Front Edge
Publishing
Your Ideas Take Flight
One of the hottest topics in the Amazon.com empire, this month, is the mysterious world of Amazon Vine. The New York Times published an extensive report on the “elite” Vine Voices who receive whole truckloads of free merchandise in exchange for pumping reviews into Amazon. Our Editor David Crumm tells the true story of how he was invited into this strange kingdom—and returned to tell the tale.
Amazon has the largest body of consumer reviews in the world! And, within that carefully monitored Community, honest reviewers can make a big difference in helping others to find the authors they enjoy. Our Editor David Crumm is a veteran Amazon reviewer and, in this column, explains the guidelines that shape Amazon’s vast “Community.”
Google Alerts are easy to set up and become your window on the world to follow authors, books or important issues that matter to you. The process is easy to set up—and to change or cancel if you don’t like the results. In this week’s article, marketing expert Susan Stitt walks us through the process step by step.
Our Director of Production Dmitri Barvinok continues our Metadata 101 exploration of publishing by explaining the ubiquitous—yet little understood—ISBN. They’re on every book you buy, but the purpose and rules for using ISBNs are among the more arcane mysteries of publishing. Dmitri unlocks that realm to help authors (and readers) understand a lot more about what those numbers can tell us about a book.
Choosing the correct title and subtitle for your book is the most important step you can take in successfully marketing your book. In this column, our Marketing Director Susan Stitt describes the many factors that contribute to a successful book title. Do you know all of the places your title will appear? Have you tested your prospective title? Have you considered Amazon’s rules governing titles? Susan touches on all of those issues, and more.