Author Archives: BettyW

How to Ensure Fans See Your Facebook Page Post

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Now that Facebook admits that it does not put your band/business/etc. page’s posts into the feeds of every person who “liked” your page in order to see them (unless you pay FB to do so), here’s a way to get better visibility for your page posts:

  1. Set up a Twitter account for your band/business/etc. if you haven’t already.
  2. Encourage FB fans to follow your Twitter account as well.
  3. Use FB/Twitter integration to auto-tweet your FB post.

From my observations, the auto-tweet appears in Twitter even when a page’s FB post does not appear in my FB news feed. And if the FB post is longer than 140 characters the auto-tweet includes a link back to the actual FB post, so your fans know to look at your page to see the rest of the post.

Avoid Car Lock-outs

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I grew up in “Lynn, Lynn, city of sin” – so one of the first things my parents impressed upon me was the necessity of closing the windows and locking the doors on our family car whenever we got out. That worked well until the day my father stopped at a store with my sister and me, and we duly locked the doors … to find that Dad had left the key in the ignition :-(

He grumbled as we walked home (only a half mile, but he’d also need to walk back with my mother’s car key) and thus taught me to always carry a spare car key in my wallet to avoid this problem – because no matter how careful you are, a second’s distraction can lock you out, perhaps much further than half a mile from home.

But as cars have become more high-tech over the years, so have their keys. Chances are that your car key now has a thick plastic head containing a programmed electronic chip that interacts with your ignition switch lock to allow the car to start, like this:

Standard Subaru key

Subaru key with chip-embedded head

However, Continue reading →

Ebooks and Supporting Local Indie Bookstores and Authors

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Independent bookstores face increasing financial pressure from the rising use of ebooks. Amazon offers many ebooks at a significant discount. This makes it tempting for frugal readers to buy there, especially if they own a Kindle (which device itself is sold at a loss to entice owners to buy their ebooks from Amazon). But there are other options which support indie bookstores and authors directly.

Currently (July 2012) IndieBound.org (a community-oriented movement begun by the independent bookseller members of the American Booksellers Association) member bookstores will sell you Google ebooks though their bookstores’ websites, which gives the store you choose some share of what you pay. You can read Google ebooks with the Indiebound reader app for Android and iOS, with Google’s Play app, with Adobe Digital Editions software on Nook, Kobe, etc, and can be side-loaded onto Kindle. Find links to independent bookstores selling Google ebooks here.

Unfortunately Google has decided to stop the bookstore reseller program in January 2013. But keep an eye on IndieBound.org for a replacement program.

Other options:

Powells Books (in Portland OR and on the web) sells Adobe Digital Edition ebooks, and DRM-free PDFs ((meaning they are not locked to your use only).

A number of publishers sell ebooks directly from their sites. since I read a lof of SF, one of which I know is Baen. They also have an awesome FREE library of some of their older titles and 1st titles in a series. MacMillian will also sell your their ebooks.

Check the author’s website, as more are choosing to self-publish and self-distribute. And if you buy directly from the author more of the money actually goes to him/her since they don’t need to split it with a distributor.