Book Presentation Archives

SPQ 038: How Do You Balance Attributing Sources with Telling Your Own Story?

October 17, 2017January 31, 2015 by Steve Scott

The Question…

“If you use ideas you got from other people, how do you balance the need to credit your sources with the need to tell your own story?”

Biggest Takeaway…

[Tweet “You need to understand ALL legalities of running a book-based business. “]

The Answer…

Steve is not a lawyer, nor does he play one on TV, so he recommends checking out The Self-Publisher’s Handbook by Helen Sedwick. She covers everything related to running a self-publishing business, from trademarks to libel and slander. You really need to understand the legalities of running a book-based business.

SPQ 037: How to Build Assets with Your Self-Publishing Business

October 17, 2017January 30, 2015 by Steve Scott

Introducing Self-Publishing Assets

In episode 36, Steve talked about some of his favorite books. One of those books is “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. Although Steve disagrees with a few aspects of Kiyosaki’s brand, he does agree with the idea of building assets.

Steve defines an asset as any item that generates cash flow. Your goal should be to build as many assets as possible. At the time of this recording, Steve technically has about 90 published assets, from Kindle books to audiobooks. He would like to add about 50 more assets to his portfolio in 2015.

Biggest Takeaway

[Tweet “Your goal should be to build as many assets as possible. “]

Joanna Penn covered this topic in a blog post titled “It’s Not Just One Book: Your Rights and How to Exploit Them.” She talks about how you can exponentially grow you portfolio with just one book. You can put the book in Kindle format, print format, or audio format; leverage foreign rights to the content; use the books to create information products; turn small pieces of content into apps; or license your content to other people.

SPQ 033: How to Write an Author Bio That Sells Books

October 17, 2017January 26, 2015 by Steve Scott

Author Bios as Landing Pages

In episode 17, Steve explained how to use an easy-to-remember URL to direct people to your Amazon author page. His URL, HabitBooks.net, redirects to his author profile and makes it easier for people to find his books.

Your author bio is your personal landing page, or a page designed to sell something, so it should always be helping you sell more books. It’s easy to set up your author bio on Amazon; simply go to Amazon Author Central and follow the steps. You should also set up author pages at Kobo, iBooks, and other platforms.

No matter where you have a bio, you must write something that engages readers and (hopefully) gets them to buy more books. Many readers check the “About” section of the author bio first, so you need to think carefully about what you write.

SPQ 031: What is the Best Way to Format an Ebook?

October 17, 2017January 24, 2015 by Steve Scott

The Question…

What’s the best way to format my first book? Is it best to go to Fiverr, or is it better to learn how to do it yourself? I have an older version of Word that doesn’t seem to work with what’s out there. It seems very complicated.

Steve’s Answer…

Steve feels formatting is his Achilles heel. It’s the one aspect of his business he hasn’t totally nailed down, so he recently hired someone to format his books for him. When he first started out, he was really frustrated by the MOBI format, so he created books without formatting. He would use asterisks instead of bullet points so the formatting didn’t look all over the place. It didn’t give readers a quality experience.

SPQ 030: Dozens of Ebooks, Low Review Numbers. What Can I Do?

October 17, 2017January 23, 2015 by Steve Scott

The Question…

Dennis has about a dozen books on Kindle and CreateSpace. It’s like pulling teeth to get people to review them, even on books that have been downloaded for free on KDP several thousand times. He wants to know Steve’s secret for generating reviews.

Biggest Takeaway…

[Tweet “Create a review-generating response to use when people reach out to you.”]

Steve’s Answer…

In episode 2, Steve talked extensively about generating reviews. It’s not a secret; just talk to people and build an audience. He feels it’s all about getting organic reviews and telling people why reviews are so important. Make sure you tell people exactly what they need to do to leave a review.

SPQ 026: Should I “Americanize” My Author Name?

October 17, 2017January 19, 2015 by Steve Scott

The Question…

“I have a very ethnic name. Should I consider changing it to something more Americanized to help influence sales on Amazon? If I’m trying to brand myself as a writer, author, and entrepreneur, should I just leave my name the way it is and hope people focus more on the quality of my content than the ethnicity of my name?”

Biggest Takeaway…

[Tweet “Embrace your differences and be proud of your name.”]

Steve’s Answer…

Steve says Hung should not Americanize his name. In episode 9, Steve talked about some of the challenges he’s experienced with using a pen name.

SPQ 020: How to Craft Compelling Book Titles

October 17, 2017January 13, 2015 by Steve Scott

The Question…

Thomas Lau of Kindle Bestseller Empire asks:

Can you share your thought process when deciding on the titles for your books? What tips can you give for authors who can’t fit keywords with high search volumes into their titles?

Biggest Takeaway…

[Tweet “Spend time finding the right title for your book. Make it compelling and memorable.”]

Steve’s Answer…

The title of your book is really what helps it sell on Amazon and other ebook platforms. In episode 19, Steve explained why he doesn’t think keywords are all that important. He advises authors to avoid creating keyword-rich titles with a bunch of random words.