Rabu, 31 Desember 2008

Happy New Year

After the holidays, we start a new blog book tour session at our YahooGroup, so if you have a book release in 2009, sign up to learn, plan, and launch your own blog book tour. We are a free peer support group, and our program runs for four months. Here is the plan:

Month 1 - Improving your blog and post-a-day challenge all month
Month 2 - Social networking, blog radio, book trailers, and other promotions
Month 3 - Finding great blog hosts
Month 4- Tours and supporting each other

Sound interesting? Sign up now as we limit our group to 150 members. If you're not quite there yet, be sure to click on previous tours and interviews in the right column, and bookmark us for updates on the current session. We'll feature some of our touring authors here, and share all the latest brilliant promotion ideas that come out of our discussions.

May 2009 be the year of publication and promotion success for your book!

Jumat, 21 November 2008

You need a blog first

In my Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever, the tutorial begins with the author's need of a good blog before planning their own blog book tour. But before you can have a good one, you need to get over the fear of blogging to begin with. Many authors fear to dip their toes in the blogging waters. It's really not rocket science, though, and here's a quick tutorial to get your started setting up your blog. Click to read.

Sabtu, 01 November 2008

An environmentally friendly idea

Virtual book tours with our favorite authors!

Here are some of the topics we'll be covering:
  • Cozy mysteries
  • Knitting and other craft titles
  • Organic gardening & agriculture
  • Cooking
  • Herbology
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Global warming
  • Holistic health
  • Memoirs

Jumat, 03 Oktober 2008

At least ten requests

Omigawd.... I think it's fixed. Dare I try to publish this without word verification? If it is truly fixed, it was Gatsby over at the Blogger forum, and I must go thank him. As well as hold up my end of the bargain which was to read The Great Gatsby in his honor.

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

Another request sent on October 14, 2008. Is that 11 requests now?

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

Request Received


We have received your request for a review to verify that your blog is not a spam blog. Someone will look over your blog and respond to hbp@earthlink.net

In the meantime, I've set up a Blog Book Tours blog at WordPress, and am poised to transfer future posts, as well as the contents of this blog, over there.

Stay tuned.

Rabu, 24 September 2008

Detect Yahoo messenger invisible friends, Yahoo messenger invisible status checker

If you want to find whether Your buddy is online in invisible mode on yahoo or not ,than just go to any of site mentioned below , put yahoo ID in search box and click on search to find the invisible status of your friendhttp://invisible-scanner.com/http://www.invisible.irhttp://ydetector.com/http://www.imvisible.info/http://www.yahoo-status.com/http://www.invisiable.net/http://www.find-them.net/

Senin, 22 September 2008

Asking For Book Tour Advice

Today we welcome Roberta Isleib and Susan Wittig Albert to Blog Book Tours.

Dani: Hi Roberta and Susan. Roberta, you just completed your second blog book tour for Asking For Murder, third in the Advice Column mystery series. How did it go this time, now that you’re a seasoned pro?


Roberta: Hi Dani! Thanks for hosting me here and for all the tips and support you’ve offered! The tour was exhilarating, but exhausting. Just below you’ll read Susan Albert’s admonition that an author shouldn’t launch a blog book tour because he or she thinks it’s an easy way to promote.

Ditto!!



Dani: You hired a professional service your first tour and organized this one yourself. How did your workload differ in each scenario?

Roberta: There are three kinds of work involved, not counting spiffing up your own website/blog before this all begins. First would be locating hosts and signing them on to the tour. Second would be writing the posts for each tour stop. And third would be attending each day’s stop and chatting with your visitors. For a hired tour, many of the stops are standard to a number of touring authors, and therefore, less specific to you and your books. So it was definitely more work organizing my own tour. On the other hand, the stops were better tailored to my specific marketing needs.

As far as writing posts, I probably put an equal amount of work into both tours. There’s simply no point in turning in a shoddy essay if your goal is to have visitors become intrigued enough with your writing to buy books! And the same with visiting sites on the days they host you: You must plan to stop in several times daily and respond to comments. You want to be a cheerful, interesting presence—Iike you would at a dinner party, only in this case you can wear pajamas!

Dani: How did you connect with the host blogs on each tour, and did that determine what kinds of posts appeared?


Roberta: My book, ASKING FOR MURDER, is the third in a mystery series featuring Dr. Rebecca Butterman, advice columnist, clinical psychologist, gourmet cook, and amateur sleuth. So I tried to find a variety of websites that would be seen by mystery buffs, writers, as well as folks interested in cooking, advice columns, sandplay therapy, and psychology. (And here, I must plug Dani who pushed me to explore niche markets! Listen to your blogtour mom—she’s almost always right.) I contacted most of the hosts directly; a few invited me to make a stop on their blog. Some of the hosts had a specific idea of what they wanted. For example, Helen Ginger on Straight From Hel wanted a post on writing openings. Several others wanted to do book reviews or author interviews. But the majority expressed no preference. So my subjects ranged from disastrous dinner parties, to how to avoid giving bad advice, to a discussion about how the media makes psychologists look like buffoons, to a marketing chat between my husband and me. The challenge was to keep the connection between the host blog, my guest post, and my new book firmly in mind as I wrote each one.


Dani: Just for fun, what were your favorite stops on each book tour?

Roberta: My husband was a star on both tours. He’s funny and good-natured and I think it gave people a break from my voice to have him do an interview. The post on White On Rice Couple is hysterical, because they took the idea I sent (disastrous dinner parties) and ran with it. You must go look at the pictures of the gigantic lopsided cupcake. Although this might sound a little far from selling mysteries, the topic allowed me to post an excerpt about my character’s dinner party from hell in Asking for Murder …and hear a lot of funny stories about other people’s disasters.


Dani: And one of their readers commented that they bought your book! Those are the best comments. Now, what do you think you’d do differently on your next blog tour?


Roberta: I was not good with statistics. (Advice—don’t go on vacation right before your tour starts—things slip through the cracks!) If I’d had more time, I should have checked in with the hosts to be sure the comments feature was working. We had a couple of snafus with that. And some hosts were better at promoting the appearance than others—I’d offer suggestions to all the blogsters at the beginning.


Well-known authors will have a different experience with a blog tour than those just starting out. Susan’s books are very popular and her herbal/gardening niche is very well defined. This allows her to be quite selective when choosing hosts—something we all aspire to! Next time I would start even earlier choosing possible hosts, so I could take advantage of the best traffic. One more thing—there were people I approached who didn’t wish to be part of the tour, but they will post a review or an interview in their own time. Just saying, sometimes it helps to shoot high.


Susan: I’m a big believer in a tour that has a strong thematic continuity, so that people keep coming back for the next post. I also try to choose my hosts carefully--which means finding hosts with the right thematic fit, fairly strong traffic (the stronger the better!), and a habit of promoting their blogs. Peggy, my webmistress, puts up an invitation/application page that spells out all the details. I list the topics I want to post on (thinking “theme” with every topic), and invite hosts to pick a couple.


Then I put out the word on the Internet that I’m looking for hosts, and hope that the invitation will land in the right laps. If not, I go out and invite bloggers to “apply,” (I keep a list of people who mention my work on their blogs, and of course, a roll of blogs that are important in my areas of interest.) I schedule the tour. Peggy posts a calendar page (this is important, because it gives people an idea of the thematic “threads” that are involved).


I send out the blog posts to the hosts a couple of weeks ahead of time, asking them to pre-post, if possible. Peggy checks the posts to make sure they work right. Sometimes they don’t, which requires “adjustments.”
I promote the tour by directing readers to the calendar page, which is the “gateway” to the tour. Also, I offer a book prize at each blog stop. Peggy sets up the drawing pages--one page for each tour stop. She random-generates the winners and emails them to get name/address for mailing the prize book.


Now that the invitation/application page, the calendar page, and the drawing pages are done, they can be reused for the next tour, which will cut down my work substantially. Still, this project takes a lot of time and effort. Authors shouldn’t undertake a blog tour if they think it is “easy.”


Dani: One of the things I try to impress on authors planning tours is the importance of blog statistics, your own as well as tour hosts. Susan, I know you have clear opinions about this aspect of a tour. Roberta, how do your stats compare between the pro tour and your own?

Susan: Since I can’t see the blog stats (the host blogger reports her/his stats to me), I track the entries to the prize drawings, which serves as my own statistic. It should be smaller than the blog hit number (some people don’t bother to enter), but at least, it’s consistent. Also, I track the daily hits to the calendar page, since I use it as the “gateway” to the tour.


Roberta: I don’t really have numbers to answer your questions. But many more comments were made on the sites this time around—I imagine this has some correlation to traffic. (Again, listen to your blog mom and ask your hosts to give you numbers before and after!)

Dani: We know the most important statistics are book sales, because that’s what the publishers are most concerned about. Can you both comment on the effectiveness of the blog tours on your sales? Roberta, which of your tours do you think was most effective in that aspect?

Roberta: The only way I have to track sales right now is to haunt Amazon. And of course we’ve all been told that Amazon ranks account for only a small number of sales. That said, the numbers seem better this time. I did send an email out to my mailing list at the beginning of the tour, which coincided with the book’s release date. The biggest surge came then. I sent another email out when I’d had a TV appearance and could offer a peek at the clip. Surge in blog visits. So you see it’s very hard to separate cause and effect when you’re doing many things to promote a book.


Susan: I’ve said this before, but it bears saying again. Unless you are directing purchasers to one single web page for book purchases, it is very hard to separate out the effects of the blog tour on sales from all the other things you are (or should be!) doing to promote your book. Of course, you can check Amazon or Barnes/Noble ranking, but that’s not going to give you much hard data. Also: since I leave my calendar page online and occasionally direct people to a particular post or a group of posts, people continue to read the posts. So book sales from those posts may continue over a long time. It’s very hard to track results from that kind of “delayed” advertising.


Dani: Would you do it again? Any idea of changes you might make to make it easier?

Susan: Yes, I’ll do it again, in March-April 2009. I’ll look for different hosts, improve communications with them, and expand my promotion efforts. I’ll also come up with different post topics. My theory: every little bit helps.

Roberta: What she said (grin). Except I have to write another book first—I’m looking forward to having the time and energy to do that! A million thanks to you Dani for your enthusiasm and support!


Dani: I think the October theme at the Blog Book Tours Yahoo!Group better be working with statistics – at least the ones that are available! Susan is right when she says you can't track exact sales, although this works best with non-fiction and purchase links at each stop that lead directly to a publisher site. I know of one author who had to go into reprint halfway through his blog tour. But other statistics can give strong clues if we use them, like the reports from each of the hit counters. More authors are starting to add widgets like sitemeter and statcounter, but the reports often aren't read and understood. Guess we'll tackle that subject next.



Thanks to both of you for sharing your experiences with the rest of the writing world. Hope lots of good sales and more books are in your futures!


You may purchase Asking for Murder by clicking here.


If you have a question for Roberta, be sure to leave it in the comments.

Roberta Isleib visiting soon

Drop in tomorrow when I interview Roberta Isleib about her recent blog book tour of mystery novel, Asking For Murder. Susan Wittig Albert joins the conversation.

Minggu, 14 September 2008

Book Blogger Awards Week Prizes

The Official BBAW Giveaway List

If you follow along for the festivities of BBAW at My Friend Amy, you will find many chances to win LOTS of goodies! Like what? Well have a look below. All of these things will be given away between September 15-19.

There will be a huge variety of ways to win them and giveaways will be announced constantly throughout the week. So be sure to check in often!A HUGE thank you to Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group USA, Harlequin, The B&B Media Group, Shera of SNS Blog Design, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, Catherine Delors, Pamela Binnings Ewen, Andromeda Romano-Lax, Ceceilia Dowdy, Sormag, Book Club Girl, Savvy Verse and Wit, Cafe of Dreams, Fashionista Piranha, and Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?.

Daily Raffles:
Monday--Books and Chocolate sponsored by My Friend Amy and Hey Lady! Whatcha' Readin?
Tuesday--Books and Going Green sponsored by My Friend Amy
Wednesday--Books and Coffee sponsored by My Friend Amy
Thursday--Books and Charity sponsored by My Friend Amy and Fashionista Piranha
Friday--Books and Movies sponsored by My Friend Amy

Win a Book Club Girl Hostess Survival Kit!Do you find it's your turn to host book club and not only do you not know what to serve but you don't know what books to offer up for the next month's selection?! Let Book Club Girl come to your rescue with the Book Club Girl Hostess Survival Kit.
One lucky winner of the kit will receive:* A basket of cheese, crackers, cookies and wine for up to 12 people* 5 great book group books to vote on for your group's next pick. And Book Club Girl will then donate 12 copies whichever book is chosen for your entire group to read.* 12 Book Club Girl mousepads to give out as party favors that night* 12 Book Club Girl bookmarks to mark everyone's favorite passages* 12 Book Club Girl coasters to protect your coffee table from all those wine glasses!

TWO SORMAG Goody Bags containing books and more!

A Special Pamper Me Basket from Cafe of Dreams!From Avon Foot Works~ Inflatable watermelon shaped foot tub~ 3.4 FL oz Watermelon Cooling Foot Lotion~ 3.4 FL oz Watermelon Exfoliating Foot Scrub~ 12 count Watermelon Effervescent Foot Tablets~

An ARC of So Long At The Fair by Christina Schwarz~

A variety of Hot Chocolate and Tea mixesA pre-made blog template from SNSDesign!

A Subscription to Poetry Magazine from Savvy Verse and Wit!

BOOKS - whew!

Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors
The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen
The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-LaxJohn's
Quest by Cecelia Dowdy
Confessions of a Contractor by Richard Murphy
Acedia & Me by Kathleen Norris
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah VowellThe Lucky One by Nicholas SparksThe Book of Lies by Brad MeltzerSupreme Courtship by Christopher BuckleyA Tale Out of Luck by Willie Nelson with Mike BlakelyThe Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen KentWhen Will There Be Good News by Kate AtkinsonAn Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCrackenExit Music by Ian RankinThe Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnikGunmetal Black by Daniel SerranoIsolation by Travis ThrasherThe Miracle Girls by Anne Dayton and May VanderbiltEvery Freaking! Day With Rachell Ray by Elizabeth HiltsDewey by Vicki MyronThe Shiniest Jewel by Marian HenleyKeep the Faith by Faith EvansThe Book of Calamities by Peter TrachtenbergA is for Atticus by Lorilee CrakerAfter the Fire by Robin Gaby FisherMike's Election Guide by Michael MooreWar as They Knew It by Michael RosenbergFixing Hell By Col. (ret.) Larry C. James Wild Boy: My Life with Duran Duran by Andy TaylorThe Last Under-Cover: The True Story of an FBI Agent's Dangerous Dance with Evil By Bob HamerBorder Lass by Amanda ScottInsatiable Desire by Rita HeronHungry for More by Diana HolquistFree Food for Millionaires by Min Jin LeeTrespassers Will Be Baptized by Elizabeth Emerson HancockHe Loves Me, He Loves Me Not by Trish RyanNever Surrender by General Jerry BoykinDream in Color by Congresswoman Linda Sánchez, Congresswoman Loretta SánchezBeyond Belief by Josh HamiltonCobain Unseen by Charles R. CrossDoing Business in 21st Century India by Gunjan BaglaBranding Only Works on Cattle by Jonathan Salem BaskinLaunching a Leadership Revolution by Chris Brady, Orrin WoodwardHow to Hear from God by Joyce MeyerKnowing Right from Wrong by Thomas D. WilliamsPope John Paul II: An Intimate Life by Caroline PigozziPure by Rebecca St. JamesHe Loves Me! by Wayne JacobsonSo You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore by Wayne Jacobson and Dave ColemanMove On, Move Up by Paula WhiteThe Rosary by Gary JansenShoot the Moon by Billie LettsThe Choice by Nicholas SparksRight Livelihoods by Rick Moodyby George by Wesley StaceThe Almost Moon by Alice SeboldTrunk Music by Michael ConnellyHollywood Crows by Joseph WambaughDead Boys by Richard LangeThe Gifted Gabaldon Sisters by Lorraine LopezSisterchicks Go Brit! by Robin Jones GunnBeyond the Night by Marlo SchaleskyWith Endless Sight by Allison PittmanHarlequin Titles: To Be Announced

Many other blogs are giving away books and prizes for BBAW as well! You can see the links to all of these giveaways here.

Interested in gaining entries into the daily raffles? Post this complete list on your blog with links and you'll earn two extra entries!

Kamis, 11 September 2008

One more time

Okay, just had to request one more time that Blogger.com un-spam this blog. Here's the message I get after I submit and fumble through the word verification to even send the request:


Request Received

We have received your request for a review to verify that your blog is not a spam blog. Someone will look over your blog and respond to hbp at earth dot net
Find out more about how Blogger is fighting spam blogs.

Do you think it will work this time? Has this blog gotten totally lame or what? Six requests now. It's official. Doesn't anyone out there know a human being at Blogger.com? Is there anyone I can contact who can get this blog reviewed? I've left numerous messages at their forum, but they seem to ignore those, too. What is wrong with Blogger.com?

Now off to type in my word verification several times so I can publish this.

Rabu, 10 September 2008

Still no luck

Here's the notification I still get on September 10:


Your blog requires word verification

Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What's a spam blog?) Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive.
We received your unlock request on September 4, 2008. On behalf of the robots, we apologize for locking your non-spam blog. Please be patient while we take a look at your blog and verify that it is not spam.
Find out more about how Blogger is fighting spam blogs.


So if they don't unlock it in the next day or so, I'll have to request again for the sixth time. That means this blog has been on "false positive" for six weeks.

What do you all think of this? It doesn't seem to help posting on their forum.

Rabu, 03 September 2008

Blogger.com

I've just sent in my 5th request to have my blog reviewed by Blogger.com and word verification removed. That means it's been five weeks since I've been categorized this way. Here's the message I receive:

Your blog requires word verification

Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What's a spam blog?) Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive.

Before we can turn off mandatory word verification on your posts we'll need to have a human review your blog and verify that it is not a spam blog. Please fill out the form below to get a review.

Find out more about how Blogger is fighting spam blogs.
Remove word verification from postsWord Verification: Type the characters you see in the picture below.


Yes, folks, five weeks of this. See anything here that looks like spam? See any reason I shouldn't be treated right? Any suggestions on how to resolve this issue? I've left messages at their forum more than once. Nothing has changed. Are there any humans at Blogger.com who can review this blog? I could use some good advice. Please leave me a suggestion!

Minggu, 31 Agustus 2008

August Blog Challenge Ends

I'm pleased to say that I managed to post once a day all through the month of August and so did most of the challengers. Congratulations! Don't our blogs look good now?

Starting on September 2nd, about half our challenge participants will put their blogs up for peer critique over at the Yahoo! Group. If you're an author looking for ways to improve your blogging, the process might give you some hints to help you get better at it. Our focus, of course, is blogging to promote your books. Because your own blog is the launching pad for a good blog book tour. You can learn more about that by reading The Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever.

And Blogger.com still requires word verification to publish. They haven't lifted spam designation yet. Soon I'll have to request they review my blog for the fifth time. Is anyone else having problems with Blogger.com?

Sabtu, 30 Agustus 2008

Stolen Integrity

I know the name "Stephenie Meyer", but not her books. Today, I read publisher, Karen Syed's blog and learned the first 12 chapters of Meyer's incomplete book, Midnight Sun, were hijacked and posted in rough form on the internet. Foul!

My reaction was first shock, then dismay, then anger. Because I'm a first-reader for other authors and I love doing that job. I love that they value my opinion and that they trust me with their "babies". I can only imagine that Meyer's feelings are akin to a mother who's child has been abused by a babysitter. It's a terrible, terrible act that damages us all in the greater writing community. Our collective trust takes a hit.

To find out the truth from the author's perspective, go directly to her website:

"As some of you may have heard, my partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher." Read the remainder of the essay by clicking here.

Then go to Karen Syed's blog and leave her your comments, since she started this thread. I don't need more outrage to fuel my anger. I will read at least one Stephenie Meyer book as a demonstration of support. Why haven't I read one yet? Because it has vampires in it. It's that simple. But now, I'll bite the silver bullet.

May benefits accrue to her ten-fold to ease the pain. And dare I say it? May the scofflaw get it back ten-fold, too. Yeah, that should help even out the score a little. Ten-fold at least. Be thankful that I am not the god of fairness.

Kamis, 28 Agustus 2008

BBAW Award Nominations Are Open


Nominations are open for Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards 2008!



Listed below are the categories of awards. Nominate up to two blogs per category and send an email to BbawawardsATgmailDOTcom with your choices.

And the categories for the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards 2008 are:


Best General Book Blog

Best Kidlit Blog

Best Christian/Inspirational Fiction Blog

Best Literary Fiction Blog

Best Book Club Blog

Best Romance Blog

Best Thrillers/Mystery/Suspense Blog

Best Non-fiction Blog

Best Young Adult Lit Blog

Best Book/Publishing Industry Blog

Best Challenge Host

Best Community Builder

Best Cookbook Blog

Best History/Historical Fiction Blog

Best Design

Most Chatty

Most Concise

Most Eclectic Taste

Best Name for a Blog

Best Published Author Blog

Best Book published in 2008

Best Meme/Carnival/Event

Most Extravagant Giveaways

Best Book Community site

Write In


Support your favorite blogs and bloggers! Nominations will close on August 31st.
We are still a spam blog according to Blogger. More than a month, and four requests, and still no response. What's up with that?

Rabu, 27 Agustus 2008

Twitter

I'm always on the prowl for new marketing tools that support blogging, and Twitter, a micro-blogging site, has become one of my favorite dailies. It's fast, easy, and effective. What more could you ask for when it comes to promoting your books?

There are tricks to maneuvering in Twitter. It doesn't work if you don't interact, post regularly, and communicate meaningfully. Once you "get it", it's fun. But, beyond that, there are benefits to participating that I didn't anticipate. Every single day, I find a links to sites that give me more information, ideas, and connections. They're useful sites that help me in my own work; sites I wouldn't have found on my own.

Today, I picked up this link at Twitter - http://www.sellingbooks.com/. Who doesn't want to learn more about Selling Books? I haven't explored it in great depth, but I will. It's a well-organized site, attractive, and loaded with the kind of added content that makes for many return visits.

What about the rest of you? Do you Twitter? What have you learned over there? Have you discovered any great new sites you didn't know about? What was the hardest thing about learning to Twitter? What's the biggest surprise now that you know how?

Give us a link so we can follow you on Twitter. Here's mine. You can peek at a few of my Twitter comments in the right column, too.

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Yet another day of no service from Blogger.com .... we are not spam!

Selasa, 26 Agustus 2008

Day 26 of the August Blogging Challenge

For every day of this challenge, and for many days in July, this blog has required word verification to publish its posts. Why? Because Blogger.com has tagged it as a potential spam blog. How can I get that reviewed and changed? By requesting via their link that a real person look at my blog. I have done that four times, with a week's mandatory wait in between. Still no word from them. Still the annoying requirement to word verify every single time I post or edit a blog. Being somewhat sight-impaired, this is not a convenient step, since I usually must repeat two or three times to get the letters right.

I've asked for help on various blogging forums. Nada.

I've asked for help on Blogger.com's own forum in several threads. Nada.

I'm stuck with Blogger.com because many of my newbie blogging authors have this platform and because WordPress doesn't allow me to upload photos on a dial-up line and Blogger.com does. I've reached the point that the inconvience of switching to another platform is no longer a hurdle, at least not psychologically. Blogger.com has made me that angry with their lack of service. I'd switch in a second if I had a faster service.

What would you do in this situation? Do you have any better ideas on how I can get a real person to look at this blog and deem it as worthy, useful, and definitely NOT spam? I ask you.

Senin, 25 Agustus 2008

Blog Book Tours Help

If you're an author visiting here for the first time, welcome to Blog Book Tours. We are here to support our Yahoo!Group, which is a peer network for published authors contemplating their own virtual tour. The site was started by Dani Greer who felt the notion had good potential to help authors keep down expenses, and was the only logical way to tour a book with the challenges we all face due to climate change and other environmental issues. Blog book tours are simply too good an idea not to promote.

The best way to understand more about the concept of blog book tours, is to click over to Dani's guide called The Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever. This will give you a run-down of what you, as an author, will need to do to plan your own blog tour. Once you've read that, click over to the Y! group and join. Folks there will be glad to answer questions and help you brainstorm ideas you have for your own tour.

If you'd like to host an author on your own blog, Helen Ginger has created a very useful guide to explain what will be expected of you. The most obvious points are that you have a very popular blog, and that the blog theme relates to the subject matter of the book you're hosting. Common sense there, and Helen's guide is filled with more obvious and not-so-obvious pointers.

Finally, remember that your own tour begins with a good blog of your own. Our support group has a Blog-a-Day Challenge twice a year, and even if you don't have a book to tour yet, it's never too early to start getting your tools in place for that kind of book promotion. It 's a long planning process and a year is not to soon to start thinking about and preparing for your own blog book tour. Start posting on your blog often to increase it's readership, and start searching for potential tour hosts. These two aspects take time and energy, and can't be accomplished the week before your anticipated tour. Give yourself at least three months of concentrated effort.

Are you considering a blog book tour for your book? If so, when? Or have you toured a book this way already? Would you consider doing it again? Leave us your comments.

Minggu, 24 Agustus 2008

The Power of Story

Picked up at Twitter, an article about The Power of Story on blogs at the ProBlogger site. A good read for anyone who regularly blogs and needs inspiration.

Happy Sunday all!

Sabtu, 23 Agustus 2008

Saturday - Writing Inspiration of the Day

A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
Thomas Mann

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That's certainly true of daily blogging, isn't it?

What's your favorite motivational writing quote?

Jumat, 22 Agustus 2008

Friday - Joke of the Day

What's your favorite writing joke?

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

How many publishers does it take to change a light bulb?
Three. One to change it and two to hold down the author.

How many editors does it take to change a light bulb?
Two, one to change the bulb and one to issue a rejection slip to the old bulb.

How many proofreaders does it take to change a light bulb?
Proofreaders aren't supposed to change light bulbs. They should just query them.

How many mystery writers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Two. One to screw it in almost all the way in and the other to give it a suprising twist at the end.

How many writers does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One to change the bulb and one to tell a long story about it.

How many literary critics does it take to change a light bulb?
Literary critics don't know how, but rest assured they'll find something wrong with the way you do it.

Kamis, 21 Agustus 2008

Thursday - Writing Tool of the Day

Give us a tool tip that really helps you with your writing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't think anything has changed the regularity and consistency of my writing quite as much as my Alphasmart. Like most owners, I fondly refer to him as Alphie.

Alphie goes everywhere with me. For several years now, I've made it a point to toss him into my tote everywhere I go that takes more than a few hours. He's with me in restaurants, the library, visiting relatives, in bed, and I can't imagine not having him at the tip of my fingers when riding in a car.

I don't think I truly appreciated Alphie and what he does for me until I got Bella, my new whore-red laptop. Bella is a hefty gal. Alphie weighs hardly anything compared to her. No wonder he's still a more frequent piece of carry-on luggage.

So what other outstanding characteristics of my Alphasmart quickly pop to mind? Here's a list:

  • Alphasmarts cost 1/3 or less than a laptop

  • They run on three AA batteries that last at least six months

  • They are virtually indestructible since they were made for school kids

  • They have eight 50-page files that upload easily to a Word file

  • Alphasmart customer service is excellent... if you should need it

  • They donate Alphasmarts to NaNoWriMo - how cool is that?


Here's a photo of my Alpie. Look at those sleek lines. I have the Neo version which comes without email capability. I chose this model in large part to eliminate that distraction, but the Dana version does have this added function among others. Go check it out. For just over $200, the Alphasmart Neo quickly becomes indispensible for any serious writer.

Since I bought my Alphie, two things have happened - they are now marketing directly to writers .... smart! and they have dropped the price... even smarter!

Rabu, 20 Agustus 2008

Wednesday - Writing Recipe of the Day

It must be fast and healthy. What's your favorite recipe for intense writing days?

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Spaghetti a la Checca

4 large vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
4 mashed or minced cloves of garlic
1 cup very good virgin olive oil
1 cup minced fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and cover, then let ingredients "marry" for several hours at room temperature.

Cook one pound of good spaghetti noodles per instructions, drain, and then pour fresh tomato mixture over piping hot pasta. Serve immediately with fresh- grated parmesan and/or romano cheese.

Alternately for raw food lovers, the sauce works very well over cold zucchini "noodles" shredded with a mandoline or spiral cutter. Omit the cheese for a vegan version.

Selasa, 19 Agustus 2008

Tuesday - Writing Tip of the Day

What's the one thing that gets you writing every single day?

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Must write 500 words first thing after waking up in the morning.... before peeing. Doesn't matter what you write. But you get the juices flowing really well (twice) with this technique. Hey, it works! It's all about doing the most important things first.

Monday - Copyright Issue of the Day

Scraping. How do you feel when someone copies one of your blog posts to another site... in it's entirety? Even with attribution?

There are so many variables, it's hard to know where to start. If someone has cut & pasted an entire lengthy blog post to make a point for their readers, I suppose it's flattering and another way for you to spread the word. We can justify it by thinking of it as free advertising, right?

But, what if the exact same scenario occurs and your post lands on a site that has other writings completely at odds with your philosophies, and has advertising that turns your stomach? How can you take a different stance when the scenario is almost identical - someone scraped your writing and attributed the text at another location without permission?

Therein lies the rub, and it's what complicates the position of "fair use" as it's called by the U.S. Copyright Office. The deciding point is sometimes as simple as whether the quoter asked for permission first. Here's a portion of the Copyright Office guideline:

"The distinction between 'fair use' and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission."

More information can be found by clicking here:

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

"The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. "

Free promotion or not, it's a fine line. Each person can come to their own conclusions about what they can tolerate. I would prefer to ask if the quote is more than a few lines. It's just as easy to paste a few sentences and then offer a link back to the original website rather than "borrow" the entire essay.

In some cases, permission isn't possible to obtain, as in the case of the above quoted text from the Copyright Office, but my use here is short and clearly would fall under "fair use" guidelines. Copying an entire article of the New York Times is not fair use. They, in fact, state so on their website.

Then there is the added issue of copyright and Terms of Service within communities like Google and Yahoo. These organizations also limit the copying of text within their domains. So, know what their rules are and abide by them. Terms of Service links are quite easy to find at their websites. Read the fine print.

Whether you think copying is okay or not, whether you believe it's harmless, or that you're doing someone a favor, is not the issue here. The laws exist for a reason and even if we don't completely agree with them, it's part of living in a civilized society to comply a little for the greater good. Besides, it's just good manners to ask, and good manners are also part of belonging to a civilized world.

For an example of what does work, click here for comments about The Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever posted on another blog. That I like!

Following laws, rules and other codes of conduct begins with us, not the other guy, and not just because we feel like it or because it's convenient. In the murky online realms, it might just be best to follow the letter of the law rather than bend the spirit of the law too much to suit our purposes. That way when someone really infringes on our copyrights to our great displeasure, we'll at least have a moral leg to stand on having taken a clear position right from the start.

How do you feel about having your blog posts copied to another site? What makes you feel good... or bad... about it? And why the difference?

Minggu, 17 Agustus 2008

The Challenge of Blogging Daily

The August Blogging Challengers are halfway through their contest of blogging every single day. Most of us are getting a bit tired of dreaming up exciting new posts, and are wondering whether we can keep this up after the month is over. The question is, do we have to?

A blog post per day is a good way to get some additional traffic to your blog, which is a particularly good idea before a blog book tour. But, it might not be necessary to keep your blog fresh quite this often as a normal practice. It's important to post at least twice a week, and three or four times is even better. But, unless you have a group blog and share the job with other people, it could become too much of a ... dare I say it?... drag to keep up the pace.

The point of this exercise is to develop a good habit over a period of thirty days. But, you can continue a very good habit three times a week, and that might work just as well. That's the number of posts that would work for me, especially since I like to pre-schedule several posts for the week on Monday.

What about the rest of you? Have you given any consideration to what your blogging schedule will be come September and for the remainder of the year? Do you have events or any special reasons that might make you increase your regular blogging? What are they? Give it some thought and tell us why and how you plan to continue your blogging practice when our contest is over.

Jumat, 15 Agustus 2008

How?

How to do I create a blog book tour? I get asked that question a lot.

First go to The Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever and read it. That's a basic overview. Tackle each step listed, one by one, regularly, systematically, and long before your book release.

Then, start improving your blog through regular and well-written posts, a sitemeter, a bookmarking widget, and a blogroll that includes all the blogs you wish would host a book tour for you.

Now go follow some successful blog book tours. There are a few listed in the right-hand column here. As you get ideas, make a list of them and start thinking how you might apply them to your own book tour.

Join a group like Blog Book Tours at Yahoo! Groups and read through past messages. Look at the links at the group and learn from them. Now that you have some foundation about the whole concept, ask questions. Have people critique your blog for further improvements. Ask them for advice. What is it about the concept that confuses you most?

This is the only way to get comfortable with the idea, and believe me, the more you immerse yourself in the idea, the more comfortable it will seem too you.

When do you start this process? The year before your book release. At least three months and that's cutting it short. It's a lot more work than you think it is. Many hours are spent finding the right tour hosts and then planning each tour stop with a well-crafted interview, review, or other bit of entertainment that will engage your fans, and make them want to buy your book. Don't leave this to chance. Don't leave it until the last minute. You get one opportunity to make an impression. Make it a good one.

How many authors out there have had a blog book tour? Would you do it again?

Kamis, 14 Agustus 2008

Where?

When blog book tours first became popular, they popped from city to city online, rather than live. That convention soon disappeared when bloggers realized there was no necessity to be tied to physical locations.

Now we rarely know the location of a blog that is hosting a tour stop. Still there is a sense of place that can really add to a blog book tour stop if it's utilized well. One of my favorite examples is at Steve Prosapio's blog.

In a recent series of book reviews, he interviewed authors at real locations with photos to give us serious atmosphere. It was new and cool again. So if the book you're reviewing is very "place" oriented, think about creating this sort of ambience with words and pictures. A strong sense of location could make for a very interesting tour stop.

Rabu, 13 Agustus 2008

Creating bootable Windows XP/2003 Disc with Nero Burning 6

Create a folder called OS on your hard drive (C: is used in this example).In this folder create two sub-folder called BOOT, and ROOT. Copy the entire Windows 2000/XP/2003 CD (or extract the ISO) into folder ROOT.BOOT Files1.) Download boot file from here .2.) Extract the BootSector file (boot.ima) from bootfiles-from-tacktech-website.zipinto the folder C:\OS\BOOTStart Nero Burning ROM.Select File

When?

When should you blog? Well, the answer to that is as personal as when should you write? What's your best writing time? When does your life allow for writing space?

Your blogging is just a part of that. It's "real" writing, and you need to consciously schedule time for it. One day a week? Perhaps you'll opt to write three related weekly posts on Monday. Or daily? Maybe you'll post something on your blog after dinner, each and every day.

The important thing is that you make time for it and do it with regularity. This is part of what will make your blog interesting to readers, and easier for you to accomplish. All the habit tricks you use for other writing apply to your blogging as well. Trust me, it's easier with a plan and discipline.

It's all part of your commitment to succeeding as a writer. Read Teagan Oliver's comments about commitment here.

Selasa, 12 Agustus 2008

What?

What are your reasons for blogging? I don't mean the reasons everyone else is giving you, because those will never be compelling enough reasons to make you blog. So what if it's the latest thing? What reasons can you create that make you want to blog?

Have you considered how easy it really is? It's a piece of cake compared to learning HTML and creating a real website. Many people are foregoing a website completely as blogging becomes more sophisticated and at the same time easier for the user.

And what is blogging really? Just another place to publish your writing. Aren't we always on the look-out for more writing opportuntiies and places for our words to magically appear? There's a little button at the bottom of your post that reads, "publish" and that's exactly what it means. Your words are live when you hit that key, and the world can read what you have to say.

There's power in that, even on a blog. Have you thought of it in this way, rather than as a chore you have to do because someone else says so? Writing is work. Blogging is work. But both are part and parcel of being a published author. It's your life's work. Love it, because it's fun and you live to write.

Right?

Senin, 11 Agustus 2008

Housekeeping

It's amazing how clutter builds up everywhere, and that includes on your blogs. Have you looked at your blog sidebars lately? Does any of that make sense to your readers? Two of my blogrolls right here are a mess. They don't make a bit of sense. I need to clean that up this week.

What about your blogrolls? Why do they exist? If you're planning a blog book tour, we suggest you have one blogroll for just your possible hosts. These are sites you've reviewed for potential, visit regularly, and post comments on so they get to know you. They're your social blogs, the getting-to-know-you pals who might give your book a boost down the road.

Do you do housekeeping in your virtual world on a regular basis? How often? It might not be a bad idea to consciously and objectively review your sites on a regular basis. Weekly wouldn't be too often with some of my e-Cleaning needs.

Minggu, 10 Agustus 2008

What's in a name?

Maybe a lot. One of our blogging challengers is writing a book out of her genre and is considering a pseudonym. Here's a fun meme to try out some new monikers:

1. Your real name: Daniella

2. Your Gangsta name:(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle)Danizzle

3. Your Detective name:(fave color and fave animal)Red Feline

4. Your Soap Opera name:(your middle name and street you live on) Mariah Love -- oooh, I feel a romance novel in my future!

5. Your Star Wars name:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Greda

6. Your Superhero name:(your 2ND favorite color, and favorite drink) Blacktonic

7. Your Iraqi name:(2ND letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your middle name, 2ND letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your dads middle name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, and last letter of your moms middle name) Aemaida

8. Your Witness Protection name:(parents middle names) Marta Cliff

9. Your Goth name:(black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Portia

I'm tagging these three bloggers, in case you're ever asked to write something ... you know, different:) Like a children's story. Or something.

lj Sellers
Dana Fredsti
Karen Syed

Even if you're not tagged, do the exercise.

Thanks again to 50 Memes!

Sabtu, 09 Agustus 2008

What's your rank?

That is to say, your amazon.com ranking? One way to measure the success of your blog book tour, is by checking your book's rating before, during, and after a tour. Comparing your rankings over the course of a month will give you a good indication of the tour success. Titlez.com is an easy way to get this information. Go try it out right now, and make a note of your ranking today. Then imagine what you would like your next book's rank to be!

Jumat, 08 Agustus 2008

The numbers game

Week One of the August Blogging Challenge has passed. It's now time for the participants to check their traffic statistics and compare them to a prior period when their posting was low -- just to confirm that the effort put into regular posting will really reap some results.

All bloggers should have a hit counter of some sort. I use Sitemeter which unfortunately had some issues during their move to a new server. So I don't know how accurate my statistics will be for the entire week. But, one of our challengers reports that he had 500 hits this week, a first in his blogging history.

This is exactly the kind of confirmation an author needs to validate the effort of regular blogging. You might not post daily all through the year, but raising your blog's profile and making it more "sticky" prior to a blog book tour is a good way to prepare for a successful online book promotion.

Make the numbers work for you. Most definitely learn to read the reports. Poke around at your counter's website and see what kind of reports you can generate, and then really look at them. They're really not all that confusing, and you might be in for some pleasant surprises.

Tomorrow, another report that every author needs to pay attention to, before, during, and after a blog book tour.

Rabu, 06 Agustus 2008

We are all linked

Linking is one of the most important ways to raise the profile of your blog. Social marketing maven, Tiffany Dow, explains it on her blog. She also talks about keywords, and I'll discuss that a bit more in a later post. For now, pay attention to her advice about growing your blog traffic in a slow and organic way through linking to other sites. And always, always link related sites of your own to each other. Linking is so important, within each post, in your signature, and in your sidebars. Create a neat and tidy linked package.

Selasa, 05 Agustus 2008

So Who am I?

People often ask me why I'm promoting blog book tours for free. Because I'm a kept woman and have nothing better to do? Wrong.

I'm a writer, and I'm fully aware that in today's publishing world, authors must offer up a promotion package with their manuscript submissions that puts the load of the selling squarely on their shoulders. In the traditional paradigm, that means they will likely travel. And I hate to travel.

Even worse, I hate the hotels, the airports, the food, not sleeping in my own bed, and that's just to name a few details I can get disgruntled about. I just flat-out don't like being away from home to work, and I don't like conferences either.

Fortunately for me, there is an oil crisis and travel will soon be curtailed for all of us. That means we all get to find better ways to promote. I knew early on that blogs and other virtual world vehicles would be my ride. So here I am, happily blazing my own new road.

That isn't to say, some traveling won't be part of my life as I promote in the future. But I think it's smart to consider new options. What about you?

Maybe a live book tour will be shorter, more concentrated in a region, and you might take fellow authors along and make it a group project. Even better, look for accomodations that are "green" and different from the usual hotel scenario. Why not try planning a more unusual trip for your next live book tour and enjoy the journey a little more while you're touring? Here's a link to the Green Vacation Hub that might get your imagination flowing. If not for you, then maybe for a character in your next book?

Senin, 04 Agustus 2008

So Sorry?

Picked up on Twitter and so true:

I must delete some of my rss feeds, so I just now decided, any blog that apologizes for not posting, they're out. One gone already!

Don't apologize for not posting. If you must, sneak back in and back-date some posts so it looks like you've been paying attention to your blog all along. Or commit to daily posts for a month so that your blog looks fresh. Then collapse your archives so previous months' don't tattletale about former bad habits.

There are ways and there are ways.

Minggu, 03 Agustus 2008

Are you pinging?

Pinging is a way to give your blog a little boost by notifying an online service that you've updated your blog. This technique is much more proactive than waiting for the web crawlers at Google to notice you. I use Pingoat and once you're there, it's easy peasy. Just fill in the blanks, and click on all the services you want notified. If you click on the header in each category, all the items within will be checked. Don't do this too often, but once or twice a week after you update your blog is a good idea. This takes less than 60 seconds. Do it!

Sabtu, 02 Agustus 2008

"Bee" a perfect blogger

Pro-blogger and blogging guru, Chris Garrett explains how to "bee" a perfect blogger. Here's good advice for authors preparing their own blogs for an impending blog book tour. Be sure to read the comments, too, because there are plenty of good insights and tips there.

Be sure to bookmark Chris' site and stop by often for the very best blogging help available. He's also on Twitter, and the above-mentioned article was picked up there. If you're not tweeting yet, I recommend it for a quick and easy way to give and get valuable information and links.

Jumat, 01 Agustus 2008

A Smashing Idea

Picked up at Twitter, Smashing Magazine offers up fifteen tools purported to make your blogging life easier. Do any of them work? I haven't tried them since the actual act of blogging isn't that difficult for me. But, if you're a virtual gadget lover, this might offer you some tools you'll like, and the article is definitely worth a read. Clear overviews and a clean wrap-up make it worth your while. This eMagazine is definitely worth exploring further.

Thanks, aboutbooks, for the heads-up.

Kamis, 31 Juli 2008

The Perfect Plan

Few things make an entrepreneur's heart sink quite as deeply as the prospect of creating a business plan, and yet that one monumental step might be exactly the thing to ensure success in the long-term endeavor. It doesn't have to be as daunting as it sounds, and it can be downright fun.

The same holds true for blogging. Having a good blog is an important part of your long-term blog book tour success, but you must have a plan so your blog does all that it can and should accomplish.

You can start by answering a few simple questions:

  • Who?
  • What?
  • Where?
  • When?
  • How?
  • Why?

Arrange them in any order you like, and each day think about one question and it's relationship to your blog.

Today, let's use Who. Look at your blog with an objective eye, and decide if it truly reflects who you are. Who is the person behind the image? Is this an author's blog? Who is that writer? Is your readership seeing you the way you would like them to? Who are you? And what can you say in your next post that will give a clearer indication? How can you change your blog to more closely reflect the personality you'd like to project? Are you all over the map? Sound whine-y? Foul-mouthed? Or do you seem like someone you'd like to meet? With interesting commentary and good writing that makes people come back for more.

If you have time, take it a step further and look at who you're linking to. Do they reflect your focus on the blog? Or have those links just been there forever and they really need a little housekeeping?

Happy August and good blogging!

Sabtu, 26 Juli 2008

August Blogging Challenge

We're issuing a challenge to all you blogging authors to help get your blogs in good shape for a blog book tour. August is The One-Post-Per-Day Blog Challenge. Post each day, every day.

Anyone who participates can leave a comment and link here so we go over to leave messages on your blogs. The idea is to get your blog active and noticed by the search engines before your tour. So start thinking about how you're going to beef things up on your blog; you don't want to bore us to tears with useless drivel.

If you don't know what a blog book tour is, go read The Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever. You'll find more useful tips to get your blog in topnotch shape for a dynamite blog tour. It all starts with your blog - that's the launching pad for the best tours.

If you want to participate with a group, this challenge is homebased at the Blog Book Tours Yahoo!Group. You must give your full name and book title to join the group.

Selasa, 24 Juni 2008

Starry, Starry Night

Tasha Tudor, beloved children's book illustrator, recently passed into spirit. She led a life of 1830s simplicity and fans know her not only for her Corgyville art, but also for her love of dollhouses and miniatures. She, like generations before her, was fascinated by the wonder of smallness, and I confess an intrigue of dollhouses myself, though I prefer someone else's collection to enjoy, living vicariously through their intense and intricate efforts in creating these magical worlds.

When a new book for young readers recently came to my attention, it was not only the subject of miniatures but the “Starry Night” included in the title that caught my attention. As a professional artist, Van Gogh's painting immediately came to mind, and indeed the book deals with a stolen Van Gogh, but this one a professional copy created for a dollhouse collection. The mysterious plot deals with recovery of the missing miniature, and who amongst the avid gallery of miniatures afficianodos could have coveted it enough to commit theft. Best friends join up with a clever pet Dachsund to find the thief and recover the painting.
Although the book is written for youngsters age 10-15, the information about miniatures is in-depth and technical enough to hold the attention of an adult. On the flip-side, this aspect might make it too involved for just any teen, unless they were passionate about art in general, or miniatures in particular. Still the plot moved things along nicely, the descriptions are well-written, and the characters well-drawn. I wouldn't hesitate to buy the book for the right young reader... or for an adult fan of the miniatures world.

Searching for a Starry Night is my second foray into eBooks and both were Echelon Press imprints. I am impressed with the quality of the writing in each book from this publishing company. Visit their website to view more of their publications. Most of the titles are available in eBook and paperback format to suit the reader's choice, options that are becoming evermore popular in book publishing.

Be sure to hit all the blogs on this book tour - each stop will give you added and interesting information about this small but captivating art form.
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May 31 - Sam from Searching for a Starry Night tells her best friend's story at My Best Friend's Story
June 17 Margaret Grace, author of Murder in Miniature and I answer the same questions as she hosts me at the Killer Hobbies and I host her at Candid Canine
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Stop by and ask some questions. Post a comment on each of the blogs, sign up for newsletters and enter to win some miniature prizes and books!
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Finally, you may purchase a copy of the book at amazon.com.
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Christine Verstraete is author of Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery. The book was published in June 2008 by Quake. She also is an award-winning journalist whose stories have appeared in various newspapers and magazines. Her short fiction will appear in Cat Tales Magazine from Wildside Press and NEWN Magazine, as well as online at Mouth Full of Bullets and Futures Mysterious Anthology. Her short horror story, The Witch Tree, was a contest winner published by Echelon Press. She also is author of the e-book, In Miniature Style, with stories about collectors, photos of their miniatures, and how-to projects. Visit her at her website for all the latest news.

Rabu, 30 April 2008

Nightshade wrap-up

Last November, Susan Wittig Albert graciously shared with us information and tips for a successful blog book tour after completing her very first. You can read about it here. In this conversation, she'll share with us her latest experience and insight after finishing a second tour, this one for Nightshade, the most recent release in her long-running and popular China Bayles herbal mystery series.

Welcome back, Susan.

In the most recent tour, you had a new approach to get blog hosts. Tell us how that worked (with the online questionaire). How many bloggers filled out the form and how did you choose the finalists?

For the past 7 or 8 years, I've been building an active email list. Currently, mailings go out to about 10,000 people. On my email list, I invited bloggers to visit an online information page: an outline of what I wanted to achieve with the blog tour, how hosts could participate, and what we both might gain. I also posted the URL on various lists. The page is here. 400+ bloggers visited the page; 24 applied. I visited the blogs, looking for those that seemed compatible with the spirit of the books. I was interested in traffic (of course), but also in introducing the books to a variety of audiences. I chose blogs that targeted gardeners, naturalists, mystery readers/writers, and (in one case) library patrons. I invited two bloggers (who had not responded to the questionnaire) because they are friends and have a different audience.

You decided to promote the entire series, and not just the new book, in this three-week tour. How do you think that worked? Could you tell if you got sales boosts on all the titles in the series? Would you do this again? Do you feel it diverted attention from Nightshade or did it help?

I promoted all the books because new readers to the series don't want to start with the new hardcover. I'd like to acquaint readers with the series, not with just one book. Does that help Nightshade sales? Eventually, sure. One of my jobs as a writer is to write a book--any book--that makes the reader want to read more. A reader who starts with Book 5, might go back to Book 1 and read the whole series, eventually reaching Nightshade (probably about the time it comes out in paperback).



Sales? No, I can't tell a thing. The only way you can ever tie sales to a specific marketing strategy is to direct buyers to one sales point and I don't do that. The books are sold in chain bookstores and big box stores, independent bookstores, online, and on my website. There's no way to judge the effect of my blog tour, as I designed it, on the book sales. I do this on faith, and because I enjoy it. And yes, I will once again promote the whole series, if I do this again. (That said, it was gratifying to see Spanish Dagger hit the New York Times extended bestseller list, the Booksense list, and two Barnes & Noble bestseller lists.)

How did you prep your blog hosts this time? Did you have any new tricks developed since the first tour? Cheat sheets? Reminder schedule? Kick in the pants? Threats from Guido??

I sent everyone a welcome email, a how-to email, an email about promoting the visit, another how-to email along with my guest post, and a post asking for traffic counts. The posts all went up on time. One blogger had trouble posting photos. Another just didn't get it (poor choice on my part—this was one of the invited bloggers) and two bloggers had no traffic stats.

How did you promote the tour? What forums, communities, listservs? How did you use your own blog to promote tour stops? Any new insights since the first tour?

I promoted the tour in my eletters, my blog, on my website, on related listservs, on MySpace, on GoodReads. I did more coaxing/directing from my own blog than I did on my previous tour (with The Tale of Hawthorn House, in the Cottage Tales series), and I posted a "preview" of each host blog. Readers commented that they enjoyed the previews--I'll do that again.

How are you gauging results of the tour? What numbers are important to you? Hits on the book drawing page, your own blog traffic, reports from other bloggers, titlez.com, what else?

All the above. The blog hosts collected the unique visits for the three days of my visit (the three days readers could enter the drawing for that blog) and reported the numbers to me. I have no way of verifying their accuracy, but they all seem more or less in line. In addition, I have the number of entries in the 15 book drawings, which stayed high throughout the blog tour. Traffic to my blog is up by about 20%, to the website, about 15%.

You had an overlapping live tour with the blog tour? How did that work? Would you do that again?

Most of the people I meet on the live tour aren't Internet-oriented. They belong to garden clubs, library Friends groups, and so on. It's not the same market, so there's not really an overlap. The time element is an issue, yes. I usually plan to devote April to book promotion, though (the books are published in April), so in that sense, it doesn't matter whether I'm blogging or live-touring.


Time commitment from me. This was a biggie. Estimated times, probably conservative:

Obtaining a pool of potential blog hosts and choosing the hosts, 8 hours.
Calendaring and confirming with blog hosts, 4 hours.
Mailing ARCs, 2 hours.
Writing blog posts, 20 hours.
"Previewing" host blogs on my blog, 4 hours.
Communicating with blog hosts, 4 hours.
Promoting tour, 4 hours.
Checking guests posts and commenting 15 hours.
Sending thank-you books to host, 2 hours

Total: 63 hours, a bit more than 4 hours per blog

Maybe I overdid it? Should I have cut back to 10 blogs and saved 20 hours? Should I have cut back on the complexity of the blog posts, or the previewing, or comments on the blogs? Maybe. I was stretched for time, certainly.

Length of tour. When the posts were written and I saw what I'd done, I thought it was too long. But some people didn't find out about it until halfway through, and were glad it was still going on. Also, now I have all that material, and am thinking about ways I can recycle it.

Thanks, Susan. I already have a few more questions, but will wait until you're back from your live tour! Anybody else? Leave a comment for Susan or me if you have anything you'd like to add or ask.

Minggu, 30 Maret 2008

A New amazon.com Mandate?

I'm not very happy about amazon.com's new "buy button" fiasco. If they don't end this curious bid at POD publishing monopoly, my amazon.com links will soon be removed from this page. I would encourage everyone using these sales links to switch over to Barnes & Noble for they have a similar affiliate program. You can read more at Writers Weekly where Angela Hoy tells the break-out story. Sign petitions! Spread the word! Don't settle for anything less than fair!

Jumat, 14 Maret 2008

Kitty Knits

I love cats. I knit with passion. I like Donna Druchunas. It doesn't take a stretch of imagination to figure out why I'm hosting a tour stop here for her new book, Kitty Knits. I received it in the mail yesterday, a few weeks before my hosting date, so that'll give me plenty of time to knit a few dozen of those cool felted mice, a doorknob dangle toy, and maybe a felted bed. Although the bed may have to wait until I make the lace shawl for myself. So many great projects! Read more at the Queen of Socks blog by clicking here.



That's Donna with DeeDee. Aren't they cute?

Rabu, 20 Februari 2008

Tagged!


I got this marvelous award from Helen Ginger who tagged me at Straight From Hel! I'm giving this meme a good deal of thought, so watch here for my comments and a list of who's next.

Rabu, 30 Januari 2008

The Van Gogh Blues by Eric Maisel

Early last year, I was honored to host Eric Maisel during his blog book tour for Ten Zen Seconds. I received the added benefit of surviving a dreadful cataract surgery thanks to the tips and inspiration in the book! Today, our tour spotlights the softcover reprint of Eric's highly popular book, The Van Gogh Blues. And again, I find myself with a tool to navigate changes in my life, this time dealing with the stresses of switching careers and life meaning from painter and gallery owner to writer, a shift that has proven much more challenging and distressing than anything I might have imagined. Read on for some comments from the author:

HBP: Eric, can you tell us what The Van Gogh Blues is about?


E: For more than 25 years I’ve been looking at the realities of the creative life and the make-up of the creative person in books like Fearless Creating, Creativity for Life, Coaching the Artist Within, and lots of others. A certain theme or idea began to emerge: that creative people are people who stand in relation to life in a certain way—they see themselves as active meaning-makers rather than as passive folks with no stake in the world and no inner potential to realize. This orientation makes meaning a certain kind of problem for them—if, in their own estimation, they aren’t making sufficient meaning, they get down. I began to see that this “simple” dynamic helped explain why so many creative people—I would say all of us at one time or another time—get the blues.

To say this more crisply, it seemed to me that the depression that we see in creative people was best conceptualized as existential depression, rather than as biological, psychological, or social depression. This meant that the treatment had to be existential in nature. You could medicate a depressed artist but you probably weren’t really getting at what was bothering him, namely that the meaning had leaked out of his life and that, as a result, he was just going through the motions, paralyzed by his meaning crisis.

HPB: Are you saying that whenever a creative person is depressed, we are looking at existential depression? Or might that person be depressed in “some other way”?

E: When you’re depressed, especially if you are severely depressed, if the depression won’t go away, or if it comes back regularly, you owe it to yourself to get a medical work-up, because the cause might be biological and antidepressants might prove valuable. You also owe it to yourself to do some psychological work (hopefully with a sensible, talented, and effective therapist), as there may be psychological issues at play. But you ALSO owe it to yourself to explore whether the depression might be existential in nature and to see if your “treatment plan” should revolve around some key existential actions like reaffirming that your efforts matter and reinvesting meaning in your art and your life.

HBP: So you’re saying that a person who decides, for whatever reason, that she is going to be a “meaning maker,” is more likely to get depressed by virtue of that very decision. In addition to telling herself that she matters and that her creative work matters, what else should she do to “keep meaning afloat” in her life? What else helps?

E: I think it is a great help just to have a “vocabulary of meaning” and to have language to use so that you know what is going on in your life. If you can’t accurately name a thing, it is very hard to think about that thing. That’s why I present a whole vocabulary of meaning in The Van Gogh Blues and introduce ideas and phrases like “meaning effort,” “meaning drain,” “meaning container,” and many others. When we get a rejection letter, we want to be able to say, “Oh, this is a meaning threat to my life as a novelist” and instantly reinvest meaning in our decision to write novels, because if we don’t think that way and speak that way, it is terribly easy to let that rejection letter precipitate a meaning crisis and get us seriously blue. By reminding ourselves that is our job not only to make meaning but also to maintain meaning when it is threatened, we get in the habit of remembering that we and we alone are in charge of keeping meaning afloat—no one else will do that for us. Having a vocabulary of meaning available to talk about these matters is a crucial part of the process.

HBP: This is the paperback version of The Van Gogh Blues, How was the hardback version received?

E: Very well! The reviewer for the Midwest Book Review called The Van Gogh Blues “a mind-blowingly wonderful book.” The reviewer for Library Journal wrote, "Maisel persuasively argues that creative individuals measure their happiness and success by how much meaning they create in their work.” I’ve received countless emails from artists all over the world thanking me for identifying their “brand” of depression and for providing them with a clear and complete program for dealing with that depression. I hope that the paperback version will reach even more creative folks—and the people who care about them.

HBP: How does The Van Gogh Blues tie in with other books that you’ve written?

E: I’m interested in everything that makes a creative person creative and I’m also interested in every challenge that we creative people face. I believe that we have special anxiety issues and I spelled those out in Fearless Creating. I believe that we have a special relationship to addiction (and addictive tendencies) and with Dr. Susan Raeburn, an addiction professional, I’ve just finished a book called Creative Recovery, which spells out the first complete recovery program for creative people. That’ll appear from Shambhala late in 2008. I’m fascinated by our special relationship to obsessions and compulsions and am currently working on a book about that. Everything that we are and do interests me—that’s my “meaning agenda”!

HBP: What might a person interested in these issues do to keep abreast of your work?

E: They might subscribe to my two podcast shows, The Joy of Living Creatively and Your Purpose-Centered Life, both on the Personal Life Media Network. You can find a show list for The Joy of Living Creatively
here and one for Your Purpose-Centered Life here. They might also follow this tour, since each host on the tour will be asking his or her own special questions. Here is the complete tour schedule. If they are writers, they might be interested in my new book, A Writer’s Space, which appears this spring and in which I look at many existential issues in the lives of writers. They might also want to subscribe to my free newsletter, in which I preview a lot of the material that ends up in my books (and also keep folks abreast of my workshops and trainings). But of the course the most important thing is that they get their hands on The Van Gogh Blues!—since it is really likely to help them.