Writers & Social Media

As writers, what do we need to know about social media? Bluntly put, we need to know how to use it! We need to be able to get our name and our personality out there, we need to be able to build an audience before we get our work out there. Once we get our work out there, we need to be able to market it.

Each social media site works a bit differently. I do have a personal site, that carries all of my diverse interests.

I have one account on Twitter, and I share my thoughts, links to my work (books and blogs), as well as commenting on an sharing posts that have something to say.

On LinkedIn, I do the same thing. I share my thoughts, links to my work, comment on and share posts that have meaning, as well as putting up the occasional article.

On Facebook, I have a personal page that I keep private, as well as a professional author's page, and a page for my wellness blog.

I do three blogs a week - an author's blog, a wellness blog, and a blog for my flash fiction.

I also have a monthly newsletter that I put out through Mail Chimp, devoted to anything related to writing.  

Another important equivelant to a social media site is to create an author's page on Amazon, where all of your work that is published through Amazon, whether it is published by a brick and mortar publisher or self-published (Kindle Direct Publishing). 

(c) September 2019 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.

Facebook Apps - Part of Your Future?

 

Thanks to Dee Morrison (LAGirl13), the following article from Social Media Examiner crossed my path - 8 Facebook Apps To Enhance Your Facebook Page. Facebook and I have (somewhat) of an adversarial relationship, and I am not a techie in any sense of the work, so I wasn't sure about this. The one thing that I knew is that Dee provides links to articles with value, so whether I acted on the information, it would be advantageous to at least know what was out there, what was being offered.

Supposedly these little gems add "function and flair" to your Facebook pages. Some of the bling that we can add include storefronts, lead generation, and the ability to promote. That last one sparked my interest - as an author, I have books that I would love toget a better handle on promoting.

One of the first things that this article told me was that Facebook apps are also know as Facebook tabs, and that they appear under the cover photo. If the tab is going togo all the way across the cover photo, then it needs to be created within that width, to prevent the appearance of scroll bars on your tab.

It is also recommended that a custom tab cover photo be designed to draw attention tot he tab. The dimensions of the tab cover photo are 111 pixels wide by 74 pixels tall. 

Some tabs will not appear on mobile devices, There is also something called "like-gating", or "fan-gating". To tell you the truth, I don't understand this concept, but what happens is that when placed on a site, your Facebook content is kept hidden until someone clicks on the"like" button. Sneaky, eh! Perhaps not so, as it is used ot good advantage for contests, sweepstakes and the like.

I am not going to go into the eight specific apps - you can click on the link above and see exactly what tghe article has to say. If you are at all interested, it is time well spent! 

Interesting side note: if a page has more than four apps, click on the arrow on the right side of the cover photo's to have them all appear.

I felt that the article offered both pros and cons ...that it was balanced, and realistic. For anyone who uses Facebook for more than superficial chatting, it is worth reading.

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited in all venues without written permission from the author. 

Common Mistakes When Marketing Your Book

 

Marketing is never an easy task ... at least, not for me. Now I find out there are mistakes that we can make when posting on social media sites. that can shoot us in the foot! Who knew! I feel like I just went down the rabbit hole with posting!

The whole premise of posting on social media sites is to engage people, get them to read your material, and keep them wanting more. Generally this is done in a gentle way. The first thing not to do is to push people to buy your book. For heaven's sake - tell them what it is ab out, tell them why they want to read it, and allow them to make the choice! just a hint here - try and avoid the phrase "Buy my book", in all of its various incarnations! Put a book page on your site where people can get information on your books. I do a separate page for each of my books ... for me, that works out best.

Avoid using phrases like "You will love my book!", or "I hope you'll read my book!" You are weakening your position here, IMHO. Allow the prospective reader to decide whether they want to read your book, and whether they like it or not. 

If you are posting a link to your book, give it an intro. Do you click on links that you have no clue about? I sure don't!

Write your post for the site you are posting it on. Facebook, Google +, and Linkedin can safely take the same text and make sensed of it. With Twitter, you have to be a bit more creative. Another hint ... something that is worded for Twitter is going to look close to irrelevant  on the other social media sites. Saving time is a good thing ... looking bad isn't!

Watch the url's that you are posting.  If your prospective readers are from the UK, list the Amazon UK link. If they are from the US, list the US link. If you have prospective readers from both countries, list both links. This is a courtesy to your readers.

Map out a schedule for your posts, and say something different each time. Your book has more than one thing to say, certainly! Don't bore people, or turn them off.

Think before you post!

(c) 2000- 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited in all venues without the written permission of the author.

Instagram Marketing

I personally do not use Instagram, for marketing or for anything else. However, I have seen a couple of articles being tossed around about Instagram and marketing, so I decided to look into it. A few of the things that I saw being stressed were that it was mobile, and that it was a way to communicate directly with potential customers. When people get to know us one on one, it helps to build both credibility and trust.

The app is for both iPhones and Androids, and allows you to share both photos and videos with your target market. I am not a photo person, although I do use them with my blogs to break up the text and create interest. I do the same thing with my review work - to show as many pics as I can to generate interest in what I am reviewing. 

Pinterest operates on somewhat the same concept, and is also a site that I have no interest in using. Instagram, because it uses both photos and videos, is better able to take your information and form a story with and from it. Both Instagram and Pinterest give the user the ability to "like" a photo or video. (Note: Pinterest supports You Tube, Vimeo, and TED videos.) People are able to find you, and follow you, on Instagram through the use of hashtags. 

Through the use of images and hashtags, you can develop a visual strategy for attracting prospective clients/customers. You can also place a link to your site along with the hashtag. While I am not using this technique right now, I think that it could be used by people like me - writer's that are publishing their books independently.  

Instagram allows sharing of images through Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Tumblr, or e-mail. You can also interface with Instagram through your desktop, which also allows you to access Statigram, which analyses all of your Instagram data. 

I am still in the consideration phase on this, but I may be able to develop strategy using Instagram that would beat something else that I am considering, which is placing videos on my blogs. It is a brave new world!

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited in all venues without the written permission of the author.

Paying Attention To Life

 

So often we do not pay attention to life. This happened to me this past week, when I received a post from a friend who was at the end of her financial rope in continuing to keep open two well used and significant tools within the Tarot community - Attune Magazine (she is founder and editor), and Attune Magazine Radio on Blog Talk Radio. Aside from her time, it takes money to keep these venues going. I was appalled that I had not seen this situation coming, and immediately took what action I could take. I also placed a challenge out to the Tarot community, and this was their response - Thank You! I am very proud of the Tarot community, and its ability to step up. A small plug for Mary here - If you would like to place an article/interview/review/poetry/video/ad in Attune Magazine (this is a quarterly magazine, next issue due out in July), or if you would like to be interviewed on Mary's radio show, click  here -  Attune Magazine.

Speaking of gentle promoting - my friend Jennifer Sieck invited me to an event called the Fishbowl on Facebook. The event will be going on all weekend. All we do is introduce ourselves, and place a post and a link on the event page. Jennifer also suggested making up a free card at Vista Print to add some pizzazz to my posts, so I did that too! I get to read about other practitioners/counselors/artists, like their pages,and they in turn like mine! What a deal! And what a group of very nice people!

There are a couple of links that I would like to share with you. The first one is very close to my heart - Kindle Formatting. I have a couple of books in the world of Kindle, and wish that I had known this before I very haphazardly managed to get them  up! Future books will go up with much greater ease!

I dearly love the lady who wrote this post - although we have never met, and never spoken. She is so clear, and so organized - her work is a pleasure to read! Second Thoughts On Publishing Your Print Book.

What a year! My co-author Brad Tesh and I have been promoting our book, Seek Joy ... Toss Confetti on several Blog Talk radio shows (thank you to Mary Nale, Maggie Lukowski and Jean Maurie Puhlman, Melinda Carver, and Jennifer Sieck!), and even managed to get a page up on Facebook - Seek Joy ... Toss Confetti. Next up for me - promotingmy new Tarot book - Tarot, Rituals, and You.

One last link, for those of us that are self-publishing - Write and Promote Your Indie Book Quickly and Easily .

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Republication in any format prohibited without written permission from the author.

Creating A Facebook Event

I just created a Facebook event, Dream the Big Dream, and lived to tell about it! Facebook is really touchy ... they can do anything they want to do, and we have to put up with it. But we have to toe the line, or we get our accounts suspended! Luckily, the event template is a fill in the blank kind of thing,and the only thing that really could go wrong was the section for the event description. I went plain and simple ... don't want to get anybody's hackles up!

I am asking people to make the time on March 10th to visit my iLA site, and check out the application. Why choose one day, when the page is there 24/7? Because I ant people to commit to doing this, rather than saying "Okay, sounds good, I'll take a look at it when I can." They mean well, but how much follow-up can one expect? Not much. 

It was quite interesting going through my friends list and sending the invites. I had to make sure no one got invited multiple times (I have friends that are on my list in both personal and professional capacity), and that those I knew wouldn't be interested weren't bothered. We shall see how well I did or didn't do with this! ;-)

If  this works well, I will be creating future events for book launches and such. Once I get the hang of how this is done, I can be creative with the actual event. Watch out world!

(c) March 2013 Bonnie Cehovet  

Networking For Writers

 

In my previous post, I talked about ongoing projects, and a bit about the process of writing as it plays itself out in my life. Today I am going to take a look at how I plan to network as a writer/author. Through working as a professional Tarot reader, writer, and reviewer, I found  that it was important to make connections that were consistent, and when possible, in person. 

To that end, I created a presence on social media sites as they presented themselves - first Facebook, then Twitter, the Google +.  Somewhere along the line I created a Linked In profile, although it took years before I (or anyone else in the Tarot community, actually) began to really work in creating a presence there. With each of these sites I have tried to learn the process, to dig into what the site has to offer, and to consistently post on both a personal and a professional basis. I try to engage in group pages and communities that peak my interest, and that I feel I have something to offer to. 

I have found that if something doesn't work for me, then to quietly leave the group, or discontinue the practice (such as the #FF on Twitter) works well. My time is well spent, and I am getting energy back from my efforts. I have connected with some totally awesome people along the way ... people that I would not have otherwise met.

I have also made good use of my RSS feed - following blogs that I really don't have the time to be checking on daily ... or even weekly. They pop up on my feed as a new post goes out, and I can read it or not, depending on my interest level and the amount of time I have available. This keeps me connected with the work that other people are doing, and the ideas that they are developing. I try to leave feedback when appropriate. Me being me ... I try to make that positive feedback.

I am following this same process with my presence as a writer/author. I have created a presence on social media sites, added to my RSS feed, and edited my profiles accordingly (especially on Linked In). Something that I did not mention above was joining organizations appropriate to my interests. I belong to two Tarot organizations, because I feel that they represent the field well, and that they work hard at maintaining their integrity. I plan to do the same thing within the field of writing. My search involves two major criteria: organizations focused on women writers, and organizations focused on the mystery genre.

Another aspect of networking for me is attending seminars/conferences. I have done this in the field of Tarot, and am looking for conferences that I might be interested in in the field of writing. It provides a bit of "down time", a bit of travel (unless the seminar/conference is in the city that you live in), a way of expanding my knowledge, and a way to meet other writers/authors in person.

It's all a process ... and the process is intriguing! 

(c) January 2013 Bonnie Cehovet