Social Media Just for Writers

Indie Author Weekly Update – April 19, 2019

April 19, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author update is chock-full of wonderful tips and strategies to help you with your book sales. As always, David Gaughran wrote a terrific post. There are also blog posts on Twitter, Instagram, content marketing, search engine optimization, and lastly, BookBub ads. Whew! Enjoy the posts.

Author Platforms

How To Build An Author Platform by David Gaughran: “What is an author platform? Which elements should it contain? And is any of this stuff more important than just writing another book? Perhaps not. But certain aspects of an author platform are important tools for reaching readers and, especially, for holding on to them.”

Twitter

Saying No to Twitter: What Authors Need to Know from Jane Friedman’s blog and by Daniel Berkowitz: “Tell me if this is a situation you’ve been in before: Your agent just sold your book to a publisher, and now you want to do everything you can to ensure your book’s success. The publisher tells you to get a website and to get on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You have a Facebook profile, and you’re not opposed to creating a separate author page, and you really enjoy Instagram—but you don’t like Twitter.”

Instagram

10 Instagram Hashtag Hacks Tricks You Definitely Want to Try from Later and by Benjamin Chacon: “If you’re searching for some great Instagram hashtag hacks to get more followers and boost your engagement, you’ve come to the right place! Whether you want to find out which hashtags are generating the most interactions on your account, hide your hashtags in your Instagram Stories, or add more than 30 hashtags to your post’s caption, we’ve got a hack for you.”

Content Marketing

Sell More Books With Guest Blogging from TheBookDesigner.com and by Sandra Beckwith: “There’s no question in my mind that guest blogging helps sell books. But it’s a powerful book marketing tactic for other reasons, too.”

Search Engine Optimization

SEO for Authors and Other Search Ranking “Secrets” by Jenny Hansen: “SEO for authors … It’s a catchphrase that makes all my writing pals shudder. As one of our gals at WITS said, “I know how to spell it, but that’s about all.” SEO doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, some of the best techniques are the easiest for writers, because they involve writing.”

BookBub Ads

8 Ways to Target Readers Using BookBub Ads: “With BookBub Ads, authors and publishers can promote any book to BookBub’s millions of power readers at any time. While this is a valuable audience of book buyers to begin with, BookBub Ads’ targeting options let advertisers refine their audience even further.”

Quote of the Week

Want to know all of my best social media marketing tips? Get a copy of Social Media Just for Writers.

Well written, well researched – well thought out. This book is a must have!

Ryshia Kennie

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online and building their platform. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

Online Book Marketing Strategies for Writers

Get to Know These Instagram Apps

April 15, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

In this five-part series on Instagram, we reach the fifth installment. Here, you’ll read about Instagram image and video apps.

Instagram Apps for Your Images and Stories

Canva
Of course, I first have to start with Canva, my favorite image-creating app. It’s so easy to use, and fortunately, you can even use it to create your Instagram stories.

Also, you can use Canva to create images for your blog and to resize images for social media.

Canva offers ready-made templates, or you can create your own. I used Canva recently to create a two-page Instagram Story about my Pinterest ebook. Then I highlighted it so if you go to my profile, you’ll see it below my bio.

You can learn how to use Canva by watching some of their tutorials.

Canva is free to use; however, there is a paid version. All you’ll ever need is the free version unless you work with teams or want to access its paid features.

Buffer Stories Creator

Buffer, the social media scheduling app, has Pablo, an image creating app, and now Stories Creator.

Creating Stories with Buffer’s app is super easy so try it out.

PiktoChart

You can start using PiktoChart for free, but the fees are $24.17 a month for it’s Pro plan.

If you want to hit your following with data-driven Instagram Stories, PiktoChart can help.

Framatic – Collage Editor

The app has 36 adjustable layouts, 32 vintage borders, and 92 effects to apply to photos. You’ll find it in the app store for iPhones and iPads.

Using my favorite model, my dog, I can show you how it works.

Go to iTunes and pay $1.99 for the Instagram app. Be sure to connect it to your camera roll.

Select a collage style. I chose the three-image style. Using Framatic, I took three pictures of my dog.

Next, I decided whether I wanted to create an Instagram Story or just add the collage to my feed. I chose only to add it to my feed.

Next, there were various options to add filters. I almost chose the black-and-white filter, but in the end, I decided not to add a filter and tapped Next.

I think that Framatic would be a great app to use for Instagram Stories. My only complaint is the watermark.

Layout

Instagram also has a collage creator. You can use images from your camera roll or ones that you take live. It also includes filters.

Just go to iTunes if you have an iPhone and look for Layout from Instagram.

Square Sized

Square Sized is another app you can find in the iTunes store. Basically, it allows users to import photos from personal albums on Facebook and optimize them for Instagram. You can also use this app to edit your images.

LiPix – Photo Collage Maker, Picture Editor

LiPix has 90 adjustable templates, 54 different borders, and 20 photo effects.

[Read more…]

Indie Author Weekly Update – April 12, 2019

April 12, 2019 By Frances Caballo 1 Comment

This week’s Indie Author Weekly Update has a whopping six suggestions for you to read. Learn to write a memoir that sells, set up automated emails (it’s easy!), and ponder your purpose. I hope you like all of them!

Memoirs that Sell

How to Write a Memoir: 14 Tips for Writing Memoir That Sells by Anne R. Allen: “It is true that memoirs are problematic. They’re devilishly difficult for a new writer to do well, but they’re what newbies usually write. The urge to put our own life story on paper is the most common reason people start writing. Adult education programs and senior centers everywhere offer courses in “writing your own life.” And there’s the old adage that says everybody has a book in them—their own life story.”

Marketing

5 Ways to Market Your Audiobook Without Ads from Jane Friedman’s Blog: “Some authors and publishers seem to believe that by the simple act of making an audiobook available for purchase, there will be numerous purchases. Yet, as with all types of books, yours is merely one of many thousands published each year. You must make listeners aware that your product exists. Here are 5 different ways to do that without advertising.”

13 Email Marketing Statistics That Are Shaping 2019 and Beyond by Convince & Convert: “Email has been around since the 1970s, but it’s still extremely effective, even with younger audiences. It’s sure to remain an integral part of your marketing strategy this year and into the future.”

How to Set Up Automated Emails for Reader Magnets from Alliance of Independent Authors: Self-Publishing Advice Center and by Rachel McCollin: “It’s nice to give your reader fans the personal touch. However, in this blog post, Rachel McCollin makes the case that a little automation is a good thing. And she takes us through a step-by-step process to set up automated emails delivering your reader magnets, so you never have to lift a finger again.”

Beta Readers

Where to find beta readers for your book by Sandra Beckwith: “Last week, I had a conversation with a client about what he referred to as “peer reviewers” for his next book. That gave me pause, because peer reviewers are usually used with academic or scientific works, and his is neither. I asked if he meant “beta readers.” While peer reviewers read for factual accuracy, beta readers aren’t limited to “peers” and can be from your target audience. “Beta readers” was, in fact, the term he meant to use.”

Find Your Purpose

This is How To Find Our Purpose by Rachel Thompson: “Many survivors (and people in general) tie our jobs with our purpose. One does not have to equal the other, though it can. This is a Western way of thinking – we equate what we do for a living with our purpose in life. However, the two can be entirely different.”

Quote of the Week

Want to know all of my best social media marketing tips? Get a copy of Social Media Just for Writers.

Well written, well researched – well thought out. This book is a must have!

Ryshia Kennie

Online Book Marketing Strategies for Writers

Indie Author Weekly Update – April 5, 2019

April 5, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author Weekly Update includes posts on Audiobooks, marketing, and information on how to secure book reviews. Enjoy them all!

Audiobooks

Why Indie Authors Should Publish Audiobooks – and How To Do It – Alliance of Independent Authors: Self-Publishing Advice Center by Amy Shojai: “Don’t yet have your books on audio? Wondering whether it’s worth the investment of time and money? ALLi Professional member Amy Shojai,who writes fiction and non-fiction on animal themes, makes a persuasive case for taking the plunge into audio and suggests different options.”

Brand Protection

Author Brand Protection: Monitoring Your Online Reputation by Dave Chesson: “Over the course of my author branding series here at BookWorks, I’ve explained and explored the importance of creating a powerful author brand that accurately and beneficially represents you and your writing. Now, you’ll want to maintain that sterling reputation, by monitoring your online presence and interactions for author brand protection.”

Get Those Book Reviews

Ways to Get Book Reviews: The Power of Recommendation by Penny Sansevieri: “Personal recommendations account for 95% of all book sales. That’s a powerful statement, and it really speaks to the fact that people like what other people like. So, when authors ask me if book reviews are still a great way to sell a book, I always say ‘yes’ because great book reviews really tap into the power of the personal recommendation. Which brings us to the inevitable—how to get book reviews?”

Book Marketing

Book Marketing: World Book Day Visits for Indie Authors from Alliance of Independent Authors: Self-Publishing Advice Center: “In today’s post, British children’s writer Sue Bough shares her first experience of marking World Book Day in a local school, where she had great fun gathering feedback from young readers, learning important marketing lessons for future reference, and working alongside bestselling children’s authors on an equal footing.”

Start with Your Accordion Mostly Closed from TheBookDesigner.com and by Beth Barany: “When I was starting on my path as a novelist, I just dove right in, but I had no idea what I was doing. It was scary but I was determined to stick with it, no matter what. Soon I found roadmaps of sorts to guide me along my way. I didn’t know if these “how to” guides would get me to The End but I persisted.”

Quote of the Week

Want to know all of my best social media marketing tips? Get a copy of Social Media Just for Writers.

Well written, well researched – well thought out. This book is a must have!

Ryshia Kennie

Online Book Marketing Strategies for Writers

How to Use and Share Instagram Videos and IGTV

April 1, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This is a five-part series on Instagram. In this fourth installment, we talk about Instagram videos and IGTV. (I kept this post short because I’m at a training today and I didn’t want to lose momentum in this series. Here we go!)

Let’s first review some basics:

You can record a video on Instagram and post. When doing this, your live video can be as long as one hour.
When you record a video to your phone and then post it to Instagram, your video can’t be longer than one minute. They also must be at least three seconds.
Videos posts to your Instagram Story has a time limit of fifteen seconds.

How to Record and Share Instagram Videos and IGTV

Here are the steps:

Record a video on your phone.

Open Instagram and tap the IGTV logo.

Your phone will take you to your recorded videos.

You’ll see a plus (+) sign. Tap it.

From your camera roll on your phone, tap the video you want to select.

Tap next. (I went back to capture the screenshots so as you can see, you can already see my title.)

Assign a title and description.

Finally, tap post. Your video will automatically post on your IGTV app as well.

This video example isn’t one I would typically create for Instagram. It would be better to share tips. But for the purpose of this blog post, I quickly created a more general video.

Note: You can also record a video in Instagram. Go to your newsfeed, tap the plus sign in the lower task bar, switch from photo to video, and record.

Instagram and IGTV

You can also add a video from IGTV to your Instagram Story. Here’s how:

Go to the App store and upload IGTV.

Select your video from your phone’s recorded pictures and videos.

Tap the paper airplane icon.

Next, select “Add video to your story.”

Tap the plus sign in the circle at the bottom of your screen.

Or, tap “Send to >.”

Finally, tap “Share.”

As you go through this process, you’ll see the option to add the story to Highlights. Highlights allows you to group old stories together in a new section that sits below your Instagram bio. This obviously gives greater emphasis to them.

How to Use Instagram Videos

Wondering how to use Instagram videos as an author?

Talk about your newest book.
Explain why you became an author.
Discuss your process when you write.
Showcase your favorite books (by other authors).
Use a video to talk about a contest.
Ask questions, such as which books are your readers’ favorites.
Do a fun video with your dog or cat.
Create a video showing the room where you write.
Take a walk in the woods and explain why you like the path you chose.
Ask your readers what they would like to see in your videos.

How will you use Instagram videos?

Want to know all of my best social media marketing tips? Get a copy of Social Media Just for Writers.

Well written, well researched – well thought out. This book is a must have!

Ryshia Kennie

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

Online Book Marketing Strategies for Writers

Indie Author Weekly Update – March 29, 2019

March 29, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Here’s another edition of the Indie Author Weekly Update. Trying to grow your Instagram account? Read the post by Wishpond. Want to grow your email marketing? Read Blogging Wizard’s post. Actually, all the posts are great. Enjoy them!

Instagram

21 Ways to Get More Instagram Followers Wishpond: “Having a strong Instagram presence is a powerful advantage. And one way to get that advantage is by growing your Instagram following. There are currently over 8 million Instagram Business profiles and over a hundred million active Instagram users posting every day. Without the right strategy, it can almost feel like your Instagram post is just another needle in the haystack. But don’t get discouraged. In this article, I’ll be showing you 21 effortless ways to get more Instagram followers.”

Marketing

3 Pillars Of Email Marketing: How To Skyrocket Subscriber Engagement from Blogging Wizard and by Lily Ugbaja: “Scared your next email campaign will result in even lower open rates than you already get? In this article, you’ll learn to understand and master the 3 pillars of email marketing, and use them to boost your open rates to 40% or more!”

Marketing Self-published Books: An Innovative Idea for Building Global Reach from Alliance of Independent Authors: Self-Publishing Advice Center: “It has never been easier to spread e-books across the world. Just a few clicks is all it takes. Instantly, your lovingly-crafted words can be transported into the hands of a commuter crammed on the Tokyo subway, or a parent relaxing in a yurt in Outer Mongolia. But how do you persuade people to buy your book if you don’t speak their language? Kathryn Mortimer describes her innovative method to expand her global reach for her book, Mother of Millennials.”

Blogging

How to Guest Write for Blogs: A Guide for Authors, Publishers, and More by Francis Bogan and from BookBub Partners: “Writing guest posts for blogs is a great way to help new readers find you and promote yourself and your books for free. Writing for blogs can help grow your fan base and can help you connect with writing communities.”

Quote of the Week

Want to know all of my best social media marketing tips? Get a copy of Social Media Just for Writers.

Well written, well researched – well thought out. This book is a must have!

Ryshia Kennie

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

Online Book Marketing Strategies for Writers

Instagram Account Lagging? Start Using Instagram Stories

March 25, 2019 By Frances Caballo 4 Comments

If you use Instagram and you notice that your account is stagnating, the problem is twofold:

You’re not engaging sufficiently with other users.
You’re not creating Instagram Stories.

In this third installment of my five-part series on Instagram, we’re talking about Instagram Stories.

Instagram Stories are a feature within the Instagram app that allows users to share photos and videos within the Story format. If you share more than one image within an Instagram Story, they will appear in a slideshow format.

Stories won’t appear on your profile grid; they will appear at the top of your followers’ home screen, also called the newsfeed. They stand out more and that’s why they are more powerful than normal posts.

Instagram Stories can have one image or multiple images. For example, when you release a new book you could include the book cover on the first image and on the second image say something about it.

But before we get into how to create Instagram Stories, let’s review some statistics that Hootsuite published two weeks ago. Here we go.

Instagram Statistics to Take Seriously

Instagram has 1.1 billion monthly active users. Among those people, 500 million use this app every day.
71% of Instagram’s users around the world are under the age of 35.

72% of U.S. teens use Instagram. In fact, in the fall of 2018, Instagram surpassed Snapchat in this demographic.
Important to this discussion today, 500 million people use Stories every day. Most brands (2 million of them) are telling their stories with Stories.

Now, let’s look at the breakdown of Instagram’s users:

34%of Instagram users are millennials
22%of all Instagram users log in at least once a day
38%of users check Instagram multiple times a day
25%of smartphone owners use Instagram

Now, let’s get into Instagram Stories.

Instagram Stories

In August 2016, Instagram launched Instagram Stories. Stories are basically a feature that allows users to take photos, add effects and layers, and add them to their Instagram Stories.

Instagram introduced them to combat competition from Snapchat’s Stories introduced in 2013, which disappeared in 24 hours.

When Stories were introduced in 2016, they disappeared at the end of 24 hours, similar to Snapchat.

Now, you can archive your Stories. Here’s how:

Go to your profile and tap the three bars in the top right corner
Tap Settings > Privacy and Security > Stories Controls
Tap Save to Camera Roll and Save to Archive
If you want, you can even tap “Share Your Story to Facebook”

How to Create Instagram Stories

Here’s how to create your first Instagram Story:

Go to your home feed and tap your picture with the blue and white plus sign in the top row. Alternatively, you could just tap the camera icon.

Snap a picture or a video. Yes, I’m using my dog but, hey, why not?

Select a filter.

[Read more…]

Indie Author Weekly Update – March 22, 2019

March 22, 2019 By Frances Caballo 1 Comment

Today’s Indie Author Weekly Update contains the most diverse content I’ve featured in a while. Enjoy these posts from Dave Chesson, Sandra Beckwith, Jane Friedman and others.

Publishing Companies

The 8 Best Self Publishing Companies of 2019 by Dave Chesson: “You’re done. No more long nights and sleepless days. No more worrying about potentially gaping plot holes. All that’s left is to publish (and a victory beverage, of course). Easy enough, right? Wrong. Publishing–especially self-publishing–can be a very daunting task. There is a lot to consider and one false step can lead to a very poor introduction for your book into the world.”

Book Marketing

3 Book Marketing Myths to Avoid from TheBookDesigner.com by Sandra Beckwith: “Urban legends aren’t limited to horror stories, though. In the book publishing industry, a better term for them is “myths,” and there are a lot of book marketing myths. They spread from author to author quickly thanks to online groups and social media. Authors believe and accept them automatically, probably because they see the myths repeated so often.”

The Ultimate Guide to BookBub Ads from BookBub Partners: “Online advertising can be an extremely effective way to boost book sales and get discovered by new readers. However, running successful ad campaigns can be challenging because there are many variables to adjust and lots of decisions to be made. To help you navigate these decisions and create campaigns that will meet your goals, we’ve compiled all of our blog posts with tips, guidance, and strategies in one place!”

Book Production

Simple Tips for Formatting Book Blurb on KDP Dashboard for Print & Ebook from Alliance of Independent Authors and by Rob Johnson: “I know I’m not alone in this, but one of my least favourite aspects of the writing life is having to come up with the book blurb for my sales page. I remember the British playwright David Hare being interviewed a few years ago, and he was asked what his new play was about.”

Beta Readers

Beta Readers: Who, When, Why, and So What? from Jane Friedman and by Barbara Linn Probst: “If you’re reading this essay, you’ve probably heard the term beta reader. Although some people do offer beta reading for a fee, the term usually refers to unpaid non-professionals who give feedback on writing prior to publication. Unlike critique partners, there’s no requirement to exchange manuscripts; unlike editors, there’s no expectation that beta readers will have advice about how to fix whatever weaknesses they find. They’re civilians, proxies for our future readers. Typically, they’re people we know, if not personally, then through a friend or writing community. We trust them enough to test our books on them and (presumably) listen to what they have to say.”

Quote of the Week

Want to know all of my best social media marketing tips? Get a copy of Social Media Just for Writers.

Well written, well researched – well thought out. This book is a must have!

Ryshia Kennie

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

Online Book Marketing Strategies for Writers

Indie Author Weekly Update – March 15, 2019

March 15, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Welcome to another edition of the Indie Author Weekly Update. This week’s edition covers everything from saying good-bye to Google+ to pen names to a Reedsy service. I hope all of the posts here help you in your endeavor to sell more of your books.

Social Media

Google Plus Shuffles off its Mortal Coil: Have You Un-Googled? by Anne R. Allen: “If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you probably know I’ve had something of a love-hate relationship with Google Plus. It was clunky and annoying, but I recommended it as a way to get blogposts noticed by the Google search engine. Of course it was always slow to load, and an “update” a few years ago made it massively user-unfriendly. Still, it was a great tool for SEO and boosting your blog traffic.”

The Writer’s Guide to Instagram: Tips from Top Bookstagrammers and Authors from BookBub Partners: “Instagram is a massive and growing social media platform, and it is full of book lovers. There are many book-focused Instagrams with tens of thousands of followers, whose moderators feature books in appealing images that are widely liked and often reposted.”

Pen Names

3 Factors for Choosing an On-Brand Pen Name by Dave Chesson: “If you’re thinking about using an author pen name, you’re in superb company. After all, countless top authors have chosen to make use of a pseudonym when releasing their work. Like George Orwell, the pseudonym chosen by Eric Blair so he could write about poverty without the fear of shame, or Mark Twain, the pen name favored by Samuel Clemens so he could compartmentalize his different writing styles/personas.”

New Reedsy Service

A New Concept in Book Discoverability : Reedsy Discovery Book Review Service by Ricardo Fayet: “Ever since we launched Reedsy a bit over four years ago, one topic inevitably comes up time and again in support messages, on conference panels, or in my conversations with authors (often at the bar) — and that is the thorny issue of discoverability.”

Quote of the Week

Want to know all of my best social media marketing tips? Get a copy of Social Media Just for Writers.

Well written, well researched – well thought out. This book is a must have!

Ryshia Kennie

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, and finding new readers. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

Online Book Marketing Strategies for Writers

Online Book Marketing Solutions for Writers

Indie Author Weekly Update – April 19, 2019

Author Platforms

Twitter

Instagram

Content Marketing

Search Engine Optimization

BookBub Ads

Quote of the Week

Indie Author Weekly Update – April 12, 2019

Memoirs that Sell

Marketing

Beta Readers

Find Your Purpose

Quote of the Week

Indie Author Weekly Update – April 5, 2019

Audiobooks

Brand Protection

Get Those Book Reviews

Book Marketing

Follow Me on Twitter!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Recent Posts

Free Email Course for Authors!

Learn how to engage your readers and find new readers!

Online Book Marketing Solutions for Writers

Free Email Course for Authors

Author Platforms

Twitter

Instagram

Content Marketing

Search Engine Optimization

BookBub Ads

Quote of the Week

Instagram Apps for Your Images and Stories

Memoirs that Sell

Marketing

Beta Readers

Find Your Purpose

Quote of the Week

Audiobooks

Brand Protection

Get Those Book Reviews

Book Marketing

How to Record and Share Instagram Videos and IGTV

Instagram and IGTV

How to Use Instagram Videos

Instagram

Marketing

Blogging

Quote of the Week

Instagram Statistics to Take Seriously

Instagram Stories

How to Create Instagram Stories

Publishing Companies

Book Marketing

Book Production

Beta Readers

Quote of the Week

Why You Should Use Hashtags on Instagram

Hide the Hashtags

Social Media

Pen Names

New Reedsy Service

Quote of the Week

Follow Me on Twitter!

Let’s Connect!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Recent Posts

Free Email Course for Authors!

Learn how to engage your readers and find new readers!