I just love that moment when someone says, ‘You need an upgrade.” It’s the way we live today, almost everything is fluid, from Presidents to web sites. So, I’m upgrading. Much of this is in preparation for the launch of my next novel, The Nuremberg Puzzle. Here is what I will be doing: 1. Changing …
One of the most challenging tasks for any writer is what to create for social media. Twitter is important and we can retweet, reply and link to other content with it, but if you have a blog or web site with valuable content you can draw people to your own site and expose them to …
I have joined many online writers communities. The ones I found most useful were: Authonomy – The Harper Collins site for aspiring writers. I attended a one day event they ran and got published as a result! I am now translated into 10 languages. What’s not to love! Backspace – I was active in this community …
If you have any other reasons writers should use Twitter, or not, please comment below:
Another storytelling technique you can use to build social media engagement is characterization. Characterization builds empathy between the reader and your post or feed/series of posts. But how do you do that? Characterization is built by revealing personal details. It’s in the advice to “be personal”, but we can expand on that idea to give …
The hope of a successful self-publishing experience seems about as realistic as the plots of some ill-fashioned fantasy novels. The costs associated with self-publishing have long held it out of reach for the average novice. How much money will you devote to publishing your novel? Make sure that your budget maximizes the use of all …
Creating tension, the need to read on, to find out what happens next, is a technique that social media posters can use to build engagement with their followers. I’m not suggesting that each post should have a cliff hanger, but I am encouraging awareness of how storytelling techniques can be used in a corporate or …
Another tool for creating engagement and a sense of involvement in your posts is empathy. As writers we can use this technique to add depth to our posts. Empathy is compassion or rapport. In storytelling terms it is the ability to place your readers in the shoes of your characters. So how do you do …
Since time immemorial we have gathered by the camp fire to listen to tales of monsters, fair maidens and battles long ago. An interest in such stories seems hard wired into our genes. The challenge for social media strategists is how to use such genetic hard wiring to increase the audience for any given post …
Writers are under increasing pressure. Low advances, intense competition and the pressure to self-market, to engage on social media, are making our jobs more challenging than ever. I want to embrace this challenge. I hope you will too. Here are seven traits of the social writer. Being social is about using the social media …
Democracy is coming to the world of writing. Here are the barricades where the fighting is fiercest: 1. Newspaper and magazine review sites. Reviewers traditionally receive free copies of hundreds of books. They refuse, mostly, to review independently published books, no matter how popular. They support the corporate system that pays their wages. They impose …
A key task for me in the lead up to the launch by Harper Collins of my new novel, The Manhattan Puzzle, Oct 10 – http://viewbook.at/B00CCUB80C – is the establishment of relationships with key bloggers in my genre. So far I have been promised that a post about the book and its 7 key themes at …
I create content. That’s what people come to this site for. And it’s why they buy my books. And it’s why they visit most sites. Here are the five content rules I use to help me create content that people will come to my sites for. 1. Make the content relevant to your mission or …
xTended is a project intended to bring out of copyright Irish writing into the age of social media. Our goal is to use pictures, sound, video, comments, fan fiction, book clubs, comments and text to extend the literature, poetry and plays that are a key part of Ireland’s heritage into a place where hundreds of …
The big question is, does all this social media stuff work if you are a writer? Well, that depends what success is or “working” is for you. There are two criteria for me. They are sales and personal connections. 1. On sales it’s not difficult to distinguish book sales for writers who are on social …
If you get potential readers involved with you or your work through social media you are more likely to turn them into readers. This is the power of involvement. Here are it’s rules: 1. Get readers to participate, to share, to comment (please do so below). 2. Ask for advice. What do you think of …
I got this great position near the door of a bookstore in Dublin last January for my first two novels by building a personal relationship with the staff there and by offering to hold low cost workshops to them. Unfortunately the shop is now gone. But I do think trading is a good way for …
Can you get on with people who are different to you? Collaboration is a critical part of achieving your dreams as a writer. If you can’t get along with your editor, mentor and writing group colleagues how is all this going to work? And the next step to getting along is helping your fellow writers …
Giving away books is one of the easiest things you can do on social media as a writer to raise awareness. I have given away copies of my books every month for the past six months and I have posted copies to as far away as Japan. On Goodreads over 500 people responded to a …
Most writers want to get noticed. These services were designed to help you achieve that. I am both self published and traditionally published by Harper Collins. My first published novel achieved a number one placing in its paid for category on Kindle and is close to selling 35,000 ebooks since launch in 2012. My total …
I have 13 boards on Pinterest and 298 followers on my favorite board linked and pictured above. That board provides clues to the riddle at the heart of my first published novel. You can click on the images. Some will take you to Amazon to buy the book. Others will take you back to my blog, …
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We all know that Twitter should only be used for self promotion for about one in ten of the Tweets you send out. But that still means you can send the occasional Tweet, as long as you have given value to your followers in your other Tweets, either linking to something they might be interested in, … Continue reading
Lizz Lund I did fairly well with free downloads and the subsequent sales, of my first novel,Kitchen Addiction! back when dinosaurs ruled the internet and XP wasn’t completely phased away; circa 2012. Since then, besides completing two more books in the series (#2, Christmas Bizarre, published this August 2014. #3, Confection Connection, is entering … Continue reading
I just love that moment when someone says, ‘You need an upgrade.” It’s the way we live today, almost everything is fluid, from Presidents to web sites. So, I’m upgrading. Much of this is in preparation for the holiday season. Here’s what I am doing: 1. Creating a new Facebook page and group. A page is different … Continue reading
These ideas are designed as a basic style guide and as a resource to help you identify potential topics for blog posts, which will help you sell your books. Author blog posts should be published on your own website or blog whenever possible, to draw people to a site with your own branding on it. We encourage you to write … Continue reading
A big question looms for many writers as they face into an uncertain future. How can I, as a writer, promote my books in a way that doesn’t feel grubby and exploitative? I propose to answer this question by suggesting that writers should consider one of the most influential business gurus, Robert Greenleaf, who created a business … Continue reading
I teach a 3 hr class on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as part of a Diploma Course in Digital Marketing at City Colleges in Dublin, which I have delivered since 2013. I am also an author with three novels published by Harper Collins and a self published guide to social media on Amazon. Long ago search was gamed … Continue reading
One aspect of the changing environment for writers, which has been little discussed, is the idea of extending our stories online with the help of social media, blogs and web sites. Social media and the online world are parts of the new wave of online communications, which is dominating the lives of billions, with its instant tribal culture, its … Continue reading
Twitter has hundreds of millions of daily users worldwide. It isboth a way to engage one to one with people and a way to broadcast information. Writers use it every day for both. Search for #amwriting on Twitter and you will see some of the activity writers are engaging in on Twitter. Some of it is broadcasting. … Continue reading
We all know what the placebo effect is. It’s the impact of belief on outcomes. If you believe a drug is going to work, it does, for some people, even if what you get is just sugar. For more on the medical implications of this, see the American cancer society. . What they call … Continue reading
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