Timing Is Everything: Facebook Tutorial

I discovered something interesting by accident last week. How many times have you said to yourself Damn, I wish I could schedule my Facebook updates so that they’d post at a later time? Well, guess what? Now you can – at least from your “page” anyway. (I’ve not seen a way to do it from my personal profile.)

So, go to your page, and start typing in an update to all your fans. You can even upload a photo – anything you want to schedule to post at a later date. The strange thing about this (if you haven’t already “set it up”) is that once you click the little clock in the bottom left-hand corner of your posting window, you go to another screen, and moving forward will blow away what you’ve written. Make sure to copy it before you do anything else. NOW, click on the little clock.

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Tutorial: Tweeting from Facebook

I’m lazy. I’m honest about this. And I despise self-promotion. That’s not a very good combination for an author who’s expected to promote her own work. So trust me, if there’s an easy way to do something – I’ll find it.

Twitter used to be fun for me, so I didn’t mind going there. Now I’m so inundated with spammy comments that I hardly ever go there anymore – but millions of other people do. Authors are expected to have a Twitter presence and a following. But if you hate going there, how do you keep these imaginary legions of adoring followers entertained? Easy: you set up your author page on Facebook to generate the tweets for you.

First – go to your author/book/ character’s Facebook page. Since my official K. S. Brooks and Mr. Pish pages were both already linked to Twitter accounts, I set up a new page for my recurring character – Special Agent Kathrin Night – so I could show you how. At the top of your Facebook page is the attractive admin panel, which we all love so much since we’ve been forced into submission by timeline. Click on the little drop-down arrow to the right of “Edit Page” (red arrow). You’ll get a drop-down window. Click on “Manage Permissions” (blue arrow).

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How Can I Market My Book?

I wish I had a dollar for each time someone asked me "How can I market my book?"  I get emails all the time from people I don't know asking me this.  So, here's a recent email exchange with some answers to that question.  The answers will differ depending on what your write, when you wrote it, and how it's published.  Some of these tactics do apply to everyone, however.

Emailer:  I am wondering about ways that you have marketed your books [that would help me].

Me: 

To start, here are some questions I have for you:

Is your book fiction or non-fiction?

When was your book released?

Do you have a blog?

Is your book on your web site?

Where is your book available?

Are you on Twitter?

Are you on Facebook?

Let's see what your answers to those questions are and we can go from there.

Yes, all those questions really do make a difference.  It turns out that the book in question was self-published - in print only - and 3 years ago!  Of course, 3 years ago, self-publishing wasn't as "accepted" as it is today.  So, even though the book has been out since 2008, that doesn't mean it's a lost cause - its odds are better today than they were back when it came out.  However, the book isn't available anywhere except the author's web site.  The author is on Twitter and Facebook - but doesn't use those platforms to promote the book - at all.

After giving me the information I needed to formulate a response, the Emailer asked:  I am wondering, "What has given you the most results in exposure and sales or is it a combination of things?"

Me:

Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing what gives the most exposure since usually so many things are going on at the same time.  The things one would think provide the best exposure (i.e. television appearances - 2 of them!) have resulted in little or no traffic - let alone sales.  It really seems that it's a cumulative thing.
 

Honestly, the best thing to do is write more books.  If you're not planning on writing more books, then the best you can do is get yourself out there and hope people find you.
 

Non-fiction is much easier to market than fiction because you are an "expert" in the subject you wrote about.  Go to blogs and discussion boards on your topic and post comments - most important - with links to your website.  Don't make salesy comments - you need to establish yourself as someone with good input.  That's the point of that.  Join online groups and give your input on topics.  It's a lot of work, but it will pay off if you're diligent.
 

Who is your publisher?  Your book isn't available on their web site?  Many self-pub houses will charge a small fee to get your book into distribution.  I'd definitely check on that.  The eBook is extremely important.  Get yourself on Kindle and on Smashwords.  EBooks are outselling print books.
 

You should use Twitter.  Tweet at least once a day with some sort of interesting thing you're doing or some kind of advice based on your book's content.  Book signings, events, milestones - etc. - are great to tweet about.  Another good one is posting about other things you like - in my case hockey, photography, etc. - you can check out my tweets at @AuthorKSBrooks for example.  If you use Twitter solely for pushy sales tweets, it will alienate people.  Follow people who have interests similar to yours and some of them will follow you back but it will take time.  And you might actually enjoy what you read on there!  You can also set up Twitter so it posts the tweets to your facebook page and other social networking sites which will save you time.
 

Are you posting on your blog about your book?  You should also have guest bloggers who can post on your topic.  They'll bring their followers to your blog for a read and you can send out notices announcing the guest post which will refresh your followers', friends', and fans' memories that you exist. When my first book came out in 2001, it took 3 mentions of a product to spark familiarity to a shopper.  Now it takes 7, so getting out there using as many different venues and "excuses" as possible is more important than ever.  Do you have an e-newsletter?  If so, is there a way to subscribe on your web site?   Here's an example of a form to subscribe - and it's free - http://www.ksbrooks.com/conus.htm  Do you have sample chapters and/or excerpts on your web site?  And on your web site, do you have little buttons so people can follow you on twitter and Facebook?  See the bottom left of the page I just provided.
 

If you're planning on writing a bunch of books, you should have a facebook author page.  If you're planning on only having one book, you should have a facebook page geared towards your book.  Since I've got a bunch of books, I did an author page - http://www.facebook.com/KSBrooksAuthor
 

I have other marketing advice for writers on one of my blogs at http://authorksbrooks.blogspot.com/.  Posts are really geared towards helping writers with publicity if you'd like to take a look at those.

The Emailer replied:  Wonderful information, . . .thanks!  I've got my work cut out for me.

Yes, it is a lot of work.  Once you're set up, if you can get a rhythm going, it shouldn't be that hard to maintain.    Good luck...and keep writing!

Facebook Author Pages

Is a Facebook author page a necessity?  I can't answer that.  But if you have one, make sure once you have 25 followers you change your URL.  Let's say you're Judy, and your author page URL looks like this:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Judy-the-author/260458930631195

Well, once you have 25 fans or "likes", you can change that URL.  I get asked about this a LOT. So, here are the instructions:

On your author page, go to Edit Page in the top right hand corner. That will take you to the "manage permissions" screen. Go to the left menu bar and click on "basic information." You should see "User Name" near the top of the page in the middle. Then Facebook will walk you through it from there.  Then you can have a nice, clean URL like http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJudy.

Make sure you're happy with it the way it is, because you can't change it!  And, make sure you're happy with the Name on your page, because once you hit 100 fans, you can't change that either.

Feel free to check out my author page at http://www.facebook.com/KSBrooksAuthor.