How To Self-Publish That Great Novel Without Going Nuts!
You Know That Advertising Works
"But where should I place my info?" you ask. The Internet is the tool that will level the playing field for entrepreneurs like you! We'll discuss some of the places where you should try to be listed.
African American Literature Book Club, or AALBC,
which is high on the search engines. http://aalbc.com Visitors can see author profiles, log onto the discussion board, join the Coffee Will Make You Black bookclub, find writer's resources, sign up for the newsletter, and many other extras. Although the author profiles are an excellent choice, it is not necessary to select this option. They also have banner ads that you may purchase.
Then there's the Doenetwork
http://doenetwork.com This is a wonderful source for information and gets an enormous amount of traffic. Here you'll find newsletters, articles, discussion boards, authors, poets, calendars, sponsors, resources, and just about anything relating to women's issues and/or writing. And Ty Moody also designs websites!
Let's Go to Authors On Tour
http://authorsontour.com
You Absolutely Must get on this site if you're a published author or if you have a work in progress! This site brought to you by the Journey's End Literary Club, has visitors worldwide. The club even has a sister club in South Africa. Visit the resources page for AA book clubs, bookstores and newspapers. You'll also find the 'Authors' Spotlight', and authors webpages.
AND the Black Writers Alliance
www.blackwriters.org Home to the largest interactive community of Black writers on the Internet. This organization hosts the Black Writers Conference and Reunion. The site has announcements, chats, conference reports, resources,,,, tips and tidbits, agent information, and a newsletter. You should also join the
Blackwriters-L@yahoogroups.com.
Destee.com
http://destee.com This is a favorite site for literary entrepreneurs and has valuable information. You'll find chats, articles by various columnists, author pages, discussion boards, etc. Don't be surprised to find that there are always other people signed on at all hours of the day and night!
Pageturner
http://www.pageturner.net YES, the organization that gave us the First Annual African American Book Club Summit At Sea! Go to this site and submit information for a reading guide for your books. You'll also find book events, book reviews, the Good Book Club, info on website design.
Authors Den
http://authorsden.com This place is a writers' paradise! Here you can showcase your work with a newsletter, author profile, calendar and your favorite links. AND IT'S FREE!!! There's a discussion board and lot's of interaction.
And finally there's this new and explosive organization AA-AHA
www.aa-aha.org Launch date is May 1, 2001. Please stop by there! This will become the standard by which all other literary sites are measured. It's sure to be a hit with literary entrepreneurs, with advertising, marketing, book awards, catalogs, etc.
Although there are thousands of sites on which to register, the ones listed above are sure to get your name out there quickly! But please be advised to build your own site first! If you have no computer savvy, not to worry. Let me introduce you to Lisa Cross, crossthenetwork@email.com, and Tina McCray, JELiterary@aol.com, two webmistresses who are fantastic! You can decide on the content and submissions and let the webmistress do the rest. You will find it quite rewarding to be able to showcase aspiring writer's works on your site. They're always so enthusiastic, which will bring you great joy.
You should also plan to have a newsletter on your site to feature news and information. With the newsletter, take great pains to present news they can use. Don't just bring out the newsletter every week just to see your name in print! If it's not feasible to have the newsletter on your site you might sent out an e-newsletter via listbot.
And don't forget to have contests to spark interest and get repeat visitors. Check out other sites to see what's out there. When designing websites be careful with graphics, for there's nothing more frustrating than a site that takes forever to load. And don't make it too busy, simple is generally better. Post information that readers can use, and offer timely topics.
Next time we'll look at receptive book clubs.
You Know That Advertising Works
"But where should I place my info?" you ask. The Internet is the tool that will level the playing field for entrepreneurs like you! We'll discuss some of the places where you should try to be listed.
African American Literature Book Club, or AALBC,
which is high on the search engines. http://aalbc.com Visitors can see author profiles, log onto the discussion board, join the Coffee Will Make You Black bookclub, find writer's resources, sign up for the newsletter, and many other extras. Although the author profiles are an excellent choice, it is not necessary to select this option. They also have banner ads that you may purchase.
Then there's the Doenetwork
http://doenetwork.com This is a wonderful source for information and gets an enormous amount of traffic. Here you'll find newsletters, articles, discussion boards, authors, poets, calendars, sponsors, resources, and just about anything relating to women's issues and/or writing. And Ty Moody also designs websites!
Let's Go to Authors On Tour
http://authorsontour.com
You Absolutely Must get on this site if you're a published author or if you have a work in progress! This site brought to you by the Journey's End Literary Club, has visitors worldwide. The club even has a sister club in South Africa. Visit the resources page for AA book clubs, bookstores and newspapers. You'll also find the 'Authors' Spotlight', and authors webpages.
AND the Black Writers Alliance
www.blackwriters.org Home to the largest interactive community of Black writers on the Internet. This organization hosts the Black Writers Conference and Reunion. The site has announcements, chats, conference reports, resources,,,, tips and tidbits, agent information, and a newsletter. You should also join the
Blackwriters-L@yahoogroups.com.
Destee.com
http://destee.com This is a favorite site for literary entrepreneurs and has valuable information. You'll find chats, articles by various columnists, author pages, discussion boards, etc. Don't be surprised to find that there are always other people signed on at all hours of the day and night!
Pageturner
http://www.pageturner.net YES, the organization that gave us the First Annual African American Book Club Summit At Sea! Go to this site and submit information for a reading guide for your books. You'll also find book events, book reviews, the Good Book Club, info on website design.
Authors Den
http://authorsden.com This place is a writers' paradise! Here you can showcase your work with a newsletter, author profile, calendar and your favorite links. AND IT'S FREE!!! There's a discussion board and lot's of interaction.
And finally there's this new and explosive organization AA-AHA
www.aa-aha.org Launch date is May 1, 2001. Please stop by there! This will become the standard by which all other literary sites are measured. It's sure to be a hit with literary entrepreneurs, with advertising, marketing, book awards, catalogs, etc.
Although there are thousands of sites on which to register, the ones listed above are sure to get your name out there quickly! But please be advised to build your own site first! If you have no computer savvy, not to worry. Let me introduce you to Lisa Cross, crossthenetwork@email.com, and Tina McCray, JELiterary@aol.com, two webmistresses who are fantastic! You can decide on the content and submissions and let the webmistress do the rest. You will find it quite rewarding to be able to showcase aspiring writer's works on your site. They're always so enthusiastic, which will bring you great joy.
You should also plan to have a newsletter on your site to feature news and information. With the newsletter, take great pains to present news they can use. Don't just bring out the newsletter every week just to see your name in print! If it's not feasible to have the newsletter on your site you might sent out an e-newsletter via listbot.
And don't forget to have contests to spark interest and get repeat visitors. Check out other sites to see what's out there. When designing websites be careful with graphics, for there's nothing more frustrating than a site that takes forever to load. And don't make it too busy, simple is generally better. Post information that readers can use, and offer timely topics.
Next time we'll look at receptive book clubs.
