I thought I’d do a ‘what I have learnt’ post. I dislike posts that dictate what is right and wrong because, in my opinion, there is only what works for you. This post is purely based on my experience.
I should have started building my web presence before self-publishing my debut eBook.
I never had a Twitter account, Facebook author page, or blog. It was after researching self-publishing that I decided social media was a wise idea. When it came to Twitter, I felt prehistoric. I had to ask Mr.O what ‘RT’ meant. Yep, prehistoric.
Now, I am happy to admit, I’m a Twitter aficionado. I quickly picked up the lingo and how to use a hashtag, and I’m loving the Twitter community I am now a part of. If I had joined Twitter before my eBook launch, I would have had a wider audience to market it to straight off the bat.
The same goes for my blog. Why I didn’t start sooner is beyond me. I love the blogging community and sharing my musings, excerpts, and any EVO Nation/ EVO Shift gossip. A blog is another great way to gain a target audience. It would have definitely been a help to have had my blog as a platform for EVO Nation’s release.
There is one downfall to all this web presence, and social media to keep up with… I can waste hours on it and not get any writing done. Swings and roundabouts, eh?
Writerly Bookish Stuff 
That GIF is perfect – exactly how I felt the first time I went on Twitter!
And you’re right about the difficult balancing act now between keeping up with the social media stuff and actually writing books. Somedays I think, “Oh no, again I didn’t write anything, how bad,” but if I added up everything I wrote for my blog, comments, twitter, etc., I bet I’ve written over 1000 words!
One of my new year’s resolutions is to sort out a facebook page. Is yours author’s “page” or did you just set up another user profile? (from what I’ve seen from some googling, there’s a bit of a debate about this, but the trend now is towards using a profile much like a personal one for friends and family). And then that’ll be something else to keep on top of! Christmas first…
Hope the wedding prep is going well! Now long now! *squeal* 🙂
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I have a author page for my ‘books’ and a private page for friends and fam. You set up a new page and click the ‘artist, band, public figure’ icon and then select author 🙂 It gives you the option to link your books to a shop now icon etc.
I pretty much just post blog stuff to my page and any book related goss.
My wedding shoes arrived yesterday, so I’m set haha! Getting excited now!
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The last bit sounds like me, haha, keeping up with everything is a challenge! I’ve given up keeping all caught up on twitter because I get hundreds of new updates every time I leave my desk for a minute. Keeping up with all that would be insane and I can’t manage, K! 😦
I am glad that I started with social media so early, though. Definitely a wise move. And it’s fun (when it doesn’t distract me completely) so I shouldn’t complain 😉
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Yes, Twitter is a time eater. I have now learnt how to create lists, so I can read all my fav Tweeps posts without having to scroll through the rubbish and ‘buy me’ posts:)
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That’s a really smart plan, I may have to look into that 🙂 I’m following so many great people and I never see their tweets on my roll
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I totally agree with this. I still have no idea what some of the Twitter-lingo is. Marketing BEFORE a debut book is something I learned after as well. Fortunately, I was persistent with gaining a fan base after I debuted my book and managed to at least save myself in that regard. But I love it. Great blog post.
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Reblogged this on and commented:
I thought I’d reblog this post from 7 months ago. I still stand by what I say- ‘Start a web platform before self publishing’. If only I knew that then, eh?
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