Showing posts with label marketing tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing tips. Show all posts

Monday, May 11, 2020

Share a tweet with fellow members Come share on #MFRWauthor Retweet Day @MFRW_ORG

It's Retweet Day for MFRW on Twitter. All Marketing for Romance Writers are invited to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg You can share up to 280 characters per tweet.

Once the tweet has been posted, click anywhere in the white background of the tweet. This will open it and allow you to highlight and copy the URL.

Navigate back to here and paste the URL in the comment section of this post.

Each month, the RT post goes live the Monday before RT day. You can post your tweet until Wednesday of the same week.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of each month. Retweet everyone on the list who uses one of the hashtags.

HINT:
To help people find your tweet, click the the white background and then the down arrow (found on the right side). Choose "Pin to Your Profile Page." This will keep the tweet at the top of your Twitter feed so more people can find it.

Retweet Day Rules

1. Must have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)
2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.
3. Please do not use adult topics for this one tweet.
4. Limit hashtags to three (3) per post.
5. Return on Retweet Day and click each link in the comments.**
6. On the tweet, click the heart and then the retweet button.

** To share a tweet, highlight the url, right click, and you will see an option to open the link or go to the url. Do that, and it should open in a new window and take you there.

Come back after sending the tweet and go through the entire list. 

Here's to a great day of retweets!

Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories. She's also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.




Monday, April 6, 2020

Want to tweet with fellow members? Come share on #MFRWauthor Retweet Day @MFRW_ORG

It's Retweet Day for MFRW on Twitter. All Marketing for Romance Writers are invited to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg You can share up to 280 characters per tweet.

Once the tweet has been posted, click anywhere in the white background of the tweet. This will open it and allow you to highlight and copy the URL.

Navigate back to here and paste the URL in the comment section of this post.

Each month, the RT post goes live the Monday before RT day. You can post your tweet until Wednesday of the same week.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of each month. Retweet everyone on the list who uses one of the hashtags.

HINT:
To help people find your tweet, click the the white background and then the down arrow (found on the right side). Choose "Pin to Your Profile Page." This will keep the tweet at the top of your Twitter feed so more people can find it.

Retweet Day Rules

1. Must have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)
2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.
3. Please do not use adult topics for this one tweet.
4. Limit hashtags to three (3) per post.
5. Return on Retweet Day and click each link in the comments.**
6. On the tweet, click the heart and then the retweet button.

** To share a tweet, highlight the url, right click, and you will see an option to open the link or go to the url. Do that, and it should open in a new window and take you there.

Come back after sending the tweet and go through the entire list. 

Here's to a great day of retweets!

Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories. She's also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.




Monday, March 9, 2020

Retweet with fellow members on #MFRWauthor Retweet Day @MFRW_ORG

It's Retweet Day for MFRW on Twitter. All Marketing for Romance Writers are invited to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg You can share up to 280 characters per tweet.

Once the tweet has been posted, click anywhere in the white background of the tweet. This will open it and allow you to highlight and copy the URL.

Navigate back to here and paste the URL in the comment section of this post.

Each month, the RT post goes live the Monday before RT day. You can post your tweet until Wednesday of the same week.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of each month. Retweet everyone on the list who uses one of the hashtags.

HINT:
To help people find your tweet, click the the white background and then the down arrow (found on the right side). Choose "Pin to Your Profile Page." This will keep the tweet at the top of your Twitter feed so more people can find it.

Retweet Day Rules

1. Must have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)
2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.
3. Please do not use adult topics for this one tweet.
4. Limit hashtags to three (3) per post.
5. Return on Retweet Day and click each link in the comments.**
6. On the tweet, click the heart and then the retweet button.

** To share a tweet, highlight the url, right click, and you will see an option to open the link or go to the url. Do that, and it should open in a new window and take you there.

Come back after sending the tweet and go through the entire list. 

Here's to a great day of retweets!

Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories. She's also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.




Monday, February 10, 2020

Share your tweet on #MFRWauthor Retweet Day @MFRW_ORG

It's Retweet Day for MFRW on Twitter. All Marketing for Romance Writers are invited to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg You can share up to 280 characters per tweet.

Once the tweet has been posted, click anywhere in the white background of the tweet. This will open it and allow you to highlight and copy the URL.

Navigate back to here and paste the URL in the comment section of this post.

Each month, the RT post goes live the Monday before RT day. You can post your tweet until Wednesday of the same week.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of each month. Retweet everyone on the list who uses one of the hashtags.

HINT:
To help people find your tweet, click the the white background and then the down arrow (found on the right side). Choose "Pin to Your Profile Page." This will keep the tweet at the top of your Twitter feed so more people can find it.

Retweet Day Rules

1. Must have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)
2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.
3. Please do not use adult topics for this one tweet.
4. Limit hashtags to three (3) per post.
5. Return on Retweet Day and click each link in the comments.**
6. On the tweet, click the heart and then the retweet button.

** To share a tweet, highlight the url, right click, and you will see an option to open the link or go to the url. Do that, and it should open in a new window and take you there.

Come back after sending the tweet and go through the entire list. 

Here's to a great day of retweets!

Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories. She's also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.




Monday, January 6, 2020

Retweet Day for #MFRWorg Come share your tweet! @MFRW_ORG

It's Retweet Day for MFRW on Twitter. All Marketing for Romance Writers are invited to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg You can share up to 280 characters per tweet.

Once the tweet has been posted, click anywhere in the white background of the tweet. This will open it and allow you to highlight and copy the URL.

Navigate back to here and paste the URL in the comment section of this post.

Each month, the RT post goes live the Monday before RT day. You can post your tweet until Wednesday of the same week.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of each month. Retweet everyone on the list who uses one of the hashtags.

HINT:
To help people find your tweet, click the the white background and then the down arrow (found on the right side). Choose "Pin to Your Profile Page." This will keep the tweet at the top of your Twitter feed so more people can find it.

Retweet Day Rules

1. Must have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)
2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.
3. Please do not use adult topics for this one tweet.
4. Limit hashtags to three (3) per post.
5. Return on Retweet Day and click each link in the comments.**
6. On the tweet, click the heart and then the retweet button.

** To share a tweet, highlight the url, right click, and you will see an option to open the link or go to the url. Do that, and it should open in a new window and take you there.

Come back after sending the tweet and go through the entire list. 

Here's to a great day of retweets!

Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories. She's also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.




Monday, June 10, 2019

Come share tweets with another #MFRWauthor

It's Retweet Day for MFRW on Twitter. All Marketing for Romance Writers are invited to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg You can share up to 280 characters per tweet.

Once the tweet has been posted, click anywhere in the white background of the tweet. This will open it and allow you to highlight and copy the URL.

Navigate back to here and paste the URL in the comment section of this post.

Each month, the RT post goes live the Monday before RT day. You can post your tweet until Wednesday of the same week.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of each month. Retweet everyone on the list who uses one of the hashtags.

HINT:
To help people find your tweet, click the the white background and then the down arrow (found on the right side). Choose "Pin to Your Profile Page." This will keep the tweet at the top of your Twitter feed so more people can find it.

Retweet Day Rules

1. Must have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)
2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.
3. Please do not use adult topics.
4. Limit hashtags to three (3) per post.
5. Return on Retweet Day and click each link in the comments.**
6. Click the heart on the tweet and then the retweet symbol and the Retweet button.

** To share a tweet, highlight the url, right click, and you will see an option to open the link or go to the url. Do that, and it should open in a new window and take you there.

Come back after sending the tweet and go through the entire list. 

Here's to a great day of retweets!

Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories. She's also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.




Monday, May 6, 2019

Share tweets with fellow authors @MFRW_ORG #MFRWauthor

It's Retweet Day for MFRW on Twitter. All Marketing for Romance Writers are invited to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg You can share up to 280 characters per tweet.

Once the tweet has been posted, click anywhere in the white background of the tweet. This will open it and allow you to highlight and copy the URL.

Navigate back to here and paste the URL in the comment section of this post.

Each month, the RT post goes live the Monday before RT day. You can post your tweet until Wednesday of the same week.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of each month. Retweet everyone on the list who uses one of the hashtags.

HINT:
To help people find your tweet, click the the white background and then the down arrow (found on the right side). Choose "Pin to Your Profile Page." This will keep the tweet at the top of your Twitter feed so more people can find it.

Retweet Day Rules

1. Must have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)
2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.
3. Please do not use adult topics.
4. Limit hashtags to three (3) per post.
5. Return on Retweet Day and click each link in the comments.**
6. Click the heart on the tweet and then the retweet symbol and the Retweet button.

** To share a tweet, highlight the url, right click, and you will see an option to open the link or go to the url. Do that, and it should open in a new window and take you there.

Come back after sending the tweet and go through the entire list. 

Here's to a great day of retweets!

Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories. She's also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.




Monday, April 8, 2019

Share the love with MFRW Authors #MFRWauthor Retweet Party #MFRWorg @MFRW_ORG

It's Retweet Day for MFRW on Twitter. All Marketing for Romance Writers are invited to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg You can share up to 280 characters per tweet.

Once the tweet has been posted, click anywhere in the white background of the tweet. This will open it and allow you to highlight and copy the URL.

Navigate back to here and paste the URL in the comment section of this post.

Each month, the RT post goes live the Monday before RT day. You can post your tweet until Wednesday of the same week.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of each month. Retweet everyone on the list who uses one of the hashtags.

HINT:
To help people find your tweet, click the the white background and then the down arrow (found on the right side). Choose "Pin to Your Profile Page." This will keep the tweet at the top of your Twitter feed so more people can find it.

Retweet Day Rules

1. Must have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)
2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.
3. Please do not use adult topics.
4. Limit hashtags to three (3) per post.
5. Return on Retweet Day and click each link in the comments.**
6. Click the heart on the tweet and then the retweet symbol and the Retweet button.

** To share a tweet, highlight the url, right click, and you will see an option to open the link or go to the url. Do that, and it should open in a new window and take you there.

Come back after sending the tweet and go through the entire list. 

Here's to a great day of retweets!

Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories. She's also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.




Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Have you asked your character these questions? Kayelle Allen @kayelleallen #amwriting #MFRWauthor


Marketing for Romance Writers was created for a group of romance writers, but quickly gained members in every sort of genre. As writers, one thing we all have in common is the need to create strong characters. To that end, here is a questionnaire you can use to get to know the people in your story.

Questions for the Character to Answer

How do you dress?
If we could only hear your voice (but not see you) what characteristic would identify you?
Please tell us about your education.
Are you book-smart, self-taught, widely-experienced?
Do you get by, live comfortably, live extravagantly?
What is your viewpoint on wealth?
On what special skills do you rely?
Are any of your skills a source of pride or embarrassment, and if so, which ones and why?
What kinds of things do you always carry (in pockets or purse)?
What is your family like?
Are you close to family?
Do you have children?
Are you involved in your community?
How well do you know your neighbors?
Do you see morality as black-and-white, or with shades of gray?
How do others perceive you based upon looks, and is this assumption accurate?
Do you care about what others assume about you?
If someone from your past showed up, who would you most want it to be, and why?
If someone from your past showed up, who would you most NOT want it to be, and why?
Can you keep a secret? Why or why not?
What secrets do you know about people around you that you do NOT share?
What inner doubt causes you the most difficulty?
What past event causes you the most fear?
What is your biggest need?
What are your biggest hopes and dreams?
What would help you face hardship and meet any challenge?
If you could make any one thing happen, what would it be?
What is your biggest personal flaw?
When there is a setback, what doubt or flaw surfaces?
How do you handle challenges?
What is your breaking point?
How do you express disappointment?
How emotionally expressive are you to others?
When (if) you lie or are upset, what gives you away?
Who in your life has the power to hurt you the most and why?
What would you like to tell your writer?
What would you like people who hear your story to know?

Questions for the Writer to Answer

(Change gender to fit your character)
Your character is at a party. Considering his story, describe the party.
How does the character feel about being this particular party, and what body language is he displaying that gives it away?
Is he more likely to mingle or remain aloof?
If he drinks, what is his drink of choice at this party?
How much drink is his usual?
The character figures out where the hiding places are and then goes there. Is it to hide, to avoid someone, or to go drag a friend back to the party?
Bro by Kayelle Allen (from character questions post on MFRW)Is he likely to latch onto a friend and stay with him/her and ignore others, or is he the friend that others latch onto?
If someone picked a fight at this party, how is the character going to handle it?
Is the character the one most likely to get tossed out of the party, or the one who does the tossing?
Will he know when to leave, or stay late and make a nuisance of himself?

This is not an exhaustive list of questions, but it should give you some insight into creating a unique and memorable character.

Come share your character on my book blog, Romance Lives Forever. Readers find something new every day on RLF. www.rlfblog.com Look for Signup in the menu. You can set your own date and even get automated reminders.

Kayelle Allen
author of Bro, the Antonello Brothers series prequel
https://kayelleallen.com/bro/

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Rules for Humble Writers (Yeah, Right) by Kayelle Allen @kayelleallen #Humor #MFRWauthor

Rules for Humble Writers by Kayelle Allen @kayelleallen #Humor #MFRWauthor
Christmas is finally over and we're settling in for winter. The new year is making itself at home. So I decided to share some "rules" I've learned over the years about humble writers. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, here we go...

Rules for Humble Writers

1. Being humble is rule #1. Never tell anyone you wrote a book. It's okay to write it, but keep the news to yourself. If you wrote a good book, people will find it without you saying a word.
2. Don't post any information about your book online, especially on places such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or blogs. If in doubt, see #1.
3. If someone wants to buy a copy of the book from you, sell it for no more than what it cost you to obtain. It's not humble to expect people to pay more than you did.
4. Cover art is not necessary. A book's quality should never be judged by what is outside. "Never judge a book by its cover" is an axiom.
5. Do not set goals. A true writer only writes when inspired, therefore, goals are counterproductive.
6. Wait for inspiration. Be ready to write, but don't worry about muses or looking for inspiration outside yourself. True inspiration comes from within and should not be sought. When it's real, it will come.
7. Editing is for those who don't get it right the first time. Don't write anything down until you know it's correct. This will save you time and energy, not to mention paper, ink, and erasers.
8. If your computer is on, you should be writing. Remind yourself of this. Guilt can help you stay focused.
9. Games are counterproductive to writing. There is a school of thought that they are helpful by enabling you to relax. However, this can also lead to indulgence, and should be avoided by a hard-working writer.
10. Physical exercise requires time away from your desk. Avoid it.
11. It's all right to eat all your meals at your desk. Dinner or lunch with the family is time consuming.
12. Cleaning house is maid's work. Writers write. 
13. Believe all the writing advice you get on the web.
Gotten any really bad advice lately? Other than #12, I can't agree with anything posted here.
Happy New Year everyone. =^_^= Here's to success in 2019!
---
By the way, that gorgeous blond on the left is the hero of my Bringer of Chaos series. The model is Nik Nitsvetov. The books are awesome. You should buy them. I'm not humble at all. 
---
Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of seven books, three novellas, and multiple short stories. She's also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.
https://kayelleallen.com

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Welcome to MFRW - a friend of writers. Follow @MFRW_ORG for updates #MFRWauthor #AmWriting

Welcome to MFRW - Marketing for Romance Writers

Welcome to MFRW - a friend of writers. Follow @MFRW_ORG for updates #MFRWauthor #AmWriting
MFRW recently celebrated its twelth year. What is it? MFRW is Marketing for Romance Writers, a peer-oriented mentoring group open to the entire literary community. Kayelle Allen founded the group in 2006 and heads the group to this day, guiding its direction and overseeing the numerous volunteer staff members that help it run.
In this group, authors can ask marketing-related questions, request help, advice, and get opinions. Authors can ask for opportunities to join other authors in promotional efforts. They can learn the business aspects of writing.
What's it cost? Nada, zip, zilch, zero -- just join and share.
Marketing for Romance Writers promotes for its members on most social media.

  • Get your book cover pinned on one of the MFRW Pinterest boards, and share your tweets on MFRW's monthly Retweet Day. The hashtags #MFRWorg #MFRWauthor and #MFRWhooks help you promote. If you have questions about marketing your books, join us.
  • The MFRW motto is "seek, teach, share, learn, succeed." 
  • The group began with a dozen friends, and today boasts over 2400 members, and over 7000 members make up our Facebook group. 
  • MFRW has a multiple award-winning magazine (Publisher, Rochelle Weber). 
  • We have over 400 followers on Goodreads and feature our members books there in the MFRW Book Place group. 
  • On Pinterest, we are followed by over 1500 people, have 55 genre related boards, and almost 1000 pins. Want your book cover pinned on our site? Even if you don't have a Pinterest account, you can take advantage of our presence there. 
  • Join our Yahoo group today and you'll get information. Services and membership are free.

Follow MFRW

Follow MFRW on Twitter for updates https://twitter.com/MFRW_ORG

MFRW Volunteer Staff

Alice Orr, Barbara Donlon Bradley, Carmen Stefanescu, Emerald, Jessica Cale, Kayelle Allen, Libby McKinmer, Lisa Lowe, Lyncee Shillard, Michelle Davis, Mona Karel, Nicole Morgan, Paloma Beck, Reet Singh, Rochelle Weber, Tina Gayle

MFRW Online

Yahoo group (where you can get help) https://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarketingForRomanceWriters/
Twitter https://twitter.com/MFRW_ORG
Kayelle Allen on Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
 Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/mfrwauthors/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/161092-the-mfrw-book-place
Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/mfrworg/

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Author Interview Checklist: What You Need to be Ready @KayelleAllen #MFRWauthor #Author


Author Interview Checklist: What You Need to be Ready @KayelleAllen #MFRWauthor #Author
Imagine your book is coming out and you want to line up interviews for the release. Or you're scheduled to appear on a blog to talk about one of your characters. Perhaps you set up an interview months in advance and now the date is looming. How do you prepare?

Some things will be part of every interview. You can have those on hand and be ready at a moment's notice. Use this checklist and you'll have a marketing or media kit that will support any endeavor.

Fill in the following and keep it handy. You'll be able to copy/paste this into forms online and into interview forms you download.

Author Interview Checklist

This checklist is in three parts; author, book, and marketing.

Author Checklist

Author name
Author bio
Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram
Snapchat
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Newsletter
Instafreebie
Bookfunnel

Book Checklist

Book title
Series title
Genre
Heat level (Rating)
Blurb (full length)
Mini-blurb (100-150 words)
Tagline (1-3 sentences)
ASIN
ISBN
Publication date
Link to downloadable excerpt or excerpt online
Word count
Page count
Affiliate link (i.e., Amazon associate or Smashwords affiliate link for book)
Shortened link (bit.ly, etc.)
Publisher (name)
Buy Links
Publisher 
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iBooks
Kobo
Smashwords
Books2Read (universal link) 

Marketing Checklist

Six hashtags (use no more than three per tweet)
Three  tweets (up to 240 characters each)
Three  Facebook posts
Six excerpts (4 short, 2 long)
(if you write spicy romance have both hot excerpts and family friendly ones)

Image Checklist

Cover in three sizes: 200x300, 500x750, 1800x2700 (or close equivalents)
Banners (memes) - good rule of thumb is 3x wider than tall or 3x taller than wide (i.e., 200x600 or reverse) or 2x taller than wide (450x900 or reverse) or square (fits any social media format)
Author bio pic (headshot)
Banner with one or more books together
Pictures of author with book
Other images that help reveal your story
Book video or trailer

This author checklist is far from exhaustive, but it will get you started. I create one for myself as an author and keep book info separately, with one document for each book. Each book helps sell the one released before it. Having this material on hand will ensure you are always ready to share the stories of your heart.


What types of things do you have ready? Are there tried and true items you find valuable when preparing a media kit? Please share them in the comments.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Authors: How to find your book's URL on Amazon @KayelleAllen #MFRWauthor #Author


Want to know how to get readers to find your book on Amazon or another bookseller? Need to know how to make a "buy link" for your book? Here's how.

Your book's URL

When you go to a bookseller online like Amazon or Barnes and Noble to find your book, how did you get there? The first time, you might have gone to the home page of the store and typed in either your name or your book's title. When you found the book, you clicked on the link and navigated to its page.
If you copy and paste that URL into a document, clicking it will bring you right back. But how long is that URL and what does all that gobbledygook after the title mean? Is there a way to clean that up and make it look better?

Here's one of mine from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Romance-Christmas-Kayelle-Allen/dp/1502962403/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Notice the part in bold? It doesn't come like that -- I made it bold so you could easily see it. When you see the letters REF in a URL, it means "referral". That material isn't part of your book's true URL. It's code telling the site how you got to the page. You can safely delete it and everything to the right.

Here is how the true URL will look:
https://www.amazon.com/Romance-Christmas-Kayelle-Allen/dp/1502962403/
All that other code at the end is a way for Amazon to know got there. It can get really long if you've bounced around a long time.
I went to Amazon and searched "romance for christmas" allen. Here's the URL I ended up with on the book page.
https://www.amazon.com/Romance-Christmas-Kayelle-Allen-ebook/dp/B00OSD716G/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1511405487&sr=1-3&keywords=%22romance+for+christmas%22+allen


All that bold text is just a way for Amazon to know how you got to the page. In reality, on Amazon, all you need is this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OSD716G/
B00OSD716G is the ASIN (Amazon Standard Information Number) Amazon needs to find the book. If you copy that number and paste it in the search bar on Amazon, the book will come up. Try it!
When you send a reader to your book's page, you don't need a long URL that is really how you personally got to the page. You want them to have the book itself. Otherwise, Amazon will get misleading info about who is clicking on your book and how they got there.

URL Tip

I keep a document with info for my book and the URLs for its various sites. Each one has the book title, blurb, tagline, page count, word count, date of publication, ASIN, ISBN, and buy links. Anytime I want to enter info for my book anywhere online, I can pop open that document and voila! Everything is right there.

Now you can make a clean URL for every book and send readers right to a page to buy it. Do you have a tip for getting readers to click a link? Please share it in the comments.

Kayelle Allen writes sweet Christmas romance, but also Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She's a US Navy veteran who's been married so long she's tenured.
https://kayelleallen.com

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Good Keywords for Author SEO by Kayelle Allen @KayelleAllen #author #tips

Authors need good keywords for blog posts, books, marketing, even writing newsletters. SEO, which means Search Engine Optimization, is all about writing and content searchable by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. After all, if no one can find you, what good will it do to write material anyway? To be found, authors need good keywords and good SEO.
Included in this post is a shot of the Yoast SEO Wordpress plugin used on my personal site. I use this plugin on each post. This is one I used for a post called How to Leave A Review (which I'll mention again below).
A focus keyword.
For ex, a phrase that includes the genre, book or character name, or a descriptive phrase. On one of my posts, titled "How to Leave a Review" I used "leave a review" and repeated it in the title, url, H2 heading, and the body. By the time I'd finished it was there 13 times total. Anyone searching for info on how to leave one, when to leave one, where to leave one, etc. would be likely to find it.
Slug
The slug is what the words at the end of the url are called. Mine was leave-a-review (after the kayelleallen.com/ ) Making it the same as the focus word strengthens the SEO.
Meta Title / Meta Description
I use Wordpress, and a plugin called Yoast SEO allows me to choose the meta title and description. When you Google something, you know the words in bold that come up and show you a title? That's the meta title. The words beneath it are the meta description. If you can't specify, then Google (and other search engines) pick up the post title and about 150 characters of the first paragraph.
Yoast SEO shows a green line (meaning good) when a title is more than 54 characters but no more than 94 characters. For the meta description, use a minimum 120 characters but no more than 156 characters. Remember, if you don't have a program that will provide this info for search engines, write posts with this type of information right up front.

More SEO for Authors

Title and hashtags
I try to match the focus keyword and then research the best hashtags on https://ritetag.com/
H2 Header
Match your focus keyword somewhere on the page in an H2 heading.
Video
Because it owns YouTube, Google loves videos from there. Use the focus word in the description and/or header of that.
Call to action
Generally, I plan my call to action first, and then write the post to showcase that. I want people to leave a review of my book, so I pulled it in as examples in the entire post about how to leave a review. Then I asked if they had left one no matter who's or where, to share the link. It got a ton of views, but no comments. Typically, I get far more views than comments, so it wasn't a surprise.
Image alt tags
On my personal site, I highlight the title of the post and paste that into the alt tag line of each image in the post.
Featured Image
In Blogger, you usually see the first image when you post a url on Facebook or Twitter. With Wordpress, you can pick the exact image you want, even if it isn't in your actual post. When the meta title and description go up on Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc., that is the image that goes with it.
Other minor things to watch:
Use one category only. This is like the folder in the filing cabinet. It can only go in one at a time. Exception: On RLFblog, I use two categories when the author does an interview. One for the type of interview, and one for the type of book. This lets readers search for both.
Use keywords that are genre specific, book specific, topic oriented. Keep keywords simple so readers can easily click the tag and find everything in the topic. For ex, don't use the word book plus the word books. One or the other.
That's pretty much what I do. It's working very well.

If you use Wordpress, get the Yoast SEO for Wordpress plugin. It will teach you these very things. If you do them, your article is going to be much more findable by search engines. Use the checklist, and write good content that contains information people want to find. It's that simple.

About Kayelle Allen

Kayelle Allen is the founder of Marketing for Romance Writers. She writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She's a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she's tenured.
https://kayelleallen.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author
Join the Romance Lives Forever Reader Group Download four free books and get news about books coming soon. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Monday, July 10, 2017

Do The Retweet Day with #MFRWauthor and #MFRWorg

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun


For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on Second Monday of the month. You can post your tweet until the second Wednesday of the month.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.


Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
Writing contemporary romance, Tina Gayle enjoys wring stories that has strong women fiction elements as well as touch the heart. Her writing started at a young age when she created storied to help put herself to sleep. Now, she spends her days living her dreams. 
Find her at www.tinagayle.net  or pick up her free read at https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

Monday, July 3, 2017

Difference Between KDP and KDP Select by Kayelle Allen @kayelleallen #writerslife #MFRWauthor

Have you ever wondered what the difference between KDP and KDP Select is? Authors who self publish on Amazon use Kindle Direct Publishing. Once you upload, you're asked if you also want to join Kindle Select. This is an exclusive contract with Amazon and will place your book into Kindle Unlimited (KU). The contract runs 90 days from signing and auto renews unless you cancel prior to that date. It will put your book in Kindle Unlimited for readers. Members pay $9.99 a month and can read as much as they want of all books in KU system. In addition, you will get paid by the page count of pages read.

Breaking it down

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) - all self-pub authors on Amazon
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) + Kindle Select (also called KDP Select) - exclusive contract, no sales outside Amazon (except print), includes Kindle Unlimited

I sell my books on my own site but only the print books for the ones on Select. It's exclusively exclusive. No ebook sales anywhere else.

My recommendation is to go with "wide distribution" for your first book Sign up at these sites:
Amazon
Smashwords
CreateSpace

Here's what you'll get with each.

Amazon - total reach across all of Amazon
Smashwords - reach across all venues (you can publish from here to Amazon but why would you? You'd be cutting out your own royalty base b/c you'd share it with Smashwords.) You will get Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple iTunes (iBooks), plus many others.
CreateSpace - you'll be in print on any and all sites where you want to share it. You can go exclusive on Amazon and still sell the print on Smashwords.
If, after six months, you don't see awesome sales at non-Amazon distributors, consider going KDP Select and advertise as "free on Kindle Unlimited" (KU). You will get paid for purchases as well as pages read by those who only "borrow" the books.

What I Do

I have a number of books in that system. I make more in one month on Amazon than I do in a year on the other venues combined. It's different for every person. Be sure to advertise and include places where readers can buy your books. Don't say "I'm on Amazon" when you have an opportunity to write the actual URL to the book's page. Notice the banner above shows the icons for Amazon and CreateSpace, plus the hashtags #ScifiRom and #KindleUnlimited. These are cues to the reader what your book is about and when shared, gives them a way to know what hashtags to use on Twitter or Facebook.
Try everything with your books. They're yours. What works for others might not work for you. Whatever you decide, good luck with sales!
If you've used KDP Select, please share your opinions and tips in the comments.
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Kayelle Allen is a best-selling American author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.
Join the Romance Lives Forever Reader Group Download four free books and get news about books coming soon. You can unsubscribe at any time.


Saturday, June 3, 2017

10 Ways to Make Readers Happy by Kayelle Allen @kayelleallen #amwriting #MFRWauthor

10 Ways to Make Readers Happy by Kayelle Allen @kayelleallen #amwriting #MFRWauthor
I host 350+ authors every year on my Romance Lives Forever blog. I'm the founder of Marketing for Romance Writers. Authors talk to me. I hear a lot of stories about readers who are unhappy and about ones who are ecstatic. There are some things in common. Here are ten of the best ways to make readers happy. Some are from personal experience, many from other writers.
  1. Write well. If you don't do this, it doesn't matter what else you do. Triple check your spelling. Punctuate properly. Readers today have been exposed to a wide variety of writing due to the internet and have learned to be discerning. A poorly written, misspelled book will be passed over in short order. For blog posts, spellcheck and/or use a site like Grammarly or SmartEdit. For books, hire an editor.
  2. Use proper formatting. Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, Lulu, CreateSpace, etc. each has its own requirements for formatting. Follow them to the letter. Whatever the requirements say should be done -- do it. These services know what the programs will do and what it takes to make them work best. Follow their advice. A hard to read book gathers no interest.
  3. Along those same lines, when posting quotes to the web, in email, on Yahoo Groups, and so on, never use "curly" or "smart" quotes (the type that curl toward words on the left, and away on the right). Many programs, blogs, and sites cannot read the code that word processing programs use for these, so they substitute code to try to make sense of what they see. Instead of your quoted text appearing as: "I didn't do it." The reader sees:  tm&*I didn#@*$t do it.98cm&  Imagine an entire page of this. Trust me, this does not make reaaders happy. Go into the autocorrect features of your word processing program and turn off these types of quotes (and look at all the tabs -- they are in more than one place), then, using the Replace command on your editing toolbar, replace all " to ", and ' to '. It will look no different to you in the replace command dialog box, but the computer will change all the codes and the formatting on the other end will come out right. Your readers will thank you.
  4. Use only a simple serif or non-serif font (like Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri.). Readers who do not have a special font loaded on their computers will see plain text (such as Courier) because their machines will substitute the fancy font for a default one.
  5. Provide good content. If you have interesting information to share with your readers, they will come to you. Whether you use blogs, Facebook, Twitter, or other services, content is the number one reason people will follow you. "Getting your name out there" is a byword. Everyone wants to know how to do it. How do you gain friends on Facebook and so on? How do you get people to read your book? The answer is to give them solid content, well written.
  6. When promoting your book, provide a "set up" -- a few lines so people know what the scene or excerpt they are about to read is about. Help them understand the characters, so they don't feel they walked in during the middle of a conversation.
  7. Share your work on more than your website and your blog. Yahoo groups, Facebook, other authors' blogs, Goodreads, and other places are good sites to share your material with readers.
  8. Use Twitter to generate interest in your books by sharing tidbits and snips of dialog or scenes. Believe it or not, there are Twitter accounts that post entire stories, each less than 140 characters long. Try delivering your hero or heroine's lines in successive tweets. Not all of them, mind you -- just a few to create curiosity.
  9. Share promos with other authors. If you and another author have similar books (say vampire romances) hold a contest together. You promote your book and hers to your readers, and vice versa. You will both gain. I've done this with friends over the years and gained not only readers, but best friends who will promo with me at the drop of a hat. You can't beat that.
  10. Tell people you meet that you're an author. Carry your business cards or bookmarks. When I'm at a bookstore, or looking at books at the grocery store, I invariably start talking to the woman who's standing next to me. Especially when she picks up a book I already own, or am about to buy. Or she's buying an author I've never heard of before. I ask questions. Somehow it always leads to sharing my own story. I hand over my card. I once got an email from someone who said she'd met me in a doctor's office several years before, and wanted to let me know she'd bought one of my books and loved it. Made my day.

If your goal is to make readers happy, show them you are a wellspring of stories to whom they can go. If you can meet that need and do the things above, you are well on your way.
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Kayelle Allen is a best-selling American author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.
Homeworld/Blog https://kayelleallen.com
Join the Romance Lives Forever Reader Group Download four free books and get news about books coming soon. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

Friday, May 26, 2017

Who’s Your Target Audience? Do You Know? #MFRWauthor #WriteTip #Writers #Authors


It’s been a while since I posted. I’m sorry for disappearing and apologise for the incredibly long absence. Life got in the way, but I’m back now and ready to help you to level up!

I remember when I first decided to pursue a writing career; one of the first aspects I had to understand was who my audience was. Of course, I immediately thought: easy-peasy. My audience is the same as every other romance author out there. Women between the ages of 18 and 100. If she is able to read, she’s my audience. Rich or poor, it doesn’t matter, so long as she enjoys reading romance. Nor does it matter where she lives. Romance is world-renowned and everyone loves it, right?

I’m betting some of you have boiled your marketing aim down to that same wide margin. What would you think if I told you you’re looking at this thing all wrong? My light bulb moment came once I realised my target audience wasn’t who I thought it was. If you don’t know who your readers are, you can’t effectively market to them. How are you going to target everyone? Impossible. And here’s the rub—not everybody will love your amazing, beautifully written story. What? Yep! So you need to know your audience. Take the time to figure it out. It’s like trying to understand your main character’s internal conflict—you need to dig deep.

Your real audience.

As an example, my target audience looks a little like this. Yes, I have readers who are in their
Created by Crystal Swan
early twenties and readers who are well into their seventies. These are the ones I know of so I will say my readers are between the ages of 20 and 80. Notice I say readers and not women because there are men who also enjoy romance novels; I have a few of those, too! So that’s the age and gender of my readers.


S/he has Christian views. Most of them go to church and read the Bible, but are not religious. They love God and have a strong relationship with our Saviour. Abhors profanity, blasphemy, and gratuitous sex and violence. But while this is the case, my target audience are open-minded and enjoy the gift and pleasures of lovemaking with their husband/wife. Yes, lovemaking is in the Bible and not only Song of Solomon. Read the various books and see for yourself if you don’t believe me. Anyway, back to my target audience. They are gentle-minded and long for a world filled with love and not hate. S/he prefers the lighter side of life and loves to laugh. So fun, feel-good, saucy stories are perfect for them. 

My stories are not marketed as Inspirational or Christian romance, but my characters believe, pray and even go to church off stage. If you look at my author brand, you’ll see I market my books as sweet ‘n’ spicy romantic comedy. That’s because they’re like the sweet romance, but the bedroom doors are wide open. You won’t find foul language, but you will get super-spicy love scenes. And my audience will enjoy my brand of emotional conflict and humour. 

You can't please everyone.

In the same way that we don’t all enjoy the every book, not everyone is our audience. It’s our job as authors to pinpoint our readers and market our books to them. Do you know your audience? Tell me all about it in the comments section below.

Until next time, write with clarity and style!

Monique xx


Monique DeVere is a full-time author of Sweet 'n' Spicy Romantic Comedy and Contemporary Romance. She also writes Christian Supernatural Suspense movie scripts. She is married to her very own strong-silent-type hero and has four children. When Monique isn’t writing or spending quality time with her family, she likes to armchair travel to distant and exciting parts of the world and considers herself to have the best job on earth. 

You can visit her at moniquedevere.com where she invites you to join her exclusive Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Readers Club packed full of goodies for her members. Monique loves to hear from her readers, do contact her at monique@moniquedevere.com.

Monday, May 8, 2017

It's Retweet Day with #MFRWauthor and #MFRWorg

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun


For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.


Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.


5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

Monday, April 10, 2017

Join us at #MFRWauthor and #MFRWorg It's Author Retweet Day

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun


For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.


Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.


5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x