To Blog, or Not to Blog
by,
June 7, 2022

Six or seven years ago my advice to aspiring authors of nonfiction books was to build an audience platform by blogging. An example of how critical blogging could be to securing a publishing contract can be found in the case of Ann Marie Ackermann, author of Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee. After an… [Read More]

What to blog about?
by,
January 23, 2018

Does an author really need to blog? Not necessarily. If you are writing fiction or a children’s storybook, probably not. If you’re writing nonfiction or memoir, probably so. To answer the question, you must ask yourself whether you can reach the audience who will buy your book with a blog. Children rarely make consumer choices about books, but their parents do. Tina L. Peterson wrote… [Read More]

Ready to Build Your Author Website Using WordPress?
by,
January 9, 2018

Have you completed the steps I’ve outlined in the last four blog posts? 1) Picked your official author name and purchased the domain? 2) Decided on your internet service provider and webhosting, and ready to install WordPress? 3) Put together a list of your design preferences? 4) Prepared the text and images for the pages on your new site? If so, then it’s time to… [Read More]

True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee
by,
October 3, 2017

Kent State University Press released Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee on September 1 and author Ann Marie Ackermann arrives from Germany for her U.S. book tour this week. With a dozen events scheduled in Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, Ackermann will spend the month of October meeting and greeting readers. I’m… [Read More]

Tips for Building Your Audience Platform
by,
March 24, 2015

How can you spend your time wisely with social media? Based on current research,  best practices for frequency of social media posts: Twitter – 3 times a day, or more. Facebook – 2 times per day, at most. LinkedIn – 1 time per business day. If you’re on Pinterest – 5 pins per day. Blog at least once a month, no more than once a… [Read More]

10 Tips for Blogging: Strategies for Success
by,
September 30, 2014

Six weeks of sabbatical from blogging this summer passed quickly. Too quickly. Sweetly slipped through my fingers.  Like melting ice cubes. Rippling waves against ancient cliffs on Lake Superior’s shores. Finding the time and space and inspiration to write and do research without worrying about what anybody else thinks. Need I say more? The website redesign gave me the perfect excuse to pause and reflect… [Read More]

Analytics for Authors: Visualizing with Google Analytics’ Visitor Flow
by,
December 22, 2012

Analytics for Authors blogs have been edited to reflect the 01/16/2013 Google Analytics update. — To navigate to Visitor Flow, click on its name on the left hand menu when you’re logged into Google Analytics. What you’ll see is a visual map of how visitors used your site. The large veritcal columns are nodes: Nodes represent a single metric – the first column defines where the… [Read More]

Analytics for Authors: Your Most Popular Pages
by,
December 18, 2012

 Analytics for Authors blogs have been edited to reflect the 01/16/2013 Google Analytics update. — You’ve gotten a feel for your audience and how they visit your site using Google Analytics, but you still might not have a clear idea what page is getting the most traffic. To get a good look at your content’s metrics, click on Content then All Pages in the left… [Read More]

Analytics for Authors: Understanding Google Analytics’ Traffic Sources
by,
December 11, 2012

 Analytics for Authors blogs have been edited to reflect the 01/16/2013 Google Analytics update. — Another key section of Google Analytics is Traffic Sources. Access this section’s overview through the left-hand navigation bar.* Your traffic is broken down into three types: Direct Traffic Direct traffic are the visits you get through someone typing in your URL into an address bar, by accessing a bookmark they’ve… [Read More]

Analytics for Authors: Putting Your Keyword Data to Work
by,
December 8, 2012

 Analytics for Authors blogs have been edited to reflect the 01/16/2013 Google Analytics update. — Mark Twain wrote to a friend, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.” – and the same can be said for Google keywords. It’s the difference between ‘swimming pool’ and ‘swimming pool installation… [Read More]