Infographic: Facebook Ads Placements

Nicholas C. Rossis

Even though I’ve personally switched from Facebook Ads to Amazon and Bookbub ones, I’m well aware that Facebook advertising is far from dead. However, every Facebook update seems to change everything, including where you can advertise. Adding to the confusion is the fact that Facebook now lets you advertise on Instagram and Messenger as well as the so-called Audience Network, Instant Articles, and Facebook itself.

If all this makes your head spin, here’s a helpful Infographic, courtesy of Jomel Alos. First published on Spiralytics, it not only describes where your Ad will appear in each of these networks but also explains how to pick your desired network based on your objectives. Do you want to let everyone know your name–aka brand awareness? Facebook and Instagram are best. Do you want to increase sales? Ignore Instagram. And so forth.

Check out the Infographic below and read the full post on…

View original post 10 more words

Advertisements

Choosing your Audiobook Voice

Nicholas C. Rossis

Image: Pixabay

As audiobooks are the fastest-growing segment in publishing, I have been researching that market. One thing I realized is that choosing a narrator is probably the most important decision you make when you turn your book into an Audiobook. People who love audiobooks may buy your audiobook because they like your work, your genre, your cover, or your price. When they actually start listening to your audiobook however, one of the most important factors to decide whether they’ll continue listening to the end, is the quality of the reading.

So, how do you choose the right voice? Leaving out the financial aspects (if you can afford to pay the narrator the fee he is asking for or if you choose a royalty scheme), there are a few issues to take into consideration, from “demographics” to acting performance. Here are a few tips.

Demographics

So. Man or Woman? Younger…

View original post 1,251 more words

A Free Mockup Book Cover Maker

Nicholas C. Rossis

I recently discovered DIY Book Design (thank you, Krystallia!) and just had to share the news.

DIY Book Design has a number of useful tools and tutorials, all aimed at helping you produce the perfect image for your book. From a number of tutorials helping with the design of your book cover to taking that cover and transforming it into a great-looking 3D mockup, DIY Book Design has got you covered.

It’s this last feature that caught my eye. You get to choose between a Single and Composite look for your books. The Single look lets you display your book as a Kindle/tablet/mobile/paper standalone image:

The Composite view lets you design a combination featuring various formats:

Generating the mockup is as simple as 1-2-3, as the interface guides you through the entire process. You get the option of creating a white or transparent background for your books. The whole process…

View original post 126 more words

Free Story: Two’s a Crowd

Nicholas C. Rossis

*** Read Infinite Waters for free on Kindle Unlimited ***

In April 2018, I posted my thousandth post on this blog. To celebrate, I started sharing here all my short stories. Every couple of weeks, I’ll be posting one story from my celebrated Exciting Destinies series for you to enjoy. With over 30 stories so far, I hope you’ll have lots of fun in the coming months!

This week, it’s “Two’s a Crowd,” a story from Infinite Waters. Click here to read some more free stories.

Two’s a Crowd

“Can you believe that idiot?” I spat the words as soon as I slammed the car door shut.

“Honey, that idiot is your older brother.” My wife looked at the mirror and patted her lips with her index finger. She opened her purse, oblivious to my rage.

“Older brother? He’s, like, ten minutes older than me!”

Susan pressed her…

View original post 3,764 more words

My Valiant Presentation

Nicholas C. Rossis

The presentation banner

As you may know, my children’s book, Valiant Smile, was published in Greece in December (the English version is still under development, I’m afraid). Yesterday, I had the official presentation at Ianos, one of Athens’ best bookstores.

Yes, it was exciting. But I also had some concerns. Even though my publisher had arranged everything, I hardly expected anyone to show up:

• It was on a Saturday at 1 pm, when most people would either be home getting ready for lunch or at a children’s costume party (it’s the middle of the Greek Carnival).
• Even the publisher’s PR guy, the one who had arranged the presentation, had told me beforehand he would not be showing up, as he had to be elsewhere (presumably at a bigger author’s event).
• My author friends had warned me that Ianos hosts four such events every single weekend, so it was unlikely…

View original post 646 more words

How Gutenberg Will Change WordPress

Nicholas C. Rossis

From your comments, it’s obvious that you most of you hate Gutenberg. Some, however, were on the fence. And a few have actually used it and seemed to enjoy it.

There are some advantages to Gutenberg. We will have more control over the layout in native WordPress. We currently have a lot of control with builder themes and plugins, but with Gutenberg, we have a high level of control without needing a third-party product. We will need fewer plugins. Some of the features that we normally use plugins for are built into Gutenberg.

Whatever your feelings about it, we seem to be stuck with it. So, I thought I’d give you a quick description of how it works, with the help of Aspen Grove Studios. Just bookmark this post and come back to it if you wish to give Gutenberg a spin (or WordPress forces it upon us).

View original post 578 more words

How WordPress Powers the Internet (Infographic)

Nicholas C. Rossis

When I first started working on the Internet, back in the mid-90s, we had to code everything by hand. And I mean, everything. You couldn’t even write a simple “Hello World” without a dozen lines of code.

Fast-forward to today’s WordPress-powered blogs and websites and the difference couldn’t be starker. Even though my coding experience has proven invaluable time and again, it’s now possible to develop in a single day a website that would have taken me at least a week back then. Months, if I wanted to use some of the fancier elements that are now available at the click of a button!

And it still amazes me that it’s all free! So, this is my way of saying “thank-you” to Automattic and the WordPress team for making my life so much easier–and productive. Many thanks to Hosting Tribunalfor the excellent infographic!

And if you like my site…

View original post 59 more words

Love Is In The Air

Nicholas C. Rossis

Love is in the air. Or the flu. As we’ve all been sick this month, it could be either. Still, tradition dictates that I wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day, whether you are in a new relationship and are planning to spend a small fortune on a night out; in an old one and are chuckling with your mate at the prices of Valentine’s Day cards; or alone, looking forward to a nice, quiet evening.

In the past years, I’d taken the opportunity to inform you about Victorian Vinegar Valentines, share short Valentine’s Day stories, or mention events and giveaways that would be perfect for anyone wishing to spend the day reading.

This year, I have a great array of books to propose to you to celebrate love – not just romantic love but also love for your wee one, for your mom, or for your BFF. And if…

View original post 557 more words

Top 9 Trends in Publishing for 2019

Nicholas C. Rossis

The Written Word Media (WWM) regularly posts great material examining the latest trends in publishing; trends of interest to every author – particularly Indie ones. Here is my summary of Ricci Wolman’s predictions for 2019, along wth my comments:

1) Amazon Advertising Ads Go Mainstream

Amazon Advertising (formerly Amazon Marketing Service, aka AMS) Ads will become an essential part of the author’s toolkit in 2019. More and more authors are reporting rising costs on Facebook Ads. This, coupled with Amazon’s ambitions to grow its advertising business, will make paying to get visibility on Amazon a pillar of every author’s marketing strategy.

Personally, I have stopped advertising on other media, with the exception of running promos for any titles I may have on offer (on free days/Kindle Countdown Deals). To learn more on Amazon Advertising, consult the guides I wrote for SearchNurture.

2) Book Quality Becomes Critical to Success

In an…

View original post 1,271 more words

Prepare your eBook and Paperback Using Kindle Create

Nicholas C. Rossis

Last October, I started using Kindle Create to prepare my manuscript for publication and wrote about my experience using Kindle Create to create your manuscript.

Amazon has now released an Early Access feature that shows the direction the company wants to take their software.

Prepare Your eBook and Paperback with Kindle Create

The new feature’s main point is that it lets you design both a Paperback and eBook edition from a single file. In effect, Amazon wants you to stop using Word to format your document. Instead, you will paste your text into Kindle Create and format it there.

Several elements that you needed to enter manually until now, will be handled automatically by Kindle Create. Specifically:

• Kindle Create will automatically enter the book title at the top of the right-hand pages and the author’s name on the left-hand ones. Their alignment and style can’t be changed.
• Margins will be automatically calculated to…

View original post 407 more words