We’re sorry. We made an error in judgment.

It was an enthusiastic error, and one that we made because we were excited.

We sent out an email to a list of our friends, acquaintances, social media contacts, and other people announcing the Twitter Marketing for Dummies book.

It’s my fault, I guess. This was my first book. I helped write it, and even though my name is not on the cover (see my previous post Ghostwriting for Dummies), I was still pretty excited.

I wrote half the book with Kyle Lacy over the summer, at the same time I was working on my own novel, running a new business, preparing to move, and trying to spend as much time with my family as possible. It’s been an exciting time.

I also asked my partners, Paul and Mike, to help spread the word. “Let’s send it to our contacts,” I said. So we did.

We had one complaint. Despite our best efforts to give readers the opportunity to opt out with our “Instant Unsubscribe” option, this person shared their unhappiness with receiving the email with complaints on Twitter. I did not know the answer to his question and provided a canned response. This made him angry. My partner Paul, did address the question directly, as he was already connected to the person on Linkedin.

Lesson learned. Despite knowing better, it is always best to be direct and answer a person’s question. If you don’t know, find the answer. “When in doubt, find it out”

(Their public grievances did work to our advantage, however, since they led to a big bump in traffic and a couple book orders. So I guess we should appreciate their public outcry.)

So, if you received our email and you didn’t appreciate it, please hit the “Instant Unsubscribe” link, and accept our apologies. Forgive me for my enthusiasm, it’s exciting publishing a book.

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I’ve got a confession to make. Okay, not so much a confession, since it’s already one of the worst kept secrets ever.

My name is Erik, and I’m a ghostwriter.

(“Hi, Erik.”)

You probably already knew that. I own a company that ghostwrites blogs for other companies. I recently wrote a humor novel about a ghost in Irvington, a historic neighborhood in Indianapolis. (Ghost. Writing. Get it?) I’ve even ghostwritten a number of speeches, including for two U.S. Congressional campaigns about 6 and 8 years ago.

I recently helped ghostwrite another book that I’m very proud to be a part of.

I helped Kyle Lacy write Twitter Marketing for Dummies. Actually, I wrote half of it.

Not many people will know it, especially because my name is not on the cover. (Because I’m a ghostwriter; we don’t get our names on covers.) However, my name is there in the acknowledgments, and there are a few places where Kyle and I have some back and forth with each other on Twitter. We also reference people in our made up tweets, like Doug Karr, Michelle Ball, Lorraine Ball, and a few others.

I was really pleased that Kyle asked me to be a part of the project. And I was honored that he thought enough of my writing skills to ask me to help.

So how well is this book going to do? We don’t know. We both have ideas of grandeur, of a wild book tour where social media noobies and spammers Internet marketers flock to the bookstore in droves, screaming our names. But we also know that the harder work is yet to come. Writing a book is easy, promoting it is where the real work comes in.

If only there was some way we could market the book to a lot of people, quickly, easily, and even for free. I wish someone would build a tool that would communicate with thousands of people simultaneously, in short text-based messages. If only, if only. . .

We’re also looking at speaking engagements and presentations to corporate groups, conferences, and of course, the screaming groupies. So if you know of any speaking opportunities where people want to know how to use Twitter for their online marketing, send Kyle (@KylePLacy) or me (@edeckers) a tweet and we’ll get in touch with you.

Kyle and I are already discussing another project or two we are considering. He’s got the connections, and I can type 95 words per minute; together, we’ve got the know-how about the subject matter. The world is our oyster, and we’re going to write about it.

BUY NOW! Twitter Marketing for Dummies at Amazon

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