Facebook Takeovers: A Techno-Dolt Talks

Hei hei, y'all! ST, here. A few weeks ago I got to take over Verna Loves Books' Facebook page with fellow Igniteer Laura Howard. I'm an admitted techno-dolt, who still uses a flip phone (#Truth) so this was a massive jump for me. It was all kinds of terrifying, but also all kinds of fun. And you know what? I ended up meeting some of the nicest, most supportive fellow book lovers! I'm so glad I stepped waaaaay outside my comfort zone. It was totally worth it.

I openly admit to having no prior experience in takeovers, and in general no idea what I'm doing on the interwebs, but here are a few FB takeover tips that worked for Laura and me:

(1) PLAN. Things fly fast and furious come takeover time, so the more pre-packaged posts you can plan out, the easier your time will be. We pre-wrote a slew of posts, about five for each hour of our takeover time, and ended up using nearly all of them. It freed up the rest of our time to interact with readers on the various comment threads. Who wants to be planning their next post when they could be socializing instead? Not moi. :)

(2) GIVE THINGS AWAY. Laura and I corralled a slew of our writer friends and asked if they'd be willing to donate an e-book. It gave readers a reason to comment on the posts (because commenting was a requisite to enter the giveaways), and it gave us something fun to talk about. Readers love getting books. And writers are generally happy to donate an e-book in exchange for some exposure. It's a win-win.

(3) PLUG YOUR FRIENDS. Those authors who donated books during our takeover? You better believe plugged the dickens out of their books and looped them into their threads, so they could interact too. Laura and I are lovely and all, but I seriously doubt a lot of people would want to talk to just the two of us for three hours. However, people did want to talk to the seven additional authors we brought along with us. Because the more authors, the merrier!!

(4) HAVE FUN. So often we're locked away in our writing/editing caves, all by ourselves. It was a blast to get to go onto a page and actually chat with readers! Laura and I both write NA Paranormal Romance, and we probably wouldn't have met most of Verna's more contemporary oriented readers in our normal FB circles. We made new friends, got to talk book boyfriends (because no FB takeover is complete without talking book boyfriends), and spent a few hours hanging out together on a Saturday afternoon. What's not to love about that?

What about you? What kinds of things have YOU done to connect with readers?

When You Just Need Some Fun...

Sometimes a writer just needs to have a little fun. Am I right, y'all?

You know those fabulous memes you always see promoting upcoming releases, with an image representative of the book's genre, a super cool quote, and some impressive photoshopping that adds elements of whimsy or darkness or whatever emotion the artist wants you to feel?

Yeah. I could never make those. I'm a total technophobe. I still own a flip phone. #TrueStory

But a few weeks back, the Igniteers introduced me to a little website called Picmonkey. You upload your image, and a minimal number of super easy steps, you and manipulate it to add words, bleed out color, or even add little quote bubbles or banners. It's so easy even a technophobe could work it.

And I did. :)

Now when I need a break from drafting/editing/plotting/writerly things, I head to Picmonkey and have a little fun. The Igniteers tell me there are more sites like it that are equally easy to use, but I'm a creature of habit and I sort of figured this one out. So here I stay.

Here are a few of the fun promo images the girls and I have made for ourselves -- some on Picmonkey, some in more advanced editing programs. You'll be able to tell which of us are graphic whizzes (Adrianne) and which of us are NOT (me).

(my homemade image, for Elsker - look y'all, I figured out the computer!!)

(From Nicole Zoltack's White Helleborne)

What do you think? Link us to some of YOUR fun promo images in the comments!

Author Media Kits -- A Breakdown of the What, the Why, and the How

Hello, indies! My plan, as I began to prepare this post, was to share about how to prepare for a (live) author interview. We get so used to doing things online--through emails, or other posts that allow us to think about our answers before making them final--that we aren't always prepared to have immediate, answer-giving conversations. (Or is this just me? Example of recent phone interview: Newspaper guy: "Do you have any other hobbies?" Me: "Uh... duh..." *crickets*) Once I began to research common Q & A sessions, however, I realized that if you're going to prepare yourself for an interview, you might as well prepare your author media kit at the same time. This is something we have to prepare ourselves anyway more often than not (being indies and all), so I figured, why not share all of the info in one post? 

Whether it's for something local (like a newspaper article), a bookstore event, book blog tour, or simply generating buzz for upcoming release, media kits are a beneficial, professional way to get the word out there about your work. (Keep in mind that you don't have to do *everything* listed in the kits, only the things you feel comfortable with--including money--don't ever spend more than you feel comfortable spending). Are you ready? Here we go!

** A few months ago, The Alliance of Independent Authors blog had a series called 50 Ways to Reach Your Reader, and one of the posts, Media Kit for Indie Authors (by guest Shannon O' Neil of Duolit) was quite informative (link). In the article, Shannon answers not only the question of what a media kit consists of, but how we can use one. And, the part about an author bio and author Q & A lists some of those frequently-asked interview questions (working on them whilst preparing your media kit will help you recall them later during live interviews). 

** Last April, Joanna Penn (of The Creative Penn) featured a guest post by Tolulope Popoola, who shared similar information in a post called Creating Your Author Press Kit (link). Toluope included two actual author press kit examples, and stressed the fact that the kits don't have to be complicated or fancy.

** The CreateSpace community blog holds many helpful articles about all things self-published, including a post by Richard Ridley regarding not only The Author Press Kit (link), but also how to construct an effective author bio.

** Max Nomad of Bohemian Griot Publishing (a "small, Virginia-based Creative Boutique that specializes in Graphic Design, Branding and Custom Publishing") has a quite detailed and informative post about media kits, included the best size for photos, and a cost breakdown of costs if you choose to purchase software in an article titled, The Ambitious Author's Press Kit: Guerrilla-Style Tips for Starting you Self-Published Book Promotional Campaign the Right Way (link). 

** If you're like me, the more simple things are, the better. Shannon O'Neil of Duolit also has a post called Start Your Media Kit Today: Mini Workbook (link) in which she says she can help you knock out five essential pieces of your media kit in only fifteen minutes.

I asked fellow Indie Ignites member Nazarea Andrews what she makes sure to include in her media kit, and it's pretty much what I've included in mine:

-- Bio
-- Author photo
-- Links (website, Facebook, Twitter, blog, Goodreads)
-- Synopsis
-- Cover
-- Buy links

Nazarea also made a very good point, and I think this is a great idea no matter what kind of media kit you use: "I always make one as soon as I can. I keep it in my file for that manuscript--titled BOOK TITLE--base post; because it goes along with my blog tour posts." She also went on to say that if she were sending a physical version of this kit, she'd add a cover letter and swag to go along with the book promotion.

And there you have it. A few step-by-step guides on what an author media kit is, why you should have one, and how to prepare it. If anyone has anything to add about their own media kits, we'd love to hear about it!