Creating a Social Media Presence for Yourself as a Writer

I don't do social media as a writer*, but I do follow a number of writers on social media, so can comment from that aspect. I enjoy following people who have an existence beyond flogging their books. I unfollow people who tweet about their new titles to the exclusion of everything else. I also unfollow with extreme prejudice people who constantly retweet reviews of their own work. And don't get me started on people who bleat 'help me get to X hundred followers".


* I mostly tweet and blog about natural history

What do you mean by "my content" and "others content"?

I find it just as irritating to see people flogging another person's book as much as their own.

Your tweeting should not include links and or adverts for books - whether your own or another's - more than, say, 1 time in 10.

I will definitely promote other writers in my tweets, but if I follow someone I expect to be following them as themself, rather than an advertising channel.

Leema, I think one of the most important things is for you to be you in social media. It's a multi-way conversation as much as anything.

I'm not as active on Twitter as many authors, but my stuff is mostly conversational. I do very little promo, self- or otherwise.

In response to the original questions:
1. I'm not sure I would anything differently, except perhaps dedicate more time to social media. The thing is, that's time away from writing, and writing time is precious enough these days.
2. I like Goodreads (as a reader, but also as a writer) the most. I do FB and Twitter as well, but not to a substantial extent. I think the main thing is to limit yourself to a few and use them well; when starting out, it's easy to jump onto every new platform that comes along and you end up spreading yourself too thin.

Follow @badredheadmedia and @RachelintheOC, and check out her websites and articles. Tons of good stuff there, and much of it free. Rachel posts both at BRHM, and HuffPo (and more than a few guest blog posts). She's not THE way to do social media, but she has lots of good guidance.

Edit: Here's one of her articles: http://t.co/eMmsIVu8YB

Note- general social media suggestions near the bottom-

I write nonfiction, so social media is very different in how I approach it (at least as I understand compared to fiction). For example, I belong to several groups online, and I am regularly adding my own assistance, advice, help, just as myself and based on my profession. This is building my reputation, which then helps me grow my network and adds to my circles and others groups.

I am not "doing" social media to sell books, but I am engaging with others so they become familiar with my abilities, and also I am developing rapport with colleagues as well. Then, when my upcoming book is ready, these contacts are a part of that platform (and so far are asking when it will be ready- hurray!).
So if anyone has nf social media questions, I am not an expert, but teaching teens and adults both has helped me stay pretty current.

But, as a reader, I only like to engage in social media with two types of authors-- those whom I meet personally and/or through acquaintances, and their musings hook me in, or those strangers who I discover (usually from someone sharing a post), who write posts that make me leave a better person for having read them- even if it was only something funny, or intriguing. Or a book review, if it were genuine, and I liked the patterns I saw as far as similar tastes.

Now that is just me. But social media should just happen as an extension of who you are. At least imo, the most shared posts and added likes or friends or whatever are based on natural response to small quotes, etc.

But here is one exception- I would love to follow someone who leaves breadcrumbs of mystery or suspense clues, in small installments, maybe once per week, leading to an ending after weeks. I would love to do this myself someday, when I write my suspense novel someday. So, there is my exception- and really, how would anyone know what I was looking for exactly if I didn't say?

So I suggest you be authentic, share what interests you, but also see about focusing on your genre and hooking readers in somehow that way.

My 2 cents...

I'm thinking about your questions, Leema. I've been on Facebook--as myself, not Writer Me--since 2004, so that felt normal to me before I made a page for Writer Me. I like Twitter a lot because I can follow a lot of different people and I've interacted with some of my favorite writers, which is awesome. I really only used Goodreads to keep track of my reading and am only now dipping my toes into the groups and stuff.

I like to follow people who come across really genuinely, as real people who just happen to be authors. The constant plugging of one's book turns me off as well--I just released my novella and I'm trying to remember not to constantly barrage the Interwebs about it. Today, in fact, I posted on a historical fiction group forum on Goodreads and five seconds later, one of the authors friends me and then DMs me about reviewing his book. Like, really?

I really enjoy Goodreads too. I also have a Facebook page, but I don't do Twitter. I get a kick out of someone reposting one of my pictures on Pinterest. I'm also on Kindleboards occasionally, Blogger.com as well as a few others. Don't forget to complete your author page on Amazon and Smashwords. It's great to get your name out there and to be quite well known before you embark on publishing - something I wish I'd done.

One important point. Don't think you have to do everything. Choose just what works for YOU, as several posters have already mentioned. You have to be comfortable with what YOU choose, and how YOU use it. Else you'll over-burden yourself, and eventually give up on the whole enterprise.

I also suggest you START SMALL, TAKE BABY STEPS, and stay as small and simple as you can. There's an art as well as technical aspects of using social media, and it takes time to master it. Best to start early, before you need a presence to market your stuff.

And (as others have said) be yourself, or at least the public part of yourself which you feel comfortable revealing. Readers can sense when you're faking things, and eventually will give up on you.

Every writer should have a platform. There are many ways to establish a platform, including writing books. I've spent the last 16 years building my platform and presence online. Having a platform, especially a large one, is something agents, publishers, and even television producers consider when deciding on taking a chance on you. A compelling product (book) is great, but it doesn't do you any good if you don't have the "eyeballs" out there to market to.

In March of 1999 I opened up my photography forum--way before there were social media channels. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc., didn't exist. My forum took off, I then landed a book deal with a publisher of photography books and wrote four for them before I went self-published. Somewhere in there Myspace became a big hit, then it became a big bomb. Things change every Monday when the Board of Directors Meet--you have to evolve with the times by staying informed. As they say, the train will leave you behind if you don't get on board.

My experience, my forum as did that of many other forum owners had a great run, but soon because of my genre, photography, was replaced by social media--so I jumped on board the social media train. When the forum traffic decreased, I had to adjust and opened up my social media accounts as well as started a blog, then another blog.

Just like people use different modes of travel to get from point A to point B, i.e., trains, planes, automobiles, etc., you have to use different modes of building your platform. This includes maintaining an email list, participating on the forums like this one that are still out there, a blog, and social media engagement. My recipe is Twitter, Facebook (fan page and personal accounts), Instagram, Tumblr, blogs and participation on genre specific sites. Does this take time during the day, yes it does and you have to allocate that time in order for it to work. Doing nothing brings you nothing. It's about working hard and playing later.

Take away technology from the past 20 years, take away Amazon, Barnes, iBooks, etc., and how many books would there really be out there today? Probably millions less than today because technology today has changed the publication landscape in a manner where every Tom, Dick and Harry is writing books, blogs, articles, etc., and it's an oversaturated market, with many non-professionally edited books, that you have to wade through to really find the masterpieces. That said, what created this mess is what you have to use to get seen and to sell your books. That's my two centavos worth!

Ha! "Dog-Blog!" I could say "Dog-Blog" a hundred times a day and not get tired of it.

I really appreciate the advice on this thread. Sorry I was late to see it.

My main interest is writing and publishing fiction, but I also have a non-fiction blog on the subject of leisure and work (man, how I now wish it was a "Dog-Blog" instead!) It takes a lot of time, and I've been debating whether to dive fully into it or continue with trying to get some fiction published. I considered setting up another blog for fiction, but have now decided against it, at least for now, based on the comments here.

Thanks especially to Helix, Laer, and atthebeach!

This is so helpful! I'm just getting started freelancing full-time, still approaching my new career with a shotgun approach -- commercial clients, magazine queries, side project, whatever -- and I am giving a lot of thought to my social media "platform." I know how important it is to have a robust platform, but I'm still trying to figure out what my identity will be.

The biggest thing to remember WRT social media is that it's a conversation, not a bullhorn. Build the relationships, and then the sales will come.

You might want to see this thread:

How to promote your book like an intelligent human being and not an SEO dweeb

I absolutely agree. I've researched the subject extensively and this is clearest and wisest advice I've ever come across. Medievalist's post is brilliant, and I don't use that compliment lightly. Plus the following commentary by others expands the basic points very well.

Have you looked into whether your potential audience is using social media? And do you understand how they behave on social media sites? And have you identified which social media sites that this is happening at?

The most important platform(s) to use will be those that you are able to find the answers for the above questions.

Author platform: still trying to figure out what that means. I use Twitter to post interesting news items I find around the web, make the odd comment, do an update here and there.

I wish I had started blogging a long time ago and continued to do it regularly. I'm doing it now, but I don't have anywhere near the following I could have had for my first release.

How do writers organize their social media marketing? Between facebook, blogging, goodreads, instagram, and twitter, I feel like I'm up to my eyeballs in social media. Half the time several weeks will go by before I remember that I haven't tweeted anything or that I forgot to post on my author webpage. Tip of advice?

AbbieChandler said:

I feel like I'm up to my eyeballs in social media. Half the time several weeks will go by before I remember that I haven't tweeted anything or that I forgot to post on my author webpage. Tip of advice?

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Don't try to do everything. Do only what you can & still give each medium the attention it deserves. Your footprint on the web is supposed to represent you to the reading world. It won't do that well if you do any of them poorly.

You are a unique individual. Your presence should reflect that. Don't try to do everything if you cannot, especially when you start out. My advice is to START SMALL, TAKE BABY STEPS, STAY SMALL as you can.

It takes time to build your presence, and as time goes by you will develop habits (much more reliable than good intentions) that will help you. For instance, every Monday as I read and answer email an automatic alarms goes off in my head: START THINKING ABOUT YOUR WEEKLY BLOG POST.

I love these posts! I just started back up with my writing and have been trying to make a presence in social media and it's been time consuming! I've been trying to set up an author page on Goodreads and even set up a page on Facebook. Both, I'm hoping, will get my name out there. Also, I've been connecting with other established bloggers in hopes of directing some traffic my way and learning from them as well.