With all the talk of how important it is is to have effective marketing material-What is the craziest and most effective marketing material you've ever seen?
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Once again, we’re back with another episode of Bad Book Marketing. This one is about the writers state of mind. Too many writers make the following mistakes and I believe it’s mental:1)Thinking that marketing is the publishers job.2) Thinking that it is smart to market after your book has been written.3) Thinking that marketing and selling are the same thing.4) Thinking that people are interested in your book.5) Thinking they come first and their readers last.Think long, think wrong. Your own mental state of mind affects your sales. The writers who sell well and even become best-selling authors know that the mind equates actions. You act how you think.If you think wrong....To read the rest visit: www.zlspublishing.com/blog
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Everyday there is a new poll to analyze in the Presidental race. Polls are popular so I've added my own poll on my page. Stop by and cast your vote. It's a simple Yes/No poll so it will only take a second.See you over there. And while you are there check out my profile and send me a note. If you need a few articles written on your website or for you blog I am still running my $10 special for a 400 word article or blog post.Have a blessed day and don't forget to vote!
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Talk about finding yourself. I really love doing what I do. I write novels. I help make good writers and teach them how to promote their work to bestseller status. My novel is "The Mayor's Wife Wore Sapphires," an urban political thriller. Do stop by and sign up. We have a blast.My class: ~Easy Way To Write the Bestseller-Kind-Of-Novel in 90 Days~ starts Nov. 19, 2008.all members VIP members get 50% offMartiwww.blog.newimagewriters.comwww.newimagewriters.com"The place where writers make money"
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Building Expert StatusBy Audrey Bell-KearneyWhen you are in business you want people to look at you as an expert in your field. If you are just starting out you may not see yourself as an expert yet. There is a way to build this status and you can do so by writing. You maybe saying what am I going to write? If you are doing something that you love and it is your business and your passion, I am almost sure that there is something that you can write about to help you start to build your status as an expert.Here are few ways to build expert status very easily.1. Write a column on your subject for a local paper. Most local papers are looking for good content and you will be surprised how easy it is to get your article published. If the article is really good you may even get your own column.2. Write articles and submit them on the Internet to article directories. There are thousands of publishers out there looking for good content for their website or their online newsletter so what you have to say may be of some interest to thousands of readers on the Internet.3. Set up a blog and start writing about what you know. This is a great way to build expert status and to also get others involved with the conversation when they leave comments on your blog. The key to blogging is to blog consistently. This means that you should be blogging at least once a day and even more if possible.4. Publish a report. You can create a report about something pertaining to your industry. The report does not have to be more than 24 pages. Your report could be your observation about a specific topic.5. Write a book. This is one of the absolutely best ways to become an expert. When you become a published author you are looked at differently and receive a different kind of respect and you will feel wonderful to have accomplished something as grand as writing a book.I do all of these methods and more. You don’t have to do them all at one time, but if it is important for you to become an expert in your field you should definitely try a few of these.Until Next TimeMuch SuccessAudreyAudrey Bell-Kearney is the President of Sister Inc Network and the author of The Sister Inc Blueprint For Starting And Running A Successful Business. She can be reached at 973-313-3121 or Audrey@Sisterinc.com http://www.sisterinc.com
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You've probably heard it time and time again, content is king. Well let me tell ya, that saying is true, but I'd like to say content is queen because you, my sister, are queen of your domain (name that is). Everybody wants and needs traffic to their website and I'm sure you are no exception, but putting up a pretty site is not enough. You need content and that content should be search engine friendly.A few great ways to get content are to add articles, blog, have contests and giveaways, and exchange links. That’s nice, just remember that to keep it relevant to your site and be useful. An article about your garden when your site is about jewelry making is not very relevant, but an article about the how to make vegetable or flower shaped beads is relevant (and can be marketed to garden lovers). This type of article is also a prime candidate for using keywords to make it search engine friendly. More keywords another time.The problem many people have with content is that they think they can't write or don't have time to write. Well let me tell you, there are at least three ways around this. First, you can learn how to write. Here's a quick and dirty lesson. Take a subject that's relevant to your site, then think up three related topics and write a few sentences about it, next sandwich those topics between an introduction about the topic and an ending that tells what you just talked about. Voila! You have an article. It's not always that simple when it comes to doing it, but it's a good start.Second, you can go to an article marketing site like ezinearticles.com and grab one of their articles. The catch with that option is that your readers may click off your page and go elsewhere. You want them to stay on your site and respond to your call-to-action. We'll talk about that another time.Third, you can hire someone to write content for you. Hire someone who has written before, has samples, and charge a reasonable price. You don't want anyone who is charging pennies because you will get what you pay for. Yes, consider your budget, but don't get caught up in thinking you don't have enough to pay a quality. There may be times when you have to bite the bullet and hire that writer anyway. Web content writers are pretty reasonable so don't shy away from this option.So I've discussed the importance of content to you website, now take out that pad and pen (or keyboard) and start writing. Pretty soon you'll be the queen of your content.Samantha GregoryThe SEO Content Queen
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Posted by Lynn Emery on August 13, 2008 at 10:55am
Debut Author LaConnie Taylor-Jones dropped by my blog As I Was Saying... with an essay on the power of forgiveness. We've all been through some time when we felt hurt or betrayed. Read this author's take on the value of getting past that hurt. Two lucky people who comment on her essay will win a copy of her book When A Man Loves A Woman. So stop by, meet LaConnie and put your name in the drawing. You just might win a fabulous novel about love and forgiveness!
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Stop by and visit my writing blog As I Was Saying... to read my lastest post on the publishing biz. Great links, too!I'm a regular columnist on Blogging In Black. Check out my July 21st post. In fact, read all the recent great columnist contributions. You won't be disappointed.Want distinct gifts? Something more than a greeting card to uplift the person who receives it? Then you should definitely visit Words of Sunlight You can give someone you care about a gift with words to encourage and black art to delight the eyes. The words are mine, the art from the collection of a great Black artist Jean Paul Hubbard. Jean Paul was my late husband. So share your love with Words of Sunlight and beautiful art!
Hey again everyone,It’s your girl QP here to talk to you about Secret #4: Bootleg Publishers exist, how to tell the difference!As a member of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists, Writers Network) my boss gets monthly alerts on publishing companies going out of business, or just doing unethical things and are being sued. Every month there seems to be at least 6 publishers going out of business because of complaints from writers who have sent their manuscripts, sent money to be published, that sort of crazy thing.So, that has lead me to disclose this secret which sadly but not surprisingly, most writers don’t know: everything with publisher at the end of it does not make it a publisher. Here’s how you tell:Clue #1: If they ask for money when sending your manuscript they are bootleg. A legitimate publisher won’t and doesn’t need to be paid just to read your story.Clue #2: If they advertise in the back of a magazine, they are bootleg.Clue #3: If they request $3.00 for postage, shipping and handling for a response to your manuscript, they are bootleg.Clue #4: If they aren’t a member of any professional publishing organizations such as SPAWN, SPANNET, or PMA to name a few, they are bootleg.Clue #5: If they don’t have a website, they are bootleg.Clue #6: If they have email that looks like this: publisher@yahoo.com, publisher@gmail.com, publisher@aol.com, they are bootleg. Legitimate publishing compannies have company branded email:contact@zlspublishing.com.Clue #7: If you are presented with a 5 page publishing contract, they are bootlegged. The average publishing contract is at a minimum 10 pages long.Clue #8: If your book cover looks like the outside of a cereal box, they are bootleg.Clue #9: If you have to pay for all your books, including the “free ones”, they are bootleg.Clue #10: If you are paid in royalties of IOU’s, they are bootleg.Clue #11: If anytime you call the phone number for them and all you ever get is an answering machine or service, they are bootleg.Clue #12: If the only software they have to develop your manuscript into a book is MS word, they are bootleg. Legitimate publishers have top of the line publishing software. My boss has ADOBE CS3, which is the latest in publishing software.Clue #13: If you can’t find them on myspace, facebook, or gather, they are bootleg. Legitimate publishers understand the need and use for consumers to find them on all outlets. My boss in on all three and even SImon and Schuster is on Gather.When deciding to send out your manuscript to a publishing company, make sure you contact them first, talk to someone, ask if they have a website, a myspace page, a gather page, a facebook page, ask for their mailing address, office address, company email address, verify no money needs to be sent in order to hear a response or when you are sending your manuscript.Clue #14: If when you call them up, asking for these things and they are reluctant to give it to you, they are bootleg.Writer BEWARE!Until Publishing Secret #5QP Signing Out!
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Welcome back,This week’s secret is a continuation from last week’s silly conversation with the caller. (If you need a recap, go to Secret #1)Writers have this crazy idea that they’ve written a book that deserves to be published. No! You’ve written a manuscript, a manuscript of a book hopefully to be published! In the publishing industry, contrary to popular belief they do not consider your book, a book until it is published! That thing you call a book is called a manuscript! At weekly meetings it’s Manuscript #205 or Manuscript BOW or whatever!In the publishing industry, a book is considered final. What you have written is not! It has yet to go through the final editing phase, if any editing at all! It has yet to have a cover designed for it; the book size decided; how it will be marketed, or who will print it. And we are missing the all important task of deciding who will publish it.My boss hates when people tell her they’ve written a book and when she asks who wrote it or where can she get it because it sounds good, they reply by telling her they wrote it, it’s not yet in stores, and that they are looking for a publisher. She always responds, “So, you’ve written a manuscript?” Not knowing what she’s talking about, they look at her funny eyed.So what do you do?Change your language, but more importantly, change your way of thinking!Remember, you have 7 seconds to make an impression. When you approach a publisher either in person or via writing, approach as follows:“I’ve written a potential book”“I’ve got a book idea, I’d love to pitch to you”“I’ve written a manuscript about xyz”Let’s repeat this again: You have 7 seconds to make a good impression. Approaching your potential boss correctly determines your next step career wise. it is the same for approaching a publisher. Remember, they get approached 500 times a day, mainly by clueless writers. Approaching them correctly is the difference between them actually taking your manuscript to read it or politely (and even in some cases) unpolitely, saying ”Thank you, but no thank you!”Let’s recap: Your book is not a book until it is published! We all know that’s your baby, but just like welfare doesn’t consider your baby a baby until it is born, the publishing industry doesn’t consider your book a book until it is published!Sounds harsh! I know, but I told you that the truth was going to hurt!Until Secret #3QP Signing Out!
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