8 Twitter Tips for Writers

Building a platform and navigating the many different social medias can be a daunting task. It can seem a step too far, especially when we’re still struggling to write our novel. But fear not, for I’m here to share my top eight tips for using twitter.

It’s important to remember you’re presenting yourself as a brand. Every interaction on the internet should be tailored towards catching your target audience and strengthening your business – you… as an author.

1. Load a profile and background image, then add a few sentences to describe yourself. Remember to utilize your Bio by including key words relevant to you. I’ve used #writer #fantasywriter and #amquerying. It helps likeminded individuals find you. Want inspiration? Check out your fellow writers and see what catches your eye.
2. Every social media has a different way of conversing. Twitter does this by short, punchy statements. Using just 280 characters to convey your meaning. Twitter is fast moving so mistakes can be made. But that’s ok, your creative friends will forgive and forget. So dive in and have fun.
3. Picture’s and Gif’s are a great way to draw attention, so get creative. Warning about copyright, please make sure you have the right to use the images.
4. Use hashtags as a way to connect with likeminded individual. Some of my favorites are #amwriting #writing and #writingcommunity. Play around with them and pay attention to what other writers use.
5. Remember your manners and don’t spam. The fastest way to be unfollowed is by only plugging your own, or others, work. I tend to unfollow writers that have feeds full of promotional content – the hard sell doesn’t work! Instead, I like to mix it up by asking questions, interacting and little updates about my writing journey. Take a look at my profile: https://twitter.com/lorraineambers
6. People tend to converse through the newsfeed and ignore DM’s (Direct Messages) because the majority of messages are spam. If you want to chat, be brave and tweet them directly by adding there @name. Try me, I’ll be happy to reply. @LorraineAmbers
7. Twitter is a great place for getting involved in competitions like #PitRev and #PitMad. During them writers accept the challenge of pitching their novel in one Tweet. It’s great practice and an easy way of making connections with your fellow writers.
8. If you have a great Tweet, maybe a pitch or a link to your website or blog, Pin It to the top of your newsfeed. That way, whenever someone new visits your page they can instantly see that post. They might just interact with it by Liking your Tweet or even visiting your blog. After all, isn’t that the whole point of being on social media.

There we have it, my top 8 tips for twitter. Do you have any tips to share?

Don’t forget to leave a comment and share your thoughts. You know I love hearing from you.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time, Much Love.

Pinterest    Instagram    Twitter    Facebook

© Author Lorraine Ambers and http://www.lorraineambers.com, 2021.

Blogging, Social Media and Marketing.

Welcome, my wonderful readers, follower bloggers and writers. How we use social media is changing, how we market ourselves and our books is changing. In an industry that’s fast moving and constantly evolving it’s easy to get stuck. What used to work no longer brings results. In this post, I’ll share what works.

I’m back after taking a short hiatus from most of social media while me and my husband moved business premises. Our welding and fabrication unit is now located in the best of rural Wales, surrounded by beautiful countryside. It’s been a yearlong project and we’re both relieved and grateful to finally be set up and running. Phew.

I’ve had plenty of time while decorating to consider my approach to being a blogger and a writer. Media like Facebook has become a place that holds little engagement for me, whereas, Instagram and Twitter has become an interactive, positive place. But as the algorithms get updated, we must get savvy too. I love to watch YouTube clips to get the lowdown on what’s new and how to implement them.

photo credit: Social Media Marketing Mix via photopin (license)

Thankfully, my community of writers and bloggers has always been a supportive, caring place. The rules for blogging have remained the same; write great content, use amazing images, and most importantly – reach out to your fellow bloggers by reading their posts and commenting. Easy peezy.

If you’re considering becoming a blogger, know that you’re in good company. Having a website, a place where you can be authentic and creative, is a fantastic way to develop your brand and become established. Any content that you create on WordPress can be shared to a wide range of your social media accounts, making it a smart approach to marketing.

Finally, a step that I’m about to embark upon, is to learn how to market books. In the last three years that I’ve been blogging, I haven’t had to consider this yet, because I’m still in the query trenches with my manuscript. But one day, hopefully soon, I’ll have a published novel ready to market. And starting to implement a marketing strategy at that point will be too late. So fellow writers who are in the same boat as me, drafting, editing and querying, lets test out the waters and read posts, books and take marketing workshops so that we’re ready to go.

How do you cope with the ever changing demands of marketing? Please share your experience, you know I love hearing from you.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time, Much Love.

Pinterest Instagram Twitter Facebook

© Author Lorraine Ambers and http://www.lorraineambers.com, 2019.

The ultimate Pinterest 101 for writers and bloggers

There are many ways to drive your audience to your blog and one of my favourites media sites is Pinterest. In this post we’ll be taking a look at how to set up an account, to maximise your chances of gaining new viewers, and how to set up visually enticing boards so that your followers can visually connect with your novel and get to know you a little better.

If you’re new to building your brand then I recommend reading The Importance of Building a Platform and How to Identify your Target Audience. Setting up solid foundations for your business is a vital first step, but don’t worry if you’ve jumped in feet first, sometimes simply beginning is the hardest part and I commend your enthusiasm.

Here are my four awesome tips to get you started!!

One: Set up a business Pinterest account. It looks the same as a personnel account, but has tools and analytics that will aid you and your blog. When setting up your profile, choose an image, or logo, that you’ll use across your social media and get creative with your bio. Now is the time to sell yourself, not your books. Tell your readers a little bit about you, your interests and what you write about. Put some thought into your profile using key words that correlate to you. Mine always features – fantasy-romance writer. Any content you create here can be echoed through all social media platforms to maintain a cohesive brand.

Inspiration for my second novel Mischief and Mayhem

Two: Pin boards: Use boards for historical research, to identify your characters, or help define scenes for your worldbuilding. A word to the wise, if it’s harmful to your brand, or is personal and you don’t wish to share certain boards, keep it locked from public view. Name each board with titles that use keyword to describe what’s contained within. Add boards that will direct the right audience to your profile, so for authors you could add a library board and fill it with books within your genre. Or, maybe have a board with your dream office space.

Create a unique writing den.

Three: Verify your websites ULR in settings. This took me a few tries and a couple of YouTube videos. But have faith, if I can master technology, so can  you. By linking your website/ blog to Pinterest, it creates a PIN symbol on all of your images, enabling you to link your posts to your Pinterest boards. Don’t forget to install a Pin it button to your blog, this is a vital way for you to gain more followers, readers may choose to add your content to their boards, showing your work to a new audience.

Captivating worldbuilding ideas

Four: Use great images in your blog. A picture says a thousand words, or so I’m told. Pixabay, Pexels and Unsplash are fantastic sites that offer free stock images, that have no attributes or royalties attached. Don’t forget to edit each image when you add it to your blog, in the alt description box, use keywords to help new audience members find your content. Those keywords are used as the primary function of Pinterest, which runs as a search engine using those keywords. So it’s time to get savvy with SEO.

Finally learn SEO 😉

Do you use Pinterest? Is it one of your favourite media sites? Perhaps you have another tip to share, don’t be shy, you know I love hearing from you.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time, Much Love.

Pinterest    Instagram    Twitter    Facebook

© Author Lorraine Ambers and http://www.lorraineambers.com, 2019.

Writers: Thanks a Million

Today I’m filled with appreciation and love for my fellow writers. All the bloggers, all the twitter writing community, my Facebook friends and my adorable Instagram peeps.

Wonderful people spread over many virtual places. But just because we aren’t connected in a skin and bones, face to face way doesn’t diminish the respect or gratitude I feel towards you all.

I know that we all take the risk as writers to bare our souls, to delve deep under the surface of emotions, to expose that which makes us human.

I’ve struggled this week with a chest infection and the knock on effect of poor mental health. I burrowed away with low energy, a rattling chest and crippling doubt.

Yet the inspiration and positive vibes from my community kept me strong and pulled me out the other side.

So thank you all.

Each week I get such a fantastic response from you all, you share your experiences, your views and most of all your personality. I owe you all my humble admiration and love. Because sometimes we need to simply spread the joy.

Keep dreaming and aim high.

Tell me about your week, how is the autumn season beginning for you. Much Love Xx

Pinterest    Instagram    Twitter    Facebook

© Author Lorraine Ambers and http://www.lorraineambers.com, 2018.

Guest post – From Whispers to Roars by Kristy Nicolle

Please welcome indie author Kristy Nicolle. She has published a fantasy romance series, The Tidal Kiss Trilogy and is due to release her new dystopian novel Something Blue next week.

Today, Kristy is sharing her experience on self branding and platform building on social media.

When I was asked to write this guest blog post I didn’t really know what to say. Lorraine informed me that I’m quite the social media guru, which I guess until recently I never really noticed. So I’m here to talk to all you authors, those of you who are new, old, considering publishing your first book or looking to learn something new.The thing is, marketing via social media, or any other platform for that matter, isn’t awfully difficult. I’ll tell you one thing though, you must have one key quality to succeed. That quality is BELIEF. It sounds sappy and dramatic, but the biggest way to fail at the first hurdle in publishing is to believe that nobody cares. Nobody wants to hear what you have to say, that it’s all been said before.

Here’s the thing.

It has all been said before.

But not by you.

If you’re a new author you go out there with a freaking megaphone and you tell anyone who will listen about your book. I know it’s scary, I know it’s hard to know if people will want to hear it, but the truth is if you don’t start shouting about your book, nobody else will. Being an author isn’t the kind of profession for those who are shy anymore. Writers used to be thought of as raving introverts, incapable of communicating in any other way than by the pages of their novels, but times have changed, and with indie publishing, you are your own marketing campaign, you are a part of the product. You have to be the one to sell it, to tell people how amazing your book is. To SHOW them what you’re capable of. But to do that, and do it well, you have to believe you have something worth selling. It’s true, vampires and werewolves aren’t a new concept, but how is YOUR vampire novel different? Why should a reader pick it up? If Picasso and Van Gogh both sat down to the same scene, they would paint entirely different pictures. The same goes for writing. Every author is different, and though we walk in the same genres, and among the same types of stories, our experiences and the way in which we write them are nothing less than one of a kind. That’s what you have to realise to market well. Nobody else can be you. Only you can do that. Only you can tell your stories. So, the most important thing is to put your embarrassment and fear aside and start selling yourself. Take a long hard look at who you are as an author and what makes your stories special. Why should a reader pick them up? Pay for them? If you can’t answer these questions- neither can your readers.

The second thing to know about marketing online is simple- image is everything. Often authors say to me – well my graphics don’t matter, they’re paying for my words, not my artistic skills. WRONG. Putting up crappy graphics puts doubt in people’s minds that you know what a quality product looks like before they’ve even checked out the blurb/excerpt. Looks do matter, now more than ever because the market is particularly competitive. You can write the world’s next great novel, but if it looks like crap nobody will buy it. People are shallow, and they say that seven seconds in the length of time it takes someone to decide whether to one click or not. This isn’t just for covers, it’s for everything. Website, teasers, banners. If your author persona doesn’t look professional, people will automatically assume your writing is of a similar quality, even if that’s not the case. If you’re not good with graphics, hire someone!

My final piece of advice is persistence. Doing one round of spamming facebook groups with your ads isn’t going to see overnight results. Facebook platforms, like anything truly effective take a while to grow and evolve into what you want them to be. Being an indie author these days truly is a marathon, not a sprint. Never be afraid to change it up, to try what’s new and HONESTLY, don’t take every single person’s advice. What works for some authors won’t work for everyone, and marketing trends are just that, trends. They change quickly and often burn out as so many people jump on them they quickly lose their effectiveness.

At the end of the day, there is no one way to market yourself, there is only what you think is right for you. The most important thing is that you’re happy with your approach and open minded enough to make changes when you need to. Trust your gut, believe your product is worth buying and persist. Good things will happen!

Kristy Nicolle xx

Author’s introduction to LinkedIn

photo credit: Social Media Marketing Mix via photopin (license)

Us authors need to be on social media. We need to be seen and we need our unique voices heard.Truth is we alone are responsible for showing the public who we are and what we are about.

In other blogs we’ve taken a bite sized Pinterest lesson and Building an social media platform.  I’ll be honest each blog I’m learning too.

Be brave and take the plunge!

As with all social media Keywords are essential, this is prevalent with your title on LinkedIn. Its the first port of call for like minded people to make a snap decision as to weather or not you’re a potential candidate to connect with.

Numbers are not important! Your target audience is vital, so choose editors, authors, writers, bloggers and publicists within your genre to drive your target audience towards you. Your search will begin with similar Keywords that you painstakingly placed in your title.

Use advanced search to your benefit. You could type in, YA Fantasy Author or Fantasy reader and see who pops up. It will enable you to search for people, jobs, groups and much more. Now connect until your hearts content, or in my case, until I’m bored stiff.

Fill in your profile, get creative but be truthful. If this is the first social medial you’re approaching, a little work now can be transferred to other sites when your ready. Helping to maintain your brand. Add your experiences and keep them relevant to your platform. I also run a welding fabrication business but that’s not going to help me as an author.

Remember your Keywords!

Join groups and get chatting. As with anything social, sitting on the sidelines will not get you noticed (note to self, that’s why parties are no fun). Be brave, introduce yourself, ask questions or just answer others posts. In business it takes time to build recognition and then trust, so be patient.

I have found that LinkedIn is the most responsive platform towards my blog. So remember bloggers to share your work on social media’s, add links or use widgets that connect to this resourceful site.

An image tells a thousand words!

With all media sites no one likes to be hassled about your book. The fastest way to put off connections is to appear selfish and egotistical. A good goal is to aim for 10% self promotion and 90% give back. Share, comment, interact and offer tips)

I’m still learning, so why don’t some of you lovely share your LinkedIn tips with me!