The Power of Facebook for Writers – Part One – by Michael Allen

Author/Screenwriter Michael Allen
Author/Screenwriter Michael Allen

Facebook can be very powerful if you know how to use it. But, I’ve talked to plenty of indie authors who simply don’t see the effectiveness Facebook can have on an online marketing campaign. If they only knew a few things about what Facebook can do, they just might have a better time using this extremely powerful social media platform.

First of all, there is a personal profile and then there are pages that you can create. A personal profile can only have 5,000 friends. That’s why I suggest you make that into information about who you are as a person, not a book page. Provide information about your work and education. Highlight your interests. Add friends that you really know and even indicate who is in your family. In other words, be real. That is your real profile and it should be only about you.

Of course, you would mention that you are a writer and list all your books. That’s perfectly fine. So, then create a page for each book. Some writers find this a little too much. But remember, the Facebook experience is for you to define. So if you don’t want a page for each book, then simply create an author page where you can list all of your books. Continue reading “The Power of Facebook for Writers – Part One – by Michael Allen”

A Handy Tool for Authors: Google Alerts

The other day I mentioned to a writer friend that my Google Alerts didn’t seem to be catching everything. “What’s a Google Alert?” he asked. I was stumped. I thought everyone knew about Google Alerts. Every author should be using them.

I explained to him that you can set up Google Alerts to monitor subjects important to you, and it will send you email notifications any time a new search result is found.

For example, any time one of my new books is released, I set up a Google Alert for the title. That way, if my title gets any press, reviews, or is otherwise mentioned online, I’ll be notified. And the really REALLY cool thing about this is – you don’t have to have a Google or Gmail address to participate!

This is how to set up a Google Alert: Continue reading “A Handy Tool for Authors: Google Alerts”

Custom Facebook URLs

Wow.  One of the most common…flubs, for lack of a better word…that I see is a Facebook author page with a discombobulated URL.  I must see at least one or two a day.  “Come check out my page!” they’ll say to me, presenting me with a link that looks like “http://www.facebook.com/pages/Judy-the-author/260458930631195”   Hey, Judy, guess what?  No one’s going to remember how to get to your author page with a link like that.

Don’t feel badly, authors aren’t the only ones who fall into this — lots of folks with “Business” and other kinds of pages do as well.   And guess what?  There is something you can do about it.

Continue reading “Custom Facebook URLs”