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In this episode I’m revealing some of the best websites out there for authors and why you’ll want to jump onto them ASAP.
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Welcome back everyone! How is it going?
If you’ve managed to find your way here to this podcast, or you’re a regular listener, you’re probably aware that the internet is a wide and vast place to gain knowledge on writing, publishing and marketing.
In addition to this, it’s kind of essential that authors be on the internet in this day and age to sell their books and maintain an author brand.
But whether you’re a new or seasoned author, you might be wondering where some of the best places are online to be hanging out.
In this episode, I’m going to be sharing five of the best book websites for authors that you all need to be using. Without further ado, let’s dive into it:
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It’s time for tool tip of the day—I love using tools and tips to automate my workflow and make running a business so much easier, and I aim to share one tool or tip per episode that I personally use and recommend! Today, I’m recommending The Write Life newsletter.
The Write Life is one of my favourite websites, and although it’s not mentioned in today’s podcast episode listings, it’s one I come back to every now and then for new tips, inspiration and advice. One way to make sure you never miss a post is to subscribe to their newsletter.
If you want to check out The Write Life Newsletter, I’ve got a link in the show notes so that you can easily go take a look. Make sure you do after the show.
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Okay, our first bookish website of today’s episode is:
1) Book Riot
Book Riot is your hub for bookish blogs, podcasts and videos—and not only is it an informative and relevant source for industry news, but it’s a great place to do market research.
You can see which books are trending, why they’re trending, and even just get insight to what readers are into reading about from their blogs. It’s not a bad place to hang out if you’re learning the ropes of the literature industry, or you want some blog post inspiration.
The second website I want to mention today is:
2) Goodreads
Goodreads is a fantastic site and it often surprises me just how many authors haven’t heard of it! It’s basically the official library of the internet.
When a book is published, providing it has an ISBN number, it will automatically show up on Goodreads (unless you upload it prior to release which is highly recommended).
Readers use it to find books similar to ones they love, and review books they’ve read. You definitely want to be using this website because you can claim an official author profile, add your book to reading lists, participate in competitions, join groups and threads, and most importantly—get book reviews!
The third website might strike you as a little odd, but just hear me out:
3) Tumblr
You might be wondering why on earth you should be using Tumblr (especially considering that I wouldn’t recommend it as a professional author blog platform).
You see… Tumblr is a hidden goldmine for writing tips and character fandoms. If your target audience is teenagers and your book has a viral character ship, you can bet a pretty penny someone is on there talking about it.
It’s worth exploring the site to see if there’s anything particularly useful for you—whether it just be worldbuilding tips and resources, or market research into similar books from the perspective of readers.
The fourth website of today’s episode is likely one you’ve heard of before:
4) Wattpad
It may be filled with fanfiction, but it also has a lot of talented writers and it’s a hub for young readership. Authors can post free stories here to help build readership, or even samples of published stories to entice more purchases. Wattpad also recently introduced a stars program where selected authors can get paid to write stories on the platform.
It’s definitely worth checking out as an additional avenue for readership.
And the final website of today’s episode is:
5) Author Central
Amazon Author Central often gets overlooked, but it’s a super importance space to be using and keeping updated if you publish through Amazon. Not only is this where you can track and review books, sales info and customer reviews, but it’s the place where you’ll keep your author page updated.
This holds even more importance that having a Goodreads author profile—it helps with credibility when people are browsing your books and considering buying to have an author profile on Amazon.
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