Marketing for the HOLIDAYS!

Boo! Gobble, gobble! Ho, ho, ho!!!

No! I have not lost my mind!! I know it is ONLY September. . .but now is the time to start thinking about marketing and scheduling marketing for the holiday season!

If you aren't~TODAY IS THE DAY TO START!!!

1) Holiday Cards

I hope you have started an opt-in newsletter on your site or blog where you have gathered your readers. You will need to put together a small letter telling them how much you appreciate them and maybe add a coupon code for a discount on one of your novels or gently ask them to gift a copy of your novel to one of their friends. Give something back to your readers!!!! 

I keep an address book with the physical address of my STREET TEAM members. Not only do I send out a few little notes each month, but I send each and everyone of them a real card for the holidays. I think it's so important to reach out to your readers and let them know how much you appreciate them.

2) On Line Holiday Party

Everyone loves a good party! Especially one where you don't have to leave the comfort of your own home or even dress up!! 

It doesn't matter what your PR personality is. You can host a fun party with virtual food, drinks, music, etc...Video tape yourself welcoming them to your party. Give away a couple holiday gifts. Nothing expensive...what about one of your writer friend's book? Or ask your writer friends to donate a book and give them away! 

3) Box Set Your Books

I'm currently in the process of boxing my Grandberry Falls series into a box set that will be out just in time for Christmas! I will be pricing them a little under the $9 that it would cost to purchase all three separately  because I want my reader to feel like they are getting a bargain. Plus it's a great gift to give!

4) Holiday Sampler

Now...this is a good one too! This year I'm putting together a group of award winning authors for a Holiday sampler! The sampler is just that (I'm NOT revealing the title yet), we have all submitted a sample of one of our novels in a combined free download with all the author's information. It's a great treat for readers to find some really great reads by sampling them first.

I will blog on this process later.

5) Specific Holiday Promotions From Major Sites

I love Kindle on the Cheap and Nook on the Cheap! They are offering a great promotional deal for authors that is pretty sweet. Check out the video:

Check out the Santa Sampler HERE 

"What happens when you put an author in charge of your advertising program? Great things, if you ask April Floyd, owner and leader of numerous Facebook reading groups and The-Cheap.net. You know April if you've ever listed your book with the Facebook group Authors on the Cheap. After two years of always giving authors shout outs for free, Ms. Floyd has expanded the site, her Facebook groups and finally caved to author pressure for an ad program where they could schedule dates for a nominal fee.

Teamed up with author Elizabeth Ann West, the new marketing director for The-Cheap.net, this autumn and winter the Piggies have something new in mind when it comes to holiday promotions: make everyone happy.

“I wasted over a hundred dollars myself last year on promotions that were my book with dozens of others, a Kindle Fire giveaway, and massive social media likes that meant nothing to the person clicking hundreds of author pages to enter the giveaway.” said Ms. West.

The Piggies are proud to announce Santa Sampler, a reading competition for their readers that will provide raw market data back to every author who signs up.

“Our readers have enjoyed our recent ebook giveaways where they read the sample and answer a trivia question.""

I thought it sounded like a great opportunity. But the point is that there are so many promotional tools out there for you to take advantage of! Use all your resources, which include your writer friends. Put your heads together and think of some GREAT PR buddy promos you can do for the holidays. It might even be to host a party together...anything...just don't let the days slip away and the holidays creep in without you looking at your marketing plan!

Do you have anything cool planned for your holiday marketing plan?

Tips For Writing a Novel

If you are anything like me, you listen to writers that you think have become successful in your definition of success. You take in every single word they say.

Over the past few years I have put my ear to the grind stone and have really tried to make my writing career just that. . .A CAREER.

The authors that I consider successful have a few tips in common, a few tips that they continue to say over and over when I hear them speak.

1) Write What You Want:

With the freedom to write the story you feel in your heart, you will be able to connect with the story, characters, and the plot.

With the wonderful world of self-publishing, we have defined our own success. We have blazed a way that has made us unique to our own worlds and words.

You have to freedom to spin the details as you want to. You have the wonderful advantage to fit your story into what ever genre you want to fit it into. That's amazing!

2) Write Every Single Day!

Butt in chair, hands on keyboard!! I don't know who came up with that statement, but it rings true every single time. There is no way you can produce a novel without the words. You can't publish a blank book, well. . .I guess you could, but they'd find you! They'd stone you! (Okay so they won't stone you, but you get the picture!)

3) Turn Off Your Inner Editor!

Give yourself permission to just write without the hassle of going back to edit your work. You have to go back and edit later, so wait! Get those words out of you head and on the paper.

If you stop to go back and edit, it ends up disrupting your flow of writing and you can't get back into the groove of things.

4) Be Inspired!

Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
― Roald Dahl

Guys might roll their eyes at this, but there is something to be said about the perfect quote or image to help spark that great scene or plot point to continue with your manuscript.

For every novel I write, I keep a journal. I put the date in the front and begin to collect items, as I go along, that remind me of the idea. I let an idea/plot stew in my head for a few months before I even begin writing it. This is generally because I'm already deep in another novel.

Collecting these little tid-bits keeps me excited about the upcoming manuscript/novel, and when I am ready to sit down and start the new novel, I have all I need at my finger tips.

It might be as simple as finding a fence with an amazing background. I can plan an entire chapter around my character hanging out by that fence, along with describing the fence and background. Or even just the vivid colors are enough to spark my juices.

5) Read, Read, Read!!

I know you are so tired of hearing everyone telling you to read. Don't take it from me, take it from the MASTER!! Watch the video below!!!!




Share any tips that you may have for writers about writing and leave it in the comments! Until then. . .keep WRITING!

Find The Enthusiasm For Writing

"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Nothing was every achieved without enthusiasm." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


I'm not sure where all of you are located, but I'm in Kentucky and the weather is turning a chill in the air. Fall is coming and I LOVE IT!

. . .my writing not so much. . .

My walks have gotten longer, my outside time has gotten longer, my snuggle in my bed has gotten longer, and my writing time has gotten. . .shorter!

What happened to my mojo where I couldn't wait to get up in the morning? What happened to my characters fighting over who was going to talk to me first in the morning? WHAT HAS HAPPENED???

I might be a bestselling author and have an amazing STREET TEAM and helpful blog. . .but I too get the life sucked out of me at times, not very often, but  it does happen.

Why now? Usually this time of the year is when I curl up with my laptop, journal and pound out the words.

This made me sit back and think about my career goals and how bad I want success? Asking myself how can I maintain the passion that I've always had.

Here are a few tips I came up with:

1) Hide and Seek!

Simply stated, FIND the passion!!
I went back through my journals, I keep a journal for each novel I write, and see all the quotes, photos, ideas, and inspiration that kept me going with them.

I realized that I hadn't done that with my current WIP. I have simply just wrote, wrote, and wrote, feeding my creative mind very little. We all must eat or we waste away to nothing. AND that is NOT what I want.

2) Keep it!

WOW! Once I found the passion by going back through my journals, it was easy to slip back into the basics of why I started writing, the joy that it brought me, escaping into the world that I have created. A world that so many others have enjoyed.

This feeling made me even more passionate about writing and fall in love with it all over again. But how do you maintain it?

You have to figure out what keeps your passion for writing. For me, it's getting those inspirational quotes or amazing reviews from my book that I cut out, the readers, the creation of making up a new world and mapping it out. All of these things helps write each one of my stories.

It's all about maintaining the passion you have for writing.

There is NO way that I'm alone in how I've been feeling lately! You have to have some tips that help maintain your passion, WHAT ARE THEY?

Are YOU a Bestselling Author?

Is your book buzz worthy? Do you aspire to be a bestselling author?
Are you doing the same marketing and promoting of each book the same way? Doing the same ole things hoping that it will work with each book you put out?

Well. . .it won't!

In order to be a bestselling author you have to evaluate what works and what doesn't. You have to have a plan.

Your writing career does not afford you to keep trying things that don't work.

Let's discuss the bestseller's status. Most traditional authors turn their heads at any other bestsellers status other than the big ones like New York Times, USA Today, etc....BUT they are missing the boat on creating more buzz for their novels!

It's so important to make those Amazon and Barnes and Noble bestsellers lists. Once you make the lists, your novel gets put into those algorithms and make you more visible to the readers. Amazon will even promote you when you get high enough on the lists, which again. . .makes you more visible to your target audience. So CLAIM your bestseller status when you make one of those lists!!!

Still. . .you have to get there. Is your marketing and promoting plan doing it for you? Are YOU a bestselling author?

Now, I'm assuming that you have written a really great book. A book with an amazing cover, no editing issues, perfect formatting~NO ISSUES!

Before that book is uploaded or goes to print, you should already have your marketing plan put in place!
I'm not talking about setting up a blog tour, giving our ARCs of your novels to reviewers, making swag for your author brand. These are things that I hope you are already doing without me telling you.
I'm talking about entering major awards, do free audio podcasts for your blog site, plan reader events by using your Kindle or google plus chat. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!!

A few months ago the eFestival of Words announced the finalist in all their book categories. I was pleasantly surprised when I was alerted that Carpe Bead 'em was a finalist in the women's fiction/chick-lit category. I have no idea who nominated me to thank them, so I knew if I won, I was going to have to give back even more than I already do to my readers.

My readers got so involved with voting me to the WINNER status! I looked at all the winners. ONLY 8 of the winners had over 20 reviews and 4.5 ratings. Guess what we did. . .WE THOUGHT OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!!

We wanted to offer our award winning novels at a crazy price. Not to mention that we could PR BUDDY each other. My readers would LOVE my co-winners books. We all lowered our price to .99 for two days. We came up with a graphic and blog post to help get the word out.

We dubbed ourselves the GREAT EIGHT and reached out to all our blogger friends, put together a banner, contacted Amazon, contacted all REAL heavy hitters at Ereader News Today, Kindle Fire Daily, Pixel Of Ink, Digital Book Today , Indie Ereader, as well as Amazon giving us a page to ourselves!

But we didn't stop there! We each had an award winning book and we wanted to make those bestsellers lists so we could get into more reader's hands. So....we each had a call out to all our social media groups asking for people to post a blog that we had come up with. The blog had all the links and pictures they needed. There was no work on the blog owners part! We did it for them.

We have over 100 bloggers post the blog, not to mention all the Facebook and twitter status our followers had posted.

Now....a year ago when I released Carpe Bead 'em, Ereader News Today featured my Carpe on their own. I didn't pay for a thing! The owner had written me to tell me that he had heard my book was good and he was going to help me sale a few copies. FEW COPIES???

Last year I sold over 7k copies from just Ereader News Today! It was amazing. I didn't pay for an ad or even knew who Ereader News Today was. BUT Carpe went straight to #1 on Amazon's Movers and Shakers list and stayed there for THREE DAYS!!!

Fast forward to last week when my book was lumped with the rest of the GREAT EIGHT! Only on Ereader News Today, the second time around, Carpe Bead 'em found an audience of over 1200 new readers! Before the promo, Carpe was at 30k rank, after the Ereader News Today hit Carpe ended in the ranks at #375 in the paid store. WOW WOW WOW!!

Amazing! Right?!

It wouldn't have happened if we didn't think outside the box. The entire GREAT EIGHT became bestselling authors, again, that day!

Do you think that you can think outside the box and become the bestselling author you deserve to be??

Making it to the finish line!

Do you know how long it takes for someone to train for a marathon? Do you know what they have to do in order to be in shape to run that marathon?

As a novelist, I DO! We are marathon runners that not only train to write the novel, but bring others along with us. We have to keep our readers in mind when we train for our marathon.

Just like a marathon, there is NO sprint to the end when writing a novel. We have to have an endurance that will last for months. An endurance that will carry a reader all the way through. So in some way, the reader is also going the distance with you. You have to keep the readers engaged, in a pace that sometimes takes them up a hill and then down the hill with a few strides along the way.

This is not an easy feat! We have to take a story line and engage the reader from cover until THE END!

There are a few tips that can help get us trained for the marathon.

1) Write your novel all the way through with out stopping.

I can hear you groan now, but hear me out. This is hard for many of us. It's hard not to revise and edit as you write. I have been one of those that stop and go back to change something, only to throw me off track at where I had truly stopped in order to go back.
This stops your creative process and in turns puts a halt to your writing.

Try to write the entire novel and resist the urge to go back and revise. This allows your mind to keep the story line you had in your head to stay true to the story line.

You will have a better understanding of your novels beginning, middle, and end. You will not have wasted your time revising and polishing when you are going to be doing that when the novel is finished.

I didn't say write fast. I said write your novel all the way through. It takes me three months to get a complete first draft and that is not going back to edit or revise until THE END is written. If you try to  write without going back to edit, you will surprise yourself on how quickly you will get your first draft completed.

2) Scene, scene, scene

Does your scenes tie into your complete novel? The reader is SMART! The reader will know when a scene doesn't advance the plot of your novel and they will put it down or write a bad review.
This is the next step after you write that first draft. You will want to go back and reread your first draft completely.

At the beginning of each chapter, I ask myself several questions: How does this chapter move the plot or story line? Is the scene dramatic enough to hold the readers attention? Does the chapter lead into the next chapter? Is the descriptions vivid enough for the reader to feel like they are placed in the scene? Is the emotions of my characters felt in the soul of my readers?

Not every single chapter is going to have those questions answered, but I do know that my chapter is going to propel the plot of the story.

Make a list of questions. If your scenes/chapters fail to answer your questions, you need to cut that scene.

3) Chapter beginnings

Go back to the beginning of each of your chapters. Do they start the same? Do they all sound alike? BORING!!!

Be sure that you are starting each chapter differently. This helps pique the readers mind, carrying them to the end of the marathon.

4) Mini-Scenes

These are so much fun to write! I love looking for lulls in my first draft. It's the perfect place to add a little humor or mini-scene to your novel. Don't let there be any dead space on the pages for your reader's eyes.

This is where I beef up my quirky characters by making them just a little bit more quirky.

I hope that you really consider these tips when starting your next novel. I think you will be surprised on how effective it is when you can write your story all the way through without going back to revise or rewrite.

Writing a novel is hard work, just like training for a marathon. Some can go the distance and some can't. I know you can! And in the entire process, you need to keep your reader in mind. After all it's said and done, your novel becomes your readers. They claim it for their own and you are running along side them.

Don't Be A Poacher!!

I debated on whether to write this post, but I was so angry that I really felt like a post like this one would help you, the writer.

First off let me say that this blog is for you, the writer. IT'S NOT FOR MY READERS! That is what my STREET TEAM is for.

Lately I have come across some real issues, etiquette issues.

There is still a code of behavior that we writers have to use when it comes to other writers. Most newbie writers (which is most of my blogs target audience) are so excited that they just want to connect with other writers. Not only do they want to connect with other writers, they want to connect with other writers target audience. The problem is. . .writers forget the proper etiquette on how to go about doing this.

Do's and don'ts of asking a blog owner to guest blog and other social media rules:


* You need to comment frequently on the blog you want to guest blog on.  Don't just show up as a phantom follower by sending an email telling the blogger that you LOVE the blog and would love to guest. The blogger knows that deep down you want something....to tap into their audience. BUT what have you done for them? You might have read their blog, but did you participate? I MEAN REALLY PARTICIPATE??


* After you send an email to the blogger to guest blog, give the blogger a few weeks to respond. Don't be persistent and  don't re-send a follow up email. Wait a month until you do send that follow up email. If your blog tour is in a month....you didn't do your job. You need to have your blog tour scheduled TWO months in advanced. 


If you don't hear from the blogger after two requests, then they are ignoring you! Stop emailing them.


* If you are lucky enough to get the guest spot that you so graciously requested, it's up to you to promote your guest post. DO NOT MAKE THE BLOGGER DO ALL THE WORK!!!! 


When I have a guest blogger, I stalk their Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Triberr, every single form of social media to make sure they are promoting their spot on my blog. If they don't, I will never have them on again. This is RUDE! So it's up to you to promote your guest posts.


* Facebook! DO NOT MAKE A PAGE AND ADD OTHERS WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION!! There is nothing more aggravating than getting on my Facebook and getting tons of feed from a group that I didn't join. 


I have been debating about this one because it's getting worse by the day. This is also RUDE! What makes you think that just because someone is on Facebook, they want to be in some group? What gives you the right to put them in a group without asking them?

DO put a status up on your Facebook page that tells your group of friends that you are starting a new group, give a few deets about the group along with the link, and then let them decide.

DO post a nice little invite on your other groups that allow self promotion with a link. LET them decide if they want to join your group.

DO NOT POST A PROMO ON SOMEONE'S FACEBOOK PROFILE OR STREET TEAM unless you ask the owner of the page!! THIS BOILS my blood!!! And it's RUDE!!!

This makes them a POACHER and unlikable!! When another writer posts on any of my Facebook pages promoting their adventures or books without asking me first, I delete it and it makes me mad. They are poaching MY readers that I have worked years to get. Not to mention that my readers aren't there to be POACHED!!
I'm all about helping each other out, but not when I'm taken advantage of and the author thinks she/he has a right to do that because we are cyber friends. It's not only RUDE to me, but it's spamming my STREET TEAM.

On the other hand, if you message the person who owns the page and ask them if they can post on your page, that is a different story. When someone is polite enough to message me and ask me if they can post their book or their new page on my page, I generally agree. I don't let them post their promo stuff on my STREET TEAM, but I will on my personal page and author page.


All in all, use your common sense. Use your manners! OR you will be seen as a POACHER and SELFISH PROMOTER. Keep your image clean and email for the right answers, don't just ASSume that is't okay

Do you have any more etiquette tips to add?

Did you see the new tab at the top? I'm taking proposals for guest blogs! Do you have what it takes? Click on the guest blog tab at the top or right of the page!

Tiberr in 5 Easy Steps

For the last few months I have been a member of Triberr. I became a member when my friend, Rachelle Ayala, invited me. To tell the truth, I had NO CLUE what Tribber was and what it was about. Heck...you know I'm up for anything, so of course I JOINED!!

And....I had no clue what I was doing until last week. Soooo....I asked, begged Rachelle to do a guest post on Tribber.

Triberr in 5 Easy Steps (Guest Post by Rachelle Ayala)

What is Triberr? Simply put, Triberr is semi-automated retweeting of blog posts by a group of people working together.

Triberr is a website that collects blog posts and Tweeps into a group called the Tribe. Tribes are groups of bloggers who post on similar topics and are happy to share the posts of other bloggers.

As you can see from the graph (found at the Triberr site), using Triberr extends your blog tweets beyond your followers, but into the streams of all their followers too. And this is a big thing! Because, guess what? Blogging in isolation is about as interesting and productive as navel gazing.

Okay, I'm going to show you how to join and work with Triberr in 5 easy steps.

1. Get a Twitter account. Go to Twitter.com and register for an account. Connect your Twitter account to your tribe. You may have more than one twitter account, but you may only connect a single Twitter account to a single tribe. Here I have chosen to connect my one twitter account to all my tribes.

2. Start Blogging and find the RSS Feed for your blog. RSS Feed is an xml document that tags blog content so that a computer program can read it and figure out the URL, tags, content, date, etc. All you need to do is find your blog's RSS Feed. For Blogger, or Blogspot users, it is: http://[blogspot-url]/feeds/posts/default 

Wordpress users can download and install a plug-in that sends their posts to their Triberr account  http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/triberr-wordpress-plugin/ 

Connect your blog to a tribe. You can be a member of different tribes and connect different blogs to different tribes, but you may only connect a single blog to a single tribe.

I chose not connect my Facebook account, because I did not want to flood my Facebook page with tweets.

3. Join a Tribe. You can start your own tribe or find a thriving tribe to join. The best tribes consist of members in the same interest are who are willing to retweet each other's content. So for example, if you are blogging about ancient civilizations, it might not work to be in a tribe of science fiction enthusiasts. My tribe is "Indie Authors"

4. Login and Tweet. Once you're in a tribe, log in every day that you posted to your blog (if not more often). You will see your Tribemate's posts come into your "Home" screen. Click the "thumbs up" and then the Orange button that says "Approve?". Once Approved, it will change colors and be queued into your Twitter feed

You can set your posting interval to make sure you don't flood your tweet stream.

5. Stay in the Tribe. As of June 28th, Triberr is now limiting tribes to be no more than 30. I have recently had to ruthlessly remove nonparticipating members, even when they were my personal friends, to make room for better teammates.

Your tribemates can easily see if you've been sharing or not. You can also remove yourself from a tribe if you find they are not a fit. There are no hard feelings either way. So what are you waiting for? Jump into Triberr and watch your blog grow. I started in April (see intro post) and watched my blog traffic go from 10-20 a day to 200-300 a day.

So that's it! I hope this blog post has been helpful! You can visit me at my blog, Rachelle's Window. 

Rachelle Ayala is the author of Michal's Window, a provocative love story involving King David. Available at Amazon, Barnes &Noble, and Google Play

From An Editor to An Author

Please welcome editor Judy Beatty!!

Tonya asked me to write a blog on editing, and I’ve been mulling around what I want to tell you over and over in my mind for days now.   I have finally zeroed in on some things that I feel are important to the editor, and for the author.

In editing a manuscript, there can be a tendency to “want” to forget that the author has his or her own voice, and change sentences into how we as editors would say it if we had written it.  This is where we can make or break trust in the person we are editing for.  It’s common to try and change sentences around to our liking, but once the author’s voice is revealed, we must edit in their way of thinking, and not ours.  I had one lovely author recently tell me that she sees my grammatically correct sentences and says “Grammatically correct? What’s that?”  Also, I edited a book for an author that had characters speaking the worst English I have ever heard, but that is the way he wanted it, and that is the way I had to learn to edit his book.  Now I am highly aware and try to find the pattern and rhythm  in each authors writing, and once I do that, I can easily edit without changing their voice.

Punctuation tends to be an issue in every manuscript I edit.   Commas are by far the most overused punctuation on the planet.  Quotation marks inside or outside of the period/exclamation point/comma are another issue.  I find this rule handy: If in Britain, put the quotes outside of the punctuation, and if in America, put them inside.  Since most of us are in America, writing to Americans, then I try to keep what our readers are used to seeing prevalent.  If any of you are writing to a British audience, please tell your editor so they can edit accordingly (I say with tongue in cheek).

It helps, also, to have a wonderful daughter who teaches high-school English for a living.  AHEM…YES, I do write her occasionally when I get stumped and ask for her opinion, and thank God, she is so quick to help me.

I love working with already published writers, but am sad to say that so many manuscripts are getting edited (even [especially] by major publishing companies) and leaving so much to be desired; and you, the author, have probably paid through-the-nose to have them edited, but they are still so full of errors and have been published that way.  Since I do a lot of re-editing for authors who are already published, I feel deeply sorry for them and want to do everything in my power to make their manuscripts as clean as possible. When I read a book for fun, and it is full of errors, I tend to cringe and put it down.  Actually, that is how I got started in editing.  I read a series by a well-known author, and found so many mistakes that I wrote her and asked if she would like for me to fix them.  She sent me her manuscripts and I was on my way with a new career.

New writers are fun to edit, and a bit more time-consuming, because they are just finding their voice and a good editor can help them find it if he or she is willing to take the time to discuss issues with the writer.  It’s great fun to watch new writers evolve, and see each new book come to life with more of “them” in it.

My final thought is, no matter if you are an already published author, or if you are just starting out –edits will need to be done; sometimes over and over again, until the manuscript is so squeaky clean you can see your face in it.  I do look forward to working with many of you, and will continue to enjoy reading your works, and editing to my heart’s content.  

Until then, “Happy Writing”.

Judy is giving away a one time free editorial service to one lucky comment today!!!!

Tips to Edit Your Own Work

We all live in edit hell! Even if you claim you love it, you know you don't (shaking finger at you)! Unfortunately, editing skills separates a mediocre writer from a great writer in the self-publishing world. (Little secret: even traditionally published writers have to have extensive editing from their editors. NO ONE turns in a perfect book.)

I have never claimed to be a perfect writer. FAR FROM IT!! Over the past few years I have learned a few tips that help me self edit my books before I get them to my editor. I have to have an editor. It's only good business practice, but here are some ideas to help you along the way.

1. Just write!

Don't edit while you are writing. Get the words on the page and let your creative juices flow. If you worry about editing, you are going to get stumped and not get in your word count or ideas down.

If there is a blatant typo, yes change it. Don't go back and fix grammar, punctuation, etc....

2. Step away.

After you finish your novel, it's a good idea to step away for a couple days and let your mind have some down time.  Use this time to read. Writers should read, read, read, and this would be a great time for that. Let your mind escape from your characters.

After a couple days go back and read your novel. You will be able to look at it with fresh eyes and catch some of those simple mistakes. Plus stepping away will give you fresh ideas and see plot holes. This is a good time to help layer your story-line.

3. Kindle it!

I use the word Kindle as the universal reader but I also mean any ereading device, this includes your phone or your PC. I always send my novel to the ereader before I send it to my editor and before I publish it, I send it to my ereader.

It's easier to spot mistakes on a different device. Plus I want to see exactly what it will look like when my readers will buy my book. More times than not I catch too short/long paragraphs for an ereader or formatting mistakes that need to be fix.

4. Cut Unnecessary words!

I use a lot of but, exclamation points, and goofy words on my blog. It's a place for me to just write and help authors. I really should take the time to write the blog, edit it and take my own advice. BUT this is where I get my words out and let my creative juices flow and I don't cut out the unnecessary words.

Don't do this with your manuscript! Cut out the repeating words, phrases, unnecessary adjectives (Lisa spoke loudly....Lisa screamed).

5. Use spell check!!

Spell check doesn't always catch the true editing issues, but it doesn't hurt to run it a couple times before you send it to your editor or before you publish. It's another set of eyes to get you to look at some issues that you might not have caught before hand. Missing words and homophones are not found using spell check, but it will help with the general, easy mistakes that easy for your eyes to miss.

6. Read your story out loud.

Reading out loud will help your trained ear hear the missing words or world flow. This is one of the strongest editing tips you can do to catch those missing words. Read each word carefully, slowly. We know our manuscripts so well that sometimes we can skip over the words, so take your time and truly read it like a readers!

7. Send it off!

Enough is enough. Once you think you have edited until your eyes and fingers have had enough, you've had enough and so has your manuscript. It's time to send it to the editor or publish it. Let it fly on its own!


Side note: It's taken me years and over three editors to find a perfect fit for me. If you go look at any of my reviews, you will find several reviews that claim my books have editorial issues. AND THEY DO....luckily, I just had all of them re-edited by my fabulous editor, Judy Beatty!! She is doing a guest post on Monday!! AND giving away a free edit! Be sure to stop by!

Do you have any tips for our writing community about editing?

BTW....If you get a chance pop over to Book Tour Radio! I'm being featured today! FUN!!

FIVE Things A Writer Should and Shouldn't Do NOW!

I'm not saying that I know a lot about anything, but I can say that I do know a lot about what has and hasn't worked for me in this writing gig.

I decided five years ago that I was going to give my writing career a big ole kick in the butt and get it done. I traveled every road possible to make it to publication which finally happened one year ago with my debut release Carpe Bead 'em. Granted, I started marketing my career FIVE years ago and I have come across some things that a writer should do and shouldn't do.

THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T DO NOW: (let's get these over with since they are the most painful)

1. Stop quitting!
There is nothing more annoying than a quitter. This is why my post HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT is the most powerful post on this blog to date. If you are a writer, you are going to have to keep going because your novel is NEVER going to finish itself.

2. Stop treating your body bad!!
Keeping your body healthy is crucial to your writing career. Eating well and exercising will keep your mind healthy. It will help you focus and keep your creative juices flowing.

3. Stop writing what you hear is going to sale!
How many times have you heard that vampires are HOT and only being sold? If you don't write true to your heart, you aren't going to write the best story for you and your heart will not be in it. Forget about marketing something that isn't close to your heart.

4. Stop dreaming and start doing!!
I'm not saying to stop following your dream, I'm telling you to start taking the steps to make that dream possible. I want to be published every possible way. That means self-publishing and traditional. While I'm working on my traditional publishing endeavors, I'm continuing on my self-publishing career. It's a great time to be a writer! Make it happen!

5. Stop worrying!
Worrying has never gotten anyone anywhere! It gives you wrinkles! Don't worry about what other writers are doing. Don't worry about the mistakes you are afraid to make. Make them! LEARN! Don't worry about the market. Don't worry about self-publishing stigma. Don't worry!! It takes all the creative flow out of you!

THINGS YOU SHOULD BE DOING NOW:

1. Recognize that you are a writer!
The more serious you take yourself the more writing you will get done.

2. Read more!
The more you read, the better your writing will get. Read outside of your comfort zone or genre. It's fun to see how different dialogue tags are used or character descriptions are different across the board. You'll be surprised at how much you will learn.

3. Give back to others!
There is nothing more rewarding than giving back without expecting anything in return. It does wonders for your creative flow. There are many simple things you can to do give back and most of them are free!!

4. Work hard!
Okay. . .well I said quitting was the most annoying thing a writer can do....well I lied! Being LAZY is the worst! I can't stand someone who tells me they are a writer and they write a couple pages a month. THAT IS NOT A WRITER!!!! This is a job. It needs to be treated as such. And there isn't a job out there that has survived with a boss who is lazy. Write! Write! WRITE!!!!

5.  Just do it!
Nike has it right! It's that simple.

I could have written at least twenty in each category, but I'm curious. . .what do you think a writer should start doing TODAY and STOP doing today?

Many Hats Of Self Publishing

Ahh. . .did the title catch your attention?

As a self published author we wear many hats from writer, editor, copy-editor, typeset, plot-editor, lay-out designer, graphic designer, etc..AND we do it alone. (most of the time)

WRITER:
Without being the writer, you will not be able to move forward on your dream of publishing. You must focus and write every day. It doesn't have to be a mountain of words, but it must be a few in order to get those words on a page and tell your story.

EDITOR:
So you might have a great final editor, but what about the journey to getting it to that final editor. After the first draft, you have to go back and re-edit what you just completed. AND then again, and again until you are positively sure it's ready to go to your editor. THEN the editor will send you edits back. IF you have a wonderful editor like me, JUDY BEATTY, your editor will look over those edits to make sure you got them all or that they got them all.

DESIGN ARTIST:
What? You mean to tell me there is NO cover fairy?? HELL NO!! You have to put on your designer hat and either hire someone that can transform your ideas into a great cover OR try your handy work on your own. I use Laura Morrigan for all my covers. BUT I have the idea in my head and will relate those to her and maybe give her a picture or two to let her know what I'm thinking. Then we collaborate as a team to come up with the best cover! And she makes a home-run every single time.

(A CHARMING CRIME June 12)

FORMAT QUEEN/KING:

Oh, yeah! If you are going to be doing your own formatting, you will need to learn the in's and out's of each on-line ebook distributor. Some take epub while others take the word document. And it's up to you to figure that out. UNLESS you want to spend lots of cashola to pay someone to do it. AND trust me, if I can do it, so can you!!!

ACCOUNTANT:

I know. . .I'm NOT great with money, but I do know that you have to factor in all the above when self-publishing into your budget. You might not be paying for an editor (which out of all of this I HIGHLY recommend), or a cover artists, but you will have expenses. Whether it's formatting software, the latest graphic program or just the coffee that is going to keep you sane through it all...you will spend some money. So make sure you budget before you start down this journey of self-publication.

MARKETER:

Hahahahaaa!!! Did you honestly think that with that cute cover and big ole confidence ego I have is going to get my name and book out there??? TEEEE HEEEEE!! HELL NO!! Can I get a collective HELL NO from the audience???

This might just be the biggest hat of all that you wear.You will need to market and promote not only your book, but yourself from the time you write CHAPTER ONE until you die. This hat might not look that great on you, or might not fit just perfect, but you have to wear it. LET ME STATE THAT AGAIN. . . YOU. HAVE. TO. WEAR. IT!!!! (if you want tips on how to be a marketing machine. . .read through my blog posts....)

WAREHOUSE WORKER:

I know you don't work for Amazon and I know that you don't like heavy lifting. I don't even like lifting my butt out of my chair. BUT you have to get the author swag or your print book out to people. You have to do this! (I know that Createspace and others will physically print and ship your book) If you want a career as close to a traditional published book as possible, you are going to have to buy some of your books and host your own book signing. OR do give aways or have one for yourself....

BUSINESS MANAGER:

What, you don't have an agent?????? YOU ARE YOUR AGENT! Even if you get an agent, you have to be the captain of your ship. You know better than anyone and I mean ANYONE what you want from your career.

Self-publishing is NOT an easy job. But if you keep a positive attitude and occasionally laugh you will be just fine:)

Today, I'm going to wear my writing hat! 

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!

Not In Your Face Marketing. . .Content Marketing

There is nothing worse than going into a department store and the sprinkler effect of getting sprayed by the cologne lady! Is there?

What about those authors who constantly market their books on Facebook or Twitter or their blog?

We become a little numb, don't we? I'm an author and I even get so sick of it.

CONTENT MARKETING 

This has been a big buzz word for authors lately. And it's super important we all fully understand what CONTENT MARKETING is and how it will increase your sales and on-line presence.

What is content marketing? Simple. . .it's the content you put out there that offer something to the reader, your readers. Not 'buy my book' posts, but something that truly gives back to the reader and helps you make a connection to them that will keep them coming back.

I do this in several ways. I have a STREET TEAM I give back to each month to let them know how much I appreciate them. I don't release a new book every month, so it's evident I'm not pushing my books on them. We talk about what they are reading, some of their favorite author swag, and just life. It helps them see that I put my pants on one leg at a time just like them.

I use this blog to reach out and give back to writers. All the blog posts might not apply to you, but I try to cover different topics that has helped me over the past few years in this roller coaster business. All the post come from my heart and they are as truthful as I can be. My only intent is to pay it forward without expecting anything back.

I have two profiles on Facebook (besides my STREET TEAM). One for writers and readers is my LIKE page and the second is a more personal page. But I accept all friends on my personal one. I opened the LIKE page recently because the personal page has a 5k person limit. It's been great because I mainly post writerly things on the LIKE page and put personal pictures up of my three teenage sons, two dogs, and other silly stuff my family does. Readers love it! I don't push my books or buy me. Every so often I will remind readers I have a STREET TEAM  and want to give back to them. I will definitely post a new release or any awards my books might get.

Twitter I post inspirational posts with hashtags on gratitude, payitforward, happiness, inspiration...you get the point. I also belong to a tweet team where I promote other authors. Of course I still throw a few of my blog posts in there or promote my books, but it's not the main content of my Twitter.

As you can see, the few things that I do is to connect with readers and writers on a completely different level than just me being a writer. If people like you, they will buy your books. They will invest in you as a reader.

Here are the questions you need to ask to build your CONTENT MARKETING strategy:
1) What is your expertise?
2) How do you use your website?
3) Who is your audience?
4) How will you make money?

How can you use Content Marketing to increase your on-line presence and sales?

Write Smarter, NOT Harder!

If you are anything like me, writing does not stop at writing your book. You tweet, write blogs, status updates on Google + or Facebook, responding to blog comments, guest blog. . .the list goes on and on. But how present are you? I mean really present?

Yes! Sometimes we are just DEAD TIRED!!! (no pun intended because I am a mystery writer!)

Anyways. . .the more time you are on-line, the less time you live in the real world. And the real world is how you became a writer.
At least that is the case for me. Over the past couple of years I have worked endless on my writing and on-line presence. Both are very important for success in this industry and we still need to maintain the presence.
Can we maintain it without living on it?

Over the past couple months I have been finishing my novel, A Charming Crime. It's the first book in a new series, Magical Cures Mysteries. Along with this I decided to do a blog tour and send out ARC's (advanced reading copies) to several review blogs/sites. This all takes time, a lot of time to set up.

I was exhausted by the time I got my writing, edits, and blog posts written, not to mention keeping up with all the on-line stuff. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my on-line groups and I wouldn't be where I am today without them. But it was leaving little time for my family, friends, and getting my blog tour nailed down.

So I came up with a plan. I made a list of items that needed to get completed for the week. This also included everyday life things like pay a bill or go to the grocery, tweet team, streat team. It isn't a list with times or days, but two columns. One for to-do today and a to-do for the week. Daily I set a timer for twenty minutes and do all I need to do on Twitter and Facebook. I could spend HOURS on these two social medias, so when I have to get my work done, I set the timer!
Under pressure or timer, you'd be surprised how much you can get done and NOT stray.

What have I learned? A TON!
I have become more proficient with my tasks during the day. I'm getting more accomplished including writing and leaving time for family and friends! It's also boosted my creativity. Without looking up everything and anything under the sun or clicking on a link from the yahoo mail page (yes! They suck me in!), I'm living my everyday life and that includes my writing career! I'm more fulfilled and satisfied instead of scatterbrained about what and when I need to do something.

I'm happy to say that I'm writing another book, the blog tour is all ready to go, and I get to close my laptop before dinner to be with my family and friends. It's nice to be back in the present!

What about you? Are you a PRESENT writer? If so, what do you do? If not, what can you do to be present?

Great article on successful writing tips!

Whiz With Words!

When you decided to become a writer, did you know how to write? Were you a whiz with the words?

If you are anything like me and most writers, it takes time and practice to get the right words on the page using all the right "rules."

I'm not claiming to be perfect. . .(YES! I know, it's hard to believe it. I'm less than perfect! Humor here!) 

1) Read, read, read! 

A healthy dose of reading really does help you with content writing. Reading is more available now then it was a few years ago (phones, e-readers, computers, books, news papers etc. . .). It's not just to read great stories, but it will help increase your vocabulary as well as give you ideas. I'm always looking for different way to create character tags and dialogue tags. 

I especially love my Kindle where I can highlight a passage and remember why it struck a cord with my writing muse.

2) Write, write, write! 

The old saying, practice makes perfect, really does hold true with writers! Effective writing does not happen overnight. You have to work at it like any other craft or job. Just like any job, you need to write daily. It may only be a few words a day while you are in line at the grocery, but at least you will words on a page and practice your writing techniques.

With every edited novel I receive from my editor, I learn something new. 

3) Thick skin!

We hear this all the time. "WRITERS HAVE TO HAVE THICK SKIN." Really, what does that mean?

It means that you have to learn to take criticism and not get mad. Our writing is like our baby. It's the cutest baby we have ever seen, our pride and joy. We will lay our life on the line for our baby. But sometimes our baby needs braces to fix their teeth, a cast to fix a broken bone. . .you get the point! 

I live by the power of three. If someone says something three times or three different people say the same thing about my story, my ears perk up and that's my clue that something needs to be changed. Sometimes my editor tells me to change it and I believe her:)

4) Read out loud!

There is nothing more powerful than reading your book out loud. You will catch so many things that your trained mind will not catch if you read it in your head. Reading out loud helps you find grammatical errors, punctuation issues, and plot holes. It gives you a good sense of the flow of your story. 

5) Edit! 

That is one word that I should type and you completely understand. Whether it's a blog or your novel, you know that you have to go over and over it. This is the hardest part about self-publishing! I have paid GREAT money for each editor that I've hired. . .and there are still so many mistakes in my novels! Currently I am having every single one of my novels re-edited. AND as you can read. . .I'm not the best editor with this blog either, but I keep going and I get better with each blog.

So. . .are you a whiz with words? What do you do to improve your writing?

I'm giving away a copy of The Tricked Out Toolbox to one LUCKY commenter!! You have to come back and see who won. I will post it in the comments section on Sunday, and you have ONE week to claim your book!

AND. . .I'm so excited to announce that SPLITSVILLE.COM is a finalist in two categories (Mystery AND Humor) in THE NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS!! 

I'm beyond thrilled! The awards ceremony takes place in June at the Book Expo of America, where I will receive a medal!! How cool is that?? Plus SPLITSVILLE.COM will be listed in the library catalogs across the country. 

SO. . .these writing tips really do work to get your work noticed! Keep at it. It's your passion!

Make your novel a page turner!

Readers. . .the almighty reader. That is why we are here, right?!
And it's up to us to keep them turning the pages of your novel and NOT close the cover before they read "the end."

1) Character tags
We take so much time on trying to figure out a dialogue tag that fits the words of our characters, but we should really take the time to to invest in our characters. And I mean all our characters.
Think of it as a memory tag, a way for the reader to remember that character. Of course we can write about the secondary character in passing, but it's so much more memorable if that secondary character has a distinctive tattoo or scar. Something that makes your main character pause and take notice of everything and everyone around them.
Or give them a little conflict too. If your main character is in a store, maybe the store clerk is having an argument on the phone with an ex.
These little tags are easy to incorporate, even you wait until the last round of edits.

2) Character Quirk
Every single one of my novels has a quirky character. I even have that as part of my author tag-line. Quirks give the characters a lovable quality that the reader enjoys. A snark of a crazy grandmother like Grandma Mozer in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, or my quirky Aunt Grace in Carpe Bead 'em.

Readers remember them, even if they are the secondary character's characteristic.

3) Character Thinking
Does your character ever think in his head? It's easy to let the reader see the action of your character, but it's an all together different experience to go deep in their head. They can do one thing, but think another. It helps the reader really get to know the inner workings of your characters.

4) End each chapter with a bang!
I'm not saying throw in a big train wreck at the end of a chapter, but maybe a thought or two that would make the reader stop and go hmmm. . .
For my mystery novels, I love to add a little red-herring to end the chapter on or a clue to solving the crime. It makes the reader continue to read so they can use the clue to help solve the mystery.

Analyze the book you are reading. What keeps you turning the page? Take note and try to incorporate those into how you can keep your reader hooked!

Keep Your Readers One Series At A Time

Do you write series? Some authors say they don't write that way, but let me tell you a little secret. . .READERS LOVE TO INVEST IN SERIES!!

They want to know what happens to the secondary characters, the nosy neighbor down the street.

Once they find a series, they invest in that series. As an author of a series, I know how hard they are to write. Everything has to be exact from the town street names to the secondary character's eye color. Once the first book in the series is written, it's much easier to write the following. But what about the marketing of a series?

Marketing a series is much different than marketing a stand alone novel. Here are a few tips to help you market your series effectively.

1) STREET TEAM. If you don't have a street team, you should. This is a group of readers who have invested in your novels. They love to talk about your series and the characters in your series not only to your other readers, but other people who might like your series. Plus it's a great way to give back to your readers. Show your appreciation and how much you love them.

2) Keep writing. It might take you three or six months to complete a novel, then you have to get it edited. It could take you longer than six months. For me, it takes me about four months from beginning to end to get the book up for sale. Four to six months to a reader can sometimes seem like a lifetime.

My readers start emailing me. Asking me when the next book is coming out. So I keep writing. SHORT STORIES! Yes! Short stories have become a great marketing tool for me to use. They are short and sweet little stories about different characters in my novels to tied over my readers.

(Thanks to Nerd Quirk for the great comics!!)

Your short story can be about any of your characters. Let your reader get an up-close and personal glimpse into your characters life.

I wrote a short story, Bead of Doubt, to introduce the characters of my new series, The Divorced Divas Mystery Series. And I wrote a prequel, A Superstitious Christmas, to the third novel in my Grandberry Falls series, Never Tell Your Dreams.  Color Me Love is an Olivia Davis Mini-Mystery to hold my readers over until the second Olivia Davis Paranormal Mystery Series is out later this summer. They are a great way to reconnect with my readers between novel releases.

3) Publish the next book in the series! Get the next book out! There is nothing that gets your readers on board than getting the next book out.

4) Newsletter. Do you have a newsletter? You should! I love to send my readers upcoming events, novels, or tid-bits about their favorite characters. I use MYNEWSLETTERBUILDER.COM to reach my readers. You can think outside the box when doing a newsletter. Let one of your characters take your newsletter over. I have an upcoming newsletter where one of my silly psychics from my new novel, A Charming Crime, is taking over! Talk about fun!!

What do you do to tied your readers over until your next novel comes out?

LIGHTS, CAMERA. . . BLOG EXPOSURE

We blog because we want people to invest in us. We want the loyal reader to come back time and time again. We all have different reasons to blog. Do you want readers, other authors, or both? Either way, without exposure you won't have either.

Last week we talked about how to gain more subscribers, but how are you going to get those subscribers if you don't have the exposure?

Are you ready to generate blog interest?

1) FACEBOOK and TWITTER
Are you rolling your eyes at me?? DON'T! These two social medias are wonderful ways to drive traffic to your blog. Do you belong to groups on Facebook that allow you to promote your blog? I'm on at least ten of these, and every time a new blog is posted, I get on those Facebook groups and add a brief description of the blog along with the URL. Not only is it easy to click on, but it gives a little detail to what the blog is about. You have to be sure to give back as well. Make sure you check out other authors in those groups and visit their blogs too.

Twitter is great to reach that niche using hashtags. These hashtags link you to the target market you want to reach. You can also continue to drive traffic to your blog by using a reoccurring service like SOCIALOMPH.COM to schedule updates of your tweets. Every time I write a new blog, I make a tweet that will reoccur daily for two weeks.


2) NETWORK
There are several Facebook or on-line groups that have tweet teams, or blog teams that will help spread the word about your blog. Remember that you should always give back even when some of those members don't always do it. It's all about networking!

OR you can exchange blog tweets with a group of authors that you might be close to. Kindle Boards have a great thread called HAVE YOU POSTED TO YOUR BLOG LATELY. That is a wonderful place to put your post and find other great blogs to follow.

I'm on two tweet teams and I also exchange tweets about blogs/books with other authors. I also pick out a couple tweets I love from others or blogs that I came across and schedule those through my SOCIALOOMPH account to reoccur. Most of the time I never let the author know I'm tweeting or Facebook or putting a link in my blog.  Always give back and don't expect anything in return. It's good KARMA!

3) HEADLINES THAT POP
Try to come up with something catchy for the title of your blog. It's almost as important as the title of your novel. I have to admit that I'm not the best at coming up with names, but I never give up.

4) LABELS/ SEO
Be sure to add labels to tag your posts. You simply list main words that your blog is about in the label area. This helps get those labels out in the blog sphere and when someone Googles a certain topic, your blog will pop up somewhere in that list. Why are SEO so important? Great blog to check out because I'm really NOT good a explaining it.

The labels I generally use: social media, marketing and promoting, tonya kappes, writer tip, writer blog, inspiration, networking etc....


5) LINK TO OTHER POSTS
If you talk about another author or blog or give information written by someone else, you should always link back. Or if you talk about a blog you previous wrote, make sure you link back to that post.
Have you noticed all the red words in my posts? Those are link backs to different things. It could be a previous post, another blog by someone else, links to book, etc....
This makes it easy for the reader to click and be exactly where they need to be instead of going through the hassle of trying to figure out what you were trying to say. One click and they are done. This makes your blog reader friendly.

How do you get blog exposure? There are so many ways to discover new readers!

Let Your Subscriber Count Soar

I have over 200 subscribers to my site and I know I can do more. This blog has been up for six month and 200 isn't bad. Now the hits the blog gets a day average between 500-700 a day. The higher of the number is on days a new post goes live, which is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The 500-600 range is on Tuesday and Thursday.

I wish all of those people did subscribe to the blog, but at least it's reaching a lot of writers/readers which makes me grateful beyond belief. But don't we just love seeing that number of subscribers go up? It's something about numbers that writers love. And blog statistics are no different.

Unfortunately, getting people to your blog is the easy part. The hard part is where they commit to receiving all of your updates by subscribing. You have to make sure that once you have the people visit your blog, that you have the stuff that keeps them there.

Here are the steps that got me there:

1) Design

You've heard that the first impression is the most important, it is no different with blogging. Yes, I have light colors, whirly twirlies, a bird or two, but it's not overpowering with bright colors and jumbled up.

Your blog should be easy to navigate, clear and concise.

2) Unique

There were over 164 million blogs, according to invesp.com.

As you can see, readers are eating the blog world up. They are using more mobile devices and tablets more than ever.

This is great if your blog is UNIQUE enough to stand out. You have something different to offer! It's up to you to figure that out and stick with it. Your blog numbers will grow if you stick to what makes you unique in the blog world.

3) User Friendly


Your blog has to have the right buttons. Is your Facebook, Twitter, SUBSCRIBE button easy to see and easy to use?

There are so many cute buttons out there, but does it get the job done? Is it clear that you take subscribers?

4) Content


This is MOST important....


All the points above make it easy for the reader to join and to enjoy your blog, but the ultimate aspect that will cause them to join is what you are blogging about.

Your content has to be geared toward your reader, NOT YOU! It's great that you want to showcase your novels. I do that, but not in a BUY MY BOOK way (you can here if you want....just joking...um...not really!)

If you tell a story that you feel is necessary, your story should inspire or help your reader in some way.  That is what this blog was built on. This blog content is about helping other authors to stay positive on their career path of writing no matter what stage of the game you are in, as well as how to effectively market your novels.

If you have too many stories that don't give back or you post your scenes from your novel (which I don't think you should EVER do), you are going to loose your audience. They come to a blog to get something from it. Know your audience, give them what they want.

Strategies:


* Create author swag, like business cards, that have your blog URL that you can hand out at conferences. Conferences are always asking for authors to send swag in for their conference bags. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS!!

* Offer to guest post on other sites. In order to ask the site owner if you can do this, you should visit the site regularly and leave comments. Let the blog owner see that you do come there and participate in their blog.

* Visit blogs that are similar to yours. Comment, comment, comment and use your blog URL when you fill out the form while leaving a comment. The other commenters will see your value in your comment and click on your name that will take them directly to your blog.

* Host bloggers that have similar blogs to yours. You will be attracting their readers. More time than not, once you have a new reader on your site, the reader will click around and read some of your post. Hopefully you have done your job and hooked them.

Ultimately it's up to you to try strategies to get that subscriber count up. Some will work, some will not. Try, try again, don't give up, and watch your count grow.

I'm going to give away a copy of THE TRICKED OUT TOOLBOX~PROMOTION AND MARKETING TOOLS EVERY WRITER NEEDS to one lucky commenter. I want everyone to succeed in their efforts to market their career.

What tips and tricks do you use to help drive traffic to your blog?