Triberr: to Share or Not to Share #Triberr

I’m taking a break from my editing/writing blog as I try to figure out what everyone would be interested in.

I do love triberr. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure about it in the beginning, but I have seen my blog hits grow as well as my followers.

Like others I was afraid it would take too much time. I wondered if it would be worth it and to be honest I’m still learning about the program.

Each time I go to my tribes – I don’t use the main stream but the drop down box on that stream page and bring up each tribe. It registers with the tribe itself and shows other people on that tribe that I’m sharing and hopefully they will share mine. I know some authors only go to triberr when they have released a blog and that works for them. I try to go to triberr at least three times a week. On a good week I go there every day.

So how do I make the choice of who to share and who not to share?

It depends on how much time I have that day. I have a tendency to do it late at night, just before I got to bed. When I go to the stream I first look for those who have released my blog. I look for the infinity symbol. I have my stream set up to show these people first so I can be sure to release theirs. Sometimes that’s all the time I have.

When I have more time I’ll hover over the image of each tribe mate so I can see if they have released something of mine. Sometimes people will release your blog but it doesn’t put the infinity symbol on their post because it might not have been one of your latest blogs.

Once a week I try to release one of every person who posted on all the tribes I’m on. My goal is to get them to share my blogs like I am sharing theirs.  I have been very happy with the way this has work for me. Will it work for you? The only thing I can suggest is to try it then tweak it until you find a way to make it work for you. 

How NOT to Promote #MFRWAuthor

I remember, from back when I watched television, a cable show named "What Not To Wear." The British version featured two snarkily delightful women. The American version gave us Clinton and Stacy, who had their own version of snarky, with a softer tone. The idea was the hosts would completely revamp the victim's  guest's wardrobe, to give said guest a more fashionably correct look. I sometimes felt they were attempting to reduce individuality in their guests but that's a matter for another time. Like watching a train wreck I found myself clicking on that show no matter when it aired.
Along the same lines I've observed author self promotions for several years and more than once I've wanted to force encourage those authors to take a clear look at how they were presenting themselves

BUY  MY BOOK

LOOK WHAT I DID

Over and over and over. If they belonged to multiple Facebook groups I saw their not so clever promotional announcement numerous times in the same day. And after a while I ceased actually seeing it, I simply deleted as soon as it showed up.
Slightly more subtle authors would insert links to their own books in replies to another writer's blog,whether relevant or not.
All of this adds up to the same feeling I got from the kid who sat behind me in the school auditorium and insisted on kicking the back of my chair. Distracting me from his actual message, which was probably somewhere along the lines of "Hi, I'd like to get to know you better." Another potential romance lost in the dust of miscommunication.

To avoid this, what do we NOT want to do?
Don't shove your book into every conversation.
Don't put your notices on automatic share across the virtual universe.
Don't self promote where it's not allowed.
Don't put your links into someone else's blogs or discussions unless asked.

What SHOULD we do?
Funny you should ask.
If you're not already an MFRW member, join and take advantage of the many offers to help you promote your book.
Become a part of Triberr so you can help promote others while they help promote you.
Invite other authors onto your blog (you do have an active blog, right?) so you can promote their books.
Have an active blog. Write from your heart and your convictions, whatever those might be.
Respond to other blogs that interest you with comments relevant to that blog. If it's a blog hop, all the better then you can get name recognition multiple times.
Join blog hops, write clever blogs relevant to the hop theme. Here you can mention your book, without  making it the entire blog.
Write a good book. Then write another good book. Keep that promise to your readers that they will find happiness in your words. 

Notice, none of these suggestions have you pushing your book? Instead you are gaining name recognition for yourself. You are NOT one book, you are an author of many wonderful books.

Seek, Teach, Share, Learn, SUCCEED

thoughts shared from  Mona Karel

Blog Hop Coordinator

In addition to occasional curmudgeonly outbursts, Mona writes Romance both normal and paranormal as a way to share her daydreams with the rest of the world. When not writing she wraps her world around her Salukis, her home in the New Mexico high desert, and photographing the quirky, the unusual, and the just plain gorgeous. 

Promoting Your New Book #MFRWauthor @kayelleallen

Learning vs doing
is what we teach at Marketing for Romance Writers 

It's sad but true that many publishers do nothing for promotion. The tide is changing on that, and more are starting to see if they help there are more sales. (That's not rocket science, is it?) But honestly, most small presses have no concept of promotion other than giving the author free copies to give away. So, what's an author to do?

Here are the basics. I create the following for every book, and teach members of Marketing for Romance Writers to do the same.

• Review sheet containing the title, author, genre, rating (PG-R), tagline, blurb, buy links (US authors: find your Amazon links for US, UK, DE, AU - your readers will love you). Include your social media links. If you use Twitter, this is not the place to write it as @yourname. Write out the link so someone can click it! You get more users that way. This review sheet will hold all details about the book. Add premade tweets you can copy and share. You'll have every aspect about your book handy for interviews, questions, blog posts, and so on.
• Covers in sizes 200x300, 500x750 for website, blog, and other guest spots.
• Excerpt sheet (three different scenes) Try for lengths of 100-150 words, 200 words, 500 words. If you write hot romance, have different heat ratings available.
• Signature displaying info about the book (used anytime you email), and your social media. Make it easy for people to follow you.
• Amazon author page. You should have this already set up. If not, build it now. If you're self-pubbed, Amazon adds this to the back of your book, so have it ready. https://authorcentral.amazon.com/

Nice to have:

• Banner for the book (468x60 - web standard, 600x400 for blog tours, Twitter promo, etc.)
• Timeline covers for Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Google+
• Pinterest board for the book and/or characters, or the era you write about

Other Options

Blog spots are great if you can get them. To me, Twitter is essential. People are going to be talking about your book on Twitter whether you are there or not. What hashtags would support your book? A Goodreads author page helps you track reviews there.

Social media isn't something you can do without. What you have and what you do with it is up to you, but it needs to be in your marketing plan. And without making it sound like a footnote, a marketing plan that you follow for all your books will help you avoid a last minute panic. It's great to have it all done, and then be able to just ask for a few blog spots or help with tweets. Having a plan is part of being a professional writer. Are these things easy? No. But neither was writing the book, and your story was worth the work, wasn't it? Don't abandon your book and characters now.

You can do this.

About the Book

Human Perfect 

In the android business, the best of the best are Human Perfect.

Coming Jan 2015 http://kayelleallen.com/exc-perfect.html

About the Author

Kayelle Allen is a best-selling, multi-published, award-winning author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.

Homeworld http://kayelleallen.com Mobile site http://kayelleallen.mobi

Unstoppable Heroes Blog http://kayelleallen.com/blog

Twitter http://twitter.com/kayelleallen

Facebook http://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author
The Author's Secret https://theauthorssecret.com

Authors CAN DO Book Promotion #MFRWorg

Okay so now you’ve sold the book – what do you do? The days of the publisher promoting your book is long gone. From the brand new to the seasoned author, self published to large press you have to do most, if not all the leg work.

Trying to figure out where to start is the hard part. We all want the cover of Romantic Times, but my budget laughed so hard tears came to its’ eyes. I need to find a cheaper way. Much cheaper. Like free.

So I started small. How do you get your name out there anyway? Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, hit all the social medias you know about and create a presence. Now I’ll admit I haven’t tried all of them. I don’t have the time. Some days I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get it all done, but I keep my ear to the ground and listen when someone else is working with an new one. If is sounds like something I should get into I do.

Create a blog. I fought this one because I didn’t feel I had time to write, but I realized I have a lot of knowledge about writing so put one together, I try to post once a week. You can check it out at www.barbaradonlonbradley.blogspot.com

Do guest spots on someone else’s blog. I find this fun to do, although sometimes I have to rack my brain to come up with a subject I haven’t done before. Most ask for a writing related post, but some have interview questions, or just let you send a blurb, excerpt and cover image.

Chat’s are good. I’ve done a few of them. Of course when I do them you can hear the crickets chirping in the back row but I always do them armed and ready. I create my own questions so there is constantly something coming across. I don’t just promo my books – and with 13 titles I can fill several hours of nothing but promo. I try to give a little insight to me and my writing process.

Join groups. I stick to Yahoo, but I have become part of some really great ones. MFRW is one. There is so much knowledge out there and many of the authors are more than happy to share.

Do you have access to print copies of your book? Then do book signings. Go to your local book sellers and set up a signing. Try to have more than one author to sign with you if you can. The more authors the more it will help bring the readers in.

Over the next few blogs I will go into more detail about what I have learned to promote myself on a shoestring. I’ll go into what worked for me and what didn’t work For now, I hope this will help you get started.

See you next month!
Barb:)

Writing for Barbara Donlon Bradley started innocently enough, like most she kept diaries, journals, and wrote an occasional letter but she also had a vivid imagination and wrote scenes and short stories adding characters to her favorite shows and comic books. As time went on she found the passion for writing to be a strong drive for her. Humor is also very strong in her life. No matter how hard she tries to write something deep and dark, it will never happen. That humor bleeds into her writing. Since she can’t beat it she has learned to use it to her advantage. Now she lives in Tidewater Virginia with two cats, one mother in law, her husband and teenage son.

#StreetTeam #Promotions for the #MFRWAuthor with @kristynphipps

When I first found our marketing group, I was overwhelmed at the variety of promotional, networking, and learning opportunities that were offered on a monthly basis.  After being a member for six months, I decided to start giving back to all those who had given me such warm encouragement and wise advice by taking on the bloghops. Within another six months, I became the first Activities Director. Now, I will admit that this job is much more than I can handle, and that is why I'm so thankful to my support staff that handles so much of the brunt work so that I can work behind the scenes to organize and plan the next event. I'm so proud to be an active member of this group.

With my position, I get to see a wide range of opportunities on the horizon that many of you don't see until it's here. I want to take this year and highlight those opportunities for you, help you engage yourself, and encourage you to get involved. We have so many promotional opportunities: bloghops, newsletters, minibooks, sponsorships, etc. Today, I'm going to highlight our Street Team.

How to Get Promoted

In the fall of 2013, MFRW established a small street team. This group of people post established tweets for our members. Anyone with something to share, a book, blog post, special sale, contest, etc., just needs to fill out the form here to get promoted. Our street team will take the information you give and word a tweet to be blasted across the internet. 

What Are the Benefits?

MFRW has over 1900 members and nearly 400 followers on Twitter. Each of these brings a new audience to the table and the potential for you to be discovered by new readers. Tweets gets passed along by our followers on a regular basis and this means more exposure for you. Plus with the potential connection to Facebook, you will find an even larger boost of potential readers finding you!

Not only will you enhance your sales opportunities, but your networking opportunities will increase as well. As people share the tweet our Street Team sends out, you in turn will receive a notice that it was shared. It gives you the opportunity to connect with another MFRW member, reader, editor, publisher, graphic artists, etc. Today's book business isn't just about how well you write; it's now become a networking business all in itself, and MFRW gives you, our members, the opportunity to tap into that market as well.

If you have any questions on the Street Team or how you can get promoted, please feel free to ask questions in group or reach out to me personally. We want to help you succeed in any way possible!

Meet Kristyn

Kristyn Phipps lives in the foothills of North Carolina where she and her husband are raising their two daughters and their lab/shepherd mix daughter, Lady. She is a regularly featured writer for the Conover Life Magazine. She loves to bake, read, and drive.

Kristyn joined Marketing for Romance Writers as a member in 2012. She became the bloghop Director in January of 2013, and was promoted to Activities Director in April that year. She oversees all promotional and camp events for the group.

New Author Advice: Joining Social Media

What's the Key?

This week, my friend Karen Cote' and I talked about what a new author should do to get started in social media. We feel there are several important places to start. Just who are we to give advice? I'm a multi-published author, founder of Marketing for Romance Writers and Romance Lives Forever (two active Yahoo groups with well over 1200 members each) and owner of nine blogs. Karen is the best selling author of Erotic Deception, creator of a unique talking website, a Twitter maven with over 5k followers, and the Promotions Director for Marketing for Romance Writers.

We recommend that before you jump in and start joining social media everywhere, you take time to read MFRW member Cassandra Carr's guides for Twitter (there are two). You can download them on our resources page. http://marketingforromancewriters.org/resources.htm

Then, do the following things to begin your journey.

To me, the top thing to do is join Marketing for Romance Writers and stay actively involved. After that, start here:

1. Make a Facebook page, and start friending the members of MFRW Authors https://www.facebook.com/groups/mfrwauthors/

2. Get a Twitter account and follow people who use these hashtags: #mywana #mfrworg #amreading That will make more sense after you read the Twitter guides.

3. Create an Amazon Author page https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help

4. Blog at least three times a week. Use Networked Blogs to gain readers, plus, when you post a blog, it will automatically feed to Facebook, saving you time. You can pull your blog post automatically into Goodreads, and other sites as well.

5. Join Goodreads, post your books on your page, and link your blog. http://www.goodreads.com/author/how_to

6. Shelfari is a good spot.  http://www.shelfari.com/help

7. Get social by joining WANA Tribe http://wanatribe.com/  (we are not alone - authors helping authors)

Marketing for Romance Writers

Above all, be open to learning new things. Take them one at a time, and don't try to do everything at once. Have a daily schedule. I start my day by checking email, then check my Facebook account, Twitter page, and jump over to my blog, and then stop by my other accounts. I repeat that round of visits during the day. Sometimes, depending on what else needs to be done, I'll do it again in the evening. We need time for writing, a social life, and family. Social media is important, but if you don't have a new book -- what good is it?

Remember, balance doesn't mean that everything is stable. It means you are always in motion, making the fine adjustments to keep your career and life on track.

When you decided to take the plunge and join a social media site, which one was it? Why that one? Would you recommend it to a newbie?

MORE ABOUT MFRW

Group site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarketingForRomanceWriters/
Facebook https://facebook.com/groups/mfrwauthors/
Twitter https://twitter.com/MFRW_ORG
Newsletter http://issuu.com/MFRW

eZine http://is.gd/mfrwpaperli
Website http://marketingforromancewriters.org

Writer's Blah by Shashauna P. Thomas

Shashauna P Thomas. 

You've finished all the other crap you had to do and finally it's that time of day you've set aside for writing. Your mind has been a buzz all day with story ideas, plot lines that make your heart race just thinking about them, and memorable characters practically screaming at you to write their tale. There is so much to do you can't wait to get started. You sit down at your computer, open word, put your fingers on the keyboard, and…and nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. You write one sentence and immediately delete it. Then you re-write that sentence only to once again delete it. You repeat this cycle over and over again. You find that you're easily distracted; much more than usual. It takes an hour to finally write something that normally would only take you a few minutes and you aren't even sure if what you managed to write is any good. Despite knowing what you want to write and exactly where you as the author want your work in process to go there is still something preventing you from writing? Yourself. And I'm sorry to tell you this, but I believe you're suffering from a case of Writer's Blah.

As a new writer I thought there was something wrong with me whenever this happened. I'd sit down to work on my writing and all of a sudden feel zapped of energy. Like I needed to take a break or a nap despite the fact I'd just sat down to work. I couldn't concentrate the way I usually do. I found myself needing to check my e-mail numerous times. Or I'd begin singing along to the music I play as background noise as if it were my favorite song of all time. Right in the middle of working on my manuscript. And worst of all the words that usually come so naturally to my brain, almost as if the characters were standing right beside me and telling me what to write, didn't seem to flow. I tried forcing myself to write and just work through it, but that didn't work. I either was completely unproductive or whatever I did manage to write needed a lot of work or if I were being completely honest with myself needed to be trashed completely.

I feared I might be on the verge of burning myself out so I'd take a day or two off from writing, but that too didn't work. When I wasn't writing it seemed as if my mind was on creative overload. I'd be in the middle of something else and all of a sudden a new idea would pop into my head. Like watching a TV commercial would inspire me to write a brand new story. I'd see it as clear as day then, but get me back in front of the computer and I'm once again having trouble transferring my ideas to paper. Almost as if adding insult to injury I'd feel completely guilty every time I took time off from writing. With so many story ideas yet to be written I felt as if I couldn't afford the time wasted not writing. I was in a funk and I didn't know why or how I got there or most importantly how to get out of it.

When I tried explaining the problem to friends they automatically thought I was suffering from Writer's Block or I was somehow overworking myself and was beginning to burn out. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it wasn't either of those. It wasn't 'til recently when a fellow author in one of my writer's group, Rose B. Thorny, brought up the topic of Writer's Blah for discussion did I finally realize what was going on with me. Listening to her description of Writer's Blah, a wonderful term she coined, and the responses of other writers in the group I quickly realized two very important things. One, she was describing what I'd been going through to a tee. And two, that it wasn't just me. There were other authors out there going through the same thing. That knowledge alone helped relieve some of the anxiety and stress I was having. And one of the main points I learned from the group's discussion was that for many of us stress was the main trigger for Writer's Blah.

Deck the Halls

All types of stress can affect your writing. Stress at home; stress at work; stress with family, friends, or loved ones; financial stress; writing stress; and of course my personal favorite future stress. When you worry and stress out about something that hasn't even happened yet. I learned a long time ago that stress kills creativity, but everyone has stress. They just learn to block it out or work around it. And that is what I thought I did, but apparently I wasn't as successful as I thought. I asked myself, 'if the stress that I have are the same ones people deal with every day then what was my problem?' and that's when it clicked. They dealt with their stress. They didn't block it out or work around it; they worked through it. And once they began working through it they realized something very important, that a lot of it is out of their control.

Once they realize what isn't in their control they can begin to focus on what is. We can't control how our family and friends act, but we can control how we react to them. If the company we work for is downsizing we can't control who they decided to keep and who they decided to let go, but we can continue to work hard and make sure the company sees us as invaluable. We can't control if our manuscripts are accepted or rejected, but we can make sure what we submit is great. And we can remind ourselves that we can resubmit our rejected manuscripts somewhere else. Often times we don't have control on how quickly money comes in each month, but we can make sure we do what we can with the money that does come in; especially in this fickle economy. No one knows what the future may hold, but we do what we can to make sure we're prepared for whatever may come.

Making sure to keep a clear perspective on my stress helped me to deal with Writer's Blah when I had it. Realizing I'm not the only author who has had Writer's Blah and talking about it with other authors helps me to know how to deal with it in the future and it helps me to become a better author. And As Rose B. Thorny did to our writer's group I pose this question to you all. Have you ever experienced Writer's Blah? And if so how did you snap yourself out of it? What triggered it for you? Are you suffering from Writer's Blah now? If you are, don't worry you're not alone.

Christmas Do Over

Info about the Author:

            Shashauna P. Thomas graduated from Cornell University and SUNY Stony Brook with two BAs' before returning to the Bronx where she was born and raised. It wasn't until after college that she first began writing erotic romances for open call submissions. That is when she discovered that writing was her true passion and she's been crafting the vivid tales she sees in her head ever since. With the love and support of family, friends, and her sorority sisters the D.I.V.A.S. of Lambda Fe Usöñ Sorority Inc. she has had a number of her erotic stories published. One of her greatest hopes is that her stories inspire her readers to be open-minded and to not be afraid to try new things. And most importantly to follow their hearts no matter where it leads them.

Her website: http://sptpassions.weebly.com.

Her facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/sptpassions.

Her Blog on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/shashaunapthomas

E-mail: shashaunapthomas@yahoo.com

Buy Links:

Deck the Halls:

http://pinkpetalbooks.com/Deck-The-Halls-by-Shashauna-P.-Thomas.html

Christmas Do-Over:

https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/coming-soon-c-2/christmas-do-over-ebook-p-695

Bondage by the Bay – Tales of BDSM in San Francisco:

http://shop.renebooks.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=CHRISTIAN-08