Bookspoke is a platform for you, as a writer, to stay in touch with and grow your audience. The site is a tool for you to communicate efficiently with your readers and publish your work.
The first step in getting your audience to come to you is to establish a writer's page, your turn-key homepage. To do this, go to your My Account screen and upgrade your account to a Writer's Account. Once you do this, you will be prompted to write a bit about yourself, upload pictures and, most importantly, upload your works.
If you are a published writer, you should provide us with all the ISBNs for your books so that we can make sure to link your works to you. We will sell your books on Amazon for you after you have given us your ISBNs. Plus, we will also let you see which readers have read your books and what they say about your works.
If you haven't been published yet, but are interested in using our top-of-the-line print-on-demand capabilities, upload your work to us and we will contact you directly to set everything up. We are provide our services at a low cost (in fact, your start-up costs can be as low as $0) and take an industry-standard 20% commission on sales, making sure that most of the money you make stays in your pocket. Plus, we will set you up so that you can sell your books directly on Amazon at no extra charge (normal Amazon commissions and printing costs apply).
Once you have filled out all the information for your writer's page, it's time to start reaching out to your audience! We allow writers to subscribe to emails from you, but it is your responsibility to find the right readers. To do this, search around forums and book clubs on the site and introduce yourself to readers. You can do this by exploring both the User Reviews section under the Read header at the top of every page, or by exploring the forums or reading groups under the Connect header at the top of every page. Once readers have subscribed to you, you'll be able to send everyone who is interested in you an update with one email. Or you can create your own forum (you can find forums in the Connect header at the top of every page) and let readers come to you!
You are free to write a blog or update your tour schedule on our site. Just click on the New Post option under the Write header at the top of every page to begin - this will tie to your homepage automatically. Of course, we also understand that writers often make the best book reviewers - to write a book review, click on the New Book Review option under the Write header.
Bookspoke contains the tools for you to collaborate with others as you go through the creative process. In the coming months, we will allow you to designate someone as an editor or an early reader of your work. You will be able to share drafts and get comments and advice before the rest of the world sees your wok. Use Bookspoke like a writing workshop and then see the benefits as your gather comments from a wider group of readers.
Finally, we will provide you with a suite of tools to track your audience quantitatively so that you can demonstrate to potential agents and publishers the true economic value of your work.