Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Trying Desperately to Think of a Post Title without Using "Hump." Not Succeeding.

Busy, busy, busy! You know how it is. Just trying my best to get *cough* ahead ...

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
... of things.

What? It's a freaking bust of a camel. I had to use it here! The bad pun is a bonus. 

(Hey, it could be worse. There was this one pic of a Bactrian camel wearing a bra on its humps, but I'm sparing you that. Nobody wants to see that kind of bust.)

So, anyway, I finally did it. I succumbed. Yes, I made a Facebook author page. (Click here if you want to see it.) 

Why did I do it? Well, the obvious answer is promo. It's a dirty word--I mean, selling yourself is so...well, so mercenary.* But also a sad fact of life in the writing biz. It would be nice if all a writer had to do was, you know, write, but it doesn't work that way. In order to keep on writing, you have to gather new readers. If new readers can't find you, they can't read you. So you have to establish some sort of presence. 

I already had a personal Facebook page (like half the world, apparently), and that worked for me for a while. Mostly it's a way for me to stay in touch with long-distance family members and friends, and to play WordScraper with some of my buddies. Why should people who are mainly interested in my books be subjected to my mundane, day-to-day status updates? Difficult as it is to understand, some readers out there might not be interested in what TG cooked me for dinner or how giggly I feel after my second Manhattan, or even my oh-my-God-this-weather-sucks diatribes. I mean, hell, if they really want that stuff, they can always come here. Or Twitter.** 

Also, there are some things I want to share with family and friends that I don't want to broadcast to the universe.*** (I know! Who'd have thunk it?) Having a separate author page will help me keep a division between my personal life and my job. There's already so much overlap between the two that some form of separation seemed like maybe a good idea. 

Aside from the trolling for "likes," which kind of goes against my nature but apparently is a necessary evil, I think the idea might work out. 

So, what's your stance on author pages? 

Do you have any favorites you can point me to? Any un-favorites? What do you like (or hate) to see on an author page? 

(Yeah, I'm looking for ideas. I'm hoping to eventually make the page engaging and, you know, not annoying.)

Thanks in advance for any helpful tips! Or for just stopping by and saying hi. I like that, too. 


*And, honestly, I'd always imagined if I wound up selling myself for a living that it would involve better lingerie. 

**Notice how I cleverly snuck that link to my Twitter account in there. Yes, I am nothing if not conflicted about this in-your-face promo stuff. 

***Don't worry. I'll still pepper this blog with inappropriate observations about life in general. ;)


19 comments:

Delia said...

Most author pages I follow simply keep me up-to-date on book news, appearances, etc. I like having that info in one tidy spot. I have a few that post pithy comments from time to time, which is fine if you're good with the pithy comment. Myself, I dread the day. Good luck with it!

Linda G. said...

Delia -- Thanks for weighing in! That's what I've been thinking, too. An info only type of page, where people who are strictly interested in the books can go and not have to wade through a lot of banter. *grin*

mshatch said...

I actually read a post recently on that very thing and how easy it is to overextend ourselves so I've decided to stick to blogging - for now.

Linda G. said...

mshatch -- True, that. Hopefully the page won't take that much of my time, since it's basically informational, and not supposed to be a constant stream of entertainment. That's the plan, anyway. Who knows how it will turn out?

Patty Blount said...

Linda, I'm right there with you. I was uncomfortable doing the author page but I did it and I'm glad; it's attracting more teen readers than I get on Twitter.

I try to post questions to encourage comments but so far, nothing.

Linda G. said...

Patty -- That's good to know. Maybe FB author pages are best just for info? Huh. Guess we'll figure it out eventually. :)

Jessica L. Brooks (coffeelvnmom) said...

I made a facebook author page for pretty much the same reason--my personal one was just that: personal. I think author pages are a great idea, as long as you don't overwhelm your followers with status updates and whatnot constantly. And I love sharing info about others books/authors (giveaways, sales, ect.) as well, because obviously people would get sick of me talking about my book all the time!

Also, I think people feel a connection to you when they see that you like the same books. Last but not least, some people still aren't on Instagram and Twitter and Tumblr and Pinterest (and so on) and don't have a blog, so posting cool book news, book-into-movie news, and stuff like that is usually quite welcomed! (And we all know how crazy book fans are... so if we're all squeeing to the same news... yep, you guessed it. Yet another connection.) ;)

Jessica

Jessica L. Brooks (coffeelvnmom) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Teri Anne Stanley said...

Since I write under a pen name, I'll have to do an author page...but egads! I am overwhelmed with social media respoinsibilities already! I need a universal remote for all the brilliant things I want to tell the world.
"I drank too much coffee, I am jittery and have to pee" *click* There. Now I've shared, and I'm not in danger of having an accident while I try to post everywhere at once.
Because, you know, I don't tweet and potty at the same time. Often.

Patsy said...

I set up an author page for the same reasons you have yours. I use it for any news related to my writing and keep it clear of everything else. I'm not sure how much good it does me in terms of sales but I like to think it probably isn't doing me any actual harm.

LD Masterson said...

I Liked your author page.

I set up an author page but I need to kill it off and start over. Facebook created a personal page to go with it and I already have a personal page so people are finding me on the wrong one. I'm actually thinking of going with just the personal page for a while till I have some real "book" news for a fan page.

Kimberly Sabatini said...

I keep the FB author page to book related stuff for the most part! I would actually drop the personal page but you need to have that to access certain groups so I've just decided to roll with it for now.

Dawn@Lighten Up! said...

Ugh. This whole "platform" and "marketing yourself" thing sucks, am I right? Oh for the good old days, when it was enough for a writer to write. Now we have to be our own dam PR company too!
(Geez, Dawn-how do you really feel? Lol)

Diane Henders said...

I just popped over to Like you! I have an author page, too, but I'm probably not using it to its maximum potential - I still haven't even invited my personal FB friends to Like it. One of these days I'll get to it. :-)

P.S. Love your bust. Wait, that didn't come out right...

Romance Reader said...

Great advice in the comments!

Nas

Dianne K. Salerni said...

Liked your page!

I just started an author page not long ago, when all the movie stuff started happening and I wanted to promote it, but not clog everybody's FB feed and make my friends, family, and co-workers beat me over the head with their computers.

I suppose, when my next book releases, I might make better use of it, but I admit I'm still scratching my head over how to best use it.

Jennifer Shirk said...

I KNOW! I hate promo. I feel so narcissistic. (did I spell that right?)

Anyhew, I've been toying with an author page too, although I haven't clicked publish yet... Same reasons as you said.

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

First, I need to get an actual book published, and THEN I can debate the pros and cons of setting up an author page. But there's such a fine line between self-promotion and making people want to throw up, if ya know what I mean. Personally, I prefer getting to know a writer on a more personal level, as in a blog, over simply getting "just the facts, ma'am." But both approaches have some merit. And both serve a purpose.

Love your camel bust. Um... never mind. Think I'll go check out your new page.

Carol Kilgore said...

Recently refocused my author page to focus on all books - mine and those of author friends for the most part. Shameless plus follows:
Everyone is invited to stop by and like my page, too, while you're at Facebook liking Linda's. My link is
http://www.facebook.com/carolkilgore.author