Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Sometimes the computer goes nuts...


I have no idea why Blogger decided that the last post had to be in an almost unreadable font colour.

I tried to change it many times and gave up and posted it...

So if you gave up as well I don’t blame you.

The main points I was making....Networking, building communities, and having your website reflect this, is where marketing and promotion in the online world is going.

For the lonely writer sitting in their garret...but with an internet connection....this is a good way to go. Start with posting comments on blogs you are interested in. Visit web communities that have links in to your writing audience...or are the same people as you...starving in a garret....

As you get more familiar with the web...create your blog and have a go...it is very easy to do and easy to delete if you don’t like it.

The web can be a scary place for authors who are just used to using Google for research and a word processing programme for everything else.

Scott Francis has a marketing blog for authors on the writers digest site. He offers these great tips for a media kit...but they can be useful if you are looking to see what a website should have.

A media kit can be a great tool for promoting your work and can be used to try to get mentions in publications or to try to get speaking engagements or spots on radio or TV.

A few do's and don'ts:

  • Do include your complete contact information as well as your website/blog address
  • Do include a personal biography and a photograph of yourself
  • Do include a business card
  • Do include any recent articles or endorsements
  • Do include a good cover sheet that summarizes the contents of your media kit
  • Do include a copy of your latest book
  • Don't over do it--these days everyone is busy and have short attention spans. Keep it relevant and to the point.
  • Don't include clippings of every press mention that you've ever gotten--go with either the most recent or the most impressive. Everything else can be summarized on your cover sheet (remember to be concise).

A website is a marketing brochure, a blog is a newsletter that shows off you voice and style.

A blog doesn’t have to be long....but it should be interesting...a picture, a few links, a thought provoking question and you are done....

So...if you are new to blogs stop in and comment...you can use my gmail address if you need to.

If you were coming to the National Conference of Children’s Writers and illustrators would you like to see a workshop on being online? What do you think should be in it?

Maureen

the pic is from a beautiful Artists website...Isn't it lovely! Go to

www.patipelz.com


to see some more stunning pictures...Pati's website is a good example of marketing.

4 comments:

Melinda Szymanik said...

I wondered what had happened to the font colours. Its not surprising people come up with story ideas about computers developing a mind of their own - sometimes they are very badly behaved.

Fantastic info on marketing kits. I'm finding all your internet info very interesting. I've just started a site counter on my blog and discovered what happens when you comment on other people's blogs. A number of comments I've made on other people's blogs and links I've included on my own have lead a lot of people to my blog. Every connection you make seems to have an exponential effect. I would be keen as,to have an 'authors and the internet' topic at next years conference. The internet is an incredibly powerful tool and I don't think people realise what they could get out of it.

cheers
Melinda

Melinda Szymanik said...

erm, I think your blog ate my comment yesterday (along with behaving badly about font colour). I'm loving all the infoyou're posting about utilizing the internet for marketing. I've just installed a counter on my blog and have already become obsessed with all the amazing stats i can check out about my visitors, one of the most interesting being the number who come and check out my blog after I've posted a comment somewhere else. Activity breeds activity. I would be so there for a workshop on how the internet can work for you at next years conference. Love it or loathe it, its here to stay and can actually do some really amazing things for us.

cheers
Melinda

Maureen said...

Hi Melinda, you are absolutely right!..the computer did eat your comment...I found it on my dashboard when I went to enter your second comment....more plot ideas for science fiction....although I'm reading a midgrade series now that has humans stranded on a giant alien ship whose computer is making a 3d world based on Dantes inferno....
seriously disturbing stuff...I'm having nightmares...
On the marketing side I have found the research quite interesting...and it gives me a reason to blog...once a teacher...always a teacher...
We have been discussing the idea of a workshop at the conference...There seems to be a lot of fear that blogs or websites will cut into working time...That seems to be the main argument from authors along with I don't see why I have to/ need to, I didn't have to before....
In watching what is happening overseas, which is very much in the digital publishing revolution, I hope that we have enough lead in time to see what definitely works and what doesn't so we don't make too many mistakes... I would like to show authors that it doesn't have to be too scary and you can make it manageable. I like the ideas of author collectives doing a blog...that would definitely cut down on the time...something like readergirlz or 2k8 is such a good idea.
I am going to do a post on stat counters at some point because there is heaps of infomation in them as you are probably finding out.
cheers
Maureen

Fifi Colston said...

I love my stat counter- and did you know 47 people visited the WCBA blog yesterday! Excellent stuff. Nice to know people know we are around. Mary McCallum http://www.mary-mccallum.blogspot.com/ has put a nifty device on her blog- a picometer http://www.writertopia.com/toolbox/meters. It measures how many words you have written on your novel so you can show people your progress. She's using it as a structure to finish her next book- get people to nag her to write more.
I am going to put my Page and Balckmore short story entry on my blog today- it didn't win but I think its great and the blog is like the bottom draw where rejected manuscripts and used illustrations lie covered in dust. I can take them out, brush them off and publish them anyway. Nothing lost and an audience to gain if they are any good.

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