Media (Social)
When you read up on self publishing, and even traditional publishing on the web or in book form the advice most give you is that you need to have a presence on all the available social media platforms. This is so that people know where to find you and that you have a place to Market your wares (more on this later).
Social Media has changed over the years since I was first online (time of the biggggg assed computer screens (literally huge butts), and dial tones that seemed to go on forever) yup, pre stone age...it seemed much nicer then, there was an actual Etiquette for using forums and social spaces (I had the book), and you could actually interact with the people you added to your little site on Myspace or Bebo. Now it's all adds and money, and you don't see the people you want, unless you physically go find them (much like the real world).
A lot of people nowadays (oh I sound so old), don't like Facebook (FB), or Instagram (Insta) or X formally known as Twitter, Goodreads, and a blog of some kind, (blogger or word press). Please don't get me started on Tumblr or Tic Tok...and there are some that I don't even know of (yet). It's difficult to stay abreast of the changes.
Keeping tabs and updating the media can be time consuming, and if you don't like social media it can be heart rending as well, from all these sites and books, there is a recommendation to check in on them at least one day a week, I would recommend any site that you are on, if you can schedule posts to go out, then that's what you do.
Media can be so difficult when you gotta think of what to say that's other than marketing your wares. What do you do. Well this year I've a little mesh bag of things to blog about (I went to Pinterest and did a search of blog topics, and transcribed the ones that I thought had to do with Writing, Publishing, and being a writer onto small slips of paper, folded them then put them in the bag), which I intend on using to keep the blog active once we are done with the A to Z.
Marketing
Can be a pain in the ass. What is it, and how do you do it? Well it's all about getting your book out there in the form of an advertisement of some sort, or part of your media or blog posting. This is something that you can end up paying a lot of money for. If you can afford it well and good. All the platforms (Social Media) that you are on allow for paid advertising, if you publish with Amazon and some of the others, there is also the offer of paid advertising as well.
If you can't afford it, then a post with the image of the book, and the back blurb as well as anything that your beta or alpha readers have said you can use about what they said about the book might be enough on the free posts you have. Just make sure that they are all public postings and that you are following as many readers as possible.
If you are a bit better at creating images and adds, Canva is excellent as either the free version or the paid for one. You can come up with something like these (well I think they're alright)....
Even the cover image for the novel was created in Canva.... each of these images can be used over the space of a month of two to advertise or market your novel.
Once you reach this stage, it's recommended (all over the web and in the books), that you create a marketing plan, basically using Excel or creating a table, with months, weeks, days listed and each add with a name, each media site, and what time to post it.
Again, some great advice and suggestions. I can't really see the chart you posted, but I do understand what you are saying.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to give authors and artists permission to engage with social media on their own terms. Yes, if you do no social media at all, it'll be hard for anyone to find your work, but no one can do All the Things. Pick one or two or three platforms that fit best with what sort of post you're happiest to do, pick the frequency you can handle, and Don't Sweat the Rest!
ReplyDeletehttps://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2024/04/magical-botany-m.html
When I used to do marketing for authors I always being asked what they should be blogging about. I told them they could blog about anything. One author took me seriously and wrote about the never ending laundry and it was one of her most commented on posts because everyone could identify with that struggle.
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