Social Media? No! People Person? Yes!

The Soul Selects Her Own Society
by Emily Dickinson

The soul selects her own society,
Then shuts the door;
On her divine majority
Obtrude no more.

Unmoved, she notes the chariot’s pausing
At her low gate;
Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling
Upon her mat.

I’ve known her from an ample nation
Choose one;
Then close the valves of her attention
Like stone.

The biggest argument I hear against social media is that it is a time drain.

In 1986, Richard B. Sewall talked about his biography of Emily Dickinson. He said she wrote “warm, loving, marvelous letters.” At the time, there were three published volumes of letters, but they represented “only about a tenth of what we know she wrote. She was a people person. Never mind that poem about selecting her own society and shutting the valves of her attention like a stone; her life revolved around people.” (Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography, edited by William Zinsser. New York: American Heritage, 1986. P. 77)
Other writers of the 18th and 19th century talk about spending an hour or two a day writing letters to keep those connections with people vibrant.

It’s likely that Emily Dickinson would have loved Tweets! Especially because she was an expert in short verse! 140 characters? No problem for ED!

Connecting with People Takes Time

In other words, people connections have always taken large amounts of time for writers. Why do we think it’s any different today? We write in our caves, but in order for our writing to speak to today’s society, we must connect with others: think through ideas and discuss contemporary issues; hook up with those who can put our work in front of others; be bolstered by other writers, even as we encourage; live in the midst of a literary community that is firmly nestled within the very fibers of our nation.

If the recluse poet’s life revolved around people, why do we balk so at social media? It enables a connected life, a life that revolves around people. The medium of letters has changed to blogs, tweets, Facebook posts, but the reason we do these things hasn’t changed. Perhaps the medium also affects how shallow or deep those connections are, but that’s a different issue. Social media is social: people.

The question then becomes this: Do you want to connect with people? Are you a people person?

Are Your Tweets “Warm, loving, marvelous?”

However, social media today is easily misused. If you only think of it as a way of self-promotion, this warping of the purposes of the communication tools we use is self-destructive. It can be a self-absorbed life, which is all about “Me.” I dare you to call most tweets “warm, loving, marvelous.”

Question: I am looking for quotes from other 17th-mid20th century authors/writers/poets in which they discuss the time they spent writing letters. Any ideas?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Over on Happy Accidents, Greg Pincus is talking about the question of “Do you Spend Too Much Time Online”? He points out that you can do a lot in a short amount of time.

Work Smarter, not Harder

This week, I sat down and tried to figure out all the tasks that I now know how to do and was amazed:

• Blog. I can set up a WordPress blog in 30 minutes flat, including doing some customizing on the fonts/layout and adding pictures and tracking software. Writing posts is a snap. Part of that, is that I’m pretty good at manipulating photos.
• Speaking. I can create an interesting presentation, including powerpoints, slides, video and handouts. Ask me to do it for a 30 minute presentation or six hours, no problem.
• Social Media. I can twitter and Facebook with the best of them. GoodReads, LibraryThing, etc–I’ve got an account.

So much for skills. Then, I decided to write out a list of everything you might want to do to publicize a book, not just for a launch, but for ongoing promotions. Notice that each of these is a multi-step process.

• Facebook
• Blog/Website
• Landing Pages – special sales pages for a book
• Flyers/Print media to hand out
• Video – book trailers
• Networking – guest posts, joint projects online, chatting, email, etc.
• Build a Mailing List

Mind you, this is for EACH book!
And then, there’s keeping up: are you using QR codes yet? See, you haven’t even heard of a QR code, you’re already behind! It’s easy to feel that way, anyway.

Of course, in the middle of all of THAT stuff, you must prioritize this: write the next book.

Between Writing, Speaking, Blogging, Promotions, and Networking–Wow! It’s so easy to get lost.

Plan of Action

This week, I’ve stepped back a bit to look at all this and ask myself, what do I really want to do?
Answer: Write, mostly fiction, but also some creative nonfiction

Okay, then how can I work smarter, not harder?

It has helped immensely to just catalog all these tasks and set them up in a spread sheet. I’m not so obsessive that I’ll use this daily, but I want to check it weekly. I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that this or that book needs some PR attention. But I don’t want those peripheral tasks to take over my writing time.

Writing down the scope of what I expect from myself has helped. Now I can prioritize and manage the tasks and work smarter, not aimless; smarter, not harder.

Read through some of the comments on Greg’s post and come back here to talk, too.

Fiction Notes will be on Spring Break next week! Hurrah!
But I’ll come back with a vengeance, ready to write and blog.
In the planning stages: 30 Days to Stronger Voice and 30 Days to Stronger Book Marketing.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Getting Your Book Noticed

Should You Social Media? Yes! No!

As authors, we want to know if all this effort on FaceBook and Fan Pages and Tweets and all the other social media helps or not! Here’s a sideways answer.

In a December 2010 survey of major retailers sites, 10,000 shoppers surveyed reported being influenced by these factors:

• Promotional emails – 19%
• Web Search – 8%
• Social Media – 5%

Going Mobile? Is your website ready for smart phones?

• 14% of the shoppers accessed sites through their phones
• 11% bought something through their phones.

Does this trickle down to authors with a single book to sell? Maybe, maybe not. Individuals who are dedicated and diligent in promoting online may see vastly different results. An individual title may buck the trend.

If you’re interested in using social media, here are some recent resources:

• Facebook Marketing in Six Steps: How to successfully manage your fan page
• Value Prop: Is there true value in your marketing proposition?

Have YOU had success with social media promotions for your book?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Help! I Can’t Find Any Help on Facebook

Of course, you know by now that for author promotion, you should be on Facebook. But frankly, I find it to be confusing. Yes, I easily figured out how to sign on and create an account. I figured out how to upload pictures and how to post on someone’s wall.

Is that all there is?

No. When you think about using Facebook as a tool for book promotion and publicity, you need to go deeper. Unfortunately, Facebook doesn’t have good Help. It’s hard to figure out where to go. You’re faced with a wall of posts and, what? I’ve found some of the important pages for you.

Individual Account v. Fan Page v. Group Page

My Facebook Avatar

• Individual Profile: Just sign up.
  • Pros: Easy. Privacy controls allow you to set who sees what, and who can comment. For example, several editors have their pages set to No Comments. If you have some popularity and get too many comments, you have options.
  • Cons: You can only have 5000 friends. If you have some popularity and think it will grow, then you should opt for a Fan Page.
  • Tips on keeping business/family separate: You could create two accounts, using two different emails. That’s what I did, because no one told me there was another option. Instead, you just create Friends/Lists. On your home page, left hand navigation, find the Friends Link and click. Then, in the middle of the page, at the top, look for the Create a List. There, you can create a List of Friends, a List of Writer Friends, etc. When you upload or post, you can decide WHO gets to see what. For posts, there’s a tiny link at the bottom of the posting box. For photos, look for these privacy controls when you upload.

    Unfortunately, Facebook is not forgiving. You make an ill-advised decision early–when you know so little about how it works–and you’re stuck. I’m keeping my two separate accounts; but I wish I’d know about the Lists so it was easier.

• Fan Page: Go here for information.
  • Pros: Unlimited friends. You can customize the page with any sort of app you want: discussion board, calendar of events, etc. There are tons of apps available, check them out.
  • Cons: People must LIKE the page first and you have to get them to do that. Once they do, your posts here will show up on your friends’ walls. But what they post on their individual walls will NOT show up here. It’s more of a one-way street.
• Group Page: Go here for more information. These pages are more like clubs. A group page is still tied to YOU as an individual, while a fan page is operated as something very separate.

Obviously, these aren’t exhaustive comparisons. Here are some great comparison charts.

• Fanpage v. Grouppage: When to Use Which
• Group v. Fan Page: What’s Better?

Create a User-Friendly Name

One thing that Facebook allows you to do is to create a user-friendly name. For example, my Facebook address is http://www.facebook.com/DarcyPattison (Hey, Friend Me while you’re looking.) Sounds great doesn’t it? But before I give you the link to do this, be warned: you can only do it once.

That is, since I changed my individual account to DarcyPattison, I can never create a Fan Page with that name. ARGH! I didn’t realize this when I changed my name, or I might have done it differently. Maybe DPattison. Then, later when I’m rich and famous I’d make my Fan Page DarcyPattison.

Plan for the future, in other words, when you create your user-friendly name and don’t use up all the good names at first. In fact, you can survive a long time without changing the name; I just like things neat and easy to remember.

Here’s Facebook’s info on creating a User Name: Proceed with Caution.

Facebook Events

Finally, you can also create a Facebook Event. This is an page devoted to a certain event that takes place on a certain day(s). Book launches are great times for an Event page. For example, I created an Event Page a couple weeks ago for the Random Acts of Publicity Week. 730 people officially responded and participated.

I’ve seen this used to invite people to a birthday party, a book launch, a conference, etc. One of the nice things is that others can invite people to the event. For the Random Acts of Publicity Event, there were a couple thousand invitations sent out, and I only did a couple hundred of those.

Have some FUN on Facebook

I offer here just one of the many fun ways you can waste time making your Facebook page/profile/image better. I love the image here of the guy hanging by his fingernails.

Need other help on Facebook? Look at the very bottom of the screen, on the right hand side. There’s a tiny Help link. Good luck finding what you need, they don’t make it easy.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Recently, I was asked a basic question: should authors promote their books? Yes. Here are your options.

Options for Promoting Your Book

This post has two parts. First, it’s a regular post; see below. Second, it’s a first attempt to post a video where I’m talking and explaining something. The video is below, but here’s a critique of it. Skip this part if you just want to read about author promotions.

This video was a first attempt, and first attempts inevitably go wrong. I knew it wasn’t perfect, but I also knew that if I didn’t make a start, if I waited for perfect, I would NEVER post a video. So, deep breath, have courage, Darcy, I posted one. Here’s a critique of it:

First, what’s right:

• I tried.
• I said everything I wanted to say. Well, in the video I said there are four major ways to promote your work and here I say there are five. And I included things in the video not in the notes below. Instead of “personal appearances”, I said “personal experiences”. But overall, I’m pleased with the content.
• The equipment worked well. My “studio” worked well.

What’s wrong:

• The hardware worked, but I still had software issues. In particular, I had to reload the editing software on my office computer. That left me short on time, so I just created the video and sent it to YouTube. I should have added a title screen, and text screens with the info I was giving at the appropriate moments.
  Lesson learned: create the video a day or so ahead, to allow time to edit.
• Wow, I say, “um” a lot! I need to tape myself more and make sure my presentation is cleaned up and held to a higher standard.
  Lesson learned: tape yourself and work to do better presentations.
• A phone rang during the taping. Gosh!
  Lesson learned: silence the phone while taping.

Basically, there are five options for promoting your book. Authors should choose from among these a unique mix of marketing efforts.
How to choose, what criteria will you use to decide what to include in your marketing plan?

2 Criteria for deciding on how to promote

Play to your strengths. Do what you like to do, what you’re good at.

Find your audience and play to their preferences, even if they aren’t your strengths. Where does your audience hang out and what media are they using? You gotta hang out there, too, and you gotta use the media they use.

5 Options for Promoting Your Book

• Print: flyers and posters, ads in magazines/newspapers/specialized publications, sample chapters, direct marketing, newsletter, interviews, business cards, slogans/pitches
• Audio: radio or online interviews, read samples of your work, give reader’s reactions and comments
• Web: website and/or blog, email marketing, online ads, sample chapters, RSS, feeds, bulletin boards or forums, ezine or newsletter, affiliate programs, online contests, webinars, advertisements (from Craigslist to GoogleAds), ebooks, podcasts, vlogging, internet memes
• Personal appearances: BEA, ALA, local library, bookstore signings, literary festivals, teaching, school visits, speaking engagements, seminars, conferences, asking for referrals, elevator pitches, personal PR
• Social Media: Facebook, GoodReads, Twitter, LibraryThing, delicious.com, StumbleUpon.com; spending enough time to become part of the community; using announcements, contest, giveaways

The Video: Should Authors Promote Their Books?

Social Media

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Twitter, Facebook, Good Reads and More

When and where should authors use social media? I recently read a blog post about how businesses are using social media. Here, I go through these 10 purposes and muse about how authors might use social media for the same reasons.

1. Win Real Fans.
   For children’s book authors, gaining thousands of fans seems to work best with teen audiences, not middle grade or picture book audiences. But if you concentrate on educators, you might have a chance to gain real fans. Perhaps this is also easier for a publisher’s fan page, because there are a variety of books, not just a couple like on an author’s page. Still, it’s a real goal and one you might want to concentrate on.
2. New Way of Thinking for a Direct Response Pro
   This comes from a business person who is used to doing direct mailings and social media moved him into a different way of communicating with his audience. This advice is to basically re-purpose your communication to fit a variety of media. Certainly, authors can write blogs, speeches, twitter posts, fan pages and re-use ideas and copy. I’m also paying attention to links that I add to a posting. For example, the post about my new book, Prairie Storms, included links to the publisher’s submission information and information on the publisher’s grant programs for schools. When I posted on mailing lists that the article was up on my site, I emphasized the different links for the different audiences. Think about how communication can be used in a variety of ways.
3. Long-term relationships versus short-term profits
   This is an easy one for authors. We want long-term relationships with people who are interested in the stories we write, the passions that fill our days and our books. Those relationships may result in sales; but we also care about deep conversations about our passions, speaking engagements, connecting with kids, learning more about our craft and so on. Relationships – YOU – are important to me!
4. Virtual Tupperware Party
   This was an interesting idea, that you could develop a group of people who would support your efforts. For the business, it meant the “tupperware salesman” would get special discounts, products, etc. which they could share with friends at specified times. “. . .they could simply become discount agents for their friends. Somebody who all their friends know can get good deals on specific products or services.” Not sure how an author could replicate this; but a publisher might be able to.
5. A Straightforward Sale
   Yes. An article or post or twitter or fan page – any of these might result in a straightforward sale. Online, you have three choices: sell from your site, links to your books that take a customer to an online bookstore, or links that point customers to local bookstores. Choose one and make sure you always implement it.



6. Find Out What Your Customers Want
   Again, for children’s book authors, it’s hard to use social media to find out what tweens and below want because they either aren’t online, or because their privacy must be strictly kept. For teens, educators, librarians and the general reading public, it might be easier. For example, I’m currently running a poll about what you might like to see in a book about book trailers. Take the one-minute poll.
7. Track Lead Generation
   Keep track of where your sales came from. This isn’t so straightforward for writers and authors, but I keep track of my speaking engagements this way, to see where the invitations come from. And social media has figured into it recently. Certainly, website traffic is easy to track and Twitter has increased my page views this year. Programs like HootSuite.com for Twitter allow you to even track specific links to see how many times someone follows a link to a particular posting.
8. Present Real Value
   This business person is emphasizing the need for real value in what you represent or sell. It downplays the importance of slick communication in favor or filling a need. This is actually encouraging for authors who don’t want to do lots of social media tasks. Instead, concentrate on writing the best novel or story or nonfiction book you can.
9. Lead Generation
   This business person is talking about directly enticing customers with giveaways, contests, sample chapters, etc. We’ve all see this work to some extent. In fact, Twitter seems to be a good way to announce these promotional efforts.
10. Social Media is About Awareness, not Revenue
    This business perspective says that the most important task of social media is name recognition, reputation, brand awareness. Certainly, an online presence can raise awareness of you and your work. This type of benefit is hard to measure, of course.

What is the purpose of your social media efforts? Something not listed here? Or a combination of these?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Random Acts of Publicity: Social Media

We’ve all heard about the social media and many are experimenting with doing book publicity via these channels. What is really possible?

Lots! At least for authors. There are Facebook Fan pages or Event pages and the equivalent on MySpace or other spaces; there are Twitter updates and YouTube videos. In fact, an author can get overwhelmed doing all of this. But it does no good at all, if someone isn’t watching and participating.

Join Anything You’re Invited to Join – and Then Participate

Getting engaged in a friend’s promotional efforts means to do something, to join an event or fan page. Attend a virtual book signing. (What if YOU gave a party and no one showed up?) Helping with these promotional efforts won’t be as fast or as easy as those listed earlier this week, but they might make a huge difference.

View a Book Trailer, Podcast

Watch a book trailer. Use the word-of-mouth or linking techniques from earlier this week to tell others about the trailer. As a related post, Lisa Gottfried of DigitalWeavers discusses 6 Criteria for a Great Book Trailer. And a video trailer for my Novel Revision Retreat is unveiled here today.

Another new trailer out is Arthur Slade’s The Hunchback Assignments, website and book trailer for his new steam-punk fantasy.

Volunteer Your Expertise

This is another of those extra-mile assignments: if you know how to edit video, volunteer to make a book trailer or podcast for a friend. Or just walk him/her through setting up a fan page for your book. Help him/her brainstorm jokes when s/he makes a special game designed for Facebook. Really – ASK what would be helpful! (WOW, what an awesome thing that would be!)

There are many, many social media sites. This isn’t a how-to on those sites, but an encouragment to celebrate what your friend does on those sites!

Your Random Act of Publicity Daily Task: Participate

Your task: Join. View. Comment. Participate. Just once.

Please post what you did today.
What are some of your favorite social media sites for books?
Any final comments on supporting your friend’s book?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Random Acts of Publicity Week

Are you like me? I always promise myself that today I’ll write a review of my friends’ books and actually post them on Amazon or Library Thing or somewhere. But do I? No. That’s about to change!

I know how wonderful it is to see new reviews on Amazon of one of my books. I know that it’s better to give than to receive. This week, I vow to put these two things together and give friends some support for their books.

So, I’m declaring next week, September 7-11, as the RANDOM ACTS OF PUBLICITY WEEK, a week when you do something to promote a friend’s book, or to promote a recent book you’ve read. I’ll post an introduction on Monday, but because of the holiday we won’t get started with the ACTS until Tuesday.

Here’s how it works:

1. Post your intent to join. In the comments here, post that you intend to join in the fun.
2. Daily Acts of Publicity. Each day, do one Random Act of Publicity. You can choose to concentrate on one friend’s book; you can choose a different author/book each day; you can promote a book you like, even if you don’t know the author. Post a comment on that day’s suggested activities when you complete it.
3. Daily suggestions. Each day, I’ll suggest an activity. I’ll try to add links and info, so you’ll learn a bit more about promotion or have access to new resources. Try to complete the activity that day. I’ve tried to include both off-line and on-line activities. Here’s the schedule:
   • Tuesday: Word of Mouth
   • Wednesday: Reviews
   • Thursday: Links
   • Friday: Social Media

Four days of promoting others’ books should be great fun.

Get started today on the Random Acts of Publicity Week:

• Spread the word. Let others know about the Random Acts of Publicity Week. (Copy the banner if you want and post it on your site.)
• Read or re-read books. Plan the books you want to promote. Have you been waiting for a good time to read your friend’s book? This is that good time. Check it out; buy it; read it by next Tuesday.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win