A Promo Opportunity For All the Rainbow . . .

FOR ALL MY RAINBOW WRITERS OUT THERE . . . AN OPPORTUNITY . . .
A group I am a part of (Marketing For Romance Writers) is putting together a Mini-book to help promote authors and an upcoming Blog Hop and i'm helping organize the project. 

So, what is a mini-book you might ask? It is a book that contains excerpts written by the various authors who are a part of it from works they are promoting.

Now, the catch . . .YOU MUST BE A PART OF THE MFRW GROUP IN ORDER TO BE A PART. But joining the MFRW is FREE and so worth it! Ask me how to join if you are interested . . .

Our first minibook is due to come out in coordination with our next hop, the Rainbow hop. If you write in this category, we would love to promote your book. Submissions will close on May 29th at noon. This is a FREE promotional book for anyone in the MFRW Rainbow category. The book will be published in conjunction with our Rainbow Hop June 14-16.

FIVE COMPLETELY FREE Ways to Increase Your Social Net (And Maybe Your PROFITS!)

Hey guys and gals. . . . My name is Wt Prater and I wanted to let you know about FIVE opportunities to get yourself, your book, or short story out there farther. That's right, five things you can take advantage of that are ABSOLUTELY FREE and open to you.

First, I host a Blog Talk Radio show called Write on the  Edge, where I talk with authors who write edgier projects, like GLBT material. I also cover BDSM and general Erotica authors on this show. This is a relatively new way to promo (at least for me), but it is awesome. If you are interested in scheduling an audio interview just because, or better yet, you have a project coming out, send me an email at wtprater.jwasg@yahoo.com

Next, I am also helping organize a Rainbow Blog Hop for our Marketing for Romance Writers yahoo group. This Hop is for exclusively LGBT Books, but we host a different blog hop every other month. AND we are putting together a Mini-book for each Blog Hop. This opportunity is only open to members of the group, but joining MFRW is so easy (not to mention incredibly beneficial)! Again, if you are interested, contact me.

The third chance to get yourself more out there: join me on my blog, which will be starting Author Interviews again soon. (All authors I interview are permanently listed on my website also. So check that out, too at  www.wtprater.com ) I am happy to help cross-promote authors and their projects. My blog is called Just Write and SO Gay. . .and it was established with that purpose in mind. And while it was started for just GLBT writers and projects, I am now ready and willing to interview any authors who would like to be interviewed. So, holla at me if I can help.

The fourth opportunity is based on the Pay It Forward idea. You have done the impossible: You have gotten through the muck and weeds and got published. Now it is time to give back by helping the next generation of writer. The group is called Write It Forward, and it is a "For Authors, By Authors" kinda place. This IS NOT LGBT exclusive, it is a group built for ALL authors. This is an opportunity to get your name out there, but there is NO PROMO allowed in the group!

The fifth opportunity is that I have a small group of authors I meet with monthly in person. This is a chance for us to check in, checking out each other's projects, cheerlead for each other, and if needed, coach each other on how to overcome obstacles in writing.  This group is only for people who want to write seriously, not dabble in the craft. (Not that there is anything wrong with dabbling.)

So if you are interested in any or all FIVE of these FREE opportunities to expand your networking, please contact me via FaceBook, Tumbler, Twitter, or LinkedIn (I am listed as Wt Prater on all of them) or email me at wtprater.jwasg@yahoo.com and I will respond as quickly as possible.

Music Monday!! Zazie . . . music to write, listen, and learn from . . .

                                                   
     I would like to introduce people to the beautiful music of Zazie. This French singer first captured my attention in 2003 when I was introduced to her song “Larsen.” I believe that Zazie’s success as an artist goes beyond her melodic voice and the almost hypnotizing music she puts to her lyrics.
     I believe that Zazie transcends the language barrier her international fans might encounter because she communicates tremendous emotion in her voice while she sings. You don’t have to be fluent in French to get the gist of what each song is trying to convey. ----Review by Amanda Miller 

At Amanda's suggestion, I started listening to Zazie and almost immediately became addicted. I researched her at  Wiki . . .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazie

And I also watched some of her videos including this one, which is beautiful and has a surprise ending which got Zazie in a lot of trouble at the time . . .

Zazie - Un point c'est toi

A few things about Zazie . . . She is known for playing with her language, which has led to the coining of the French word zazisme, or "Zazie-ism". She released Za7ie as seven different albums with a total of 49 songs. Her attitude about the GLBT community: Love is love, and all love is normal, which she states in her song "Adam et Yves"

                                                    
Zazie currently has 8 albums (One best of . . . . ), all in French, all emotionally charged, so check them out.

Write It Forward Project and thanks again. . .

"Don't write unless it's a compulsion you can't overcome."  --Author Bonnie McCune

      So . . .as many of you know, I held a workshop last weekend for people who are serious about writing and having projects published. The workshop was small and allowed for a lot of interaction regarding the research I do, which is a project I call Write It Forward.
      Nowadays, it feels like the internet is growing bigger and bigger and it is very easy to get lost. So I wanted to help however I could. And to that end I started this project. It's mission statement is very simple: To make it easier on the next generation of writers (and maybe even the current gen, too).
      So I did my first survey of writers, asking them what their most useful websites are, what blogs give great advice, and which sites they use for networking with other authors. I also asked for their advice to new authors and if they used writing tools and which ones were the most useful. Then I collected all their data and compiled it together and gave it to other authors, people who had yet to publish anything.
       Doing this survey re-enforced my feelings about my author friends being helpful and overall willing to share their experiences. But I was completely surprised how much I learned (and have to learn) by doing this survey. From the tools I didn't know existed to the blogs that will probably change my writing forever, I am so grateful to all the people who were a part of what I call "The Five" survey.
       In fact, this process has changed me so much I want to learn more and help more, so very soon I will be putting out "The Next Five" survey which will be five more questions that will help authors better navigate the waters of the web and hopefully help the Write It Forward project even farther.
       So, if you are interested in being a part of this incredible project, Join us on FaceBook (the only place the group currently exists . . .RIGHT NOW. . . .) Hope to see you there, whether you want to know something or you have something to share. 
       This will be the only place I post the answers to all the questions I ask in the survey, so please come and join us. This project I hope will be on tremendous value to me and hope to many others.