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]
If you’re an author on Facebook, you’ve certainly noticed that your personal timeline and your page exist as two seperate entities – at least on Facebook, your ‘Author-Self’ and ‘Everything-Else-Self’ are as divided as the North and South Poles. It’s not even possible to write on your own personal timeline; you can only communicate with other business pages directly. What’s a well-connected and sociable author to… [Read More]
If you really distill the many difficulties of blogging, there are two issues that are the most arduous to contend with on the regular: monitoring who’s talking about you, and coming up with fresh and fantastic ideas. Luckily, Google already has you covered. Google Alerts is a free online tool that can alert you anytime it finds a new page on the ‘net that’s related… [Read More]
Baby Step 3: Build your author online presence by making executive decisions in answer to the following three questions. Who will provide you with internet service? Who will provide webhosting service for your website/blog? What content management system is right for you as an author? Internet service providers are those who bring the internet into your home or office. This may be your phone company,… [Read More]
So you’ve searched Google and Go.Daddy to determine that your author name is available as a domain name. Great. But before you buy a domain name and begin building the foundation for your electronic home, open a Google account and set up an administrative email address through Gmail, using your author name. This is the name you will use consistently across all communication formats—print and… [Read More]
If you have been following our social media series and keeping abreast of the free advice Swenson Book Development LLC has to offer, please take note: this post trumps its predecessors. Search engine optimization, metadata, plugins, widgets, and pretty blogs all can improve web traffic and generate sales conversions. Nothing, however, is as important as the content on your website. Presentation and formatting makes a… [Read More]
If you’ve read my last post on the difference between plugins and widgets and why every author platform should take advantage of these user-friendly tools, you will be happy to read this follow-up guide. I present to you, savvy WordPress user, plugins and widgets for a successful author platform. These are just a few of the basic plugins and widgets we recommend (and use ourselves)… [Read More]
Last week I explained the importance of using metadata to optimize your website or blog for search engines. Metadata, as you will remember, helps drive the right traffic to your page and makes your content more accessible. Brilliant! Your web traffic is growing and you are expanding your author platform. But now that visitors arrive on your homepage and take a first look, how do you… [Read More]
