LAURIE (L.C. LEWIS) asks: Not only do I not know how to use Twitter I don't even know what "Twitter" is. I would also love to know about the value of marketing on Facebook and MySpace, and the best sites for virtual book tours.
I'm writing my current series under the name L.C. Lewis and my most recent release is Book Two in my historical fiction series, "Free Men and Dreamers." It's entitled, Twilight's Last Gleaming.
Thanks for the advice!
Laurie (L.C.) Lewis
http://www.laurielclewis.com/
http://www.laurielclewis.blogspot.com/
Author of the Free Men and Dreamers Series Featuring
Dark Sky at Dawn, Twilight's Last Gleaming
Buy at the Wicked Wordsmith store!
Angela says : Laurie - Great questions!Twitter is considered a microblogging site, where you only have 140 characters to share your thoughts. Check out my column on how to use Twitter easily and effectively. I also have a column about marketing with MySpace which you might find helpful.
I will say at this time that I have much better luck meeting serious readers and writers on Facebook. This social network - which recently launched a nifty redesign -is cleaner than MySpace, and offers authors the ability to create Fan Pages, like these for Pop Syndicate and Canadian author Elizabeth Van Amelsvoort. When you create a Fan Page, be sure to put the link to the site for folks who are NOT logged in. That way, someone surfing Facebook doesn't have to have an account to find you.
Don't kid yourself into thinking that social networks are for authors who target youth. Everyone is networking with someone online - even if they don't have an account with MySpace, Facebook or Ning.
As for virtual tour stops, you need to target your market. Find sites that appeal to readers in your demographics. Book review sites are a given for nearly all authors of adult fiction. Then, you will want to target sites that support your genre.
Find out more about virtual tours here.
Good luck!
Angela Wilson is an author, freelance author publicist and professional blogger and podcaster. She requests ARCs and manages the book blog for Pop Syndicate, where she hosts authors on virtual book tours. If you have a question about promotions, visit www.askangelawilson.com, or email her directly at authorangelawilson@gmail.com.
Your question may be used on that site and/or here.
Find Angela Wilson at:http://www.linkedin.com/in/angelawilson
http://www.facebook.com/people/Angela_Wilson/775118823
http://www.myspace.com/angelawilson
http://twitter.com/angelawilson
twitter is a very good way to get traffic to your blogs. My twitter name is unwriter. It's worth Joining. As for book tours, two recommendations.
ReplyDelete1. Join blogbooktours a yahoo group.
2. Contact Joyce A. Anthony at rainbow@velocity.net.
Any questions, contact me at: unwriter@yahoo.com
Twitter is a micro-blogging platform. We feed all of our blog posts through it and actually get almost as many hits to our site as we do from Facebook and Myspace. It is also a great way to add some personal aspect to yourself for your readers. Viva la Twitter! :)
ReplyDeleteOh and you can follow me at twitter if you like at:
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/BittenbyBooks
And I WILL follow you back.
As a blogger, reviewer, and librarian, I use Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook. I'm not an author, so my experience won't be the same. I have the hardest time finding a value to Facebook, although I've refound old friends.
ReplyDeleteBut, for publicity for my blog, and contacts with authors and publishers, MySpace and Twitter have worked for me. I don't follow too many people on Twitter who are not somehow involved in the book or publicity world, because that's what I'm interested in.
On Twitter, I'm LesaHolstine.
My blog is at http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com
Angela, Twitter is so good and easy to use that I'll be recommending it in my next edition of The Frugal Book Promoter. I believe that if you want people to follow you, authors should stay on target with info that will help other people, usually related to their branding efforts. You can find me at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo
ReplyDeleteI'd love to connect.
Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers
www.howtodoitfrugally.com
Blogging at www.SharingwithWriters.blogspot.com
What's great about Twitter is you can get on, make a comment and get off easily. You're still reaching all your followers.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't take as long to load. When you have time constrants, that's a real plus.
Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
My twitter account is http://twitter.com/djparker
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have some more people to follow. I have one question about Twitter. How do I add a comment to someone else's page - the @name thing. I found a way to send a message but that goes to an inbox and not their page where everyone can see it.
As far as authors hobnobbing with readers - I think GoodReads is better than Facebook. Jacketflap is pretty good too. LibraryThing is ok.
Donald -
ReplyDeleteWhen you do an @AngelaWilson, it will be public, so long as it is not a PM. I find them via the @Reply button on my page. They also show up in Twitterfox, so if I'm around when it updates, I see my handle.
I'll definitely be checking Twitter out more. I think I've signed up for an account but don't really use it because I feel like such a technology dummy at times.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to the article!
Cheryl