Author Archives: restirling

Um…

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In this brave new world of Social media we are all learning the skills we need to succeed online. There is no rule book. Some people Tweet, some Blog, some Tumblr, some Facebook and some do all of those. There are very few people in the privileged position to have someone take care of everything for them and to be honest I think those people are missing out on the fun of it all. Of course they are also missing out on the nail biting stare at a blank Blog page as the clock ticks ever louder and your eyes start to burn.

We are living in a world of content. Content and context are king, and while it is true that the bewildering variety of options can make your head spin the optimist in me cries out

” Something for everyone.Yay! “

And even though I currently Blog and Twitter about writing, I could dabble in any of the other platforms available. I could even paddle in Pinterest. I haven’t, but I could.

Every social media platform needs a slightly different approach and style. They all need a different word length and some have photos some don’t but they all have one important thing in common, they need regular content.

What is the secret to regular content?

Back it up Baby!

If you are a writer then you can produce the words. Sometimes they flow easily sometimes they don’t. The muse is a capricious beast and this social media thing is most likely not your day job. You know, some of us have books to write but when you are in the flow and you have time and opportunity 

Write more than one blog entry and save them up!

You don’t have to be able to write regularly to use Social media effectively but you can make more of an impact if you release your writing regularly and it is of reasonable quality. Become a reliable read and people will start to pay attention. Oh…and you can edit out the Um.

 

Spam I Am

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Marketing is all about putting your work in front of those people who will buy. It’s also about persuading those on the fence that it’s worth parting with the hard earned cash in order to have your product. It’s all about place and persuasion.

Sadly there seems to be a new plague of poorly based marketing at the moment, brought on no doubt by the new leap into self publishing. There is good marketing material and poor marketing material but unless it is properly placed it is equally useless and on some occasions may even do harm to your reputation.

Writers. Please don’t Spam.

An example of poorly placed marketing : An author has excitedly completed a novel. It has a glorious digital front page; I mean full spectacular colour. They have a twitter account that they have built by following mostly those people who interest them, Publishers, Editors, Writers, Bookstores and such like. They decide to incessantly tweet about their creation begging people to read their work. They send DM responses asking for downloads and sales. 

People will get very frustrated with that author. He may even lose business. You see, he is confusing the target audience with his creative peers. Don’t sell books to writers. We have books. We also have no money. Sell books to readers who have no books and the sense to get a job.

 Twitter for authors. You really need to have two accounts.

One for the relationship with business professionals: publisher, editor, copy writer, cover artist, authors, peers.

One for the relationship with your audience: readers, book clubs, book stores, people who like other works in your genre.

You need to build both audiences in a different way. Please be considerate of other people working in your field. Editors, publishers and authors get a lot of marketing information and you can do a lot for your reputation by being polite, brief, and directing them to your marketing feed rather than spamming them.

Marketing: Think Place. Think Persuasion

 

Wiser words than Mine

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Following on from my difficult day yesterday (see previous post) I decided to take a look at what other writers say about being in the writing mood. There are some excellent quotes out there and I realise that many of them are trotted out on a regular basis,you’ve probably even got the T-shirt!

Well I have dug deepish and found a few that resonated with me and I don’t think are quite so mainstream. Bear with me while I dig them out.

Hear we are:

” Inspiration is wonderful when it happens but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time. ” – Leonard Bernstein

” Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King

” Start before you are ready ” – Stephen Pressfield

” Don’t wait for moods. You’ll accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to   get down to work. ” – Pearl S Buck

Alright, we’ve all heard the Stephen King quote but then he makes so much sense. It is sometimes difficult to keep the momentum going when you are writing.It is even harder to get the momentum started. An honest truth, ask any passing physicist. The important thing is to do it and start. Start every day. Put your mind to the matter and get words on the page. No one said they had to be good words. You don’t need to produce instant genius. You just need to produce and the genius will emerge. It can’t help it. They are kind of nosy.

So I am off now to do my bit and turn up and if inspiration strikes hallelujah! If it doesn’t I will work all the same. The more words I put down the bigger a landing strip I give it. Happy writing today and enjoy the words.

In the write mood

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Today has been a tricky day. Most of my days toddle along quietly and simply enough. I have my routines and I know them. I have my children’s schedule and I follow it. With a slim margin for error I get most people to most places most of the time. Today was different. Today I slept in.

Now most of my family are alarm clock enabled, some of them have several alarms on several electronic devices, and yet I was running from room to room this morning throwing bananas (read breakfast) at moving targets to the war cry

” You can finish dressing in the car! “

To cut a long story short everyone arrived and a frazzled me sat down at my laptop and stared at a screen as blank as my imagination. I really wasn’t in the mood. I could have just walked away and considered the day a non-starter, but I didn’t. Instead I wrote about my awful morning and how frustrated I was getting everyone to the right place. I wrote about my less than stellar waitressing ability and my lack of imagination. In fact I wrote to you.

And now my page is no longer blank and my imagination is no longer empty. I am going to sit and produce my daily word count with a happy heart. So Thank you!

I wonder if there are any bananas left.

 

 

Social Media

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Today I have been pondering the vagaries of Twitter, Facebook and social media in general.

I have come to the conclusion that targeted advertising can be a very good thing if it is targeted well. We receive so much information on a daily basis. I for one receive a huge number of requests and suggestions about what to read. I would love to read everything but I have to be honest here and say that I am very unlikely to read most of it. Heck, I’m a writer. I haven’t even managed to read all my own work.

So, why do we writers advertise to other writers? Why do we collect them?

 The answer to that question is that “Bird’s of a feather flock together” we really do. We like to see how things are going in the writing world. We like to glean ideas and to be able to judge ourselves against some imagined chart of success. We are nosy. We also want to feel part of a gang. That is a perfectly normal and wonderful thing and balm to the soul when you are sitting in a darkened room with your fifth coffee and another first draft. We simply need to remember that these are our people and not our audience. Of course we are all pretty happy to bump up each others Twitter “followship” that goes without saying.

Successful PR is targeted PR. Every so often we should check our strategy to see whether we are putting our work in front of the right people; the people before you who will buy and not just the people behind you, who will back you all the way.

Change is a good thing

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I have never been gifted with telling the future but there is one certainty that confronts each of us, things change. The changes that have been happening in the world of publishing over the last five years have thrown hopes and expectations into the air and we are all still waiting for them to land. We are coming to terms with new technology. Any advance has positive and negative implications for those working in the industry but the movement towards digital self-publishing has changed things in a way no-one anticipated. There is a great deal of discussion around the relevance of publishing houses in this new brave world. Things change.

Insecurity often makes people feel that they have to make a decision, take a stand, have a firm opinion. We like to know what we know, you know. 

Well, I know one thing. I fully support any and all means of championing the written word. We need more writing of a good quality. Traditional publishers have always been driven by the bottom line to produce work which will sell to the masses. Often the sale of such works supports the development of more literary projects. I doubt this will change. Self publishing will produce a vast quantity of lower quality work it is true but it will also give an opportunity to the gifted to produce breathtaking work of literary beauty without having to rely on a publisher’s previous sales of Diary of the Stig part 2.

Low or lower quality work is no threat to the publishing industry and those authors who produce excellent work will earn their stripes before submitting to publishing houses. Editors will include the banner headline ” Why aren’t you selling? ” on their websites and the world will continue to turn. Wordsmiths will continue to produce the words. We monkeys will make magic.

Sometimes it’s good to remember that no matter how big the change the important things stay the same.

The Wind blows through it

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So here you are again sitting in front of your computer screen, fingers poised for action and…

nothing.

Zip.

Nada.

What do you do when the muse has left the building and all you can hear is the breeze, wafting through the roomy emptiness of your mind? 

Easy. You write about the writers’ block. We have trained for this moment. You have powers of description to rival a literary superman. Just go to it and do it. If you are still struggling to form a sentence, and who doesn’t from time to time, then you need to break out the big guns.

Adverb Amnesty!

Tell the world that you are quickly, happily, joyously, expeditiously, theoretically, honestly and finally breaking through the wall of wordlessness and you defy anyone to stop you. Trust me, any more than 40 adverbs in any one piece of writing and you will scare the most truculent subconscious into submission. If you keep writing the wall will dissolve and leave you breathless but working. 

Of course if you carry the adverbage into your functional piece of prose then you need to step away from the computer and take a long hard look at yourself. What’s that all about?