2008 May

More tips, ideas on how to use Twitter

5/23/2008 By Joan 5 Comments

Since finishing my special report two days ago on how to use Twitter for business, I came across several other interesting items related to Twitter:

–Earlier today, when content strategist and blogger Amy Gahran was working in her home office in Boulder, Colorado, she learned about an approaching tornado via Twitter. In an article at the Poynter website, she detailed her frustration trying to find out information about the tornado from the National Weather Service. Then she explained in step-by-step detail how she used a variety of websites and other sources to track down information. Finally, she used Twitter to alert other Twitter users in Colorado. The hundreds of uses for this microblogging tool are fascinating.

–I found a list of interesting Twitter do’s and don’ts, also written by Amy Gahran.

–The Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) uses Twitter to share what technologies the various libraries are working on. ”Sure, sometimes something personal slips in there, but we all pretty much know each other well enough that it’s OK,” says Bobbi Galvin, who works in customer relations.

–John Hassell, Deputy Managing Editor/Online at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., writes about how he used Twitter to find out why journalists blog.

–The deadline for Copyblogger’s Twitter writing contest is 5 p.m. Central Time on Friday, May 28. Entries must be–of course–exactly 140 characters, the maximum length of a tweet.

Filed Under: General

Help get print publicity for book on fiscal/physical fitness

5/21/2008 By Joan 5 Comments

Mary Ammons of Nashville, Tennessee writes:

Fiscal fitness book “We had a successful launch of a book on physical and financial fitness (authored by: celebrity Jack LaLanne and financial advisor Matthew J. Rettick) in New York and have had a great run with television on shows like the Today Show, Fox Business, etc.

“But we’re having trouble garnering more exposure for Matt. He’s almost become Jack’s shadow or ‘the other author.’

“I’m also having trouble promoting the two topics (finance and health) with the print media. Even journalists understand that you have to have both physical and financial fitness to enjoy a great retirement, which is the full topic. But they don’t know where to quite fit it in to their beats, or they’ve covered it recently.

“I’ve pushed the fact that this is a unique book because it’s basically Planning for Retirement 101. I’ve also had what feels like a million ideas shot down.

“The book is titled Fiscal Fitness: 8 Steps to Wealth and Health from America’s Leaders of Fitness and Finance. We’re on the third printing and need to keep generating press, but, again, I’m having trouble pitching to the print media. Help!”

Filed Under: General

Bad resource boxes, landing pages can confuse article readers

5/20/2008 By Joan Leave a Comment

Just read a great article by Christopher Knight of EzineArticles.com on how incorrectly using the author resource box at the end your articles, or leading readers to bad landing pages, can shatter your credibility.

For example, in one article about how to be a deejay, written in English, Chris clicked on a link in the author resource box and landed on a page with copy written in Japanese. Ouch.

Take note of the six mistakes he mentions. Are you guilty? If so, he offers tips on how to correct them.

During the teleseminar I conducted on How to Write How-to Articles, I mentioned that the author resource box is the most important part of the article. That one paragraph can lead readers to your website—or not. It can force them to pick up the phone and call you—or leave and walk the dog. It can encourage them to give you their email address—or ignore you.

Follow the rules, however, and you can end up with a customer for life.

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Writing Articles

NPR Books Watch Contest goal: Get more authors on NPR

5/19/2008 By Joan 4 Comments

When National Public Radio interviews an author, it’s almost a ticket to the top of the Amazon.com lists.

But the way book publicist Yen Cheong calculates it, the chances of an author landing an interview on National Public Radio is 15 times harder than getting into Harvard.

Cheong, the assistant director of publicity for Viking and Penguin Books in New York City, thought it would be fun and informative for book publicists to keep track of how many books are actually covered on NPR each week. So she started a contest for book publicists, designed to help them get more of their author clients on the air.

Every week I’ll be tallying what books have been covered on the national NPR shows (since all good book publicists know that a national NPR interview is almost the Holy Grail of radio publicity). On Thursday afternoons I’ll post a roundup of the national NPR book stories of the week. The first person to send me the imprints (not publishing houses but imprints, where applicable) of all the books mentioned (maybe a dozen or so) will win the NPR Books Grid.

The grid is an Excel spreadsheet that lists the titles, authors, subjects, shows, interviewers and post-interview Amazon rankings of all the book stories for that week.

Check the NPR Books Watch Contest page on the upper right-hand corner of her blog for details and to see exactly what the book grid includes.

All Things Considered, Fresh Air and Morning Edition are among the best NPR shows for authors. But book publicist Lissa Warren, who was my guest during a teleseminar on How to Get Booked on National Public Radio, says publicists and authors shouldn’t just shoot for interviews on big shows like those. Dozens of smaller shows on niche topics also welcome authors, and competition for coveted interviews isn’t as stiff.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Author Promotion, Book Promotion, Book Publicist, Book Publicity, National Public Radio, NPR

Newest occupational hazard: Death by blogging

5/18/2008 By Joan 7 Comments

I’ve been waking up every morning for a week with a stiff neck. A tendon in my left wrist still aches, despite four months of doctor’s appointments and three different prescriptions.

My massage therapist says the muscles in my back are so tight that she uses every muscle in her own hands, shoulders and legs to knead the knots out of them. She tells me I need to return to yoga classes, pronto, and start taking better care of myself.

That’s what I get for sitting in front of the computer, sometimes up to 10 hours a day.

Then I read the New York Times story In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop.

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

In the last few months, two technology bloggers have died suddenly and a third has survived a heart attack.

Enough already. Here’s what I’m doing, starting today:

—Attending yoga class twice a week.

—More frequent breaks, at least one per hour.

—More frequent massages.

—Doing the stretching exercises a physical therapist ordered two years ago when I damaged my rotator cuffs from using weights in Jazzercise class.

—Lying backwards on the giant red rubber ball I bought from my chiropractor to relieve the “hunched shoulders” syndrom caused by hours in front of the computer.

—Lying on the floor, on top of a giant styrofoam tube that runs the length of my spine, again per my chiropractor’s instructions, to help stretch my back and shoulders.

OK, bloggers and Internet marketers. What are you doing to avoid death by blogging? Authors and writers, do you have the same problems?

Let’s hear from some physical therapists, too.

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Blogs Tagged With: Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs