A friend from my South
Jersey Writers group confirmed what I had been hearing in every class and on
every blog. “Your manuscript could be
great,” he said, “but if you’re not socially connected, the publisher’s not
interested in reading it.”
Gone are the days when writers only
had to focus on their writing. Now we
need to be masters of the social media if we want a publisher to look at our
manuscripts.
But how do you become socially
connected? Here are some tips I picked
up. Ideas are welcome.
1.
Become an expert on the topic you write about. Research about the topic. Look for relevant current events and comment on
them.
2.
Visit other blogs in your genre or topic. Follow them.
Leave comments. Tell people who
you are. Guest post on a blog where permissible.
3.
Create your own blog about your genre or topic
and blog often. Set up a consistent
routine so followers know when you are likely to post.
4.
Create an author page on facebook and invite
friends to join it. Announce when you
have posted something new on your blog or website. Ask people to visit and leave comments.
5.
Create a google+ account to connect with other
writers and friends and associations relevant to your topics and become
involved in online conversations.
6.
Join twitter. Tweet. Retweet. And “Like” tweets or comments. Ask for retweets. Thank the person for the retweet. Use hashtags [#] and join online
conversations.
7.
Join LinkedIn and become part of some online conversations
there as well.
8.
Pinterest is a visual media. If you can make visual connections to your
topic or book, do so on pinterest.
These are all free. You can also build a website [.com] and/or
buy your name. You can connect your
blogs and media to your own website and sell your books through a link on your
webpage. I haven’t gotten to this point
as I don’t have anything to sell…yet.
I completed my Write Your Memoir in
6 Months course. My first draft is
65,246 words. Now the real work
begins. Revision. I hope to bolster up my media platform while I
revise. But as most of you realize, social
media takes much time…and patience.
How did you build your social
platform and how long did it take before you started seeing some results? Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a
comment.