Twitter Tips

Twitter is not going away. There are millions who use it daily and others who barely navigate Facebook. If you follow my personal Facebook, I posted this public.

Twitter Social Media – Interesting fact: I have been “favorited” with my tweets more times than I have followers.

Tweets about making you feel good get twice as many favorites. Tweets with pictures are more likely to retweeted. Tweets about writing, websites and motivation are hot topics for me. When I tweet about angels, God/Allah I gain more followers.

While it appears I have a bigger following on Facebook, the reality is I make way more sales through Twitter. 200,000+ vs 1500+. Why? I know why. Edgerank. Facebook friends are not supporters. Twitter supporters are not friends. Doing a shoutout with a good hashtag will always get new followers. I make up my own hashtags and I highjack other people’s hashtags. People like to learn. Share valuable insights.

Your Facebook following demonstrates LIKES, which are hard and expensive, Twitter followers are cheap and seemingly lower quality due to the sheer massive competition for attention.

Despite your Facebook friends not always liking your posts, it does not mean they do not like seeing them.

You can always add me as a friend and follow my public posts. (facebook.com/aaronmstephens) I forget that there is a huge following of this website, aaronmstephens.com, many who have subscribed by email or RSS. I always encourage people to set this up on their site and to sign up on my own. Why? Well, if Facebook for some reason decides to be a brat you will still know what is going on by other means of communication.

Personally I sort of like Twitter. It has really grown on me. It is one of those things you need to develop a habit of doing/using/reading. So like anything else, start with one tweet a day. Don’t worry about how many followers you have, it doesn’t matter at the new habit forming stage. Start by making other people feel good. Use a pretty picture. Use an easy to remember hashtag. Tag someone with the @ symbol before their twitter name. Post at different random times of the day. I leave Twitter open in a browser tab all the time. I reply back to everyone to messages me. I also send a welcome message when they follow me providing my book website angel.academy. Some people really dig it and message me back. Most of my followers have their own big following.

When I am reading tweets, I like to use my iPad and the Flipboard app. It really maximizes the experience, and I highly recommend it. I also have both of my Facebook fan pages and my personal public posts automatically go to my Twitter stream. That stream is also reproduced on my personal blog, which makes it always seem new and fresh. A lot of fans bookmarked my blog and just go there to stay up to date. It’s kind of cool the way everything is all linked together. All you need to do is use the Jetpack WordPress plugin and drop it into the widget menu. Tah dah! Now, if you are on WordPress.com I don’t think you have that option.

Keep in mind that some people who follow you might not be following a lot of people. So you might be the only tweets they see at first. If you go overboard and are too salesy people will unfollow you. I try to only be salesy once in a while, and be uplifting and educational the rest of the time. If you don’t follow my Twitter, you can @aaronmstephens.

Best Writing & Selling Author

If you are like me you are often swayed by books and movies. How can you NOT know what is in the media if you are on Facebook, Twitter or any of the other social media sites. Hollywood seems to take over my news feed on a regular basis.

One of the things as an author that I frequently pay attention to is the NY Times Best Sellers. If you weren’t aware, it is a list that the New York Times newspapers puts out weekly based on print book sales around the United States. Personally I have to say that I have never purchased a book based on its ranking for book sales. Never. So why the big deal for everyone to use that particular list as a benchmark? The perception is if you are on the list you are golden. But the truth of the matter is, you aren’t.

The lists are rigged, mostly for the publishing houses. It’s not like it is a big secret as to which bookstores report to Bookscan. If you are a billion dollar publisher you can make sure that each of those store have plenty of copies of your books. That takes a lot of money and power to do that. One person alone cannot accomplish rigging the list. But it has been done in the past. Others rely on phoney rigged reviews which clearly are carefully written by friends; telling very little about the book or if it really is any good.

So I think it is fair to say that a list of selling a lot of books doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a good book. I don’t know how many times I watched a movie that came from a best selling book to find out that it might have sold a lot but it wasn’t written very well. Characters not developed, subplots left hanging, you know, that kind of thing. Do you sometimes wonder where the author is going with an idea, and you keep reading hoping you’ll find out, but alas, you never do.

I have also been tricked by stealth authors who get all their friends to write bogus reviews. You and I both know whom we are talking about. There are authors who have over 100 reviews the first day the book is released. To me that seems a little far fetched. So authors such as myself have turned to Goodreads.com for honest reviews. I also did some contests enticing readers to post a review if they won a paperback copy. That seemed to work pretty well as I had hundreds of Goodreads users add my book to their online shelf “To Read”.

Best writing authors are another category all together. Unfortunately there are not a lot of books that fall into this category. Even some of the big success hundred million book sales don’t meet the expectation of “great writing”. Everyone has different criteria of what they feel falls into that criteria. Personally for me the list is high and most authors don’t fall into that category. That’s okay, it’s just my thoughts. Daily I get feedback and comments from complete strangers how they like how I think and write. Right on!

I had a friend who said she spent months reading my blogs. She read one blog a day. When she was finally done she felt that she really knew me. She could even hear my voice reading my blogs to her. What she found so amazing, is she said that I thought like she thought. You could say that I am a pretty positive, optimistic kind of guy. I was talking with my real estate agent in NYC and she said she spent hours reading my work before she read my book. She said if my book was anything like my articles and blogs she would be more than satisfied. She gave me a five star review on Amazon. Her name is Leah, if you need a broker in NYC she will hook you up.

So I think the takeaway with any new author, is take a look at their professional website, their Facebook and Twitter platforms. Do they provide useful, informative, entertaining messages on a regular basis, like I do? After you have found yourself lost in their thoughts and ideas, would you invest $20 to read that author’s book? I make things easy and let readers subscribe by email, RSS and then of course adding me to a favorite or list on Twitter or liking my page on Facebook. People will always like to read. It’s a good thing I like to write.

Writing Habits

Good or Bad — habits are necessary

Did you know that it takes approximately 21 days for you to develop and maintain a habit? I tried this theory out once and I would tend to agree. Most people don’t even realize where they are spending their time and energy or even acknowledge.

Some of the things you do that are habit are done so automatically you don’t even have to think about it. I don’t need to list the common habits of most people; but I will list some of the habits that are considered positive, and maybe you might want to incorporate some of those habits in your daily/weekly/monthly schedule.

As a writer is important to have some healthy routine habits just to keep you on schedule. For instance, I always write at the same time period of the day; which for me is always in the early morning. Angels wake me up daily starting at 3 a.m. and keep pestering me until it is 4:44 a.m. and then I get up. I am usually awake by that time, and the first habit I do is start the coffee and tea machine.

I did some muscle testing and confirmed that my body does in fact crave and need lemons and water. It is also a proven fact that brewed tea with lemon and honey is really good for you and your body. I normally drink a dark brewed coffee. I have now included a glass of warm water with lemon and a cup of hot white tea with lemon. To make life easier I buy lemons in bulks at Sam’s Club and always have a dish of fresh cut lemons readily available.

Like billions of people around the world I like Coca Cola, coke. One of my favorite Christmas songs is the Coca Cola “Teach the World To Sing”. I know that coke is not good for me. It is fake sugar that causes my body to react violently as my blood sugar is under attack by corn processed sugar alternative called corn fructose. Coke is my bad habit. It tastes good. It’s full of caffeine and spikes my brain activity for about 20 minutes. When I am wanting or craving a coke, or the sugar, I will drink a glass of lemon water first. If I am still craving it after I really quench my thirst then I might consider it. It has never happened that way. After I drink the ice cold lemon water I have forgotten all about the coke.

Earlier this year I gave some examples of some S.M.A.R.T. goals. Defining time metrics to your objectives and goals will help keep you on track and on target of your complete date. So maybe you don’t like drinking tea and you cannot imagine drinking it daily let alone as a replacement. Fair enough. Perhaps you could start with drinking just one sip of tea a day. You could sip it with your coffee. Make life easy for you to incorporate new habits. I had all my tea in a cupboard, hidden away. Now all my teas are proudly displayed under led lights making it look more like a gourmet kitchen. My coffee maker also has a hot water dispenser, which makes it very simple for tea, hot cocoa or just brewing one cup of coffee for a Starbucks “Pour Over”.

Once you start some easy daily goals and make a habit of completing them, you can move on to some weekly goals. If writing a book, novel or work of art seems a little daunting still, break things down so they are more manageable. For fiction writers, start by jotting down the overall “plot” of what happens, a basic one sentence statement that you can build. Create, develop and imagine your hero. Who is his/her mortal enemy? Write those things down. Believe it or not, writing a fiction story does not usually happen chronologically from start to finish.

As a previous college professor I still believe in hard copy paper back up versions of my work. I also have the ability to mark things up and see revisions visually. All of my work is three hole punched and put into a binder that is dated and color coded. Always keep blank pages in your binder so you can quickly write down ideas, new characters, scenes or conflicts down when they come to you, sometimes in a dream. It is a lot easier to scribble down a thought at 2 a.m. on a piece of paper in a notebook than booting up your manuscript on your computer.

Some writers use digital recorders, others will use smartphone voice recorders. If you are starting your action plan, start by just writing down your daily activities and analyze where you spend your time and where you can allocate new time for writing activities, or whatever it is you want to develop a habit. If you want to start exercising then maybe it is as simple as going to bed earlier so you can wake up earlier?

Write down all your habits. Eliminate the bad and build on the good.

#habits #writers #coffeetea

Pressbooks vs. Scrivener

A lot of people ask me what software or type of computer I use when drafting my manuscript. I personally use Pressbooks. It is a WordPress open source platform that was coded and designed by an actual writer. Since I am a webmaster I spend 90% of my working day in WordPress in one fashion or another.

Many people wonder if I use Microsoft Word to compose. The answer is no. I compose online on the fly in Pressbooks, and then I copy each chapter and paste it into Microsoft Word and then save it to my Dropbox.com cloud folder. I personally do not like Microsoft’s little helpers telling me that my sentence or dialogue is incorrect. When I create there are no distractions.

My editor is also a writer and she is using Scrivener, which is a computer based software for a Windows or Mac for about $40. It is really nice, has a lot of great features, but does require the software and the one computer it was installed. She wrote a review on Scrivener where you can find here. It has the ability to export your file as an ePub, Mobi or pdf, which are the 3 standards you need to publish. If you are handing it over to an editor they may want it in Microsoft Word. If you are self publishing you can create in whichever method you choose. Costwise it is more to use Pressbooks as your final product has a one time fee of $99 per manuscript to remove the watermarks. Of course if you don’t care if people know how you created it, you can leave it on there. I would not recommend it as it quickly identifies you as a new author.

For myself I don’t use just one computer. In fact, I have a Mac Mini and half a dozen laptop computers and netbooks, and tablets that I can use. They are spread out throughout my house and home office. All I need is to connect to wifi or internet on any type of computer on any browser. So if I am at a friend’s house, a hotel, or a car I can always write and not have to carry my laptop with me. So it really is a matter of personal preference.

I also am working on several manuscripts at once. Yes really. When I open up Google Chrome about a dozen tabs open to the various websites I administer and update daily. One of those is Pressbooks.com. The cool thing is Chrome remembers these settings, regardless what computer I am using. It makes things handy for me to remember what I am focused on and not to forget anything. Just like WordPress for website presentation, Pressbooks incorporates several themes to give your book whatever look and feel you choose. Fonts, page numbering, things like that.

One cool thing with Pressbooks is each chapter is actually a page/post that can be exported and imported into another website. Angel.Academy also holds every page of the original manuscript in electronic form, locked and backed up nightly by my server. There was an instance I went to go work on the manuscript for Angel Academy and the website was GONE. All I had was the hardcopy, which was thousands of words. So it is always a good idea to back up your work. I also was then able to use those chapters for parts of my marketing and released chapters in advance to readers who signed up on my website for notifications.

While I was writing Angel Academy I formed a beta group of 50 readers of all different ages and demographics as young as 6 and as old as 91. After I identified my target audience, I narrowed down the group and gave them access to the chapters through Pressbooks. It is as simple as clicking a button from public to private. I am not sure if Scrivener can do that. Many authors do not want their work “out there” before it is published. Not many authors use a beta group. I did it because of marketing background and hundreds of focus groups I have participated.

One of the biggest fears in the publishing industry is a new author is not going to sell any books. I totally get that. That is a huge reason that publisher and agents now require new authors to have their own platform. Angel Academy and my public figure page on Facebook did an excellent job at demonstrating I have a platform of fans/readers/friends. I feel that probably one of the biggest reasons books do not do well is the lack of marketing, distribution and identifying the correct audience to market your book/product. You may think you have a great product, your mom certainly does and your best friend has nothing but accolades to say about you; but what about the rest of the world?

Did you know that “most” authors write books for people that are just like themselves? So I am a 40ish aged author and typically I am writing for people who are of the same age range who will relate to me. I read a book that the author felt was for every single or divorced woman out there. Well, turns out the book wasn’t for all those people. It was written for divorced women baby boomers who were left by their husband. Are there a lot of those people out there? Sure. Is it smart to market just to that audience so you maximize your sales? Of course. Will other people buy it? Of course they will, but anticipate some not so glowing reviews.

When I took my book to bookstores the first question is, “What age range is this book?” You really need to know this or you will not be taken seriously. Use your data to back up your claims. In reality my book is for 9 years old – 24, primarily girls 70%. That is a pretty specific age range. If you say “Oh my book is for everyone.” Good luck. I do say, “My book is for anyone who believes in angels or needs to believe in angels.” Fortunately for me I do have private sales figures I can share that give me credibility.

Many people rely on internet statistics of what publishers choose to release and it appears that print is still very much alive. I have data figures for eBooks that most are unwilling to share, and I totally get it. My point is, is you are contemplating publishing a book, you should seriously consider your eBook options and your different channels of distribution.

There is no reason for the pretty picture other than I really like it, and I thought you might like it too. Have a fantastic weekend! Your energy is contagious. Let it be known!

Website Secrets

Get your GEEK on

#wordpress #webmastertricks

Many people think they can create a website, go live and just sit back and wait for customers or sales to start. Very rarely does that actually happen. Some websites are static, meaning they never change and it is always the same content. Other sites are dynamic and they are constantly changing with new fresh original content. When a website has something new created and added to a website it is viewed new content and is more likely to be picked up by search engines.

It is a proven fact that sites that are updated on a daily basis are going to come up first in search results. Webmasters can submit a site map to Google and Bing which is basically like going to a library and giving them the outline of a book (your site). What is does is help organize your content so the librarian can give users the most current up to date information. Those who submit site maps go to the front of the line. Others will have to wait as something called a “spider” crawls through every single line of code. Every time you write a new article/blog using correct SEO, it is like you just took your book and threw it on top of all the rest, so it always ranks higher.

Your website should also include some sort of S.E.O. (search engine optimization). Site maps are only part of the plan. If you use WordPress there is something called a “plug-in”, which is specialized software that is written for your WordPress database. Every website I create I incorporate this so my sites always rank at the top of Google, MSN, and Bing. Did you know that Bing actually stands for Because It’s Not Google. Seriously. Amazingly people still use Internet Explorer, but Chrome, Safari and Firefox still rate as the number 1 browsing experience.

If you have customers you have a website. Your website is YOUR platform and you are in control of it. You are not restricted who sees your content. Set up easy subscriptions and RSS for your customers. Many of the social platforms change the rules or tell you what you can or can’t say on their platform. Keep your site new and fresh by writing free interesting articles that your readers will find value. It is your chief marketing objective to always be promoting your website and product or service.

If your website address is too long to remember, shorten it down with an easier URL and then have your webmaster create a permanent redirect link. With the dozens of new domain extensions it is possible for everyone to have an easy to remember domain. Your name is always the preferred first choice.

This article is an introduction of what is to come from the new book Platform MBA. As I dive deeper in the book, I will really get geeky and explain in kid terms how to make it work easily for you. Remember, my first published work is a children’s book. It really helps moving forward talking to grown ups. Would I talk down to a 5 year old as I explained something? No. And I won’t do it to you either. Everyone needs a teacher. Some need a good teacher.

Don’t make the mistake of marketing your website before it is ready. Just like your Facebook business page, your website will get one opportunity to impress users. As a rule of thumb I suggest having at least 30 minutes of worthy content. Have lots of articles, blogs and things to look at on your site. You might have a photo gallery, videos, poetry, the possibilities are endless. Some sites that are really popular may also sell advertising. I tend to shy away from that strategy as I really am not interested taking my readers off my website to go buy some other company’s product. That sure does make sense/cents.

You can easily include a mailing list, such as MailChimp or Constant Contact, both have a WordPress plugin. If you write cool newsletters hinting at even cooler articles you may get a lot of subscribers. Some people might just bookmark your site or just like your Facebook page. If someone really likes you, it is possible they will click “GET NOTIFICATIONS” to always be notified when they log into Facebook. I have a lot of readers who do want to be notified if I post an article, blog or entertaining writing.

Live Streaming (coming soon)

I can’t help that I am naturally friendly and talk to everyone. I just have this way of connecting with people and making new friends/likes. I still carry bookmarks with me and use them instead of business cards. My catch phrase, “Read me before you write me.” People love it. #promotedaily

My favorite, “Hi, do you believe in angels? Yes? Great here is a bookmark just for you. No? That’s okay, they believe in you. Do you like to read? Great, here use this instead of a receipt.”

A few people have asked me if I really plan on moving to NYC. I’m kind of a go with the flow, live life by the seat of my pants kind of guy, moment to moment, yeah that’s me. Five years ago I was a college professor. Ten years ago I was a marketing manager. Twenty years ago I was in sales. Now I am a website guy and published author. It is very difficult for me to say where or what I will be doing in my near future, other than websites. I actually could see me as a writer for a television series. Ya never know what the angels have in store for me. If you look at all the “jobs” I held, all of them were monumental to get me where I am today.

Angels came to me once again preparing me with more technology that I will need to be successful. Last night I hosted a live streaming event for my abc Family Pretty Little Liars group (1300+). I introduced the group to our international members and it really was preparing me for when I am going to talk to my own fans doing a live video. I used my iPad, photography lighting and background and it was sweet. Yep, chapter 1 reading and a short interview coming up very soon.

If you made it this far of my post, here is a little marketing insight for anyone wanting to gain a following. The NUMBER 1 reason people like me (my pages): I post consistently and interesting information. People will always continue to read. I’m like a daily newspaper (for free). I really don’t do a lot of reposting of other material, but mostly create my own. Being a writer, and a good writer is very key in building a following of fans and friends. I can get lost in my thoughts/writings, I know other have lost days because of me. My Twitter feed @aaronmstephens captures all of my blogs, Facebook pages and tweets. If you tweet, favorite me and follow me so you can find me easily.

A lot of published authors neglect their free blogs once they become successful. I am not really sure why that is. Some authors want you to join their paid subscription membership. I won’t do that to my readers. Many of “my” readers are actually the angels’ readers. They are happy to give me credit, but we really know who is working behind the scenes making things always happen for the greater good in my life, God/Allah.

I live a life full of love and a heart filled with thanks. It really does make a difference when you give thanks/gratitude daily. You are a powerful spiritual energetic vibrational force. Use it for goodness, joy and happiness. Your energy is contagious. Let it be known.

Published Authors Take Note

Divine inspiration can come to you in many ways. It is very important that you are always listening. This morning an angel came to me providing me with some very valuable insight. I have been doing websites for over 20 years and a long time ago I had a page of links that became my personal “bookmark” page. Over time many companies wanted to be listed on that list. I never advertised my links, but it lived on my original website for years. It is no longer functional as most of the links are probably outdated. My point is that I already knew how to be a webmaster and forgot some very basic skills. Be an affiliate.

My websites and Facebook platform send a lot of traffic to Amazon. Why not get a piece of that back as a referral fee? It was a pretty simple process, signing up on their website, giving them my websites, and then finally giving me an affiliate id number that I can embed in my links. Every book sale that I send to Amazon I now get 15% back. This is probably the most clever trick I have come up with since launching the book. I wish I would have recalled this technique before the book launch.

The other nifty trick I recommend is having a professional looking cover picture for your Facebook personal page. Here is mine:

I haven’t seen any articles talking about cover photos so I will briefly talk about what went into this one. This is actually a PNG (portable network graphic) file as it it optimized for websites. Also as it is not the common jpg file, your graphics won’t ever be under virus attack. Thousands of people look me up on Facebook and they see my public profile or this one. Both are professional. This one directs you back to my author website and tells you that I am an author. It shows you the book cover, and brands me as a best selling author. It also shows you all the different channels you can purchase my book.

Many readers use Goodreads.com and their smartphone app, so sharing with readers that I am listed there helps to give them reviews from real readers and the ability to add it to their shelf to read later. The graphic reminds readers of the Amazon Kindle and the child leaning against the tree promotes casual reading. Naturally people are curious and they go to my website, my public figure page or to Amazon and ultimately results in an eBook download or printed paperback sale. Once you have a professional looking cover picture you can later use it to brand yourself when you post or blog.

Use a professional eye catching photo that highlights your energy. A picture is worth a thousand words. The day you decided to become a celebrity, a published author or public figure, your days of pictures with your animals for your avatar were over. There actually are a lot of things that you may have to consider once you are in the public’s eye. I do massive amounts of research and I haven’t found any blogs that really address this issue. For my aspiring writer friends I will share some of those things here in this blog as future articles. Like for instance, “What to do when your first fan turns on you?” Believe it, I have had fans who have used some really ugly words with me on my Facebook pages. I have even had to ban users. No profanity allowed on any of my pages.

I try to keep things pretty consistent so people recognize the branding. A lot of other public figures like to change things around a lot. It takes a long time to get international brand awareness. Once you have established your brand, like Google, you can play around with it. I wouldn’t recommend it when you are first starting. Start simple with a font. For some companies, like SONY, their font is their logo. My logo takes up too much of the screen to be part of my cover page. Facebook only allows 20% to be text. So you need to be creative with your cover page so it isn’t all text. When it falls into those guidelines you can promote your page with that picture. I hope some of these tips helped you. Be sure you subscribe to this blog or keep updated with the RSS feed. More handy helpful tips coming your way!

Here is the new Amazon affiliate link. When your website and book are launched be sure you share your link with your readers. They can’t buy if they don’t know it is for sale.

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Goodreads International Contest Winner!

Thank you to all of our International friends for entering the contest.

Congratulations to:

Julia Manto – Israel

Autographed, inscribed paperback sent out USPS today!

Click the graphic above to get your paperback copy with free delivery worldwide.

Black Friday Weekend Special

For our Black Friday special we are offering 4 books for the price of 3. Buy 3 get 1 FREE!

All copies will be autographed. If you would like a name inscribed in the book, please indicate in the notes to seller at checkout.

Offer good while supplies last or until Cyber Monday 12.1.14.

Goodreads International Giveaway (1 copy paperback signed)

My international friends, would you like to enter the Goodreads contest for a FREE signed copy? USA, UK, Canada & Australia not eligible, as the last contest was only open to those countries.

1 copy of Angel Academy (Angel Academy, #1) in the following countries:

Afghanistan, Aland Islands, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bouvet Island, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (keeling) Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote D’ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands, Holy See (vatican City State), Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea, Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia, Federated States of, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestinian Territory, Occupied, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Réunion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Thailand, Timor-leste, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, U.S., Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Angel Academy

by Aaron M. Stephens

Giveaway ends December 07, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Can’t wait that long? You can order here with free shipping to 100 countries.

Twitter is not going away. There are millions who use it daily and others who barely navigate Facebook. If you follow my personal Facebook, I posted this public.

Twitter Social Media – Interesting fact: I have been “favorited” with my tweets more times than I have followers.

Tweets about making you feel good get twice as many favorites. Tweets with pictures are more likely to retweeted. Tweets about writing, websites and motivation are hot topics for me. When I tweet about angels, God/Allah I gain more followers.

Your Facebook following demonstrates LIKES, which are hard and expensive, Twitter followers are cheap and seemingly lower quality due to the sheer massive competition for attention.

Despite your Facebook friends not always liking your posts, it does not mean they do not like seeing them.

If you are like me you are often swayed by books and movies. How can you NOT know what is in the media if you are on Facebook, Twitter or any of the other social media sites. Hollywood seems to take over my news feed on a regular basis.

Did you know that it takes approximately 21 days for you to develop and maintain a habit? I tried this theory out once and I would tend to agree. Most people don’t even realize where they are spending their time and energy or even acknowledge.

Write down all your habits. Eliminate the bad and build on the good.

There is no reason for the pretty picture other than I really like it, and I thought you might like it too. Have a fantastic weekend! Your energy is contagious. Let it be known!

Get your GEEK on

#wordpress #webmastertricks

If your website address is too long to remember, shorten it down with an easier URL and then have your webmaster create a permanent redirect link. With the dozens of new domain extensions it is possible for everyone to have an easy to remember domain. Your name is always the preferred first choice.

I can’t help that I am naturally friendly and talk to everyone. I just have this way of connecting with people and making new friends/likes. I still carry bookmarks with me and use them instead of business cards. My catch phrase, “Read me before you write me.” People love it. #promotedaily

My favorite, “Hi, do you believe in angels? Yes? Great here is a bookmark just for you. No? That’s okay, they believe in you. Do you like to read? Great, here use this instead of a receipt.”

I live a life full of love and a heart filled with thanks. It really does make a difference when you give thanks/gratitude daily. You are a powerful spiritual energetic vibrational force. Use it for goodness, joy and happiness. Your energy is contagious. Let it be known.

The other nifty trick I recommend is having a professional looking cover picture for your Facebook personal page. Here is mine:

Here is the new Amazon affiliate link. When your website and book are launched be sure you share your link with your readers. They can’t buy if they don’t know it is for sale.

Congratulations to:

Julia Manto – Israel

Autographed, inscribed paperback sent out USPS today!

Click the graphic above to get your paperback copy with free delivery worldwide.

All copies will be autographed. If you would like a name inscribed in the book, please indicate in the notes to seller at checkout.

$19.95 (3) = $59.85 + $3.99 shipping = $63.84 USD

You can read chapter 1 here.

My international friends, would you like to enter the Goodreads contest for a FREE signed copy? USA, UK, Canada & Australia not eligible, as the last contest was only open to those countries.

1 copy of Angel Academy (Angel Academy, #1) in the following countries: