Trailer Park Tuesday: Deadly Charm

It's TRailer Park Tuesday. Today we are featuring my buddy and write or die chick, Claudia Mair Burney's Deadly Charm(Simon & Schuster.)

What AmazonFail Can Teach Bookstores Not just Amazon.com: Christian Fiction Blog

This past weekend while most of us were participating in Easter/Resurrection Day events Amazon.com was having an event of its own. Amazon.com removed sales rankings and listing on the main search page for 57 000 of its registered titles, many of which were books with gay/lesbian themes. When some of these authors realized what happened and more importantly that Amazon.com still had not responded to their challenge, they organized a social media campaign via Twitter, coined the term AmazonFail, and got media attention. Amazon.com later told Publishers Weekly...

that a "glitch" had occurred in its sales ranking feature that was in the process of being fixed. The spokesperson added that there was no new policy regarding "adult" titles. As of Monday morning, a number of titles affected by the glitch were still without sales rankings. No one at Amazon was available this morning to discuss when the problem might be fixed or what caused the glitch.

An interesting article here that suggests culprits behind AmazonFail.

Last night during #journchat we discussed #AmazonFail as a teaching tool for other pr firms. Long after the discussion I wondered how this event could serve as a teaching tool for online bookstores, authors, and brick and mortar stores.

Whether we want to believe it or not Twitter is more than a microblogging service. It can be used for many things, one of which is a tool for rapid response CS. If book stores whether mobile, online or in a store want to build value with their customers, they are going to have to devise a way to respond in real time to their base, especially when "glitches" and stuff happens. Because if they don't then they will experience a bit of the venom that was spewn onto Amazon this past weekend. I've been tempted at times myself to tweet a few crappers I've experienced dealing with publishing houses, bookstore chains, churches, you name it. But I didn't, haven't yet. However, as more and more Twittercotts tweet up, you'd be more than the wiser to have a contingency plan designed.

One tip I will throw at you: Use Twitter to monitor your brand. There are various twitter tools you can use to do that. Search through my blog I've shared some on here already.

Also this Saturday I will be hosting a workshop on The Virtual Fiction Writer's Conference about book events and I will be talking about the power of Twitter, of course, and designing your own instore event contingency plans. ;)

What your Novel Beginning Must Hide

For the past month I've participated in #writechat. It is a live chat between writers on Twitter that happens between 1-3pm PST. Since I have hung out there I've learned from some of my writechat tweeps that the newbie writers aren't using a basic plot structure to guide them through writing the novel and they need one. For the summer --I'm here every 2nd and 4th Monday I believe--I will be sharing the 8 point plot structure skeleton I use with you. Let me confess I got it from J. Mark. Mine has been tweaked to fit me. You will more than likely do the same. In any case, let's begin...

Continue reading "What your Novel Beginning Must Hide" »

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Condolences: David Pop Winans

By Associated Press

6:22 PM MDT, April 8, 2009

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — David (Pop) Winans Sr., the Grammy-nominated patriarch of the award-winning gospel music family, died Wednesday. He was 76.

A statement from a Los Angeles public relations company representing the family said he died at a Nashville hospice, where he had been since January after suffering a heart attack and stroke last October.

"The Winans family wishes to thank everyone for their prayers and continued support, but would appreciate privacy at this time," the statement said.

Is the Economy Keeping you From a Writer's Workshop?

Taking It To The Next Level In 2009

"Coming to a computer and telephone near you!"

Virtual Workshops to Help You Take Your Skills to the Next Level

Thursday, April 16 -- 18, 2009 - $50 Registration Fee Includes All Sessions!

Faith Based Fiction Writers of Atlanta, formerly Visions in Print Writers Group is raising money to award a college scholarship to a Class of 2009 high school graduate. We invite you to attend an online writer's conference. We're offering seven workshops and teleconference sessions with national bestselling authors and top industry professionals that will help you improve your writing and/or market your current project.

Workhop Sessions

Writing and Selling the Bestselling Novel -- ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Independent Publishing: The Whys and more importantly How to Get it Done -- Vanessa Miller

Pacing - How to Keep Readers Turning the Page - Pamela Samuels Young

Sentence CPR: Resucitating Your Writing -- Tia McCollors

Description: Adding Texture to Your Prose-- Linda Leigh Hargrove

Writing for the Young Adult Market -- Tiffany Warren (Nikki Carter)

The Business of Book Events: Booking Promotional, Sales & Speaking Events -- Dee Stewart

Conference Host - Dana Pittman/www.niapromotions.com

How a Virtual Conference Works: A virtual conference is a conference hosted on the Internet or by telephone or through technology that does not require a particiapte to come to brick and mortor location. Participants can attend without leaving the comfort of their home.

Who it is for: This conference is for anyone who is writing fiction, particularly those who have an understanding of basic writing and want to take their craft and marketing/promotion to the next level.

How You Will Participate: You register for the conference at http://fbfwritersofatlanta.eventbrite.com

A few days before the conference you'll receive instructions on how to enter the main site for the conference. On the day of the conference, the workshops are presented in the forms of articles that are posted on the conference site by the presenter. Participants will review the material and post questions or comments in a threaded discussion format. At some point in the afternoon or perhaps several times during the day, the presenter will come into the forum and answer all the questions. Additionally, each workshop presenter will hold a live teleconference.

Door prize: Book giveaways and all registered participants who are interested will be entered in a raffle to win a 5 page critique from Legacy Editing Service. Or a copy of my ebook. The Book Marketing Plan Workbook

Don't miss out on the learning or the fun!

Contact us at fbfwriters@yahoo.com or visit http://fbfwritersofatlanta.blogspot.com for more information.

God Only Knows. Christian Fiction Blog Reviewed

by Xavier Knight

Part mystery/part class reunion novel, Knight weaves an interesting story.

School Superintendent, Julia Turner returns home to Dayton, Ohio to take charge of a private Christian and pay some kind of penance for a tragedy she caused when she was thirteen-years-old. But when she learns that a detective is still investigating the matter, will her faith lead her to a confession?

Cassandra Gilette was excited and tense about her friend, Julia Turners return to Dayton. For the past twenty years she's been the target of an unsolved mystery. Julia's return resurfaces the events that happened that night and add more clues to the puzzle. Will the ladies remember what happened that night before they lose their mates, their professional lives and their souls? (Grand Central, 273pp, $13.995)