Many authors simply dismiss Twitter. They imagine Brooklynites and Los Angelinos strolling city streets while on their smartphones punching tiny keyboards. If the demographics of your book’s readers don’t match those who use Twitter, why bother? No one seems interested in tweeting what they ate for lunch, where they went shopping, or the funny thing their kid said. How can you say anything meaningful or… [Read More]
You may think you left citations behind when you finished writing college papers, but if you are writing non-fiction these little footprints of authority are more important than ever. In school, your references to others’ work is a matter of intellectual honesty and under Fair Use of the Copyright Act, attribution of the source is sufficient. When you are writing a book that will be… [Read More]
Social media marketing of books is an extension of the tried and true method of word-of-mouth advertising. Reviews and personal recommendations have historically played a more fundamental role in a reader’s decision of what book to read than traditional advertising. Today friends and family share what they are reading on Facebook, GoodReads, Twitter. What technology adds to the mix is a way for authors and… [Read More]
If you aren’t already receiving email updates from the Swenson Book Development, LLC blog, we’d like to invite you to subscribe using the form on the sidebar. If you are already receiving updates in your inbox, we highly suggest switching to our new format! Swenson Book Development has switched to Mailchimp as our official email RSS update system. We’re happy to announce a more readable… [Read More]
Not content to let Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing be the powerhouse of the self-publishing world, Nook Media (a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble) is rolling out Nook Press, its own self-publishing platform for eBooks. What completely sets Nook Press apart from Kindle Direct Publishing is the integrated feature of composing, editing and formatting your book within the platform instead of uploading and converting a file… [Read More]
Although not all WordPress templates support profile images in the comments, when a profile image is allowed, wouldn’t you rather have another chance to show off your online identity’s ‘look’? Putting a face to your brand helps an author reach readers. To see if you have an associated image, log in to your WP dashboard and look at the upper right hand corner in the… [Read More]
Writing is primarily a solitary activity. But, as Stephen King wrote in On Writing, “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open”. At some point you will share your work with someone for editing – and that’s where the art of writing gets technologically tricky. Microsoft Word has a well-documented compatibility issue between versions of the software; Google Docs doesn’t have an easy… [Read More]
Your Facebook timeline is about to look different for spring 2013 – changes to profile pages are happening now, so don’t be surprised if next time you log in you see something a little different! The updated timeline layout banishes separate boxes for friends, maps, photos and applications and replaces them with text tabs. The entire look is more minimalist and shifts ‘activity’ to one… [Read More]
You’ve heard about the mechanic who never has time to change the oil, bang out the dings, clean out the pop cans or repair the ripped upholstery in her own car? I’m behind the dashboard seven days a week. I drive at high speeds and over rough terrain on the electronic byways of the internet. I keep clients’ motors running smooth and fix them when… [Read More]
Have Unimportant Messages Enter Your Inbox Already Read There are some emails that we want to be alerted to, but don’t need associated with the urgency of an unread message. To have messages like package tracking updates or weekly newsletters enter your inbox unbolded, create a ‘Mark as Read’ filter with relevant keywords or emails. Automatically Attach a Label to Incoming Messages If you’ve already… [Read More]
