Three Ways to Maximize Your Royalties with Booktango

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Tony Cruse

One of the most common questions we receive at Booktango is “How can I earn more?” It is a legitimate question. For many of our authors their book was not just something done on a whim. You invested a great deal of time, effort, editing, re-editing, critiquing, designing and promoting your book. Like any good investor, you want to see a return on your investment! As we near the payout window for our Fourth Quarter royalties and many of you are anxiously checking your sales reports, I thought it would be timely to provide three tips to maximize your earnings. Continue reading →

Self-publishing with Google Docs and Booktango, a first-hand Experience

Posted on February 19, 2013 by William L. Weaver, Ph.D.

This in-depth blog post about a Booktango author’s first-hand experience was originally posted on William L. Weaver’s blog, Choice Management.

The Booktango Service

In March of 2012, I came across Booktango, a service of Author Solutions in Bloomington, Indiana which is now owned by Penguin Books, that in turn is owned by Pearson, PLC. The cool thing about Booktango is that it is a freemium service that provides individuals an online website to assemble their eBook, scan it for formatting errors, register and assign an ISBN, produce PDF, MOBI, and EPUB files, and have them listed for sale at Booktango, Amazon, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Scribd, and Sony.

All of the above services are 100% free, and there is an additional menu of packages you can purchase that currently range from $49 – $359. The add-on services for a fee include things that employ creative humans who assist in your project including editing, interior images, U.S. Copyright filing, consultation on social media promotion, custom cover design, and marketing assistance. Continue reading →

How to Write Romance Novels without Crossing the Line

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Jodi Baker

How to Write Romance Novels without Crossing the Line

We’re not judging you if you enjoyed reading Fifty Shades of Grey, but if you want to write a bit more…ahem…tasteful romance novels, here are a few tips.

1.) Focus on the emotional rather the physical. If writing detailed love scenes makes you blush, skip the gritty details and focus on how excited your couple feels in the moment. Romance novels aren’t all about shock and awe. Stay away from X-rated details, and focus more on the flirty side of things, such as the rush one feels when a new love interest holds their hand. Continue reading →

Twitter Marketing Secrets: Decoding Hashtags

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Kim Doty

For writers just entering the world of Twitter, hashtags can seem like a bit of a mystery. But the concept is actually pretty simple, and there are plenty of ways to use hashtags to your advantage.

What is a hashtag?

A hashtag is simply a keyword or phrase (with no spaces) that is prefixed with the hashtag symbol #. Examples: #ebooks, #ilovebooks

When you include a hashtag in a tweet, the hashtagged word will appear as a link that connects that tweet to others using the same hashtag. Thus, hashtags work to help categorize your messages and make them easier for people to find.

For example, if you write a tweet about how you just surprised yourself with a new plot twist in your novel, you might add the hashtag #amwriting. This will further show readers what your tweet is about and will help your message become part of a larger conversation among people who are tweeting about their writing process.

What’s the point? Continue reading →

Book Marketing: Timing is Everything

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Jodi Baker

Book Marketing: Timing is Everything

Successfully promoting your book isn’t about a big break or an overnight sensation. You have to create a plan of action around a strategic timeframe. Too often authors become so excited with the thought of publishing their book that they forget to use their release date to their advantage. What do I mean exactly? Continue reading →

5 tips to getting published in 2013

Posted on January 23, 2013 by wpengine

This blog was originally posted on Dec. 31, 2012 on The Indie Book Writers Blog

There has never been a better time to be an author so if you have a manuscript you have been working on, 2013 is the year you can get published. Here are five simple tips to help you make sure you get to your goal.

Pick a date when you want to hold a copy of your book. Writing is a process, but publishing is a goal so you need a deadline. And I have found the authors who are successful in self publishing, set a date when they want to hold a copy of their book. Sounds simple, but it is really important.
Decide when is the best time for you to write and make that your routine. I have talked to hundreds of authors and the ones who get to the goal have a discipline about their writing. Most have a better time in the day when they write most productively. What is your best time to write? Do you know when it is? Have you marked out that time on your calendar everyday or most everyday. Continue reading →

Quotes on Writing: Do These Famous Authors Really Know What They’re Talking About?

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Jodi Baker

Most writers have a bestselling author they admire, such as Shakespeare, Stephen King or E.L. James. (Hey, we don’t judge here.) We think it’s great to have someone’s success motivate you to be a better writer yourself. Quotes are a great way to stay focused during rough patches of your career. And, with Pinterest, those famous quotes are everywhere these days. We all have famous mentors that we look up to, but do these authors really know what the heck they’re talking about?

Here we breakdown a few quotes from famous authors. Tell us what you think: Continue reading →

A Good Story is a Terrible Thing to Waste – Novel Beginnings Writing Contest

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Jodi Baker

You might know him as a screenwriter who has collaborated with such comic greats as Mel Brooks and Steve Martin. Carl Reiner, a distinguished actor, film director, producer, writer, and comedian, is giving aspiring writers the opportunity to become a published author. He teamed up with AuthorHouse and launched a unique writing contest in conjunction with the release of his new book, I Remember Me. For the contest, Reiner started a novel and is giving other writers an opportunity to finish the story and get published. Here are the details on the contest: Continue reading →

What can a writing community do for you?

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Tony Cruse

True story: I am not a writer unless you count my blog posts on Booktango or my occasional lengthy Facebook statuses. However, I do know a lot of writers, and I am lucky enough to get to speak directly to some of our authors. The one thing I hear a lot is that authors write in solitude, alone, in the quiet. Perhaps that is when the best ideas come to them or maybe they are afraid if they share their ideas or stories, someone might steal them. Whatever the reason may be, I’d like to suggest writers look for feedback during their writing and publishing process.

Who better to give a writer feedback than other writers, or better yet, potential readers? Well friends, good news! There are tools out there to help you with just that. Writing communities offer several options to interact with others, share struggles, provide insights or ideas. The best part? Almost every (good) community has guidelines and terms of use that protect the writer from their work being copied or against really abusive feedback.

Who should join a writing community? Continue reading →

Year in Review – Celebrating Our One Year Anniversary

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Tony Cruse

December is often a time of reflection for me and for most people. I spend time thinking about the accomplishments I’ve made over the last year, the opportunities to do better and to set my goals for the coming year.

Coincidentally, this year in addition to reflecting on my personal life and career, I also get to take a look back at Booktango. Booktango officially went live to the world in Beta one year ago. It’s been an exciting year and as we close out 2012 and celebrate our first anniversary, I wanted to take some time to celebrate the last 12 months and look ahead to 2013.

December 2011

At launch, Booktango had some of the core features you see today such as the online editor, error identification, e-book details collection, retailer selection and submission. We knew we weren’t done, but we were excited to get an initial product out and begin gathering feedback from our authors. We continued to develop and plan new features for roll out during the first few months following launch. Continue reading →