#WWoW!: Creating The Blog Navigation Bar that Suites Your Needs #amwriting #MyWANA

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Tammy's Tidbits here at Writer's Words of Wisdom. Today is the third installment in my creating your own blog series.  This week I'm covering setting up and personalizing your blogs. In fact, I'll be travelling down this road for the next couple weeks and hopefully will cover some of the topics people have been asking me about over the last few months.

I've had more than a few requests to discuss a bit about setting up the layout of my blogs. Mainly, folks want to know how I did it. Well, there really isn't a right or wrong way to go about doing it. All of my blogs are fluid—constant works in progress. I'm always fiddling with the layouts and order of things to get all of them to be appealing to the eye. I like to change up the color schemes too. Right now, I'm only working with the free themes offered through Blogger and Wordpress so some of the layouts are restricted by the specific themes that I choose to work with at the time. This is most evident with Wordpress. The fonts, colors and layouts are all locked in with their free themes. However, I can choose at anytime to upgrade and pay to customize them. That's a future goal for me.

Blogger on the other hand does give you a lot more options to customize your themes. You can change the font's with each post, the time stamps, what color you want your links to be in the posts, what color or fonts to use for your blog title and subtitles. After you've chosen a theme, then you can alter the design by clicking on the "DESIGN" tab at the top of your blog. Go ahead and do that now. You will see a page that looks similar to this

Clicking on the "TEMPLATE" option on the menu on the left side will show the "CUSTOMIZE" button. Click on that to take you to the next step.

As you can see, I'm using this blog to help demonstrate what to do here. Of course your own blog won't have the same colors and layout as mine...or it could if you chose the same theme. LOL   On the left side you will see another menu list. Click on the last option "ADVANCED." This will take you to the window where you can change fonts sizes, colors and everything to give your page the look you wish to have. Here's what mine looks like at that step.

Notice the area I drew a circle around? That is the list of options you get to control. When you click on each one, the choices of fonts and colors open up for you on the right. Currently it's showing what I can do for my page text. Blogger gives you suggestions of what colors will go with your chosen theme or you can go completely in another direction. It's up to you. Go ahead and play around with all of the spots you wish to customize. Make sure you save your arrangements before you change screens to view the blog. If you don't like how it looks, or a font color isn't showing up the way you want it to, then change it.

Once you've played around with the theme and all it has to offer you, I'd like to touch on one more thing before I go for the week. This is how to set up your navigation tabs. Most folks have them at the top, like I have but some people like them as a side bar. It's up to you.

How do you get to add tabs? Well, those are called "PAGES." These can actually be stand alone/static pages you create or links to different blogs or websites. Click on "DESIGN" at the top of your blog again and then pick the "PAGES" option on the left side. It should take you to a page that looks like this.

 I've added a few notes in the photo above to let you know what each section does. First thing, just add the links and pages in any order. You can change that up at any point by clicking on the little light teal/blue colored shaded area of each entry and arranging them in the order you wish. This is just like on the layout page. We'll get to setting up the layout on another day.  For now, let's just concentrate on how you want your navigation tab bar to look like. What links do you want to put there?  One very important one would be  to your website if you have one.  What you put there is all up to you. There really aren't any rules here.

I hope this week's mini seminar was helpful. If you have any questions at all, or would like to see how to so do something else, let me know. I stuck with Blogger for this post, because it does have so many different ways to change things up and still for free. For those of us just starting out, free is definitely an added BONUS!

Make sure you come back next Wednesday when I talk more about creating static pages and how to use them for hops, promotions and keeping your first chapters available only to those who click on the links you provide. Intrigued? Come back next week!

~Tammy

#WWoW!: #Blog, Website, or Hybrid? What's an Author to Do? #MyWANA

Welcome to this week's edition of Tammy's Tidbits. I've had a few topics I wanted to touch upon over the next few weeks, but another has had to be brought to the top of the list. On previous blogs I covered how to avoid the diva syndrome. In that article I mentioned one particular diva author who didn't know what a blog was, how it was used to promote an author's work, or what they needed to do in order to be a guest on another's blog. For most of you visiting here, this topic may seem very basic, but there are many more authors out there who haven't got a clue what a blog is let alone how to create one.

I was one of those people when I first published in 2011. I found out very quickly I was behind the rest of the pack. Luckily, the wonderful veteran authors with my publisher pointed me in the right direction and I haven't looked back ever since. With three pen names, I now have or share two adult website/blogs, two adult websites, two adult blogs, two PG rated blogs(including this one), one PG rated website/blog, and one book review blog.  That's right.ten distinct sites. Seven of them I own the domain names and more will soon follow.

What's the difference between all of them? What makes a blog a blog and not a website or vise versa? I thought it would be a great idea to repost a blog article my alter ego Stephanie Ryan did not too long ago on this very subject. She isn't published yet, but is getting a jump start on her online presence so that when she does put out her first mainstream romantic fiction, folks will already recognize her name.  (Yeah, I've learned a few things by the third pen name! LOL) The following was of course on her own blog, so the references made in the article apply to Through Stephanie's Eyes.

Blog, Website, or Hybrid? What's an Author to Do?

Being relatively new to the publishing game, I've come across many discussions about creating a separate website from my blog. Now these talks are between other authors mind you so I thought I would put the question out there to them.

What's the difference between the two?

Silence...yep. That's what I got. Oh I got great advice that I should have both and that a website would make me appear more professional than a blog, but not one of them told me WHY this is so and what's the difference between the two. Well, I went searching with good old Dr. Google (to borrow the term from my veterinarian alter ego Tammy) to see what I could come up with. Guess what? Most of the folks out there can't answer that question either!

So what's a girl to do?

Don't freak out! I did find a few great articles that put it all into perspective. Jeff Korhan wrote a very concise and easy to understand article about it HERE.  For those of you who already know the difference between the two, please bear with me as I go through this for those of us who were confused.  A blog is actually a specific type of website (shocker I know!) that has content that changes on a regular basis. A blog's home page will have the most recent post at the top followed by the older ones. Think of it as an online magazine.  An actual website can be looked of as a storefront. It's selling a product (you as an author and your work) or service. The content is dedicated to that product you're presenting for purchase. Of course you can manually update the pages of your website, but they don't update on a continual basis with each new post like a blog would.  Here's another article comparing the two and their basic features. Oh what the hell, here's another one for those of you who need just a bit more convincing.

Still confused? Don't be!

After reading the articles, I've decided the best option for me is to have a combination of the two like Tammy has with Behind Closed Doors. When you click on that link, you are taken to her static "About Me" page on Wordpress.com.  Yes, she's allowed comments there, but for the most part, the information is static showcasing her book covers, information about her, a few banners, and of course the tabs at the top will take you to one of her blogs, her poetry, guest author guidelines, etc.  With Wordpress it was easy to do that and set up another page as the blog for Behind Closed Doors. I won't get into all of that here, but as a whole all of my alter egos like Blogger better. Why? It's a bit more user friendly when it comes to the fonts, colors and basic set up when dealing with the free services. Wordpress has specific fonts for each free template. Of course you can purchase more and custom design your own, but for today's discussion, I'm sticking to the freebies.

So how can I set up my "website" here with Blogger and connect it to the blog? Easy! I'll make it a static page. Right now it's just my About Me section but as I get published, I'll add more content. I may add it to that tab or even...get this...start up ANOTHER page to showcase my titles with their buy links.  Okay, I'm being a smart ass here, but you get the point. I've freaked myself out for far too long thinking I had to get a separate website and keep it separate from my blog in order to appear more professional to readers and others in the publishing world.  Why? Because someone else said I HAD to that's why.

Isn't the whole point of having an online presence is to be noticed? If you start doing everything according to some cookie cutter template like everyone else, how will you stand out? How will you attract those folks just randomly searching the Internet to first stop in and look at your site and then STAY there, maybe even follow you for future updates and posts?

I'm going to follow my own drummer here and make my blog/website combination as professional and welcoming as possible. I want this to be a spot where my friends, fans, fellow authors and the curious to stop in and relax checking out what's here on the pages. Hopefully they'll all like what they see and keep coming back. That's the sort of thing that keeps me going back to my favorite blogs.  How about you?

~Steph (aka Tammy)

Learn More About Tammy

Tammy Dennings Maggy is a best selling, multi-published poet and erotic romance author with Siren and Sassy Vixen Publishing. Her writing explores many facets of romance from ultimate betrayal to finding your soul mate. Her poetry serves as a companion to her novels and has inspired entire series all on their own. Tammy and her alter egos Lia Michaels and Stephanie Ryan make up the core authors at Sassy Vixen Publishing and together they've created the shared world series Temptations Resort. Look for the first books in that series to come out later this year.

Now happily married to her own Muse and soul mate, she continues to live her dream and act as secretary to all her characters demanding to have their stories told.

Check out:

Tammy's Website
Tammy's Blog
Tammy's Books on Bookstrand, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords,  and iTunes 
Sassy Vixen Publishing
Friend Tammy on Facebook
Like Tammy's Facebook Author Page
Friend Tammy on Goodreads
Friend Tammy on Pinterest
Follow Tammy on Twitter
Find Tammy's Videos on Youtube


If you'd like to share your experiences in the publishing world, please contact us about setting up a guest appearance. We'd love to hear from you!

#WWoW! Just Link It.

Let's talk about LINKING. My rule of thumb is when in doubt, just LINK IT! What am I talking about? Really, everything. All of your social networking accounts, blog, website, tumblr - literally everything - should be linked.  Because then you are doing the work once while your impact is huge. It's that easy.

Are there accounts you shouldn't link? Nope but there may be some more geared towards different types of posts. It's still okay to link them because there is always overlap and as long as you aren't spamming out oodles and oodles of promo, your goal should be to extend your reach (and sell more books).

Now time to get to work!

First and foremost, have your blog connected into your social media sites, particularly facebook and twitter. This means each time a post goes up on your blog, it automatically goes to these programs for you. Here's promo without anymore work than setting up your single post. You can set up these links in the SETTINGS account of your blog. Blogger allows you to link with Google+ also and I recommend you do it even if you do nothing else with Google+ (yet).

Link your blog to Networked Blogs on facebook. You can search for the app on facebook and select SYNDICATE to connect your blog. Here is another way for potential readers to find your blog and follow you. It is becoming more and more popular so jump on it! Doing this also means your blog posts are automatically sent out via facebook. If you have an author's page, you can even choose to have them sent there instead of your profile.

Other TOP TWO places to link your blog (that have a bit more to it than just linking):

Triberr - Build your reach exponentially. See my previous post with specifics on this site. This is a bit more involved than just linking though completely worth it.

Goodreads - Thousands of readers use this site. If you don't create an author's page and utilize it by linking, you are missing a big opportunity for networking regardless of the horror stories we see with reviews on goodreads. Check in about twice a week to see if you have any messages, reviews, etc. Most importantly, link your blog to post to your author page! See mine here.

Another place to link your blog is in search engines that give potential readers more places to find you. Most have widgets for you to add to your blog but some just simply place you into a database to be more searchable. My favorites are: BlogNation - BlogTrain - Blog Lovin' - Writing Blogs - Linky - AuthorsDb. Be sure to set up all your links in each of these - most require your blog rss feed so have that handy - so each time you post in one place, your information spreads out across the web.

Finally, make a list of all social networking sites you belong to or any on-line accounts.

Here are some of the most common: facebook - twitter - google+ - LinkedIn - tumblr - stumbleupon - YouTube - Picasa. Go into the SETTINGS options in each of these and be sure you have linked as many of them together (and with your blog!) as possible. There are other sites you might choose to use and regardless of which ones you choose, just be sure to link them.

Remember every time you link it, you reduce your work in half while doubling your reach.

I don't suggest you spend hours a day on these sites.

In fact, linking your accounts means your time spent on marketing decreases even though you are visible in more places. Once these accounts are established (& LINKED!!), you will need to do little more than your regular blog posts. A few of these places I mentioned take extra maintenance but it's minimal and worth it.

How does this help your business?

You will advertise to a wider audience as you increase your reach. You will write more because your time spent marketing will decrease. It's a simple case of Win-Win.

So, what are you waiting for? Just Link It!

And Keep Writing!

Paloma

#WWoW! AUTHORSdB is the Place To Be.

A Place for Readers to find Authors. 

Ever heard of the Authors Database?

The fact is every author is looking for a way to reach more readers. Here is a simple way to make that happen with a very small amount of effort. Authors and businesses that offers services to authors can be listed 100% FREE on AUTHORSdB. It is currently the only FREE database of authors that includes social media, book listings and so much more. AUTHORSdB is a place where information is available on authors and is fast becoming the place readers can learn about up-and-coming authors. Get in on this opportunity now as it continues to grow even larger. 

• AUTHORSdB uses software that engages search engines. Once you're listed in AUTHORSdB, you get these benefits: 

1. Organic (non-paid) Google backlinks. These are sorely underutilized but critical to Social Media Marketing.  I received a tweet notifying me, after only 48 hours of registering, that I was now indexed in Google search!
2. Tweets. AUTHORSdB tweets Google alerts when authors get indexed in Google.Whenever an author is listed, they tweet "@[author name] #gotlisted NEW AUTHORSdB Pls RT [link back to author details]"

• AUTHORSdB likes the author's facebook page(s) and when liked back, they share something from the authors Facebook page.  (NOTE: You need a Twitter and Facebook page to qualify)
• AUTHORSdB adds their authors to Google+, LinkedIn & Pinterest.
• Author Awards acknowledge authors in a variety of ways for many different types of interaction. After posting about AUTHORSdB with a back link on my author blog, I was given this banner for my blog.
  

GET LISTED. For FREE and through a quick registration process, you can have your name included in the Authors Database at AUTHORSdB.com. You will be able to 1. Create an account, 2. Add your bio, photos and book images, 3. Add all your social media contact information, 4. Add your 'Buy Here' links to Amazon, B&N, etc, and then they share for you.

It takes just a few minutes to extend your reach exponentially. List yourself as an Author 100% FREE and then reap the benefits the exposure from their automated promotions. What are you waiting for? Get registered and then get back to writing!

Paloma

#WWoW! Running a BLOG CONTEST

Let's talk about hosting CONTESTS on your BLOG. 

A contest is a great way to drive traffic to your site. Readers love free bookish stuff (book, ebook or swag) so you are likely to draw the attention of a lot of readers. Hopefully a bunch of those readers have never read your books before and tada! you have extended your reach. You have a new follower, fan or reader. This is the premise behind a Blog Hop because they allow you to be among the many on a list that encourages readers to seek out other authors.

How do you run a contest?

Here's the basics.

• Criteria - Consider what you want participants to do to enter. Asking them to follow your blog, follow you on twitter or like your facebook page are pretty standard. Be sure you are getting the desired outcome. Do you want to increase twitter followers? Up your numbers on your facebook page? Get more blog followers? You can also add in a trivia question or ask them to leave a comment for an extra entry to promote dialogue with participants.
• Prizes - Choose a popular prize but also one that helps you promote yourself. Some ideas are a copy of your book, gift cards to Barnes&Noble or Amazon, gift card to your publisher's online bookstore, Starbucks gift card, and book swag.
• Rules - Determine when your contest will begin and end, and who is eligible. If you are giving away a paperback book, will you want to ship internationally? Or is this a continental US contest only? Be sure this information is clearly displayed.
• Management - Rafflecopter is an easy-to-use on-line tool for administering contests on your blog. I highly recommend you use it. You input your contest information and the program creates a custom html code for you to paste into your blog post. It will even randomly draw your winner (no more drawing clippings fom a hat!) and post that for you automatically. See my Contests & Winners tab to see what it looks like. And Rafflecopter is free so no worries about expense.
• Marketing - Promote your contest EVERYWHERE you do social marketing... your facebook page (Rafflecopter will actually allow you to embed the contest on your page), twitter, Linked In, Google+, Yahoo groups, facebook groups, etc. Create a contest logo. Have it prevalent on your blog for the entire contest time.  

Now, here is an important point.

It's what you do once you get new readers to your site that is most pivotal. Your blog -even if you host guest posts and blog on other topics- should prominently display your writing as an author. Have you book covers easily visible, your buy links accessible and consider including an excerpt in the contest post.

* I always give away a copy of one of my books. In the contest post, I include either an excerpt or an out-take of the book I am giving away. Then I include a button for them to add the book to their goodreads TBR list. My books' TBR always shoot up after a contest. *

How does this help your business?

Contests bring new readers to your site and they also expand your reader base. They increase your reach as your exposure grows. For ultimate benefit, I always recommend using contest in conjunction with a Blog Hop. More on those in a future WoW post!

Keep Writing!

Paloma

#Wwow! 10 Tips for Writing a Synopsis! #amwriting

Since I'm writing a synopsis again for an upcoming project, I thought I'd share an oldie but goodie with Writer's Wow today!

MY TOP 10 WORDS OF ADVICE FOR WRITING A SYNOPSIS:

1) Have a strong opening sentence. Just like in your novel, you want to catch an editor's attention with a hook.

2) Introduce your characters. Don't make it boring... Susy is a 30-something single mom. Blah! Give us some punch to it. Show the editor who the character is. 

3) Include the key components of your novel: hero/heroine, the set up, romantic conflict, character motivation, the black moment and the resolution.

4) In a one-page synopsis, it's impossible to include every detail of your chapters.In fact, I would think editors don't want a summary of each chapter, anyway.  Find a good way to include the essentials (see list above) in a way that will engage the editor. Describe the major plot points, not each scene. The goal is to give a sketch of your entire manuscript, in fewer words.

5) Don't ask questions. Will Amanda discover a renewed love for Jake? This doesn't work. The editor wants the answers, not the question.

6) Stay focused. Don't change POV's and stay in the same verb tense 

7) Don't forget to tell the ending. Editors want to know how the story ends. Don't leave them hanging.

8) Choose your words carefully. When you write your manuscript, you hopefully choose precise words. You want to do the same in the synopsis. 

9) Voice is important. If you write a romantic comedy, then your synopsis should show that. This is the time to give the editor a clue on what type of writer you are... if you're funny, you better show it.

10) Don't stress. Write your synopsis out as if someone asked you to tell them your story. Then go back and see how you can improve. Edit it just like you'd edit your manuscript.

Good Luck!

Melinda Dozier is a contemporary writer. Her three debut novels were released in 2013: The Boy Next Door and Time Changes Everything from Entranced Publishing, and Breaking the Rules from Crimson Romance.  She has another novel releasing in November. You can find more information at her website:www.melindadozier.com

#WWoW! Don't Quit Your Day Job! Part Deux

Happy Hump Day from all of us at Writer's Words of Wisdom! Today I'd like to revisit a post I did in October 2012. At that time my husband and I discussed how to swing our budget enough so I could devote more time to writing. We agreed the time wasn't right for me to leave a career I'd had for twenty years, and the security it provided us...just yet.  

Well, things have changed. My husband is now finishing out his last year in the Coast Guard and will retire at his 20 year mark in 2014. At the time of this writing, it's exactly one year away. We've also decided he won't be the only one retiring. Next summer I'll hang up my lab coat,stethoscope, and little black bag. I'll no longer be a full time practicing veterinarian. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but one we're definitely ready to take on. 

The advice I gave last year still holds true today as it did then. If you talk to the big names in the writing community, they'll tell you the exact same thing. Having the dream of just writing full time and not worrying about the real world issues isn't realistic for the majority of our author community. In fact, there are many "newbies" just starting out, not yet published or just out of the gate, who have the misguided notion that all they have to do is shut themselves up in their writing cave and success will follow...and the money to pay the bills.  Sorry, chicas. Hate to burst your bubble but that's not the real world...yet!  

Yes you read the title correctly. I'll repeat it again. Do not quit your "evil" day job in order to write full time UNTIL...

and this is a big one...

UNTIL you are in a place in your life where your writing can pay ALL of your bills.  As a writer just starting out and for probably many more years to come, you will not make the big bucks that many folks outside of our industry think we do. Sure we all have the dreams of hitting it big and becoming an "overnight" success, but the fact remains that ALL of us will be struggling for a long time before we see some sort of profit from our endeavors.  

That Evil Day Job may be taking up time in your day that you could be writing, but it's also giving you an income to pay those pesky bills, providing you with medical benefits, and the money you need to promote your work. Let's be realistic folks. The real world tends to frown on us when we don't pay our bills. We need electricity, the Internet, our laptops and PCs, and a roof over our heads in order to create our fantasy worlds. 

If you are lucky enough to have a partner/family there to help support you so you can explore your dream job as a full time writer, than by all means do it. Take that plunge if you are able, but don't do it if it means putting you and your family in the poor house.

A couple of my author friends are now in the position where their writing provides the bulk of the money that supports their family. Not only do they put out new novels, they write articles for newspapers and magazine, provide editorial services for other authors, create covers and video trailers for others as well as themselves, and still find time to promote themselves and their latest release. 

Juggling multiple jobs isn't something new. The majority of the authors I've met over the last year have found ways to juggle their many hats and make a name for themselves. These authors are my inspiration and have encouraged me to find ways to squeeze in my writing time every single day and to be realistic in my expectations. The economy has hit the veterinary profession hard and I may lose one of the days I work at the hospital. That's a scary thought, but thankfully we do have a plan in place.

If my books take off, great! If it takes five, six or ten more books to get my name noticed, then so be it. The fact is I'm still living my dream. I'm a published author with many more stories to tell. I'll let my Evil Day Job as a veterinarian help pay the bills while I keep writing. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we have a guaranteed income and additional medical benefits. If I have to work less days at the veterinary hospital, we will still be okay financially, still have full medical benefits, and I can still pursue my writing career.

Do you have a plan? Check out this fantastic blog post by John Scalzi "Unasked-For Advice to New Writers About Money." This can be a real eye-opener for many folks and fantastic advice.

Until next week,

~Tammy

Learn More About Tammy

Tammy Dennings Maggy is a multi-published poet and erotic romance author with Siren and Sassy Vixen Publishing. Her writing explores many facets of romance from ultimate betrayal to finding your soul mate. Her poetry serves as a companion to her novels and has inspired entire series all on their own. Tammy and her alter egos Lia Michaels and Stephanie Ryan make up the core authors at Sassy Vixen Publishing and together they've created the shared world series Temptations Resort. Look for the first books in that series to come out later this year.

Now happily married to her own Muse and soul mate, she continues to live her dream and act as secretary to all her characters demanding to have their stories told.

Check out:

Tammy's Website

Tammy's Blog

Tammy's Books on Bookstrand, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords,  and iTunes

Sassy VixenPublishing

Friend Tammy on Facebook

Like Tammy's Facebook Author Page

Friend Tammy on Goodreads

Friend Tammy on Pinterest

Follow Tammy on Twitter

Find Tammy's Videos on Youtube