Trying to Catch the Social Networking Bug

Try as I might, I haven't yet been able to catch the social networking bug.  Unlike other bugs that I work hard to avoid, I've been hoping to catch the fervor for social networking.  Up to now, I've been immune.  I am on Facebook, which has allowed me to find some long lost people in my life and to allow some of them to find me.  And it's a good way to see what two of my granddaughters are doing.  But -- I haven't been bitten by the bug.
I have opened a Twitter account, but only follow President Obama so far.  I  have added people to my Linked-In account and must admit feeling awed at how much some people make use of it.  I briefly Branched Out, but let go of the branch for lack of knowing quite what to do with it.  As for all the others too numerous to name, I haven't even tried.
I've been told over and over and over again that social networking is MANDATORY and THE KEY to becoming known as an author in today's world.  Most likely true - as many have shown regardless of whether their books are deserving of fame or not.  While "going viral" is much sought after, the very word "viral" gives me an unsavory feeling.
I watched the movie, "The Social Network," to figure out what I was missing.  The creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, according to the movie, only had one real friend in college whom he eventually betrayed.   A genius geek, he was far more fascinated by the computer technology than linking friends.  That actually helped me to understand why I feel mostly alienated from this modern, impersonal way of making connections.  While not exactly fake friends, they are friends you never have to see, speak to, or truly know.  In fact,  "friends" is a misnomer for these relationships.  I'm used to a different kind of friendship.  I don't even like the image of "networking" or "world wide web" since computers and all the information forever indelibly available therein are also used for nefarious purposes, reminding me of the flailing flies that can't get away from the spider.
Since I'm old, the drain on the precious time I have left to live looms excessive.  Were I born today, I would most likely not feel intimidated by computers or wary of how they might abuse me.  Would I be a more successful well-networked author, or would I still be inundated by the sheer masses of people screaming "me, me, me" in the pack?
And so I search out "how to's" for using Linked-In, Facebook, and Twitter and hope I can make them useful before they, too, are obsolete and replaced.
Suellen Zima

The Self Promotion Treadmill (1)

One of the downsides of being an Indie writer is the need for self promotion. I've spent a lot of time over the last year trying to figure out how to promote White Jade and The Lance. I've read a lot of blogs, articles and books about guerrilla marketing and self promotion. Joe Konrath has probably written the Bible of Indie promotion. If you have not already done so, look him up. His blog is at http://www.jakonrath.blogspot.com. Joe's basic philosophy is brutal in its simplicity: promotion takes time and a lot of work.

The problem isn't so much finding out what to do, it's balancing that with writing. For me, that is the real work. It's where the juice is. Marketing is a job. Writing is hard work, but it's not a job. It's life.

Nelson DeMille's approach is that writing more books is a better way to spend your time than self promotion. Konrath would agree that you need as many books out there as you can produce, a body of work over time.

You're probably in trouble if you are writing just for the money, both from a creative standpoint and for the future of your early retirement. But still...money is good. Reward is good. Millions of readers would be good. That is going to take self promotion.

We are in the first stages of a massive revolution in publishing and marketing and it's not clear yet what really works and what doesn't. It also depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Here are a few things that keep popping up from various experts on marketing your books.

WARNING: Cliché Alert

Take this list with a grain of salt.

       1.      ads don't work, don't waste your money

2.      press releases don't work, don't waste your money

3.      you need a great cover

4.      you need to write a lot of books

5.      a series is good

6.      you need to stick to your genre

7.      you need to keep control of your work

8.      you need to think in terms of the long run

9.      you need to think internationally

10.  you need friends

11.  you need to support other Indie writers

12.  you need to do all those things Amazon suggests, like the Author Central page

13.  you need the patience of Job

By friends, I don't mean Auntie May, your buddies Joe and Irene and your Mom. I mean the people you support and meet online, on Facebook, on the Amazon forums, in specialized groups on Goodreads and LinkedIn. I'm not so sure about Twitter, but maybe. The groups you choose to join are an invaluable resource. It doesn't mean those folks will buy your books. It does mean you can joke, laugh, tap resources, learn, celebrate success, get the word out about your writing, get yourself out of the writer's isolation and in general participate in the human race. That is good, trust me.

It boils down to this: link up with others and support them. Write as much as you can. Trust in the value of what you write. Have fun doing it. Otherwise, why bother? Remember Field of Dreams? If you build it, they will come...

Alex Lukeman

Twitter: @alexlukeman  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/alexlukeman

Communication tips that you may or may not know about

I thought that I would share a few communication tips to help everyone build up their business platform.  Now to me that means, places where visitors can view your product.  For authors, our product is our books and we want people to know where to find them.  On the Internet, each location has an URL <Insert link> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Locator .  

I guess the most basic ability that I recommend for everyone is to know how to copy and paste links. It seems simple enough, yet each browser is set up slightly different as to where you see the web addresses.  If you locate that web address on your browser then place the mouse over it then highlight from right to left or right to left.  Then right click scroll down to copy, then place the web address or link into whatever place you want it. Then right click and scroll down to paste. That should put your web address or link onto the document for you. If all else fails there is the Ctrl button + C for Copy then Ctrl button + V for Paste.  When doing a blog post you can highlight a word such as URL then find the link button.  When the button pops up you can place the link you want in the appropriate place. The result is that you have a word with a link without the distraction of seeing the link. 

I highly recommend that you keep a document program such as Microsoft Word replete with a list of the different links that you might need.  For example, Call Sign Wrecking Crew, LLC has a website, blog, and Facebook fan page, each with a unique URL.  Of course on the website there are the links where our book can be found.  I also use this list of links when I’m tweeting out information for our book. 

On twitter, I saw an interesting tweet from Karen Baney regarding twitter profiles.  The article <Insert link> http://www.karenbaney.com/archives/917  talked about profile black holes.  After reading this article, I tweaked my twitter profile so that anyone who visits it will know what our book is about and where to find it. 

While marketing, no I don’t mean for food although these days you can do that on-line as well, you may need to know the direct link to your twitter or Facebook page.  The lesson that I recently learned on LinkedIn is that when copying the URL from twitter it comes out looking like this: https://twitter.com/#!/LynnHallbrooks

The symbols #!/  seem to be thrown in to make it difficult for you to be found.  If you see them when you post your twitter address then kindly remove the symbols.  You should have a clean twitter address that anyone can click on and find you right away:  https://twitter.com/LynnHallbrooks 

I’ve also noticed that those symbols sometimes come up on some Facebook page addresses as well and simply remove the offending #!/ and you should provide a direct link to your Facebook fan page.  I’ve also seen people ask, “Why do I need a separate page for my book?”  If you have an author page and no co-author then you don’t.  I highly recommend not using your personal page for business if you can avoid it.  I’m sure potential readers don’t wish to read all the latest gossip from your BFF or even your siblings.  Now if authors are “friends” with one another, well then that is another story altogether.

Our Facebook fan page has a RSS feed <insert link> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS  that comes from our blog. Once I finish posting a blog it goes to not only our Facebook fan page <insert link> http://www.facebook.com/CallSignWreckingCrewStormWarning  but also to Amazon.com <insert link> http://www.amazon.com/Lynn-Hallbrooks/e/B0050ZOGAA/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_3, Goodreads.com, <insert link> http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4950577.Lynn_Hallbrooks/blog  and Triberr <insert link> http://www.triberr.com so that my tribe mates can help spread the word.  To be honest, I had some one find my RSS feed so I can’t explain that one to you.  I did however, copy and paste the link on my growing list of links. It has saved me many headaches having my list. I hope my tips help you out as well. 

Lynn Hallbrook is the Texas based co-author of Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning) and together with her co-writer David McCoy will be the first author to be interviewed on our new upcoming Blog Radio Show on 12 Dec. More about that exciting new venture next week!