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.

Oh no! Your email/facebook/twitter got hacked and spammed all your followers. What do you do!?

First, change all your passwords and hint questions. Choose something nobody would guess, like the name of your childhood imaginary friend, or even better, use a random password generator. Don’t use the same password you use for anything else.

Next, do some damage control. Send out messages everywhere explaining what happened and what steps you’ve taken to protect the privacy of your mailing lists so that it doesn’t happen again.

After that, try to return to business as normal. Just make sure you check your sent emails and sent Tweets and keep an eye on everything to make sure there is no more suspicious activity.

Note: if you suspect someone got a hold of anyone’s private information such as credit card or Paypal information, report it to the authorities immediately and ask for advice on how to handle it.

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.

Promoting a new series or book? Have one of your characters take over your Twitter feed for a day!

Great examples of this:

- @HarlequinTeen had Grimalkin from Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series take over their stream for a day

- Kelley Armstrong actually built a separate Twitter profile for character Elena Michaels to Tweet from when promoting Frostbitten from her Otherworld series

- Self-published author Sean Munger created a Twitter stream for his psychotic character Giamotti when promoting the ebook releases of the series.

These three steps will help you find and connect with book lovers who may be interested in your book:

1) Join in on Twitter chats and Twitter parties. Hashtags like #followreader, #books and #ebooks will help you find new friends.

2) Use weekly Friday hashtags like #fridayreads and #followfriday to discuss what you’re reading and what Twitter users you’re loving.

3) Make the first move! Follow users with interesting profiles, and then send them an @ message to engage them in conversation.