Kindles aren’t just for books. People also subscribe to blogs on their Kindles. It usually costs around $1.99 a month (the price is set by Amazon) and is a great way to

• offer your content to all those new Kindle owners
• monetize your blog
• increase the prestige of your blog (‘available through Amazon’ automatically makes you sound professional)

When readers subscribe, every new post you make is delivered to their Kindle (no need for them to remember to check your blog!). You are paid 30% of the fee Amazon charges.

How To Get A Kindle Blog

If this sounds like technobabble, let me help

Register With Amazon’s Kindle Publishing Program

It is cost-free and simple to register with Amazon’s Kindle Publishing program. If you do not already have one, you will need to create a vendor account, which is different from your regular Amazon account.  Read through the terms, because you are agreeing to obligations on pricing, content, timing and termination details. You will agree to terms for both the US and European markets.

At the end of the registration process you will be given a Vendor ID and Amazon will have all your payment details. You’re in business!

Add A Blog

When you have finished registering you will be taken to you dashboard. Click the “Add A Blog” link on the top right hand corner. This is where you fill in all the information that will let both Amazon find the posts from your blog and send them to your readers’ Kindles.

Filling In The “Add Blog” Page

Find Your Feed

If you aren’t familiar with RSS and feeds, don’t worry. Most blogging platforms (not to mention Twitter and Facebook) use feeds to distribute your content. It’s usually easy to findGo to your blog and look for the RSS symbol (possibly in the address bar of your browser) and click on it. It will take you to a page that has an address something like “http://yourdoman.com/feed”. Copy that, and paste it into the first box on the Add A Blog page. Click ‘validate feed’ to make sure Amazon is looking in the right place for your blog.

Enter Blog Information

If your blog didn’t have a snappy title before, now’s the time to give it one. Your blog is going to be competing with thousands of others for Kindle readers’ attention. Just calling it “Julie’s musings on writing” isn’t going to cut it. In fact, you might want to add a tag line too. (for example, the blog I listed is my Story A Day blog, aimed at creative writers. I use a tagline there that addresses a  ’pain point’ for my potential readers — aspiring writers who wish the could write more: “Write Every Day, Not “Some Day”.

Blog Description

Make your description snappy and to the point. Tell the readers what they are going to get out of paying for your blog every month. What concerns are you addressing?

Screenshots & Logo

Upload a couple of pictures, one a screenshot of your blog and the other your ‘masthead’ or logo. People are extremely visual, but remember that most people reading on an actual Kindle device are only going to see these things in black and white. Try to keep the contrast high and the images clean.

If your eyes are glazing over, let me help

Website Info

Very important: enter your website address! You want  your new fans to be able to find your website, don’t you? You’re not going to get rich selling Kindle blog subscriptions (unless you get insanely popular) so the whole point of publishing here is to expand your reach. Let people know where to find you!

Category & Keyword Information

Category and keywords are going to be very important in helping people find your blog.

If you don’t know what keywords to use: steal.

Go to a successful blog online that covers the same topics as you. From your browser’s toolbar select View / Page Source of View Source. A whole bunch of HTML will open up in a text window. Don’t worry too much about it. Just look for the line that says “meta name=”keywords” and then you’ll be able to see what that site is using. Take your inspiration from that (don’t actually steal. That was a joke.)

Language & Frequency

Select your language and tell Amazon how often you’re going to post. Be conservative (you can update it later). If you are new to blogging and/or the sole author on your site, don’t promise daily posts. Unless, of course, you have an airtight plan for how you are going to churn out seven awesome posts a week.

Almost Done

If you’re too busy to do this, let me help

At this point you can save your work and generate a preview of how your blog will look in the Kindle store. (This takes a few minutes, and is optional)

If you’re happy with how everything looks, press “Publish” and wait the 48-72 hrs they say it’ll take to get you set up in the store (in reality it took less than 24 for mine to appear).

Tell People About Your Blog

Kindle blogs are listed by category. Within each category the default view is “most popular” blogs at the top.

Your blog, on its first day, is not going to be there. You’re going to have to tell people it’s there, so they can subscribe and help you move up the charts.

To find your blog: Go to the Amazon store and search for “Your Blog Name” and the word “Blog”. This should bring you to your blog’s sales page.

Copy the address (use an affiliate link if you like) and then go forth and promote.

Good luck!

And don’t forget, you don’t need to do this yourself. Let me help

I just took 30 minutes and came up with 16 blog topics – some of which will become three or four posts as I begin to write – and they are all things that my target readership feels passionate about.

That’s 3-4 weeks’ worth of hot blog topics for half an hour of work – and it was fun, too.

Blog Topics For Your Niche – Free!

It’s a little sneaky, but I don’t mind admitting it: I eavesdropped.

Generating Ideas Through Social Media Snooping

I used my favorite social network of the moment -Twitter – to find out what my potential readers are craving. And here’s how (it’s so simple that if you’re not already doing this, you’re going to kick yourself).

• Go to Search.twitter.com and typed in a keyword (in this case “writing”).
• Read 3-4 pages of complain-y and celebratory Tweets that contained your keyword.
• Make lightning-fast notes about the teeny sub-topics each Tweet represented, and how you might address them.
• Pop them into a mind-map document and add sub-topics to them as the ideas occurred to you (I use IThoughtsHD on my iPad. You could also use XMind or a simple spreadsheet or bullet list. I recommend Google Docs because you can access them from anywhere you have an internet connection, and you never know when you’ll have a spare half hour to compose a blog post.)
• Whenever your typing slows, go back to the search results page and look for another topic. The point of this exercise is to capture only ideas that interest both your and your readers. If you’re bored so are they. Move on.

Why Snooping Is Better Than Surveying

Sure, I could have sent out a request asking my readers what they wanted to know.

The problem with asking people for their opinions is that they

1. think about it for too long
2. want to impress you because you were nice enough to ask for their opinion or
3. are too busy to answer and  you end up only getting responses from the people who aren’t your real customers.

By snooping on social media, you have access to the raw, knee-jerk, 140-character exclamations of your audience when they are delighted, outraged, pissed off, passionate. In other words, you are finding out what they really care about.

And doesn’t that sound like the perfect launch-point for your next blog post?

Beyond Twitter

If you are writing a business blog, you might be better off searching through Linked In status updates. If you are writing for an industry niche, check out the most active industry forum online (you know the one).

If you’re really stuck, really in a hurry, and don’t need topics targeted specifically to your customers, check out Chris Brogan’s Blog Topics Service: it’s not free but it’s not an outrageous amount to invest in your business, either.

If you exhaust this technique and are ready to be a little overwhelmed, take a look at Copyblogger’s 50 Can’t Fail Tecnhiques for Finding Great Blog Topics.

Keep Up The Good Work

Life moves quickly.

Don’t waste your time coming up with more than a month’s worth of post ideas at a time. For all we know, some kind of seismic shift might occur in two months that will change the way you and your readers look at the world. You’ll want to write about that instead of whatever matters to you today.

Commit to doing this idea-generating exercise once a month.

Store the information somewhere that is easy for you to access (Google Docs, or just email it to yourself)

Throw out old ideas that no longer excite you.

Oh, and write the damned articles and post them every day.

Too many small and local business still don’t have a website. Find out why you need to take control of your online presence (even if you didn’t know you had one!)

On Tuesday, Feb 24, Amazon will release the Kindle 2, the second version of its Kindle ebook reader, and the media are already full of stories about ebooks. The time has never been better to release your content digitally and, to capitalize on the news, to release your content in a Kindle-ready format.

What Is The Kindle | Who Are Kindle Readers | How Do I Do This?

What Is The Kindle?
The Kindle is an ebook reader, a stand-alone gadget, that allows readers to download content wirelessly (via Amazon’s free Whispernet wireless network) to the gadget, and begin reading within minutes.

The important things about Kindle are that a, the screen uses eInk technology and really looks as good as paper, and b, that Amazon makes it so easy for readers to buy content. Hear about a book? Whip out your Kindle, look it up in the Amazon store, download a free sample chapter, finish the chapter and, if you liked it, click on the ‘buy the book’ button. The content is on the Kindle in minutes, and stored in the reader’s Amazon digital ‘locker’ forever, for easy access.

The novelty of the device makes this a great time to get your content into the marketplace. Amazon is converting content and adding to the catalogue, but it is still incomplete. By making your content available to a hungry audience before the store is fully stocked, you stand a greater chance than ever of being noticed.

While Amazon hasn’t disclosed how many Kindles have sold, analysts estimate that half a million Kindles sold in 2008. The launch of the Kindle 2 should see another boom, as buyers who were holding off for the next version scramble for their Kindle. So, while it’s not a huge market yet, it is high profile.

Who Are Kindle Readers And Should I Care About Them?

Amazon has said that Kindle readers tend to buy 1.76 Kindle titles for every print book they buy, with no decrease as yet in the number of print books they buy. Also, crucially, the Kindle costs $359, so Kindle owners are readers with discretionary income to spend. Shouldn’t they be spending it on your content?

How Do I Make My Content Available?

There are two ways to get your content onto a Kindle. One is through the Amazon Digital Publishing Program. You set the price and receive 35% of that price every time someone downloads a copy through the Amazon store.

If you like to keep more control over your content, and don’t mind inconveneiencing your customers a little, you can convert your files to Kindle format and offer them at your website. Kindle owners will then have to plug their Kindles into their computers and drag and drop the file onto the gadget. (You should be very sure that your content is irresistible to chose this option, because one of the things Kindle owners love is the freedom from the tyranny of their computer).

Want to build a huge list of pre-qualified prospects? Take  tip from the President-Elect.

In trying to figure out how Barak Obama won the election, the pundits agree that his organization was great a using new media to keep in touch with and build their base.

So how exactly did they get people to sign up?

One brilliant example came before Obama announced his pick for his running mate. The campaign gave people the chance to be the first to know who he had picked by signing up for text messages or an email — no more waiting around for traditional news outlets to tell them the news. All you had to do was give the campaign a way to contact you and you could get a jump on even the media in-crowd. Who wouldn’t love that?

Of course, this meant you were added to their database, but people didn’t seem to care because, pay attention now, they were getting something they valued in return.

Is there something you can offer your potential clients in exchange for their contact info?

Can you offer them a “buy one, get one 50% off” deal on their first purchase? Can you give them a free, exclusive, special report (or ‘white paper’) when they sign up for your newsletter? Can you give them something that will provide real value for them in exchange for their permission to keep in touch?

Create value, create releationships, create business.

The web is full of rants about bad customer service experiences, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you are in charge of customer service for your company, here are five ways to delight your customers, gleaned from my years both managing a customer service department, and personally talking to tens of thousands of customers.

1. Answer the phone, if at all possible, with real people – even ten years ago, my customers were astonished when a real person answered the phone by the third ring. It delighted them and started every conversation off well. These days, if you can have the phone answered by someone from the same country as your customers, you will exceed their expectations.
2. Answer their question – not the question you think they’re asking, not the question on your script. Their question.
3. Don’t waste their time – if it’s clear that you can’t help them, find someone who can. Even if you have to offer to refer them to another company. You’ll have earned their trust and they’ll remember that when they’re next in the neighborhood, or when someone asks for a referral.
4. Be honest – customers are suspicious. They know about advertising tricks and they are worried about losing money and losing face. If you know there is something that other customers have had problem with or frequently misunderstand, highlight it, upfront.  Explain how it can be avoided or turned to the customer’s advantage. Earn their trust.
5. Don’t make excuses – if the customer is unhappy, the most powerful thing you can do is simply say “I’m sorry. What can I do to make this better?”. This is powerful voodoo. This is Kryptonite. This, assuming you’re sincere and give your reps the power to act on their promises, will defuse 99% of escalated cases.

Fight hard to empower your customer service reps, to allow them to do these things. Sure, there are some customers who will try to take advantage of you. Following these rules, however, lets you reward the vast majority of everyday people who just want to do business with you, and not get a migraine headache from the experience.

Do you hate to write business letters? Do you spend a lot of time on each email only to receive slow or no responses? Use these six tips to develop a writing style that gets results.

One Letter One Subject

Each letter or email should address one issue only. You can always send another email to talk about a second subject. Keeping to one topic helps the reader absorb your point, and act.

Openers and Enders

Direct Marketing studies show that the most-read sentences in any letter are the first and last sentences (especially if that last sentence is a ‘P.S.’).

Make your purpose clear in the first sentence: “I am writing to share details about the Jones project”.

After that you can introduce background information, but do not start there. People are busy. Tell them what they are going to read about, in the first sentence.

Recap your purpose at the end of the letter, and use the last sentence to ask for an action: “Please let me know by Friday…”.

Bullet Points

Use bullet points to catch the reader’s eye as she is skimming down the page (between the first and last sentences).

• Bullet points catch the eye
• They summarize the details
• Use sentence fragments to keep them brief
• Use only 3-5 bullet points

Be Informal

Unless you are writing for a scientific journal or your industry has a very formal style (i.e. law), keep your style informal. Use ‘you’ and ‘I’ instead of writing in the passive voice. For example, say “We decided at last week’s meeting to push forward with…” instead of “A meeting was held and it was decided that…”. Conversational language keeps a document livelier-and readers awake.

Keep It Brief

Try to keep documents to one page (or one screen, if email). People will read a short document immediately but put a long one in a ‘to read’ pile. Short communications also force you to keep to the point.

Edit out unnecessary words and repetition.

Don’t repeat yourself (like I just did).

Edit

Always leave time for editing. Re-read every piece of writing before you send it out, even quick emails. Edit out half your words if possible. Seriously.

Don’t rely on your spell-checker. I almost proposed giving a talk on “Sex Tips For Better Business Writing” to my local Chamber of Commerce. Luckily that is one of those errors that leaps off the page, but the spell checker didn’t catch it!

Find someone else to proofread your work or use these copyeditor’s tips: slowly read your work aloud once to make sure there are no missing or incorrect words. Then read the work backwards to look for spelling errors. Reading backwards helps you see typos.

Always carefully check these typo hot-spots check:

• telephone numbers
• zip codes
• names

Also check for ‘smart quotes’ that are turned around the wrong way, and missing punctuation.

—

Use these six tips to develop a clear, concise and correct business writing style. You will endear yourself to busy colleagues, and start to see improved response rates to your communications.

P.S. Contact me if you need a copy editor. (See what I mean about the P.S.?)

IF A DOCUMENT is worth writing, it’s worth writing twice.

Although science fiction author Robert Heinlein famously claimed never to rewrite anything, he must be the only successful writer who can make that claim.

If you find it difficult to write well, remember that a first draft is just that. The trick to good writing is to dash off a fast first draft that captures the spirit of what you want to say. Don’t worry about spelling, structure or even perfect grammar. Now leave the piece for as long as possible. Then come back and re-read it.

Is the purpose of the communication clear? Write a sentence at the top that expresses that purpose, then rearrange the meat of your first draft below it. Cut out any repetition and tighten up long sentences. Summarize the main points in a final sentence, then tell the reader what you want them to do (e.g. “Call me with your opinions on this issue”).

If capturing a first draft on paper causes you trouble, try some different ways of marshalling your thoughts: draw a mind-map; make a list of bullet points; dictate your ideas into a voice recorder.

But always try to give yourself time to step away from your first draft and come back to it later. Good writing (and re-writing) takes time. As Pascal said, “This letter is long, because I did not have time to write a short one.”