I’m delighted to have as my guest, author Tony Eldridge whose first award-winning action/adventure novel, The Samson Effect, was described by Clive Cussler as a “first rate thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure.” And his latest novel, The Lottery Ticket, is already climbing the Kindle charts.

Tony is the go-to guy behind the helpful Marketing Tips for Authors site that publishes free tips and videos to help authors learn marketing techniques for their books. And, he also wrote the book, literally, on Conducting Effective Twitter Contests.

In this podcast, Tony talks about

• The importance of creating relationships instead of constantly selling folks something and how that translates into a loyal following.
• What he has learned since the publication of his first novel and about being a multi-genre author.
• How Kindle helped revitalize sales on The Sampson Effect, and how it influenced the way he published The Lottery Ticket.
• Why authors price their ebooks at $0.99 or $2.99 and up. (We flipped some numbers off the top of our heads in the podcast. See Tony’s more accurate post on the topic here).
• The benefit of writing evergreen ebooks.
• Formatting options for different ebook readers.
• His Kindle Publishing Roadmap, which is a tutorial that can walk you through the process of preparing to publish on Kindle.
• His experience uploading to Smashwords.
• When you want to do some things yourself, and when you want to hire others to help.
• Why this is the most exciting time to be an author.
• His Sunday Kindle book giveaway.
• Options for choosing to go with or without a traditional publisher.

As you can see, this podcast is packed with great info, and a must hear for authors. And, for all you Kindle owners, be sure to check out the Sunday Kindle Book Giveaway that Tony runs on his site every week.

It’s time to lighten things up for the summer and that’s why I’m delighted to have Lori Randall Stradtman of Social Media Designs on the BlogAid Podcast.

Lori comes with her pockets full of credentials, not the least of which include her joy of life, her way with people, and of course, her sense of humor.

In this light-hearted podcast, we do manage to talk shop a little between laughing. You’ll definitely want to hear the back story on how she came up with the idea for the Pages Gone Wild, Spring Break 2011, which was a Facebook event that took off like a rocket and helped several new business (fan) pages launch as well. Plus, you’ll want to hear about her recent presentation at BlogWorld Expo in May.

And, Lori gives us a little sneak peek at what she’s cooking up next, including her new tutorial series and a forthcoming book.

You can find Lori online at Social Media Design and on Facebook where you might just get her to say good morning to you. Be sure to subscribe to her newsletter to the get the skinny on what she’s up to!

Lori Randall Stradtman is the owner of Social Media Designs where she offers custom Facebook page design, website design, and social media strategy coaching. She’s also a professional speaker and most recently presented at BlogWorld Expo in May with the topic How to Grow Your Blog Now Via Social Media.

I’m delighted to share this podcast with Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn.  She offers great tips from her experience that all those who promote online will find beneficial.

We chat about the journey she took in publishing her thriller novel, Pentecost, including how she used her website for a successful launch. You’ll want to hear her motivation for blogging these powerful posts on the reality of what it feels like to be a blogger, resource provider, and published author who still has a day job.

Joanna also tells about the business of writing non-fiction books for authors and all of the hats she wears promoting online via her helpful website. And, she explains how online marketing strategies have changed and why creating community and engaging readers directly is the key to success now.

Joanna Penn is a British born author, blogger, speaker and business consultant based in Australia.

She self published her first book, How to Enjoy Your Job, in 2008 followed by From Idea to Book and From Book to Market in 2009 to share valuable information from what she learned from her publishing and marketing experience with the first book.

In Feb 2011, she published her first thriller novel Pentecost and she blogged the entire journey of writing through publication and beyond.

I’m delighted to share this two-part podcast interview with Dr. Liz Alexander, The Book Doula. Everyone who promotes online will find her incredible depth of knowledge and experience helpful.

In Part 1, we discuss the Indie-Publishing business, including the rise of e-books and using them as giveaways for subscriptions as well as a source of revenue. We also talk about the angle you want to take with presenting your knowledge to your audience.

You’ll hear how building relationships has become a popular way to promote online as well as appropriate ways to use social media.

Dr. Liz shares why free content is not the draw it used be and why you might need to rethink your email newsletter content. You’ll also learn why creating a book proposal is akin to creating content for your website. Continue reading →