Two New Resources Found at Camp

Joining a writer's group is a common suggestion to any writer who wonders aloud about improving their skills, but writer's groups are not open to newcomers, everyday, and good matches aren't always easy to stumble upon.  Camp NaNoWriMo an off-shoot of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has sort of a writer's group appeal to it.  Cabins and cabin-mates are optional and can be created with friends or acquaintances.  They can also be filled with encouraging strangers.  It isn't necessary to join a cabin for the writer's group sort of attention, however, as each 'camper' has email notices, links to resources, the forum, and a Youtube channel with all sorts of information from camp counselors and guest speaking authors.  The goodies for winning often reveal many new resources in the Indie Publishing business.  This year's tips from the goodie bag to pass along to writer's who missed camp include:
The Author Marketing Club and Inked Voices

Inked Voices is a community that groups authors into online, writing groups.  The criteria for group finding is controllable by each writer in a multiple choice format to determine the writer's group 'match' for new members.  Writer's groups can also be shopped and changed after joining, so there is little risk in getting involved.  Also, there are structured writing critiques and many perks and extras for members.  There is a cost, per month.  One goodie from camp was a discount.

The Author Marketing Club boasts a membership of more than 25,000 authors.  The main perk, here, seems to be that it demystifies Kindle and Amazon, a bit, for independently published authors. Secrets the large publishers probably either know, or don't have to because of the amount of business they do with the top book-seller are revealed like a Review Grabber.  Amazon has scads of reviewers who actually have a page where they post their bios and email addresses, so indie authors can request reviews of their books.  That and a few tips on pricing and coding, insider valuables, that kind of thing.  This site also requires a monthly or annual fee be paid before the secrets are revealed.  Good to know, though, certainly.

Searching for SEO Content and Butter Knives

Indie authors, we are not alone!! I hear that even published authors, these days, are responsible for finding SEO content for their platforms.  Blogging and social media is not enough?  When do we have time for more?!!  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, so isn't that just Google's problem or the spiders that help websites and blogs 'show up' in search results?  No.  Sorry.  We are now quite encouraged and motivated (as the results are often the difference between lots of fans and no-ownership platforms) to find content that brings in new fans, and helps us connect with readers.

In otherwords, the content part of the word SEO content is the hook: or, the reason searchers go to your blog from their search results page - or, your website, your fb page, and so forth.  So, a book-buying mother, who is looking up fairies might have typed in Fairy Birthday Parties.  She has typed just one of the reasons, as a book buying mother, that she might look up (and go to) my blog with a faerie-based book.

All this leads me to the reason I am writing this post.  If you are an Indie author, think twice - no 13 times - before choosing vlogging as your SEO content.  Shakespeare's Rosalind took up less of his time, honestly; and though he probably didn't shower as often, sleep in his own bed, or smell that good during his musings around between writing time; he did get back to writing as his focus.  Not so sure that vlogging as a mistress muse is as giving, forgiving?  Understanding?  No.  She isn't.  She is quite the demanding whore, as I have found out - and relentlessly impossible to ignore.

Run.  If you have chosen vlogging, you already know.  You need a shower.  You need your 4 food groups on a plate, instead of eating with just one hand.  You need two hand free, not just one holding a caffinated beverage.  We all have needs.  Vlogging extinguishes yours like a prima-donna girlfriend with a hot temper.  I don't want a girlfriend.  I wanted young readers to discover my books. I hope after bags of craft supplies, hours of crafting, videographing, editing, and drinking coffee, they do discover my Faerie Project and love my books.  Try the link if you don't believe me.  I have to go now.  Part I of a vlog post is requiring my undivided and overly-stressed out attention.

FYI: If you do choose vlogging, choose a topic you LOVE.  I'm not sure I even like Faeries anymore, and I have at least 2 more books to go before they love me back, if in fact, our relationships do last through the vlog years.

Facebook Pages for an Author's Book - is it Really Effective?

During most Facebook interactions, creative types and authors often find less business, more chat, and liking hilarious, puppy photo posts rather than getting down to selling more books.  So, when working on a platform, knowing how much extra work, writing, formatting, and posting goes into each spoke of the platform wheel, it is crucial to make decisions about where these efforts will be most effective for an author's valuable time.  Afterall, it could be book writing time that is spent at these outposts, but these are where a readership gets met with and believes in the value of the author's content.  In other words, a post about the author's cat, just might get people thinking about trying or downloading the book sample on the same page.  Buried under posts that are beyond an author's control, however, could be the link to the book or even an excerpt.  That's when Facebook pages, in addition to the Facebook site come into play as being worth the effort, although they are like their own page, they can have all the friend links and friend posts, as exist on the main page. In other words, authors should definitely add the page feature - just for author/novel content.

Two effective strategies to making this time consuming - and tangent creating - social media avenue worth every hour

1.  Use Aweber's mail list creator to add to your novel's page.  A great tutorial can be found at The Creative Penn, by Joanna Penn.
2.  Create a blog tour for your book.  A terrific tutorial can be found on Youtube by Mandy Lynn, a teen author who shares her experiences in self-publishing and what she calls 'doing it right'.

Both strategies, along with a page for the book on Facebook, can bring along a readership with a place to connect and be heard.  Readers and book bloggers have a resource to connect with the author, directly, or comment and share, well, hilarious puppy photos.  : )



View my VLOG!! Find it and subscribe to get the latest information on new video posts and updates.

Author's Website - A Must for Self- and Indie Published Authors

Tips for Creating an Author's Website

When signing up with hosted websites such as Blogger, an author's website is more of a blog than a full service, e-commerce website. Authors who wish to sell books right on their website opt for buying a domain name and URL from a site like GoDaddy.  Since my books sell on Kindle for Amazon.com, I decided to publish a blog hosted by Blogger - Wordpress is another good option, and has even more features specific to helping an author succeed.

Hosts like Blogger and Wordpress can accommodate a purchased URL with a program where you buy your domain name in order to have a dotcom as your address even though your site is under the umbrella of the blog host's platform.  Its very inexpensive, only $10 per year and there are a few extra bells and whistles, at first, although the features of the blog remain virtually the same.  Its not the same as a full-service site, but you don't have to be your own web developer to own your dotcom URL.  An author's website is a necessary step in building a platform, so appearing to own the URL is, for some, a status symbol.  Authors who have built a platform on the web, already, probably went this extra step to help brand their name; or, they own their domain with web developer tool access.

Either way you decide to go, you'll need an author's website or blog with your name on it.  The next step is to decide what kind of SEO content you'll add to its pages, and the specific aspects to include to sell your book and provide information.

SEO Content Isn't the Same as Book Selling

As an author and writer, I keep two seperate blogsites which link to my Indie publishing blogsite. This helps me keep each purpose in its own package (I try to refrain from going off on tangents or mixing content up, this way).  Some authors like to keep it all on the same page - book selling and SEO content - however, understanding the difference between the two, first, helps you include both the salad and the entree in your website's content.

A blog with SEO content helps you sell books, moreover, it helps you create a platform.  You are a person, with a book, and a cart to checkout or buy the book.  This equals book sales. Prompts for finding your best SEO content can be questions like "Well, what else do you do?" or "Why does that matter to a reader who lands upon/looks for your site?" In other words, imagine a viewer of your page asking you, "How does this help me?"  Base the next prompt on what your content is about and ask if you can help: "I am trying to find a book market, (a sewing machine, a tomato cage, etc)."

As a self-published author, you will have more than one book. And, yes, probably more than one Facebook page or Google+ page as you go.  Marketing the places you sell your books, your books, and your social media sites is now involved in your marketing task.  All of these pages now must contain links to your events, online book tours, book festivals, signings, or launches, and links to buying your books.

A good rule of thumb for the self-publishing niche:

1. The author's site contains the information readers look up
2. The SEO content is the information authors look up.

How This Translates with Other SEO Content Subject Matter

Here are other ways of seeing this concept (or rule) played out on your author sites with your web content:

1. The author's site features your book covers, sample chapters, book signings, a raffle.
2. The SEO content is a fan page about your fictional characters with quotes, sign-ups for whatever fans of your characters like to read about, or is referenced by.

Another idea to illustrate the differences:

1. The author site features your photo, bio, press releases, and books about sewing.
2. The SEO content has sample fabric patterns used in the book, links to sewing community pages, articles about sewing techniques, and maybe a pattern download, or something.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  Its really the content a person looks up who isn't looking exactly for your book - but can be reached by your book which offers the kind of entertainment, or

Tips for Promoting Self-Published E-Books

Authors who've self-published usually learn as they go along how to market their books effectively.  The problem with the learn as you go method is that sometimes methodology changes and there is no refresher course.  Technology for book-selling sites is often updated and e-book readers have rapidly improved so it isn't easy keeping up.  Self-published authors and Indie publishers who've learned about changes and updates are the best source for clueing in to what has changed. If you have an e-book already online and even if you haven't yet pressed that publish button, here are some recent updates for the self-published author's book marketing to-do list to help you improve your book's online visibility and its chance for success.

• Get your Amazon.com description coded.  Not too long ago, html code was not necessary to add to your book's description area, but now it is required.  Html coding not only improves visibility, but Amazon requires that their books have the same professional product page.  You can get information about where to find this code from a book called Crush It with Kindle's Youtube.com channel, or you can learn to code it yourself.  The coded description goes on the kdp bookshelf description rather than the Author Central page.
• Reviews and reviewers are not easy to find, but once your book has been reviewed, you can display your reviews from both Amazon.com and Goodreads.com on your author's website.  Goodreads has a widget which allows authors to embed code to add reviews to your own pages.
• TweetYourBooks is a great resource for reviews and reaching a wider audience with book marketing efforts online.  
• Creating a book on Createspace? Formatting pages and the cover to the 6" x 9" format automatically opens up a retail distribution channel that is blocked from other size formats.  If you already have your book out through Createspace you might want to go back and examine whether changing its format would be worth the effort.

How to Know When Your Editor Just Isn't the Right Fit

During my morning Twitter session, my eye was caught by a tweet that read, "Finding a good editor is all about chair placement."  I immediately remembered what I wanted to write a post about, here, for my readers who might also be writers.  When browsing across that particular tweet, I imagined the editor scooching his chair.  Yes, even as a feminist I imagined the editor as a young, blonde (for some reason) guy with some author like Margaret Atwood whose writing - and book - he is so taken with that he scooches the chair in toward the book.  Watch for this if you are rewriting another time for an editor who just does not seem to like what you write.  Maybe it isn't your writing, your book, or you as an author; maybe the editor just isn't the right fit for the genre or something about what you have revealed in your book.  With a childhood aversion to birthday cake, I don't think the person - no matter the credentials - can love The Big Birthday Cake Surprise as well as you can, or as well as readers who'd not only love the book, but eat a big piece of cake after to celebrate its goodness.

Another clue that perhaps your editor isn't sabotaging your writing career, but she just can't love your book, is that she never says, "I absolutely love _______ (that part, or this character)!"  According to bestselling vampire genre author, Anne Rice, try someone else!  There will be someone who can love your books (characters, plot, ecetera) even without being prompted to tell you so.  As for the other kind, your book would be better off with an author who would take it to a different editor.  You wouldn't leave your kids, your pets, or your plants with someone who couldn't feed them while you were gone, water or nurture them - so don't leave your book there, with her.

I've had this experience, I hate to say.  I had an editor who decided to take my only available computer file and chop out the 'fun' parts and the parts that caused readers to feel emotion about the topic, the plot, and the characters.  That is a dead tree!  That is not what an editor does.  I rewrote the emotion, the fun, and the parts I thought I could salvage and published with Fae-tality Publishing.

Watch Anne Rice's advice to writers on youtube, HERE.

Writing is a Career - So Why Are You Looking For a Job?

These days, unless you have an impressive list of awards and award show invites with your name on them, you may as well load the ink into your arm. When does 'writing' become the job that qualifies as a career - the honorable author not the cliche excuse? To your family, its when the sales and bank deposit slips equal the best job you could get  - in today's market and with the skills you already have. For the author, its often the moment you discover your first novel has sold, or when it is sitting on the library's shelf among all the favorites you read as a child.

Writing novels takes time. It requires a dedication not just to writing but also to marketing.  Having a book out often adds to your workload a complete list of duties which a publisher's marketing department has in-house but that you may be expected to do on your own.  Add