The Power of Social Media

No doubt we all have different views on the various social media outlets available to writers these days, but I have to say I've mostly found it a positive benefit in this digital age. I've often said that authors who are mainly published in e-book, no matter who is publishing the books, need a good online presence. Many of us don't have the luxury of seeing our books on book store or library shelves so we need to let readers know we exist in some way. Yes, it's a balancing act and most of us would rather not have to promote our own books but the online world isn't going away, so we might as well jump in and have fun where possible!


I've met many lovely people on Facebook and Twitter and I do try to engage with people as much as possible, but occasionally the power of social media becomes even more evident without seeking it out. Here are three occasions that worked for me recently.

The RNA (Romantic Novelists' Association) has a weekly tweet/retweet day every Tuesday. All RNA members on twitter can take part and we basically send a tweet of our own news with the hashtag #tuestnews @RNAtweets then retweet any others with that phrase. It means that we are all tweeting at different times of day to hopefully different people. Sometimes, I'm not sure if I want to be retweeted that much in case it looks like spam, but Tuesday is a recognised news sharing day on twitter and I try to make mine different each week. It obviously works on some levels because last week two people said they were going to download my book and I always gain new followers on a Tuesday. I don't often promote my books in between so I don't feel so bad doing it on a Tuesday.

On another occasion, I got into a short chat with an American book reviewer on twitter. The upshot was that she offered to mention my new novella, The Aphrodite Assignment, (and the other two) on her blog. She had too many reviews to get around to but she really did start promoting my book now and then on twitter! Needless to say I was extremely pleased, especially when the offer had come from her.


Much to surprised one day, I received an email out of the blue asking me if I would like to answer some interview questions about my writing for the Tiger Pens blog. He had seen me mention how much I enjoyed writing with pen and paper while out and about and wanted to interview me. I'm not sure whether he saw my comment on twitter or on my blog but I was intrigued. The first thing I did was to google the company to make sure it was genuine - it was! 

I duly did the interview as it was also going to promote The Highland Lass and he sent me a link to their sales page so I could choose a cartridge pen as a thank you gift. The interview is on the Tiger Pens blog and the photo shows my beautiful little gift. I chose a dinky one in this lovely egg shell blue colour and have now tried it out. Excuse the writing as I usually scribble everything now when not typing!

These are just a few instances of how effective social media can be and I'm sure there are many more. Please share any of your own as it might encourage those who haven't made the leap yet.

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I've just seen this morning that daughter Victoria's novel, Follow Me, has had a wonderful new review on the Paisley Piranha blog!

Rosemary