Writing in the holidays

Anyone that loves writing must set aside a time to write, and a time for family. One may tend to get caught up in their stories and before long, hours has past. The holidays should be a time to spend with family but that doesn’t mean you have to put your passion on hold. You can enjoy writing, family, holidays and everything else in between if you set a time limit on writing this season. Happy Holidays!

bottledworder

There’s this plot I’ve been mulling over for almost half the year. Thank God the holidays are round the corner. I’ll put it down in writing.

There’s this draft that needs a complete re-do.
When?
The holidays, of course.

There’s a whole bunch of scraps of ideas scattered all over my drafts section. Have to sort through them. Will get to them when I can stay home-bound all day long with a cup of hot cocoa.
In the holidays.

With the idea of the holidays comes the idea of infinite time, of infinite leisure, of an infinite ability to address those backlogs that are outside our daily sphere of activities on regular days. We hope we can get to them all at once when infinite time is just round the corner along with friends, festivities and food.

Really?

Bad idea.

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Before Your Book Launch

Hello new authors! There are things you need to do before your book goes to print. I have made a few suggestions to get you on your way to becoming a successful author.

– Have a professional photographer take a portrait of you to use for events.
– Print marketing handouts such as business cards / book marks. Vistaprint is usually reasonably priced.
– Get to know and introduce yourself to potential readers. Readers are everywhere. Internet makes it easy to access people from around the world such as on Twitter, FB, Pinterest, Scoopit
– Join several book communities such as: Goodreads, BookTalk
– Visit forums in your genre and start a new topic.
– Start and write regularly blog posts. Write at least twice a week. Set up a free blog at WordPress.com
– Create your own author website. Go to Wix.com. Purchase a domane name.
– Send your blog articles to newspapers / magazines such as E-Zines, Squidoo. Set up profiles with them.
– Write guest blogs for other bloggers to get your name out. Exchange interviews on your blogs.
– Write your “elevator pitch” or things you would say to a stranger about your book.
– Start a contact list with email addresses of potential readers
– Create an email signature & use it for every email you send out
– Invite several friends to like your fanpage on Facebook. Spread the word.

– Submit photos of your book cover image to Pinterest, Flickr…
– Write a blog post about the upcoming launch​
– Spruce up your website and blog for your book launch
– Ask your friends to “Like & “Listmania” your book on Amazon
– Comment on other blogs and write lots of guest blogs
– Donate your book to local libraries and offer to speak
– Gather writing friends for cross-promotions and blog tours
– Add press clippings and articles, already published, to your website
– Get a new business card with an image of your book and sales link​
– Place the books’ cover image & description everywhere you can find. Author websites allow this for free.
– Announce your book launch or book signing on Google+ for FREE
– -Start your own newspaper online for free. Go to paper.li or enter: http://paper.li/​