Tag Archives: Pinterest

How Do I Manage My Social Media?

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How Do I Manage My Social Media?

By Rory C. Keel

roryckeel.com

As we have already discovered, social media will help the writer in building their brand, platform or fan base for their writing. Social media is expected in the modern world of technology.

We previously explored the large variety of social media applications available to the writer such as blogs, business-to-customer avenues like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We also looked at business-to-usiness focused applications such as LinkedIN. And let’s not forget the use of picture and video oriented social media venues such as Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.

Managing Social Media

Now that we have a social media presence on the web, how does the writer manage the avenues he or she has chosen?

First, you must understand that social media is NOT FREE.

Are you surprised?

While you may not have pulled out your credit card to set up an account, you will pay by investing either time or money. Your time equals money and unless you are a professional blogger, the hours you spend managing your social media accounts are hours NOT spent on writing projects.

Secondly, you need to understand the different ways to manage your social media accounts.

Individual App Management

This will require you to log on to each application and enter information, reply to messages or requests for followers and manage the account yourself. If you have several different applications this can be time consuming.

The optimum average time one should spend managing all accounts should be no more than 15-20 minutes in the morning and the same amount of time in the afternoon.

Basic Simple Links

Basic simple links in the applications offer the user shortcuts to link them together. By linking these social media platforms, one entry can be made and it will be posted on all applications, saving time and money.

Management Programs and Services

When you achieve your fame as a writer, management services are available to manage these accounts for you. They range from free limited services to different levels of service for various monthly charges.

Next week we will discuss some general tips in using social media.

 Roryckeel.com

IF YOU’RE A NOBODY~Now Is the Time to Develop a Social Media Platform

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IF YOU’RE A NOBODY~

         Now Is the Time to Develop a Social Media Platform

Natalie Bright

Where are you going with your writing? What do you want to achieve in the next year? The next five years?

If you let rejection, lack of cash, family obligations, day job, or whatever excuse distract you from your goals, that’s okay. Writing can be very therapeutic.

However, if you know without a doubt, deep down in your gut, that you will be a successful, published author. You will finish a book and publish it one day through whatever method or opportunity comes your way, then now’s the time to work on your online presence.

This year, one of my goals is to absorb an understanding about social media. Every interview I’ve read and every podcast I’ve listened to has revealed some surprising facts. Authors with sales through the roof have a good grasp on their social media (or in some cases, they hire somebody who does it for them). They set aside time to spend on social media, and they know what works best to reach their target market of readers.

Predictions are that three times as many people will be reading books on their mobile devices in the coming years. It’s been almost a decade since the eBook craze began in the U.S. and then onto England and parts of Europe. Today, the sales for eBooks and iBooks are just beginning to gain world wide appeal.

ESTABLISH A PRESENCE

So where should you be? Twitter? Instagram? Google+? Facebook? Amazon Author Pages? All of the above? Trying to determine this AFTER your book is published is too late. Guess where children’s book authors are finding success in sales and fan interaction? Statistics don’t lie, and several authors swear by Pinterest for selling their indie-published kid lit.

Another indie author swears by Twitter, which generates three times the sales as his other social media posts. Incidentally, I held out from Instagram as long as I could, but now it’s my absolute favorite go to place for following book stores, author news, and the western culture.

One thing about successful authors; they tend to be very statistically and data savvy. Having an understanding of where your sales come from, how each of these sites differ, and what they can do for you as a published author is just good business sense.

LEARN IN DOING

I started posting articles on my website about sites, people, and life in general several years ago. One day the comments reached a frenzy. My blog had gone viral! Not.

In reality my site had been hacked with comments relating to Viagra and Rolex. I deleted thousands and thousands of comments, and blocked the comment option. I learned that there was nothing I could do but delete that site and pay for a redesign. She couldn’t cut and paste because of the risk of transferring the spam virus. So to save money, I retyped all of the content from my blog. Thank goodness I wasn’t up against a hard writing deadline.

The next time stats showed hits in the thousands it actually was a blog post that went viral! Lesson learned.

I could go on and on about the weird things relating to my social media experiences, but you get my point. As with any “job” there is a learning curve. If you’re a newbie writer looking up from the trenches, this is the most fun and less stressed place to be. If you mess up or post something stupid, only a few friends will know. You can laugh about it later over marguerites.

I’ve always believed that doing is learning. Learning is doing. So take a leap. You’ll find tons of information out there to get you started. One of my favorite podcasts is thecreativepenn.com with Joanna Penn.

And for info about a freelance career check out makingalivingwriting.com

This is a great time to be a writer!

Nataliebright.com

 

How Do I Manage My Social Media?

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How Do I Manage My Social Media?

By Rory C. Keel

 

As we have already discovered, social media will help the writer in building their brand, platform or fan base for their writing. Social media is expected in the modern world of technology.

We previously explored the large variety of social media applications available to the writer such as blogs, business-to-customer avenues like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We also looked at business-to-usiness focused applications such as LinkedIN. And let’s not forget the use of picture and video oriented social media venues such as Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.

Managing Social Media

Now that we have a social media presence on the web, how does the writer manage the avenues he or she has chosen?

First, you must understand that social media is NOT FREE.

Are you surprised?

While you may not have pulled out your credit card to set up an account, you will pay by investing either time or money. Your time equals money and unless you are a professional blogger, the hours you spend managing your social media accounts are hours NOT spent on writing projects.

Secondly, you need to understand the different ways to manage your social media accounts.

Individual App Management

This will require you to log on to each application and enter information, reply to messages or requests for followers and manage the account yourself. If you have several different applications this can be time consuming.

The optimum average time one should spend managing all accounts should be no more than 15-20 minutes in the morning and the same amount of time in the afternoon.

Basic Simple Links

Basic simple links in the applications offer the user shortcuts to link them together. By linking these social media platforms, one entry can be made and it will be posted on all applications, saving time and money.

Management Programs and Services

When you achieve your fame as a writer, management services are available to manage these accounts for you. They range from free limited services to different levels of service for various monthly charges.

Next week we will discuss some general tips in using social media.

 Roryckeel.com

How Do I Manage My Social Media?

Posted on by
Reply

How Do I Manage My Social Media?

By Rory C. Keel

 

As we have already discovered, social media will help the writer in building their brand, platform or fan base for their writing. Social media is expected in the modern world of technology.

We previously explored the large variety of social media applications available to the writer such as blogs, business-to-customer avenues like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We also looked at business-to-usiness focused applications such as LinkedIN. And let’s not forget the use of picture and video oriented social media venues such as Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.

Managing Social Media

Now that we have a social media presence on the web, how does the writer manage the avenues he or she has chosen?

First, you must understand that social media is NOT FREE.

Are you surprised?

While you may not have pulled out your credit card to set up an account, you will pay by investing either time or money. Your time equals money and unless you are a professional blogger, the hours you spend managing your social media accounts are hours NOT spent on writing projects.

Secondly, you need to understand the different ways to manage your social media accounts.

Individual App Management

This will require you to log on to each application and enter information, reply to messages or requests for followers and manage the account yourself. If you have several different applications this can be time consuming.

The optimum average time one should spend managing all accounts should be no more than 15-20 minutes in the morning and the same amount of time in the afternoon.

Basic Simple Links

Basic simple links in the applications offer the user shortcuts to link them together. By linking these social media platforms, one entry can be made and it will be posted on all applications, saving time and money.

Management Programs and Services

When you achieve your fame as a writer, management services are available to manage these accounts for you. They range from free limited services to different levels of service for various monthly charges.

Next week we will discuss some general tips in using social media.

 Roryckeel.com

Inspiration

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 Inspiration

By Natalie Bright

for writers can come through a variety of venues, and I’ve learned to take what I can get. Don’t question. Write it down.

Inspiration can also come from hanging out with other writers; one of my favorite ways to ignite the muse. When you’re passionate about something, who doesn’t love to “talk shop”? The creative energy in a room full of writers is difficult to ignore. If you take the time to lunch, meet for coffee, attend a conference, you’ll be re-energized.

Alone Times

Of course, at some point we have to get back to work, and that means time alone. Lots of time alone. How do you get back into the writing groove?

It’s the most difficult part about writing, I think. To leave the hustle and bustle of the present day and disappear into the fictional world of your sub-conscious.

Journaling

  1. You do have a journal for your current work in progress don’t you? Fill the pages with research notes about locations, building details, town layouts, room floor plans, vegetation, yard descriptions. You may not used all of that information in your book, but it will make the setting even more alive in your mind.
  2. First person accounts in the point of view of your characters. Even minor characters can give you insight into your main characters. Free write the same scene from each character’s perspective.
  3. Character descriptions and character profiles. Describe your characters to the tiniest detail.

Having a hard time getting back into your story? Read through your WIP journal and before long your fingers will be flying over the keyboard. I’ve extended my WIP journals into Pinterest boards for visual inspiration.

What other kinds of information do you put in your WIP journals?

 

PINTEREST Inspired

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PINTEREST Inspired

By Natalie Bright

 

Have you discovered Pinterest.com?

It began as a sight to assist brides-to-be with wedding planning, evolving into so much more. Boards, which can be described as your own personal bulletin board or scrapbook,  are set-up by you, and these boards can be used to store images of anything that interests or inspires you. Your pins can be shared on your Twitter or Facebook page as well, or you can opt out of that tool.

Estimated to have around 11 millions unique visitors every month, it has quickly become an influence in eCommerce.

Authors on Pinterest 

Pinterest is a useful tool for authors to promote, organize and find inspiration for stories. Here are a few ideas:

  1. Your booklist: pin covers of your books.
  2. Your inspiration: pin the inspiration, faces, places, research for each of your books. Have a separate board for each of your book titles. Give your readers a glimpse into the creative process.
  3. Faces: celebrities, ordinary people, whatever inspires images of your characters.
  4. Research: categorize by time period or topic
  5. Rooms: can’t visualize a scene in your novel? Find the house or room and pin it.
  6. Places: find pictures of settings in your book.
  7. Contests
  8. Favorite Books: what are you reading now? Let your fans know.
  9. Clothing: wardrobes for your characters.
  10. Profile your character: personal articles, hobbies, treasured mementoes.Secret Boards

Okay I admit, Pinterest has become another fun way of wasting time instead of writing, and I admit I’m hooked, but now I really, really love Pinterest even more because of secret boards! You are the only one that can see the content of your Secret Boards. In addition, you can invite anyone you want to view these boards. One of my favorite authors mentioned in an interview that she added her agent and editor to her Secret Boards as she developed a new series and as they worked on edits. They were able to exchange inspiration, ideas and work through plot issues without exchanging a zillion emails.

Two stories are floating around in my head right now set in completely different time periods. I’ve got secret boards for each containing clothing, household items, rooms, settings, hairstyles of the time period, research links to websites, music recordings, videos, and book covers of potential research material. I’m not ready to share my ideas to the world yet. The characters and their stories are really coming alive in my mind’s eye as I research the time period. Another bonus I recently discovered is that viewing the WIP Pinterest Secret board allows me to leave the present world behind more quickly and disappear into that time period. It energizes me and puts me in the mood to write.

One More Thing

Have you found your favorite authors on Pinterest yet? Type their name into the Search bar and look for the name next to their picture. Then you know you’ve found their Home Page rather than something someone else has pinned about them.

Pin Away and Happy Writing!

Make a fortune by doing nothing!

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Make a fortune by doing nothing! 

If you’ve been around the block once, you’ve heard them, the get rich quick schemes. “Work part time for thousands of dollars a week!” “Get rich with minimal or no effort!”

Get Rich

Let’s get real. Most people run from this kind of hyped up claims—or do we?

Somehow the idea that a new writer can write a book, publish it and sit back to rake in the money without any work is alive and well today.

You may have an agent and a publishing house contract, and yes, you may have a good book, but the world doesn’t know it. You must promote it.

Promote 

By every means possible you must promote your work: word of mouth, business cards and fliers, libraries, writing conferences and book signings. Use electronic promotions such as a website or a blog. Social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and Pinterest also create large platforms for your writing.

Sell

The truth is if you are going to be successful, you not only have to write a good book, but you must work hard and sell it too.

Rory C. Keel