Becoming a Book Blogger - Design Considerations

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today, we're going into design considerations for your blog. Step four in becoming a book blogger. I do hope you're getting excited as you follow along and create your blog. By now, you've chosen a name, have a URL, and have picked a publishing platform. More than that, you have your review policies (what you will and won't review and how to submit)! You should also be a little bit familiar with your hosting service. This post is going into your blog design (layout) and content. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First, a recap of the past posts and what's coming:

• Choosing a Name and Review Policy
• Branding Yourself With Imagery
• Picking a Platform for Publishing
• Design Considerations (you're there now)
• Structuring Your Rating System
• Building an Audience - Social Media Crazy
• Writing Reviews
• Money, You Say?

Now, take a close look at my blog. You'll see there's a background that encompasses my logo and color/design scheme. On the sidebar, I don't have a ton of clutter for folks to wade through. One thing I have going on right now is my UtopYA con author interview posts. Because of that, I have two additional images on the right hand side. But, as you can see, my subscribe box is above the fold (this is referencing the part of your blog that's visible before the scroll).

Moving on down, you'll see another couple of ways to follow me and my posts (you do want your blog to be read, right?), then it goes right into my archive. Not having an archive where people can browse your past posts isn't a good idea. You want them to stay and look around a while.

Let's go back to the top!

You see my banner telling you what my blog is about, then a set of links I think are pertinent for everyone on social media to make as easy to find as possible. Note they're above the fold.

Because I'm OCD, and my blog is my haven for all the information I impart to my fellow Indie authors, I have a categorized link list. This is a whole separate page on my blog I use to sort posts into categories (with a little snap of what the post is about) so people don't have to wade through my archive to find specific information.

But my blog loads fast on a browser. Six seconds. Ideally, you want five or less, but I'm okay with six. I've visited blogs that took over a minute to load because there was all this extra "stuff" all over them. I waited, but only to take a look at the mess, click away, and never return.

You have about fifteen seconds to catch someone's attention. They won't wait much longer than that (if they wait at all). So, keep the clutter down and increase your load times.

Black text on a white background in an easy to read font is the next thing you need to consider for your design. If you make it hard to read your posts, people will be turned off and not come back.

You want them to come back. That's why you're blogging.

Make sure all your stuff is harmonious. Not that everything has to be identical, but when someone clicks on the link to your Twitter page, make sure it at least resembles your blog, website (if you choose to have one), and Facebook page. Don't let them doubt they've found the person they're looking for.

The Chicken Coop can have one chicken image on their blog, a different one on Facebook and Twitter, and still another on their website, and (as long as the look and feel is the same) they'll connect the dots.

Remember your name! If you've chosen The Chicken Coop for your blog, be @TheChickenCoop on Twitter as well. Be facebook.com/TheChickenCoop or facebook.com/ChickenCoop. Sign up for TheChickenCoop [at] gmail!

Be consistent and keep it simple.

If you want a couple more tips and tricks on making your public appearance gel, grab my free PDF on branding here. Feel free to download, study, read, print, and redistribute at your leisure. As long as you don't charge for it, I'm good.

What do you think? Have you built up your blog yet? Got any subscribers?

Go on and get those signup boxes going! I'll be back later in the week with advice on structuring your rating system.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Becoming a Book Blogger - Picking a Posting Platform

Happy Monday, everyone! We're continuing on our journey to you becoming a book blogger. If you've been following along and working with me, you'll have a review blog name, policies, and an idea of your branding imagery. Today, I'm gonna talk about choosing a platform. No, I'm not gonna choose a platform for you, this is just gonna be an introduction to the various ones out there. Once you find a blogging platform you like and it's easy for you to use, then you go get a book on how to use the darn thing and go from there (there's a great one at the library - title to come at the end of the post). Grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

As always, a little recap of the series and links to previous days:

• Choosing a Name and Review Policy
• Branding Yourself With Imagery
• Picking a Platform for Publishing (you're there now)
• Design Considerations
• Structuring Your Rating System
• Building an Audience - Social Media Crazy
• Writing Reviews
• Money, You Say?

Now we can get into the various platforms available for you to choose from. These links will take you to the main page for each service. There are no affiliate links on the Jo Michaels blog, so you can click freely here. I get paid when I see you being successful.

FREE Blogging Platforms

• Blogger
• WordPress
• Anchor
• Tumblr
• Weebly

PAID Blogging Platforms

• SquareSpace
• Typepad

How to choose? Well, go check each one out! Play with them or take a peek around their control decks. See which one is the most user friendly and customizable for your needs.

Maybe you'll want to have more than one. I have two: Blogger and Tumblr. Each has a very different audience, but readers nonetheless. Like choosing anything, go with the one that makes you the most comfortable and won't have you tearing your hair out after a few hours of setup time. Still not sure what you're doing? Call someone who does or check out these books from your local library:

Blogging for Creatives: How Designers, Artists, Crafters and Writers can blog to make contacts, win business and build success. by Robin Houghton
and
Blogging all in One: For Dummies by Susan Gunelius

Speaking of libraries! You can find books in the how-to section on almost everything having to do with blogs.

Moving on!

Now that you've chosen your platform, go register your new blog name (get your URL - something like TheChickenCoop.blogspot.com) and get your pages set up. At this point, you should have at least two pages: Home (where your blog posts are) and Review Policies. Get those two up and going, and we'll go into design choices you'll make for your blog tomorrow.

Baby steps!

What's your preferred blogging platform? Why?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Becoming a Book Blogger - Branding Yourself with Imagery

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Continuing on with my Becoming a Book Blogger series, today I'm gonna talk about choosing the imagery to go with your name. If you've been with me so far, you have a great name picked out, a tagline, and a review policy. As I stated yesterday, I'll be using The Chicken Coop as the name for the example review blog. Grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Recap!

• Choosing a Name and Review Policy
• Branding Yourself With Imagery (you're there now)
• Picking a Platform for Publishing
• Design Considerations
• Structuring Your Rating System
• Building an Audience - Social Media Crazy
• Writing Reviews
• Money, You Say?

When considering branding yourself with imagery, keep this post in mind. While you want to be different and exciting, be sure you aren't cluttering your blog up with stuff that'll keep it from loading quickly. Remember, you have three to five seconds to make an impression. Use it wisely.

Here's a quicky for The Chicken Coop Book Reviews:

Now, this doesn't take into account any kind of color scheme you may have going on, and you may want a smart looking chicken, standing up, reading a book behind the banner, but you get the idea. This will matter when we get to structuring your rating system, too. Themes are fun!

Monday, we'll go into picking a platform to host your amazeblog.

What do you think? Are you coming up with some great ideas? Want to share?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Becoming a Book Blogger - Naming and Policies

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today, we're continuing the series on how to become a book blogger. Why am I doing this series? Because I've had so many people come up to me and tell me they're readers that consume at least three to four books a week, and don't write reviews for those books. What a loss for all those Indie authors out there! I know I'd give my book to someone who wanted to read and review it, and there are plenty of us out there who need those reviews. So, for those of you who love to read and have ever considered starting to write reviews, this series is for you. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First, a recap of the series:

• Choosing a Name and Review Policy (you're there now)
• Branding Yourself With Imagery
• Picking a Platform for Publishing
• Design Considerations
• Structuring Your Rating System
• Building an Audience - Social Media Crazy
• Writing Reviews
• Money, You Say?

I'm starting with choosing a name because that's something that'll probably take you the longest, define your brand, and what everything else will follow. It's the single most important thing you have to consider. If you aren't creative like that, here are a couple of cool names not yet in use:

The Chicken Coop
Flower Power
The Book Gardener
Razing the Page

All of those can have awesome taglines that tell potential readers you're a book blog and here's why. Of course, The Chicken Coop would probably center on Hen-Lit. *grin* I'll use this name for the duration of the series for example purposes.

So, make a list of potential names and do a Google search to find out if the ones you like are already in use. When you find a suitable one, come up with your tag line (something like The Chicken Coop - Scratching Around for Great Books) and write it all down.

A WORD OF WARNING: Book bloggers are very protective of their babies. Don't steal a name from someone else or create a name that's too similar to one that exists. You'll be in for a war. Consider the information imparted.

Once you have your new, exciting name chosen, start on writing out your review policy.

This is for authors who find your blog or website, like your review/rating system, and want you to review their book. They need to know how to submit to you, how long it may take you to review the book, and your policy on rating books you can't finish (do you leave them alone or review and say you couldn't finish and why). How do you choose among the hundreds of submissions you get?

Also write a disclaimer about what you do when you're unable to finish or review a book. Will you contact the author privately, or will the title just fall away into the ether? No one really likes to coast along without knowing if they'll be reviewed or not, so be sure you're clear.

I think I've given you enough to think about for one day, so get busy and get that name chosen!

Anything you book bloggers might want to add about naming or policies?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

How To: Start a Book Review Blog - Series on Becoming a Book Blogger Introduction

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm giving you some information about a new post series that'll walk you through the steps of creating your very own book review blog. So, if you haven't subscribed yet, and you're interested in reading great, free books (and making money doing it) get on it. You may subscribe on the right ------------>

For this first of many posts to come on this topic, I'm giving you all a topic list that'll be updated as we go through the process. Why? Well, it's so I can show one link (to this page) and folks can find the information they're looking for. I love simplicity and organization (yeah, have you seen my link list?). Haha! In order, here are the post topics I'll be covering:

• Choosing a Name
• Branding Yourself With Imagery
• Picking a Platform for Publishing
• Design Considerations
• Structuring Your Rating System
• Building an Audience - Social Media Crazy
• Writing Reviews
• Money, You Say?

When you see the following image, you'll know you're on one of the building a blog pages:

I can't wait to get started. May the odds be ever in your favor!

What do you think? Interested?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Marketing Advice via Bella Roccaforte

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm continuing my post about what I learned from UtopYA Con 2014. I started it yesterday, but I'm interviewing for new editors over at INDIE Books Gone Wild and it's time-consuming. Apologies! First, a little bit of information about how I met Bella Roccaforte and what I learned from her. Put down your coffee (Gasp! Did I just say that?), grab your pens and notebooks, and let's get going; because this is going to be epic.

I met Bella at UtopYA Con and we quickly realized we're from the same area in Georgia (North Atlanta). Because I am who I am, I talked about everything marketing. Getting off the elevator, she turns and says, "You should go to the Amazon marketing panel tomorrow. I'll be there."

After all she told me over the previous hour, I would've broken an ankle to get to that panel. So, I went. It wasn't long before Bella found herself ushered to the front table by the moderator.

Things I learned:

• Stay off your book's Amazon splash page. Every click that doesn't equal a sale, gets put into the algorithms (not in a good way).
• Don't make the first book in a series free until you've written at least three. This gives you a loss-leader that starts your sales funnel.
• Keywords matter. Don't hunt for your Amazon keywords in Google (not the same search engine, ya know?).

Pretty cool, right?

Now, most Indie authors have day jobs or other things they do besides writing. Bella happens to be an SEO analyst. After the con was over, she shared the following post with us:

Links that Every Indie Author Should Know

You must go check out that post. You can thank me later.

What was the last thing you learned from someone when you weren't intending to?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Meta-Data for Books, Videos, and a Chance to Pick My Brain

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm gonna talk to you a little about meta-data for your books, show you a couple of videos, and tell you about a chance you have to ask me a question about writing, editing, self-publishing, or marketing. So grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Meta-Data for Your Books

What is meta-data? Namely, it's data that you can't see but has an impact on web search results. It's part of SEO (search engine optimization), and not something you should be skipping over when creating your novel. We're all familiar with tags and keywords on Amazon, Smashwords, Createspace, etc... But! Did you know you have keyword (description tags) available to you in MS Word? Best of all: There's no limit to how many you can use!

Screenshot time! I bet you're all familiar with this:

Now, that's awesome, right? You put in the document title, click save, and off to the races you go! But look a little closer and pay attention to the arrows:

Each of those is a field you can put meta-data into. Just click on them and they'll open like this:

Best part? If you've used certain tags previously, it suggests them. All you have to do is tick the check-box. Once you're done with the author name (it will auto-populate your user name on your computer), add tags and a title. When you're done, it'll look like this:

Then you can click save and all that beautiful, digital information will be embedded in the book file. How cool is that?

See? You had a tool and most likely weren't using it.

Why does it matter? Well, we all know what tags are and how they function on Amazon, right? Think about how many more you'll get with this function. Roll that around in your mind for a moment.

Ahhhhh, I can see the lights upstairs come on from all the way over here! Now you know.

Moving on...

Videos!

I promised you a couple of videos, so here you go:





Those were fun, huh? Yeah, that's a book trailer for I, Zombie and one for Chasing Shadows.

Okay! On to the next topic!

Your Chance to Pick My Brain

Natasha Hanova is hosting a Q&A session with me on her blog. I've agreed to take five industry related questions from readers. This is your chance to get an answer to a question you have (that you can't find the answer to here).

If you'd like to put a question in the hat, either comment below or DM Natasha on Twitter. You can find her here:
Natasha's Twitter Page

How about that? Did you all have fun?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Most Popular Posts of 2013

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I know, I know, I'm late. But, I have good reason. This morning, I had a meeting with Ms. Sandi Tuttle, a dentist appointment, and a very sick child to contend with. Onward and upward! Today, I'm going to give you all links to some of the posts on my blog that have had the most traffic. They're probably the most useful posts, too. Strap in, get your fingers ready to do some clicking, and let's get going!

Because all posts are better with a cute baby with cake on his hands and feet.

Up first, I'm gonna give you my two free PDFs. These have been downloaded a lot and are free for you to keep and share, providing you don't change any of the content.

This one is on Branding Yourself.
This one is a A Novel Checklist.

Now, we move on to the posts!

Monkey Wrenches
Dialogue Tags vs Action Tags
Pesky Pronouns
Human Nature Series (last post)
Enneagram Personality Types
Comma Part 3 (links to part 1 and 2 included)
Timeline Tips
Common Editing Errors
Templates for Using MS Word for Print
He Said, She Said, Who Said What?

Love those? Here's a page with them all (plus others that didn't get as much traffic but are still just as useful). I even categorized and summarized them. Yup, all for you readers.

Thanks for making 2013 awesome. I hope to bring just as much great content in 2014!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

A Look at Blog Tour Companies

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Not a lot of lead-in today, because this post will be a long one. Warning you now so you don't get your knickers in a twist over it. Of course, I imagine a good number of people will be rankled by what I have to say below. Hopefully, my words will make you stop, think, and spend your money wisely or reconsider the way your tour company works to truly provide the promotion your authors need. Grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First of all, let me say I won't be quoting prices from any particular blog tour company. We'll use my fictional one called A-1 Super Great Fantastical Wonderbar Blog Tours (A1S). I did a search and they don't exist as of the date this post is going live.

Now, A1S offers a tour that's all inclusive for $300. This money gets you:

• 1 Month of Promotion
• 30 Tour Stops
• 10 Reviews
• 1 Facebook Party

Your other 20 stops will be guest posts or author interviews. Great! Sounds good to have 30 blogs feature your book over the course of a month, right?

Let's look at the numbers.

A1S has 15k followers on Twitter. 250 people subscribe to their blog. 12k people like them on Facebook. Seems like a pretty good deal, huh?

But... Come on, you knew that was coming.

How many of those followers are readers of your genre? Better yet, how many of those followers are readers at all? Even more intriguing, how many of those followers are readers hungry for exactly what you're offering?

My guess is, most of them are authors who have previously used the service OR are tour hosts with the company and not your target market: readers of books. My second guess is, you'll either get 1 or no posts on their blog. Most often, Tweets are marked #BookTour. I don't know about you, but I glaze over those when scanning my feed.

Before I jump ahead, I'm gonna break down what you've paid for above and show you why there's a flaw in the system.

• 1 Month of Promotion - This includes all the items listed above on various blogs. I've learned (from speaking with other authors) that you oftentimes appear on the same blog more than once. And you get, what, one tweet a day? Oh, my bad, you get two.
• 30 Tour Stops - 10 of these stops will be reviews so no work there. But now you have to come up with either a guest post, an interview, or an excerpt from your book for the other 20 days. All of these are things you have to provide. So what? Well, if it takes a day away from your writing and there's no return (I'll get to that in a moment) you just wasted a whole day. Besides that, there's no guarantee these blogs target your genre of book or that the blogs have been alive more than a year (do you know the statistics for blog life?).
• 10 Reviews - Reviews are an Indie author's life blood. I get it. But if that review doesn't get posted to Amazon, what good is it doing you? A review that sits on a blog, stagnating, rotting in the archives, doesn't do anyone any favors. Oh, and those reviews can be any star rating. While I admire honesty, the tour companies don't guarantee they'll match your book with bloggers who prefer your genre. This could be an EPIC fail.
• 1 Facebook Party - Really? What are they gonna give away? Free copies of the book you sent? Swag (you have to mail)? Paperbacks (again, that falls to you)? And people show up because they're hungry to win something and go away, never giving two sh*ts about you or your book. It's likely the partygoers are the blog tour hosts.

What's the flaw? These posts aren't targeted. You could have a book about witchcraft that ends up on a Christian blog. Do you really think their readers are going to rush out and buy your book? Is it conceivable to think the blog owner would write a glowing review? No. No. NO!

Another problem with touring blogs is: You can't guarantee your book will land on a blog with a good following of readers. If the blog hosting your book only has 13 followers... Well, you can see where I'm going with that. And is it crazy to suggest maybe those "followers" are previous authors who appeared on that blog? I think not.

Don't even get me started about those tour hosts who don't post when they're supposed to. Dear me...

But, Jo, it's about the exposure!

Really?

Let me clear that up for you with some numbers. We all love numbers because they don't lie.

• 30 stops where each blog has maybe 100 people that actually read their content (and that's really a generous number). Okay, that's 3,000 right there. You're right. It is. 3,000 random, non-targeted people who may or may not be readers. Most likely, you'll be lucky to reach 10 readers of your specific genre who actually read the content on one of the 30 blogs your book appears on. Oh yeah, I forgot you're on some of those same blogs more than once. Nevermind. See my point?
• 10 reviews that could all be one or two stars and slam your book into the nether. This is gonna hurt you more than it helps. In this case, you PRAY those reviews don't hit Amazon. Yikes. If the tour host does post the review on Amazon, you've provided a copy of the book. There's no "Amazon Verified Purchase" on the review, and the reviewer has to state that you gave them the book. *shifty* So your 4.42 star average on 35 reviews (20/5*, 10/4*, 5/3*) could plummet to 3.8 stars with just a couple of bad reviews and you have no control over it. As a matter of fact, if your tour company isn't targeting people who enjoy your genre, the likelihood of that happening increases ten-fold.
• 1 Facebook party that gets you 10 additional likes on your author page by the hosts of the tour company and a lot of stuff to mail out afterward (does the money ever stop leaving your pocket?). Totally worth it. Not. Even if you get 1k new likes, with the way Facebook has changed things up, you'll be lucky to reach 5 of those people.

After day one, your exposure post sits on that blog, buried day after day by new content created. Unless someone searches specifically for your book, they probably won't stumble upon it.

And don't tell me you aren't out there through the whole tour, marketing your rear end off to drive traffic to those blogs. Oh man, are we crazy or what?

After all that, I'm now going to hit you with something you may not want to think about. But I need you to think about it. How many sales did that tour get you? How did you go about tracking those sales? A good rule of thumb here is to use a specific, shortened link with a marker attached. Use bit.ly for this if you have to so you see with your own eyes I'm not blowing smoke up your bum. Chances are, you'll get maybe 20 clicks.

Oh, wait! Most tour companies won't let you send in your own links. Why? Because they add their affiliate code to them and they probably don't want you tracking those clicks anyway. If you still feel you must tour, avoid companies that won't let you use your own links. They're in it for THEM, not for you.

I have a couple of friends who recently paid for blog tours and I'm going to share a little of their experience with you.
Friend A has a very popular YA book with great reviews on Amazon. This friend did a month long tour much like the one above (sans FB party). While the book was on tour, it was on sale for $0.99 (regularly $2.99). A number of great reviews were written, with maybe half of them making it to Amazon. A couple of the tour hosts never posted about the book (most tour companies say they aren't responsible for this if it happens... Like HELL they aren't).

Guess how many sales this author got over the course of the tour?

NONE. That's right, not a single one. And that book hit Amazon's top 100 overall during its free period. It has a very high rating and not a single one or two star review on over 20 reviews. Plus, it's in a popular genre. Go figure.

Friend B has another popular YA book that's been hailed as unique, fascinating, and well written. This one also did a blog tour recently. At least 10 or so reviews went up on blogs during the tour. Very very few made it to Amazon.

Want to take a guess at how many sales there were? This book is also well reviewed with a very high average.

Now that I've completely disheartened you, it's time to tell you where your money might be better spent.

I have no personal experience to back this up with, but I know many people who've used it and they swear by it. Plus, the company isn't afraid to show you their statistics. Best of all? They target people interested in your genre. There's also no additional work needed from you beyond producing a great book! Holy crap!

Book Bub.

I'll say it again:

BOOK BUB.

Take a look at the prices here. Now scroll down to the Teen and Young Adult genre (which both of the books above are in). Look at the average sold numbers.

Why does it work? Because they're in the business of connecting readers to the books they want. Their target market isn't authors.

Now that you know, what the heck are you waiting for? Again, numbers speak for themselves.

Blog tour companies would be wise to follow that business model. Build a list of blogs that target specific readers, have been around a long time, and who are trustworthy. Guarantee you'll put the author's book into the hands of people who enjoy their genre, and, for the love of all that's good, have some sales numbers to back up your business.

Rethink what you're doing.

I'm not compensated by anyone for my thoughts and opinions on my blog. I'm just tired of seeing Indie authors waste their money. We don't have a lot to spare to begin with. Will I be gracing Book Bub with my business very soon? You bet your butt I will.

Guess what else? You have a pretty good author clique going, right? Why not organize your own tour if you want/need exposure? It'll take about the same amount of time and it's free.

I know that was long. I'm sorry. But I hope you were paying attention. I do speak my mind.

What have your experiences been? Did this post help? Leave me a comment and let's talk about it.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Mental Health Days

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm talking about your mental health as a writer and things you can do to keep your brain in top creative form. I know you all probably already have a writing schedule (right?) so I'm not gonna harp on that. This is for all the other things we have to get done. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going! Let's kick off the post with a picture of a cute baby! Hey, eating cake might be considered something you do on a mental health day!

First off, I'd like to say that if you have a day where you don't feel like writing, don't beat yourself up over it. It happens to everyone. Sometimes, you have other things on your plate that are just as important. Just take a deep breath and move forward.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way...

Your creative brain is taxed on a daily basis if you're a writer. Some days, the words flow like boiling hot lava down the mountain of creativity. Other days, it congeals like Jello and sits there, staring at you; daring you to try and make it flow.

There are many factors that can impact your creativity:

• Other obligations
• Stress
• Worrying about sales
• Marketing
• Formatting
• Social Networking
• Housekeeping
• Kids
• Noise
• Temperature
• Fatigue
• Illness

So how do you clear the clutter out of your brain and give it the tools it needs to be productive?

• Be realistic about what you can do for other people. Don't overextend yourself. You have a job, and people need to understand that, just because you're at home all day, doesn't mean you have time to do for them. Just say no.
• What are you stressed about? Can you knock it out with a day off? If yes, take that day and use it to handle whatever is causing you stress. If no, then take time to reevaluate your goals and perhaps change them to something more realistic.
• Stop worrying about sales. Hey, I know they're important and all, but if you're worrying about them all the time, you're not going to publish another book and make yourself more discoverable. Focus on writing instead.
• If you don't know how to format, hire someone that does. Save yourself (and your hair). If you do know how to format and you do all your own books, set aside a day where you can work on formatting and nothing else. It's okay; your book will still be there tomorrow.
• Please, for the love of Pete, use a social networking dashboard of some kind. Remember it should be taking you (at a maximum) one hour a day to build your presence.
• If your house being a mess is driving you nutso, take a day off and clean that booger. I promise, it'll help you be more productive tomorrow.
• Are your kids driving you crazy? Try calling a friend or family member who might be able to watch the little nose miners for a while. Use your zen moment to bring your brain back from the abyss that is diaper changing.
• Is it loud? Wear earmuffs or move your desk to another location. Turn off everything and focus.
• Now, the last three are a bit more difficult to circumnavigate. Temperature, fatigue, and illness are three things many of us have to deal with on a daily basis. If you're sick, go be sick. Don't stress about not writing. Instead, use a little notebook and come up with some new ideas in a quick one or two line note now and then. Whatever you do, don't make your illness worse by pushing yourself too far.

Sometimes, you just need a mental health day. When you feel it coming on, take one, get done whatever needs to be done, and come back to the keys the next day feeling refreshed. There's no shame or blame in that.

Mine hit me about once a month. I blog and take the day off to clean, relax, or read. When I wake up the next day, I'm rip-roarin' and ready to go!

While you're here, don't forget to check out my featured author of the week. She gave some wonderful tips on tools you can use to help your productivity. There's also a giveaway on the post! Go enter!

Do you take mental health days? What do you use them for?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Smashwords Author Interviews

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! You all know I talk about your search rankings and Google returns a lot here on the blog. Well, today I'm talking about author interviews. Not only because Monday launches my great new series of interviews for authors attending UtopYAcon 2014, but also because I got an interesting e-mail last night from Smashwords. They're starting to allow an author to go complete an interview on the Smashwords website. Anyway, strap in and let's discuss.

Click this link to be taken to the interview page:
Smashwords Author Interviews

You'll notice you can answer up to ten questions (either pre-written or write your own) and give 5k character responses (~ 600 words) for each. I wonder if Smashwords considered that we're authors and 5k characters is a drop in the bucket for us? Did they consider that if we use 600 words for each answer, the resulting interview would be 6k words long?

I'm not too keen on asking myself interview questions, but I may try it out. I don't want to come off as cheesy, and that's one of the things keeping me from pressing the start button on the bottom of the page. The other is time. Those authors with agents or publishers kinda have a leg up on Indies here because those authors have someone to ask the questions for them. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Here are some of the prefabricated questions:

• What are you working on next?
• Who are your favorite authors?
• What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
• When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
• How do you discover the ebooks you read?
• Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
• What is your writing process?
• How has Smashwords contributed to your success?

After all, without Indie authors, Smashwords would never have taken off the way it did.

While they're great for getting my book in the hands of certain retailers (iBooks, for one), I haven't made as much there as I have on Amazon. It's starting to feel like a waste of my time (their meatgrinder requires special formatting). With all the new things Amazon keeps coming out with to support their digital and print media (have you heard of Kindle Matchbook?), I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

You all know I'm one for boosting your exposure any way you can. But I'm also very outspoken about wasting time. This one is leaving me scratching my head. After all, I already have a bio page on Smashwords.

It's never been about the profit for me, don't get me wrong. I'm talking about getting my books into the hands of readers that could possibly enjoy my stories. My royalties are a gauge of how well that's working.

As an aside, Smashwords also just released their Series Manager tool. I took the two seconds to put The Abigale Chronicles in, but if it had taken any longer than that, I'm not sure I would've bothered. Amazon has exclusive rights to the Mystic series so, unless I decide to drop them from Select in the future, I don't see it helping much.

Whatever you decide, there are the links for ya!

Don't forget to come on back Monday to meet M.R. Polish, the first author up for an interview in my UtopYAcon 2014 Unofficial Author Interview series! You'll also have a chance to grab a copy of one of her books. Check out the graphics!

If you're planning to help us out with promotion, feel free to grab the buttons above. These are the ones that must be used because they contain the correct verbiage.

What are your thoughts on all the changes Smashwords is making?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Shocking News - Both Literary and Actionary

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today, I'm talking about some things I ran across on Flipboard yesterday. Lots to talk about so let's get going!

First of all, you should all be aware of how I feel about people talking. If people are talking, good or bad, you at least know you're on their minds. It could become big news if you're controversial and folks will flock to your wares to find out what all the fuss is about. Getting people to notice us is a huge hurdle for Indie authors.

Stop and think for a moment. J.K. Rowling enjoyed a lot of front page time because of Harry Potter. How many people were outraged that she was writing about, and *gasp* encouraging, people, children even, to believe in witches and wizards? How many of her books were purchased for the express purpose of being burned? What did this do for her? It made people sit up and take notice of her books. Whether they agreed with what she was writing or not, she was on their minds. And think of all the royalties she earned from the sales of those books they torched!

Why was this brought to mind? Well, because of dear little Miley Cyrus and her antics at the VMA awards. MTV said, "2013 MTV VMA’s Shatters Records Across Web, Mobile and Social." All because she twerked (more on this word in a moment, I just threw up in my mouth a little) Robin Thicke on stage - in underwear the color of her skin.

It's not that I give two nickles about what she did; it's that it worked. People are talking. Think about that.

I'm not telling you to go find a pop star to twerk on in your underwear. I'm saying that you need to write a book so good or so shocking that folks clamor over one another in an attempt to get a copy.

Just sayin'.

Moving on!

I also saw an article yesterday about words that were recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary (that link will take you to a whole page of add-ins). Take a look at this list:

1. Stressy - Adj - displaying or characterized by anxiety, tension, or stress
2. Boyf - Noun - a person’s boyfriend
3. Bezzie - Noun - denoting a person’s best or closest friend
4. Jumping the shark - Idiom - a particular scene, episode, or aspect of a show in which the writers use some type of "gimmick" in a desperate attempt to keep viewers' interest
5. Cruft - Noun - badly designed, unnecessarily complicated, or unwanted code or software
6. Dumbphone - Noun - a basic mobile phone that lacks the advanced functionality characteristic of a smartphone
7. Phablet - Noun - a smartphone having a screen which is intermediate in size between that of a typical smartphone and a tablet computer
8. Digital detox - Noun - a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world
9. Twerk - Verb - dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance (pop, drop, and lock, anyone?)

Here's a whole list of the updates for August, 2013: Buzzworthy Words Added to Oxford

Can I just say, "Holy crapballs, Batman!" *note, as of this post, "crapballs" is not a word* I wear black today to mourn the loss of intelligence in my world.

Please, take me out and shoot me. Is this really where we're headed? As a word-nerd, I'm a little bit offended, especially at the addition of: srsly.

SERIOUSLY?

What do you think of these new additions?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo 

Uncovered Books

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'd like to tell you about a cool new service for indie authors. Strap in and take a little journey with me.

This service is a place you can sell your books. It's called Uncovered Books. They're going to sell via iPad and iPhone first, but have plans to expand to other platforms soon. You can check out the FAQ on their website.

Why is this exciting news? Well, they're offering a 50% royalty payment on every sale made. That's right, fifty percent. And you can price your book any way you want except free.

They ask some strange questions about your novel but promise that when readers sign up, the ideal person will be guided to your book. Why not, right?

Their intended launch date is Spring of 2013. This is a chance for you to get in on the ground floor of something new. Seems exciting!

Caveats:

• You need to have an epub file of your book to upload.
• They aren't taking non-fiction at this time.
• No payments until you reach $40 in sales.
• Payments, at this time, are only via paper check mailed to the address you specify.

I think it's an awesome idea and I hope this company goes boom! and explodes with growth. You can help!

What are you waiting for? Go sign up!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Flipboard

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Boy, do I have some amazing news for you today. Do you remember the Winter Author Blog Challenge and all that social media stuff we were talking about? If you have a mobile device, I'm about to make your millennium oh so much better! I've been holding off discussing it until now because I was waiting for their upgrade to be announced.

I got the e-mail this morning.

What is Flipboard? Well, it's a nifty little app that lets you keep all your social media accounts in one place and helps you find stuff you may be interested in. If you listened to my interview on Sandi Tuttle's radio show, you heard me talk about this awesome tool. If not, then you missed out. Sorry. Like I said, I was waiting to do a post on it until they updated to add this awesome feature I'm about to discuss. Let's get going!

Grab your mobile device, download the FREE Flipboard app, get all signed up with an account, and take a tour with me while I show you how to promote yourself!

Follow along carefully:

• Go subscribe to your own blog via RSS/Atom
• Add it to your Google Reader
• Open Flipboard and add your Google Reader as one of your tabs. Then follow the directions below:

See that little red bookmark looking thing on the top right? Click on it and choose your tabs from there. Right now, we're focused ONLY on Google Reader. So add that one.

Next, click on the green square that says Google Reader and you should get a page that looks like this but have all the blogs you subscribe to.







Click on the title at the top of the page and select feeds and folders.

Select your blog from the list.

You should now have a page that looks like this but with your blog posts showing.







Now we get to how this can help you. Flipboard just added the coolest feature ever: Magazines of your curated content. See those little + signs in the top right of each post? Click on one and create your first magazine with your blog posts. You should add a description and categorize it. Then, go add all your posts to it and make it public!

Others can now find your magazine and browse it with ease. Be sure your image is your logo or branding headshot. Boom! You just reached millions of potential new followers! Best of all, you can also add Facebook content, Twitter content, and many other things to your magazine that concern you and your brand! You may thank me now. Hehe!

Go curate for others, too. Remember, sharing is caring!

Did you use Flipboard before now? Did you know it existed?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Branding Step Three

Happy hump day, good people of the blogosphere! How lovely is it our week is almost half over? Very! Today, we're talking about what your logo says about you. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Here are a few of the logos I've designed and a few belonging to major corporations. Let's take a look and see what they represent.

Anyone see the surveyor's mark and the fun I had playing with the typography on this one?

This one is pretty obvious, no? DNA design, again, repeated in the typography. Like a computer doctor.

Fictional company. Logo is to represent movement forward in new construction techniques and residential windmills. Go green! The blue is to represent the sky.

This one, I love. Green to represent growth. Roots to represent stability. This community club has been around for six generations that keep branching off. Movement representing the wind on the ridge from left to right.

My own INDIE Books Gone Wild logo. Strong type with the indie and the book embracing one another. Our red color represents wildness yet we bring that stability and guarantee through in the black.





Now go take a look at McDonald's. Those golden arches represent bent french fries. Bethcha never thought of that, huh? Nike? The swoosh is representative of the wings on the god's shoes. Pretty clever!

So, what does your logo say about you? Mine was designed to represent flourish like a quill pen and stability like a solid letterform. See how the M wraps around the J? Blue is my favorite color, and my mark will emboss beautifully on that hardcover book someday.

If you're using an image as your identifier, think ahead to your business cards and printed materials. You can add a mark to an image and later use it as a standalone. Think about color, voice, and what you're saying about yourself with your mark. Come on back tomorrow and join me to discuss naming!

If you don't have a mark, why? Is it because you don't know how to make one or you don't think you need one?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Branding Step One

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! This week I'm gonna talk about branding yourself. No matter what business you're in, it's a good idea to have a brand; something that says, "Hey, look here! It's me and there's no doubt about it!" Today's post is all about having an image. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going.

If you've read my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book, you'll know branding is the first thing I discuss.

Why is branding so important? Ask McDonald's, Nike, or Coca~Cola. Those golden arches, the swoosh, and that pretty red color are instantly recognizable. No matter where you are, those are branding standards.

These companies have entire books on how their logo can be displayed, used, and colorized. If you take a peek inside the book, you'll see the requirements of size, space around the logo, and color options. Here are a couple you should look at: UPS, McDonald's, Twitter, and Facebook. You can look up any brand you may be curious about by typing the company name and the words brand standards into a Google search box.

You should also have a brand standard. Your logo or headshot, used as an identifier, should have some sort of requirement when shown to the world by others or yourself. It's helpful to have a standard when asking a designer to build something for you.

If you don't have a logo or something akin, you may want to contact a designer or photographer and see what can be done about it. A good designer won't just shove a logo at you. They'll give you an identity. Once you have one, use it everywhere.

Tomorrow, I'm going into color schemes and why companies try to keep it simple (and why you should, too!).

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Social Networking Schedule - Day Fifteen WABC

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Today is the last day of the Winter Author Blog Challenge. I bet you've noticed the influx of discussion on social networking sites, eh? Over the last fourteen days, we've discussed Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Google+, Quora, FourSquare, GoodReads, Squidoo, StumbleUpon (amongst other social bookmarking websites), and Ning. It's been one hell of a couple of weeks! In the last few days, I saw people becoming overwhelmed by all the websites concerning social media. There were a couple I hadn't heard of, but I had a profile on most of them because I know social media works. Our prompt for today is:

What was your biggest takeaway from participating in the Winter Author Blog Challenge? What is your plan/strategy for integrating your social media platforms? What would you recommend to a new author who’s just getting started on social media?

First, I'll answer the questions. Then, I'm going to break down all this social media talk and give you some tools to help you manage your time when dealing with them so you don't have all the hours in your day sucked out by trying to be everywhere at once. Sound good? Okay, let's get going!

My biggest takeaway, as always with a blog challenge, is meeting new people and interacting on other blogs. It forces me to get out there and read and comment other blogger's posts.

I already had a social media strategy when I began, but I realized I'm not using it to its full advantage. From now on, I'll be following a much stricter schedule. One I'm going to share with you in a moment. If you're new to social media, I have one tip for you: Brand yourself across all your platforms. Whether with a logo, your face, or a cute picture of a bug, you need to have consistency. People who happen upon something belonging to you should know right away it's yours. A color scheme is a must, as is a consistent name. If you don't have an identity package, call a graphic artist today and get one. You won't regret it.

You should have a folder containing: Logo, icon, or headshot, preferred background design, html color scheme codes, and a bio. Label it Branding and never ever delete it.

If you don't have naming consistency across all your platforms, change them. This is KEY.

Now, on to the tools! We all know I love free. So everything I give you will have a free option. A couple of them allow you to pay if you want more functionality but it's not necessary.

First and foremost: Buffer and Hootsuite
I'm a huge fan of Buffer. I can go to a site, hit the buffer icon in Firefox, and schedule it to Tweet, post to Facebook, and pop a message on my LinkedIn wall with one click. It's awesome. Since I'm a free user, I get up to ten buffered posts. Best of all, I can control when they're posted. I can manage all three of those social networks for two to three days at a time by scheduling my posts to span.
Hootsuite is a little different an incorporates up to five social networks. I'm not sure if they have a Firefox plugin like Buffer, but here's a list of stuff they can help you manage:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google+
• LinkedIn
• FourSquare
• WordPress
• MySpace
• mixi

Now, you can also incorporate free apps into your Hootsuite. Just remember, you get up to five with the free plan, more will cost you money. Here's a list of their free apps:

• Tumblr
• Instagram
• Flickr
• Trendspottr
• Evernote
• MailChimp
• Constant Contact
• SocialBro
• StumbleUpon
• Reddit
• Storify
• Vimeo
• Scoop.it
• SlideShare
• Blogger

On a hunch, I did a search through the app store. Guess what? There's an app for that, too! Both Buffer and Hootsuite have an app you can download. If you haven't signed up with one of these management tools, please do so right now. It will help more than I can put into words.

Why is this important? Because it lets you manage all your social networking from one application. Imagine spending just one hour a day managing everything! Of course, visiting the app isn't really all you have to do. But it'll still only take an hour a day. Without further ado, here's a handy dandy schedule. If you follow it, you'll be on your way to social media ownership very soon!

Monday - 20-30 minutes for a blog post. You should have something integrated so your posts are automatically sent to your social networks when you click publish. I have the buffer button and all I have to do is click it after I post. 20 minutes to schedule posts across all media for the next two days. 10 minutes browsing Twitter and re-tweeting things you find interesting.

Tuesday - 20-30 minutes for a blog post. 10 minutes to answer a single question over on Quora. 10 minutes to share interesting things others post on Facebook. 10 minutes to visit and update your GoodReads page. Make sure you're clicking like on any reviews you've gotten.

Wednesday - 20-30 minutes for a blog post. 20 minutes to schedule posts across all media for the next two days and make sure it's all running smoothly. 10 minutes to record a video you'll use later.

Thursday - 10 minutes to upload video to YouTube. 20-30 minutes for a blog post incorporating said video. 15 minutes to create a Squidoo lens (can be about and incorporate your video as well!). 5 minutes to pin a couple of things over on Pinterest.

Friday - 20-30 minutes for a blog post. 30 minutes scheduling everything to update until Monday and coming up with blog post ideas for the next week and make sure everything is running smoothly.

Saturday - 20 minutes sharing on Facebook. 20 minutes re-tweeting on Twitter. 20 minutes to visit other blogs and pop in a comment or two.

Sunday - 30 minutes sharing on Facebook, 30 minutes re-tweeting on Twitter.

Now, lather, rinse, repeat. I added Saturday and Sunday because most people don't work on the weekends, but are on Facebook and Twitter just hanging out. Why not share a couple of things while you're at it? After all, social media is about being social, right? So many people shied away from FourSquare and Ning, I didn't include them.

Granted, it's going to take you an hour or so to get one of the above apps working in the first place. Once you do, you'll wonder how you ever got on without it. They're time savers! Use them! They're FREE!

Does this help you break it down? Does it all seem more manageable and do-able now?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

To Stumble is not to Fall - Day Twelve WABC

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today's prompt is all about social bookmarking sites. Mine of choice: Stumbleupon! Here's the prompt:

A social bookmarking site is a “centralized online service” that gives its users the ability to add, annotate, edit, and share links to web documents. Bookmarking, also known as “tagging” is a significant feature of social bookmarking systems, enabling users to organize their bookmarks in flexible ways and develop shared vocabularies known as folksonomies. Popular social bookmarking sites include Delicious, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and Digg. Do you regularly use any social bookmarking sites? Why do you use the ones you use? What are the benefits of social bookmarking? What are the specific benefits of social bookmarking to authors? If you’re not using a social bookmarking site, you’re missing out on a key aspect of social media: referrals by the users. Is social bookmarking something you should consider incorporating into your online book marketing strategy? Give us links to your profiles, if you have them.

You followers of my blog already know my age, so I'm not really dating myself when I tell you I was around when Stumbleupon was the big thing. Not only that, I was around when it was the only thing. There was no Reddit, Digg, or Delicious back then. By the time those hit the market, stumbling was a thing phasing out.

I remember getting lost for hours stumbling around the web when I would come across a site like: Perpetual Bubble Wrap or Jackson Pollock Painter. Turn up your volume before clicking the first link. If you click the second, move your mouse then click the left button, then repeat, and again, and again! It was a time suck, for sure. Greater than Facebook could ever be. Seem hard to believe? Go sign up for an account on SU and click the stumble button. You'll be hooked like a fish after a juicy worm.

I created this today on the JP website above:

How cool is that?

How does this help you as an author? Well, get out there to one of the sites, make a profile, tell the darned thing what you like, and see what happens when you click the button to take you to the next relevant site. If you go stumble your own pages, the social bookmark will be filed and others can happen upon your content without you ever doing a thing but filling out a form and putting it out there for the world to stumble upon.

Here's what a profile looks like: Jo Michaels on StumbleUpon.

I'm sure there's an app for that, I just haven't taken the time to go find it. But I do have some statistics for you! I had this image on a popular photography website:

It got stumbled. Within the time span of three days, it got 25k views. That's a significant number and one that shouldn't be ignored. It's 25k potential new customers/readers/clients.

So, if you're out to waste time or looking to join the fray of internet marketing, you want to be on one (or all) of those social bookmarking sites. It take minutes to tag a page but it could be the difference in being seen and being passed by.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

GooglePlus is Purdy! - Day Seven WABC

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Today's post is all about Google+. Without further ado, the prompt for today:

Have you jumped into Google+ yet? If you are a regular user, you are still considered an early adopter, and that’s a great place to be in order to make a name for yourself – especially if men are among your target market, as most users right now are male. As marketing pro Linda Sherman puts it, “GooglePlus can give you access to influencers (i.e., other early adopters) who might not notice you elsewhere.” This is a CHALLENGE, so here’s my challenge with this prompt: If you’re USING Google+, tell us about your experience. If you’re NOT using Google+, don’t just write, “Blah, blah, blah I’m not using it …” and call it a post. Do a little research. Learn one thing about Google+ that you find interesting, that might make it worth your time and effort to explore. No – I’m not suggesting you be on every social media platform, but the goal of this Challenge is to explore the various social networks, so let’s do that! And if you are on Google+, be sure to give us your link.

Using blogger (a Google based blogging service) I get some really cool features with Google+. When I'm typing up my blog, if I want to mention someone in my circles, I just type + along with their name and poof they show up and are tagged on my blog. How frikkin' cool is that?

+Jo Michaels

Now, if you click on my name above, you'll be taken to my Google+ page.

My experience has been excellent! I'm a member of a couple of groups over there with oodles of bookish folk in them. I haven't tried hangouts yet, but I intend to for Indie Books Gone Wild. We already have a freakishly awesome calendar to help us stay organized via Google+. Check it out. The link is on the top left-hand side of the IBGW page. Best of all, it was totally free.

Speaking of calendars and Google+, if you have a calendar on there, folks can invite you to events (or you can invite others) and it shows up automatically when you accept. Best of all, the event is added to your agenda and syncs beautifully with your wireless devices if you have a gmail account. I also get a daily e-mail with my agenda on it; so I can see my day at a glance.

With all the wonderful tools gmail and Google+ have to offer, if you're not on there, you're missing out on a lot.

Because of a prompt earlier in the week about YouTube, I made a short video. Check it out and tell me what you think!



It's only about 61 seconds, but it packs a fun punch!

Have you begun to use any of the tools mentioned in the challenge?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Godaddy Promo Codes

Good morning, people of the blogosphere! You've heard me talk about getting a yourname.com if you're an author and today I'm going to talk about one of the places you can register, Godaddy.com, and some of the awesome promo codes available to you. So, buckle in and let's get going!

NaNoWriMo is upon us in its fifth day (oh my) and many of you will be producing your first novel. When I created my posts examining your web presence, I talked about the reason you need a website and how it should look similar to the other items in your online arsenal of presence. You might want to consider a website to promote that awesome novel you just wrote.

Godaddy is one of the places you can register a .com, .org, etc... There are promo codes you can use to save money on your domain registration. Promo codes = less cash out of your pocket to grow your online presence and get more attention.

As you can see from the promo codes listed below, you can register yourname.com for $7.99. That's a pretty good deal. Registering my own domain cost me $14.95 per year.

Anyway, I urge you to check out these promo codes and get to registering yourname.com. This is actually a pretty good deal. You can use the links below to navigate.

Godaddy.com promo codes:

Register .Com domains for 7.99$

Save 10% off your order-no minumum-

Save 20% off hosting orders

Save 5$ off your order 30$ or more

Save 10$ off your order 50$ or more

Save 15% off your order 75$ or more

Web Hosting from just $1.99 per month for 3 months! Plus, GoDaddy now offers unlimited bandwidth on all hosting plans!

These codes are valid every time. For more codes check http://www.domainpromocodes.com/coupons/godaddy/

If you're already a proud Godaddy member, you can use these codes to renew:
Godaddy .Com domain renewal promo code
Godaddy .Net renewal promo code
Godaddy .Co renewal promo code

You can also find Godaddy on Facebook and Twitter @godaddy

This is a sponsored post. All opinions remain mine. If you want to know more about following FTC guidelines when promoting a product or service, come on back Wednesday. I've found some useful information for you.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo