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Patricia Sands

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indies

The best author info right here ~ Barb Drozdowich!

March 1, 2016 by Patricia Sands 6 Comments

What a pleasure to have the authors’ social media and WordPress “guru”, Barb Drozdowich, pop in to chat with us here today. BarbDrozdowichPicSmaller

I have to confess to being a tad … okay, VERY … intimidated by all the technology at our disposal now, even though I use it every day, all day. Between writing novels, newsletters, magazine articles and blog posts and working on the obligatory social media, there’s no avoiding it.

I’ve known Barb since I first published The Bridge Club and, as well as enjoying her friendship, she has been a constant source of support and assistance. She explains everything clearly and her YouTube site has some of the most helpful videos I’ve ever seen.

Whatever assistance you might require, I have no doubt Barb can provide it. I can’t begin to imagine the number of emails I have sent her with “HELP, PLEASE!” as the subject!

Here’s a quick look into her busy life and an introduction to some of the helpful author support books she has produced. Contact links are at the end of the post.

P.S. ~ The tag line on your website is “Helping one author at a time” and the support you offer the writing community is enormous. How did you first decide to get involved in this area of writing?

B.D. ~ Good question! I think that it kind of found me 🙂 Before giving birth to my daughter I ran the technical training department at a bank. tagtwwbb_frontcover170X200 copyExplaining technical subjects is something that I’m good at. When I saw authors repeatedly having trouble in their interactions with book bloggers – and in fact a survey of over 200 book bloggers bore that opinion out – I decided to start writing. My first book explained how authors could work effectively with book bloggers to get their books promoted. From there I attacked various technical tasks that authors have to learn to promote their books. I did my best to break down the subjects using non-technical language. I now have 6 books published and several more are in the works!

P.S. ~ Your latest book “The Book Blogger Platform” is chock full of bookblogger_smallexcellent information for bloggers. It’s also a very helpful resource for authors because it helps us understand what book bloggers do and how we can effectively work together.

B.D. ~ Very true – one of the ideas that came out of the survey of book bloggers is the idea that a primer is needed. A book that describes not only the technical side to blogging but also the non-technical – the networking/social aspect. This book has been so well received I’m writing a similar one for authors. It should be available in a couple of months. I think that it’s really important that book bloggers learn from authors and vice versa. We both benefit – authors have an audience and book bloggers have books to read!

P.S. ~  One aspect of all your books that truly appeals to me is that they are so easy to understand. How do you do this?

B.D. ~ I’m not sure how I do this to be honest. I just naturally take technical subjects and break them down using common language. I can remember explaining the workings of a cell to a 1st year college class by comparing it to a factory. Amazing how many people quickly grasped the workings of a cell when I used that analogy. After years of doing this at the college level, I used the same technique when doing technical training in the corporate environment. I typically use words like “thingy” and other non-threatening language. I find that if I remove the barrier of the strange terms, people will realize that many things aren’t really that difficult!

P.S. ~ You have also established a much needed website for Canadian authors who self-publish. Can you tell us more about that?

selfpublishingv (1)

B.D. ~ One of my pet peeves is the amount of either wrong information or misinformation that is being spread around with respect to publishing. I decided to create a site (http://self-publishinginfo.com/) where I reference accurate blog posts on various subjects that are important to authors – from blogging to social media to  publishing. I’m not creating new content at this point, but I am linking to articles that share correct information. I try to give preference for blog posts  with a Canadian slant as there is a  lack of information for Canadian authors. If anyone has any suggestions of blog posts that I can excerpt for the site, don’t hesitate to contact me!

P.S. ~ Besides writing these books and working one on one with authors, do you ever do podcasts or speaking engagements?

B.D. ~ I’ve been on podcasts a few times, and regularly do author chats. I’m hoping to do some speaking in the coming year – I’ve been out of the classroom too long and it’s time to get back in!

P.S. ~  What can we expect from you next?

B.D. ~ In the next few months there should be a bunch of things appear. BookBlogTour200I have a boxed set of my Author Platform book and my Book Blog Tour book  coming out in paperback quite soon.

My Blogging for Authors book is in the hands of my proofreader and should be out in a few months.

My book on Goodreads should be a month or so behind.
I’ve spent the last few days putting the finishing touches on a Beginner WordPress for Authors course that I’m going to host on Udemy.com. I think there is a lack of technical training available that is specific to an author’s needs, and I hope to help with this course.  Watch for an announcement about this soon.

**********
 Barb’s bio: Social Media and WordPress Consultant Barb Drozdowich has taught in colleges, universities and in the banking industry. More recently, she brings her 15+ years of teaching experience and a deep love of books to help authors develop the social media platform needed to succeed in today’s fast evolving publishing world. She owns Bakerview Consulting and manages the popular blog, Sugarbeat’s Books, where she talks about Romance – mostly Regency.

She is the author of 6 books and over 20 YouTube videos all focused on helping authors and bloggers.  Barb lives in the mountains of British Columbia with her family.

 

Make a note to listen to Barb on the Writer’s Chatroom (http://writerschatroom.com) April 24th, July 31st and Oct 30th.

 

Click on the links below to visit with Barb on social media:

Author Website  |  Business Blog  |  Facebook Author Page  |  Twitter  |  Google+  |  Pinterest  |  Goodreads  |  YouTube Channel    Tech Hints Newsletter  |  Amazon Author Page

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Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, News, Writing Tagged With: author support, Barb Drozdowich, blogging, consulting, indies, Patricia Sands, self-publishing, social media, WordPress, writing

Ready, set, go!

December 31, 2012 by Patricia Sands 37 Comments

Get out the fireworks, noisemakers, and pots and pans or just snuggle up on the couch with the tv tuned to the Rockin’ NYE show in Times Square … *a toast to Dick Clark’s memory* … . whatever works for you!

Celebrate all the good memories of 2012, move on from the not so good if you can, and welcome 2013 with hope and optimism.images-2

I’m excited! I love to welcome in each new year and am forever grateful I have much to celebrate, like good health/a thriving family/wonderful friends/exciting plans. I hope you do too.

We also have a dear friend who is dying and will not see much more time here, let alone another year. We have spent many good hours with him and his wife through the holidays appreciating our moments together. His spirits and attitude are inspiring.

My husband’s brother and his family live in war-torn Aleppo, Syria where life is unimaginable to us right now. Amazingly, we can still talk to them on the phone most of the time but can do nothing more to help them at the moment. Nothing can get through. Each day brings fear and hardship. Their spirits and attitudes are inspiring.

Other extended family and friends are dealing with illness or difficulties. Their spirits and attitudes are inspiring.

Everyone reading this can tell similar stories and of course we all share in the pain of Newtown, Hurricane Sandy and other disasters. We marvel at the response of those whose spirits and attitudes are inspiring through it all.

Life.

This post is not meant to be a downer. I hope it is a reminder to celebrate the human spirit and to support each other and proceed together to make life better in whatever way we are able.

No matter what is being handed to us, the human spirit has a way of staying strong, seeing the positive, and working in whatever way, big or small, to remove the negative. So let’s grab on to this new year and vow to do whatever we can to make the world a better place.

Merci mille fois – thank you a thousand times, for the thoughts, the photos, the wisdom, the humour and most of all the friendship that we share in this amazing blogosphere community. I can’t wait to see what 2013 brings to us all. Onward!

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Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: 2013, Aleppo, blogging, Happy New Year, Independent Author Network, indies, Love A Happy Ending, postaday, Syria, WANAs, World Literary Café, writing

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