Post #14–Two Women Business–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

The Blog Carnival, that is. And we’re about to tell you how you can have some fun while increasing visibility for your blog or Website. But first, you’ll need a little background.

When blog writers and editors want to collect a lot of information on a subject and share it with their community of interested readers, they often turn to the Blog Carnival for content. You can think of a Blog Carnival like a magazine; it brings together and reports on information from any sources/writers. The Blog Carnival host will set a schedule and topic. Blog Carnivals usually come out on a regular schedule, such as every second Monday or the last Saturday of the month. Topics can be as broad as general interest or as narrow (first-time writing experiences from sci-fi geeks) as the host chooses. Contributors with content that fits the subject can submit links to their blogs and Websites. If you make the cut, the host will provide annotation and links to your content. This is a great way to build your readership.

Since there are no guarantees that your site or post will be accepted, here are a few tricks that will help you increase your chances of making the cut:

1. Study the hosting blog. Can you detect any patterns or topics that suggest what the host likes? These are your cues.
2. Consider the hosting blog’s audience. Your best bet to make the cut is to deliver content that the host will agree serves their readers.
3. Deliver solid content. Since this is your chance to attract new readers, don’t waste your opportunity with vapid, vacuous content. You want these readers to return.

Your first step is to find Blog Carnivals that match your requirements. Here’s the place to start looking: The master list at BlogCarnival.com.

For fun, I ran a sample search on the category “writers.” Here are a few of the results that came up:

Carnival of beginning writers (first Monday of every month)

Creative carnival (exercise your creative writing muscles on every second Saturday of the month)

Just Write (share writing experiences every Wednesday)

Scribes (for any kind of writing or publishing on the last Thursday of every month)

The Mad Editor’s Round-up (both subjects and deadlines vary)

Writing Success Blog Carnival (chronicle one’s writing or blogging career due 25th of each month)

If you follow this blog, you may know that once a month we coordinate this post with a companion post at the Story Circle Network blog, “Telling HerStories.” This month the subject is creativity. You’ll find a link to a nice little test of your creativity. One of the exercises evaluates your ability to make associations. It’ll give you a little insight into how your mind works. Now, here’s your opportunity to put that creativity to a real-world test. My Blog Carnival sample above was the obvious first search a writer would run. You have the tool, now put it to work. How inventive are you? Good luck.

Post #13–Two Women Business–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

Yes, you can have your cake and eat it too. You can get published and feel your book is in the hands of a respectable publisher.

The world of independent publishing has come a long way in the last five years. For one thing, as the major publishers have cut back, the indies have stepped in to pick up a lot of good books that might never have been published.

As an author, you need to look long and hard at the independents. For one thing, their size makes them more nimble and efficient. They’ll probably get your book published faster than one of the majors. They’re more willing to work with you to create a contract that serves both publisher and author well. You can approach them directly and without an agent. You certainly can approach a major publisher without an agent…whether you’ll get very far is something else.

Actually the benefits of working with an independent publisher are many. But let me get on with my objective: the list to get you started.

Independent Publisher (IP) calls itself “THE Voice of the Independent Publishing Industry.” Here you’ll find useful articles, trends in titles, marketing strategies and publishing news. IP also hosts the IPPY, Moonbeam and Living Now awards. IP shows us that there is no reason to think less of an independently published book.

Publishers Marketing Association is now Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). You’ll find a nice directory of independent publishers that includes answers to questions about their publishing philosophy, growth plans and the types of book they prefer to publish. And like IP, the Independent Book Publishers Association sponsors a book award—The Benjamin Franklin Awards.

Here’s are just a few of the smaller and regional publishing associations:
Center for Independent Publishing
Center for Independent Media
Small Publishers Association of North America
Bay Area Independent Publishers Association
Colorado Independent Publishers Association
Midwest Independent Publishers Association
The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses
Association of Independent Publishers

Book marketing consultant John Kremer provides several useful lists of independent publishsers on his website:
The Top 101 Independent Book Publishers
Top Dependent Book Publishers
Indie Book Publishers Hall of Fame
Indie Book Publishers: Bestselling Books Hall of Fame
You’ll be encouraged to see the number of indie titles that have sold in the 100s of thousands and even the millions, which is possible when your book remains in print long enough and you accept the sales and marketing as part of your job as an author.

If you think the indies make a poor showing at the major book conventions, think again. Each year the indies make a bigger and more impressive mark on BookExpo America. The annual BookExpo America convention combines the largest selection of English-language titles with industry events, author workshops and excellent networking opportunities. Each time I attend BookExpo America I’m impressed by the increased floor space and prominence given to independent publishers. This May the convention will be in New York City. If you want to talk with independent publishers and editors, bring your book proposal or synopsis and get to New York this May.

And lest you think the indies lack a decent journal, it’s time you checked out the bimonthly ForeWord Magazine. This is THE journal for reviews of independently published and self-published books. You’ll want them to know about your book several months before publication. You can submit electronic manuscripts, ARCs and galleys. And ForeWord Magazine has it’s own Book of the Year Awards.

 Post #12–Two Women Business–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

If writing (and finishing) a book and getting it published was easy, everyone would write a book. Still, thank goodness it’s not this difficult. Here’s a video produced by the Digital Marketing group at Macmillan that is pretty funny. Have fun with this. Enjoy.

Post #11–Two Women Business–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

Serendipity Books III by dweekly on Flickr

Earlier today I read a post by Hugh McGuire, entitled “What If the Book Business Collapses?” McGuire started out lamenting the presence of the big box store, the power of stockholders over the book business and the many changes and closings we can expect. I have to admit that my irritation grew with each sentence and woe. Not because I applaud declines in readership or the disappearance of quirky independent booksellers and musty secondhand book shops. Actually I love both. In fact, I met a boyfriend years ago in Santa Barbara through the secondhand book shop. I bought and sold a lot of books in my grad-school days and always put my name inside. This one man kept buying my books. He became so enamored of our similar tastes in history and literature that he tracked me down to my new home in San Francisco. But that’s another story.

My impatience with McGuire’s article was with the author’s apparent myopic view. He seemed to suggest that evolution, increased competition and changing tastes shouldn’t apply to the book business. That the iconic Ye Olde Book Shoppe of Charles Dickens’ day was the only acceptable model for books.

In reality, authors never need fear that book sales will dry up. There will be a voracious readership for information, knowledge and entertainment as long as civilization prevails. But like most things, it is bound to change. Competing sources of entertainment, new technologies, greater mobility, global pressures, and increasing demands on our most precious commodity (time), to name a few, are game changers. Online sales, big box bookstores, and discount outlets for books are a few of the results. Will many independent booksellers be hurt? Yes, and possibly as severely as whip makers at the turn of the last century.

Will publishers perish? Yes, particularly the largest conglomerates with the most overhead and greatest investment in traditional publishing models.

My annoyance with McGuire’s apparent disregard for the obvious evolution of the book business almost led me to toss the article aside. But I pushed on and finished the article. Surprise. He writes: “Imagine: what would happen if every publisher in the world went out of business tomorrow? If every book store closed it’s doors?” Okay, I was ready for the hearts and flowers. But no. McGuire won me over with his response: “Lamentable? Maybe. Or maybe this is a fabulous opportunity for something new.”

And I agree. The dramatic, sometimes painful changes we’ll experience in 2009 and into 2010 will give rise to new innovations and more efficient, lower-overhead models. I too am optimistic. Nostalgia has it’s place. I’ll continue to savor trips to independent booksellers, but I’ll apply the best of new technologies to the production, publishing, marketing and sales of our books and those of our clients.

What do you want from a publisher in 2009?

Post #10–Two Women Business–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

Mini Cooper buried under a foot and a half of snow

It’s December 22nd. And optimist that I am, I’m looking forward to every day getting longer for the next six months. Believe me, that’s a good thing, given that it’s cold, windy, snowy and dark more than it’s light here in Downeast Maine. And as you can see, I have the pictures to prove it. The snow fell and the wind howled overnight. My white Christmas is guaranteed.

As the end of the year approaches, I’ve been making lists:

• Things I want to get done before January 1
• Things I have accomplished in 2008
• Things I want to accomplish in 2009

I thought I’d share a portion of my lists with you because I realize that so many people with traditional backgrounds in writing, publishing, business and marketing are looking at the social media and Internet marketing with a combination of interest, loathing, curiosity and confusion. What’s more, many of you are feeling overwhelmed and wondering where to begin.

I’d like to start by sharing a couple facts and a personal confession that may make the whole thing appear more surmountable. First My Confession: I’ve only just celebrated my first anniversary in Internet marketing. I’ve been writing, publishing and marketing for almost 30 years, but I too am a relative newbie to Internet marketing. My primary objective is to meld the best of traditional offline marketing/publishing strategies with the smartest online communication tactics.

And Now for the Facts: For all the people that appear to be engaged in Internet marketing, the truth is the vast majority are still on the outside looking in. Many more will make 2009 the year that they embrace some or all aspects of social networking and Internet marketing. Stay true to your personal passions and interests…use the components of social networking and Internet marketing that help you build on whatever it is you love doing. And finally, there is no right or wrong way path to success…they’re more like guidelines!

This year has been big for my business partner Matilda Butler and me. We’ve made great strides in putting the Internet to work:

1. Across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Safari, Tribes and dozens of specialized social networks, we’ve made “friends” with almost 4000 people.
2. We’ve done three successful joint ventures to sell our book Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Women To” Generation Tells Its Story, resulting in hundreds of sales. And we’re on target to blow the 2008 numbers out of the water in 2009.
3. We’ve learned how to make and post audios and videos for training, coursework, interviews and salesmanship.
4. We’ve started teaching others to use the Internet more effectively in their businesses and book marketing–through workshops, coaching, contract work and presentations.
5. We’ve created our first sales landing page that leads directly into our shopping cart…and it works.
6. We’ve created three blogs and are guest blogging for Story Circle Network.
7. We’ve started our independent publishing venture (more about that next year) and already have clients.
8. We’ve started using technology (blogs, screen capture software and teleseminar conference calls) to teach online.
9. Matilda and I are both finishing up digital courses that we’re selling on our websites…both will be finished in early 2009.
10. We’re working with Story Circle Network to develop an Editorial Services program that will match writers in need of services with just the right editor or proofreader. 

Post #9–Two Women Business–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

Podiobooks.com

I discovered Podiobooks.com just a little more than a year ago and I’ve had a lot of fun exploring the site’s new and innovative writers ever since. I really don’t recall how I fell upon the site, but I definitely remember the first series I downloaded. It’s called “Great Moments in History” by John G. Stockmyer. It’s British, and Mr. Stockmyer created these recordings back in the 1970s as an engaging way to teach history. He presented historic events as if a BBC-type reporter was on the scene…only the events he chose (Battle of Thermopylae, Britain sailing against the Spanish Armada, an interview with William the Conqueror, and more) occurred long before radio and television.

I’ve been a fan ever since. More importantly, I believe that Podiobooks.com may be a useful resource for new authors looking for an audience. You can record your book chapter by chapter, and “readers” can sign up for regularly scheduled downloads delivered like podcasts to iTunes or through your RSS feed. All the instructions are on the site.

Podiobooks.com is guerilla marketing for the author. If you have an earlier book that never received much play, why not read your book aloud, save it as a series of mp3 files, and see if you can’t build your own audience. If you succeed, you can report on your success in your next book proposal. It’s legitimate evidence of interest in your work.

As of today, the 52,119 reader members can choose from 263 titles. Books of all sorts are eligible: novels, compilations, anthologies and nonfiction. You’ll find author submission guidelines here.

Here’s a little sample:

          Printing Press Promo

Post #8–Two Women Business–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

If you read much about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your blog, you’ve probably heard that video is a fast, easy, and powerful way to improve your standing in Google. All well and good…but most authors and entrepreneurs don’t know where to start. “I don’t have a video camera,” they tell me. “Do I need some complicated piece of software?”

Inexpensive video cameras and powerful software tools do exist. But today I want to give you an easy alternative…something that will get you started with video. It’s a new browser-based screencasting tool called ScreenToaster. “Browser-based” means the tool runs on your Web browser. There’s no software to download. It runs equally well on both PCs and Macs. And it’s FREE. “Screencasting” is video technology that captures action on your computer screen in real time.

You can see a quick demo of ScreenToaster:

So let’s say you wanted to do a short PowerPoint or Keynote presentation and then post it as a blog. Here’s what you do:

1. Request your free ScreenToaster account today. The product is in Beta so you’ll first register for an invitation. Within a day or two they’ll be back to you with your access code.
2. Create your presentation and practice giving it.
3. Open your ScreenToaster account. And get ready to record. To start recording you just press ALT-S.
4. Bring your presentation up on the screen, start play mode to get a full screen image of your slides. With ScreenToaster running in the background, press ALT-S to start recording.
5. Now here’s the tricky part (for now any rate). You cannot currently record audio while capturing the video. This feature is coming soon, but for now you need to go through your presentation slide by slide while you read your script. This will ensure you stay on each slide long enough to make your points.
6. When you are all done, press ALT-S again. And you have a screencast.
7. Go back to the ScreenToaster website and your recording will be sitting there…waiting for you to edit (add captions or record audio). If you select audio you’ll then play the recording while you read your script into your microphone. Think of it like lip syncing.
8. And you’re done. Now you can post the code for your recording on your blog or even on YouTube for all to say. Don’t forget to add tags…this too will help SEO.

Post #7–Two Women Business–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

In my post yesterday I talked about the power of Web 2.0 to create a groundswell for products, whether that be a political candidate, ballot measure…or your book, service or latest widget. The case made by our recent elections serves as such a clear example that I want to follow up with a few numbers I’ve come across. The disparity in the social media presence between Senator John McCain and President-elect Barack Obama illustrates how Obama could raise record sums from so many small contributors.

• 150 million blog posts about John McCain v. 500 million posts mentioning Barack Obama (according to post on ReadWriteWeb).
• Just 224,254 MySpace friends for McCain v. 867,074 friends for Obama (figures as of 11/6/08)
• 4917 followers on Twitter for McCain v. 119,762 followers for Obama (figures as of 11/6/08).

So what do the numbers tell us? You should start building your ground game today. As entrepreneurs and authorpreneurs you can use social networking to create more than just buzz. You can connect with your customers and prospects (to provide a higher level of service) and build word of mouth support, both powerful marketing tools. And you can make sales. Social media translates into real dollars.

Your first step is to move away from your static Website and start running your site on a blog platform like WordPress. And when you start posting your blogs, aggressively use tags, keywords and search engine optimization. You’ll build valuable Web presence. While this is important regardless the market you are trying to reach, it’s absolutely essential if you target the Gen X and Gen Y markets (consumers 14 to 44). Fully 90 percent of the 130.5 million young consumers in the United States rely on the Internet for most of their information. Their collective annual income? Almost $6 trillion.

If you’re not sure how to start, let an Internet marketer help you develop a professional blog and create a blogging and social networking strategy. Getting started is not expensive, and once you’re up and running you’ll easily be able to manage most of the site yourself. This is a cost-effective strategy with huge potential for payoff.

Post #6–Two Women Business–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

It’s the day after our elections and there is one more winner that needs to be announced: technology. We call it by its many names–MySpace, Facebook, blogging, Twitter, YouTube videos, email campaigns, banner advertising, optin pages and list management–but make no mistake. Technology, Web 2.0, social networking (whatever you want to call it) was a real winner.

As authorpreneurs and entrepreneurs, I hope the significance of the Internet hasn’t been lost on you. Web 2.0 marketing has proved its potential–no, its power–by helping build and motivate the voter base from the ground up. Make no mistake.

The blog Mashable ran a post listing more than 65 sites designed to help voters prepare to exercise their franchise. Sites range from candidates’ home pages, background on the many Propositions, polling sites, and voting services (e.g., where to vote and how to get there). In addition to all the background and supporting sites, and major candidates’ social networking accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Digg, Twitter, and YouTube, tens of thousands of voters shared their thoughts and intentions openly…even aggressively.

This election season, Two Women Business had a personal experience with the power of the Internet to make a difference…in this case at the local level. The town of Gilroy, California, was preparing to put forward Measure F to support the construction of a larger, seismically safe library. Supporters of the measure had limited funds to get the word out. To augment the phone banks, publicity and community canvassing, we created a blog site to help get the community involved and keep them informed. You can see the site by clicking here. And the result? We did what many thought impossible. Measure F passed: We needed 66.67 percent voting YES for a super majority. We received 68.10 percent.

The 2008 election may indeed be a referendum on Politics 2.0. Don’t let the lesson be lost on you and your marketing strategy.

Post #5–Two Women Business & Publishing–Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

Traditional media has been taking a beating of late. Well not just of late. Newspapers and magazines have been reporting declining readership, lost ad revenue, and dwindling stock values for some time now. Seemingly the only thing going up are the number of layoffs. And now after about a century of daily publication, the Christian Science Monitor will cut back to a weekly. Last night on the NewsHour with Jim Leher, we heard an interesting segment, called “Old Media, New Media,” and I’ve included a link to the audio file.

There’s no question print media has to change to remain at all competitive. And digital media is the cost-effective choice. Paper, printing and distribution costs make it difficult for publications to compete aggressively for readership that’s drawn to 24-hour news, cable TV channels tailored to virtually every interest, mobile media and the Internet. Add economic uncertainty to the equation and it becomes virtually impossible.

So what does this have to do with blogging? It’s this. For all I read and hear from the traditional media about the need to cut costs and reposition themselves in the digital arena, I hear very little about how they’re going to build their Web presence.

I grant that the major magazines and papers have a stronger brand than you and I, and that many of their loyal readers will follow them online. But will they stay? It all depends on how effectively the old media make the transition. Will they embrace interactive formats, encourage forums, blog effectively? Will they be able to compete with social networks? Some will. Many will not. The new media is not traditional media sans the paper and ink. Success requires a new template.

The same applies to authors and entrepreneurs moving online from traditional publishing and brick-and-mortar businesses. Blogging and social media are key components that we’ll continue to explore there. But I want you to leave you this link to a discussion between author-entrepreneurs Seth Godin and Tom Peters recorded for American Express’ Open Forum.