Doris-Maria Heilmann's Blog, page 79
July 25, 2013
FREE TODAY, July 25 – REWRITE REDEMPTION
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Interview with the Author of Rewrite Redemption J.H. Walker
J.H. Walker grew up in Central America. She now lives in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies with her photographer husband and many, many books.
In addition to her never-ending study of human behavior, she’s a political junkie and a certified tree hugger.
Rewrite Redemption, her debut novel received raving reviews. She is presently working on her second book.
“Thanks a lot for taking the time to talk about your book and your writing live!”
Thinking all the way back to the beginning, what is the most important thing you have learned as a writer from then to now?
Writing is a new venture for me. I have spend my days in my study, now, instead of my art studio. I have never studied writing but I have studied creativity. And that understanding can be brought into play in any creative endeavor.
Walt Disney was a creative genius. When it came to creativity, he had a strategy that served him well. It’s too complex to go into detail here. But basically, he brought three “versions” of himself to the creative process: the Dreamer, the Realist, and the Critic. They each performed different roles in the production of anything he created, and they each came into play at the proper moment.
The key point is that when you’re writing, you’re the Dreamer. You need to be absolutely free to create without limit or judgment. You need to be able to wander without restraint. If you can learn to separate your Dreamer from the Realist and the Critic, you’ve taken a huge step towards expanding your creativity.
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How did you get the idea for the novel?
I have always wished I could go back in time and talk to my younger self, give her the benefit of the wisdom that begins to come with age. That desire led me to a fascination with time travel and eventually a book about it.
Does your book have any underlying theme, message, or moral?
Morals are subjective. I spent my childhood drowning in morals—I’m not about to foist mine on anyone. I’m more into practicalities…strategies for understanding and handling life. I have woven a few of those into the story. I suppose you could call them messages. There are just certain truths, that if learned young, give you a better chance of having a smoother path through life.
First and foremost, life isn’t fair—the sooner one comes to terms with that fact the better. Life isn’t fair. It just IS. The truth is that bad things happen to good people all the time…sometimes really horrible things. And when you accept that this is just part of life, it makes it easier to move through the bad times and on to something better.
We receive subtle messages from institutions like religion and icons like Santa Claus, that if we’re just good than good will follow. We will be blessed. But the facts don’t bear that out. Good, honest, and even deeply religious people have their share of unfortunate circumstances. And some of the most crooked despots on the planet are billionaires. But because of these subtle and usually subconscious messages, there’s a tendency to react in less than useful ways when bad luck befalls us. People can get stuck in what I call a “wallowing-why-me mode,” instead of making a plan to deal with the situation. I think this is particularly true of young adults and teenagers, as they haven’t spent enough years on the planet to realize, “this too will pass.” What seems like a tragedy at the moment might be laughed at later or even completely forgotten. Seriously.
In this book, I wanted to include a simple strategy for dealing with what life dishes out. First, realize that life isn’t fair; it’s a mix of both good and bad. It is what it is. Besides, sometimes something that seems unbearable at the moment can turn out to have a silver lining. So when something happens that you perceive as bad, instead of freaking out, assess the situation and make a plan to deal with it or move through it. If you do this, you’re going to have a lot less heartache. And realize that even the most heartbreaking things hurt less over time.
Of course, my characters have paranormal abilities to help them out and real young adults don’t. See? Unfair to us lowly humans… But the message is the same. When something difficult happens, you still have to face it, even if it’s just to put it behind you. And when good things happen, enjoy them. Celebrate.
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Are your characters based on real people?
Not specifically. I’m sure they’re compilations of people I have known in my life, combined with my knowledge of human behavior. The one exception is Ipod. Aspects have been changed to protect his identity, but I knew him very well. His father’s abuse drove him to suppress his emotions, but he found solace in the world of knowledge and fact. Facts were things he could trust…emotions, not so much. He’s grown now and absolutely brilliant. He was sweet and vulnerable in his younger days, and it was him I was seeing as I wrote Ipod.
A boy like Ipod was the only straight, teenage boy I could possibly have had, living in such close proximity to two teenage girls without problems. Not that I don’t think he didn’t have any illicit thoughts alone in the shower. But he was able to compartmentalize his thoughts. Ipod so desperately needed that living situation; he never would have done anything to jeopardize it. Nor would he have taken the chance on losing his friendships with Lex or A.J. over what he would see as a trivial, romantic inclination. He’s far too logical for that. I figured I’d get a little flack about the living situation, but these three kids have known each other since they were really young. In their minds, they’re a family.
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Rewrite Redemption
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Who is your favorite character and why?
I relate most to A.J. I understand her desire to be invisible. I wanted to be invisible myself, beginning in middle school and lasting until my junior year. But I enjoy writing Lex. She’s bold, and she’s smart, and as A.J. says, “Pretty much fearless.” Her parents provide financial support, but that’s about all they give her. Her father lives on the east coast. Her mother is a narcissist, thinking only of herself. In spite of this, Lex has found a survival strategy that has allowed her to remain relatively psychologically healthy.
Her mother, an attorney, requires her to see a therapist once a week. (Lex says her mom is just establishing a paper trail in case anyone ever accuses her of neglect.) Early on, Lex realized that understanding people gave her a certain amount of power…and Lex likes power. So she utilized her “Shrinks” in a somewhat unique way. Since she had to be there an hour a week, she used that time to learn as much as she could about herself, her parents, her friends, and just people in general. It’s given her a unique perspective and a level of maturity uncommon at her age. She’s a loyal and true friend, but you don’t want to cross her. I would have liked to have been like her when I was her age. So I suppose I get a little vicarious satisfaction writing for her character.
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Are your plots based on your real-life experiences?
A few reviewers have questioned the lack of parental involvement in my characters’ lives, implying that their living situations would never happen without social services finding out. That’s where some real-life experience kicks in.
I don’t use specifics from kids I’ve worked with. But I know from real-life experience with kids, that in some homes, the parents are absent, neglectful, and even abusive. Neglect and abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions, and at all levels of education. And some of the time, no one knows about it. So I respectfully beg to differ.
Kids can be really adept at hiding their situations…especially teens. They don’t want to stand out or be different. Often, they’re embarrassed or ashamed. Some are terrified of foster homes. There are a lot of wonderful foster parents, people who open up their homes to kids in need. But others do it for the money and reasons I won’t get into. And sometimes, those homes can be pretty scary. As for social services, Congress is constantly cutting their funding. Social services is overwhelmed and underpaid. Kids fall through the cracks.
It’s not as if my characters don’t have a place to live. Three of my kids band together and make a family. They have each other’s backs and cover for each other. I’ve seen this time and time again in real life. It doesn’t make up for the lack of parental involvement. But it does good things for the kids who have that option. At least, then, they have someone. Family isn’t always blood. Sometimes, family is who is there for you when you need them.
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Give us an excerpted quote from your favorite review of this book:
I incredibly grateful to the wonderful people who have reviewed my book. I have had so many kick-ass reviews; I don’t think I could narrow it down to one favorite. But I’ll give you one that makes me smile each time I see it. It’s from a sixteen-year-old girl who shelved my book in her favorites. It’s only three words:
Abbey rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: january-2013, favourites
IT. WAS. AWESOME.
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If Oprah invited you onto her show to talk about your book, what would the theme of the show be?
If Oprah invited me on her show, we’d probably all be focused on the pigs flying around the room, ha. We’d know we’d just been transported to “Never gonna happen land.” Young-adult novels, with strange things going on, are not exactly her cup of tea. That being said, the title of my book is Rewrite Redemption. Oprah is big on redemption, so I suppose she’d make that the theme.
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What would/could a reader or reviewer say about this book that shows they “get” you as an author?
If I have succeeded in getting readers to care for my characters, I know they “get” me as an author. I have a pretty good understanding of human behavior, and I work hard to make my characters real. And if the readers say I have elicited their emotions, then, yeah, I know they “get” me as an author. When I read a book, I want to be taken on an emotional ride. I love it when I can do that for someone else.
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If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything about your book?
I would have given my hero, Constantine, a shorter name, probably just one syllable. The long name got cumbersome when it had to be used over and over in close proximity. I probably could have come up with a more romantic/clever name for my heroine than A.J. Jones, but somehow it works for me. The irony is that I never consciously did any real choosing when it came to names. These were just the names the characters had when they appeared to me. Ipod was Ipod, right from the start. Weird nickname, I know, but I couldn’t see him as anyone else.
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What genre have you not yet written but really want to try?
I’d like to do a dystopian novel. I love them.
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What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I’m an artist and I’m very happy spending time in my studio. I’m also a political junkie and I keep up with what’s going on in Washington. Things are very precarious in politics right now. We have a faction in Congress that doesn’t believe in science and that’s really scary. When the very people, deciding the course of this country, make decisions that don’t consider fact and science, bad things result. If we don’t do something about climate change soon, this planet is going to end up being one of those dystopian novels everyone loves so much. Reading a dystopian novel is one thing. Living in one…not so much.
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How did you get published? Please share your own personal journey.
I wrote the first draft in 2008. It was at a very busy time in my life and I set it aside. Then in 2010, I picked it back up again, and sent out a few query letters. I even had a couple people read the manuscript and say they’d look at it again if I made a few changes. (I didn’t realize at the time how rare that was.) So I played with it for a while, but was still really engaged in other things. I never sent it back to the editors who had shown interest. Then things began to change in the publishing world and suddenly, there was the option of self-publishing. I liked the sound of that. You own and control your own franchise. There are no deadlines. So I whipped the book into shape. I hired an editor as a second set of eyes. This year, I published it on Amazon.
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What general advice do you have for other writers?
As a writer, I don’t have enough experience to be giving advice to anyone. But here’s something I discovered in the course of my journey. When you think you’re done, you’re probably not done. It’s amazing how much better you can make a book by going over it and over it. I’m horrible at catching mistakes, ha. But I love editing and polishing to make the story better. I suppose it’s the artist in me, but I find a lot of joy in making a passage flow. I think it’s the part I like best about writing.
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What’s one thing that your readers would be surprised to know about you?
There was a time in my life when I was connected to the music world. I lived near Chicago. My then, boyfriend, had a lighting company and did lights for bands, including some big names. I had back-stage passes to all kinds of venues. I met a lot of interesting people and had some wild times. But I have to say, it’s a life that burns you out if you let it. I realized that and moved on for that very reason. I have some fond memories. But I’m way happier living a quieter life.
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Where can people learn more about your writing?
Get my book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B6GT4H2
Check out my trailer on my website. http://www.jhwalkerbooks.com
Read reviews on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17289823-rewrite-redemption
I’d love it if you’d like me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jhwalkerbooks
And my Twitter handle is: @jhwalkerbooks
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.
Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 815 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: @jhwalkerbooks, Author J.H. Walker, jhwalkerbooks.com, Rewrite Redemption, time travel, YA fiction, YA novel
July 24, 2013
If The Twitter Community Were 100 People …
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According to Twitter statistics: 20 Twitter accounts would be empty, 50 tweeps would be lazy, 5 loud mouths, and only 5 would have more than 100 followers. 55% would be women and 45% men.
Only 8% of all tweets are useful, funny or news-worthy. Peak days and peak hours are when the most tweets are sent out, yet not the necessarily the times with the most re-tweets.
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Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
Credit David McCandless
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Here are some tips to multiply your tweets, so that many followers are getting your message within a 24-hour period – or even more, if you have an additional Twitter account …. and without getting your tweets bounced for repetition.
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Don’t understand me wrong:
I am all for having interesting, news-worthy and appealing tweets. However there are times when you want to get your message out to a lot of followers and new readers, such as for your Amazon KDP Select FREE days or when you have a Goodreads Giveaway or an Event on Google+.
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As your followers are not on Twitter 24/7 and they have busy lives, they might not get your message in time, if you sent it out only once or twice a day. Usually tweeps open their Twitter account and read and re-tweet only 20-30 tweets down their time line, before they move on. And when they come back to their account hours later, they do the same. They will also not stay for hours on their account. So they might never find your tweet, in which you announce your free days, or a book launch event, or your Giveaway on Goodreads.
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There are several ways to “multiply” your message:
You can change (spin) the text in several ways
You can cut one long message in two short ones
You can open several Twitter accounts and tweet from each of them
You can add a variety of recipients in the beginning or end of each tweet
As I wrote before, do this only in very rare cases, for certain events, especially if you have not yet more than 2,000 followers in your timeline. You will want to send out entertaining, thoughtful, funny, tweets or news, that are interesting for your fellow tweeps.
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.
Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 815 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/
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Tagged: Goodreads giveaway, Google+ event, infographic, Peak hours on Twitter, Twitter following, Twitter Statistics, www.Sysomos.com
July 23, 2013
From Bars to Books and From Prison to Praise
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An amazing true story, hold your breath…
With more tricks than Bugs Bunny & more charm than Roger Rabbit; RABBIT IN THE JUNGLE – a brand new book that describes Anthony’s Alegrete’s rise from the streets of Los Angeles, through the penal system, to the halls of Academia.
Rabbit in the Jungle tells a classically American story of second chances, hard work and hope. Sometimes raw and gritty, the book traces Anthony Alegrete’s youth during the West Coast Hip-Hop culture, his sometimes bad decisions, how he survived prison politics and finally built a reputation for himself at University of Nevada and partnered up with local fitness experts to bring a trendy gym to the downtown area of Vegas.
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Can you imagine to be in prison for some youth sins that haunt you later?
This book shares his story in a way meant to be cautionary and inspiring. Alegrete wants others to know the important role that family, friends and education play in keeping their lives on the right track. The title for the book comes from Anthony’s ability to survive in multiple dangerous environments. ”Along the way he had a lot of fun, a little trouble and learned a few lessons.”
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This book is also an eye-opener for young people and a Must-Read for social workers, politicians, parents, educators and bureaucrats.
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“The prison system isn’t working. Theoretically, prisons deter and reform criminals. Given the high number of repeat visitors in the country’s prisons this theory doesn’t hold up very well. The unfortunate truth is that prison often becomes a training ground and network that actually encourages further criminal pursuits. Prisoners become hardened and desensitized by the brutal setting.”
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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E368RD4
208 pages, $4.99 available as e-book and very soon in print too.
More about the book and its author:
http://www.rabbitinthejungle.com
http://pinterest.com/pin/365354588490950308/
http://www.facebook.com/rabbitinthejungle
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Tagged: Anthony Alegrete, Author Anthony Alegrete, Bugs Bunny, Goodreads giveaway, http://www.facebook.com/rabbitinthejungle, Rabbit in the Jungle, Roger Rabbit, West Coast hip hop
July 22, 2013
9 Habits of Successful Writers on Twitter
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It’s all about easy ways to optimize your Twitter profile and your Tweets and using Twitter for social networking, marketing your book and your website / blog.
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1. Perfecting your Twitter name
Your bio, along with your name and @name, is searchable on Twitter. This means people can type into Twitter’s search engine and find you, without even having to type the account name. With your @name, try to get the actual name of your small publishing business. Keep it short to give tweeps more space to re-tweet your content or send a DM. Try to get the actual name of your small publishing business. Keep it short to give people more space to re-tweet your content or send a DM.
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2. Use 160 characters for your bio wisely
You have only 160 characters for your bio, so make sure your description is clear and concise. Your bio should read like an elevator pitch. The first third of your profile should contain keywords related to your books. Include specific keywords that define your books. Think about what keywords a potential customer or prospect would associate with your books or your publishing company. Which search terms would they use to find your website?
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3. Photo – Icon – Avatar, aka Logo
Your readers (and maybe future publishers) like to see the person behind the book. Invest a couple of dollars or more for a brilliant studio photo which you can use for years on all of your Social Media sites, website, blog, Amazon author page or submit to your publisher to use in your books. Publishing businesses use their logo and stick with it everywhere, to have brand consistency.
Avoid: Party images, pics taken with your phone or computer, landscapes, snapshots from your last vacation, images of your children, wedding photos, art work, dogs or cats, cartoon characters, half-nudes unless you write porno and any dark photos, that don’t reveal your face or photos taken from the side or from behind and show only your hair and no face. Never have a second person on your social media photo. You might be in love with your partner, but it is less than professional to show this off on Twitter.
Your Twitter photo
@DanielSharkov via Jeff Bullas’s Blog, shares 3 tips on your photo:
Make sure it’s a photo of “you”, that really shows the best of you
Make sure it’s big enough
Make sure your face is recognizable
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4. Start your tweets with an attention grabber
You have 140 characters for a reason – a tweet is supposed to be short and to the point! Start your tweets with something that will get attention. Be subtle about this, though. Don’t use capital letters to show your enthusiasm. Start a tweet with “New” or “Learn” to at least grab the reader’s attention to lead into what you are talking about.
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5. Increase the amount of followers:
Use the search function to find like-minded Tweeps, e.g. type: reading, book lovers, book worm,. avid reader etc. You will want more readers than other writers as Twitter followers, right? Type into the search function words with hash tags #amreading or #Goodreads. Check out suggestions: “Who to follow” on your left bar of your Twitter page. As more followers you have, as more people read your messages, and as more Twitter followers you can invite as Goodreads friends.
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6. Hash Tags increases visibility
Using hash tags # is another way to connect to people with similar interests and to increase the visibility of your tweets. Add hash tags to your tweets and also create tweets based on hash tags that are popular on Twitter at the time (you can see these as “trends” on the left-hand side of your Twitter home page).
Include a hashtag or two in your posts to get better search results as well. To optimize your hashtag usage, search for the most used hashtags in your industry. Try going to search.twitter.com and entering the hashtag you’d like to include in your tweet to see if it’s being widely used. You can also go to hashtags.org to see what’s currently trending.
Ask for re-tweets (but not too often) Studies showed that more then half of all Tweeps will re-tweet if you simply ask them to!
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7. Don’t buy followers. Ever!
These artificial followers (not real people, just virtual twitter accounts) will never re-tweet you or buy your book.
If you have anything like these numbers:
268 TWEETS 2004 FOLLOWING 345 FOLLOWERS
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Un-follow people who haven’t followed you back after a while. This is especially important to avoid “follow limits”. The first limit at Twitter you might hit, is when you have followed 2,000 people. You won’t be able to follow any more until you have 2,000 followers. So remove your non-followers, using Manageflitter.com or Unfollow.com
However, don’t use their really annoying feature that tweets on your timeline: “Got 5 followers and 9 un-followers”. This is not only an absolutely useless tweet, but makes you at the same time a free advertiser for them!
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8. Get enough Twitter followers
Don’t be a Tweep with a pathetic following of less than 100 people. And don’t sign up with only one or two Social Media sites. Take advantage of the great possibilities of sharing among all these sites. It is almost the same “work” if you are on one site, compared to having a presence on six or eight sites through the help of plug-ins and sharing buttons, as outlined in former blog posts. So can visitors on your Goodreads page click on the Google+ or the Facebook icon and send a message about you and your book to thousands of their followers. Google+ then sends the message automatically to Twitter. To have lots of Twitter followers is also beneficial for your Goodreads presence, as you can transfer Twitter followers with one click over to Goodreads!
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9. Easy scheduling
Tweet consistently and tweet at least several times a day. Sign up with the free version of Hootsuite It really saves a lot of time, helps you planning your tweets over the day (or days) and frees you time to really interact with your followers. It ensures your consistent presence on Twitter when you’re unable to tweet in person. Once you are familiar how it works and you have lots of followers, you might change to the professional version.
Timing of your tweets: It seems Friday is the best day of the week, to get re-tweets. Tweet between 12 noon and 2pm to get a maximum of re-tweets for your Twitter content. If you have a WordPress blog: Did you already install the “Re-tweet” button? Just found a site where they describe it, both, automatically or manually. Happy Tweeting!
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Tagged: 9 Habits of Successful Writers, Hootsuite, increase the amount of Twitter followers, Twitterfeed, unfollow 
July 21, 2013
Christmas in July! SANTA’S KISS
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It’s Christmas in Legend, Tennessee, and there is no finer place to visit than this small mountain town, sitting snug and cozy in the Great Smoky Mountains. It’s Christmas time! People are coming home, visiting family, and maybe settling a few misunderstandings.
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Dawn Smith lives life on the edge, seeking thrills, changing herself into someone else and became a superstar. But Dawn’s world is crumbling. She need’s to get away from the bright lights and the heartache, but it is Christmas time. There’s no way she can face her family this year.
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Clint Roberts is Legend’s fun-loving bachelor, who still loves his high-school sweetheart, now actress Dawn Smith. When Dawn needs someone to turn to, Clint shows up on her doorstep in a snowstorm dressed as Santa. Will Dawn welcome his help or their lovemaking bring even more heartache? Can Clint convince her that it’s time to come home to stay?
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“Santa’s Kiss” by Jan Scarbrough, Kindle Edition Special only $0.99 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A5ADFPW
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All her four books in the original Legendary Christmas series are on sale for 99 cents!
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A technical writer, Jan spends her days writing information protection policies. At night,
however, she leaves the technical jargon behind and escapes within her own world to
create romances from the heart. She has dabbled in medieval romance with MY LORD
RAVEN and under her pen name Darby York created a series of sensual short stories.
Her paranormal, TANGLED MEMORIES, was a RWA Golden Heart finalist. Jan wrote
more than 20 books and several novellas. Check out her blog too!
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.
Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 815 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: Author Jan Scarbrough, Christmas in July, Legend TN, Legendary Christmas series, Santa's Kiss, TANGLED MEMORIES
July 20, 2013
Benefits of Becoming a Publisher
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Did you write three or more books already?
Congratulations to every author who accomplishes this with lots of perseverance. You really have earned your royalties. For sure, the “Taxman” is as happy as you are. But you also had expenses and should be able to deduct them from taxes that you pay for royalties. For sure you will write more books, so it is almost natural to register as publisher and deduct even more expenses:
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• Computer, printer, fax, scanner, copier and other office equipment
• Furniture, carpet, blinds, cleaning material, cost for a maid etc.
• Telephone, cell, wireless, cable
• Insurances, banking fees
• Software and computer training
• Travel cost such as hotel, car, taxi, plane
• Car payments, car insurance, gas, repairs
• Webhosting, Domain name, web designer
• Writers and publisher conferences
• e-Book conversions, cover design, editing, copy editing, layout and desktop publishing
• Rent / Mortgage and Heating / Electricity etc. for the space you work in – and storage for your books if you go the “paper route”.
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You can find lots of practical tips how to set up your own publishing company and how to distribute your book worldwide in a series of articles here at this blog. Self-publishing “Guru” Dan Poynter’s book “Self-publishing Manual” describes in detail all the tax breaks.
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Another professional adviser in all things print, publishing and book distribution is Aaron Shepard, who wrote: “Aiming at Amazon” and “POD for Profit“. His great knowledge of book distribution is extremely helpful for newcomers to publishing. A good idea is to sign up for Aaron Shepard’s blog. Learn more about the process to become a small publisher from these blogs & web sites:
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http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/how-to-plan-your-publishing-business/
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/how-to-start-your-own-book-publishing-business/
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/becoming-your-own-publisher-book-production/
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/how-to-organize-printing-or-print-on-demand/
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/distribution-of-your-print-book/
http://www.aliciadunams.com/starting-your-own-publishing-company/
http://parapub.com/sites/para/information/produce.cfm
http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog/
http://booknotselling.blogspot.com/
The advantage of business ownership for independent authors far outweights the work involved. And deciding to write a book means, that you already have decided to be in business. Go for it! What holds you back?
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.
Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 815 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
.
Tagged: Dan Poynter, deduct even more expenses, deduct them from taxes, did you write more books, how to become a publisher, IRS.org, practical tips to set up your own publishing company, Publishing business
July 18, 2013
Book Promotion: Lots of Added Value For You
.
Photo credit Allposters.ca
.
As a reader of this blog you found already a treasure of book marketing tips and you might have realized the immense possibilities to promote your books. But there is more you can get from us: We can consult you in all things publishing (digital and print), evaluate your marketing plans, promote your book intensively and show you how to navigate social media sites. Take advantage of our engaging, professional help, we have studied business, marketing and e-publishing and have 30 years publishing experience.
.
You are a very talented author who has written a fantastic book, or even several – but the publishing / promoting process is an adventure and it can take up quite some of your valuable writing time. So it is smart to get professional help, especially when it is so easy and inexpensive, and when you can learn a lot about publishing and publicizing your future books.
.
We certainly customize our Book Publishing and Marketing Support
directly to your book and your needs!
.
What you can expect in our package – plus more!
Introduction of your book on dozens of reader communities with a 50,000+ audience
Unlimited book marketing consultations by email for up to three months
Unlimited social media help for three months
Three hours of one-on-one Book Marketing Online Seminar phone-consultations
Instructions / checklist / links for you to use for your book promotions
Advertising of your book on free days /promotions with Amazon KDP to 240.000+ readers
Blog posts including cover image/author bio/book description on both, blog & our websites
Author interview on our blog website – this article stays there forever!
“Book of the Month” recommendation directly to more than 2,500 readers on Goodreads
Book ads several times/week for 3 months on all sites to approx. 200.000+ readers
Free e-book for you: “Book Marketing on a Shoestring” launch Summer 2013
Plus one surprise gift we will reveal once you signed up!
.
Even more book marketing possibilities:
At the end of July our two new, additional book promotion websites will finally go online, to which we will also promote the articles about your books and about you as a writer. These new sites will be dedicated to publicize our customers’ books, and will be heavily promote to a readership of several hundred thousand followers on all our Social Media sites and blogs (WordPress, Hubpages, Squidoo, Blogger etc.). One of the websites is dedicated to books specials and free Kindle books.
.
We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for a three-months package.
However: Authors who sign up before July 29th (when we switch to three websites / new Hosting Service) are able to order for the “old” introductory price of only $98.00.
Take advantage of this great offer! Book Publicity firms usually charge more than $2,500 for
less service, than we offer!
.
What former clients said:
“”Thank you so much. You are amazing, so helpful to all of us who are starting down the
road of self publishing. I just printed that blog post off this morning and will start to act on it
today. You are an inspiration. Thanks again for everything.”
“Your advice all along the way has been so very valuable to help me make those important
decisions, thank you so much for that”
“Boy, you really provide a service. If you ever need a reference, count me in. Anything I can
do to promote you back. You rock.”
“I am so happy with 111Publishing for helping me out. If ANYONE is self-publishing a book I
highly recommend using her for consulting. Thank you Doris for saving me $3700″
.
Learn more about this individual book marketing help at http://www.111Publishing.com,
email us your questions via 111publishing a t gmail d o t com, or skype us.
.
<><><><><>
.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
.
Tagged: Book Marketing, book marketing consulting, book promotion, book publicity, e-Book marketing, Get Book Marketing help, how to market your e-books
Lots of Added Value For You
.
Photo Credit Jennifer Pugh
.
As a reader of this blog you found already a treasure of book marketing tips and you might have realized the immense possibilities to promote your books. But there is more: We can consult you in all things publishing (digital and print), evaluate your marketing plans, promote your book intensively and show you how to navigate social media sites.
.
You are a very talented author who has written a fantastic book, or even several – but the publishing / promoting process is an adventure and it can take up quite some of your valuable writing time. So it is smart to get professional help, especially when it is so easy and inexpensive, and when you can learn a lot about publishing and publicizing your future books. Take advantage of our professional help, we have studied business, marketing and e-publishing and have 30 years publishing experience.
.
We certainly customize our Book Publishing and Marketing Support
directly to your book and your needs!
.
What you can expect in our package – plus more!
Introduction of your book on dozens of reader communities with a 50,000+ audience
Unlimited book marketing consultations by email for up to three months
Unlimited social media help for three months
Three hours of one-on-one Book Marketing Online Seminar phone-consultations
Instructions / checklist / links for you to use for your book promotions
Advertising of your book on free days /promotions with Amazon KDP to 240.000+ readers
Blog posts including cover image/author bio/book description on both, blog & our websites
Author interview on our blog website – this article stays there forever!
“Book of the Month” recommendation directly to more than 2,500 readers on Goodreads
Book ads several times/week for 3 months on all sites to approx. 200.000+ readers
Free e-book for you: “Book Marketing on a Shoestring” launch Summer 2013
Plus one surprise gift we will reveal once you signed up!
.
Even more book marketing possibilities:
At the end of July our two new, additional book promotion websites will finally go online, to which we will also promote the articles about your books and about you as a writer. These new sites will be dedicated to publicize our customers’ books, and will be heavily promote to a readership of several hundred thousand followers on all our Social Media sites and blogs (WordPress, Hubpages, Squidoo, Blogger etc.). One of the websites is dedicated to books specials and free Kindle books.
.
We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for a three-months package.
However: Authors who sign up before July 29th (when we switch to three websites / new Hosting Service) are able to order for the “old” introductory price of only $98.00.
Take advantage of this great offer! Book Publicity firms usually charge more than $2,500 for
less service, than we offer!
.
What former clients said:
“”Thank you so much. You are amazing, so helpful to all of us who are starting down the
road of self publishing. I just printed that blog post off this morning and will start to act on it
today. You are an inspiration. Thanks again for everything.”
“Your advice all along the way has been so very valuable to help me make those important
decisions, thank you so much for that”
“Boy, you really provide a service. If you ever need a reference, count me in. Anything I can
do to promote you back. You rock.”
“I am so happy with 111Publishing for helping me out. If ANYONE is self-publishing a book I
highly recommend using her for consulting. Thank you Doris for saving me $3700″
.
Learn more about this individual book marketing help at http://www.111Publishing.com,
email us your questions via 111publishing a t gmail d o t com, or skype us.
.
<><><><><>
.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
.
Tagged: Book Marketing, book marketing consulting, book promotion, book publicity, e-Book marketing, Get Book Marketing help, how to market your e-books
July 17, 2013
7 Top Tips to Boost Your Success on Amazon
.
.
Join the
Amazon Associates
program to earn an additional 4% on each of your book sales you drive.
An author, with more than 10 books under his belt, gives the following tips to maximize the success of his work through Amazon’s affiliate program, called “Amazon Associates”, which can be found at the bottom of the page under “Make money with us.”
,
First: have a website / blog
As more visitors / subscribers you have as better are the possibilities to earn money with Amazon.
What you cannot use for an affiliate program, are websites that you do not own, such as the free Weebly.com or WordPress.com. When applying for an affiliate program you will be asked to list your websites / blogs.
.
Sign up for the Affiliate Program
The author explains: “First of all, I signed up for the affiliate program on Amazon to be able to earn an additional 6,5% on my own books. Every link in every book I write should be an affiliate link. This way I can earn 6.5% or more of everything someone buys on Amazon after they use my link, and I make an extra $5 or $10 a day.”
.
Choose as many categories as possible
“When I upload a book to Amazon, I can choose 2 categories to put it in. If I write five books, I have a total of 10 categories. Every successive e-book I write, references to the first book via an html link inside and in the description. Each book after the first one should ONLY reference this first book, and all the successive books should go into new categories. All my books point to one, my first. So, when Amazon customers find my first one and order it., it goes up in the rankings. Because it’s up in the rankings, people buy more of the follow-up books. You need 7 books in total before you really see the first book hit.”
.
More Tips from Amazon Associates:
“Use Amazon’s Associates program to create custom links from your website or blog to your book and interactive widgets, presenting your book in a professional light. When customers click those links and purchase your book, you can earn an additional 4% on each sale. Other Amazon programs offer even more: Earn up to 15% advertising fees from Qualifying Purchases, not just the products you advertised. Make elegant slideshow widgets out of images chosen from products across the entire Amazon catalog – Kindle e-books, CD cover art, DVD’s, print books… anything!”
.
Slide Show
“Showcase a hand-picked list of products with the widgets. Start by selecting a display format that best suits your website. You’ll then be able to add products and customize your widget and we’ll provide the HTML for you to use on your website.”
.
.
Comment on Books
“Use this widget tool to recommend your and other authors books. Tell your customers in your own words why you like a certain book and how they can benefit from reading it. Recommend, and comment on books and products from Amazon. Let everyone know how you feel and what you like!”
.
Deals Widget
“Display the hottest deals from Amazon on your web page; The Deals Widget lets you select the best “Gold Box” deals which you would like to showcase on your web site. You can even narrow your selection by choosing a specific product category and show discounted items and ongoing promotions from that category.”
Darren Rowse, who makes on average $20,000+ per year with Amazon Associates (he has hundred thousands of readers on his blog), gives lots of helpful tips in a blog article:
11 Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program
.
More tips to boost your success on Amazon:
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/5-tips-to-improve-your-amazon-author-page/
.
<><><><><>
.
If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.
Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 810 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
.
Tagged: Affiliate Program, Alexa traffic rankings, Amazon Associates, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Widgets, Darren Rowse, deals widget
5 Top Tips to Boost Your Success on Amazon
.
.
Join the
Amazon Associates
program to earn an additional 4% on each of your book sales you drive.
An author, with more than 10 books under his belt, gives the following tips to maximize the success of his work through Amazon’s affiliate program, called “Amazon Associates”, which can be found at the bottom of the page under “Make money with us.”
,
First: have a website / blog
As more visitors / subscribers you have as better are the possibilities to earn money with Amazon.
What you cannot use for an affiliate program, are websites that you do not own, such as the free Weebly.com or WordPress.com. When applying for an affiliate program you will be asked to list your websites / blogs.
.
Sign up for the Affiliate Program
The author explains: “First of all, I signed up for the affiliate program on Amazon to be able to earn an additional 6,5% on my own books. Every link in every book I write should be an affiliate link. This way I can earn 6.5% or more of everything someone buys on Amazon after they use my link, and I make an extra $5 or $10 a day.”
.
Choose as many categories as possible
“When I upload a book to Amazon, I can choose 2 categories to put it in. If I write five books, I have a total of 10 categories. Every successive e-book I write, references to the first book via an html link inside and in the description. Each book after the first one should ONLY reference this first book, and all the successive books should go into new categories. All my books point to one, my first. So, when Amazon customers find my first one and order it., it goes up in the rankings. Because it’s up in the rankings, people buy more of the follow-up books. You need 7 books in total before you really see the first book hit.”
.
Amazon Associates
“Use Amazon’s Associates program to create custom links from your website or blog to your book and interactive widgets, presenting your book in a professional light. When customers click those links and purchase your book, you can earn an additional 4% on each sale. Other Amazon programs offer even more: Earn up to 15% advertising fees from Qualifying Purchases, not just the products you advertised. Make elegant slideshow widgets out of images chosen from products across the entire Amazon catalog – Kindle e-books, CD cover art, DVD’s, print books… anything!”
.
Slide Show
“Showcase a hand-picked list of products with the widgets. Start by selecting a display format that best suits your website. You’ll then be able to add products and customize your widget and we’ll provide the HTML for you to use on your website.”
.
.
Comment on Books
“Use this widget tool to recommend your and other authors books. Tell your customers in your own words why you like a certain book and how they can benefit from reading it. Recommend, and comment on books and products from Amazon. Let everyone know how you feel and what you like!”
.
Deals Widget
“Display the hottest deals from Amazon on your web page; The Deals Widget lets you select the best “Gold Box” deals which you would like to showcase on your web site. You can even narrow your selection by choosing a specific product category and show discounted items and ongoing promotions from that category.”
Darren Rowse, who makes on average $20,000+ per year with Amazon Associates, gives lots of helpful tips in a blog article: 11 Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program
.
More tips to boost your success on Amazon:
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/5-tips-to-improve-your-amazon-author-page/
.
<><><><><>
.
If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.
Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 810 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
.
Tagged: Affiliate Program, Alexa traffic rankings, Amazon Associates, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Widgets, Darren Rowse, deals widget
