This week I’ve been thinking about social media, mostly
because I’m away from it, visiting family. Every now and again it is good to get
out and meet people face to face whom you only spend time with on Social Media.
Shared laughter and hugs stay with you longer than emoji’s. And often the
gossip is better in person.
When you spend a lot of time on line sometimes you forget to
take a step back and figure out the best use of your time on line. Molly Greene has a great list of 45 ways that you may be sabotaging yourself on Social Media.
Back ups... Back Ups... Back ups...
There are so many ways to lose everything. If you are
storing your work online make sure you have a copy off line too. Google just took 14 years of an artists work in an accidental deletion. Please read the
comments - it could be you!
Think Longterm. Create a Body of Work. This is a key chapter
in Joanna Penn’s latest non fiction book, The Successful Author Mindset. Joanna
shares this chapter on her blog this week. It Is Gold!
Jane Friedman has an interesting guest blog this week from
Gabriela Pereira about the value of an MFA. This is always an author discussion
point. Do you need an MFA to be a writer? Genre writers say NO BUT.... Read
this excellent article on the myths and realities.
Catherine Ryan Howard has just had a successful book launch
of her first traditionally published book. But the second book deadline is looming
up... and Catherine found it difficult to focus. This is a very honest look at
how fear of the second book can hold us back. How to write a novel when you’ve forgotten how.
Janice Hardy is an absolute treasure. She always has solid
advice for writers. It is rare for me not to link to some gem of hers every
week. She has a great blog post on writing accountability. This is a great way
to progress your projects...
In The Craft Section,
How to work on more than one book at a time- James Scott
Bell
Checklist for critiquing a novel and 7 quick ways to whip your novel into shape - C S Lakin -Bookmark Both!
Writing Character thoughts- Darcy Pattison- Bookmark
Plotting with the Heroes Journey- Janice Hardy
Query Letters – The Pitch- Writer Unboxed
15 Character creation tips- Now Novel - Bookmark
The burden of knowledge- or how to get your thoughts on the
page- Jennie Nash-Bookmark
In the Marketing Section,
The basics of Print Interior Design- Janice Hardy
6 tips to drive traffic to your author blog - Anne R Allen
How your Author Platform impacts your book sales.- Rachel
Thompson-Bookmark
Social Media in 30 minutes a day- Frances Caballo- Bookmark
How to promote your work without being pushy.- Writers Alley
How to give away free books and why you should – Book Funnel
and Joannna Penn-Bookmark
To Finish,
I’ve been thinking for a while about writing a monthly
author newsletter. I write for children but I blog about writing, marketing and
publishing book trends for adults. This does make for a confusing brand according to the marketing experts.
When I get together with other children’s writers we always
ask each other what we’re working on and we share interesting ideas. So as I
can’t sit down and have a coffee with you in real life why don’t you subscribe to my monthly newsletter. I’ll share some of the best bookmarked links and some
interesting (death defying) research from my current writing projects. You can
ask me questions on Twitter or Facebook. I love to chat....
Maureen
@craicer
