Frances Caballo's Blog: 10 Twitter Tips Writers Need to Know, page 27

Indie Author Weekly Update – June 8, 2018

Welcome to this week’s Indie Author Update. Wow! There was a plethora of book marketing blog posts on the internet this past week. I’d like to point out David Gaughran’s post on how to sell books. As usual, he offers some real gems.

As always, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Marketing Uncovered: How To Sell Books by David Gaughran: “Marketing is more complicated than ever, but the tools we have for reaching readers are fantastic these days, and the rewards for reaching the summit of Mount Discovery are simply immense. Even worth this long-ass intro I’m about to drop! Sometimes we forget. I hear people complaining that things are down across the board and Amazon is squeezing the margin out of everyone, or that the Golden Era is over.”

Hate Book Marketing? 4 Tips To Help You Change Your Mindset and Sell More Books from Joanna Penn and Belinda Griffin: “It’s ridiculous, you’ve written an entire series of novels, you have a great flair for writing, but this tweet, this tiny message to the world… it’s impossible! You’re not alone. I’ve suffered from this myself and spoken to plenty of other writers who feel the same. You’re not crazy, or stupid, or anything else you may have called yourself. There is, in fact, a very reasonable explanation for your struggle.”

SEO for Authors – Part 1 from TheBookDesigner.com and by Dave Chesson: “Search Engine Optimization, commonly referred to as SEO, is the art and science of convincing a search engine, like Google, to send people to your website, content, or product. As an author, why should you care?”

How to Network Better by Saying Less by Jane Friedman: “When I was growing up, my mother often repeated the adage “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” It’s rare that you hear that advice today (we live in very different times), but, for better or worse, I took it to heart and soon uncovered the strange power of silence. Far from preventing people from passing judgment on me, it did the opposite. By remaining quiet in a room full of people talking, and then offering a sharp observation, it increased my presence and influence. Sometimes people listen more carefully when you do finally speak, or they attribute meaning that isn’t there to acts of silence.”

Publishing on Medium…Can It Work for You? – BookWorks from BookWorks: “We wrote about publishing on Medium here in April 2016, when it was still finding its legs. Check out that post if you’re not familiar with Medium to understand its genesis. Since then it has grown and evolved, now offering monetization that was only in the works back then. In the interest of keeping tabs on developments, we set up a free account and receive a daily list of curated content based on the categories we selected. We watched Medium become a robust network of smart writers and experts on every imaginable subject.”

How To Strategically Build A Brand Experience By Guest by Charli Mills and from Rachel Thompson: “Before I rode off into the sunset to pursue literary art in 2012, I used to ride for an outfit, herding their brand. As the person in charge of the marketing communications department for a growing natural food enterprise, I multi-tasked in key areas. My team’s most important responsibility was to manage the organization’s brand experience. Like authors with multiple books, we owned multiple brands. We depended upon a customer base to interact with those brands to give them full expression.”

Quote of the Week

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

Practical tips for marketing your books on the social web

Whether you’re setting up your social media for the first time or wanting to take it to the next level, get the newest edition of Social Media Just for Writers.

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Published on June 08, 2018 01:39

How I Accumulated 40,000 Twitter Followers

I remember when I joined Twitter seven years ago. Within the first day, I had four followers, and I recall running out of my office and into the kitchen so I could tell my husband that four people were following me. “Me!” I said.

I was stoked.

I didn’t know back then that to gain followers you had to follow people, so I did nothing, aside from posting a few tweets every day.

Don’t Be a Twit

Then I did the worst thing possible. (I made other mistakes in those days but, hey, I was still learning.) I signed up for an application called TrueTwit. Basically, the application “verifies” that someone who follows you isn’t a bot or a spammer by making new followers type a captcha. If they don’t type the captcha, you can’t follow them back, assuming they’re worth following.

If someone locks down their account, preventing people from following, it’s their fault for being overly cautious. The result? Their account doesn’t grow. They are virtually turning their back to Twitter’s social experience and the opportunity to socialize with their readers and meet new readers as well as meet new colleagues.

When I used the application, I obviously didn’t know better. After a year or two, I might have had 100 followers. Then I read a radical suggestion. Someone recommended that anyone who used an app like TrueTwit should dump it immediately and start following 50 people a day.

I immediately dumped TrueTwit and started following my target demographic, authors.

By the end of the year, I gained about 5,000 followers, and my account grew from there to its present state of 40,000 followers.

So my first bit of advice is don’t use TrueTwit or any application that’s similar to it and if you want to have followers, you need to follow people. Actively start to follow 50 people a day. Starting now.

Unfollow Inactive Twitter Accounts

Not everyone you follow will follow you back. So after giving people a week or so to follow you back, you’ll need to unfollow them. Just say adios to them.

To unfollow these Twitter users, you’ll need to use an application such as Tweepi or ManageFlitter. I’ve used both apps, and I look them both. ManageFlitter also keeps track of inactive accounts (I believe Tweepi does too but I no longer use it) – those people who followed you but then stopped tweeting. I unfollow those accounts as well because I don’t want to tweet to inactive accounts.

ManageFlitter has quite a few awesome features. For example, it identifies bots and spam accounts, I profiled all of its features in a how-to post some time back. The instructions and screenshots haven’t changed, so I recommend that you visit it here.

Pay Attention to Trending Hashtags

Every day I take a look at trending hashtags. Sure, sometimes they’ll be about sports and TV shows but other times they will mention famous authors, #1LineFriday and other hashtags relevant to authors.

My point here is that you never know what you’ll find in trending hashtags. If you check them every day, you’ll no doubt find hashtags relating to writing, publishing, and reading. Friday reads often trends on Twitter as does NaNoWriMo in November.

Watching trending hashtags and then posting about them can help widen your circle of contacts and followers.

Be Sociable

My last tip is to be sociable.

As I’ve said many times, the essence of social media is to be social and sociable. So ask and answer questions. Say thank you. And be open to meeting new people.

What are your favorite Twitter tips?

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

Practical tips for marketing your books on the social web

Whether you’re setting up your social media for the first time or wanting to take it to the next level, get the newest edition of Social Media Just for Writers.

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Published on June 04, 2018 01:14

Indie Author Weekly Update – June 1, 2018

There are a lot of great posts in this week’s Indie Author Update. Enjoy them all. There are a lot of gems in these posts.

The above photo might not make any sense to you, but it does to me. You see, in the summer my husband and I spend several evenings a week attending outdoor concerts, listening to live music, and of course, dancing. How we love to dance together. However you spend your summer, I hope you have a blast.

3 Innovative New Tools to Discover Promising Blog Topics by @mike_allton by Mike Alton: “What will your next blog post be about? Do you know what your audience is actually interested in? Addressing these questions is what sets the successful blogger apart. She’s done her homework and understands who her audience is and what they want to learn about. She’s researched the niche and identified the specific topics and questions that need to be covered in blog articles, and she has mapped out a publishing calendar for herself.”

Facebook Launches New Tools for Groups, Improving Functionality and Potential from Social Media Today: “Facebook has been putting increased emphasis on groups of late, with The Social Network seeing them as a way to keep users more engaged, while also enabling a level of user moderation, lessening the load for Facebook’s internal moderation team.”

11 Marketing Tips to Get More Eyes on Your Blog or Author Website by Novel Publicity: “Hopefully, it is to craft amazing posts that people want to come and read and share with others. And you may indeed be crafting those great reads – articles, self-improvement, inspiring topics, and letting readers get to know you. But, unlike the famous statement in the movie Field of Dreams, “Build it and they will come,” this is not true for blogs. You have to market your blog just as much as your market your book/services. While this post is directed at bloggers, there’s a ton of good advice for writer websites too!”

This is Why Your Author Branding Matters More Than You Think by Rachel Thompson: “It’s even become a running joke at this point with my chat community as if they’re waiting for me to throw that line in there. Yet, it’s not just a line. It’s what makes the difference between a successful author and a not-so-successful one. I’ve written about branding before in great detail, so in this post, I want to go more into detail about the importance of author branding and its impact on your success.”

How To Get Your Book Into Schools And Double Your Income With Volume Sales by Joanna Penn: “Making a full-time living as a writer is all about multiple streams of income, and bulk sales are a great way of making revenue by doing direct. In today’s show, Dave Hendrickson talks about the joy of selling books to schools – and takes us behind the scenes of the financial side of bulk sales.”

Are Free Book Promotions Still Worth It? by Frances Caballo for TheBookDesigner.com: “The controversy over whether it’s worthwhile to give books away for free continues. You work hard when you write a book. There are the costs associated with writing workshops, writers’ conferences, book coaches, editors, and book designers. When you’re ready to publish, it’s difficult to think that despite all of your investments of time and money that you need to give your book – your baby – away for free.”

Contests for Writers

Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time This Summer from Writer Unboxed: ” … my list of writing contests below includes reasons to submit to that particular writing contest. May you find a promising opportunity among this list and spend less time searching for where to send your exceptional work.”

Quote of the Week

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist. PABLO PICASSO

Whether you’re setting up your social media for the first time or wanting to take it to the next level, get the newest edition of Social Media Just for Writers.

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

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Published on June 01, 2018 01:55

So You Think Social Media Won’t Sell Your Books?

Every indie author hears the message, “You have to use social media to sell your books.”

But is it true?

In any language, social media are is the queen of discoverability. But – and this is a huge but – does social media marketing sell your books?

Hmm. Let’s consider this question.

If we look at great literature, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, and even Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the first novel, we already know that they succeeded in publishing.

They didn’t have to worry about Tweeting regularly or posting status updates on a Facebook author page twice a day.

It’s a silly issue to consider, isn’t it, since social media wasn’t around in 1610 (in Cervantes’ case)? All of the above authors rose to fame without the benefit of what’s considered – in today’s world – as marketing requirements.

If we were to look at Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train andInto the Water, I can’t tell at this point whether Goodreads or other social media fueled her success, or whether it was just the book that caused her book to skyrocket toward financial success with social media helping along the way.

However, she was the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards winner, which readers vote for, so on Goodreads, she had a considerable presence, and that must have played a role.

There are several commercially successful authors today that according to a HootSuite article, use social media to further their engagement with readers. They are Margaret Atwood, Paulo Coelho, Stephen Fry, and Neil Gaiman. I would add Hugh Howie to that list and Isabel Allende, who has an excellent Facebook page that she updates herself.

Okay, this is what I think: Neil Gaiman, Hugh Howie, and Isabel Allende, all bestselling authors, use social media to further their success. Hugh Howie is, I believe, the only author on this list who self-publishes.

Then we can look at another group of authors – Joanna Penn, Mark Dawson, and Nick Stephenson – who are also popular and sell hundreds of thousands of books as self-publishers. They not only make money off of their book sales, but they also sell courses to help other indie authors find similar levels of success. Hasn’t social media played a huge role in their success?

If your listen to Joanna Penn’s podcast, you know that she credits a lot of her early success to social media, and especially Twitter.

So, let’s end this diatribe of mine and look at our original question: Does social media marketing sell your books?

Five Tips to Help You Sell More Books

This is what I think.

If you write a book, find an agent, and get a publisher, great. But guess what? You’re going to need to learn how to use social media. I have several clients who are traditionally published or who hope to be traditionally published and, feeling overwhelmed by social media, hired me to handle it for them. So, whether you hire someone or not, it needs to get done. Traditional publishers understand the importance of social media, and they want their authors to use it. Many publishers won’t consider a new author unless they are active on social media and have an email list.
If you plan to self-publish, please don’t wait until the book is written to start marketing it. Find time to learn about one or two platforms that your readers use and start posting information as soon as you have an idea for your book. I always advise authors new to social media to first pick one social media that their readers use and once you conquer it, select another network.
Use Goodreads. Savvy authors who join groups, create groups and are active on Goodreads enjoy higher sales. Charles Duhigg wrote Habitand joined Goodreads. Then he started a group. There was so much interest in his book due to the group and his participation on Goodreads that a publisher contacted him. The rest is history. His book made the New York Times bestseller list, and he’s since published a second book.
Social media, in and of itself, won’t sell books. There, I said it. It’s how you use social media that can support book sales. For example, if you have a website and a self-hosted blog, how will people learn about it? Through social media. If you host contests and giveaways, how will prospective readers learn about them? Through social media. Do you have a permafree book? You need social media to get the word out about it. And you’ll want to invest in some social media advertising. Some authors (Adam Croft, Mark Dawson) have attained quite a bit of success with Facebook ads. (By the way: Facebook is one of the four queens of discoverability. The other three queens are Apple, Google, and Amazon.)
Finally, let’s say that you’ve joined the Kindle Select Program on Amazon. You schedule your promotion and rent some lists. What you need to do next is leverage these efforts with announcements on social media and even a Facebook ad.

If you want discoverability, you need social media. There’s no way around it.

Whether you’re setting up your social media for the first time or wanting to take it to the next level, get the newest edition of Social Media Just for Writers.

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

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Published on May 28, 2018 01:11

Indie Author Weekly Update – May 25, 2018

Welcome to the newest edition of the Indie Author Weekly Update. Don’t miss Sandra Beckwith’s post 3 book launch mistakes and Mario Schulzke’s most on setting up international storefronts on Amazon.

Actually, they are all great posts so if you have a chance, read all of them. But don’t miss the two I mentioned above.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Writers, Don’t Wear a “Black Hat.” 10 Ways to Tank Your Author Brand by Anne R. Allen: “Recently there’s been a bizarre drama going on in the book world. It’s been given the name #cockygate, because it involves a cocky author who managed to trademark the word “cocky” in a deluded attempt to eliminate the “competition” and “protect” her author brand.”

How To Create A Compelling Book Cover from Joanna Penn and by Tim Hawken: “Readers do judge a book by its cover. Whether they are wandering through a physical bookstore or scrolling through an online shop or Instagram channel, a well-targeted, genre-specific cover will catch their eye.”

How to Use Smart Links To Increase Your Amazon Sales from Rachel Thompson and by Mario Schulzke: “As an author, you now have the opportunity for people from all over the world to buy and read your work. Depending on your audience, it’s totally feasible that 20-25% of all your Amazon sales can come from outside of the US. And that’s without even publishing your work in another language.”

How to Decide on a Scheduling Tool and Why They’re Helpful by guest from Rachel Thompson and by Emiie R.: “There are many great ways an author can save time in their day to day lives, but one of the best things they can do is use a scheduling tool like Buffer or Hootsuite to manage their social media. There are several options out there for scheduling tools and even more ways to utilize them. Deciding which to use can be difficult, but no matter which platform an author decides to use for their social media scheduling, it is guaranteed to be helpful for the author in many ways.”

Don’t make these 3 book launch mistakes on social media by Sandra Beckwith: “I’m seeing a lot of authors killing it with their book launch on social media. They understand how social media works and they use it effectively. For example, they know that each social media site has its own personality, so they don’t share the same content across all networks. Each post is tweaked according to the social media platform’s unique needs I’m also seeing a lot of book launch mistakes on social media.”

Selling Out: Going Wide or Going Exclusive to Amazon from TheBookDesigner.com and by David Kudler: “Amazon has created a program — KDP Select — that rewards publishers for offering their titles exclusively through the Kindle Store. A lot of publishers — and not just new ones — decide to put all of their eggs in the Amazon basket. They make some compelling arguments for why they do so.”

Quote of the Week

Whether you’re setting up your social media for the first time or wanting to take it to the next level, get the newest edition of Social Media Just for Writers.

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

Practical tips for marketing your books on the social web

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Published on May 25, 2018 01:50

10 Social Media Tips for Indie Authors

You self-published your book (whew!), offered your book for presale, celebrated your launch with champagne, and sold books to everyone you know.

Perhaps you’re even blogging regularly.

Reaching out to the press, contacting book clubs, and reading at bookstores are great ways to promote your book offline. But to reach potential readers across the U.S. and around the world, you need to use social media.

Are you silently screaming, “Argh!” You’re not alone.

Like other writers, you want to get going on your next book and spending time in front of the computer posting on social media, pinning images to Pinterest, or snapping photos for Instagram may seem, well, like a bit of a waste of time.

The thought of creating a social media presence can seem overwhelming to indie authors, but it doesn’t have to be. All you need are 30 minutes a day (really!) and these tips.

10 Social Media Tips Every Author Needs to Know

Decide who your intended audience is and use the social media networks that your readers are most likely to use. For example, if you write young adult fiction, you’ll want to have a presence on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. If your readers are primarily women, create accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. When you wrote your book, you had your readers in mind, right? Now think about that reader and where he or she is most likely to hang out online. Knowing where your audience likes to hang out online will save you time. Long gone are the days when social media experts touted the wisdom of being everywhere. It’s impossible to be on every social media network, too time-consuming, and quite frankly, a waste of your precious time. For more information on where to find your reader demographics online, turn to Pew Research Center.
With more than 2 billion people now using Facebook, it’s hard to ignore this social media behemoth. Creating a profile (profiles are for people, and pages are for products, books, authors, businesses, and services) on Facebook is your first step. I always used to recommend that authors have a Facebook page as well. In the old days – say about six years ago – 36% of your fans would see what you posted on your Facebook author page. These days, that percentage is down to 1%. What’s an author to do? You can still have a Facebook author page, but you need to understand that you’ll need to learn and spending money on Facebook advertising. The other option for you is to create a Facebook Group. To learn about how to start and grow a Facebook Group, read this post I wrote for TheBookDesigner.com.
Allocate 30 minutes a day to your social media marketing. In the mornings, spend 15 minutes curating information for your social media posts by scanning your friends and followers’ posts and using one or more of these websites and resources:

AllTop

This is the top online source for the hottest trending information on the entire blogosphere. Every blog that’s worthy in its industry is here, and you’ll find posts from thought leaders in your industry.

BoardReader

This search engine crawls the web in search of trending topics posted on social media networks.

News360

Use this application on your Windows PC, iPhone, iPad, or Android to aggregate news on any topic you select. This website also claims it can recommend future articles for you by analyzing your previously saved items.

The Tweeted Times

This application curates information for you by scrolling through the tweets in your newsfeed and ranking them.

Twitter Lists

Be sure to create some Twitter lists of esteemed colleagues and thought leaders in your industry, niche, or genre. For example, I have curated a list of experts in writing and publishing. I use this list to curate information to tweet on Twitter and sometimes post on Facebook.

To create a Twitter list, log in to your Twitter account, click your avatar in the upper taskbar, and click on Lists.

In the left column, you’ll find a box that says Create a list. Click on Create New List.

Next, name your list, describe it, and decide whether you want your list to be public or private.

Now, whenever you find someone you want to add to your list, go to his or her profile, click the three circles, and click on Add to List.

Blogs

Subscribe to blogs from experts you respect and decide whether some of their blog posts would be worth tweeting or posting on LinkedIn or other social media platforms.

In the late afternoon or evening, spend 15 minutes being social. The very essence of social media is socializing so don’t forget to like your Facebook fans’ posts, add comments, and share information or images that your friends post. Thank people for retweeting you, answer questions posted on social media for you, and like some of your colleagues’ images on Instagram and leave comments. If you want people to read your books, read books, and if you want people to share your content, share other people’s content too. Spread social karma.

Once you have the information you want to post, use a social media dashboard– also called a scheduling application, such as HootSuiteor Bufferto space your posts throughout the day. Note: On Facebook pages, users can schedule their posts within the status update box. Facebook will downgrade posts that are scheduled using a scheduling application.

To use Facebook’s scheduling feature, click the arrow next to Publishing. A scheduling post will pop up. Then select the date and time for your post to publish. You can schedule your post six months out.

Twitter is tremendous (and my favorite social media network). Use hashtags (#) to target your tweets so that users searching for a new book just like yours will find it. Genre hashtags are common – #romance, #memoir, #erotica, #YA, #FamilySaga, #SciFi, #HistoricalFiction – as well as the hashtag #readers. You can even create a unique hashtag to track mentions of you and your books. Follow 50 new users daily, use an application such as Tweepior ManageFlitterto drop users who don’t follow you back, and retweet different users each day. Note:You can also use hashtags on Google+, Instagram, and Facebook. Here’s my list of 45 hashtags for authors.
To make the most of your presence on LinkedIn, use keywords throughout your profile description and add skills that your connections can endorse. Also, join two or three groups and become an active participant. The groups are the best part of LinkedIn because you can learn from other members, share your experience and expertise, and without directly marketing your books, find new readers.
Pinterest is a fun social media channel that excels at driving traffic to your website, blog, and wherever you sell your books online. Create a pinboard titled Favorite Books and add your book to the list. Start a pinboard with your blog’s name and pin the images you include in your posts. Add photos to a pinboard dedicated to the city where your novel takes place. The possibilities are endless. To learn more about Pinterest, check out my post 10 Pinterest Tips for Writers.
Instagram is the fastest growing social media network in 2018. It has an estimated 700 million active users, which makes it the third largest social media network behind Facebook and then YouTube. Most people who use Instagram are under 35, but 33% of all internet users globally aged 30 to 49 are also using Instagram. It’s popularity, and its essence as an image-based network makes it the perfect social media platform for this era. Post images of your books on display, where you write, your backyard, a scenic perspective from your town, pictures of your vacation, and pictures of your pet. Poets have been incredibly successful at using Instagram. To see an example, look up Tyler Knott Gregson. He’s an indie poet who draws 150 people to readings and now sells mugs and other related items. To learn more about Instagram, read my post Everything Authors Want to Know About Instagram.
Finally, it’s a good idea to set up your profile on Goodreads and then set up your author account. Presently, there are 65 million members on this site who have added 2 billion books and written 68 million reviews. Goodreads members are avid readers; many of them have advanced degrees. Don’t think of Goodreads as a place to hawk your books. If you try, you will be met with with wrath of people who love books and love this online space. Create bookshelves for the books you’ve read, rate books you read, review books you read, and join at least one group. To raise awareness about your books, be sure to participate in the giveaway program. Goodreads isn’t a site where you need to post daily but it is a place to demonstrate your love of books. If you’re not on Goodreads yet, this post will help you get started.

Now it’s your turn to share your social media tips with me. What’s your favorite social media tip?

Whether you’re setting up your social media for the first time or wanting to take it to the next level, get the newest edition of Social Media Just for Writers.

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

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Published on May 21, 2018 01:20

Indie Author Weekly Update – May 18, 2018

Welcome to this week’s Indie Author Update. Be sure to read Sandra Beckwith’s post on Goodreads and how to create pre-launch buzz for your book by Rachel Thompson. And as always, enjoy your Friday and the weekend!

How to interact with readers on Goodreads by Sandra Beckwith: ““I can’t figure out Goodreads!” It’s a common author lament. While Goodreads is a social network of sorts, the site for book lovers doesn’t look, feel, or operate like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms you might use. It’s so different, in fact, that many authors simply ignore it because doing that is easier than spending the time required to understand the site and how to use it.”

Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing: Eldonna Edwards Weighs the Pros and Cons by Anne R. Allen: “I’d been writing a novel off-and-on for over a decade when life threw me one of those cosmic curveballs that sent me careening in a totally different direction. Actually, it was more like me running onto the field and catching a curveball between the eyes, or in this case, in the kidney.

25 Creative Ways Authors Use Images for Social Media Marketing from BookBub: “Some social platforms revolve around sharing visual content, including Instagram, where photos still generate 36% more engagement than videos. And on platforms where images are optional, including them dramatically increases engagement. For example, Facebook posts with images see 2.3x more engagement than those without images.”

Helping Senior Citizens Self-Publish by Joel Friedlander: “Although the indie publishing world sometimes seems to be populated by young entrepreneurial authors, in fact a lot of writers publishing books today are at the other end of the spectrum—senior citizens. It may be hard to pin down what exactly we mean by “older authors,” but I generally take it to mean people 50 years of age and over who haven’t published their own books before.”

How To Build 1,000 Superfans When You’re Starting From Zero from by Joanna Penn: “Former Wired editor Kevin Kelly famously argued that 1,000 superfans is all you need for success as a creator (authors, musicians, artists… anyone who sells things they create). A superfan is someone who will buy anything you produce and sing your praises to anyone who will listen, winning you potential new fans for your books. Word of mouth is incredibly powerful for selling books, and that’s why authors strive to get superfans.”

How to Create Pre-Launch Buzz for Your Book Right Now Rachel Thompson: “Build relationships with readers on social media. This means interact, ask questions, strategically follow readers (not only other writers). Time: Realistically, plan to spend 30-60 minutes daily.”

Quote of the Week

Whether you’re setting up your social media for the first time or wanting to take it to the next level, get the newest edition of Social Media Just for Writers.

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

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Published on May 18, 2018 01:25

Got Nothing to Say on Social Media? Check Out These Examples!

Many people are confused about what they should say on social media.

Feeling like you’re in the same situation? No worries. Just keep reading.

You may remember the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of the time, you promote your colleagues, other writers, and great posts, and 10 percent of the time, you can promote your books, blog posts, readings, and awards.

If you’re still feeling confused about how to best present the information you’ve curated, don’t worry. Keep reading and you’ll learn how to write the best social media updates.

Tweets Can Now Have 280 Characters

For about the past year, the character limit on Twitter has been 280, up for 140. However, it’s still best to keep your tweets to 100 characters if possible. Doing so, will increase your retweets according to SproutSocial.

Here are a variety of sample tweets from the indie author/publishing world:

You’re probably wondering what you as an author could say. Here are some additional examples that cover an array of genres. All you need to add to these tweets is a URL. If you are promoting a colleague, then add a URL and a Twitter username.

Love #Spain? Read this novel based in #Sevilla + link + name of the book
Are you a #hiker? 7 Tips on How to Find the Best Hiking Boots + link
Great story by +colleague’s username about overcoming #cancer
San Francisco #Writer’s #Conference is this February +link
Do you love reading Indie Authors? Visit http://www.indieauthornetwork.com#bibliophiles

The first tweet is a sample tweet from an author about his or her book. The second tweet would theoretically be for a writer who wrote a book about hiking or local hiking trails.

The third tweet is an example of how writers can help each other. The fourth tweet is presumably by a writer encouraging other authors to attend a conference. The fifth tweet introduces readers to other Indie authors. The hashtags in this example help readers and self-described bibliophiles to find great books to read.

You can also tweet images, quotes from your books, videos, book trailers, Amazon reviews, and information about your colleagues’ books. GIFs are super popular as well because then tend to stop people as they peruse their newsfeeds.

Nothing to Say on Facebook? Check out this examples

On Facebook, try to stand out with dazzling images.

Some users will post a long paragraph for an update and in a few rare cases this may trigger engagement with their fans and friends. However, it’s preferable to keep posts to about 40 to 80 characters. We all feel the effects of text overload these days and your fans are more likely to read short posts than long posts.

Here are some examples of short Facebook posts:

This week’s Monday blog is on 7 Great New Twitter applications. You may find the perfect one for you. + link
Here are three possible covers for my new book. Which one do you prefer? + 3 images
I’m trying to decide on a name for my blog. Which of the following examples do you like? + Potential Titles of Blog
Want to receive updates about my books and freebies? Sign up for my newsletter + link

You could also post an image with an uplifting or thought-provoking phrase or provide background information on the characters in your novel. If you want to make others smile, post something funny that won’t be construed as offensive.

If you wrote a travel book and just returned from Barcelona, share your best photos. If you wrote a gardening book, capture an image of your favorite rose bush or tree in the spring or summer.

Ask questions, seek engagement, return to your profiles (where your friends are) and pages (where your readers are) during the day to acknowledge comments, and make time to engage with your friends and fans by clicking on your Home tab and seeing what they have to say today. Yes, be sure to share your readers’ posts.

LinkedIn Posts

LinkedIn posts generally contain a blog title and a link, although you could include about 600 characters of text, but shorter is better. The ideal length of a LinkedIn update is 100 characters. You’ll want to inform your connections and keep your posts professional. Discuss issues in self-publishing, share the name of your cover designer or webmaster, and don’t forget to promote your colleagues’ books and blogs.

Google+ Updates

Some people use Google+ as a blogging platform. You can definitely write long blocks of text here but again it’s preferable to write tighter posts.

Sample posts could include a blog title and link or a short statement with an image similar to the examples given for Facebook.

And share images. Google+ is a great platform for sharing landscape photographs.

Pinterest

Be sure to save images from your blog and other parts of your website. You can also upload images taken in the cities where the characters of your novel live.

Start pinboards on your favorite books, libraries, bookstores, your colleagues’ books, writer quotes, and other related topics. For ideas, see my Pinterest account.

What do you frequently post? I’d love to know!

Whether you’re setting up your social media for the first time or wanting to take it to the next level, get the newest edition of Social Media Just for Writers.

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

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Published on May 14, 2018 01:19

Indie Author Weekly Update – May 11, 2018

Welcome to this week’s Indie Author Update. There are some wonder posts here, including the post by Reedsy on publicity mistakes and Craig Tuch’s post on beta readers and ARCs. Don’t miss them!

Indie Author Update

Using Amazon Categories to Sell More Books by Penny Sansevieri: ” By now most authors know the importance of choosing great keywords on Amazon, but Amazon’s categories are equally important. Choosing the right categories can boost your exposure. And exposure drives book sales.”

Beta Readers vs Editors vs ARCs from TheBookDesigner.com and by Craig Tuch: “For most of the writing process, telling your story was likely a very solitary process – leaving you alone with your characters and world for long stretches as you worked to get everything just right. And now, with the last paragraph written, it’s finally time to let other people read it.”

Publicity Mistakes that Ruin Book Launches from Reedsy: ” If you’re an author you know writing the book is only part of your job these days. Promotion is a huge chunk of what you have to do. Here’s some excellent tips from people in the know.”

2018 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Mike Stelzner: ” Do you wonder how fellow marketers are using social media? Wondering if you should focus more on ads or bots? In our tenth-annual social media study, more than 5,700 marketers reveal where they’ll focus their social media efforts. This industry report also shows you how marketers’ organic activities have changed and what their future plans are with organic and paid social media.

How To Become A Bestselling Author Using LinkedIn by Tony J. Hughes: “The number one obstacle to success as a writer in is obscurity. If a bear tweets in the woods in a flash of brilliance, will a publisher give him an advance making him an overnight sensation? There are 3 million blogs put out every day – you do the math – how on Earth will your content stick out?”

Everything writers need to know about pitching their book by Nathan Bransford: “If you’re trying to find a literary agent, you’ll need to write a query letter. If you’re self-publishing, you’ll need to write good jacket copy (or at least know what good jacket copy looks like). When you’re telling acquaintances what your book is about, you’ll need to avoid making them fall asleep. You get the idea.”

Quote of the Week

Whether you’re setting up your social media for the first time or wanting to take it to the next level, get the newest edition of Social Media Just for Writers.

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

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Published on May 11, 2018 01:38

How Writers Can Get Started on Goodreads

Perhaps you’re wondering, “Is Goodreads really a social media network?” It definitely is.

The primary reason the founders of Goodreads started this website was to create an online venue where friends could chat about and recommend books, the same way they might if they were dining together or meeting at a café.

Its secondary goal was to serve as a social media network. Here, you can share a number of items, including:

Your book reviews.
Information about books you’ve recently read and those on your to-read list through virtual bookshelves.
Blog posts.
Favorite quotes.

At its core, Goodreads is all about the reader, not about using this platform to hawk your books. If you intend to start a Goodreads account for the purpose of merely acquiring readers and selling more books, you’re doomed.

How to Get Started on Goodreads

You are about to enter a world of avid book readers. Share your love for the written word by following the steps below.

Open An Account

If you are new to Goodreads, get started by navigating to www.goodreads.com. You can sign up either by signing in with your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Amazon accounts. Or, you can enter your name, email address, and a password. That’s the best way to sign up.

Goodreads periodically adjusts the steps you’ll need to take to sign up. Some of the initial questions about books you prefer to read are to determine which reading suggestions Goodreads should send you through its Goodreads Deals program. Just bear with the surveys. You’re getting closer to being a full-fledged Goodreads member.

It’s Time to Add Books to Your Bookshelves

Before initiating your author profile, you’ll first need to indicate that you are indeed a reader.

In the search bar, type the names of the books you want to read, have read, or are currently reading. If you can’t find the book by its title, use the ISBN or author’s name. You can find ISBNs on Amazon or any book retail venue.

Let’s say that you want to read The Nightingale.After typing the book title, click the green bar that says Want to Read.

Notice all the information that appears. You find out that it was a 2015 Goodreads Choice Winner in 2015, can buy it directly from Amazon (which owns Goodreads), and you can see which books readers of The Nightingalealso enjoyed reading.

When you click on the white arrow directly beneath the novel, you can see several options. You can separate your books by category, create a shelf, and note a reading status such as Want to Read, Currently Reading, or Read.

Repeat this process until you’ve created several bookshelves.

Once you’ve finished reading a book you previously identified as Want to Read, simply click My Books in the top taskbar, navigate to the book you just finished, and click edit. You’ll now be able to add the book to your shelf of books you’ve read.

How can you update the status of a book you’ve been reading? Follow these steps:

Navigate to Home, which serves as a news feed. Here you’ll see what all of your friends are reading or have read, and find links to their reviews.
Look at the left column and you’ll see a widget noting the book you’re currently reading. In this widget, you can add a new book you want to read or have read, view all books you’ve read, or add a general update for your friends.

When you click General Update, for example, the following pop-up appears for you to write a post that will appear from you in your friends’ newsfeeds.

Further down on the left column, you’ll see a listing of all of your bookshelves. And above the list of your shelves will be a pictorial view of the covers of the books you previously listed as Want to Read. You can change the status of those books.

Above the list of Want to Read books, you have an opportunity enter the 2017 Reading Challenge. Just select the number of books you plan to read and click Start Challenge.

A Review of Goodreads’ Tabs

The Home tab is your news feed, where you’ll find your friends’ updates and have opportunities to update your books or enter the reading challenge.

The MyBooks tab lists the books you’ve read or are reading.

When you click Recommendations on the left, you’ll find books that the Goodreads algorithm thinks you’ll enjoy based on your reading history. To improve recommendations for you, follow these steps:

Read and rate books throughout the year. If you subscribe to Netflix, you know that the website encourages its users to rate as many movies as possible to improve its recommendations for you. The same is true on Goodreads.
Create customized bookshelves. For example, instead of having two bookshelves for fiction and nonfiction books, create genre-related bookshelves for literary fiction, historical fiction, young adult, memoir, history, etc.
When Goodreads recommends books for you, follow the Netflix custom of indicating that you’re not interested in some of Goodreads’ recommendations.

Once you click Add Amazon Book Purchases, all of the books you buy through Amazon will appear on Goodreads.

Widgets have HTML coding. You can add these widgets to your website to share your reading lists with your website visitors.

Import/Export refers to reading lists you can import from your computer.

Have you entered the same book more than once? The Find Duplicates link will show these books to you so you can delete the duplicate listings.

The Shelf Cloud provides an interesting graph. Here you’ll visually see which genres you prefer. Here’s an example of my graph:

Which authors do you read the most? You’ll find out by clicking Most Read Authors.

If you want to see a graph of the number of books you’ve read by year since joining Goodreads, click Stats.

The API tab leads to a special page for developers wanting to access Goodreads data.

How to Set Up Your Author Dashboard

Are you enjoying Goodreads so far? I hope so.

Now that you have a Goodreads profile, you can set upan author account. Your first step will be to search for your books. Follow the steps below.

How to Find and List Your Books

Go to the search bar and use your book’s ISBN. If you don’t have an ISBN, use your book title. Goodreads may not recognize the title if you haven’t yet uploaded your book to Amazon. In that case, click Manually Add a Book. You’ll find the link in green lettering in the right column.

Once you click Manually Add a Book, you’ll arrive at a blank form. Here you’ll need to add the title, author name, ISBN (ISBN 13 or ASIN), your book cover, and other details including your back cover description.

Claim your author profile, and add a photo of yourself as well as a bio and website URL. It’s also a good idea to sync your blog or your RSS feed from WordPress or Tumblr. Add as much content as possible including videos.

You need to establish yourself as a Goodreads user before setting up your author dashboard. Once your dashboard is established, be sure to use all the features Goodreads offers to position yourself as best you can.

Goodreads is a dense website. Just take your time with it, dedicating yourself to learn a bit more about this channel every week. And remember, your best marketing tactic on Goodreads is to demonstrate that you’re an avid reader who loves books!

You read the post, now buy the book, The Author’s Guide to Goodreads.

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She’s a regular speaker at the San Francisco Writers Conference and a contributing writer at TheBookDesigner.com. Frances wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

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Published on May 07, 2018 01:45