Category: Uncategorized

I think I drive my kids a little crazy sometimes.

Frequently I’ll be driving somewhere in town and wonder how my GPS would tell me how to reach our destination. I know how to get there. But I wonder if my route is really the most efficient way.

So I punch in the destination and the GPS lady drones on, telling me which turn to take. “Take a right on Sar-deez Road North,” she orders.

I very rarely follow the GPS lady’s advice.

“Mom,” my son will say through teeth that sound gritted, “why didn’t you make the turn that she mentioned?”

“Oh, there’s way too much traffic on that road. It’ll be bumper to bumper. And there are stoplights practically every ten feet. The GPS lady doesn’t know that. I’ll just go straight and we’ll get there faster.”

“Why then,” asks my son, very reasonably, “don’t you just turn off the GPS? Her voice is annoying. And you never follow her directions anyway.”

But I don’t turn it off. Because sometimes she gives me an interesting alternate route that I hadn’t thought of. Some days there’s an accident or a delay of some kind on my preferred route…some sort of roadblock…and I need a different direction to follow.

You can see where this is going. But this is how I look at first reader advice—whether it’s advice from a critique group or a friend or family member.

Your first readers may give advice that’s very useful. Or they may give you advice that you just listen to, thank them for, and completely disregard as you continue on your own course.

Sometimes you may get conflicting suggestions from different critique readers. I’ve heard several writers talk about how confusing that can be and how they aren’t sure whose advice they should listen to.

But then there are those helpful nuggets of advice that can put your story on a new and different course when you’ve hit a roadblock.

Ultimately, you should listen to your gut when you write your story. You usually know the best route to take with your book. Take the alternate course when it makes sense or when it’s more efficient. (Editors, of course, are a different story. I make a point of always following their suggestions.)

After all—ultimately, you’re the one behind the wheel.

A question I frequently get, and which I heard a lot this weekend at the Cape Fear Crime Festival, is “Does social media sell books?”

Many writers worry about spending time away from writing. Between the demands of job and family, it can be hard to even find time for writing. They want a good reason to invest time in social media.

What does social media give a writer? A platform.

Platform: When a writer has a healthy platform, it indicates to an agent or publisher the size of the potential audience that the writer can reach, promotion-wise, on their personal network. Or, as former literary agent Nathan Bransford put it:

Platform is the number of eyeballs you can summon as you promote your book.

The important thing, of course, is not to over-promote to this network you’ve established. That’s the fastest way to lose followers. A subtle approach is always better.

Your platform leads to a certain amount of name recognition: Let’s say there’s a writer named Bob. Bob worked for years writing a book, edited for ages, crafted a query, honed a synopsis and his publishing dream finally became a reality. Now his book is on the shelf and online with thousands of other books. What makes Bob’s book stand out from the others?

He did write a great book. Is it his reviews? Not too many readers follow reviews, though. Is it his back cover copy? His cover art? Those things do help…but what can help more than anything is name recognition for the book title or author or some recognition of the cover art. I’ve had readers email me that my book almost jumped off the shelf at them because the cover and my name were familiar—their eyes went right to it.

I’ve done the same thing myself. I took my daughter to the book store into the children’s and YA area in early December. She asked me to help her find a book—and we were in a rush, needing to get to another event. “Could you pick one out, Mama? I can’t decide,” she said. I scanned the shelves and one of Janice Hardy’s books seemed to leap at me. “Here you go,” I said. “Let’s give this one a go. Ms. Hardy is a great writer.” And off we went to the register.

Have I ever met Janice in person? No. I know Janice from the blogging and Twitter world. She writes amazing posts on the writing craft. Would I have gone right to her book—bypassing hundreds of other attractively-packaged children’s books that were nearby– without knowing Janet online? I think eventually we ‘d have discovered her wonderful books…but it would have taken us a lot longer.

I’ve heard writers worry over the fact that their social media is only reaching other writers—who are also promoting their own books. The only way I can answer that is to say that I’ve had very healthy sales and nearly sold-through my advance on pre-orders alone for last summer’s release. Who knew about my book before it came out? Writers did. They might have bought the book to support me or because of curiosity or because they thought a family member or friend might like it. But I believe that my strong numbers were nearly completely due to writers.

With social media, unless you’re tracking clicks over to a buy link, you may not have data to directly tie in your social media efforts to your sales. My data is limited to reports of sales that I’ve gotten from my network (messages from followers that they’d purchased a book), and sales in general.

But I believe that building a platform through social media results in sales. What’s more, my agent and editors believe it, too. These days, in fact, agents and editors will likely consider a writer’s platform as part of the overall package that includes their writing talent.

I know several of my regular readers have had great success with social media promoting. I know that even aside from promotion, that we all get a lot from our online network of writers. What is your impression of social media promo, either from what you’ve observed or what you’ve tried?

Like everything in publishing, book promotion is changing.

Because I spend so much time online, and am surrounded by blogging, Facebooking, and tweeting writing friends, I don’t even think about social media being revolutionary in any way.

But there are still lots of writers who haven’t made the leap to social media promoting. I met some of them this weekend.

When I blog about social media—its ability to reach a large number of people for (basically) free—I’m just preaching to the choir…because y’all are all online.

So I don’t really know about these other writers unless I meet them face to face—they’re not networking online.

They’re still talking about creative ways to approach book signings. They’re talking about tours and postcard mailings and posters.

Which, of course, is all still part of promotion…but doesn’t have nearly the scope that social media has.

When I was speaking on the Cape Fear Crime Festival promo panel on Saturday, I mentioned that I found book signings ineffective. I recommended spending that time developing a blog or opening a Facebook or Twitter account. There were a few writers in the audience who looked at me as if I’d grown horns on my head.

A couple of people told me later they didn’t really even know where to begin with the social media world.

So I promised to blog on it. :)

Here’s my take on getting started:

Blogging: I think this is probably the best way to get introduced to social media. The blogging habit comes fairly easily to writers and it’s not too hard to learn a blogging application. Blogspot is Google’s free blog program, and WordPress is another popular blog host. It doesn’t really matter which you choose.

The important thing is to regularly update your blog (you can choose daily or weekly but I wouldn’t space it any farther apart than that) and to interact with other bloggers. You can find great blogs in the blogrolls (sidebars) of active blogs. What do you blog on, if you’re a writer? You can choose to blog on the writing life, writing in general, books you’ve read, movies you’ve enjoyed—basically it’s your choice. It takes a while to really find a niche and get into the writing groove, but it will come.

Facebook: I think this is the second best way to make connections and start building a platform. The learning curve is fairly low and, once you’re on, it makes pretty good sense. The way that conversations work on Facebook looks like a real conversation (unlike Twitter, which is a bit more scattered.) Facebook is where writers interact and network. Where can you find writers? Look up any writer who is active online (I’m Elizabeth Spann Craig Author) and go to their friend list. Click on their friends and just start asking people to friend you. I promise that 99% of these writers aren’t expecting you to really know them for them to accept a Facebook friendship.

Twitter: Twitter is sort of the icing on the cake to me. If you’re already blogging and Facebooking and picked up on it well and are looking for another social media outlet, I’d pick Twitter. The learning curve is just a little steeper for the application…its method for interaction is a little unnatural, I think. What I love about Twitter is the resource sharing and the fact that the messages are always short and punchy. When you read as much as writers all do, short can be sweet. Twitter is also a favorite application for agents and editors, and there is lots of industry information being tweeted.

I’m interested in what y’all have to say about this…do you think this order makes sense to someone just starting out, who is wanting to get their feet wet? I could be persuaded that Facebook makes a better introduction than blogging to the world of social media. What do you think?

********

Tomorrow I’m going to address the next question I got from folks about social media—how do I know this sells books? :)

Here are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter for the past week.

My addition this week is an efficient method of locating resources on writing topics when you need them—via the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine and software engineer and writer Mike Fleming’s ingenuity. The links I tweet (which are writers’ blogs, agents’ and editors’ blogs) all are added to the engine to make it easier for you to access the information you’re looking for.

Running Our Races & Becoming Winners: http://dld.bz/KmEd

Finding Commas in All the Wrong Places: http://dld.bz/KmET

How To Create a Writer’s Resume: http://dld.bz/KmEH

Format Your Novel for Submission: http://dld.bz/KmE8

How to Choose a Search Friendly Domain Name: http://dld.bz/KmEn

How to Write a Synopsis When You Have Lots of Characters in Your Story: http://dld.bz/Ga9J

On The Importance of Failure: http://dld.bz/KmC6

Self-Publishing–The “American Idol” of the Publishing World: http://dld.bz/KmCw

Backstory: Relevant Information or an Inconsequential Event? http://dld.bz/KmB7

Creating Emotion in the Reader: http://dld.bz/KmBq

What question does your book pose? http://dld.bz/KmAK ./

Neuroscientists try to unlock the origins of creativity: http://dld.bz/KmAh

Creating Futuristic Vocabulary: http://dld.bz/Km9B

Why one writer chooses to write: http://dld.bz/KmAa

Shakespeare, SpongeBob, and the law: http://dld.bz/Kmxk @helengunnar

The New World of Publishing: Cash Flow: http://dld.bz/KmvC

Writer’s guilt: http://dld.bz/Kqc3 @JulieeJohnsonn

7 Signs Your Blog is Bound to Fail: http://dld.bz/JZ7p

The Elements of Fiction—The Basics & Beyond: http://dld.bz/KmeT

Give your supporting characters more dimension: http://dld.bz/KkZ6

Best Articles This Week for Writers 2/4/11: http://dld.bz/KkJp

Roundup of links on self-editing: http://dld.bz/K

Victims aren’t sexy: http://dld.bz/KnJN @tawnafenske

Why Support Other Writers? http://dld.bz/KmKp @ajackwriting

Tips for crafting dialogue: http://dld.bz/KmaN

Why editors may ask you to combine 2 characters: http://dld.bz/Gkud

Changing priorities and character growth: http://dld.bz/KmNy

Revising: How To Avoid Staring Into The Great Black Abyss: http://dld.bz/KkVp

How to Mingle at Publishing Events: http://dld.bz/KkUC

Are Book Editors Paid Too Much? http://dld.bz/KkKq

How to Avoid Head-Hopping: http://dld.bz/Kmj4 @JamiGold

Duties of an Editor & How Editors Help Writers: http://dld.bz/KmgK

Thanks so much @JoanSwan for featuring the WKB search engine on your site: http://dld.bz/Kmw6 @hiveword

Thoughts on proofing ARCs: http://dld.bz/KkHx

Why Writers Can’t Have Too Many Sacred Cows: http://dld.bz/KkWE

The 4 Most Common Mistakes Fiction Editors See: http://dld.bz/KkJa

A freelancer question answered: “What should I charge for writing blog posts?” http://dld.bz/JZ7e

Eschewing Formal Language: http://dld.bz/JZ6T

An agent on how explicit sex scenes should be: http://dld.bz/JZ6G

Do You Blog Just Enough To Hate It? http://dld.bz/JZ6C

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Quick Change Chicken http://bit.ly/hD0kjH @CleoCoyle

Fiction and non-fiction–not so different after all: http://dld.bz/JZ66

The Race for the Future: http://dld.bz/JGSN

The pet peeves that add dimension well-known crime fiction sleuths: http://dld.bz/JTnZ @mkinberg

The importance of fact-checking: http://www.andrewjackwriting.com/2011/02/check-your-facts/ @ajackwriting

Tips for effectively opening your story: http://dld.bz/KeT7 @bluemaven

When the Inner Critic rears its ugly head…: http://dld.bz/JTpx @messydesklife

Literary elements to get familiar with: http://dld.bz/JZ4Y

Depth of Character: http://dld.bz/JZ4V

Is speculative fiction poised to break into the literary canon? (Guardian): http://dld.bz/JZ4N

5 considerations when using adjectives: http://dld.bz/JZ4M

26 Ways to Enhance Your Blog Content: http://dld.bz/JZ4z

How to Achieve Balance Between Your (God I Hate This Word) Platform and Your Writing: http://dld.bz/JZ4j

Creating an Attention-Getting Proposal: http://dld.bz/JZ37

Building a Story: Grids, Mapping and Outlines: http://dld.bz/JZ2X

How to submit writing craft links you think should be in the writers’ search engine: http://dld.bz/Kb9x @hiveword

Pitching Genres: What the Heck do I Write? http://dld.bz/JZ2R

SFF and the Classical Past, Part 3—Heroic Romans: http://dld.bz/JZ2P

Are you a post pirate? You’ll want to read this: http://dld.bz/JZ2J

When the Book Is Finished…Tips for Surviving the Post-Novel Mourning Period: http://dld.bz/JZxN

5 Writing Rules You Should Break: http://dld.bz/JZw5

Writing And The Mixed Blessing Of A Day Job: http://dld.bz/JTmT @thecreativepenn

You’re The Artist—It’s Your Job To Write What You Love: http://dld.bz/JGSh

Writing Blogs, Search Terms, and Our Corporate Overlords: http://dld.bz/JGRA

Doing A Whedon: When To Kill Off Major Characters: http://dld.bz/JGS6

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Bacon Cheddar Guacamole Grilled Cheese http://bit.ly/gqyvfq @CleoCoyle

Google Updates Google Reader, But Did Anyone Care? http://dld.bz/JGRm

Books vs. Music: http://dld.bz/JGPM

The Good News? Writing Never Gets Any Easier: http://dld.bz/JGQ6

Superpowers of the grammatical subject: http://dld.bz/JGQ2

Being Fictional: http://dld.bz/JGQb

Writing the Ending–2 tips to help you get to ‘The End’ – http://dld.bz/JSHg @jhansenwrites

Digital Book World: E-Books and Libraries? No Problem, Panel Says (Publishers Weekly): http://dld.bz/JGMn

3 Layers of ‘Layering’ in Fiction: http://dld.bz/JGMf

People Process Information Best In Story Form: http://dld.bz/JGMc

Grammar Police! That vs Which: http://dld.bz/J8ha

15 Minutes To Sanity: How One Writer Balances Housework And Writing: http://dld.bz/J8gJ

How Writing Careers Are Like Snowflakes: http://dld.bz/J7Vm

What is it really like to be published? http://dld.bz/J7Vd

Blood, Sweat and Words: How Badly Do You Want This? http://dld.bz/J7U3

Tips for writing action: http://dld.bz/J7Uu

“Wowed” by the Yanks, UK Indie Booksellers Motivated to Start Selling E-books: http://dld.bz/J7Ua

Ten Things to Help Writers Save $: http://dld.bz/J7TQ

Description Passages, Part I: Setting: http://dld.bz/J7Ax

Ten Twitter Blunders Writers Make: http://dld.bz/J7Aj

15 Scalable SEO Strategies for Newly Launched Websites: http://dld.bz/J7zW

Your First Draft is Allowed to Suck: http://dld.bz/J7z6

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Shrimp Pasta http://bit.ly/ePcsFo @CleoCoyle

From the Basement to The Attic: Remembering the Past and Creating the Future: http://dld.bz/J7zz

What’s Your Excuse For Not Writing? http://dld.bz/J7sZ

The “Common Sense” Mistake That Makes Your Writing Lifeless: http://dld.bz/J7zq

7 inspiring writing quotes from 12 books: http://7quotes.webs.com/ @quotes4writers

5 Billboard Taglines That Advertise Errors (And A Quick Punctuation and Spelling Brush-Up): http://dld.bz/J7yZ

How to Choose a Writing Critique Partner (and Some Links for Finding Them): http://dld.bz/J7wC

8 New LinkedIn Features Worth Exploration: http://dld.bz/J7wp

10 Ways Authors and Publishers Fail on Twitter: http://dld.bz/JGFC @JanetBoyer

Launching a virtual book tour: http://dld.bz/J7vD

The Protocol For Following Up With Agents and Editors: http://dld.bz/J7tg

Have you tried it? The better-than-Google search engine for writers: http://dld.bz/Hnnn @hiveword

Anatomy of an Effective Blog Post: http://dld.bz/J7sK

Thoughts on different types of promo: http://dld.bz/JGGs

Learning to Say “No” to New Writing Commitments: http://dld.bz/J7sG

Dos and don’ts of public readings (National Post): http://dld.bz/J7sw

Why You Should Avoid Bright, Shiny Ideas: http://dld.bz/J7rY

Designing Books for a Digital Age (NY Times): http://dld.bz/J7rR

Is Doing a Blog Tour Really Worth It? http://dld.bz/J7r3

Querying The Cliché: http://dld.bz/JvQ6

What eBook Reading Apps Should I Use on the Laptop? http://dld.bz/JvQ4

Ten of the best walled gardens in literature (Guardian): http://dld.bz/JvQt

Freelancers–Why Your Article Ideas Aren’t Working: http://dld.bz/JvNR

10 Places to Find Blog Inspiration: http://dld.bz/JvQp

How a Blogger Without a Blog Became a Blogger to Watch: http://dld.bz/JvQg

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Groundhog Day Giveaway: Six More Weeks or Not? Comment to Win from Cleo Coyle http://bit.ly/erdksP @CleoCoyle

Writers Obsessed with Writers; Fancy Magazines (Paris Review): http://dld.bz/JvPv

Rethinking Rights in a Transmedia World: http://dld.bz/JvNs

Building writing routines: http://dld.bz/JvMG

5 areas to help authors consider their personal State of the Union: http://dld.bz/JvMk

How to Turn Your Photos Into a Graphic Novel: http://dld.bz/J73Q @GalleyCat

For Agents, Timing is Everything: http://dld.bz/JuB7

Do You Need To Write Short Stories? http://wp.me/pyMqx-c3 @ajackwriting

The Perils of Literary Profiling (NY Times): http://dld.bz/JuBx

Ten tips for taming a beastly to-do list: http://dld.bz/J7AF @tawnafenske

Best Tweets for Writers (week ending 1/28/11): http://dld.bz/J79T

How to Download Word Files to Your Kindle: http://dld.bz/JuBj

Researching the historical novel: http://dld.bz/J7tG

3 Author Marketing Secrets From The Grateful Dead: http://dld.bz/JuBc

5 tips for establishing your characters: http://bit.ly/gehQX3 @p2p_editor

Borders Won’t Make January Payments, Either, And They Aren’t Paying Rent: http://dld.bz/J7xk and http://dld.bz/J7x7

Is the age of the critic over? (Guardian): http://dld.bz/JuAZ

A useful resource for describing settings, emotions, shapes, textures, and more: http://dld.bz/J6JG

5 Solid Ways to Get Traffic to Your Blog: http://dld.bz/JuAU

When you’re introducing a character, make a good first impression for the reader: http://dld.bz/J6FA @elspethwrites

Freelancers: Jack of All Trades, Master of None? Seven Reasons to Specialize: http://dld.bz/JuAS

When and how often you should communicate with your publisher: http://dld.bz/JuAQ

Bookshops reply to the ebook threat: http://dld.bz/JuAJ

Poetry: a beautiful renaissance (Guardian): http://dld.bz/JuAA

“Am I a Writer Yet?” – Paid, Professional, Published, and Other Benchmarks Defined: http://dld.bz/JuAt

5 things one writer wishes she’d known before querying: http://dld.bz/JuAm

Some observations on erotica and gender: http://dld.bz/JuAg

Librarians–don’t give up: http://dld.bz/J32R @LesaHolstine @Brad_Parks

The Purpose of Science Fiction: http://dld.bz/Ju9z

Being a Brand: http://dld.bz/Ju8u

10 ways to grow your Facebook following as an Author: http://dld.bz/Ju7U

Mythpunk: http://dld.bz/JvQJ

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Skillet Caramelized Pear Cake http://bit.ly/e7mOTf @CleoCoyle

What it means to be ‘pre-published’: http://dld.bz/Ju76

Eliminate Distractions to Increase Writing Income: http://dld.bz/Ju7a

How to Write a Query Letter: http://dld.bz/Ju6n

Tips from Alan Rinzler on how to untangle a plot: http://dld.bz/JxDv RT @inkyelbows

How to revise your novel if you can’t get into it – take time to dress the set again: http://dld.bz/JrdY

Tips for having a blog tour: http://dld.bz/JrdR

How to work with the 4 levels of transition in a book: http://dld.bz/JrdK

Twitterific–the week in tweets: http://dld.bz/JvFR

What Literary Agents are Reading (Huff Post): http://dld.bz/JrdE

MASTER Recap of 2011 Writer’s Digest Conference: http://dld.bz/Juvj

What happens after your query is sent: http://dld.bz/JnmR

Celebrity Death Match–Author Edition: http://dld.bz/JnmD

Is Science Fiction Getting More Conservative? http://dld.bz/Ju7m @PajamasMedia

How Creativity Wins Friends And Influences People: http://dld.bz/Jnmy

How to Avoid Being Fooled by Bad Writing Advice: http://dld.bz/Juva

A Good Metaphor is… : http://dld.bz/Jnmx

40+ Creative Manipulations to Feast your Eyes: http://dld.bz/Jnk8

Parents–nice list of books to hook a reluctant reader: http://dld.bz/JtGj @pragmaticmom

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Happy Cake http://bit.ly/hMjTHW @CleoCoyle

Graphic Noir: A Random Sample: http://dld.bz/JnjY

19 Posts on Creativity: http://dld.bz/JnjG

Writing scared–how writing can create anxiety…and might cure it (New Yorker): http://dld.bz/Jrc5 @bookbench

Successful Writers Produce: http://dld.bz/Jnjx

The overlooking and discounting of clues by sleuths in crime fiction: http://dld.bz/JqZW @mkinberg

Today, I’m attending the Cape Fear Crime Festival in Wilmington, NC.

This will be my second visit to this conference. I really enjoyed it the last time I attended—there was a nice camaraderie between the authors, I enjoyed the library location, Wilmington is pretty and walkable…and I’m not too far away to drive.

As soon as I find out the time for my panel, I make the hotel reservations. If I have, for instance, an 8 a.m. panel and I’ve got a drive that takes hours, then I’ll stay the night before the panel instead of the night following it. Or vice versa. Helps to save a little money.

If the hotel I’m staying at doesn’t have a free continental breakfast, I’ll usually take something that doesn’t have to be refrigerated that I can eat for breakfast. I’m a big believer in breakfast. :)

I do always try to have either lunch or supper or both with other authors…it’s really where I have the most fun and have more of an opportunity to visit.

I keep all my receipts in an envelope so I’ll be prepared at tax time.

If I’m traveling on the same day I’m attending the conference (like I am today), I wear something that won’t wrinkle too badly. I like jersey knits for that. I wore linen once…ha! :) I don’t know what possessed me.

As I mentioned in a previous post, it’s a good idea to come prepared with giveaways—bookmarks, business cards, small giveaways. I’ve seen authors bring personalized note pads, luggage tags, lip gloss, computer monitor cleaners….just all kinds of swag. I usually don’t go really over the top with stuff because it’s hard to tote around—and because it’s expensive. But at Malice Domestic, I did bring potholders with a BBQ theme that had my business card tied on to them.

I make sure to bring water (just in case the organizers don’t provide it.) I’ll bring a nice pen to sign books with, and I find out what the set-up is for book sales. Sometimes an independent bookstore will be in charge of book sales—and sometimes I’ll need to bring my own books and small denominations of cash to make change with.

I’ll prepare in advance if I know my panel questions ahead of time. I try to stay on track with the question and have succinct answers. I have a tendency, actually, to be too succinct, so I try to plan for elaboration of my answer, if I need to (if the moderator is glaring at me, for instance, because of my brevity. :) )

If it’s a conference where I’m staying for a couple of days, then I will need to plan some down time in my hotel room. Otherwise, I tend to get a teensy bit on edge if I spend a whole lot of room with other people—even very nice people. And, although I’m very introverted in nature…I try to be outgoing at these events. In fact, most people who have met me think I’m outgoing. :) I’m apparently a great actress. There are several folks that are going to Cape Fear that I’m really interested in meeting…so I really will be outgoing today.

Are you planning on hitting any conferences this year? Have any tips?