Raising the bar (code) for authors

All credit to Deborah Macgillivray for sharing a heads-up with me, which I am now passing on in my own words to my author friends.

Apparently, (and quite rightly in my humble opinion) bookstore buyers would appreciate a bit of fairness and equality when it comes to where authors' "Buy" links.

I used to have "BUY" gateway pages, directing would-be purchasers to bookstores in the USA, in Canada, in the UK, in Europe, in Australia.... everywhere in the world. I had so many links, I was afraid I'd look like a spam site!

So, I rationalized a bit. Rather than choose one online retailer over another, I directed my front page "BUY" links to my publishers' sites. That ought in theory to be fair to all, and put my reader en route to the best possible new book price. I still have links for Tesco and WHSmith and Blackwell and Forbidden Planet in the UK, (it seems that in the UK only Book Express or amazon.uk has Forced Mate, by the way) and to Loot in South Africa, and to Krisostomus in Continental Europe, and to my bookseller friends in Australia and New Zealand.


It looks as though I'm going to have to diversify my links to the USA stores, or in the future, my next release may not be ordered by stores to which I've neglected to link.


The recommended format is

NAMEOFYOUR PUBLISHER.COM


BN.COM


AMAZON.com


booksamillion.com


indiebound.org


borders.com





 
For those who would like handy urls to get started, here are mine

For Knight's Fork

BarnesandNoble.com
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Knight%27s+Fork

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Knights-Fork-Spell-Futuristic-Romance/dp/0505527405/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253970411&sr=1-3

Powells
http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9780505527400-0

BOOKSAMILLION
http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780505527400?id=4539716012475

Borders
http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0505527405

INDIEBOUND
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780505527400
 
I'm also adding Book Finder for my readers' further convenience
 

BOOKFINDER
http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&qi=wnk84IMOGAokXNgMRXYuV4QtRgo_9805432161_1:130:1435&bq=author%3Drowena%2520cherry%26title%3Dknight%27s%2520fork%2520love%2520spell%2520futuristic%2520romance




As I think it will be helpful to me, I'm assembling the "All My Books" pages at the same time

ALL MY BOOKS ON POWELLS
http://www.powells.com/s?header=Search+Form&kw=Rowena+Cherry


ALL MY BOOKS ON BARNES AND NOBLE
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?ATH=Rowena+Cherry


ALL MY BOOKS ON BOOKSAMILLION
http://www.booksamillion.com/search?id=4539716012475&query=ROWENA+CHERRY&where=Books&search.x=65&search.y=10&search=Search

 
ALL MY BOOKS ON BORDERS
http://www.borders.com/online/store/SearchResults?keyword=Rowena+Cherry&type=1&simple=1


ALL MY BOOKS ON INDIEBOUND
http://www.indiebound.org/hybrid?filter0=ROWENA+CHERRY&x=27&y=8

 
For e-books
 
ALL MY BOOKS ON FICTIONWISE
MATING NET
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b35959/?si=0




 
NEW LINK FOR MATING NET... NOW A KINDLE
http://www.amazon.com/Mating-Net/dp/B002MQYO98/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253970411&sr=1-5
 

ALL MY BOOKS ON JEXBO.COM
E-FORCED MATE
https://www.jexbo.com/items/108 

 
USED BOOK SITES
Abe books
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=ROWENA+CHERRY&sts=t&x=47&y=9
 

BOOKFINDER (a compendium of all US book sites)
http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?author=ROWENA+CHERRY&title=&lang=en&isbn=&submit=Begin+search&new_used=*&destination=us&currency=USD&mode=basic&st=sr&ac=qr



I hope this is helpful, and makes a chore a little easier.



Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry

Crazy dragon-shape-shifting Tuesday

Anatomical inconveniences to do with being a part time Romantic dragon! USA Today bestselling authors Susan Kearney and Jade Lee join me, Rowena Cherry, to discuss dragons in general, and fictional heroes and heroines who turn into dragons.

Ten a.m. (Eastern) until noon (also Eastern)

Look for "Crazy Tuesday" on http://internetvoicesradio.com

Is anyone else having trouble with their followers?

I've just checked around, and I don't think it's my fault. I think many blogs' followers are flashing.

Just saying.

Global Change Lecture

 

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WWpH0lmcxA

 

Shameless, but clever?

Asking for votes is not something I like doing. I'm more of the same school as the person on Twitter who posts his secret of social media marketing: if you are promoting Fightclub, do not talk about Fightclub.

So, I'm lagging woefully behind the Wake Up Celebrity Author Contest leaders (a business book and a horoscope story) who are obviously better at marshalling friends and strangers to show up and vote.

Voting involves awarding one-to-five stars for the cover art, the title itself, and the blurb. It's a way of proving that you (the voter) were there. You are also encouraged, but not obliged, to leave a comment in praise of the author. Self-promo in the course of the comment is fine, as long as the comment is approximately about the author, too.

I commissioned a video, as you may see.

I don't think it is helping very much, but I'll tell you a secret. You can promote a video on YouTube through the Google Adwords program. I'm paying .10c per click. I've had two clicks.

ROTFLMAO. Okay, that's not going to help me scale this wall of woe, but here's the thing. I've had over 9,000 impressions. For 20 cents!


I haven't checked on the effect on my sales... I really ought to, oughtn't I? But I do have a second book in the contest, which is acting as a sort of "control" because I have not asked anyone at all to vote for it (and this is not a hint).

Surprisingly, it is getting votes. Well, the contest ends on the 25th September 2009. In the meantime, I've got a few financial incentives being posted around the web for voter (for Insufficient Mating Material). There will be a random drawing for voters who leave a keyword in the comments box.

One contest is being run on Keta Diabolo's blog.
http://ketadiablo.blogspot.com/search/label/News

Another is being run on Gather

Another is being run on the Raven Happy Hour blog
http://ravenhappyhour.com/ravenblog/?p=971

And I have a Dorchester contest, where one lucky person could win all four of my books, autographed.


Today is International Coastal Clean Up day. My best wishes and eternal gratitude go out to everyone who is picking up human waste (trash, I mean) on the world's beaches, also to everyone who refrains from loosing balloons into the sea, and everyone who cuts up the plastic things that hold six-packs together.

Today is also the start of Rosh Hashanah. My best wishes to everyone who is observing a religious or holy festival this weekend.

Rowena Cherry

What's Wrong With EBooks

My author friends might be interested in a few of the articles that can be found via this link.

Elgan: What's wrong with eBooks?


Enjoy!

Publisher Simon And Schuster draws a line in the sand

All publishers should do this. Kudos to Simon and Schuster

http://www.simonandschuster.biz/content/feature.cfm?sid=33&feature_id=6982

Don't Copy That Floppy

A video on YouTube is creating quite a stir. Also, quite amazingly, there are well over 1,000 copies, and no sign of any spam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUCyvw4w_yk&feature=email

Watch it all the way through, and you will appreciate (or not) some impressive credits and the offer of a substantial reward.

Report piracy and you might win $1,000,000

1-800-388-PIR8
http://www.siia.net/piracy/report

I wonder if the reward could equally well go to someone who reports e-book theft? I certainly hope the reward is an equal opportunity reward scheme!

How to Write a Convincing God By Fantasy Author Sandy Lender

"Not All Gods Are Created Equal, But They Could Be." Sandy Lender's hook grabbed me, but I'm already an admirer of Sandy for many reasons, not least because of her fabulous blog, her way with dragons, her private love of turtles, and her familiarity with very large weapons.

Please don't be shy to ask Sandy about anything!

By the way, when C.L. Talmadge was my guest, I personally gave away a printed copy of Mating Nethttp://search.barnesandnoble.com/Mating-Net/Rowena-Beaumont-Cherry/e/9780976539711 to one commenter of my choosing. It would hardly be hospitable not to do the same (or similarly) for Sandy's visitors.

I'll give one commenter chosen by me one autographed print copy of Insufficient Mating Material. (Please vote for its cover, title, blurb at http://tinyurl.com/Award-5-Stars Further, anyone voting for Insufficient Mating Material and leaving a comment mentioning "the convincing god blog" will be entered in a draw to win a $10 gift certificate.)




Not all gods are created equal, but they could be.

You know, I really am a nice little Southern Baptist gal. I just happen to think a polytheistic society where gods flit about having sordid (or quality and loving) affairs with their minions is fun to write. So when Rowena offered the topic of “How to Write a Convincing God” to me during my current online book tour, how could I refuse? This is right up my dragon-infested alley.

A convincing god should have a variety of traits: compassion when it’s needed; pity when it’s needed; love for his worshipers; strength; understanding; a forgiving nature; broad shoulders; great mojo…

One specific trait I think makes a god convincing in a fantasy or sci-fi novel is the unwavering ability to bow to a goddess when she walks in the room. I’ll just assume anyone reading this blog is familiar with Maya Angelou’s poem Phenomenal Woman. That’s the concept. Think about it: If a goddess is around, and she has spoken her mind, the god in the great golden hall (or standing on the edge of a cliff or on the wrong side of the door to a ship’s airlock) needs to grasp the concept.

Bowing is good for most men, wouldn’t you say?

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”





Choices Meant For Kings
Chariss is in danger. Her geasa is hampered by the effects of a friend’s marriage. The dashing Nigel Taiman hides something from her, yet demands she stay at his family’s estate where he and her wizard guardian intend to keep her safe. But the sorcerer Lord Drake and Julette The Betrayer know she’s there, and their monstrous army marches that way.

When prophecies stack up to threaten an arrogant deity, Chariss must choose between the dragon that courts her and the ostracized kings of the Southlands for help. Evil stalks her at every turn and madness creeps over the goddess who guides her. Can an orphan-turned-Protector resist the dark side of her heritage? Or will she sacrifice all to keep her god-charge safe?


Excerpt

A Tense Little Excerpt From Choices Meant for Kings
By Fantasy Author Sandy Lender
http://www.authorsandylender.com
You won’t find this excerpt anywhere except Sandy’s current online book tour…

As the soldier stepped toward him, Nigel reached out his arm and caught him by the neck. He slammed the captain against the far wall. He pinned him there with his body, leaning against the man as if he could crush the wind from him with his presence.

He brought his face close to the soldier’s ear and spoke lowly, fiercely, so that no one could have overheard him. The menace and intent behind the words was as surprising to the captain as the words themselves.

“I asked you to accompany [Chariss] on this journey tomorrow because I have faith in your sword, and until this moment I trusted you to keep your distance from her. Now, I find her down here at your side with a look upon your face that suggests more than you realize. So help me, Naegling, the only thing that stays my hand is how displeased she would be if she learned that I sliced you open.”

“The look you see is merely my concern for her honor. Nothing more.”

“I’m not a fool. And I’ll use every last piece of Arcana’s treasury to pay the prophets to justify my reasons for marrying that woman, so you can unconcern yourself with her honor.”

Hrazon stepped off the staircase then and saw Nigel pressed against his guard.

“I still believe you’re one of the best soldiers Arcana’s ever seen,” Nigel continued, “and I want you at her side for this journey, but, so help me, Naegling, she comes back alive and well and not confused in the least about her affections for me, or I will string you up from a tree in the orchard and attach your intestines to your horse’s saddle before I send it—”

Hrazon cleared his throat. “Excuse me. Is there an issue here I should address?”



Find out how (and where) to follow Sandy on her current blog tour, and perhaps you may win a prize...

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2009/08/virtual-book-tour-choices-meant-for.html

Writers don't get paid for book tours

I was watching Power Lunch on CNBC yesterday, which I always do, even when I'm writing. A musician, entrepreneur, and co-author of a business book was being interviewed.

He was asked about piracy.

Kudos to Bill Griffith, and especially Michelle Caruso-Carrera for asking their guest, 50 cents about piracy. Of course, they targeted music piracy. Too bad they didn't ask his co-host, who was also a guest, about book piracy.

Essentially, the mega-rich musician/author guest (whose name is 50-cents) said that he did not mind piracy at all, and that musicians looked on the theft of copyrighted musical works (he did not call it theft) as inevitable, and as promotion for his concerts and tours and merchandise.

I find this attitude, while understandable, essentially immoral. Musicians muddy the waters of what is right and wrong when they tell people that stealing is good for the victim. They undermine all copyright by confusing the public, and by saying they don't mind theft.

That makes the rest of us, who do mind internet piracy look bad.

It's a case of "I'm all right, Jack!"

How popular does a musician have to be, to get a tour? Or a merchandising deal? Maybe not so much.

However, authors aren't usually paid for doing book tours. It's completely the other way around. Authors go on book tours to promote the book. Speaking engagements aren't usually paid. Anyway, authors write. Speaking is a whole set of other skills.

Authors don't sell merchandise (unless they are George Lucas, or J K Rowling... good luck to them!). Most of us can't even sell T-shirts, coffeemugs and tote bags, although we could create them at Cafepress.

Why don't we? Because we respect the copyrights of the cover models, cover artists, and cover model photographers, who usually sell limited rights to the publishers to use the images on the cover of books and for the promotion of those books, but not on mouse pads, underwear, screen savers and other merchandise sold for profit.

The best we can do is transfer a snappy quote from our books onto a T-shirt.

Anyway, I need a concluding thought to tie in with my opening. Otherwise, I would not admit this thought had crossed my mind... but if I happen to see this musician's business book on some of the file-"sharing" sites, I shall hope that the CNBC Power Lunch team are also tracking this book, and that they will have their guests back to ask about book piracy!

:-)

Margo J is the winner of Rowena Cherry's print copy of Mating Net

I am thrilled to announce that Margo J is the winner of a print copy of Mating Net.

In celebration of Dragoncon, for Romance or Horror Lovers

My publisher, Dorchester Publishing, is holding a drawing as part of their Dragoncon celebrations. Someone will win a free Kindle...


http://dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/SpecialFeatures.cfm?ID=2719

Enter before September 11th!

Good luck.

Politics, tyranny, and romance (guest blog)

Who loves a tyrant?

I do... Just a bit. When I read about C.L. Talmadge, I knew that we had more than one thing in common.

Can you guess or deduce what it is? Read on...

POLITICS, TYRANNY, AND ROMANCE, by C.L. Talmadge



History is littered with tyrants’ blood-stained efforts to obtain ever more political power.

The ultimate power grab, however, is spiritual. It is the absolute height of presumption for any person or institution to stand between individuals and the divine and lay claim to the only path to heaven.

Even more menacing is the clash of piety, politics, and passion. This combustible collision is the backdrop of a heretofore unknown history, a vanished past chronicled in the Green Stone of Healing® speculative epic.

This hidden tale is really herstory. Four generations of protagonists are strong-willed females whose lives are at the epicenter of the power struggles of their theocratic island nation, known as Azgard. So are their loves.

Azgard is the perfect setting for politics, tyranny, and romance. The priests of the state-sponsored Temple of Kronos have far-reaching power. They preach the superiority of the island’s dominant Toltecs — a tall, red-skinned people with black hair and eyes — and forbid sexual contact with the subservient race, the pale, golden-haired Turanians. They do not hesitate to mete out severe punishment for any infraction of their religious edicts.

The stated reasons for such laws are only half the story. The Temple also fears the strange, legendary abilities of half-breeds as a threat to its status and spiritual legitimacy. Half-breeds display the paranormal abilities that the priests used to possess but lost, and are trying desperately to reclaim to maintain their hold on power.

Along comes a romance, however, that defies this cruel social order. One of the highest-ranked, most powerful Toltec lords falls deeply in love with a Turanian woman. She refuses to marry him, but of their secret liaison is born, in a nation far to the east, a half-breed child, a daughter named Helen Andros.

Thirty-one years later, after Helen has returned to Azgard motherless and grown into an adult, her full parentage becomes public, igniting a political firestorm and launching the tale of the stone.

The revelation that Helen is the child of this powerful Toltec lord shakes the foundations of power. The top ranks of the Temple are divided on how to deal with her, as her very existence flouts their rules. One faction wants to slay her, and strives to bring about her death. Another group, however, wants to use Helen and create more half-breeds as tools in a tyrannical quest for absolute power.

The latter bloc eventually assumes control of the Temple and its leader launches his hidden agenda. The consequences are ever greater brutality and chaos. The Temple and its supporters eventually splinter into many groups that fight each other and prey on the vulnerable populace. Goons patrol Azgard armed with guns and motivated by murderous righteousness, waving holy writ as their justification for violence and greater repression.

Throughout this descent into madness, Helen and her descendents learn to use their green gem to offer a loving, inclusive alternative to theocrats and other wannabe tyrants, whose lust for absolute power destroys them and almost annihilates the rest of the world, too.

Even in the darkest hours, however, the heroines find love and romance to sustain them to a new beginning, where they hope their experiences will stand as a sharp reminder about the dangers of tyranny and the limits of power.




C.L. Talmadge is the author of the Green Stone of Healing® speculative epic. The fourth in the series, Outcast, will be published Oct. 1. Vote for the first book, The Vision, through Sept. 25 and get a free e-book on healing, love, and spirituality. Details at her blog: http://www.healingstonebooks.com/stonescribe

The series features four generations of strong-willed female characters who inherit a mysterious green gem ultimately revealed to mend broken bones and broken hearts, protect against missiles, and render its wearers undetectable.
For more information about each book, please visit http://www.greenstoneofhealing.com/




C.L. Talmadge's blog tour stops can be found here:
http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2009/08/virtual-series-tour-green-stone-of.html

Tour/book one



I'm delighted not only to be able to share C.L. Talmadge's guest blog post about politics, tyranny and romance with my readers, but to offer a prize of my own to one commentator (of my chosing): a rare, printed copy of my short story, Mating Net.



So, please weigh in on politics, tyranny, and romance!

Choices Meant For Gods (Sandy Lender)

Coming soon

Did I promise to blog about hernias? Oh my!

Once upon a wartime, an army had a problem. Their soldiers were getting hernias... which I suppose is not too surprising considering the amount of heavy kit that soldiers have to carry around, not to mention the heavy lifting, the stretching, the yomping.

This story, however, is not about the Falklands war.

The army wanted its fighting men to get back into good shape as soon as possible, with the most reliable prognosis. (In those days, women didn't do battle.) Research was done, and... to cut a long and painful story short... the Shouldice method was perfected.

You may have noticed that this blog is personal, and not about the Craft of Writing at all. Nevertheless, (as Malcolm Muggeridge used to say on Mastermind) "I've started, so I will finish."

The Shouldice method does not darn or patch. It uses no mesh, just fine, cold, steel wire to stitch together layers of muscle and tissue. We're told that all that stitching will not beep in airports or in popular chain stores. We'll see.

The Shouldice Hospital does hernias and nothing else. It seems to do a roaring trade. I'm not sure I ought to say that! Every day, thirty people with hernias are admitted (after sanitizing their hands thoroughly before being allowed to enter the building, and then being interviewed, inspected by an admitting doctor, and thoroughly tested to make sure that a hernia is their only health issue.)

Hernias come from all over the world, not necessarily for their first repair, but almost always for the last repair for that particular weak area. For one hernia, it's four nights in the Shouldice, for two or more, it's six nights (they like patients to have a good day's break between surgeries).

Admission is between ten thirty and noon, and a patient's driver must stay... in case the patient isn't healthy enough for surgery (I assume). Then, they go to the room they share with one other patient. I infer that older patients get the bed nearer the en suite bathroom, so they don't have so far to go in the night.

Meals are served (by waitresses) in the dining room in the walk-out basement, except for on surgery day, when the patients are brought a tray in their rooms.

There's pool (the game), mini golf, an unremarkable pond in the grounds, artificial waterfalls in the gently rolling landscape, shuffle board (tremendous fun!), a wi fi hot spot, tables with magazines, cards, etc in the spacious and luxuriously appointed common rooms, also tv in the common rooms, lots of phones (but not in the room...) Every effort is made --almost every incentive given-- to encourage patients to walk, move, climb stairs, sit on chairs and benches of different elevations and degrees of softness.

It's really like a country club!





The last meal is around six at night. Those who are going to surgery early the next morning have to shower the night before. (The showers at Shouldice are not well-conceived and it is all too easy to flash or moon a surprised visitor emerging from an elevator. Use of the elevators is not encouraged.) They are given a sleeping pill, which generally does not work terribly well because almost everyone is nervous. At least the patients are all going through the same thing!

Nevertheless, they say that every hernia surgery experience is a bit different. Not every gentleman will discover that he has post operative rings of colour (like a coral snake) in parts adjacent to the operative area.

Soon after five am, the fasting first batch are shaved for surgery (with ruthless efficiency). Then they go down... in the elevator. (Wearing surgery outfits). There are five operating theatres, so presumably, six batches of five patients pass through each day. They are not permitted to take false teeth, glasses, or other accoutrements, so younger patients have to help those with less good eyesight to find their beds (marked with name tags with names written small). It's a bit like musical chairs, except there is a bed for everyone. Then, after the patients are given a pill or a shot (according to their individual surgeon's preference) to relax the patient, each bed is wheeled off to a separate surgery.

For now, I will pass over the surgery.

Afterwards, the patients are returned sitting, in wheelchairs, are helped to change into their pajamas, and then sleep for at least four hours. They must remain recumbent for those four hours, and use a bedpan or bottle if necessary. After that, they may attempt to sit up, but must sit for twenty minutes before attempting to stand, and if dizzy must lie down for another hour before trying again.

Once awake, they are encouraged to drink lots of juice and water. Not only does this help to flush out the anaesthetic, and the vitamin C promotes healing, but it eventually provides an incentive to get up and talk ones first walk.

Tylenol is available. Moving does hurt (a lot), although it is going to hurt more on the following day when the anaesthetics have worn off. Patients spend the rest of the day easing themselves off their beds, and shuffling around the corridors and common areas. Visiting hours are 2pm to 4pm (great timing for helping with the first bottle, the first sips of juice, and the first sit-up) and from 7pm to 9pm.

That evening (the first after surgery), we sat at a dining-sized table, and played Pelmanism (or Concentration) to exercise the mind.

The third day (second after surgery) the patients are treated to gentle communal exercise classes at 11am, later half the clamps are removed from their incision, and they all compare notes. The fourth day (third after surgery) is much the same. The rest of the clamps are removed and patients and their visitors admire and feel the firm, banana-like shape of the swelling.

Discharge is early, between 9am and 10 am the following morning, after a doctor has visited, inspected, and answered any lingering questions. Patients may drive themselves home if they wish to do so and feel up to it. (Some choose longer routes on roads known to be free of pot holes.) Swelling and discomfort lessen over the next week, but will remain to some degree for a month or more.

Coming Soon: C L Talmadge

When Book Pirates Go Too Far

Google is very cool in my opinion. I hope they'll be cool with the fact that I'm sharing this information, which I found after clicking a few links on their site until I came to a textlink titled webpage removal request tool.

Here's the url:
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/topic.py?topic=13926&hl=en

Why was I looking?

Because I am a GOOGLE shareholder (in a very small way) and I could not believe that GOOGLE didn't have a mechanism for upholding the law, in this case, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act... and of course, they do.

There's a blog that has been outraging some of my friends. Frankly, it outrages me, too, even though my e-books have not been allegedly bought, duplicated in violation of copyright, uploaded to "file-sharing" sites, and illegally disseminated:

My copyright has not been infringed.

This self described book worm had a comments section, but when authors and their friends posted comments informing the site and its visitors that posting links for ebooks to rapidshare and other such sites (surely never intended for this purpose) might be illegal, the bookworm allegedly removed the comments, and allegedly blocked the IPs of the authors.

The book worm also requested donations so he or she could purchase and then publish more ebooks. Paypal, a division of EBay, much to its credit, removed that convenience, so now, various credit card companies' logos are posted.

Would you give someone you knew or suspected to be thief your credit card info? Incredible! Would you knowingly finance alleged criminal activity? Moreover, the authorities would have all your contact information through your credit card company!

Here's what to do if a blogspot or otherwise Google owned or controlled site appears to be infringing on your copyrights.

Quoted as fair use from the Google site http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/topic.py?topic=13926&hl=en

Remove information from Google: Report copyright infringement

It's Google's policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the text of which can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office website) and other applicable intellectual property laws, which may include removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity.

To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written communication (by fax or regular mail -- not by email, except by prior agreement) that sets forth the items specified below. Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights. Indeed, in a previous case, a company that sent an infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.

To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following format (including section numbers):

1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed upon. For example, "The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on http://www.legal.com/legal_page.html."
2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing upon the copyrighted work listed in item #1 above. Click the type of search you used to find the material to learn what information you should provide in your request:

Google Web Search

FOR WEB SEARCH, YOU MUST IDENTIFY EACH SEARCH RESULT THAT DIRECTLY LINKS TO A WEBPAGE THAT ALLEGEDLY CONTAINS INFRINGING MATERIAL. This requires you to provide (a) the search query that you used, and (b) the URL for each allegedly infringing search result. Note that the URL for each search result appears in green on the last line of the description for that search result.

For example, suppose (hypothetically) that you conducted a search on Google.com using the query [Google], and found that the third and fourth results directly link to a webpage that you believe infringes upon the copyrighted text that you identified in item #1 above. In this case, you would provide the following information:

Search query: Google
Infringing webpages: http://directory.google.com/

Google Images

FOR IMAGES, YOU MUST PROVIDE THE EXACT URL FOR EACH IMAGE YOU WISH TO HAVE REMOVED FROM OUR IMAGES SERVICE.

For example:

http://www.mydomain.com/myimages/example_image.gif
http://www.illegal.com/illegal_stuff/illegal.gif

To find the exact URL of the image, please follow these steps:
1. Click the image that you locate in the image search results.
2. Click the thumbnail of the image shown in the top frame of the page that appears.
3. Click the URL that displays in your browser's address bar.
4. Right-click and select Copy.
5. In your notice to us, right-click and select Paste to add the URL to your document.

3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Google to contact you (email address is preferred).
4. Provide information, if possible, sufficient to permit Google to notify the owner/administrator of the webpage that allegedly contains infringing material (email address is preferred).
5. Include the following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing webpages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law."
6. Include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury consistent with United States Code Title 17, Section 512, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."
7. Sign the paper.
8. Send the written communication to the following address:

Google Inc.
Attn: Google Legal Support, DMCA Complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Or fax to:

(650) 963-3255, Attn: Google Legal Support, DMCA Complaints

Please note that a copy of each legal notice we receive is sent to a third-party partner for publication and annotation. As such, your letter will be forwarded to Chilling Effects (http://www.chillingeffects.org) for publication. You can see an example of such a publication at http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/notice.cgi?NoticeID=861. A link to your published letter will be displayed in Google's search results in place of the removed content.

For more information, please see http://www.google.com/dmca.html

Be warned, my next post may be about hernia surgery!

All the best,
Rowena Cherry

This time of year (Summer's Almost Gone)

Autumn has always been my favourite time of year. I've thought of myself as an "Autumn" in the colour charts, I have fond memories of Autumn activities and Autumn weather.

One of my favourite poems is the ode to autumn:
"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom friend of the maturing sun,
Conspiring with him how to load and bless with fruit..."

I loved the ballad... I think it was by Justin Heywood
"My life will be forever Autumn..."

And, even more, I loved The Doors' song "Summer's Almost Gone". Was it from the "Waiting For The Sun" album?

My favourite painting -one I actually bid for and won at an auction- is an autumnal scene which makes me think of the Lady of Shallot, or King Arthur's final trip back to Avalon with the queens in the barge.

Autumn is better, but less brilliant in the UK of my childhood memories. The Great American Fall may be more colorful, but it's not the same. The yellow and black striped insects and the ladybugs are more numerous and more aggressive in the USA. I don't like to watch the glorious dragonflies die.

What I remember are the happy hours spend on common land, picking wild blackberries and wild crabapples for pies and crumbles and jams and jellies; gathering wild sloes to make sloe gin... also rosehips for winter medicines, oh, and wild mushrooms in the early mornings.

Of course I also treasure memories of family time in our small orchards picking English apples, pears, greengages, Victoria plums, red- black- and white currants, raspberries, but the hunting and gathering of a free (but legal) harvest is specially delightful.

All the best,
Rowena Cherry

Please support this Romance author's bid to finish honorably in a social networking contest
http://tinyurl.com/Award-5-Stars

Adventures with Acai Berry Supplements

I realized that I'd been suckered the instant the "Guarantee" flashed briefly on the lower left of the screen, just before the page flipped to my receipt... and of course, after I'd left my credit card information.

The back function on the website did not work, of course. So I signed up again under an alphabet soup of characters, and printed the "Guarantee". Then, I called the numbers and cancelled my orders before they shipped.

I don't need guaranteed repeat fulfilment for the guaranteed low price of something in the region of $80 billed automatically every 60 days. I don't believe it is good for a person to take one or two laxatives with lunch and dinner every day ad infinitum.

I also informed my credit card company at once. And, I am keeping on checking every two or three days to be sure that nothing slips through, which it has.

The "free" orders did ship, even though I cancelled, and even though I told a nice woman who telephoned me that I'd cancelled. My credit card was also charged, and wouldn't you believe it, there were also foreign transaction charges.

The website doesn't tell you that this business is run from Kenya! On the UPS packaging, it says it is shipped from a Florida address.... one of the bottles claims to come from a UK address.

Things to be aware of:

These "supplements" have not been evaluated by the FDA. (So says the bottle.)
These "supplements" are NOT (excuse me) to be taken by anyone who is taking any sort of prescription drug. (So says the bottle.)
Listed ingredients include SENNA and GREEN TEA. So much for being a wonder supplement!

If your curiosity is overwhelming, I suggest you use a disposable credit card for internet purchases, or else, one you wouldn't mind cancelling if you had to.

Call your Billing Disputes credit card line often, and be very nice to your best friend in the Billing Disputes department. They can help you... especially if you are able to tell them that you called to cancel your Berry supplement and Bowel Cleanser on a date before the stuff was shipped.

They have extensive experience already with these merchants.

:-)

Penny says: 10 Mistakes Authors Make

I've reposted Penny Sansevieri's Featured Article from her newsletter. Attribution is at the bottom of the page. All uses of the first person (or any other pronouns) are Penny's, not Rowena Cherry's.


10 Mistakes Authors Make That Can Cost Them a Fortune (and How to Avoid Them)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When it comes to books, promotion, and book production I know that it can sometimes feel like a minefield of choices. And while I can't address each of these in minutia, there are a number of areas that are keenly tied to a book's success (or lack thereof). Here are ten for you to consider:

1) Not understanding the importance of a book cover
I always find it interesting that an author will sometimes spend years writing their book and then leave the cover design to someone who either isn't a designer, or doesn't have a working knowledge of book design or the publishing industry. Or, worse, they create a design without having done the proper market research. Consider these facts for a minute: shoppers in a bookstore spend an average of 8 seconds looking at the front cover of a book and 15 seconds looking at the back before deciding whether to buy it. Further, a survey of booksellers showed that 75% of them found the book cover to be the most important element of the book. Also, sales teams at book distribution often only take the book cover with them when they shop titles to stores. And finally, please don't attempt to design your own book cover. Much like cutting your own hair, this is never a good idea.

2) Trusting someone who has limited or no track record
When you hire a team, make sure you ask the service provider for their track record. Often I see an author who successfully marketed their single title now feel they have all the marketing knowledge they need to help you market yours. Unless you are in similar markets, I would avoid this at all costs. You want people who have worked in the industry and know the needs of the market beyond just one title. You also want someone who has some history. Ask for referrals, and success stories. I give references all the time to potential new clients, but when I am the one interviewing a new service provider I will ask for them but never call them. I mean who's going to give you a bad referral? I want to see that they have some names they can give me, then I'll go online and Google them to gain some insight into their history and online reputation.

3) Listening to people who aren't experts
When you ask someone's opinion about your book, direction, or topic, make sure they are either working in your industry or know your consumer. If, for example, you have written a young adult (YA) book, don't give it to your co-workers to read and get feedback (yes, I know some YA books have adult market crossover appeal, but this is different). If you've written a book for teens, then give it to teens to read. Same is true for self-help, diet, romance. Align yourself with your market. You want the book to be right for the reader, in the end that's all that matters.

4) Trusting Oprah to solve all your problems
Getting on Oprah is an article in and of itself, but let me say this: the quickest way to turn off a publicist is to use the "O" word. Why? Because anyone worth their salt knows how tough a road the Oprah pitch can be. Not just that, but sometimes authors will become so myopic and obsessed about this show that they lose sight of other, maybe better opportunities. And trust me on another point: someone (friend, co-worker, family, spouse), somewhere will tell you, "You should go on Oprah," and while you might be 100% perfect Oprah material the only people who can determine if you should be on her show are her producers. Shoot for the stars, dream big, but be realistic about your campaign, otherwise you'll spend a lot of time and a lot of money chasing a potentially elusive target.

5) Planning for the short-term only
There's a real fallacy that exists in publishing and it's this: "instant bestseller." Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the industry knows there is no such thing as "instant," and certainly the words "overnight success" are generally not reserved for books. Book promotion should be viewed as a long runway. Meaning that you should plan for the long term. Don't spend all your marketing dollars in the first few months of a campaign. We find this especially true for self-published titles that need a little more TLC than their traditionally published counterparts. We offer campaigns that last 90-days, but that's not because we think 90 days is all it will take to make your book a success, it's because we find it's a reasonable time to get started, get a foothold and start your progress down the runway of success.

6) Not understanding timing
Timing is a funny issue. First, there's the timing that books follow to get reviewed, lead times as it were. Then there's production timing, and if you're lucky enough to get a distributor there's the time it will take for a distributor to get your book into the proper channels. A book launch should be planned carefully and then leave wiggle room for slipped dates and late deliveries (which will happen). I recommend that you sit down with someone who can help you strategize timing so you can plan appropriately for your book launch. A missed date is akin to a missed opportunity.

7) Hiring people who aren't in the book industry
Let's face it, even to those of us who have been in this industry for a while it still doesn't always make sense. So hiring someone who has no book or publishing experience isn't just a mistake, it could be a costly one. With some vendors like web designers you can get away with that. But someone who has only designed business cards can't, for example, design a book cover. Make sure you hire the right specialist for the right project. Also, you've likely spent years putting together this project, make sure you make choices based on what's right and not what's cheapest. If you shop right you can often find vendors who are perfect for your project and who fit your budget. There's an old saying that goes: You can find a good lawyer, and you can find a cheap lawyer, but it's hard or near impossible to find a good, cheap lawyer. The same applies in the book world.

8) Designing your own website
You should never cut your own hair or design your own site. Period. End of story. But ok, let me elaborate. Let's say you designed your own site and saved a few thousand dollars instead of paying a web designer. Now you're off promoting your book and suddenly you're getting a gazillion hits to your site. The problem is the site is not converting these visitors into sales. How much money did you lose by punting the web designer and doing it yourself? Hard to know. Scary, isn't it?

9) Becoming a media diva
Let's face it, you need the media more than they need you. I know. Ouch. But it's the unfortunate truth. So here's the thing: be grateful. Thank the interviewer, send a follow-up thank you note after the interview. Don't expect the interviewer to read your book and don't get upset if they get some facts wrong. Just gently, but professionally correct them in such a way that they don't look bad or stupid. Never ask for an interview to be done over. Most media people don't have the time. I mention this because it actually happened to a producer friend of mine who did an interview with a guy and he decided he didn't like it and wanted a second shot. Not gonna happen. The thing is, until you get a dressing room with specially designed purple M&M's, don't even think about becoming a diva. The best thing you can do is create relationships. Show up on time, show up prepared, and always, always, always be grateful.

10) Hiring the best and then not trusting their advice.
Here's the thing that's always confused me. You hire me, then don't listen to my advice. And it's not just me, I hear this all the time from other industry professionals. Look, it's not an ego thing, it really isn't. It's just this: if you're paying good money to your vendors, asking them for advice and then not taking it, you might have a disconnect. Perhaps a breakdown in communication, maybe you don't trust the person you hired. If you don't trust them, then you should part ways and find someone you have some chemistry with. Otherwise what's the point? Build your team with people you enjoy working with and respect. Then when they try and guide you or save you some money, take the time to listen.




Reprint permission
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
You are welcome to reprint any items from "The Book Marketing Expert Newsletter." However, please credit us as a source with the following paragraph:

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: penny@amarketingexpert.com
web: http://www.amarketingexpert.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mating Net, the soundtrack

Last Thursday, I drove 40 miles each way to a video recording studio and read every word --all 15,000 of them-- of Mating Net in front of a camera.

If you would like to hear me read this somewhat risque short story to you, please check whether or not these links work.

Part One:
http://lsc.audioacrobat.com/download/5469a230-094f-0354-5d6b-db5b4e884715.mp3

Part Two:
http://lsc.audioacrobat.com/download/e07f641f-cbd7-d71e-db0d-63a1c3d2bd2e.mp3


Mating Net is a prequel for my god-Princes of Tigron series (Forced Mate, Insufficient Mating Material, and Knight's Fork).

Set 70 years before the flurry of marriages and murders described in this trilogy, Mating Net shows how the ambitious young Princess Helispeta split a royal family and started a war.

Mating Net can be purchased as an e-book at http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/matingnet.htm


By the way, please vote for Insufficient Mating Material's cover art, title, and blurb here: Award-5-Stars

Making The Most Of A Podcast Radio Show

On the Published Authors group on Goodreads.com, I just spend a good half hour addressing some skeptical remarks about talk radio. If only three people read my remarks there, it will not have been good use of my time.

I'm an occasional, but regular, host on Passionate Internet Voices Radio.

PIVTR has only been going for three years, and it is not a full time station. It does not do business commercials, and it is heard all over the world where ever people have computers... from grandmothers on tiny British islands (a friend of my mother's heard my show without even knowing I was a talk show host, and emailed me) to truckers crossing continents to publishers and... who knows, TV scouts, as well as the colleges and universities you mention.

We support three charities by sending them the hosts' theoretical royalties from mp3 downloads (which cost around $2.60 last time I asked).

A royalty on $2.60 isn't much, but yesterday I forwarded a check for $25.00 to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit.

Hey! If only Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh would donate their entire host's proceeds for their shows to the hungry and the homeless, and help former incarcerees who've served their debt to society to learn a useful skill (baking bread or organic gardening).

A good show can turn into sales. It's not guaranteed, of course. For a start, the interviewee has to be prepared, has to be absolutely fascinating as an authority on some subject, has to speak clearly (on a land line), has to entertain, and has to be likeable.

Above all else, be likeable. The hard sell doesn't work. Authors who unintentionally project a sense of entitlement don't do so well. Listeners aren't going to buy a book just because someone has written one and mumbles a title and a url repeatedly on the radio.


Also, an interview on a show is not the end in and of itself. Authors need to understand that. Before the interview, it is a (flimsy) news item... something to post as news to all your sites and groups and to Tweet and Smak, and post on all your Updates. But, you really need to have a decent hook: an elevator pitch to make people want to tune in.

You also ought to have a Google Alert. You can Tweet that. Afterwards, you can blog about your experience, especially mentioning what you did wrong because people love to read about pratfalls. You can purchase the mp3 from Lillian, and post it on your MySpace page etc etc (I don't need to tell you!) and everywhere that allows you to upload a podcast.

It's not the show that will sell books. It's what you do on the show and with the show. Unless, of course, Oprah was listening.

On my next show, Crazy Tuesday, September 1st, I shall be interviewing USA Today best selling author Jade Lee, and international best selling author Susan Kearney. We'll be talking about Dragons.

:-)

How To Get Yahoo to Remove Pirated Files

Yahoo, allegedly, ultimately owns AltaVista and Alltheweb!

Here is a fascinating page of helpful advice put out by SEO Logic

http://www.seologic.com/faq/dmca-notifications.php

Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry

In case you were wondering...

I'm in the Channel Islands, experiencing life at 35mph or less, as long as one is not cloud gazing. The jet stream has shifted to right over the English Channel, flattening the surf, drastically changing the shapes of the clouds.

Last evening, I went to an open air production of the Mowgli stories, in a castle courtyard. Unfortunately, "break a leg" took on a whole new meaning when one of the members of the cast made too quick an exit down too steep a flight of improvised steps and twisted her ankle so badly that the show could not go on, and the ambulance had to be called.

http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/

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What summer means to me

My favorite thing to do in the summer is go back home to the tiny island of Guernsey in the British Channel islands. It's quite a trek to get there from Detroit, involving either three (or four) changes of planes, or two planes and one change of airport, and leaving Guernsey is even more complicated.

Guernsey can be fog-bound even in the height of summer. You never know when planning a trip whether you'll be trapped on the island, diverted to the boat, or what.

The sounds of my summers are a concerto of distant foghorns; the shushing of the sea on pebbles at high tide, the buzz of someone somewhere mowing a pocket handkerchief sized lawn, or trimming a hedge, the cackle of seagulls on the roof (where my mother tosses fish and meat scraps for recycling via gull digestion), and the drone of honeybees and flies in the honeysuckle that covers my mother's pergola. (Which hides the compost heap, which hides a den for the hedgehog.)



As for the sights, there's the ever changing sea, which redistributes beach sand around the scoured and weathered groynes on the local beach, creating and eradicating deep shore pools in which one could catch wrist-watch sized baby sole and halibut in ones hands. There are the rocks... I love the rocks... of pink "Cobo" granite, and the distinctive blue-grey granite from which many local homes are built. The sunsets aren't spectacular--the air is too clean--but the light quality can be breathtaking.



They claim that "the sun lingers longer" in Guernsey, and perhaps it does. The pace of life is much slower. The island speed limit is 35 mph, and one wouldn't have to be a Lance Armstrong to break the speed limit on a pushbike. Not on the steep Vauxquiedor in the parish of St. Andrews ("Valley that is of gold", by my translation) or on the Dos D' L'Ane. Most street names are in Guernseyaise, which is similar to French, but not French.

When an island is only nine miles long and six wide (and triangular) it never takes very long to get anywhere. No roads are straight. There are legends that the route a road should take was determined by the meanderings of a pig or donkey. It makes no less sense than Punxsutawney Phil (and his descendants) giving us a long range weather forecast.

Although the roads meander, and some are so narrow that if two cars meet, one has to back into a field, and others are designated "Ruette Tranquile" which means that cows and pedestrians have the right of way, if you keep going, eventually you will come to the coast road.

If you look up, apart from seagulls, and con trails in the sky, you might see strange ledges on the chimneys. They are seats for passing witches who might be sore from sitting too long astride a broom.

In fact--if I can say so without offending anyone--apart from the large hairy feet, Guernsey is very much like the Hobbits' idyll in the Shires in Lord Of The Rings. With internet cafes... in one of the biggest supermarkets.

We have an excellent library, the Guille Alles (it has internet, too) which is well stocked with John Grisham, Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer novels, also Asimov and Heinlein, and when I am at home, I indulge in a positive orgy of re-reading my old favorites.



I've also been known to take a garden spade down to the beach, all the better to construct dragons and castles in the sand.... And if I do one this year, I'll be sure to take a photograph.

Space Snark™ A blog by Rowena Cherry: Twenty-Five Ways to Buzz A Book

Space Snark™ <br> A blog by Rowena Cherry: Twenty-Five Ways to Buzz A Book

Penny's Featured Article - 20 Simple Ways to Drive Massive Traffic to Your Web Site

Do you lose emails? I do. That's one reason I love blogspot, because I can share stuff I really want to remember here, and I can always find it!

The same applies to my notes on Facebook.com, which I also love.

I've just received a new issue of Penny Sansevieri's (free) marketing newsletter... Sign up to get your own at Author Marketing Expert.com

Featured Article - 20 Simple Ways to Drive Massive Traffic to Your Web Site
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Embarking on an Internet marketing campaign doesn't have to be difficult, tricky, or complicated. Here are a few simple tips (twenty in fact) that you can easily implement to get tons of traffic to your site right now!

1) Write articles: believe it or not this is an incredible tool for driving traffic. Writing good, well-written, relevant articles can net you quite a bit of activity to your web site. Don't forget to add your URL in your byline. Articles should be 500 to 2,000 words in length. You can send articles to sites like: articlecity.com, goarticles.com, submityourarticles.com and ezinearticles.com.

Interjection by Rowena
You can also find great articles on Promotion and Marketing at http://1stTurningPoint.com

Back to Penny:

2) Social bookmark *everything* - and I do mean everything, you can bookmark each page of your site and each blog entry you post. While this might seem tedious it's worth it. You'll see a strong increase in traffic if you social bookmark each page on your site and each of your blog entries.

3) List yourself in the best directories - you'll have to pay for this but since most people don't do this (since everyone's looking for a freebie) you could really enhance your traffic by getting a listing: http://dir.yahoo.com, www.business.org, botw.org.

4) Get yourself listed at: DMOZ.org - it's not easy to get listed there but worth the effort.

5) Review: if you can review hot new products or books within your market, head on over to Amazon.com and start positioning yourself as an expert. In order to do this effectively you'll want to create an Amazon profile and make sure and sign each review with a reference to your URL (your web site). You can also go to epionions.com and revoo.com to review products as well.

6) Offer a freebie on Craig's List: you'll be amazed at how much traffic you get from a single Craig's List ad. They key here is to send people to a page on your site and make sure they have to sign up for something (like your email newsletter) before they can grab their freebie. That way you're not just getting traffic, you're also building your list.

7) Create a "recommended by" list on your Del.icio.us page - you can do this by logging on and creating an account at del.icio.us and then tagging articles, blogs and other content you think is important to your readership. Then offer this page as a resource site. You can add a link to this page in your email signature line or on your web site.

8) And speaking of your email signature line - do you have one? If you don't, create one. Believe it or not people do follow these links. You'll be amazed how many folks read email signature lines. I have one and change it several times a year depending on what we're doing or promoting or what books I have coming out.

9) Lend a helping hand: you can be an answer person at Yahoo Answers, http://answers.yahoo.com/ - you don't have to spend hours on there but maybe a few minutes a week. Make sure and include a link back to your site by your answers.

10) Set up a social networking site using Facebook.com, Linkedin.com, or Squidoo. It's free and easy to do, just don't forget the all-important link back to your site!

11) Make sure your blog has an RSS feed so if you capture a reader you don't lose them if they forget to bookmark your site or blog

12) Join relevant groups at Yahoo groups, http://groups.yahoo.com/. You'll find everything from groups on growing your small business, writing books, finding your passion, even underwater basket weaving. I dare you to find one that isn't right for what you're promoting. When you do find the right group, join and participate as you can!

13) Podcasting is another great way to drive traffic. Start a podcast by going to AudioAcrobat, http://bookmkr.audioacrobat.com/ - yes, this is our affiliate link. There are other programs you can use, but I love AudioAcrobat. You can record the podcast over the phone quickly and easily and then hit the "send" button on your computer once it's recorded and the system will syndicate it to 27 podcast directories including iTunes. It's a great way to let people know about you and your web site!

14) Start a blog and then once you do, start commenting on other people's blogs, linking to them from your site or adding them to your blogroll.

15) Inbound links: don't squander your time (or a perfectly good link) on smaller low-traffic sites. Instead spend your time going after high traffic, high quality sites. Good sites should have a PR (page ranking) of 4-6 depending on the market. You can find out what a site's page ranking is by downloading the Google toolbar which comes with a PR feature built in.

16) Start an email newsletter: while it may not seem like a newsletter that you email can drive traffic to your site you'd be surprised at the effectiveness of this type of promotion. If your newsletter (like your articles) is interesting and relevant to your audience you'll find that it has a huge pass-through factor. Meaning that it is passed from one email subscriber to another. Also, if you have an email newsletter you should never, ever go to a single event without your handy signup sheet. Yes, you can even use offline events to drive traffic to your web site.

17) And speaking of offline efforts: if you're ever quoted in a magazine or other publication, make sure and mention your URL as it's appropriate to the topic. Don't be too pushy about this but do not forget to tell folks you have a web site that may be a great resource for the topic of your interview.

18) If you have products to sell why not get a store on eBay? This site gets a tremendous amount of traffic and on your sales page you're allowed to list your URL. Another great way to get an inbound link and a way for people to find you.

19) Load a video on YouTube and 57 other video sites - if you don't have a video or don't know how to create one contact us and we'll refer you to our fabulous book video people!

20) While this isn't a tip per se it's still important. If you're going to go through all the trouble of getting traffic to your site, make sure your site is converting this traffic into something. Get folks to sign up for something, your newsletter, the RSS feed on your blog. Whatever it is, getting their email address will help you remarket to them when the time is right. Studies show that visitors landing on a site often don't buy the first time. That's ok! You want to get them into your marketing funnel so you can market to them again and again - not in a way that's obtrusive, offensive or downright annoying but in a way that is helping them with their own mission. An example of this might be an email newsletter. A helpful, informative newsletter is a fantastic funnel. A blog is another great way to keep people in your marketing loop without bombarding them with "please buy my stuff" email messages. Also, make sure you know what your traffic numbers are before you launch into any Internet marketing campaign. By traffic numbers I mean how many people are visiting your site. You want to know this so you can gauge a before and after view of your marketing efforts.

Penny's Reprint permission

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
You are welcome to reprint any items from "The Book Marketing Expert Newsletter." However, please credit us as a source with the following paragraph:

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Alternative-Read.com: REVIEW: Knights Fork by Rowena Cherry - Dorchester Publishing - Futuristic Romance

Alternative-Read.com: REVIEW: Knights Fork by Rowena Cherry - Dorchester Publishing - Futuristic Romance

Penny Sansevieri explains Anchor Text

As you know, I receive Penny Sansevieri's Author Marketing newsletter, and there's usually something I'm passionately interested in.


Featured Article - Savvy SEO: What is Anchor Text and Why it Matters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you ask any Search Engine Marketing Expert they will tell you the importance of anchor text. So what is this exactly? It's the hyperlinked text that you click on to follow a link. Most people overlook this text, using words like "click here" or other nebulous terms. If used correctly, anchor text can really help with your site ranking. It's not that difficult to implement really, you just need to understand a few basic concepts.

First, anchor text should be descriptive. It should describe the link you're sending people to using keywords that reflect the page you're recommending.

Second, if you know the high traffic keywords for your market you can use those as well to describe the link (but only if the keywords relate to the page you're sending visitors to).

Third, knowing where to use anchor text is almost as important as the text itself. All external links should be anchor text, but often web designers forget internal links (i.e. links leading to pages within your site) although they are equally as important. Your home page is also critical for anchor text links. If you have a blog (and you should) make sure that any article, web site or blog you reference has anchor text in the hyperlink.

Creating these hyperlinks is easy, especially if you're using them in a blog. Most blog software has some very simple one-click anchor text creation widgets.

So take some time and go through your site, make sure that anything you have hyperlinked is anchor text. Stay away from nebulous terms like "click here" or "follow this link" because you won't get picked up by search engines that way. Make sure the text is focused and specific. How long can anchor text be? It doesn't have to be long, but if need be, it can be multiple words. Keep in mind that as long as the words are relevant to your topic, the anchor text verbiage is all that matters.


More Social Networking Sites
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If you're ready to collaborate with some local businesses in your community, you'll love biznik.com. You can also find local events here related to your market. Their tag line is: business networking that doesn't suck. You gotta love that!
Fastpitchnetworking.com lets you create a profile, blog and listing for your products. They also have some opportunities to participate in virtual trade shows.

Marzar.com: another neat little networking site that lets you connect with other business owners and promote your product and services.


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You are welcome to reprint any items from "The Book Marketing Expert Newsletter." However, please credit us as a source with the following paragraph:

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Thank you, Penny!

Rowena Cherry

President Obama, this is my health care plan

Disclaimer
I am a totally ignorant housewife with experience of the British NHS, the British BUPA system of private supplementary health insurance, the German Health care system (limited) and the American system.

So... this is the way I think it ought to be.

1. Private Pay. Walk-In clinics.

If anyone wants to see a doctor in the walk-in system for cuts, scrapes, colds, flu, bronchitis, drug testing, rashes, broken toes/fingers, flu shots, prescription refills, (the sort of things that the uninsured take to the Emergency Room, and everyone else "walks in" and claims on their insurance, which cannot possibly be efficient in terms of paperwork time in relation to face-time with the doctor)

Flat rate of $10 for up to 10 minutes. (Or whatever AMA deems reasonable, given the following... Obviously I think general practitioners ought to earn a great deal more than $60 an hour. Perhaps tax CREDITS could be an answer.)
Cash payment before being seen (on the spot).
Sign medical waiver, so there is no insurance/malpractice issue.
No insurance forms to be filled out, or claims to file. No exceptions. Just like walk in flu shots.


This will save doctors a lot of paperwork.
This will put the onus on patients to turn up at the clinics with all their own records and a list of their symptoms.


2.
Health Care Spending Account. Would that be VEBA for everyman?
Everyone (even children) may set up a tax-free, personal, individual Health Care Spending account, on the same principal as a college account. Possibly, the state could match savings for the lowest income individuals. The dollars would "roll over" and never be lost (unless spent.)

Employers could "buy out" existing health care, by tranferring cash into their employees' Health Care Spending Accounts.

This would be a private pay system. Those who keep themselves in good health would not be subsidizing those who have unhealthy lifestyles.


3.
Private Insurance. (Like the British BUPA)
Individuals could opt to buy private, annual, term insurance for operations and other expensive procedures. This would be for patients who did not wish to wait for hip replacements, and other elective procedures, or who wished to have annual physicals at "resort" hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic instead of in their local physicans' offices with "participating providers".

It could work like car insurance, with cash back for people who do not make claims, and reduced premiums for those with clean health records. Premiums (at the Health Care Account owner's sole discretion) could be paid out of the Health Care Savings Account.


4.
State System.
Everyone is covered (for everything requiring a referral from the $10 walk-in clinic and upwards). Everyone waits their turn. Only prescriptions that are necessary for pain, life preservation, functioning of tests, etc would be provided. (No self-esteem drugs, no birth control, no viagra, no fertility drugs.)

Catastrophic care would be covered, but there would be NO ability to sue for medical mistakes where the care was free.

On the other hand, there would be an ombudsman, and doctors who made horrendous mistakes could suffer penalties (but the penalties would not enrich lawyers.)

Life With An Allergic Kid

There are many things I regret having done in my life, and two of them involve my behavior as a new mother.

I will always wonder what might have been different if I had not taken the hospital's Baby-Massage therapists advice, and had not used nut oils to massage my infant, and also what might have happened if I had not eaten peanut butter while I was breast-feeding.

If I knew then what I know now, I would not have given my toddler Honey-Nut Cheerios, either!

Before I was a mother, it seemed to me that one of the worst things in the world (as far as parenting went) would be to have to read every word of all that tiny print on the side of every package in the supermarket. Every time.

Well, that is what I have to do. I'm grateful that the information is there. I could wish it wasn't often printed in black on brown, or otherwise hard to read... and reading the tiny print does not get easier with age.

What is "Annetto" and... is "Amaretto" nut-based, or isn't it? And do these fancy words have to look so similar?

And, it would be really nice if the cereal manufacturers would make up their minds which of three possible oils they are going to use, and stick with it... because we're allergic to coconut and sesame. (As well as English walnuts, Black Walnuts, pecans, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts... all nuts... and several more seeds. Also clams.)

How many kids in American schools either cannot eat the muffins and cookies, cakes and crackers, icecreams and other treats that their friends' moms bring in for every conceivable celebration, or take their lives in their hands and do eat the goodies?

It's really cruel.

A few times, a teacher or well-meaning mom will tell the allergic kid who is standing off to one side, looking sad, "Why don't you eat?"

"I'm allergic."

"There's nothing in here to hurt you. Go ahead."

"No. I can't."

Maybe someone decides to turn over the Mrs Fields box --more to prove the stubborn child wrong-- and right there in the tiny print is the proof that there really is a dangerous ingredient. So, what happens?

Mom is called. The allergic child is sent home. The allergic child misses the remains of another school day. It sucks! It truly sucks.

There is one manufacturer in all America (Bless you Arnold/Brownberry!!!!) who makes delicious, healthy wheat bread that my child can eat in safety. I still read the labels in silent dread that one day, they will change their recipe, or share the production line with a nutty bread product.

I worry what on earth we would ever do if there were a disaster of some kind, and we were forcibly evacuated to some area where we would have no control over what was available to eat and no one knew what the ingredients were.

I suspect that decision makers don't care. Our prescription coverage refused to pay for Zyrtec to help allergic children live a slightly more normal life years before it cut Viagra.

Because schools don't offer cool places to keep sack lunches (and some would like to encourage children to pay extra for school lunches) my child has eaten an apple and either a mayo and ketchup sandwich, or a cheese and mayo sandwich every schoolday for the past six years. (I've offered her yoghurts, cheeses, grapes, bananas... but they don't travel well, apparently.)

Last week, full of hope, we went to be retested. It's been five gruelling years of total abstinence from all vegetable oils except olive oil, from all baked goods except Ritz crackers and "Goldfish" and Doritos (but in every case... eat one, wait two hours, if nothing happens, eat a few more...wait... and if all is clear, enjoy the rest of the package.)

Many children grow out of allergies. Usually not peanuts.

By the way, many oriental recipes use peanut products as glue. There's peanut in samosas, and in spicy (fabulous) fried chicken slivers. We found out about peanuts because there was undeclared peanut sauce in a chicken and tortellini dish. You'd think chicken/tortellini would be safe!

Some chefs like to use peanut butter as binding in their home made hamburgers. Peanut oil makes gourmet fried potatoes/chips....

Hotels --especially in California-- specialize in muffins and "continental" breads. Room service will swear up and down that there are no nuts in the muffins, but break them open and you'll see nuts (if you are lucky!). You can't even trust cheesecake. I've known chefs put almonds in the crust.

Testing is horrible.

The child sits on the doctor's couch, and bares her back. The nurse swabs her back to clean it. Then, using a black Sharpie, she writes numerals up and down the back. Each number is the numerical code for a potential allergen.

There's the Control, the Histamine, and maybe eighteen or more.

Next, the nurse jabs with a hollow stick about half the size of a cocktail sausage stick and injects a tiny amount of the allergen into the back by the appropriate number. Twenty sticks.

Now, we wait for fifteen minutes, as the itching gets worse and worse in all the spots that a reaction takes place. There's the red flare. There are blisters.

At the end of fifteen minutes the nurse measures the dimensions of the blisters. Some blisters are the size of a York mint. Then, she measures the flares, which can be the size of a business card!

After that, the numbers are cleaned off the skin, antihistamine creams are applied, Zyrtec is taken by mouth, and gradually the itching and burning and stinging pass.

Two days later, there is still a tiny welt where the peanut allergy blister was. Meanwhile, there are also blood tests. Some things are worth double checking, some things cannot be checked with a skin test.

There are some cookies that I can make from scratch. It looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more cooking and reading of fine print, because my kid hasn't grown out of anything.

I wanted her to talk about what it's like to be allergic, only to discover that talking publicly about it is too hard for her. She yearns to be normal. Because of her allergies, people around her make her feel like a freak.

Take care, Moms!

Friday Night Reflections: Great summer read - Insufficient Mating Material by Rowena Cherry

Friday Night Reflections: Great summer read - Insufficient Mating Material by Rowena Cherry

Never Mind The Excerpt... let's talk about group sex

http://www.joynash.blogspot.com/

Today, an excerpt of mine from Insufficient Mating Material is the guest blog on Joy Nash's blog. I believe that one commenter will win a prize (and it is probably my book.)

So! I'm not going to blog about a blog that's kindly flogging a book of mine. However, I took the opportunity to ask a question in the Comments section of Joy's blog and I shall be equally happy to receive answers here or there.

When the genre is shy of erotica, and the label is "Romance" who likes sex with multiple partners, as long as everyone is consenting and their judgment is not impaired?

What makes scenes like this ring true? And if they do ring true, do readers assume that the author is writing from personal experience? (And is this a concern?)

Best wishes... and apologies for recent silence. I've had pneumonia

Rowena