The Word Cloud

seems to be the thing to do these days.

http://sophiejonashill.blogspot.com/

If you would like to hear my ramblings, efforts and progress on the way to being published, do stop by!

Some famous person years ago said  something like 'I don't agree with what you said, but I will defend your right to free speech with my own life'. Noble words indeed, but are they relevant to today's world. Values change through the ages and maybe now we should declare in the name of Freedom Of Speech, 'I don't agree with what you said, but I will defend your right to freedom of speech if it all fits in appropriately with where I live and the ruling classes of the country I live in, but I will defend my own values on freedom of speech when someone else disagrees with me if I can get away with it as much as possible with as little detrimental affect to me'. You see, we all now live in a complicated world, which is what you might expect from extended freedom of speech to more and more people. Any new noble message heard or read will be dissected subjectively, like this one will. And this examination of words said or written will bring about a variety of opinions to suit different groups in society. And thus we will encourage conflict and conflict is always ruled by power. But which type of 'power' will we choose ourselves and how will we be supported in our trials of righteousness?

I am slowly working through a list of possible agents to send my opus too - and I have been reading up on the website of one of them.
They speak of wanting to see that an aspiring author has already made efforts at self publicity (Not publication) because they're looking for someone they can market and can represent themselves well in an interview etc. Well, no issue with stage fright there as I'm always getting on TV and have done a tone of interviews, though most not broadcast as yet - but should I think about having a website/blog about me as an aspiring writer also?
Has anyone else done such a thing, and has it worked?
I imagine one would not publish extracts of great length or the work it's self, but presumably a few snippets and a sort of back cover blurb, and sort of 'this is how I do it' kind of articles?
What about a Facebook page?

I’ve been reading a lot in the news lately about people who have fallen a foul of facebook and other social networking sites.

 

Usually these people are accused of posting ‘defamatory’ statements. Defamation can be serious and can do a lot of damage. It should then be taken seriously. But some of these ‘posts’ are not defamatory. Some of them are just peoples’ opinions. Opinions are not facts and should not be treated as such. 
 

Since when has it become only allowable to have an opinion if you do not write it down?

 

Are we allowed a verbal opinion only?

... but doing blogs and so forth is mean to increase visits to your website - not that I know how to get visits to my blog yet!
I have been reading up on many marketing guides, and many of them speak about how one has to instill confidence in your potential customer by showing yourself to be an expert, and by sharing something with them. So this blog shows that I am an expert, because I am writing a how-to guide, and I am giving them something, the benefit of my knowlage.
People worry about copying and plagerism, but I have always been of the opinion that people can never really benefit from copying - there is always something essential that they miss. So with this guide, it will, hopefully, tell people how to make a waistcoat for both kids and adults - but it won't tell them how to make my waistcoat for kids. And besides, when they find out how much work goes into it, hey, they might even respect it enough to buy one!

I'm still in a writing hangover, but I've now joined modern society.

I'm on Twitter @StephenFerre if you wish to follow. My only  follower is a part-time spammer (Internet matchmaking) at present, but at least I have one! 

I've still got my blogs trickling along at  http://atlantacarter.blogspot.com/ and http://concertodiary.blogspot.com.

It's been a very hard slog, including working well past sunrise the last couple of weeks, but my new book has been released.

Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should is available from Amazon UK for the special launch price of £1.71. But best of all, it's also available as a free PDF download on my blog, which you can share with anyone you choose.

Today is a very exciting day, the book is racing up the charts in the US and the UK, and I have already picked up some excellent reviews.

The cover and blurb are below. 

You won’t make any money from self-publishing.

MYTH!

The internet has revolutionized every business it has come into contact with, and publishing is no different.

For the first time, these changes are handing power back to the writer. It’s up to YOU if you want to profit from them.

Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should.

This guide contains over 60,000 words of essays, articles, and how-to guides, as well as contributions from 33 bestselling indie authors including J Carson Black, Bob Mayer, Victorine Lieske, Mark Edwards, and many more.

It covers everything from how the disruptive power of the internet has changed the publishing business forever to the opportunities this has created for writers. It gives you practical advice on editing, cover design, formatting, and pricing. And it reveals marketing tips from blogging and social networking right through to competitions, discounts, reviews, and giveaways.

If you are considering self-publishing, if you need to breathe life into your flagging sales, or if you want to understand why it’s a great time to be a writer, Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should will explain it all.

If you are interested in reading more, you can download the PDF for free on my blog.

Um. How to say this. It's not like I've been unfaithful. She means nothing to me. We don't have the history. We don't have the memories.

But yes. I have been - uh - elsewhere. Doing this.

The new blog won't replace this blog, or the Cloud, or anything like that. More, it's a way of creating a set of public access advice pages for non-Clouders, in a way that doesn't clog up the entire WW website.

Do take a look at what I've been up to. Feel free to comment. If you find any of the posts there useful or controversial, do feel free to blog about them, link to them, or whatver. All cyber-activity is good activity.(*)


* - except cyber warfare I suppose. I'm against that.

This is the ninth part of my continuing series INDIE PUBLISHING FOR INTERNATIONAL WRITERS, a step-by-step guide to getting your stories into (digital) print. I’ll be doing each step with you, learning as you do, because I’ve never done this before either.

I will be compiling all these steps into a free e-book for my blog-readers when I am done. It's called Let's Get Digital and is pencilled in for release at the end of June.

The final steps of this self-publishing guide is going to focus on further marketing tips. We have already covered the basics: blogging and websites, pricing, social networking, and reviews. Today, I talk about using discounts, competitions, giveaways, and blog tours to promote your book.

Step 9: Discounts, Competitions & Blog Tours

Read the full post here:

http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/indie-publishing-for-international-writers-step-9-discounts-competitions-blog-tours/ 

This is the seventh part of my continuing series INDIE PUBLISHING FOR INTERNATIONAL WRITERS, a step-by-step guide to getting your stories into (digital) print. I’ll be doing each step with you, learning as you do, because I’ve never done this before either. I will be compiling all these steps into a free e-book for my blog-readers when I am done.

Step 7: Reviews: How To Get Them, And How To Deal With Them 

Some people are sceptical about the power of reviews and whether they have any significant effect on sales. However, I think this is a very short-term view.

In today's post, I show you why every review is important if you look at the big picture, how to go about getting reviews on Amazon and Smashwords, how to find book bloggers, and how to get them to review your book.

I also discuss paid reviews, dealing with negative reviews, and how to promote your book using positive reviews.

Read the full post here: 
http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/indie-publishing-for-international-writers-step-7-reviews-how-to-get-them-and-how-to-deal-with-them/