FollowerWonk is a wonderful little tool released by the brilliant minds at SEOMoz that will help you connect with the right people on Twitter.

Rand Fishkin did a great presentation on FollowerWonk for SEOs. I highly recommend watching it, even if your eyes glaze over every time the word SEO is used. Please note that he is discussing the paid version of FollowerWonk, although most of the features he discusses are free.

Every time he says “SEO” substitute it with “author.” You’ll end up with advice that, if taken, will set you far ahead of your peers.

If you can’t see the video, click here to open it up in a new window.

I’ve broken down some of what Rand has said into “author-ese.”

1. Bio Search Feature – FREE

Most authors would use this to find agents and other writers within their genre. Why not use it to connect with experts in the area you are interested in? You can use it to multiply your reach and get advice from people you otherwise wouldn’t have access to.

For instance, using FollowerWonk, I can search for “Edwardian” in bios. There are 281 results, including The Victorian Society, Victorian Era Lovers, a few authors, numerous Edwardian estates/guest houses, and even some costumers. All of a sudden, I have access to people who know the Edwardian era inside and out. This would be great if I wrote novels set in this period.

You can make the search more advanced by adding parameters.  

The advanced search options make it easy to find the right people.

Like Rand says in the video, the search is pretty literal. You need to be a bit creative and come up with synonyms of what you are looking for because you don’t know what people will put in their bio. Make sure that you use a number of combinations. Have fun with it!

If you are going to an event in a certain city, figure out who to connect with there. If you are going to a family reunion in Atlanta, Georgia, maybe you double-up and see if there are any Edwardian/Victorian experts in the area that you can talk to about your latest WIP.

You can also use this section to find people who live in your hometown. This is a powerful way to connect with other writers if you aren’t currently in a writing group. Hack the system a bit and connect with other people.

Tweetables -

• Learning all about FollowerWonk from Author Media today. What a powerful tool! – Click to tweet.
• Why authors should use FollowerWonk. – Click to tweet.
• Why didn’t anyone tell me about FollowerWonk sooner? – Click to tweet.
• Using FollowerWonk might be overwhelming for the average author. Good think I’m not average! – Click to tweet.
• Thanks to Author Media and FollowerWonk, I now know more about you. Yes, you. – Click to tweet.
• I’m not a SEO but I love the idea of FollowerWonk. – Click to tweet.

2. Compare Users – Free…ish.

This tab shouldn’t take you back to your angsty high school days and popularity contests. Instead, it’s a great way to see who follows who and how to reach out to the audience you are looking for.

Just for fun, I compared mine (@ScribblingHappy) with Thomas Umstattd’s (@ThomasUmstattd). As you can see, he has a larger following while I have a greater influence.

I love drilling down into the user comparisons because it helps me see who people are being influenced by. If all my favorite tech experts are following the same user, the chances are that they are an expert and have something to say that I should be listening to.

If you write nonfiction, you’ll be able to see if there are other thought-leaders in your area of expertise that are following other writers. It makes connecting to people much easier.

There are more features on the paid version that are worth looking at.

3. Analyze Followers

Twitter can be a treasure trove of information. Plugging in to this feature lets you tap into some of it.

When I plugged in my personal account (@ScribblingHappy), I was able to look at my follower data and find out some surprising things. I could also look at the data of who I follow, but for this article, we’re sticking to the inbound data.

At the time of writing, I had just over 1,000 followers - 1,111 to be exact. I wanted to see where my followers lived (something you can also do via Map My Followers). Because so many people don’t list where they live in their bio, I’m unable to get an accurate reading.

Zooming in allows me to see more data – I can zoom in to see areas of cities, which is fantastic or scary depending on your personal views on privacy.

The bulk of my followers come from where I’ve lived: the Northwest, Texas, and the UK. But there’s quite a few in regions I’ve never been.

As a writer or speaker, this knowledge is incredibly valuable. Let’s say you have an event coming up – you’ll know who to connect with. You already have a team on the ground, waiting for you to reach out to them. So reach out.

With the free version you can also find -

• Social Authority Scores of Followers
• Gender of Followers
• Follower Count of Followers
• Following Count
• Account Ages
• Recency of Follower Tweets
• Total Tweets of Followers
• Languages
• Percentages with URLS
• Retweets as a Percentage of Timeline
• @Contacts as Percentage of Timeline
• Most Active Hours
• Bio word Cloud
• Two word Bio Cloud
• Location Word Cloud

All of that information is incredibly valuable. It’s a gold mine for marketers.

Imagine what you could do with your follower information. If you want to use Twitter at a higher level, I suggest taking a look at who is listening to you. They want to have a conversation.

4. Track Followers – PAID

You must sign up to use this part of FollowerWonk. It allows you to see how your followers have grown, allowing you to track trends. The above photo is an example of the data you’ll be able to mine.

Did you gain followers when you were tweeting during the last Presidential election? Did you lose most of them? Is there a certain date where your followers became more engaged? Are the new follows clustered around a geographical location?

Unlocking this section of FollowerWonk will allow you to find the answers. It’s not as important for authors but it is yet another powerful tool that you can use.

5. Sort Followers – PAID

Rand doesn’t talk about this on his video but it’s still a valuable resource. This allows you to sort people into nice and neat little groups so you can analyze them better. It’s kind of like putting people in boxes, only not.

 FollowerWonk is powerful.

Use it.

If you’ve been on Twitter for awhile, I highly recommend using FollowerWonk. If you are just starting out, wait a few months.

FollowerWonk is a great way to get the big picture of your social footprint. You don’t need to use it every day but it should be part of your annual social media analytics review. Don’t just tweet. Tweet smart.

Have you ever tried FollowerWonk? What did you find out about your followers? 

A funny thing happened when I first started with Author Media. I found that I was familiar with many of the authors who were coming to me for a professional author website consultation.

As a book blogger, I had reviewed their books.

One of the perks of being a book blogger is getting to know authors. One of the biggest perks, however, is getting free books. It’s hard for me to want to purchase books because I’m so used to getting them for free…and sometimes, autographed.

A few people have asked me about getting free books, so I thought I would share.

Here’s how you can become a book blogger and get free books:

1. Start a blog

You don’t need a professional author website when you are just starting out. CaitlinMuir.com was a simple WordPress.com blog. I didn’t switch over to .org until I wanted more control over my site. I do recommend buying your domain name.

Make sure that you have a section for book reviews and an easy way for people to contact you. I have both on my website and often have authors contact me directly, asking me to review their books. As your platform grows, you’ll start receiving requests as well. The key is to prepare now.

2. Apply to be a book reviewer

There are many places you can apply to be a book reviewer. Each of them have their own set of guidelines and preferred method of review submission. Some want you to post only on their site, while others (the publishing houses and authors) want you to post your reviews all over the internet. Review the guidelines carefully.

Here are some of them:

• Bethany House
• Tyndale Blog Network
• Hay House
• Blogging for Books
• BookSneeze
• O’Reilly
• Tywebbin
• NetGalley
• CivitasPress
• Story Cartel
• MoodyPress
• Book Browse
• The Catholic Company
• Nothing Binding
• Radiant Lit
• The Vessel Project
• Springer

Other resources – How to Get Free Books to Review on Your Blog via CopyBlogger

If you know of any more, post them in the comment section.

Tweetables

• Do you want free books? @AuthorMedia shares where to get them. – Click to tweet.
• Before you agree to review books, check the book review guidelines. – Click to tweet.
• I’ve always wondered how people became book review bloggers. – Click to tweet.
• Maybe I’ll become a book review blogger. – Click to tweet.
• Have any of you become book review bloggers? – Click to tweet.
• I WANT FREE BOOKS AND NOW I SHALL HAVE THEM! – Click to tweet.

3. Keep track of books…and READ!

This sounds like a no-brainer, but after you start getting books, it can be hard to keep track of who sent them to you. Right now, I have a pile of books sent to me by publicists, authors, and book review sites. Only, I’m not sure which one came from who…so sending a copy of the review to the appropriate person just got trickier.

Creating a spreadsheet of books you’ve received allows you to track titles, websites, dates you recieved the book, and the deadline you need to meet.

Trust me, you’ll want to do this from the beginning.

You’ll also want to carve out time to read the books. Don’t let them just sit on your nightstand. Read away!

5. Keep it legal

If you are getting free books, you need a legal disclaimer stating that you received books in exchange for an honest review. It’s all part of the FTC guidelines. Michael Hyatt wrote a terrific article on Five Ways to Comply With The New FTC Guidelines for Bloggers. I highly recommend reading it.

6. Reach out to Authors

Instead of just writing a review, interview the author on your website. Often, you will be given a way to contact the author when you receive the book. Contact them with your interview questions.

Written interviews are great but getting them on camera (or on a podcast!) is a great way to stand out.

Consider publishing your book review on one day and the interview on a different day. You can also ask the author if they’d be willing to do a book giveaway.

7. Share the good news

If you like a book – tell people! Create a Facebook page for your book reviews and tag the authors when you review their books.

You can also post your reviews on:

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble
• CBD
• Goodreads
• Powells

As a general rule of thumb, you want the bulk of your review to be on your site.

Where do you go to get free books for book reviews?  

The Author Media Twitter (@AuthorMedia) often posts inspirational quotes from authors for authors.

Those tweets are some of our most popular.

We decided that instead of hoarding the wealth, we’d share the fun. We collected 101 tweetable expressions from authors you know (and love!) that you can start sharing right away.

Ready to start tweeting? Have fun!

Tweetables

• I love it. Author Media has 101 tweetable quotes for authors! – Click to tweet.
• Need some writing encouragement? Bookmark this page from Author Media! – Click to tweet.
• Share some cheer. Author Media has collected quotes that will keep you writing. – Click to tweet.

1 – 25

• “Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.” ― Winston Churchill – Click to tweet.
• “…If the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ― Madeleine L’Engle – Click to tweet.
• “Only a mediocre person is always at his best. ” ― W. Somerset Maugham – Click to tweet.
• “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ― Ernest Hemingway – Click to tweet.
• “You can’t blame a writer for what the characters say.” ― Truman Capote – Click to tweet.
• “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison – Click to tweet.
• “If you can’t annoy somebody, there is little point in writing.” ― Kingsley Amis – Click to tweet.
• “One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” ― Jack Kerouac – Click to tweet.
• “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ― Anton Chekhov – Click to tweet.
• “The words of my book nothing, the drift of it everything.” – Walt Whitman – Click to tweet.
• “You don’t make art out of good intentions.” ― Gustave Flaubert – Click to tweet.
• “There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.” ― Charles Dickens – Click to tweet.
• “A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.” ― Samuel Johnson – Click to tweet.
• “I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.” – Toni Morrison – Click to tweet.
• “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” ― Stephen King – Click to tweet.
• “There is no such thing as an “aspiring writer”. You are a writer. Period.” ― Matthew Reilly – Click to tweet.
• “I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.” ― Samuel Johnson – Click to tweet.
• “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” ― Stephen King – Click to tweet.
• “There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.” – Z.N. Hurston – Click to tweet.
• “Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most economical in its use.” – Mark Twain – Click to tweet.
• “A great writer reveals the truth even when he or she does not wish to.”  ― Tom Bissell – Click to tweet.
• “If a story is in you, it has to come out.”  ― William Faulkner – Click to tweet.
• “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” ― Richard Bach – Click to tweet.
• “When all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story.”  ―  Charles Baxter – Click to tweet.
• “A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.”  ― Mark Twain – Click to tweet.

Tweetables -

• Seriously. Y’all better check out this page. Author Media did your inspirational quote homework for you. – Click to tweet.
• So many good quotes! // 101 Tweetable Quotes for Authors. – Click to tweet.
• When I have artist angst, I’m coming to this page. – Click to tweet.

26 – 50

• “There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.” ― Beatrix Potter - Click to tweet.
• “A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid. ” ― William Faulkner – Click to tweet.
• A timid writer creates timid readers. Come boldly to the page. – Click to tweet.
• “There Are Two Typos Of People In This World: Those Who Can Edit And Those Who Can’t”― Jarod Kintz – Click to tweet.
• “Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.”― George R.R. Martin – Click to tweet.
• “To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the music the words make.”― Truman Capote – Click to tweet.
• “It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.”― Friedrich Nietzsche – Click to tweet.
• “You can’t edit a blank page.”― Nora Roberts – Click to tweet.
• “If you want your characters to be interesting, YOU be interesting.”  - Caitlin Muir – Click to tweet.
• “Not a wasted word. This has been a main point to my literary thinking all my life.”—Hunter S. Thompson – Click to tweet.
• “I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.”—Roald Dahl – Click to tweet.
• “Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.”—Virginia Woolf – Click to tweet.
• “If I had not existed, someone else would have written me, Hemingway, Dostoyevsky, all of us.”—William Faulkner – Click to tweet.
• The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book. – Johnson – Click to tweet.
• “Style means the right word. The rest matters little.” —Jules Renard – Click to tweet.
• “Beware of advice—even this.”—Carl Sandburg – Click to tweet.
• “It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.”—Ernest Hemingway – Click to tweet.
• “There is only one plot—things are not what they seem.” — Jim Thompson – Click to tweet.
• “When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd jobs.” — Margaret Laurence – Click to tweet.
• “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is … the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” — Mark Twain – Click to tweet.
• “When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.”—Ernest Hemingway – Click to tweet.
• “I have made this [letter] longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter.” – Blaise Pascal – Click to tweet.
• “The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.” – Edwin Schlossberg – Click to tweet.
• After being Turned Down by numerous Publishers, he had decided to write for Posterity. – George Ade – Click to tweet.
• “No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.” – H. G. Wells – Click to tweet.

Tweetables -

• Another post that will leave you without twitter-block for months. – Click to tweet.
• Want to tweet encouragement but don’t know where to start? Try here. – Click to tweet.
• If you don’t know what to tweet, try one of these. – Click to tweet.

51 – 75

• Discretion in speech is more than eloquence.- Sir Francis Bacon – Click to tweet.
• Keep writing. Keep doing it and doing it. Even in the moments when it’s so hurtful to think about writing. – Heather Armstrong – Click to tweet
• It is not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down one’s thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else with them.- I. Colegate – Click to tweet.
• I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.- Joan Didion – Click to tweet.
• About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment. -Josh Billings  - Click to tweet.
• Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money. -Jules Renard – Click to tweet.
• The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can’t help it. -Leo Rosten – Click to tweet.
• Learn as much by writing as by reading. -Lord Acton – Click to tweet.
• There’s always something to write about. If there’s not then you need to live life more aggressively.- Min Kim – Click to tweet.
• I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again. - Oscar Wilde – Click to tweet.
• You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.- Ray Bradbury – Click to tweet.
• At least half the mystery novels published violate the law that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable. - Raymond Chandler – Click to tweet.
• You must not come lightly to the blank page.- Stephen King – Click to tweet.
• If a writer wrote merely for his time, I would have to break my pen and throw it away. – Victor Hugo – Click to tweet.
• The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause. – Mark Twain – Click to tweet.
• Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man. – Francis Cardinal Spellman – Click to tweet.
• Strive for excellence, not perfection. – H. Jackson Brown Jr. – Click to tweet.
• The most potent muse of all is our own inner child. – Stephen Nachmanovitch – Click to tweet.
• In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. - Thomas Jefferson – Click to tweet.
• It is possible to fail in many ways…while to succeed is possible only in one way. – Aristotle – Click to tweet.
• Men are born to succeed, not fail. – Henry David Thoreau – Click to tweet.
• A short saying oft contains much wisdom. – Sophocles – Click to tweet.
• Wisdom outweighs any wealth. – Sophocles – Click to tweet.
• If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.- Maya Angelou – Click to tweet.
• Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.- Maya Angelou – Click to tweet.

Tweetables -

• Need a shot of written inspiration? Try one of these quotes. – Click to tweet.
• What??? // 101 Tweetable Quotes for Authors. – Click to tweet.
• Maybe this should be “How to sound like a Hallmark Card on Twitter.” – Click to tweet.

76 – 101

• I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.- Douglas Adams – Click to tweet.
• Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, ‘I’m with you kid. Let’s go.’- Maya Angelou – Click to tweet.
• Oh! Do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.- Jane Austen – Click to tweet.
• A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.- Sir Francis Bacon – Click to tweet.
• Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study. – Sir Francis Bacon – Click to tweet.
• Praise from the common people is generally false, and rather follows the vain than the virtuous.- Sir Francis Bacon – Click to tweet.
• Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.- Sir Francis Bacon – Click to tweet.
• Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.- Warren Buffett – Click to tweet.
• A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. – G. K. Chesterton – Click to tweet.
• An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered. – G. K. Chesterton – Click to tweet.
• Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere. – G. K. Chesterton – Click to tweet.
• The best time to plan a book is while you’re doing the dishes.- Agatha Christie – Click to tweet.
• For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I’m surprised where the journey takes me. – Jack Dann – Click to tweet.
• May I never be too old to enjoy “once upon a time.” – Anonymous – Click to tweet.
• Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few thing, you are doomed. – Ray Bradbury – Click to tweet.
• I find that the harder I work, the more luck I have. – Thomas Jefferson – Click to tweet.
• Being a successful writer boils down to  not being distracted by…oh hello! – Anonymous – Click to tweet.
• The pen is the tongue of the mind. – Cervantes – Click to tweet.
• If you want to be a writer – write! The only person stopping you is YOU! – Click to tweet.
• The world is full of possibilities. The trick is to pick one and hustle like crazy. – Click to tweet.
• Being a writer means dreaming with your eyes open and sharing what you see. – Click to tweet.
• Write through the pain. Readers connect with pain far better than they do with perfection. – Click to tweet.
• Don’t be afraid of writing. Be afraid of not writing. – Click to tweet.
• Roll up your sleeves and get to work. There are deadlines to hit! – Click to tweet.
• If you are asked to revise, it’s because your message is worth getting right. – Caitlin Muir – Click to tweet.
• To produce a mighty book, choose a mighty theme. – Herman Melville – Click to tweet.

Did you like those? Share them with your friends! What quotes encourage you the most?

Many of you have asked advice about how to write blog posts in the past year.

So we’ve decided to help you. We’re sharing the checklist we use when we are creating blog posts. It’s a secret formula of sorts. If one of the elements was missing, the post just wouldn’t be up to par.

Everything you see in this post is standard operating procedure for us and is taken from an internal document.

This post will help you go from a blank page to tweeting about your latest blog post.

It is important to note that this post assumes a few things:

1. You have a blog
2. You have a list of blog post ideas
3. You have an editorial calendar
4. You’ve researched the validity of those ideas for SEO purposes

Once those four things are in place, the rest is good to go. Happy blogging!

1. Look up available topics to get you started.

Look at your list of ideas. Choose one you haven’t used yet. Step 1: done!

2. Don’t put people to sleep.

Your blog post title needs to have the internet appeal of Ryan Gosling or kittens. Make sure that it’s punchy, relevant, and keyword rich. It helps to make it clickable. Running in through the American Marketing Institute’s Headline Optimizer is also a great idea.

And by great idea, I mean BEST EVER.

3. Outline your blog post.

Some people start with the title, others with the body of the work. The important thing here is to get the basics done.

• Where are you going?
• What are the questions you are answering?
• What are the subtitles going to be?
• Why is it important to your readers?
• How are you going to sell the post in exchange for 5 minutes of their life?

 4. Write one draft at a time.

You probably won’t write a perfect blog post all at once. Good ideas take time to form and there are some words that only come after staring at an idea for days.

For some people, the first draft is where they add the basic ideas. The second draft is where they flesh it out. Do whatever works for you.

Remember that when you write for the internet, short + sweet = successful. Get the full idea out there, but don’t expect people to scroll down the page for five years to read it.

5. Add pretty pictures.

Go through a photo repository (123rf.com or BigStockPhoto.com) and find a photo that encapsulates the essence of your post. It needs to be eye-catching. It doesn’t need to feature people, but it does need to make you want to click through and read the rest of the article.

Try to have a second photo since Facebook does not always grab the featured image. If your post is long, break it up with multiple photos.

6. Think meta…meta data.

Make it easy for your readers and search engines to find your posts. Make sure you put the meta data (or a custom message) in the excerpt box, otherwise the beginning of the blog post will be pulled up.

Don’t forget the other small details that spell out success:

• Use at least two tags that have been used in other posts so related posts can easily be pulled up.
• Make sure that the post is attributed to the correct author.
• Assign the post to the appropriate category.

7. Don’t forget SEO!

How well optimized is your post? Is it easy to read? Does it match the rest of the content on your site?

Run it through Scribe SEO. You need to make sure your post gets at least a passing grade (although A’s are better!). As you grow as a writer, you’ll learn to write with SEO in mind. Using Scribe will help you.

Tweetables -

• Learn our secret blog post formula. – Click to tweet.
• Author Media is showing authors how to write a fail-proof blog post. – Click to tweet.
• Editors are amazing. Don’t forget to run your next blog post by one. – Click to tweet.
• AuthorMedia gave 14 steps to a great blog post. Do you use any of them? – Click to tweet.
• Dang. I’m going to try this! // Author Media’s Secret Blog Post Formula. – Click to tweet.

8. Schedule the darn thing.

Make sure you schedule the post on a free day. Consult your editorial calendar before scheduling so you don’t double-book. This is a very important step.

Do. Not. Skip. This. Step.

 9.  Go Back and Create Tweetables

The permalink will have changed once you have scheduled it, so schedule the post before creating the tweetables. Use this new permalink when you create your tweetables.

Note: If you’ve killed off your blog dates, you can create tweetables before you schedule the post. The permalink structure will not be changing.

You will want to use ClickToTweet.com, hashtags, and a dash of creativity. You can also use www.bitly.com to keep everything 140 characters or less. Bitly allows us to track the number of clicks the link gets on Twitter.

Tweetable Guidelines:

• Start each tweet with “RT @YourHandle” in the tweet (not the post) or end with “via @YourHandle”

• Make sure every Tweet has a bit.ly link back to the post. The goals is traffic and not just tweets.

• If room permits, add an appropriate hashtag

Example in action:

On the blog: 

“Writing is hard work, but that is what makes it worth it.” – Click to Tweet!

On Twitter:

RT @AuthorMedia #Writing is hard work, but that is what makes it worth it. http://bit.ly/Y7xTft #WritingTip #WritersLife

Notice how the Twitter version has been “twitterified.” If the reader doesn’t want to use the hashtags or use different ones, that is fine. But they will be more likely to use them if we do the hard thinking for them.

Here’s a tutorial.

10. Let someone else edit.

Never publish a post without getting a second set of eyes on it first.

You’ll miss things 99.99% of the time. Instead, get someone else to take a second look at your post for you.

It always helps.

Have you ever regretted running something by an editor? Probably not. But you’ve probably regretted not running something by an editor. Send it to them.

11. Broken hyperlink = broken hearts.

Broken hyperlinks are bad. It may take you a few minutes, but it’s worth it to make sure that each hyperlink works and opens in a new window.

Remember, you want people to stay on your site.

It’s also important to test the tweetables.

We’ve skipped this step once or twice and always regretted it.

12. Publish the piece.

This is the magic moment you’ve been waiting for. Once it’s up, rejoice!

 13. Spread via Social Media.

Hit all the social media buttons – Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, whatever. This gets the social count started. Now start automating your posts for the rest of the day. This should take 5-15 minutes. Have fun.

Also make sure to tweet each of the tweetables throughout the day without the “RT @YourHandle” at the beginning.

 14. Join the conversation.

Check back on your post throughout the day. As people comment, write back! Interact with them. They want to have a conversation!

That’s what we use here at Author Media.

What about you? What’s your formula for creating a great blog post?

Pinning just got easier.

We’ve talked a lot about Pinterest on Author Media. We’ve talked about why authors should pin, how to supercharge your pinning, and we even hosted The Busy Author’s Guide to Popularity and Profit on Pinterest.

Today, we’re offering a new tool.

While browsing Visual.ly, I came across this Pinterest infographic that was too good not to share with the author community.

Tweetables:

To recap, Pinterest image sizes:

Every month, we highlight the websites that we have built the month before.

In April, we launched two websites and wrapped up our MyBookTable Kickstarter. Now that the plug-in is fully funded, it will be getting in the hands of authors sooner than ever.

April’s authors are two vibrant woman who have specific messages they want to tell the world.

Cherie Fresonke

When Cherie came to us, she knew it was time to update her website. She wanted a professional website that would be down to earth and welcoming, reflecting her personality and desire to help people.  It was important to her that people were able to access her resources directly on her website.

Cherie ended up with a silver website package with MailChimp and bronze hosting. You can see her new website at CherieFresonke.com.

Holly Varni

Holly is a novelist who had something specific in mind when she came to Author Media.  She said, “I want people to feel as though they are stepping into or at least getting a peek of my series. The picture should evoke calm and make them take a breath.”

Holly ended up with a gold website package with MailChimp and silver level hosting. That allowed the design team to make sure her website got the specific feel she was looking for. You can check out Holly’s new website at HollyVarni.com.

Are you ready for a new professional author website? Contact us today to schedule a free website consultation.

A few weeks ago, I was depressed about the Author Media blog.

Nothing seemed to be going right. Or right enough. You know how it goes – that awful artistic angst. It’s nothing you can put your finger on, but just a nagging feeling that you aren’t doing enough, or you’ll never be doing enough.

It plagues everyone.

Instead of letting myself bask in the angst, I decided to get factual with data. I opened up Google Analytics to track just what was going right…and what areas I could improve on.

What I saw blew my mind.

During the last 15 months, the traffic on Author Media had grown…by 323%!

The rest of this blog post is going to break down what we did and how you can do it as well. If you don’t have time for roughly 4,000 words of awesomeness (okay, data and ideas), you can skip to the end where I offer the distilled version of this article.

The Raw Numbers

The starting date for this data is January 1, 2012. The end date of this sample is March 31, 2013.

In January, we had 11,279 visitors.

In March, we had 34,825 visitors.

As you can see, it took us awhile to catch our stride. It wasn’t until June that we grew noticeably, and that was followed by a loss of readers in July. The most dramatic growth happened between December 2012 and March 31.

In March 2013, we had 34,825 visitors. Somewhere in the last year, we had attracted a small town of aspiring authors.

My data loving heart skipped a beat when I saw that. The first thing I did was smile and pull out a calculator.

• It took us less than one month to double our traffic.
• It took us one year to get 20,000 visitors a month consistently.
• It took us 15 months to increase our traffic by 323%.

How did this happen???

It wasn’t just one thing. There were many things that influenced the growth of our traffic.

They are:

• SEO
• Newsletters
• Webinars
• Social Media
• Outside influencers

We’ll be taking a look at each of those sections in-depth.

First, let’s look at where people were coming from at the beginning of 2012.

Traffic sources, January 2012

It looks pretty natural. Most of the inbound links were organic. There just weren’t a lot of them.

Here are last month’s stats:

March 2013 Traffic Sources

Social Media sites are really starting to help drive traffic. But the number one traffic driver is Google.

That’s inbound marketing, folks.

Here’s the overview of the last 16 months – a flashback to the big picture:

December 2011 – March 2013
Traffic Sources

While much of our traffic is coming from Facebook or Twitter, the bulk is still coming from organic search results. There’s a mad rush to use social media, but a lot of people still don’t get it.

People have to want to read your blog.

Reality check: it’s not about you. Or me. Its about them.

That’s the “secret sauce.”

People don’t come to Author Media because they care about us (admit it, you don’t). They don’t come because I’m the coolest tech blogger out there (umm…Pete Cashmore has that spot secure). They don’t come because we make the best websites (although, honestly, MyBookTable is cool).

They come because they need help. Typically with a very specific question like “How do I add a hyperlink to WordPress“.

We were able to get to know our readers through:

• free consultations,
• speaking at writer’s conferences, and
• replying to their questions via social media and email.

Thomas has spent tens of thousands of hours working with author clients. He’s been able to create three detailed personas of who the readers are, what comfort level they have with technology, and what their specific goals are. It has been incredibly helpful to have those persona sheets on hand and to be able to give them to new writers.

When you sit down to blog, who are you writing for? Is it about your book or is it about helping your reader?

See, the same principles that businesses use in inbound marketing are true for authors.

Let’s look at those traffic drivers and see how you can implement them into your website strategy.

1. SEO

This is going to be a long section but it’s a very important one.

Your first job as a writer is to tell a story. To communicate something of value to your readers.

Your second job as a writer is to make it easy for them to find the article. In this day and age, it means playing by Google’s rules.

Let’s hop back to Google analytics for a moment. The number one traffic source was Google and people searching for something that led them to Author Media.

What were they looking for?

In January, 2013

Top Searches – January 2012

In March, 2013:

March 2013
Searches

And zooming out again -

December 2011 – March 2013 Searches

You can see that there are some consistencies.

The MailChimp vs. Constant Contact debate still rages and authors need book promotion ideas. “Versus” posts are an easy way to get more traffic. What two things can you compare on your blog? And it looks like people from all walks of life want to know how to share something on Facebook.

When I look at this data, I can see what people have been looking for and make guesses on what they will be looking for in the future.

• Book marketing
• Social media help
• Author websites

What do your readers want to see from you? Dig into your analytics on a quarterly, even monthly, basis, just to see what’s going on. You’ll be surprised at what you find.

There are probably a lot of successes that you don’t know about. Celebrate them! A success is a success, no matter how small it may seem.

SEO doesn’t have to be a headache.

If only they had known about SEO Scribe…

There are two plugins that make SEO a little easier:

1. Scribe SEO - it takes the guesswork out of SEO. Write your article, fill out the meta data, alt text, and links, and then press a button to see how it’s graded for that specific page – and how it fits with the rest of your site. It’s expensive – just shy of $100 a month (unless you host with Author Media) but well worth the money. We use it at Author Media.
2. WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast - If you know SEO, you can get away with using this plugin. I know many people who use this plugin and love what it does for them. It’s free and it’s for WordPress. You’ve got to love that combo.

Think of the search engines, yes. But first think of the person reading the article. Computers and algorithms don’t have sentiment, affection, or feelings. They’ll drop you when you break their rules. But when you appeal to the sentiment, affection, or feeling of your readers, you hook them for life.

Don’t tell people you are trustworthy. Be trustworthy.

Editorial calendars are essential.

We all know that being proactive is much better than being reactive.  Most of us stay reactive. Why?It takes a lot of work to plan things in advance. The secret is that it saves you lots of time in the long run.

By having a plan, you don’t give yourself the space to encounter writer’s block.

I use the following tools:

• Google AdWords Keyword Tool
• Google Calendar
• Google Drive
• Emotional Headline Analyzer

At the end of every month, sit down and forecast what needed to be written for the next month – blog posts, website copy, newsletters – a little bit of everything. It’s important to be consistent.

• Google Drive - I have a massive file called “Blog post ideas.” Any time I thought of a blog post idea, I put it in there. I also invited my coworkers to do the same. There’s also a blog SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) written out so that at any time in the blog writing process, I can point back and see what needs to happen next.
• Google AdWords Keyword Tool - There no use writing an article that no one wants to read. AdWords allows me to write smarter by seeing if people were even interested in the topics I wanted to write about. Quality over quantity is key, especially in our society of easy answers and mass content farms.
• Google Calendar - Calendars make things happen. There’s an editorial calendar at Author Media so that anyone in the company can see what is going to be published. It also shows me how events will interact. If there’s a webinar coming up, I need to highlight it. If there’s a huge cultural event, I can reference it or show deference to it.
• Emotional Headline Analyzer - Many people struggle with writing killer headlines. This tool makes it easier to write headlines that people will want to click on.

How does this work for you as an author?

Think of your writing as a business. It is a business. Your business. If you want people to take your words seriously, you need to take the time to figure out how to craft your message in a way that your audience understands.

Tweetables: 

• Your writing = your business. Learn how to experience crazy growth this year. – Click to tweet.
• Your first job as a writer is to tell stories, followed by writing them in an SEO-friendly way. – Click to tweet.
• Reader personas + SEO = more of the right readers. – Click to tweet.
• Don’t tell people you are trustworthy. BE trustworthy. – Click to tweet.
• By having a plan, you don’t give yourself the space to encounter writer’s block. – Click to tweet.

2. Newsletters

Every week, we send out an email newsletter that highlights some of our most recent blog posts.

There are sign-ups on the side bar of our site and we also use Pippity to create non evil pop-ups that allow people to sign up. People also sign up in person when they hear Thomas speak.

What does this have to do with driving traffic?

Let’s say you come to the blog to read one article. You came across the link somewhere in cyberspace and just happened across the blog. Fantastic! Now you have a choice:

a. Sign up for the newsletter and be notified once a week when new content is being published.

b. Leave the site and resort to Google searches when you are trying to find that one article you want to reference.

Signing up for the newsletter is pretty painless. We have readers who only come to our site when they see something in their newsletter that they want to read. As the death of Google Reader comes closer, our goal is to get more people signed up for our newsletter. That way, we don’t lose them when Google finally kills it off.

For Author Media, that means using MailChimp.

You can set up MailChimp to do a simple RSS to email weekly newsletter but we like to poke around with ours a bit. Each week, we run A/B Split tests to discover what our readers want to read about. MailChimp makes it easy to set these up.

As we write, we also have to take into consideration that many of our readers check their email via mobile device. So it’s important to keep things short and sweet.

We use many of the same tools referenced in the previous section – the most important being the Emotional Headline Analyzer.

From time to time, we also cull the list – getting rid of email addresses from folks who don’t open our emails. As a result, our list is pretty clean and our readers are highly engaged.

It’s important to maintain a clean list. Abuse complaints and being marked as “spam” too many times can get you in serious trouble with MailChimp, and even cause you to be banned. The last thing you want is to be cut off from your subscribers.

Level up. 

We recommend that you use MailChimp because it’s easy to use and your first 2,000 subscribers are free. MailChimp also can be integrated with Google Analytics – giving you even more information about your readers. This can be valuable as you are shopping for an agent and trying to sell your book.

If you are new to MailChimp, the best thing you can do is start reading their guides.  Each guide has been written with a specific topic.

We recommend starting with:

• Getting Started With MailChimp
• How To Manage Your List
• Common Rookie Mistakes
• MailChimp for Bloggers
• Email Marketing Field Guide

What are you using for a newsletter? How often do you send it?

Tweetables:

• Make signing up for your newsletter painless. – Click to tweet.
• More newsletter readers = more website readers. It’s a pretty cool cycle. – Click to tweet.
• Has anyone else tried any of these MailChimp tips? – Click to tweet.
• Keep your newsletter list squeaky clean. No fake people allowed! – Click to tweet.
• Using a pop-up newsletter form is a great way to get more subscribers. – Click to tweet.

3. Webinars

We really started amping up our webinars in January – right around the traffic spike.

This affected our traffic because when someone signs up for a webinar, they also sign up for our weekly newsletter, which in turn, draws them back to our blog.

After the webinar, we can then send the registrants the link (and codes) for their free copy of the webinar recording as well as webinar-exclusive materials (see “Paid vs. Free”). The landing page is your chance to call them to action so make sure you write this page very carefully.

We do a mix of paid and free webinars. The value of the webinar is not just in the event at the time but in the recording. With every recording, we create a product that we can sell in our store at a later date.

Our free webinars are usually in collaboration with writing organizations. Our paid webinars are with industry leaders about very specific issues that authors face.

We make the differentiation because not all webinars/hang-outs/meetings are created equal. If you are going to charge for something, you need to make sure that your viewers find it valuable enough to pay money for it.

Suggested webinar resources:

Currently, we use Meeting Burner for our webinars. MeetingBurner is free if your webinar only hosts 10 people. After that, you must pay a fee. Other features include:

• Audio Conferencing
• In Meeting Chat
• Customizable Meeting Registration Page
• Automated Email Reminders
• Meeting Analytics

Read the full feature list to see what else in included. Meeting Burner is not for the timid webinar host.

Another webinar solution is Google+. This allows you upload the recording straight to YouTube. This is what Max Minzer does every week with the “Max Impact” Hangouts. Just a few minutes after the hang-out is finished, it is live on YouTube and available on demand.

The final word on webinars…

Before announcing a hosting a webinar, make sure you go through a few trial runs. The learning curve on a webinar (during the webinar) is dangerously sharp.

Do you ever host webinars? Why or why not?

Tweetables:

• Don’t launch a webinar without a trial run first. The learning curve is dangerously sharp. – Click to tweet.
• What do you use for your webinars? Google+, Meeting Burner…something else? – Click to tweet.
• If you want to charge for a product, make sure it’s valuable enough that people will want to pay for it. – Click to tweet.
• Webinars can bring lots of traffic to your website. – Click to tweet.
• Would you pay to go to a webinar? – Click to tweet.

4. Social Media

Are you sharing what you write on social media? Are you letting people know when you have a new book out?

The key to getting people to talk about you on social media is to start the conversation. Social media is about relationships more than it is about marketing.

Mari Smith gives an 80/20 rule (so do many other experts so who knows where it originated)…be about yourself 20% of the time and others 80%.

Be about other people. Connect with them. Cheer for them. Ask their opinion.

Why social?

Google Reader is dying. More people are getting their news from “the stream,” which simply means that they are going to social media to aggregate their news instead of traditional news sources. It’s just a matter of getting your blog posts in the stream of the right people.

As the analytics indicated, thousands of people come to us every month via social media.

Author Media is primarily active on:

• Facebook 
• Twitter
• Google+
• Pinterest

Every time something happens, we post it to those outlets. We also use them to spread blog posts, webinars, and upcoming products. We post to all of them by hand because our audiences are different.

Buying or advertising? 

We grew our Author Media Facebook page dramatically by advertising and creating images that authors want to share.

There are a few different ways to advertise on Facebook and we’ve played with different methods. As Facebook molds into an interactive newspaper, promoted stories will become more vital to your advertorial success.

For instance, if I wanted to help this post to go viral, I would want to invest in some “promoted story” advertisements. That way, the post would inch it’s way up to the top of the Author Media fans newsfeed and find it’s way into the newsfeed of people associated with the fans.

The success to Facebook advertising goes back to knowing your personas well. Facebook is a marketer’s dream because you can make your target audience as specific as you want.

Many social media sites offer advertising options as a way to increase your reach and grow your audience. We have used Facebook Ads to help grow the number of followers we have. Twitter now offers it’s own package of advertising. I personally haven’t used it so I can’t speak to it’s effectiveness.

Advertising is different than buying followers. The difference is that buying followers meaning paying for fake accounts to follow you to inflate your numbers. Advertising helps get you in front of real people who may have never heard of you before.

Social media is about relationships, not just numbers. Paying to artificially inflate your following doesn’t improve your engagement, sell more books, or bring more people to your website. Don’t do it.

Be focused.

With so many social media outlets, it’s easy to feel scatterbrained. Keep your focus razor-sharp by sharing the same message across multiple platforms.

You can schedule your posts ahead of time across multiple platforms with:

• HootSuite
• LaterBro
• Buffer

We use Buffer.

It’s important to remember that some messages translate well but others don’t. Twitter only allows 140 characters while Facebook and Google+ are practically limitless when it comes to length. For the curious, Facebook limits your updates to 63,206 characters while Google+ has a rumored limit of 100,000 characters.

Generally speaking, the shorter the better.

Make sure that your social media lines up with your editorial calendar. Social media should propel what you are doing, not distract people from your message.

A final thought on social media:

The important thing to remember about posting to social media outlets is that you need to point back to your website. The only website you own is your own. At any given time, these social sites shut town, change their terms of service, or simply close your account, all without telling you. Many authors have woken up to nasty surprises.

That’s why you can’t count on social media. You need to focus on your website and building the readership there.

Tweetables:

• All of your social media posts need to point back to one specific place – your website. – Click to tweet.
• Social media should propel your work, not distract people from your message. – Click to tweet.
• Sick of social media? Remember, it’s about people. – Click to tweet.
• Focus your social media efforts by sharing the same message across multiple platforms. – Click to tweet.
• People are already talking about you. Are you making it easy to join the conversation? – Click to tweet.

5. Outside Influencers

There are three different types of media – paid, earned, and owned.

Ely Rosenstock, one of the brilliant minds at Addiction, broke it down into this ven diagram:

Outside influencers are core members of “earned media.”

They are the ones who do the work for you. They like what you do (in the non-Facebook way) and then “like” what you do…by sharing via social media, blog posts, and if you are lucky, they buy you a billboard in Times Square. That hasn’t happened to us yet. But if it ever does, we’ll let you know.

Our core outside influencers have continually cheered us on and helped share our message to authors around the world. We wouldn’t have grown without their support.

Our top outside influencers this past year include:

• Michael Hyatt
• Marcus Sheridan
• Claire Diaz-Ortiz
• Mary DeMuth
• James Rubart
• Randy Ingermanson
• Rachelle Gardner

Who are your top outside influencers? Have you thanked them lately?

Tweetables:

• Outside influencers like you and help others to like you. – Click to tweet.
• You are more than welcome to buy us a billboard in Times Square. – Click to tweet.
• I need to start saying thank you to all my outside influencers! – Click to tweet. 
• Building a website community is never the work of one person. – Click to tweet.
• Start saying thank you to your outside influencers. It makes a difference. – Click to tweet.

Plan, then proceed.

Give yourself the space to write and to write well. There are thousands of articles that will tell you the perfect time of day to write.

They are all rubbish. The one thing they tell you is the perfect time for that author.  

Find a time that works for you, create it if you have to, and then sit down and write. The big jump in our traffic happened when our team started playing to our strengths.

As the main blogger, that meant cutting out all my other roles in the company and just writing. Some days, that means getting up at 5 am, grabbing a mug of coffee, and blogging as I watch the sunrise over the mountains. I’ve found that my best writing comes before noon. By the time the afternoon rolls around, I’m ready to go for a hike in the woods or do something outside.

It’s not that way for everyone.  Know your personal rhythm and play to it.

If writing is your business, treat it like such. Don’t come lightly to the keyboard. Come with an agenda and your A-game.

Tweetables

• “Know your audience – get to know them through your analytics.”  - Click to tweet.
  
• Be about your audience – put your ego on hold. Helping them will help you in the long run. – Click to tweet.
• Stay curious – break down big concepts into bite sized chunks for your audience. – Click to tweet.
• Plan ahead – don’t write knee-jerk response blogs…unless you need to. – Click to tweet.
• Think of your writing as a business – keep office hours. – Click to tweet.   
• Share what you are learning – you can help someone else!  - Click to tweet.

Resources

Here are the people that I’m constantly learning from when it comes to marketing, SEO, business, and writing. They heavily influenced this article and the actions behind it.

People

• Tim Ferriss
• David Cohen
• Rand Fishkin
• SEOMoz
• June Macon
• Ann Smarty
• Bonnie Stefanick
• Max Minzer
• Jeff Goins
• Michael Hyatt

Products  + Plugins

• MailChimp
• Pippity
• Facebook Advertisements
• Click to Tweet
• Emotional Headline Analyzer
• MyStockPhoto
• BigStockPhoto

One final word…

If you are discouraged by your blogging, don’t be. Every “failure” is an opportunity for success. Dig into your analytics and see just how far you’ve come.

Growth takes time and it also takes energy. There is no such thing as an “overnight” success…just a lot of rolled up sleeves, cups of coffee, and hours spent typing. Success shows up long after you do.

Don’t give up.

I’d love to hear about some of your successes – how you track them, how you define them, and if this article has helped in any way at all.

I’ve spent over 20 years trying just about every possible way you can think of to sell a book. From PR firms to book signings to social media to email newsletters—if someone has sold a book doing it, I’ve probably tried it.

Over and over again, however, there is one key strategy that has resulted in more sales, readership growth, and overall engagement than any other—giving the book away. For free. You heard right.

Why Giving Your Book Away Actually Leads to Sales 

This strategy grew out of an intense need to quickly generate sales. It was 2002, and the author/speaker I manage, Andy Andrews, and I had finally gotten his first fiction manuscript published after being turned down 51 times over a period of three years.

At this point, we had already self-published a series of books called Storms of Perfection and sold over 600,000 copies, mostly from back-of-the-room sales at speaking events. Even with that success, it had still taken us three years to find someone to publish Andy’s manuscript, which was called The Traveler’s Gift. When Thomas Nelson Publishers finally gave us a contract, we were elated.

We’d made it! All we had to do was sit back and watch people flock to the bookstores, right?

As you can probably guess, we were dead wrong. The books sat on shelves for six months before retailers started sending them back to the publisher. With our dream quickly crumbling in front of our faces, we had to do something. So we did the only thing we could—we started sending out copies to every friend, associate, and acquaintance we had.

That’s when something crazy happened.

At this time, Oprah had just stopped doing her book club, which gave Good Morning America the perfect opportunity to start their own. Somehow, one of the people we sent a copy of The Traveler’s Gift to knew Robin Roberts, one of the hosts of Good Morning America. The book was passed along to Robin, she loved it, it became the second selection of GMA’s book club, and promptly hit the New York Times bestseller list for 17 weeks.

Tweetables -

• Learn how Andy Andrews got into a national book club. His strategy can work for you! – Click to tweet.
• Want to get your book into the hands of readers? Give it away. – Click to tweet.
• What do you think? / The Book Marketing Strategy Every Author Must Implement. – Click to tweet.
• If you write a book, people will automatically rush to buy it…right? – Click to tweet.
• How to do a book-giving campaign if you are releasing an ebook. – Click to tweet.

How You Can Do Your Own Book-Giving Campaign

Since the giving strategy went so well with The Traveler’s Gift, we have fine-tuned our giving process for every subsequent release. While it hasn’t always resulted in a New York Times bestseller, it has always resulted in positive things like:

• Bulk orders – You only have to get a copy of your book in one pair of the right hands in order for something great to happen. Footing the bill to send out a few hundred books is always worth it if you can get an order of 1,000 books out of it.

• Legitimate Amazon reviews – Some of the most incredible reviews we’ve ever received have come from people who received a free book.

• New readers – Encourage those to whom you send a free book to pass it along to a friend when they’re done. Word of mouth is still the best form of marketing you could ever hope for.

• Gratitude – At the very least, this gives you a chance to do something kind for your friends, family, and associates. It’s a GREAT alternative to throwing one of those awkward book release parties where someone invites all of their friends to come over and buy the book they just released. I promise that what you get out of giving will be 100 times better than a couple handfuls of sales from the last people you should make pay for your book.

• Media – Don’t hesitate sending a package to bloggers, podcast hosts, radio stations, etc. Most of them love receiving free stuff. If they like your stuff, they’re usually happy to help spread the word any way they can.

Now that you know the good that can come from doing your own giving campaign, here are the steps you need to take in order to make it the best it can be:

1.    Personalize every book. Sure, it’s a little time consuming, but this really shows you took some time and consideration to the person on the receiving end. It is always a WOWing experience to receive a surprise package containing a free personalized book.

 2.    Include a letter in every package. Write a simple letter expressing gratitude to the recipient. Be sure to sign it by hand. You can send the same letter to everyone, but be sure to write the actual name of each person in the salutation.

3.    Ask each recipient to take a specific action. Do NOT be afraid of this one! Most people are happy to take a couple minutes and do any of the following examples:

• Ask them to leave an Amazon or any other kind of online review, good or bad.
• Ask them to tweet a picture of the book (or post it to Facebook).
• Tell them where and how they can get additional copies for friends.

Just be sure not to go overboard and ask to do TOO much. It is best to stick with one action.

4.    Get creative. Always ask yourself what one more thing you could do to make this an incredible experience for the person on the receiving end. 

Is there anything else related to your book that you could include? What “Kickstart-esque” rewards could you throw in the package?

In the past, we’ve done bookmarks, postcards, wristbands, and more.

How to Do a Giving Campaign If You’re Releasing an eBook 

All of these ideas can be applied to digital-only releases as well. Instead of sending a package, send a personal email that includes the digital version of your book.

In many ways, it’s actually easier to get people to spread the word online by asking through an email, since they’ll already be at their computer when they receive it. Just be sure to make it simple. If you ask them to leave an Amazon review, include a link to the Amazon page.

If you ask them to tweet about the book, suggest something they can easily copy/paste or use a service like Click to Tweet.

You can still get creative online. Record a quick “thank-you” video to include in every email. Include a second digital copy and tell them it’s theirs to give to a friend (we’ve done this in physical mailouts as well and experienced great results).

What Do You Think? 

• Have you tried a giving campaign for any of your releases? How did it go?
• Do you have any questions about how to implement your own giving campaign?
• Are you planning on doing your own giving campaign now? If so, let us know how it goes!

Creating one new website was daunting enough. But two new sites, mere months apart?

While I wrote two books and traveled constantly? Only a crazy person would attempt such a thing. I definitely qualify.

Even so, Author Media made it happen. And they made the process fun.

Why two websites?

My historical fiction readers are a different breed from my nonfiction/Bible study readers. Of course, there’s some overlap, but over the years, when women have signed up for my quarterly newsletters and shared what books of mine they’ve read, it’s invariably been all my Bad Girls of the Bible series or my Scottish historical fiction—not both.

So, it seemed wise to create two different online presences. I have a separate Facebook page for each one and two Twitter accounts as well.

Author Media’s in-depth Website Worksheet forced me to:

1. Think through my goals for each site
2. Sort out the most important elements of each home page, and
3. Identify each distinct audience and how best to reach them.

LizCurtisHiggs.com

I started with my Facebook page stats. Since I write for and speak to women, the FB breakdown is 95% female, 5% male. No surprise there. As for their age span, 66% of my followers (and readers) fall in the 25-54 bracket.

When I told my FB followers I was working on a new website, and asked them what words they might use to describe my nonfiction writing and speaking, their 300+ responses provided great direction for my Author Media designer, and gave me a clearer understanding of how my audience perceives me.

This was my favorite question on the Author Media Worksheet: “What do you not want from your website?”

Sometimes it is easier to identify what you don’t want, and in the process figure out what you do want.

For me, I didn’t want something that looked cluttered. I didn’t want ads. I didn’t want it to look like a corporate or business site. I didn’t want long, wordy content [oops, never mind that bit!]. I didn’t want to look like I’m a celebrity, which meant any praise needed to come from others.

I also didn’t want family info or photos—just enough personal stuff to assure my readers I’m a real person with a real life outside of speaking and writing, yet without invading my family’s privacy.

Here’s the finished product, if you want to check it out: http://www.LizCurtisHiggs.com.

Tweetables:

• If you write two different kinds of books, do you need two different websites? – Click to tweet.
• Liz Curtis Higgs answers one of the toughest questions writer’s face in blogging. – Click to tweet.
• Liz Curtis Higgs has TWO websites. Here’s why. – Click to tweet.
• Do you need two different websites? You might. – Click to tweet.
• I thought I had trouble keeping up with one site. Liz Curtis Higgs has TWO. – Click to tweet.
• Get a free website consultation from Author Media. I’m going to! – Click to tweet.

MyScottishHeart.com

Finding content for the second site was easy enough. I’ve been to Scotland a bunch of times to do research for my historical novels, so it seemed the right place to share photos, discoveries, and interesting bits about bonny Scotland, as well as point readers to the books I’ve set there.

Sifting through thousands of photos took longer than expected, and choosing quotes from my books to use for captions was a time hog too, but I’m happy with the results. See what you think: http://www.MyScottishHeart.com.

You’ll notice that I’m not a very consistent blogger on MyScottishHeart. Though I have 30+ solid ideas for blogs waiting to be fleshed out, finding the time to write them has been a challenge, especially with a long (1,500-2,000 word) weekly post on my other blog.

An important note…

If I were starting a new website today, I’d have 10-15 blogs already written before I went live with the site, just to establish a consistent pattern from the start.

I had the same problem on LizCurtisHiggs.com, until I chose a definite focus for my blog—namely, a Bible study. Once I announced that first 12-week series, promoted it widely, and posted consistently every Wednesday, my blog followers went from 600 to 2,400 in 3 months, then to 4,500 in another 3 months.

I’m encouraged by the growth and am convinced that focusing on something I’m truly passionate about has been the key.

Kudos to Hannah Hill at Author Media for guiding me through the website building process. Both sites are easy for me to update and easy for people to navigate. My business card is two-sided, so I can invite anyone I meet to stop by the site that suits his or her interests best.

Ready to get a new (or two!) professional author websites? Author Media can help. Just request a consultation to begin the journey.

Do you write two different kind of genres? How do you manage the gap?

You need to change your WordPress login information.

Now.

The world is a scary place. It’s important to remember that not all the mayhem is physical.

Right now, there are hackers trying to get your information from your website.

There were more than 1 million hacking attempts on April 11, 2013.

That’s right, one million.

We’ve all heard warnings about internet safety for years. But in the last few weeks, internet hacking attacks have increased and thousands of sites have already been compromised. 

There were more than 1,000,000 scans /hacking attempts that occurred on April 11, 2013. Sucuri just published an in-depth blog post on the details of the hacks that is well worth reading.

The Battle of the Botnets is just beginning.

Hackers are using botnets (a series of networked, compromised computers) to try to gain access to websites all over the world. Once a clean computer is compromised, it joins the “dark side” as a new recruit in the botnet army. Hackers can have their wicked way with your site, uploading files, changing content, and inject malware…all without your knowledge.

How are they getting in? The way into your website is by figuring out the username/password combination.

Remember trying to figure out a combination lock the hard way as a kid? At first it was fun but after awhile, you gave up. The botnets don’t give up. They just keep trying.

Every time a botnet tries to login, they are using your server’s resources. When thousands of botnets are trying to log in at the same time, it can mean serious trouble. Your site performance can slow down, causing headaches for everyone. Additionally, people have had their site suspended because of the load on the server.

You should not take this threat lightly.

Tweetables

• How to Keep Your WordPress Site Secure From Hackers – Click to tweet.
• Is it safe? Is it secure? // How to Keep Your WordPress Site Secure From Hackers. – Click to tweet.
• Time to change those passwords! – Click to tweet.
• There were over 1,000,000 hacking attempts on April 11. Time to look into website security! – Click to tweet.
• The battle of the botnets is just beginning. Here’s how to protect your website. – Click to tweet.

What you can do to protect yourself from hackers.

There are a few things you can do to protect your WordPress site secure from hackers. I recommend starting them as soon as possible.

• Change your username / account (avoid the “admin” and “administrator” usernames)
• Change your passwords

1. Change Your Username / Account

If your username is still the default “Admin” I would suggest changing it. Right now. Most of the attacks are happening to accounts using this name. Simply changing it will increase your protection.

Here’s how you do it:

•  Login into your WordPress admin panel using your admin account.

• Select the ”users” area from your dashboard sidebar.
  • Click on “Add New User”.
• Fill in the form and choose ”administrator” in the ”Role” drop down menu. You will need to use a different email address than the one currently linked to your website.
  • When finished, click on ”Add New User”.

• Log out of WordPress.
• Log in again, this time with your new WordPress admin username.
• Navigate back to the Users area.
• Delete the previous Admin account.
  • Next, you will be asked about the articles posted under the the previous ”admin” username.
  • Select the option “attribute all posts and links to:” and select your new username.
  • When ready click “Confirm Deletion”.

It’s important to use common sense when you are choosing your display name. Make sure that it is different than the username. This is important for all users but exceptionally so for those with admin power. 

2. Choose a secure password

Some important information on passwords from Zone Alarm.

As you can see, there are only so many combinations in the world. Unfortunately, most people pick the same ones because they are too lazy to make something original. If any of your passwords are on the above list, or on the list of the 25 most common passwords of 2012, change them now.

Your new password should contain:

• Numbers
• Symbols
• Lower and upper case letters

It will also help if your combination is longer than 12 characters.  Think of your password like a rubik’s cube; you want to make it as hard as possible for the botnet army to crack.

If the thought of remembering 12 character passwords makes you cringe, don’t.  You can use a password vault so you only have to remember one secure password. Here are a few that will help keep your passwords secure:

• KeePass
• 1Password
• LastPass

I think my site has been compromised. Now what?

The first step is to do a quick scan to see if that’s really the case.

Sucuri offers a free site-scan. It’s not 100% accurate but if your site has been compromised, chances are that Sucuri will be able to tell.

Talk to your hosting company

Not all hosting companies are created equal.

A good hosting company will provide:

• Additional security
• De-hacking help
• Automatic website backup

Those are three of the services that Author Media provides for hosting clients.

If you find out that you have been hacked, call your hosting company. If you cannot get hold of them, or you are self-hosting, call another hosting company (you can call Author Media).

Go through the above steps (changing your passwords!) if you haven’t already.

Hopefully, you will never have to go through the experience of having a hacked website.

It’s your turn. Have you ever been hacked? What do you do to keep your website secure?

Is WordPress Safe?

Yes! WordPress is a very secure content management system. But even the most secure bank can be broken into if the front door is left unlocked.

I avoided Twitter for a long time. I thought it was nothing more than a bunch of Facebook statuses. And really, did I care that my friend was eating a hamburger?

When I finally did join Twitter, I was amazed. In just six months, I’ve ended up with free books, connected with some of my favorite bloggers, and been offered guest posting opportunities.

Twitter offers you the same opportunity to connect with readers and authors, if you’ll take it. But, you want to put your best foot forward. Here’s how to set up a Twitter profile.

1. Choose a professional name & handle

While it’s best if these can be the same (for example, Rachelle Gardner’s twitter handle is @RachelleGardner), sometimes it’s not possible. Keep your name your real name (or company name if it’s an organizational Twitter account), and choose an appropriate, memorable Twitter handle (for example, Seth Godin’s Twitter handle is @ThisIsSethsBlog). Avoid using numbers (i.e., JohnSmith1). If needed, you can use underscores (i.e., John_Smith). By all means, avoid something like @Rainbows4392!

2. Choose a professional photo for your avatar

I recommend having a professional author portrait for your avatar. This is the picture that your followers will be seeing the vast majority of the time!

 3. Header background

Make sure your header coordinates with your branding. It can be either a solid color or a picture. The main things to be careful of are that your header doesn’t either 1) clash with your profile picture or 2) make it difficult to read your bio.

To change your header (and background), click on the “settings wheel” in the upper right of the screen and click “edit profile.” From there you’ll be able to make your changes, and don’t forget to click “Save Changes” when you’re done!

Tweetables:

• Want to make sure that you’re putting your best Twitter foot forward? Click to Tweet!
• Make sure your Twitter profile says “professional” and not “amateur.” Click to Tweet!
• What makes a Twitter profile look polished? Here’s the answer. Click to Tweet! 
• Want to connect on Twitter? How your profile can make a good impression. Click to Tweet! 
• Is your website on your Twitter profile? Are you hiding your Tweets from the public? Click to Tweet!

4. Main Background

You can do a lot of things with your background, just don’t keep the default! Try matching the background to your professional author website design, or upload a picture of your book (just make sure the picture isn’t hidden behind content boxes!).

Make sure that your background doesn’t clash with your header background or make your profile look too busy. Here are some examples of good header/background combinations.

5. Bio includes key words

This is both for new followers and for Google search. Include words that describe what kind of writing you do, as well as a brief summary of your work. Here are a couple good examples:

Michael Hyatt: Public speaker. Author of the New York Times bestseller, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. I share links on leadership, productivity, and social media.

 Liz Curtis Higgs: Love encouraging my sisters at women’s conferences, exploring the Bad Girls of the Bible, and writing Scottish historical novels.

6. Include website!

Don’t forget to include your author website URL. Easy way to get some more traffic directed to your site! Just stick it in in the “website” field in the profile settings.

7. Make sure you’re visible!

None of your hard work will matter if you make yourself invisible to your fans or search engines. Twitter profiles are set to public by default. If you’ve protected your tweets in the past, you can change the settings in your account settings by unchecking “Protect My Tweets.”

Bonus tip: Don’t connect your account to Facebook.

It’s tempting to cut down on the time sent on social media by having all your tweets post automatically to Facebook. Resist the urge. Facebook and Twitter are different social networks with different rules.

While ten tweets a day is good, ten Facebook posts a day is annoying. And if you tweet a lot, the “annoying” factor on Facebook skyrockets! Plus, your Facebook fans may think you’re not really engaging with them. Do yourself a favor and resist the urge.

Interested in having us design a custom social media profile? Contact us to get started!

What have you done with your Twitter profile? What changes are you going to make? What questions do you have?  

Constant Contact used to be the most popular solution for author newsletters. But is it the best? Here are 7 reasons why I prefer Mail Chimp to Constant Contact:

1. MailChimp is free(er) than Constant Contact

Constant Contact costs a minimum of $15 a month. If you have 2000 names or less MailChimp is free. After the 2000th subscriber the prices are roughly the same.

If you are just starting your email list, you probably don’t have many names. It takes many authors years to build a good-sized list. Why pay $15 a month for the first slow months when you can start using MailChimp for free?

If it takes you a year to get to 2000 addresses, you can save between $180 and $360 by using MailChimp. That’s a free iPhone.

2. MailChimp integrates with Twitter

Mail Chimp lets your readers share your newsletter with their Twitter followers with one click. Even if you don’t use Twitter this can be a big platform builder. It has deep social media integration.

3. Easy to Understand Reports.

One of the key features of any email marketing platform is reporting.

• How many emails were opened in your last campaign?
• What links were clicked?
• Is your email marketing working?

While Constant Contact gives you reports you need a class in marketing to figure out how to interpret them. MailChimp on the other hand gives you a side by side comparison with both your average list performance and your industry average.

A MailChimp report. notice how it gives you your list average and industry average. This campaign did way better than the industry average but slightly worse than the list average.

4. MailChimp has cleaner embed code.

Constant Contact allows you to embed a subscribe form in your site but the code is bad code. It sometimes breaks other parts of the design and is generally difficult to use. MailChimp, on the other hand, uses relatively clean CSS instead of invisible tables used by Constant Contact. MailChimp is still not standards-compliant but it is, at least, a step in the right direction.

MailChimp also provides a handy MailChimp WordPress Plugin to make it easy to add a subscription form to your website. Constant Contact provides a WordPress Plugin as well.

5. MailChimp is easier to use.

This is a matter of opinion, but in our tests MailChimp is easier to use. MailChimp has a monkey at the top of every page that gives tips on how to use the site. Who can compete with that? This is in addition to the video guides, email marketing guides and intuitive interface. Our clients who use Constant Contact grow to hate the interface for being difficult to use.

6. MailChimp keeps you out of the spam box.

The worst thing that can happen to your newsletter is for someone to mark it as spam. When they do that your newsletter can get spammed for your other subscribers as well. When MailChimp sees that someone marked you as spam, it automatically unsubscribes that person from the list.

What I like better about MailChimp is that they offer a One Click Unsubscribe. This means it is just as easy to unsubscribe as it is to mark the email as spam. Constant Contact, on the other hand forces you to type in your email address.  This makes unsubscribing a hassle. It is easy to just mark the email as spam which is very bad for your list.

7. MailChimp plays nice with others

Whether you are putting together an event on EventBrite, a survey on SurveyGizmo or want to see Google Analytics reports from your email surveys MailChimp will integrate with those services.

So let’s say you wanted to schedule an event to speak about your book. You could create the event in EventBrite which would kick the info to MailChimp for the invitations. You could then create a speaker evaluation with SurveyGizmo and then MailChimp will do the rest.

Constant Contact does not integrate with much. It is almost like they got lazy a couple of years ago when they got dominant market share and stopped innovating. As a result they feel like a Web 1.0 company trying to compete in a Web 2.0 world.

What do you think?

• What newsletter solution do you use?
• Are you happy with it?
• What do you like/dislike about Constant Contact?

In Portland, if something isn’t quite right the magic solution is to put a bird on it.

Beyonce blasts that if you liked it, you should have put a ring on it.

We say, if you want someone to like it, put a pin on it. That’s why we’re hosting a webinar on how to use pinterest to your advantage as an author.

Pinterest is one of those sites that everyone uses but not many people use well. But what if we told you that we would tell you how one author used Pinterest to drive 59,000 people to her site in two months?

Mary DeMuth will be sharing her secret to Pinterest.

She’s developed a simple system to maximize Pinterest’s reach in just a few minutes a couple times a week. If she can do it, so can you.

Sign up for this valuable, time-saving webinar, and learn:

• What is Pinterest and why it’s valuable to authors

• The secret of Mary’s system of pinning

• How to add a Pin it button to your site

And much, much more.

All attendees will receive an exclusive PDF that will walk you through Mary’s system and a recording of the webinar. This paid webinar is $15 but the secrets and marketing strategies you will be learning are worth much more.

When: April 15. 7:00 PM CENTRAL

Where: Online

Cost: $15

Tweetables:

• Learn the secrets of pinning with @MaryDeMuth and @ThomasUmstattd. – Click to Tweet.
• How did one author use pinterest to bring 30,000+ people to her website? Find out! – Click to Tweet.
• The Bzzzzzy Author’s Guide to Popularity and Profit on Pinterest. – Click to Tweet.
• You should come! // Webinar – The Bzzzzy Author’s Guide to Popularity and Profit on Pinterest. – Click to Tweet.

There was a time when I had almost 40 domains with GoDaddy. I started using them ten years ago, back when GoDaddy was a new website with dungeon low prices.

Now I don’t own a single domain with GoDaddy.

Here are seven reasons why you should move away from GoDaddy:

#1 GoDaddy Has Terrible Support

I had one client who had constant trouble with her email because GoDaddy support constantly gave her wrong advice. She would have a small problem with her email and would call GoDaddy. By the end of the call her email would be totally broken.

Finally, she hired me to conference in with the GoDaddy representative and interrupt each time the GoDaddy rep would give her bad information. I had to interrupt a lot.

Update: GoDaddy has made some improvements in the last few years in the support arena. They offer better support than they used to. I don’t think this reason alone is reason to move away from them. But it is not the only reason to avoid GoDaddy.

#2 GoDaddy is Overpriced

GoDaddy lures customers in with prices that look low.

GoDaddy makes it look like .com domains cost $1.99 per year when in reality domains cost $10 for the first year and $15 for every year after that.

Price Comparison:

• GoDaddy ($24.94/year)
  • $14.99/year for Domain Renewal
  • $2.95/year for Email Forwarding
  • $7.00/year for WhoIs Protection
• Namecheap.com ($13.57/year)
  • $10.69/year Domain Renewal
  • $0.00/year Email Forwarding
  • $2.88/year for WhoIs Protection

They also charge you extra (or don’t) for things Namecheap throws in for free, like landing page customization. Now these prices are constantly in flux and go on sale from time to time. The key is to focus on the renewal price. Sale prices typically only apply to the first year.

#3 GoDaddy is Hard to Use

I cringe any time I hear a novice say they bought a domain on GoDaddy.

GoDaddy spends so much time trying to up-sell customers that it is hard to buy what you came to buy. If you don’t know what you are doing, you may find yourself paying for all sorts of things you don’t need. These added services can make your domain harder to use.

You have to be fairly savvy to use GoDaddy and not get ripped off.

Tweetables

• 6+ reasons why authors should avoid GoDaddy. – Click to tweet.
• Thinking about GoDaddy? Read this first. – Click to tweet.
• I cringe any time I hear someone say they used GoDaddy. – Click to tweet.
• Is GoDaddy giving bad advice? – Click to tweet.
• Ever wonder why we don’t recommend GoDaddy? Here’s why. – Click to tweet.

#4 GoDaddy Hosting is Slow

iThemes, a major WordPress theme development company, blasted GoDaddy for overselling hosting space. GoDaddy puts thousands of websites on a single server. All those websites compete for server processing time and bandwidth. This causes the sites to run slow, especially if any of them are popular. The GoDaddy speed issues are exacerbated by the fact that Google now penalizes slow sites on its search results.

Not only is the hosting slow but making server changes is slow as well.

If you change the wrong thing you may not know anything is broken for thirty minutes and it may take another thirty minutes to “unchange” whatever it is you broke.

#5 GoDaddy Gives Too Little Control

Not only is GoDaddy slow but their server back end is difficult to use and limited. Instead of giving users an industry standard admin interface (like cPanel or Plesk), they give users a proprietary admin interface that is more interested in selling you more GoDaddy products than in giving you the tools you need.

This makes it harder (i.e. more expensive) to do simple things on GoDaddy.

#6 GoDaddy Uses Smut to Sell

Some people are more concerned about the moral degradation of our country than others. Many people feel the country is moving in the wrong direction. Let me just say that GoDaddy is no force for good in our culture. GoDaddy notoriously has the most offensive Super Bowl ads every year. Each year they submit ads that are deemed too inappropriate even for TV.

They then feature these “too hot for TV” ads on their homepage.

Even the ads that do get approved objectify woman’s bodies and degrade women into objects of lust for the purpose of making money. This is inappropriate, uncalled for, and not something conscientious people should support with their money. If we allow companies to manipulate our sexual desires to make a profit, how can we say we are any better than animals?

Authors can do better than GoDaddy.

#7 GoDaddy Backed SOPA & PIPA

GoDaddy backed one of the most destructive laws ever to threaten the internet. It was only after 50,000 GoDaddy users left in protest that they changed course.

While I applaud GoDaddy for finally coming out against SOPA, the fact is that we can’t trust them to protect the internet. it also shows us that if enough people transfer away from GoDaddy due to the offensive ads, that they might change course on that as well.

The Good News

You are not stuck with GoDaddy.

We help authors move away from GoDaddy all the time. Namecheap even offers a discount to GoDaddy users who transfer their domains away. Just use the coupon code Switch2NC and you will get a year added to your domain for a discount.

There are also a lot of better hosting providers. We recommend that you host with us :-)

But to host on our server, we need to build your author website.

If that is not an option we also recommend:

• ZippyKid (Best speed)
• Host Gator (Best value)

We recommend you register your domain with a 3rd party company and not your web host. Your website is safer when you don’t have all your eggs in one basket and the companies who are the best at domains (like Namecheap) are often not the same companies who are best at hosting (ZippyKid and Host Gator).

I don’t know anyone who grew up wanting to be a host on an infomercial but Twitter has turned many authors into a mutation of the Sham-WOW guy.

That’s right. Sham-WOW.

There’s a fine line between promoting your work and selling your brand (okay, and your soul) to sell a few books. As a general rule, and perhaps it was Mari Smith who taught me this, but there is a 80/20 magic metric that should be followed.

Be about others 80% of the time and yourself the rest.

If you just use Twitter to sell your product, pretty soon, no one will listen.

I recently came across Pam Moore’s piece 100 Things to Tweet About on Twitter Besides Yourself. I cannot recommend it highly enough. The bottom line is to be human. Twitter isn’t the time and place to be your own reality show. Invest in others.

I came up with 100 things for authors to tweet about. Some of them are strictly about others and quite a few of them allow you to get people excited about your books…without it always being about you.

This list is by no means comprehensive. My goal is to just get your creative juices flowing and hopefully, give you an “aha!” moment when it comes to tweeting.

Let me know what you think.

General for Every Author

1. Inspirational quotes.
2. Retweets of other people’s tweets.
3. Breaking news.
4. Thank you’s (I do this when I receive stellar customer service. Most recently, when I got help within 5 minutes of tweeting 8Bit about a website problem.).
5. Twitter chat with main characters.
6. Articles you’ve commented on.
7. Articles you’ve read (and liked).
8. Ask for book recommendations.
9. Ask for movie recommendations.
10. Ask for music recommendations.
11. Post photos of book launch parties (Promote other authors!).
12. Post photos of meet and greets.
13. Talk about the people who inspire you.
14. Alternate endings to your favorite books.
15. Ask readers how books should have ended.
16. News about your city.
17. News about where your books are set.
18. Announcements about social causes you support.
19. Kickstarters that need support (or you are supporting).
20. After-work adventures.
21. Photos from adventures – bonus if you pair them with an inspirational quote.
22. Start a conversation by posting a link or comment and saying, “What do you think?”
23. Ask readers what they want to see in the next book.
24. Ask readers what they want to see on your blog. This is great if you don’t know what your readers want.
25. Encourage people to sign up for your newsletter.
26. Find a trending hashtag and add a few witty tweets to the conversation.
27. Create a funny hashtag and ask followers to share their witty tweets.
28. Tweet notes during a conference so you share the knowledge. Use the hashtag and connect with other attendees at the same time.
29. Send welcome tweets to new followers.
30. Connect followers with similar passions/interests.
31. Freely praise others in your industry.
32. Randomly select followers to give a shout-out to.
33. Post photos and videos (Use Vine!) of industry conferences.
34. Ask followers who you should connect with.
35. Give away someone else’s book with a RT contest (“7th person to retweet gets a copy of _______.”)
36. Going to a new town? Ask your followers for restaurant recommendations.
37. Holiday cheer! There’s always a reason to celebrate!
38. Political commentary – post sparingly unless you are a professional political analyst.
39. Job opportunities.
40. Contests!

Tweetables -

• Thanks to @AuthorMedia, I now know what to tweet about. – Click to tweet.
• My days of Twitterblock are over. @AuthorMedia gave me 100 ideas. – Click to tweet.
• .@AuthorMedia gave 100 examples of things authors could tweet about. What are they missing? – Click to tweet.
• 100 Things for Authors To Tweet About. – Click to tweet.
• Love this! 100 Things for Authors to Tweet About via @AuthorMedia. – Click to tweet.
• No more excuses, I guess. “100 Things for Authors to Tweet About” via @AuthorMedia. – Click to tweet.
• Tweeting just got easier. – Click to tweet.
• YES! Tweeting for authors made easy. – Click to tweet.
• I needed this. / 100 Things for Authors to Tweet About via @AuthorMedia. – Click to tweet.

Genre-Specific Ideas

YA

1. YA books you read.
2. News about your favorite YA series (The Hunger Games, anyone? The next movie is coming soon…).
3. Links to interviews with other YA authors.
4. “Ask a YA Author” twitter chat.
5. Start a book club with your fans. Talk about other books, not just yours!
6. Links to fan art.
7. Video interviews and reviews!
8. Links to the inspiration behind your world.
9. Snarky comments about YA trends.
10. Post photos of fans dressed up like characters from your book.

Romance

1. Romance industry news.
2. Romance articles.
3. Favorite romance movie suggestions.
4. Photos of your favorite book covers.
5. Books you wished were made into movies.
6. Romance blogs you are reading.
7. Twitter chat with Romance writers and readers.
8. Ask followers for a love story in 140 characters or less.
9. Ask followers to help you name the next hero.
10. Ask followers to help you name the next heroine.

Historical

1. Debunk myths about the era you are writing about.
2. Ask followers for questions about the era you are writing about.
3. Post links to articles about the world your characters lived in.
4. Chat about the era your characters lived in.
5. Suggest alternate eras for classic stories (What would a modern Tale of Two Cities look like?).
6. Host chats with experts about that era.
7. Post favorite movies in that era.
8. Post a link to your Goodreads list of favorite books set in the era.
9. Give a shout-out to a store that sells era replications.
10. Give a shout-out to vacation spots that create experience that mimic the era.

Thrillers

1. Tweet a story exclusively for twitter. 140 characters at a time.
2. Mimic horror movie trailers. Hint at what’s in your book.
3. Ask your readers for plot twist suggestions.
4. Tweet from the villain’s pov.
5. Recommend other thrillers (Not just the song).
6. Host a twitter chat with another author.
7. Ask followers what scares them the most when they are reading.
8. Invite followers to help you write an exclusive short-story.
9. Share quotes that are less than inspirational.
10. Ask readers who their favorite villain is.

Fantasy

1. Share your fan art of other fantasy novels. If you can’t draw, own it and let people guess who you are trying to portray.
2. Post photos of you dressed up as a character.
3. Host a costume contest for your readers.
4. Invite readers to send in their alternate endings to your book.
5. Host a fanfic contest.
6. Poll your readers to find out if they are Trekkies, Whovians, or Star Wars geeks.
7. Ask followers to suggest fantasy graphic novels for you to review on your site.
8. Ask followers which fantasy fanfic author you should interview.
9. Create a wiki for you book. Ask readers to help you populate it.
10. Ask followers what they DON’T want to see in your next book.

Amish

1. Amish traditions.
2. Amish laws.
3. Photos of Amish land.
4. Q+A chat with former Amish.
5. Links to Amish/Quaker/Mennonite songs.
6. Links to Amish/Quaker/Mennonite poems.
7. Photos and links to Amish recipes.
8. Interview Amish-crossover fiction writers (Leslie Gould writes Amish + Shakespeare. Bet you didn’t know that combination existed!)
9. Your favorite NON-Amish books.
10. Your favorite NON-Amish movies.

 What would you add to the list?

Kickstarter is changing the way that self-published authors are raising money (and awareness!) for their books.

What is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a crowd funding website that lets you attract backers for a creative project. These backers help fund your project by pre-ordering it. That project can be a book, movie, or piece of software, but not a Hawaiian vacation.

The idea is that you raise money ahead of time so you can work on the project. Authors are using this to attract traditional publishers and to self-publish a book.

In exchange for money, backers get perks like advanced copies, autographed copies, or even something as big as naming the main character in your next novel. Authors are just starting to see the potential.

For our MyBookTable Kickstarter, we’re giving away discounts, upgrades, websites, and more.

Authors Who Used Kickstarter Right

1. Ryan North

One of the best examples of how Kickstarter was able to help a self-published author kick off his book is To Be Or Not To Be: That is the Adventure. Ryan North was able to use humor, video, and his quirky personality to raise half a million dollars for his book.

2. Larry Elmore

Larry’s desire was simple. He wanted to create a 336 page, full-color hardback book containing most of his painted and drawn art. His project took off quickly and he was able to raise just under $300,000 toward his project.

3. Laurel Holland

Laurel kept her pitch simple and hit her goal. Kickstarter is not just for people who need half a million dollars. It is also for the author who just needs a little extra money to finish her book.

Who are some authors you like? Post them in the comments and we may add them to the list.

7 Kickstarter Mistakes We Made (try to avoid these)

I anticipate that these mistakes cost us about $10,000 in lost backing.

Mistake #1 Not backing lots of kickstarter projects beforehand.

There are some people out there who are really good at Kickstarter. The best Kickstarter projects I have found are in the Kickstarter games section. These guys are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and have Kickstarter down to a science.

I should have started backing gaming projects months before our launch to learn how to do it right from the masters.

Mistake #2 Not setting up Amazon Payments Sooner.

You can’t launch your Kickstarter project without Amazon Payments set up. Kickstarter walks you through the process, but it takes a week (or more!). Kickstarter advises you set this up ahead of time. We ignored that good advice.

Mistake #3 Not Putting Enough Personality into our First Video

Our video feels super-corporate, which is not the Kickstarter style, or our style, frankly. We are a a startup, not a stodgy company. I may not be that interesting of a guy, but I’m more interesting than is conveyed in our first video. The best kickstarter videos convey personality and often humor. They don’t just convince viewers to back the project, they convince viewers to get their friends to back as well.

Mistake #4 Not Making the Early Bird Discounts More Clear.

People were backing the full priced levels that still had early bird bonuses available  While we are happy for the extra money, it was a sign that our backing levels were unclear.

If we had made it more clear there would have been a greater sense of urgency and thus more money raised. Speaking of urgency, as I write this, there are a few early bird specials left. So don’t everyone grab them all at once!

Mistake #5 Not Explaining What Kickstarter is – in the Video

Most of our backers have never backed a Kickstarter project before.

One of the things I noticed about super successful kickstarter campaigns is that they explain how crowd funding works to make the project approachable for everyone, not just Kickstarter ninjas. If we had done this we could have raised more money.

Mistake #6 Setting the Funding Goal too Low

I was nervous about Kickstarter’s all or nothing model, so I set a low goal. The problem with this is that as soon as we hit our goal we lost all our momentum.

Donations that were in the $100s every day dropped to almost nothing. We raised more in the first week than in the second two weeks combined. Our internal goal was $15,000 and we hoped that the stretch goals would help us get there. Fail.

Mistake #7 Setting Lame Stretch Goals

We picked stretch goals that did not motivate our backers to keep promoting us past our initial funding goal. What made the problem worse was that most of our backers were new to Kickstarter and did not understand how stretch goals worked. Our best stretch goals were too far away to motivate.

Even with these mistakes we’ve already funded our project to 200% complete and it is still climbing. So you don’t have to do it perfectly to succeed.

9 Steps to To Launch A Successful Kickstarter Project

Here are our tips on launching your own Kickstarter. We also encourage you to come to our free webinar on Kickstarter on Friday.

1. Back Other Kickstarter Projects

Had I backed more projects ahead of time I would have avoided a lot of the mistakes above. Since launching MyBookTable, I’ve backed many projects and learned a ton.

In fact, Kickstarter requires that you back at least one project before you can post your own. I think they should require you to back five projects.

2. Twitterize Your Project

What’s the gist of your project in 140 characters or less? How would you explain it on Twitter?

For our project, we boiled it down to the basics:

 3. Set Your Goals

How much money do you need to get your project off the ground? This isn’t the time to get greedy and go all Scrooge McDuck on your friends and supporters. But is also not the time to get scared like we did. Create realistic goals.

Here is our advice: Outline a realistic budget for how much it will really take for you to successfully launch your project. Add 20% for unanticipated costs. Now add another 10% to cover the cost of launching a Kickstarter (Both Kickstarter and Amazon take a cut).

Stretch goals are amounts of money you’d need to hit bigger goals. Try adding goals where you make the project better as you hit higher levels of backing. Make these these levels that will get people excited, like bonus chapters and whatnot.

4. Tell Your Story

The key to a successful kickstarter is to tell your story behind your project. Why does the world need what you are selling? For MyBookTable we used a Problem/Solution approach. We first outlined why selling books on your website is so hard, then explained how MyBookTable would make it easy. This approach is great for nonfiction.

For fiction you need to tease your story. Practice teasing your story on your friends and strangers. The key is to give them enough info where they say “tell me more.”

5. Make a Video

Your Kickstarter video is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. A video can make or break a Kickstarter. Figure out if your book’s story can be told with a voice over or if you need something higher tech. Look around at the other videos on Kickstarter before you make your decision.

The key with the video is to make it fun and add personality. It doesn’t have to be super professional. There are Kickstarter projects with very amateur videos that have raised $100,000. Keep it short or keep people laughing.

That said, it doesn’t hurt for the video to look good. You can work with videographers in your area who are just starting out. Just ask to see clips first. Remember, you are the writer. It’s your job to tell the story. It’s the videographer’s job to make it visually stunning.

Our First (Lame!) Video

This video is too long and too boring. It explains our project, but I was shooting from the hip and not working from a script. This made it hard for our video guy to edit and too long to hold anyone’s attention. Only 25% of people who started watching the video finished it.

Our Second (fun!) Video

Notice how this video is one minute long and still captures the essence of what MyBookTable is. Behold the power of a tightly edited script.

6. Create a Promotion Strategy

Expect about 20% of your backing to come from the kickstarter community and the remaining 80% to come from your community. So if you are trying to raise $5000, $4000 of that needs to come from your friends and followers.

Plan ahead of time how you are going to reach them. If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter you heard about this plugin nearly every day. We also hit our email list with several reminders. The number one source of donors for us was Facebook, due in part to the sponsored stories we ran to our existing fans.

Also try borrowing platforms from other leaders in your industry. We were blessed to have Steve Laube feature the plugin in his News You Can Use post,  Randy Ingermanson to feature it in his e-zin and Rachelle Gardner feature it on her blog.

7. Budget Time To Answer Questions

The more popular your Kickstarter, the more questions you will get. For folks behind projects that raise millions, answering questions becomes a full time job for the duration of the project. I’ve been getting questions from potential backers constantly. I estimate about 10% of people want a question answered before they will back the project.

8. Go Though Kickstarter University

Kickstarter has great training on their website. Most of what they cover we skipped in this guide, because we assume you will go through it before launching your project.

9. Use Kicktraq

Kicktraq is like Google Analytics for Kickstarter. It is also free. It gives you projections and trends on how your project is going. I found myself turning to the Kicktraq report more often than to Kickstarter’s dashboard.

You can find our our Kicktraq report here.

What do you think?

• What kickstarter projects have you backed?
• Do you have any questions on how Kickstarter works or how to use it?
• Are you doing your own Kickstarer based on these tips? If so post a link in the chat.

Twitter is a powerful social media platform that can take your book launch from “meh” to amazing.

Using Twitter to supercharge your book signing is a great strategy and can have incredible results.

However, before you do, make sure you are leveled-up on your Twitter knowledge.

Refresh your memory with these four articles:

• How to Get Started on Twitter in 5 Easy Steps
• Why Your Next Book Should Have a Hashtag
• 44 Essential Hashtags Every Author Should Know
• 15 Common Twitter Questions Authors Ask

1. Start Growing Your Following Ahead of Time

Great things take time.

One mistake many people make is getting on Twitter at the last minute, hoping to make a big impact. The problem is that often, these last-minute tweeters don’t have followers. They are tweeting to an empty pocket of cyberspace.

If you want to make an impact, you need to think ahead.

Here are 7 quick tips on growing your Twitter following:

1. Follow other twitter users related to your topic or passion.
2. Tweet & advertise on related hashtags.
3. Add tweetables to your blog.
4. Place a Twitter icon prominently on every page of your website. 
5. Put a link to your twitter account in your email signature.
6. Put your Twitter @name in your bio within your book and speaker packet.
7. Watch for which of your tweets get retweeted and tweak to get more retweets.

For more about growing your twitter following read:

• 4 Ways to Grow a Twitter Following That Matters

2. Infect Your Followers

You can’t start tweeting two days before your book launch and expect hoards of people to show up at the book store, hungry for your book like a zombie is for brains.

You need to infect your followers months in advance. That’s right, months. Creating hysteria over your book takes time. Have a book coming out in a few months? Start tweeting now.

3. Create Tasty Tidbits

Tease your followers with teasers from your next book. You can use quotes, passages, or whatever else will fit in 140 characters or less. Use the hashtag for your book in your tweets.

Create 50 – 100 promotional tweets. Load them up on Hootsuite, Twuffer, Buffer, or whatever application you use to schedule your tweets. You want to get people excited! The best way to do this is make each tweet helpful, the kind of thing people would want to retweet. Feel free to recycle these tweets as needed.

Make sure you take the time to look and see which ones are getting the most interaction and retweets. You can repurpose those tweets and create images with them…which you can share almost anywhere.

Tweetables -

• Learning how to supercharge my book launch with Twitter @AuthorMedia. – Click to tweet.
• Who knew throwing a book launch party could be so easy?  - Click to tweet.
• Your readers want to feel special. Think of them as people, not numbers. – Click to tweet.
• Do you like it when authors talk back on Twitter? – Click to tweet.
• 5 steps to supercharging my next book launch! Wahoo! – Click to tweet.
• I want to try these for my next book launch party. – Click to tweet.
• Has anyone tried these book launch suggestions from Author Media? Do they work? – Click to tweet.
• Having a book and a twitter stream does not mean you have your own reality tv show. – Click to tweet.
• @AuthorMedia is giving out some tweet templates for authors. Hurray! – Click to tweet.
• @AuthorMedia talks zombies, hashtags, and Twitter parties in this post. – Click to tweet.

4. Talk Back

Talk to your followers! Listen! These people care enough about you to invest in your life by purchasing a book. You should care enough to say hello.

Ask questions of your followers. One easy way to get a conversation started is to ask something simple like, “Suddenly have free time. What classic movie would you recommend?” Or “Finished one book. On to something new. What book do you recommend?”

Feeling uncreative? Try one of these:

• Hanging out in (insert city name). Where’s the best place to get food?
• Just finished (insert book title). Ready for something different. Ideas?
• My Amazon page is open and I’m in a book-buying mood. What do you recommend?
• Going to the movies this weekend! Don’t know what to see yet. Any thoughts?
• Help! I’m going to (insert city name) next week and don’t know what to do in my free time.
• Has anyone ever tried (insert item)? What did you think?

5. Invite Them to Join You at a Book Signing or Launch Party

Before you go to an event (even if it’s not yours), let your followers know. Interact with the ones who are there. Take pictures with them and tag them when you tweet. The days of being a mysterious author died with the birth of the internet.

Jon Acuff is an author who invites people to his events all the time. So does Bob Goff and Michael Hyatt. People come from all over to meet up with them. Why?  These men are genuinely likable from their tweets and are thinking of their fans as people, not numbers.

Here are some template tweets. Feel free to steal them, tweak them, and personalize them to your heart’s content:

• I’m having a book signing in (insert town name) next (insert day). Come join the fun! First ten fans to find me get (insert prize). Spread the word! (insert link) (insert hashtag).
• Hey (insert town name)! I’ll be seeing you (insert day). Come say hi at (insert store name) to brighten my day and get an autographed book. (insert hashtag)
• So I’m having a book launch party next week in (insert town name). Care to join in the fun? I’ll bring doughnuts…(insert link) (insert hashtag)
• Let’s see how many people we can fit into the bookstore next week. I have a book launch and want it to be memorable…in a good way. (insert link) (insert hashtag)
• Do you know what would be cool? A book-launch flash mob. Let’s try it. (insert link) (insert hashtag)

You can use the power of social media to send your Twitter followers to a special landing page on your website or a Facebook event page that will give them all the information they need about your book event. All of the information they need won’t fit in 140 characters.

6. Remind People

It’s okay to send out reminder tweets. Or to post the same thing two days in a row. Encourage your followers to invite their friends. Or to dress up if your book is in the fantasy or sci-fi genres.

Preschedule your tweets so you can streamline your time before the event. People want to feel special. They want to feel wanted. Make sure that you tailor your message so it’s not all about you. Having a book and a twitter stream does not mean you have your own reality tv show.

Being proactive instead of reactive will help calm your nerves and allow you to have fun. Use Twitter as a tool to supercharge your next book signing party or book launch party.

Did this post help you? Leave us a comment or share it with your friends.

In January and February, we started showing you some of the professional author websites we’ve been building.

This March, we launched sites for an up-and-coming novelist, a political nonprofit, and a man referred to as “America’s Mad Professor of Fiction Writing.”

Sound intriguing? Keep reading.

1. Randy Ingermanson / Advanced Fiction Writing

Randy has helped thousands of authors over the years with his website and resources. When he came to Author Media, he had some pretty specific needs like a new store, better navigation, a cleaner page, and keeping 32,000 readers happy.

Randy ended up with a custom Gold site. His account manager, Hannah, worked around the clock to make sure that this site got launched with minimal hiccups. Find out how you can get a website for your ecommerce.

Tweetables -

• Find out which authors got the makeover treatment this month from @AuthorMedia – Click to tweet.
• What kind of website did America’s Mad Professor of Fiction Writing get? Find out! – Click to tweet.
• No puppies this month. Just patriots. – Click to tweet.
• I kind of love @SherryKyle’s new web look. She’s got the laid back California beach vibe! - Click to tweet. 

2. Sherry Kyle

Sherry Kyle writes California-based fiction for girls and young women. Her latest book, The Heart Stone, came out on April 1.

Sherry has had a website for years but felt like it was time to update. She wanted something fun, fresh, and easy to use. Something that would mimic the laid back style of the California coast. Sherry ended up getting a Bronze website with MailChimp and Bronze-level hosting. 

Find out how you can get a website for your book.

3. Patriot Academy

The Patriot Academy is an organization that is near and dear to the hearts of many employees at Author Media. Many of the staff have volunteered with the organization, mentoring young students learn leadership strategies, life purpose planning, media relations, public speaking, campaign skills, and the founding fathers’ philosophy of government.

When the Patriot Academy came to us, we knew that they would need a special package. They ended up with a Gold package after working extensively on the scope with their account manager.

Find out how you can get a website for your nonprofit.

What if I told you that there WAS a short-cut to success?

In fact, there’s more than one. In this post, I’m going to show you five ways to fool agents and editors into thinking your platform is bigger than it really is.

How will this help you?

Think multi-million dollar book deals, houses on every continent, and only walking on red carpet from this day forward.

I thought you’d like that.

Way #1 Buy Fake Facebook Likes

How to Buy Likes

There are several ways to buy Facebook likes. The easiest way is through Fiverr.com. You can buy 1,000 fake likes for $5. There are also companies that will sell you likes that you can find with a simple Google search.

Why It Works

Most literary agents don’t know how to tell real Facebook fans from fake Facebook fans. They don’t use tools like Klout to measure influence and they tend to pay more attention to the number of likes rather than the number of people talking about your page.

Why it is a Bad Idea

These “people” who have liked your page are not real. They are robot or spam accounts made to look like real people. Having fake humans not reading your post will hurt your edge rank. So Facebook will show your posts to fewer of your real Facebook Fans. Also, if Facebook catches you buying likes, your account could get suspended. Savvy Agents will pay more attention to the “People Talking About This” numbers than to the number of likes.

Way #2 Buy Fake Twitter Followers

How To Buy Fake Twitter Followers

Buying Twitter followers is even easier than buying Facebook likes. It is a time honored practice that even President Obama has used. Fiverr.com, the same folks who will sell you fans, will also sell you followers.

Why it Works

Publishers love authors with lots of followers on Twitter. They rarely use tools like FollowerWonk, Fakers or Klout to tell how many of those followers are real.

Why Buying Fake Twitter Followers is a Bad Idea

Remember, these “followers” are not real people. So while it may look like you have a big following, none of those robots are going to buy your book.

So you are taking a short term gain for a long term loss. Just because President Obama does it doesn’t mean it is a good idea.

If a publisher sees that your first book flopped, you may never be able to land another publishing deal again.

Also, it can cause quite the scandal when people find out that you have bought your followers. Savvy agents use tools to tell how influential you really are, like:

•  Twitter Audit
•  FollowerWonk
•  Fakers
•  Klout

I encourage you to run these tools on yourself before your submit your proposal.

Tweetables:

• FINALLY! // 5 Ways to Fool Agents & Editors Into Thinking Your Platform is Bigger.  - Click to tweet.
• Don’t judge me. // @AuthorMedia explains how to fool agents & editors. – Click to tweet.
• Is this an April Fool’s joke? // @AuthorMedia explains how to fool agents & editors. – Click to tweet.
• Authors, don’t try these tips at home! – Click to tweet.
• How to buy fake Twitter followers – Click to tweet.
• How to buy fake Facebook likes – Click to tweet.
• 5 Ways to Fool Agents & Editors Into Thinking Your Platform is Bigger – Click to tweet.
• This may be the best – or worst – advice. You decide. – Click to tweet.

Way #3 Use “Follower Churn” To Get More Real Twitter Followers

How To Grow Twitter Followers With Follower Churn

Follow people on Twitter related to your area of interest or expertise. Then wait a few days and see if they follow you back. Then unfollow everyone who did not follow you. There are automated tools that can do this for you.

The key with this strategy is to keep the follower ratio as even as possible. So if you are following 1500 people and only 500 of them follow you back it looks bad. This combined with buying fake followers can give you very rapid growth.

Why it Works

This method actually gives you real humans who follow you on Twitter.

The problem is, none of them read your posts. They use tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to filter posts so they don’t see yours. But non savvy agents and editors may not know that.

Why Follower Churn Can Be a Bad Idea

The follower churn strategy can get your account removed from Twitter if you do it too aggressively. This happened to a prominent literary agent, who still uses this strategy with his new account.

Twitter may also give you other penalties like hiding your posts from search so non-followers can’t see your hashtags so it will have no effect on your FollowerWonk, or Klout score.

Way #4 Report Website “Hits” Instead of “Visitors” or “Pageviews” in Your Proposal

How to do it

Many people don’t know the difference between “hits” and “visitors.” But there’s a big difference.

Non savvy publishers way even use the words interchangeably. To find out the number of hits just go to your your web host. If you are not sure how to do this you can ask your web host.

Why it works

Technically a “hit” is just a server request. So every image on a page creates a hit.

One curious website visitor could create hundreds of hits. Also non human visitors to your website generate hits. So your hit count gives you a big impressive number that doesn’t mean anything.

Why Reporting Hits is a Bad Idea

Savvy Agents and publishers expect to see Google Analytics info. This is the trusted industry standard for accurate website traffic reporting.

Of the ideas in this post, this is the one literary agents are most aware of. Any agent that accepts your hit count without verifying it on a site like Alexa.com or Compete.com is not worth your time. You don’t want an agent that you can fool.

Way #5 Get into a Comment Circle

How to Setup a Comment Circle

Work out a deal with a dozen or so other authors to always comment on each other’s blogs. This way each of you has at least 12 comments on every post. This makes your blog look like it is getting more traction than it really is.

Why They Work

Some agents look at how many comments you get to gauge how big your following is. So getting friends to inflate your comments can help you look better.

Why Comment Circles are a Bad Idea

Comment Circles are such a waste of time!

You should be working on writing new blog posts or on your manuscript, not leaving comments to help comment inflation. Only leave a comment when you have something valuable to add to the conversation. Your number of comments is only a small part of your platform and savvy agents look at the whole package.

How to Grow Your Platform the Right Way

Sorry, there are no silver bullets when it comes to growing your platform. It takes work. That is why we are here, to help authors like you get famous, not just published.

Every week we post tips and advice on how to grow real influence and a platform that actually sells books. If you want help building your platform the right way we encourage you to subscribe to our free email newsletter or schedule a consultation with one of our book marketing experts.

Finding something to blog about can be hard. Writer’s block can be a serious condition that cripples authors.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Especially when you are working on other writing projects and every ounce of your creative juices have already been squeezed out of your body.

Your blog is the first draft of your book. It’s what agents and publishers look at before they sign you on as an author.

If you write fiction, try blogging about one of these topics to kill your writer’s block:

• The inspiration behind your work in progress
• A story you uncovered while searching your novel
• 10 Authors who inspire you
• Your first rejection letter
• 10 Movies that inspire you
• The worst moment in your life
• Books you wish that you had written
• The best way to track your site statistics and why you do
• How your faith interacts with your writing
• Interviews with one of your main characters
• Family stories that have influenced your writing
• How you found your agent
• Interviews with agents
• The moment you decided to be a novelist
• How to survive the holidays as a writer
• The moment your writing started to pay off
• How you deal with stress
• Writing conferences you recommend
• How to carve out writing time while maintaining a social life
• How to write a novel while working a full time job
• Common misconceptions about novelists
• When the worst time to write is
• How to find the best time to write
• How you use Pinterest
• How to make your characters come alive
• Bloggers you follow
• How to avoid lame author portraits

If you write non-fiction, try one of these posts to cure writer’s block:

• Research tips
• How to find someone to interview
• How to set realistic writing goals
• How to request an interview
• How to fact-check after an interview
• How to avoid libel
• Elements of an effective newsletter
• 5 non-fiction writers that inspire you
• 10 true stories you want to write about
• Organizations that support the causes in your book
• How to build your author brand
• How to narrow your focus
• Myths about nonfiction writers
• Finding historical sources
• Why people should read more nonfiction

Tweetables:

• Writer’s block is now a thing of the past. Here’s my new secret strategy. – Click to Tweet
• Need something to write about? Try one of these ideas. There’s something for everyone! – Click to Tweet
• I’m looking forward to trying one of these ideas. – Click to Tweet
• Yessss….my long days of writer’s block are over! – Click to Tweet
• Pffft. Writer’s block? That was before I found this article. – Click to Tweet

If you are a public speaker, you can always blog about one of these topics:

• The most unusual person you’ve met through your speaking engagements
• How to track your message online
• The strangest venue you’ve spoken at
• 10 tips for mentally preparing for a speech
• How to know when a speech is ready for delivery
• How to write for the web
• Memory of your first speaking engagement
• How to find speaking engagements
• Essentials for your online press kit
• How to send more traffic to your website during a radio interview
• Leveraging social media to connect with your audience
• Finding your audience
• How to increase your speaking gigs
• 5 productivity tips you use
• Speakers who inspire you
• What makes some speeches great and others terrible

What do you write about when you are faced with writer’s block?

If you know someone who is fighting writer’s block, please share this article with them.

Fresh out of ideas on how to help your writing take off? You’re in luck.

We’ve compiled a list of 89 book marketing ideas that will change your life, build your brand, and sell your book. There’s something for everyone on the list.

Best of all, the list is free. Completely free.

Sound intriguing? Read on.

89+ Book Marketing Ideas That Will…

Make some extra money:

Find a Place To Give a Book Reading:

Become an expert:

Have any book marketing tips you’d like to add to the list? Leave them in the comment section.

Need help implementing some of the ideas? Author Media can help.

If you build it they won’t come. The only way to get people to visit your author website is to give them something they are looking for. But what is that?

This article summarizes research done by the Codex Group about what readers want from author websites.

1. Exclusive Content

43% of respondents to the Codex Group Survey want exclusive online content.

This is an untapped goldmine. Provide special goodies exclusively on your site and watch your visits blast off. Give them fun stuff they would be willing to pay for. MP3′s, short stories, whole books. Go crazy. Also, Google likes exclusive content so this gives you and SEO boost too. Here are 10 fiction website content ideas to consider for your website.

Seth Godin gives more stuff away for free on his blog than most other authors. He also sells more books than most other authors. He gives stuff away on his blog only to his blog readers. He has no “goodies” page.

2. Your Speaking Schedule

36% want speaking schedules, book signings, and appearances.

This is really true, particularly for guys. I check Mark Cahill’s website often just to see if he is coming to Texas.  Posting your speaking schedule can also increase your appeal as a speaker. If event planners know you bring your own crowd they will be willing to pay you more.

3. Recommended Books

36% want to see recommended books; “explainers,” or inside information about the book.

This is also a great way to make a little extra money on the side since amazon will give you a commission on any book sales you refer using their affiliate program. Garr Reynolds does book recommendations well. He doesn’t just recommend a book, he explains the gist of the book visually. He also has a list of recommended books along the right side of his site. The MyBookTable plugin is a great way to recommend books.

Tweetables:

• Learn what readers want from your website. – Click to tweet.
• Authors, readers want to know what YOU are reading. – Click to tweet.
• Are you making it easy for your readers to connect with you? – Click to tweet.
• Discover what readers really want. - Click to tweet.

4. Book News

33% of respondents said they want weekly e-mail news bulletins with updates on tours, reviews, and books in progress.

Let your website visitors feel like they are on the “in crowd”; they get to know about stuff first and get special perks by visiting your website.

Here are some email tips:

• 7 Reasons Why MailChimp is Better than Constant Contact for Author Newsletters
• 3 Ways to Grow Your Author Newsletter
• 8 Elements of Effective Author Newsletters

5. Your Contact Information

Nothing is more frustrating for readers than to dig up an author’s website only to not be able to contact that author. Setup an email address just for getting reader feedback. The practice of corresponding with readers is centuries old. C.S. Lewis used to spend hours hand-writing responses to his readers’ letters. If he can do that, the least you can do is give people your email. As Rob Eagar says, “Don’t Play Hide & Seek with Your Readers“.

5. Your Social Networking Information

Are you on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? Make sure to include buttons so that your readers can connect to you on those networks.

6. Good Photos

People don’t want to see piles of text when they come to your site. They don’t want to read a welcome letter. They also don’t want to see that snapshot your husband took of you in the back yard. You don’t need photos of you necessarily but you need photos of something. Use photos that relate to your topic. Here are 11 places to get free (and legal) photos. Get some professional photos of yourself. Remember, nothing says amateur like an ugly author picture.

If you have questions about what makes up a good author website, sign up for a free website consultation from Author Media.

What do you like to find on author websites?

Can I recommend Author Media for creating your website?

Hands down—YES! I give them super kudos!

There are some things you should know about the website building process. Things I learned along the way.

A writer’s job today does not end with the writing.

Authors have to promote themselves and their work if they hope to sell their books. A powerful online presence is essential. Websites and blogs must be remarkable, productive, and not about the blogger, but what you can give the reader.

I learned these secrets from Author Media president, Thomas Umstattd Jr, first through his speaking, then from the website and blogs. The expert, accommodating, and talented staff made exceptional partners in developing my site and blog.

I’m not a geek.

I’m getting more tech-friendly lately but hadn’t a clue about all those tricky, techy details. My account manager very patiently walked me through the basics and preparations.

My designer worked with me and developed the header and format that brought to life what I had imagined. Creating a website was like birthing a baby. I worked hard, but my “baby” is special due to my wonderful midwives.

I needed help.

I had no idea how much work I had to do in the development phase, but they walked me through slowly until I understood and produced the material.

Once my site was up and running I attended Thomas’s online Blogging Boot Camp. You’ve gotta grab the reader’s attention from the git-go, entertain and inform—make it appetizing and easily digestible.

Tweetables:

• Find out what Nan Rinella had to say about her experience with Author Media. – Click to tweet.
• Nan loved her website so much that she’s buying a new one! – Click to tweet.
• I love that Nan isn’t a geek and yet she loves her website. – Click to tweet.
• A writer needs a powerful online presence to sell books. – Click to tweet.
• Writing books isn’t enough. Authors need great websites.  - Click to tweet. 

I got what I paid for.

The fees are not inexpensive, but I have always believed that you get what you pay for. Readers will detect a run-of-the-mill product, and be outta there in a click.

I wanted a site that would reflect my personality. Mine does, and I am thrilled with the results—visit and see.

I have known Thomas since I met him at a writers conference in 2009. He’s spoken at the C.S. Lewis Foundation Writers Workshop in Houston for four years. Many of our presenters have engaged his services. I’ve heard him speak at other conferences, including Panhandle Professional Writers. Of course, he does the big ones too. I can’t imagine anyone more innovative, informed, and yes, remarkable.

I’m buying another site.

I am launching a 2nd site and blog soon, and again look forward to working with the Author Media crew.

Interested in getting your own professional author website? Talk to Author Media.

We just updated our MyBookTable Kickstarter page with exciting news.

Thanks to so many members of the author and tech communities, we are proud to announce that…

MyBookTable is fully funded!

Many of you have stepped up to the plate and helped us fund MyBookTable.

Over the last week, I’ve gotten emails from authors all over the country, excited to install this plugin on their website. Instead of MyBookTable being an Author Media thing, it’s become an every author thing.

It’s exciting to be part of.

The MyBookTable kickstarter is still going strong. The money is now going toward stretch goals that will help even more authors. Some of the goals include webinars, support for more bookstores, and pre-order features.

Will you help us spread the world about what’s going on in the author community? Will you be part of the movement?

Stretch Goals:

• $5,000 - All backers get access to an exclusive Book Marketing Tips & Tricks webinar with Author Media CEO, Thomas Umstattd Jr.

• $7,500 -  Support for LifeWay & Books-A-Million will be added to the Profesional & Developer Levels.
• $10,000 - BookBaby & SmashWords will be added to the Profesional & Developer Levels.

• $15,000 - MyBookTable Sidebar Widget added to all levels of the  plugin.
• $25,000 - We will add a pre-order feature that integrates with MailChimp so people can find out when an upcoming book is available. This feature will be available for all levels of the plugin.
• $50,000 -  We will add a book review and rating feature.

Tweetables:

• I can’t wait for this tiny plugin to change the way my books are sold! – Click to tweet.
• Let’s hit the stretch goals so I can start selling more books! – Click to tweet.
• Extra! Extra! Read all about the MyBookTable updates! - Click to tweet.

Are you a serious Pinterest addict?

Don’t deny it. There’s nothing wrong with a little Pinterest therapy. It can be a great way to drive traffic to your website.

Just like every other social media network, Pinterest can be a powerful tool. Authors should be on Pinterest. You just need to learn how to harness it before it sucks you in.

We’ve compiled seven free tools that will help you maximize your time on Pinterest. You know, so you can be writing.

Aren’t on the site? Here’s how to set up your Pinterest account.

1. Quozio

Not feeling very creative? Don’t want to open up Paint or Photoshop? Create your own pinnable quotes in seconds. Choose from 28 different backgrounds and then copy/paste your quote.

2. Pin Alert

This site lets you find out when someone pins content from your website. Instead of wishing for serendipity to happen on the internet, you are able to discover just what is being share, where, and why. Consider it another tool to use when you need to go into full blown analytic mode.

3. Pin Search 

If you’ve ever used Pinterest, you know how frustrating it is when you find something you want to buy but the link is broken. Maybe it’s a dress, a gadget, or a bookmark. Finding the original source is like searching for a needle in a haystack – while in a tornado.

Pin Search is a Chrome extension that performs a Google image search of the pin. You can track down the original item with the power of Google. It’s a powerful little tool that can help you track sources and find similar items online. We first mentioned it in our Chrome extensions post but if you haven’t added it already, add it. Add it now.

Tweetables:

• Say goodbye to your @Pinterest slump! These tools will get you pinning like a pro. – Click to tweet.
• Supercharge your pinning with these 7 free tools. – Click to tweet.
• I’m in love with these @Pinterest tools. – Click to tweet.
• Authors can be on @Pinterest. I’m just going to be smart about it. – Click to tweet.
• It’s a pretty, pretty world on @Pinterest. Enter it wisely. – Click to tweet.

4. Pin Reach

Think of this as Klout for Pinterest. Just like Klout but without the fun prizes for being popular online. Instead, you get numbers to crunch and trends to analyze…which will help you more int the long run.

You can also discover what the top trending pins are and how you can replicate their virality.

 5. PinGraphy

Say what? You can now schedule your pins in advance. You can also upload a massive amount of pins all at the same time. Consider your life changed.

6. Pinterest Chimplets

This may be one of the most useful tools we’ve found. Merge your author newsletter with some of your most recent pins via MailChimp. Starting to pin the places in your next book? Get readers excited before the book hits the shelves – or even the hands of your editors!

7. ShareAsImage

There are two versions of this popular app but we suggest starting with the free version. You can create quotes by highlighting the text and then clicking the ShareAsImage toolbar in your browser.

What Pinterest tools do you swear by? Which ones were new to you?

In an announcement that seems to go against their “Don’t be evil” policy, Google has declared that Google Reader will be shut down on July 1.

Google’s official line was that they are shutting down Google Reader because it has decreased in popularity in recent years. The outcry on the internet suggests otherwise. Bloggers, tweeters, and even the community on Google+ are livid.

If you are an author and you blog, you need to care about this change. Even if you don’t use Google Reader, your faithful readers do. When Reader shuts down, you will take a hit in readership. Guaranteed.

It’s time to prepare.

Tips for Authors

• Make sure your Google Authorship is set up.
  

  Google mentioned they were shutting down Reader to pay more attention to Google+. We know that there is a huge push by Google to get authors and publishers registered with Google+ and Authorship. In the Google world, it’s all connected. The death of Google reader isn’t collateral damage. I predict that Google already has a fix up it’s sleeve and is just waiting for the right time to reveal it.

• Get MailChimp.

  If people want your content in their inbox, fill that need by offering them a newsletter. MailChimp is free until you reach 2,000 subscribers. Best of all, it has an RSS to email option which allows you, dear author, to sit back and relax while MailChimp sends those blog posts. Make sure that the sign-up space is prominent on your site. You want as many people as possible to sign up.

• Communicate the change.

  Let your readers know that there are other ways to find you. When you make the switch from reader to another service, talk about it. Encourage others to do the same (while adding your blog to their reading list!). Cut down the number of people who will be surprised on July 1.

Tweetables

• When Reader shuts down, you will take a hit in readership. Guaranteed. – Click to tweet.
  
• If you are an author and you blog, you need to care about this change. – Click to tweet.
• Was Google being evil when they decided to shut down Google Reader? – Click to tweet.
• What RSS readers do you use? @AuthorMedia suggests 10. – Click to tweet.
• Ten RSS reader alternatives to Google Reader. – Click to tweet.

Tips for Readers

• Get on Google+

  Set up your circles to include the writers and blogs you used to follow in reader. Make sure your circles are distinct - Historical Experts, Fashion Gurus, Social Media Types, SEOs, etc. 

• Start aggregating your own feed via Twitter.

  It may be a generational thing but more people are flocking to Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr to get their news and information sources than anywhere else. It’s time to curate your own news feed in real time. Set up a list.

• Get caught up on Facebook’s upcoming changes

  Facebook announced that it was creating a personalized newspaper for every user based on their likes, interests, friends, brands, pages, and friends they followed. This means Facebook is going to morph to be a lot like your Google Reader used to be.

10 Google Reader Alternatives

• Feedly
• Flipboard
• Google Currents
• NetVibes
• NewsBlur
• Pulse
• Reeder
• Taptu
• The Old Reader
• Zite

Note: If you want to make the transition seamless, use Google Takeout to transfer your RSS subscriptions.

What do you think about Google’s announcement? Which RSS readers do you recommend? Do you think Google will replace Reader with something else in the future?

The best thing you can do as an author is to kill off your blog’s dates.

We just killed off our blog’s dates at Author Media and wish we had done it years ago. Sure it was messy and painful but it needed to be done. We want our permalinks to be pretty, darn it!

No, I haven’t suddenly turned Stephen King on you. For the rest of this post, the best thing you can do is think of dates as days of the year, not potential love interests. It will just make life easier for all of us.

Confused about permalinks and why they need to change? Simply put, permalinks are permanent links that point back to a specific blog post or article once they have entered the site archives.

Most of the time, they follow this structure: www.domain.com/year/month/day/post-name.

It’s time to change that.

Do yourself a favor and kill off those pesky dates. What seems like a minor detail is really a big deal, especially if your platform is established on non-fiction.

NOTE: This is only for WordPress.org websites. WordPress.com does not allow you to change your permalink structure. You also need to come up with a game plan for redirecting links. That is not covered in this post.

In this article, you’ll discover:

• Why dates in permalinks need to be snuffed out
• How to do the deed without killing your website (or going to jail)
• When you should flip the switch

TentBlogger and Yoast also have really solid things to say about permalinks and go into wonderful technical detail about the process. If you want a super-technical post, I recommend Paul Stamatiou’s thoughts on the matter. So if you’re already bored with this post, hop on over to hear what they have to say.

Ready? Here we go.

Reasons why blog dates need to die -

1. They aren’t going to age well.

Blog posts aren’t wine. No one every scours the internet for a perfectly aged post to pair with their new iPad. That’s just not how technology works. Technology constantly changes and your blog posts need to change with it.

Quit thinking of your post as simply a one and done. You can’t just hit “publish” and then walk away. Those days are over.  Think of it as it’s own page that needs to grow and be edited with time. Killing off your blog’s dates allows you to go back and update the content as needed.

Recency and relevancy need to be part of your blogging strategy. Not only is it important for you to provide value to your readers, you need to do it in a timely manner. You need to be relevant and recent to get on Google’s good side.

Recency – Google updated to favor fresh content on their search pages. It makes sense if you think about it. If I were to Google “Summer Writing Conferences” I would want the ones that are coming up this summer. Not the ones that happened when I was a kid.

Relevancy – Is your content out of date? Does it have anything to do with what people are searching for? If I’m searching “Summer Writing Conferences” I better not be getting results for the Summer Olympics!

This is a great strategy, especially if you are a non-fiction or business writer. If something changes, simply update the post instead of spending hours writing a new one.  For Author Media, it was a perfect solution

2. No one likes them.

Have you ever noticed how long some URLs are? They seem to go on forever. Don’t be the blogger with a separate zip code for each URL. Take charge of the situation. Get rid of them.

I hate it when people send me links that take up half my screen, don’t you? There are ways to shrink them but in their organic form, they are grotesque.

There used to be solid reasons for having the date in the permalink. They had to do with website strategy and SEO. But those reasons don’t exist any more. It doesn’t matter as much when your post was published as it does the fact that people read it.

3. It needs to be done.

There are some things in life that just need to be done. This is one of them.

When we were arguing about when to do it at Author Media, Thomas Umstattd made a point. “Yes, we’ll lose some social badges but putting it off will only make it more painful.”

I hate it when he’s right.

What’s worse? Loosing a few month’s worth of likes/+1s/pins or years and years worth?

For us, it was just time.

Tweetables:

• I’m learning to kill my blog’s dates. I’m going to do it this week! – click to tweet.
• @AuthorMedia just killed their blog permalink dates. I’m going to do it too. – click to tweet.
• Call me crazy but killing my blog’s dates just makes sense. – click to tweet.
• You need to be relevant and recent to get on Google’s good side. – click to tweet.
• What’s a permalink and why should I care what they look like? – click to tweet.

How To Kill the Dates

Here’s a step-by-step guide. It’s really easy.

1. Log into the back end of your WordPress.org site.

2. Find the settings tab on your dashboard.

Once you find the “tools” tab, click through to the Permalinks section.

3. This lovely screen will be waiting for you.

You want to click “post name” and then “save changes.”

That’s how you kill your blog’s dates. Pretty simple, wasn’t it? The collateral damage is all the links that have come to your post already. They are still there but they just don’t get counted any longer.

4. Generate redirects.

All those links have to go somewhere and it would be a shame to let them die. Yoast created a spiffy little plugin that will help you generate redirects. I recommend using it.

When should you flip the switch?

Now.

Pull up your website and start the process now.

Want to start from scratch? We can build you a new professional author website build with the right URL structure from the beginning. Schedule a consultation and we’ll get you started.

Help fund our MyBookTable Kickstarter campaign and get in on steep Author Media discounts.

When you help us launch our first WordPress plugin, we’ll return the favor by giving you early access, free memberships to The Bestseller Society, and even a free Silver website package! See the entire breakdown here.

What is MyBookTable?

The basic idea is this: Amazon, BN.com, and CBD.com all offer affiliate programs that can help you supplement your income as an author. Why not harness those affiliate programs so you can sell your books easier while making a little extra money? That’s where MyBookTable, our WordPress plugin comes in.

We’ve been quietly building MyBookTable, making sure that it will be easy to use, even for technophobes. Countless hours have gone into the project, tweaking codes and testing designs to make sure that everything works.

We need your help to make it a reality.

Our goal is to release MyBookTable in April so we can help as many authors this year as possible.

Will you help us help authors?

There are a few ways you can help us spread the word.

• Head over to Kickstarter and back the project.
• Share this blog post with your writing communities.
• Post this to your social media pages.

Learn more on Kickstarter    Back this project on Kickstarter 

Tweetables:

• I’m making an investment in myself by backing @AuthorMedia’s kickstarter campaign. – Click to tweet.
• A WordPress plugin that makes it easier for me to sell books? I’ll back that! – Click to tweet.
• MyBookTable just may be a game changer for me. – Click to tweet.
• I just backed @AuthorMedia’s new WordPress plugin on @Kickstarter. – Click to tweet.
• Have you seen this? A great idea!!! – Click to tweet.
• The folks at @AuthorMedia need our help! – Click to tweet
• If you sell books, you need to buy this plugin. #BestIdeaEVER – Click to tweet.

It’s time to get ready for conference season.

Thousands of writers will descend on a handful of writer’s conferences this year. Only a few will walk away with a book deal.

To stand out, you must transform into a lean, mean, agent-winning machine….but how?

It’s time to get noticed.

The Karate Kid was just a kid before he met Mr. Miyagi. Rocky was a mess before Mick. And Bilbo Baggins was quite boring before Gandalf. Let’s face it, none of them would be household names without their mentors.

You are going to a writer’s conference to get noticed. You are going to get an agent. You are going because you have stories worth being printed.

So who will be your Mr. Miyagi? Rachelle Gardner and Thomas Umstattd.

That’s right. Double the Miyagi for twice the impact.

So Who is Rachelle Gardner Anyway?

Rachelle is an agent with Books and Such Literary Agency. She has nearly 20 years of industry experience and has done over 120 book deals with some of the biggest publishers in America. She is a sought after conference speaker and her blog (www.RachelleGardner.com) is one of the most popular literary agent blogs in the world. You want her on your team.

Rachelle is giving the inside scoop as a literary agent and veteran of many writers conferences. If anyone is an authority on the topic, she is.

Who is Thomas Umstattd Jr.?

Thomas is a book marketing expert and the founder of Author Media, a company that helps makes authors famous online. He speaks at writers conferences internationally and has helped thousands of writers improve their online platforms.

Learn the Conference Secrets of The Masters.

It’s normal for writers to feel nervous before a writer’s conference. Just like a fighter before he steps into the ring, you have a lot on the line. No matter how many books you’ve written, there’s something about conferences that makes authors nervous.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Rachelle and Thomas are going to help you get ready.

Learn:

• What turns agents on, what turns them off and what makes them run away in terror.
• How to avoid the classic mistakes that scream “amateur”.
• The 5 things successful authors do before the conference to double their chance for success.
• How to talk to an agent who’s already booked solid (without staking out the bathroom).
• Tips, timelines, and goals not offered anywhere else.

Monday March 18th 7pm Central (change timezone)

Cost $15

What you get:

• Access to the webinar where Thomas & Rachelle will answer your questions. ($19 value)
• The recording ($49 value)
• Rachelle little ebook of conference secrets ($49) value
• Cost: $117 $15

* Money Back Guarantee Fine Print

• You must actually listen to the webinar to know whether you were blown away or not.
• You have to show expertise in the wax on, wax off method.
• You have to let us know within 30 days.

Monday March 18th 7pm Central (change timezone)

Cost $15

 Tweetables: 

• Check out this webinar with @RachelleGardner about How to Win Agents and Influence Editors at a Writer’s Conference. -Click to Tweet!
• I’m going to a webinar with @ThomasUmstattd about How to Win Agents and Influence Editors at a Writer’s Conference. -Click to Tweet!
• Do you need a Mr. Miyagi for the next writer’s conference? – Click to Tweet!
• .@RachelleGardner + @ThomasUmstattd are going to whip me into shape! Karate Kid style! – Click to Tweet!
• The music on this blog post may be the best part of my day. Thank you, @AuthorMedia. – Click to Tweet!

Just when you thought had finally gotten used to Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg decided to change things up on you.

During his speech on March 7, Zuckerberg announced some pretty big changes coming to Facebook. Specifically, your newsfeed.

According to Zuckerberg, the newsfeed is one of the most important services of Facebook. The goal is to make it the best personalized newspaper in the world – it should be diverse with experts, social updates from friends and family, and the most important people in your life. It should be visually rich and engaging in content. The new design reflects this goal.

Here’s how they’ll impact you as an author.

But first, a meme (hat-tip to Joe Youngblood for the image)

The following visuals are taken directly from Facebook. If you’d like to see their explanation of the new feed, please go directly to their page. This article just explains how it will influence you, as an author. Actually, you should check out their page. It’s beautiful and you can sign up to be one of the first people to get the new feed.

1. Less Clutter

Right now, less than 40% of the screen on your desktop Facebook newsfeed is news. The Newsfeed is the main page that people use and that 40% of the screen just isn’t cutting it. As many people complained, “the rest of the page is clutter.”

As the saying goes, if users aint happy, aint nobody happy.

The developers at Facebook did something that hasn’t been done before. They redesigned their site so that the desktop users could have the same experience mobile users had. That’s a huge change in the design world.

Here’s the banner they put up:

everywhere you go…

The fact of the matter is, mobile design is here to stay. If you don’t have a mobile optimized website, people are going to leave. If you want a mobile optimized author website, we can help.

Tweetables:

• What? Another version of Facebook?! @AuthorMedia explains. – click to tweet.
• As the saying goes, if the users aint happy, aint nobody happy. – click to tweet.
• Learn how authors can use the new Facebook update to their advantage. – click to tweet.
• Oh Zuck, how could you? The New FB Newsfeed explained. – click to tweet.
• I’m not going to sign up! I hate the idea. What do you think? – click to tweet.
• I’m so excited about the new FB update! What do you think? – click to tweet.

2. More Photos

Photos will be front and center so you can see what is going on. Facebook is already starting to add logos of publishers in the corner of stories. You can expect to see bigger photos, longer summaries, bigger titles. They really do want to make your homepage feel like a newspaper.

It’s time to start thinking like Pulitzer and Hearst. Scratch that. Start thinking like National Geographic. Your articles will be ignored if they don’t have photos that draw readers in. This is your time to shine.

You are a writer. You can tell stories in ways that make people gasp. You make people feel through the power of your words. There are thousands of brands out there that would love the advantage you have.

Here are some other questions to start thinking about:

• What makes your blog posts newsworthy?
• What’s the value you are offering readers?
• What kind of titles will make people want to click?
• What kind of photos will get attention?
• Are you filling out your meta data correctly?

These are things that all of us have to think about when we sit down to write on the internet.

3. Feed Prominence

Facebook has a secret feature called lists. It wasn’t a secret in the early days, but with the constant redesigns, this powerful tool has been forgotten. Every time I work with a new client, I ask them to make lists. You can sort people by interest, how well you know them, or where you know them from. Facebook has a few suggested lists as well.

The newsfeed will be sorted by lists. The ones you interact with the most will be featured automatically. According to Zuckberg, right now 25-30% of your newsfeed contains people you follow (not your friends) and brands/publications you follow. All of this will be integrated into your personalized newspaper.

If you like a celebrity, news about that celebrity will pop up. If you like a newspaper, their recent articles will find their way into your feed. If you like a brand, their posts will be there. If you like a band, you’ll get updates on their tour dates, album releases and other news.

Facebook will also suggest events for you based on events that your friends are going to. You know, the parties that you weren’t invited to. Oh wait, that’s not cool.

That brings me to my last point.

4. Increased Stalkability

This is the dark side of the matter and one that Facebook didn’t address in their presentation. Facebook’s stated goal is to make the world open and connected. That sounds wonderful…ish.

The dark side of the feed is that you can now access what all your friends are reading, sharing, posting, and listening to…and that if you aren’t savvy, people can do the same to you.

I’m not someone who has deep, dark secrets. I’m pretty open online. But there is such a thing as over-sharing. I don’t think my friends or clients need to know when I’m listening to Lady Antebellum on Spotify or that I’m going to a private birthday party.

I’d much rather have people get to know me than collect facts about me. I’m not alone in this either. Many users have decried the privacy settings of Facebook.

So what should you do if you want to be on Facebook but don’t want your life to be an open book?

• Use friend lists
• Update your general privacy settings
• Update your sharing settings
• Adjust your app settings

Overall, I’m excited about the new Facebook newsfeed and I think other authors should be as well. I’ve already signed up to get the new feed. Here are some Facebook how-to articles that will help you get up to speed.

What do you think about it? Are you concerned? Will you sign up?

Don’t waste your time online.

As an author, you only have so much time and you can’t spend it all hunting down files, flipping through photo albums, and trying to track down that one website you saw a few years ago that suddenly disappeared from your bookmarks.

You are a writer. You should be writing. You should be blogging on your professional author website.

Here are ten Chrome extensions that will help spike your productivity.

1. Evernote Web Clipper

We’ve raved about Evernote in the past. Industry leaders like Michael Hyatt swear by it. It’s easier than ever to use the powerful program. The Evernote Web Clipper extension allows you to highlight text from the web and instantly add it to an Evernote folder. You can save an entire web page with a click. Just say yes. You’ll be surprised how much you use it.

2. Dropbox

Every employee at Author Media has a Dropbox account. We’re not part of an affiliate program (maybe we should be!), we simply believe in the flexibility that Dropbox offers users. I can upload a file from the West Coast and instantly, my assistant can access it from a few thousand miles away. The Chrome extension makes it easier than ever to access files. Dropbox is free, but only to a certain limit.

3. TimOut

Ever feel like you are doing too many things at the same time? Like your multitasking has gotten so out of hand that you can’t even remember what you were supposed to be doing in the first place? It happens. All the time. Enter TimOut and the pomodoro technique. The idea is to spend 25 minutes on a specific task, then 5 minutes on a short break, followed by 15 minutes of a longer break. Many authors and business people swear by the pomodoro technique. Maybe it’s time you give it a go.

4. TweetDeck

Serious about Twitter? Install TweetDeck, Twitter’s application for managing your account deftly. You can follow hashtags, schedule posts, shorten links, and tweet to your heart’s content. TweetDeck makes managing your account easy. Just make sure it doesn’t manage you.

5. AdBlock

AdBlock is the most popular Chrome extension. If you have research to do on the internet, cut back on your distractions. With AdBlock, it’s like the ads aren’t even there. Great for your time and your wallet.

Tweetables:

• I can’t wait to try one of these Chrome extensions. Perfect for authors. – Click to tweet.
• Between to-do lists and ad-blockers, I think I’m going to get a lot more done online! – Click to tweet.
• Finally, some of the time management solutions I’ve been looking for! Thanks @AuthorMedia. – Click to tweet.
  
• Do you use Chrome? You should try some of these extensions. – Click to tweet.
• I didn’t know there were so many helpful Chrome extensions (even a @Pinterest one!) – Click to tweet.
• The @Pinterest search tool you’ve been wanting…and other free tools for writers. – Click to tweet.

6. Thesaurus.com

Looking for that elusive perfect word? The one that will make your heart flutter, your readers chuckle, and impress your editor all at the same time? Try this extension from Thesaurus.com. Now that baffling word that boggles your mind is only a few keystrokes away!

7. A Quotation

Need a quote? Maybe a daily dose of inspiration to help you write a blog post for your author website? A Quotation will give it to you. It’s not difficult to navigate, simple to use, and the clean design is easy on the eyes.

8. Mind Meister

Do you have a book plot swimming around in your brain? Do you need to just get it out on paper but don’t know where to start? Mind Meister is a popular mind mapping application. When you get your ideas out on a mind map, your thoughts suddenly become more organized and attainable. Many authors use mind mapping to create their next book. It’s worth trying!

9. Pic Monkey

You don’t have to take classes in Photoshop to have great graphics on your website. This free extension has some paid features but you can do quite a bit with the basic package. Touch up photos before posting them and make people think you are a better photographer than you are – Pic Monkey makes it easy.

10. Wunderlist

Create a to-do list that is so pretty you’ll want to cross things off of it. You can sync your Wunderlist across your different devices, making it easy to check things off on the go. You can also add notes and notifications. Keep yourself on track.

BONUS: 

11. Pin Search

Behold one of the best tools in recent history. Ever been on Pinterest and wondered  where to find the original image? Be it a dress, a book, or a poster, it can be absolutely maddening when you can’t find where it’s sold online. Enter Pin Search, my new best friend for Pinterest. It’s saved hundreds of hours.

Which Chrome extensions do you recommend?

Twitter isn’t going anywhere. The sad thing is, most authors are ignoring it.

They can’t afford to.

A few authors like CS Lakin and Mary DeMuth are doing an incredible job of using the network to connect with readers, industry leaders, and even publishers.

They “get” Twitter because they know it’s a powerful tool and they take it seriously.

Authors need to start thinking like advertisers.

Advertisers know that people talk. They don’t just stick to one social network. They chat with their friends on Facebook, share photos on Pinterest, add their two cents on Twitter, and ramble on blogs.

The trick isn’t to control communication, it’s to provoke it and harness it.

Hashtags are the internet’s way of indexing conversations. Using Twitter can increase your virality and your sales. That sounds like a pretty solid reason to use the platform.

Here are some ways that you can use hashtags:

Hashtags + Video

At the 2013 Superbowl, Twitter was declared the winner. Almost every commercial had a hashtag associated with it.

Remember the heartwarming God Made a Farmer commercial?

It had a hashtag: #GodMadeAFarmer. The hashtag started trending, the video went viral, and all of a sudden TV advertising was relevant once again.

Just like the God Made a Farmer team, Mary DeMuth added her hashtag to the end of her video.

By the time people had finished the trailer, they were ready to spread the word!

Tweetables

• Remember the Superbowl? It wasn’t a football team or a singer that won. It was Twitter. – Click to tweet.
• What’s the deal with hashtags anyway? – Click to tweet.
• What does this book trailer and an adorable Superbowl commercial have in common? – Click to tweet. 
• Start thinking like a marketer, not a starving artist. – Click to tweet. 
• Find out how hashtags work over multiple platforms. – Click to tweet.

Hashtags + Twitter

During the post halftime show blackout, advertisers took advantage of the oppotunity to use Twitter to release spur of the moment marketplans, blitzing their way to commercial wins.

Oreo won fans by this tweet.

It was a great moment for transmedia.

CS Lakin increased her print book sales by 1,000% in one month just by using hashtags correctly. If you want those kinds of numbers, you must start tweeting smarter.

Hashtags + Images

Want to get your message to spread across Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Vine, and half a dozen other sites? Use hashtags.

Mary DeMuth did this well for her #EverythingBook (check out her board on Pinterest!).

Almost every day, she would release a sharable image. Often, it would include the #EverythingBook hashtag.

Here’s what Mary had to say about her experience with hashtags:

For instance, I used #Everythingbook to refer to my latest book release for Everything: What You Give and What You Gain to Become Like Jesus. I gave a list of quotes to folks if they’d like to share them, along with the hashtag. I also included the hashtag in the book to make it easier for people who tweeted about it. Don’t be afraid to use funny hashtags too, just for color. But don’t become a hashtag crazy person. You can turn off readers if you constantly use them. – Mary DeMuth

Have you created a hashtag for your book? Do you need a website for your book?

In January, we started showing you some of professional author websites that we built. We showed you everything from puppies to science fiction…yes, we really do have websites for everyone.

In February, we helped launch new websites for a speaker, a novelist, and a local Texas business. Each of them came to us with completely different needs and we were able to come up with websites that were tailored to them.

1. Cathleen Armstrong

Cathleen wanted a site that was as unique as her books. She wanted something with personality, which is how she ended up with “grace with a side of green chile.”

After her initial marketing consultation, Cathleen decided on a Silver website package as well as MailChimp and social media optimization.

One thing that we really like about Cathleen’s site is that she makes it easy for readers to find out when her next book is releasing.

2. Joyce Li

Joyce is one of the most joyful people out there. Just talking to her will leave you energized for the day. When Joyce came to us, she needed a website that would help spread her message of living life to the fullest. She chose the Bronze package, adding MailChimp and MyBookTable.

She was able to get a website that fit her needs (selling her books and getting more speaking engagements) and matched her fun personality as well.

Here’s what she had to say:

Author Media delivered my dream website. This is the third website I’ve spent time and money building in the past four years. I decided to re-do my website which was only a year old because I needed better results for attracting viewers and subscribers. Leah is great in helping me to define my strategy and holding my hand to work hard in keeping my content current, relevant and remarkable.

Within 2 weeks after the website launch, I received four book pre-orders and a new booking for a speaking engagement. Thank you Leah and team for your patience. I am proud to showcase my website!

Find out what other Author Media clients are saying.

Tweetables:

• Why would anyone want their site rebuilt…again? One @AuthorMedia client fesses up. – click to tweet.
• These author websites have personality. Does yours?  – click to tweet.
• No puppies this time. Just windows and writers. - click to tweet.

3. Southwest Exteriors

Author Media works primarily with authors but we do work with businesses as well. Southwest Exteriors sells windows, doors, and siding in San Antonio, Texas. When they came to us, they already had a website. They came to us wanting something better.

We created a custom package for Southwest Exteriors, tailoring their website to their local SEO needs. They were unique in that they were a company from San Antonio for San Antonio.

Ready to get your new professional author website? The first step is to schedule a consultation.

You’ll talk to one of our website specialists who will help you set clear goals for your website. We work primarily with authors, but also work together with small businesses and non-profit agencies.

Not quite ready? Take a peek at our portfolio page. If you like what you see, let us know!

Last year, we showed you how to schedule your posts in WordPress. We wanted to help you save time in the blogging process.

Then something happened.

WordPress upgraded to version 3.5. Authors were left scrambling, trying to figure out how to use the new system.

For the most part, things were the same. But then I started getting emails from authors who couldn’t find the new “Schedule post” section.

Here’s how to schedule your posts in WordPress 3.5

1. Find the publishing box on the right side of the text box. 

Notice that there aren’t any drop down boxes, just buttons. This is what many authors are finding confusing.

2. Save as a draft or save as pending review.

This first example is how to save a draft as “pending review.”

Under the “publish” section on the right hand side is the “save draft” button. Underneath that is the “edit” button. You’ll want to click that. A drop-down menu will appear and you will see the “pending review.”

The “pending review” posts are ones that are done but need a second look before you publish them. It’s always a good idea to keep this folder stocked. You never know when live will happen and you won’t be able to get around to writing what’s on your editorial calendar.

Tweetables

• Bam! I just learned how to schedule my @WordPress posts. Vacation, here I come! – Click to tweet.
• My productivity just spiked. Thanks, @AuthorMedia. – Click to tweet.
• The “pending review” folder is going to be my new best friend. – Click to tweet.
• Scheduling ahead is smart. Life happens. Be prepared. – Click to tweet.
• Spend some time getting to know @WordPress. – Click to tweet.

3. Schedule ahead.

Once you have your pending posts polished, schedule them for publication. Try saying that fast five times!

Click the “edit” button next to the publish section. This will reveal a calendar.

It’s important that you check the dates carefully. It’s easy to mix them up. One person  at our office (it may have been me) wrote a blog post and accidentally back-dated it by two years. Yes, those kind of mistakes happen, even with the professionals.

Spend time getting to know WordPress 3.5. You don’t need a lot of editorial plug-ins to make it work. The platform is powerful out of the box, which is why most professional author websites are powered by WordPress.

We have websites that will fit your needs – whatever stage you are at in the writing journey. Here’s what some of our clients have to say about their websites. Ready to get your own professional author website? Let us know. We’d love to help.

In It’s a Wonderful Life, everyone loved George Bailey, the ultimate hometown hero–but George didn’t realize it. He felt intimidated by his friends who had gone out of Bedford Falls and made names for themselves. George wasn’t inferior to them. He just thought he was.

Authors can fall into the same trap. It’s easy to get discouraged when your book doesn’t make the best-seller list or the Amazon top 100, (or even top 100,000)

In the day of the internet, it’s easy to forget the power of local.

It’s time to think like George Bailey.

As an author, you are a hometown hero, just like George Bailey.

Not everyone publishes a book. It doesn’t matter if you live in New York City, Deluth, or Twin Falls. There are many people in your community that dream of writing books and few that actually do. By default, you are set apart.

When it comes to marketing your book, don’t forget about your hometown.

Big names might seem impressive, but they don’t have the same lure as local. In It’s a Wonderful Life, no one cares about Sam Wainright, the kid who went off to the city and opened a plastic factory. George was the one who stayed behind and saved the citizens from Mr. Potter. And everyone loved him for it.

Tweetables:

• Don’t get discouraged if you aren’t a “success.” Be like George Bailey. – Click to tweet.
• Big names might seem impressive, but they don’t have the same lure as local. – Click to tweet.
• In the day of the internet, it’s easy to forget the power of local. – Click to tweet.
• Go local. Here are some ideas. – Click to tweet.
• Author Media has more ideas on how to sell you book. This time, think local. – Click to tweet.

Here are some ways you can “go local” and think like George when it comes to marketing your book:

Host a reading at:

1. A local coffee shop – partner with other authors to have a night of reading, or headline your own.
2. A hospital – remember the last time you were sitting in the hospital waiting room? Didn’t you want something, anything, to take your mind off medical issues?
3. A retirement community – these are communities of highly literate people that are often ignored. Don’t make that mistake. Many of them want to discover new authors to read but can’t get out to buy books.
4. A rehabilitation center – People need distractions. If you were stuck somewhere for an extended period of time, wouldn’t you want something to read? Choose wisely, for it isn’t always appropriate to go to a rehabilitation center. Respect their privacy.
5. A local church – does your book have religious themes? Does your local mega church have a bookstore? Leverage the connections you have. Someone’s books get into the bookstore. Why not yours?
6. A locally owned bookstore – In my hometown, this is Powell’s City of Books. While Borders is shutting down and Barnes and Noble is struggling, Powell’s has a robust business. They know the power of local. Find your local bookstore (or the local bookstore in the town your book is set in) and sell them on the community angle.
7. The library (target the five closest to your home and the five closest to the setting of your book)

Teach a class at:

1. The local community college – think outside the box. You may not get your book in as core college curriculum, but you just may be able to teach a community education workshop on writing a book.
2. The local high school – again, the power of local. If you are comfortable speaking to students, ask an English teacher if you can discuss writing a book with students.
3. The local community center – these buildings aren’t just for sports and athletic activities. People in your community want to learn about the arts. Many of them want to write books. Give them a place to start!
4. The senior center – don’t discount writers because of their age.

Pitch YOUR story to:

1. The local news station – is there a “Good Morning” show that broadcasts exclusively to your area? These shows are always looking for people to interview. While you are on the show, you can direct people to your website and give copies of your book away to the audience.  It’s a great way to get your name out in the community.
2. The newspaper
3. The community paper
4. The nearest examiner.com reporter
5. The radio stations

What are some ways you can think local when it comes to your book?

Buying a new website can be tricky.

No two websites are identical, nor are two web companies the same. Everyone has a different approach to how they build websites and each of them is convinced they are the best.

While we’d love to build your professional author website, there are many of you who will choose someone else to build it. That’s okay. We aren’t a good fit for everyone.

We just ask that you take a hard look at whom you are hiring.

1. What will my website be built on? 

Will your site be built on WordPress.com? WordPress.org? Joomla? Blogger? These content management systems weren’t created equal. Know which one the website company specializes in.

For instance, at Author Media, we only build WordPress.org websites. We won’t build a site on another platform.

2. Will I be able to change the content on my site or will I need to hire a webmaster to do that for me?

It’s your website. Do you want to be the one to add and subtract new content or do you want to pay someone else to do it as needed? Your website should be easy for you to use.

That’s one of the reasons we use WordPress.org. Not only is it easy for designers and developers, but authors and non-techies can use it easily as well.

3. How will the look of my website be established?

Do you need to bring your own template? Will they build something based on your ideas? Will they incorporate industry best-practices with your design to make sure that it is pretty and functional?

Our account managers make sure that client sites are functional first. While aesthetic is important, so is hitting your website goals!

4. What does their design portfolio look like? Why do I like their work?

One good rule of thumb is to find a website you like and see who designed it. If you find a designer with cheap prices and no portfolio, you need to proceed carefully. They may be a brilliant designer on the cusp of being discovered…or a scam artist who needs a quick “job.” Another thing to note is that you need designers and developers. You don’t want a pretty site that doesn’t work.

A design portfolio should be well rounded. Do you like our designs? If you don’t, we aren’t the best team to work for you.

5. What are their former clients saying about them?

What happens when you google their name? Do you see blog posts from irate authors who are tired of their shoddy treatment? You want to see clients who are so happy with their website company that they can’t help but write about how awesome they are. Make sure you check out the testimonial page on the company’s site.

Take a peek at our testimonial page. You may recognize a few of the names on there.

Tweetables -

• Answer these questions before you hire your next web team. – click to tweet.
• What should you look for in a web company? – click to tweet.
• Don’t get scammed. Read this before hiring your next web design team. – click to tweet.
• Hmmm…Some things to think about before hiring a new web company. – click to tweet.
• Before you think about getting a website from @AuthorMedia, read this post! – click to tweet.

6. Are they a company with in-house designers, coaches, and account managers, or a one person show?

One person can’t do it all. They just can’t. Even if they did have all the talent, they’d stil need a fresh pair of eyes to do quality control. If you are going with a team, make sure that they have the staff you need. They should have people who specialize in one or two things instead of one person doing everything poorly.

Our team is dedicated to bringing excellence to our author clients. That’s why everyone works out of their strength.

7. Do they provide hosting?

This is important. Once you have a website, you need to give it the gas to run. Will your web company host it? How much does it cost? What comes in the monthly hosting bill? Do you need to export it to your own server? How much would that cost?

We think hosting is more than just making your website accesible. That’s why we provide technical support, free WP updgrades, and how-to videos for our clients, as well as the bandwidth their website needs.

8. Are their prices reasonable?

According to WordPress, the industry average for a basic website is $2,500. 

If you can get a website for $500, beware. There are hidden costs to cheap websites. You can either pay in money upfront for a nice website or pay in time, frustration, and additional money when you get a cheap website and have to constantly “fix” it. At first glance, $2,500 may seem like a lot of money. For a small business, it’s not. As an author, you are a small business.

Our basic website costs $2,500. It includes many features that other people would charge more for – Google analytics, time with an account manager, and our MyBookTable plugin that we created to help authors sell books.

9. What are my website expectations, and how will I know when they’ve been met? What are their expectations for me as a client, and how will I know when I’ve met them?

You’ll never hit your website goals if you don’t set them. You’ll never be happy with your website company if you don’t know what you want from them. It may sound awkward to ask the obvious questions of “what will I get out of this?” but it will save you lots of headaches. Having clear outcomes makes it easy for both parties.

A website company needs to make it clear what they expect from their clients. Every company has a different processes and set of expectations. What will you be responsible for? What will you have the final say on? Are you responsible for writing your website copy or is that something the website company will do?

Before we take on a client, we ask them to fill out a website worksheet. It has questions on it carefully crafted to make authors think about their brand and help them set smart goals for their site. Having clearly defined goals are the only way that both parties can achieve success. We also let clients know upfront what they are responsible for. Miscommunication may happen from time to time but we want to make sure it’s not a common occurrence!

We also offer free consultations so we can help them talk through some of the questions they have.

10. Do I like them?

Don’t hire someone you don’t want to talk to. If you find the salesperson unpleasant or the account manager cranky, move on! Find a team of creative individuals who are passionate about getting your site out to the world.

While we’d love to build your professional author website for you, it’s more important to us that you find the best fit for you.

If you think we might be a good fit, request a consultation today!

You know those words you’ve been writing? The ones on your blog that you’ve spent countless hours carefully crafting?

Yeah, you don’t own those.

Not really. Not according to Google. This may be the biggest thing you haven’t heard of…yet.

Before you get upset, let me tell you a quick story.

Last year, David Cohen, a brilliant marketer, SEO, and mentor invited me to a small Google+ Hangout with other writers interested in SEO and Authorship. He also asked if he could use my personal website as an example during the meeting.

I said sure. Who doesn’t like free feedback from an expert?

But while we were on air, he said something that wrecked my day.

“Caitlin,” he said. “According to Google, you didn’t write any of these posts.”

Snap. I was mortified. Embarrassed. And more than a little bit angry at Google. Over 300 blog posts and none of them mine? That just wasn’t right.

I’ll never forget the day I first learned about Google Authorship.

This isn’t an in-depth analysis on Google Authorship, but it will give you a good basis for understanding. Here’s what you need to know:

1. You aren’t an author unless Google says you are.

You can write thousands of posts, but unless Google recognizes you as the author, it’s easy for someone else to steal your words. It’s like leaving a finished manuscript on a table at a writer’s conference. Someone is going to pick up your words and sell them as their own.

Authorship allows you to register your words. If someone copies and pastes your words to their own site and tries to take credit for them, Google will know. The thief will be penalized.

2. You have to play by the rules: Google’s rules.

Depending on who you ask, Google is either a gift from God to the masses or the technical spawn of Satan. I’m going to let you make your own call on that.

In the world of the internet, Google is calling the shots. Follow the rules or disappear from search results. Your choice.

When you set up your Authorship profile, your Google+ picture will show up in the search results. Having a photo increases the probability of someone clicking on your article.

This is an example of what Google Authorship looks like in organic search results. You’d click on that, wouldn’t you?

Tweetables:

• Is Google a gift from God or the spawn of Satan? Check out their Authorship program and decide. – click to tweet.
• You know those blog posts on your site? You didn’t write those until Google says you did. – click to tweet.
• What authors need to know about Google authorship. – click to tweet.
• Play by Google’s rules…or disappear from search engine results. – click to tweet.
• Get established with Google Authorship today. Here’s how. – click to tweet.

3. You can establish your authorship now.

Incorporating Authorship isn’t hard. Here’s the step-by-step guide so you don’t get confused (as I did in the early days of authorship).

• Set up your Google+ profile.

If you have a Gmail account, you probably already have an Google+ account. If not, you can sign up on Google+.

• Add your contributor links.

These tell Google where to look for your content. This is a screenshot of what mine look like.

To edit yours, go to your Google+ profile and click, “edit profile,” then click the “about” tab on your profile page.

You will want to scroll down the page until you find the profiles. Click “add custom link.”

• Add your Google+ profile to your WordPress account.

If you log onto the dashboard of your site, there is a small tab on the left bar for users. Click on the “users” tab and find your profile. Here’s what mine looks like.

You will want to fill in all the fields. This makes it easy for people (and search engines) to find you.

Notice that the Google+ field is filled out. That’s the most important field.

That’s it.

Give it a few days for Google to start recognizing the changes. You’ll start seeing your authorship photos crop up in search results. You’ll also want to make sure you provide this article and your Google+ ID when you are guest posting. After all, you wrote those words. You deserve the credit!

Don’t have a professional author website? Talk to us. We’ll help you get started.

There are a lot of different approaches to social media, but WANA is very different. By teaching you to think ecologically, you will be far more adaptable and thus, more successful.

I believe that if you give a writer a marketing gimmick, she’ll sell a few books today. Give a writer keys to meaningfully connect to her digital community and she’ll sell books for life.

Algorithm Alchemy Doesn’t Work

No matter what anyone tells you, we can’t take each part of social media as separate, then break these components apart into tidy variables that we can plug into fancy algorithms guaranteed to bring us success. To approach social media this way is a fast formula for frustration.

We cannot mix so many followers, with a dash of automation, a splash of vlogging, then stir in three parts “posting only on Wednesdays” and “during the lunch hour EST” to create a powerful platform capable of driving sales. We cannot use algorithmic alchemy to spin links, ads and spam into gold.

To understand the best way to use social media, we have to understand that it’s more than the technology. Social media is about people, so if we understand people, we become far more effective at connecting. Authentic connection is what will eventually translate into sales we all seek.

Brief History of Humans, Technology and Brains

Humans originated as an oral culture. Writing hadn’t yet been invented, but to compensate, early humans had amazingly long and accurate memories. Once the phonetic alphabet arrived on the scene, humans traded their prodigious memories for far greater abstract thinking. This is why, shortly after the arrival of the Gutenberg Press, we see an explosion in scientific and technological discovery.

The printed word, of course, created a problem no human had ever experienced. Information glut. This is why, shortly after arrival of the printing press, we also see the appearance of new gatekeepers, namely universities and publishers. Someone had to help stem the flow and make sense of all the information. Once the telegraph arrived, humans now had access to global information instantly.

More information glut.

Tweetables:

• Give a writer keys to meaningfully connect to her community and she’ll sell books for life. Click to Tweet!
• The printed word created a problem no human had ever experienced. Information glut. Click to Tweet! 
• The meaningful is often buried under mountains of the meaningless. Click to Tweet! 
• We cannot approach the 21st century with 20th century tactics and expect to succeed. Click to Tweet! 
• Humans long to connect, to share, to feel valued and appreciated. This is what WANA is about. Click to Tweet! 

As we moved into the 20th century, radio and television transformed human society yet again. We progressively had shorter and shorter attention spans, but we gained the ability to multitask and process chaos very quickly. With the emergence of the personal computer coupled with the Internet and social media, we are now in a Huxleyan Brave New World. We are a multi-media culture that is different than anything humans have ever experienced.

While the Brave New World certainly has a lot of advantages, it is rife with problems, too. Namely, the meaningful is often buried under mountains of the meaningless. Ah, but remember the human brain is a magnificent machine. In order for the human mind keep sane in the face of digital deluge, it has developed a sophisticated way of sorting the relevant from the irrelevant.

What Does This Mean to Writers?

People are not on social media to buy more stuff. If they were, they’d be on the Home Shopping Network and not the social network. SEO is wonderful, and tools are cool, but first we have to make people care. Social media is governed by social norms (the rules that govern human relationships), and when we start trying to sell stuff, we are treated with indifference or even disdain. Why? Because if Twitter is a global cocktail party, we are the yahoo setting up a card table and a credit card machine.

Who invites that guy back to the party? Awk-ward.

We must appreciate that people are being sold to non-stop, no matter where they go. The marketing never ends. It’s on TV, in magazines, at the movies, on the sidewalks and in the train and bus stations. We can’t even go to the bathroom without some ad right in our face.

Because we are so bombarded with marketing, the human mind has learned literally to un-see it. The reason traditional marketing doesn’t work in the Digital Age is that the human mind views most marketing as part of the problem.

Marketing worked in a pre-Internet age. We relied on gatekeepers to tell us what to like, what to wear and what to buy. Ads, marketing and commercials were cost-prohibitive so price was another layer of gatekeeping. Yet, in the Internet Age? Every business, every lawyer, writer, butcher, baker and candlestick maker is scrambling for our attention 24/7 and they can do it for FREE!

We cannot approach the 21st century with 20th century tactics and expect to succeed.

These days, people are overwhelmed by the orgy porgy Feelies of the Centrifugal Bumblepuppy. The audience has changed and if we fail to appreciate this fact, we will waste a lot of time and energy.

Modern humans are overwhelmed. We can only focus on so much. Our brains know this, so most ads, marketing, contests, giveaways and FREE! gets sorted into the cerebral spam folder and the conscious mind is never aware the content existed.

Our brains are super cool like that.

Yet, though our brains have gone through many structural transformations, the heart and soul remains. Humans long to connect, to share, to feel valued and appreciated. This is what WANA is about. We Are Not Alone. Technology will change, but love is timeless. Platforms built on technology are vulnerable to every change, every shift, and every passing fad. Platforms built on community? Those withstand the test of time, because love never needs updating.

The only reason why anyone would visit an author website is because it is the most interesting website in the entire world – for that person at that time.

So, why would someone visit your fiction website?

Here are ten answers that will not only draw readers to your author website, but will get them to bring their friends as well.

The DVD Approach for Novel Websites

The best way to get people to a book’s website is to treat the site like the “special features” section of a DVD. Just as DVD bonus features give viewers something they didn’t get in the theater, your website should give your readers the bonuses they didn‘t get in the book.

#1 Integrated Blog

Many of the other tips in this post require an integrated blog to work. So if you are curious about what you should blog about, keep reading. Blogger and other 3rd party blogs are like the MySpace of blogging. They are old fashioned and ineffective. The key is for your blog to be 100% integrated into your website.

Tweetables:

• “Author websites with integrated blogs get 50% more traffic than those without a blog.” – Click to Tweet!
• “Avoid putting your author blog on a third party site like Blogger.com or WordPress.com.” – Click to Tweet!

#2 Deleted Scenes & Alternate Endings

Often when authors go through the editorial process, the editor cuts scenes out of their book. These scenes may not fit in your book, but people would love to see them on your website. Especially if you mention at the end of your book “you can find hidden chapters and deleted scenes on my website.” This will make people curious to see what got cut from the book.

Tweetables:

• “Readers love to find deleted scenes posted on an author’s website.” – Click to Tweet!
• “Readers love to find alternate endings & hidden chapters on your book’s website.” – Click to Tweet!

#3 Fan Art

Fan art for The Way of Kings. Created by Dixon Leavitt

There is a certain kind of person, perhaps 1% of the population, who is compelled to draw the characters and scenes when they read a book. They process the story by sketching it. If you are a published novelist, there may be dozens of sketches of your characters hidden in the sketchbooks of your readers.

Your readers would love to see those sketches. So, encourage your fans to send you their character art. Then feature their art on your blog and invite other readers to send you their drawings. Give them credit and a link to their website or blog if they have one.

Tweetables:

• “Fan Art is a great source of “free” blog posts that your readers will love.” - Click to Tweet!
• “There may already be character art hidden in the sketchbooks of your readers.” – Click to Tweet!
• “Your readers already create binders full of fan art! Post it to your blog to boost traffic.” – Click to Tweet!

#4 Short Stories

Short stories can draw readers to your website, especially if those short stories are about characters they have already come to love in your books. If you’re writing a series, there may be some plot points that happen between books that didn’t quite make it into the book.

I know an author who wrote a short Christmas story with two of her characters and posted it in December. Readers who subscribed to her email newsletter got that Christmas story as a bonus. That’s a brilliant strategy. She added hundreds of people to her subscriber base and made her readers very happy.

The key with short stories is to get them professionally edited. Your short stories need to be of the same editorial quality as your traditionally-published fiction. Otherwise it can hurt your brand.

Tweetable:

• “Readers love short stories of characters they already know. But edit those stories before posting!” – Click to Tweet!

#5 Answer Reader Questions on Your Blog

As a novelist, your blog should save you time, not cost you time.

Popular writers can spend hours answering the same reader questions over and over again. The better way is to answer the question once in a blog post and then send every subsequent asker a link to the post that answers their question.

In fact, you may already have dozens of “blog posts” in the sent folder of your inbox. To “blog-atize” those emails, take out the recipient’s information, edit it, add a magnetic title (which can be simply the question you’re answering) and then hit publish!

Tweetables:

• “As a novelist, your blog should save you time, not cost you time.” – Click to Tweet!
• “Answer reader questions once, on your blog, then send  subsequent askers to that one good answer.” – Click to Tweet!

#6 Upcoming Book Status

Add a book progress bar to your sidebar or homepage. Brandon Sanderson does this and I think it’s really clever. I visit Sanderson’s site frequently to see when the next book will be ready.

We are working on a plugin that will let you easily add a progress bar to your website. To find out about when it is ready, sign up in the sidebar for our email newsletter.

Tweetables:

• “Add a book progress bar to your author website to give your readers a reason to come back often.” – Click to Tweet
• “Put a button near the progress bar that says “Get Book Updates” that goes to your email newsletter.” – Click to Tweet

#7 Email Newsletter Signup

Your fans want to know when your next book comes out. Your publisher can’t tell them because your publisher doesn’t know who they are. So it is up to you to collect their email address. You don’t have to send a lot of boring emails. Just say, “I’ll only email you when my next book comes out,” and they’ll be very happy to sign up for an email newsletter like that.

Tweetables:

• “Make your email signup form easy to find for maximum author newsletter growth.” – Click to Tweet
• “The harder your email signup form is to see, the fewer subscribers you will have.” - Click to Tweet

#8 Sell Autographed Copies

People would love to be able to buy an autographed copy of your book, even for an additional cost. Signed By The Author is a great service that helps authors sell autographed copies. This is an easy way to make some extra money by giving your passionate readers something special.

#9 Author Commentary

Many people like to listen to the director’s commentary on a DVD. Similarly, some readers want to read the author’s notes. Why did you kill off the love interest in Chapter 4? Is the antagonist like anyone you know in real life?

An easy way to offer “author’s commentary” is to use your answers from tip #5 above (visitor’s questions). After 20 or so posts, you can pull them together into a PDF to offer as a download.

Tweetable:

• “Your author website is a great place to offer “director’s commentary” for your book.” - Click to Tweet

#10 Social Icons

10-20% of your readers come to your author website just to find you on their favorite social network. So, give your readers an easy way to connect to you socially. Put social link icons right at the top of your site so readers can easily connect with you. All they have to do is Google your name, go to your website, and at the top of the page they can know where to find you on their favorite social network.

Tweetable:

• “Readers google your name to find you on Twitter. Is your Twitter name easy to find on your site?” – Click to Tweet!

Final Tweetables:

• “I just learned what brings readers to a novel’s website. – Click to Tweet!
• “Here are 10 ways to bring readers to your book’s website.” - Click to Tweet!
• “Treat your fiction website like the special features on a DVD for a traffic surge.” – Click to Tweet!

What do you think?

• What do you like to find on fiction websites?
• What do you go to a fiction website to find?

Need help with your Novel Website? We build websites for authors just like you.

In our last post we talked about creating a pdf. Now, it’s time to upload the file to WordPress. We’re going to show you how to do this in WordPress 3.5. If you haven’t updated yet, we recommend doing so.

Note: in your website, this is going to look like a hyperlink. It may either open the file in a new tab/window, or it could start the download process.

If you get stuck, feel free to leave us a comment.

1. Open the page/post you want to edit.

Or, create a new post/page.

2. Click “add media”.

It’s right above the content area on the right-hand side.

3. In the pop-up window, click the “upload files” tab and then click “Select files.”

4. Upload your PDF.

5. Insert into post.

This is done by clicking the blue button in the lower left-hand button. The text in the “title” field is what will show up in your post as hyperlinked text, so choose it carefully. (In WordPress 3.5, the title often won’t save the first time you insert the file. If this happens to you, just edit the title after you insert it.)

And you’re done!

Feel free to leave a comment if you have a question.

Every month, we build websites for authors. It’s what we do.

Until now, we’ve been launching them quietly, letting the authors do the celebrating. We decided that it’s time to change things up.

Every website is a work that almost everyone at Author Media is involved in. It’s a big deal to us and an even bigger deal to our clients.

In January 2013, we launched three websites for new authors. Even though they bought the same package (the Bronze level), their websites came out incredibly different. This is because they were tailored to each author. There’s really no one-size fits all.

1. Donna Stanley

Donna Stanley is a YA author who wanted something dark and broody that matched the tone of YA fiction today without going overboard. She chose the Bronze website package with the MailChimp add-on. She wanted a website that would reach teenagers and also provide her with a way to send them exclusive content via email.

Donna also had us build her business website (yes, we build those as well!).

Expert breeders Jonathan and Donna Stanley have built a very successful business, and wanted a website that was both professional and attractive to potential customers. They chose the Gold Website Package, which allowed them to customize their site so it feels like you’re visiting their property while browsing their site, Endless Mountain Labradors.

2. Stephanie Landsem 

Stephanie Landsem writes historical fiction. Her latest novel is set in the ancient days of the Bible. She wanted a website that would invoke the feel of the historic without feeling…well…ancient. She chose a Bronze site with MailChimp and the new MyBookTable plug-in. Now she’ll be able to sell her book from her site without having to fill orders from her garage.

3. Melony Brown

Melony Brown wanted a fun website. Something retro and upbeat that wouldn’t detract from her message of helping women overcome life’s tough challenges. Melony ended up with a Bronze website, working carefully with her account manager to make sure that her site was fun and professional.

What did you think?

Take a peek at the rest of our portfolio.

There are more websites and authors worth celebrating.

If you’d like to have Author Media build your professional author website, contact us and schedule your consultation today. We can build a website that will fit your needs.

Tweetables

• Check out the new websites @AuthorMedia launched last month. I want one!  - click to tweet
• Wow. Author websites don’t have to be boring. I like these new sites @AuthorMedia just built! – click to tweet.
• I normally don’t get website envy but it just happened. Thanks, @AuthorMedia.  - click to tweet.

Let’s say you want to add an article to your WordPress site. You want it to print “just right”, so simply pasting the content into a new page or post won’t work. What’s the best solution?

Create a PDF file and upload it to your site.

Don’t know how to do that? Here is a simple guide.

There are two stages to add PDF files to your pages.

1. Make the PDF (if your file is already in PDF format you can skip to stage 2).
2. Upload the PDF to WordPress.

Here is a quick guide:

Mac Instructions:

1. Open your document in Microsoft Word (or whatever word processor you use).
2. Go to file -> print.
3. Click PDF (Instead of selecting your default printer).
4. Click Print -> Save as PDF.
5. Pick a file name and location for your new PDF (The easiest place to find the file is either in Documents or on your desktop).
6. Open the PDF in Preview to make sure the PDF looks just right.
7. You’re done.

Windows Instructions:

1. Download CutePDF (free).
2. Install CutePDF (you may need to reboot your computer).
3. Open your document in Microsoft Word (or whatever word processor you use).
4. Go to file -> print.
5. Select the CutePDF printer (Instead of selecting your default printer).
6. Click “Print”.
7. Pick a file name and location for your new PDF (The easiest place to find the file is either in “My Documents” or on your desktop).
8. Open the PDF in Acrobat Reader to make sure the PDF looks just right.
9. You’re done.

Check back on Thursday for step 2, uploading the file to WordPress.

Questions? Leave us a comment.

If you’ve tried to copy/paste from Microsoft Word into WordPress, you may have noticed a lot of strange code that appears.  This is Microsoft Word specific code that WordPress can’t read.

Now, this might normally be a problem, but the gurus at WordPress have provided you with a handy little “Paste from Word” button which does all the work of stripping out that Word-specific code for you!  It even leaves your hyperlinks and most formatting intact.

As you can see, it’s the little button with a clipboard and the word icon.  Clicking on this button brings up a special Paste From Word pane:

To paste from Word, copy the text from your Word document and then paste it into this pane, using the Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl-V. WordPress automatically strips out all that Word code (be aware that sometimes it adds extra line breaks between paragraphs as well).  Press “Insert” to add the text to your post or page, and you’re done!

Note: If you create headings in Word, they will not be recognized as headings in WordPress, which isn’t good news for SEO. If you anticipate having a lot of headings in your post, it may be best to type the post with the headings in normal text, and change them to headings once you’ve pasted into WordPress.

Trying to break into the Christian writing world? Fantastic.

You have your work cut out for you.

Study up on the publishing industry. Start thinking of your book as your business. In order to be successful, you need to know what readers want and know what the market is calling for.

Start following the top literary agents on Twitter (you should also consider following these Christian Literary Agents). Go to writers conferences and introduce yourself. Start a friendship. Tweet them. Read their blogs.

That’s right.

Read their blog. If you want to find out what’s going on in the world of Christian publishing, you should know what the agents are talking about.

These blogs will help you get an idea of what is going on in the CBA world, what you need to know before you pitch, and how to navigate the overwhelming world of publishing. Start commenting to start building relationships and getting involved in the conversation. It’s a great way to grow in your understanding of the industry.

• Books&Such Literary Agency
• Chip MacGregor
• D.C. Jacobson & Associates
• Hartline Literary Agency 
• Rachelle Gardner
• Steve Laube

Agents have specific submission guidelines. If you want a chance at getting signed, you must follow them.

Do not use the blogs as a way to sell yourself or market your books. Don’t pitch agents over social media, blogs, or by stalking them like prey at conferences. Don’t be that writer.

Your book is your business. Start doing the homework that will make you successful.

Tweetables:

• Literary agents have rules. You must follow them to get signed. – Click to tweet.
• Your book is your business. Start doing the homework that will make you successful. – Click to tweet. 
• 6 Christian Literary Agent Blogs to Follow. – Click to tweet.
• Wow, I’m going to start reading these blogs for authors. – Click to tweet.
• Time to level up on my publishing industry knowledge! – Click to tweet.

Have we missed any Christian publishing agencies with blogs? Let us know!

Did you like this post? Share it!

Ever wonder what the secret to an excellent blog is? You have millions of blogs to choose from. Why you feel compelled to keep coming back to the same ones?

I had the privilege to speak at Wordcamp here in Austin, Texas and teach a class on the 12 secrets of excellent blogs. At least that is the title they gave me. I really spoke about 19 ways to boost traffic to your blog. I think you’ll like the secrets.

Here is a video of the presentation.

Watch the Video

Facebook isn’t rocket science. Yet.

With the ever-changing algorithm, the new Facebook news feed, corporate greed, and the finicky trends of human behavior, you do have your work cut out for you.

A good social media manager knows that there’s more to Facebook than simply posting content, writing a pity update, or reposting kitty videos from YouTube.

That’s not how you engage your fans.

You can have the best content in the world and zero engagement/interaction. The two words are interchangeable so whenever you read an article talking about engagement, think conversations, not wedding planning.

Engagement comes when you put your ego to the side and start asking yourself what your readers want.

Knowing your audience is vital.

On the Author Media page, we post quotes encouraging writers to write. If we suddenly decided to post our top ten favorite camping spots in America, no one would care or read the article. They come to the Facebook page for encouragement and community, not REI endorsements.

People want what they want, not what you want. The only agenda they care about is their own.

So how do you engage?

Tailor your message in a way that appeals to the needs and desires of your audience.

Authors who do this well:

• Shaunti Feldhahn
• Mary DeMuth
• Dan Walsh
• Jonathan Merritt
• Randy Alcorn

Here are three different ideas to get you started telling your story on Facebook:

1. Share Photos

These days a picture really is more than a thousand words. They are almost preferable to words in the digital age.

If you have a dynamic image with a great message that fits your brand, you should be sharing it on your Facebook page. Think of each photo as a digital ambassador. Choose them carefully. The same rules that apply to blog photos apply to Facebook photos.

It’s easy to share photos on Facebook. Instead of having a large album of “wall photos,” create a personalized photo album (or two!) for your page.

On our Author Media page, we four main albums:

• The Writer’s Life
• Daily Inspiration
• Quotes
• Free Timeline Cover Photos

Each album contains hundreds of likes, comments, and shares.

As an author, you can share images that show where your book is set, what was going on in the world at that time, or the clothes your characters wore. Get creative.

Lisa Wingate shares pictures from her research trips, letting readers see the settings of her books. That’s a fantastic way to let people “in” your world.

Tweetables:

• Engagement comes when you put your ego to the side and start asking yourself what your readers want. – Click to tweet.
• Want success? Tailor your message in a way that appeals to the needs and desires of your audience. – Click to tweet.
• Engaging with fans on Facebook is simple. Here’s how. – Click to tweet.
• Is your Facebook “fill in the blank?” - Click to tweet.
• I just learned how to engage on Facebook. You can too. – Click to tweet.

2. Ask Questions

It’s okay to be curious. People love to answer questions.

Here’s one that we posted:

People aren’t expecting a college algebra test on your page. They don’t want to spend time thinking. Give them direct questions that they can answer in under three seconds.

Simple questions = higher engagement.

You can ask any sort of question you want as long as it fits your brand.

Writing a new book?

• Ask for character name ideas.
• Ask what readers liked best about your last book.
• Give them a scenario from the book and ask what they would do.
• What kind of format they would prefer to read the book in.

What kind of questions do you like answering?

3. Fill in the blanks

Fill in the blanks are incredibly popular because people love to fill that little blank in with smart remarks and witty one liners.

When we use “fill in the blanks” on our page, we use them in a way to get people to get thinking about our messages. Writers who are busy writing will want someone else to build their professional author website.

Engage Well

It’s important to remember that Facebook is a conversation with your readers. You have to start the discussion and then listen.  Start tracking the answers your fans give you. These are clues to finding out how you can tailor your message to fit their needs better.

Understanding your Facebook analytics will be critical to your success. Take time to get to know your audience. Know what they like and tailor your message to them.

How do you engage with your readers on Facebook? 

With the explosion of new social media in the last year or so, many in publishing circles feel that Twitter has seen its heyday and is going the way of the dodo bird.

As is often the case in the rush to ride the wave of what’s popular and dis former methods as outdated or ineffective, tried-and-true platforms get pushed aside. Such is the case with Twitter.

Not one to rush headlong into trying every new fad, I held back before plunging into each socia media pool.

I came late to Facebook and Twitter, and have yet to dabble much in the newer social media circles. But in the course of searching for advice to present on my blog aimed at helping writers navigate the murky waters of publishing, I questioned and conversed with numerous best-selling indie authors who were (and still are) making an easy five-figure net profit off their ebooks each month.

With the exception of a small (read: tiny) handful of authors who, by reason of the niche market they write for, don’t have to do much more than upload their novels to get huge sales, all of these authors said Twitter has been (and still is) the source of practically all of their sales and fan base.

Wow. I wanted to see if that would prove true for me.

Tweetables:

• I just learned how C.S. Lakin used Twitter to increase her book sales. I’m have to try these tips! – Click to tweet.
• Authors can get incredible results from Twitter. Here’s how. – Click to tweet.
• Don’t jump the Twitter ship just yet. You may just be using it wrong. – Click to tweet.

I knew Facebook was not where readers went to search for new books and authors. Fans would come to my Facebook pages after they knew who I was. Facebook is a great place for readers and authors to interact, but it is not the source of book sales—at least not substantially. I’ve heard it said that Facebook is your dinner party, but Twitter is your billboard to the world. And I’ve found that very true.

Once I decided to put some time and effort into building my Twitter presence to test its merits, I went to work.

I signed up with Socialoomph so I could preschedule tweets in bulk (which saved me an estimated twenty hours a month) and I used Justunfollow to break the Twitter barrier of being capped at 2,000 followers.

Here are my observations and some results over the last year due to Twitter:

1. The month I increased Twitter followers from 2,000 to 21,000, my print sales increased 1000%.

Suddenly I was getting dozens of RTs (retweets) daily, with peeps commenting they had bought one of my books, recommended it to their peeps, and/or had posted a book review.

My ebook sales grew, along with my editing business (but that’s another huge success story). I recently read a comment that Twitter does not help authors because authors only end up chatting with other authors. That’s only true if your only followers are other authors. If you’re an author wanting readers and fans, get them as followers, not other authors.

2. Readers find your books through hashtags.

Authors lament, “I only have eighty followers on Twitter, so how can that result in book sales and new fans?”

Twitter’s value is in the hashtags. If you tag your tweets promoting your books with your genre or format, such as #mystery, #kindle, #ebook, you will reach hundreds of thousands of readers looking for a book just like yours. By being on a tweet team, my tweets often reach more than a half million people a day. No other social media platform is going to get info about your books so specifically to readers and reviewers looking for a great read.

3. Twitter gets results.

A publisher who saw my tweets and checked out one of my ebooks offered me a book contract and I accepted.

As a result of my Twitter involvement, I have made many new author and publishing industry friends and contacts, which has opened doors for me to teach at conferences, guest blog on top writing sites, grow my editing business, and enjoy steadily growing sales of my books.

Twitter is as essential as ever for authors.

If used wisely, it will not only be your billboard to the world, it will be the way for you to establish yourself as an author and grow your fan base steadily over time. And after you’ve made all these important contacts and gained these fans, party with them over on Facebook or post a pretty picture of your book cover on Pinterest. But head for Twitter first.

What has your Twitter experience been like?

Already a fan of CS Lakin’s award-winning blog, Live Write Thrive? This year, she’s launching three Writing for Life workshops in San Francisco. Attendees will be instructed  in the craft of writing by best-selling authors Davis Bunn, James Scott Bell, and Michael Hauge. Register today!

Writing for the web is totally different from writing for print publications or writing a book. Print publications have a limited amount of space, but on the web you have unlimited space and very limited attention.

Here are 9 tips for tailoring your copy to capture as much of that attention as possible.

Tip #1: Keep your copy tight

Say what you want to say, as briefly as possible. Then stop. You don’t want to say the same thing several different ways in order to emphasize your point. That will only bore your readers.

Tip #2: Write Short Paragraphs

Along those same lines, you want to avoid long paragraphs at all cost. Nothing screams “Don’t read this!!!” louder than huge blocks of text. A good rule of thumb is to keep your paragraphs 3-5 lines in length.

This same rule applies to sentences. Keep them short and sweet.

Tip #3: Use Headings

Headings help break up the monotony of simple text, and they make your writing easier to scan. Remember, on the web, attention is in limited supply. You want to make your work scan-friendly. 

Additionally, headings help you organize your thoughts into a logical outline, which improves the quality of your writing.

Tip #4: Use Bullet Points and Numbered Lists

1. They help break up the monotony of text,
2. They are super easy to scan, and
3. They are fun to write.

Use bullet points and numbered lists anytime you find yourself writing a list. Even if each item is a paragraph, a bullet-point list can be very effective. Just put a line break between each item (in WordPress, press shift + enter for a line break that doesn’t end the bullet point or numbered list sequence).

Tip #5: Avoid big words and complicated phraseology

Michael Hyatt says it best:

I love language, so I am often tempted to use big words. However, I have learned to avoid this. My goal is to communicate, not to impress my readers with my vocabulary.

A cardinal rule of good web design to avoid making your visitors think. This same principle applies to web copy as well as design. It shouldn’t be work to understand what you’re saying.

Tip #6: Use Emphasis Sparingly

Underlines, bolded text, and italics are all very good tools for emphasis, but it’s easy to overuse them.

In order to create the effect of emphasis, these elements have to be used sparingly. In addition, there’s no quicker way to make your writing look cluttered than to underline every other sentence and bold or italicize the rest.

Additional tip: Never use all-caps. They are hard to read and they’re the internet-equivalent to shouting.

Tip #7: Use Images

Images provide a delightful visual break in contrast to the words. You want at least one picture, and if it’s a long post/page, it’s better to have several. Unless they are really small images, don’t wrap the text around them.

“A picture speaks a thousand words,” as the saying goes, and the right pictures can really reinforce your writing.

Helpful resources:

• How To Pick The Right Stock Photo Every Time
• 11 Places to Get a Free and Legal Photo for Your Blog
• 9 Premium Stock Photo Sites

Tip #8: Take the Time Needed to Craft a Good Title

The title is the single most important part of a blog post, both from a reader perspective and an SEO perspective. Your titles need to be irresistibly click-worthy and they need to incorporate good keywords.

The most effective bloggers sometimes spend almost as much time crafting the right title as they spent writing the post.

Helpful resources:

• Are Your Titles Irresistibly Click Worthy & Viral?!
• The 6 Magic Words That Always Get Clicks
• How to Write Magnetic Headlines

Tip #9: Know When to Hire an Expert

Sometimes, the level of expertise needed is just beyond most of us. That’s when it’s time to hire a professional copywriter. Here are some some times when hiring a professional can be a good investment:

• If you are writing sales copy
• If you need to boost your SEO
• If you need help with branding
• If you think “Welcome to my website” is a good way to start your homepage (hat-tip to James L. Rubart for that one)

What are your tips for writing good web copy? I’d love to read them in the comments!

There’s a lot of confusion about Twitter.

When I first heard about Twitter, I thought it was absolutely idiotic. Who would want to sign up for public text messaging? Did the world really want to hear about my mundane existence? Did I really want to sign up to receive pedestrian updates from celebrities?

So I did what anyone else would do. I signed up. There had to be some method to the madness and I was going to discover it.

Fast-forward a few years, and I’ve been able to leverage Twitter to get interviews, meet industry experts, and make friends with other writers. I’ve even been on a documentary because of the microsite! It’s been a fantastic way to connect with people from all sectors of life.

As a social media specialist that works primarily with authors (FYI – you need to be on Twitter.), I’ve fielded a few questions about Twitter. Here are some of the most common ones that I get:

1. How do I choose a username?

The best idea is to use your name  (ex. @ThomasUmstattd) or the name of your website (ex. @AuthorMedia). You might get lucky and find that your first name is available (ex. @Jack). By the time I got on the site, most of the combinations of my name were already taken. So I chose something memorable (@ScribblingHappy).

2. Who do I follow?

Twitter will give you prompts on who to follow. They have some built-in suggestions of musicians, politicians, sports figures, celebrities, and people from other walks of life. If you are a writer, I recommend following the Author Media twitter list of literary agents. If you want to follow trends in the Christian writing market, I recommend following these 29 literary agents that represent Christian works.

Twitter gives you the opportunity to import your email contacts to find the Twitter accounts linked to them. This is a good way to find your friends and associates quickly but it can also be overwhelming.

You don’t have to start following hundreds of people right away, nor should you.

Find a few people and then add a few more every day. You’ll naturally find people to follow when you see who the people you admire are retweeting and following.

Bonus: here’s how to create your own Twitter list. Learn how to do this early and you’ll save yourself a major headache later one.

3. How do I get people to follow me?

Pay someone to get you followers.

Actually, don’t. It’s a terrible idea that many politicians, celebrities, and public figures have done. No one likes it when they discover a public figure has inflated their popularity with fake friends. In 2012, it came out that President Obama had more than 9 million fake followers. That wasn’t his fault personally but it certainly didn’t look good for the administration’s social media team.

If you want to get followers, there are a few proven strategies. Start including your Twitter name on your email signatures. Link to it naturally on emails. Add a link on your website. Include it in your author bio when you are writing for publications.

The best way is to start tweeting. Send out concise, witty, and relevant tweets and people will find you. Engage with leaders in your sphere of influence and they’ll start retweeting you and sharing your messages with their followers. People will get curious and start following you.

4. How can I get Twitter on my Facebook? Should I link them to save time?

You can get Twitter to sync with Facebook.

But for the love of all that is good and wonderful in this world, don’t.

When you write for a specific publication, you tailor the message for that audience. The same goes for social media. Your Twitter followers will have different tastes and preferences than you Facebook fans. The two mediums are built to engage people in different ways.

Facebook is about building relationships with people you already know. For the most part, Facebook will be full of people you’ve met in real life or have some sort of connection with (think school chums, writing buddies, and a bevy of friends and family).

Twitter is about connecting with the people you wish you knew (industry leaders, thought leaders, celebrities, etc.). You have instant access to people; gatekeepers are gone.

I may send out 10-20 tweets per day. Some of these tweets are public and some of them are responding to people personally. That’s completely normal for Twitter. If I were to connect my Twitter feed to Facebook, people would start unfriending me right and left.

5. When is the right time to tweet?

When you are just starting out, you won’t know. It’s a good rule of thumb to tweet when you think your audience will be online. If you are tweeting to people in the workplace, try to time your tweets when you think they will have breaks. Noon and 1 PM are very popular times on Twitter. So is 3 PM, when the afternoon lull hits.

After you start tweeting for awhile, use metrics to tweet smart. Here’s an article I wrote on 3 tools to help you find the best time to tweet.

6. Can I block people?

Yes!

There will come a time when you will run across unsavory people on Twitter. Their avatars are usually egg-shaped, scantily clad women, or someone wearing aviator sunglasses. You may get someone who retweets everything you tweet, favorites your photos, and has all the uncomfortable signs of liking you just a little too much. Or maybe you find the opposite – someone who cares so much about what you have to say that they argue over every word you publish.

All three are annoying. Block ‘em.

To block a Twitter user:

1. Log in to your Twitter account.
2. Go to the profile page of the person you wish to block.
3. Click the person icon on their profile page. This brings up a drop-down actions menu.
4. Select Block from the options listed.

Twitter has a great little article with further instructions on blocking users. I recommend reading it.

7. Do people get notified when I stop following them?

Nope.

The only thing that will happen is that their follower count will decrease by one. They will not get an email telling them that you have stopped following them. I would never take it personally if a friend unfollowed me. This isn’t junior high school.

Tweetables:

• Finally, the Twitter answers I’ve been looking for! - click to Tweet.

• Twitter isn’t Jr. High so stop acting like it is. – click to Tweet.

• I just learned 15 secrets to Twitter success. You can too. - click to Tweet.

• Watch out! Now I know how to spot spambots. – click to Tweet.

• It’s not you…actually, it is. How to block people on Twitter (and other secret tips). – click to Tweet.

8. Do I have to follow someone if they follow me?

Twitter is an optional service. You have no obligation to follow anyone you don’t want to follow. Be wary of the “I’ll follow you if you follow me” mentality. You want interactions, not just follows.

9. How can I tell if my followers are robots?

Robots appear suddenly and don’t respond like a person would. They will latch on to your keywords and start sending you links based on them. Don’t click on the links. Ever.

The chances are you have a robot following you already. Don’t panic. You may never hear from them. You don’t need to go through your list of followers to cull out the robots. That will happen naturally. Work on building interaction and quality relationships and the robots will leave.

10. What’s the difference between a retweet, an @ reply, and a direct message?

Twitter provides you three different ways to connect with users.

Retweets (RT) are when you find a status update from someone else and you share it with your friends.

@ reply’s are when you respond directly to another person on Twitter. The message will not be shared with all of your followers but if you and the other user have mutual friends, the messages will show up on their stream. If you don’t mind the conversation being semi-public (and other people joining in), keep tweeting! If you are having a long conversation, move it to direct messages, text messages, email, or a phone conversation.

Direct Messages (DM) are private between you and the other user. You can send a DM to any of your followers, and anyone you are following can send a DM to you. If you send a DM to someone you are not following back, they will not be able to reply. So no worries about getting spam DMs from other users. Only those users you choose to connect to can send you a DM.

Bonus: DO NOT CLICK on links in your direct messages unless you know you can trust them. If you get a message saying something like “Someone is saying bad things about you online”, don’t click the link. These are spam robots who are hungry for your personal information.

11. What are hashtags?

Think of hashtags as Twitter’s filing system. The hashtag is also known as the pound symbol.

Hashtags are used for:

• Indexing emotions (#Vague #OhNoHeDidnt)
• Identifying a Brand (#Ferrari)
• Recommending a Product (#BestRead)
• Connecting with like-minded people (#MemoirChat)
• Finding Experts (#AskAgent)

Not every tweet needs a hashtag but they will help people find your tweets. Here’s a list of essential hashtags for writers. It has helped hundreds of authors and it might help you as well.

12. How do I follow hashtags?

If you have an application like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, you can create a column dedicated to a specific hashtag. Otherwise, you can click on a hashtag or enter it in the search bar of your account and scroll through what pops up.

I recommend using an application.

13. What’s a Twitter chat?

A Twitter chat is a conversation on a certain topic, often at a certain time. There are genre-specific chats and chats that writers host to connect with their readers.

Inkygirl has a great list of Twitter chats for writers. We’ll be compiling our own list soon.

14. What do I put in my Twitter profile?

Your Twitter bio is the place to let people know who you are and what you are about…in just a few characters.

Mine runs like this -

I help authors tell their stories online with @AuthorMedia. I tell a few of my own as well. Flawed Jesus follower. Portland expat. Adventure addict. Cheeky.

In a few short words, people know that I’ll be tweeting about authors, stories, and religion. They also get a taste of my personality so they know what kind of tweets to expect from me.

You don’t have to link to your work account. Most people don’t need to. In my instance, it works. If you have books out you could say something like:

YA Romance Writer for @ThomasNelson. I tell stories that sparkle…without vampires. 

You get the idea. Have fun!

15. How important is my user avatar?

Your avatar is how people will recognize you online. Make sure it matches the image that you are trying to project to the world. You will be judged by your pixels. Make sure you don’t have an ugly author photo.

Still feeling confused by Twitter? Send us your questions. They may just end up in a future post! 

Promoting books has changed a lot over the last few years and 2013 will be no exception. Here is what I predict will happen in book marketing in 2013.

This post is part of a series.

See:

15 Publishing Industry Predictions for 2013 and
2013 Reading Trends for more predictions.

As always, we would like to hear from you. Post what you think 2013 will hold in the comments.

1. More Cheap Author Website Options

There will be an increase in medium priced authors website options in the $500 – $1500 range. These will be WordPress themes and website platforms specifically designed for Authors.

2. Explosion of Supplementary Materials

Publishers will start demanding that authors write short stories and other bonus materials to be used in marketing. Authors will also be expected to save all their research and supplementary materials.

3. Membership Site Proliferation

There will be a proliferation in book marketing membership sites like the Bestseller Society. If you are reading a publishing guru’s blog today, you will get an invite to join their membership site sometime in 2013.

4. New WordPress Bookstore Plugin Will Revolutionize How Author’s Sell Books Online

Here at Author Media we are working on an exciting new plugin that will make listing your books for sale on your website much easier. I predict that this plugin will be our fastest selling product in 2013.

5. GoodReads Growth and Improvement

GoodReads.com will continue to experience massive growth after rolling out an easier to use interface.

6. Twitter to Fall in Popularity Amongst Authors

Twitter will decline in popularity amongst authors as they realize they are mostly talking to each other and not to readers.

7. Google+ Boom

Google+ Live Hangouts will become a required part of every effective book launch strategy. Look for an explosion in Google+ online launch parties.

8. Massive Wave of Authors Converting from Facebook Personal Pages to Business “Fan” Pages

Authors will realize how counter productive personal “friend” pages are to book marketing. We will see a flood of converted pages in 2013.

Last year we had a great set of publishing predictions for 2012. So we’ve decided to poll the experts again, asking them to peer into the future and predict where the publishing industry is headed.

This post is part of a series. Yesterday we posted 15 Publishing Industry Predictions for 2013. Tomorrow we will cover book marketing predictions for 2013. As always, we would like to hear from you. Post what you think 2013 will hold in the comments.

eBook Predictions

1. More Short eBooks

“There will be a lot more short-form ebooks in 2013 (so short that some of them are going to be called ‘e-boks’)”.

- Chip MacGregor, President at MacGregor Literary

2. Revolt Against Short eBooks

“Consumers are going to revolt against get-rich-quick authors who write crappy content and not enough of it. Consumers won’t stand for an ebook of 23 pages.”

- Mary DeMuth, Author & Speaker

3. Higher eBook Royalties

“At least one of the Big Six will push e-book royalties to 30%.”

- Chip MacGregor, President at MacGregor Literary

4. eBook Sales Level Off

“E-book unit sales will level off at a rate of 25% of books sold. But for some publishers it will actually be closer to 50%. But behind the statistics will be the fact that the e-book sales revenue will be much smaller because they are being sold at a lower price.”

- Steve Laube, President of Steve Laube Agency

5. Slower Growth in eBook Sales

“I predict slower growth in eBooks unit sales.  E-book sales will continue to grow but at a slower rate than in 2012.”

- Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

6. Lower eBook Prices

“I predict we’ll see the cost of ebooks from big publishers go down as they realize that $9.99 is still too much to pay for something that’s digital.”

- Amanda Luedeke, Literary Agent

7. Growth in Enhanced eBooks

“Authors’ research notes, their story board, deleted scenes, etc. will become the norm. So authors need to keep their behind the scenes material when writing their novel for inclusion into an enhanced ebook.”

- Julie Gwinn, Marketing Manager at B&H Publishing Group

Audiobook Predictions for 2013

1. Audiobooks to be Fastest Growing Segment

“New industry analysis will come out showing that audiobooks have been the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry.”

 - Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

2. Audiobook Sales to Explode

“There will be an explosion in audiobooks in 2013.  There will be a rush amongst publishers to get more books published in audio format and more demand by authors and agents for audio versions.”

- Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

3. Audiobook Producer Proliferation

“There will be a proliferation of websites like www.acx.com and www.voices123.com which will drive down the cost of audiobook production. I also predict massive growth for ACX.com in 2013.”

- Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

Reading Trends for 2013

1. Nesting & Nostalgia Will Be Hot for 2013

“With the election and the recent shootings, I think Americans will pull back into the home like they did after 9/11. Putting greater emphasis on family traditions, family dinners, church potluck suppers and “stay-cations.” Which opens the door for novels rich with the Mayberry feeling of a simpler time. Similar to the hit TV-show Vegas, showing family life in the 40s and 50s will be big and will strike a cord with Boomers who grew up in and are nostalgic for those simpler times.”

- Julie Gwinn, Marketing Manager at B&H Publishing Group

2. YA Fiction Will Get Darker

“YA Fiction will continue to get darker and more popular. The grittier YA is, the better it will sell. A dark Christian YA will hit the big time and cross over into the adult market.”

- Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

3. Year of the Novella

“I predict 2013 will be the year of the novella as authors will use them to promote their book series and keep fans flooded with fresh content.”

- Amanda Luedeke, Literary Agent

4. Controversial Books to Do Better Than Usual

“Divisive books will grow in popularity. Authors who take a stand will be applauded and authors who seek common ground will go ignored. As western society fragments into warring niches and tribes, books will quickly follow.”

- Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

5. Growth in Serials

“I predict we’ll see more interest in serials.”

- Amanda Luedeke, Literary Agent

6. Growth in Global Markets

“Global appeal. With digital comes greater access. I see Christian fiction moving into the international marketplace and B&H is publishing material specifically targeted to English-speaking countries. Our WWII series which kicks off in 2013 will feature novels taking place in France, England, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, etc. ”

- Julie Gwinn, Marketing Manager at B&H Publishing Group

What do you think? What do you think will be hot in 2013?

Last year we had a great set of publishing predictions for 2012. So we’ve decided to poll the experts again, asking them to peer into the future and predict where the publishing industry is headed.

Over the next few days we will be posting a series of predictions posts. We will focus on publishing industry predictions, then reading trends for 2013, and finally book marketing predictions for 2013.

What do you think will happen in the publishing industry in 2013? Let us know in the comments below.

Bookstore Predictions for 2013

1. Trouble at Barnes & Noble:

“Barnes and Noble will be sold to a new ownership group, who will close more stores.”

- Chip MacGregor, President at MacGregor Literary

2. Survival of Destination Bookstores

“Bookstores that do well will become destination stores, usually around a niche. We have a frisbee golf/coffeehouse in our city that’s doing really well, and is an example of capitalizing on a smaller niche. Also church bookstores will continue to be profitable.”

- Mary DeMuth, Author & Speaker

3. Amazon to Print eBooks

“Amazon will start offering a print version of any e-book it sells.”

- Chip MacGregor, President at MacGregor Literary

4. Christian Bookstores to Embrace & Expand YA

“I predict Christian bookstores will find better ways to shelf and display their YA fiction, as publishers continue to produce great books. YA displays will probably include adult spec fiction without any indication that it’s to a different audience.”

- Amanda Luedeke, Literary Agent

Self-Publishing Predictions for 2013

1. Well-Known Author to Go Rogue

“A major author will choose to publish independently instead of traditionally. Gnashing of teeth will ensue.”

- Steve Laube, President of Steve Laube Agency

2. Good Year for Self-Publishing Companies

“There will be continued growth in self-published books. 2013 will be a better year for Print on Demand companies than for the authors who hire them expecting a shortcut to success.”

-  Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

3. Growth in Self-Publishing

 “More and more frustrated writers will choose to self-publish. Not only is it easier than getting accepted by a traditional royalty publisher, but it’s much faster and if the book is successful, it’s much more profitable.  The catch though, is that most self-published books are poorly written and won’t be successful.”

- Nick Harrison Senior Editor, Harvest House Publishers

4. Self-Published Authors to Make Deals With Traditional Publishing

“I think it is very likely that we will see a number of self-published authors sign contracts with traditional publishers this year for the paper rights only, leaving the authors in control of their electronic rights.”

- Randy Ingermanson, Founder of Advanced Fiction Writing

5. Micro eBook Publishers to Get Bought Out

“Some of the big New York houses will buy up some of the genre-specific e-book micro-publishers, just to capture their lists.”

- Chip MacGregor, President at MacGregor Literary

Traditional Publishing Predictions for 2013

1. Traditional Publisher Prosperity

“Publishers are going to grow and have a great year in 2013. (Really. We’re back to spending money, and everyone is reading for pleasure.)”

 - Chip MacGregor, President at MacGregor Literary

2. Major Authors to Keep Digital Rights

 “We may see some A-listers sign contracts with their publishers for the paper rights only, reserving the electronic rights to themselves.  The likelihood of this depends on traditional publishers continuing to hold the line on paying e-book royalties of only 25% of net.

 - Randy Ingermanson, Founder of Advanced Fiction Writing

3. Digital Royalty Statements

 “More publishers will move to digital catalogs and digital royalty statements, rather than print.”

- Chip MacGregor, President at MacGregor Literary

4. Renewed Demand for a Book Rating System

“As erotica grows and YA gets grittier, there will begin to be stirrings of demand for a book rating system similar to what movies and video games have now.”

- Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

Black Swan Predictions

(These are highly unlikely events)

1. Spelling Summit

“The industry will hold a summit to agree on how to spell the words ‘ebook’ ‘audiobook’ and ‘bestseller’. This summit will fail and spelling proliferation will continue. The style manuals will ignore each other and people will ignore the manuals.”

- Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

2. Top Author Revolt

“There is a small probability that a number of A-list authors will simply walk away from publishers entirely, because of the low-royalty issue on e-books.  (I don’t see this happening until e-book market share exceeds 75%, and it’s impossible to know when that will happen, but for some authors it could happen this year.)  If a large number of A-list authors did this, it would be a ‘black swan’ event (an unexpected low-probability event with catastrophic results).  Most of the profit for traditional publishers comes from their A-list authors.  They can’t afford to lose many of them.”

- Randy Ingermanson, Founder of Advanced Fiction Writing

3. Troubles at Thomas Nelson:

“The loss of Michael Hyatt and the team he built, high turnover and the negative PR over the David Barton fiasco in 2012 will all catch up with Thomas Nelson in 2013. I predict record losses for Thomas Nelson in 2013. Look for operations to start getting merged with Zondervan in 2013 and 2014.”

- Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO of Author Media

What do you think?

•  What are your predictions for 2013?

It’s been quite a year for Author Media. We’ve passed over 6,000 fans on Facebook, over 5,000 followers on Twitter, and given hundreds of tips to authors to help them save time, promote their platform, and focus on their writing. All that–AND we managed to survive the end of the world on December 21st! Phew!

We look forward to doing more of what we love in the new year–giving you technology tips on our blog, building beautiful websites, and coaching authors to use technology to build their platform.

If you got some cash for Christmas, why not treat yourself? Schedule a consultation today!

In the meantime, here are our top 10 posts of 2012:

• 44 Essential Twitter Hashtags Every Author Should Know
• 3 Ways Authors Can Use Pinterest Guilt-Free
• 4 Ways Writers Sabotage Themselves On Facebook
• When Should I Launch My Author Website?
• 7 Reasons Why Your Book Should Also Be An Audiobook
• How To Create A Writing Schedule That Works For You
• What To Do When Your Book Isn’t Selling
• 11 Places To Get A Free And Legal Photo For Your Blog
• Don’t Ignore Your 3 Facebook Inboxes
• What Every Author Needs To Know About Search Engine Optimization

What books are on your Christmas wish list?

As the gift-giving season rapidly approaches, it’s important to be prepared. If you want presents that is. Like a ninja, you need to be ready to whip out your very own wish list at any given notice.

We’ve made you a list.

We’ve made it easy for you this year, compiling ten of our favorite books for writers. Working at a company that specializes in building author websites, we get to hear from authors about the books that are inspiring them. The books that they pick up when they need a kick in the pants and motivation to start writing again. Many of those books are in this list.

These books are in no particular order and do contain affiliate links.

Are you ready?

10 Books for Writers You Need This Christmas

1. Steven Pressfield – War of Art

2. Jeff Goins – You are a Writer

3. Stephen King – On Writing

4. Robert McKee – Story

5. Anne Lamott – Bird By Bird

6. William Zinsser- On Writing Well

7. William Strunk – The Elements of Style

8. Roget’s International Thesaurus

9. Ray Bradbury – The Zen of Writing

10. Michael Hyatt – Platform

Love the list? Feel free to share it on Facebook, print it off and leave it by your spouse’s pillow, or simply steal some ideas for your own master list.

You may also want to look at our gift board on Pinterest. And don’t forget, a new professional author website makes a great gift!

Tweetables:

• Not to be rude but I’d love any of these books for Christmas. – Click to Tweet
• Hmm…now to get this list in Santa’s hands. – Click to Tweet
• 10 Books on writing that are on MY Christmas list. – Click to Tweet
• I accept print and e-book. Just sayin’. – Click to Tweet
• You can get me a new author website for Christmas or one of these books. – Click to Tweet

Are we missing a book or two? Leave a suggestion in our comments. We want to hear from you!

WordPress has just launched version 3.5 of their website content management system. It’s exciting times for developers and writers alike.

They call the update the “Elvin” update; it has nothing to do with The Hobbit or Santa but everything to do with the drummer who played with John Coltrane.

Watch the video to find out more:

Developers and coders are happily geeking out about the changes but many non-tech savvy authors are left wondering what the changes mean for them.

Here are the three big changes that will affect your author website.

1. Easier to Use Media Manager

Screen capture of the new WordPress Media Manager

The new media manager makes it easier for you to control how your photos look on the page.

You don’t have to be a designer to make your photos and page pretty. The drag-and-drop system makes it incredibly easy for you to insert photos onto the page. The gallery feature has also been expanded making it simple to share multiple images in a blog post.

You do however, still have to use legal photos on your blog. The new upgrade doesn’t come with amendments to the law.

Make sure you pay attention to the bottom right corner of the screen.  This is the attachment display settings and it is very important.

Attachment Display Settings

Make sure that your image is the right size for your screen. This size is too large to fit comfortably on our blog yet I’ve selected it because it is far easier to shrink an image to fit than to enlarge it.

2. Retina Ready

Retina Ready Screen

If you have a high-resolution screen, you’ve probably had to deal with fuzzy pixels on the screen. It was enough of an issue for the folks at WordPress to makes sure that the upgrade included an ultra-high resolution on the dashboard.

Now when you are blogging from your iPad, you won’t have to wonder just what those blurry words are saying. However, if your screen is still blurry after the upgrade, you may need glasses.

Tweetables:

• WordPress 3.5 explained for authors and the non-geeks. – Click to Tweet
• The new WordPress update comes with many things but sadly, no amendments to media law. – Click to Tweet
• WordPress gives an “Elvin” gift this Christmas that has nothing to do with Santa or Legolas. – Click to Tweet 
• Watch out world, I just learned about the “Elvin” WordPress update thanks to @AuthorMedia. – Click to Tweet
• I’m excited about the new WordPress 3.5 and here’s why – Click to Tweet

3. New Theme Options

WordPress Twenty Twelve

For the adventurous author, there are more options for your website theme. WordPress has made “Twenty Twelve” the default theme for bloggers. It’s a beautiful theme for anyone starting out.

If you are a professional author, you will want to invest in a professional author website. You don’t want your site looking like everyone elses.

The perks of having a professional author website include someone else doing the work to build the site, a custom theme that has been tailored to your brand, and widgets that make it easier than ever to sell your book from your site. If you want more information on what goes into building a professional author website, contact Author Media.

WordPress 3.5 is perfect for Author Websites

We’re incredibly excited about the “Elvin” release at the office. As a blogger myself, I can’t wait to start playing around with more of the features.

WordPress 3.5 is another solid move by the devlopers. The changes that “Elvin” brings help shrink the learning curve for authors who are not tech-savvy. Which means you’ll have more time to write instead of spending hours trying to google how to do something on your site.

All Author Media websites will be upgrading so that our authors can take advantage of the exciting changes.

If you are already an Author Media hosting client we will be automatically upgrading you to 3.5 over the next few weeks. We will take care of the backups and plugins so all you have to do is enjoy the new features.

Are you excited about the new updates? What would you name the next update?