Happy New Year to you, indie author friend! As I write this, Shannon and I are hanging out in our favorite cafe. As others recover from last night, we’re feverishly planning all kinds of goodies. We want 2013 to be the year of you!

Before we dive in to all that goodness, however, I want to tackle two of the common questions we receive from authors — to help your year start off with a bang:

“Where in the world do I start?”

Here’s the good news: book marketing is not hard, and you need never feel sleazy. The bad news? Promotion takes input from you, in the form of time and energy. Like 30 minutes, 4 times a week. That’s totally do-able, right?

Give us that small amount of time, and we’ll show you how to make it fun and effective:

• Our blog series on growing your crazy-dedicated fanbase is the perfect overview of how we approach book marketing. It’s fun, friendly and effective. Woot!
• When you’re ready for a deeper how-to, check out Building Your Fanbase: A From-Scratch Guide for Indie Authors. This is our step-by-step fanbase-building manual! Even if you have nothing but a manuscript and a dream, Building Your Fanbase will give you the ability to build a following of readers who love you and your work.
• Book Marketing Basics is our guide to Facebook, Twitter, author blogging and email marketing. It’s less than a buck and the perfect primer on those essential tools of book promotion.
• Are you a total newbie to self-publishing as whole? Then check out Self-Publishing Basic Training, which will take you through the indie publishing process from start to finish.

“I’m totally stuck and don’t know what to do — can you help?”

Absolutely — that’s what Shannon and I are here for! Here are your options:

• Shoot us an email. Share your situation/question and we will do our best to help (or point you in the right direction).
• Join our mailing list. We have some exciting new tools and resources coming out soon, they’ll be available first to those who receive updates from us!
• Schedule a Kick-Booty Coffee Date. If you’re ready to commit to your writing career, but aren’t sure how to achieve publishing success, sign up for a coffee date. We’ll listen to your situation and offer advice and action steps tailored specifically for you. Only by speaking with you one-on-one can we take into account your specific book, genre, personality and promotional likes and dislikes!

Talk Back

Setting aside the whole year for a minute, tell me: what will you accomplish this month, in January 2013? What is your ideal outcome and how will you get there? Describe where you want to be on January 31 in the comments below!

Now that you’ve opened your presents and consumed your weight in cookies (or is that just me!?), it’s time to get back to work.

2013 is sneaking up quickly, and now is the perfect time to start thinking about your goals for next year.

Are you ready to achieve the publishing success you so richly deserve?

The Weekend Book Marketing Makeover

We gave you a jumpstart last week by releasing the first draft of our new (free) guide, The Weekend Book Marketing Makeover. In just two days, you’ll learn to LOVE the process of promoting your work — really!

Did you miss this great freebie? Click here to download The Weekend Book Marketing Makeover!

Self-Publishing Basic Training

When you’re new to self-publishing, the whole process feels overwhelming and confusing. ISBNs, copyrights, POD vs eBook…ugh!

That’s why we’ve re-released our guide to the basics of self-publishing — and it’s FREE through midnight TONIGHT!

Click here to grab your copy of Self-Publishing Basic Training (on the house!)

*cheesy announcer voice* But wait…there’s more! Continue Reading

NOTE: The first draft of The Weekend Book Marketing Makeover is HERE! Check it out.

So, the other day we asked if you would take a minute to fill out our quick survey, hoping we would get a few responses to help guide the direction of a free product we’re creating just for our indie friends. Almost 70 responses later (and I promise, we read every single one!) we’re completely blown away and totally humbled. Thank you!

The time has come.

I’ve made you wait (patiently) for my secrets long enough.

Here are the two keys you need to unlock your potential as an indie author:

1. Motivation
2. Focus

Now, those two secrets might seem obvious (and even a bit unsatisfying) on the surface, but trust me when I tell you that these two keys have turned around my entire writing career.

Just like you, I was terrified that this whole self-publishing experience would turn out to be a waste of time that would yield zero sales and heaps of embarrassment.

Worse, I feared my only chance at success was to march through every website and social media outlet tooting my own horn like a one-man-band (a task that introverts such as myself would consider less desirable than death by firing squad).

But then I learned that it doesn’t have to be that way.Continue Reading

Note: The secrets have now been revealed. Click here for the details!

I’ve always been a nightowl, but this is starting to get extreme.

As if the holiday season wasn’t busy enough (I have about a third of my Christmas shopping done…holy buckets) I’m also trying to write my second book, promote my first book, perform my daily Duolit duties, and plan a huge party for my baby brother who’s graduating from college this weekend.

…again, I must say, holy buckets.

But, where a month ago I was struggling to simply make myself write for an hour and spend five minutes on social media, right now I’m flying from one task to the next like an Olympic sprinter.

I know you want to know the secrets — your comments from last week definitely showed that! — and you have my sincere apologies for the cliffhanger.Continue Reading

In our daily conversations with indie authors, Toni and I often hear the same refrain:

I never have enough time.

I hear you.

I’ve struggled to free up more time for writing and promotions, too.

Struggled so much, in fact, that I made the tough choice to leave my job, give up my apartment and move back in with my parents (not every 28 year-old’s first choice).

I wanted to free up as much of my time as possible to focus on Duolit and to focus on my writing career.

But do you know what I discovered?

More time is not the secret to success as an author.Continue Reading