Social Media: Is it a Total Waste of Time?

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It’s always surprising: when searching on Google for a certain word or topic, I often find our own articles and blog posts, as well as re-posted content from our Google+ sites on Google’s first page. This very high ranking on Google’s Search Engine means that users find easily our content. And if YOU, as an author, write a lot of posts, blog articles etc. – always with a link to your website or Amazon author page – you will be high in Google ranking too and more people will learn about your books.

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Total Waste of Time
Authors flock to Social Media sites to get the word out about their books. However, many writers see it as a waste of time and would rather write on their next book. Smart authors combine the best of the two worlds and post small snippets of their writing or interesting details of their research on Google+ posts. Think about it: if you combine your Google+ page with your Twitter presence, explained here in detail, you post only once on Google+ and it appears on Twitter as well. You save 50% of your time on Social Media!

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Your Goal for Being Online:
Unless you have ten-thousands of dollars every month to spend on advertising for your book, you might use the more subtle way of book marketing and meet your readers online on Social Media sites. But what would your (potential) readers be interested in or want to hear from you? They certainly want to learn more about you as a writer and they want to learn about your books and get samples of your writing. It means you can do what you like most: WRITING and at the same time give your potential readers and buyers of your book reasons to follow you and tell others, or re-post and re-tweet your content.

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Use Your Creativity
Authors often ask: “what should I post on Google+ or on Social Media sites in general?” Nothing easier than that. You can use every word, every fact, every location or scene in your book to write a short post, blog or even a long article. Even novels, such as a Science Fiction story has lots of potential to be used to write short articles. Just one example: I recently thumbed through a clients’ book and found on the first page, under acknowledgements, that she thanked the police chief of her town for giving her a tour and explaining her certain laws when she did the research for her book. Her meeting with the police chief and each one of the laws she learned about, could be the topic of a short article or blog!

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For Authors: It’s a Must to Be on Google+
Google has been using Google+ to discover new content, and many authors have discovered that URLs (links to their sites or articles), but also posts that they commented and shared on Google+ are indexed very quickly – and they find themselves often on page 1 on Google’s search results – one of the main reason to be on Google+ or to post on Google+ communities.
Compare this to Facebook, where privacy settings and restrictions on data sharing, make it rather often impossible for posts to never be crawled or indexed by Google at all. Unlike Facebook, which hides data from Google, or Twitter – which directs Google not to follow most of its links – Google+ data will be immediately and fully accessible on the Internet and readers can find you and your books easily. Each post on Google+ acts like a mini blog post and adds highly share-able, link-able context to the search engines. Last but not least: Don’t miss to link to all relevant profiles from your Google+ “About” page.

To sum it up:  Use your research and your manuscript to write lots of blog posts, articles and Social Media content and post it first on your Google+ page.  Combine your Social Media sites, linking to each of them.  Post with one click on several of your Social Media sites, which can be done by using scheduling sites, such as Hootsuite.com or Shortening Sites, such as Bit.ly. This is just for posting your articles – not for directly connecting with your followers or readers. The time you save when linking your Social Media sites is not only time you save to write, but also some time you can spend to connect directly with your readers!  Social Media = Social Networking.

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More About the Benefits of Google+

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/how-to-get-your-author-page-on-googles-page-1/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/5-tips-for-a-successful-google-presence/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/3-top-reasons-to-be-on-googles-page-1/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/15-reasons-to-be-on-google/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/how-to-get-more-followers-on-your-google-page/

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars   Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,030 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.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/

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Why You Need Beta Readers

Why You Need Beta Readers and Where to Find the Best
Guest post by Lauren Sapala
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In the tech world “beta” means something that isn’t finished yet; a product that’s still in the testing stage. Authors have now commandeered this term for their own, using it to describe the first circle of readers to review the finished draft of a manuscript. So what’s the difference between giving your novel to a beta reader instead of your friends or family? Well, other than honest, objective feedback (which is one of the most valuable things any writer could ever ask for) the chances of success for your book go up enormously.

The ideal beta reader is usually another writer, and preferably someone who is interested and familiar with the genre in which you are writing. Getting feedback from another writer means you’re much more likely to receive concrete suggestions for improvement, along with comments on what is and is not working. Having a writer as your beta reader also gives you the chance to enter into an exchange. After they read for you, you can read for them. As you examine the weak spots in another’s manuscript with a detached eye, you learn how to logically approach the problems in your own.
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Bringing on beta readers, in short, helps you become a better writer.
So where do you find them?

Your Own Writing Group
Most creative writing groups focus on critique, and due to time constraints, each member is usually only allowed to submit a few pages at a time for feedback. Beta readers, on the other hand, should be reading your entire finished manuscript.
Ask around within your current writing group to see if anyone else has finished their novel and if they would be interested in doing a beta reading exchange with you. Since it’s a trade, both of you will benefit. And since it can be done in off-hours, make it clear that it won’t interfere with the regular meetings of the group.

Google+
Social media doesn’t have to be all about self-promotion. Google+ offers a variety of excellent communities for writers looking to connect with like-minded individuals. The Writer’s Discussion Group has over 14,000 members, and if that sounds too overwhelming for you, smaller communities like Poets of G+, Aspiring Authors, and Writers, Authors, Bloggers are always open to new people too. You can browse around the different communities to find beta readers, or make a post of your own asking for volunteers.

MeetUp Groups and Workshops
If you live in a metropolitan area, Meetup.com offers a dynamic assortment of options for writers. You can find workshops and writing marathons, as well as gatherings dedicated solely to beta readers. This is a great avenue for those writers who prefer face-to-face interaction, and who are also open to meeting new writer friends. If you don’t see a beta reader meetup listed for you city, you might think about organizing your own.

Online Writing Forums
For writers looking for very specific feedback from knowledgeable readers (in the genre of hard science fiction, for example), online forums are an efficient way to find them. Because participants tend to cluster around particular topics of interest, writers can post their call for beta readers in the area most relevant to their style and content. Writers’ Café, the Next Big Writer, and WritingForums.org or Wattpad.com are just a few of the online resources available that can help writers connect.

After you have found your handful of promising beta readers, make sure both of you have the best experience possible. Be clear on your expectations. Tell your beta readers exactly what you are looking to gain from their feedback, and exactly how detailed you want them to be.

Remember, beta readers are not editors. Their function is not to correct your work, or make any actual changes. The goal of bringing on a beta reader is for you, as the writer, to get a view of your own work through a reader’s eyes.

And that, for every writer, is truly invaluable.
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About the Author
Lauren Sapala is a writer, writing coach and blogger at www.laurensapala.com. She blogs about writing, creativity, and finding and holding onto one’s inspired passion in life. She currently lives in San Francisco, is working on her fifth novel, and in her free time facilitates the writing group she founded, “Write City”.

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 880+ 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 to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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100 Years of Change

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An interesting look at life as it was back in 1913 compared to life today.

Maybe some ideas if you write historical novels?

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100 Years of Change infographic

An interesting look at life as it was back in 1913 compared to life today

 

Celebration and Gratitude for 200.000 Blog Readers!

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Celebrating!

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A big THANK YOU to all my blog readers of the last two years who learned about publishing and book marketing from almost 770 blog posts!!!  Today, the 200.000th  reader logged into https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com.  A reason to be really grateful! Even if it is only hobby, or better a mission to support author-publishers. Thanks for subscribing, for coming here day for day and for recommending this blog to your friends and fellow writers – or to even re-blog it.
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Thanks for writing these comments
– of which 99% are praise and encouragement. Sorry to all of you who did not (yet) get a reply: I really appreciate your comments a lot! And I am extremely thankful for such a loyal following. Please bear with me : ) even when I am not answering immediately. I really enjoy writing these tips for authors and if I would have the time, I would write even more, and answer your comments faster.

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Soon this blog will invite all readers to sign iup for a newsletter
with even more in-dept information and also news of free or
reduced books. Let us know if you want your book promoted
on free KDP days or 99-cent promotions.

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Celebrating 200.000 Readers

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Again, thanks for subscribing to this blog and for all your comments and your loyalty and I hope, you will gain lots of encouragement from reading these tips and you implement them into your publishing and book marketing career.
Doris

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 760 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://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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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://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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2012 in Review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

What a lovely idea!  I was totally surprised … : )

Here’s an excerpt:

19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 100,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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CELEBRATING !!! 100,000 Readers on this Blog

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• 100,000 all-time
• 248 today
  
• 582 views on your busiest day, December 4, 2012
  

A big THANKS to everyone of my readers here on SavvyBookWriters .  Today is the big day for this blog: The first 100,000 reader mark is reached.  What a number!  100,000

Thank you for signing up, thank you for commenting on the blog and through social media, and thank you to the guest bloggers on this site!

I couldn’t  imagine this in April 2011, just one and a half years ago, when SavvyBookWriters started very slowly.  Sometimes, there where only five or ten blog readers a day, no wonder, as I had no social media presence whatsoever.  And I must admit that English is not my mother language and I often struggle with my writing. But writing every day improved it – I hope.
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Two things helped, and they will help you as an author of books as well:

1. Persistence – don’t give up, even if you have a very slow start
2. Get enough audience, join Google+, Twitter, FB, Goodreads …
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My goal for future blogs is to bring you fresh and valuable information. Take advantage of these free tips on publishing and marketing your books and subscribe, just click on FOLLOW.  As a blogger feel free to re-post one of the 620 articles that you think are useful for your own readers. Yes, and interesting guest blogs are certainly always welcome!

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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, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing
or here:

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK

http://pinterest.com/111publishing/

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008Y15YYO

https://plus.google.com/113988101794370708359/posts

http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/111publishing

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/429942674

http://chime.in/user/ebooksinternational

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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Announce Your Book Signing on Google+ for FREE

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Create an event
While Facebook Events are geared towards getting people together, Google Plus seeks to help people plan beforehand as well as share their experiences during and after the event. Through its aesthetic design and prominent placement on profiles, Events promises to be a collection of group photo albums for commemorating special times, online and offline.

Through its aesthetic design and prominent placement on profiles, this Events feature is a great free tool to market your book launch or signing. But as always with Google+ : Your events success depends on the amount of people you can reach and this in turn depends on how many people you include into your circles.

• Log into http://plus. Log into Google Plus and click on “Events” in the left-hand menu.
• Click on the “Create Event” button in the top right-hand corner.
• Fill in the basic details of your event — title, location, etc.
• Decide which of your circles or single persons you want to invite
• By default, only those invited can see your event.
• You can also change it to be a public event.
• Set other options for your event. Click on the “Event options” button next to the event title field.
• Basic options. Decide if you’d like your guests to be able to invite other people and to add their photos to the event page.
• Add additional fields to your event. If you’d like to add a website, ticket seller URL, YouTube link, transit / parking information, or other details to your event information, check the “Show additional fields” option.
• Choose a cover photo of your event. Click on the “Change theme” button at the top to choose between pre-made Google Plus designs and your photos. You can also upload a new photo or play a live slideshow of all the photos.
• Hit “Invite” to confirm the creation of your event. You will be directed to your new event’s page.
• Share the event to your profile by clicking on the button in the top right-hand corner.

Google Plus also automatically creates a new album for all of the photos you upload to an event. You can access these photos from your albums page and from the event page. If this is a yearly-recurring event or a regular gathering between a group of people, you can post pictures from the last time a similar event happened. Otherwise, it might be better to post photos from the event after the gathering has taken place.
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Other possibilities are:

Create an event from the calendar list
In the calendar list on the left, click on the down-arrow button next to the appropriate calendar. Then, select Create event on this calendar.

Create an event via SMS
Simply send a text message containing your event’s details to the shortcode “GVENT” (48368). For example, if you send a message with something like “Book Launch at Chapters 3pm on Saturday, November 24, 2012” Google Calendar can figure out what you mean and pop the new event into your calendar.

Publish the Event
When you click the “Publish Event” link you will be given some code that you can use to link to your event. This is how you would share the event on your website so that users can click a button to add it to their calendar. Within this code is the link that will take users right to your event. Copy all of the code between a href=” and the next set of double quote marks.
As the creator of the Event, you can manage your guest list, add photos, share your Event with more people, edit Event details and delete an Event. How to add a Google map and give directions how your guests can reach you is shown in this video.
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Be smart and use this exiting, free Google+ tool to spread the word about your book and your event. And don’t forget: a similar feature is offered by Goodreads, also for free. Take advantage of these great opportunities to present your book!

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 970 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.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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AMAZON Deletes Readers Reviews

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Bestseller author Rayne Hall originally shared this post on Google+

Petition: “Amazon: Stop Arbitrarily Deleting Reviews!”

“I’m glad someone has taken the initiative and started a petition. Amazon deletes masses of customer reviews, without giving a reason. Presumably, this is to stop the mushrooming of fake reviews (the kind where you pay someone $5 and they leave a gushing 5* review without ever reading the book).
Unfortunately, many thoughtful, sincere reviews get deleted in the process, while the fake reviews from sock-puppet accounts continue to flourish. I have lost many thoughtful reviews from genuine readers.

Some readers have emailed me, deeply unhappy about the deletion of their reviews, not understanding what’s going on. Any requests to Amazon for explanations have yielded nothing but bot-generated unsympathetic uninformative brush-offs. Several readers emailed me to say they will no longer leave reviews at Amazon, because their time and effort has been wasted when Amazon deleted their previous reviews. I can understand their position.

This petition demands that Amazon provides clear criteria for what makes a review deletable, and when deleting a review, gives a reason why. I think this is a sensible, modest request.”
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The Petition organized by Author Derek Blass, Denver, CO Amazon: Stop Arbitrarily Removing Customer Reviews From Indie Author Books

He explains: “Amazon is currently removing customer reviews from books published by indie authors without any notice, and without any explanation. This petition demands that Amazon explain for every author that loses a review (good or bad) why that review was removed, and set forth clear guidelines as to what will and will not be removed in the future.”

“Hi all, I just sent the first email to Amazon, informing them regarding this petition, the success we have had in a short period of time with respect to this petition, and asking that they initiate contact to address the demands made in this petition. I wanted to paste the content of the email in this news update, but posts are restricted to 900 characters. Thus, I have posted the entire email on my blog which can be found at derekblass.wordpress.com
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My own advice: Best thing would be to copy your reviews as soon as posted (just in case) and then paste them in the author page as statements with date and name of the reviewer.

P.S.  Just read an article, the Guardian wrote now too:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/05/amazon-removes-book-reviews

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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 590 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, 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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PART 2 – 45 More Websites to Promote Your Book

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PART TWO “Advertise” your Book for FREE
See the first 50 websites here

Forums / Networks / Book Communities / Book Bloggers – all this means free Promotion for your book!

For your book to sell, you need to create the demand. You need an audience, a platform – which you will get when your book is showing up on many websites and forums, visible to readers.

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1.        http://www.bookjetty.com
2.        http://worldliterarycafe.com/
3.        http://www.independentauthornetwork.com
4.        http://www.bookcrossing.com
5.        http://www.shelfari.com
6.        http://www.bookmesh.com
7.        http://www.whatsonmybookshelf.com
8.        http://www.revish.com
9.        http://www.online-literature.com/forums
10.        http://www.writing.com
11.        http://forums.onlinebookclub.org
12.        http://www.bookandreader.com/forums/
13.        http://www.canadianbookclubs.com/forums
14.        http://www.ebookforum.info
15.        http://www.friends4brandt.com
16.        http://www.bookgrouponline.com/forum
17.        http://www.kindleboards.com
18.        http://www.memyshelfandi.com/p/review-policy.html
19.        http://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/
20.        http://writersbreak.com
21.        http://www.writersmarket.com
22.        http://weread.com/
23.        http://www.lindsayburoker.com
24.        http://www.thepassivevoice.com
25.        http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com
26.        http://www.goodbookideas.com/
27.        http://www.reading-forum.co.uk/forum
28.        http://www.online-literature.com/forums
29.        http://www.writing.com
30.        http://www.whowrotewhat.net/
31.        http://www.bookreportradio.com/
32.        http://www.timgreatonforum.blogspot.ca/
33.        http://www.figment.com
34.        http://forums.onlinebookclub.org
35.        http://www.bookandreader.com/forums/
36.        http://www.ebookforum.info
37.        http://www.friends4brandt.com
38.        http://www.bookgrouponline.com/forum
39.        http://mariefostino.weebly.com/books.html
40.        http://independentauthorsinternational.org/iAi/Authors.html
41.        http://addictivestory.wordpress.com/indie-book-promotions/
42.        http://www.canadianbookclubs.com/forum
43.        http://www.bowkerlink.com/corrections/common/home.asp
44.        http://ebooksalon.blogspot.co.at/ (German)
45.        https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/authors-want-pr-for-your-book/

More Websites and hundreds of tips how to promote your book in the upcoming book “Book Marketing  on a Shoestring”.  It will be launched at the end of November.

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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 570 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, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

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Authors: Have You Read This?

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From useful blogs and articles I found on the Internet:

iBookstore now in 17 Latin-American countries
Christian Zibreg wrote in idownloadblog.com:
“Apple has rolled out paid iBookstore content in a slew of new countries. Paid electronic books first surfaced this morning over in the New Zealand iBookstore, but subsequent reports confirmed that paid content is now live – or in the process of going live – in as much as seventeen Latin American markets such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.”
One more reason to sell your books on Apple’s iPad.
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/10/22/ibookstore-paid-content-new-countires/

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Sad News: Timely.is will shut down on November 16th
Timely.is started as a fun side project back in 2010. Since then it has grown to help tens of thousands of people publish millions of Tweets and Facebook updates. Starting November 16th you will no longer be able to access your Timely.is account.
They explained:
“When we launched Timely almost 2 years ago there were no other tools that would automatically figure out the best time for a Tweet to go out. Thankfully there are some great alternatives today such as Buffer or Hootsuite.”
Well, not as conveniently and easy to use as Timely was… I will miss it.

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Book Blogger Directory
The Book Blogger Directory is a comprehensive listing of Book Blogs, separated by genre and listed alphabetically. The goal of the Book Blogger Directory is to not only to organize book blogs for users to easily find your blog, it is also there to create a link exchange for search engine optimization. Their mission: To cross promote book bloggers, provide listings by genre and increase links to increase page rank. The benefits of listing on the Book Blogger Directory:  As cross promotion occurs from one blog to the next, your Google Page Rank can increase, higher Google Page Rank means higher search engine rankings!  Higher keyword saturation on the Directory can have your listing show up on search engines.

Requirements to be on the Book Blogger Directory:
Your blog is primarily used to talk about books (8 out of 10 posts are book related). The Book Blogger Directory will not search out book blogs, it is up to users to enter their listings
http://bookbloggerdirectory.wordpress.com/

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Google+ (Author) Pages FREE
What more can you wish for? An authors pages that tremendously increases your Search Engine Optimization! A great tool no one should omit, at least not if you want to sell more books…

Google explains: “Differences between Google+ Pages and Google+ Profiles

• Pages are extremely similar to profiles, but they have some key differences:
• Pages can be made for a variety of different entities whereas profiles can only be made for people.
• Pages can have multiple administrators.
• The default privacy setting for elements on your page profile is public.
• Local pages have special fields that help people find the business’ physical location.
• Pages have the +1 button.
• Pages can’t +1 other pages, nor can they +1 stuff on the Web. (But like profiles, they can +1 inside Google+.)
• Pages can’t play games.
• Pages don’t have the option to share to ‘Extended circles’.
• Pages can’t hangout on a mobile device.
• Pages can’t add people to circles until the page is added first or mentioned.”

http://support.google.com/plus/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1713824

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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 570 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, 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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Bestsellers with More Than 150 One-Star Reviews

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Porter Anderson wrote in Jane Friedman’s blog a post about – I guess you can call it: Scandal of the Year.  Here are some snippets from his article, make sure to read the complete post, including the NY Times article and comments.

“Potential reviewers were told that if they felt they could not give a book a five-star review, they should say so and would still be paid half their fee…As you might guess, this hardly ever happened.”  Quote from a NYT article “The best reviews money can buy“.

Mr. Locke was secure enough in his talents to say that he did not care what the reviews said. “If someone doesn’t like my book,” he instructed, “they should feel free to say so.” But additionally: He also asked that the reviewers make their book purchases directly from Amazon, which would then show up as an “Amazon verified purchase” and increase the review’s credibility.

Locke appears to have been a happy customer of Rutherford. Having e-mailed Rutherford in 2010 that he was “ready to roll” with the false reviews he bought, he seems unapologetic now for using such a mechanism to build his now-discredited “success.” He confessed in the NY Times to contravening Amazon policy.

This NYT article got a wide range of responses:
“This is fraud! This guy, along with John Locke and his ilk, should be banned by Amazon for defrauding their clients http://t.co/xmDb4Pxx&#8221;

“It’s hard to overstate how angry I am with shysters like John Locke for taking the easy way out.” http://t.co/rTUk65kZ #selfpubauthorsspeak
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Jason Boog at GalleyCat pulls off an entertaining twist on the issue, creating a list of “Major Bestsellers with More Than 150 One-Star Reviews”:

• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (717 one-star reviews)
• A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin (456 one-star reviews)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (432 one-star reviews)
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (248 one-star reviews)
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James (3,665 one-star reviews)

When you read Porter Anderson’s blog post, don’t miss to scroll down and read all the comments, both authors and readers are pretty mad.
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I must say, I bought Locke’s book “How I sold 1 Million books in 5 months” – without paying any attention to reviews – and read /scanned it about three times to find out how he really did it. I wanted to learn from him how he achieved this enormous success in such a short time. But essentially he said he used only contacts through social media, especially Twitter to achieve those bestseller numbers. My feeling was: “he hides something”. Now I know…

It would be interesting to find out how all the other commercial reviewers, such as Kirkus (charges over $400) or Book Rooster (less than $100) handle this. Do their reviewers get the books for free or do they have to buy it on Amazon? Are their reviewers really free to use the whole range of stars?  One can also ask: Are 1-star reviews written undercover by the competition?  Or an honest valuation of the books content?

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are more than 520 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, 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 Announce Your Book for FREE on Google

Market for Free on Google+

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Would you like to have your book cover and description seen by millions on the internet?
If your answer is YES, then sign up with Google plus – Google+ and use one of the best ways on the whole internet to announce your book for FREE – several times a day!

Once you are signed up with Google+, write a compelling “Profile” and add images of you and your books to it.  Start building circles and adding potential readers of your book into these circles. Unlike Twitter you can build circles with thousands of followers in a very short time. No 2,000 limit here…

No need to “hand-pick” these followers, just start out by adding already existing circles to your own. Type in: readers, writers, literary agents, publishers, librarians, book reviewers, book worms etc. or keywords of your books to find the right circles. Don’t forget your personal interests, sports and hobbies to have well-mixed community. Select the audience or the parts of your list that will be receiving your message according to your choosen topic of circles.

Create also a Google+ Business Account for each of your books – easy and free again. Google+ allows every business to act as an individual in many forms.

Like with any other social media, comment on postings of others, ask questions, give a “1+” on their postings and “share” them (same as “re-tweet” on Twitter). After some partizipating days, start your own posts, write short articles about anything your Audience might be interested in. After all it is called “Social Media”…
Add lots of photos and snippets from your blog or website. Post your book trailer – see 111 Tips to Create Your Book Trailer how to do this.  And add links to Amazon or other book sales pages.

Place images of your books and a short description along with your author bio – several times a day! Place your book trailer in separate posts to achieve even more buzz. Write at least five unique descriptions of each of your books, to avoid this “spamming look” on your posts and change the headline as well.

You can use Google Talk to chat with friends, potential customers and readers. In your sidebar, you have an option to connect with people in through chats. Again: As larger your audience on Google+ is, as more people you added to your circles, as more potential readers you will get and as better the result will be.

Best of all: Your Search Engine ranking increases exceptionally when participating on Google+.  Submit each of your blog post to your Google+ account. Google treats the information on its own platforms, aka Google Search Engine, pretty high. This means your SEO-ranking for your website or blog improves tremendously.

Take advantage of Google+, one of the best ways to market books or e-books which authors and publishers yet have to discover. Let me know about your Google+ presence and I will add you into my circles too. Mine is:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/108229068198031646389/posts

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are more than 520 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 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, 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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This is Not Your Book? Or is it?

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Misspelling, formatting errors, grammar flaws – are self-publishers AND the big traditional publishing houses not editing anymore?

Joel Friedlander wrote a great blog about the the whole editing process.

Read what readers / customers say on the Kindle Forum about these issues:

Carol H. writes:
“I, too, have discovered numerous misspelled words, punctuation, hyphenation, special character errors, and missing text in many Kindle books. And I’m not talking the little self-published books, either — I’m talking professionally published books from the major book houses!  I have no idea why this is happening, but I’ve left feedback on some books’ pages about the errors. There’s no excuse for it in this electronic age. What I hope is that when these errors are fixed, if they ever are, will Amazon automatically download the revised version since our purchase is on record?”

jh writes:
“I’ve bought a couple of books that had particularly frequent and glaring errors, hinting at poor OCR* rather than human error. Things like “1″ turning up in the middle of a word instead of “l” or “I”, which a human wouldn’t accidentally type.  But yes, plenty of poorly proof-read copy in titles that aren’t by big-name authors. Though you do see that in physical books too, especially early editions. Misspellings, funky punctuation, even the old “there/their/they’re” issue…
*OCR = optical character recognition, in case anyone’s not sure what that meant. Basically a computer scanning the page of a physical book/manuscript, recognizing the letters as best it can, and digitizing it. I have downloaded several “free” books, unfortunately, they were not free of misspellings , missing words, and other errors. I just overlook them since they didn’t cost me anything. I haven’t had that problem with the books I’ve paid for. Guess the old saying is true, ” You get what you pay for”!”

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Santo de Vaca writes:
“@Carol Hannon: I bought a book with some really terrible formatting issues. In the physical book the first letter of each chapter was elaborately drawn and this didn’t transfer well to the electronic version. They fixed it a few weeks after publication and I had the option of downloading a fixed version of the book, which I did. I’m not sure if this is the norm or not for corrections.”
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Granny Daisy says:
“As an avid reader, I often find errors in print and kindle books. Even in established authors you find misspelled or miss used words, or incomplete sentences. I am beginning to think publishers are saving money by not paying proof readers.”
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J. Robertson writes:
“I have found spelling and grammar errors in many paper books as well. So I think its all about the proof reading being done.”

Publish your book the professional way. Well, if you want to be recognized as an author and if you want to publish a professional book, worth the years you worked on it and to be proud of – let it edit. And no, you can’t do this yourself!
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Grants for Writers: 1 in 3 Proposals Funded!

Writers Residency & Grant

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Among the country’s largest grant makers, in average one proposal in three is typically funded. Read in a recent post of this blog: How to Apply for Funding.  Study their requirements carefully, ask for copies of grant proposals they have been previously funded. Some samples can even be found on websites or other resources available online. Write your proposal in a positive manner and language and proof-read it carefully. Create a good cover letter template and an application template and keep it in your computer files, then customize those files to fit specific grants and contest applications.

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Illinois Arts Council
The Illinois Arts Council recognizes that individual artists are the keystone to the creation of art. Individual Artist Professional Development (IA-PD) seeks to support professional development opportunities related to an individual artist’s career. Grant amounts for IA-PD are $500 or $750 Individual Artist Support funds will help Illinois artists realize career goals, take advantage of professional opportunities, and/or produce projects or bodies of work for public viewing. The IAS program represents the Arts Council’s commitment to continuing to support the work of individual artists. Deadline September 14, 2012. If sending via USPS or other mailing service: postmarked September 14, 2012
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs009/1101975251935/archive/1110682278125.html

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Residency at Chateau de La Napoule, Mandelieu-La Napoule, France
LNAF’s General Residency offers up to ten artists a four week period to live and work at the Château de La Napoule. At its core is a belief in the value of the shared experience of personal, professional and artistic discovery that takes place within a supportive environment of peers.
Group Residency: This residency offers up to ten artists a five week period to live and work at the Château de La Napoule. At its core is a belief in the value of the shared experience of personal, professional and artistic discovery that takes place within a supportive environment of peers. This program promotes opportunities for cross-cultural dialogue and artistic exchange. This residency is open to all artistic genres and artists from across the globe. Selected artists receive housing and most meals. Deadline: September 30, 2012. Contact LNAF@clews.org
http://www.LNAF.org

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ART342 Residences
ART342 hosts local, national and international artists for 14-week and 6-week sessions during the spring  summer and fall. We are able to accommodate most visual artists, including creative writers, and composers. Free studio space, a modest weekly stipend and living arrangements are awarded to select residents. We restrict the sessions to the artist only without pets, children, companions, visitors or local interruptions. Location Fort Collins, CO. Application deadline: October 1. There are no fees for housing or studio facilities. However, the residents are responsible for their own groceries, supplies and spending money. $100/week for out-of-town residents.
http://www.art342.org

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Massachusetts Artist Fellowship Program
We are pleased to announce the launch of the 2013 Artist Fellowships Program. The Artist Fellowships provide direct, unrestricted support to Massachusetts artists in recognition of exceptional original work. MCC’s Artist Fellowships are competitive, anonymously-judged grants for individual artists, with awards based solely on the artistic excellence of the original work submitted. The 2013 Artist Fellowships Program accepts applications among others in the following categories: Dramatic Writing, and Sculpture/Installation. Online applications available now. Application deadline: October 1, 2012
http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/applications/fellows_guidelines.asp

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Pine Manor College Fellowships
The Solstice MFA in Creative Writing offers four fellowships for students starting the program during the winter residency/spring semester: the Michael Steinberg Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction, the Dennis Lehane Fellowship for Fiction, the Jacqueline Woodson Fellowship for a Young People’s Writer of African or Caribbean Descent, and the Sharon Olds.
Fellowship for Poetry: These Fellowships provide $1000 toward first-semester tuition for four students who begin the program during the winter residency/spring semester. Applicants who want to be considered for a genre-based fellowship should submit a general application form no later than October 15, 2012.
http://www.pmc.edu/mfa-financial-aid

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The Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University
A fellowship will be given to writers and other artists of exceptional promise to pursue independent projects at Princeton University during the 2013-2014 academic year. Hodder Fellows may be writers, composers, choreographers, visual artists and performance artists who have “much more than ordinary intellectual and literary gifts;” they are selected more “for promise than for performance.” Given the strength of the applicant pool, most successful Fellows have published a first book or have similar achievements in their own fields; the
Hodder is designed to provide Fellows with the “studious leisure” to undertake significant new work. Hodder Fellows spend an academic year at Princeton, but no formal teaching is involved. A $68,000 stipend is provided! Fellowships cannot fund work leading to the Ph.D. One need not be a U.S. citizen to apply. Apply by November 1, 2012 through the Princeton Human Resources website – www.princeton.edu/jobs; search Open Positions and enter key word “Hodder Fellows.”

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Nevada Go Artist Grants
Professional Development Grant (PDG) promotes the continuing education of Nevada’s nonprofit arts industry to advance their work and careers through attendance at regional or national conferences, workshops, or seminars for skills training. For artists, educators, board members, and arts administrators, PDG funds cover costs associated with professional development activities on a reimbursement basis. Must demonstrate travel of at least 100 miles round-trip to qualify. Up to $650 for out-of-state activities, up to $500 for in-state opportunities and up to $350 to attend NAC sponsored activities. Individual artists of all disciplines, including fold and traditional artists and community scholars, teaching artists, arts educators.
New: Jackpot Grants will support arts education projects (previously funded through BETA Grants) that are designed and implemented by teaching artists, nonprofit arts and non-arts organizations, schools or public institutions. Examples of eligible projects include: art exhibitions, performances, readings and concerts, sponsoring of arts-related workshops and conferences, marketing and promotional activities, planning, implementation, and/or evaluation of arts education programs for school-aged students or other target participants. Grant Amount: up to $1,000. Available on a first-come, first-served and reimbursement basis throughout the year while funds are available.
http://nac.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1043&Itemid=412

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Check out these websites to find more writers residencies, grants and fellowships:
Mira’s List or  Res Artis  A database of world-wide residencies, which you can search by discipline, keyword or country.  

If you are willing to take a little time and have a bit of courage, you will be able to reap the fruits of your labor. It is a myth that you have to be famous in order to get a grant. Truth is, most people who are awarded grants are on their way up, not already there.  Fear of being rejected prevents a lot of people from applying for opportunities that are out there. Fear is your worst enemy. You really have nothing to lose when applying. The best remedy for fearing rejection is to apply for five to ten things at the same time.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are more than 520 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, 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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