6 Ways To Let Others Do Your Book Marketing For You

We are writers, not marketers. Writers, not publicists. We are creating art, not peddling "product."

Writers write, right?

Cue enormous *le sigh*.

Writing, creating those beautiful words like brain babies, is absolutely our most important calling. It's top priority. But we still want people to see and read and ooh and ahh over those brain babies, and that involves what the vampires and soul-sellers of the world call "marketing," and unfortunately, in the modern publishing world, if we don't do that marketing ourselves, it's probably not going to get done. And in most cases its certainly not going to get done as effectively as we could do it ourselves.

As we writers are commanded told time and time and time again, by everyone from "authorities" to Authorities, from every conceivable platform, we modern writers are now responsible not just for creating our beautiful brain babies, but for raising them smartly and releasing them into as loving and large a throng as we can muster.

But as someone from an eight child family can tell you, isn't it enough to worry about keeping our creations alive and healthy, keeping them from lopping off their hair or blowing out their diapers, without also having to be the one that bribes all the student body to be their friend and vote for them as Homecoming Queen? Okay, so maybe I'm getting a little out of hand with my metaphors here, but you get what I mean, right?

I'm here to tell you that there are plenty of ways to be low on the sleezy and high on the lazy efficient sides of book marketing. We all know the "it takes a village" aphorism, right? Well I think it applies to book marketing too. In other words, there are lots of perfectly appropriate ways to piggy-back on other people and let them do lots of your book marketing for you.

Now, just to be clear, we are mostly talking about long-term marketing here. These are things that will be most effective months or even years before your book comes out, or in the times between books while you're just working on platform building. During the heavy-hitting book release times you're probably going to be doing so much direct marketing work yourself that you'll need a year's supply of RedBull and a tribe of energizer bunnies just to get you through. These are long-term, slow building strategies, but they can really help out in the long run, and can help us be effective while still focusing our efforts on the most important thing: those brain babies.

1. Pinterest is your new best friend. When I read Anne R. Allen's post from her incomparable weekly blog I had to grin a little with the irony. I was in the middle of writing this post and in some ways we are looking at the two sides of one thing. If you haven't read Anne's post this week about the dangers and frustrations of living in our modern cyberworld, do yourself a favor and check it out. All the points she brings up are vitally important and need to be kept at the forefront of our online strategies. As we said at camp, "Safety first!"

That being said, Pinterest can be one of your most useful tools when used correctly. The many social media options and "must-do's" out there can be completely overwhelming, but before you get scared off, let me explain about Pinterest. One of the dangers of adding to your social media platform is the time-suck, and people are afraid of that with Pinterest especially. But honestly, give it a chance and Pinterest can be one of the least intimidating and least involved platforms out there. It can absolutely be a black hole of where-did-the-last-seven-hours-go if you want it to be let it, but it by no means has to be. Being an active user of Pinterest can mean no more than five minutes a day of looking at and maybe repinning pictures of motivational writing quotes, beautiful book covers, great blog posts, and pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch. Honestly. That's all it requires.

And did you catch that thing I just said about blog posts? I get more traffic to this blog from Pinterest than almost any other site. The way Pinterest is structured, it is easier to get discovered and spread on this site than any other, at least in my experience. What I do is make images almost like book covers for a blog post, using an applicable and appropriate photo. (Like the one at the top of this post). I edit and text overlay using a photo-editing site like PicMonkey. Don't let that scare you off either. It may be a learning curve but you'll end up being able to whip one up in less than five minutes. And then put it up on Pinterest, and bam, you have other people spreading your word. I am by no means an expert, but for an example of how I've been using Pinterest at least relatively successfully, check out my Pinterest boards, especially the ones for writers. (Whew, I didn't realize I had so much to say about this site. Maybe it deserves it's own how-to style post...)

2. Take advantage of the @Mention. The @mention feature on Twitter is one of your best tools for doing some totally appropriate piggy-backing of other people's audience. On Twitter itself, when you communicate directly with people in your industry using the @mention, you increase your chances of getting your tweet favorited or retweeted, thereby being introduced to the other tweeters audience. I.e., letting them do some of the work for you.

But the @mention can help in even more ways. I've had tweets mentioned in other author's newsletters that led people to both my twitter account and this blog. And you know how I make a spotlight list of other blog posts every week? I make sure to mention those bloggers on Twitter too. Of course doing this expecting other people to owe you any favors is totally obnoxious, (and this tool is mean to be the opposite of harassment) but I've been lucky enough to have my post mentioned or retweeted on other authors blogs and that has led to some great traffic that another writer already had ready and waiting. Plus its just a great way to be involved, and involving yourself with others creates involvement for you.

3. Guest post. "Wait!" I hear some of you saying. "You said this was for lazy marketers and writing more blog posts isn't lazy-friendly at all!"

True, but think of it in terms of return on investment. Letting other people do your book marketing for you is all about efficiency. Yes, you have to spend an additional 3-4 hours crafting the guest post. But if you put in the effort, do your best work, and are lucky enough to get accepted by some of the huge platform blogs, then guess what that means? That means you spent 3-4 hours reaching a crazy large audience that it would have taken you hundreds and hundreds of hours to reach otherwise. That blogger has already put in those hundreds, even thousands of hours building up that great audience, and guest blogging is the perfect way for you to piggy-back. In an appropriate, non-creepy (hopefully) way that is beneficial to both parties.

4. Create or discover interview opportunities. Again, this can take less effort than you expect. And it's all about efficiency and return on investment, right? The good thing is that there are already some tools in place that make this strategy quite simple. Help A Reporter Out is a newsletter sent directly to your inbox every day that lists topics reporters from everywhere want to get quotes about. For example, perhaps a newspaper reporter in Milwaukee needs to interview three middle school librarians, or a blogger for a major corporation wants to talk to work from home moms. Stuff like that. I've found a couple applicable postings, and if I can, you definitely can. And there's no easier way to piggy-back on that publication's audience.

The other tool is Blog Talk Radio. Caveat: I haven't used this site yet, but I've heard a lot about it lately and plan to get started soon. What I know so far is that this is a platform for anyone to create their own radio show or podcast, and some have audiences in the thousands. If anyone has any experience using this site I'd love to hear about it.

5. Blurb, collaborate, and bundle with other authors. How do you get your name and the title of your book on the cover of someone else's book? Blurbs! If you get a chance and it seems appropriate, blurbing might be a good opportunity.

And collaborating. Writing a book with another author is an automatic introduction to their already-built audience. However it doesn't even have to be as involved as all that, because I know writing a book with someone else isn't for everyone. But what about anthologies? That's collaboration, right? Or co-authored blogs? Or working with an illustrator to create a picture book or illustrated poetry? All great collaborative opportunities that mean access to someone elses in-place audience. Efficiency in book marketing is all about getting access to these already-built audiences. A reader who buys an anthology because they know another writer might end up loving your work just as much. And all you had to do was write.

And don't forget bundles. I've never done one myself, but selling your work in a bundle with some other authors gives you basically the same advantages of an anthology, but may have an even wider reach.

6. Ask. You know who else probably has a built-in audience? Your family and friends. Maybe they don't have the reach of some of the big industry influencers, but they can still help. Again, I have to emphasize, my point here is the opposite of "be entitled and pushy." In fact as a general online rule you should be giving help as much if not much more than you're asking for it. But you also shouldn't be afraid of asking for help when its appropriate. Asking your friends and family for a boost on their Facebook and Twitter pages, especially when your book is nearing release, can be a big help in your push to get the ball rolling. And most likely you'll have plenty of people who are more than happy to help.

So. There are ways that we can appropriately piggy-back on other people's audience and let them do some of our book marketing for us. Keep in mind that this is about being pro-actively efficient and smart, and is absolutely not about being entitled or sleazy or pushy. Have I said that enough? Also keep in mind that many of these strategies are long-term and slow-building; more about building our blog readership and growing our email list than direct sales. But if we use these strategies effectively then when its time for our precious brain baby to be released into the world, we already have a bit of a network in place and ready to go.

Do you think these strategies can help? What other ideas do you have for piggy-backing on other peoples audience and letting them do some of our book marketing for us?

Write (and minimally market) on!

Sarah Allen

This Week On Social Media:

For more frequent updates, writing tips, and funnies, follow on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, 
YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, GoodReads, and/or Instagram.

SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES:

• First Line Magazine: Submit a story with the assigned first line. Due Nov. 1.
• Critical Pass Review: Calling all poets, writers, photographers, and visual artists! The Critical Pass Review is now accepting submissions for its Fall 2014 Issue. Due Nov. 19.
• Madcap Review: There are two weeks left to submit to Madcap Review! Due Oct. 31.
• Imitation & Illusion: For I&A 2.2, we're looking for submissions that combine the styles of poet Jillian Weise and sci-fi writer James Blish. Each author uniquely approaches a specific subset of the science fiction genre, broaching the subjects of biology, self-awareness, and society. Due Nov. 21.
• Big Book of Useful Poetry: Submit "useful" poems as well as the tags for their usefulness. Tag examples: . Poems can be previously published as long as you have the rights for reprints. No limericks. Submit up to three poems. Until Filled.

SPOTLIGHT: 

• How To Get A Platform Like A Reality Star (Author Culture)
• 10 Resources for Writers and Bloggers (Nina Badzin)
• How To Get Traffic To Your Author Website (Your Writer Platform)
• You're More Influential Than You Think (Novel Rocket)

How To Use Your Hobbies To Build Your Author Platform

An "author platform" is at once an urgent and ambiguous term. We hear all the time about how important it is, and how building a marketing and publicity platform is second only in importance to the writing itself. We must write the most and the best that we can, but then we must find people to read that writing.

This raises two questions. First, how do we most successfully build that author platform, and second, how do we do it most efficiently, taking as little time as possible from the writing. One of the best answers I've come up with is to use aspects of our lives already in place. Kill two birds with one stone.

Use our hobbies.

I believe using our hobbies can both provide a way for us to build our author platforms, and a way for us to do it efficiently.

Here's a few ways I think we can do that.

1. Source for social media content: With smart phones, high quality pictures of basically anything are immediately shareable. And visual content is the king of modern social media. We writers typically think of posting stuff about writing on social media, but occasionally getting fun or quirky or personal can work wonders. And we want more than just our fellow writers in our audience, right? (Though our fellow writers are also incredibly important and valuable members of that audience.) So while you're out in your garden, or fixing a car, or painting, or playing guitar or chasing tornadoes or whatever it is you do, take a picture and share it. You might bring a smile to some faces.

2. Source for article ideas: Part of building a writer platform is being varied in our writing projects and gigs. Most of us write novels, but to build a platform we can add short stories, poetry, essays, scripts, and, of course, magazine articles. So if you do hair or make birthday cards or garden, that is the perfect place to start for magazine article topics. There are quite literally magazines on any topic. And here is a great place to start.

3. How-to tutorials: Tutorials are some of the most clickable and shareable content on the web, and if you have a special area of expertise, take advantage of it! Even if you have a writing blog, I don't think its bad to add a little variety to it once in a while. You can make a tutorial about planting tomatoes or sketching a dragon or making a frame out of an old book cover. I think these kind of posts will bring new readers to your audience. And don't forget to post a link on Pinterest. How-to's do particularly well over there.

4. Joining communities: Writers often reference author-specific communities, and those can be incredibly valuable. Other writers can be our mentors, guides, and biggest supporters. But if we're building a platform, and working to grow our audience, we would do best to expand to other groups as well. And this is where our hobbies can come in to play. Join an online gardening forum or gaming group. If you're interested in learning photography, maybe check out some community classes. Audition for a play at a local theater. These are all great opportunities to build your platform and grow your network. While talking with awesome people and making friends :)

5. Point of collaboration: So far we've mostly been talking about ways to incorporate our own hobbies into our platform building. But I think we can also build our author platforms by partnering up with others and utilizing their hobbies. For example, if you're not a photographer but have a friend who is, you could invite them to guest post on your blog about how to take great cover photos. Or perhaps you've always wanted to try your hand at writing songs, but aren't a musician. Maybe collaborate with a friend who plays the guitar, and another friend who likes to make music videos. I think in terms of building platform, two heads are definitely better than one.

What do you think? Are there other ways we can use our hobbies to help build our author platform?

Write on!

This week on social media:

 For more frequent updates, writing tips, and funnies, follow on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, 
YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, GoodReads, and/or Instagram.

SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES:

• Death Where the Nights Are Long: Death Where the Nights are Long is an anthology of writing about the idea and experience of death in extreme lattitudes. Due Nov. 1
• Chicken Soup for the Soul-Thanks to my Mom: We are collecting stories of thanks written by sons and daughters of all ages about their moms and stepmoms. Tell us what your mom has done for you and why you are grateful to her. Due Sep. 30
• Brickplight: Brickplight exists to promote the exploration of unique identities through daring poetry. Due Oct. 25
• Glassworks Magazine: Glassworks Magazine, a journal of literature and art publishing digitally and in print, seeks poetry, fiction, nonfiction, craft essays, art/photography, and new media (video, audio, multi-modal, etc.) for upcoming issues. Due Dec. 15
• Little Patuxent Review: Little Patuxent Review is accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and artwork for the Winter 2015 Food issue. How many tongues can you access through the language of food? How many minutes could you commune with a family at a foreign table, supported with the language of food? Due Nov. 1

SPOTLIGHT:

• How to Become A Lean Mean Writing Machine (Kristen Lamb's blog)
• How I Got Over My Author Complex And Became A "Real" Writer (Make A Living Writing)
• Blogging and Social Media Tips For Writers (Social Media Just For Writers)
• The Dozen New Digital Rules Authors Need to Know (Writer Unboxed)

T is for Trimmings

You know when you're editing a novel or short story and you have to take out that paragraph that you just love but it doesn't fit? You know when you have a brilliant sentence go through your head and you jot it down in your notebook (that you always have with you at all times forever, right?) but you're just not sure how you're ever going to use it?

What do we do with these beautiful trimmings? They're like Christmas tree ornaments, but just because they don't fit on this particular Christmas tree doesn't mean they aren't still beautiful and worth something in and of themselves, right? So what to do?

This is one area where I believe social media can truly be a writers best friend. I talk about social media quite a bit on this blog, partially just because I find it so fascinating, but I want to acknowledge first and foremost that the writing itself is always the top priority. Social media can be fun, but it should not take time away from the actual writing.

There's sort of a way, though, to use social media as a creative writing tool. Like I said, I find social media highly entertaining and fascinating, and not just Facebook and Twitter, but YouTube and Tumblr and Pinterest and Linkedin and Instagram too. So what about this: what if we thought of social media as a form of self-publishing?

And here enter our poor, beautiful, neglected trimmings. Those poems we've scribbled, thoughts we've jotted, paragraphs we've clipped. By using social media as a publishing platform for these trimmings, we put our words out there, get more readers familiar with us, and don't even have to put in that much additional effort.

Tell a story using images on a Pinterest board, like Tiffany Beveridge did on My Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler Daughter. It's even being published as a book.

On Tumblr you can write out your thoughts for your children or interview people in your city or write stories about your cat.

If you're so inclined, you can even make a short video version of one of your poems and put it on YouTube. (Here's one I did:)

I've brought up something similar a few times recently, and again, I don't mean to say that this is where we should focus our time. I just know that for me personally, using social media as a creative outlet in this way has felt almost as rewarding as publishing a short story or poem, and I get more immediate feedback this way too. This is a way to make connections and build a following and find cool people to follow. I have my big projects, my novels, that are my central focus. But these side social media projects can still be amazing quality and amazing fun, if you find a way to fit them in that works for you. I hope to do more in the future.

What do you think? Are these side creative projects on social media worthwhile or is it all a waste of time? Have you seen examples of creative social media usage that you can share in comments? What do you think is a good way to use our 'trimmings'?

Sarah Allen

Can Books Compete With Television?

A few days ago well-known indie-author and blogger Hugh Howey wrote a post about how and if authors can compete with TV in this modern screen-obsessed age. I thought I'd add a few thoughts to the subject and see if we can brainstorm some ways to pull people's attention away from their screens long enough to read our books. Hugh Howey argues that it's a bad move to rely on the few people who will read no matter what rather than trying to expand our readership, and I'm inclined to agree. We all want to reach as many people as we can, right? And a lot of those people are watching TV.

So before we get into specific ideas I want to say one thing first of all. The most important thing. If we're going to make our books worth other peoples seriously important TV time (because it is important, I understand that) then our books have to be...well, THE SHIZ. They've gotta be absolutely the best we can make them. Our stories have to draw the reader in.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get into some specifics. Once our stories are worth turning off the TV for, how do we convince readers and TV watchers of that?

Perhaps using film elements in our marketing, i.e. making a book trailer. There are some really creative and memorable ones out there, all sorts of different styles. It could be worth checking them out and finding someone to make one for your book, or figuring out how to make your own.

People who say they hate to read, in most cases, just haven't found the type of books they like to read. This means that in order to find a larger readership for ourselves as authors, we need to spread our passion as readers. As a kid I had a chore chart and in the summer months part of that chore chart was to read for half an hour every day and I fully intend to implement the same thing when I'm raising kids. We could read whatever we wanted, we just had to read. Basically we need to influence an early start of reading wherever we can. When you're picking out birthday presents, pick books.

We also need to embrace technological innovation. And I'm not talking about print vs ebooks, because we are so past that, right? Right. What I'm talking about are all the ideas that float around about stuff like a Netflix for books, or Hugh Howey's own Pie program that aims to do things like phase out boring text books and hugely expand the types of books kids read in school, basically trying to change the gut reaction many kids have of books as "boring things." Basically what I mean is that we should keep our eyes and ears open for other peoples awesome ideas about integrating books further and further into modern tech. Because even though I don't believe books are ever going away, I also believe things will continue to change, and that if used wisely that change will be exactly the thing that saves the books.

What do you think? What are some additional ways books can keep up with television? Because in reality, that's our main competition. Not other authors. There are more than enough readers to go around, if we can convince them we're worth the time away from the screen.

Sarah Allen

3 Ways Writers Can Use Images in Book Marketing

There's no point in denying it--we live in a glance-attention-span, image driven world. Because of the influx of information we receive daily, the amount of time we have to get someone's attention is ridiculously small. In many cases we have no more time than it takes for someone to glance at an image.

Basically, images are your most effective and efficient marketing tool. People simply expect them, and pictures are what people notice.

But we writers don't work in a visual medium. We use words. So how exactly do we take this modern picture-driven sensibility and make it work for us? Here are a few ways.

1. Magazine Cover Style: I talked a bit about this in a blog post a few weeks ago, but I think it's worth mentioning again. This strategy is best used in correlation with a blog. Basically all you have to do is take an image and create a text overlay as if you were making a magazine cover for your blog post or article. If that sounds difficult, don't worry. It's made pretty simple using sites like PicMonkey. I'm still fiddling around with this, learning how to do it better, and it can actually end up being pretty fun. This strategy works particularly well with sites like Facebook and Pinterest. Here's an example:

2. Poster Style: Even though we work with words, we can still find ways of making those words look pretty. There are lots of online tools that even do this for you. The principle of overlaying text on an image is the same, but instead of using it as a link to an article, this is more of a motivational or cool thing that can be spread around. Take your favorite quote and put it over a beautiful and appropriate image, or just make the words themselves look pretty. Again, there are lots of online tools to help you do this and lots of ways to go about it. Posters are even easier to spread on basically any social media site. Here's an example: 

3. Accompanying Story Style: One possible strategy is simply using the image as a jumping off point. Have you ever seen those pins on Pinterest with a paragraph story explanation? A news image with accompanying story on Facebook? This works because the image is the attention grabber, and if it does it's job, people will stop and pay attention to the story, which is where you as a writer can really shine, right? Find ways to use this. One of my favorite examples is the hilarious Tumblr blog "Yacht Cats." The internet already loves cats, and the images themselves are easily and quickly sharable. But then once you're attention is grabbed, you get down to the accompanying story and see how hilarious and witty and fun the writing itself is. Check it out, you'll see what I mean. And see if trying something similar might help you in your own online presence.

So there's that. Thoughts? Can you think of other ways writers might use images in book marketing?

Make awesome!

Sarah Allen

Can You Judge an Author's Fiction By Their Blog?

Sometimes I look back at old blog posts and find things that make me flinch. I've been doing this for a long time, which hopefully comes with some improvement, but I know I still have plenty of typos, grammar faux-pas and run-on sentences in my posts. My brain definitely knows the their/there/they're rule, but sometimes my hands don't. (And I admit, I didn't get the title for this post right the first time around).

Basically I just sometimes wonder, can mistakes on an authors blog be enough of a deterrent that people don't buy their books? (Got that "their" right the first time, btw).

In thinking about this I've been thinking about sort of the two ends of the blog quality spectrum.

On the one hand, there are some blogs out there of such poor quality that they're almost illegible. This is beyond spelling and grammar errors, this is confusing wording and very poor structure, so much so that you're not sure what exactly the blogger is even trying to say. Now, it seems like blogs like this would be an absolute deterrent, but in thinking about it, I actually don't think even that would be an authors final chance. Yes, it may take extra motivation for me to make the effort to go from such a blog to the authors books on Amazon, let's say, but I might--and the key here is free sample. For a blog like this, I definitely would not go from the blog to spending money. However I am not past being won over if and that's a HUGE if, they motivate me enough to spend the effort downloading a free sample to my iPad, which I would do with a very skeptical and wary eye. So not good chances, but still not last chances.

On the other hand are the types of bloggers we all aspire to be. These are the blogs we find, read one post and know already that it's worth our time to subscribe. The blogger continues to produce such valuable content that we come back consistently and eventually decide to put down effort and maybe even money towards their books. A sample often still comes first for ebooks (which is another reason why your first few chapters are crucial). But for the readers of a fabulous blog, there's not a lot of begging and convincing that needs to be done. The other thing I've noticed about this is that the blogs that are for me in this category are there not because of beautiful, poetic language (although they write very well). I pay attention to them because of consistent, relevant, and very well-organized content. That's a lesson we can take into account for our novels too.

We also need to take into account the fact that our novels undergo a much more intensive editing process (one would hope) than our blog posts do.

What do you think? Can you judge an author's fiction by their blog? Have you bought or not bought a writers book based on their blog?

Sarah Allen

How Building A Writing Career Is Like Playing A Rigged Game of Mario Kart

So I'm not a huge gamer, and I'm definitely still in the Nintendo 64 age (because seriously, you don't get better than 64 Donkey Kong). But I definitely have some fond childhood memories playing games like Smash Brothers, Mario Party, and, of course, Mario Kart.

So how is book marketing like a rigged game of Mario Kart? I like having mental images and metaphors to explain and contextualize things, so bare with me for a second.

Imagine if in Mario Kart, the routes and winners were pre-determined. That in each race, the tracks were randomly selected, and there were only certain characters that could win depending on the track. Not just that, but that the "winning" characters changed all the time too.

Really frustrating, right? Of course. It feels futile to even play. But that's often how book marketing can feel. We often see certain books getting huge success in large part because they fit into the trend that happened to be the book "track" of the moment. Many are great books, many are not so great, I'm just saying it often comes down to luck.

However, when we try to change our characters--be the person that's winning all the races--then things change, and we still don't end up winning. It can feel like whatever we try isn't working.

So then, how do we deal with this?

I was always--ALWAYS--Yoshi. Yoshi's the bomb. Out of the two variables I've mentioned, character and track, there is one over which we have control. We can choose to be true to ourselves, stay with our character, stick to our guns. We can write the stories we feel passionate about. And the thing is, even though we don't have control over the track, and maybe we're having to run race after race on tracks where the predetermined winner is Princess Peach, eventually, our track will come. One day our character will be exactly where he needs to be. And if we've been trying to chase trends, we'll miss that shot.

Another thing. If you're a Yoshi running a race on a Princess Peach track, just because you know you can't come in first or even second place, you can still fight for as much as possible. You can fight for third or fourth place, rather than settling for last, and that will make you stronger and more prepared for when your track does come. And it will come.

So get ready--write the best books you can. Get set--keep plugging away on all the marketing you can do. And GO!

Sarah Allen

4 Ways to Recycle Your Best Blog Posts

One of my favorite concepts, for marketing and in general, is efficiency. I feel a sense of satisfaction when I know I'm using my ideas and efforts to their greatest advantage. So when we spend a good chunk of time brainstorming and crafting our top blog posts, I think its a good idea to get as much from those posts as we can. With that in mind, here are 4 ways we can reuse and recycle our best blog posts.

1. Blog to Book: If you've been blogging for a while and have a loyal following, a blog to book might not be a bad idea. I haven't looked into doing this too much myself, and it will be a while before I'm ready to take on a project like this, but this does the double duty of making more use from your blog posts and also adding a new book to your portfolio. I know the key here is to have a careful balance of recycled blog posts and fresh, new material that makes the book worth buying for your long-time followers. But with effort and a good-sized and good-quality backlog, you could make this work.

2. Readwave: This is a new site, and one I've only come across recently. But I've really liked what I've seen so far, and the concept is pretty cool. The idea at Readwave is to provide a feed of articles and stories that take less than five minutes to read (less than 800 words). The content ranges from articles on Indian women to funny stories about pets. If you have well-written and short blog posts, which many of them should be anyway, this might be a good place to put them to get some fresh eyes. I've just started, and have two posts up myself.

3. Inkpageant: At one time I used to put a good portion of my blog posts on InkPageant, and I'm going to start doing that again. This site is also aimed at providing a feed of the best quality blog posts, but it is specifically aimed at writers and the feed is links to the blog posts themselves, rather than republished posts. But this is an easy resource to take advantage of, so why not, right?

4. Image Covers: With modern communication becoming so image based, it might be to your advantage to create blog post posters, almost like magazine covers, and upload them to social media. For example, I did this with a blog post I did a long time ago, and this was the result:

 Pinterest especially will be your ally with this technique, but you can use it on most social media platforms as a way to simply catch peoples eye as they scroll through. And you don't have to be a graphic design genius either, in fact you can do it all online with a tool like PicMonkey. This can be a good way to revive some of your oldies-but-goodies that have been gathering dust in the archives.

So what do you think? Can you think of other tools or ways for us to reuse and repurpose our best blog posts?

Sarah Allen

3 Key Ingredients for Going Viral

Our goal as writers is to tell good stories, and tell them beautifully. Simple as that. However, writing stories will do us and the world little good if nobody reads them. We all hope to get our books out to as many people as possible, and as we writers in the modern digital age know, the job of doing that falls increasingly to the authors themselves. Meaning us. The most important thing we do is write, of course, but its also part of our job to get that writing out there in as big a way as we can manage.

That means going viral. As viral as possible. Infect to the north star! Okay, sorry, I'll stop. But seriously. None of us would say no to that kind of wildfire word-of-mouth spread that happens sometimes, right?

Clearly there is no, like, secret formula or anything for making something go viral or we would all be doing it. However, in his awesome TED talk, YouTube's trend manager Ken Allocca talks about three common traits in viral YouTube videos. And yeah, even though he's talking about YouTube video's specifically, we can apply these three ingredients to everything from direct book marketing to any social media we might do. Because everything helps, right?

So, without further ado, here are the three key ingredients for going viral:

1. Trend-setters: It's no secret, going viral can be a bit of a catch-22: you go viral by being viral. Celebrities and big names get the types of hits on all their content that we mere mortals only dream of. If you're Justin Beiber, every thing you say goes viral. What I'm saying is this: one of the quickest ways to go viral is to get a nod from one of these big-name trend-setters. Rebecca Black's 'Friday' video didn't go big until some big newscaster tweeted it.

How does this apply to writers directly? This strategy includes stuff like getting big-name reviews of your book or a big-name twitter mention. Obviously there's no guaranteed way to do that, and the worst thing you can do is become obnoxious about it (we've all seen what that looks like). So really I guess this one comes down to creating good (or otherwise noteworthy) content and praying for some luck.

2. Trend participation: Going back to the 'Friday' video. There were quite a number of people who got some big numbers by making parody videos. I'm sure you've seen a handful of them. Now, I am definitely not saying you should write to trends. There have been innumerable posts around the blogosphere about why that is a terrible idea, and I wholeheartedly agree. What I am saying is that you should find all the niches your books fit in and participate fully. This strategy also comes heavily into play as you do your social media marketing. Use appropriate Twitter hashtags and write blog posts about relevant news and trends. In short, find applicable discussions and find a way to join in. The higher quality your contribution to the discussion, the more attention it is going to get. In other words, this also comes down to creating quality content and praying for some luck.

3. Unexpectedness and remarkability: In another wonderful TED Talk by Seth Godin he uses the example of a purple cow. We see cows fairly often, while we're driving down the road, right? We don't particularly notice--or remark--them. However, if one of those cows were purple, we would stop and do a double-take. But then, if all the cows became purple, purple cows would cease to be remarkable. See what I'm (he's) saying?

You know those horrible videos where there's a peaceful scene, like a truck driving down a lush country road, and it goes on for a minute or so and then a terrifying witch face comes screaming onto the screen? So, those are obnoxious examples, but we need to do our best to be something like that. We need to create content that people remark on--that they remember, and talk about with there friends. That's how you get the ball rolling in the first place. This applies to both our book marketing and our books themselves. Make tweets and blog posts and YouTube videos and paid advertisements and interviews and, most of all, books, that are remarkable. Meaning this comes down to--you guessed it--creating quality content and praying for a bit of luck.

So yeah, if there were a secret ingredient to all this, it would be luck. My grandpa used to say luck is when preparation meets opportunity, and these three ingredients will help us take best advantage of all opportunities.

What are ways can you think of to use these three ingredients in your book marketing? Can you think of any great examples of people who have done this?

Sarah Allen

Social Media Accounts Turned Books

A little bit ago Mashable put out a list of 12 Social Media Accounts That Turned Into Books. This includes things like Garfield Minus Garfield, Hyperbole and a Half, and Dear Girls Above Me. Maybe you guys aren't as fascinated by all that as I am, but for some reason I think the concept of turning a Tumblr or Twitter account into a book.

I just think its a fascinating glimpse into the world of modern entertainment and communication. Stories of a guy drawing pictures of T-rex trying to do normal, every-day things with his tiny arms can become a viral sensation and then a book. I'm a little bit in awe of the people who can do this.

Most, almost all, of these are in the humor genre, but I love that this is the modern way of bringing smiles and laughter to peoples lives. So that's part of it, the humor. But there are more awe-inspiring things, like Taylor Jones who created a Tumblr where people took a new photograph over-layed in the same place as the old place, and its just beautiful.

And of course, there's an element of luck.

Do you find these things as fascinating as I do? Can you think of any blog, Tumblr, or Twitter accounts that could be turned into books?

Sarah Allen

P.S. So hopefully we're all feeling a little more generous this time of year. If you have thought at all about making any kind of tax-deductible charitable donation before the end of the year, today is the day. Project for Awesome, through YouTube, is running through the end of the day. Donate to The Foundation to Decrease World Suck (Yes, a legitimate, tax-deductible organization) and vote to decide which charitable orgainzations will receive the raised funds. Seriously, this is an amazing event and a great chance to participate in making the world a better place.

Google Trends: Social Media Secret Weapon

I've known about Google Trends for a while, but the last couple days I've come to a realization.

Google Trends, for those who don't know, is a pretty cool service from Google that tracks the daily top search trends. Basically it gives you the list of the top things people are searching for that day. (For example, "How To Cook a Turkey" on the day before Thanksgiving.)

Like I said, I've known the site existed for a while, but it hasn't been until I've been playing around with it the last couple days that I've realized how much of an awesome tool it could potentially be.

Google Trends is actually a great way to see kind of the major things going on in the world. Often the popular search terms have to do with a show finale or recent sporting event. But whatever's going on, whatever's being searched, what better way to brainstorm social media post topics?

We all want to be engaging and timely social media users, right? Well, Google Trends is the secret weapon that can help us do that. When we want to think of more things to post about, Google Trends can provide a good list. And I'm definitely not saying that anyone should always post about all the search topics all the time. That would just be really annoying. And uh, I have no interest at all in posting about sporting events, even though athletes and teams often make up half the list.

What I am saying is that occasionally checking out Google Trends can be a good reminder of what the hot topics are that day, and sometimes there will be topics that you find interesting enough to post about. And since they're hot topics, you're jumping in with the engaged and numerous crowd, which hopefully means your little ripple will multiply.

Another thing. There are charts of top searches in various categories, including authors. Outside of being able to use this info in social media use, I just think its fascinating.

So what do you think? Can Google Trends be helpful in social media, and can you think of any additional ways to use it?

Sarah Allen

Is Blogging Stuck in a Loop?

I'm gonna start with a caveat.

I love blogging. Adore it. I especially love the generous, supportive and intelligent people in the blogging community. I have learned more from the blogging community about the publishing industry than anywhere else. I've made tighter connections here on this blog than I have anywhere else online, and every time one of you amazing people leave a comment, I smile and my day gets a little brighter. I plan on being around the blogosphere for a long time to come, whether you want me or not.

That being said, its no secret that blogging in general has been in a bit of a steady decline in popularity almost since I started. But I think that maybe, from my perspective, blogging has reached its sort of plateau. The serious bloggers still around are staying, and the drop in blog readership has leveled out. I could be totally wrong, that's just my perspective, and who knows what will happen to blogging in the future.

All that's not really my concern, though. I don't care if blogging is no longer the most popular social media outlet around, I love it anyway. The thing I've been thinking about lately--and I'm going to be totally honest here--is that as I've been doing my reading, as fun and enlightening as each post is, I'm seeing the same topics discussed over and over again. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Hearing important advice in new and fresh ways, repeatedly, is how we learn. The key lessons need to be repeated. The danger--the thing I'm worried about--is that I feel myself getting repetitive.

This isn't just a case of hearing similar lessons from various bloggers. I know it's just a function of being around the blogosphere for a while, but I'm more and more frequently at a loss for intriguing and useful topics that I haven't discussed already.

I want this blog to grow and evolve. That is important to me. I want to be as informational and entertaining as possible. What I've been thinking about lately is how to do that. How to keep this blog from getting stuck in a loop, as it were.

The way I see it, there are two main categories of blogs that I personally find interesting. The first is on the more business, informative side. Examples of this type of blog would be The Business Rusch by Kristine Rusch or Anne R. Allen's blog. Both these fabulous ladies have incredibly valuable insight and inside info and experience in the industry. The second category is a more personal, humor-focused style. Two ladies that have found pretty wild success with this are The Bloggess, Jenny Lawson and Allie Brosch of Hyperbole and a Half.

I would love this blog to be equally enjoyable and informative as these ladies' blogs, but the thing is, I am way behind Kristine and Anne in intelligence, experience, and insight and am nowhere near as hilarious and witty as Jenny and Allie. I am doing my best to take lessons from these wonderful ladies, and all of you other amazing bloggers, but as the indomitable Walt Disney said, you can't beat pigs with pigs. These ladies do what they do brilliantly, and nobody can do what they do in the same way. I need to evolve in my own way, continue finding my own voice and niche.

All this is a rambly and round-about way of asking for your input. Do you agree that bloggers need to evolve to avoid being stuck in a rut? What do you believe is the best way for them to do it?

And also, what other examples can you give me of bloggers who have succeeded in evolving their voice and niche in this new world of blogging?

Sarah Allen

Thinking of Social Media as an Artistic Outlet

In my last post I mentioned that author marketing/social media ing can take as little as ten minutes a day. I've made similar statements before, and I'm always a tiny bit surprised by how many commenters say they're not sure that's possible, or aren't sure how to make that work. I want to say a quick something about that and then expand on a related idea.

So, the ten minutes a day social media thing is absolutely possible. Yes, that's probably minimum level and you're not going to write a genius blog post in ten minutes, of course. But think of it this way: keep a spreadsheet of all your social media accounts and the type of thing you want to post each day, topics, ideas, etc. For example, for Twitter I might have 'highlight a fellow bloggers post' on Monday, 'ask a writing question' on Tuesday, 'post a funny cat video' on Wednesday, etc. Something like that for all your social media accounts. Then, on really busy days, you can whip through that spreadsheet and post whatever you can in ten minutes. On days when you have a bit more time you can work on writing blog posts and leaving thoughtful comments, spending more than your base ten minutes.

There's that. Okay. New but related thought. I hear a lot of writers talk about how managing social media stuffs feels like a duty and a chore. It can be, for sure, but I think actually one of the best ways to look at social media is as an additional artistic or creative outlet.

Think of it as creating art for a specific platform, then just publicizing on that platform. Think of the platform set up not as restrictive, but as a tool or place to base your ideas. This means that you use the specific platform to express your artistic self.

One of my favorite examples is from Pinterest. Australian blogger Tiffany Beveridge created a board highlighting the adventures of her "Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler Daughter." So hilarious and cute and fun, and I'm sure Tiffany had a blast doing this. Fairly simple and easy, just a fun and uber-creative way Tiffany found to express herself using Pinterest. And now she has a book deal. Same with the Tumblr user who posts Texts from Dog.

I myself am having a fun time experimenting with Tumblr, trying out my own photography comic in somewhat the same vein as A Softer World or Tiny Ghosts, just on Tumblr. It's called A Fountain Troubled (points to anyone who can say where that comes from?). Here's something I posted.

Often I just use pictures I have on my phone and edit them and put them together with PicMonkey.com. Fairly easy and simple and a fun creative outlet. I also have some ideas brainstorming for a Pinterest board idea that I have. And don't even get me started on the possibilities there are with YouTube, although that's probably a whole different more time-intensive thing. My point is, this can be a fun way to be artistic, but not just that, this brings you to the attention of all the people using that site, which is what social media marketing is about, isn't it? Best of both worlds.

The hitch in this way of looking at things, I think, is that some platforms, like Pinterest and Tumblr, lend themselves to this kind of thing much better than others. Even Twitter I think you could do some fun things, but with Facebook and Google+? Those seem more straighforward, and harder to manipulate artistically in that kind of way. Probably not impossible, but harder. And I'm not saying we all have to be artistic geniuses on every platform out there, but this might be a fun way to expand your social media horizons: to pick one social media platform to add to your tool belt and to use as a form of artistic expression in this kind of way. If you have already, or if you create one, please let me know so I can check them out and share them.

Does this make sense? I hope this doesn't scare/intimidate people, that was not my intent. I just think social media can be really fun if we look at it this way. Because we're artists after all, right?

What are some of your ideas that you'd be willing to share? What are some ways we could use sites like Pinterest and Tumblr and Twitter as artistic outlets, and can you think of any good examples?

Sarah Allen

The Three Things a Writer Should Do Every Day

So, my mind works best when I divide things up into smaller chunks. My brain likes categories and lists. I think probably most people function best that way. Basically, I've sort of done that with building a career as a modern-day writer.

I'm pretty sure I've talked about this before, but it definitely bears repeating because I honestly believe that by following these three categories both simplifies things and streamlines our efforts, but also is the most efficient way to work towards success. This is obviously from my very limited and inexperienced perspective, so if those with more wisdom out there have things to add, I definitely want to hear them. This is the way my mind has categorized things, but if there's more to be done on this writing journey, I want to do it.

Anyway. Without further ado, here are the three categories I think we writers should be working at every day. And don't stress, because two of these can generally be done in like fifteen minutes a day.

1. Writing. First and most important, obviously. Writers write. I'm still working on building up to the pace I really want to be at. This is simple and straightforward, but the major key. And I guess what I want to say about this is that it doesn't necessarily have to be working on your big novel. Those big projects are probably the most important, yes, but in the between or down times work on short stories or essays or song lyrics or a movie script or a one act play or video poem for YouTube or a web comic. Just keep writing and creating.

2. Submitting and Querying. Really all we're doing as writers is creating as high quality as product as we can, and then doing our best to put it where people will see it. The major things in this category are submitting to agents and publishers, I think. But we do a disservice when we limit ourselves to that, I think. Submit your short stories and poems to magazines, your essays to journals, your web comics and one act plays to competitions. The internet is a vast resource for all kinds of opportunities. And for you self-publishers out there: submit to book review blogs and journalists and self-publishing competitions and other media outlets. Just one or two submissions a day could really pay off.

3. Marketing and Networking. Now for many writers this is the scary side of being a modern-day author, but it totally doesn't have to be. This really can take just ten minutes a day, up to however much effort you want to put into it. In some ways this overlaps with submitting: network with reviewers and journalists and media sources. Also take advantage of social media in whatever way works best for you. Take ten minutes a day updating that and sending press packages wherever you think you can do some good. You never know what could come of it.

There you have it. And this is as much a reminder for me as anyone. I need to get back to doing better at this. But thinking of it this way might help simplify things and help us all know where to put our biggest efforts. Here's to big success for all of us!

Sarah Allen
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Answers from a Book Reviewer: Interview with Lori Hettler

Hey guys! One thing that is incredibly important to us writers is getting reviews. Positive reviews, hopefully, but reviews. So today I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask one of the fabulous book bloggers around the interwebz a few questions about how to get buzz for our books, and making it good buzz.

So please give a warm welcome to the wonderful Lori Hettler.

1. First things first. What kind of books do you review and how does a writer get you to review theirs?

I prefer to read and review small press literature. The edgier, the better. I can’t seem to get enough of it. And it doesn’t help that there’s never enough time to read it all, either. It’s absolute torture.

Even still, I’ve been known to accept genre literature and self published novels for review if they are pitched well and catch my interest. A well pitched book will definitely get my attention. I’m more likely to take a chance on a book I wouldn’t have normally read if the author personalizes the pitch, something as simple as naming books I’ve reviewed that are similar to theirs in style or theme. It also helps to have links to the book, access to an excerpt… and I’m a bit of a goodreads snob. If the book isn’t listed on goodreads, I tend to turn it away or recommend that the author add it there.

2. What can a writer do to make themselves and their book stand out to you and to your readers?

Well, as I mentioned, a strong, personalized pitch certainly makes a book stand out.

If the author comes highly recommended from other authors I’ve read, that’ll definitely get me to look at it. The small press publishing world is so interconnected, and they’re passionate about each others books. They are incredibly supportive of each other, and I eat that shit up. If I read you and loved your book, and you recommend me to an author you’ve read and loved, I’m all over that.

But wait, I’m not sure that answers your question, does it, cause in that case, the writer is not the one pitching his book to me… Hmmm…

Other things that help a book stand out? A great cover. Nothing makes me cringe more than a crappy cover. And a well edited book, that’s a huge win in my eyes. If I’m reading your book, and catching grammatical errors, I’m eye-rolling myself through it. I’m no grammar expert, so if I’m noticing, it’s got to be baaaaad.

Making the book stand out to my readers would really fall on me… right? The way I review what I’ve read can influence my readers to either take a chance on it or run away from it. And I always keep my readers in mind when I review a book. I use a rating scale that rates a book by what I think others would like, not so much what I like. In the rating, I recommend the books to fans of XXXXX or people looking for XXXXX. I think that helps them make the decision for themselves, rather than me making it for them, you know?

3. Describe a writer who is the easiest possible person to work with.

You mean without naming names, right? Like, listing their personality traits? I love authors who don’t let my feelings about their book get in the way of our interaction with each other. Authors who don’t check in on whether or not I’ve read their book 20 times. Authors who jump at every opportunity to whip something up for my blog because they like the challenge and find my silly ideas fun and interesting. Basically, someone who’s not just a book-puppet, but an actual human being with an actual personality who can separate themselves from their writing and just be.

4. What is the difference between a book that gets a positive review and a book that sends you out into the streets screaming “You all must read this book!!!”

The difference between “This book was really good” versus “Oh my god, I would marry this book immediately if marrying inanimate objects were legal!”? That’s a tough one. I don’t know if I could describe the difference. It’s really just something I feel, something visceral. If I just instantly start crushing on the book and its author… it’s a run out into the streets screaming kind of book, or if I’m gulping it down in one sitting while freaking out because reading it fast means it’ll be over faster vs. meandering through it and enjoying it but not really concerning myself with the pace of it.

5. Any type of review is inherently subjective. Our moods change. What happens when you have to review when you’re just having a crappy day? Is there a way for authors to keep this from happening? Send you chocolate, maybe?

Ha! Bribe me with chocolate, boys! (Just kidding)

I used to review books immediately upon reading them. I felt I was able to channel my emotions and initial thoughts more clearly that way. My mood, bad or otherwise, at that point, was always based on my feelings towards the book and would dictate the tone of the review and I never felt apologetic for it.

Now, books linger weeks and sometimes months after I’ve read them before I attempt to review (mainly due to lack of time, not for any real conscious reason). I’m not as happy with my reviews this way, because I believe distance taints my views on them, and also makes them come off a bit more bland, but it is what it is.

If I’m in a bad mood, and it has nothing to do with the book, just a crap hand I was dealt that day? Well, in that case, I wouldn’t be in the mood to review, so there would be no worries about my non-book-related mood infiltrating the review.

And sadly, to date, when a bad mood strikes, no amount of chocolate or anything else for that matter, helps to move me through it. Unless I’m reading a kick-ass book. A great book is the cure for any and all bad moods!!

***

Lori Hettler is the founder and moderator of TNBBC. Her passion for supporting the small press and self publishing communities began when she birthed The Next Best Book Club on Goodreads back in 2007, a group which now boasts an unbelievable 11,500 members who are collectively, endlessly, searching for the next best book! She also puts her lit-loving heart to work for Chicago Center of Literature and Photography (CCLaP) as their Marketing Director. When she’s not curled up on the couch with a good book, you can find Lori on Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.

The Number One Key to Effectiveness in Social Media

I want to boil things down today.

There are so many posts about social media, obviously. But lately I feel like I've read some really excellent posts (not the least of which is this one by the ever-genius Anne R. Allen) about getting through all the passe, irrelevant-to-the-online-age advice to what really works in modern social media.

The great metaphor in Anne's post is in thinking of Twitter (and other social media sites) like a telephone. You pick up when you want to, to people you want to talk to. You call specific people with specific news, you don't randomly cold-call the entire phone book. (If you do...well, that's another blog post.) I think that's a perfect analogy. It highlights what I think all the best posts about social media marketing are telling us: it's all about relationships.

And I think it's clicked for me lately because it's been broken down even more. It's all well and good to say it's about relationships, but relationships can mean a wide variety of things, both positive and negative. What does it mean practically, for every day social media use in my writing career? The light-bulb moment happened for me when I put in a different word.

Effectiveness in social media is all about responses.

That's right. You responding to other people. Not you putting your book cover on Pinterest, not you carefully coordinating tweets about your latest release, not you getting more likes on your Facebook page. I'm not saying those aren't important, and I'm as obsessed about it all as anyone. But the number one strategy, the most effective thing, is your responses.

Your responses to tweets from writer friends. Your mentioning someone else's blog post on your Facebook page. Your repinning and commenting on your friends Pinterest boards. Your highlighting blog posts by other writers on your own blog. Someone sees you retweeted them, they remember a funny thing they saw on your blog last week, and they check out your book. Whatever platforms you use, you reaching out and responding to what other people are saying is what's really going to get you connections. Everyone likes to talk about themselves, everyone likes to be listened to. So if you make an effort to respond to people and give them that listening friend, they are much more likely, when the time comes, to return the favor.

Social media has never been the best for mass marketing, and anybody who tells you otherwise is an exception or wrong. Algorithms and luck will take you much farther than any social media platform can do. But what social media can do is get you those connections, those relationships, that will not only lend you wisdom and support, but might just be the crew that can get the ball rolling. This social media response thing is definitely a slow, brick-by-brick process, but I personally think it's worth the effort. This is one topic where I'm definitely thinking this through for myself, and hope/want to do much better, become much more involved, in the future.

Do you think social media is worth it in this sense? What is your favorite type of response to get on social media? Blog comments? Repins? Mentions on Twitter?

Sarah Allen

What Type of Blog Posts are Most Useful to You?

I have another bit of a poll post for you today.

I hope you don't mind it too much. But the only way we're going to improve and progress around here is for me to make sure I know what you guys like, what you find helpful and/or entertaining and do my best to provide that for you. And I think its maybe time to level up.

This is my 703rd post. I started this blog in 2009. That is three years ago. That feels like forever. So much has changed in the span of my blogging, and so much is still changing. I feel like when I started this blog, blogging was just coming out of its hey-day, and it's sort of been declining ever since. However I feel like the waning has sort of leveled off. And all that doesn't matter anyway, because I blog for more than reasons than because it's the "it" thing to do. I do it because of the awesome community and how much I've learned and the opportunity to interact with like-minded people. I think this is the reason--while some days have definitely been harder than others--I've never seriously wanted to give it up, or gotten irredeemably tired of blogging. You guys are just too awesome.

I hope over the years things have progressed around here. But I do want to keep improving, keep progressing, and part of that is getting your feedback and seeing what you want most.

So what type of posts are most useful to you? Tips on plotting and character? Pictures and prompts for ideas? Social media guides? Personal anecdotes? Links to good stuffs from all around the internetz? Lists of writing contests and places to submit writing? Anything else?

And guys?

Thanks.

Sarah Allen

The Writers Guide to Instagram

From my Instagram account. Find me at SarahAllenAuthor

Hey everyone!

So, Instagram has kind of exploded in the last year or so as like, the awesome new thing. Even if you don't use Instagram, image based platforms (*ahem* Pinterest and Tumblr *ahem*) are the biggest things right now, and what users are becoming used to. Short version, images are the thing on the interwebz.

But our medium of choice, as writers, is text, right? We use words, not images. Hopefully evocative words, but still, words. So how can we use image based platforms like Instagram to our advantage? For networking, marketing, inspiring, all that kind of stuff. Here are a few cool writerly things I've seen people do on Instagram.

1. Notecard Poetry: One thing I've seen people do is to write a very short two or three line poem on a note card, place it against a nice background like a wood table, take a picture and upload it to Instagram. Personally I like this better than people using the comments section for their work, because I honestly don't really read that part.

2. Overlayed Quotes: There are a lot of cool designy quotes about writing on Instagram. What I've done is find/create them on my computer, put them on my Pinterest board, then download them from Pinterest to my phone, then upload them to Instagram. Since Instagram isn't a computer/tablet app yet. It works, and its probably the thing I've had the most success with so far.

3. Am Working Images: Take a picture of your work space or a screenshot of a small piece of your work in progress and put those on Instagram. It's a fun camaraderie thing, and I know I always like real life shots of how other writers are working.

4. Covers: Take pictures of the books you're reading, or, of course, upload an image of the cover of your book. Another way to get the picture of your book in peoples heads.

5. Other artsy projects: And of course, if you are artistically inclined in any way, by all means share your work. Your pictures, your illustrations in progress, your comic strips, all that good stuff.

So those are some things you can put on Instagram, but other than that, what do you actually do on Instagram to be involved in the Instagram community.

*Like and comment other peoples stuff
*Hashtags are super big on Instagram, so make sure you're using all the right ones to get your work noticed.
*Browse hashtags to find cool people to like/comment/follow

Those are my Instagram tips, from my limited experience. Even if you don't use Instagram, hopefully some of these tips can also be applied to those other image based platforms.

Are you an Instagramer? What types of images do you find most intriguing on places like Instagram, Pinterest, or Tumblr?

Sarah Allen