Today, I had the unexpected opportunity to speak to two indie authors about using social media to build buzz for their latest titles. I realized this morning that I had this conversation before and here I was having it again. It is no surprise that a lot of independent authors want to know how they can use social media to market their eBook[s].
Independent authors need to feel empowered and be knowledgeable when it comes to social media and how to use it. Self-publishing demands that you wear a lot of hats; one of those hats is marketing and one of the best ways of an independent author to brand themselves and market their eBook is with social media. It is relatively inexpensive to use. As a matter of fact most of the time it cost you nothing. What it takes is your time, persistence and due diligence.
We Learn From Nature
We all remember the story of the birds and the bees, right? Take a lesson from the bees. They’re flying from flower to flower and doing what they do best, collecting [ more ]
“If you have a story that seems worth telling, and you think you can tell it worthily, then the thing for you to do is to tell it.”
~ Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of detective novels and a screenplay writer. He created one of the most well-known fictional detectives of the 30′s, Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon.
Hammett gave himself permission to write. He believed in himself, his creativity and his story enough to tell it. The questions is, do you believe in yourself, your creativity and your story? If you do, write. Write everyday. Tell yourself you’re going to write five or 10 pages every morning no matter what! Rain, sun, wind, hail, snow, it doesn’t matter. Promise yourself you’ll write and stick to your promise. Write. Sit down with pen and paper or at the keyboard and write. Let it flow. Get up an hour early. Not a morning person. Fine. Stay up an hour later.
You can always erase [trash] the pages the following day if you want to. You haven’t lost anything [ more ]
Creativity is all around us. Everything you see was created and designed by someone. I collect ideas. I collect designs. I have a file on my computer and I have a physical file on my desk. I collect flyers, headlines, ads and mailings. On my computer I collect newsletters, e-blasts and screenshots. When I feel writer’s block I go to my files, find an idea, plant a seed and watch it grow.
One way I have found to write effectively, is to write it all out and then edit what you’ve written. When I write, I don’t stop until it’s all out; I don’t edit. If I stop to edit as I write, I lose the thread of my creativity and forget half of what I wanted to say. The only thing I accomplish when I edit as I write, is that the comma might be in the right spot, in the first sentence. The only sentence. Which isn’t quite what I want to happen. So, I write until I’ve got the whole story out, and then I edit.
Another way to [ more ]