Author: Elise L. Connors

Book Promotion

How Authors (and Others) Can Use Klout to Check Their BRAND

A few months ago, we discussed the importance of building a BRAND that has SWAG. We defined BRAND as:

B oldness (You have to be able to say things others are afraid to.)

R elevance (Are you talking about the things your audience wants to hear about?)

A nd

N otable (Are you saying things that are “newsworthy”?)

D edication (Are you dedicated to yourself and your audience?)

There are many tools available to check your BRAND. One of the most popular is Klout. You can use this to check your relevancy to your audience. Once you enter your Twitter account information, you will get a profile that will begin with something like this:

The top portion of your profile shows your Klout score (which is a number between 1 and 100). The higher the number, the greater influence you have on your audience. You are also able to see important information from your Twitter profile, top topics you in your realm of influence, and how many people you influence. You can learn even more about the Klout scoring system HERE.

As you scroll down the profile page, you are able to see your score broken down even further to show how many people have retweeted (or shared) your information, how many direct replies you get, etc. Ideally, it shows how much people care about what you say on Twitter. You can use this as a report card to see what areas you need to improve in social networking and can also add your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts for a more accurate score.

If you’re on Twitter, check your Klout score today (if you’re not on Twitter, you should sign up for the party). What’s your score? What does this say about how you interact with the online community? Could you improve?

If you aren’t satisfied with your score, it’s OK. Just make sure that you are adhering to “guidelines” for BRAND spelled out above. After a couple of weeks or so, re-check your score and see if you’ve improved.

Book Reviews, Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week: Blood Country by Dan Jewell

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if they don’t know about it? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us let the community know about a great book. So, without further adieu, here’s this week’s book review:

Burned: A Tragic Mystery book cover

Blood Country

Dan Jewell

Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.

ISBN 9781432765835

Reviewed by: Kam Aures for Rebecca’s Reads

“Dan Jewell’s Blood Country: A Nashville Sideman Mystery begins in January in Nashville. Joe Rose, guitarist and private investigator, receives a call from his ex-wife Patty Hill, an Associate Math Professor at Vanderbilt. Patty had just been talking to her friend Roxanne Hamlin, a country singer, on the phone. Roxanne is trying to leave her husband Vern, also famous in the country music industry, but Vern is not allowing her to leave. Roxanne doesn’t want to involve the police so Patty thinks that Joe may be a good choice to help out.

The domestic situation actually turns into a job opportunity for Joe as he ends up being hired by Vern for a different matter. Vern had received a letter from an anonymous source regarding his father’s murder which happened twenty years prior. In the letter, it is suggested that the man who was accused of killing Vern’s father was not actually the person who committed the crime. So, Joe is sent to investigate and to try to unearth the truth as to who killed King Hamlin.

Jewell does a wonderful job with character development. The individuals we are introduced to throughout the novel are very memorable and intriguing people. The story itself is fast-paced and has many twists and turns. I recommend Blood Country: A Nashville Sideman Mystery for those who enjoy mystery and suspense, particularly those who are also fans of country music as there is quite the focus on the Nashville music scene. I am sure we will see more Nashville Sideman mysteries from Dan Jewell in the future.”

DISCUSSION: Are you trying to obtain book reviews as part of your overall book promotion strategy?

Book Promotion

New Conference Alert: AFTA Book Exhibit

The American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA) is hosting a book exhibit at their conference this June, and if you have written a related book, you may be interested in attending.

They are interested in books with stories in the following categories (taken directly from their entry form):

  • Health
  • Economics
  • History
  • Recreation
  • Religious Life
  • Generations
  • Psychology
  • Therapy
  • Law
  • Relationships
  • Life Education
  • Demographics
  • Planning
  • Violence
  • Social Work
  • Sexuality
  • Bibliographies
  • Surveys/Studies
  • Kinship
  • Marriage
  • Multicultural Issues
  • Child Abuse/Neglect
  • International Families
  • Structure/Socialization
  • Clinical Assessment
  • Policy Making
  • Dependency Studies
  • Women’s Issues
  • Reference
  • Textbooks

The entry fee is $99 for 1 title and $25 for each extra title. They also have packages for multiple title entries.

You can download the entry form by visiting this link: http://bookexhibit.com/Announcements/2ndQtr11/AFTA.pdf.

Are there any other interesting conferences, etc. coming up that self-publishing authors should attend?

Self Publishing Saturday, Uncategorized

Self Publishing Saturday: What Happened this Week?

On weekend mornings, I enjoy nothing more than reading the paper to find out what has happened this week (now I primarily read the news online) in one place without searching many places. With many “tweeps” (Twitter slang for “people”) using paper.li to put together information, you can keep track of things pretty easily. What if you don’t have a Twitter account? What about the sources the things that weren’t mentioned?

Here we aim to feature things that are going on in self publishing so that you don’t have to find out on your own. Plus, we want to share other resource with you so that you can be well-advised on the publishing process.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s digest.

Have you written something our readers can benefit from this week? Post a link in the comments.

Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week: He Kan’t Kill Your Future by: Sharquent Webster

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if they don’t know about it? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us let the community know about a great book. So, without further adieu, here’s this week’s book review:

Pearl book cover

He Kan’t Kill Your Future

Sharquent Webster

Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.

ISBN 9781432764456

Reviewed by: Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views

“The author has written an excellent book that tells the journey of her life while growing up in South Central Los Angeles. This is not a story that is filled with happiness or love, but one that tells what it is like to grow up in a large family where no one really cares. It is Sharquent’s own story of being abused, neglected, beaten, and living on the streets. Many readers will never know this type of life, but for thousands this is what is normal to them. Did they choose this life? Many will prejudge and say yes. But who among us want to be unloved, neglected, abused and raped?

Sharquent’s father disappeared when she was young. She lived with her mother and nine siblings in a dilapidated house filled with strange people, an older brother who took pleasure in sexually abusing her and her sister and a mother who lived for finding things in the dumpster, including food. When someone you love or think you love leaves you suddenly it seems as if there is no hope. However, with all things that happened to Sharquent and her siblings, their mother continued to believe.

Not doing well in school or even liking it, Sharquent finds fulfillment in other areas: drugs, unsafe sex, stealing and calling jail her home. In addition, she had two children and after they were born she was ready to run back again to the streets to get her high. Even though she found Phillip who actually cared about her, the streets loved her more.

Through watching others hustle, she learned various ways to earn money to get drugs. Mind you now, she had two young children, but really they were a problem. After spending time in jail she was sent to an in-patient program to clean up and learn new skills. But often you can’t teach someone from the streets new skills; they are often very mistrustful and feel they know more than anyone else.

Finally, after many crises, mistrust and just pain, she found people who actually cared about and loved her regardless. The most important thing she found in her life was Jesus. It took some time but she finally surrendered all her anger, drug abuse and revenge and left it in his hands.

From a psychological point of view, this book is many things.

For those in the helping field it gives a clear, unbiased view of what it is like to live a life like this. She is not a flowery writer, just tells it like it is. For those who are at risk or already living this life it is a story of hope. She is my kind of woman.

This is a must read for all those who try to help others in her situation- we will never know all the details but what we do know is that it can happen. It is also for those who want to know how one gets in this type of situation and for those who feel they are better than anyone else.

I would love to use He Kan’t Kill Your Future in my Psychology college classes that I teach and have the students put themselves in the role of Sharquent and then in the role of a helper.”