Writers' Forum 2022 - December

2023 Literary Calendar

Estate Planning for Authors

The Making of a Six-Figure Author

The Best Books of 2022

FEATURED ARTICLES

2023 Literary Calendar from Sandra Beckwith

I love these calendars that give us all kinds of fun bookish things to celebrate. Take a look and choose which mesh well with the content you create to help you plan your social media posts for the coming year. https://buildbookbuzz.com/2023-literary-calendar/

Estate Planning for Authors – Self Publishing Formula Podcast

Recently one of my author clients died unexpectedly and it reminded me how many things there are to unravel for those who will be handling the estate. In this podcast episode Author Michael La Ronn “demystifies the estate planning process and gives us essential on making it as smooth and easy as possible.”

Click here for the transcript: https://selfpublishingformula.com/episode-362/

The Making of a Six-Figure Author: How Authors Evolve with Their Income

This year’s survey results are in from Written Word Media. More than 1300 authors responded on their earnings and expenses along with how many books they have published, and more. Most interesting (I think) is the focus on how they market their books—which channels they use and how much time they spend doing their marketing. So much good information to be gleaned here. If you only have time to read one article this week, read this: 

https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/how-authors-evolve-with-their-income/

The Best Books of 2022

Here’s my list of the best of the best of 2022, from middle grade to young adult/teen novels and beyond, 5-stars all around for these excellent books. And if you want a list that’s specific to Wisconsin authors, the Isthmus just put out their round up of best Wisconsin books. 2022: The Year in Wisconsin Books

WRITING CRAFT / PROCESS / PRE-PUBLICATION

"Self-Sabotage: I Don’t Deserve Success" by Kristen Lamb

Kristen Lamb is in fine form in this recent post about – well as the title indicates – the million little ways we sabotage our writing success. This is a funny article. I guarantee you will laugh, but it is a truthful article that might hit close to home. It’s also a hopeful article about why you deserve the time you need to write: “We all deserve our dreams. If your dream is to be a writer, then YES, that will demand a lot of work. As in writing, rewriting, reading, studying, learning, researching, building a brand/platform, cultivating an audience, showing up day after day and putting down words no matter what. What being a writer does NOT entail is you being a good little you and doing all your chores and “real” work before you’re allowed to go write.”

Read the whole article at the link below. (You’ll be glad you did.)

https://authorkristenlamb.com/2022/11/self-sabotage-i-dont-deserve-success/

"The Necessity and Power of Sitting with your Critiques" by Grace Bialecki for Jane Friedman’s blog

Phew! We’ve all been on the receiving end of a critique we were not ready for. This is a wonderful article that teaches how to be a good critic as well as a good receiver of said ‘criticism.’ But not all critiques are helpful to us. “Remember that a good reader is someone in your target audience who’s already amenable to your genre, subject, or style.” Very helpful article as we head into the new year and possible new critique groups.

https://www.janefriedman.com/sitting-with-your-critiques/

BOOK MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA

Increasing Your Book’s Production Value

Daniel Parsons from Mark Dawson’s Self Publishing Formula discusses how to make more money from content you’ve already created by offering it in additional formats and also how to draw in more readers by adding extras to that content. Cool ideas, read them here:

https://selfpublishingformula.com/increasing-your-books-production-value/

How Does a Top Book Publicist Think

Sandra Beckwith brings us this Q&A with publicity pro Karen Engler. This is a great tutorial for what a book publicist actually does. My favorite take away is something I’m always telling clients—that every book requires a personalized approach because a cookie-cutter formula doesn’t work.  Every book is unique and it’s the publicist’s job to create that special hook that presents it properly to the media.

Facebook Ads for Authors

In his infinite generosity, David Gaughran has created this easy-to-follow tutorial to get started on your own Facebook ads. If this is something that you’ve been putting off, this is a good entry point. (Be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel as a thank you.) And it be helpful to read my blog on this same topic before you get started: Advertising Your Books: Facebook Ads by Valerie Biel 

Video Camera Shy? Try These Expert Tips from a Top Social Media Pro

Amy Rogers Nazarov writes this guest post for Sandra Beckwith’s Build Book Buzz website with an excellent bundle of advice for producing your own video content. I need to do this more in 2023!! So I was paying particular attention to this topic. https://buildbookbuzz.com/video-camera-shy-tips-from-a-pro/

The Best BookBub Ads of 2022

Carlyn Robertson created this roundup of the best ads on BookBub this year. If you’re advertising on that platform or planning to, you need to know what type of ads those readers are getting the best responses. BookBub ads are unique in that there’s no extra copy beyond the ad image. You need to convey everything to entice a reader to click within that small rectangle.

https://insights.bookbub.com/best-bookbub-ads-2022/

The Top Ten Book Marketing Articles of 2022

This list of book marketing articles is from the BookBub Partners blog and for quick reference here are the titles. (You might recognize a few of these as they were featured here in the Writers’ Forum when they originally ran.)

► 12 Clever Ideas for Promoting Sequels or Later-Series Books

► How I Went from Zero to 6,500 BookBub Followers

► 24 Great Prize Ideas for Book Promotion Contests and Giveaways

► How to Use BookBub with a Limited Budget

► 16 Creative Ways Authors Promote Nonfiction Books on Instagram

► Top Digital Marketing Takeaways from the U.S. Book Show 2022

► 17 Brilliant BookBub Ad Designs for Promoting Books in a Series

► 7 Clever Ways Authors Can Learn More About Readers Online

► 14 Indie Authors to Follow on TikTok for Ideas and Inspiration

► How a BookBub Featured Deal Revived My Writing Career

Click here to access the list/links:  https://insights.bookbub.com/top-book-marketing-articles-bookbub-2022/

Happy Writing (editing, marketing, and more!) - Valerie