Kindle Declines as eBook Ease Rises Elsewhere
Or...The Dragon brings you Kindle's degeneration with good news attached

As the technorati among us have discovered, you can read electronic books on a plethora of devices. The Kindle from Amazon has its nifty features; the Kindle II gets the paper (newspaper, that is). But a recent article from Fox News shows you how the simple Blackberry or other pda can pick up those electronic versions of novels and bring you up to speed with your fave characters. (The link is http://tinyurl.com/KindleDeath in case that anchor text didn't work for ya.)

Keep in mind, all the eBooks from ArcheBooks Publishing, including my Choices Meant for Gods and next week's release of Choices Meant for Kings can be read on a Blackberry, a Sony eReader, a computer screen, etc. And no Big Brother at Amazon or one of their affiliated publishers will rescind the content after the $3.99 purchase...

Bonus Note: How much does a Kindle cost these days? Nothing if you win it from AuthorIsland. Fantasy Author Sandy Lender is participating in their Kindle giveaway this month. Good luck to you!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: Kindle, eReader, electronic books, eBook, Amazon, ArcheBooks Publishing, Fantasy Author, Sandy Lender, Choices Meant for Gods, Choices Meant for Kings, AuthorIsland, Kindle giveaway, technorati

Promotional Guide
Writers Can't Hide Behind the Books, Part II

In yesterday's installment, I mentioned going to speak at a local writer's group about blogging. Blogging is one of the items writers can use for pre-promotion, the topic of today's installment in "Writers Can't Hide Behind the Books". What I'd like to talk about is a good way to build an audience to show potential agents, editors and publishers what you can bring to the table besides your prose.

When you're ready to turn in your masterpiece, agents want to know how marketable you are beyond your words. Do you know how to promote? Do you know how to sell? Can you stand out among the myriad other books that will be released the day your book gets released (when you get that far) and on the days after? If you can show that you have an audience already poised to pounce on your book when it's released, that's going to look good to the bean counters.

Blogging is one way to build the audience. Online newsletters, e-mail alerts that give free, useful information in your area of expertise to a (growing) group that wants to receive it, interactive Web sites, chat rooms, etc., all bring people into your expanding circle of influence.

The people receiving these items are potential readers. They become interested in what you're offering for free and learn to trust you as a resource. When your book hits the streets, they're interested. Publishers understand this concept. While having an audience doesn't compensate for a poorly edited manuscript or a poorly conceived idea, it could be the pre-promotional tool that puts your well-edited and well-conceived masterpiece to the top of the stack when it comes time to award contracts.

Do you have a blog? Are you registered with Technorati at http://www.technorati.com/? Let me know and we'll exchange "favorite" status there with http://www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com/ and http://sandylender.blogspot.com/. To make the process extremely easy, I've installed a button at the bottom of this blog, next to the Sparklit counter, where you can click to link where you want to go. It's a technique I haven't pursued yet due to time limitations, but it's one more way to get your blog more attention in cyberspace. That means increased audience.

If you're not registered with Technorati, this is a free and simple process that gets you connected with a network of other bloggers. By setting other blogs as favorites of yours, you enhance their status. When the blog owners return the favor, you help each other out. I'm interested in assisting other writers, marketers and readers with this concept at this stage in my marketing and promoting efforts. How about you?

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: promotion, pre-promotion, technorati, dragon, today the dragon wins, sandylender.blogspot.com