We recently had the opportunity to interview one of our partner publishers to discuss how they are using Bublish to help their authors. Terri Leidich, President and Vice President of Sales and Marketing for BQB Publishing, was kind enough to join us to talk about BQB Publishing and how Bublish book promotion and social tools are reaching and engaging readers.
Bublish: Hi, Terri. Tell us about BQB Publishing.
BQB: I founded BQB (Boutique of Quality Books) Publishing in 2010 and designed it to be a writer’s publisher. Everything we do begins with a writer’s focus and then expands into the publishing world. Our goal is to to provide independent authors with an avenue to publication while respecting and cultivating their input, creativity and vision.
Bublish: So, let’s dive right in. When did you get started with Bublish?
BQB: Kathy Meis and I met at the PubSmart Conference in Charleston, SC in April. When I learned about how the Bublish platform provides a online marketing tools for authors, I knew I needed to share information about this with the BQB authors.
Bublish: How are your authors using Bublish?
BQB: They are using it as a marketing and branding tool. To shift from being a writer to an author can be tough. People who write have a tendency to be introverted. The cool thing is a lot of marketing, social interaction and connecting with readers can be done with Bublish. Book bubbles also allow us to share with readers the stories behind our stories.
Bublish:Tell us about your experience with Bublish.
BQB: We do monthly training calls for our authors to share with them tools and tips that can help them be successful. Kathy presented information about Bublish on one of these calls.
I don’t have a lot of time to do marketing and all the things I need to do as an author. With Bublish, I write and share a book bubble all in a matter of minutes. Once I share a bubble with readers, I can interact with them through social media. Bublish is really useful and helps me use my time efficiently.
Your basic free program [Emerging Authors] for one book is fabulous. But we’ve all upgraded to the Authorpreneur Dashboard subscription.
Bublish: How did you go about getting so many authors on Bublish so quickly?
BQB: We introduced Bublish to our authors as part of our monthly training call. One thing I did was set up their Bublish accounts with a generic password so they could go in and play around with it prior to the call. It was really easy, it only took me a couple of hours to set up a couple of accounts complete with bio, books synopsis, etc. Some of my authors absolutely ran with it because it is so easy to use.
We have an author that doesn’t like social media. He just likes to write. Ever since I signed him up for Bublish, this author has been creating book bubbles like crazy.
Bublish: What are the benefits that your authors are seeing?
BQB: Let me answer from my viewpoint because I am also an author. Two of my early books are about grief. Someone at Bublish picked up a line from a book bubbles about them and pushed it out over social media. That one line has brought a lot of attention to my work on Twitter. Bublish helps you find the nuggets in your manuscript and use them to engage readers socially.
Bublish: How have you found working with the Bublish team?
BQB: Your customer service is absolutely amazing. When I have an issue, I draft an email and I get an immediate answer. The Bublish team is very accommodating and caring. We feel that we’re part of the BQB family and also the Bublish family. It is hard to find that in today’s world.
Bublish: What is the value in using the Authorpreneur Dashboard vs. the freemium Emerging Author version?
BQB: The Authorpreneur Dashboard shows you the statistics and sales conversions generated socially by your book bubbles. I really like that.
I also like that we can see what is happening in real-time – how many tweets, etc. I’m a big-picture girl, but it is nice to what is resonating with your audience.
Bublish: What’s the workflow for generating book bubbles?
BQB: Our authors write their own book bubbles. Once we set up their accounts, they were ready to use this tool on their own. Bublish also has a number of helpful video tutorials and their team is always willing to answer questions. All around it has been a very easy transition for us.
Bublish: What do your authors think about Bublish and book bubbles?
BQB: The most repeated word that I keep hearing from our authors is “fun.” They also find it to be very effective and user-friendly tool.
And here’s a direct quote from one of our authors John Daly:
“Whenever I meet with readers, the question I'm asked the most is: ‘What inspired you to write a novel?’ Book lovers want to know what goes on in the minds of authors. They want to know how and why characters and scenes were created.
Bublish lets authors quickly and easily share such insight on social media with those who have read, or may be interested in reading, their books. By letting the author link their thoughts to specific excerpts from their work, the reader gets a unique, detailed look into the author's mind and writing style. This helps the author develop their brand, and it helps build interest in what they've written.” (Read more about John Daly.)
Bublish: Thank you for sharing your insights about Bublish, Terri.
For those of you who’d like to learn more about BQB Publishing, please check out their website at bqbpublishing.com.
To learn more about Bublish visit our website at: bublish.com.
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