Google provides easy ways to boost your author visibility online

At our most recent meeting, several members expressed interest in ways to make their work known to more people. After all, writers write so that their work will be read, right?

Google+

There is a lot of information "out there" about book marketing, author branding, and promotion through social networking -- so much info that it can seem confusing or intimidating. So here is one easy way to boost your online profile, which will help interested readers find your website, blog, or online publications: Use Google+ as part of your social networking platform. This article from Where Writers Win will give you an idea how Google+ can help you:

Its distinct advantages include:

1. Google+ impact on search results (because, yeah, it’s owned by Google!) In 2012, SEOptimise founder Kevin Gibbons tested this theory by looking at the websites of his clients who do and don’t use Google+. Those without a Google+ presence saw a 19.5 percent decrease in organic traffic. Google+ users saw a 42.6 percent increase.
2. It’s easy to post your latest blog link to your Google+ profile. Want credit for authorship? Of course you do, and posting a snippet and link from your latest post onto your Google+ profile helps you get there.
3. You’ll be indexed quickly. When you create a post on Google+, the search engine indexes it immediately. This makes it more likely that your Google+ followers will find your content when they search Google.
4. More bang for your author-marketing minutes. Time is always a consideration, and no author wants to suck up all theirs on social media. Google+ features make it stronger than Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn combined. Google+ has integrated Twitter’s hashtag (#) to track trends and also has mentions, allowing you to interact directly with another user. Google+ Communities allow people to share and discuss information like they do in groups on LinkedIn. You can even pre-edit photos before posting them.

I would add a couple of reasons not covered in the article. First, Google+ makes it very easy to connect with like-minded people, much easier than on Facebook, for example. Google+ communities are easy to join, and there is a goodly number of writers communities (for different genres), as well as those for editors, publishers, etc. And Google+ makes it very simple to expand your circles on contacts.

Blogger & Google Analytics

Another reason to use Google+ is the way it integrates with your Blogger blog. (I love Blogger! I have several Blogger blogs, including this one.) I know, Word Press is supposed to be the groovy, with-it blogging platform, but the truth is that Blogger blogs are much easier to set up, customize, and maintain. And, since Blogger is a part of Google, it is optimized for the Google search engine, and easy to connect to Google analytics. Plus, if you wish, you can integrate your comm box  with your Google+ account, extending the reach of your blog posts and improving your search ranking.  And Google Analytics makes it easy to determine which blog posts are getting read, and how your readers are finding you.

Google Authorship

Even more important than all of that is the fact that you can now use your Google+ profile to make sure the Google search engine links ALL your content on the internet, wherever it has been published. Learn more about the advantages of "Google authorship" here and go here to sign up for it.

If you haven't yet started building an online presence, why not start with the many free products and applications that Google makes available? Get started here with a new blog -- free!

How time flies! It's almost time for another meeting

Alan Brooks (pen name D. A. Knight)
with his recent publication,
Cretaceous Clay & the Black Dwarf.

In just another week, we'll have another meeting of the Dallas/Fort Worth Catholic Writers Group. Those of us who aren't in New Jersey for the Catholic Writers Conference, that is. Founding member Nancy Ward will be at the conference this year to pitch a book to Catholic publishers. Good luck, Nancy!

Our local group was inspired by last year's Catholic Writers Conference, held at the Arlington (TX) convention center in August 2012. A lot has been accomplished since our first meeting last September, and we hope local writers (and aspiring writers) will continue to join us for mutual support and encouragement.

One of the things that has been accomplished since last year's conference is the publication of Alan Brooks' novel, Cretaceous Clay & the Black Dwarf. Those who attended our most recent meeting had an opportunity to snag a review copy of the novel (written under the pen name D. A. Knight). To find out what other members are working on, take a look at this post from May.

If you are new or a returning member, please join us when we meet again on Friday, August 9, at Half-Price Books, 5803 E. Northwest Highway near Central Expressway in Dallas. Click here for a map and directions. Look for our group in or near the Community Room at the far left rear corner (just past the Hollywood Lights). Feel free to bring your lunch or pick something up at the in-house café.

Come one, come all to the next meeting, July 12

Wow! The word is out. We had eight new members show up for our June meeting. We would love to welcome as many more to the next, which will take place, as usual on the second Friday of the month, i.e., July 12 this month, from 11:30 to about 1:00, at Half-Price Books, 5803 E. Northwest Highway near Central Expressway in Dallas. Click here for a map and directions. Look for our group in or near the Community Room at the far left back corner (just past the Hollywood Lights). Feel free to bring your lunch or pick something up at in-house café.

Do you need help and inspiration to get started on a writing project you've been thinking about? Or have you written something that you would like feedback on? Do you write devotional manuals? A blog for Catholic parents? Novels? Saints' lives? How-to books? Personal memoirs? Articles for newspapers, magazines, online journals?

We welcome all kinds of Catholic writers, whether beginners or seasoned veterans. Maybe you've got some things written but need some ideas for how to get them published or, if you've already published, maybe you could use some peer advice on how to find more readers -- whether you have advice to give, or could use some  advice yourself, whether you need inspiration and encouragement or just like to get to know other local writers, you are welcome to join us.

We hope to see you there!

Guadalupe Radio interviews member Nancy Ward

Dave Palmer of KATH 910

Here’s my recent interview with Dave Palmer  on local Catholic radio KATH 910 about the fifth annual Catholic Writers’ Conference LIVE and our local Catholic Writers Group.

The Catholic Writers’ Conference LIVE provides Catholic authors with a prime opportunity to meet and share their writing and their faith with editors, publishers, fellow writers, and bookstore owners.

From Wednesday, August 7 at 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Friday, August 9, we’ll meet at the beautiful Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset, NJ. We’ll enjoy the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show and social and entertainment events with publishers and bookstore owners

The theme of this year's conference is “The Year of Faith.” Speakers include authors Patti Armstrong (Stories for the Homeschool Heart), Teresa Tomeo (Ave Maria Radio, Wrapped Up, Extreme Makeover), Award-winning author Michelle Buckman (Rachel's Contrition, My Beautiful Disaster), Randy Hain (The Integrated Catholic Life), Ellen Gable Hrkach (Stealing Jenny) and Ann Margaret Lewis (Murder in the Vatican), and author, blogger and podcaster Pat Gohn (Blessed, Beautiful and Bodacious).

Patti McGuire Armstrong gives our keynote on “Writing for God, Marketing for the World.” We’ll hear from many inspirational speakers such as Pat Gohn on “Your Word is My Delight” and Randy Hahn on “Finding Your Voice in the New Evangelization.”

We learn the craft of writing in a Catholic fiction workshop and a session on plotting. We get inspired with a panel on Faith in Fiction. We discover how to tailor our fiction or non-fiction submission to the ideal publisher and make a good pitch to the publishers who are available

Then there’s the business of writing: the ins and outs of the marketing publications with a session specifically for Kindle. A panel of writers and editors teach us about the author-editor relationship.

The Social Media Marketing Panel with Teresa Tomeo and other high-profile media people will draw a crowd as well as the blogger's summit with a panel of experienced bloggers and professional authors.

Advanced registration is required for the group critique session and the pitch sessions with publishers’ representatives. This conference is fun, spiritual and educational. There’s something for all writers from beginners to professionals with lots of book signings, and the chance to see (and purchase at deep discounts) the largest collection of Catholic books and gifts in North America.

The Catholic Writers Guild has fabulous resources and support for writers and all the details for the 2013 CWGLive conference. Check them out at CatholicWritersGuild.org.

Download member's book for Free

Download Kindle version
free June 14 & 15

I wanted anyone interested to know that my Kindle ebook on diatomaceous earth, "Mother Earth's Best Kept Secret," will be available as a free download again for a couple of days, Saturday, June 15, and Sunday, June 15. There is also a paperback version available , but that'll cost you.

Those who have been a member of the group for a while may remember that I published this little book a few months ago as a "trial balloon" to test out the process of Kindle publishing. Since then it has been selling well -- much better than I had expected, at any rate.

Publishing the Kindle version was so easy that I couldn't resist also testing Amazon's "publish on demand" capability, by redesigning and publishing the Kindle book as a paperback. I am quite pleased with the quality of the printing and binding, and am happy to report that the paperback version is selling even better than the Kindle version, rising to 17th best-selling title in Amazon's "green housekeeping" category. (Rank changes from day to day, however.)

Anyone who would like to know more about Amazon's publishing capabilities should take a peek at their Kindle Direct Publishing site (for Kindle ebooks) or their Create Space site for self-published physical books. You're also welcome to ask me about my own experience with these two (easy! and free!) ways to publish your work through Amazon.

Why not join us at our next meeting, Friday, 14 June?

Like our Wordle? Make your own
at www.wordle.net.

We would love to see some new faces, and welcome back all our current members, at our next meeting of the Dallas/Fort Worth Catholic Writers group.

The meeting will be held Friday, June 14, 11:30 a.m. to 1-ish. Come and share your own writing plans, projects, and aspirations. Each meeting is a new opportunity to get friendly support and (if you like) critiques or feedback on your current writing projects. If you don't have any writing to share, you can just come for inspiration and encouragement -- current members are working on a wide array of projects, both fiction and non-fiction.

Our Friday meetings are held at Half-Price Books, 5803 E. Northwest Highway near Central Expressway in Dallas. Click here for a map and directions. Look for our group in or near the Community Room at the far left back corner (just past the Hollywood Lights). Feel free to bring your lunch or pick something up at in-house café.

We hope to see you there!

Join us at the Catholic Writers Conference this August!

The fifth annual Catholic Writers’ Conference LIVE will take place August 7-9, 2013, at the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset, NJ. Sponsored by the Catholic Writer’s Guild and the Catholic Marketing Network (CMN), and held in conjunction with CMN’s annual retailer trade show, the Catholic Writers Conference LIVE provides Catholic authors with a prime opportunity to meet and share their faith with editors, publishers, fellow writers, and bookstore owners from across the globe.

The theme of this year's conference is “The Year of Faith.” Speakers include authors Patti Armstrong (STORIES FOR THE HOMESCHOOL HEART), Teresa Tomeo (Ave Maria Radio, WRAPPED UP, EXTREME MAKEOVER), Award-winning author Michelle Buckman (RACHEL’S CONTRITION, MY BEAUTIFUL DISASTER), Randy Hain (THE INTEGRATED CATHOLIC LIFE), Ellen Gable Hrkach (STEALING JENNY) and Ann Margaret Lewis (MURDER IN THE VATICAN: THE CHURCH MYSTERIES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES), and author, blogger and podcaster Pat Gohn (BLESSED, BEAUTIFUL AND BODACIOUS).

The conference will give authors an opportunity to meet personally with publishing professionals and pitch their writing projects. Some participating publishers are Ignatius Press, Full Quiver Publishing, Ave Maria Press, Christus Publishing, Tuscany Press and Servant Books.  In addition, attendees have the opportunity to sign up for critique workshop with award-wining short fiction writer Arthur Powers, and attend a writing workshop with award-winning novelist Michelle Buckman. Information for these events can be found on the conference web site.

“I did not know what to expect at first,” says 2012 attendee Maurice Prater, of Missionaries of the Holy Family. “But, what I gained from attending the Catholic Writers Conference, in terms of personal contacts and what I learned, has proven to be one of the best decisions I have ever made.” Author Ann Frailey, concurs. “I met writers, publishers, artists and a whole host of other people whose mission it is to transmit the message of truth and hope to the world in a living, vibrant manner.  It was an exciting adventure!”

 
The Catholic Writers Guild, a religious non-profit organization affiliated with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, sponsors this conference in August, an online conference in March, and a writers' retreat in October to further its mission of promoting Catholic literature. "With members all over North America, these events bring our diverse membership together for fellowship and networking to promote our mission of creating a rebirth of Catholic arts and letters,” says CWG President Ellen Gable Hrkach.

Registration costs $80 for CWG members, $85 for non-members and $45 for students. There's also a discounted combined membership. To register or for more information, go to http://www.catholicwritersconference.com.