Social Media Just For Writers by (a TLC Book Tour)

Social Media Just for Writers
The Best Online Marketing Tips for Selling Your Books
Author:  Frances Caballo
Published: October 2012
Publisher: Create Space Independent Publishing Platform
Pages: 140
Includes a glossary, further resources, and a notes section.
ISBN  9781480030824
Category/Genre:  Non-fiction/reference/writing
Source: A complimentary copy was provided by the author and TLC book tours in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Social Media Just for Writers: The Best Online Marketing Tips for Selling Your Books is the first social media book specifically designed for authors who are beginning to intermediate level users. The book provides easy-to-follow steps to gently guide new users while providing advanced techniques, tips and a review of more than 100 applications for more experienced writers.

By the time you finish reading this book, you will know how to:

• Use Facebook effectively and efficiently to market your book.
• Tap into Twitter to create and expand your tribe.
• Upload and pin photos on Pinterest and use this social media network to expand your brand.
• Easily manage your blog and reach new readers.
• Use LinkedIn and Google+ with confidence.

This is what writers and editors are saying about the book:

“It’s the best and most informative resource on how to use the web, social media, and blogs for writers that I’ve seen in the marketplace. If they are beginners, they have everything they need to understand, build and use the web to promote their books, writing, and blogs, and those who are experienced will still find tips and resources that they will not have known about. It’s all there –in one book.” ~~ Linda Joy Myers, Writing Coach/Teacher/Memoir Guru and Director of the National Association of Memoir Writers

“This is a stunningly-good resource by Frances Caballo. I recommend this highly if you’re trying to sell a new book, planning to sell a book some day, or just hoping to be able to reach more readers. Frances Caballo knows her stuff and explains it clearly. Despite having 4000 Facebook friends, I need to do everything she suggests! It’s so comprehensive and so useful I’m going to recommend it to everyone I know. Not just writers, but fabulous for other artists and small-business people. Good work! Thank you so much for making life easier for us all.” ~~ Molly Fisk, Poet, Writing Teacher, Radio Commentator

My Review:

Social Media Just for Writers is a hugely valuable guide for writers, especially for those who wish to self-publish as more and more authors are doing to start out.  Take Lisa Genova (Still Alice) and E.L. James (Fifty Shades of...- though E.L. James books began as fan fiction), as prime examples of authors who published themselves after one manner or another.  I read a few self-published authors and I know from blogging with them that there is a lot of work to do to self promote your work.  I also am a writer, not yet published and still working on my manuscript, and as such I find Social Media Just for Writers an irreplaceable resource.

Even today, in the mainstream publishing industry, authors are finding themselves in the position of doing their own promotions.  They arrange and appear for book signings and readings, i.e.. Diane Stringam Tolley (author of Carving Angels and Kris Kringle's Magic) and/or Laurie Hertzel, author News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist and of Three Dog Blog.

So, knowing this in advance, one must educate him/herself on methods and means of book promotion.  A book does not sell itself, let's face it.  Therefore, we need someone to guide us along the way to minimize the hurtles and maximize the effect.  

From Facebook to Twitter, Linked In to Google +, there's so much available to everyone, we just need to recognize the capabilities and the advantages of each.  This is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg though.  Frances Caballo touches on Gravatar, email, book clubs, online author hangouts like GoodReads (are you a member yet?), how to write a press release, making your business card, media kits and so much it makes my head spin just thinking about it but, in a good way!!!  I've learned so much about the capabilities of Facebook and Twitter that I feel I was a novice before and I've been Facebooking for years!  

Learn about SEO - Search Engine Optimization.  Think of the keywords one would type in a search engine that would lead them to your book.  SEO is also a combination of actions that will bring your book to page one of the search results.  Using social media networks can help accomplish this as well as using keywords on your Facebook description and website pages and blog.  I have learned that repetition of a book title and/or author in a blog post will move that post up in the search rankings.  The more often it appears in the post, the higher the post ranks, the easier it is for readers to find the post.

Moving on to Twitter, did you know there are hashtags just for writers?  On pages 50/51 of Social Media Just for Writers, author Frances Caballo lists 13 hashtags and variations thereof just for writers!  She includes tips on getting started with Twitter and how to optimize its ability to promote your work. Then there are Twitter apps such as Buffer, HootSuite and MarketMeSuite, to name just a few, with descriptions on what their purpose is in relation to writing and which can help you schedule your tweets to reach your target audience.

"I don't think necessity is the mother of invention - invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness.  To save oneself trouble." (from An Autobiography, 1977 Agatha Christie).  

LinkedIn is the professional Facebook, so to speak.  It requires precise thought and detail.  Plotting is essential, thus the Agatha Christie quote above which is found on page 64.  As thorough as Agatha Christie was in plotting her mysteries, you must be in providing information with LinkedIn.  Thank goodness Chapter 6 is dedicated to assisting one in understanding the ins and outs of LinkedIn.

Social Media Just for Writers includes so much more and is not a light read, though only 140 pages!  It is an essential ingredient in the promotion plans for any writer, written by a social media trainer and, as such, will remain ready at hand as I write my own novel and contemplate how I will enable the promotions process.  I expect it to be fully dog-eared by the time I am ready to focus on promotions.  Social Media can be baffling but once you have a guide to lead you through the htmls and SEOs and hashtags, you will be well on your way with Social Media Just for Writers as your trusty guide.

Meet the Author:

Frances Caballo is a social media trainer and strategist with more than 23 years of communications experience. Presently, she is the Social Media Editor for the Women’s National Book Association-Francisco Chapter; Redwood Writers, the largest branch of the California Writers Club; and the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association.

Frances specializes in social media training for users of all levels; sets up and manages social media marketing accounts for clients; provides coaching on clients’ social media marketing platforms; and blogs for clients. Her newest book is Social Media Just for Writers: The Best Online Marketing Tips for Selling Your Books.

Visit Frances at her website, connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+, follow her on Twitter, see what she’s pinning on Pinterest.