Get Fuzzy Potty SM Chat

I could tweet all day about last night. Thanks first to Melodie Tao a.k.a. @MyMelodie on Twitter. She arrived at the SDbloggers Meetup bearing gifts. As soon as I hear the words, "Who wants...?" My hand shoots up, in this case, to grab the "Get Fuzzy" desktop daily calendar Melodie gave away. I was so busy marveling over my good luck, that I didn't hear which generous company donated them -- maybe it was MarketingMelodie as the online marketing specialist bills herself.


Just before the meetup started, I was staggering through Lowe's (warehouse stores disorient me 'til I'm sick, bad sick). I tried to see the distinctions among $99 toilets and ones that cost up to $500 but are still without a plasma screen and Internet connection. That's as far as I could tell, because the models were all mounted above my head on tilted shelves, and I feared the headline if an earthquake shook them down on me:

"Woman Dies in Potty Tumble"

I felt my way back to the customer service counter (weirdly vacant of customers), to learn that the company delivers for a fee, even if I hire them for installation. Separate trucks, separate crews, separate charges, I guess.

Preceding this plumbing excitement was a Twitter Chat on balancing your time between building an online presence and actually writing the damn thing. As usual I questioned the question. I'm all about the context and data.  The notion seemed to be that all the publishing industry and related personnel (agents) want all writers to have a burgeoning existence on the Internet. No data were offered.

Yes, I know you can cite some agents who advise this tactic. And I've read of a few authors whose publishers expect it. And do the majority? Throwing up a blog, Facebook page, Twittering, etc. seems fairly easy to start.  But wait!  These are for people who have already acquired an agent, sold a manuscript.  It's for established writers more than people trying to break in to the publishing industry as writers. Show me the data that say it helps beginners.

Here's what I think happened. When the Web became available (early 90s) many rushed to put up a "personal page," to link a few together for a site.  It was a fad until marketing people latched on. A new medium to exploit! They brought in businesses.  Internet use exploded.  People with products to sell shifted to pages/sites about products.  It seems to me that the same cycle repeats for each new social medium (SM) introduced.  Eventually, if you have anything to sell you were/are required (by social pressure) at least to have a site.

Then pundits (myself included) warbled praises of digital devotion, forgetting that we were watched by beginners as well as established writers.  No wonder newbies are so confused about platforms and which SM to use, and exhaust themselves trying to do it all. One at a time, it seems easy, at least to jump in. The work is in the long haul, and now in coordinating your broadcasts.

What is the result of all this self-promotion for people who want to become published authors or establish themselves as writers: a lot of time lost. Not all wasted, but nothing productive accomplished in terms of producing writing to sell.  SM tidbits are not credits in the writing world.  Tweeting is not writing poetry.  Maintaining a FaceBook fan page is not enticing people to buy your work.  It's all playing around.  "Time suck" is a term I see more often in discussions about this arena of battling media.

Sometimes I think a better term would be "social seduction."

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Should Business Tweet?

Should businesses do SM, particularly Twitter?  The efficacy and PR value is difficult to doubt, and I'll give you a hot example in a moment. Remember, the principle here is that writing--any kind--is a business.

Earlier in the week I received an email message (is there any other kind now?) "inviting" me to list my business in a relatively new database used by PR and publicity people.  The very notion elicited a delicate frisson of fear--scared me pantsless. I took to Twitter:

Someone wants to list AWE in a new database for PR reps. Oh, no! My Cision listings bring in quite enough crap, thank you. 4:18 PM Feb 10th

Notice I mentioned a major media services company without an @ sign or a hashtag. In my haste to post, I did not consider repercussions. Within two minutes, the phone rang. As soon as the caller identified herself as a VP with Cision, I knew why she had called. We had a pleasant and productive conversation.

The focus here, however, is on the business' use of social media.  Obviously, Cision closely monitors mentions of its business name. I can think of several ways it receives nearly real-time notices.  It is able to respond quickly to perform damage control (in this instance) and help its customers. At least 10 of the top managers are active on Twitter.

Although I'm not a client, if I were, I'd be impressed with this company and probably delighted with its service. See the elephant dance!

Disclaimer:  If this post is viewed as a product or service endorsement please note than I do not use it, but Cision uses me, very gently and with grace.

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Why Do They Do It?

Allow me to vent. Again. About rude publicity persons who send incomprehensible emails. Here's one that arrived early today:

To: None

Subject: Press Release: Haights Cross Communications Files Prepackaged Reorganization Plan

Attach: Haights Cross Reorg Plan Approved 1.5.10.pdf(80.3KB)

The message area is empty but for the senders name, company, phone numbers, and email address. If I wanted to letter-bomb her for sending me a time-wasting empty message with a cryptic attachment, I'd have to research the company name to find her location.

This is why the Goddess created keyboards with a Delete key.  DEL

If you want your messages to be considered seriously, take time to create them thoughtfully with a clear Subject, address the recipient by name and explain your relationship to them and the subject and how it might benefit the recipient to read the attachment. I have no idea if this one was about a housing development's bankruptcy or a communications company's misfiling of its new designs, or what.

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New Digital Deliveries

A Writer's Edge blog goes even more digital with the new year.


Amazon offers it for the Kindle:

A Writer's Edge (Kindle Edition)
editing/writing/publishing
No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
Monthly Price: $1.99 & includes wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet.


Kindle Blog Subscriptions

* Kindle Blogs are auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle and updated throughout the day so you can stay current.
* It's risk free—all Kindle Blog subscriptions start with a 14-day free trial. You can cancel at any time during the free trial period. If you enjoy your subscription, do nothing and it will automatically continue at the regular monthly price.
* Don't have a Kindle? Get yours here.

Then there is the syndication offered by Bloggapedia for the AWE listing.  Thusfar only Barnes and Noble is to provide the best of the best in blog content, for its Nook users as well as other devices that B & N supports - iPhones, Blackberries, Motorola smartphones, Macs, and PCs. It lists books, newspapers and magazines in electronic formats, but no blogs yet (that I could find).

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Facebook & Twitter on Google

Privacy issues on the Internet. They're baaaak! Since Google announced the inclusion of real time returns from Twitter and Facebook on the first page of search results, the virtual world has been atwitter with arguments pro and con. Some of these in a #blogchat last night revolved around *if* you want material from parts of a FB account to show up. Another question that went unanswered in the crush was about how much of a Twitter profile Google is privy to.

I have news for these newbies: everything but your Twitter password is readily available to anyone, and obviously passwords can be hacked, too. Hence, Twitter account and website hijackings, and I suspect FB corruptions also exist. How can there be another generation already that needs to learn never put anything online that you don't want seen by everyone in the world?

One incensed participant tweeted back at me: "@GLHancock That's no different than someone breaking in your home and stealing pictures. Are u saying there's no privacy ANYWHERE? #blogchat" No, I'm just sayin' there's no such animal as "privacy online." Maybe I should say "security?" Especially with free programs! Poor grammar aside, I wonder how these kids have been raised? Don't they pay attention to news about this or that supposedly secure database being hacked and resulting identity theft?

Writers who use social media as part of their promotional and marketing plans need to understand there is no separation between a "personal" account and one for your business of writing, whether you're an author with books, a freelancer with services, short story or poetry writer, an essayist or a working journalist. I'd expect writers, more than most people, would understand how identity and writing are inextricably entwined. Internet demands for transparency are doubly intense for writers.

When a search engine scours the Internet for information about you, it does not distinguish among sources for material. No human peeks and says, "Uh, oh. Naughty pictures. I'd better not snatch those. It might hurt this person's reputation." Search engines do not always observe a "no index" command. Drop bits of your identity around the web and they will be assembled to display perhaps a less than flattering, if more accurate, view of you.

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Gifts for Writers

Looking for inexpensive new books? In my Amazon Storefront are a few recently published novels and nonfiction, as well as older books. Some of the new I haven't even yet reviewed. For example, I'm still savoring The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Business Books: Get your business wisdom into print by veteran ghostwriter and agent Bert Holtje. It's a fascinating insider's guide for traditional and self-publishers, chock full of tips that are close to being termed "secrets" about publishing.

I know you are all writers and want to get published, so another great gift for yourself is a chunk of my time devoted to helping you along the path to success. Or for your writerly friends, give a gift certificate for writing, editing or a publishing consultation. Tell me what you'd like, and we'll customize the perfect present.

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Social Media Marketing Contest

Awe+Some=Blog-Off2 Prizes offered by The Community Marketing Blog. One prize I see: following the entries to learn from the best and worst of them.

Andrew Ballenthin says: "This is your chance to really shine (or shine some more) and show how excellent you are as a marketing and/or social media expert in practicing the skills you apply every day for your clients or your company or yourself."

Simply competing will grow your writing and blogging skills!

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Selling Books on Amazon

I had the strangest Amazon.com experience last week. But first, as they say on TV, a little background. I occasionally offer Amazon books for sale in this blog. I also sell books through the Amazon Seller program--anyone can do it. Some of the books I've listed are first editions with inscriptions and autographs by the authors. These are categorized as "Collectible." Presumably the author's literal scribblings add value to the literary ones.

On November 10, Amazon sent me a notice which included:

Beginning Monday, November 16, 2009, we will remove "Collectible" book offers that have not been listed by sellers approved in the category. Once listings are removed, only collectible offers from approved sellers will be available for purchase in the Amazon.com Books store.

I thought I was already approved because I've sold in that category for a few years. I also have a hazy memory of filling out a form about it. To be safe, however, I jumped through the Amazon hoops again, and Amazon acknowledged my application. All this on the same day.

Three days later, I received a rejection notice which included the phrase "we are only qualifying sellers to list collectible books that we judge to be experienced, professional collectible booksellers." It also mentioned considering feedback and ratings and performance. I fired back a message pointing out that at no time were we ordinary sellers required to be professional collectible booksellers and cited my excellent scores on all their scales. I refrained from mentioning the lousy grammar.

The same afternoon brought an apologetic message that began with the first identification of who sent it:

Greetings from the Amazon.com Collectible Books team.

The denial message you received earlier today regarding your application to list Collectible books was sent in error. We apologize for this error on our part and regret any concern it caused you. We have reviewed your account again and want to confirm that the information below correctly represents the decision of our category management team.

Absolutely nothing about books is easy. From writing to getting rid of them, it's agony.

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Universal Literate Dummies

Publishing prediction: by 2013 we will be a world of literate dummies.

Put together Seed magazine A Writing Revolution, predicting universal authorship in three years, with Publishers Weekly Viral Issue: Creating Your Viral Loop on Twitter, providing plans to create book buzz -- and whadda ya' got? We'll all be authors too busy marketing on social media to read each other's works. No, seriously, one is scary and the other, scary useful.

We'll know everything about friending, following, facing up to spaces, tweeting, buzzing, and the content we create ourselves (maybe) and nothing about anything truly needed in life. Maybe.

I'm hedging my bets here, because I've usually been at the vanguard of more than just the Baby Boomers, and I don't have a cell phone! Can you spell "technology backlash"? Our lives are reaching the point of maximum overload in so many areas, all depending on digital innovations. Will paper-print products be the last to go? Bury me with a book, a magazine and a newspaper, please.

All said, however, as I prepare to shift the availability of my writing products to the digital download gizzies at the beginning of 2010. Why not? New decade, new delivery systems. I'm not no dummy yet. (The grammar is always the first to go.)

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Social Media Use Climbs

Past performance may not guarantee future success, but for the last three years the growth of social media has continued to advance. Forrester Research, Inc. provides the data and an interactive tool with which you can analyze your customer/client/visitor base. Forrester gathers data on age, gender and

analyzed consumers' participation in social technologies around the world with a tool called the "Social Technographics Profile." The profile puts online people into overlapping groups based on their participation (at least once a month) in the behaviors shown in the ladder.

Social technology growth marches on in 2009, led by social network sites. In The Broad Reach of Social Technology, author Sean Corcoran says:

more than four in five US online adults use social media at least once a month, and half participate in social networks like Facebook. While young people continue to march toward almost universal adoption of social applications, the most rapid growth occurred among consumers 35 and older.

They also have dependable data on European and Asian countries except Japan, Metro China, and South Korea.

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Ad Network Apocalypse?

What if they gave an apocalypse and no one came? Riffing on an old anti-war slogan, Advertising Age asks What Happened to the Ad-Network Apocalypse? If you're unfamiliar with what ad networks are, they're companies that partner with advertisers and publishers to buy and sell ads on sites they don't own themselves, similar to Google AdSense.

Warren Lee thinks only 15-20 of the 300-400 ad networks really matter, but the decimation predicted last year has not occurred. Some factors he cites include a growing but fragmented audience for increasing numbers of sites and the economical aspect of online advertising.

I thought this was interesting for bloggers who are always looking for ways to "monetize" their blogs (websites, web pages). That means make some moolah to help defray site costs, at least. And most bloggers start out with Google's AdSense, only to discover they aren't allowed to use any other ad system on a page that displays Google's. Until now.

A couple of weeks ago, Google notified AdSense clients that you will

soon be able to allow multiple ad networks to show on your pages, which means that advertisers from external Google-certified networks will be able to compete with AdWords advertisers for your ad space.

There are a few restrictions, and the email didn't list the "certified networks", but ads from these networks will compete with Google ads to show on sites, and the ad generating the highest revenue for publishers will be displayed, Google says. Since pictures (with audio) speak louder, here's a video on the subject:

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Twitter Writers Directories

More reasons to join Twitter: A Directory of Authors on Twitter. If you write, you'll want your name in this directory. To be added, a book author must supply three pieces of information: Twitter ID, name, and genre or category. Please see this post for more details on being added to the directory.

If you're looking for a writer for a certain project, you can review the directory by categories, some of which are linked directly to the grouping. It is divided into Nonfiction, Fiction, Children and Poetry.

Also of interest might be Highspot's Directory of Book Trade People on Twitter. Those categories includes:

Book Publishers - Company Accounts | Book Publishers - Individual Accounts | Literary Agents | Bookstores & Booksellers - United States | Bookstores & Booksellers - Canada | Bookstores & Booksellers - Europe & Australia | Bookstores & Booksellers - Online | Libraries | Book Industry Publications | Book Industry Groups & Associations | Book Festivals & Conferences | Book Prizes | Publishing Education Programs | Book Industry Suppliers & Tools | Author & Publisher Services | Book Publicity & Marketing Services | Book Printers & Paper Suppliers | Subsidy Publishers | Book Reviewers | Bloggers on Books & Publishing | Book Discussion 2.0

I see I'll be busy soon signing up in several areas. The lists appear to be frequently updated, but I cannot vouch for validity or comprehensiveness. Twitter users probably come and go like bloggers. Why is knowing someone's Twitter account important? I've found tweeting is the quickest way to make contact, both with individuals and companies. The listings can also lead you to websites and also provide contact through hidden email addresses.

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Book Trailer Promotion

Here's one of the best book trailers I've seen. I wouldn't highlight it if I didn't think the book is fine, too. Complex subplots masterfully woven into a tale that is not spooky like I had imagined, but well worth reading.

The almost flawless execution of the trailer mirrors the book's writing. Dorraine Darden is OTW (One to Watch)! Also, watch this space for an interview with the up and coming author.

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Action Buttons

Twitter in action: chat > improvement + follower > resource. In a Twitter chat about marketing with blogs, Amy Africa suggested my site needs a "contact button", a.k.a. "Call to Action" clickable image that triggers a form or email. The same evening, Jay Eskenazi signed up to follow my Twittering, and I reciprocated because I liked the cut of his tweets. The next day that move rewarded me with a link to Strong Call to Action Button at XDXY eMarketing Tips. These free button images fill just about any site need. You can improve your site's appearance, usability and utility in furthering your writing career. Look them over and think how you could use one in a new way to build community with your site's visitors, potential clients, fans.

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We are not Worthy!

Would you be impressed if you saw this? Just in case the animation does not display: the sun symbol alternates with the text, "San Diego Website Excellence Award."

What if I told you it was not merited, and moreover it is part of a scheme to boost PageRank in the Google system? I discovered this "award" and image through a Twitter "follow". We are not amused. We are not following you! We do not want to be associated with underhanded web practices such as "triangle linking."

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Nostalgia is in Fashion

Garrison Keillor has a bookstore in Saint Paul, MN where Carlsbad, CA resident, Daniel Van Tassel (below) last month signed his book about boyhood in Minnesota.

Last night I watched a PBS special on Keillor. He mused about his early ambition to become a New Yorker (magazine and city) writer, his chosen geographic relocations and settling back in Minnesota, where he began. I felt such kinship, we are the same age, raised as Midwestern Lutherans, and longed for similar writing careers. We even both began in our respective universities' radio stations, him at the UM reading continuity that I went to NU to learn to write. What is more uncanny, I never made it to the microphones at WNUR, and the UM's transmitter was off the air (but they didn't know it). Our early voices went unheard.

I moved more times than Keillor, but he achieved his New York dream, briefly. Mine was just to have a normal life, but possibly that's an illusion. Now I've embraced living in California, while he has managed to go home again (take that Thomas Wolfe!) Keillor accepts, as he calls it, an ordinary life and he says he finds it good enough. He has the extended family to support him in that choice. I could not determine if he sounded wistful and resigned or at peace with himself at last.

And here in Cali, doncha know, I met someone originally from Minnesota, embarking on a nostalgia tour back there to promote a memoir of "Life in the Heartland at Mid-Century". Back to Barron, by Daniel Van Tassel, delights the Boomer generation no end with true tales of farm life, town trips to Lake Wobegones as well as the big city and all the trouble little boys can get into.

If you're over 60 and still living in the Midwest, you'll chuckle at the memories. If you're over 60 and living somewhere else, you'll chuckle at the memories and perhaps heave a little sigh of sad fondness or relief--your choice, or your luck.

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Monetize Your Blogs

Who wants to make money with a blog? Hands up all around. No matter if you blog just to prime the creative pump, to keep in touch or to market another product--most everyone would like for the blog to at least pay for itself. The simplest goal might be to obtain a return on the time spent posting.

The latest scheme I've heard is Bloggapedia's syndication plan, wherein a blogger would receive 30% of 30% of a minimal amount every time someone downloads A Writer's Edge to a mobile device. Do you want to read blogs on your phone? I'm doubtful, but I could be very wrong and miss the boat with this one.

Other more tested strategies include hosting advertising on your blog site. I prefer outrightly selling ad space over installing AdSense or one of the other pay-per-click scams plans. When you sell straight ad space, you get paid up front and only need to display the advertising as agreed. Get that? YOU GET PAID. First. Period. In God We Trust; All Others Pay Cash.

Nonetheless, if you're intent on taking the easy way, joining blog networks is another option. They make money by distributing advertising across networks of website properties, sharing earnings with site owners, based on the amount of traffic generated. For your blog to qualify, it needs to have a good visitor rate, display fresh specific content and you must keep up the pace of posting. Networks you can explore include:

451Press -- http://www.451press.com/

9rules --http://9rules.com/

B5Media -- http://www.b5media.com/

BeautyBlog Network -- http://www.beautyblognetwork.com/

Curbed Network -- http://curbed.com/advertise/contact.php

Glam Media -- http://www.glam.com/

SBNation -- http://www.sbnation.com/

SkinnyMoose -- http://skinnymoose.com/network/

Weblogs Inc --http://www.weblogsinc.com/

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James Ellroy's Los Angeles

Playboy Walkabout - James Ellroy's Los Angeles --Warning: Adult Material XXX:

James Ellroy is the critically acclaimed author of My Dark Places, American Tabloid, The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential. In The Hilliker Curse—Ellroy's four-part memoir running in the April, June, September and November 2009 issues of Playboy—the modern dean of noir delves into his tangled sexual and romantic history. In the first installment of Playboy's new writers series Walkabout, Ellroy invites our readers to visit the places in Los Angeles that haunt him and to meet the ghosts that possess him still.

*****

In Los Angeles, you can take tours of the haunts of dead writers and their characters, but Ellroy is a living legend and conducts his own tour. A unique opportunity.

Books on Amazon by James Ellroy

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Lulu Sells on Amazon

An author-friend recently received this message from Lulu.com:

Congratulations, your book has been selected for listing on Amazon.com's Marketplace! As a result, your book will now be easily found on the world's largest online bookseller.

There will be some differences between your listing on Lulu and your listing on Amazon. Amazon charges a fee to list your book, and in order to cover that cost your book will be listed with a 30% markup; however your royalty will remain the same, and your book's price on Lulu will not change. Furthermore, your book sales on Amazon will reflect in your Lulu account immediately.

Lulu is committed to helping you increase your book's sales and we hope you enjoy the benefits of listing your book on Amazon.com

Apparently the 30% markup covers the cost for a Lulu book to be listed on Amazon, as well as Amazon's royalty cut. Lulu authors are still paid according to their Lulu contracts. I'd think the greater visibility would offset the higher price, resulting in more sales. No? Yes? Maybe.

And how does this accord with Amazon's new policy of not listing self-published books unless they are printed by its BookSurge printing unit? The world's largest online bookstore's practice doesn't seem to be slowing down Lightning Source, the on-demand book printing unit of Ingram publishing services. In May it started delivering digital books on compact Espresso digital printing devices in some retail outlets and libraries.

The book publishing industry is changing so fast, you can't keep up, even with a scorecard.

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Anti-Tobacco Ad Mondegreen

Mondegreens, Answers.com tells us, is a "series of words that result from the mishearing or misinterpretation of a statement or song lyric. [After (Lady) Mondegreen, a misinterpretation of the line (hae laid) him on the green, from the song “The Bonny Earl of Murray”.] Children come up with some good ones when learning the Pledge of Allegiance or the Star Spangled Banner.

More on the mondegreen in a moment. Listening to advertising increasingly violates my intelligence. Yes, yes, the Mad Men are trying to cram the most into less time, now 10-second spots.

So, as I drowse through breaks in Days of Our Lives, I hear "Friskies wet indoor cat food". Two seconds later the phrase registers, stirs up all sorts of questions concerning wet cats and feeding cats outdoors. I don't hear any more of the advertising for the next 7.5 minutes because I'm trying to remember the humorous flap that made the rounds of Mensa newsletters many years ago. I think it was a campaign by 9 Lives brand cat food to collect can labels to trade for merchandise, as was once done with cigarette wrappers. But the 9 Lives people persisted in calling it the "9 Live Soft Moist Coupon Offer". Yeah, we said, but collecting those soft, moist coupons made such a mess.

Currently I listen to the latest TV spots aimed at preventing underage smoking. It's a hodge-podge of images and sounds that don't quite make sense, even when I try to think like an ad designer. The part that ties back to the beginning of this article comes as a singing voiceover at the beginning of the spot. A gentle mother's voice croons a familiar lullaby by Brahams, Lullaby and Goodnight. It has several verses, but most people know just the first:

Lullaby, and good night,
With pink roses bedight,
With lilies o'erspread,
Is my baby's sweet head.
Lay thee down now, and rest,
May thy slumber be blessed.
Lay thee down now, and rest,
May thy slumber be blessed.

However, the female voice sings the second line as "With pink roses bed light," The baby's bed or cradle is bedecked with lilies and roses, unlike my poor troll's baby buggy. Yes, it is insignificant, but how I spend the days of my life. Amused and sad.

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FeedBurner Mail Order

Someone once said, somewhere, something like, "Georganna works harder on her blog than anyone else!"

I spent this day changing over the email subscription service for this blog to consolidate it with the RSS feed from FeedBurner (now part of the Google Empire). If you want to receive the blog in your Inbox rather than going online, use the form near the top of the right column, click on the "Subscribe" link in the menu at the top of the page, Click on the "Subscribe by email" link in the RSS feed you may be receiving, or click on this one: Subscribe to A Writer's Edge by Email

If I've coded everything correctly, all these methods should point you to a sign up process managed by FeedBurner, for a smoother, friendlier operation.

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Endorsements for Books

My first book endorsement appears with ones by David Brin and Mark Ellis, celebrity sci-fi authors. It's on the back cover of the newly released Gray Apocalypse. I'm not sure how to feel, especially with the creative misspelling of my first name. No one has ever left out the "r" and got the back end right. (It reads "Geoganna".)

Decades ago I developed immunity to seeing my name in a byline, but this is different. It's on the dust cover of a hardbound published book. Is that almost as good as having my own book published? Does it mean I've arrived? If so, the train was really late!

The quote is actually from the BlogCritics review I wrote last December. I remember a frisson of presentiment skittering through my body as I wrote the words. "That's a good quote," I thought. Apparently the publisher agreed.

But how do you get a testimonial or endorsement for your book?

• Sign up at WhoRepresents.com or PublishersMarketPlace.com to find agents, publishers and generally who is representing the person you'd like to contact.
• Too simple-sounding, but it works: Google them.
• Use an online phone book like Verizon's WhitePages.comAsk your friends. It's surprising how many know people who know people.
• Join LinkedIn and you'll undoubtedly discover how to get to the people you want to reach.

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Free Online Book Promotion

While I don't advocate leaving it up to the Web, even Web 2.0, as the sole technique for marketing a book, Dorothy Thompson's blog, Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion, offers links to these resources:

Would you like to be interviewed?
Beyond the Books
Would you like to tell us your backstory?
The Story Behind the Book
Would you like to tell us how you promote your books?
Book Marketing Buzz

With Internet marketing the key to selling books online is word of mouth advertising, getting people to talk about the book (buzz) and to tell others about it (viral). Simply launching a Google AdWords speck into the cybersphere only lines the pockets of Google. Think events, like a Blog Book Tour, a webinar with added value, and most of all appearances on multiple venues.

The beauty and genius of Internet marketing means you never have to leave home. Travel costs are eliminated. Agoraphobics stay safe and comfortable. On the other hand, it is still hard work, sometimes complicated, and may require investments in technologies beyond what you already have. Then there's the learning curve -- or you can pay others to set all this up for you.

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Ways With Words

Yesterday my car received its most expensive semi-annual wash EVAR! I handed the cashier my punch ticket for an eventually free wash, my $2-off coupon, and a ten dollar bill. "That's $10.99," she said. "The coupon is only good within two weeks." She pointed to some fine print that I couldn't read.

"Huh? Oh, but they've always given me the two dollars off before, and I've been coming here for years!" I pointed to the earliest date stamped on the card: March 2006.

"I know they did, but when we changed the prices, we stopped."

"You raised the price, so now you don't honor the coupons after two weeks? Is that right?" I asked. She nodded, as if this made sense. I guess it did to the management.

Incensed, I strutted my size four jeans two blocks down the street to try out a new Burger King mini-hamburger. (I know, I still haven't gotten over my weight loss victory! Bear with me.) I asked the cashier if I could buy just one and a drink. He mumbled. All kids mumble more as I age. Finally I caught, "Two or six."

I could have eaten just one, unlike Lay's potato chips. How do you think I lost 55 pounds? The fast food chain won't sell just one. When my two bites arrived, I understood why. The patties are linked together. I had to twist them apart to eat just one. And I did. And it was good. So was the other one.

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New Feed, Now Ads

Just a note to let you know that I'm aware of the Google ads inserted between blog posts in the email version of A Writer's Edge and in the RSS feeds formerly supplied by FeedBurner, now a part of the giganticus Google family. The new feed address is: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/writers-edge/EElx, however I've been assured that you don't really need to change anything, as the old feed address will be redirected to the new location.

When Google took over, I opted for allowing the advertising temporarily as an experiment. I wanted to see both what the ads look like and which businesses displayed. So far I am not unhappy. If you receive the feed or email version of the blog posts, what do you think?

Is the appearance objectionable? Have I compromised my integrity somehow? And while I'm at it about advertising, is anybody familiar with a service company called "Wikimetro". They are soliciting A Writer's Edge either to carry an ad for them or participate in their self-service advertising market (difficult to decipher their communications).

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Google Book Previews on Websites

Improvements to Google's Book Search service now allows websites to include a "Google Preview" button. When the viewer clicks on the button, a smaller window overlays the page with preview and search features. I think it looks better than the same service presented at Google Book Search, at least the example at Books-a-Million does.

You can read what Google reveals about the new feature at Inside Google Book Search: Book Search everywhere with new partnerships and tools and check out websites that are already using it. In addition to publishers and booksellers, some early adopters include libraries, universities, authors, and social book sharing sites:

You can now import your Book Search My Library collection straight into your aNobii account, or preview books within the weRead gadget for social networks. Be sure to also try out the exciting integrations by BookJetty, GoodReads, and BookRabbit.

I'm not familiar with any of these, but through the years I've mentioned other personal library services we can use to catalog and display book selections and collections in blogs and websites. I've let others be the guinea pigs and have been favorably impressed with the results. (I have too many books and too little time to try them out myself.)

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Writers Go Video

I've been writing about book trailers (video intros, teasers, ads) and podcasts (first only audio, now A/V) for writers since they first began. But video is really taking off this summer. Lengthy, full-blown interviews and panel discussions appear in blogs for a zippy technological edge. The latest I've noticed is in Maria Schneider's The Writer's Perspective.

This Writer's Digest editor began on August 4 with a modest segment of a series called "WD Live"and featuring "authors Steve Berry, Brad Thor and James Rollins, discussing how they quietly began writing each others [sic] characters into their respective books." A series of short cine scenes developed and quickly morphed into "Writers Digest.tv" by August 12. You can select from nine episodes in the archive at archive at the BLIP.TV website.

Just prior to and in sync with Schneider's segue from the printed page into full-blown digital presentations, these posts appeared in A Writer's Edge:

Writers' Videos & Trailers, July 27
Writers' Videos & Trailers, July 27 (complete)
Writing for Mobile Video, August 3
Author's Book Video, August 5
"N" on Your Blog, August 7

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"N" on Your Blog!

Someone at Simon & Schuster must have read my post on the King video--or else I'm going blind. Now I see the widget to display the series of videos of Stephen King's "N". Enjoy it while it lasts!

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Author's Book Video

Last week I suggested trying your hand at designing a book trailer or other type of video to help market your writerly services or book. One reader, Melissa Carrigee, chose to be my "crash test dummy" and prepared a slide show with music to help attract customers to her book, Adventures in Home Building. See the results (with music!) at the bottom of the home page of her blog, Melissa's Manic Musings. I've suggested that she see if she can shrink the size of the whole widget and put it at the top of the right column, maybe just above the image of her book.

Read the original post that sparked this madness.

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Writing Review Requests

Often the email box for A Writer's Edge contains pleas to accept copies of books which have nothing to do with writing in hopes I'll mention them on my blog. Consider them mentioned. Also the silly requests. Unless I can use the book (or the message) to illustrate a helpful point for writers, these efforts are wasted. Consider this which greeted me this morning:

Dear Georganna,

I noticed you are an excellent reviewer on Amazon.

May I introduce to you an excellent entertaining culture ebook as a gift? The book fosters culture that enriches communities. I am an author in Taiwan.

From this link [...], you could read an entertaining small free PDF eBook*, which is a sample book. Please feel free to send the ebook to friends. This eBook will be beneficial to them for understanding "an ancient art."

What's wrong with this picture?

The poor author makes several mistakes: although he gets cred for digging out my name (most of these messages begin with "Hi!") a business letter, especially one that is a formal request for a favor, addresses an unknown person by their last name. We are not on the chummy first name basis, and probably never will be.

Secondly, if he had bothered to check my Amazon Profile, he would have discovered that I do NOT post reviews to that website. You can find a list of the top reviewers at Amazon easily enough. And see the latest additions to my Amazon Storefront where I'm selling one of my lightly used color printers!

Thirdly, and this is enough, the "sample" eBook is simply an irritating extended ad, perhaps beneficial to himself for selling his paper book.

Fellow writers, this illustrates the dangers of failing to properly research your market targets. Another way in which this fellow's mistakes could have come about is to have purchased a mailing list. One unscrupulous PR flack has hawked my blog's address for a couple of years. He scraped it from a mailing list that I occasionally contribute to. 'Nuff said.

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Writers' Videos & Trailers

You know how hot video is right now on the Web and on mobile devices. I don't think visual communications are soon going away. Anything that engages multiple senses makes more of an impact and a more lasting one. Author clips, intriguing plot snippets, or other teasers about your writing leave readers wanting more.

A wealth of strong statistics from major Internet research firms backs up the growth of online video viewing and the switch from TV to the Web. Publishers have been jumping on this bandwagon for some time, just as they are issuing books in digital formats. And The Christian Science Monitor suggests several viable reasons for writers to substitute well-made videos for traditional tours, including author personality problems, shrinking budgets, and increasing travel difficulties.

Don't use your vids only as brochures. They need to become word-of-mouth generators, called viral videos. Just embedding them in your web page is not enough: make them easily portable to others' sites, to add to emails and available in all types of connective devices. One method to accomplish this is to upload your video to You Tube, then place it on your own website with the service-generated code for visitors to copy.

At One True Media you can try out creating your video trailer for free. I can't wait to ... uh, perhaps I'd better write a book first? No! My avatar! Maybe I can get something into her empty hands this way, something like a book. That would be a book video, no? O.K. Just a manuscript to edit, or the keyboard to use in ghostwriting.

Read the whole article for lists of ideas for how to use a video in promotional and marketing campaigns and to boost awareness and increase your social network standings.

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Ready for Writing Success?

When I was teaching a course on writing, one student revealed a major stumbling block. He was writing a book, a decent one at that. I thought he stood a good chance of getting an agent and selling the story to a publisher. But when I came to the marketing part of the series of classes, he balked. "No, I won't be doing that," he said after I talked about being available for interviews in all media, book signings and tours, and appearing at events to promote yourself as a writer or to market your writing.

"I'm shy," he whispered with a slight blush. I was taken aback. How could someone not be aware that public speaking and appearances are part of being a successful author? Selling a manuscript to a publisher is not the same as selling books to buyers. In this era of dwindling marketing and advertising budgets and personnel at publishers, more and more of the burden lies heavily on authors' shoulders.

That's not the only pressure successful writers encounter. Publishers are increasingly demanding that their stables produce books at a faster pace. The old paradigm of taking years to write a sequel or the next in a series is out the window, what with ebooks and electronic gizmos to read them. The public suffers from an ever-shortening attention span, too. This is especially true for readers of the suspense genres.

At least a novel a year has become the norm, the demand, according to an article in the Boston Globe, where local writer, Robert B. Parker, cranks out four books a year. He and Elmore Leonard must be blessed with great staminas. Parker quotes Leonard as saying, "If it takes you more than six months to write a book, you're not working."

In addition to producing reliably on time, authors still must cope with the public appearances that attract book buyers. No pressure, really, for success.

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Writing Personal Essays

Writers often ask where they can try to sell short nonfiction opinion pieces. These fit into the category of "personal essays"-- easiest to write, hardest to sell. The usual advice is to query or submit them to general interest and literary publications, but those take precious few such works. Even fewer pay for them.

Think analytically about the subject of your essays. Match them with more specific markets. So-called "niche" magazines and websites provide ready-made homes for such tailored pieces of writing. Sometimes these are called 'front of the magazine' or 'back of the magazine' articles, as well as 'opinion pieces' and 'personal essays'. Sometimes they are simply called 'shorts'.

Incidentally, if you tend to write this kind of work, especially if you want to express your opinions on a specific topic, you're a good candidate for blogging. Blogging isn't just for rants and digital diaries any more. People are blogging for pay, and some say they are making a living at it.

If I were to essay an essay on this post's beginning image, it would be an article to persuade people that it is better for all of us to wear clothing constructed of renewable natural fibers rather than creating synthetics from our finite oil supply and to eat food, rather than convert it to fuel. This addresses several issues: world hunger, the rising cost of food, rising gas prices (and all items associated with petroleum, which is just about everything), global warming, ecology, the "green" movement, even economics and business. It is within those topics that I would look for publications that accept such shorts.

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Social Networking for Writing

The other day I mentioned social bookmarking as a social service writers can use to promote themselves and market their writings. The bookmarking services to use with websites and blogs (especially) are both parts of and forms of social networking. The term applies to making connections with people on the Internet. I think cyber-networking or digital- or electronic- or something other than "social" would be a less confusing terminology, but we're stuck with "social". Yes, it's the same as networking socially, in real life, but perhaps with more intensity and intimate overtones.

Just as in the physical world, social networking requires joining, attending, and participating to benefit. I'm referring to those special websites with interactive capabilities: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Orkut, Friendster, to name some of the original and general ones. The concept is simple, really: sign up, add as much information as you wish to a profile, find "friends" with similar interests. Sharing your other social networking connections (sites and friends) is becoming more common, as are niche networks, like Flickr for photography, MyBlogLog, and LibraryThing for booklovers.

If you expand the definition of social networking to include participation in chats, forums and mailing lists, the potential for writers to exploit this newer tool increases. By always using a link or the name of your website/book/business in the signatures used on these types of sites, a writer can custom-build a social network, a fan base, traffic potential. Seeking out and contacting others, making cogent comments, offering assistance -- all are ways to "work" the social network. It isn't enough to just join and not be active. In fact, I think it may be detrimental to your appearance/reputation.

Ah, there's the rub: the work. It takes time, energy and concentration to utilize a social network. That's why writers must carefully select which ones to join and limit participation to a few at a time. Give one several months to show positive results. If it doesn't, then drop "unjoin" that one and move on to another. I find that a focus on one chat, one forum, and one general group are about all I can handle. While writers need to spend about half their time promoting or marketing, more than that becomes counterproductive in that there's no time to produce new writing. These Google search results will lead you to social networking sites for writers.

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Social Services for Writing

Every time I've written about Web 2.0, I've been describing the social aspects of using the Internet. Two components are networking and bookmarking. Unless you participate in them, the two aspects can become confused.

Last week a list member asked the value of having social bookmarking on website for promoting his writing, complaining that it was a chore to embed all the various links for deli.cio.us, Reddit, Stumble Upon, etc. His goal was to increase traffic to the site. I pointed out that you can use a service like AddThis for a compact link to a site where users can choose from among what looks like all the services on earth. (Try the button at the end of this post to see what I mean.)

Someone else wrote in, saying he was jumping on the social networking bandwagon, then offered a link to a different social bookmark generator at Social Bookmarket Script, which can produce a multi-functional insert via effort akin to mating elephants. My attempt to include an example in this post totally screwed Blogger's little display. Sorry.

You can play social bookmarking two ways, and it could also be viewed as a networking tool. If you only make the ability for readers to bookmark your post, page, website with one of the services, that's a beginning level. So is simply having a subscription yourself and marking others' items. The area of bookmarking your own work is a murky one. The possibility and appearance of abuse ought to be enough to make you restrain yourself. Sounds like a great marketing ploy at first, but think about it from other people's viewpoints, including those who offer the services.

Both marking and promoting it on your pages can be a network event of sorts, if you have the time to track down those who bookmarked yours and reciprocate on theirs. It is a kludgy, awkward way to build or participate in a social network. Tomorrow we'll look at writers using true social networking to their advantage.

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Google Rank Returns, Other Rises

The Google Gods restoreth PageRank to A Writer's Edge! Apparently 3 is the new 5. That's the site's ranking in Google's new scheme to weed out Pay-Per-Post/Click bloggers and websites. I have never participated in those marginally unethical practices, however, to the Google Search system my page looked suspicious enough for them to pull MY rank last fall. (No one knows what formula was used to de-rank and re-rank sites.)

When Google dropped the rank, I cast about furiously for another ranking system and found a good one at SEOmoz.com. In that service's view, the page was a 4.5 to Google's 0. I'd hoped for the covet 6. Well, I have it now with SEOmoz! So, a Google 3 = SEOmoz 6? What does it really mean? A return of advertisers, I hope -- unless that's what Google was punishing me for, not using AdSense on the front page, but displaying ads from others. Call me cynical, but do call.

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Writing in Genre

In a chat last night, someone complained that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" had been categorized as sci-fi, and that people in general seem confused about a definition of science fiction writing. Equally confusing is the line of separation between horror and paranormal. And what about the space movies with monsters (one of my favorites)? If the monster in space is a blood-sucking demon, does that make it horror, paranormal, sci-fi, or even fantasy? Personally, I have difficulty with the latter, tending to consider most fantasy writing as creations for children. I know I'm wrong in this thinking, I hasten to add.

Wouldn't it be lovely if there were a Genre Court of Last Resort that issues clear definitions of genres? Of course, then there would have to be a Genre Court of Appeals for all those indignant litigants to follow. Alas, no such authority exists, not even the venerable Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

Sorry new fiction writers. We can't help you categorize your work. However, what is much more important is the description that applies to the publisher you are aiming for. Pick a publisher before writing? That seems so crass! It's also realistic. More than studying the guidelines for one publisher, I'd suggest you survey many publishers that you think you might submit to. If the general consensus is that vampires don't belong in their science fiction publications, adjust. Sure, you can be free and take a chance that your writing will fit somewhere. Just go into it with your eyes open. And don't come whining later that "no one will publish my work".

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Dream Book Store

I did not spend space yesterday describing the clean, neat, tidy, well-lit and crowded BOOKOFF store. Uniform tall black shelving units crowded the length of the building space that formerly held new technical books for sale. The aisles were a little narrow for full-size, luxury-built Americans, I thought. Admittedly, I saw only one side of the store, but didn't notice any place to sit down or to set anything down. That had me musing once again on the fantasy ideal book shop that I've dreamed of for years. It's probably a concatenation of ones I've known all over the country.

Dusty, even dirty, darkish but with easy chairs by lamps on end tables ... a cat to leap into unoccupied laps and purr you into purchasing ... live potted plants ... a feeling of old, old books, old store perhaps run by a patient old person. Mismatched wooden book cases. A wood floor. A spiral iron staircase to a mezzanine overlooking the main floor. Coffee. Board games?

Baby Boomers, at least, probably want a combination old book nook/coffee house, like the "No Exit" cafe, where my fiance and I spent cozy wintry evenings in the early 60s, trying to like espresso, playing chess, reading poetry from the books scattered around the room.

OTOH, wouldn't it be way cool, rad, high rez or whatever is the current slang for the cat's pajamas, if the books were RFID tagged and the store had a computerized system, so the clerk could tell at a click if they had the book you were searching for AND where it was located? Maybe hand-held devices that could lead you to your selection, because even a computer's records can be wrong and books get moved?

Have I left out anything? What would your ideal used book store be like? Do younger generations prefer clean, efficient, no-frills experiences?

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Book Publishing Business

Anyone who hopes to have a book published, and everyone who considers self-publishing, will benefit by reading Rachael Donadio's essay on the NY Times website, Why Does It Still Take So Long to Publish a Book? Although she writes extensively about pre-pub marketing strategies, another take-away point is this:

As soon as a literary agent has sold a publisher a book, and even before it’s edited, copy-edited, proofread and indexed, the publicity wheels start turning.

Notice all the editorial steps that take time to accomplish. One would hope that the book had already been edited before it was submitted to an agent, and sometimes agents suggest rewrites (requiring another edit).

All this gate-keeping scrutiny of traditional publishing, that self-published books seldom receive, contributes to the negative impression about and discrimination against reviewing self-publishers.

Now go back and study the marketing description Donadio provides. Could you possibly do all that as an individual? Did you know of these strategies necessary for a published book to become even a mild success? Those who think that self-publishing is a fine alternative because it is faster and cheaper are short-changing themselves and their customers. And I haven't mentioned product quality, fodder for another post.

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Book Store Turns Classroom

Apparently in an attempt to attract readers and potential customers, the Borders big box chain of book stores is experimenting by offering free classes, The Sacramento Bee announced. The Borders Live Classes pilot program includes a variety of topics. Here's hoping it's a success, and that they include more classes in tune with books, writing and writers, all over the country.

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Web 2.0 Unravels for Writers

Somewhat amusing to me was the Business Week article Generation MySpace Is Getting Fed Up because the local chapter of American Pen Women just asked me to talk with them about using such social nets, as well as websites, to promote members' work.

The average amount of time each user spends on social networking sites has fallen by 14% over the last four months ... MySpace, the largest social network, has slipped from a peak of 72 million users in October to 68.9 million in December.... The total number of people on such sites is still increasing at an 11.5% rate, but that's down sharply from past growth rates. "What you have with social networks is the most overhyped scenario in online advertising," says Tim Vanderhook, CEO of Specific Media, which places ads for customers on a variety of Web sites.

I had always had the impression that the Web 2.0 is a phenomenon for people in their teens to about 35. While many of my clients fit into that demographic, an equal number are seniors, too. The youth factor is what I found participating in Google's version of social networking, Orkut. I think I'll explain to the ladies of the pen that unless they write for the YA (Young Adult) category, they may be wasting their time and efforts with social networks. Better to focus on a website and real networking.

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Finding Famous People

Writers often need to contact celebrity and authority figures. Sometimes it's for an interview, quotes, or other content-related reasons. Other times, they're looking for a way to obtain a testimonial, blurb, or maybe a preface for a book. One method of research is to subscribe to WhoRepresents.com. Here are some tips from John Kremer's Book Marketing Tip of the Week newsletter on finding someone famous:

1. Google them. This is the simplest way. Generally you can find an address for someone famous or important simply by Googling them.

2. Use one of the phone book services on the Internet. You can Google "phone book services" to locate some of these. You may have to try more than one to find the person you are looking for. That has been my experience.

3. Ask your friends. You'd be surprised how many of your friends know people that you would also want to know. The six degrees of separation rule is an exaggeration. My experience is that if you are at all active in any group, you are probably three people away from anyone you want to reach. Ask and keep asking until the right person hears your question and answers with an introduction.

Incidentally, you can email John and sign up for his newsletter.

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SmartLinks Amazing Technology for Writers

A new-to-me company, Adaptive Blue, is offering "smart links" and SmartLink Widgets to enhance blogs and websites. They come in a variety of flavors (stocks, music, wine, movies), but we'll focus on the one for books. SmartLinks for Books shows an example (image to the right) of the results of clicking on a blue arrow (like this one ) embedded in your text, using the widget to:

* Get a preview of the cover and description
* Choose from book sites like Amazon, B&N, etc.
* Find it in the local library via WorldCat
* Bookmark using a favorite service
* Post book link to Facebook or Twitter
* Access the best reviews from around the web
* Find similar books by subject and customer picks
* Find more books by the same author
* Lookup author's bio and web links

If you scroll down to the lower part of the page, you'll see a visual of a different type of book widget and a link to the widget page itself. Prepare yourself to be amazed, confused, and perhaps overwhelmed at first. The versatility of this technology blows me away! Two other resources on using this tool are the BlueBlog and the Book Widget Gallery.

To Fraser, whomever you are, thanks for the email introducing me to this amazing service.

If any of you readers are already using a SmartLinks widget to enhance your online writing, please let us know about your experiences and implementation.

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Are Book Signings so Yesterday?

Last Sunday's chat with writers' publicist, P.J. Nunn, of BreakThrough Promotions, the featured guest in The Writer's Chatroom, proved quite enlightening. I was able to clear up a point of confusion circulating among new authors. That is, whether or not signings (in bookstores) are becoming passe and valueless. Yes and no is the answer. The Big Six (major traditional publishers) are booking fewer signing tours, and when they do, it's really to gain the attention of local media outlets for the author. A signing, I knew, is most effective when it is part of an "event" orchestrated for publicity purposes.

However, Ms. Nunn pointed out, book signings are an important tactic for getting a book into bookstores. I'm guessing she was talking in terms of authors published by smaller and independent houses. Perhaps it also applies to self-publishers, although for placement in major chains, a book must be available for order through Baker and Taylor, usually.

You often hear about bookstore owners "hand selling", promoting a particular book in their store and community. Some authors must similarly "hand sell" their books to independents, and the signing/event remains a tantalizing tidbit to offer store owners. It's good for the book, good for the store and good for the author. Sort of like recycling.

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Shopdropped a Good Book Lately?

The next time you stroll through a book store--and please, do support the brick-and-mortar variations of Amazon--you may come across a free book. It might not be labeled as such, but if you try to check it out, the clerk won't be able to ring it up and could ask, "Did you get this here?"

You will be a beneficiary of shopdropping: a growing practice of authors leaving their books lying about in places likely book buyers gather. Michael Quinion calls it a "guerrilla-art movement" akin to "culture jamming"--subverting competitors' advertising to your own benefit. In this case, however, the author use their own products to promote themselves and market the product. Sort of BookCrossing for a marketing purpose. I see nothing wrong with that.

This is my kind of free sample! I'd be delighted to find uncatalogued treasures on my library shelves. How about you?

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