The Write Spot, LLC

If Senator McCain is twittering*, so can you!

You’ve probably heard that John McCain is using Twitter to let his constituents know about earmark spending. And this from a man who few months ago said that he didn’t know how to send an email!

So what’s Twitter and why should you use it? Twitter.com is a social networking site where you communicate online to a group of friends (your followers*) in 140 characters or less. Like blogging or other forms of social media, it’s all about the conversation. Yes, you can tweet* about mundane things like, “Eating lunch. Boy I like butternut squash soup.” But it’s also a way to connect with like minds, get feedback, and keep up with trending topics.

The basics

Signing up for Twitter is easy. Just go to twitter.com, click on the “Get Started – Join” button and fill in your name. Then pick a user name and a password, and enter your email address. Enter the CAPTCHA words to verify that you’re human, click on the Create My Account button, and you’re done!

Note: Give thought to your user name. You can use your name, your book’s name, or the name of your business or blog. As a professional writer, using your full name is wise. (Mine is amnichols because my full name is a bit long.) But if you’re known by a nom de plume like “GeekWriter” or “FictionFan” then use it. Remember, once you’ve established a username in Twitter, you don’t want to change it.

After setting up your account, go into Profile and download a picture of yourself. (You can also use a logo or book cover artwork.) Then choose a basic background, save and start tweeting and following!

Geeking out on Jimmy Fallon with the Palm Pre

Joshua Topolsky from Engadget was on Jimmy Fallon last night showing off the soon-to-be-released (we hope) Palm Pre.

After reading in Newsweek about its debut at CES, I’ve been eagerly awaiting its release. Even GeekMommy, who just became part of the iPhone Borg Collective along with half my friends and relatives, is looking forward to trying it out.

I knew that Jimmy was on Twitter, but I didn’t realize he was such a techno geek. I’m in love…with Jimmy and the phone. Josh is cool, too.

So Palm, hurry up already. Until then, I’ll have to make due with my old Palm Pilot, a cell phone and a Peek. Dang, that’s so 2004, you know?

(Thanks to GigaOm Gadget Gurus for the heads up.)

A Lesson in Web 2.0 for Book Authors

This year I've been working with book authors to help them understand the power of Web 2.0 as a marketing platform for their books. Whether it's blogging to show a publisher that you have a built in audience, or using social networking sites to promote your work, authors need to know their way around social media.

There are a few who get it such as Annette Fix, the senior editor of WOW! Women On Writing. She recently released The Break-Up Diet, a memoir that I reviewed at my food and diet blog, This Mama Cooks! On a Diet. Annette has The Break-Up Diet website, a Break-Up Story Forum, Annette's Break-Up Diet blog, and a Break-Up Diet MySpace page.

Another author who's tech savvy is Sherri Rifkin, a former TV marketing executive. She writes for a variety of entertainment and media clients including Bravo, USA Network and the Style Network. Her first novel, LoveHampton, has just been published by St. Martin’s Griffin.

Sherri wrote a fantastic article,  "A New Job Requirement for Authors" that gives some five free or inexpensive tips for promoting your book online

A New Job Requirement for Authors
by Sherri Rifkin, author of LoveHampton

Who knew that one needed to be so thoroughly tech-savvy to be an author?

I’m not just talking about knowing how to create chapter headers in Word (I don’t but I fake it well enough) or being able to change your printer cartridge. Nowadays, you have to know how to blog-vlog-flickr-twitter-facebook-wordpress-upload-youtube-blip.tv in order to be an author, that is, if you have some hopes of being a successful commercial author. It helps if you have nice friends who know how to do all this stuff (I have a Jeff, a Mary and an Anthony) but there are only so many times you can sweetly plead for their help and certainly a limit on the number the exclamation points you can put after “Thank you!!!!!!” in your emails. (Six seems reasonable; seven is just desperate.)

I’ve logged several hours, possibly equaling days at this point, uploading my book-related videos to the various viral distribution sites, creating the first of what is sure to be many photo albums on Flickr.com, adding a fan page on Facebook—and boy is my laptop tired! And I still have a “Book To Do” list two pages long.

Believe me, as a former cable TV marketer for Bravo and Oxygen, I am very grateful to be publishing my novel at a time when all of these free marketing tools are available–especially since I don’t have the same (read: any) budgets to spend on paid marketing placements like I did when I was employed by someone else. Short of walking around Manhattan with a LoveHampton sandwich board strapped over my shoulders, sitting in front of my laptop waiting patiently for my uploads to be complete seems like a far lesser evil.

But I’m fairly certain that once I’ve mastered the twitter-blip and the blog-vlog, there will be yet another technology for me to beg a tech-savvy friend to teach me how to do. (Note: In addition to multiple exclamation points, treating your advisors to a nice meal or an expensive bottle of champagne are good ways to show them your appreciation.)

Now that I’m pretty much all uploaded, I just hope the other kids on YouTube play nicely with LoveHampton21. I certainly don’t want to be forced to send my 206 Facebook friends—and counting if all my viral marketing plans work—after them.

A case for Facebook: should you use social media for your business?

One thing that I didn't learn at BlogHer '07 in Chicago (and I swear I'll clean up those posts ASAP) is if having a MySpace or Facebook page is an important part of your marketing mix.

My guess was YES because 1) social network listings will help you connect with your audience, and 2) networking with other bloggers is a very important part of marketing yourself and your writing.

Then I came across an article on the Written Road about Journalism and Facebook. Abha points you to Facebook: What's In It For Journalists? on the Poynter Online site. Like anything, there are positives - it's a great way to network. There are also negatives - Facebook, MySpace, et al are time sucking devices and most users don't regularly update their pages or visit the site.

Needless to say, I've updated my Facebook page. I'm considering creating a MySpace page, especially after I heard from several friends in Chicago (including Ken who just recently got his first computer - ever) that they had pages and it was a great way to keep in touch with them.

Do you, your business or your blog have a MySpace or Facebook page? Tell me about it!

Update: Kevin Palmer wrote a very indepth post about this subject as a guest writer at ProBlogger - How to Use MySpace to Build a Blogging Audience. Here's just one great piece of advice:

To a lot of users, MySpace is a one stop shop. They don’t even realize (or perhaps equally like, care) that there is a blogging community outside of MySpace. You need to take the time to write original content at least once a week and engage your MySpace readers. By doing this you will create a loyal reader base that will follow you to your blog away from MySpace, creating a quality and consistent source of traffic.

Building a MySpace page - just one more item on my to-do list.

Goodbye to the gatekeepers?

Thomas Frey in his Denver Post article, Gatekeepers on info highway disappearing, brings new prospective to blogging and the new media:

Enterprising people have begun to find the keys to unlocking their future, and it's a future that doesn't include the barriers provided by gatekeepers. Publishing an article no longer requires the approval of an editor. Articles can easily be published on blogs or Web pages without ever needing someone's approval. Videos and podcasts can be posted on iTunes or YouTube 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The true impact is far more significant than any of us can imagine.

The no-gatekeeper lifestyle means you can create whatever product you want and sell it to people around the world without ever having to get someone's blessing.

While he does have a point here, there has been plenty of instances in history when there weren't gatekeepers. After all, wasn't Ben Franklin the ultimate self-publisher? Like bloggers, when you're the editor and the writer, little stands in your way.

Then there's the example of Martin Luther's 95 Theses protesting the sale of indulgences. As legend tells us, in 1517 he posted a copy on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The 95 Theses were translated from Latin into German, printed, and copied on printing presses throughout Europe. Within two weeks, word had spread throughout Germany, within two months, Europe.

An early example of pre-Internet blogging, linking, social networking, and viral marketing? Or does history show us that it's all been done before, except that it took months, not seconds, to get the word out.