Do you need to advertise your book?

I don’t know.

I love writing. Whether, it’s on my blog, short story, flash fiction or a children’s book, I really love writing. Marketing my books, not so much. It always makes me think of bragging. 

With the thousands of books written and published every day, how can I convince someone to read mine?

reading book

Is it because I know so little about the selling and marketing side that I don’t like it?

Could be. But one day, I may have to throw off my insecurities and learn more about how to market my books.

That’s why I was thrilled to read the latest post by 

His experience with Bookbub’s blog plus the extensive list of links for marketing books will be one I’ll save and read many times. Congrats Nicholas for the recognition he received and thanks for passing on much-needed information.

Hop over and read what happened to Nicholas and the abundance of marketing links on his post. The link is at the bottom of this post. You will want to bookmark his blog!

Tell me are you ready to begin marketing yourself as an author?

Do you hesitate to toot your own horn?

blow horn

Is cost what stops you or the process itself?

I’d love to hear from you! Click the “write me” tab or contact me onTwitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdell and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! The lights are on and I’m waiting.

Please remember to share this post with your Twitter  peeps andFacebook fans.

 That Jaw-dropping Moment when Bookbub Mentions your Blog by 

 

Everyone needs a little applause now and again

The encouragement and help of so many writers and readers have helped to make me a better writer. I would have probably thrown in the towel by now without it. So, today I’d like to pay it forward.

Let’s give a big hand of encouragement to Jacqui Murray, author of the popular Building a Midshipman, who is revealing the cover of her new book.

To Hunt a Sub

THAS-small

The USS Hampton SSN 767 quietly floated unseen a hundred fifty-two feet below the ocean’s surface. Despite its deadly nuclear tipped arsenal of Trident missiles, its task for the past six months has been reconnaissance and surveillance. The biggest danger the crew faced was running out of olives for their pizza. That all changed one morning, four days before the end of the Hampton’s tour. Halfway through the Captain’s first morning coffee, every system in the submarine shut down. No navigation, no communication, and no defensive measures. Within minutes, the sub began a terrifying descent through the murky grays and blacks of the deep Atlantic and settled to the ocean floor five miles from Cuba and perilously close to the sub’s crush depth. When it missed its mandated contact, an emergency call went out to a retired Navy Intel officer, Zeke Rowe, top of his field before a botched mission left him physically crippled and psychologically shaken. Rowe quickly determined that the sub was the victim of a cyber virus secreted inside the sub’s top secret operating systems.  What Rowe couldn’t figure out was who did it or how to stop it sinking every other submarine in the American fleet. 

Kali Delamagente is a struggling, over-the-hill grad student who entered a DARPA cyber security competition as a desperate last hope to fund a sophisticated artificial intelligence she called Otto. Though her presentation imploded, she caught the attention of two people: a terrorist intent on destroying America and a rapt Dr. Zeke Rowe. An anonymous blank check to finish her research is quickly followed by multiple break-ins to her lab, a hack of her computer, the disappearance of her three-legged dog, and finally the kidnapping of her only son. 

By all measures, Rowe and Delamagente are an unlikely duo. Rowe believes in brawn and Delamagente brains. To save the America they both love, they find a middle ground, guided by the wisdom of a formidable female who died two million years ago.

Book information:

Title and author: To Hunt a Sub by J. Murray

Release Date: August, 2016 by Structured Learning

Genre: Thriller

Preview: Available on Kindle Scout

Cover by: Paper and Sage Design 

Author bio:

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to the United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer,  a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech Ed topics. Her debut novel, To Hunt a Sub, launches this summer. You can find her nonfiction books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.

Are you having a launch soon? Do let us know!

I’d love to hear from you! Click the write me tab or contact me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at  jean.cogdell and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! The lights are on and I’m waiting.

Please remember to share this post with your Twitter peeps and Facebook Facebook fans.

As promised, here are the tools I selected for my books

I use two.

IngramSpark/Lightening Source and Createspace for my print books

Amazon KDP for the e-book.

IngramSpark Print Distributes to brick and mortar retailers, bookstores and libraries file.  If you ever hope to put a print book in a bookstore or at your local library this is where you want to be. Accepted for download is only PDF. E-Book Distribution to online e-retailers but accepted download only epub. IngramSpark does NOT provide free ISBNs. Customer service is very responsive and helpful.

Createspace has very easy to use with the step-by-step instructions. You can upload your work as a print-ready .pdf, .doc, .docx, or .rtf. Your page count will be detected and an automated print check will run once your upload is complete. You’ll be able to see any issues online using the Interior Reviewer tool. Createspace does provide free ISBN or you can use your own.

Another plus is that should you choose, you can let Createspace convert and send to KDP for ebook publication.

createspace

One note: I prefer to purchase and use my own ISBN. Yes, this does add cost but also gives me a little bit more control.

So how to you convert and publish your books? Print and e-book?

Do you do conversions using third-party tools or do you let the printer tools available on their websites?

Talk to us in the comments. Or click the “write me” tab or contact me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdell and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! The lights are on and I’m waiting.

Please remember to share this post with your Twitter  peeps andFacebook fans.

How to select the best ebook conversion tool

Too many choices!

But fortunately, there is one that will work for you.

And thanks to 

So if you’re ready to convert and upload that best-selling book, keep reading.

Amazon KDP

KDP accepts ePub, Word doc/docx, HTML, mobi formats. Output mobi, and HTML.  In my book Tryouts for Ben, I uploaded a Word docx and had little trouble. I agree with David; it’s easy and almost fool-proof.  Don’t waste your time using fancy fonts, or formatting, because KDP will not recognize most of them. However, if you are confident with HTML, and CSS format, you can edit the converted file in HTML.

Barnes and Noble Nookbook

I’ve not converted any of my books to Nookbook. But David assures us it’s fairly straightforward. But doesn’t allow for HTML editing.

KOBO

Again, I’ve not yet used KOBO. It appears to be less than user-friendly and not sure I’ll bother with it. David didn’t appear to be impressed.

DRAFT2DIGITAL (D2D)

D2D accepts ePub, Word doc/docx, RTF files, and the output is ePub, mobi, or PDF. I did consider D2D but wasn’t happy with their conversion tool.

SMASHWORDS

Smashwords accepts files in ePub, Word doc (not docx.) Note: this means you must save your manuscript in the older version of Word.  Out put is impressive: ePub, mobi, PDF, PDB, lit, TXT, and many more. Again, this is one I considered but decided it wasn’t for me.

So which tool did I use?

computer-frogs 2

Check back tomorrow.

But in the meantime, head over and read David’s entire article.

The Convertible Cloud: Ebook Conversion Online

Click the “write me” tab or contact me onTwitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdell and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! The lights are on and I’m waiting.

Please remember to share this post with your Twitter  peeps andFacebook fans.