Tag: social media

You Asked for It: Matt Valenti

Indies Unlimited reader Matt Valenti asks, “My book is a political satire ideal for promoting during the election. Unfortunately, my marketing is entirely from scratch and I’m brand new at this. I want to strike while the iron’s hot but I’m not sure what marketing activities to focus my energies on the most considering my limited time. Thanks for any advice!”

Well, Matt, great question. We’ve had several posts about marketing over the past few months. However, what you ask about is a very different animal compared to the “traditional” (I laugh as I type that, what is traditional in Indie publishing?) long-term marketing plan discussed previously. Continue reading “You Asked for It: Matt Valenti”

Why I Won’t Follow You on Twitter

I’m on Twitter a lot these days, playing hashtag bingo with Kanye West promoting fellow indies and, well, even my own work once in a while. I love meeting new followers, and I want to follow you back. Really, I do.

But in the past five years or so I’ve been on the site, running three different accounts, I’ve learned how to parse out the good from the life’s-too-short.

Here are some “red flags” that tell me you might be the wrong person to follow (if indeed you ARE a person!): Continue reading “Why I Won’t Follow You on Twitter”

Ed’s Casual Friday: August and Everything After…

Yes, I totally stole this post title from a Counting Crows album. I’m an old guy, so sue me. No wait, please don’t.

All last month, my Ed’s Casual Friday column here at IU consisted of a four-part look at one-star reviews on a hundred novels regarded as the “best” literature has to offer. The astute among you may have noticed that doing those four articles allowed me to write a full month of posts all at once, and then basically not show up for the rest of July. My lack of presence was not exclusive to IU, but to all the “social media outlets” around which us writerly types tend to congregate. Facebook pages, boards, groups, sites, lists, on and on, ad nauseum. I largely stayed off line for all of July, and I didn’t really do any writing, either. After finishing the fourth book in a series and releasing it at the end of June, before launching into book five I took a couple Mental Health days that turned into a week, and then the full month. Continue reading “Ed’s Casual Friday: August and Everything After…”

How To Let Others Know That You Are The Author

As Indie Authors, we struggle to become more than a name in the crowd. We do this through Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Goodreads and more. The largest complaint about the indie publishing world is how can we get ourselves noticed among the millions of authors uploading garbage every day.

Today, I’m going to share with you one tip and a cool little trick. The best part is—it works. Continue reading “How To Let Others Know That You Are The Author”