Archives for October 2016

Interview With Multi-Book Author D.G. Kaye

DG-Kaye
Today’s Author Interview introduces prolific Canadian writer D.G. Kaye.  Her memoirs are enchanting for a huge following, and we are happy to welcome her to our blog.
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Debbie, what inspired you to start writing?
Growing up in a dysfunctional family life inspired me to journal.  Journaling gave me a place to vent my feelings, frustrations, and observations I wasn’t permitted to voice.


How would you describe your book to someone who has not yet read it?
P.S. I Forgive You
was written as a sequel to Conflicted Hearts, although it’s a standalone book in its own right. Both books involve my life and torment living with a narcissistic mother. In this book, it is about my journey to understand my mother and finding a place of forgiveness for her before she died.
People sometimes behave inappropriately either because of their conditioning, illness, or lack of guidance.  I didn’t want to continue resenting my mother, so I chose to look into what things inspired her to become the person she was.  I found that by seeking to understand my mother became a stepping-stone in my path to finding forgiveness.
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Is there a message in your book that you want your readers to grasp?
Yes. We can still find forgiveness in our hearts for someone who has wronged us, without having  to allow them back into our lives.
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Give us an excerpted quote from your favorite review of this book:
This is heartbreaking and heart-mending at the same time.  It is an important book that should be read by many who are struggling to forgive and move on.  It’s not an easy task but one very well worth your while.”
~ Christoph Fischer

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If Oprah invited you onto her show to talk about your book, what would the theme of the show be?
How to seek understanding and refuge from the clutches of a damaged parent.
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How much of the book is based on real life (either yours or someone you know)?
The book is a memoir, all truth, and unfortunately, real life.
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What would/could a reader or reviewer say about this book that shows they “get” you as an author?
I write raw and honest from my soul. No holding back and making things appear prettier than they were.
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Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
Readers want truth. They want to be able to learn something from our experience. They want to understand the conflict of our story to be able to form their own opinions and emotions, not to be forced to solely feel the author’s view point of view.
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Considering a book from the first word you write to the moment you see it on a bookstore shelf, what ís your favorite part of the process?
My favorite part of writing is writing the first draft. This is where I get to write freely, exposing all my emotions in the raw out of my head, almost like a purge before re-writes begin.

What’s your least favorite?
My most challenging and probably least favorite part is writing the blurb. This is the part where a whole story is condensed into one or two short paragraphs, where we have to pull out the essence of the story to capture a reader’s attention, without giving out spoilers.
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What scene or bit of dialogue in the book are you most proud of, and why?
After my mother passed, my brother and I had to decide what we should have engraved on her headstone.  The chapter is aptly titled: The Stone. It was an emotionally difficult process to have to decide the words that would give her some dignity, yet not sugar-coat her memory with undeserved praise.

What genre have you not yet written but really want to try?
I sometimes think about writing women’s fiction. But I realized I’m just not a fiction writer.  I’m a storyteller about life and situations.  Writing my books as fiction would be like wearing a mask, hiding truth in a story that would have come from real life anyway.  I think if I ever were to endeavor into any other style of writing it would be screenwriting.
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If your book would be made into a movie, who should play the main character?
Now that’s a tough one.  I don’t think I’ve ever thought that far.  I’d have to say it would have to be someone who could portray both, a compassionate side, but a strong-willed character to represent me.  Perhaps someone like Natalie Portman, Kate Winslet, or maybe Reese Witherspoon would be suitable.
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How did you get published? Please share your own personal journey.
I’m a self published author.  I spent a year learning about the self publishing industry while I was writing my first book, Conflicted Hearts.  I subscribed to newsletters from some of the pioneers in the industry, joined forums, watched many webinars and podcasts, and made some good friendships along the way with other writers who already had experience under their belts, and were generous in their help and support.  It’s a big job to self publish because there is so much that goes under that umbrella, and consequently does eat up quite  a bit of writing time.
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What general advice do you have for other writers?
Read a lot. Read in different genres to get a sense of different writing styles to find what you like and don’t like about those styles.  Write every day no matter how little or how much.  Write for a blog, a book, or just use word prompts to keep your minds current and to better your writing.  I don’t believe to committing to a daily word count and there will be days when the pen (or fingers) just flow and days you may only get a paragraph or two out, but it’s a start for tomorrow’s writing.  Like anything else, writing daily makes us better writers.  Many authors including myself will tell you when they look back at their first book, they can see how far they’ve grown as writers by a difference in their writing as time passes.
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What is the best part of being a writer?
I’m my own boss. I make my own work schedules. I can write anywhere if I choose to travel. And I can write in my pajamas!
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What’s the most challenging part of being a writer?
I love everything about being a writer. Self-publishing is the challenging part because it takes up so much of writing time. Being self published and trying to become successful means putting a lot of time into social media to build a readership. Writing a blog and following up with comments daily and emails, and reading other people’s blogs eats up a lot of time but is necessary to make connections with others. This is all part of promoting our own work if we want to give our books any visibility in a very crowded market.
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Where’s the one place in the world you’d like to visit?
I’ve been to many places, but I left my heart in Arizona, and that’s where I hope to live one day.

What is your favorite book?
The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough. A story about  life, heartbreak and forbidden love.

How would a close friend describe you?
Energetic, empowering, outgoing, empathetic, compassionate, honest, and relentless.
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Where can people learn more about your writing?
I run a blog www.dgkayewriter.com where I post articles on everything from writing, to personal stories, helpful articles for technical issues I come across, random thoughts about life, book reviews, guest posts and interviews with other authors.  You can also type a subject in the search bar there to check out any of my many blog posts and interviews I’ve done.  The latest place I’m wanting to participate more with posts is www.niume.com.
All my books can also be found on my Amazon author page: www.amazon.com/author/dgkaye7
And of course I’m on social media everywhere!
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What is ONE thing that you have done that brought you more readers?
Engage with readers and followers!  When people take the time to read what I post and leave comments or emails, I always reply.  I also follow back my readers on their blogs and social media and help to share what they promote. This engagement makes others want to reciprocate, and by sharing each other’s posts and promotions, it brings new eyes to our work.
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What’s one thing that your readers would be surprised to know about you?
As outgoing and forthright as I am, I’m quite shy when it comes to public speaking and talking on video.
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How do you practice authenticity, in your life?
I live it!  I’m an optimist always looking for the up side of a down side. I speak the truth, I write my truth.  I’m a person of my word.  I always try my best to build people up because I’ve worked hard to build my own self-esteem.  I know what it feels like to be on the crappy side of the fence.
I speak from experience.  I preach kindness because it doesn’t cost anything to be nice to someone.  And anybody in my real life and virtual, online world knows if I can help someone, I will.
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What do you know, or perhaps represent – that others may not know or have?
I know what’s it’s like to be abused, neglected and demeaned.  That was a long time ago, but we never forget adversity.  In times of doubt or darkness, I remember how far I’ve come and I continue to rise.  We all have the ability to rise above adversity.  No, it’s never easy, but if there’s a will there’s a way. And that’s what I try to pass on to my readers.  Knowledge is power.

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As you look at your life story, at what point would you say you knew you have to write?
When I turned twenty and was already living on my own for a few years, journaling about life, I knew I needed to write.  My life was still unsettled while trying to get my act together, and I was too young to take writing seriously.  But I knew I was going to write books at some point.  It took me a few more decades to discipline myself.
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What values are most important for you as a writer?
Honesty in my writing. Helping other writers because I know when I first began writing there were other writers who gave of themselves with their time to help me when I was learning the ropes.
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Short Bio:
I’m a nonfiction memoir writer who writes about life, matters of the heart and women’s issues.  I write to inspire others by sharing my stories about events I encountered, and the lessons that come along with them. I love to laugh, and self-medicate with a daily dose of humor.  When I’m not writing intimate memoirs or posts, you’ll find me writing with humor in some of my other works and blog posts.

Memoirs

Book Links:

Conflicted Hearts                                         http://www.smarturl.it/bookconflictedhearts

MenoWhat? A Memoir                             http://www.smarturl.it/bookMenoWhatAMemoir

Words We Carry                                            http://www.smarturl.it/bookwordswecarry

Have Bags, Will Travel
http://www.smarturl.it/bookHaveBags

P.S. I Forgive You                                           http://www.smarturl.it/bookPSIForgiveYou

 

Where to find D.G. Kaye:

Website:           http://www.dgkayewriter.com

Author Page:   http://www.amazon.com/author/dgkaye7

Goodreads:      http://www.goodreads.com/dgkaye

About me:        http://www.wiseintro.co/dgkaye7

Twitter:            http://www.twitter.com/@pokercubster (yes there’s a story)

Linkedin:          http://www.linkedin.com/in/dgkaye7

Facebook:         http://www.facebook.com/dgkaye

Google:              http://www.google.com/+DebbyDGKayeGies

Instagram:        http://www.instagram.com/dgkaye

Pinterest:          http://www.pinterest.com/dgkaye7

 


Blurb for P.S. I Forgive You

“I hurt for her. She wasn’t much of a mother, but she was still my mother.”

Confronted with resurfacing feelings of guilt, D.G. Kaye is tormented by her decision to remain estranged from her dying emotionally abusive mother after resolving to banish her years ago, an event she has shared in her book Conflicted Hearts.

In P.S. I Forgive You, Kaye takes us on a compelling heartfelt journey as she seeks to understand the roots of her mother’s narcissism, let go of past hurts, and find forgiveness for both her mother and herself.

After struggling for decades to break free, Kaye has severed the unhealthy ties that bound her to her dominating mother—but now Kaye battles new confliction, as the guilt she harbors over her decision only increases as the end of her mother’s life draws near. Kaye once again struggles with her conscience and her feelings of being obligated to return to a painful past she thought she left behind.

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5 Authors Who Fought the Odds

Write-Passion

5 Authors Who Fought the Odds and Lived their Passion.  Traci Lawrence, an author of tremendously encouraging and uplifting books and articles, wrote:

“Life experience and passion are necessary to make any kind of writing standing out to readers. The most famous authors today have meshed their life’s work, or their favorite hobbies with their writing.  Clive Cussler, Dan Brown, John Grisham and Robin Cook  are a few of the authors that have written to their passion by writing about the subjects with which they are most familiar.

The writing of many authors seems more real because it is infused with their own life experiences.  Some writers are inspired by personal tragedy or political beliefs, while others are motivated by a dysfunctional childhood to create a unique writing style or imaginary world.
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Who are Some Famous Authors Who Have Survived Incredible Odds?

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830–1886) was an American poet who lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life.  She was considered eccentric.  Although she was a prolific poet, fewer than a dozen of her poems were published during her lifetime.  Those that were published were altered significantly by publishers. It was not until after her death that the full scope of Dickinson’s work was discovered.
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Stephen King (1947-present) is, arguably, the top-selling author of horror novels in the United States. Many of his books have been made into successful motion pictures and mini-series over the decades.
Mr. King wasn’t always successful. His first major work, Carrie (1973) was rejected over 30 times.  His wife retrieved an early draft out of the trash and demanded that he finish it.  In the late 1970’s, Carrie was made into King’s first blockbuster movie.
Another struggle that the author dealt with was the desertion of his father when King was 2 years old.  The family was left penniless.  Stephen King’s most recent complication occurred in 1999. vHe was walking on a rural highway when he was struck by a distracted driver.  He suffered multiple injuries.
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J.K Rowling (1965-present) is the United Kingdom’s top selling author.  She writes the Harry Potter Series.  She has had many challenges in her life, including the following: her mother’s illness and death, a challenging relationship with her father, domestic abuse during her first marriage (finally ending in divorce), a miscarriage, clinical depression, and poverty.
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Malala Yousafzai (1997-present) is a Pakistani author, social activist, and youngest-ever Nobel Prize recipient.  She was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize  in 2014.  She fought for human rights, including equal education for girls, in her home province where the local Taliban had banned females from attending school.
She began blogging anonymously on the BBC Urdu website in 2008 about the militant Taliban’s growing influence.  She kept blogging despite death threats.  In October, 2012, she was shot three times by a Taliban gunman while traveling on her school bus. Yousafzai’s memoir I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban, was published in October, 2013.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was an American abolitionist and author.  Her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) was a depiction of life for African Americans under slavery.  It then energized anti-slavery forces in northern states while provoking widespread anger in the southern states.  President Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying that Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book helped the northern states to win the Civil War.
She and her husband were critics of slavery.  They supported the Underground Railroad by temporarily housing several fugitive slaves in their home.
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What Can These Achievers Teach Us?

Address topics that impassion your imagination and real life. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Malala Yousafzai wrote about extreme social injustice. The works of J.K Rowling and Emily Dickinson are fueled by fantasy born of childhood isolation and personal trauma.

Write on topics, or in styles, that will change the world. Uncle Tom’s Cabin opened the eyes of America to the horrors of slavery. Emily Dickinson’s groundbreaking style of poetry broadened the spectrum of that genre.

Illuminate your own world as you envision it; readers may want to become temporary residents. Most people do not live in a world of haunted hotels, psychopathic high-school students and children, or cars that seem to come to life. Yet, Stephen King’s horror novels have been bestsellers for over 30 years. Many readers choose to read to escape reality. They are looking for something new.

Expose the truth at all costs, no matter how ugly it is. Malala Yousafzai fought to expose the repellant truth of legitimized social injustice in her own country despite bullying and an assassination attempt.

I believe that the unbelievable perseverance of survivors like the five trendsetters listed above can inspire every author.  They are very inspirational in how they dealt with personal trauma, their refusal to quit, and their passion.  May we follow their examples as we write to our own truth and passion!

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AUTHOR BIO:
Traci Lawrence writes about her passion: communication, relationships, the value of individuals and rising above verbal bullying, or trash talk.  Please find more on her blog, and read her book: Accept No Trash Talk

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Want to Sell More Books?

Regularly listed in the top 100 (and often top 50) bestselling authors on Amazon, Russell Blake is a thriller writer who has written twenty novels and who has mastered the art of great writing and great sales.

Extention-Thailand

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R
ussell Blake gives his fellow writers great advice:

1) Pick one genre that’s popular and with which you are extremely familiar, and then write in that genre. Stick to it. Don’t hop around. It confuses your potential readers and muddies who you are in their minds, and will hurt your sales. If you want to write different genres, use a pseudonym, and if you like, let your readers know that moniker is you. But stick to one name, one genre, because you’re building your brand, and brand building is a function of clarity – clearly communicating what you do, and what your  product is.

2) Write a series. Why? Because readers like series, and you want to give readers what they like. Or you won’t sell as much. You can try stand-alone – I have – but my series outsell my stand-alone books 4 to 1. Once you have at least three books in the series, make the first one free. Earn your income from the rest, but give readers a whole novel to decide whether they like your writing or not.
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3) Write a lot. By that I mean try to write at least 3 novels a year. Don’t bother with short stories or novellas (40K or under) if you’re writing fiction – erotica, romance and nonfiction reportedly to do better with short form, but I don’t know from personal experience. Write 60-90K installments in your series, and release them AT MINIMUM every four months. Every three months would be better. Every two, better still. Momentum breeds success, and readers have short memories. The current market is a hungry animal, and you need to feed it, or risk being forgotten by the time your next one releases. Sorry. It’s the truth. And don’t start whining about how X famous author only puts out one book every Y years. If you’re Dan Brown and you sell tens of millions of novels each whack, then do whatever the hell you like. If you aren’t, listen up, or choke your strategy up to, “Become the next Dan Brown” and stop reading this drivel.
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4) Read a lot. To write well, you need to read things that are well-written, and that serve to inspire you to greater heights or provide insight on how to improve your work in some way. You are what you eat. If you aren’t reading a decent amount, start, because otherwise you’re unlikely to write nearly as well as if you do.

RussellBlake Jet

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5) Allocate time every day to write, and be disciplined. I suggest minimum one hour per day, or 1000 words. I actually ignore that and shoot for 5000-7000 a day when writing a novel, but that’s just my approach, and it’s not for everyone. My point is that you must be disciplined about your writing and develop that muscle. If you don’t make it a habit, you won’t write enough to put out one novel every four months, and you’ll already be way behind the curve.
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6) Allocate time every day to market. I recommend a 75%/25% writing to marketing mix. So spend an hour writing every day, and fifteen-twenty minutes marketing (social media, blogging, interviews, message boards). Two hours writing, half hour or forty minutes marketing. And so on.
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7) Stay off the internet when you’re writing. Set aside the writing time, and do only that. Leave placeholders for stuff you need to research later. Stopping your writing to research breaks your momentum. Don’t do it. Checking your e-mail, checking in with your facebook group, reading a tweet – none of these are going to write your book for you, so stop it already.
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8) Get professional help. Do pro covers. It’s the first thing your potential readers will see. Put out something amateurish, and they will go to something that looks worthy of their time, and it won’t be you. Get pro editing. You are asking people to pay for your product. They won’t, and shouldn’t, if you haven’t ensured it is a pro product, which means it must be edited and proofread. If you’re too cheap or too broke to pay an editor, barter something of value to get someone qualified to do it, or (gasp, here’s an idea) save some money so you can do it right. Skip these steps and you won’t sell much, if anything. Or if you do, it won’t last very long, because word will spread, and then you’re dead.
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The Voynich Cypher
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9) Make sure your product description rocks, is short and compelling, and sucks the reader in. After your cover, the product description has to sell the book. Don’t give too much info, don’t spell out the plot like it’s a test. Give the high points that will interest a reader in knowing more. And make sure it’s coherent and there are no typos or bad grammar, as that will kill most of your sales out of the gate.
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10) Now for the actual book. You have five pages to hook the reader. The first five. Make those amazing pages that demand the reader continues.

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11) Know your audience. You do that by reading a fair amount in the genre, and by looking at the reviews of your competitors/the bestsellers in your genre. If you’re writing for a genre that’s 90% cat ladies, you need to know that going in. If mostly older males, know that too. Teen girls, ditto. Whatever your audience, figure it out before you start writing. Do a little research. It will pay dividends later.
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12) Brand yourself as the go-to author in that genre. Become synonymous with your genre. Define it, if possible. Even better would be the situation your name is shorthand for the genre in your readers’ minds. As an example, Dan Brown is synonymous with a genre Umberto Eco pioneered with Foucault’s Pendulum – the theology-based conspiracy treasure hunt. Nowadays, when readers try to articulate that, they say “it’s a Dan Brown kind of book.” You should live so long, but make that your goal.

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13) Price competitively and intelligently. Look at your genre. Where are most books priced? Are you undervaluing /underpricing your work? Price to sell, but don’t go cheap, no matter what Locke or Hocking did years ago.

Use low prices occasionally to move product, as promotional pricing. But price your product consistently with the rest of your peers. Over time, you can increase prices, if your product warrants it and your readership is willing to pay it. My advice here is don’t price too low, or too high. Obviously, if you are racing up the charts at $3.99 and believe that moving to .99 will get you into the winner’s circle, go for it, but that’s rare.

Price intelligently, and constantly play around with. By way of example, I tried $2.99 and $3.99, and then $4.99, and my sales were basically the same. .
Read a lot more of his tips for authors:
http://russellblake.com/how-to-sell-loads-of-books/

 

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How to Create a Social Media Blitz

Social-Media-Blitz


Social Media
 is meant for networking, not for advertising.  However, sometimes there is an exemption, such as a book launch, pre-sale campaign, Amazon Free Days or a Kindle Countdown sales campaign, that you want to announce as often as possible to reach all your followers.

Here is how you can accomplish this without getting your posts or tweets kicked out due to spamming:
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1. Step:  Connect Your Social Media Accounts

As more writers are engaged in Social Media and as more platforms they use, as easier it gets!  You write the posts – snippets from your blog or short announcements only once, but then you copy and paste them to several of your Social Media sites. Here are some examples:

Goodreads: Import your blog. Authors are the only members of Goodreads who can have blogs, and author blogs are a great place to start a conversation. You can add a link to your personal website or blog.

Google+: Connect your Google+ account with Twitter and everything you post is pinged to Twitter as well. How to set it up via ManageFlitter is explained in this blog post.

Pinterest: Connect with Facebook and Twitter, using their “setting” function.

LinkedIn: Connect your Twitter account with your LinkedIn page

Got Hundreds of LinkedIn Connections?
Circloscope.com is the only tool that allows you to find Google+ users from your long list of email addresses and to transfer them in bulk.
Now you just have to decide if you want to transfer your LinkedIn followers “by hand” into your Google+ circles or if you want to transfer them with one click (paid version of Circloscope.com = $47 for one year).  If you have hundreds of followers to transfer, you might choose this small one-time expense to save lots of time.
More on https://www.savvybookwriters.com/how-to-import-your-linkedin-contacts-to-google/
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2. Step:  Add Sharing Buttons to Your Blog

How can you multiply the amount of posts and tweets for your campaign and get folks to share your posts or website content online?  Make it easy for them to share what you have written with their social networks – and forward it to their followers and friends, and these also forward it to their friends and followers …. You get the idea!
The best way to start this process is to include clickable buttons to offer the idea of sharing front and center, and make it incredibly simple for your readers to post your link to LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and most important: to Google+, and many other social networks, such as Tumblr or StumpleUpon.

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3. Step: Join Bit.ly or Any Other Link-Shortener

You might know Bit.ly as a tool to shorten lengthy URL’s, such as this posts’ web address from: http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/benefits-of-using-bit-ly-for-social-media/

to: http://bit.ly/NbQgkw

When someone clicks on the Bit.ly shortened version, they are then redirected to the original long URL. Best of all: you can post to several Twitter and Facebook accounts with ONE click.

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4. Step: Join as Many Google+ Communities as Possible

Posts within a community are indexed by Google and will be found in organic search results –
which means higher ranking for you on Google’s Search Engine! However, do some networking before you post about your campaign for the first time and don’t spam the communities, rather choose those who allow self-promotions.  Best of all:  you can start your very own community, where you can post at your discretion! Important is only that you have lots of followers there.
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 5. Step:  Write & Publish on More than one Blog – plus LinkedIn

Use this new, free feature to get more exposure for your writing and your books.  This is how it works:
If you go to your LinkedIn homepage you will need to look for an “share an update” box in the upper part of your page and look for a pencil symbol next to the paper clip.  If this is visible, you are ready to publish on Linkedin!

Hover over the symbol and it will show “create a post“.  If you click it, you will be taken to a page ready to put your title in, write a new post or paste an article from your blog, website or a previously created content.  It means you can start publishing articles, images and links to potentially 300 million users on LinkedIn.

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6. Step:  Create Author and Fan Pages

Tips for Your Professional Amazon Author Page
Once your book goes live on Amazon you are eligible for an Amazon Author Central Account – and your very own web page on Amazon! Best of all: There is no advertising on your site, just a large image of your book(s), your reviews and your book’s description.  Get more tips here.
Amazon is not the only place where you can have an author page: Google+, Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest etc., they all offer a second page, dedicated to your book or you as an author.

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7. Step:  Get as Many Quality Followers as Possible

No matter which sites you join, create an attractive profile, complete with an avatar that shows a favorable and professional portrait and an attractive bio.  Display links to your Social Media accounts in your email signature, your blog or website, business cards – just everywhere.
Re-tweeting and re-posting your followers is a non-brainer. Be generous in linking and re-tweeting others. You do not have to sit all day long on your computer to do this.  Check tweets once or twice a day and pack interesting ones into Buffer who will spread them throughout the day.
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– Share only valuable content.
– Be generous, inspiring, entertaining, provide useful links.               – Provide content that people are proud to provide to their own followers.

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Be selective when choosing followers, avoid commercial account, celebrities and others who will most likely not re-tweet / post your content.  Never buy any followers, these are robots who will not help you.  As an author look for readers, book bloggers, reviewers etc.  and thank everyone who is helping you to get the word out.

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8. Step:  Write Several Blog Posts Ahead of Your Campaign

Write at least three to five articles about your campaign or your book – either on several of your own blogs or as a guest blog.  Use several angles to get the message out, and write about the benefit of the reader / buyer!  Use for each of your blog posts a different image.  Use the headline and link of each of your posts during your campaign, under a variety of links as explained in the first tips of this article. Example:  FREE TODAY: The Wolf’s Moon,  ebook, 408 pages, 99 reviews – get this fascinating suspense #Thriller  Amazon.com/dp/B0077F0DFI

To get more posts / tweets out, you can exchange the main link with the links of every country your e-book is sold in.  E.g. you might create twelve completely new tweets.  And on top of that if you add to each of these tweets a recipient at the end of the message, for example:  @ebookPR or @ebooksIntl, you are able to expand your tweets into hundred or thousands more…

Don’t forget to take advantage of the Buffer function that can spread your blog posts over the day – or Hootsuite.com and Futuretweets.com.
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9. Step:  Schedule Your Posts at the Best Times

There are several tools you can use: You can for example schedule on Hootsuite or on Futuretweets.com, (or both) or on other providers, such as Twitterfeed, Buffer and Twaitter.com (now Gemln).
Posting links to Twitter between the hours of 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time will give you the highest click rank, especially early in the week.  Meanwhile, sending a tweet with a link after 8:00 p.m. should be avoided — as should posting links after 3:00 p.m. on Fridays.  My own experience so far with both, Google+ and Twitter is:  8-9 in the morning, 11-12 around noon, 3pm and 5-6pm.  One last tip:  when you post on your Google+ timeline, you can also add a personal email to all your followers – hopefully you have lots of them!

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Take Advantage of these Time Savers – and Reach more Followers

Using all these tactics should allow you to post your campaign at least 15 – 20 times per day, without ever repeating the link to your book or your message.  However, I am sure, as a reader and a subscriber of our blog posts you knew about these tips already.

 


9 Steps to Reach More Followers in Less Time

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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 1,130 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, Facebook etc.

 

Finally Available: The Guide to Find Reviewers

Everything You Need to Know About the Topic “Book Reviews”

Book-Reviews

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M2Y3E5W/

NOW AVAILABLE at Amazon
111 Tips to Get FREE Book Reviews
More than 1,200 direct links to book reviewers – clickable links to each website! and 111 tips and insider information will provide authors on 240 pages with all aspects of finding, following, and networking with reviewers and influential book bloggers.

Many important steps, such as researching which genre book reviewers prefer and how to connect with them, or how to get media reviews will help you to successfully market your books. How to prepare professional ARC’s (advance review copies) in order to get reviews before your book’s launch, is described in detail.
Practical insider information, such as how to get endorsement for your nonfiction book, how to leverage your reviews, how to deal with negative book reviews, why join many reader communities or how to plan book blog tours – including tips from bestselling authors and publishing industry professionals who explain how to get lots of free book reviews.
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Some of the Many Topics in this Valuable Book:

  • Book Reviewer Links
  • Advance Review Copy
  • How to Find Media Reviewers
  • Book Review Tips for Authors
  • How to Find Book Reviewers
  • Strategies for Getting Lots of Reviews
  • Tips on How to Get Free Book Reviews
  • How to Get Endorsements
  • How to Aim for Amazon Top Reviewers
  • How to Deal With Negative Reviews
  • Difference between Editorial and Book Reviews
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Get it now at the INTRODUCTORY PRICE (until October 31st)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M2Y3E5W/

… and don’t forget to write a review : )

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A Total Mystery: Number of Pages Read

KU-Numbers

Still worth to be on Amazon KDP Select?
You might have read this recent blog post here at SavvyBookWriters.com/blog.  I just came over a discussion on Amazon KBoards.  Title:  Amazon is intermittently admitting to errors in it’s KU page reporting.  KBoards is a discussion board for owners of Kindles, readers of Kindle e-books, and writers of Kindle e-books.

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Mystery: Number of Pages Read?
Have you ever wondered how Amazon is able to figure out and correctly state how many pages of a certain book were read? And what happens if the book is read only a year or two later? And does Amazon even increase their own revenue, when they do not pay the author?  Question after question…  And discussions by authors for over this topic for years now.
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Becca Fanning wrote: “For the past few weeks dozens of authors have been reporting that their page read counts on new releases have been…off. Not off by ten percent, but by 50-95%.  These are for consistent releases with expected patterns of performance (as expected as you can be in this industry).  Sales numbers and sales ranks are as expected, but page reads are drastically lower. Just to make a few points clear: the pool of authors who have noticed things aren’t right includes those with fewer than five books under their belt and NYT bestselling authors with over 100 books who regularly break into the top 100 or top 50.”

And further: “As authors have started to come together in their genre-focused forums and support groups, they started to compare their data and take action.  Emails began to fly, initially meeting with a stalwart wall of “We looked into your pages read and can confirm that they are accurate.” Most of us took that and gave up. But one didn’t. They insisted on getting someone on the phone and elevating their issue up the chain.

On Friday Sept 30, Amazon admitted that there’s a problem on their end and that they have to get their legal team involved.  Since then, a handful of authors have gotten emails stating that a “small number of pages” were erroneously left out of their reports and were now being credited due to a software glitch. One author saw their September page total go up by a little over 1,000 KENP and another saw it go up by over 30,000 KENP.
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The author who first broke through the Amazon shield wall and got the admission that there was something wrong hasn’t received an email about additional page credit yet.  In fact, concurrent with these developments this weekend, Amazon was still emailing authors with massively suppressed page reads that everything was fine.
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Authors are advised:
“If you recently published and your page reads look off, you should reach out to Amazon and let them know.  If you have books enrolled in KDP Select and you think your reported page reads have been unusually low recently, you should send an email to:
ecr-support@amazon.com and kdp-support@amazon.com. Provide them with data and if your numbers don’t look right, be firm.  You might get results that are worth your time.  Others have.”

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When I canceled my own KDP Select in summer for all my books, I did it only out of a feeling that something isn’t right in the Amazon statements, regarding the “pages read” in the KindleUnlimited program.  But how can you prove it to them?  It’s always better to have full control over your business – and I hate to call them up, so I pulled the plug.  I am glad that I stepped out a while ago, when I found these writer’s post.
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More details from bestselling writers are discussed in an article at the Digital Reader.
Read the whole discussions at KBoards and also this one.

 

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New for Prime Members: Free Reading

Free-Reading

 

Amazon sweetened the deal for U.S. Prime Members even more: Add one more perk to Amazon’s Prime subscription service: They recently unveiled “Prime Reading”, which gives Prime subscribers to the $99/yr service access to more than 1,000 Kindle books, as well as magazines and other published works for free.  

Unlike Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, Prime Reading titles can be read on any Kindle e-reader or Fire tablet, or using the Kindle reading app for iOS or Android.  A Fire or Kindle device is not required.

Books including Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Hobbit are available, as well as travel guides from Lonely Planet.  Amazon’s new Prime Reading gives Prime members all they can read from these 1.000 Kindle bestsellers.

It’s more or less a version of Kindle Unlimited with a pared down catalog – KU boasts over a million books, magazines and audiobooks – but without any additional cost if you’re already a Prime member.  Prime Reading is currently available for customers with a U.S. country of residence.
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To Borrow a Book Using Your Prime Reading benefits:

  • Go to the Kindle Store at https://www.amazon.com/primereading
  • Locate a title that you’d like to borrow, and then view the product detail page for that title.
  • Select the option to borrow the book for free with Prime Reading, and then select the device or Kindle reading app you’d like to read the title on.
  • Tip: You can also click the option to borrow the book for free with Prime Reading from the Kindle Store on the Kindle app for iOS or Android, as well as Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets.

The magazine selection included, sounds even more appealing: titles such as the National Geographic Traveler, People, Sports Illustrated, Popular Mechanics among others.  Prime Reading content can be accessed either via the Kindle app or Amazon’s own Kindle devices.
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USA TODAY wrote:
“Prime Reading is among several book initiatives tied to Amazon’s Kindle.  The Kindle Owners Lending Library allows owners of a Kindle to download one book a month.  There’s also Kindle First, where users choose one of six new books to read before its official release.  Kindle Unlimited is Amazon’s spin on the Netflix model, where users can download and read one of thousands of books for a monthly subscription fee.  Unlimited is separate from Amazon Prime.”
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My first thought was:
If you have Kindle Unlimited subscription you might as well cancel it as a result of this launch – but it probably isn’t the most desired outcome for Amazon.  Even with the smaller content library there’s a lot offered for casual browsing.

If you are a Prime member, did you check out the book and magazine selection yet?

 

How to Write Your Memoir

People telling you “you have a great story, you should write a book” might be a kickstart for you to write your memoir.
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Author-Kaye
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The process of writing can help you to understand yourself and others better.  Fundamental dynamics of a family, or relationships with friends could have very deep causes.

Multi-Book Author D.G. Kaye Explains in an Article:
“Whether writing a novel or writing a memoir, the process is similar, but it has different components.  Some might think, writing a memoir is easier than creating fictional stories, but the story must still be created, even though taken from our own experiences, and facts still must be checked.
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Emotionally Draining…
There can also be added emotional stress when writing such stories as we are forced to re-live, sometimes, really painful memories.  The process of focusing on painful events from your past, writing about them, re-reading them in revisions and edits can become emotionally draining and sometimes depressing at points.
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Memoir Writing is Similar to Conflict Resolution.
I compare the process of writing my memoirs to going to therapy sessions where I’m baring my raw self and soul to a specialist in search of resolution from the conflict.  There can be dark moments when we go back to some unpleasant places in time.  I find in those times that I need to step away from my work to distance myself from my story in order to decompose for awhile.
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The Writer’s Job is to Tell the Truth.
As memoir writers, it’s our job to tell the truth and convey our stories from our own truth, the way we experienced it.  The truth is not made to be sugar-coated, or exaggerated. Characters in our stories shouldn’t be adorned for more than who they were, just to sensationalize.  The purpose of our stories is to keep the readers engaged by allowing them to form their own emotion from what we deliver.  The story isn’t a place for us to present ourselves as self-centred or heroic, nor is it to invoke sympathy from the reader.  It’s rather to engage our readers into the stories we tell, allowing them to develop their own emotion from the story, and hopefully gain some insight for themselves from the material they’ve read.
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Courage to be Able to Write a Memoir.
It takes a special blend of courage to be able to write in memoir, first by having to face some unpleasant memories, and then once published, exposing our most intimate stories to the world.
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Be Careful How to Write About the Characters.
We also have to pay attention to our characters in our stories. Often, the people we write about are flawed.  These people shouldn’t be taken by surprise when finding out they are in someone’s book, finding their flaws exploited publicly.  It’s important to learn the infringement laws about libel, slander, defamation of character, and invasion of privacy to protect ourselves from potential lawsuits.  If there are people we write about who concern us with these issues, it’s always best to get permissions from them in writing.  Although this may sound like an awkward task, it’s well worth doing to avoid possible repercussions.
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How to Avoid Potential Lawsuits.
Two important things to keep in mind to help avoid potential lawsuits, are to change the names and identities of the people in question we are writing about.  Write a disclaimer in the front matter of books stating that name and / or occupations have been changed to protect identities.  The changes don’t detract from the story being a true memoir, merely a precaution against legal issues.  Keep in mind these may still not be enough measures to protect against potential lawsuits, but they are the first important steps to take.

I would advise writers who are endeavouring into publishing memoirs, or any other books, which may contain incriminating actions of real characters in your stories, to do due diligence and read up on the proper protocol to protect against publishing any infringing material.
For more information about potential legalities involved with writing about real people in your books, here’s an excellent article from author/lawyer, Helen Sedwick.

I would highly recommend any writer entering into the publishing world to read Helen’s book, the Self Publisher’s Legal Handbook.  Do your homework so you can write and publish with good conscience – this way you will sleep better.

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Author Bio:
Debby Gies is a Canadian non-fiction / memoir author who writes under the pen name of D.G. Kaye.  She was born, raised, and resides in Toronto, Canada.  Kaye writes about her life experiences, matters of the heart and women’s issues – and to inspire others.
Her latest title, a memoir just launched last week:
P.S. I Forgive You: A Broken Legacy

Memoirs

For More Books by D.G. Kaye: https://www.amazon.com/author/dgkaye7
Visit D.G. Kaye’s blog at: http://www.DGKayewriter.com

 

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111 Tips to Get FREE Book Reviews

COMING SOON:
111 Tips to Get FREE Book Reviews
e-Book, covering the best strategies for getting lots of great reviews – including over 1,200 direct links (clickable links to each website!) to reviewers and book bloggers.

 

free_bk_rvw_aug30-copy
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Book Bloggers and Reviewer contact addresses can be found at the end of each chapter. And if you send us an email, using our contact form at 111Publishing.com, you will receive twice a year the latest reviewer contacts.
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Even More Benefits for REVIEWERS:
Send us a link to your review at Amazon or Goodreads of this upcoming book 111 Tips to Get FREE Book Reviews  o r  for the already launched: 111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free and we will refund you an Amazon gift card for two book purchases.
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Table of Contents

WHY ARE REVIEWS SO IMPORTANT
HOW TO GET FREE REVIEWS?
THE IMPORTANT LAST PAGES
WHERE ELSE TO FIND REVIEWERS
VIRTUAL BLOG TOURS TO GET REVIEWERS
WHAT BOOK REVIEWERS LIKE
EXAMPLES OF REVIEWER SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
HOW TO CONNECT WITH INFLUENTIAL BOOK BLOGGERS
HOW TO PITCH TO BOOK BLOGGERS / REVIEWERS
PLANING YOUR PITCH TO BLOGGERS / REVIEWERS
PAID BOOK REVIEWS
EXAMPLES OF PAID REVIEW SITES
NEWSLETTER MAILING PROMOTION SERVICES
PAID BOOK REVIEW CONNECTING SERVICES
PAID REVIEWS FOR TRADE PUBLISHERS
GOODREADS REVIEWS
AIM FOR AMAZON TOP REVIEWERS
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
AMAZON READER REVIEWS
UNCOVERING FAKE REVIEWS
APPLE iBOOK REVIEWS
AUDIO BOOK REVIEWS
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BOOK FOR REVIEWS
ADVANCE REVIEW COPIES (ARC)
REVIEWS READ BY LIBRARIANS
WHY STAMP YOUR BOOK “REVIEW COPY”?
IMPORTANCE OF PRESS KITS / MEDIA KITS
ENDORSEMENTS FOR YOUR BOOK
MEDIA BOOK REVIEWS
TIPS ON HOW TO GET MEDIA BOOK REVIEWS
READER WEBSITES / FORUMS / COMMUNITIES
BOOK GIVEAWAYS at READER COMMUNITIES
JOIN GOOGLE+ REVIEWER COMMUNITIES
JOIN THESE GROUPS TOO
HOW TO WRITE BOOK REVIEWS
HOW TO DEAL WITH NEGATIVE BOOK REVIEWS
WHY READERS – YOU – SHOULD WRITE REVIEWS
CAUTION: DON’T LOSE YOUR REVIEWS
HOW TO LEVERAGE YOUR BOOK REVIEWS
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Getting your book reviewed is the direct outcome of these three factors combined:
Preparation – Presentation – Luck of the Draw.

You can at least totally influence the first two! For the last one, I cross fingers for you!

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Tagged: Advance Review Copy, ARC, Book Bloggers, book critiques, book reviewers, editorial reviews, media reviews, Tips to get free reviews

Most Successful Images on Social Media

 

SocialMedia-Images

No matter if we are writers who want to market our books, e-book-PR or self-employed, trying to sell services, or a famous brand trying to market their products: we all need to learn how we can market without words.

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Readers, consumers, and even casual visitors of social media are all flocking to visual platforms, such as: Pinterest, Snapchat, Instagram or GooglePlus.

Since the new DIY design tool Canva came on the scene, more and more people are recognizing the benefits of creating their own images.If we can learn how to use images, photos, video, and other visual media in our online marketing, then we have a greater chance of reaching more people with our message.

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A Picture Paints a 1000 Words…
But which types of image characteristics will drive more likes? Curalate, a visual-mastering platform, looked at a range of image features across 8,000,000 Instagram photos — including lightness, color, texture and background ratio — and found interesting results.  Their data said “what” but not necessarily “why”, but they have a strong hypothesis on the reasoning behind some of the results.  Here are some of their findings:
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  • 80% of Pins are Re-pins on Pinterest.
    Which means that 80% of information is “shared” and only 20% of content posted up is original. Be the 20% that gets re-pinned by 80% of users, create your own original content!
  • People like colorful images, but moderation matters.
    The most re-pinned images have multiple colors: Images with multiple dominant colors have 3.25 times more re-pins per image than images with a single dominant color.
  • Very light and very dark images are not re-pinned as often.
    The re-pinning rate for images of medium lightness is 20 times higher than for images that are mostly black, and eight times higher than images that are mostly white.
  • Red images get more re-pins than blue images.
    Images that are red, orange and brown receive roughly twice as many re-pins than images that are blue.
  • Get close and personal – people pay attention to details.
    Images that contain less than 30 percent background (e.g. white space) are re-pinned the most.
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Don’t Tell if You Can Show:
Wherever possible, use visuals, such as photos, book trailers / videos, or slideshows / powerpoint presentations.  Creativity will still trump the science and there is no formula for a “perfect” Pinterest or Instagram photo.

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Read More:
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-create-the-best-pinterest-images-2013-5

https://www.internetretailer.com/2013/05/31/more-colors-attract-more-attention-pinterest-users

https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/study/2272742/new-pinterest-research-shows-which-images-get-the-most-engagement

https://www.wired.com/2013/06/this-is-the-perfect-pinterest-picture/

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