Port of Call

The Daily Port of Call: September 11, 2014

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

In today’s Daily Port of Call, you’ll find more great resources from the speakers at Author Marketing Live.  One of my big takeaways from the conference was this: if we want to earn money from our books, we need to treat our writing as a business, not just an art. I‘ve heard this before, but the AML speakers really helped me to understand what that looks and feels like. We sometimes feel uncomfortable selling our art; many writers are reluctant to market their work. But the volume of content available today makes it highly unlikely that readers will come find us. If we want to share our words with the world successfully, we need to learn to put smart effort into getting the word out. Today we focus on the speakers and resources that help support the business of writing.

Jim Kukral, is an author, internet marketing veteran, and founder of Author Marketing Live. He also owns Author Marketing Club, a community of authors who share challenges and successes and spread the word about each other’s work. Authors can find training videos, tools, and services to support their publication journey. Jim’s latest book, Go Direct!: The Content Creator's Guide to Eliminating the Middleman & Avoiding the Gatekeepers, helps authors to become less dependent on platforms they don’t own. You can listen to the podcast that he hosts with Bryan Cohen, the Sell More Books Show for the latest tips and news about publishing and marketing your books.

Joe Pulizzi is an author and content marketing expert who can be found at the Content Marketing Institute. CMI provides training and resources for people to provide helpful and valuable information to the readers who want to buy their books and services. His most recent book is Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less. You can find Joe’s blog posts here.

Hunter Boyle is the leader of business development for AWeber, which provides superior tools for email management. Hunter is a speaker and writer with years of experience helping people create and optimize content marketing. He recently published an article about how to blast through fears around content marketing. You can explore the resources mentioned during his talk at AML here.

Andrea Vahl is a social media coach, speaker, and strategist and the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies. In addition to her helpful blog, Andrea hosts The Grandma Mary Show with social media tutorials.

Julia Kline is the author of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sleaze-Free Selling, which is designed to help authors and other business owners create successful and heart-centered marketing strategies. 

The Daily Port of Call: September 10, 2014

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

We missed the Daily Port of Call earlier this week while we visited the Port of Cleveland to attend Author Marketing Live created by Jim Kukral of Author Marketing Club. The presenters shared several actionable tips that we can run with right away and more to implement as we go. We highly recommend this conference no matter where you are in your author journey. You can pick up tweets of wisdom from the event by following #AMLive14. We’ll be sharing our favorite takeaways in the Captain’s Blog over the next several weeks. In the Daily Port of Call the rest of this week, we’ll be sharing posts and resources from the amazing presenters we heard.

CreativIndie is the home of Derek Murphy, who designs book covers and shares tips on book publishing and marketing. In this post, he shares his thoughts on persevering when things look bleak. “But sometimes all that work seems futile; why not just pass the time sleeping, eating and reading Outlander? Frustration and disappointment comes from having lofty goals that we think we need to accomplish before we can be happy and satisfied.” Check out DIY Book Covers where you can find templates to do it yourself and Derek’s brand new site, Does My Book Cover Suck, to find out if your cover is thwarting your success.

Book Goodies is a free site, created by Deborah Carney, where authors and bloggers can promote their books and services, while readers can find new books and blogs. Check out their message boards, services for authorspodcasts, and interviews.

Awesomegang is another free site, created by Vinny O'Hare, that helps connect authors with readers. Among other services, they feature interviews to help readers get to know authors. Check out the author group on Facebook where authors can share what’s working and what’s not. Read Awesomegang’s post with reactions to Author Marketing Live.