Closing for the Haggim--and Beyond!

To all my regular readers, thank you for your ongoing support. As you may have heard, I'll be closing the blog for a short time.

I shan't go away entirely. I'll be posting on the Webbiegrrl Writer Facebook Page or filling the @webbiegrrl Twitterstream with interesting tweets I run across but I think the decision to take a rejuvenating break and refocus myself, my blog and my future is a long-time coming.


Other Features While Closed
While my weekly blogs are on hiatus, I'll try to make a dent in my reading and review queue. I had a 4-5 month backlog which has now slipped another 2 months due to "life" interrupting.

I am not conducting any other Author Features at this time.

I am not accepting any additional books for review at this time.

If you have an editing job, you can contact me on gmail.com at webbiegrrlwriter but my turnaround time will not be quick (could be as long as one month for a full-length novel) and I shall have an unbooked period from mid-May to mid-June of 2013 to allow me to move residences.

TUESDAY TIP Removing Hidden Bookmarks in MS Word #howto #indie #selfpub #pubtip @markcoker

Welcome to my last Tuesday Tip blog for a while. For more on why that is, see the "What's Next..." section at the end of the post. To all my regular readers, thank you for your ongoing support.

Since my 30,000 Hit Giveaway in December, I've averaged about 5,000 hits a month and am at just under 45,000 Hits now. I'm surprised, flattered and blessed to have such a devoted following.

I hope you know I shan't go away entirely. I'll be posting on the Webbiegrrl Writer Facebook Page or filling the @webbiegrrl Twitterstream with interesting tweets I run across but I think the decision to take a rejuvenating break and refocus myself, my blog and my future is a long-time coming.

Today I'll illustrate for you one last useful tip every Indie Author must have: how to rid your book of the ever-annoying  "Hidden" bookmarks in Microsoft Word. Click through the jump break for the full monty ^)^

MONDAY MARKETING Content is Still King #branding #pubtip #indie #selfpub

Welcome to my last marketing blog for a while. For more on why that is, see the "What's Next..." section at the end of the post. If you're just interested in reading today's post, click through the jump break.

Today, I'm going to talk about a favorite topic of Indie Authors: words. No word is ever taken alone and we Indie Authors rarely offer just one. Every word we offer, however, will be received by the listener or reader in a pre-existing context of their mind. Each word we choose carries connotations, a point I touched on last week. The key, therefore, is to use words that will create the connotations or perception to match your Author Brand, and thereby maintain your position -- or establish one if you're still working on getting inside your readers' minds.

What's amazing to me is that we writers don't choose our words more carefully. Click through the jump break for more on this puzzling phenomenon.

TUESDAY TIP #Amazon's Latest Hostile Move + 6 Tips to Revive Dead Sales Records @markcoker @Cassie629 @Dranea79

Okay, the officially Tuesday Tip is here. I am not a fan of Amazon's business practices, as regular readers will know. I don't object to the Kindle Store as a concept. I object to the way Amazon runs the business and treats the content providers--Indie Authors, specifically. I've been online "forever" and I actually remember when Amazon.com first opened. The slogan "World-Class Customer Service" was there from the start, but in the 1990s, Jeff Bezos started moving further and further away from his customer's needs and more towards his company's growth.

I don't like exclusionary or restrictive attitudes in general and especially not in an industry where openness and availability are key to success. Amazon's latest hostile move is a refusal to pay Affiliates advertising fees to any site that "primarily" promotes free Kindle eBooks, where "primarily" is a term that will be defined by data only Amazon will have access to review. This news came at the start of Read an eBook Week with tens of thousands of eBooks going on promo as free free free to drive traffic to Indie Authors' Amazon pages. Not exactly a way to say thank you to your content providers or highest referring URLs, is it?

On the upside of the coin, however, Mark Coker, found of Smashwords, decided to blog "6 Tips" of advice to Indie Authors on how to make their books more appealing--and he encouraged participation in the site-wide promotional catalog he set up for the week-long event this week. The contrast is, I hope, obvious. Click through to read more from both sides of this Digital Publishing coin.

2 Tips in Favor of #FREE for #ebookweek #RAEW #indie #selfpub @markcoker @SadieSForsythe @amandapalmer @ThisIsSethsBlog

It may not be Tuesday but I have too many tips to jam-pack them all into one post this week, so I'm posting half of the discussion half a day early. I know you'll all hate me (not). Some of this stuff is time-sensitive and it's all inter-connected in my mind, so soak it all in overnight and come back tomorrow for the "real" Tuesday Tip. Here are the highlights of what's beyond the jump-break today:

(1) Read an eBook Week, the annual event first started by Rita Y. Toews in 2004 to promote public awareness of Digital Publishing and of course, to promote literacy around the world began on Sunday March 3d and runs through Sat March 9th. I've got 4 books entered under my 3 pen names; how's about you?

(2) Fan Patronage of the Arts as promoted by singer/songwriter/performance artist, Amanda Palmer and her "Art of Asking" speech to a TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) audience. Her move was considered radical--still is--but it's an old idea. My #1 favorite model was described in March, 2008 by Kevin Kelly in his 1000 True Fans model. Even his naming of this concept wasn't the original idea but his supporting articles (linked at the end of the 1000 True Fans post) are well-worth reading!

Click through the jump break to read more about each topic.

MONDAY MARKETING Publicity without Press Releases #indie #selfpub #pubtip #mywana #pr #promo

In last week's Monday blog, I discussed some of the various ways Indie Authors could pursue publicity opportunities by sending out press releases, including the acquisition of a "Keystone Placement" which could later be turned into a credential.

For instance, for Digital Publishers, a review by Publishers Weekly could deliver a high ROI (Return on Investment) because Publishers Weekly is the leading trade magazine of our industry. Unfortunately, for Indie Authors, there's a hefty fee of $149 to purchase a "subscription" to PW Select which entitles you to request a review and only 25% of the PW Select books actually do get selected and reviewed.

If you have $149 to spend on the gamble, however, your investment could produce a quotable quote that helps you sell books. It all depends on how good the review you get really is -- and how good a spin doctor you are in terms of extracting a marketable quote from the review.

Not all of us have money to burn on a risky gamble, myself definitely being included in the tight-purse-strings group, so this week, I'll look at how to publicize your Brand without sending out press releases. It's more work for you, but it's an otherwise no-cost effort. Your time is money but doing marketing work is time or money well-spent. Click through to learn how.

TUESDAY TIP 3 Social Media Styles for #Indie #Authors #selfpub #pubtip #promo

Over the last couple of weeks, my favorite social media trade publication, Mashable, has run a few articles on different styles of social media presence for different kinds of businesses. None of them was written in a way making the advice immediately obvious to an Indie Author or other Digital Publishing professionals. However, I immediately saw how it translated into my own activities, so I thought I'd "translate" for the rest of you. Click through to get the scoop.