Category: sues blog

Do Authors need a website? Yes, because websites are THE best way for authors to showcase their book.

WHY?

A web presence allows writers to establish a brand, collect email addresses, sell books, blog and much more. What better way to present your book than your very own website.

Even in this age of social media, having a website is really important. A recent study by the Codex Group showed that that websites are one of the key ways people find out about books.

Surprisingly, in terms of new book discovery, Facebook and Twitter are much less influential than author websites because of search engine optimization and keywords. When you type in an author’s name, his/her website is first thing that comes up. To be the first result that pops up in a Google search is reason enough to have a website.

This visibility gives you the opportunity to control your message and to craft the experience that you want  the person who has taken the time to Google you — to see.

A very important aspect of your website is that it gives you the opportunity to capture people’s email addresses and to build a newsletter list.

Your mailing list is extremely important, even if you’re a literary fiction writer. People who give you their names and email addresses are telling you that they’re interested in you and your work and want to know more about you; they want to be kept up to date. Even just a 100-person list matters because you can use it as a mini-focus group, testing book covers and plot ideas, and you can easily alert your fans about new releases. And over time that list will grow and grow.

Once you understand how to use your blog  well, and you get in the groove (and you build up your mailing list, social networking fan base ) you’ll be able to reach your readers directly whenever, however, you want.

This is powerful because you can invite them to provide their feedback, both publicly through blog comments, Facebook message  and Twitter.

Here are reasons why you need a website to promote your book..Check out my video

I can get you up and running with your very own author website design on WordPress, which is very user friendly and easy for you to maintain. No technical experience needed. For more information click here

Hemingway App makes your writing bold and clear.

A few clients have asked me about tips on making their writing more clear and easier to read. For do-it-your-selvers, my suggestion is to use The Hemingway Editor. The Hemingway Editor is a unique writing app that will help develop your writing and blogging skills.

From what I understand, the Hemingway Editor is fashioned after the writing style of Ernest Hemingway. He was renowned for his economical, understated writing style. A writing style is appreciated in the Blogging World.

The Hemingway Editor measures your writing in a most unique way. It gives you a “Readability” grading, raw meta data, and then my favorite part:

Hemingway will highlight…
Sentences that are hard to read.
Sentences that are very hard to read.
Adverbs you should consider revising.
Words or phrases that could be simpler.
And my favorite, passive voice.

You don’t need to change everything Hemingway Editor flags. But, following Hemingway’s advice in these areas you can develop your writing style by using clear concise words to get your blog content across to your readers.

You can buy the app for your device or use The Hemingway Editor straight on their website for free.
There is also a desktop version that gives you the ability to save your work, write in Markdown and see a HTML preview side-by-side.

Using the desktop app is a far better plan than writing directly into WordPress or even the free online Hemingway Editor. Being able to write posts offline and save drafts locally is a great way to insure that I don’t lose blog posts! It even includes a few other cool options that the free browser based solution does not:

Save and open text (.txt) and Markdown (.md) files.
Format with Markdown, preview it, and export to HTML.
No Internet connection required.

While I don’t always take Hemingway’s suggestions, I think it is helping me become a much better writer and blogger. This is one tool I recommend to help you write with a clear, bold voice.
Try it …..let me know what you think.
http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

Pinterest has improved their analytical tools. With the new Pinterest Analytics features, you can get new data about your audience which will help you can learn what your customers really want.  The new Pinterest Analytics tool gives you access to a variety of data, including how potential customers interact with your pins beyond your website.

Social Media Examiner has a great article explaining how the new Pinterest Analytics Tool work. the new feature I particularly like is the new Activity From category which shows your website’s top pins and top boards and how their impressions, repins and clicks stack up.

This is valuable because you can easily tell which topics are resonating with your audience (and create similar content for even more pins). Great marketing strategy.

With Pinterest Analytics, you’ll learn:

• What Pins and boards from your profile people love most
• What people like to save from your website
• Who your Pinterest audience is, including their gender, location and other interests
• What devices people use when they’re Pinning your stuff
• How adding the Pin It button to your website leads to referral traffic from Pinterest

to log in and view your analytics go to analytics.pinterest.com 
Read the complete blog post   here

Do you want more visibility for your books?

Run a blog tour.  Running a blog tour can build excitement for your book, and expose your book to new audiences and make more book sales.

Benefits of a Blog Tour

• Get known to more readers.
• Get reviews.
• Show off your expertise.
• Sell books.

Important Elements of a Blog Tour

Here are the things to decide on before you run your tour:

• Time Period: Decide how many days, what days of the week (weekends or not; holidays or not) you want to run the tour for example  one stop a week for 12 weeks
  30 stops within a month
  10 stops in two weeks.
  The trick to designing a blog tour is to determine how much time you want to invest in this promotion activity. If you have lots of time, do a 30-day tour. If you don’t have much time or are busy during the week, you can organize a tour of 1 stop per week,
• Blogger Types: There are many kinds of bloggers who love, love, love to read and review books, and host writers on their sites. A special breed of bloggers exist and call themselves ’book bloggers.’ They each have favorite kinds of genres to review, with their own rules about what they will or will not feature. In addition to book bloggers, search out experts in your field and subject matter expertise, including bloggers who focus on such topics as writing, freelancing, mommy-entrepreneur sites, independent publishing, etc.
• Giveaways:Giveaways build buzz and excitement.
  Give away an eBook or physical book at every blog stop. Ask people to comment or answer a question relevant to the blog topic. This helps weed out those prize hounds who just want free things, and helps focus on those people who want something free AND are your potential readers and fans.
• Writing: Bloggers like a guest post that features an aspect of your book. Blog Hosts like Question and Answer pieces, feature an excerpt, and/or a review. Or a combination of the above. If you’re really busy and feel like you don’t have ideas, you can offer to do just a Q&A.For guest posts, create a subject list related to your book. Focus it so that it’s easy for the bloggers to pick a topic they know will interest their readers. For example, a client’s list of topics for guest posting was: writing historical fiction, clothing and customs 1700, Costa Rica heritage, environmental concerns, and religious freedom. Her book was set in Costa Rica in the 1700’s

During your blog tour

•  During the tour you’ll want to share about it! You can share your blog tour stops on Twitter, FaceBook Fan page, your blog or site (I recommend having your blog schedule there), yahoo groups, your newsletter, and emails to your fans and readers.
• Comments: Participate in your own tour. Bloggers and readers are participating in the tour and want to meet you. Get involved and thank them personally and comment back.

After your blog tour:

• Thank your blog hosts.
• Remind them to post reviews.
• Ask yourself what worked and what you’d like to do differently, if you ran another blog tour.

Blog tours are really beneficial in getting the word out about your new book.. They can be time consuming. If you need some help,just contact me.

As a writer have you thought about this?

Being an author in 2013 is like being a small business owner. You need a marketing strategy or you will go out of business. If people can’t find you, they can’t buy your book.
In my experience having a digital marketing strategy is absolutely essential.
Blogs or websites are the foundation of a digital strategy. Not only do blogs give authors the opportunity to stay connected with their readers, they also position the author as an expert. Blogs are also the absolute best way to drive traffic to websites. For book authors in a competitive marketplace, the need to blog couldn’t be higher. Let’s take a closer look at some of the compelling reasons why you, as an author, need to blog.

1. Blogs

are a natural extension of you as a writer. Consider the time you spend blogging as an extension of your job as a writer. Are you aware that publishing a book or producing any professional writing, is a small business. It is the author’s responsibility to build a long-term Web strategy. To communicate 24/7, which is now the expectation and the norm, you need to develop different types of content.
Blogging
– is a great way to share your knowledge
– test how your content resonates, and collaborate with others.
– Develop a readership base by putting out a blog on a regular schedule — whether that’s once per week or twice per month.
Blogs provide the opportunity to link your content to your books, eBooks, whitepapers, audio recordings, slide presentations, videos and webinars.
There are lots of cross-promotional opportunities.

2. Write your next book.

Yes, creating your next book is not as easy as stringing together a collection of your blogs, but it’s much easier to write a 500 to 1,000 word blog than it is to type out a 50,000 word book. Since big projects are more easily accomplished in small bites, view your blog writing as a laser-like focus on creating the chapters of your next book, one chapter at a time. The act of writing your blogs might point you in a different direction for your next book project based on audience response or a topic that resonates with you the most.

3.Drive traffic to your site.

when you regularly blog, you can include links to other blogs on your site and a link to a book you are promoting. You can share your blog in other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter where people can click on your blog and go directly to your website. You can also offer your blog as a guest blog to other popular websites in your niche, and build your following and traffic to your website at the same time. The comments section,on your blog in particular, is a great forum for fostering discussions with your readership. You can end your blogs with a question or a direct call to action asking for feedback. When you participate in the discussion with your readers, you are investing in your audience and networking online.

Blogs are a powerful tool.
You can find readers who are interested in your subject, build anticipation for your book, network with others in your field, establish a foundation for your social media marketing and showcase your value by letting readers sample your content. Online branding with a blog is no longer a luxury or an afterthought — it is a necessity. And, it actually can be quite fun!
I can help get you started click here to contact me.