Universal Links for Book Marketing

To all the authors out there struggling to promote sales of their books on multiple sites, Draft2Digital just released a feature called Universal Linking that helps with this chore. The concept is simple. Instead of trying to advertise multiple links for all the sites that sell your books, you can use the single universal link created by Draft2Digital to direct the reader to a page on the Books2Read site that links directly to your books on all the selling sites. I suppose it's one extra click for readers, but I prefer that one extra click versus all the extra text and links that would be necessary in a snippet of ad copy to showcase all the places to purchase the book.

I'm not sure about other authors' methods, but I know I usually focus on only advertising a single venue, such as Amazon, per piece of ad copy in order to keep it polished and professional. This will allow me to create ads that provide easy access to all the selling venues without a lot of convoluted wording, and I'm looking forward to trying it. I already work with Draft2Digital for some of my digital publishing, so they created my universal links automatically, and I just had to add links for the other vendors they don't handle. If you don't already work with D2D, I think you can still create universal links for your books, or at least that's my understanding from reading the email they sent out. My interpretation is you just have to set it up yourself on Books2Read.com.

These are what my universal links and landing pages look like:

Defying a Duke: https://www.books2read.com/u/bP87rb
Mystery Lady: https://www.books2read.com/u/47kMkR

I hope this info helps some other authors out there. Pass it on!

Sometimes Blue Is Blue

As much as I love a great story, I was actually never much of a fan of literature classes or the literature segments in English classes. Or maybe I should clarify and say I wasn't much of a fan of the common teaching approach, which usually focused on a "right" way to interpret the material in a story instead of letting readers make sense of the details in whatever way felt right to them. I agree that reading is important to critical thinking, but I don't think that means every reader has to walk away with the exact same feeling and message after reading a book. We could have had far better classroom discussions over the years if we had talked about the varying interpretations of different readers instead of focusing on teaching every student the "correct" interpretation. After all, sometimes a blue curtain is just a blue curtain.

Passive No More

In my work as an editor, I constantly fight a battle against writers who produce content with excessive amounts of passive voice. And by excessive, I mean EXCESSIVE. I understand that using only active voice is sometimes difficult, especially when writing fiction, but good writing should blend both active and passive voice, with an emphasis on the active. You could certainly argue that writers are entitled to develop their own writing styles, and it's up to readers to decide whether they love them or hate them. That would be true for writers who write for themselves and their fans, but that doesn't get the writers off the hook who write commercially for clients who pay them for the content. When a client gives you guidelines that include writing in active voice, it's your job to follow them. When you don't, someone picks up the slack and makes the corrections. You guessed it. That would be the editor. 

So that explains my mini rant on the excessive use of passive voice in the writing world these days. It's really all about saving my own sanity. LOL. That's why I can't resist sharing hilarious writing memes like the one attached to this post. Enjoy!

Fun Writing Perspectives

For maximum impact, he really should have added, "Don't screw with me."

I'm sorry. What were you saying? I don't think I quite caught that. Exactly!

Oh, well. Normal is highly overrated. Who needs it?

Moving on to Book 3

So the first two books in my dusty digital closet are published, and I'm ready to move on to polishing the third historical romance I wrote many years ago. Defying a Duke is currently a featured book on the Book Goodies website, so I should probably devote some time to marketing, but I've decided I'm not a fan of marketing, and I'm feeling stubborn. I'm definitely starting to understand why many writers are willing to work with agents. I want to write, not work on marketing, so it's a bit of a no-win situation for a writer with a limited amount of time for writing. Sigh... Wish me luck! (And if anyone knows a good literary agent, let me know.)

Cover Chaos

Finally! The new website is finished, and I can check one thing off my monster to-do list. At this point, I'll take every accomplishment I can get. As to the rest of the book marketing and promotion I need to do, well, one bite at a time, right?

The most challenging issue that requires immediate action is the creation of a new cover for my book. This is a challenge that I obviously thought was resolved, but I was completely wrong. Apparently, my lack of experience bit me on the booty, and I'm enjoying a "live and learn" moment. Okay, so "enjoying" is a really strong word. The problem is the catch-22 related to cover design for a brand new author. To compete against thousands (pages and pages) of other books and actually sell books, it's critical to somehow stand out and tempt buyers into clicking on your book title. After all, the best blurb in the history of the world won't sell a single copy of the book if no one ever finds it and reads it.

For new authors with no name recognition, that means the best way to attract attention is to create (or buy) an eye-catching book cover. This is where I steered dramatically off course. The book in question is a historical romance, and anyone familiar with the genre knows that a huge chunk of book covers for historical romances include a man and a woman entangled in a passionate (or at least compromising) embrace. Second and third place numbers probably go to a lone woman in a gorgeous gown or a lone man in a striking pose, possibly (Gasp!) shirtless. You find the occasional scenic photo on a historical romance cover, but it's certainly not the norm.

In a quest to avoid the "typical" cover styles, I pondered some of the key elements in my book, trying to come up with image ideas that would make a captivating cover. The result was the purple eye that appears on the first version of my book cover.

 

I thought the eye was perfect. Originally blue, I changed the color to represent the unusual violet eye color of the heroine in the book. Beyond that, the overall look of the design was edgy and seemed to fit with the mysterious theme implied by the title.

Yes, well, I started communicating on Amazon message boards with some more experienced writers in the historical romance genre to find answers to a few questions I had, and many of them pointed out that my cover didn't indicate to the reader that the book is a historical romance. Due to the edgy look, the consensus was that the cover indicated a thriller or paranormal novel or something in the young adult category. Yikes! Talk about bursting my bubble. I knew the cover was edgy, but I certainly didn't mean to create the impression that the book was a completely different genre.

Once it was so blatantly pointed out, I could easily see that maybe I went a bit too far. So there it was, the nasty catch-22 of creating a cover. I need a cover that deviates from the norm and stands out from the crowd, but the cover still has to say, "Hey, I'm a historical romance!", or my potential readers might skim right past it, regardless of an eye-catching cover, because they assume it's something else.

I'm running ad campaigns that I'm afraid could suffer because of the poorly chosen first cover, so I have created a temporary revised cover that fits the theme. I say temporary because it's an embracing couple that might not really stand out, but at least readers will know it's a historical romance. I suppose it's better than nothing while I wait for inspiration to strike on something remarkable and unique…and historical. Sigh… Feel free to offer advice.