Category: Social Media Shout

Stella Spring Giveaway: Enter to Win

If you’re in a hurry, take the short cut to this announcement. CLICK HERE. ​

The sun is out, the trees are budding, and the flowers are in full bloom. That’s right, spring is here and I am excited to announce my first Spring Giveaway.

Let’s be real, who doesn’t like FREE stuff??

Because of this, I am reaching out to you in regard to my upcoming Stella Spring Giveaway.

Giveaway
Stella Spring Giveaway April 12-26th

The Stella Spring Giveaway includes paperback signed copies of all 3 books in The Stella Trilogy PLUS matching Bookmarks. The Stella Trilogy is a 3 Part Standalone Series about one woman and her family’s struggle for identity and freedom. By standalone, we mean it was written to be read in any order as a standalone novella. Short, sweet, and to the point, start at Book Three and work your way down to Book One. Or, read in chronological order, you decide! Already have this series? Win it for someone else! Have teens? This Historical, Young Adult Series is perfect for getting their summer reading list off to a great start. You will be able to  enter the contest HERE when it launches (only your email address is required).

The contest begins Tuesday, April 12, 2016 and ends Tuesday, April 26, 2016 so there’s plenty of time to spread the word and enter: Spread the Word.

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Kathryn Reed on Between Slavery and Freedom (Stella, Book 1)

“Yecheilyah Ysrayl takes us on a colorful and thought provoking journey through the eyes of a mulatto slave woman Stella. Generations later, Stella’s descendant Cynthia May has no idea of Stella’s life as a slave, nor the true identity of their bloodline. Since Cynthia is a racist she is in for a rude awakening. Stella is reminiscent of a wonderfully written slave narrative, a story of history and pain, it is a brilliant opener of the Stella series.”

Colleen Chesebro on Beyond The Colored Line (Stella, Book 2)

“By the time the Great Depression eases, Stella and her family move to segregated Chicago, where life is not much better. Aunt Sara, a school teacher, struggles to wait for the school district to pay her. Sara has made the step into white society by dating an affluent doctor and encourages Stella to do the same. After a discussion with Aunt Sara, Stella decides to pass for white. Sidney McNair is born and enters a white society where she had the freedom to go where she chooses and to buy whatever she likes. Stella has crossed the colored line.”

Christa Wojo. on The Road to Freedom (Stella, Book 3)

“Like the first book, Ysrayl works her magic of putting the reader into her characters’ minds to witness history through their emotions and perspectives. At one point in the story, the friends are trapped in their vehicle as it’s mobbed by a pack of violent racists. My heart was literally pounding at this point. I was horrified that anyone had to experience such ugly cruelty.”

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Like. Share. Enter. Win.

Curiouser Editors 20 Fresh Social Media Tips for Authors

Check Out Curiouser Editors Excellent Social Media Tips! I just used one for my IG bio. Emojis does make it look way cooler lol.

  1. Pin posts to Twitter, your Facebook page, and your Facebook group (you do have your own Facebook group, right? Because I’ve only been preaching about this for a million years, give or take). Ensure the pinned post has some type of opt-in for a freebie so they’ll subscribe to your emails. If you’re pinning a post, then it should tell them to do something that somehow benefits you and them.

  2. Add emojis to your Instagram bio to catch attention. I like to use the pointing finger right above my freebie opt-in so that it’s the first thing they’re directed to. Use emojis in your posts too!

  3. Update your LinkedIn title with stronger keywords. Your title shouldn’t say, “Jane Doe, Author.” It should say, “Jane Doe, Romance Author of [Title], Part-Time Nurse, Full-Time Mother, Oil Painter.” For example, mine says, “President of Curiouser Editing, Author of the Pre-Publishing Checklist, Editor, Writer, and Coach.” If you need more help with LinkedIn, I highly recommend The Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business.

  4. Like as many Instagram photos as you can under relevant hashtags (#bookstagram, #bookish, #indieauthor, #writercommunity, #writerlife, #bibliophile, #amwriting, #amreading) to gain more followers. I like to time myself for ten minutes so that I’m not spending a ton of time on it, but I’m still seeing results.

  5. Use the WordSwag app to create visually appealing photos with text for Instagram (or Twitter/Facebook). Foundr Magazine swears by this in their freebie PDF, How to Get Your First 10,000 Instagram Followers.

  6. Buy the Followers + for Instagram app to keep track of your stats as well as discover who’s unfollowing you. This is very helpful if you suddenly lose an influx of followers—why did they unfollow you? Too many posts? Ugly photos? Irrelevant photos? If you’re an author who writes paranormal novels, then posting about politics 24/7 might turn them off.

  7. Add a Hello Bar to your website. You can use this for email subscription, to announce your book’s release, or to advertise a course.  

  8. Add your blog subscription opt-in to your Facebook page. You’d be surprised how many people forget to do this.

  9. Ask questions on Facebook and Instagram for better engagement. Every time I ask a question, I get a couple dozen comments on Instagram, sometimes a few dozen. Make sure that it pertains to writing or publishing in some way.

  10. Try live streaming on Facebook to interact with your readers.

  11. Add images to your tweets to get more retweets.

  12. Try using Facebook’s carousel option to promote your book.

  13. Repost, repost, repost. Not everyone will see that you posted your book’s 99¢ sale.

  14. Tag people you talk about in your post. Tweeting a Medium article from Positive Writer about free Createspace books? That’s three tags right there: @Medium, @ADDerWorld, @Createspace. Posting an Instagram photo of three books you’re reading? Tag the authors. Posting the link to your blog on your Facebook page where you mention different writerly websites? Tag them.

  15. Add a location to Instagram posts. For example, if you’re at Barnes & Noble in Dallas, add that as a location.

  16. Add a cover photo to your Twitter account that shows off your book specifically. I’m a huge fan of The Thatchery’s cover photos, so consider hiring someone to make you one that you can use on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Check them out here.

  17. Reply to every single person who follows you and thank them for the follow. I’ve found that this works better than sending them a direct message, as it comes off kind of spammy. Also, in your tweet, don’t be afraid to tell them about your book and engage them in conversation.

  18. Connect with authors in your field by using the Advanced Search option on LinkedIn. For example, if author Damien Taylor wanted to find more fantasy authors, all he has to do is type in “fantasy author” in his keyword advanced search to connect with them.

  19. Post at the right times, please. All it takes is a little bit of research. According to Buzzsumo’s article on Facebook engagement, posts published between 10:00 p.m. and midnight get the most engagement. I’ve also noticed that 2:00 p.m. is a great time to post on Facebook and Instagram, while author Damien Taylor has seen some serious engagement at 3:00 a.m. Wow!

  20. Directly embed videos to your Facebook page rather than posting your YouTube link. It gets better engagement. < I have also down this one in the past. She’s right, and it looks better too.

 

 

I Just Got SICKER!

You may remember the review I wrote last year on Christa Wojo’s debut psychological suspense horror series SICK. In Book One, we peered into the life of Susan Branch, a woman struggling to take care of a very sick husband with a number of diseases plaguing his body. Well, I am happy to inform you that part two, SICKER is now available for pre-order! So, I am not ill but I did just preorder SICKER. The ending of SICK was so sick I cannot wait to continue reading. Click the book cover below to pre-order SICKER and welcome to the mind of John Branch.

SICKER

Blog Award Free – 1/20/2016

I am thankful to have produced content on this blog that others enjoy, share, and find worthy of blog awards. While I’ve been blogging in general for a few years, I am still a newbie at this address and have only been blogging for a little over a year. In that time, I have come to truly understand how to write for a variety of people (The Versatile Blog Award was truly an honor because I strive to produce content that has mixture) and meet some amazing men and women. While blogging and writing can be separate entities, I often do not separate the two. Having this blog has helped me to understand how to take what I know and understand and translate it into a language others can relate to and understand on a public platform which is important for an author. I have also learned how to better blog in ways that are not connected to writing.

I’ve gone back and forth with this for a long time and I am finally at peace with my decision. I have never completely followed the rules anyway and while I laugh about it, I actually do not like to half do stuff. I don’t have the kind of time to nominate the wonderful bloggers my heart desires to. This year is going to be very busy and so for these reasons, as of today 1/20/16, I have come to the decision to no longer participate in the beloved Blog Awards. It’s been a good run, but The PBS Blog is now officially Blog Award Free.

Don’t Leave yet!

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I am still accepting your Blog Award Nominations! I just won’t be participating in the practice of nominating, posting, etc. If you want to nominate The PBS Blog for an award you still can. I will publish it under my “PBS Blog Awards” tab. Please check the page and if you have nominated me for an award that is not there, please give me a heads up and I will post it.

Keeping Your Word

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There is really no excuse for how late I am on some of my book reviews, but I hold my integrity near and dear and always set out to keep my word. That said I am scheduling some time next week to fulfill all of the reviews I have promised some of you. I ask for your sincere apologies and I thank you so much for your patience.

In other news, if nothing else always set out to do what you have said that you will. There is nothing more discerning of true love and support than to fulfill your word.

OK now, about this American Horror Story Episode about to come on tho…

Book Trailer – Stella Book #3: The Road to Freedom: Joseph’s Story

Coming to Print, Amazon Kindle, B&N NOOK, iBooks, Google Play, Goodreads, and Kobo Friday, February 26, 2016.

Wealthy and clueless are just some of the words Joseph uses to describe his family. Deeply concerned about the state of Black America, a fight with his brother compels a young Joseph to leave his mother’s house and join his friends for a trip to Atlanta for SNCC’s (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) second conference. Excited to live life on their own, Jo and his friends have left school and the lives they were living for a chance to become part of the movement. With no money and essentially no plan the seven friends, three black and four white, set out for the road when they are stopped by a racist cop who makes them exit the car. The teens are unaware that a mob of Klansmen also awaits them at the New Orleans bus terminal.

Discover what life was like for Joseph when he left his mother’s house in the 3rd installment of the Stella Trilogy, years before a mixed race Jo knew that he was mixed race. Determined to be apart of the movement Joseph McNair, son of “Sidney McNair”, and his friends abandon their lives in search for answers in the Jim Crow south on The Road to Freedom.