More On Gaining Readers!

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Well now...I've started a trend! LOL okay I know you don't take me seriously but I found this article and found it to be a wonderful addition to the previous topic.

Attracting Readers...

http://bestsellerlabs.com/attract-readers-with-a-lighthouse-author-brand/

I especially agree with points #1 & #6. Not so much 2 &3 and point 5 is just...outdated. 

A tag line is very useful. Something short. So far we have:

Key Class Etiquette.
Unconditional Love as seen through a dogs eyes.
Dirty stories revolving around Social Taboos.
Epic Adventures in Sex.

Dark Heart Heroes and Shorts-off are also brands.

As far as points 2 & 3...well, I'm not doing hard cover and some of us write erotica...a memorable picture will not include an image of the author. Some of them want to keep their anonymity thank-you for the thought!

Point 4 I'm doing with my own Shorts-off AND including an excerpt, and a link to previous books, and a link to the author website so...I think I've got the links covered.

Point 5 Amazon controls. I don't have any say in the matter. What I can do is have a decent amount of text in the front, but Amazon gives you something like 10% of the book to review so...this is either an old post or the guy hasn't really paid attention to the rules of Amazon. You're not allowed to expose more than 10% even when giving an excerpt on other sites. Thems' the Amazon rules. I try not to piss off the mogul of book sales.

Point 6 Book Cover Continuity I'm all in! Notice he's referencing a serial. Not exactly helpful when you've got unrelated books, but--you can immortalize the author name with font, color or an unusual pen name. My favorite font/color combo immortilization is Patricia A. Knight.

I could be bias though as truenotdreams and I created that together.

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Yeah, love that...

Point 7 which is viral Word of mouth. Yes, a well written book will get noticed, but if you don't put it in front of readers, people aren't going to just get a mental telegraph thinking ~ I'll buy Carol McKibben's book today! Never mind that I've never heard of her.

Jeez, this guy just thinks getting readers is ALL to chance? Really? Seriously? Books are a business. You have to treat it like a business. Yes some businesses get really well known really fast, when fast = 10 years.

Yes, book cover design, a nifty slogan, ease of buying and all that is part of becoming legendary. But there is a formula. I've seen it happen. When you have a good product people will buy. But first they have to know it exists.

Action Item:

Do you like your tag line? Is this what you want to be known for? If so, let's find a way to put it on your social media pages. We can also put it on your books. Give me the shout out!