How to do a Ping Back.

What a great technical advice here. Thanks so much Ronovan for all this work to show us how to get a Ping Back done.

ronovanwrites

WordPress has changed a few things on the tech side since I first wrote about doing Ping Backs 2 years ago. I’m also more serious in my approach to my Tip Blog Posts, so here’s an updated take on things.

What does a Ping Back mean?

For our purposes a Ping is when one website speaks to another website.

How does that conversation take place?

You take the URL from one Blog Post and place within the content of the Blog Post of the other website and make sure it is active/live/working.

What ways can you do a Ping Back?

1. Make the actual URL active within the post.
2. Place the URL within a word of a sentence of the content of the post.
3. Place the URL within an Image of the post.

Numbers 1 and 2 are done the same way.

1. You highlight whatever it is that you want the…

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…authors, the lowdown on book promo sites… honest feedback from an ol’ Jurassic Scots scribbler…

 

Seumas Gallacher shares his valuable opinion about book promo sites. I would say this is a huge MUST-READ for newbies like me!! Thanks so much for this, Seumas! You rock!!

Seumas Gallacher

…I promised yeez a wee while ago to revert with the success or otherwise of dabbling in the ‘give-us-yer-money-and-we’ll-get-yeez-gazillions-of-sales-for-yer-masterpieces’ websites… I’m never averse to trying new (for me) channels and avenues for prospective book sales, and am currently giving this field a whirl… early returns are disappointing so far… let me recap :

All the sites require titles ALREADY to have been reasonably successful, with a certain number of reviews rating at least 4-star or above…

All the sites require a significant discount to normal pricing.

Website 1…

Paid US$ 15 for a one day exposure for one title in a list of prob’ly around 40 or 50 others, with the title remaining on their ’trailing list’ for a further unspecified period…

Email list (they claim) is 35,000

Result: Sales for the period through this channel  — 2 copies only…

Conclusion– A waste of this author’s time and money…

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manipulation tactics

Kawanee Hamilton offers us 14 manipulation tactics to help us with our writing. Thank you so much! I think this is valuable support!

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Monday Funnies…

Wow… Monday Funnies on a Monday… LOL. Thanks, Chris, The Story Reading Ape for another giggle. 🙂

What Should Be Included On Your Book Copyright Page?

I think this is an essential information for every single writer. I wanted to re-blog it for as many as possible to read it. Thank you very much, Chris, for this great find!

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Excerpt from an informative article on The Write One Site:

Obtaining the copyright for your newly complete manuscript is an essential part of protecting your work. Once you have gotten the rights to your creation, you are free to start setting up your book copyright page! Now, I’m sure as a newbie writer you are wondering what exactly needs to go on your copyright page. Every book you’ve ever read probably has some variation from the next. However, there are a few key things that absolutely must be included on your copyright page.

To read the full article, click on the link or image below:

What Should Be Included On Your Book Copyright Page?

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I can’t brain today, I have the dumb

Bluebirdofbitterness made me laugh loudly. Thanks for this hilarious blog post. Of course I can’t resist to re-blog to spread the smile.

The Influence of Followers: Would You Still Blog if You Didn’t Have Them?

Jenny of “Jenny in Neverland” published a very interesting view on blogs and followers. I thought I’d reblog and give as many readers as possible a chance to let their opinion hear about this. Thank you Jenny.

Jenny in Neverland

Having followers and readers is great. I won’t lie. When I started my blog, although I loved writing book reviews and enjoyed it immensely, I would often dream about having a decent amount of followers who I could get to know, exchange comments with and build a rapport with. I would grow green with envy at the bloggers who had hundreds, sometimes thousands of followers. Who would receive comment after comment on their latest post and who would constantly be chatting to people all over the blogosphere. I realised that although I loved writing and reading – followers were something I wanted too.

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How to Create Legendary Villains

What a fantastic post on how to create legendary villains. This is awesome and will help me so much! Thank you, Kristen Lamb.

Kristen Lamb's Blog

American Horror Story “Freak Show” on FX

This past Saturday I held my Bullies & Baddies class and a couple of the folks posited a really good question worth talking about. How do we write great villains? One of the reasons I love holding this class is that all stories require a core antagonist (who is responsible for generating the story problem in need of resolution), but there are different types of antagonists. All villains are antagonists but not all antagonists are villains.

But since we went there, what goes into creating a truly terrifying villain?

I watch a ton of movies and television series. I also read around three novels a week. I’m always studying, breaking stories apart so that I can understand them better. I do it for my fiction, but also so I can share what I learn with you guys.

Though the series isn’t for everyone…

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Trouble With Your Plot? Three Reasons to Kill Your Little Darlings

Kristen Lamb wrote a post about three reasons to kill your “little darlings”. And you will find out when reading her post, what she is talking about. It is such a helpful post. You will see!

Kristen Lamb's Blog

Image via Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of Frederik Andreasson

I love helping writers and one service I offer that’s been particularly valuable is plot consult. Writers who are struggling to finish or who start off with one idea after another only for that great idea to fall flat? They call me. Querying and getting nowhere? Again, contact me.

I’ve busted apart and repaired hundreds of plots. Thus far I’ve yet to meet a plot I couldn’t repair.

But, in my many years of doing this, I’ve seen enough troubled plots to note some common denominators for a failed story. One ingredient for plot disaster stands apart.

Little darlings.

As writers, we are at risk of falling in love with our own cleverness. The “cool” idea, the super amazing mind-blowing twist at the end. We get so caught up in how smart we are that we fail to see that we…

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Lies & Secrets—The Lifeblood of Great Fiction

Kristen Lamb has published a post about lies and secrets in the fiction world. I think it’s a very helpful post when it comes to character conflict. Thank you so much Kristen.

Kristen Lamb's Blog

Image courtesy of Nebraska Oddfish via Flickr Creative Commons

It’s tempting for us to create “perfect” protagonists and “pure evil” antagonists, but that’s the stuff of cartoons, not great fiction. Every strength has an array of corresponding weaknesses, and when we understand these soft spots, generating conflict becomes easier. Understanding character arc becomes simpler. Plotting will fall into place with far less effort.

All stories are character-driven. Plot merely serves to change characters from a lowly protagonist into a hero….kicking and screaming along the way. Plot provides the crucible.

One element that is critical to understand is this:

Everyone Has Secrets

To quote Dr. Gregory House, “Everybody lies.”

All good stories hinge on secrets.

I have bodies under my porch.

Okay, not all secrets in our fiction need to be THIS huge.

Secret #1—“Real” Self Versus “Authentic” Self

We all have a face we show to the world, what we…

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