Monthly Archives: October 2013

7 way to use social media to market books

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By Denise Turney
Authors published by traditional book publishers are learning what self-published authors have known all along. Book marketing is in the author’s hands. Fortunately, social media networks can be used to connect authors with thousands of loyal readers. Seven key steps writers can take to get the word out about their books at social media networks include:

  • Post free book excerpts at their social media accounts, being sure to include links to their book websites or book order pages.
  • Announcing dates, locations (i.e. street address, website URL) and times for upcoming author interviews at social media networks. For example, if authors are interviewing on online radio shows like Off The Shelf and Blake Radio, they can post flyers about the interviews at their social media accounts.
  • Share pictures of book covers at Pinterest. Again, to get the most out of the posts, it’s important that authors include links to their websites or book order pages with the pictures.
  • Publish links to book blog posts at social media networks.
  • Support other authors and book readers at social media networks by commenting on intriguing or interesting posts. Authors don’t even have to add their website URL to their comments. Social media networks automatically add linkable profile names or images to comments that visitors can click on.
  • Create a powerful social media profile. Book writers should do this for each social media account they have.
  • Add quotes about or made by book characters to social media network updates.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in my new book, Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

Life Happens While You Pursue Your Dreams

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By Denise Turney

Congratulations if you’ve recently realized what your life dream is. What a wonderful awakening. Now that you’ve come to know what’s inside you, don’t be surprised if passion to pursue your life dream starts stirring your emotions. Ideas may surface in your mind, ideas that, if you act upon them, will help you get closer to the realization, the physical manifestation, of your dreams.

Birthing Life Dreams

Life dreams are different from night dreams. However, Source may use night dreams to reveal the unfolding of your life dreams to you. As an example, recall Joseph in the Bible (Genesis chapter 37, verse 5). Joseph understood the meaning of his night dreams. He had a dream interpretation or analyzing dreams gift. But, you may not. Not everyone appears to have this gift the way Joseph did. In this case, you can pray and ask Source to give you the dream interpretation. However, if you’re not open to receiving the dream interpretation or knowing what the dream means, you may continue to be confused about the dream. Your own unwillingness to receive the dream’s message is what keeps you confused about the dream’s meaning.

Our life dreams are inside of us. They’re like seeds planted within us, waiting for us to nurture them and help them to surface in our lives so the fulfillment of our dreams bless us and everyone we come in contact with. Life dreams are powerful, impossible to ignore or turn away from. Yet, it takes courage to bring life dreams to pass. The world doesn’t pause so we can fulfill our life dreams, bring forth what Source has planted in us. Our loved ones transition, children continue to be born, we get hired into new jobs, leave old jobs, move into new residences, care for our families and meet a myriad of daily responsibilities . . . all while pursuing our life dreams.

Although it would be welcomed, the world doesn’t slow down just because we’re taking steps to manifest our life dreams. We can still feel pain, disappointment and discouragement as we go after our life dreams. There may also be times when we feel like throwing the towel in on our life dreams. In fact, after we realize what our life dreams are and start acting on them, opposition from the ego may build. It’s almost as if, as long as we stay blind to the good that’s inside of us, the world’s thought system buffets us less.

Wake Up to Your Life Dreams

Wake up to our truth and the ego seems to rouse from its slumber, challenging our courage to bring our life dreams to pass. If we continue moving forward, running with the vision, we’ll produce a good result. This work is not for the faint at heart. It requires courage. But, it can be done. Many have already fulfilled their life dreams, people like Harriet Tubman, Joan of Arc, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Owens, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Fannie Lou Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, Dr. Charles Drew, Wilma Rudolph, Marva Collins and Evelyn Ashford, to name a few.

Nothing can replace your life dreams. No amount of work or fun can fulfill you the way bringing your life dreams to pass will. Considering the truth that joy is our strength, it’s wisdom at work when you take the steps to fulfill your life dreams, even if you have to do so as the world’s thought system tries to stop you. Awaken to your life dreams!

Get your copy of “Love Pour Over Me” Now at –

http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000001582/Love-Pour-Over-Me.html

Have you stopped making new friends?

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By Denise Turney

It takes courage to really “grow up”. To grow up,  you must take on new responsibilities, start eating the fruit of your decisions. It’s how you learn and evolve.

Depending on decisions you’ve made thus far, it may also mean taking care of and guiding your children. That’s not all. By the time you reach your mid-30s, there’s a chance that you’ve taken on a mortgage, not to mention having health insurance premiums, household expenses and an auto loan to pay for. ge to really “grow up”. To grow up,  you must take on new responsibilities, start eating the fruit of your decisions. It’s how you learn and evolve.

No matter how old you get, you need good friends

Life fills up fast after you become an adult, and not always with responsibilities that you want. To meet those responsibilities, you might find yourself dealing with stress and anxiety. Work a typical middle or senior management job and you might have the added burden of finding time to catch up with family, not to mention friends.

If you’re not careful, years could pass before you realize that you haven’t made a single new friend since high school or college. After a decade or more of living this way, greeting someone new might feel as awkward as going out on a date for the first time in 10 years.

What won’t change is your hunger for friendships, the kind you write or call home about. Humans are social creatures. We love to connect with each other, engage in rich conversation, to simply be in the presence of people we trust, people we know love us. It’s these types of relationships that make facing challenges in this world easier. It’s also friendships that make personal achievements and celebrations worthwhile.

As one woman shares with Redbook when discussing her desire for rich, female friendships, “I miss that female connection.” She continues “Just being with my family doesn’t make me feel 100-percent complete.”

If you’re nervous about making new friends, start small. Say hello to the first person who steps on the elevator at work or the doctor’s office with you. Keep doing this until you start to feel comfortable striking up conversations with people you haven’t met before.

Join networking groups. For example, if you are passionate about arts and crafts, you could join an arts group and get together with other art lovers once a week to chat about your latest projects and to share laughs. You could also meet your next best friend while posting to a social media network or while responding to someone who leaves a comment at your blog.

The important thing is to get out there. Start letting new people discover the wonder that is you. Be open to starting and developing new friendships. You’ll be glad you did. It’s what keeps Love Pour Over Me’s Raymond Clarke going, even during the hardest times in his life.

Get your copy of “Love Pour Over Me” Now at –

http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000001582/Love-Pour-Over-Me.html

Getting ready to move to a big city the right way

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By Denise Turney
Moving to a big city can be intimidating, especially if you’ve never lived away from home and you grew up in a small town. The pace of big city life is faster.

On the other hand, small towns generally don’t attract as many big name entertainers, sporting events, corporations that pay competitive wages, retail stores and more. Small towns also generally aren’t on the cutting edge of fashion, finances and technology the way that larger towns are. It’s easy to get bored living in a small town.

Big city living brings big changes

However, it’s not all glitter and gold when you move to a big city. Traffic is congested on a daily basis. People living in the city may not be as patient as the people who lived in your neighborhood back home. If you already have furniture, that’s good. That one thing can save you hundreds of dollars, more if you bought your furniture from a store where you cut a special deal with the store’s owner.

Rent an apartment in a big city and don’t be surprised to pay $900 or more a month. This could be culture shock, especially if you come from a town where the average rent is $600 or less a month. For example, MSN Money reports that, “Living in a studio downtown with electricity, gas for the apartment, Internet, cable and a train card, I was already at $2,500 every month.”

Groceries and clothes are also higher in big cities. Move to a big city that has limited parking, and you should expect to spend $100 or more a month for private parking. That means you’ll pay to park your car in an apartment or private garage when you’re at home. It also means that you’ll have to pay to park when you go to work unless your employer covers those costs for you.

What you probably won’t have to deal with is boredom, especially if you make friends easily and have an outgoing personality. That doesn’t mean you’re chatty or talk all the time. It means you’re someone who enjoys communicating with other people. In a big city, you can take your love for communicating with people to check out live plays, go to major sporting competitions and use your natural talents to perform before live audiences at city parks and other public venues.

Talk to people who are already living in the city you’re contemplating moving to. Ask them about the ups and downs of living in the city. Be sure to ask about local taxes, street parking and rents and mortgages. You can learn about crime rates online or by reading through newspapers in the city you’re thinking about moving to.

Do your homework before you start packing, even if you’re feeling desperate for a change like Raymond Clarke is in Love Pour Over Me.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in my new book, Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.