I have had a website for about ten years now. In fact I am embarrassed to admit to the number I have had so far. There has been career-in-your-suitcase.com, summertimepublishing.com, expatrollercoaster.com, thebookcooks.com and now joparfitt.com and each of those has been fiddled and fussed with and changed and rebranded so many time I have lost count.

However, despite the permutations and erstwhile lack of branding, the mistakes and the horror stories, I have always known that as a writer, I had to have an online presence. Not only did I need people to find me online, they also needed to be able to see my articles and be assured that I really was a real writer.

Today, if you key my name into a search engine you will get around 69,000 pages that include my name. Sure, some of those may be the wrong Jo Parfitt, but when I took the time to trawl through the pages I saw that at least the first 35,000 were all about me.

I have just read the book I wished had been around ten years ago. Create a Successful Website is by Paula Wynne, herself well known for her skills at PR and branding. And there, right up front she states that authors and writers definitely cannot do without a website. She then goes on to explain, in words of one syllable, what this really means, what kinds of sites are on offer, what they will cost and what you need to do about it. Then, with natty little checklists at the end of each chapter, she ensures that idiots like me stay on track. It’s a cool book and one I recommend highly to any newbie out there.

Eight reasons why writers need to be online

1. New authors are increasingly being denied deals with publishers purely because they do not have an online presence, a blog and a following. Having a website will correct this.
2. A website will brand you as a writer, making your niche and specialist areas clear.
3. A website, with a blog, forces you to to write to topic (always write within your niche), to deadline and to word length. For writers, keeping a blog is like going to the gym – it keeps you supple.
4. A website, that includes the keywords that are associated with your specialist area, will make it easier for your to be ‘found’ by people using search engines.
5. Link to all your published work via a page on your website or via your blog to prove how prolific you are.
6. A website, that fits your brand, makes you into more of a personality. It allows your readers to feel they know you.
7. If you are published you can sell your book via your website, with a direct link to Amazon.
8. If, like me, you share tips, ideas and links about people, products and services in your niche, then you will be regarded as even more of an expert.

Nothing inspires me more than attending a conference that focuses on something I am passionate about. That is why, I attend at least one international conference a year and sometimes more. In the last 12 months it has been the Women’s International Networking Conference (WIN) because I am passionate about networking internationally and the Families in Global Transition conference (FIGT) because I am passionate about the expatriate experience. Every time I go I learn loads, meet tons of amazing people, connect with people who can inspire my business and wallow in the warmth of being among friends I have never met before.

Nothing feeds my muse more than attending a writing conference or literary festival. I have attended the Romantic Novelists’ Conference in England even though I don’t write romance (current chair is the ubersuccessful Katie Fforde) and the Crossing Border literary festival in The Hague.

At the end of May and start of June comes the wonderful Hay Festival, crammed with author readings on every genre known to man. I shan’t make it this year, but next year’s is in the diary already.

And then in October comes the Guildford Book Festival. This year’s short story competition is bang up to date, with the winning entry being converted to a Commutabook, by local author and creative mentor, Tom Evans, The Bookwright. A Commutabook is  a book that can be read on the iphone, ipad and ipod touch. In other words it is an App. I can’t think of a better platform. Closing date is July 30th, so take a look here if you would like to enter.

As many of you know, last weekend I both attended and spoke at a book promotion seminar in London. Led by Kavit Haria, England’s answer to Tim Ferris (4 Hour Work Week, this twenty-something knows all there is to know about using social media to make you money, selling your books, while you sleep. Only Haria does not sleep – instead he travels. India, South Africa, Alaska this year alone. Also on stage were the blogging expert who has also sold over 5,000 books using offline methods, Arvind Devalia and Stephanie Hale of RichWriterPoorWriter fame, who, like me, helps people to write, publish and importantly make money, from their books.

But you want my top tips, right? I’ll warn you, I filled an entire exercise book with notes on seminars from Kavit, Arvind and Stephanie, so sign up to my blog for much more to come. It goes without saying that my own tips will be shared here too, over the next few weeks.

Top five takeaways

1. “The most effective tool long term is blogging. The best short term tool is Pay Per Click and the best medium term tools are Facebook, YouTube and Twitter,” Kavit.
2. “Create a buzz about yourself by posting book extracts online, asking for feedback, getting reviews, contributing to blogs, forums and social media,” Stephanie.
3. “Marketing is something you need to do every single day of your life if you want to be successful,” Kavit.
4. “Be inspired by others who are successful and look at the site for The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Shama as a fabulous example,” Arvind.
5. “Your story is vital. Your story as an author is paramount – do you have the authority to write your book? What makes you an expert? In addition, the stories you tell in your anecdotes and case studies must leap off the page,” Jo.

Kavit is running a blogging workshop this weekend and a two day hands on seminar that will get you started with all the social media tools you need in May.

Kavit, Stephanie and Arvind all run mentoring schemes. Follow them on Twitter and be sure you don’t miss out: Kavit, Arvind, Stephanie

Everyone knows that if you plan to write a book yourself you need to check out the competition. You need to read books like the one you are going to write to find out what works and what doesn’t, to get ideas and be motivated by the fact that if someone else can do it why can’t you? On my blog I like to draw your attention to every book that I think will inspire my students, mentees and readers. As I have lived abroad for 22 years and believe in writing about what I know it makes sense that expat living has become my specialism. Further, because of the knock-on effect, many of my clients are writing such books too. So, now it’s time I told you about Danielle Barkhouse’s Expat Arc.

Robin Pascoe, expat expert and author of many books on living abroad, recommended this book to me and I have to admit that I was suspicious to hear it was a blook. That’s a  blog turned into a book, complete with photographs. I expected to find a book that was lightweight and filled with LOLs, asterisks and other incomprehensible acronyms. I was wrong. What I found was a deep and insightful read about a very real relocation to Chennai by a totally honest and very witty Canadian. Written to stay connected with her family what Danie Barkhouse found was a following of others keen to learn about her move and, through her many links to Wikipedia and other sources of further reading, meanwhile she created a wonderful resource on how to survive in India. Snakes, monsoons, traffic and handling domestic staff are among her many typical experiences and her accounts tell it how it is, showing Danie in her true colours. In addition, her candid account of her culture shock and eventual acculturation will provide many readers with a valuable insight into the reality of being a trailing spouse. As one myself, having lived in Dubai, Oman, Norway and the Netherlands, I could empathise, even though in my 22 years abroad I have only ever seen one snake.

Danie’s book is a great example of someone who:

• writes about real life
• writes honestly
• can write humour
• adds character and dialogue
• adds lots of useful resources
• shares her emotion

As an editor myself I have to confess that I would have liked the book to have had a rigorous proofread, and as a fussy so and so I would have liked the entries to be dated and evenly spaced so I could keep track, but that’s just me being picky. Read it for yourself and see what you think. and while you are at it you can follow Danie on Twitter at ExpatArc. Her website is www.daniellebarkhouse.com

The following is my column from my November Inspirer newsletter, now in its seventh year. To subscribe and pick up a copy of ’50 Steps to a Book in Your Hand’ please go to my website www.joparfitt.com

I often tell my students and clients that they need to be Googleable if they are to impress a publisher. I recommend that they start a blog, give talks, use social media tools and go the extra mile towards growing their network. Publishers are interested in authors with a following. If you self-publish you need an even bigger network if you are to sell your book once you have written it. You need to be famous in your field. A bit of a celebrity. Whichever route you take to market it is clear that the bigger your network the more chance there is that your contacts will buy your books. Let me tell you about two people who do this brilliantly.

Andrea Martins, founder of the fabulous free website ExpatWomen.com, flew here to the Netherlands this week from Kuala Lumpur. A long haul in many senses of the word, but one that she felt was worth the effort. Andrea came to attend, have a stand and present a workshop at the Expatica, I Am Not a Tourist fair in Amsterdam. I went along to present a workshop of my own and to help out on her stand. The fair was attended by thousands and we talked ourselves hoarse, and yes, it was worth it. As a result, hundreds of people signed up to Expatwomen, a website that supports and inspires women overseas with its success stories, features, reviews and its hugely popular confessions section. Andrea also keeps an active blog that she uses simply to ‘shout out’ about people she meets or things she learns along the way that she knows will interest her thousands of subscribers.

I only went to the fair to help out, but Andrea allowed me to take my marketing materials along and so I made some pretty decent connections myself. One of whom was the hugely inspiring Melody Biringer, who runs The Crave Company and publishes books about the things women crave in the major cities of the world. She came to Amsterdam from her usual home in Seattle, to bring the concept here. Melody attended my workshop on writing life stories and within minutes had taken out her iphone and sent a tweet to her followers about me. Melody has sent over 6000 tweets to her 2000 followers since she joined Twitter just over a year ago. But in addition, within hours she had posted a blog about what she learned at my workshop too. And tweeted about that, of course.

Sorry, have I lost you? Are you wondering what the point of this may be? It’s simple . . . Andrea and Melody are role models. They want to promote their businesses to as many people as possible, use every means they can and their effort pays dividends. As a result both are well known in their fields. Let me just remind you what it is they do to deserve such status:

Ten Steps to Celebrity Status

1. Attend an expo or conference
2. Run a workshop at said expo or conference
3. Find places to hand out marketing materials
4. Have a website
5. Keep a blog
6. Use Twitter and other social media tools and share stuff regularly
7. Network like crazy both on and offline, talk yourself hoarse
8. Travel if you have to
9. Offer something that people want to sign up to
10. Share what you have with others

But do you really need to be famous if you want to write a book? Isn’t that a bit over the top? No, it isn’t. You see, two days ago I was sitting drinking a rather overstrong coffee in the office of a major UK publisher, in London, talking about the ‘front list’ – the books that are in the front of bookshops, newly published and being promoted like crazy.

’95 per cent of the front list is written by celebrities,’ he said, laying both hands on the table and looking me in the eye.

‘Seriously?’ I said. ‘You are exaggerating, right?’

‘Hum,’ he pondered for a split second. ‘Actually, this time of year, it’s closer to 100 per cent.’ He leaned back in his chair and I blanched. If bookshops favour the front list then publishers favour the front list ergo we need to be famous if we are to stand a chance.

So, there you have it, from the horse’s mouth. If you want to get published you need to become a celebrity, or failing that, just famous in your field. I hope my ten tips above will help to get you started.

Warmly

Jo

I am still reeling. Five minutes ago, a one-time student of mine, Amanda van Mulligen, sent me a link to an article she had written, entitled A World of Inspiration. In her accompanying email she intimated that I was featured in this as I had had a part to play. Well, this is it, you too can read it here at www.velvetescape.com. You can read more of Amanda’s work at www.thewritingwell.eu.

I am humbled by Amanda’s gratitude for what I did for her, simply by referring her a few times and connecting her with people I thought might be of interest. I do this all the time for people, students, mentors, friends, anyone. I just can’t help myself. Thank you to Amanda for showing your appreciation, I appreciate it.

But, I call this post ‘the power of endorsement’. That is because, a looong time ago, my mate, the Courageous Marketer, John Sealey, told me that one of the most powerful things you can have in your marketing arsenal, are testimonials.

‘People make decisions based on what other people think about you,’ he advised. So, thank you John for making me aware that I need to share Amanda’s testimonial, however immodest it may feel. There, I’ve done it again, I’ve connected you all with someone else. John Sealey, told you about a website for travellers, Velvet Escape, and a wonderful blog at the Writing Well. I hope you find them inspiring.

But most of all, thank you Amanda, for a wonderful piece of writing that does me ‘right proud’.

Don’t you just love the way people you once knew pop up again? This happened to me this week, and the one who ‘popped up’ was Brian Friedman, who used to head up the Institute of Global Mobility, associated with Ernst and Young. I was big fan of the IGM back in the early 2000s when based near enough to London to attend their events. Their ‘Greatest Hits’ conference was exemplary, not least because of a line up that included the comedian Tim Vine and the erudite political journalist, Andrew Marr. But that’s not my point.

My point is that Brian Friedman has taken a bag full of good ideas and his passion for informing and supporting those in global HR and set up TotallyExpat. This website is a forum for those in IHR and relocation service providers, specialists and people like me who just care about this kind of thing. It’s free and its rise appears to be meteoric. It’s only been up 3 weeks and already has 600 members.

Take a look for yourself, add to the collection of useful articles and resources and be part of a network that is keen to make a difference. There will be meetings and events but right now be sure to be part of the buzz that is TotallyExpat. Become a member. i did.

I wonder if he’ll organise another Greatest Hits?