James Aura Music Writing Prompts on Twitter and Picture Prompts on Instagram

James Aura Music Writing Prompts on Twitter and Picture Prompts on Instagram

Did you know there are free many writing prompts on social media? This is a recommendation for one such writer who shares music lyrics as food for thought. 

James Aura is an author of historical and environmental mysteries, climate fiction, and SciFi. I reviewed two of his books on Carolyn Howard-Johnson's The New Book Review site. His writing includes music lyrics and links to soundtracks to accompany the text. A "novel" approach! 

When Saigon Surrendered: A Kentucky Mystery by James Aura, Book Review
and
The Cumberland Killers: A Kentucky Mystery (Kentucky Mysteries Book 2) Book Review

So, this month I posted picture-only writing prompts for the 15th of the month, my regular post. I realized that Aura had text prompts on Twitter and so that inspired this post. Here are some samples of his tweets. You may be familiar with these songs or find them to be an inspiration. 

"No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun . . ."

"And you run, you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking . . . "

"Music is my sanctuary

Music is my blanket . . ."

Aura writes for Medium, is on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other sites as well. He shares images on Instagram that could be used for picture prompts, in my opinion. He kindly shared several of his own photos for The Cumberland Killers post I wrote. 

If you like music and writing prompts, find @james_aura on Twitter. Of course, #writingprompt will bring up all sorts of links and ideas. 

Thank you for reading, Carolyn (the other Carolyn

BS Elementary Education, MS Gifted Education, and MA K-12 Curriculum and Instruction

The prompts are on Carolyn Howard-Johnson's Sharing with Writers and Readers Blog and post the 15th of each month. 

Adding Color Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Camping Writing Prompts  post and free instant download

Comedy Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Cyber Crime Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Fantasy Writing Prompts post and free instant download

February Days Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Halloween and October Writing Prompts  post and free instant download

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts  post and free instant download

January Any Year Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Magical and Magical Realism Writing Prompts post and free instant download

March Days Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Motherhood and May Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Music Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Mystery and Thriller Writing Prompts post and free instant download

November and Fall Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Pandemic People Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Royals, Monarchs, Kings, and Queens Prompts post and free instant download

Social Media Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Summer Evenings Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Road Trip Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Traveling Abroad Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Twitter Writing Prompts  post and free instant download

Western Romance Picture Only Writing Prompts post and free instant download

Women Theme Writing Prompts post and free instant download

What if? Writing Prompts post and free instant download

MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER Howard-Johnson is the multi award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers including the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter (http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromoIII), now offered in its third edition by Modern History Press. Carolyn's latest is in the #HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers is How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. She has two booklets in the #HowToDoItFrugally Series, both in their second editions from Modern History Press. Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers (http://bit.ly/LastMinuteEditsII) and The Great First Impression Book Proposal (http://bit.ly/BookProposalsII) are career boosters in mini doses and both make ideal thank you gifts for authors. The one on writing book proposals is also available as an Audio Book. The Frugal Editor (http://bit.ly/FrugalEditor), now in its second edition, is the winningest book in the series. Carolyn also has three frugal books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it helps them convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques (http://bit.ly/RetailersGuide). In addition to this blog, Carolyn helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs all things editing--grammar, formatting and more--at The Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor (http://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com). Learn more and follow for news on her new releases direct from Amazon at http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile.

A Little Story: Or Proof that Reviews are Forever?

A Marketing Story to Inspire You to Renewed Efforts

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers

I don’t think any author—or anyone with a profession or career or business—needs to be reminded that marketing is important. I sense, though, that they need a little inspiration now and then to convince them to keep at it or to utilize its magic to make whatever they are 

passionate about work better. Maybe to make it more fun. So here is a little story that recently took my breath away, convinced me anew that the net works. That Twitter works. That reviews work. And that even when we don’t see their charms on a daily basis, they (and their marketing sisters) are out there doing what they are supposed to do and doing it without asking us to recognize them, praise them, or pat them on their backs! 

You see, I recently found a review floating around the Twitter platform at least a decade after it had been written,  a review I never knew existed. It was written by Author Anthony James Barnett (twitter moniker @ajbarnett) who is a fellow tweeter. Years ago he found me there, read my multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter (First Edition!) and then reviewed it on his blog (http://bit.ly/irpv3) --all unbeknownst to me. I found it more than a decade later and it has haunted me because it illustrates so concisely most everything I have been trying to help authors do with my consulting, coaching, teaching, and my series of books. It proves the value of reviews (and, coincidentally the need for the third book in my HowToDoItFrugally Series, How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career  which—I suspect—Author Barnett may not even know exists!)  

Every author needs to plumb reviews to launch books and to give their older books a new life—maybe make them into classics! I love that Author Barnett is still out there helping me help authors do that! I relished it. Tweeted about it and then, gasp! …. ! I realized that my marketing and blogging benefactor may no longer be alive. 

I left Barnett a comment on his blog and it is awaiting acceptance—with no luck.  I’ve surfed the web for his name and the title of his book a bit. Now it seems I need help finding him. That’s my first choice. But if that can’t be done, I can use the web and marketing tools to keep the beautiful little secret gift he gave me years ago alive. And maybe to inspire other authors! 

MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER

 Howard-Johnson is the multi award-wining author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally

Series of books for writers including the award-winning second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor. Her latest is in the series is How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. Learn more on her Amazon profile page, http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile. Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers is one of her booklets--perfect for inexpensive gift giving--and, another booklet, The Great First Impression Book Proposal helps writers who want to be traditionally published. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it will help them convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques (http://bit.ly/RetailersGuide). In addition to this blog, she helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs at all things editing--grammar, formatting and more--at The Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor (http://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com)

Little Online Tool; Easy Online Tool; Free Online Tool; Big Results

Judging from questions I get in my e-mail box, many people don’t understand hashtags or are just plain annoyed by them.

 Yep, they get over used. They can become part of an understandable sentence but shouldn’t intrude or take over. Aside from being irritating, though, they can be a real promotion plus because of a relatively new Web site, www.Twubs.com! If there are any keywords that would point to some of your own branding, you can use www.Twubs.com to “own” them. There you will get a page of your own including an opportunity to put your banner on the page, sort of like making a profile page. It's also a little like registering your hashtag or copyrighting your hashtag!. And it’s free.

So far some of mine look like this: #SharingwithWriters (which collected tweets I post about my #SharingwithWritings newsletter and this blog and the broader concept of when I want to share with writers). Another is #CarolynHowardJohnson (my name), #TheFrugalBookPromoter (one of my books in my HowToDoItFrugally series of books that connotes a lot of what I do), #TheFrugalEditor (for posts resourcing this second book in that same series).  

I also have some registered hashtags that are more general like #GreatBookReviews and #MovieReviews. I use the latter most often, I think, because I try to do 140 character Twitter reviews that include things we writers can learn from the particular movie I’m reviewing--and I see most movies that come out including indies.

Mindy Philips Lawrence, who does the regular “Itty Bitty” column for my #SharingwithWriters newsletter could get an #IttyBitty hashtag and then include my @FrugalBookPromo in the tweets she does about her column to prompt me to retweet to my 20,000 plus followers. You can do the same thing!  

Once a hashtag is registered, this site (Twubs.com) picks up anyone who uses your registered hashtag and puts it in the stream on that page!  There are tons of ways you can network with the info that gets collected on your Twubs page, too. Neat, huh? 

And anyone can use them in their tweets and elsewhere to expand the exposure of your social networking efforts. 

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers including The Frugal Book Promoter (http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo) and The Frugal Editor (http://bit.ly/FrugalEditor).  Learn more about all her books from nonfiction on retailing to poetry at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.  

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Relatively New Amazon/Twitter Benefits for All Authors and Their Books

You have probably noticed that I encourage authors--traditionally published and self-published authors-- to use all the benefits Amazon offers them—even if you’re not much of an Amazon fan. That includes helping one another out (and encouraging fellow writers and friends) to add your book to their Wish Lists. Why? Because it helps your exposure and your algorithms on Amazon.com, that’s why. Here’s a recent message I gleaned from a recent e-mail direct from Amazon about the new Twitter/Amazon partnership that will help you with that:

Here's how to let Twitter Make Using Amazon Wish List Easy

To Add to your wish list directly from Twitter:

 

1. Find a tweet containing an Amazon product link
2. Hit the reply butoone with and include an Amazon hashtag like this: #AmazonWishList
3. The item gets added to you Amazon Wish List and you can go back and shop later—easily. No forgetting. No extra steps.

Of course, you can also do this when you’re browsing Amazon, too. Just go to any buypage on Amazon and click on the oval Wish List button located on the right of every buy page. How about trying it with one of mine at http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo. Doing so benefits you, too: Your own icon may appear at the top of those same buy pages—with links to YOUR page or Amazon profile! One click benefits all.

 

PS: Kindle Unlimited is relatively new, too. This new Amazon feature is another reason I hang in there with Kindle Select, even if it means giving Amazon an exclusive on my e-books (not my paperbacks!). Their Kindle Unlimited is now also available on Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom and Ireland), too.  They say these customers "will be able to read as many books as they want from a library of over 650,000 titles [when they are]  subscribed to Kindle Unlimited. All books enrolled in KDP Select with publishing rights in the United Kingdom will be automatically included in Kindle Unlimited on Amazon.co.uk.

"Just so you know, you earn a share of the KDP Select global fund each time a customer accesses your book from Kindle Unlimited and reads more than 10% of the book they order—about the length of reading the free sample available in Kindle books—as opposed to a payout when the book is simply downloaded."

I say, this feature exposes your book to a whole new audience of book lovers willing to pay a monthly fee to access e-books! (-: and you still get your royalty--or more.  

----- Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

Twubs New Free Tool to Give Authors More Exposure

Twubs.com is an online tool I know most authors aren't using. The idea is to put your dibs on hashtags you use frequently to promote. 

I just registered three hashtags that I use for my Twitter promotions with them. The idea may sound insignificant but you get a page of your own where you can describe your book, include a cover or headshot, etc. And we all know that kind of thing helps with exposure and search engine optimization.

Using Twubs is a little like registering your own trademarks. If you want a test run, check out the three I just registered

http://twubs.com/TheFrugalEditor/

http://twubs.com/TheFrugalBookPromoter/

http://twubs.com/MovieReviews/info (where I do mini reviews that often point out writing-related techniques).

While you’re at Twubs, please like and tweet. You can also find other tweeters to follow on Twitter, tweeters who cover topics similar to yours.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

Twitter Competes with Apps That Helped Make It What It Is

You can now schedule your Twitter posts in advance to make marketing your books easier. The rollout came just ahead of a very public offering of Twitter’s stock—possibly to remind folks that Twitter is determined to make it easier for advertisers to use its platform.

I fear many fellow authors will give up using sites like Social Oomph that allowed us to do the same thing. I used Social Oomph (there are many other similar sites) to space tweets with quotes and tips from my Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) and my Frugal Editor (http://budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor) about a month apart. It’s also useful to announce and space favorite posts on this blog—always selecting the ones most needed by authors.

I can't help but wonder if Twitter can duplicate some of these applications that have been years in the making and years in the refining. The apparent lack of gratitude does bother me. Let me know what you think of Twitter's new feature. And what you think of its loyalty quotient. Is it really true that all is fair in love, war, and business? Should it be? 

  

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

I run regular little "In the News" briefs in my SharingwithWriters newsletter when I see something in my reading that I think will be important for my subscribers. I sometimes duplicate that information on this blog when I can see that the new may be important to followers here, too.  Here is one I thought you should see:

In the News:  The LA Times reports that Facebook is working on a hashtag feature (you know, those little tic-tac-toe symbols) that will help folks tease out the wheatberries from the chaff in your updates. So instead of having to watch for my #FrugalBookPromoTips or scroll down until you find them, you’ll be able to call them up in an instant. And, even better, when you feed your tweets to Facebook, those hashtags in them won’t be just so much clutter.

By the way, you can subscribe to my newsletter and get a free e-copy of my Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers by going to http://howtodoitfrugally.com. The subscription form is in the upper right corner of almost every page.  And, yessss! Find me on Facebook at http://facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Cash Mobs, Promotion, and Your Book

There's something new on the online horizon. So far it's being used effectively by small retailers, but I see no reason why it couldn't also be used by authors to sell books, or manufacturers to sell particular products and, though so far it has been a flashmob phenomenon, why couldn't it be adapted to online fan pages?

What is it?

It's called cash mobbing, but checks and credit cards are accepted.

It was started by buy-local advocates in the retailing industry. It uses any kind of media including the Web and traditional media to get loyal folks to support a local business on a specific day, sometimes at a specific time. They are encouraged to come spend a minimal amount of money out of loyalty (with, perhaps, a little self interest stirred into the mix), and people do. They come. They come to be supportive, to feel part of the crowd, because it's an event, because it's a fad.

Time magazine reports it was started in 2011 by Chris Smith who read that Groupon methods of increasing business using mass discounts might backfire because retailers or service providers couldn't sustain the discounts and remain profitable. And he liked the term "cash mob." The idea was to get people interested and he did. Time reporter Katy Steinmetz says, "100 of Smith's fellow citizens [in Buffalo, NY] each spent around $10 at a wine shop with local media in tow. He's been hosting cash mobs ever since." 

Then Andrew Samtoy tried it in Cleveland. And he is using @Cashmobs moniker on Twitter to promote these events. He is also incorporated as Cash Mobs, Inc. You could use his service—or do it on your own, but do think of your own name. Samtoy apparently has a stranglehold on "Cashmobs."  Yours could be the name of your book or store plus the word "mobs." Of course, if you go the do-it-yourself route,you'd need do your own promotion (which you'd probably need to do some of in any case!)

Do use the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) to give you tons of ideas of how to attract the crowds. Let's combine a couple of mottoes. "Just Do It and They Will Come."

Online or in person.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Q&A a la Ann Landers


Say That Again! Why does Twitter Work? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUESTON:

Fran Silverman asked me to respond to Twitter questions from a journalist for CarolRoth.com.

Fran is an author/on-line publicist and radio host. She has placed her 180 clients on hundreds of radio shows and is author of sixteen e-books full of resources that authors need to know before contacting talk radio show hosts. The descriptions and prices are at http://www.talkradioadvocate.com/ .

ANSWER:

Used right, Twitter can:
1. drive huge amounts of traffic to your blog and Web site. It's a matter of reaching your Twitter followers but also of interconnecting Twitter with your other social networks.

2. get you radio and other gigs. It's a matter of networking.

3. help you make direct-sales pitches because they are not something frowned upon on Twitter as they are at other social networks. (Though there are some techniques for keeping these kinds of tweets friendly and caring.)

BTW, when it's used correctly, Twitter is a great learning/information gathering experience. You may want to check out Frugal and Focused Tweeting (www.budurl.com/Tweeting4Retailers ) . It's written for retailers, but authors are also retailers. We sell books. And the essentials are the same. To make the transition, one must just substitute “author” for “retailer” as one reads.

----- Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Amazon's VERY Useful "Like" Button!

Sometimes an item in my SharingwithWriters newsletter bears repeating in my blog. Everyone loves my assortment of tips but this one is about a new and very useful feature from Amazon--one I don't want you to miss!

Tip:  Did you know Amazon now has “Like” buttons on your book’s sales page? They are similar to Facebook’s like buttons. To learn how they work, check my Father's Day chapbook (www.budurl.com/Imagining ) . Click on LIKE. You'll find it in the segment near the book title. Once you click on it, Twitter and Facebook buttons will show up, too!

BTW, when you use tweet and retweet buttons, adjust the wording on the tweets to appeal to your audience.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Books' Amazon Sales Pages Can Now Be "Liked" on Facebook

Did you know Amazon now has Facebook “Like” buttons on your book’s sales page? Check my Valentine chapbook (with Magdalena Ball)  at  http://t.co/eolGaNu . 

To get share buttons for FB and Twitter, too, click on the "Like" button. They're new, too. 

When you are sharing, you can adjust the wording on the tweets to fit your audience.

Think how we readers and authors can help one another with this feature!  And so easily!

You'll find tips like this in my SharingwithWriters newsletter. Just send me an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and I'll personally sign you up.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Sharing with You Best Tips from SharingwithWriters Newsletter

I thought I'd try something new. This is a "best tips" feature to appear regularly right after I publish my newsletter. Here it is:

Jo Linsdell, the writing and marketing whiz who will be a guest speaker at the Eve Caram’s and my Roman Retreat (www.budurl.com/RomanRetreat) , has her latest Tweet repeated in her e-mail signature.  Automatically! Wow, what a way to keep one’s tweets focused! (-: She uses Wise Stamp Signature (http://www.wisestamp.com/email-ie ) and you can see from a sample of her signature below how that works for her:
Jo Linsdell Feliciani
jo_bins@yahoo.com
http://www.jolinsdell.com/
Skype: Jo Linsdell-Feliciani

My latest Tweet jolinsdell: RT @pleasermrt: Time is just nature's way to keep everything from happening at once.

--- @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now

PS: To receive the SharingwithWriters newsletter send an e-mail to hojonews@aol.com. Be sure to put SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Advanced Twitter App for Those Who Want To Tweet Like Marketing Work Horses

Aggie Villaneuva is always generous with her time. The other day she answered one of my questions about the pro plan she has with SocialOoomph.com. I was curious why she would pay for a service to mange her Twitter account when that same service does a very fine job for me at its freebie level. I got such a fully thought-out answer (and convincing!), I thought I'd ask her to share it with my subscribers.


By Aggie Villaneuva


Marketing is as vital to writers as writing the book, but it can't take over our work days. For this reason, most of the professionals I know use at least the free version of SocialOomph. Originally it was called TweetLater because it was an advanced aggregate program for twitter only. They have long since evolved into a cockpit for posting and managing all your social media and more.

With the free version you can schedule your tweets, save and reuse tweet drafts for later use, set up automatic direct messages. You can even extend your twitter profile so that the one link you’re allowed in twitter profile leads to a whole page with photos, text, html, links and more.

You can also use their dld.bz URL shortening to track your clicks and get all kinds of useful and insightful statistics, auto follow/unfollow, vet new followers, view @mentions & retweets and much more.

There are a number of free aggregate type programs that do nearly as much as SocialOomph, (not all) but not nearly as seamlessly. And because I’m serious about the necessity of marketing, I upgraded to the professional version as soon as they offered it.

Here's what I get with those Additional Features in the Professional Upgrade for $29.97/mo:

(Note: Don’t bother with what follows unless you are serious about your social media marketing)

Ping.fm Integration

This alone changes our social media marketing life. Ping.fm is my core social media aggregate or program that composites them all from a central service, but Ping only brings all my social media sites together, it offers none of the advances functions.

SocialOomph integrates seamlessly with Ping so that every tweet scheduled to post shows up in each and every social site I’ve already added to our Ping account, which is dozens. Some other aggregates besides SocialOomph offer Ping integration also, but I have found few, if any, that do everything else the Professional upgrade to SocialOomph does, and certainly not as inexpensively.

Recurring updates

This, and Ping integration, are the main features for which I upgraded to Professional. I have dozens of these recurring updates: each holds up to 100 posts. Some of my recurring updates are for general writing tips, some for general photography tips, a separate one for each of my promotional clients’ launches, social media education, contests, news about Visual Arts Junction, news about Promotion á la Carte and Buzz Club, etc. (Editor's Note: See the biograpy for valuable links to these resources.)

Each of these updates are randomly posted, one every few days. You can schedule the recurrences as often as you wish. I include so many different posts there are seldom repeats, unless I purposely want something to repeat. This keeps me out of trouble with twitter about repeating tweets.

I add to the informational posts almost daily. When I do that, I set the exact time of day, how many times I want it to cycle. I can also pause it if I want to reuse it later. You can also save tweets as drafts to save tons of time never having to retype your posts.

Using this function I can offer posts that teach literally books worth of information to friends and followers. Just last month a man on Facebook wrote to tell me how much he’d learned from the info I post, and proclaimed himself a life-long follower. I often receive thank yous from followers for all the free education I provide.

I could go without writing one new tweet for four months and still be posting five to ten important and time-sensitive tweets per day that seldom repeated. Of course I sprinkle in recurring updates that talk about my own books, photography and promotion business. But you can see the value and power of this function, especially when you link it with your Ping.fm account.

Drip Feed to Your Social Accounts

Visualize a reservoir (or several) each holding all your posts about a certain time-sensitive subject. You want these to drip feed one by one to the social accounts you choose, or all of them, at times you specify. They don’t recur, as with the recurring updates above. Once the reservoir is empty the tweets stop.

Facebook Features for Your Profile and/or (formerly Fan) Pages

Sometimes you need to schedule status updates differently for Facebook or Facebook Pages than for twitter. There are several functions available. You can schedule to post to your social network Profile or your Pages, one of your Pages or all plus your Profiles. This is a great function as it gives such flexible choices.

When you combine this feature with the Ping integration that posts to all your dozens of sites including LinkedIn you can say goodbye to all your other apps. Don't worry about forgetting to apply those site-hash tags and ending up with duplicate after duplicate on your various social media. SocialOomph takes care of the fuss all from one dashboard.

Schedule & Publish Blog Post & Pages

This is a powerful feature. Add your own blog’s posts right from the dashboard, and add unlimited number of blogs. As long as your blog has one of the following remote publishing APIs, you can schedule posts for it: Tumblr, Posterous, WordPress API (wordpress.com and self-hosted), metaWeblogAPI, Movable Type API, Blogger API, and Atom API.

Find Friends in Your Niche & Auto Add to twitter Lists

What I like here is that the Friend Finder is about quality not quantity. Keyword searches are great for following friends whose interests are the same as yours. Attach certain keywords to one of your twitter lists and when you follow one of the those tweeters they will automatically be added to that list. These reports can be filtered to several criteria, such as following-to-follower ratio, and ignoring tweeter profiles that contain certain words.

You may also apply the decisions of other tweeters by ignoring all accounts flagged as spam or that have been blocked by fellow SocialOomph users. The report is sent to you with all these parameters applied. You just decide which of the hand-picked friends you want to add to your twitter list.

Define Channels

Choose a list of favorite friends, or those in the same business, and create your own twitter channel. It's like your own tweet timeline, except a channel contains only the tweets from those users that you include in the channel. You can define an unlimited number of channels. You don't even have to follow someone to include that person in a channel.

Followers With Clout

This is a good tool for business, but not just to list those most important. Do you know which of your followers have the largest reach in terms of the number of people who follow them? That is exactly what the follower clout list tells you. It shows you the fifty most influential people who are following you, judged by the number of people who are following them. They are already following you, so they will probably appreciate it if you reached out to build a better relationship with them.

Direct Message Broadcast

You can send and schedule a direct message to every one of your followers, but only your StatusNet followers. I listed this because I’m hoping that soon SocialOomph will include this for our twitter followers too.

And Much More, Such As…

Manage direct messages with auto spam control you define yourself, forward DMs to others, manage all your accounts in TweetCockpit, which has numerous controls, mute annoying tweeters (this avoids reporting them or blocking and putting their account in danger of cancellation by Twitter, delegateing account management to your assistant, scheduling replies and DMs to their own time zones, bulk uploading your posts, Syncing friends and followers list, wipeing your friends list and start anew, and running your own bots. And I still haven’t listed all the functions.

I’ve seen most of SocialOomp’s functions offered elsewhere but always in separate programs. Who wants to log in to a dozen programs daily when you can log in to one? SocialOomph is the only site to shave your marketing time so dramatically by giving all this to you in one place.

I hate automation for automation’s sake, or the sake of quantity vs. quality. But this is automation that doesn't seem automated. When I am offered a means to communicate to my social media friends on a very personal level within seamless automation, I’m a fan.

Seriously, if you’re serious about you’re writing business, at least check out SocialOomph Professional upgrade.


Please be advised that I so highly recommend this program I have become an affiliate of SocialOoomph, but this is by no means why I recommend it. I recommend it because I know it can save time and help authors market better.


Guest Blogger's Biography
Aggie Villanueva is bestselling author, author publicist, blogger, and critically acclaimed photographic artist represented by galleries nationwide, including Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. She was a published author at Thomas Nelson before she was 30, and founded local the Mid-America Fellowship of Christian Writers three–day conference. Aggie founded Visual Arts Junction blog February 2009 and by the end of the same year it was voted #5 at Preditors & Editors in the category “Writers’ Resource, Information & News Source” for 2009. To further help authors she launched the VAJ Buzz Club – a club where members combine their individual marketing power to create the ultimate BUZZ. Authors clamored for the options to purchase additional promotional services á la carte (as needed) so Aggie added Promotion á la Carte . Contact Villanueva at myaggie2@gmail.com.

Because so many new authors and tweeters seem confused by Twitter, I tried to keep my book Frugal and Focused Tweeting simple. So, advanced information like this isn't in that book. If you are ready for this kind automation, please print this post by Aggie and put a copy in the book. Hey! Even if you're not ready for it, you may be glad you have c copy tucked away in your book when the time comes!

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Triple Win: Longridge Writers Group, Twitter, and My Newsletter! (-:

Short and Sweet:

Twitter. It's here with a vengeance. Many love, love, love it. Some just don't get it. The Longridge Writers Group asked me to bring some of the Twitter tips in my newsletter together for writers. And here it is.

Actually this is a triple win. You'll want to know more about Long Ridge Writers Group
for classes, forums and more.

And you'll want to subscribe to my Sharing with Writers newsletter where you'll get everything from Twitter tips to writing and promoting opportunities to a little poetry corner. Send an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line to HoJoNews@aol.com.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about it:

Free Online Writers Conference Open to All

As you know, I love to pass along frugal opportunities for writers to learn more about their craft and about promotion. I am doubly pleased to let you know about this absolutely free opportunity because I'll be conducting two seminars. Do know that all are writers are welcome. I don't usually publish media releases intact, but it's a good way to be sure that you get all the information you need. So here it is:


MEDIA RELEASE

CONTACT:
Karina Fabian Phone: (805) 285-0108, karina@fabianspace.com
Ann Margaret Lewis Phone: (317) 755-2693 annlewis@joesystems.com

For Immediate Release

Carolyn Howard-Johnson Conducts Seminars at Free Online Conference

World Wide Web--Writers, editors, agents, and other publishing professionals from around the world are gearing up for the third annual Catholic Writers’ Conference Online, featuring veteran presenters like Carolyn Howard-Johnson, multi-award winning novelist, poet and book marketer.

The online conference will run from February 26 to March 5, 2010 and is sponsored by the Catholic Writer’s Guild. It is free and open to writers of all levels who register between October 1, 2009 and February 15, 2010. Writers needn’t be Catholic.

Workshops and live online chats cover the gamut of writing topics from idea generation to marketing a published novel; traditional and self-publishing, article writing and fiction, and much more. In addition, prominent Catholic publishers will hear pitches, giving authors an unprecedented opportunity to chat personally regardless of their ability to travel.

The Catholic conferences draw hundreds of participants and more than scores of editors and writing professionals. Former attendee Maureen Locher, a copy editor and columnist for Mom Writer's Literary Magazine, says, "The Catholic Writers' Conference Online opened a world of possibilities to me... The quality of speakers was excellent and 'excellent' is a word I rarely use. [It was the].single best move I've taken to further my writing!"

The conference features presenters from all aspects of the publishing world. Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally books for writers including The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo ) and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor). She is also an instructor for UCLA Extension Writers' Program.

Carolyn will present on "The Picture-Perfect Query Letter" and "Tweeting for Visibility" on March 1, at 9 am and 10 am respectively.
Early registration is recommended. Although the conference is offered at no charge, donations are accepted; proceeds go toward future conferences. To register or for more information, go to http://www.catholicwritersconference.com.

# # #

Graphics, interviews and further information available upon request.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widge to let them know about it:

Muse Online Conference Twitter Chat--And a Bit of a Nag!

This transcript comes to you with a plea for enrolling for the 2010 Muse Online Writers' Conference in November of 2009 this year. Lea Schizas, guru of the conference was overwhelmed with last-minute requests this year and I'd like to be sure you all have a chance at all the free seminars available. Lea and I founded this conference to help those who can't travel or can't afford or aren't ready for the real live conferences. But all are welcome. So, you get this little after-the-fact freebie to urge you to sign up early! www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com. In fact, put a prompt on your calendar for November 15th.



Full Transcript of Carolyn’s Muse Online Writer's Conference Chat
Tuesday, October 13, 2009


LeaSchizas: Carolyn Howard-Johnson's chat is on right now
carolynhowardjohnson: Good morning my hard-working Lea! And everyone else who has come to Talk Twitter!
Mindy: seatbelt on and ready
carolynhowardjohnson: And, yes, Linda Morelli, our moderator, is here.
LeaSchizas: yep
carolynhowardjohnson: I'll start with a brief into on Linda and some resources so here goes...
LindaM: You’re in Chat Room 1 for “The Frugal Book Promoter Talks Twitter” with Carolyn Howard-Johnson.
LindaM: SHH! I am posting the rules of the chat so please read: Only the moderator and the speaker will change ink color and/or font/bold. Everyone else must keep to the black ink.
LindaM: If you have a question for the speaker please do this: ? and I will put you in the queue. That’s it – the chat will show your name. Once you have placed your ? begin typing your question and be prepared when I call your name. Please do not post your question until I call upon you.
LindaM: Only one question per writer but you are allowed to post a new ? and I'll put you in the queue again. When Carolyn’s done answering your question, she’ll type: NEXT
LindaM: At that point, I will type the name of the next person in the queue for questions.
Please don’t post cross-chat comments, hellos, goodbyes (until the end of the chat), or other items that distract.
LindaM: To copy, hit copy on the document, then put your cursor in this box, then hit "Control V"
carolynhowardjohnson: I love being part of the Muse Online Conference as a co-sponsor and love giving seminars here. Applause here for all that Lea does to put it together. My part is one of creating some buzz and taking credit for nudging her into starting something she'd been thinking about anyway. And applause for Linda Morelli, our moderator, too.
LindaM: Remember, you are one of many people eager to hear the presentation, and staying focused helps us keep on track. Keep the sound effects down to a minimum, please
LindaM: Once the chat is over, please exit to allow the next guest speaker and moderator to begin their workshop. Click on the Red Arrows to exit. A transcript will be posted after the chat, in the Transcripts section of the Forum. Let’s begin…
carolynhowardjohnson: This is Linda's second year helping me with my seminar. She is a romantic suspense and historical romance author--just plain romantic--and you'll find ads for her award-winning books on my Web site along with a whole sections of Resources for Writers: www.HowToDoItFrugally.com . Find her at www.lindamorelli.com
LindaM: Thanks, Carolyn.
LindaM: Carolyn Howard-Johnson has won so many awards, we’d use up the entire chat just listing them. She’s the award-winning author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success.
carolynhowardjohnson: Here are a few resources to get you started with Twitter. "Getting You Past the 'I don't get Twitter" stage: http://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/2009/06/getting-you-past-i-dont-get-twitter.html ....
LindaM: If you don’t own these last two of Carolyn's books, you should. J She is also an Audio Diva at www.tri-studio.com .
LindaM: Carolyn is offering a special surprise during this chat: a free copy of her e-books. One attendee will win a copy of Frugal Editor, one her Frugal Book Promoter and one will win a copy of Carolyn’s Amazon short, “The Great First Impression Book Proposal." We'll break mid-way through the chat to announce the winners. If you win, please post your name and email after you’re announced so I have that information for Carolyn.
carolynhowardjohnson: Onlinemarketing guru Dana Lynn Smith's guest post on my Sharing with Writers blog: http://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/2009/05/dana-lynn-smith-gives-you-21-things-to.html is another article you'll want to read. Leave a comment, too. It's good publicity for everyone! (-:
LindaM: We’ll pause five minutes before end time for final comments from Carolyn because Lea really wants us outta here on time! : -) Okay, Carolyn, the floor is yours.
carolynhowardjohnson: And information on author and marketing guy Tony Eldridge's book on using Twitter to host contests is another resource for you. The contest is past but his e-book is still available: http://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/2009/08/tony-eldridge-offers-ultimage-book.html...
carolynhowardjohnson: E-mail me at HoJoNews@aol.com to receive a battery of Twitter applications to help you organize Twitter. Please put MUSE TWITTER LIST in the subject line so I can find you among the hundreds of messages I get each day. ...
carolynhowardjohnson: OK. I hope that helps you with some background information. When we're all through with this. Welcome everyone. (-: Love you to death for being here.
carolynhowardjohnson: Linda, do you have anything else to tell the group? next
LindaM: Carolyn's promo materials are great!
carolynhowardjohnson: You make me laugh. (-: next
LindaM: Also, if you have any questions, don't forget to use ?
carolynhowardjohnson: I just love Twitter. But I started because it seemed easy and fast!
carolynhowardjohnson: Just let's start by saying it isn't--not if you're using it to promote and build a writing following. next
carolynhowardjohnson: So now don't you all drop out now I've told you that. (-:
KarenCV: What's the best twitter tool to use - to draw traffic?
carolynhowardjohnson: Karen, I'm going to give you a list of applications after this--you'll e-mail me for them. But for now, know that the important thing is not lots of traffic but targeted traffic...
carolynhowardjohnson: thus you'll want to literally choose people who will be possible readers of your book...
carolynhowardjohnson: and you do that by using tweetbeep.com....
carolynhowardjohnson: It uses keywords. Example. I use it to find people who are talking about book proposals and literary agents and invite them to follow. Writers are one of my audiences...
carolynhowardjohnson: and I use it to find retailers for my other account (for my retailing book) @frugalretailing. next
DonnaMcDine: With tweetbeep if you write for children should you look for parents too? Since they are the ones who initially buy their children's books.
carolynhowardjohnson: Donna, I think you should primarily look for parents. Kids rarely buy books. And grandparents!!! So think of keywords you'd use to find them! (-: next
kidztales: What can book reviewers do to help promote a book?
carolynhowardjohnson: Another thing is that if they don't follow you back, you'll want to unfollow them. I'll answer how to do that in a minute.
carolynhowardjohnson: Kitztales, you want to promote your book on book reviewing?
carolynhowardjohnson: Or a book you've reviewed?
kidztales: No. I'd like to help promote books that I review
carolynhowardjohnson: BTW, an aside. Reviewers---all of you really--can use www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com to promote your books with reviews. The guidelines are in the left column. ..that would work for you, too, Kitztales...
carolynhowardjohnson: So, Kidztales, you'd post your review and then post to twitter with a link to the review and a little teaser. Don't forget the teaser!!! next
Franny_Armstrong: I'm finding it difficult to decide my target audience since it can be so wide ranged. Older people, (my Mom's 73) tend to be uncomfortable with sex scenes. No one under 18 is permitted. Yet with men now reading online, it's possible to include them. What is the drop off point?
carolynhowardjohnson: Fanny, you know Twitter is so huge. I think you might be better to decide on one of those audiences, at least at first. And target to them. Probably the one you'd get the most mileage out of is the group interested in sex scenes. LOL. It has a huge audience! next.
Cathy_Bryant: What are some other ways to promote your book besides Twitter and Facebook and blog tours?
carolynhowardjohnson: Cathy, this workshop is on Twitter, so I want to stay targeted. And the world is full of a number of ways to promote. Can't help but tell you here that my The Frugal Book Promoter (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo ) is full of dozens and dozens of ways. next
Gypsea: What about connections to Wordpress, Facebook and other websites? Is Twitter capable of reflecting links to your other websites? GA
carolynhowardjohnson: One of the applications I like for getting more information out on twitter is one called Twitwall.com. You can put up videos, pix and entire media releases (also called press releases) with it. And do repeats of your tweet with it. next
Kate: If you write in different genres, i.e., dark fiction vs form poetry vs YA ~ do you establish one Twitter or individual accounts to invite readers as well as editors & publishers to your blog(s) or website?
carolynhowardjohnson: Plus twitter is best connecting to other social networks with links. Though you can get Twitter FED to your Facebook. Caution with this. Kate--I'll be with you in a sec...
carolynhowardjohnson: Because if you tweet often enough, you may really bug your Facebook people. Now to Kate..
carolynhowardjohnson: Kate, yes. Keep yourself narrowly focused. Both my twitter accounts are marketing. But one is to retailers @frugalretailing and one is to authors @frugalbookpromo. next
dorcaswalker: I missed part of the beginning chat. How can I retrieve that? sorry
carolynhowardjohnson: Everyone, if you have your questions just ready to hit enter, that will speed things. BTW, I type fast--but inaccurately. Thanks.
LindaM: A transcript will be posted later.
carolynhowardjohnson: Dorcas, I think Linda has that handled the transcript thing. (-: Yay Linda
carolynhowardjohnson: Also, if you want just that part specifically, e-mail me. HoJoNews @ aol.com.
ChrisChat: I've seen & joined @wefollow but honestly not 100% sure what it is...thought I was putting myself in a search group? Twitter help confuses me
carolynhowardjohnson: Yes, some of those applications designed to get followers are WAY to general That's why I advocate using the keyword thing through Tweetbeep. There are probably others, too. There are thousands of applications designed for Twitter. But I think handpicking your audience works best...
carolynhowardjohnson: I find that because my audience is handpicked it works and people who complain that Twitter doesn't work is that their audience is full of people who may not even read--much less be interested in their genre. It's not that I don't have a few SEO guys and gals on my list...
carolynhowardjohnson: I can learn from those SEO guys, too...but I WANT authors. So please recommend @frugalbookpromo! Another lesson here. In 140 characters, you need to ask for what you want--at least on occasion. (-: next
Aleesha_Nash: How do you ask people to follow you while on twitter? without having to follow them first?
Aleesha_Nash: you mentioned inviting people to follow you - GA
carolynhowardjohnson: When you get a tweetbeep, you click. There is a place under their picture (avatar) for you to click to follow. Then you keep your fingers crossed they will follow back...
carolynhowardjohnson: After a little while you want to clean out those who haven't followed. You do that with FriendorFollow.com. There are others, too. Don't be afraid to ask your followers for tweeting info, too. They'll have tons of ideas for you. LOL.
carolynhowardjohnson: Which brings me to asking questions. It's a good way to keep your audience engaged. next
KarenCV: Twitter automatically has me following people - some that I have no interest in following. I do unfollow, but how do I stop the auto follows?
carolynhowardjohnson: Karen, click on their links and unfollow on their pages. next
LindaM: Let's break for just a minute to announce the winners of Carolyn's freebies...
Be sure to send Carolyn your email, or contact her via email
LeaSchizas: congratulations
Gypsea: HOLY COW, Thank YOU!
ChrisChat: TY
gloriaoren: So what you are saying is basically to follow different audiences, for example I follow authors, agents, editors, media sources related to the publishing arena, publishers and...
carolynhowardjohnson: But do be careful about unfollowing people who follow you. It's hard to understand why someone might follow you. Maybe they are into tech but they also have kids who read children's literature, as an example. So, be cautious about who you unfollow
gloriaoren: so on to keep up with what is happening in the field. But my WIP book is on adoption (my life as an adoptee, search and reunion) so I should be going after adoption triad members as well? GA
carolynhowardjohnson: Gloria, yes, basically. But if you write romance, your best audience may not be other authors. Your best audience may be people who just READ or who have mentioned romance. So if I were you, I' d be going after primarily adoption. next
carolynhowardjohnson: Though your point is well taken--to follow publishers, etc-- if you want to keep up with the industry.
Mustanger: I found a number of followers by doing a genre Search right through Twitter. Some follow, some don't. Should I unfollow those I have chosen to follow? unfollow those who don't choose to follow me?
carolynhowardjohnson: Yes, Mustang. (I have a poem on mustangs--the cars (-: , not the horses!) I do unfollow. You don't want your stats to be follower heavy. It looks to others like you aren't popular. (-:; There are millions of other fish to fry. So unfollow and follow others. next
Jo: Is there a way to time your Tweets?
carolynhowardjohnson: Let's talk other ways to engage people, too. We can come back to that afterward. Yes, Jo. Go to www.tweetlater.com (now calleded socialoomph) so you can use it for more than tweets. I love it. Hint: Word each dated tweet differently or Twitter may block it as spam. Next
AbigailBeal: what would you suggest for a writer in several genres under the same Twitter name? how to follow and have people understand? or to follow well?
carolynhowardjohnson: Class! Try to have your questions ready to just hit the enter button when called upon. (-: You can tell I'm also a teacher (UCLA writers' program).
AbigailBeal: sorry mea culpa
carolynhowardjohnson: Abigail, yes. Different accounts for different genres. BTW, setting up a second account was tricky for me. You need a different e-mail address. next
carolynhowardjohnson: Abigrail, a couple are a bit slow, here. Rap you on the knuckles with a ruler. Ha! No problem. (-:
LindaM: Cindy is next.
Cindy: This may be a really stupid question, but what does one use to twitter? A phone? If so, then baically it's phone texting right? If not, can you explain
TameraKraft: I've been using the same account for everything. Should I DM those who follow me and let them know I'm going to have separate accounts? I do children's ministry and write, so I'm thinking I need one account for each.
TameraKraft: Whoops didn't mean to hit enter. Sorry.
carolynhowardjohnson: Cindy, not stupid. No stupid questions. Twitter can be used with a phone--text. But I just use my computer. I'm not phone techy! And yes, I wouldn't mix ministry with unrelated genres. There is a huge Christian community on Twitter. next...
Gypsea: Have any advice on what followers want to read from as yet unpublished authors of romance/paranormal? GA
carolynhowardjohnson: You could use DM to let people know. But you can also use general tweets. When I opened @frugalretailing I just let my @frugalbookpromo people know in general they could follow me there. I was surprised at how many decided to do that, too. Not even sure if they were all retailers. LOL.
carolynhowardjohnson: Gypsea...I think one way to do that is to start giving hints about other paranormal books. Maybe mini reviews. That way people who love paranormal (or some other genre) will be attracted AND you can talk about your own books...next
KarenCV: My question was answered - different email address for 2nd twitter account
Cathy_Bryant: Is there a way to send an automatic thanks to people who follow? What should it say?
carolynhowardjohnson: To get people involved in your dialogue, use retweets...pick up interesting posts from others and retweet them using their twitter address. They are grateful and becomemore avid followers...
carolynhowardjohnson: Yes, Cathy. Be sure to avoid having your autofollow message appear too sales oriented. There is lots of DM spam going around. I think tweetlater.com has a function for that. next
Mustanger: You may have already answered this - the words are all going by so fast - but how many times a day do you tweet for each account? Is once a day enough or should there be more ?
carolynhowardjohnson: A general ruler, mustanger, is to tweet about 10 times a day. The only time I do less than that is when I am on vacation or catching up. Caution here, though. CONTENT, not what we had for breakfast. If you want a personal account, make that separate...
carolynhowardjohnson: truly...I can't believe how many of my marketing-savvy writer friends are tweeting in "goodnight!" That could be saved for a direct message (DM). next
KarinaFabian: For Tweetbooks: start a new account? just have a short hash? (#bk)
liz_jones: ?You may have ans'd this, but how do we find the communities like 'Christian', etc.
carolynhowardjohnson: Karina, Hi! Not sure about the question. But I think you're referring to people who want to tweet books. I'm not sure they are all that effective. For one thing--like blogs, they get read backwards. I really think a better ploy is to make a blog using your protagonist--as if your protagonist is the tweeter and you're filling out the character with teases about what happens in your book... does that answer your question? Sort of? next
JoLinsdell: I've seen on blogs where there is a link to retweet the post. How do I get this gadget? (I use blogspot.com)
carolynhowardjohnson: Liz, yes. it was a long answer. please go back to the transcript Linda is providing. Linda. how do they get that? next
Mindy: Is there a way on twitter to tweet audio messages to the followers instead of typing a 140 character message?
joanyedwards: How often should you tweet to keep interest up, but not be aggravating? \JYE
JoLinsdell: My question?
carolynhowardjohnson: Oh, yes. Jo. I can't remember the name of that application. Only used it once! LOL But yes, and you can also get one with a cute little bird that says "follow me." You'll find it on my blog at the end of each blog post...www.sharingwithwriters.blogpost.com
carolynhowardjohnson: Joany..if your posts are full of ideas and content, you won't get too aggravating. Space them a bit, though. 10 is a good guideline.
carolynhowardjohnson: Mmmm. not sure about audio messages, Mindy. That would be a good conversation starter. As I say, tweeters tend to love to help others learn to tweet. I don't think so, though. Some 3,000 applications for Twitter and growing every day so one could have been introduced yesterday! LOL next
joanyedwards: Is that 10 a day?
carolynhowardjohnson: Joany, yes, 10 a day. (-:
LindaM: ChrisChat is next. Last question. Sorry if we couldn't get to everyone's question.
ChrisChat: simple probably,noticed followers who seem more spam/vol sex ads, blocking them so they don't show as followers-check who you don't want following you?
carolynhowardjohnson: Don't forget that Twitter is not a one way conversation. Try to keep it open instead of exclusive, too. You never know why someone chooses to follow you. To unfollow because you don't like their politics is kinda silly. THEY may like YOUR book!
LindaM: Just email Carolyn after this session to find out more about this great deal. She can also help you set up an online promotion campaign--she can help you a lot in a 1-hour consultation.
carolynhowardjohnson: Oh, what a sweetie. Find me a hojonews@aol.com.
DonnaMcDine: Carolyn: You Rock!
carolynhowardjohnson: I also do one hour consults. But it's TRULY cheaper to buy my books.
KarinaFabian: for Carolyn for Linda. Great chat!
Mustanger: Fantastic stuff. I'll definitely be visiting your sites!
Franny_Armstrong: Thank you Carolyn and Linda. I appreciate your time and knowledge.
carolynhowardjohnson: Thanks to all of you for coming. Linda, how do they get the transcript?
Kate: Thank you ~ I learned so much ^_^
LoriLea: Wow. I have a lot to learn! Thanks.
carolynhowardjohnson: Lea, thank you for this opportunity. How I love our Muse conference.
Mustanger: How to get the transcript?
Julia: I'll post transcript later in the forum.
carolynhowardjohnson: Linda Morelli, romantic author extraodinaire, thank you. I'm leaving to make room for the next group. Love you all!
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.