The shy author’s guide to book promotion | Build Book Buzz
I happened across this article through a Google Notification feed, and I think it might be worth sharing. Check it out!
Technically Heroic – Now Available on ALL Platforms!!
At last, after 6 weeks of waiting, Technically Heroic (paperback) has finally been updated on Amazon.com, completing a critical revision process. The first book in the Technically Heroic trilogy is now available:
-
Technically Heroic
as an e-book, for Kindle
- as an e-book, for Nook
- as an e-book, for Apple devices (iTunes)
- as a .epub e-book on Lulu.com
- as a paperback on Lulu.com
- and as a paperback on Amazon.com
It feels great to have this part of the trilogy finally finished (and I mean FINISHED) and published. Now I get to start seriously promoting!
"Creating an Effective Battle Scene" By Epic Fantasy Author Janet Beasley
There I was, cruising through my manuscript. Words were flowing, the story was moving at a great pace. I had the map drawn which made every chapter richer with content. Then out of nowhere…bam! It was time for the battle.
Well, almost. I had written up to the battle scene and realized I knew nothing about flanking, ranking, and calling out orders.
Author Interview on Writer’s Block Party!
Hey everyone, check out my author interview on Lisa Taylor’s blog, Writer’s Block Party! When you’re done, don’t forget to take advantage of the April Fools’ Weekend 99¢ Special on Technically Heroic!
Technically March Madness – 50th Post!
Six-month monthly traffic report
March. The month known for basketball brackets and the coming of Spring. This March has been an amazing month for my blog here, and I want to take a moment here to thank all of the readers who visited my blog this month. What happened this month that was so cool? Well:
- New busiest day milestone, with a high of 50 hits in a day!
- New busiest week milestone, with a high of 179 hits in a week!
- New busiest month, with over 500 views in one month!
- Blog reaches and surpasses 1,000 total views!
- Blog receives Versatile Blogger Award!
- Blog reaches 20 total WordPress followers!
Maybe part of the reason I’m so excited about this is because I took a break from blogging in January, and as a result my monthly traffic suffered. I started to rebuild in February, but traffic that month was still below December levels (December had been my highest month yet). Then, in early March, I started the Joomla! tutorial series, which has brought me tons of traffic from all over the globe (I mentioned this in this post). Now let me compare my December and March levels:
- December Busiest Day: 18 Views
- March Busiest Day: 50 Views
- December Busiest Week: 47 Views
- March Busiest Week: 179 Views (More than the entire month of December)
- December Total Views: 181 Views
- March Total Views: More Than 500 Views!!!!
Of course, where you have record traffic you will encounter record comment spam, but that is a small price to pay for fantastic traffic.
- December Spam: 0
- March Spam: 671
March has been awesome. Who would’ve known, 6 months ago when I started, that it would become what it is? While compared to other blogs these stats are somewhat minuscule, I feel that I’ve achieved something pretty cool in March 2012, and to celebrate I’m running a special promotion of my book! Check it out before it’s too late!
How To Blog When You Have (Almost) No Ideas
Trying To Blog - Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Whether you’re starting a new blog or trying to keep up one you have, one question you’ll face sooner or later is, “what do I blog about now?”. As I mentioned in my previous post, lately I have been short of ideas. Then something occurred to me.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes having unfinished projects hanging around just bugs me.
Recent Drafts Bug Me
So when I see something like this ( —-> ) on my WordPress dashboard, I start to feel annoyed. In the past when I’ve had unfinished drafts, the sight of those thoughts just waiting to be finished inspired me to actually write. So how, when we have nothing to write about, can we break free of ‘blogger’s block’?
Here’s my idea:
- Brainstorm. Think of stuff (maybe cool internet resources) you’re using at the moment. Think of topics related to your favorite hobby or area of expertise.
- Write down your ideas in post titles (and just the post titles). Save off your new posts and revisit them later.
- Start working on the ones that appeal to you most. Or the time-sensitive ones. Either way, now you have ideas!
I’m going to try this myself and see how it works. If you decide to try this as well, I’m interested in hearing your results. Comments are, as usual, welcome!
If you need more helpful blogging tips, I recommend visiting ProBlogger.net and checking out their fantastic content tips and ideas!
The Fascination of (1)
Ever noticed how when you see (1) or any other number in parentheses next to the name of a website (example – Facebook (4) – ) in a browser tab, you are filled with a strong urge to click on that tab? Facebook, Twitter, even WordPress have this feature. Is it because we want to see what we’re missing? Is it because we feel the need to be instantly updated on what the world has to say? I’m not sure. What do you think? Have you noticed this?
Technically Heroic – An Author’s Adventure Has Been Deemed Versatile!
Well, here’s something I didn’t see coming – I’ve been nominated for (and thus given) the Versatile Blogger Award by Lisa Taylor! My thanks to Lisa, who runs a very cool blog called Writer’s Block Party, made up of book reviews and author interviews from many different genres, giving authors a place to potentially reach new readers (by the way, look for my author interview on Lisa’s blog in early April)
This thoughtful award has the following rules:
Versatile Blogger Award
If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.
- Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy. (done)
- Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it. (also done)
- Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
- Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
- Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.
Okay, what can I say about myself? Let’s see here: Read the rest of this entry
