I’m a wall flower. Unless I have a specific role, I’m horrible at mixing and mingling at networking events. Right now I have exciting news to spread – I have books for sale. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of and now it’s happening.
How do spread the word without sounding like an overblown buffoon tooting her own horn.
I shot out a similar question on Twitter yesterday and received some great advice. One was to add a button to my facebook fanpage to follow me on Twitter. I figure that will work for my blog and website too.
By TwitterButtons.com
I’ll add two important bits of advice here.
Don’t put the same message on all your updates and let your audience choose how to keep themselves informed.
I have several friends and associates who are following me on Twitter, read my blog, connect with me on LinkedIn and are fans on Facebook. My really good friends and keen supporters do all this for not only me as an author, but also me as a web designer and also a managing editor. The last thing I want is for them to get the same message multiple times. Eventually no matter how much they love me, they’re going to drop some of their support because I’m overwhelming them with detail.
To that end, NEVER auto-link your Faceook status with your Twitter updates.
Two different systems, two different audiences looking for two different types of information from you. Even though I’m pretty savvy and understand what’s happening, I still hide updates from people who Twitter on Facebook, it’s just annoying noise getting in the way when I’m trying to keep in touch with people. For people who don’t know about Twitter, they don’t understand and make some pretty harsh judgments about the person doing the updating.
Stepping off my soapbox now…
Other Good Advice:
Get out there and network both online as well as offline. There are so many networks and communities to connect with. Writers are a wonderful breed who love helping each other out. I’ve got a bunch of them listed at http://paperboxbooks.com/resources/communities.html, and have even more to upload when I’m done this blog.
Remember, it’s not the people you know who are your best customers – it’s the people who know them.
So even if your Mother is a technophobe, she’s bound to brag about your book to her friends. One of them could have an e-reader, or have a sister stuck in hospital who is looking for a new author. You just never know!
and I’m be remiss if I didn’t add,
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