Now that you’ve written your book, there are a few final pieces of content you want to make sure you remembered to add.
Have you written an Acknowledgments section? If not, you may want to read “What Should I Say In My Acknowledgments?“
Have you written your author bio? If not, this article is for you!
Way back in 2010, I started a small struggling business called “Aleweb Social Marketing.” It had started out as a consulting firm teaching small businesses how to get ahead by using social marketing. The problem was, many small businesses were still trying to figure out whether they even needed to incorporate social media into their businesses. (Can you believe it?) But one segment of my client base was growing organically: speakers who were authors. It took me a year and a half to clue into the fact that working with small businesses wasn’t getting me anywhere, fast! But when I finally did, the focus of my company shifted to figuring out the best ways to help authors and speakers market their books and presentations. Knowing that I needed a unique way to reach this target market and convince them that I was the best resource for them, I decided to write a book. Within three months, I … Continue Reading
Let’s say that you just finished reading a book that you loved. Perhaps it was even one of Emerald Lake Books’ latest titles. Whatever it was, following it up with a review is a good habit to get into. Reviews provide encouragement, feedback and constructive criticism for authors, which is something we all stand to benefit from. But reviews also serve to help future buyers and prospective readers decide whether a title is right for them or not. Your honest review can help them decide whether to invest their time and money in a book. So let’s take a few minutes to understand how to write a compelling review for Amazon. Every review consists of three parts: a star rating, the review itself and a headline or title for the review. Understanding Star Ratings Every item on Amazon can be quickly critiqued by selecting a star rating from 1 to 5. So as you’re thinking about … Continue Reading
Some authors struggle with what to write in their Acknowledgments. Others know exactly what they want to say and how. If you find yourself in the former group and want a quick starting point for writing yours, here’s a brief summary for you. Essentially, you want to create a list of those “without whom this book would not have come into existence.” It’s common to acknowledge friends who encouraged your research and writing, clients who inspired your specific subject, mentors and idols who set your thoughts aflight, beta readers who helped to improve the book with their feedback, and individuals specifically involved in the production of the book (namely editors, designers and publishers). The simplest way to do that is to group people together based on the role they played in relation to the book and allow those specific individuals who played a more significant role to have a line or two of their own. … Continue Reading
Occasionally, we are asked if we will accept a cover designed by someone else. The short answer is, “yes!” But it requires a bit of explanation… While our preference is to design the covers we use, as long as the covers provided meet our criteria, we’re happy to use them. Per our publishing agreement, as the publisher, we hold all final approvals of the designs and images used. But your input and approval are significant to us. Since the cover is a critical element of the book’s marketing efforts, we don’t begin its design until we’re sure of that direction. Therefore, we would ask that your designer coordinates with us regarding the appropriate time to start the design. If you have a specific designer, illustrator or photographer you’d like to use, please send us relevant samples of their work or a link to their website. We will arrange a conversation to discuss concepts, direction and deadlines … Continue Reading
