You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet. And the more well-known you become in your field, the more “lies” (or shall we say “inaccuracies”) you will discover about yourself.
One way to help avoid having lies spread about you is to keep your website current. Update your “about us” page whenever you add a book, service or something else of significance has occurred with regard to your business. Refresh your “appearances” page frequently. And continually add testimonials.
Keep your signature current. When something changes, change your signature. I’m working on a new website—the Patricia Fry website. As soon as it is up and running, I will add it to the “signature” that automatically follows my emails. A signature, by the way, is that bit of promo that you can add automatically to your emails.
What do you include in a signature? Here’s mine:
Patricia Fry, freelance writer, author and editorial consultant.
www.matilijapress.com
Executive Director of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network)
www.spawn.org
Patricia is the author of 31 books including,
The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book
The Author’s Repair Kit (e-book)
The Successful Author’s Handbook (e-book)
and her newest book, Catscapades, True Cat Tales
www.matilijapress.com/catscapades.html
Visit my informative writing/publishing Blog often:
www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog
I do what I suggest and keep things up to date. But sometimes people just don’t pay attention. They don’t bother to check on the status of a product or an individual even though they may not have had contact with that person for over 5 years. Here’s a recent example of that:
Just this morning, Google Alerts brought to my attention that someone has recommended one of my writing/publishing books in her blog. Yup, she posted The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book as her top recommendation for authors. And she posted the cover image. But, alas, this is the first edition of the book which I produced way back in 2005 and it is out of print! Not only that, she used an amazon.com link for ordering this book and the price was listed as $37.95. (It was originally $19.95.)
Did I get mad? No, I am actually glad for the publicity and the promotional opportunity.
I commented at her blog, letting her (and her readers) know that I revised and reprinted that book in 2007 and the current version is available for $19.95 at Amazon and my own website. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
Do you sometimes find erroneous facts, information or insinuations about yourself? Oh my gosh, the more people who write and talk about you, the more things they get wrong. If you interview people, keep in mind that businesses grow, individuals develop their products and services over time. In other words, things change. Always, always check personally with the subject of your interview or recommendation before writing about them or preparing a speech introduction, for example. Look at their website. Read the “About Us.” But don’t rely completely on this as not everyone keeps this very important aspect of their promotional program up. And this is unfortunate.
Discount on Online Patricia Fry’s Courses
Remember, I am offering a 20% discount on all of my online courses throughout the month of June. It’s okay to sign up now. Here’s how it works—sign up, pay full price using your credit card and I will reimburse you. Or send a check for the fee (less the 20%). See the May 24, 2010 entry for more details. The courses available include Book Promotion Workshop, Self-Editing Course, Self-Publishing Workshop, Memoir-Writing Course, Article-Writing Course, Book Proposal Workshop. Contact me with questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com.