Facebook for Writers: Gripes, Tips (Part1)

Recent changes to Facebook make the social media site even less useful to writers looking to promote their work for free. This article includes an overview of the changes, plus some tips on how to use them to your advantage.

Full disclosure: Because of these developments, I'm spending less time promoting my work on Facebook.

Next week's post will focus on free tips and tricks for getting what you can out of Facebook.

Recent Developments on Facebook that Affect Writers

 

1) It's Harder to Get Your Posts Under the Noses of Readers
Most of your friends, fans, and readers see your Facebook posts in their Newsfeeds. Facebook has been restricting what appears in Newsfeeds. Posts from Pages, such as your Author or Book pages, may not show up at all.

Note: I have 2,000 Fans on my Author Page. A typical post once reached 300 of my Fans. Now it reaches about 50. More on Facebook reach for writers.

2) Casual Users Are Leaving Facebook
By contrast, heavy Facebook users are being more active. Upshot: Those individuals who post a lot of dopey photos and live their lives on Facebook are more active than ever. Think about your audience and their usage of Facebook. This could be another reason why your posts are reaching fewer people.

3) Facebook Is Using Scare Tactics to Keep Mobile Users from Seeing Links You Post
My goal on Facebook is to entice people to visit my blog. As a result, I post links to my blog posts on Facebook. Facebook users who click on my links may receive a warning that says something like "This link might be malicious ... Follow it with care."

4) A Profile (personal) Page Might Be More Useful than an Author Page
For years, the conventional wisdom was that you needed an Author Page. But Facebook has added features, such as a Follow feature, that let people you don't know or friend see posts on your Profile Page. By dividing up your friends using the Facebook List feature, you can make certain posts available to the general public or just your closest friends. A recent post on Profile vs. Author Pages.

5) New Posting Rules: Facebook Prefers Pictures to Videos or Text Updates
Use large, horizontal images in your blog and your Facebook posts will appear larger in people's Newsfeeds and probably get more clicks. Use smaller or vertical images in your blog, and they will appear as thumbnails that will be easy to overlook. Another workaround, is to upload the picture image to Facebook and then add a link going to your blog.

This blog post used a small image. Here's how it appeared when I posted it to Facebook

This blog post used a large. rectangular image.

In this example, I uploaded an image to Facebook and then added a link to my blog. The drawback here: If people click the photo, it goes to the photo. In the examples above, a click on the photo sends people directly to my blog. Next week, more options for making your posts look better.

More on Facebook Changes and Social Media

Six Reasons Your Facebook Postings May Not Get Responses

Why Facebook is Not a Writer's Friend

Sick of Social Media? Other Options for Writers

Building a Platform: My Results in 2013


Art Attribution: Top Facebook image by Maxi Gago (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

  

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One Writer's Platform (Part 2) Events and PR

Blogging and social media are not the only ways to develop a platform or audience for your writing. In 2013, I spent a chunk of my book marketing time promoting myself with special events, such as lectures and public readings. The nice thing about special events is that the venue will promote you to local newspapers and online events listings -- they will do PR for you. Oh, and some venues will pay you.
 
Note: I did all this without having a published or even finished book. I plan to finish my novel and circulate it to agents in the fall. I swear!

See Part 1 of this article, "Building a Writing Platform: One Writer's Results in 2013"

Here's what I did and my results.

Special Events: 16 total in 2013

1) Lectures for Non-Fiction and Fiction

If you're writing non-fiction, lectures are a no-brainer -- you know your material, right?

My example: Since I have a background in online marketing and I publish this blog, I've lectured about social media and blogging for writers at a local adult education center ($50 per class) and appeared on a panel for a low-residency MFA program ($175).

Even if you're writing a novel, you've likely done a lot of research. Your novel probably mentions real people and places. That makes you somewhat of an expert.

My example: I'm writing a novel about a chronically single guy who takes a trip around the world looking to change his luck with love.

The novel involves world travel, something I know about. Prior to this year, I gave travel lectures at a local adult eduction center (I was paid $60 per lecture) as well as a local sporting goods/camping store called Eastern Mountain Sports (unpaid). In 2013, I was paid to read at a local youth hostel.

2) Public Readings

Even if you do not have a published, or even finished book, you can read at public venues -- along side published writers. In case, you missed that -- you can read like the big boys without a published book. And you can get paid for it. As evidence, see my list of public readings and lectures and upcoming events for 2014.

Where can you read?
- Literary events: open mics, salons, reading series, book stores.
- Public libraries: Many will pay you. I read with two friends in 2011 and we each got $100.
- Slams: Poetry slams, story telling slams -- I once read at a smut slam. Note: For slams you will need to memorize your material. Poetry slams generally want less than three minutes of material. Story slams want about five minutes. It takes me two weeks to memorize a five-minute piece -- and I'm old and senile.
- Comedy open mics: I "performed some of my memorized material at a local comedy club. An audience member threw a cup of ice at one of the performers. The other comedians left. I stayed and was declared the winner by default. I earned $50.
- Fringe theater festivals: A novel is 12 hours of material. In 2013, I boiled my unpublished manuscript down to a one-hour, one man show with the help of a drama coach. It took about four months to memorize 45-pages of material and to learn to use  some props and gestures, as well as a few foreign accents to differentiate my characters.

Tips:
- Have a friend video tape your readings, and then upload them to youtube.
- Collect e-mail addresses at your events.
- If you like reading and performing, up your game by taking an acting class or at least getting feedback from someone you trust.

In two years of performing and some classes, I've gone from:

This:



To This:

 

Some Background

- I've been working on a novel for the last five years and plan to circulate it to agents in the fall.

- I self-published excerpts from the novel and have sold about 50 copies for $8 a piece. (My self-publishing endeavor: I had copies made a local copy shop. I also uploaded a PDF version, which I sell for $1 -- I've sold two of these.)

- I spend about one day a week on marketing and promotion. My goal is to develop an audience well before my novel comes out -- be it through traditional or self publishing

More Articles on Book Marketing and Self Promotion for Writers

- More on creating your own special events.

- How to read your work in public.

- My 2013 results using social media and blogging. 

- Free presentations and resources on blogging and social media from my self promotion for writers class.

Art attribution: Image by Nerval on wikimedia. 


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