Chat tips Saturday, November 06, 2004 Yesterday I got home late(ish) and was too tired to write. Today I just posted more reviews that I want to admit having held on to (second drafts from about the past two weeks). So I think I won't be writing until Monday. But I'm now closing in on a comfortable place in my book reviewing, finally, after several months. So today I'm finally going to write a post I've had in mind. I've hosted author chats for about one and a half years now, once a week, (maybe even two years, if we count me helping out at Gotta Write...) and I've garnered some tips to help you -- as the guest -- have a much more likely to be successful one. Try to get a date close to the coming out of your book. Before is OK. After's better. It doesn't really matter, if you can't, the chat will still be a useful promotion tool, it just helps. Try to get a date a month in advance, so that you have time to promote it. Don't depend on the hosts to promote it...they will, as they can, I post chat dates to the main AOL board, send out reminders, maintain a homepage. There are many free places online that will circulate press releases. Also, when you find out the date, it's the time to put the "Oh, cool! I'll be a guest at a chat next November 23rd!" message to the places where your friends hang out. Keep it off hand...no one likes being pressured. Post the date and a link on your homepage. If it's a weird, specialized link, feel free to ask the host for a link to copy. (AOL links to rooms took me time to get used to.) If you're going to give away a free book, mention it on the page, and in your press releases. Two weeks before the chat, send a bio and whatever other information you think they'll need to the host. Send it *in* the email, not as an attachment. People rarely send me bios, leaving me to cut and paste from their homepage when I do my advertising, which I don't actually mind. If they don't have a homepage, and they don't send me any information, they're stuck with a very bland, simple chat reminder. Make up a new name for yourself. If you have a screen name on AOL, and you're a guest, you ought to make a screen name with your author name. Otherwise, you look just like one of the visitors. For instance, if I go to a chat as Ninave, and I'm the guest, and they're expecting Cindy Lynn Speer, they might not know it's me right away. Sometimes *I'll* go into a chat I'm hosting and not know that my guest is there, because his or her name is a departure from the one I was expecting. And, truthfully, the name I want them to walk away from the chat with is mine, not my screen name. I don't publish under Ninave. Are you a slow typist? You might want to prepare some cheat sheet answers. People will almost always ask: 1. What is your book about? 2. Do you have an agent? 3. How did you get published? 4. Why did you decide to become a writer? 5. Information on the current and next project. The day of the chat, it wouldn't hurt to place a second reminder to your friends that the chat is on, when, and were. Let them know that you'd really appreciate their support if they could come...after all, few things ick worse than being stuck alone with your hosts in a chat room. More than two reminders is too much...one of the things that *does* ick worse than being alone in a chat room is abusing your friends. :-) Permalink Cindy scribed this at 2:52 PM 0 comments

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