Buffy Greentree's Blog, page 6

KOP: How To Create A Facebook Author Page

Today's Killer Online Platform discussion is about how to create a Facebook Author Page. 
Please note that this is different to your own personal account, which is exactly what you want. Creating an author page on Facebook allows you to set yourself up as a professional and collect together people interested just in your writing, and not what your baby had for breakfast that day. 
However, in order to complete the process of setting up a page, you will need to sign up for a personal account first. If you already have a personal account, you can build the page connected to this for admin purposes which is the easiest way. Otherwise, you'll have to create an account just for your author page. However, it will ask you to do that when required. 
Preliminary Step:
I recommend before starting the actual process that you sit down and write out a short description with basic information about you as an author as well as finding a good author photograph. If you don't have a good photograph to hand, take the time to find a friend, brush your hair, put on some make up, and get one taken. 
Doing this before hand takes away the stress of the process, and allows you to put up a better quality page from the beginning. The other option you are welcome to take is just chucking up what you have now, thinking you will change it later, and in a few months realise that you never got round to it. Your choice.
Step 1: Go To Create a Page:
This is a pretty easy step, just go to:  www.facebook.com/pages/create/
It will give you a page like this:
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For the purposes of creating an Author Page, you want to click on the box in the left hand bottom corner 'Artist, Band or Public Figure', because you are an artist!
This will then bring up the following form to fill in:
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Under 'Choose a Category', you will want 'Author'. You then type in your author name (the name you are publishing under, so mine is 'Buffy Greentree' rather than 'Elizabeth Greentree'), and agree to their terms and conditions.

Step 2: Add In Your Info
Then comes the details:[image error] This is pretty easy, you just need follow their directions and answer their questions. Put as many links to your other social media, websites and blogs as you can as this helps your page and your websites. If you followed my advice and pre-wrote your description, just copy and paste it in here.Once you have finished this, you have officially set up the page. Yah! Now, to get people to know about it!
Step 3: Add Some More Information
A lot of people recommend you go out and get some 'likes' as step 3, but I really think you should leave that to a later step. First of all, you want to create something that people want to like. 
Similar to your blog or your website, your facebook page should offer your readers something. Whether it is a chance to personally connect with you, up-to-date information on your next book, or just a whole lot of pictures to make them laugh, you need something.
Keep these things in mind when building your page:
a) visual branding - can someone immediately associate this Facebook page with all your other sites? How can you best reinforce the 'story' of your branding on your Page?  b) A landing page. This is now an optional extra, as Facebook takes all visitors straight to your main page. You can set up a landing page as your 'gateway' into your facebook page, where people who have never been to your site come for the first time. It should fulfill two major purposes: 1. it should immediately indicate who you are/what you are about, and 2. it should call people to 'like' your page in order to get insider information. Pat Flynn has a great tutorial on creating a landing page if you want to add one:


c) Content: what type of content are you going to have on your page? I admit, I currently use it mostly to link all my blog posts and to host the occassional status update. But as I am researching this, I'm realising that there are so many other things you can be doing. Weekly tips on writing, status updates by your characters, uploading photos that are inspiration for a scene in your book, weekly extracts from your work. Just remember that unlike your blog/website, Facebook should be short and sharp. You want things that will come up in newsfeeds and grab people's attention. (A little bit of stalking can be a great thing here. Find Facebook pages that are doing really well, and see what they have on there.)  d) How to get readers involved: Your aim is to get as much involvement on your page as possible. Some great ideas just off the top of my head:- getting people to vote on potential book covers (added benefit if they later see it in Amazon/wherever, they will feel more connection with it). - similarly, have a design contest where readers can add their own cover ideas. - a 'featured photograph' each week. Get fans to send in pictures of themselves dressed as characters, or reading your book in unusual places, and feature one per week. 
 c) use of promotions and offers: Facebook is a great place to run your giveaways or special offers. Reward your loyal followers by giving away review copies of your new book before it is realised, or allow them to name a character in your next one. There are a number of different ways these can be run, and some great apps to help you do it. Take some time to look into how you can host a competition on your page, and start thinking of great ideas. 
If you can even spend just an hour setting up your page with some content, some apps to help user engagement, maybe an email sign-up so you can keep in contact with your visitors, it will make a huge difference when you head out to attract people to your page. 

Step 4: Get Some Likes
I believe it is totally reasonable to be your very first 'Like' on your own page. It's not like writing your own review in Amazon (which is bad, in case you hadn't realised, bad.) 
However, obviously you are going to want a whole lot more than just yourself. Definitely start with inviting all your friends and email contacts (hey, you're a writer, if they don't want to support your author page, are they really that good a friend? When I did it, I actually found it was the people I was least sure about that were the most supportive!). 
The next stage is to move beyond your already known fans/friends. The internet is full of strategies for getting more likes, but start with some of the basics: make sure all your blogs and websites have a link to your facebook page, and put in a 'call to action' in your posts or even at the end of your ebooks, telling people why they should go to your Facebook page. (This will be easy because you will have filled it with great reader focused content that they will be dying to get their hands on). 
Facebook also offers the chance to advertise. Now, I haven't done this myself, but my brother has (for his character's page Capt. Tom Grafton). This might be why I currently have about 50 likes, and he has over 10,000. He also uses his site quite well with various memes in the voice of his main character, Tom Grafton, which get a lot of comments and shares. 
The advertising isn't necessarily expensive, but can add up. For Dave, it has gotten him a lot of likes, but hasn't translated as of yet into sales of his books. So you need to see if you have the spare budget for it. I just recommend that you first have something worthwhile to advertise, and then keep the good stuff coming so the people who come want to keep coming back. 
I hope this has given you some great ideas for your Facebook Page. 
When you set yours up, put a link to it in the comments and I'll come and be one of the first to like it!

Second Week of Self-Employment - Not Broke Yet!

Don't worry, I don't intend to always go on '101st week of self-employment'. However, so many good things keep happening that I just have to tell you.

So, last Sunday I said I wanted to get the following things accomplished:

Work:
1. Edit Dave's book - Tom Grafton Vs. The Environmentalists
2. Format and publish my aunt's short story - A Mother's Story.
3. Set up my aunt's author page on Smashwords, Amazon and Good Reads.

Writing:
1.  Start WIP - A Little Bit of Leaven. A manuscript written by my great-grandfather.
2. Turn my short story - John Verry - into a free ebook and upload to Smashwords.
3. Upload The Five Day Writer's Retreat to Smashwords and Amazon.

How did I go with all that?

Workwise I sent my aunt the cover for approval, and she has requested a number of changes, so need to redo it all. I also edited the first 1/5 of Dave's book.

However, the rest of the work got slightly sidetracked because...

Other exciting news:

On Tuesday I received an email from the Woodend Neighbourhood Centre, whom I had sent a query to about teaching a course though didn't expect an answer (it was my mother's idea. 'You need to follow up every opportunity.' Don't you hate it when your mother is right? Though also love it because good things come into your life because of it?) They loved my idea of a course on An Introduction To Self-Publishing, could I come in for an interview?

Luckily was already up visiting Mum and Dad, so went around that afternoon. After a discussion about what would be involved, and the possibility of getting some Government funding for the course, Jill the Co-ordinator asked me to write up a proposal and lesson plan for a 7 week course, of 3 hours/week! (I was thinking I'd probably get a 5 week course of 1 hour.)

So madly spent the rest of the week writing up a detailed plan of what I would do, the learning outcomes, how they would be acknowledged etc. etc. (To get the Government funding, I had to write it all up in terms of their particular framework.) But got very excited about the course and how much I would have to teach. Finally sent it off Friday morning.

Have just heard back today that Jill likes it, and is sending it to her government counterpart, but wants to run it all the same starting in August (aka about two weeks from now.) She's going to start advertising it through their social media.

a) this is awesome! I love teaching, and getting to teach about self-publishing somehow makes me feel much more authentic about running a company offering self-publishing services.

b) something might actually bring in some money! (only slightly worried as I watch the savings dwindle and I keep getting these great projects that require work now and only promise possible income in the future.)

c) I have two weeks to get ready to teach a course on something I'm only just learning myself! Argg! (good arg, but arg nonetheless).

So that was pretty much all the 'work' I got done, though I also spent all weekend at a writing conference, and managed to get my Buffy Group business cards printed up. So, small wins.

As to my writing...

A Little Bit of Leaven: 
With my great-grandfather's manuscript I started typing it up by hand, but realised it was going to take me about 20 hours to type it all up (and some serious neck injuries). So I have taken it to a company that specialises in digitalising historical records, and they are going to scan it all and do the OCR reading so I can edit it. So that's going to take a few more days, so haven't been able to do more on that yet.

But just to give you a taste of the work, here is a little wippet. (snippet from a WIP - work in progress).


The Reverend Mathew Selkirk put down his pen with a sigh of relief. He had just completed putting the final touches to his sermon that he intended to preach on the following day. He relaxed in his chair, and allowed his mind to wander for a moment or two. A light tap at the door broke in on his reverie.
‘Yes, Mrs. Nelson?’ he replied in answer to the knock.
‘Will you have a cup of tea before you go to the station?’ enquired his Housekeeper.
‘I would certainly appreciate a cup of tea.’ Replied Mr. Selkirk, as he rose from his table and opened the study door. ‘Writing sermons can be very dry work. I do hope they don’t sound as dry as I feel at this very moment.’
‘There is no fear of that,’ replied Mrs. Nelson confidently as she led the way to the dining-room. ‘Sometimes I feel that they are a bit soft though. A bit of Hellfire and Brimstone is what some of your Parishioners are needing. Especially the ones in the shops. They would steal you blind if I didn’t keep a good eye on them.’
 
...

 She looked at the clock. ‘I think that you had better be on your way now. Mark’s train is due in, in just over twenty minutes.’
‘But it is only a three minute walk.’ Protested Mr. Selkirk.
‘A three minute walk for a normal person,’ said Mrs. Nelson. ‘But knowing you, I am sure that twenty minutes is barely enough time. A few words to this one, and a few words to that one fair runs away with the time.’
‘I’m on my way,’ replied Mr. Selkirk, rising to his feet. ‘I do want to call in and see Mrs. Hopkins for a minute or two, on my way to the station.’
‘Twenty two minutes later, Mr. Selkirk arrived at the station.

As I grew up in a small country town where my father was the local Anglican minister, this gives me a warm sense of nostalgia. We were always running late for things because Dad just had to pop in and see so and so.

I've only read the first two chapters, and while it is not a great piece of literature, there is a sweetness and old-fashioned homeliness to the writing which I find greatly appealing. I don't think it will sell well to anyone younger than me, but those who remember a slower time I think will find some enjoyment in it. However, my great-grandfather loved dialogue but was not so great on the description. So will have to see if I can even it out a bit.

My Photoshop skills continue to develop:
I've now been playing around with GIMP (an openshare program like photoshop) for 2 weeks. In this time I've gone from creating this:
To creating these:


(Okay, for the Five Day Writer, I was using some images already created by my last graphic designer, I didn't make the pen myself, but still).

So I'm pretty proud of myself.

Further, as you can tell from the cover, I've turned John Verry (my short story which was on the blog) into an ebook which you can pick up for free from Smashwords.

I also changed the tagline after your great advice to 'making self-publishing easy' as it gives a more direct indication of the services being offered. 


Relaunch of The Five Day Writer's Retreat:
You might also have noticed that I have relaunched The Five Day Writer's Retreat. It's on Amazon and Smashwords for 4.95 US, and I am currently trying to build up some reviews. (subtle hint?)

I've also entered it into the Smashwords' holiday catalogue, so you can currently buy it with a 75% discount.

So if you think you would like to try it, get it before the end of July.

 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/337212 

So, goals for this week?Possible to get some sleep, which I seem to have been missing out on!
Work-wise:My 98 year-old grandmother now lives with my parents. I've decided to do a series of recorded interviews with her about her lifestory, with the hope of collecting material for a book or series of short family stories. She's just starting to get frail and a bit forgetful, so really feel a need to record as much as I can. However, I'll have to see how well it goes. But I've come up to my parent's house for the next few days to see what I can do.
My brother has decided he wants to re-write parts of Tom Grafton Vs. The Environmentalists, so I'm going to pause editing that until he's finished. I'm also struggling with his cover, as the graphic designer who was working on it has flaked off. I think I want to do a bit more research into cover designs in the genre, and then will probably have to find a new graphic designer. 
However, I will edit and hopefully upload his military short story for Tom Grafton - Babylon by Day and get that for free on Smashwords. 
For my aunt I'm going to try redesigning the cover of A Mother's Story, as well as do the work I said I was going to do last week. 
I also need to go through and start preparing my first 3hour class, and making sure I can do all the things I want to teach them!
Writing-wise:Because I won't be working on A Little Bit of Leaven this week, as it's with the scanners, I'm going back and editing Castle Innis, which I did as one of my first drafts in September last year. It's a historical romance/adventure set in 18th century London/Scotland. I started going over it this morning, and it's not as bad as I remember (which is always a relief). I would love to have the majority of it roughly edited and finished by the end of the week, but it just depends how the week turns out.
So, that's me for another week. But overall, despite the fear of not having any money, I love what I'm doing right now. I love that I get to focus all my time on writing and helping writers. I also love the variety of things I'm doing, and how much I'm accomplishing. I'm working much longer hours, and getting less sleep, but it's completely worth it. Though, I'm glad I've gotten the opportunity to do this while I'm single, so I don't have anyone else to be responsible for. The lack of finances would then be way too stressful.

Thanks for the support!

Buffy.

How Not To Write An Internet Dating Profile

Everyone's Into Internet Dating These Days (Photo by Espacio Camon)


So last post I indicated that I was getting back into internet dating. My logic went pretty much like this: Yah, I'm self-employed. Boo, I don't go out much and won't get to meet anyone new. Yah, I have lots of time, a flexible schedule, and spend quite a bit of time on my computer.
Pretty sound logic, no? 
I will admit that there might have been some prompting from a friend who will remain nameless (if you know me in real life, you can probably guess who) who supplements her career driven life by living vicariously through making me do things she wouldn't do herself.
Together, we make one awesome online profile, if I do say so myself. 
So next time I'm going to write out some of the secrets to writing a great internet dating profile, because it is another useful writing skill. 
However, I thought I would start today with the common mistakes I've seen again and again in writing a profile. If you read this list and think you recognise your own profile, it's not actually yours, thousands of people have made the same mistake. 
I also full admit that this is focused particularly on what guys do wrong (as I only read male profiles), and assumes you want to find someone more or less like me: nice, normal, somewhat intelligent, good hygiene, and a basic sense of grammar. If you don't any of these things, please feel free to ignore this advice. 

1. The Profile Picture
So, we all know that it's shallow to judge on appearances. However, please be realistic: we all do it to some extent. Therefore, avoid the following:
a) putting a picture of something else. If you have no pictures of yourself, people are going to assume the worst. Or even if they don't, a picture tells a thousand words. You are missing a great opportunity to present more information about who you are than you could write in a profile. (and no, you're not a sunset).
b) putting a picture with multiple people in it. Why would you do this? Seriously, if you can take a picture of you and your two mates, then pull out your iPhone again and ask them to step aside. 
c) you and a girl kissing your cheek (or really any shot with your arm wrapped around another woman). Are you trying to prove you can pull hot girls? Message is sort of undermined by the fact that you are on an internet dating site. Also, keep in mind that it tends to subconsciously bring out the worst in women to see other girls all over a potential mate. If the girl in the picture is at all good looking then the thinking might go along the lines of 'well, she looks like she must be a total bimbo, and so if he's into that sort of thing, then he can just keep his barbie dolls...' etc. Only case where it is acceptable is your grandmother. Your mother makes you look like a mama's boy.
d) comic ugly shot. Okay, we get that you might be hiding behind humour, but it just comes across as a bit insecure. Don't make it your main photo if you want to put it in. (though guy that was dressed up as Capt. Jack Sparrow, you did any awesome job... great if I ever need a partner for a costume party.)
e) a shot that doesn't actually show your face. It's not porn, we like to see that you have a head! Even if you have a good body, still want to see your face. 
I think that covers most things to do with photos. 

2. Your Online Name
I admit that often the name you want is already taken, and OK Cupid makes great suggestions like putting 'taco' on the end of it. Having said that, here are some options you still shouldn't take. 
a) anything that is immediately offensive or just makes the reader feel slightly dirtier for having read it. (Not that I like naming names, but 'ilikesuckintoes'... I'm talking to you.) 
b) a real word spelt incorrectly in a way that makes it appear you that you just can't spell. There are accepted short cuts, and then there's just plain wrong. 
c) names that are questions. For example (I don't know if someone has this name, sorry if you do), but 'RUthe1' just automatically makes me scream 'no' before actually looking at your profile.
d) a subjective opinion as a statement. Okay, so I know it is a bad human trait, but if you say 'I'm super sexy', all I think is 'nah, not really.' Therefore, stay away from making any statements in your name which will lead someone to automatically want to cut you back down to size. Particularly of the 'sexy' variety. That's for me to decide, Mister. 
e) finally, it's best not to have a name that is a random collection of letters and numbers. Sort of hard to remember or pronounce. (Especially if you are really cute and I have to talk about you to friends before I get up my courage to message you. Because then my friend will just make up a code name for you, like 'Dognoodle', sorry but it had to be done.) 

3. Personal Information
First of all, if you are going to try online dating, try it properly. If you put up a picture of an inanimate object and then fill out no information about yourself, but list what sort of girls should contact you, why exactly do you think this is going to work? (if it does, please let me know.)
Having said that. 
a) don't lie about your ethnicity... it's sort of obvious. 
b) I'm not entirely sure why it has the question about income there, but unless you are earning mega bucks, not sure it adds to your profile to display it. Especially if you are hyping yourself up and earning $40,000. 
c) yes, OK Cupid (and presumably others) do have an option that you can tick 'I'm looking for someone for casual sex'. And yes, if that were on the tables you might be quite happy. Please keep in mind that by ticking that, you are ruling yourself out for a large number of girls. Not everyone thinks asking for casual sex is a normal thing. (So, I know I'm a prude, but I can't imagine that many girls would be on internet dating just looking for casual sex. We don't have to go onto sites to get there, we just have to stand around a bar.) 
4. Self - Description
Please keep in mind that within even a few minutes online, the person reading your profile has probably just read five others as well. Therefore:
a) don't waste my time by starting with 'oh, I'm really new to this, don't know what to say, umm...' blah, blah. Cut To The Chase! Just like a great novel, your first sentence has to catch me, so don't waste it with drivel. 
b) Don't use cliches, because everyone is using them. These include:- 'I love living life to the fullest.'  (Please respect the fact that some of us are saving our life up for later.) -  'I'm easy-going/down to earth/ a nice guy.' - 'Fun-loving' (unlike those awful people that just kill fun dead. Hate those guys). - 'Like meeting new people.' (seriously, once you've met a few, you'll get over it. Trust me.) - 'passionate' - everyone thinks they are passionate. You never see so many people in real life being passionate about things, but online, everyone is.- 'I love travel.' Especially when you can't back this up with proof. And what type of travel? If I love 5 star cruising, I'm not going to go backpacking with you in Africa.
c) anything that indicates you haven't taken the time to proof read it or to learn to spell. (Yes, this is a reoccurring theme with me, it is also a reoccurring theme online. Even after I said 'don't contact me if you don't know the difference between their, there and they're.')
d) trying to cover all bases. You're a dreamer, with your feet firmly on the ground, huh? You can't be ideal for everyone, so just be realistic (and cut the philosophising.)
e) It's a 5,000 word essay. Seriously, just give me the Cliffnotes version (or sparknotes to make it more interesting). 
These are just some simple tips you can take to make sure that you too don't come across as either a complete idiot or a wet fish with no personality of their own. 
Tune in next week as I'll actually give some tips for writing a better profile. 
Until then... Gotham still needs me...

One Week In To Self-Employment

So, my first week of self-employment down and dusted. 
My biggest focus has been on the business plan and mapping out the company's procedures. Having spent a few more days in business planning and praying (an important part of a good business plan, if I do say so), I am starting to get a better idea of what The Five Day Writer company is about. Though, coming up with a tag-line is still illusive (which you would think, as a writer, would be the easy part!). 
The purpose of the business is to help writers self-publish with ease and greater reach than if they did it themselves. My future goal (not quite there yet, give me a few years) is to be able to help writers self-publish with more exposure than if they had gone with a traditional publisher. (Got to dream big). 
So, the taglines I've been thinking of:
Giving Writers Whatever Support They Need to Succeed. 
or
Making Your Writing a Business. 
Like, dislike, makes you want to gag? 
To keep me on track, I'm going to use my ROW 80 goals to give myself weekly challenges on what to achieve. 
Work-wise:
This week I'm going to be intensively editing Dave's book, Tom Grafton Vs The Environmentalists, as next week I plan to start the re-launch for it. Once I've finished editing it, there will be review copies offered to everyone on the Five Day Writer's newsletter. 
If you are interested in receiving free books in exchange for reviews, please sign up for the newsletter (I'll be putting a signup form here on 100firstdrafts on the sidebar, but if it's not there yet, go across to www.thefivedaywriter.com). For every book that my company, The Five Day Writer, helps to produce, I'm going to send out a blurb the newsletter list with an option to get a free review copy. So if you like a stream of new and varied works, why not get them for free? 
I'm also going to be formatting and publishing on Smashwords a free short story for my aunt's webpage (www.churchdispute.com) called 'A Mother's Tale'. It is non-fiction, about the impact of an abuse case within the Anglican church in Sydney from a mother's perspective. I've actually just gotten the cover created, what do you think?

(Though I realise it breaks Ben's rule about having blank colour up the top, but I think it blends in enough.) 
I was testing out a new service. Have you ever heard of fiverr.com? basically, it's a place where people offer to do different things for five US dollars. This cover was created for me by webmark for $5. And yes, it is something I could have done myself, but it would have taken me at least an hour and my time is worth a lot more than $5/h. I gave him the title etc., and described what I wanted and gave him an example image. His first design had 'Abuse' in red, which I could see why but I asked for it to be the same as everything else, so he redid it all for the original price. Also, it only took a day. 
I'm also looking at getting a voice over intro for my Dad's podcast done through them, and a few other things. Now, sometimes I'm sure I'll get a dud, but to be honest... it's only $5. A dud at that price is much better than a dud at $100. So at the moment I'm recommending you go and have a look around. I wouldn't use it for covers that I wanted something a bit more complex, but if you really just want a simple stock image with heading etc., it's pretty good. And for an extra $10 (I think), he'll give you the full cover (back and front), or a 3D version of the book, etc.
Anyway, back to my work checklist: I'll have to set up my aunt's author pages on Amazon, Smashwords and Good Reads as well this week.
My writing-wise: I'm hoping to spend the mornings focused just on my writing. This week, I'm going to start a really exciting new project. I might have mentioned months ago that my grandparents gave me a manuscript written by my great grandfather of early settler tales. They have asked for me to look at it, edit (and where necessary re-write it) and see if I can turn it into something. I haven't started looking at it yet. It's a leather bound book sitting tantalizingly on my shelf, like a birthday present that you know you could open early, but you hold onto until the actual day to make it more special. 
The book is supposedly short stories based around the main character, a young theologian. I'm currently thinking to rework them (after getting them all typed up) and see if I can publish them as a series of short stories as well as compiling them into one work which I will make print on demand (so my grandparents can get a copy). But will be able to tell you more on Wednesday. 
I am also going to turn my short story - John Verry into a free ebook on Smashwords etc to start building up my author page. 
Finally, I've gotten The Five Day Writer's Retreat completely re-edited, and I'm going to be re-launching it with a new price of just $4.95. Anyone who has received a free copy through the Five Day Writer newsletter, I would really, really appreciate an Amazon, Smashwords or Good Reads review. It makes such a huge difference to me if there are even just a few honest reviews. Yes, I'm prepared to beg if I need to.
Also, if anyone would like a review copy, I'm more than happy to hand them out, so email me at Buffy@thefivedaywriter.com. 
Well, those are my goals for this week. 
In my next post I'm going to discuss my return to internet dating, so stay tuned if you're interested!

Busy Little Self-Employed Bee

So, have now been self-employed for three whole days!
What have I achieved in that time?
1. Continued with the creation of my awesome business plan and procedure manual. (Much harder than one might think, and involves complicated planning like how am I actually going to go from where I am now to running a multi-million dollar business helping people publish their works. Great in theory, just working out the practical steps to get there slightly harder). 
2. Have signed up for a number of writing conferences, to keep my skills sharp (and the all important networking). 
3. Wrote to one of the writing conferences I was planning to attend anyway, and asked if they needed another presenter to talk about creating an online platform. They came back and said they didn't need another presenter, but could I be on the panel talking about marketing and social media. Yah! Buffy Empire Building begins. 
4. Encouraged by that success I then wrote to different community centres and training organisations with proposals to run a short course in self-publishing. Am still waiting for responses, but the only way to build my experience and reputation is by actually doing it!
5. Using YouTube, I have taught myself to do basic covers in Gimp, and have created two covers for my brother's short stories. Pretty, no? (Hey, for half a day of learning, I think they are pretty good. Think what I will be able to do after an entire week!)


I'm still going to use my graphic designers for proper novels, but for free/cheap short stories, it is easier to do it myself. (Graphic designer has so far been mucking around for a month with Dave's other cover. I did these in an hour each.)
6. Following on from doing the covers, I edited both of Dave's short stories and uploaded Tom Grafton Vs. The Sambar Spiker onto Smashwords yesterday, and Tom Grafton Vs. The Wild Dog Pack on Smashwords and Amazon today.
The first one is completely free and available at Smashwords. If you had a spare 20 minutes and liked hunting/adventure stories, a review would be hugely appreciated. 
The other one is available for just 99c, less than a can of coke and much better for you! Reviews of that would also be great on Smashwords, Amazon or Good Reads. (Am getting Dave's author page up on Good Reads, but might take a day or two...).Search for "David Alexander Greentree books" in google turns up both Smashwords and Amazon. 
7. Got annoyed with trying to publish on Smashwords from Word, which was being stupid, so downloaded Scrivener (finally!) and taught myself how to use that today. Had to reload Tom Grafton Vs The Sambar Spiker to Smashwords as it was coming up with an error, but after I had played with it in Scrivener for a while, it came good. From now on, all writing to be published is going to be in Scrivener. Long live a word processing program that actually prints like it looks!
8.  Have spent a few hours teaching my father how to set up a Facebook Page (not his personal one), how to do some keyword research, and what article marketing is. It's a slow process, but at least they are paying me. (My parents figured it was that or have me evicted for not paying my rent and sleeping on their floor anyway. It's a fair point). 
So, I think that for just 3 days' work, that's pretty good, if I do say so myself. Though haven't done any blogging this week, as it was meant to be my 'week off'. But still, can't do everything, and can't have it all right now.
Any good tips on cover creation?

And I'm Back In The Game!

Hello 100 First Drafters!

How are you all?

Good?

Great?

Feeling fantastic?

Well, I might not be at the feeling fantastic level exactly, but I have very exciting news, which I hinted at in my 1st Birthday Post, but is now finally confirmed and I'm free to tell the world.

I'm back in the writing game!

A few months ago I had to put my 100 draft writing challenge on hold in order to return back to full time work. Anyone who was following me since then will have noticed my drop in blogging, my lack of achieving Round of Words in 80 Days writing goals, and general misery about not writing.

Well, I finally cracked. I told work I wanted to return to part time, or I would have to leave.
After a week of umming and ahhing, they informed me they couldn't offer me part time work.
They were then really surprised when I followed through and said I would have to leave. Supportive, but surprised.

But I think it is one of the best decisions I've made for a long time.

I now am dedicating myself to full time writing and building up The Buffy Group, my ebook production and marketing company.

This is my last week of work (which is sad, because I do like my team).

Then I'm taking a week to plan everything, and pray about it all (want to set up a good spiritual foundation for my business and writing).

And then?

The challenge is back on!

I'm going to be doing a draft every two weeks. However, I'm going to actually try doing some serials, publishing a complete 'episode' every two weeks on Amazon and have them in seasons like a TV series.

Along with that I'm going to be learning more about self-publishing and marketing, testing out different ideas, giving workshops and seminars on how to create your own online platform and anything else I can think of.

Also, just to help me through, my brother has offered me work painting houses for his building company. Not glamorous, but will pay the bills (and allow me to listen to podcasts about writing and think up plot lines as I go).

So, it's going to be a tough next six months, but a very exciting one.

Anyone got any advice for someone starting out full time? (am a bit afraid I will devolve into a couch potato and never get anything done...)

Happy First Birthday To ME!... I mean To 100FD!

Happy Birthday to my blog,Happy Birthday to my blog,Happy Birthday dear 100 first drafts,Happy Birthday to my blog. 
(just consider yourself lucky I didn't record it with audio!)

Welcome to the First Birthday Party of 100 First Drafts  
Why am I making such a big deal about this?
Because 97% of blogs fail. 
How does a blog fail? 
Well, the blogger just stops blogging. Whatever they hoped to achieve didn't happen, and they just stop writing. 
According to some not properly cited research from the web, most bloggers actually give up within the first 3 months. 
Further, most of the top bloggers say that it really takes a year before things start to take off. 
I survived three months, and now that I've hit the year, I'm planning how to take 100 FD further than every before. 

In the last year I've had:  165 Posts. Surprisingly I have that much to say. 
12000 page views,  just on the 1,000 a month. According to more reliable web research, this is better than the majority of blogs out there, sad as that sounds.
And 45 faithful followers and currently 14 RSS subscribers. 
That might sound pretty lame to those who are aiming for the big time, but I have two reasons for listing it out.
1. I appreciate each and every one of my followers and subscribers. Thanks for sticking around for a year. 
2. I'm now a year old. In another year I'm going to look back and see exactly how far I've come. 
You can expect big things over the next year because 100 First Drafts is not going away!

Exciting News:
My exciting news, which is not yet totally confirmed but I can hint at: I'm getting out of full time work and going to be spending more time on my writing, my blogging, and developing The Buffy Group. 
Exciting, no? 
So happy birthday to my blog, and stick around for another year because there will be more great tips on how you can become a prolific writer. 
  

 

1 Year Birthday on Thursday!

The 27th of June, this Thursday, will be the first birthday of 100 First Drafts! (Pretty darn exciting, if I do say so myself.)
And I think it is time to celebrate!...
...
...
Hmm, see the problem? Like all birthdays, I just can't think of what to do. 
So, I'm asking you. What would you like to do to celebrate 100 FD's 1st birthday? 
A give away? 
A chance to post your own writing and read other people's?
A blog hop to all the different 100FD readers/bloggers out there? (that would be quite fun). 
A competition with cool prizes and fun writing challenges?
Best birthday cake recipe and taste testing? (okay, maybe virtual taste testing for most of you.)
Anything? Anyone? Be creative, give me some ideas!

The End of ROW 80 Round 2

It is useful to have goals and deadlines. However, watching them flit past can arose some existential qualms in even the most placid of souls.

And, with the end of the second Round of Words in 80 Days for 2013, I wonder if I have let life pass me by. What have I been doing for the past 80 days, and was it really worth it?

At the beginning of the round I was excited about my new DSLR camera, and promised some video blogs. So at least on that I delivered (check out my YouTube Channel for a video review of Lite'n'Easy, or just some entertaining short videos of me fooling around while trying to record a thank.)

I also bravely promised that while working 5 days a week I would write a blog post or article every working day.

How has that gone for me?

Yeah, possibly not as well as imagined.

I also optimistically said I would read 1 book per fortnight.
I have gotten through a few books, which is great (jumping between non-fiction on running a business, and fiction just for fun). But I don't think it would equate to 1 per fortnight.

And so at this stage some people might despair and ask what was the meaning of life, were they really living, etc. etc.

Not me. Let's look at all the other things I've managed to accomplish:

Finished re-editing my Sally Hunt book to enter into a Christian Writing competition. Just last week I received the appraisal (do not yet know if I have been short listed). Just for my ego's sake I will point out some of my favourite bits:

'General comment from appraiser on characters: Very true to life and realistic' (why thank you).

And at the very end:
'Please give some thought to this as this is a really excellent, solid story which I personally think deserves publishing'.

However, she does then rip apart my editing, use of swear words (too many for a Christian market), and my ending (which was always going to be a bit controversial). But if I don't get short-listed, it has given me a very good idea of what I need to do in order to shape the book up. (Is very sad that you can read your own work again and again and still have some many errors, but that's what editors are for.)

I also managed to start my third blog, www.buffyandgod.com, though posting has been a bit lean.

Finally, I have managed to get my first TWO clients for the Buffy Group - Making Your Writing a Business. Yes, they are both related to me, one is my brother and the other is my aunt, but everyone must start somewhere! Also, it's been really great because they are forgiving as I adapt to their requirements and work out what needs to be done.

Having Dave and Louise pay me and actually want results has forced me to work out my procedures and services. It's also really testing me as to whether I can delivery what I say I can.

I've developed the business strategy further, and started the business bank account, brought on talented editors as freelancers, and am working with a graphic designer to do book covers.

So, we will just have to see where it all goes from here!

Bring on Round 3!

KOP: Guest Post - Blog Optimisation: Get Noticed

Today I've got a guest poster to give you some great tips for getting your blog noticed. I actually met Sean at the Word Writer's Getaway back in October 2012. His mother was just launching her first book, Motive Games (great read for young adults, and some not so young adults :D It won the 2011 Caleb award, the prize I'm trying to win this year). Sean and I got talking about blogs and he offered to help me out as I was building up 100 FD. So I can highly recommend him if anyone else is interested in fixing up their sites. 
Hope you enjoy this insider post:
Hey, my name is Sean and I'm a young Canadian living in New Zealand helping people get their projects the attention they deserve. I've never gone to school for graphics or web programming but have 3 years experience with new media and graphic design. I helped 100 First Drafts with some small little adjustments in November. I made some small adjustments that while subtle, make a difference.
Sharing and the desire to share is something that makes us human. Blogging is a very popular method of sharing. Search engine optimisation and web design are skills I use to help people share more effectively with their audience.
If you have a blog and want to share with people, here are three simple tips.(More information can be found at MozBlog on increasing blog traffic and I recommend SEObook's blogger's guide for detailed SEO tips.) 
#1 Purple CowIn Seth Godin's book Purple Cow he presents the idea that nobody notices a brown cow in a field but EVERYONE notices a purple one. Use your blog to do extreme, exaggerated or just plain whacky things. Why do political extremists have a larger following than those who are open to compromise and cooperation? It's because the extremists are more entertaining. Even if you do nothing to make your website more easily found by search engines, if your content stands out, your blog will stand out. Whether you're writing 100 first drafts in a set time frame or making a blog for your pet emu, remember the purple cow principle.
#2 Know your audienceIf you are chasing the dream of going viral, or just want to quickly grow your subscriber base, the easiest way to do this is to share with people who also like to share. Sometimes changing up the medium is a great way to accomplish this. Do a video, or info graphic instead of just a bunch of text as these are easier to share.
Image from seomoz.org
#3 Participate with your readersFind where else your readers like to spend time on the web. They probably don't just read your blog but dozens of others. Try subscribing to other blogs and participating in online communities. If you don't know where your readers like to hang out, you can use a web-based tool like Google's DoubleClick Ad Planner to help. Once you know where your readers are, go and join them. Standard social etiquette applies of course. People hate and resent someone pushy with an agenda. A good rule is to contribute when it makes sense and build a reputation in the community as someone trustworthy and only recommend your blog at appropriate moments. If you annoy people here you can seriously hurt your reputation as a blogger.
If anyone is wanting some consulting or work done on their website or blog you can reach me at sean@maplekiwi.com.
Thanks Sean! Now I'm going to find me some cows to paint :D