Are You Losing Money by Doing Your Own Work?

by Kathleen Gage The Street Smarts Speaker and Author

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the average small business owner spends up to 40% of his or her time on routine administrative tasks.

Constantly working on non revenue-producing tasks that could be more productively and cost-effectively performed by a highly skilled, knowledgeable assistant is losing your business significant income.

As you grow your business, it will be necessary to consider outside help. Over the last few years, the Virtual Assistant industry has taken the market by storm. What was practically unheard of a few years ago is now a viable and growing industry.

When done correctly, one of the greatest advantages in hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA’s) is you can focus on higher level objectives while your VA takes on a huge part of your workload.

Virtual Assistants range in expertise, specialty and pricing. Most VA’s work on a per hour rate, retainer fee or contract basis. VA’s either own and operate their business or contract under an umbrella agency. This means you are not responsible for employee taxes, benefits or insurance, which can substantially reduce your costs and liability.

A VA’s experience level range from new to the industry to many years of experience. However, most have previous work experience that qualifies them to jump right into the services they offer.

The VA’s goal is to help your company grow. In essence, when you succeed, they succeed. Unlike a temporary agency where you might get a different temporary worker for each job you have, with a VA the same person works with you on an ongoing basis.

Depending on your needs, you can hire a VA for as few or as many hours a week as you need. You can also hire on a per project basis.

Again, this means you are not burdened with hiring a part- or full-time employee. You simply hire as needed.

In many cases, once you contract a VA you will be charged for phone conversations, planning sessions and any project changes you make. Be aware of spending too much time just “shooting the breeze” with your VA as it can cost you money and time.

Before hiring a VA, determine your needs, plan how you will utilize their time and be prepared. Some of your projects will require you to contract vendors who handle specific types of tasks such as editing, copywriting, transcription services and web design. However, a highly skilled VA may be able to do many of the above-mentioned tasks.

If you are on a limited budget, you may be able to negotiate the pay structure to include commissions and bonuses. Some VA’s may be willing to take a lower hourly rate if there is an opportunity for commissions or bonuses. For example, if you have a VA who books speaking engagements for you, you can offset the hourly amount with a generous commission structure. However, before you offer commissions and bonuses, make sure the VA is qualified and skilled to handle the specific jobs you need done. You may also be able to negotiate one fee for any training you do and a higher fee when the VA is fully trained.

Hiring a Virtual Assistant is not something that should be taken lightly. It is a position of trust and confidence. Often the VA has access to your usernames and passwords, confidential information, financial data, databases and other highly sensitive information.

A partial list of what a VA can do:

• Transcription services
• Set up a blog
• Blogging on your behalf
• Post to blogs and forums
• Set up Virtual Book Tours
• Submit and track articles to directories
• Answer support emails
• Set up autoresponders
• Write media releases
• Distribute media releases
• Clean up a mailing list
• Do keyword research
• Proof copy and provide editing services
• Assist with teleconferences and seminars
• Update web pages and build squeeze pages
• Input sequential autoresponder messages
• Organize joint ventures and submit bonus items and programs
• Bookkeeping
• Concierge services
• Sales
• Marketing
• Travel arrangements
• Event planning
• Procedure documentation

You can choose to use a VA agency or contract an independent VA. It all depends on your needs, plans and budget. Take time to interview your VA prior to hiring them. Check their references and track record.

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*****If you are looking for a VA to help with administrative tasks, please consider Katie Perry. She has worked as Yvonne Perry's admin for five and half years, so she'll be well trained and learns fast. Contact Katie at Katie[at]writersinthesky[dot]com or learn more here. ******

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For even more information about marketing your book online, read Book Marketing in the Digital Age, Online Promotion Made Easy.



Purchase Now!

Poetry and Prose Corner July 2012

Eclipse
By: Pamela Rossow

It was not enough to be
drenched in your sun
showers to have your
fingers trail moonlight
through my hair for your
blazing lips to lock noon
heat between us.

I needed more than
galaxies between my
thighs daybreaks in
your smiles starlight
in your eyes I tasted
forever on your tongue
heard always in your
heartbeat outlined we
on your chest.

It was enough to be cast
in shadow to have my
sundial blotted out by your
clouds to see the negligible
pebbles in the hourglass to
know the darkened cemetery
in your mouth was too much.

Pamela Rossow is a writer who defies some of what that term implies: she does not own a cat, she likes to talk, she enjoys some stories that begin with, “On a dark and stormy night…”, and drinks chai. She does, however, find words like “beguile,” “inky” and “fizzle” intriguing. She holds a BA from Florida Atlantic University and has been published in a variety of genres online and in print.


Wellsprings of Happiness
By Dennis S Martin

Bubbling up,
Trickling down,
Springing from somewhere
Deep underground.

Growing in strength,
Merging in flow,
Gravity dictating
Where you will go.

Soothing the sorrow,
Easing the pain,
Cooling the swelter
Like sweet summer rain.

Endlessly moving,
Cannot be still,
Dreams to fruition,
Fortunes to fill.

Hope to deliver,
Laughter to deal.
Wellsprings of happiness,
Help me to heal.

Website: http://www.iwritesome.com
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
Plays: http://sites.google.com/site/playsbydennissmartin/

Healing is Beautiful

By Dana Micheli
Like most artists, Denise DeMaras is inspired and sustained by the beauty she sees in the world; this is apparent in the vivid colors of her paintings and the moving verses of her poetry. And, like most artists, she is also well aware that the act of creating brings one a sense of peace, clarity, purpose and connection. What sets her apart is how she utilizes this awareness as a self-healing practice. For years she has taught others how to incorporate beauty and creativity into their own healing process; and now her book, Heal from Your Heart, With Breath, Rhyme and Art teaches readers new and traditional self healing practices to effect a holistic mind/body/heart transformation.

This introductory guide illustrates a series of easy to follow practices that have at their core mindful breathing. Breathing exercises are absolutely critical to quiet the mind, balance the body, and center the heart, which are essential to purging painful memories that can manifest as physical ailments or prevent inner peace. These memories can also leave what Denise refers to as “residue” on the heart, leading to dysfunctional relationships, a lack of confidence, balance, and self-esteem.

Heal from Your Heart is also a deeply personal account of Denise’s own journey to self-healing. From an early age, her life was marked by dramatic changes and family upheavals that left her with an often stifling fear and profound pain. However, instead of allowing it to control her life, Denise used it to fuel her search for new innovative ways to clear her mind, heart and body of negative emotions. For the next two decades, she not only studied ancient techniques such as yoga, meditation and chanting, but invented new methods to clear resistance, construct healthy boundaries and effect healing.

One of these methods, Rhyme to Heal®, is a fun, simple, and effective practice that Denise created while recovering from a 2010 car accident. Rhyming clears the mind and reveals and reduces stress, anxiety, fear and pain to allow personal understanding and deep, heart-centered healing. It is also a fun exercise, with none of the pressure that people often feel when they begin traditional practices like meditating. Experience has shown her that everyone is unique, and each has an inner artist to lead the way to healing emotional pain through the creative process. For some this is painting, for others crafts, but anyone can learn to purge their thoughts and feelings through the creative, self healing practice of rhyming.

Heal from Your Heart with Breathe Rhyme and Art will be released in September 2012. To learn more about Denise Demaras’ work as an artist and Self-Healing Coach, visit http://www.facebook.com/denise.demaras or follow her @mindfulmusing

Book with a View July 2012

Title: Beauty Behind the Mask!
Author: Melanie Brown
Publisher: Arthur House Publishing (March 14, 2012)
Reviewer: Dana Micheli

Melanie Brown’s Beauty Behind the Mask! is a fanciful story of sisterhood, sorcery, and the power of love to defeat even the darkest evil.

Life was not easy in the 14th century, especially for women. For Othelia Maria Valance, it is about to get a lot more complicated. As the youngest of Jolene Valance’s three daughters, Othelia has always enjoyed her loving mother’s undivided attention. Her oldest sister Marleen only cares about male suitors, and Alita, the middle sister, was sent away years ago for having a “dark personality”. When Alita suddenly returns, the family is turned upside down. As Alita and Othelia begin spending more and more time together, strange things begin to happen. Othelia realizes that she has mysterious and wonderful healing gifts, and she and Alita begin working together to help the villagers. But then Othelia falls ill with a mysterious illness, and when she regains consciousness, Alita tells their mother has died. Feeling devastated and alone, Othelia as no one but Alita to rely on. Can she trust this seemingly kind sister she has never known? As they embark on a journey through villages ravaged by war and crushing poverty, Alita will learn the true meaning of love, passion and above all, sisterhood.

Beauty Behind the Mask! is a heartbreaking but inspiring tale of mysticism, loss and courage in the face of bigotry. Brown’s descriptions are so vivid that they border on palpable. I could see the bloody, war torn battlefields and feel Othelia’s fear that she and her sister will be accused of witchcraft. It is also a fascinating historical sketch of the beliefs during that time period, particularly those concerning women. I didn’t want it to end, and can only hope we won’t have to wait too long before Melanie Brown’s next book comes out.

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Title: Sabotage
Author: Apostle Kevin A. Johnson
Publisher: AuthorHouse (March 26, 2012)
Reviewer: Dana Micheli

In his ministry, Apostle Kevin A. Johnson preaches that the greatest danger to humanity is a defeated mind. When we don’t believe in ourselves and what God can do in our lives, we make all sorts of decisions that can lead us down the wrong road. But what we may not know is that we are not completely responsible for this; there are forces, both seen and unseen, that can destroy us. Now, in his new book, Sabotage, he teaches us how to recognize these dangers, both in ourselves and those around us.

Sabotage is an inspirational guide to eradicating our “spiritual terrorists” and living a healthy, Christ-centered life. Like Dust Collector, Johnson’s previous book, Sabotage provides moral support for people facing their biggest challenges and darkest hours. Although the answers to these problems may seem complicated, the reality is simple: once you accept Christ and become born again, your work, relationships, and finances will begin to take miraculous turns beyond your wildest dreams.

Apostle Kevin A. Johnson is a minister, counselor, and writer based in Nashville, Tennessee. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and a minor in Pastoral Studies from the American Baptist Theological Seminary, where he graduated magna cum laude and was twice-named Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He also received special recognition for outstanding service by former Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist.

In addition to his ministry, Apostle Johnson and his wife Terrah operate Just Breathe Ministries, LLC. They have five children.

Editor's Corner July 2012

As many of you know, Yvonne Perry is busy promoting her incredible new book, Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ How to Embrace and Integrate Multidimensional Frequencies, so I am happy to welcome you to summer, WITS-style, with our July newsletter.

Summer is a time for friends, fun, family, and as always, balance. All through the dreary winter months, we wait for that first sign of green, that first smell of honeysuckle. When it finally arrives, it brings with it pool parties, days at the beach, and family reunions. But as wonderful as all of that is, it can also prove to be a distraction from that book we are writing. Sure, when it’s thirty degrees and snowy, it’s easy to sit at the computer for hours on end; but when it’s eighty degrees and sunny? Not so much.

As Yvonne wrote in her recent blog post, our lives are often influenced by environmental forces beyond our control. This would be true even if it wasn’t a year of global transformation. So if you find yourself torn between writing your book and going on that picnic, don’t be too hard on yourself. Everything has its time and place, and sometimes what feels like “procrastinating” or “slacking off” is really a much-needed mental and physical release that will allow you to redouble your writing efforts later on. It can also help you beat back that awful writer’s block.

This summer is already off to a great start for me. As usual, I am working with many wonderful clients around the country (and a few abroad), and it is both a pleasure and an honor to assist them with their writing and marketing projects. With so much to do, I’m going to have take my own advice and make time to enjoy nature and, of course, my family.




Dana Micheli
Writer and editor, Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services
http://writersinthesky.com
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Join the Human Race

Do you feel alone and isolated? Do you feel as if you are the only person in the world? If you do, the answer is to join the human race.

You are each unique; but, underneath it all, you are the same. You are part of the whole of all creation. Yet to feel that way, you need to join hands and embrace your common humanity.

It is said that no man is an island. You do not need to do it alone. When you join with your brothers and sisters, you will feel a part of something greater than yourself.

Some people choose to say that is God. Some people simply experience it as being part of a family or group. Whatever is the case for you, allow yourself to share in the group experience.

Try to see your common identity with people that you might judge to be different than yourself. You will be amazed at the common bond you will feel. When you stop focusing on differences, you will align yourself with something that is greater than yourself. It will be a liberating experience.

To remain isolated and separate from the whole, your ego will lead the way. This will only lead to conflict. You will not remain at peace.

Do you want to find freedom? Do you want happiness? If that is the case, step aside from your ego. Identify and relate to others instead of comparing yourself against them. That only leads to judgment and a false sense of reassurance.

If someone has harmed you, do as Jesus said and turn the other cheek. That's not to say, let them walk all over you. Just walk away from the conflict and offer up love and forgiveness.

To take on a resentment, will only keep you locked in a prison of your own making. It will become a poisonous brew that will only hurt yourself. You deserve freedom. You deserve joy.

Allow yourself to align with that greater spirit that unites us all. That is the pathway to peace, freedom, and joy. That is the way to join humanity and become part of the human race.

Written by Davis Aujourd'hui http://bestsatireseriesofthedecade.blogspot.com

Author Blogging 101: Keyword Basics

by Joel Friedlander
Ed: Keywords are one of the Building Blocks of SEO for your author blog.

Okay, so you decided to publish your own book (congratulations!) and, following all the advice for indie authors out there, you’ve decided you need a website or an author blog.

Everyone says so, and it makes sense. A blog will give you a chance to explore the ideas in your book, bounce new plans off readers, build a community of interest, and make it much more likely your books will reach a receptive audience.

It all sounds good, doesn’t it?

But as many writers know, there’s one flaw in this picture:

How the heck do you get online readers to actually pay attention to what you’re writing?

Traffic, Traffic, Where’s the Traffic?

Too many blogs wither and die because the blogger who began with such enthusiasm never found an answer to this question. A blog without readers is futile and depressing. You can only publish into this void for so long before you decide there must be better ways to use your time.

So this becomes an existential problem for your blog: without readers, it’s likely to cease to exist. This means that finding readers for your writing is the number-one, most-important job you do as a blogger.

Nobody told you that, did they?

But wait, there’s good news too. There are powerful forces at work, and they stand ready to help you keep that blog—and your dreams of gathering a community—alive. These forces command hordes—hundreds of millions of people—and these people are asking questions, looking for things, and trying to solve problems, whatever they are.

You, the content creator and blogger, have answers to specific questions. If you could connect your answers to the questions those millions of people are asking, your blog—and your books—could prosper.

So what are these mysterious forces? Search engines.

How can we enlist them to help in the life-or-death-of-the-blog struggle?

Starting at the Beginning

Let’s go back to where it all starts.

People have questions and problems. Since the internet has penetrated every area of day to day life, many of us are in front of a web browser nearly every minute of the day. This is only becoming truer as we now carry an internet connection around in our pockets and purses.

It’s only logical that people have become accustomed to looking for solutions and answers online, and the way we do that is through search.

Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! are in the business of providing the best answers to questions they can find. Your job is to figure out how to connect your content to those searches, and that’s exactly where keywords come in.

When someone sits down and types a query into a search bar, they are creating keywords.

How? Keywords are simply the words or phrases people commonly use to search for answers in your genre or category.

If you could find out what those words and phrases are, it stands to reason that you could use that information to make your content more attractive to the search engines that are looking for answers to those questions.

Keyword Tools

The whole study of keywords is actually pretty deep. Lots of people are researching keywords all the time and, as you might suspect, there are lots of tools to help internet marketers, bloggers, and other people who want to attract traffic online find and use keywords.

That’s a big study, so here I’m going to give you two super simple and easy ways to get started discovering the keywords that have the most power in your own niche or category.

The first of these isn’t even a real “tool” at all, but it works like one. I’m talking about using the search bar itself as a source of instant information.

How does that work? Have you ever noticed that when you start typing a question into most search engines’ search bars, you are presented with potential matches? It’s called predictive matching, where the software is guessing what you’re looking for to save you time.

But guess what? All those matches you’re looking at are actually other people’s searches, specifically the most popular ones that match what you are entering.

For example, suppose I’m looking for a pizza dough recipe. I start entering letters and by the time I get to “p-i-z-z-a- d-o-” I’m looking at these choices:

pizza dough recipe
pizza dough
pizza dough recipe with yeast
pizza dough without yeast
pizza dough recipe no yeast, etc.

Right away, this tells you something about what other people are looking for. Suppose you are publishing about yeast-free baking, a real niche topic. This gives you a head start on finding the words and phrases that are the most popular with the people you are trying to reach.

The second tool is the Google Adwords External Keyword Tool, which is supplied to advertisers for their own research, but you can use it for free, too.

This is where it gets really interesting. If you search for the phrases that came up in your predictive search testing, you’ll find some amazing results. For instance, our pizza baking author would find that there are a lot more searches for some of these phrases than others:

make pizza without yeast = 3,600 monthly searches
pizza dough recipe no yeast = 8,100 monthly searches
pizza dough without yeast = 14,800 monthly searches

There is no way to figure this out without doing the research, but I think you can see right away that this author is going to try to work with the third keyword phrase, which has four times as many searches. Wouldn’t you?

Even More Keywords

The Adwords tool will also give you lots and lots of related keyword phrases, too. For instance, this search also turned up phrases like:

easy pizza dough without yeast (1,000)
make pizza crust without yeast (320)
dough without yeast (18,000)
and lots more, too.

Another way to use these keywords is to do your own searches on them and see who comes up on the first page of search results. Checking into these sites and seeing how they are “ranking” for that specific keyword phrase will tell you a lot about how you can do something similar.

There’s no replacement for this type of research, and if you plan to keep publishing in this category or niche, it makes sense to gradually become familiar with the most common keywords in your area. There will likely be dozens of them.

Not Just Blogs

Keep in mind that you can use this same research for any writing you’re doing online that you hope will come to the attention of search engines prowling for good content to present to searchers.

For instance, if you upload videos to a hosting site like YouTube.com or Vimeo.com, you’ll want your keywords in the description field. The same goes for podcasts and for captions on photos or illustrations.

If you pay attention to these keywords and include them in a natural way in the copy you write, you’ll find that search engines will gradually associate you with those searches. That means they’ll start to send searchers to your blog posts and web pages.

And that’s exactly what we set out to do.

Joel Friedlander is a self-published author and book designer who blogs about book design, self-publishing and the indie publishing life at TheBookDesigner.com. He's also the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, where he helps publishers and authors who decide to publish get to market on time and on budget with books that are both properly constructed and beautiful to read.

Book Giants Try Power Grab on new Dot BOOK domain

Scott Lorenz with Westwind Communications told me about a great article regarding the DOT BOOK domain name power grab on Galley Cat http://bit.ly/Mf5rSW. In case you have not heard, ICANN is going to give someone the rights to the domain DOT BOOK (Like .com or .net but it’ll be .book)

Amazon, Google, BOWKER etc have filed a claim as to why THEY should be the one company that gets to own that domain. Imagine if someone owned DOT COM. Would that be crazy? Well that’s what they are proposing with DOT BOOK. Mike Cane wrote an incredible story read about it here: http://j.mp/L3Q2mE.
Here are Scott’s comments on ICANN’s SITE: regarding DOT BOOK domain
Giving DOT BOOK to one firm is yet another example of the people who already have a monopoly on something about to be given another sure thing for no good reason.
Nobody needs to own DOT BOOK its as stupid as granting ‘ownership’ to GM for DOT CAR WHY??? The DOT BOOK domain needs to be killed or owned and used by everyone just like DOT COM. All of the applicants already have a large piece of the book market and this is just a play to best the competition under the guise of serving the public. There is no logical reason to grant anybody the rights to DOT BOOK as they surely will not be responsible to anyone but themselves.

Bottom line: Kill DOT BOOK or make it available to everyone... like the creators of the books... #authors and #writers


Scott Lorenz
Westwind Communications
http://www.book-marketing-expert.com
734-667-2090
@abookpublicist

WITS Announcements

As a subscriber to Writers in the Sky Newsletter, you are entitled to share your announcements with our readers. See guidelines at http://writersinthesky.blogspot.com/p/submit-your-material.html and send your material to us before the 24th of each month to make the next month’s issue. Anything posted in WITS Newsletter is also shared with our blog readers at http://writersinthesky.blogspot.com.

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Len Edgerly, who blogs and hosts a weekly podcast about the Kindle and eBooks at thekindlechronicles.com, is doing an informal survey comparing the Kindle Fire and E-Ink Kindles as platforms for reading. If you have both devices and would be willing to describe briefly what sorts of books or publications you read on each, please email the info to Len: PodChronicles @Gmail DOT Com.
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Read the first chapter for free and then decide if you want to download the 3-hour-long mp3 audio book of More Than Meets the Eye ~ True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife for only $7.00 http://deathdyingafterlife.blogspot.com/p/chapter-1.html
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Summer applications are now being accepted for A Novel Idea. This summer, we are adding a Little Middle class for rising 5th and 6th graders.
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Each story in The Sid Series ~ A Collection of Holistic Stories for Children focuses on life skills such as environmental awareness, helping others, being true to one’s self, overcoming fear, and following inner guidance. http://TheSidSeries.com
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Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those around You is a guidebook for empathic people who have been unknowingly carrying energetic burdens that belong to someone else. See all purchasing options at http://whosestuffisthis.blogspot.com/p/purchase-book.html.
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State of Appreciation is a free weekly online newsletter that blends practical & spiritual approaches to enhance personal power and self-realization. Offers empowering articles, gifts, and free contemporary and classic empowerment downloads free at http://stateofappreciation.weebly.com
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While taking a metaphysical class, WITS team member Dana Micheli met an amazing illustrator. If you are looking for someone to create an original piece for your book cover, you may want to connect with Diane Daversa on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Diane-Daversa-Fine-Art/109782219119036

10 Social Media Tools You Can Use Daily

By Kellie Craft

Keeping up with social media can be complicated and very time-consuming. Countless different programs, apps, and plugins exist to help you when working with social media. Each tool is meant to make your life simpler, but with so many options, it’s easy to get confused.

I was originally going to write an article about the Top 5 Social Media Tools, but that would mean leaving a few really useful tools out. So, I decided to include a few more.
And I know this list doesn’t exhaust the possibilities…but it’s a good start.
1. HootSuite.com and TweetDeck.com

HootSuite is a free online tool that allows you to manage multiple social media profiles, pre-schedule updates for specific days and times, analyze statistics, and monitor keywords. You can also check and reply to saved searches, @ mentions, Direct Mentions, Twitter Lists, and more. There is also a mobile app where you can pre-schedule your social updates when you're not at your computer. There's a free version and a paid version.

HootSuite impressed Mashable so much, they gave them the 2010 Award for the Best Social Media Management Tool.

An alternative to HootSuite is TweetDeck.com. TweetDeck has customizable columns, and powerful filters. You can schedule your tweets to suit your audience, and monitor and manage unlimited accounts. You'll also receive notifications of new tweets.

Both of these tools are excellent all-around social media managers … which you choose will depend on your personal preference.
2. SocialOomph.com and ManageFlitter.com

SocialOomph is a tool for Twitter. It allows you to schedule your tweets, track keywords, purge your Twitter tweets, and much more. The paid version of SocialOomph will let you automatically follow those who follow you.

ManageFlitter lets you manage and cleanup your Twitter accounts. You can un-follow inactive accounts and see who isn't following you back. It's so easy to use, some say it's easier than cleaning up their closet! There's a free version and a paid version.
3. Twellow.com

Twellow is the Yellow Pages for Twitter. There are millions of accounts listed. You can sign up for free, then find and follow people by using targeted keywords they have in their bios. You can browse categories and even find the top users by location. Be sure to add your keyword-rich bio, as this information is used in the search results as well!
4. Twoolr.com
If you’re looking for a program that will give you a clean, easy-to-read look at your Twitter statistics, consider Twoolr. It shows you information like your usage, your account growth, interactions, and links shared. You get much more information with the paid version.
5. SimplyMeasured.com
Simply Measured is a full social media reporting system. It can take all of your social media analytics and put them in a nice neat report. You can download the report to an Excel spreadsheet, or you can generate a PowerPoint presentation to share with your client online. This is a paid service, but well worth it if you use it to demonstrate to a client that their social media efforts are paying off.
6. Bit.ly

Create a free account with Bit.ly and use it to shorten your long web addresses (URLs). Here are three reasons why you should you use a URL shortener:
Twitter only allows 140 characters. You don't want to waste them all on URL.
To track how many clicks a shortened URL gets. Bit.ly lets you do that.
If you have a long URL, you'll want to clean it up for better presentation to your readers.
In short (no pun intended … okay, maybe a little!), Bit.ly can help you share, track, and analyze your links.
And it's free.
7. A Facebook "Like" button, the TweetMeme button, and the LinkedIn Share button
You should add these buttons anywhere you want your readers, customers, or visitors to share the information on your website. If you use WordPress, simply add the plugin to your website.
Many who have a WordPress website have the "share" buttons at the bottom of the page. A good example is the Sexy Bookmarks plugin for WordPress. This one plugin will take care of all your "Like" buttons, more than the three mentioned here. You can download this to your WordPress site from your plugins page as well.
I've seen these three buttons at the top of a page and Sexy Bookmarks at the bottom of the same page. You want to make it easy for your readers to share your content!
8. TwentyFeet
TwentyFeet lets you easily track and monitor all your social media metrics in one place. They give you two social media accounts free for life (one with Twitter and one with Facebook). If you need more, the fee is quite small to add accounts. They send you a daily email with activity reports.
9. Disqus Blog Commenting System

Disqus has a real-time commenting system, notification and reply system, inline media embedding, and mobile commenting. And registering your site is free.
When users comment, Disqus makes it easy for them to share the comment with their Facebook fans or Twitter followers. The user actually has their own portable profile for commenting. Your blog visitors can post a comment using their Facebook or Twitter login.
This is an easy way to get your blog content shared with the rest of the world!
10. Twitter Lists

Twitter Lists are a great way to categorize those you follow. They're easy to create. You can create your own lists like "Facebook Marketing." You would put all the Facebook marketing "experts" in this list. You can make a list for information in your niche.

Once you have your lists created, check the ones you want to a few times a day, like your niche information list. You will easily have access to the latest breaking news without having to scroll through everyone else's tweets.

So there you have it … 10 great social media tools to start using today! But I couldn't stop at 10. I found this little surprise and had to share it…

BONUS: Mention Map for Twitter

This tool is just cool. You enter a Twitter name, like @Frog_Online for example, and it pulls up a map of mentions. Each user that the map pulls up is also connected to the people and hashtags they mentioned the most in recent tweets. You can click on a node to explore the neighborhood of tweets surrounding it.

After looking at Mention Map, how would you use this tool?

Take a look and let me know what you think in the comments!

I know there are A LOT more tools out there … So if you have some cool tools you use, or have tips and tricks for using the above tools, please share!

This article, 10 Tools That Will Make You a Better Social Media Marketer, was originally published by Wealthy Web Writer. This article appears courtesy of American Writers & Artists Inc.’s (AWAI) Wealthy Web Writer, a free newsletter for learning how to effectively write online copy and market products on the Web. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/signup/web-writing/.

How to Write Follow-Up Emails That Get Responses

By Rebecca Matter
Have you ever read a page of a book, and by the time you finished, you had no idea what you just read …

So you had to go back and read it again?

Maybe the topic was complex … or the author used phrasing that was difficult to comprehend.

Or maybe you were thinking about what you were going to have for dinner, and simply were distracted.

Whatever it was, at that moment, you had to decide whether or not the material you just read was worth reading again.

When you’re reading a novel for pleasure, chances are high you’ll take the time.

When you’re reading a piece of direct mail, chances are much lower. You may simply throw it in the trash.

But when a marketer is reading an email from a freelancer who wants his business, chances are at an all-time low.

As I mentioned on Monday, complicated emails and proposals are one of the biggest reasons marketers don’t respond to freelancers. (If you missed my note, I also gave you two other reasons why they may not be responding.)

Remember, your job is to make the marketer’s job easier, not add more work to his plate by making him decode your emails.

So today, I’m going to give you five tips you can use to make sure your follow-up emails get read — and are easily understood — to give you a better chance of getting a response from clients.

1. Start with a subject line that is clear and specific.

The subject line is not a place to be clever. It should sum up in 5 or so words, what your email is about.

One of my writers does a great job of this when she wants me to approve copy she’s working on. She’ll literally write something like:
Subject: Wealthy Web Writer AR – APPROVE?

I know right away that her email contains an autoresponder series she’s working on for Wealthy Web Writer, that simply needs my approval. I won’t put off opening the email, because I know it’s only going to take a few minutes of my time, and I’ll have one more project crossed of my list.

2. Get to the point.

While marketers want to work with great writers, you don’t need to demonstrate your ability with a 20-page sales letter in the body of an email.

Think about what you want the client to do, and what you need to say to get him to do it. The place to demonstrate your writing ability is in your samples.

That said, your follow-up email technically is still a sample. And like all persuasive writing, it comes down to knowing your prospect, and being able to write copy that persuades him to take action. And in this case, your prospect is a very busy marketer.

3. Don’t be too brief.

Even though you want your emails to be as short and concise as possible, it’s important to provide enough information so the marketer has everything she needs to take the action you want.

For example, when you’re following up with a potential client, don’t assume she remembers your initial correspondence.

Clients who hire freelancers are often working with many at one time. She may not remember the conversation you had a month ago when you met her at a trade show.

And that’s an important point worth repeating …

You’re most likely not the only freelancer working on a project for the client. Personally, I’ve been known to work with over a dozen at any given time. And as much as I hate to admit it — sometimes I forget. :-)

So make sure you provide the information needed to move forward with the project. Otherwise, you may end up getting put off simply because the client doesn’t have time to go digging for the information she needs to proceed and respond.

That’s why I highly recommend this next tip …

4. Keep the chain of email responses intact.

By simply forwarding the last email you sent (or at least the original email you sent), and adding your follow-up content on top, you make it easier on the marketer. He won’t have to go looking for the email or proposal you’re following up on. He’ll have the details in one convenient location.

And my last and final tip for writing follow-up emails to clients …

5. Don’t come across frustrated.

The way you come across in your emails can make or break you when it comes to getting clients to respond. (I’m actually going to talk about this a bit more on Friday.)

While you may truly be frustrated that the client hasn’t responded, you want to keep those feelings to yourself. Your marketer won’t appreciate “attitude.”

You need to keep in mind that, as I explained, marketers are often putting out their hottest fires first.

And, they’re usually juggling multiple projects and several freelancers.

And while they would love to devote 100% to one project and one freelancer at a time, it’s simply not possible.

So even if you have great ideas, or it seems like the project should be simple to follow through with, don’t get frustrated if your client isn’t getting back to you. Like I said Monday, it’s most likely not you — so don’t take it personally.

Just keep patiently following up, and providing value to your client.

For now, you have some tips for making sure your follow-ups will get read, and that give your marketer the best chance of knowing what you want or are proposing, so she can respond.
Consider these the requirements for all follow-ups you send.

This article appears courtesy of American Writers & Artists Inc.(AWAI) Wealthy Web Writer http://www.awaionline.com/signup/web-writing/ free newsletter for learning how to effectively write online copy and market products on the Web. For a complimentary subscription, www.awaionline.com/signup/web-writing/

Poetry Corner June 2012

Swimmer in a Secret Sea
By Jo Galloway

He fell into the deep fathomless oceans of her eyes and there he felt
suspended for an eternity.
Lost in tempestuous seas, which pulled him deeper until suddenly he would
find gentle release in the calm still pools of serenity.

Though his journey unpredictable and his escape obstructed he was
unrestrained in his desire to search through the storms of summer and night
for reasoning to help him empathise with the passion of a woman's tears.

Read more Poems by Jo http://www.squidoo.com/i-am-not-really-a-poet

Why I Self-Published My Book

Today, as part of my virtual book tour, Doreen Pendgracs (Twitter: @wizardofwords) shares an
article about how I self-published my book. See Doreen's blog, Wizard of Words, at http://doreenpendgracs.com

When choosing a publishing method, there are three basic options these days. The conventional route is to go through one of the “Big 6” book publishers, which includes Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Group, Random House, and Simon & Schuster. An author must query, many times using the services of a literary agent (who takes a percentage of the advance), and present a detailed overview of the book along with a bio on the author, some sample chapters, and a full-scale marketing plan to demonstrate probability of books sales.

Learn why I chose CreateSpace over Lightning Source to self-publish my book.

Read more . . .

Learn more about the ascension process in my book, Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience.

One Simple Trick for Breaking through Writer’s Block

By Cela DeLaRosa
How many years do you have to be a writer before writer’s block goes away for good?

Um … I’ve been doing this for a couple of decades, and writer’s block still sneaks up on me occasionally. It usually happens when a deadline is hanging over my head. The closer the deadline, the worse the symptoms.

My mouth goes dry, the back of my neck breaks out in cold sweat, then all logical thought flees my brain. Sitting motionless in front of my computer, I might as well be trapped in amber …

Can you relate?

The symptoms may be different for every writer, but the result is the same: work stoppage. Who can afford that? Not me.

When writer’s block stops me in my tracks, I use a simple trick that never fails to get me writing again. Believe it or not, I learned the trick from my high school debate team.

There was a legendary debater (and tournament winner) on the senior squad who was such a smooth talker we called her “Slick.” She always had some trick up her sleeve that she could pull out to guarantee a win. Her favorite trick was telling the “horse trading story.”

It was a plain but versatile story that Slick could use to illustrate any point in an extemporaneous speech or cinch any argument in a debate.

Her story starts like this:

“One day, a businessman drives by a farm and sees a beautiful horse, so beautiful that he decides to buy it on the spot. He finds the farmer and says, ‘I think this horse looks pretty good. I'll give you $1,000 for him.'

The farmer shakes his head and says, ‘No, this here horse don't look so good. Anyways, he ain’t for sale.’

But the businessman insists. ‘I think he looks just fine, and I'll double the price to $2,000!’

‘I’m telling you mister, he don't look so good,’ the farmer replies, ‘but if you want him that much, he's yours.’

So the businessman pays the farmer and makes arrangements to have the horse delivered that very day.”

Do you know how the story ends? Or where I’m going with it?

What if I told you to make up your own ending?

You could take it in several different directions … and that’s exactly what Slick would do.

The horse trading yarn was her go-to story whenever she was stuck for something to say and the debate clock was ticking. She could take that story anywhere — poverty, classism, prejudice, greed, semantics — practically any topic would fit.

The simple trick I learned from Slick is the go-to story. The go-to story outsmarts writer’s block every time. For any situation or topic, you have a go-to story inside of you — some experience, some memory, an image, a vivid dream — something you can use to inspire your writing.

When a deadline looms and your screen is blank, when your mind is running in circles, and you feel paralysis setting in, don’t panic. Just start with your go-to story. It will get you over the barriers to creativity and lead you toward what you really need to write.

Simply going through the motions of typing your go-to story relieves deadline stress and gets your brain out of neutral. Try changing the main characters, or the location, or the ending. Soon more ideas will flow in, and you’ll be over your writer’s block.

Here’s an example: I was writing a series of autoresponder emails for a client. In the middle of my project, the trade press published some negative articles about my client’s newest product.

I got stuck trying to think of a clever way to write around my client’s PR problem. The first half of the series was ready to go, but hadn’t been emailed yet. What could I say to customers who’d read the negative press? Should I write something apologetic? Sugar-coat the problem somehow? Should I write the second half of the series as if nothing bad had happened? Or, go back and rewrite the entire series? Could I still meet my deadline if I did?

And then my mouth went dry. I could feel sweat forming on the back of my neck. Uh-oh … time for my never-fail trick.

I methodically started typing the horse trading story. My client’s product had nothing to do with horses, but I had to stop my mind from endlessly circling. I had no time to waste on writer’s block.

Then, as I typed, it hit me. What if the farmer had said something else after the businessman doubled the price?

That new idea immediately restarted my writing engine. I rewrote the whole email series, in record time. And the client loved my new approach. All thanks to my go-to story. Instead of writing around the PR problem, I decided to address it directly, and new ideas came rushing in.

What if writer’s block stops you, and you haven’t found your go-to story yet? Go ahead and use the horse trading yarn. I’m sure Slick wouldn’t mind. By the way, here’s how it ends:

“The next day, the businessman comes back to the farm, raving mad. He stomps up to the farmer and shouts, ‘You sold me a blind horse yesterday. You cheated me out of $2,000!’

The farmer calmly replies, ‘I told you, he don't look so good.’”

I haven’t found the secret to banishing writer’s block for good, but I can outsmart it. You can, too. Just start typing your go-to story, no matter the assigned topic. The words you need will soon follow.
I should know. I used my go-to story to write this article.

This article appears courtesy of American Writers & Artists Inc (AWAI) The Writers Life, a free newsletter that gives you opportunities that enable you to live life on your own terms. Whether you’re looking for a new career, looking to make some extra money on the side, or looking for an easy work-at-home career, there is an opportunity at AWAI that’s right for you. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/signup/the-writers-life.

Join Us for a Conversation with Michael Loyd Gray and Valery Satterwhite

This week we're doing something a little bit different on the WITS podcast. Two previous guests, novelist Michael Loyd Gray and Inner Wealth Coach Valery Satterwhite have returned to discuss the interesting relationship between their books.

Award-winning novelist Michael Loyd Gray has a unique style that is at once sensitive, comical, and ruggedly American, and this style is exemplified in his novel, Not Famous Anymore. It is the story of Elliott Adrian, movie star, playboy, and all around screw up. He has the money and the fame, yet his life is an empty shell. Even beneath a booze-induced daze, Elliott knows he must escape and rediscover his true self before his life of excess kills him. He escapes Hollywood and travels back to Argus, Illinois, the small town where he grew up. Not Famous Anymore is at once the deeply personal story of one man and a commentary on our fame-obsessed society.

Valery Satterwhite, in short, is the person Elliott Adrian would have consulted had he chosen to stay in Hollywood. After growing up in a wealthy family, Valery knows firsthand both the benefits and trappings of wealth. As an adult, she had to redefine her own relationship with money, and now she teaches others of means to do the same in her L.A.-based coaching practice. Similarly, her book, Money Moxie: How to Transcend the Paradox of Privilege and Liberate Your True Wealth, provides guidance to those who have fallen prey to the belief that their wealth and/or fame encapsulates them.

It has been my pleasure to take part in the discussion as Michael and Valery discuss their books and the commonalities between them. Click here to listen to the podcast. 

Like what you heard? Not Famous Anymore and Money Moxie are both available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Book with a View June 2012

Title: The Dust Collector
Author: Apostle Kevin A. Johnson
ISBN: 978-1613795484
Reviewer: Dana Micheli

There is a famous saying that “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” Apostle Kevin Johnson takes this one step further in his new book, Dust Collector: Experiencing the God Who Collects Worthless Things and Makes Them Into Great Things in His Hands and for His Purpose.

The Dust Collector is a compassionate yet no-nonsense guide to holistic transformation through the love of Jesus Christ. It offers advice on everything from having a happy, Christ-centered marriage to overcoming childhood traumas. But the book’s most important message is not how God heals what others have done to hurt us, but what we have done to hurt ourselves. Through our sins, addictions, and other destructive behaviors, we become bogged down. This is the “dust”, and it clouds our vision to all that is good in our lives.

But, as Apostle Johnson writes, “a little dust on a silver cup does not make the silver worth any less!”, and like the silver, our dust does not make us any less valuable to God. He does not advocate that we try to rid ourselves of this bad memories, for this is often a painful and futile exercise; instead, he counsels us to simply commit them to God, for with His help, we can turn our junk into gold.

The Dust Collector provides an excellent, step by step process by which to rid our lives of the debt, dependence on drugs, and drama in our lives.

Apostle Kevin A. Johnson is a minister, counselor, and writer based in Nashville, Tennessee. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and a minor in Pastoral Studies from the American Baptist Theological Seminary, where he graduated magna cum laude and was twice-named Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He also received special recognition for outstanding service by former Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist.

In addition to his ministry, Apostle Johnson and his wife Terrah operate Just Breathe Ministries, LLC. They have five children.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience
Author: Yvonne Perry
ISBN-13: 978-0982572290
Publisher: Write On! (May 15, 2012)
Reviewed by Carl David

If you only read one book in your search for answers as to who we are, why we are here and where we are going, then this is your guide to the Universe. This work is the ultimate handbook to life as it spells out very clearly all aspects of life as we know it and what lies beyond as the evolution of our souls progress. Every question is addressed in detail leaving no stone unturned. The ascension has begun and we are all in it together. The end of the world is mere fearmongering out of ignorance and ego. We are on the edge of a magnificent energy increase as the Universe graces us with its benevolence. Fabulous events for humanity are in the works like never before.

If you are forunate enough to get a copy of this incredible compendium of knowledge you will never look at life in the same way. You will have a sense of peace without worry. No longer will fear of the unkown be part of your vision, you will embrace the present and the future as they merge tenses before your very eyes. Any and all of your questions will gain clarity as we move together into the tide of rising consciousness.

Yvonne has done it again with this extraordinary book of knowledge which she so freely imparts to us. I have had the distinct pleasure of reading Yvonne's other books and like the others, this one is a jewel! My best advice, get it now; don't wait another minute. You will never regret it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not Famous Anymore
Author: Michael Loyd Gray
Publisher: Three Towers Press (December 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1595981578
ISBN-13: 978-1595981578
Reviewer: Dana Micheli

It is not too often that a novel combines Hollywood royalty, raunchy rednecks, Bill O’Reilly and cowboys who spout insight worthy of a Zen master. But award-winning novelist Michael Loyd Gray makes it work, and masterfully so, in his latest book, Not Famous Anymore.

Elliott Adrian is in many ways a Hollywood cliché: small town boy who made good; a movie star with a mansion, a collection of sports cars, and an entourage of sycophants to fulfill his every desire; another celebrity behaving badly, without a care for anyone but himself. But beneath the flippant, arrogant façade beats the heart of an empty, desperately unhappy man. After his latest alcohol-fueled stunt lands him in rehab, Elliott decides he’s cashing in his chips and leaving L.A.—and fame—for good.

As he travels along the dusty back roads of small town America, Elliott learns that quitting fame is not as easy as he had thought. But as he struggles to shed his movie star persona and avoid a rabid pack of paparazzi, he encounters friends whose pearls of real world wisdom lead him closer to his truth. For Elliot’s real journey is not about escaping Hollywood, but about rediscovering himself.
Both riotously funny and heartbreakingly tragic, Gray’s taut prose reminds me of gently flowing poem. It is filled with raw emotions, rich descriptions of vast and varied American landscapes, and literary references; yet not a word is wasted. Like his muse, Ernest Hemingway, Gray’s novel is an exploration of what it means to be a man, an American, and most importantly, an authentic human being.

I, for one, never enjoyed Hemingway so much as when Michael Loyd Gray channeled him. But make no mistake: Gray has his own unique style, and heralds the return of the quintessential American writer that had all but disappeared from modern literature.

This Friday, Michael Loyd Gray and Valery Satterwhite Return to the WITS Podcast

 A few months ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing two wonderful authors, Michael Loyd Gray and Valery Satterwhite. When I realized that their books--one fiction, the other non-fiction--complemented each other so beautifully, I felt compelled to introduce them. This week, Michael and Valery were kind enough to return to the WITS podcast for a joint interview.

Michael Loyd Gray's novel Not Famous Anymore is both a humorous and deeply moving exploration of the underbelly of the American Dream. Movie star Elliott Adrian’s days are a whirlwind of parties, booze, and luxury. The problem is, none of it means anything to him. His outwardly perfect life is really just a prison, and although he cannot see the gilded bars, something deep within him knows he must escape before it kills him. Deciding he doesn’t want to be famous anymore, he disappears from Hollywood and begins working his way back to his hometown in rural Illinois.

If Elliott Adrian were a real person, he would be Valery Satterwhite's client. Satterwhite, a Los Angeles-based Inner Wealth Coach and Sports Psychology Coach, helps those who "have it all" realize that their value is not limited to the size of their bank accounts, or their Twitter following. Her book, Money Moxie: How to Transcend the Paradox of Privilege and Liberate Your True Worth, provides empathetic yet non-nonsense advice on how people of means can overcome feelings of powerlessness, low self-esteem and loneliness. These are universal feelings, yet those with money or fame are often told that "they have no problems".  In fact, they are often vilified, envied, and ostracized—even downright hated.

Tune in this Friday to hear Michael and Valery dish on Hollywood, wealth, and their plans for future projects. 

Author Blogging 101: Listening

by Joel Friedlander
Let me ask you a question: Do you think bloggers are broadcasters, or conversationalists?

This isn’t a trivial question, it gets right to the heart of your online writing, the blogging style you adapt, and your relations within your own social media universe.

Media has been controlled by just a few large corporations for a long time, and the ability the Internet has brought us to start media assets of our own is still fairly new.

It’s understandable that some people look at blogging as another way to broadcast their message, but broadcasting is the opposite of social media, which is interactive. Whether it’s your blog, Facebook, or your favorite social site, the activity is built around interacting with other people.

Blogging is one form of social media, and the essence of social media, in my eyes, is the conversation.

If there’s no conversation going on, it’s a little hard to call it social media, don’t you think?

This conversation can take lots of forms. It might be:

• a comment on a blog
• a discussion on a Facebook fan page
• a book recommendation on Goodreads
. . . or any number of other ways we signal our interest or concern on these various social media platforms.

More than any other way of connecting, blogging stimulates conversations. And just like in real life, you create a whole different level of connection with the people you spend time talking to.

The Importance of Listening

We all know people who don’t seem to “get” conversation, even in the most ordinary way.

For instance, I knew a woman who needed to talk to people, but it didn’t seem to be important which people she talked to.

If you excused yourself from a “conversation” with her, she would simply keep talking to someone else standing there, without missing a beat.

We would joke, in fact, that she might be satisfied if we taped a photo of someone’s face to the wall, and then she could just talk to that.

But that isn’t conversation, because a good conversation involves a few things missing from this picture:

• A concern for the other person
• Something useful, new or entertaining to say
• The ability to listen

Missing any one of these usually dooms a conversation, and you end up with one-way communication: broadcasting.

Just like ordinary conversations, we can use all these social skills to create a blog that really sticks with people, where your personality shines through and readers keep coming back for more.

Sound good? Let’s look at how this can work.

The Author/Reader Connection

Of the three skills listed above, the ability to listen is the most crucial, and this is true in real life and in blog life, too.

Listening incorporates concern for the person talking, because if you didn’t care about what they have to say, you wouldn’t be listening, would you?

Sometimes you run across blogs that seem to be stuck in the old broadcasting model. Recently an industry bigwig started a brand new blog, with appropriate fanfare, since CEOs who blog are still something of a rarity.

After a few weeks I checked on the blog and found some really nice articles, a few video interviews, and it looked like the blog had readers.

Problem was, these readers kept leaving comments, but the blogger never responded. I looked through every article posted, and I didn’t find one response from the blogger. Not even one.

What message do you think that sends? Yep, it looks like a blog, but it’s really another broadcast medium, isn’t it?

How to Listen

Comments are the first place you can listen to your readers. This is especially important because only a small percentage of your readers will comment on your articles, so you could look at each comment as if it represents a bunch of people rather than just the person who wrote it.

As your blog becomes more popular, you’ll get more comments and responding to them can become time-consuming.

Every blogger has their own way of dealing with comments. Here, I don’t respond to every comment left on the blog, although some bloggers do this as a matter of course.

But you do have to respond at some point. You have to show that you’re interested in what your readers have to say, to acknowledge that in a community all the voices need to be heard and considered.

More Ways for Bloggers to Listen

There are quite a few direct and indirect ways to listen to your audience. Consider using some of these methods in your own niche.

 Surveys can be a great tool for finding out where your audience is at any particular moment. I use SurveyMonkey which offers both free and paid accounts. Want to know what people are thinking? Ask them.

 RSS feeds are the easiest way to keep up with blogs you want to follow. Currently I have 104 blogs in Google Reader, which I use to organize and scan all those great posts.

 Twitter #hashtags provide filtered content in real time, a great way to gauge reaction or solicit opinions on breaking stories.

 Curated content from sources within your field can help you find the stories that everyone is reading right now. Look for blog carnivals or regular link posts, often on the weekends when bloggers take some time off from writing.

 Social Search is becoming a bigger niche in itself. Take a look at Trackur, a different type of “listening” device you can employ to find how people are talking about you—or other subjects—throughout social media. Although there’s a cost, if you have a widespread brand, this could be quite helpful.

 Forum and listserv discussions are invaluable for listening in to conversations people are having in your field. Try to find the top 2 or 3 forums to follow on a regular basis.

 Google alerts can also be used to track key terms, blog mentions, and discussions going on around core topics in your niche. Free and easy to set up, they are endlessly useful.

Listening, really hearing what people are saying, is what makes someone a good conversationalist. These are the people we’re delighted to see, interested to listen to, and who earn our respect with their attention.

That’s where you want to be, so learn to listen, it will pay you many dividends over time.

Joel Friedlander is a self-published author and book designer who blogs about book design, self-publishing and the indie publishing life at TheBookDesigner.com. He's also the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, where he helps publishers and authors who decide to publish get to market on time and on budget with books that are both properly constructed and beautiful to read.

Editor's Corner June 2012

What relief and rejoicing when a baby is finally out of the birth canal and into the arms of the awaiting mother/father. The same is true when an author publishes a book! I am glad to announce the arrival of Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience, weighing 12.5 ounces in paperback and lighter than air in Kindle format!  At six by nine inches, she’s a real cutie! See for yourself:  http://amzn.to/Jvocob. While my labor with writing this book was lengthy, I was pleasantly surprised that the short delivery time—I approved the final manuscript on CreateSpace and it was for sale on Amazon less than 24 hours later!

In my virtual book tour this month, I will share more about the writing and publishing process of my book. Visit http://bit.ly/InbSDC and take a look at the material I’ll be posting and the lineup of blogs where I’ll be stopping. Be sure to sign up to get a reminder about the June tour and the July ascension training telesummit. Both are free!

By Yvonne Perry, Owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services (http://writersinthesky.com)

Yvonne Perry,

Find me online:

Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Who Can Benefit from This Book on Ascension?

This book is for those interested in spiritual awakening and rapid transformation. It will also help those who are fearful of our future due to having been indoctrinated into religions that teach a dreadful end of time. Many of these people are having experiences that religious dogma can’t explain. They are searching for answers. In this book, with a fresh approach to the ascension and immortality of Jesus Christ, I believe these dear ones will find a lot of the answers they are looking for.

The paperback version of Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience is available in the US on Amazon.com as well as on CreateSpace.

You may order an autographed paperback copy of this book directly from the author using the PayPal button below.

$16.99 USD includes shipping within the US.




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Don't have an electronic book-reading device? This book is now available as a PDF ($8.99 USD). Click the "Add to Cart" button to pay with a credit card via PayPal and download to read it on your computer.

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Sex and the Intelligence of the Heart ~ Nature, Intimacy, and Sexual Energy

Title:  Sex and the Intelligence of the Heart ~ Nature, Intimacy, and Sexual Energy
Author: Julie McIntyre
Publisher: Destiny Books, 2012
ISBN: 978-1594773976

Never have I read a book like this one!

Less than a week before this book mysteriously arrived in my mailbox, I was asking the Universe specifically for information to help me better understand how sexuality and spiritual transformation work together. I did not buy this book. I had not told anyone I wanted this book; nor had I corresponded with anyone about this book—I didn’t know it existed—and I don’t know why Inner Traditions sent me the book, but I sure am glad they did! It was exactly what I needed when I needed it.

I had no idea how repressing our sexual, sensual nature (as religion and society has taught us is the prudent way to live) is actually creating the wars, murder, violence, and struggles in our world. Whether it’s due to being abused or being the abuser, more people are wounded from the improper expression of sexual power than any other dynamic known to humankind.

Sexual energy is the life force energy of creation and it is manifested in everything that exists in nature. When we deny the expression of pure passion, it will find a way out and it may not be in the most suitable manner. It may come as rape—that of another person, animal, or the Earth herself. It may push forth as violence, greed, rage, manipulation, or some other harmful behavior, but this ever-rising pressure within every living thing will push the lid off the container no matter how tightly we try to inhibit it. No wonder so many people are sick and depression is rampant! Our very life force has been given a death sentence!

Monogamy and abstinence teaching does nothing to promote spiritual growth or sexual responsibility—even the leaders who demand this fear-based restraint are caught in extramarital affairs, or worse yet, extorting boys and girls. Telling people that sex is dirty or that it’s inappropriate to express this sacred energy only breeds shame and guilt; it does not prevent this powerful force from being expressed some other way. Our repressed emotions, repressed love, repressed spontaneity, and childlike joy must be released, and we must learn how to express this energy wisely.

What is the appropriate way to work with this energy? It’s very simple. Reconnect with your heart (feelings, emotions) and nature—yes, Mother Earth! Our lack of human bonding with the Earth has caused us to blatantly destroy the health of the very planet that sustains our lives. We have so disconnected from our sexuality that we have denied its existence in all of creation. We have moved indoors where we hide behind technological devices that keep us from noticing how much we need the Earth and her benevolence; and how much we need to receive and give divine love to ourselves and others.

Not only is this book filled with information that I’ve never seen presented in any text I’ve read, Julie McIntyre’s poetical style of writing flows from a heart of passion that is felt throughout the well-written text. This book of healing the inner child created a longing within me to allow myself to be loved and vulnerable, to know open-hearted intimacy, and express divine love to all. This book is a keeper and a title that I will share with many others!

Author Blogging 101: Finding Time for Blogging

by Joel Friedlander
The faces looking at me were excited but a little concerned.

I had just finished a presentation on how blogging can be an amazing weapon in your book marketing arsenal, the remarkable effects you can achieve by just investing your time and almost no money.

It was question-and-answer time, and the first question showed where that concern was coming from:

“But Joel, how do you find the time to do all that blogging, commenting, networking and all the other stuff you just told us about?”

Good question. And one we all need to find an answer for.

Let’s break it down.

Tips for Not Going Insane Keeping Up With Your Blog

Keep in mind that you might be hearing about or reading about a lot of these tasks at once, but you don’t have to do them all at once.

If we list all the things we do in a day, it can quickly become pretty overwhelming, even to us!

But realistically, many of these tasks take very little time in themselves.

For instance, checking out a couple of forums to see if there are any posts or questions relating to your topic of interest only takes a few minutes, and leaving a comment only a few more.

You can easily do this task in about 10 minutes a day, and if that’s too much time, you can do it every other day.

The key is how you organize it, just like with your other work. Try this approach to control how much time this takes:

1. Identify the discussion threads within the forum that are most appropriate.
2. Create a shortcut or link to those specific discussion threads and bypass the others.
3. Learn how to “scan” the posts to see if there’s anything relevant. Scanning takes seconds. Reading through the posts and all the replies can drop you down the rabbit hole, and you might not reappear for half an hour or more.

These same tips apply to blog commenting, which can take up a huge amount of time if you’re not careful. Just reading through the responses on some popular blogs can take quite a long time.
In fact, if you run into blog posts with dozens (or hundreds) of comments, you might want to just skip them. Here’s why: The idea behind blog commenting as a marketing tool for your own blog is to

1. Find other readers interested in your topic and,
2. Get on the radar of the blogger.

Both of these goals are a lot harder to achieve if you’re competing with 50 or 100 other commenters. Wait for an article with fewer comments, or where you can be one of the first 10 or 12 commenters and you’ll be using your time more wisely.

Blogger, Is Thy Name Multitasker?

I’m not a big fan of multitasking, since I find that trying to do more than one thing at a time results in confusion and lowers the quality of whatever I’m doing.

This may not be true for you, but we each have to find the work style that works best for us. In my studio that means that I assign times to work on one specific task, and I try very hard to make sure that time isn’t interrupted by other tasks, phone calls, or my own imagination.

I’ve also gotten better results when I have a specific goal for that work. For instance, if I’m laying out a book, I might assign time to create all the master pages and styles. Then I’m going to stay with that task until it’s completely finished. This one practice has made me much more productive.

The Content Chop Shop

Here’s another tip that will help you handle the writing for your blog.

Set aside some time, like on a weekend, when you can explore a subject more fully.

Pick a subject that’s got a lot of elements or connections to it. For instance, an overview of a process works well because most processes link to other processes, making the subject easy to expand.

The idea here is to have the time to really explore many facets of a subject. Just keep writing and don’t worry about how long it is. Go down every path that has something to offer.

When you’re finally finished, make the resulting piece into a series of two, three or more blog posts. Add an introduction and schedule the posts for the coming weeks.

If you blog once a week, you can write and schedule a whole month’s worth of content in a weekend. Now that’s efficient.

The Tyranny of “OPA”

There’s nothing that kills my productivity more than “OPA,” nothing that defeats my aims or causes more interruption in my day.

What’s “OPA”? Other People’s Agendas.

Yep, it’s all that stuff you do for other people, and it can be one of the toughest things to overcome. But I promise you this: if you can rid yourself of the OPA virus, you will get to your goals a whole lot faster.

Here’s what I mean: Take a look at your inbox. Go ahead, I’ll wait here.

Back? What did you see? I’ll tell you what I see in my inbox, it’s probably not too different from yours:

• Newsletters that I subscribe to
• Product offers
• Friend requests of various kinds
• Invitations to pay attention to something
• Any time spent on most of these messages represents an investment in someone else’s agenda.

Hey, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I look forward to articles and offers from some of my favorite bloggers and teachers, because I’ve gained so much from them in the past.

But the overwhelming fact is that the more time you spend responding and reacting and friending, pinning, liking and all the other activities you’re being asked to do, you’ll end up helping everyone, except yourself.

That’s not a good outcome, is it? The point here is to learn to look at your inbox—and all the other requests for your time and attention—from the point of view of your own agenda.

Blogging can be an enjoyable and rewarding activity that supports the whole framework of your social media marketing. Or it can be a drag, sucking up your time and talent without giving you anything in return.

Managing your time well and finding efficient ways to handle the activities around blogging will go a long way to keeping it fun and profitable.

Joel Friedlander is a self-published author and book designer who blogs about book design, self-publishing and the indie publishing life at TheBookDesigner.com. He's also the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, where he helps publishers and authors who decide to publish get to market on time and on budget with books that are both properly constructed and beautiful to read.