It’s a question I get asked a lot: “Why isn’t my book selling?” This question isn’t reserved for the author who is clueless about marketing. I’ve been asked this by savvy authors, even business people who can’t seem to figure out the system for selling.

Sometimes the reasons why a book isn’t selling are easy: the cover is poor, the content is not edited or the topic is unappealing. But in most cases that I’ve seen, you need to dig deeper. So, overlooking the obvious, let’s go a step further because the mysteries of selling might be a lot easier to fix than you think.

1. Start Early: In many cases starting early means earlier than you think. Often, I see authors beginning their campaigns a month prior to book launch. If you do that, keep in mind that your results won’t show up for months (and months), often it takes up to six months to see anything you seed start to grow. That’s partially why marketing people will encourage you to start early because it can take so long to see results.

2. Limited availability: Having a book that can only be purchased off of your website isn’t a great way to promote a title. You want to make sure that the book is where your consumer is: on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and even if you aren’t stocked on a bookstore shelf, you want to be sure that someone can order it. Limit your book availability and you limit your success. If you don’t give your consumer enough places to get your book, they will probably get someone else’s title instead. Don’t let your marketing serve the competition better than it serves you.

3. The rule of seven: You need to be everywhere. A lot. But what does that mean, exactly? It means that your reader (or potential reader) needs to see your book in a lot of different places. Have you asked yourself how many ways you are marketing the book? Are you active in any social media? Do you participate in blogs? Are you getting reviews? Think of the seven ways or access points that you need for your book to gain traction with the audience. Seven seems to be the magic number for many marketing people so go with that, use it as a goal. Your book should have access points in seven different areas. With so much out there begging for your readers’ attention you want to be sure that your book is getting an equal amount of attention.

4. Multichannel marketing: How many different ways are you marketing your book? No, I don’t mean the rule of seven, though this applies here, too. What I mean is how many channels are you using to market your book to the reader? Email? Video? Print mailings? A successful campaign is one that encompasses the rule of seven, so seven public channels to reach your reader, but also consider multi-channel marketing, as well.

5. You don’t think this applies to you: Often when I give these talks, I have authors who say, “Well, this may be true for some, but it’s not really what I’m about.” It might not be what you are about, but I can guarantee you it applies to everyone, across the board. Are there success stories that break out of the norm? You bet, but it’s rare.

Now You Know, What Do You Do?

Let’s say that you’re reading this, you are knee-deep in promotion and thinking “oh, brother, this is me. What now?” A lot of authors just toss the first book out and focus on the second figuring they made the mistakes with the first and chalk it up to a “learning curve.” I don’t think that’s a great idea. You put a lot of work into that book, yes? Don’t you want it to succeed? I thought so. Here are some tips you can implement, right now, to get things back on track:

* Get to know successful authors: Yes, it’s good and cathartic to commiserate with other authors who feel their book isn’t selling, but beyond that it won’t really do much for your success. Step out of your comfort zone and start looking for authors you want to emulate. Successful authors who have it going on. Build your list. Find at least 10 authors in your market that are doing well and presumably selling books.

* Investigate: What do other authors do in your genre? You now have a list of other, successful authors, right? If you’ve collected this list, follow them on their blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest. Follow them everywhere, start to build your tribe. Get to know them almost better than you know your own marketing campaign. You may say “well, they have more money than I do to market!” That might be true, but I bet it’s not – not entirely anyway. Most of the really successful authors don’t get there with just a checkbook, they probably have a great sense of who their market is, what their market wants and exactly how to give it to them. I’m not telling you to copy, I’m telling you to learn from other successful authors.

* Google Alerts: Now that you have your list of fabulous authors, plug their names into Google Alerts and see where they show up. Yes, when I say investigate I mean doing just that. Do your homework. Why does this matter? Because the blogs they show up on will be great places for you to network, and guess what? All it costs is a little bit of time.

* Count the ways: How many different ways can a reader access you? Count them. I’m serious. You should have at least seven access points. Maybe you are syndicating articles, maybe you are on YouTube, maybe you are on Facebook, Pinterest, whatever it is it’s an access point. If you don’t have seven of them and aren’t sure where to start, go back to bullets two and three.

* Get rid of what’s not working: I was at an event a few weeks ago and talked to an author who was doing lots of Google ads. He was careful to stay within his daily budget, but he wasn’t sure if they were working. Why was he doing them? He had been to a seminar that talked about Google Ads and thought he’d give it a shot. Initially it did well, then not so much. He kept doing them because he thought eventually it would turn around. Sometimes things like ads have a lifespan, if you aren’t monitoring this stuff you’ll never know. Don’t hesitate to get rid of what’s not working and be brutally honest with yourself. Remember that if you keep doing something that’s not working it will take away time and probably money from doing something that could make your book successful. The choice is yours.

* Distribution: Make sure your book is out there, and I mean really out there. You may hate it that Amazon takes 55% of your book sales but would you rather have 45% of a sale or nothing at all? Don’t have an ebook yet? Why not? It’s easier than ever to have your book converted to an ebook. It’s so easy I’ve known authors to do it in less than 15 minutes. It’s no longer a matter of whether you can publish a book; it’s whether someone can find it. You might not be in stores nationwide, but if you can be on online e-tailers that’s a big and helpful start.

* Persistence: Maybe the biggest piece of success is persistence. I know I sound like a motivational speaker right now, but it’s true. Persist, persist, persist. Often I find that authors are just weeks away from their success and they give up because of some of the reasons cited in the first part of this article. Persist even on the days you can’t be bothered. On those days do just one thing. Just one.

The key to success isn’t always easy or clear-cut, but the key to failure often is. If you have produced a good looking, well-written book but it’s still not selling then go back through this article to find the missing piece or pieces. Once you do, I can almost guarantee your book will start to take off.

Reprinted from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

More About Book Selling and Promotion:

• Jump Start Your Book Sales: A Money-Making Guide for Authors, Independent Publishers and Small Presses
• 1001 Ways to Market Your Books (1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers)
• 21 Ways to Promote Your Book on Twitter

Image: Craftyjoe / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Ever wanted to write as part of a team? It’s a completely different process, as Helen and Lorri Carpenter will tell you in this interview. Enjoy.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how long have you been writing?

We’re Helen and Lorri Carpenter, a mother/daughter writing team. We write together as HL Carpenter.

We’ve lived in a lot of different states, and loved time spent in all of them, so we like to say we’re from everywhere. We live in Florida now. Though native Floridians believe you’re not a true southerner unless you were born here, we’ve been Sunshine State residents so long we figure we nearly qualify.

As for the writing, we’ve been doing that long enough that we think we’re almost natives in this strange land, too.

Tell us about your latest book. What do you hope readers take away from it?

At heart, The SkyHorse is a story of the special love between a girl and a horse. We hope readers understand why our heroine makes the decision she did, and that love sometimes involves hard choices.

Do you believe in writer’s block? 

No. It’s another term for procrastination. Writers write, even if they think what they’re writing is unpublishable.

Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?

More books! We’re nearly finished with the first draft of another young adult novel, and we have three other finished manuscripts cooling off and waiting for revision. We also have a completed series of cozies for adult readers, along with three novellas featuring the same character.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

That’s a tough one, because we read so much, and we’re interested in so many different topics. The books we like best are the ones that teach us something new, or that capture our thoughts and experiences in a way we might not have been able to express ourselves.

And, of course, there’s the dictionary, which we actually do read. Should we admit that? Well, since the horse is out of the stall, we’ll just say you can find a really interesting article in the back of The American Heritage College Dictionary about Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans. Words and their origins – what could be more fascinating?

Book you’re currently reading?

A re-publication of Stephen King’s first novels, which he published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. He has a knack for sucking the reader in with his opening sentence.

What is one thing that frustrates you about being a writer?

Not being able to write fast enough. Those notebooks full of characters, settings, and ideas keep reaching out ghostly tentacles, moaning, When? When? When do we get our own life?

Any type of writing ritual you have?

We’re not superstitious, so there’s no sharpening of pencils or arranging of reference material or touching of lucky amulets, if that’s what you mean.

However, our favorite book – yay for the dictionary! – offers another meaning: A detailed method of procedure faithfully or regularly followed. So we actually do have a ritual, by that definition.

You could call it the graphic novel ritual, because it works the same way as books written in the comic-strip format. Here’s the routine: As co-authors, we take turns writing chapters. We go back and forth until we’re done with the book.

So how’s that like graphic novels? Because you always know there’s more coming, and though you’re not quite sure what the “more” is, you know it’s going to have an unexpected twist tying into what’s already happened, yet at the same time pointing the way to whatever exciting event will happen next.

What is one of the things you’re most thankful for as a writer?

Our partnership – and it’s not one of the things, it’s THE thing. Sharing words and ideas with someone who is so deeply into the same story is a great way to write. In fact, we did a post on the topic of writing together at LK Mitchell’s blog.

Where can we learn more about you?

At our virtual home on the web is Top Drawer Ink Corp. We write semi-monthly newsletters, and each issue contains a “Carpenter Country” essay. Since the essays date back to 2003, when we created the site, there’s probably more information available about us than we realize!

If that’s not enough to satisfy fans or the casually curious, we recently did an interview with Sharon Ledwith, a fellow Musa author.

Anything else you’d like to add?

We’d like to thank you for sharing your writing space with us, and for giving us this opportunity to talk about The SkyHorse. It’s our first published book, and we’re still bubbling over with joy. The delight we felt when we got the acceptance email from Kathy Teel, head editor at Musa Publishing – there’s no way to capture that in words, even for a team of writers.

I’ve been under the weather most of this week, so working has been difficult. How has your week been? I’ve noticed more and more of you are posting your links to the Working Writer Facebook page. Make sure when you’re promoting your links they are to your own writing, and do be sure to visit another’s writer’s link and give them some support when you do.

Here are some of the new articles I’ve posted elsewhere this week:

• Happiness Quotes
• Review of Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World That Can’t Stop Talking
• Honoring the Other Women in Your Life This Mother’s Day
• Great (Really) Last Minute Mother’s Day Gifts
• Fun Questions to Ask Mom About Her Life

Here are the links and news items I found of interest this week:

Boomerinas had “How to Get Repins on Pinterest to Help Your Blog.”

All Freelance Writing has 18 local prospects you might not have considered to pitch for work.

I say this all the time but here’s more advice from agent Steve Laube: “Write a Fan Letter Today.”

At ProBlogger there is a very helpful post that talks about “Blogging Success and the Law of Averages.”

Daily Blog Tips has a really nice list here: “30 Essential SEO Resources for Beginners.”

Writer Unboxed has “5 Ways Novelists Can Benefit from Watching Movies and TV Shows” which I love because hey – I like TV.

Search Engine Roundtable has “Google’s Next Update To Be Named Panther?”

10,000 Words has “5 Free Sites to Help Journalists Build an Online Portfolio.”

Daily Writing Tips has “15 “Dis-” Words and Their Relations.”

Slate asks something we’ve all been discussing quite a bit: “What Will Become of the Paper Book?”

Media Jobs Daily has “The Freelance Hustle: Five Ways to Land New Gigs.” I’m not sure I agree with all of these, but I think you should always read as much as you can about getting jobs and making money. What works for one might not work for another, but at least you’ll get informed about the options available to you.

Galley Cat talks about an interesting study on how “Fictional Characters Can Influence Real Life Actions.”

At Novel Rocket: “Before You Hit Send on Your Manuscript.”

Interesting post over at Sticking to the Story about she got her agent: “Query Contests: The New-Fangled Way to Land a Literary Agent.”

Indies Unlimited tells us about “Conflict and Why You Need Some.”

How to Write a Book Now has “How To Create A Plot Outline In 8 Easy Steps.”

A fun post from The Kitchn: “10 Famous Fiction Writers and Their Cocktails.”

More on Making Money From Your Writing:

• How to Write and Publish a Successful Children’s Book: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply (Creative Writing Creative Writ)
• Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Your Books with Print on Demand and Online Book Marketing on Amazon.com
• How to Publish and Sell Your Article on the Kindle: 12 Tips for Short Documents

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About 10 months ago, I listened to Gary Vaynerchuck talk about this new site called Pinterest. He was really excited about it, though at first I didn’t get it. “Get on Pinterest now!” Gary encouraged. I didn’t listen, thinking “oh, dear, not another social network!” But Pinterest has proven to be anything but another social network.

First, its growth has been extraordinary. According to several reports, including a blog post shared on Mashable, from September 2011 to December 2011, unique visitors on Pinterest increased by 429%. That kind of growth has never been seen in a social network and while it’s still early for Pinterest, we’re seeing a lot of staying power, especially with established brands like Macy’s, Land’s End and magazines such as Real Simple – which got more traffic from Pinterest in October 2011 than from Facebook.

For those of you who haven’t been on Pinterest, the concept is almost deceptively simple. You sign up for an account (there’s a waiting period right now as Pinterest tries to manage traffic and new accounts, once you sign up it should take about a week before you can get in). The site is a collection of boards, sort of like virtual bulletin boards that you name and add to your page. You can have as many boards as you want and name them whatever you want (though make sure to read through the Pinterest terms of service so you know you’re not violating any of their regulations). The boards can describe your brand, book, message, or business. We’ll look at some board ideas in a minute but for now, think bulletin board.

So, that said, how can you make the most of Pinterest? Like any social network, I recommend that you poke around, follow a few people in your industry and see what they are posting about. There are a lot of creative boards and a lot of companies using Pinterest as a unique brand extension. Check out http://pinterest.com/chobani/, they have all sorts of boards that tie into their brand including Chobani Champions, recipes, spoons, and sans yogurt which is a board about all things non-yogurt related.

Picking your Boards

* First, it’s important to come up with creative and interesting board names. Keep in mind that these board names get shared whenever someone repins you so make them catchy!

* When you first start on Pinterest, you are a completely blank slate. It’s up to you to fill your new Pinterest page with exciting boards. But where to start? Well, your business, product, message, or book will often determine the boards you put up. You should consider your audience first and what they would like to see.

Here are a few ideas:

* If you do a lot of speaking or other offline events, create a board that captures the excitement of these by posting pictures and videos. This is especially great if you have a conference or other big event you’re planning. You could put the board up early with “teaser” content to encourage sign-ups, too!

* Create a customer or reader board that has pictures and/or videos of happy customers. I often talk about capturing endorsements or reviews on video when you see someone at an event, these can be posted to this board.

* How-to boards are great as well. You can create a board (or several) around how-to’s related to your product or service.

* Company boards are great too, you can create one that showcases your company, sharing your core values, and also highlights your team.

* Thank you boards are great, too. Consider creating a thank you board for clients.

* If you’re promoting a new book, product, or campaign you can also create a board to support that. The board can have tutorials on it, or videos of the new product. It can be a combination of how-to and showcasing what you’re offering.

* Tutorials are big for our company, so we plan to offer tutorial boards to help walk our clients through how to use social media, how to continue reaping the benefits from our campaigns once they are done, etc.

* Trends and seasonal stuff make great boards, too. So don’t hesitate to create a holiday or trend board if you think your audience will be interested.

* You can also let your customers work on a board with you. Create a user-generated content board and invite customers or readers to pin away!

Marketing Ideas

* If the idea of Pinterest is still intimidating, consider the following marketing ideas for your boards:

* Videos: Pinterest loves videos. What videos can you pin to a board?

* Keywords are big on Pinterest, so be sure to think carefully about what you name your picture and what words you use in the description. You can even use hashtags on Pinterest and if you’re trying to get the attention of another Pinner, use the @ followed by their Pin-name to tag them. You can also use a dollar sign to add a “ribbon” to your pin that will immediately show pricing. This is great if you’re selling product.

* When you add your pin, don’t forget to tweet it and add it to Facebook, you can do this as soon as the pin is loaded.

* When you blog, be sure to add great pictures to your blog so that when you pin your blog post to your board, you can capture a great image. Images on Pinterest are obviously important!

* Click the “popular” link on Pinterest to see what’s hot and what’s trending. You might be able to make this part of your content strategy.

* Be sure to promote your Pinterest account on Facebook, Twitter, on your website, and in your email signature line, of course

A Few Final Points

Be sure to add a catchy description to your profile and when you’re setting up your Pinterest account, link it to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. This will help you gain followers, and add the icons to your profile page so you can direct people there, too.

Make sure to engage on Pinterest. Repin pins you love, comment on pins and since you can see pins on the site from folks you aren’t even connected with, be sure to broaden your reach when networking. You never know where the next follower will come from.

Pinterest is a fun, if not highly addictive way to start marketing. Still not sure what to do on Pinterest? Then get started by following others in your industry and get a sense of what they’re doing. While the future of Pinterest is still uncertain, one thing we know for sure. The site has grown at rates that no one expected and continues to do so. It’s been the quickest site to monetize (to give you perspective, it took Twitter five years to monetize) and has already become a staple for many businesses.

Happy Pinning!

Other boards we love:

http://pinterest.com/societysocial/
http://pinterest.com/pulpwoodqueen/

Reprinted from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

More on Pinterest:

• The Ultimate Guide To Marketing Your Business With Pinterest (Internet Marketing, Social Media for Profit, Web 2.0, Web Marketing)
• Pinterest For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
• Pinterest Marketing Bible: The Definitive Guide to Marketing Your Brand and Products on Pinterest (Volume 1)

Freelance writing is a career that can be difficult to get into initially, and even harder to maintain an income. After all, it is filled with rejections and uncertainty. Even the most experienced of freelancers can get frustrated by the continual search for work and dealing with client’s objections.

As with every other area of life, attitude is everything with freelancing. How can freelancers keep motivated to continue? Here are some thoughts.

Writer’s Groups Can Help Freelancers Stay Upbeat and Positive

Writers typically work alone, so having other likeminded people around to understand and support you is an important part of succeeding as a freelancer. If you’re not able to hang out with writers face-to-face, an online forum can work just as well. A search for “writers” on Facebook can help you find groups that can also lend support.

The key to being successful in a writer’s group or forum is to listen and provide support for others. The more genuine a friend you are to other writers, the more support you will receive in return. This is something that can’t be faked, so take some time to get to know your fellow writers in order to reap the benefits of their understanding and advice.

Learn How to Work More Efficiently as a Freelancer

When you write for multiple blogs, clients, or assignments, you can quickly get overwhelmed. Organizing your day is a crucial part of the freelance life and can help you remain motivated to accomplish your writing goals. To make better use of your time, learn to write in chunks.

For example, rather than writing a blog entry, posting a link to Facebook, and then checking email simultaneously, opt to write three or four blog entries at once. Try and post ahead to the extent that you can. You’ll actually take less time to write three quick posts than you will continually going back and forth each time you have an assignment or idea.

Email can also derail your time, so only check it once or twice a day, as opposed to having it open throughout. This way you can quickly respond to items or delete them, saving yourself time. Doing this will help you feel more in control of your day and more motivated to get your work done.

Avoid Taking Lower Freelance Writing Jobs

Nothing is more frustrating than working all day and having little income to show for it. Writing large quantities of articles each and every day can quickly leave you feeling unmotivated. To avoid this, search for the highest paying jobs you can find. If you need to take a break and get a part time job for awhile, it is better than giving up freelance work entirely. You’ll keep up your motivation to get better freelance gigs and not settle for something that pay peanuts.

Find Clients You Enjoy Working With

Difficult and demanding clients can push your patience to the limit, especially if they pay slowly or require rework. Always reevaluate your client list so when you do add new people you can end a few poor client relationships. Any time you take a new job, look through the work you currently have to make sure you have the clients and work assignments that make you happy.

Take Time Away from Work

This one is a hard thing to do. I certainly need to learn to be better at it. If you’re like me, you have a tendency to log long hours, especially when you work in a telecommute arrangement. It’s important to take breaks throughout the day. Take a quick break every hour where you get up, stretch your legs, and allow your body to move. Focus your vision on something else besides a computer for a few minutes and allow your mind to wander.

Being a freelancer gives you freedom of choice in assignments and work schedule. However, the freelance life can also leave you feeling tired and unmotivated at times. Realize that this feeling is natural and with some of the suggestions above, you can better deal with the ebbs and flows of the freelance life.

More on Freelance Writing:

• Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer (Second Edition)
• The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less
• Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer: How to Win Top Writing Assignments

Image: tungphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Welcome to another edition of poetry Saturday! Are you a poet? Do you write poetry in secret? We love poets here, so if you are, let us know. Enjoy this poem by Thomas Hardy.

“Ah, are you digging on my grave,
My loved one? — planting rue?”
– “No: yesterday he went to wed
One of the brightest wealth has bred.
‘It cannot hurt her now,’ he said,
‘That I should not be true.’”

“Then who is digging on my grave,
My nearest dearest kin?”
– “Ah, no: they sit and think, ‘What use!
What good will planting flowers produce?
No tendance of her mound can loose
Her spirit from Death’s gin.’”

“But someone digs upon my grave?
My enemy? — prodding sly?”
– “Nay: when she heard you had passed the Gate
That shuts on all flesh soon or late,
She thought you no more worth her hate,
And cares not where you lie.

“Then, who is digging on my grave?
Say — since I have not guessed!”
– “O it is I, my mistress dear,
Your little dog, who still lives near,
And much I hope my movements here
Have not disturbed your rest?”

“Ah yes! You dig upon my grave…
Why flashed it not to me
That one true heart was left behind!
What feeling do we ever find
To equal among human kind
A dog’s fidelity!”

“Mistress, I dug upon your grave
To bury a bone, in case
I should be hungry near this spot
When passing on my daily trot.
I am sorry, but I quite forgot
It was your resting place.”

More Books by Thomas Hardy:

• Far From the Madding Crowd
• Jude the Obscure
• Poems of the Past and the Present

The first week of May… I can’t believe it. When May gets here, I immediately start thinking about how I’m going to take some time off for the summer. Plan your time out, writers! Don’t wait for you to be “less busy.” If your schedule is like mine you’ll probably have to work ahead a bit in order to take some time, so plan on that now so you can enjoy your vacation and get a true break.

What have you been up to this week? Many of you have been posting your new articles and reviews on our Facebook page, so be sure to support each other. If you posted a link, be sure to look up another writer’s link and pay it a visit.

Here are the new articles I’ve written this week:

• 5 Out of the Box Ways to Feel Better About Life
• Living With Friends Like the Golden Girls
• Moving in With a Friend
• 10 TV Shows That Will Help You Make Small Talk
• Boom. Done.

Here are the links and news items I found of interest this week:

A wonderful post from a new blog called Book Pregnant (isn’t that a great name) on “Being Unreasonable.”

Mashable shares news that “B&N Spins Off Nook Business Into a New, Microsoft-Backed Venture.”

Has you seen the blog and magazine Where Women Create? I’m in love…. it’s the coolest. I want to be in there one day, but in the meantime, I love reading the stories and tips. They did a round up of chairs and furniture for April that you’ll really enjoy. Who says an office chair needs to be boring?

At #amwriting, there’s some good advice on how to “Step Away From the Keyboard and Improve Your Writing.”

Teacher Writer has “The Figurative Language of Simile and Metaphor: Which is Which?”

I’m loving the Positively Positive blog, and think this post is a really helpful one for writers: “Talking vs. Doing.”

Daily Writing Tips is talking about “Preventative vs. Preventive.”

She Bytes has some good advice for women in technology.

All Freelance Writing asks a good question: “Are you prepared for incoming calls from potential clients?” This is a good thing to think about. Even if you don’t advertise your phone number, you may have another client pass it along to someone and should be prepared.

Alan Rinzler shares “The Viagra Diaries: A self-publishing mega success story.”

Galley Cat has some good info about book contracts: “Writers Beware of the ‘Second Option’ Clause.”

Rachelle Gardner has a guest post about something I do all the time: “Rooted Marketing.” Check it out!

The Daily SEO Blog has info on “Penguins, Pandas, and Panic at the Zoo.” If you write online, you know what these are.

The Internet Marketing Driver has “The 5 Minute Guide to Identifying Spammy, Paid Text Links Using Open Site Explorer.” Important info if you make your living writing online.

For authors, The Savvy Book Marketer has “Five Inexpensive Ways to Market Your Book.”

Stepcase Lifehack has “Fifty (50!) Tools Which Can Help You in Writing.”

I thought this post was so helpful from ProBlogger: “A Checklist for Choosing the Right Monetization Method.” So many of us are trying to make money writing online, and monetizing a blog is one way to do it.

A good reminder from Women’s Fiction Writers: “In Writing And In Life, You Have To Be Able To Bend.” So true.

From EPublish: “5 mistakes to avoid when requesting a book review.”

Publish and Promote Your Book:

• Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book
• The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living
• 21 Ways to Promote Your Book on Twitter

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Do you do a lot of interviews? I’ve done one or two (or 200) myself, and I’ve been interviewed by others numerous times also. Interviewing is definitely an art, and like most things in life, the more someone does it the better they generally get at the process. To start off on the right foot, there are a few things to keep in mind to make the interview the very best it can be.

Doing interviews is one way to get backlinks for a blog or website, and it’s also a good way to support other writers. They key in doing a good interview is to find out more about the subject before asking questions. The more an interviewer knows about his or her subject matter, the more natural (and at the same time, revealing) the interview will come off.

Make the Interview Subject Comfortable

It’s okay to use a method that the interviewer likes, but if the subject balks at having to email responses or prefers not to be taped for a phone conversation, it’s best to work with them. Putting an interviewee in a comfortable position mentally will help him answer questions more easily.

Now, at the same time, if you’re on the flip side of this (meaning that you’re the one being interviewed), you should be flexible. Don’t balk if someone wants to interview you live or via email. Granted, they should do everything in their power to make you feel comfortable, but if they want to do an email interview, don’t get all dramatic and tell them you just can’t. There are always ways to come to an understanding with someone.

Provide Questions Ahead of Time

It’s a good idea to give the questions to the interviewee ahead of time. In fact, before requesting an interview, the writer should be prepared to tell the subject a general idea of what the questions will be like. This is true even if you have not started writing the questions yet. No one likes to be caught off-guard.

Ask Original Questions

There’s nothing worse than repeatedly answering the same questions over and over in every interview. Interview subjects, especially if they are popular, will appreciate questions that make them think differently. With a little creative thinking, you can come up with questions from a different angle, which will make the end result much more interesting for the interview subject and the reader.

Investigating Without Leading

You may be in awe of the person you’re interviewing, but it’s important to keep the tone and presentation professional. It’s okay to tell the person how much their work is admired, but don’t go on and on to the point where the subject actually gets annoyed.

Throughout any interview, you should think about what types of information your readers would most enjoy hearing about, and conduct the questions keeping that thought in mind.

At the end, thank your interviewee and be sure to promote the interview.

More on How to Interview:

• The Craft of Interviewing
• The Art of the Interview: Lessons from a Master of the Craft
• 1001 Solution-Focused Questions: Handbook for Solution-Focused Interviewing (A Norton Professional Book)

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Guest post by David Trenbath

Ever since writing was invented, people have been finding new ways to make a writing material which is easier and cheaper to use other than parchment or papyrus. Did you know this….paper wasn’t invented until some 3000 years after the invention of writing itself!

Chinese

We can trace the start of paper making back to the Chinese around 100 BC. During the Han Dynasty in 105 AD a man named Ts’ai Lun, began developing paper on an industrial scale. It appears that Ts’ai Lun developed his paper by mixing hemp rags and mulberry bark with water. He then mashed the mix, compressed it to get rid of the water before letting it dry.

It is believed that his idea to make paper was probably inspired by commonly used cloth in China at the time, bark cloth. He was very successful and his paper was used by people all across China.

India

For a thousand years people were using paper in China before it was used anywhere in Europe. Paper established itself in India by 400 AD.

Spain and Italy

Parchment was still being used by European Christians. When Christians conquered Spain in the 1200′s, it’s at this point in time when they switched from parchment and started to develop and use paper instead. The Italians were renowned for the quality of their paper making. In 1250 AD they sold their paper throughout Europe.

France

In 1338, the French began to develop their own.

Germany

The Germans did not start to make paper until what was nearly 1,500 years after the Chinese first invented it. The Germans also became inspired by the Chinese methods of printing. Using their new found knowledge of paper making they began to print the first books. In 1453, a German man named Gutenberg printed the world’s first bible.

Aztecs

At the same time the Aztecs had just invented paper with no knowledge of its invention and use throughout the rest of the world. They made their paper from plant fibres, where it was made into books.

Whist the Aztecs had only just started to use paper, the Chinese were coming up with other ideas and uses for paper. Some of these ideas brought about Chinese lanterns, toilet paper and kites.

David Trenbath is an experienced digital marketing professional, currently working for Cartridge Monkey who are one of the leading supplliers of ink cartridges in the UK.

Write and Market Your Book:

• The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing: Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish, Promote and Sell Your Own Book
• Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book
• 21 Ways to Promote Your Book on Twitter
• Virtual Book Tours

Image: Phiseksit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Guest post

A certain faction of the business world has basically given up on business cards, and this is really too bad, because business cards still work. Cards are still an important part of the social world of business for a wide range of reasons:

Not Everyone Has an iPhone
People who have given up on business cards tend to make this assumption: “Who needs paper cards when you can check your address book on your phone?” However, not everybody has an iPhone or Android. Some people just aren’t interested in what these phones can provide. Many people in the business world like to simply disconnect when they leave their hotel room and step out on the convention floor.

Typing in Addresses and Names Can be a Hassle
On a crowded convention floor, nobody wants to stop and type in your name and email and phone number and what your business does and so on. A business card changes hands and there you go: Instant exchange of information, faster than any digital medium will ever achieve.

Business Cards are Tangible
Part of the charm of business cards is that they’re tangible, they’re real,

they’re printed on card stock and they can be held in your hand. You can’t hold an email address or a banner ad, but you can hold a business card. This triggers a little something in your brain and tells you that this business card will lead you to a real person, a real company. Furthermore, it’s a memento of a real meeting, a real event in the person’s life. Even if all they did was grab it off the counter at a coffee shop it’s still going to be attached to a real memory, and that can be very useful.

Business Cards Have Personality
Finally, a business card actually has a lot more personality to it than a name in a digital rolodex. The cardstock you choose to print on, the color of ink you use, the font, the spacing between the letters, whatever image or logo you might want to put on it, and the watermark all carry some message or other regarding who you are and what you do. All of this stuff tells a story, a story that simply cannot be told with a name and an email address alone.

A lot of your leads will come from the web, a lot of your new business partners and clients will come from the web, but when you do meet someone in person with whom you might be able to strike up an interesting business relationship, you don’t want to be caught without a card to slip into their hand.

For premium design and business card printing see Snap printing Brisbane. They’ll work with you to create a unique card to represent your business and help you stand out from the crowd.

More on Business Cards:

• Avery Business Cards for Inkjet Printers, Matte, White, Pack of 250 (08371)
• MagnaCard Magnetic Business Cards, 50 Count (MC50)
• Samsill Regal Leather Business Card Wallet, Holds 25 Cards of 2 x 3.5 Inches, Black (81220)

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net