I'm a special guest on The Old Silly's Free Spirit Blog!

It’s that time of month when The Old Silly features a fellow member of the Yahoo Group, VBT – Writers on the Move. Today it is my pleasure to present to you the talented, award-winning children’s author, editor, publisher, blogger, and social networking maven, VS Grenier.

She put together this piece on social networking and I think you’ll find it an entertaining, informative, and useful read. Take it away, VS, with …

You can read the post at http://theoldsilly.com/2011/03/07/special-guest-post-featuring-vs-grenier/

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Back to Writing

The time has come to start writing again. I just had child number three back in February this year. I had of course put my writing on hold during the last two months of pregnancy and now it is time to get back into the swing of things three months later. I’m hoping this blog will help me do just that. One of the things you will hear repeatedly in the writing world is, “Write everyday.” As wonderful as this thought is, sometimes-writing everyday just doesn’t happen if you’re a Writing Mama like me with a fourteen year old son, five year old daughter, and new baby girl. Between spending time with my husband, three children, our two pets, and cleaning the house . . . I sometimes wonder how I find the time to write at all. Not to mention maintaining my editing business and company Stories for Children Publishing, LLC. However, somehow I seem to fit it all in each day, week, month, and year. Of course, sometimes I find I do not get as much sleep as I need because of it all.

Five Tips for a More Marketable Children’s Picture Book Manuscript by Mayra Calvani

The world of children’s picture book publishing is extremely competitive. If you’re an aspiring children’s author, you need to make sure your manuscript is in excellent shape and has all the elements editors and agents look for before you begin the submission process. Here are five tips to make your picture book manuscript more marketable: Start right with the problem. Many times beginner writers begin a picture book with back-story. It’s okay to have this back-story in the first draft, but be sure to get rid of it when you edit. Back-story is unnecessary 90% of the time and it only serves to slow down the beginning of a story, making it weaker. You want to grab the reader right from the start. So don’t be afraid to begin your story at the heart of the problem. It’s okay to set the stage with a sentence or two—but no more! Have a protagonist readers can relate to. Generally, children like to listen to stories about other children or animals with children’s characteristics. They

Guest Post Wed: Amazon Optimization Musts

Amazon is designed to help you sell more books. Each product page is packed with features to make it as easy as possible for a customer to buy your book. Here's a few Amazon optimization musts to get your product page looking it's best: Make sure you have a quality looking cover. It should be clear, professional and convey the genre and feel of your book. Have a great product description. This is your sales pitch to potential buyers. What's your book about and why will it benefit them. Collect book reviews. Which book would you buy, one with no customer comments or one with several 5 star reviews? Add tags to your product pages. These are the keywords that will help your book show up in search results. Use Shelfari to add value to your book. Shelfari is owned by Amazon and so directly effects the information that shows on your product page. I'm still new to it but it's definitely worth checking out. Check out the K

VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

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