Social Media Rules: What not to wear!

Social Media Rules

I know, there really are not any rules, not written at least but there is a lot of unwritten ones that you should know. I mean SM is not a new thing, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging have all been out long enough that grandma is doing it so the "I didn't know!" line just doesn't work anymore. 

The first thing you should think about is WHY you are on SM. If you are a business or author you will want to do things different than a mom who just wants to chat with family and friends. If you just want to keep in touch with friends and have fun, might be a good idea to only "Friend" people you know. If you are an author like me or are looking at SM as a way to market yourself you should "Friend" anyone related to your business. 

Once you know WHY you are on SM you can begin. 

Be smart, and be a good neighbor. Bring back the tool you borrowed, don't play loud music at 2 a.m. 

First rule and the most important IMO is: DON'T COMMENT ON EVERY POST! This is a good way to stay out of trouble. Posts involving government, God, family, and justice can get heated and just because you don't agree does not mean you have to butt in. Stay out of it, your advice is not needed and it will only get you angry or worse. 

This is the problem with SM, you ready for it? 

"We were not designed to know our friends and families every thought on every subject." --Aaron Patterson

We see our friends once a week, maybe a best friend four times a week and our family every day for part of the day. In a lifetime we may never know what they think about Tuna fighting, Breast feeding or hear a crude joke come out of their mouth. SM shows us everything, the bad days, the night you got drunk and had your phone, nothing can be hidden anymore. You have to remember, if you find out something about a person you love and it is a bad thing, cut them some slack, you have things they don't like and before SM we would never know. 

Another good rule is: DON'T POST YOUR EVERY THOUGHT/DRUNK POST OR OPINION ON EVERYTHING! In a word, Shut-up. No one cares, really. We look through posts and pass over yours most days. So be fun and light, enjoy your SM time and don't use it to push your agenda. 

"Your opinion is just as important as mine." -- Me again

We live in the American Idol generation. We all think that what we think matters. We vote on shows, call in and gripe on the radio and everyone on FB jumps when we whine about something. But the truth is, you may be smart to you and your mini friend list but there are more people out there who think you are stupid and ignorant. So it is al fair... in love and SM, lol

Authors and other pushers: STOP POSTING CRAP ABOUT YOUR BOOK OR PRODUCT: Again, no one cares. It is annoying and shows your lack of skill in marketing. Post or tweet now and again but don't beat people up. If you post it all the time I will put you on the Not to read list!

DON'T POST ON MY WALL! Does my wall look like your personal banner? Do you really think I will see the link to your book and be HAPPY about it? Oh and a follow-up on this is people with an auto respond when I friend them or follow them on Twitter with a link to their product. #Lame

One more rule that seems to be hard for people: DON'T AUTO TWEET! Really, we all know you do it, we see through it and we don't respond to it, so maybe not do it?

SM is a conversation, join it or go away. Don't post and run, it is pointless. I don't care how many people follow your blog, if it does not get people to interact you are just more spam. 

These are just a few, the rest you can figure out. If you keep it light and stay out of fights you will go a long way. Hope this helps and that you got a laugh out of my spunky nature this morning. 

Later

--Aaron

Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

My Journey to Amazon Bestseller by Indie Publishing: Guest Post by Debra Burroughs

My Journey to Amazon Bestseller by Indie Publishing – by Debra Burroughs

Although I published my first book two years ago with a small press, about a year ago I plunged headlong into the dark unknown of Indie Publishing.

Well, it’s not really dark or unknown, that’s just how it felt to me – at first. My first book, CHICANA, a labor of love that took me over two years to write, did not set the world on fire as I had hoped. I had visions of going on The Oprah Show and The TODAY Show to talk about my gripping and compelling story, but the invitations never came.

After I decided to go it alone, I was determined to learn all I could about self-publishing and how I could market my books to the masses. From the day I made that decision, I voraciously devoured everything I could find on the subject.

I began by following the blog thewritersguidetoepublishing.com, which posts every day on all things indie (which was a fantastic place to start). I read J.A. Konrath’s blog on self-publishing, Bob Mayer’s Write It Forward blog, and Kristen Lamb’s WarriorWriters.wordpress.com. I joined KindleBoards.com and hung out there in the Writers’ Café, interacting with other indie authors.  

Here is a list of some of the books I read to learn about Indie Publishing:
Dollars & Sense: The Definitive Guide to Self-Publishing Success (by Carolyn McCray et al)
Smart Self-Publishing: Becoming an Indie Author (by Zoe Winters)
Let’s Get Digital (by David Gaughran)
The Indie Journey: Secrets to Writing Success (by Scott Nicholson)
How To Really Sell eBooks (by Jon F. Merz, who turned me on to TweetAdder.com)

I know we all think we can write the “great American novel,” but you will find you improve with each book you write. And the more you read, the better you get, so regularly read top authors in the genres you want to write. You’ll be surprised how it will improve your writing.  

Here are some of the writing books I read to improve my writing skills:
Plot & Structure (by James Scott Bell)
Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go (by Les Edgerton)
Story Engineering (by Larry Brooks)

After all of that, I have to tell you that my best marketing promotions are done on Twitter (with the help of TweetAdder) and those I have done in conjunction with the Indie Book Collective (IndieBookCollective.com), I have found, at least for me, that cross-promoting with other good authors can be very successful.

Using a combination of a Free promotion and a cross-promoting campaign, I was able to get my latest release, Three Days in Seattle, into Amazon’s Top 100 Paid for 15 days in a row last month and it has sold over 17,000 copies since its release at the end of February, 2012.

I believe that through all I have learned on this exciting indie-publishing journey, I can boil it down to three things – write a good book, have a professional and attention-grabbing cover, and market the heck out of it (which is the hardest part).

In the end, as I have been told by long-time and successful authors, the best promotion for your books is to write another great book. I am getting ready to release my fourth book this June, The Scent of Lies, and plan two more before the end of 2012.  

What has your publishing journey been like?

You can follow Debra on Facebook, Twitter@DebraBurroughsAuthor and also check out her website@http://www.debraburroughsbooks.com  

About Debra Burroughs:
Debra Burroughs grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during the tumultuous 1960′s, during the time that the Civil Rights Movement was gearing up and racial tensions were mounting. Her parents moved the family to a more peaceful town in the Central Valley of California, where she became the assistant editor of her high school newspaper and even had a teen column in the city paper.

Starting college, she majored in broadcast journalism, but over time she changed her major to business. Even though she moved her focus to the business world, she never lost her love for writing. She always hoped one day to return to it.

Over the years, with a large Mexican family, she heard many stories about their history, particularly from her grandmother and mother. As she would relay these colorful and heart-wrenching family stories to her friends, many times she would hear them say, “You should really write a book about that.” So, finally, she did. CHICANA, a Memoir debuted in November, 2010. Her other books include Three days in Seattle and She had no choice.  

Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Social Media 101 What NOT to do (Author Edition)

Social Media 101

Okay people, we all live in this online world and I know it can be hard to know what to do and as there are not really rules set up let's look at what to do and what NOT to do.

I am going to talk about what NOT to do first as it seems many of us are having a problem with this part of our online lives.

Comments on Facebook
You do not have to respond to every controversial comment or post. In fact you should avoid them if you can. We were not meant to know people this close and for some getting on FB or Twitter can be shocking. We go from knowing some things ab out our friends to knowing what they think about EVERY subject ever created. Our natural reaction is to comment and let them know what we think and thus the fights begin. Good rule of thumb, talk about nice things and if someone is just being a jerk do not follow or friend them, it is okay to unfriend people...even if you know them in person.

Marketing your book
Market yourself by being yourself. Not by pushing your book or health supplement on people. People buy from who they like, if I do not like you I will not buy your book. Get to know people, talk and post once every now and again, most people know you have a book as it is your profile picture.

Confrontation
So I pissed you off, now what? Well, you should not blast in public all about me and how I kill small kittens. You should send a email to me and deal with it that way before going off half cocked all over Twitter and Facebook. It just makes you look bad not me. If you do not like what someone is doing deal with it in private. There are people that I know online that are scamers and downright #lame. I want to scream from the TwitterTop and warn people about them or what they are doing with some publishing scam or whatever. But do I? No.

It is about control, try to control yourself. Send a email or make a call. Live above them, do right and all the others will work out by themselves. Most of us authors will not take the time to research what we are all mad about. Try stopping and looking at it all without your black glasses on. The only time I will name names and call out someone is if I am pushed into a corner and have to in order to defend myself. But that is the very last step and I do it with care as if i am going to name names I will do it with open guns and I am not messing around at that point. But like I said...last resort.

Twitter Auto Tweets
Come on peeps... be there... be here with us. Be present. I understand setting up auto tweets for time sake, but the same tweet over and over and over again? Really? And we read it? Nope...I gloss over and look for the real people having conversations.

Facebook Groups
Do not invite random people, it is rude. Follow the rules of the group. I can't count the times I delete posts from the same person over and over again because they will not follow the rules. If there is a no promotion rule, do not promote. Come one peeps...*note: if all you do is link to your book not one person will read it or follow the link.
Join the conversation.

Facebook Bleeding Heart's
I do not care about the poor sheep in Montana or the starving trees in Iceland. Most of it is just to get you all worked up and you re-post and share the sad picture that I have to gag over... again, conversation and what do you want me to do? Go over and feed some starving tree? I am not going to give money so what is the point? Oh...yeah, to put guilt on people for living in the US... got it... *small rant.

The main thing to remember is to be nice and do not do something that you would not want someone else to do. You know...like we learned when we were 6.

If you have a beef with someone don't go off on them, be an adult and hold your little Twitter fingers. Authors, I know we are all excited about books and reading, but be careful about who you hook up with. There are a ton of scams that look all good but all the scamer wants is to sell you their book. Ask yourself, do they push their book on you? Do they push you to follow rules that they made up? Do they blast others, cuz if they will kill another author if you cross them they will kill you as well. BE SMART...oh and be NICE!

That is all...

for now

Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

The Fine Art of Getting People to do What You Want.

Face it, we all have a silly and sometimes evil agenda. If you don't, you are lying to yourself or have nothing to do. So what is it you want? Do you want to live on the beach somewhere, have a super cool car or travel the world? Do you want to live in the middle of the woods and never see a human again, or be on TV so everyone knows your name? We all want something out of life and as writers and readers a big part of our world is about books.

So this Christmas I found as I am sure you did as well a ton of Tweets and messages from authors encouraging and downright nagging everyone to buy or download their book. I do not have a problem with authors pushing their work and I think more need to learn how to treat their art like a business if it is to go anywhere.

But when is enough, enough?

A business that markets all the time, forces and nags will end up getting ignored or pissing people off or both. So how do we Indie authors learn how to push in a gentle way? What is the line from being annoying to being smart?

First I want to be the first to admit that I have also pushed to hard, forced myself on others thinking that was the only way to sell books. But I learned that it is not about what you are saying and more about who you are.

I used to work in sales at Golds Gym, they are high pressure and will do whatever it takes to close a sale. I was taught how to sell and the one thing that stuck with me was the saying: "People buy from who they like."

I was 3rd in the country for sales in Golds because I put aside the high pressure and made friends. If I thought the client could not afford the membership I would tell them to pass and save their money and eat better. They would look at me in shock not expecting to be told not to buy, and even my boss did not like my style as I let a lot of clients walk without buying. But I made up for it by closing everyone else. Why? Because they liked me and trusted me to tell them the truth even if it was not to buy.

I do this same thing with my books. I was at a Costco signing and a lady was asking me about my books and I could tell from the other stuff she was reading that she would not like my books. She was going to buy them and I took then from her hand and said, "You know, you will not like these books, they are a little scary for what you read."

She thanked me and left without buying.

I saved her from being angry with me and saved myself from a bad review. Your book is not for everyone, it is not the best book on earth and it is not going to be a movie. There, feel better? Find out who your reader is and market to them, and I mean be a friend to them.

Social Media is a great way to make friends, but if you use it like a new way to spam everyone you meet it will hurt you in the end. I did send out a few tweets and a Facebook thing on my books over the weekend but I tried to offset that with talking and other things to bury the book push.

And yet I saw some authors tweeting their book and pushing it out like every hour. Even book bloggers were like STOP, and they LOVE books!

But even without really pushing hard this last weekend my sales on amazon went up in a bug way. I think I sold over 1000 eBooks and doubled my books sales in just two days. My ranking went up into the top 300 and made it to #4 in the Hard-Boiled Thriller category. How did this happen?

It was not because I nagged readers or sent out emails. I spent about four hours the week before Christmas tagging on Amazon. Yes, tagging.

I figured more people were going to look on Amazon and if I was seen more I would sell more. It worked in a big way and I did not have to bother all my friends. And did I just be selfish and tag my book? Nah... I also tagged other authors books that I thought would help them out. I do not know how it works with everyone else but Amazon and the tagging system is amazing. You can link your book and yourself with other books. So I took the time and every day I tag on amazon, it is part of my job, part of being seen.

Is not what you do over a weekend but what you do day in and day out. I think I have been tagging for the last two years and I will keep doing it as long as it is an option on Amazon. The one reason B&N does not sell as many books is they do not have this tagging system, it is hard to find other books and authors you might like because they are not set up to sell. But that is another post.

This is a long term thing, you are in business, do what it takes day after day to make it as a writer. and next year you can have a good time watching the other authors stressing over sales and watch yours go up as you sip eggnog. I hope this helps and I know readers, bloggers and the rest of us will be happier as well.

I wish you all a happy new year and please GO BUY MY BOOK NOW!!!!!!!!!!! Lol
Just kidding, Have a good one, be happy and keep writing.

Aaron






Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Now Twitter!

I will be the first to say that the Twitter thing is not where I shine. Yet I am learning and can give some pointers as to the use of it for us authors. I used to think Twitter was lame, kind of a side site that was of no use. But after talking to some others that were seeing some good things come of it I decided to take a look. I have been active for the last three months or so and I am seeing a lot of growth.

What is the difference between Facebook and Twitter?

Facebook is like a super high teenager email program. Connect with people and update a status and let people know what you are thinking and doing. A blog is the story, Facebook is the preview and Twitter is the blurb. A quick blast that is there and gone in seconds yet is read and followed.

Over the years Twitter has become a news feed of sorts. People follow news people, restaurants,and other businesses in order to review and plug where they are and what is going on.

If you want to know something quick Twitter is the place to go. I use it on my phone as I can keep updated in seconds with just a glance. I can put people into groups and look at what a group is doing and cut out all the other chatter. An example is I have a group of Authors, one for friends, one for food joints etc... If i want a good place to eat I look at the food feed and see who is running a special or had a good review.

Use Twitter to follow other authors. I do filter out people that may only tweet canned quotes or never add a personal touch. The object is to interact. It is a huge conversation, get in the middle of it.

Warning: Twitter like Facebook can be very High School. clicks of friends that will not let you in and have personal conversations, inside jokes and the like. Just be aware that this goes on.

Tweeting:

This is where you post a comment or post. You only get 140 characters including spaces. Tweet about things you want to pass along that are quick. A book signing you are at, or if you ate at a good burger place tell others about it. Be personal and fun, no one wants to follow a depressed bimbo.

Re-Tweeting:

This is where you send out a tweet that someone else posted. If you like what they said pass it along to your followers. Try to send along things that you wish to share, or something you want everyone else that follows you to see.

Mentions:

If someone says your name in a tweet you can track it. This is a good thing, means people are talking about you or to you. Be sure to respond and thank them or engage in the conversation. You can mention someone that follows you by typing in the @ symbol before their twitter handle.

DM (Direct Message)

You can like eMail talk direct to someone. You have to follow them and they have to follow you to do this and it makes whatever you are talking about private. The Mention is the same thing but by doing the DM it is not public on your feed for all to see. Be sure to watch the word count and you can DM someone from your phone by just typing the letter D and the twitter handle of whoever you want to message.

Following:

Find others that are interested in what you are interested in. Other writers, authors etc... Be focused in who you search for and don't go crazy. try not to follow 1000 people and only have 200 that follow you, as you gain in numbers try to move slow. You can set your account to private if you want to protect your tweets. But otherwise anyone can see what you are talking about and follow you. If you protect you will have to approve who follows you and not just anyone can look at your page. I am on Twitter to reach out so I could care less who sees what i say, the more the better.

There is so much more but this will get you started. Do your research and use it. you may not sell a book but it is a must if you want to get your name out there. Have fun and remember, it is a conversation... talk!