Review: Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars

Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars is the new guide from Dana Lynn Smith, also known as The Savvy Book Marketer.

As a fan of Dana's work (see the list of other products of hers I have reviewed at the end of this post) I was keen to see this one as well, and so she kindly sent me a review copy.

Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars is a bit different from Dana's other guides. Rather than a text-based manual, the product is based around a recording of a one-hour teleseminar. As that is what the product is all about, you certainly can't say that Dana doesn't practise what she preaches!

Buyers are first taken to an Order Confirmation page. From here they can click a link to watch a recording of the teleseminar (audio plus slides), and another to access a download page for the other resources sold with the product. These are as follows:

• Audio recording of the presentation (MP3)
• Slides from the presentation (PDF)
• Resource Guide, with links to dozens of useful resources (PDF)
• Guide to Choosing a Service Provider - this discusses what to look for when choosing a teleseminar/webinar service provider and gives a summary of five popular providers, with Dana's recommendations (PDF)

At the heart of this product is the teleseminar recording. I'd have to say I thought this was extremely well done. Considering this is a recording of a live presentation, I was amazed by how smoothly it ran. I didn't notice any fluffs, backtracks, or errors. This is either a testament to some very impressive editing, or an even more powerful testament to Dana's powers of organization and communication!

The actual advice is conveyed concisely, with the aid of slides that are informative and don't try to cram too much in. There are numerous bullet-pointed lists, the titles of some of which I've copied below. I'm not giving away anything I shouldn't here, as they are listed on the 'What You Will Learn' section of the sales page as well.

• 6 reasons why nonfiction authors should do teleseminars and webinars
• 4 ways to make money with paid teleseminars and webinars
• 5 ways to profit from free teleseminars and webinars
• 5 ways to earn revenue by repurposing content
• Techniques for doing educational presentations, interviews and online conferences
• How to add visuals to your presentation
• Tips for running your event smoothy
• Options for recording and replaying the presentation
• Free tools for editing audio and video files
• Insider tips for choosing a teleseminar/webinar service provider
• Pros and cons of various registration and payment methods
• How to promote your event for maximum attendance

The teleseminar provides a good overview of the various options available and how they work. I also found the discussion of the pros and cons of free versus paid-for events quite enlightening.

There is some excellent advice too about how to choose a suitable service provider. If you're new to this field there is plenty of scope for slip-ups here. Dana's advice should ensure that you are aware of all the key considerations, and choose the best provider for the type of event you have in mind.

The PDFs are also useful. I especially like the resource guide, which lists all the resources Dana has used personally and recommends (or in some cases doesn't). This includes everything from audio and video editing software to USB microphones, press release distribution companies to teleseminar announcement websites. For anyone planning their first webinar or teleseminar, this would more than justify the cost of the product in itself, I'd have thought.

If I had one nitpick, I would have liked a transcript of the whole teleseminar, as (being a writer, I suppose) I like to have all information in text form as well for easy reference. However, you do get a PDF containing all the slides used in the presentation, which is almost (though not quite) as good.

If you're thinking of getting into teleseminars and webinars - and they are not only great for raising your profile but (as the title implies) can be excellent money-makers in their own right - this reasonably priced guide would provide a great introduction and reference resource.

For more information about Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars (and to order a copy) just click through any of the links in this review. You can also read my reviews of other guides by Dana by clicking on the appropriate title in the list below:

How to Get Your Book Reviewed

Twitter Guide for Authors

Facebook Guide for Authors

Virtual Book Tour Magic

If you have any comments or questions for Dana (or me), as ever, please feel free to leave them below.

• My sponsors, WCCL, also publish an excellent, in-depth guide to creating your own podcasts called The Ultimate Podcasting Kit. If podcasting is something else that appeals to you, please click on the banner ad below for more information.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars by Dana Lynn Smith. In addition, the links in this review include my affiliate code, so if you click through and make a purchase, a proportion of the fee will go to me. This has not influenced my review, but you should of course complete your own due diligence and read the sales page (and this review) carefully to determine whether this product will be relevant to your needs.

Review: KDP Select Report by Rosa Suen

In this post last week I reviewed Rosa Suen's report on publishing to the Amazon Kindle.

Today I'm reviewing her companion KDP Select Report - also available as a Warrior Special Offer - about the benefits to authors of opting into the KDP Select program.

For those who don’t know, KDP Select is a new program allowing authors of Kindle e-books to earn money by allowing their titles to be lent out to US Amazon Prime customers (though authors don’t have to be US-based themselves). Such customers are allowed to borrow one Kindle e-book free of charge per month under the program.

Obviously, authors don’t get any royalties from this program - as their books are loaned out free - but Amazon has set aside a substantial fund (an estimated $6 million during 2012), which is shared out every month according to how many times each e-book has been borrowed. With low-cost e-books - as Rosa's report indicates - your earnings per loan are almost certain to be higher than your royalties per sale.

The KDP Select program has been the cause of much discussion among Kindle authors, with some contending it offers a poor deal for authors. This is largely because, if you want to take part, you are barred from selling your e-book digitally through any other outlet (e.g. Smashwords) during the (minimum) 90-day period your title is available through the program. Rosa is the author of around 200 (non-fiction) e-books, however, and she shows clearly through her own sales figures and earnings that the program can be very effective if you use it in the right way.

One key aspect of the advice in the KDP Select Report concerns how to use the opportunity KDP Select authors are given to list their e-books free of charge on Amazon for up to five days per month (consecutive or otherwise). With stats from ten different e-books, Rosa clearly shows the effectiveness of this strategy for generating interest in an e-book and getting it into the Amazon best-seller lists.

She compares the number and value of sales generated (on non-free-promotion days, obviously) with loans per month, and shows the total earnings in each case. She discusses how she intends to refine her sales and pricing strategy to maximize her earnings from each title, and also sets out what she has discovered about the best price points for Kindle e-books.

I found Rosa’s systematic approach to marketing using the KDP Select program impressive, and the specific case studies quite enlightening. The guide doesn’t actually tell you anything about devising or writing Kindle e-books, though as previously mentioned Rosa does have another report, also available as a WSO, which covers this subject. And, of course, my own Kindle Kash guide sets out step-by-step advice on publishing an e-book to the Kindle Store using only free resources.

If you’re a Kindle author and have been wondering whether to take the plunge with KDP Select, I recommend this modestly priced guide. It may not have all the answers, but I guarantee it will give you food for thought. It also demonstrates a systematic, mathematically-based way of analysing the returns you are getting from applying Rosa’s strategy and fine-tuning it to boost your profits further. Incidentally, along with the report you also receive 10 charts (plus one already filled in as an example) to help you apply the strategy to your own titles.

With this report, as with Rosa's original one, there is a 30-day unconditional refund guarantee.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of Rosa Suen's KDP Select Report. In addition, the links in this review include my affiliate code, so if you click through and make a purchase, a proportion of the fee will go to me. This has not influenced my review in any way, but you should of course complete your own due diligence and read the sales page (and this review) carefully to determine whether this product will be relevant to your needs.

Word cloud by courtesy of Wordle.

Ten Top Tips for Making the Most of JustRetweet

My recent post about the free JustRetweet service (see screengrab above), which aims to help bloggers and Twitter users reach a wider audience, attracted a lot of interest.

So in this post I thought I'd share a few tips on getting the most from the service, based on my own experience and what I've observed of other users.

If you're not familiar with JustRetweet, you might like to read my earlier post before proceeding and watch the video embedded in it. Don't worry, I'll wait :-)

My ten top tips are as follows...

1. Don't retweet everything that's available on JustRetweet to earn credits. If you do, it will only alienate your Twitter followers and cause some to unsubscribe. There are lots of messages to choose, so pick the ones that look as though they would be interesting and relevant to your followers. In my experience - and I guess I'm a fairly typical user - you only need to retweet two or three messages a day to keep your account nicely topped up.

2. On the other side of the coin, when adding messages you hope others will retweet, be aware of what a reasonable reward is considered to be. Certain norms have evolved on the site, so I would suggest offering a bare minimum of 10 credits for an RT, and preferably 20 or more if you want to get the most from the service. Offering just 2 or 3 credits won't impress other members, and such 'low-paying' offers will quickly disappear from view on the site.

3. It's not just about credits, though. Remember that your messages will (you hope) be retweeted by other people who want to preserve their own good reputation. Make your messages sound interesting and useful - and if you offer a decent reward as well, there is every chance you will get an excellent take-up from other JustRetweet users.

4. Avoid being overly promotional in your messages. Twitter, as you should know anyway, is not the place for this. In addition, other JustRetweet members are unlikely to want to RT explicit sales messages, for fear that they will be accused of spamming. And JustRetweet also has rules against requesting retweets of some types of commercial messages, including those promoting trackback spammers and other products or services deemed undesirable.

5. Another thing that doesn't work on JustRetweet (in my opinion) is posting a barebones URL with no other message. When this goes out on Twitter, it will look like spam, and few people will want to click on it anyway. Always include a message with your link to explain why viewers should click on it. If it's a long link, shorten it first with a service such as Bit.ly.

6. Another approach to be wary of - again in my opinion - is the short and enigmatic message. I've seen a few of these listed on JustRetweet, and I can't believe they are productive, either of RTs or clickthroughs. I wouldn't retweet these messages, and even if I did I can't imagine that many of my followers would want to explore them further. I could be wrong about this. Maybe a few people will click through out of curiosity - but even then, it's pretty unlikely they will happen to be interested in whatever you are trying to promote.

7. Bear in mind that a message shared in someone else's Twitter stream is likely to be seen by someone who has never heard of you before. Messages that might work in your own Twitter stream - "Secrets of Better Novel Writing, part 26" - may be off-putting to such people, implying that this is something that has been running for a while and there is no point in a newcomer joining in now. The same applies with very personal sounding or enigmatic messages (see item 6).

8. JustRetweet now offers a PostLater option. This is a great resource for ensuring you don't deluge your followers with a series of tweets in quick succession. At present - in response to a request I made - the interval between PostLater posts is set to one hour, although I understand that an option to vary this may be added soon. I recommend mostly selecting PostLater when retweeting messages - you will still receive your credits for these immediately.

9. Bear in mind that JustRetweet offers other methods for earning credits as well as retweeting. You can sign up to follow other members listed on the site on Twitter (this typically pays between 2 and 10 credits), introduce new members (pays 25 credits per new member), visit other blogs and websites for credits (pays up to 10 credits), and so on. If all else fails, though, you can also buy credits for a very reasonable sum!

10. Finally, it's worth mentioning that you can choose the minimum number of Twitter followers a member must have to see your offer. It's obviously tempting to set this figure high, but doing that will drastically cut the number of potential retweeters. In addition, Twitter users with a small following may actually have more influence over their followers. Personally, I tend to set my minimum follower number to 200 or 250, but experiment to see what works best for you.

So those are my top ten tips - I hope you find them helpful. If you are already on JustRetweet, do you have any tips of your own you would like to share? Please do post them below!

How to Use Incentives to Get Extra Sales

Today's guest post is by Jimmy D. Brown of the website iBusiness Owner.

Jimmy is talking about a subject that I'm sure will resonate with many self-publishers, and especially with buyers of my 10-Day E-Book course (which discusses writing and publishing a money-making e-book on ClickBank).

Take it away, Jimmy...

* * *

The vast majority of your prospects aren’t all that passionate about your offer.

Truth is, they’re kind of lukewarm. They’re interested, but they’re not taking their credit card out. Instead of making a buying decision, they decide to “think about it.”

Of course you know what happens: They forget about your offer. They don’t return to your store or sales page. Some of them may even make the conscious decision to NOT buy your product.

So what can you do to get your prospects to get excited and take action NOW?

Simple: Offer them an incentive if they order now. Do it right, and you’re virtually guaranteed to make more sales!

Generally, an incentive can take two forms:

1. You offer a discount. One idea is the straightforward discount, such as offering a percent-off. Another ideas is to offer a discount on the overall package, such as by offering free shipping.

Tip: You can even make it a limited-time discount so that your prospects feel a sense of urgency.

1. You offer one or more bonus products. Again, you can even make the bonus offer limited to increase the sense of urgency.

Offering a discount is a pretty straightforward incentive. So let’s talk about how to offer a bonus as a buying incentive.

Here then are the seven keys to offering bonuses that generate extra sales:

• Make sure the bonus is desirable. Point is, if your prospects don’t care about the bonus product, then it won’t help you generate any sales. So make sure it’s something that your prospects already want. Something that gets them excited!

• Create a valuable bonus. Just because you’re giving the product away for free with a purchase doesn’t mean this bonus should be worth little to no money. Quite the contrary – it should have a high perceived value in the prospect’s mind.

• Choose bonuses that are easy to deliver. This is particularly true if you’re selling downloadable products online, such as software or information. Point is, you want to be able to deliver the bonus instantly – right alongside the main product – without you having to manually deliver the bonus.

• Supply an exclusive bonus, whenever possible. If the prospect can get the bonus somewhere else, he might just do that. So try to offer exclusive bonuses to help make the buying decision easy.

• Offer a bonus that compliments the main product. For example, let’s say you’re selling a book about retirement planning. Offering retirement-planning worksheets and software as a bonus would be a great incentive.

• Sell the bonus. If you’re selling via a sales page, don’t just list the bonus. Instead, sell it just the way you’re selling the main product, meaning you should list the benefits of this bonus product or service.

• Remember that you can offer products OR services. Let’s say you’re selling exterior landscaping supplies and information. As a bonus you can offer a free consultation where you provide specific landscaping ideas for buyers. Or if you’re selling a copywriting product, you can offer a sales letter critique.

Conclusion

Offering an incentive is a simple, yet highly effective way to generate more sales and grow your business. To discover still more ways to grow your business, visit http://tinyurl.com/6rtt8sl – you may just learn strategies you never even knew existed!

* * *

Thank you to Jimmy for an interesting article.

I do agree that offering extra bonuses is a powerful selling technique. My publishers, WCCL, always include a few extra bonuses with the products and courses they offer. In addition - as with my Kindle Kash course - I quite often add a few extra bonuses myself when people order from me personally!

If you have any comments or questions about this post, as ever, feel free to leave them below.

Photo Credit: Scared Candy by Enokson on Flickr. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.

JustRetweet: A Great, Free Traffic-Building Resource for Bloggers and Twitter Users

JustRetweet is a new service I found out about recently and have adopted enthusiastically. If you're a blogger and/or a Twitter user, I strongly recommend you check it out.

As the name indicates, JustRetweet aims to provide a simple method for members to get additional "retweets" of selected Twitter updates, thus helping them reach a much wider audience.

The way it does this is ingenious. You get a certain number of "credits" for joining up, and can get more by retweeting other people's updates. You can also buy credits if you want, although there is certainly no need (or obligation) to do so.

You can then get your own updates retweeted by listing them on the website, along with the number of credits you are willing to provide for each retweet. You can also set the minimum number of followers a member must have to qualify for your offer. In addition, you can offer credits for people to visit your blog or website, and/or to follow you on Twitter.

You can also in theory enter your blog's RSS feed, so all your blog posts are automatically listed for retweeting. I say "in theory" because this didn't work for me, as for some reason JustRetweet won't validate this blog's RSS feed. However, it seems to me you may be better off listing posts you want retweeted individually anyway, as you can then pick how many credits you want to allocate to each one.

JustRetweet is the creation of blogger Valentine Belonwu, and it is supported by a number of high-profile bloggers, including Gail Gardner, Ana Hoffman, Ms Ileane and Sharon Hurley Hall. Ms Ileane (who runs the excellent Basic Blog Tips website), has also produced a useful introductory video showing how JustRetweet works. I've embedded this below...

As ever, if you're receiving this blog post by email or RSS, you may need to visit my blog to watch the video.

JustRetweet is a hugely promising service and deserves support, so please do take a look at the site at least. And if you have any comments or questions, as ever, please feel free to post them below.

Disclosure: If you join JustRetweet via my one of my links in this post, I will get an extra 25 credits. That's not exactly a fortune - it might be enough to get one of my blog posts retweeted once - but it does demonstrate yet another way you can earn credits on the site.

JustRetweet: A Great, Free Traffic-Building Resource for Bloggers and Twitter Users

JustRetweet is a new service I found out about recently and have adopted enthusiastically. If you're a blogger and/or a Twitter user, I strongly recommend you check it out.

As the name indicates, JustRetweet aims to provide a simple method for members to get additional "retweets" of selected Twitter updates, thus helping them reach a much wider audience.

The way it does this is ingenious. You get a certain number of "credits" for joining up, and can get more by retweeting other people's updates. You can also buy credits if you want, although there is certainly no need (or obligation) to do so.

You can then get your own updates retweeted by listing them on the website, along with the number of credits you are willing to provide for each retweet. You can also set the minimum number of followers a member must have to qualify for your offer. In addition, you can offer credits for people to visit your blog or website, and/or to follow you on Twitter.

You can also in theory enter your blog's RSS feed, so all your blog posts are automatically listed for retweeting. I say "in theory" because this didn't work for me, as for some reason JustRetweet won't validate this blog's RSS feed. However, it seems to me you may be better off listing posts you want retweeted individually anyway, as you can then pick how many credits you want to allocate to each one.

JustRetweet is the creation of blogger Valentine Belonwu, and it is supported by a number of high-profile bloggers, including Gail Gardner, Ana Hoffman, Ms Ileane and Sharon Hurley Hall. Ms Ileane (who runs the excellent Basic Blog Tips website), has also produced a useful introductory video showing how JustRetweet works. I've embedded this below...

As ever, if you're receiving this blog post by email or RSS, you may need to visit my blog to watch the video.

JustRetweet is a hugely promising service and deserves support, so please do take a look at the site at least. And if you have any comments or questions, as ever, please feel free to post them below.

Disclosure: If you join JustRetweet via my one of my links in this post, I will get an extra 25 credits. That's not exactly a fortune - it might be enough to get one of my blog posts retweeted once - but it does demonstrate yet another way you can earn credits on the site.

Cover Story: Should Writers Create Their Own E-Book Covers?

Today I'm pleased to bring you another guest post by MWB regular David Robinson.

David is a successful self-publishing author. In this post he addresses the question of whether writers can - or should - create their own e-book covers.

* * *

Never judge a book by its cover. How old is that advice? How valid is it? The first point of contact we all have with many books is the cover, and getting it right can be a struggle.

As usual there is plenty of advice out there, and it usually runs like this:

• Ensure your cover reflects a scene from the book.
• Have your cover professionally prepared.
• Don't use cheap and tacky images manipulated on Photoshop.

I checked the Kindle bestsellers. With a few exceptions, the covers do NOT reflect a scene from the book. They may reflect the THEME, even the TITLE, but they do not indicate a single scene. In many instances, the covers are abstract.

This problem is perhaps less critical when it comes to selling non-fiction. Nick's book Start Your Own Home-based Business has a large question mark in the centre of the cover which, on closer inspection, looks like the interior of a house. It's attractive without being specific, and for me, that's what a cover should aim for. My own non-fiction title, E-book Formatting & Publishing on the Kindle, shows a screen shot of a Word document.

Can you apply this kind of abstract simplicity to novels? You can, and most authors/publishers do.

The cover of the first title in my Sanford Third Age Club (STAC) Investigates series, A Death at the Seaside, shows a seaside scene. It suggests a traditional British seaside summer holiday. The title does the rest. It does not relate to any particular scene from the novel, and it doesn't even relate to murder.

This image (along with all my covers) also broke the first two "rules". It was not professionally prepared, and it was done on Photoshop.

The background image from A Death at the Seaside was taken from a rooftop cafeteria in Bridlington using a Sony a200 DSLR camera and a 200mm lens. The original was manipulated on Photoshop to enrich the colours, and the shadow edges were added as a trademark of the Sanford Third Age Club Investigates series. Does it work? A Death at the Seaside is my bestseller.

Here's another example, from a series of sci-fi novels I'm planning for next year.

This, too, was prepared on Photoshop and it spells out exactly what the novel is: a sci-fi adventure. But how was it put together?

The background is a starfield which I downloaded from the web. I installed a lens flare on it, which I then altered to appear as the distant, yellow sun. The planet is an image of Uranus which I also downloaded from the web, and then manipulated to turn it emerald green and darken most of the disc. The asteroid landscape, which doesn't show up too well in such this small example, is a photograph I took when visiting the Mt Teide National Park, on Tenerife in the Canary Islands (below). The area is known for its almost lunar appearance.

I clipped this landscape from this picture, eliminating the sky, pasted it into place, and adjusted the lighting.

Even without titles, a potential reader looking at this thinks "sci-fi", and acts accordingly. Sci-fi lovers will look closer, sci-fi non-lovers will move on.

Cover artists will shout, "I could have done better," and they're probably right, but as an independent writer/publisher, I have economic considerations to take into account.

I checked out a number of artists, and their prices ranged from $100 to $1000. I'm not criticising those figures. Artists place a value on their time and skill and I would not question them, but I make, on average, $1 per title sold (as little 30ȼ on the cheaper titles, as much as $2 on the more expensive ones). Even at the lower end of the price list I would have to sell 100 copies just to break even. And that doesn't take account of editing costs, which I'm already paying out.

Realistically, to break even, I'd need to sell 200-300 copies if I used a bottom-end artist. At the top end, I'll have to sell 2000+ copies, simply to break even.

I sell books. My titles do fairly well, but nothing mega. Would I sell more with a professionally designed cover? Perhaps, but I don't see that increase catapulting me into the major league, and it just does not make economic sense.

Apologies to all you advisors. I believe you have a point, but for now I'll stick with my own imagination and Photoshop.

This will be my last guest appearance on this blog for 2011, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish Nick and all his readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy, successful New Year.

Byline: David Robinson is an independent freelance writer and novelist with 15 titles available through the Kindle and Smashwords. Visit his website at http://www.dwrob.com.

* * *

Thank you to David for another excellent and inspiring guest post.

So have you created your own e-book cover, or do you think it's better to hire a professional? Please leave any comments or questions for David (or me) below.

Cover Story: Should Writers Create Their Own E-Book Covers?

Today I'm pleased to bring you another guest post by MWB regular David Robinson.

David is a successful self-publishing author. In this post he addresses the question of whether writers can - or should - create their own e-book covers.

* * *

Never judge a book by its cover. How old is that advice? How valid is it? The first point of contact we all have with many books is the cover, and getting it right can be a struggle.

As usual there is plenty of advice out there, and it usually runs like this:

• Ensure your cover reflects a scene from the book.
• Have your cover professionally prepared.
• Don't use cheap and tacky images manipulated on Photoshop.

I checked the Kindle bestsellers. With a few exceptions, the covers do NOT reflect a scene from the book. They may reflect the THEME, even the TITLE, but they do not indicate a single scene. In many instances, the covers are abstract.

This problem is perhaps less critical when it comes to selling non-fiction. Nick's book Start Your Own Home-based Business has a large question mark in the centre of the cover which, on closer inspection, looks like the interior of a house. It's attractive without being specific, and for me, that's what a cover should aim for. My own non-fiction title, E-book Formatting & Publishing on the Kindle, shows a screen shot of a Word document.

Can you apply this kind of abstract simplicity to novels? You can, and most authors/publishers do.

The cover of the first title in my Sanford Third Age Club (STAC) Investigates series, A Death at the Seaside, shows a seaside scene. It suggests a traditional British seaside summer holiday. The title does the rest. It does not relate to any particular scene from the novel, and it doesn't even relate to murder.

This image (along with all my covers) also broke the first two "rules". It was not professionally prepared, and it was done on Photoshop.

The background image from A Death at the Seaside was taken from a rooftop cafeteria in Bridlington using a Sony a200 DSLR camera and a 200mm lens. The original was manipulated on Photoshop to enrich the colours, and the shadow edges were added as a trademark of the Sanford Third Age Club Investigates series. Does it work? A Death at the Seaside is my bestseller.

Here's another example, from a series of sci-fi novels I'm planning for next year.

This, too, was prepared on Photoshop and it spells out exactly what the novel is: a sci-fi adventure. But how was it put together?

The background is a starfield which I downloaded from the web. I installed a lens flare on it, which I then altered to appear as the distant, yellow sun. The planet is an image of Uranus which I also downloaded from the web, and then manipulated to turn it emerald green and darken most of the disc. The asteroid landscape, which doesn't show up too well in such this small example, is a photograph I took when visiting the Mt Teide National Park, on Tenerife in the Canary Islands (below). The area is known for its almost lunar appearance.

I clipped this landscape from this picture, eliminating the sky, pasted it into place, and adjusted the lighting.

Even without titles, a potential reader looking at this thinks "sci-fi", and acts accordingly. Sci-fi lovers will look closer, sci-fi non-lovers will move on.

Cover artists will shout, "I could have done better," and they're probably right, but as an independent writer/publisher, I have economic considerations to take into account.

I checked out a number of artists, and their prices ranged from $100 to $1000. I'm not criticising those figures. Artists place a value on their time and skill and I would not question them, but I make, on average, $1 per title sold (as little 30ȼ on the cheaper titles, as much as $2 on the more expensive ones). Even at the lower end of the price list I would have to sell 100 copies just to break even. And that doesn't take account of editing costs, which I'm already paying out.

Realistically, to break even, I'd need to sell 200-300 copies if I used a bottom-end artist. At the top end, I'll have to sell 2000+ copies, simply to break even.

I sell books. My titles do fairly well, but nothing mega. Would I sell more with a professionally designed cover? Perhaps, but I don't see that increase catapulting me into the major league, and it just does not make economic sense.

Apologies to all you advisors. I believe you have a point, but for now I'll stick with my own imagination and Photoshop.

This will be my last guest appearance on this blog for 2011, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish Nick and all his readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy, successful New Year.

Byline: David Robinson is an independent freelance writer and novelist with 15 titles available through the Kindle and Smashwords. Visit his website at http://www.dwrob.com.

* * *

Thank you to David for another excellent and inspiring guest post.

So have you created your own e-book cover, or do you think it's better to hire a professional? Please leave any comments or questions for David (or me) below.

Review: Virtual Book Tour Magic

Last week I was pleased to host Dana Lynn Smith (The Savvy Book Marketer) on her virtual book tour to promote her new writers' guide Virtual Book Tour Magic.

If you missed Dana's guest post, you can click through here to read it (will open in a new window). As promised in that post, here is my review of the guide itself...

Virtual Book Tour Magic is provided in the form of a downloadable, 73-page PDF, with three extra bonus items. My first impression was that it lives up to and even exceeds the standard of Dana's other writers' guides (listed at the foot of this post).

The text uses a clean, sharp, readable font, accompanied by screengrab illustrations where appropriate. As with Dana's other manuals, I was pleased to see that the table of contents is fully hyperlinked, not just to the main chapter headings, but to the section headings as well. It's a pity that not all e-books adhere to this format.

Virtual Book Tour Magic takes readers step by step through planning and executing a VBT (as I'll call it from now on). Not unnaturally, it begins with an explanation of what these events are.

I thought I would find this all very familiar, but actually I learned some interesting things, including the fact that there are (at least) five different types of VBT. Dana also sets out in this chapter some compelling reasons why all authors should consider organizing VBTs to promote their titles.

The guide goes on to explain how to plan your VBT, and how to research and recruit the best tour hosts. This very important information is set out in a concise and systematic way, with plenty of bullet-point lists to aid readability.

Dana goes on to discuss communicating effectively with tour hosts and how to produce killer content for your tour (articles, interviews, and so on). She also discusses how you can build buzz around the tour with contests, giveaways and special offers. I found this chapter particularly interesting, especially the section where she talks about running a Twitter contest. This is definitely something I plan to do myself before too long, whether as part of a VBT or not!

There is also a chapter about promoting your tour, which again I found enlightening. Having been a blog host on several of Dana's own VBTs, it's interesting to see how much work goes into promoting a tour (as well as planning and running it) from the organizer's perspective.

Virtual Book Tour Magic concludes by looking briefly at post-tour activities, the potential pitfalls of running a VBT, and the alternative option of hiring someone to organize your VBT for you. There is also, as you might expect, a section of useful resources, both free and paid for.

Overall, I was highly impressed with Virtual Book Tour Magic, which (as I mentioned earlier) more than maintains the high standard of previous authors' guides by Dana Lynn Smith (pictured).

It does also, I think, demonstrate that organizing a VBT is not a project to be undetaken lightly. If you're going to do one, however - and as Dana says, the potential rewards in terms of raising awareness of your book are massive - following the guide's step-by-step advice should ensure you avoid the pitfalls and organize a successful, relatively stress-free, and ultimately profitable tour.

For more information about Virtual Book Tour Magic (and to order a copy) just click through any of the links in this review. You can also read my reviews of other guides by Dana by clicking on the appropriate title in the list below:

How to Get Your Book Reviewed

Twitter Guide for Authors

Facebook Guide for Authors

If you have any comments or questions for Dana (or me), as ever, please feel free to leave them below!

Review: Virtual Book Tour Magic

Last week I was pleased to host Dana Lynn Smith (The Savvy Book Marketer) on her virtual book tour to promote her new writers' guide Virtual Book Tour Magic.

If you missed Dana's guest post, you can click through here to read it (will open in a new window). As promised in that post, here is my review of the guide itself...

Virtual Book Tour Magic is provided in the form of a downloadable, 73-page PDF, with three extra bonus items. My first impression was that it lives up to and even exceeds the standard of Dana's other writers' guides (listed at the foot of this post).

The text uses a clean, sharp, readable font, accompanied by screengrab illustrations where appropriate. As with Dana's other manuals, I was pleased to see that the table of contents is fully hyperlinked, not just to the main chapter headings, but to the section headings as well. It's a pity that not all e-books adhere to this format.

Virtual Book Tour Magic takes readers step by step through planning and executing a VBT (as I'll call it from now on). Not unnaturally, it begins with an explanation of what these events are.

I thought I would find this all very familiar, but actually I learned some interesting things, including the fact that there are (at least) five different types of VBT. Dana also sets out in this chapter some compelling reasons why all authors should consider organizing VBTs to promote their titles.

The guide goes on to explain how to plan your VBT, and how to research and recruit the best tour hosts. This very important information is set out in a concise and systematic way, with plenty of bullet-point lists to aid readability.

Dana goes on to discuss communicating effectively with tour hosts and how to produce killer content for your tour (articles, interviews, and so on). She also discusses how you can build buzz around the tour with contests, giveaways and special offers. I found this chapter particularly interesting, especially the section where she talks about running a Twitter contest. This is definitely something I plan to do myself before too long, whether as part of a VBT or not!

There is also a chapter about promoting your tour, which again I found enlightening. Having been a blog host on several of Dana's own VBTs, it's interesting to see how much work goes into promoting a tour (as well as planning and running it) from the organizer's perspective.

Virtual Book Tour Magic concludes by looking briefly at post-tour activities, the potential pitfalls of running a VBT, and the alternative option of hiring someone to organize your VBT for you. There is also, as you might expect, a section of useful resources, both free and paid for.

Overall, I was highly impressed with Virtual Book Tour Magic, which (as I mentioned earlier) more than maintains the high standard of previous authors' guides by Dana Lynn Smith (pictured).

It does also, I think, demonstrate that organizing a VBT is not a project to be undetaken lightly. If you're going to do one, however - and as Dana says, the potential rewards in terms of raising awareness of your book are massive - following the guide's step-by-step advice should ensure you avoid the pitfalls and organize a successful, relatively stress-free, and ultimately profitable tour.

For more information about Virtual Book Tour Magic (and to order a copy) just click through any of the links in this review. You can also read my reviews of other guides by Dana by clicking on the appropriate title in the list below:

How to Get Your Book Reviewed

Twitter Guide for Authors

Facebook Guide for Authors

If you have any comments or questions for Dana (or me), as ever, please feel free to leave them below!

How to Plan a Successful Virtual Book Tour

Today's guest post from Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, is part of the virtual book tour for her newest book marketing guide, Virtual Book Tour Magic.

With a virtual book tour, authors can reach a large targeted audience of potential book buyers by making guest appearances on blogs, podcasts, radio shows and other venues.

Organizing a virtual book tour isn't hard, but it does take good organization. Here is a list of the steps involved in planning a virtual book tour:

• Before you start, have basic promotional tools in place, including a blog and social networking accounts.
• Begin planning at least two months in advance of the tour.
• Determine your goals for the tour and the type of tour you want to do.
• Determine the length of the tour and tour dates.
• Set up a recordkeeping system to keep track of the details for planning the tour.
• Decide what kind of content, giveaways or contests to offer on the tour.
• Make a list of prospective hosts and research them to find the best fit.
• Write a compelling invitation and send it to the top prospective hosts.
• Correspond with hosts, sending confirmations and details.
• Set up a schedule of tour stops, assigning hosts to specific dates.
• Develop a promotional plan and materials for the tour and begin pre-tour promotions.
• Write articles and interview questions and send to hosts.
• Monitor and promote daily during the tour.
• Coordinate giveaways and contests.
• Evaluate the success of the tour and take care of follow up tasks.

There you have it - the steps to organizing your own successful virtual book tour. Learn more about the details of planning a book tour in my new Virtual Book Tour Magic guidebook for authors.

Book Tour Special: Order Virtual Book Tour Magic by December 12 and you'll get an invitation to an exclusive book tour Q&A session with Dana on December 15.

About the Author: Dana Lynn Smith (right), The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. For more book promotion tips, get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebooks at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com.

* * *

Many thanks to Dana for sharing her tips in this post as part of her Virtual Book Tour.

I will be reviewing Virtual Book Tour Magic on this blog on Monday 12 December, but I'm probably not giving away too much to say that I was hugely impressed with it.

You can also read my reviews of these other guides by Dana by clicking on the appropriate title in the list below:

How to Get Your Book Reviewed

Twitter Guide for Authors

Facebook Guide for Authors

If you have any comments or questions for Dana (or me), as ever, please feel free to leave them below!

How to Plan a Successful Virtual Book Tour

Today's guest post from Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, is part of the virtual book tour for her newest book marketing guide, Virtual Book Tour Magic.

With a virtual book tour, authors can reach a large targeted audience of potential book buyers by making guest appearances on blogs, podcasts, radio shows and other venues.

Organizing a virtual book tour isn't hard, but it does take good organization. Here is a list of the steps involved in planning a virtual book tour:

• Before you start, have basic promotional tools in place, including a blog and social networking accounts.
• Begin planning at least two months in advance of the tour.
• Determine your goals for the tour and the type of tour you want to do.
• Determine the length of the tour and tour dates.
• Set up a recordkeeping system to keep track of the details for planning the tour.
• Decide what kind of content, giveaways or contests to offer on the tour.
• Make a list of prospective hosts and research them to find the best fit.
• Write a compelling invitation and send it to the top prospective hosts.
• Correspond with hosts, sending confirmations and details.
• Set up a schedule of tour stops, assigning hosts to specific dates.
• Develop a promotional plan and materials for the tour and begin pre-tour promotions.
• Write articles and interview questions and send to hosts.
• Monitor and promote daily during the tour.
• Coordinate giveaways and contests.
• Evaluate the success of the tour and take care of follow up tasks.

There you have it - the steps to organizing your own successful virtual book tour. Learn more about the details of planning a book tour in my new Virtual Book Tour Magic guidebook for authors.

Book Tour Special: Order Virtual Book Tour Magic by December 12 and you'll get an invitation to an exclusive book tour Q&A session with Dana on December 15.

About the Author: Dana Lynn Smith (right), The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. For more book promotion tips, get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebooks at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com.

* * *

Many thanks to Dana for sharing her tips in this post as part of her Virtual Book Tour.

I will be reviewing Virtual Book Tour Magic on this blog on Monday 12 December, but I'm probably not giving away too much to say that I was hugely impressed with it.

You can also read my reviews of these other guides by Dana by clicking on the appropriate title in the list below:

How to Get Your Book Reviewed

Twitter Guide for Authors

Facebook Guide for Authors

If you have any comments or questions for Dana (or me), as ever, please feel free to leave them below!