I’m inundated with writing information

I get posts from the sites listed below either daily or weekly. They take over my email stream. And if I read each and every one of them every day, I wouldn’t have time for anything else – including what I’m sitting down to do – WRITE! 

Mind you, this list doesn’t include posts from blogs I regularly follow, a daily poem, and other various emails from the Writer’s Market, Amazon, Powell’s Books, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter – the list goes on and on.

So what do you think? Which ones should I continue getting? Which ones should I toss? Also, are there any that I’m missing? I’d love to hear from you.

Storyfix is about getting real with your writing dream. About writing the kinds of stories that attract a readership through an understanding of craft and harnessing the power of the underlying principles that make it so.

“If you want to publish your work, if you want a career as a writer, then you’ve come to the right place.” ~ Larry Brooks

Copyblogger has been teaching people how to create killer online content. Not bland corporate crap created to fill up a company webpage. Valuable information that attracts attention, drives traffic, and builds your business.

The Write Practice is here to kick-start your practice. You have to write millions of words no one is ever going to see before you can write the ones that will change someone’s life.  

The Story Circle Network is dedicated to helping women share the stories of their lives and to raising public awareness of the importance of women's personal histories. We carry out our mission through publications, a website, classes, workshops, writing and reading circles, and woman-focused programs. Our activities empower women to tell their stories, discover their identities through their stories, and choose to be the authors of their own lives.

Seth’s Blog Seth Godin is a writer, a speaker and an agent of change. American Way Magazine calls him, "America's Greatest Marketer," and his blog is perhaps the most popular in the world written by a single individual. As Seth says, “Choose wisely. It's perhaps the most important decision we make, every day.”

Brain Pickings is a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, a subjective lens on what matters in the world and why, bringing you things you didn’t know you were interested in — until you are.

  

She Writes Press is an independent company founded to serve members of She Writes, the largest global community of women writers online, and women writers everywhere. Its regular emails include articles by successful authors and an opportunity to write something related to your writing in six words.

 

Writer’s Digest includes prompts, articles about writing and publishing, competitions, and info about conferences and workshops.

Author Marketing Experts blogs about book marketing, publishing, social media, writing, author and book promotions.

Guide to Literary Agents Part of the Writer’s Digest family, it includes posts about all aspects of writing and provides lists of agents looking for new books. I had a guest post there, so there are opportunities for you. Chuck Sambuchino is very accessible.

CRWOPPS Creative Writers Opportunities List Group provides daily lists of publishing and writing contest opportunities.

HARO Help A Reporter Out  is your exclusive publicity genie, delivering you three free email alerts daily, straight from journalists and media companies on a deadline who want your story and expertise! Plus, with HARO, you can submit unlimited pitches to top journalists from local, regional and national media outlets. I’ve had a couple of successes here, including a paying gig.

My Name is Not Bob  provides guest posts and writing and marketing tips by Robert Lee Brewer, who describes himself as Father. Poet. Editor. Curator. Occasional slap-happy smack talker.

BookBaby is a small team of authors, bloggers, programmers, and dreamers. We're dedicated to helping authors make the journey from composition to publication. Includes lots of writing and publishing tips in its blog.

Mike O'Mary's thoughts about book promotion

I couldn't leave my wonderful Dream of Things publisher, Mike O'Mary, out of my guest lineup. He has brought a whole new life to my book. His ideas for promotion have been priceless. I never would have known about most of this stuff had I gone on to self-publish after my first publisher went out of business. Please welcome Mike O'Mary and take lots of notes.

Time and Commitment are Keys to Book Promotion

by Mike O'Mary, My Dream of Things Publisher

As the publisher of the trade paperback and e-book editions of Madeline Sharples’ Leaving the Hall LightOn, I’ve had the pleasure of working with someone who really “gets it” when it comes to what an author needs to do after the book is written. In fact, I’ve already told other authors about Madeline and encouraged them to follow her and learn from her example.

When Madeline first contacted me about becoming her publisher, I was intrigued. The hard cover edition of her book had good reviews, but then her publisher went out of business. I read Madeline’s memoir and was blown away by the story of her son’s bipolar disorder and suicide. But what really got me was the story of Madeline’s journey in the aftermath of the suicide.

It was obvious to me that Madeline’s memoir is a very powerful book. Still, I didn’t make a final decision about becoming Madeline’s publisher until we talked about what would be involved in promoting her book. The reality is that writing a book is only half of the journey. Once the book is published, the second leg of the trip begins—and it’s all about promoting your book. (It’s sort of like climbing a mountain. Finishing your book is like reaching the summit. It’s an exhilarating feeling. But you’re not done. You need to come down from the mountain and tell us about it!)

Unfortunately, not all writers understand the importance of the second half of the journey. They think they are done when the book is written and published, and that a good book should sell itself. That’s not the way it works though, and when Madeline and I talked, it was clear to me that she understood this and was willing to work hard to promote her book. In fact, I’ve never seen anybody work harder at it.

One of the things Madeline and I discussed early on was a list of things that I could do as her publisher, things she could do as the author, and things we could do together. Through these and other efforts, Madeline’s memoir reached the #1 ranking among memoirs by women (out of 2,800+) in Amazon’s Kindle store in September, garnered 80 reader reviews on Amazon and 45 ratings and 17 reviews on Goodreads, and sold more than 1,000 copies during September and October. 

Here are some of the things we did:

Beef up the book’s Amazon page: Madeline has her book on her blog, and I have it on the Dream of Things website, but I treat the book’s Amazon page as its main presence on the Internet. That’s where most of the sales will occur, and the page can include all kinds of content, most of which can be managed through Amazon’s Author Central. We linked all of the editions (hard cover, trade paperback and e-book), added the “Search Inside” feature, expanded the book description to include blurbs from reviewers, selected categories for rankings, added the book to Shelfari.com (which is an Amazon subsidiary that feeds even more info to Amazon), etc. 

Reviews: It’s a challenge to get reviews from the big name reviewers, but I believe reader reviews are just as important. Madeline has asked many people to review her book. The key here is don’t be shy. Ask friends, relatives, subject matter experts, bloggers…anybody who might be willing to post a review.

Goodreads giveaway: We gave away free copies of the book to five people drawn at random from a list of people who signed up for the drawing over three weeks. The winners agree to review the book, and many people added the book to their “to read” list. (I followed up with everybody who did not win and offered them a 33% discount on the book.)

Virtual book tour (aka “blog tour”): Madeline did a blog tour when the book first came out in hard cover, and she is doing another one now. You can pay someone to organize a blog tour for you (I believe Madeline used WOW! Women On Writing to organize a tour for the release of the hard cover edition), or you can do it yourself, as we (mostly Madeline!) have been doing this time around.

Subscribe to HARO (www.HelpaReporter.com): HARO is a free service that connects reporters with subject matter experts. A reporter puts out a call for experts on a topic, and then you can respond with a brief “pitch” that tells how you can help them. It’s great publicity if you get interviewed or featured in a story.

Events: I know Madeline has participated in a number of book reading/signing events in California, and she also traveled to Chicago for a series of three readings and a radio interview over a whirlwind weekend in September.

KDP Select: I think this is the most significant thing we’ve done so far, and I think this is a great “secret” that every author should know. I enrolled Madeline’s book in the Amazon KDP Select program. That means the e-book is available exclusively through Amazon for 90 days. In return, Amazon Prime members are able to “borrow” the book from Amazon for free (we still get paid for “borrows”), and we can give away free copies of the e-book for five of the 90 days. In early September, we did a three-day giveaway, and promoted the heck out of it via a bunch of websites and e-newsletters that cater to Kindle readers. We gave away 14,000 copies during those three days. If you’re a first-time author with a small publisher, that kind of publicity is invaluable. One week after the free giveaway ended, Madeline was ranked #1 among paid sales of memoirs by women in the Kindle store. The giveaway also helped increase the number of reader reviews.

Other things: We’ve also been seeking media interviews (very challenging without a publicist, but we had a nice interview on WGN radio in Chicago); we’re doing a little bit of advertising online (again, targeting owners of e-readers); and we’ve talked about entering Madeline’s book in a contest or two. 

Bottom line: there is almost no limit to what you can do; it’s mainly a matter of time and commitment!

About Mike O'Mary: I am so fortunate to have found Mike O'Mary and Dream of Things. I am definitely one of the dreamers he started his publishing business for.

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, and a writer of essays, fiction, drama, and sketch comedy. He has published stories and essays in the Sunday magazines of the Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Baltimore Sun, Cleveland Plain Dealer and Detroit Free Press, and in the Catholic Digest. He was a regular commentator on WNIJ – Northern Illinois Public Radio, doing weekly commentaries as part of the local segment of National Public Radio’s Morning Edition program. He has also written and produced sketch comedy in Chicago, and he is a regular contributor to Freelance-Zone. Mike has a BA in Economics and English-Writing from Knox College and a MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana. He also attended the Second City Comedy Writing Program.

“I started Dream of Things because I wanted to find ways for us to work together more often. I also hope to make a lot of new friends and to work with many of them. Dream of Things is a place where other “dreamers” can share their ideas and stories and have fun in the process.”