Join Us on the TWIST OF FATE Blog Tour

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Welcome to the first stop on the Twist of Fate blog  tour! A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shawna C. Smith on our podcast, and I thought our readers could benefit from learning more about her writing process.   

My Writing Process

By Shawna C. Jones

I like to start a story by writing with paper and pen. When I hold a pen and jot down words in a notebook, my creativity opens up. It’s a freeing experience to be able to write something down, and eventually get into a flow with it. At times it seems to be an altered experience. Words start flowing, and sometimes after reading, I wonder if I actually wrote it, or if it came from somewhere else.

At any time, if I’m not sure what I want to say, I just start writing, and eventually the pen glides easily over the paper. At least for me, this seems to help “prime the pump.” Then later, finding a different way of saying something, or adding more to the picture, can give me an “aha” moment. I was once told in a writing class to not cross anything out while writing a first draft. They also advised us not to write longer than two hours, because you need to process the information you’ve written and let it percolate. Ideas for improvements could show up later that day, or in the following days.

It took several tries for me to write Twist of Fate. It started out as a memoir, but that didn’t work. Because I had so much travel in it, I felt like I was giving readers a tour. And that’s not my story, although journeying to foreign countries was an important part of it. So I decided to focus the story on the characters, and go into less detail about the landscape. I realize this way of writing doesn’t appeal to everyone. And that’s okay. It’s my story.

While reviewing my second try with the memoir style, an editor told me that certain events had to happen before this and that. She said it was a great story, but needed refining. By this time, I’d written over one hundred pages (twice), and I decided to rethink the whole process, and approach it from a different angle. I took out a lot of the travel, or used it as backstory. I removed several characters that didn’t add to the story, and weren’t really necessary. Who needs all those extras?

This new approach took another two tries by long hand before I was happy with it. Then I went to the computer and started typing. Now as I typed, other ways of making a sentence better would appear. Sometimes I would continue typing it as it was, and other times I would stop and use long hand again. Since this book is a memoir, I didn’t want to change a lot of it, but I had two separate journeys going on at the same time. I didn’t know if I could reconcile them without the story appearing disjointed. Somehow, I managed to pull it off, but don’t ask me how I did it. I just went with my soul. In fact, I would say my soul wrote a lot of this book. And sometimes in writing that’s all that’s supposed to happen.

When we get too caught up in the words, we miss something. Too much detail, for me, is distracting. I know some people prefer to have every little detail, rather than using their imagination. I’m not one of those. It will either bore me or put me to sleep.

So all in all, I wrote out my book at least four times. I had it edited three times, and proofread twice, by some terrific people. It took longer than I thought it would take: about ten months. All I know is everyone’s writing is going to be different because we’re all different. We come from various backgrounds and experiences. And guess what? It’s okay. My advice for aspiring writers is to not stop writing. Write even when you don’t feel like it. Write even if the only thing you write is about is the weather, or nonsense stuff. Deep inside you is a story dying to get out. And millions of us want to read it.

Best of luck to all of you writing. Please don’t quit.

Shawna will be awarding the winner's choice of a  $50 Amazon GC, a $50 Starbucks GC, or a crystal from Middle Earth Store in Mt. Shasta  to a randomly drawn commenter during this tour and a $25 Amazon  or  Starbucks GC to a randomly drawn host.

Enter to win a $50 Amazon GC, a $50 Starbucks GC, or a crystal from Middle Earth Store in Mt. Shasta. They will dowse for the right one for you. Value up to $60.00.(winner's choice)—a Rafflecopter giveaway)

This Week's Podcast Guest: Social Media Guru Melonie Dodaro

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing author and social media guru, Melonie Dodaro. Melonie's company, Top Dog Social Media, helps businesses make the most of their marketing and branding efforts. Her blog has been listed by the Social Media Examiner as one of the Top 10 Social Media blogs of 2014. Now she reveals some of her most important trade secrets in her new book, The Linkedin Code.

Many people consider Facebook and Twitter the best tools to build an online community. But as Melonie points out, Linkedin is an excellent way for everyone--including writers--to reach their target audience. We just need to know how to use it!  

Click here to listen to the podcast. Then on June 3, order The Linkedin Code and unlock the largest business social network!

Live from Las Vegas...It's the Aspects of Writing Radio Show

Earlier today I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Aspects of Writing Radio Show, hosted by James Kelly. Today's show focused on importance of securing the right public relations specialist to market your book. The other guests were veteran PR gurus Travis Shortt and Shelley Bruner. Travis Shortt is a former radio personality and co-founder of Aspyr Communications, and Shelley is a former Fox 5 news anchor and currently the Director of Advertising and Public Relations at David Saxe Productions. With their years of experience, they have forgotten more than most of us will ever learn about wooing the media. They provided a wealth of inside tips on what authors need to do, not only to sell their current book, but to brand themselves, and it was indeed a pleasure to speak with them.

This is my second time on the show, and it was even more enjoyable than the first. James Kelly is a wonderful host. With his "round table" platform and conversational interviewing style, he allows for a true exchange of ideas. A number of WITS clients, including comedian Melanie Vare and mystic Dr. Steve Brannon, have been guests, as well as award-winning novelist Michael Loyd Gray. You can listen today's show, as well as archived episodes, by clicking on the link above. Aspects of Writing airs live, every other Tuesday, at 2pm PDT.

In addition, to hosting several radio shows, James Kelly is also the author of two novels. The second, Alien Transcripts: Creating God, is now available for download on Amazon.

Leverage Relationships to Sell More Books

by Dana Lynn Smith

Relationships with other people and organizations that cater to your target market can be incredibly valuable in promoting your book. Here are some other ways develop and leverage relationships with influencers who can help spread the word about you and your book:

1. Identify the places that your prospects turn for information about your topic or type of book:

Networking on social sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is a great way to meet influencers, but it's not the only way. Also search the Internet and compile a list of the top websites, blogs, ezines, magazines, newsletters, online forums, books, e-books, clubs and association that cater to your target market or cover your topic or genre. For example, if your book is about fly fishing, search on terms such as “fly fishing blogs” and “fly fishing magazines.” Placing the search term in quotes may yield better results.

You can determine the popularity of a website, relative to other sites on your list, by looking at its Alexa rank. Click the Alexa Toolbar link on the Alexa site to download the toolbar.

Blog directories such as Technorati, My Blog Log, and Google Blog Search are great for locating blogs on a specific topic. To find forums and discussion groups, search Yahoo Groups and Google Groups.

Search Amazon.com and Google for books and e-books on related topics that appeal to your target markets, but don't compete directly with your book. Then locate the author's website.

2. Research each site, organization, and publication

Study each site to get a good understanding of what they do and how it relates to your book. Look for possible promotional opportunities (do they review products, sell affiliate products, accept content from others, allow comments, etc.) and gather contact information.

3. Contact the owner or manager of each resource and seek to develop a mutually beneficial relationship

Prioritize your list, and identify the prospects that seem to be the most important and have the most potential. Do NOT write a generic "would you like to trade links" email. Instead, craft a thoughtful, customized message sincerely complimenting the prospect and suggesting some specific ways that you might work together to your mutual benefit. Some possibilities include contributing content to each other’s sites, doing joint teleseminars, selling through affiliate programs, cross-linking, and promoting in e-zines.

4. Follow up and follow through

If you get no response from your initial email, try again in a week or two or try sending an old-fashioned letter, making a phone call, or contacting the person through a social networking site.

When you get a favorable response from a prospect, follow through promptly to deliver whatever you've agreed to. Keep in touch with your new partners on a regular basis to build relationships, and look for additional ways you might work together.

5. Join the conversation

Read the top blogs on your list and look for opportunities to comment on posts using your promotional signature (name and book title). See this article for more tips on how to benefit from commenting on blogs.

On social networks, comment on relevant posts and become active in groups. For online forums, read the group rules and lurk for a while to get a feel for the group and the level of expertise. Then look for opportunities to respond to posts in a helpful way, using your promotional signature. Be subtle about promoting your book, follow the group's rules, and don't spam.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing. and several other book promotion guides. For book promotion tips, visit The Savvy Book Marketer blog. Get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips e-book when you register for her free book marketing newsletter. For more book marketing tips, follow Dana on Twitter or visit TheSavvyBookMarketer.com.

Beyond Books: Building Multiple Streams of Income

by Dana Lynn Smith

It takes a lot of time and effort to attract people to your website and blog, so it's important to maximize your income opportunities from those visitors. Below are some ideas for earning money from products and services other than print books.

Ebooks

The easiest way to create an ebook is to convert your printed book to a PDF document. Nonfiction authors may also want to spin out portions of the book into several smaller ebooks or create ebooks that expand on the information in their printed book. You can also create ebooks by combining or expanding on articles you have already written.

If you'd like to publish in a variety of ebook formats, check into Smashwords. For a 15% sales commission, with no upfront fees, they will convert your book into several ebook formats and handle the online orders and payment processing for you. Book formats on Smashwords include PDF documents and formats that can be read by ebook readers and devices like Kindle, Sony Reader, iPod, and Palm. Smashwords is a good way to get started with ebooks.

Teleseminars and Audio Products

Free teleseminars are a great way to promote your products and services, but nonfiction authors can also earn income from hosting paid teleseminars or webinars. Be sure your paid sessions provide excellent value for the dollar and record the session for those who cannot attend.

Informational teleseminars, in-depth interviews, or live presentations can also be recorded and sold as a CD or downloadable MP3 file. Many authors charge extra for a written transcript of their teleseminars and audio products.

Package Deals

Increase your order size by offering add-on products for an additional fee. For example, when promoting your ebook, offer a companion audio product for a small additional fee. Novelists can offer several books together at a package discount. Children's books can be paired with companion products like stuffed toys that relate to the story. Package prices should reflect a discount of 20% to 30% of the price of the products purchased separately.

Home Study Courses

Once you have content in several formats, such as books, audio, and video, you can package them together into a comprehensive "home study course."Some courses also include individual or group coaching sessions. These courses are often presented in a three-ring binder which includes the printed text and sleeves containing the CDs or DVDs. Like packages, the price should reflect a discount off the prices of the separate products.

Ecommerce

To sell your information products, you'll need to have an ecommerce system to process payments. Clickbank and Paypal are among the easiest to set up. Other choices include ecommerce processors such as Plimus. If you expect to generate more than $2,000 a month in online sales, consider getting your own merchant credit card account and setting up a shopping cart system. Kathleen Gage offers a free tutorial on choosing a shopping cart. If you publish ebooks through Smashwords, they will handle the payment processing for you.

Affiliate Programs

All authors and small publishers should belong to the Amazon Associates affiliate program. In addition to collecting a commission on sales of your own book, you can promote non-competing books and a myriad of other products. For example, cookbook publishers can promote their favorite small appliances and authors of parenting books can promote children's products available on Amazon.com.

Many nonfiction authors offer their own affiliate programs, so check to see if there's a program for your favorite information products. You can also find affiliate programs on sites like Commission Junction. To maintain your credibility, only promote quality products that you believe in.

Advertising

The easiest way to earn advertising revenue is to sign up for the Google AdSense program. But think carefully whether the ads will detract from your site and whether you might have a problem with inappropriate ads appearing. Because just a tiny percentage of visitors will click on the ads, you need a lot of traffic to make any money.

If your site gets a significant amount of traffic, you may be able to sell banner ad space or sponsorships to other organizations that want to reach your target market. This can be done manually on a small scale—just set aside one or more ad spots on your site and charge advertisers by the month for those spots. Run your own ads to fill any blank spots.

There are a variety of ways to generate additional revenue. Just be creative and look for things that are a good fit for your business and your book.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guides. For more tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana's blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com , and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com.

8 Ways to Use Blogging as an Interactive Marketing Tool

by Dana Lynn Smith

Here are some ideas for using blogging in social and interactive ways:

1. Encourage your readers to share your content with others.

Make it easy for readers to share your content by adding "share" buttons from Share This or Add This. Then ask readers to share by including text at the end of your best posts such as: "Do you know someone who might benefit from these tips? Just click the Share This button below to send a link by email or recommend this post on your favorite social site."

2. Actively solicit comments.

Get readers engaged by including a sentence at the end of some posts inviting comments. You can even write a post designed to elicit comments. Thank each commenter and make a further comment based on what they said.

3. Make comments on other blogs.

Making insightful comments on related blogs is a terrific way to boost your visibility and create links and traffic to your site. Subscribe to the top blogs related to your book's topic or audience and watch for posts that you can comment on. Comments should be helpful and relevant, not self-promotional.

4. Write guest posts for other blogs.

Contact other bloggers that cater to your audience and offer to write a guest article. Include a brief bio and a low-resolution photo. Google Blog Search is a good place to search for relevant blogs.

5. Create a feed for your blog.

RSS feeds allow your blog posts to be automatically delivered to your subscribers by email or through a feed reader. Receiving your blog posts regularly engages readers more. To create a feed for your blog, go to Feedburner.

6. Do a virtual book tour

Make guest appearances on blogs, ezines, podcasts or other forums to promote your book. Provide unique content to each host on your tour. Content can include interviews, how-to articles, book excerpts, videos, book reviews, or an article about how you developed the plot or characters for a novel.

7. Join a blog carnival.

Blog carnivals are a collection of links pointing to blog posts on a particular topic, or topics of interest to a particular group of people. Learn more and search for relevant carnivals Blog Carnival.

8. Hold a contest or drawing on your blog.

Use the blog comment feature to hold contests. For example, post a question and award a prize to the first person who leaves a comment with the correct answer. Or, write a blog post stating that everyone who leaves a comment on the post by a specific date (allow five to seven days) will be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of your book. Promote the contest on your social networks.

Excerpted from The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing, by book marketing coach Dana Lynn Smith. For free book marketing tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter and get your free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook on Dana's blog.

How to Find Photos and Illustrations for Your Book Covers and Web site

by Dana Lynn Smith

If you're looking for good quality, reasonably priced, royalty-free photos or illustrations to use on book covers, websites, blogs, and other marketing materials, head to a stock image Web site.

My favorite site is iStockphoto http://www.istockphoto.com/. Just enter your search terms in the search box on this site, then select the type of file you are looking for: photo, illustration, flash, video, or audio. If you're looking for something related to seasons or holidays, try the seasonal searches http://www.istockphoto.com/seasonal.php page.

With more than six million files available, the biggest challenge is sorting through the sheer number of search results. To keep the number of images you view manageable, start with a very narrow search term, then expand to broader terms if you don’t find what you need.

I recommend signing up for a free account before you start searching (see the "sign up" link on the upper right side of the screen). This will allow you to save any images you find to a lightbox, so that you can find again them easily. If you're looking for images on several different themes, you can create several lightboxes to keep them organized.

You can also download comps (sample images) to your computer at no charge. I sometimes paste several comps into a Word document as I'm searching, so I can review them all together before making a selection.

Most images come in several sizes and resolutions, including low-resolution images suitable for use online and high-resolution images that can be used in printed materials such as book covers.

To purchase images, sign up for an account and then purchase some "credits" to be used to pay for your images as you download them. Prices start at one credit (about $1.50) for a small low-resolution photo.

If you're using an image on a product or on marketing materials, take a few minutes to read the license agreement to make sure your intended use is allowed. See section 3.c.2 of the iStockphoto Content License Agreement http://www.istockphoto.com/license.php (displayed when you download the image) for information about the use of their images on book covers.

Here are several other companies that offer low-cost or free stock images:

Crestock http://www.crestock.com/ – images starting at about $1 each.

Dreamstime https://www.dreamstime.com/ – 8 million free and low cost images, starting at about 20 cents each.

Stock.XCHNG http://www.sxc.hu/ – sister company to iStockphoto offers 350,000 free images.

If you have trouble finding just the right image, you might want to search several of these sites. Whatever image you have in mind, it's probably available at a very reasonable cost!

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Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing and several other book promotion guides. For more book promotion tips, follow Dana on Twitter, visit The Savvy Book Marketer blog. Get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips e-book when you register for her free book marketing newsletter. For more book marketing tips, follow Dana on Twitter or visit TheSavvyBookMarketer.com.

Marketing Secrets of a Bookstore

Most of us meander into a bookstore, maybe grabbing a latte from the nearby coffee vendor and sauntering up and down the aisles looking for our desired title. For the savvy author, a bookstore is a great way to not only get to know your market, but to research your competition and get a better understanding of the sales space. Since each book in your genre will tell you a little something about the author and publisher: the cover, book jacket, book size (both dimensions and page count), as well as endorsements, back cover copy, this is one of the best and least expensive ways to do your market research.

Know Your Market

First off, if you've written a book for which there is no market (read: there are no books that cater to this audience), you may have a problem. Unless you are already a brand, meaning that you're a published author with a significant following, it's unlikely that you will be able to create much momentum for a yet unserved market that a publisher will consider you. If it hasn't been written there is likely a reason why. Now there are always exceptions of course, my other book: Red Hot Internet Publicity is not a title that I would have published in 1976, mostly because there was no Internet back then.

You should fit into an existing genre and find the best one for your market. Since books can sometimes straddle different markets, a change in title can take your book for women wanting to succeed in business and move it from the business category into self-help and/or spirituality. Be clear on where your book belongs. Remember, a confused mind won't make a choice so if you confuse your reader, you're likely to lose a sale.

Who Else is Sharing Your Shelf Space?

Getting bookstore shelf space isn't easy. Generally bookstores won't keep books on their shelves that aren't selling, so getting to know books that are doing well in stores can really benefit your title as well. This is all part of your market research: know your competition and know who shares your space. This is not important just to know other competing titles, but for marketing and media positioning this is critical. Also, you should take note of all other recent titles in your category and visit their Web sites. If you're really eager to watch your competition, you could also get Google Alerts on their name or book title to see how much traction they are getting. I will usually do this for any major author in my market as well as all their book titles. Not only can you keep an eye on their hit rate, but these sites and media targets could be good for you as well.

Books that make it into and onto a shelf in a bookstore need to "look" the part. Yes, your book may be the best out there but if it doesn't meet the needs of the genre, it simply won't get put on a shelf. In order to play in the publishing sandbox you must play by the rules. While it's nice to be a maverick and to hear stories about authors who "bent the rules" and claimed success, if you read the backstory to any success, you'll find that following the rules and playing to the market is vital to success. There are 1,500 books published each day. Yes, you want to stand out, but you also want to look the part.

Bookstore checklist

Here's a checklist to get you started in your bookstore research. You'll want to expand on this as you find more titles or more ideas to research. I suggest for example adding in URL's from the book jacket so you can research the author's website, etc.

• What genre does your book fall into?
• Is there a sub-genre and if so, what is it? (for example, my books fall into reference/writing, writing being the sub-genre)
• List the top five titles and authors in that market:
• Key points each book has in common? (for example, all cookbooks you noted had nutritional analysis on each page)

Excerpted and reprinted from The Book Marketing Expert newsletter, a free e-zine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.blogger.com/goog_1268002165438

Top 10 Book Promotion Strategies for 2010 Revealed by Survey

by Dana Lynn Smith

The Internet is rapidly changing the way that books are published and promoted.

A recent survey designed to find out how authors and publishers plan to promote their books in 2010 shows that Web 2.0 techniques are a top priority. An overwhelming 94 percent of the respondents said they plan to promote their books with social networking and other social media, and 84 percent plan to use blogging.

According to the survey, here are the top 10 book promotion methods that authors and publishers plan to use this year:

1. Social networking and social media: 94 percent
2. Blogging: 84 percent
3. Seeking book reviews: 75 percent
4. Seeking testimonials and endorsements: 73 percent
5. Press releases: 68 percent
6. E-zines or email marketing: 62 percent
7. Radio and television talk shows: 62 percent
8. Speaking or teleseminars: 60 percent
9. Article marketing: 57 percent
10. Book signings: 56 percent

Despite the emphasis on online book promotion in 2010, more traditional activities like book reviews and radio interviews are still important. An effective book promotion plan should use a variety of online and offline tactics for the widest reach.

The book promotion strategies survey was conducted by The Savvy Book Marketer in December, 2009. Of the 136 survey respondents, 42 percent are independently or self-published authors, 25 percent are authors published by a traditional publishing house, 12 percent are aspiring authors, and 21 percent are publishers or others in the industry.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing. and several other book promotion guides. For book promotion tips, visit The Savvy Book Marketer blog. Get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips e-book when you register for her free book marketing newsletter. For more book marketing tips, follow Dana on Twitter or visit TheSavvyBookMarketer.com .