Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Meta-Data for Authors

  • PublishDrive – an International and Technologically Innovative Publishing Platform

    PublishDrive – an International and Technologically Innovative Publishing Platform

    If you haven’t heard of the award-winning international PublishDrive, you will. 

     

    PublishDrive provides authors and publishers a global reach to readers by using the latest in digital technology.

    The company has an easy to use digital platform to distribute e-books to a global audience so that authors and publishers may reach untapped markets.

    PublishDrive offers one of the most robust and flexible distribution networks in the publishing industry that includes Amazon, DangDang (China’s Amazon), GooglePlay, Scribd, Tolino (Germany), Odilo (Spain), Bibliotheca (U.S. Libraries), Apple Books, and dozens more. PublishDrive’s list continues to expand.

    E-commerce giant Dangdang and self-publishing platform PublishDrive announced a partnership that, for the first time, allows authors in the West to make their self-published e-books available on the website. Forbes, August 31, 2018. 

    PublishDrive works with the New York Times and Amazon bestselling authors, niche indie publishers, and #seriousauthors.

    PublishDrive offers:

    • Independent, total control for PublishDrive authors and publishers
    • Free, Accessible Ebook Conversion for all Indie authors and publishers
    • Reach all major ebook selling platforms from one distribution point (or not-it is up to you)
    • Upload hundreds of titles or one title within minutes
    • Track all sales and invoices in one place
    • An easy-to-use platform to distribute ebooks to a global audience
    • A complete package that includes: distribution, financial reports, and automated billing
    • No upfront costs and global ebook publishing
    • See real-time analytics and powerful statistics
    • Metadata Management – (FINALLY – Kiffer)
    • Ebook Marketing Features  – (YES! -Kiffer)

    What about ROYALTIES? 

    There are no hidden costs. PublishDrive only gets paid 10% of the digital list price when your books are sold. There are no subscription or hidden fees.

    PublishDrive pays royalties monthly. We compile monthly sales reports, prepare your invoice, and pay you accordingly.

    I met the CEO of PublishDrive, Kinga Jentetics, at Digital Book World 2018 conference held in Nashville, Tenn. this past fall when she was on a panel that I was moderating. The panel was ” Artificial Intelligence and  Machine Learning in Content Distribution.” It was then and then at discussions afterward where I learn about what PublishDrive offers Indie Authors and was impressed. Intrigues as I was, I did more research about PublishDrive and our conversation continued.

    The PublishDrive Team

    I am excited to announce that this company with a global reach is participating at the 2019 Chanticleer Authors Conference. PublishDrive is also contributing the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards prize packages!

    PublishDrive is sending their expert, Adam Woods, to present sessions on Metadata, their new built-in tool to market books on Amazon’s Advertising Campaigns, and Book Marketing Strategies at the 2019 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

     

  • CREATING A UNIQUE NICHE MARKET: Adventures in PUBLISHING, #3: by Gail Noble-Sanderson – Marketing, Book Promotion, Self-Publishing

    CREATING A UNIQUE NICHE MARKET: Adventures in PUBLISHING, #3: by Gail Noble-Sanderson – Marketing, Book Promotion, Self-Publishing

    The online Merriam-Webster defines the word niche as:

    a: a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted 
    b: a habitat supplying the factors necessary for the existence of an organism or species
    c: the ecological role of an organism in a community especially in regard to food consumption
    d: a specialized market

    This is an apt description as we explore and determine the perfect “habitat” for our books, our “organisms.” While we need and want our books available in bookstores, online, etc., creating niche markets—those unique and special places that perfectly align along the path that resonates with our readers—can be critical in creating our platforms, generating sales, getting our books read, and encouraging consumers to write reviews.

    Whether you write romance or horror, science fiction or historical fiction, with a little research, you too, can create and expand your niche. Below we hear from three award-winning authors who have very successfully created and worked their niche markets. And we conclude with how I discovered and created my own niche market for books at the end of this article.

    Susan Conrad spent the last two summers working with Princess Cruise Lines traveling on their voyages to Alaska, including the Inside Passage. She is part of their award-winning “North to Alaska” program on ships that exclusively sail up the Inside Passage from Puget Sound to SE Alaska. On board ship, Susan engages with hundreds of passengers on each cruise, speaking to large audiences and connecting with travelers one-on-one about her unique first-hand experience. This is Susan’s current niche, the place she and her book have captured to perfectly mesh the readers’ interest and Susan’s passion.

    Susan, author of the award-winning book Inside: One Woman’s Journey Through the Inside Passage, says we must ask ourselves, “Why is my book important and who cares? It’s those ‘who cares’ answers that you’re now soliciting.”

     

     

    Janet Oakley, an award-winning author of historical fiction, has written many books to her credit. Along with her mystery series, her novel Tree Soldier, set in the Great Depression in a Civilian Conservation camp, won the 2012 EPIC e-book award for historical fiction as well as the 2012 grand prize with CIBA, the Chanticleer International Book Reviews. 

    Janet says, “I have a Northwest niche with Tree Soldier, Timber Rose, and Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity (with its Pig War story and Hawaiians immigrants of the 19th century Pacific NW), and a Scandinavian niche in Jøssing Affair. Tree Soldier is my unexpected platform with connections to local history, parks, and the environment.”

    Janet is active in talking about the legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Washington State and utilizes her knowledge of history and skill in creating characters from various times to write powerful stories bringing history to life. She has created niche markets within niches!

    Another excellent example of an author who is creating a niche for herself is Janet K. Shawgo, award-winning indie author for her Look for Me Series. Janet has been a nurse for over 32 years and the last 20 of those years as a travel nurse. She infuses her novels with the history of nursing and the experiences of nurses as they travel across the North and South to heal. Are nurses, as well as others, avid readers of her books? You bet they are!

    When Janet wrote her last book, Archidamus, she created another clever niche.

    She says, “I have been selling my books at Brushy Creek Vineyards since 2011.  I received their support from the very beginning of my author career.  When Archidamus was written I worked with them to support their winery in two of my books.  They, in turn, had a vat of wine with no name inspiring them.  I approached with the book.  The owner chose “Archidamus” as the name for of  the wine.” She now sells Archidamus wherever wine lovers congregate: vineyards, tasting rooms, wine bars, and, of course, book clubs!

    Find Me Again Janet Shawgo

    Janet overjoyed with her Chatelaine Grand Prize win! We love this photo!

    These are great examples of thinking out-of-the traditional boxes to create a plan to promote and sell your books!

    And a final example of creating a niche is my own.

    It took me a while, but I realized that my historical novels, The Lavender House in Meuse and The Passage Home to Meuse, though about a women’s experience in and after WWI in France, really appeal to people that love all-things-lavender and the places where lavender is grown. This last year I began contacting lavender farms around the country and have placed my books in tens of lavender farms and shops across the United States.

    They sell very well throughout the year and in the summer during the lavender festivals, I do events at local farms in the Pacific Northwest.  I found a unique niche.  And for the first time since starting Noble Press in 2017, I am making a profit.  What put me in the black was not my Amazon or bookstore sales, but the sales from the lavender farms and shops, a niche market especially suited to my books.

    HOW DO AUTHORS PROMOTE THEIR NICHE?  

    with Meta-Data for Authors

    As you begin to envision where your book will live in the world, determine what attracts readers to your writing and why. Use this information while you create your meta-data; keywords that are used to indicate what your book is about and in what sub-categories it belongs. Meta-data information should be listed on the copyright page of your book and is critical in effective search engine optimization for buyers and retailers.

    Meta-data information should be listed on the copyright page of your book and is critical in effective search engine optimization for buyers and retailers.

    [Did you know that each one of Chanticleer’s reviews comes with a custom SEO package that is automatically uploaded with the review? It is true! Just another way that Chanticleer Reviews increases the digital footprint of authors.]

    Use this list of meta-words to spring-board into creating niche markets unique to your book. Niche markets can evolve, expand, change and grow. And as you revise your already published books and write subsequent new books, keep in mind what you already know about attracting readers to your specific genre, topic, time period and style. The creation of niche markets is only limited by our imagination and willingness to put ourselves and our work out there.

    Be daring, be bold!  Go forth with confidence and find those readers who are just waiting to find your work! Gail Noble-Sanderson, Author

    Next month’s article from Gail will discuss aspects of successful marketing and promotion.

    Remember, “Keep falling in love with the potential of what you are doing!” – Gail

    Gail Noble-Sanderson is the author of two works of historical fiction, both of which are self-published under her own Noble Press.  The Lavender House in Meuse is an emotional, intriguing, and sensitive account of the crises of World War I and one woman’s journey towards recovery and growth. 

    Her second novel, The Passage Home to Meuse won 1st Place in the 2017 Chatelaine Awards, the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs)  for romantic fiction.

    Both books are available through Amazon and Village Books.

    We invite you to visit Gail’s homepage at http://gailnoblesanderson.com/ and follow her on social media.