Getting Found Online as an Author You can’t afford to ignore the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) if you are a professional writer. The title of your book can affect whether readers find it using search engines. Putting Your Passion into Print was the name for the first edition of the excellent guidebook written by Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry. It is now sold as The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It…Successfully! Today SEO means the difference between showing up on the first or the seventh page of Google search engine hits. A single blog post can be a source of major traffic to your site if it is a high-ranking hit of a frequently searched phrase. For example, Elaine Mansfield recently had Ann Marie Ackermann write a guest blog post which featured Nurse Nightingale’s pet owl. Last week a professional risk company picked it up in their news round-up of favorite posts related to Nurses and in one day there were 7,000 views of the essay. An unlikely alliance of one author with a grief memoir published more than six months ago and another with a true crime history coming out next year. Elaine writes about the subject of caregiving and Ann Marie also writes on the subject of ornithology and they find common ground in the idea of Nature as a healing force. Good for Elaine Mansfield’s website traffic and pulling new readers to her work.…
Although the majority of the traffic to your site will come through social media engagement, an author can’t ignore getting found through Google and other search engines. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, refers to practices used to get a higher rank in search engines – in plain English, it’s the difference between being on the 1st or 7th page of Google results. But, you might… [Read More]
Filed Under: Google, google rank, search engine optimization, SEO, technology
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The alternate title to this blog could be “Why do I keep getting my irritating cousin’s political rants in my Facebook newsfeed?” There’s an answer to that question if that’s happening to you, and it comes in the form of a question: “Do you engage with your cousin’s Facebook rants?” Because if the answer is YES, boy, are you in for a revelation – engaging… [Read More]
It’s important for an author to know the differences between the various kinds of editing, and understand what professional services an editor may or may not provide. When you work with an editor, find one with whom you can clearly communicate your needs, expectations and working style. Not all editors are the same. Copyeditors read your document and look for errors in punctuation, spelling, grammar,… [Read More]
Filed Under: Copyeditor, Development Editor, editors, Fact-checker, Ghostwriter, Line editor, Technical editor, Writing Coach
Growing up in a home with books explains, in part, my love of books. My father has always had a library. That Bob Swenson read Ariel and Will Durant’s 11 volumes of The Story of Civilization and William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, meant I surreptitiously read them too, in junior high. Cold War novels, international espionage thrillers, an occasional mystery, Michener,… [Read More]
There is more than one path to publishing today. Whether your plan is to seek a traditional publisher or self-publish, you need a book proposal. Consider it a business feasibility plan. Before you invest your time and intellectual energy to a book project, first determine whether there is market demand for your new product. Figuring out how you will harness that market demand and fulfill… [Read More]