Rashaun J. Allen's Blog, page 8

100 Bright Ideas To Promote Your Book

  

  Nowadays to market your book successfully you have to be ACTIVE in your book promotion. More books than ever are being published. Bowker, the world’s leading provider of bibliographic information, counted more than 391,000 self-published titles in 2012 – a 59 percent increase compared to the year before. That’s huge. But how can your book reach readers with all this competition? Discoverability! You don’t want to limit your GREAT book to just your family and friends. You want your book to be a better seller than your favorite author. Keep in mind promotion is a process that you own by:

Having a sense of urgency
Comparing your success to your goals
Having fun

Some of these methods will generate sales others will increase your discoverability. But before you write off any of these ideas, remember, writers wear many hats and promotion is a big one.

100 WAYS TO PROMOTE

Execute your book marketing plan - Any serious author needs to have a book marketing plan. It’s how you plan to achieve your sales goal. For a more in depth look at creating one check out my previous blog post How To Write A Book Marketing Plan.
Do a launch party – Build excitement about your book by setting up a launch party at your favorite lounge.
Establish an author page on Facebook – An author page is a good way to share information about you and your book. You want to say something interesting that get followers engaged.
Engage readers through Goodreads - Create trivia about your books.
Utilize Twitter – In 140 characters tweet about an event your doing.
Participate in book fairs - There are tons of book fairs happening from the South Carolina Literacy Celebration to the Harlem Book Fair. Finding one that matches your budget, travel distance, readership and return on investment is key.  Besides having an opportunity to sell your books, you will be able to meet other authors.
Get your book featured at book clubs – The readerscircle has a directory to find book clubs, which boast having over 90,000 readers. If a book club wants to read your book, show up for the discussion in person or through video chat.
Organization events – Be a vendor at event that relates to your book.
Sponsor an event - Host a book reading over lunch at your favorite restaurant.
Book signings at Independent Book Stores – Reach out to independent bookstores to set up book signings.
Write an E-newsletter – You can start a bi-weekly email newsletter geared towards your interest.
Do giveaways – Give a couple of your books away to readers. It could lead to the best promotion money can’t buy word of mouth.
Do magazine interviews – You don’t have to be famous to be interviewed. Does your alma mater have a magazine?  Sharing your story is not only a reflection of you but of your school. Check out my UA Magazine  interview for an example.
Cross – promote  – You’ve met other writers in your journey to be a best selling author. By cross promoting, you can be a guest author for their blog or feature their work on your website.
 Host a workshop – Let’s say you authored a memoir, you can do a workshop at your local library about crafting memories into powerful stories.
Writing conferences – Writing conferences offer opportunities to develop your writing craft while being surrounded by other serious writers. In other words, it’s a great place to network. There are a lot of writing conferences that happen throughout the United States. For example, the South Hampton Writing Conference takes place every summer in July. For a more exhaustive list of writing conferences check out pw.org
Make a book trailer  – Make a visual impression with a book trailer. Check out Chuck Sambuchion’s How To Make Book Trailer to discover how to create one.
 Pre-publication reviews – Prior to releasing your book find people to read and write a review for it.
Post-publication reviews - Ask readers who bought your book to write a review.
Join a writing Community  - Join a writing community like Wattpad to share your work and read the work of other writers.
Write a blog – Create a blog on WordPress, Blogger or Tumblr to promote your book. It’s also a solid way to build your brand.
Be a featured writer – Become a featured writer for an online magazine.
Update your email signature – Utilize your email signature to include information about your book.
Create urgency – Create timed coupons for your books.
Join a writing group – There are writing groups like The Harlem Writers Guild and Association of Writers & Writing Programs whose purpose are to develop and aid writers in the United States. Find a group that fits your need to join.
Contribute to web forums – Goodreads have active web forums where you can share your knowledge and spread your brand.
Launch a website – Having a website for readers to visit, to purchase your books and to learn about you is essential to any author who wants to sell his books.
Craft a press release –  Zach Cutler’s Creating A Press Release goes through the steps to create an effective press release.
Send out thank you cards – Write a thoughtful message to your readers to show that you appreciate those who support you.
Mention your books in all your publications – If you wrote multiple books, every book should include mention of each other in it.
Make merchandise – The merchandise you create is only limited by your imagination. It can be a bookmarker, a t-shirt or pens that relate to your book.
Make a Author Page on Amazon.com – A simple and effective way to promote your book is to utilize authorcentral.amazon.com to create your author page. Once your author page is created, add your book to your bibliography, your multimedia, your blog feed, your twitter feed and upcoming events to it.
Local retailers – Stop inside your favorite shop and see if it is willing to carry your books.
Donate copies of your book to your local library – Ask the librarian to display your book throughout the library in the local section, the genre of your book and in a spot that is prime real estate.
Offer sample chapters as free downloads – Let readers download the first three chapters of your book from your personal website, amazon etc. It gives readers the opportunity to know you as an author before they commit to purchasing your book.
Offer sample chapters as free chapbooks – Print up the first three chapters of your book as a chapbook and give it away to readers you come across at venues.
Review other books in your genre – Let’s sayyou’re a fiction writer, writing a review about another fiction novel is a great way to add to your credibility as a writer.
Business cards – Create business cards so readers can find you or pass your information along. Be creative.
Repost positive reviews on social media – You get a good review on Amazon or Goodreads, let the whole world know by reposting it on social media.
Keep copies of your book on hand – You never know where your next book sale will come from always have a copy of your books readily available.
Create a promo kit – Grab a binder and put items that stand out inside it for example articles written about you and by you, reviews, and pictures of you at events.
Purchase advertising – You can buy ads in your local newspaper, Facebook etc as a way to promote your book. But before you spend money on advertising make sure it’s a sound investment.
Co-sign your book – Create a consignment agreement so other authors and independent bookstores can sell your books. However, independent bookstores tend to have their own consignment agreement.
Create memes that feature quotes from your book – Design creative, fun and informative pictures to share on social media like instagram to promote your book.
Use your book cover as posters – Go to staples or any retailer who make poster boards and use your book covers.
Sync your online presence – Link your Facebook profile, Facebook page, twitter, blog and instagram together. When you make a post it goes across multi-platforms.
Develop a 60 second pitch – Attention spans are short so develop a quick pitch to get readers interested in reading your book.
Do radio Interviews - Contact your local radio station, and reach out to other writers who have online radio shows. It’s a good way to get exposure to new readers.
Subscribe to Google Alerts – Google alerts are updates about the latest relevant information set up for it. Set up a Google alert for your book and if anyone mentions it, Google alerts will send you an email. It’s like a lead finder. Follow up!
Utilize hash tags – Become a social media trending topic by using a hashtag whenever you post. Check out #AWalkThroughBrooklyn, my poetry lives.
Build your network – Every event you do have a sign up sheet to collect names, emails and phone numbers. Don’t forget to utilize it.
Use friend networks – Give your friends copies of your books and ask them to share it with their friends.
Have your book available in multiple platforms – Have your book available as a Paperback, Mobi and Epub. You want to make sure your book is available for each reader regardless of how they access it.
Package your books – If you’re a multi-book author sell your books together with a discount to create an incentive for readers to buy more of your books.
Create a paperback/ebook deal – Purchasing your book on your website will get a customer a free ebook to give to a friend.
Support a charity – Utilize themes in your books to support a charity. Your book deals with cancer? Do a charity to support The American Cancer Society.
Work your distribution network – Utilize retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, and Smashwords along with your personal website to make your books readily available.
Write up a mock interview – Write up ten questions and answers that reveal information about you and your book. When an interview arrives you will have one foot in the door with how to craft your image.
Make your book available to a digital library – There are book services like Scribd and Oyster that allow subscribers to read books like Netflix allows its audience to watch movies. By making your book available to a digital library it can increase the chance for it to be discovered.
Ask readers to make videos – Have readers post vlogs or vine videos about your book.
Do blog tours – Set up a series of blog interviews on different blogs and encourage readers to follow your tour.
Group author events –To create a bigger event do an event with other authors.
Have themed events- Create an author event that’s tied to a significant day or event.
Get reader testimonials – Share fan letters you receive that people write about your book.
Utilize an order form – Use an order form at the end of your book to market your other titles.
Develop a catalog – Post a printable catalog on your website that shows all your books, a brief description of each, prices and discounts for large orders.
Pre-publication copies – Sell prepublication copies of your book before your release date for those readers who want to be among the first to have your book.
Do library tours – Set up a library tour among libraries in close proximity to each other doing different workshops.
Establish a business relationship with wholesalers – Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Lightning Source and AtlasBooks Distribution all expect discounts to market your books.
Follow – up – You will be surprised how effective a simple follow up call or email can have on building business relationships.
Craft meaningful messages when selling signed copies of your book – If your signing a copy of your book for a reader include what you know about her to have a lasting impression.
Sponsor an award that ties in with your title – Let’s say your book is called I Am Successful and it’s about your success as an entrepreneur. Sponsor an award named after it to give to an entrepreneur in your town.
Share freebie chapters with magazine editors – There are magazines looking for solid material to include in its pages. Find a magazine that would be mutually beneficial and share a chapter for its readers.
Reuse what works – You don’t have to constantly create to new material when promoting your book. If a workshop was successful at your alma mater, use it again when working with another organization.
Improve your SEO – Edit your content and HTML coding to increase its relevance to specific keys words. Read Scott Matterson’s SEO 101: How search engine optimization really works for more information about it.
Standardize all your information – Make your twitter name, instagram name, email etc. all the same for easy reference.
Register with Bowkerlink – The BowkerLink Publisher Access System allows you to communicate your new release titles, as well as price and status updates to a wide audience of book, audio and video buyers.
Take advantage of free publicity – There is free publicity available for your book and yourself for various listings like Books In Print.
Write a sales letter –Write a thoughtful sales letter to potential readers and businesses to see if they will purchase your books.
Create a brochure – Make a brochure that reveals your full arsenal of talent. If you’re an editor have the brochure include your editing services, books you edited and your books.
Connect with others on Linkedin – Utilize LinkedIn as a platform to network with other readers, authors and organizations.
Use RSS feeds – Create a RSS feed for your website.
Use Podcasts – Make a weekly podcast for your readers.
Become a paid spokesperson or public speaker – Pitch to your network that you are an expert in a theme in your book and ask for what you want. You may need to do some public speaking events for free until your public speaking takes off. But the more public speaking events you do the more opportunities you have to expose people to your books.
Place your book in catalogs – Find catalogs that cater to your audience an place your books inside it.
Write a powerful author biography – Craft a powerful author biography that leaves the reader wanting to know more about you and your book.
Stayed informed on the latest indie publishing news – Subscribe to Digitalbookworld, The Galley Cat and other book industry news site and be active.
Execute personal mailing list from event participants, organizations, business associate directories and other resources -   Each directory has a group of potential readers. Take the time to carve out messages on the level you know group members.
Develop an available for interview sheet – Sending an available interview sheet to a potential venue establishes professionalism.
Add favorable reviews to your book – As long as you’re in a position to reprint up your book. You can make changes to it. Make the most of favorable reviews and include a quote on the book cover or in the first page.
Swap your books with other Authors – Trade your book with another author. It will allow you to be exposed to each other’s work, which can lead to other opportunities.
Have a great cover, Re-do it if necessary – Make sure your cover is professionally done. You will thank yourself later. A great cover is one expense that is well worth it.
Accept credit cards – Be able to take credit cards whenever you are at a venue. Square and PayPal’s Here are inexpensive and reliable devices to do it.
Be cordial – Get to know people and be genuine. It may lead to opportunities in the future.
Document your experience – Take your readers on your publishing journey by sharing your experience as it happens.
Swap tips among other authors – Some authors will do promotion just like you, while others will be drastically different. Turn your tips into best practices by sharing them with other authors.
Create a promotion team – Ask your friends and family to be apart of your promotion team. Create fun roles that match their interest and they will enjoy doing it.
Mention other authors – Authors support each other. If you’re a fan of another writer. Mention them to your readers, followers and fan base.
Talk about your book often – Whenever you meet people make sure you mention you’re an author.
Talk to people on social media and ask them to check out your book – You may have a ton of friends on Facebook but what good is that if you don’t interact. Take the time to reach out to renew old friendships. Take an interest in what they are doing and they may take an interest in your book.

Of course there are more than 100 ways to promote your book. Do you have any promotion methods you would like to share? Leave your suggestions as comments.  

Rashaun J. Allen (@rashaunjallen) is the author of A Walk Through Brooklyn & In The Moment. He has been featured in several publications such as: The Chronicle, The Troy Record, Albany Student Press & UA Magazine. Find his books at www.Royalbluepublishing.com.

“Image courtesy of Feelart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net”.

How To Write A Book Marketing Plan

You finished writing your novel. Maybe you completed a chapter in your memoir. Or you received favorable feedback from your writing workshop. Wherever you are at in your writing career the moment of possibilities has arrived. Thoughts enter your mind about your book’s potential. It will be a bestseller. Bye, bye, day job. Both are promising ideas. But how will you do it?

There is no guarantee that no matter how much effort you put into your book it will reach the success you want it. But you can turn a possibility into a probability with a Book Marketing Plan. It’s a document that reveals how you plan to achieve your sale goals. If you’re a self-publisher its imperative you create one. How else will you be able to decipher your success? If you’re looking for an agent it will aid her in understanding your vision. If you’re looking for a publisher it will help you submit to publishers who focus on your genre.

There are many other people who have written books, blogs and articles about Book Marketing Plans and I encourage you to seek counsel. I write to share my experience with you in hope to make your writing journey a little easier. There is no set format of what to include when creating a Book Marketing Plan. But I have focused on the steps I feel are most important:

1)    Define Your Success: You want to create a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) goal. Let’s say your goal is to sell 5,000 books in a year. Being able to reach this goal depends on how well you plan.

2)    Identify Your Target Audience: Who is your audience? You’re book can’t be everything to everybody. By being specific you can focus your efforts on that group. You wrote a children’s book. Your target audience should be adults with children.

3)    Delivery: How will your book be available? Will it be hard cover? Paperback? Ebooks? Hardcover books are more expensive than paperback. Ebooks are the cheapest books to produce. Maybe a combination of sorts.

 4)    Know Your Competition

What does your book have in common with your competition?
What separates your book from your competition?
Is your price comparable?

5)    Objectives:

Pre-Publication reviews: Book reviews increase the chances of your book selling. Some famous publications that review books are Publishers Weekly and The New York Times. They can be out of reach for some. Be diligent and search for review media whose interests relate to your book. But I don’t agree with paying a fee to get your book reviews.
Distribution: If you are a part of a publishing company, they should be able to provide you a list. If you’re a self-publisher, it’s important to figure out how to make your book available to your target audience. Some options: Independent bookstores, personal website, Amazon.com, B&N, or smashwords.com
Publicity: If you have a publicist great. If not, work your network.  Some ways to build publicity are Interviews, Blog Tours, Flyers, email newsletters, business cards and free listings.
Events: detail every event you plan on doing: Book Signings, Book Fairs, book release party etc.
Post-Publication reviews: Follow up with your readers. Ask them to write a review. Engage them over the Internet, in-person and everywhere in-between. Most importantly THANK THEM!

6)    Make A Budget: How much will it cost to reach your sales goals. Do you have enough income to do it? Break down the cost of each part of your plan.

 7)    Set A Timeline: The more deadlines you set for your objectives the easier it will be to gauge if you are on track to reach your goal. Be reasonable in your timeframe.

 8)    Brand Yourself: You are the ambassador of your book. What are you known for? Are you an expert?  Utilizing social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Wattpad, Goodreads, or your own blog is a great way to brand yourself.

 

Rashaun J. Allen (@rashaunjallen) is the author of A Walk Through Brooklyn & In The Moment. He has been featured in several publications such as: The Chronicle, The Troy Record, Albany Student Press & UA Magazine. Find his books at www.Royalbluepublishing.com.

How Writers Make a Living

     My alarm clock goes off. It’s time to get up. I didn’t stay up to 1am to write, I am in a good position to go into this two-hour writing session with more energy before work as an Assistant Store Manager. I am free from distraction even skipping breakfast. I look at what isn’t crossed out on my to do list: work on memoir, work on blog, write journal and do writing assignment for workshop. I decide to write my blog. It has brewed the most in my head. I attempt to ask an important question I would usually avoid. Can I make a living from writing?

It depends on what kind of writer you are. Dana Beth Weinberg’s The Self-Publishing Debate: A Social Scientist Separates Fact from Fiction (Part 3 of 3) shows writing income for four different types of writers:

Aspiring writers are those who haven’t published their manuscript
Self-published writers are those who independently published their manuscript
Traditionally published writers typically sell their manuscript to a publishing company
Hybrid writers are those whose manuscripts are self-published and traditionally published

Looking at the numbers from her survey aspiring writers made no income while“ Self-published authors in the sample earned a median income in the range of $1 to $4,999, while traditionally published authors had a median writing income of $5,000 to $9,999, and hybrid authors earned a median income of $15,000 to $19,999. “    Before aspiring writers become authors do your homework about publishing. I wrote a previous post about where to go to publish. It may make sense to be a writer who has one foot in traditional publishing and the other in self-publishing to reach his furthest potential.

     Let’s face it. Writing is a courageous act for a writer because the road to success has no clear path. Despite working on the next great American novel and having the ability to chase writing gigs that pay; both may not produce a livable wage. It can be a cruel reality trying to find the right blend of writing and making a living. For a lot of writers, writing is the other job after a full day worth of work. It could be teaching, or a list of jobs that have nothing to do with writing.

     Writing has to be one of the few passions where achieving the end result i.e. a book doesn’t necessary change one’s living situation. Going into writing just thinking the book I write is going to take me to the promise land of fame and fortune is problematic. What I write has promise and I hope you think the same about your writing. But that thought process should be met with reasonable expectations. What readers, critics, agents or publishers think are valid. They all have the potential to enhance your book sales. By developing the habit of writing rigorously puts a writer in a better position to be successful.  I will go as far as to say having a purpose to write is more important than making a living from it.

As you prepare to make an income from writing here are 10 tips to make a living off writing:

Write with a purpose
Master your craft
Write great books
Create a marketing plan
Have a great book cover
Develop your brand
Follow the publishing industry
Have a network of writers, editors, readers, agents and publishers
Know your audience
Sell your work

     My alarm goes off again. It’s time to put my pen down. I mentally switch gears from Writer to Assistant Store Manager. As an Assistant Store Manger, I am responsible for motivating associates to do their best to help achieve profits. As a Writer, I am responsible for my own motivation to create compelling stories. But one day a reader of my work wrote me an email saying I encouraged her to pursue her dream to write. She saw me taking steps in my life to write despite countless obstacles. The feeling of inspiring someone is empowering. If only I earned a living from it.

Rashaun J. Allen is the author of A Walk Through Brooklyn & In The Moment. He has been featured in several publications such as: The Chronicle, The Troy Record, Albany Student Press & UA Magazine.

Writing Habits

 

     I’m stuck. Where does the story go from here I wonder. I write often. But I haven’t written anything down in a half an hour. I stare at my notebook and twiddle my pen in search for an answer. I have been writing this story for a while. Working through revision after revision, adding dialogue, removing scenes and sharpening the language. The goal is to get to the moment where my story is in its finest form. I look at the wall next to my desk. The words “writing is my fire” is written in red marker on paper taped to the wall. It’s my daily reminder to pursue my passion. I posted this note as a positive affirmation. I read it everyday. It is one of my many writing habits.

     Until recently I didn’t think about my writing habits in a meaningful way. My thought process was simple: I have to write. Period. How my writing went from thought to creation was either luck or an act of God. I knew what I didn’t like about writing. I often felt like I thought about writing more than I did it and when I wrote it wasn’t enough. Both were symptoms to a crucial writing habit – procrastination. At best, I’d do something entirely different like web surf. At worse, I twiddle. The moment procrastination became concentration, I wrote furiously like my life dependent on it. It was this fire to write that I have to recreate.

     I read Andre Dubus’ The Habit Of Writing in it he writes about his writing habits that help him produce on average three stories a year. Intrigued, I discovered like myself he wrote in longhand and then typed it. It was a method I developed after it was suggested at a workshop. Writing in longhand prompts me to produce while typing I often edit as I go.  However, I wasn’t familiar with vertical writing the idea of digging deeper to discover a story instead I wrote to finish.  He borrowed an idea made popular by Ernest Hemingway to stop writing in mid-sentence. It is a trick to recapture your train of thought to write. I read my work often aloud to catch grammatical errors but he takes it one step further by reading his writing into a tape recorder. His writing habits were similar to my own and some were techniques I am curious enough to try.

     One of my writing habits became clear in a writing workshop. I cherish critique partners. Writers who read each others’ work to raise probing questions to aid the author to a more polished story. Joining a writing community has enriched my writing and reading experience taking me outside my comfort zone from the way I write to the authors I read.  

     When I look at my habits of writing I know what works. I scan often sitting on a topic before writing it. It can lead me to a prompt to develop a story. I’m a morning writer. When I wake up early 4 or 5am I’m able to create with no distraction.  I often find a writing space, which is usually the last place I wrote or a place I only go to write as to create a bond not to break. I’ll do different kind of rewrites, I call them resolution or revolution. Resolution is when I go through my writing looking for ways to improve the language of my writing: grammatical, syntax, flow. Revolution is when I attempt to answer questions raised from readings of my writing. Giving my work a moment to breath before committing future revisions to the computer. These methods aren’t written in stone. But it limits the twiddle. When followed I’m ready to write again. The fire to write returns to produce writing I’m proud of.

 Here are the writing habits as a list:

Write often
Create a positive affirmation
Work through procrastination
Write in longhand before typing
Explore different writing techniques like vertical writing
Stop writing in mid-sentence to continue writing when ready
Read writing out loud to catch grammatical errors
Utilize critique partners to facilitate feedback
Be apart of a writing community to grow as a writer
Use prompts to develop stories
Find your writing comfort zone i.e. writing in the morning
Revise, Revise, Revise
Write furiously

 

Rashaun J. Allen is the author of A Walk Through Brooklyn & In The Moment. He has been featured in several publications such as: The Chronicle, The Troy Record, Albany Student Press & UA Magazine. Find his books at www.Royalbluepublishing.com.

Where To Go To Publish?

            You’re a writer with a vision to have a best seller like Khaled Hosseini who wrote “The Kite Runner.” You spent countless hours, months to several years writing to produce a manuscript. Take a moment and give yourself a round of applause. Not many sane people will commit to writing a book. It can be argued that being crazy enough to think outside the norm can be all the difference of writing that masterpiece. But how do you go about getting your book published?

            It’s no easy question to answer. Your manuscript is your baby and just like a newborn not just anyone is going to get close enough to hurt your pride and joy.

There are a ton of options nowadays that can be broken down into a few categories:

Traditional publishers like Penguin Books
Print On Demand (POD) like Lulu Press
Vanity Publishers like Dog Ear Publishing
Self-Publishing as in Do It Yourself

Just to clarify many of the companies mentioned along with others do a little bit of it all catering their services to the needs of the author. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing is for that writer who wants to make an Ebook only. Meanwhile Createspace (also an Amazon company) will allow that same writer to make a paperback or hardcover of their book with the option of leveraging KDP for an Ebook.

 Self-publishing perception was frown upon for years.  The great debate was authors who self-published were not good enough to be published by traditional publisher. Despite Stephen King’s first novel “Carrie” and Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” were both originally self published. Dana Beth Weinberg’s Author Survey Results: Expectations of Traditional Publishing and Self-Publishing gives insight on what authors think about their publishing options.

 Melissa Donovan’s A Writer’s Guide to Types of Publishing Companies gives a more in-depth explanation of each type of publishing company. But how do you know the best approach for your book? As you prepare to decide how you will bring your book to market here is a list of 10 questions to consider:

What is the publishing company’s reputation?
What’s the purpose of my book?
Who’s my potential market?
What’s the budget needed to achieve my vision?
What’s the time frame to get my book to readers?
What skills do I possess?
What skills do I need to outsource?
How much promotion do I need?
How important is it to me that I get a fair percentage of all book sales?
Will I publish my book as Print Books only, Ebooks Only or both Ebook and Print Books?

If you were putting together a book about your family history a POD would be good enough. But if you want your book to be available at every Barnes and Nobles, Books-A-Million and Independent Book store in the United States you’re going to need an agent to help you land a deal with a traditional publisher. Finally, if you want to hedge your bets for increase exposure back with higher revenue than a traditional press you may elect to work with a small press.

Rashaun J. Allen is the author of A Walk Through Brooklyn & In The Moment. He has been featured in several publications such as: The Chronicle, The Troy Record, Albany Student Press & UA Magazine.

The Winner Of Our Free Book Give A Way Is…

Congratulations sdavis7338@aol.com,

 You were chosen as the random recipient of the In The Moment ebook for following Royal Blue Publishing’s blog.

 Be sure to spread the word that our blog will feature advice, research, book reviews, and tidbits for teachers, parents, librarians, and Book Lovers. We are looking forward to doing bi-weekly updates with useful information on it.

 

Thank You for following!

-Rashaun Allen

10 Ways to Procrastinate Forever

I started to write a blog about 10 ways to avoid writing procrastination. But after spending a few minutes googling “how to avoid procrastination” I figured if was enough useful information available. Instead, I wanted to take a look at 10 ways someone can procrastinate forever.  There’s no science behind this list instead I decided to go with the old noggin. This list is not in any type of order of severity. Nor is it an exclusive list so feel free to disagree or add ways you procrastinate instead of working on that best seller.  The first step in any rehab program is admitting the issue.

1) Logging on to Facebook – How many times has going on Facebook just to update a status turn into liking tones of photos? Or a chat with a friend?

2) Browsing the internet for stuff you want – It all started with a search on Amazon…

3) Watching videos on YouTube – How many videos do you hate to love?

4) Learning the lyrics of your favorite song – I don’t know about you but I like to know at least a verse to my favorite song.

5) Playing a game – Candy Crush anyone?

6) Your phone -  It’s just so many texts in need of a response and apps to explore.

7) Sleep – One can never get enough Zzz.

8) Eating – Deciding to be a chef in the kitchen instead of a writer at the desk.

9) Pictures – There’s a reason why ‘Selfie’ was named word of 2013 by Oxford Dictionaries.

10) Looking for something lost – The moment to write came and went the minute I realized I lost my…

Rashaun J. Allen is the author of A Walk Through Brooklyn & In The Moment. He has been featured in several publications such as: The Chronicle, The Troy Record, Albany Student Press & UA Magazine.