October 4, 2010

Much of the success of social networking depends on people reading your words and then spreading the word. There are ways to make this easier.

Sharing Made Easy

For example, in the past week I had several people ask about how to add this blog to their feed, so I moved the RSS feed button up higher on the left. (And “hello” to the over 40,000 subscribers who already have done this.)

I also want to take this time to thank all of you who spread this blog on Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites. I appreciate your support! To make this easier, I also added “sharing” buttons on the left. If you click on the + sign “Share” button, you’ll find nearly 300 places to share the blog. HINT: To share a specific blog post, you have to click on the title of that article first, then click the correct share button.

If you want this code so you can add these social networking buttons to your blog or website, go here for a variety of button choices. It took me less than two minutes to add–very simple.

Start Small

Social networking is here to stay. (See some articles below.) Many of us were skeptical of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon and more. What I once viewed as a major time waster has morphed into something writers can really use–and use well for free–to promote and sell their writing.

One caution: limit your online marketing time or it will take over your life. Do your writing first, or you’ll find the social networking has displaced your writing time.

Some articles on social networking: 

What Is Social Networking?

6 Things You Should Never Share on Your Social Networking Site

What are the Top 15 Social Networking Sites?

Using Social Networking Sites to Promote Your Blog

Lengthy List of More Social Networking Sites

What about you? Do you use social networking yet? Is it for fun, family connections, to promote your writing–or all of the above? Share your thoughts!

January 18, 2010

Every week I get questions like this: “I don’t have a book out yet [or my first book came out last year], but do you think I need to have a website, a blog, a newsletter, be on Facebook and LinkedIn, and also tweet on Twitter daily? Is all this self-promotion necessary?”

I wish I knew!

A Voice of Reason

If you believe everything you read that “they say,” you might think you needed to do all that self-promotion. However, I’m inclined to think James Scott Bell in his new book The Art of War for Writers is closer to the mark.  In talking about self-promotion, he said, “The more anxious you are about forcing success through self-promotional effort, the less creative energy you have for the writing itself.”

Why? “Because,” Bell says, “the most important promotional tool you have is your best book. Period.”

Creating that “best book” of which you’re capable takes hours and hours of writing and revising, learning new skills, honing your craft, your heart and soul, your blood, sweat and tears. He cautions writers not to dilute their strengths by obsessing over promotion. (Isn’t that a breath of fresh air?)

Good, Better, Best

Bell gives an interesting list of the “ten best forms of self-promotion.” Only one item on the list deals with the Internet. He simply calls #4 on the list your “web presence.” Guess what SIX of the items on the list are. Your book. He says that a good book-and the word of mouth it generates-will do more for your sales than all the Internet marketing efforts put together. That has been my experience personally, but it’s rare to find such a successful author say so. Rare and refreshing!

Concerning the questions I receive weekly about Internet promotion: I think I’m going to start quoting Bell’s book from now on. His simple guideline for “how much” self-promotion to do is this:

“Do what you can without (a) taking away from the quality of your writing time; (b) taking away from the quality of personal relationships, and (c) taking on debt.”

Now that’s food for a lot of thought.

May 12, 2008

My son-in-law knows that I’m always looking for free programs online, so when he finds things of interest, he sends them along. I realized last week that I now knew (and sometimes spoke) a foreign language. “Do you use Weebly or Zillow?” I was asked. “No Weebly yet, but I do Zillow. I’m also learning to Twitter, but I’m not sure if I need to Jott yet.”

Confused? Then check out these free services–and you’ll be speaking the new language fluently in no time!

Jott: With a free account, Jott converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments.

Weebly: Create a free website and blog, host it for free, easy to create and maintain, even host your existing domain for free!

Zillow: Wonder what your house is worth? Type in your address–or anyone else’s–and get your home’s worth, an aerial photo of the neighborhood, the real estate values of homes in the area, and much more. Great free service for house buyers and sellers.

Twitter: Another social networking site that’s free and easy to use. “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?“

Good luck!