Archives for August 2014

5 Tips How to Create Mobile-Friendly Blogs and Websites

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Smartphone-Shopping

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How can you, as an author or small publishing business owner, reach more readers?  Over half of the entire world’s population has a mobile phone!  Almost 190 million people in the United States own a smart phone. And 74% of them used their smart phone to access the internet in 2013.  According to Forbes, “87% of connected devices sales by 2017 will be tablets and smartphones.” Whether it’s creating an alternate mobile version of a website or creating a mobile-friendly web design, it’s important to make it easy for users to find you and your books.

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Your Competition Will Be Seen and You Won’t
More than one third of internet users worldwide used their mobile devices to research products or services they intended to purchase. Total Internet usage on mobile devices has exceeded that on PCs.  This shift follows a tremendous fall in PC sales.  There’s a skyrocketing trend toward more and more people using their mobile devices to go online. Once they arrive at your website, they should not struggle with a site that is unreadable, unnavigable or complicated. Adapt to these new realities of how people are using the internet to find out about you, what your business has to offer and why they should buy from you.
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So What Do You Have to Deliver?

  1. Provide Quick Access
    Tablets and smartphones require fast access to content on your website. You need to make it easy for users to load your pages in less than 5 seconds. 60% of users expect a site to appear withing 3 seconds on their phone.
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  2. Provide Short Landing Pages
    Reduce, reduce and reduce more… Long pages are not mobile friendly. Mobile users are unlikely to go through a page with a lot of details. Include the most relevant content better on your sales pages. Short headings and a limited number of lists will make it easy for your audience to go through the information.
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  3. Provide a “No-Zoom Page”
    If you optimize your website for mobile users, they should be able to see your sales pitch as soon as the page loads. Create a responsive website design, where visitors don’t have to zoom. Most users are used to zooming, but it can get tiresome. Most mobile phones do not support Flash, so it’s not a good idea to include it on your wireless pages, same with “frames” and “tables”.
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  4. Provide Value
    If your sales pages do not add value to website users, it will be impossible to convert them into customers. A great service or a great product at a reasonable price, great information and free advice, just to name a few.
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  5. Provide Simple Forms
    Shorten and simplify the forms you include on your sales pages. Try to limit them to just a handful of fields.
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Do the Math:
Its a no-brainer that your blog or business’ website needs to be mobile-friendly, and if your website is mobile-friendly, more people will access it, which will increase click-through and conversion rates for your business.  And it is not expensive to have your website optimized for mobile devices: Get it done for a couple of dollars, at http://www.Fiverr.com/Denis555, along with even more improvements to bring more people to your website.  Nowadays people browse, shop and make reservations via their smart phones. Your website or blog will be seen and not avoided.  70% of Facebook users in the United States now access Social Media via their smart phones – not on a desktop computer. Google also favors mobile-friendly sites, which impacts mobile, smart phone friendly search results.  Do you want to be a part of this trend?
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More Tips can be found here:
http://webdesign.about.com/od/mobile/a/write-web-pages-for-the-iphone.htm

http://www.imforza.com/blog/how-to-make-a-mobile-friendly-website/

 

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,100 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: avoid Flash and Tables, create web pages for iPhone, Mobile-friendly websites, optimize your blog for smartphones, reading on a tiny screen, Tablets and smartphones require fast access

How can Authors Paint Pictures with Words?

 

 

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Words2

 

Successful authors may use just a few words to evoke an image, or they may use a whole page. Poets may use only a few words to describe a person, or a scene. Novelists may use a whole page to describe the same person, or scene.  In either case, the reader will be able to feel, smell, see, or taste what the author is describing.
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What are Visual Triggers?
Visual triggers are words, people, or places that paint pictures in our minds. For instance, if I write the words “She moved as slowly as a sloth”, the reader is likely to envision the slowest-moving mammal on Earth that sleeps in trees as a defensive measure.
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Why is it Important to Trigger Visual Cues with Words?
Visual cues are important in order to give the reader a wider vision. We want to more clearly visualize what is being written. It’s the difference between viewing a tweet and clicking on the tweet in order to get taken to the related website.  For example: recently, I saw a tweet that advertised a beautiful diamond ring. That tweet prompted me to go to the website to get the wider vision of that company’s products and services.

The reader needs to be helped to look through a wide-angle lens, not a telephoto lens. For example, a reader will appreciate Shakespeare’s character, Hamlet’s, famous “To be or not to be…” soliloquy more if he understands the context of the soliloquy: Hamlet has recently been visited by his father’s ghost who informed Hamlet that he was killed by Hamlet’s uncle. According to most sources, the despondent Hamlet is considering suicide during that soliloquy.
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What are some types of visual triggers that authors use?

There are three ways to trigger pictures in a reader’s mind:

  1. Suzanne Arruda is an example of a modern novelist that uses detailed descriptions of settings and characters. Literally, she paints pictures in the reader’s mind. The reader is transported to 1920’s Kenya and Europe. When I read her novels, I feel the heat, I smell the smells, and I can visualize the people and places about which she writes. I am on safari. I am solving mysteries and murders.
  1. William Wordsworth was one of the most famous English poets of the early 19th He knew how to paint pictures with a minimum of words. Any reader of Wordsworth’s poetry will find himself instantly transported to Wordsworth’s beloved corner of England, the Lakes district, with only a few words. Wordsworth’s brief descriptions of local streams and hills transport me to those streams and hills. I am lying on the cool grass, relaxing in a much less hectic time and place.
  1. Bloggers fall somewhere in the middle of poets and novelists. Bloggers will normally use more words than a poet, and fewer words than a novelist, to get their point across.

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How to Use Words as Visual Triggers
Some forms of writing don’t lend themselves to detailed descriptions of characters and settings. However, examples, analogies, and metaphors are useful for most writing—fiction, or non-fiction. Some examples and metaphors in my book include:

  • Diamonds start out as soft carbon. Over millions of years, heat and pressure compact the carbon, pushing it deeper and deeper under the Earth’s surface. The fully-formed diamonds are the strongest mineral on the planet.
  • A fine china teacup begins as a shapeless lump of clay on a potter’s wheel. The teacup is formed on the potter’s wheel. Then, the teacup is fired in a kiln, painted, and glazed. The final product is a rare luxury item, inaccessible to the general public.
  • Michelangelo, the famous Italian Renaissance sculptor and artist, formed some of the most breathtaking sculptures of all time from huge slabs of marble.
  • Meat can be tenderized in a solution of citric acid, such as that in pineapple juice. Meat that has soaked in a pineapple-juice marinade for at least two hours will be tender because the citric acid has broken down the tendons in the meat.
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In my book, I used the examples and analogies above to illustrate the benefits of challenges. I wanted to illustrate how hard work, “pressure”, and “heat” can improve the lives of people in the end. I wanted people to visualize themselves as a flawless diamond, a teacup so precious that I have never seen one, a celebrated sculptor/artist, and meat so tender that it can be cut with a fork.

Traci Lawrence writes about her passion: communication, relationships, the value of individuals and rising above verbal bullying, or trash talk. She lives in the Northern Virginia area of the United States and teaches English, among other subjects.  Please find more on her blog, and read her book: Accept No Trash Talk

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,100 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: Accept No Trash Talk, Author Traci Lawrence, Michelangelo, paint pictures with words, Suzanne Arruda, visualize what's written, William Wordsworth, words as triggers

17 Tips How to Successful Run Book Giveaways

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Giveaway

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Book giveaways are a powerful way to get a lot of exposure – and your book in the hands of new readers, who might even write reviews. The success of your book giveaway depends very much on how you promote this event – and also how you leverage the networking possibilities you gain with new followers and contacts.
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Print Book Giveaways on Goodreads
Goodreads only allows print books as Giveaways. They offer all members: “Be the first to read new books! Pre-release books are listed for giveaway by publishers and authors, and members can enter to win. Winners are picked randomly at the end of the giveaway.”  The idea is that many of the people who win a free book will be good enough to write a review of it on Goodreads (some people are so enthusiastic that they write reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Shelfari etc). Reviews help book sales, so publishers and authors are keen to do giveaways.  However, if your book is in digital format only: there are ways to print a handful of books, once you have an ISBN. However, there are some competitors to Goodreads, who offer e-Book Giveaways for members, such as:
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BookLikes Allows e-Book Giveaways
In terms of features and functionality, BookLikes is similar to Goodreads. Of course, they don’t have nearly the traffic that Goodreads does, so you should not expect similar results if you have done a book giveaway there in the past. If GoodReads allowed e-Book giveaways, they would be almost perfect in my mind. But since they don’t, sites such as BookLikes are another alternative for authors who don’t publish print books.
To list your book giveaway on BookLikes, sign up for a free account and click on the giveaways link when you are logged in. On the next page, there should be a tab at the top of the page in the main navigation that says “Create Your Giveaway.”
You will be asked for the same info as the other sites in the form on the following page. Their rules seem to have been almost copied directly from Goodreads, as they appear to be identical. For more questions go to their FAQ’s.  Best of all, you can choose to pick the winners of the giveaway yourself. It is certainly less expensive then to donate print books and you can offer easily a dozen or more copies. You can either send the winners a PDF or you can gift the e-book via Amazon and boost your sales ranking at the same time.
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Print and e-Book Giveaways Through Book Bloggers
Consider offering copies of your book to other bloggers you follow, or you have found through a Google search and have them host a giveaway. Book bloggers often really appreciate being able to do giveaways, and this can extend your reach outside of your previous networking!

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Giveaway on Your Website
Your blog or website are great places too for giveaways, especially if you have thousands of followers / readers there or an extensive newsletter email list. Use the same announcements and promotions as you would do for a Goodreads or BookLikes giveaway (see below).

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Do’s and Don’ts of Giveaways

Do: Enter your first giveaway 4-6 weeks before your book’s launch and then periodically every other month. Schedule your giveaway at least three days in advance.

Do: Write a compelling giveaway description with snippets of reviews and mentioning any awards the book won

Do: Offer always auto-graphed books, when it is a printed version.

Do: Follow everyone who applied for the giveaway. On Goodreads you can follow 25 people/day. These are the people who are interested in your book. Send a thank-you-note to everyone who entered, and offer 2-3 chapters of your book to the not-so-lucky ones, and invite them to join your newsletter.

Do: Use the free event feature at Goodreads and Google+ and invite everyone there to participate in the Giveaway.

Do: Announce the giveaway at least once a day on your Google+ timeline and share it with: public, your circles and extended circles – as well use the function “Also send email to Your circles” next to the sharing button (for your first post and then towards the end of the giveaway period to remind them).

Do: Post your giveaway regularly to all the Social Media sites, don’t forget Pinterest or Flickr (use not only your cover photo, but anything that fits to the theme of your book), and maybe create even a short video about this giveaway. Make arrangements for interviews in local newspapers, mentioning your giveaway (plan well in advance!)

Do: Write a blog about your giveaway – and post this blog article not only on Social Media, but also on free e-Zines.
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Do: Announce your Book Blog Giveaways in these listings / blogs too:

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Do: Vary the giveaway time length: One giveaway only for a week, and later another one for three weeks.

Don’t start or end your giveaway on a holiday or the days before. People are busy with other things around this time or they travel.

Don’t limit your giveaways to your own country, offer it worldwide. It means more exposure and if your giveaway is only one to three copies it’s affordable, especially if you let it send as a gift through Amazon – this way it helps your ranking too. But always include a friendly note, even when you gift it via the online retailer.

Don’t delay the delivery to the winner. Send or let it send the same minute the giveaway ends or you receive the name of the winner.
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Conclusion:
Using best practices, planning well ahead and using every kind of promotion will deliver a successful campaign for your book.  And don’t forget the benefits of connecting with new followers and readers of your books. And here you can find tips for readers, how to win books on Goodreads.

Which additional giveaway possibilities did you use – and how did you promote your own giveaway?

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,100 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: Book Blogger Giveaway, BookLikes ebook giveaway, Goodreads Book Giveaway, Goodreads giveaway tips, print books giveaway, promote your giveaway, SavvyBookWriters.com, schedule your giveaway

5 Tips to Gain Readers With Great Headlines

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Headlines

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How to Choose a Compelling Headline
Most Popular Words & Phrases in Blog and Website Headlines – or Non-Fiction Books for That Matter: Your blog or website headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression you make on a prospective readers and lure them into your article. A compelling headline must promise some kind of benefit or reward for the online visitor.

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Most Popular are – in this Sequence:

  1. List Post, for example “Top 33 Websites …” or “99 Top Websites …”
  2. You / Your, for example “How Do You Decide…” “Your Success …”
  3. Free / Giveaway, for example “Free eBooks …” “Goodreads Giveaway for …”
  4. How To, for example “How to Choose a Compelling Headline”
  5. Secret, for example “The Secret to Becoming Successful and Happy”

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It doesn’t make sense to spend hours in creating high quality content and then put little thought into writing a good headline. If you want to attract more views to your website or your writing, then your headlines should also be optimized for search engines. Use likely search terms and front-load your headlines with the most important keywords.

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Dress it up With Emotion-stirring Words
Author Kathrin Tschiesche in Bookboon.com: “Frequently, when two headlines are relevant, clear and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly, the headline that gets more clicks is the one that uses emotionally stirring words aimed at capturing readers’ attention. You too, can really ‘dress up’ your headline by adding a few compelling words to it.”
“For example, try to add the adjectives “eye-catching”, “sizzling”, “compelling” or “magnetic” to the word “headlines” and you achieve an appealing and attainable effect. If you are not sure which power words to choose – a variation of “fast”, “simple”, and “easy” are your safest bet.”
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Mark Thompson Compiled a Great List of 150 Compelling Headlines:
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# Tips To Simplify ______________
Greatest _________ Tips of All Time
Avoid ______________ Disasters
________________, What It Can Do For You
# Things You Didn’t Know about ______
# Reasons to Hate _________
#Amazing Blogs about ________
# Secrets about __________
How Does ______ Work?
How to be Great at _______
# ____________ Myths Exposed
_________ Myths vs. the Facts
# Deadly _______Mistakes You Might Be Making
# Shocking Facts about _________
# Questions to Ask about _________

Get them all at Stayonsearch.com

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Last But Not Least:
Keep your headlines short – no more than eight words. Most visitors will scan the first few words before deciding to read further – or to move on. If your headline / tagline combination is short but summarizes your content, visitors will be more likely to read on. Remember: On average, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. That’s why your headlines are so important for your writings’ success and to entice more than 20% of potential readers.

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,100 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: A compelling headline must promise some kind of benefit, Article Marketing, blog headline, compelling headlines, how to get your blog noticed, Most Popular Words in Blog Headlines, Search Engine Optimization, visitors will scan the first few words

Website or Blog Issues? Help is on the Way

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Web-Design-Help

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Placing sharing buttons, Social Media following buttons, Google+ batches or new page sections on websites or blogs seem to be daunting tasks for non-techies. Sure, there are forums where many questions might be answered – if one has the time and patience to crawl through hundreds of web pages to find the right answer to their problem. And then to implement it, when a month ago the platform changed its design or code … The advice given at forums is free, but often out-dated. Much faster and more economical is it to get some inexpensive help with the custom-creation of your blog or website at Fiverr.  For just $5 experts can help to solve problems that overwhelm the average computer user.
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We Found the Perfect Help
It started out with my struggle to place buttons for all the page sections of our blog Content-on Demand. For days I searched the internet, trying to find instructions, as the blogging platform we use was not very helpful with instructions, nor are their forums. My basic HTML knowledge didn’t enable me to work on the blogspot platform. And I must admit, I am not very patient, and would rather write ten articles than to deal with one web problem. Well not real problems for a specialist, but for me.
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I turned to Fiverr.com where I found help in the past, for example to have our Facebook account unlocked or to have someone creating us a database. Looking for advice or hands-on work with Blogger (Blogspot) platforms I found an amazing techie who helped me with dozens of issues on the websites and blogs that we run: Denis at http://Fiverr.com/Denis555

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Great Support for Blogger and WordPress

It was amazing how fast and professional Denis helped us to improve the overall design of the websites / blogs and gave me insider tips how we could improve a couple of things on our sites (for example SEO).

Among many other tasks he:

  • set up Follow Buttons
  • repaired broken Sharing Buttons
  • set up the blog archive
  • created the page buttons on blogs\
  • improved and corrected image size
  • helped us to get rid of spam comments
  • corrected the layout of website / blog
  • placed a Google+ batch – which resulted in many more followers since implementing!
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    The list goes on and on… and best of all: each of these tasks were only $5. However, we often add a tip to this amount to show our appreciation for his fast and pleasant service.

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Denis offers a lot more:

  • installing of advanced templates on Blogger and WordPress
  • Creation of logos with graphical design
  • Installing life stream hangout on blogs
  • All kind of HTML / CSS coding and basic Java Script
  • Installing Facebook comments to your blog

You have found something interesting on someone else website and you would like to have that on your blog/website but you don’t know how? Ask him, chances are good he can implement it on your site too.
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The Wall Street Journal wrote:
“Although buyers at Fiverr pay $5, sellers receive less than $4, after PayPal payment-processing and Fiverr fees, which is the primary way the site makes money. PayPal is the payment method and posting or finding a gig is free.”
I am sure you have heard or maybe even used Fiverr already. With several hundred-thousand active listings on the Fiverr site you might find a quick and inexpensive fix for many challenges in self-publishing, website and computer issues and even graphic design jobs. For me, it turned to be a great help for the tiny amount of $5 that I spent on each small gig, ordered at Fiverr. There are thousands of tasks and services offered, referred to as ‘gigs’ and micro-jobs, beginning at a cost of $5 per job – well the customer pays $5 and the person doing the job gets $4, a twenty per cent commission goes to Fiverr.com for offering the platform. If you are satisfied with the service, don’t hesitate to give a tip to the person who did the task, helping you to solve a problem!

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,100 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/

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Tagged: advice how to set up WordPress website, basic java script, Fiverr, help with all questions of blogger, help with code HTML / CSS, http://www.fiverr.com/denis555, installing Facebook comments on your blog, Installing life stream hangout on blogs, repairing broken sharing buttons

17 Bestseller Tips – from Trade Publishers

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Bestseller-List

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If you ever see Marketing and Advertising from traditional puplishers, it’s for their Bestseller authors only, such as: Advance Book Reviews, posted on their book’s cover, Book Tours and Signings of celebrity authors, media coverage including reviews, speaking engagements, and placing at major bookstores who report to Bestseller lists.  How can author-publishers use the methods of global trade publishers to promote their self-published books?  You don’t need to travel to the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, like Johannes Kepler did in 1620 – yes, self-publishing was en vogue already four hundred years ago!

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7 Million Self-Published Titles:  Stiff Competition
Since 2010 roughly 7 million new self-published books appeared, almost all at online retailer’s websites.  And these titles will be offered for many years to come, as most of them are in digital format. The “gold rush” seems to be over and self-publishing has been dropping almost 50% per year, obviously “separating the wheat from the chaff”.  You’re not a New York Times bestselling author. You don’t have a publicist. And your Amazon sales numbers are awful. Should you quit writing books?  No, absolutely not!

For those of you who want to succeed at self-publishing, use also some traditional marketing methods, create a Business Plan and a Budget, including anywhere from 5-10% for your overall book marketing, including website, paying for IT help, designer, or Google ads.
Traditional publishing uses multiple ways to promote. Self-published authors attempt to market their books to the entire world via Amazon, social media, and their website it seems.  Publishers select books in order to stay in business, and also to determine what the publishing house’s identity is.  Here’s how you can copy traditional ways to market – adjusted to self-publishing.  One step at a time, but continually every day – split in small tasks.
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1. Start Early
Market Research – the very first step to do!  An editor will need to make a case that the book fills a market need. And to do that, the publishing house will look carefully at what’s out there. Has the competition a recent publication in this sub-genre? Does it have similar scope? Is it widely available?

Authors, and especially self-publishing authors need to study their competition carefully too:  Read their books, study book covers, pricing, reviews, and the marketing of competing books. The most powerful and essential steps you can take toward promoting your book begins long before the actual writing of the book. At least two years before the book is published, start building a network of supporters and reviewers.
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2. Print!
Traditional publishers concentrate on print books, which still make up for about 60% of the book market, depending if you look at book sales numbers or revenue per book.  Audio Books: The audio-book market is certainly growing, and Trade Publishers are not only investing in digital (even so it took them a very long time) books, but also in audio-books.

E-book authors might be happy with their sales on Amazon, Apple, Kobo or Barnes & Noble. You might have even turned it into an audio book. But the questions for a “real” book, paper back or hard-cover copy from conservative friends or elderly family members are nagging… And wouldn’t it be nice to walk into a Chapters or Baker & Taylor or one of these rare independent book shops and see your book in the shelf?  You will not earn a fortune, not even a living, but for a couple of months it is a nice pocket change. Only months… yes, because longer than this, barely any book will stay in the book store, unless it really is a bestseller and gets re-printed. If you go the indie route and choose for example the POD services and worldwide distribution through Lightning Source, (provided you have at least 3 books to be considered a small publisher) your book is printed on demand and will never get discarded (good: no-return-policy in POD worldwide distribution). See this article How to Distribute Your Book Worldwide.
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3. Book Sales at many outlets
Imagine you could buy all books from Penguin only in one book chain… Publishers distribute their books to as many outlets as possible, to brick-and-mortar stores, independent book sellers, mass markets, online book sellers, even via Affiliate programs.

Authors: Sell your books, e-books and audio-books not only through Amazon, but as well on Barnes&Noble, Apple and Kobo websites, to have your “eggs in more than one basket”. And don’t forget the potentially huge potential market for hardcover books, selling them to libraries all over the country!  However, there are way more online retailers for e-books and books than just Apple , Sony, Diesel, Kobo or Barnes & Noble.  Sign up with a book distributor / fulfillment company for your print-version of the book. Distributors mostly require just three books to be listed as a publishing business, and if authors have not written three books yet, they can band together with other authors to reach this minimum.  Traditional publishers and the books of their authors can be found on Bowker’s global database of books.  How to get into “Books in Print”, a worldwide database and to register your book for FREE! with Bowker is the topic of another blog posts.

Books available for future publishers:  Aaron Shepard has written two books about the topic of book distribution: POD for Profit and Aiming at Amazon, both contain very detailed information for small publishers. Another great source is Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual, a classic publishing guide-book.
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4. Sell books to Libraries
All traditional publishers sell their books to libraries.

According to statistics from the American Library Association and the Book Industry Study Group, libraries yearly purchase books for nearly $2 billion. But not only books, also audio-books and other forms of publications. Around 95% from major publishers.  Imagine, you sold your $15 book at a 50% discount to only 10% of these libraries, you will earn more than $75,000. But how can you tap into the lucrative library market?  It is explained in detail, including valuable links of wholesale companies who sell to libraries, on SavvyBookWriters here and here.
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5. Book Shows & Fairs
Representation at the applicable trade shows includes bookseller trade shows like the Bookseller Expo America (BEA) or one of the regional bookseller shows, like the New England Booksellers Association, Book Shows for the Library Association (ALA) and certainly the world’s most important, the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany every October.

Which Book Fairs or other Literary Events will you attend in the coming months to present your work?  How to organize your participation and how to attract visitors is explained in detail in this blog post, pointing out the do’s and don’ts at book fairs.

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6. Book Signings
An author tour can take various forms. Two weeks of travel, flights from city to city, an author appearance every day, twice a day if possible.  Publishers often make their choice on the basis of three factors:  if the book can sell in quantity in bookstores; if the book can be reviewed in newspapers, not simply journals;  and if the author is presentable.

How you can organize your own book signing is explained in detail, even with a time-table, here on this blog post at SavvyBookWriters.com/blog
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7. Book Clubs
Traditional Book Publishers sometimes sponsor book clubs, or invite them to participate in a contest, such as the one offered by Random House of Canada “Book Clubs are Beautiful”.  Members suggests four or five books that they must have read and then the voting and lobbying begins until they’ve got their list. member suggests four or five books that they must have read and then the voting and lobbying begins until they’ve got their list.

Authors on the book clubs list have attended a meeting or contacted them by phone or email. Writers can find easily contact addresses of book clubs via Google. Offer them a free copy of your book, just as big publishers do. Don’t overlook virtual book clubs at Goodreads, Wattpad, Bibliophile etc.
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8. Writing Contests
Many published authors compete in writing contests, and publishing houses sometimes organize contests.

How to Get More Readers from an Award:  Publicity around a book award will boost your book sales. Contests are a great way to hone your craft and show the world how much better you are than other writers. Winning a book award for your self-published fiction or nonfiction book is a great way to gain recognition and approval. You will not only see an increase in your book sales – if you market it well – you also can add the award sticker to your cover and mention the achievement on your back cover, in your books’ description, and in all your marketing and promotions – online or offline. 25 Writing Competitions You Should Enter
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9. Content Writing for magazines & newspapers
World-famous bestseller writers from big publishing houses, such as Ernest Hemingway, Margaret Atwood, Tom Chiarella, Gloria Steinem and Stephen King did it: Writing occasionally short stories and magazine articles – before blogs became fashionable.

Your book has been launched months ago or even last year. NOW readers need to see something NEW from you. It doesn’t need to be a whole new book:
The three main assets you have already
– your writing skills
– the content you already penned
– the research you have done for your book(s) can be used to write at least 20 – 30 articles or blog posts – and if regularly posted on Google+ it is raising your Search Engine Ranking on Google tremendously.

More benefits of writing content:
– it is a subtle way to promote your book
– you receive valuable back links to your website or blog
– you will have lots of possibilities to post on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Facebook.
– include links to your articles in email newsletter (that you hopefully send out regularly to your readers)

Post these articles on your blog or contribute guest blogs to other sites that are focused on the same topics as your book.
Content is used to draw in your ideal readers / reviewers, it will link to your book sales page or your website and it helps a lot to build a platform. Last but not least it gives you a lot of material to post and to tweet. The result: you will increase your exposure, show your writing skills, grow a loyal following and attract reviewers – in one sentence: you will achieve success with your writing – and in many cases, even get paid for it.
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10. Press Kits on your website
Bestseller authors at traditional publisher have the support of the publisher’s in-house (or out-sourced) publicity department. How much publicity support depends on many factors, but there are the basic elements that a publicity department will likely provide:  Book Press Materials.  Near publication date, the book’s publicist will email the electronic version of the press kits to a large number of applicable editors and producers to garner interest in the book. Book Media Follow-Up is the next step. The book publicist will follow up with any media outlet that responds to the mailings or e-mailings, will mail additional copies of the finished book, and will make additional calls or emails to other outlets to remind them the book is in their in-box.

To get the word out about the upcoming book launch, to receive positive articles in newspapers., magazine, book blogs, or to get interviews, writers should professionally deal with anyone who could tout their book – not only national press or TV.  Don’t make these common errors:  Not having a press page on your website for example.  Unfortunately most writers are not aware that journalists, bloggers or radio hosts need a bit more information than what they see on your Amazon page. And they won’t just copy and paste your “about the author” or the description of your book on the sales page. Check out Stephen Kings website, see how he organized his page for the media, where journalists can download high-resolution press photos.

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11. Advance Book Reviews in magazines and newspapers
Did you ever wonder why brand new books had already reviews?  New author-publishers can learn a lot in book stores:  Check out how professionally published books look like: Many of these trade books have either on their back cover (paperback) or on their binding flap (hard cover) several snippets of the book reviews, as well as endorsements from bestselling writers or other professionals, that were already written before the book was printed.
Traditional publishers may budget anywhere from fifty to several hundred “free and review” copies. Advance Review Copies (ARC’s) are what they send out half a year before book launch date.

How these pre-editions Galleys) are produced and to whom they should be sent is explained in How to Get Reviews Before Your Books Launch.  Prepare your book review query well in advance and learn what to avoid when pitching to reviewers.  Valuable tips can be found at Prestigious Reviews and How to Get Them.
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12. Radio Interviews
Bestseller authors often appear as guest at TV or radio stations. Publicists for major publishing houses have longstanding contacts to their editors and arrange interviews for bestseller authors.

Authors can go the same route, starting with internet radio stations, such as this one: The Book Report.  Don’t forget when you plan the marketing of your public events, to announce it for free on Google+ and on Goodreads, use their free Event pages.

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13. Speaking Engagements
Keynote Speakers and Motivational Speakers get handsomely paid, often $10.000 to 15,000 for a two-hour speech!  Most celebrity authors, found as speakers, are writing Non-Fiction books.

Speaker agencies, or organizers of Writers Conferences are the best approach if you want to earn more with speaking engagements than with your book.  If you are really serious about publicly speaking, join first Toastmasters.com and then the Certified Speaking Professional Association where you can get certification in public speaking.

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14. Foreign Rights
Basic subsidiary rights that publishers contract with their authors include translation into foreign languages, foreign rights, and reprint of selections by other publishers, just to name a few. An American publisher may also license a book to a British house for separate English-language publication in the UK and the Commonwealth

Foreign Rights  as well as translations into other languages can be a great way to leverage the value of your manuscript – but don’t expect big numbers right away. Additionally, it will add an international, professional image to you and your books. Revenue will be an advance and approximately 6 – 10% royalty of the retail price, minus percentage for the agent. Try to get the highest advance possible. It’s also a long-term project as it takes around 18 months until the book is translated and finally available online and in bookstores – and another half year for royalties to arrive.
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15. Bookstore Placement
Placement in bookstores, both chain and local (especially bookstores that report numbers to the Bestsellers List)  William Germano explains in his book:
Trade publishers’ marketing departments issue all kinds of catalogs to promote books—ones you see and ones you won’t unless you’re a librarian or a bookseller. The trade catalog is a publisher’s principal tool for making sales to bookstores.  Publishers with two trade catalogs bring out one per publishing season. The fall season usually begins in September and continues through the winter. The spring season begins in February or March, and continues through the summer. Books to be announced in a catalog must be securely in place at the publishing house up to a year ahead.

For those of you who want to succeed at self-publishing, use also some traditional marketing methods, create a Business Plan and a Budget, including anywhere from 5-10% for your overall book marketing including your website, paying for IT help, designer, or ads.

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16. Placement of books in big box stores
Wandering into a Walmart or Shoppers DrugMart outlet, you will most likely find close to the entrance / cashier desk the shelves of magazines and books, often from Bestseller authors. Big publishing houses sell tons of books to these big box stores – at steep discounts I must add.

If your books are selling like hot cakes, consider selling in bulk too.  Book wholesalers or websites such as ChainStoreGuide.com and TheSalesmansGuide.com, provide contact information for hundreds of buyers. You could also visit the websites of your most coveted outlets. Target even maintains a “vendor hotline” to answer questions by phone. However, be aware that having at least a dozen books is the minimum before you approach buyers at big box stores. They will not order single titles. If you have a book that should go into a specific department, for instance Sporting Goods, Electronics, Childrens, etc. contact your local store manager and ask who the buyer is for that specific department.

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17. Book Sales Page
Many big publishers and major online retailers sell from their own website print and digital books – and so can you!  How?

Get all the information you need to start selling your books from our former article:  How to Sell Your Books From Your Own Website.
Make at least 30% more on your books. Get your revenue immediately and get to know your readers, a very important point for your future marketing and to keep in contact with your customers.
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Conclusion:
This is just a small selection of the many book marketing activities that authors can copy from major publishers – beside Social Media networking.  “Just Because You Wrote a Book, Readers Won’t Line Up To Buy It!”  Yet, authors who take their publishing endaveor seriously and work as hard on their publishing business as they do on their writing, will always succeed. Read this article regarding the “Book Sales Plateau”.
Find many more detailed tips and links to all aspects of author-publishing and book marketing at SavvyBookWriters, especially how you can act like a professional publisher and take your books to the next level.  Remember that you don’t have to do all of this at once!

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,100 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/

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Tagged: 7 million new self-published books, book marketing activities, Book Reviews in magazines and newspapers, Book Sales Page, Book Shows & Fairs, book signings, bookstore placements, radio interviews, Writing Contests

How to Deal With Negative Book Reviews?

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Negative-Book-Reviews

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It happens to EVERY writer and it hurts you to see someone talk like that about your baby, err novel…  At first, you just sit there, stunned. Unable to believe anyone would take such offense. Schock. Anger… Don’t panic. Negative book reviews, especially those that are potentially malicious, are near the top list of nightmare scenarios for every writer. You have been putting your heart and soul into pursuing your passion. So it is understandable when you would like to act first in the face of negativity and have regrets later. Please don’t!  Hold your tongue.

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It makes no difference if you won the Pulitzer Price, or if you teach English in high school classes, or how many books you have sold. Check it out, many negative reviews show up on Bestseller books pages online too! In most cases this reviewer would never tell you the same directly in person. But the anonymity of the internet makes for a different mindset.  Sometimes – or often – the review has nothing to do with the actual book:

  • The reviewer expected a different content
  • The reviewer regrets the purchase
  • The reviewer thinks there is too much violence or sex in the content
  • The reviewer could have a bad day
  • The reviewer could even be a competitor
  • The reviewer is jealous of your success
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How to Deal with Bad Reviews?
It is difficult to be thick-skinned when it comes to someone reading your work. Writers tend to be quite emotional people, that’s what makes them good at what they do, but it also means that they are likely to take a bad review to heart.  Before you plan a strategy for addressing criticism, you need to determine if the review is true. Investigate before taking action. The best way to deal with bad reviews is to ignore them.  If they really hurt, talk with your writer colleagues or friends about it. They can go to your books page and choose the “fair” reviews, and click on: Helpful. This way the helpful reviews climb up to the top and the negative review is not as visible anymore.  Many readers don’t even know how to write a review.  Try to get as many professional reviews as possible, such as Midwest Reviews, Armchair Reviews, ForeWord Reviews, Kirkus Reviews etc. They are trained and know how to write a fair review. Any review, good or bad, is better than no review. Readers who like the genre you write in will give you a better quality review, whether it’s a good review or a so-so review.

Never have any sort of contact with a reviewer. There’s no point in doing so. Everyone has an opinion, and all opinions are valid to the person who has them.
As Stephen King famously wrote: “You can’t please all of the readers all of the time; you can’t please even some of the readers all of the time, but you really ought to try to please at least some of the readers some of the time.”

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Funny, Negative Reviews

Bestseller author Rayne Hall blogged about negative, but funny reviews she received, some are really hilarious. Read her article, sampling some of the stupidities for her highly popular novel Storm Dancer (dark epic fantasy novel).  “This book is too long. I had to spend many hours reading it. I’m busy and have other things to do.”  “The character of Queen Matilda is not believable”. There’s no Queen Matilda in the book.

Digital Book World listed snippets from Bestseller reviews:

“It was one of the most boring and shallow books that I have ever read.” —review of the American classic The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Not nearly enough consistency and far to [sic] little plot.”—review of Harry Potter And the Half Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

“If I were you, I’d peruse it briefly at your neighborhood library before putting hard-earned money out.” —review of children’s classic A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle

“I find myself saying to myself as I read it ‘bla bla bla’ as that is what the author seems to be saying.” —review of National Book Award Winner Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen

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If the Review is Factually Incorrect:
If a statement made is untrue (not just an opinion you disagree with), you have the right to ask for the comment to be removed or retracted. You would have to provide conclusive supporting evidence which shows the comment is factually incorrect. If you can’t provide proof, the sad truth is you won’t get anywhere asking for removal.

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You’ve done your best; you can’t change the book, other than a misspelled word or comma in an e-book. Life is too short to worry about what anyone thinks of your work. You shouldn’t be reading your reviews at all. And here are the good news: Consumers are smart enough to sniff out and ignore one odd-ball negative review in a sea of positive ones. Hopefully you worked hard on getting lots of reviews, so that few bad ones diminish in a sea of brilliant reviews. Read a list of bestseller authors that got hundreds of 1-star reviews. And not only bestseller reviews. Almost all books have a huge variety of reviews, from 5-star to 1-star reviews.  Hope that helps. What Else Can You Do to Increase Your Books’ Success is described in this blog post.
What other advice do you have for handling negative book reviews? Let us know in the comments below.

More About How to Get Professional Reviews
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/prestigious-reviews-and-how-to-get-them/

Huffington Post Collection of Articles Regarding Bad Reviews
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/bad-book-reviews/.

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,100 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Hyper Smash

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Tagged: 1-star reviews, How to deal with negative reviews, How to Get Professional Reviews, Negative book reviews, online reviews, Stephen King, What to do when your book received a negative review