If you are looking for sparkling, concise informative writing materials, the solution is right here.

In 5 minutes you will see how Mocha Mind can be the perfect website to help you reach your literary dreams.

Please visit us at www.mochamind.com

-Gioya McRae

1. Invest in Your Book
All the passion in the world can’t make up for a mediocre product. So if you are really serious about your book and you want other people to take you seriously as an author, then you should invest in making the book as strong and successful as possible. So what does that mean? Well, it could mean taking a book writing class, hiring an editor, having it proofread, investing in a cover, working with a writing coach, putting together a web site, or investing in marketing. All these strategies help ensure your book is of the highest quality and your message reaches the most people possible, and they are all worth the investment. Just like any other business, as an author you should look for ways to improve your product and your position in the marketplace.

2. Grow Your Network of Followers and Fans
As an author, you want to make growing your marketing list a priority. By marketing list, I mean followers on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, opt-in e-mail subscribers, mailing addresses for direct marketing, and bloggers and media contacts. You want to collect these people and add value to their lives over and over again. When nurtured over time, the people on these lists can become your built-in readership. They’ll buy everything you write for the rest of your career as an author.

3. Think Beyond the Book
You can sell your book for about $15 a copy, which is a slow way to recoup your investment. But you can adapt the material in your book to create speeches you get paid to deliver, courses you get paid to teach, and other products you can sell that relate to the book. In other words, your book can be much more than a book—it can be a business in itself. So as you’re writing, think about how else you might package the same ideas to leverage your reading audience.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Market Your Book
I’ve heard this from numerous aspiring authors: “I’m not interested in selling books; I want the publisher to handle that.” Well, even if you find a publisher for your book, you still need to sell it—and oftentimes you won’t find a publisher unless you can prove to them you know how to sell books. If you’re an author, you have to put yourself out there. Market your book, your ideas, and your solutions to everyone you meet. You never know who is going to be an ideal reader or strategic connection, so reach out in as many ways possible. Publish a blog, put together a web site, grow your following, and continuously market your book and yourself.

Being an author is like any other business—you need to invest in your book, grow your network of readers, think beyond the book, and get comfortable marketing yourself and your book. Making a living as an author takes work, but these four secrets can make it happen for you!

For more info, please visit http://www.litline.org/spoon/contest.html

The e-textbooks are more interactive than e-books. You can read, listen to audio portions and watch video.

Apple is offering textbooks by major publishers, McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt through iTunes. Schools will be able to purchase e-textbooks in bulk.

Keep an eye out for this revolutionary offering!

For more info, view the Apple video at http://www.apple.com/education/#video-textbooks

$75 ENTRY FEE ($50 for subsequent entries).
Open to all indie book authors and publishers – including small
presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses,
e-book publishers, and self-published authors. Entry Deadline
February 24, 2012.

$1,500 cash prize and trophy awarded to the best Fiction Book
and Non-Fiction Book

$750 cash prize and trophy awarded to the second best Fiction
Book and Non-Fiction Book

$500 cash prize and trophy awarded to the third best Fiction
Book and Non-Fiction Book

$250 cash prize and trophy awarded to the Best Design Book

$100 Cash Prize and a Gold Medal awarded to the winner of
each of the 60 categories

Finalist Medals will be awarded to up to four finalists in
each of the 60 categories.

For details, please visit http://www.IndieBookAwards.com

~Jessamyn West

Gioya McRae’s debut novel, presents is an urban sci-fi event.

In 2050 Chad Summers lives in a world where a disease decimates Black communities, the government isolates and deserts them, and they’re left to build their own societies. Set in the urban community of Adamsberg, New Jersey, The Plague Within details how one man struggles against a controlling Regime and the traitors within his community to lead a society to unity while fighting a devastating disease. Can Chad rebuild his life and the lives of a population betrayed?

THE PLAGUE WITHIN

by Gioya McRae

ISBN 978-0-977-45421-1

Download at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/122798 for $1.99!