Author Tools - Social Media Tips

StoryFinds is committed to providing you with useful author tools and we are open to receiving more helpful tips. If you have a tip you're willing to share, are discovering what other social media are working for you, are noticing a new social media trend are willing to share your insight with other authors please email Renee D. Field, Founder, StoryFinds at rfield@storyfinds.com and we will include your information in our Author Tools.

Social Media for authors: Why it’s important!

Internet Profile:

As authors you want to make finding your books easy for readers. Having a web presence is essential today. There are a variety of means to achieve this: an author blog/author website/book or series website/author facebook page/author book page/twitter/pinterest and the list can go on. Below we’re going to discuss pros and cons and ways authors should be using social media.

Website:

Great tool to introduce readers to your book. A website should highlight new releases, book covers, encourage readers to sign up for your author newsletter and incorporate other social media links from one page. Key elements to include to assist readers in reaching authors is an email. If you are swamped with emails as an author, simply state above your email that due to literary commitments you can’t always reply and once again encourage your readers to sign up for your newsletter. Today fans want to be engaged with authors and it will help grow your book sales.

Facebook:

What’s the difference between a Facebook Profile/Facebook Page/Facebook Group:

A Facebook Profile – A lot of authors have these as do a lot of other people but a facebook profile page is not a page everyone on the internet can view. A Facebook profile page is where you encourage friends to join your page through a friend request and there is a limit as to how many requests you can accept. The key thing to remember is a Facebook profile is for individuals. Key distinction: on a profile page someone is your friend, but on your author or book page someone is a fan. You can send messages to one or more people, which will go directly to their inbox on Facebook. StoryFinds recommends not using this to promote your books.

Facebook Page: To use Facebook properly by encouraging “LIKES” which helps search engines to find you, authors should create a Facebook Page which is sometimes called a Facebook Fan Page/Facebook Author Page/Facebook Book Page. A page cannot “add” people as friends. However fans can encourage others to become fans of an author page. As a page you can only send updates. A Facebook page is visible to everyone on the internet.

Facebook Groups: There are a number of Facebook Groups turning up daily on Facebook and these are great ways to stay connected with like-minded people or fans. Groups encourage people to join for a common cause, issue or activity. As an author you can create a group and decide if you want to make it publicly available for anyone to join, require administrator approval or by invite only. Like a Facebook Page new posts by a group are automatically generated into the News Feeds of members for interaction and sharing.

Facebook Community Page – This is fairly new but catching on quickly. These can be unofficial fan pages of celebrities, or groups. What is kind of cool about the Community Page idea, though, is that Facebook says “If it becomes very popular (attracting thousands of fans), it will be adopted and maintained by the Facebook community.” What that means is that it will become basically the same thing as a Wiki. A Wiki is a web site or page that allows anyone to contribute content, much like Wikipedia. So if you create a community page that goes extremely viral, then it could evolve into something completely new on Facebook!

Twitter:

Why an author should use it!

Helps Build Your Fan Base – Twitter is an easy, fast way to engage fans, reach new readers and connect with other authors and professionals.

Instant Feedback – Twitter is immediate and a fast-paced social medium. Ask a questions, engage your readers, get them to help name your characters in your next book and receive instant feedback. Readers will share their thoughts with you. Twitter can be addictive but it's one of the fastest growing social mediums for all ages.

The Media is watching – Media professionals, like reporters, editors, producers, screen writers, and film producers are using Twitter on a daily basis.

Twitter Stats – Twitter is now one of the top 20 websites in the world as of the end of 2012. User engagement is also up on Twitter, with visitors spending an average of over 10 minutes on the site with each visit. If you're interested in discovering more Twitter stats that pertain to your ranking check out these helpful sites:

Twitterholic: Shows your rank based or the number of followers you have as well as in your own country. Also includes some neat graphs and trends to show your Twitter stats. Check out their Top 100 lists as well!!
Twitterank: Shows your ranking percentile and confidence level and calculates your Twitter rating based on different criteria.
Twitter Grader: Shows your reach and ranking as well as a “Twitter Elite” which shows you top Twitterers based on their calculations. Tweet Cloud is pretty unique too, and shows you what you tweet often.

Increase Website Traffic – Twitter is a fast and easy way to drive readers to your website. Every time you post a blog, or are guest blogging somewhere, have a new release, book on sale, or other amazing news - send a tweet!

Make Your Blog Work For You – Schedule new blog posts to repeat. Fans and readers aren't on Twitter at the same time, so it makes sense to retweet your material. I recommend posting once on the first day, again the next day, again a week later, and then every other week for 60 days (stagger the days and times).

Increase Your Fanbase – One important way to increase your fans (followers) on Twitter is by making an effort to follow other people. You can’t just sit back and wait for people to find you. Instead, look for them. Search for Twitter users by keywords related to your book topic. Also search for media professionals who cover your topic. A great source for finding media pros on Twitter is MuckRack.com. The hope is that the people you follow will check you out and follow you back. However, be careful. Twitter has a unique follower vs following ratio and if you start to follow more people than you should it will shut down your account.

Other Social Media Tools:

There are lot of other ways authors can use social media to build a fan base. StoryFinds is not endorsing the below list and every author should discover what works best for them but we've worked to develop a list authors might find helpful.

Klout.com - Klout began with a very simple idea: Everyone has influence—the ability to drive action. Klout built on this idea to show anyone how he or she can influence the world and its future.

Pinterest.com - Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. Don't forget to check out http://pinterest.com/storyfinds

Editing & Writing Coaching Services:

Looking for a professional but gentle writing coach who will inspire you to start and finish that novel, StoryFinds recommends checking out Nancy Cassidy's services at http://www.WordsBetweenPages.com for her coaching services.

In July 2012 Nancy Cassidy joined the Editors Association of Canada, and in August 2012 she became an acquisitions editor for Etopia Press. In August 2011, she opened her own editing services and more information on her services and packages can be found at TheRedPenCoach.com

Book covers:

There are a number of graphic designers who specialize in designing author book covers, including Angela Waters. StoryFinds has included her business information below. Angela offer a full range of graphic design services including:

Cover art for both ebook and print
Bookmarks and other promotional items
Banners and Web Ads
Print Ad Design
Romance Trading Cards
Convention posters and large scale design for booths

Information Specific for Tracking Book Sales:

NovelRank is a completely free website for authors to track their Amazon Sales Rank on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de (Germany), Amazon.co.jp (Japan), Amazon.cn (China),Amazon.it (Italy), and Amazon.es (Spain). NovelRank is the best free resource for self-promoting authors to track their print and ebook sales and Sales Rank on Amazon with charting, RSS feeds, and real-time data.

Amazon Bestsellers Rank is the number you find beneath the Product Description. Every book on Amazon has an Amazon Bestsellers Rank. Click on any title and then scroll down until you see it.

Bestsellers Rank 40,000 to 100,000 - selling close to 1 book a day. (per kindleboards)

Bestsellers Rank 8,500 to 40,000 - selling 1 to 10 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 3,000 to 8,500 - selling 10 to 20 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 1,500 to 3,000 - selling 20 to 40 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 1,100 to 1,500 - selling 40 to 50 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 900 to 1,100 - selling 50 to 65 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 750 to 900 - selling 65 to 85 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 350 to 750 - selling 85 to 175 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 200 to 350 - selling 175 to 250 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 100 to 200 - selling 250 to 300 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 80 to 100 - selling 300 to 400 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 70 to 80 - selling 400 to 500 books a day.

Bestsellers Rank 50 to 70 - selling 500 to 650 books a day.

Bestseller Rank of 45 to 50 - selling 650 to 700 books a day.

Bestseller Rank of 30 to 45 - selling 700 to 900 books a day.

Bestseller Rank of 20 to 30 - selling 900 to 1,300 books a day.

Bestseller Rank of 10 to 20 - selling 1,300 to 1,800 books a day.

Bestseller Rank of 3 to 8 - selling about 4,000+ books a day!