Twyndication

Have you heard of Twyndication?

Twyndication is a service that allows authors to take content from a book and break it into bite-sized pieces that can be tweeted. The service then gets these tweets out into the Twitter time-lines for thousands of Twitter users.

This bite-sized Twitter content is geared to hook people into getting more information or learning more about your story, hence, creating an interest in your book. Twyndication’s goal is to help you gain more exposure for your books via Twitter.

The service has both a free and a paid component. Watch this video to learn more.

Interesting Book Promotion Idea

It has been suggested over and over again that giving away free copies of a book spurs sales of the book.

Recently, another publisher has embraced this idea to spur sales of a new novel. Algonquin Publishing teamed up with Great Lakes Airline over the Easter weekend to offer 1,000 copies of their novel, Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West.

Interestingly, this book was originally self-published and sold more than 40,000 copies before being picked up by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and re-released in January. It is based on the true story of a Montana town brought together by its boys’ basketball team.

Reading and hearing what publishers are doing to promote books is a great way to find inspiration and ideas for promoting your next book. You might not have the clout to team up with an airline to give away copies of your books, but other opportunities abound.

Have you written a book for teenagers? Give free copies to all the youth attending the next youth conference at your church.

If you have a book geared for women, offer to give away free copies of your book to women attending a local church’s women’s retreat or seminar.

Have you published a book geared to homeschoolers? Give free copies of your book to the first 50 people who register for a local homeschool convention in your area.

The ideas are endless. Most conventions, seminars, and other gatherings welcome free products to give to their attendees. Step out of your comfort zone and give away some copies of your next book to generate some sales.

Autographing eBooks is Now Possible

In January, I put up a blog post on “How Do You Sign an eBook?” At that time, a new company named Autography, was in the process of developing a method that would allow authors to sign ebooks.

This new ebook-signing technology will debut at BookExpo America next month. Learn how it works. Watch this video.

[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/AYKpiQsC%5D

Some experts are predicting that by 2015, sales of ebooks in the United States will triple to nearly $3 billion. With that many ebook sales, this type of technology will be greatly appreciated and utilized by authors and readers alike.

Who’s Buying eBooks?

Recently, Smashwords, an ebook publishing and distribution platform for ebook authors, publishers, and readers, crunched their data to find out where their ebook sales were coming from.

Using the 20,000 ebooks Smashwords distributes to Barnes & Noble, they tracked where the ebooks were being sold.

The finding was very interesting. Here are the top five states per capita for ebook consumption:

1.  Alaska
2.  North Dakota
3.  Utah
4.  Wyoming
5.  Virginia

I find this data fascinating. The top four states are not the states that would be considered on the leading edge of the digital revolution. Rather, they shout, “sparsely populated and fairly remote.” In other words, these states lack large metropolitan cities (okay they may have one or two, but not the numbers that other states boast). It would appear that the more remote people are, the less access they have to big-box stores and major bookstores. Perhaps, downloading ebooks provides the quickest access to the information and reading pleasure they desire.

I believe that the world is following this trend. English-speaking people in other countries are finding it much easier to download the ebook version of a book they want rather then order it internationally, which means paying extra and waiting for the book to arrive.

If this data is true, as a publisher can widen the reach of your books simply by making them available in ebook format.

The 2011 Book of the Year Award Winners!

The votes are in and counted. The winners of the 2011 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award have been determined!

Over 3,600 book lovers and retailers selling Christian products voted on the nominated titles in each of eight categories.

The winners in each of the eight categories are:

Fiction

The Master’s Wall, Sandi Rog, DeWard Publishing Company

Christian Living

Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life, Karina Lumbert Fabian & Deacon Steven Lumbert, Tribute Books

Bible Study/Theology

Real Mothers: A Bible study about Mothers for Mothers, Joyce Long, CrossLink Publishing

Biography

I Can See the Shore: Growing Up Yanomamo Today, Mike Dawson, Grace Acres Press

Relationships / Family

Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching, and Appreciating Boys, Hal & Melanie Young, Great Waters Press

Children’s (age 4 to 8)

With My Rifle By My Side: A Second Amendment Lesson, Kimberly Simac, author; Donna Goeddaeus, illustrator, Nordskog Publishing

Children’s (age 8 to 12)

10 Things Every Kid Should Know About God, Tina V. Bryson, author; Mykle Lee, illustrator, Leeway Artisans, Inc.

Young Adult (age 12+)

The Awakening, Cliff Warden, Clifford Warden

Congratulations to the winners!

The Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award is sponsored by Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA). A total of 72 titles were nominated from 48 publishers for the eight award categories.

Looking for a great book to read next? Try one of the winners of the CSP Book of the Year Award listed here.