Shoestring Book Pub

Best-Seller Mentors...the only way to go!

2006-04-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

NEVER BEFORE......has it been so easy to become a Best-Selling Author. Even those who never thought they could (like me), are doing it...you just follow a simple and easy "plan".

Becoming a BEST-SELLING AUTHOR Can Be A Breeze! (If you get the right help...)

As you know, I became a Best-Selling Author of my debut book "Empowering Women to Power Network" on its official release date August 11, 2005. Click here for details.

Now I was working on a shoestring budget with physical and neurological limitations (due to the car accident that encouraged me to write my book in the fist place), I spent 8 long, arduous months, developing, nurturing and molding as many relationships as possible to partner with me-brand new unknown author and online marketer. I conducted all the research myself, went through an enormous learning curve, and spent way too much time to always know that the coveted end-result was not "guaranteed".

Upon my victory, one of my partners offered to "hire me" to run their campaign, and my answer was "no". And, it's still, "no".

Fortunate to have gained my "best-selling author" title, I would never recommend anyone (seasoned or un-seasoned, such as myself) to run, organize, or conduct a best-seller campaign alone or without help!

I would never wish anyone the kind of anxiety and frustration I endured.

Honestly, I explained to my partner that there wouldn't be enough money in the world to hire me.

Well…unless you give me the money, so I go hire the best!

"And, who are the best?", she asked.

"Randy Gilbert and Peggy McCall, the Best-selling Mentors", I replied.

So, STOP! Don't waste another minute on publicity until you become a Best-Selling Author first, and use the "proven book marketing formula" that has the "ultimate 100% Best-Seller risk-free guarantee". Please do not make the same mistake I did. Why take any "risks" on your special day? Click here for more details.

P.S. As for being on a shoestring budget: When I look back at all the time and effort I exerted in my 8 long months prior to the release date (not including the previous 5 months offline book marketing efforts)...this best-seller mentoring program is a bargain! My time is worth much more! If you want to be a "Best-seller", this program is an investment in you, your book, and your future. You will not regret it!

P.P.S. If you book's target market is women entrepreneurs, working women, or work at home moms, send me a copy of your book and I'd be happy to be one of your campaign partners!

New Online Creative Arts Publicity & Marketing Service

2006-03-31T01:39:00.000-08:00

New Online Creative Arts Publicity and Marketing Service

Okay, so everything is worth a good shot! So, as I tried desparately to cut & paste an old press release within the character-limits of each section. When, it came down to it...I just spent a good hour or so, cutting & pasting, fitting & formatting to find out the "story" runs of "4" days...if that!

So, yes it is a national online newspaper, with every single county in the country listed as "local" news, I'm curious to see what comes of the posting. Will it come up caught by the search engines, or based soley on the chance that somewhere in good 'ol Toledo is reading the local section of this newspaper in the next 4 days...while I was trying to view any local news here in the Toledo section at all. Oh well...I gave it my best!

Nonetheless, my time would've been better spent typing out my articles and submitting them to article directories...or, even better, writing up a "new" news release and distributing it online as well...

Empower Authors Right Now

2005-09-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

Dear Self-published & small press authors,
To centralize all my blogs, I will host all my book publicity tips and resources directly on my Empowering Women Right Now blog (my main blog with many more resources and frequent posts). Please click here.
To our empowerment,
Ponn

Empowered Woman is a Best-Seller

2005-08-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Empowered Woman Power Networks her way to the
Self-Help Best-Sellers List
Along with Dale Carnegie, Dr. Laura and Maria Shriver!

Contact information:
Ponn M. Sabra, MPH
Author, Empowering Women to Power Network
4615 Holland-Sylvania #6 Toledo, Ohio 43623
Phone: 419-882-2338
Email: ponnsabra@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.EmpowerWomenNow.com
Blog: http://EmpowerWomenNow.BlogSpot.com

Toledo, Ohio (August 12, 2005). Women's Empowerment Queen Ponn M. Sabra applies the very principles of her debut book, “Empowering Women to Power Network”, to catapult it to the Self-Help Best-Sellers List at amazon.com with internationally acclaimed self-help authors, such as Dale Carnegie, Dr. Laura, Maria Shriver, Suze Orman and David Allen.

August 11, 2005 was the official release date of "Empowering Women to Power Network" by Ponn Sabra, the Women’s Empowerment Queen. It skyrocketed from an amazon.com ranking of approximately 2.3 million to #11 in the Self-Help Best-Seller’s List.

In celebration of Ponn's efforts to compile "an absolute must-have reference for every woman (and man!)”, 45 of Ponn's colleagues and power network experts, participated in an Women’s Empowerment Outreach Campaign to support her book’s launch.

By applying the very principles detailed in Ponn’s 10 easy-to-read, understand and implement stages, Ponn can now leverage her Women’s Empowerment expertise along with other internationally-acclaimed self-help gurus, such as:
· Dr. Laura Schlessinger – Well-known life and relationship expert
· Dale Carnegie – The grandfather of all people-skills books
· Maria Shriver – Veteran TV news reporter and First Lady of California
· Suze Orman – Financial Expert
· David Allen – Productivity trainer and consultant on time management and personal organization (David’s book is recommended in “Empowering Women to Power Network” on Page 75)

In her unique voice, tone and style, Ponn shares her proven power network principles and insights, and empowering women to action as well.

Frumi R. Barr, Book reviewer and CEO Coach at Frumi.com states, “I was empowered! Ponn so inspired me by her book that I decided it was time to write my own. I couldn't believe that she could write such an inspiring book in three days, AND in bed, after a bad accident. It has taken me two years to write mine and as a result of reading her book I was empowered to start another e-book which I completed in just a couple of weeks. Thank you Ponn for your courage and inspiration”.

“Recently diagnosed with Arnold Chiari Malformation (an extremely rare brain disorder), I often read my own book to empower myself and to keep me accountable to my readers. Empowering women to actually help themselves is a humbling feeling…but, as a self-help author it’s the best reward”, shares Ponn.

To learn more Ponn Sabra and “Empowering Women to Power Network”, logon http://www.EmpowerWomenNow.com and sign-up for her free “Empower Me Now Tips” Newsletter.

###

Amazon.com best-seller campaign

2005-07-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Incredible dialogue! I just posted my 2-cents....read up everyone!

Starts here:

Amazon.com Bestseller Campaigns: Why They Work and Why They Fail

My 2 cents added at the end...I highly recommend you read everything!
Amazon Bestsellers: Comments on Comments

Please share your comments here too!

UPDATE: August 2005.
It worked! I've been asked dozens of times already, and "no" I will not do organize and run this type of campaign again for myself OR others even if I was paid $big bucks$. It was a *huge* learning curve, extremely anxiety-ridden, and took a ton of time & energy that my little body can not endure. However, I will ONLY recommend Randy Gilbert & Peggy McCall's Best-Seller Mentoring Program. Click here for details!

Radio ROI Greater

2005-06-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

I can't say it enough...radio publicity is the way to go!

Research Brief for Wednesday, June 15, 2005: http://www.centerformediaresearch

Full story here, with link to full PDF report ==>

Radio ROI Shown To Be Greater Than TV

A new study, conducted by Millward Brown and Information Resources Inc. (IRI), examined four pairs of Radio and television campaigns in a range of product categories over a six-month period and the findings established that Radio's ROI was 49% higher than television's.
Gary Fries, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and Co-Chairman of RAEL, said "This study addresses the core issue of advertising - Return On Investment. Radio's ROI Advantage substantiates our previous theories that Radio can and does deliver significant ROI for advertisers."

Although this formidable study should be reviewed in its' complete context, reported findings verified that:

Radio moves product
Radio ads increase sales even when national TV is present
Radio's effect can be measured - when used at sufficient weight
Radio delivers strong ROI

A brief excerpt of the detailed findings compares results, but we suggest a more complete study of the report to understand the decisions and criteria used to assure accuracy, yet simplify the conclusions.

The incremental radio campaigns (studied) were linked to statistically significant sales lifts of 3.6% (in the absence of synergistic TV), to 4.6% (in the presence of TV) according to IRI, while the national TV campaigns were higher at 7.3% (with radio) to 7.7% (without radio).
Since the statistical difference between those two values is weak, concludes the study, it would be fair to average the two together to say that the sales lift from incremental radio in this study averaged 4.1%. In addition, the difference between TV in the presence of radio and TV in the absence of radio is not statistically significant, so the study averages the sales lift from network television in this study to 7.5%.

Which leads to the first significant (report) conclusion:
At roughly similar weights when summed across all advertisers, incremental radio delivered more than half the short-term sales effect of national network television buys. Furthermore, radio's effect on sales was at least as large, if not larger, when television was already in use at a level of 50-100 TRPs.

Having shown how incremental radio lifted product sales relative to national TV, the study goes on to show how the relative costs of those ads compare. To facilitate a clear comparison between radio and television costs the study solution was to "nationalize" the actual test radio buys into theoretical national radio campaigns.

Keeping in mind that the study is examining total Return On Investment in this analysis, not "incremental" ROI, the authors conclude that the approach taken was the most appropriate for this study. Some ROI studies examine the return from each additional dollar of advertising, but this study approach is to estimate the total return from all of the test advertising in each medium.

ROI: Profit Per Ad Dollar (avg. TV ROI baseline 100)

Index of Profit Per Ad Dollar
Radio in presence of TV
180
Radio in absence of TV
119
TV in presence of Radio
82
TV in absence of Radio
118
TV Historical Average
128
Source: RAEL Lab, May 2005

The report concludes by averaging radio with and without TV, and TV with and without Radio, and calling it "The Simple Summary." And that's the bottom line, says the report. For these four advertisers, in this test, incremental radio delivered 49% better Return on Investment than the corresponding national television campaigns, using the best available comparative cost estimates
ROI: Profit Per Ad Dollar (Overall Estimates)

Profit Per Ad Dollar Index
Radio Overall
149
TV Overall
100
TV Historical Average
128
Source: RAEL Lab, May 2005
Read the Full PDF Report.

Becoming a Bestseller...

2005-05-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

Becoming a Bestseller on a shoestring budget IS a possiblity...and my journey will be documented throughout this blog, with the details of my book, and my Women's Empowerment Outreach Campaign at my main blog.

As my time and efforts need to be dedicated to the campaign itself...I will jot notes, thoughts, ideas, progress, results, and commentary at this blog. So this blog will be much less formal than my other one. Yet, as authors seeking book sales and the coveted title of "bestseller" on a shoestring budget...it's imperative that you read both blogs together.

Women's Empowerment Outreach Campaign Launched ~
Women's Empowerment Outreach Campaign:Industry Experts Partner to Empower Women Worldwide AKA online amazon.com bestseller campaign.

Internet Talk Radio Rocks! With a listenership of over 523,000 listeners in 41 countries, I was bound to empower at least one woman. Well, I increased the number of new subscribers to my ezine in one-day by 1600% during this one-day period! With a 20% increase to the total ezine subscriber-base...I knew talk radio was the way to go...and I wasn't pitching this producer a guest either. I was seeking Linda to be our Internet Talk Radio Show Expert, she noted that she had a cancellation and I said "yes"!

Hispanic Business Women, Our Youth Jeannette and I are in the same professional organization, I pitched her a story months ago, it was published...and I asked her to become a partner for this campaign.

Podcast - Anyone? Again, I wasn't thinking of pitching myself as a guest, and we're plannning 1-3 different shows and ways to partner beyond this one campaign.

See it's about the Power of Our Power Networks!

As for a shoestring-budget, while I'm not getting "no's" from potential book publicity sponsors...I'm not getting any answers at all...so, I'm re-phrasing the "every 'no' is one-step closer to a 'yes'" to "every 'silent response' is one-step closer to 'yes'!

On the road to becoming a bestseller!

Creative Book Publicity

2005-05-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Grocery Store Book Signings. Hey...my #1 grocery store here in good Ol' Toledo is Kroger, and #2 Giant Eagles. Rest assured, I will be talking to our local stores.

Blogs DO sell books! Stay posted at my main Empowering Women Entrepreneur Blog, I'm gonna start a neat, fun, powerful, Power Network book release campaign.

HA HA, Funny, Funny! Freely sharing my motherly corny-ness (sp?) and my fast-talking East coast-valley-girl family-fun jokes always keeps my book publicity efforts energetic and productive.

Dare to try something different, duplicate proven marketing efforts, and always be your best self!

Meet the Media

2005-05-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

Meet the Media at BookExpo of America in New York City, New York on June 4, 2005 from 8:45 am (sharp) - 11:30am.

Doors open at 8:15am. Get there early, becuase there will be a random drawing of attendees to pitch the media the first half-hour of the session.

This is definitely a place to be, as it's posted on John Kremer's blog, and the email campaign came to my inbox (via subscription), and other authors.

Get on Steve Harrison's (Publisher, RTIR) need-to-know ezine now (and visit all his other websites too):
http://www.rtir.com
http://www.AppearOnTopTVShows.com
http://www.BookMarketingUpdate.com
http://www.NationalPublicitySummit.com
http://www.MillionDollarAuthor.com

Harry Potter and the Half-Blook Prince

2005-05-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Princerelease date is set July 16, 2005, and is scheduled to break its own fastest best-selling title within 24 hours. For details click here.

Harry Potter the Order of the Phoenix sold 5 millions copies in 24-hours.

While JK Rowling is not sporting a Shoestring Book Publicity Budget, I'm bringing to your attention:

Creativity in the book publicity campaign events
Driving traffic 2-months prior to release date
Branding a unique book series. Can you think of even one competitor?
What started as a children's book series...is now venturing into the adult market (15% of sales). So, start with a narrow target market...and grow as the series grows.

JK Rowling had a vision with Harry Potter Book Series, and she's cashing in with every new release...Koodoos for her!

Branding for Authors.

2005-04-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

What's Your Brand? Now that you wrote a book, obviously you have a target market and an USP (unique selling proposition) which you should be using for your brand marketing efforts.

All the details for internet branding, and offline branding marketing campaign, can be found at my Empowering Women Right Now Blog.

Everything from recommended resources, tools and examples are provided for you.

Books Sold Via Talk Radio- The Right Way

2005-04-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

Promoting Your Book via Radio--The Right Way
John Kremer's Teleseminar: A Golden Opportunity... was a hit!

I furiously took notes, and I didn't have to, becuase John detailed the entire call on his blog.

John Kremer hosted his First Free Teleseminar with guest bestselling author and radio publicity expert Alex Carroll of RadioPublicity.com on Monday, April 11, 2005 8:00 pm EST.

There are six-parts, so make sure you read all of them:
Promoting Your Book Via Radio Publicity - Part VI.

Combined with Michael Dresser's Media Training, it's not only important to guarantee you sales, but how-to pitch to radio producers. Everything from making a media kit that's directed specifically to creating a show as their guest, to what days and hours are the best to do a talk radio show.

This is of course on our shoestring book publicity budget...otherwise hiring a public relations firm or book publicist to secure air time is recommended.

BTW, if you haven't cashed in all your freebies at MyMediaCoach.com
and called for your free consultation, please read the details of his wonderful program again at:
Book Selling Myth: Interviews Won't Move Books .

I'm half-way through the process and its fascinating!
Technorati Tags: Book Publicity, Talk Radio, Shoestring Budget,
Michael Dresser, Media Coaching

Book Selling Myth: Interviews Won't Move Books

2005-04-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

[Please excuse my slight disappearance, but my neurology-tag team consisting of my neurologists, neurosurgeon, neuropsychologist, and vestibular therapist have been taking all my time these days.

Why, you ask? Because last month I was diagnosed with an extremely rare brain disorder (less than 10 percent of the general population), called Arnold Chiari Malformation. To learn more, click here.

Interestingly, it was not a cause of my car accident…but possibly a cause why my recovery has been so poor. Oh well, c’est la vie. Count on me to be Empowered!

So, I plan to be in and out, as my body and/or brain allows… ]

As you recall, I have a strong desire to build my book publicity around Talk Radio Shows.

I've been trying so hard to get some air time and believe me it's not an easy task.

But what if I finally get a shot...what will I say?

Of course I have a few questions mapped out...but will they guarantee me any sales?

Talk radio hosts are notorious for getting off subject, as it’s not their duty to sell our books. They have to keep up their ratings by keeping a lively, interactive and fun (often controversial) conversation going to “inform” their listeners attract loyal advertisers.

As authors, it’s our job to actually sell the books.

Not everyone is Mark Victor Hansen or Jack Canfield...if we were, we'd all be best-sellers!

Just like every book publicity effort, we have to assure the best return of investment (even if it’s “just” our time and their air time).

This is where Michael Dresser comes into play.

Please tell me you know who Michael Dresser of The Michael Dresser Show is, right?

He only interviews six book authors a day in his nationally syndicated talk show for the past 22 years in the icy cold state of Alaska.

Anyways Michael shares:

Book Selling Myth #1: Interviews Won't Move Books.

Michael share is a fabulous interview with Bob Sommers, the host of The Recognized Expert radio show, that selling books through talk radio shows is a “process…an art…a strategy”.

While he interviews 1000s of book authors, he is also a guest 100s of time as well. Given his experience, when asked, how long does it take you to realize if his guest author has the skills, ability or "know how" to sell their book through his/her interview?

Michael’s reply was a whooping "13-14 seconds"!

Then asked, what's the percentage of book authors who actually have the skill, art or talent to actually "sell" books through talk radio shows?

Michael’s reply was "6 percent"!

The odds are against us, my dears!

Therefore all the hours spend of pitching your way to secure the scarce and valuable air time, and the majority of book authors are NOT selling any books, let alone millions!

What a waste of time!

Yeah, yeah, I hear you “It’s good publicity”, but who cares if they hear you and do nothing in our favor.

Believe me…I love to talk…and I love to talk about my passions, such as my book (as every other author), but I don’t have hours to waste just to have a nice conversation with a host and be aired for others to hear a “interesting show”.

I wrote my book to be bought—period.

Now, I’m an avid national public radio listener, and it’s true, I can listen to show after show and be emotionally captured to hear the “story”…but how many times have I bought something…Nil!

I have stopped the car a dozen of times in my life to take a down a website to check out and even once called an 800# for a free gift, but I have yet to buy anything…let alone a book!

I’d be crazy to think as a new author that I can without a doubt be in the six-percent who sells books via talk radio shows without getting a little bit of help. (Since all my neurological tests state that I’m “sane”, I'm gonna' stick with the pros, and not waste anymore time, thanks).

In Michael’s Media Coach training, we'll. . .
· Learn how to turn any interview into profitable sales for us
· Learn how to fit our message to how the audience relates
· Learn exactly what to say so that our audience experiences personal recognition of our interview

Yes, I purposefully changed a few words, because I am starting his coaching session this Wednesday, April 13, 2005, and I want you to be his next student.

Hop over to MyMediaCoach.com right now!

Once you are there,

- Listen to his free interview (I’ve already listened to it 3 times, and still take notes each time to capture every single word),
- Sign-up for his 5-day free mini-course, but most of all,
- Call or email him today to get YOUR free instant consultation.

Michael Dresser is just plain amazing! Knowledgeable, has a bunch of Sabra Spunk, and he genuinely cares about his clients, the power of talk radio, and making us profit from it.

I can't wait to be one of his protege's and I want you to be one too.

Okay...so, what's Michael Dresser's Private Media Coaching cost?

It’s Soooo affordable you will NOT say "No"!

I couldn't.

If I can fit it in my Shoestring Budget, so can you!

Technorati Tags: Book Publicity, Talk Radio, Shoestring Budget,
Michael Dresser, Media Coaching
========================================

Open Horizons - John Kremer's Promoting Books Blog

2005-03-25T14:46:00.000-08:00

Just as I believe John Kremer' s book is a Must have book marketing guide, you need to logon to his blog, Open Horizons — Promoting books to a worldwide and someday galactic audience :)), to read and reread for all your affordable book marketing and publicity ideas.

John is starting his free Promote Your Books, The Top 10 Things teleseminars this Monday, March 28, 2005 8:00 pm EST.

While I'm very eager to listen in on Monday, these are just two things I'm very curious about:

* The method by which 80% of all books are sold ... and how to tap into it.

* The most crucial thing that should be on the front page of your website.

I can't wait to hear if I'm on the right track so far.

By the way, did I tell you that I received my Page Proofs for
Empowering Women to Power Network ~ How-to save time, earn more money and live a life of success by building quality relationships everywhere you go? I have 15 days to review and make final edits.

It's so exciting! I have the ISBN and pages formated in the order the book will be printed.

I just finished my edits yesterday, so I will be spending the weekend formating the changes per PublishAmerica guidelines.

I found a bunch of other great book publicity ideas, nice leads, ever-growing partnerships, but unfortunately my health is taking precedence right now...so I have an ever-growing "To Do" list as well.

FREE book publicity through press releases

2005-03-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

You do NOT have to wait until you have an ISBN or book cover copy to start your press release campaign for your book publicity and marketing: FREE book publicity and marketing tips for book author on a shoestring budget.

The goal of your press release campaign now will be to position yourself as an Expert/Authority on your book title. Therefore, when the book is finally released, there will be a huge fan club waiting for their autographed copy.

Click here to go to my personal Press Release page.

Check out this one press release that received immediate response and coverage: The Toledo Home-Business Moms Expo Gains National Attention and Moving to the SeaGate Convention Centre.

Yes the above press release it's not on my website's Press Release page.

Given my time crunch, I post all my press releases on my Blog becuase it has an RSS feed for journalists to download, and has search engines crawling that site more regularly.

Also due to my time crunch, I have not posted all the FREE publicity I received from my regular and consistent press release campaign.

I actually have to cut, scan and post all my clippings on a later date, but here's a list of my coverage so far:

- One-half page article in Toledo's Business Advantage, (Toledo's free montly business magazine) in January 2005.

- One-quarter page article in Sylvania Advantage (Sylvania is the Toledo suburb where I live, bi-monthly free newspaper).

- Two-paragraph blurb with my bylines (name, title and contact email address) in Toledo's Business Advantage in March 2005, the Women's History Month edition

- Michigan's Forum Online

Copywriting at its best:

I sent this press release last Friday: The Toledo Home-Business Moms Expo Gains National Attention and Moving to the SeaGate Convention Centre,

- I had an one-hour interview with Toledo Free Press today.

- Business Advantage replied the day they received my press release.

- The publisher of Toledo City Paper and Toledo Area Parent News replied today and is setting up a personal meeting with me.

Honesty, it takes time. I've been working very hard with my press releases.

It actually took me 3 weeks of daily coaching to write my first "book" press release: Let Me Show You How Women Can Save Time, Earn Money and Live a Life of Success Now, and I didn't get a single contact.

But with practice and time, I got better. And, the better I get, the more coverage I get. The more coverage, the more reputable and larger the coverrage.

So start small and local and grow. Practice small and local and develop your interviewing skills.

At the very least...do NOT wait. Start now!

Regular and consistent press release campaigning pays off:

Please note the dates of my first press release: December 18, 2004.

Actually, I started in late October becuase my first Expo was November 6, 2004...my very first public book publicity appearance.

Being regular and consistent, I've been able to develop a nice rapport and relationship with the local media. I know one Editor has a "Women's Empowerment = Ponn" folder...pretty sweet, huh?

Book Authors:

Here's the catch: I did not sign my contract until December 28, 2004 becuase I was in negotiations since September 2004. So, way before I was even in the book production phase I started my press release campaign for my book
Empowering Women to Power Network ~ How-to save time, earn more money and live a life of success by building quality relationships everywhere you go.

Where to send your press releases:

Newspapers, radio, news stations (TV)

1. Become a local expert. Start collecting all your free newspapers in the groceries and start creating a local mailing list.

2. FREE press release websites. These are the ones I use:

http://prweb.com/ Given the time crunch...always list here first!
http://prfree.com/index.php
http://free-press-release.com/
http://pressmethod.com/release.htm
http://click2newsites.com/

3. Become your book title's expert online. I have a mailing list just for Women's Empowerment websites, talk radio shows, etc.

Good luck. Please post your success stories here!

Technorati Tags: Book publicity, Book marketing, Press release campaign, Shoestring Budget

FREE Artist First Worldwide Online Radio Station

2005-03-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

My fellow PublishAmerica Author and dear friend, Jackie Wellman Author of Spiritual Clarity shared this fabulous resource: Artist First ~ Worldwide Online Radio Station.

I listened to parts of my very first show last night and it was incredible! It's real-time live talk radio show in which listeners can send their questions directly to the host via email so the guest can answer.

They host an Author's First show 5 nights a week for one-full hour. Yes, you read that correctly...One Full Hour!

What's incredible is it's a No Fee service And

"Your show will be recorded by the station engineer while the show is airing live. A few days following, your show a link will appear on the "Past Shows" section of our website, where you or anyone can hear the show again and download a copy of it free. It will remain there for 2 months".

Guests are encouraged to donate to ArtistFirst.com based on their own budget and interest.

Interested authors are not encouraged to send review copies unless a show is scheduled. If you are a book author interested in becoming a guest, you should ask for the next available time and date slots by emailing request@artistfirst.com

Of course, I sent my email. Now, send yours!

Dont't forget to post your success and experiences here!

Technorati Tags: Book Publicity, Book Marketing, Talk Radio Show

FREE Virtual Book Tour at APennyFor...

2005-03-17T17:19:00.000-08:00

In my Online Book Publicity and Marketing Tours post, Todd and I have chatted and it's a FREE service.

The virtual book tour at A Penny For... are for business topics. Todd states that "I need to see the book before I commit to anything on the tour. I only have 7 or 8 slots a year, so I need to pick the right books. I look for good books that need love and an audience".

I forwarded his a review copy and will keep you posted.

Any unique business book titles, contact Todd at A Penny For... today. Good luck!

Technorati Tags: Book Publicity, Book Marketing, Virtual Book Tour

FREE Book Publicity Articles Website

2005-03-14T19:48:00.000-08:00

Another quick penniless find I made today:

A fellow Platnium Member at EzineArticles.com

Judy Cullins showcases wonderful FREE articles at this link: How to Write, Publish, Promote Your Books and Business--Articles --the Entire List

Great stuff! So hop over there now.

Technorati Tags: Book Publicity, Articles

Online Book Publicity and Marketing Tours

2005-03-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

What a neat concept! A Virtual (Online) Book Publicity and Marketing Tour on Blogs and Websites. Check these two links out:

1.) The Virtual Book Tour seems incredible. A quick look at their Rates, and it looks like an economically feasible given the traffic stats listed as the benefits and forums you'd be touring. Hey, if I had the money you could count on me there. The convenience of being home. We're already working online, why not write directly to captured audiences.

I love this! Here's a new topic to put on my Sponsorship List.

I found out through A Penny For... by experiencing my very first book tour guest at my colleague, Kristen Oslind's RE:invention Inc. Blog, today's post RE: More With Robin Wolaner, Author of "Naked In The Boardroom"

2.) It's interactive, very targeted marketing, and incredible book publicity given the price.
I don't know the rates for A Penny For... as you must email publisher Todd Sattersten directly.

I'll keep you posted, as you can expect I'll send him a quick email right now.

Technorati Tags: Book Publicity, Book Marketing, Virtual Book Tour

Author Link Page Up & Quick SEO Lesson

2005-03-12T11:39:00.000-08:00

Link exchanges are important, but applying proper search engine optimization techniques to our link exchanges will increase traffic to both of our sites.

Click here for the PublishAmerica Authors Link Partners Page.

Click here for instructions for the EmpowerWomenNow.com link partner exchange.

Link exchanges are critical for better positioning in search engine rankings. But, you must pick and choose the links, update them quarterly and don't just put any-one and everyone's website who requests an exchange.

They should have equal or better Goggle Page Rank and be of the same topic as your site.

Now, as a new PublishAmerica Author, I'm offering this as a service to keep the community of PublishAmerica Authors together, as we are all marketing and publicizing our books on a shoestring budget. We all are a community to authors trying to help each other anyway we can.

But, if we're trying methods that do not work, we are wasting all our time.

Certain exception must apply, but you need to maintain order and criteria. Ultimately we are all in the business of selling our books and profiting from them.

Another note to aspiring authors is that it's more important to have links back to your page. The more links to your site from other sites, tell the search engines that others think your website it important, so we better visit that site and rank it.

This is why we create exchanges = to give to get.

When your book and content-rich website gets noticed more...more people will be linking to you becuase they recommend what you have to offer. This is the ultimate goal.

Higher ranking on the search engines drives more traffic to your site, but you need to generate traffic to get high ranking.

It's a vicious cycle...but this is how online marketing works.

Remember, people are not looking for Ponn Sabra or Empowering Women To Power Network. If they are...great. But people start at the search engines to find things they are looking for, such as solutions to their problems and answers to their questions. I'll follow with a detailed post regarding this topic later.

So, back to link exchanges:

Links just the URL will NOT cut it.
http://www.EmpowerWomenNow.com will not get more traffic to my site.

Fortunately, I picked an action-driven domain name that expresses some intriguing interest, so women may click on my URL from your site. But it's the "Why should your traffic want to visit me or my site?"

Please refer back to MarketAbility--Book Publicity and Promotion with a Twist and start putting content-rich descriptions so people know why they should be visiting my site from yours.

What would You click:

http://www.empowerwomennow.com OR

Empowering Enlightened Women Entrepreneurs to Save Time, Earn More Money & Find Success Now

The search engines crawl over the links and associates the title-tag with the link. If there isn't one, it's just another URL, and the link is not important.

Let's take the 2 examples of Link Exchanges I have right now:

PJ Lawton's Writing Pages - Author Links

And

James T. Stumpo The Ambassadors Agenda - Author's Links

If you go to PJ's Author Links page, I'm just another author...do people really go down the list and say, hey "Ponn Sabra" that's a cool author, let me click on the URL below?

While, I hope so...the chances are slim. If you also look at his page, I have a better chance that they'd click on my site becuase of the domain name. Even if you're using a free website builder, you can register a cheap domain at godaddy.com

Now, at James's page, my click is "Author Ponn Sabra" At least the search engine with associate "Author" and "Ponn Sabra" with my link here, get it?

What's better is when the search engines crawl and find Empowering Enlightened Women Entrepreneurs to Save Time, Earn More Money & Find Success Now when they see my URL. The more there's a description (AKA "title tag") the more reason the search engine you are for real and here to stay.

URLs come & go, as in PJ's example. James' example is alittle better. But my example is how the search engine works = proper search engine optimization techniques (SEO) with our link exchange.

I hope PJ and James' appreciates the extra publicity in letting me use their sites as examples. I'm here to educate and empower us all to increase traffic online to our websites so we can all ultimately sell more books.

PJ & James, I also optimized your site here on this blog & my website correctly. I know my visitors are clicking on your site and your getting 'hits' with the proper title-tag, therefore the search engines should find you soon ;-)

Technorati Tags: Author, Link Exchange, SEO, Shoestring Budget, Book, Marketing, Publicity

Book publicity business cards the cheap way

2005-03-07T22:32:00.000-08:00

Don't waste Valuable Book-Publicity Business Card advertising space ~ every millimeter counts!

This post will reiterate my tone of Valuable email real estate wasted in that you have to start thinking creatively in order to get the best-bang for your buck with every single book publicity effort you make.

So, here's my cheap, yet highly professional lay-out that I used to make my book publicity business card to be distributed at the event I hosted, Toledo Home-Business Moms Expo:

Business Card front side has my picture and professional logo of my website, EmpowerWomenNow.com. m and contact information. (Just the "Empower Women Now" logo, becuase I do not have a book cover designed yet). Like this:

[Picture][Logo]
PONN M. SABRA, MPH
Author, Empowering Women to Power Network ~ How-to Save Time, Earn More Money & Live a Life of Success By Building Quality Relationships Everywhere You Go
4615 Holland-Sylvania #6, Toledo, Ohio, USA 43623
Phone; 419-882-2338, Fax: 413-643-8594
Email: ponnsabra@gmail.com

For FREE Tips & Tools for Women Entrepreneurs,
Sign-up at http://www.EmpowerWomenNow.com

Business card back side says (part of my back-cover copy & my best testimonial):

Are you an empowered woman getting everything you want out of life? If not, read and learn how!

A horrible car accident in July 2004 empowered this work-at-home-mom to write a one-of-a-kind inspirational, multi-cultural and spiritual resource-guide in 3-days while in bed. Ponn offers tips, tools and steps to empower women to create a power network so they will live a life of success every single day. This is one of the first networking books that challenge women to start building a power network from the beginning to the end, and Ponn motivates you every step of the way.
…This is the best thing to come along since “Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul”…I look forward to offering this book to all of my Team Woman members. ~ Karyn Fagan, Founding President of Team Women, world’s first “women-only” network marketing organization

I have the nice business-card stock paper which was about $12. I sent it to CopyMax

(I personally and professionally prefer them over Kinkos). The color-copy side was $0.89 a page (10 business cards per page) and $0.08 black & white copy for the back, with a fee for lamenate it (they recommended).

Fees are cheaper for more copies, but I ran out of printer cartridge the night before and was forced to print outside. By the way, I didn't lamanate my business cards, and they still looked great.

Here's the good news: when they were printing it out 2 words, about 2 letters on top of 2 other letters, so the job was free. Becuase I was on a time-schedule, I couldn't wait for them to print more correctly. It was on the back-side and not too noticeable, and the front color with the lamenate looked great. None that's cheap ;-)

The back side is not to waste valuable marketing space, so a tiny mistake like that is fine. I already posted these business cards on the library bullentin board, and will be leaving it on the MD waiting area tables and just placing it out as much as possible.

Slip them in with your bills. Give them at socials.

By placing an excerpt of your book on the back-side, it serves as a great conversational piece, as well.

Post ways or places you leave your business card in the comment section below.

Technorati Tags: Book, Publicity, Marketing,Business cards, Cheap

My Publicity Campaign in working

2005-03-03T18:31:00.000-08:00

Review copies requested by the Producer of WomensRadio.com, and the Associate Publisher of REAL magazine.

Authors on Talk Radio & Writing Articles Online

2005-02-27T23:03:00.000-08:00

Again, Mark Victor Hansen of "Chicken Soup for the Souls" live by this one method of book publicity...at least one talk radio show every single day for the life of their books...and, they still do this today. Free publicity, my dears.

How to Clinch Radio Interviews by Don Crowther's 101PublicRelations.com offers these basic tips.

I just wrote up my ad that I'm going to fax, email and pitching to talk radio stations this month: March being Women's History Month.

Tell me whaccha think? If this doesn't get me booked...I have 5 other pitches in my back pocket. You should have 5-6 "hooks" as a good show...not your book's hook, there's a drastic difference.

I'll keep you posted of the results.

BTW, you have to read my How I Became an ezinearticles.com Platnium Member blog post today at Empowering Women Right Now Blog.

Here's the thing, fellow Authors...you wrote a book...you have chapters and chapters of free articles to reprint. This is what I did...and look at the results. My website and blog are hopping!

More Free publicity!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perfect Show to Celebrate Women’s History Month—March
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Do Oprah, Condoleezza Rice and Britney Spears Have In Common? And, How Can Ordinary Woman Make Their Mark in History With This One Principle?

A horrible car accident in July 2004 empowered this work-at-home-mom to write a one-of-a-kind inspirational, multi-cultural and spiritual resource-guide in three-days while in bed. Ponn offers tips, tools and steps to empower women to create a power network so they will live a life of success every single day.

According to recent data:

- Stress is a more serious problem for women than men.

- Roper Starch Worldwide Survey showed that nearly one in four mothers who work full-time and have children under 13 feel stress almost every day.

In an energizing, enlightening, and hysterical manner, Ponn reveals:

What’s the one critical thing successful women do every single day that ordinary women just don’t understand?
How to stop obsessing, perfecting and stressing-out right now.
What it means to say “I’m beautiful, I’m gorgeous, and I’m sexy”?
What’s a chick chick’s club, and how every woman can be a proud member today?
Why mastering the art of networking in the old boy’s club doesn’t compare a woman’s ability to power network to building their power new girl’s network?

Available Last Minute.

Credentials: Ponn Sabra is the author of Empowering Women to Power Network ~ How-to Save Time, Earn More Money & Live a Life of Success By Building Quality Relationships Everywhere You Go, PublishAmerica, Summer 2005. At the age of 25 with a Masters in Public Health, Ponn became one of the youngest appointed public health officials in the US. In just three years, she was published in the nation’s most prestigious public health journal, received numerous local, regional, and national honors and awards, and featured in multiple local media outlets. Three years later, Sabra became an accomplished freelance writer, top-producing licensed Realtor®, world-traveler, and homeschool mother of three.

Availability: Northwest Ohio/Southeast Michigan. Nationwide via telephone. Available Last Minute.

Contact Information: Ponn M. Sabra, MPH Phone: 419-882-2338, Email: ponnsabra@yahoo.com, Website: http://www.empowerwomennow.com/

Technorati Tags: Authors , Publicity, Talk radio , Articles , Women, Oprah,Condoleezza Rice,Britney Spears

Empowering Book Authors on A Shoestring Budget

2005-02-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

First, thank you (my loyal readers) for staying tuned to this blog.

Second, I apologize for being a way for the week.

Third, please logon to Empowering Women Right Now Blog as often, if not more, to catch-up on all the new-news and projects I'm working on. That will be the primary blog where I share everything. There's tons of marketing online and offline that will ultimately aid in your book publicity.

I will keep very specific book-publicity materials here.

Here's some examples (details and examples at Empowering Women Right Now Blog):

- Press release campaign positions you as an authority on your topic. I'm becoming known for (local & national):
Empowering women, Women entrepreneurs, Work-at-home-moms, then home-business professionals and entrepreneurs in general.

- Writing articles and sending to ezinearticles.com and more...(more on this subject later)

- Targeted audience for your website with a specific-USP (Unique Selling Point). See EmpowerWomenNow.com for what I mean.

- Hosting/Organizing a local event yourself: Toledo Home-Business Moms Expo

- FREE resources at your Website:

Articles: FREE Women's Empowerment Articles
E-course: FREE Empower Your Way to Success E-Course
Ezine: FREE Empower Me Now Tips Newsletter

Please sign-up for all my resources, duplicate the theories, and re-print the articles protected by copyrights.

Remember: The Marketing Law of 7 (6-10, depending on the resouce quoted):

It takes 6-10 times of you and your products or services to be promoted or publicized before a purchase is made. Your website has to be your online storefront where visitors surf by frequently. During which time you need to build trust and respect (as an expert), so they will ultimately purchase your products.

Here's the great thing about creating content: as an author, you have your book with your own the copyrights. So re-print them in various mediums for maximum publicity. No one else is going to do this, but you!

Technorati Tags: Author,Book Publicity, Marketing Tips, Articles,Ezine, Press Release, Empowering Women,

MarketAbility--Book Publicity and Promotion with a Twist

2005-02-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

1. Get on their MarketAbility's mailing list and consume their free articles right now,
click here.

I mentioned their blog before too: Book Marketing & Publicity. Tons of archives, get lost and read up. great cost-effective ideas!

2. Jerry Minchew offered great tip about his brochure to yesterday's post Valuable email real estate wasted . Read up.

Keep 'em coming.

3. Here's one other thing, link relevancy is more important than link exchange. So, learn how to give SEO-effective (Search Engine Optimization) links.

Instead of posting my link: Ponn M. Sabra at http://www.EmpowerWomenNow.com

I offer this html for my main page at
{a href="http://www.empowerwomennow.com/
Empowering_Women_Entrepreneurs.html"}
Empowering Enlightened Women Entrepreneurs{/a}: [Replcae {} with <> ]

And it looks like this:

Empowering Enlightened Women Entrepreneurs

I offer this html for my book page:

{a href={a href="http://www.empowerwomennow.com/
Empowering_Women_Power_Network.html"}http://www.empowerwomennow.com/
Empowering_Women_Power_Network.html{/a}}
{a{/a} class="" href="{a href="http://www.empowerwomennow.com/
Empowering_Women_Power_Network.html"}Empowering'}http://www.empowerwomennow.com/
Empowering_Women_Power_Network.html"}Empowering{/a}
Women to Power Network -
How-to Save Time, Earn More Money and
Live a Life of Success Everywhere You Go{/a}{/a}

And it looks like this:

Empowering Women to Power Network - How-to Save Time, Earn More Money and Live a Life of Success Everywhere You Go

Just copy the code and insert your html with a description that best describes your main page, or I use the full book title.

Too techie for you? Please post your questions and I'll try to break it down more for ya.

PS. Do NOT feel that that I'm such kind of computer-geek...I'm a Newbie. I just got online last month, and launched my website officially on February 14th. Click here for my Buy Your Own Box of Candy This Valentine’s Day press release for my website launch.

Technorati Tags: Book Publicity, SEO, Newbie

Valuable email real estate wasted

2005-02-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

My dears,
Please utilize your email signature. How do I know if you're an Author, Author, Author?

Tell me...and tell me how to reach you.

I just received two emails from PA Authors today, and both without contact information. You're wasting good email real estate and an opportunity for free book publicity.

Here's mine:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ponn Mahayosnand Sabra, MPH
Women's Empowerment Author & Speaker
Toledo, Ohio 43623
Phone: 419-882-2338
Fax: 413-643-8594
Email: ponnsabra@gmail.com

For F'REE Women's Empowerment Tips, Reports & Articles logon http://www.EmpowerWomenNow.com

Empowering Women Right Now Blog: http://empowerwomennow.blogspot.com

Book publicity budget guidelines & more

2005-02-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

$50,000+ OR 40+ hours a week to publicize a book effectively!?
Holy cow! For more details, click here. to read "Book Marketing Budget Information" by Kim Dushinski. Publisher of Book Publicity and Marketing Blog. A must-read, I have in My Yahoo! account.

AND, this does NOT guarantee a best-seller by any means! Am I surprised? No. Considering Authors are professionals and they make a living writing and promoting their books.

Since I wrote Empowering Women to Power Network as my own inspirational, empowerment journal after my car accident, I knew I wanted to share it with the world...BUT, the world is a pretty darn big place.

Here's the thing, it (our books) can not be taken lightly. Yes, it's our story, our 'gift to the world', our empowerment, etc...but, I also knew that writing my book was a means for me to share my voice, my words, and my views to fill a void I know I can fill. Therefore, I have to put everything into perspective and promote, promote, promote.

I just popped up my Sponsor The Book page. Pretty bold? Maybe. But, remember it's all about working with Your Target Market...you must have a USP (Unique Selling Point). What are yours?

My target market is Enlightened Women Entrepreneurs, and my site is jam-pack with FREE resources to help my readers. Therefore asking for Sponsors on my page is not asking too much.

I opened my merchant paypal account (free), you just pay a percentage when you transfer the money into your bank account. As you'll see I accept American and Canadian dollars, because I have a ton of family in Canada and a ever-growing power network of colleagues now that I'm online.

I actually just got a subscriber from Australia and a ton of family in over a dozen countries. So, I'm actually still have limitations, so I have a "Send a check or money order" clause below.

Again, I'm posting updates of my book publicity here, and you better bet your book that I'm gonna keep track. Accountability is one very important step to achieving success, as in my Empowerment Equation for Success. Which I have reprint rights for in my FREE 7-day E-course entitled, Empower Your Way to Success.

I'm working on my FREE Articles so I can submit them to FREE ezine article sites and positioning myself as an Enlightened Women Entrepreneur Expert. What's your speciality?

Back to work. Later!

Must have book marketing guide

2005-02-16T16:30:00.000-08:00

A must-have book of all time:
1001 Ways to Market Your Book by John Kremer. Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen praise this book (Chicken Soup for the Soul) as this is where started off years ago with their very first book.

Not only is this a great reference book, but it's actually very fun to read.

Shoestring Book Publicity Blog Goals

2005-02-16T14:58:00.000-08:00

I plan to use this blog for a number of reasons:

1. Have one convenient place to log book publicity articles and ideas rather than filling up "my favorites" folder with anymore "read this" "read this first", or "read this later" links. I can title each submission, and use the ideas as time allows.

2. To jot down all the book marketing and publicity efforts I do so I can track (with time & dates) which methods works best. My binders and marketing notebooks are getting pretty messy too. Since I plan on utilizing the internet and WWW as much as possible to publicize my book, it's another covenience for me as well.

3. (The most important) To build a forum for other self-published or small press published authors to post comments, ideas & share their successes and failures. Why reinvent the cycle or let anyone waste their time and money?

4. (Closest to my heart) To find the best means of publicizing my upcoming book, Empowering Women to Power Network, on a shoestring budget. After experiencing a horrible car accident 8 months ago, our family of five is down to one-income. I had no idea how much time and costs are invested in one's pre-publication book publicity.

Read this article, How Much to Invest in Your Book and What It Means to Your Workload, right now.

Empowered to share my words with the world, I'm penny-less to get it to the masses on the publication date. While I have some time, it's also limited to my physical and mental capabilities as well. I vow to be patient, ingenious, and optimistic, and I know this blog will aid in my endeavors.

5. (Creating a PAPub) For my fellow PA authors, I want to make this blog a real-time marketing tool for all of our creative words to be seen by the world. Please comment as often as possible, share your books, post your websites, and let's have fun publicizing our books together.

To our empowerment & success,
Ponn

How Women Can Save Time, Earn Money, Find Success

2005-02-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Let Me Show You How Women Can Save Time, Earn Money and Live a Life of Success Now

Contact information:
Ponn M. Sabra, MPH
Author, Empowering Women to Power Network
4615 Holland-Sylvania #6 Toledo, Ohio 43623
Phone: 419-882-2338
Email: ponnsabra@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.empowerwomennow.com/
Toledo, Ohio (February 11, 2005) – A horrible car accident empowers a work-at-home-mom to share with other women how-to save time, earn more money & live a life of success in her debut book, Empowering Women to Power Network.

Empowering Women to Power Network is a one-of-a-kind inspirational, multi-cultural and spiritual resource-guide that offers tips, tools and steps to empower women to create a power network. A ten-step system, this is one of the first networking books that challenges women to start building a power network from the very first page to the very last. Sabra acts as a guide and cheerleader as she walks the reader through every single step. A motivating chapter for the shy and introverted was added as well. This unique book prompted PublishAmerica, LLP, to offer Sabra a contract after only 12 days of receiving her proposal.

Written in 3 days while in bed, Sabra shares that women can achieve their goals with tips, such as her Empowerment Equation for Success. While still undergoing therapy for her back, shoulder, knee, vertigo and dizziness, Sabra shares her joy to be alive.

At the age of 25 with a Masters in Public Health, Sabra became one of the youngest appointed public health officials in the United States. In just three years, she was published in the nation’s most prestigious public health journal, received numerous local, regional, and national honors and awards, and featured in multiple local media outlets. Three years later, Sabra became an accomplished freelance writer, top-producing licensed Realtor®, world-traveler, homeschool mother of three, and profiled in Marquis’ Who’s Who of America & Who’s Who of American Women. Yet, none of these achievements measures up to what Sabra considers being the most important thing in life—loving and taking care of herself as a woman first.

Happy and healthy women attract other like-minded people to them, described as power people. The instantaneous bonds created through compassion and genuine interest is where the power lies. Power people keep returning to one another’s friendship and company, and not just their products and services. This is where a power network starts and how it grows.

As a world-traveler, Sabra explains cultural and religiously-sensitive situations that may occur in this global economy. Sabra offers fun tips to notice and handle uncommon situations with respect.

“…This is the best thing to come along since “Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul”…I look forward to offering this book to all of my Team Women members”, says Karyn Fagan the Founding President of Team Women, the world’s first “women-only” network marketing organization.

Planned for a release this Summer 2005, Sabra submitted her final draft on Friday, January 28, 2004. “I’m humbled by the positive response I received during the peer review stage, and honored to be able to help other women. Achieving true balance in my life is not always easy; it’s empowering to walk this journey of life with other aspiring women”, says Sabra.

For more information about the book & FREE women’s empowerment resources, visit http://www.empowerwomennow.com/ or call Ponn Sabra at 419-882-2338.
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