Posted on 2012-Dec-12
An Author’s Responsibilities in the 21st Century
Being an author comes with so many responsibilities these days. Apart from excelling at writing one of the most intriguing books of the 21st century to compete with fellow authors, you need to come to the eBook marketplace pre-equipped with tech versatility and a promotional mentality. Keeping track of the comments on all of your social media platforms plus personal email is nothing new in the blogger’s prescription. Having constantly worked on blog posts is part of the routine that you need to mantain, despite sacrificing your creative energy in expressing your ideas and inspiration. Even without the website, you need some sort of online identification to exhibit the personal information about who you are and how you live. All the efforts mentioned above help maintain the curiosity of readers and followers alike to visit your behind-the-scenes production that tends to state the reason why you write what you wrote.
Author 2.0
If these responsibilities seem too overwhelming, please consider my far-flung imagination into what the future author has to deliver. Perhaps, an ideal author of the 22nd century requires that he/she provide POD service for customers in 10 seconds with satisfaction guaranteed, produce a daily series to fulfill reader’s subscription plans, convert manuscripts into the multitude of formats to suit individual needs on various devices, produce minutely video feeds of daily greetings of your fans, or possibly write books that rambunctiously earns 5-star reviews in 5 minutes by anonymous fans.
Blogs on Kindle
Perhaps, I get carried away too easily this evening while reimagining how many more tasks authors have to accomplish at the end of the day. The list could go on and on but this is not the right time to complain and give up at the thought of experimenting with the endless opportunities offered by professional insiders. Amazon, for instance, in their launches Kindle Publishing for Blogs for promoting author’s information and possibly selling their ideas to Kindle users. In the author page, a brief introduction to your lifelong inspiration might not be contained in the limited whitespace provided by the retailer. So, the blogosphere format tends to grant you an extension of your introductory statement but you can gain more control of how often you would like to make an announcement to your reader through an RSS subscription.
iBookstore Breakout Books
Apple iBookstore is back on our radar after it has provided help for Smashwords authors. Breakout Books is similar to the concept of Amazon’s promotion that runs in a limited period of time to boost the discoverability of the book and author. Mark Coker, Smashwords CEO, details Cupertino’s book-selling marketing strategy very delightfully. He even listed the independent author’s names in his blog to makes sure that his supportive endeavor will help his authors reach out to fans. Unfortunately, the cool promotion is only limited to New Zealand and Australia. In case you are wondering why the two countries have been selected as the frontrunners, the latter country is described in Coker’s words as the “second-largest-selling iBookstore for Smashwords authors.” No wonder he spreads the words about the promotion whole-heartedly. Unfortunately, iBookstore has nowhere near the market share of Amazon.
The Indie Spotlight
Given the fact that the promotional runs on Amazon and Apple might not suit your needs under any circumstance, The Indie Spotlight’s motto is simple “Where the Independent Author Shines.” Basked in the highlight of a literary career, a graphic desire-cum-author and a multi-talented storyteller decide to put sophisticated service aside and bring back the beauty of simplicity. Simple and clean-cut design used in their official homepage is pleasing to the eyes while the browsing experience in the author’s interview section focuses nothing else than what emerges from the author’s creation. There are options where you can place banner advertisement in their site.
Futuristic Insistence
Regardless of the challenges you are facing, with responsibilities come deserving discoverability for you to broadcast your identity. Sometimes, self-promotional effort can be an uphill climb but it pushes you upward and reminds you to strive harder to reach the goal. At BB eBooks, we stand right beside you on a marathon track to professionally design your book and provide you with valuable resources. Maybe, we might transform ourselves into the digital hand that crafts new technology after you pen a story in the next century. But for now, we pledge allegiance with independent authors and small presses to build a community of literary hospitality and resourceful positivity. Please visit our social media link and voice your thoughts. Thank you for your dear attention.
Label: Marketing
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