Need help with social media?
You’ve gotten the message that your business needs to master Web 2.0, become active on social media sites like Plaxo and Bebo, start posting on Twitter, syndicate online, produce lenses on Squidoo, author a blog, and keep up with Digg and Newsvine. You know it will improve SEO, and monetize your expertise. But how are you supposed to do all that and still run your business?
www.Expertizing.com

Valerie Young

This week we feature IAW contributor Valerie Young with a 100+ page special report How to Work When, where, and How You Want.

Marcia Yudkin

Next week we'll feature Marcia Yudkin with an audio on Cost-Effective Google Ads.

If You Can't Stand the Heat, Leave the Freezer Door Open

Judy's sanity-saving tips for moms include hiding in your room with a box of Godiva truffles, faking a sprained wrist to get out of making dinner, evading calls from the PTA, dealing with husbands who parade around in their wedding suits to show that they still fit after 15 years of marriage, and much more!

Judy Gruen is the author of 3 award-winning humor books, including The Women's Daily Irony Supplement, Till We Eat Again, and Carpool Tunnel Syndrome.

Book Judy Gruen as a speaker for your next meeting or conference.

Email Judy Gruen

Be our featured speaker

Kia Ricchi has been a Florida licensed building contractor since 1998, and is the author of the new book, Avoiding the Con in Construction.

Read more

Book Kia Ricchi as a speaker for your next meeting or conference.

E-mail Kia Ricchi

Be our featured expert

Shirley Harris-Slaughter's desire to recapture the history and culture that was lost when her Catholic church closed its doors led to Our Lady of Victory: The Saga of an African-American Catholic Community, an account of one of the lost Black Catholic communities in Detroit.

Read more

Book Shirley Harris-Slaughter as a speaker for your next meeting or conference

E-mail the author

Be our featured author

The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing
Dana Lynn Smith

Social media marketing can be very effective, but also confusing and overwhelming at first. The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing gives you a plan to follow, and answers all of your questions.

Read more

Book Dana Lynn Smith as a speaker for your next meeting or conference

E-mail the author

Feature your book here

Why You Should Become an Author
Michael J. Dowling

Read more

Book Michael Dowling as a speaker for your next meeting or conference

E-mail the author

Feature your article here

Culture and Society / USA

— Andrea Campbell

Valuable scientific research about our lives, our behavior and the behavior of the people around us, based on thousands of research studies and presented in easy-to-read, look-yourself-up style is the basis for this book.

Read Andrea Campbell's query

Feature your query here

Attend a talk with IAW Director Fern Reiss:
If you'd like to hear Fern in person in 2009, she will be speaking at:

• Private consults, Europe (July & August)
• Publishing Game Workshop, Jerusalem (July 14 and 21)

Please contact us to book her for your event or conference. Or if you’d like to book a private consultation on writing, publishing, publicity, or social media while she’s speaking in your town, let us know.

Follow Fern online:

• Twitter
• Facebook Writing & Publishing

If you need some personal input on your writing, publishing, or publicity dilemma, consider a consultation with IAW Director Fern Reiss. Fern consults to clients all over the world via telephone; the charge is $300/ €200 per hour or $1500 / €1000 for six sessions (six hours for the price of five) for publishing consultation. Sign up at PublishingGame.com/
consulting.htm.

2 June, 2009

Welcome to our new members in Spain, Turkey, and the United States, and from Media Relations and IBPA.

Special Report: How to Work When, Where, and How You Want
with Valerie Young

If you’re stuck in a job you don’t love… if you plow through each workday waiting for the moment you can go home… if you’ve always wanted to start your own business or make your hobby your profession, dream no longer: Valerie Young’s 100+ page, easy-to-read special report will set you on the path to making your life’s love your life’s work. With tips on everything from getting paid to play, to generating a steady cash flow using what you already know, Valerie Young’s special report is life-changing. Valerie covers:

• Making money by breaking the rules
• How the ‘crazy’ business ideas are often the best
• How one income-generating idea leads to another
• How to turn trends into great businesses
• How other entrepreneurs have changed their lives
• How to make a living while making a difference

Members can read the entire special report here.

Next week: Stay tuned for IAW Contributor Marcia Yudkin’s audio on Cost-Effective Google Ads.

Platform Ideas for Every Author
with Terry Whalin

If you missed last issue's special report on Platform Ideas for Every Author, you can still read it and find out:

• The proper length for submissions—It's different for novellas, short contemporaries, and others. Research this before you contact a literary agent.
• A work-around to the rule that “you need to be visible, and in the area on which you’re writing.”
• Other marketing tips you need to know
• How to harvest potential readers’ email addresses
• Techniques for making Amazon work for you

Other things you'll learn:

• What not to tell the literary agent about the competition
• What the magic ‘tipping point’ number is for book sales
• What one feature on Amazon drives hundreds of readers to buy—and how you can take advantage of it for your book

Members can read the entire special report here.

Writing Queries that Sell
with Meg Weaver

If you missed our recent special report on Writing Queries That Sell, you can still read it and find out:

• How to capture an editor’s eye
• The two statements to never make
• How (and when) to discuss photographs for articles
• What to say about experts you’d like to interview
• The clincher line that will land you the assignment—every time

Members can read the feature right now.

New Members:
If you missed any of the articles, audios, or reports below, you can still read and/or listen to them in our Member Archive. 

New this week: Facebook to announce “vanity” accounts.  Read the article at http://snipurl.com/jbihb.

Members can read more by clicking through to:
PartyLine Media Leads and
Wooden Horse Magazine Update, and
Or get the latest updates by following Fern on Twitter:
twitter.com/fernreiss

Get in touch with journalists frequently. Many of them don’t keep expert files, so even if they vaguely remember you, they’ll find themselves saying, “Now who was that equestrian expert I met at the conference?” when they need a source for their story. Email periodically to renew your acquaintance so that when a story comes up with your name on it, it will end up with your name on it. For more on how to maximize your media attention, see Fern’s article at: PublishingGame.com/art_mediaattention.htm.

Whether you’re a business traveler or an armchair traveler, here’s what’s going on in the writing and publishing world for writers in England:

The British book market sold almost 237 million books in 2008. The four largest publishing houses in Britain are Hachette UK, Random House, Penguin, and HarperCollins, followed by Pan Macmillan, Bloomsbury, Pearson, OUP, Wiley, and Egmont. Academic and children's books are on the upswing in England. Indy press Canongate grew 155%, but most independent publishers were down.

Members can read more at Spotlight.

(Members: Interested in sharing what’s going on in your part of the world? Become an IAW ambassador.)

Featured Author Profile 

• First, select the category carefully. Bookstores, libraries, bloggers, reviewers, literary agents, publishers, and bookgroups may be looking for authors in particular genres and categories, so be sure the category you choose accurately describes your niche. (You can choose from a variety of fiction and nonfiction categories.)
• Don’t forget to upload your photograph here.
• Your short biography will be displayed along with your author profile, as well as in several other places on our website, so be sure it is interesting and describes your expertise accurately.
• Remember that in today’s economy, traditional sources of book and author reviews (such as newspapers) are disappearing; so more and more bookstores and libraries are looking to the IAW for review information. Don’t miss out on this easy way to market yourself and your books.

Next week, we’ll look at optimizing your Speaker Profile. Stay tuned!

The more members we have, the more clout we have with journalists, booksellers, literary agents, librarians, etc. Want to help make others aware of the International Association of Writers? Here are some ways you can help:

• Become an Ambassador from your geographic area, or become a web ambassador and mention us on listserves and writing forums online.
• List us as a favorite on Digg.com or Delicious.com.
• Email a friend or colleague to tell them about us.
• Add this to your Facebook or Twitter Status line: “Looking for publicity as a writer or small business? Check out AssociationofWriters.com”.
• Remember—sign up three friends or colleagues, and get a free one-year extension on your membership!

Q: There are 11 authors in my group and we’re all trying to figure out what to do about Facebook/Twitter stuff. Is it something we can safely ignore, or do we have to all figure this out?

A: It depends. If you’re writing for a target audience that’s not online you can safely ignore Web 2.0. Similarly, if you’re planning to retire from writing in the next few years, it might not be worth expending your energy in this realm. If, however, you’re writing for a demographic that’s online, and you’re planning to be writing for many years to come, this is something with which you’re eventually going to have to become conversant; even though the tools and platforms will likely change, the principles of social media likely won’t. Try taking one of the many classes offered online on any one of these platforms, try poking around on the sites themselves, or hire a local teenager to give you a quick overview. (Fern also offers one-day Web 2.0 training (in person or by conference call) to groups of 8 or more writers for $500 each; email Alyza@PublishingGame.com for more details.)

Members can post their Talk Out questions here.

“A few days after I posted my speaker profile on the International Association of Writers’ website, I began receiving inquiries from meeting planners who wanted to book me for high-paying speaking gigs. The International Association of Writers rocks!”
— Linda Gradstein, correspondent, National Public Radio

“I’m loving the site—thank you!”
— Kristin J. Eckstein, producer, ArtsImagine.com

Members send your kudos & we'll print them in a future issue.

Readers and Authors Get Together, 5-7 June, West Chester, Ohio, U.S.A. Meet New York Times bestselling authors, agents, and editors from major publishing houses.

The Australian Booksellers Association Conference, 21 - 23 June, Sydney, Australia

Read the entire Calendar. (Members—post listings at no charge.)

Copyright © 2009 International Association of Writers

To unsubscribe, click here.

If you received this newsletter from someone else, and you'd like your own complimentary subscription, sign up here.

To change the address at which you receive this newsletter, click here.

To send us an e-mail, click here.

If you can't read this newsletter in your email program, read it online at www.associationofwriters.com/Archive/NL_2009_06_02.php.

The International Association of Writers, Speakers, and Experts
Newton | Massachusetts | 02459 | USA