One of the most important things an author can do once he or she has written an excellent book, is get people to read it. Duh. The really hard part is convincing those who’ve read it to post a good review. This can be awkward, unpleasant and even…
When I started Hometown Reads earlier this year, I hoped to launch 20 locations total in 2016. I also had an idyllic vision of traveling to each of the locations we launched, to meet people in person to fuel the local communities of authors and…
Writing poetry and selling poetry are two completely different animals. Replete with various challenges, poetry falls into its own category, and is unlike fiction or non-fiction entries. Poetry can be marketed as a single poem, a group of poems or…
As Hometown Reads authors living two blocks apart in Minneapolis, we’ve found power in partnership. For nearly a decade, we’ve been buddying up to promote ourselves and sell our books. It’s a marketing best practice we stumbled on but now…
This morning, my husband texted me to tell me that a well-known novelist is speaking this evening in a nearby town. Since I haven’t read his books, I’m not planning to go, but the exchange spurred me to think about the relationship…
