Winners Cover Reveal and FREEBIE

Welcome to the Saturday Blog Party Winner Announcement!

Before we get to the winners, I have two announcements.

First, enjoy a cover reveal for the second book in the Soul Sisters series written by Janiera Eldridge. Janiera does a lot of great things for my blog and my books; so help me thank her by taking a minute to check out her series and see if it's something you may enjoy reading. Clicking on the title will take you to the book's Goodreads page.

Dark Expectations by Janiera Eldridge

Synopsis:
With Ani taking her place as queen, there are some enemies lurking she could never imagine! There's a secret compound in California that wants to know the secrets to making a vampire or werewolf.

When they kidnap Ani during a trip back to California they might actually get what they want. Her sister Dana, her lover Diego and other vampires do everything they can to get her back. If they don't succeed, they face being controlled completely by the human race forever!

Dark Expectations is the exciting sequel to Soul Sisters that's full of adventure, danger and what it means to be queen!


This cover was designed by: Strong Image Editing

Second, the next book in my Mystic series, Lily, releases on Tuesday. In honor of the release, I'm offering the first book, Bronya, for free on Amazon for the next five days. If you haven't read it, go grab one and get to it. Here's a cover image and synopsis for each:

Synopsis:
Bronya Thibodeaux is a senior at Houma High School whose life is about to be changed forever. She's always felt like an outcast, but thinks she may have found a friend when a strange, new girl named Markaza who has blue hair, a number of tattoos, and a strange way of dressing appears. She accepts Bronya for who she is and the two hit it off.

Markaza isn’t around long before she moves away. Bronya goes back to feeling lonely and different. Trouble arises when Bronya's love interest - a girl named Cecilia - is accidentally revealed to the entire student body. Bronya’s life choices make her a pariah in her small town. After getting thrown out of school, not being able to find a job, and being subjected to ridicule and cruel treatment, Bronya chooses to leave her old life behind forever when she receives a compelling invitation from a mysterious company named WSTW.

What Bronya doesn't know, is the mysterious company is owned by Markaza; a mystic who knows the end of the world is coming and is gathering together the only people who can stop the evil that's threatening to take over. Bronya is just the first. But going to New York is only a baby step toward her true journey. As Bronya races against the clock to unlock a power she never knew she had, Markaza races to collect the others: Lily, Shelia, Melody, and Coralie.

Synopsis:
Lily Conyers is a twenty-year-old who had it all going for her until a car crash left her with terrible scars, no modeling job, and an addiction to pain killers. When she meets a strange young woman named Markaza, Lily begins to re-build her life with encouragement from her new friend.

Problems arise when Lily leaves the safety of her apartment for the first time since her accident to venture back into the world she used to know. Her so-called friends shun her and her boyfriend recoils at the sight of her face. She rushes home with thoughts of suicide only to find a letter on her step from a company called WSTW; promising her a new life.

Lily packs her bags, bids Markaza goodbye, and sets off for the city. But going to New York is only the first hurdle Lily must jump. She must learn to use the power inside herself to help defeat an evil that is threatening to destroy the world. Once there, she meets a girl named Bronya and the two help one another re-build what was so negligently broken.

As Lily is boarding the plane bound for New York, Markaza boards another headed to Tennessee so she can collect the next young woman on her list: Shelia.

There's a preview of Lily inside Bronya so grab that booger and get to reading. WOMEN WILL SAVE THE WORLD!

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for!! The winners of the huge giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations to you eighteen lucky folks!! The authors from the party and I will be in touch to find out where to send your prizes.

Winner C.E. Hart gets a copy of Depression Cookies by Tia Silverthorne Bach
Winner C.E. Hart gets one of Sandi Tuttle's mugs with the "If I have wings" artwork
Sandi Tuttle gets the WSTW mug - how apropos...
C.E. Hart and Sandi Tuttle both get printed, signed copies of The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book
Tia Silverthorne Bach and Alana M each get a copy of Sex, Death,  & Mind Control (for fun and profit)
C.E. Hart wins $10 Amazon gift card, printed, signed copy of Yassa, and a digital copy of each of the following: The Abigale Chronicles Bundle Pack (books 1-3), Mystic ~ Bronya, Mystic ~ Lily, and The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book.
And these 10 people win a signed Mystic bookmark!!

Entry #150Becky F.

Entry #241Charlene T.

Entry #263Ashley

Entry #165C.E. H.

Entry #121Alana M.

Entry #74Heather B.

Entry #110Heather W.

Entry #115Ellie M.

Entry #18Beth J.

Entry #50Sandi T.

C.E. Hart, you certainly got a lion's share of the prizes!! Congratulations to everyone that won!!

Me or the author will be in touch with everyone on Monday to find out where to send the prizes!!

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

Jo

lOOk at YoUr bUsiNeSS CaRd

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about your business card(s).

A business card might not seem very important. After all, it's just a tiny piece of card stock folks either file away, throw away (yikes!), or stick in a Rolodex, right? Wrong. A business card is oftentimes your one chance to make an awesome first impression. By now you know the drill, so get out your pencils and paper and follow along. Read carefully because I'm going to be giving you tips you may not have ever heard.

Get out your card (either printed or a digital version) and let's start with what you're doing now.
Observations:

1. Is your phone number prevalent?
2. Is your name or pen name easy to read?
3. How big is your card?
4. How many pieces of information are on it (name, phone number(s), url, blog, twitter, book title(s), etc...)?
5. What are your images?
6. How many colors are you using?
7. Can someone tell at a glance that your card matches your site/blog/twitter?
8. Are all elements aligned the same (left, right, center)?
9. Does your card have a die-cut?
10. Rounded corners?

Now, let's see how your answers measure up and how we can fix some common issues:

1. What can you do to fix the readability of your card?
2. Can you add your real name in addition to your pen name?
3. Does your card really need to be bigger than a standard size?
4. How many pieces of information do you need? Write down the ones you cannot live without.
5. What images can you add/change for better branding?
6. Do you really need fifty colors? Remember your branding and try to stick with one or two plus black.
7. Consider a couple of ways you can make your card fit your brand.
8. How can you make that info/image line up?
9. Do you really need a die-cut or rounded corners?

Here's some tips and tricks to building a better business card:

1. Make your phone number obvious and a good point size (I recommend 11pt or up for a phone number). After all, if you're giving someone your card, you generally want a phone call, right? Think about using . instead of - in your phone number because it takes up less room. Example: (800) 435-6817 as compared to 800.435.6817 and you can Kern those together.
2. Look at your fonts. If you branded and chose a font back from Monday's post, make sure your name appears in the one that's easiest to read.
3. I know you'll tell me I'm crazy, but a lot of people still use a standard Rolodex. They punch cards and stick them in there. If your card doesn't fit, it's going in the garbage. 3.5"x2", please.
4. While more information may seem better, sometimes it's just not and can cause a cluttered look on your card. Choose that which you cannot live without and ditch the rest. I suggest name, phone number (really just need one here), website, and Twitter @. If you can't live without your cell phone number, fax number, amazon author page, blog, and twenty other URLs, you may want to hand out posters instead. Just sayin'.
5. Is your logo or headshot on there? If not, add it. Use a black and white photo to keep printing costs down.
6. Use your brand color(s). Keep in mind you can use 50% opacity on those and get a whole new range of options for the same price!
7. If you don't need a die-cut or rounded corners (you don't), get rid of them. They invade your printable area and make your print job more expensive.
8. Think about being unique. What about a business card on the end of a bookmark (for authors) or on a magnet for the fridge? It's all in the little things you do. The bookmarks don't even have to be perforated, just have a line where folks should cut it away. BRILLIANT!

Now on to a tip not a lot of folks know about. There's an app for many smartphones that allows you to scan a QR code containing contact information and adds it right to your contacts. Might it not be a good idea to have that QR code printed somewhere on your card? Then, someone can scan your card and have all your information in their phone as well.

Check out this nifty little site: http://www.qrstuff.com/

Then, if you have the app, scan my code below to see how it works. **NOTE** phone number and address have been changed to protect the innocent!!

Now that's just cool. I don't care who you are.

Find more tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book and take your future to new heights. It's just $2.99 on Amazon. Don't want to buy one? Enter my great giveaway to win one! Three are available. Today is the last day to enter.

Did you enjoy my five day's worth of lessons? Download a free PDF and keep them forever! Follow the link: Give me the PDF!!!!

No e-mail address or login required. Enjoy!

Question of the day: Have you learned anything this week?

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

Jo

lOOk at YoUr tWitTeR

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about your Twitter page. It's just as important as everything else you use.

Grab those pencils and paper and let's get going. As usual, we'll begin by looking at what you DO, then we'll get into how to FIX it. Let's begin...

Observations:

1. What is your background?
2. When you open the page, do you go, "Oooooooooh! Nice!"?
3. Do you have consistency with your blog, website, and Facebook?
4. Have you begun to use the new layout? If yes, what's your header background?
5. What's your icon?
6. What colors do your links and tweets appear in?
7. Do you do a lot of promotion for others as well as yourself?
8. What does your description say?
9. What is your @handle? 

Answer these for insight to the Q&A above:

1. How can you change your background to give that wow factor?
2. What can you do to increase consistency?
3. How might you use your logo or branding image with Twitter?
4. Can you change your icon to your branding image (logo/face/etc...)?
5. Come up with a color scheme if you haven't already.
6. Is it feasible to prowl Twitter a couple of times a day and re-tweet a couple of people?
7. Can you simplify your description and lead folks to your books at the same time?
8. Is your @handle the title of your book?

Tips on implementing some of your ideas:

1. Build your own Twitter background with image software that allows you to specify size. Be sure to include your logo or name somewhere. I've seen a few that do a collage of book covers and it looked pretty awesome. The only drawback I can see there is folks getting overwhelmed with imagery.
2. Update your icon with either your logo or your face.
3. Update your badge with a nifty background or color scheme that matches your brand.
4. Be consistent with your colors. Customize whatever you can here. You can specify what colors your tweets and links appear in.
5. Promote other people as well as yourself.
6. Rewrite your description as many times as you need to in order to say as much as you can in as few words/characters as possible.
7. Your @handle should be your pen name or business name. Not a product or book title. After all, what happens when you write another book or expand your Twitter to include something else? Worried you'll lose all your followers? If they love you, they'll appreciate a DM (direct message) telling them what name you're changing to. Those that don't heed the advice aren't worth it anyway.

Find more tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book and take your future to new heights. It's just $2.99 on Amazon. Don't want to buy one? Enter my great giveaway to win one! Three are available.

Question of the day: Are you finding these tips and tricks easy to follow? Are you feeling more put-together?

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

Jo

lOOk at YoUr fAceBoOk

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about FaceBook pages. No, not your personal page that you add your best high-school buds to. Your business or fan page.

Go grab those pencils and paper and let's dive right in. You know the drill, right? First, let's see how you measure up.

Answer these questions about your FaceBook page:

1. Is your cover image all about you or your titles?
2. Are your links easy to find?
3. Do you know who you are at a glance (without clicking around)?
4. If a visitor leaves FaceBook after a glance, do they know what you're selling?
5. How many posts do you make per day?
6. Where can visitors find your promotions?
7. Does your cover image fit or is it cropped?
8. Is your FaceBook page branded to match your blog/website/twitter? 
9. Are you using Timeline?

Based on your observations, answer the following:

1. Can you rebrand your cover image and icon(s) so people know more about what you do?
2. Where can you put your links so they're easy to find?
3. How many places can your name go?
4. What kind of content could you include to let visitors know what your products are?
5. How many posts could you make per day?
6. Are your images the best quality they can be?
7. Why aren't you using Timeline?

Now, go check out this post by Liberty on how to add things like cover images for your tabs, install apps, and size requirements. Then come on back and let's implement those ideas.

A few tips on fixing the above:

1. Upgrade to Timeline. Please. It will give you a million more options.
2. Design your cover image in some kind of software (Liberty mentions Gimp and it's a good alternative) that allows you to specify size. Create a new image per the requirements and brand that puppy. On a side note, I've heard authors say their book covers are their brand and they couldn't be more correct. However, what happens when you have more than one book? I strongly suggest branding yourself with either: your face, a logo, your name in a specific font, or a font + a color scheme. If you use your face, have a professional photograph taken, please!
3. Put your links on your about page or add your url to your cover image in a way that's not annoying. For example: If you use YourName in large letters, you can add .com in smaller letters on the end.
4. Make sure your name either appears in your cover image OR your icon. Even if your icon is your face, add your name to it. Won't hurt, will help.
5. Make sure folks know what books you've written or what you're selling at a glance. You have ten seconds to make an impression. Please make one that lasts.
6. How can you add valuable content via posts to your timeline? When you see something you like while browsing with your personal page, share it on your business page as well.
7. Add apps or icons with your promotions. This can be as simple as a rafflecopter embed. Trust me, just do eet!
8. Make sure your images are at least 72dpi. No one wants to look at a blurry photograph.
9. Once you have your name, book covers, and logo or image on there, consider your branded color scheme and add elements of those as well. Remember your icon will overlap your cover image a bit on the lower, left-hand side. Design accordingly.

Remember, you can get tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book. For just $2.99 I talk branding, formatting, and design for indies.

Don't forget to enter the blog party giveaway! There's three copies of The Indie Author's Guide in there just waiting for you to win!

If anyone noticed, I added ten signed Mystic/WSTW bookmarks to the giveaway! Enjoy and good luck!

Question of the day: Did you know everything above? Are you interested in learning more about branding?

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

Jo

lOOk at YoUr wEbSitE

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about your website. If you don't own yourname.com, you should. There are a lot of easy and free website building platforms out there, just Google it.

If you have a website, let's look at things that you're currently doing you might want to change. Grab that pencil and paper and let's get going! If you don't, read through anyway and take notes on what to do and what not to do when you design one.

Examine the following:

1. How long does it take your page to load?
2. Do you have obnoxious music blaring?
3. Would someone who didn't know what your site was about be able to tell in just a few seconds?
4. Is your page interactive or nicely colored?
5. Is your page easy to read?
6. Can anyone navigate easily?
7. Contact information easy to find?
8. What is your ultimate goal?
9. More than two fonts?
10. Do you know what page of your site you're on at a glance?
11. Can you get to another page without back-browsing?
12. Does your visitor have to scroll at all? 

Now answer these with your observations:

1. Can you remove clutter or downsize items so they load faster?
2. Is that Beethoven's 9th really necessary?
3. If no tagline, where can you put one to tell a visitor why they're on your page?
4. What interactivity can you add or colors can you change?
5. Do you really need a blue, purple, or red font on a black background?
6. Are visitors hitting a splash page or your main site when they click (do they have to click again to get to the actual site)?
7. Can you add dynamic links to make navigation easier? Where?
8. If someone wanted to contact you, how would they? Can you make it easier?
9. Ultimate goal is a sale or a return visit?
10. What two fonts are your favorite (one serif and one sans serif, please)?
11. Think about highlighting the page the person is on in the menu.
12. Can you resize elements to eliminate the scroll?

Try these tips to fix those common errors:

1. Resize your images to 72dpi. All of them. Use thumbnails when you can.
2. Delete the music track. A lot of people listen to music as they browse and will shut your page down quickly if it interferes with their mojo.
3. Change the title and add a tagline. If you're an author, tell folks this is your official author site and who you are or why they should poke around/buy your books.
4. Change your fonts so they are either all the same or there are only TWO. More than one in the same family looks like a mistake. So, choose either a serif and a sans serif, a script and a serif, or a script and a sans serif. But be consistent!
5. Watch your colors. Try for no more than three plus black (headline color, text color, link color, visited link color). Be consistent. If links are in blue, make them all appear in blue.
6. Highlight the page title in the menu when a person is on that page of your site. If they're on the contact page, it should be showing up a different color than the other page links.
7. You'll have page links that either take you to a splash page for additional content or directly to the first page of the additional content. Add some dynamic links here so folks can navigate easily. I'll go into the difference of static and dynamic elements and how to use them in a post next week.
8. Is your ultimate goal a book purchase? Make it easy for folks to get from point A to point B and buy your book. A follow? Give them an easy way to follow with only a click or two. 
9. Everything should show up without scrolling. Resize everything you can and leave nothing hanging off the edges of sidebars or content areas.
10. One bonus tip: Use the X and Y axis numbers so things line up. You'll be surprised how much better it makes your site look. 

Overall, your site should be clean, not need ten minutes to load your content, state clearly who you are, not blare music at your visitor, and be easy to navigate without the use of the back button. KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) your visitor every time and they'll be happy as larks and want to return often.

Find more tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book and take your future to new heights. It's just $2.99 on Amazon. Don't want to buy one? Enter my great giveaway to win one! Three are available.

Question of the day: Did you find any of these common errors on your site? Did you take steps to change your content in some way?

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

Jo

lOOk at YoUr bLog

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about a scary trend I'm seeing in blogs: too much CLUTTER and not enough Legibility.

Do you visit your own blog? Do you pay attention to the clutter/continuity/legibility? If I click on your blog, do I know instantly who you are and where I am? Is your blog well organized? These are questions we're going over today so grab that pencil and paper and let's get going!

Go take a look now and write down the following:

1. Number of Ads (count them)
2. Size of Font (large, small, decent?)
3. Contrast (red on black? purple on black? yellow on white?) of both posts AND sidebar matter.
4. Legibility (how many spelling errors do you spot?)
5. Ease of Navigation (search box or link list?)
6. Recognition of Name (is your blog title and url the same?)
7. Busyness (how many elements do you see before you scroll?)
8. Ways to Follow (how many, and how far must you scroll before finding one?)
9. Easy Links (count them and where do they point?)
10. Imagery (does it match your content?)
11. How many other blogs are you linking to?
12. Can I contact you or connect with you in an obvious way?
13. Does your blog title match your URL?

Got all that? Excellent! Let's really take a look at your design and work on making it user/reader friendly. Answer these questions based on your observations:

1. What do those ads do for you?
2. Can a large number of people read your blog easily?
3. How's your contrast? Contrast is how well your type shows up on the background.
4. How can you reduce spelling errors?
5. What links or content can you ad to help your readers find what they're looking for?
6. If you didn't know who you were, would others if they found you from an outside link?
7. Do you see your name right away or a way to find/follow you? How does that impact your readers?
8. Can you improve upon letting interested readers find you elsewhere?
9. Think about your photo for a minute. Is it relevant?
10. Of those blogs you link to, how many link back?
11. Where do your contact links lead me?
12. How can you fix the consistency?

Now, take these steps to improve your blog:

1. DELETE 9/10 of the ads. I don't need to scroll longer than your post. Bottom matter does not get my attention and clutters up your blog. Keep your ads relevant. If you want to promote your book, GREAT! Make a new page and link me to it. If I find your writing interesting, I'll click it and buy.
2. If your font is small or curly or grungy, go to a larger font size and do away with the "cutesy" elements. You don't need them and it irritates readers.
3. Please, for the love of all that's good in the world, make your font black and your background white or some other color combo that's high in contrast (no purple or red on black, PLEASE). Make sure there's a background for other elements, as well. I hate it when I can't read what you've posted.
4. Give me easy to find ways to follow you on every platform you appear on. Make it easy to find. Don't hide it in a barrage of ads or other crap I'm gonna have to sift through.
5. Be consistent. If your blog doesn't match your FB, Twitter, LinkedIN, and website, change it to match, please. Your readers and fans need to be able to identify you at a glance.
6. Break your blog down into topics and give me a handy link list or go tag your posts with relevant key words and provide me with a search box.
7. If your picture is your book cover, that's great and all, but what happens when you have fifty books out there? Are you gonna use them all? No. Make a decision. Either brand with your face or a logo along with your color scheme and font choices, please.
8. Are you promoting other people more than you're promoting yourself? Yes? Well, if they don't return the favor, STOP. Work with people that work with you.
9. Change either your blog title or the URL that goes with it. They should be the same.

I hope this helps in some small way. If you look at my myriad of sites, you'll see consistency of imagery, colors, and style. You won't see a ton of ads to distract you, the urls and usernames are synonymous, and you'll have a pleasant experience overall. Check them out:
writejomichaels.com
facebook.com/writejomichaels
twitter.com/writejomichaels
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114811793830742823838
http://www.amazon.com/Jo-Michaels/e/B0088XK8JE
http://pinterest.com/writejomichaels/

Note the URLs of all are either jomichaels or writejomichaels. You'll know, by the consistency, that you have the write one when you find me.

Remember, you can get tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book. For just $2.99 I talk branding, formatting, and design for indies.

Don't forget to enter the blog party giveaway! There's three copies of The Indie Author's Guide in there just waiting for you to win!

Question of the day: Did you find your blog needing a lot of changes? Did you implement them as you went?

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

Jo

Blog Party - Day Five

Welcome to day five, the final day of my October blog party! I know you're all sad to see it end, but you can still keep entering to win one of the great prizes until Friday, October 26, at midnight! Sadly, we all turn into pumpkins again at that time.

You all know what's up for grabs today if you read last Friday's post. If you forgot, here's a reminder:

ONE person will win: a $10 Amazon gift card, a digital copy of Mystic~Bronya, Mystic~Lily, The Abigale Chronicles Bundle Pack (books 1-3), The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book, and a printed, signed copy of Yassa in the new size and format. Rafflecopter entry form is at the bottom of the post.

If you missed day one, with my awesome interview with Ms. Tia Bach, go check it out. Day two featured Ms. Sandi Tuttle and was amazing. Day three was all about a blog called Indie Author Anonymous. And day four was quick wit and humor brought to you by Mr. Robert Chazz Chute. Go check out those posts and leave my guests some love as a thank you for their donations to this awesome giveaway!

Today, I decided to do a spotlight of an indie service that is run by an indie author. Many of you know this indie author through his Indie Review Group on Facebook. Many of you have read his novel 50 Shades of Silver Hair and Socks. That's right, it's Phil Torciva and his service for indies over at The eBook Daily Deal.

The setup over at the KDD is they will list your book on their site and do other promotions for you if you have a sale or freebie going on. They don't demand pay but they gently request you purchase the 50 Shades parody from Amazon when you sign up. There's no verification process, and they kinda go on the honor system.

If you pop over to their Contact page, you'll see the easy to follow instructions to get your book listed and ways to follow them. Like: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google +.

If you choose not to click my nifty link above, that's fine. But you'll need to follow KDD in some way to enter the giveaway below. I know, I know, I'm sneaky!

So, without futher ado, the rafflecopter widget. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now, my great frikkin blog list! Check them out. These are to die for!!

The Book Designer
On Twitter: @JFbookman

eBook Formatting
Book and Author Events Page
On Twitter: @JoHarris0n
On Facebook: Writer's Block Admin Services

Passionate Ramblings
On Twitter: @_LisaCherry
On Facebook: Lisa Cherry Author

The Hungry Freelancer
On Twitter: @bethythewriter

and

If you happen to be a designer, or just want to know more about Photoshop, check out this awesome page:

TutsPlus

Well, that's all for today, folks! Remember to come back every day and enter again until next Friday, October 26! Winners will be announced in a special Saturday post on the 27th! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo