Blogger: Rachel Kent
I’ve been noticing that some authors are struggling with what to put on their Facebook author pages. I have a few tips for all of you with “fan” pages; I hope they’re useful!
1) You have just received a BEAUTIFUL final cover for your next release. You are dying to share it with the world. The world wants to see it.
My advice to you is to wait. Don’t reveal a cover for a book before your readers have a place to buy the book. Wait for the pre-order capability to be up online so you can link to Barnes & Nobel, Amazon, or CBD when you do post that cover. The cover is a great marketing tool, and you don’t want its “reveal” to be wasted. If you don’t wait, you’ll have a bunch of fans writing that they love the cover and can’t wait to get the book, but they’ll forget the excitement by the time the book releases or is available for pre-order.
2) When you post things like the cover of your book or a blurb about your new release, write a bit about how you feel. Don’t just provide information. The reason the fan is connected to you is to get information about releases from the author. They can get dry facts about your releases off of the Amazon.com page. Make sure that that personal connection comes through in all of your posts. It doesn’t have to be fancy.
Here’s an example: “This is the back cover copy for my next book! I decided to write this story while vacationing in Nicaragua. The people I met on that trip inspired me and changed my life. BACK COVER COPY HERE.”
3) Post pictures of you. You don’t need to post pictures of your kids or your family, if you’re uncomfortable with that, but your readers would love to see a picture of you opening a box of books on release day or visiting the location of your story. Don’t be afraid to be a little goofy too! The more memorable a picture is the better the chances that it will cause a reader to think about you and your book multiple times. And it’d be awesome if they showed that picture to a friend! (Don’t be TOO wild though!)
4) If you are getting emails from different readers asking similar questions, consider posting those questions and your answers on your author page. Obviously those topics are what your readers are interested in.
5) Don’t post links for other authors’ books. Keep your author page for you. Your fans follow you because they are your fans. If you want to advertise a book release for a friend, do that on your personal Facebook page not on your author page. Definitely support your fellow writer-friends, but do it tastefully through writing reviews on popular websites and telling your real-life friends about a book or author you love.
Any questions or comments about my suggestions?
What kinds of posts have been most successful for you?
As a reader, what do you look for on an author’s Facebook fan page?
How do you use your Author Page effectively on Facebook? Click to Tweet
Authors: Five Tips for Facebook marketing. Click to Tweet
Getting Personal: Marketing to your readers on Facebook. Click to Tweet
Great advice, Rachel! I’ll put some of these suggestions into practice. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for this post, Rachel! I know that I struggle with facebook. Recently I created a new fan page. I also created a separate author page to share with writer friends. My passwords are different, but my posts show up randomly and inconsistently on both pages. It is very frustrating! So far my techie husband and I have spent hours trying to unravel the problem!
When I look at another author’s social media, I always look for pictures. One author regularly posts a picture of something she is doing. Often it is a picture with her puppy or maybe something in her yard. Getting the email feed from her blog is almost like getting a note from a friend or relative with a picture tucked inside. Since I heard her speak at a conference I have heard the puppy and hobby farm stories in person. With interest, I look at the pictures and then read what she has to say (generally not related to her pictures).
Hmmm. It sounds like I am in the market for a new puppy. Please don’t tell my kids!
I like your comment–“Getting the email feed from her blog is almost like getting a note from a friend or relative with a picture tucked inside.” I like that feel–seems like the goal we should be striving for.
I don’t have a fan page so I can’t help with unravelling the tangle of your two pages. So sorry!
Does anyone here have Facebook advice to help Carol?
And I love it when authors have found the right groove like your friend has. There’s such an art to mixing the personal and business aspects of being an author!
I love dogs and have two of my own, but I also never suggest getting a puppy to anyone. They are a lot of work! 🙂 Love them so much, but…
I would question the need for more than one Facebook page. Unless you’re writing wildly divergent genres (erotica and children’s books for instance) you’re often just splitting your brand and creating twice as much work for yourself.
I recently helped a trad published author merge her four pages (her publisher wanted her to have)into one because she found she was just duplicating fans who wanted to read all her stuff, and it was confusing directing people to several Facebook pages from her website.
That’s my 5cents for what it’s worth.
Thanks for weighing in, Lisa. I suppose cutting out a page could help with the posting confusion!
Carol, Feel free to contact me — helping people figure out weird stuff that’s happening on their Facebook pages is a big part of what I do. I may be able to help.
Great advice! I’m always struggling with what to post on my page, so I will definitely keep these tips in mind. 🙂
Thank you for the great tips.
I hit enter too fast. I like to sometimes to just include some encouragement. People seem to respond to that well. I also like to seek my readers opinions. They give amazing feedback.
Encouragement is great! And even asking fans to pray for you or a friend is a good way of keeping it real too. And we can all use prayer. But be willing to pray for your fans too!
These are really great and practical tips, Rachel. Thanks! I’m bookmarking this one!
Fabulous advice, Rachel!! I’ve been wondering the best use of the Facebook author page. 🙂
What about prepubbed authors? I have a Facebook author page but don’t do much with it because…well, I don’t know what TO do other than advertise my blog posts and occasionally ask questions. Would love your thoughts.
Depends on what you want your Facebook page to do.
Decide on what your social media strategy is: do you want your Facebook page to be complimentary to your main blog, for example? Then use your Facebook page as the place where you hold contests, and post the results on your blog, getting the traffic on your Facebook page over to your blog.
Facebook offers some interesting ways to self-promote. Make a contest where if you get so many “Likes” you’ll have a special guest blogger on your blog; once more, using Facebook to promote, but move the traffic to where you want to primarily engage your audience.
If you want Facebook to be where you primarily engage your audience, create group pages where you can engage your audience with particular aspects of your writing or who you are as an author.
If you are interested in first finding your audience, then create group pages to network with other authors and pilfer their readers—-share in each others’ success, I mean. 😉
Thanks for the great insight, Larry! 🙂
This is excellent, Larry! Thank you.
Thanks Morgan and Rachel! I’m with everyone else, that the insight Rachel has as an agent who knows what successful strategies her clients use with social media would be great to share, as well as what she knows publishers look to in an authors’ social media platform would be awesome to share!
Larry, publishers are looking for numbers. They care about little else. They want to see that you have a lot of followers and that many people are interacting with you.
This isn’t expected for unpublished authors unless you are writing nonfiction. If you are published or if you are writing nonfiction, you had better get some pretty good numbers on Facebook! Platform and all that.
I know of a lot of authors who do a good job at marketing of Facebook, but I can’t point to a specific one or strategy at this moment.
As I mentioned below, the musician Plumb does a great job engaging her audience. I enjoy her posts! I’m sure she has some that would have been better not to post too…nobody is perfect and most fans extend some grace. It’s just when an author starts to annoy with posts that fans will begin to leave.
Ah! Well, I guess that isn’t so bad, Rachel, as long as publishers don’t have problems with how writers use their own pages. (Considering there are so many other industries which state what writers can or cannot put on their pages, like that waitress who got fired for complaining about rude customers on her Facebook page).
Lisa, if I understand correctly, that is a feature that can be done on any page now? Not just “brand” pages?
Well, Larry…I wouldn’t go bad-mouthing the publisher or anyone else for that matter–unless you like to play with fire. Use common sense too. 🙂
Great post, Rachel! 🙂
I’m with Lindsay with questions on how to approach a FB Author page as an unpublished, non-contracted author. I’m confused about it all.
I want to be able to handle my page properly, so I have not set one up yet. I don’t want to go about it the wrong way. I don’t like to jump into things without weighing the pros and cons.
Like you said about being careful to reveal the book cover, I don’t want to launch my page with nothing of significance on it, so it just sits there doing me more harm than good.
I have read so many different opinions on what to do with an author page that I would love to have your advice.
Should I start a page now? Is it okay to wait until I’m agented? I don’t doubt I will be able to collect a lot of “Likes” quickly, but I want something of value to put on it to draw people in.
I plan on creating a brief book trailer in the near future. Ideally, I would like to put this trailer on the page when I launch it. Thanks for any insight, Rachel! 🙂 It’s much appreciated.
You’ve asked so many of the questions I have too. Although I have started an author page, I hesitate to promote it until I have an agent and a book contract.
Look forward to reading Rachele’s comments here.
It won’t do any harm, in my opinion, but might not help much either. You need to figure out what is best for you and if you do have anything that could be useful to others to post now.
I like Larry’s ideas too!
Morgan, I’ve found as a pre-pubbed author that my FB author page brings new readers to the table, vs my blog. It is a GREAT way to connect on a brief, yet relatively personal, level. You can do brief updates–even on your writing, such as asking readers for name or title suggestions/votes. Doesn’t mean the publisher will love your title, but it’s FUN for your readers to participate in surveys. And I find that readers have a great instinctual sense of what will sell. Also, it’s a great forum to talk about topics relevant to your book. I do post links to sites/posts that back up the messages of my books (strengthening marriages, Vikings, etc). I do also link to my fellow writer’s posts. I think it builds a sense of community and keeps us all connected. But I love Rachel’s suggestion to post pics of yourself, or even your pet. I don’t post pics of my kids. But readers enjoy feeling connected to YOU.
The option to turn on the followers (formerly called subscriptions) option on profiles can be used with great effect by writers, authors, and journalists. There is a lot of marketing value in having a page, and if that’s your objective then stick with a page, but if building a community and driving traffic to your blog is your goal a public profile can work just as well. But either way you need to be mindful of your brand and audience.
Thanks for the advice, Rachel, Heather and Lisa! Much appreciated! I will take it all into consideration. 🙂 Thanks for weighing in too, Kathryn! I’m glad you had questions like I did!
Lindsay, I echo your concerns. I started my FB author page right before I left on a research trip to Key West for my WIP. It was fun to share pictures of where I was, since some of those locations are in my story. I also link to my story board on Pinterest. I think it’s a fun way to gather possible readers, and show them the way I visualize my fictional world.
https://www.facebook.com/JenniBrummettAuthor
Larry’s suggestion about created group pages is fantastic. I need to find more fans of Gothic Romance out there.
I’m working hard, Rachel, to let go of my inhibition and release my inner goofball. Seriously! I was just thinking of that the other day. I’ve noticed that my photos get the most likes, the more fun ones in particular.
Smart idea on saving the cover, too. I’ll remember that for the future. Thanks for the great ideas.
I am scared to be myself online a lot too. It feels like I need to pretend to be so “professional” all the time and I really don’t think that that is what people want. Even professionals are real people!
“It feels like I need to pretend to be so “professional” all the time and I really don’t think that that is what people want. ”
This .
Like I wrote yesterday in Wendys’ blog post, when I feel like doing social media stuff, it hardly ever follows any of the traditional advice about how to do social media (except for the “try not to be too much of a jerk” thing, that I do try to follow).
There certainly is something to be said for the wonders of being professional on the internet of all places (which could always use more civility), but as a writer, as a content creator, when I don’t feel like the content I am putting out is good enough for my own standards because it follows the accepted ideas of what a social media platform “should” be, then I don’t feel like writing it, and I’m sure readers wouldn’t feel like reading it.
Considering that the reason that writers sell books is because we are able to distinguish our content enough so that a reader chooses our book over another book, for the accepted ideas that a social media platform “must” be a certain way has never quite made sense to me.
I am certain (okay, let me rephrase that: I certainly would prefer) publishers and industry folk have verifiable data showing that social media platforms done in a certain way sell more books than if the social media platform was some other style: but how much of it would still be confirmation bias? In other words, the data reinforces the original belief because most social media platforms are done that way as a rule, so there isn’t much of a comparison to make, leading to the accepted belief that “it works because that’s how everyone does it, and everyone does it because it works.”
Eh, but what do I know? If anyone has any ideas, we should probably share ’em.
Should we make a Books and Such community Facebook page?
Should we make a Twitter or Goodreads group?
I hear the website Reddit is starting to get noticed by writers as a part of their social media platform. Any thoughts on that place? Anyone here familiar with it?
Good thoughts, Larry. I wish I could get statistics on these suggestions too and yes it does come down to a personal preference.
I will join the ranks of goofball with you and Meghan. 🙂
As a reader, I look for an authors’ Facebook page to have original content; even if it’s just stuff like contests, or photos of places that inspired their writing or show up in their writing.
It’s also nice when they let their fans discuss stuff, because it’s a fun way for the fandom to interact with each other.
Yes! When you get your fans interacting with each other you are doing something right!
Great tips, Rachel! I think I have more conversation and action on my page when I post pictures to go with fun, simple questions. Like Jill, I’m bookmarking this one too! 🙂
if i really like a book, i really want to spend some time after the last page in the world of that book. so authors who tell me about their research journey and post photos and articles about the time period or location or historical instances really catch my interest. if i finish a book and like it, i guarantee i am going to hunt the writer down on facebook, twitter, blog, etc., because i will want to know more about them and entice myself with more of their work. i think the same goes for unpublished writers. if i have heard of your idea, or your book has just been contracted and nearing its publication date, i still want to slip into its world if the synopsis interests me. book related things are a HUGE draw for me when i visit authors in the social media sphere
Rachel, as an aspiring writer, this is so helpful to know. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Thanks for these great tips. This post will be printed and filed as a valuable resource. 🙂 I appreciate that you suggested sharing photos. I post photos sparingly because I don’t think readers would be interested. After reading your post, I’ll be changing some things on my author page. Thanks for the insight!
My author page is connected to my Twitter account. Since I’m a Bible teacher who writes nonfiction and fiction, I also post Scripture, links to my blog, and inspirational quotes. While giving away this content for free has seemed to expand my reach, I don’t have a lot of reader interaction. Do you have any suggestions?
I think if you try to spice up your posts with some personal stuff (opinions, background, stories, etc.) you might get more interaction. I haven’t really looked at what you are posting though.
I follow a singer who writes/sings under the name Plumb. I suggest looking at her fan page for ideas. She does such a good job at engaging fans with her posts! She keeps it real and fun while being professional at the same time.
I love listening to Plumb! I will have to check out her social media. Thanks!
Great tips, Rachel! And I’m totally the same way. If I love a book I want to know everything about the inspiration behind the book and more about that author.
I love finishing a book that I loved so much that I want to start it all over again right away. Those books are rare, but they are true treasures.
This is so nice to know. I’m just starting a new book that will ccome out in 2014, and I was struggling with what to post. I’ve never posted about the writing process much, other than to tell people when I’m done. But posting tidbits and pictures that go along with the research and story… I like that idea. THAT, I can do! Thanks.
@Nancy as a voracious reader, i often use a historical novel as a spring-board to hone in on interest in a historical place or featuring a historical personage and then go on a reading spree. you write historicals which feature both of these things (and you write them quite well, i might add). i usually devour the author’s notes and a bibliography (if listed) in the book for inspiration for where to go next; but might i suggest you post about further reading? for your upcoming novel and for your past novels? not just non-fiction; but perhaps the CBA and ABA books that inspired and sparked your interest in those places, people and things. i love that kinda stuff. 😀
And Nancy, I’ve seen some of your proposals. I love how you have suggestions of what the characters look like with pictures. I think that would be interesting for your readers too.
Thank you, both Rachels! You gave me some great ideas and a lot of encouragement.
“if i really like a book, i really want to spend some time after the last page in the world of that book”
Indeed! Sue Harrison wrote in one of the blogs here relatively recently about how she uses her Facebook page to do just that, to interact with the audience, to let them interact with each other, and interact with the world of her novels.
There’s plenty of ways for authors to do that: special book trailers that are about showcasing the “look” of the world of the story (I guess the best way to put it would be like a “video travel log”. Someone here in the community, I think it’s Morgan, has a blog about the travels she does to research her books: that’s something writers could do more of, using video or pictures of real-world locations so their audience can see where their favorite characters are “at.” )
Rachel, this was such a helpful post. I haven’t braved creating a FB fan page yet. I know I probably should, but as Lindsay mentioned, I’m not sure what to do with it. 🙂 Larry’s suggestions sound helpful.
Thanks for sharing this. I’m bookmarking this post!
Hi Jeanne! I’m with you! I haven’t created a FB author page yet either. I asked Rachel for advice above under Lindsay’s post. You might want to check out her reply later. 🙂
I’ll do that, Morgan. 🙂
Glad to have helped! 🙂
I agree with everything but #5. Posting items about other authors in your genre not only shows your readers you are not a selfish egotist who only cares about your own book. It in no way takes away from your book or your message to be kind and in return most fellow authors will return the favor. This gives both authors a broader fan base. By posting other authors work on your fan page instead of your private page you are more likely to engage with persons specifically looking for books.
I’m not so sure… but I did expect some push back on #5. As a reader, I hate seeing SO much marketing. If I follow an author, I expect and want to hear about his or her books, but I don’t want to hear about that author’s friend’s books. The only way I would want to hear about a book is if that author really did read that book and really did enjoy it and isn’t just posting to market for a friend.
I think name/title dropping is an epidemic on author pages.
Again, it’s very different if you are suggesting books by friends to your REAL friends on your real Facebook page.
My #5 is just a suggestion based on my preferences though! 🙂
Hmmmm……I agree with Rachel that seeing so much obvious promotion is something I dislike as a reader, but I’d say mostly it’s the presentation:
If an author I read can explain what makes the book they are promoting by another author worth reading, I might look into it.
Also, if a writer just wants to keep up with their social media but doesn’t want to put the effort into crafting a blog or tweet, using that blog or tweet to promote another book can reduce the workload of being a modern writer! 🙂
Thanks for all the great ideas for an author page.
I’ve hesitated asking people to “Like” my page, since I don’t have a contract for a book or an agent yet. Would you suggest continuing to wait, or asking now while I’m still in the process stage?
Appreciate the “Tweetables!”
The “tweetables” were Rachelle’s suggestion. I’ve never done them before! 🙂
An author page before you are published can’t hurt, but might not help either.
See what I wrote to Sally below, but also check out Larry’s suggestions above on what to do with it.
Thank you, Rachel! Much food for thought!
“5) Don’t post links for other authors’ books. Keep your author page for you. Your fans follow you because they are your fans.”
This is an advice I’ve not heard of before. I think one way around this is for authors to go to their author friends’ Facebook pages, and write on their walls about their friends’ books.
Since I don’t have any novels to sell (until my MSS are polished, I don’t want to embarrass myself by querying prematurely LOL) there is no urgency for me regarding an author FB page. However, I believe it’s a good thing for unpublished writers to have an author page because you’ll need it later, so might as well get used to it before you’re too busy trying to learn something new.
Once one has an FB account (and follow all FB rules), creating an author page is a piece of cake. I blogged about the how-to on my website, but I’m not the only one who says it’s easy. It took me under 2 minutes to create an FB author page (hit “Create Page,” fill in the blanks, hit “Save”). But it took me 2 months to figure out what to put there LOL.
My FB page is different from a published author’s page, i.e. no contests, no promos, no sales, no worries, no pressure. I focus more on writing/publishing/platform tips, and I shift the emphasis to reading, and reading-related links. I do post links to my favorite authors’ books on my FB page because I can.
I just read several comments about unpublished authors not having an FB page. There is no reason to panic. But as soon as you can, I highly recommend it. Since it’s so easy, why not? Creating an FB author page is easier than Naaman having to dip in the Jordan. Just do it.
Don’t worry about the Likes!! You’re not published yet — if you get more than Zero Likes, be amazed. In fact, my first Like was from my Dear Hubby (a.k.a. First Reader — or more accurately, Only Reader). I’m busy with my MSS right now. I’m sure that once I get published, my Likes will go up to Five or more. Haha. I’m learning to be optimistic.
Jan, your suggestion of writing on a FRIEND’S author page to suggest their book is EXCELLENT! 🙂 That is a perfect way to help market a book without driving your fans crazy.
And unpublished authors don’t need to worry about their fan pages yet. You are right that when the time is right you’ll get those likes! 🙂
Really appreciate your and Jan’s comments about promoting other authors. I do this a lot but have been advised to scale back. Till today I didn’t have any idea on how to still be of help and support author friends. Love the writing on a friend’s author page! Thanks very much:)
Indeed! At the very least, just making the author page means that one has more knowledge than the author who hasn’t done so yet.
In a way, it’s like one more part of what an author can put on their “resume” / query letter to show what they know as a modern writer in the modern publishing environment.
Rachel, what’s your thought on the right time to make a FB author page? Right now I’m still working on the manuscript. Doesn’t seem write to put up a page yet. To me, it would be after I’m agented. Is that too late? Too early?
Thanks for the blog you shared. I’m copying it to my marketing file.
It’s really up to you. It won’t hurt anything to have a fan page, but at the same time there’s not much reason to. Sometimes having the author/fan page can make the publishing journey more real and it can provide inspiration to keep at it.
I say do whatever works best for you!
Thanks, Rachel.
Great post, but I want to push back on number 5. I’ve had great, appreciative response from readers (and have even increased my number of likes) when I let them know about a free ebook from an author I really enjoy or a give away from an author I really enjoy. The key is not doing it often and keeping in mind my audience. Readers love books. So letting them know about one they might enjoy is a great way to be reader-oriented. Just my two cents. 🙂
Hmmmm, I still don’t totally agree, but it is true that if you are mindful of the audience that can help. And advertising free giveaways is different than just posting links to Amazon or Christianbook.com with a note to go “check out” a book.
Not over posting is also a good idea!
I agree with Katie, that it builds rapport with your fellow authors when you post updates or links from author pages you follow–in particular, of authors you know personally. I want to promote THEIR careers as much as my own, and I know if people like what I write, they’ll also enjoy what they write. I know they’ll do the same for me! And it also lets YOUR FB readers know more about your personal tastes.
I think it’s better done on your own personal page. That way you as you are supporting them rather than you as an author.
And if it’s really your personal tastes that is slightly different than your friend’s books.
Just be careful not to over promote!
Good luck! 🙂
IMO when your fans look are your list of “Likes,” and see other authors listed there, that’s a form of your endorsements of other authors. I think if you “Like” your fellow authors’ FB pages, it helps to promote them already.
On my FB page, I made sure to “Like” all my favorite authors, publishers, and writer’s organizations. So when they post something to the Newsfeed, I can click on “Like” again. Like those likes!
(Unfortunately, “Like” is overused. I’ve seen people clicking “Like” when the news information is a horrible tragedy.)
Of course, one way to approach it is that as content-creators, what do we do when we cannot think of anything further to discuss about our own work, or if there are things we don’t want to discuss about our own work?
Discussing with readers the work of other authors can be a way to start conversations that our own work doesn’t address, building a more “complete” environment for readers to engage with through our social media platforms.
Or we can use those other works in conversations about why our work went in a similar direction, or an entirely different direction than the other work.
……..And getting the fans of the other work to visit our pages because we’re discussing what they like is also lovely! 🙂
This would be much more meaningful than a link to another author’s book or a “shout out” post.
I do post about other author’s books, but I make it personal because I post about books that I have read and enjoyed … I feel that that’s sharing a personal note while at the same time helping to promote a fellow author. I try not to just post what amounts to an an advertisement, though.
Great way to approach it, Stephanie.
As a reader, I would find this less forceful and would see it as learning more about you as a writer too.
Thanks for these great suggestions, Rachel. The one about the book cover surprised me. It never occurred to me that sharing a cover too soon might be a poor marketing strategy.
Then again, a friend of mine recently ran into trouble, not because she shared the cover too soon, but because the publisher decided to change her release date, title and cover! She’d begun marketing when she should have, but then she had a cover and links that were suddenly irrelevant. The whole experience dampened her enthusiasm.
Marketing is just a bear. Thanks for offering helpful hints.
That can happen too! I’ve seen it before. A big buyer like Costco or Walmart might suggest that the cover be changed and the publisher will change it to get those book sales.
Another question, Rachel: If I share the process of writing my WIP, should I mention the title every post?
Nancy, for you I think you probably should just for clarity. You have many books and a few upcoming releases.
I do go a little “Goofy” on my FurryFacebook page. (Just to get the attention of prospective K-9 literary agents)
Check it out! https://www.facebook.com/yankee.doodle1
Lol. Cute pics!
Another idea is to lurk successful authors using Facebook well. Ted Dekker has a really vibrant community on his page and tries some pretty interesting things all the time.
Lorraine Snelling just uses her profile. She posts these long status updates that read like a letter from my grandmother about her day – the ups and downs – not just about writing but all aspects of her day. Her readers eat that up.
Brandilyn Collins is another one using Facebook with great effect. She and Ted Dekker have put a lot of effort into building their brand with their Facebook pages.
See what other authors are doing. As a creative person, coming up with new ideas shouldn’t be a stumbling block as long as you’re willing to fail and pick yourself back up. If something doesn’t work, tweak it and try again – or just try something new.
Good idea!
Great idea, Lisa! I think Dani Pettrey is doing a nice job with her Facebook page too!
Thanks for all of the suggestions! I knew I needed to create an author fb page but had no idea what to do with it. This information will be helpful for my other fb pages that I created for my etsy stores.
I have just self-published my first novel (Secrets of the Old Ladies’ Club by Nan Tubre) and believe me when I tell you it was an eye-opening experience! A person has to be pretty tenacious to get through that in one piece. But at least now I know what I can post about on my author page. going to make one right now!
Thank you, Rachel, for the suggestions about Facebook. I am not published yet, so I don’t have a fan page or an author page (I was glad to see your comment that pre-pubbed writers don’t need one). Currently, I used the page mostly to connect to people who are interested in fantasy, so I post fantasy pictures, pass on news about fantasy books and movies and give links to my blog (which is about both fantasy and my WIP) and my Twitter account. On Twitter, I do a hashtag called “fantasyquest” in which I ask brief fantasy-related questions, such as “Has anyone ever heard or read a story about an evil unicorn? Dragons sometimes are portrayed as good and wise and sometimes are symbols of evil. Why are unicorns ALWAYS portrayed as pure beings?” My Facebook posts also show up on my Twitter page. Facebook had been a real challenge for me. I just couldn’t seem to get an audience (and it still is my slowest moving and least favorite social media site) but since I started focusing the page on fantasy, I’ve had an increase in followers and in comments.
On a side note: will you be attending the ACFW conference in September?
Blessings on your week.
Anne Elisabeth Stengl has an evil unicorn in her series! 🙂
Great way to use a hash tag! I need to get better at Twitter.
No, I won’t be at ACFW. I’m not traveling this year because of my little girl. I will miss it! It is a great conference.
Ooh, I have to check into her books! I love unicorns and want them generally to be good, but logic dictates that at some point one had to have gone bad.
Thank you. The #fantasyquest is fun to do.
I’m sorry to hear that you won’t be at the conference, but you have a great reason to stay home! 🙂
Thank you, Rachel.
Beyond useful-thank you Rachel!!
Hi Rachel, a question for you or for your readers (who are so knowledgeable) how can I get more followers to follow my blog-without asking outright? I have a FB page as well (and usually link to the blog there) but would like them to increase my numbers of people following the blog. Thanks in advance, Jennifer
Great advice! Helpful and good to remember.
Great advice. Thanks!
I’m about ready to relaunch my author page on Facebook. These tips and the ensuing discussion are most helpful. Thank you one and all!