Bestselling author William Bernhardt discusses the latest news from the worlds of books and publishing, then interviews marketing expert Jim Kukral about smarter-author marketing techniques.

News:
1) Copyright issues: Because of the current American copyright law, many classic works entered the public domain on January 1, 2019. Authors are currently afforded 95 years of protection for their intellectual property. Are you building an income-earning estate for your heirs?

2) Morality clauses: In the wake of so many public careers being crushed by inappropriate words or actions, the Big Five publishers are adding morality clauses to their contracts with authors. Be careful what you say and do!

3) Author Earnings: According to a new study by the Authors Guild, author earnings have decreased by about 42% since 2009, requiring most "full-time" authors to hold additional income-generating jobs. Bernhardt discusses the ramifications of this for serious Red Sneaker Writers.

Interview: Jim Kukral is an expert in online marketing. He founded the Author Marketing Club, and more recently launched SmarterAuthors, a personalized program designed to help authors launch their titles or to improve sales for existing titles. He discusses the importance of the title, the cover, the book description, key words, reviews, genre choice, online advertising, "social proof," and other key factors in successful marketing for authors.

For more inför about Kukral's program, visit: www.smarter authors.com

William Bernhardt has added two intensive small-group writing retreats for 2019. Find more information about them at: https://www.williambernhardt.com/writing-retreats

If you're enjoying this podcast, please rate it or leave a review wherever you find your podcasts. You can email the host at wb@williambernhardt.com.