The Link – it’s elementary!

JULY 29, 2017 / KMCDERMOTTAUTHOR / EDIT

I continue to learn how to market books by talking to other authors and attending conferences. Readers need a quick way to click on a short link and access your book. The solution is a site like Bitly.

How does it work?  Go to Amazon, Nook Books, your publisher’s site or any other place on the internet that sells your book. Find the exact page where your book is listed. Then copy the long URL at the top of that page. Paste it in Bitly and enter the long link where the website will give you a short link. Use it in tweets, on Facebook, or any other social media where you market your books. You can even customize your short links so they are easy to remember.

How does this help sell books?  All the customer who reads your tweets, etc. has to do is click on the link to immediately be transported to the purchase place. Quick and easy for everyone.

 

Adding Animals as Characters

JULY 28, 2017 / KMCDERMOTTAUTHOR / EDIT

Animals make engaging characters in novels like Bailey, the black lab who helps the protagonist, Jeremy McKetcheon, a lighthouse keeper. Well-known for their swimming skills labs have helped drowning humans. This is what Bailey does in Abbey’s Tale(bit.ly/AbbeysTale) when he helps pull Abbey to the boat.

In the suspense, thriller Hiding (bit.ly/Daphnewin), an adorable Bermese Mountain Dog, Jolle, lives in the Alps and hikes with Serge and Teresa as they explore the summits. His name means “play” in French, and his antics are amusing.

In Suspicion, the coming sequel to Hiding, the official little pug Winnie (named after Churchill not Pooh) helps run the British book shop in London  where is clicking feet patter up and down the rows of novels.

Just like animals add pleasure to our lives in reality, they add pleasure in fiction!

Additional Writers Groups for Authors

JULY 18, 2017 / KMCDERMOTTAUTHOR / EDIT

As a new author at great way to get your books out to the public is to join various facebook groups for authors and post in them. For e-books go to:

1. Kindlemojo
2. My Kindle is Starving

For Christian Inspirational Fiction try:

1. Christian Fiction and Non-Fiction
2. Christian Book Reviews
3. Review Seekers

For children’s books look at:

1. Books Go Social Children’s Books
2. Children’s Book Reviews and Promos

For mysteries try:

1. Mystery We Write Authors and Readers
2. For the Love of Books
3. Bookaholic Cafe

How Can You Write about Places You’ve Never Visited?

JULY 5, 2017 / KMCDERMOTTAUTHOR / EDIT

Take a cyber vacation. While I had been to Paris before I wrote Hiding, I had never been to Monte Carlos or Breil sur Roya. How could I make these locations authentic in my book? The answer is research, fun research. I used travel brochures, tour websites, lots of photographs to read, visualize and learn about the places that my characters would be traveling.

In the process, I got to “visit” exotic places. I learned, for example, that Jacques Cousteau’s Marine Museum and Center are in Monte Carlos. I learned how Grace Kelly was killed on the winding treacherous road to the city. I learned that one of the popular gambling casinos was build to resemble the Paris Opera House. It was a mini-vacation for me and for the my readers when it was worked into the book. So authors, take your mini-vacation via cyber space and recreate it for your fans.