Blog - Social Media Just for Writers

Platform Building & Media Relations for Indie Authors

October 16, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Chris Well recently joined me on a Conversations with Frances broadcast. Hear what he had to say about media relations and platform building for indie authors.

Chris started young in the media; by college he was writing for national magazines. Later, he worked in radio and worked as an editor with a magazine. Over the years, he has accumulated 25 years in the media working with a number of brands. This is what he had to say:

The right email to the right reporter will get you coverage. That said, any author can find media coverage.

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Indie Author Weekly Update October 13, 2017

October 13, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author Weekly Update is about content, whether its podcasting, blogging, or publishing, it’s all content.

I chose this week’s photo due to the sky I lived under this week. I live in the Tubbs Fire area, more specifically Sonoma County. It’s been a surreal week for me because the conflagration is near me yet I am spared by it. Please pray for my neighbors.

Indie Author Update

10 Reasons Podcast Guesting is the #1 Killer Content Marketing Tactic of All via Duct Tape Marketing: “This is a bold statement, but hear me out. I have been earning a living from search engine optimization for over 12 years and I’ve tried every tactic at one time or another. Ever since Google started dropping algorithmic bombs around 2011 (think Panda, Penguin, and so on), SEO industry behavior has changed. Most SEO services have moved back onshore and “real” SEO is now an integrated part of holistic marketing.”

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How to Crush It on Social Media as an Introvert

October 9, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Are You an Introvert? Here’s Your Dilemma

Selfies, bad grammar, cryptic status updates (“some people don’t deserve my time…”) and verbal diarrhea. Ugh. What is the obsession with social media? How can anyone enjoy this drivel?

And who has time for it? With everyone competing for attention no one is going to pay any attention to you, right?

Why would you put yourself ‘out there’ only to be ignored, or worse, ridiculed?

Using social media for book marketing can be an intimidating prospect for any author, but especially a self-published introvert. Fortunately, you can learn how to make it work for you.

Using social media for book marketing can be an intimidating for introvertsClick To Tweet

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Indie Author Weekly Update October 6, 2017

October 6, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author Update contains every topic from Pinterest hashtags to selling books when you don’t have an audience. How? Keep reading to find out!

Go Local: Marketing Books to Targeted Communities by Jane Friedman: “When I hear professional publicists and PR people offer advice to authors, one theme that comes up again and again is: start where you are. Use the power of your community—and the people you know—to gain momentum.”

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3 Basic Rules of Social Media Plus 5 Best Practices

October 2, 2017 By Frances Caballo 2 Comments

Dan Zarrella, author of The Science of Marketing, said in his book, “I’ve long been interested in the idea that engaging in conversation is the single most important function of social media marketing.”

He’s right. That is why it’s so important to schedule time in the afternoon or early evening to converse with our readers, friends, and influencers in your sphere. If you don’t allocate time to converse, you are missing the point.

Social media at its essence is social so to engage in social media and not allocate time to socializing, well, it’s antithetical to the very premise of social media.

Social media at its essence is socialClick To Tweet

Take Twitter, for example. It began as a texting platform. Sure, it’s matured, evolved, and changed. You can include images and video now, and you can even advertise. But at its essence, it’s still a medium for conveying messages.

This premise is true with other social media platforms as well.

Which takes me to those 3 basic rules of social media I promised to discuss.

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Indie Author Weekly Update – September 29, 2017

September 29, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author Update includes posts from Adam Connell, Joanna Penn, Ali Luke, Buffer, and Writers in the Storm. I hope you enjoy the selections.

Well, we are firmly into fall, my favorite season. How does your writing change with the seasons? I’d love to know!

Indie Author Updates

How To Launch Your Own Facebook Group And Get Loyal Fans from Adam Connell: “Facebook groups are powerful. They’re a perfect place to start real conversations about things that matter to you. And because your audience members are already on Facebook (Facebook addiction is a real thing, people), they are far more likely to engage with you and your brand in Facebook groups than they are on your blog. With Facebook Live, you can now do live training right inside of your group.”

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Indie Author Weekly Update – September 22, 2017

September 22, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Welcome to this week’s Indie Author Update. Be sure to listen to the podcast with Dave Chesson. It’s awesome. I also love the post by Susan Wolfe because it teaches us to never give up as writers.

Well, summer is definitely coming to an end. I hope you enjoyed the season.

[Podcast] Amazon Keywords Learning Lab with Dave Chesson from Chris Syme: “Hear Dave’s story and how he got into self-publishing. What the heck is a keyword anyway and why you need to know. Where you should be using Amazon keywords. And more.”

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How to Sell More Books with Less Social Media with Chris Syme

September 18, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Last week, Chris Syme of CKSyme Media Group was my guest on Conversations with Frances. The hour-long webinar was wide-ranging but mostly focused on Chris’s belief that social media needn’t be time consuming as long as you have goal-focused strategies.

Here are a few notes from the webinar. Be sure to watch the video to hear all of Chris’s advice and suggestions.

The best ways to use social media to sell books: Use social media wisely. Social media is just another tool; a community-based tool that has revolutionized everything. It is a powerful tool for both sales and engagement. It’s the only tool that does that.

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Indie Author Weekly Update – September 15, 2017

September 15, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author Weekly Update contains six posts that should kick your book marketing up a few notches. Notable posts are from Dave Chesson, Writer Unboxed, and Jane Friedman.

Well we are seeing summer come to a close. I feel for the people in the wake of hurricane Harvey and Irma. Locally, it can be sunny and hot one day and the next we have lightning, thunder, and rain. Summer is definitely ending on a tumultuous note.

Indie Author Update

Book Advertising – Free Amazon Marketing Services Course by Dave Chesson: “As many of you have heard, advertising your book on Amazon Marketing Services or AMS has become one the best ways for authors to get their book discovered and even thrive in a crowded Amazon market. Through AMS, you can now choose when and where you want your book to show up on Amazon – anywhere in search results or even next to another book on their own sales page.”

What’s More Important: Author Websites or Social Media? by Jane Friedman: “In 2013, I observed a conversation on Twitter where a publisher said they didn’t believe in author websites “for a lot of authors”—that social was a better place for authors to spend time from a marketing perspective. It bothered me, and I ended up writing a blog post about it, exploring why a publisher might think this—rightly or wrongly.”

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