Social Media and Your Brain

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It is no secret that we use Social Media a lot – and all this social media usage can be hard to curtail.  Resisting Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media sites is harder than other urges, such as smoking, drinking, spending money, sleeping and even sex.

Posting about yourself on Social Media sites rewards the brain the same way food and sex do.
Talking about ourselves became a tough habit to kick…  Read and see more on this info graphic,
created by OnlineCollegeCourses.com
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Related articles:

• Humor in Social Media (InsuranceFiles.com)
• How to Not Get Overwhelmed with Social Media (thetonyd.com)

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2 Basic Rules To Follow for Your Books Success

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… on Social Media
Are you promoting your book like crazy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook … but nothing seems to happen, no book sales? Are you competing with other writers in “buy my book, buy my book, buy my book… Are you choosing to follow other writers, hoping they will buy your book?

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1. Choose your following very carefully: You want to interact mainly with READERS, NOT writers. The question is: How to find readers?

All Social Media sites have a search function on top of the page. Type in: book bloggers, read, reading, book lovers, book club, love reading, book worm, love to read, mystery book reader, science fiction reader, YA readers, YA book blogger, readers, word nerd, non-fiction book blogger, reading books, reviewing book… and even librarian. Click on “people” or scroll down a lot, as the first names that appear are often publishers and other commercial accounts.

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Another method is to type in the name of a very successful book in your genre and find readers there, talking about this book. Follow those readers that you feel belong to your book genre, based on what they say in their tweets. Re-tweet their posts, engage in meaningful conversation, be funny or refer to blog posts you wrote, but don’t mention your book. They will find out about it soon enough.

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2. Understand the meaning of Social Media – being SOCIAL and STOP talking constantly about your book!
I noticed one writer on Twitter who writes 100% only and only about his book. He seems to use automatic tweets, as he never, ever engaged in any conversation with others. Kind of autistic .. For sure, I was not the only one who un-followed him. Write about interesting things that are happening, give valuable advice or engage in a humerus way with your readers. No one goes on Twitter, FB, Google+ or Pinterest to read constantly about your book. That’s not entertaining or interesting. Many writers don’t buy books from other writers, they want to sell their own. If ALL writers are doing on Twitter, Google+ or FB is self-promoting they are not only NOT attracting readers, but turning them away.

Yes, famous writers may attract attention for what they have to say – not normally related to their books – but rather to their writer’s life or ideas – and they are often interesting or funny. It’s called social networks not selling pages…
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Authors should rather focus their promotional efforts on trying to get people to talk about their books (review them, read and recommend them, give them awards, take them to their book groups, write articles or blog posts about them) instead of trying to get people to buy them. A much better place to do this is on reader forums, such as Goodreads, Shelfari, Bibliophil, Biblio Connection, BookTalk and the like.

So, following these two basic rules: Finding the right followers “readers” and be “social” on Social Media is key to successful promoting your books.

To get more book marketing help, see what we can do for you in individual sessions.

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Don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks  http://about.me/ebookPR

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The Foundation for Your Publishing Success

Platform wikimedia.org

When building a house, no one would start with the walls or the roof.  The first step is in preparing the ground and building the foundation that carries the home. Same with your publishing endeavor, you start from scratch to build a platform.

Platform, a buzz word these days… “What’s Your Author’ Platform”? the famous question you will be asked by agents and publishers before they even consider to read your query or manuscript.

Read the blog post about Bestseller author Trey Ratcliff,  mentioned in a former article

“I am sitting in a nice restaurant in San Francisco with all these executives of a major publishing house. It’s one of these power dinners of lore. We are to discuss the upcoming launch of my book, and I’ll never forget what happened. They asked me, “OK, Trey, what are you going to do to market this book?”  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  My young publishing life flashed in front of my eyes…  I ended up putting together a robust launch campaign. Luckily I already had thousands of people who came to my blog every month, a healthy Twitter following (this is before Google+) and a great network of people to help. I did everything, including….”

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So, what are the essentials of a platform?

• Blog / website with a large readership
• Guest blogging to successful websites, blog, magazines, and other media 
• Public speaking – the bigger the better, however at least at your local library 
• Smart connected social media presences (Google+, Twitter, FB, LinkedIn etc.) 
• Forum memberships, starting with Goodreads, Bibliophil, Wattpad … 
• Media appearances/interviews online and in print, TV, radio
• and …. more than one book!

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Even if your book is excellent, has received great reviews, a marvelous cover – if readers don’t know about it, you are stuck.

And if you go with a major publisher and they would receive – within three month from your books’ launch – lots of unsold copies returned by the bookstores, they would never publish anything from you again. That’s why they ask, “how will you market your book” or “what’s your platform.”
You might think, this is the publishers job. Not even for very famous authors they will do the blogging or social media part, they only advertise celebrities way more than unknown writers and pay for exposed space in bookstores, or send these authors on book signing tours.
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Publishers will do:
- editing, transforming a good manuscript to a great one
- design the book (layout) and its cover
- organize the printing process / e-book formatting
- distribute your book in stores, speciality retailers and online
- carry out all the necessary book keeping with retailers and your royalty payments
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Publishing houses laid off a huge amount of their staff within the last years. Remaining over-worked publicists are not able to give your book’s marketing the attention it needs.
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Jane Friedman, e-media professor and former publisher of Writer’s Digest brought it to the point: “Getting a book published does not equate to readership. You must cultivate a readership every day – and start today. Audience development doesn’t happen overnight, or in six months or a year. It continues for as long as you want to have people read your books.”
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Without having a clear idea of which methods of promoting yourself and your work are really worth the investment of time, you might be tempted to avoid the subject entirely. But in today’s publishing world, neglecting your platform, even before you have a book deal, can be a precarious mistake. The most successful authors are those who have created ways of finding lasting fans – and of reaching out to new ones every day.
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Spend less time promoting – and more time writing.
Most writers are not marketing specialists by trade, so if you need help and assistance in building a platform, read all our former blog posts or book us for a while  (it’s just $98 for 3 months) to get all the individual support for your book and the knowledge, necessary to continue on your own.  We studied for years e-publishing and book marketing, so that YOU don’t have to.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are almost 700 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.  Feel free to re-blog on your own WordPress blog

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://pinterest.com/111publishing/

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS      = 111Publishing @ Google+

Don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks

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Related articles

• The Seven (Deadly) Sins to Avoid When Marketing Your Book (barefootbasics.com)
• Drive Successful Content Marketing with a 3-Part Media Plan (contentmarketinginstitute.com)

 

“Grace Unexpected”, a novel by Gale Martin

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‘Boy, are YOU in for a surprise…’
“I thoroughly enjoyed reading Grace Unexpected  and those around me thoroughly enjoyed watching me jump out of my seat and scream ”ARE YOU SERIOUS?” while reading the second to last chapter of the book. Want to find out more? You’ll just have to pick this one up!”
Reviewer N. Whiffen, Amazon.com
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What others say:

“Martin delivers an engaging plot, with witty banter, comedic elements that border on farce and cleverly titled chapters . . . its ending contains a welcome twist. An entertaining light read.”
– Kirkus Reviews

“This is Gale Martin’s second novel and I can’t wait to see what she does next. Not many authors can be intelligent, witty and funny with such ease. Five and of five huge stars.”
– Book Evolution

“I absolutely LOVED Gale Martin’s ‘Grace Unexpected’ and recommend it to anyone who
loves chick lit.”
– Endless Days of Literary Ecstacy

“GRACE UNEXPECTED is chick-lit at its finest. Wit, drama and surprise fill every page. A 5-
star read. 273 pages of fun!”
– Literary R&R

“A simple gift of comic genius”

“Calling all single ladies! In this charming and witty story, Gale Martin reminds us how humorous and daunting the dating life can be. GRACE UNEXPECTED is a delightful mix of love and loss. Snark kept me laughing on each page, but it was Grace Savage’s voice that kept me wanting more.”
– Marni Mann

Read more Book-Blurbs 
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About the book:

Thirty-something Grace Savage has slogged through crummy jobs and dead-end relationships with men who would rather go bald than say “I do”. In search of a respite from her current job, she visits a Shaker Village in New Hampshire. Instead of renewal, she’s unnerved to learn that Shaker men and women lived and worked side by side in complete celibacy.

When her longtime boyfriend dumps her instead of proposing, Grace avows the sexless Shaker ways. Resolved to stick to her new plan – dubbed the Shaker Plan – and despite the fact that her ovaries are ticking, she returns to her life in Pennsylvania.  Almost immediately, she’s juggling two eligible bachelors: Addison, a young beat reporter; and True, a venerable anthropology professor. Both men have ample charms and real soul mate potential to test her new-found Shaker-style self-control. Grace appears to be on the fast track to a marriage proposal… until secrets revealed deliver a death rattle to the Shaker Plan.
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Grace Unexpected, e-book ($3.99) and print ( $13.35), 273 pages,
Amazon:
Barnes&Noble
Independent Bookstores in North America with store locator

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Gale Martin

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About the Author

Gale Martin  is an award-winning writer of contemporary fiction who plied her childhood penchant for lying into a legitimate literary pursuit during midlife. She began writing her first novel at age eleven, finishing her first book three decades later.

Her debut novel, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA, published in 2011, is a humorous backstage novel inspired by Don Giovanni, Mozart’s famous tragicomic opera about the last two days of Don Juan’s life. It was named a Finalist in the 2012 National Indie Excellence Awards for New Fiction.

Her second novel GRACE UNEXPECTED, published in 2012, is wryly witty women’s fiction that features a protagonist who can hear her ovaries ticking, who has a heart of pure gold, wrapped in lead. But a string of crummy boyfriends would do that to any lovable woman while waiting for Mr. Right.

She has a master of arts in creative writing from Wilkes University. Her work has been published in: The Christian Science Monitor, Duck & Herring Company’s Pocket Field Guide, Sirens Magazine, Giggle Water Review, and in several anthologies.  Gale hosts a blog about opera called “Operatoonity.com” and an opera-themed Twitter account @operatoonity.
Visit her Goodreads presence
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Gale is a also a very popular guest speaker, her next appearances are:

• AAUW Book and Author Luncheon, Willingboro, NJ, April 26, 2013
• Author Event, Alvernia University Literary Festival, Reading, PA, October 24, 2013
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Don’t miss to read Gale Martin’s blog when visiting her appealing website http://galemartin.me.  Every time I log on, I enjoy her amazing posts, and spend way too much time reading it all. Her website is a real show case, a role model for other authors.
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6 Social Media Sites, Essential for Writers

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Going through my list of tweets for the day, I paused at this one:
1. Why engage in yet another social media when I am already on Twitter, Pinterest & Facebook ?
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It reminded me of other statements from new writers, I hear on a daily basis:
2. None of my friends is on Google+ …
3. I have a website, why should I additionally have a blog?
4. Writing my book, I don’t have time for all these Social Media…

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Answer for question 1 and 2 – Google+
This says it all: Google+ = Google, the famous Search Engine… You don’t join Google+ to meet your friends and family as you do on Facebook!  You join to improve your Search Engine Ranking: As the main search engine, Google indexes and ranks its own site much higher than any other content. Google+ posts – with a main keyword in the first sentence / title – will rank well in Google search and often show up on the first page, for a long time.  And now Google+ outranks Twitter as no. 2 social network, having more active users than Twitter!

On Google+ authors can create a separate page for each of their books. You have immense space to show images, such as your books cover, even if it has 36 MB and you can show your book as often as you want. More reasons to be on Google+ can be found in a former article: “7 Reasons Why Google+ is Perfect for Writers“

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Answer to question 3 – Why should I have a blog?
Your website is something very static. You usually don’t do many changes or new content writing. A blog – either on your website – which would increase SEO – or on WordPress or BlogSpot is adding constantly new content. This means search engines index your blog site higher.
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Writing is fun – why else would you have written this novel!  As a writer, it is only a matter of minutes to write a blog post.  And you don’t need much fantasy to come up with topics. You can write about, well, writing, your writers life, the publishing process, what you have learned about marketing your book… the subjects you can write about are endless.

An important reason for a blog is that you can use snippets from the content to fill your social media sites. For sample: use one sentence and a link to your blog and post it as a tweet.  Readers see your post and click on your blog or website – and voila! they learn about your book. Here are two samples from the blog page you are just reading:

Author of “The Wolf’s Moon” Patrick Jones, in an Interview, talking about the characters in his book http://wp.me/p1uIFg-1il

9 Compelling Reasons to Get Marketing Help, Boosting Your Books Success
bit.ly/X3rwul
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Readers and fans have a reason to come back to your blog, as often as you write a new post, and will re-tweet your blogs and spread the message about your book. Plug-ins and share buttons automatically send your blog posts to all your social media sites.
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Answer to statement 4:
What you are just reading here, was automatically send to Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Stumbleupon, Tumblr, Reddit, Triberr, Yahoo and Goodreads – at the same moment I hit the “publish” button! I don’t need to go to all these sites to fill them with content. What more could you wish for? Writing one blog post, it can be as short as 300 – 500 words an it will be found all over the internet! You certainly can add more Social Media sites to your blogs sharing button, to spread the word even more.

Your post is yet sent more often among Social Media sites:

• Google+ can send your post automatically to Facebook and Twitter, I wrote in December how authors can set up this function. 
• Twitter gets feeds from Google+ and Pinterest, among others
• Facebook for sample gets feeds from Pinterest and Goodreads and your blog
• Pinterest feeds Twitter and Facebook

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SUMMARY: To have maximum exposure for your book and you, as an author, and to save lots of time, join: 

• Google+
• Twitter
• Goodreads
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Write a blog.

How to get more followers on your social media sites is explained in one of last months’ blogs, and also at How to Get More Followers on Google+
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Be very selective when choosing followers:
You want READERS and REVIEWERS as followers. NOT your friends. Type into the search functions on top of these pages: readers, book lovers, book worms, reading, love to read etc. to find the right people as your following.
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One last tip: Set up a second page on Google+, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest – only for your book. Separate it from your existing private presence.
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Part of our Book Marketing package we offer, is dedicated to help you to create or improve your reader community platform, such as:

• create an attractive media presence
• increase the amount of followers
• learn how to connect all these sites 
• and how to save time on Social Media

Find out how else we can help you to have more success  for your books and more fun in marketing.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 700 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://pinterest.com/111publishing/

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

Don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks

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Have You Got a Marketing Plan for Your Book?

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Marketing possibilities for your book sometimes seem to be overwhelming. Use this article to schedule and divide it into small pieces to execute one at a time – make it a habit to work on it every day.
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Let’s assume that you, as a self-publishing author have produced an excellent, high-quality book or e-book and now you are going to publish and to market your book.
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Or take scenario two: you have written the best book and found the best agent possible and she’s made the best deal she can get with the best publisher who’s interested, then you will be surprised to learn about the reality in traditional publishing: Publishers do spend money on advertising, PR and paid placement in bookstores, but they don’t spend the same amount on all books. On average publishers spend less than $2,000 on advertising 90% of their titles—not much to get the word out about your book.

Bookstores will return your unsold books after three months to the publisher, which means almost the end of your book’s “brick & mortar” career. These are the reasons YOU will have to get the word out about your book, no matter if you author-publish or if you go with a big, traditional publisher.
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You certainly have done your homework before you started writing your book:

• You researched your possible competition and how popular the genre is in which you are writing.
• You have identified your target market and in which time-frame you want to accomplish the introduction for your book.
• You made plans for your writing career, you vision already – and maybe even lined out several books, you know that one book only doesn’t make for a writing career.
• You thought about where you want to be in one, three, or five years from now, and what you want to have accomplished as a writer then.
• You also know that book marketing starts ideally before and while you write your future bestseller.

There are two avenues to market and sell your work, even if you have sold your manuscript to a traditional publisher. Either you:

• will invest lots of money and buy ads / go on book signing tours / attend book fairs – or you
• will invest time into building a platform and an authors brand through the use of social marketing and content marketing, plus you learn some fast and free tricks to spread the word about your book
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And then there is 1. the promotional, social part and 2. the “hard-selling” part for your book.
The latter will barely work if you have not laid out the foundation with the first part. Would you likely buy something from an unknown person, no matter if on- or off-line?  Remember that your competition in published books is fierce and there are millions published every year. Readers have to be convinced to buy an unfamiliar book from a totally unknown author…
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It will be the same for both, fiction or non-fiction: The foundation for your books’ success is in building a community, a social environment and a platform to introduce yourself and your work to readers. How can you accomplish this, even before your book is finished? It takes a year to make yourself known in the book community, so start early in order to have a successful book launch:
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1. What you can do before your book is ready to go to the beta-reader, copy-editor and final editor:

- Have a professional! photographer taken a portrait to use for your avatar
- Get to know and introduce yourself to potential readers, sign up at Google+
(good for SEO), Twitter, FB, Pinterest, Flickr
- Join several book communities, #1 Goodreads, #2 Wattpad, #3 KindleBoards, BookTalk, Scribd…
- Visit forums in your field, especially if you write non-fiction
- Join HARO (Help a Reporter out) to make yourself a name as an expert in your field
- Start and write regularly (once or twice a week) blog posts
- Create your own (not a free!) author website 
- Send your blog articles to newspapers / magazines and even to e-Zines
- Write guest blogs for other bloggers to get your name out
- Write your “elevator pitch” and practice your “elevator speech” for quick pitch
- Start a spread sheet or list with email addresses of potential readers
- Create an email signature & use it for every email you send out
- Print business cards / book marks
- Get an ISBN number and register your copyright
- Register with Bowker to have your book worldwide listed (free)
- Choose the right genre (category) and keywords for your book
- Gather as many reviews as possible and write a compelling blurb
- Research media contacts and prepare Press Releases
- Invite several thousand! people as followers and friends on your social media sites

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2. Plan of action, once your book is edited, has an appealing cover – that’s what people see first, is professionally converted (e-book), or got a perfect layout (print) and is ready to launch:
.- Place your book into the right category / genre and sub-genre (important for its success!)

- Create a second, separate BOOK PAGE on Amazon, Goodreads, Google+ and FB
- Submit your book to the Library of Congress (USA only)
- Set up a media press kit on your website with a link to your book trailer
- Plan and create an email campaign to potential readers
- Get customer orders for special (price) pre-launch sale
- Invite more reviewers for your book
- Submit photos of your book cover image to Pinterest, Flickr…
- Create a slide show  and/or video book trailer
- Send copies to book reviewers in various publications and to book bloggers
- Send review copies to book clubs with large distribution
- Automate submissions to and between all your social networks
- Write a blog post about the upcoming launch
- Spruce up your website and blog for your book launch
- Write a compelling press release
- Ask your friends to “Like”, “Thumbs up” & “Listmania” your book on Amazon
- Participate in “Carnival of the Indies” blog carnival to promote your blog URL
- Comment on other blogs and write lots of guest blogs
- Submit your blogs including an URL link to even more e-Zines
- Consider to participate at KDP Select free days, announce your upcoming book for free
- Offer interviews at Radio /TV stations and newspapers or on other blogs
- Try to set you up to become a desirable guest expert on a talk or morning show
- Befriend influential book bloggers for even more reviews and articles
- Donate your book to local libraries and offer to speak
- Contact local bookstores for book signings
- Gather writing friends for cross-promotions and blog tours
- Add press clippings and articles, already published, to your website
- Get a new business card with an image of your book and sales link
- Place the books’ cover image & description daily on your Google+ stream
- Announce your book launch or book signing on Google+ for FREE
- Get even more friends, followers and people in your circles on social media sites
as you need lots of audience to spread the word about your new book!
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What else can you do to increase your books’ success:
- Become a guest speaker at writers conferences or business seminars
- Sell your book to libraries
- Let your book translate in other languages or sell foreign rights
- Split your (non-fiction) book in pieces and sell single articles to magazines
- Participate in writing contests and book awards

The possibilities are endless… Stay tuned for more tips at http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com
Make sure you have done every one of these steps to have a great start once your book is published. Write for pleasure – publish for profit!

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 700 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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How to Get More Followers on Your Google+ Page

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Google+ or Google Plus, no matter how you write it, is an author’s best friend. Why? Here are just a couple of reasons to join for the ones that are not already on Google Plus, more in an article from September 2011 “7 Reasons to be on Google+“:

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Search Engine Ranking:  As the main search engine Google indexes and ranks its own site much higher than any other content. Google+ posts are easily indexed by Google search, and unlike tweets or Facebook posts, are treated much like regular web pages. That means a well-constructed G+ post – with a main keyword in the first sentence / title and a good amount of engagement – can rank well in Google search and stay ranked for a long time.
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Google+ helps in building your author rank content, and your author reputation will be determined by your Google+ activity, e.g. how many +1′s (Likes or re-tweets) you receive and in how many circles you are.
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An important step in claiming authorship is to link from your blog to your Google+ profile and linking back from Google+ to your blog.
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On Google+ authors can create a separate page for each of their books. You have immense space to show images, such as your books cover, even if it has 36 MB, which I just tried out. And you can show images as often as you want during the day. Important tip: Always add the image of your book cover first, and once it shows up, add text and link to Amazon, B&N etc. If you start with the link, only the ugly generic icon from Amazon appears, not showing your cover at all.
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On Google+ you can publish your press releases, blogs, testimonials, case studies and news. The difference with Google+ is that your content, if found, will be listed at the top of Google personal results mixed in with traditional search results.
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Google+ works with “circles”, which will enable you to “separate” your readers from your private followers or to divide genres in which you write, for sample romance from children’s book readers. Each of your posts can get different audiences.
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Another great feature are the “Hangouts”, which can be “used for interviews, small-group Webinars, question and answer sessions etc.
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Then there is the Event-Planner where book launches and book signings can be announced, including a map where the event takes place. This way an author in Melbourne, Australia can invite people to her book signing or a book launch party in New Orleans can be brought to the attention of readers. URL

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Set up the automatic function of transferring your Google+ posts to Twitter, as described in a blog last month.
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Don’t forget to be “social” and comment and +plus other peoples content. It is called social network, not advertising board, so engage a bit with others and appreciate their posts, it is a two-way lane after all…
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How can you get lots of followers on your Google+ presence?

• First of all your Google+ page needs to be attractive for visitors: Spend some time optimizing your Google+ page and building it up with content and posts before you start promoting your presence.
• Use lots of images, get links to free images at former blog posts, where we listed free photo sites.
• Announce your Google+ page on your other social media sites.
  If people are following you on social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter, they already find value in the content you are sharing.
• Write a blog post about your new Google+ Page,
  what you’ll be sharing there, and why your blog readers should want to follow you.
• Include a Google+ Badge on your blog or website.
  Link your Google+ page to your site. Get more recommendations for your site in Google search and grow your audience on Google+. Just go to Google developers and copy / paste the code there into your website code (choose between an icon, or a small or standard badge).

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Now you can invite people into your circles:

1. Use the icon on the left side of your Google+ page, from there go to “find people” around reader keywords: (type them into the search function on top of your page) book lovers – book worms – reading – books – reads – literature – e-books – Kindle books – publishing – novels etc. and add interesting people to your circles. Try to find readers, not writers and build your own circles.
2. Visit other Google+ circles to find like-minded “Googler’s”
3. Transfer your Gmail account contacts and add them to your circles

Bill Hartzer gives these tips in a great post:

– Follow people and add them to a Circle.
– Wait a period of time and see if they follow you back.
– If they aren’t active and they haven’t followed you back, then consider removing them from your Circles.
The timing of all of this (adding people to Circles, waiting for them to follow you back, removing them from Circles, etc.) is really up to you–I recommend keeping it to about 250 people a day, although there are some limits on Google+:

– You can only follow 5000 people at any one time.
– There is NO limit to the number of people who can follow you.
– There is a limit to adding people to circles, which is 1000 per day.

Read his very useful post with lots of screen shots.

A great help in establishing your Google+ presence is Guy Kawasaki’s e-book (only 99cents) “What the Plus” – which we already described in a former blog post.
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Google+, which was only officially launched in June 2011, has now already more than 400 million registered users, and more than 135 million active users and is rapidly growing. Compare it with Twitter which has only 500 million total users after almost seven years, and more than 200 million active users. Let us know about YOUR Google+ presence and we will add you into our circles. Find our brand new publishing page http://bit.ly/VmtVAS which we just launched, beside the other page, that has around 2,000 followers and 4,600 following (no time to un-follow : )

Google+ is just like any other social network. In order to be social, you need to have friends. You need other people on your social network to interact with, people who are active members of that social network. If they don’t log in on a regular basis and keep their profile active, they can’t interact with you.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 600 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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How to Add Friends (Readers) on Goodreads

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Goodreads, THE social media site for avid readers, is a virtual version of a book club and a great opportunity to show off your own books as an author, to find new readers and reviewers and join a book lover community.  So, you signed up on Goodreads and what now? (I heard this comment pretty often…)  First of all you need an audience, as on all Social Media sites and forums. As larger as better!

How do I add friends – old and new ones?
Adding friends is easy. Before you search for new friends on Goodreads, encourage your existing friends to sign up for a Goodreads account and to friend you on the site. Goodreads has an easy “Add Friends” tool that searches through your existing friends list on Facebook, Twitter or contacts from Yahoo! Mail, AOL, MSN eMail and Google’s Gmail. See which friends are already Goodreads members and add them.
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Find Friends From

Gmail

Hotmail

Facebook

Twitter

yahoo

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Friends of friends

When you get a “Friends Requests” by email and you go to their Goodreads page, you will see the invitation to add your Yahoo / Twitter / Facebook / Gmail…. contacts to your Goodreads friends on the top right corner.

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 Friends > Requests

	from		confirmation
		Nancy 572 books 225 friends Glen Riddle Lima, PA	Friendship approved top friend2 hours, 23 min agocompare books
		Patrick 59 books 610 friends	Friendship approved top friend6 hours, 58 min agocompare books

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If you already have the profile link for someone you’d like to friend, just go to their profile, then click “add as a friend” which is beneath the “about me” section.

If you want to find your friends on Goodreads and you don’t have profile links, just click on the tiny friends icon in the header of your page, which is located directly to the left of your profile image. Then select the “add friends” tab. The “friends of friends” button (a bulk function) works only if you have less than 1,000 friends. But you can certainly click on friends of friends on their site manually and “add as a friend”.
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There is also this function “Meet People”, where you can find top users, top readers, top reviewers or most popular reviewers for sample, to invite them as friends:

Meet People

• top users
• top readers
• top reviewers
• most popular reviewers
• best reviews
• online now
• most followed
• top librarians
• recent statuses
• recent reviews

You can even invite friends to Goodreads on the iPhone app. Goodreads explains:

You can invite friends from your phone’s address book, your email contacts, or your Facebook friends.
1) From the home screen, tap ‘Friends’ (it should be on the bottom right).
2) On the top right, select ‘Add Friends’.
3) From there, you will be asked where you want to search for your friends. Choose appropriately*.
4) Contacts already on Goodreads will have an ‘add’ button, while contacts who haven’t yet joined will have an ‘invite’ button. Tap ‘add’ to send a friend request or tap ‘invite’ to send an invitation to Goodreads.
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*Choosing ‘email contacts’ will take you into your browser. Choosing ‘Facebook friends’ might open the Facebook app to ask you to grant posting permission – don’t worry, we won’t post anything unless you tap ‘invite’ next to a Facebook contact.

Using all these possibilities to add friends to Goodreads you should have a thousand or more new readers / friends in no time. As always, use Goodreads’ HELP section for any questions you might have, and if it is not covered and a search doesn’t bring results, drop them an email..

Take advantage of the great possibilities at Goodreads to present your book:
Listing your print book for a giveaway is a great way to get free exposure for a book before and during its launch. List any title that is not yet released or was released during the last 6 months. Or upload an e-book with the “add e-book” links and let users browse, preview, download, and even purchase your work.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 600 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow us on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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How to Get More Followers on Your Social Media Sites

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Joining Goodreads, Twitter, Google+, Facebook or Pinterest is only the first step in creating a community platform. To make these sites working for you is only possible if you have lots of followers, friends or people in your Google+ circles.

Don’t be a Tweep with a pathetic following of less than 100 people. And don’t sign up with only one or two Social Media sites. Take advantage of the great possibilities of sharing among all these sites. It is almost the same “work” if you are on one site, compared to having a presence on six or eight sites through the help of plug-ins and sharing buttons, as outlined in former blog posts.  So can visitors on your Goodreads page click on the Google+ or the Facebook icon and send a message about you and your book to thousands of their followers. Google+ then sends the message automatically to Twitter. To have lots of Twitter followers is beneficial for your Goodreads presence, as you can transfer Twitter followers with one click over to Goodreads!

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More followers also means people assume you are someone interesting or an expert. It extends your popularity, influence and more book sales.

No matter which sites you join, create an attractive profile, complete with an avatar that shows a favorable and professional portrait and a solid bio. Often people will read your bio before deciding whether to follow you. If you own a company and want to use your brand as your avatar instead of a photograph, this is fine. You have to create your profile only once, and then copy and paste into every new Social Media sites you join.

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Let’s start with TWITTER
Display links to your Twitter account in your email signature, your blog or website, business cards, on other social media sites —everywhere.

Re-tweeting your followers is a non-brain-er. Be generous in linking and re-tweeting others. You do not have to sit all day long on your computer to do this. Check tweets once a day and pack interesting ones into Buffer.com, who will spread them throughout the day.

Share only valuable content. Be generous, inspiring, entertaining, provide useful links. Provide content that people are proud to provide to their own followers.

To actively increase the amount of followers:

• Use the search function to find like-minded Tweeps, e.g. type: reader, reading, book lovers
• Type into the search function words with hash tags #amreading or #GoodReads
• Check out suggestions: Who to follow on your left bar of your Twitter page
• See who other Tweeps are following or who is following them

Using hash tags # is another way to connect to people with similar interests and to increase the visibility of your tweets. Add hash tags to your tweets and also create tweets based on hash tags that are popular on Twitter at the time (you can see these as “trends” on the left-hand side of your Twitter home page).

Don’t buy followers.
There are many offers, however, this is contrary to Twitter Rules. These artificial followers who have no affinity for you,  won’t ever re-tweet you or buy your book, mostly they are not even real people

Un-follow people who haven’t followed you back after a while.
This is especially important to avoid “follow limits”. The first limit at Twitter you might hit, is when you have followed 2,000 people. You won’t be able to follow any more until you have 2,000 followers. So remove your non-followers, using Manageflitter.com or Unfollow.com – but don’t use their really annoying feature that tweets on your page: “Got 5 followers and 9 un-followers”. This is not only an absolutely useless tweet, but makes you at the same time a free advertiser for them!
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Paid services, e.g. Tweet Adder or Hootsuite, offer to automate Tweet posts throughout the day (after you have scheduled them), to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Myspace, create unique tweets automatically or send a thank-you messages to your new followers. Once you have reached 2,000 followers, there is no further limit  and you will see an increase in high-volume and more quality follower offers.
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The next post will introduce readers how to find more friends and followers on Goodreads and Google+. Stay tuned! Click on the tiny Follow button on top of this blog page to get notified of new posts.

Read more about this topic:

12 Smart Ways to Boost Social Media Efforts

How to Become a Star on TWITTER

How to Get More Re-Tweets

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 600 of them : )  if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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Are You a Good Party Guest?

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When Thinking of Social Media, Think of a Big Party!

Imagine you are invited to a big party.  You are entering the room, you say hello to everyone, you small-talk a bit, you participate in a discussion, you listen what others say, you make some compliments or praise someone, you have fun and you show yourself from your best side – or at least that’s what it is supposed to be. However there are some who do not know or respect the unwritten party rules:
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There are these party guests who seem to be very uncomfortable: They don’t look at you, speak and look into another direction, you see only their back and their hair, or they wear a huge hat, pulled deep into their face or equally strange, they wear big sun glasses, so that you cannot see their eyes.
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Now imagine some of the party guests are not introducing themselves, they come in, don’t look at anyone, put up their business sign and tell everyone, who stops by: “This is my book, go get it”, pointing at their sign:  Nothing else… buy my book, buy my book, buy my book… and never have a conversation with others.
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Then there are these annoying braggers, who are constantly talking about their statistics, how many potential customers they have (followers/un-followers), something no one is interested in or wants to hear.
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Some of the guests are not very polite either, they only talk with one person during the whole party, even when they are surrounded with lots of other people, whom they just ignore.
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And then there are party guests who are totally involved into their parenting role, they are constantly showing total strangers pictures of their young ones and you can bet, at their social media accounts is not an image of them, but of their kids, or at least having their toddlers included in the photo (same with pets).  Others show anyone they meet (even in their avatars), pictures of their boat, car or motor home… Folks, no one is interested in your motor home, potential party guests (readers) want to see YOU or learn about you and not about your gadgets!
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Other party guests are literally glued to their partner, like Siamese twins, they adore each other and show the whole world how much they are in love. They barely have a conversation with someone else, but kiss and touch each other constantly.  Not sure why they came at all, maybe for the free drinks.
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Some party guests are telling a lot about their private life:  which diseases they survived, single parenthood they master etc. – not a party theme at all.  Would they tell the same if they are invited for an interview or a meeting with a potential publisher?
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Shine at the Social Media party! Be social! And use the same photo at Social Media sites that you use or would use on your book’s cover:  a professional one. You want to introduce yourself as a serious writer.  Don’t show kids, lovers, gadgets or beer bottles in your photos.
Here are some writers who show professionalism in their avatar: Lorijo Metz – Peter Standish Evans – Rose Edmunds – Brinda Carey or Cheryl Danielson, just to name a few.

 

You are at parties to have fun, including the big Social Media party, so be a good sport, be social with everyone and do represent your book business professionally. It’s a shop window for you and your books, even your business card… which you show there to total strangers, maybe agents, publishers, editors or to influential bloggers.

Which type of party guest / Social Media guests do you like best? Or who do you avoid?

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 600 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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2 More Reasons to Have a Blog for Book PR

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In one of my recent articles I have written about Content Marketing via your blog and how to write for the web. Another article encouraged writers to “Start a blog today!” as a New Years resolution.

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Jeff Bullas has written a fantastic article (well, blog) about Content Marketing (for authors, I call it blogging) and the benefits (for the author). He says:

Search
“It is vital for optimizing your website and blogs to rank higher in search engines. The better the content and the more it is shared tells Google and other search engines that your website is worth reading. So it is pushed up the search rankings. If it is really good content it may even appear on the first page or even at number one (by the way by obtaining top ranking it receives about 40% of all clicks).”

Social
“Important for driving social media sharing – the better the content the more it is shared. It is as simple as that. Crap content does not get shared. Fullstop!!”

Key Insights
“Content writing (blogging) provides a solid footing for your marketing as 70% of customers prefer getting to know a company through an article rather than an ad. Websites with blogs receive 55% more visitors. 63% of companies said posting content on social media has increased marketing effectiveness.” 

And then he adds a couple of really good info-graphics, so hop over to Jeff Bullas’ blog to see them and to read the whole article! 

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2013 and Beyond: Social Media Future

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Social Media Predictions 

Cheryl Burgess interviewed Social Media leaders and wrote a great post how small businesses, and I will add: including self-publishers, benefit from Social Media and how to use it. Here are some of the expert voices:

“Content will rise to the occasion in the vast sea of social media.”
Which means: don’t bore your readers with follow/un-follow statistics or with the same old
repetitions to buy your book – rather post interesting news or facts for them!

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“…realize that social media is also very important for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Companies will begin to understand that social content, and SEO are linked and more
integrated than ever.”
This is especially true for Google+. Your posts there go directly into Google’s search
engines (ranking).

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“… small businesses will realize they either get on that bus or they’ll be waving goodbye to
the opportunity to be in front of people … and some, if not all, of their business.”
Writers who are asking “why should I be on Social Media?”, could also ask “why should I
promote and sell my book?” See a recent blog post on this this.
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“Small businesses around the globe will learn valuable photo and video-editing skills to help
drive their social media marketing efforts”.
Get “111 Tips to Create Your Book Trailer” to prepare for this:  Amazon.com/dp/B008Y15YYO

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“Finally, the coming year will see a greater integration of social media into all marketing
practices so it becomes a part of a small business’ way of doing business.”

Read the whole article about Social Media’s future.

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Two Great New Features in the Marketing Mix

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Those who have already signed up for our individual, customized Book Marketing Online Seminar and Publishing Consulting will get a nice (and free) extra surprise soon. Two great new features have been added to the marketing mix, which will improve their and (maybe soon your?) author platform. Everyone who joins our very affordable – 3 months for $98 = $1/day – marketing support will now get:

• Three hours of one-on-one Book Marketing Online Seminar phone-consultations
• Unlimited book marketing consultations by email for up to three months
• Unlimited social media help by email for up to three months
• Instructions / Checklist / Hundreds of links for you to use for your free book promotions
• Free e-book: “Book Marketing on a Shoestring” launch in January 2013
• Blog post including cover image/author bio/book description on both, blog and our websites
• NEW: Author interview on our blog website (105,000 visitors so far, 500+ subscribers)
• NEW: “Book of the Month” recommendation major book lover sites
• Plus one surprise gift we will reveal once you sign up!
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  .As you can see our Book Marketing Help is customized for you, the author and we will individually work with you. It all starts with a purchase of your book and then an evaluation of your book’s sales page and your marketing activities so far. We will explain you the benefits of various steps in building the platform for you as an author and how you can establish a brand without incurring extra cost, such as expensive ads or how to avoid costly POD’s.
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  Our Book Marketing is personalized to your needs and we do NOT sell any videos, pre-recorded Webinars or DVD’s!  We really work one-on-one with you!!! In some cases we worked up to 20 hours at this customized marketing help per client – it is not only the time we talk with everyone, it is the research in each case and the amount of time we invest in individual programs we create for each of our clients.
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The blog article about your book will be posted, often several times / week for 3 months to all these
sites:

• http:www.twitter.com/111publishing (more than 50,000 followers)
• http://pinterest.com/111publishing
• http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK (111Publishing on Facebook)
• http://bit.ly/VmtVAS     (111Publishing on Google+) *
• http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com (so far 117,000! visitors, ca. 500 subscribers)
• http://chime.in/user/ebooksinternational (2.600 followers)
• http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/111publishing
• http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13413016-111publishing *

* These are only our official business accounts, our private time-line on these Social Media
has 5,000 followers on Google+ and almost 1,100 in Goodreads pages and counting…

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We thrive to support you and your book. If you are not yet finished with your manuscript, join now to have a great start. As earlier you begin with marketing activities for your work, as better!
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Authors can even combine a leisurely Caribbean Cruise at the Carnival Breeze and have their Book Marketing Seminar not online, but “on sea”.  Get details about this exciting Cruise Event.

Related articles

• The Foundation for Your Publishing Success (savvybookwriters.wordpress.com)
• 9 Reasons to Get Help Boosting Your Books Succes (savvybookwriters.wordpress.com)
• Have You Got a Marketing Plan for Your Book? (savvybookwriters.wordpress.com)
• 6 Social Media Sites, Essential for Writers (savvybookwriters.wordpress.com)

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What’s Wrong With Marketing Your Book?

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Are you aware, how expensive advertisements are, even if they are online?
And that these ads are only visible for the time you ordered & paid them?

If you would have the possibility to advertise many months or even years for free, presenting your book to ten-thousands or even hundred thousand of readers and often at the same time even improve your Search Engine ranking through back links – would you take on this offer? YES? NO?

Would you take advantage of this free advertisement offer, even if you would have to upload an image of your book and a short description (such as the blurb, and the authors bio) that is already written and in your computer files. A time investment of five minutes. Still YES ???  Authors may not have the necessary skills, time or desire to take this on. We offer Book Marketing packages in order to help them to establish a platform and to cement their author brand. However what we cannot do during this marketing coaching period is to sign up for authors on forums or book websites under their email address and choosing a password.

We compiled initially “65 Top Websites to announce your book for free”  and now even 95 !!! links where you can show your book for FREE, split in two blog posts http://bit.ly/XbgqpG and http://bit.ly/TyboBh

For authors to take advantage of this lists and to submit your book (if not done already) – use a larger size image of the books cover than on Amazon in jpeg format, a description and an author bio (just as you did on Amazon) and upload them to these 95 websites.

This is a wonderful possibility to have your book advertised on many sites for free!
The website owners are supporting independent writers and are often book bloggers and reviewers themselves. The best way to get the word out without having to spend money! We took a lot of effort to create this list for you. Once you registered everywhere, you are done, it’s only a one-time-effort!

The first 15 websites are forums, which will take a bit longer, but all the others are sites: you just friendly ask (and thank) the website owner to add your book to their site. The site often states how exactly they want your submission.

I read on a writers blog recently: ….“when it comes to promotion we should all heed the old seemingly paradoxical advertiser’s maxim: less is more”. And someone commented this: “I’ve definitely come to the conclusion that if I have to do THAT, keeping up with all this ‘STUFF’ out there, then it ain’t worth it.” In another blog post this writer of one book complaint about slow sales… He got my free list but did not even bother to check the websites out, otherwise he would have seen that it is mostly a one-time effort and not complaint in his article, that it is just to tedious to interact with so many people in forums.

If you submit your book just to four or five websites a day, you are through the lists in a month. But I am sure you will do it even faster : )   And if you are really very busy with your next book, just ask your computer-savvy youngsters to do it for you – offering them a small bribe : )

After you have finished submitting your book to all these websites, start contacting book reviewers. Begin with your social networks at Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing, Wattpad etc. and then contact these 45 reviewers we listed for you on our former blog: How to Find Reviewers for Your Book.

More links to reviewers can be found in our upcoming e-book (launch in February) “111 Tips to Get Book Reviews”. We certainly provide even more help to those who sign up for our book marketing coaching.

It often takes months before your book is reviewed, in the meantime just try to find even more avid readers who are willing to take on your book. Use the search function on top of your Twitter or Google+ page and type in “review”, “book review” or “reviewer” and when the list appears, click on “people”. You will find a cornucopia of book review possibilities!

Comment on blog posts
However, there is so much more you can do: Comment on, or praise interesting and useful articles of other bloggers. Don’t just write: “Nice post “. Rather add some intelligent and interesting idea – and don’t forget to add a link to your own blog. Most bloggers allow a link in comments, especially if you left a positive message.

Show off your writings skills
and offer guest blogs. Just go to WordPress.com and type in: writing, or publishing or any other topic of your (500-word) blog post, that you have written for a guest post and contact the blog owners. Offer them also to visit your own blog and encourage to re-blog anything they like. It will link back to your web site / blog and increase your search engine ranking, but more important the amount of visitors, and potential book buyers and readers.

The amount of tasks seems to be overwhelming, but if split in hundreds of small steps, just dedicating 15 minutes every day for submitting your book or contacting book reviewers or comment on blogs it is really manageable  And better for your writing career than watching stupid sitcoms or TV commercials. So: take this advice – or leave it. You decide!

Predictions are that 50% of all books soon will be e-books, purchased  online from readers for themselves or as a gift for friends and family of all ages. Getting many readers and lots of reviews can only be accomplished if they know of the authors book.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 600 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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Why every author should be on Goodreads...(infographic!)

Reblogged from circles under streetlights:

Until now, I've not really had many posts on here that aren't directly writing related in some way. But, seeing as you're a lovely bunch, and I appear to be here to stay, I thought I'd share a post that would normally go on my "day-job" website. The infographic originally appeared here, on Bestsellerlabs.com

Goodreads has exploded over the last year, doubling from 6.5 million users to a whopping 13 million.

Read more… 54 more words

. Remember my blog from December 15th about the great features for authors on Goodreads? http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/7-great-features-for-authors-on-goodreads/ Don't hesitate and sign up TODAY. I will help you to navigate their site and will post many more tips how to benefit from this great reader and writer forum. Show off your books there and meet your readers and reviewers.