It’s nice to
make friends. It’s nice to sell your book. Combine the two and you have a firm
start on marketing your work. Selling to friends doesn’t mean relying on your
favorite aunt buy multiple copies of your new book to give out to friends at
Christmas (although if she thinks they would make great presents underneath the
tree…). And by no means should your “friends” feel as if they are being used.
Be friendly
with potential readers, let them know you are a REAL person. Hopefully you will
create a huge fan-base who will eagerly buy each book as it is made available
and it may be daunting to maintain a “friendship” with each one, but you need
to make yourself accessible.
So how do
you accomplish that?
The
advantage of social media and the availability of the internet can help you
cast a very wide net and reach many more people than you would meet on a
personal tour. Let’s face facts, even if you have the resources to visit every
major city in the country for a book signing, there is a limit on the time you
are actually there for fans as well as a limited radius that will attract
people’s travel to see you. While personal book signings are a terrific way to
actually get out there and meet readers, there is so much more you can do.
Create a Facebook Fan Page: This is for you THE AUTHOR and only
the author. This PAGE is solely about the writing life, you as a writer, and
your work/books. Don’t talk about personal stuff unless it specifically has to
do with your writing such as: a memoir, a book about child-rearing and your
personal experiences, a non-fiction about a health issue that personally
affected you or a loved one, etc.. A fan page is NOT the place for political
debates unless you are writing non-fiction about politics; however if a current
political topic has a serious link to a topic in your book you can (carefully)
note the comparison.
You will
need a Facebook TIMELINE in order to create a PAGE. Timelines are what most of
us have, the place where we share memes, jokes, personal family pictures and
sometimes get into debates about politics. (By the way, it’s a good idea to
keep your personal timeline PRIVATE and accessible only to people you have
accepted as friends.) It’s easy to create a page for yourself as a writer,
artist, business, or any professional platform, just remember that a page is
always public so do not post anything that would conflict with your
professional image. Go to Facebook Help for details about creating a page https://www.facebook.com/pages/create
Create a Blog: There are several FREE and Paid
blog sites and websites out there. A website is often more static and filled
with info about you and your books. Sometimes you can also host a blog on your
website or host a second one (I use Blogger and Wordpress). A blog is a running
discussion using a series of posts (most often chronological with the most
recent appearing first) where you can write about the writer’s journey,
introduce your books and create discussions that are relevant to the subjects
you write about — what a blog is NOT is a running advertisement of “Buy My Book”.
The blog is a terrific way for you to interact with potential readers, let them
experience YOU in a conversational way. I recommend allowing comments AND
ACTUALLY RESPONDING TO THEM IN A NICE AND PROMPT MANNER.
Other Social Media an Author Needs: Twitter
is a terrific tool for promoting your work in 280-characters The Goodreads
format is all about books and authors and filled with discussions to help you
hone your craft. Pinterest is a great
way to showcase book covers and photos that are relevant to your book topics;
it also provides an option to make some themes that are only available to
select audiences. LinkedIn is a great
tool to promote yourself as a professional to potential clients (people who
might hire you for writing jobs) and influencers in the industry.
Writing
Exercise: Think of your best kept secret (probably most embarrassing?).
Pretend you are a “hungry” news reporter and you just learned this secret.
Write a short (one or two paragraphs) news article announcing it. Make it sound
newsworthy. (By the way, PLEASE rip this paper up afterwards for your own sake,
lol)
Writing
Prompt: Write down (no more than) three complaints you have, make
the complaint brief. Next to each complaint write a few words how you could
make things better.
Writing
Challenge: Write about the BEST thing that has ever happened to you (three
to five paragraphs). Use emotions and senses to describe why you feel this was
such a good thing, make your readers understand and feel your happiness.
