WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO BRING: 

• Your laptop computer with power supply. 
• A set of headphones. 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO PREPARE:
When creating online profiles, a web page, a blog, just about anything, use your author name as much as possible. Your “author name” is the name that will be on your books. It can be your real name, or a pen name, that’s up to you. This is your brand. My website is scottsigler.com, Seth’s is sethharwood.com. For a Blogger.com blog, we would first use scottsigler.blogspot.com and sethharwood.blogspot.com. This is both to reinforce your brand, and to make things easy for you as you continue to expand your social media marketing -- there will be many accounts, and keeping different user names straight will be a challenge.

Google/Gmail Account:
If you have one, make sure you know your login information. If you do not have one, we will create one for you before the class. Google owns Blogger.com and Feedburner.com, two services we will be using in the class, and you have to have a Google Account to use those services.

Photo:
Have a JPEG or GIF photo of yourself on your computer in a place you can quickly find it. If you already have a book out, you can use the book cover as your photo. We will be using this photo for your Blogger profile.

Bio:
Before the class, write a one-paragraph author bio that announces you to your audience. (about 75 words)

Brief description of your book:
Write a one- to two-paragraph description of your work that's not more than 100 words.

A test-run music track for the demo version of the podcast you'll be making in class:
Have a look at the new Sample Podsafe Music Page. Here you'll find three songs that sound different. Give all three a listen and then download the one you like best using the instructions on the page. This is the quick solution. If you'd like to spend a little more time finding a song that REALLY suits your tastes, go to http://music.podshow.com, log in, and you'll be able to browse through loads of Creative Commons Licensed music that you can download and use on your podcast for free. We'll also be talking about that more in class, so for now if you'd like to just grab one song off the Sample page, that's fine! 

Software You'll Need: (all free online)

Download the most recent version of iTunes:
Go to http://www.itunes.com
Click on the button that says “Download iTunes.”
On the next page, enter you email address and click “install now.”
This will call up an installer. Run it, and install iTunes on your computer.

Are you on a Mac? Do you already have GarageBand installed on your Mac? If so, you’re fine.
If you do not, go to your local Apple Store and buy iLife, or buy it from the Apple online store. Audacity (see below) is also available for Mac as a free download.

Are you on a PC? Then download Audacity 1.3.7
Go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
Click the link to download Audacity 1.3.7

Check that you meet the system requirements, then run the Audacity installer

Download Levelator:
Go to http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator
Choose your platform: Windows or Mac (OS X) and Download The Levelator. This program will "magically" make all your audio sound better!

AND...

That's it! We'll see you soon!! We are really looking forward to this! We hope you are too!