Help! I'm Drowning in Social Sites - Part One

First, let me say that marketing my books and myself is not easy for me. I’m not a pushy person. I would have never succeeded in a traditional sales position. Now, let me tell you about my experiences marketing myself in the plethora of social networking sites available.

I’ve had a personal Facebook page since February 2008. There have been times when I was more active on it than others. Does anyone remember virtual gifting? Gah, that took a lot of time and I couldn’t taste the stinking virtual cookies or wear the very cute virtual shoes. I was on dial up Internet, too, so it took forever to clear my notifications and return favors.

I’ve maintained a blog since 2009. Scrapped it once and reinvented it at least twice. Just like my experience on Facebook, there have been seasons where I was more diligent about posting regularly than others. It’s taken a lot of tweaking and experimenting to establish my blogger “brand”. Brand. Branding. Yikes! Don’t you hate marketing terms?

I joined Good Reads, I don’t remember when, several years ago, even though my Author profile says I joined January 2012. My activity there has also been sporadic. I enjoy trading opinions and reviews, but to do this as much as I want would take a tremendous amount of time, hours and minutes that I feel I must spread around to other sites.

I’ve had something of a social networking presence for quite a few years, but since Still Moments published my first story, I’ve jumped into social networking with both feet. Sometimes the amount of time I put into it feels like a full-time job. So I’m an accountant, a writer, an editor, and a social networker. I’m overwhelmed trying to keep an active, friendly presence on so many sites. I’m not doing a very good job, I think. If I interact enough on one site, the others suffer from lack of attention.

How many copies of my stories sell due to my increased efforts? Okay, I know I’m being transparent here and just a little bit too honest. I’m supposed to be a clandestine marketer, right? Pretend I’m on all these sites to be a friend rather than to entice people to buy my books? Anything more in your face would be tacky, right? Please don’t get me wrong. I enjoy building relationships with other people, and I’ve met some fantastic people through social networking. But let’s face it. A writer is out there trying to sell his/her books.

I’ve decided if I want to be more effective something’s gotta give. I can’t do it all, sell books, and build honest relationships. So I think what I’d rather do first is build the honest relationships. I want to be a human being first and a marketer second. Then sell the books.

The following is a list of my current social sites and what I think about them. (I’ve commented on some of them in this blog and the remainder will be addressed in part two.)

Twitter

I’ve become absolutely bogged down in Twitter. With nearly 1,000 followers, I can easily say that a very small fraction of them give a crap about anything I post there…if they happen to be online and catch my tweets. The pace moves so fast, so much can be lost and never seen if I don’t inundate the feed with the same post over and over. But if I do that it’s breaking the unspoken don’t be a jerk twitter code.

Out of ten tweets that come up in my feed, five of them will be Triberr feeds from bloggers. One or two of them will be feeds from Hootsuite. Two or three of them will be retweets, mentions, or shout outs. This is part of the unspoken twitter code as well. A tweeter must show appreciation to other tweeters by mentioning follows and retweets. When you get as much traffic and add as many followers on a weekly basis as I do, this gets hard to keep up with without some sort of twitter application to help sort it out.

Maybe one tweet in ten will be an active conversation between online tweeters. Sometimes I wait many minutes for a tweeter who is actually there to interact with a real human being in real time.

Blogger

I love my blog. I think it’s pretty. I’ve worked hard to get it just the way I want it. The title and subtitle tell my readers who I am as a writer. That’s what I want to project to the public.

Sometimes I get discouraged. I’ve found it difficult to entice fellow bloggers to join my follow list. I can spend enormous amounts of time commenting on others’ posts without the return of the favor. I can follow someone’s blog and never even get a nod of acknowledgment and return the favor. Yes, I’ve developed a few relationships with other bloggers and I prize every one of them, because I adore real human interaction. But I wonder sometimes just how much attention we bloggers really pay to our fellow bloggers posts.

We live in a fast paced, busy culture. It takes time to read everyone’s blog posts. So I have to wonder…of the 50 to 100 views I get on every post, how many of those hits actually stop and read the outpourings of my bloggy heart? If I go by the number of comments I receive, not many. One of my recent posts garnered over 100 hits very quickly…without a single viewer stopping to comment.

Maybe short, easy to read posts are the way to go. This piece will certainly be too long. Maybe I should break it into several posts. A series maybe.

Triberr

Oh, Triberr, when I first met you I thought you were the love of my life. How wonderful is the concept? Join a co-op of other bloggers and share each other’s posts. Great idea, right? Post to my blog and my current offering will reach over 266,000 twitter accounts. This sounds great, except the traffic to my blog hasn’t increased significantly. I suspect my fellow tweeters do just like I do. If I happen to be online when the Triberr fed tweet comes up, I might click on the link…if the post sounds remotely interesting and if I have the time. Thus I probably click once for every 25 to 100 tweets…when I’m online. If there is a tweeter out there clicking on every single tweet that comes up in their feed, I’ll show you a very frustrated, tired, and dysfunctional person.

All About Heroes with Maggie Devine

I'd like to welcome author Maggie Devine to Suspense, She writes. I met Maggie through the Still Moments Publishing writer's group.

First, tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in Ontario and did my undergrad at The University of Toronto and post graduate work at Leeds University in the UK. I think my love for writing really bloomed when I lived in England. My mother is from Liverpool and I have always loved the UK, we vacationed there a lot when I was a child as some of my mum’s family still reside there. But living in England while I was at school really brought the countryside into a whole new light. Suddenly my history degree had more meaning, and my romantic sensibilities exploded with each weekend venture I took with friends and family. A country so steeped in history soon gave way to many ideas and stories, which I jotted down upon napkins along the way and stray pieced of A4 (British version of loose-leaf paper).

It wouldn't be until years later that I would find the nerve to actually write my first full manuscript which is still sitting somewhere at Mills & Boon in England in their editorial department.

Since submitting my first full-length book, I have published four short-stories with Still Moments Publishing and have finished another two full manuscripts - both unedited at the moment.

I am currently living in Vancouver, British Columbia where I am involved with the Greater Vancouver Chapter of the Romance Writers of America, and am working frantically to get all three manuscripts edited for submission (and re-submission) so that I can start the other three stories I have in the proverbial ‘hopper’.

As writers, we often become emotionally attached to our characters. Who is your favorite hero you’ve ever written?

My favorite I would have to say is Shane Smith from 'The White Lion'. There is just something about his compassion for his disgraced uncle that I find attractive. He is a successful businessman who grew up in humble surroundings, but who also has a bit of an edge about him. Cocky but not overtly arrogant, I think he is wonderful. Add to this the fact that he is good to his mother and he is near perfect in my eyes.

Have you ever fallen in love with or had a crush on one of your heroes? Tell us about him.

Ahhhh, Garrett Leatherby. You have not met him yet but he is in my completed manuscript that is sitting at Mills & Boon. I adore him because he is very much a philanthropist at heart. Like Shane from the question above, he does not forget his humble roots now that he is a Hollywood A-Lister and does a lot for those who are less fortunate in his own city of L.A. He is tall, handsome, kind and has good family values. He is not what you would expect which is why I adore him.

How do you develop your heroes? Do you imagine their personality or their physical appearance first? Do they grow as personalities as you write or do you do a character sketch before you type the first word?

My hero’s usually grow off of a picture that I find first. I usually choose a picture from a magazine, or a character from a TV show or movie I like. Garrett Leatherby’s look in my manuscript, ‘Interior Accident’ is based on Josh Holloway’s character called “Sawyer” from LOST. I have a few pictures of Josh that were key to my description of Garrett. In one he is just coming out of the water, shirtless of course, and he has two days of facial hair. In Garrett’s opening scene he looks like Josh as Garrett has just finished filming a pirate movie. The other two pictures I have, Josh Holloway is looking directly at the camera with a cheeky grin, one with teeth showing the other close-mouthed. In these two pictures you can see his jaw line, his dimples and the shape of his nose and his full bottom lip. He is a sexy man and has the colouring and look that I wanted for Garrett Leatherby. He is perfect.

I like to give my heroes a personality quirk, just so they aren’t too perfect. Have you ever written a quirk for one of your heroes and what was it?

My latest manuscript, which is less than 10,000 words away from being complete, is a Historical Romance. Anton Avery is my hero. I wouldn’t say Anton has a quirk as much as I would say he fancies himself all in control and hard as nails. He is not amused by women at the moment, and feels they are nothing more than a manipulative species out to trap him for their own benefit. Though he thinks he hates them all and is bullish in his ways, he is far from it in his heart. I would call him a steel-coated marshmallow – that is his quirk.

How do you name your hero?

Very carefully. Based on where the story is set, I will research names and places and come up with a few variations. In my latest manuscript, I chose Anton’s last name of Avery based on an English pirate, Henry Avery, who died in and around the late 1600’s.  Anton Avery is a direct descendant one hundred years later in my story and though his pirating ancestry does not play a key role in the book, it gives rise to thoughts about who he really is and where the family money really came from. I love to have a historical point to proceed from, it helps me develop my characters personalities and my story lines.

In my latest story, which has been recently released by Still Moments Publishing, called “MANATEE KEY” in Love’s A Beach, the name Adams is loosely related to a historical family in the American Navy, but Bryce is a purely fictional character, completely made up by myself and my imagination. It is nice however, to be able to give Bryce a pedigree, it makes him seem more real to me that way and hopefully to my readers as well.

Who is your favorite hero in books, movies, or television?

Oh, that is an easy one – Mr. Darcy from the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice. I love his character in the book, and Collin Firth really brought Mr. Darcy to life on the screen.

Who is your hero in real life?

Currently, I am without a hero but I have not given up hope – I am still taking applications for leading man in ‘my life’.

Tell us about your most recent release and where we can find it. Who is the hero and what do you like about him the most?

My most recent release is called “MANATEE KEY” and it appears in the compilation book entitled, “Life’s A Beach”. Bryce Adam’s is my hero in this story and he is just plain hot. He is an ex-engineer in the Navy, not to mention a retired Navy Seal – he is a high achiever – but is very much a relaxed at heart. He is tall, blonde and blue eyed, and very athletic with a body that deserves to be admired. He is also smitten with my heroine, Jade McIvor who has not had much luck with men in the last few years. Bryce really has to work his magic to get her to turn her head, and it proves tougher than he thinks.

The book can be found at the Still Moments Publishing website in their e-book section (http://www.stillmomentspublishing.com/p/ebook-store.html) or on amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Maggie-Devine/e/B008Y1C39I).

You can find Maggie at this web site.

Finding My Passion

(c) 2012 Denise Moncrief

A few years ago (I won’t tell you how many), I hit the ripe old age of forty and thought my life was over. Why not? When the entertainment industry projects the idea of valuable womanhood to be young, ultra thin, and beautiful? I no longer felt young. I’ve never been ultrathin. (The smallest size I’ve ever worn was a six, but my appetite was off at the time. Now, one of my legs wouldn’t fit into a size zero!) And as far as beautiful goes? I’m beautiful on the inside. That’s what matters, right?

In the midst of my mid-life crisis, I was desperately searching for something to give my life meaning. I’d trained to be an accountant, but I was never going to be a partner in an accounting firm. The desire to give it all for something so…boring just wasn’t there, so I wasn’t going to reach the pinnacle of accounting success. What can I say? Accounting is not my passion. Never has been. Now it’s something I do part time to make a few bucks so I can afford to do things I’d rather do.

I’d always loved music, but there’s no venue for a middle-aged singer. By the time it appeared on the American cultural landscape, I was already too old to try out for American Idol. In my twenties, when I could have pursued the dream, I wrote a few songs, learned a few chords, and sang numerous songs with recording artists. Of course, none of them were aware of our duets. I had no idea where to begin a musical career and I was a long way from the center of the recording industry.

Maybe I played around with writing lyrics for a while because I’ve always been fascinated with the power of words. Maybe that’s why I devoured so many books, regretting the end of the story as if I’d said goodbye to a trusted friend, a dependable comforter. The right word can change more than the meaning of a sentence. It sets the tone of what’s being expressed. Whether lyrics or literature, words create moods and foster memories.

So at the ripe old age of forty, I found my passion. I’d deserted it for years, but when I searched for something to get excited about, to devote my excess energies to, I found writing again. Putting together strings of words in the hope a collection of sentences glued together into paragraphs, scenes, and chapters might create a mood and foster a memory.

So my passion is to influence the heart, mind, or soul of a reader, those avid devourers of the written word. I’m not talking about the casual reader. There are those that read and those that are readers. We know who we are.

Even More #FridayStuff About Me - 0013

Each week, Hilary lists four statements with a blank for you to fill in on your own blog. If you want to join in on the fun and come up with four fill-in’s of your own, please email them to her at feelingbeachie@gmail.com. If she uses them, she will add you as co-host to the hop! This week’s co-host is Leslie from Time Out for Mom (she came up with the last two statements).

Hilary would LOVE if you could please help her spread the word about this hop…So please tweet, FaceBook share, and add the linky to you post…

This week’s statements:

11.    I love to _stay up late_____but I hate to __get up the next morning_____.

22.    _Getting hugs from my children_____ makes a day better.

33.    They (my loving family) didn’t think I could _go a whole day without my Mac______ but I __did______. 

44.    Warning: _Don't try to talk to me in the morning until I've had my first cup of coffee________.

Please add the Follow Friday button to your post or your blog.

Please link your Follow Friday Four Fill-in Fun post to the linky below. Please grab the linky and post on your blog…

Don't Put a Comma Where a Period Belongs

Don’t put a comma where a period belongs. End of story. End of discussion. End of dream. All of the three previous sentences are fragments, pieces of a full story, complete discussion, or an abandoned dream.

When I write I use sentence fragments without apology. For clarity. For definition. For emphasis. Sometimes I’ll say the same thing three times, three different ways to get my point across—bam, bam, bam.

Sometimes I say three different things, all beginning with the same word. I know this is repetitive. I know this catches the eye. I know this stalls the story. But sometimes the use of fragmented repetition slows the pace enough for the reader to perceive the full impact of what the writer is trying to convey.

Why three times you ask? Hum, twice isn’t enough and four is overkill.

In some ways life needs a little…emphasis, repetition, clarity. Sometimes the flow of circumstance needs to be fragmented to slow the progression of events so one can enjoy all of life’s little moments. What if I had rushed through my life this way—I grew up, I got a degree, I got married, I got a job, I had two children, I finally got published, I retired from my day job, and I died. Yeah, this flows, but it’s sort of…boring. Not that the stages of life are boring, just the rushed through summing up of them into one boringly long sentence.

Now… I grew up. My younger years had both moments of joy and moments of heartache. I got a degree. Sometimes I wish I’d majored in something else, but accounting is a skill that earns me a few dollars so I can enjoy what I really want to do. I got married. He’s a wonderful man and adds so much to my life. I got a job. Thank God, that job has come and gone, and I’ve moved on to other employment! I had two children. My babies are the joy of my life. What more can I say about that? I’m a proud mother. I finally got published. Oh, now we’re talking about my passion. I retired from my day job. Well, I haven’t gotten there yet. And I’m not even going to address the last one, because I’m obviously still typing this blog post.

Life doesn’t need to be like a run on sentence either. Run on sentences drive me up a wall and I get so frustrated I want to throw the book (or the Nook) across the room and hit the cat, except I don’t have a cat, all I have is one fat, lazy dog that my husband thinks is the most intelligent canine that ever lived but that barks incessantly in the middle of storms and dribbles dog food slobber all over the laundry room floor and then I have to get a mop and clean the mess up because my husband doesn’t “see” the slime until I point it out to him and my children don’t want me fussing about the dog because they love that mutt…

Sorry, I digress. The previous sentence reads a little like Jonathan Safron Foer in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. No, I didn’t finish that book. I would have thrown it at the wall, except it was on my Nook. I like my Nook.

Just like a good read, life needs proper pacing. I think at the ripe old age of…old enough to have lived a little I have finally found my perfect rhythm. Nothing too choppy. Nothing too smushed together. Just right. And I don’t put commas where periods belong. Or vice versa.

Review of Disrupted Lives by Brenda Youngerman

Disrupted Lives

By Brenda Youngerman

Disrupted Lives is about injustice—social, economic, and racial. It’s the tale of two families, whose lives intertwine when one couple adopts the child of another couple. The tale of how the mistakes and prejudices of one generation can affect future generations. It is the story of how things beyond one’s control can shape a life and create a lifetime of regret and misery.

Ms. Youngerman weaves her plot with sympathy and understanding, relating how the decisions one person makes can disrupt the lives of so many others. Although the book is set in the Southern United States, it is a story that could have happened anywhere in any time—a timeless relating of the pain of betrayal, the heartache of rejection, and the devastating consequences of stubborn pride.

Her characters are drawn to perfection. Sympathy for Amelia, the woman whose child is taken from her against her will. Anger towards Fiona, whose pride in social standing alienates her from one grandson and sows the seeds of prejudice in another. Disgust for Chad, whose spineless refusal to stand up to his mother causes irreparable damage in his own family. Respect for Ben, who rises above the injustices of his childhood to become a great man.

In the end, Youngerman gives the reader a bright ray of hope. The abused can rise above their situation. The hurting can be healed. The stray can find a home. There is poetic justice for the hard-hearted.

This is both a serious and entertaining read. Ms. Youngerman’s goal is to write fiction with a purpose. She has accomplished her mission with this book. This is a good read for the person who wants to read more than superficial fluff, for someone wants to read something real.

Fear Anthology Coming In October 2012

Coming October 2012 from Crooked Cat Publishing, Life and Death in a Cemetery, included in the Fear anthology

The heroine is kidnapped by a psychopath and forced to dig what she believes is her own grave. To her horror, she realizes he is the same man who terrorized her and cut off her ring finger six years ago.