The Brutal Truth of Being a Writer

I have been at The London Book Fair this year and in this episode I share my impressions and takeaways. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today I talk to Sommer Nectarhoff. Sommer is a twenty-four year old writer from Chicago. He’s the author of nineteen books and counting, and though he’s written everything from poetry to literary fiction he’s currently couched in the swords and shields of fantasy.Click to view: show page on Awesound

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We discuss why media exposure is so important and how one can get featured on media.Click to view: show page on Awesound

In the previous days I have come across the same topic several times. Then I thought that maybe you have not heard of it yet so decided to let you know about this. What I am talking is Amazon Giveaways. Amazon let’s you create and promote a giveaway of items that are sold there. The interesting part of this for us is that we can now create kindle ebook giveaways. What many authors did before was organizing book giveaways – mainly on Goodreads. Unfortunately you could give aways only paperbacks. I tried a giveaway of my first novel Highfall on Goodreads and although it did bring visibility to my book it did not impact the sales figure.So why is Amazon giveaway different you may think. Well before I dive into this, I have to make a disclaimer. It seems like the Amazon giveaway can organize only the US residents, so if you have amazon.com account but no US address linked to your account then you won’t be able to make it… Hopefully they will roll over to the other markets soon too. The good news though is that you don’t have to be in KDP Select to be able to organize giveaways and of course giving away ebooks is more affordable and there are no shipping charges involved obviously.Ok now let’s see why would you as an author possibly want to make an Amazon giveaway.The first obvious reason, of course is get your book front of more people. And since those who have already purchased your book are not eligible for your giveaway you will end up will be reaching new potential readers.The second good thing is that all the participants, who have not won the giveaway get the free sample of your book. Which means that the potential new readers will probably get the taste of your writing style.Another good thing is that when you organize your book’s Amazon giveaway you can choose chose an option where in order to participate people have to follow you on your Amazon’s author page. This means that whenever you have a new book out all who follow will be notified. It is not as good as having them on your e mail list of course, but it is most probably the closest thing you can get with Amazon.To wrap this topic up I’ll just need to say that your giveaways can last up to 30 days, ebooks purchased for the giveaway are non-refundable and you can check there is a Twitter hashtag #AmazonGiveaways you can follow. And maybe the best part of it all is that those who have tried the Amazon giveaways tell that it impacts book’s sales ranking.Ok, that was it about the Amazon.Now I will share my ideas about giveaways in general.I personally feel uncomfortable, when things are not under my control. That is why strategies, which rely on specific social media channel, or only one platform, or an audience, which is not mine are not my favorite. I mean what if something happens to Facebook one day? Where do I find all those people who liked my page… You see what I mean right?That is why I prefer to put time and effort bringing my audience to my place, that is my website and my e mail list. Are you already there btw? If no check out anialexander.comHaving that said I prefer to use KingSumo’s giveaway plugin for WordPress. The giveaway is done so that it increases participant’s chances to win when they share your contest like crazy and therefore it easily goes viral. But that is just the bonus. The best thing is that you are getting the list of all participant’s emails, which you can later use. I have used this only twice for now, but have seen great results with both giveaways.The things is… if you are unknown writer like me, most probably people will not be interesting in your book’s giveaway, because they have not read you yet and they have not heard your name either, right?Continued on anialexander.com/giveaways-and-your-book-marketing/Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today my guest is Tim Knox. He is a sought-after corporate speaker and comedian, published author, talk radio host, syndicated business columnist, and self-professed Mama’s Boy, Tim’s unique perspective is enjoyed by thousands who listen to his radio show, read his books and columns, and hear him speak every year.You should check out his show Interviewing Writers too.In this interview we talk about- the difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing- how to markets your books- the business aspect of being a writer- building author brandFood for ThoughtIf passion was money every poet would be rich.If the great writers in history had to market their own work chances are we never would have heard of any of them.The hardest thing to do in a crowd is to get noticed.If you are are a writer - write!Be happy that you have the ability to write.If you’d like to share your thought with me and other Write to be Read listeners, make sure you join our Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/write2bread/Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today I am talking to Ricardo Fayet. Ricardo is co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Reedsy, a marketplace connecting authors with the best publishing professionals (think editors, proofreaders, designers, marketers). An avid reader and technology enthusiast, he likes to imagine how little players will build the future of publishing, further empowering authors and allowing them to publish to the same standards as the biggest publishing companies.In this interview I try to understand what Reedsy is, how it works and how writers can benefit from it.Make sure you check out their book editor tool - it's great.Click to view: show page on Awesound

anialexander.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/TimGilette-website.jpg" width="800" />Today I am talking to Tim Gillette. Tim is the Creator of the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Keys to Business Success – Using Music, Motorcycles and Mentorship to Teach Entrepreneurs to Become Leaders in Their Industry.”In his presentations, Tim uses lessons learned from his love for Rock ‘n’ Roll music, traveling an average of 30,000 miles annually on his Harley Davidson motorcycle, coaching clients, and speaking to audiences.I met him on Blab and we had several interesting conversations there, so I thought that it would be nice to have him over at the podcast too. Today we spoke about blogging, branding and many other things.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Ray Edwards is a Communications Strategist, Copywriter, Author, Speaker, and host of one the top iTunes Business Podcast. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, and with some of the most powerful voices in leadership and business. His clients include New York Times best-selling authors Michael Hyatt (author of Platform and co-author of Living Forward), Tony Robbins (author of Unleash the Giant Within and Money: Master the Game), Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (co-authors of Chicken Soup For the Soul), Jeff Walker (author of Launch), and many more. Ray’s copy and marketing expertise has helped sell an estimated $200 Million or more in products and services.Ray covered the most important points from his book in our interview, but I do recommend getting the book especially now when he is giving away a physical copy of the book for free (until March 1st).Click to Claim Your Book NowFood for ThoughtCopywriting is simply writing that persuades people to buy into idea or a product or a service or a believe.Nobody is going to sell your writing with the passion and the care and the intimate knowledge of the writing better than you.We are more effected by stories than we are by facts.What you are actually selling is the transformation that your product or service brings about.Selling is essentially a transfer of feelings. - Zig ZiglerYou have to have feelings about the product or service you're selling.About the BookRay Edwards's  book provides a step-by-step, fill-in-the-blanks system for writing persuasive copy for websites, sales and promotions. Ray’s sales copy is amazingly effective – having sold an estimated $200 million in products and services over the last 5 years. Now he shows you how, step-by-step, you can use the same methods he does. It’s all spelled out in the new book How to Write Copy That Sells.Click to view: show page on Awesound

I already had more than 100 guests, who shared their expertise, knowledge and stories at the Write 2B Read podcast. Some of those interviews have been very successful and some of the guests were more impressive than the rest. One of the names out there, about getting whom I've been asked most was Pat Flynn. It seems like being able to talk to him for my podcast back when Write 2B Read was relatively new and unknown was a big achievement in other people's eyes (I am not telling that it was not). So now I have Pat back with a new interview and new book.For those of you who don't know Pat yet below is his short bio. Pat Flynn makes a living on the internet and considers himself the luckiest person on the earth. Through his very popular blog Smart Passive Income and his Smart Passive Income Podcast  he shares his experience and helps his readers reach their goals. I think it is also important to mention that Pat was also from the very few people, who encouraged me to start the Write 2B Read podcast.This time we speak about Pat's second book Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don't Waste Your Time and Money, which launched just few days ago. In this interview Pat explains:what the book is about and how he came up with the idea to write itthe struggles Pat had writing his second book and how he got over themwhen did Pat mostly write the bookhow did Pat Flynn get his first draft upwhat was the initial title of the book and how did Pat found the title that he uses nowhow to validate your non-fiction book idea before starting to write itI guess that was it for today.As I mentioned in this episode I am working on a coaching offer for my podcast listeners and other writers and/or entrepreneurs, who are looking to establish their personal brand online. In case you're interested and prefer not to wait until everything is set up please get in touch and we can start making things happen straightaway!If you enjoyed the interview, please subscribe to it below and you will not miss any upcoming episode. [text-blocks id="podcast-subscription-links" plain=1]Click to view: show page on Awesound