Finding Author Success [Kindle Edition]

Deborah Riley-Magnus (Author)

Book Description

Change in the publishing industry is everywhere and publishers are leaving marketing and promotion up to the author. Many authors are aware they need to promote and market their book, but have no clue how to go about it. There are hundreds of resources on how to create characters and develop plot, format book proposals and pitch; but very few on how an author implements success after the book is finished. The questions can be overwhelming and locating the answers is tricky. Deborah Riley-Magnus, an author success coach with years of successful marketing and promotion experience, takes tried and true marketing, publicity and promotional strategies and tailors them for the unique needs of today’s author. Even the odds of your success with this unique resource for all authors.

Product Details

• File Size: 751 KB
• Print Length: 148 pages
• Publisher: ireadiwrite Publishing; 1 edition (October 30, 2011)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0061NW5BC
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #678,283 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise from a formerly shy and clueless self-promoter January 16, 2012

By Michael J. Pollack

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Publishers spend countless hours, days, weeks, months working their magic on our manuscripts, bringing them to life (and market) as quality paperbacks and e-books. Then what? Yeah, that's the question that has plagued me for a few years. I KNEW I needed to build quality author and book platforms. I KNEW I needed to pull up a chair at the Social Networking and Social Media dinner tables and connect with readers. I KNEW I needed to embrace online and local communities to tap into the power of promotion and publicity, and I KNEW I needed to stop procrastinating. But I didn't know how to do these things.

Finding Author Success has become my road map to all of these necessary non-writing elements of being an author in today's book business. The author has written a truly accessible book that brings social concepts and technology platforms to the reader in a way that creates an "I can do this!" attitude. I compare her to a great athletic coach who coaches you over every hurdle with clear examples and a "come on, you got this!" persona that makes you feel like she's in the room with you.

Quick mention about how I approached this book: I read it cover-to-cover without stopping, so I could get a holistic view of the author's vision. Once that was set in place, I went back to the start and got to work on each section. And I realized quickly that YES I could do this, and through some fun learning and experimenting with free tools like Blogger, my author and book platforms started to spring up around me. I'm not done yet, but these new environment is giving me the sense that I can go out there, engage the public, and promote my novels with confidence....

I wholeheartedly recommend this book for ANY writer, published or unpublished, whether recently entering the marketplace or transitioning from traditional print publishing to the here-right-now world of e-books. The teachings in Finding Author Success are vital at any stage of a writer's ever-evolving career in an ever-changing market. Read more ›

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for your Writer's Toolbox! December 13, 2011

By Pamela DuMond

Format:Kindle Edition

You've spent hundreds of hours writing and editing your book. Now you're taking that newborn out into the world. And let me tell you, there are a lot of newborns out there. Who is going to connect with your story and why? Deborah Riley-Magnus has written the definitive book on how to market your book. I personally sweated over her 25 word pitch for about an hour until I got it right. Marketing your book can be overwhelming. Ms. Riley-Magnus walks you through the process. Finding Author Success will give your story a fighting chance in the exciting but challenging and changing world of publishing.

5.0 out of 5 stars Gets you thinking outside the box March 18, 2013

By Joyously Retired Teacher

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Most new authors can't afford to pay a publicist and haven't a clue about how to do it themselves, yet even best-selling authors these days have to take on some of the responsibility for promoting their own books. This book--which I read cover-to-cover after taking one of Ms. Riley Magnus's courses on Savvy Authors--was truly invaluable to someone who just had her first release--a short story--in January 2013.

What did I learn? Let me list a few here:

* Think outside the box. If you do what everyone else does, you're simply a face in a crowd. These days everyone has a blog. Blogs can be great ways to get attention, but make sure you have a specific goal in mind and tailor your blog toward that goal. For example, most authors I know seem to attract more other authors than readers to their blogs. Well, other authors are readers too, but your best bet is to find a way to attract READERS. Think about what sort of readers you want to attract and what they like to read. While they might be interested in your daily activities and family stuff, mostly they want to learn more about your sub-genre. Leave the author stuff to a page devoted to that stuff, and fill the rest with content your readers are eager to read about. Do some research first!

* Have a budget. Riley-Magnus used $2K as an example of a budget, and I was shocked. Yet I have spent twice that much in a few months, if you count the expenses for two writers' conferences I'm attending this year. And the year has just begun!

* Budget your time too. Promo is fun, addictive even. It can sap up your time so that you don't make much progress on your next projects. I'm still learning to get a handle on this one. This is PRECISELY the reason I haven't been reviewing much on Amazon lately.... I'm too busy writing blog posts and creating collector cards and bookmarks and creative stuff that I find just as much fun as writing. But I believe it's true that the best PROMO you can do is get more stuff out there. Readers who like my stuff have only one short story. I hope they don't forget about me before I get the next one out!

* Have a strategic plan. If you don't, you'll find yourself muddling back and forth without any sense of direction or understanding of what is working and what is not.

* Share ideas with others. My good friend's husband writes diabetic books that he self-publishes on Amazon. I've helped him learn how to blog and he's given me some ideas about speaking engagements. We don't target the same audiences, but we can learn from each other's experiences.

BTW, I'm taking Riley-Magnus's course in time management on Savvy Authors next month (April 2013). You might consider it yourself. These online courses are quite economical and invaluable. And she gives her personal attention too. You won't regret it!

Also...she's the one who convinced me to start tweeting, and I now have 238 followers (3 months later) and counting. It's fun! Read more ›

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE HANDBOOK FOR AUTHORS March 3, 2012

By M. L. Rice

Format:Kindle Edition

Ms Riley Magnus's book should be THE handbook for all authors. It is highly informative and comprehensive with brilliant analogies for marketing and promoting books. Never before have I thought of marketing in relation to meatballs. By using her own experiences from her professional time as a chef she leaves us salivating and hungry for more throughout the book. Each chapter, whether it be on the concept of Geisha Marketing or the Roman Empire is clearly defined with sub-headings and further breakdowns exploring every avenue possible. There are assignments at every stage encouraging and guiding the author through the complex maze of getting the book into the public arena. If you are a veteran in this field there are still tips that you can pick up along the way. I love her sentence on page 125, "An author by definition is an overworked, overstressed, overstimulated, creative human being." So true! An author needs all the help he or she can get. So, buy this book and accept Ms Riley Magnus's help.

Marilyn L Rice, author of 'Time & Tide', 'No Regrets', 'Stay in Touch', 'Look After Each Other' and 'Sofia's Legacy'.

More About the Author

Deborah Riley-Magnus is an author and an Author Success Coach. She has a twenty-seven year professional background in marketing, advertising and public relations as a writer for print, television and radio. She is the author of "Finding Author Success: Discovering and Uncovering the Marketing Power within your Manuscript".

As an Author Success Coach she focuses exclusively on publicity, marketing and promotional solutions for authors. She teaches live and online Author Success Workshops and has spoken at many writers groups and conferences in both states of California and Pennsylvania. She also coaches authors, one-on-one to help them create marketing strategies and learn techniques for sales success.

Deborah produces several pieces weekly for various blogs and websites including her industry blog, "Deborah Riley-Magnus, Writeaholic", where she passes on value added nuggets of wisdom and skills for authors struggling to understand marketing, promotions and publicity techniques. She is a published author of both fiction and non-fiction.

"Cold in California", book one of The Twice-Baked Vampire Series was released in July, 2011. Her non-fiction, Finding Author Success: Discovering and Uncovering the Marketing Power Within Your Manuscript was release in November, 2011. Her second fiction, Monkey Jump, book two of The Twice-Baked Vampire Series was released in May, 2012 release.

She belongs to several writing and professional organizations and is a member of the WriteSex Blog Group as the marketing, promotions and publicity expert. She serves as the Marketing Director for Assent Publishing where she is also an Acquisitions Editor for womens fiction, and romance. She can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she has lived on both the east and west coast of the United States and has traveled the country widely.