It’s no secret that I am not a fan of anything that require users to “check in” to various locations. Why? Two reasons:

1) It tells people where you’re not - at home. If anyone is looking to rob your house, this would be the time to do it.

2) It tells people where you are - and if anyone is looking to cause problems for you personally, they know how to find you.

However, there are a few times when I think something like Foursquare might be useful. For example, if you’re doing a book signing, you could “check in” and give fans a reminder about when and where the signing is. Or you could check in at a coffee shop nearby after the event, and give loyal fans a chance to come out for a bit more of an intimate meet-the-author event.

You could run a contest at an author event - everyone who checks in to Foursquare at your event can win a signed set of books, or free swag, etc.

You could also use Foursquare if you’re attending conferences, giving readings, or appearing publicly for any reason. If you’re appearing somewhere publicly anyway, people will already be able to find out where you’ll be at that time, and so there’s no additional safety risk. However, you may want to make sure you have a good home alarm and insurance policy in place!

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. ;)

What is the message you wish to give people?
- Be genuine
- Be consistent
- Listen and engage
- 12 to 1 rule:
       - 12 responses/posts about someone else
       - 1 post about you

Guest post by PJ Schnyder

“A little bit of naughty is a little bit nice She’s a whole lot of glam, sweat, sugar, sex, spice” ~ Show Me How You Burlesque

Variety is good. It’s spicy. It’s interesting.

When putting together my marketing and promotional plan, I look for the best investments of my time and effort.

There’s Social Media:

• PJ’s FaceBook page
• PJ’s Google +
• PJ’s Twitter feed
• PJ’s Tumblr feed
• PJ’s Blog

I could have readers following all, some or only one of these outlets and I want to give them interesting content on each. Sure, there’s a little redundancy, mostly the occassional promo announcement, but the rest is pure personality and shenanigans. They each reflect aspects of my personality to keep my readers engaged.

There’s face to face interaction:

• Conventions
• Readings
• Local Events
• Meet ups

I go to romance, sci-fi, anime, steampunk and gaming conventions. There’s local events such as Dorian’s Parlor for the steampunk crowd. Participating in women’s self-defense workshops and Victorian Bartitsu seminars adds a different perspective to the topics I address in my stories.

All of these get me out there in front of different circles of readers, existing and new.

Then there’s guest posts and interviews. Here’s where I dial it back just a little. A danger I try to avoid is oversaturation on the net. I’m still new, building my readership, and my online followers only have so much time in the day to follow me around for these. I try to limit guest posts or interviews to one or two a month.

It’s a lot of balls to juggle and a lot of hard work. But in the long run, it’s worth the effort and I get to meet wonderful new readers as a result plus give my existing readers fun stuff to peruse.

- Your fans are on there
- Your potential readers are on there
- Agents and editors are on there
- Get more marketing value for less money
- Get the most out of your valuable time
- Use your strengths to:
       - Build relationships
       - Make connections
       - Form long-term engagement with your fan base

Want to start a new hashtag? The first thing you should do is see if anybody else is doing it.

For example, the hashtag #TTC is currently used by: Toronto Transit Commission, Trying to Conceive, and The Tweet Cirque. Possibly more.

If your new book was called The Twin Counties, you might think about using #TTC as a hashtag to accompany your new book, but your tweets would get lost in a stream of unrelated content.

So, the moral of this story is…always, always, always make sure that no one else is using your hashtag before you start using it!

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.