16 Benefits of Being Blind — Number 14 is HILARIOUS!

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  Most people see blindness as a bad thing. A disability. A curse. Something they’d not want to have. But it’s not… not always! What most people fail to realize is that there are actually some perks to being blind. Seriously. According to a couple of blind people I know, there are! If you don’t … Read more

From blog commenting and community building to podcasts radio shows and beyond

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Hello again; Recently, I’ve been blessed with a lot of amazing opportunities. I was asked to write a guest post for Adrienne Smith, I wrote an article for Red Wine Magazine, and I was a guest on the Real Talk with Lee radio show. I am working on an interview for Gill Andrews of True Stories with Gill, and I have several more online radio show interviews scheduled.

Now, some of these breaks came from continuing to be active in building relationships through blog commenting. But some of these opportunities came from actively seeking to be a guest on blogs, podcasts, and radio shows. Today, I’m going to share the methods I have used and the results that came from each. I hope that I can help you to create more chances to introduce yourself, share your message, promote your business, raise funds for a non profit, etc.

Now, I should mention that until recently I didn’t openly solicit any of the many guest posts or podcast appearances I have received. I was able to come to the attention of other bloggers through blog commenting. I would read their posts, leave quality memorable comments, share their content, and eventually contact them directly by email. Or sometimes they would write to me. The point is I got to know them by supporting and helping with their site. And then they would decide all on their own to reach out to me.

I learned this strategy from Adrienne Smith, the blog commenting super star, and it has obviously worked for me. I believe in it with all my heart. And it will always be part of my marketing efforts. It is one of the most effective uses of my time in my opinion.

But last month I read a post by Ann Smarty on Boost Blog Traffic entitled How to Get Interviewed by Popular Blogs (Even If You’re Not a Big Shot In it She says that any of us can become one of the experts that the top bloggers, authors, podcasters, and radio and tv show hosts turn to when they need a source for their next article, blog post, . or show guest. And with the hundreds or thousands of people out there who need experts its just a matter of putting yourself where these people can find you. And she included several sites where you can go to meet these authors and show hosts. I’m going to share my experiences with the sites she recommended along with a couple that I found on my own.

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My first ebook Leading You Out of the Darkness Into the Light is finally published

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Hello again; Well, I finally did it. The ebook Leading You Out of the Darkness Into the Light Is now available for sale! I am excited and relieved and more than a little scared. So, in this post I will explain the decisions I made and why as well as what comes next.

 

 

Where it is for sale

I know that for me completing the ebook and getting it published is an accomplishment in itself. I’m proud of the hard work I did, and I believe the book can and will help a lot of people. But I would be lying if I said that I didn’t care if it sells or not. I do want it to sell well. I also want it to be well received. So, I thought I should start by telling people where they can buy it and why.

For now the book is available through Selz.com, which allows for anyone to sell both physical and information products online. They take a smaller percentage of sales than Amazon and the submission process is so much simpler. All I had to do is upload the image and the pdf version of the ebook and people can purchase it with pay pal or a credit card and download it immediately.

Leading You Out of the Darkness Into the Light is also available from Amazon.

If you want a print copy, you can order one from CreateSpace.

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Making progress towards publishing my first ebook

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Hello again; Well, I hate to be one of those people who only seems to have one subject. You know those people who every time you meet them or read one of their posts they have nothing else to talk about. In this case I am working towards my first ever ebook and there are a lot of decisions yet to be made. I want to thank you all for helping me out so much. I have made a few decisions, and I still need more help.

 

Chosen a price

 

First, I have settled on a price I have decided to go with $14.95. That seems to be the consensus of what would be the highest someone should charge for a first ebook. I have heard from several people who say that I can raise the price later if I feel like I have earned enough recognition to do so. I have also been told that I could start the book out at free and have it go up to my price after the first week. I think I want to start with my price from the beginning, so as soon as all the editing is done; that is what I will be doing.

 

Special offers

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What I learned about myself from my first ebook

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Hello again; This week I’m here to share something very exciting and to ask for your help. Some of you may have heard that I have been working on my first ebook. It will be a short motivational one that I plan to expand upon later. On Friday I sent it to my editor the very talented Lorraine Reguly of Wording Well. She told me that she should have it ready to publish in about two weeks. However, this isn’t the end. I still need to choose a book cover image, set a price, and decide upon whether or not to offer it free to subscribers. And this is where I will need your help.

Some background

I always like to start with a little background, so first I’ll tell you how this all came about. A while back I left a comment on a post at Eve Koivula’s site. The post was about creating online products, and I had asked for suggestions on creating your first one. She was good enough to write back and offer to work with me. She even sent me a copy of her recently released ebook hoping it would help me focus on my target audience and their needs.

Later, she asked me if I wanted to participate in an online summit. She said that if I did I would need to have a product ready in time to offer it to the viewers. She also informed me that I would need to have an email auto responder by then. This is why I signed up with aweber. At first I thought about saying no because the deadline was coming up very fast by then. But Eve explained that it didn’t have to be a huge deal especially for my first effort.

So, I decided to go for it hoping I could meet the deadline. I started writing the book and had about half of it done when she informed me that they had decided to make it an all female event. I didn’t have a problem with this as I understand the value of inviting people who can put buts in front of the screens. But you know me I believe in finding the good in anything. I decided that it was way past time for me to create an online product of my own. So, I kept working on it.

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