An author friend and I were recently discussing the merits of promoting one’s book via traditional media verses online. As a journalist, she has lots of connections in the industry and often does television and radio interviews about her area of expertise, which helps promote her book. But she’s also savvy online, using Twitter, blogging […]
Sometimes it gets tiresome trying to explain to people why they should use Twitter. Usually, when I find myself doing this kind of convincing, I’m talking to someone who’s such a huge doubter of social media that they won’t see the value until they actually start using it, anyhow. So I loved this post from […]
Joining Twitter two years ago was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself professionally. The network is awesome for a lot of reasons, including the valuable information that’s served right into my lap and the ideas it inspires. But the best benefit of Twitter is the connections you can make there. So […]
While scrolling through my RSS feed, I often notice that bloggers who write about books or writing tend to miss opportunities to take advantage of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. I’m guessing that’s because a lot of us don’t understand it, probably because we’re focused on writing. While I don’t believe in writing for SEO, […]
I’ve received a lot of friend requests on Facebook lately. Most are from people I’ve connected with through Twitter or other online forums, or public relations types who know me from my day job as a reporter. But I don’t want to be friends with those people on Facebook. It’s not because those people aren’t […]
Want more helpful tips on writing? Sign up for my free newsletter! Journalists delete dozens of press releases each day. Dozens! I only write about a small fraction of the releases that pop up in my inbox. So how do you get a journalist to write about your book? Keep in mind that my experience […]
Remember when, nearly two months ago, I posted this photo? The view from my run at Hambidge, a writer’s colony in Georgia? A few weeks later, a reader sent me this note via e-mail: “I loved that photo that you sent from North Georgia of a scene from a morning run. That meant a lot […]
Looking for ways to make your blog unique? One of the easiest — and most fun — is adding cool social media buttons. When I built this blog, I spent way too much time picking out buttons. I wanted them to be simple enough to be recognized, but interesting enough to show my personality. You […]
Looking for ways to increase traffic to your blog? If there’s one thing I’ve learned from blogging during the last few years, it’s this: The number of hits I get on my site corresponds directly with how often I post. When I post a lot, I get a lot of hits. When I slack off […]
If you’ve found me through my guest post on Chuck Sambuchino’s blog, How Writers Can Use Twitter for Networking — Welcome! I know you’re here looking for more tips on how writers can get the most out of social media, so I’ve compiled a list of all of my posts that deal with that very […]