Great Opportunity to Get Your Blog Seen!

Plug Your Blog! I'll be there! Potentially thousands of hits in one day! Long-term results! Permanent links! Join me for Blog Jog Day on May 9.
Learn more at http://blogjogday.blogspot.com

THE PROMOTIONAL EVENT FOR THE WRITING INDUSTRY IS BACK!

PROMO DAY makes its return in 2010 and promises to be the best yet. Mark your calendars for Saturday 15th May 2010!

An all day, online, international event for people in the writing industry packed full of tips and advice along with a variety of opportunities for writers, publishers, editors, etc. to promote their work and services. Readers are also welcome to drop in and get to know the authors better in the forums, view the video trailers or read the sample chapters on site.

Founder and Organiser of the event, Jo Linsdell, had this to say “PROMO DAY came about because I was looking for opportunities to promote my books using the internet at little or no cost. After attending the Muse Online Writers Conference back in 2006, I searched the Internet for similar events aimed at what to do after you’ve written the book and found none. I decided to fill the void and so PROMO DAY was born. PROMO DAY is a great opportunity to network with other members of the industry, take part in online workshops and promote and best of all it’s FREE."

This year a new forums feature has been added to the site to make interaction even more International. There will be special sections for publishers to post their submission guidelines and give information to authors about their companies. Companies offering services (virtual assistants, website designers, illustrators, ghost writers, etc.) will also have a section where they can let attendees know more about what they offer.

Visit the website http://jolinsdell.tripod.com/promoday for more details of how you can be involved.

BE PART OF THE ACTION, BE PART OF PROMO DAY!

Tis NOT the Season!

Oh, as the e-mails come in with a steady flow of sadness—“My book is just not selling!” I can clearly sympathize. In past, I have always been relieved that even during this “spring slow season” my books have been good sellers; not this year. Is it the economy or just lack of interest?

Traditionally, book sales slow just before Christmas and the drag typically continues through early spring. I can’t even begin to explain and pin-point a specific reason for this, it just “is what it is.” I think this year especially, we can blame it partially on economic causes. People just don’t have the money for books this year, and if they do, they are pinching it tight “just in case.” A poor economy scares everyone—even those financially well-off. They get the “what if?” attitude.

So my advice to authors is to hang in there and try to hold out until summer—don’t give up. Book sales come and go and so does a strong economy. Have faith.

Attention Childrens Book Writers!

A new friend of mine from London just let me know about this great new resource.

Check it out, www.smories.com is a free website for kids to watch little films of new stories being read by other kids.

It is also a place for unpublished children's story writers worldwide
to get their work published free online, whilst retaining all rights.
The stories will be text only (not illustrated), which will remove a
common obstacle to publication for many aspiring writers.

In order to attract great stories, we have created a US$1,500 (£1,000)
prize for the best one submitted each month. From the submissions, 50
stories will be shortlisted each month, get narrated by kids and
filmed, and the film attracting the most traffic on the site will win
the prize.

A New Blog!

I have a fun new Blog "Rise Above Reason" at http://riseabovereason.blogspot.com. I'll be Blogging about well, whatever is on my mind. I would be thrilled if you would stop by and leave a comment!

A Child Dreams of Authorship

Mrs. Palacio is 5th grade teacher in California; she is also my sister. She asked me to come to her school and talk to her students about writing a book. Surprisingly, many of her kids desire to be authors; some are already really good writers!

Anyhoo, after I returned home to Oregon, I received by snail mail some notes the kids had written after I left. I want to share them with you to show how admired and respected you are as published authors; people who were able to fulfill a dream. But more so, because they’re just really cute! I’ve desperately tried to re-write them as they are written, but of course they lose a tad bit of their authenticity when typed out and spell check keeps wanting to correct where I don’t want to!

Now, just so you know, the “authors” of these letters may be reading this Blog, so feel free to address a comment to any or all of the kids.

The Day Seeing Carol! Written by Kaja

Today we had a guest coming So I was expecting a guest, but not a superstar. I’m just kiting but she is a Author and a Writer! A super writer! She was nice to very nice she even gave us autograph. Her autograph was pretty. She said Best wishes! I like that part of the day. It was cool because I liked her. Your sister is nice that you. Thank you Ms. Palacio. Thank you Ms. Carol.

Nervous & scared, unsigned

Oh, Mrs. Palacio I have so much to tell you so…Ahhhhh, I can’t believe I saw a real author, you must be so lucky. Well, anyways, I learned that reading can be fun. And if you don’t have confidence in yourself then you will not might to get what you didn’t believe. Thank you for letting us see your sister Carol. I felt so nervous and so excited at the same time. Oh my gosh, I just don’t much have to say, I mean I don’t have much to say. So anyways, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Dear Mrs. Palacio by Maria

Today I learned that making a book is acutly a little easy and being a author is really hard so I think I will love to be a author. Also I learned that Mrs. Carol wrote 6 books and she probally writting another book. Also I learned that Mrs. Carol is a really cool person and she is going to give her autograph to us. Also I learned that her favorite book was how to make a book. Sincerly, Maria

Today I have met an author, unsigned

Today I have met an author. Actually, it was my teacher’s sister. Her name is Ms. Carol. Wow, she is so inspiring! I wish, when I become an author, that i’m like her.

Add comments or notes to the kid’s below in the comment section.

Google Offering $100 AdWords Coupon - STAY AWAY!

Many of this Blog’s visitors have their own Blogs and Websites. Some of them use Google to promote their sites. Google is an important part of my own site promotion. At the risk of Google dropping my positive ranking, I feel I must share this information with you. If Google is offering you a $100 AdWords free trial, STAY AWAY!!! You WILL be billed for all ads running past your trial and you will not know when that is. There is no notification until you are billed; then it’s too late. They require your credit card number upfront (probably to guarantee they can screw you later).

Many Bloggers and Website editors have received this “coupon” and signed up for the program. Why not? It’s free…NOT! They have realized the hard way that this is a scam by Google.

Just two weeks ago, on a flight home from California, I was fortunate to sit next to a Google employee, specifically, an AdWords consultant. He offered me tips on promoting my sites—I was grateful. Although the tips he offered were legitimate, and free, he did not mention this coupon scam.

The Google tools he recommended were:

*Google Insights
*Google Analytics
*Google Trends
*Google Webmaster

I also “squeezed” out of him the best tip for getting Google’s attention to your site (something he was not comfortable relaying due to confidentiality terms of his job at Google); inbound links from “related” Websites is the most effective way to get ranked by Google.

Back to the scam. Although I will not use the $100 coupon, and definitely DO NOT recommend my viewers do either, I do suggest Blog and Website editors utilize the tools listed above and provided free through Google.

Happy Blogging!