social media marketing

I went to a talk on social media marketing the other evening. It was given at the local bookstore here in Vancouver, Cover to Cover. Ron Gompertz, author of No Roads Lead to Rome, was the speaker and had a lot of useful information to impart.

He spoke about the building blocks needed to market online: e-mail, blogs, website, Amazon, Twitter and Facebook, going through each one in some detail. But with only an hour and a half there was not enough time to delve into each one and I can tell you right now that for me they need major delving!

Take Twitter, for instance. Apparently there are all kinds of things you can do there. I'm sure many of you if not all of you already know this but I was taken by surprise when Ron spoke of organizing groups on his Twitter account. I'm just barely understanding hash tags at this point! (# is a hash tag for those of you who aren't familiar with it) And the following thing gives me a strange sense of responsibility, as though I either need to entertain or at least keep up with what everyone is doing as well as find some interesting articles to link to my tweets. Did I mention feeling overwhelmed?

 I have upped my time on Twitter now and have retweeted, replied and favorited as well as gone to sites listed (in strange heiroglyphic sorts of letters and numbers that I haven't quite figured out, by the way) and read numerous blogs and commented. If I let it, this could become my entire day!

How does one get the most out of this without drowning? I have gotten a few more followers because of Twitter and I must say I enjoy learning about it but I do have two books to edit and another one that needs to be written, so tell me, how do you manage your time? Do you check into Twitter every day or once a week? What do you tweet about?

the new the good and the beautiful

So...I've decided to turn my website design over to my friend, Steph Wilder and her business, Kismet Design Group. I have too many things on my plate to fiddlef___ around with it. And she's an expert with many ideas for marketing my book! I have enough to do with getting the book ready for publication...on that note...

I have a guest blogger today--Caroline Miller, a local writer and author. Her website is www.carolinemillerbooks.com  Enjoy!

THE WRITER’S HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER

I’ve talked about the solitary nature of writing before.  One isolates oneself from others in order to create stories one hopes others will read -- which means the end game is anything but isolation. I thought about this irony the other day as I reread Walter de la Mare’s poem The Listeners.  The poem’s setting is a dwelling in a forest.  Whether it’s a hermit’s cabin, a peasant’s cottage or even an abandoned castle is never made clear, but it’s a moon lit night when a rider and his horse pause before it.  The horse nibbles on the grass while its rider knocks upon the dwelling’s door.  He waits but there is no answer.  He senses someone listening, so he knocks again, loud enough to wake the dead; but the phantoms hovering on the darkened stair make no reply.  If they could communicate, what would they say to the world of men? The Traveler seems to wonder, for he knocks a third time.

                                                                Tell them I came, and no one answer’d

                                                                That I kept my word,’ he said

Having done whatever he was meant to do, horse and rider disappear into the distance, erased by the stillness that follows.

Sometimes, I think writers are like that Traveler.  We pay our visit to an audience we can never meet, sensing their presence but never seeing their faces.  They are shadows hovering in a library or a bookstore or on Amazon.  They pass us as if we were a disparate element -- water flowing through air.  Still, the writer keeps his faith that someone is listening, that someone does hear or read his message. Yet there are times when the silence becomes too lonely.  Then, like the Traveler, the writer cries out:

                                                                Is there anybody there?

jumping into the abyss

Okay, now I've made the plunge--I'm officially going for self-publishing. This latest round of rejections put me over the edge. If anyone can tell me why I shouldn't do this, speak up now or forever...well, you know.

I plan to use social media for promotion--still learning about all of it but I'm going to a phone class with 'WriteNowCoach', Rochelle Melander on Sept. 28th, who will be talking about facebook, twitter, blogging and websites. Oh yes, a website is my next endeavor. Anyone know anyone who knows anything about how to set up an interactive site where I can advertise my books? and maybe also sell from the website?  I'm learning about hash tags, social oomph, auto follow and so on...and so on...

A small part of me still regrets this decision. Mainly I'm so terrible disappointed in the publishing industry right now. So many good books, mine included, are being shut out. After the forty-fifth rejection it's really hard to stay positive! Do I continue sending submission after submission with hope in my heart like a naive idiot or do I take the situation in hand?  But this book is holding me back from other projects. It needs to get launched, stand on its own two feet, move out and live on its own, man-up and any other apt cliche I can come up with.

Anyone with any suggestions, advice, or observations about their own experiences please weigh in. I appreciate any and all comments.