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Punctuation in Fiction

Punctuation 101 | Other Punctuation in Fiction

Over the last two weeks we’ve covered comma usage and the punctuation of dialogue in fiction. Today I’m going to discuss seven less common punctuation marks, and how they’re used in modern fiction:

  • Brackets (Parentheses)
  • Colon
  • Ellipsis
  • Em-Dash
  • En-Dash
  • Hyphen
  • Semicolon

Note that I am focussing on the use of these punctuation marks in modern fiction i.e. fiction published within the last ten years.

You may well see different usage in older books. This usage may still be considered grammatically correct, or it may now be considered dated (e.g. using quotation marks for unspoken thought, as I discussed last week). But if you’re trying to get published now, you need to understand current trends and guidelines.

Brackets (Parenetheses)

Technically, [these] are brackets, while (these) are parentheses. No, most people don’t know the difference (including most of my teachers at school).

Parentheses are used to provide additional information that’s not necessary for the reader to know in order to understand the sentence. The sentence should still make sense without the section in parentheses.

Parentheses are more common in nonfiction than in fiction.

I do occasionally read a modern novel that uses parentheses. However, they tend to be novels written in first person, where the point of view character has a strong and quirky voice, so it feels as though they are talking directly to the reader. Parentheses can also be used if the character is writing a text message, email, or diary entry.

Colon

A colon (:) may be used to separate two independent clauses in a way that’s less final than a full stop (period). It’s often used when the second independent clause amplifies or explains the first. For example:

I don’t like Monday: Sunday is my favourite day of the week.

A colon can also be used to signal a quotation (as I used before the above example), or to introduce a list:

I love flowers: carnations, daisies, lavender, roses. I love them all.

As you can see, there are clear grammatical use for the colon. However, colons have fallen out of favour in modern fiction—I don’t recall the last novel I read that used a colon. It has generally been replaced by the em-dash.

Ellipsis …

Ellipsis is the correct name for the series of dots we sometimes see. For example:

“I … I don’t know.”

As you can see, the ellipsis indicate stuttering or repetition, and may indicate indecision. If the ellipsis falls at the end of the dialogue, it usually indicates a trailing off off speech, as though the character doesn’t know what to say:

“This feels wrong, but I don’t know why …”

As with any punctuation mark, it’s best not to overuse the ellipsis. This is especially important in dialogue, as too many ellipses can make the character appear stupid.

Note that the ellipsis is always three dots, never less and never more.

Some style guides permit the use of a period after an ellipsis, which can make it look as though the ellipsis has four dots. But this is only used in specific situations around quotations, so is unlikely to be relevant to fiction authors.

There are two ways to type an ellipsis. The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS 13.50) uses three spaced periods, with a space before and after the ellipsis:

” . . . I don’t know.”

Note that the ellipsis should use nonbreaking spaces—otherwise, the ellipsis can end up breaking across two lines in the final book (or on the e-reader).

Other style manuals use the ellipsis glyph, which is Alt-0133 on a PC and Cmd-0133 on an Apple i.e. hold down the Alt or Cmd key while typing “0151”. This shows as one character, and generally has a space before and after.

Em-Dash —

The em-dash gets its name from the fact it is approximately the length of the letter “m”. It has several uses in modern fiction.

The em-dash can be used in place of a colon:

I don’t like Monday—Sunday is my favourite day of the week.

The em-dash can be used instead of parentheses (which are rarely used in fiction).

I love flowers: carnations, daisies, lavender, roses. I love them all.

My one proviso in using the em-dash instead of parentheses is to make sure you don’t end the sentence on an em-dash, as running and em-dash and period together looks odd.

The em-dash can be used to indicate a character’s dialogue is interrupted:

“Why didn’t you buy—”
“They were out of stock.”

Note that there is no terminal punctuation at the end of the first speaker’s dialogue:

“Why didn’t you buy—.”

This is wrong, because the character hasn’t finished speaking. Sometimes a writer will use an em-dash at the end of one line and the beginning of another, to indicate one character talking over another:

“Why didn’t you—”
“They were out of stock.”
“—buy takeaways for dinner?”

Okay, so that’s not a great example. But you can see what I mean.

The fact there are several correct uses for the em-dash can mean it is overused. As with any punctuation mark, it’s important not to overuse the em-dash.

Some computers and software will automatically insert an em-dash when you type two consecutive hyphens. If not, you can force an em-dash using Alt-0151 on a PC and Cmd-0151 on an Apple. There are generally no spaces before or after an em-dash.

En-Dash

An en-dash is approximately the length of the letter “n”, which means it’s longer than a hyphen but shorter than an em-dash.

An en-dash is used to show some kind of range:

  • Dates: 1993–2000
  • Bible verses: John 1:1–14
  • Citations: Chapters 3–5
  • Directions: the London–Dover train
  • An unfinished number range: 1969–
  • Campus locations: the University of Wisconsin–Madison

You can find more information in CMOS 6.78–84.

You can create an en-dash using Alt-0150 on a PC and Cmd-0150 on an Apple.

Hyphen

If you’re anything like me (or how I used to be, before I studied editing), you use the hyphen where you now know you should be using the en-dash or em-dash. But the hyphen still has many uses. In fact, the hyphenation table in the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style is several pages long (CMOS 7.89).

The most common uses for the hyphen are:

  • Adjectival phrases: over-the-counter pharmaceuticals
  • Compounds: mass-produced, three-year-old child

The rules for compounds are complex, but there are four main principles to remember:

  1. Check the dictionary. If the word is hyphenated in the dictionary, use a hyphen.
  2. Compounds with -ly adverbs are not hyphenated: she was highly paid, not highly-paid.
  3. Many compounds are hyphenated before the noun, but not after. For example: she was a computer-literate student, but the student was computer literate.
  4. If you’re not sure, pick a style and be consistent: use email or e-mail, but don’t use both in the same document.

Semicolon

The semi-colon is another punctuation mark that can be used to separate two independent clauses. The separation is less final than a period or even a colon.

The semi-colon may also be used in complex lists, although that’s more common in nonfiction. Having said that, it’s probably more common to use bullet points for complex lists, as they’re easier to read.

 

Note that these guidelines are specifically for modern fiction, and reflects the trends I see in the books I read. We haven’t abandoned the colon or semi-colon. It’s more that they’re not commonly seen in modern fiction.

That isn’t to say you can’t use them. But if you do use them, use them correctly.

What other questions do you have around punctuation?

How to Use Commas in Fiction

Punctuation 101 | How to Use Commas in Fiction

The comma is one punctuation mark where there is a large degree of judgement and personal preference. Our struggle with commas isn’t helped by some of the misinformation we’ve heard over the years.

However, there are clear grammatical rules about how to use commas in fiction.

Examples of correct comma usage include:

  • To link coordinate clauses to form a compound sentence.
  • To separate items in a list or within a sentence.
  • To separate strings of coordinate adjectives.
  • To link a dependent clause to an independent clause.
  • Between an introductory adjectival phrase and the rest of the sentence.
  • Between an introductory adverbial phrase and the rest of the sentence.

There are two main guidelines to remember with commas.

First, the comma should be used when it is needed to prevent ambiguity. For example, this sentence is inviting Grandma to lunch:

Let’s eat, Grandma!

But take out the comma, and Grandma is lunch:

Let’s eat Grandma!

(Yes, commas save lives).

The second rule is this: there are grammatical rules about when a comma can be used. If your English teacher (like mine) told you to add a comma when you’d pause for breath when reading aloud, then your English teacher was wrong.

That advice, leads us, to the Walken, comma. Or, worse, the, Shatner, comma. (I may have mixed those two up. But you get the point).

Commas are used to separate clauses in sentences.

There are two main types of clauses:

  • An independent clause contains a subject, a verb, and an object. It can form a complete sentence.
  • An independent clause can’t form a complete sentence—it’s usually missing the subject or object.

Linking Coordinate Clauses

Coordinate clauses are two independent clauses of equal importance. Coordinate clauses are joined with a comma and a coordinating conjunction, which forms a compound sentence.

There are seven coordinating conjunctions in the English language, and they can be memorised using the acronym FANBOYS:

For—And—Nor—But—Or—Yet—So

Let’s look at an example:

I was supposed to be on a diet, yet I still ate the entire bar of chocolate.

“Yet” is a coordinating conjunction, so (there’s another one!) it is perfect for joining two coordinate clauses. I often find authors join coordinate clauses with just a comma. This is often referred to as a run-on sentence.

There are several ways of correcting a run-on sentence, and it is up to the author to decide which is the most appropriate in the context (there is no one-rule-fits-all solution!).

Correcting a Run-On Sentence

As stated above, we can use a coordinating conjunction. We can also split the sentence into two:

I was supposed to be on a diet. I still ate the entire bar of chocolate.

We can use a semi-colon, which is stronger than a comma but weaker than a full stop.

I was supposed to be on a diet; I still ate the entire bar of chocolate.

We can use a colon where the second thought amplifies the first:

I was supposed to be on a diet: I still ate the entire bar of chocolate.

Note that colons and semi-colons are rarely used in fiction, although they are common in non-fiction (and are especially useful in lists).

We can also use an em dash or em rule (so called because the dash is roughly the width of a capital M):

I was supposed to be on a diet—I still ate the entire bar of chocolate.

Note that no comma is used if the second part of the sentence is a dependent clause (usually because it doesn’t include a subject).

I was supposed to be on a diet but still ate the entire bar of chocolate.

Oxford Comma (aka serial comma or Harvard comma)

A comma before the conjunction at the end of a series is often referred to as the Oxford comma, but can also be called the Harvard comma or serial comma.

Some authors, editors, and publishers require the Oxford comma. Others say it should only be used when needed for clarity. This is a matter of personal style, but my preference is to use the Oxford comma. Why? Because it’s important to edit a document to a consistent style throughout, and using the Oxford comma for some lists and not others isn’t consistent. It’s also easier in the long run: deciding to use the Oxford comma means authors and editors don’t need to look at each sentence to decide whether the Oxford comma is needed for clarity

For example, this sentence doesn’t use the Oxford comma, and is ambiguous:

I’d like to thank my parents, Mother Theresa and the Pope.

Am I thanking four people, or two? Are my parents Mother Theresa and the Pope? No. In this example, it’s important to use the Oxford comma to clarify that I’m thanking four people:

I’d like to thank my parents, Mother Theresa, and the Pope.

Coordinate Adjectives

Another type of list or series is a list of adjectives describing a noun. Many of us were taught (again, incorrectly) that we add commas between adjectives.

But we don’t always need commas.

The Chicago Manual of Style has a dual test as to whether a comma is needed between two adjectives:

  • Will and fit between the two adjectives without changing the meaning of the sentence? (CMOS 5.90 and 6.33)
  • Can the order of the adjectives be reversed without changing the meaning of the sentence? (CMOS 6.33)

If you can answer yes to both questions, a comma is needed. If the answer to either (or both) questions is no, then no comma is needed. For example:

She was a faithful, sincere friend.

This sentence needs a comma because she was faithful and sincere, and because you can reverse the adjectives and the sentence will still make sense:

She was a sincere, faithful friend.

This next example does not require commas, because we can’t change the order of the adjectives:

His crisp white linen shirt.

What happens if we change the order? The sentence sounds wrong because the adjectives are in the wrong order e.g.

His white crisp linen shirt.

There are nine different types of adjectives, as outlined in the Royal Order of Adjectives . They are:

  • Determiner (a, four)
  • Observation (beautiful, ugly)
  • Size (big, small)
  • Shape (square, long-stemmed)
  • Age (antique, new)
  • Colour (blue, yellow)
  • Origin (Italian, Hawaiian)
  • Material (wood, silk)
  • Qualifier (wedding, touring)
  • Noun

So …

I wore a beautiful princess-cut antique ivory Spanish lace wedding dress.

That’s eight adjectives in a single sentence.

Commas with Adverbial Phrases

At the risk of stating the obvious, an introductory adverbial phrase is a phrase at the beginning of a sentence that includes an adverb (an adjective which describes the verb). That sentence was an example: “stating the obvious” is an adverbial phrase. I therefore added a comma.

However, CMOS 6.31 says no comma is necessary for a short introductory adverbial phrase unless it’s likely to be misread without the comma. This leads to a common comma mistake: adding a comma after “so” at the beginning of a sentence.

In general, there shouldn’t be a comma after “so”, despite what Word or Grammarly might tell you:

So will you be home for dinner?

Yes, “so” is an adverb. But it’s a single word, not a phrase, so no comma is necessary. In fact, the example above would be better without the “so”:

Will you be home for dinner?

“So” also functions as a coordinating conjunction (like “and” and “but”). CMOS 6.22 says there is a comma before a coordinating conjunction, but not after (as in this sentence).

Mother is arriving to visit tonight, so will you be home for dinner?

Some people justify adding a comma after “so” by saying you should add a comma where you’d normally take a breath when reading aloud. We’ve already discussed that (in my first post), and concluded it is bad advice

When is it correct to use a comma after “so”? Only when there is a parenthetical phrase (CMOS 6.48). A parenthetical phrase is a comment that could be deleted without changing the meaning of the sentence:

So, John, will you be home for dinner?

“John” adds to the sentence but could be deleted. The comma after “so” is therefore correct.

What about Well?

Is there a comma after “well”? It depends. Merriam-Webster’s shows that “well” can be a noun, a verb, an adverb, an adjective, or an interjection. If “well” is used at the beginning of a sentence, it is usually (but not always) an interjection, and therefore uses a comma (CMOS 5.206 and 6.34):

Well, what have we here?

But the adverbial form of “well” can be used at the beginning of a sentence:

How many marbles do you have?
Well over a hundred.

In this case, no comma is needed.

Those are the most common errors I see with commas. Do you have any questions on how to use commas in fiction?

What is a Trademark

Intellectual Property for Writers | What is a Trademark?

I was contacted by someone with a question around trademarks on book titles. No, I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but it’s an interesting question to consider. A trademark is a form of intellectual property, as is copyright. But they are not the same thing.

What is Copyright?

Copyright applies to creative works such as books, screenplays, magazine articles, and even blog posts. The intention of copyright law is that the person who created the written work should have the sole right to profit from that work. They can either exploit those rights themselves, or they can licence the rights to others (e.g. a publishing contract licences the publisher to publish the book in agreed formats, countries, and languages). For more information on copyright, check out my previous blog posts:

Copyright is automatic, meaning you don’t have to apply for or pay to register copyright (although you can pay to officially register a copyright in the US). But there are certain works which can’t be copyrighted, including book titles—they are deemed to be too short to comprise a “work”. For an example, check out how many books there are titled Secrets or Twilight—a lot. But either word could be trademarked.

What is a Trademark?

Trademarks apply to products or services, and the intention is to give the consumer confidence in their purchases. If you buy a Ford motor vehicle, then you expect a certain level of quality and styling—a different level than if you bought, say, a Lada or a Ferrari. As such, you can’t just manufacture a car and call it a Ford (or a Lada, or a Ferrari). But you might be able to trademark Ford for another product, as long as there is no chance the average consumer will confuse your Ford product with a product supplied by the Ford Motor Company. That means selling a different product, and marketing it with a different visual brand.

This is because trademarks are limited in their application.

You can’t universally trademark the word “dove” because it’s a common word in the English language. You can only trademark it for a specific product or class of products, and you must be the first to use that word in association with that product. So you couldn’t trademark “dove” as a brand of beauty products, but you might be able to trademark Dove Clothing (maybe. I haven’t checked).

Intellectual Property 101: What is a trademark, and can someone trademark three words and stop me using those three words in my book title? #WriteTip #Trademark Click To Tweet

If you want a trademark with broader usage, then you might need to invent a word e.g. Kodak or Tupperware or Rollerblade. Rollerblade is one of many companies who have gone to a lot of effort to defend their trademark. In their case, it even meant creating a new phrase to describe their product (inline skates), so their brand name didn’t default to becoming the generic term (as happened with linolieum).

The Twilight Trademarks

Twilight is an interesting case. There are pages and pages of “Twilight” trademarks owned by Summit Entertainment, who made the movies, covering everything from bookmarks to electric blankets. Each is a separate trademark, because you can’t apply for a blanket trademark or a word or phrase. You have to specify what kinds of products or services the trademark is going to be used for … whether that’s bookmarks or electric blankets (which are two separate categories). There were also trademarks for “The Twilight Saga”, and these were owned by the publisher, Hachette Book Group, Inc, but they haven’t been renewed.

Note that the trademark isn’t just of the word “twilight”. It’s a trademark of the word in a specific stylised font–so you can still write and publish a book called “Twilight”, and you can even sell matching bookmarks. But you can’t use one of the trademarked fonts or anything that looks like the trademarked font–that could be considered passing off, or could lead to trademark dilution. (As such, it’s probably best to make sure your book isn’t about sparkly vampires in the state of Washington.)

So, back to our original question:

Can someone trademark three words and stop me using those three words in my book title?

Short answer: maybe.

It’s unlikely for a trademark for three words as part of a book title to be granted. Rather, the three words probably should be the name of a series of books (e.g. the Harry Potter series, or The Twilight Saga), or in a specific font (as with The Twilight Saga).

However, if the trademark has been registered for a series, then it must be used on a series–not a single book. If the trademarked words are used for a single book, that could be seen as a defence, because:

Using [the trademark] in the title of a single book, under most circumstances, cannot constitute trademark infringement.

However, given the point of a trademark is to provide the consumer with a certainty over the origin of the product, if the single title book looked too similar to the trademarked series, then the trademark owner could still argue it was a case of “passing off” i.e. the publisher of the single title book was deliberately making their book look like the trademarked series to confuse potential readers and gain sales.

So it’s probably a bad idea to publish a book called “Twilight in Forks” featuring a black cover with a bright red strawberry and white text in a font similar to that used in The Twilight Saga. The trademark owners could successfully argue that your use of their cover design, font, and the similarity of the title are designed to confuse customers. That would be trademark infringement.

How can you find out if your book title or part of it is trademarked?

Google.

(Actually, Google is a trademark, and me using it in that manner potentially dilutes the trademark. Instead, I should be telling you to search online using your favourite internet search engine. My favourite is Google, just in case you were wondering.)

So, search online for your phrase and “trademark”. So if you want to find out about Harry Potter trademarks, search for “Harry Potter trademark”. That will usually bring up the Justia website, which is a treasure trove of US trademark information.

As it happens, in this case, it look me only a few minutes to discover that two separate authors had trademarked the phrase in question. One was planning to use the phrase on clothing and other merchandise, and the other had trademarked the phrase for self-help books–the genre my questioner was enquiring about.

Protecting a Trademark

Once a trademark has been registered and accepted, the trademark holder has the legal obligation to protect that trademark. In other words, they have to actively ensure no one else uses or attempts to use that trademark. If someone else uses the trademark and it becomes diluted or generic, the original holder can lose the rights to that word or phrase. The trademark owner is obliged to contact people who might be infringing their trademark and request they stop using it.

So What’s the Answer?

My entirely nonlegal opinion is that the author is probably safe if they have only published—and only intend to publish—one book with this title, and they are contacted by the actual trademark owner.

Probably. I’m not a lawyer, remember, and this is not legal advice.

But if the author is contacted by a lawyer or receives an official cease and desist letter, then the options are to either comply with the request, or seek professional legal advice.

How Do I Organise a Blog Tour?

How Do I Organise a Blog Tour? | An #AuthorToolBoxBlogHop Post

Over the last two weeks, we’ve discussed what a blog tour is, some of the different types of tour, and the tasks a tour organiser will need to complete.

If you decide to organise your own blog tour, you’ll need to make time to undertake most of the activities a professional organiser would undertake. Today I’m sharing some tips on  how to organise your own blog tour, based on my experiences as a reviewer and tour participant.

Start Researching Early.

The hardest part of organising a blog tour is finding bloggers, especially book reviewers. There is no easy way to do this—it’s going to take a lot of research if you’re starting from nothing. I suggest:

  • Identify three to five recent novels in your genre that would appeal to your target reader.
  • Check the four-star and five-star Goodreads reviews for those books.
  • Check the profile of each reviewer—most bloggers will include their blog address in their Goodreads profile.
  • Visit their blog and see if it looks like a good fit for your novel e.g. does it appear the blog features or reviews books in your genre, or does it look likely to appeal to your target reader.

If so, follow the blog (e.g. via WordPress or Feedly). Also, note the blog name, website address, and a link to their guest post or review policy. If they don’t have a policy, then you have nothing to lose by making a polite enquiry through their Contact form.

If one of your objectives is to get book reviews, then make sure that you’re approaching book bloggers who are also active reviewers on your target sites (e.g., Amazon). You can’t require a blogger review your book on Amazon, but you can ask them to review on their blog and on their favourite booklover and retail sites.

Interact with your Target Bloggers.

Bloggers find it easier to say yes to someone they already know and like, so:

  • Sign up to follow their blog (e.g. through Feedly or WordPress).
  • Visit regularly.
  • Comment when relevant.

In particular, if they review a book you’ve enjoyed or that’s similar to your book, comment on that post about how much you also enjoyed the book. Don’t mention your own book at this stage—your objective is to get the blogger (and possibly other blog readers) to recognise your name.

Contact the blogger as early as possible.

Many bloggers plan their editorial calendars several months in advance, especially their review posts. I’ve had to decline to participate in many blog tours because I already had posts scheduled or planned for every day in the blog tour window. I’ve declined others because the author wanted a review and wasn’t prepared to offer an author interview or guest blog post instead.

Yes, I understand that authors want—need—reviews.

I also understand that guest posts and author interviews take time to write, and there is no guarantee of book sales from a blog tour. Even if your objective is to build reviews, a feature on a large blog might still be useful for visibility.

If you’re asking for a review within a specific timeframe, then it’s wise to ask at least three months in advance (the longer, the better). If you’re looking for an interview or guest blog spot, then six weeks might be enough time—but again, the more lead time you can provide the blogger, the more likely they’ll be able to say yes.

[Click here for more information on working with book bloggers and reviewers.]

Consider a ‘Save the Date’ request.

One of the first authors to contact me requesting a review or interview as part of a blog tour sent her first request a full six months before the release date. Her initial email introduced herself, her book, and why she thought my blog was a good match for her novel.

She asked if I’d be prepared to offer an author interview spot, a book review, or both within a certain date range. She also told me the book wasn’t yet ready, and the date she expected to get me a review copy (which was a month before the release date). Giving me six month’s notice made it easy to say yes because I could reserve the slot on my blog, and time in my reading schedule.

As a first-time teenage author, she set a high standard for other authors to follow.

Respect the Blogger’s Time.

If the blogger is only able to offer you a book spotlight post or author interview, then accept gratefully. Don’t resent the fact they wouldn’t review your book (it’s more likely that they couldn’t, especially if they don’t know you, or you asked at the last minute).

Deliver the requested materials before the blogger’s deadline—especially if you’re dealing with bloggers in different time zones. Most bloggers have a set time each week when they upload their posts. If you miss their deadline, you’re putting extra pressure on them to find time in their schedule to upload your post. It also means the post might go up with missing information if you didn’t leave enough time for them to get back to you with any issues.

Respect the Blogger’s Audience.

When your post appears, visit the blog and leave a comment to respond to any comments and thank the blogger for interviewing you, featuring your blog post, or reviewing your book. Visit the blog a couple of times over the next few days to respond to any additional comments.

If you have offered a giveaway, also visit the blogs to thank people for entering, and announce the winner.

Conclusion

Yes, there is a lot involved in organising a blog tour—more than I thought when I started writing what I thought would be a short post! Can you think of any other tips, or anything I’ve missed?

Have you ever run a blog tour as an author, or participated in a blog tour as a blogger? What lessons can you add?

This post is part of the monthly Author ToolBox Blog Hop, organised by Raimey Gallant. We now have over 40 blogs participating. To find more Blog Hop posts:
How do I get my book on a blog tour?

Dear Editor | How Do I Get my Book on a Blog Tour?

Last week, I discussed several different types of blog tour post. This week I’m looking at why you might choose to undertake a blog tour, and share two options around organising a tour.

Unfortunately, your book doesn’t just “get” on a blog tour. Someone has to organise it—usually the publisher or the author. But before you plan a tour, know your objectives.

Know Your Why.

Why are you considering undertaking a blog tour? You need to have a reason—otherwise you’ll never be able to assess whether the tour was a success or not. Possible objectives are:

  • Raise awareness
  • Get book reviews
  • Get backlinks
  • Sell books

Let’s look at each of these.

Raise Awareness

A blog tour is a good way of raising awareness about your book, assuming you’re able to get your book featured on blogs that are popular with your target reader.

An Instagram tour can also be a good way of raising awareness, especially if you write Young Adult fiction, or another genre that’s popular with on #Bookstagram.

Raising awareness is especially important for new authors, because they don’t have an established fan base to buy their books. Experts say someone has to see or hear about a new product (like a book) seven to twelve times before they will decide to purchase. A blog tour or Instagram tour can help your book be seen many times in a short timeframe.

Get Book Reviews

Book reviews help sell books (well, assuming the reviewer enjoyed the book). No, Amazon don’t promote your book more once it has 10 or 20 or 50 reviews. They also don’t send you a free unicorn once you get to 100 reviews (sorry!).

Amazon promote the books they think the reader is most likely to buy, and their bestseller lists are based on book sales. Nothing else.

But book reviews, especially those on Amazon, provide social proof. They show people are reading and enjoying the book. And when that review is from a reviewer or influencer the reader knows and trusts, the reader is more likely to influence a purchase.

Where you have the choice, find reviewers who will review on their blog and cross-post that review to Amazon (and other retail sites), and to Goodreads (and other reviewer sites). Bloggers who also share their reviews on social media are a bonus.

Note that even critical reviews help on Amazon.

It looks suspect when a new release from an unknown author has only five-star reviews. A few four-star and three-star reviews (and possibly even a one-star review) suggests to browsers that someone other than the author’s friends. Many readers will report having bought a book based on a one-star review.

Get Backlinks

A backlink is the technical name for when another website links to your website. Backlinks contribute to your site’s Alexa ranking, which is an attempt to measure how popular your site is relative to all other sites. Getting links from more popular sites can help improve your ranking, which can help you appear in online searches.

Sell Books

If your objective is to sell books, then you might be better investing your time and money in advertising. Blog tours might sell books, but you might not show an immediate sales blip. Blog tours are more about raising awareness of you and your new release.

Here’s a tip: if you do want your blog tour to sell books, don’t offer a giveaway of your book.

That will incentivise people to not buy, as they’ll wait and hope they win a copy. Instead, offer a fun gift such as bookmarks, a handcrafted item, local chocolate or coffee, or something related to your book (e.g., when Thomas Nelson published The Baggage Handler by David Rawlings, they ordered custom baggage tags featuring the book cover image. Unfortunately, they didn’t step up and offer a branded camera when The Camera Never Lies released 😉 ).

Once you’ve decided why you want to undertake a blog tour, you have two options:

  • Hire a blog tour organiser to arrange the blog tour for you.
  • Organise the tour yourself.

Working with a Blog Tour Organiser

Hiring a blog tour organiser will mean paying someone, but there are advantages. A good blog tour operator who works in your genre should already have list of relevant bloggers they have established relationships with, and can contract. The advantage of this is that bloggers are more likely to say yes if they know and trust the organiser, which is particularly useful for first-time authors who don’t have an established platform or network of blogger friends.

[If you don’t have an established platform, then it’s time to get started. Click here to find out about the Kick-Start Your Author Platform Marketing Challenge.]

A reputable blog tour organiser will also have a defined process, and will be able to tell you which tasks they will complete (most of the organising), and what you will need to do (e.g. write guest posts, or supply review copies of your book). They will also have the technical skills to perform tasks like setting up a Google form or mailing list, or creating social media images.

Note that you will have to book your tour in plenty of time:

  • Allow at least three months before your desired tour date.
  • Six months is better, especially for blog tours where you’re seeking book reviews.
A blog tour organiser will undertake some or all of the following tasks:
  • Working with the author to confirm blog tour dates.
  • Individually contacting bloggers or Bookstagrammers who are actively in the genre.
  • Setting up a Google form or similar to recruit bloggers.
  • Posting on the author’s website and social media accounts to attract bloggers.
  • Validating applicants and advising the successful bloggers.
  • Sending physical or electronic review copies to reviewers.
  • Providing all bloggers with a schedule, media kit, and social media graphics.
  • Liaising between the author and the bloggers to ensure all bloggers receive their requested guest posts and author interviews.
  • Sharing blog tour posts on social media as they go live.
  • Liking and sharing social media posts from bloggers.
  • Pick a giveaway winner and distribute the prizes.
  • Following up with bloggers to ensure they fulfil their promises.
  • Provide the author with feedback on the tour e.g. how many bloggers participated, and what was shared. This list can then form the basis of an initial contact list for future blog posts.

Blog tour organisers working in the Christian fiction genre include:

(An online search may also bring up the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, or LitFuse Publicity. Both have ceased operation.)

If you don’t want a full blog tour, then there are other options. For example:

  • Celebrate Lit offer a podcast tour, giving you the opportunity to be interviewed on relevant podcasts.
  • Just Read offer Instagram tours, to get your book in front of popular bookstagrammers.
  • Prism Book Tours offers themed tours, and excerpt tours.
  • Relz Reviews will help you set up a street team or influencer team who can review your book and share on social media.

The exact tasks and processes will depend on the services the organiser offers, and what you hire them for.

Your other option is to organise a tour yourself, and that’s what we’ll talk about next week.

Meanwhile, do you know of any other Christian blog tour companies?

What is a Blog Tour and do I Need One?

Dear Editor | What is a Blog Tour and Do I Need One?

Yes, this is another blog post prompted by a question on Facebook.

An author had seen blog tour posts, spotlighting books from authors, and wondered how an author got that kind of opportunity.

It’s a good question.

A blog tour is the modern online equivalent of a book signing tour.

The author will “visit” several blogs over a day, a week, or longer. There may also be a giveaway associated with the tour, usually a copy of the author’s newest release. The author may also offer bookmarks or other book-related gifts (often referred to as swag). Depending on the tour, visitors can enter the giveway either by commenting on one or more posts, by signing up for the author’s email list, or by sharing the post on social media.

[Read this post to find out more about online giveaways.]

A blog tour is a great way of raising awareness about a new or upcoming release.

They can be used to refresh an older release, but most book blogs focus on new releases. As such, bloggers are less likely to be interested in featuring an older book without a good reason e.g. three or more older books combined into a box set.

Types of Blog Tour Posts

Blog tours can have a variety of types of post, depending on the purpose and timing of the tour. As such, the exact content will depend on the type of post. However, all blog tour posts usually have:

  • An image of the book cover.
  • The book description.
  • Sales links.
  • Author photograph.
  • Author biography.
  • The author’s online website and social media links.
The purpose of a blog tour is to raise awareness, so there’s no point in embarking on a blog tour without something to sell and somewhere the interested reader can buy.

Cover Reveal

A cover reveal post or tour is the first time the cover has been revealed to the public. The key to a great cover reveal should be obvious: a great cover. You’ll need to be prepared to share the cover with bloggers ahead of time. Many will make their decision whether or not to feature your book based on their perception of the cover and how they think it will appeal to their readers.

As with all blog tours, it’s important to target bloggers who regularly blog in your genre.

The cover reveal occurs before the book is published, and the objective is usually to raise awareness and (hopefully) kick-start pre-orders. Personally, it annoys me to see a cover reveal without a pre-order. If I’m interested in the book, then I want to be able to pre-order it there and then, so I don’t forget. As such, my personal recommendation is to ensure your pre-order is live before spending time or money on a cover reveal blog tour.

Guest Post

Some blog tours feature a range of different posts related to the book. As a reader, this is my favourite type of tour post, because each post is unique, and each post is an opportunity to find out something interesting about the book and/or author.

How does a guest post work?

In the tours I’ve participated in, the author has contacted me with a list of suggested post titles, and given me the option of choosing to do a book review, author interview or one of the post options. This is the easiest to agree to as a blogger, because we know what we’re getting, so can pick a topic that fits our blog and audience.

The author writes the posts in advance. When each blogger requests a post topic, the author sends through an original post and deletes that topic from the list. Here are some suggested topics:

  • An interview with the hero.
  • An interview with the heroine.
  • An interview with both the hero and the heroine.
  • An interview with the hero or heroine’s mother or best friend (who is also a character in the book).
  • The inspiration behind the story.
  • The inspiration behind the characters.
  • The inspiration behind the setting.
  • The novel’s theme and why that’s important to the author.
  • Interesting facts the author discovered while researching the novel.
  • A devotion based on a key verse featured in the novel.

Many of these posts can be written months in advance.

For example, historical fiction authors often undertake a lot of research. This research can’t all be incorporated into the novel, as that would slow the story. But it could form the basis for one or more blog posts.

Alternatively, the blogger might have a specific theme you could write to. For example, International Christian Fiction Writers has a Wandering Wednesday feature in which the author introduces readers to their book’s setting. The only proviso is that ICFW want international settings—either non-US authors, or US authors featuring a non-US setting.

A blog tour based on guest posts can be a lot of work for the author. However, it’s also less work for the blogger, which means they’re more likely to be open to participating in the blog tour.

Author Interview

Blog tours will often include author interviews. Some authors (or blog tour organisers) send through a series of questions with the author’s answers. Others will invite the bloggers to submit questions for the author to answer.

From an author perspective, I can see the appeal in writing one master interview and sending that out to all participating bloggers and asking them to pick and choose five to ten questions to feature.

But from a reader perspective, it can get monotonous to read the same interview on several different blogs. In that respect, reader-me prefers it when the blogger asks their own questions. I also prefer it when the author provides detailed answers—the purpose of an author interview is to allow the reader to feel they’ve gotten to know the author. That’s hard when the author only provides one-word answers (unless the questions were clearly designed to elicit a one-word answer).

Book Review

Authors want book reviews because positive reviews from reputable reviewers help sell books.

When you ask people what persuades them to buy a book, they’ll often say a recommendation from someone they know. That someone might be a real-life friend or acquaintance, or it might be a book blogger they follow and trust.

But a book review is a bigger commitment from the blogger than other blog tour posts because they have to read the book, write a the review, and load up the blog post. That’s eight to ten hours, compared to an hour or less to schedule a cover reveal or author interview. As such, a blogger is more likely to be able to agree to a guest post or author interview than a book reivew.

Book Spotlight

A book spotlight post has much the same contents as a cover reveal post. Some also include an excerpt from the published novel. They’re the easiest kind of blog tour post for the author and the blogger. Why? Because it’s mostly a cut-and-paste exercise with little formatting required.

I don’t tend to pay a lot of attention to book spotlight posts, especially when they’re part of a larger blog tour that also features book reviews. Book spotlights on a review tour suggests the bloggers either didn’t get time to read the book, or they didn’t like it.

A spotlight-only tour helps raise awareness and provides the author with backlinks. But it doesn’t provide the reader with any incentive to read the post. As such, I suspect this is the kind of post that’s least likely to drive sales.

I’ll be back next week to discuss the two main kinds of blog tours, and offer some hints for organising your own blog tour.

Which is your favourite kind of blog tour post? Do you know any others?

Why isn't my Facebook Advertising Working?

Marketing 101 | Why Isn’t My Facebook Advertising Working?

Why aren’t my Facebook Advertisements Converting into Sales?

This question came from a Facebook group I’m a member of. The author said they’d spent thousands of dollars advertising their book on Facebook, yet never had an advertisement that actually “worked”.

I’m going to leave aside the obvious question of why someone would spend thousands on advertising with no results.

While I’m no expert on Facebook advertising, the advice I’ve seen is to start at $5 per day and scale up, focussing on repeating and tweaking the advertisements that get results.

If you spend $5 a day for a month (i.e. $150) and get no results, then I think you take a step back to try and figure out what’s not working. You don’t wait until you’ve spent thousands. Surely that’s just common sense.

As my father told me, common sense isn’t that common.

The other issue is the questioner didn’t make clear how they defined “work”.

If we’re advertising on Facebook (or any other media network), then we need to have an objective, and we need to measure our results against that objective. The most common objective is to make sales, and I assume the original questioner was advertising in the hope of making sales. But some authors have run Facebook advertisements to build their email list by offering a free book, or even to boost the effect of a free giveaway. Those are also valid objectives. So was the questioner’s objective to sell books, or build their list? We don’t know.

Leaving those factors aside, and acknowledging that I’m no expert on Facebook advertising, I can see three main reasons why a Facebook advertisement (or series of advertisements) might not “work”:

  1. The advertisement isn’t engaging the target audience.
  2. The Amazon book page isn’t engaging viewers.
  3. The product isn’t up to standard in some way.
Click To Tweet

Advertising to the Target Audience

I’ve never tried advertising on Facebook, so the little I know comes from the blog posts and social media posts I’ve read on the subject (if you want to know more, I suggest checking out Bryan Cohen, Mark Dawson, or David Gaughran).

What I do know is that Facebook holds a lot of personal information about its users, and authors can target their advertisements based on a range of factors.

Facebook also reports the response from advertising, including how many people have viewed and clicked on each advertisement. What Facebook can’t tell you is how many people who click go on to take action (e.g., buy the advertised book, or sign up for the author’s mailing list, or whatever objective the author had for the advertisement).

If your advertisements aren’t “working”, the first place to look is your Facebook statistics.

How many people viewed your advertisement? If no one views your advertisement, then it could be you’re targeting the wrong people, or not paying enough for the advertisements. In that case, ask a Facebook ads expert for advice.

Assuming people do see your advertisement, do they click? How many click? What is the normal percentage of viewers that you can expect to click?

  • If people are viewing your advertisement but not clicking, then the problem is probably a mismatch between the people you’re targeting, and the advertising copy. Perhaps you’re targeting British male thriller readers aged 30 to 50, but your advertisement copy appeals more to a female audience.
  • If people are viewing and clicking your advertisement at acceptable rate but that isn’t converting to sales (or newsletter signups, or whatever your objective is), then the problem might not be your advertisements.

If the problem isn’t your advertisement, then it might be your Amazon book page.

Amazon Book Page

I’m the curious type, so I checked out the author’s Amazon page—mostly because they specifically stated they had professional covers, brilliant book descriptions, and good reviews. My experience as a reviewer is authors who think their cover, book description, and reviews are all brilliant does not make it so.

I was right. (Sometimes I hate that.)

(I’m not the first person to point out that if a book isn’t selling, the problem is likely to be the book. For example, see this excellent post from Kristen Lamb: It Isn’t the Reader, It’s the Book … Really.)

The author had three books on sale—two novels in a series, and a nonfiction title. I looked at the first novel in the series.

The novel had an intriguing juxtaposition in the title, but the subtitle was confusing. It implied this was a standalone novel, but also part of a series. On one hand, I can see why the author mentioned it was a standalone novel—they were trying to make clear this was a complete story, and didn’t have a cliffhanger ending. That’s good—a lot of readers (including me) loathe cliffhanger endings. But I think this would have been better stated in the book description than the subtitle. Leave the subtitle to tell the reader what they need to know: [book title] is the first book in the [series name] series.

I liked the cover. But that’s not necessarily a good thing.

The book was supposed to be a hardboiled thriller, and I mostly read sweet and Christian romance, and romantic suspense. There’s a big difference between a female-led romantic suspense novel and a hardboiled thriller with a male lead. A reader should be able to look at the cover and know which they’re getting. In this case, the cover looked more like a female-led romantic suspense novel than a hardboiled thriller.

The book description needed work. My editor brain noticed all the unnecessary capital letters and missing hyphens. Other commenters noted telling, mixed tenses, overlong sentences, unnecessary information (like the weather), and an excessive use of passive voice (passive voice isn’t a great way to sell any novel, let alone an action novel).

Title, cover, description. All bad.

That’s three strikes. Already. And we haven’t even looked at the reviews or the first page yet.

The book only had eleven reviews, and the top three featured reviews were three, two, and one-star. That’s hardly “good”. Those three reviews all commented that the first quarter was very slow, and the story didn’t get going until halfway through. That structure can work in literary fiction or women’s fiction. It won’t work for a so-called thriller, where readers expect compelling action from page one (like in a James Bond movie).

The book was relatively expensive for the first book in a series from an unknown author—$4.99 for 300 pages. That’s not overpriced (unlike the author’s nonfiction title, which was $4.99 for 69 pages). But I suspect it’s more common for authors to use Facebook advertising for first-in-series books on sale at $2.99 or even 99 cents. The idea is that a loss leader will entice the reader into buying the full-priced sequel. People who click through to Amazon are likely to look at the price, and click away.

At this point, I doubt many readers are going to consider reading the Look Inside or the Kindle sample. If they do, then they’ll make their purchase decision based on the quality of the opening pages.

Product Quality

The formatting of the book looked fine, with a readable font, a drop capital at the beginning of the chapter, and a nice (if geographically vague) graphic between the chapter head and the text. But the chapters had names, and that’s not something I see in modern fiction for adults. It suggests the author doesn’t know or understand current trends in fiction … which is not a good sign.

The story opened with the point of view character waking up alone in his London flat. There are two problems with this opening:

  • It’s considered a cliche for a novel to start with a dream, with the character waking up, or with the character at a funeral. A clever writer can twist the cliche in to something original and compelling. This opening was neither original nor compelling.
  • Any time there is only one character in a scene, there is a good chance the scene will be telling rather than showing. This scene was told. And told. And told.

Cliche aside, I’d decided by page two that I didn’t like the point of view character.

He complains about the “badly behaved foul-mouthed children” then comments about how he hates being wakened by that “****ing racket”. Pot, meet kettle. As I said, I’m not the target reader for a hardboiled thriller (whose readers probably expect this language).

But let’s leave my personal preferences aside and focus on the writing.

We have a one-sentence summary of the previous night (telling), and a too-detailed description of our hero’s morning routine (more telling, and no action. Unless you count getting out of bed slowly as action).

We then have the cliche scene of the character looking in the mirror to discover what he looks like (tired, probably a result of last night’s beer).

We have direct thought in italics. Direct thought in italics isn’t incorrect, but does suggest the author doesn’t know how to use interior monologue correctly.

He then has breakfast (in summary, fortunately), before swearing a bit more and checking his calendar to see what he’s doing today. Yes, more telling.

Then we have some backstory, and I gave up reading about the time he inexplicably decided to drive from Seven Sisters to Finsbury Park instead of taking the tube (it’s only one stop).

Suffice to say, I congratulate anyone who gets through the Kindle sample. They are a better person than I am.

The sad thing is that all of this could have been addressed by a manuscript assessment or edit from a competent editor. It would have cost money, sure. Perhaps even thousands. But less than the thousands the author has spent on advertising.

It’s not that this author’s Facebook advertising didn’t “work.”

It’s that the author has spent their time and money on advertising an overpriced product that doesn’t fit the market. Instead, that time and money should have been spent on improving the product.

If your Facebook advertisements aren't working, ask yourself: are the advertisements the problem? Or is it the book? #WritingCommunity #BookMarketing Click To Tweet

And that’s the lesson.

It doesn’t matter how good your cover is, or how much you spend on advertising (on Facebook or elsewhere). If your basic product (book) doesn’t shine, then no one is going to buy it.

All the advertising dollars in the world can’t fix a bad book.

Your Author Platform

Marketing 101 | Your Author Platform (an #AuthorToolBoxBlogHop post)

This post is part of the monthly Author ToolBox Blog Hop, organised by Raimey Gallant. We now have over 40 blogs participating. To find more Blog Hop posts:

Modern writers need to do more than write. They need to market as well. That means understanding the basics of marketing.

In particular, it’s important for unpublished authors to being working on their online presence: their author platform. This post brings together some of the many (many many many) posts I’ve written on the subject.

Platform

An author platform is any means by which you can connect with readers and sell books:

Some writers have an established platform that has grown out of their non-writing activities e.g. a businessperson, an academic, or a preacher.
The rest of us have to build our platform from the ground up, and the easiest way to do that is online. We need:
  • A website (which can include a blog, but doesn’t have to).
  • An email list (which we use to send a regular newsletter).
  • Social media profiles.

Website

Do I need an author website? (Spoiler: yes).

I do not recommend building your website on a free site such as Blogger or WordPress.com. Both are limited in terms of their functionality e.g. you can’t use them to sell books.

Nor do I recommend using a proprietary platform such as SquareSpace, Weebly, or Wix. Yes, they produce a beautiful result, but you don’t own the platform in the same way as you don’t own your platform on social media.

Instead, I recommend building your own website with WordPress.org. (Yes, that’s different from WordPress.com).

WordPress powers around 30% of the internet, which means you’ll always be able to find help if you have a problem. It also means there are thousands of free and paid plugins (apps) that will enable you to do pretty much anything you can think of on your site.

Once you’ve decided you need a website, you’ll need a domain name and website hosting, and you may need help in building your site.
I’ve now built five sites using the WP-BFF free 5-Day Website Challenge. The first (this site) took me over a month, as there were a lot of decisions to make. The last took me less than a day, because it was a relatively simple site and I knew what I wanted.
*Note: these are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you click my link and make a purchase. This doesn’t cost you anything.

Email Newsletters

Many authors forego building an email list, as they say they can connect with readers through social media on platforms such as Facebook. That’s true. It’s also not true.

Once upon a time, you could post about your new book on your author Page on Facebook, and everyone who followed your Page would see that post. Facebook is now monetised, and no longer give you that kind of free exposure. Instead, their algorithm only shows the post to 1% or 2% of your audience … unless you pay to Boost a post, or buy some other form of advertising.

If you choose to develop an email newsletter, then you’ll need to use an email service provider. Why? Because sending bulk emails from your regular email provider (e.g. Gmail) is considered spam. Using a reputable email service provider will also help ensure you comply with international laws regarding email (e.g. GDPR and the CAN-SPAM Act).

If you don’t currently have an email list, then I recommend using MailerLite.

It is free for the first 1,000 subscribers, which includes free automation sequences. As a bonus, you get $20 of free credit if you sign up using my affiliate link: click here to sign up to MailerLite*.
MailChimp* is another popular email service provider, and the provider I initially used for my lists. While MailChimp is free for the first 2,000 subscribers, they no longer offer free automation sequences, and they are more expensive than MailerLite (and I think MailerLite is easier to use).
If you’re wondering why an automation sequence is a big deal, check out Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert by Tammi L Labrecque*.
Once you’ve set up your email list, you’ll want to build that list. There are various methods you can try, which I cover in this blog post: 6 ways to build your email list 

Blogging

Many authors have a blog attached to their website. Do Authors have to Blog? Maybe. It’s more important for nonfiction authors than fiction authors, but many fiction authors do blog because they enjoy it.

Do authors have to blog? Maybe. Find out the answers to this and other author platform questions in Marketing for Authors 101 | Your Author Platform #AuthorToolBoxBlogHop #BookMarketing Click To Tweet

Blogging is a great way of developing an online platform, and it’s great for SEO (search engine optimisation aka helping people find your site through Google or another search engine). Here’s how to make your blog SEO-friendly: 12 Steps to a Great Blog Post 

Social Media

Do I have to be on social media? Probably. But social media should be about connecting rather than selling. We want to:

  1. Connect with readers
  2. Connect with other writers

Should I hire someone to build my social media presence? Maybe. However, we need to be authentic on social media, which is easier when it’s you. And we shouldn’t be tempted to take short-cuts like buying followers (which can get us kicked off the platform). Instead, we should play the long game, and build a group of engaged followers.

That’s my quick tour of building an author platform. What would you add?

 

Will Affiliate Marketing Earn Me Money?

Dear Editor | Will Affiliate Marketing Earn Me Money?

In last week’s post I introduced the basics of affiliate marketing, and shared some of my top tips.

Today I’m addressing the question of finances.

Will Affiliate Marketing Earn Me Money?

Of course. And you’ll get a free unicorn when you make your first sale.

Seriously?

No, there are no free unicorns. And there are no guarantees you’ll make money with affiliate marketing. As with most things in life, there are no shortcuts.

As with any online venture, there is more to making money through affiliate marketing than posting a couple of links and watching the money roll in. In my experience, it’s not so easy.

There is more to affiliate marketing than posting links and watching the money roll in. I've found five relevant factors which influence affiliate earnings. #AffiliateMarketing #BookMarketing Click To Tweet

Some people earn a lot of money through affiliate schemes, but income depends on several factors:

  • Website traffic
  • Product value
  • Commission value
  • Relevance of the offer
  • Promotion

Website Traffic

One of the most important factors in affiliate income is website traffic. It’s a game of averages. Let’s try an example:

If 1% of your website traffic is clicks your affiliate link and spends enough for you to earn $1, then you earn $1 for every hundred visitors. A website with 1,000 visitors a month will earn $10, and a website with 100,000 visitors a month will earn $1,000.

But if each click only earns you ten cents and 1% click through, then you need a million visitors a month to earn $1,000.

Links can also be share via social media. Some links can be shared via email or included in the back of an ebook.

However, that’s going to depend on the affiliate programme. Amazon has social share buttons for Facebook and Twitter, but doesn’t allow affiliates to share affiliate links via email (although Amazon Influencers can share their Shop link: mine is www.amazon.com/shop/iolagoulton).

Also, authors need to be careful about sharing affiliate links in ebooks. Some online stores will refuse to publish books containing links to other online stores—so make sure your Kindle book only has links to Amazon, not to Apple Books.

Product Value

Someone with a photography blog who reviews high-end cameras could easily earn $40 to $80 if someone clicks from their blog through to Amazon and buys a $1,000 camera and a few accessories. But a book blogger is only going to earn pennies per purchase by featuring or reviewing 99 cent books.

Sure, I sometimes get a bonus when a customer clicks through from a book then decides to buy new tyres for their car or some other higher-value item. But it would take me a year or two to earn the commission that photography expert could earn from one click-through from that single post.

Many high-ticket training courses offer affiliate programmes, and high-profile authors and bloggers like Joanna Penn supplement their income by promoting these high-ticket items.

Commission Value

Some affiliate schemes offer a percentage commission of each sale. Others offer a dollar amount. Some offer a combination of both. Amazon pays a percentage commission on most sales, but will occasionally offer a $3 or $5 bounty on specific products or services. For example, they sometimes have a $3 bounty payment when affiliates refer a new customer to sign up for a Prime trial or Audible subscription.

Commission payments may be a standard percentage, or may be tiered. For example, Amazon pays between 4% and 8% of the value of any purchase through an affiliate link, depending on the number of purchases made from the affiliate’s links. The more paying customers that come through the link each month, the higher the percentage.

Amazon’s 4% is at the low end of the commission scale, and reflects their business model of low prices and high turnover. Online products and services can have commission rates of 25% or more. But these are usually higher-priced items, so there are fewer buyers.

Some affiliate schemes only pay if the linked product is purchased. Others (including Amazon) pay for any purchase made through the link, not just the item the customer clicked on.

Relevance of the Offer

The final aspect is the relevance of the offer. Affiliate offers need to be relevant to your audience. If they’re not, no one will buy. And if you share too many irrelevant offers, your audience will stop opening your emails or reading your social media posts.

For example, I receive a weekly email from AppSumo, summarising all the current offers. I only share the offers I think my audience will be interested in. For example, I know several people in my audience love getting stock photos from DepositPhotos. AppSumo usually does a DepositPhotos deal once a year, offering 50 downloads for $49 (which is something like a 90% discount). I always share that offer (and sorry, but it’s over for this year).

But I don’t share offers that my audience won’t be interested in. For example, many of the AppSumo offers are aimed at large-scale online marketing organisations. I’m sure they’re great products, but they’re not relevant to my author audience, all of whom are solo operations.

Promotion

Affiliate marketing is a form of marketing. It’s not Field of Dreams stuff, not if-you-build-it-they-will-come. Like any marketing, it requires promotion. That means:

  • Sharing your affiliate links on your website (e.g. on a Resources page).
  • Sharing your affiliate links in relevant blog posts (keyword: relevant).
  • Sharing your affiliate links in email newsletters (where the affiliate scheme terms permit this).
  • Sharing your affiliate links on social media (but always remember to disclose that it’s an affiliate link).
Yes, affiliate marketing is still marketing.

It’s passive marketing, in that one link can be valid for weeks or months or years. But for affiliate marketing to earn money, you need to be consistently promoting posts and links that drive traffic to your website and to your affiliate links.

Conclusion

I am a member of a range of affiliate schemes, although the one I’m most faithful about promoting is Amazon (which has historically earned me around $10/year). Writing this post reminds me I can do better. After all, I sign up to affiliate schemes because I use and believe in the product or service. It therefore makes sense I’d want to share that information with my audience.

Can authors earn money through affiliate marketing? Yes, but income depends on factors such as website traffic, product value, commission value, relevance, and promotion. #BookMarketing #AuthorEarnings Click To Tweet

On that note, I’ve updated my Resources page to include links to my favourite online products and services, some of which are affiliate schemes. Check them out!

Are you a member of any affiliate schemes? Which schemes? What tips do you have to share?

What are Affiliate Schemes and How Do they Work?

Dear Editor | What are Affiliate Schemes and How Do they Work?

In my previous post on how writers earn money, one of the ways writers (and bloggers, and other online business owners) can earn money is through affiliate schemes.

But what are affiliate schemes? How do they work? Are there any rules around affiliate scheme membership? And how do you sign up?

All great questions, so let’s get started.

What are affiliate schemes? How do they work? Are there any rules around affiliate scheme membership? And how do you sign up? #BloggingTips #AffiliateMarketing Click To Tweet

What are Affiliate Schemes?

An affiliate scheme is a form of advertising, but not traditional advertising.

Traditional advertising is business to consumer:

McDonalds advertise their product on TV, and hope that people show up in store and buy their burgers. If enough people buy their burgers, McDonalds make a profit and get to stay in business.

Affiliate marketing is consumer to consumer:

An affiliate shares their unique link to a product, and hopes that people click on the link and buy the product. For every person who clicks on the link and buys the product, the affiliate earns a commission payment, at no cost to the buyer.

The difference between advertising and affiliate marketing is payment.

An advertiser pays for the advertisement even if no one buys (yes, some advertising is pay per view (PPV) or pay per click (PPC), but the advertiser still pays even if no one buys).

With affiliate marketing, the producer only pays when someone buys the product.

If the buyer subsequently asks for a refund, the affiliate doesn’t receive credit for that sale (which is why most affiliate schemes pay on a 30-day or 60-day lag).

The producer and the affiliate both earn only if the product sells.

The buyer doesn’t pay any more for the product—the commission is paid for by the seller, out of the selling price. You can still buy the product or service for the same price without using the affiliate link. But using the affiliate link is a small way of saying “thank you” to someone who has given you good advice or recommended a product you’re interested in. And it costs you nothing.

Some affiliate schemes offer discounts to people who buy through an affiliate link.

For example, Bluehost charges $7.99/month for basic webhosting. First-time customers can often get basic hosting for $3.95/month if they sign up for three years (that’s my affiliate link). But if you sign up for Bluehost using some affiliate links (like this one, which the WP-BFF.com affiliate link), you can get basic hosting for $2.95/month for three years.

How do Affiliate Schemes Work?

At the high level, affiliate schemes work by giving the seller access to a wider audience. It’s cheaper than advertising, because the seller only pays if the product or service sells.

At the technical level, each affiliate is allocated a unique code. Instead of sharing the straight product link, they share a longer link that includes their affiliate code. The website then knows to credit that affiliate with any purchases made using that tracking link.

For example, here is a standard Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/Grace-Deep-Waters-Christine-Dillon-ebook/dp/B07V2KRF88/

As you can see, the link shows the title (Grace in Deep Waters), the author name (Christine Dillon), and the ASIN—the Amazon identification number—for the book (B07V2KRF88).

Here is that same link with my Amazon tracking ID:

https://www.amazon.com/Grace-Deep-Waters-Christine-Dillon-ebook/dp/B07V2KRF88/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=iolagoulton-20&linkId=41a7e847aa6cecf305f4c4e647968605&language=en_US

Ugly, isn’t it? But you can see my tracking code hidden in there—iolagoulton-20.

And here is the short version of that link, which includes my embedded Amazon tracking ID:

https://amzn.to/2N51YPL

It’s shorter and cleaner, but there is nothing to show it is an affiliate link … and that’s something we have to disclose.

Most affiliate links use cookies which are valid for anywhere from 24 hours to 180 days. That means that if you visit a site using an affiliate link, the site tracks my link and gives the me affiliate credit for any purchase you make while the tracking link is still valid.

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Affiliate Disclosure

In the same way that book reviewers are required to disclose they received a free copy of the book for review, the US Federal Trade Commission requires that affiliates disclose their affiliate status. This is because affiliates, influencers, and endorsers are considered advertisers—because we potentially earn a money by promoting that product or service.

This disclosure could be through a disclosure statement on a website, or a #ad, #affiliate, or #AmazonInfluncer tag on social media. Here’s an example disclosure statement:

I am a member of the [company] affiliate programme. This means I earn a commission on any purchases you make using these affiliate links. Note that this does not affect the price you pay.

You even have to include a disclosure statement if you received a free book to review. Here’s the disclosure I use in reviewing:

Thanks to [publisher] and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

How Do I Start Affiliate Marketing?

Many companies offer affiliate schemes. Amazon is probably the biggest and best known, but there are hundreds of others. In fact, managing your affiliate links could easily become a full-time job (but not one that’s guaranteed to pay, as we’ll discuss next week).

I recommend starting with Amazon (if they accept you—they do have requirements). After that, consider what products and services you currently use which you’ve purchased online, and see if any of them have affiliate schemes. check their website: many companies have an affiliate link in the footer.

If you can’t find a link on the website, then ask Google: search for the company or product name plus “affiliate” or “affiliate scheme”. That usually works if the company has an affiliate scheme.

But not all companies offer affiliate schemes.

For example, I use and love Buffer (and the WP to Buffer plugin for WordPress). I recommend them. But neither company have affiliate schemes, so I don’t earn anything by recommending them.

If you do decide to dip your toe in the waters of affiliate marketing by sharing affiliate links, then I recommend you curate the offers you share. Don’t share every product and service you find. Focus on products and services that:

  • You have personally used and recommend (ideally, products you have personally paid for).
  • Represent good value for money.
  • Are a good fit for your audience.

This is partly about the relevance of the offer (you want to share offers that your audience are likely to be interested in), but its also about trust.

If you recommend a product that doesn’t deliver on the promise, then your audience might lose trust in your advice … all your advice.

There are a couple of services or courses I’ve bought or used that have affiliate schemes, but I didn’t find the service or course useful. Consequently, I haven’t signed up for those affiliate schemes and I don’t mention or promote those products. Maybe one day I’ll try the course again and be converted. Until then, you won’t hear about it from me.

This is especially important with more expensive items like courses. The more expensive the product, the more important it is that you only share products and services that serve your audience. That’s how you’ll enhance your brand and maintain trust with your audience.

Administration Details

When you apply to become an affiliate, you will need to provide details such as:

  • Your full name and address
  • Your website address
  • Links to the sites where you expect to display or promote affiliate links

You may also have to provide your tax information.

Big companies like Amazon and Bluehost are required to either have your tax information on record (so they can submit it to your country’s tax authorities) or to withhold tax payments (which is no different to how Amazon treat tax on book sales). Smaller companies or solo businesses are more likely to pay you the full commission, so tax is your responsibility.

Note that if your country has a tax treaty with the US, then you will only need to provide your local tax identification number. New Zealand has a tax treaty, so I only have to provide my GST number. If your country of citizenship or residence doesn’t have a tax treaty, then you may need to get a US tax number. Note that you can then use this same number on all US form.s

Note that affiliate income is taxable in your country of residence, so should be declared in your annual tax return. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and all that.

That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with the big question: will affiliate marketing earn you money?

What are Affiliate Schemes and How Do they Work?