I'm definitely a newbie at blogging. I've been told that when authors come out with a new book, especially unknown authors like myself, a blog is an absolute necessity to attract BUZZ to the new book in question.
Just in case you didn't know, I've written a book, "Read Between the Lines: A Humorous Guide to Texting with Simplicity and Style" that's been published, and is about to be released in just a few weeks.
So, I've been spending the last week educating myself on "How in the heck does a blog really work?"
It's totally unimaginable as to the amount of "stuff" you need to be aware of to achieve blog success.
Lets start with just the basics like RSS, CSS, Back-Linking, Code-to-Text Ratios, HTML Validations, Wikipedia Edits, Google Everything, Digg, Hubspot, Ping-o-Matic, Key Words, Meta Tags, and Search Engine Optimization just to name a few.
Now don't get me wrong; I've definitely heard about most of these tools, and have used some of them over the years. But, I never really knew the internal workings of any of them, like of how to edit properly within Wikepedia, or how an RSS feed actually works. I'm more of the kind of person that just wants things to work the way they're suppose to, without actually knowing any of the nitty-gritty details.
As my eyes were turning cross-eyed today working with RBTL's website designer Torrey, (who BTW is doing a great job) I had to ask myself "is all of this really worth it or is blogging one of the necessary evils of being an unknown author that I must endure?" After all, if I was "well known" I would have "people" that would just make all of the nitty-gritty details become completely invisible and perfectly operational, leaving me only to the writing and hitting the "publish post" button.
That would be amazing, but this is not my reality.
While I realize it's probably not that difficult to learn all this cool stuff, it's still not easy to jump into the deep, dark and scary unknown of a new anything. That being said, I've decided that learning to do something new like blogging is worth it.
I'm thinking it's kind of like the day I had to show my mom how to text. I'm sure she was thinking "OMG I can't possibly learn how to text at my age of 63!" (sorry mom to mention your age). But after she learned in just a few short minutes, then put what she learned into practice, texting became second nature to her. In fact, she texts everyone she knows who will text her back! Officially, she has become a texpert. Go mom!
Maybe there's hope for me. Maybe I'll (hopefully sooner rather than later) begin to understand the technology behind what makes a blog a blog, and soon I'll be the resident expert on RSS Feeds and Back-Linking.
However, I'm positive that won't be the case for me anytime soon. I'm also pretty sure my wonderful assistant Jesse is about ready to jump off a cliff, which means he and I better get this whole "blog" thing figured out now!
So please, bare with me, I should get it right by next week. And, if you have any wonderful words of wisdom, by all means, feel free to comment, tweet, or post an update my way.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Get Ready for the Holidays - They're Almost Here!
As November nears, it's hard not to think about the Holidays that are almost upon us.
Personally, I love the Holidays! The festive decorations, the beautiful lights, school performances, the gift of giving, helping those that are less fortunate than me, and the extra time I get to spend with my family and friends really make me happy.
I really like the champagne too! :)
Doesn't it seem like all of the years parties, celebrations, and the fifty family functions seem to happen all in the month of December?
How do we keep up with everything we have yet to get done? We write lists, we get organized, we commit and sometimes we over commit. Even though its hard to get it all done, we some how find a way to do it ALL and do it WELL.
We do it all because we are women! It's what women do best. We say "yes" to everyone, and we want do to everything we can to have as much fun as possible.
When I find myself thinking of things I need to get done, as I mention in my book Read Between the Lines, I just send myself a text that lists the things I need to do that day. Then, I don't delete the text until I've completed the task(s) I've assigned myself.
Since a text is a lot like a Post-it note on steroids, this method makes me feel super organized, and accomplished at the end of each day.
Give it a try - and let me know if this little tip helps you manage your to-do lists of your "life's little reminders" over the upcoming Holiday months.
Personally, I love the Holidays! The festive decorations, the beautiful lights, school performances, the gift of giving, helping those that are less fortunate than me, and the extra time I get to spend with my family and friends really make me happy.
I really like the champagne too! :)
Doesn't it seem like all of the years parties, celebrations, and the fifty family functions seem to happen all in the month of December?
How do we keep up with everything we have yet to get done? We write lists, we get organized, we commit and sometimes we over commit. Even though its hard to get it all done, we some how find a way to do it ALL and do it WELL.
We do it all because we are women! It's what women do best. We say "yes" to everyone, and we want do to everything we can to have as much fun as possible.
When I find myself thinking of things I need to get done, as I mention in my book Read Between the Lines, I just send myself a text that lists the things I need to do that day. Then, I don't delete the text until I've completed the task(s) I've assigned myself.
Since a text is a lot like a Post-it note on steroids, this method makes me feel super organized, and accomplished at the end of each day.
Give it a try - and let me know if this little tip helps you manage your to-do lists of your "life's little reminders" over the upcoming Holiday months.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Book Signing Adventures Continue
Before Read Between the Lines gets shipped off to the various book stores across the country, I decided I had better make sure that it gets slotted into the right category. I'm thinking it's pretty important for "would be readers" to be able to find RBTL if they are looking for it, or if they're just browsing, I'd like the book to stand out in the crowd.
So, off I went to Borders to verify which category Read Between the Lines belongs to. And, while I was at my local Borders store, I figured I might as well go ahead and ask "The Question" again today which is "would you be interested in hosting a book signing?"
I must admit, I also kept hearing my mom's voice in the back of my mind saying "requesting a book signing isn't difficult Shawn, all you need to do is ask!"
As I walked into Borders this morning, along with the butterfly's in my stomach, I thought to myself... "is this what all newbie authors go through to get book signings on the schedule?" I don't even know why I asked this question, because the answer was clearly part of my reality.
In I walk, and I'm immediately offered assistance by the customer service expert. I hand her my galley, and she gets this great big smile on her face. She says she loves the cover, and then begins to flip through the book. I then let her know my mission for the morning, which was to find the right category for Read Between the Lines. She immediately tells me it belongs in "Humor".
Then she offers to ask her store manager her opinion, because she's the "resident expert".
Excellent! An expert who can solve today's question of the day.
The manager comes out, takes the galley, thumbs through the pages, and then we begin to walk around the store to look at each of the potential categories it could go in. As we did this, she explained why Read Between the Lines would or would not "get lost" in each category.
Get lost? THAT'S MY BIGGEST NIGHTMARE! Read Between the Lines needs to be found, not lost!
She was amazing and knowledgeable to say the least. It also helped that she really liked Read Between the Lines, and was excited as to it's potential.
Then, just as she finalized her decision on the "Humor" category for RBTL, she said "how would you like to do a fun event for your book here at the store? This is the perfect time for a book like this to get noticed during the Holiday season"
To say the least, her offer to host a book signing "fun event" was music to my ears! I LOVE fun, and I'm now officially a big fan of book signings.
Hmmm.....maybe, just maybe I need to start believing that requesting a book signing isn't as hard as it sounds. Or, could it be that book store managers are just awesomely wonderful lovers of books?
Maybe it's all true, and it's just the perfect combination of perfect.
So, off I went to Borders to verify which category Read Between the Lines belongs to. And, while I was at my local Borders store, I figured I might as well go ahead and ask "The Question" again today which is "would you be interested in hosting a book signing?"
I must admit, I also kept hearing my mom's voice in the back of my mind saying "requesting a book signing isn't difficult Shawn, all you need to do is ask!"
As I walked into Borders this morning, along with the butterfly's in my stomach, I thought to myself... "is this what all newbie authors go through to get book signings on the schedule?" I don't even know why I asked this question, because the answer was clearly part of my reality.
In I walk, and I'm immediately offered assistance by the customer service expert. I hand her my galley, and she gets this great big smile on her face. She says she loves the cover, and then begins to flip through the book. I then let her know my mission for the morning, which was to find the right category for Read Between the Lines. She immediately tells me it belongs in "Humor".
Then she offers to ask her store manager her opinion, because she's the "resident expert".
Excellent! An expert who can solve today's question of the day.
The manager comes out, takes the galley, thumbs through the pages, and then we begin to walk around the store to look at each of the potential categories it could go in. As we did this, she explained why Read Between the Lines would or would not "get lost" in each category.
Get lost? THAT'S MY BIGGEST NIGHTMARE! Read Between the Lines needs to be found, not lost!
She was amazing and knowledgeable to say the least. It also helped that she really liked Read Between the Lines, and was excited as to it's potential.
Then, just as she finalized her decision on the "Humor" category for RBTL, she said "how would you like to do a fun event for your book here at the store? This is the perfect time for a book like this to get noticed during the Holiday season"
To say the least, her offer to host a book signing "fun event" was music to my ears! I LOVE fun, and I'm now officially a big fan of book signings.
Hmmm.....maybe, just maybe I need to start believing that requesting a book signing isn't as hard as it sounds. Or, could it be that book store managers are just awesomely wonderful lovers of books?
Maybe it's all true, and it's just the perfect combination of perfect.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Book Signings Adventures by a Newbie Author
First of all, it's kind of crazy referring to myself as an "author". Secondly, the thought never crossed my mind to be "that person" at the book store signing books, let alone signing my own books! That is... until my very own mom booked my first book signing today.
My mom has this great way about her. She can just walk into Borders and Barnes and Noble with ease, ask for the store manager, confess she knows nothing about what she's asking for (which btw is a book signing for her daughters new book; Read Between the Lines) and end up getting exactly what she's asking for.
Of course, a lot of really cool things happened to her in the process of her book signing adventure, all very much worth mentioning.
My fabulous mom walks into Borders with the galley and bookmarks for Read Between the Lines in hand, ready to tackle the world. She asks for the manager, and whips out the Galley she's so proud of. She promises me there were "OOO's and AHHS's" coming from the employees around her, with even a few "struggles" as to who got to thumb through the Galley first.
As you can imagine, this is music to my ears! But, I had to be sure my mom was telling the accurate story, so I asked her to repeat the story 7 times. :)
But, there's more to this book signing adventure.
My mom manages to get the attention of the right person to not only get the book signing on the calendar, but he was so great and so enthusiastic, that he provided her with some really great hints as to how to make the book signing a success, and how to get Read Between the Lines national attention within his corporate systems.
After my mom bragged about her experience, and "how easy it is to get a book signing scheduled" I decided to give it a try myself.
I have to admit, I had major butterfly's!
I walked into a Barnes & Noble store, spoke directly to the store manager who was more than willing to help me with my book signing, and was one of the most wonderful and full of energy retail store managers I have ever met! Lucky me! Or, are all book store managers this wonderful?
Since I'm a newbie at the book signing requests, I'll have to get back to you on that.
So, my point is this. As scary as a book signing sounds, there appears to be amazing book store representatives who are more than willing to help us authors (and mom's too) with our causes.
Timing is everything. Be sure to go into the store at a slower sales time (usually in the morning during the week) and call ahead to make sure the store manager will be there. When you go in, be friendly and professional, and most of all be very respectful of the managers time. Book store managers want to sell books, and if you're going to help them sell more books, a book signing can be a match made in heaven for everyone.
For all of you newbies out there like me who are interested in promoting their book by scheduling book signings, I say either get your mom to go first :) - or just go for it yourself - after all, what do we really have to loose?
My mom has this great way about her. She can just walk into Borders and Barnes and Noble with ease, ask for the store manager, confess she knows nothing about what she's asking for (which btw is a book signing for her daughters new book; Read Between the Lines) and end up getting exactly what she's asking for.
Of course, a lot of really cool things happened to her in the process of her book signing adventure, all very much worth mentioning.
My fabulous mom walks into Borders with the galley and bookmarks for Read Between the Lines in hand, ready to tackle the world. She asks for the manager, and whips out the Galley she's so proud of. She promises me there were "OOO's and AHHS's" coming from the employees around her, with even a few "struggles" as to who got to thumb through the Galley first.
As you can imagine, this is music to my ears! But, I had to be sure my mom was telling the accurate story, so I asked her to repeat the story 7 times. :)
But, there's more to this book signing adventure.
My mom manages to get the attention of the right person to not only get the book signing on the calendar, but he was so great and so enthusiastic, that he provided her with some really great hints as to how to make the book signing a success, and how to get Read Between the Lines national attention within his corporate systems.
After my mom bragged about her experience, and "how easy it is to get a book signing scheduled" I decided to give it a try myself.
I have to admit, I had major butterfly's!
I walked into a Barnes & Noble store, spoke directly to the store manager who was more than willing to help me with my book signing, and was one of the most wonderful and full of energy retail store managers I have ever met! Lucky me! Or, are all book store managers this wonderful?
Since I'm a newbie at the book signing requests, I'll have to get back to you on that.
So, my point is this. As scary as a book signing sounds, there appears to be amazing book store representatives who are more than willing to help us authors (and mom's too) with our causes.
Timing is everything. Be sure to go into the store at a slower sales time (usually in the morning during the week) and call ahead to make sure the store manager will be there. When you go in, be friendly and professional, and most of all be very respectful of the managers time. Book store managers want to sell books, and if you're going to help them sell more books, a book signing can be a match made in heaven for everyone.
For all of you newbies out there like me who are interested in promoting their book by scheduling book signings, I say either get your mom to go first :) - or just go for it yourself - after all, what do we really have to loose?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Newest Texting Scam you Need to Know
Here's how it plays out.
You get your purse, credit cards, ATM card, and cell phone stolen.
The perp goes through your phones address book or your recently dialed calls and figures out who your hubby or S.O. is.
Then, the perp (while standing in front of an ATM machine) sends him or her a text message that says: "Hi honey... for some reason I've forgotten my pin number - can you plz text it to me?"
I'm sure you can figure out how the rest of this story goes.
HINT: You need to Read Between the Lines. Don't text your pin number out to anyone, and be sure to let your loved ones know that you'd NEVER forget your PIN number! After all, based on the number of times you've used it, you could probably say it backwards 5 times fast in your sleep! :)
Please pass this information on to you everyone you know. The last thing we need is someone stealing our hard earned money by text message!
You get your purse, credit cards, ATM card, and cell phone stolen.
The perp goes through your phones address book or your recently dialed calls and figures out who your hubby or S.O. is.
Then, the perp (while standing in front of an ATM machine) sends him or her a text message that says: "Hi honey... for some reason I've forgotten my pin number - can you plz text it to me?"
I'm sure you can figure out how the rest of this story goes.
HINT: You need to Read Between the Lines. Don't text your pin number out to anyone, and be sure to let your loved ones know that you'd NEVER forget your PIN number! After all, based on the number of times you've used it, you could probably say it backwards 5 times fast in your sleep! :)
Please pass this information on to you everyone you know. The last thing we need is someone stealing our hard earned money by text message!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
What's A "WOO HOO" Moment?
A WOO HOO moment is when you have an exciting super-great experience happen to you, one that makes you feel like you just want to scream out at the top of your lungs and tell everyone "WOO HOO...I DID IT!"
Wouldn't it be great to have a WOO HOO moment every single day?
I know what you're thinking... how is it possible to have this type of OMG feeling day after day? Well, I'm here to assure you that it's VERY possible for you to achieve daily WOO HOO success, just as long as you set out to achieve something, and I mean anything big or small, every single beautiful day of your wonderful life.
I'm a big believer of the WOO HOO moment, which is why I've incorporated them into every chapter of my book, "Read Between the Lines: A Humorous Guide to Texting with Simplicity and Style" for all of my readers. I'm hopeful that once you get used to what a WOO HOO moment feels like by reading Read Between the Lines, you'll start to develop your own fabulous habits of extreme accomplishments!
Why not? You deserve you're very own moment of glory - don't you? Yes you do! So go ahead, add a WOO HOO moment to your daily "to do" list, or spend some time with our WOO HOO friends... and just like that (snap), you'll be achieving WOO HOO success every single day!
WOO HOO!
Wouldn't it be great to have a WOO HOO moment every single day?
I know what you're thinking... how is it possible to have this type of OMG feeling day after day? Well, I'm here to assure you that it's VERY possible for you to achieve daily WOO HOO success, just as long as you set out to achieve something, and I mean anything big or small, every single beautiful day of your wonderful life.
I'm a big believer of the WOO HOO moment, which is why I've incorporated them into every chapter of my book, "Read Between the Lines: A Humorous Guide to Texting with Simplicity and Style" for all of my readers. I'm hopeful that once you get used to what a WOO HOO moment feels like by reading Read Between the Lines, you'll start to develop your own fabulous habits of extreme accomplishments!
Why not? You deserve you're very own moment of glory - don't you? Yes you do! So go ahead, add a WOO HOO moment to your daily "to do" list, or spend some time with our WOO HOO friends... and just like that (snap), you'll be achieving WOO HOO success every single day!
WOO HOO!
Is Texting Worth Learning?
Texting is a way to communicate "instantly" with just about anyone. So, why do you need to communicate instantly? Why not just make the call?
Quite simply, calls don't always go through or get answered.
It's going to be my goal to educate as many mom's, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, or anyone who will listen, that learning to text is simple, fun, and a necessity in our digital society.
Believe it or not, texting is not just for teens anymore. A text can save someones life, help you reach someone who's in a difficult situation, or help you get a message out to someone who's tied up and unable to pick up your phone call.
Yes, texting is definitely worth learning for hundreds of reasons.
The countdown is on! I have until November 27, 2010 (A year after Read Between the Lines becomes available) to reach 1,000,000 women to teach them how texting can help everyone juggle all of life's situations more easily!
Quite simply, calls don't always go through or get answered.
It's going to be my goal to educate as many mom's, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, or anyone who will listen, that learning to text is simple, fun, and a necessity in our digital society.
Believe it or not, texting is not just for teens anymore. A text can save someones life, help you reach someone who's in a difficult situation, or help you get a message out to someone who's tied up and unable to pick up your phone call.
Yes, texting is definitely worth learning for hundreds of reasons.
The countdown is on! I have until November 27, 2010 (A year after Read Between the Lines becomes available) to reach 1,000,000 women to teach them how texting can help everyone juggle all of life's situations more easily!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Welcome to the RBTL Guide
Read Between the Lines is perfect for the person who wants to improve or learn how to communicate instantly with anyone at any time, from just about anywhere. In just ten short chapters, you’ll learn how to:
* Improve daily communication across the generations
* Tweet on Twitter™
* Practice appropriate texting etiquette
* Keep up with teen texting and know what to watch out for
* Understand how educators and the hard of hearing use texting
* Use texting in an emergency situation
To learn more, please visit www.rbtlguide.com
* Improve daily communication across the generations
* Tweet on Twitter™
* Practice appropriate texting etiquette
* Keep up with teen texting and know what to watch out for
* Understand how educators and the hard of hearing use texting
* Use texting in an emergency situation
To learn more, please visit www.rbtlguide.com
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