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.
www.nicolemdixonauthor.com
