It's that time of the year when we're all decking the halls, turning up the holiday music and biting our nails about the perfect gifts to give. 

If you know an author with a book out or a book in the works, then chances are they are also trying to figure out how to boost their social media presence to reach more readers. Forget the coffee mugs and sharpened pencils...this year give them the gift of bettering their digital platform.

In the last few years we've seen a huge shift away from text toward visual imagery dominating social media. Sharing a text blurb isn't often enough anymore. Much of the reason for this has to do with retention. Brain Rules author John Medina tells us that "we are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information, and three days later you'll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you'll remember 65%." It's part of the reason that Pinterest took off and why Instagram is hot right now. But for an author whose primary ...

It’s the million-dollar marketing question: What motivates people to buy? That’s where human psychology comes in to help savvy authors better promote their books. A little knowledge about human behavior can make a big difference when it comes to connecting with your readers in social media.

So What Does Motivate People?

Grub Instructor and marketing expert Allison Hoch is here to rescue your book's promotion and publicity plans. You can catch Allison in person on Saturday, September 16th, in her one-day class, Build Your Own Event: A Marketing Workshop.

When I last wrote about Instagram for the GrubStreet blog, it was nearly three years ago. Looking back at that article is a bit of a time warp. I was making an effort to convince writers that Instagram was a good place to have a presence. Fast forward to now and while I might have to convince YOU that it's the right place to be, I don't have to convince authors as a whole