I’m not a fan of Stieg Larsson books, but many people are.

This article, ‘Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ Sells More Than 1 Million Digital Copies – NYTimes.com, reports:

“In what is believed to be a first for an e-book, ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,’ by the Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson, has sold more than a million copies in its digital format, Knopf said on Thursday. “

The article also reports that: “The “Millennium” trilogy has sold nearly 17 million copies in the United States.”

Publishers are always complaining that digital editions will cannibalize their print sales, and this could well be evidence that they’re wrong.

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Bloggers are often asked to review books. Sometimes I do, if the author has been published before, but if the author is new, I stay well away.

Here’s why.

Years ago, somewhere around 1998, I joined a writing group (the details have mercifully faded into the mists), where the deal was that we reviewed each other’s work.

All went well, initially. Then I wrote a review, and the author took it badly. Here’s the thing: the review was a good review. considering. I was kind, but I did point out a couple of flaws. My mistake.

I had a similar experience to this reviewer, One (Bad) Way To Get Yourself Noticed As A Kindle Author | Amazon Kindle 3 and Kindle DX Review and News Blog:

“When the reviewer piped up that he had gotten the new version, she got a bit irate.  Then she got a LOT irate.”

I’ve forgotten the details, but the lady told me exactly what she thought of me, and my ancestry, in very imaginative terms, and said she’d ensure that I never published another word online…

If you can’t handle reviews, don’t read them

If you’re writing a book, think about how you’ll handle reviews NOW, before you get them.

Yes, now.

Some authors can’t handle reviews. If you know you’ll have steam coming out of your ears and will turn purple with rage, commit to NEVER reading any reviews.

Remember: you wrote the book. You did it. You deserve kudos for it. Pat yourself on the back, and tell yourself you did great, because you did.

You also need to remember that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Reviewers too. Once your baby’s out there, focus on your next book, the one you’re writing now, and let people have their opinions.

A bad review won’t kill your book — indeed, it may make your book much more successful. There’s a reason for the saying that all publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell your name right.

Once your book is selling, it stands alone. If you do read reviews, and find that reviewers have picked up on a real problem, fix it. That’s easy with digital publication. On the other hand, if you think their opinion is wrong, keep quiet.

Focus on what matters: the book you’re writing now.

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Most writers are shy of promotion. And yet, they need and want readers.

Our favorite fantasy is that we’re “discovered”. Someone else does all the work, and we just get to sit and write…

I love this interview, Kindle Author: Kindle Author Interview: Consuelo Saah Baehr, because the writer “gets” promotion:

“CONSUELO SAAH BAEHR: I began a blog and diligently post every two or three days. I also comment on sites like The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast and invariably I get views to my blog and my books. I am a frequent participant on the Kindleboards and find the camaraderie very inspiring. I do guest blogging and interviews every chance I get and have also taken out two small ads on the Kindleboards. I did a Goodreads giveaway and attracted almost 900 participants. I send review copies to reputable reviewers and hope they’ll take the time to look at the book. I just keep doing what I can. I’m not very savvy technically but I cobble things together. I spend a part of every day doing some sort of marketing.”

What promotion will you do, today, tomorrow, this week?

I encourage you to learn advertising and branding. Learning how to do it is key. Once you know how, you may cringe initially, but then you’ll find that you enjoy it, and accept that promoting is a part of your writing life.

What will you promote today?

A tip: promotion starts while you’re writing your book. Start a blog, get known. Take baby steps.

I’ve no idea what’s happening with Dorchester, but the author below is pretty upset. As she should be.

Is Dorchester refusing to revert rights? Selling books they have no rights to? Selling ebooks without the rights, and without a contract?

This post Guess What Dorchester? “It’s On” | StacyDittrich.com says:

“If your rights have reverted, Dorchester is still able to sell these books (REALLY? FIND ME THE LAW ON THAT ONE….). A caveat of our reversion notice allows for sales of all pre-existing stock (I GUESS ITS NOT AN ISSUE SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY  DON’T HAVE A CLUE WHERE THE PRE-EXISTING STOCK IS. BUT PLEASE, WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR EXPLANATION ON HOW YOU ARE STILL OFFERING E-BOOKS THAT YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHTS TO)”

I’ve no idea what the background is on this dispute.

Sadly, my guess is that it’s a foretaste of what’s to come in traditional publishing.

As Stacy Dittrich is doing: “Funny, I decided to follow J.A. Konrath’s lead and self-publish one of the books in my series that Dorchester didn’t get its dirty hands on. And, guess what? I had more downloads in less than 1 day than Dorchester “claimed” I had in 2 YEARS” — you may want to go the self-publishing route too.

You’ll save yourself a lot of aggravation.

This article, Why Book Trailers Are Now Essential to the Publishing Industry, suggests:

“Book trailers are relatively recent additions to the literary world. Most of the authors I know detest the very idea of them.”

You may well hate the idea of having to create a book trailer once you’ve written your novel.

However, if you’re in the planning stages of writing, consider writing a script for your planned novel. Much like a blurb, your trainer will get you thinking about your voice and tone, situations, scenes, narrative… in fact, everything you need to be thinking about, in visual form.

In other words, scripting a trailer can kick-start your imagination.

I’m planning novel which will have more than a touch of humor. Thinking visually has helped me to understand what I think is funny, and what scenes would be fun to include.

I suggested the “script a trailer for your book” to one of my students who’s stuck in the “dreaded middle” of her novel. It gave her some excellent ideas for scenes, and a new climax, all within 20 minutes.

She said: “When I thought about the trailer, it helped me to see a couple of my characters in a completely new and fresh way. I suddenly knew what they’d do next. They feel like real people to me now.”

Angela Booth’s writing guides have been created to help you to make money from your writing every day. Join the thousands of writers who are making great money with their writing skills.