
I’m not going to pontificate here on whether gaming systems is morally suspect, yada yada. Doing them is totally up to you. Whatever game you’re playing to gain some advantage over the way a system is built, designed and is actually supposed to be used, screwing around with that is most certainly “within the rules.” Technically. For now, anyway.
These are system holes, ladies and gents, and sooner or later, these holes will more than likely be plugged up. Which means if your business model banks heavily on being able to work and take advantage of these holes, well — surprise! — someday, that’ll just likely come to a screeching halt. And seemingly overnight, with no warning. One day click, it’ll all just go dark.
Google’s search results algorithm is a perfect example of this. Trying to take advantage of how it works is a never-ending source of system gaming examples. In the early days, for instance, keyword stuffing reaped huge benefits, moving practitioners’ sites way up in the search results, much to Google’s users’ dismay. Huge business operations were actually built around sites taking advantage of this technical hole.
Then one day — click! — no more. The faucet with the flood of inbound traffic was shut off. All those advertising $$$ from that traffic (AdSense, affiliate marketing, etc.)? Gone too.
That’s not the end of it, though. As far as I know, these keyword stuffing sites started getting penalized in the algorithm’s search results. These sites were now worse off than the clean folks. All that system-gaming content? Useless. Heck, worse than useless: damaging. They either had to invest huge sums to redo all their content, or die. Many died.
That’s the thing, folks: System owners hate the people who game their systems. Passionately. And for obvious reasons. Here’s a simple one: It screws up their business operations and income. Duh.
LOTS of examples of this kind of thing going on through the years, and not just with the search engines. Social media sites battling follower farming is something you’re likely aware of, for instance.
Indie publishing itself isn’t immune from system gaming, which is the whole point of this post. Amazon sure has problems with them. And a lot of the games aren’t based on some technical or logistical hole in an automated system that can be easily plugged up. Ergo, they’re a bit more difficult for Amazon to “clean up” and start preventing. I would imagine that doesn’t make Amazon very happy.
The latest clean up mess I’m aware of, picking up from forum whining, is Amazon cracking down on ARCs. That stands for “advanced review copies.” Amazon’s not against them in general, obviously, just the practice a lot of indie authors have been employing of assembling and using “ARC teams” — people with Amazon accounts whose whole raison d’être is to post those star-rated Amazon customer reviews. Besides just padding the review counts, timed well around book launch, those usually glowing reviews paint a rosy picture and prime the pump, so to speak. These “reviewers” get ARCs not to review and write about in regular media or even their own blogs to share with their readers — you know, old school legit ARC activity — but mainly for futzing with those Amazon customer reviews. It doesn’t really take a genius to figure that out, so save it.
Yeah, Amazon could of course turn a blind eye to the whole thing, but apparently it’s chosen to do a solid for its customers instead. Why that would be a surprise to anyone, I have no idea.
Just as unsurprisingly, Amazon’s none too happy with the game players. I don’t know the exact technical details, but it seems they’re all now on some internal watchlists (those can be automated too… surprise!). The ARC reviewers are seeing many of their reviews zapped, and they are now being prevented from posting reviews pretty much everywhere; authors are seeing their books’ existing reviews purged, yada yada.
As you may have guessed, however, this kind of manual/automated-hybrid cleanup effort is causing some real problems: There’s the inevitable collateral damage. Many of these books are seeing a significant number of legit reviews getting nuked as well. Interesting, huh? If you think about it, much like the Google keyword stuffing thing, the game players seem to be losing way more than whatever gains they may have enjoyed screwing with the system.
Funny how that works. If you’re caught up in this kerfuffle, good luck getting it all sorted out.
But hey, I’m not stopping you from trying to game the system if you’re so inclined — large scale, small scale, it’s all the same (yeah, killing just one person instead of 10 makes a difference, hmm?). But please, spare us the whining, and even the outrage, if it catches up to you.
This all just reminds me of this very common saying I keep stumbling across online. Amazing how well it fits:
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
Now on to the Reader’s featured selections! What say we keep it simple today and stick with an all-Writing issue? OK, let’s do that. Enjoy!
— EES
Writing
![1+tip[1] 1+tip[1]](https://wordpreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1tip1-167x130.jpg)
“Can’t you give me just 1 tip (for getting book reviews)?” she asked
“The other day a newly published author who had befriended me 5 minutes earlier asked me if I could give her just one tip how to get book reviews from Amazon top reviewers.
I told her to read my book.
She came back with, ‘Can’t you give me just 1 tip?’
Hmm… Apparently this author was not aware how much in demand these reviews are; on average Hall-of-Fame reviewers get 250+ review requests per month.
So, I told her that getting a book reviewed by an Amazon top reviewer isn’t a ‘1-tip thing,’ especially if the book did not have any reviews yet. Getting reviews is a challenging task that encompasses many steps; which is why my book has 100 pages.
She immediately un-friended me.
I guess that says it all. Just another wannabe author who does not really want to learn the trade. The indie author industry is overrun with people like that. The sooner they get out and make room for the people who really hone their craft and all skills, the better for all.
Of course, from experience I know that most indie authors work a lot harder than this one.
So, here is one tip for authors whose books received already a few reviews (including from top reviewers).
‘Like/find helpful’ the reviewers’ reviews!!!”
Continue reading @ Gisela’s Straightforward Blog »

“Self-Made” is a Myth; Here’s the Real Formula for Success
“[T]hat’s what most people get wrong. They never learn how to reach out. You’ve got to be willing to put yourself out there…”
» Medium

$4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book Only Spending $30 on Advertising
“I had a plan. A big plan. Heck, I had the plan of the universe — to sell thousands of copies of my new release Science Fiction book, Project Atlantis, during the first month I published it.
This plan started six months before I started writing the book. The plan entailed rapidly finishing three books in a series — Project Atlantis, Destination Atlantis, and Colony Atlantis — and once it had been edited, beta-read, and sent out to my ARC reviewers, I’d release Project Atlantis, then Destination Atlantis seven days later, and Colony Atlantis fourteen days after Destination Atlantis. Additionally, I’d have the fourth book, Beyond Atlantis, almost 100% written. Yet, I’d have Beyond Atlantis’s pre-order already up and running before Colony Atlantis was released, all the while dropping over $1500 dollars in Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, and on Promo Sites, and whatever else I could get my greedy paws on.
Well, I did none of the above.
Here is what happened that led me to only spending $30 on Facebook and Amazon ads and how I was able to make $4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book.”
Continue reading @ Medium »

10 Actionable WordPress Security Tips for the Layman
“[T]he more popular something is, the more people want to leverage on it for nefarious means… Fortunately, WordPress is a platform that offers you a multitude of opportunity to defend yourself.”
» WHSR
Free

10 Actionable WordPress Security Tips for the Layman
“[T]he more popular something is, the more people want to leverage on it for nefarious means… Fortunately, WordPress is a platform that offers you a multitude of opportunity to defend yourself.”
» WHSR
![greens-dictionary-of-slang-e1483430867849[1] greens-dictionary-of-slang-e1483430867849[1]](https://wordpreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/greens-dictionary-of-slang-e14834308678491-167x130.jpeg)
The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online
“…
In October, Green’s Dictionary of Slang became available as a free website, giving you access to an even more updated version of the dictionary. Collectively, the website lets you trace the development of slang over the past 500 years. And, as Mental Floss notes, the site ‘allows lookups of word definitions and etymologies for free …'”
Continue reading @ Open Culture »

WordPress Reader 06/19/18 Edition

How serious? Wordpreneur.com isn’t exactly a hotbed of activity currently. Even then, since June 5 — that’s only a couple of weeks ago — the site’s comment spam folder has collected 803 of them.
That’s nothing compared to many other sites. Now imagine having to administer all that crap manually.
Fortunately, we’ve got some equally serious help for WordPress that pretty much cost nothing. If you need one for your site, here are a few to check out, in alphabetical order (one of which is what I use here):
- Akismet Anti-Spam
- Antispam Bee
- CleanTalk AntiSpam
- Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin
- WordPress Zero Spam
- WPBruiser
Which one do I use? The first one, published and maintained by the WordPress dudes themselves.
Enjoy today’s featured selections!
— EES
WordPress
![1+tip[1] 1+tip[1]](https://wordpreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1tip1-167x130.jpg)
“Can’t you give me just 1 tip (for getting book reviews)?” she asked
“The other day a newly published author who had befriended me 5 minutes earlier asked me if I could give her just one tip how to get book reviews from Amazon top reviewers.
I told her to read my book.
She came back with, ‘Can’t you give me just 1 tip?’
Hmm… Apparently this author was not aware how much in demand these reviews are; on average Hall-of-Fame reviewers get 250+ review requests per month.
So, I told her that getting a book reviewed by an Amazon top reviewer isn’t a ‘1-tip thing,’ especially if the book did not have any reviews yet. Getting reviews is a challenging task that encompasses many steps; which is why my book has 100 pages.
She immediately un-friended me.
I guess that says it all. Just another wannabe author who does not really want to learn the trade. The indie author industry is overrun with people like that. The sooner they get out and make room for the people who really hone their craft and all skills, the better for all.
Of course, from experience I know that most indie authors work a lot harder than this one.
So, here is one tip for authors whose books received already a few reviews (including from top reviewers).
‘Like/find helpful’ the reviewers’ reviews!!!”
Continue reading @ Gisela’s Straightforward Blog »

“Self-Made” is a Myth; Here’s the Real Formula for Success
“[T]hat’s what most people get wrong. They never learn how to reach out. You’ve got to be willing to put yourself out there…”
» Medium

$4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book Only Spending $30 on Advertising
“I had a plan. A big plan. Heck, I had the plan of the universe — to sell thousands of copies of my new release Science Fiction book, Project Atlantis, during the first month I published it.
This plan started six months before I started writing the book. The plan entailed rapidly finishing three books in a series — Project Atlantis, Destination Atlantis, and Colony Atlantis — and once it had been edited, beta-read, and sent out to my ARC reviewers, I’d release Project Atlantis, then Destination Atlantis seven days later, and Colony Atlantis fourteen days after Destination Atlantis. Additionally, I’d have the fourth book, Beyond Atlantis, almost 100% written. Yet, I’d have Beyond Atlantis’s pre-order already up and running before Colony Atlantis was released, all the while dropping over $1500 dollars in Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, and on Promo Sites, and whatever else I could get my greedy paws on.
Well, I did none of the above.
Here is what happened that led me to only spending $30 on Facebook and Amazon ads and how I was able to make $4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book.”
Continue reading @ Medium »

10 Actionable WordPress Security Tips for the Layman
“[T]he more popular something is, the more people want to leverage on it for nefarious means… Fortunately, WordPress is a platform that offers you a multitude of opportunity to defend yourself.”
» WHSR

10 Best Uses of Video Marketing
“All brands need a video marketing strategy. Digital marketing professionals and video makers understand how integral video is to growth hacking the current market.”

10 Bestsellers That Began as Self-Published Books
“There is much to be said for self-publishing, especially if you have spent a year or ten (see Michael J. Sullivan below) trying to get publishing houses interested in your work.
If you self-publish, and do a proper job of marketing, your book may not only achieve success in its own right, but may be picked up by a major publishing house. (Ironically, it may even be published by one of the houses that has previously sent you a rejection slip.)
All of these books have one thing in common – their authors did not simply publish and then lean back and enjoy their success. They marketed, pitched, and sold the heck out of their books.
And they continued to write.
Here are a few best-selling books whose authors did not give up on them.”
Continue reading @ Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity »

10 books that will make you a better writer (and why)
“…
I love borrowing books. But there are some books that a writer really should have in their own personal for-keeps libraries. These are the books that you’ll keep coming back to, over and over, through your career.
Here are my top ten writing craft books. Some of them I’ve owned for twenty years or more. Some are new to me. Some are classics that you might already own. Maybe there are some that will be new to you.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
“You want to draw your readers into the world you’ve created, make them feel a part of it, make them forget where they are. And you can’t do this effectively if you tell your readers about your world secondhand.”
In 2004, when I was eight months pregnant, I won Nanowrimo for the first time. I wrote a truly awful first draft of a romantic suspense story. Then I had a baby girl on December 8. I never looked back. Once I knew that I could finish writing a novel, I knew that I could learn how to write well.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is the book that taught me how to be a better writer. I finished my first manuscript and took a solid year, going through this book, chapter by chapter, exercise by exercise, and applying what I learned to my work.
Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
“I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.”
Ray Bradbury’s little book of essays about writing and creativity is an essential little pocket of inspiration. I’ve read it half a dozen times and every single time, I pick up something new. Because it’s a collection of essays, you can pick it up and read what you need, when you need it.
Bradbury’s advice for fiction writers has shaped my writing life. He believed, especially, in short stories and in reading a lot. And watching movies. One of my favorite parts of Zen in the Art of Writing is the way that Bradbury breaks down how and why he wrote some of my favorite short stories.”
Continue reading @ Startup Grind »

10 Common Sales Objections (and How to Overcome Them)
“The remedy lies in anticipating and tackling customer objections head-on so you’re prepared and confident.”
» Rambl
Free

How Long Does Link Building Take to Influence Rankings?
“If you’re an SEO, chances are, you’ve recommended link building as a tactic. And, unless you work for a very trusting firm, you’ve probably been met with the question, ‘When will we see a return on our investment, and how much will we see?’
This is a question I’ve been asked numerous times, but never had a good answer for. The truth is, a new link doesn’t affect rankings immediately. That makes it hard to tie an individual link to SERP rankings increases, since there will usually be several other links and on-page changes made to a target page between the time when you get that first link and when you finally see increases in rankings.
So, I set out to figure this out myself. I’m lucky enough to be working for a company with nearly 200,000 indexed pages, which gets hundreds of new links each month naturally, through PR and through my link building efforts. That means I’ve got a lot of pages that only got 1–2 links in the last 6 months, and didn’t go through many on-page changes.
I picked out 76 links pointing to pages which are all similar to each other in content, and we didn’t change that content (significantly) for 6 months. I focused on rankings for target keywords with a 25–35% Keyword Difficulty Rating. I looked at two versions of their target keywords, so I could have a bit more data. The results aren’t super surprising to SEOs, but they’re often questioned by the managers of SEOs, and now you have graphs to prove what you’ve been saying all along.
It takes 10 weeks on average to see 1 rank jump
More links do have a more immediate effect.”
Continue reading @ Moz »
Charlie Munger quote
Take a simple idea and take it seriously. ~Charlie Munger

Figuring It Out: POD Book Cost & Net Profit Comparisons
“Are you with CreateSpace or IngramSpark and wonder what the profit is on each book? Do you see sales happening and yet your bank account is not growing? Let’s look at the dollars and cents of self-publishing.”

5 Lead Generation Strategies to Capture and Convert On Pinterest
“If you are not yet using Pinterest to market your products or services, you’re missing a significant marketing opportunity on a less saturated advertising platform.”
Webdev
![1+tip[1] 1+tip[1]](https://wordpreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1tip1-167x130.jpg)
“Can’t you give me just 1 tip (for getting book reviews)?” she asked
“The other day a newly published author who had befriended me 5 minutes earlier asked me if I could give her just one tip how to get book reviews from Amazon top reviewers.
I told her to read my book.
She came back with, ‘Can’t you give me just 1 tip?’
Hmm… Apparently this author was not aware how much in demand these reviews are; on average Hall-of-Fame reviewers get 250+ review requests per month.
So, I told her that getting a book reviewed by an Amazon top reviewer isn’t a ‘1-tip thing,’ especially if the book did not have any reviews yet. Getting reviews is a challenging task that encompasses many steps; which is why my book has 100 pages.
She immediately un-friended me.
I guess that says it all. Just another wannabe author who does not really want to learn the trade. The indie author industry is overrun with people like that. The sooner they get out and make room for the people who really hone their craft and all skills, the better for all.
Of course, from experience I know that most indie authors work a lot harder than this one.
So, here is one tip for authors whose books received already a few reviews (including from top reviewers).
‘Like/find helpful’ the reviewers’ reviews!!!”
Continue reading @ Gisela’s Straightforward Blog »

“Self-Made” is a Myth; Here’s the Real Formula for Success
“[T]hat’s what most people get wrong. They never learn how to reach out. You’ve got to be willing to put yourself out there…”
» Medium

$4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book Only Spending $30 on Advertising
“I had a plan. A big plan. Heck, I had the plan of the universe — to sell thousands of copies of my new release Science Fiction book, Project Atlantis, during the first month I published it.
This plan started six months before I started writing the book. The plan entailed rapidly finishing three books in a series — Project Atlantis, Destination Atlantis, and Colony Atlantis — and once it had been edited, beta-read, and sent out to my ARC reviewers, I’d release Project Atlantis, then Destination Atlantis seven days later, and Colony Atlantis fourteen days after Destination Atlantis. Additionally, I’d have the fourth book, Beyond Atlantis, almost 100% written. Yet, I’d have Beyond Atlantis’s pre-order already up and running before Colony Atlantis was released, all the while dropping over $1500 dollars in Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, and on Promo Sites, and whatever else I could get my greedy paws on.
Well, I did none of the above.
Here is what happened that led me to only spending $30 on Facebook and Amazon ads and how I was able to make $4,344.81 in 40 Days with my Fiction Book.”
Continue reading @ Medium »

10 Actionable WordPress Security Tips for the Layman
“[T]he more popular something is, the more people want to leverage on it for nefarious means… Fortunately, WordPress is a platform that offers you a multitude of opportunity to defend yourself.”
» WHSR

Bootstrap Business: Have You Got The Right Social Media Schedule In Place?
“When it comes to marketing, digital solutions are on top of the list for most companies of today. The influences of technology and social media have meant that online businesses are on the rise and marketing strategies are increasingly moving away from print marketing and into the digital side. Before social media existed, most marketing was done via newspapers, billboards and emails. Since the influx of social media websites, marketing has shifted and it’s mostly free for companies who utilize the social media sites online.
The one thing that companies need to remember, though, is upkeep! There are a huge variety of social media sites that you can use to promote your company, and if you are using each and every one of them, it takes some work to keep on top of them all. Companies that employ social media managers and full social teams to manage their online strategies are often on the ball, but when you don’t make social media a priority in your business, you could fall flat very quickly. You cannot simply exist on social media and hope that people find you and want to use your business. You have to be able to engage with customers on their level and offer them something more than your competition does. If your company is making it their business to reach out and be more to a customer than a face, you’re already winning.
Social media scheduling is one of the key things a business can do to keep up their engagement with their customers. It doesn’t matter whether you are working as a beauty company or a hairdresser, investing in the right salon software to ensure your marketing is carried out properly and on time is going to be crucial to your profits and bottom line. It takes time to see the results of a social media marketing strategy that is well executed and profitable. Your business will be better adaptable and far better organised if you are using the right social media strategy, and scheduling your social media is right up there with efficiency and management. Think about how much time your marketing team is using just trying to keep up with the plethora of social media sites at your fingertips. Ask yourself whether their time could be better spent elsewhere, getting into the finer details of social media strategizing rather than scheduling Tweets. There are some excellent benefits to having your staff schedule their social media, though, and we’ve got some of those benefits listed for you below:
Timing
Every business out there knows that timing is everything when it comes to marketing, but if you are scheduling your social media, you can reach the right time zones to reach your main audience. Social media marketing allows a business to be global, which means wherever you target, you can maximize your organic reach.”
Continue reading @ Bootstrap Business »
Writing More

10 Best Uses of Video Marketing
“All brands need a video marketing strategy. Digital marketing professionals and video makers understand how integral video is to growth hacking the current market.”

10 Bestsellers That Began as Self-Published Books
“There is much to be said for self-publishing, especially if you have spent a year or ten (see Michael J. Sullivan below) trying to get publishing houses interested in your work.
If you self-publish, and do a proper job of marketing, your book may not only achieve success in its own right, but may be picked up by a major publishing house. (Ironically, it may even be published by one of the houses that has previously sent you a rejection slip.)
All of these books have one thing in common – their authors did not simply publish and then lean back and enjoy their success. They marketed, pitched, and sold the heck out of their books.
And they continued to write.
Here are a few best-selling books whose authors did not give up on them.”
Continue reading @ Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity »

10 books that will make you a better writer (and why)
“…
I love borrowing books. But there are some books that a writer really should have in their own personal for-keeps libraries. These are the books that you’ll keep coming back to, over and over, through your career.
Here are my top ten writing craft books. Some of them I’ve owned for twenty years or more. Some are new to me. Some are classics that you might already own. Maybe there are some that will be new to you.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
“You want to draw your readers into the world you’ve created, make them feel a part of it, make them forget where they are. And you can’t do this effectively if you tell your readers about your world secondhand.”
In 2004, when I was eight months pregnant, I won Nanowrimo for the first time. I wrote a truly awful first draft of a romantic suspense story. Then I had a baby girl on December 8. I never looked back. Once I knew that I could finish writing a novel, I knew that I could learn how to write well.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is the book that taught me how to be a better writer. I finished my first manuscript and took a solid year, going through this book, chapter by chapter, exercise by exercise, and applying what I learned to my work.
Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
“I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.”
Ray Bradbury’s little book of essays about writing and creativity is an essential little pocket of inspiration. I’ve read it half a dozen times and every single time, I pick up something new. Because it’s a collection of essays, you can pick it up and read what you need, when you need it.
Bradbury’s advice for fiction writers has shaped my writing life. He believed, especially, in short stories and in reading a lot. And watching movies. One of my favorite parts of Zen in the Art of Writing is the way that Bradbury breaks down how and why he wrote some of my favorite short stories.”
Continue reading @ Startup Grind »

10 Common Sales Objections (and How to Overcome Them)
“The remedy lies in anticipating and tackling customer objections head-on so you’re prepared and confident.”
» Rambl

10 Essential Tips for Website Performance Optimization
10 Essential Tips for Website Performance Optimization
SOURCE: UnderConstructionPage
LINK: https://underconstructionpage.com/website-performance-optimization/
[P]erformance of the website is relatively essential to search engines such as Google or Yahoo as they measure it to determine the search engine rankings as well.”
[bookmark]

10 Expert Blogging Tips
10 Expert Blogging Tips
SOURCE: UnderConstructionPage
LINK: https://underconstructionpage.com/expert-blogging-tips/
More than half of internet users are accessing the web from a portable device. So the chances that your readers are accessing your content during their commute to work, while sitting in a waiting room somewhere, or even while working out, are statistically significant.”
[bookmark]

10 Major Websites You Can Build With WordPress
10 Major Websites You Can Build With WordPress
SOURCE: WPNewsify
WordPress has grown from a simple blog management system to a content management system which can have many uses in the current market. Not only that, it is slowly evolving into a platform that can solve end-to-end business problems.”
[bookmark]

10 Medium Articles Every Aspiring Entrepreneur Should Read
Web Article
10 Medium Articles Every Aspiring Entrepreneur Should Read
Wordpreneur
Reader
This is just one of many useful Wordpreneur Reader “discovered” Web articles and content. For lots more, click below!