Four hours later I came out feeling a bit dazed, a
bit irritated with myself and with this fast-moving online world and, above
all, like a complete amateur.
The upside was that I had at least an understanding of the basic
premise of this strange online world. From my random Googling about how authors
– especially indie authors - can market their books I know that social media is
an important part of the platform. Heck, for many of us it’s the only
platform.
Unfortunately what I didn’t understand when I
started out is just how involved with my social media platform I need to be. I
was shocked to discover that I should be blogging at least once a week, posting
on Facebook at least once every other day, and Tweeting roughly three times per
day. And the hosts of the seminar were even kind enough to outline when
I should be tweeting: nine (just before people settle into their daily routines),
noon (when they’re copping off for lunch), and six (at the end of the day, just
before they’re winding down).
Er ... okay, maybe my efforts had been piddly and unfocused
up to that point (groan). But at least I learned something, and I took the
message to heart. Sort of. I went home and promptly upped my twitter activity …
while simultaneously letting my website and Facebook presence all but die. Oops.
I was, however, amazed by the results of my
ramped-up tweeting when I saw there was an increase of traffic to both my
Facebook and Web pages. It looked like people were interested to see who this Veronica
Bale person was that was jumping into conversations about things like history,
writing, and publishing. Crazy - people actually wanted to know who I was!
And isn’t that why I took to social media in the
first place? I am a writer of fiction. I live in my cozy little world of
characters and plots and better-than-the-real-world danger and intrigue. But I
am also a person. There are thoughts and feelings behind each story I create.
And I wanted to share that with my readers. I wanted them to see me,
not just my books.
Of course the traffic to my Facebook and Web pages
never found much of anything except a couple of old posts because, of course, I’d
let those balls drop. Again … oops.
Since having this epiphany (which, it appears,
everyone else already had years ago) I’ve decided to blog. Why? As writer,
editor and publishing consultant Belinda Pollard says in her article Do authors really need a blog?, “if you plan to
self-publish globally, your blog or website will become the hub of your book
marketing.” And if people are coming to my page to see what I’m all about, they’re
probably going to want to see more than just, “hey, check my books out.”
I’ve seen
the positive effects on my visibility as an author from my activity on Twitter.
I know that people have at least some interest in what I have to share. The
whole reason I’m an author in the first place is because I have something to
share with readers that I think they’ll enjoy. If blogging helps me reach more
people with whom I can share, then so be it. I’ll find the time somewhere,
somehow.
So, then, on
the question “to blog or not to blog,” this amateur says, “bring it on!”
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