Guest Post: Down & Dirty Social Media Tips

Today I'm welcoming Jennifer Lovett Herbranson, author of Social Media for Authors: Book Marketing for Writers Who'd Rather Write. Jennifer is a marketing whiz. She's used it in her military career, and has long helped with social media aspects of marketing for Pikes Peak Writers. I highly recommend her book. As a preview, she's given us some social media basics.

My down and dirty social media tips

•  Pick one. Instagram is hot right now and about as happy a place as you can find on the Internet. Use up to 30 hashtags but rotate their usage so you don’t seem like you’re spamming those categories.
• Stories. Best use of Instagram right now is Stories. If you’re a storyteller, these are made for you! Post one a day or every other day.
• Groups. Best use of Facebook right now is Groups. Organic reach on a Facebook Page is abysmal unless you pay for ads. However, with Facebook’s algorithm change, they are prioritizing friends, family and groups. If you have a street team or want to start one, use Facebook Groups to do it.
• Tweet away. If you’re looking for industry professionals to connect with, get on Twitter. #MSWL (Manuscript Wish List) is a quarterly agent ask for specific types of manuscripts. Check them out. They just might want what you’ve written.
• Content calendars will save your life! I know planning is a pain but if you do it, you’ll give yourself so much time back in your day for writing your book. Use paper and pen or a scheduler like Buffer to help you plan that content.
• Email is gold. Yes, it is. 25-30% open rates can’t be beat anywhere. Just don’t spam your subscribers with crap. Give them good progress reports, updates and fun news about you, your public persona and the world you’re building. 

Check out “Social Media for Authors: Book Marketing for Writers Who’d Rather Write” in ebook and print on Amazon. Jenny gives you permission to throw the traditional marketing playbook out the window and develop your own using these principles:

• You do not have to be on every social media outlet.
• You do not have to post every single minute of every day.
• You need a plan. Plans create efficiency. And effective plans grow your readership and give you time back in your day.

Get it on Kindle Unlimited at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07X99T2G4

Follow Jenny!

On Instagram @writernationjen

On Twitter @writernationjen

On Facebook @Writernation

What do you think about these tips? Interested in the book? 

May you find your Muse.

Author Platform: Accessibility on Social Media

I've noticed a lot of authors with Facebook pages and other forms of social media don't mention they're a writer or provide any helpful information that's easily accessible on their accounts, and this is a mistake. If your social media is intended to be part of your author platform or has anything to do with book advertising, etc., you should have information regarding yourself as an author readily available to those who might be seeking you out. What's the point in making it a mystery? You want to be accessible!

Here are a couple things you should have available for possible readers or even fellow authors:

Facebook

A lot of the friend requests I get are from people who have a bunch of mutual friends who are authors, but they have nothing written under their intro or on their "About" page. That's two strikes right there. If I'm in the right kind of mood, with a bit of time to kill, I'll scroll through their posts to see if I can identify whether this person is an author, book reviewer, or why it is they might be sending me a friend request. Many of them have their page locked down so thoroughly that I can't figure anything out from that, either, so how am I supposed to know if they're just spam accounts? Well, I don't, so I delete that friend request.

At the minimum, you should have something brief under the "intro" section, which shows up on the top left of your profile. Example: Mine says "Horror and fantasy short story author. Fan of all things creepy." It conveys what I do and what I'm interested in. No mysteries here!

You can also update your job on the "About" page, and you should link to any other social media you want people to see, such as your blog and/or website. I have links to my website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest.

Consider making some of your posts public. If that's something you prefer to avoid, pick a couple that you feel will be representative of you (book release posts or updates on writing or anything random about writing) and just make those public. This means someone checking your page will see you're a writer/author.

Have cover images, author photos, etc.? It's a good idea to have those visible to the public, as well, either in your cover photo, profile photo, or visible on your timeline.

Twitter

This one's easier. Say something about being a writer or about your work in your profile information showing under your name. If your "handle" is not your name, be sure your actual name shows up on your profile somewhere so you're searchable. If you have a book cover, it's good to have it as your banner.




Website/Blog
This is where you really must have some personal information, and there are plenty of places to do it. It should be clear on the front page somewhere who you are. If your name is not in the title, be sure it's visible on the front page. Write a visible bio that includes any pertinent writing details. Make sure there is a visible way to find any books you may have out. Mine are listed along the side of my blog, as well as in a publications tab.

It's a good idea to have a few types of tabs with information. For instance, I have an about me with some random facts and pictures, a publications tab that lists all my available publications and where to buy them, a media kit tab where information about me can easily be grabbed (long bio, short bio, my social media links, headshots, and how to contact me), and an appearances tab so people know where I'll be signing and/or speaking. All of these hopefully make me more accessible and save people some legwork.

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See the IWSG blog for a brief post about GDPR that includes information on how the IWSG is dealing with it and a few links I found helpful in getting the IWSG newsletter GDPR compliant.

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Horror Addicts have put out another collection! Here's the press release below:

Music has the power to soothe the soul, drive people to obsession, and soundtrack evil plots. Is music the instigator of madness, or the key that unhinges the psychosis within? From guitar lessons in a graveyard and a baby allergic to music, to an infectious homicidal demo and melancholy tunes in a haunted lighthouse, Crescendo of Darkness will quench your thirst for horrifying audio fiction.

HorrorAddicts.net is proud to present fourteen tales of murderous music, demonic performers, and cursed audiophiles.

Crescendo of Darkness includes:

“Audition” by Naching T. Kassa

This could be a guitarist's ticket to the big time, if he survives auditioning in a ghoul-protected graveyard.

“Circe’s Music Shop” by A. Craig Newman

A music store owner, who won’t be bullied into submission, teaches two hitmen the meaning of pain.

“Last Lullaby” by Emerian Rich

An opera diva is haunted by a dangerous secret which threatens to end her career and her life.

“Loved to Death” by Sam Morgan Phillips

Death explores his dream of being a rock star, but can’t avoid his purpose when a young woman forces him to live up to his destiny.

“The Music Box” by Daphne Strasert When a mom finds her childhood music box, she unleashes a tragic horror on her family, dooming them to repeat history.

“While My Guitar Gently Bleeds” by Benjamin Langley A rock musician is visited by an undead band member and forced to pay for his crimes against rock ‘n’ roll.

“Six String Bullets” by Cara Fox

The pull of a busker’s song becomes too much for a young woman to resist.

“Lighthouse Lamentation” by R.A. Goli

A lighthouse keeper helps a mysterious guest, but the stranger’s haunting sea shanty might drive him mad.

“Solomon’s Piano” by Jeremy Megargee

A grieving husband builds an unnatural piano, but can his music raise the dead?

“They Don’t Make Music Like That Anymore” by Kahramanah

A musician’s obsession with creating a masterpiece leads to him discover why they don't make music like that anymore.

“Become the Music” by H.E. Roulo

A cellist would do anything for her child, even give up music, but that might not be enough to stop a curse from consuming her baby.

“Keep the Beat” by Calvin Demmer

A young girl questions why her tribe plays the djembe drums every night and finds it may be more than just a tradition.

“The Legend of Crimson Ivory” by Sarah Gribble

An audiophile finds a legendarily sinister demo at a used record store and decides to play it, despite his friends' warnings.

“A Whisper in the Air” by Jeremiah Donaldson

Employees at a job find solace in playing music on break, but a haunted melody draws in more than just new musicians.

Crescendo of Darkness

Direct link: https://www.amazon.com/Crescendo-Darkness-Jeremiah-Donaldson/dp/1987708156

Edited by Jeremiah Donaldson

Cover by Carmen Masloski

HorrorAddicts.net Press

Let music unlock your fear within.

Have you maximized your social media? Do you have information that's readily accessible for those searching you out? Have you gotten your page and newsletter updated to be GDPR-compliant?

May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - Sunset on the Peak & Links

My second presentation is this Saturday, so I've been busy working on that.  Due to my limited time and powers of concentration on anything other than said presentation, I'm bringing you just one photo (but lots of links!)  Last week, while taking photos of my daughter's final soccer game of the season, I got a photo of a lovely sunset over Pikes Peak.

I'll be catching up on comments and visiting next week, if not this weekend.  Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been doing this past week!

Now for some links.

Workshop/Presentation/Conference:

I'll be presenting A Beginner's Guide to Social Media for the Professional Woman this Saturday, October 20, at 11:30 a.m. at the Blue Sage Cafe.  $18 entry includes a scrumptious gourmet lunch.

T.L. McCallan is presenting a free workshop entitled Becoming an Author: the Journey to Publication.  It can be viewed as a webinar.

Where can you get a writer's conference, a cruise and Charlaine Harris as the keynote speaker?  The 2013 Fun in the Sun Conference will be January 24 to 28th, setting sail out of Ft. Lauderdale.

Contests & Giveaways:

Think there aren't enough game shows for authors?  What?  There aren't any?  Well, now you can participate in America's Next Author, the first social writing contest, with a $5000 prize.

Jamie at Mithril Wisdom is having a birthday giveaway of two great books.  Free and easy to enter!  Happy Belated Birthday, Jamie!

Howlin' Wolf Records and Jason Comerford are putting on 13 Days of Chills, featuring 13 interesting writeups about horror film scores.  You can be entered in great giveaways just by commenting on the posts.  Check out the remaining schedule and read up!

Accepting Submissions:

Static Movement is accepting submissions for short stories and poetry in fantasy, science fiction and horror.  Non-paying market.  E-zine.

Sanitarium is accepting submissions for horror-themed short stories.  Not paying this round, but you get free copies.  Future publications will be paid per word.


Other:

Neil Gaiman talks about All Hallows Read, where it is suggested you give away a horror-themed book to someone on Halloween.

Apex Magazine is doing a subscription drive with the goal of gaining 250 subscribers to their e-magazine.  They're giving away great prizes as incentive, and the subscription is reasonably priced.

Want to know what not to do when writing analogies?  Cheezburger posted this list of Really Bad Analogies Written by High School Students.

Buzz Feed presents 34 Facts About Halloween Movies That Will Blow Your Mind.  Who was considered for the role of Jack in The Shining?  Who was considered too crazy?  What was Scream's original title?

Anything to share?  Seen any good sunsets lately?  Have you entered any contests or submitted this month?

May you find your Muse.

Turning the Tables

So it is official: I will be leading a workshop on social media for writers in October for the Pikes Peak Branch of the National League of American Pen Women.  Gasp!  I sent in the title and description today, which will soon show up on the website, which means I cannot flee, nor can I duck out gracefully.  ACK!

I'm a pro at attending workshops, but this will be the first I've led.  I haven't had to give any sort of speech since Speech class in college (which, by the way, was right before I got pregnant with my daughter, so we're not talking decades or anything, but six years is long enough!  It's more than halfway to a decade...)

I'm hoping I still have my handy dandy Speech textbook downstairs.  I'm pretty sure I do, as I only sold one textbook back, one which I've regretted not keeping ever since.  I can assure you that $20, or whatever pittance I received, was definitely not worth selling it back for when I could have continued using it.

While I'm utterly terrified, at this point, I'm also quite excited.  I'm already creating the workshop in my head, and I'll enjoy putting together a slideshow and handouts, but it's the talking part that will be hard.  I can assure you that my face will be bright red the entire time, because that's how I roll.  Haha!  Okay, hopefully not.  I'm actually pretty comfortable with the topic, which should help a lot.  I won't have to script anything, and can just use my notes as a guideline so I don't get off topic.  I work better off-script.

The workshop will touch on Facebook, Twitter and blogging, though I'll mention other forms of social media (LinkedIn, Pinterest, Good Reads) so people are aware of what's out there.  It's been requested as a very basic introduction, including setup of the accounts, as well as protecting oneself while putting yourself out there publicly.

Really, I talk about this sort of thing on here, so I'll just be doing it out loud, without need for spell check.  Right?  RIGHT!?

Oh, hey, and speaking of workshops, I'll be attending one presented by Brandon and Bryan of A Beer for the Shower next week via Pikes Peak Writers!  Go figure, small world, and all that jazz.  It's on blogging, which I already do, sure, but I'm betting they'll have plenty interesting and enlightening to say about it.

Any tips from you pro's out there?  What other forms of social media do you think deserve a mention?  What do you think is the A#1 most important thing newbies should know about social media?

May you find your Muse.

Image by OCAL, clker.com

B is for Beneficial & Billy the Kid

Hi there, and welcome to Day 2 of the A-to-Z Challenge! Today is the last day to sign up for it.

Quick note: If you're interested in writing flash fiction, check out the flash fiction contest on the Flash Fiction tab above. The theme is "Are you Devious at Heart?"

is for beneficial. What's beneficial to your writing career, and what's just extra junk you get sucked into? With the clamor for the establishment of a portfolio up to three years before you even get published, social media has become a bit of a necessary evil. Figuring out what is worth the time suck and what isn't is rather tricky.

One way to go about it is choose one or two forms of social media to focus on then analyze, over time, what seems to be working and what seems to have little to no impact. If you're just messing around on one of them, and not accomplishing anything or finding any significant connections, drop it. If you feel you need more, try out another form of social media.

Set yourself a time limit for how long you'll spend on social media each day, which includes your blog, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linked In, Good Reads, etc. I'm still pretty terrible at checking up on anything other than Facebook and my blog, and I can't say I'm unhappy about that.

For me, the less time I spend on social media, the more writing I get done. Each person has to decide what holds merit for them and what doesn't.

Now for a little information on Billy the Kid:

Born William Henry McCarty, Billy the Kid, aka William H. Bonney, came from New York. His exact birthdate is unknown, but it is speculated to be in 1860 or so. His mother came down with tuberculosis, so she moved her boys to New Mexico for the dry air. She died in 1874; his stepfather didn't want the kids, so he stuck them in separate orphanages, where Billy was forced to find work. He got in trouble when a friend stole laundry and asked him to hide it, but escaped from prison through the chimney.

He floated around for a time, making his way around New Mexico and Arizona. For a time, he was involved in stealing horses, but decided that wasn't the best plan and moved on. He made his first official kill (some say he killed someone at 12 years old, but there's nothing to back it up) at about 16 years old in a fight with Frank "Windy" Cahill. Billy the Kid was now officially an outlaw, and he fled Arizona to return to New Mexico.

When he got there, he joined a gang called "The Boys." They started working with James Dolan, of the Santa Fe Ring (you may recall this ring from yesterday - it consisted of property owners, politicians, etc.) He was trying to drive John Tunstall out of town, as he was competition, and he enlisted "The Boys" to steal Tunstall's livestock. Billy was caught and jailed, but Tunstall felt he was only a boy and took him in, requiring that he speak against Dolan and the rustlers in court, which he did.

Had things stopped here, Billy the Kid could conceivably have led a good life as a ranch hand. Instead, Sheriff Brady and "The Boys," working for Dolan and Murphy, shot Tunstall down. His ranch hands, including Billy, called themselves "The Regulators," were deputized and began to fight back, first legally, then with violence. They ended up killing Sheriff Brady and his men as they headed down the street to arrest Alex McSween, Tunstall's lawyer, and his partner in trying to fight the Murphy-Dolan faction.

The other side fought back, and full battle ensued. Billy the Kid and "The Regulators" hid inside McSween's house until they were burned out, with several of them being shot and killed as they escaped. Billy fled south, returning to rustling to make a living. When he heard there was a new governor (Axtel had been replaced by Lew Wallace), he wrote to the governor and asked to surrender. Wallace agreed, though he didn't have the power to fully pardon Billy, and Billy turned himself in. Unfortunately, the Santa Fe Ring owned the court at that time, and Wallace was making no effort to help Billy get pardoned, so he was forced to escape prison again.

Billy fled to Fort Sumner, where he hid out for a time. However, Pat Garrett was made sheriff, and he was dedicated to bringing Billy in. He trapped Billy and three of his gang in Stinking Springs, bringing him to court in Mesilla. He was sentenced to hang for the death of Sheriff Brady, but escaped by killing two deputies (Bell and Olinger). He went back to Fort Sumner, where Garrett tracked him down again, shooting him in a dark room on July 14, 1881.

Billy the Kid has been oft romanticized, but it all boils down to a young kid having been thrown into several bad situations. First, his stepfather abandoned him. Then a friend allowed him to be blamed for his crime. Ultimately, he ended up facing the Santa Fe Ring, a group that controlled much of New Mexico with their financial power and political clout. Though he made plenty of bad decisions in the mix, it's sometimes hard to remember that he was only twenty-one when he died (and research tends toward him being slightly younger than that). We don't trust kids with alcohol before that age, let alone expect them to make their own way in an uncivilized, violent and corrupt part of the country, dependent upon themselves for their own support and protection.

Some facts:

1. Billy the Kid was not left-handed, as is sometimes said. This confusion was a result of a reverse image on the tintype.

2. Not only could Billy the Kid read well, he also spoke Spanish fluently.

3. Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett weren't friends, but may have known each other superficially.

4. Billy the Kid did not, in fact, kill 21 men, as is claimed. Only four deaths can definitely be attributed to him, specifically, rather than to other members of "The Regulators" and others he rode with. A posse killed one of their own men via friendly fire and promptly blamed that death on Billy.

5. Most of what has been told about Billy the Kid is false, made up by newspaper reporters at the time. Pat Garrett's book also sullied the waters further, making Billy the Kid out to be much more vicious than he actually was in order to build his own image.

What do you think? Was Billy the Kid a bad guy or just a stupid kid thrown into a horrible situation? Is your social media out of control, or do you feel you have a good handle on it?

May you find your Muse.

*Letter B image courtesy of OCAL at clker.com
**Image of dandy Billy the Kid courtesy of Criminals
***Bob Ollinger stone image courtesy of Daniel Mayer (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
****Billy the Kid holding a gun image courtesy of Ben Wittick (1845-1903) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Social Media for Writers

I've questioned various forms of social media since starting this blog: why should we use them, what good are they, how do they help, are they just time wasters? I signed up for Twitter after a lot of recommendations on my Twitter post during last year's A-to-Z challenge, because I was told it was valuable for writers. I was already on Facebook, and MySpace was obsolete to me before I joined Facebook. As far as LinkedIn, I only joined because I kept getting requests from people. But what should I be doing with them?

For Twitter, I've followed publishing houses and such, and some have even found me first, which I imagine is for their advertizing purposes, but it works for me, either way. So far, it has not had major use yet, but I imagine its day will come. Also, I would have to spend more time on there to give it a real chance before I complain. I can see how it would be a good source for finding publishers, learning about agents, and hearing about contests, though. And when the day comes that I've got something to advertize, I'm sure it will be helpful there, too. I know that I have valued it when someone has "retweeted" or "RT'd" something I've put on there, and I wonder if some of my readers haven't been discovered that way.

I'm still trying to figure out some of the logistics of Twitter. When someone "tags" me with a "FF" tag, for instance, am I supposed to respond in some way? I don't right now, because I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. Help? I don't respond every time someone thanks me for following them on there, for various reasons. Am I supposed to always respond? Am I supposed to tag everyone who follows me with a thank you message? Do people prefer that, or are they happy without it?

Facebook has a bunch of uses, so while I can see how it can be valuable, I'm not sure how to get a Facebook page out there where everyone knows it's there. For instance, I created one for the Pen Women, but how do I get people to follow it? Of course, I have one for this blog, too, but I figure for right now just having the button on the side of my blog referring people to it is good enough. If someone wants to "like" the Facebook page, they can find it on here. As of right now, though, it is mostly used to notify people of new posts on here. I tried starting conversations on there a few times that were related to what I had posted, but it didn't work. Maybe in the future when I have five trillion followers/readers?

One that I never bothered much with until recently was LinkedIn. Like I said above, I added it because I kept getting requests. I mostly had a couple friends on there and that was that. However, I started getting requests from fellow writers who had found me on here, and then I got recommendations for others to add, and I've started doing a teeny bit more that way, but that was really it. Then, maybe about a week or so ago, I got a nice little form message recommending some groups I could join. I had no idea there were groups! I clicked on the groups and checked them out, and there were some neat groups of writers, so I went ahead and joined.

Lo and behold, a few days ago someone posts in one of the groups that their anthology deadline has been extended. I click on that discussion, it sounds interesting, and I go to the site. Their prompt instantly sparked something, and I immediately wrote a personal essay to submit. I've never submitted an essay for publication (I've hardly submitted anything for publication...), so I have no idea if it's good, but I'm delighted to have done it. In case you're interested, the anthology is Sofas I've Slept on. I believe they're taking submissions until March 20, 2012.

Image courtesy of OCAL at CLKER.com

I'm learning that I maybe shouldn't be so skeptical of social media, and that it has value. The problem is learning how to use it to my advantage without allowing it to suck me in and become a time waster. That's true for every single bit of social media I take part in. Other than the lure of CastleVille, I'm getting better at brief, pertinent visits most of the time.

Quickly, I'd like to mention the Pikes Peak Writer's Write Brain, occurring tomorrow, Tuesday, January 17, 6:30-8:30 at Celebration Place in the Citadel Mall. It sounds like a great program. I'll likely write it up if I get good notes, and share it with everyone, but if you're able to attend, I'm sure personal attendance would be far more valuable than my write up. This Write Brain will be run by Deb Courtney, Robert Spiller and DeAnna Knippling, and concerns New Models in Publishing. Each of these people has been involved with both traditional and self-publishing. For more information, click HERE.

What forms of social media do you use? What do you find most valuable? How do you insure you aren't wasting time?

May you find your Muse.