Avoid Social Media Time Suck Archives - Social Media Just for Writers

Have you seen these changes on Facebook and Twitter?

July 24, 2017 By Frances Caballo 1 Comment

Social media is always evolving. It changes, retracts, expands, and moves on.

The only constant about social media is that it never stays the same. New features are added and redesigns occur. Keep reading to find out what’s new on Facebook and Twitter.

Remember when Facebook didn’t have a timeline? Instead it had five small images across what it now known as a timeline and small avatar off to the left. Before that, Facebook was known as Thefacebook and other than the brand color, the early version of Facebook is virtually unrecognizable.

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Indie Author Weekly Updates – June 21, 2017

July 21, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author Weekly Update includes posts from Helen Sedwick, Jane Friedman, Penny Sansevieri, Joel Friedman, and Orna Ross. You’ll find posts about piracy, resources for authors, marketing, and top blog posts for the first half of 2017.

Why the picture of the Labrador retriever pup above? We’re now in the dog days of summer. How are you spending them? (I’m just trying to stay cool!)

Indie Author Update

Digital Piracy & Illegal Downloads: Author Options by Helen Sedwick from BookWorks: “Sooner or later, every author suffers that dreadful experience of finding websites offering free illegal downloads of her book. For most of us, our first reaction to such digital piracy is to send a nasty email or better yet, hire an attorney to write one for us. After all, someone is stealing our work! Wait! Before you pay hard-earned money to an attorney, let’s look at less expensive options.”

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Turn Your Blog into a Book Production Machine with Nina Amir

July 10, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

I recently interviewed Inspiration to Creation Coach Nina Amir as part of my Conversations with Frances series. We talked about blogging, how to blog a book, and what blogging has done for Nina’s life and career. Be sure to listen to the webinar. I’m certain you’ll learn a lot.

Here are a few notes from this webinar with Nina Amir:

What did blogging do for Nina Amir’s life?

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Indie Author Weekly Update – July 7, 2017

July 7, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author Update ranges from metadata to blogging curation to how to develop a platform. All worthy topics for indie authors from experts in the publishing field.

So how is your summer so far? I’m enjoying all of my regular weekend activities: dancing, hiking, and cycling. I hope you have a chance to be active as well.

Indie Author Updates

Author Blogging 101: Your Quick Guide to Content Curation by Joel Friedlander: “Curators have traditionally been found in museums and libraries where, relying on their expertise in a specific field, they acquire, organize, and present selections of works with something in common. Enter technology, and we’ve had an explosion of online content aimed at specialized audiences. The last time I looked, there were a reported 73 million blogs online (although you and I know that probably 72 million of them are abandoned, with their last post in 2013).”

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Indie Author Weekly Update – June 30, 2017

June 30, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Indie Author Weekly Update. This week’s edition has posts from Joel Friedlander, Joan Stewart, Adam Connell (Blogging Wizard), and others. Enjoy!

Indie Author Weekly Updates

Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time (Summer 2017 Edition) from Writer Unboxed: “Inspired by Lit Hub’s 100 rejections per year post, my goal was to make at least 50 submissions in 2017. Since my last contest roundup, I’m at 64 submissions and 34 rejections. Summer tends to be a slower time for submissions. A lot of literary journals close their reading periods and are slower to respond, but there are still opportunities out there! I’ve curated another list of promising contests for your submitting convenience.”

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Indie Author Weekly Update – June 23, 2017

June 23, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

This week’s Indie Author Update includes posts on book promotion, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter from Lilach Bullock, Digital Book World, The Write Life and others. Enjoy them!

Meanwhile, I’m still trying to survive the the 100+ heat here in Northern California. Is it hot where you’re at? If so, share with me your favorite tips for remaining cool.

Indie Author Update

Authors, Grow Your Fan Base By Leading A Book Club by Digital Book World: “I have always maintained that the author-as-a-brand is the strongest selling link across the publishing chain. Whether self, indie or traditionally published, the emotional connection forged by dedicated readers is never with a publisher or an imprint—it’s with the author him or herself. This relationship is, more than anything else, built on trust.”

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14 Twitter Apps and Tools for Writers

May 22, 2017 By Frances Caballo 1 Comment

When was the last time you tried a new application? I’m often on the hunt for new tools to share with you that might make your day easier and your social media marketing more efficient.

So when I took at course recently, I learned of some applications and I immediately thought how cool it would be to share them with you. I’ve dropped the more expensive ones from the list since I don’t consider those indie-author friendly, but you’ll find most of them below.

Let’s get started!

Apps and Tools for Writers

Scheduling Tools

A scheduling app is like a piece of heaven, or New York cheesecake. I can’t decide. What I do know is that scheduling tools enable us to schedule our posts in the morning and then walk away from the computer or at least spend our day working on other digital projects.

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Indie Author Weekly Update – May 19, 2017

May 19, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

Today’s Indie Author Update includes posts on blogging, social media tools, word-of-mouth marketing, and so much more! I hope you enjoy these posts, ones I considered the best from all the post I read this past week.

How ‘word-of-mouth marketing’ REALLY happens by Dan Blank: “Today I want to share a small case study with you, illustrating how word-of-mouth marketing really happens. My goal is to encourage you to connect in meaningful ways with others who resonate with the writing and creative work you are passionate about. Okay, let’s dig in…”

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Secrets of Successful Book Launches with Howard VanEs

May 15, 2017 By Frances Caballo Leave a Comment

In this webinar, as part of my Conversations with Frances series, I interviewed Howard VanEs about successful book launches. A master at selling books, Howard shared some of his best strategies.

Here are some notes from our conversation:

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