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Newsletter June11

Greetings fom Mel Keegan and the crew at GLBT Bookshelf!

Be found, be visible -- sell books!

We were amazed. We were absolutely rocked. The last newsletter -- with its “call to arms,” and the exhortation “!!LINK!!” -- was such a runaway success, Keegan is chortling while reporting that I’m going to have to buy us some more bandwidth about the time this newsletter is delivered! (I’m *delighted* to buy us some bandwith -- it means we’re succeeding. If and when the cost of bandwidth gets to be painful, we’ll do a fundraiser: e-goodies to download, for a $2.50 donation. A story; wallpapers; screensavers; an e-calendar; eyecandy -- help yourself, and leave a tip in the jar. Right now -- my treat, all part of the plan.)

A massive "thank you" to all the people who responded to the last newsletter -- we’re looking good, folks! Looking excellent. Particular thanks to Josh Lanyon, who posted his own marvellous “call to arms,” and to the people who reposted this in the following 12 hours. The result? 4,400+ page loads on the wiki the next two days, well over 1,000 unique visitors; 36 writers and artists signing up; scores of new pages created; a plethora of inbound links --

It works. (Told you so.) In fact, it was so spectacular, we’ve given the maneuver a name: the “Link Blitz.” FREE-advertising-wise, we’re going to try this: once a month, we’ll have a "link blitz," in which as many of us as possible link, blog, twitter, chat, comment -- something, anything! -- over a two or three day period. Each time we do this, as a group, we create quite a ruckus; and when enough noise is made, you get noticed. As the group gets bigger, our "ruckus" will be noticed by GLBT readers  -- potential customers -- everywhere, and at that point we can say we've "arrived" in style.

There are over 150 of us now, and new pages are being created thick and fast. Every time you look at the page index, it’s grown.

Some members are slow in getting off the starting blocks -- and this is almost certainly going to be down to the fact that there is a learning curve. To solve this, I’m working on a PDF manual: “The ‘I’m so bad with computers, I could crash the Internet’ guide to being absolutely brilliant on GLBT Bookshelf.” It’ll take a couple of weeks to put the book together, and it’ll be a major feature in a newsletter as soon as it’s online. (I think I hear sounds of jubilation.)

Now, the important stuff:

Before the end of June, the wiki's own advertising will be starting: wiki banners and press releases announcing this community will be appearing in strategic places, and traffic should head northwards very rapidly. Some internet marketing guru said recently (and rightly), “look after the traffic, and the monetization will take care of itself.” In this case, “monetization" means book sales. Not mine -- yours!

I have to say my sales are noticeably better since the wiki began; members should be starting to see increased sales. Until we have some kind of poll, I can’t report how other writers’ sales are going, but I can tell you my own. All titles are up at least 30%; some are way up; and on titles for which I’ve experimented with advertising, numbers are anything up to triple what I’d have otherwise expected. It works.

Experiments with various kinds of banners and ads has produced various results and feedback. There’s enough info, now, to get some workable results, and a new page just went up: Advertising on the wiki ...!

It’s early days, yet; by Christmas we should be seeing at least 10,000 visitors per day, but for now, while we’re launching … members can run a 30-day campaign for $2.50. Yep, that’s not a typo. Two-fifty. Check out the Advertising page to see “how much for how much,” and what kind of ads you can put where. If you need any help, contact us! (PayPal buttons are alongside each ad option, and ALL proceeds go to supporting the wiki. We’re about to get a domain, for a start...)

One quick note about the Advertising page: you’ll notice that the page holding the PayPal buttons it hosted at DreamCraft, not on the wiki … why in the world would we do that?! The reason is -- and this is completely weird -- the moment you put a PayPal button on a wiki page, trusty old Internet Explorer assumes the page is Phishing; up jumps the Phishing Philter warning. Opera, Fireox and Chrome have no problem with PayPal buttons on a wiki page; there is nothing remotely "suspicious" about any aspect of this wiki!! But Internet Explorer doesn't know it, so you'll understand if this page is an ordinary webpage hosted at DreamCraft ... we can do without the Phishing Philter jumping up and biting us for no reason.

Now, the VERY important stuff!

Before we get to the point where I put down the credit card and get us the advertising, we want to make sure that as many authors as possible are positioned well to benefit from it. As I write this, I’m actually speaking to half a dozen or so of you … and you probably know who I mean! As you sit right now, you’re not going to get a single sale from the imminent advertising, because …

Some of you have created your pages and not even put your titles on the TITLES A-Z page yet …your books are utterly invisible!

And some of you have put up “blind links,” with a listing for “MY NOVEL by My Name” on the Book Categories pages -- which is good; but then you didn’t make the pages, so your listings don’t go anywhere -- they’re not links (blue text), but list items (black text) which will mean nothing to visitors. Which will mean no sales. And that's not good.

• This is an exhortation to writers, artists, publishers:
• Make sure your titles are in the A-Z *and* the Category pages … and on your Publisher’s page, too! 
• Make sure your book title point to the right page (!); and turn your byline into a link to your personal page on the wiki!
• Make sure you’re represented on your Publisher’s wiki page! Like this…

The Running Press page; and the Blind Eye Books page.

PUBLISHER PAGES: some marvellous pages have been created -- some by the publishers themselves, but most by the writers. In this newsletter, I need to send out an SOS to the TORQUERE WRITERS …!  Keegan started the list off by running a Search on the wiki and listing every title that came up. But the site is growing so fast, I know the Torquere list is now way incomplete, and I can't he;p you too much here: the wiki is now so large and complex, I have only a hazy idea of what pages go where. The pages are your territory, folks! A couple of other writers have added to the list I began (thank you from the tips of my typing fingers!), but the other Torquere writers haven’t updated their listings on this page yet. Guys: you need to go there and at the very least add your bylines to the titles I turned up with a search. Your bylines need to become links to your personal wiki pages. And some of you have beautiful covers on these books … believe me, artwork on the page catches the eye and you WILL sell copies if people notice you. So --

If you’re with Torquere...

• make sure your book is on the list, and if not, add it in;
• slap on a 67x100 thumbnail of your cover;
• add your byline; turn titles and bylines into links. Done!

Speaking of cover art … we’d like to reissue the invitation to cover artists to join us. To date, we don’t seem to be reaching artists as successfully as writers, editors, publishers, so if you’re a writer who works in conjunction with an artist, and if you’re in contact with them, invite them along! Our Art & Artists page is growing slowly. It needs a little TLC. It would be wonderful if, by Christmas, you could come to the Bookshelf, browse, and open negotiations with a cover artist, a beta reader, and a dozen reviewers. This is our ambition -- to connect everyone, and make things happen.

On that note, let me close this newsletter. I have three of my own pages left to create, and a little more work to do for various members; the GLBT Bookshelf advertising banners made right now, ready for that ad campaign that’s right around the corner now. You’ll also be able to snag them, in all shapes and sizes, in case you’d like to park one on your site or blog. So, if you do have work to do on your parts of the wiki, now is the time! I’ll talk more about the PDF Manual in the next newsletter, and next time around I’ll also be announcing a new area of the wiki which ought to attract casual visitors like a magnet; and once they make your acquaintance, and tell their friends, books are going to be shipped. No question of it.

Cheers to all,

Mel Keegan & Crew