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All the very best for 2015 to all our readers, subscribers and followers.
Thanks for following us to this new blog URL
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Try to engage your potential readers early on. Create excitement through a book cover or any other kind of poll. Use polling and surveys to add an element of fun to the conversation. People love to take surveys. It will build community engagement, real relationships and interest, and will leave readers more receptive to your next book promotion. With simple online surveys you can take your social media networking success to an entirely new level.
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Include an incentive to encourage your peers to complete your survey. For example: draw a winner of the most popular book cover chosen, the most popular name or the and most chosen online retailer. Offer a Kindle or a small digital camera as the first prize.
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Free or Very Low Cost
SurveyMonkey has a free, basic poll version, SodaHead as well. TWTPoll offers a pay-as-you-go version for $7 per survey. Get lot’s of practical tips how to incorporate your poll at a variety of Social Media sites on an article by SocialMediaExaminer.
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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 for three months all this and more for only $179 – 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 1,150 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? There is also the “SHARE” button for easy sharing at Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
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Book Promotion: Leverage Your e-Book Layout
Apart from your manuscript content, what should your print book or your e-book contain? And how can you promote your current and your former books to new readers and customers? How to encourage book reviews and sign-ups for email newsletters?
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Traditionally the first page of print books are set up according to the Chicago Manual of Style. The front matter pages get lowercase Roman numerals instead of regular Arabic page numbers – however only in print books – e-books don’t use page numbers. Read more about print book layout here in this blog article.
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The books’ first pages are set up in this sequence:
Only the title page and copyright page are mandatory – also for e-books.
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Look Inside
When people use the “Look Inside” feature, especially in e-books, those traditional front matter / first book pages could easily take up half of the feature. So you better move everything but the title page, copyright page, and the Table of Content (TOC) to the last pages of the book.
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Copyright
The copyright page is essential as many e-book retailers won’t accept an ebook for sale unless it includes the copyright page. It should consist of: Copyright [Year] Author name, e.g. ‘Copyright 2012 Allen Miller’ or ‘© 2012 Allen Miller’. Quite a few of the content in a printed book’s copyright page is irrelevant to an e-book.
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Table of Contents (TOC)
Chapter entries in the content listing should be hyperlinked so that users can go straight to the start of a chapter from the TOC. Distributors, such as Amazon will insist that you do this or they won’t accept your e-book. It improves the quality and usability of your e-book. Don’t include page numbers from your printed edition – it doesn’t make sense in an e-book. Due to a variety of eReaders, tablets and even computer screens where e-books are read – and even more due to the font size an e-book reader may choose – page numbers are useless.
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Take Advantage of Hyperlinks
An e-book is simply a specialized web page. Capitalize this fact for some “free advertising” of your other books, of your Social Media sites, to gather email newsletter sign ups and book reviews.
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Set up the following pages, right after the books’ last page:
If there are buttons already set up for Google+, Twitter, Goodreads, etc. on your website, just click on them, copy the URL out of the address bar on the bottom of your page, and create the link.
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Make it Easy for Reviewers
Amazon uses their own identifier for ebooks—ASIN—which means you have to wait until after the book is definitely published on the Kindle Store to create a link. As soon as your book is uploaded, you can use your books Amazon page, for example http://www.amazon.com/your-title-ebook/dp/B00000ABC/ and link to “Post your own review”.
Building these links is just a matter of copy/paste. If you are not familiar with HTML, ask your e-book formatter or your web designer to do it. It’s worth the small effort – and a great chance to make the next sale, get reviews, new fans who rave about your book and followers on your Social Media sites.
You can certainly use logos or sharing buttons. How this works is described by David Kudler here for HTML-based ePub files and here for Word and Smashwords.
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Retweet Buttons
People are naturally inclined to share content they find valuable. It shows to their followers that they are someone worth following because of the useful information they share, making them a valuable contributor to the social networks. Encouraging your readers to share your book’s content in social media also extends the reach of it to people outside of your direct network.
A special retweet button allows any reader to easily post a tweet into his or her Twitter account. And it’s not just any tweet, but one that’s prefabricated by you and links back to your e-book. Retweet buttons allow any reader to easily post a tweet into his or her Twitter account. And it’s not just any tweet, but one that’s prefabricated by you and links back to the original landing page where your document resides.
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Retweet Buttons: Step by Step Explained
Create a small graphic (a blue bird on the graphic gives a visual signal to Twitter users) you can place it in your manuscript. Place the retweet image in more than one location of your future book.
More tips, for example how to do it in InDesign, can be found in this article by Marissa Treece.
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The Last Pages of Your Book
Once you created all these URL’s, you may then add these pages to the end of the book:
Remember: The first page sells your book. The last page sells your next book!
Setting up your book layout in the same professional way as trade publishers do and leveraging the fact that you can incorporate links, re-tweet buttons, sign-up forms and review encouragements in your e-book will bring you many more new readers for your books!
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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 for three months all this and more for only $179 – 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 1,150 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? There is also the “SHARE” button for easy sharing at Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
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I am writing this blog post today because I was reminded of a horrible fire on Boxing Day in a former neighbourhood a couple of years ago, which was fatally for the lady living there. Her house burned down, caused by a corroded electrical cord or plug. It always puzzles me how the insurance was able to find out what happened before the fire broke out in all this rubble.
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You Might Ask Why I Tell You this…
What does this tragic story have to do with writing or publishing? A lot! It has to do with your manuscripts and your readership lists, with your research for your book and many other files that are kept in your computer. Can you imagine that your house burns down to the ground? Would you have a back-up for your computer content in this case? Do you have an external hard drive with your latest computer documents on it? Is the content of each of your books on memory sticks? And where do you store them? In your own house?
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Should anything happen to your home, not only would your computer be gone, but also all your back-up devices… Think about! Put this small items in your bank safe, your P.O. Box, or in one of your in-laws’ place – but nowhere near your main computer.
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Break-Ins
Let’s assume you never have a fire in your home. Great. Well, but there could be other disasters: break-ins… A very good friend of mine, an artist and graphic designer had her huge Mac computer system with EVERYTHING she had worked on for the last three or four years (including some downloaded software and her images) in her office in the second floor. It was summer, she had the windows open and while she was out only for a very short time around noon, to get some groceries, a break-in occurred. The thieves climbed over the garage roof and managed to enter through her office window, stealing her computer equipment among other things. She had no external drive, no memory sticks, nothing… Years of work and expensive software was gone.
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Computer Imploded
Another scenario, which happened to me: Twenty years ago, I was new to computers, but had just bought an external hard drive and was waiting in my office for a computer technician to transfer the content from my Mac to the hard drive. Preparing to move to another office, I wanted to have a back-up for my documents. So far – so good.
This computer guy was late, and should have been arrived an hour earlier. I moved the computer table from the wall, checking all the cords that I needed to pack later at this day and discovered a small red switch on the rear site of the Mac. I gave it a closer look, but there was no sticker or anything indicating the purpose of this switch. Nonchalantly I pressed it – and with a big bang my expensive Mac computer IMPLODED!
Still totally chocked I opened the door for the technician, who had arrived seconds later. He gave me this look… and few hope that he would be able to retrieve my files. The computer was trash, as it was the switch from 220 V to 110 V that I had turned. But at least the technician could save my content for the hefty sum of $800 – a totally inflated price.
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So, these are just three examples what could happen with years of work, if you don’t take precautions. Busy authors with several manuscripts – or even those with only one – need to protect their valuable content. Remember: there is no insurance who will pay you for the loss of your data. I hope I made you thinking about it. Good luck that you never need your back-ups to replace your content.
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Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,150 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? There is also the “SHARE” button for easy sharing at Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
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Merry Christmas to All Our Readers and Subscribers
… and Happy Holidays to you.
Enjoy this time of the year with family and friends!
your 111Publishing and SavvyBookWriters Crew
… and thanks for following us to our new blog URL
http://SavvyBookWriters.com/blog
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Great Christmas or New Years Gift
Tony Robbins has coached and inspired more than 50 million people from over 100 countries. More than 4 million people have attended his live events. Oprah Winfrey calls him “super-human.” Now for the first time—in his first book in two decades—he’s turned to the topic that vexes us all: How to secure financial freedom for ourselves and our families.
Based on extensive research and one-on-one interviews with more than 50 of the most legendary financial experts in the world—from Carl Icahn and Warren Buffett, to Ray Dalio and Steve Forbes—Tony Robbins has created a simple 7-step blueprint that anyone can use for financial freedom.
Robbins has a brilliant way of using metaphor and story to illustrate even the most complex financial concepts—making them simple and actionable. With expert advice on our most important financial decisions, Robbins is an advocate for the reader, dispelling the myths that often rob people of their financial dreams.
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I recently received a note from an aspiring author on my LinkedIn inbox (not even sent to me by email!). She wrote: “So, I took your advice! You were right! I am proud to tell you that my book is officially published! It is called xxx xxx xxxxx . Please do look it up.”
When reading this message I cringed – and guess what: I certainly did NOT look it up. I also must add: Months ago, I had for about half a day a very complex topic researched for this writer (for free) for which I never got a “thanks” or even a note that she had received my two pages of valuable publishing advice, info and lots of links…
And now she is too lazy to give me a link to her book and wants me to “do look it up”?
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How Would You Feel as a Reader / Customer?
To compare this behaviour to bookstores: Imagine, a customer would go into a store that has no books displayed, but lots of lockers and cabinets, all closed. When the customer asks for a certain book, the sales person just arrogantly points towards the furniture and advises the customer to find it in the lockers. She wants to sell something – and I have to go and find it myself ???
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How to Make it Easy for Your Readers to Find Your Book
There are so many possibilities to subtly promote your books or portfolio, just add links to everything you write, post, send out or tweet. See here just a couple of examples, certainly many more do exist:
Email Signature
Every day you send out dozens of emails or SMS’ to friends, business colleagues, potential readers or editors … Email signatures (signature lines) are powerful, low-cost, high-return marketing tools for writers. Very few authors use this free way of getting the emails recipients’ attention to their books.
Create a hyperlink to your author’s website or blog, or hyperlink to your Amazon.com author page. If you are not yet published on Amazon or other online retailers, link at least to your Social Media presence.
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Write Guest Blogs With a Book Link
A great benefit of writing guest blogs is that you can add a short author bio with up to two links to your books’ page. Many writers have not yet discovered the great benefit of writing a guest blog on a high-ranked blog which means a lot of new readers for their own blog and certainly a lot of potential book readers – if they don’t forget to add a link to their own webpage or book sales page. You cannot imagine how often I have to remind guest bloggers to add a short bio to their submitted article!
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Add Your Links to the eBook and Paperback
No matter which format your book is, it should contain:
All of it after the last book page. However, it is important to add at least your website or blog URL on the first pages as well. In case someone browses through the “Look Inside” pages of your book on Amazon, they can find your website, even if they don’t order the book from the online retailer right away.
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Add Your Links to All Social Media Sites
Starting a new Social Media presence prompts you to introduce yourself – an important part of your presence that every visitor or follower on your site can see. And a fantastic opportunity to place your websites’ URL and even your book sales / author page. Your descriptions, and author information should be consistent across your entire online and Social Media presences. So you need only one great description including your links, which you can copy/paste to all your Social Media headers! This way all your followers and friends can easily find your books.
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Bookmarks and Business Cards
Use the space on one side of the card for thumbnails of your books’ covers. Take them to conferences and book signings – and everywhere else. Have them always handy. The more your card design stands out and clearly states who you are, the better. Bookmarks and author business cards are great opportunities to list ALL of you links and book sales pages.
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Never let potential readers / book purchasers scramble to find your book sales page or any of your web and Social Media presences – and don’t prompt your readers “to look it up!” And if someone did you a favor, recommended you and your books, or even wrote a review, then immediately write a thank-you-note! It’s called politeness, and is part of social networking. What do YOU think?
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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 for three months all this and more for only $179 – 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 1,140 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? There is also the “SHARE” button for easy sharing at Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
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