Monday Mentionables: Check Out All These Links!

Happy Monday, everyone! Just a few things I'm mentioning today:

1. Tomorrow's a double-header day for blogging: I'll be at both The Romance Studio AND at fellow author Mae Clair's blog. Please drop by and visit with me if you can!

2. Interesting links & articles from this month's Romance Writers Report:
~If you're an author, are you making the most of your Author Central Page at Amazon? It's a free service and a great place and way to showcase not only your books, but your reviews, your Facebook or blog links, and more!
~A few up-and-coming websites that writers can use to promote themselves include Togather, Libboo, and Writer.ly (on a side note, I'm interested to hear from anyone who's used them - I have yet to check them out in detail)
~Using the in-house publicist at your publishing house is a great (free!) way to build buzz about your name and reach out to partner with someone to market yourself even more. Don't be afraid to ask for the publicist's name and contact info, if you don't already have it, and send an email to find out how the two of you can work together.

3. Interesting links & articles from this month's Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators issue:
~Animoto is a web application that can help you produce your very own book trailer!
~Smilebox is a fun way to create photo collages, release announcements, and more, that uses videos, photos, music, etc. to appeal to your computer-based crowd of readers.
~Swoon Reads is a brand new YA romance imprint from the Macmillan Publishing Group that will be soliciting manuscripts and then using a reader recommendation system to choose which get put through for actual publishing consideration (side note: I tried signing up yesterday and had trouble submitting the form. If you're successful, let me know).

I'll be talking about blog tours on Wednesday, sharing info from our local writers' group meeting over the weekend as well as some of my own experiences, so stop by if you're a blogger or a reader or a writer who's interested in hearing more. See you then!