Sharing Isn’t Always Caring by Heather Novak

You’ve all read the horror stories of famous people being stalked by a crazed fan. If not, catch up on a few here. While we expect it with people like Stephen King and Stephanie Meyer, we don’t expect it being authors who are under the radar.

I’m here to remind you it only takes one fan. As authors, we are now in the public spotlight, no matter how small our careers may seem.

The best general rule to stick by: If you wouldn’t want it splashed on the front page of the newspaper, don’t put it online.

Here are a few more specific tips:

Think twice what you post on social media. Don’t put your city, address, phone number, or personal email. I don’t have any information about my day job. For LinkedIn, I’m very careful who has access to my full profile. 
Be careful when you tag your location. 
Use Facebook wisely. You can post publicly, to friends only, or to an unlimited number of subgroups. Want to just contact your family about that upcoming BBQ? Make sure to select the correct audience.
Be careful who has access to what pictures. The beauty of Facebook is that each photo album allows you to select who gets access. Don’t post pictures of your kids or their school publicly. 
Private messages: use them. Don’t talk about things on your Facebook wall/Twitter feed that should be kept private. 
Make a separate author page and monitor who you accept as a friend on your personal page. Fan pages exist for a reason. Use them. Writing romance, especially steamy romance, attracts all sorts of weirdos. 
Closed Facebook groups are awesome. Want to talk about your books? Make a closed group and invite your friends/fans. There, you can share more personal info and pre-released book posts without the fear of outsiders reading. But keep in mind, some people will always spread news they shouldn’t. Know your audience.

I hope this serves as a reminder to keep you and your family safe!

On this day:

1971 – The U.S. Senate approved an amendment to lower the voting age to 18.

Wishing You Laughter & Good Books,

Heather Novak

Find me at:

Twitter: authorheathern

Instagram: authorheathern

Facebook: authorheathernovak

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Filed under: romance