How to hit #1 on Amazon... Showing 1,451-1,500 of 2,339

[Marilyn]

Hi everyone, I tagged everyone on this page and would like you to tag my book too. Thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/Message-Board-c...

[Stuart]

Hi Marilyn, All boxes ticked, you are well and truly tagged! :)

Wishing everyone a great week.

Ciao, Stuart

[Carole]

Nancy and Marilyn

I have ticked the boxes in both of yours. If you would like to reciprocate my books are at Amazon:

Ferryman: http://www.amazon.com/Ferryman-Carole...

And the Devil Laughed
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1849...

[James]

Hello All,

I just joined this group. I will tag everyone. Just send me your amazon link.

Please tag my first 15 tags.

http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Love-Polyn...

Many thanks!

Jim

[Guido]

I just caught up tagging everyone since my last round. Please be so kind as to return the favor. Here are my three current releases. Thank you so much.

Ghosts Templar
Theater of Vampires
Demon's Night


Please use these tags on these titles:
gothic horror, horror, mystery, and adventure

[James]

Done.

[Kensington]

I started on the "Tag your it" list. I would be grateful if you can tag these two titles-

(Kindle)
http://www.amazon.com/Able-Danger-ebo...


Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615...

thriller, action, suspense, adventure, espionage or all tags

[Michael]

I tagged your book as requested. now if you would return the favor.... http://www.amazon.com/Your-Name-Here-...

Thanks.

Kensington wrote: "I started on the "Tag your it" list. I would be grateful if you can tag these two titles-

(Kindle)
http://www.amazon.com/Able-Danger-ebo......"

James wrote: "Done."

[James]

Michael, Guido, Carole, Marilyn, Nancy

I tagged you all.

Here is mine:
http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Love-Polyn...

thanks

Jim

[Laurel]

Good descriptive poems, David, with a touch of history. I hope your anthology finds a lot of interested readers and buyers. Laurel

[[deleted user]]

Nanette wrote: "Lori,

Hi. I was going to tag your book and thought you could tag mine, but I lost my Amazon password and they're asking me for a credit card # to retrieve my password. I don't have one. Do you k..."
In one word, Nanette. STOP!
Don't give out any card details. In all the time I've been with Amazon, they have never asked for anything to reset my password. They email you and you folow the links etc. The only one I know that asks for card details is Paypal (I'm not keen on them)

[Reza]

Hi,

My book is getting published on April 6th, please tag mine too.

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Betray-Ast...

Thanks

Reza

[Melissa]

Hi -- I'm in the processing of tagging folks from the most recent email I got. Could folks take a minute and tag mine? I'm just starting to try the tagging tactic!
http://www.amazon.com/Delilah-Sunhats...

Thanks,
Melissa

[James]

Melissa wrote: "Hi -- I'm in the processing of tagging folks from the most recent email I got. Could folks take a minute and tag mine? I'm just starting to try the tagging tactic!
http://www.amazon.com/Delilah-Su..."

Melissa,

I've got all 12 of yours tagged.

Please tag my first 15:

http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Love-Polyn...

Many thanks,

Jim

[James]

Reza wrote: "Hi,

My book is getting published on April 6th, please tag mine too.

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Betray-Ast...

Reza,

I've got you all tagged. Please do my first 15.

http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Love-Polyn...

Thanks,

Jim

Thanks

Reza"

[S.A.]

Hi all:

This AM I tagged James, Reza, Melissa, Michael, Guido, Stuart (if I didn't list your name it was because I found that I already tagged you!)

I'm looking for more tags at:

http://www.amazon.com/Infernova-S-Ale...

[Melissa]

Thank you!

[Dianne]

Hi friends! I have gone through and tagged you all, but I have a favor to ask all of you...could you take a few moments and vote for my book Kissing Frogs in Cyberspace at http://www.wakeupcelebrityauthor.com You are NOT voting based on reading the book. You are voting on the cover, synopsis and overall look. I would love valuable feedback as I start writing my new book which will be out at the end of this year!

[Reza]

Thank you all. I appreciate it. I will do the same.

[Stuart]

Oh Lori, I was the fist person to disagree with the review. Sadly, it is (yet another) personal attack on an author NOT the book. It has been reported!

Anything else, consider it done!

Your friend, Stuart

[Michael]

Absolutely, as the author you can ask that the review be removed and cite the reason. I also have reported this to Amazon.


Lori wrote: "Hello everyone,

I have a question/favor to ask. The step mother to my oldest daughter has left a very nasty review on Amazon about my Here All Along book. If one truly dis-likes the book and has..."

Reza wrote: "Thank you all. I appreciate it. I will do the same."

[Ellen]

Lori wrote: "Hello everyone,

I have a question/favor to ask. The step mother to my oldest daughter has left a very nasty review on Amazon about my Here All Along book. If one truly dis-likes the book and has..."

Hello Lori,

I went to the link and read the nasty "review." I haven't read your book, but that thing is definitely not a review, so I reported it to Amazon. Life is hard enough without people writing anonymous hate letters on the internet.

Good luck with your book!

Ellen Sandbeck

[O.]

Hello,

Would you tag my book. Will return the favor and
tag your books.

My book is at:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_...

Thanks,
O. Joseph

[April]

Dear Lori,
I went ahead and reported your daughter's step mother's review to Amazon. She tried to sound pheilosophical in her review of your book but ended up sounding narcissistic.

If you know anyone interested in my title, A Patient's Guide to Weight Loss Surgery" I would appreciate a boost. It's now on a Goodreads giveaway. April Hochstrasser

[Nancy]

Lori wrote: "Hello everyone,

I have a question/favor to ask. The step mother to my oldest daughter has left a very nasty review on Amazon about my Here All Along book. If one truly dis-likes the book and has..."

I would contact Amazon and see if they can pull that review. I could tell the author of the review is a nasty, back-stabbing, hateful person who is probably filled with extreme jealousy that you have a book published! I added a comment to her review. I think she was totally out of line, and for what it's worth, I think all of us have someone like that in our lives and with comments like those made, it makes that reviewer look like a shrew and makes me feel better about you! Shrug it off if you can, and remember, what goes around, comes around!

[Nancy]

O. wrote: "Hello,

Would you tag my book. Will return the favor and
tag your books.

My book is at:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_......"

Isn't it wonderful that we can all help each other by tagging our books? You're all so special!!!

[Nancy]

I agree...do NOT give out your credit card number!

[Urenna]

I thought you might be interested in Randy Ingermanson’s take on Twitter

Marketing: Whither Twitter?


About a year ago, I sat on a panel discussion about
marketing at a writing conference. As it turned out,
all the other panelists were talking about the joys of
Twittering.

Twitter, according to them, is a terrific way for a
novelist to promote their fiction. Several of them even
had anecdotal evidence in their favor -- they had heard
from somebody who bought a book after hearing about it
on Twitter.

My response then was simple. Explain to me in simple
terms, how and why a Twitter campaign can sell
significant numbers of books. Then show me evidence
that it actually works.

Why do I insist that the campaign should sell
significant numbers of books?

That's simple. Just about any marketing campaign, no
matter how stupid and poorly executed, can sell
insignificant numbers of books. (If you want to pay me
$10,000 to run a marketing campaign for you, I can
guarantee that it'll sell at least 100 copies. I'll
just buy 100 copies on Amazon, and then use the
other $9,000 to buy myself some toys.)

Why do I ask that you show me evidence that it works?

That's simple too. Anybody can cook up a marketing
scheme that sounds good on paper. Theories are cheap.
What matters is whether a theory actually works. (My
training as a physicist is kicking in here. In physics,
theories are fun to spin, but experiments decide which
theories survive.)

All of this ought to be obvious. Most people wouldn't
buy a car without getting at least minimal evidence
that it actually runs. So why spend a lot of time doing
marketing without any particular evidence that it's
going to make a difference?

When I make these objections to Twitterers, I usually
get the following three responses:
* It doesn't take much time to Twitter.
* It's impossible to measure marketing.
* Twittering is better than doing nothing.

The obvious answers to these are the following:

* It takes more time to Twitter than to not Twitter.
Furthermore, Twitterers are constantly talking about
all the software they've installed to make it even
quicker and easier to tweet. If it doesn't take much
time, then why spend so much time looking for software
to make it take less time?

* Some kinds of marketing are measurable. When I run a
marketing campaign, I know within hours how well it's
working. If you absolutely, positively can't measure
the results of a Twitter campaign, then why do it?

* The options are not "Twittering" versus "doing
nothing." The options are "Twittering" versus "doing
something else that might earn you some actual money."
If you could measure the effectiveness of a Twitter
campaign and found that it earned you twelve cents per
hour, would you consider that "better than nothing?"

The usual objection to these answers is:
* I don't Twitter to make money; I do it to spread the
love.

The obvious answer is:

* Excellent! You've finally gotten honest. Spread the
love all you want. But be grammatically correct and
stop calling it marketing, because marketing is done to
make money. So call Twittering by its right name, which
is spreading the love.

In the last few months, I've heard from a few writers
who've gotten a bit disgruntled with Twittering.
They've begun wondering why they should spend so much
time tweeting. They've begun wondering if it does any
good.

Excellent questions.

My own view is this. The purpose of Twitter is to keep
up with your friends and let your friends keep up with
you. Twitter is supposed to be fun. But when your
friends start pushing commercials at you, the fun goes
out the window. (This is the reason you stopped
answering the phone when your Amway friends call,
remember?)

Using Twitter as a marketing tool amounts to treating
other people the way you wouldn't want to be treated.

Most of the time, that's a bad idea. Most of the time,
that ought to send up a giant red flag. Most of the
time, that's an excellent reason to run fast in the
opposite direction.

My best guess is that three years from now, writers are
going to say, "Remember Twitter?" in exactly the same
tone of voice that people who grew up in the 1970s say,
"Remember polyester shirts?"

What new marketing scheme will come next after Twitter?
That's hard to tell. Marketing fads come and go.

Whatever fad comes next, just ask three questions:

* How and why should this marketing scheme work?
* What evidence shows that it actually does work?
* Would I object to having stuff marketed at me using
this scheme?

If you don't like the answers to these questions, then
just say no.

One caveat to all of the above: It's quite possible
that there's a good and useful way to use Twitter as a
marketing tool in a way that doesn't abuse your friends
and which actually works. I don't know how to do this,
but I've never claimed to know everything, so I'm open
to the possibility.

If you know how to use Twitter effectively to market
fiction, if you can explain how and why it should work,
if you have hard numbers to prove that it does work,
and if you are confident that it doesn't abuse
friendships, then I'd love to hear about it.

Otherwise, I guess I'm about as interested in Twitter
as I am in your great deal on all that fantastic Amway
stuff in your garage.

For more info, go to Randy Ingermanson site at:
http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com

True Season of Love

[Debra]

Lori wrote: "Hello everyone,

I have a question/favor to ask. The step mother to my oldest daughter has left a very nasty review on Amazon about my Here All Along book. If one truly dis-likes the book and has..."

Lori, I did comment because the tone of this review seemed like more of a personal attack rather than a critique of a book.

Debra

[Carole]

Lori wrote: "Hello everyone,

I have a question/favor to ask. The step mother to my oldest daughter has left a very nasty review on Amazon about my Here All Along book. If one truly dis-likes the book and has..."

Hi Lori,
Yes, you have my vote -- I duly reported it. Hopefully they will take it off. Not only was the writer malicious, but she couldn't spell either! :)
Cheers
Carole

[Todd Fonseca]

All,
Just posted a review of a great yet unassuming book. Please check out "Completely Restored" by Robert Kerr - you won't be disappointed:

http://tagmybookonamazon.wordpress.co...

Also, working to update the site - stay tuned for new books to tag!
Todd

[Reed]

Urenna,
What an insightful and incredibly valuable post. Every where I turn I hear that in today's market you must engage the social network sites on the internet. And frankly, unless you are a proven author with an established following, I believe that to be true.

For me however, I have decided I'll do those things until they are not enjoyable for me anymore. At first blush, that may sound a little defeatist because to succeed we must persevere. And therein lies the difference between my approach to internet marketing and someone else; while I want to spread the message contained in my book (and therefore need sales),making money is not the end objective. If I make it, great! But, if I can simply recapture my investment, I'd be satisfied monetarily.

That said, I definitely do not have the time to spend on activities that do not bring results. Nor am I in a position to give away the farm. But, I'll do the things that bring me joy such as book signings and meeting with groups to discuss the message contained in my book.

What I have discovered very recently is that if you want to have a commercially successful book, chances are you will need a respectable marketing budget because all the social networking will not necessarily make you commercially successful.

So, when I wash away everything that doesn't matter to me what I am left with is having fun spreading a worthwhile message. For now, I delight in getting feedback from someone who read the book and liked it. My book is new and hasn't hit the usual outlets like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. But, you can check it out at http://www.YourOwnTruth.net or http://www.xlibris.com.
Best wishes

[Alice]

Becoming Alice: A Memoir

Urenna,

I totally agree with you on your views about Twitter. The only thing I'd say is that I would add Facebook, My Space, and a few other sites for which we are spending a lot of time for nothing... other than meeting some nice people.

[Urenna]

Reed and Alice,

This was sent to me by a friend.

Please read the following:

Bookstores don't care how a book is manufactured, or how much a book costs, as long as the book is guaranteed to profit and bring in revenue. When you walk into a bookstore, look around and think about how small a bookstore is in comparison to all of the major traditionally published books that exist in the world. Most people don't realize that major publishers have to fight tooth and nail to land a book onto a bookshelf. Bookshelf space is dwindling. Many people think that a book has to be in a bookstore to perform well. The odds of placing a book into a bookstore are highly unlikely, even if you are published in major publishing. If you're not a best seller, you have a thin shot at a brief life on the shelf. The shelf life of a title is very short and yet self-published authors spend the majority of the time trying to place a book in a bookstore. If 75% of the readers purchase books online and only 25% buy books in a bookstore and you manage to get into a regional bookstore, how many people do you think will come across that book? Why should an author focus on 1% of the target audience? What are the chances of making any significant revenue if you place your book in a few bookstores?

If you were to ask me my professional opinion, I'd say that you should focus on selling the book in the channels where most of your audience is located (Amazon). Spending all of your energy trying to place a book in a few bookstores will not get you to where you want to be. Does it make sense to spend all of your time and energy to please 1% of the market and the prestige that goes with it? Does it not make more sense to sell your book where most of the readers will find it? In the long run, if your book performs well in the market and your readers love your book, do you really care whether or not they purchased it in a bookstore or online?


True Season of Love

[Rick]

Amazon does not remove reviews, good or bad, as they want to be fair to the reader; however, I believe they will make an exception in a case like this, as it's not a review -- only a personal attack.

[Adele]

Amazon Reviews are often unfair and cruel attacks that aren't based on reality regarding the book as much as the reviewer's personal need to be malicious. I hope you get this straightened out.

[Nancy]

I'm so happy Amazon took that off, Lori!

[Todd Fonseca]

woohoo Lori - that is great news!

[Michael]

Okay, this isn’t technically about tagging, but it is about self-promotion and might be a good idea for others to follow....if it works.

With graduation coming up, I’ve posted surveys on Survey Monkey for parents and new graduates. I hope those of you who qualify for these surveys will take part and, if you aren’t in the target group, you’ll forward this note to people who can take the surveys.

Parent Survey: If you have a student who will be graduating in 2010 or 2011 from high school, junior college, four-year college or grad school, or know someone who does, I hope you’ll help us build responses to our online survey. The link is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JK6LZQM

Recent Graduate Survey: If you graduated from high school, junior college, four-year college or grad school between 2007 and today, I hope you’ll take part in the graduate survey. The link to the survey is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J86FRY6

No solicitations or sales calls will follow.

It’s our goal to get 400-500 responses in the coming week, so clearly we’re looking for a viral forwarding campaign. I hope you can and will help us with this project.

Thanks very much.

Michael Rosenbaum
Author
Your Name Here Guide to Life

[Dianne]

Hey Michael will go to the site. Will you all do me a favor and go and vote for my book at http://www.wakeupcelebrityauthor.com Kissing Frogs in Cyberspace. You are not voting on whether or not you read it, you are voting on cover, synopsis and overall look.

THANKS

Dianne

[Dianne]

Hey Lori-

I have my own personal cyberstalker....He helped me with the book, I paid him for his services, acknowledged him in interviews and the book, and he still writes nasty things about me all over the Internet....it is getting to a point where I don't want to post where comments are allowed because then he shows up......We had a fight two years ago ...

[Michael]

Michael wrote: "Okay, this isn’t technically about tagging, but it is about self-promotion and might be a good idea for others to follow....if it works.

With graduation coming up, I’ve posted surveys on Survey M..."

done. good luck in becoming a celebrity and remember the little people who got you to the top.

[Dianne]

LOL, thanks Michael...Good luck with your poll! I tell you what-- email me if you wanna help each other out ....I can facebook/tweet your poll if you can get others to vote. dlsenglish@aol.com

[Dianne]

Hey Michael, I didn't see your vote...did it go through? You have to write something... and post name...thanks for trying it again.

[Dianne]

Yeah, now, I just shrug it off....People are pathetic...and he is one of the pathetic ones.

D

Glad Amazon got your review off!

[Cindy]

The internet does make it easier for nasty weirdo people

[Cindy]

My latest book, The Case of Billy B, is a Goodreads giveaway at the moment http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

[Michael]

Dianne wrote: "LOL, thanks Michael...Good luck with your poll! I tell you what-- email me if you wanna help each other out ....I can facebook/tweet your poll if you can get others to vote. dlsenglish@aol.com"

I'll try it again.

[Robert]

A COMMENT AND A COMPLAINT
TO GOODREADS get these ads below my picture OUT OF MY FACE. This is a great way to ruin a good web site.

[Jo-Anne]

Hey...everyone...I'm on Librarything. Look me up and I'll be sure to return...:).

Both books can be tagged...and I'll snag yours....

1.) "Conquer All Obstacles" - romantic fiction/women's fiction/romance suspense

2.) "Premium Promotional Tips for Writers - book marketing/web marketing/ self-promotion

I'm amazed at how many authors do not have their profiles filled out and any tags at all. Have you noticed that?

When I come across an 'empty' author profile, I try to add what I can. Kinda like a blind blessing, and I'm okay with that...:).

Jo