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Author: Janet Gershen-Siegel

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Swag for Independent Writers

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 17, 2020

Ah, Swag

Do you like swag?

So, swag is necessary when you go on the road. Work a convention at a dealer’s table, or get your book into a library, and you may need a little extra something to give away. Hence here are a few choices.

Bookmarks, a Very Common Form of Swag

Maybe the best and closest kind of giveaway item is the humble bookmark. In one sense, it’s perfect because it relates directly to books and reading. And you can spend as much or as little as you like. Plus maybe you only want something straightforward, perhaps a section of your cover, often printed on one side on heavy cardboard stock. And that’s great!

Because you’ve got some real estate, consider some additions, such as your website or even a QR code for a discount off one of your books. However, I suggest leaving one side blank for notes. While that’s not strictly necessarily, it may end up cheaper for you, not to mention it having an actual purpose.

Bookmarks are particularly useful because not only can you put them in your own books, you can put them in library or bookstore books. Yes, they might be removed and discarded. However, you need to consider that these are loss leaders; you need to be ready to lose some cash on these.

Business Cards

These seem hit or miss. If you go to conventions and run a table or booth, you will need cards. And again, try to keep the back blank. Pro tip: use matte. Shiny card stock costs more and it makes it harder to write on the card. Because you want people writing on your cards. Oh, and don’t be stingy with them. Give them away. Meet someone? Give them a card. Someone stops by your table? Give them a card. Like bookmarks, these will be discarded by a lot of people. Accept that as a cost of doing business.

Tee Shirts

These can work really well if you have a fantastic and memorable cover design, or a great catch phrase. Imagine a tee shirt which has your cover on the front and your catch phrase on the back. You can make people into walking billboards this way. Be ready to give a lot of these away, and maybe even use them as contest prizes. Most people will not purchase these unless you become really famous. Again, this is a cost of doing business.

Toys and Action Figures

Funko Pops lets you design your own male and female characters. But volume is an issue here. And so is the startup cost. The blank figures in that link are almost $10 apiece. Hence a large run of these may not be in the cards – so take advantage of their rareness and play on the scarcity aspect when giving these away or selling them.

For other types of action figures, look at prices and consider what you want to settle with. If the figure doesn’t end up looking a lot like you, how will that make you feel? If the answer is ‘terrible, of course’, then you might want to do something else with your swag budget.

Swag: Some Takeaways

Giving away swag may seem counterintuitive. After all, you want to make money, rather than spend it. But if you are new on the scene, it can be a great way to get noticed and show how you’re different from all the rest.

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Community Management – Collection of Users to True Community

Community Management, Drawn to Scale. Freshening, Get Together, Love, Small Things, Without Management, True Community, Party Started, Terrible Netizen, Snakes in the Garden, Circle Game, Look at Me, Good Netizen, Corralling, Wandering off Topic, Facebook versus Forums, Superstar Users, Community Management Analytics, Community Roundtable, Community Management Haikus, Life of a Community Manager, Social Media Job Descriptions, Superstar Users, Community Roundtable 2010, community managers, off topic posts,

Community Management – Collection of Users to True Community

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 10, 2020

Going From a Collection of Users to a True Community

What is a True Community?

I’ve written at least seven obituaries.

That is, perhaps, an odd thing to confess. But when Jill, Kevin, Paul, Joanne, Olen, Joan, and Mary all passed on, it was up to me to write something, to not only commemorate their lives, but to try to help comfort a grieving community.

I am not saying you will write as many, or even if you will ever write even one. And I certainly hope you will never have to, as they can be gut-wrenching. But it was with the first one – Mary’s – that it became manifest (if it was not already self-evident) that, to paraphrase the old Brady Bunch theme, this group had somehow formed a family.

How Can This Happen to Your True Community (Without the Tragic Part)?

But no one has to cross over to the other side in order for your collection of users to coalesce into a Community with a capital C. The secret is very simple, although many companies don’t want to hear it: it’s going off-topic.

Let us assume, for example, that your community is a corporate-run one. And the product is a soft drink. Corporate tells you to stay on topic, on message. However, your users are saying something very different.

For it is easy, as you’re talking about the soft drink, to slide into discussing foods eaten with it (frankly, for such a community you’d almost have to go off-topic. Nobody but a truly dedicated corporate marketer can talk about a soft drink 24/7). Food slides into a discussion of recipes. Recipes turn into a talk about entertaining. And then suddenly you’re off to the races and talking about family relationships.

Corporate tries to pull you back on topic. Yet your users pull the true community ever further away. And they pinball from family relationships to dating, raising children, and elder care, if you let them.

The Community Manager’s Role

Here is where you, as the Community Manager, can talk to Corporate and forge a compromise. Corporate needs for people to talk about the product, tout it, and virally promote it. And they need people to make well-ranked (on Google) topics about it. Corporate may also realize that they need to hear the bad news about the product as well. The users need to talk.

So make a compromise. Create an off-topic area and move all off-message topics there. And be fairly loose with your definition of what’s on topic. In our soft drink example, the recipes topics, even if they don’t use the product as an ingredient, are still close enough so you can consider them on topic.

Also, don’t be surprised if the corollary is true. Hence topics that begin on message veer off it, even by the time of the first responsive post. That’s okay. Those topics should still be considered to be on message. Because Google is far more concerned with a forum topic’s title and initial post than with its tenth response.

The Benefits of the Off-Topic Section

Don’t be shocked if your off-topic section becomes a large one. And recognize that you and your Moderating staff (if you have one) may need to make on message topics in order to continue creating germane content. But your true community will be talking and the site will be a lively one.

It’s a party that’s going nonstop, your users will stick around and from this you can build a marketing database. And that is one of the standard corporate aims behind creating a community in the first place.

So when your users start talking about life events, such as births, school, divorce, moving, jobs, marriage, children and, yes, deaths, it matters. And when they start supporting each other through each of these phases, it marks a bright line distinction between a haphazard agglomeration of users and a true team of like-minded individuals.

Finally, that team, that family, that army, is what being in a true community is really all about.

Want More About Community Management?

If my experiences with community management resonate with you, then check out my other blog posts about how online communities work.

Community Management Tidbits

Here are some posts about my years in community management, and what I’ve learned.

• A Day in the Life of a Community Manager
† Analytics
• Going From a Collection of Users to a True Community
† Risks of a Community Without Management
• Are Off Topic Posts Ever Okay?

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The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More

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The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 1, 2020

What Are The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts?

Best Lengths for social posts can seem elusive. What’s right? Does it ever change?

The fine folks at Buffer and, in particular, Kevan Lee, have done it again and have everything you always wanted to know about social post lengths but were afraid to ask.

In my travels online, I have seen blog posts that were under 50 words long. I have seen blog posts that were a good 10,000 words long. Tweets, of course, are limited. But there have been plenty of Pinterest pins with just an image and nothing else. Or they’ve got enough verbiage behind them to seemingly rival War and Peace. So, what’s ideal? Is there any science behind it?

Blogs

How long should blog posts be? Buffer likes blog post titles to be six words long (oops, this blog post’s title is too long). Interestingly enough, the blog post where I got the inspiration for this blog post from also has a title that is too long.

Sometimes, six words is just not long enough.

Thanks to Buffer for this graphic.

Interestingly enough, Buffer said blog posts are best at 1,600 words in length.

However, Yoast (the fine makers of an SEO plugin I use for my own blog posting–as do many other people!) provides good SEO credit for blog posts that are at least 300 words in length.

The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but one thing is for sure – those fifty-word blog posts just plain are not long enough.

Facebook

How big should a Facebook post be? Buffer said forty characters.

Keep it short, snappy, and to the point. According to Lee, Facebook posts that exceed forty characters degrade in engagement as they get longer.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that 700-word screed you wrote? Better make that a blog post instead and just link to it. But if you put the whole thing on Facebook, people will scroll right on by. Yes, even if you add an image.

Here’s a trick to get around the forty-character wall – links show the title and some text, and you can always change these.

Or add an image with some text. But don’t go nuts! It is very, very easy to hit and exceed critical mass.

Best Lengths for LinkedIn Posts

How long should a LinkedIn post be? Buffer clocks in at twenty-five words, based upon clickthrough data.

How large should a Pinterest image be?

Buffer’s got you covered – 735px x 1102px. These taller pins seem to stand out more, and are therefore shared more often.

Best Lengths for Twitter Posts

How long should an effective Tweet be? Buffer said to limit it to 71 – 100 characters, in order to provide some space for people to comment before sending out a modified tweet (MT).

So keep hashtags at six characters for maximal impact. Yes, we all know that people sometimes use hashtags as a bit of wry commentary.

Tumblr in particular seems to inspire hashtags like #DudeLooksLikeALady (and not just for fans of Aerosmith). Excessive hashtagging is one of the characteristics of Instagram. However, the best length hashtag on Twitter has six characters.

Best Lengths for Posts: Takeaways

TL; DR – Check out the chart, and the cited article, for more information. The research on best lengths for posts is sound, and fascinating, and the article was a hell of a find.

Is it still relevant, years later? Eh, kind of. You make the call, sports fans.

The best lengths for social media posts keep changing. But there’s one constant in life—cut to the chase!

Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Conquer Your Fears and Get Together

Yes, you can—and should — get together! Life online is all well and good. Many of us spend large chunks of our time connected, whether that is via a desktop PC, a smartphone, a laptop, or a tablet. Newer technologies will, undoubtedly, make it even easier to get and stay connected.

But sometimes you’ve just got to say: Stop the Internet, I want to get off!

Of course you go offline every night for bed (er, you do, don’t you?), at the absolute minimum. But there’s more to it than that.

When your community has been around for a significant period of time (say, a year), your users are going to, naturally, be curious about meeting one another. In person. With no screens dividing them.

And this is excellent. It is a sign of the community jelling. You should encourage this. Or, if you like, you can even suggest a meeting yourself.

I mean, why the hell not?

Informal Gatherings

For informal gatherings, there is little, if anything, that you need to do. If you can attend, great! And if you can’t, ask people to take pictures. However, remind your users they should get permission before they take any photographs and post them online.

Furthermore, if there will be minors present, emphasize that photographs of them really should not appear online. Be prepared, if the child’s parents ask, to remove such photographs if they end up on your site. But that’s about it.

Formal Gatherings

Formal gatherings allow for a lot more dazzle. A get together can be as expensive or cheap as you like. Your attendees might wish to reserve a block of hotel rooms, or even a hall. Or you might just need to make reservations at a restaurant.

Or you could think outside the restaurant, and consider a visit to a museum, historical attraction or nature preserve. Your group might enjoy attending, say, a minor league baseball game (it’s often a nominal fee to get your site or company mentioned on the scoreboard or over the public address system. Usually this takes the form of a charitable donation).

Or your users might even enjoy a potluck, or a cruise, or a bowling tournament for fun. They might like to run a 5K race (or just watch) or even attend lectures or form a book group. And they might even enjoy helping to build a house for charity or volunteer at a soup kitchen for the day. The only limits are your imagination and the focus of your community.

Because a forum devoted to young mothers, for example, might enjoy a gathering where they can bring their children. Whereas a board focusing on a hip hop artist might prefer attending a concert.

Get Together Swag

For a gathering (in particular, for one specifically planned and sanctioned by you), it’s nice to bring swag. That is, forum- or company-specific merchandise. Make it free for the taking! Hats, tee shirts, frisbees, key chains, whatever you like.

The young mothers’ forum might like diaper bags or onesies. That hip hop forum might like licensed mix CDs, or special music that they can download.

Just give them the URL and a key or password, so they can get it exclusively, at least to start. And, it’s not a problem if people begin to share the URL and the password. Because you want them to do this.

Gatherings are fun. It’s enjoyable to finally see and get together with people you only know from online. Once you’ve heard their voices and seen their mannerisms in the flesh, you’ll never read their posts the same way again.

Want More About Community Management?

If my experiences with community management resonate with you, then check out my other blog posts about how online communities work.

Community Management Tidbits

Here are some posts about my years in community management, and what I’ve learned.

• A Day in the Life of a Community Manager
† Analytics
• Going From a Collection of Users to a True Community
† Risks of a Community Without Management
• Are Off Topic Posts Ever Okay?

Next blog post

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… And Facebook for All – Your Home Page

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 16, 2020

Life, Liberty … And Facebook for All – Your Home Page

Your home page is vital. Log into Facebook, and it’s the first thing you see. It’s your Home Page. So here’s what’s in it. You can divide it into what look like columns.

NOTE: Facebook constantly A/B tests. Features move around, change, are renamed and resized, or disappear all the time. These are rolled out in stages; your neighbor may have a different-looking Home Page from yours. And this is 100% normal.

Home Page Links

So first of all, column one (left side, top):

• News Feed
† Messenger
• Watch
† Marketplace

Then shortcuts; this is a section you add to or subtract from.

Then …

• Explore
† Pages
• Groups
† Events
• Fundraisers
† Games etc.

Your Feed

Then column two (center):

• Status messages on friends’ pages
† Other friend activities
• Anything your friends or the pages you follow are sharing

Column Three

Then column three (right, top):

† Events
• Friends’ Birthdays
† Marketplace
• Groups You Might Like
† People You May Know
• Targeted Advertisements
† A list of friends available on chat (at the bottom)

Let’s start with Column One:

Groups

So this is a list of the groups you have joined.

Pages

These are pages you are following.

Friends

So pretty obviously, this is a way to access your entire list of friends.

Create Group

So you can create groups for any reason. And this includes to support a beloved entertainment figure, promote your business or just complain about people wearing Crocs. So I’ll get into the specifics later.

Games

These will rotate as you access more games, depending upon recency.

Status Messages on Friends’ Pages

So this is the actual News Feed itself. And you can comment on others’ statuses (statii?) or posted links.

Your Home Page Still Shows Other Friend Activities

First of all, you are served everyone’s activities. Facebook can be a tsunami of data. However, a lot is aggregated; you are usually shown that six people joined a group, rather than separate messages on all half-dozen.

Events

So if you’ve got upcoming events and you haven’t RSVP’d, they’ll show up here, but you can jettison them by clicking the x on the right side. Note that you’ll be invited to all sorts of stuff, including sponsored activities and openings by commercial ventures. And RSVP’ing is not strictly necessary. However, as an event organizer, I have to say it’s appreciated so as to at least get a handle on headcount (and know who not to expect).

You need not RSVP for commercial store openings or whatnot.

Friends’ Birthdays

Whether they’ve made the year apparent is their own business. But if they’ve got the month and day up on Facebook, birthdays will show up here. And of course you’re under no obligation to wish people a Happy Birthday, but it is kind of nice.

People You May Know

So this is based upon some sort of an algorithm whereby Facebook looks at things like your current friends list, their friends, your location and possibly also your school(s) and workplace(s). However, I don’t believe the latter are included at this time. So if you have any mutual friends, Facebook lists them as well.

Facebook does not always get this right, or it gets it wrong in interesting ways, e. g. Facebook says I “may know” the spouse of someone I attended High School with. Well, unless I went to High School with the spouse (over 30 years ago), then there isn’t much of a likelihood there.

Hence there are times when this list is bewildering. Hey, Facebook is doing the best it can.

Targeted Advertisements on Your Home Page

Well, they’re as targeted as Facebook can make them. This apparently has a basis in your click activity, your likes, your friends’ likes and whenever you click on an ad to get rid of it. Again, sometimes Facebook can get this wrong in rather spectacular ways; for example, when I wrote this post originally, it showed me an ad for Toyota. And I have neither owned nor contemplated owning one, ever.

Your Home Page has a List of Friends Available on Chat

It should go without saying that you should never click on links from chatters you don’t know well. And you’re under no obligation whatsoever to answer anyone’s instigated chat.

So a big part of the Facebook experience is not only playing games but also sharing them with others, or sharing status or links. The way you see and can participate in this sharing is via your Home Page. It is, essentially, a bulletin board between you and your pals. But keep your own wall the way you want it. If you don’t want people to swear or argue politics, etc., that is 100% within your rights.

Want More About Facebook?

If my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about the largest social network on the planet, by far.

… And Facebook for All

• Creating a Facebook page
† Working with a Facebook Page
• … Your Profile Page
† Home Page
• Offsite Sharing
† All Your Account Settings
• All the Rest of It
† Facebook versus Forums

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Writing Progress Report – Second Quarter 2020

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Writing Progress Report – Second Quarter 2020

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on June 30, 2020

Progress Report – Second Quarter 2020

How was second quarter 2020? It was dominated by COVID-19 and our country’s conversation about race; that’s how it was. So I spent second quarter 2020 hunkered down. And working! There is so much out there on small business recovery. And man oh man, is it ever confusing.

Second Quarter 2020 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time fixing and polishing them.

Then on Wattpad I finished posting fan fiction as I am not posting wholly original work there these days. That is, unless it’s for the WattNaNo profile. The only exception is anything which went through a ton of querying but never got anywhere.

Milestones

Also, I have written over two and a half million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

• Dinosaurs – 29 reads, 9 comments
† How to NaNoWriMo – 18,579 reads, 231 comments
• My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 972 reads, 133 comments
† Revved Up – 59,252 reads, 530 comments
• Side By Side – 9 reads, 0 comments
† Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 13,479 reads, 590 comments
• The Canadian Caper – 473 reads, 37 comments
† The Dish – 250 reads, 24 comments
• There is a Road – 188 reads, 28 comments
† WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2018 – 1,814 reads, 45 comments
• WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2019 – 1,124 reads, 7 comments
† What Now? – 1,949 reads, 48 comments

More Published Works

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works!

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So yay!

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome, a site which unfortunately is no more.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction, another site which is no more.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in Mythic Magazine.

Killing Us Softly, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

WIP Corner

So, my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – No One is Safe – so this one is all about what happens in the future when time travel becomes possible via narcotic.

Prep Work

So, currently, my intention, for this year’s NaNoWriMo, is that I am writing the second novel in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I need to iron out the plot! So a lot of this year will be spent on that. This one will be called Time Addicts – Nothing is Permanent.

Second Quarter 2020 Queries and Submissions

So, here’s how that’s been going during second quarter 2020.

In Progress

As of second quarter 2020, the following are still in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

† A Kitten – Zooscape
• Blue Card – Salvage
† Darkness into Light – Corner Bar Magazine
• Gentrification – Minola Review
† I Used to Be Happy – Whiskey Island Magazine
• Justice – Protean
† None of This is Real – Journey Into…
• Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – Pif Magazine
† The Guitarist – Gemini Magazine, The New Southern Fugitives
• The Student – Daily Science Fiction
† Who Do We Blame for This? – Short Story.me

All Other Statuses

So, be sure to see the Stats section for some details on any query statuses for second quarter 2020 which were not in progress.

Stats

So, in 2018, my querying stats were:

68 submissions of 19 stories

† Acceptances: 4, 5.88%
• In Progress-Under Consideration: 3, 4.41% (so these don’t seem to have panned out)
† In Progress: 10, 14.71%
• Rejected-Personal: 14, 20.59%
† Rejected-Form: 24, 35.29%
• Ghosted: 13 (so these were submissions where I never found out what happened), 19.12%

So, in 2019 my querying stats were:

23 submissions of 11 stories (so 6 submissions carry over from 2018)

† Acceptances: 4, 17.39%
• In Progress: 11 (so this includes 2 holdovers from 2018), 47.83%
† Rejected-Personal: 4, 17.39%
• Rejected-Form: 3, 13.04%
† Ghosted: 1 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 4.35%

2020 Stats

So, in 2020 my querying stats so far are:

24 submissions of 12 stories (so 9 submissions carry over from 2019)

† Acceptances: 1, 4.17%
• In Progress: 11, 45.83%
† Rejected-Personal: 7, 29.17%
• Rejected-Form: 1, 4.17%
† Ghosted: 4 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 16.67%

It can be pretty discouraging and hard to go on when nothing new comes up which is positive. It was a huge lift when Killing Us Softly got an acceptance!

Second Quarter 2020 Productivity Killers

So it’s work, and the whole social distancing thing, what else? Plus the country is in the midst of an upheaval over race. It’s .. a lot.

I am working on a ton of things and since that is also writing, it can sometimes burn me out. Because second quarter 2020 will not be the end of that!

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Writing Progress Report – First Quarter 2020

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 31, 2020

Progress Report – First Quarter 2020

How great was first quarter 2020? So I spent first quarter 2020 finishing up my 2019 NaNoWriMo novel. In February, I started to edit that same novel. This also meant starting to outline that novel’s sequel. I will be writing it for 2020 NaNoWriMo. So how awesome was that?

First Quarter 2020 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time fixing and polishing them.

Then on Wattpad I posted on the WattNaNo profile and nowhere else.

Milestones

Also, I have written over two and a half million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

• Dinosaurs – 323 reads, 9 comments
† How to NaNoWriMo – 22,775 reads, 308 comments
• My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 972 reads, 133 comments
† Revved Up – 59,320 reads, 530 comments
• Side By Side – 10 reads, 0 comments
† Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 14, 070 reads, 591 comments
• The Canadian Caper – 485 reads, 37 comments
† The Dish – 250 reads, 24 comments
• There is a Road – 189 reads, 28 comments
† WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2018 – 1,855 reads, 45 comments
• WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2019 – 1,551 reads, 10 comments
† What Now? – 2,471 reads, 104 comments

More Published Works

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works!

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So yay!

A True Believer in Skepticism, to be published in Mythic Magazine.

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome, a site which unfortunately is no more.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction, another site which is no more.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in Mythic Magazine.

Killing Us Softly, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

Darkness into Light, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

WIP Corner

So my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – No One is Safe – so this one is all about what happens in the future when time travel becomes possible via narcotic.

Time Addicts – Nothing is Permanent – this is the second in this trilogy. What happens when time is tampered with and manipulated in all sorts of ways? It’s the ultimate in gaslighting, for one thing.

Time Addicts – Everything is Up For Grabs – coming in November 2021!

Prep Work

So, currently, my intention, for this year’s NaNoWriMo, is that I am writing the third novel in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I need to iron out the plot! So, a lot of this year has been spent on that. I have called this one Time Addicts – Everything is Up for Grabs.

First Quarter 2020 Queries and Submissions

So here’s how that’s been going during second quarter 2021.

In Progress

As of second quarter 2021, the following are still in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

• I Used to Be Happy – Gemini Magazine
† Justice – Adbusters
• Mettle – RAB
† Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – A Thousand One Stories
• Who Do We Blame for This? – Sonder Review

All Other Statuses

So, be sure to see the Stats section for some details on any query statuses for second quarter 2021 which were not in progress.

Stats

So, in 2018, my querying stats were:

† 68 submissions of 19 stories
• Acceptances: 4, 5.88%
† In Progress-Under Consideration: 3, 4.41% (so, these don’t seem to have panned out)
• In Progress: 10, 14.71%
† Rejected-Personal: 14, 20.59%
• Rejected-Form: 24, 35.29%
† Ghosted: 13 (so, these were submissions where I never found out what happened), 19.12%

So, in 2019 my querying stats were:

• 23 submissions of 11 stories (so 6 submissions carry over from 2018)
† Acceptances: 4, 17.39%
• In Progress: 11 (so, this includes 2 holdovers from 2018), 47.83%
† Rejected-Personal: 4, 17.39%
• Rejected-Form: 3, 13.04%
† Ghosted: 1 (so, these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 4.35%

2020 Stats

So, in 2020 my querying stats were:

• 37 submissions of 12 stories (so, 9 submissions carry over from 2019)
† Acceptances: 3, 8.11%
• In Progress: 7, 18.92%
† Rejected-Personal: 12, 32.43%
• Rejected-Form: 4, 10.81%
† Ghosted: 11 (so, these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 29.73%

It can be pretty discouraging and hard to go on when nothing new comes up which is positive.

This Quarter’s Productivity Killers

So, it’s work and the pandemic, what else? But we also spent the end of the first quarter clearing out my mother-in-law’s apartment. Second quarter 2020? Dealing with the rest of it.

I fear second quarter 2020 will not be the end of that!

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Writing Progress Report – Fourth Quarter 2019

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on December 31, 2019

Progress Report –Fourth Quarter 2019

How great was fourth quarter 2019? So I spent fourth quarter 2019 preparing for and then doing NaNoWriMo. And then the aftermath! Then everything just sort of fell into place. So how awesome was that?

Fourth Quarter 2019 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time fixing and polishing them.

Then on Wattpad I posted some fan fiction as I am not posting wholly original work there these days. That is, unless it’s for the WattNaNo profile.

Milestones

Also, I have written over two and a half million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

• How to NaNoWriMo – 17,865+ reads, 231 comments
† My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 972 reads, 133 comments
• Revved Up – 59,075 reads, 528 comments
† Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 13,007+ reads, 589 comments. This is under my actual name, Janet Gershen-Siegel.
• The Canadian Caper – 468 reads, 37 comments
† The Dish – 249 reads, 24 comments
• There is a Road – 188 reads, 28 comments
† WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2018 – 1,692 reads, 48 comments

More Published Works

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works!

Untrustworthy, my first published novel. So yay!

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome, a site which unfortunately is no more.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM, a story posted at Unfading Daydream‘s October issue (about possession) and their 2019 Anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction, another site which is no more.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in the November 2019 issues of Mythic Magazine.

WIP Corner

So, my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a handbasket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – the latest designer high doesn’t make you happy or sad, and it doesn’t even make you hallucinate. Rather, you can go back in time.

Welcome to the 26th century, where the very rich use yesterday as their playground, and it’s up to Josie James and the rest of the OIA Department of Temporal Narcotics to rein in the worst of the abuses and cut off a burgeoning black market.

Prep Work

So currently, I have been working on some writing prompts to keep me sharp and keep the words flowing. My 2019 NaNoWriMo novel is set in the Obolonks universe. But I need more of a plot! So a lot of this year has been spent on that.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Queries and Submissions

So here’s how that’s been going during fourth quarter 2019.

In Progress

As of fourth quarter 2019, the following are still in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

• A Kitten – Dual Coast Magazine
† Blue Card – Gods Among Men podcast
• Darkness Into Light – Polychrome Ink
† Dinosaurs – Electric Spec
• Gentrification – Hecate
† Killing Us Softly – Strange Fictions
• None of This is Real – Analog Science Fiction & Fact
† Side by Side – Leading Edge Magazine
• Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – Weekly Humorist
† Who Do We Blame for This? – Emerging Worlds

Some of those have been out for a while, so I’m not exactly hopeful. Dinosaurs is on its 11th query. And Side by Side is on its 9th query. Who Do We Blame for This? is on query #8, and Blue Card is on query #7.

Assuming no one picks them up, at some point, I’ll throw in the towel on those, and just post them on Wattpad. For Dinosaurs, this is its last shot.

All Other Statuses

So, be sure to see the Stats section for some details on any query statuses for fourth quarter 2019 which were not in progress.

Stats

So, in 2018, my querying stats were:

68 submissions of 19 stories

• Acceptances: 4, 5.88%
† In Progress-Under Consideration: 3, 4.41% (so these don’t seem to have panned out)
• In Progress: 10, 14.71%
† Rejected-Personal: 14, 20.59%
• Rejected-Form: 24, 35.29%
† Ghosted: 13 (so these were submissions where I never found out what happened), 19.12%

And so in 2019 my querying stats are so far:

30 submissions of 13 stories (so 6 submissions carry over from 2018)

• Acceptances: 5, 16.67%
† In Progress: 10 (so this includes 2 holdovers from 2018), 33.33%
• Rejected-Personal: 10, 33.33%
† Rejected-Form: 4, 13.33%
• Ghosted: 1 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 3.34%

So, particularly discouraging is the fact that I had no new acceptances in second quarter or third quarter 2019. In the fourth quarter, one story sprang back to life and I got another acceptance. So those were helpful.

But man oh man! It’s still pretty discouraging and hard to go on.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Productivity Killers

So, it’s work, what else? Furthermore, during fourth quarter 2019, I did NaNoWriMo and saw my parents three times. I was a busy gal!

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Advertising on Facebook

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 15, 2019

Let’s Look at Advertising on Facebook

Have you tried advertising on Facebook? It’s easier and more affordable than you might think.

Keep in mind that Facebook is constantly A/B testing (e. g. checking to see if any new layouts or color schemes, etc. will make you click more), so these instructions might be a little out of date after a while. This has worked in the past. It might not any more. Caveat emptor.

Getting Started

About half the time, Facebook will just come to you and suggest you start advertising. I can’t say what their algorithm is for selecting a post to promote, although they usually suggest a popular one.

If they are not suggesting a post you want to promote (e. g. you would prefer to promote another one), or you are new to promotions and there are no suggestions, or you just want to see how to start one from scratch, go to your Author Page and go to Publishing Tools.

Then, on the right, pull down on Help and click Advertiser Support. This will get you to the Facebook for Business page. In the upper right corner, click Create Ad.

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll choose Boost Your Posts as our campaign.

Selecting an audience for a post

Audience is important; you do not want to just send to everyone, as even failed clicks are going to cost you money. You will do a lot better with targeting as that will help assure a greater percentage of your clicks are meaningful and helpful. Click Set Audience and Budget.

You can choose an audience from demographics, or from preferences or from lookalikes, who are people similar to those who like your page.

If you are just getting started, and a greater percentage than normal of your likes come from friends and family trying to help you out, do not use this option!

Select a location by navigating around the map and dropping a pin in your preferred location. The age ranges are also pretty self-explanatory. You can even exclude some people.

Setting an Advertising Budget

Start small. You can always add. The minimum is generally $1/day. I prefer what Facebook calls a Lifetime budget, which sets a total. It’s a lot easier to rein in than a Daily budget, I believe.

Scheduling

Go to your analytics and take a look at when more people are on than usual. Select those days and times for your ads! Next click Select Ad Creative. I recommend allowing everything unless you absolutely know your targeted audience is not in a particular area.

Choosing Which Post to Promote for Advertising on Facebook

Choosing a post to promote (if Facebook has not done so for you) is easy. So, select a popular one, representative of your brand. If you have a limited time offer, that could be perfect. Just make sure your ads don’t run after the offer has expired.

And finally, check out advertising on other platforms. FB isn’t the only fish in the sea. And in particular, with Facebook’s continuing problem of organic reach decline, you may do better elsewhere.

Good luck!

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Want More About Facebook?

If my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about the largest social network on the planet, by far.

… And Facebook for All

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Writing Progress Report – Third Quarter 2019

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 26, 2019

Progress Report –Third Quarter 2019

How great was the third quarter 2019 for writing? So I spent third quarter 2019 doing a ton of editing and planning for 2019 NaNoWriMo. Then everything just sort of fell into place. So how awesome was that?

Third Quarter 2019 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time fixing and polishing them.

Then on Wattpad I posted some fan fiction as I am not posting wholly original work there these days. That is, unless it’s for the WattNaNo profile.

Finally, I wrote some quick flash fiction at home but kept it private. That stuff might (or might not) end up elsewhere. So I confess I’m unsure.

Milestones

Also, I have written over two and a half million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So, right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

† How to NaNoWriMo – 12,327 reads, 137 comments
• My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 969 reads, 133 comments
† Revved Up – 58,729 reads, 526 comments
• Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 12,309 reads, 587 comments
† The Canadian Caper – 453 reads, 37 comments
• The Dish – 249 reads, 24 comments
† There is a Road – 188 reads, 28 comments
• WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2018 – 1,263 reads, 43 comments

More Published Works

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works!

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So yay!

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome, a site which unfortunately is no more.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM, a story posted at Unfading Daydream‘s October issue (about possession) and their 2019 Anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction, another site which is no more.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story to be published in Mythic Magazine.

WIP Corner

So, my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Prep Work

So, currently, I have been working on some writing prompts to keep me sharp and keep the words flowing. My intention, for this year’s NaNoWriMo, is to write a new novel in the Obolonks universe. But I am going to need a plot! So a lot of this year will be spent on that.

Third Quarter 2019 Queries and Submissions

So, here is how that’s been going during third quarter 2019.

In Progress

As of the third quarter 2019, the following are still in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

† A Kitten – Dual Cost Magazine
• Blue Card – Gods Among Men podcast
† Darkness Into Light – Polychrome Ink
• Dinosaurs – Electric Spec
† Gentrification – Hecate
• Killing Us Softly – Strange Fictions
† None of This is Real – Mithilia Review
• Side by Side – Leading Edge Magazine
† Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – Weekly Humorist
• Who Do We Blame for This? – Emerging Worlds

Some of those have been out for a while, so I’m not exactly hopeful. Dinosaurs is on its 11th query. And Side by Side is on its 9th query. Who Do We Blame for This? is on query #8, and Blue Card is on query #7.

Assuming no one picks them up, at some point, I’ll throw in the towel on those, and just post them on Wattpad. For Dinosaurs, this is its last shot.

All Other Statuses

So, be sure to see the Stats section for some details on any query statuses for third quarter 2019 which were not in progress.

Stats

So, in 2018, my querying stats were:

† 68 submissions of 19 stories
• Acceptances: 4, 5.88%
† In Progress-Under Consideration: 3, 4.41% (so these don’t seem to have panned out)
• In Progress: 10, 14.71%
† Rejected-Personal: 14, 20.59%
• Rejected-Form: 24, 35.29%
† Ghosted: 13 (so these were submissions where I never found out what happened), 19.12%

And so in 2019 my querying stats are so far:

• 29 submissions of 13 stories (so 6 submissions carry over from 2018)
† Acceptances: 5, 17.24%
• In Progress: 12 (so this includes 2 holdovers from 2018), 41.37%
† Rejected-Personal: 8, 27.58%
• Rejected-Form: 3, 10.34%
† Ghosted: 1 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 3.44%

So, particularly discouraging is the fact that I had no new acceptances in second quarter 2019. In the third quarter, one story sprang back to life and I got another acceptance. So those were helpful. But man oh man! It’s still pretty discouraging and can be hard to go on.

Third Quarter 2019 Productivity Killers

So, it’s work, what else? Furthermore, during third quarter 2019, I went away on business and we also had a vacation. Therefore, there were times when—shock, shock, horror, horror!—I was not writing anything at all. Sacrilege!

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Author: Janet Gershen-Siegel

Ah, Swag

Bookmarks, a Very Common Form of Swag

Business Cards

Tee Shirts

Toys and Action Figures

Swag: Some Takeaways

Like this:

Going From a Collection of Users to a True Community

How Can This Happen to Your True Community (Without the Tragic Part)?

The Community Manager’s Role

The Benefits of the Off-Topic Section

Want More About Community Management?

Community Management Tidbits

Like this:

What Are The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts?

Blogs

Facebook

Best Lengths for LinkedIn Posts

Pinterest

Best Lengths for Twitter Posts

Best Lengths for Posts: Takeaways

Want More About Social Media?

Social Media in Our Society

Reviews of Books on Social Media

Working with Social Media

Social Media for Writers

Like this:

Conquer Your Fears and Get Together

Informal Gatherings

Formal Gatherings

Get Together Swag

Want More About Community Management?

Community Management Tidbits

Like this:

Life, Liberty … And Facebook for All – Your Home Page

Home Page Links

Your Feed

Column Three

Groups

Pages

Friends

Create Group

Games

Status Messages on Friends’ Pages

Your Home Page Still Shows Other Friend Activities

Events

Friends’ Birthdays

People You May Know

Targeted Advertisements on Your Home Page

Your Home Page has a List of Friends Available on Chat

Want More About Facebook?

… And Facebook for All

Like this:

Progress Report – Second Quarter 2020

Second Quarter 2020 Posted Works

Milestones

More Published Works

WIP Corner

Prep Work

Second Quarter 2020 Queries and Submissions

In Progress

All Other Statuses

Stats

2020 Stats

Second Quarter 2020 Productivity Killers

Like this:

Progress Report – First Quarter 2020

First Quarter 2020 Posted Works

Milestones

More Published Works

WIP Corner

Prep Work

First Quarter 2020 Queries and Submissions

In Progress

All Other Statuses

Stats

2020 Stats

This Quarter’s Productivity Killers

Like this: