Directories of People Who Sell Your Books

In this issue . . .
-- directories of retail stores and organizations
-- John Kremer's People You Should Know Teleseminar Series
-- American Way magazine
-- journalists, media, brands and booksellers on Twitter

directories of retail stores and organizations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some magazines feature directories of relevant retail stores and other
organizations that sell books. Here are a few of those directories:

Bead & Button, Kalmbach Publishing, P O Box 1612, Waukesha WI
53187-1612. Web: http://www.beadandbutton.com. This bimonthly
magazine features a classified bead shop directory in every issue. Also
features bead societies and websites.

ShopYarn.com: http://www.shopyarn.com. Features a complete listing
of fiber and fabric shops. This same online directory can also be found at
http://www.needletravel.com. Direction Press also publishes a directory
as Fiber & Fabric Mania! A Travel Guide.

Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, 92 Vandam Street, New York NY 10013.
Email: editorial@tricycle.com. Web: http://www.tricycle.com. Each
issue features a classified directory of Buddhist centers, most of which
have a small retail store that features books.

John Kremer's People You Should Know Teleseminar Series
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm hosting a weekly teleseminar where I interview someone I think you
should know - 1. Because you will learn some useful tips from them and
2. because they offer a service or product I think might help you market
your books more effectively. The primary purpose of the teleseminars
will be to teach you practical and effective book marketing tips.

This series of teleseminars will take place every Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.
Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific, for the next 12 months. If you can make the
live teleseminars, you'll be able to ask questions. But every teleseminar
will be available for you to listen to again online any time during the
next two years.

Here are the next people I'll be featuring in this series . . .

December 9th - Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals, The Success
Formula, and The Go-Giver - How to build a Relationship Leveraging
Machine and create Personal Walking Ambassadors for your books.

December 16th - John Harricharan, bestselling author of When You
Walk on Water, Take the Boat and co-author of The Power of Simplicity.
And founder of AuthorsUniversity.com.

December 23rd - Bill Quain, bestselling author of Overcoming Time
Poverty, 10 Rules to Break, 10 Rules to Make, and Pro-Sumer Power.

December 30th - Jeanne Hurlbert and Joan Stewart, founders of
MySocialMediaExpert.com and MySocialNetworkExpert.com.

January 5th - Mark Victor Hanson, bestselling co-author of the
Chicken Soup for the Soul series as well as founder of the Mega Book
Marketing Universities. Has sold over 157 million books worldwide. His
newest venture is WealthyWritersWisdom.com. Special day (Tuesday)
and time (6:00 p.m. Eastern).

January 6th - Rick Frishman, co-founder of Planned TV Arts, president
of Morgan James Publishing, and creator of the Author 101 Universities.

January 13th - Brad Walton, radio personality, media consultant,
author, and speaker. Founder of AuthorConversations.com and author of
How Does the Heart Know Love?

January 20th - Frank Marquette, director of Light Box Trailers. He will
talk about how authors can promote their books with video.

January 27th - Joel Bauer, founder of Infotainer.com.

February 3rd - Robert Allen, bestselling author of Multiple Streams
of Income and many other titles.

February 10th - Dharmesh Shaw, founder of Book.Grader.com.

February 24th - Sharon Williams, founder of The 24 Hour Secretary
and the International Association of Virtual Author Assistants.

March 10th - Kathi Dunn and Ron "Hobie" Hobart, book cover
designers with Dunn & Associates Design. Book covers are marketing
tools that impact the success of books.

March 17th - Jackie Lapin, founder of Life Wisdom Network and
TheArtOfConsciousCreation.com.

March 24th - Alex Carroll, creator of the RadioPublicity.com program
and guest on over 1,200 radio shows during the past ten years.

April 7th - Michelle Tennant Nicholson, founder of Wasabi Publicity,
PitchRate.com, PublicityResults.com, and StorytellerToTheMedia.com.

April 28th - Joanna Penn, creator of the Author 2.0 Blueprint and
The Creative Penn blog on writing and publishing.

If you'd like to take part in this incredible series of teleseminars (there
will be at least 52 of them), you can sign up for less than $1 per seminar
by clicking here: http://bit.ly/jwu6K.

Again, the next teleseminar will be on Wednesday, December 9th, so
sign up soon. Each teleseminar will start at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and last
no more than one hour. And there will be time for you to ask questions
of me as well as my guest.

Sign up now by clicking here: http://bit.ly/jwu6K

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nautilus Book & Audio Book Awards - 2010
We seek Publishers & Authors with books about making our lives more
meaningful and/or the world a better place. We accept traditional and
self-published books, audio & spoken word, children & teens in 28
categories. For more information, including Guidelines & Entry Forms,
Enter Now & Save. More info, email: marilyn@nautilusbookawards.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

American Way magazine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This monthly airline magazine generally features some book reviews in
every issue. Contact American Way, 4333 Amon Carter Boulevard, MD
5374, Fort Worth TX 76155; 817-967-1784; Fax: 817-967-1571. Email:
editor@americanwaymag.com. Web: http://www.americanwaymag.com.

Their November issue feature reviews of an autobiography of bluegrass
musician Ralph Stanley, Tom Birchard and Natalie Danford's The Veselka
Cookbook, and Richard Power's novel, Generosity.

Adam Pitluk, Editor

Chris Wessling, Senior Editor

Jessica Jones, Associate Editor. Reviewed The Veselka Cookbook.

Bob Mehr, Contributor. Reviewed Ralph Stanley's autobiography.

Steve Weinberg, Contributor. Reviewed Generosity.

journalists, media, brands and booksellers on Twitter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mashable.com has used Twitter's new list function to create several
lists that might interest you:

journalists - http://twitter.com/#/list/mashable/journalism

media - http://twitter.com/#/list/mashable/media

brands - http://twitter.com/#/list/mashable/brands

And here is my list of booksellers to follow on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#/list/JohnKremer/bookstores

Quotable Books
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My father always used to say that when you die,
if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life.
— Lee Iacocca, automotive executive

---
You are currently subscribed to johnkremer-tips as: dusanotes@yahoo.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-johnkremer-tips-14177341H@laser.sparklist.com

All names and email addresses are kept confidential. They are not shared with anyone.

Copyright 2009 by John Kremer
-----
John Kremer, editor, Book Marketing Update newsletter
author, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, Sixth Edition
Open Horizons, P O Box 2887, Taos NM 87571
575-751-3398; Email: JohnKremer@bookmarket.com
Web: http://www.bookmarket.com

My Review of Stephen King and Donald Maass

Can Learning How Novels Work Help You Write A Great Hub?

Photos of Tabitha and Stephen King above and Author Literary Agent Donald Maass

I’m going to review one book – Writing The Breakout Novel by Donald Maass - and mention Stephen King and his marvelous book On Writing.

Much of the material I’ll review, while oriented toward fiction, also applies to writers of Hubs.

I took some writing courses in college. You don’t have to go to college to learn to write, just read and write a lot, that’s all.

Funny though, the only English professor I remember vividly was David Crabtree. Why did I remember his face and name when most others are lost in a deep memory sea that goes way back? Because he looked like a crab tree. His voice was old and grumpy but carried a sense of love for his students and his craft. His face looked worn, bumpy, and lined – like a crab tree – and his teaching skills were the best.

Neither King’s or Maass’ book is better than the other – they are merely different.

Both riveted my attention and made me a better writer. Without you being familiar with these two authors, it will be difficult for me to transfer their skills and passion to you, but I’ll try.

King drew me into him, as he wrote On Writing as a memoir with personal anecdotes and memories. Maass gave me what I needed, a structured course on how to write a breakout novel.

Maass is author of seventeen novels and has twenty years as a literary agent. He travels the country, speaking at writers conferences, and has served as president of his guild. He lives in New York.

Stephen King? What can I say? The man’s a legend, a literary genius, an icon. He authored more than thirty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. He lives in Bangor, Maine with his wife Tabitha King, also a writer

What I know of King

King has a nasty habit of exercising – walking outdoors in his neighborhood – while reading. One day he became so absorbed that he stepped in front of a car and that cripled him for life. He spent months recuperating and still can’t walk without help. Even so, he feeds his passion, traveling down to Fenway Park to enjoy one of his joys, the Boston Red Sox.

One advantage I probably have over many of you is my love for baseball. I watch MLB on TV and am not the same if I miss important games. I live in Florida and also watch spring training games. Many celebs sit in box seats behind the dugouts and I’m constantly seeing King.

TV jockeys always scan those seats and point out who’s there. Since I’m mostly a Yankee fan, I see people like Spike Lee and Rudy Giuliani a lot. But there are more. Movie stars, politicians, foreign diplomats, racecar drivers, boxers, and stars of opera and Broadway when in New York will attend a Yankee game. Now, you may think I’m too old to enjoy seeing these star studs and phillies, but I’m not.

What Else Drives Me

Additionally, I like live events, like going out to the parks here in Florida. On Friday the thirteenth (lucky day), my son Marcus and I are going to a PGA event at Disney, Children’s Miracle Network Classic where there is a $4.7 million purse. We’ll see such golf luminaries as reigning champion Davis Love III and Phil Mickelson, (and, I hope, Tiger Woods, who used to live in Windermere a few miles from our house).

I enjoy the excitement. I’ve seen some of the greatest players in history – people like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Billy Casper, Johnny Miller, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Carl Malone, John Stockton and many others. These kinds of events build wonderful memories and create passion for life, keeping us young. And as you know, we Hubbers must write with passion or forget it.

My son Marcus was a member of a Minnesota high school tennis team, Wayzata. That year he and I drove to New York and took in the USTA tournament for four days. Wow! What a great time we had. He’s so good in tennis that at age 12 he wiped me. Patrick and Michael were better baseball and basketball players than me. Our daughter, Jennifer is a college professor. She’s the greatest dancer I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of her choreography and dancing from the West to the East of America.

Why is the above important to you?

It isn’t. Except it teaches one great lesson of life. If you want to be a successful writer – or happy in any field – you must be passionate about it. Baseball fans are nothing if they’re not passionate, especially Yankee and Phillie fans the past while. Life is great, be grateful, happy, and passionate. Give thanks to God constantly. He owns it all.

As I review Maass, see if many of the points he makes fit your needs as a Hub Page writer.

If your writing isn’t inspired, or doesn’t show that you really care about the subject matter, forget it! All you’re doing is mass-producing someone else’s content.

Writing The Breakout Novel

• Premise


• Stakes


• Time and Place


• Characters


• Plot


• Contemporary Plot Techniques


• Multiple Viewpoints, Subplots, Pace, Voice, Endings


• Theme

“Book publishing is full of surprises, not the least of which is an unexpected leap in an author’s sales. When novelists whose previous work merely has been admired suddenly have books vault onto the best-seller lists or even achieve a large jump in sales, publishing people say they have ‘broken out.’ The book in question is a ‘breakout novel.” Donald Maass

Maass’ Review of Writing

• Premise: Whatever it is it must grip the imagination of readers. For example, “I wanted to win the race. Problem: I was in a wheel chair.” That’s premise with an imagination and a problem, necessary elements to keep readers turning pages.

Favorite books sweep us away, have unforgettable characters and involve dramatic and meaningful events. The premise must be plausible, with inherent conflict, originality and gut appeal.

Plausibility means the story could happen to any of us. Originality can be new angles on old stories, the opposite of what we expect, or story elements in unexpected combinations.

Gut emotional appeal involves emotional situations that grab us in our life. Even an unlikely starting point can be built into a breakout premise.

• Stakes: Stakes say what could be lost. High stakes yield high success. To test stakes, ask “So what?” High stakes start with high human worth and with fiction you must start with at lest a grain of truth. Combining public stakes with private stakes makes for interesting writing.

• Time and Place: Every story has context, whether it is emphasized or not. Creating breakout time and place involves more than just describing setting.

Using psychology of place means capturing how a place makes a point-of-view-character feel. For example, if you start the story by having the protagonist looking up into the sky on a dark winter night at the Milky Way, your readers see millions of stars and other heavenly bodies, allowing them to feel that our place here on earth is small compared to the infinite numbers of stars and planets seen so far away.

Here is how one writer conveyed a sense of time in describing New York and portrayed historical forces and social trends through characters:

“Hester was fascinated. It was unlike any city she had previously seen: new, teeming with life, a multitude of tongues spoken, laughter, shouting, and already the hand of war shadowing over it, a brittleness in the air. There were recruitment posters on the walls and soldiers in a wide array of uniforms in the streets.

“Business seemed poor and the snatches of talk she overheard were of prize fights, food prices, local gossip and scandal, politics, and secession. She was startled to hear that even New York might secede from the Union, or New Jersey.”

Detail is the secret ingredient of breakout settings, and unexpected tragedy or grace adds a sense of destiny at work.

• Characters: All stories are character driven. Readers’ sympathy for characters comes from character strengths. Engrossing characters are out of the ordinary. Larger-than-life characters say what we cannot say, do what we cannot do, and change in ways that we cannot change. They have conflicting sides and are conscious of self.

Dark protagonists appeal only when they have sympathetic sides, e.g., they struggle to change or have hidden sensitivity. Build a cast for contrast, realizing the highest character qualities are self-sacrifice and forgiveness.

Build complex character relationships by combining roles. For example, the life-long friend who is also your doctor; the ex-spouse who is also your tennis partner. Combining roles will bring a measure of richness and complexity of real relationships, and at the same time strengthen and deepen its hold on the reader.

Allow Characters To Measure Each Other

Let them voice to themselves or to others their opinions of the other characters in

The story. Not every character will see the protagonist in the same way. But this allows readers to view characters from a different angle and builds richness.

Building Conflict

Allow characters to step into problems and situations you would never go near in real life. Think, “What is the worst thing that can happen?” And allow that to happen to your characters. As authors we like our protagonists. We tend to protect them from trouble. The temptation must be resisted. It is better to drive full speed into danger, laughing as you do it.

Maass says “The breakout novelist is somewhat maniacal, possibly even sadistic (where her characters are concerned, I mean). She will discover what is the worst that can happen, then make matters worse still.”

From chapter one to the book’s end, the author should be bridging the conflict, making it as deep and as bad as it possibly can be. She will employ high moments, plot turns, and death to change characters or to set them free. Breakout novels need high stakes, complex characters and layered conflicts.

Simple plot structures produce tight stories; expansive stories come more easily from open-ended or complex plot structures, such as a hero’s journey.

I invite you to get the book and discover what you can about contemporary plot structures, multiple viewpoints, subplots, pace, voice, and the endings.

Endings

Maass asks if anyone has ever been disappointed by the end? Then he admits that he, too, has. Endings that disappoint are sometimes written in haste, fail to tie up all the sub plots, don’t make sense, don’t answer the main questions and are not very satisfying.

Climaxes are both inner and outer – both plot-specific and emotionally charged. “The payoff needs to plumb the depths in both ways if it is to satisfy,” says Maass.

“Milking the ending with an endless series of confrontations, plot turnabouts, emotional peaks and so on is not a good idea, either.”

When narrative momentum is at its height,

that is not the time to slam on the brakes. Do you remember the James Bond movies taken from Ian Flemming’s great novels? He prevails in the end, but the show is not over. He must win over the girl and be seen sailing away on a boat somewhere with her in the Ocean on an extended love-filled trip, punctuated with plenty of witty and humorous comments which make the audience, as well as the pretty girl, say: “Oh, James…”

Maass actually finds fault with such genre novels, category stories and romances, where the outcome is not seriously in doubt. “A great story teller leaves us in suspense right up to the final moments,” he says. Success should never be sure. In fact, failure seems the more likely outcome. You must allow your protagonist the possibility of failure. “Why should fiction be any safer than reality ?” he asks.

The resolution needs to tie up loose ends, then allow the reader to relax and come to the end in as little space as possible.

SWAPClix May Be For You

Hi, my name is Patrick Creek, and yes, you read that right. I came up with a brand new money-making system that has NEVER been seen before. I took a complete newbie, who has never even TRIED to make money online before, and he was able to learn my easy system overnight and put it into action the next day. What happened next was nothing short of life-changing… But… before I give you all the nitty gritty details of how all this works, I want to tell you the back-story of how this all came about. So stop what you’re doing right now, turn off the T.V. grab your favorite drink, make yourself comfortable, and give your full attention. …Because if you have any thoughts of making money on the Internet swimming around in your head, then what you’re about to hear could change your life forever. 5 Years ago, I released a product called SwapClix. Do you remember it? Because I assure you Google and Yahoo remember it. My product was literally “Game Changing.” 5 Years ago, when I launched SwapClix the first time… It Helped THOUSANDS Of Ordinary People Make MILLIONS Of Dollars On The Internet.

Laying Out a Hub Article

Create an Attractive Hub Page

91

rate or flag this page

By Lissie

First a Warning! I am not a designer

Not even close, I can write a bit, I can play with techie stuff until it works, but under no circumstance would I insult the talents and the profession of designers by saying I am one. I am not artistic - never got past stick figures at school and can not draw, even on a computer!

In short if I can make an attractive hub - anyone can!

Who this article is for? I assume that you know how to do some basic stuff like create a basic page with text, photo maybe a video and/or a list of links. This article is not about the mechanics of creating the hub, or even how to write or use correct grammar. This is how to make your hub page look better than a lot of the others.

	CliffsNotes Creating Your First Web Page Web Design Current Bid: $.99
	Custom Web Site Design - Website Design 5 pages Current Bid: $75.00
	Learning HTML Interactive DVD - Design Web Pages Current Bid: $2.00
	Web Page Studio Pro WebSite Design Graphics Program NEW Current Bid: $11.99
	Web Page Studio Pro WebSite Design Graphics Program NEW Current Bid: $11.99
	10 page Web Site / Online Store (Custom Website Design) Current Bid: $449.95

First off you Need a Second Text Capsule

You can't tell from reading it but this is a 2nd text capsule - I always start with at least 2 text capsules and a photo.

My first text capsule is full width with no photo. That lets the Adsense ads to display in the ugly rectangle to the right. Yes its ugly but people are most likely to click there than anywhere so I get paid. If you want pretty put a photo. If you want cash - put the photo further down.

The 2 text capsules allow google ads to appear in the middle of your text - they don't always, but usually do. If you have just as single too long text capsule they won't appear in the body of the text. In the body of the text is where the ads are most effective according to the marketing geeks.

Either way the photo is important - it's the photo that will be used on a thumbnail view of your hub when your hub is listed in best, most recent etc lists- click on your latest hubs listings from your profile to see what photos are showing. Now the photo in this view is not very big so I try to get something that is bright and eye catching - ideally - it should be relevant to the hub as well - but its hard with the computer/techie hubs and I liked the photo!

Design Icon, Bucket Fountain, Wellington, NZ

Now this is my 3rd text capsule I think most people only start a new capsule because they want a subtitle (like "Now You Need a Second Text Capsule"). However you can either:

• not have a capsule title - in which case the next text capsule will look like a new paragraph like the paragraph above
• at any time you can add a title within your capsule like this:

Have another title like this one

by typing a line and then using the drop down to change the style from the default of "paragraph" to "heading 2" - it won't look the same in edit mode -the title will look a bit smaller and bolder - but check the preview mode and you will find them identical.

• An example of a hub with lots of lined up photos
  
• An example of a hub with lots of EBay & Amazon capsules lined up with the relevant text
  

So why start yet another new text capsule?

The main reason I use text capsules is so that I can line up images, links, videos, Amazon, eBay capsules etc with the appropriate text. Notice that so far on the right I have the lined up photos, some eBay auctions, and now a link box.

In each case the text capsule is a normal full width capsule but each of the photos/ebay/module/link capsules have been reduced to 1/2 width, and for the link module I changed the background to a grey so it stands out.

Why do I have images etc to the right of the text?

When you read fast you scan the lines rather than read the words - longer lines are slower to read, because they are harder to scan - this is I think one of the reasons that newspapers have columns the width they do. On the internet people read very, very fast, skim in most cases, so I want to make it easy for my reader.

Think about if you are confronted with a block of text - how likely are you to read it - compared to something laid out like this hub? Honestly I think you may not read every word I've written (your loss :-) ) but you will probably scan to the end of the hub - and along the way you may find a fantastic book on Amazon you may wish to buy!

Sea shell, Esperance, Western Australia

• A hub which uses full width photos effectively
  So you want a new theme for your WordPress blog? There are lots out there just be aware of the pitfalls and don't waste your time on the WordPress theme's that don't do what you need. A new theme can really make you blog look sharp
• Mark does a nice design on this hub
  A comprehensive guide and resource for 2008 motorcycles. links to all the new models, reviews and comparisons.Brand new models from all the major manufacturers, updates on existing models and the introduction of some new monster bikes make 2008 "

Using full width photos

If I am doing a how to hub or a review hub where the image is important for people to see I will generally use a full width, landscape image to break up the individual modules - it just seems easier that, way - the hubs at the right uses both full and part width photos and I think the mix/match works fine.

I don't put a photo right at the bottom of the hub because sometimes people may not see the comment feature - which I want them to use!

RSS and News Feeds

Towards the bottom I usually add a RSS or news feed which will automatically update my article which means I don't have to - and some further reading to keep my happy reader on my pages !

Note with all of RSS, News, Amazon and EBay capsules you can control how many items to display - this means that you can get any 2 to be pretty much the same length with a bit of playing

• RSS Capsules
  An RSS feed is similar to a News Capsule, except that it shows most recent entries of a specific blog instead of news articles related to a specific topic. RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and is a...

What is an RSS Feed?

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" - that didn't help much did it! I think of it as online ticker-tape a rolling update of the last few stories from a source e.g. blog or hubpages. An example is much easier than trying to explain - have a go you won't break anything!

For example if you click on "subscribe to lissie's RSS feed" below my photo at the top right of my feed you will get a piece of code that looks like : http://hubpages.com/author/Lissie/latest/?rss

If you copy and paste this into a RSS capsule - you will see the last few hubpages I've published. You can also add it to a blog or website to get the list as well - I use this technology to update my blog with my current hubpages articles automatically: see the column on the right side titled "More of my Articles". Once you understand the concept its incredibly powerful and actually simple to use - despite the name! There's a detailed step-by-step how to use guide to the right from hubpages themselves.

	Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design Price: $15.68 List Price: $25.00
	iWork '09 Price: Too low to display List Price: $79.00
	Fiskars ScrapBoss Stencil Sets, Heritage (Page Layout) Price: $9.79 List Price: $13.75
	Creative Design With Page Layout [VHS] Price: $39.99 List Price: $39.99
	Layout Index: Brochure, Web Design, Poster, Flyer, Advertising, Page Layout, Newsletter, Stationery Index Price: $9.48 List Price: $22.99

Example News Feed

• Rescued backpacker gives $1,500 to SES

  British backpacker Jamie Neale has sent the State Emergency Service (SES) a fraction of the money he earned from selling his tale of survival in the New South Wales Blue Mountains. - 4 hours ago

• Mini T. rex ancestor found in China

  Researchers say the discovery of a relatively tiny ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex provides an entirely new picture of how the fearsome flesh-eating king of the dinosaurs evolved. - 4 hours ago

• Timor oil spill killing birds

  The Environment Department says birds have died after coming into contact with a crude oil leak in the Timor Sea. - 4 hours ago

Further Reading on How to Write and Make Money on HubPages

• Capsules in Hub Pages
  Metaphorically speaking, they are the tools in your toolbox. They are building blocks. You pick and choose the ones you need to build the hub you want. There are two types of capsules: Content Capsules ...
• How To Write a Flagship Hub
  Hubpages have announced a program encouraging hubbers to contribute high quality hubs which include a minimum of 1500 words of original content plus relevant photos, videos and links. Now in academia 1500...
• Making Money on HubPages
  To be honest I don't remember how I came to HubPages! I started fulltime on the web, trying to earn an income, in September 07 and within a month I found HubPages. At the same time I revamped my existing...

At the very bottom I try to round the whole page off even if it's just putting my author's byline in - I feel it makes the news/RSS feed look less gratuitous and gives me a chance to ask people to leave a comment or question and thank anyone involved!

So what are your top tips for laying out a hub?

PrintShare

Why Some Hubs Really Work

Hubpages Help - A Reading List For New Hubbers

95

There are always two ways to do things in life. The right way. And the wrong way. Of course you have to factor in free will. And idiots. But that’s another hub, another day. This isn’t about choices – let’s say it’s more about a hearty shove in the right direction. I’m going to give you some recommended reading. A Hublist of what to read and why.

NB: If you just want to get on with it - just scroll down to the bit that says 'Lissie'. I don't mind my waffle being leapfrogged over. Ha! Leapfrog.

I've picked several Hubbers - because they're the guys and gals that I found when searching for the light. I'm not saying (after I'd read their articles) that I suddenly felt lit up like a million watt bulb. But at least there was a nice warm glow. They helped me create a base from which I could begin to hub and make the effort of hubbing worthwhile.

And if you have the wit and the will to make a success of your time on HubPages, then read through the hublist. It's nothing I didn't do and - no one pointed me in the right direction. At least you've got a heads up.

And don't expect no pretty pictures or videos. You're not getting any. Be thankful I did this. And be even more thankful to the hubbers that wrote all the articles I've pulled together.

Because without their effort, this hub wouldn't exist.

And ... I'm a benevolent frog, if nothing else. So I've put one picture in. Of me. You may drool on your keyboards. You can even lick your screens. But no slushy mail in my inbox please.

Living it up on HubPages. I'm a good frog me.

Think of it like this: you can bugger off and do your own sweet thing and find your way on your own. Or you can take the word of frog – which doesn’t carry a guarantee by the way – and learn some cool and interesting facts a little bit quicker than I did.

And whilst my word isn’t up to the level of a guarantee, I will attempt to reign in my asinine tongue. Try. Not promise.

In no particular order, I’m going to start with Lissie.

Lissie

Lissies' Hubs

• Create an Attractive Hub Page
  An article written solely about capsule placement, how and what to use and why. Informative, understandable and easy to implement.
• Adsense Placement
  All about adsense placement. This is a good quality guide that points you in the right direction when it comes to adsense ads. It's not an exact science but you can tweak and polish in order to improve their placement.

Lissie's been on the Hub for some two years now. And she’s also published a fair amount of information regarding how to hub in order to maximize your potential for earning money online. Through Lissie, I’ve learned to pay more attention to the layout of my hubs. How to place headers, pictures, how to arrange and order capsules.

Even how to place (as much as you can) advertisements so that they blend better with your article. All good stuff if you're in it to win it. The information that she provides is valid, it works and as far as I'm concerned, you'll be a lot better off for the knowing of it.

Darkside

Darksides Hubs

• How HubPages Works
  This is the one to start with. Read it. Every single word.
• How To Hub
  The title says it all. In case it says nothing to you - a breakdown and how to write a hub.
• How Hubscore Works
  This is not an exact science but here, you'll find it broken down - as much as it can be - and delivered back to you in an easy to understand format.
• An Introduction To HubPage Referrals
  About referrals. What they mean and what they do. A basic info and precedes Darksides article about Tracking. Read this one first.
• How HubPage Tracking Works
  All about 'tracking' on HubPages. I'm not explaining it here. In a nutshell. I can't. Just go read it.

Darkside has been kicking around the hubpages cold and draughty halls for about the same length of time as Lissie. He is a mine of information about:

• How To Hub
• Capsules
• How HubPages Works
• HubPage Referrals
• How Hubscore Works
• And more

When I disovered his hubs (by searching guys. You know - I used the search facility!) I found his homepage. I had a little potter around and lo! I found the light. Or at least a torch. And one thing about Darkside is this: he's very very thorough.

So go and check him out. And say thankyou. As with Lissie, his hubs are painstakingly thought out, written and presented. If he doesn't reply - well he's probably busy thinking up new ways to help light your way a little bit easier.

Mark Knowles

Mark Knowles' Hubs

• How I got my hub to be on Google's first page
  Before I start, I will say this – I am not selling anything. There will not be an offer to buy my ebook at the end of the hub so you can learn my “secrets of success,” for a fee. Nor will I be selling a...
• Optimizing your webpage for google adsense
  A great insight into putting your hubs together. How to present them, what may work, what may not.
• Making Money Online – Three things that have worked for me at hubpages
  This is Marks take on hubbing and well worth the time it will take you to read through. I've tried his method and it does kick start hubs as far as internet surfers finding them. And that's they key: being found.

Mark Knowles is another long-serving and successful Hubber. He isn't just a pretty fella either, he knows what he's talking about. Mark is a pro-blogger - and one of the relatively few folks on the 'net that really does earn a living from it.

He shares his insight regarding what's worked for him and I guess, what hasn't. Whilst Mark doesn't write in a 'needle to thread' format (he tells it as it is IMO and no bad thing either), you will still come away from his articles having learned quite a few things that you wouldn't have known - had you not vistited some of his hubs.

Definitely on my recommended reading list. Learn from another online professional - Mark. in fact all four, Darkside, Lissie and Maddie included, know what they're talking about. They all walk the walk. What they've written, they know about. That's why they're sharing.

Maddie Ruud

Maddie Ruuds' Hubs

• From A Moderator’s Mouth: Overly Promotional Hubs
  This gives a very clear message about writing a hub that revolves around over-promoting and Maddie sets down what HubPages consider as spam within a hub. To be honest, when I read it, I just absorbed it as meaning 'how not to hub. Period.
• How to Choose a Hub Topic
  How to choose a topic for your hubs. Maddie shares her insight regarding what has worked for her and shares a few pointers as to where to look for great titles.
• How To Make Money on HubPages
  This was Maddies' 200th hub and dedicated to sharing her knowledge about the money making aspects of hubpages - chiefly by way of adsense.

Maddie Ruud is a moderator and member of the HubPages team. She's also a writer. And a very good example of what happens when a hubber delivers good quality, original articles - they make money.

You may occasionally spot her in the forums, moderating and going about HP business but - she continues to write and publish quality articles. Her 'how to' articles are worth reading and, as with the other hubs/hubbers that I've highlighted, Maddie is someone that I've read.

As with all the hubs included in this article, I've read them more than once. I've made both mental and physical notes and tried to adopt a path whereby I'm walking between each and every one. That may sound restrictive - its not.

It's easy to do simply because what I read as time went by made perfectly good sense. And I hope they do the same for you. If you pay attention to just one thing that I have to say, pay attention to this: these hubbers know what they're talking about - so listen well.

Final Word

General HubPages Help List

• The Hub Rules - Getting Started with HubPages
  Articles relating to the HubPage Rules. Great reading.
• Quick Guides - Getting Started with HubPages
  A whole heap of quick quides on how to kickstart your hubbing ability.
• How Much Money in the Beginning - Getting Started with HubPages
  All about money. The bit you really want to learn about. But first you need to know 'how to' - remember?
• Improving Your Hub - Getting Started with HubPages
  Articles about Improving Your Hub on HubPages, a place where you can read and write about any topic that interests you.
• Help for New Hubbers on HubPages
  Lots of helpful and advice driven hubs regarding the way to go - and how to get there.
• Your First Hub - Getting Started with HubPages
  Your first hub - how to write one. Plenty of articles to read and digest.

There are many other individual (very helpful) hubbers on the site but for now, you've enough to read. In the event that you romp through those that I've listed, to the left there are more links - that will take you directly to where you need to be.

It's Noob central for new hubbers. And also the place for those of us that have made a start and yet still need a bit of help.

You'll find literally hundreds of different hubs, relating to:

• How to ...
• Adsense ...
• Analytics ...
• Guides ...
• Hints & Tips ...
• Researching Topics ...
• Making Monery Online ...
• And lots more

So do yourself a favour and make a start. The sooner you're educated in the Land of Hub, the better you'll be. The better HubPages will be.

And the less occupied I will be at frogging around in the 'help' section in the forums. And mind your manners. Wherever you go, say thankyou and rate articles. Remember the hours and hours of effort everyone's put in. Or out.

Now bugger off. I've hubs to write.

PS - I should have added this when I actually wrote it.

Having read the hubs I've listed, if anyone wants to know if the proof is in the pudding, yes it is. Taking what I've read and putting it into practice has been productive. Taking various ^*bits from Maddie, Lissie, Darkside and Mark (and others) has meant that google acknowledges my existence.

It works guys. Quality content, attention to detail and presentation, titles, topics, capsule use and so on - all make the whole.

^*Of advice - not actual bits. Can you imagine Mark minus his sense of humour? Or what Darkside would look like if he lacked his eye?

Print

WordWise Is A Great Place To Be

By Don White

There's a perfect place for you to hone your writing ability and that is in school or on the school paper or yearbook. Assuming you've been there and been that, the web site many suggest is called WordWise.

Impresario Dan Santow will safely guide you through grammar 101 which so many bloggers fail to get. If you're going to write the great American novel, you'd better get your infinities and verbs right-otherwise your work will be a nonstarter and won't get past the agent's transom.

I looked in on it today and learned a new word that my nephew in grade school could have taught me. It's "ginormous," a combination of two adjectives, enormous and gigantic. Your first reaction will be "That's gotta' be contrived and therefore not even an approved word in Websters."

Wrong, it's been around since 1948 and is well recognized by word mavens.
All of this is discussed in the above blog. Get there.

Spamming Can Be Fatal

By Don White

What Little I Know About Spamming

I am not guilty of any of the following. Until I read the Google Help section I had never heard of most of the terms before. Furthermore, I’m an amateur and if you look at my earnings you’ll wonder why I stick around punching keys. It’s because someday I hope to be smart enough and good enough to make some money the fair and legal way, without any of the following tactics some people use.

Google, please don’t close down my exciting new site called http://BestHealthWebSites.blogspot.com Let me tell you why this site is so important to everyone, especially families that have medical conditions or concerns, all 300 million Americans.

With this new site folks can make just one stop for all of their medical, weight loss, beauty creams, detoxifying, health and exercise needs. What an innovation – one stop shopping! It’s called http://BestHealthSites.blogspot.com and the idea for this web site came from a book by Dr. Arlan R. Weinberg, M.D. called Dr. Weinberg’s Guide to the Best health Resources on the Web.

I hope it’s a huge success, attracting thousands of visitors daily so that I can use AdSense and other affiliate advertising and make a ton of money. That may be overly optimistic because I refuse to build traffic via Gestapo methods – things that look like spam to a crawler.

My first idea was to work with book author Dr. Steinberg, but I’m glad he didn’t respond. His site is limited to medical sites only, while mine will include the other five disciplines listed above. I emailed him to say I would be happy to work for or with him in placing his site on the web, either as his employee or partner. To his detriment he did not respond.

So I started organizing my own web without plagiarizing his book or anyone else’s, avoiding the direct copying of his “resources” or the web sites he used. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever run into some of them, because the best ones are presumably in his book and that’s the quality I want to build into The Best Health Site. What I am doing is using an outline similar to his, jumping on my Google Search Engine for applicable sites. Like recipes, subject outlines and titles are not copyrightable.

There are a lot of sites under each category. Then came this notice that Google thought I was spamming. I’m not smart enough to spam anyone, but that can’t be my excuse. I got a notice like this before on another site and after the Web Crawler investigated they gave me a clean bill of health. I think they will on this one too.

To create this “filter” web site, I need a lot of web site addresses on my site, and onto each I will add hyperlink code so that when my readers see something they want to study they can just click a link and be there, making navigating easier. I’ve got to have some advantages to justify my site’s existence. If there’s something wrong with this, then I plead guilty.

But I am not guilty of any of the items found under “Help” on Google which define spamming:

According to Google, Spamdexing (also known as search spam or search engine spam)^[1] involves a number of methods, such as repeating unrelated phrases, to manipulate the relevancy or prominence of resources indexed by a search engine, in a manner inconsistent with the purpose of the indexing system.^[2][3] Some consider it to be a part of search engine optimization, though there are many search engine optimization methods that improve the quality and appearance of the content of web sites and serve content useful to many users.^[4] I’m finding that search engines use a variety of algorithms to determine relevancy ranking. Some of these include determining whether the search term appears in the META keywords tag, others whether the search term appears in the body text or URL of a web page. Many search engines check for instances of spamdexing and will remove suspect pages from their indexes. Also, people working for a search-engine organization can quickly block the results-listing from entire websites that use spamdexing, perhaps alerted by user complaints of false matches. The rise of spamdexing in the mid-1990s made the leading search engines of the time less useful.

Google bombing is another form of search engine result manipulation, which involves placing hyperlinks that directly affect the rank of other sites.^[5] Google first algorithmically combated Google bombing on January 25, 2007.^[6]

The earliest known reference^[2] to the term spamdexing is by Eric Convey in his article "Porn sneaks way back on Web," The Boston Herald, May 22, 1996, where he said:

The problem arises when site operators load their Web pages with hundreds of extraneous terms so search engines will list them among legitimate addresses. The process is called "spamdexing," a combination of spamming — the Internet term for sending users unsolicited information — and "indexing." ^[2]

Common spamdexing techniques can be classified into two broad classes: content spam^[4] (or term spam) and link spam.^[3]

More Kinds of Spam

1. Keyword stuffing

This involves the calculated placement of keywords within a page to raise the keyword count, variety, and density of the page. This is useful to make a page appear to be relevant for a web crawler in a way that makes it more likely to be found. Example: A promoter of a Ponzi scheme wants to attract web surfers to a site where he advertises his scam. He places hidden text appropriate for a fan page of a popular music group on his page, hoping that the page will be listed as a fan site and receive many visits from music lovers. Older versions of indexing programs simply counted how often a keyword appeared, and used that to determine relevance levels. Most modern search engines have the ability to analyze a page for keyword stuffing and determine whether the frequency is consistent with other sites created specifically to attract search engine traffic. Also, large web pages are truncated, so that massive dictionary lists cannot be indexed on a single webpage.

2, Hidden or invisible unrelated text

Disguising keywords and phrases by making them the same color as the background, using a tiny font size, or hiding them within HTML code such as "no frame" sections, ALT attributes, zero-width/height DIVs, and "no script" sections. However, hidden text is not always spamdexing: it can also be used to enhance accessibility. People screening websites for a search-engine company might temporarily or permanently block an entire website for having invisible text on some web pages.

3. Meta tag stuffing

Repeating keywords in the Meta tags, and using meta keywords that are unrelated to the site's content. This tactic has been ineffective since 2005.

"Gateway" or doorway pages

Creating low-quality web pages that contain very little content but are instead stuffed with very similar keywords and phrases. They are designed to rank highly within the search results, but serve no purpose to visitors looking for information. A doorway page will generally have "click here to enter" on the page.

4. Scraper sites

Scraper sites, also known as Made for AdSense sites, are created using various programs designed to 'scrape' search-engine results pages or other sources of content and create 'content' for a website.^[7] The specific presentation of content on these sites is unique, but is merely an amalgamation of content taken from other sources, often without permission. These types of websites are generally full of advertising (such as pay-per-click ads^[7]), or redirect the user to other sites. It is even feasible for scraper sites to outrank original websites for their own information and organization names.

_{5. Link spam}

Davison defines link spam (which he calls "nepotistic links") as "... links between pages that are present for reasons other than merit." ^[8] Link spam takes advantage of link-based ranking algorithms, such as Google's PageRank algorithm, which gives a higher ranking to a website the more other highly ranked websites link to it. These techniques also aim at influencing other link-based ranking techniques such as the HITS algorithm.>

6. Link farms

Involves creating tightly-knit communities of pages referencing each other, also known humorously as mutual admiration societies^[9]

7. Hidden links

Putting links where visitors will not see them in order to increase link popularity. Highlighted link text can help rank a webpage higher for matching that phrase.

8. "Sybil attack"

This is the forging of multiple identities for malicious intent, named after the famous multiple personality disorder patient "Sybil" (Shirley Ardell Mason). A spammer may create multiple web sites at different domain names that all link to each other, such as fake blogs known as spam blogs.

9. Spam blogs

Spam blogs, also known as splogs, are fake blogs created solely for spamming. They are similar in nature to link farms.>

10. Page hijacking

This is achieved by creating a rogue copy of a popular website which shows contents similar to the original to a web crawler but redirects web surfers to unrelated or malicious websites.

11. Buying expired domains

Some link spammers monitor DNS records for domains that will expire soon, then buy them when they expire and replace the pages with links to their pages. See Domaining. However Google resets the link data on expired domains.

Some of these techniques may be applied for creating a Google bomb, this is, to cooperate with other users to boost the ranking of a particular page for a particular query.

12. Cookie stuffing

This involves placing an affiliate tracking cookie on a website visitor's computer without their knowledge, which will then generate revenue for the person doing the cookie stuffing. This not only generates fraudulent affiliate sales, but also has the potential to overwrite other affiliates' cookies, essentially stealing their legitimately earned commissions.

_{13. Using world-writable pages}

Web sites that can be edited by users, such as Wikis, blogs that allow comments to be posted, etc. can be used to insert links to spam sites if the appropriate anti-spam measures are not taken.

14. Spam in blogs

This is the placing or solicitation of links randomly on other sites, placing a desired keyword into the hyperlinked text of the inbound link. Guest books, forums, blogs, and any site that accepts visitors' comments are particular targets and are often victims of drive-by spamming where automated software creates nonsense posts with links that are usually irrelevant and unwanted.

15. Comment spam

Comment spam is a form of link spam that has arisen in web pages that allow dynamic user editing such as wikis, blogs, and guestbooks. It can be problematic because agents can be written that automatically randomly select a user edited web page, such as a Wikipedia article, and add spamming links.^[10]

16. Wiki spam

Using the open editability of wiki systems to place links from the wiki site to the spam site. The subject of the spam site is often unrelated to the wiki page where the link is added. In early 2005, Wikipedia implemented a default 'nofollow' value for the 'rel' HTML attribute. Links with this attribute are ignored by Google's PageRank algorithm. Forum and Wiki admins can use these to discourage Wiki spam.

17. Referrer log spamming

When someone accesses a web page, i.e. the referee, by following a link from another web page, i.e. the referrer, the referee is given the address of the referrer by the person's internet browser. Some websites have a referrer log which shows which pages link to that site. By having a robot randomly access many sites enough times, with a message or specific address given as the referrer, that message or internet address then appears in the referrer log of those sites that have referrer logs. Since some search engines base the importance of sites by the number of different sites linking to them, referrer-log spam may be used to increase the search engine rankings of the spammer's sites, by getting the referrer logs of many sites to link to them.

_{Other types of spamdexing}

1. Mirror websites

Hosting of multiple websites all with conceptually similar content but using different URLs. Some search engines give a higher rank to results where the keyword searched for appears in the URL.

2. URL redirection

Taking the user to another page without his or her intervention, e.g. using META refresh tags, Flash, JavaScript, Java or Server side redirects

3. Cloaking

Cloaking refers to any of several means to serve a page to the search-engine spider that is different from that seen by human users. It can be an attempt to mislead search engines regarding the content on a particular web site. Cloaking, however, can also be used to ethically increase accessibility of a site to users with disabilities or provide human users with content that search engines aren't able to process or parse. It is also used to deliver content based on a user's location; Google itself uses IP delivery, a form of cloaking, to deliver results. Another form of cloaking is code swapping, i.e., optimizing a page for top ranking and then swapping another page in its place once a top ranking is achieved.

External links

To report spamdexed pages

• Found on Google search engine results
• Found on Yahoo! search engine results

Search engine help pages for webmasters

• Google's Webmaster Guidelines page
• Yahoo!'s Search Engine Indexing page

Other tools and information for webmasters

• AIRWeb series of workshops on Adversarial Information Retrieval on the Web
• Online tool that detects spam techniques on web pages
• A list of open proxy and bot IP's. Ban IP's on this list to prevent comment spam. Updated weekly.
• Protecting Your Wiki From Spam