Google Offering $100 AdWords Coupon - STAY AWAY!

Many of this Blog’s visitors have their own Blogs and Websites. Some of them use Google to promote their sites. Google is an important part of my own site promotion. At the risk of Google dropping my positive ranking, I feel I must share this information with you. If Google is offering you a $100 AdWords free trial, STAY AWAY!!! You WILL be billed for all ads running past your trial and you will not know when that is. There is no notification until you are billed; then it’s too late. They require your credit card number upfront (probably to guarantee they can screw you later).

Many Bloggers and Website editors have received this “coupon” and signed up for the program. Why not? It’s free…NOT! They have realized the hard way that this is a scam by Google.

Just two weeks ago, on a flight home from California, I was fortunate to sit next to a Google employee, specifically, an AdWords consultant. He offered me tips on promoting my sites—I was grateful. Although the tips he offered were legitimate, and free, he did not mention this coupon scam.

The Google tools he recommended were:

*Google Insights
*Google Analytics
*Google Trends
*Google Webmaster

I also “squeezed” out of him the best tip for getting Google’s attention to your site (something he was not comfortable relaying due to confidentiality terms of his job at Google); inbound links from “related” Websites is the most effective way to get ranked by Google.

Back to the scam. Although I will not use the $100 coupon, and definitely DO NOT recommend my viewers do either, I do suggest Blog and Website editors utilize the tools listed above and provided free through Google.

Happy Blogging!

How do You Market a Book with the “S” Word Attached? An Interview with Author Nancy Murdoch

In this final interview of our series (appropriately timed towards Valentine’s Day), we will visit with Nancy Murdoch, the author of It’s Mostly About Sex…And the Pleasures of Pleasing a Woman.

For typical non-fiction books like my own, there isn’t generally an issue with marketing; most avenues are open to me with little restriction. But for Nancy Murdoch, many doors slam on her in her attempts to promote her new book. Why? It’s all about “sex.”

In this interview I will talk with Nancy and see how she is able, or not, to overcome these obstacles and the stigma that comes along with “sex.”

Carol Denbow: Welcome Nancy. Let’s start with you telling us a little about your book.

Nancy Murdoch: Okay Carol. Married, single, divorced, dating or in a committed relationship …LOVE is everything, and without it we cease to thrive and flourish in all areas of our lives because life is about relationships. We are in relationship with family, friends, co-workers, our environment, the air we breathe and even the food we eat. But few people can honestly say they are truly happy in their love relationships.

Many men have come to me feeling empty, brokenhearted and disillusioned searching for the secrets to connecting intimately with that one special woman. And even more men want to know how to lavish a woman with the selfless giving of pleasure. So I wrote this book to help all men become more self-empowered so they can engage in healthy, loving relationships with everyone, including a significant romantic partner.

It’s Mostly About Sex…And the Pleasures of Pleasing a Woman gets down to the nitty gritty of why men are attracting women they don’t want to be with in relationships and are repelling the women with whom they are interested. I use many real-life stories throughout the book in order to provide readers with clear examples of how to shift the energy that draws them into painfully unhealthy relationships, and change it into a natural, radiant sex appeal that women can’t say “no” to.

But I’m going to warn you right now that if you have an ego you may feel a sting. There is no ego in love and this book intentionally strikes at the core of what drives men because I want you to succeed. I truly believe in love and happy-ever-after relationships.

Carol Denbow: Although your book is non-fiction self-help, it also falls into the erotica genre. Some advertisers, reviewers, etc. still see this as taboo. Has this posed problems with your efforts to market and promote your book?

Nancy Murdoch: I was actually dumbfounded to learn that my book was judged by some reviewers and advertisers without them even reading the first page! Every time someone said, “Sorry, we don’t deal with that type of book.” I felt I was back in the days when they hanged “witches” or burned women at the stake because these women had knowledge to help people heal that was feared by those in authority. Each time I’m perceived as a threat to someone’s antiquated belief system, I’m shocked. But then again, I’ve known for many years that I’m a catalyst to individual and mass transformation and “change” isn’t always comfortable for those who need to do the changing. When people attempt to avoid change the most popular path of resistance is to shoot the messenger – or ban, burn and ignore the book, the message or the messenger.

Challenges are merely opportunities in disguise. Thus, I do not look at this “taboo” as a marketing problem, but rather an unexpected edge I have over other books that are playing it safe. I never play it safe; I always play it real and give everything I’ve got to help people find lasting happiness in love and life. If this means bringing sexual energy, porn, prostitution, intimacy and love to the table, then I’m going to dish it out in heaping portions. There is already an inherently strong opinion about my subject matter which can play in my favor. Strong opinions attract equally strong contrasting points of view which creates a virtual breeding ground for controversy, discussions and media attention. This book has the power to generate enough attention to help humanity as a whole start to lessen the gap between men and women and begin to truly love one another. Whether this happens or not is up to the readers.

There is nothing erotic about my book - not even the cover. The image on the cover is a charcoal drawing I did about 20 years ago in university when I was going through the Fine Arts Program. It was my first ever drawing class and I was so thrilled to get my drawing to look like the live model and not some weirdly contorted monster from Planet Distortion. So I definitely view this cover as fine art, not erotica. I’ve even got the degree to prove it. A woman’s body has beautiful shapes, contours, colors and textures that are as much a part of nature as are the flowers, oceans, sky and earth. That’s why I love drawing, painting and sculpting the female figure. Tell me the last time you saw a lioness hide her naked body in modesty or shame? Why should men and women feel demoralized by the image of a nude human body whether it’s on the cover of a book or standing on the beach in front of you?

So, if love, happiness, deep intimacy, caring, sharing, selflessness and self-understanding are considered erotica, then get out the X-Rated stamp because this book is loaded from cover to cover.

Carol Denbow: What have you found to be the most effective ways to market your book?

Nancy Murdoch: Marketing has been my greatest challenge. I want someone else to do it for me so I can get back to doing what I am most passionate about and what I do best – writing more books and creating art. But what author can afford that, right? I have 5 books in various stages of completion and 3 bodies of art work waiting impatiently for me to stop marketing and start manifesting again. Contrary to what unknown authors are taught by seasoned authors who have been around the publishing block a few times, I KNOW I’m not meant to do my own marketing. But my mystery marketer hasn’t shown up yet. So, I’m going to market by intuition; which basically means getting out of my own way in order to allow space for the “real” marketer (a complement to the gifts I’ve got to throw into the mix) to enter the scene.

I’m also setting intentions for how I want this to play out and shifting my beliefs to be in alignment with my intentions. In other words, I’m creating my own success story. Time will tell if my methods are working or not. Meanwhile, I am continuing to take heart-inspired actions, which could mean sending a few paperback copies to newspapers and magazines, renting a booth at a mind/body/spirit show or setting up a virtual book tour. It’s too early in the game to decide what’s effective and what isn’t.


Carol Denbow: I’m curious; do you have more book orders or inquiries from men or women?

Nancy Murdoch: Men. But I’m sensing that women may be the ones who initially read the book then gift it to their boyfriends, husbands, brothers and sons . . . and even to their girlfriends to pass on to their men. The general consensus is that men prefer to watch and listen rather than read a book. So, I created an audio MP3 version men can listen to on their compute to and from work.


Carol Denbow: Okay, you’re here, right now, with a book that’s difficult to market. Show us how this is done. Valentine’s Day is approaching; sell us on your book!

Nancy Murdoch: There are books you read....and then there are books that change your life. This book holds all the secrets to attracting a quality woman and maintaining a healthy, happy, growthful relationship that can span the test of time. Secrets that are relevant to every man's life regardless of age, size, relationship status or profession, while challenging a man to be the best he can be.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and for many people it’s THE most depressing day of the year. But whether you are single, married, dating or somewhere in between, every day can be a day of joy and love that lasts an entire lifetime – with or without a partner in your life!

And, to make it super easy I’ve put together a power-packed Valentine’s Day Special that includes the PDF book, It’s Mostly About Sex…And the Pleasures of Pleasing a Woman, 140 minute Audio Book MP3, 2 - 30 minute Magical Love Meditations For Men MP3s and a Relationships Survival Guide PDF. I can’t guarantee you’ll find love by Valentine’s Day . . . but I guarantee that this package will be the best kick-start a man will ever need to become a better lover.

Carol Denbow: Alright authors, there’s your tip for the day! Nancy, where can we learn more about this juicy new book of yours? Website? Blog?

Nancy Murdoch: Additional information can be found at http://itsmostlyaboutsex.com. And, until February 14th I’ll be posting strategies to improve confidence and increase self-esteem on my blog http://nancy-lovesangel.blogspot.com so everyone can be revved up and ready for luv. For articles on self-awareness, life purpose, health and inspiration, please check out http://loves-angel.com.

Carol Denbow: Thank you Nancy for sharing the in’s and out’s of book promotion for sensitive issued books!

Follow-up; How to create a Widget for Entrecard

In the previous post, I suggested adding an Entrecard link on your Blog or Website; many of you responded. It really is the best way to get new visitors to your site but I hadn’t thought much about the fact that many of you are not computer experts and creating a suitable Widget for Entrecard might be a challenge to some. So here’s my suggestion to get your ad up and running.

If you already have a logo to use, skip down for instructions on how to resize it for Entrecard.

For Entrecard, you don’t need text on your ad as long as it will attract attention. You can go to http://www.istockphoto.com/ to find an image that will work for you.

1) Search for a usable image
2) Right click on the small image and save to your “pictures”

To resize to 125 x 125 using Microsoft Software;

1) Open the Picture file
2) Click on “Open”
3) Go to “Microsoft Picture Manager”
4) Click on “Picture”
5) Scroll down and click on “Resize”
6) On the right you should see a box with options, in the “Custom Width x Height” box, enter 125 and 125. The click “okay.”
7) Go to “file” in the top left of your screen and click on “save.”
If you would like to add text to the picture;
1) Start over and open the Picture file.
2) Click on “Open” and scroll down to “Paint.”
3) In the left editing box, click on the letter “A.”
4) At the bottom of the option box you should see 2 choices for your text, one is to add text over the image and the other is to add opaque text (probably the one you want).
5) When you click on your image, you will see a marker to create the text box to whatever size you choose.
6) Type in your words. To edit the font or size, go to “view” and click on “text tool bar.”
7) When finished, remember to “save” your work.
8) You are now ready to upload your image to Entrecard.

SAMPLE:

Send me an email when you’re up and running and I’ll advertize on your site!

Getting personal ... Scented Phoenixes and Shrinking Violets

Maybe y'all noticed I changed my screen name to get a head start marketing myself-- you know, building my online presence and all that jazz. Well, in honor of this momentous change (seriously, this is a big deal for me. I loooooved the anonymity a screen name provided. I guess I'm just shy, but more about that later) I've decided to make this post a little more personal than usual.

It started raining last night all the way through to the morning. I took the streetcar to work for the first time in years, but I couldn't find my galoshes, so my feet are wet. While I'm warming up with a nice hot chai with real half and half, and checking my email, I see I have a Click and Ship notification. I just about die of ecstacy. But I don't dare die, because then I'll never get my Oceans of Love and Millions of Kisses limited edition Lucy Westenra themed Halloween bath oil.

For those of you not in the know, I am an addict. I love things that smell good. I'm reading Jessica Verday's The Hollow right now and loving it because the main character wants to be a perfumer. One of my favorite books is Suskind's Perfume. You're about to get a peek into the depths of my madness. I buy perfume-- unsniffed, no less!-- off the internet from a place called Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

Who in their right mind would buy perfume off the internet, you might ask? Well, I never said I was in my right mind. But the website is so evocative and poetic; dark, bawdy and romantic at turns that I can't resist the urge to smell like a Hawaiian goddess or the personification of Smut. Or the spicy Bengal that smells just like my chai. I love the Beardsley prints and other art that adorns the pages. The perfumers at bpal take inspiration from literary sources, too, running the gamut from the innocent scents of Alice in Wonderland, to the dripping aquatics of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu. Right now you can smell like Hellboy, if that's your thing. Just reading the website stirs my creative juices and I rarely leave the house without applying some sort of bpal oil that suits my mood.

So you can imagine my elation at the Click and Ship notification. My package will be in my grabby little hands by Tuesday. I enjoy a shortbread cookie, dunking it decadently into my chai as I scroll through blogger. I hit up my usual haunts, leave some comments, when I read on Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf that one of the cutest ya books I've read in some time might not get another print run if sales don't improve. This leaves the buttery shortbread tasing like ash in my mouth, and my Click and Ship/perfume high vaporizes.

Shrinking Violet, written by Danielle Joseph and printed by MTV Books, is a book about a normal girl with normal problems. Her name is Tere, so she's got that going for her. ;) And she's horribly, terribly, painfully shy. I used to be shy, too, and on occasion, still get the urge to run to my bed and hide under the covers rather than meet new people at a party. But Tere overcomes her shyness when she's given an opportunity of a lifetime-- to be a disc jockey on her step father's radio station. Of course, her shyness complicates things along the way, and she tries to keep her radio persona a secret (something I can definitely identify with), but she gets her Cinderella story ending. And the Miami setting adds a hot, sultry, sexy vibe to the story.

Head on over to Danielle's livejournal, where you can read more about the book and the author, and what she's doing to promote book sales. You could win a prize!

Danielle's problem is probably a lot more common than we aspiring novelists realize. I think we're all learning that debut authors can't just sit back after the novel is published and wait for the money to roll in (not to be taken to mean that I think Danielle was doing this). Over the past few weeks I've learned just how important self-promotion is, and what content is or isn't appropriate for a writing blog, a topic that has been recently discussed by some of my fellow bloggers, such as Lazy Writer (Susan), and Abby Annis. Now more than ever I realize that I made the right decision to change my screen name, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. ;)

So yesterday we talked about banned books, and this morning we're trying to save one from the obscurity of the small print run. It's been fun revealing some of my passions to the blogosphere-- whether it's my love of books, which I know most of y'all share, or my obsession with perfume oils, which I'm sure not many people can really understand. But we all have our vices. Mine just happens to smell like chocolate, black cherry and orange blossom.

Too Many Hats: Writer, Editor... Marketing Machine?

Today's blog post by literary agent Rachelle Gardner got me thinking about marketing. She linked to an article from yesterday's Washington Post and asked; "Does the requirement to be a marketer have any effect on your desire to be a published author?"

In my response to her post I immediately wrote:

"Isn't this the reason we writers blog and Tweet and network in the first place? I understand that writing the book isn't the end of my job-- I'm still trying to get a literary agent, and I know the hard work won't end there. Why would I want to stop working hard to sell myself once I finally get the opportunity to reach a huge market?

Reading articles about authors like Corrigan actually inspires me to do a better job marketing myself. And I want to get myself out there before my book is released. Book trailers and websites are one thing, but Corrigan got herself out there and physically sold over 2000 copies individually. It seems like a good strategy to spend a huge chunk of your advance (what the IRS won't take) on promotion. It paid off in the end for her."

But the more I've thought about it, the more daunting the task of selling myself seems. Do I have an online presence worth bragging about? Does anyone even read my blog? What do I need to do to get people to pay more attention to my writing? How the frack do I make a book trailer? Do I need my own website if I don't even have an agent yet?

Is it ever too early to begin marketing yourself? I mean, the querying process is like a practice marketing stage, right? Now that I've got a few rounds of querying under my belt, I ought to be ready for the next level. But I always thought I'd need to wait until I got an agent and sold a manuscript to start advertising myself and my novel. In today's competitive market (where agents can check a writer's blog or google them before offering requesting a manuscript or offering representation) am I selling myself short if I'm not presenting my best self to the online community?

Who cares about little old TereLiz if she don't even bother to use her real name?

I love the anonymity this blog offers me. I've also never been a fan of Facebook or *shudder* MySpace and never had an account for either. At first I didn't want to use my full name because I will probably be using a pen name if I publish a novel, using my own name for scholarly art history articles. I don't want to compromise my success as a writer just because I like my privacy, but am I shooting myself in the foot if an agent can't find my writing blog online by googling my name?

Reading Rachelle's post has me worried and the demons of doubt are starting to claw their way back into my life. It's been over a month since I've made any real progress on my WiP. Sure, that time hasn't been wasted since I'm still querying EVANGELINE, but I can't help feeling that the three partials I have out will garner me no full requests. Doubt demons are the cruelest of the bunch, you know, making me second-guess every decision I've made about my professional life. I feel like Bartholomew Cubbins up there, perplexed and not knowing which hat is which and when to wear it.

Perhaps I ought to lift the veil of anonymity here on my blog. If it is only holding me back, and hurting my chances of getting an agent, I should do it. I just didn't realize when I started this blog that I should be cultivating an online presence. As not another nameless, faceless writer, but as myself, a real person with a story to sell, er, I mean tell. ;)

I do know this, despite the demons of doubt: when I sell a manuscript to a publisher, I'll do whatever is in my power to sell it to the world. Writing the book is the easy part. Selling it takes long hours, hard work and devotion that make writing the book seem like writing a bad haiku. (Is there a such thing as a bad haiku? I mean, as long as it has the correct number of syllables it's a haiku, right? Something to think about.) If selling my book means traveling and spending my own advance and then some to do the marketing my book needs, I know I'll do it. But what do I need to do before I get to that point?

Any thoughts about the lengths you'd go to sell your book?