Author Buzz

Where Authors & Readers find each other

Matthew Brown

About Matthew Brown

Matthew is a writer, web dev, and geek from Kent (UK). He is the founder and current chair of Thanet Creative as well as head geek for Author Buzz. His ambitions include seeing a film or TV series based on something he wrote. Matt is also responsible for fixing stuff on AuthorBuzz.co.uk when it breaks.

According to the theguardian.com, independent bookshops are thriving despite an overall downturn in book sales. After decades of decline, the sector has recorded three years of expansion. Alison Flood, ‘People are so happy we exist’: indie bookshops grow despite retail slump While this growth is good news, the article does […]

Indie bookshops are thriving

13th January 2020 in Business tagged bookshops / good news by Matthew Brown

I am fairly confident that most of us writers want to know if there is a secret on how to write and sell a book. Or many books. As the secret is to keep going and don’t give up, wouldn’t it be great if there was some sort of learning […]

Learn how to write and sell a book

5th December 2019 in Advice tagged courses / learning / moodle by Matthew Brown

Today we took a giant leap forward towards becoming a true social network for writers and readers. You may notice some substantial changes on the Author Buzz front page. Now the front page features your content, blog posts and status updates alike. We’ve talked about doing this for some time […]

Author Buzz: Now more about you

6th October 2019 in Author Buzz / Site News tagged changes / Social Network / updates by Matthew Brown

In order to make it easier for members to find great book reviews, we have added several new groups which carry external book review headlines. You can get these book reviews in your activity feed simply by joining one or more of the groups. By default, each group’s email setting […]

New book review feeds

4th October 2019 in Site News tagged book reviews / feeds / groups / updates by Matthew Brown

Two blogs have been started on this network that are both about as different as it is possible for two sites to be. Yet, despite this, they both use the same theme, the same network (obviously), and share similar contributors. What sets these two blogs apart is the intention and […]

Two blogs that could not be more different

1st October 2019 in Blogs and blogging / Site News tagged blogs / content / standing out by Matthew Brown

Comments: Author Buzz UK — The often-repeated fear is that comment control – the removing comments that you don’t want on your blog – is somehow the same as censorship. This is not only untrue but potentially damaging to your platform. What is freedom of speech anyway? If your blog has ever been visited by […]

Comment control is not the same as censorship

11th September 2019 in Blogs and blogging tagged censorship / comments / community / freedom of speech by Matthew Brown

idol-of-pomos — I have a theory that smart authors do not need to do marketing because they start cults to do that for them. Not just one cult, many of them. As many as possible. I recently made the case that authors should start movements. Because screw lists – build relationships. This […]

My #AuthorTheory is that smart writers start cults while the ...

31st July 2019 in Author Theory tagged authors / theory by Matthew Brown

imagination — The received wisdom is that an author needs a platform. That platform should have a website, a blog, a list, two social media, and a regular newsletter. What if all that is total bunk? In 3BC a male was born who went on to change the entire world with the […]

An alternative approach to Author Platforms

26th July 2019 in Publicity tagged Author Platforms / start a movement by Matthew Brown

sheep — I wrote recently about my hatred of email lists and now I have a new approach that I hope will totally replace email – relationships. Lorraine Hamilton wrote an article a few years ago about giving up on lists and doing something better. As soon as I read it, I […]

Screw lists – build relationships

25th July 2019 in Publicity tagged Author Platform / email list by Matthew Brown

a sheep — I have run into a wall when it comes to a part of the Author Platforms projects – the email lists section. I write about author platforms because I am good at theory and great at writing about theory. I am not so great at actually getting on and doing […]

My massive problem with mailing lists.

24th July 2019 in Opinion tagged Author Platforms / email / email list by Matthew Brown

Starting last night I began work on the most comprehensive guide to author platforms. The author platforms guide was so big I had to put it in its own site. I am busy filling the pages of the site with useful information, videos, and links just as quickly as I […]

The complete guide to Author Platforms

12th July 2019 in Site News tagged Author Platform / guide by Matthew Brown

Author Buzz UK is, fundamentally, a social network for authors. British authors in particular but all writers, authors, readers, publishers, and agents are equally welcome. In this post we will take a look at the ways you can use Author Buzz as a social network and where else you might […]

A social network for authors

27th June 2019 in Social Media tagged Author Platform / authors / blogs / directory / Facebook / Good Reads / groups / Reddit / Social Network / Stack Exchange / Tumblr / Twitter by Matthew Brown