Lynn Serafinn's Cosmic Journey

Automation and Interaction: Why We Need BOTH in our Social Media Platform

At long last we have reached that prophetic (if not hyped up) year of 2012 so many of us have been awaiting. According to many futurists, this year will mark the beginning of unparalleled expansion of awareness and global consciousness. And based upon the explosion of social media over the past few years — and most especially its evolution in 2011 — we do indeed seem to be ever-increasingly expanding our potential for awareness of our world. How many of our grandparents could possibly have imagined being “friends” with people from every corner of the planet, or having possibly tens of thousands of “followers” who know your name, what you do, and what you stand for?

But with our expanded capacity for connecting with others, we also find ourselves with an information overload. Sometimes there is just too much coming at us all at once, and we can get overwhelmed. We’ve all tried different ways to organise both our incoming and outgoing data. When it comes to organising our social media, integration and automation seemed like “the” solution, but we find ourselves yet again in an information overload situation. There are just so many different options on the market that we often find ourselves asking, “Isn’t there one RIGHT way of delivering and filtering through my social media information?”

In my work, I help business owners (primarily authors and holistic professionals) set up their social media integration and automation, and train them how to use it. But the induction process into the world of Twitter, Facebook and the like can often shake up many emotions and challenge many beliefs. Some people who are new to social media might have a pre-conceived idea that automation takes the “social” out of social media, and therefore eschew the convenience automation has to offer. These people end up working harder rather than smarter, and risk burning out on social media before they reap the rewards. Others, who don’t really like the idea of social media at all, but see it as a “necessary evil”, want to automate everything and don’t want to bother connecting with their audience. As a result, these kinds of people frequently become convinced that the lack of response they are receiving from their audience means, “Twitter (or whatever) is simply a waste of time!”

Yes, I’ve heard it all before.

Regardless of whether you recognise yourself as being similar to one of these two personality types, or you are already an enthusiastic social media devotee, let me assure you, social media can have a massive impact upon the success of your business. My own business was utterly built upon it! But in order to make it work “smart” for you, and to ensure you receive all the benefits it has to offer, you need to understand that BOTH automation AND interpersonal connection are EQUALLY important to running an efficient and effective social media platform because:

Automation is needed to deliver your content.

Interaction is needed to build relationships.

Learning the balance between these two can be a steep learning curve for many of my new clients. As demonstrated in the previous examples, those that depend upon one and fail to implement the other tend not to reap the results they seek.

But what makes the learning curve even more challenging is that to stay on top of things, you need to get used to changing your strategies all the time. This is because the social network platforms themselves (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, etc) are always in a state of evolution, and the plethora of third-party applications available to support these platforms are also always in a state of continual change.

The plain truth about social media:

Sometimes clients come to me expecting to learn the definitive system for social media. And while I tend to do things in a systematic way for myself, the truth is: there is NO magic “one size fits all” way to “do” social media. Your situation is not the same as mine. Your business is not the same. Your communication style is not the same. Your audience is not the same. Sure, there will be many similarities, but if ANYONE out their claims to be a guru, and tells you they have “the” one-stop solution for your needs, you’d be pretty safe to bet it’s a scam. Don’t spend your money on such claims (I’ve lost more than a few quid on such false promises back when I was a newbie).

But the fact that there are so many variables is not the only reason why there is no end-all magic bullet for social media. It is also because all the social media tools out there are all continuously changing, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. And as they change they create a butterfly effect upon each other. So you really have resign yourself to the fact that social media is a fluid system, and that there will be a continual process of learning involved. Even a Rubic Cube is easier to figure out, because the cube is a stable system that doesn’t change.

But the good news is, the more you know, the easier it is to adapt to this ever-flowing sea of change. For that reason, I thought it would be a good idea to write an eBook, going through some of the currently most popular social media tools for distributing your content:

Buy Kindle edition on Amazon US/Canada for only $2.99

Buy Kindle edition on Amazon UK for only £1.98

In Social Media on Autopilot: Nice, Necessary or Nightmare? [Kindle edition], I bring you 5 details product reviews intended for business owners on five of today’s most popular social media applications: Ping, TweetDeck, Twaitter, HootSuite and Tweet Adder. Each product is evaluated on virtually every feature it offers, and ranked in terms of its usefulness, reliability, automation capabilities, interaction capability and mobility.

Accessible reading even for the “newbie”, this report and help you find out how the pros use Twitter, Facebook and other social networks without selling their souls or spending every waking hour at their computer. At the end of this report, you will also find some useful bonus materials covering options for integrating your media, and some ideas for using social media apps on your mobile phone.

I have helped dozens of authors and online business owners reach the top of their field through social media. Nearly all my learning has come the “hard way” by spending countless hours at my desk, trying to find products and figure out what was best. For a mere $2.99, this detailed report (at 15,770 words, it would have been about 50 pages if I had printed it in paperback format) you save yourself months of research and trial and error.

There are even a few free gifts for you at the back of the eBook.

I hope you find this booklet useful. If you do, please do come back and leave a comment below (or better yet, post it on Amazon!). Also, if you have any suggestions for eBooks you would like me to write, please let me know that too in the comments below. That would be REALLY helpful to me!

And do please subscribe to the Spirit Authors blog for more info and insight into the world of writing, publishing and book promotions.

Enjoy going on autopilot!

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Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC is a certified, award-winning coach and teacher, marketer, social media expert, radio host, speaker and bestselling author. Her eclectic approach to marketing incorporates her vast professional experience in the music industry and the educational sector along with more than two decades of study and practice of the spirituality of India. In her work as a promotional manager she has produced a long list of bestselling mind-body-spirit authors. She is also the creator of Spirit Authors, which offers training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. Passionate about re-establishing our connection with the Earth, she supports the work of the Transition Town network in her hometown of Bedford, England.

Lynn’s other books:

International #1 Bestseller in Business Ethics, Marketing and Communication (Dec 2011)

• The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell (PAPERBACK)
• The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell (KINDLE)

Spirituality Bestseller (2009):

The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self (2009)

To contact Lynn for coaching, campaign management or media appearances, please fill in the form at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

Recommended Tech Toys from Lynn – FBWebinars

Hi everyone ,
I am such a techno geek. I found this incredible techie toy called FBwebinars at http://bit.ly/n4tW83 and bought it tonight (yes, that’s my affiliate link).

I thought I’d tell you about it because it actually lets you run webinars from inside Facebook. As it’s a Facebook application, it lets you intergrate with your autoresponder without people even needing to sign up (pretty incredible). You can run your webinars 24/7, and people can see when their own Facebook friends are watching it in their updates stream, which entices them to check it out too, without you needing to do anything at all. Viewers can invite friends to the webinar right from the webinar itself without having to “share” or leave the screen as they would normally need to do for a Facebook event. Very, very smart.

It does so many cool things, it’s hard to even sum them all up. Granted, it’s not a “live” platform, but the potential to use it as a way to drive traffic to a paid program is immense. I’m thinking of creating short 15-minute “how to” videos on promotion that give really good content and information and use them as leaders to my Spirit Authors courses.

I might even use this to re-run my telesummits (I’d have to design a way to present them as video). It could be a perpertual way of promoting any membership site.

After I bought it last night, I watched all the training videos they have in the subscriber area, and I got everything set up for 2 webinars in about 30 minutes. Now all I have to do is make my videos and start promoting. I have to say it’s very, very cool.

This is not a sales letter, but it’s not. It’s actually my honest first reaction to this clever product. I love technical things that allow me to be creative, and also grow my business. As I said, I’m a techno geek (my online handle is frequently “teknochik”) and as both a techochik and an online marketer, it ticks all the boxes for me.

Have a look at the intro video at http://bit.ly/n4tW83 and see what you think. I’d love to hear back from you to know your opinion in the comments below (or on Facebook of course!).

Have fun!

Lynn Serafinn
aka teknochik

Follow me on my NEW Twitter @TeknochikUK account. It’s JUST for my recommended technical toys and such at

And of course, you’ll find me at my main Twitter account @LynnSerafinn too.

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Lynn Serafinn is an award-winning transformation coach, book promotion coach, radio host and bestselling author of the book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Her upcoming book, The 7 Graces of Marketing, is coming in Dec 2011. She also works as a campaign manager for mind-body-spirit authors and has produced several top-10 book campaigns, including FIVE #1-sellers in the past year. She is also the creator of Spirit Authors, which offers training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring.

To contact Lynn for coaching, campaign management or media appearances, please fill in the form at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

My Top 5 Twitter Turn-Offs

Book promotion coach and social media expert Lynn Serafinn shares her 5 most disliked behaviours on Twitter.

This week I felt I had to express myself. I love Twitter. I love what Twitter has done for my business. I love the people I have met through Twitter over the past year.

But I have been grumbling a bit this past week. My Twitter following has increased a lot over the past month, and there are a few things I’ve noticed in the way some Tweeple  (fortunately a minority) behave on Twitter that really puts me off.

So let me vent just a bit… and let me know if these “Twitter Turn-Offs” ring true for you as well.

Turn-Off Number 1: True Twit

True Twit is a service that allows you to see if the people who want to follow you are “real” people and not “bots”. I HATE it. This is really sending an a-social message to your followers. I’ve made a vow not to bother with people who use True Twit anymore. I’ve got almost 11,000 followers on my main account (nearly 20,000 if you count all 4 accounts I have), and am following over 11,000. I’m tired of having to verify I am a real person. Hello?!

Another reason why I hate it so much is that half of the people who are sending me these True Twit requests are because I auto-followed them in the first place! In other words, I gladly allowed them the “privilege” of following me, but they are asking me permission to follow them. It’s really twisted.

My policy on Twitter is an open door. I would much prefer to weed out the spammers by hand rather than put off new networking friends by making them “work” to follow my tweets.

Turn-Off Number 2: Protected Tweets

Geez zowie, how I hate it when people protect their tweets. From whom? What are they talking about? Are they really using Twitter for sensitive, personal communication?

Basically when I see someone with protected tweets, it sends the following 2 messages:

1)    They don’t really WANT me to follow them and

2)    They don’t trust people very much.

Neither of these messages is very welcoming.

Whenever I go to http://justunfollow.com to see who isn’t following me, the first people I unfollow are the ones with protected tweets.

Turn-Off Number 3: Not following back

People are not OBLIGATED to follow you back on Twitter. However, when I have been following someone for a long time, and even had different @ conversations with them, and they don’t follow back, that’s a turn off.

Again, I prefer to have my account on auto-follow (I use http://socialoomph.com for that) to give the courtesy of following people back who follow me. I think it sends an open message of trust and willingness to connect.

Disconnecting from an unwanted connection on Twitter is far easier than re-establishing rapport with someone who has disconnected from you due to your aloofness towards them. Be open. Be reciprocal. Be trusting.

The only Tweeple who have a valid “excuse” for not following back are

1)    application bots, e.g., @ListNotify

2)    info portals, e.g., @Mashable

3)    large companies that do not represent the thoughts of one particular person, or

4)    Twitter accounts that were set up to send news to fans about celebrities who never (or hardly ever) use the Twitter account themselves.

Turn-Off Number 4: One-Way Tweeting

Ok, I use Twitter for business—a LOT. And I tweet about my business—a LOT. However, I also RT others’ tweets and engage in 2-way conversation—a LOT. I look at people’s profiles and try to address them by first name as much as possible. I recommend them on Follow Fridays. I share the things they post that I think others would like to know about. I meet and make new networking partners, clients and friends on Twitter.

I hate, hate, hate it when someone (unless they are in one of the 4 categories mentioned above) only ever tweets about their business (sometimes the same thing over and over) and never interacts with other people. It tells me they are only there to “get” and not to connect. It’s such a turn-off.

Ugh!

Turn-Off Number 5: Playing the ‘Celebrity Card’

All right, now this one sometimes goes hand in hand with some of the others. In other words, the kinds of people who do some of the above things also frequently ‘play the celebrity card.’

What do I mean by ‘playing the celebrity card’? I mean when people have like 1000 followers and follow less than 10% of these back. Come on! Do you think 1000 followers makes you in SUCH demand that you can actually turn your back on 900 of them and send the message that they are not worthy of your attention? Do you think they will stay following you?

When I go to weed out my non-followers, these are the ones that go next, after the protected tweets.

If you are NOT a ‘legitimate’ celebrity (or, frankly, even if you are), the most inviting Twitter ratio of followers to following is ALWAYS as close as you can get to 1:1. By legitimate celebrity I mean someone whom millions of people want to follow, not because of your tweets, but because of who you are outside of Twitter. You know. Like Oprah. BTW, Oprah has almost 5 million followers, follows only 20 people (all of whom are industry people) but has sent out fewer than 200 tweets. Clearly Oprah does not use Twitter as a business building tool (she doesn’t need to!), but rather as a connection point for people who want to know about what’s happening behind the scenes.

If you are in a similar position with your fans, you can play the ‘celebrity card’ too. But if you are using Twitter to grow your business, don’t play the celebrity card or you will lose your audience fast.

TIP: Ok, so if you are concerned how you can possibly FOLLOW the tweets of all the people who are following you, the answer is: “You don’t have to.” There is an easy solution to the information overload you might experience from following thousands of people on Twitter:

• Make yourself a private Twitter list of your “VIPs” so you can make sure you are catching the updates of your best friends, colleagues, inspirational leader, movers/shakers or whomever else you wish to follow closely.
• Then, create a column for this list in TweetDeck so you can be sure to catch the tweets of your VIPs.
• Then, just scan the “All Followers” column for new people and interesting tweets. Maybe someone new will catch your eye. It’s the easiest way to build your network without going into Twitter overwhelm.

Bonus Turn-Off: SPAMMERS

I almost didn’t bother to mention this because it’s sort of a ‘given’. Spamming isn’t merely a turn-off. It’s grounds for getting you banned from Twitter. DO NOT ever @ someone unless you are engaged in a conversation with them. Sending an @ or a DM message to someone on Twitter (apart from a welcome DM) directing them to click a link is spam. End of subject. I have no tolerance for spammers and feel no guilt whatsoever for reporting them. If I know you, that’s different. If we’re friends, you can send me all the links you want.

Some dead giveways that someone is a spammer:

1)   Their profile pic us usually either the Twitter default pic or a picture of some unknown sexy girl

2)   All their tweets are the same

3)    They have no followers

4)    They @ everyone the same message and it always contains a link. Do yourself a favour and DON’T click these links no matter how tempting they may be. Very often they are phishing for your Twitter password.

So what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Do you have others to add to the list?

Let’s connect! Here are my Twitter IDs:

• @LynnSerafinn - tweeting about everything I do, business or otherwise
• @SpiritAuthors – tweeting about writing, self-publishing, book promotion, especially for mind-body-spirit authors
• @7GracesMarketng - tweeting about healing our fragmented society by changing the way we do business, and info about my upcoming book, talks, etc., “The 7 Graces of Marketing”
• @GardenOfTheSoul - tweeting about my radio show and book of the same name
• @TeknochikUK - tweeting about cool techie innovations that help you develop your social media platform.

And, if you want to see some “positive” tips about using Twitter, subscribe to my Spirit Authors blog. I’ll be posting my article “My Top 5 Twitter Apps” there very soon.

While you’re there, check out my Spirit Authors course “100 Days to Build Your Online Promotional Platform” (Module 2).

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About Lynn Serafinn

Lynn Serafinn is transformation coach, bestselling author, radio host and promotional manager for a long list of #1 selling mind-body-spirit authors. She is the author of the bestseller The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self as well as the upcoming book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell (http://the7GracesOfMarketing.com )

Her membership site Spirit Authors (http://spiritauthors.com) offers training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. Contact Lynn about YOUR book project at at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

Sign up for Lynn’s bi-monthly newsletter Creative Spirit (fill in form BELOW) packed with inspirational articles, online networking tips, broadcast guide to her radio show, and news about upcoming spiritual author book releases.

Throughout the year, Lynn also hosts large-scale telesummits with world-class speakers on a range of mind-body-spirit topics. Your subscription to Creative Spirit will ensure you’ll be the first to know how to attend these free events.

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Recommended – New Digi Launch Pad Theme for WordPress

Social networking, book promotion coach Lynn Serafinn reviews features of Digi Launch Pad Theme for WordPress and how you can buy it for $47 (50% off) before the end of November 2010.

Even though the majority of my business these days involves online promotion (usually of mind-body-spirit authors), it is a rare event that I recommend products, but the other day I found one I thought was so useful and so affordable, I wanted to share it with you. I just bought a new WordPress theme today called Digi Launch Pad. It is a theme designed to do what the name says: “Launch” your products and services – books, courses, programs, whatever.

Here are just a few of the features, and the reasons why I bought it myself:

• With the EZ Editor you can point, click and type your way to a professional product launch without any of the normal headaches.
• Digi Launch Pad comes with proven, high conversion templates and a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor. So you create your content using a Microsoft Word like interface and DLP takes care of the rest.
• It also has the easiest video setup I’ve ever seen. Every single template included in Digi Launch Pad is video ready. Copy and paste the video location (you don’t even have to embed it) and click update and you’re done.
• The way you can set up a video sales page integrated with your opt in form… totally sweet.
• You can incorporate testimonials right onto the page (I LOVED that feature).
• They’ve made it so that you can completely integrate auto-responder forms into sales pages without the need to mess around with PHP or getting confused with CSS (trust me… I’ve made some blunders in CSS that have resulted in my pages vanishing, lol).
• There’s some very cool stuff for social network integration as well.

How To/Videos/Demo Have a look at the info videos Andy Fletcher (the theme’s developer) has put on that page. The first few are great for beginners, and didn’t grab my attention right away, but the later features are what sold me on it altogether. I am going to use it for my new book blog at http://The7GracesOfMarketing.com (which I will be setting up by Christmas).

• Installation – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1356
• Setting homepage – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1401
• Basic Colour Config – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1405
• Custom header/footer – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1408
• Basic Page Editing – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1418
• Adding social functionality – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1436
• Add a video – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1439
• Creating a squeeze page – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1445
• Creating menus – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-28_1608Adding testimonials – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-28_1610

There are a lot more features and, in my opinion, if you’re fishing around for a WordPress theme for a new book blogsite, I don’t think you’ll find one that is easier to use or more suitable for creating sales pages, short of making all the pages yourself with Dreamweaver or other html editors. Ok… now here’s the thing that REALLY sold me on getting it right away. It is currently on sale (but only until the end of November) for 50% off the public price of $97 –  making it just $47.

Here’s the link to the special $27 discount (yes, it is my affiliate link), which is valid only through the end of November:

http://spiritauthors.com/pages/recommended/digi-launch-pad-theme-for-wordpress-70percent-off.html

At the end of the month, the price goes back up to $97, which, in my experience, is in the price range for most decent premium WordPress themes.

Just so you know, this isn’t a “fake” special where you’re told you’re getting a great deal but no one is actually paying the public price. I know because I am an affiliate of the product for the FULL price too. I also spoke directly on Skype to Andy who created the theme (hey, he lives in Surrey… my old stomping ground).

Frankly, for the $47 price tag, even if you only use it for a single campaign (and I don’t think that will be the case), I cannot see how you wouldn’t get many times your return on investment. Just about all decent themes cost about $100 these days, and they aren’t necessarily geared to sale page creation.

AND…

I probably shouldn’t say this, but if any of you have been thinking about buying that other recently hyped-up program that begins with “K” (I won’t mention the name) at a whopping $99 a month (!) I recommend holding off for a while and buy this theme to see if it doesn’t help you get started with making great sales pages. I know the “K” product offers a lot more than just sales pages, but if you’re just getting going in your WordPress blog or your online business, this could help you make some sales so you can AFFORD the other bells and whistles product later.

To be honest, I would have bought Digi Launch Pad for the full price of $97 had it not been on sale because I think it has a lot of features I will use over and over again, and it looks like you can create custom sales pages really fast.

And if all of that blurb isn’t enough to entice you to check it out, Andy even offers a 60-day (not 30) money back guarantee. AND he’s on Skype. You can ask him about the product yourself.

Whether you are just starting out making your first WordPress blog for business purposes or you create blogs for other people, I do recommend checking out the Digi Launch Pad theme for WordPress.

If you do, drop me a comment below to let me know what you think.

BTW: if you miss the sale price, you might consider buying the product at the regular price and then becoming an affiliate. I’ve already sold several copies and more than made back my investment. Sometimes something is worth what you pay for it.

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About Lynn Serafinn, Creator of Spirit Authors

Lynn Serafinn is a transformation coach, book promotion coach, radio host and bestselling author of the book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. She also works as a campaign manager for mind-body-spirit authors and has produced several top-10 book campaigns, including FOUR #1-sellers, in 2010 alone. She created Spirit Authors to offer training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. Contact Lynn about YOUR book project at at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

Be sure to subscribe to this blog for regular book writing and promotion tips (just fill in form at right of your screen).

Sign up for Lynn’s bi-monthly newsletter Creative Spirit (fill in form below) packed with inspirational articles, online networking tips, broadcast guide to her radio show, and news about upcoming spiritual author book releases.

Throughout the year, Lynn also hosts large-scale telesummits with world-class speakers on a range of mind-body-spirit topics. Your subscription to Creative Spirit will ensure you’ll be the first to know how to attend these free events.

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Computers are NOT Taking over the World Just Yet

Over the past 3 weeks, I’ve been having some problems with RSI (repetitive strain injury) in my wrists and shoulders. I don’t mean just a little bit of aches and pains… I was in a fairly crippling state for at least a week and couldn’t type anything without extreme pain. To make sure I didn’t damage my wrists, I refrained from typing for about a week, bought some foam wrist supports for my mouse and keyboard (which help a lot) and also a new keyboard that is much lighter to the touch. My wrists are feeling much better as a result, but I still have to take it REALLY easy so they don’t relapse.

Well, as it turns out, I also bought a new computer this past week (not planned to synchronise with my wrist problems, mind you!). It came a few days ago, and I am still installing all my programmes. I LOVE my new PC. It looks, sounds and behaves beautifully and I am totally thrilled with my purchase. AND I have to say, I really like Windows 7 so far. Very sleek.

While snooping around my new toy, to my surprise I found Windows 7 comes with voice recognition software (apparently it was in XP too, but I never noticed it)! I thought this might be a great answer to my wrist/typing problems, so I thought I’d try it out to see if I could dictate my upcoming classes from Spirit Authors (I have fallen horribly behind, owing to my inability to type).

Well, I have to tell you, my experience was pretty funny. I tried to get it to type the title of one of my upcoming classes, which is, “Module 4 Week 3: Creating a Twitter Campaign for Your Launch”. I repeated the title several times over. Here are the HILARIOUS interpretations it came up with:

• Nigel four week three creating a 20^th campaign by on march

• 1 to 4 with three freeing it will account paying for your knowledge

• Marshall four weeks three creating a clear campaign by and large

• Nigel four weeks three creating a toilet campaign for young launch

• Nigel four weeks 33 minutes whether campaign for real much.

• Model for a week’s 33 minute whether campaign relaunch

• Nigel and a model for four weeks three creating a clever campaign for the launch

• Marshall for week three clear yet whether campaign for you Walsh.

• Model for a week’s free Wheeling and 20 campaign by launch.

• Marshall four weeks 33 minute winner campaign for your launch

Gosh, I wonder who Nigel and Marshall are? And why do they hang out with models? And I REALLY don’t want to think what a “toilet campaign” might be!

Don’t even IMAGINE I made these up. No way. I’ve been laughing so hard since Windows 7 wrote them, tears are literally streaming down my face. I couldn’t possibly have typed them myself.

You’ve got to bear in mind, I was saying the EXACT same line over and over in exactly the same tone of voice. People ALWAYS tell me I speak very clearly! In fact, it’s one of the key things that people note about me. What’s up with this “voice recognition” software?

I went back and “trained” it to recognise my voice, and I also “taught” the word “Twitter”. Amazingly, it “learned” Twitter ok, but it still couldn’t get the hang of the word “Module”, repeatedly choosing the word “Model” or “Models” instead. Not once did it understand the word Module, even after I taught it to hear it and spelled it out for it.

Needless to say, I typed this blog post.

P.S.: If you’d actually like to find out how to create a Twitter campaign for your book launch, you’ll just have to check out Module 4 on my Spirit Authors course. Visit http://spiritauthors.com and find out how you can take a 14-day Test Drive for only $1.

How Twitter Changed My Life

Ok, now you are probably going to think I’ve lost the plot.

Twitter changed my life. Let me tell you how.

AND I am going to attempt to tell this story in lines of 140 characters or less.

It all started when I launched my book “The Garden of the Soul” in April 2009.

After a year of mastering this “thing” called social networking, I created an Amazon book campaign.

I found many JVPs (joint venture partners), mainly from Twitter.

Some who helped were @InspiredSheila @SuzieCheel @KSchulweis @BrendaAdelman @RuthHegarty @JoeRumbolo @LolaFayemi (see next)

AND @HeidiRichards @AwakenedWisdom @LindaClariPuig @jenngivler @audaciouseditor @GailSussMill @Gloreebe @jessicamcgj @SpiritCoach #ff

Also ran a Virtual Blog Tour with peeps like @MoonPoppy @DuncanBrodie and many others.

Also ran a Twitter contest. @JulieAnnTurner won a signed copy of my book.

Anyway…

Long story short, my self-published book became an Amazon bestseller in #spirituality #mind-body-spirit and #self-help.

When “The Garden of the Soul” made bestseller, Tweets and RTs went viral. #gots

I think it was June when @SouthsideBroadc contacted me to be on their radio show. I soon became a regular guest.

Thru @SouthsideBroadc I met @SpiritusShelagh who has since become one of my closest friends.

July 2009: blogger/editor @BookEditorLM wrote me on Twitter wanting to do a blog piece on me: http://bit.ly/c8hbCa

Aug 2009: @BookEditorLM asked @tonyeldridge if he would repost that article. He asked me to write a new one.

Oct 2009: @tonyeldridge published my new article “Pre-Natal Care for Your Book” http://bit.ly/bWCmQA

Same month @AllisonMaslan (whom I didn’t know) read that article. Sent me DM asking me to coach her 4 Amazon launch.

I put together Amazon campaign for @AllisonMaslan ‘s new #book #BlastOff!

Nov 2009: I asked @writersinthesky (whom I had met on Ning) to come and help us put the campaign together.

We put together another great team of JVPs.

If I named all the Tweeple who helped us on #BlastOff! I think I’d need another day to write this.

Meanwhile lots of people were asking me for book advice. I decided to start a new site called Spirit Authors. http://spiritauthors.com

Dec 20 2009: I set up Twitter profile @SpiritAuthors and Facebook fan page. http://facebook.com/SpiritAuthors

Started Twitter/FB campaign to drive people to fan page. By Christmas day there were 100 fans.

Jan 2010: Did another campaign to get 500 fans by my 55th birthday end of Jan. I got 600+

Jan 19, 2010: Allison’s book launched. Twitter & FB went viral. “Blast Off” reached #1 in US/Canada. http://bit.ly/RXpQu

RT @AllisonMaslan’s “Blast Off” reached #1 in US/Canada. http://bit.ly/RXpQu

Jan 21, 2010: Success of launch attracted attention of @AllisonMaslan ’s literary agent @wgtwelve. He’s also @EckhartTolle ‘s agent

As an author, I am now represented by @wgtwelve.

More and more #mind-body-spirit #authors come to me to create campaigns for them.

New Amazon campaigns: @AwakenedWisdom (April 20), @NeuroBooks (May 11) and @wgtwelve (Nov).

From Twitter contacts, I quickly assembled team of 18 VIP experts for Spirit Authors Grand Opening http://bit.ly/9pfpJV

VIPS: @wordywoman @BookMarketer @CaronGoode @DayaDeviDoolin @inspiredwriter @docmarion @AlanSeale plus many already mentioned.

Nearly 500 people registered 4 the #Spirit #Authors Grand Opening http://bit.ly/9pfpJV

My good friend @SpiritusShelagh was my co-host for the event. What a source of strength she is.

Oz Tweep @charlyjl was a wellspring of technical support in getting the site ready. Couldn’t have done it without her.

March 2010: Spirit Authors is now open and I have long waiting list of book campaign clients.

On #Spirit #Authors I teach new authors how to set use #Twitter to build a promotional platform and Amazon launch… as well as many other things (Oops! That’s more than 140 characters!)

Ok… enough with the Twitterspeak!!!

I am quite serious when I say Twitter has changed my life. Yes, my own book would never have become a bestseller without Twitter. Yes, I could never have helped Allison become a number-1 seller. Yes, I would not have gotten some fab new clients and an amazing literary agent. And yes, I would never have thought to create Spirit Authors and now have a blossoming new business as a result.

But it isn’t REALLY about business at all.

Have a look at all the Twitter links above. These are not just links. These are all REAL people whom I have come to know, respect and care about over the past year. Even though some of us are separated by tens of thousands of miles, we have all shared many a heart-felt conversation over the phone, and have been there for each other through the highs and lows.

And really, there are just so many other wonderful people I have met from Twitter (as well as Facebook, Ning and LinkedIn, in that order), I cannot count them.

When many people first come to Twitter, they don’t “get it”. How can you possibly communicate in 140 characters? How can you possibly make friends with people? How can you possibly build a business from it? WHY would you WANT to do this????

And I’m telling you now—it’s because of the PEOPLE!

I have made more close friends from networking on Twitter than any other form of networking I have ever tried… even more than “live” networks in my home town! While I do love Facebook as well, there is nothing (yet) that can beat Twitter for ideas going viral, and for meeting lots of people who share your interests within a very short period of time.

But as I said, it’s not just about the business. The friends I have met through Twitter are some of the most inspiring, supportive, positive and powerful light-workers I have ever met. That is why I have linked to EVERY one of them above.

So, if you are on Twitter, you should follow them. These are wonderful, beautiful people—get to KNOW them.

As always, your comments below are MOST welcome!

Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn
@LynnSerafinn
@SpiritAuthors

P. S.: This article was inspired by a Twitter conversation I had a new friend on Twitter @WendyMWarden. Many thanks, Wendy. This was fun to write!

P. P. S.: Knowing HOW to make Twitter (and social networking in general) work for you, both on a business level and on a deeply fulfilling personal level, is something of an art form. This is why I teach it on the Spirit Authors course:

• In Module 2, I teach the fundamental principles of spirit-based promotion so you can create a fertile promotional platform for selling your book online using social networking.
• In Module 4, I teach the “how to’s” of creating an Amazon Book Launch.
• And, of course, there are 3 other modules on starting and writing your book, preparing for publication, and creating a brand and sustainable business from your book.

It’s my hope that by teaching authors (and authors-to-be) the techno-art of Twitter, they will not only find professional fulfilment, but they will also expand their world by connecting to others who understand them and wish to help them grow.

If this sounds like something you would like to explore, I offer a 14-day “Test Drive” on any Spirit Authors learning module for only $1. Visit the site at http://spiritauthors.com and check out the introductory audios and module overviews to see if there is something at Spirit Authors that can help you achieve your writing goals. And if you have any questions, please just fill out a contact form on the site and I promise I will reply personally.

Mercury – rising, retrograde or runaway?

…a completely random blog post that has nothing whatsoever to do with work, business or anything serious…

Well, Mercury is back to his old tricks again.

Do any of you remember back in February when there were so many problems on the Internet? Those of you who are on Twitter might remember when it went crazy for a few days. Well, as it turns out, the planet Mercury was in retrograde back then (retrograde meaning the time when it appears to be moving backwards from our vantage point on Earth). It seems to be a widely accepted explanation that when things like this happen in cyberspace, poor Mercury frequently gets the blame, especially if it is retrograde. In fact, every time I hear someone going through some sort of communication breakdown, I also hear people asking, “Is Mercury in retrograde again?”

So is there anything to this Mercury stuff, or is it all a story we use to explain away our own frustrations with technology? Continue Reading…