Her sacrifice has paid off. Her book Cixi, The Dragon Empress is one of six books in Goosebottom Books’ series The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Dastardly Dames, which garnered an Independent Publisher Books Silver Award in the Multi-Cultural Nonfiction Teen-Young Adult category. The American Library Association also named the same series in its Top Ten Nonfiction Series for Youth list.

Make no mistake; this woman is a seasoned writer. She began to write for publication in the 1980s and her portfolio now includes poetry, short stories, books, plays, and nonfiction articles that range in topics from AIDS to how to eat dim sum in a Chinese restaurant.

She’s a versatile writer!

In addition to the above books, she published Otto’s Rainy Day, her first book. She also has completed Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas and Sacajawea of the Shoshone (part of the The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Real  Princesses series), which is for children between the ages of 9 and 13.

Goldy Luck, she says, is her “poster child” for perseverance. “It was a nine-year journey with one year of actual writing, four editors with various revisions, and several years of submitting and waiting for responses.” Now she’s waiting for the publisher to decide on an illustrator.

It’s all part of the journey, she says. “When you work with a publisher, the process can take longer, but it’s doable.” Several editors passed up her book Goldilocks and the Three Pandas (originally titled Goldilocks and the Three Chans). It wasn’t until an Asian editor saw it and loved that Natasha found a publisher for it.

Despite having an agent – Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary – and a publisher, Natasha relies on her own resources for publicity. Her publishers carry the cost of printing her bookmarks, flyers and arranging for reviews. However, Natasha manages her
Facebook pages, LinkedIn and Twitter (@natashayim) accounts, and website and blog, which she started in 2006.

She has had some success with Facebook ads by targeting Asian countries and teachers. Natasha optioned up to $35 for a Facebook ad (Facebook charges advertisers for each “click”) and over the course of one month, her number of Facebook fans soared from 10 to 280.

GoodReads is another online venue she uses. She experimented with giving away a book for free and 980 people signed up. “I only gave one book away but now 1000 people are familiar with my books.”

In the blogosphere, she’s trying out tours. Natasha debuted on a blog tour with another author last November but she decided to organize her own blog tour for the debut of her latest book this fall. So far, she plans to have between six and 10 “stops.”

It can be difficult to assess which marketing method sells the most books, she admits. She thinks she sells more books when she makes a personal connection at a reading. “People are more interested in your books when they hear you talk and can connect the name of a book to a writer,” she says.

What advice does she give her writing community? “Never give up because it is a long haul and if you want to be published by a traditional publisher, it will take a while. Know that rejection is part of that process and don’t let that derail you.”

Attend writing conferences and events where agents and publishers will be in attendance, she says. In addition, remember that sometimes it’s just “the luck of the draw.”

Just don’t give up.

About the Author: Sonoma County social media marketer, strategist and trainer, Frances Caballo, has 22 years of communications experience. She helps writers, businesses and nonprofits with their social media and public relations needs. Presently, she is the Social Media Editor, board vice president and blogger for Redwood Writers, the largest branch of the California Writers Club, and the Director of the Sonoma County Book Festival. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Spotlight on Writer Natasha Yim is a post from: Redwood Writers

Amazingly, she doesn’t sound stressed at all by her hectic life. On the contrary, she’s undeniably happy. In fact, she calls herself the Happy Hypochondriac, which just happens to be the title of her blog and her new book.

Visit her blog and you will see a picture of a beautiful, smiling woman. Photos on the page carry captions like these: “Running the Dublin Marathon without heart failure” and “In Mexico, not drinking the water.” She describes her posts as, “The often humorous tales of a woman trying to lead a normal life while constantly worried about chronic illness.”

Is she really a hypochondriac? It doesn’t seem like it but she apparently had a difficult stretch while in college and looking back, she wishes she would’ve had a book like the one she just wrote.

She has found that people around the globe are finding comfort in her writing. “Even if they haven’t had the crazy moments, they can relate at some level.”

Selling Her Book with Social Media

Spitzer began building her social media marketing platform two years ago. Like most people, she started with Facebook, and then moved on to LinkedIn and Twitter. Most recently, she added Google+ and Pinterest to her marketing platform.

Her experience on Google+ has been mixed. She finds aspects of it confusing yet is sensitive to the wider audience reach with the network’s circles. So far, she has about 200 followers and just recently added a Google +1 button to her website, which she thinks will broaden her reach even further.

Like many social media aficionados, her latest indulgence is Pinterest. She uploaded her book jacket and enjoys seeing it pinned by others who in turn are discovering her book. “It’s amazing how Pinterest has grown in popularity,” she said. “You get more bang
for your buck in pinning than tweeting.”

The social media channel that promotes book sales the best is LinkedIn. Known as the social media network that professionals value the most, by participating in various forums she is becoming better known and selling more books. (I met Spitzer in one of the LinkedIn groups we both belong to.)

How does this busy wife-mother-executive director-writer-happy hypochondriac find the time for social media? “It’s time
consuming. Over time, I want to learn which ones are the best so I can be more efficient with my time.”

By the way, Spitzer is already working on her next book: The Happy Hypochondriac: Surviving World Travel.

About the Author: Sonoma County social media marketer, strategist and trainer, Frances Caballo has 22  years of communications. She works with writers, businesses and nonprofits at all levels. Presently, she is the Social Media Editor, board vice president and blogger for Redwood Writers, the largest branch of the California Writers Club. Find her
on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

The Happy Hypochondriac is a post from: Redwood Writers

Sometimes blogging can feel like a chore and other times it is a fulfilling platform to market your book, connect with your followers, and reach new readers. In the case of Trish Collins, owner of TLC Book Tours with her partner Lisa Munley, writing a book blog and reading and leaving comments on similar blogs was a hobby in July of 2007 that 13 months later turned into a
profitable company that organizes blog tours for authors.

When Trish started her blog, she was reading 75 books annually and wanted to convert a solitary passion into a social medium. In addition to the time she spent reading, Trish devoted 20 hours each week to reading and leaving comments on similar blogs. “That’s how you get known in the blogging community. The growth happens naturally but it’s a lot of work.” Over time, she attracted a robust following of 1800 subscribers.

Enjoying that type of success takes time that is, unless you’re Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond), the wife and mother who started blogging about cooking, gardening, homeschooling and other topics and quickly garnered the attention of, well, everyone. Pioneer Woman now has a coveted spot on the Food Network and a blog following that continues to grow exponentially.
“She won the blog lottery,” Trish explains matter-of-factly.

Hey Lady!

Trish’s blog title began as Hey Lady! But she soon realized that the title did a poor job of conveying the purpose and intent of her posts. She soon changed it to the more focused Hey, Lady! Watcha Readin’?  Bucking the advice of every blog “expert” on the Internet, she eschews the practice of focusing on keywords and using search engine optimization techniques to reach new followers.

“I’ve looked into it a little bit but I think SEO depends a lot on whether you want unique traffic or whether you want people to keep
coming back. I want people coming back. I don’t care if people find me through Google. Blogs do best when they spread by word of mouth. I rather that people say, ‘Hey, you should read this blog,’ rather than someone just stumbling on it.”

Each time Trish uploads a post, her followers’ comments pour in. A recent post that veered into personal material triggered more than 30 comments. Generally, her topics include assessments of books she reads and her recommendations. “If people have read the book I’m writing about, it can turn into a mini book club discussion.”

TLC Book Tours

When TLC began, Trish and her partner started cold-calling authors via email. “That worked and we got business that way.”

Then they decided to ramp up the business so they attended the Book Expo of America in New York in May 2009. By then, publishers were starting to hear about their blog tours and monitor them. While attending the Expo, HarperCollins signed on as a client “and then it snowballed from there.”

“This type of business didn’t exist 10 years ago. I never would have imagined myself here,” Trish said.

Trish, now 33, is selective about which blogs can be included in her author tours. Working with established publishers such as Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin and others, Trish’s company only engages with experienced bloggers who have a certain number of followers. “My goal is to get reviews that are seen by a lot of people.”

Social Media

Trish has good advice for authors who use social media to promote their books. “I think what people miss about social media is that you can’t be pushing your stuff at people all the time. So when I’m on Twitter, I interact with people.” In other words, she keeps the social in social media.

She uses Twitter — her handle is @trishheylady — to interact with her followers and she uses Facebook personally and for her business. “On Facebook, we highlight the best reviews of the books on tour and try to highlight at least one review from every tour.”

Their Facebook page had 563 fans when I last checked. It is a popular page because the TLC partners make a point to promote both the books and the bloggers.

Her Advice for Authors

The most common mistake writers make on their blogs is that they write for other writers instead of for their readers.

“If you had a cooking blog or food blog and you were a chef, are the people reading you other chefs or people who like to cook and eat? Similarly, authors would have a bigger audience if they went for the reader audience and not the writer audience.”

She also suggests that authors write blogs that are interesting and that have a creative flair. “I’ve read quite a few author blogs and
people want to read something that’s entertaining and not dry.”

Since giving birth to her son Ethan ten months ago, Trish’s priorities have shifted. “If I’m not watching Ethan, I’m working on my
business. But I’m trying to keep my blog alive because there’s something special about it.”

About the Author: Sonoma County social media marketer, trainer and strategist Frances Caballo owns ACT Communications and has 22 years of communications experience. She specializes in helping writers, businesses and nonprofits with their social media marketing and public relations. Frances is bilingual in English and Spanish. Find her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/fcaballo, Twitter (@CaballoFrances), LinkedIn and Google+.

Spotlight on Trish Collins is a post from: Redwood Writers

Twitter is fabulous. Truly. However, I have to admit that when I first tried Twitter, I thought to myself, “What’s the point?” The 140-character limit to tweets seemed confining at first but once I got the hang of it, I found the same restriction liberating. Soon, it quickly became my favorite social media network.

The beauty of Twitter is that you can see instant results. This social media channel adheres to protocols that even Ms. Manners would approve. Users always acknowledge the originators of great tweets and it is common to send thank you messages and notes of encouragement.

Some of the greatest minds in almost every field are on Twitter and they freely share their expertise with other professionals. Everything I know about Twitter I learned from reading people’s tweets and following their links. This channel is a great
platform to learn how to market your book, find a publisher, find an agent, or learn more about a certain genre.

One benefit of Twitter is that you can often see instant results. If you retweet someone’s message, the likelihood is high the person will send you a thank you. If you ask a question, people answer. If you have questions or suggestions about an application, you can send a message to the creator of the application. On Twitter, just about everyone is accessible because that is the nature of Twitter and that is how you become successful on Twitter.

Twitter is also great for networking. I’ve met people through Twitter I never would’ve come in contact with otherwise. I’ve tweeted back and forth with the founders and developers of some really hot social media applications as well as well-known bloggers and marketers.

Twitter is also a place to glean great gems of information, expand your contacts, and share your expertise. There’s nothing else like it. The limitation of 140 characters doesn’t diminish the impact of this great social media channel. In fact, the Facebook posts that are most widely read are 190 characters or less. In this era when the attention span of many people is shrinking, tweets are an efficient way to communicate great nuggets of information.

Let me say this another way. Twitter is like radio. The sound bites we hear over those broadcasts are swift and carry punch.

Twitter appeared on the social media scene in March of 2006 when its creator, Jack Dorsey, sent his first tweet. According
to Marketing Gum (www.marketinggum.com), by 2007 its users were sending 5000 tweets daily. That number grew to 300,000 in
2008, 2.5 million in 2009, and by June of 2011, users on Twitter were averaging 200 million tweets daily.

Most Twitter users are from the United States and speak English, but users who speak Portuguese, Spanish and Japanese are also demonstrating a growing presence. And Twitter is often ranked in the top 10 most-trafficked websites (Google is ranked in first place and Facebook is ranked second) so having a presence on Twitter is a necessary component of an author’s strategy to market her/his book.

Many marketing gurus for writers affirm my belief that focusing on Twitter is vital. So follow people, send some tweets, reply to your followers and retweet their messages. If you’re social on Twitter, your following will grow.

Frances Caballo

About the Author: Sonoma County social media marketer, trainer and strategist Frances Caballo owns ACT Communications and has 22 years of communications experience. She specializes in helping writers, businesses and nonprofits with their social media marketing and public relations. Frances is bilingual in English and Spanish. Find her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/fcaballo, Twitter (@CaballoFrances), and LinkedIn.

On Your Mark, Get Set, TWEET! is a post from: Redwood Writers

At the time, her family had traveled to Portland to attend her daughter’s graduation. When they were suddenly snowed in, Sharon pulled out a chair and started to write.

A Room of Her Own

She found a room of her own that every woman writer craves following a painful incident. Her house burned down so she moved into an 800 square-foot apartment. Isolated during the day while her husband worked on rebuilding their home, she dedicated her time to writing.

“That’s when writing hit me and it really took hold.”

Before long, she published Heavenly Lover, which she rewrote 57 times. Soon thereafter, she
published Underworld Love and later Honeymoon Bite.

By 2010, she had won several writing contests, started writing erotica, and found an agent who told her to return to her first book
and rewrite it again.

To help market her books, Sharon became an avid blogger. At first, she joined a team of bloggers and contributed posts. Then she struck out on her own. Now, she posts twice a week on her own blog and contributes to a group blog every Friday.

Sharon is a savvy blogger from whom we can learn a lot. She makes time to comment on other blogs, hosts agents on her blog, writes guest posts when asked, and lets other writers post on her blog.

She has a great attitude about blogging for others. “I never turn down requests to contribute to other blogs. Even if they have just
five followers, or are just starting out, I still contribute a post.”

Facebook

Sharon didn’t tread into the mix of social media to promote her book until she started a Facebook account in April of 2011. When I checked her profile the other day, she was up to 1874 friends. Not bad! She tends to post two to three times daily and includes memorable photos, short messages, and information related to her genre.

As the real estate market begins to show more life, she will be heading back to work but is committed to writing 5000 words a week. “My biggest challenge will be sticking with a schedule,” she said.

Tips for Blogging

If you want to sell more books, build a community and garner more exposure, a blog is a critical component of your marketing strategy. Here are some tips:

1. Create a great headline that grabs readers.
2. Entice your writers with interesting information in the first paragraph.
3. Write like a reporter. In other words, keep your sentences and paragraphs short.
4. Use Google Adwords to find keywords.
5. Let everyone know about your newest post. Tweet it, announce it on Facebook, and include an update on your LinkedIn      account.

What are your best blogging tips? Please share them here!

Frances Caballo

About the Author: Sonoma County social media consultant Frances Caballo owns ACT Communications and has 22 years of communications and resource development experience. She specializes in helping writers, businesses and nonprofits with their social media marketing, external communications, and fund development needs. Frances is bilingual in English and Spanish. Find her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/fcaballo, Twitter (@CaballoFrances), and LinkedIn.

Spotlight on Sharon Hamilton is a post from: Redwood Writers

Arlene Miller

Arlene began using Facebook in 2008 simply because she wanted to keep up with her daughter who tours with Disney On Ice. After she wrote and published her book 2 years ago, she found Facebook to be an important tool in getting the word out about her grammar book. Today, she maintains both a profile (631 friends) and a fan page (249 page likes).

“Through Facebook, I got hooked up with people from elementary and high school. It all started with an invitation to a reunion and even though I didn’t attend it, former schoolmates bought multiple copies of my book,” she said.

It was through Facebook as well that Apple users found her and soon the entire group was ordering her book.

“I have a lot of Facebook friends – some I know and others I don’t know. In general, it gets the word out about what you’re
doing.”

LinkedIn is often overlooked by writers but again Arlene has had success in using this social media channel to buy her book. She joined several groups, asked members for their advice on an upcoming book she is writing, and contributed to the groups by answering questions and offering advice.

When I asked Arlene for her best tips, she offered some great advice. “The best thing is don’t try to sell; try to help people.
Don’t say I have a book to sell and you should buy it. Instead answer questions and try to help others.”

The network she favors the most is the Yahoo listserv. “When I was first thinking of publishing my book, I joined a Yahoo self-publishing group. I wouldn’t ever have been able to publish my book without that listserv. It’s really very good. I found my book designer and interior designer, and I don’t know how I would have done that book without that group. That group taught me almost everything I know about self-publishing.”

Seven tips on how to promote your Facebook fan page:

1. Put your Facebook page URL in your email signature.
2. Write a blog post about your new Facebook page.
3. Tag other people’s high-traffic Facebook pages in your updates.
4. Ask your Twitter followers to like your Facebook page.
5. Consider buying Facebook advertising.
6. Customize your URL. For example, Redwood Writer’s is: www.facebook.com/RedwoodWriters
7. Put your Facebook page URL on your Twitter profile description.

Frances Caballo

About the Author: Sonoma County social media consultant Frances Caballo owns ACT Communications and has 22 years of communications and resource development experience. She specializes in helping writers, businesses and nonprofits with their social media marketing, external communications, and fund development needs. Frances is bilingual in English and Spanish. Find her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/fcaballo, Twitter (@CaballoFrances), and LinkedIn.

Spotlight on Writer Arlene Miller is a post from: Redwood Writers

This particular client wanted to keep her privacy settings as secure as possible on her profile. However, on her business page, she wanted the world to find her.

Well, that’s impossible on Facebook. The king of all social media won’t let you tailor your settings within one account.

If you’re thinking, “I’ll just set up another account,” forget it. Facebook doesn’t allow users to have more than one account.

So what’s a person to do? Use the lists feature.

You can liberalize your settings by simply categorizing your friends, family members, colleagues, and fans into lists. That way, each time you post an update, you can select how public or how private your information will be.

Lists are easy to create.

• Go to your Facebook profile. Click the Home link (along the top-right of the page)
• Go to the left-hand column and click on More next to Lists.

• Select the list you want to edit or click Create a List and then name it.

• A “Friends” prompt will appear, click it, then select which of your Facebook friends should be on this new list.

• Once you create your lists, you can manage them by clicking on the target list, then clicking on Manage List. A window will appear offering options to delete the list, add/remove friends, and choose update types.

• Now this is cool: You can hide your lists from public view on your news feed by hovering over the pencil next to your list and clicking on “Hide.”

From now on, when you type a status update you can select which list will view your post.

Incorporating the list features allows you to liberalize your privacy settings and rest assured that only your friends will see what you want to share – and no one else!

About the Author: Frances Caballo, owner of ACT Communications, has 22 years of communications and resource development experience. She has worked with small businesses and local, regional and national nonprofits at all levels of
management. Presently, she is the Social Media Editor and board vice president for Redwood Writers. She specializes in helping writers, small businesses and nonprofits with their social media marketing, external communications, and fund development needs. Frances is bilingual in English and Spanish. Find her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/fcaballo, Twitter (@CaballoFrances), and LinkedIn.

 ©Frances Caballo 2011 – This post cannot be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author.

How to Use Lists to Navigate Privacy on Facebook is a post from: Redwood Writers

By Frances Caballo for Redwood Writers

You have spent years crafting your novel or anthology of poems and now you’re ready to send it out into the world. You’re trained as a writer but what about marketing? This series of blogs will endeavor to help you master the next steps to selling your book. 

You’ve published your book (or made it available as an e-book), signed up for Facebook and Twitter, and you have a website. At last you can do a few readings, ask your Redwood Writers colleagues to buy a copy, and relax. Right?

Wrong!

You need a blog. Search engines love websites that continually add new content and blogs are an easy way to achieve that objective.

How often should you blog? Some people blog daily while others blog once a month. If you can blog twice a week, that would be
best.

If you can only blog once a month that’s okay. Just start one and keep it going. And don’t forget to use this platform to promote
your book.

How to Use Your Blog to Promote Your Book 

Here are a few topics that you can use when your brain clouds over and you can’t come up with a new post.

• Discuss how you researched the background for your book. Which libraries or resources
  were most helpful? What did you learn from the experience?
• Assume the voice of one of your characters and have them talk about the book.
• Create a vlog (a video blog) now and then and interview some of your readers.
• Write a blog for an upcoming book reading/signing or write a post about something humorous or marvelous that occurred at your last reading.
• Talk about the setting in your book.
• Feature an excerpt and explain why you like it (aside from the fact that you wrote it!).
• Write about your rejection letters.
• Prepare a post about your marketing challenges.
• Explain why you wrote this book.
• Is your book topical? Tell people why you chose to write it now.
• Is your book for young adults? Explain why you targeted that audience.
• Are you thrilled with the jacket cover? Tell your readers how you found your designer and how you worked
  together.

I could continue but by now I’m certain you have your own ideas so please share them here so we can learn from each other.
Thanks!

About the Author: Frances Caballo, owner of ACT Communications, has 22 years of communications and resource development experience. She has worked with small businesses and local, regional and national nonprofits at all levels of management. Presently, she is the Social Media Editor and board member for Redwood Writers. She specializes in helping writers, small businesses and nonprofits with their social media marketing, external communications, and fund development needs. Frances is bilingual in English and Spanish.

 ©Frances Caballo 2011 – This post cannot be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author.

Start Your Blog Now! is a post from: Redwood Writers

You’ve spent years crafting your novel or anthology of poems and now you’re ready to send it out into the world. You’re trained as a writer but what about marketing? This series of blogs will endeavor to help you master the next steps to selling your book.

Michael Martine is the mastermind behind Remarkablogger, which he describes as “No-Bullshit Blogging for Bitchin’ Businesses.” It’s immediately obvious that he has found his blogging voice – a unique one that rises to the top of search engines out there on the Internet.

This guy has personality and he really knows his stuff.

He wrote a 65-page e-book titled How to Write an E-Book That Doesn’t Suck. This is a great little book for bloggers to pick up because it will show you how to plan your blogs ahead of time and then compile them into a “how-to” e-book.

Do you cringe at the thought of writing pitches to sell your book? Michael sums up his advice with this comment: “Nowhere … does it say, ‘Sound like an overhyped snake oil salesman and bleed yellow highlighter all
over your text.’”

In other words, don’t push your book. If it’s a “how-to” book, promote it as containing solutions to the buyer’s problems or questions.

Remarkablogger’s Suggestions for Writing Successful Sales Copy 

Whether you’ve written a novel, poetry, memoir, or a how-to tome, here are some pithy insights that make sense and work.

• Determine who your audience is, learn about your audience, and then tailor the tone, wording and formatting to their needs.
• Write short sentences and paragraphs – just like you do in your blogs.
• Use bullets and subheadings. People love these because they enable readers to breeze through a book and quickly find the nuggets of information they’re searching.
• Be personable and friendly.
• If you give anyone advance copies of your book to review, ask them to post a comment supporting your book.
• Create a website just for your book.
• Use social media to promote your book.
• Don’t forget to ask people to order the book.
• Use your blog to promote your book.

An important message that he reiterates is: Don’t try to sell your book. Instead, identify the value of what you’ve written, describe the book in terms of meeting a need the buyer has (want to relax with a good
thriller tonight?), and help the buyer to feel comfortable about the purchase.

Create A Book Cover that Rocks  

Of course, great covers also help to sell books. He has some great suggestions on how to create “a killer e-book cover, ninja-style.”

• Get a good piece of stock art from iStockPhoto or a similar site. Personally, I prefer to use Google Images because all of the photos are free.
• Use Picasa or PowerPoint to etch text over the photo. (I’ve tried it and it’s easy to do!)
• Save your book eCover as a JPEG file.
• Insert the picture you created on your document cover page and adjust the text wrapping settings to “underneath” so the page margins won’t interfere with the cover you just designed.
• Resize the picture as necessary.

If those instructions seem burdensome, go to MyeCoverMaker.com and for $3.95 you can make a one-time purchase of an eCover download. You can also subscribe at $9/month for unlimited use of this application.

In a nutshell, that’s how you get your e-book out there in the marketplace. I’d love to hear your comments!

About the Author: Frances Caballo, owner of ACT Communications, has 22 years of communications and resource development experience. She has worked with small businesses and local, regional and national nonprofits at all levels of management. Presently, she is the Social Media Editor and board member for Redwood Writers. She specializes in helping writers, small businesses and nonprofits with their social media marketing, external communications, and fund development needs. Frances is bilingual in English and Spanish.

©Frances Caballo 2011 – This post cannot be reproduced without the permission of the author.

A Writer’s Guide to Marketing is a post from: Redwood Writers