Celebrating Independent Authors
Being an author can make for a lonely life. Sometimes it’s nice to hear a song that captures the epitome or irony of being a writer. Sometimes it’s just nice to hear words and know for a fact that you and the lyricist “get” – and non-writers probably don’t. It’s kind of like an inside joke or being in a club with someone awesome, like the Fab Four. Yes, I’m talking about Paperback Writer by The Beatles.
This song is full of sarcasm. It makes me smile. How does it make you feel?
I have never been comfortable sounding my own horn, so my first two books slipped into the world with minimal fanfare. But for my third book, I have a list of a hundred rooftops from which I plan to shout, because it took many years and tears to write (and rewrite), and I want my characters to find the people who will love their story like I do.
For that and other reasons, I considered launching the book with an actual, in-person event. The problem was that when I mentioned the idea of throwing a party to a couple of people close to me, they said, “What for?” Of course, I thought it would be a fun way to thank everyone who has encouraged me and to introduce them to my new story at the same time. However, that question clarified something I hadn’t realized: Writing a book isn’t considered a life event. After all, it’s not like I had a baby or got married or bought a house or lived another decade. Continue reading “If someone you care about just wrote a book….”
I have to admit, when I first joined groups in Facebook, I had no idea what a Facebook document was, how to use it, or how to add my information to it. In fact, I still sort of dislike them (although I couldn’t tell you why) even though they are extremely useful.
Groups use Facebook documents to share information – like the Twitter handles, web sites, blogs, genres, and other kinds of data about their members. Some writers/reviewers groups use them to list books to be read or reviewed, and available reviewers and what genres they prefer.
One thing that may be confusing to some is that Facebook changed the nomenclature from “Documents” to “Files.” If you want to find the ones in your group, scroll up to the top of the page, to the right, and click “Files.” (see above, left) Continue reading “Tutorial: Facebook Documents”
You may have seen social media flutterings about AuthorsDB, a website that lets you enroll your books and/or your writing services in their free database and get…(sigh) free exposure. Yes, for free. Totally free. What’s the catch? Glad you asked. Well, there isn’t really much of one that I could see, even after employing Rich Meyer’s due diligence procedures. The philosophy of the site, however, reminds me of my local food coop, where you get a discount equal to what you choose to put in: slicing cheese, tagging tomatoes, putting up flyers all over town, or working the cash register. Continue reading “Does AuthorsDB Fit into Your Marketing Basket?”