Talking All Things Write

Who do I consider the expert on Amazon? My friend and colleague, Carolyn Howard-Johnson. She's written two fabulous books for authors: "Frugal Book Promoter" and "Frugal Book Editor". She's got an ezine for writers called: "Sharing With Writers." To locate Carolyn, visit her site: http://www.carolynhoward-johnnson.com/ . I highly recommend subscribing. I read her ezine and blog regularly. She also founded Authors' Coalition. A cooperative group of writers who do promotional activities together, among other things. The annual membership fee is a bargain! The lowest level of membership is only $20. Another friend, Joyce Faulkner, co-manages the organization ( http://www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com/ ). Joyce's business partner, Pat ... Read Full Story

The blogging experiment continues... I picked Del.icio.us for starters. Next I'll move to StumbleUpon and then Ma.gnolia . I decided not to sign up with Digg . And here's why. I read that it's a little more for the techies. From my own observations, it looks to me as if Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon are gaining ground. And supposedly StumbleUpon is user-friendly. Yes, I like that. Why Ma.gnolia? It doesn't have anywhere near the volume of the other three mentioned. All I can say is that I'm a sucker for anything southern. I might change my mind before it's all over. Del.icio.us First thing you ... Read Full Story

Please note: If you are interested in a step-by-step guide to amping up your blog, then I suggest you start at the beginning of our experiment, click here . Let's now turn our attention to Google Blogsearch . When you first click on the link, it simply takes you to a 'search' window. Before moving on, add your blog's URL to see if you are already being picked up by Google Blogsearch. Next click on the " About Google Blog Search " link. You'll find lots to investigate. I'll walk you through my experience and what I ended up doing as a result. You'll ... Read Full Story

The amping up your blog saga continues.... But first, if you' d like to start at the beginning ( click here ). Next is Ice Rocket . It's very easy to add your blog and then to ping once you've posted. I suggest creating a favorites folder for yourself with all the sites you'll want to ping after posting. There is a way on Ice Rocket to implant HTML code for immediate pinging notification, but I am not savvy or patient enough to figure it out. I'll have to do it the old fashioned way. Yep, I'll have to go to their site and ... Read Full Story

If you are not already using keywords in every post, you are missing a major opportunity to be noticed. It's a keyword world and we live in it! I have monitored posts with and without keywords. The ones with keywords do pick up more random traffic. One time, a post I wrote about American Idol contestants ended up being discussed on their forums. How do I know. I use Google Alerts . My friend, Joyce Faulkner, received a thank you note from the celebrity subject of one her posts. She wrote an article about the reality TV show 90210 . Dr. Robert Rey found ... Read Full Story