Uncategorized – Page 2 – Author BL. Berry

My Summer Reading List

It’s almost summer time!!! Which means in a few weeks, you can find me by the pool with my kindle in hand.

My SummerReading List When I was little, I always had a summer reading list for school. And brace yourself for this confession … I LOATHED reading. I enjoyed writing, but the notion of sitting down and reading, especially when I could be outside playing with my friends in the sunshine, really annoyed me. There were a few books that drew me in … mostly Nancy Drew and a few Baby Sitters Club titles. But on the whole, it wasn’t until high school and college that I started reading for enjoyment … and actually enjoying it.

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05/21/201805/19/2018 by blberrywrites Tags: What I'm Reading Leave a comment

10 Strategies to Build your Mailing List

There’s a lot of chatter going on about email, list growing, and the GDPR these days. With list building methods now needing official trails for compliance, I think it’s going to push authors to become more creative on how to grow their mailing list.

List building, in my experience, has been nothing short of mind numbing. But I want to take a moment to say don’t get discouraged if you don’t have many contacts on your mailing list. As long as your contacts are engaging with you–that means opening those emails and clicking inside them–you’re in good shape.

An engaged mailing list can truly be a powerful tool when it comes to release time. But the truth is, the size of your list isn’t as significant as the QUALITY of your list. It’s kinda like the old adage of it’s not the size of the wave, but the motion of the ocean.

Yeah. That. But with emails and not sex.

So in an effort to help us all find our own league of engaged readers who want to receive our newsletters, I’ve gathered together 10 list building strategies.

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05/10/201805/10/2018 by blberrywrites Tags: Authors Helping Authors, Marketing 3 Comments

Book Pricing Strategy: Royalty & Volume Calculators

Goal setting for my upcoming releases has been something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I’ve never set any defined goals with my book launches and the prospect of putting tangible numbers against sales or a desired royalty is a little bit terrifying.

But it’s necessary so I can market my books correctly.

So I created some some calculators to help me with the big picture. And when it comes to the nifty lil’ author tools I create, what’s mine is yours!

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05/01/201804/18/2018 by blberrywrites Tags: Authors Helping Authors, Helpful Stuff, Marketing 5 Comments

Learn to Love the Numbers

Pardon me, my inner nerd is about to show in glorious fanfare.

I love words. I love them so much I write them down in semi-sensical fashion in the hopes that someone will pick up one of my books and read it. And by some divine intervention, they do.

But you know what else I love? Numbers.

Numbers are usually terrifying, especially for people who love words, but over the past year I’ve taught myself to embrace the suck … and embrace the numbers.

Numbers are critical for goal setting. Analytics. Understanding your performance both present and historical.

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04/23/201806/07/2018 by blberrywrites Tags: Advertising, Authors Helping Authors, Book + Main Bites, Marketing Leave a comment

Dear Author

A long, long time ago, I posted this lil’ blog called Dear Book Blogger. At the time, it garnered some good attention and I still love that post dearly (if you haven’t read it, go check it out).

But with all of the negative self-talk I’m seeing online from my industry peers lately, I think we’re long overdue for the next iteration. It doesn’t matter if you’re new to the game or well-established, I think these are some good reminders for all of us.

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04/18/201804/13/2018 by blberrywrites Tags: Dear Author, Thoughtless Thoughts 2 Comments

6 things I wish I had known before starting AMS ads

Lately I’ve been fielding a lot of questions when it comes to AMS ads. I’m no expert by any means, but I’ve become a student of the channel, done my homework, and the tricks I’ve implemented have worked for me thus far. And worked pretty well, at that.

So if you’re considering running AMS ads, or are currently running them with lackluster results, take a look here and see if these 6 tips help you make sense of it all.

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04/10/201804/06/2018 by blberrywrites Tags: Advertising, AMS, Authors Helping Authors 6 Comments

Tracking Your Author Expenses

It’s nearly here. That day we all dread … April 17, 2018. Tax day. [insert dramatic villain sound effect here.]

If you’ve managed to keep on top of things throughout the year, you’re in a great position! But for the rest of us … it’s not too late to start getting your crap together for next year.

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04/05/201804/05/2018 by blberrywrites Tags: Authors Helping Authors 3 Comments

Write Erotica? Read Erotica? Read this.

This week there have been some changes brewing (yet again) over on Amazon. Recently erotica authors have found their sales ranking stripped from their books without warning or explanation. I’m here today to hopefully shed a little light as to why.

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03/28/2018 by blberrywrites Tags: Authors Helping Authors, Industry News 5 Comments

Win a Kindle Oasis!

It’s giveaway time again for all of my awesome readers, followers, and fans! Up for grabs in this giveaway are not one, but TWO Kindle Oasis e-readers.

The Oasis is especially awesome because not only is it water resistant (hello, pool and bathtub reading without consequence!) but also a high-res, 7″ inch screen, bluetooth connectivity, and integration with your audible account. Plus there’s SIX. WEEKS. OF. BATTERY. built right in!!! Thank you sweet baby Jesus!

In short … if you win, we should totally share this sucker! Because it’s insanely amazing. 😉

Want to win? SURE YOU DO! Just click here (or on the graphic) and follow me and some of your favorite romance authors (like Stephanie Rose and Piper Rayne — hey girls!!!) on BookBub. Each follow is one entry! Plus you can elect to sign up for our newsletters as bonus entries. Plus if you’re interested in other genres beyond romance, check them out, too! Be patient as the page loads as there’s a lot of traffic headed that way. Your romance authors are color-coded and I’m in brown!

Be sure to enter before the giveaway closes on 3/29! Good luck, everyone!

03/23/201803/22/2018 by blberrywrites Tags: Giveaway 1 Comment