Well that was messy and long winded to get sorted. Remind me not to do this again in a hurry. At least I am safe and nearly sorted for the next three years.
I had been meaning to get new hosting for my website so I could use PLUGINS, SEO and GOOGLE ANALYTICS… and YAY I have finally done it, though it was a journey and a half of hair pulling frustration on various days. Actually most of the week, In fact it is a brand new learning curve for me to get things done.
A big thank you to Courtney Cannon for her help and advice and a special thanks to all the staff who help at InMotion Hosting. They are fabulous on chat and email. Quick to respond and happy to help. If it wasn’t for them, I doubt I would’ve sorted this transferring of my website out. It was a lot messier than it should’ve been. Why? you may ask.
TRANSFERING A FREE WORDPRESS WEBSITE
All I can say is DON’T EVEN TRY UNLESS YOU ARE A TECH PERSON. Obviously I’m not, though I am good with a fair amount of technology, the behind the scenes and the HTML is way beyond my knowledge. To this day I wish I had been allowed to do computer studies at high school. It wasn’t a FAD after all, like my mother thought.
The back up you can download on the FREE WORDPRESS is an XML File and you can also download an MEDIA File. This is where it can get cranky depending on who you use as for hosting your website. I have no idea if it is the same, though I’m sure it must be similar. I have seen behind the scenes before on a CPANEL, just not for about five years, so things have changed. The advances in technology continue to grow and leave many of us behind.
Once you have the files you can upload them to your FILE MANAGER… I’m not sure what happens from there. However you can INSTALL your website yourself if you know how. My problem came when they asked for a FTP Path. I had no idea what it was, let alone where to find it. A lovely person on InMotion chat helped me through this. Meanwhile I had emailed WORDPRESS (you can’t get CHAT on a FREE SITE) and they good over 48 hours to reply. Which is when the frustration hit. When I did get a reply… The information was something I’d already thought of two days prior, however the tech said don’t do it not worth…etc. I couldn’t anyway because I’d already transferred my DOMAIN NAME and I couldn’t get into my WORDPRESS ACCOUNT. More frustration.
At one stage, I had uploaded the XML Files over my WORDPRESS SITE instead of the new one, which doubled up all the pages. It took me 24 hours to work out how to get rid of it.
I did ask InMotion Hosting to do the Transfer, apparently, you need a SQL File to do so and FREE WORDPRESS BACKUP doesn’t have one. Meanwhile, my new website looked a mess, wrong colours, only had two pages, the FRONT PAGE was not my HOME PAGE and once again InMotion Chat came to the rescue and he redirected to my HOME PAGE and we got rid of the FRONT PAGE for something in Sweden. It was weird. He also assisted me by deleting my website which was horrible and I finally set in motion my Transfer with the Transfer People. I was to scared to do it by this stage.
WHAT I HAD TO DO
Once WordPress has sorted my website out and gave it a FREE Domain name, I sign in and did what I should’ve done a few days previous, which was buy a MONTLY BUSINESS PLAN with WORDPRESS…
Yeah I hear you… BUT YOU’RE MOVING YOUR WEBSITE…
First of all I didn’t know they did MONTHLY PAYMENTS… It was always for a year and all the searches I did a few days prior all said NO MONTLY… etc. After talking to wordpress via email (waiting another two days) it seems they do and you can get a REFUND if you need. I paid the $33 odd dollars and refreshed my website looking for the back up details I needed. HURRAY, they were there and NO WAY was I touching it. The guy on chat at InMotion had sorted out my website there and deleted the stuffed up pages and I went to the guys who do the TRANSFERS filling in the request form and hoping for the best.
WHOOP. IT WORKED … I HAVE A WEBSITE
All I have to do now is learn how to use the darn thing… With a CPanel and the WordPress Admin, it’s all different. I can do an AMP Edit or and WordPress Edit. Watch this space for an update… Hopefully this part won’t be to frustrating. I love computers… Now to learn how to use the Plugins.
THIS BLOG POST IS FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO USE KDP. THE IMAGES I WILL EXPLAIN WHAT YOU NEED TO DO. IT IS PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD AND HOPE IT WILL ASSIST THOSE WITH LOW TECH SKILLS.
THESE IMAGES BELONG TO KDP WEBSITE AND ARE USED TO ASSIST YOU IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS.
THE FIRST THING YOU NEED IS AN AMAZON ACCOUNT. A LOT OF US BUY THINGS OFF AMAZON. IF YOU DO IT MEANS YOU CAN GOOGLE KDP PUBLISHING AND SIGN IN WITH THE SAME USER NAME AND PASSWORD. IN THE IMAGE BELOW IS SHOWS YOU SOME TABS IN BLUE WHICH YOU CAN CLICK ON. YOU WILL NEED KINDLE EBOOK.
WHEN YOU CLICK THE KINDLE EBOOK TAB AND SCROLL DOWN A LITTLE YOU WILL SEE WHERE YOU CAN START A KINDLE EBOOK. THERE ARE THREE PAGES TO FILL IN.
IT WILL TAKE YOU TO A NEW PAGE (SHOWN ABOVE) WHERE YOU CAN START FILLING IN THE DETAILS OF YOUR BOOK. THE FIRST FOUR ARE: LANGUAGE, BOOK TITLE, SUBTITLE. PLEASE NOTE WHAT LANGUAGES KDP/AMAZON SUPPORT.
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN AND FILLING IN THE INFORMATION: SERIES (IF YOU HAVE ONE) EDITION NUMBER AND YOUR AUTHOR NAME.
ADD CONTRIBUTORS YOU WISH TO ADD.
IF YOU ARE PART OF A MULTI AUTHORED BOOK THEN YOU CAN ADD UP TO TEN AUTHOR NAMES, THE REST WILL NEED ADDING VIA REQUEST ON AUTHOR CENTRAL.
NEXT PART OF THE ABOVE IMAGE IS TO HELP YOU MARKET YOU BOOK TO YOUR FUTURE READERS. FIRST IS THE DESCRIPTION, WHICH IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT TELLS YOUR READERS A BIT ABOUT YOUR STORY. THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN ENTINCE THEM IN. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE IT’S INFORMATIVE,EDITED AND NO ERRORS, USE SOME OF YOUR KEYWORDS. IT’S ALSO A GOOD IDEA TO LET READERS KNOW IF THERE ARE ANY TRIGGERS AND WHAT ENGLISH (IF THIS IS YOUR LANGUAGE OF CHOICE) IT’S WRITTEN IN. REMEMBER THERE IS DIFFERENT SPELLINGS AND WORD USAGE IN THE VARIOUS ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES.
MAKE SURE YOU OWN THE COPYRIGHT FOR YOUR BOOK. KDP SOMETIMES ASK FOR PROOF.
KEYWORDS!
ANOTHER IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR MARKETING. YOU NEED TO FIND WORDS THAT REPRESENT YOUR BOOK. THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN CHECK WHAT WORDS OTHER AUTHORS IN YOUR GENRE... THIS RESEARCH IS ESSENTIAL IF YOU WANT READERS TO FIND YOUR WORK. CHOOSE CAREFULLY. ASK OTHER AUTHORS IN THE GROUPS YOU BELONG TO, IF YOU ARE UNSURE. ALSO THERE IS AN APP CALLED PUBLISHER ROCKET WHICH YOU CAN BUY WHICH IS GREAT FOR FINDING KEYWORDS. THE LAST PART OF THE IMAGE SHOWS HOW TO PICK YOUR CATEGORIES.
THIS IMAGE ASKS YOU TO TELL THEM THE AGE BRACKET FOR READERS AND ALSO IF YOU WISH TO RELEASE YOUR BOOK STRAIGHT AWAY OR HAVE IT ON PRE-ORDER. AFTER YOU HAVE CHOSEN YOU CAN HIT SAVE AND CONTINUE AND IT WILL TAKE UP TO PAGE TWO.
THE ABOVE IMAGE IS WHERE YOU CHOOSE DRM (IT IS MEANT TO PROTECT YOUR BOOK THOUGH CAN BE EASILY BROKEN) AND UPLOAD YOUR EBOOK MANUSCRIPT. AS YOU CAN SEE, ONCE MY MANUSCRIPT IS LOADED, AMAZON WILL TELL YOU IS THERE IS ANYTHING MISSING OR ANY SPELLING TO CHECK. ON THIS ONE I HAVEN’T PUT IN THE LINKED CONTENTS PAGE WHICH IS SOMETHING ALL EBOOKS NEED. I WILL ALSO CHECK THE SPELLING, HOWEVER THESE TEND TO BE FOREGIN WORDS OR DIALECT ISSUES. AFTER YOU’VE AMENDED THE MANUSCRIPT, RE-UPLOAD IT AND THEY WILL PROCESS THE FILE WITHOUT FURTHER ISSUE, WELL UNLESS KDP ARE HAVING A BUGGY DAY OR YOUR MANUSCRIPT IS STILL INCORRECT.
IN THE IMAGE ABOVE IS SHOWS THE AREA FOR UPLOADING THE EBOOK. YOU ONLY NEED THE FRONT COVER TO UPLOAD. IT NEEDS TO BE A JPEG OR TIFF AND FIT THE CRITERIA SIZING KDP REQUESTS. I ALWAYS USE A JPEG FILE. IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE DOING A PAPERBACK OR HARDBACK BOOK THEN YOU WILL NEED A COVER TEMPLATE TO GET THE CORRECT SIZING, WE CALL THE FINISHED COVER A WRAP COVER AND THEY ARE USUALLY UPLOADED AS A PDF.
AFTER YOU HAVE UPLOADED THE BOOK COVER YOU CAN CLICK ON SAVE AND CHECK YOUR EBOOK OUT ON THE KINDLE PREVIEWER. YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD FROM THE LINK SHOWN IN THE IMAGE. IT IS ALWAYS WISE TO ALSO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE HTML FOR ARC READERS.
YOU CAN ALSO PUT IN AN ISBN NUMBER (IF YOU OWN ONE) OR LEAVE IT WITH AN ASIN NUMBER PROVIDED BY KDP. YOU MAY ALSO ADD A PUBLISHER, BE THIS YOUR OWN BUSINESS OR ONE YOU’VE USED TO ASSIST YOU. SAVE AND CONTINUE TO PAGE THREE
THE LAST FEW IMAGES WILL BE ABOUT PRICING AND HOW THE ROYALTY WORKS AND HOW YOU GET PAID FOR ANY SALES YOU MAKE.
THE FIRST IMAGE SHOWN BELOW IS ABOUT KDP SELECT, THE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS YOU HOLD AND WHICH AMAZON STORE YOU’LL SELL MOST OF YOUR BOOKS FROM. READ THE INFORMATION ON THE LINKS IF NEED BE OR ASK IN A GROUP. MOST GO FOR ALL TERRITORIES AND AMAZON.COM, THOUGH IF YOU LIVE IN ONE OF THE OTHER COUNTRIES LIKE UK, EUROPE, THEN YOU CAN PICK THEM AS YOUR STORE OF CHOICE.
NEXT…
AS SHOWN BELOW IS YOUR CHOICE OF ROYALTY. YOU CAN DO 35% OR 70% THOUGH THERE ARE CRITERIA TO ADHEAR TO DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU PICK. IF YOU PICK 70% YOUR BOOK HAS TO BE PRICED AT $2.99 OR ABOVE. ONCE YOU PUT YOUR PRICE IN IT WILL SHOW YOU YOUR ROYALTY FOR EACH SALE AS WELL AS LISTING ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES.
ONE THING I HAVE LEARNT IS THAT IF YOU DON’T LIVE IN ONE OF THE COUNTRIES WHERE THERE IS AN AMAZON STORE, THEN YOU WON’T GET PAID MONTHLY. INSTEAD YOU GET PAID WHEN YOU REACH 100 IN THE CURRENCY OF THAT COUNTRY. THE REASON I KNOW IS DUE TO LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND AND HAVING TO WAIT FOR PAYMENTS.
I HAVE ADDED IN THE WHOLE LIST OF COUNTRIES SO YOU CAN SEE WHICH ONES ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU.
THE LAST PHOTO IS ABOUT BOOK LENDING WHICH IS LOCKED SO WHY THEY ASK I HAVE NO REAL IDEA. JUST BELOW THAT IS THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS YOU ARE AGREEING TO. IT ALSO STATES HERE THAT IT CAN TAKE UP TO 72 HOURS TO MAKE YOUR BOOK AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. PLEASE REMEMBER IT TAKES A WHILE TO GET THROUGH THEIR SYSTEM AND INTO THE OTHER STORES AROUND THE WORLD.
IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH HOW EVERYTHING LOOKS YOU CAN NOW HIT PUBLISH. IT WILL EITHER GO TO PRE-ORDER (IF THAT IS WHAT YOU CHOOSE) OR IT WILL SUBMIT THE MANUSCRIPT TO GO LIVE ONCE KDP ARE HAPPY YOU’VE FOLLOWED THEIR PROCEDURES CORRECTLY.
THERE IS SO MUCH TO LEARN, UPLOADING IS ONLY ONE OF MANY AREAS. IF YOU ARE UPLOADING FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH A NEW ACCOUNT, YOU’LL NEED TO FILL IN THE BANKING INFORMATION AND THE TAX INFORMATION.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, YOU WILL FIND THAT KDP HAS FILLED IN THE AREAS FOR PAPERBACK AND HARDBACK IF YOU GO BACK AND WISH TO PUBLISH THOSE TYPES OF BOOKS AS WELL.
I WISH YOU ALL GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR WORK AND PUBLISHING.
A short lesson today about formatting. Most formatting a client leaves in their manuscript can be removed easily, however, there are a few which can’t. Or, should I say, I’ve been unable to find a way so far. I’ve researched and looked and still nothing. They only way I can think of removing this particular error is by teaching the author/writer or client to not put it there in the first place.
This all comes down to INDENTS. IF YOU CAN’T USE AUTO STYLES TO INDENT THEN PLEASE DON’T INDENT AT ALL!!
DON’T USE THE TAB – This is easy to remove when formatting. We don’t use the TAB because the INDENT is too big. Also If you end up wanted to go to TRAD PUBLISHERS they will want you to use AUTO STYLES and will reject most things without them. Please make sure you read their criteria for submissions if you do try TRAD PUBLISHING.
DON’T USE THE SPACEBAR – There is an easy way to remove this if there are TWO or more SPACES. If there is less then it becomes an issue. If you are self-publishing it will mean your contractor (if you contract out for formatting) will charge you extra to remove them. It would be better if they aren’t there in the first place!!
WHEN YOU FIND ONE SPACE AT THE BEGINNING OF A SENTENCE THE ERROR IS TIME CONSUMING TO REMOVE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A LONG MANUSCRIPT. EACH AND EVERY ONE HAS TO BE REMOVED INDIVIDUALLY.
Most writers won’t notice they have them unless they work with the PILCROW SYMBOL, also known as Paragraph Mark (Shown below in the image.
When you use this symbol, it shows you where all your line spaces are, your extra spaces, double spaces, how your headings sit etc. In the next photo it shows you the extra space a writer has left behind. It is something most of us do. Even I have done this. for a formatter or interior book designer, it takes extra time and costs you – the writer, more.
In the last image, I have removed all the single dots you see at the beginning of each sentence so the manuscript sits perfectly. We have to do in and put the cursor behind the dot and backspace… on every single one. If there are TWO or more, it is easy to do and can be done in one go for the whole document.
Do you see the difference? The SPEECHMARKS are now aligned with the first letter of the one above. This is what it should look like. Your formatter will INDENT your work for you, unless you already know how to do this correctly. AUTO STYLES can be confusing to use until you are using them consistently when you are writing.
Another thing to not use in a manuscript is SOFT RETURN. Luckily they are easy to remove, though make a mess of your manuscript once it is done. Use ENTER only when you do a new paragraph and hit ENTER TWICE if you have a change of scene. You don’t need a line space in dialogue or anywhere else unless the SCENE CHANGES or you have a NEW CHAPTER. Once again all these extra lines need REMOVING and they are done one at a time.
SOFT RETURNS are used on Blogs and Writing Sites like WATTPAD. If you are putting anything from a Blog etc into a manuscript then pleas remove the SOFT RETURNS – This is the little arrow you will see when you have the PILCROW turned on in your WORD DOCX. In the image blow is a sample of what a SOFT RETURN looks like.
These are the most common things we have to deal with when formatting for clients. Yes it is all doable, though if you wish to keep your budget on target then please learn to remove the above errors.
I decided it was time for some training and to learn to be more business savvy and find out how things work. Here in New Zealand, we’re lucky to have some FREE Training for Businesses in the Digital Market. I joined up and started watching the videos. The first one was on BRANDING.
BRANDING
It’s about who you are, what you wish to portray to others, what you do, how you do it and the story behind everything. With saying this… It’s time to introduce myself.
I’m a small business owner who went the wrong way into business. I started a company with little knowledge or thought about what I was doing. I made mistakes, which I’ll call my ‘learning curve’ and gained me some knowledge I needed to move forward. Though I have a legal company, I treated it more like a hobby business. I’d no idea how to grow my clientele list because marketing wasn’t a top priority. Not that I knew how to market my business.
Six years on…
It’s time to learn and grow. As mentioned above, the first step is BRANDING. The video I watched mentioned psychology of colour and typography. It mentioned how LOGOs are developed to grab attention of customers. Below is my original LOGO, which was designed by Lauren Waters. The design is based on an old family street light, which is still standing outside the building in Woolwich, London, over 200 years later. To me, it showed strength and character.
I used black and white (certainly no psychology here). The idea was to use this LOGO on colour background, however, BRANDING is about using the same LOGO consistently. Something I did to a degree, though it also had changes over the years.
Yesterday, I looked up the Psychology of Colour and Typography suggested by the video. Lots of information, and the reading started. I enjoyed reading what Richard Larson had written. It showed you what the different types of FONTs meant, along with the different meanings of COLOURS many of these used by big business. Below is a list of both along with the website so you can read and understand the concepts of this type of psychology.
Read this blog post by Richard Larson to understand the concepts behind what graphic designers do to create your LOGO. It’s an eyeopener.
If you aren’t overly tech savvy it can be hard to work out how to do things. Even though WordPress have tutorial, lessons and can help you to do what you need, sometimes it is easier to find a blog post to read which shows you how to do something. Personally I am a visual person and love to look at images and text to work out what I need to do.
This blog post is about adding an admin to your WordPress website. After having to re-learn how to use WordPress due to their update (which I’m still not fond of) I found out many of my clients didn’t know how to make a website, were having issues posting items and needed me to check things out…This is when we found out for some it was difficult to work out how to add an Administrator.
Here is hoping this works for you. Good Luck.
Open the main page of your website. It should have a similar set up as the one below. At the top left of the image you will see ‘MY SITE’ circled in RED. Click on it and you will open another page.
The next image shows the page you will open. It shows a list on the left hand side. You will need to scroll down the list for the next part. It also hows you how to enroll for WordPress Courses… if the need arises.
Scroll down through the list on the left until you get to PEOPLE and click on it. This will take you to another new page where you can invite people.
Once you click on PEOPLE the new page will look like the one below. It shows who you have invited to your site and where you can invite others.
As you can see above, there are two red circles on INVITES. Click on the lower red circles INVITE one and it takes you to the final page as shown below.
Once again I have highlighted the area you need. In the box put in the persons email address who you are inviting to your website. There is a list below the box. You need to pick one of them so the person you are inviting can work on your blog with and for you. The list is – Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor and Follower. If you are working with me, I’d need ADMINISTRATOR or EDITOR.
Last but not least…is the final TAB/BUTTON called SEND INVITATION – circled in RED. Click on this and you are all done. The person you have invited will get and email which they can accept or decline. Depending on which type of Invite you sent, they will have access to your website…
Brand Storytelling is a new Marketing idea which has taken off. Since many of us are Authors and Publishers we should have some great stories to tell… and below, they show you what you need to do. For those authors who do Outlines…this should be a breeze. Start reading and click the link at the bottom for more information.
You can also download their ebook about brand storytelling from their website. 🙂
Have a wonderful day
Claire Plaisted
Last year, a buzzword ripped through the content marketing space that most marketers were surprisingly thrilled about and eager to implement. Shockingly, it didn’t start with “virtual” or end with “intelligence”. Instead, it was what attracted most marketers to the industry in the first place — “storytelling”.
Content marketing’s steady adoption of storytelling is an exciting new opportunity for content creators. The human brain is wired to respond to well-crafted narrative — neuroscience proves that storytelling is the best way to capture people’s attention, bake information into their memories, and forge close, personal bonds. Your audience is programmed to crave and seek out great stories — that’ll never change.
However, since we’ve spent the majority of our careers optimizing content for algorithms, it can be challenging to flex a creative muscle that’s slowly withered away from inactivity and, in turn, move people emotionally and sear your brand into their memories.
So, to help you strengthen that creative muscle and write compelling stories again, we’ve created a guide about the fundamentals of brand story structure and provided examples of three small-to-medium sized businesses who have leveraged their brand story to resonate with huge audiences, despite their comparatively small size.
What is a brand story?
A brand story recounts the series of events that sparked your company’s inception and expresses how that narrative still drives your mission today. Just like your favorite books and movies’ characters, if you can craft a compelling brand story, your audience will remember who you are, develop empathy for you, and, ultimately, care about you.
When HubSpot first started, we noticed traditional, interruptive marketing didn’t appeal to consumers anymore. Due to the digital age, people were in complete control of the information they consumed — and they were sick and tired of receiving direct mail, email blasts, and cold calls. People wanted to be helped, so we started creating educational content that aided people in solving their marketing problems.
Today, we’ve built a passionate community of inbound marketers, expanded our inbound marketing approach to the sales and customer service industries, and strengthened the inbound movement more than ever before.
This our brand story — a simple, digestible narrative that explains why HubSpot began, and how this reason still serves as our purpose today.
How to Write a Brand Story
1. Highlight your story’s conflict.
Check out the following story. Does it resonate with you?
A girl wearing a red-hooded cloak is strolling through the woods to give her sick grandma some much-needed food and TLC. She passes by a wolf on the way. They exchange a slightly awkward soft smile-nod combination that random colleagues usually greet each other with as they pass in the hallway. She makes it to her grandma’s house without a scratch. They eat lunch and play a game of Clue together. Grandma wins by deducing that Colonel Mustard killed Mr. Boddy in the Billiard Room with the candlestick — what a shocker! The End.
So … what’d you think? Did this story keep you on the edge of your seat? Or does it feel … off? For some reason, it doesn’t work, right? That’s because there’s no conflict. Despite the intense game of Clue at the end, there’s nothing at stake. There’s no tension. The wolf didn’t try to eat the girl. He didn’t even go to Grandma’s house. He barely acknowledged Little Red Riding Hood.
At their core, stories are about overcoming adversity. So if there’s no conflict presented, there’s no drama or emotional journey that people can relate to. And if your story has no drama or emotional journey, it won’t hold anyone’s attention — let alone resonate with and inspire them.
Unfortunately, in the business world, brands are horrified to reveal any adversity or conflict they’ve faced. They believe that spinning a rosy, blemish-free story about how their company only experiences hockey stick growth will convince people that they’re the industry’s best-in-class solution. Any adversity or conflict during their company’s history will expose their imperfections, deterring potential customers from buying their product.
But, in reality, this is a huge misconception. Nothing’s perfect. Everything, including companies (especially companies), has flaws. Plus, people don’t relate to perfection. They relate to the emotional journey of experiencing adversity, struggling through it, and, ultimately, overcoming it. Because, in a nutshell, that’s the story of life.
Conflict is key to telling compelling stories. So be transparent about the adversity your company has faced, and own it. The more honest you are about your shortcomings, the more people will respect you and relate to your brand.
2. Don’t forget about your story’s status quo and resolution.
WORD WAR is back. I will be doing these each Tuesday, and they will be much shorter than before…at least I will attempt that! Let’s go!
Affect v. Effect.
Affect is ??????? a verb. It means to impact or change. Transform. “How did that affect you?”
Effect is ??????? a noun, at least 90 percent of the time. If you’re discussing cause and effect, and you’re referring to the end result, use “effect.” Quick hack: they both start with “e.” “Did you feel an effect from the earthquake?”
An ez pz way to determine which one to use? Ask yourself the question “What is this word being used for?” If your answer describes a conclusion or outcome, effect with an “e” is the correct choice. All others, you can safely use affect with an “a.”
There are exceptions to just about every WORD WAR in our beautiful language. I choose to lay out the most commonly used.
Got your own WORD WAR? I welcome them!
Reach me here: cac@cactheproofreader.com or 833.I.PROOF.U/833.477.6638.
There was a bit of confusion on my first post. I’d like to say, this series of posts is aimed at writers who wish to be Authors and make an income of some kind or another. As an Author, you run a business. In business, NOTHING is FREE, most certainly not your TIME.
You’ve made your choice. You’ve written a few short stories and sent it out to friends and maybe family. The replies you get back are positive. ‘We Want More’ (Yes I know this doesn’t happen to all of us). Strangely enough, this is what happened to me, however, I also had a lot to learn about writing in the English of today. There are many changes since I was at school. A lot of stuff I didn’t understand, though with examples (like Cathy who write Word Wars) a lot was instantly understandable.
“You should write a book.” and this is when you start your research. Most writers don’t have a clue where to look, how to research, who to trust. However, it had improved in recent year with Facebook Groups, with saying this, there are still plenty of Scammers and Spammers in those groups. Many get removed and blocked when they are found. The first question I asked myself was “how do I connect to agents and publishers?’ I had no clue and I’d never heard of Independent Publishing back in 2012. It was a bit of a nightmare. Once I found an Agent, I found out they didn’t understand my genre. I still laugh about it. As for publishers…or editors, well they wanted things set out in a certain way or your email would go straight into a bin never to be seen by anyone.
What’s this got to do with Websites and Social Media you ask. Well as you learn how technology works, your start to realise there is more to writing a book than you thought. I’d never heard of AUTHOR BRAND back then, it wasn’t something I was even aware of. SALES and MARKETING can be done via your WEBSITE and SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS, though you need to have the knowledge to do this. You need to learn or find a tutor. A traditional publisher won’t touch you if you can’t format a document how they wish you to. They also prefer you .to have a following which helps to add up to SALES.
Where and how do I find or make a website?
A great question. We started our first one way back in about 2012/13 and it was a complete disaster. We didn’t have a clue what we were doing, though we were pretty good with technology, even with continual frustration. Where was our first website? WORDPRESS.
In 2014, we tried WIX, it was easier to use with a few learning curves to find out how to design and use templates. It was enjoyable to use. In fact, we still have an Author Website there, which needs updating. The thing with WIX we didn’t like was not been able to download our website content to take elsewhere if we found a better deal. By this stage we had a few author friends on Facebook and they suggested trying WORDPRESS again. One friend, Markie, helped us through the process until we knew what we was doing. It was great. WORDPRESS had lots of tutorial if you needed them. These days we’re happy helping others with WORDPRESS, however this year they’ve updated and though the basics are the same, the editing isn’t. It’s still annoying and post take a lot longer to produce.
Your Website on WORDPRESS
Due to knowing how to use WordPress better than any other I’m going to show you the ropes. Some simple steps. I’ve included images for those who have a hard time with technology. I know we all learn differently. The will also be a description for those with sight impairments or who are blind.
Below is a view of the page which opens up to create the first step of your website.
The first thing you need to do for you WEBSITE is pick a name for your Business or Author website. In the image below it will show you what is available. My advice…is to start with the FREE WEBSITE as indicated by the tabs circled in the image. You can always buy later if and when you can afford.
This next image looks a bit scary, though it really isn’t. It shows the pricing for the different types of websites you can have. However, right above those panels it says ‘Start with a FREE Site’ You need to click on this. I have drawn a circle around it so you can find it.
Now it’s time to build your website. You have a name and if you look at the image below…
As you can see it is straight forward. There is a bright pink tab saying GET STARTED in the middle of the page and on the RIGHT there is a list of things you need to do. As each one is done, they will get a GREEN TICK.
Also note you can go back and change your website at any stage if you find you don’t like something. It’s a good learning curve to be able to do this because you get to find your way around.
You’ve hit the GET STARTED tab and it takes you to a page to NAME YOUR SITE! Something you seriously need to think about. Remember this is part of your marketing and AUTHOR BRAND.
Is this site for a BOOK SERIES or for you as a writer? Is it for an anthology of multi-authors? The ideas for your website are endless though it is worth playing with different names until you find what is right for you, be it your actual name, pen name or book series name. Remember once you know what you’re doing you don’t have to stop at one website, however you do need to publish posts to each one at least once a week.
This image shows you where you fill in the blanks…Again…with your business name. As you can see on this sample, I am building a website for Jenny Raven Gifts, who has recently started an online business with recycled items and upcycled then into new items. Under her business name it asks for a TAGLINE. (something under discussion still for Jenny). This is another important part of your marketing. My own TAGLINE is – Building Books One Step at a Time. This shows that the Author Services we offer will help our client turn their manuscript into an professional book file for online distribution websites or local printers to where the client lives.
You have your website name and tagline, so what’s next? Continue to follow the list until you are ready to launch your website to the world. Play around and learn how it works. There is still plenty of work to do. MENUS, CUSTOMIZING, WEBSITE TEMPLATES…
The list includes, Updating your HOME PAGE, CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL FOR THE SITE AND CREATING A MENU (this is where your pages show and in what order). After you are happy with your website set up you can LAUNCH your website. This is great, you’ve done it. One last thing to remember BEFORE SHARING YOUR LINK…ASK A FEW TRUSTED FRIENDS TO HELP YOU PROOFREAD THE CONTENTS AND MAKE SURE ALL THE PAGES WORK.
The last few images are to help guide you around your website to make changes. You need to know about WP ADMIN. This takes you do a new page where all the things you need are listed in a black panel down the left-hand side of the website. Have a look through the list to see what you can do. The following two images are to help you customize and choose a theme. Once you open customize as shown on the image to the right of your screen, you will be able to change COLOURS, FONTS, BACKGROUNDS. You can add WIDGETS, SOCIAL MEDIA, PAGES and sort out your MENU and what order you’d like your PAGES in.
First you need to look for APPEARANCE, which opens a new list and you then click on CUSTOMIZE. The best way to learn is through PLAY, just don’t play for to long or you’ll get totally frustrated and none of us want that. If you still need ASSISTANCE, then ASK!!!
We know we haven’t shown you the CUSTOMIZE PAGE, we thought it would be fun for any of you making a website to have a look around on your own. LEARN BY PLAYING.
This image shows you how to find THEMES. It will take you to a page of TEMPLATES you can use for your website. There are a lot to try out. You can choose to PREVIEW them before you pick the one you wish to use. Take your time and find something that suits you, your genre and or book series.
Below is a screen shot of the TEMPLATES. You can do a SEARCH for what you want. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT NOT ALL THE TEMPLATES ARE FREE. MAKE SURE TO CLICK ON THE FREE TAB ON THE TOP RIGHT SIDE OF THE IMAGE.
Once again, choose wisely. We have updated my websites a few times of the years and we always use a template which shows WIDGETS down the right hand side of the screen. We also prefer the smaller Header Photos. This is of course a preference for YOU TO THINK ABOUT.
HOPING THIS HELPS YOU WITH YOUR WEBSITE AND BUILDING YOUR AUTHOR BRAND. PLEASE SHARE WITH THOSE WHO NEED A HAND WITH RESEARCH. THERE IS SO MUCH MIS-INFORMATION OUT THERE ALONG WITH SCAMMERS AND SO MANY STILL GET CAUGHT OUT.
PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH IF YOU WISH TO BE AN AUTHOR, AFTER ALL YOU CAN’T BE A CERTIFIED PLUMBER WITHOUT THE CORRECT TRAINING!!
Our next post will be about SOCIAL MEDIA SITES and how they work
Here we go again! It’s WORD WAR time! Today I’m bringing you something that is extremely confusing to so many: ALLUSION vs. ILLUSION vs. ELUSION. Let’s get to work.
ALLUSION: figure of speech describing something, either direct or implied, often a comparison.
Example: “He’s such a Romeo.” The reference to Shakespeare’s Romeo implies he’s very romantic.
ILLUSION: refers to a deceptive appearance or impression, a false idea or belief. It tricks the brain into thinking something that isn’t there, is. unreal into a real.
Example: “David Copperfield’s sudden appearance of a Cadillac on his stage is just an illusion.”
ELUSION: describes the act of hiding from or avoiding.
Example: “Elusion of these words is easy as long as you remember their meanings and uses”
Feel free to send me your WORD WAR! I’d love to share it right here for all to enjoy!
For your proofreading needs (and soon to be copyediting!), I am easily reached via the below:
It’s WORD WAR time! Today I’m giving you a double dose of fun! ALLREADY vs. ALREADY. This is actually very simple.
ALL READY means exactly what it says: completely ready, or all prepared, all done.
Example: “I am ALL READY to eat dinner.”
ALREADY means to come before, prior to a specified time.
Example: “Dinner has already been served.”
TIP: If you can replace the word “ready” for “all ready” and the sentence still makes sense, use the two words.
Next: COULD OF vs. COULD HAVE.
COULD OF is actually incorrect usage of the English language. Due to the fact that many folks who speak the phrase omit the “h” when saying “could have,” it’s assumed the proper spelling would be COULD OF, simply because of how it comes out. ALWAYS use COULD HAVE.
And there you have it: two for one!
Feel free to send me your WORD WAR and I’ll put it up right here. For your proofreading needs, contact me below:
