​This series will focus on Amazon and Goodreads ads and how they are used in helping promote books and helping readers find the next unique find for your library or beach bag!

As an indie publisher and author, Amazon and Goodreads ads can be a great opportunity to promote titles and get visibility for books.

​Amazon is currently the largest platform for purchasing  eBooks and Goodreads currently garners 300 million pageviews and 45 million unique visitors a month.
 
​Amazon Ads: Sponsored Product Ads vs. Lockscreen Ads
Now for a quick history lesson! It’s important to know that what is now known as Amazon Advertising used to be called Amazon Marketing Services, or AMS. AMS was rebranded to Amazon Advertising back in September 2018. With the rebranding, things have changed!
 
Before AMS was rebranded as Amazon Advertising, it offered two main types of ads – sponsored product ads and product display ads. Now that it’s been rebranded, it’s out with the old and in with the new… kind of. Instead of product display ads, Amazon Advertising offers lockscreen ads alongside its sponsored product ads.
 
So what’s the difference between a sponsored product ad and a lockscreen ad, then? In Amazon’s terms, product display ads “promote products to shoppers actively searching with related keywords or viewing similar products on Amazon,” and lockscreen ads are “based on shoppers’ interests and are shown when they ‘unlock’ their Kindle E-readers or Fire Tablets to begin reading or shopping for books.”
 
In other words, sponsored product ads will help when readers are actively searching for a new book to purchase and your book fits in with the keywords they are searching for (think “mystery”, “fantasy”, “romance”, “quirky,” etc.). Using keywords, sponsored product ads can be very useful! Lockscreen ads, meanwhile, are based on the readers’ interests and habits and not so much on what they are actively searching for in the moment. Both can be valuable, if used correctly!
 
These types of ads are both great because they cater to a very specific audience, and, when it comes to ads and the sales of a book – the more specific the audience, the better! It’s also important to note, however, that lockscreen ads are only for Kindles and Fire Tablets; therefore, your exposure and target audience will be much smaller and more limited with this option than it would be with a sponsored product ad.
 
Maybe you have noticed when you search for something on Amazon and your first several results have the “sponsored” label at the very top? Those are sponsored product ads! If you’re a Kindle or Fire Tablet user, chances are you’ve probably come across some lockscreen ads catered to your own interests and habits, too.
 
Would you be more likely to buy what comes up as a sponsored product or a lockscreen ad?

A reluctant 1870's gunslinger with Tourette's and
a quick draw . . .
​While the battle for Lincoln, New Mexico, rages on, William is consumed by his own war against Jesse Evans, the man he blames for the loss of his friends and the start of his life as a gunfighter.

But when William finds Jesse at his most vulnerable—jailed with a gunshot wound—he can’t justify pulling the trigger. A gunfight must be fair.
​
William braves hostile military territory to orchestrate his archenemy’s release—only to discover he has become the prime target for an army of bounty-motivated gunslingers.
​
Can William defeat his internal tornado before he becomes one of its victims?

​Clown William, the first book in the series, is the winner of the Arizona Authors’ Association Literary Award and a Silver Winner in the Independent Publisher Book (IPPY) Awards. Clown William and the Lincoln County War is Winner of the National Indie Excellence Awards and books one and two are Bronze IPPY Winners for Best Series. Clown William and the Wind of Vengeance is the third book in the series.

IngramElliott Publishing is proud to announce that three of our titles have been named as Finalists in the 2019 NextGen Indie Book Awards! The Next Generation Indie Book Awards is the largest international book awards program for indie authors and independent publishers. In its thirteenth year of operation, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards was established to recognize and honor the most exceptional independently published books in over 70 different categories.

We congratulate our winning authors!

Award-winning author Vince Bailey recently participated in a unique event hosted by Arizona radio station KJZZ. The Arizona StoryFest and Authors Showcase is designed to help patrons relax, learn, shop, and play. The event features some of Arizona's top talent at the Authors Showcase & Reading Stage, where experienced storytellers entertain audiences on the main stage. The event also featured an Author's Workshop hosted by the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at ASU. 

Thanks to our friends at Green Pieces Press, for highlighting Vince's book to their Literary International Network in conjunction with the event! 

Vince Bailey, recent First Place Winner of the Paranormal Fiction category at the Chanticleer International Book Awards, hosted fans and passers by at his booth. 

Path of the Half Moon is a truly unique and edgy novel. It's the first in a series following the story's hero, young Curtis Jefferson. This paranormal historical fiction tale is set in a remote detention facility for wayward boys in the early sixties. Curtis is an African American youth whose character and physical endurance are tested by a murderous inmate and a century-old Apache curse.

The novel presents an edgy and thrilling escape from the ordinary, and is being recognized for it's strong thematic elements, including the blurry edges between reality and the supernatural. 

​Vince is currently working on the second novel in the Curtis Jefferson series, Courses of the Cursed. Learn more and follow the author at www.vincebaileyauthor.com and on Twitter @vincebailey20.

IngramElliott Publishing is proud to announce that four of our titles have been named as Finalists or Winners in the 13th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards! The National Indie Excellence® Awards (NIEA) celebrates indie publishing and is proud to be a champion of independent presses "going the extra mile" to produce books of excellence in every aspect.



​IngramElliott Publishing truly appreciates the NIEA recognition for these amazing titles and we congratulate our winning authors!

Earlier this month, the Clown William series won the Bronze Medal for Best Fiction Series in the 2019 IPPY Awards and book one in the series, Clown William, was the 2018 IPPY Silver Award winner for Best First Book/Fiction. Set in the late 1800s, this fresh twist on the Western features an unlikely gunslinger with Tourette Syndrome.

Creating an author blog can be an effective extra 'step' in creating your author platform and reaching your audience. Since blogs can be on any topic you like - including those related to or in support of your book - you may pick up additional readers or reviewers interested in taking a look at your book. 

If readers haven't used the particular keywords in their search for you (read more about keywords and meta in our blog post here), they may not immediately see your book pop up in results. Using meta data in your blog post, including keywords and categories, will help search engines find your blog, and in turn, find you as an author. Also include social media share buttons on your blog post (most platforms do this automatically), so that followers can easily post your content to their networks. 

Blog posts can be topics of interest for your readers or related to your area of expertise or knowledge. For fiction writers, a little less straightforward than non-fiction writers, which typically have a specific area of expertise, it may mean relying on your personal experience and tying it into your fiction work.

Building an audience takes time. 
Building an audience takes time. 
Building an audience takes time.

The above is not a typo . . . but it's worth repeating. Whether it's an author blog, author social media sites, author events, and other ways to build your brand, it takes commitment, time, and consistency. 

Blogs aren't for everyone and that's okay. You can get the straight-talk from one of our favorite bloggers of business advice for writers, Jane Friedman, in her post Blogging for Writers. She says, "The most successful blogs have a very focused angle and appeal to a very specific audience."

Creating a blog takes time, but may be worth it if you have an author website to which you can add the content (read our blog post on building an author website). It's best to use the platform you are already using for your author website - this keeps everything in one place and helps keep your marketing (social media links, blog links, author bio and info, events, book info) all in one place. There are many good and easy to use author website platforms. You can also work with a virtual marketing assistant to help set one up.

Another easy-to-use blog opportunity is your Goodreads Author Page. Once your author profile is setup on Goodreads, they make it pretty easy. From your Author Dashboard, scroll down until you see Your Blog. From here you'll have options to write a new post or sync with a pre-existing blog. Goodreads Authors are the only members who can have a blog on the site, so take advantage!

So give your potential readers useful and interesting information, and hopefully those beginnings will bloom into followers and purchasers. 

Vince Bailey is on a roll! Vince's debut novel, Path of the Half Moon, was the winner of the Arizona Authors' Association Literary Award and now this supernatural book series is the First in Category Winner in the 2018 Chanticleer International Book Awards Best Paranormal and Supernatural Fiction Books Contest. 

After being named a Semi-Finalist in the contest, Vince was invited to attend the 2019 Chanticleer Authors Conference in Bellingham, Washington. This unique and progressive conference was jammed packed with featured sessions and workshops on the business, marketing, and technologies of publishing and of being an author. 

Vince enjoyed his time at the conference and was thrilled to walk away with a First In Category win for Paranormal Fiction, truly a great honor. Vince said, "I think it was a great forum for Path, and attending the program provided a great learning event for me, especially in terms of media marketing."

The awards ceremony began in the evening with the banquet catered by the Hotel Bellwether, and sixteen presenters recognized all of the CIBA Semi-Finalists who were in attendance before announcing his or her division’s First Place Category winners for each of the sixteen divisions.

Path of the Half Moon is a truly unique and edgy novel--the first in a series following the story's hero, young Curtis Jefferson. Path of the Half Moon is a paranormal historical fiction tale set in a remote detention facility for wayward boys in the early sixties. Curtis is an African American youth whose character and physical endurance are tested by a murderous inmate and a century-old Apache curse. The novel presents an edgy and thrilling escape from the ordinary, and is being recognized for it's strong thematic elements, including the blurry edges between reality and the supernatural.

Vince is currently working on the second novel in the Curtis Jefferson series, Courses of the Cursed. Learn more and follow the author at www.vincebaileyauthor.com and on Twitter @vincebailey20.

Congratulations to our author, Vince, on his win!

​As the buds are popping brightly and birds are seeking new nesting places, this week’s blog post hopes to inspire our author friends to seek out new followers and uncover potential markets to spring your book into spring!

While most authors are hesitant to market themselves and their books, if this is your career, keep in perspective that your book is the product and all products require a marketing and sales strategy . . . no different than any other business. Marketing is an investment in your career.

The most important aspect of marketing and promoting your book (outside of knowing your audience) is to engage your audience, fans and readers.  You can do this via a variety of platforms, many of which we’ve covered in this year’s blog posts and which we will touch on again here. 

Who are your readers?
In today's digital world, if you want your book to stand out, you're going to have to step up and get involved in the promotion, which often means communicating directly with your target audience through a variety of channels (online and social media, in-person, through print media, etc.). Get to know your audience! Are they working moms, soccer dads, book clubbers, or glamorous literati? What are your readers reading? And what forums do they use to find new books? Use the intelligence you gather to target your marketing efforts and reach out to those segments. 

​Giveaways
You can use your established social media presence (even if that’s a Goodreads or Amazon Author Profile) to promote your title. Promotions such as giveaways (available for a fee on Goodreads) are available for FREE on your social media sites. You can setup a giveaway on Instagram or Facebook, for example, by asking your followers to tag your book page (or author page) in a post, follow you, and comment on an Instagram posting. Once they’ve done these things, put their name in a hat and at the end of your giveaway timeframe, send them a direct message and send them their book in exchange for a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads.
 
Blogs & Reviews
You can work with a blog tour company (TLC Book Tours is one we love) to setup a blog tour for reviewers of your work. If you don’t want to pay a service for this help (which is well worth it, in our view, as you get guaranteed reviews and mentions), you can still compile a list of bloggers and book reviewers and email them asking them if they will review your book in exchange for a free copy. They will then usually post the review of your book on their blog, which has lots of followers – which in turn – can become your followers. As we mentioned in a recent blog post about writing for free, you can also contribute articles to relevant magazines or online blog sites, which is another way you can keep raising your author profile.
 
Find bloggers that will review your book.  This can be as simple as googling reviewers based on your genre. Make a list of bloggers that you want to engage for a review and giveaway. For example, here’s a Google search for Historical Fiction Reviewers.
 
Events
Publicity, author events, and media appearances can also generate awareness for you as an author and connect you with local readers. At each event, you may want to create a gift basket giveaway, with a signed copy of your book, bookmarks, and other merch, in exchange for collecting email addresses. Building a strong email list is a key component in building your followers and reaching your buyers over time. You may also want to consider hiring a publicist. There are lots of book marketing and publicity firms out there – you just need to take some time and look for local agencies in your area that specialize in book publicity. Here’s a great article by book marketing guru Jane Friedman that helps authors understand what to expect when working with a publicist.

Last summer, Clown William's unique title character, William - an 1870's gunslinger with Tourette's and a quick draw - took home the Silver Medal for Best First Book at the 22nd Annual IPPY Awards in New York City.

Now William's back at it, bringing home the Bronze Medal for Best Fiction Series in the 2019 IPPY Awards, which honored books one and two in the series: Clown William & Clown William and the Lincoln County War. 

Author Robin Elno should be very proud of his efforts -- the quality of this year's entries was truly outstanding, which means the competition was extremely tough. You can see all this year's winner's on the website of the Independent Publisher Book Awards. 

Once your book is published, it's critical to build your audience. This doesn't happen overnight, but rather one night (or day) at a time. We've highlighted several components of building an author brand in past blog posts: Building meta data into everything you do on your author platforms is a way to promote your book with every search; Taking one step at a time to build your author brand; Digging into the mechanics of creating an author website; Pumping up the volume on your social sites; and Strategies for marketing yourself as an author. A big part of continuing to build your author brand is to find new ways to connect with readers.

Creating new content, like articles and short pieces, based on your book or variations on your books theme is a great way to do just that. 

Everything you write has the potential to generate book sales. This could be as simple as a book review on Goodreads, a blog on your website, or converting your book (or pieces of your book) into short fiction or article-length pieces to pitch to magazines or online periodicals. 

You can create these pieces and offer them for free to newspapers and websites in your specific area of expertise or that cover topics highlighted in your book. For example, a novel about an exotic location could be perfect for an article or excerpt in a travel magazine or blog. Newspapers, online sites, bloggers, and magazines are always looking for strong content - and you are a published author! So put that street cred to work for you. In the bio included after your piece, you have an opportunity to mention your book and your website, which may lead to new relationships online (and down the road, new buyers for your book). 

This type of content marketing is sneaky - it helps you build relationships and promote your brand as a contributor and author, all while giving you the opportunity to mention who you are as an author and send readers to your social platforms to follow you and learn more. 

So write for free . . . and watch it pay off in sales (and great new relationships to boot)!

Here's a SmartBlogger article about writing for online publications, but there are others, just search on Google and start submitting!