Optimizing Twitter Now that you’re on, it’s time to start optimizing Twitter. Lists What are lists on Twitter? You may have noticed people who have a rather different follower to following ratio than you do. What do I mean by that? Let’s say you follow 100 people. And 1000 people follow you. The ratio of […]
Working with a Facebook page How do you go about working with a Facebook page? Keep in mind that Facebook is constantly A/B testing (e. g. checking to see if 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 will make you click more), so these instructions might be a little out of date after a while.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 […]
MSWL (Manuscript Wish List) Have you ever seen the #MSWL hashtag on Twitter? It stands for Manuscript Wish List. So, what the heck is a Manuscript Wish List? What do publishers and agents want? Agents and publishers have seen it all, or at least they think they have. They are on the lookout for something […]
PitMad on Twitter So have you ever seen the #PitMad hashtag on Twitter? Also, why should you care about PitMad? Let’s take a look at what PitMad is. What is #PitMad? It is a quarterly pitch session on Twitter. So essentially what you are doing is tweeting about your work, but it is only on […]
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 Maybe the best and closest kind of giveaway […]
Writing a blurb Have you ever written a blurb for a book? Here’s how. Grab the reader’s attention The idea is to be engaging to the reader. Hence blurbs are short promotional pieces. They used to just be on the backs of books, but now they can be the copy you read on an Amazon […]
Teasing Your Work Teasing is a subtle art. It is a lot like a fan dancer’s moves or a shy person’s come-on. Teasing should feel like a movie trailer because that is exactly what movie trailers do. Teasers are usually a bit longer than blurbs and are meant to generate excitement. They often end with […]
Starting a Twitter stream How do you go about starting a Twitter stream? Should you plunge right in, or hang back? Your Account You need a name! Let’s say you’ve taken my advice (or decided this on your own), and gone with an account just for writing. If you want a personal account, you make […]
Demystifying Facebook How can Facebook help you, the independent writer? It’s not just for Candy Crush anymore. Independent Writers on Facebook Like other small business persons (for that is what an indie author is, right?), you have two separate lives on any social network. One is as an individual. You have friends, you have opinions. […]
Giveaways So giveaways can be helpful when you are first starting out. Because people do not know your writing, they might not be inclined to spend too much on your work. Rather than pricing down to nothing, do one better: give your book away as a prize. Amazon, in particular, makes it easy. And on […]