Tag: social media

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Writing and Publishing

How to Always Know What to Write When it’s Time to Blog

Maintain an idea repository to jumpstart your creativity every time you sit down to write

Each week I create several posts for my blogs. I also compose posts for others (content marketing). In addition, I need to produce columns for my various publications. At a minimum, I write five new pieces a week, sometimes upwards of ten.

Yet I seldom struggle with what to say. I always have at least one idea waiting for me when it’s time to write, usually many. Here’s my process:

  • Keep a Running List: For each blog, client, or publication, I have an idea file. Sometimes I note a concept or a title. Other times it’s the first line or even the last. Occasionally there’s an anecdote to serve as the focal point for me to package. Then there is a bulleted list, the result of a quick brainstorm session during a moment of inspiration. Such is the case with this post.
  • Look For Fresh Ideas: Life and living provides a treasure chest of ideas. We merely need to recognize their value when we see them. This takes practice, as well as discipline. Reading provides creative fodder for me, too, as do podcasts and especially movies. The key in this, which I learned the hard way, is to seize these gems as soon as I see them. Trusting my memory has cost me too many good ideas.
  • Retain What You Can’t Use: Sometimes a piece doesn’t develop as I expect or I need to skip a thought or go in a different direction. Other times I need to cut a section. I always stuff these untapped nuggets into my file for another day.
  • Build on Feedback: Some people comment on posts. Others email me their thoughts and questions, and a few react in person. Each source of input provides the potential for a future piece, which I add to my list.
  • Tap Your Muse as You Write: Perhaps the most common source of inspiration occurs during my writing process. As I develop one piece, other gems for future posts pop into my mind. I stop writing immediately and capture them in my idea file. This happens with about half the pieces I write. Sometimes I receive multiple ideas in succession. I eventually use most of them.
  • Bonus Tip: Sometimes when it’s time to write, I simply ask myself, “What do you want to write about today?” Without even peeking at my list of ideas, another concept pops into my mind, and I can’t help but develop it. This saves all the ideas in my file for another day.

I polished this process over time. First, it was to minimize frustration over lost ideas; then for the sake of efficiency. But now it has become necessary for me if I am to meet all my commitments and make my deadlines.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

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Writing and Publishing

How Big Should Your Author Platform Be?

When it comes to a writer’s social media following, how much is enough?

Unless we’re a big name A-list author, publishers want us to have a humongous platform from which to sell books. They expect us to have a large following. Even though the publisher will make some effort to sell our books, this largely falls on us. And if we self-publish, the marketing and promotion of our books are all up to us. We need a platform to do this, the bigger the better.

I’ve heard publishers talk about how many Facebook likes or Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Google+ followers they want their authors to have. The figures are staggering. The amount number helm me.

The marketing guru at one publisher once said she wanted authors to have 50,000 Facebook likes and 100,000 Twitter followers. For those who did public speaking, she wanted them to be in front of 100,000 different people a year. That astounded me. (By the way, she has since left the industry.)

I don’t do much in the way of public speaking. I’m a writer for a reason.

And though I have a presence on each of the above social media platforms (plus Goodreads), my numbers are minuscule. However, I’ve recently gained some traction on Twitter. I’m following people and they’re following back. I’m tweeting and retweeting. And I’m having some personal interaction with my followers.

My number of followers grows by a couple hundred each week. This isn’t easy, however. I spend at least an hour a day on Twitter, sometimes closer to two. And that’s using certain tools to help me. (Hootsuite and Manageflitter, if you’re interested.)

As I stumbled onto a Twitter methodology I inched my way past 1,000 Twitter followers toward the end of last year. I set a goal to have 10,000 by the end of this year. This week I hit 5,000 and am on pace to reach my goal by the end of summer. When that happens, I’ll probably just keep at it.

Given all this, I asked myself a question: How much is enough?

Someone once asked John D. Rockefeller this question about money. He said “Just a little bit more.” I feel this same compulsion with social media. Yet I still don’t know if publishers will be impressed or if it will help me sell books.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

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Writing and Publishing

How to Build a Fan Base

Every writer needs avid supporters to help get the word out about his or her books

When it comes to marketing our book we need a group of loyal followers. They are apt to buy our books and will be excited to tell others about them. We need a platform.

Most writers cringe at the word platform. That’s probably why some people use other words. One person says tribe and another prefers community, while others say, street team. I prefer the word fans, which is short for fanatic.Yes, we all need fervent followers who are committed to our writing, our work, and us. But how do we find them?

Model What We Seek: To have a fan, we need to be a fan. Think about it. Look to serve instead of being served. Give without expectation. If they reciprocate that is a bonus, and we have found a new fan.

Share Freely: We need to give to our fans. This might be our time and attention. It might be personal messages via email, Facebook, and Twitter. We can offer them a nice discount on our book or even share advance copies for free.

Avoid Insincerity: No one likes a sleaze. Don’t become the used car salesperson of books. Avoid high-pressure tactics, false pretenses, and artificially limited time offers. We should avoid doing to others what we hate being done to us. It’s that simple. And if we are to error, lean towards humility.

Thank Profusely: We need to show our appreciation. We can do this with words and gestures. We salute them: privately and publically. We let them know how much we appreciate them.

Reward Generously: We can recognize our fans in the acknowledgment section of our book. We can mention them on social media. We can let them read our next book before anyone else. How about sending them an autographed copy with a personal note?

Many book promotion gurus claim we only need a thousand ardent fans for a successful book launch. Though that’s a lot, it feels attainable. However, I’ve heard success stories from authors who only have a couple hundred. And I listened to a podcast interview of one successful author admit she focuses on about forty true fans. She lavishes them with attention, and they propel most of her releases into best-seller lists, and she makes a full-time living from her book sales. Finding forty followers is doable.

Cultivating fans is all about being nice. Everyone can do that—and every author should.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

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Writing and Publishing

How to Enhance Your Posts With a “Click To Tweet” Box

Last month I added a new feature to my blog posts. I look for an interesting tweetable phrase relating to my topic and then place it in a box using a large font. It stands out and gets the reader’s attention. It looks like a callout in a magazine. (Magazine publishing is my day job.) In the corner of the box, it says “Click to Tweet.” The goal is to make it easy for people to share the post on Twitter.

I’m happy with the results. It makes the post more visually appealing, and people do click to share it.

One thing, however, has surprised me. Several readers have asked how I did it. They really like it and want to add one to their blog.

I’m pleased to say it is very easy to do. It’s so easy, in fact, that I wonder why I didn’t do it years ago. It is a WordPress plugin called…wait for it…“Click To Tweet.”

It takes seconds to install and setup is quick, with just one setting to configure: your twitter handle.

Here’s how to use it: when writing your post, position your cursor where you want the tweet box to appear, click on the Click To Tweet icon in the toolbar, and enter your tweet. It’s that easy.

With Click To Tweet, I spend about ten seconds more per post, and the result is an effective and professional-looking layout.

In addition to Click To Tweet, a quick search revealed some other options as well:

  • Better Click To Tweet
  • Click To Tweet WordPress Plugin
  • Tweet This
  • Twitter Text Tweet
  • Tweet Prompt Box

I’ve not tried any of these other plugins, but there are possibilities to consider if you want something different than Click to Tweet.

Click to Tweet is a quick way to add value to your blog posts.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

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Writing and Publishing

Three Reasons to Advertise in a Social Media World

Social media and its wide reach on the Internet have given rise to word-of-mouth book recommendations. Given this trend, some book marketers wonder if there’s still a role for traditional advertising. Here are three reasons why traditional advertising is critical to promote books in a social media world:

Advertising Influences Recommendations: We don’t form opinions in a vacuum. Outside forces influence us. One credible source is advertising. These visual mediums provide a strong, but the subconscious influence of how we feel and think. This includes influencing the book recommendations we receive and give. Sometimes we even make recommendations about books we haven’t read but only saw in ads.

Advertising Reinforces Recommendations: Once we hear a recommendation we seldom accept it as indisputable. First, we contemplate it. When considering a book recommendation we often reject it if it lacks reinforcement. This is a subconscious act and advertising provides a key reinforcement of the book recommendation as it’s being considered.

Advertising Confirms Recommendations: Once we accept a book recommendation as a viable option, we seek confirmation. Without confirmation, the validity of the recommendation falls into question, and we’ll likely dismiss it. Advertising is a key means of confirming word-of-mouth recommendations.

In each case the role of advertising is subtle, and we can’t measure it. The influence, reinforcement, and confirmation roles book advertising play in word-of-mouth recommendations are seldom realized by those receiving it, but it is a critical factor. Without it, the recommendation will fail to materialize and produce a sale.

Wise book marketers use advertising to influence, reinforce, and confirm word-of-mouth recommendations. The only remaining decision is determining where to advertise.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

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Writing and Publishing

Can You Write a Book in a Month?

Have you heard of NaNoWriMo? It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it happens each year in November. The goal is to write a 50,000-word novel, or the first 50,000 words of a longer novel, in just one month. (Why they picked November, a 30-day month with a long holiday weekend, is beyond me.)

The idea intrigues me, but since I’m not a novelist, I’ve never tried it. Some year I will.

Despite never participating in NaNoWriMo and not being a novelist, I think I understand the allure. As I mentioned last week, I’m on my own writing quest; 85,000 words in ten weeks. Two weeks into it, I’m exhilarated with my writing. I’m sure the same feeling often hits NaNoWriMo writers.

Writing a large number of words every day, without fail or excuse, requires discipline. It means grabbing every moment of my allotted time to write. Distractions are not permitted. Email and social media are off-limits. My wife gives me quiet.

It also requires focus. Keeping my eye on the goal, I write with intention. With laser precision, I type words to make sentences to form paragraphs for the various sections. Chapters birth with regularity.

My ballooning word count electrifies me. I want to write more. Even when it’s time to go to work, I wish I could keep writing.

It’s also stressful, but a good type of stress, productive, fulfilling stress.

Though I fully expect my pace to wear thin as my quest continues, knowing the prize waiting for me at the end of the road will spur me on. A finished book looms as my reward.

I suspect the same thing occurs for each NaNoWriMo writer.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

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Writing and Publishing

When Your Post Goes Viral: 4 Tips For Survival

As writers we all want more people to see what we write, right? If we have a book, we want more people to buy it, and if we blog we want more people to read it and comment, right?

Be careful. Last week I heard about two bloggers whose posts went viral.

The first case occurred a year ago, with over a million views and almost 1,500 comments. The writer touched a nerve. Some loved his post; others hated it. However, the attention his post received earned him the attention of publishers, and he turned his post into a book, which went on sale this month. Though the result was good, the path was rocky.

Another blogger had a post go viral earlier this month. Though I don’t know how many people read it, they left 644 comments—so far. Most agreed with her, but a few took exception. Of the comments I read, I saw two trends:

A few women, from the right, took issue with one line in her post, while many more (all of whom were men) attacked her from the left and derided her “narrow” point of view. I use the word narrow because I don’t want to repeat the name-calling they resorted to. Those who hated her words were often quite mean, and some attacked her personally.

Both bloggers were caught off guard by the response. Here’s what we can learn from their experiences:

Our Audience is Different Than Society as a Whole: For the most part, the people who regularly read our blogs like us and agree with our message. Their comments are almost always kind and if they disagree, they do so politely. We have formed a nice community; civility is the norm. However, this is not the case with everyone else, the folks who don’t know us and are swept into reading one post gone viral.

Our Words Will Offend Some People: We write because we want to touch readers. While we hope to inspire, encourage, guide, or entertain our audience, this can’t happen all the time. We will offend some people. It is inevitable. If we try to avoid causing offense, we end up with bland words that accomplish nothing.

People Can Be Mean Online: With the protection of distance and anonymity afforded online, otherwise nice people can de-evolve into spewing inhuman invective. I suspect in most cases their issues are not really with the blogger but are a response to their personal failings or deep hurts. Haters are often damaged, people.

Don’t Defend Ourselves: When attacked, we need to suffer in silence, not stoop to their level. Our friends will defend us when needed. We must be content with that.

Remember, we write for others to read our words, and we need to be prepared to handle the fallout when their reaction isn’t positive. If we persist in writing, it will happen sooner or later.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

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Writing and Publishing

4 Tips to Capitalize on Social Media

It seems many authors are putting all of their book marketing efforts into social media. This is often shortsighted and not cost-effective. Discover how to capitalize on social media.

It seems many authors are putting all of their book marketing efforts into social media. This is often shortsighted and not cost-effective.

Though I’m not dismissing social media, it’s critical to proceed only in a practical, informed, and responsible way—and not just because everyone else is doing it or in reaction to the latest trend.

1. Media Not Marketing

First, it’s called social media, not social marketing. The distinction is key. Use social media for social stuff, not for marketing. It seems common sense. While social media can feed into book marketing, it is not a marketing machine.

2. Determine Your Objectives

Next, what are your objectives? Facebook fanatics brag about the number of friends they have. Twitter is about follows and LinkedIn looks at connections. Then there’s Pinterest, Instagram, and Goodreads—which is a great place for writers.

What is your goal for each platform? Is it sheer numbers or significant interaction? Quantity or quality?

3. Return on Investment

Third, we must treat social media like every other consideration, looking at the return on investment (RIO). What is the cost? What is the return?

Unless we have unlimited time, whatever we spend on social media detracts from something else. We must invest our time on what offers the best return.

4. Consider Opportunity Cost

Last, some people claim there is no direct cost for social media, but the time spent on social media is a time not spent somewhere else. Pursuing social media has an opportunity cost.

We shouldn’t ignore this, even though most people do. What we give up for social media could be damaging to our long-term viability as a writer.

Social Media Summary

It’s up to you on rather you want to capitalize on social media or dismiss it. Although it may be uncool to not make social media a priority, it may also be the best decision you can make.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

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Writing and Publishing

Social Media is a Tool and Nothing More

Nathan Jamail says that “social media is just another tool; it is not a sales plan.”

Yes, social media is powerful, he says. There are many people who have used social media to achieve many things, including authors who have tapped it to push their book to bestseller lists. Social media can help an author build a platform and become better known. It can also take “word-of-mouth to another level.” Possible social media platforms include Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. But by themselves, they will not do much to increase book sales.

The proper place for social media is to “work in conjunction with a marketing and prospecting plan,” Jamail declares. That needs to be in conjunction with other proving marketing activities.

I couldn’t agree more. Everyone, including authors, is jumping on the social media bandwagon. This isn’t a bad thing—unless, in the process, they abandon proven forms of promotion and platform building initiatives.

I agree that social media is a tool, but it is just a tool. It is not a marketing solution or a bookselling machine that can function apart from other marketing methods. If you like social media, by all means, use it. Just be sure to use it inclusively, not exclusively.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

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Writing and Publishing

Are Your Social Media Efforts Working?

As I ponder social media in regards to building a platform and marketing our books, two things come to mind.

Although it’s important to not ignore social media, the payoff is further down the road. As authors, we need a social media presence; we need to build a platform, and we need to interact with our fans.

We should not expect social media to sell our books or launch us to the stratosphere of success—though if that happens, it will be a welcome surprise.

Like all things in life, we must seek a healthy balance when it comes to social media.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.