Want to grow your author Instagram account? These tips will make it easy to take stunning photographs and build a reader-attracting Instagram feed in no time.

Strategies for long-term author success. Ready to take your writing career to the next level? We look at the winning habits of best-selling authors to reveal their formula for a happy, successful author career.

Self-publishing or traditional publishing? It’s one of the biggest decision you will make as an author and while both options have their advantages and disadvantages, it’s important to make the best decision for your author career. In this post we’ll take a closer look at the pros and cons of each.

Stuck for what to include in your author email newsletter? An author newsletter can be one of the most powerful tools in your book marketing toolkit but it isn't always easy to create enticing content. In this post we'll be looking at some content ideas that your readers are going to love receiving.

Email marketing remains one of the most effective forms of book marketing. It offers a direct connection to your audience without relying on ever-changing social media platforms or third parties. It can drive author website traffic, increase awareness of your work and boost book sales. It’s versatile, low-cost and able to be automated.

Let’s face it:  Most authors know that they should be growing their audience on social media but they are unsure about how to go about it. There are a number of marketing tactics you can use to generate interest in your work. Many of them free. All of them easily accessible. Here is what you can do to grow your social media today.

For many authors creating book marketing content can seem like a time-consuming task, eating into precious writing time. Yet creating consistent content is a fantastic, free way to attract more readers to your website and increase awareness of your books. Think of it as your very own PR program.

So how do you create a steady flow of reader-attracting content? As with writing it pays to be organized. For this you need a content calendar.

We recently looked at whether having a blog is mandatory for authors hoping to sell their work. For many authors having a blog is a great way to get in the writing habit, reach more readers, receive instant feedback, network and increase SEO. Decided that blogging is for you or keen to give it a go? Here are 6 tips to ensure that your blog is working for you.

Marketing a written product is a challenge. Books require a high level of investment which is, in itself, a tougher sell in today's “Insta-story” world. Increasing your sales, brand awareness, and exposure requires creativity and organization. I've found several modes of marketing to be worthwhile if the author is willing to be proactive and exit his or her comfort zone. These methods have helped me since the release of my first novel in 2006 and continued to bring positive results for the three books that followed. Here are some helpful, low to no-cost techniques to aid any stage of your publishing journey.

Chances are that at some point in your writing career you will be asked to speak and while a bit of anxiety prior to a speech is normal it shouldn’t hold you back from connecting with your readers. We look at what you can do to calm your nerves and spread the word about your book.

Is blogging a waste of time or a mandatory step in building your author platform? Take a look around the web and you’ll find plenty of conflicting information. Some authors swear by blogging while others say it detracts from their main goal, to write books. In this post we take a look at all the pros and cons so you can make up your own mind.

400 million users a day means you can’t afford to ignore Instagram Stories any longer. For authors, Stories can be a fantastic way to take your readers behind-the-scenes in your writing, show them what you are currently working on and keep them updated on upcoming events. In this post we cover all the Instagram Story content ideas, tips and tricks you need to reach readers, increase follower numbers and boost book sales.

Last week I had an author tell me that they would love to properly market their book but they felt that they had to be a millionaire to do it. Um, what?  While no-one is going to tell you that some savvy advertising investment won’t help build your author brand, do you have to have a million dollars to make it happen? Definitely not. Here are 7 totally free book marketing ideas that you can get started on today.

Minimalist book marketing is simple. It is about eliminating the non-essentials, honing in on your ideal reader and doing away with what isn’t working. It is about ignoring overly complicated marketing approaches, setting out a simple plan that fits your needs and establishing genuine relationships with your readers.

Stuck for what to post to Instagram? Last week I had an author contact me asking how they could make their written work visual. Chefs can display mouth-watering photos of food, they explained, but how can I make sitting at my desk for hours on end visually interesting? The answer is: in a ton of ways. To prove it to you I have compiled a list of over 30 of the best Instagram post ideas for authors. Let’s do this!

Want to sell more books? Try collaborating with authors in your niche. Networking with authors in your genre is an invaluable way to reach new readers and build a supportive writer network. Yet many authors fail to actively seek collaborative opportunities, seeing other writers as their competitors. It’s time to change that mindset and we’ll show you how.

Ah social media, the great double-edged sword of book marketing. On one hand, it is a fantastic tool for reaching readers, building a following and promoting your books, on the other, it can be a major source of distraction and wasted time. Here's how to market your book without frittering away those precious writing hours.

The impact of your book title on sales cannot be underestimated. Along with your book cover and blurb, the title is a key factor in any reader purchase. An effective title should captivate your readers, drawing them into the story and giving them a glimpse of the magic that is to come. So, what to do if you need a title, but you are coming up blank? Don't worry, we've got you covered.

If you are an author then you are also a marketer. Long gone are the days when you could just upload your book to Amazon and it would sell itself. Increasingly author life is one of entrepreneurialism. You are responsible for not only writing but also the marketing of your book and balancing both is an ongoing juggling act. So before you self-combust from overwhelm at all the tasks you have ahead of you, here are our tips for mastering the balance between writing and book marketing. 

What is an author brand? And how do you create yours? Branding is something many authors gloss over or completely ignore, leaping into creating a persona that alienates and confuses their readers. In this post we look at how to define your author brand and leverage it to create a beautifully consistent reader-attracting author platform.

If ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ is your mantra for book marketing then it’s time to replace that with ‘Just do it’. You know it needs to be done, yet day after day it’s there at the bottom of your to-do-list and you haven’t started on it. We all have tasks we procrastinate on, jobs we should be doing but search for any excuse not to. We tell ourselves we’ll do it when we are in the perfect mood, the right time of day, when we have oodles of time for the task. Well that time is now! Let’s get rid of that guilt and get started on your book marketing.

Promoting my book felt like showing-off at a time when I was especially vulnerable. I’d put my name to a novel. Telling people about the work was tantamount to suggesting they buy a copy. Describing it as Romantic Comedy not only suggested I thought I could tell a story but that I was funny. Who did I think I was? As you can tell, I was apologetic, and, I’ll admit, slightly neurotic, and yet I really wanted people to read the story.

Your Instagram bio only features one precious link. One chance to direct your readers where you want them to go. So, how can you best optimize this link to make it as easy as possible for your readers to get to your best content?

Twitter has been the social media author platform of choice for years now and despite competition from newer social media (Instagram, anyone?) Twitter’s popularity continues to increase. Twitter now has 330 million monthly active users and that number is growing by 4% annually. With so many people in the literary community on Twitter it’s a fantastic place to connect with fellow authors, agents, publishers and industry professionals. In this post we look at the top Twitter tips to increase your tweet visibility and connect with more readers than ever before.

Dream of being able to have adventures in exotic lands while simultaneously writing your book? Trip coming up and worried about it clashing with your book marketing plans? Or already working overseas, laptop perched precariously on hotel pillows? It’s a blessing to be able to travel and work at the same time and it brings it’s own set of challenges. Here are my top tips for maintaining your book marketing and writing momentum on the road.

Every day we are bombarded by a constant stream of book marketing tools, techniques and trends. Added to this is the highlight reel of social media, making us feel that everyone else is hustling so much harder and smarter than we are. It’s enough to make even the most persistent author feel like giving up. So how to succeed in book market when it feels like you are trying to eat soup with a fork? Here are our straight-forward strategies for beating book marketing overwhelm.

As a writer your book marketing to-list can seem endlessly long. Often authors are already juggling multiple roles with full-time work, writing, childcare and other responsibilities. You may be navigating the steep learning curve of self-publishing, on top of which you are expected to do all your own book marketing and now maintain a regular presence on social media as well. How to fit in time for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram when it all seems too much? Let’s look at how you can work smarter instead of harder by simplifying your social media in three easy steps.

If you’ve already successfully launched your website but are finding there are barely any visits and even fewer purchases of your book, it may be time to reassess your website strategy. Here we run through some quick ways to boost your traffic and reach new readers. 

Looking for the best hashtags to grow your readership? Wondering how many to use for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube? Hashtags remain one of the most effective ways to grow your visibility and increase reader engagement. In this post we look at the golden rules of hashtag usage on every social media platform and essential hashtags for writers.

Social media is an integral part of your book marketing strategy but how long do your posts remain effective for? How many days or minutes until your content no longer appears on your reader’s Facebook feed or Instagram stream? All authors can benefit from knowing the average lifespan of their social media posts and how to extend post visibility to reach more readers. So let’s examine the major social media platforms further.