By the Numbers

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Hi, all! Ava Pennington here from sunny Florida…well, mostly sunny Florida. The afternoon rainstorms have finally started, to the residents’ joy and the tourists’ chagrin! Lately, I’ve been thinking about the relationship between words and numbers in the publishing industry. I’m a writer, not a mathematician. I love words – their structure and style, their rhythm and rhyme. I enjoy alliteration and onomatopoeia. I’m drawn to the images that words evoke. Numbers…not so much. Still, serious writers know that publishing—even Christian publishing—is a business. And business is often about the numbers.

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Friend or Fan? (There Are No Foes Here)

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Understanding the Difference Between a Facebook Profile and Page Hello from Cat Hoort. I was just visiting the Kregel Publications Facebook Page and found an interesting question from an author: I’m finally joining Facebook, but I need some advice. HOW should I be using Facebook? This is actually a very common question. I first congratulated the author on asking the right question. He didn’t ask SHOULD I be using Facebook? (he knew the answer to that was “yes”); instead he asked: HOW should I be using Facebook?

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Little Things Mean A Lot

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Hi, all – Ava Pennington here. Happy New Year, everyone! New year, new calendar. I love the potential of a brand new calendar, don’t you? All those pristine pages with their empty little boxes…well, they started out pristine when I unwrapped the cellophane. But they’re filling up quickly! As I look back on the past year, I had so many thoughts about how to market my book. I had planned certain tasks for six months before publication, three months before, the month before, the week of…you get the idea. Unfortunately, the calendar got away from me, and many of those…

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Marketing Lessons from the World of Retail

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Tracy (T.L.) Higley here, posting another marketing lesson I’ve learned from my years in online retail sales. As I mentioned in previous months, I’m currently in the midst of an experimental year, applying principles from my retail business to the marketing of my fiction. If you’ve missed earlier posts, and would like a better explanation of my background and what these posts are about, please see Principles #1 through #3 here. So, on to Principle #4…  Repeated contact through social networks drives sales.

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