How and Why to Build a Twitter Following While Unpublished
An unpublished writer describes how she built a five-figure Twitter following within a year, by helping other writers and engaging on a personal level.
Category Archives: Social Media
Saying No to Twitter: What Authors Need to Know
Social media use can drive book sales, but not all successful authors use Twitter. If you don’t want to be on Twitter, you don’t have to be on it. Digital services consultant and AuthorPop founder Daniel Berkowitz shares why Twitter truly is optional.
10 Instagram Tips for Writers
Younger generations (and older ones!) flock to Instagram for its feed of beautiful pictures. So how can writers use Instagram to their benefit?
Social Media for Authors: The Toughest Topic to Advise On
I believe a successful social media strategy is driven by one’s personality and strengths, as well as the qualities of the work produced—leading to a unique approach for each writer. A
So You’re an Author Without a Social Media Presence: Now What?
Social media is just one component of your author platform, and not necessarily the most important component. It works best as part of a holistic book marketing and promotion strategy.
The Pros and Cons of Using a Facebook Profile But Not an Official Page
Every author is told to start an official Facebook page. But what if you stick with your personal profile only? Learn the advantages and disadvantages.
Why You Should Join All Social Media Networks
I think it’s fair to say that most of us are not looking to add more social media activity to our lives. In fact, we prefer to trim online activity or drop entire networks if possible. So the advice I’m about to offer may feel objectionable and time-wasting at first, but if you stay with me until the end, […]
Storytelling Across Media: Q&A with Agent Laurie McLean
Agent Laurie McLean discusses the platform and book launch strategy for author/musician Simon Curtis.
Best Practices for Author Facebook Pages and Groups
Kirsten Oliphant discusses how to effectively use Facebook pages and groups.
Overcoming My Fear of Twitter
Chris Jane, who writes the biweekly Q&A series 5 On, discusses overcoming her fear of joining the Twitterverse.
The Secret to My Productivity, Or: Thoughts About Luxury and Privilege
I’m often asked: How can I be so productive? Or how does one balance creative work and other life demands? Here’s the most truthful answer I have.
Engaging Audiences through Twitter in 15 Minutes a Day
Writer and blogger Kirsten Oliphant explains how to build your platform on Twitter in only 15 minutes a day.
Using Pinterest to Market Children’s Picture Books
A children’s author shares her strategies for promoting her picture books on Pinterest—as well as what adult fiction marketing techniques haven’t worked for her.
My 5 Philosophies of Social Media
If you need a place to start, then focus on talking about or posting about others you admire.
Facebook for Authors: Getting Started Guide
This 101 guide describes best practices for authors using Facebook for book marketing, with tips on when you should set up a fan page.
2 Easy Ways to Measure the Impact of Your Social Media Use
Learn how to easily study the impact of your social media use on your marketing and promotion efforts.
How to Avoid the “Extra” Work of Social Media
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of speaking at a one-day publishing event hosted by Blurb in Brooklyn, NY. My topic was the art & business of building a platform, which included about 5-10 minutes of commentary on social media (out of a full hour). As often happens, most audience questions were about social media, […]
How to Measure Whether Your Social Media Activity Is Worthwhile
Today I’m a contributor over at Writer Unboxed, discussing how social media can be used more effectively. My suggestions rely, in part, on categorizing your activity within distinct stages (though they certainly overlap with one another). Here’s a bit of what I have to say: Regardless of your stage of activity—but especially during marketing campaigns—you should measure traffic […]
Social Media 201: uPublishU Panel Preview
Tomorrow, I’m moderating a panel at BEA’s uPublishU on Social Media 201, featuring: Porter Anderson L.L. Barkat of Tweetspeak Poetry Jeanne Bowerman of scriptmag.com This post offers a sneak preview of what we’ll have to say. Jane’s Funnel Very often, when people talk about strategies on Facebook or Twitter, they’re discussed as if they exist in a […]
Why Don’t Publishers Believe in Author Websites?
It’s not unusual for authors to be told by their publishers that author websites aren’t necessary or effective. Should their insight be trusted?
A Call to Disarm Technology & Hype (And Boost Your Writing Productivity)
The internet and other technology keeps us on insanely high alert, ultimately producing an effect where we attend to everything and we attend to nothing (deeply). This high-alert state is producing a fatigue that’s detrimental not only to our psyches and relationships, but also to the quality of our professional output.
Does Social Media Really Sell Books?
There’s no end to the conflicting advice about social media and book marketing. In this post, I present a framework for what’s effective and what’s not.
Audience Development for Writers: Your Life-Long Career Investment
In this talk from the 2013 Midwest Writers Workshop, I explain the process of growing my readership since 2008, then share a few key principles I follow to make it an enjoyable and sustainable process.
2 Strategic and Compelling Reasons to Keep Blogging—Plus When to Kill a Blog
Note from Jane: Today’s guest post is from Dan Blank (@DanBlank) and covers a topic that was recently addressed on this site by L.L. Barkat: the value of blogging. If you remember, Barkat advised writers to stop blogging. For the other side of the story, I’ve asked Dan to offer reasons to keep blogging. In […]
5 Ideas for Using Pinterest as an Author
How authors, especially novelists, can start using Pinterest in a way that’s a natural outgrowth of their work.
It’s Time for (Many) Experienced Writers to Stop Blogging
Author L.L. Barkat argues that writers who already have experience—as well as authors trying to promote themselves—should stop blogging.
How I Got a Six-Figure Twitter Following (and Why It Doesn’t Matter)
It’s almost a running joke. Whenever my manager introduces me at an event, he always starts by saying how many Twitter followers I have, which is inevitably far more than anyone else in the room. Today, my follower number is a little over 175,000, and it grows by a few hundred every week. How did […]
Is Your Author Website Doing Its Job? 6 Things to Check
Today’s guest post is by Laura Pepper Wu, the co-founder of 30 Day Books, a book studio that provides marketing tools and resources for authors wanting to find more readers. Recently, I did some informal research about how authors view and use their websites, and the results were a little disheartening. Many authors have a website […]
Build a Better Author Bio for Twitter
Before you decide to follow someone on Twitter, what’s the first thing you look at? Probably the bio. Let’s assume you’re on Twitter because it’s part of your author platform—whether you’re in relaxed mode or professional mode. Have you written a bio that’s likely to attract followers or turn them away? Let’s look at four […]
A Little Bit About My Work at VQR
Yesterday, over at Neal Abbott’s blog, I answered a few questions about my new job at the Virginia Quarterly Review, what VQR does (plus when and what to submit if you want to be published there), and my latest favorite things related to social media. The last question Neal asked: 3 things that most people […]
How One Introverted Author Successfully Markets His Work
The following Q&A is with author Bob Tarte. Bob lives in Michigan with parrots, ducks, geese, parakeets, rabbits, doves, cats, hens, and one turkey. I met Bob at a Florida writers conference, where he was speaking about the success of his pet podcast. He has published three books with Algonquin; the latest, Kitty Cornered: How Frannie and Five […]
How Long Does It Take to Get Blog Readers?
The following advice is excerpted from How to Blog a Book by Nina Amir, recently released from Writer’s Digest Books. Aside from describing in detail how to launch and maintain a blog to ultimately land a book deal, Amir’s book offers a range of valuable interviews with successful bloggers who succeeded in doing just that. […]
Facebook Strategy for Authors: In-Depth Discussion
If you’re like most authors I know, you’ve wondered about how to best use Facebook. Should you stick to your personal page, should you create a fan page, how do you promote a fan page, and what exactly does a marketing strategy look like on Facebook? I’ve written several posts addressing the basics, as well […]
Top 10 Blog Traffic Killers
The following advice is from Michael Hyatt’s newest release, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. The book is one of the most comprehensive guides on building an effective platform I’ve seen. Both beginning writers and established authors will find excellent and insightful instruction. Assuming you want to increase your blog traffic, there are certain mistakes […]
My Best Advice for Writers From 2011
Last week I shared 12 Must-Read Articles From 2011. Now I’m going to share a list of the best advice I gave in 2011 as a handy reference. My Absolute Favorites You Hate Your Writing? That’s a Good Sign! This was one of the most tweeted articles I wrote in 2011. The Persistent and Damaging Myth […]
12 Must-Read Articles From 2011
Here are the most brilliant online articles I read this past year. You may not agree with the arguments you’ll find, but you have to give them credit for being original and thought-provoking. They will enrich your thinking about writing and publishing, and give you a more nuanced perspective of the industry. Also, you probably […]
How Social Media Can Change Your Life
Sometimes I find myself defending social media to the experienced user and beginner alike. It can be easily accused—and rightly so—of being full of shameless self-promoters, shrill marketing, and naked people. That’s only one side, though, and it doesn’t have to be the side you engage in or tolerate. Just because you have to throw […]
How Perfect Does Your Manuscript Have to Be?
As part of the 2012 Missouri Writers Guild conference faculty, I did a Q&A for their conference blog that discusses many topics, including: How I got started with social media The difference between marketing objectives, strategies, tactics, and tools How perfect your manuscript must be before submitting to an agent or editor
Platform and Social Media Must Not Be Your Center
Today’s post is excerpted from The Writer’s Workout: 366 Tips, Tasks, & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach (Writer’s Digest, 2011) by Christina Katz. With so much emphasis on the social networking aspects of creative careers these days, you might expect an expert on author platform building to promote an extremely social approach. But I […]
Too Many Facebook Friends: Blessing or Curse?
On my personal Facebook profile, I am slowly but inevitably reaching the cap for friends (3,810 of 5,000). It’s prompting me to reflect on (1) how exactly I got to this point (2) how many people are turned off by this number (3) if *I* am turned off by this number and (4) what difference the number makes, if […]
3 Blunders That Can Kill Your Author Platform
Today’s guest post is from author Kristen Lamb. The digital age author has more opportunities than any writer in the history of the written word. But with more opportunities comes more competition, and with more competition comes more work. Mega-agent Donald Maass will tell you there are only two ways to sell books—a good book and […]
How to Waste Your Time on Social Media
Last week, I discussed how you can waste your time trying to get published. You can also waste your time on social media, which I discussed over at Writer Unboxed on Friday, in case you missed it. Here’s a small snippet: No amount of expert marketing can make a poor or mediocre product sell—or gain […]
To Learn About Your Readers, You Need a Site
In the newest edition of Writer’s Market (and Writer’s Market Deluxe), there’s a featured interview with me, where I discuss the future of publishing, websites and blogging, and Twitter strategy. Here’s a brief snippet: Your personal website is impressive, incorporating your blogging, tweets, an e-mail newsletter sign up and more. What do you see as the […]
3 Principles for Facebook Fan Pages
Facebook is the No. 1 most popular website in the United States in terms of visits, which means it’s more popular than Google. According to its own stats, Facebook has 750 million users, 50% of which are active on it every day. This alone makes Facebook an important site when it comes to author marketing […]
How Much Has Book Marketing Changed Since 2005?
Amy Stolls is the author of The Ninth Wife, a novel just released from HarperCollins as a paperback original. The premise: What sane woman would consider becoming any man’s ninth wife? I had the pleasure of meeting Amy in late 2010, before her novel’s release, while serving on a panel for the National Endowment for […]
Don’t Feel Guilty About “Playing Around” Online
“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others […]
The Secret to Twitter That Can’t Be Taught
I’ve found Twitter—and many aspects of social media—somewhat tricky to teach. Why? Here are 3 reasons to start: Using social media is mostly about being YOU, finding your voice, and finding the right audience (those inclined to listen). Your strategy, motivation, or purpose will be different—and it will change—depending on where you’re at in your […]