Celebrating Independent Authors
I’m from India, and mostly proud of it. Except when it comes to writing.
What’s my ethnicity got to do with my writing life? Plenty, as you’ll discover.
The unpublished manuscript of my debut novel, Tell A Thousand Lies, was shortlisted for the Tibor Jones South Asia award. Independent of this, I was offered a publishing contract by one of India’s biggest publishing houses (they have fantastic distribution within India). Continue reading “On Being a Writer in India by Rasana Atreya”
As if there isn’t enough to worry about when one tries to be a writer, now apparently we need to be branded. I thought I had covered all my bases with my web presence, my blogginess, my own domain and my style signature. I webinar-ed on weebs, tweets and wikis just to get myself up to speed, but soon found via an online survey I lacked social networking skills.
I do well on a BBQ with dips, chips and an ice bucket, and can hold my own at a dinner party, but I never dreamed I was a social misfit. I needed a profile fix and quick! My Facebook account was a woeful state, and if I had any hope of pulling my socks up, I needed to network. But all this would be lost, the writing gurus advised, if I didn’t brand myself. An absolutely vital tool for all writers’ nirvana; publishing success. Continue reading “Writer Branding by Hettie Ashwin”
Goodreads is a reader and writer online community of over six million people. Sponsoring a book giveaway allowed me to promote my fantasy novel, The Stone Dragon, for very little money, only the printing cost of the book plus shipping. Running a Goodreads book giveaway was an easy, enjoyable, maintenence-free experience.
Having run two Goodreads giveaways for The Stone Dragon, what are the immediate results?
Back in the beginning of January, Michael Allen provided us with an intense post about Facebook pages. If you missed it, you can read it here.
Today we welcome Michael back with the second installment of his “Power of Facebook for Writers” post. We’re going to pick up where he left off, after you’ve created your page…
Now, you want to promote your book page. One very effective strategy is to have a giveaway. Let rafflecopter.com handle that for you. Start a giveaway and make it worth someone’s time.
I’d say an autographed copy of your book would make a great first prize. But, you can have other gifts as well. Cafepress.com makes it easy for you to offer coffee cups, tee shirts, hats, bags and much more. Putting your book’s cover on a coffee cup or a tee shirt makes a handy gift for a giveaway. Continue reading “The Power of Facebook for Writers – Part Two – by Michael Allen”