This one is so close to real life news, it’s almost scary (and co-author Michael Davis and I started writing it about 3 years ago – who says truth is stranger than fiction?). Whispers of Innocence takes place along the southern border of Arizona, where drugs and humans are easily transferred back and forth. When a new drug appears on the scene, it’s up to investigative journalist Micki Walker to figure out what it is. When she teams up with former US Marshal Drake Elliot, however, the two discover it’s not just some new designer drug – it’s being used to produce the “whispers of innocence” in developmentally disabled kids in a school run by a devious religious cult leader.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading Whispers of Innocence as much as I enjoyed writing this suspenseful thriller! Thanks for checking it out at Champagne Books here.

Writing.

Yep, when it comes down to it, without written content, you don’t really have anything.

The fact is CONTENT IS KING. You’ve probably heard that expression before. It is absolutely true.

Too often, small business owners don’t give written content the attention it deserves. They write their own copy, or ask Suzy in Accounting to do it. If they’re really desperate, they might go to a site like oDesk or Guru.com and post an ad for someone, anyone, who can write. Unfortunately, if it’s a lowball price, the quality of the writing they receive is likely to be very poor.

Don’t consider your copy writing a necessary evil. Do take the time to develop great copy and do spend the money on someone with demonstrable writing skills, if necessary. Isn’t your business worth it?

The only way I can keep up this pace is because I truly love it. Writing is more than what I do, it’s who I am.

I wrote my first book at the age of seven. It was called “Mr. Fathead Goes to the Moon”. Ever since then, I’ve enjoyed writing in school, writing for myself, and writing for others – everything from full-length books to micro blog posts on Twitter.

I’ve even written to the important people in my life to tell them my feelings or resolve a sticky issue.

The written word is how I communicate. I use it to communicate thoughts and feelings of my own as well as to express the intent of other people. Before I write anything for a client, I have to get inside his or her head and spend a few minutes there to ensure that what I write does a respectable job of representing who the client is.

Unfortunately, reliance on the written word means that when it comes to verbal communication I’m not so hot. Sure, I can stand up in front of a group of people and speak without freezing on the spot, but what I want to say and what comes out of my mouth are often two different things!

Please keep this in mind when you talk to me about your project. Believe me, you’ll have much more confidence after reading through my portfolio than you might after talking to me on the phone!

Hmm… Really? Not sure everyone in my family and circle of acquaintances would necessarily agree with that. They tend to consider me pretty unapproachable when I’m working hard on a project.

What do you think? Are writers made of sugar and spice or something not as nice?

Why should you use social media? It’s simple; defined by one word: Connections.

Social media accounts allow you to make connections with people who might be become customers. If you make your posts interesting, your followers/friends are bound to want to know more about you and your company. If all you do is try to sell them on your products or services, you are wasting your time.

I see the worst offenders on Twitter. Many corporate clients see it as a numbers game. Increase your followers to thousands and you’ve won the battle, right? Wrong.

The problem with having thousands of followers, and following thousands yourself, is that there is simply too many tweets to read, let alone follow up on. So instead of simply posting links to a buy page, reach out and make some connections. Find someone who has posted on an interesting topic and respond/retweet. Ask a question. Offer a freebie.

With Facebook, you have more options for making connections. You can get some real discussions going. Ask questions and use the responses to more narrowly define your target market or determine the Call to Action in your advertising pieces.

LinkedIn is a great forum for starting discussions, too. Form your own group around a topic associated with your particular industry.

However, the real key to making social media work for you is responding after you’ve reached out. And this takes time. If you don’t have the time yourself, you must appoint someone on your staff to check all your social media accounts daily and draft an appropriate response to messages and posts. If a follower/friend directly contacts you and they receive no response, you can bet they won’t do it again. And that means you’ve just lost a connection. Back to square one.

I’m currently writing an auto responder email series on how to use social media to become an industry icon. If you are interested in using these series as a free giveaway on your site, just contact me.

Now go out there and CONNECT!

How It Changes Internet Marketing

I recently saw a short news item on TV showing a 90-year-old woman who just got her first computer – and it was an iPad. To me this illustrates that its market reach is going to be enormous. It’s convenient, lightweight, and easy to use with its touch screen just like the iPhone. And because its capabilities extend beyond those of a cell phone, it could function as a person’s only internet connection, allowing them to update blogs, access social media sites, and enjoy a truly interactive experience.

One way this changes marketing is that optimization of web page size is going to be tricky. The internet marketer now needs to come up with a page that is equally reader-friendly on a PDA, iPad, laptop, or large PC monitor.

But the most major change occurs with eBooks. The iPad’s eBook reader provides a reading experience combined with internet access. Unlike the Kindle or other readers, a book on the iPad provides live links. If your information product references a website, for instance, that link can be live and clickable, taking the reader to the page instantly.

Apps are a big part of the iPad’s interactive features as well. Savvy business people will get to work developing an app to be offered as an information product. This increase subscribership and creates customer loyalty.

As the iPad remains on the market longer and increases in popularity, expect that more and more people will choose this product for all their online activity. This means an internet marketer needs to pay more attention to providing interesting and diverse content in order to compete with the millions of other sites vying for the consumer’s attention.