Facebook Security

I thought I was all secure on Facebook. I never give out my password and I'm usually careful what I click, but it appears that I was the victim of identity fraud on Facebook recently. I woke up this morning to see odd and offensive messages with photos in my Facebook account from a person that recently friended me. Now I don't know if that person's account was hijacked too or what, but when I went to block the person, it looked like she had already been blocked (or maybe she lost her account?). It also looked like words were exchanged via messaging, leaving me to wonder how long my account was hijacked and whether someone has been sending malicious messages to my real friends on Facebook. This is a sad day in cyberspace for me.

My point is that this craziness can happen to anyone, no matter how safe you think you might be. I've changed my password and adjusted my privacy settings to ensure that I browse Facebook with https which is supposed to be more secure than http. I've also decided that I will no longer accept friend requests from people I don't know. I'm sorry everyone has to suffer for this, but I just can't risk it.

The photo tag virus, chat virus, and others are getting out of hand. Have you noticed lots of photo tagging among your friends lately? Photos that do not relate to your friends? DO NOT click on them. Have friends been sending you odd messages on chat with suspicious links? Shut down chat and contact your friend immediately about the issue. Check out this article from Yahoo! regarding Facebook chat being hijacked. Scary thing is, once someone has hijacked your account, they can use it to do whatever they please.

Here's some security info directly from Facebook Security that I'd like to share with you: Helpful tips here and some common threats mentioned here. Be careful, and good luck!

Promote Your Book with LibraryThing.com

Been discussing self-promotion on the blog and realized that I hadn't mentioned anything about LibraryThing, a social network for book lovers (much like Goodreads) which has around 1.2 million subscribers vs. around 5 million subscribers at Goodreads.com (love the customizable author profiles there). I've played around with LibraryThing (i.e. "LT") in the past but only recently signed up for an actual J.J. Hebert member profile, followed by my author page. Simply visit http://www.librarything.com and sign up for an account. Then, if you're an author, search the site for your book(s) and click on your name. That click should bring you to your unclaimed author page. Look at the right sidebar--click "Is this you?" to claim your author page. Once you've done all of that, take advantage of LT's amazing giveaway feature...one of the reasons I finally decided to register as J.J. Hebert...

LT, unlike Goodreads, allows authors to post eBook member giveaways. In other words, as an author you can offer your eBook to readers in exchange for reviews! You can provide as many free copies (i.e. "downloads") to the LT community as you want. You'll just be responsible for contacting the winners with a way to download the eBook for free. You could email each winner with the eBook attached (e.g. PDF) or point the winners to a download link or supply them with a coupon for 100% off...

Why give away your book for free? Like any new product, it's important to get your book into as many hands as possible early on. You're probably not a brand-name author at this point, so giving away free copies gets your name out there and helps with word of mouth. I've done three separate giveaways at Goodreads for my book Unconventional, but I was forced to give away paperbacks, which cost money to print and ship to the winners. I believe I only provided six copies total during those three giveaways at Goodreads because of the costs. That means only six winners read my book for free and then posted reviews. At LT, I've seen authors offer two hundred free eBook downloads in exchange for reviews, and the authors didn't have to pay a dime to print or ship those books! (You can also submit physical copies of your book(s) in the giveaways at LT)

Need help with book publishing? Contact MindStir Media book publishers today!

Successful Authors Act Like Professionals

Yesterday I mentioned James Boice regarding authors self-promoting. Today James sent me a couple very kind and professional emails, which reminded me: Successful authors don't just self-promote...They act like professionals, too! Mr. Boice is the epitome of a professional as is Gary Vaynerchuk (remember him?). Check out Boice's official Web site and buy his new book on June 14 or pre-order today! He also has a few signings scheduled. Go see him if you're able!

Successful Authors Self-Promote

There's this terrible myth still floating around that published authors can just write and cash royalty checks. Wrong! Major publishers now expect authors to self-promote, and self-published authors must self-promote in order to be successful. Today's reclusive writer (J.D. Salinger-like) is usually an unsuccessful writer (saleswise).

Here are two contrasting examples:

I remember reading about debut novelist James Boice in Writer's Digest back in 2008. The article/interview, entitled The Silent Type, posed a question: "Can a writer who just wants to be left alone to write make it in today's extroverted publishing world?"  Boice, at 24, was the youngest person to publish fiction in Esquire and his debut novel, MVP, was published by Scribner in May 2007. Very impressive! However, Boice did not embrace the spotlight or self-promotion. In the previously mentioned interview, he said that he didn't want to go on book tours, and when asked if he'd perform some publicity on his own, he replied, "I don't have to do anything. The whole process has been a trial. I just want to write." Since then (after seeing low sales numbers), it appears that Boice has changed his tune a bit. In a post on his Web site, Boice admitted, "Sales started off okay then diminished," referring to MVP. Now he's finally taking advantage of video streaming/sharing, Twitter (became an active user in Feb.), and Facebook (created fan page 2/22/11) ... I guess he kind of answered the interviewers question; new writers can't "make it" in this extroverted publishing world by being anti-social. Boice's new book, The Good And The Ghastly, releases June 14. Let's hope he decides to promote himself this time. I should note that I have nothing against James Boice. He's a talented writer who seems willing to adapt. That's a good thing.

Then you have NY Times bestselling authors like Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan & Simon & Schuster), who fully embraces social media/online publicity and engaging with readers. Karen is active on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, her Web site, and she is constantly doing book signings and holding special events, etc. Yet...she still finds time to write, releasing more than one book per year.

What do you think? Comment here.

Bookstore Sales Up Nearly 10%

Despite the Borders bankruptcy/store closures, increasing e-book sales, and breakout self-published stars like Amanda Hocking, bookstore sales rose 9.3% in February, totaling $1.11 billion according to a report by the Census Bureau published this morning. That's right, plenty of readers are still buying print books!

Who Should See Your First Draft

I'm going to make this somewhat short and sweet: Only you should see the first draft of your manuscript. Please, please, please do not submit your first draft to publishers, agents, and never self-publish it for the public to see! Do your career a huge favor and at least self-edit and revise before you submit your manuscript anywhere. If you plan to self-publish, hire a professional editor before it sees the light of day. I understand that paying a qualified editor is quite expensive, but your book (and career) is worth the investment. I promise you that the majority of the most successful authors in the world do not turn in their first draft. It's simply not a smart career move.

I swear I'm not one of the Quality Police. Really, I'm not. I just wouldn't want anyone claiming that you've produced "bad literature." Don't give the Quality Police any more fuel!

Have you ever read a book that appeared to be a first draft? Comment.

Have you ever submitted or self-published a first draft? What kind of response did you receive? Comment.

The Adventures of the Hypocritical Quality Police

Here we are in 2011 and there are still traditionally published authors and literary agents squawking about self-publishing, some even claiming--or suggesting--that self-pubbed authors are arrogant because they choose to bypass the traditional publishing "system" and go straight to print. The "pay-to-publish" concept drives those individuals crazy. Why? Mostly because they believe self-pubbed authors (and their books) are actually devaluing literature and threatening the publishing industry by bypassing the system in place. Don't get me wrong, many traditionally published authors (and even agents!) understand that self-publishing is a viable option and it is hard work. Barry Eisler, for instance, recently walked away from a $500,000 deal in order to self-publish. No joke! But the complainers out there, lots of them are self-appointed "quality police," judging self-pubbed work and making insane and unfair generalizations about self-publishing. Ironically...or hypocritically...the Quality Police come off as arrogant (the very thing they accuse self-pubbed authors of being) by basically implying that no one is "really published" unless they've gone the traditional route.

Some authors feel the desire to be validated by a literary agent and/or traditional publishing house, and that's fine.  However, many authors in the world don't have that desire. They don't care what agents and traditional publishing houses think. They believe their work is good and publishable, therefore they publish it and allow the readers to do the validating. This does not mean that these authors are arrogant.

The fearful Quality Police keep trying to stigmatize self-publishing. They act like schoolyard bullies by constantly telling the world that indie authors (i.e. self-published authors) aren't cool or talented. That, my friends, is not cool! The Quality Police should really lighten up and trust that the consumers will decide what's good and bad. Bad books exist in both the self-publishing and traditional publishing business models (as do good books). Self-publishing doesn't devalue literature; bad literature does!

So what do you think about all of this? Feel free to let me know...

Your DAILY Routine As An Author

Yes, I said it: daily routine. As an author you should be doing something every day to promote your book(s). I'm not saying you have to spend eight hours per day promoting your work. Most authors simply don't have time for that. But how about an hour per day? Yes, one hour. Send some emails, tweet away, interact on Facebook, participate on Goodreads and forums--you know, all that good stuff.

What's that you say, you don't even have one hour to spare? It's time to prioritize! There has got to be something you can remove from your schedule to make room for an hour of book promotion. Take a moment and write down your schedule and take a long, hard look at it. See anything there that doesn't need to be?

You and I both know that you'll eventually miss a day (I know I certainly have), but that's okay. Just move on. There's always tomorrow. Tomorrow becomes today--and that just happens to be right now. So what are you going to do (or what have you done) to promote your book(s) today? Seriously, tell me...

P.S. Of course, all of this is in addition to writing daily!

How Should Authors Respond to Negative Reviews?

If you're an author and you find yourself wanting to respond unprofessionally to a negative review of your book, shut down your computer, walk away, and never look at that negative review again ... Today I came across an instance where an indie author received a 2-star review by a blogger and then decided to go on a tirade in the comments section of the blog (click here and scroll down a bit to see what I mean). Commenters greeted the author with criticism for acting so unprofessionally in a public forum (I should note that some of the commenters weren't professional, either). Eventually, things got really ugly when the author cursed at one of the commenters for stating the truth. This author lost respect and sales (many commenters actually said that they would not buy her book because of her response). Now her book has attracted nearly fifty 1-star reviews at Amazon.com. Some appear to be a direct result of her conduct at the blog. Ouch. What a mess. As an author, you're better off not responding!

On the other hand, you have Gary Vaynerchuk (Vay-ner-chuk), a New York Times bestselling author, social media consultant, and owner of the multi-million dollar company Wine Library. He's taken a totally different approach to negative reviews ... In most cases, he comments by offering the reviewer a refund and asking if there's anything he can do to rectify the situation. This comment thread from Amazon is a great example of how authors should respond to negative reviews...if they decide to respond at all. Gary has gained a ton of respect from his professional approach and rightfully so! If you're going to respond to bad reviews, this is how you should do it.

How do you respond to negative reviews? Join the discussion here.

Where Do You Buy Books?

So many options nowadays for book lovers... I've seen stats all over the Internet but I'm curious to know your book buying habits. Tell me, where do you buy books? Online? Where online? What format(s)? Brick and mortar stores? Where? Barnes & Noble? Borders? Wal-Mart? I'd love to compare your responses with the figures reported at other places online. Click here to comment.

I'm Going for It

Did some guest blogging the other day for my Facebook friend Tymothy Longoria. I hope you enjoy...

Today I’d like to share a bit about my journey as a writer, focusing on the moment I realized that I could be a writer … you know, that moment I said to myself, “I’m going for it!” I think I got my first taste back when I was around twelve or thirteen. I sat down at my box of a computer and wrote fifty pages of a book, Cyclopsis, and saved it on a floppy disk, which became the most valuable piece of technology I owned at the time. I guarded that disk with my life. There was a problem, though: The story lacked in almost every department. [... click to continue reading ...]

Breaking News: Self-Published Author Amanda Hocking Surpasses One Million Units Sold

According to one of Amanda Hocking's recent tweets, she has "officially sold 1,030,758 books (not counting the books sold through Smashwords in the last month or so that haven't reported yet." Congrats, Amanda! Haven't heard of Amanda Hocking? Read this article for a quick summary. Authors should note that the explosion of sales occurred when Amanda started sending her work to bloggers for review.

Good and Bad News for Barnes & Noble

Some good news: It was just announced that Barnes and Noble was #1 in trade book sales in 2010, owning about 23% of the market, ahead of Amazon.com (15.1%), Borders (13.1%), Wal-Mart (5.8%) and other major outlets. (Interesting that Wal-Mart actually experienced a greater decline than Borders, which filed for bankruptcy recently. What does that mean for Wal-Mart?)

Some bad news: Microsoft is suing B&N for patent infringement, claiming that the Nook and NookColor Android-based e-reader and tablet devices "infringes a number of Microsoft's patents ..."

How much longer do you think Barnes and Noble will stay on top? Who will eventually overtake them? Amazon.com? Click here to comment (you don't need an account). And by the way, check out all the MindStir Media books at Barnes & Noble.

Touring in May

I'm going on a worldwide book tour in May. Online only. While in my pajamas. My book and I will be featured in twenty high trafficked book blogs in May. I'll provide the tour schedule as soon as possible. Stay tuned.

If you have a book blog and would like to be included in the May tour, please comment here or e-mail me: jjhebert at gmail dot com.

Customize Your Goodreads Author Profile With HTML

So you're an author and you've setup a Goodreads account and you're taking part in their author program. Awesome (if you're active on there)! Now it's time to customize your "author profile." Obviously, you'll want to fill in your birthday, gender, Web site, genre, and influences. I'm sure you figured that out ... But there's this thing called HTML and you can use it to customize your "about this author" section in your author profile. I've noticed that many authors just enter their bio in that section. I think that can be effective but adding hyperlinks via HTML is even more effective. Below is a screenshot from my author profile (the greenish colored text = hyperlinks). Click on it to enlarge.

Never used HTML before? That's okay. This site will will show you how to create hyperlinks and much more.

What Do You Think of Book Apps?

I've been meaning to ask you about book apps.... What do you think of them? Do you own any book applications (apps)? Did you know that quite a few major publishing houses are starting to get involved in book apps? Click here to comment (if you don't have an account, comment anonymously or select "Name/URL").

Don't know anything about book apps? Here's a list of the Top 50 Free Book Apps ... and a list of the Top 50 Paid Book Apps. Keep in mind that I don't endorse all of the apps. Use them at your discretion. 

How to Help Japan

I know that this blog normally covers self-publishing and book marketing, but today I'd like to address another topic...

Most people around the world are now aware that a giant earthquake and resulting tsunami hit Japan the other day ... If you've spent even ten minutes on the Internet lately, I'm sure you've seen the devastating photos of the aftermath. Some sites are reporting that over 10,000 people have lost their lives and a nuclear meltdown may occur (more than 180,000 people have evacuated).

Please keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers...and also consider donating to support disaster relief in Japan. Click here for a list of reputable disaster relief organizations and convenient "Donate here" links.

Would you like to comment on this tragedy or offer more donation methods? Click here.

New Book Marketing Service

From PRlog.org: http://www.prlog.org/11361329-self-publishing-company-announces-virtual-book-tour-service.html

Self-Publishing Company Announces Virtual Book Tour Service

MindStir Media's new Convenience Book Tour service provides a way for authors to go on tour without leaving their homes.

Mar 09, 2011 – Today, MindStir Media announces a new author service, the Convenience Book Tour. This month-long tour takes place on twenty high trafficked blogs geared toward each author and his/her book. Several of the blogs are even syndicated into USA Today, Chicago Times, and Wall Street Journal for maximum exposure. The touring author will write guest blog posts, take part in author interviews, and/or receive book reviews by bloggers.

The Convenience Book Tour service is available to MindStir and non-MindStir authors. Interested authors should visit http://www.mindstirmedia.com to learn more and place an order.

ABOUT MINDSTIR MEDIA:
MindStir Media, a self-publishing and book marketing company utilizing print-on-demand technology, supplies authors with Mind-Stirring Publishing Solutions to help them successfully self-publish and distribute books. MindStir specializes in paperback, eBook, and downloadable audiobook formats. Authors retain all rights and receive royalties up to 100%. http://www.mindstirmedia.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Justin J. Hebert
800.767.0531
justin.hebert@mindstirmedia.com

Hire A Professional Photographer to Handle Your Promotional Photos

A little tip for self-pubbed authors: Use a professional photographer to handle your promotional photos. It's so important to have high quality photographs for your press kit, Web site(s), and book (most importantly). Remember, as an author you are a brand. Don't allow your brand to appear amateurish.

Promote Your eBook For Free

Admittedly, I spend most of my book marketing time on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter, but there are a couple communities in which I've recently become more active in order to promote the eBook versions of my inspirational novel Unconventional: Kindle Boards and Nook Boards. Both forums allow authors to promote their work for free. Just make sure to follow the forum rules, so you don't get banned. Good luck!