How to Use Twitter to Promote your Book

I don’t believe in purchasing followers on Twitter. What would be the point? All the followers on my Twitter page are genuine. There aren’t many at the moment, but quality is better than quantity.

The followers on my page are those I like to reach. Real people: authors, book lovers, audiobook narrators and book publishers. It is a given that Audible, ACX, Kindle and GoodReads are included. But individuals are important. Some wildcards that I simply find interesting are included; creative people from various sectors.

Posting Interesting Tweets

I am careful about what I post. I don’t spam and go on and on about my books. I will post an excerpt now and again, to keep my books in the feed, but I will also post useful tips about writing, how to market ebooks and other useful info, such as how to format large print books and how to fill in a tax return if the writer lives in the UK. As an avid reader, I will also post book reviews.

Sharing useful information will more often create interest in your Twitter feed. Interest equals curiosity and curiosity will lead to more visitors reading your blog and seeing your books.

Author Tweets

Tweeting useful information will get noticed. Someone is more likely to visit the link to a blog and have a read. Perhaps this might result in some subscribers and readers. All without spamming.

Sharing Tweets

I will post tweets with real people in mind, not just as a sales pitch and therefore will not repeat or go on about reading my books. I rarely direct message people unless the subject of the tweet directly relates to that person. I will always retweet and favorite someone else’s tweet if I find it educational or interesting.

I have quite a number of articles that could be useful to followers and I will rotate links to my articles. Now and again, I will post a link that relates to one of my books. I will retweet if I gain a large number of followers later to ensure they see my new content. Sometimes, I will create a meme or post a picture on my Twitter feed to add interest of capture attention. Some of my links will also lead to my YouTube clips where an excerpt of my audiobook can be sampled.

I will dedicate about two minutes or so to Twitter per day, no more.

Scheduling Your Tweets

Tweets can be scheduled months in advance. This means Twitter can post your tweets at a specified time. You can have a list of tweets prepared for when you go on holiday for instance. This will ensure your presence on Twitter will remain when you are away from the computer. In the end, gaining a genuine following through posting interesting and useful content will more likely create interest in your books. This is why I am careful not to over promote.

The Paradox of the Self Published Writer caught on the Web

The indie writer had become caught in a web within the Web. Yes, self publishing has created a revolution in the publishing world. Now anyone can publish their books online. And this is great, because the reason most writers write is because there are stories within the head vying for a way out. So the writer writes, edits, conceives a blurb and designs a book cover. And once the novel is complete, it is self published somewhere.

Getting Reviews isn't easy

Chances are, the book will be found on KDP Amazon, Smashwords, Createspace, GoodReads, Lulu and other such places. Every writer wants their work to be read. Not to be unread. Not being read is the writer’s nightmare. Not being read takes away the point of writing. Writers like to be read. After all, writing is about communication. Many writers even put their books out for free just to be read.

How Not to Get Your Book Read

Now what happens? Chances are, there will be a few or no sales because there are millions of books out there and you will remain undiscovered. So the writer surfs the Net for ways of getting readers. And customer reviews are gold.

Naturally, the writer might peruse Amazon itself, looking for threads where readers congregate, perhaps discussing books on a particular genre that matches yours. The writer might contribute in the hope of piquing interest in his/her book. A similar approach might be used for GoodReads and LibraryThing and other such sites where readers congregate. But after a while, the readers get annoyed, saying, butt-out, stop spamming us about your book. This thread is for readers, not for writers muscling in, trying to sell your sci-fi or erotica!

Where to Find Readers of Your Novel

And what else happens? New threads are set up just for writers to congregate, because they can’t annoy or spam each other, only offer advice about writing, book cover design and perhaps lick each other’s wounds if a negative review is posted.

The result? There are sites and threads only for readers and sites/threads only for writers. The two are separate.

The writer cannot get easy access to readers, the very group the writing is aimed at. And the readers remain oblivious to the writer’s existence.

This has happened everywhere. Self published authors are at risk of being burned by GoodReads, the Kindle Boards and discussion threads of Amazon. So the writer keeps away in fear of reprisals, perhaps of getting bad reviews for the behavior rather than the quality of the book itself. Having said that, GoodReads is great for keeping a log of books I have read, but do little in the way of promoting my books there.

Causes of Bad Book Reviews

But this polarization of writers and readers is no doubt due to the bad behavior of the few, giving the majority of self published authors a bad reputation. I have learned the lesson by proxy, seeing other writers getting burned for over promoting their work online.

With this realization, the self pubbed writer gets caught on another web. Social media. The writer cannot spam himself, so he sows the seeds around the Net hoping to get noticed. Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, Linkdin, YouTube, Blogger and more. And yes, I have created such accounts myself for the same reason.

Rather than spending the time writing which is the writer’s prime passion, the writer falls down the rabbit hole of social media. Yes, such-and-such loves writing crime too and has favorited your comment. You have ten thousand followers. Perhaps you will buy another ten thousand to look more popular.

But where is the humble notebook and pen during all of this? In the drawer collecting dust along with your creative juices.

The self published writer is caught in a web on the Web where readers and writers are polarized and the jaws of social media are waiting to consume all your time. Getting noticed as a self published writer is now harder than ever. And here I am, blogging and tweeting this post within the paradox.

But here is something the self published writer should always remember...

The off switch to the computer is just few a inches away. And that notebook and pen is still in the drawer.

Where do I Put My Adsense Adverts for Most Ad Clicks?

Write great articles with lots of traffic, yet your Adsense sucks. Why? You haven’t optimized your affiliate ads to the best effect. Who wants to look at a page that is cluttered with affiliate ads? The key to a money making article is to place your ads discreetly on your web page, yet entice the reader to click through. Here are some tips on how to get the most of your Adsense.

Adsense Heat Map. Hot is Good

Think of the visitor first. Make sure your webpage, whether hosted on a blog or other website offers something valuable the visitor is looking for. This might be vital information or advice on finding the best services. An example is how to format your own book or where to find the best formatting services for book design if you do not wish to do this yourself.

The image represents the general rule of thumb of Adsense hotspots. Hot is good, cool, not so much. But one size fits all is to be avoided. Experiment with your Google ad placements and shift your ads around to prevent 'ad blindness' of your visitors.

Good Keywords for Adverts

Using keywords in your article will trigger ads that contain these keywords, which might simply be ‘Book Formatting Services’ or ‘How to Format my ebook’. This is called contextual advertising.

Don’t worry if your article does not trigger contextual adverts, as some articles will not contain such keywords. However, people will stick with your interesting article for longer and possibly click on a non-contextual ad they find interesting whilst reading your post.

Ad types, sizes and placement on your page will have a huge effect upon your Adsense earnings. There are basically 2 types of ads: media rich, which comprise images and graphics, and text only links. Enabling both types will encourage more business to bid on your space, and encourage bigger clicks, so don’t block any ad type.

click to buy from Amazon

Remember the visitor to your page is also a human. Don’t bombard your page with huge ugly ads that compete for attention, pop ups and jazzy colors. Always ‘blend’ or ‘match template’ when adding your Adsense units.

People tend to read from left to right rather than vertically. This means that banner ads or horizontal link ads tend to perform a little better than skyscrapers. Square ads are good, as these will fit anywhere. I have used large rectangle (336x280) but you can also try square (250x250).

Best Place for Ad Placement

A good place for place Adsense is at the top of the page or ‘above the fold’ as a leaderboard or wide banner, as can be seen here. I have used large leaderboard (970x90). But you can also try half banner (468x60) to fit your page. Billboard (970x250) I think is ugly. I have tried it and it didn’t perform well.

Best Ad Placement for Blogger

A good place to put ads is within the article itself, but is not possible with Blogger, as can be seen on this page. However, I still manage to get good click through rate by smart art placement. For instance, you will find link units within links to my other articles which work in harmony with the look of the page. I have used 160x90 and 180x90 buttons but you can also try wide button or horizontal row.

Tips for Ad Placement on Blogger

Make sure your ads fit with the content of the page. Try out different sizes so the webpage looks smart and neat. Skyscrapers fit nicely within the navigation bar. 120x600 or 180x600 are most commonly used. The wide skyscraper will perform a little better, but don’t sacrifice the look of your page in favor of sticking so-called good performing ad units on your page. If it doesn’t fit or it looks horrible don’t use it.

Don’t use more than three ad units per webpage, or the excess will not display on your page, leaving ugly blank spaces. However, you are allowed three ad units and three link units per page. Something I didn’t know until recently.

Don’t Want to Make Money Blogging? Checklist of Mistakes to Avoid

I have been blogging for seven years and have seen many myths written on the internet about how to make money blogging. Here is my personal list of mistakes you cannot afford to make if you want to make cash blogging:

Don’t write about something you don’t care about. Your blog will fail after 3 months max, even if the subject purports to be lucrative.

Buy from Amazon

Don’t spend lots of time on social media and such stuff. Twitter, Facebook and Linkdin will not earn you cash directly, only bits of traffic now and again and will eat at your valuable writing time.

Don’t clutter your blog with gadgets that are going to slow you pages down. The reader will click away after getting bored. Attention span is microseconds on the Internet.

Don’t write about something timely such as SmartPhones and the latest gadgets. Such subject matter will be yesterday’s news before you know it and traffic to these pages will die before you know it.

Don’t write about something that is already covered by the big sites. For instance, film reviews or gift ideas for Valentine’s Day. I have written articles about these things and you can almost hear the bulrushes drift across these deserted pages. Write about something no one else is writing about.

Keep the design of you blog simple with obvious navigation. Don’t go too heavy with images and gizmos. Don’t get obsessive about how ‘pretty’ your blog is. It won’t earn you money. I detest pop ups and will immediately click off.

You don’t have to keep blogging every day. Your blog can be a sweatshop of hundreds of articles with little cash to show for. Look for questions that are constantly being asked on the Net. Carefully select the questions that fall within your expertise. Answer these questions to the best of your ability.

Don’t get obsessive over SEO. I have researched extensively on the money matrix, long tail keywords and high paying keywords, yet it is my articles that I have written in a rush without much thought for these things that seem to get the biggest traffic. Why? Because I have answered questions lots of people are asking. Listening is the key to a successful blog.

Making Cash Blogging

Make your blog interesting that will encourage visitors to engage. Have an email list, be friendly, polite and give things away. People will keep subscribing. BUT WATCH OUT. The mere numbers of subscribers will not necessarily earn you cash.

The bottom line? When it comes to earning clicks from Adsense, traffic is the key to getting clicks. The bigger the traffic, the more likely the clicks. Getting traffic to your blog is possible without making the mistakes outlined above.

Producing an Audio Book is Harder than Painting the Mona Lisa

In my experience, and I have done both. With audio book production, much can go wrong and often does. I shall relate to painting Da Vinci’s masterpiece at the foot of this article.

I started producing audio books in January 2015 knowing nothing about sound equipment and learned everything the hard way from scratch. Here’s what I learned:

Don’t Go Cheap on Audio Equipment

Sound Editing for Audio Books

Initially, I brought an off-the-shelf condenser mic that gave a tinny edge to my voice and recorded plosives no matter what I did (even with a pop filter and standing some feet away). I sent it back and went for the Rode which solved everything. It gives a warm, clear sound and it comes with its own pop filter – studio standard. You can’t go wrong with a Rode microphone.

My Scarlett Solo interface, PC and Audacity free sound editing software and my homemade recording booth (fashioned from a table stood on its side, covered with duvets and lined with acoustic foam) meant I was good to go

Or so I had thought.

I didn’t bank on the following:

Being Patient for the Quiet Moments

Few people can afford a soundproof room, so I had to sit for endless minutes waiting for aeroplanes to make their transits. And this includes tractors, lawnmowers, birds chirping and rush hour traffic. Sometimes you have to pack your gear away and wait for a quieter time or simply wait. In my case, I found myself recording in the evenings.

Be Careful with the Noise Removal

Noise removal is a handy tool on Audacity that enables you to remove unwanted background noises, such as fridges, traffic or rain. Going too heavy on the noise removal can ruin your vocal recording. Sometimes, background noises can sneak into your recording and noise removal can work wonders so long as the sound frequency does not overlap your vocal range, otherwise, it can make your voice sound weird – chirpy. It is better to record again when it is quieter than to overuse the noise removal. I wasted hours of recording time getting to grips with noise removal.

Atmospheric Conditions During Recording

The sensitive mic will be affected by atmospheric conditions, such as humidity and temperature. The Rode doesn’t not seem to like cool damp air. It prefers warm and dry. Atmospheric conditions will affect the recording in subtle but noticeable ways.

The mic also needs space! OK so you don’t want unwanted echoes that result from a large room with hard surfaces, but don’t place the mic in an overly-enclosed space, or the recording will sound ‘clothy’ or claustrophobic, losing some clarity. I place my mic at least a foot from any surface within my rather cramped acoustic booth. This lesson cost me hours of recording.

Vocal Techniques

Accents are hard to master. I had to listen to hours of YouTube clips and practicing sounding out the nuances of dialects. Don’t go heavy on the accent, or it will sound like a parody. Not every word has to illustrate the accent, only certain syllables.

The voice gets tired after an hour or so of recording. That’s it. You can’t force it, it’s not a machine. You have to rest it, show respect. Keep healthy, hydrated and rested. Again, put the gear away and start again tomorrow.

Time Consumption of Sound Editing

For every hour of recording, expect at least three hours of sound editing. You have to edit out outtakes (and there will be plenty), plosives, clicks, unwanted background noise and lots more. You also have to fine-tune the pauses between sentences to attain the desired pace of the audio book narration.

Editing the Book

Saying sentences aloud will expose issues with writing style. You have to cut long sentences to permit the breath, cut repetitive sentences that result in a monotonous passage, or stilted sounding dialogue. Read aloud before recording.

Is Narrating and Producing Audio Books Hard?

Mona Lisa in Progress

Things go wrong for no explainable reason. Sometimes the recording is awful and who knows why? You have to do it again another day.

Painting something as difficult as the Mona Lisa means you can paint over mistakes, build and improve the painting through layers. It is a skill that requires dexterity of hand and visual astuteness. Audiobook production requires a spectrum of skills. Editing skills, a good voice, the ability to tackle accents, to be a sound engineer, to have a keen ear, to troubleshoot, to have an instinct for pace. And what about audiobook cover design and marketing? The list goes on.

A painting can be salvaged. A horrible recording has to be scrapped and started from scratch. It’s tiring, complicated, frustrating and anything but therapeutic, but I am glad I did it. Audio book creation has been a momentous experience and I have learned a lot. My new found skills can be used to many other uses.

How to Make the Most of Audible Credits when Purchasing Audio Books

Purchasing audio books from Audible offers a choice of plans. You can have one membership credit per month for the upload of one audio book, or two credits for two. You may opt to purchase audio books one-off without being a member of Audible at all, but this means purchasing the book for its listed price, which can be very costly. But there are ways of getting more out of Audible credits than first impressions. Here’s how.

Make the Most of Audible Credits

Make the Most of Voucher Codes on Audible

Audible will use various means of enticing the audio book lover to sign up for a membership plan, one such way is to offer free membership for the first 30 days.

If you decide to sign up for a membership plan, you can go for £7.99 per month for 1 credit (or one audio book), or 2 credits, £14.99 (or two books) per month. One membership credit allows you to upload any audio book, regardless of its price or length. This is interesting to note, as the writers of tomes such as Stephen King and Dan Brown can provide many hours of listening for one credit. Retail price for these lengthy audio books often exceed £20 (around $30).

Some books are in excess of 40 hours long. That doesn’t means to say they are interesting or to the listener’s taste, but some comprise complete story collections, such as the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes or other classic travel stories.

You can exchange any audio book you don’t like, no questions asked within one year of purchase. According to Audible, it doesn’t matter if you have finished it or not, whether you actually liked it or not, or whether you have even listened to a single sentence. You can exchange it. This does not bode well for audio book producers like me, but great for the Audible member. Once you have exchanged that book, you can no longer leave a book review.

Free Audio Books on Audible

You don’t have to look far to find authors begging for reviews of their audiobooks for a free listen. On completion of an audio book, ACX, (a marketplace where authors, narrators and producers can get together to produce audiobooks) will dish out vouchercodes. These are complementary codes that on redemption gives the Audible member a free credit.

Go to Goodreads, Twitter, author blogs or Linkdin to discover authors touting their vouchercodes for a free listen in exchange for a review.

It is also worth making a regular check of Voucher Code Sites such as Voucher Box, My Voucher Codes or Wow.com where you can spot Audible promotions and deals for a vastly discounted price, for instance, a 3 month membership for 99p per month.

But why not have an equivalent of NetFlix, where members can listen to as many audiobooks as they want for the membership subscription? Well, Audible has no competition as it is the largest audio book provider in the world, but things can change. Maybe Audible will do so in the future. Who knows? And the system can do away with ‘credits’ and simply pay a subscription to listen to a whole bank of audio books.

Ten Audiobook Recording Mistakes to Avoid

I produced audio books myself and learned lessons the hard way, wasting hours of recording needlessly. But have picked up invaluable tips on audio recording that will bode well in the future. Here are ten invaluable tips on audiobook production.

1 Get the best audio microphone you can afford. I wasted money on a standard condenser mic that picked up plosives even with a pop filter and gave a tinny sound to my voice. I sent it back and opted for the Rode condenser mic that comes with a studio quality pop filter with XLR cable. It also gives a nice, warm clear sound. Ideal for book narration.

2 Get familiar with your audio kit. I used a Scarlett solo audio interface, Audacity, my PC and good quality headphones. Read the instructions, play with it, experiment and get to know it inside out. Audacity is easy to use, but has a lot of tools to get familiar with. Don’t start audiobook narration until you know how to get the best out of your audio kit.

3 Go easy on the noise removal! Noise removal is a handy little tool that removes unwanted background noise, which might be the general hush of distant traffic or the hum of a fridge. A room with a low noise floor is preferable in which to record (a quiet room). Too much noise removal will not only strip the background hush, but could also strip away that same noise frequency that happens to exist in your voice, making it sound weird or chirpy.

4 Beware of echoes from a room with harsh surfaces. Some audiobooks behold narrators that sound as though they have stuck the mic in a bathroom. Find a closet and line it with towels or duvets. You can buy acoustic foam, possessing textures that will break up the sound, minimizing echoes. On the other hand, don’t put cloth too close to the mic. The mic needs space to breathe. Place the mic roughly in the center of the room, not too close to surfaces.

5 Don’t record if your voice has had enough. I find my voice will get huskier if I have been recording for over an hour. Don’t push it, for the fatigue will show in the recording. Rest the voice between sessions. Avoid factors that will irritate those vocal chords: cold air, stress, smoking, alcohol, late nights and mucus-producing foods (like dairy). Allow your voice to recover before the following session.

6 Listen to the recording and you will find your voice will sound different to what you expect. I noticed an unwanted Brummy brogue would sneak in some of my narration when tired. Also when doing a male voice, the pitch of my voice would get higher without my realizing. Grow consciously aware of how your voice sounds during recording. Re-record until you get it right.

Get the Best Mic for Audio

7 Before mastering your recording, keep a copy of the original recording in case something goes wrong. I find extra presence can be added to the sound of the voice by ‘dipping’ the middle trebles a little in equalization and enhancing the base and top frequencies (but not too much). Experiment until satisfied. Audacity allows you to save and name any settings.

8 Be prepared to re-write sections of the script if something sounds wrong. When spoken aloud, some of my dialogue sounded a little unnatural. I re-wrote it until it sounded right. Practice reading the script before recording to ensure it sounds good when read aloud. I edited my books heavily as a result of reading aloud during audio book production.

9 Don’t do an accent you can’t ‘feel.’ It will sound wrong. When picking up a dialect, listen to it (YouTube clips are full of people speaking in different dialects.) Say the words aloud. If it doesn’t come easily, allow a couple of days for the accent to ‘sink in’ during practice. Don’t overdo the accent or it will sound parodied. Subtle is the key. Not all words spoken aloud will exhibit an accent.

10 Don’t edit the recording when tired or you will miss mistakes. Little things like clicks resulting from a dry mouth or a mispronounced word will slip by. Be vigilant when editing and mistakes are less likely to sneak into the final audio book.