by J.A. Campbell

Word of mouth and personal connections can make a sale for an indy author. Or any author really. I’ve bought books based on blog posts I’ve read, or online connections I’ve made with authors. It does work. It’s not a super fast process, a book here or there is probably what you will sell, but that increases the chance that people will talk about your book. When people talk about it, often others buy it. Many of the authors I’ve discovered have been at the recommendation of others who share reading tastes.

You have to be careful not to over do the online networking though. You do still need to actually write. I’ve narrowed my networking down to Facebook, Twitter and my two blogs. Every now and again I do other things, but those are my main sources. I just don’t have time for anything else. I maintain a presence on Jacketflap, for YA books, and Goodreads, but I am not very active there except to update my reading list on Goodreads.

Twitter is great because, especially if people retweet, you have a chance of reaching a larger and possibly random audience. However, you never know where your tweet will end up, so chose your words with care.

Facebook/Google + are both great for similar reasons to Twitter. Good networking and good ways to make connections with people.

Blogs are an excellent way to share your thoughts and writing. If you write interesting blogs, there’s a fair chance people will want to read your stories too. They will feel a connection with you when you respond to their comments (and trust me, if you don’t respond, they won’t keep reading unless you’re super interesting and already famous).

I think the biggest key to social networking success is to interact with people, not just try and sell your stories. Sell yourself instead. Show yourself to be an interesting person, and likely that will carry over to your books. If people think you have a connection with them, they are more likely to want to support you and your writing. Have quick conversations on Twitter, respond to Facebook posts, wish people a happy birthday on FB. Those are all great ways to get attention without saying OMG buy my book! All the time. Then every once in a while throw out a reminder that you are an author, and you might have an interesting story to tell.

If you just decide what to write on your blog spur-of-the-moment, you could benefit from a strategy. Things to think about include:

- What is your blog’s subject?
- How often will you update? (min 1x a week) KEEP IT REGULAR!
- What can you offer fans? New readers?
- How will you promote your blog?
- How much time can you spend reading/commenting on other blogs?
- What is your balance between promotion and other content?
- How will you integrate with your other social media?

If you need help planning your strategy, your best option is to hire a consultant for a one-time consultation. If you need training, of course, you’ll need to hire them for a bit longer.

Some great consultants include Marian Schembari, Alexis Grant, and me. ;)

Always respond to comments on your blog. Try checking back on posts you’ve made for 48 – 72 hours after posting to see who has commented and how you can engage them in conversation.

Don’t delete negative reviews. Show readers that you can deal with complaints in a good way. Think how you would respond if someone said that to you face-to-face. Any publicity is good publicity!

Want to start a blog but aren’t sure where?

Wordpress is great if you want long-form blogs with a highly customizable interface. There are tons of free themes to choose from, but having a custom-designed one is much more affordable than a custom-designed webpage and you can actually move your entire website onto Wordpress.

Tumblr is easier to use, but somewhat less customizable. It works better for blogs with lots of multimedia, such as pictures, videos, sound clips, etc, and for shorter text pieces.

There are tons of other free options out there, but those are my favourite two!

Today’s post is a guest post, brought to you by the supremely talented Anne Michaud.

I’m the first one to admit it: I am one of the technology challenged. The very mention of Twitter used to give me a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, social networking such a dread for the shy writer that is me.

I asked for help, because there was no way I was tackling this Twitter thing by myself—enter Emma Cunningham, not only a great critter when it comes to dystopian YA manuscripts, but also quite the genius when it comes to all those pesky social networking platforms.

I didn’t know what to say, how to be funny and have fun with Twitter, but then Emma said something that excited and scared me all at once. She said: It’s great to have friends following your tweets, but what you need is readers. You should start posting stories on your blog.

Well. Why not? Writers write, and I am quite a fan of flash fiction. I joined the Twitter group #fridayflash, and since then not only have I been connecting with people who understand the ups and downs of a writer’s journey, but my blog’s circulation has been ascending to new peaks every week. And I have readers following me, people who actually like my prose.

In the same vein as the last post, here are some of my favourite publishing-industry blogs. Mostly agents, but some magazines and tip-blogs too.

Publishers Weekly News This is “the” industry magazine
BookEnds Literary Agency Jessica has some of the best advice out there
Query Shark Query letter critiques, often a bit snarky (in a good way)
Janet Reid Tips from a literary agent
Jennifer Laughran Tips from an agent specializing in children’s lit
Rachelle Gardner My absolute favourite agent blog.

And for a good laugh…SlushPileHell pokes fun at some of the worst query letters imaginable.

I do read author blogs. Although these blogs aren’t the most-updated out there, they’re the ones I find interesting, informative, and…happen to be written by some of my favourite authors.

Kit Whitfield writes socially-conscious articles and hilarious cat anecdotes
Diana Gabaldon talks about all things Scottish
Tess Gerritsen has one of the best-designed blogs out there
Nathan Bransford writes about publishing from a joint perspective as a current author and former agent

Which are your favourite author blogs?

Here are some things I enjoy reading when I visit a favourite author’s blog:

- Excerpts
- Newly released back cover copy
- Cover art reveals
- Personal stories about your life
- Appearance listings/signings
- What books are you reading and enjoying?
- Free content such as flash fiction
- Special insight into characters or fictional locales

Although keeping the blog personal so that your readers feel that they’ve established a relationship with you, do avoid oversharing. I don’t need to read what you ate for breakfast or how you raise your kids in every single post. Putting your personality into the blog is one thing, turning it into a journal is something else. Remember that this is a work blog for you, not a personal one.