Not Your Usual Suspects: alerts

NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

We find our genre delightfully, dangerously, and deliciously exciting - join us here, if you do too!

NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Be Alert! - the use and misuse of Google Alerts

Join the authors and friends of Not Your Usual Suspects for an occasional series of posts about their world of reading, writing and publishing.

Short and sweet, hopefully both informative and entertaining - join us at I-Spy to find out the how's and why's of what we do.

TODAY'S POST: I-Spy something beginning with ... BE ALERT!

How thrilled am I when someone gets in touch to say they've featured my book, or made a comment, or - even more appreciated! - reviewed it online. It's heartening to know my book is being read and hopefully liked. It's also an opportunity to bring it to the attention of other readers.

And if nobody lets me know, or I'm not spending much time online? Use Google Alerts to email you when the name of an author or book appears in its common searches.

You can use an Alert for things other than your writing, of course. It can be for news about your work, about events or celebrities you're following. I've used it in the past to keep an eye on a publisher that I was having trouble getting my royalties from, and learned that they were having financial problems.

Here's an easy guide to HOW.

SETTING UP A GOOGLE ALERT FOR REVIEWS

Go to http://www.google.com/alerts

The screen below will appear.

If you already have a Google ID – through your yahoo email, for example – it’ll pick up your email address automatically. Otherwise you just have to type in the email address you want notifications sent to.

In Search query, enter the name of your book. I also add my name, so I don’t pick up too many random combinations from the web:

CLARE LONDON, FREEMAN

Then CREATE ALERT.

I’ve set up one for each of my books, and also a more general one of CLARE LONDON, REVIEW.

I keep the other default options –

Result type: Everything / How often: once a day (I don't get that many LOL) / How many: only the best results. But you can choose others from the drop down menu if you want.

At any time, you can go back to the same link and choose to “Manage Your Alerts” i.e. Add / change / delete any searches you have.

Here's what I hopefully get in response, straight to my inbox!

And the MISUSE of alerts? They can be a two-edged sword!

You may have heard of the Review Paranoia: how obsessive we can get with reviews, whether we're searching daily for them, sniffling because we don't get them, gnashing our teeth at the ones that just don't "GET" us, or ... well. You know what I mean :)

Sometimes it's best to step away. After all, you may choose to use your time more wisely and WRITE!

--------------------
Clare London, Author
Writing ... Man to Man

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