Best self promotion! by Neil Ostroff

It’s been a while since I posted all the sites I use to market and promote my books. I figured since I have so many new blog followers (I’m up to 111 so far; thanks all for following) it would help anyone looking for greats sites to promote on. I’m just going to list them in no particular order. They’re easy to sign up and have friendly people in their forums. I recommend you download all your books to these sites for the exposure. I also post my blog on these sites and participate in groups. It has definitely driven sales.

The book marketing network.com

Authors Den.com 

Bookblogs.com

Mycreativeintent.com

Booktown.com

Google stream

Wringroom.com

Storylink.com

Goodreads.com

Scribd.com

Linkedin.com

Kindle Boards

Kindle direct publishing

Amazon.com meet our authors forum

Twitter

Shelfari

Biblioscribe

Digg

Reddit

Stumbleuponit

--I also highly recommend the sites below for writing advice. You can post samples, or stories, or just ask a question. The people here are very friendly and have given me great free editing and advice over the years. But DO NOT self-promote here.

Bestsellerbound.com

Absolutewrite water cooler.com

Mywriterscircle.com

Writers-network.com 

InkN’it.com

Wherewritersmeet.com

Mywriterscircle.com

Authonomy.com

--Here is a list of sites I recommend all authors put their books on for display. I don’t participate much on these, but I always add my book, summary, and link to my account when I publish a new one. It’s all about exposure.

Writing forum.com

Figment.com

Writerface.com  

Writing.com

Writersnet.net

Book daily.com 

Published.com

Bookhitch.com

Writetobreathe.com

Indieauthorsunite.com

Worthyofpublishing.com

Booksie.com

Bookpleasures.com

Blogcatalog.com

--Well, there it is, the secret to my promotional efforts are now laid bare. I spend between two and five hours involved in daily marketing and promoting on these sites, including posting on forums without self-promotion. But as I posted earlier, Kindle Boards allows you to place a picture and link of your book after each post so it’s like promoting anyway. I hope this list helps. Feel free to print it.

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

PRACTICAL RUSSIAN READER by Tamara Moreton

The Tortoise is pleased to announce the publication of Practical Russian Reader Vol.1 by Tamara Moreton.

Practical Russian Reader is designed as both a reader and a workbook for Intermediate students of Russian. It contains sixteen short stories chosen for their interest and entertainment value as well aids to language learning.

Each story has been supplied with a variety of questions and exercises designed to enhance understanding of grammar points and to help in the acquisition of vocabulary.

A comprehensive vocabulary to each story has been supplied to enable the conscientious student to obtain an understanding of the gist of each story.

Some question keys have been supplied to clarify certain expressions, but as this is not meant to be a parallel text, full translation has not been provided except in the vocabulary lists.

It is the heartfelt wish of the author/editor that Practical Russian Reader will provide students of Russian with an interesting and informative reading experience as they come to grips with learning this fascinating and important language.

Practical Russian Reader can be used as a teaching manual in a classroom situation or by Intermediate students working on their own.

Practical Russian Reader is available in the US from the following Link:

Practical Russian Reader

Practical Russian Reader is available in the UK via Paypal at the following link:

Practical Russian Reader

Tamara Moreton is also the author of How English Pronouns Made Friends with Russian Pronouns

Available in the US from the following link:

Russian Pronouns

Available in the UK via Paypal from the following link:

Russian Pronouns

Review of The Book Traveller by Alan Moreton

Amazon Four Star Review by Top Reviewer Angela Wolf  “Bookangel”

Retired avid reader Thomas buys a chair from a mysterious bookshop (antique shop) owner. He discovers that the chair will transport him into the books he is reading. He becomes one of the main characters in several classic works.

As he reads different books he reflects on his life and tells his life story. (From the books he chooses, the reader can guess the way his life story is going to end.)

On top of that, there is a minor plot line involving his dog Sky. Sky can understand humans and communicate with some of them. He even follows his master into some of the novels. Additionally, he and a rival dog compete for the affections of his 'lady love.'

There is a lot happening in this book. Yet in spite of its length, I found it to be a surprisingly quick read. In some places it reads like a memoir and I'm wondering if it is slightly autobiographical.

This book was an entertaining read, and I would recommend this novel to those who enjoy getting lost in a good book.

Comment by Angela Wolf after re-editing and republishing The Book Traveller:

Hello Mr. Moreton - thank you for stopping by to comment on my review! I really enjoyed the book and found it very entertaining. I was very hesitant to mention anything negative about the book at all, but I felt it was best to be completely honest. In light of your changes to the book, I will edit my review. It's a book I would be proud to have written. Thank you...Angela

Top Ten Most Expensive Books In The World

#1 - The Codex Leicester ($30,800,000)

A collection of scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci, the Codex Leicester is officially the most expensive book ever sold. Purchased in a 1994 auction for $30.8 million by billionaire Bill Gates, the book is put on display in a different city every year.

#2 - The Gospels of Henry the Lion ($12,400,000)

Produced in the late 12th century (between 1175 - 1188) for Henry the Lion at the Benedictine Helmarshausen Abbey in Germany, the 266-page manuscript is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque book illumination of the time. It was bought by a German national group at a Sotheby's auction in 1983 for $12.4 million.

#3 - The Birds of America ($8,800,000)

First published in the early 19th century by painter and naturalist John James Audubon, The Birds of America is a series of life sized paintings of various birds and is often referred to as the greatest picture book ever made. In 2000 an original print copy sold at Christie's for $8.8 million, making it the most expensive printed book ever sold.

#4 - The Canterbury Tales ($7,000,000)

Coming in at fourth on the list of most expensive books ever sold is The Canterbury Tales written by English author Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. It is made up of a collection of short stories that paints a critical portrait of the Church and English society at the time.

#5 - First Folio: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies ($6,000,000)

Published in 1623 a few years after Shakespeare's death, 'Comedies, Histories and Tragedies' is a collection of almost all of the great writer's known plays. Often referred to as the First Folio, it is the only reliable source available for 20 of Shakespeare's plays. It became one of the most expensive books in the world when a copy was sold at auction in New York for just over $6 million in 2001.

#6 - The Northumberland Bestiary ($5,850,000)

A 13th century English manuscript, the Northumberland Bestiary is a collection of ink drawings of both real and imaginary animals, depicting moral stories and proverbs. It was bought at auction by a private collector in 1990 for close to $6 million, though it has recently been made available for display to the Getty museum.

#7 - The Gutenberg Bible ($5,400,000)

The Gutenberg Bible marked the new era of the movable type printing press developed by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s. Lauded for its artistic qualities, only 21 complete copies survive in the world today. Many argue that they are the most valuable books in the world, though they only come in at number 6 on our list after a $5.4 million sale in for an incomplete copy in 1987 (a complete copy hasn't sold since a $2.5 million sale in 1978).

#8 - Traité des Arbres Fruitiers ($4,500,000)

Literally translating to 'Treatise on Fruit Trees', this French manuscript is a collection of writings and illustrations compiled by Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau in the mid 18th century. Detailing a variety of species of fruit trees, it was recently sold for $4.5 million in 2006.

#9 - Ptolemy's Geographia ($4,200,000)

Also known as the Geography, Cosmographia or Geographike Hyphegesis, Geographia is one of Ptolemy's main works, produced in the 2nd century and detailing what was known about the world's geography at the time. Basically the first atlas ever made, Ptolemy's Geographia fetched a cool $4.2 million in a sale in 2006.

#10 - Mozart’s 9 Symphonies Manuscript ($4,100,000)

Closing out our list of the ten most expensive books ever sold might not be classed as a book by some, but a collection of 9 of the great composer's symphonies, autographed by Mozart himself, sold for a little over $4 million back in 1990.

A Thorough Edit of The Book Traveller

I spent the last six working days in editing The Book Traveller.

I want to thank the following reviewers for their invaluable criticism of The Book Traveller, which has prompted me to a thorough edit as a result of their comments.

Thank you to Mary Spencer, who contacted me via my website and Angela Wolf on Amazon.com, who both enjoyed my story, but pointed out some technical errors.

All my existing books will now be thoroughly edited and all new ones will be thoroughly edited before release to provide an error-free read to my growing band of readers.

I extend my apologies to those comparatively few readers who received or downloaded my books with typographical errors or corrupted text. These have now been eliminated from The Book Traveller and it has now been re-published.

If any typos are detected I should be grateful if you would contact me using the contact form on my website.

www.the-tortoise.com

Marketing and Promotion Efforts

Tuesday 06 December continued

I revised The Book Traveller for publication and uploaded it to CreateSpace.

I did some more research on the Internet on Marketing and as a result I uploaded my book, The Confession of Sandy Harris and its links to Google Books.

I put together a Chapter Sampler of all my books in order to create a free PDF to put on my website, which can now be downloaded at:  http://www.the-tortoise.com/index.html

I tried for the second time to create a signature with my links in my email, but I couldn’t make it work. I have limited techie skills!

epublishing consortium

Monday 5 December 2011 continued

Doing some more research on the Internet I found another promotion website: http://epublishingconsortium.com

I posted my book details and links there. Every little helps.

AuthorsDen

Sunday 04 December 2011 continued

I spent a couple of hours searching the Internet for marketing ideas.

I found a link to a website called Authors Den which can be found at:

http://www.authorsden.com

This site has over 1 Million visitors a month of both readers and authors.

I created an author page on it, which you can see here:

http://www.authorsden.com/alanmoreton

Mrs. Tortoise cropped a picture of me and I uploaded it to Authors Den.

And I also added it to my LibraryThing Author page, which you can see here:

http://www.librarything.com/author/moretonmralan

I let some of my contacts on LibraryThing know about my picture on my author page

as they have not seen my image before. One said that I look just like an author!

I have now added it to my About the Author page on my website at:

www.the-tortoise.com

Two other ideas I got about marketing were:

1.      To create a free PDF with sample chapters from my books.

This is now available on my About the Author page at:

www.the-tortoise.com

2.      To write articles on writing, promotion publishing, etc.

I have decided not to implement this as I prefer to write fiction and memoir.