Opening day of the Minnesota State Fair was filled with downpours, hail, and thunder. It’s a good thing I’m not going for a few days because it’s been a rainy week. No one here would complain about the showers because our lawns look a California brown this year. I’ve said it before, I live up North for a reason. If temperatures rise, I may have to fly North to Canada with the geese this spring.
I’ve told you about my countdown but I also have to share my role as an editor while helping other authors. Having experience reviewing thousands of pages over and over again helped me understand that there is no glamour behind the scenes of publishing a book. Endless hours of posting research, uploading to different online publishers, and the dreaded formatting error screen also provide skills to share with first time authors.
As writer’s our focus is on climbing the mountain of pages, rewrites, and redos before we reach the top of the mountain. All of our energy feels exerted. We stand on the peak of our papers for a moment of triumph. Then, we realize there’s not one but several other mountains to climb. Our journey doesn’t end when we hit the publish button.
I told my two about to be authors to start building their social media before their book is published. The earlier you can get started, the better. Those with top social media numbers say to post every day, maybe more than once a day. It’s a lot but remember applications like, TikTok can be a few seconds. Some authors show their books revived all because of TikTok. A lot of YouTubers say that 5 minutes bites size videos, then a few longer videos in between. Personally, I have all of them and an online blog because the length of my posting varies. Putting myself on camera has been a challenge because I never like any of my photos.
This leads me to the next part, if you want to be on the best seller list then you need to be able to put yourself out there. Being a well known writer does give you more anonymity than an actor, but you still need to be able to attend reading events and post. Readers want to know who you are. There are best selling authors who ride the bus because people think of their book cover instead of the photo hidden on the inside pages.
If you don’t know where to begin, follow the ideas of other top social media posters. Here are ideas I’ve seen.
- Authors speak in first person with the beginning content of their book, or the hook of your book. It’s interesting because of the twist when you learn their actually a character in their book.
- Share short stories or snippets of your novel
- Tell readers what inspire you.
- Travel to places that sparked your inner writer and show your followers. Remember, the art of monologue – well this would be your chance. Do it better than some of the cat’s I’ve seen.
- Using the previous point, use your pet and monologue over them with your work.
- Share what your writing journey is really like
- Share additional how-to’s if you have skills or knowledge of software that would help fellow authors
- Don’t strain your brain – share what works for you. It’s more likely to be unique.
Do you have a list of your own? Let us know by commenting and sharing. I’ll post again next week.
Writer’s who need help can take a look at my Writer’s Journal filled with writing prompts and exercises. You can find a copy at https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Journal-Writing-Prompts-Notes/dp/B0931QRL7C.
~Yoon Ju
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