Using book-signing events to network with authors and writers is essential if, like us, you offer niche skills.

Here at the very end of 2011 the time is perfect for aspiring writers to launch their books within the digital arena.  

This tidal wave of activity within digital publishing, which has been steadily building up over the last few years, isn't about to end soon, in fact it's probably heading for tsunami proportions.

Computer Weekly's Matt Hamblem reported on e-books in March 2009:

E-books poised for 'huge surge' in 2010

"Fictionwise research also shows that the company's typical customer is a woman, between 40 and 50 years old, who tends to have a higher-than-average income and level of education. In comparison, a few years ago, the typical customer was a man, who might have been a "gadget freak," Pendergrast said.

Analysing the demographics at this particular book-signing event proves the assertion to be correct.  

By far the majority of the audience were ladies of that age, and although they might well have their tablets, or e-readers stocked full of digital books, they don't give up easily on the opportunity to get the authors signature on their hard or paper-backed books.

Photo courtesy of Andy Kropa/Getty Images North America

Allison Pearson the focus of this particular book-signing event, proves to be a savvy lady.

Savvy lady indeed!  

She knows how to 'do-it-right' … a writer and journalist, Allison Pearson decided to write about what she knows best.

She serialised a story about her experiences as a full-time working mother, her story was read by thousands of readers of The Daily Telegraph.

Then on the back of this success she published the book "I Don't Know How She Does It"  and it became a best seller, a smash hit with working mothers across the globe.

It didn't take long for Hollywood to notice her name on the list of best-selling authors :  they came knocking on her door pleading with her to sign a film contract.

So what followed that huge tidal wave of success?

Book #2 of course, in the same popular genre. Capitalising on the success of the 1st book. Here's the savvy bit: she identified her target audience right from the word GO!  And, that is what many, many 1,000's of aspiring authors DO NOT DO! Apart perhaps from the one-and-only John Locke of "How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 months" fame.

This time Allison's book focussed on the teenage experiences of falling in love with a 'pop-star'!

Book #2 is called "I Think I Love You": very apt considering the idol in question is David Cassidy.

I attended a book-signing event at Patrick's Restaurant, Mumbles (in conjuction with Cover To Cover Book Shop) where Allison gave an extremely entertaining talk about the road to success, obviously not lingering long on the pain she'd suffered, while in the grip of depression.

Part of our work here at PBS is helping authors and writers to fulfil their dream: we are helping them to publish their works in the digital world, via Kindle & Nook e-Readers etc. etc. 

In a fraction of time compared to tradition publishing, PBS transfers the precious book from it's raw Word document state, into a digital book, instantly downloadable for purchase by the author's fans, friends and family. 

N.B. ~ Whilst we do not act for Allison Pearson in this niche market, we are able to say that attending 'book signing events' such as this has helped us to network with our target clients.

At this event two new clients signed up for the PBS Digital Marketing Package.  :oD

If you are still not convinced about the power of e-Books read what Mike Elgan at Computer World says:  he recently did a complete U-turn on his views regarding the potential success or failure of e-Readers:

Why Kindle rules

"I've dissed and dismissed e-books for years. But three factors I didn't anticipate reversed my long-standing attitude."

To review the added value features of Kindle scroll through the 4 pages.

Nancy Hopkins Reily says "There's a Book Inside Everyone" or more precisely "inside everyone is a book waiting to be revealed".  

I hope we can help you to reveal your book, at some time in the not too distant future.

What has branding got to do with me, I'm a sole trader!

If I had a £5, $5 or …, for every time I've heard that from a small business owner, I'd be a very wealthy lady.

This article addresses those individuals who think it doesn't apply to them. They believe they are too small to have to worry about such things.  That I'm afraid is a fallacy.

It's just as applicable to you the solo-entrepreneur as it is to large corporates.  Cyber-criminals would love to harvest your personal information and your business identity.

Branding is about protecting your personal and business identity.

You need to take a pro-active approach to 'branding', and protecting that brand.  Your 'stamp' or 'brand' should be unique.

From the moment you begin to act on 'that great business idea' you need to think in terms of building a robust brand. More advice and help on branding.

PhotoCredit: Fotolia © F.C.G.

Virtual Assistants test lots of IT tools: we are constantly looking for ways to make our processes more efficient. 

We don't charge clients for time that isn't spent on the tasks we work on, on their behalf.

So we learn to be discriminating in choosing IT tools, tools to help expedite project tasks.

Enter, Paymo the Time-Tracking and Project Management Tool.

Paymo helps me to multi-task.

Oh! I should, at this point, also add that I am not affiliated with Paymo, and have not entered into promotion agreements with the company. 

Multi-tasking is second nature to the Virtual Assistant. I sometimes have 10 different Projects open at the same time.  The first file I open at the beginning of the working day is the Paymo Dashboard and Time-tracking Widget.  Using multiple screens, I can spread the files that I am working on, out across the displays. As work progresses in the week I take Overview snapshots like the ones on the next page…. Paymo Overview Reports.

Don’t panick we can help you with your email management.

If you are thinking “What’s the stress in managing email”?    You are obviously a person who is well versed in the use of IT tools and possesses a solid skill-set.   This blog post is here to help those who aren’t quite there yet.

You feel like you are drowning in a sea of mail. We can help!

What you need is a strategy for managing your email, and that might well mean managing multiple accounts.  The recommendations I make here involve a combination of things:

• Setting up a Master Account
• Routing multiple accounts through to your Master account
• Using the services of a Virtual Assistant to manage the process seamlessly.

You’ve reached a point where your distaste for and aversion to IT is out weighed by the realisation of just how essential it is to give your business an edge over your competitors    …………….   continued.

There are basic security essentials that Peninsular Business Services can help you to understand and implement.

Every organisation no matter how small, should make sure it’s data is protected – data at rest, data in motion and data at end point.

There are obligations to fulfil … not least a duty of care to your clients and customers.  In a worst case scenario, you could be fined by the Information Commissioners Office for neglecting to protect data that you hold.  You may need help to stay out of trouble …. continued.

PhotoCredit: Fotolia ©Vladislav Kochelaevs

Grown men quaking in their shoes; students screwing up their faces in indignation; pretty young secretaries deflated on seeing their 'so-called' perfect shorthand script crawling with red ink, I've seen it all!

No-one loves the Proofreader! If only I had a fiver for every script I've marked for examination bodies, letters I've corrected for bosses and homework I've sent back to be re-done … I'd be a millionaire.

Proofreading isn't a horrible job, it's a routine job performed to a professional standard.  Here's a perspective you will I hope, find interesting and entertaining ….. continued

It really doesn’t matter whether you sell computer hardware, fine handmade soaps, luxury fashion items, cars, bathrooms, garden gates, or dog collars, social media is going to help your business brand get traction in the market.

Why is it that some enterprises still don’t ‘GET IT’?

I liked this video - Chris Pirillo talks about a small business in Seattle called Pooper Trooper.  The company has a very clear understanding of social media.  They use the power of social media to pull consumers to their product … a product they know is of enormous value to their potential customers.

If you would actually like to view the Pooper Trooper’s YouTube Video, then click here.

It should be an issue but all too often it seems business owners are too busy or too scared of the technology to get a plan together for tackling data security.

I recently posted a question on a professional forum on LinkedIn:

“How do we get the message out to those who need it most”?

I’ve selected two of the respondents answers, two great responses by top-notch individuals within the IT industry in UK.

Oli Rhys, a Business ICT Advisor for one of the Welsh local councils and Tomasz Bergiel, business owner of a web design company The Mint Factory.

Read the full script here.

I think we will all agree that your brand whether personal, professional or commercial, is definitely something that should be protected.   Why would you allow it to be tarnished when you have endured blood, sweat and tears in establishing it over the years? 

You may have sacrificed a huge amount of family life in the making of your business, so protection for your brand is probably top of your list.

Have you considered how Social Media and in particular Twitter can affect your brand? 

People have the notion that if they aren’t interested in engaging in social media, and stay well away from it, then their brand is protected.   So, it’s a nasty wake-up call when they discover that actually whether they are registered on social media platforms or not, their brand, be it personal, professional or commercial, is probably being talked about in their absence.

You simply cannot prevent people from talking about things on Twitter, or even complaining, so let’s hope they aren’t complaining about your products or services?    This isn’t all bad because it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if you are being talked about it’s better than NOT being talked about.

Here’s why it’s GOOD …..  you can make sure that the moment someone does complain publicly on Twitter that you are brand monitoring and you then nip the problem in the bud.  

You can turn it to your advantage and walk away feeling proud.  You can help someone who in the first instance expressed a negative opinion of your brand, to change that opinion.  Following your efficient response in engaging with them, you can leave them with a glowing impression instead!

This is precisely why you would want to respond efficiently and effectively to that Twitter comment:

Sue is a Broadband customer of Company A and she’s been attempting to query the low download speed through customer service.  She’s angry and frustrated and she tweets that “Company A has dreadful customer service – I can’t get anyone to appreciate my problem, they just ignore the fact that I’m paying good money for an appalling service.”

Now you are Company A’s person monitoring the brand on Twitter.  And you use various search functions to make sure that whenever anyone tweets about Company A you know about the tweet within a reasonable amount of time.

When you see this tweet by Sue, you immediately tweet her publicly: “@username I can help you. Call me at xxxxx and I assure you I will personally attend to your problem.”

Sue calls you, you take care of the problem, and she’s so delighted she then tweets:“Company A just took care of my problem.  That’s good customer service!”

Now imagine if you hadn’t been brand monitoring and Sue’s tweet went unanswered.  Then her complaint escalates.

For example, someone could reply to Sue: “@username I also had crappy customer service from Company A.”

Sue could then reply: “I wish I could switch to another Broadband provider.  I really dislike Company A.”

Before you know what’s happening because of the viral nature of Twitter, and the fact that it is real-time, a whole load of people – people who perhaps don’t even have a complaint with your company, but want to offer their ‘opinion’ – have jumped on the bandwagon.

It might, or it might not be, too late at this stage to undo the damage.  Without a doubt though, this is the way that a brand can suffer damage.  It could probably have been prevented if you had caught it early, taken care of the problem promptly and efficiently, and then you and the satisfied customer, could have tweeted about the successful resolution.

Brand monitoring can take advantage of positive comments, here’s how:

Track your brand on Twitter so that you can also pick up the positive comments.  Until someone can convince me otherwise I will continue to use Tweetdeck for this purpose because it meets all my needs. If, for example, someone tweets a compliment for your brand, you can re-tweet that compliment and potentially send it farther into the ether.

By tweeting worthwhile information in connection to your brand, there is also the added advantage that the perception of your brand can be emboldened in the public mind.   This will enable you to cultivate goodwill so that, should a problem arise your customers or clients will be magnanimous and likely to forgive you.

Finally I urge you to recognise that brand monitoring is a very important marketing activity in the social networking Twittersphere.

In the words of the minstrel in the light-hearted video that follows

" You might as well not have existed".

THE BALLARD OF TWITTER

Would you kindly leave a comment and tell me how Twitter has been successful in endorsing your brand, be it personal, professional or commercial?

5 Critical Elements to an Effective Collaboration