Tag: Big Al

Dlvr.it Delivers: Promoting Blog Posts

When you have a new blog post, how do you notify your followers on Twitter and Facebook? Initially I did it the old-fashioned way. I scheduled the blog post and shortly after it published, I’d manually tweet and share to Facebook. That worked unless I slept in that day (don’t tell my boss) or was deep into a project for my day job and forgot (please do tell my boss).

However, my ideal situation was to be able to schedule a post and have a tweet and a post sharing the link on Facebook happen automatically. I found a plethora of ways to accomplish the tweet, but when it came to Facebook, I wasn’t happy with any of the solutions. My main complaint was that none of the approaches I found gave a post with a picture. All of my blog posts start with a picture of a book cover or an author. Facebook posts with pictures, what you’d get as the default if sharing a link of the blog post manually, catch my attention much quicker than plain text. Continue reading “Dlvr.it Delivers: Promoting Blog Posts”

Why Proofreading Matters

Last month, the Evil Mastermind had a fun post called Typopotamus, where he discussed typos and some strategies for eradicating them from your writing, including hiring a good editor and proofer. In one of the comments author Jeff Dawson had the following to say:

“Indie readers sometimes spend too much time looking for errors and what nots. This is good and yet bad at the same time. The good part: they are catching errors writers, beta readers and editors are missing. It provides a chance to quickly make the changes and upload a new version. The bad: some readers and reviewers are focusing on miniscule problems and bashing an otherwise good read.” Continue reading “Why Proofreading Matters”

Reviews, Reviewers and Reviewing

I would be the first to admit that we need reviewers and reviews. We need them to help broaden our profile, to draw attention to ourselves and our writing, to create interest in our work and, let’s face it, to ultimately help us sell our wares.

It goes without saying that I would certainly not advise rubbing any prospective reviewer up the wrong way, and let’s face it, these days, that doesn’t leave many people we can safely rub up the wrong way, does it?

From the, supposedly, top ranking book reviewers — in the US that would perhaps include the New York Times’ Janet Maslin and Dwight Garner, to name just two; and on the other side of the pond, possibly The Guardian’s Olivia Laing and Michael Hogan come to mind — to the blogger reviewers, who are gaining in popularity and credibility (thank goodness), and some of them, like our own Cathy Speight and Big Al, and the likes of Linda Parkinson-Hardman, are becoming an integral part of the Indie Revolution. Goodreads is another foundation that is important and becoming integral to the Indie cause. Then of course there are the indispensable ‘reader reviews’. Continue reading “Reviews, Reviewers and Reviewing”

Getting the Most from Beta Readers

What is the biggest difference between a book produced by an Indie author and one produced via traditional publishing?

As a reader, I think the answer should be, “no difference.” At least not a difference I’d detect from reading the book unless it is something I’d perceive as a positive, like being in a favorite genre underserved by traditional publishing. Continue reading “Getting the Most from Beta Readers”