About Me
Monday, April 4, 2016
Once upon a time I was social media “Guru” back before it
became passe to say you were. I was top ranked on Linked In for “social media”
for about a year and made some decent money, but I couldn’t keep up with the
changes and guarantee good client results,
so I got out. In the meantime, I had built a decent Twitter following and would
have loved to maintain it, but my
account got hacked and I couldn’t shut it down, or recover it. So, I had to
start over.
YOU CAN READ MY SAMPLE CHAPTER HERE! https://payhip.com/b/8VRDFast forward to today. That was several years ago and my new Twitter account had pretty much sat dormant except for auto tweeting from my blog and few shares now and then to keep it somewhat active. Now, I’m jumping back in with both feet to promote my newly released novel, Jacked, Part one of the Origin Dime series. So, dug back through my old blog posts for ways to grow my following fast and found some great tricks that are really working quickly!
#1, It starts with
who you follow!
You probably already know that a good way to get legit
followers is to follow other people and you could just follow the people
Twitter suggests up to your max, everyday, and over time you would grow a large
group of followers, or would you really?
- · Social media is about saying the right things to the right people at the right time
- · The biggest key is making sure you are speaking to the right audience
- · Blindly following Twitter’s suggestions may not be the best way of doing that
You can find the
audience you want!
So, why does it matter? Having the wrong Twitter followers
could be bad for at least two reasons, which I’ll explain in a minute, but what
is a good Twitter follower? In my opinion, a good follower has at least four characteristics,
all of which you can look for.
- · They are active on Twitter, in general, the more the better, but they should have multiple recent Tweets.
- · They have a good number of followers, typically at least in the thousands, this is a volume game
- · Their followers are active and interact with them, RTs and likes on their posts indicate this
- · Most importantly, they talk about the topic you want broadcast
- This is no guarantee that they will help you, they have to follow you first, but they are the target audience you want!
#2 Here’s how you can
find those people
Twitter is arranged by profiles and lists. The profiles are
called “accounts” or sometimes “people” depending on which page you are working
from. To find the right people to follow, you’ll need to do some searches. This
is much easier if you start with accounts that are based around your topic,
rather than individuals.
- · Find an account that looks like it makes sense for your audience. For instance, recently, I’ve been looking for groups of science fiction fans, so I search science fiction terms, titles and writer’s names to find accounts tweeting about that.
- · Filter out the ones that have the largest following. I look for accounts that 10k followers and up, which gives me a lot to choose from in a single “vein” of mining for followers.
- · Click in to see all of their followers. Start following, or you can filter a bit more.
- · Click into a potential account and scope it out, how many followers do they have? How many liked their last few tweets? Any RTS? Choose active people with large followings.
Remember, it’s not just about how many people follow you, it’s
about how many people follow the people
that follow you! So, once you have determined which accounts you would like to
have as followers, follow them. Here's why following the wrong people can be bad.
- First, it gives you the impression that you're winning. You see numbers growing, but you probably won't get much activity from non- targeted followers
- Non-targeted followers can make you look like a bad follow. If you use the tips I'm giving here, someone with a lot of followers that don't respond, might not make the cut!
#3 How do you get
them to follow you?
A lot of people will autofollow, or follow you pretty
quickly, especially if you are Tweeting in their niche and are active. But, for
those who aren’t looking at the accounts of their new followers, or auto
following, there are things you can do.
- · Click into their account and find some tweets to like. Choose things that make sense for your audience, they will be seeing this too.
- · If you really want to get their attention, RT their tweets. Spread this out. Doing it two or three times at the same time will only pop up one notification. So, do this over a couple of days.
- · Mention them. Don’t go overboard, but if you make these three contacts a couple of times, anyone that is going to follow you, probably will, unless they are really selective, in which case, be patient and show them what you can do
Why does all of this matter? Because when they follow you,
they can like your tweets, retweet you and mention you more readily, feeding
your feed into their followers feeds.
How well has this
worked for me?
Well, like I said, I was starting with a pretty small
following, around 800 people. That means that getting more followers by just
tweeting is a bit of a challenge, but it happens. In two days of working this
system, I managed to add almost 300 followers! Good news? Yea! But the best
news is, they are all interested in what I’m writing!
Wanna put this plan
on steroids?
I recently tested a new social media dashboard tool.
Remember, I spent two years doing nothing but researching and using social
media, so I am familiar with most of them. This one is different, completely
different.
It automates things the others never think of ,
- like finding groups on Facebook, huge numbers of them.
- Or friending people, or following, responding,
- Retweeting, the list goes on.
- It works in Facebook, Google+, Linked in, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
So, I tried the free trial. And, it turns out, it was pretty
great, so I signed up for $10 a month and bought a couple of the add ons. The
subscription price stays the same, and any add ons you buy are one time
purchases that you then own. It works. It has boosted all of my social
standings more than simple scheduling tools had the power to do. So, I signed
up to help them promote. Here is my affiliate link, and you get a free trial
there. If you like it, buy it, I think you will. I do get a commission, but you pay the same price as everyone else.
Friday, April 1, 2016
It’s time to go big or go home (although I’m not sure what’s
so bad about going home, I’m forty-five and home sounds pretty good, that’s
where my food and bed and fast internet are) so, I have begun to obnoxiously
spam the hell out of any platform where I won’t get banned for doing it with a
single message, I DARE YOU!
I dare any reader to
go and taste my free sample of the new Sci Fi comedic thriller, Jacked and come
back and tell me to my face that they don’t want to know what happens next! It’s
simple. You either tell me why you could care less, or admit, it’s freaking
great! LOL, so far over 100 people have taken me up on the challenge and no one
has come back to say no thanks yet! So, how about it?
When you are an indie artist, it can pay to be bold,
especially if you feel your work is up to the challenge and I think I’m ready.
I’ve been pulling punches and playing by rules for far too long. So, I’m done
doing things the way I used to. It hasn’t brought me any huge success when it
comes to selling my own fiction. Sure, I make decent money writing marketing
copy for others. (message me, I can hook you up!) But, deep down, I’m a story
teller that has his own vision to share.
Here are a few things I’ve found out while working through
this “soft launch” of my book.
1.
Personal invitations are by far the best way to
get a sale. Most of the books I’ve seen downloaded are from a direct
interaction with someone that asked about my work.
2.
Book promo Facebook groups are basically
worthless, unless they are sharing your links to other place.
3.
Twitter is by far the most responsive of social
media platforms and gives the most bang for the buck. (buck being time spent)
4.
I need to get my next segment finished and
advertised in the first one to get some momentum going!
5.
People will help, but it takes a bit of sharing
before they catch on. Whether it’s just that they haven’t seen it yet, or the
fact that it takes a while to sink in, the sharing is gaining some momentum.
So, today my goal is to sell 50 copies. I am determined not
to give up until I achieve it. This would be my record if I can get there. It
also happens to be my “magic number” at which selling my own books trumps other
work and becomes my full time job.
Right now I am looking at the FB promotional groups and
figuring out how best to use them. I know there’s gold there. Just not sure how
to get it out. With my writing book, I’ve done okay with work at home groups.
No huge amount of sales, but when I share, it sells. No such place to sell a
goofy sci fi about interdimensional travel, but, that’s what I have to work
with at the moment.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Can you keep a secret? I’m not sure what kind of writer I
want to be. I’ve recently put out a Sci Fi novel and I have a suspense book in
my creative pipeline, meanwhile, I’m also editing a comedy, but I’m feeling
like I have to declare myself! Frankly, I’m a little put out with having to
make the choice, you know? Current wisdom is, you have to find a niche, pick a
genre and then define yourself within it, “Oh yeah, he’s the guy that writes
the Zombie/Vampire love stories, but not the one with time travel, the other
one.” It seems a bit ridiculous. Here, I’ll show you what I mean.
This is my latest fiction endeavor, and readers are loving it! I'm having fun and I hope it's financially successful and the story gets told in a million different ways, but I'm not sure if I would be happy just finding new stories to tell in that same genre.
I spent almost twenty years as a theatrical director and
once I had directed a couple of successful shows, no one would have ever said, “Yeah,
but that’s a comedy, are you sure, I mean, all he’s directed so far have been
suspense.” I know how to work with actors to tell a story for a live audience,
in fact, I’m damn good at it.
Or, how about this. I was also a carpenter on the side
through all of those years and after, no one ever said, “Well, I see you can
build a fireplace mantel, but a fence? I’m not buying it.” It is presumed, as
is the case in most professions, that if you are a competent doctor, attorney,
accountant, plumber or delivery driver, that slightly changing the parameters
of a single project would not be enough to turn you into a bumbling idiot, but
not so with artists.
This is also somewhat true for actors and musicians, but
with writers it’s hard to convince an audience to give you a chance. After all,
picking your next book is a fairly intimate commitment. It’s not like watching
a movie on Netflix, or even at the cinema. It’s more personal, it’s inside the
mind and if you are going to let my characters in there to romp around, you
want to make sure they are going to respect your space, I get it.
But, here’s the problem, I’m not, strictly speaking a “sci
fi fan” and by that I don’t mean I don’t like it, I do! I love a good Sci Fi
movie and the occasional novel. I especially like speculative fiction that asks
big philosophical questions, but I’m not a fan of this genre to the exclusion
of others. I am just as likely to follow up my next sci fi experience with some
slapstick comedy, or a suspense story. I love things that make me laugh, or
question myself, or feel deeply and I don’t give a damn what kind of costumes
the characters are wearing or what the scenery looks like (they have to be good
and appropriate, don’t get me wrong, I mentioned I’m a theater guy, right?) I just want you to
tell me a good story.
So, to that end, I’m trying to decide, do I fall into peer
pressure and try to establish an audience for a specific type of book, or, like
a professional chef running a dinner club, do I challenge readers, “Trust me,
you’ll love it, have a seat we’re going to give you an evening to remember.”
Being the Libertarian type, I’m inclined to try the latter
and see how it goes. That being said, I have three novellas built into a novel,
and two more sets of those coming in the same series that are already mapped
out and ready to be finished, so, I’m in Sci-Fi mode for the foreseeable
future. So, what do you think? Are you a genre specific fan, or do you fall in
love with story? Is it the setting and the gadgets and the rhythm of your
favorite brand of fiction, or the characters and situations? Tell me, what do
you think I should do?
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Over the past few days, I've been spending a lot of time in book publishing world, that little hole in the internet where indie authors have to go to get their product out into the world. I've been doing this for over 10 years, and I can tell you the options that exist now are way beyond anything that was available with my first attempt.
I've gotten Jacked up on Amazon and CreateSpace and Lulu.com and I've been sharing it around a few places, just kind of getting the ball rolling. This is the hard part and the fun part combined. I've done two interviews, fun part, I've waited for sales to start, the hard part.
But, I know it's a good story. I have other readers who've said so, so I know I'm not delusional and it will find any audience. I just have to treat it like a job and keep slugging away! I've found a couple of great tools that have helped some and I'll be sharing them all with you in time.
For today, I am going to enjoy my morning in the coffee shop, then head back to my office to work on an edit for another writer, and start outlining some projects for a big political writing gig coming up, but mostly I want to take the time to be grateful for my wonderful life.
I don't say a lot about my life here, normally, but I should. I'm forty-five, been married a quarter of a century in Dec. to my high school sweetheart, who still tells me she loves me. I have eight kids, two are grown, six at home and I have four dogs, three cats and on of my kids has a lizard. This makes me one of the most loved men in the history of the planet and I should feel happy to be alive every day.
Anyway, didnt' have much of importance to say today, except that Jacked Part One is finished and ready and I'll be sharing it here very soon.
I've gotten Jacked up on Amazon and CreateSpace and Lulu.com and I've been sharing it around a few places, just kind of getting the ball rolling. This is the hard part and the fun part combined. I've done two interviews, fun part, I've waited for sales to start, the hard part.
But, I know it's a good story. I have other readers who've said so, so I know I'm not delusional and it will find any audience. I just have to treat it like a job and keep slugging away! I've found a couple of great tools that have helped some and I'll be sharing them all with you in time.
For today, I am going to enjoy my morning in the coffee shop, then head back to my office to work on an edit for another writer, and start outlining some projects for a big political writing gig coming up, but mostly I want to take the time to be grateful for my wonderful life.
I don't say a lot about my life here, normally, but I should. I'm forty-five, been married a quarter of a century in Dec. to my high school sweetheart, who still tells me she loves me. I have eight kids, two are grown, six at home and I have four dogs, three cats and on of my kids has a lizard. This makes me one of the most loved men in the history of the planet and I should feel happy to be alive every day.
Anyway, didnt' have much of importance to say today, except that Jacked Part One is finished and ready and I'll be sharing it here very soon.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
So, I have this really great novel just sitting here on my
hard drive. Several of them, in fact. They get rave reviews (storywise) from
all readers. In fact, most of the commentary in general is positive, but they need editing. That’s where the
problem arises. Professional editing is expensive, and although, as freelance
writers go, “I do alright”, I have eight kids and precious little opportunity
to peel off $600-$800 for a thorough edit, which is not an unfair price, so,
what’s a writer to do?
I decided to ask some
pros.
I suggest that all of you immediately join “writer’s group”
on Facebook, it’s the one with over 30k members and it’s a nest of snakes on a
good day. There are whackos and wannabes and rude people who think they are a
gift from the gods to writing, but that’s not why I think you should do it.
Among the writing sites I have frequented through the years, it is the one
place where you are likely to meet writers that are actually earning a healthy
living with their craft.
Why does this matter? Because they know what they’re talking
about and most of them will share their wisdom without the need for you to sign
up for a course that costs a grand. So, I asked around. I have found three or
four guys that I can see are legit. They write novels for a living and earn
enough to be respectable about it. I asked them what they recommended and while
they said straight up to hire a real editor if you can, they also offered the
method they used for their very first novel.
None of them used
professional editing the first time!
Turns out that without fail, they used a combination of
editing software and critique sites that allow you to trade a bit of your time
in critiquing others for some good advice on your writing. I have tried a few,
with almost no results, but I finally found one that seems to have a framework
that actually works.
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