Indie Author Social Media

This Indie Author Weekly Update is truly jam-packed. Wow. There were so many great posts this past week that limiting the ones I eventually included here was a difficult process.

Sandra Beckwith’s post is a creative way to interact with your readers. So definitely read that one.

I adore David Gaughran’s weekly newsletter and his posts on email marketing are always top-notch.

Finally, Penny Sansevieri wrote a wonderful post on LinkedIn for authors. So many authors tend to neglect LinkedIn yet it is a valuable resource.

Just read all of the posts listed here. You’ll learn so much from each of the writers.

Indie Author Weekly Update

Let Your Characters Engage with Fans Online by SandraBeckwith and from TheBookDesigner.com blog: I love this post! Let your characters have social media accounts so they can interact with your readers. Facebook only wants real people to have account but you could create a page. Experiment and see what works best for your characters and your readers.

How to Market a Book (and Yourself) on LinkedIn by Penny Sansevieri: With everyone’s focus on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, writers tend to neglect LinkedIn. That’s why I was thrilled to find this post from Penny. Read it and follow her suggestions.

How Do You Sell Audiobooks Across all Platforms? from Alliance of Independent Authors with Sacha Black and Adam Croft: This is a must-read transcript of the podcast with these two authors. Adam Croft is one of the most successful independently published authors in the world. His novels sell in more than 120 countries. Sacha Black writes the popular YA Fantasy Eden East novels and a series of non-fiction books. Their advice is golden.

It’s all About Keywords

How to Find Profitable Amazon Ad Keywords from Kindlepreneur: The key to everything on Amazon is keywords. You need the right keywords for your title, summary, categories, and ads. Read this post to learn how to find the right keywords for your books.

Indie Author Email Marketing Tips

All About Email – 5 by David Gaughran: He makes an excellent point about getting rid of dead weight on your email list. Clean it up! The post includes links to his previous four posts on email marketing.

Queries – Know These Tips

The Complete Guide to Query Letters by Jane Friedman: Jane Friedman is an author on all things related to book publishing. Her advice is golden. If you want a publisher, this is a must-read post.

How to Write a Professional, Not-Embarrassing Query to an Agent, Reviewer, Editor, or Blogger by Anne R. Allen: Whether you want an agent, a publisher, or just want to submit a blog post to a highly trafficked blog, follow Anne’s advice.

Of Note

There’s a new podcast for writers on the block and it’s called Top Shelf Editing: Here’s a list of the recorded podcasts so far. I think this podcast is going to be a great one! (Just a suspicion.)

Quote of the Week

Brand new Instagram ebook for authors. Learn how to set up your account, and create hashtags and Instagram stories. 

Frances Caballo is an author and social media consultant. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online and building their platform. She also provides content writing and email marketing services. Learn more about her.

With all the apps that exist do you know the 11 must-have Instagram apps for writers?

I’ve made it easy for you by including the list right here.

Being a content creator or an author on Instagram is a very intricate job. Apart from putting out content regularly, it would help if you also focused on the insights of your publicity. More often than not, authors on Instagram are sole creators and do not have publicity teams to look over their work. You need to make sure your work is being noticed by people online. 

So, you will need to make extra efforts to provide good publicity for your work. Here are eleven apps that can help you promote your books on Instagram. 

11 Must-Have Instagram Apps

I carefully crafted this post to bring you the best apps that I could find specifically for writers. One consideration was that that apps need to be available for free.

After all the money you spend preparing your books for publication, the last thing you need are expensive social media apps, right? So enjoy the post and these apps, many of which I use.

Instagram Image Borders and More

 PicCollage

PicCollage can help you create innovative borders for your post. It is available on both android and iOS app stores for free, so anyone can download it. There are certain features on the app that might need to be activated after paying a fee. However, most features that you may need for your Instagram posts are free of charge.

LiveCollage

Borders and fonts are important to make your Instagram post look attractive. Create your borders using the LiveCollage app, which is available on the app store for free. You can use the borders that are available on the app or make your own. A subscription fee is levied, in case you want to access premium features on the app.

Weheartit.com

Weheartit.com helps you manipulate images and enables you to create the perfect background for your Instagram posts. You can use the various features available online free of charge. However, you may need to credit the site, and the sources used to avoid any copyright complications. The website can be used by anyone. These backgrounds are unique to your posts and will give your content a boost on Instagram.

Help with Instagram Captions

Repost Quick

Repost Quick is one app that can help you with captions when you just cannot find the right one. When you need captions or the best hashtags, you can repost the ones you found online previously. This can quickly be done through the Repost Quick app. This app is available for free on the Apple app store. As an author, you need to pay careful attention to the quality of your overall post. Use these apps to make sure you never falter with your content.

Quick Save

Captions are essential for any content you put out on Instagram. Usually, users online do not have enough time to go through your entire post. They will skim through your caption and decide if they are interested in it. So, it would help if you put in some effort into your captions. You can download the Quick Save app for free on the Google app store or the Apple app store too. This application enables you to save photos or videos on Instagram and then repost them whenever you please. In desperate times when you cannot come up with innovative captions, you can always repost the ones you found online.

Instagram Photo Editors

 PicsArt

Making your content presentable is one of the most important things that you need to do online. Add borders and fonts to your posts using the PicsArt app. This application is available on the Google play store as well as the Apple play store. The app is free of charge; however, you can pay for a premium subscription pack. This premium subscription will give you access to more features that can help you create more attractive posts for your Instagram feed. 

Photo Editor Pro

Photo Editor Pro is another editing app that you can make use of. This app is popular among many authors on Instagram as it has countless editing features that can help you make your posts unique and attractive. This app is available on the app store on both Google and Apple.

Free Images

Pixabay.com

Pixabay also offers free services to help you create unique background images for your Instagram posts. It is free for all users, and one need not credit the website for using their services. You can create a myriad of different styles on the platform and post your content on Instagram using it.

Unsplash.com

Unsplash.com is an online platform that helps you create unique backgrounds for your posts if you like writing your content on attractive background images; this might be the app for you. The site lets you manipulate pictures to make them fit your liking. These unique images are free of charge, and you will not need to credit the website either. This is an attribution free site, and thus, you can both use and manipulate images, without giving any credit.

Schedule It and Be Done!

Feedle: Planner for Instagram

One of the most important things that authors and poets on Instagram need to think about is scheduling. There are particular hours in a day where your followers are most active. This is the best time for you to post new content on your account. Your content will appear at the top of people’s feed if you post it at the right time. This is due to Instagram’s algorithms. So, using a planning and scheduling app can help you get the maximum number of eyes for your content. Feedle is one such app that gives you a better insight into when your followers are most active. It is available on the Apple app store and is free of charge. Prevent letting your content gets lost in people’s feeds and post it at the right time using this app. 

My Fave Instagram Scheduling App

Later

If you are one for scheduling your posts online, download this app today! Later is available on android and iOS app stores for free. You can schedule your posts on this app and put out your content when your followers are most active. So, you can get the maximum number of eyes on your content conveniently.

The content you put out needs to be fresh and creative. When you use special applications for it, you will be able to add a little extra zest to your work. You need to focus on the way you present your work online. The apps mentioned above are some of the most popular applications which are either free or very inexpensive. Making use of the following apps can be of great help. Create original content, and be sure to use attractive designs before you post it online. This way, you can help your account grow online in no time.

Brand new Instagram ebook for authors. Learn how to set up your account, and create hashtags and Instagram stories. 

I am an author and social media consultant. My focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online and building their platform. I also do content writing and offer email marketing services.

This week’s Indie Author Update is jam-packed with lots of news for indie authors. From book marketing to running a business, you’ll find a lot of tips you can use. Enjoy this week’s selection of posts.

Indie Author Book Marketing

BookBub Reviews offer an Alternative to Goodreads and Amazon: It’s Not Just for Pricey Ads Anymore by Anne R. Allen: In this post, Anne R. Allen explains how to set up your author profile on BookBub and claim your books. She also explains how BookBub is now a “kind of Goodreads for grown-ups.” This post is a must read.

Author Branding: 14 Creative Book Unboxing Videos from BookBub Partners: Do you ever make videos of unboxing your newly published books? It’s a great marketing tool. See these imaginative and fun examples of authors “unboxing” their new books.

Indie Author Instagram Tips

Want to grow your Instagram account? Later, the scheduling Instagram application that I use has a library of free trainings. Check it out.

Writing News

Memoir, Uninterrupted: The genre is as popular as ever, and increasingly, memoirists are turning to self-publishing from BookLife and by Brooke Warner: In this post, the founder of She Writes Press explains why she predicts that memoir will surge as a genre.

Why Do Writers Hire Book Coaches? from Jane Friedman’s blog and by Jennie Nash: Jennie Nash explains why friends aren’t always the best book coaches. Also, she suggests three book coaches: Lisa Tener, Marion Roach Smith, and Lisa Cron. Be sure to read the entire post.

Indie Author Businesses

How to Create a Business Plan for Your Indie Author Business from the Alliance of Independent Authors: Self-Publishing Advice Center: If you write and publish you manage a business. How will you manage your business in 2020? This post explains how to create an author business plan. Check it out.

Quote of the Week

Brand new Instagram ebook for authors. Learn how to set up your account, and create hashtags and Instagram stories. 

I am an author and social media consultant. My focus is on helping authors get discovered online as I build their social media platform. In addition, I assist clients with content writing and email marketing.

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Welcome to the newest edition of the Indie Author weekly update. This week’s roundup is chock-full of tips for the new year. Be sure to also read the post on Instagram. Enjoy!

2020 Publishing Predictions

2020 Publishing Predictions: Agent Laurie McLean’s Crystal Ball from Anne R. Allen’s blog: For this post, Laurie McLean peers into her crystal ball and sees the future. For example, Laurie thinks that audiobooks will experience record growth. Read the post to see her other predictions.

Self-Publishing Predictions for 2020 and the 2020s from Alliance of Independent Authors: What is the outlook for indie an indie author this year? Orna Ross says that global reading will grow and more writers will experiment with artificial intelligence.

Indie Author Techie Skills

The Best Time to Post on Instagram in 2020, According to 12 Million Posts from Later, an Instagram scheduling app: I was surprised to see some of the results from Later’s study. For example, 6 am and 10 am as well as 10 PM EST are the best times on Mondays. Read this post to learn more.

6 surprising ways to apply your author skills to your website by Debbie Emmitt: Learn to use your author skills on your website to make it a more focused, professional, and attractive place for your readers.

Full-Time Writers

What Does It Mean to Be A Full-Time Author? from Jane Friedman with an interviews of Sangeeta Mehta: This is an insightful interview of Sangeeta Mehta that every serious author should read.

Of Note

Zuiker Helps Teens Tell Their Stories In Print from Publishers Weekly: School shooting survivor Lauren Hogg teamed up with Anthony E. Zuiker, creator of the TV series CSI and cofounder of Zuiker Press, to turn her harrowing story into a graphic memoir. 

Quote of the Week

Brand new Instagram ebook for authors. Learn how to set up your account, and create hashtags and Instagram stories. 

I am an author and social media consultant. My focus is on helping authors get discovered online as I build their social media platform. In addition, I assist clients with content writing and email marketing.