Sandy Appleyard's Blog, page 28

5 Bloggers You Should Subscribe To if You’re in Social Media-Volume 1

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1. Cendrine Marrouat. Creative Ramblings

http://www.creativeramblings.com

Creative Ramblings is a very resourceful website full of tips, ideas, concepts and regularly posted lists of ‘the best of’ that are helpful for those of us who don’t always have the time to read every wonderful blog out there. Any blogger, social media entrepreneur or writer should definitely check this site out if you haven’t already.

Stacy Claflin

http:// www.growwithstacy.com

‘Grow with Stacy’...

10 Things I Never Thought I Would Do as an Author

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Blog.

When I began writing my second book, I knew I needed to gain writing exposure, so writing articles with the intent to sell them to magazines became a norm for me. Then I discovered blogging and realized I didn’t need to sell to magazines to get that exposure.

Be okay with self-publishing.

After my first book was published by a subsidy publisher back in 2010, self-publishing was still in its infancy and not widely accepted. Once my second book w...

5 More Tips to Get 450 Downloads the First Day of a Promotion

As I wrote my last blog ’15 Tips to Get 450 Downloads on the First Day of a Promotion’, I knew I would have to write a sequel outlining what happened on the remaining 4 days. Day 2, I admit, was slow. But I did 5 simple things to speed things up, and here they are:

1. Utilize Hootsuite and tweet every 30 minutes with your link.

2. Retweet as others make mention of your blogs and tweets (it’s amazing how many people will retweet when you’ve got a promotion going on)

3. Jump on another author’s pr...

15 Tips to Get 450 Downloads the First Day of a Promotion

Make sure your book is polished (properly edited, catchy title, etc.)

Create your own cover or hire a great cover designer (or a free service likewww.myecovermaker.com)

Give your book a great hook/pitch-both short and long (you will need a short one for Twitter and a long one for all your book promoting social media sites)

Publish it on Amazon.com and Kindle Direct Publishing (make sure it isn’t available on any other digital platform ie. Smashwords)

Ask your friends, Twitter followers, etc. to l...

Blessed and Betrayed-Free on Kindle!

Yes, you read correct. I’m offering my debut novel for free on Amazon Kindle! I’m so excited!!

Here’s the link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AGA59MI

You don’t require a tablet or e-reader; you can simply download it on to your computer using Kindle’s free reading application. Here’s the link:

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000817631

It will be free from December 13, 2012 to December 17, 2012 (5 days inclusive only)

Don’t miss out!!

Here’s the pitch for Blessed and Betrayed (genre...

Laughter for Christmas-From my Kids

Photo credit Jamilia Jean Photography
awkwardfamilyphotos.com

I bought one of those “Countdown to Christmas” chocolate calendars for Olivia, and I gave her the one chocolate to correspond with the day, the 24th day before Christmas. I explained to her that she can have one tomorrow. I left her to go upstairs. As I came back downstairs a little while later, she came running up to me with her face so bright and covered in chocolate. I noticed there were about ten chocolates remaining in the calen...

Are you Actually Reading Other People’s Blog Posts?

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We’re all pressed for time. We all want to keep our social media content flowing. One question: do you retweet or approve a blog post before actually reading it?

I admit…I’m guilty.

Problem: you could be posting not-so-great content without actually knowing it. See ‘The Top Ten reasons I Never Visit Your Blog Anymore’ by @amberrisme, here’s the link:

http://rantitude.com/top-10-reasons-i...

The blog touches on items such as weak content, po...

The Next Big Thing

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Author Mark Brandon Allen asked if I would be interested in participating in a publicity program designed for authors called The Next Best Thing. Mark was given this task by Jace Daniel, the author of Amazon’s best selling horror novel Under Angels.

I was both honoured and excited that I was asked to be a part of this. The webring is simple; we must answer ten questions related to upcoming events or works in progress, and then send this same request to five other write...

If You Wouldn’t Read it to Your Mother, Would You Read it Yourself?

Do Love Scenes Make or Break a Book’s Chances of Being Read?

My first romance novel has just been published, and I’ve noticed that some people have shied away from it simply because it has an adult filter on it.

I’ve read my share of romance novels, even non-romance novels with some pretty hefty love scenes in them, and I was never deterred from reading through to the last page. Am I the only one who feels this way?

For some, it’s just taste. If a book contains graphic sex not relevant to the st...

Book Review-Intended For Harm

This is the second novel of C.S. Lakin’s that I’ve read, and I’m truly intrigued by her writing style. Once again, she kept me guessing about what would happen to the characters. The title is a bit misleading, but in a good way. Originally, with the name ‘Intended for Harm’, I assumed it would be a gripping, nail biting suspense novel about someone who eventually ‘gets what is coming to them’. What I ended up reading was an incredibly heart warming story about a family plagued with pain, desp...