No, I am not talking about synchronized swimming. Rather, I am talking about the attempt to synchronize my on-line goings-on. You see, I can be reached at a number of places on-line, including…

• Goodreads
• Scribd
• Twitter
• Website
• Facebook
• Smashwords
• Amazon
• Delicious

That is a lot of places on which to keep tally. I'm certain I've forgotten a couple, too.

How do I keep up with all these profiles?

Luckily, applications like Google's Feedburner allows me to automatically tweet when I post a blog topic or add links to my Delicious account. It also provides you, dear Reader, multiple options to subscribe. You can choose the RSS reader of your choice, or you can receive an e-mail digest of this blog, Worderella Writes.

Facebook allows me to import my blog posts as notes, so those of you keeping up with me there have the opportunity to stay involved. Facebook also automatically forwards all of my tweets from Twitter to be a Facebook status update.

I am trying a new WordPress plugin that should allow Facebook comments on my notes to be ported back to the blog and vice versa, so everyone can be a part of the conversation.

Goodreads allows me to import my blog posts as well.

I embed my Scribd documents on my website. When I read something on Scribd, I can "readcast it," which is like broadcasting, to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Likewise, when I upload a new document, I can broadcast it to Twitter and Facebook.

I keep up with the  Twitter and Facebook statuses of friends through a Firefox plugin called Yoono.

Moral of the story? Start poking around your on-line profiles. See which ones will link automatically to the other so you don't lose your hair trying to keep up with all of the trends. It makes life so much easier.

What are your methods of dealing with on-line profile management and marketing? I'm always looking for new tricks.

All the best,

Belinda

---
Belinda Kroll is an independently published author under multiple names, focusing on historical romance. Visit her at http://worderella.com to read free samples of her writing, including essays, short fiction, and poetry. Join the @worderella conversation on Twitter! She won't bite. Much.

I've gotta say, it's been pretty tough tracking you down. I've done it to myself, I know, writing such a particular genre (paranormal historical romance). But the thing is, this is the genre that is spilling onto the page, so this is the genre it seems I must write.

So first, I'd like to list what I know about you. I know you are probably a young-to-middle-aged-or-older woman. I suspect you are probably interested in historical fiction, romance, and the paranormal. Some combination of all three, if preferable. I know you are interested in relationships, particularly father/adult-daughter relationships and romantic relationships. I know you probably like...

• Amanda Quick's Arcane Series
• Susan Carroll's The Bride Finder
• Erica Ridley's Too Wicked To Kiss
• Susan Carroll's The Dark Queen trilogy
• Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julie Grey mysteries
• Mary Jo Putney's Stolen Magic, from the Guardian Council series

What I don't know is where you're hiding yourself. I assume you are busy reading, living life, enjoying food, drink, and the company of excellent companions. I applaud these activities and encourage you to indulge them more often.

Our lives are far too hectic these days; we don't know when to take a break or how to know when we should take a break. Even when we recognize when to take a break from the everyday doldrums, we don't know how to.

Those of us who are lucky know to lose ourselves in a good book. The sort of good book I'm in the middle of writing, just for you.

I'm trying everything I can think of to reach you. I want you to know that I care about you, I'm fighting to make a quality, personalized product just for you. And I think I'm making headway, thanks to social media.

You see, I've been a part of social media for years. I had a Facebook page under a different name, and learned the ropes of the system. I deleted that page because, well, it was getting spammed by every robot and its mother. But I started a Facebook page under the name Belinda Kroll because I wanted to get to know my potential readers. I want to know what you find interesting, funny, weird, touching, etc.

I want to get to know you. And I'd like you, in the process, to get to know me.

But in the meantime, I seem to be getting a lot of fellow writers friending me on Facebook. Which is totally fine, and I'm loving the idea of garnering a small community of writer friends. But the point of my attempt at social media was to get to know you, and not necessarily my friendly competition.

Today, however, I feel as though I've stumbled onto a landmine. You see, I've been part of Twitter for over a year, but just recently set up a Twitter account dedicated to my writing. This Twitter account is where I keep up with the big writing and publishing news. I follow my blog friends, I follow agents and publishers, and I follow you, if I'm able to find you.

Which leads me to my landmine: the Twitter Search functionality. It's taken me a while to discover how to utilize social media successfully. But I realized today that I can search for the terms that pertain to my writing, and therefore pertain to your interests.

I use this cool Firefox browser plug-in called Yoono, which allows me to log into multiple social media accounts. At any given time, I get real-time updates from Twitter and Facebook. This allows me to continue writing and researching, while taking pulse of the writing and publishing community.

Yoono is also cool because it saves my searches for me. Each search for Twitter becomes a sort of specialized list which I can access at any time. I've used the following terms to get closer to you, to discover if these terms pertain to you and your interests the way I hope they do...

• "susan carroll"
• #followreader
• "amanda quick"
• #dearpublisher
• historical fiction
• "deanna raybourn"
• historical romance
• paranormal historical romance

I think I'm on the right track. The tweets I receive when I click on these search topics are from you. The content is that you're reading these books and you're suggesting them to friends and fellow readers.

Don't take this the wrong way. I don't want to spam you by advertising my work. Instead, I want to hear what you have to say about these amazing writers. After all, I'm a fan of Amanda Quick, Deanna Raybourn, Susan Carroll, et al,  just like you. I hope to learn from their books and from your comments about their books.

But mainly, I just want to get to know you. So if you could, send me a line sometime.

All the best,

Belinda Kroll
(@worderella)

---
Belinda Kroll is an independently published author under multiple names, focusing on historical romance. Visit her at http://worderella.com to read free samples of her writing, including essays, short fiction, and poetry.

I've made a book trailer for Catching the Rose, and let me tell you, it's exhausting. But oh so fun, if you know what you're doing. I downloaded CamStudio to screen capture what I was doing, but for some reason, it didn't take properly.

Which really annoys me, because I was looking forward to watching a time lapse of the three hours it took me to do the actual work, after hours of looking for the perfect images/music.

Anyway, I'm going to try to do it again. I'm going to replicate the process, and capture my actions on screen so you can see what goes into a book trailer. Or, at least a book trailer of my making.

In the meantime, enjoy my trailer, and let me know what you think about it. There are some sixty of you following this blog, and I'm getting a bit lonely!

I've spent most of this week adjusting to all the responsibilities of my new job, as well as calming down a bit with this whole self-publishing thing. I'm the sort of person who sets her mind on something and will work until she collapses to achieve her goal.

But that isn't healthy, smart, or sustainable if you're seriously planning on going into a new business venture, which is what I consider this self-publishing journey. I am determined to become a micro-business owner, which I contend is different from a small business owner.

#amwriting

And, I've been writing. After I complained about how I hadn't written in two weeks, I am now on a four day streak of writing at least 750 words a day. Go me! It turns out that once I get past 600 words, I get into the flow of things and my characters stop being characters and start being people.

Online marketing as an author

I felt so good about finishing chapter twelve of Haunting Miss Trentwood tonight that I thought I'd dabble in some marketing.I've uploaded the first section of my book, Catching the Rose, on Scribd. I've also uploaded an essay I wrote about how English accents are undeniably hot to American women, and my theory why. All tongue-in-cheek, of course.

I'm maintaining a spreadsheet so I know exactly what I've spent, where I've marketed, what I've uploaded, etc. I'm sharing this spreadsheet because I believe in iteration. I'm certain there are many of you who are better marketers than me. You've been at it longer, or it's closer to your day job responsibilities, or you're just not as shy as I am from the get-go.

Paying it forward

I'm also collecting useful links with my Delicious bookmarks. It's a small list right now. With your help, we could make an awesome collection of links for authors trying to self-publish, market, etc. Whenever you see something I should link, send me a tweet or leave a comment.

And now, it's time for Miss Worderella to go to sleep.

Vlog Campaign

I'm also starting a mini-vlog campaign series a la The Vlog Brothers, Meggin Cabot, and Zoe Winters. It's something I've wanted to do for years, but with grad school taking up so much time, I didn't have the resources. Now I have the resources, and I feel like a total copycat because Zoe released her videos a week ago. She made the great point that we'll have different topics and styles, so I shouldn't feel like a copycat, but I do anyway.

This weekend I'm going to make my first one-minute video, so look forward to that. It should be pretty fun. I'm having one of my friends help me out with the script and stuff because when I try to be funny, I'm so very not funny, and when I say whatever pops into my head, I'm hilarious, apparently.

An experiment

I tried out a free press release website to announce the re-branding/second edition of my first book, Catching the Rose. If you'd like to win a free copy, comment on this entry about who you are and why you're following my blog in particular.

I will pick two winners to receive a coupon code to receive Catching the Rose for free. Everyone else who comments will receive a coupon code to receive the book for a dollar, if you so choose. So make sure you submit a valid email address!

So this weekend will be dedicated to working on the video, as well as writing the next couple of chapters to make up for the lack of writing this week. I'm pretty excited. Things are definitely ramping up.

Smashwords, it seemed, was my answer. Smashwords is an

ebook publishing and distribution platform for ebook authors, publishers and readers. We offer multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device.

The really cool thing about this is I can upload a Word document and they do all the formatting for me. My book is now, as far as I can tell, available to read in the following formats:

• HTML
• Javascript
• Kindle
• EPub
• PDF
• RTF
• Sony Reader
• Palm readers
• Plain text

How crazy is that?? I'm pretty excited, I'd like to see what sort of sales I get this way. But again, just because it's out there doesn't mean it will sell. I should market the new format, right? Well, I have been meaning to update the branding of the book, and since this version is owned completely by me I felt funny using the cover provided by Aventine Press, the subsidy that originally printed my work.

Turns out stock art is an amazing thing, if you find exactly what you want. I searched through istockphoto.com, gettyimages.com, and fotolia.com, and decided that Fotolia was giving me the results I wanted. The image below is the one I chose for Catching the Rose.

There is a masquerade ball during the book, so the masks are absolutely perfect. I wanted to step away from the ultra-pink of the original book, so the blue background really pulled me in. Veronica, the main character, has blond hair, and Brad, the interest, has brown hair. I looked for an entire week at stock photography and my jaw dropped when I found photos by Andrey Kiselev. Just perfect!

But of course, an image isn't enough to make a book cover. I played around during my break at work today with Pixlr, a great online alternative to Photoshop just to see what I could do with the image (see below). After an hour, I had something I was in love with, and I couldn't wait to get home so I could buy the image and make the cover for real in Photoshop.

You see, I'd like to do a reprint of Catching the Rose, give it an updated look. So I need a decent-sized file that will print well, as well as make a cover design that will scale to a thumbnail nicely. Smashwords requires that you upload an image that is at least 600 pixels in height. I'm not sure why, perhaps to fit all the different eReader formats. So the final version is below.

What do you think? I'd love to get some feedback. To thank you ahead of time, I'd like to give you a discount if you're interested in supporting me in my first self-publishing venture. To receive a discount on Catching the Rose (Smashwords edition), type SWS25 into the promotional field at checkout.

Book cover layout, however, continues to elude me, much to my frustration. The problem is that I want an industry-standard-style book, something along the lines of Silent in the Sanctuary, or The Slightest Provocation, or The Deception of the Emerald Ring. Those covers have stock imagery that I can't afford. I suppose I could commission an artist to draw my character in a similar style, but how many artists these days like to be so... classical?

My process

I've been collecting my favorite covers as I see them on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com for the last, oh, I don't know, three years. I have them separated by category: Fiction, Romance, and Teen, since those are my three main inspirational sources. I know the trends like the back of my hand, but the problem is my book, Haunting Miss Trentwood, doesn't really fit in a "trend," per se. How many of you know about a historical romance with paranormal inklings? I can think of one, Amanda Quick's Arcane Society series. The one I read was Second Sight. But I've looked at those covers, and I don't like them because they don't get the mood I'm going for.

Anyway, I went to JoAnn Fabrics to buy a fat quarter and some scrapbook paper to, in essence, build my cover from scratch.

I had sketched out the general idea that I wanted, and since I'm crafty with the scissors, I went at it for three hours, running upstairs and down to the copy machine and back to my desk, grabbing my mothers calligraphy pens when I realized I didn't have brown, and then taking photos of the final result.

Sadness abounds. I didn't measure properly and my photos came out being the improper size for a trade paperback, which is 5.5" by 8.5".

So I went digital. I'd had fun working with real materials, but with that failed, I decided to replicate it digitally.

But then that felt a bit sterile, so I went to istockexchange.com and grabbed some comp photos that I liked and began to play around with layouts.

An improvement, I think, but still not what I want. Why is it so difficult to make a book cover for a book titled Haunting Miss Trentwood? I think because the book touches multiple genres lightly at once. It's historical fiction because it's the late Victorian era, specifically, the year of Victoria's Golden Jubilee. It's a romance, albeit sweet. It's a mystery because blackmail is involved. It's a paranormal because a ghost is involved. With all these injected into one story, I've opted to keep the plot itself rather simple, allowing the characters to grow and mature, allowing the reader to enjoy the journey rather than roll their eyes at me for trying to cover too much in one story.

You're not done writing, why care about the cover?

I'd like to have a cover so I can begin my marketing campaign. Marketing will be the toughest part of this self-publishing journey for me because I'm not a very good schmoozer. I love Twitter and will be utilizing that hardcore. I dislike Facebook, but it's the lesser of two evils (not having online presence).

Additionally, having a visual of the book inspires me to keep going. I have every intention of completing this book and making it successful, i.e. break even at least. It's so frustrating because I am a passable artist in my own right... but I'm also a perfectionist, and my artistic skill simply isn't at the level I prefer for my novel.

Help me, oh mighty Internetz, you're my only hope

If you're self-publishing, know someone who is or has, etc, how did you/they find a book cover designer? How did you/they find a reputable artist? What am I doing wrong? Why has my usually stellar Google-fu failed me?

"Hush, hush. Keep it down now, voices carry!"
Voices Carry sung by Aimee Mann

This is an interesting time for those of us trying to market our work. We have the internet, and all the "free" networking that comes with it. But I would like to extend a word of caution to my fellow authors. As fun as social networks can be, they are a dangerous outlet of frustration and hurt feelings if not taken seriously.

Writer Beware wrote a similar article yesterday about authors who fail to think before hitting the submit button, which is setting a precedence. A precedence that makes us authors look like we're a bit insane, overly sensitive, and a bit whiny, if you ask me.

So what is there to do about this phenomenon? There are a couple of things we can do to make sure we don't fall into the same trap of having our friends spam a blog that gave us a negative review, or using Twitter as our campaign to cold-call a journalist.

If you're upset, write out your feelings, sure. You're an author. It's what you do.

But don't post your upset email, blog comment, tweet, etc, until the next day. This will give you time to calm down to make sure you actually want to put yourself out there as potentially crazy.

Have someone else read the review.

Make sure you're not flying off the handle by having an objective friend read the review and tell you what they think of it. Maybe it isn't as bad as you thought. Maybe it's worse than you thought. But you have to understand that this is the price you pay for having your work published. Do you know how many people would kill just to have their name on the spine of a book? You're lucky someone read you and cared enough to review it!

Do not, under any circumstances, post the phone number and/or address of the reviewer so your loyal friends/family/fans can harass them.

Bad author. Bad.

Realize that reviews are subjective.

It's all about personal taste, and as an author you knew, hopefully, when writing your book that not everyone would like it. You're allowed to be upset about it, but try to be graceful, too.

Treat it as a learning experience.

If you're that concerned about the review, send the reviewer a letter asking what would have improved the work for them. If they give valid suggestions, then great. If not, then leave them behind.

As someone who has been hurt by an errant tweet, I can tell you that it is very difficult to do these things when you're upset. It's difficult to resist the urge to rush to the defense. It hurts when people submit hurtful comments online without thinking. It hurts more when they're obviously submitting hurtful things on purpose. My advice? The best thing to do is to walk away. Do not stoop to "their level," whatever that level may be, as it makes you look petty.

How many of you have had a bad review, and what did you do? Have you ever seen an online author melt-down?

In other news, my blogging friend Erica Ridley has made a sale of her book, Touched!

Today we're talking with Zoe Winters, another of my author friends, who has answered questions about Kept, now available as an ebook and on the Kindle. According to Zoe, Kept is about...

Greta is a werecat whose tribe plans to sacrifice her during the next full moon. Her only hope for survival is Dayne, a sorcerer who once massacred most of the tribe. What's that thing they say about the enemy of your enemy?

What are the main points about you and/or the book that should be emphasized to the audience?

This is  paranormal romance novella, available as a free ebook and available on the Kindle reader.

Who do you think will buy your book (i.e., your market)?

My market is romance readers, as well as Buffy fans.  People who like Buffy would probably like my writing style and subject matter, though it is NOT a Buffy knock-off.  It's just geared toward that type of reader base.  Interestingly, I've picked up a few male readers.  Not sure if they know they're reading romance or not, but it's interesting nonetheless.

If you could construct an interview for yourself, what questions would you want to be asked?

As for what questions I'd want to be asked, I don't really have any specific preferences there.  Though I do find it very interesting how romance as a genre is ghettoized, when romance and love and sex are a part of the human condition and as worthy as any other subject matter to be written about.

Is there any competition for your book? How are the other books alike? How are they dissimilar?

Hellboy, in my opinion, was a paranormal romance movie, it just wasn't marketed that way.  But everything ultimately revolved around Hellboy getting together with the fire chick.  And yet it was geared to a largely male audience.  The Hulk movie was another romance.  Almost everything revolves around Bruce's love for Betty and hers for him.  Yet, another movie that was marketed more to men than women (lots of sarcasm, lots of explosions), but it's STILL romance.

Yet, when we get to books, a strong romantic plot gets ghettoized as "not a real book."  If this is true, it is only because of the ill-advised behavior of romance publishers marketing departments with clinch covers, shallow plots, and cheesy expository titles, because it surely isn't the subject matter.

What was your inspiration for the book? Tell us anything about you as a working writer that you think might be interesting or unusual.

Originally I wrote the novella to submit to a special Samhain novella anthology.  But I didn't make the deadline for their open submissions.  I could have made it but the story wouldn't have been as good so I chose not to enter it.  Later I submitted it elsewhere, but in the end decided to self publish it as a free ebook, as an introduction to a much larger universe I've created.

For more information about Zoe and Kept, visit http://zoewinters.wordpress.com/.

Are you interested in being a featured author on Worderella Writes? E-mail answers to the following questions and I'll post them as soon as possible.

• What are the main points about you and/or the book that should be emphasized to the audience?
• Who do you think will buy your book (i.e., your market)?
• If you could construct an interview for yourself, what questions would you want to be asked?
• Is there any competition for your book? How are the other books alike? How are they dissimilar?
• What was your inspiration for the book?
• Tell us anything about you as a working writer that you think might be interesting or unusual.
• What do you hope readers will learn/discover from reading your book?
• Is there anything else you'd like to add?

As authors, we should aim for the early adopters. But how do we do that?

Well, you can always go to their blogs, websites, etc, and build up a relationship with them. This is the nicest way to go about it, and takes the most time. You can visit their blogs and ask them, without knowing them, to review your work... and I wish you good luck with that one.

It seems to me that free things seem to work, most of the time. But what can authors give for free?

We can give away what we do best: our work. MJ Rose is a huge proponent of giving away our work to gain new readers. And she would know, having left advertising to write full time. This is one of those things were you really need to worry about copyright infringement, though. If you're published by someone else, you need to read your contract carefully and make sure you can give away a portion of the work.

So why give things away for free? Because people love free things! It spreads a sense of goodwill. It gives your reader a taste test so they can get a feel for your style. And, if they really like your work, they'll buy your book, whether you give it away for free or not.

MJ Rose definitely got me with The Reincarnationist. I began the book by reading the free download she offered a month ago. But honestly, I hate reading on a computer, even while I loved reading her book. So... I bought the book. I knew I was loving it, so why not go for the investment?

You can use this to your advantage, as well...

• Have a contest on your blog where your top commenters can read an advance copy of your work.Your blog commenters/readers are your early adopters, and if they have blogs of their own, they will be the first to spread the good news of your newest work.
• Or perhaps have your top commenters act as your beta readers. I did this with my first two chapters for an assignment in my graduate program. Not only did I get wonderful feedback, but it seemed like everyone involved really enjoyed it.
• Offer the first couple of chapters of your book as a free download on your website once it's released. In this day and age, everyone wants a taste test, and this is your opportunity to give it to them.
• Offer a discount to your blog commenters. Reward your friends for sticking with you through the hard times!

What other things can you think of to give away for free that you think would really snag those hard-to-reach readers?

Content for your Author Website

There are five main sections every author website should probably have, if you include the (always optional) blog:

1. About the author
2. Blog
3. Writing
4. Press kit
5. Contact the author

Your author biography should include the generics such as the school you went to, some of your interests that make you interesting as a writer (I do t'ai chi and yoga before/after writing sessions, for example), and a short paragraph about your current work. This is a good place to announce you're seeking representation, as well.

Each book you've written should have a press release that summarizes the book and gives reasons why someone should buy it. Everything in the press kit should have a PDF/downloadable version so reporters can print a copy for later use.

In your writing section, each book should have a cover picture and the back cover blurb. An excerpt is always nice, but check your contract first to make sure you're allowed to do that. Additional content such as your favorite sentence, the backstory behind writing the book, a list of research references, etc., are all great to include on your website.

Make sure you have a way for your readers to contact you. If an agent stumbles across your website/blog and decides they like what they see, you'll never know about it without providing a contact form, at the very least.

Designing your Author Website

Keep in mind that other people have to look at your website, so while your favorite colors may be pink and green, do not, I repeat, do not, put pink text on a green background, or vice versa.

All text should be a dark color on a suitably white-ish background. It is what we're used to reading, and anything else causes headaches. The point of your website is to maintain interest, and you can't maintain interest if you're giving your audience headaches.

Keep your genre in mind when picking your color scheme/design. If you're romance, you might want to stick with the warmer colors such as tan, pink, red, purple, etc. If you're science fiction, the cool colors such as blue, white, green, and black evoke technology. These rules can be broken, but let the professional break the rules for you. You don't know the rules, most likely, so you won't know the correct ones to break.

Use images to spice up the design, but again, make sure your images correlate to your genre/theme. It's beyond confusing when a science fiction author has puppies all over her website. Unless it turns out her science fiction books are about an alien race of puppies sent to take over the earth, a là Kal-el from Krypton.

Keep your content fresh either by having a blog, or by updating your website with mini-articles, poems, short stories, your art projects, etc. If you decide to have a blog, try to have a unique theme. I don't need more competition when it comes to writing blogs. (I'm joking, I'm joking. Not really, though.)

If possible, have an XML sitemap so search engines know how to find and index your content. You may need to get a professional's help with that one, but Google provides a free service.

And since I know you must be a little curious, I've finally updated my website, complete with press kit, updated author bio, contact form, and additions to the writing section which now includes poetry, some of my old short stories, and my guest article for Graham Carter. Yes, I did design and code the entire thing by hand. Feel free to critique me; I'm always looking for ways to improve.

If you'd like a website of your own but don't know how to begin, send me a line. For more information about navigation, specifically, read the AuthorMBA's blog post on the subject.

1. YouTube. Have any of you seen Meg Cabot's viral marketing videos? You have to see them, they are hilarious. Obviously this method doesn't work for everyone, especially if you're camera shy. But if you have a penchant for acting and/or chatting, people always love a friendly face and a two minute video that makes them laugh. There are also book trailers, but in all honesty, I still haven't seen one that inspired me to pick up the book.
2. Author website. And while we're talking about Meg Cabot, check out her stellar website. This was obviously professionally designed. Even if you can't afford big bucks, try to find a reputable web designer, please. For some authors, a blog is sufficient for their online presence. It's up to you to decide what's best.
3. Virtual Book Tour. Free and easy for everyone involved, you visit a series of reader/writer/niche blogs and talk about your book, or the issue the book tackles, etc. For instance, when my WIP is ready for full-blown marketing, I mean to find websites dealing with adult grief because that is a major thematic issue my MC struggles with.
4. Polish your "About the Author" blurb for your book, any blogs you guest post for, your website, and your own personal blog. Then if people talk about you they have solid facts to reference from your press kit.
5. Use typical marketing materials differently. Bookmarks can be more than bookmarks, you know. Leave a copy when you mail your bills, leave it with your tip at a restaurant, or go to your local library/bookstore and find books similar to yours and leave an unexpected freebie for the reader.
6. Put your website URL in your e-mail signature.
7. Make sure to comment on the blogs you read because you're introducing yourself to the writing community. Making consistent, frequent, and insightful comments are even better, because now you're impressing the writers who impressed you, and (maybe) they will be more likely to take a chance and write a blurb for you once you're in the publishing phase.
8. Everyone likes free stuff! Have contests where you give away books (yours or someone else's). Provide short stories that relate to your books or are a completely different genre.
9. Talk to your local libraries and independent bookstores months in advance of your release date. These places love local authors, especially if they have a marketing plan all ready to go. Make sure there's something in it for them, and they'll give you the opportunity of a book reading/signing. You self-pubbed authors, Barnes&Noble and Borders are hard to get into. Just a warning. Their policy is to only stock books that sell highly on their website, and they expect to be compensated for their time. Stick with the local clubs, libraries, etc. If there are reading groups in the area, even better.
10. Join social networking sites like Facebook  (don't forget to friend me!) and Shelfari. Shelfari is excellent for reader/writers because we're networking through one of our biggest passions, books.
11. I live on an urban university campus where there are fliers everywhere for clubs, events, etc. Why not make a flier for your book with tear-offs that have your website address on them? Leave them on your library bulletin boards, etc. If you're allowed to do the same at work, leave a copy there, though, if you didn't know that everyone, at one point in their life, has started a book, you'll soon hear about it as your co-workers realize what you've accomplished.
12. If someone is trying to sell you something, tell them you will listen to their pitch if they'll listen to yours. (This is a great way to lose telemarketers, and so much fun!)
13. Have special business cards for your writing career made up with your book cover on one side and your contact info on the other. Think of it as a special-sized bookmark and apply #5.
14. I haven't tried this website, but Author Marketing Expert  provides a free marketing newsletter and offers services to those who just don't know where to begin (even after reading this supremely helpful list, though I say it myself, har-har).
15. Ask someone (someone objective) to write a book review.

Do you have favorite blogs that you read that I haven't showcased?

Is there a genre you write that I haven't discussed?

I'm looking for guest bloggers to spice up Worderella Writes. At the end of your post, feel free to advertise your own website/blog, especially if it has to do with the craft of writing, or the progress of your own work.

Contact me at my website or comment to this post with your ideas and I'll respond to let you know the details.

Things to keep in mind: I try to keep my posts around 600 words. There needs to be a general writing, reading, research, history, or romance theme. I don't post anything vulgar so don't bother if that's what you're planning to do.

The biggest thing to keep in mind when looking for an agent, and once you get that agent, is that your agent is NOT your friend. You have a business relationship and it is their duty to do their best to sell your book.

Also remember that the agent is your voice to big name publishers. If you have a bad agent, this might damage your ability to break into the market. So don't be afraid to terminate the contract if you and your agent can't conduct business in a professional manner.

For more information on disreputable agents, add Writer Beware! to your RSS feeds, as well as look up your potential agents in their archives.

If you want an inside look to the life of an agent, agent blogs are the way to go. See BookEnds, Nathan Bransford, Jennifer Jackson from the Donald Maass Agency, Rachel Vater from Folio Literary Management, Nephele Tempest from the Knight Agency, and the snarkives of Miss Snark. At least...these are the ones I read.

Here are Susan Kearney's list of questions that should be answered to help determine whether your potential agent will make a good business partner for your writing goals.

These questions should be your preliminary research. Most of this information can be found on the agency's website, if such a website exists for the agency.

1. How many authors do you represent? How many are published?
2. Will you multiple submit?
3. Who answers your phone? A secretary? A service? A machine?
4. How long will it take to return my phone call?
5. How often is it appropriate to check in?
6. Does the agent help with career planning? Work with a publicist?
7. What genres does the agent handle?
8. What are the agent’s business hours?

These are questions you may have to ask the agent yourself once you and your agent agree to work together.

1. How long after you send the agent your work will it take her to send it on to a publisher?
2. Will you know where and when the agent submits your work?
3. Will you receive copies of rejection letters?
4. How long after the agent receives advances and royalties will it be until she sends them to you?
5. Is the agent a member of any professional organizations?
6. What is the agents percentage? Does he charge for mailing, copies? Faxes? Phone calls?
7. If the agent doesn’t like the work, but the writing is good, will she still submit for you?

These questions address what might happen after a publisher expresses interest in your work.

1. Does the agent handle subrights, scripts, foreign rights, audio rights?
2. Will the agent ask you to sign a written contract?
3. What happens if you wish to sever your relationship?
4. Do you see eye to eye on where your career should go?
5. Is the agent enthusiastic about your work?
6. Ask agent for names of happy clients.
7. Will agent submit just a synopsis and 3 chapters? Or need the whole manuscript?

These address the agent's general behavior and how they handle specific situations.

1. Who takes over when the agent is on vacation?
2. Does the agent critique your work?
3. How many authors has the agent dropped in the last year?
4. Are royalties escrowed in a separate account? What happens to the royalties if something happens to the agent? (This is a concern in small agencies)
5. If you speak to an editor at a conference and they ask to see your work, will the agent send it out?
6. If you don’t like the story, but it’s well written will the agent send it out?
7. Who pays for manuscripts copies? The agent or the author?
8. Do you have problems if the author switches genres?
9. How much work do you expect to get from me in a year?

* This list of questions came from Susan Kearney's guest post at Plot Monkeys.

Let me know what you think! You can view the site here: http://www.worderella.com

The plan is, eventually, to convert the blog over to a similar layout. I also plan to put the random writing quote functionality back into the website because I love quotes and I love writing, and quotes about writing just make my day. And I want to replace the old research/writing tips files with an updated and more organized structure that will also point to similar blog posts that I have made.

So there are a couple of things left on my list to do to make this layout complete, but overall, I'm pretty pleased.