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.  

Is It Time to Face the Truth About Facebook?

By Candy Gourlay

We were supposed to post our Notes from the Slushpile Christmas greetings today but I've been so bothered by recent events that I thought I'd push our Christmas post to Monday and put this out today. 

Facebook.

A lifeline to the world. A boon to authors who are their own marketing departments. A way to meet like-minded folk, share information and grow friendships with people you would otherwise never have had the chance to meet in a million years.

I have really valued Facebook. It is not an understatement to say Facebook has given me the world.

But recent news has left me wracked with discomfort and guilt about my enjoyment of Mark Zuckerberg's creation.

We have known the harm that Facebook has been doing for some time. Its addictive qualities have eroded not just our productivity but our capacity for face to face, real life interaction. We discuss and debate this problem but most of us do nothing because our need for that Facebook Rush outstrips any concern for our own wellbeing – like just having to eat that chocolate bar when you're trying to lose weight.

As an author, I depend on Facebook to engage with readers. I try to curate a Facebook feed that does not just talk about my books but delivers meaningful content about reading, literacy and writing.

But recently, I have had to ask myself: at what cost?

PRIVACY

Isn't it funny how we all got used to giving up our data in exchange for all the conveniences and wonders of social media? When the Cambridge Analytica debacle happened, maybe some of us tweaked our privacy and permissions settings but it didn't stop us using Facebook.

And then there were security vulnerabilities that resulted in up to 50 million accounts being hacked.

And then those trusted partners FB shares our details with? They included "such powerful global firms as the Russian search engine (and Kremlin partner) Yandex, Chinese phone maker (under sanctions for producing insecure devices that enable state surveillance) Huawei, Yahoo, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, Sony (which suffered a major security breach in 2014), and the New York Times", writes Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy. Says Vaidhyanathan:

... if it becomes clear – as it has – that multiple industries depend on exploiting the personal data of millions or even billions of people, the concentrated political power of organized, wealthy companies outweighs the distributed power of disorganized citizens. These most recent revelations show that while Facebook might be the most egregious abrogator of our trust, there are no innocents.

COUNTING THE COST IN BLOOD

But I think the most inconvenient truth about Facebook is how it has been weaponised by certain sectors to spread disinformation, win votes, destabilise and divide.

At first, there was euphoria, as ordinary people realised social media could bring down authoritarian governments. But it quickly became obvious that FB didn't discriminate between good guys and bad guys.

Warned over and over by alarmed journalists and experts, FB did nothing. Watch the PBS documentary The Facebook Dilemma, Part One and Part Two – or listen to the audio track 1 and 2. A report about the documentary on CNN summarises it thus:

... there were plenty of people sounding alarms who were by all accounts dismissed or ignored -- practically "begging and pleading with the company, saying 'Please pay attention to this'". CNN

Oh sure, out in the west, we are hearing a lot about concerns for US democracy. But in big, strong, monied democracies there is always an opportunity for justice.

It is FB's effect on smaller, poorer, weaker states that we see profound damage. In the Philippines – where most mobile phones can view FB for free – a FB-enhanced election has led to a drug war (drawing its oxygen from yet more FB weaponising) that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. In Myanmar, killings incited on Facebook are being called a genocide.

ARE WE FACEBOOK ENTHUSIASTS CULPABLE TOO?

Well ... are we?

Facebook thrives on us.

Wired Magazine quotes media theorist Douglas Rushkoff:

Ask yourself who is paying for Facebook. Usually the people who are paying are the customers. Advertisers are the ones who are paying. If you don't know who the customer of the product you are using is, you don't know what the product is for. We are not the customers of Facebook, we are the product. Facebook is selling us to advertisers.

Many of us think, but that's okay. I have nothing to hide. I don't mind being served those adverts on FB – I want to see most of them anyway!

And for authors like me, Facebook is such a godsend that so what if FB has shared my details with Netflix? I like watching Netflix and FB is so convenient, so easy to use, and most importantly, has such a MASSIVE reach ... I could never achieve that with a poxy little author website.

But but but ... how can we ignore the harm FB is doing? How can we shrug and say, 'nothing to do with me' when the harm FB does is all in our name?

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?

Is Facebook going to change?

Facebook will not change unless we change.

But most of us have too much too lose. Family, friends, livelihood ... we are enmeshed in FB's ecosystem (which includes WhatsApp and Instagram).

The right thing to do is to #DeleteFacebook or at least deactivate your account ... here's how.

For authors like me (this is, after all a blog for children's authors), deleting FB will be a massive loss. It will demand a sea change in social media behaviour. An author who abandons FB will have to:

• Return to blogging (many of us abandoned our blogs for microblogging on FB). Do all you can to build your subscriber list (not for the lazy or faint hearted).

• Boost one's presence on Twitter (which has its own ethical issues) and other social media platforms like Goodreads and Tumblr. Twitter is stronger on the networking front so this would take creativity and is only useful in combination with other social media. It might be that Twitter will be forced to change to respond to the needs of a huge influx of FB refugees

• Look to traditional media – radio, print and TV – for a presence. Even though this has been a shrinking space, large numbers abandoning FB will create demand. But will traditional media respond?

• Use YouTube – video is powerful but demands skills and presence. But YouTube is part of the Google ecosystem, and we haven't exactly been happy about Google's behaviour either, have we?

• Improve one's website – but how to drive traffic to one's website?

• Seek and participate in literacy groups and teaching resources (like Teachit) sites or whatever special interest group that might appeal to one's particular books – online AND in real space

I am mulling all these (and more). It will certainly make my professional life harder. How do I make the time for all these while writing my books and doing the speaking engagements that are my bread and butter?

And to be totally honest, I am feeling reluctant. I have put so much of my life on FB. I love seeing my friends from across the world on my feed. I love my FB groups for authors and illustrators and and literacy and history and Philippine mythology enthusiasts. I have so much to lose.

But people are dying. Surely that is a good enough reason to get on with it? Isn't it time to ACT instead of complaining on social media and signing endless e-petitions that only help to feed the FB newsfeed?

Siva Vaidhyanathan is not optimistic about these revelations changing FB:

... while the most recent revelations of the depths of Facebook’s depravity shock the conscience, the deeper story is that Facebook’s position is more secure than we had feared. And Zuckerberg need not abandon his core principles as his algorithms continue to manipulate how billions of people make choices every day. 

Leaving Facebook will be one choice that Zuckerberg cannot manipulate.

But do I have the moral courage to do it?

---

Candy Gourlay's latest book BONE TALK has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. Her picture book Is It a Mermaid? illustrated by Francesca Chessa has been nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal.  Find out more about Candy on her website and Twitter. 

My Year of Launching Prodigiously

By Candy Gourlay

I am in Book Launch Mode. Here's a gratuitous picture of my two new books.

I have written in the past about how to organise a book launch party. This article is not about that, although book launch parties are integral parts of the book launch and I have actually just spent the past month attending the launch parties of friends.

This particular book launch piece is about bringing a book into the world – in my case TWO books, in one year. My first picture book Is It a Mermaid? was published in the UK in April, then in the US in May. And my third novel Bone Talk is going to be published in the UK in August.

Launching a book is a mind trick for us authors.

I mean writing a book takes time – my novels can be in progress for five to six years! – and during that time writing THE END is the only goal. And once the book is finished, what do authors want to do? We want to write the next book ... not faff around with marketing!

In an ideal world, of course, authors can stay in their caves accumulating word count and cholesterol.

But the world has not been ideal since it turned global.

Publishers have shed that fusty old practice of nurturing an author then publishing to the small, appreciative audience who could be relied upon to buy books anyway. It was a smaller space with author and books at its centre - not bottom lines and market shares.

And then of course came the internet, which may at first have appeared to be the procrastinating author's blessing, but has now put the task of promotion squarely in the author's cave.

You need a plan on how you're going to engage with people before your book is available, and then motivate them to buy your book once it's published.

Your First 1000 Copies: The Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Your Book by Tim Grahl

Yes, I have read book launch guru Tim Grahl's guide. And yes, I've also read Grahl's Book Launch Blueprint – which by the way is currently available as a free download. It's full of great tips and Grahl's personal experiences helping turn his author clients into success stories.

But will reading the book sell you're first 1000 copies? Nah. Reading is not doing. And most people would rather read ... then complain that it's all too hard. So my first launching tip is this:

Do it. 

Which is going to be tough.

You will need to be as motivated to market as you are to write the book. It's a full time job in itself – you can't do it unless you understand how it all works. You can't do it unless you have time away from work, new book, family, pet, etc. You can't do it without skills, like Luke couldn't rescue Princess Leia right away because he was only a moisture farmer.

When I give talks on book marketing, it's hard to watch the eager faces of the audience crumple one by one as people realise the enormity of the task.

But guys, you are authors. Remember how hard it was to start writing your book? How you had  this great idea and hesitated for weeks, thinking, should I or shouldn't I? Thinking, it will take forever to write it! Then deciding, yes, you want it. Yes, you will write it. And then spending five bloody years working on it.

This is actually a wee bit easier.

You just need to do that thing you did. Say yes. And then get on with it.


Who are you marketing to? 
Unlike authors who write for grown ups, we kidlit authors know that the sales of our book are curated by the forces that circle young people like Dementors circling Hogwarts – parents, grandparents, teachers, librarians, Zoella ... these are the forces that influence the actual buying of your books (since our readers don't tend to buy books themselves).

Most of you guys probably already get the idea of marketing to influencers.

One of the new ideas I stumbled upon while procrastinating was the idea of the Purchase Funnel –actually to the marketing profession it's an old idea ... but, hey, it's new to me. I was trying to understand Facebook advertising (Argh!) so I clicked on a podcast on how to build a Facebook Ad Funnel.

Before your eyes glaze over, the podcast was actually fascinating – and my takeaway was invaluable:

It's not just about knowing who your target audience is, it's knowing how enthusiastic he or she is about you and your books.

The idea is you have to market in a different way to different levels of enthusiasm.

Hot is the person who is always going to buy your book (Diehard fans, if you're lucky to have those. Mom ... Dad ... Grandma).

Well .. maybe Grandma

Warm is the person who is likely but not guaranteed to buy your book (Friends, sadly. People who have read your previous books. People who have not read your previous book but are interested in your themes, etc.)


via GIPHY

Cold is the person who has had no contact with you and has no interest in your themes (The Dad in the bookshop who was staring at the shelf with your book on it but probably not at your book. Zoella. The BBC. Benedict Cumberbatch...).


via GIPHY

The takeaway is: each of these groups need a different approach.

Otherwise you will find yourself engaging some and repelling others in equal measure.

When I say 'marketing to' I really mean 'building a relationship with'. 

If you're in for the long haul – as in, planning a career in book writing – then you need to build an audience that is in it for the long haul too.

Yes our readers are children who will outgrow our books. But every child who is captivated by your book will grow up to be an adult who will put that book into another child's hand.

Most of us authors became writers because of some adult in our life – usually a librarian – who said, 'I think you will love reading this.' Now that's a relationship.

Is there such a thing as a loving relationship that begins with an email saying 'Buy my book'?

Food for thought.


via GIPHY



Marshall Your Troops. 

Luke Skywalker needed Obi Wan Kenobi to learn how to use the force. It's okay to be a padawan (non-Star Wars fans: a padawan is an apprentice).


via GIPHY

In fact, with this marketing gig, you will probably be a padawan all your life because though you do marketing it is not your job. You are an author and if you are out online marketing away and not writing books then you are in serious danger of not having anything to sell.

It is easy to think, sitting in the writer's cave, that one is all alone in the world.

You are not alone.

There are people out there willing to help you. And a lot of them will do it for free. You may not have skills but some of your friends do. I'm sure they will all be clamouring to help, you've been such a fantastic giving friend. Have you?

And if you're lucky enough to be traditionally published, your publisher will have a publicist and a sales team. Talk to them. Ply them with alcohol. Make them like you.

There is so much information on the internet about marketing. Get good at Googling. Google knows lots of things you need. How to do a Book Launch Party. How to Set up a Mailing List. How to Market My Book.

There are live spaces (as in not online) where you can be discovered. Libraries. Bookshops. Schools. Courses. Workshops. Fairs. Festivals. Though you may prefer to lurk in your cave, for the reader (or influencer), meeting you in person might be the  most compelling incentive to buy your book.

Comb your hair. Brush your teeth. Leave the pyjamas at home.


Do an audit of what you already have. 

In the fog of despair, it's easy to forget that you're a pretty cool person with lots of talents you can deploy to this impossible task.

You might not have noticed that you already have an asset in you had not previously identified as a marketing tool in your armoury.

Have you got a blog packed with useful articles that you can repackage as free resources?

Do you have a circle of friends, of people who are passionate about the same interests? It could be a Parent's Association, a hobby club, an online forum. Perhaps your book has a theme that could be of use/help to an interest group.

My new book stars the dugong, an animal who is endangered because its sea grass habitat is under threat. I am trying to hook up with seagrass organisations and use the book as a platform to raise awareness about this lovely beast.

If you are sure you haven't got one, join the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators – make friends, attend events, help people.

Do you have a creative skill that you can deploy - are you an artist? A poet? A knitter? A teacher?

In your audit consider not just the skill that can help you do the marketing, but what you can make so that the readers will come.


Make things. 

So many authors are taking courses in Twitter and Facebook and hoping that social media is going to be the way, the truth and the light of their book launch.

It's important to consider two things:

1. Much as we would like promotion to be all about Twitter (admit it, O social media addicted fellow authors!) – tweeting has not been shown to boost book sales. It is one tool, but probably not the best tool because people are not usually persuaded by shouting through a megaphone. People need more than words to buy a book.

2. Ask not who will buy your book ... ask what you can give away to get people to pay attention to your book.

Since I raised my bleary eyes from the 24/7 job of writing my books, I've been making things. Well, sometimes it's not me making it – I persuaded my baby brother who happens to be an animator to make a book trailer for Is It a Mermaid:



I wanted to do something fun at the launch of Is It a Mermaid and while spending a short holiday with my best friend, Frankie, we found ourselves giggling uncontrollably in a Portuguese train while making up lyrics to the tune of I Feel Pretty from West Side Story. I recruited my talented singing neighbour, Andrew, and the result is a rather hilarious performance at the launch (with friends Heather and Perraine singing backup):



I realised that my author website was beginning to look old fashioned so I have been redesigning it, with custom pages for each book. I haven't got money for a web designer so I am using a free Wix website. Check it out.

I've been working closely with the publicists of my publishers, Otter-Barry Books and David Fickling Books, asking them to pitch me for festivals, saying yes to most requests. The other day, I presented a three minute spiel (there were ten other authors) to independent bookshops and the sales team at Faber (who take DFB books to bookshops). I had never done such a thing before and it woke me up to the need for more information about my forthcoming novel in advance of its publication. So I took my three minute spiel and turned it into this video.



(Can you tell that I like making videos?)

I have so much more to do. I am working on a new presentation to bring to school visits on the themes of my new books. I am creating free bonus materials for schools and readers to download from my website. And with Bone Talk out in August, I have another book launch party to plan!

It's a full time job.

But you shouldn't allow it to be.

Because you already have a job.  So my final tip is one that will make sure you will continue to  launch books for some time to come.


Write. 

---

Did I mention that my first picture book is out gorgeously illustrated by Francesca Chessa? Available at all good book stores.

How To Be Discovered

By Candy Gourlay

Every year I help organise the highlight of my writing year: the SCBWI Conference for children's writers and illustrators in Winchester.

The irony of course is that I don't actually attend the conference. By being one of the organisers, my experience of the conference is that of sorting out the website, hustling behind the scenes, contributing to the programming, supporting the rest of the team, preparing panels, meeting and greeting on the day. But I get a huge kick out of watching something that was just a bunch of ideas turn into a successful reality.

Here I am emceeing the book launch. Thanks to Teri Terry for the photo. In the background celebrating their new books from left to right: Helen Moss, Tim Collins, Helen Peters, Ruth Fitzgerald, Janet Foxley and parrot.

Why (Most) Authors Don't Need a Facebook Page.

By Candy Gourlay


If your name is JK Rowling, please ignore this post.

Facebook Page: formerly called a fan page, it's for businesses, brands, products, public figures. More

Facebook Profile: for individuals. More

So you're an author or about to become one, your publisher or maybe your agent thinks you ought to create a Facebook Page, so that you can start the social media ball rolling. Should you?

What do you want from your Facebook Page?

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.

Just Because Social Media is a Tool Doesn't Mean You've Got to Be A Tool Too.

By Candy Gourlay

Social Media is not the way, the truth and the light. It is a tool. Just a tool.

Just because it's a tool doesn't mean you've got to be a tool too.

I added someone I didn't know on Facebook the other day. He was already friends with several of my writing contacts. He declared himself an author so, fair enough, I thought.

Immediately I got a message - not a private message, but a message on my wall. 'My new book Title of Book, is now on Amazon ... it's about ... etc etc'

By posting on my wall, he was promoting his book to all my contacts. I deleted him immediately.

And then I felt guilty.

Don't blog, do blog ... let's call the whole thing off!

Cartoon: Johnny Ancich

By Candy Gourlay

Over at Jane Friedman's guest blogger L.L. Barkat has called on experienced writers to stop blogging.

Does this mean I would recommend that everyone stop blogging? No. I encourage new bloggers, just the way I always have. It’s an excellent way to find expression, discipline, and experience. But if writers already have experience, and they are authors trying to promote themselves and their work, I tell them to steer clear. If they’ve already found themselves sucked into the blogging vortex, I suggest they might want to give it up and begin writing for larger platforms that don’t require reciprocity (an exhausting aspect to blogging and a big drain on the writer’s energy and time). Read the whole thing

Geek List: Paying attention to Facebook Pages

By Candy Gourlay

I had a hundred million other things to do the other day but then I came upon this piece in the New York Times about "Protecting Your Privacy on the New Facebook".

The NEW Facebook? Again?

Sigh. What with now being a quoted company, FB is adding new meaning to the word INSIDIOUS.

If everyone's now got a platform how are you going to stand out?

By Candy Gourlay

It was only oh five years ago that I was giving talks advising authors and illustrators to get themselves a platform.