12/13/2010 • 1:48 PM 5

Writers Top Ten: Why blogging about publishing is important

Image via Wikipedia

My father does not understand me.

This was a given when I was a teenager.

Time passed.

Nothing changed.

When the subject of my online work came up, my father said, in a tone that could only be termed condescending, “Why would you bother with that?” He means well, which is never soothing though for some reason it’s supposed to ease the pain of casual negation. Think of that. Have you ever not taken offense when anyone starts out with, “No offence, but…”

But to the question, why do I bother with Chazz Writes? Well, lots of reasons (beyond the simple enjoyment of bagging on my 84-year-old father.)

1. I write because I can do naught else. He really should get that by now.

2. I write to learn what I think about things. Don’t you find your thoughts are better articulated and organized when they go through your keyboard first?

3. I write to educate and, in so doing, I become better educated about writing and the publishing industry. I research a hippo’links before I shoot them your way. Curation is a large part of what I do on the blog.

4. I write for recognition. As detailed in my previous post (immediately below), I’ve decided it’s important to become a fame whore and not just the regular sort we all are (i.e. for money.)

5. I write so clients can find me. That happy pic up there? It takes you to my business site where there’s a free trial for editing manuscripts. I also edit websites for a flat rate. I write and I edit and this, all of this, is an ad. And yet, I am unashamed.

6. I write to build a following. When I kick my fiction out into the world, I want an audience to be ready. Eager even!

7. I write for myself. It’s not just for business. Without the business side, I’d do it anyway. (I wrote a couple of blogs before this one.) In short, it’s fun.

8. I write as a distraction from my “real” writing. When one of my book chapters fails to get written or edited as quickly as I’d like, my blog post can succeed where other ambitions may (temporarily) fall short.

9. I write the blog for the energy and feedback my readers give me through their comments, their attention and the chakra vortex I have hooked up which funnels your etheric power through your tilde key, through the interwebs and into my root chakra. So, thanks readers!

10. I write for the pure enjoyment of gentle vengeance upon family members who don’t get what I do. That’s right. I said it. Vengeance. Chazz does not take condescension well! Condescension makes Chazz write of himself in the third person! It’s that serious.

Here’s a spot-on and more serious link about why you should familiarize yourself

with what’s going on in the publishing industry:

Ten Reasons to Get to Know and Get Involved in the Publishing Industry

from Pens with Cojones.

(I love that name, don’t you? Just don’t think through to the disturbing visual… D’oh!)

Why the iPad Will Not Save the Publishing Industry (woorkup.com)
Why book publishing needs the Silicon Valley way (macworld.com)
Avoid the Many Pitfalls of Book Publishing (terrywhalin.blogspot.com)
Publishing Industry and Music Industry | all these birds with teeth: this is not about science. (birdswithteeth.wordpress.com)
The ings before publishing part three: convening (sararyan.com)
How to promote your book (the-write-spot.com)
So, You Want to Publish Your Own Book? (dailyfinance.com)
Writer Reality Check (warriorwriters.wordpress.com)
The Local Lit Scene Gets Busy Online (chicagoist.com)
When is the Best Time to Publish Blog Posts? [Infographic] (hubspot.com)
How to publish a Kindle ebook (teleread.com)
Publishers leery of doing business with Apple (tuaw.com)

Filed under: links, My fiction, publishing, Rant, Top Ten, Useful writing links, What about Chazz?, Writers, Author, blogging, book, book business, I write because, Publish, publishing, publishing advice, publishing industry knowledge, publishing links, Reasons for writing, self-publishing, writer, writing

12/13/2010 • 9:54 AM 0

We tell our stories. It’s not supposed to be about fame. Or is it?

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You’re at your computer. You’re in a coffee shop. You’re in your bed. You’re at your desk. You’re thinking of me reaching out to you through these words.

I’m here at my keyboard, typing these words, thinking of you and how isolated we are from each other.

I’m thinking about how isolation allows things to happen that shouldn’t. For instance, last week one of my pages was attacked in a creepy cyber way (and it still isn’t fixed completely. Costly tech support arrives today on a white horse, carrying new modems.) If the hacker knew me, he probably wouldn’t have done what he did. We’d kick back and have coffee instead. Our mutual isolation makes me a number. To him, I’m just another IP address, not a human being.

And yet, there is such potential for the electronic web that stretches out among us to pull into a tighter weave.

The Internet has such power and possibility if we can only figure out how to harness it.

For instance, this week on Kevin Smith’s podcast Plus One, Smith and his wife talked about how Mitch Albom hit him up for some help with a charity to feed a village of starving children. Albom needed $80,000 a year. Kevin generously got the charity ball rolling. Sure, if you’re rich, you can give. But if you’re rich and famous, you can give and alert others to the opportunity to give.

The Tiny Science of Your Fragile Humanity

Yes, a chance to donate is an opportunity. It’s your chance to provide aid. It feels good to give if you have something to give. It feels good because we are wired to be sympathetic. Our brains have mirror neurons that allow us to empathize so much we cry when we see an actor in emotional pain on a movie screen, even though we know it’s fiction.

Mirror neurons are that bit of biological microscopy and brain chemistry that make us human instead of irredeemable monsters bent only on survival by domination and murder. Boot camp, by the way, doesn’t turn off your mirror neurons, by the way. The discipline and brutality uses tribalism so your sympathy and courage is directed only to the benefit of your fellow soldiers.

That’s how you make good people do awful things.

To be creative and find an audience for your creativity is not just about making money. In fact, many artists would work for free (and many do) just for the love of art. Expression is often an inexplicable compulsion. If money comes, it is a side benefit. You hope to be paid for the fruits of your imagination, but wealth is something to be hoped for, not expected.

Seeing how privileged people use their influence to make the planet a better place, I see that I was wrong about fame. I undervalued it. I thought it had the potential to be a big pain in the ass, but that’s not fame’s only aspect. Now I see how it can be used beyond art. Fame can be a tool to help starving kids, for instance.

So many artists of all genres and stripes are poor. I wish you success (and much of the content here is aimed at helping you achieve it.) Success is important, but not just for you. Famous artists have bigger audiences. Famous artists make enough money so they can help others. There’s no nobility in a starving artist’s hovel. When you’re hungry, it’s very difficult to produce art.

Getting paid is good.

If you want to help the poor:

Don’t be one of them.

Recently, on The Biggest Loser, one of the contestants, Frado, found a way to use his good fortune to “pay it forward.” He had a clever idea. Frado won a session with chef Curtis Stone. Instead of just getting the expected tutorial for his family alone, Frado asked Stone to hook his name to a charity event. Stone cooked up some healthy food and Frado hosted five charities to raise more than $25,000. The hit and run tutorial would have come and gone. Frado found a way to use his newfound fame, and the celebrity’s chef’s notoriety, to make an impact on people’s lives.

It made me wonder, how can we harness social media, our fans and our followers, to help people in need? I think of the clients I know who have breast cancer or have had breast cancer. I think of my cousin and my neighbour, both hit with prostate cancer. My mother died of lung cancer though she never once smoked. These causes need research dollars. There are so many causes that need voices raised for them. There are so many everyday injustices and our silence is taken for complacency. I suppose, to my shame, that is what it is.

I have undervalued fame. I didn’t think I should value it because that would make me shallow. Then I saw how fortunate people are using their fame in constructive ways. Now I have a larger goal beyond simple publication, teaching and the petty propagation of my little entertainments. I’m working on my books. One day they will sell and I may achieve a little bit of recognition in some circles.

If we can get flash mobs together, how about flash protests and flash fundraisers? We try to make book trailers go viral. How about YouTube videos that show the needs that must be met. How about using our narrative powers to activate those mirror neurons so people are moved to help each other?

What then?

Better: What now?

Everyone dreams about what they’ll do if money comes their way.

What dreams can we light, as one flame fires another, with bright fame?

What can I do in the meantime, in these mean times?

What can we achieve, working together?

We have the most power tools of connection and interactivity

that have ever existed. Now.

Please let me know your ideas.

There are too many hungry. There are too many sick. We will all be sick.

There are too few who are reaching out to draw the whole together.

We have to find the way. We can start small, but we must start.

You and I could make the change that others will not.

Let’s become WE.

Mirror Neurons and Creativity – is there a relationship? (marcisegal.wordpress.com)
Latest Red State Poster Atones for the Sins of The Father via Charity! (dreadcentral.com)

Filed under: DIY, grammar, Horror, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, Rant, Social Media, Biggest Loser, Cancer, charity, Curtis Stone, Health, helping others, Mitch Albom, social media

12/10/2010 • 11:35 AM 2

Author Profile: Nate Hendley

Nate Hendley is a Toronto-based author who was born in Connecticut in 1966. He is a full-time journalist and writer and has published

Nate Hendley

over a dozen books, primarily on true-crime topics. He lives with a demanding cat and has a website at www.natehendley.com. You can check out his latest works on the Five Rivers website at http://www.5rivers.org/index1.html.

His books: Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers (Practical tips on how to start up or step up a freelance writing career) & Al Capone: Chicago’s King of Crime (An intimate portrait of America’s most famous gangster)

Previous works by Nate Hendley:

Edwin Alonzo Boyd: The Life and Crimes of Canada’s Master Bank Robber, The Black Donnelly’s: The Outrageous Tale of Canada’s Deadliest Feud, Dutch Schultz: The Beer Baron of the Bronx, John Lennon: Music, Myth and Madness, Crystal Meth, American Gangsters Then and Now: An Encyclopedia, Bonnie and Clyde: A Biography, Jean Chretien: The Scrapper Who Climbed His Way to the Top, William Lyon Mackenzie King: The Loner Who Kept Canada Together

CW: When did you first know you wanted to be an author?

NH: I was around 10 or so, living in England (where my dad took a year-long sabbatical in 1975-76). I recall I started writing—by hand—a long war story that I ended up calling “Tank Tracks in North Africa”. As might be surmised by the title, it was all about a bunch of guys in a tank fighting Rommel in the desert in World War Two. That’s the first long-form book I recall putting together. I think it ran to something like 50 pages.

CW: Tell us about your book. How did you get the idea?

NH: Two books actually. One of them is on Al Capone, the other is about motivation for writers. The Capone book was originally part of a series of gangster tomes I penned for Altitude Publishing, an Alberta-based company that ,alas, is no longer around. When Altitude went belly up, Five Rivers Chapmanry kindly bought some of my Altitude books for republishing.

The second book, Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, is a rather drastic revision of a book I initially self-published. Lorina Stephens, publisher at Five Rivers, liked the concept of my book but wasn’t totally excited by the contents. I ended up rewriting quite a bit of the book, making it more professional and taking out a lot of the personal anecdotes that filled my self-published tome. The newly revised book is considerably better than the original, which demonstrates the power of having a good editor crack down on your material.

The idea for Motivate to Create came from the fact that there is a dearth of info out there on motivation for non-fiction writers. Almost every writers’ motivation book is aimed at creative writing, which is fine, but not what I do. A lot of the existing books seemed very sappy, too—all this crap about “finding and unleashing your inner muse.” I was more concerned with concrete, practical advice that had already been field-tested by other, established writers.

CW: What research was involved in your book’s development?

NH: Researching Al Capone involved reading all the available literature on the man (which is quite considerable) and tracking down newspaper and magazine articles from the period in which he lived. I was pleased to be able to correct certain falsehoods about Capone that have been perpetuated throughout the years. He was never a national crime boss, for example. He controlled the Chicago underworld but certainly didn’t control organized crime across America.

For Motivate, I queried various writer friends and acquaintances and used some of their quotes throughout. The rest of the material was thought up by me.

CW: Do you have any formal training in writing?

NH: I went to journalism school after finishing university. I never actually completed J-school, having failed desk-top publishing three times in a row. Anyway, journalism school taught me the nuts and bolts of news and feature writing and was an invaluable experience.

CW: What is your writing process?

I don’t really have a writing process. One of the tips I offer in Motivate to Create is not to get too precious about your writing time (i.e. “I only write when the golden sun rises from the horizon and the muse dances upon my forehead”). When I have a writing project to do, I just sit down and do it.

CW: How long did it take you to write the book and find an agent and publisher?

NH: Capone took about a year to put together (research, writing, editing.) Motivate was spread over a longer period because I essentially rewrote the book when Five Rivers purchased it. Self-publishing is a pain in the butt so I am glad that a real publisher took the book over. I still have about 30 copies of the original book sitting around my apartment. Unless you’re really interested in marketing and promotion, I would not recommend self-publication.

CW: What’s the most surprising thing you discovered in writing this book?

NH: Can’t really think of any. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of freelance writers willing to respond to a general questionnaire I sent around for Motivate to Create.

CW: What was the biggest disappointment you experienced through this book?

NH: The biggest disappointment was that I didn’t get fabulously wealthy through self-publishing. I thought orders would come flowing like a river. More like a trickle from a tiny pond.

CW: What was the hardest part of the publishing process? What did you most enjoy?

NH: Research and editing are by far the hardest part of the publishing process. Writing is the most enjoyable. When you self-publish, doing all the promotion and marketing is the hardest part.

CW: What advice would you give unpublished writers?

As Creedence Clearwater Revival once expressed it so well, “keep on chooglin’.” In other words, just keep at it. Practise doesn’t necessarily make perfect but it does make you more professional.

CW: Have changes in the book industry forced you to change how you published or marketed your work?

NH: Yes. Thanks to websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn I can do more to promote my wares online.

CW: What’s your next book project and what can you tell us about it?

NH: I’m revising a book about the drug methamphetamine for Five Rivers. It is a revamped version of a book I initially did for Altitude that came out in 2005. The new version has new interviews and updated statistics.

CW: Thanks for doing this, Nate! You can follow Nate on twitter at http://twitter.com/natehendley or email me at nhendley@sympatico.ca . The Five Rivers site is located at http://www.5rivers.org/. Best to check the Five Rivers site for any info on upcoming book signings.

Filed under: Author profiles, author Q&A, authors, Books, publishing, writing tips, Al Capone, author interviews, books, Motivate to Create, Nate Hendley, publishing

12/09/2010 • 2:39 PM 6

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Image via Wikipedia

It’s a question I ask as part of the regular author profile feature (appearing in this space Thursdays.)

It’s one of those questions that I find endlessly fascinating, like:

1. How did you and your love first meet?

2. What do the voices in your head tell you?

3. Would you rather be right or happy?

Almost every writer, it seems, can remember the moment they felt the pull.

Maybe it happened when they read a great book. (Which book was it for you?) Or they like the lifestyle because they are unsuited for anything else (read: you are otherwise unemployable.) Maybe they had an amazing experience they had to share or teach. (What was yours?) Even a lousy book spurs some people to say, “I could do better than this crap!” (If that’s you, which book was it?)

For me, it began with reading, I’m sure, though there wasn’t a particular book that got me thinking writing was for me. I first announced my writerly intentions to strangers. I was maybe eight, though it’s hard to say. I ascribe any vague memory from childhood to that year and, in truth, it can’t possibly have been that eventful. That would leave all the other years empty of anything. But that is how it feels.

The strangers to whom I made my announcement were the printers at a local shop. I wandered in (ignorance is a strange propellant) and asked for paper. “For a book” I added, because I thought I needed to get it from them, for some reason now unfathomable.

I remember the inky and oily smell of the place and the noise of the machines. I loved that smell. I still love stationery stores. All those empty pages call to me. Due to this compulsion, which stops just short of a sexual fetish, I own many more journals than I’ll ever fill and many more pens than I could ever use. The smell in that shop (and the look and smell of sunlight on turquoise water colour paint) are the only solid sense memories I carry from early childhood.

The printers smiled, indulged me, and I walked out with some brownish scrap paper. I walked taller and with real purpose, probably for the first time. I should have been holed up in a library at that stage, though I did that, too. I always preferred books to people. Childhood was rough.

Imagination, stories and the waiting world were my escape.

They still are.

When did you first know?

Hot young agent’s old school methods (alanrinzler.com)
snippets from books (hopeseguin2010.wordpress.com)
Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club for Men (beatrice.com)
The Fundamentals of Operating a Successful Used Bookstore (bookshopblog.com)
David Niall Wilson Talks Crossroad Press and More (dreadcentral.com)
Empty Shelves for Gifted Readers (write4kids.com)
Shakespeare & Company: The bookshop that thinks it’s a hotel (independent.co.uk)
World Book Night: what book should you recommend to the nation? (telegraph.co.uk)
Reality about writing, part two (davidhewson.com)
Writers on Writing: Booklife by Jeff Vandemeer (tor.com)
A Writer’s Beginnings (l3montree.wordpress.com)
Am I better off living a different dream? (tobiasbuckell.com)
The Six Gifts of the Writer’s Workshop Weekend (planejaner.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Author profiles, author Q&A, Books, publishing, What about Chazz?, Writers, beginning writing, books, love of books, reading, writers, writing

12/09/2010 • 11:49 AM 0

Writers: Update & three links for you

a Science fiction city (Paris in a future.)

Image via Wikipedia

I had another frustrating day dealing with tech support that, for awhile, actually made things worse. Now another modem is on order and I’m searching for a technician to come save me. Yeah, it’s that bad.

However, this too shall pass. I’m going to try to get some writing done on my little AlphaSmart Neo. Once you’ve done all you can, you’ve done all you can. I’ve messed with the computer so much I’ve lost two days of my life. While others were enjoying snow days, I was staring at a screen trying to move the immoveable. No more.

Today I get back to my life and focus on the fun parts. I’ll let the on site tech deal with the trouble. (For those who missed it, a cyber attack is to blame, but don’t be afraid. I’m not contagious.)

I recently finished a major editing stage for a client’s book so now it’s time to work on something of my own: a dystopian novel about soulful robots and a drug that improves human brains. Think Robert J. Sawyer meets William Gibson. Ooh, that’s high falutin’ talk. Anyway, I’ll put aside my present-day tech troubles and write about future tech troubles.

And finally, I’ll have some fun. Writing fiction is always fun. If you aren’t having fun as you write, your readers won’t have a chance. Stop putting it off. Go have fun, too. If you have to delegate your worries to get them away from you, then do that.

(Well…after you check out these cool links, anyway.)

The Writers Alley: The Quixotic Pull of Your Future Novel‏

10 media and tech luminaries on the future of reading

7 Ways to Help Writers Survive the Holidays

Audio from last night’s live event with William Gibson and Cory (boingboing.net)
Am I better off living a different dream? (tobiasbuckell.com)
Update: David Milch (gointothestory.com)
Duplicate Content and Ways around It (searchenginejournal.com)
Need for new utopian stories (rs.resalliance.org)
Zero History. William Gibson (regnordman.com)
William Gibson Serves Up Zero History (time.com)
Unsuccessful treatment of writer’s block: a replication (mindhacks.com)
Writers on Writing: Booklife by Jeff Vandemeer (tor.com)
The Six Gifts of the Writer’s Workshop Weekend (planejaner.wordpress.com)

Filed under: authors, My fiction, publishing, Useful writing links, What about Chazz?, writing tips, Author, Cyberpunk, Robert J. Sawyer, William Gibson, writers, Writers Resources, writing, writing advice

12/08/2010 • 1:52 PM 1

Writers: Optimizing your social media (and a question)

Mostly I talk about writing and publishing here, but if you have a book to sell, promotion and publicity is integral to the process. Social media has democratized book promotion in that it’s an all-access pass and the admission is free.

Writers, this afternoon, I have three great links on the topic of optimizing your use of social media to spread the word about your words:

TNW Social Media » 10 Ways Journalists and the Media Use Twitter‏

How to triple your Twitter traffic in 7 days‏

Is It Time to Take a Social Media Inventory? | FreelanceFolder‏

And a question: Which social media are you using to promote your book or business?

Please let me know in the comments below.

How-To: Utilize Social Media to Promote Your Event (vivanista.com)
Learn More About Social Media (blogs.constantcontact.com)
In house social media monitoring (sharemarketing.wordpress.com)
Building a Social Media Framework (socialmediatoday.com)
Why Should You Build Your Business on Social Media? (lockergnome.com)
Free Keyword Research Guide from TrafficPRM – SEO Tips for PR and Social Media Pros (prweb.com)
How American Companies Use Social Media (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
SEO Future Is Linkbuilding + Social Media Optimization – Social Media Marketing Press (seome.me)
More teachers using social media ()
Using Social Media to Grow Sales (prweb.com)
How restaurants are selling with social media (econsultancy.com)
Does the Rise in Social Media Marketing Equal a Rise in Holiday Sales? (marketingpilgrim.com)
Social – A Culture, not a tool (ericbrown.com)

Filed under: Publicity & Promotion, publishing, Social Media, Twitter, Useful writing links, book promotion, Business, Facebook, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Marketing and Advertising, social media, Twitter, YouTube

11/30/2010 • 4:10 PM 1

#Funny VIDEO: Wannabe author meets published author

Filed under: agents, Books, Intentionally Hilarious, publishing, Rant, Rejection, Writers, publishing fantasies, rejection, wannabe authors, writers and rejection

11/30/2010 • 11:12 AM 0

#Book Marketing: The old divisions don’t apply

Over the weekend, inspired by the social media conference I attended, I got signed up for Linked In. I had signed up a long time ago, but frankly, I really hadn’t done anything much with it. Stuff you don’t engage with doesn’t count, so Linked In didn’t count. However, the more I explored the site and played with it, the more I understood that there were some great conversations I was missing out on. So I got engaged again.

One of the great things about Linked In is that it suggests groups and associations and companies that dovetail with your interests. One of the groups—I guess I won’t name them because I don’t know if I’ve been accepted yet—sent me a list of rules as a preliminary how-to and how-do. The group moderator’s membership criteria was that I wasn’t going to join in on their forums just to get all spammy. In some detail, the moderator warned me that I shouldn’t post on their site just to introduce myself and say hello. (I’ve been a member on other forums wherein that’s their first request of noobs.) None of this was personal. The forum had a large membership and I undertand they want to keep it clean if not pure.

Basically, I was to contribute on-topic value at all times, never straying into self-promotion and blog blaring.

Well, okay. But…

Look, I don’t want to be spammy. At the conference, one social media guru referred to that as “Shout Marketing.” That’s basically being obnoxious with outdated marketing approaches where the information goes in one direction and the message is “Buy! Buy! Buy! Hire the magic that is ME, for the love of god!” and so forth.

What makes social media “social” is that it’s a conversation. Information goes back and forth. You interact with customers who (gasp) give you feedback, leave comments, contribute their own thoughts and opinions and (worse!) let you know how you’re doing.

So the forum admin had a point about avoiding the old style of marketing. However, the implication that we can all totally divorce our marketing roles from the life of the mind is also outdated. If you’re an artist of any sort, you need to market yourself. Writers comment on blogs and engage in conversations because it’s fun and interesting. They are also trying to sell their books. There’s no shame in that as long as you use the new style of marketing (engaging in conversation) and not getting all spammy over their screens.

I’ve noticed some people on Twitter get a tad irked when too many tweets from one person are too advertorial. I’ve felt this way, too. For instance, I love Chuck Pahlaniuk’s fiction, but his Twitter account seemed to be managed for him by one of Skynet‘s spambots. As vast as his cult is, Chuck doesn’t appear to be engaging with his audience as a person. As a result, I reluctantly unfollowed the author. No hard feelings. Still love most of the books and Fight Club is an all-time favorite.

So what I’m saying is, you can sell effectively without being obnoxious. By all means, let us know about your next book signing so we can show up and engage you there, too. But:

1. Be authentic.

2. Be yourself instead of your intern.

3. Have conversations. Have opinions.

4. If it’s all spam, you will be unfollowed and your blog shall go unvisited and unlamented.

Me? I retweet links that interest me. I sometimes go off on tangents that aren’t about writing and publishing. I hope you’ll like me and visit the blog often. (Updated here, Monday to Friday! Same Bat-time, same bat-channel!) When I have a service to sell (like my editing services) or when I have an e-book or tree book to sell, I hope you’ll like me enough to consider laying out some moolah for my work.

I say unto thee, I am open, honest and unashamed. I am marketing myself because that’s what creators must do now. As long as you don’t feel that’s all I do, you’ll probably stick around. I don’t need millions of followers who don’t give a shit about me. A core constituency that does care (and forgive my occasional missteps) will do fine.

The take-away truisms are:

1. First you sell yourself.

2. Then you sell your product.

3. You do so by doing what we’re all here to do. We serve each other.

10 Essential Rules for Engaging Customers via Social Media (chrisabraham.com)
10 Essential Tips for Social Media Brand Engagement (marketingconversation.com)
Know The Rules of the Communities When Marketing in Social Media (webpronews.com)
Six years of blogging – perspectives on social media (getgood.com)
Ways to use Headliner.fm to promote your band on myspace twitter and facebook (digitalvegetarian.com)
Developing Personas for Better Social Media Marketing (toprankblog.com)
25 Characteristics of Highly Effective Social Media Campaigns (sociatic.com)
Twitter Is More Fun And More Profitable When You Follow The Right People (wassupblog.com)
How to Determine Which Social Media Site is Right for Your Business (hubspot.com)
178 Perspectives on Social Media Marketing (socialtimes.com)
Top 20 Apps For Managing Social Media (informationweek.com)
Social Media Challenges You (marketingconversation.com)
The Art of Engagement (extanz.com)
15 Tips And Howto’s To Empower Your Social Media Career (socialmediatoday.com)
What Every Social Media Marketer Should Know About uberVU (socialtimes.com)
Making Social Media Work for You and Your Brand (fingercandymedia.com)
Giving Thanks to Social Media (babyfruit.typepad.com)
LinkedIn Sends Signals Worth Receiving and Using (blogs.forrester.com)
New Social Media Tools: Time Saving or Time Wasting? (masonryan.wordpress.com)
5 Common LinkedIn Fallacies and Why You Shouldn’t Believe Them (socialmediatoday.com)
20 LinkedIn Case Studies for Personal Branding (personalbrandingblog.com)
How to Maximize Your LinkedIn Presence and Effectiveness to Generate Business (costpernews.com)
It’s not the size of your LinkedIn network that counts it’s what you do with it that matters (customerthink.com)
The 9 Worst Ways to Use LinkedIn for Business (hubspot.com)
How to get the LinkedIn advantage (publicrelationssydney.com.au)
Are Facebook and Twitter necessities? ()
LinkedIn – the semantics of connection (ask.metafilter.com)

Filed under: blogs & blogging, Books, ebooks, Editing, Editors, getting it done, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, self-publishing, Social Media, Useful writing links, web reviews, Writers, Business, Conversation, Facebook, Internet forum, LinkedIn, Marketing, social media, Twitter

11/29/2010 • 1:50 PM 0

#Authors : I want to eat your brains (and profile you)

The left frontal lobe (red), the forward porti...

Image via Wikipedia

This morning I mentioned I have some authors lined up for profiles for publication in this hallowed space. For instance, author of My Camino and friend of the blog, Sue Kenney, will share her journey across Spain and to publication in the near future. Not only is she an author, she’s a filmmaker, too.

Why can’t you spread the glory of your achievement, too? Answer: You can! I want to pick your brain.

I love books and love to hear from authors about their struggles and successes. If you’re an author with a book you want the world to know about (and if you have a book, why wouldn’t you?), shoot me an e-mail at chazz@chazzwrites.vpweb.ca.

I’d like to make author interviews a regular weekly feature if I get enough interest. If your fiction or non-fiction looks like a good fit, I’ll send you a questionnaire to answer et voilà! Instant book promotion as we delve into your climb to the literary pinnacle.

Brains! Brains! So hungry! I want to pick at your brain!

Author Success Story: From Salesman to Silver Screen. (lulu.com)
b i b l i o p h i l . o r g (bibliophil.org)
Author Websites: 7 Of The Best Writers’ Sites (PHOTOS) (huffingtonpost.com)
Author Says ‘Pay What You Want’ For His Dog Book (prweb.com)
Laurence Hughes: Book Publicists Love to Hear “Pretend I’m a Producer, Pitch Me My Book” (huffingtonpost.com)
How to Make a Book Cover in Photoshop (brighthub.com)
“How Reading And Book Buying Has Changed With The Kindle” and related posts (thecreativepenn.com)
The New York Times gets a new science fiction book review column [Jeff Vandermeer] (io9.com)
The Ethics of Artistic Consumption: Seinfeld and Orson Scott Card (blogcritics.org)
Maddie Dawson (officialmegtilly.com)

Filed under: blogs & blogging, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, self-publishing, Useful writing links, web reviews, Writers, Author, author interviews, author profiles, book marketing, book promotion, books, Literature, publishing

11/29/2010 • 11:44 AM 0

Let’s close our ambition gap with social media

Image by burntbroccoli via Flickr

Saturday I dropped into SMarts, the London Social Media Un-Conference, a conference on social media for artists. I picked up a few ideas that could prove helpful in the long-term. No matter who you are, there’s a gap between where you are and where you want to be. Here’s what I’m considering to close that gap:

1. Using YouTube much more for this blog and making my own videos People are visual. If your tweet has the word VIDEO in it, people click through.

2. Using feedburner and hootsuite to make my social media content management more efficient. I checked into hootsuite last summer when a couple social media gurus at a writing and publishing conference recommended it. I had a major problem with the hootsuite interface back then. The bad went to worse when the application wouldn’t allow me to delete the account so I could start again and customer service was nil. Maybe now I’ve recovered enough that I can try another run at it. If I can get it to work right this time, it means saved time. Saved time equals more writing time, more editing time and more time for more clients. (Or a relaxing hot toddy by the woodstove.)

3. I’m thinking about blogging a book. I’ve got several novels written (but the revisions aren’t yet finished.) That could really be a fun way to go with it.

4. I’ve got non-fiction content about publishing that could be very effective as an e-book. I’m going to research Book Brewer as one possibility to create the e-book. (Mignon Fogerty had a great interview with Book Brewer’s president recently on Grammar Girl.)

5. I need to reach out to more people to engage people in conversation (and so I have.) I’ve contacted four authors so far about doing a profile on this blog. I’m really excited about this for several reasons. I love books and authors. This is an opportunity to learn directly from various authors’ publishing experiences.

Watch this space. Coming soon. Stay tuned.

All that stuff.