Category Archives: Writing

Drop and give me four!

Posted on October 31, 2011 | 3 comments

Oh my gosh. I have been trying to read more Blogs lately, see what’s going on with the rest of the industry and other authors. I have seen a couple of names popping up in some of the same places as mine and I was more than a little annoyed with these people. Why, you ask? Of course you do!

Signature lines.

I know people consider signature lines a small thing, but not when they are 16 and 21 lines long. Seriously? Yes. That is the length of two sig lines that I keep seeing. In most cases, their sig lines are longer than their comments and in my opinion that is just rude. You may not care what I think, but consider other readers who look at all those lines and the fact that you felt the need to share every detail of your writing career with them on someone else’s Blog. Not cool, man.

After all these years on the Internet, I have discovered one thing holds true for almost all forums, groups, and the like. 4 lines. That’s FOUR max! In many cases, if you include more than 4 lines in your sig, moderators will delete your posts without them ever seeing the light of day. How do I know this? Experience.

Have you not learned from reading my blog that nearly everything I post about is based on my own personal experience?

So let’s be a little courteous to our fellow Bloggers and DROP those extra lines. Keep it simple. Need examples?

Karen L. Syed, President, Echelon Press LLC
http://www.echelonpress.com

or

Karen L. Syed, author of Devlin’s Wicked Wish
http://tinyurl.com/kls-dww-smash  (FREE)
Twitter: @echelonpress

or even

Karen L. Syed, President, Echelon Press LLC
http://www.echelonpress.com
author of Dark Shines My Love
http://tinyurl.com/kls-dsml-kindle

Click Cover to Dwnload FREE eBook

See how easy that is? If you are really clever you can turn your titles into buy links, but I like to use tinyurls in case there is a formatting issue, they can see what the links should be and I don’t miss out on potential sales. And it’s okay to make your sig lines a bit clever. After all, you are trying to attract people to t he information and clever works.

So here is your chance. Post your signature line in the comments here and at the end of the day I will choose the most cleverly implemented sig line and the winner will get a $5.00 Gift Certificate as my special Halloween treat (cause candy is bad for your teeth.)

So tell your friends to drop by this post for their chance to win.

3 Comments

Posted in Blatherings, Business, Just for Fun, Marketing, Writing

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If you can’t take the heat…

Posted on October 27, 2011 | 10 comments

Well, my morning started off pretty good, and just took a nosedive into the crapper. What I am about to tell you should not upset me, it should not even matter to me, but it does…for so many reasons.

Yesterday I was directed to a Blog post by a relatively new author who is documenting the marketing journey. I read through the Blog and was impressed with the information the author shared. I did, however, notice a few things that were a little short on info. I took a little while and posted a comment. I did praise the author, but I also suggested a few things that I thought might be helpful, like adding the email contact to the Blog so people could contact the author without having to go through a public comment. I made a few other suggestions, nothing bad, nothing too serious, nothing out of line.

I went back in today to check on the blog and see what was new and I discovered that my post has been deleted. There was no moderation (I’m pretty sure the post went up straight away), it is just gone. The only posts left up are the posts that specifically praise the author. This makes me sad and it leads me to my point.

If you can’t take the heat in the publishing industry stop publishing books. If you don’t want people to post their true thoughts and comments on your Blog, then don’t Blog. I am certain there are things that should be deleted, but a helpful and supportive comment isn’t one of them…especially from a publisher (not just me, ANY publisher.

I am a publisher. I do have things to share, and some of them actually have some value. But I can tell you, after this, I will think long and hard before I share any suggestions or advice with others–even if I think it will help them. My husband often tells me I am too giving with my knowledge and experience and that I should just let people learn things themselves, the hard way, like I did. I am beginning to think he might be right. He says I will help anyone with anything, but when I need help, I always get the cold shoulder. I just tell him it is the way the business works. But today has made me realize that this is not how it should work. You get what you give and quite honestly, I’m kinda tired of giving and not getting anything back.

Killer Cows by D.M. AndersonD.M. Anderson: I want to thank you for your comments this morning on my editing and to let you know how deeply they are appreciated. It makes this new bit of “life” a little easier to get past…in a minute…

You have earned a shameless plug for your book.

[OmniLit][Kindle][KindleUK][KindleGE][KindleFR]

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time. You should read for yourself!

10 Comments

Posted in Blatherings, Business, Just for Fun, Marketing, Writing

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Get the Hell Off My Stage

Posted on October 21, 2011 | 6 comments

Okay, it has been a while since I posted a note ranting about something that annoys me. Shocking, I know! Today’s rant was going to be about wonderful husbands who piss you off, but I am opting not to go that route at this point. Instead, I want to talk about Social Networking Etiquette.

If you know me, you know that I am a HUGE advocate for social networking, both for personal and professional purposes. When I’m not moving, I can almost always be found on either Facebook or Twitter (Tweetdeck). As a person, I find it very cool to interact and chat with others who may or may not share any common ground with me. Most of the news/current events I get are from Tweets. I don’t like to read the news or watch it on TV, but I probably need to know what is going on in the world, so I watch the tweets.

Click Cover to Buy eBook at Smashwords

My other favorite place to be is Facebook. I use this both personally (Family Tree connections) and for business. As a publisher and an author, it is crucial that people know me and what I write and publish. Facebook works for me. What doesn’t work for me is other authors who shake their groove thang on my stage. I do not go to other people’s pages and leave shameless snippets of promotion about my books. I just don’t do it. If I post to someone else’s wall it is either personal or something funny or awesome that I thought they would enjoy. I know for a fact that they would NOT enjoy me promoting Dark Shines My Love on their wall. It is much the same as you bringing your tuba playing son to my daughter’s ballet recital. Okay, your son may not play the tuba and I don’t have a daughter, but you see my point. Right?

So why would you friend me on Facebook and then start leaving links and excerpts for your book on my wall? Why? Do you want me to unfriend you? Do you do this to everyone? Leave a comment about something relative and add a link (one link) to your website, fine. I can live with that, even encourage it. But nothing more.

The other thing is groups. If I want to be a member of your group, I will seek it out and join. Do not take it upon yourself to add me to your group because you think I will enjoy it. I can promise you I won’t, and it will just make me post nasty comments about you. I know, not professional, but neither is assuming someone wants to do something without giving them a choice. Delete it, you say. Unjoin, you say. Why should I have to take that time out of my schedule to undo something I didn’t do in the first place?

I beg of you, please think things through before you do them online. It isn’t rocket science, it is just common courtesy.

So, now that I have ranted, tell me what you hate others to do on social networking sites.

6 Comments

Posted in Blatherings, Business, Just for Fun