Literary Musings, wisdom and faith talk from Ayani_Meli...A Stiletto Warrior
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
A Must-Do List for Building Your Author’s Social Media Platform
1. Start Facebook and Twitter pages with links to buy your book. Focus on the quality of your posts – don’t go overboard – and focus on entertainment (not just selling). Utilize hashtags where you can, they will help. (ie. #fiction #books #romance)
2. Start a Blog. I used Wordpress, but Tumblr is also pretty good. Blogging has been the single most important factor in getting my name and style out there. You don’t have to blog about your book, but you do have to blog on a consistent basis. Again, think about the entertainment factor (but of course include links to your book or your website.)
3. Engage in Google+. This is often overlooked, but has become hugely important in increasing your Google search rankings. Click the Google+ button for everything you do! Set up your Google+ profile.
4. Set up a Goodreads and BookDaily account and add your title(s). This is a great place to start gathering reviews and ratings. You want your name and book to appear on Goodreads and BookDaily asap for credibility.
5. Build a Website. If you have the money to hire someone to do this, great. If you’re strapped (like me), use weebly.com to EASILY build a cute concise site, (and I am about as tech-illiterate as you can be.) Check out my site for an example:www.writerjessicaleigh.weebly.
6. Frequently update your Author Central Page. Amazon is an amazing marketing gizmo/tool all in itself. It functions a bit like Google with all its different search algorithms and keyword triggers. Try and optimize just about anything you write on your author’s page OR book descriptions and editorial reviews with keywords you feel your readers would be looking for. Change it up frequently with little tweaks or additions, to keep yourself higher on the Amazon radar.
7. Sell more than one book. I have heard that the best marketing tool possible is to have multiple book listings – they will literally sell each other – at no marketing expense - other as your fan base grows. I have my second novel waiting in the wings, and I cannot wait to see the results upon its release. Keep writing!
8. Toughen up your skin. You are bound to hit some negativity at some point – it’s inevitable. When I received my first harsh review, it still stung me like an angry hornet and left me doubting my skills for several long days. Reach out to other authors in forums and realize it will pass. It’s a rite of passage. My sales did not stop or slow down. It just happens.
9. Pick out several successful authors in your genre and follow everything they do. Yes, it might make you feel a little like a stalker, but it’s an excellent way to learn. You can even repost some of their tweets or share their Facebook posts on your own page – they won’t dislike it, for it gives them even more exposure. I actually got noticed by and made a friend of a successful author that way.
10. Look for ways to mount a joint marketing campaign with other authors. If you can network with others in your genre, you have more than doubled your reach very quickly. Try and remember that there is more than enough space for everyone in the ebook world – don’t focus on competition, focus on joint effort. It’s much more profitable, powerful, and positive.
The most important thing to remember about building a great social media platform is that it should be extensive AND interconnected to achieve the greatest results.
About the Author:
Jessica Leigh is an emerging author in the romance field, and still holds her “day job” as a free-lance writer/PR specialist for a social media marketing firm.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Question of the Day: Are many of us, who are struggling with illness, sickness or disease still struggling...because although we are believers, we close our minds to some of the avenues God may send us a healing? Maybe it is just our cup to bear. But could it be because we don't like certain preachers or certain people? Some of those same folk that we think are suspect, God is using them to heal others.
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