Social Media

You’ve Written a Book: Now What?

Now what? Indeed!

There are numerous options for authors today to get their books in print, but many people have a room full of good-looking printed books they wrote and wonder, “What do I do now?”

From traditional publishing, self-publishing, independent publishing, and university presses to e-books, it’s important that your publisher pays attention to your requests and needs and that they offer the expertise and experience to help you publish your book the way you intend. However, it is also essential for you as an author to realize that publishing is only the beginning. You need an aggressive and comprehensive marketing plan incorporating traditional and social-media options and opportunities.

Who is going to read your book? Who will buy it? Oh yes, of course some friends and family. All traditional and self-publishers will tell you, “You need to market your book. YOU need to promote it, tell your story and create a buzz about it.”

You’re a writer. You’re a creative person. You really don’t want to be a marketer. However, more and more, it’s a proven fact that writers have to promote their books. No matter how wonderful, interesting, compelling your book might be, you still have to let the reading world know it exists. Unless you market your book, chances are it will fall through the cracks of literary chaos.

Marketing includes everything from getting your book reviewed to doing book signings or seminars. It’s also important to have a website for your book. It’s like that old question that advertisers asked: “Do you know what happens when you don’t advertise?” Answer: “Nothing.”

Public relations provides information and can be a way to get free publicity through articles, book reviews, and interviews in print or with electronic media.

Advertising is when you pay for placement in the media such as a Facebook Author Fan Page, a Google ad, or even local media, which is far less costly than national media. Authors can also pay for reviews in publications such as Kirkus Indie Review, Goodreads, and San Francisco/Manhattan Reviews. Another avenue is to search through Google for reviews and event contest options.

Traditional Marketing Actions

Set up book launch signings, time, place, and details.
Develop an invitation list and sign-in sheet, and bring books to sell if you are self-published.
Donate several copies of your book to the main library in your community.
Send a press release including the cover of your book and your personal photo to media, announce the release on your website, email it to organizations of which you’re a member and to your personal contacts. (Continue to build your contact list.)

Develop pitch letters for speaking opportunities, and make list of potential places you might speak such as target-appropriate conferences.
Submit to online calendar listings in your target market.
Have book swag (bookmarks, cards, flyers, pens, etc.).
Write an eye-catching sell sheet incorporating your book cover, book synopsis, and author bio.
Write articles related to your book and submit to organization blogs, newsletters, local papers, and magazines.

Online and Social Media Actions (a few ideas)

Participate in Goodreads giveaway programs.
Join or develop a blog tour.
Set up a Facebook Author Fan Page and boost some of your posts. This can be very effective in building social-media and website traffic. Posts can include reviews, announcements, new books, links to book chapters, event dates, press releases, etc.
Look into Instagram and X and other offerings. Be aware of scams and ask other authors about their experience with a particular promotional opportunity.

So, now what? Be willing to spend the time, money, and energy to fulfill your dreams and ambitions.

Marcia Rosen (aka M. Glenda Rosen) is an award-winning author of twelve books including her newest one, An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock and Me Mystery: Murder at the Zoo plus The Senior Sleuths, Dying To Be Beautiful Mystery Series, and The Gourmet Gangster: Mysteries and Menus (menus by her son Jory Rosen). She is also author of The Woman’s Business Therapist and award-winning My Memoir Workbook and has given memoir writing presentations and classes for close to 20 years. Marcia has assisted many authors in developing, writing, publishing, and promoting their books. For 25 years, she was the owner of a successful national marketing and public relations agency. Marcia has frequently been a speaker or program moderator at organization meetings and conferences, bookstores, libraries, and Zoom programs. Topics she has taught and presented over the past 20 years include Encouraging the Writer Within You, Marketing for Authors, Writing Mysteries…Not A Mystery, Writing Your Memoir, and recently Anatomy of Writing a Murder. Many articles on these topics have been published on mystery reader blogs and in newsletters and magazines and her newest articles include Location, Location, Location: Murders Have Their Places; Hearing Voices of Past Famous Detectives: Their Impact and Influences; and Writing Mysteries at a Zoo: With Caution. Marcia is a member of Sisters in Crime National and New Mexico (Croak & Dagger), Southwest Writers, New Mexico Book Association, Women Writing the West, Public Safety Writer’s Association, Women’s National Book Association, and National Association of Independent Writers and Editors.

Journo Sources

Wednesday, December Post a comment

One-third of Americans rely on news platforms they acknowledge are less reliable, mainly social media and peers. The other two-thirds of the public consider their primary news sources trustworthy, mainly print news and broadcast television, according to a new RAND Corporation report.

The report draws from a national survey of 2,543 Americans to examine how reliability, demographics, and political partisanship factor into news choices and how often people seek out differing viewpoints in the news. It is the latest in a series of RAND-funded reports into Truth Decay, the phenomenon defined as diminishing reliance on facts, data, and analysis in American public life.

“A lack of time and competing demands may explain why a third of Americans turn to news sources they deem less reliable, which suggests improving the quality of news content or teaching people how to ‘better consume’ news isn’t enough to address Truth Decay,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, senior political scientist and co-author of the report. “Media companies and other news providers may need to provide more easily accessible and digestible ways for individuals to consume high quality investigative journalism.”

About 44 percent of respondents reported that news is as reliable now as in the past, while 41 percent said it has become less reliable and 15 percent — mostly women, racial and ethnic minorities and those without college degrees — said it is more reliable.

Respondents who lean on print and broadcast platforms were more likely to deem them reliable. Those who rely on social media and peers for news, however, don’t see those platforms as reliable yet still choose to get their news from these sources.

“Our findings suggest that perceived reliability is not the only factor that drives what Americans choose as their go-to news sources,” said Michael Pollard, a sociologist and lead author of the report. “Despite acknowledging that there are more reliable sources for news, people with demands on their time may be limited to using less reliable platforms.”

Asked whether they ever seek out alternate viewpoints when catching up on the news, 54 percent said they “sometimes” do, 20 percent said, “always or almost always,” 17 percent said “infrequently,” and 9 percent said, “never or almost never.”

“Political partisanship was linked to whether or not individuals were willing to seek out different viewpoints,” Pollard said. “For example, those who self-identified as more liberal were more likely than conservatives to report that they ‘never or almost never’ seek differing views.”

The report also identified the four most common combinations of news media types consumed by Americans: print publications and broadcast television; online; radio; and social media and peers.

The survey was conducted via the RAND American Life Panel, a nationally representative, probability-based panel of more than 6,000 participants who are regularly interviewed over the internet. Age was an important predictor of how respondents obtain news. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who are younger were more likely to get news from social media and peers, while older individuals were more likely to get their news from print publications and broadcast television.

Those who are college-educated were less likely to get their news from social media and peers, instead opting for radio and online sources. Those with less than a college education were more likely to report “never or almost never” seeking out news with alternate viewpoints.

Those who are married were three times more likely than singles to rate their peers as the most reliable source for news. Unmarried people were more likely than married people to report they “always or almost always” seek out sources with differing views.

Past reports in the Truth Decay series have looked at different aspects of the changed media and information landscape, including a linguistic analysis that found increasing subjectivity in “new media” sources compared to more traditional forms of news, as well as an examination of media literacy initiatives in the United States. Future reports will include research into Americans’ trust in public institutions and the prevalence of Truth Decay in Europe.

Kristen Fischer is a copywriter and journalist living at the Jersey Shore. She worked as a reporter and copyeditor for Gannett before launching her full-time freelance business in 2005. Her work has been published in Parents, New Jersey Monthly, Prevention, Woman’s Day, SheKnows, and Healthline.

Who Are You Posting For?

Thursday, October Post a comment

Are you hoping your well-thought-out social media content brings in new customers? Why not increase your chances by spending a bit of time understanding your target audience. One technique, taught throughout graduate-level marketing courses in academia and widely practiced by top ad agencies and PR firms, is to create target personas. A persona, or a fictional character created to represent your target audience, can be embedded into facts and stats and all that fancy quantitative data many of us love to employ. But by adding the qualitative element to your research — the persona — you will indirectly be humanizing your brand to, you guessed it, attract more human customers.

Identify a Real-Life Model Persona

Before I get started creating a persona for any brand, I like to first identify a real-life friend or relative or neighbor who matches, as precisely as possible, my desired target audience. For example, if I’m a writer who specializes in writing pet bios for local animal rescues, I might select Moira, the receptionist at my dog’s veterinarian office. I know she’s an animal lover, that she has two rescue pups, and that she occasionally fosters a cat or two. Essentially: Moira is my target audience. So to qualify this real-life human into a persona, I might take along my notepad the next time I visit the vet; and while waiting for good ole’ Fluffy to get his next round of vaccines, I may jot down the key characteristics that make Moira, Moira. For any answers not immediately apparent based on physical observation or existing knowledge, just use some critical thinking and good judgement to fill in the blanks.

Example Real-life Persona — MOIRA

Age: 31

Sexual Identity/Gender: Female

Occupation: Vet Receptionist

Educational Level: Some college

Web Habits (Platforms, Blogs): Tik Tok and Facebook. Obsessed with posting pics of rescue pups in need of a home. Religiously reads DIY hair color blogs and the SPCA newsletter.

Attitude toward your service: Loves the fact that writers freelance as animal bio writers.

Values toward others: Prefers kindness. Loves helping others — especially animals.

Typical Day in the Life: Up early to walk the dogs and fix her hair for work. Usually runs errands on her lunch break to get back home to the dogs right after work. If she goes out on the weekends it is to a dog-friendly brewery or dog park.

Quote that represents her: “Choose Love.”

Create an Ideal, Fictional Persona

The next step in your qualitative research is my favorite step. And I suggest you have fun with creating your ideal fictional persona, too! I do want to emphasize this is fiction — so there are no right or wrong answers. Again, simply use your best judgement to create a persona of the ideal potential customer — the one for whom you post!

Example Ideal, Fictional Persona — MATTHEW

Age: 50

Gender: Male

Occupation: Store Manager, Coach Factory Outlet; Founder, Fluffy & Furry Animal Rescue

Educational Level: Master’s degree

Web Habits (Platforms, Blogs): Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Travels endlessly, but also posts pics of his pets back home, at a relative’s house, “missing him” while he travels. Listens to NPR and loves True Crime Podcasts.

Attitude toward your service: Prefers animals to people (unless they are buying a new purse). Sees animal rescues and those who write bios for an animal rescue as essential.

Values toward others: Alienated from his family at a young age — animals keep him going.

Typical Day in the Life: Up taking pics of his dog, cat, and bird (for his Instagram Stories) before the sun rises. Runs home from the Coach store at lunch to check on his animals. Started his animal rescue five years ago and dedicates his weekends to that work.

Quote that represents him: “Everything’s gonna be alright.”

Now it’s your turn! Take some time to add personas, or qualitative research, into your data and market research — and then get to it! You’ll find your social content gains more traction and fosters a higher level of engagement, once you know who you are posting for!

Ashley Henyan is a digital marketing consultant, a freelance writer, and the communications director for the American Red Cross of the National Capital & Greater Chesapeake region. Previously, she held leadership roles in digital communications and media relations with the Red Cross in Los Angeles and Atlanta. Ashley has developed curriculum and trained hundreds of staff and volunteers across the United States in courses like Leveraging Your Story on LinkedIn and Social Media Story Telling. She has been invited to discuss social media marketing and brand visibility on various podcasts and with local and national associations. Ashley has played an integral part in award-winning social media campaigns including honorable mention recognition with the PR Daily Content Marketing Awards and numerous Silver Telly Awards for Branded Content. She holds a B.A. in government and politics from the University of Maryland and an M.A. in English and creative writing with a concentration in screenwriting from Southern New Hampshire University, and an MFA in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Ashley’s work as a ghostwriter has appeared in national and international publications including Yahoo News, China Global Television Network, and The CEO Magazine.

The Four Keys to Social(media)izing Your Brand

Sunday, October Post a comment

So, you’ve got a great logo, a well-crafted vision statement, and your website is looking better than you ever imagined it could! Now what? What steps can you take to elevate your brand to the next level? One strategy, in this regard, is to focus on cultivating greater visibility. And that, as you’ve probably already guessed, means strapping your logo and all it stands for on your back and diving, head-first, into social media!

Don’t worry. It’s not as wild and crazy as it sounds. Social(media)izing your brand is simple—especially if you focus on the following four key components.

Know Your Brand

This one goes without saying, but I’m saying it anyhow: Do not create a single social media handle or post for your new product, book, or blog until you know, better than the back of your own hand, the essence of your brand. What is your purpose? What is your vision? What underlying principles are important to the work you do? Do you have a well-crafted logo or a signature photo? Good. Keep it consistent across all platforms. Do you have a color scheme? Good. Keep it consistent across all platforms, too. Do you have a style guide for written content? Good. Stick to that on social media posts as well.

Know Your Audience

This one should probably be first on the list. In my book, knowing your audience is equally important as knowing your brand. Of course, to figure this out, you could send out polls and study demographics and marketing analytics all day, every day. Or you could just take your curiosity to the digital streets and do a little investigating on your own. Find a few digital channels comparable to your own brand/product/goal and take a look at the type of individuals following those channels. Are they male, female, non-binary? What age range do they tend to fall in? What other social channels do they follow? Are they obsessed with hair and make-up influencers; monster truck vloggers; celebrity channels? Get to know them, like what they like and follow who they follow, and share and love their posts! These people are your audience, too. And they have the power to make or break your brand!

Be Natural

Just as your brand is an extension of you, so too are your digital channels. So be true to yourself! To me, this means keeping your photos un-touched and posting real, authentic content. Carefully crafted graphics work some of the time and they definitely do the trick to catch the eye of scrolling public. But people will like and share your content because it relates to them—and for that, your content has to be authentically you!

Interact

Can you imagine going to a pool party or a cocktail party and not talking to a single soul? Well, that’s how awkward your brand looks on digital channels when you don’t interact with other users. The word social is half of the term social media because it is an interactive space. So, get out there and go for it: like content posted by your friends and colleagues; follow channels whose audience is similar to your own (influencers, brands, organizations, and even strangers—really, anything goes!); and comment on all the posts that speak to you!

Ashley Henyan is a digital marketing consultant, a freelance writer, and the executive director for the American Red Cross of Lowcountry South Carolina. Previously, she held leadership roles in digital communications and media relations with the Red Cross (the 2017 Harris Poll Non-profit Brand of the Year). Ashley has-developed curriculum and trained hundreds of staff and volunteers across the United States in courses like Leveraging Your Story on LinkedIn and Social Media Story Telling. She has been invited to discuss social media marketing and brand visibility on various podcasts and with local and national associations. Ashley has played an integral part in award-winning social media campaigns including honorable mention recognition with the PR Daily Content Marketing Awards and numerous Silver Telly Awards for Branded Content. She holds a B.A. in government and politics from the University of Maryland and an M.A. in English and creative writing with a concentration in screenwriting from Southern New Hampshire University. Ashley’s work as a ghostwriter has appeared in national and international publications including Yahoo News, China Global Television Network, and The CEO Magazine.

What You Need To Know To Write Effective Headlines for 4 Major Platforms

Wednesday, January Post a comment

Unless you write for an authoritative news site or have a rabid audience, you likely rely on external platforms to attract readers to your blog posts.

Whether readers click through to your site and how they perceive your post when they get to it, both depend on the context of that platform where they first discovered it.

What mindset were they in on the platform?
Why did they approach the platform in the first place?
What else did they encounter on the platform before finding your post?

Consider the common platforms and their context and headlines readers will encounter first on those external platforms as you write blog posts.

Social media: Probably the first we think of when we consider platforms for blog post promotion. Social media includes sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (Stories), and Pinterest. Readers here are easily distracted and encounter a wide variety of content. They aren’t thinking about your site or the topic of your blog post before seeing your headline.
Search: Search engine optimization (SEO) is a popular way to craft blog posts that show up in Google search results and attract new readers. Readers here enter a query into the search engine and choose your blog post from among up to 10 related results. They approach the search with a specific question or topic in mind. If your headline promises a good answer and the blog post follows through, they’ll likely be highly engaged with your content.
Email: Readers who subscribe to your blog or email newsletter want to see your latest content, so they’re highly engaged and loyal. Your subject line gets them to open the email, and your headlines within the email should entice them to click through to read the articles in full.
Your home page: Readers who visit your website looking for something to read are extremely loyal. But you still have to catch their attention and get them to click on the content! Understand your core audience and what they most want from you, and use your home page content and blog post headlines to demonstrate that you can deliver.

Dana Sitar has been writing and editing for digital media since 2011, most recently as a copy editor for fintech and personal finance. She trains journalists, writers, and editors on writing for the web through sessions at the annual ACES editors’ conference, Utah Valley University, online courses, and private trainings. Dana has written about work and writing in digital media for publications including the New York Times, HuffPost, a column for Inc. Magazine, and dozens of writing and content marketing blogs. As a branded content editor for The Penny Hoarder, Dana managed a team of writers, editors, and social media experts to create multimedia branded content to help advertisers reach an audience of 12 million across platforms including social media, email, blog, and video.

The Ins of Social Media Marketing

Tuesday, January Post a comment

Are you struggling with how to get readers to notice your books? With many new books, movies, music, and other forms of entertainment released daily, there is a lot of noise happening online. Unfortunately, “Buy my Book” messaging doesn’t cut through it.

Are you frustrated by not only how long it takes to create content to post on social media but also on how to be your authentic author-self when posting online? Maybe you regard social media as a time suck that might not even help with gaining potential sales and reaching new clients.

But I have great news for you: social media is one of the most effective ways to increase your reach to both older and potential new readers. The caveat is that you need to have engaging and valuable content that warms your audience to your message and your brand.

Which Social Media Sites Does Your Ideal Reader Use?

Just like not every book will be for everybody, not every social media site is going to be the ideal site for every author. Please note, you do not need to be on every platform.

The demographics of your ideal reader should determine which social media site you are on. I suggest a max of three social media platforms, but even just being active on one platform is fine. (You can view the demographic information from 2019 for the different platforms at Sprout Social.)

Sites that are great places to begin, with less work and more reach and value, include

Facebook, which allows you to interact with readers on your author page, but even more importantly, in Facebook groups. Facebook remains the heavy-hitter for the social media market share and is used by a majority of Americans amongst all age ranges.
Instagram, which is very photo-centric and requires great images. This is a place where people scroll and search through the use of hashtags. However, a great option is the Instagram Stories. Instagram’s main audience skews younger and is more female-centered.
Pinterest, which is very photo-centric. This social media platform is growing, but this offers a way to lead traffic to your website based on the pins you post. For example: Say that your book is set in Regency England. You’ve done all of this research for your book. You can take that information to create fact-based content and link it to your website. These pins will stay pretty much evergreen.
LinkedIn, which allows you to connect with professionals by providing valuable content. Do you have a business-focused book? Are you writing nonfiction?
Twitter, which has a faithful base. Its strength is that it has a chronological feed. However, what is important to know is that a large portion of its user base is also located outside of the United States. If you are wanting to grow your international reach, Twitter seems to be a great option.

By knowing what these platforms require for success, you can implement their use in your promotion and content delivery strategy.

What Is an Author Brand?

An author brand is more than the fonts and color scheme used on postings (which should all be consistent), but it is the promise of what you, as an author, bring to your reader. What can your reader expect from your type of stories? From your voice? What are the three things that are the pillars of your voice and writing?

What Are the Keys to Using Social Media Effectively?

Know your brand.

Stay on brand.

Curate your content. For example, if you write sci-fi, you want to post about science, how science is helping, and how it ties into your work.

If you write about mystery, then talk about how crimes are solved, the layers of a criminal investigation, etc.

If you write about love and romance, then depending on your steam level, write about those things (but make it PG-rated so that you don’t get reported and banned from Facebook postings). For romance readers, everything is about the promises of love and romance, and the hot, appealing partner.

Military books, LitRPG, e.g., you can show how you support the military. Talk about facets of the military that fascinate you or quotes from prior generals that inspire you. You could even do a post about tactical precision or share newspaper articles and blogs about neutral military research. If you write about mythology, then dig into that particular mythology, sharing tidbits that people might know, and might not.

Everything that you post is to make it clear to your reader and the potential reader as to what they can expect from you and your writing.

How Often Should You Post?

Post up to three times a day on social media (at the minimum of once a day).

The algorithm on social media encourages postings that do not lead offsite. The more you post on social media, and positive engagement you receive from those posts, the more your natural reach will increase your engagement with readers naturally with your content.

What Is One of the Most Cost-Effective Ways to Communicate with Your Audience?

Social media posting is one of the most cost-effective ways of communicating with your audience.

When you provide your audience with value, and it responds with positive engagement, social media then shares that message further and wider. But what is value? Value comes in the shape of entertainment, knowledge, and inspiration. When posting, ask yourself what the response you want your audience to have from your post is. Is the purpose of the post to increase their awareness of your branding, i.e., are you posting Game of Thrones memes because you write about dragons, sword, and sorcery, or fantasy? Is the quote you’re posting from Thomas Edison on brand or just your personal message of encouragement? Yes, this matters as you want to ensure that your message is on-brand with your content. Although such a quote might inspire, if it does not align with your brand’s message, you might want to find a quote that does align with your author brand.

We’ve talked about why to post and what to post, but now, let’s talk about the percentage of content versus self-promotion.

The social media rule is 80% content, 20% promotion. This rule means that 8 out of 10 times you are posting to your brand’s promises without trying to sell to anyone directly. The other two times, you can post specifically about your books with a buy link.

So, for those eight times, you are posting about topics brand adjacent—things that are connected topic wise to your author brand, as we determined above. The goal of these posts is to build your engagement, get your readers liking, commenting, and talking about these topics that you are so passionate about, as well as make them warmer to your brand’s message.

Social media doesn’t have to be a time suck. By having a content calendar, you can preschedule your social media postings, which will cut down on the time it takes to create new content. Additionally, by having a calendar, you have direction as to what you can post on each day.

Tools available for scheduling include Hootsuite, Buffer, and Tweetdeck. Additionally, Facebook also has an option on its pages that allows you to schedule your post, so you don’t necessarily need an outside tool if you are only posting on Facebook. Social media scheduling tools are more useful if you are using multiple social media sites or want to schedule a post on a site that does not allow scheduling, like Twitter. For example, Twitter doesn’t let you schedule posts, but Hootsuite makes it possible to schedule and then post on Twitter for you.

Actionable Points:

Make a daily post that aligns with your author brand. Use an image with your post. Images get more engagement than plain text. You can create quote graphics with Canva. Make sure that your message is always on-brand. You can find quotes at BrainyQuote. You can copy the quote and paste it onto your image in Canva, and then post it. Use a hashtag, if applicable, in your text when posting it on social media to increase searchability.
Be consistent. If you can’t post daily, schedule your posts for the week.
Engage with your readers, building relationships, making sure to respond to any comment made on your posts.

Want a free tool to help with your content? Download your FREE weekly content calendar, which includes social media post suggestions and potential hashtags. This tool will help spark your ideas for your content creation and help increase your engagement on social media.

Tina Glasneck is a USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and crime fiction. Since 2012, she has created author events, has held online book fairs, and continues to assist authors on their journey. She frequently teaches on the topics of book promotion, author newsletters, as well as the business of publishing. Tina has published more than 20 books in the fantasy, crime fiction, and mystery genres. She persists in her vision and author goals to create a world of wonder through her fantastical tales.

Does the Threat of a Social Media Armageddon Got You Down?

Thursday, April Post a comment

On Thursday, I awoke to do what I always did, and that meant checking my numbers on Amazon and my engagement on Facebook and making sure to post.

You see, I had a few important things to share with my audience—information of books available in Kindle Unlimited; a notice about other books able to be downloaded for free as part of a new promotion; and, of course, a pitch for my latest preorder.

However, something went wrong.

No matter what I did, the post wouldn’t post; the image errored out. There was no Instagram or Facebook available. Moreover, the panic spread.

Soon, there was noise on Twitter about the social media breakdown. What could we all do, as the platform we’d been building was unavailable?

For many, this could be akin to an Armageddon.

Not so for me . . . you see, I’d been spending time not just building up my social media, but also my platform with my author newsletter.

A newsletter is a cheap and useful marketing tool that you as an author can successfully use to share your news, voice, and branding. Even more, it is a great way to engage with your readers and create a warm relationship. It is the first step to creating an audience that looks forward to hearing from you and about your news.

How do you start an author newsletter?

If you don’t have a website, buy your domain. (Your website domain is your online real estate and where you want to direct your readers to find out more about you.)
Set up your author website and e-mail address.
Sign up with a newsletter provider, like MailChimp, and share the sign-up link to your social media.
Embed your sign-up link on your website.

By building your e-mail list for your newsletter, you no longer have to worry about your business relying on whether social media is still operational. Instead, you will have a direct line to your audience.

Now that you know newsletters are essential for your author-business, be encouraged. Today is a great day to start your author newsletter and connect with your readers.

Tina Glasneck is a USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and crime fiction. Since 2012, she has created author events, has held online book fairs, and continues to assist authors on their journey. She frequently teaches on the topics of book promotion, author newsletters, as well as the business of publishing. Tina has published more than 20 books in the fantasy, crime fiction, and mystery genres. She persists in her vision and author goals to create a world of wonder through her fantastical tales.

Twitter and the Business of Writing

Tuesday, March Post a comment

How can Twitter be used for business in just 140 characters per tweet? (Editor’s note: Twitter now gives users 280 characters per tweet.) A reporter asked that question recently, and this is what I replied:

My posts serve a few different types of purposes (example after each, italicized):

Connecting 1:1 with people who are important in my industries

@TerryDean Thanks 4 following. Loved yr post about hypercopyitis–very in tune w/ my philosophy of copywriting

Exchanging useful information

@drmani Picked out an article for yr Heart Kids Tweetathon (honest copywriting)–have sent to my assistant to set up the download page.

Subtly demonstrating my skills and capabilities

Waiting for two different clients to send follow-up so I can write them knock-’em-dead press releases 🙂

Generating interest in an article I’ve written or found worthwhile

Is horrified at police violence against protesters AND JOURNALISTS at Repub Convention http://ping.fm/zeNHo [www.principledprofit_com]

Once in a great while, something about my personal life if I think people will actually find it interesting

Reunited with important old friends from NYC poet days after ~17 years–great visit!

I joined Twitter in the summer of 2008 and am finding it increasingly useful, almost addictive. I typically spend about five minutes, two or three times a day—but invariably I then spend some extra time following useful links that others have posted.

I have no patience for the “I had cereal for breakfast” type of tweet, and I unfollow people who chatter about nothing all day long and fill my box. But I’m finding it a nice little relationship-reinforcer, especially for those who know me very casually, as well as a fabulous source of information, a way of associating with new people I should know, and in some situations, a way to hear breaking news. I first found out that Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize on Twitter. And by following HelpAReporter, ReporterConnection, and ProfNet, I’m able to get a jump on fast-breaking requests from journalists for story sources.

This article was excerpted with permission from Shel Horowitz’s e-book, Web 2.0 Marketing for the 21st Century: The Missing Chapters of Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World and Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, which is included with every direct-from-Shel order of either Grassroots book. Press releases, book jackets, sell sheets, and web pages from Shel (award-winning author of Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, and six other books) tell “the story behind the story.”

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