The devil that is social media

You are my favourite waste of time. Yes, YOU, my cyber friends.

How many of you are logging on today with the idea to write? How many have checked and rechecked their emails, had a look on Twitter or posted something banal on Facebook and then waited for replies?

Hands up! Who’s guilty of procrastination?

What time was it when you sat down to write? Ten minutes ago? Thirty? An hour? Be honest now. Time has an annoying way of being there one moment, and vanishing the next so I wouldn’t be surprised if you said longer than even an hour!

Chick Lit
Latest release - June 2012

So why do we procrastinate? What’s so scary about opening the document of our novel and cracking on? It doesn’t necessarily mean your novel is rubbish, it’s just that deep down we know how much work there is involved in putting it all together.

Readers won’t know how much like a jigsaw typescripts are. Bits of scenes here, characterisation there, author notes, bits highlighted, bits underlined. It’s enough to make the water in your eyes dry up! Eeek!

So what can we do about it? It’s easy really. Unconnect from your server and don’t reconnect until your novel’s (at least) 20,000 words further in. Easier said than done though. That urge to check into Twitter, just for five minutes, won’t go away. And once you do “check in” that five minutes has soon turned to twenty!

I mean, look at me, I’m writing this rather than continuing with my novel! Somehow, writing an article on procrastination is easier than opening my book. Why? I’m in love with the idea for my book, my character is feisty, the setting brilliant and the plot is dynamite!  So what’s stopping me?

Me.

I’m stopping me.

There is nothing wrong with my typescript, and I expect it’s the same with yours.  I just LOVE social media so much it’s become an interference. I love the prettiness of Pinterest, the family that is Facebook, the links I can collect on Twitter and the opportunity of sharing  posts and articles on Triberr.

When I’m not part of it I feel I’m missing something.

Here are my three tips that I plan to use:

1. Make ‘playtimes’ on the Internet a reward for writing 10K or more words.
2. Get into a routine; write in the evenings (or mornings, afternoons, whatever suits best) and make this an absolute writing time. Not playtime (or marketing or whatever it’s called!). Writing is just that – writing.
3. If rewards don’t work, I will try a punishment! If I don’t manage my quota for the week then there WON’T be a special treat at the end of the week.

Romance/Sci-fi

Chick Lit

Louise Wise is the author of Eden, A Proper Charlie and her newest release The Fall of the Misanthrope: I bitch, therefore I am. She has also written a non-fiction book based on articles from this blog: So You Want an Author Platform?

Non-fiction

Suggestions on Dealing with a Bad Review

by

David S Grant

It happened, you got a bad review.  It happens to the greatest and most “successful” artists every day.  Still, after reading the bad review you may need more than a hug.  Here are some suggestions on how to handle the bad news.

1. Don’t overreact. This applies to both good and bad reviews: stay “Even Steven”, and understand its part of the promotion process. 
2. Promote the good parts. For example “David S. Grant’s new book balances his sense of humor with the dark topic of murder…” See, not so bad. Now that’s a blurb I can use, never mind that the review continued “…, but his emotionless and materialistic characters didn’t impress me.” It goes without saying which blurb will make the press release! 

So you want an Author Platform? FREE eBook

social media and newbie writing guide

For a self-published/indie writer creating a platform is a must. The sooner this is made and maintained the better. But where do you start? So You Want an Author Platform is an easy to follow guide that will help you connect to bloggers and potential readers of your book.

This is a short eBook of approx 9500 words. 

FREE from 

12th to 16th March

at

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Effective Book Marketing

guest post

by

Joana James

I hate marketing. Yes, I know this is an article about marketing tips, but seriously, I hate marketing. I’m an I.T. professional and I writer; I like computers and books. I love to write fiction, not promo material. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure that I’m no good at it. To me (and maybe to you too), that’s a bit ironic because writers are creative so we should be brilliant at this stuff. Well, I’m not.


Unfortunately, if nobody knows about your books, they won’t sell, so marketing is a necessary evil. I live on a small island in the Caribbean where there isn’t much opportunity for conventional marketing so the internet has become my best friend. During the short time I’ve been a published author, I’ve had to learn a few things.


1. Give your readers a place to find you. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate website. I use a free blog from Blogger.


2. Or maybe this is No. 1b. In either case, don’t make your blog or site all about yourself and your books (unless you’re a NY bestseller that people seek out). Give your readers a reason to visit you there. People won’t keep coming back to your blog to see how far along you are on your next book, or what your next stop is on a blog tour. People what information, so get creative and give them that. I was going about blogging all wrong for the longest time, until I had a “eureka” moment. I write Christian fiction and I also read books from that genre at about the speed of sound so I’m always hunting for new authors (with books at affordable prices – the EC$ to US$ exchange rate is about 3 to 1!). Then it hit me; create a list on your blog where readers can find Christian fiction without busting their budget. Lo and behold, the traffic to my site quadrupled from the first day I set up the list.


3. Social Networking is your friend…or your worst enemy. Social networking is a powerful tool. Use it to tell your friends about your books, but please don’t harass their Facebook pages, they’ll learn to ignore you or block your posts (yes, they can do that!) Twitter is also an awesome tool for marketing, but use with caution. A balanced twitter feed is very valuable. Use popular hash tags for your genre. However, don’t make your feed all about yourself and your book. Offer advice, tell a joke or two. Tweet a funny pic when you come across one. People will look forward to your tweets and maybe even buy your stuff because they feel connected to you somehow.


The bottom line is this, do something interesting and people will check you out. Advertise endlessly and people with shut you out!

Joana James is the author of Nightmare at Emerald High "a book ideal for teens who may be thinking about becoming involved with strange organisations or even entertaining the thought of exploring new "ideas" or religions. Not all that glitters is gold and this book is a real eye opener. Whilst there are many legitimate youth organisations with the sole goal of bettering young people, some of them have a sinister agenda. This is a good read for both parents and their teens."