Tag s | Facebook

Unpublished and on Social Media as an Author? Why?

It’s hard to get through a week without seeing at least one article on platform. Well, here’s yours for the week!

We agents ask authors for a platform, but I have found that unpublished authors wonder how or why they should show a professional presence on social media. That question is understandable. Without a book, what is the author promoting?

Promoting Yourself?

Yes, you are promoting yourself. You are using social media to establish a rapport with potential readers who will be looking for your book when it is published. Think about it – you may read a memoir written by a Christian celebrity, but a memoir written by a private person you have made no connection with? Not so much.

Are We Friends?

As you work toward publication, you are making genuine connections with people who may or may not read your book. Social media for authors shouldn’t be about pretending to be friends with people for no other reason than they’ll buy your book. It’s about making a connection with people because you have similar interests, world view, and, in the case of Christian authors, shared faith. Your social media friends will be happy to buy your book because they feel they have come to know you. You have made a hearts and minds connection. Your shared interest is real. They’ll want to read your book because they are interested in what you have to say.

What Do I Post?

The main thing is to be genuine. What do you want your potential readers to know about you? What do you find fun, entertaining, and informative? Chances are that through social media, you’ll find many people who enjoy the same things you do.

Fiction?

Novelists can talk about the time period they’re writing about in history, or staying up to date yet not too dated when writing a contemporary novel. Perhaps one of your characters has an interesting hobby. Asking social media pals to name characters is fun, as is posting pictures of hairstyles and fashions. Have fun!

Nonfiction?

Nonfiction authors should be writing about a topic interesting and important enough to generate a natural audience. For example, if you’re writing about parenting toddlers, let it be known that your book hopes to help and you should find an audience.

What about Privacy?

Some authors feel more inclined to share their lives than others, but it’s always a good idea to be cautious. One way to do this is to keep certain accounts open to family, where you might share more than you do on accounts that are meant to be seen by everyone. My rule of thumb is that I never post anything anywhere on social media that I would object to a stranger seeing.

Promotion?

Once your book is published, it’s okay to promote. However, don’t forget your first reason for being on social media – connection. No one wants to see a constant stream of promotion for any product, even great products. Promote sparingly, and keep being the genuine person you are.

 

Your turn

What tips can you offer authors on social media?

What author do you believe does an exceptional job on social media?

What do you enjoy most about social media?

 

Leave a Comment

Arguments to Abandon on Facebook

The expression “choose your battles” is a good one, especially in this time when authors must use social media to engage with potential readers. In fact, at a recent author gathering, one mentioned to me that she abandoned Facebook because she was tired of negative comments. I can understand that. …

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My Amazing Fake Day

I’ve been intrigued by some blogs and articles about how Facebook makes people depressed because everyone else’s lives seem so perfect. I hope that no one thinks the sum of my life is reflected in two recent Facebook posts that my uncle killed a bear on our family farm in Southern Virginia and here in Northern Virginia, we are host a family of walking stick bugs. I took great comfort in the support from my friends through social media, and our blog readers, after the Navy Yard shootings. So yes, everyone knows my life isn’t perfect. But what if I could have an amazing fake workday just to post on Facebook? Here’s mine, a mixture of truth and fantasy:

4 AM: Rise to read and ponder passages of my Schofield Bible, followed by prayer.

5 AM: Polish furniture, remembering the Benedictine rule to dedicate each task to God.

6 AM: Eat breakfast with Hubby before he goes to work. Afterwards, meditate upon a maxim of St. Teresa of Avila. Today’s Maxim: Never mention anything concerning thyself which men account praiseworthy, such as learning, goodness, birth, unless with a hope of going good thereby, and then let it be done with humility, remembering that these are gifts of God.

6:30 AM: Continue reading Tozer: Mystery of the Holy Spirit.

7 AM – Noon: Catch up on business emails, blogs, and calls, including fielding several contracts with healthy offers for clients. Take a break to touch base with both daughters, Hubby, Momma and Daddy, and mother-in-law. On some days, this time slot may also include church work.

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News You Can Use – April 10, 2012

Pew Research Findings on E-Reading – If you want a sense of what’s happening, read this article. Then once you’ve digested it, read Mike Shatzkin’s evaluation of the data. Together the articles may take an hour to absorb.

The Perfect Elevator Pitch for a New Job – Interesting article with applications for a writer creating the perfect pitch for their book idea

Five Best Bluetooth Headsets – A link for you techies out there. If you have a favorite vote in the comment section.

Judging a Book by its Cover – A 17 minute lecture from the TED conference by a book cover designer (Chip Kidd has been a designer at Alfred A. Knopf since 1986). At turns amusing and enlightening. If you are an author and want to get inside the head of a designer in an entertaining way, consider watching.

Five Great Movies about Writing – Have to admit never seeing any of these. Am I an uncultured sloth? Don’t answer that question. Instead add your two cents in the comments below.

Infographic on how the Internet is ruining our brain:

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News You Can Use – Mar. 20, 2012

Why Finish Books – I loved this essay! He had me at the picture of C.S. Lewis…

Why Your Book Isn’t Selling – Suggestions from a book marketing expert.

The Publishing Industry May Not be Falling Apart After All – One author suggests that today’s crisis sound awfully familiar. And underneath all the talk of seismic changes and Amazon, she has a valid point. If you click all the way through to her original article you will find a “Live Journal” site that is hard to read on screen.

Free E-book on How to Attract Customers with Twitter – From Hubspot. Must submit registration info to get the free e-book. They offer a number of these papers on a regular basis.

Is Your Facebook Account Part of Your Estate? – Facebook says that if you die your Facebook account must be closed. So all your writing, pictures, etc. will disappear. And they don’t like it if someone else simply uses your password to keep it online. Goes to the heart of what you “own” and do not “own” on the Internet.

How One Man Started Writing for “Sports Illustrated” – He worked on his craft for six years before submitting something to an editor.

The Making of the Hunger Games Blockbuster – Whether you like the book or not is beside the point. Read the article to find out how this YA phenomenon grew via word of mouth and intentional marketing. Fascinating.

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News You Can Use – Mar. 6, 2012

Your Average Facebook Post Only Reaches 12% of Your Friends – Exposing yet another challenge to the world of marketing, either through traditional means or through social media.

New French Law Seizes Digital Rights – “Any book published in France–which would include translated foreign-language books–that went out of print in France–not necessarily elsewhere–before 2001, can be scanned into a database.” And then be made available without compensation.

It Has Come to This in Hollywood – GCB. Fire up the TiVo for that one… Good grief.

From Idea to Store Shelf – I love these kind of stories. Shows the incredible “curation” it takes for a good idea to become great and then what it takes to bring it to market. There are many parallels to the writing and publishing industry here.

Give it Five Minutes, Then React to an Idea – A good reason why appointments at a conference are 15 minutes long.

Free Mac Tools That Make Writing Easier – Agree or disagree? What tools do you use? And if you are on a PC, what do you use?

Anatomy of a Successful Press Release – Try writing one for your own book. Discover that is ain’t easy.

Eight Basic Don’ts for the Beginning Novelist – Steve Moore provides some great stuff. Good reminders for those who think they know this already.

This is a very clever ad for the British newspaper, “The Guardian.”
Click to view “The Three Little Pigs.”

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7 Ways Agents Measure Social Media

Guest Blog by Thomas Umstattd

In the old days all you had to do was tell an agent or publisher “I’m on Facebook, Twitter and I have a blog” and they would be impressed with your online presence. Now publishers are getting more sophisticated in measuring your online presence. They are realizing that not all blogs are the same and that the size of your Twitter following does not directly correlate to influence.

This post goes over 7 ways agents and publishers will measure your social platform in 2012. You may also want to check out 7 Things Agents & Publishers Look for in Author Websites (2012 Edition).

1. Number of Facebook Likes

What is it?

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News You Can Use – Feb. 14, 2012

It has begun – The Welcome Assault on Costly Textbooks– But is this the best way to do it? Free online publisher-quality textbooks for five of the country’s most-attended college courses. Funded by big charitable organizations like The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It could change the economic future of some major textbook publishers. I fear the homogenization of Education or the control of what is taught in college Biology class, just because it is free.

Pinterest Boards for Book Lovers – Ten places to try out the latest social network phenomenon.

Five Ways to Maximize the New Changes on Facebook – Confused by yet another change to Facebook? This should help.

Is Self-Publishing a Ponzi Scheme? – Richard Curtis, as usual, is brilliant and insightful. Do think this is out of line? or cutting close to the truth?

Is it Time to Bundle the E-book with the Physical Book in Online Sales? – I asked this question of Hachette 2 1/2 years ago during a Digital Initiatives presentation and was told no. Dennis Johnson of Melville House Publishers discussed the issue with great insight.

Lady Solves Wheel-of-Fortune Puzzle with One Letter – This article shows that it wasn’t luck but years of study and preparation. Sort of like something thinking they can just sit down and write a whole book in a weekend.

Happy Valentine’s Day!


Source:LiveScience

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News You Can Use – Feb. 7, 2012

Author Says McGraw-Hill Cheats on Royalties – Details of a pending lawsuit.

What is Pinterest? –  The latest craze in Social Media Networks. AuthorMedia shows you the simple steps to sign up and tips on how to use it in the next article below.

Three Ways an Author Can Use Pinterest – Last week an editor told me how she was following a couple of her authors on Pinterest and how much she liked it.

5 Ways to Break Out of the Social Media Doldrums – Well said by Aubre Andrus.

10 Ways to Ensure No One Will Read Your Blog Post – Ali Luke give great insight

How Hard Can it Be to Write a Kids Book? – Sally Lloyd-Jones helps dispel a common myth.

A very cool six minute video envisioning a future technology. Imagine computing being done on glass walls, desks, and even National Parks. From Corning. By the way, Corning makes the “Gorilla Glass” that you find on the iPad2.

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