of it is written by writers who struggle with how to use Twitter effectively. Often it’s assumed that one or two Tweets to your followers is enough and that if that approach fails, it’s because Twitter isn’t effective at selling books. That adage about workmen blaming their tools comes to mind.

Quick Links: Creating Promotional Material That Works: Swag

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Authors are trying everything to get their book noticed. One great way is free stuff. You want to make sure that you are using items that work. Over at Janice Hardy’s Fiction University, Marcy Kennedy gives some great information. Editor’s note – Marcy mentions Moo.com as a resource. I want to add that I love them. Their quality is amazing and they have so many diverse products that you can do creative things with. I am not paid by Moo or get any affiliate income, I just love using their services.

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Creating Promotional Material That Works: Swag

 By Marcy Kennedy, @MarcyKennedy

Part of the Indie Author Series

Promoting with fireworks is out of most people's budget - but really cool
Promoting with fireworks is out of most people’s budget – but it would be really cool!

Over the last two months we’ve looked at writing a tag line for our books and writing our book description that goes up on retailers and on the back of our book.

This month we’re going to talk swag. Swag is physical items related to our book/series. It could be bookmarks and postcards, mugs or magnets with our book cover on it, or even jewelry based on something worn by our characters.

Authors sometimes confuse swag with things like candy that many also hand out when doing book signings or attending conferences. The defining quality of swag is that it’s a “permanent” physical product and it’s directly related to our books in some way. So candy with a custom wrapper doesn’t really qualify. People will eat the candy and throw the wrapper away. It won’t be something others see and comment on. Disposable items usually aren’t a good investment.I polled a few other authors for this post to see what’s worked for them when it comes to swag and what sites they like the best.

The secret to what swag works seems to be know your personal business model.

For authors who want to be able to quickly adapt, swag can be a bad idea because it leaves you with a lot of outdated products.

“I have not done bookmarks for a very long time,” said multi-genre author Pauline Baird Jones. “Because I need to be nimble and flexible, my covers sometimes change, so then I lose the money spent on bookmarks. I think bookmarks work better for authors who do a lot of events, such as signings. Most of my sales are online, so it’s not cost effective for me to do a lot.”

However, for authors who’ve built up a street team to help them spread the word or who want to do launch events, swag can be a great way to build audience excitement.

Quick Links: How to Create a Monthly Social Media Calendar

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Social media is key in connecting with readers and helping them to find your book. But each social media outlet you add increases the time needed  to manage it, as well as adding one more thing to track.  Angelina M. Lopez posts at Writers in the Storm on how to tame the social media beasts with an organized monthly calendar.

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How to Create a Monthly Social Media Calendar

My brain on social media
My brain on social media

Angelina M. Lopez

You’ve hit that mid-year lull, haven’t you? That time when, instead of creating social media posts with an objective, you’re posting a lot of cat videos. Instead of planning goal-oriented posts that express your personality, appeal to your fans, and move you closer to your business goals, you’re re-sharing the tired memes from your friend’s feed.

It’s all right. The annual social media calendar we created in January can get a little dusty midway through the year. Today, we’ll clean that calendar off and give it new life in your monthly social media calendar. A monthly social media calendar allows you to know what you’re going to post EVERY DAY!! It helps you balance promotional posts with fun and personal ones, it insures you’re talking about themes and topics important to you and your audience, and it focuses you so that your social media posts are moving you toward your goals.

And the time investment for this ease and focus? Only about two hours at the end of each month. Here’s how to build your own monthly social media calendar:

Step 1: Write down your list of topics from your annual social media calendar.

In The News – E-books: a twist in the tale

In The News – Articles Of Interest For Authors

While we celebrate the indie publisher here at Publetariat, we still like to keep an eye on the publishing world. I am just glad for every author’s success! The Bookseller‘s editor, Philip Jones, breaks down the Publishers Association annual market report for those who are interested.

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E-books: a twist in the tale

Marketing Mix Signpost With Place Price Product And PromotionIf the book market made sense it wouldn’t be so much fun. This week we are celebrating a 0.4% rise in physical book sales and an 11% drop in consumer e-book sales.

Today the Publishers Association releases its annual market report, The PA Statistics Yearbook that tracks the invoiced sales figures for all the major publishers in 2015. There are plenty of known knowns: physical book sales were up (just about), digital content sales were down (just about). Print fiction sales were up; digital fiction sales were down. Colouring books and vlogger books supercharged non-fiction.

The tone set by the report is upbeat. The UK publishing industry is in good health. It’s little wonder that everyone seems so cheery: print is back, digital did not kill us. The mood at the British Book Industry Awards on Monday evening was one of huge optimism and celebration. There is relief too (particularly as 2016 has got off to such a strong start) but also a sense of a sector thumbing its nose at all of those who have talked down publishing for the past half-decade.

There are still some that think traditional publishing is about to fall off a cliff: but if so they should pay particular attention to these statistics. The percentage changes may be small, but the significance is not. The digital transition has not been straightforward, but neither has it eroded sales. The digital market was in its infancy in 2009 when UK publishers recorded home sales of roughly £1,950m. In 2015 the equivalent number is £1,890m. A net loss but not a huge one, and more than made up by growth in export sales over the same period. In total UK publishers generated sales of £3.3bn in 2015, a nudge ahead of 2009’s pre-digital figure of £3.2bn.

Publishing may yet be hit by all sorts of body blows, but digital so far has not been one of them.

Read the full post on The Bookseller

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Links: Starting an Email Newsletter: Why to Do It and Which Service to Use

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Email lists are marketing gold. Think about it. Someone found what you were saying interesting enough to trust you with their contact information and want to know more.  at Jane Friedman talks more about why you should start one, and how. For my paying day job as a software engineer/internet specialist I am quite familiar with the different types of mail services, but right now my favorite is Mailchimp.  They are very respectable and work really hard to help beginners and experts alike. Mailchimp stays respectable as they make sure subscribers are not spammed. Because with great power comes great responsibility and no one likes a spammer. 

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Starting an Email Newsletter: Why to Do It and Which Service to Use

Posted on

Email conceptToday’s guest post is the first in a series about growing an email list, by author Kirsten Oliphant (@kikimojo).


More and more authors now talk about the importance of growing an email list of readers. But I also hear from many people who are totally frustrated with email, from growing the list size to increasing open rates.

Often people start a list without knowing exactly why or what to do with it. (This is exactly how I started my first list four years ago, by the way.) Email can be your most powerful asset as an author, but you need to be intentional if you want results.

In this series, I’ll walk you through some of the places people get stuck to help you get the most out of your list. To start, let’s take the conversation back a few steps to discuss why email is important.

The Why of Email

With new social media platforms cropping up every month, email seems a little redundant—or even oddly ineffective, since it doesn’t have the same reach; you may have 200 email subscribers and 2,000 Twitter followers. We also know just how crowded our inboxes are. I delete plenty of emails per day without even opening them. So why spend time or money on an email list? Here are a few significant reasons.

Email Is Permanent

Social media is a fantastic tool for authors. We can connect with our readers in ways that were not possible even ten years ago using Twitter or Facebook or Pinterest. The problem is that we don’t control the connections. We are subject to each platform’s changes and algorithms. My Facebook page, for example, typically shows the posts I write to less than 10 percent of my followers.

There is no algorithm on an inbox (usually!). You have access and control that you have on no other platform. You can download a spreadsheet of your email subscribers and their emails at any time. In that sense, you own your list—something you can’t say for your Facebook likes or Twitter follows.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Secrets to Turning Your Facebook Page into an Epic Marketing Tool

Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

More marketing tips today, dealing with one of the largest social media platforms out there – Facebook. Penny Sansevieri, guest posting on Writers In The Storm, gives us some excellent tips on how to turn up the volume on your Facebook marketing.

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Secrets to Turning Your Facebook Page into an Epic Marketing Tool

Penny Sansevieri

ThumbFinal_4.9.15May 9th, 2016

According to a recent New York Times article, users spend an average of fifty minutes on Facebook. Fifty minutes! And though this number includes Instagram and the Facebook Messenger app, you can bet that the lion’s share is still spent  on their main platform.  Now more than ever it’s really important to turn your Facebook Page into something that isn’t just getting you likes, but making you sales as well.

I don’t know about you but I sort of have a love/hate relationship with Facebook, when it works it works well but when it doesn’t work, well… crickets. The challenge is that Facebook is always changing and as it does, our strategies need to change as well. Whether you have a strong Facebook page, or want to try and up your engagement on an existing page let’s have a look at some of the new and exciting features Facebook offers.

Facebook Livestreaming

In the past few months many of you have probably seen the little icon for the new Facebook Live, which gives you the opportunity to do livestreaming video right onto your Facebook page. To start a livestream, open up the status bar as though you were going to write a new post and click the little head with the circles around it. This will push you into a cue to start your livestreaming. You will then be prompted to name your video feed and choose your audience, meaning you can choose to Livestream to everyone, or just selected followers. Once you do that, you’ll click the button to go Live and voila, you are now broadcasting to your Facebook audience.  Also important to note, you can save the video if you decide you want to share it later – so perhaps add it to your YouTube channel, etc.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Links: How I Failed at Promoting my Novel with Amazon Advertising

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Sometimes the best lessons are not the ones where you succeed but the ones you fail at. Those are the ones that you learn the most from, which means it isn’t really a failure, just a learning curve. Eliot Peper over on Reedsy.com shares his lesson’s learned with marketing through Amazon advertising. What tips do you have for getting the most bang for your dollar?

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How I Failed at Promoting my Novel with Amazon Advertising

Quick Link: Which Social Media Channel Sells The Most Books?

Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

If you are an author, you know the importance of social media. Especially when it comes time to try and generate exposure and sales for your books. So this article from on Bad Redhead Media will be of interest to you. She breaks down the different social media options and gives a few hints too.

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Which Social Media Channel Sells The Most Books?