Miss Snark's First Victim's 2nd Victim, I mean, Entry

I'm in Miss Snark's First Victim's March Secret Agent Contest.

Woohoo!!

I'm Entry #2. So go ahead and pop over if you like and tell me all of my horrible mistakes. I can take it.

And one more thing, follower friends. You have one more day to enter my $15 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway. By one more day, I mean today. Contest ends at midnight. Clocks ticking....

While You Wait and I've Been Tagged

I, as I have mentioned, am in this horrible period of waiting while the agent who requested my revisions reviews my newly revised manuscript. It's much like the query waiting, it seems, but it also feels a little more intense.

Of course, the advice from everyone while you wait is to write (which I am doing). But I have some advice of my own: Prepare your marketing.

Here's the deal. If you have faith in your book, or even if it's not this book, there are things you can do now, before you are agented. If you get signed - when you get signed - you will be busy with edits and other marketing then, why not give yourself a leg up and get some of it done now?

Last month, Lynette Labelle had an EXCELLENT post about this very topic: Before THE call: Ten Tasks to Complete Before an Agent Calls. Go read it now. Seriously.

I've been working on #6, Grow Your Marketing List, in case you were interested.

On another note, I was tagged. Twice. So you get to find out about me and my manuscript whether you want to or not.

First, from Freya Morris, I was tagged in Jaycee's Lucky 7 Meme.

The rules:
1. Go to page 77 of your current MS
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating
4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know

Here's mine: 

“Memory Transportation?” Mina scoffed. “You can’t do that!”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Porter said.
“I just mean you’re only a marvel,” Mina said. “A marvel can’t do Memory Transportation. Can they?”
“I think I can. With the wand.” He held his right hand out to Mina, still clutching the wand. “Porter, we can’t use that! There’s a SCUM in the building. Don’t you think she’s going to notice?”
“That’s why we’re going to have to do it quickly. Now shut up and hold our hands.”
Mina obeyed, the wand held firmly between her and Porter’s clasped hands.

Then Krista from I Take the Pen tagged me. Here's my answers to the tag questions:

1. What is your dream vacation?

I want to take a cruise with my husband that starts in Spain and ends in Venice. It was our goal to do it when we'd been married 10 years, but I think it's going to have to wait until another big anniversary.

2. Are you spontaneous or do you like to plan ahead?
I'm pretty laid back about things that I know will just happen and be fine. But if I'm at all worried about something, I'll plan.

3. Tell us one thing you want to do but don’t dare to do.
Skydive.

4. What's your biggest phobia?
Hmm. I'm not sure. I guess spiders. I really don't like spiders.

5. If you were stranded on a desert island – what 3 things would you want with you (not including laptop, or family).
A pen, a notebook, and lots of diet A&W rootbeer.

6. Name three blessings in your life.
My husband. My daughters. My talents.

7. What was your nickname in High School?
Fuji was one. Larla was another. You could call me Larla now and I'd still answer. Don't call me Fuji, though, because it brings back some pretty crappy memories.

8. If you could meet the President of the United States, what would you say to him?
Probably not much. I'm a bit of an introvert.

9. If you could be any literary character for a day, who would you be?
Ooh, I don't know. Most of the books I like, the characters are in some pretty dire straights. So maybe someone who's got cool things going on. Like Anna from Anna and the French Kiss.

10. What is your favorite quote?
I have many that I love and can never remember them. But I love this line from an Ingrid Michaelson song called Keep Breathing that really seems to sum up my wants for the world versus what I actually do, "I want to change the world, instead, I sleep."

I am tagging the first 7 people in my reader. You can choose if you do the Lucky 7 or answer the questions. Or both! Or neither. :)

1. Shannon O'Donnell

2. Sher A. Hart

3. The Golden Eagle

4. Miranda Hardy

5. Jaye Robin Brown

6. Krista

7. Melissa Sugar

What are you doing while you wait?

Blog Critique: Charity Bradford

In this series I give constructive feedback about the look and function of an author blog from a marketing perspective. As always, I rely on help from graphic designers Tom Barnes (my hubby) and Joe LaRue. To review the blog elements we look at or to submit your own blog for critique, go here.

Before we jump into today's critique I'd like to remind you all about my 300 Follower $15 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway. I'm taking entries through Thursday so be sure to enter.

Now, back to business. While last week we looked at a baby blog, Charity Bradford's blog is just the opposite. The challenges for newbie bloggers are somewhat different than more experienced bloggers. When Charity contacted me, she mentioned that she thought her blog was a little crowded. It makes sense. When you've been blogging for awhile, you accumulate stuff. Why don't you go take a look and we can discuss it more below? 

Okay, Charity, let's get right into it. I don't think you have a crowding problem (though, I have a feeling you moved some things since you told me about that issue). I do see a few other issues that might make you think you have a crowding problem:

• You have no differentiation between middle and side bar. This is huge for me. It makes it hard to see where your posts end and where your side text begins. I would differ the background in both areas. Joe suggested a gradient for your sidebar like you have at your header. That would look really spiffy. Here's the problem though - I played around with your template on my practice blog (yes, I have a practice blog, does that make me a nerd?) and you can't differ the background on the sidebar from your posts. So you have three choices - mess with the CSS and override the code so you can make them different, leave it alone, or change templates. There are other templates that will give you the option of changing that sidebar. You could still put the same picture behind them. I suggest messing around sometime and seeing what you can come up with.
• Another thing about that sidebar - I would like to see it be narrower. It has too much prominence in your blog. Your posts should get the top billing.
• You have a lot of purple in your blog. Joe wants to see some more contrasting color. Try to add orange or yellow or green in your links or headers.
• Joe also would like to see you use a font in your header with a curly apostrophe instead of a straight one. Straight apostrophes drive him crazy. That's a Joe thing, I'm sure, but it's interesting to know, isn't it? 
• My own personal cringe is the split sidebar without filling the area evenly. Down where your labels are, you have your sidebar split in two columns, but you really are only using one side. That would look so much nicer if you clean that up.
• I would move the story progress bars lower or to another page. You have room to move them lower, so that might be the way to go. I know they are important to you, but there are other items in your sidebar that are more important to your readers than your story progress bars, like...
• Your "my other blogs" box. Move that higher. That's important.
• You have a heckuva lot of labels to choose from. I am a firm believer in keeping your labels tight and to a minimum. If you have a ton of them with only one post related to them, they just become overwhelming to your readers.
• What's the "things i need to remember" box? There's nothing under that heading
• We caught you: The bottom of your blog is kinda like under your bed, isn't it? I mean, you just threw stuff down there that you didn't have a place for. I suggest organizing it and making it spiffy. Some people go down there. I did!
• You have a lot of posts on one page (10). This isn't really horrible, but you don't have sidebar content to run all along that far, and it starts to look uneven. Plus you have that stuff at the bottom of your blog. I'd limit your posts to 5 per page. But that's just me.
• I recommend having all of your links into another window. Particularly those links that actually take readers to another site. This can be confusing for a lot of us. Opening into another window keeps your blog open so we don't get lost.

I made a lot of suggestions, Charity, which makes it appear as though I didn't like your blog. This is entirely not true. I really like your blog a lot! You have great things going for you. Here's just a few of my favorite:

1. You have your name in your blog header.
2. You use pictures.
3. You have your profile near the top with your picture. (When you aren't in the middle of a blogfest, move your profile up to top billing. :)
4. You have depth (pages).
5. You have an About Me page.
6. You have a Contact Me page
7. You're involved - you participate in a lot of different things on the web (blogfests, etc.). And you respond to your comments in a timely manner.
8. You have connections to your writing! I kid you not: a woman in my Write at Home Mom's (WrAHM) group just got an email from an agent who read about her manuscript on her blog. She requested the query. I'm not joking. This is not the first time I've heard of this happening. Be prepared, folks! Charity is!

Okay, this has turned into a really long post. I think you are doing an excellent job, Charity. You have lots of followers and comments to prove it. Keep up the great work. I'm honored to have gotten to give you some of my suggestions. I hope they are helpful!

Any other feedback for Charity? (And don't forget to enter my 300 follower giveaway.)


Update: For those who asked, here is how you open links in a new window - When you insert a link, this box pops up. Click the box that says "Open link in a new window" at the bottom of the box. See it? That will now become your default option.

Savvy Sensation: Caitlin Lomas

Most of my Savvy Sensations have been writer/bloggers, but there is much we can learn from the amazing Book Reviewer Bloggers. Especially because they are the people who are reviewing or will one day review our own books! So today's Savvy Sensation is a YA book reviewer. Learn about Caitlin Lomas below.

Who are you (what do you write, what are your personal stats)?
I’m Caitlin, 22 year old philosophy graduate from the UK. I write my blog which focusses on reviews of YA books! I’ve been blogging for just over a year now.

Where can we find you online (blog, twitter, facebook, etc.)?
My blog: http://thecaitfiles.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/CaitLomas
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5028348-caitlin

When did you begin your online platform building?
I got Twitter in the summer of 2010. At first I just stalked my favourite authors and then started following book bloggers and viewing their blogs from there. Eventually I started interacting with them and then decided to bite the bullet and create my own blog in February 2011!

What is your message, if any (is your blog about anything specific, for example)?
Well I mostly review YA books and I think my message is that these books are as well written and enjoyable as any adult fiction. They have important messages in them and they are worthy of respect! In terms of blogging, my message is to write about something you enjoy, as that enthusiasm will shine through in your posts (I’m hoping it does in mine anyway)

How have you built your followers? What have you done that has been the most successful?
Through networking. I’d followed blogs for a few months before I made my own, so I knew all about the follower hops and memes like Waiting on Wednesday. I started taking part in these almost immediately, spending most of the weekend networking. I was featured on Parajunkee’s Friday Follow and I think that added to my success. I also try to leave thoughtful comments that show I’ve read a blogger’s post and I think that’s helped me be successful.

What have you done that has failed?
Trying to blog every day. I don’t have the time to post new content and network every single day, so I tend to post every other day, leaving time free for networking. I think it’s important that there’s a balance

How much time do you spend blogging? Reading blogs? Commenting on blogs?
A few hours a day. I tend to write a couple of posts so I’m always ahead. Then I’ll read and occasionally reply to my comments, visit everyone whose left me a comment and read their blog, read my blogroll and then I tend to just scroll through my googlereader looking at what interests me. I try to comment on at least 10 blogs a day and on everyone’s blog who commented on mine. Though I’m usually on Twitter/reading this whole time which limits my productivity ;)

What else should we know about you?
Well I’m hoping to work in publishing here in the UK! That’s my career goal and hopefully one day I’ll make it. I’ve done work experience and I’m currently interning remotely for a fantastic American company called Entangled Publishing.

Any additional advice for our readers?
Be a considerate blogger. If someone consistently reads and comments on your blog—do the same! Nothing worse than feeling you aren’t appreciated as a reader. Also, use Twitter, it’s so much easier to connect with people over Twitter.

What makes you unique?
I think we’re all unique bloggers and that’s what’s so great about following many different people! But I’m always honest in my posts, even if that means negative reviews sometimes. I also don’t have an angle, I’m blogging for me, not for any other reason, and I think that sincerity and genuine enthusiasm for YA shows in my posts.

Thank you so much for letting me spotlight you, Caitlin. You are truly Savvy and Sensational and have shared amazing info with our readers! 

300 Follower $15 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

I never thought I would reach 300 followers, let alone 300 AMAZING followers.  You wonderful, supportive peeps deserve to be rewarded.

So I am holding my FIRST EVER CONTEST. The winner will receive a

 $15 Gift Card from Amazon. 

All you have to do to enter is enter the Rafflecopter info below and leave a comment on this post. You may also tweet and blog on your own blog to get extra entries. Contest opens today and runs through 3/8/12.  I'll announce the winner next Friday, March 9th.

Thank you, Fabulous Followers! a Rafflecopter giveaway