37 Top Book Awards for Authors in 2017

Scott Lorenz, a Book Publicist, informs us about book awards for authors. Thank you very much Scott, this is very helpful.

The Book Publicist

Enter Book Award Contests and Become an Award Winning Author in 2017!

By Scott Lorenz

Westwind Communications

“Do book awards matter?”  YES!!

As a book publicist I can assure you they absolutely do matter! One client won several awards and was contacted by two movie producers about her Young Adult Sci-Fi Fantasy Fiction novel.  Another one of my clients won the prestigious Los Angeles Book Festival award. That then led to a flurry of media interest, which subsequently led to a major New York agent deciding to represent the book and pitch it to all the major publishing houses. This author, needless to say, was happy he decided to enter.

You win awards you sell more products.  Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon

Jeff Bezos at the 2016 Code Conference (Photo news.techniblogic.com

Recently a business book client won a major award which caused CNN to reach out to request the book.

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5 Tips To Get You Tweeting Like A Pro

Nicholas Rossis teaches us how to tweet like a pro. Thanks a lot, Nicholas!

Nicholas C. Rossis

Author Steve Boseley, who has posted on my blog a guest post on the best time to tweet, recently published a post filled with tips on how to compose the perfect Tweet. I’m copying here his main tips, but I urge you to check out his complete post if you’re using Twitter to promote your books, as he also has some great tips on Twitter etiquete.

Tip #1: People Are Looking For Bargains

Here is what people are looking for on Twitter:

Image via Steve Boseley

Notice a pattern? Yes, the two most popular items are discounts and promos, and free stuff!

Tip #2: Ask A Question

Phrasing your tweet is obviously paramount to its success. One remarkably successful way to increase interaction with a tweet is to phrase it as a question:

• Why it is important to always…
• Why you should never…
• What is…

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Don’t Advertise With Amazon Until You’ve Read This

Nicholas C. Rossis has provided us with a fantastic blog post about advertising with Amazon. Read this article before you decide to do so. Thank you very much Nicholas!

Nicholas C. Rossis

Yes, this is the long-promised post where I share my experience advertising with Amazon and the things I’ve learned — things that could make or break your campaign.

What I’ve Learned Advertising With Amazon

You may remember my past experiences with Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) and the recent plan I’d set for myself. I started promoting in April with 3 kinds of ads:

Ad #1: Sponsored Products, Manual Keywords

This was the bulk of my promos. I chose up to 1,000 keywords for each book and used them to target potential readers.

How does one come up with so many keywords, you ask? Well, there are two easy ways:

1. Choose The Best-Selling Books In Your Genre

The first strategy requires that you find the genres in which your books sells. Amazon does some automatic choosing for you, and you can sometimes see these listed under your book details…

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THE DEFINITIVE SELF-PUBLISHING CHECKLIST ~ For People Who Aren’t Very Organised and are absolute beginners.

Thank you very much, Evie Gaughan, for publishing the ultimate self-publishing checklist! We really appreciate it! (In particular a beginner like me!)

Evie Gaughan

You just hit publish, right?  That’s what all the articles say.  Any idiot can upload a book in minutes.  And yes, I suppose any idiot can, but it takes a very informed, dedicated, professional and talented individual to upload a book that people will want to read.  A recent Facebook post from a first-time author seeking advice made me realise how long I’ve been doing this self-publishing thang and how I’ve kind of taken for granted that everyone has ‘the knowledge’.  There are so many blogs, articles and how-to books on the subject, and yet authors can still struggle with the basics.  The first author asked what she should be doing in the run up to her launch and another suggested that while there is a lot of information out there, it’s almost overwhelming.  Where do you start?  Where does it end??  So in an effort to share said knowledge, I’m writing…

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How to Create a High-Performing Book Sales Page for Your Launch

“howtoebook” has published a very interesting blog about how to create a high performing book sales page for your launch. You can see their guide on the link they provide within the blog post. Thank you!

How To Ebook

How to Create a High-Performing Book Sales Page for Your Launch

Book Marketing Tools Blog / by Book Marketing Tools

/2 days ago

Not so long ago, creating a landing page was a technologically challenging and time-consuming exercise. It was also outrageously expensive, which is not something an author on a shoestring budget wants to hear.

Fortunately, there are now multiple, cost-effective options for building a beautiful landing page with all of the dressing but none of the hassle. Simply follow our guide to create your own

http://bookmarketingtools.com/blog/how-to-create-a-high-performing-book-sales-page-for-your-launch/

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How To Set Up Twitter Ads For Your Books: A Complete Guide By Alfageek

Nicholas Rossis has published a blog post with a fantastic step-by-step guide on how to set up twitter ads for your books – a guide that has been created and built by alfageek, aka Joshua Smith. Thank you Joshua and Nicholas for providing us with this useful information.

Nicholas C. Rossis

I’ve mentioned Joshua Smith’s (aka Alfageek’s) excellent blog in the past (in Alfageek Shares His Bookbub Ads Experience and The Benefits Of KDP Select: One Author’s Experience).

Well, the man has done it again and produced the best guide in setting up Twitter ads I’ve ever seen. He has detailed everything in six (!) consecutive posts aptly titled Step By Step Instructions for Promotion of your Book with Twitter Ads. I will be repeating here the gist of it in a single, easy-to-bookmark post with my experience added to Joshua’s, but be sure to check out the complete posts on his blog if you decide to go down the Twitter ads route.

How To Set Up Twitter Ads For Your Books

Photo by thesocialskinny.com

Using Twitter Ads, Joshua has been able to sell an average of almost 3 copies of his first novel a day, day in…

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#Authors: Get Real on #SocialMedia and Readers Will Respond #ASMSG #IARTG

Phenomenal Marketing post, written by N. N. Light. Tanks so much for this amazing article!!

POTL: All Things Books, Reading and Publishing

“Marketing is first and foremost about connecting.” – Wendy Paine Miller

Today’s publishing market requires authors to wear several hats, one of them being marketer. For many authors, they haven’t a clue what to do or how to get the word out about their book(s). I see it all the time on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn; authors posting about their books in an unending stream of impersonal tweets and posts.

“BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK, PLEASE!”

I shake my head because these authors miss the whole point. Social media is at its core, social. It’s a powerful marketing tool, if you know how to use it. Let me give you an example:

Back in 2012, I wrote my debut novel, Princess of the Light. When the time came to edit and publish it, I started chatting with some of my Twitter followers about it. Nothing…

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