TopTips on Social Media for Authors and Illustrators

Insta Post!

Social media - love it or hate it, it's part of our modern lives and a big part of the deal of getting your book to readers.   Not everyone takes naturally to it, and not everyone has an instinct for using the technology.  If that's you, this post aims to give a simple guide of how best to make social media work for you without swamping your life. If you've any questions, pop them in the comments and I'll do my best to help.

Website.

You probably need a website. It doesn't need to be all singing all dancing but it needs to showcase you and your work in an appealing way so that if someone searches for you, they're going to be mildly impressed. This is especially important if you're an illustrator.

Here's mine: www.kathrynevans.ink

Who does it reach? Anyone searching for you - potentially agents, editors, reviewers, readers, librarians.

How to use it?  

1. I've written a brief how to on my own website that you might find useful for the very basics. You'll find it here. 
2. Keep it updated and fresh. Post public appearances, news,  information about event bookings - have a look at other people's websites for inspiration.
3. Put links to booksellers on your posts - make it easy for people to purchase if they want to.
4. Check your website is usable on phones, tablets and desktops. Wordpress has a facility that will allow you to see how it looks across all of these.
5.  Check in so you can answer any comments or have them sent to your email.

Facebook

This is probably the best known of all the western platforms. It's also, possibly,  the most highly visible in terms of ethical issues such as misuse of data and the spreading of fake news. I won't go in to those here but our own Candy Gourlay discusses that here. Aside from those issues,  in terms of promoting yourself to an audience, is it worth being on Facebook?

I get very little traffic to my Facebook Author page - I keep it because there is some traffic and because I don't want to bore my friends and family rigid with all my book news on my personal Facebook page. In truth though, most of my Facebook followers ARE my friends and family. And that is what I find Facebook best for.  I am a member of several private groups and I love the community space they provide. I can see what my wider family are up to and dip in and out when  I want to.

Here's mine: https://www.facebook.com/kathrynevansauthor/

Who does it reach?   Mostly friends and family. Good for chat groups like SCBWI and other writer groups.

How to use it: 
1. Post regularly, aim for at least every other day.
2. Check your messages so you don't miss anything. Block any horrible people without engaging.
3. Interact with comments at least once a day if you can.
4. Don't push your book at people, give them interesting relevant content such as news articles or reviews.
5. Use the cool things Facebook gives you - there's a Book Now link that you can set up to take your readers straight to  your website.
6. Link the account to Instagram if it helps, (so if you upload to Insta it'll automatically post to the face book page you  select).

There are alternatives to Facebook but I'm not hugely familiar with them and so far, adding extra platforms is just a bit too much for me BUT you'll find a few Slushies, including me occasionally, on MeWe.

Twitter.

Fast paced and furious Twitter can be a bit bewildering and shouty as well as fun and dynamic.

Here's mine: @KathrynEvansInk

Who does it reach? Librarians, book sellers, bloggers and other authors cross paths. If you want to reach industry professionals, Twitter is the place.

How to use it:
1. Don't shout BUY MY BOOK, no one  will follow you.
2. Be wise, pertinent, funny and sharp. You need to be generous - share good things you've found, help promote others - if someone asks for advice, try and give it.
3. Follow people, interact with them. Be interested and interesting.
4. If you get embroiled in an argument stay calm , block anyone who is outrageously rude to you.
5. You can't retweet a tweet over and over without commenting on it but it's easy for a single tweet to be missed so Retweet with comment - you can use ICYMI ( In Case You Missed It) so you can RT (retweet) again later.
6. Use a service like TweetDeck to organise your tweets - you can create search columns and schedule tweets.
7. Use appropriate hashtags - #amwriting #amediting are really useful ones !
8. Use your author name so people can find you easily.

Instagram. 

I was advised to join Instagram by my publicist. I didn't think I'd like it. Turned out, I LOVE it.

Classic Insta story post!

Here's mine: @KathrynEvansAuthor

Who does it reach? Readers and bloggers and librarians. This is the primary place my readers connect with me - I write YA so that  may skew the figures - do comment if you write for a different age group, I'd love to know where works best for you.

How to use it? 

1. Post regularly without swamping people's feeds. Aim for once or twice a day.
2. Be interesting and relevant but don't be shy - the posts that get most likes on my Instagram are usually pictures of my new hair colour!
3. Think about what you're presenting to the world and try and keep to the same themes - I post about my life so it is a bit eclectic - books, hair, pets and fencing mostly.
3. Use hashtags - that's how people find you- #bookstagram #amreading are good ones.
4. Stories allows you to take a reader on a journey through your day without swamping their feed - they have to choose to look at stories - look at how Juno Dawson and Alwyn Hamilton do it. I find their story threads really fun and engaging.
5. Make your pictures as good as they can be - the edit features in Instagram allow you to turn your pictures the right way around and brighten or sharpen them. Take time to get to know how to use them.
6. Interact with people - this is almost more important than posting - comment, ask questions - aim to do so around 5 times a day.
7. Use an app like Repost to share other people's cool posts - ask permission first, they usually love it.
8. Go to settings and connect your account to twitter and facebook - then you can choose which images to share across all platforms.

YouTube

I am on You Tube but creating content takes such a long time I don't use it enough. Still, it's fun and another place for people to find you. Youngsters search YouTube all the time, they use it like a search engine to locate 'how to's' and information about things they're interested in. It's a platform I should make more use of! Though I don't feel qualified to help you with this one but have a look at my channel if you want to see what I do.

SnapChat

I thought Snapchat would be a great way to connect with my teen readers. I hated it - I got sent a lot of pictures of willies and my son deleted all the people I'd inadvertently befriended.

Here's mine:

Who does it reach? Who knows? I only use it to keep in touch with my son these days!

How to Use it: Sorry, it's still a mystery to me BUT it has really fun filters and you can save the images and videos and post them wherever you like. Here's a snapshot  of a virtual reality video I made with a Snapchat filter and then posted on Instagram.

That's it - there are many other platforms but for promotion purposes, these are the main places to be. My final bit of advice though - if you hate it leave it. Choose the place you feel happiest and make the most of that one.


 Kathryn Evans is the award winning author of More of Me. Her new book, Beauty Sleep, ( Black Mirror meets Sleeping Beauty) is out now.  Kathryn loves faffing about on social media: find her  on Facebook and Instagram @kathrynevansauthor and tweeting @KathrynEvansInk.  

The Thrill of the Chase - My Quest for the Perfect Agent

By Nick Cross

All photos of Banta the dog and his frisbee by Tom Ek

I’m only in the first sentence of this post, and already I’m not sure about the word “perfect” in that headline. In fact, I’m quite sure there is no such thing as the perfect agent - they are all human beings like us writers, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. But all I know is that my previous experience of having an agent was very unhappy, and I’m not keen to repeat that!

Of course, I may not get much choice in the matter. As I’ve discovered over the last ten years, you can be friends with any number of agents, but that doesn’t mean they'll want to represent you. In fact, what it mostly guarantees is that they’ll reject you promptly with a kind email and words of encouragement. All of which is much nicer than the alternative, but hardly the way to build a writing career...

So, what to do? It can be a bittersweet feeling to watch your friends achieving success, as most of the Slushpile team have. There have been multiple book deals, awards and all sorts of other good stuff since I first met these talented folks a decade ago. I’m proud of their success and proud to cheer them on. But I can’t escape the feeling that I’m still stuck on the starting blocks, the perennial “nearly there” author.

Enough feeling maudlin. Where is the “thrill” mentioned in the post title? Well, it’s something that’s surprised me about the submissions process for my illustrated YA novel RIOT BOYYY. Six books in, you’d think I’d be well and truly fed up of submitting by now, just going through the motions. But new thinking and new technology have made the process unexpectedly exciting this time around.

The source of my joy is those three little words. No, not those words, I'm talking about Manuscript Wish List. Using the hashtag #MSWL, agents regularly tweet about what kind of books they are looking for right now. Armed with that information, you can quickly craft a submission and get it in their inbox double quick, before someone else inevitably comes up with the same book you’ve already written. Even better than #MSWL is the accompanying website www.manuscriptwishlist.com. As well as linking to #MSWL tweets, this site hosts pages that agents can update with their preferences. It’s searchable by age group and genre, which removes almost all of the guesswork when selecting agents.

The vast majority of agents on Manuscript Wish List are American, but that’s fine because I’m targeting the US market for my book. Aside from the huge number of agents who accept YA fiction, submitting to US agents has other advantages. They are mostly working when I’m not, which means that if I avoid my email from mid-afternoon, I only have to worry about finding rejections in my inbox when I wake up in the morning. Of course, a rejection first thing is not the greatest start to the day! But is there any good time to receive one?



The buzz that comes from using Manuscript Wish List can be addictive. I was browsing Twitter one Friday lunchtime when I spotted an agent who was requesting exactly what I’d written. I sent the manuscript then and there, which took me a while because the agent had some unusually complex submission requirements. But once I pressed Send I didn’t care - this was so exciting!

My dreams of publishing glory crashed and burned the next day when the same agent rejected me. On a Saturday! Like some other responses I’ve received, this rejection praised the book’s concept, but was less enamoured of the way it was written. This sucks, but I guess it’s something I’ll have to live with. I’ve been writing for long enough (15 years!) to know I’m not suddenly going to develop a luminous, poetic writing style where every sentence sparkles like a rare gem. More than that, though, this is the right voice for the book I’ve written. And if you can’t see that, then I guess you’re not the right agent for me.

Submitting to agents (or “querying” as the Americans call it) can sometimes feel like a full-time job. Even with the help of Manuscript Wish List, you have to search for agents, check them out on Twitter, read their submission guidelines, tailor your covering letter, check everything twice and make sure you send only what they ask for. This takes me a minimum of thirty minutes per submission, and often longer (I estimate I’ve spent upwards of 30 hours on submissions of this book so far). The Twitter part is an essential stage BTW, because agents are constantly changing agencies or closing their submissions list. Plus, if their tweets look really crazy, you can swiftly walk away, whistling!

Another technological innovation I’ve encountered is the use of a system called QueryManager to manage submissions. Instead of sending an email, this requires you to submit via a web form, uploading attachments as necessary. This feels like a faff, but once you finish you get a URL back that you can use to check the status of your submission at any time. No more worrying about whether your email (or an agent’s enthusiastic reply) fell off the back of internet, or agonising over whether you spelt their name right in your covering letter.



The use of QueryManager opens up the possibility of asking for more information beyond the basic covering letter, sample and synopsis. Prompts such as “Describe the intended audience for your book” or even “Who is your favourite Harry Potter character?” At their best, such questions can make you think more deeply about the commercial appeal of your work. At their worst, they risk making the submissions process ever more time-consuming and labyrinthine, like some sadistic game.

Talking of sadistic games, I almost joined a mass Twitter pitch session earlier this month, but chickened out at the last minute (I guess I'm not ready for that kind of excitement!) There were tens of thousands of tweets, it all seemed so public, and I lost confidence in my carefully-crafted paragraph because it didn’t seem to follow the rules that everyone else had internalised. In fact, the more I researched the rules for Twitter pitching, the more I began to doubt the pitch I’d been using for months. Should I be including a rhetorical question in my pitch? Was that why agents kept sending me form rejections? Are you going to stop reading this blog post if I keep using them here?

I quickly found myself in a doubt spiral, which feels a bit silly in retrospect because this was the same pitch I’d delivered in front of 200 people, and it seemed to go down pretty well! In the end, I resolved to change nothing and resumed sending out individually to agents. If I’ve learnt anything about my process over the years, it’s that when those doubts strike I need to hold firm and meddle with my novel as little as possible. The devil makes work for anxious writers.

My quest for the perfect agent continues, and it’s hard to say if I’m getting any closer at this point. At least I’m having a bloody good try. My fellow Slushie Kathryn Evans, so long a “nearly there” author, used to have the following as her status:

Waiting, waiting, waiting. Hoping, hoping, hoping.

What she said.

Nick.

---

Nick Cross is a children's writer/illustrator and Undiscovered Voices winner. He received a SCBWI Magazine Merit Award, for his short story The Last Typewriter.
Nick is also the Blog Network Editor for SCBWI Words & Pictures magazine. His Blog Break column appears fortnightly on W&P.

How to Self-Promote Without Losing Yourself in the Process

By Nick Cross

Whether you’re traditionally published, self-published or still trying, the pressure to promote yourself has never been greater. We’re exhorted to “get out there and build a platform” via social media and word of mouth. But while some authors manage this transition gracefully, there are others who undergo a Jekyll and Hyde transformation, turning into publicity-hungry monsters.

Storifying my guest appearance on #UKMGchat: All About Dual Narratives

<<<PREVIOUS: HOW WE LIVE NOW

By Candy Gourlay

On 9 April, I guested on the vociferous #UKMGchat, a twitter chat group devoted to middle grade in the United Kingdom. Here's a recap of our night of tweeting (you might have to wait for the embedded tweet images to show up):

DO CHECK OUT MY PRE-#UKMGchat BLOG POST ON DUAL NARRATIVES

Tonight @candygourlay will be talking about DUAL NARRATIVE for #ukmgchat. We have a small number of questions. Not many at all.
— Wise Miriam (@miriamhcraig) April 9, 2015

Been getting slightly sinister messages about the coming interrogation. Is it always like this on #ukmgchat? @miriamhcraig @authorontheedge
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

@candygourlay @miriamhcraig They're not sinister! Merely keen and over excitable. I *may* be writing a dual narrative myself...
— Lorraine Gregory (@authorontheedge) April 9, 2015

Depends whether you do it for right reasns @TheWendyAllen bumps you up to OMG -Older Middle Grade #ukmgchat @miriamhcraig @authorontheedge
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

@candygourlay @miriamhcraig @authorontheedge thanks, I will check later to see what the right reasons are - have fun! (OMG made me laugh)
— Wendy Allen (@TheWendyAllen) April 9, 2015

I wish I could claim OMG (Older Middle Grade) was my creation but @JBMcLoughlin invented it! @TheWendyAllen @authorontheedge @miriamhcraig
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

*****KLAXON***** #ukmgchat Welcome to @candygourlay and all - we're discussing DUAL NARRATIVE in middle grade fiction! @authorontheedge
— Wise Miriam (@miriamhcraig) April 9, 2015

First question to @candygourlay - What feedback have you had on the dual narrative structure of your books? #ukmgchat @authorontheedge
— Wise Miriam (@miriamhcraig) April 9, 2015

Well lots of folk like it. But in terms of reading age, it does make your book OMG @miriamhcraig @authorontheedge #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

When I do my school visits, the competent readers are wowed by the idea of dual narrative @miriamhcraig @authorontheedge
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

... but for developing readers, it's something to get used to @miriamhcraig @authorontheedge #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

@candygourlay Do you think both 'heroes' need to appeal to your readers? #ukmgchat
— Elen Caldecott (@ElenCaldecott) April 9, 2015

I didn't spot this question so I will answer this here - a dual narrative only works if the reader wants to read both stories. I  have read dual books and skipped one voice because I didn't see the point of the other. There has to be a point to using the dual narrative structure.

@candygourlay Were agents or editors reluctant about your use of a dual narrative? Did it put anyone off? #ukmgchat
— Lorraine Gregory (@authorontheedge) April 9, 2015

Agents and editors had no problem about it. I have since talked to children who tell me how theyhad to get their heads around it.

@candygourlay love that book! great example. #ukmgchat
— Elen Caldecott (@ElenCaldecott) April 9, 2015

@candygourlay Hello. How do you structure your dual narrative? Is it alternate chapter or in each section? Thanks #ukmgchat
— Jill Kathryn Wilson (@JillKWilson) April 9, 2015

There are many ways of structuring a dual narrative - you can alternate voices, places, time periods ... check out this blog post I wrote giving examples of dual narrative.

@miriamhcraig @authorontheedge @candygourlay Can it mean historical plot woven in too, like Holes? Or is that called smth else? #ukmgchat
— Emma Greenwood (@emmajgreenwood) April 9, 2015 

@alexthepink @emmajgreenwood @authorontheedge @candygourlay I think Holes counts as dual narrative, but in quite a light way. #ukmgchat
— Wise Miriam (@miriamhcraig) April 9, 2015

I liked how the minor historical narrative in Holes, paces itself so that every reveal adds to the frisson of the other story.

Does 2 alternating POV characters count as dual narrative or is it only two different time frames/locations? #ukmgchat
— Peter Bunzl (@peterbunzl) April 9, 2015

Both are DN @peterbunzl #ukmgchat In Tall Story I alternate voices. In A GAthering Light, the two voices are of one char, but from two times
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

@candygourlay @peterbunzl That is such an interesting take. #ukmgchat
— Emma Greenwood (@emmajgreenwood) April 9, 2015

@candygourlay Were agents or publishers put off by your using a dual narrative? #ukmgchat @miriamhcraig
— Lorraine Gregory (@authorontheedge) April 9, 2015

No! they loved it. With Shine, the original version had the backstory of the 2nd character ... @authorontheedge @miriamhcraig #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

.. tacked on at the end. Terrible. Then my editor suggested that I intersperse the second narrative @authorontheedge @miriamhcraig #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Tall Story is a culture clash novel and so the form was perfect for juxtaposing the two cultures of my heroes. @JenniferKillick
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

But DN is not just alternating viewpoints. It's also about playing with time, interspersing dual storylines #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Ha ha ha @ElenCaldecott #ukmgchat That's like forgetting one of your children!
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Mistake: having a weaker voice alongside a strong voice. There's no pt doing it unless voices are distinctive @authorontheedge #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

I think because it's about viewpoint, if in third, it's got to be close third @ElenCaldecott #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

It depends on what sort of DN you're doing. Remember A Gathering Light? She wrote it in present and past tense @autho #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

In fact the storylines should be simple- the complexity is in knitting 2 storylines together @JenDMuller @miriamhcraig @ems_worth #ukmgchatt
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Shine has one voice in first person and the other voice in second person @emmajgreenwood @miriamhcraig #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

OMG @peterbunzl that's true! @miriamhcraig @ElenCaldecott @Hapfairy #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Although I don't think the independent stories that weave through Shine count as part of a multiple narrative because they are only small components of one storyline and do not carry on through out the book.

Melvin Burgess critted Tall Story early on and told me to write their names in big letters on each chapter. @miriamhcraig #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

The Room - yes! Definitely for 7plus year oldreaders @authorontheedge @emmajgreenwood @miriamhcraig #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

You have to be a bit of a planner - I'm somewhere in between but I try to make chapters interplay @authorontheedge @miriamhcraig #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Keep writing until your character comes alive. Once alive, throw the rest away @CrackerHackerJM #ukmgchat It's all about character
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

I really do write like that. I keep writing crap until the characters develop their own wills and hearts @CrackerHackerJM #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

The opposing characters must have desires that cause them to clash @CrackerHackerJM #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

The narratives and the voices have to be distinct in your mind from the beginning. If there's any doubt dontdo DN @LibWithAttitude #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Good point! @RachelHCampling Both hav to be strong because it's a technical feat. But character 1st @miriamhcraig @CrackerHackerJM #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

It's got to feel real. Complex will interrupt the reading experience! @miriamhcraig @emmajgreenwood @authorontheedge #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Good ex of linear is Code Name Verity - linear then next character takes baton of story @ems_worth @JenDMuller @miriamhcraig #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Re complexity it's how alternate chapters bounce off each other so that you get a wow effect @miriamhcraig @ems_worth @JenDMuller #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

If you're shaky on plot structure, it's not gonna work @authorontheedge @miriamhcraig #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Yes @peterbunzl it's too confusing - unless of course you're targetting OMG @miriamhcraig @emmajgreenwood @authorontheedge #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Subplots - DN is not a replacement for subplots. The story must demand it @emmajgreenwood @miriamhcraig @ems_worth @JenDMuller #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

DN is not just structure it's the story: a juxtaposition of worlds & voices @emmajgreenwood @miriamhcraig @ems_worth @JenDMuller #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

When I wrote TS and Shine, I didn't plan to do DN. The story made me do it. Let the story decide @miriamhcraig @authorontheedge #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Ah as we say in the Philippines: its depend. There are no rules! @emmajgreenwood @miriamhcraig @ems_worth @JenDMuller #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Keep calm and read it aloud to yourself @authorontheedge @miriamhcraig #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

It was hard @authorontheedge #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Sometimes extra characters complicate the plot in the wrong way. She will thank you for it @Viking_Ma @EyersJonathan #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Sol Stein wrote: Never take your readers where they want to go @peterbunzl @emmajgreenwood @miriamhcraig @ems_worth @JenDMuller #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

Twists galore happen w 2 unreliable narrators - a game of double bluff @helenclarkjones @helen_geekmum @emmajgreenwood @ems_worth #ukmgchat
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

@ems_worth Agreed- it needs to add something, rather than be used as a gimmick. #ukmgchat
— Helen (@helen_geekmum) April 9, 2015

@helen_geekmum @ems_worth I LOVE it when DN builds and deepens theme #ukmgchat
— Emma Greenwood (@emmajgreenwood) April 9, 2015

Goodbye and thank you #ukmgchat pic.twitter.com/j1nmrepIrZ
— Candy Gourlay (@candygourlay) April 9, 2015

For a moment there UK middle grade children's literature whooped #DisneyGossip's proverbials! #ukmgchat https://t.co/uyhG72RAHf
— Emma Greenwood (@emmajgreenwood) April 9, 2015

Screenshot of trending topics

View an unexpurgated Storify of the chat here

Social Media: Eight Things We Can Learn from Old Style Journalism

By Candy Gourlay

Well I say 'old-style' because I was a journalist in the eighties and the nineties. This post is about how journalism has taught me stuff I now apply to Social Media.