Category: Promo Tips

Thoughts on Blogging

Promo Tips

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I somehow let ten years of blogging slip by last year, but I’m noting my eleventh now. Well, it also slipped by about a month ago, but at least I’ve sort of remembered the anniversary.  :)

It doesn’t really seem like eleven years.  It seems like it’s been a while, though.

I know I didn’t have much of a plan…just that my publisher was very pro-blogging and blogging in 2008 was what everyone seemed to be doing.

I did actually list what I planned to cover in my first blog post.  And I stuck with some of it: sharing resources, most notably.  But I’ve rarely posted a book review here (as I said I would).  Mostly because I’m a terrible reviewer and am much better at endorsements.  There were plenty of posts on balancing writing and parenting, another area I said I’d cover, although now my kids have grown up and need a lot less parenting at 22 and 18.Continue reading

Changing Newsletter Services: Resources

Promo Tips

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve used MailChimp for years, but I’m one of the many writers who is now abandoning ship as the platform experiments with new pricing and a different direction (toward customer relationship management).  For many writers, the costs won’t make sense for basic email newsletter marketing.

I have dreaded making a change since I realized I’d need to.  I changed banks in March and it was a heinous task,  taking two 8-hour days to dump a bank I’d used for the last 20 years.  It did end up being worth it, though, as I’m sure this change will be.

One reason it’s a pain is the fact that MailChimp is everywhere in regard to my stuff…on Facebook, integrated through WordPress on my site, as an email signup link for over 30 books, on my Amazon author page…the list goes on and on.  I’m not sure why I didn’t set up a landing page on my own site and then use the service’s form on it…but apparently, that’s exactly what I did.  I even had a splash page, but didn’t use it to host my newsletter signup.  I certainly won’t be taking that approach again, obviously.

If you paid for a MailChimp pay-as-you-go plan, as I did, you may have to delay leaving (not sure how or if they refund that money, so I just decided to send out one last email).  All of my final changes are taking place after my last MailChimp newsletter.  So far, I’ve set up a new account with the new service and have transferred my subscribers (the audience is still also at MailChimp for that last newsletter).

So far, the change has been easy because it’s been automated.Continue reading

The Importance of Images in Social Media

Business of Writing, Promo Tips, Uncategorized

by L. Diane Wolfe, @DancingLemurPre

Online media provides us few opportunities to express ourselves in our entirety. Text gives us a voice, but what about the other senses? We can’t taste, touch, or smell. But we can see.

Studies have shown that online all text is boring and difficult to read. Most news articles contain one or more images to ground the reader. Unless it’s reading an actual book, readers don’t want all text.

Images break it up. A long line of text leave readers almost gasping for breath. Unlike traditional book readers, people do not want a tome of information online. They want the important details and they want it quick. Adding a few graphics gives their experience more meaning.

Items with images are more likely to be shared. Look at your most shared blog posts, Facebook posts, Tweets, etc. Those with images were shared far more often. A line of text doesn’t convey enough. But add a graphic or a video and it gains new depth.

Consider adding images to your:

Continue reading

A Resource for School Visits

Promo Tips, Uncategorized

by Hank Quense, @hanque99 

What can be more satisfying for an author than showing kids how to create a short story?  That’s what I’ve been doing for the last several years in schools and libraries. I think it’s a lot of fun. And now I’ve expanded that experience into a new book called Fiction Writing Workshop for Kids.

By way of background, a few years ago the Valley Middle School in Oakland, NJ asked if I would visit the school and talk to their seventh graders.  On visits like this, authors usually talk about their books and read scenes from them.  I hate reading scenes!  I find it boring and I’m sure I bore the audience with my monotonous voice.  Instead of torturing the kids this way, I decided to show them how I go about creating a short story.  The slide talk worked like this: I gave them the overall story idea, one that they would want to write.  After that, I used a handout with a series of text boxes with questions to have the kids come up with ideas on characters, setting and plot.  Finally, I broke the story up into six scenes and showed the kids how to use the text box ideas to write each scene.  The talk was wildly successful.

Besides the Valley Middle School, I’ve given this talk in other schools and libraries and I’ve expanded the concept to include two more story ideas.

While I love doing this, my talks are geographically limited.  To remove this limitation, I used these three talks as the basis for the ebook called Fiction Writing Workshop for Kids..  Using the advanced technical capabilities of ebooks, the book has graphics as well as audio and video clips embedded into it.  The videos show the text boxes and coach the kids on how to develop ideas  for the basic story elements: characters, setting and plot.  Each story has a final video clip showing the kids which text boxes to use in each scene.                          Continue reading

5 Mistakes to Watch Out For When Editing Your Blog Posts

Promo Tips, Uncategorized

by Laura Smith, @lsmith335

Editing Is Crucial

Let’s face it, even a good first draft can look like a hot mess when it’s first read. Every decent English teacher I’ve ever had has marked up my rough draft with a red pen and then said, “good job.” But we’re not in English class anymore, and we have to take the red pen to our work ourselves. That means catching everything from basic typos to cutting entire sections that don’t flow with the rest of the piece. It also means throwing away some basic knowledge that I learned in school and adapting to the age of writing online.

I have to admit, this was the most self-aware piece I’ve ever written. I had to make sure I was following my own advice as I was giving it. After all, what’s the point of offering advice if you’re not going to follow it yourself? Below are five of the major elements that I review when I’m editing my blog articles.Continue reading

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