Social Media for Writers
These days, the Internet is a place where you can ask a Kardasian what she’s had for lunch and actually receive an answer. The multitude of (free!) online resources give everyone an even platform to communicate, professionally-developed brand aside. When it comes to a strong Internet presence, all you need to succeed is consistent, quality content. And isn’t that what writers are all about, anyway?
Facebook allows you to set up a page for your book (as in www.facebook.com/yourbooktitle) with space for all the requisite publishing information (genre, release date, ISBN, publisher, etc.) built in. A page is separate from your account (although they will be linked) so you’re able to keep different audiences in different places. More than one book? Set up multiple pages!
- The “about” field is a great place for your theme, and the “description” field would be a great place for your elevator pitch.
- No cover art yet? That’s okay! Use a head shot (now would be a great time to get a good head shot if you don’t have one already).
A new feature on Facebook is “questions,” which allows you to post a question for your fans to answer. Polls are a quick and easy way to solicit feedback about your book—and could be a great way to keep on open assessment of what your audience is interested in.
Twitter is a 24/7 conversation about anything, between everyone. Each user has an account from which they send messages to others. The conversation begins when you start following people—their messages are displayed on your news feed, to which you can respond. Anyone who follows you will see the tweets you send. Tweets are structured in three ways: length (140 characters), the @ symbol, and the hash tag (#).
How they work:
- @ signifies a user. When I am writing a message to Grub Street, I start like this: “Hi @Grubwriters …” the @ turns their username into a live link.
- # tags a topic. When I include # in a message, I am linking my tweet to any other tweet with the same tag. So I might tweet:
“Hi @Grubwriters the #muse2011 conference was AWESOME. Looking forward to #muse2012”
Grub would see my message, and the phrases “muse2011” and “muse2012” would become links—clicking on them will open a feed of every message (from every user on twitter) that contains the same tag, allowing you to join in any conversations about this year’s muse or next year’s muse.
The fun part about hash tags is that anyone can create them, and they can say anything. (Like how we have shorthanded the working title of our book into TBAM, and then turned it into a topic to tweet about: #TBAM.)
Your Twitter experience will be as awesome as the people you follow. Interested in querying particular agents? Follow them to see what they’re talking about. Have a favorite author, bookstore, or publisher? See what they’re up to on a daily basis by following them. Want to join a conversation on the craft of writing? Search for topics to see who is discussing a #WIP, a #critique, or #writingprompts.
We’re at @Book_Arch. Join and say hi!
Blogs
There are many places to host a blog—some of the most popular sites are Wordpress, Blogger, and Tumblr. All three platforms are user friendly, Tumblr is probably the most straightforward in terms of sharing media, while Wordpress has the most opportunity for customization. Starting a blog is a great opportunity for you to begin sharing your writing style, your tone, and your personality with your future readers. Whether your blog manifests as personal anecdotes about life and the writing process, a database for your readers to follow your news and events, or general, writerly musings, it will become the face of your writing before (and after) your book is available for purchase.
