Authorial Decisions ~ WebSite, Social Media, Blogging…?

I haven’t featured Jane Friedman (author, digital media strategist, editor, publisher, professor, speaker) for quite some time… 

I’ll be sharing excerpts from two of her articles…

The first one leans toward author websites, the second toward social media…

Jane tends to conflate blogs with websites, which is perfectly understandable; yet, be aware, a blog can be considered “social media”…

And, I must emphasize that no matter how much help any of the excerpts may be, not reading her full articles will be a great loss (especially if you’re a writer…).

So…

The first article is, What’s More Important: Author Websites or Social Media?

Excerpts:

“These days, I get more noticeable results from my website and blogging efforts, email newsletters, and in-person networking than I do from social media. Not that I want to give up social media—quite the contrary—but I could walk away from Facebook and still earn a living. Not so with my website—it’s absolutely fundamental.”

Then, there are these bullet topics, as reasons a website is important (each Ripe with juicy info at the article itself…):

* Being more discoverable through search
* Offering the media (and influencers) the official story on you and your work
* Securing high-quality email newsletter subscribers
* Understanding what social media use is effective
* Monetizing the audience you have

Then (especially for those folks who won’t read her full article):

“Thankfully, you don’t (or shouldn’t) have to choose between having an author website or participating on social media. Nurture both. Choose to make your website a proud and strong showcase for your work and what you want to be known for, and don’t expect social media to always be the hub for all your branding or reader discovery. You’ll be stronger if you have a multi-faceted approach, especially if and when social media fails you.”

Article two—Social Media for Authors: The Toughest Topic to Advise On

Excerpts (again, stressing that there’s much more meat to chew at the full article):

“Of all the topics I teach, social media is the most vexed. Even in a small class of writers, I find varying skill levels and experience, and a mix of attitudes—and these two factors play a strong role in what people need to hear or learn. I believe a successful social media strategy is driven by one’s personality and strengths, as well as the qualities of the work produced—leading to a unique approach for each writer.”

Then, she throws a critical bombshell of Truth:

“Because social media is widely considered essential to book marketing and promotion, yet it’s constantly changing, it’s become a burden and source of anxiety for beginners and advanced authors alike.”

And, the following bullet points (again, each Ripe with juicy info at the article itself…):

* Your social media following grows mostly when you produce more work.
* Use social media to micro-publish or to share your work.
* People break social media “rules” all the time and succeed.

So, I’ll leave you with Jane’s summation on social media; and, one last time, urge you to read her full articles:

“So what can I possibly say to writers to help them become better at it [social media]? Well, first, don’t take it all so seriously. Look for what you enjoy. Have a spirit of questioning and discovery. Follow a daily routine that works for you. Sustainable and meaningful social media practice isn’t so different from getting your ‘real’ writing done.”

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Two Important Warnings for Writers ~ False News & Toxic Advice

Image Courtesy of Marco Michelini ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/michelini-47800

Writers these days really do need all the help they can get; but then, writers always needed help—I’m sure Og in his cave, painting his stories by torch-light, needed help (and, I bet his wife actually came up with many of them...)

So, what’s the specific help our age makes necessary?

Well, folks who write but have no intention of publishing might be able to fulfill their needs by themselves; unless you consider that most any writer needs to have material; and, that could demand that they receive the help of various parts of the world and the humans in those parts of the world, to gather raw material for stories; even if only a bus ride to the park to watch the ducks on the pond…

And, when it comes to publishing, try these two links for some help:

Traditional Publishing or Self-Publishing

And, writers who must publish could use the help in Jane Friedman‘s article Don’t Immediately Trust Mainstream Sites on Publishing Stories.

Here’s just the beginning of that article:

Over the last month, there have been a couple publishing stories receiving wide play across mainstream news sites such as The Guardian, Vox, Huffington Post, and others. While such outlets may be respectable and have the ability to get most stories right, in the publishing industry, two problems often come into play:

• A lack of understanding of industry statistics—and an inability to put them in their proper context
• Knee-jerk judgment regarding anything Amazon does

If you’re a writer, I do hope you go read the whole thing…

Jane has another article (guest posted by author Susan DeFreitas) that could well be much more important, for any writer: How to Spot Toxic Feedback: 7 Signs That the Writing Advice You’re Getting May Do More Harm Than Good.

The article is mostly about feedback in writing groups but it could certainly apply to other situations…

I’ll list her topic headings (with a smidgen of text to give a bit of explanation) and hope they help writers hurry over to the full article on Jane’s site.

1. Failure to Understand Your Intent

“…you should not share your work with people who are unaware of their own biases.”

2. Projection of Personal Issues

“Notice that someone in your workshop always wants to know more about ________.” (Susan gives a few examples…)

3. Inappropriately Personal Feedback

“In the creative writing workshop, we critique the work, not the author.”

4. Unprofessional Tone

“With an early draft, more often than not, the truth hurts. But there’s absolutely no reason it can’t be related in a professional and courteous manner.”

5. By the Book

“…as any experienced editor knows, the novel is far too interesting an art form to completely conform to any one system (especially one that’s taught in freshman comp).”

6. Not Thinking It Through

“…thinking through the multitude of ripple effects that any major change would entail and squaring them with the perceived intent of the book.”

7. Conflating the Problem with the Fix

“The bestselling fantasy author Neil Gaiman once said, ‘Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.’”

To any writers out there (from me):

Do, please, get at least three or four opinions about what you write (hopefully from writers and non-writers), unless you’re exceedingly brave or you have a ton of experience…
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#BookPromotion on #Wattpad

Last November, I was finally convinced to try Wattpad. 

Then, later in the same month, I wrote about Wattpad being a special “social media” platform for writers.

That was early in the game…

I had a relatively small number of folks I followed and there were some following me…

I have four books there; and, will soon have a fifth—one of my books, my novel, was getting reads and comments and all was productive and fun…

Then, last month, my novel jumped from 1,ooo to 2,000 reads and my followers jumped from about 300 to over 1,200.

Today, I have 3,200 reads on the novel and nearly 2,000 followers…

What happened was Wattpad decided to Feature my book.

Suddenly, being on Wattpad is “work” yet very welcome and productive work.

Back in November, my novel was being read in around 10 countries.

This map shows the situation now (countries with reads shaded blue, with darker blue being more reads):

Do I recommend Wattpad for writers who don’t yet know how to promote their book; or, are either tired of or frustrated about their promotion efforts to date?

Perhaps…

It depends on the writer.

One way to find out if you’re the kind of person who can do promotion on Wattpad is to sign-up for free; then, read How To Get Reads, Votes, and Comments – A Guide by Katherine A. Ganzel.

Here’s my profile on Wattpad.

And, here’s the novel that’s still being Featured :-)

Plus, you can read the interviews I have here with other Wattpad authors…
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Is #SocialMedia Really Good for #BookPromotion?

Image Courtesy of Erkin Sahin ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/erkinsahin-53205

I’ve certainly gone out of my way over the last 5 years to figure out what might be called “Rational-Book-Promotion”…

If I’d done every technique that’s been touted to give me millions of paying customers, I’d be dead from overwork—and I may not have any more sales than I do now…

Plus, I’m a firm believer in giving my book away—many are the folk who can get on-line but not buy stuff…

One of the most rational posts I’ve done about advice for writers is Bad Advice for Writers = Most Advice for Writers.

And, one of the most honest posts I’ve done about book promotion is Authentic Book Promotion ~ Does It Sell?

Here’s an excerpt from that post:

“There are many things an author can do to increase the likelihood that their book will sell.

“None of those actions will guarantee sales…

“Some writers think landing a traditional publishing deal will assure book sales.

“Not so…

“Perhaps, if you’re an extremely famous person, your book will sell—perhaps…”

And, one of the most penetrating posts I’ve done about authors and social media is Selling Your Soul With Social Media.

I quote a writer named Leo Babauta:

“Converting visitors into buyers is a soul-less use of your creative energy. Reject it, out of hand.”

“I find more value in creating something of value. I find influence a better metric than sales or traffic or reader numbers.”

“When everyone yells ‘Look at me!’, become quiet.”

“When others try to pull visitors to their sites, let people find you themselves.”

“When others brag of their success, let others laud you instead.”

Advice like that may take longer to “work” but the results will be solid and sound, you will still be yourself, and your conscience will be clear…

Plus, concerning social media, it may not have the impact so many “experts” claim it does.

Here’s an article that deals with a study by Columbia University and the French National Institute.

The study is about sharing links to news stories; but, personally, I feel, if a user shares news links without reading what’s linked to; and, the practice is widespread; we might be able to get a hint about what folks who share writer’s links are doing, too…

So, one finding from the study is that:

“…only two out of five people will click through and read the story from links on social media.

“The other three will share the story to their friends and followers without having ever read the story.”

One of the study’s co-authors said:

“This is typical of modern information consumption. People form an opinion based on a summary, or summary of summaries, without making the effort to go deeper.”

So, if this study was well-conducted with a significant base of data; and, if we can assume the activities portrayed actually do apply to social media links from writers, what kind of method is there for writers to generate a following (that doesn’t cost more than an internet connection and some time) that can be done rationally, sanely, and productively?

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#WritersBlock ~ Is It Real or Just a Figment of Your Imagination?

Image Courtesy of Scott Liddell ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/hotblack-51966

If you’re a writer, you may feel you’ve experienced writer’s block—if you’re not a writer and know one, share this article with them… 

So, some writers are sure this blocking is real—some (like me) never have it…

My Best Friend (an exceptional author) feels that any block for a writer isn’t really about their ability to write coming to a stop—more like another kind of hindrance—a holding of part of themselves away from themselves.

At least that’s what I’m interpreting my writer-friend meant…

So, what if it is a figment of imagination?

What’s a “figment”?

My Oxford dictionary says: “An invented statement , story , doctrine , etc.”.

Hmmm…

If we consider fiction writers, their whole purpose is to invent statements, fabricate stories, create doctrines, etc.…

Hmmm…

So, if writer’s block isn’t “real” but only a figment, a writer should be able to write their way out of it, right?

But, for those who still feel it as a reality, I’ll share some excerpts from an article on LifeHacker-Australia, The 10 Types Of Writers’ Block (And How To Overcome Them).

All I’ll share here are the 10 types (with my brief comments)—do go to the full article for their ways to overcome it…

1. You can’t come up with an idea.

All I’ll say here is that you might want to consider rephrasing that—I can’t seem to come up with an idea…

2. You have a ton of ideas but can’t commit to any of them, and they all peter out.

This one seems over-complicated in its expression—my advice: pick one, commitment or not, and start writing—if that peters out, pick another and continue…

3. You have an outline but you can’t get through this one part of it.

I had a detailed outline for my short novel—it was bleeding to death from slashes and overwrites by the fourth chapter—I “rewrote” the outline…

4. You’re stuck in the middle and have no idea what happens next.

Well, make something up—use those figments that are always lying around; and, if you don’t see any figments, make some up :-)

5. You have a terrible feeling your story took a wrong turn a hundred pages back, and you only just hit a dead end.

Shame on you—back up 110 pages and revise… If you still hit that “dead end”, back up further and start again…

6. You’re bored with all these characters, they won’t do anything.

Well, they are Your characters—you’re responsible for what they do (usually). Perhaps you need to reconsider the plot—maybe the characters don’t like what you expect them to do and are just on strike.

7. You keep imagining all the reasons people are going to say your story sucks, and it paralyses you.

If this one doesn’t sound like something besides “writer’s block”—perhaps lack of self-confidence or an overactive imagination—you might want to consider throwing the whole thing away and writing, instead, your autobiography…

8. You can’t think of the right words for what you’re trying to convey in this one paragraph.

Oh, my—set it aside for awhile? Back up 10 paragraphs and start over?

9. You had this incredibly cool story in your head, and now you’re turning it into words on a screen and it’s suddenly dumb.

Oh, my, again—grab a few figments and create another cool story!

10. You’re revising your work, and you can’t see your way past all those blocks of text you already wrote.

My response for this one is to quote part of what the full article says about it:

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if you’re getting stuck during revisions, that’s not any type of Writer’s Block (as nebulous a concept as Writer’s Block is), but rather just the natural process of trying to diagnose what ails your novel.”

Check out the whole article—share it with other writers—let me know what you think in the comments :-)
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