A talented business woman that I also consider to be a friend through our contact via the internet has just published a wonderful new book, a 2010 edition of “Quirky Marketing - 365 Way to Promote Your Business Using Zany and Non-Traditional Holidays”.

I just purchased a copy and am so impressed!  For each an every month there is an introduction with inspiring thoughts about the month, then a paragraph about each of the significant things that happened in history or that are significant each day of the month…and not all of them are things I’ve heard of (some of those are definitely “quirky” :-).  Finally there is a easy-to-read list of the things that make each day of the month special, and resources that you can print to use to plan how you are going to approach that particular month.  The book explains it all a lot better than I have!

I wish I had purchased this by January 1st, but I can get started right now…and it will still be relevant in the new year.

Here is what she just shared in an email:

ABOUT “Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Promote Your Business Using Zany and Non-traditional Holidays”

Quirky marketing is not about your run-of-the-mill everyday marketing tactic. It is more than that. It is a combination of the creative, zany and off-the-wall. It’s the ordinary marketing tactics taken to a new level - to create a more inspired, fun and interesting process for marketing products and services. In the Quirky Marketing Calendar you will discover 12 months of quirky, zany and creative marketing ideas from around the globe. Did you know that for instance today, February 8th is Moo Cow Day ~ GOT MILK? ~ This is all about the Dairy industries “GOT MILK” campaign, one of the most powerful, viral advertising programs of all time. In addition to all the great holiday ideas in the book, you can also receive updates with any NEW holidays that are not currently covered in the book.

[To go straight to the offer, please visit this quirky book link]

In addition to 365 Ideas to promote your business, inside this 217 page eBook, I show you how to use the calendar, how to work with the media, give you monthly action plan templates, a blank monthly calendar and more. At the end of each chapter is a comprehensive listing of additional holidays you can explore and use to promote your business. And an expanded resource section. And this years edition has been expanded to include much needed marketing forms that I have used over the years to keep track of all our successes.

You can grab your copy today combined with more than $1,700 worth of bonuses…when you do you will have instant access to Quirky Marketing and all the Bonuses.

The bonuses are only available for a limited time so please hurry and grab your copy today.

I believe this ebook would make an amazing addition to your ebook library or as a gift for a client or colleague. In fact, if you don’t find at least three great ideas to use in your business, I will give you your money back. Guaranteed! But you have to hurry and take advantage of all the amazing bonuses today.

[Go to this link soon so you don’t miss out on the bonuses.]

To your success… and then some,

Heidi Richards Mooney

Author, Quirky Marketing Calendar ~ 365 Ways to Promote Your Business Using Zany and Non-traditional Holidays.
Publisher, WE Magazine for Women www.WEMagazineforWomen.com
Founder Women in Ecommerce www.WECAI.org

Raj Patel tackles the subject of saving the planet….but maybe not the way you’re thinking, more like saving the planet from financial devastation.

The news is full of talk about big government, government overspending, the desire for government to be by the people and for the people, and not the people being controlled by the government. Raj Patel shares a refreshing perspective on how people need to organize themselves in ways so that we the people, not the governments, can decide how to share our world and it’s resources. The book “The Value of Nothing” with a big zero the cover, which fittingly opens with Oscar Wild’s quote “nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing,” is available now…you can find out much more about it through any of the links in this post. Be sure to listen to the author on the video below.

As a matter of fact, you may just be able to win a copy of the book.

Other books by the author include such compelling titles as “Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World’s Food System”, “Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform”; “Food Rebellions: Crisis and the Hunger for Justice” and “Voices of the Poor: Can Anybody Hear Us”.

On 3.25.09 I was to be part of a book tour for a wonderful eBook, “Family Folktales, Write Your Own Family Stories“, and didn’t have an internet connection for most of the day because they are doing work on Cable along our street, which then turned into not really being related to the work being done on the street at all. We had more issues, and had the cable service come out and fix things for us, so everything is working great…now as promised, let me tell you a bit about this wonderful book.

This book was particularly captivating to me, because I would like to write about some of the things that my grandfather shared with us about his life…he loved to tell stories from his life, in fact he spent hours when he was in his early 90’s sharing on video story after story…I treasure these tapes.

It has been hard for me to know where to begin, and reading Karen’s book has helped me sort through some of my concerns…including how historically accurate I want to make the book, Karen suggests that it doesn’t need to read like history, it can be from my perspective, the way that I remember the story being told. I felt “freed” by these words, and the thoughts began to flow!  You’ll find this happens often as you read the book.

Here are a few of chapter titles from this writing instructor’s new book:

• What Is a Folktale?
• What Do You Do with Folktales?
• Folktales Are for Everyone
• Let’s Get Started - People; Places and Events; Things; The Process
• Warming Up Your Writing Muscles

and there’s more!

Below you’ll find order and other info, and since this is a tour, please stop by and visit the following for more reviews: On 3.24.09 Carolyn Howard-Johnson provided an ebook review, then on 3.26.09 the blog tour continued with Julie McLaws.

Title: Family Folktales: What Are Yours
Author: Karen Pierce Gonzalez
Website: This, and other books available at http://www.folkheartpress
Price: Under $8.00

I have the pleasure of introducing you to a very special book written by a very special woman.  Pam Archer has written a book that is so timely, as many are planning their Spring and Summer weddings, or if you are an advance planner, fall or winter weddings!   I was planning my daughter’s wedding 5 years ago at this time, and know that anything that you can get your hands on to help is a blessing, and this book would have been on the top of my list.

The book is “99 Things You Wish You Knew Before You Planned Your Wedding“, part of the all new “99 Series”, many future books are in the works. The “99 Series” is a brain-child of Michael Wells and Helen Georgakalis.  But the focus of this post is on Pam’s wonderful book…it is available for download in eBook form for under $8.00 at the link provided, and will soon be available in book form through the author and on Amazon

Pam Archer’s sites include:

http://www.pamelaseventdesign.com and http://www.idoweddings.wordpress.com

John Grisham, one of my favorite authors, is on MSNBC’s Morning Joe site answering questions live right now…I’m hopping back and forth between blogging and viewing.

If you’re interested in being a part, click here and chat with John Grisham.  Take a look at the information about his newest book, “The Associate”.

Some interesting questions are being asked….I wonder if he will answer them all?

Introducing a book launch that is taking place TOMORROW! Don’t let the title fool you, this isn’t just a book for marketing during the holiday season that has just past, it’s much more!

Recession Proof Your Business In 2009 with “The 2009 Weird & Wacky Holiday Marketing Guide!”

Title: 2009 Weird & Wacky Holiday Marketing Guide
Author: Ginger Carter-Marks

This is an invitation to an Amazon.com eBook Launch of “The 2009 Weird & Wacky Holiday Marketing Guide”, Your business marketing calendar of ideas

Launch Hours:

(48 hours only): From 12.00am Thursday, 8th January 2009 USEST
to 11.59 pm Friday, 9th January 2009 USEST
(http://www.worldtimezone.com/)

So… How will you be rewarded for taking action… between 12.00am Thursday, 8th January 2009 USEST and 11.59pm Friday, 9th January 2009 USEST only?

With an incredible array of inspiring and empowering resources that can support you in all areas of your life! They are truly valuable, unique and have a retail value of over $700. However, for 48 hours only, they are yours absolutely F-R-E-E because you simply purchased a copy of The 2009 Weird & Wacky Holiday Marketing Guide between 12.00am Thursday, 8th January 2009 USEST and 11.59 pm Friday, 9th January 2009 USEST only at Amazon.com!

Yes, you can buy the book any time, but it is only during these 48 hours that you’ll get these precious bonus gifts!

To get a sneak peek at what is inside please visit http://www.holidaymarketingguide.com/

(NOTE: When it says “Out of Print–Limited Availability” it means it’s an eBook ONLY!)

I was looking at my favorite article site (mine :-)) and came across an article done by someone I refer to a lot in the blog because of her newsletter for authors and writers.  I hope you’ll enjoy the article, and the helpful information of how to do a book tour or author tour.  As you can see in earlier posts, I’ve taken part in a few blog tours.

Here’s the article, by Penny Sansevieri.

After years of working with authors on Internet tours, talking about blogging, podcasting, social networking, and all other assorted online promotional tools, the basic questions still remain: How the heck do I promote myself on the Internet? Broken down in simple steps, this article is designed to give you a good starting point to kick your Internet promotion into high gear. It s not difficult but you have to start somewhere. Let s start with your web site.

Web site: Why would someone visit it? Why would anyone care? Before you start marketing yourself online, ask these basic questions. You can get anyone to a web site once, but getting them back a second, or third time is where authors often lose momentum. Studies have shown that less than 14 of web site visitors will buy the first time they visit. It s only on the second or third visit that they decide to make a purchase. Anyone can drive traffic to your site, it s getting them back that counts.

The point of your tour: getting incoming links

Here s the thing: anyone can get incoming links, the point is, you want GOOD and quality incoming links from sites that can actually send you traffic and readers that will buy your book. We get numerous calls from authors who have bought into inexpensive programs that do nothing more than drive unqualified, tire kicking traffic to their web site. This kind of traffic is not going to do you any good; in fact, if you re not careful, getting a bunch of errant links from sites that Google doesn’t feel are right for your topic or market can get you downgraded online instead of a better ranking. So how do you beat this?

First, you’ll want to download the Google toolbar. This toolbar comes with a Page Ranking piece (in some cases you may have to download this separately). This Page Rank is important because it s an indicator of how important Google thinks a particular site is. Ideally sites you target will have a Page Rank of 4 or above. We like to target sites that have a ranking between 4-6. Then look at the nature of the sites you re pitching. Are they related to your topic? Do the sites have lots of great content? Would they consider reviewing your book, maybe interviewing you or excerpting your book? Regardless of what they re willing to do, the idea is to use these sites to help spread the message about your book and give them great content. All sites are looking for great content and if you can offer it to them, it s a win win. Here s what not to do: don’t just link swap with your friends. I know writers who belong to writer s groups and just swap links with other writers. This isn’t good for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the site you might be linking to (or getting a link from) has nothing to do with your topic.

Slow and steady wins the race: The idea of touring or promoting yourself online is about building traffic, links, and authority status within search engines. I tend to reference Google a lot since most of us default search there. People ask me how long they should promote themselves online, I tell them for as long as they need to. As long as there are sites you can pitch yourself to you can continue promoting. Our web site, Author Marketing Experts, has never been promoting in an aggressive fashion. Yes, we use new promotional techniques and cutting edge Web 2.0 trends but it s never been about a fast push; it s always been about slow and steady growth. Because of this we have great ranking, linking, and placement on Google. I ve never paid for a single ad word placement or fancy traffic program that leverages links only.

Using blogs, podcasts, and article syndication: the Internet is full of tools to use. Blogs are a great way to promote to but consider this: why not comment on blogs in your market that are getting a lot of traffic? You may not be able to get a review but you can always comment and, you ll get a link back to your site in the process.

Podcasting is another great tool, there are a ton of podcasts out there that you can promote yourself to. Check out iTunes and Podcast Alley to find some that might suit your topic and market.

Article syndication: another powerful but often overlooked market. Write a piece between 500 and 2,000 words and send it out into cyberspace via sites like Isnare, Ezine Articles and Article City and watch the links start building to your site.

If the idea of social networking, social bookmarking, video and the like are overwhelming then I recommend that you start simple: begin by pitching yourself online and see what you can grow from there. Most of the time the main reason an author abandons any thought of an online campaign is because they are overwhelmed by their choices. Start small and build from there, this is how we did it and how we grew our market. You can too. Then, when you’ve gotten your sea legs when it comes to Internet promotion, you can branch out into other areas.

Good luck, here’s to your Red Hot success!
Author Resource:-> Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a book marketing and media relations expert whose company has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. Visit http://www.amarketingexpert.com.

Article From Selling With Articles

TODAY IS THE BIG DAY!! The book launch for a book that will change your life or the life of someone you care about is happening RIGHT NOW!! Please see the post below this one for more information.

BUT BEFORE YOU GO, I want to talk to those of you that are in business for yourself, whether you own a book shop, or any other type of small business.  If you are trying to sell accepting cash or checks only, it may be a little challenging during the present economy, because people are holding onto their cash…or may even have a shortage of it, and are depending upon credit to help them through.

Shoppers do have to be careful not to build up so much debt that they can’t pay it back, but for many, it’s the only way they have to pay for some things. For example, think of all the people who are working for Chrysler who aren’t going to work or get paid because Chrysler is closing their factories for a month. What will they do if they don’t have enough cash set aside? I’d say they will be using credit cards, so a credit card processing machine for your business will be much appreciated by your customers. I was visiting onlinecheck.com and was surprised to see that the monthly fee for a service like this is about $8.95 a month, and you can use it for a month free, no contracts, cancel whenever you want, the machine is free…not bad! I’m happy to have this link in my blog for future reference.

That’s it for today, I hope you have a great day, happy reading…and don’t forget the book launch!