The WritersWeekly Podcast

Episode 47 - The WritersWeekly Weird & Fun Book & Author Trivia Game

We decided to have a silly episode. Clayton Jones and Brian go head to head to see who knows more about little factoids in the literary world.  How many of Angela's questions can YOU answer?  Join us for fun, laughs, and some interesting information you may have never hear before as we play the Weird & Fun Book & Author Trivia Game. Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2463845/fan_mail/new] Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

EPISODE 46: How to Earn Thousands Per Month in Book Royalties - PART 2 of 2

Guest: Gary Sturgis, The International Bestselling Author of Surviving Grief – 365 Days a Year In this episode, we continue our interview with BookLocker.com's international bestselling author Gary Sturgis! Do you have a book on the market that's not accumulating the sales you'd like to see? It's likely due to your marketing strategy, and how you communicate with potential readers online. In these two episodes, Angela and Brian welcome back Gary Sturgis, BookLocker's best-selling author, who earns thousands per month in royalties from his book sales. Gary also has more than half a million followers on his social media channels now! How does he do it?! He’ll tell you in this episode! If you want to succeed in any endeavor, it's best to find someone who has already succeeded, learn what they did, and imitate them. Listen to this episode (and the next one, episode 56!) to learn how you, too, can increase your sales, and maintain a positive cash flow from your books. You don't want to miss this interview! You’re going to learn a LOT! Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2463845/fan_mail/new] Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

EPISODE 45: How to Earn Thousands Per Month in Book Royalties

Guest: Gary Sturgis, The International Bestselling Author of Surviving Grief - 365 Days a Year  Do you have a book on the market that's not accumulating the sales you'd like to see? It's likely due to your marketing strategy, and how you communicate with potential readers online.   In the next two episodes, Angela and Brian welcome back Gary Sturgis, BookLocker's best-selling author, who earns thousands per month in royalties from his book sales.   Gary also has more than half a million followers on his social media channels now! How does he do it?! He’ll tell you in this episode!  Gary endured the loss of a spouse years ago, and began searching for online support for his grief and recovery. That led him to write his first book, "Surviving: Finding Your Way from Grief to Healing." That began a journey of sharing and interaction with his online community, leading to him becoming a grief counselor, a public speaker, and an online facilitator specializing in grief and recovery.  In this episode, Gary shares his journey, and the specific techniques he used to build a massive online following. He’s also written six more books, including one for children, to help people continue through their own paths to recovery and self-healing.   His consistency and persistence have led to ever-increasing book sales, earning him thousands in royalties every month.   If you want to succeed in any endeavor, it's best to find someone who has already succeeded, learn what they did, and imitate them. Listen to this episode (and the next one, episode 56!) to learn how you, too, can increase your sales, and maintain a positive cash flow from your books.   You don't want to miss this interview! You’re going to learn a LOT!  Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2463845/fan_mail/new] Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

Episode 44: How to Get Free Book Reviews from Popular Reviewers Who Have THOUSANDS of Followers!

You've heard us say it over and over again: DO NOT PAY FOR BOOK REVIEWS!  So, what is an author supposed to do? Wait around, hoping for readers who might decide to take the time to review their book? Beg people on social media for positive write-ups? Ask their family and friends to post reviews on Amazon? (DON’T DO THE LATTER! You could get banned from Amazon for doing that! We explain why in this episode.)  Getting real, legitimate reviews for your book doesn't have to be a passive exercise. There are plenty of regular, prolific reviewers (even "professional" reviewers) out there who won't charge you a penny to review your book, and who will do it fairly and honestly. Better yet, many of them have tens of thousands of followers! When they post a review for a book, their followers are notified!  But, how do you find them, and what should you say when you contact them?   In this episode, Angela and Brian explain, step-by-step, how you can find PROLIFIC and popular book reviewers with thousands of followers. And, we’ll teach you exactly how reach out to them, greatly increasing your chances of getting your book reviewed by them.   You might be asking why these book reviewers review books for free? How do they make money? It’s NOT on the backs of authors! Quite the opposite, in fact! We explain that in this episode as well.    Getting good book reviews from well-known reviewers can mean significantly more BOOK SALES! And, the entire process is FREE! Nothing we recommend in this episode costs any money at all.   You don’t want to miss this episode!  Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2463845/fan_mail/new] Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

EPISODE 43: 16 Possible Reasons Why Amazon KDP Permanently Closed Your Account (but they won’t tell YOU why!)

Approximately 90% of banned Amazon KDP accounts are never reinstated!   We were recently contacted by yet ANOTHER terminated Amazon KDP author. His unpaid royalties are $38K (!!!), and there is NOTHING he can do to get his account back (he’s tried!), nor to get his $38K. He can’t even access his files, nor see his past sales reports. He’s completely and permanently LOCKED OUT of his Amazon KDP account.    Could it happen to you? According to Google, it’s happening to thousands of authors per year now. Think about that. You've had your book(s) on Amazon KDP for several years. Sales have been pretty good. You may not be getting rich, but the royalties have been regular and dependable. Things have been good!   Then one day, you receive an email from Amazon KDP saying your account has been terminated. You think it’s a scam email, or a joke. But, it’s NOT! You quickly go to KDP to login to your account. Your username and password don’t work. The “forgot your password?” option doesn’t work. Your account is simply GONE. You’ve been permanently banned by Amazon KDP. Worse, they tell you that you’re not permitted to open any other Amazon KDP accounts in the future. EVER. (Many authors have tried that, even under different names and email addresses, and it never works. Amazon always knows everything!)   You go back and read the email from Amazon in its entirety. It says your account has been terminated. It says you violated KDP's terms of service, but it doesn't say which term(s) you violated. It simply says your account has been permanently closed, and that you can never open another account with Amazon KDP.    You send multiple messages to Amazon asking (begging!) for some explanation. You have every intent to correct anything you may have done wrong…if only you knew what that was! Their automated replies just keep saying they’re upholding their decision to ban you from their platform.    You start to panic, of course! You've not only lost your account, but you've lost whatever royalties you had coming from the previous two months. More emails simply get the same canned response: "We are upholding our original decision to terminate your account."   Here's the real rub: You AGREED to all of this when you signed up with Amazon KDP. It was in the "Terms of Service" when you clicked "I AGREE," including the fact that they get to keep ALL of your unpaid royalties. For some authors, that’s in the thousands of dollars.    In this episode, we crawl under the dark underbelly of Amazon KDP, and the growing problem of authors having their accounts closed down for any number of reasons, known only to KDP's AI/bot systems.    Amazon has specific reasons why they don’t tell so many authors why their accounts were terminated. We discuss those reasons in this episode as well.    Amazon KDP can immediately terminate your account at any time, at their sole discretion, with no warning, and with no human being at the helm to rationally weigh the facts and listen to your side of things.    If you are currently using Amazon KDP, or thinking about using Amazon KDP, you need listen to this episode to know the potential risks of working with that organization! There are OTHER WAYS to get your book on Amazon, and those won’t lead to your books being taken down, nor your royalties being withheld!  Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2463845/fan_mail/new] Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com