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Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award--Cupcakes, Pies and Hot Guys makes it through the first round!

We're having a big month: first Nancy G. West's Fit To Be Dead is nominated for a Lefty, and now Booknook.biz client Pamela DuMond's Cupcakes, Pies and Hot Guys makes it through the first round of Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award. 

About the Book that we're rooting for, here at Booknook: "Annie Graceland's a baker with a pinch of psychic ability. She's empathic--can feel other people's lusts and desires in her own body. No biggie if she experiences someone else's cravings for dark chocolate or a foot massage. But Annie's recently acquired a spookier skill--she can see and talk to ghosts. Much to her dismay, they can also talk to her--nagging her incessantly to solve their murders.

Annie's happily dating hunky Detective Raphael Campillio in Los Angeles, when her mom signs her up to be a judge at Wisconsin's first annual Hot Guys Contest. Who cares if it's 4th of July weekend with scorching temperatures? It's a free trip home to Wisconsin. She can visit family and friends on someone else's dime. What could possibly go wrong? When hometown Hot Guy, Mr. Oconomowoc, is killed and doesn't pass to the Afterlife, he begs Annie to investigate his murder. Now she's not only a pageant judge, but also meddling with suspects that include her former high school rival, an old boyfriend, Hot Guy contestants, a supermodel and a mysterious illegal betting ring. It doesn't help that Detective Jamie Ryan, a boy from Annie's past, is all grown up, sexy as sin, and determined to make her fall for him. Annie's about to discover that going back home could be sweet as frosting or a cake wreck. The temperature's rising at the Hot Guys Contest..."

And it's rising at Amazon, too! Good luck, Pam! Sound good to you? Get the book by clicking here http://amzn.to/15dcebf!

Nancy G. West's Aggie Mundeen mystery, Fit to Be Dead, has been nominated for the Lefty Award,

...which has been given annually since 1996 for the best humorous mystery novel of the year.

Nancy G. West's Aggie Mundeen mystery was shortlisted along with five others for the prize, whose winner will be announced at the Left Coast Crime Conference in Colorado Springs in March. The conference is held annually in Western North American cities and on the west coast of England (Bristol) and Hawaii (Waikoloa).

The nomination is decided on by voting from approximately 1,200 conference attendees, which include some of the most enthusiastic readers of crime fiction in the US and UK.

"I'm thrilled to be a finalist for this award because it's voted on by mystery fans," said West, a resident of San Antonio and Seguin. 

West wrote the biography of San Antonio artist, Jose Vives-Atsara. Her suspense novel, Nine Days to Evil, received the Blether Gold Award, and Friends of the San Antonio Public Library honored her with the 2012 Arts and Letters Award for her contribution to writing. The second Aggie Mundeen mystery, Dang Near Dead, has been recently released.

Past winners of the Lefty include Janet Evanovich and Elaine Viets.  If you want to see what all the fuss is about, check it out on Amazon.com:  Go to:  Fit To Be Dead

Steve explains how to compose an effective profile bio, what #hashtags are, why you should use links, and offers up examples of good, bad, and ugly self-promotional tweets.

1. Create an informative, concise, and unique bio.

You want potential followers to know who you are, what you do, and why you do it, without appearing arrogant, hasty, or a bore. Think like a (micro)journalist: answer the obligatory who? what? when? where? and why? as briefly as possible. Alternatively, think like you're filling out an online dating application. What kind of followers are you trying to attract? Bloggers? Reviewers? Agents? Readers? Ex-cons? Marine Biologists?

Example of a good profile bio:

Ellen Jones   @ellenjones
Oakland-based motorcycle rider and author of the Jane Smith YA mystery series. Read more about Jane's latest adventures: www.janegoestowashington.thebook.com

Why this bio is good:

It tells us that a woman (presumably) named Ellen lives in California, likes to do crazy things like ride motorcycles (without obnoxiously proclaiming "I'm wild! I ride motorcycles!"), and writes a mystery series of young adult novels about a girl named Jane who most recently took on Washington. If I'm curious, I can click on her link for more information. Short and sweet.

Example of a bad profile:

Joe Smith   @joesmithcool
My name is Joe Smith. I am an author. I have written 4 books. Two were published with Book Publishing, Inc. One is self-published because I'm trying to stick it to The Man! My books are, without a doubt, some of the bestest books in the whole wide world!!! Read more about "The Awesome Series" (including tons of 5-star reviews) on Amazon!!

Why this bio is bad:

It tells us that an author named Joe Smith has written 4 books, is bitter about the fact that only 2 of them were traditionally published, and is (likely unfoundedly) convinced that he's an extraordinary writer. The extraneous exclamation points take up unnecessary space and suggest he might secretly be a 6th grade girl. I know the title of his book series, but if I want to read it, I have to search for it on my own. This bio is long-winded, immature, and ineffectual.

2. Self-promotional tweets

When tweeting to promote to your followers, be it an event you're publicizing, a blog entry you'd like them to read, or a product you'd like them to buy, tread carefully. In a world ripe with bombarding advertisement, it's difficult to convince people that your self-promotion is any different from or better than everyone else's self-promotion. Make it your goal to pique interest. Promote creatively, humbly, and concisely. Come up with 140-character phrases that would make even the busiest, pickiest reader just have to know more.

And... Never underestimate the value of hyperlinks and hashtags.

For the uninitiated, a hashtag consists of a # sign followed by a word or words that categorize a tweet (no spaces in between). #books denotes a tweet about a book or books. #Obama2012 denotes a tweet about Obama's reelection campaign, including event listings, press coverage, and commentary. Anyone can employ any hashtag at any time. Hashtags that are trending as I write (you can find trends on the left hand side of your Twitter home page) include #MayWeather, denoting tweets about thunderstorms and sunshine, and #AJBurnett, denoting tweets about whatever sport that dude is playing right now.

Hashtags authors commonly use:

#books
#ebooks
#kindle
#nook
#amreading
#mustread
#read
#bookclub

Hashtags useful in promoting KDP free days:

#freekindlebook
#freebooks
#freeebook (that's "free ebook")
#free

Why these hashtags will help you:

If I'm searching for a new book to read, I can type "#books," for example, in the search field located in Twitter's upper right hand menu. Twitter will send me to a page listing all tweets including the hashtag #books, whether I'm following those users or not. If I'm looking for a replacement for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I've just finished reading, I can search for #thriller, #crimenovel, or #SteigLarsson.

This search feature works for promoters as well. If I've just written a crime novel I would compare to Larsson's series, I can run searches for those books in Twitter and use hashtags I find in my own future tweets, such as #MillenniumTrilogy.

Apart from using by the book (no pun intended) categorical hashtags, use your imagination in your tweets! Don't be afraid to be funny.

Bad self-promotional tweet:

Back to Basics is free today! Please Retweet you guys! I love you!

Why this tweet is bad:

It's lacking information. Remember that people use Twitter for various reasons, not just to find books they'd just like to buy and read and share with their friends. We have no idea what "Back to Basics" is. A book? A work-out video? Even if I were to assume Back to Basics is this author's book, there's no link to it, which means I'd have to search for it. Then he asks me to retweet to my followers with the additional qualifier that he loves me. Not only am I annoyed, I'm a little creeped out.

Good self-promotional tweet:

#freekindlebook: Back to Basics www.amazon.com/backtobasicsbook A case for resuscitating the electric #car. #books #nonfiction #amreading #green #energy #algore #hybrids #free

Why this tweet is good:

Right off the bat, it informs followers that the tweet is about a free kindle book. It gives the book's title, a direct link to where it can be purchased, and a phrase explaining what the book is about. Hashtags in the tweet explain that the product is a book, is nonfiction, and pertains to energy policy, green energy, that it is related to hybrid vehicles, and that it is a free product.

More examples of good self-promotional tweets:

Now out on #kindle: #Murder in #Miami, the 2nd #book in the Jan Austin #mystery series: www.amazon.com/janaustinbooks #chicklit #femalesleuth #romance #florida #mustread

Is #Twitter REALLY an effective tool for #selfpromotion? An interview with #selfpub #author @JackieJCollins www.interviewjackie.com

"Joe Jones does it again. Before There Was #Coffee is #hilarious & #moving. A page-turner to the last drop." www.link.com #books #satire #humor #capitalism #starbucks

Non-promotional tweets:

Don't use Twitter only to sell yourself! Think of it as a bar conversation with an acquaintance. Retweet (denoted by "RT") tweets you're interested in by large publications and individuals, ask your followers questions, find common ground with other Twitter users, start conversations with those you follow, make small talk about day-to-day happenings. You wouldn't talk incessantly about your job or divulge gory details about your recent divorce to the stranger sipping a beer on the bar stool to your right; don't do it on Twitter, either.

3. Quick Tips:

Twitter now has a built-in link shortener, which automatically codes your hyperlinks to take up no more than 20 characters. This means you can copy and paste links without having to worry about losing precious characters.

Running out of room in a tweet? Can't figure out how to shorten it any further? Replace "and"s with "&," and compound words w/ (hint!) contractions.

Although this is bittersweet news for us--as we'll be losing a client--it's amazing news for those of you out there toiling on your Indy- and self-published books.  L.J. Sellers, one of the very first Booknook.biz clients for conversion to Kindle and ePUB formats, has just been offered an 11-book contract with Amazon.  Amazon bought her entire backlist of nine novels, plus the next two she'll write.  Even more excitement--Amazon is planning to produce translations, hardbacks, etc., of LJ's bestselling Detective Jackson novels. 

L.J. left her small publisher over four years ago and struck out on her own--and it looks like she made the right choice.  She worked hard, wrote well, and sweated blood and tears marketing her series.  Now Amazon, as her publisher, will obviously take that series and her writing career to a whole new tier.  Our deepest (although sad) congratulations to you, L.J.!

You can read L.J.'s announcement here, on the Crime Fiction Collective Blog (to which we both contribute); if you want to read some of LJ's books on Amazon, you can start by clicking here to go to her Author page.  Want to try the book that started it all?  Give The Sex Club a whirl--and see if you're not caught up right away.

Well done, L.J.--The Crew and Oompa Loompas here at Booknook wish you the best--and I hope to see you at Bouchercon this year. 

Due to overwhelming request, we've begun migrating our previously private, "available only to Booknook.biz customers" Resources section--over 80 links and sites helpful to the Indy Published author--to our FAQ.  As part of this effort, we're adding our resources a bit at a time, focusing heavily at first on marketing tools and techniques as well as other areas (like cover designers, how to create/obtain a cover template, how to work with Twitter articles, etc.) 

Today's addition--someone well known to many of you--is Jeffrey Marks, award-winning novelist, marketing and publicity Guru, and his most recent Kindle Book, the Fourth Edition of his immensely popular "Intent to Sell:  Marketing the Genre Novel." 

For those of you who don't know Jeff, he's not talking out of his hat; he's won a number of awards including the Anthony in 2009 for his Anthony Boucher biography; Barnes and Noble Prize; he has been nominated for an Edgar (MWA), an Agatha (Malice Domestic), a Maxwell award (DWAA), and an Anthony award (Bouchercon).   We're delighted to mention that  Booknook.biz produced this fourth version for him, in digital (ePUB and MOBI) formats, but having disclosed this--we'd be recommending Jeff, his novels, his book on Marketing and his book-promotion-related classes highly regardless. 

For more information on Jeff's book, his personalized courses and available video instruction, please "click on over" to our AWEsome FAQ.  Feel free, whilst in the FAQ, to rummage around, use the search (see the little magnifying glass icon at the upper-right-hand-side of the menubar) for any relevant articles, and enjoy yourself.  We're happy to take suggestions for other article categories and specific topics.

Thanks--and we hope that you enjoy Jeff and his works as much as we do!

One of our favorite clients, Tom Gates, author of Wayward, is celebrating this week; his book has just topped the charts at iBooks, holding down the #1 spot in Travel Books, doing so in a matter of a mere few weeks. Tom talks about his book and experience in this interview in Matador. (n.b.: adult language in the interview). The book is knocking them dead on iBooks as well as Amazon, climbing to Amazon's top-ten in "travel essays," although that description doesn't do it service. Witty, charming, (and a hoot to work with), Tom shows how self-publishing can be the road forward--and a successful one, at that--for those of you with unheard voices.

Tom was also kind enough to give old Booknook.biz a plug, for which we are, of course, grateful.

To find Tom's book on your Amazon Kindle, you can click-thru this link: Wayward: Fetching Tales from a Year on the Road. Don't miss this one!

How To Get Started With SocialOomph

Go to socialoomph.com to sign up for an account, which requires a username of your choice, password, email address, and a preferred time zone from which future updates will launch. You may sign up for a free account or a month-long free trial of a professional account.

Go to socialoomph.com to sign up for an account, which requires a username of your choice, password, email address, and a preferred time zone from which future updates will launch. You may sign up for a free account or a month-long free trial of a professional account.

Starting With Twitter

To synch your existing twitter account with your newly created socialoomph account, sign in and navigate via the blue menu on the left-hand side of the homepage. Conveniently, you will always be able to see this blue menu, and presumably, avoid getting lost. Scroll down to "Social Accounts." Select this option and you will be asked to authorize SocialOomph to activate your Twitter account. Once your authorization is confirmed (via email), you may begin to schedule new updates.

To schedule a new Twitter update, within the blue main menu, select "Schedule New Update." A page will appear front and center enabling you to compose the text of a future tweet, including a button to the left that shortens URLs (links) within the SocialOomph system "in-house" (This way, you can avoid using an outside link shortener, like bit.ly).

After you've reached no more than 140 characters, you can opt to:

• save the text update as a draft
• publish the update right now
• publish the update a selected number of hours from now
• or "publish at this exact date and time": you specify in the provided box

Below this update information and possible options, click on the Twitter account name you would like the update to apply to, and click the "save" button. 

To Get Started With Automation

To automate recurring messages (set the same messages to tweet itself several times a day or week), and to be able to schedule @Replies within SocialOomph (to tweet a message to a specific Twitter user), you must update to SocialOomph Professional. In the professional service of this section, you will see these features in plain view on this "Schedule New Update" page.

To automate followers, set up automatic welcome messages, and manage your @Replies Digest Email, go to "Social Accounts" in the main menu, and in the drop-down menu select "Manage Accounts." You will now see your SocialOomph-affiliated Twitter accounts in a grid, with specified automated options.

Across the top from left to right, you can see:

• the total number of updates scheduled through SocialOomph (TOT)
• the number of unpublished scheduled updates (Q'D)
• whether you've automated a welcome message to new followers (MSG)
• whether you have authorized to automatically follow those who follow you (FLW)
• whether you have chosen to vet all your followers (VET)
• whether you have opted to automatically unfollow certain followers (UNF)
• and whether you have set up an @Replies digest to receive email notifications of twitter users sending you messages via @Reply.

To edit any of these features, click on "Edit" under the "Actions" box in the grid at the far right. Here, you can check/un-check "Auto Welcome" to send automated welcome messages to new followers; below this option, you may write your welcome message. Note: some savvy networking/marketing types suggest that your AutoWelcome message be some sort of clever question, which, depending on your purposes for using Twitter, might enable you to better facilitate conversation with your followers (i.e.: Thanks for following! What is your #1 reason for tweeting?")

Below the auto welcome section, you can check or un-check "Auto Follow" to automatically follow new followers. Alternatively, you can check or un-check "Vet Followers" to receive an email when a person follows you, placing the automation of a new follower on hold for 3 days so that you can manually approve or reject the action. If you have checked this option, in order to edit new followers, go to the left-hand main menu, and click on "Followers/Friends." Select "Vet Followers/Friends" in the drop down menu. Here you will see a list of new followers, which you can choose to follow/unfollow. You may also select "Settings" in the middle of the page to set specific parameters regarding what kinds of followers you do or do not follow, for example, based on how long that Twitter account has been in use, how active it is, etc. Presumably, this helps you filter out Twitter accounts that are likely to spam.

At the bottom of this page is an "Optional @Replies Digest Email" option. To receive an email notification from SocialOomph every time a Twitter user mentions you in their feed as an @Reply, click the "Email me an @replies digest" box.

To keep track of how many new followers you may or may not have, go to the main menu, then go down to "Social Accounts," and click "Automation Stats" in the drop down menu. Here, SocialOomph tells you how many new followers you have and how many new DirectMessages have gone out to your new followers, and how many messages are pending. These stats change every 10 hours, and SocialOomph specifies in this section how much time is left before the next turnaround in counting followers.

Using SocialOomph's free account, you may also monitor your followers by category and set up email alerts by keyword. In the main menu, go down to "Monitors" then click on Channels > View Channels. With a free account, you can view the updates of those you follow by categories provided by SocialOomph, i.e., you can view only updates pertaining to "Breaking News," "Twitter Management," or "Entertainment." To view and/or change these channels, click on the drop down arrow at the top of the page and select a channel, or upgrade to a professional account to create your own channels.

To monitor happenings on Twitter via keyword, go down to "Monitors" in the main menu then click on "Keyword Alert Emails" in the drop down menu. On the main page, you can now list keywords you would like SocialOomph to keep track of among those you follow, and you can specify how often you'd like to receive an alert by email. You can choose to use the "Power Keyword Wizard" located at the top of this page to set up exact phrases of keywords, searches by hashtag, language, specific people, and locations. This feature allows you to keep track of trends on Twitter and interact more efficiently with those you follow and those who follow you, without the burden of staying logged in to Twitter all day every day.

Too Busy For Social Media?

In a day and age in which it is deemed important to both personal and professional networking/marketing to be consistently plugged into social networks, those of you who have other things to do (and I would hope that's most) may want to sign up for SocialOomph or HootSuite, both social network mass-management tools.  I mean, who has time to watch 7 different open tabs in a browser, trying to find out if a Twitter user is talking about their book, while someone else on Facebook is discussing a topic that's at the heart of their novel? 

Below is a list of websites, ezines, and blogs, whose contributors post more in-depth reviews of featured books and ebooks. Again, the sites are ranked by Alexa number: the lower the number, the more popular the site. You can submit your work to all of them, although it goes without saying that a submission will not necessarily result in a review, favorable or otherwise!

• http://blogcritics.org/books/ 12,356: Features book reviews and ebook reviews, separately.
• http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/category/ebooks/ 110,388: A site that reviews romance books, with a smattering of other genres.
• http://www.bookslut.com/ 207,831: A monthly web magazine and daily blog dedicated to reading: news, reviews, and commentary, and unofficially affiliated with NPR. To submit a book: http://www.bookslut.com/contact.php
• http://blog.booksontheknob.org/ 246,176: A site featuring and alerting readers to bargain reads, free ebooks, and providing ebook reviews. For review: http://blog.booksontheknob.org/p/about-this-blog-and-contact-info.html
• http://kindle-author.blogspot.com 284,485: A blog for self-published kindle authors, run by a self-published kindle author. He provides author features, interviews, posts "sponsored posts" by guest writers, and opportunities to advertise on his site.
• http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Welcome.html 368,716: A site that reviews romance novels. http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/reviewsguidelines.html
• http://theunreadreader.com 696,089: A blog that reviews bound and e-books, focusing on chick lit, contemporary, dystopian, paranormal, romance, urban fantasy, and young adult; does not accept nonfiction or self-pub. Submission directions here: http://www.theunreadreader.com/p/review-policy.html
• http://www.bestsellersworld.com/ 946,785: A network of reviewers that provides book reviews and giveaways. http://www.bestsellersworld.com/book_review_submission.htm
• http://www.kindleobsessed.com/ 1,082,187: A blog that reviews self-published and indie authors and posts lists of free ebooks. Submit for review here: http://www.kindleobsessed.com/review-request/
• http://www.mrsgiggles.com/index.html 1,151,918: A site that reviews ebooks, mostly of the romantic fiction genre, and sometimes movies and music.
• http://bookdout.wordpress.com/ 1,429,032: A blog that reviews print books and ebooks (that can be accessed on ipod touch), with a preference for general fiction, women's fiction, cosy mystery, psychological thriller, murder mystery, crime, humor, paranormal/urban fantasy, and romance.
• http://candysraves.com/ 1,649,793: A blog that reviews books and ebooks, with an emphasis on memoirs, women's fiction, light paranormal, crime novels, time travel novels, horror/suspense/thriller, and selected YA. Reviews are posted on the site, as well as on Goodreads, Smashwords, and Amazon.
• http://thebookbuff.blogspot.com/ 1,705,165: A blog that reviews all books and ebooks of any genre but erotica. Submissions: http://thebookbuff.blogspot.com/p/review-guidelines.html
• http://acozyreaderscorner.blogspot.com/ 1,773,601: A blog that reviews books in hard copy (preferred) but also ebooks on a limited basis, with a focus on women's fiction/chick lit, romance, literary and historical fiction, Christian fiction, YA, children's literature, memoirs, and cookbooks.
• http://bitsybling.blogspot.com/ 2,130,000: A blog that reviews books and ebooks of any genre. Submissions: http://bitsybling.blogspot.com/p/review-policy.html
• http://booklog.eternalised.net/ 2,586,781: A book review blog featuring adult and YA fantasy novels, paranormal, supernatural, and historical genres. http://booklog.eternalised.net/review-policy/
• www.dailyebookreviews.com/ 2,951,890: A blog that reviews fiction ebooks, with an emphasis on science fiction, horror, fantasy, and thrillers, and spotlights an author weekly.
• http://twoendsofthepen.blogspot.com 3,118,843: Fantasy/sci fi co-writers team up to review books, conduct author interviews, and post guest blogs. Submit for feature and/or pay for a slot on a "spotlight page" here: http://twoendsofthepen.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
• http://busybeesbookreviews.blogspot.com/ 3,418,571: A blog that reviews books of most genres and offers author interviews. Submission information: http://busybeesbookreviews.blogspot.com/p/review-policy.html (note:  this blog moved, use the LATTER URL; this WAS "Flying off the Shelves), updated 7/5/2015
• http://thebooxreview.com/about 3,705,955: A site that posts of reviews of new ebooks by an in-house reviewer, and posts readers' submitted book reviews.
• http://www.thesundaybookreview.com/ 3,947,099: A site that reviews thriller, crime, true crime, and mystery, as well as provides indie pub news, guest posts, and interviews.
• http://spaldings-racket.blogspot.com/ 3,990,280: A blog run by author named Nick Spalding who reviews books of all genres. Submit your books here: http://spaldings-racket.blogspot.com/p/submitting-your-book-to-spaldings.html
• http://smashwordsreviewed.blogspot.com 5,009,611: A blog that features indie authors, reviews new books, interviews authors, and hosts guest reviewers of all genres.
• http://www.ebookaddictreviews.com/ 5,406,299: A team of reviewers that reviews romance ebooks.
• http://thecajunbooklady.com 6,227,261: A blog featuring book reviews, author interviews, and giveaways. Submit books here: http://www.thecajunbooklady.com/p/reviewing-policy-ftc.html
• http://elizabethswigar.wordpress.com/ 8,056,568: A blog dedicated to reviewing Kindle formatted ebooks, open to all genres, but particularly interested in historical fiction.  http://elizabethswigar.wordpress.com/submit/
• http://novelcritic.com: Reviews published and self-published novels of any genre.

Again, we also recommend considering using other resources, to find Amazon Top Reviewers, and to inquire--directly, politely and showing that you've actually read their reviews--of them for reviews. 

Contacting Bloggers for Review

Jenny Blake suggests that you, the conscientious self-marketing author, make a list of potential bloggers to contact for review and/or feature of a newly published book.