Build A Better Website With Me - How to install WordPress to your hosted site.

Build a better website with me is a series I'm sharing, covering my migration from Blogger to a self-hosted WordPress site. I have no experience or skills in the area of web-development, so I'm sharing my steps to help other bloggers through the complex WordPress system.

In my last post on this topic I showed you how to register your own domain name through your host. I'm using Just Host for my set up because they are very cheap compared to most and they offer a lot of help along the way. You should be able to follow most of these steps with your own host.

Installing WordPress

Log into your host site, and head straight to the cPanel, remember it looks like this:

The page scrolls down to show a LOT of options and management systems - you don't need to worry about any of that. All we will look at today is the section called 'Website Builders' (the one down from 'Mail' - I'll show you how to set up your own mail later).

The first icon under 'Website Builders' is 'WordPress'. You can click on that now.

What will appear if you're using Just Host is a diversion to a site called mojo marketplace. Don't panic, this is just the third-party company Just Host use to install WordPress themes (the backgrounds and designs). Mojo Marketplace sell lots of themes, but there are also plenty available from within WordPress for free. I'll show you where to get themes later.

This is what should appear once the page diverts:

Click on that shiny green 'Start' button!

Next, you have choose which domain you want to attach a WordPress site to. If this is your first site, you'll probably only have one choice.

With the drop down menu (next to the web domain name) it offered me a choice of including www. or leaving it out (http://charmaineclancy.com). I wasn't sure, so I use the name with the www. (If in doubt, have a guess and see what you can break!)

You'll probably get a warning:

Install directory exists and is not empty. Please confirm that it is safe to overwrite any content in this directory.

That's just because your host puts up stuff on your domain until you override it. Just tick the box to allow the installation to go ahead anyway. 

On the next screen, don't rush to publish - first, tick the box for Advanced Options. Now you'll be able to put in the name of your website, and you can change the password (otherwise write down the one they show you because it's impossible to remember).

Click the green 'Install Now' button and your WordPress installation will begin!

Then you'll be greeted by this screen:

At the bottom of the page you'll get the option to browse for templates through Mojo - those are paid templates to purchase. You can search for free templates from within WordPress.

To head to your new WordPress site (which will be looking pretty bare at this stage), go to the Login URL - you can click on the hyperlink with the '/wp-admin extension'. Your password will be the one you entered earlier (and wrote down... I hope... otherwise attempt to sign in and you can request your password if you need to).

You're all set! In my next Build a better website with me series, I'll show you how to install a template to your page (that's the layout and design of your website).

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Build A Better Website With Me - How to register and activate your own .com domain name

Build a better website with me will be a series on blog posts covering my journey to migrate from Blogger to WordPress. 

I outlined some of the reasons for my changeover in my previous post: Build A Better Website With Me. By keeping the beginning of each website-related post the same, those who are keen to learn how to use WordPress as their platform can follow along. But if you can do without the techie posts, it'll be easy for you to spot which ones to ignore.

Today's post is showing you how to gain a domain name through your host.

My host is Just Host (also called Host Clear). I can confidently recommend this host, they have treated me well, are easy to use and offer immediate online chat for solutions if you get stuck. There's a lot of others out there, and a few are ones I've tried that have disappointed me. There are other good hosts, but I can't recommend a product I haven't tried. Maybe ask around.

Once you're signed up with your host, and you have your log in details, go to the home page and log in.

This will take you to the 'cPanel' (control panel). It looks pretty scary! Don't worry, you'll never need to touch most of those buttons.

For now, you just need to click on the word 'Domains' on that blue bar at the top.

Yes, I have a lot of domains

See the search box in the middle? Use that to see if the domain name you want is taken. For example, I might search  for dreamwritepublish.com (I did, and it's not available). I don't recommend changing to .net, if yours is not available, I think you are better off changing the name slightly (maybe dreamwritepublishonline.com).

Of course, as an author, you want your pen name as your webpage. If your name is Stephen King, there's a good chance you won't score your name, maybe you could be stephenkingnovels.com or stephenkingsbooks4kids.com. Choose something that is easy to remember. Hyphens are a bad idea, no one remembers to put hyphens in. I'd rather dreamwritepublishonline than dream-write-publish.com. Click 'Next'.

BEFORE YOU PURCHASE

There is a box automatically clicked for Domain Privacy. This means your details will not show up as the person who registered the domain name. Go ahead and keep it if that's important to you. I choose to unclick the box, because I don't care if my name is associated with the domain (I don't have any scam websites), and it costs an extra $9.99 for every domain you purchase.

You will have to tick the 'Terms of Service' box. And click 'Add to Cart'. Another good thing about Just Host, is they keep giving me free domain name credits (I don't know why), so today I'm purchasing iTeenMagic, because I think Matilda can add it to her magic site (she has big plans).

Go ahead now and purchase your domain name. You can purchase domain names from other places a couple of dollars cheaper, but then you'd have to import them into Just Host (or your host). Being new to website creation, I don't know how easy that is.

On the next page, click on the dark grey button 'Manage' (under 'manage my add on products).

Now you're at your 'domain list manager', and you'll see your domain name listed in a box in the bottom left-hand side of the screen. If this is your first domain and your main account, it should be called your 'primary'. See from the picture that charmaineclancy.com is my primary domain:

If, like me, you've gone a bit nuts and purchased the entire internet, the extra domain names should be converted from 'Unassigned' to 'Addon'. Just Host lets you add on as many domain names as you like and you don't pay any extra for hosting those sites.

You are all done registering your very groovy domain name! Maybe you chose your author name, or your blog name, or both. The next step is installing your WordPress theme, to do that you need to go to 'Hosting' (second word in the blue bar at the top of the page, right past 'Home'). 

This will take you back to the cPanel. I'll post all the instructions on installing WordPress to your new site in my next post!

If you are not ready to set up a new website, but think you'll want this information, don't worry, I've decided to put all these posts together into a guide for everyone as soon as I'm done (for free of course, if you want to pay, there are better experts on the subject!).

And if you get impatient and rush ahead and then get stuck? Don't worry, help is a click away! Up the top on the right-hand side, if you click on 'Help?', a drop-down menu appears:

See that offer of a 'Live Chat'? Choose it! Don't be shy! The elves at Just Host are super friendly, can easily work out your problem and best of all, they don't judge you for making obvious mistakes (I know from experience).

Do you want to see how one of my sites is coming along?

Check out iTeenWrite - it's my new site for kids and teens, my aim is to inspire and teach teens to unleash their creative potential. I'm even offering free video tutorials. Let me know what you think of the design - what do you think the site could use?

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The Philosophy of Marketing Online and Finding Your Creative Spark

Have you had a creative week? I have!

And it wouldn't have been creative at all, if it weren't for the participants of the Imagination Sparks Blogfest.

My focus lately has been on building a couple of WordPress sites (and my first post on how to start with your WordPress site is coming very soon). I've also taken a side interest in content marketing and analysing social media. Can't really say why, I think I wanted to know one thing or another and the subject became fascinating to me. My thoughts so far? 

Connect, be yourself, talk to people not at them, drop the virtual - this IS the real world.

Another topic tickling my fancy is business philosophy, and how we can bring that to our decisions on how we exist and trade online. I am enjoying Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Work Week. I can relate to the line 'To have more quality and less clutter.'

I get carried away with research, and although I'm enjoying learning how to surf the new marketing wave, I've neglected my creative writing. So, I'm very grateful to the participants of Imagination Sparks Blogfest for providing me with some great writing prompts.

We had musical prompts, changes in POV, character interviews and lists, photo prompts and even studying commercials for story ideas. I love that everyone was relaxed about their posts, without giving or feeling any pressure to post at particular times - that was the message I hoped to convey. The end result? I would definitely do this blogfest again next year (watch this space... or the one over at WordPress).

After all, I'm all about lifting the stress at the moment :)

If you get the time, pop about and visit some of our participants:

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Getting your website off and running

My new website project is coming along nicely - and I will show you how soon!

Hello bloggy friends!

I'm on a bit of a high at the moment. Why? I've got a new project. Whenever I begin something new, I'm like a kid on red cordial. I stay up late and wake up early and can't wait to get started. 

But I'm not writing. This project is not a story, it's a website. A website I did not want to make ... because it would be hard. Now I'm getting some (slow) progress, I'm really excited. I promised to share the steps, so I've been taking loads of screen shots and making notes all along the way. In fact, that's my first tip: If you adjust, rebuild, start from scratch, or touch ANY button on your blog/website, keep a notebook dedicated to your site by the computer. Write down everything you do. That way, if you delete the whole project (as I did, not once, but twice) you'll be able to backtrack and at worst, will have the steps to repeat (minus the deleting bit).

I'm so keen, that I'm not just starting my website, but a few others as well! I'll be creating:

iTeenWrite - a site for all my workshop materials for kids and teens who want to write (I'm even making vlogs!).

Happy Family Challenges - anyone who knows me is familiar with my whacky challenges I set for myself and my family. I'm now going to share various activities and challenges you can take to bring your family together in a fun way.

illusions4kids - one of my challenges was to set a project for my daughters to start up a small business and run it for six months, at which time it will be evaluated for its success. They started off with ideas like dog washing, but quickly moved to an online platform for their business. They'll be following Pat Flynn's advice on setting up a niche website business. They plan on making videos performing magic tricks, only revealing the secrets to kids who sign up to the young magician's club (all free). They're hoping to be sponsored by products relevant to the magic world. Matilda is a magic lover and now a young entrepreneur (teenpreneur?).

Phew! I've got my work cut out for me. I'm hoping that recording all the steps will make it easier for each new site I have to set up.

Soon I'll post the first step. Just to remind you, I'll be using Just Host (who also go by the names Host Clear and Super Green Hosting). There are other good hosts, but I can only recommend the one I use and like (when I had a problem late last night, I hopped on the chat function and had it solved and explained within 3 minutes). 

My next post will show you how to register your domain name and install Wordpress via the 'cPanel' (fancy name for dashboard), and even how to choose a 'theme' (template, layout design for your site). If you want to see how I'm going so far, here's my landing page (most links don't work yet - but they will soon!).

www.charmaineclancy.com

And for even more excitement! My good bloggy friend, Michael Di Gesu is revealing a new novel by Siv Maria Ottem - featuring a cover illustrated by Michael! Pop over to cheer them on:

Michael Di Gesu ... In Time

Siv Ottem ... Been there, done that.

And one last thing ... have you signed up yet for the Imagination Sparks Blogfest? It's a fun event where we all share one of our favourite ways to warm up our creative muscles before writing. Do you take a walk? Have a writing exercise? Something we can try? Share it for the blogfest, then go around to others and try a few of their ides.

Sign up now and please spread the word!

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Build a Better Author Website With Me

I put Zoe in charge of building my website, but she spent all her time on Grumpy Cat memes.

It's important for authors these days to be accessible online, especially if you're starting out with self-publishing or going through a small press publisher who doesn't have the big budget to promote your work. 

I've loved my blog. It has remained my favourite form of social networking, and I've tried a lot of them! I will always blog, aiming to share any information I think can help other writers and authors. But now, I need to create a more professional website to host my blog. My page needs more than Blogger can provide.

Don't get me wrong, Blogger is still a great platform for new bloggers. It's easier to use than many others, and allows you to track your growing follower list. And I've no intention of deleting everything I've built here, but migration will begin soon to a new hosted site, using a professional Wordpress theme. My site will have pages to accommodate my upcoming vlogs for teens and kids on creative writing (iTeenWrite), information about my writing workshops, a book page, free resources and, of course, my blog.

I'm starting from scratch and doing this techie work myself, so it'll be a while off yet. So why am I telling you now? I'm going to record every step with lots of screen shots and voice over instructions, so if you take this path you won't make my mistakes. I'm hoping to make web building easy for you!  

Here's the thing. I can help you each step of the way if your process is the same as mine. My host site and domain name is Just Host, I find them reliable, consistent and fairly good value. I tried Squarespace but found it more than double the price for a platform that was too complicated for me to use and only produced a very basic site without an IT degree. I've heard good things about Crazy Domains, but haven't tried them. I can happily give Just Host a plug and have included an affiliate link below - have a look and see if it's for you. 

My first step will be installing Wordpress through Just Host:

You have homework! Even if you don't want to try this tactic for building your site, this is something you should do before creating any website. Write a plan, a list of all the important things you want to include on your website. Will you offer writers' workshop, school visits? Want a sales page for books? An email sign up form? Plan before you build, it'll make life easier later!

Don't forget to sign up for our awesome blog hop!

Imagination Sparks Blogfest

Starts August 1, sign up now!

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Why, How and Where of Social Media

This week I was honoured to be invited to speak at a Strathpine Library to a writers group on the topic of social media. It was a fun night and the group was very welcoming and participated enthusiastically.

Here are some of the points we covered:

Why use social media?

1. Connect with your peers - Writers share a supportive and encouraging community. You'll find other writers who are learning the craft and willing to share their findings as well as professional authors offering tips and advice online. My online writing buddies have helped me by sharing links, bringing competitions to my attention, guiding my marketing plans, and making recommendations for service providers.
2. Keep up with industry news - You can follow agents, publishers and other industry experts to learn of opportunities and guidelines for submissions.
3. Reach an audience. Readers use social media too and they love making a personal connection with the authors they read. Social media is a great way to make readers aware of your books.

Marketing yourself:

1. Be consistent. Most writers will spread themselves over more than one social platform. Have one suitable profile picture, preferably of yourself and not your dog/cat/kids/favourite cartoon character. When people connect with you, they want to feel it's really you. Using the same profile pic on all platforms means follower won't be confused by your identity. 
2. Entertain, educate or engage. This is the only reason you post. If you can be humorous, go ahead, share a joke (appropriate to your target audience). Followers will also appreciate tips and advice. Plus don't forget to respond to other people's posts, make a connection.
3. Some people believe you must follow everyone who follows you. I feel you should follow the people who's posts interest you, don't worry if they follow you back.
4. Stand by your own standards and ethics, don't criticise other peoples decisions online. For example, there's a lot of criticism about certain authors paying for reviews lately. I choose not to pay for review, but those authors who do have the right to make their own choices. 

Where to go?

There's many options for social media, here's my choices:

1. Blogger. I tried Wordpress and looked at others, but for me Blogger was a nice simple and clear platform. It's very easy to update and to follow through Google friends. I also like that Blogger links to my Google+ account.
2. Facebook. This is not my favourite platform, but it's where my friends are. I don't like the way you have to request a friend acceptance from people you want to follow. It is handy though for creating fan or group pages.
3. Google+. I like the way this platform flows. The circles are a great idea, you place people into the groups you want to use. My circles include writers, marketing, internet experts, artists and friends/family.
4. Twitter. This is great for finding and sharing links. You're limited to short posts, so sometimes it can feel a bit like everyone is posting at you rather than interacting, but it is the platform that has generated the most sales for my ebook My Zombie Dog.
5. Goodreads. A good site for gaining reviews.
6. Amazon. You can create your own author page.
7. YouTube. I follow some wonderful authors who offer vlogs (video blogs) on this platform. It's also good for hosting your book trailer. YouTube does attract trolls (people who leave nasty comments just for the sake of upsetting you) so don't post vlogs unless you're thick-skinned.

In this digital age the culture of writers has evolved to include social media, it's important that we evolve to fit within this emerging culture.

And for some online fun, why not take part in this blog challenge: Write a short story for halloween with a romantic spin and post your link on Romantic Friday Writers:

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Future of Books and Emerging Authors

The future of books... but first:

This week Australian Women Online feature an article on Emerging Australian Women Writers, by journalist Belladonna Took. I am very humbled and excited to be included in this article with talented emerging authors, Kymberley Gaal, Emma Gibson and Karen Tyrrell. If you'd like to read the article, click here.

I signed up for 'Book Camp unconference' a little uncertain of what to expect. I mean, what's an UNconference? The theme of the day was to question and discuss the future of books and emerging authors and technologies. I like to question and discuss, so I was up for it.

The day was hosted by author Simon Groth from if:book and we were asked to volunteer to lead sessions. I love this upside down module. 

Looking at the model of the traditional book, what it has now emerged into and where it could go was something most participants were curious about. The traditional pathway of author to publisher to reader or even author to reader may change. The reader is not necessarily the best client for your product. One scenario raised was with choose-your-own-adventures that are locality-based. This method was trialled at an Adelaide festival with posters and QR codes. This storytelling involved the 'reader' to walk the streets of the story while finding the codes for the next part. In this example only about ten people finished the story. If your goal is to do something different, experimental then there's no problem, but if you're wishing to earn an income from your skills... well, you can see the problem with only ten potential customers, but it's important to acknowledge many authors require an income from their skills. This requires rethinking the author to reader model. You could consider a commercial or government client, such as the Department of Tourism. They would have the capacity to market this type of activity to readers/visitors. Or, you could make location-based stories containing QR codes that provide information on the localities, you wouldn't have to be present in the location (I see this being a good alternative for famous locations like the Eiffel Tower, The Great Barrier Reef, etc).

Craig Mod led a discussion about the affect of digital on our sense of living. The point was raised that if we do not post our experiences on social media in many ways they don't count as real, they become disconnected with our understanding of experience. We live in the instagram era, as soon as we see, do or taste it, we upload a pic.

The issue of quality from self-published authors and service providers was enthusiastically discussed. The days of appreciating free crap is over. Readers want product that lives up to the promises.

And the thing that stuck with me most was on the necessity of social media for authors to reach readers. There are many examples of great authors that sell millions of books with no online presence. It was generally agreed that if you are an amazingly talented author, you don't need to interact with the public. Lucky for me I actually like social media!

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Creating a Writer's Website

The wonderful Linda Jackson from Writers Do Laundry, Too has interviewed me! Head on over, and you might pick up a free copy of My Zombie Dog.

Most writers understand the need to have a strong presence online (or 'build a platform'). As a writer, where should you be online?

I believe this comes down to choice and market. There are so many social media sites now, you can settle into the ones that feel right for you. But, you also want to consider your readers, where do they hangout online?

A website is a good start. This is a page where your readers can find you if they search. It can also host all your contact information, so readers can then connect with you on Twitter or Facebook, or wherever you provide links.

I have a dear friend who is very talented with Graphic Arts and Design. Rhonda from Mercieca Designs, created a special website for me. You can find Rhonda at her blog Toxic Designz:

Your website can contain blurbs for your books, or even sample pages, as well as links to make it easy for readers to purchase your products.

I've had this blog for a few years and so there's not much chance I'd relocate or walk away from it. However, if I was doing my time again, I'd have my blog hosted within my website. This way you could have yourname.com/blog rather than yourname.blogspot.com. My blog would also be easier to find, the way I have this blog set up, it's called Wagging Tales, the web address is clancytales and the name I promote is charmaineclancy. It's a wonder any of you turn up here at all! (I'm very glad you did).

Before you rush off to hire a graphic designer, or attempt to put your own site up, make a list of all the information you want to have included. Then group that information into logical 'pages'. Also shop about, look at other author's websites. Try seeing what writers in your genre use. Mystery and thriller writers often use blacks or reds in their design, whereas children's writers use cheery colours like yellow, blue or pink.

Make it professional. Your site represents you as a writer. Whether you want readers or potential publishers to view it, you want them to see that you are serious about your craft and work, even if your site has a fun or comical theme.

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Bookmarks as Promotional Tools

Designing bookmarks for the book - will have rounded corners when I'm done.

What a busy time it's been! My Zombie Dog ebook has been selling well on Amazon, and I'm now producing a paperback for the Australian market with help from The Book Cover Cafe. Exciting times. So, I've started thinking of different ways to promote the physical book. One popular idea is bookmarks.

Like most booky people, we love bookmarks in our house. Instead of giving birthday cards to their friends, my girls create bookmarks on the computer, print and laminate and usually finish off with a bit of ribbon through a hole in the top. These are usually treasured by the receiver. So, how do you do up bookmarks for your novel?

I had to play around with design. At first I tried putting the book cover at the top of the bookmark. I've seen this done before, but it didn't work well for me, the book looks too small. So instead, I put the title of the book on the front of the bookmark, and you don't have to stick to the traditional portrait direction (vertical), I went with a landscape (horizontal) look. I stuck with the same font as my ebook, because that's what will appear on the paperback book cover, plus I just love it. You can find out more about using fonts in this post: How to Font your Cover. I went with a bright purple background because it makes the font colour pop and... well, purple is magic.

You can design your bookmark in Photoshop, Word, almost any design program. I like to use InDesign and Photoshop. Before you start, you'll need to know what size your bookmark is. I've been a long time fan of Vistaprint, but sadly they don't do bookmarks (but if we all keep tweeting them about it, they might give in). I found this printer: Overnight Printing they print bookmarks and even provide a template for you to download.

If you go through a regular printer, you can choose your size. If you have a business that gets a lot of things printed up, you might be able to get them printed cheaply at the same time, because they are long and thin, they can be printed in the 'off cut' area.

If you only need a few to start with, you could always design them on your computer, print them yourself (you should be able to fit 4-5 to a page) cut them out and laminate. Home laminating machines are easy to get and quite cheap now, ours was under $20.

Back to the design; I also found too much text cluttered my bookmark. Now my novel is aimed at kids 8-13yrs (even though my readership seems to include a lot of grandparents), so that's another reason for me to keep it short and snappy. You want to make sure the design suits your genre. Mine is humour/horror, so I wanted a funny tagline. 

Some authors prefer to keep the back of their bookmark plain, so it gives them something to sign. It's a good idea, but I've decided to put the important details on the back. Here's some things you could include:

• Very short blurb, what's the book about?
• Testimonial from happy reader, or another author if you can get it.
• Who would like your book?
• Where can they buy your book? This is the most important.
• Where to find out more about the author and other books they may have, so a link to your website or blog. I chose my website, because my blog is aimed at writers, not really kids. I also have a QR code for my website, so if the kids scan it with a smart phone, it goes straight there.

Have fun with the design, something quirky is more likely to peak the interest of potential readers. You could play with shape, or try folded bookmarks with magnets... the only limit is your imagination! These will be great to hand out when you have book launches, or host a stall at a market/expo, or just when you meet people. And if you want to generate a QR code for your site, try: QR Stuff, it's easy, here' mine:

Do you have any other bookmark suggestions?

And it's that time again! Insecure Writer's Support Group - hope this post was supportive for you! You can find a lot more great posts by clicking on the picture and heading to Alex J Cavanaugh's site.

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G is for Google and Goodreads for Writers

Had a conversation with my dad last week about the marvels of Google. He said he can still remember having to research in libraries, and even then you were very limited to the books that library had in stock. Now he's writing humorous, military thrillers, he often needs to check information and dates of political events and underworld activity. I have to agree. I grew up with computers only being able to move two white lines up and down the sides of the screen to hit a digital ball that bounced between them (go Atari!), and became very impressed with those tables that showed Space Invaders and Pacman. 

But now you can find out whatever you need from Google. But Google has plenty more to offer writers than just a search engine:

• Google Maps - actually see the street where you're setting your story without ever going there.
• Gmail - I got sick of my email changing every time I changed Internet providers. I've had my gmail account for years now and love the stability.
• Google Docs - If you work on your manuscripts at work and home or out and about, by putting them on Google Docs you can access them on the go and never worry about loosing your manuscript. I used this before I became a dedicated Scrivener user.
• Images - A great way to find pictures of your characters to add to their profile.
• Google+ - Social media site where you can connect and sort your followers into groups, such as writers or readers.

Another important G site for writers is Goodreads. This is a community of readers and writers where you can record the books you're reading. On Goodreads you can set up an author account, write your bio and have your own book launch or giveaways. Make sure your book is listed on there!

Now I have to figure out where to hide the chocolate eggs for my kids. It never failed to intrigue me why kids aren't scared of this giant rabbit that sneaks into their home at night and leaves chocolate eggs - Don't want to bust that bubble, but bunnies don't lay eggs, if they do leave round chocolate-coloured things... not sure you should eat them.

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Why You Need Your Head Shot

MY ZOMBIE DOG has officially launched for the Kindle version and the paperback version will be along soon! To celebrate, you still have about 10 days to win a KINDLE! This is open international, so get your entry in! It's very easy, you can buy the book (love you!) or blog about the book or blog about this competition. You also get an extra entry for tweeting.

Go HERE to find the entry form. HURRY, ends 31st March (Aussie time).

Now about author head shots. Do you have one? Is it professional looking or some family pic that gets blurry if you try and make it any bigger than 5cent coin? It doesn't matter if you're published or not, you need to create an image that you want people to associate with you. 

If you can go and get a professional head shot, then good for you, but if you can get a professional look nowadays even with your iPhone.

Don't want a double chin? check out this professional photographer's advice on how to look your best in that head shot:

It's all about the Jaw from Peter Hurley on Vimeo.

Lighting is also important, outside is good, or use a floodlight shone up and towards you to light up your face. Most indoor lights hang from the ceiling so it tends to leave shadows under your nose and chin.

The smile? There's lots of different opinions, some people swear you need to show teeth and others prefer a more demure smile - you know which looks best on you. If you do go for the closed mouth smile, just part your lips ever-so-slightly so you can blow out a breath while smiling, this stops your lips from looking tense and your smile from looking fake.

My biggest weakness is getting bored with my pic. It's best to keep something familiar because it becomes branding. Here's a pic I had taken last year, now to get those books in the background I had to casually lean my arm on the fireplace shelf, which required squatting to be the right height!

But this is what I usually look like in photos (Zoe is a lap dog wannabe):

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Platform Building for Writers

Part of my business plan includes promotion, for writers today one of the most effective ways to promote is to build a platform. Quite simply, this is just the space where you market yourself. If your platform is effective it can help guide readers to your books and generate sales.

If you've read any writers' blogs you'll already know that there is a huge supportive community out there. Other writers will not only cheer you on, give you great tips and ideas, but sometimes they'll even buy a copy of your book (I know I LOVE buying a book that I find on a blogger-friend's site). 

Let writers help you with building your author platform - a good start? Check out Rach Writes. Rachel runs the Writers' Platform Building Campaign and you can sign up! It's a great way to meet new followers for your blog. I've joined up - will you?

Want more on building your platform? Try my previous posts:

Writers Platform - is it worth the hassle?

Build your author marketing plan

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YouTube and Writers

YouTube - not just for dancing cats

Do you YouTube?

One of the social networking suggestions Aleesah Darlison made during her 'Promote Your Book' workshop recently was to set up a YouTube page.

Sure, I had a YouTube account, who doesn't, but a page? This had never occurred to me. If I have one talent above all others, it's following instructions. I set about creating a YouTube page under my username charmaineclancy. I know I need to add some more exciting clips, because the most recent recommendation from YouTube for me was a clip called 'Schnauzer napping'... can't wait to see that one.

On Aleesah's page she keeps book trailers, interviews, interesting clips about native animals that feature in her books and more. This is a great resource to use for writers workshops, school visits, book launches and building up your platform. If you don't have a YouTube account it's easy. Go to the site and create an account - I recommend using your author name and if that's taken, add the word author in front. For example, if charmaineclancy wasn't available I'd use authorcharmaineclancy.

Once you've joined and signed in, you'll see some arrows by your name in the top right hand corner. That releases a drop box menu. Click on Channel and set up your channel (this is the page for you to share your clips). In Settings you can change the colour, add your author pic and bio. Videos is where you upload your own clips. I'm yet to do that, hey, maybe one day soon I'll even vlog. In the meantime if you'd like to see a vlog about the craft of writing, visit The Creative Penn's YouTube page.

Want to share YouTube clips on Blogger?

1. Find a clip you want to share, underneath is a button titled 'Share' - click it.
2. This brings up a link for sharing, but now click on 'Embed'. Here is the code you need to embed the clip into your blog. Copy the code.
3. You can change the size if you need to (if you have a narrow blog column), I always just go with the smaller size listed (560x315).
4. Now Blogger does not like code when you are in 'Compose', so I usually choose to go to HTML and insert the code. But there is another way.

Alternative - Probably easier:

1. In Blogger, when composing your blog, click on the button for 'insert a video'.
2. Choose 'From YouTube'.
3. In the search box you need to type in the title of the clip - the one I've chosen was called "Interview with Aleesah Darlison".
4. Choose the correct clip from the list of possibilities. Ta-da!

If you have a YouTube Channel set up already, share your link in the comments :)

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Google + Writing Circles

Are you Google +ing yet?

I was sceptical. I still remember the wasted moments wandering through an empty Google Wave. I questioned Google's approach of limiting the sign ups for Google + - after all, social networking only works if everyone's there.

BUT. I love the ease of adding people to your circles. Now instead of bombarding my friends and family with the endless links I find on the craft of writing, I can target those posts directly to other writers. I also feel more comfortable adding people, knowing I don't need their permission to follow them (like Twitter - you can block someone if necessary).

People will migrate from Facebook and Twitter to converge in Google +. I don't expect it to be quick, others will be wary and many will be nostalgic about the platform they've spent so much time building (remember the die-hard Myspace enthusiasts?). I'll stay in Facebook while I've still got Friends there - I'm not attached to particular platforms, but I'll go where the people are - I like the people.

If you're not in Google + but would like to start building your profile there, drop me an email and I'll try to send you an invite (I'm not sure how many I can give out, so first in first serve). If you've already started and want to add a widget to your blog to promote your Google + check out:

www.widgetsplus.com

Now, I'm thinking... BLOGFEST TIME! I've never held a Blogfest before, exciting times.

On the 31st July I'll post up details of the 'Imagination Sparks Blogfest' and how to sign up. For the blogfest we'll all share a creativity exercise that helps get our Muse revved up to write. To get you started, I'll blog about a great exercise Tom Evans, author of The Art and Science of Light Bulb Moments generously shared with us.

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Online Marketing for Offline Readers

How do you manage online marketing to those unlikely to be online?

I've been turning the cogs over in mind this week (they're a bit rusty and need a crank every now and then) about finding your customers when you self-publish. It occurred to me some markets are easier to find than others.

The first step is to work out who your average reader is. I don't mean vaguely like 'romance readers', but specifically have a stereotype in mind (in this example perhaps your particular romance appeals to women 30-40 with children). Do you know? You really need to work this out if your novel is finished and ready to go. Try visiting sites like Goodreads and Amazon for similar style novels to see who their market is.

I know not every reader will be the same, but you want to work out who your majority of readers are. For instance violent thrillers written by men are most likely to have a male readership. The more I think about this market, the more I think it's the hardest to reach if you are not a previously published author.

Some men do circulate online, but many for this market don't. They don't browse Amazon for unknown writers and don't spend a lot of time 'browsing' in bookstores. They buy a book because it won an award, because it was recommended on a reliable source, like their favourite newspaper or ABC radio-programme. Problem is, if you are a new writer, it's unlikely you'll be mentioned in these sources. But I thought long and hard. There is a way to get your book in this reluctant hand. Through a more reliable market. Women. 

Many times books my dad has loved have been novels I've purchased for him, or gifts from his female friends or my sister. He would never have gone looking for this novel, but once given it, he reads it. This market doesn't like to waste a gift. A couple of times he's enjoyed a book so much he's asked me where he can find more in the series.

My dad will never visit a blog, spend time on Facebook or even know that Goodreads exists, but people who buy books for him do. So if you have a difficult market to reach online, try reaching them through their networks instead. Market your book to those people as the perfect gift idea.

Although not talking about novels, this marketing blog, LEADSexplorers, refers to this sales approach as targeting your customer's 'trusted parties'.

I'll blog more on this topic soon, about ways to find those buyers who do circulate online. Together we might be able to find a plan :)

But first I'll be going offline. Just for a couple of days. I'm taking on a challenge to write 30,000 words in  only 3 days. I'm doubtful, but I hope to at least finish the first draft of MY ZOMBIE DOG. Wish me luck!

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Writer's Platform - is it worth the hassle?

I tend to blog a fair bit about ways to promote yourself as a writer. I see a lot of writers dip their foot into building their online platform, only to lose interest after a time or become disheartened because they've sat at 13 followers for 3 months.

It's a phase that takes time. I won't say there are no short cuts, but frankly you need to organise your time to allow building your profile, by blogging, Facebooking and Tweeting (I can't recommend MySpace, but there are some that say it has value) and to keep up with your actual writing (no point building a great platform if you never finish that novel). Writing and editing will take up most of your time, and most of us find it hard enough to squeeze that in. So why spend time online? Isn't that what your publisher is for? 

Even if you are able to land a publisher, or if you even want one, you will still need to promote your work. You can market directly to your audience (romance readers, children, etc) and I've some posts you can check out with links to help you with that:

Writer's Networking Advice

Build Your Author Marketing Plan

However, if you've started out by networking with other writers, you needn't think that was a wasted target. Us writers, I've come to discover, are a very supportive bunch. Whenever I come across one of my blogging friends who has published their novel I buy it. I'm just so proud of them. I also purchase novels from any writers who have run workshops for me. Curiosity and gratitude. Those that can't run up a big bill on Amazon, may not make the purchase but will often promote your book online. I think it comes down to the fact that we all enjoy feeling like we're helping. So do reach out to other writers and blog and tweet. We learn a lot from each other and we're a reliable market.

Now, I'm off to Canberra to attend Nicole Murphy's book launch (in a pub! Yay!). AND extra yay! for school holidays, I can finally spend some time reading everyone's blogposts.

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