Reflecting on Bogus Blurbs, Unreal Reviews, and Manufactured Best-sellers. Got an email recently from a college fraternity brother of mine that read, in part: I have a small favor to ask, A good friend of mine, ____, has written a book, and Amazon is currently running a contest to determine the winner in this category. It would really help him out if you could go over to Amazon and write a good review of the book (here’s the link: ____). The more good reviews he gets, the better his chances of winning. I know he’d really appreciate it.

A proverb tells us that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. But what if that step is in the wrong direction? The traveler would waste unnecessary time, energy and money going the wrong way. For lack of knowing that first step, some independent publishers ignore the path of non-traditional selling. The question, “Where can I sell my books outside of bookstores?” is ambiguous and offers no direction, insight or instructions about what to do

If you’ll just take a moment to lie aside some of your stereotypes and many of the myths you have grown up believing, I can proceed with providing you with a source of untapped potential that can propel your book sales to a whole new level. If you think about it the primary purpose of marketing is to promote (sell) your product or service

We have been conditioned to believe that in sales there is no such thing as a silver bullet. I can tell you that there is. It is called timing — getting in front of the right buyer at EXACTLY the right time. Research shows that you are five times more likely to make a sale when you have the right timing.

As a new author, you will want to consider every available means to market your work, and book-signing engagements at the various bookstore chains, independent stores and libraries can provide important or even crucial contributions to that end. But much of the sales potential of this valuable means of getting your books out there is often lost through a lack of understanding of what it takes to make these sessions work. While there are many who regard book-signing sessions as a great opportunity, there are others who see them as unpleasant but necessary chores. Let’s examine the pros and cons.

I’ve noticed that nothing gets fingers pointing, phones ringing, keyboard clicking, and inboxes flaming faster than errors found after a piece of writing is published. It’s bad enough if it happens on a Web site where it can be quickly fixed, but when it happens in printed material, especially in books, it’s even worse.

There are few things I’ve learned from helping so many authors get agents and I have developed what I like to call the “10 Deadly Sins”. Commit any of these sins in your query letter and you can kiss your shot at getting an agent goodbye.