Besides this forum how do you go about getting your writing out there? I've started a blog but traffic is not great. Any suggestions?
While I'm not particularly well known either, there are a few things I can suggest. Posting on your social media is a good one, along with getting your friends and family to pass around the information as well. Make a Facebook page of your blog, and advertise it that way, things like that. While it isn't the "best" way, its a start to getting your name out there. I hope this helps
Social media is a powerful tool. You can build a brand even very easily utilizing Twitter, Facebook and Youtube by connecting them all together. The key is to focus mainly on Twitter because it will be your workhorse as far as continuous posting, have your blog linked on all three platforms, and whenever you make a video of any kind you can post it on both Twitter and Facebook. The trouble here is figuring out what videos to make, I'm just saying that if you can think of something it will increase the following. Youtube isn't essential, it's just a great part of it. With Twitter, try to follow as many people as you can that have similar interests in writing, or something that writers will have interest in. Then, retweet and comment on as many of their tweets as you can. Twitter works best organically, and if people notice you retweeting their stuff and leaving comments, they might start doing the same. Sources: I've actually done this before and was becoming very successful at building up a following...I just kinda hit a bad bump in life and lost all interest in the business I'd started, and now I've closed said business. Looking to start another though. There's no reason this can't work for an author, it's certainly my plan if I ever finish this WIP I have. haha
Thankyou! Much appreciated! here's my blog if your'e interested at all http://carlonwentz.blogspot.com/
I just opened a twitter account and ive had more traffic in an hour than ive had in two weeks thank you so mch
The best way is to write books. Each book you write will get you noticed far more than any 100 blog posts or 10,000 tweets. If you want to devote time to social media instead of writing (I do, because I enjoy it) then build a following by saying things people find interesting. DON'T see it as a vehicle for promoting your blog or your books or even yourself. See it as a way of making people interested in what you have to say. If you achieve that, then they will realise they'll probably also find your books interesting and will seek them out. Self-promotion isn't pretty.
Yep, this. One of those "gotta get along before you can go along" things. People get turned off if you have a kick in the door and buy my shit sort of attitude. The trick is to appear likeable and eager to like others in return. You gotta pimp yourself without acting like you're trying to pimp yourself. Actively pimping yourself is just grimy. Nobody wants a piece of that pie.
A friend of mine is a writer. She has a nurological disease and cant do what we would consider normal employment as it is too painful so she went from wanting to be (i think) a marine biologist to a teacher to becoming a writer. In the space of three or four years she has self published a trilogy, a stand alone and is on another stand alone. To get a following she has been manic on social media. Lots of posting, talking about what she is doing, online launch parties, online pod casts. Whilst what she writes isnt my preference (fantasy romance) she has deffinately built up a following. She also networks with other authors, promotes their work, and I assume they promote hers in return. For example, for her current piece of work, she is constantly updating her followers on where she is at and drops teasers of whats in the book. Even though i probably wont read it myself, its interesting to watch he promotion. And to do my bit, the Author is Kristy Nicholl who wrote the Tidal Kiss Trilogy and the stand alone, Something Blue.
I've noticed the best way to get your name out on social media is to very regularly interact with people. Rather than just posting or tweeting and waiting for the people to come, go out and make a point of joining in something. For example, I'm trying to build a pro wrestling podcast, so I use the podcast's twitter to live-tweet major WWE pay per views and other big wrestling shows. The little following I have on my personal twitter came from playing hashtag games.
My curiosity about social media building (my background is crankcase consulting), does it convert to sales. I fear it a neurotic thing were we dedicate six hours a day to being popular and people like us, but they don't spend. A guy in a did forum said he spent two months building facebook to 1000 quality followers, promoted through them, sold 50 copies (he considered that successful). I'm wondering, is it worth it? Or should it builds organically?
I think this is a really important question. (I'm a bit biased because I HATE social media/promotion, so I'm always looking for excuses to not use it...) I recently started a new Twitter account b/c I'm trying to consolidate my web presence between different pen names, and obviously I need followers for it to be effective, but so many of the people who follow me are clearly not my target market and are just following in hopes that I follow them back, and then we'll both have higher numbers of followers, but I've got no interest in their stuff and they've got no interest in mine, so what's the damn point of any of it? Same thing with giveaways to promote newsletters, etc... what's the point of having a bunch of names on my newsletter list if none of them read the newsletter or give a shit about what I'm selling?
@Lew is very good at promoting his books - he meets people and within less than a minute (Just kidding, Love - within the first 10 minutes.) is talking to them about the stories and the cool info in them, etc. It feels effortless. Me, not so much. When I start talking about my book, I feel like I am pressuring people - gotta get over that if I want to promote it, but .... It isn't easy to encourage people to buy your books without seeming like you are, as you say, pimping yourself out.
That's what I'm talking about. I'm vote no, on being chummy and posting be to "seem" interesting. We're writers, honesty must rule. I spoke to a mid-level author yesterday 35k on twitter. He attributes 3k in sales to twitter. 34k would be awesome, and I believe, if you're story is quality (awesome) and you acquire readers (not writers looking for reciprocation) you'll grow. That's the hope anyway. I'm interested in people, just not everyone, not all the time, and I fear I'm adverse to faking that.
Thanks, @K McIntyre, for the spousal plug. Actually, she is the one that bought us matching "Ask me about my book" tee shirts. And people actually do ask. I have found social media, especially facebook, to be a powerful tool for reaching a wide audience, including in other countries. Anyone interested can check out our two facebook author pages Lewis McIntyre and Karen D. McIntyre, for ideas. Message me and we will exchange e-mails, and I can coach you on more specific details. Yes, it does definitely translate into sales for both of us. I don't quote numbers on this site, but E&D is doing extremely well ten months after publications, with sales routinely in Canada, UK and Australia, along with occasional sales in other countries, as well as the US. I did not boost any FB posts in September, and sales slumped to their lowest since initial launch, then recovered dramatically. The downside is that you have to spend money for the boosted posts, probably at least $50 to $100/month, and think up some creative ads. These can reach 10,000 or more people, and you can select countries , demographics and interests. There are also many, many author promotional sites on face book, such as Kindle Unlimited, Kindle Uncaged, Historical Fiction Authors, etc., where you can post for free. You will reach a smaller audience, and be careful not to overpost.. Each boost will in general reach a new audience, whereas reposts to a site will reach generally the same audience. @BayView has taken me to task for being willing to sell at a loss, but I believe there is a critical mass out there, where the number of sales made begins to generate more sales. If you are in Kindle Select, you can also do giveaways for five days, which will reach hundreds to thousands.
I'm sorry if you felt taken to task - I didn't mean it that way! I just thought it was important that people have all the facts - you're really open and enthusiastic about your sales ideas, which is great, but I think you're so enthusiastic, and so clearly a great salesperson for your approach to publishing, that there's a risk of people charging after you down your path even though it may not lead to the destination they had in mind. I mean, if you're still expecting the critical mass of sales thing to kick in, still expecting to make a profit off all this, then the jury's still out on whether this is a successful approach or not, right? If the sales do kick in, fantastic, you've found a great approach. But if they don't kick in... you've still had a good experience, but you've lost a fair bit of money. Someone else might not be as able to afford to absorb that loss...
@BayView, that was a tongue-in-cheek comment, I don't feel taken to task, and I enjoy our point-counterpoint exchanges. Yes, I am enthusiastic, and (at least briefly) ranking at 12,000 in Amazon this month, I feel that this is working - for me. As @K McIntyre will attest, I put a fair amount of time into this, mainly because it is new to me, and has turned out to be an awful lot of fun. I have not actually lost a lot of money... the cost of a few good meals a month? I am not shoveling thousands a month into this. I also note that each book has a separate metric: E&D is heading for the self-pubbed stratosphere, Come, Follow Me is doing about average for a self-pubbie, Karen's Parham's Mill is midway between but early in its launch, still building. But honestly, I think very, very few people who self-publish will ever see more than a pittance. Let us say your criteria for financial success is to gross $12K/year, a nice supplement, though not enough to live on, you would have to make $1000/month, which means selling 250 to 1000 books/month, or 8 to 32 books per day, most likely the higher numbers. If you want to actually live on that income, multiply by four. But the reality for the self-pubber is that without a traditional publishing house's marketing muscle, that you have and I don't, you are never going to see those sales without doing your own advertising. I also know some people who trad-pubbed with small houses, and got absolutely no marketing either. They are considering pulling away from their outlets, letting new editions as a self pubber, and following my route. As a point, one spent $2K for a publicist, who got him on five local radio interviews.... and sold ten books. I trust myself more than I trust some of the sharks swimming in these waters. I am amused and intrigued that you find me a good salesman, as does @K McIntyre. When I was in high school, the last thing I ever wanted to be in life was some sort of a salesman. And throughout my Navy career, both in and out of uniform, to call someone a politician or marketeer was not paying them a complement. Yet here I am, not only selling, but doing much better than I expected, and enjoying it. But in reality, I sold a lot of things in my Navy time, what I did, what I believed in, projects I felt needed to be pursued, and I never did it for the money but for the satisfaction. And maybe that hasn't changed. Thanks for keeping me honest, @BayView!
Some great ideas on this thread, however, one I haven't seen is Facebook 'live'. You may not be the type to get on camera, but once you do it it's great, and can get many people listening to what you say, add this together with a blog, social media posts and it can go a long way to building your fans.Best of luck