Blog - Social Media Just for Writers

New to Instagram? Here’s How to Start Plus 9 Tips for Authors

March 11, 2019 By Frances Caballo 1 Comment

Are you new to Instagram? Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve used it for a year or longer, you’ll enjoy this five-part series. It will take you from novice to expert over the coming weeks.

Instagram is growing day by day. According to TechCrunch, as of nine months ago Instagram had 1 billion users worldwide.

TechCrunch noted,

While Snapchat’s daily user count grew just 2.13 percent in Q1 2018 to 191 million, and Facebook’s monthly count grew 3.14 percent to reach 2.196 billion, Instagram is growing closer to 5 percent per quarter.

According to the Pew Research Center’s March 1, 2018 report, Instagram is the sixth most used social media site, behind Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Messenger, and WeChat.

Part of Instagram’s growth might be due to the mother of all social media networks, Facebook. After Facebook purchased the app in 2014, Instagram’s user base soared by 60%.

Instagram took off with teens and Millennials. Today, according to the Pew Research Center, 35% of all internet users in the U.S. have an Instagram account. Of those, 39% are women, and 30% are men.

Also, Instagram figures among three platforms that users visit every day.

More About Instagram’s Users

The age breakdown among users trends toward the younger crowd. Most users are between the ages of 18 and 29.

However, there is a relatively large number of users between the ages of 30 and 49. The older age groups tend to be smaller with the 65-and-above crowd making up the smallest percentage of users.

What we know for sure is that for interacting with readers, Instagram is increasingly an excellent platform for engaging with them.

Readers on Instagram

If your reader demographic is between the ages of 18 and 49, Instagram can be a strategic application for you to use. Those of you who write young adult, new adult, dystopian, and teen and young adult romance and science fiction novels, will need to spend time connecting with your readers on Instagram.

But, some agents are recommending that all authors, including nonfiction writers with an older readership, also use Instagram.

However, if your audience isn’t on Instagram, does it make sense to use it? I’m a huge proponent of saving time on social media by only spending time on those networks where you’ll find your readers and your colleagues.

With Instagram’s popularity, it might make sense for you to follow Jane Friedman’s advice: grab your username anyway. After doing that, play around with Instagram and see whether it’s worthwhile for your genre and readership. If it isn’t, leave Instagram, focus your energy on other platforms, and return to it later to test it again.

The beauty of Instagram – and this is why it’s easy to test it – is that it’s effortless to incorporate it into your life. You’ll see why if you keep reading. For now, let’s leave the statistics behind and talk about how to sign up and use this tool.

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Indie Author Weekly Update – March 8, 2019

March 8, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Indie Author Weekly Update. You’ll find information on blogging, Facebook, and book marketing. I hope you enjoy all of the posts this week.

And if you live in Northern California, I hope you are dry and safe.

Blogging

How to Write for a Blog: 10 Tips for Writing Strong Web Content by Anne R. Allen: “These days, pretty much all writers need to learn to write Web content. Yes, even if you’re a Victorian romance author whose readers care more about reticules and spatterdashers than retweets and SEO. Even if you don’t have your own blog. Any website needs content. Plus you may want to plan a blog tour to promote your book launch, or guest on a blog for visibility. (Guest blogging is one of the best ways to market your book for free.)”

Facebook

10 Facts about Americans and Facebook by Pew Research Center: “It’s been 15 years since the creation of Facebook, a platform that revolutionized social media in the United States and around the world. While Facebook remains immensely popular – and highly profitable – it has attracted scrutiny in the U.S. in recent years because of concerns over its ability to keep users’ personal information private and its role in the 2016 presidential election.”

Facebook Announces New Themed Stickers and Frames for Women’s History Month from Social Media Today: “Following on from the themed stickers and tools launched to mark Black History Month on both Snapchat and Instagram, Facebook has this week announced a new set of visual tools for Women’s History Month in March.”

Book Marketing

Planning Your Own Book Launch from Writer Unboxed and by Sophie Masson: “Your book is coming out soon and you want to mark its entry into the world. You don’t want it to just slide out unnoticed amongst the serried ranks of ‘New Releases’ in the bookshops. You want it properly launched. But your publisher isn’t keen to do a launch. ”

Marketing: Think of Your Readers’ Tastes & Habits, Not Your Own from the Alliance of Independent Authors: Self-Publishing Advice Center and by Jill Marsh: “Bestselling crime writer JJ Marsh, based in Switzerland, describes the light-bulb moment when she realized that marketing wasn’t about her, but about her readers, and describes how this became a turning point in her fortunes as an indie author.”

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 1, 2019

March 1, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Indie Author Weekly Update. Enjoy this week’s posts by Gill Andrews, Jane Friedman, Dana Sitar, Joan Stewart and Erica Verillo, who writes about writer’s conferences occurring this spring.

Enjoy them all.

Gain Email Subscribers

How to Gain More Subscribers (Even with Low Website Traffic) by Gill Andrews: “What if I told you you could get 2 new subscribers for every 50 website visitors without an extra effort? You’ll go about your day doing client work, writing, taking a nap. But your list will grow, adding at least several new email addresses from people who want to hear from you every day. No popups, welcome mats or slide ups. Wouldn’t it be a dream come true?”

Listen to a Podcast

Book Warner and Grant Faulkner in this week’s episode of Write Minded Podcast featuring Jane Friedman [Podcast]: They cover topics on innovation, publishing trends, and the future of book publishing.

Stop Searching for the Ideal Reader

How the “Ideal Reader” Myth Hurts Your Writing Process by Dana Sitar: “A lot of writing advice encourages you to market to your audience by defining your ideal reader. It says to think of your reader as one person, create a profile and write for that person. You’ll even find templates for defining your ideal reader — fake head shots and all. They’ll ask you to name the reader and list their demographics, interests and job. They’ll ask you to explain why this reader is totally in love with what you write.”

Writing Conferences

27 Fabulous Writing Conferences in March 2019 by Erica Verrillo: “Spring is right around the corner! And writers are thawing out! There are some excellent opportunities to network, pitch your work, and attend stimulating workshops this month.”

Press Releases

The Book Designer by Joan Stewart and from TheBookDesigner.com: “Most authors believe the press release will result in phone calls from eager journalists and an onslaught of orders. Nothing could be further from the truth. By itself, the press release lacks the power to skyrocket sales. But combine it with other marketing tactics like a compelling email or phone pitch, and you can help journalists learn about your book and take the next step: schedule an interview with you or invite you to be a guest on their show or podcast.”

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

Are You Ready for Book Marketing? Take This Quiz

February 25, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Book marketing involves so many steps.

When people come to me, they erroneously think that all they need is social media marketing.

Au contraire.

Social media alone won’t cause your books to start flying off the proverbial bookshelf.

So, take this quiz and see if you’re ready to tackle book marketing on your own.

Did You Write the Best Book You Possibly Could?

Yes, book marketing starts with your book. If you wrote a historical fiction novel, how well did you research it? Did you hire the absolute best editor you could afford plus a copyeditor?

And did you attend writing workshops to hone your craft?

Who Created Your Book Cover?

It’s best if you don’t rely on Fiverr for your cover. And it’s best if you don’t use a photo you took.

Subscribe to TheBookDesigner.com. Every month, Joel Friedlander, a book designer, judges submissions from writers.

By reading his reviews, you’ll learn a lot about good and bad covers, and you’ll glean names of good book designers. Or, you can ask Joel for a recommendation. That’s how I found mine.

Book Marketing Essential: Choose the Best Amazon Categories

You could upload your book to KDP if you’d like and select your own categories. Before doing that, I suggest you conduct some research.

Selecting your keywords and categories is critical to being found on Amazon. So, make your selections carefully. Here’s a post by Kindlepreneur with Dave Chesson on how to find the best categories: Secret Method to Choosing Amazon Book Categories in KDP.

Are You Planning on a Preorder

Preorders are de rigueur these days.

When you schedule a preorder for a month, you are building sales and then when your book is available to download, you’ll have a boatload of reviews.

All those reviews boost your book in Amazon’s search engine.

Can People Listen to Your Book?

These days, it’s important to publish your book in as many formats as possible.

You want your readers to be able to read a paperback, download an ebook, listen to an audiobook, or enjoy a boxed set.

I’ve had clients who have only had their books formatted into paperbacks. Guess what kind of book sales they had? Yep.

No amount of social media marketing can help an author who doesn’t take advantage of all the ways that consumers buy books these days.

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Indie Author Weekly Update – February 22, 2019

February 22, 2019 By Frances Caballo 1 Comment

Welcome to the Indie Author Weekly Update. All the posts here discuss book marketing but in different contexts. Anne R. Allen once again doesn’t fail to disappoint in her newest post about superfans. Under the email marketing heading, you’ll find two great blog posts.

Enjoy them all.

Book Marketing Strategies

Should Writers Despair If We Don’t Have Superfans? by Anne R. Allen: “I keep reading about them. People swear they exist. But I’ve never met one. Or even seen its elusive footprint. No, I’m not talking about Bigfoot. I’m talking about the author Superfan. Lots of publishing experts I respect are saying we need to go out and get us some of these Superfans. But I’m not sure where to find them—although apparently vast herds of them roam the booky regions of Cyberia.”

Paul Jarvis describes in new book’s launch (Company of One) in this outline: “For this article, let’s focus on everything after the finished manuscript, because I cover a lot on finding an agent and publisher in my other article on how I got a book deal.” ‏

Book Promotion: Do This, Not That – February 2019 from TheBookDesigner.com and by Amy Collins: “This month has been all about working with authors to help them focus on their markets and really find their readers.”

Social Media

Important Reasons Authors Need to Be Using Social Media by Emiie Rabitoy: “Social media is something most take for granted these days. Not only is social media something that helps close the distance between friends and family who are far apart, but it can also be helpful in a person’s work life too. Social media can be very beneficial for authors, from building relationships with readers, to book marketing and gaining knowledge and feedback.”

Email Marketing

How to announce your book with an e-mail blast by Sandra Beckwith: “I’ve received quite a few book announcement e-mails lately. I want to be excited for the authors, because this is a big deal. Sadly, though, most of the messages aren’t very compelling. More often than not, they’re self-congratulatory (“I’ve achieved my dream!”) or self-serving (“If you buy my book on Amazon in the next 24 hours, I can become a best-selling author!”).”

Book Marketing: How to Add Mailing List Signups to Your Author Website from Alliance of Independent Authors: “If you’ve spent any time reading or listening to ALLi’s advice on connecting with readers and growing your audience, you’ll know that one of the best ways to do this is via your author mailing list.”

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

5 Little Changes That’ll Make a Big Difference in Your Social Media Presence

February 18, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

When was the last time you analyzed your social media presence?

I mean really took a good look at it.

Once we set up our social media profiles and pages, we get so absorbed or even harried about keeping up with our postings that we forget to review our:

avatars
banner images
bios
overall review of our updates
return on investment (ROI)

So, let’s talk about these items.

Steps to Improving Your Social Media Presence

Social Media Avatars

When was the last time you updated your avatar?

If you took a selfie in the past or had a friend snap a picture of you, it’s time for you to hire a professional to take some shots of you.

While she’s at it, have her take a picture of you writing and reading. And in other poses as well. You can use these additional shots on the back of your book.

Remember, an avatar needs to be a close-up shot of your head. Don’t wear sunglasses or hats when you take this picture. They will obstruct an image of your beautiful self and won’t let your readers see you clearly.

Banners Are Critical to Your Social Media Presence

Don’t ignore social media banners (header on Twitter) and just put up anything. Use Canva.com to create your banners or use a graphic artist at Fiverr.

I don’t recommend that you fall for the $5 deals. Spend some money and pay at least $30 per image.

Here’s a beautiful Twitter header that I’m certain Joanna Penn hired someone to create:

Here’s mine. It’s not too shabby, eh? I used Canva.com to build it.

Keep in mind that your banners needn’t be static. On Facebook, for example, it’s a good idea to change the images quarterly.

I know that Joanna will change her Twitter headers when she runs a promotion or when she launches a new book.

My header image above is for the two books I market the most, especially Social Media Just for Writers. In reality, it’s time for me to create a new header and new banner images for the rest of my social media. I’ve used this version for quite some time, so this post is a good reminder for myself. 😎

Is Your Social Media Bio Still Current?

When was the last time you revised your bio? Keep in mind your bios need to be identical on all social media platforms. That rule applies to avatars and banners as well.

I haven’t changed my bio in a while, but I’m still happy with it. It includes my mission for authors, describes what I do, and most importantly, it has a call to action to sign up for my email course.

Your bio should also include a call to action to sign up for your email list in your bio.

Did you write a new book? Your bio should include its title. Are you offering a new freebie? Pitch that in your bio.

I like British thriller author, Mark Dawson’s bio:

The author of the John Milton and Soho Noir series. For free copy of my best-selling novel THE BLACK MILE join my list at http://eepurl.com/Cai5X

Go to Twitter and Facebook, search for your favorite authors or writers you admire, and review their bios. Then mimic the best ones.

Review Your Social Media Updates

Now it’s time to scrutinize your social media posts.

Does every tweet have an image? Do you always add pictures to your Facebook updates? Images increase engagement so don’t even think about posting anything online without adding an image or video.

Next, how often do you post updates? On your Facebook page, it’s ideal to post updates twice a day. At least, post once daily.

On Twitter, I post at least seven times daily. I suggest you at least tweet five times daily. Remember, don’t use those tweets to talk about yourself. Promote the books of your colleagues and your followers’ tweets.

On Instagram, post once daily or at least four times a week.

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Indie Author Weekly Update – February 15, 2019

February 15, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Indie Author Weekly Update. I hope that you like how I’m categorizing my roundup now. This week’s categories are eBooks, book marketing, audiobooks, BookBub ads, and online book tours. Ostensibly, I could have added BookBub ads and online book tours under book marketing but I wanted to make sure that those particular blog posts stood out.

I hope you enjoy this week’s Indie Author Update and that you have a wonderful weekend.

eBooks

eBook Distribution Round-Up with Comparison and FAQs by David Wogahn: “eBook distribution options in 2019 have expanded greatly the past two years. There are scores of online eBook retailers around the world and eBook aggregators abound to help self-publishers easily make their book available for sale.”

Book Marketing

Best Practices for Authors Looking to Optimize Their Marketing Strategy by Kimberley Grabas: “It’s an unfortunate truth that writing a good book doesn’t guarantee an author’s success. With so many others vying for readers’ attention, it’s important to implement an effective marketing strategy. Various brands rely on best practices instilled by a Facebook advertising specialist or Instagram expert to promote their products, and authors may consider doing the same to attract a broader audience.”

Street Teams: How to Run a Smooth and Successful Campaign from TheBookDesigner.com and by Angela Ackerman: “The prospect of a book launch can be intimidating. In today’s post, guest post author, Angela Ackerman, shares many tips about how to work with a street team to make your book launch a success. You won’t want to miss this article.”

AudioBooks

Understanding Audiobook Production: An Interview with Rich Miller from Jane Friedman and by Kristen Tsetsi: “Like many indie authors grateful for new outlets for their work, I was drawn last year to the world of audiobook production. This was thanks in large part to the recommendation of author friend Ian Thomas Healy, who’d had a positive experience adapting his work for audio. His personal history with it, combined with the rise in audiobook popularity, led me to follow Healy’s example and create an audiobook at ACX, Amazon’s audiobook production platform.”

BookBub Ads

How To Sell Books In 2019 (Part 4) by David Gaughran: “Welcome to the fourth part of my series on how to sell books in this year we have all agreed to call 2019 – despite what can only be described as rather shaky ground. And while we’re on the topic of letting dates slip, sorry about the delay in getting the final episode of this mini-series to your inbox. I handed BookBub Ads Expert to the editor yesterday – finally! – and that was taking all my time. More on that below.”

Online Book Tours

How to Run Your Own Online Book Tour and Save Money! by Penny Sansevieri: “We’ve all heard about an online book tour, also often referred to as a book blog tour. They’re a great book promotion tool (if done right) and can really enhance the exposure for your book with readers connected to these blogs. But where do you start? Let’s dig in!”

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

Using Video Marketing? Why It’s Important and 3 Apps to Try

February 11, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

I keep telling writers that video marketing is huge, especially this year.

Why?

There are several reasons why you need to incorporate video into your marketing. Here are a few:

According to Comscore, adding video to your website can increase the chance of a front-page Google result by 53 times. To find some video SEO tips, read this post from Vidyard.

Video Marketing Is Popular and Effective

People love videos and videos tend to be more successful in capturing consumer attention. Okay, now think about all those videos you watch on Facebook, for example. Aren’t they more fun to watch that the posts you have to read? I rest my case.

Video attracts more engagement on social media. Think back to Facebook again. Videos more often that posts go viral or at least draw thousands of Likes. People love video.

According to BrainShark, 65% of viewers watch more than three-quarters of a video, which is more than I predict people read of text. So with video, consumers (readers) pay attention to more of your messaging.

Create Strong Emotional Connections

With video, you can create strong emotional connections. Remember the Budweiser commercial featuring the blonde Lab? That video had me in tears. Video, according to Vidyard, is the “most powerful way to evoke emotions online.” Vidyard goes on to say:

It’s King because it offers a slew of attributes above and beyond traditional content like tone of voice, face expressions, and music, to name a few.

Finally, video has a higher conversion rate than text. So, if you want your readers to buy more books, do more video.

2 Video Apps to Make Production & Editing Easy

Producing video needn’t be expensive. You don’t need to hire a videographer for every video you post. Here are some apps you can use.

Wave.video

With this online application, you can make video ads and videos for social media. The app offers 30+ formats optimized for every social media platform.

A cool aspect to Wave.video is that it has a 200-million stock video clips library at your access. It also has 300,000 royalty-free audio clips that range from symphonies to piano tracks and more.

You can customize your videos with fonts and watermarks.

Afraid you’ll be overwhelmed by this app? It offers tutorials and workshops to teach you how to create and edit your videos.

Pricing starts at $39/month.

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Indie Author Weekly Update – February 8, 2019

February 8, 2019 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Once again, this week’s Indie Author Update is packed with informative blog posts from the week that I consider must-read. Anne R. Allen, as usual, wrote a killer post on authors’ online presence. Then Christina McDonald and Indies Unlimited wrote stellar posts on email marketing. There’s so much to love in the posts below and so much information to help you sell more bools.