Absentia for Good Reason

It has been many moons so to speak that I have been absent from posting.  Several reasons for that, both personal and professional.  But mostly professional.  I made a decision in early 2019 to return to school.  I have put it off for two decades!   Yeppers 2019 was the year.  I returned to graduate school at the University of Texas at Arlington to complete my Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.

It was after much soul searching. . . should I?  Shouldn’t I?  But I have never been a “shoulda, coulda, woulda” kind of person.  Nope, just doesn’t fit the bill.  I was terrified to return.  I had not been on the student side of academia for twenty-eight years!   Sure, I had students, but being the student is a whole different kind of stress level. Although I was fascinated by the material and catching up on real world nursing literature, I missed my writing and book signings. But I didn’t dare stray.

Book Signing at ARealBookStore May 2012

 

Sheer panic overtook me as I entered the first course.  Numerous emails to the prof.  A plethora of phone calls to IT.  Fear that my computer internet speed was not going to be fast enough.  The first couple of discussion posts were brutal.  Numerous edits and re-submits.  During the time I had written my own novels, I had a final editor.  Now it was just me and grammarly.com   That God for that program.

But I plugged along, even pulling out an “A” in the course.  So what is the message?   Patience, my friend, and fortitude.   Be patient with me, I am now on the downward slope.   Fortitude is the verb that i have chosen to live by.   That, and the old adage that “slow and steady” wins the race.

And just to top it all off?  COVID-19 struck!  Now, that lovely phenomenon threatened to do us all in.   However, I was determined to forge ahead.  I thought of all the protagonists.  Not only in my novels, but in history.  I also turned to my faith.  Nope.  I would not give up.

Believe me, I cannot wait to get back to the world of historical make-believe!  In the meantime, please enjoy the accomplishments of my fellow military writers.  The Military Writer’s Society of America just announced their 2020 finalists.   I wish them all well and will enjoy celebrating their achievements.

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there”

— Theodore Roosevelt

Unfriending, unfollowing, unsubscribing. . . what gives?

Slow and steady wins the race!

So you’re in writer’s marketing high gear.   You’ve set up your blog.  Tweeted and twittered.  Facebooked, liked, and followed.   You’ve read the marketing tips, blogs on social media success, tips on tweeting.   Smile on your face, you are surfing the social media maze.   Mail Chimp geared up, you’ve drafted a slick newsletter proclaiming your worthiness and upcoming events.    Poised, polished and ready to hit . . . . send.   Click.

And then BAM, your friend unfriended you.   Your follower unfollowed.  Your co-worker unsubscribed to your email blast.   What gives?   All that work.  All that energy.   How could they?  Why would they?  Why would they hurt your feelings so?

In a recent Forbes article, Eric Limer writes “Most of the time it’s due to offensive comments, or the fact that you were never real friends with people in the first place. But you can also get cut off for updating too frequently or too infrequently. If it makes you feel any better, “physical attractiveness” and “increasing friend count” rank 4 and 5 on the list of reasons to friend people in the first place, so you’re probably better off with fewer friends in that case.”  He goes on to list the following top six reasons that people unfriend, unfollow, and unsubscribe as:

1.  Offensive comments

2.  Don’t know you well

3.  You are trying to sell something

4.  You make depressing comments

5.  You don’t interact much with others

6.  You make political comments

Diana Adams, a social media blogger concurs.  In addition, she confirms that too much self promotion, obvious automation, being offensive, posting too many hashtags, and not driving real conversations are all doomsday for tweets.   Don’t be a used car salesman.   Sure, it takes about three or four points of contact before someone will make the connection and buy your book.   That is why follow-up is important.   Just don’t overdo it.   Pay it foward through promotion of others work as well.   A tweet or blurb about a book is always more powerful when it comes from someone other than you.    It’s more genuine.

So, it is essential that you create a blog, facebook page, and twitter page that present the brand and image that you want to show positively.   Keep your snide and downer comments in your personal diary.  Far, far away from your reading public.    As a writer, promo perky as you try to be; the rejection can be tough.    You put in hours of work and effort to have your neighbor down the street, click UN-     Harsh!

Balance your time with social media.   Don’t let it overwhelm you.    Writing is your gift.  Make sure you are giving it enough time.    Set a time limit for your social media and don’t let it drive you crazy!    Slap some Neosporin on your war wounds and just keep going.  Let the momentum build.   Slowly, but surely.  In the book marketing game, the tortoise wins the race.

Top five social media links you don’t want to miss!

Is your bandwagon full?

Just when you think you are hitting the wall, BAM!   A great networking site proves to be gold.   The World Literary Cafe, both their website and especially their group facebook page  are just platinum!    This site is for authors who are genuinely supporting authors.  There are plenty of sites that say they support authors, but come to find out the TLC comes with a  $$ price.    The synergistic networking that takes place immediately on signing up at World Literary Cafe just cannot be beat.

Traffic to my website AgeView Press, blog, twitter and facebook accounts increased exponetially in a week!    Thanks guys!    You really rock.   In surfing to the World Literary Cafe FB you will find discussions happening live with answers to many common issues within Indie Publishing.   There is a force moving!   The Indie world started as a ground swell, but expect it to surge to tsunami status.

Here are the Top Five Social Media links for today that you don’t want to miss!

1.   World Literary Cafe     Super discussions.  Author links.  Book reviews.   Fab networking gold!  Slogan?  #sharethelove4authors

2.  Reviewer Roundup on Facebook       Great place to find a jumping off point for your virtual book tour.

3.  Kobo     Now accepting Indie published ebooks with a 70% royalty!

4.   The Bookseller.com    This is an article published just recently.  Evidence of the movement.  AM Heath  now supporting Indie authors!!

And the top link of the day which made the day worthwhile?

5.  The Online Converter         A way to convert your books and other files to epub for FREE!  That’s right.  FREE!

Enjoy and thank you for visiting.   Please share and link this page for your fellow writers and friends.   Don’t forget to follow on Goodreads !

Making the Most of Social Media

Today I had the pleasure of attending yet another fab meeting of DFW Indi Publishers.   Networking and wonderful takeaways yet again, thanks to the speakers provided by Charlotte Ann Moore, Organizer.    Today’s guest speaker was Thomas Umstattd Jr. founder and CEO of AuthorMedia.   He gave an info packed talk on the in’s and out’s of social media marketing.  Wow, amazing!   All the things that you didn’t know about Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds and how those jewels can make or break you as an author, whether published Indie or though a large publishing house.

Gone are the days when an author can simply write a book, get an agent, and publish through a large house only to sit back and watch their book sell.  No, no an NO!   In today’s electronically charged arena of publishing, the author must build their own social media platform.  With a savvy combo of Facebook, Twitter, and blogging, the author can take their book from 200 copies to 20,000 with the right combination of know how.

This is where AuthorMedia comes in to play.   They take your materials and guide you through the maze of the electronic marketing fray and frenzy.   De-mystifying #hashtags, timelines, google stats, and the all important SOE (search optimization engines).    Thomas and his crew can do everything from building your website, to educating you on how to build and maintain your digital author platform from which to launch your book to a best seller!

Just great stuff.  Please check out his website and social media connections!     Happy tweeting, blogging, and facebooking!    Not to mention writing.