#WWoW Wacky, Motivating Websites for #Authors

RePOSTED with permission from the Writer's Words of Wisdom blog.

Have you ever been in the writing dumps? Don't lie! We all have. Well, here are some motivating websites for writers that are fun, wacky and helpful. Check them out...

Written Kitten - www.writtenkitten.net
Positive reinforcement for writers through KITTENS! For every designated amount of words written, you get a new kitten image. I have to say, it's quite humorous!

750words.com
A way to turn your writing into a game. You get points for writing 750 words daily and even more for writing consecutive days. Compare points with others, get badges and motivate other writers.

Rescue Time - www.rescuetime.com

Keeps track of your time spent on the computer. Helps you become more productive. Alerts you when you spend a certain amount of time on an activity, blocks distracting websites, etc.

Edit Minion - www.editminion.com

A robotic copy editor which checks weak words, "said," passive voice, cliches and more.

Word Hippo - www.wordhippo.com  One place to stop for help with synonyms, antonyms, and such. I like it because it goes beyond a normal thesaurus. It helps with name meanings, words ending with certain letters, 4-letter words, 5-letter words, tranlations, rhymes. You name it! 

Omniwriter - www.omniwriter.com

Conquer the intimidation of the white screen! Keep focused and relaxed while writing by downloading this program. Creates a relaxing atmosphere for writing with backgrounds and zen-like music.

Unstuck - http://107.22.217.125/index.htm

Have a writing challenge? Go to unstuck to help you make a decision. Say goodbye to writer's block!

Go try some out! Have Fun! :) Melinda

Reading romance has always been at the top of Melinda Dozier’s favorite past times. After hectic days of teaching English to middle school students, Melinda finds time to write and read in the evenings. She lives in Guatemala, Central America with her husband, three boys and German Shepard. She enjoys being the queen of her household and dreams of being pampered fully by her boys once they are grown. Melinda loves reality t.v., traveling, blogging and playing Words With Friends. 

Melinda is a contributing author of the Writer's Words of Wisdom #WWoW! Blog. She's also a contemporary romance author for Crimson Romance and Swoon Romance. You can find more information at www.melindadozier.com.

One Author's Experience with @Pinterest

I’m not the most knowledgeable when it comes to social media but I will try my darnedest. This month I’m going to talk about Pinterest as a novice. I have found it to be a lot of fun. I don’t let it take up too much of my time and I do try to use it to my advantage.

First know that Pinterest can suck you in. My husband has joined and the man spends hours looking at pictures and re-pinning them. As an author, most of us don’t have time for that, but I limit my time by only collecting things I feel represents me as a writer.

When you first start with Pinterest they automatically set you up with generic boards. You can use them or rename them, then create more as you develop your page. I chose the latter as I worked on my page because most of the ones they gave me didn’t work for what I wanted to pin.

Boards: I have a lot of them. Some have nothing to do with writing and a few are a stretch but they work and do bring followers. I recommend setting up one for your releases. I have my covers there with a link to a place where anyone can buy them. I also have one for my blogs. Each time I post a blog I pin a writing related picture and give my followers the link. I also have a board called writing tools. Pins on writing, grammar, anything I feel helps a writer. I have one for my characters, images of what they might look like, ideas for clothing in the future. I have one on wolves because I have a shape-shifter in my series. I have a fantasy one because I feel that falls into my realm of writing. I have one for the cosmos because I write SF/Futuristic Erotic Romance. The rest are just fun, recipes, cat and dog pictures – that kind of thing. These boards still work because it brings in followers who will see my posts on my books and blogs.

Pins: The more people you follow the more pins show up on your feed. The pins there are images you can re-pin to your board that will go across the feeds of anyone following you. There are so many things you can use these pins for. If you find pins from someone you can also follow those pins to their board and then see all the other pins they have. Looking around will also allow you to see how other authors have their boards set up. It might give you some great ideas.

I know writers who have a board for clothing and shoes their characters might wear. Locations where their stories take place. Pets their characters might have. Jobs they might hold. There is a lot you can do with Pinterest. All you really need is a good imagination and what author doesn’t have that?

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.

#MFRWorg Monthly Quote - Feburary 2014

“But if they all tell you it is bad and you still think in your soul that what you wrote was good—if you find that you still believe what you wrote and feel it and it is true to you, then you must stand by it. And it might help to think of Beethoven who was stone deaf, and people said he made all those discords in his music because he could not hear correctly. But Beethoven knew that he intended those discords. He stood by them against the whole world.”
-Brenda Ueland



Emerald
Emerald is an erotic fiction author whose short stories have been featured in anthologies published by Cleis Press, Mischief, and Logical-Lust. She serves as an assistant newsletter editor and Facebook group moderator for Marketing for Romance Writers (MFRW), and she selects and posts the monthly inspirational quote on the MFRW Marketing Blog. Find out more about her at her website, The Green Light District.

Just Pin It! #MFRWauthors Use @Pinterest for Book Promotion

Let's talk about Pinterest.

It's not just for fun. It can be another FREE social networking tool for authors. MFRW grabbed onto this tool and has successfully been sharing pins with potential readers for awhile now. We provide MFRW authors the chance to be highlighted on our boards but wouldn't it be even better to have your own Pinterest account?

This post is intended to walk you through the process of getting started. Try it. Then leave a comment and tell us how you did. Or if you already have a Pinterest account, comment and share how you use it.

Start with the basics... go to www.pinterest.com.

1. Open an account and set up your profile (being sure to add your links). Your profile will look similar to twitter - you have a limited amount of space to identify yourself so be mindful of your words. BONUS: You can even use your facebook account to set up your account and make it even simpler!

2. Install the PIN IT button onto your browser toolbar. This little button makes it a one-step process to put your pins onto boards while you're on-line. To install it, click the + button on the top of the pinterest screen, then click on Pin It button and it will take you through the process.

That's it for set up and now you're ready!

It's that easy? Yes, yes it is.

Now you get to have some fun but we're going to call it work so... time to get to work!

3. Create some Boards.

Just CLICK on the + button along the top again. Choose Create a Board. Name it. Categorize it. CLICK Create Board. Some good choices are things that interest you (check mine out for ideas) and that can tell readers more about you as an author and as a person. NOTE that you can always add more boards at any time. Some ideas include a Books Board, Guest Post Board, Features Board and a Review Board. You can even create a board for each of your books or series, published or WIPs. Add a board for important quotes and potential character ideas.

4. Add Pins.

There are lots of ways to do this. First, you can use that same + button along the top to add pins from the web or to upload some from your computer. You can use your Pin It button to add any photos from any website. You can also browse the general Pinterest site by clicking on the word Pinterest in the top center of the screen, browse and re-pin. Put some fun pins on your boards - don't worry right away about perfection.

Be cautious of copyright in regards to photos you pin! It's best to use photos you own or, if not, be sure the original source is listed in the pin's description. You can verify the source link is there by clicking on the pin and viewing the pin's details. 

Pinning Your Books?

This is where you definitely want to use the Pin It button. By pinning from a buy link -i.e. pin your book from Amazon- when others click on it, they'll be linked automatically to a place to purchase your book. If the pin came directly from a particular site, clicking the pin once it's opened will take you to the place from where it was pinned.

How does this help your business?

You will advertise to a wider audience. People who may not have otherwise find you will see you here. Check out this pin with more information on the benefits of Pinterest.

AUTHORS who use Pinterest well (& each a bit differently):

Karen Cote   |   Lisa Carlisle   |   Rayne Hall   |   Vicki Batman   |  Kayelle Allen   |    Cara Bristol

Want to do just enough? Here's a Checklist for the BASICS:

1. Pin all your blog posts and books with links back to your blog or purchase location.

2. Click that little "tweet" button every time you add an important pin. These pins will get shared -through a vast network- and should bring people back to you.

3. Include the link to your Pinterest Profile wherever you include all other social networking links. It's another outlet for you to get recognition.

Here's a Unique Board -Writer's Resources- with lots of good pins for authors. You can create engaging boards like this too.

So, what are you waiting for? Pin It!

And Keep Writing!

Paloma
Paloma Beck is a Romance Author living a life of contradiction... she's a happily married carpooling mom writing erotic romance. It's almost naughty! Paloma writes full-time and has three series in the works with others on the fringes. Her books span both the contemporary and paranormal romance genres.

CONNECT WITH PALOMA ON PINTEREST.

Newbie's World: Most Efficient & Most Effective Author Marketing

A Newbie's World with Erin...

What is the best use of my marketing time and will bring me the most sales?

Starting out as a new author, I had little idea how much time I would be expected to devote to marketing my book. And it all seemed overwhelming: Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, Pinterest, blog posts… But do any of these really generate new sales? It is my belief, backed up by some marketing experts, that most of our social media is merely an avenue for fans to find authors they already like and admire, not necessarily a place to generate new sales[i].

Social media is all about engagement, i.e. after that fan/reader has already bought your product, then they will want to know more about you and your other works. But not necessarily before. If you have to go looking for followers or likes, or use give-aways to get more people there, then you are probably not generating sales via social media. Yet.  

So what will bring a reader to you? REVIEWS. 

Reviews help Amazon to promote your book for you. I read somewhere (though of course I can no longer find the source!) that after 30 reviews, Amazon starts to list your book in its recommendations.  In addition, the more reviews, the more likely a potential reader is to buy your book. Think about it – we want a trusted source – other consumers – to tell us that this book is great!

So how do you get them? Unfortunately, it involves EFFORT.

There is no easy way to get more reviews. Here are the ones I have discovered:

1.  Friends and family: your network is always your best shot. Ask people who you know have read your books in a personalized email (not a mass email), and explain why reviews are important to you. I also include some tips – ask them to talk about why they liked a specific character, setting, or theme in your book.

2. Review groups: reviewing other authors’ books for a review in turn. These should never be reciprocal reviews, however, as Amazon frowns on this practice. And, it might give a bit of dishonesty to your review. MFRW often offers up new review groups starting up.

3. Bloggers: check out bloggers who review your type of books. Simply Google your genre and reviews and you should get a bunch. Also try the same search on Facebook. Personally, I have not had as much luck with bloggers, however one good trick is to include a few pieces of personal information on the specific blogger in your request. For instance, “I read your review on…and thought you might be interested in my novel___ because of its themes of ____.” Also be sure to always find and use the blogger’s name and some other piece of information about them (likes, personal preferences, hometown, whatever).

4. Regular people: search on Amazon for books like yours, and then find reviews that don’t seem to be from a friend or family member. If the reviewer has an email address listed, send them an email and ask if they would be interested in your book in return for a review. No obligation.

5. If possible, in your next release, include a note to your readers about how much you appreciate their feedback (listing all of your contact information), and then make a request for reviews. Note how important they are for you.

---

[i] recent Verso survey estimated that barely 12% of books are discovered from social networks whereas 50% are passed on via personal recommendations. (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/06/become-an-ebook-superstar)

Sources:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/RNCWTLEMV71VM  (great information here!!)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/352865-you-want-your-book-tagged-on-amazon

http://thefutureofpublishing.com/2012/04/what-have-we-learned-about-amazon-book-reviews/

Think Twitter is better for generating sales? Leave your thoughts!

Erin
Erin writes paranormal romances as Erin Moore and has only just begun to learn all about marketing them! She contributes to the MFRW Marketing Blog with her monthly column, A Newbie's World.

She is usually found on Twitter, but may soon be on an Amazon binge, so look out! She manages two monsters and one unruly husband in Atlanta, main-lining chocolate and tea. Look her up on www.AuthorErinMoore.com or, of course, on Twitter: @AuthorErinMoore.