"I can help you!"

I NO LONGER WORK AS A BOOK MARKETING COACH; I'M THE PUBLISHER AT IMAJIN BOOKS.

I've worked for over 25 years in advertising, promotions and sales, and spent nearly 2 years as a motivational speaker for a major international company. Currently a bestselling novelist and 'shameless' promoter, I've shared my experiences and techniques as a Book Marketing Coach for nearly a decade.

Whether you're published or unpublished, I can help. My last publisher called me a "marketing guru" and "whiz", although I prefer to think of what I do as teaching, or coaching.

"Dare to Dream...and Dream BIG!"

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Twitter 101: What the heck is a hash tag?

If you've been on Twitter for more than a week or two, you will have noticed that people often include a term preceded by the # sign, like #writechat. This is a hash tag or hashtag. Now you're probably wondering, what the heck is it for?

A hash tag is a specific keyword identified by the preceding # sign that is used to tag or identify a topic within tweets. It is used on Twitter to filter tweets, to make it easier for you to find that information.

Let's say you want to post a tweet about the writechat group that meets on Twitter and talks about writing and publishing. You might add #writechat to your 140 character tweet so others can find it easily.

Fans of this group or of writers in general could type #writechat (or just writechat) in the search bar on Twitter (right side) and up pops all tweets about this topic.

One thing you'll want to do is follow @hashtags on Twitter. They'll follow you back automatically and will track all your hashtags.

Keep in mind, hash tags must consist of either one word, initials (like #SXSW - South by South west) or combined words as one, like #writechat, all preceded by #.

So go ahead and add hash tags to your posts, and check out #writechat.

Plus, don't forget to follow me @cherylktardif on Twitter.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, aka Shameless Promoter

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Twitter, MySpace, Facebook - how much time should I spend on them?




So how much time SHOULD a writer spend on online social networks like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook?

The quick answer: Not so much time that your manuscript is piling up around you--unedited or unfinished.

For the not so quick answer, please visit:
How much time should an author spend tweeting, Facebook-ing and MySpace-ing?