Social Media Marketing and Solicitation of Written Works

Some advice for Novelists and other Entrepreneurs alike: 

Books: 

First thing’s first: Get a brand. For example, my brand is the Little Political Italian Girl from Philly. This is my identifier and it works in my favor; people remember who I am which bodes well for the purchasing of my books.

Now, onto the nitty-gritty: I see a lot of unfitting behavior by authors (and other entrepreneurs); enough to warrant this post in the hopes that I may help a few of you navigate the minefield of selling your projects online. 

As far as authors are concerned, many don’t get it: Our Novels are our offspring. We nurture them - we spend a lot of time researching and learning to get them just right. We sit with them all night long, losing sleep so that we may birth them just right so that they are ready to go out into the world and (hopefully) be enjoyed by others when we decide to share our soul.

It’s hard getting others to understand this, so forget about that.
Having said that, onto bad reviews: When you receive a bad review, don’t use Facebook or any other social media platform to complain about it. Leave it alone and don’t shout it to the world!

Firstly, use that less than illustrious review as a wake-up call to instruct you to self-improve. After all, we’re always self-improving, otherwise, we remain stagnant.

And DO NOT – I repeat, DO NOT -- use your pages to criticize your readers, accusing them of “being too stupid” to understand the meaning and context or your book!

Yes! I’ve seen this and much worse! I’ve seen Facebook pages rife with post after post of a Novelist whining resentfully that their readers are much too illiterate, uninformed, and ignorant to understand their novel. After seeing such accusations, I took it upon myself to read a chapter or two of these particular books, and I can tell you, the writing/stories were in fact not good. Usually these books come from “authors” who produce book after book: One cannot churn out book after book and expect to create a masterpiece. That’s not how it works.

So best case scenario when complaining publicly about a bad review and the audience who’ve read it? The author may be guaranteed they will not receive any further reviews. Worst case scenario? Readers will shun an author’s books all together; nobody wants to buy books from an author who refers to their readers as “idiots”, and behaves poorly, unable to handle a little constructive criticism. It’s amateurish.
Also, you should be using Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Live, and even the dreaded Snapchat (see below under Entrepreneurs on how to maximize your Insta-posts). You can also use Goodreads as a way to give books away via contests, but I’ve since given up on those – the winners rarely post reviews or read your book.

Entrepreneurs:

Now, onto my other various entrepreneur friends. I’ve seen many of you complain on Facebook (just like authors) that no one is buying your products. You do not want to do this! If potential buyers suspect that no one is interested in your wares you can probably count on the fact that customers will not be lining up to purchase what you have. You may get a few pity buyers who generally happen to be friends, but you will scare away a theoretically budding lucrative base of clients who might otherwise be interested in your merchandise.

You want to jettison the complaints of unmoved merchandise all together and simply post pictures and descriptions of the merchandise, explaining the value in buying it. There is no reason to let others onto the fact that no one is buying your goods. As mentioned, if no one is buying, it’s a turn off to potential buyers.

Some social media advice: Forget Facebook (all right, not entirely; use Facebook for what it’s worth), and hop onto Instagram using colorful headlines that are sure to grab peoples’ attention, and be sure to use hashtags that fit your merchandise as well as tagging purveyors and other vendors – this could potentially help get you noticed.

You should also invest in a website, and every time you post a pic and description of your work be sure to list your website as well (that goes for your too, authors!)

Hope this helps! If you should have any other questions, please do ask, but I must say that I’ve mapped everything out here for you. Good luck!

www.nicolemdixonauthor.com

@NMDixonAuthor

Social Media Marketing and Solicitation of Written Works

Some advice for Novelists and other Entrepreneurs alike: 

Books: 

First thing’s first: Get a brand. For example, my brand is the Little Political Italian Girl from Philly. This is my identifier and it works in my favor; people remember who I am which bodes well for the purchasing of my books.

Now, onto the nitty-gritty: I see a lot of unfitting behavior by authors (and other entrepreneurs); enough to warrant this post in the hopes that I may help a few of you navigate the minefield of selling your projects online. 

As far as authors are concerned, many don’t get it: Our Novels are our offspring. We nurture them - we spend a lot of time researching and learning to get them just right. We sit with them all night long, losing sleep so that we may birth them just right so that they are ready to go out into the world and (hopefully) be enjoyed by others when we decide to share our soul.

It’s hard getting others to understand this, so forget about that.
Having said that, onto bad reviews: When you receive a bad review, don’t use Facebook or any other social media platform to complain about it. Leave it alone and don’t shout it to the world!

Firstly, use that less than illustrious review as a wake-up call to instruct you to self-improve. After all, we’re always self-improving, otherwise, we remain stagnant.

And DO NOT – I repeat, DO NOT -- use your pages to criticize your readers, accusing them of “being too stupid” to understand the meaning and context or your book!

Yes! I’ve seen this and much worse! I’ve seen Facebook pages rife with post after post of a Novelist whining resentfully that their readers are much too illiterate, uninformed, and ignorant to understand their novel. After seeing such accusations, I took it upon myself to read a chapter or two of these particular books, and I can tell you, the writing/stories were in fact not good. Usually these books come from “authors” who produce book after book: One cannot churn out book after book and expect to create a masterpiece. That’s not how it works.

So best case scenario when complaining publicly about a bad review and the audience who’ve read it? The author may be guaranteed they will not receive any further reviews. Worst case scenario? Readers will shun an author’s books all together; nobody wants to buy books from an author who refers to their readers as “idiots”, and behaves poorly, unable to handle a little constructive criticism. It’s amateurish.
Also, you should be using Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Live, and even the dreaded Snapchat (see below under Entrepreneurs on how to maximize your Insta-posts). You can also use Goodreads as a way to give books away via contests, but I’ve since given up on those – the winners rarely post reviews or read your book.

Entrepreneurs:

Now, onto my other various entrepreneur friends. I’ve seen many of you complain on Facebook (just like authors) that no one is buying your products. You do not want to do this! If potential buyers suspect that no one is interested in your wares you can probably count on the fact that customers will not be lining up to purchase what you have. You may get a few pity buyers who generally happen to be friends, but you will scare away a theoretically budding lucrative base of clients who might otherwise be interested in your merchandise.

You want to jettison the complaints of unmoved merchandise all together and simply post pictures and descriptions of the merchandise, explaining the value in buying it. There is no reason to let others onto the fact that no one is buying your goods. As mentioned, if no one is buying, it’s a turn off to potential buyers.

Some social media advice: Forget Facebook (all right, not entirely; use Facebook for what it’s worth), and hop onto Instagram using colorful headlines that are sure to grab peoples’ attention, and be sure to use hashtags that fit your merchandise as well as tagging purveyors and other vendors – this could potentially help get you noticed.

You should also invest in a website, and every time you post a pic and description of your work be sure to list your website as well (that goes for your too, authors!)

Hope this helps! If you should have any other questions, please do ask, but I must say that I’ve mapped everything out here for you. Good luck!

www.nicolemdixonauthor.com

@NMDixonAuthor

Be a Potentially Effective Author Using Facebook

I’ve been wanting to write this blog post for a while.

As a fairly new author (7 years), I’ve put a lot of effort into promoting my work because guess what: Authors have to do their own promoting. It’s not like it is in the movies, or even on television shows like Younger (Hint: If you’re an author, don’t watch that show; it’ll depress you by giving you false hope and insight as to how the publishing industry works. Huge advances for new authors? Guess again. And getting into a top publishing house without an agent? Good luck with that).

New authors, before your book is even published and hits the market you need to begin promoting ASAP. Get a Twitter account, and get your Facebook ducks in a row among other social media platforms like Goodreads, Instagram and Snapchat (to name only a few).

But this is a blog strictly speaking of Facebook. First, you should utilize a personal account and allow followers to, well, follow you (create a new, separate account if you're not comfortable opening up your current Facebook account to people you're not familiar with), then create a separate fan page for yourself as an author and a fan page for your book(s). As far as these fan pages go, however, be careful of the content. Once you’ve garnered a decent number of followers on these pages, don’t inundate their news feed with constant advertisements; that’s a quick way to turn them off. What I tend to do is post articles dealing with writing on my author page (as well as advertise my works), and post articles dealing with the subject matter of my work on my book fan page. And again, I also make sure I advertise only occasionally here, too. Creating a fan page dealing with your authorship and a separate fan page for your work also allows you to double down (or triple down when you consider your personal Facebook page) on advertising, whether it's content you feel your followers will find interesting (which puts you back in front of them), or information about your books. This may seem counter-intuitive considering I suggested not to inundate your followers with content, but as long as you only post on these pages sporadically, your followers shouldn't suffer much inconvenience.

I prefer Facebook as my platform for promoting because it personalizes me and allows potential readers to “get to know” me as an individual and not just an author. One of the biggest mistakes I see novice authors make, and even authors who’ve been in the biz for a while, is cater strictly to other authors. This is a waste of time! (Bear with me, authors; I’ve got nothing but respect for you, so hear me out).

The first clue that authors who do this are essentially, well, clueless, is the small number of followers they have: 200+ followers (or less) simply isn’t enough. As if that weren’t plainly conclusive, I've noticed that they generally list posts that discuss the writing process, and they're usually geared toward other authors. This is a common mistake among writers. When an individual writes their first novel, they’re understandably excited, and they seem to feel that delving into the writing process proves what terrific writers they are; they can use this to their advantage by showing off in a way that suggests they’ve arrived and are persons to be reckoned with in the writing industry, hence, listing posts that are definitively dedicated to writing.

But what they are actually doing is alienating the rest of their followers who amount to potential readers. Followers who are not in the industry, but like/love to read books, aren’t interested in reading posts devoted to the mechanics of the writing process,or dedications/odes to fellow authors. I'd like to make a special note here of how many “Likes” and responses these new authors receive in regard to posts such as these because I can tell you that the numbers and responses are usually woefully lacking which, incidentally, is very telling. This is because, as I’ve mentioned, these new authors have alienated the followers they could instead engage in such a way that they help promote their followers to potential readers by allowing them to become familiar with the author, and therefor giving their followers, aka, potential readers, a reason or understanding as to why they should buy that author's work. Also, the more "Likes" and responses you receive, the more popular your posts are, and the more people will see them. That's Facebook's algorithm in a nutshell. It doesn't need to be explained why you want as many people as possible to see your posts (I hope). You want to become a familiar staple on your followers pages. Generally, if you receive less than 10 "Likes"/responses, you should delete that post. Not only does a small number of to zero "Likes" make it appear as though not many people are paying attention to you, but it drags your popularity down. Some authors say you should delete if the number is less than 15, but I think 10 is fair enough.

And, as authors, we’re selling intelligence. For example, one area I am highly educated in is politics, and as this is a hot topic these days, I scan my page to see how many people are discussing certain political events and how often. This prompts me to join in and not only slay the ignorance that comes with such a topic, but educate those who are interested, thus, letting my followers know that I’m a thinking person; a philosopher, if you will. Not only does this help cause those interested in that particular topic to react to my posts, thus creating popular content on my page, but this also shows them that I just might have something worthy to say in my novels and other writing materials as well. Now, people can only handle so much political rhetoric, so it’s important you know when to slow your roll and get back to being you if you decide to go the political route. Just pay attention to your audience.

If you have a general crowd interested in kittens, then cater to that topic. Post pictures of cute kittens. Have at it. If your general crowd is interested in motorcycles, post interesting content on motorcycles. It's that simple. I can not stress enough: CONNECT with your followers by any means necessary have them become acquainted with you so that when you do advertise your written work, they'll not only notice, but may take a more valid interest in it simply because they're aware of who you are!

Also, a good rule of thumb as an author is to provide personal anecdotes about your life, but not too personal (there’s no need to talk about private, personal matters on social media, i.e., airing dirty laundry.) That makes you seem juvenile and reckless, and worse, unprofessional. But use your posts wisely to engage your audience in a way that lets them know you’re just like them. We all deal with daily struggles so it wouldn't hurt to post a funny quip about a conflict you had that day. It’s important to connect with your potential readers and allow them to feel as though they’re familiar with you. And I cannot stress enough that when you are using this approach, do not offend your followers! Always post with class! Post things that are insightful or humorous; things that are natural social draws. Approach your virtual friends in the same way you would when mingling at a real life gathering. At a personal gathering, you wouldn't criticize others to their faces (at least most of us decent folks wouldn't) just because you disagree with their opinions. If you're an author, be prepared to give up the troll lifestyle!

And don't use Facebook to criticize your readers and complain that no one appreciates your writing. If you do that, then you're self-sabotaging and guaranteeing that no one will appreciate your work because why would they bother to read it? I’ve been witness to authors who repeatedly put down their “readers” by attacking the reader's intelligence because these authors are angry over poor reviews they've received on Amazon. It makes me cringe. Why would anyone want to buy a book from an author who is nastily critical of those who read their novels? And on that note, if you receive bad reviews, that’s a plus for you as an author. We constantly need to self-improve or else we remain stagnant, and reviews can help guide us in this way. Nobody likes a bad review, but they happen, and in many cases, these lackluster reviews should be used as a tool to let you, as an author, know that maybe your writing needs some work. Use that to your advantage and get better! I always look into the work of these very authors who've criticized and slammed people for bad reviews received and those bad reviews were well-warranted, but in the offending (offended?) author's eyes, it's the reader who is "too dumb" (that's an actual quote) to understand the author's transcendent writing and the story "obviously goes over their ignorant head" (another actual quote). It's not the author's fault for failing to keep their audience invested due to their use of pedestrian dialogue and story lines. At least that's their opinion, not mine. Anyway, don't criticize the very people who stand to buy your books!

As a side-note: Why would anyone want to buy your books if you go out of your way to complain how people constantly give them bad reviews? That's just bad business.

Also interesting to note, studies are being carried out that propose the outcome of social media and its effect on virtual friendships, and what it’s found so far, and from personal experience I can vouch for it, is that people learn to respect and think of their Facebook friends as actual friends. Seems strange, but life can be stranger than fiction. I’ve lost friends who’ve passed and have genuinely mourned their passing. Here’s a fairly interesting article I read on the comedy site Cracked to help give you a little insight: 5 Things You Learn When A Facebook Friend Dies Outside of that, you can do plenty of research on your own on this topic.

But back to connecting with your followers… It’s an amazing phenomenon, but when you involve your virtual friends on social media, they begin to piece together your personality to a fairly accurate degree (again, this comes from personal experience), and we all know people can make or break your business, and being a professional writer is a business. So, let your virtual friends in and endeavor to make them want to like you
.

I’m not saying here that it’s wrong to include authors and speak directly to them. If you have a large group of authors who follow you and you decide to post and ask them about their WIP (Work in Progress), or what technique they use for developing characters, etc., then that’s perfectly fine. But, pay attention to the responses you get. If you don’t have a very large response count, then you may want to focus much more on non-authors. Your main objective should be to sell books, and other authors are not your demographic to fulfill that objective. But if your author response is strong, then that can have a positive effect on potential readers as well. It shows them that you have a healthy network of writers which lends you even more credibility.

Hopefully, this short blog has helped a little with understanding how to go about getting followers interested enough to buy your books, but be careful! I want to make sure I mention that when you’re accepting friend requests you need to take the time and vet each one of those requests! As a professional it is YOUR responsibility to make sure you protect the people who have asked you for your friendship and who you have accepted as such. You should be considerate when monitoring what they are exposed to on YOUR page. Don't accept people willy-nilly--there's a lot of unsavory characters out there who troll and post things that go unappreciated for good reason. There is an effective way to decide who to select when accepting new friends: Do they have a profile pic? What does their “About” section say? Do they have legitimate posts made by the owner of the profile and/or friends.family? How many followers/friends do they have? What sort of materials do they post? If you’re a woman, you should be careful to note also what their friends' profile pics are. I’ve seen men (with creepy, gangsta profile pics) who seem to “collect” women, and many of these women use suggestive profile pics. And the owner’s profile pic usually isn’t much better (as I've noted), so make sure you pay attention to their photo as well. A picture is worth a thousand words, and so if they look like a creep, make your own conclusions.

This may seem like a lot of work, but when you're running a business, and again, being an author is a business, you have a responsibility to others (customers) that you need to maintain. And think of it this way: If you're sloppy with how you run your page, what makes you think people will think you aren't sloppy with your writing and the stories you tell? Respect your followers if you expect to receive respect in return.

https://www.facebook.com/NicoleMaddaloDixon

www.nicolemdixonauthor.com

Be a Potentially Effective Author Using Facebook

I’ve been wanting to write this blog post for a while.

As a fairly new author (7 years), I’ve put a lot of effort into promoting my work because guess what: Authors have to do their own promoting. It’s not like it is in the movies, or even on television shows like Younger (Hint: If you’re an author, don’t watch that show; it’ll depress you by giving you false hope and insight as to how the publishing industry works. Huge advances for new authors? Guess again. And getting into a top publishing house without an agent? Good luck with that).

New authors, before your book is even published and hits the market you need to begin promoting ASAP. Get a Twitter account, and get your Facebook ducks in a row among other social media platforms like Goodreads, Instagram and Snapchat (to name only a few).

But this is a blog strictly speaking of Facebook. First, you should utilize a personal account and allow followers to, well, follow you (create a new, separate account if you're not comfortable opening up your current Facebook account to people you're not familiar with), then create a separate fan page for yourself as an author and a fan page for your book(s). As far as these fan pages go, however, be careful of the content. Once you’ve garnered a decent number of followers on these pages, don’t inundate their news feed with constant advertisements; that’s a quick way to turn them off. What I tend to do is post articles dealing with writing on my author page (as well as advertise my works), and post articles dealing with the subject matter of my work on my book fan page. And again, I also make sure I advertise only occasionally here, too. Creating a fan page dealing with your authorship and a separate fan page for your work also allows you to double down (or triple down when you consider your personal Facebook page) on advertising, whether it's content you feel your followers will find interesting (which puts you back in front of them), or information about your books. This may seem counter-intuitive considering I suggested not to inundate your followers with content, but as long as you only post on these pages sporadically, your followers shouldn't suffer much inconvenience.

I prefer Facebook as my platform for promoting because it personalizes me and allows potential readers to “get to know” me as an individual and not just an author. One of the biggest mistakes I see novice authors make, and even authors who’ve been in the biz for a while, is cater strictly to other authors. This is a waste of time! (Bear with me, authors; I’ve got nothing but respect for you, so hear me out).

The first clue that authors who do this are essentially, well, clueless, is the small number of followers they have: 200+ followers (or less) simply isn’t enough. As if that weren’t plainly conclusive, I've noticed that they generally list posts that discuss the writing process, and they're usually geared toward other authors. This is a common mistake among writers. When an individual writes their first novel, they’re understandably excited, and they seem to feel that delving into the writing process proves what terrific writers they are; they can use this to their advantage by showing off in a way that suggests they’ve arrived and are persons to be reckoned with in the writing industry, hence, listing posts that are definitively dedicated to writing.

But what they are actually doing is alienating the rest of their followers who amount to potential readers. Followers who are not in the industry, but like/love to read books, aren’t interested in reading posts devoted to the mechanics of the writing process,or dedications/odes to fellow authors. I'd like to make a special note here of how many “Likes” and responses these new authors receive in regard to posts such as these because I can tell you that the numbers and responses are usually woefully lacking which, incidentally, is very telling. This is because, as I’ve mentioned, these new authors have alienated the followers they could instead engage in such a way that they help promote their followers to potential readers by allowing them to become familiar with the author, and therefor giving their followers, aka, potential readers, a reason or understanding as to why they should buy that author's work. Also, the more "Likes" and responses you receive, the more popular your posts are, and the more people will see them. That's Facebook's algorithm in a nutshell. It doesn't need to be explained why you want as many people as possible to see your posts (I hope). You want to become a familiar staple on your followers pages. Generally, if you receive less than 10 "Likes"/responses, you should delete that post. Not only does a small number of to zero "Likes" make it appear as though not many people are paying attention to you, but it drags your popularity down. Some authors say you should delete if the number is less than 15, but I think 10 is fair enough.

And, as authors, we’re selling intelligence. For example, one area I am highly educated in is politics, and as this is a hot topic these days, I scan my page to see how many people are discussing certain political events and how often. This prompts me to join in and not only slay the ignorance that comes with such a topic, but educate those who are interested, thus, letting my followers know that I’m a thinking person; a philosopher, if you will. Not only does this help cause those interested in that particular topic to react to my posts, thus creating popular content on my page, but this also shows them that I just might have something worthy to say in my novels and other writing materials as well. Now, people can only handle so much political rhetoric, so it’s important you know when to slow your roll and get back to being you if you decide to go the political route. Just pay attention to your audience.

If you have a general crowd interested in kittens, then cater to that topic. Post pictures of cute kittens. Have at it. If your general crowd is interested in motorcycles, post interesting content on motorcycles. It's that simple. I can not stress enough: CONNECT with your followers by any means necessary have them become acquainted with you so that when you do advertise your written work, they'll not only notice, but may take a more valid interest in it simply because they're aware of who you are!

Also, a good rule of thumb as an author is to provide personal anecdotes about your life, but not too personal (there’s no need to talk about private, personal matters on social media, i.e., airing dirty laundry.) That makes you seem juvenile and reckless, and worse, unprofessional. But use your posts wisely to engage your audience in a way that lets them know you’re just like them. We all deal with daily struggles so it wouldn't hurt to post a funny quip about a conflict you had that day. It’s important to connect with your potential readers and allow them to feel as though they’re familiar with you. And I cannot stress enough that when you are using this approach, do not offend your followers! Always post with class! Post things that are insightful or humorous; things that are natural social draws. Approach your virtual friends in the same way you would when mingling at a real life gathering. At a personal gathering, you wouldn't criticize others to their faces (at least most of us decent folks wouldn't) just because you disagree with their opinions. If you're an author, be prepared to give up the troll lifestyle!

And don't use Facebook to criticize your readers and complain that no one appreciates your writing. If you do that, then you're self-sabotaging and guaranteeing that no one will appreciate your work because why would they bother to read it? I’ve been witness to authors who repeatedly put down their “readers” by attacking the reader's intelligence because these authors are angry over poor reviews they've received on Amazon. It makes me cringe. Why would anyone want to buy a book from an author who is nastily critical of those who read their novels? And on that note, if you receive bad reviews, that’s a plus for you as an author. We constantly need to self-improve or else we remain stagnant, and reviews can help guide us in this way. Nobody likes a bad review, but they happen, and in many cases, these lackluster reviews should be used as a tool to let you, as an author, know that maybe your writing needs some work. Use that to your advantage and get better! I always look into the work of these very authors who've criticized and slammed people for bad reviews received and those bad reviews were well-warranted, but in the offending (offended?) author's eyes, it's the reader who is "too dumb" (that's an actual quote) to understand the author's transcendent writing and the story "obviously goes over their ignorant head" (another actual quote). It's not the author's fault for failing to keep their audience invested due to their use of pedestrian dialogue and story lines. At least that's their opinion, not mine. Anyway, don't criticize the very people who stand to buy your books!

As a side-note: Why would anyone want to buy your books if you go out of your way to complain how people constantly give them bad reviews? That's just bad business.

Also interesting to note, studies are being carried out that propose the outcome of social media and its effect on virtual friendships, and what it’s found so far, and from personal experience I can vouch for it, is that people learn to respect and think of their Facebook friends as actual friends. Seems strange, but life can be stranger than fiction. I’ve lost friends who’ve passed and have genuinely mourned their passing. Here’s a fairly interesting article I read on the comedy site Cracked to help give you a little insight: 5 Things You Learn When A Facebook Friend Dies Outside of that, you can do plenty of research on your own on this topic.

But back to connecting with your followers… It’s an amazing phenomenon, but when you involve your virtual friends on social media, they begin to piece together your personality to a fairly accurate degree (again, this comes from personal experience), and we all know people can make or break your business, and being a professional writer is a business. So, let your virtual friends in and endeavor to make them want to like you
.

I’m not saying here that it’s wrong to include authors and speak directly to them. If you have a large group of authors who follow you and you decide to post and ask them about their WIP (Work in Progress), or what technique they use for developing characters, etc., then that’s perfectly fine. But, pay attention to the responses you get. If you don’t have a very large response count, then you may want to focus much more on non-authors. Your main objective should be to sell books, and other authors are not your demographic to fulfill that objective. But if your author response is strong, then that can have a positive effect on potential readers as well. It shows them that you have a healthy network of writers which lends you even more credibility.

Hopefully, this short blog has helped a little with understanding how to go about getting followers interested enough to buy your books, but be careful! I want to make sure I mention that when you’re accepting friend requests you need to take the time and vet each one of those requests! As a professional it is YOUR responsibility to make sure you protect the people who have asked you for your friendship and who you have accepted as such. You should be considerate when monitoring what they are exposed to on YOUR page. Don't accept people willy-nilly--there's a lot of unsavory characters out there who troll and post things that go unappreciated for good reason. There is an effective way to decide who to select when accepting new friends: Do they have a profile pic? What does their “About” section say? Do they have legitimate posts made by the owner of the profile and/or friends.family? How many followers/friends do they have? What sort of materials do they post? If you’re a woman, you should be careful to note also what their friends' profile pics are. I’ve seen men (with creepy, gangsta profile pics) who seem to “collect” women, and many of these women use suggestive profile pics. And the owner’s profile pic usually isn’t much better (as I've noted), so make sure you pay attention to their photo as well. A picture is worth a thousand words, and so if they look like a creep, make your own conclusions.

This may seem like a lot of work, but when you're running a business, and again, being an author is a business, you have a responsibility to others (customers) that you need to maintain. And think of it this way: If you're sloppy with how you run your page, what makes you think people will think you aren't sloppy with your writing and the stories you tell? Respect your followers if you expect to receive respect in return.

https://www.facebook.com/NicoleMaddaloDixon

www.nicolemdixonauthor.com

11 Biggest Mistakes Self-Published Authors Make: By Michelle Brown, Senior Publishing Consultant

11 Biggest Mistakes Self-Published Authors Make

               Written By: 

8/26/2015

Michelle Brown, Senior Publishing Consultant

 

(To Read Excerpts from the Upcoming Second Book in the Bandita Series, Bandita Bonita and Billy the Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico, and to Read a Little About Why I Wrote the Series, Check Out the Links at the End of the Article).

First, an explanation: I wanted to share this because even as a traditionally published author I've always found these to be excellent points and very true for us all; I often try to educate aspiring authors on these issues. I am aware that there are a lot of you who are hoping to complete a work and want to look into self - publishing, so please take a look at this article.

In 2008, I was fortunate enough to accept a position as the first ever Author Coordinator for Mill City Press. Since that time, I’ve transitioned into the sales division of the company, and have been serving as a Senior Publishing Consultant for the last 6 years. In both of those roles with the company, I’ve spoken to countless authors, and have been able to see a trend with some of the biggest mistakes and misconceptions that authors seem to have before and during their publishing process for their book.

I hope that by outlining some of these commonalities, I’ll be able to help prevent some of the pitfalls for up and coming indie and self-published authors!

1. Skipping or Skimping on Professional Editing

Editing is the single best investment you can make in your book, period. There is a reason why books that are published through a traditional publisher go through countless rounds of editing by multiple editors before the manuscript is published. To me, trying to publish and sell a book without having it edited by a professional book editor is the equivalent of trying to sell a rough diamond to someone without having a gemologist cut and polish the stone first. First impressions are everything when it comes to readers, and when a reader finds an alarming number of errors in the first ten pages of your book, the chances are pretty darn high that not only will the reader NOT be finishing your book, he or she will also be taking the opportunity to point out all those errors in an Amazon review.

Also, when it comes to editing, you get what you pay for. If you choose to have your book edited by your great aunt Mildred who used to be a high school English teacher, or find the lowest cost book editor possible on Craigslist, or decide to rely on good old spell-check in Microsoft Word, the odds are pretty darn high that your book will have a lot of typos and errors that it wouldn’t have had if you had invested in a professional book editor.

And lastly, no author can self-edit their work no matter how much talent they have. Stephen King can’t self-edit his work, JK Rowling can’t self-edit her work, and neither can you. Summation: get a professional, credible, highly recommended and vetted book editor.

2. Not Considering the Importance of Well Directed Marketing

The sales success of a book is determined by how well the book has been marketed to its target audience. You could have the best book of the century, but if (the right) people are not aware it exists, you won't sell many copies. Publishing a book on your own is just like starting a new business. You can't expect your business or your book to do well if you don't apply any marketing efforts with targeted potential customers. A self-published book with a strong sales record is most likely because the author is treating their book publishing process like a new small business. This author has probably invested a substantial amount of time and effort into marketing and promoting their books to their potential customers.

Also, it isn’t possible to market your book to every potential reader in the universe. Targeted marketing is the key; figure out your book’s audience as early as possible, and try and promote the book to your target audience as much as possible both before and after the book is released.

3. Not Becoming Educated on the Publishing Business

One of the biggest reasons why so many self-publishing companies are able to take advantage of first time authors is because most authors don’t take the time to learn the language of publishing.

For example, almost every author I talk to confuses distribution with marketing, and they’re two entirely different elements. Distribution refers to anything that pertains to the selling activity for the book. Marketing refers to promoting your book to your intended audience. If an author isn’t aware of the difference, it’s easy to think that you’re getting a much better deal with a self-publishing company than you actually are.

If you don’t understand what a service means or entails, ask the publishing representative or consultant to explain it in plain language to you. If the representative or consultant can’t explain it to you, chances are you don’t want that service (or that publisher to be helping you publish your book).

4. Rushing the Publishing Process

Publishing a book the right way is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It’s a common misconception that writing the book is the hardest part, when in fact; there is a tremendous amount of time consuming work that goes into getting a book ready for publication and release. Yes, there are publishers out there who will promise that your book can be published within some insane time frame of 30 days or less. However, keep in mind that traditional publishers need a lead time of 1-2 years to release a book that meets their quality standards, and your book will be competing with these. The bottom line is that major concessions will need to be made to meet an expedited timeline, and that will most likely have a negative impact on the quality of the book.

If you want the fast food approach to publishing a book, that’s fine; just understand that your book is going to be more McDonalds than Le Cirque.

5. Not Taking Experienced Professional Advice

When you ask us for advice on what to do with your book, we provide responses based on the industry knowledge and experience that we’ve collected since we started publishing independent authors in 2007. Although one of the biggest benefits of self-publishing is that authors have more control over the publication of their book, it’s still in the author’s best interest to listen to any concerns or feedback that the publishing services staff provides to the author during the process.

I’ll give you a specific example; it’s well known in the industry that it’s much easier to get a book into bookstores if it’s published in a paperback instead of hardcover format. We had an author who published a fiction book with us, and one of the author’s biggest goals was to get the book into national distribution with Barnes and Noble. We strongly advised the author to publish in a paperback format instead of hardcover, or, at the very least, to consider publishing in both formats. However, the author was adamant about only publishing the book in a hardcover format and wouldn’t even consider paperback. The other critical error was when the author printed 5000 copies of the hardcover format. When the book was presented to the national fiction buyer for Barnes and Noble, they were enthusiastic about the book, but guess what? They only wanted it in paperback. We could practically hear the author’s heart sink when we broke the news to him. So, not only did the author have to eat the printing cost of 5000 hardcover copies of his book, he also had to eat the printing cost for re- publishing and re-printing the book in a paperback edition.

Long story short, when we tell you to consider doing something for your book (or not do something for the book), it’s always in your best interest to listen. Let our experience help you be more successful.

6. Not Reading the Publishing Contract

This is another example of how many self-publishing companies take advantage of first time authors. The publishing contract is a legally binding document. If it’s done correctly, it should stipulate every possible scenario of where an author can incur additional fees during their publishing process beyond their upfront cost.

Ask to read the contract for any publishing company that you’re considering using. If something in the contract doesn’t make sense to you, ask the publishing representative or consultant for clarification. If the publishing consultant can’t explain it to you, that should be a huge red flag for you. Also, if the contract is only one page long, that’s another huge red flag.

7. Not Investing Time in Your Craft

I recently read Amy Pohler’s Yes Please, and one of my favorite aspects of her book is that she constantly refers to how hard it is to write a book. She’s absolutely right. Even the most talented and gifted contemporary writers recognize the need to work on their craft on regular basis.

I love it when I hear an author tell me that they’ve attended a writing workshop, or joined a local writers group, or have a writing coach. If you take the opportunity to use any resources that are at your disposal to give you a fresh perspective on your writing, I guarantee that your work will be better because of it.

8. Assuming Children’s Books are Easy

I could literally write an entire book on why publishing a children’s book is one of the most challenging genres, especially when it comes to self-publishing.

First of all, the success of any children’s book is largely dependent on how good the illustrations are, so you will need to find a fantastic illustrator, which is usually going to mean investing a substantial amount of time and money. Depending on the type of children’s book you want to print and publish, the chances are also pretty good that you’ll have to print the book with an offset printer, which means that you’ll need to print in volume, which means a hefty investment into printing costs (which are not the same as publishing costs).

Cost wise, if you want to publish a children’s picture book that is comparable to a classic one that’s on the market today through a traditional publisher, be prepared to spend at least 10-20k overall. Your chances for breaking even for cost on a children’s picture book are marginal at best. It’s an extremely competitive genre in today’s marketplace.

9. Believing Your Book is the Exception to the Rule

Many authors fundamentally understand how difficult it is to write, publish and sell a book, but they often think these norms don’t apply to them or their book. Of course it is possible. Your book just might be the exception to the rule… But chances are it’s not. Therefore, it’s in your best interest not to do something really off the wall or out of the box because readers don’t want to do a lot of work when it comes to reading books. You want to make it as simple as possible to engage your reader as early as possible, so don’t make it an impossible task to “get” your book (literally or figuratively).

10. Not Using Social Media Effectively

Is it good to connect with your readers to help build a following? Absolutely! However, it’s important to know how to do this in an appropriate and productive manner. If you use social media to connect with your readers or target audience, don’t overstep your boundaries. No one needs to hear about how nervous you are about your upcoming colonoscopy, or the weird rash that you found on your foot yesterday. Use social media to provide readers with updates on your published work, and only give personal information about your life that’s relevant to the work (i.e. if your book is about being a dog owner, talk about your dog).

Also, even the best writers sometimes get negative reviews about their book. If a reader posts a negative review about your book, don’t get discouraged, and most importantly, do NOT get defensive or attack the reader that posted the negative review. If you do feel the need to respond, (which I don’t recommend, see # 5) do so only in a gracious manner and thank the reader for taking the time to read your work and to give their feedback.

11. Assuming It’s Easy to Get into Bookstores or Major Retailers

Here’s the deal; physical retailers have a limited amount of shelf space. Therefore, any retail buyer for a brick and mortar vendor has to be extremely selective and savvy about which titles they think will have the best chance of selling. Airports are going to be a total no-go for any self-published author. The next time you visit an airport, take a look at how many books are in that small confined space that are aren’t written by major best-selling authors; my bet is that you won’t be seeing any.

But don’t despair, there IS hope. As long as you have a returns option for your book, many independent bookstores are willing to give local authors a chance if they feel the book has selling potential. Therefore, get chummy with your local bookstore and be prepared for the information that they’ll need to know about stocking your title (i.e. wholesale discount, which wholesalers they can order the book through, etc.). 

 Link: Share this Post -- Click here for original article

To purchase Book I; Bandita Bonita: Romancing Billy the Kid, Click Here


Excerpts from the Upcoming Second Book in the Series, Bandita Bonita and Billy the Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico:

Naughty Excerpt from Book II, the Upcoming Bandita Bonita and Billy the Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico -- You've Been Warned!!

Insight Into the writing of the Bandita Series and an Excerpt from the Upcoming Second Book In the Series, Bandita Bonita and Billy the Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico

11 Biggest Mistakes Self-Published Authors Make: By Michelle Brown, Senior Publishing Consultant

11 Biggest Mistakes Self-Published Authors Make

               Written By: 

8/26/2015

Michelle Brown, Senior Publishing Consultant

 

(To Read Excerpts from the Upcoming Second Book in the Bandita Series, Bandita Bonita and Billy the Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico, and to Read a Little About Why I Wrote the Series, Check Out the Links at the End of the Article).

First, an explanation: I wanted to share this because even as a traditionally published author I've always found these to be excellent points and very true for us all; I often try to educate aspiring authors on these issues. I am aware that there are a lot of you who are hoping to complete a work and want to look into self - publishing, so please take a look at this article.

In 2008, I was fortunate enough to accept a position as the first ever Author Coordinator for Mill City Press. Since that time, I’ve transitioned into the sales division of the company, and have been serving as a Senior Publishing Consultant for the last 6 years. In both of those roles with the company, I’ve spoken to countless authors, and have been able to see a trend with some of the biggest mistakes and misconceptions that authors seem to have before and during their publishing process for their book.

I hope that by outlining some of these commonalities, I’ll be able to help prevent some of the pitfalls for up and coming indie and self-published authors!

1. Skipping or Skimping on Professional Editing

Editing is the single best investment you can make in your book, period. There is a reason why books that are published through a traditional publisher go through countless rounds of editing by multiple editors before the manuscript is published. To me, trying to publish and sell a book without having it edited by a professional book editor is the equivalent of trying to sell a rough diamond to someone without having a gemologist cut and polish the stone first. First impressions are everything when it comes to readers, and when a reader finds an alarming number of errors in the first ten pages of your book, the chances are pretty darn high that not only will the reader NOT be finishing your book, he or she will also be taking the opportunity to point out all those errors in an Amazon review.

Also, when it comes to editing, you get what you pay for. If you choose to have your book edited by your great aunt Mildred who used to be a high school English teacher, or find the lowest cost book editor possible on Craigslist, or decide to rely on good old spell-check in Microsoft Word, the odds are pretty darn high that your book will have a lot of typos and errors that it wouldn’t have had if you had invested in a professional book editor.

And lastly, no author can self-edit their work no matter how much talent they have. Stephen King can’t self-edit his work, JK Rowling can’t self-edit her work, and neither can you. Summation: get a professional, credible, highly recommended and vetted book editor.

2. Not Considering the Importance of Well Directed Marketing

The sales success of a book is determined by how well the book has been marketed to its target audience. You could have the best book of the century, but if (the right) people are not aware it exists, you won't sell many copies. Publishing a book on your own is just like starting a new business. You can't expect your business or your book to do well if you don't apply any marketing efforts with targeted potential customers. A self-published book with a strong sales record is most likely because the author is treating their book publishing process like a new small business. This author has probably invested a substantial amount of time and effort into marketing and promoting their books to their potential customers.

Also, it isn’t possible to market your book to every potential reader in the universe. Targeted marketing is the key; figure out your book’s audience as early as possible, and try and promote the book to your target audience as much as possible both before and after the book is released.

3. Not Becoming Educated on the Publishing Business

One of the biggest reasons why so many self-publishing companies are able to take advantage of first time authors is because most authors don’t take the time to learn the language of publishing.

For example, almost every author I talk to confuses distribution with marketing, and they’re two entirely different elements. Distribution refers to anything that pertains to the selling activity for the book. Marketing refers to promoting your book to your intended audience. If an author isn’t aware of the difference, it’s easy to think that you’re getting a much better deal with a self-publishing company than you actually are.

If you don’t understand what a service means or entails, ask the publishing representative or consultant to explain it in plain language to you. If the representative or consultant can’t explain it to you, chances are you don’t want that service (or that publisher to be helping you publish your book).

4. Rushing the Publishing Process

Publishing a book the right way is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It’s a common misconception that writing the book is the hardest part, when in fact; there is a tremendous amount of time consuming work that goes into getting a book ready for publication and release. Yes, there are publishers out there who will promise that your book can be published within some insane time frame of 30 days or less. However, keep in mind that traditional publishers need a lead time of 1-2 years to release a book that meets their quality standards, and your book will be competing with these. The bottom line is that major concessions will need to be made to meet an expedited timeline, and that will most likely have a negative impact on the quality of the book.

If you want the fast food approach to publishing a book, that’s fine; just understand that your book is going to be more McDonalds than Le Cirque.

5. Not Taking Experienced Professional Advice

When you ask us for advice on what to do with your book, we provide responses based on the industry knowledge and experience that we’ve collected since we started publishing independent authors in 2007. Although one of the biggest benefits of self-publishing is that authors have more control over the publication of their book, it’s still in the author’s best interest to listen to any concerns or feedback that the publishing services staff provides to the author during the process.

I’ll give you a specific example; it’s well known in the industry that it’s much easier to get a book into bookstores if it’s published in a paperback instead of hardcover format. We had an author who published a fiction book with us, and one of the author’s biggest goals was to get the book into national distribution with Barnes and Noble. We strongly advised the author to publish in a paperback format instead of hardcover, or, at the very least, to consider publishing in both formats. However, the author was adamant about only publishing the book in a hardcover format and wouldn’t even consider paperback. The other critical error was when the author printed 5000 copies of the hardcover format. When the book was presented to the national fiction buyer for Barnes and Noble, they were enthusiastic about the book, but guess what? They only wanted it in paperback. We could practically hear the author’s heart sink when we broke the news to him. So, not only did the author have to eat the printing cost of 5000 hardcover copies of his book, he also had to eat the printing cost for re- publishing and re-printing the book in a paperback edition.

Long story short, when we tell you to consider doing something for your book (or not do something for the book), it’s always in your best interest to listen. Let our experience help you be more successful.

6. Not Reading the Publishing Contract

This is another example of how many self-publishing companies take advantage of first time authors. The publishing contract is a legally binding document. If it’s done correctly, it should stipulate every possible scenario of where an author can incur additional fees during their publishing process beyond their upfront cost.

Ask to read the contract for any publishing company that you’re considering using. If something in the contract doesn’t make sense to you, ask the publishing representative or consultant for clarification. If the publishing consultant can’t explain it to you, that should be a huge red flag for you. Also, if the contract is only one page long, that’s another huge red flag.

7. Not Investing Time in Your Craft

I recently read Amy Pohler’s Yes Please, and one of my favorite aspects of her book is that she constantly refers to how hard it is to write a book. She’s absolutely right. Even the most talented and gifted contemporary writers recognize the need to work on their craft on regular basis.

I love it when I hear an author tell me that they’ve attended a writing workshop, or joined a local writers group, or have a writing coach. If you take the opportunity to use any resources that are at your disposal to give you a fresh perspective on your writing, I guarantee that your work will be better because of it.

8. Assuming Children’s Books are Easy

I could literally write an entire book on why publishing a children’s book is one of the most challenging genres, especially when it comes to self-publishing.

First of all, the success of any children’s book is largely dependent on how good the illustrations are, so you will need to find a fantastic illustrator, which is usually going to mean investing a substantial amount of time and money. Depending on the type of children’s book you want to print and publish, the chances are also pretty good that you’ll have to print the book with an offset printer, which means that you’ll need to print in volume, which means a hefty investment into printing costs (which are not the same as publishing costs).

Cost wise, if you want to publish a children’s picture book that is comparable to a classic one that’s on the market today through a traditional publisher, be prepared to spend at least 10-20k overall. Your chances for breaking even for cost on a children’s picture book are marginal at best. It’s an extremely competitive genre in today’s marketplace.

9. Believing Your Book is the Exception to the Rule

Many authors fundamentally understand how difficult it is to write, publish and sell a book, but they often think these norms don’t apply to them or their book. Of course it is possible. Your book just might be the exception to the rule… But chances are it’s not. Therefore, it’s in your best interest not to do something really off the wall or out of the box because readers don’t want to do a lot of work when it comes to reading books. You want to make it as simple as possible to engage your reader as early as possible, so don’t make it an impossible task to “get” your book (literally or figuratively).

10. Not Using Social Media Effectively

Is it good to connect with your readers to help build a following? Absolutely! However, it’s important to know how to do this in an appropriate and productive manner. If you use social media to connect with your readers or target audience, don’t overstep your boundaries. No one needs to hear about how nervous you are about your upcoming colonoscopy, or the weird rash that you found on your foot yesterday. Use social media to provide readers with updates on your published work, and only give personal information about your life that’s relevant to the work (i.e. if your book is about being a dog owner, talk about your dog).

Also, even the best writers sometimes get negative reviews about their book. If a reader posts a negative review about your book, don’t get discouraged, and most importantly, do NOT get defensive or attack the reader that posted the negative review. If you do feel the need to respond, (which I don’t recommend, see # 5) do so only in a gracious manner and thank the reader for taking the time to read your work and to give their feedback.

11. Assuming It’s Easy to Get into Bookstores or Major Retailers

Here’s the deal; physical retailers have a limited amount of shelf space. Therefore, any retail buyer for a brick and mortar vendor has to be extremely selective and savvy about which titles they think will have the best chance of selling. Airports are going to be a total no-go for any self-published author. The next time you visit an airport, take a look at how many books are in that small confined space that are aren’t written by major best-selling authors; my bet is that you won’t be seeing any.

But don’t despair, there IS hope. As long as you have a returns option for your book, many independent bookstores are willing to give local authors a chance if they feel the book has selling potential. Therefore, get chummy with your local bookstore and be prepared for the information that they’ll need to know about stocking your title (i.e. wholesale discount, which wholesalers they can order the book through, etc.). 

 Link: Share this Post -- Click here for original article

To purchase Book I; Bandita Bonita: Romancing Billy the Kid, Click Here


Excerpts from the Upcoming Second Book in the Series, Bandita Bonita and Billy the Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico:

Naughty Excerpt from Book II, the Upcoming Bandita Bonita and Billy the Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico -- You've Been Warned!!

Insight Into the writing of the Bandita Series and an Excerpt from the Upcoming Second Book In the Series, Bandita Bonita and Billy the Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico