Latest posts from Chip MacGregor
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What’s the tenth step in marketing your book?
It’s been said that some people have twenty years of experience; while other people have one year of experience twenty times. The difference? The former keep track of their progress and learn from their mistakes as well as their successes. …
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Business Blogging: All the Long Term Benefits That Await You (a guest post)
Running a website can be a hobby for some people, but for others, it is the ultimate source of income. Whatever the case, you’ll need plenty of good content if you want to attract visitors, and this requires some blogging …
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What’s the ninth step in marketing your book?
Now that you’ve done all your research and planning — you’ve figured out WHAT you need to do, WHERE you need to do it, WHEN you’re going to get it done, WHO you’re going to be reaching, and WHY you’re …
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What’s the eighth step in marketing your book?
At this point, you’re probably wondering what else there is to do with a marketing plan. Take heart — we’re almost to the end of the process…
Once you’ve written down everything you want to do, you need to tie …
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What’s the seventh step in marketing your book?
Okay, you’ve come to the point in the process where you really get into the details… you’ve done a bunch of research. You know who you are, and what it is you want to say. You’ve figured out who your …
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What’s the sixth step in marketing Your book
We’ve been talking through the basics of marketing — what you would explore if you were taking an “introduction to marketing” class in college. Recently we covered the first five steps in the process, and over the next few days …
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Derailed at “Almost There” (a guest blog)
This week I have been on vacation. My next book deadline is not until August. So I have taken the opportunity to crack open a bunch of ebooks I’ve downloaded for free through an email reader service. A couple of …
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Literary Devices for the Real World: Deus Ex Machina
Continuing my series on literary devices, I’m talking less today about how to use a specific literary device and more about how to avoid using one, specifically an often-criticized device known as “deus ex machina.”
Deus ex machina is probably …
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What’s the fifth step in marketing your book?
Now that you know what your brand is, what your strengths and weaknesses are, what goals you’re trying to reach, and who your target market is, you need to make some specific choices. What are the basic strategies you’re going -
What’s the fourth step in marketing your book?
If you were taking a class in marketing, this is the process you’d go through in order to create a marketing plan. So once you “know yourself,” “know your strengths and weaknesses,” and “know your goal,” the fourth step you’ll …
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Is having a blog essential for every writer? (a guest post)
No matter what publishers may tell you, not everyone needs a blog.
But you all should be on blogs.
Here’s the difference: keeping up your own blog is a lot of work, and depending on your genre of writing, it …
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What’s the third step in marketing your book?
With all this marketing you’re going to be doing for your book, what are you trying to achieve? And that leads to the third step in marketing your book: Asking yourself, “What’s the goal of your marketing plan?”
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My …
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Literary Devices for the Real World: Voice
Welcome back (after a short hiatus) to my series on using literary devices in the real world. After my post on tone, reader Laurie brought up the subject of voice– “Voice is something, like tone, that has always felt a …
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What’s the second step in marketing your book?
I was talking to an author a couple years ago who said she was going to hire a freelance publicist to help land her a bunch of radio interviews. Knowing she (1) hates talking in public, and (2) has what …
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What’s the first step in marketing your book?
We’ve been asked a bunch of times about marketing your own book, and while Amanda does this amazingly well every Thursday, I thought I’d jump in with a few thoughts of my own. If you were to take a class …
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Want to know how to create a great book proposal?
On Saturday, March 19, I’m going to be spending the day with a bunch of writers at the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center in Omaha, Nebraska. I’m being hosted by the Nebraska Writers Guild, and I’m really excited because I’m …
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What does a writer need to know about marketing?
In today’s publishing market, there are a handful of things I think every author needs to know about marketing. These are all things you can think through, and though none of this is going to be earth-shattering or terribly “new”… -
Your Writers Conference: A Reason to Go instead of Say No (a guest blog from Ann Stewart)
For years I balked at the idea of going to a writers conference. I had a lot of really great excuses: It’s not a good time. Kids are too little. It’s too far away. Our family can’t afford it right …
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Literary Devices for the Real World: Tone
Welcome back to my series on literary devices and how to use them to your best advantage this side of your college lit classroom. This week, we’re talking about tone: what it is, how to identify it in your own … -