Brief as a tweet
On line communion
Hearts are italics
Fluid-less union

Wit is all brevity
Blink and you’ll miss
Feather-stroke touches
Barely a kiss

It’s all in the stats dear
The times that you’re liked
Momentary inspiration
Popularity spikes

A modern-day muse
Is a passing sensation
Cutting a swathe
Through your living-room nation

© Helen Valentina 2013, Al Rights Reserved

Remember Scotty, the engineer on the the original Star Trek series?  Every time there was trouble, he was on the intercom to the bridge, telling Kirk, “There’s no way the engines can take warp seven!”

Kirk would of course shout back, “Do something!  We need that power!” And then somehow Scotty would do something, and get the engines up to warp eight, and be a hero.

In his honor, the principle of Underpromise&Overdeliver is nicknamed “The Scotty Principle”.   It’s one that I learned and used constantly when I was on the road as locksmith, long before I knew there was a name for it.

It works like this: If I need to order a part and I think it’ll take two days I don’t tell the customer it’ll take two days, I say something like, “Usually they take about a week, but since I know you’re in a…

All you Facebookers: We need your family and friends.  Help us promote this event with a post to your Facebook account.  This event is like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but it is all about books. It can read something like this:

“Authors interested in promoting your books?  It is easy to sign up.  Gift Givers: Support the Indie Author & the Traditional Author and give the gift of books for the Holidays this year. This is going to be HUGE! December 10th! Mark your calendars. Free and 99 cent books. HUGE discounts. http://readtuesday.com/.”

Feel free to copy and post to your Facebook site.  Post it to your group sites, as well!  Or make your own message!  (Copy and paste the Read Tuesday URL http://readtuesday.com/ into your Facebook status with your message!)

When you post the link, a gold bow will appear in a thumbnail with a link…

Blogging is new to me, but how hard can it really be? I just finished writing my first book and now I am in the process of publishing it as POD (print on demand) through Createspace. The only drawback to that is I have to market and promote it myself! That shouldn’t be too hard, should it? After researching every possible way to market and promote, I have finally begun. The number one suggestion is to get it out to the public through social media. (Facebook, twitter, blogging)

As my family and friends know, I am not the best at social media. Yes, I have a Facebook page – after much harassing from my children and friends. They said, “You have to do it so you can see pictures of your grandchildren.” I really doubt they would have withheld pictures from me if I didn’t agree, so I continued to…

Everybody relaxed and smiling?  Good because I’m going to go over a few things that might terrify some of you.  Seriously, I’ve talked to a lot of people who avoid Twitter out of fear.  I used to be one of these people, but now I’ve found how powerful a tool it can be.  I don’t Tweet about my life because that’s not me.  All of these tips are to help promote your book.  So, here’s a set of tips to make it easier and more useful:

Getting Started and Followers

This will be the hardest part, but if you’re already blogging and on Facebook then you’ve done this drill before.  The challenge will be picking your first Twitter Feeds to follow.  It is not as daunting as you think.  I went for Daily Show, Colbert Report, Readfulthings, Rome Construction Crew, and an actor who I now forgot.  Done and able…