I am starting a new series on my blog from articles I have read during the week. I will post 3 quick marketing tips for authors and they will change each Monday. Let the fun begin!

1.   The title of your book.

This may sound obvious, but the title and subtitle of your book also work as keywords on Amazon.  If you can’t use any  keywords in the title, try adding some to the subtitle as this raises the searchable value of your book.

2.  Add keywords to your book description. 

Your book description should draw your readers to your story, but adding keywords here helps new readers find your book easier. The keywords are highlighted here for a book I made up about Romance, travel, exotic beaches and the stars.

For example:

Rose and Alfie ditched their jobs and decided that flying halfway across the world would help…

The Editor is Your Friend

You have finished the first draft of your novel. Running it through the spell checker, making minor changes here and there as you read through it. You’ve sent it out to beta readers, made changes and fixed things they pointed out. Now you think you’re ready to publish the book. Stop right there! News flash! You are not ready to publish! What? Sure I am. Nope. Trust me on this. You are not ready to publish. You need an editor to go through your book. An editor! Aren’t they expensive? Yes, they are the most expensive part of publishing a book, but one that will serve you in the long run.

All right, so what type of editor do I need? I understand there are several types.

That’s right. Below is a list and brief explanation of the types of editors for fiction.

Types of…

Petals that tremble in the slightest breeze did not even stir. Liveried in black and gold, summer’s messenger walked lightly upon the rose. Which, I wondered, was the strongest?

When we walk lightly upon the earth, marvelling at her wonders, the earth responds, opening a heart golden as the rose. But Man flies from the dance of the seasons.  The earth trembles, scarred by our footsteps, yet beauty endures. Which, I wonder, is the strongest?

Fragility smiles
Flamboyant delicacy
And gossamer strength
Petals endure the furnace
Triumphant beauty embraced

For d’Verse Haibun Monday

Don’t you just hate it when you quick go to jump in the shower and you forget about your chicken?

Me too…

This chicken (recently named Foxy) was rescued from a fox by yours truly and has been recuperating in our shower.  The shower, unfortunately for the rest of my family, is my new favorite injured bird holding area.

But I digress, you don’t want to hear the details of why the chicken moved out of a dog crate into the far superior shower, you want to hear about the fox attack. Right?

Right.

The moment the fox attacked is exactly why I acquired geese and they finally had their opportunity to shine and show off their watch-goose capabilities. Which they mostly did! The two of them set off an unholy racket, were joined by the ducks’ alarming quacks and then the rooster’s panic call. By the time I got…

One who knows how to show and accept kindness
will be a friend better than any possession.

~ Sophocles ~
_________

‘The prophet takes over where the mystic stops. The mystic is ascent; the prophet descent.’

– William Everson

The bibliomantic reading could not have been more appropriate. From the mines, we were heading for the heights to meet a Druid on the top of a mountain.
“I’m not sure I’m really up to climbing mountains….” Between the mountain that loomed above us, the sun and the heat, the word ‘convalescence’ seemed to be at a bit of a loss for something to connect with. I had heard the tale of the day-long wander around the mountain on a spiral path that had led to my companion’s original ‘discovery’ of the site.
“That must have been the wrong way. The book…” Ah, the book… the same one that had led us on so many wild goose chases with its maps drawn to some variable scale? “… the book says it is…