Showing posts with label book blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book blog. Show all posts

Monday, November 18, 2013

Venturing Into the Writing and Publishing World? You Need to Read This!

     Nearly a year ago when I began helping to market the Guiamo Chronicles,  I started with a crash course on blogging and Twitter.  Facebook I pretty well understood.  Twitter was a foreign land and blogging looked fun but confusing.  As I stumbled along I met many people glad to lend a helping hand.  I also ran across many articles that helped me tremendously.  Things that seem second nature once you've been on Twitter for awhile can be very baffling to start.  Lists are wonderful tool, for example, but I had no idea how to use them.
     Most sites such as Twitter, Hootesuite, and Blogger have tutorials, but let's face it, most of us don't take the time to read them.  It's on our to do list that never really gets done.  Time is a precious commodity, especially in my case as a mother of six children trying to help her husband.  Because of this, the kind people who passed along their knowledge made a huge difference.  I'm still learning but I've come  along way.
     As a way to say thanks to those whose help made a difference, I wanted to pass along their posts that helped me on my journey.  Below you will find articles on everything from Twitter etiquette (and yes, I made some mistakes) to using YouTube to your advantage as a writer. I hope it will encourage and help others who may feel a bit lost as I did.  

Articles Discussing Publishing & Writing Related Issues


Articles Giving  Information on Twitter Basics


Articles Regarding Reviews - How, How Not To and Where to Find Reviewers



Articles Regarding Blog Tours & Blogs/Websites




     Do you remember when you first started using Twitter or blogging?  Do you have a funny story or something that has helped you to pass along?  If so, we'd love to hear it.  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment below.  Twitter is a wonderful community.  I hope you enjoy your stay!

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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

A New Meeting Place for Readers and Writers

     Many times in life, our job is just that - work.  It's a joy when our vocation can intersect with our passion.  Today, I'd like to introduce you to someone who has taken something they enjoy immensely and created an enterprise of sorts from that love.  I ran across Paul Martin in the twitter-verse one day as he was preparing to launch his new endeavor. He has been very kind in helping us present Guiamo Chronicles to a new group of readers.  If you're looking for a place for readers to connect with new writers, spend a few minutes with me while I talk to Paul regarding Self Publisher's Showcase.


~Thanks for taking the time to spend a few minutes sharing with us about Self Publishers Showcase. 

Anytime, Tracey. Thanks for having me; it certainly makes a pleasant change to be answering the questions.

~First, can you tell our readers a little about yourself and your background.


PaulI’m a ‘thirtysomething’ married, father of 5 very hyperactive youngsters. My background, for the most part, is rooted in luxury hospitality in both the UK and the US. It may not be immediately clear how I have managed to end up where I am now(even to me) but I have always had a deep love of the written word; it was only always a matter of time before I found myself doing something in the world of literature. When I’m not Showcasing the work of a fantastically talented group of Authors I can also occasionally be found working with many author’s ‘elixir of life’ through a great Artisan Coffee Start-up in ‘eightpointnine’. Definitely worth a look for any UK based readers. 

~Transforming an idea into an actual product or organization takes time.  Can you share with us some of the background of Self Publisher’s Showcase and what inspired you?

This really should be the part where I explain the months, if not years, of arduous preparation. But it really hasn’t been that way. Around 12 months ago I found myself in conversation with a few authors whose work I had enjoyed, through  social media. I then approached a close friend in Steve Taylor-Bryant at The Cult Den.com about the possibility of doing some interviews with these authors, that could then be published on his site. Having enjoyed the experience immensely and seeing the positive reactions of my author friends I set about coming up with a way to do this on a grander, all-encompassing scale. The idea for The Showcase was finalized after a period of brainstorming and went from the ideas stage to the launch stage in a relatively short space of time.

~There are many sites on the web offering publicity for authors.  What sets Self Publisher’s Showcase apart from all the rest?

I had a clear idea in my head from the outset of how I wanted the site to work. Luckily working on the site myself has fortunately allowed me to keep incredibly close to these ideals. Other sites that I’ve visited have in my opinion always fallen down in 2 or 3 areas: A lack of good, fresh content, a lack of personality and most notably the ability to take what should be a clean and simple platform and turn it into a jumbled mixture that can turn finding something of interest to you into a kind of scavenger hunt...
The Showcase, to me at least says: Great original content – Whether it’s Interviews, Reviews, Short Fiction etc. A constant helpful presence; if you need us for anything we are always at hand. And, an easy to navigate site; If you come to us looking for something new in Fantasy to get your teeth into it won’t take you half a day to find what you are looking for.

 ~I know you represent many authors, but if you had to pick three stories that have personally intrigued you from the books that you offer, what would they be?

I’m going to cheat here and tell you about four, though in fairness one book predates the Showcase so maybe we can just pretend that it’s three after all? Firstly, I’ve always been a big Fantasy reader so it’s no great surprise that the first couple are Fantasy books. Before the Showcase was launched I came across ANGST from DavidPedersen, an author we are now lucky enough to feature on the site. The main character is a middle-aged, reluctant hero and the story is to this day one of my absolute favourites. 




Secondly I was immediately intrigued by Marshall Best’s GUIAMO novels (someone I think you may be familiar with). The story shows such commitment to research and weaves fiction with legend seamlessly. In fact I am currently around two-thirds of the way through Cumoro, the second book in the planned 9 book series as we speak.




Moving out of Fantasy, my third choice would be DEAD WEST, a Weird Western / Zombie mash-up that is the start of what promises to be a very interesting series, co-written by Tim Marquitz, J.M. Martin and Kenny Soward. 





Finally, well out of my comfort zone, I recently picked up a copy of James Knight’s HEAD TRAUMAS and I have to say, the intrigue paid off in a big way. It is not something I would normally have read, and for me that just goes to prove what we are trying to achieve here at The Showcase. It really does pay to try something different every now and again, you really do find some absolute gems.

~What can readers expect to find when they visit your site?

If everyone sees the site as I do, and I really hope they do, they’ll find a plethora of fantastic authors across a multitude of genres. Many incredibly open and honest interviews, book reviews, original short fiction and giveaways. We’ve also just this week added a new section to the site. Some of our authors are utilising crowd funding to get amazing projects off the ground, so we’ve now made it possible for our readers to get involved without any hassle. There are some great incentives on offer and it goes without saying, any donations are greatly appreciated by our authors. All of this is presented in what we consider to be a fresh and well-designed platform; easy to navigate and a great place to visit time and time again.

~What are your goals with Self Publisher’s Showcase?  What will make you look back with satisfaction knowing you have succeeded in what you set out to do?

My goals, for all of the right reasons, are constantly being reassessed. I started with the modest goal of hoping to make a difference in perhaps 1 or 2 author’s daily lives. Perhaps helping increase sales and my work was done? Now though, with the constant stream of positive feedback, I just want to take the training wheels off and see how far I can take us. Every day the interest grows as more and more authors take the step to be pro-active and join us on our exciting journey. I would love to sit here in 5 or 10 years time and tell you how hundreds of authors have found their audience through the work The Self-Publisher’s Showcase has done. In fact, that’s a goal, right? Pencil that interview in 5 years from now. Easier questions though...

~Is this a one man show?  If not, who else is involved?

It is to a degree... The day to day running of the site, the interviewing, the social accounts, the back and forth between the site and our fabulous authors is all me. But then I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m lucky enough to be involved in something I’m very passionate about and hopefully that comes across with everyone who interacts with The Showcase. That said, I’m also lucky enough to have a very dedicated review team in place already in James [Fox], Reece [Jones] and Matthew [Cunliffe]. As the site continues to grow I’m sure that there will come a time where I have to lessen the role I play in some aspects of the site, I’m just not ready to hand over too much of my baby right now.

~If you’re looking for a place to discover new books and new authors, take a moment and head over to Self Publisher’sShowcase.  Thanks Paul for taking the time to talk with us!

My absolute pleasure, Tracey. If you’re reading this, do pop by and say ‘Hello’, it’s always great to hear from anyone with an interest in what we are trying to achieve. If anyone has any questions at all about what we do I can be reached directly via paul(at)selfpublishershowcase(dot)com or via twitter @selfpubshowcase.

Happy Reading Everyone!


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Monday, August 19, 2013

A Helping Hand ~ Connecting With Readers

Back in December of 2012, I began to experiment with Twitter.  My teenager knew all about it.  I knew nothing.  I made some mistakes and blunders along the way.  If I annoyed any of you ( or am doing so now) I apologize.  Many an author (or author's significant other) looking to connect with readers through social media have made mistakes.  Not being one to study, observe and learn before jumping in, I was no exception.  Over the last several months I have attempted to help others in spreading the word about their works as well as forward on helpful articles I have run across.  And of course, I've consistently told whoever would listen about Marshall's books.  The writing community as a whole has truly been helpful, gracious and understanding.  I know there is still a lot to learn.  I'm looking forward to the days ahead.

I've heard of stumbleupon but have no experience using it.  As I've traveled the twitter-verse, that's exactly the term I would use for some of the best connections I've made in promoting the Guiamo Chronicles.  In exploring, browsing, searching, I "stumbled upon" a blog advertising book tours. The comments were positive, the blog well done and so I took a stab and reached out inquiring about their possible interest in doing a tour for Guiamo.  The rest is history. The Guiamo Book Tour was an incredible success and encouragement. 

Our experience with Beck Valley Books was a positive one from start to finish.  Sharon, who does the computer side of things, was quick to answer any questions I had and stayed on top of all that needed to be done.  She went above and beyond in helping to promote Guiamo.  Even after the tour was over, she offered to post about a giveaway we were doing as part of the Blogger Book Fair.  Many companies do what they were paid for and then move on.  Not so with Sharon! I'm confident that Beck Valley Books will be a valuable partner in continuing to share the news of Guiamo with others.  

As I've told Sharon via e-mail, if we ever make it over to England, we would love to meet in person. We wish Sharon and Stephen all our best.


And now, pull up a chair as I interview the people behind Beck Valley Books to learn a little more about their journey into the literary world. 

Introducing Beck Valley Books!


~ Could you introduce yourselves to our readers and share a little bit about the two of you?

Hi everyone we are Sharon & Stephen, a pair of book lovers who live in the UK.  We have been married for almost 20 years and have two lovely teenage boys who keep us very busy indeed!   We both work full time as well as running our online bookstore and book blog.

~ We met through the Beck Valley Books book blog, but originally you started as book sellers. Tell us a little bit about your journey in the business of selling and blogging as well as how long you have been a part of the book world.

Our passion for books started many years ago, we love books and constantly went to as many car boots, jumble sales and auctions as we could to find more books for our ever expanding collection. From many visits to the beautiful Northumberland, filled with lovely old bookshops, our dream started of owning our own bookshop one day. After one particular visit we returned home to the news of a bereavement and due to my own ill health which meant I could not return to my previous occupation we decided that there was no need to wait any longer and that is when it all began.

~ What makes Beck Valley Books different than other online bookstores?
 
I would say because we are a small family run business and value our loyal customers. We have our books on site and know the true condition of them which is always reflected in the books description.  We love our books and want to share our passion with other book readers. 

~ Do you have any hopes and plans for the future?
 
Stephen hopes one day to have a physical bookstore, a book lovers paradise I think with sofa's, a coffee maker and even a chess board!!  We bought a beautiful book shaped table from an auction a couple of years ago and the first thing Stephen said was that it would go lovely in his book shop !!

~ The two of you work as a team. How do you split up the work? I know with our family, Marshall writes the books and I do the marketing.
 
I do all the computer side of things, which is massive, putting individual books online is quite time consuming especially the old books, but I love doing it.  Stephen does the buying and delivering and of course all the heavy lifting.

~ Share with us one or two of your successes. What things have you done in your journey that really worked?
 
I received a wonderful email from a customer who had been looking for his childhood book for over fifty years and finally found it on our store, he was absolutely overjoyed and we were thrilled for him.
The other obvious success is the book tours we now do, at first we started our Beck Valley Books blog to promote our bookstore but it has now become far more important which in a way is quite sad as we love our old, rare books and we are spending less and less time with them.  For me each old book has their own unique history and it's wonderful to pass this onto a new owner.

~ On the same note, what mistakes have you made in the past years that you hope others don’t repeat?
 
We started out selling every type of book possible but in time you will find a niche that fits your style and you can focus on selling in that particular area.  You have to be in it for the long haul, it isn't an easy way to make money you have to have the motivation to make it work.

~ What are some of the unwritten rules you go by in doing business with others online?
To be honest I don't think I have any x


~ Can you share a fun story of a book you have been involved with doing book tours over the years, perhaps finding an all time favorite read or an author success story?
 
We have met so many wonderful author's over the last couple of years and it has been an absolute pleasure working alongside all of them, they are such fun people to work with.  I love to hear that our book tours have made a difference in the books sales and online presence.  We have been very lucky up to now that there hasn't been one book that we haven't enjoyed, I think that may be down to the fact that we only review the books we feel that we would really enjoy ourselves.  
My all time favourite read has to be the general fiction book Swallowtail by Sheri Meshal, it was a spiritual delight and it left myself and many of the other reviewers still feeling the effects from reading it even now.

 ~ Thanks Stephen and Sharon for spending a little bit of time with us!  I'd have to say whether you know it or not, your unwritten rule is to treat others with courtesy, kindness and respect.  It's been a real pleasure!  

Support a Bookstore Today!

I know many are concerned that the bookstore may become a thing of the past.  Stephen and Sharon's dream is to own one of these jewels that are becoming  more rare.  Why not visit them today at Beck Valley Books and browse their selection.  You too might find a treasure!



For more information on tours or new authors to follow





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