Writing About Yourself

When I talk to writers' groups about having a blog and website, inevitably someone asks, "I haven't even finished my book yet--do I need a blog or website already?" In this month's Writing4Success Tipsheet, Australian writer Marg McAlister urges writers to take care of publicity and promotion wherever they are in their careers:

The truth is that unless you are a well-known author with a lot of book sales behind you (and possibly not even then!) you are unlikely to get much in the way of publicity from publishers. The more you can do yourself, the better - and the earlier you start, the better. Don't wait until you have a book in hand. Don't even wait until you sign a contract. The best time to start promoting yourself and your work is NOW.

I'm here to tell you that you don't even need to be writing a book for the advice to be applicable. McAlister's article continues to say that in addition to a ready resume and a good photo, you should consider having the following items:

• a media kit
• a website
• a blog

Sound familiar? She explains the what and why--and this is only the first part of a two-section article. Find more tipsheets at the Writing4Success Club.

Blog Brags Worth Writing About

Google has finally restored PageRank to this website, back to the #3 rating it had dropped to late last year (from 5). SEO Moz, on the other hand, upped their estimate to a full 5.0 (see badge at the top of the left column), and I breezed through another blog valuation site last night that gave us a 5.5. Strangely, Google also lists almost a thousand back links!

Sweeter, though, was the email received yesterday from Amy Liu at Blogged because she said:

Our editors recently reviewed your blog and have given it an 8.2 score out of (10) in the Entertainment category of Blogged.com.

This is quite an achievement!...

We evaluated your blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style.

After carefully reviewing each of these criteria, your site was given its 8.2 score.

We’ve also created Blogged.com score badges with your score prominently displayed. Simply visit your website’s summary page on Blogged.com:

... Please accept my congratulations on a blog well-done!!

You can see the listing and add comments or a review and help make this blog a full 10.

This must be my week, because I also learned that A Writer's Edge is now listed on the Publish-L web page of Subscriber Links, vetted by the list mom (owner), Pat Gundry. It's an honor to be included, and I thank Pat profusely for all her good work managing this most informative mailing list.

All this comes on top of last week's coveted "Recommended" status in the Preditors & Editors guides to services for writers. Combine all these heady accolades with an overflow of work flooding my way (feast or famine), and I'm falling off my rolling desk chair. One of these jobs may become a steady blogging gig, so stay tuned for further announcements.

Niche Writing is Specializing

Someone asked yesterday on a forum about choosing to specialize in fiction or nonfiction. I replied that fiction and nonfiction are different forms of writing. A writer specializes within one or the other, e.g., being a poet, copywriter, novelist or headline writer. In contemporary lingo, this is filling a niche. Whenever someone asks, "If you could go back and do anything differently, what would it be?" I respond, "specialize." Here's a hint: technology is not going out of style, nor is science. Given my kind of mind, I think I would have picked something within science to be my niche. By now, I would probably be deep into a sub-niche of DNA manipulation and cloning. Maybe even into the ethics of cloning.

When your crystal ball clears and you've found your slot, the next step is to become an expert in your chosen specialty. The more narrow the niche, and the less competition in it, the better off you'll be. That doesn't mean, however, to ignore the field in general. You need to be able to detect trends and shifts, to foresee when your niche may be petering out as technology invents more finely calibrated tools that make it obsolete. Like X-rays to find tuberculosis and transistors overtaking radio tubes. Don't limit your pursuit of expert status to Internet research or just visits to the library. Consider getting a degree in the field. By the time you write a thesis for a master's degree, my thesis chair told me, you're the world's top expert in your subject at that moment. At least take some college classes and learn about the professional journals you can follow for great leads to stories (fiction or nonfiction).

The niche aspect of your writing carries over to your marketing endeavors. Attend appropriate conferences to learn more and to schmooze with the higher-ups, liberally distributing your business cards. Most everyone likes to be written about. Some will call you with good leads and want interviews. Of course you have a website and maybe a blog about your niche. Ensure they are listed in specialty search engines and directories and on related websites and blogs. Get someone to start sections on you or your business in sites like Wikipedia, About.com, and Answers.com. You may add to them, or in some cases, enter them yourself.

Regularly sweep the Internet for references to your name, website/blog's name and URL, books' titles, and the niche and general focus of your writing. The easiest way to do this is with a search engine "alert". These alerts will look for mentions of your keywords automatically every day and email a report with links to any address you designate. So you can perform this little ego puffing (or deflating) anonymously, if you prefer. Niches are definitely a case of "name it and claim it". Make it your own.

Red Room for Writing

As far as I've noticed, Red Room is the latest social networking site for writers that is high class and high caliber in terms of participants and functionality. It's in the stratosphere, it's so high. When PR flack Veronica contacted me last month, she said:

It's an online community for authors and readers, and has been called a 'literary MySpace'. It's getting a lot of attention in the investor and writer community, and the founder, Ivory Madison, has a great story to tell about how she turned her local writing studio into a global community for writers. Already building the community are household names like Maya Angelou, Amy Tan, Salman Rushdie, Jane Smile, Alice Walker, Po Bronson, Khaled Hosseni, James Patterson and hundreds more.

Yeah, sure, I thought. After examining the place, I'm wondering how they persuaded top-selling, already-famous authors to participate, and what does that part about "investor" really mean? Usually investors are interested in ways to make money, not charitably fostering literary connections.

The rest of Victoria's release (no last name given) quotes from Madison on a major political candidate (way to alienate half the nation!) and stressed that Red Room is a "creative social network" that provides "community between authors and readers". I can find no way for two-way communication, unless you count comments on blogs. Just finding a particular writer's blog requires searching and wading through layers of menus. Sadly, most everyone's fave, Stephen King, is not listed, although many, many others are.

So, I'm suspecting this is an enterprise set up, perhaps, with publishers or publicists, and the anticipated investors are advertisers. All in all, it offers about everything a writer could want in the way of promotion and marketing, including the ability to link to your own website. Oh, and no cost is mentioned.

If anyone reading this post is a member or regular user of Red Room, please let us know about your experience and impressions of the service.

Search Yourself and Career

You probably already know that it's a good idea to Google yourself (in the privacy of your own home, of course). Also Google your blog or website's name and URL, and any other word or phrase with which you might be identified on the Internet. Don't limit this activity to just the most popular search engine. Sometimes surprises pop up on Yahoo! or Ask.com and even MSN's Live Search. For example, last night I was checking some links on my info page, and discovered a new reference to an organization I'd forgotten I was once part of. The name under which most of my print credits appear shows up on the new page at least twice.

Why do I care? It's not that I'm so narcissistic that I drool over seeing my name (current or former) in print on the web or anywhere. I overcame that character flaw a long time ago, when attention shifted to seeing my name on checks. The point of regularly searching the web for information about yourself and your work is three-fold:

• to ensure that the data are accurate
• to see how much someone else can find out about you
• the references found also might come in handy some day when you're selling yourself or your services. I use such a list as a means to verify my identity as well as some of my career credits.

Some of the newer automated searchers can display garbled and misleading snippets retrieved from limited sources. I found one of those last night, too. I was thankful the website provides a method to register and correct mistakes in what is displayed. And another showed an inactive email address. I had to jump through a few hoops to get that changed, and I'm grateful for the difficulty that prevents someone else from changing the data about me.

RTIR: Radio-TV Inteview Report

If you're looking for a guest or a guest spot in the media, first look at RTIR: Radio-TV Interview Report. It's a magazine, newsletter, website and blog, altogether a potent PR pack with lists of guests available by state and subject, and an archive of its magazine.

Say you have a book, a project, a reform movement, or (dare I say it?) a political candidate to support. Announce interview availability in RTIR which "4,000 producers read to find interesting guests." Writers are always asking, "How can I get on Oprah?" Here's one easy answer. Sign up for free information about the service.

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.

Chat With a Publicist

This Sunday at 7 p.m. EST you'll have a rare opportunity to participate or lurk in a chat with a writers' publicist, P.J. Nunn, of BreakThrough Promotions. She'll be the featured guest at the The Writer's Chatroom, providing publicity and P.R. tips as well as special free gifts for attendees. Click on "Enter Chatroom". It may take a moment to load. Type in the name you wish to be known by, and click "Login". No password needed. When you get there, tell 'em Georganna sent you!

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?

Google Capitulates on Blogger Comments

Straight from the Blogger Buzz:

You Blog, We Listen
December 20, 2007 — permalink
Two fixes just went live, before we sign off for a brief holiday break:

* Unregistered commenters can once again provide an auto-linked URL

Yay? Does this help, previously irked commenters?

Writers Can Sell Themselves via Technology

Several newish marketing or promotion notions:

Stamps. Put yourself, logo or book cover on a U.S. postage stamp. Services like zazzle.com, photo.stamps.com, and yourstamps.com can do the trick (thanks to Jim Cox's Midwest Book Review newsletter).

Radio interviews. Ah, but this isn't your grandparents' radio: try the new satellite and Internet radio services like Sirius, Blogtalk, WritersFM, live and recorded MP3s.

If you have a book coming out, be sure to badger your publisher to hook it up to book clubs as suggested in Publishers Seek to Mine Book Circles - New York Times. Several new Web 2.0 social networking sites exist for reading groups.

Why Writers Need to Have Websites

Some writers just want to see their works available to the world. Others want to be able to say they are published (although publishing yourself does not count for much, believe me). Smart working writers have other goals for their websites:

• Saving Time
• Promotion
• Marketing
• Employment
• Convenience
  

Wouldn't the time it takes to find, photocopy and send clips be better used finding jobs and creating masterpieces of prose? A website has become critical for promoting yourself as a writer. It is a potent tool for marketing your work and services. People expect you to have a website and hope to see examples of your work. Listing the site with job boards, directories and on your resume, business cards and all marketing instruments makes you more available to be contacted for assignments. When you contact potential clients or editors, pointing them to your website makes it easier for them to see more of your work and read more about you.

Totally Fabulous Award

I feel like a valley girl on a shopping spree with Daddy's credit card. What a wonderful week the last one was. Beth Allen awarded me another badge for my growing collection in a post entitled Beth Allen II: Totally Fabulous Award. And here it is:


Now, if I were just, like, FAMOUS, I'd have it made!

Use Discussion Groups Effectively

One of many tactics to promote yourself and/or market your writing is to participate in discussion groups. These are variously called forums, boards and lists. They evolved from the first Internet groups, listserves and BBS (bulletin board systems). Guerilla marketer Jay Conrad Levinson
says, "Discussion group participation is the most effective way to locate and develop a relationship with your online customers."

Find groups appropriate to your writing specialty. Look for ones that attract the readers you want to reach: horror, biography, fantasy, education, romance, etc. Plug your topic and "groups" into any search engine, or better, visit the directories for the biggies, Google Groups and Yahoo Groups. You may have to register first.

Once you're in some groups, DO NOTHING for several visits. Observe the topics, interplay, and others' signatures. Your signature will be your opportunity to advertise your book, services or other product. Never use the body of a message to advertise! This activity is an investment requiring time and willingness to "give away" some of your expertise. Start responding to topics with thoughtful offerings. If you don't have an answer to a question or something pertinent to say, keep quiet, at least until the others get to know you and recognize your name/photo/avatar. Hit and run tactics don't work in discussion groups, neither does barging in with mouth blazing or an authoritative attitude. Humor always helps.

Perfect Pitch Calls for Writers

Some time ago I wrote about pitches replacing press releases, but here's a new twist: making your pitch by phone. I found some tips for the successful execution of pitch calls on the Your Communications Plan page of the Communications Consortium Media Center. They explain that "The purpose of a pitch call to a reporter, editor or producer is to propose a story idea, an interview or coverage of an event." This could be a promotional tactic for your new book, CD, course or class, or writing service. For a successful pitch call, the CCMC recommends (in more detail):

* Be succinct and persuasive.

* Make your calls in the morning.

* Follow up with written information.

* Use pitch calls to build relationships.

I'd suggest that even if your pitch is turned down, follow up with a written thank you note and include your business card. The thank you will get attention, and the card may get you business or promotion eventually.

Successful Writers Radio Interviews

Lorilyn Bailey, creator of GuestFinder, an Internet-based directory of more than 200 authors, experts, spokespersons, and entertainers who are available for radio, TV, and newspaper interviews, has posted Tips for Successful Radio Interviews. Bailey covers what to do in advance of a telephone interview, on the day of it, and during the broadcast/recording. These include:

* providing questions
* practice, practice, practice
* clear your work space
* turn off the computer
* don't say "umm"
* offer useful information

The article is so comprehensive on this subject that I think I'll add it to the Free Articles on my Writing Help page. More and more writers are filling the airwaves with interview, talks, seminars by radio, Internet broadcasting and podcasting. We all need to know how to perform at our best during these opportunities.

Newspaper Book Reviews

Ever since the rumors began to fly that my hometown rag, the San Diego Union-Tribune was going to join the growing exit line for Sunday book sections, I've held judgment and mention. The L.A. Times raised enough noise, following local agent Sandra Dijkstra's supposed call-to-arms. If there really was a rally, it failed. The paper no longer has a six-page pull-out section. Rather, two pages of the Arts section are devoted to books with more white space and, I'm guessing, fewer advertisements. No quality improvement, either. Nonetheless, if you have a book to plug and want to send review copies to the papers, John Kremer makes available a neat, free list of more than 60 Newspaper Book Reviewers with names, addresses, phone numbers, and live links.

News from A Writer's Edge

Last week was relatively exciting in A Writer's Edge's webby world. The glad news was that this blog and/or its author appeared on three lists of notable women writers who blog. At least, I think that sums up the general idea. Our grateful thanks to:

• Phil Gerbyshak for inclusion on The W-List Expanded at 100 Bloggers
• Lillie Ammann's mention in Blogs by and for Writers at A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye
  
• Jennifer Mattern's The Big List of Writing Blogs at All Freelance Writing
  

The sad news was the passing of the Blog Fairy, now mentioned in the lovely Nom de plume 'The Poetess' tribute.

And the bad news is that twice I was almost fooled by incoming email messages. One was spam and the other a phishing expedition by someone trying to get into my Amazon account (why?).

Folks, these turd nerds are getting so good at their con games that I was this close to posting about a recommended website. As I studied the site, itty bitty warning bells rang, however, and I was able to snatch back a reply from the outgoing emailbox before it vanished. What triggered the tiny tingles? The person who wrote used my name, flattered my website by asking about the design, didn't really identify an affiliation, and signed the name "Jennifer" (no last name). The message raved about a site supposedly for research, listed a blog at a different website address, and the return address was at yet another site which returns a "401" (no access) message if you try to look at it. Also, the recommended site had a section labeled "Coupons", and the other was a shopping mall. Finally, I did a "Whois" on all domain names and found matching addresses for the owners of two of them. Bingo! Spaaaaaam! Sing a song of "nyahs!"

As for the Amazon phish file, purportedly it was to help me change my password. I had not asked to change my password. How dumb is that? I sent it immediately to Amazon with the headers included, and Amazon shot back its standard, "no, not from us". But it was soooo good looking. I checked EVERY aspect of that email message, and damn if it didn't look legitimate.

Take care, dear Readers. The web is a wonderful and dangerous place.

Book Marketing, Self Promotion

Tim Ferriss blogs about his formula for hitting highs on bestseller lists in How Does a Bestseller Happen? A Case Study in Hitting #1 on the New York Times.

The conclusion, in retrospect, is simple... It all came down to learning how to spread a "meme", an idea virus that captures imaginations and takes on a life of its own.

Doing that, however, included skipping the traditional book tours and signings and hitting the blogs:

* Go where bloggers go
* Be there with a message and a story that will appeal to their interests, not yours
* Build and maintain those relationships through your own blog too

The strategies he implemented were a tad more complicated, involving those to Phenomenize, Polarize and Communitize. He also notes needs to sell himself first, ensure boffo distribution for the book, and (oh, yeah) smashing writing. His book? The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, but that hardly matters. We're talking about a process here and using current technology to sell an old one.

Virtual Book Tours

We've discussed virtual book signings and recently bookstore tours, but some have asked, "What's a virtual book tour?" Often these involve an author making the rounds of lit blogs, forums and chat rooms. You have an opportunity to participate in a unique version tonight at 9:00 EST as bestselling author Brad Thor (Blowback, Takedown, The Lions of Lucerne, Path of the Assassin, The State of the Union) adds audio virtuosity to his current tour for his new release, The First Commandment. Thor will log onto BlogTalkRadio and open the phone lines for discussion. You can listen online or by calling by calling (646) 478-5945. The website will be streaming the show and also archive it as a podcast for later downloads. According to a news release, Thor "will also be signing books for a select group of fans who tune in to be distributed after the show." He writes in the action genre, featuring spy/terrorist/secret agent men in the ongoing saga of Scot Harvath, a Navy SEAL turned Homeland Security super-agent.

Blogging for Jobs

Natalie Bovis-Nelsen claims her blog has lead to writing assignments and jobs she might have never obtained elsewise. She writes about the experience at Mediabistro in Blog Your Way Into Writing Work. If you want to try this approach, basically she advises:

* become an expert
* focus on quality
* post often
* get noticed
* give link-love

My mileage varies from hers. For example, my blog does make money. It pays for itself, my cable connection, and additional email services. I don't find writing jobs because of the blog, but it certainly helps establish the facts that I am reliable, dependable, and most importantly I kan spel rite. Most of my work comes from the website's pages on writers' services and editing. Most of my clients come to me from the results of a Google search, and it is the blog posts that bump the website up in the ranks of returns.

New Book Videos

Earlier this month, Simon & Schuster and a company named TurnHere sent me a news release with some real news! It was about videos that the second company is producing and posting on YouTube.com, little movies about S&S's recent books released. They have 18 up at BookVideos.tv. They also sent two dead or malformed links in the release, but nonetheless I nosed out the correct URL for the movies that offer:

"... sneak peeks at new and upcoming titles and in-depth information about authors' lives and the inspiration behind their work. ... You can even easily embed the videos in your own website or blog ...

Simon & Schuster is one of the first book publishers to integrate online video and social media on the Web. Together with TurnHere's online video production expertise, the company hopes to develop a whole new relationship between readers and the authors that they love."

And now for Play Dirty By Sandra Brown -- TAA DAA! (if it works)

Writers Resumes

A few days ago I wrote about finding writing jobs. But what do you do when the potential employer asks for a resume? You can refer them to your online version (you do have one on your website, don't you?) Or you can send one by snail mail. They shouldn't necessarily look alike, because the one on the Internet can contain links to your clips. It should also be written for reading on the screen. For tips, see my free article on writing for the web. You can view my example of an online writer's resume. I also direct potential employers to a page with more details and links. I can't tell you exactly how to design your paper resume, because the needs of a beginner differ greatly from those writers with credits or ones who specialize. Moira Allen offers comprehensive general guidance you can adapt to your individual situation in Creating a Writer's Resume on the Writing World website.

Get Your Writing Published

Yet another website/service wherein to post your work and read others', critique, enter contests, share camaraderie--Nothing Binding is a great example of a very attractive website design, although rather slow in loading pages. Shall we assume great success or inadequate hardware? With no advertising apparent and promises to remain ad-free, I wondered how the owners make a profit. Perhaps in the coming audio/video additional services?

The stress on "forming an emotional connection with prospective readers" and bypassing traditional publishing processes raises an interesting question. If you post your piece on this or any of the many similar outlets, will that count against the possibility of it ever getting it published by someone else? This issue was addressed by the editors at Writer's Digest magazine, who concluded you're probably better off not posting anything online that you might want to sell at a later time. More and more publications are asking for assurances that a submission is original work, never published anywhere. Anywhere includes online. They said material in blogs is still in an iffy state of flux and might or might not be considered as already published. The good news is that reprint rights can be sold for writing previously appearing on the web.

Boost Page Rank

A theory is circulating around websites that advise other websites involving writers. It's something like this: to boost your own website, write articles and give them away for other websites to display. These articles (they can be on any topic) contain an embedded link to your website. That way, whenever your free article is used on the Internet, a new incoming link is created to your home website. Theoretically this boosts your page rank, because Google uses the number of incoming links in its arcane algorithm that determines ranking and returns from searches. The only fallacy I can see with this notion is that Google also considers the quality of the incoming link. This is why getting or buying links from exchanges or "link farms" is discouraged. If low quality websites display your work, creating a link to your home website from theirs, this can actually hurt your site's page rank and ranking in returns. I know it's tempting to unload those little darlin's that just don't sell into these free content dumpsites, but you must think ahead to the more complex ramifications of your actions. It just isn't as simple as "showing editors your stuff" (not that editors have time to cruise the web looking for new writers.)

More Free Articles on Writing

Since Friday when I celebrated this blog's anniversary by adding a few new pages and an expanded menu, two more free articles appeared: Give and Take Critiques and Writer for the Web. They're available to read online, but I still haven't converted them to .PDF files for downloading. Three more article