What is a Hashtag? by Kayelle Allen @KayelleAllen #writerslife #MFRWauthor

Do you know what this abbreviation "etc." means? It's the word et cetera which is Latin for "additional unspecified odds and ends; more of the same." It's intended to reduce the number of characters (or sentences) needed to explain an item.

That abbreviation is a perfect example of not wasting time. We don't write an entire list, or even the entire word. Although, here's a question: why is the word abbreviation so long? Hmmm. Another post for a different day.

Since 2012, I host over 350 authors a year on my Romance Lives Forever blog, and I've seen trends come and go. One that's endured is adding hashtags to the subject. Why is this valuable? Because when the post is shared on social media, those hashtags will enable people to find it. Here's an analogy that might help you understand.

What is a Hashtag

This symbol: # is called a hashmark. It's also the abbreviation (there's that word again) for number. On Twitter (and most other social media) when you add that symbol in front of a word, it changes the word to a search program.

Let's say you want to look up the word "tweet" on Twitter. In the Twitter search box, you type #tweet. The URL that pops up is this:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23tweet&src=typd and all the tweets with that hashtag are listed.

Why Do I Need Hashtags

I'm a busy person. I know you are too. Imagine if you needed to pick up something at the grocery store, so you run in, grab a cart, and head for the produce department. When you get there, you discover a case for milk next to the lettuce. Not the milk you buy, unfortunately. Then next to the milk is a shelf with bread, but the brand you prefer isn't there either. Then comes oatmeal. The quick cooking type--but your kids like the instant version.

At this point, you stop, look around, and realize the entire store has been completely rearranged. There is no rhyme or reason to its layout. It's just whatever the store received that day in the back went out onto the sales area. No more aisles with bread, or aisles with canned veggies, or aisles with cereal. You have to walk up and down every aisle hoping to find what you need. How fast would you push that cart back to the exit and go elsewhere? Yeah. Me too.

Twitter is a store for information, news and opinions. It puts out whatever comes in as the info arrives. There is no order. You get what you get. If you want to find something on Twitter, you either look for a person who interests you, or a hashtag that does.

Hashtags are to Twitter what aisles are to a store. They are the "departments" where you can find what you need and what you're looking for. I recommend having 1-2 hashtags in the title of a blog post, near the end of the subject. Use 1-2 in a tweet also. Generally, using over 3 hashtags is considered "spammy."

You could just scroll on Twitter and read, but what if you went there to find out if others are watching the same TV show you are? What is the show's hashtag? Enter that in the search box and pow! There are all the show's tweets. How cool to discover the cast is live tweeting! You can actually interact with fans, actors, and writers. Without a hashtag, you'd be lucky to stumble across even one tweet.

What hashtags are best for writers?

Find out which hashtag is being used most in your genre and use it. There are Twitter bots (legal) that pick up certain hashtags and retweet them to their followers. #SciFi is one of them. Make sure you're using a hashtag that is actually in use already. If no one is searching for it, the hashtag is pointless. My favorite place to discover whether a hashtag is popular is www.ritetag.com It's free. I don't use any hashtags till I've checked them out there.

Generally, use the single version of a word vs. the plural #book is better than #books for example. Check out this RiteTag listing of results for the word #romance:

https://ritetag.com/best-hashtags-for/romance

Other good writer hashtags include #amwriting #amediting #MFRWauthor #writerslife #author -- share yours in the comments.

A word about Triberr

First, let me say it's Tri-berr not Tribb-er. It's has 1 B and 2 Rs. Not Tribber - Triberr. Okay, stepping away from the soapbox...

The site Triberr is a blog amplifier. What that means is when you link your blog to the site, it allows other people to share your post with their social media. Try it for 30 days and you will not want to go back.

On Triberr, hashtags matter. You will gain a hundred-fold more readers with Triberr, so leverage that by using appropriate hashtags. Don't add your own @name to the title. It will be included in every tweet that Triberr sends, even though you can't see it on the site. Look at your mentions on Twitter and you will.

Should I use my name as a hashtag?

Is it better to write #KayelleAllen or @kayelleallen in a tweet? (fyi - the @kayelleallen is also called your at-name and is written as @name). These are referred to as mentions. (Mary mentioned you on Twitter means that Mary sent out a tweet that had your @name in it)

I don't recommend using your name as a hashtag. Why not? You will get far more mileage from the @name because when anyone clicks that, it pops up a link so they can follow you. If they click it again, it takes them to your profile page. A hashtag with your name is only going to open a search for the name. It will not necessarily show your profile, which means it's less likely to get you followers.

When you tweet, don't add your own @name either. Obviously, if the tweet is from you, then the person can click your name since you are the sender. If your publicity person is talking about you, then yes, they should use your @name.

Hashtag Research

Here are three good links to check out for hashtag dos and don'ts:

https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-use-hashtags/

https://www.tintup.com/blog/7-examples-of-successful-hashtag-campaigns/

http://www.adweek.com/digital/ethan-martin-bukwild-guest-post-hashtags/

Now that you know what a hashtag is and how it works, what are you going to do with them? Do you have questions? Please share in the comments.

---
Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She's a US Navy veteran who's been married so long she's tenured. https://kayelleallen.com  Join the Romance Lives Forever Reader Group Download four free books and get news about books coming soon. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Author Interview Checklist: What You Need to be Ready @KayelleAllen #MFRWauthor #Author

Imagine your book is coming out and you want to line up interviews for the release. Or you're scheduled to appear on a blog to talk about one of your characters. Perhaps you set up an interview months in advance and now the date is looming. How do you prepare?

Some things will be part of every interview. You can have those on hand and be ready at a moment's notice. Use this checklist and you'll have a marketing or media kit that will support any endeavor.

Fill in the following and keep it handy. You'll be able to copy/paste this into forms online and into interview forms you download.

Author Interview Checklist

This checklist is in three parts; author, book, and marketing.

Author Checklist

Author name

Author bio

Website

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram

Snapchat

Goodreads

Amazon Author Page

Newsletter

Instafreebie

Bookfunnel

Book Checklist

Book title

Series title

Genre

Heat level (Rating)

Blurb (full length)

Mini-blurb (100-150 words)

Tagline (1-3 sentences)

ASIN

ISBN

Publication date

Link to downloadable excerpt or excerpt online

Word count

Page count

Affiliate link (i.e., Amazon associate or Smashwords affiliate link for book)

Shortened link (bit.ly, etc.)

Publisher (name)

Buy Links

Publisher 

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

iBooks

Kobo

Smashwords

Books2Read (universal link) 

Marketing Checklist

Six hashtags (use no more than three per tweet)

Three  tweets (up to 240 characters each)

Three  Facebook posts

Six excerpts (4 short, 2 long)

(if you write spicy romance have both hot excerpts and family friendly ones)

Image Checklist

Cover in three sizes: 200x300, 500x750, 1800x2700 (or close equivalents)

Banners (memes) - good rule of thumb is 3x wider than tall or 3x taller than wide (i.e., 200x600 or reverse) or 2x taller than wide (450x900 or reverse) or square (fits any social media format)

Author bio pic (headshot)

Banner with one or more books together

Pictures of author with book

Other images that help reveal your story

Book video or trailer

This author checklist is far from exhaustive, but it will get you started. I create one for myself as an author and keep book info separately, with one document for each book. Each book helps sell the one released before it. Having this material on hand will ensure you are always ready to share the stories of your heart.

What types of things do you have ready? Are there tried and true items you find valuable when preparing a media kit? Please share them in the comments.

Do The Retweet Day with #MFRWauthor and #MFRWorg

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on Second Monday of the month. You can post your tweet until the second Wednesday of the month.

Retweet Day is on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle

Writing contemporary romance, Tina Gayle enjoys wring stories that has strong women fiction elements as well as touch the heart. Her writing started at a young age when she created storied to help put herself to sleep. Now, she spends her days living her dreams. 
Find her at www.tinagayle.net  or pick up her free read at https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

It's Retweet Day with #MFRWauthor and #MFRWorg

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

Join us at #MFRWauthor and #MFRWorg It's Author Retweet Day

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

Discover New #Romance Novels from an #MFRWauthor #MFRWorg

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

Join us at #MFRWauthor and share Author Retweet Day #MFRWorg

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet . Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ...(three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

Is it ever too early to market a book? @kayelleallen #MFRWauthor

Should you wait until a book is finished and sold before you try to market it? No. Here's why.

When a new movie comes out, do studios wait until the day it opens to begin telling people about it? No. How many months did people see info about the last Star Wars movie before it came out? Star Wars is a brand stamped across everything associated with the series of films.

Likewise, your brand is something you should always be marketing. What is your brand? Your name. Readers should get to know you by name and associate you with good things. You can't get that by remaining in the shadows.

Overnight success takes a long time.

It's never too early to market a book because the best marketing is developing relationships. Look online for people who have interests similar to yours. For example, I love the Hobbit films, especially the Elven King, Thranduil. I discovered a group on Twitter who regularly share fanart and fanfiction around this character. I've gotten to know them and have added my own fanart to the group. One of the group who features fanart on her site showcased my DeviantArt account where I have the art. That means people can also see my other work, including book covers, banners, and other art related to my story world. You might not have artwork that you can share, but do you have research images? Create a board on your Pinterest account to share them.

Did you ever bookmark articles that helped you make your story more realistic? Did you

read any books that helped you write better? What was the thinking behind the plot of your books? Who are your characters? What is the theme of the story? Blog about the above.

I get thousands of views on my site because I blog. I use the topics above plus others. I don't talk writing on my blog very often, because I'm trying to pull in readers as well as authors (who are also readers, btw). Blog posts are fresh content that keep readers interested in you and your story world. I discovered recently that the largest views of my site are on my blog posts. Only about 8% of visitors go to the other pages. You can bet I changed my blogging strategy!

Do you have a blurb and tagline? If not, write them now. You will use them endlessly. Likewise with your bio. Write it in 4 sizes: twitter bio (160 characters) to use on blog posts, 200 words for your official website and author bio, and one that's about 75-80 to share in interviews. You want a short one (30 words or less) that captures your writing style or tag (I use the one below). You want to say who you are, what you write, a fact about yourself as a person, and optionally, a general idea of your whereabouts (I say the Atlanta GA area). This helps people place you, not pinpoint you. Reuse your basic wording in each version.

Here's my short bio:

Kayelle Allen is a best-selling American author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.

Longer bio:

Science Fiction and Fantasy author Kayelle Allen is the winner of the 2010 EPIC award for Science Fiction, and the 2008 Honorable Mention for Science Fiction Fantasy. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr. Kayelle is the founder of Marketing for Romance Writers, a peer-mentoring group, and the owner of The Author's Secret, a support company for writers. She is married, has three grown children, and five grandchildren. She and her husband met and married while they were both on active duty in US Navy.

Marketing isn't saying "buy my book" over and over.

The best marketing is sharing, talking, listening. Pick some social media sites you love and get good at them. I love Twitter and do ok on Facebook, and spend lots of time on Pinterest. Build a following now. When you release your book it will be to people who are following because they already like you.

It's never too early to make friends.
----
This post began as a discussion on Marketing for Romance Writers. I invite you to join us. Was this helpful to you? If so, please leave a note in the comments.

Kayelle Allen Social Media

Homeworld/Blog https://kayelleallen.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author
Join the Romance Lives Forever Reader Group Download three free books and get news about books coming soon. One book downloads immediately and two full-color illustrated books arrive the next day. You can unsubscribe at any time.

At the Mercy of Her Pleasure (Available at Amazon, free on Kindle Unlimited)

Celebrate the New Year with #MFRWauthor and #MFRW_Org Retweet Day

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet . Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or MFRW_Org

Once the tweet has been posted. Click on the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy this link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ...(three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you a count of how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it clean for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Anymore than this and Twitter believes it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

YAHOO...You've Got This Covered...December Quickie #MFRWAuthor

I think we all agree Yahoo isn't the most perfect method of group discussion. It's just the one we're all using. We can complain, rail against the restrictions, search out our inner diva. But if we want to join and post to groups, for now it's Yahoo.

Most complaints have to do with "How can I get OUT of this group?" Generally accompanied by tremendous angst. The answer is simple enough since Yahoo is designed for self control. Scroll down to the bottom of your most current Yahoo message. You'll see, in blue,Visit Your Group. Look over to the right of the screen and you'll see, in even tinier letters:

• Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

Click on that middle word "Unsuscribe" and follow the prompts. Easy-Peasy, isn't it? Took me a while to find it, I was visiting the group and flailing around for a while, until...huh, lookie there!

If you want to stay in a Yahoo Group and reduce the number of daily messages you can "Visit Your Group" and set your message delivery to "digest only." Please, if you do this, and choose to answer an e-mail, be VERY sure to delete that loooong trail of messages following your reply. Your fellow group members will appreciate this and no doubt share good wishes.

I send those Good Wishes in your direction, along with expectations of many wonderful words written in the new year.

Mona Karel is the writing alter ego of Monica Stoner, who can be found running her Salukis around
the dog show ring, or elbows deep in garden soil, and not often enough in front of her computer, searching for that perfect phrase to convey deep emotions. Her recent books include the Stormhaven Love Stories, Romance with a bit of suspense, a bit of humor, and a lot of love.

 She helps out MFRW by moderating posts and answering how to questions. 

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor @MFRW_Org Join the Fun

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet . Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or MFRW_Org

Once the tweet has been posted. Click on the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy this link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on October 12 and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ...(three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you a count of how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it clean for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net

Fandom on Twitter #UsingTwitter @kayelleallen #MFRWauthor

Everyone is a fan of something, and you can probably find it on Twitter.

If you like to read about a specific thing, use a hashtag (#) to search for it. For example, #crossstitch #Hobbit #scifi #recipes. In Twitter, go to the search bar (upper right) and type one of those. Hit return, or click the magnifying glass in the search bar. Tweets from anyone who used the term you searched for will show up. Try it with almost any word (no spaces) and you will see the possibilities.

Thranduil Fan Art (#thranduil #fanart)

Popular searches for writers:

#amwriting

#amediting

#writing

Popular searches for readers:

#romance

#suspense

#scifi

#comedy

Media Fandoms

But there are other fandoms besides books. Let's talk TV for a minute Do you follow any shows? These are all on Twitter.

Vampire Diaries #TVD https://twitter.com/cwtvd

Once Upon A Time #OnceUponATime https://twitter.com/OnceABC

The Flash #TheFlash https://twitter.com/CW_TheFlash

Supergirl #SuperGirl https://twitter.com/TheCWSupergirl

NCIS #NCIS https://twitter.com/NCIS_CBS

Meeting Fans

Pick a show or movie that fits the genre you write, and begin following it. Retweet and share views. You will meet fans of the genre, and end up with followers. The important thing about this is NEVER to use the hashtag to promote your books. Think of fellow fans as online friends who are just as real as friends you'd meet at a coffeeshop or while out shopping. Talk to them and they will talk back. Don't try to sell them anything. Just be a tweep (friend/peep on Twitter).

Fanart

Use the hashtag #fanart and you'll be amazed at how many talented people there are out there. They love the same TV and movies as you (or the same video games, etc.). These people have like interests, and when you appreciate their art, they are more likely to follow you. Want more? Follow this account. DeviantArt https://twitter.com/DeviantArt (they aren't deviant - it just means alternative).

Why is that important? Because they might end up being your fan. But you have to meet them first, so get out there and be a fan!

About the Author

Kayelle Allen https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Follows: #scifi #Thranduil #Loki #fanart #MFRWauthor
image credit: Kimberly80 on DeviantArt

#MFRWAuthor-to-Author: Breaking into Social Media @Jill_Blake_

Social…what?

My kids are growing up in a brave new world dominated by social media.

Me, I’m still trying to figure out what this whole hash-tag thing is about. Until recently I didn’t have a Twitter account. And when I first opened a Facebook account at the urging of friends and family, it was simply to post: ""If you want to communicate with me, pick up the phone or stop by. Because I don't do Facebook.""

But the virtual world just wouldn’t go away.  Friends kept bugging me to check out their Pinterest pages. Or Instagram posts. Email is passé, they said.  IM—what’s that?  You can still text, but what you really need is photos, videos, check-ins.  Right.  Do these people not know about all the criminals out there, monitoring FB and Tumblr and Meetup to know when you’re not at home so they can burglarize your empty house?!?

Alas, I am alone in my paranoia.  And truth to tell, some of my reluctance to join the digital revolution is fueled by the fact that I am an idiot when it comes to computers.  I never quite got over the trauma of having to learn how to program in FORTRAN.  (For those of you who were born into a world of smartphones and swipe-screens, FORTRAN is a long-dead computer language from post-IBM, pre-Apple days.  It’s what Latin is to the Romance languages that grew out of it.  Do they even teach Latin in public school anymore?)

What’s more, I actually like communicating the old fashioned way.  I enjoy talking with people face to face.  And I especially love writing letters long-hand, putting them in an envelope, sticking on a stamp, and dropping them off at the corner post-office.   I grew up reading volumes of correspondence between Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald (sigh!), Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf, Shelby Foote and Walker Percy.  Really, how can Twitter or Facebook compare with that?

In quantum physics, there is the law: “like attracts like.”  This principle applies to relationships, too.

We self-select our social network—both online and in the real world.  As a result, I am marooned on an island of similar-minded Luddites.  In our world, “going viral” still refers to a constellation of symptoms including fever, cough, and congestion.

So, until my kids are old enough to clue me in, I will likely remain a social networking illiterate.  I will not be plugging my books on a bazillion-and-one online sites.  I will continue writing slowly, laboriously, in longhand (at least sometimes). And I hope that the content of what I write will be interesting enough to sell a few books.

How do you use social media in promoting your books?

Contributed by MFRW author Jill Blake.
A native of Philadelphia, Jill Blake now lives in southern California with her husband and three children. By day, she works as a physician in a busy medical practice. By night, she pens steamy romances.
blog ~ http://jillblake.blogspot.com/
twitter ~ https://twitter.com/Jill_Blake_
Google+ ~ https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JillBlake/posts
FB ~ https://www.facebook.com/jill.blake.3386
Amazon ~ http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00B1ZIHKS
Goodreads ~ https://goodreads.com/author/show/6899971.Jill_Blake

Jill Blake's newest release is Sweet Indulgence (The Silicon Beach Trilogy, Book 2).
BUY LINK - Free on Kindle Unlimited!
Becca Markham spent the last six years trying to please everyone else. Now it’s her turn. She ditches her cheating boyfriend, quits her high-stress job as a software engineer, and decides to transform her life-long love of baking from a part-time hobby into a full-time business.

Leo Kogan spent years scrambling to escape a life of poverty. Now a successful surgeon, he needs just one thing to complete his American dream: the perfect woman. But making the leap from casual friends to lovers proves harder than he expects.

Despite a sizzling attraction, Becca and Leo don’t have much in common. Especially when it comes to love and money. She’s looking for sex without strings; he wants a partner for life. She stakes her future on a risky new business; he’s obsessed with financial security.

A #Romance #RetweetParty with #MFRWAuthor

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Once the tweet has been posted. Click on the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy this link and put it in the comment section of this post.


Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ...(three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you a count of how many people retweeted your post.


Don't forget

On March 9, click on each link and share everyone's post on twitter. Also, make sure to have #MFRWauthor in the tweet.


Here's to a great day of retweets,


Tina Gayle

A Valentines' #RetweetParty with #MFRWAuthor #Romance

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Once the tweet has been posted. Click on the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy this link and put it in the comment section of this post.


Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ...(three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you a count of how many people retweeted your post.


Don't forget




On Feb 10, click on each link and share everyone's post on twitter. Also, make sure to have #MFRWauthor in the tweet.


Here's to a great day of retweets,


Tina Gayle

Why #Authors Use Hashtags in Blog Titles #MFRWauthor @kayelleallen #bookmarketing

A Romance for Christmas 

Have you noticed on social media that many authors use words with the # symbol in them? Wondered why? Here's the reason.

What Are Hashtags

Hashtags are words which denote topics of interest. By placing the symbol # in front of a word, it becomes a tiny search program on Twitter (or other sites using the system).

Hashtags are important because many people on Twitter only use hashtags. They logon, bring up their saved hashtags, and follow, like, and respond on those. I follow #Thranduil #Hobbit #Loki #TheFlash #Arrow #AgentsofSHIELD #RLFblog #MFRWauthor -- and don't see much else. I just added #StarWars though. I'll be all over that. So if you tweet something with no hashtag, I'm unlikely to see it.

Are hashtags necessary in a blog title? No. However, when people share your title on Twitter or Facebook, the hashtag will become part of the message.

If the blog is linked to Triberr, it can be vital. Most of the posts going out do not have them, and it means they are going to be seen by a limited number of people. Namely, only those who use Twitter by actually reading posts of certain people, or if they happen to catch your post as it zooms by in the feed. By the time 20 tweets load, another 60 are waiting. When you refresh, the feed can jump right past them. I don't bother with the feed. I might glimpse it now and then, but I spend serious time on the hashtags. They are what interest me. I can save hashtags in my search menu and bring them up at will.

On Tuesday nights, I watch Flash, Agents of SHIELD, Limitless. It's three hours of glorious fun for a geek like me. On Mondays I watch Supergirl. Wednesday s I see Arrow, and Thursday it's Big Bang Theory. During those shows, I'm on Twitter, RTing and liking tweets with the hashtags of my fave shows. I've gained followers that way, but I do it because I love the shows and enjoy the interaction during the program. Commercials are when everyone posts, so it's a flurry of fun.

There's no way to keep up with all that unless you use hashtags. Give it serious thought.

Mentioning Guests

Do you host guest authors on your blog? If so, why not use their twitter name instead of or in addition to their name? When your post is shared on Twitter, they will get mentions and that will expand their reach. I do that on Romance Lives Forever blog, and it gets guests about 50-75 mentions per visit for each person. That's a huge reach. I also do it on my own blog, using hashtags that target my reading audience. For me, that's often #scifi.

If you have tips for making your titles work well, please share it in the comments.

---

Kayelle Allen is a bestselling, award-winning author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.

Homeworld https://kayelleallen.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author
Pinterest https://pinterest.com/kayelleallen/
G+ https://plus.google.com/+KayelleAllen/

Author-to-Author: Using Goodreads @HelenaFairfax #MFRWauthor

How to use Goodreads as an Author
Earlier this year Harper Collins and Harlequin held an online Romance Festival (http://romance-festival.com/) in the UK. One of the topics discussed was how to make better use of Goodreads as an author. I already have a Goodreads author page  - CLICK HERE. Feel free to friend or follow me. I list all my books read. I have over a hundred reviews of my books with an average rating of 4.5, which “isn’t too shabby,” as my nephew would say. I also love adding and rating books I’ve read myself, too, and checking out other listings and reviews. Apart from that, though, I don’t connect with people as I should, and I’m sure I could make better use of Goodreads.

During the Romance Festival, Cynthia Shannon, marketing co-ordinator at Goodreads, answered questions live in this post on Facebook - CLICK HERE, and Goodreads librarian, Julie Whitely wrote an excellent post on Understanding Goodreads for the Romance Festival blog.

What I learned from both was invaluable, and I’m determined to start using Goodreads much more productively.

Here are the main facts/tips I came away with:
• Goodreads is used by an incredible 25 million readers. That’s a phenomenal audience of people who love books, who are looking for great books to read, and who are discussing and debating new releases.
• Goodreads has had a bad press in some quarters for allowing trolling and author bullying.  In my limited experience so far, though, people have reached out to me and been willing to make friends and discuss books. Of course there are the exceptions, unfortunately, but as Julie Whitely points out, “Any site that encourages readers to read more and get involved can’t be all bad.”
• Goodreads is a reader site – it’s not there for author promo. But if I want to promote my own book, how do I go about it? One suggestion was to choose a few reader groups, join them, and more or less promote by stealth. I feel quite uncomfortable doing this! I’d sooner just join reader groups and be me – a reader who writes romance novels. So if anyone reading this post has any suggestions for groups I’d enjoy, I’d love to hear from you!
• If you do join a group, read the guidelines about promotion. Julie Whitely says “Nearly every single genre specific or discussion group has a folder for book promotions. Find that folder and use it to tell readers about a sale, a promotion, a new release or whatever else you want to share. Post in that folder only.” I hadn’t realised this about the folders. I’ll check this one out, as I feel more comfortable doing this than promoting in front of an actual group. But do people actually read the entries in the folders? I suppose it’s worth a try!
• You can link your Facebook author page to Goodreads. I already have a Goodreads tab on my FB page. Whether anyone has ever actually clicked through from the tab to go to Goodreads is another question. You can also add a Goodreads widget to your FB page, but I’ve struggled to understand how to do this. Is it worth the effort of working it out, I wonder?
• You can also add Goodreads author widgets to your blog.
• You can add your blog feed to your Goodreads author page
• You can add an “Ask the Author” box to your Goodreads author page, which is there to invite readers to ask you any questions they like. I have done this a while ago. So far, no one has asked me anything. Please go to my Goodreads page and ask me a question! :) Even what did I have for tea. Just so I can know it was all worthwhile!
• There’s also a section called Listopia, which enables you or your fans either to create or add one of your books to a list. That doesn’t mean add your book to a list that says “Best books of the 21st century” – no one likes a braggart – but a list that tells the plain facts is OK.

For example a long while ago I added my novel The Silk Romance to a list of romances set in France/ Belgium/ Luxembourg. Since then – other readers have voted for it! It’s now 1st out of 239 books. I only realised this when I went to check the list right now. So exciting to see it top of the list! But has anyone bought my book because of it, though? This is what I don’t know. But again, it can’t hurt, and it doesn’t require a lot of effort to add your own book to a list.

• The most important tip of all I learned was the importance to authors of listing your book in the giveaway program. LEARN HOW HERE.  Authors who host a giveaway of their books can expect to receive on average over 800 readers entering their giveaway.
So from the Festival I’ve picked up quite a few tips – some I knew already, some were news to me. I’ve also learned just how much reach Goodreads has.

Do you use Goodreads as an author? As a reader? If so, which aspects do you use and like? Is there anything you don’t like about it? What other advice would you give?

If you have any questions or comments at all, I’d love to hear from you!
_____________________________________
Contributed by MFRW Author Helena Fairfax
Helena was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in Yorkshire, in the north of England. After many years working in factories and dark, satanic mills, Helena has become a full-time writer of contemporary romance. Her first novel, The Silk Romance, was a contender for the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme Award and a runner-up in the Global Ebook Awards 2014. A Way from Heart to Heart is her latest release.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelenaFairfax
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelenaFairfax
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/helenafairfax/
Blog: www.helenafairfax.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7082986.Helena_Fairfax

Helena's newest book is A Way from Heart to Heart, a Young Adult Romance, with Accent Press. A knock at the door shatters Kate Hemingway’s life when she’s informed of her husband Stuart’s death in Afghanistan. She struggles to care for their young son George with only Stuart’s aloof best friend Paul as emotional support.

Piece by fragile piece, she tries to rebuild her life, realising Paul and her son have formed an unlikely bond. When Paul agrees to accompany Kate and a group of disadvantaged teenagers on a trip to the Yorkshire moors, he finally reveals something he’s kept secret for years. Kate’s own scarred heart begins to open up … but can she risk her son’s happiness as well as her own?

BUY LINK

What Social Media Accounts Do New #Authors Need? #MFRWauthor @kayelleallen

Every author needs social media. In 2012, Digital Book Word posted an article showing the potential of social media to sell books. For a great infographic on which site sells the most, click here (Shopify article and image by Mark MacDonald).

MFRW 

Having been published for many years, and after hosting hundreds of authors on my Romance Lives Forever blog, I can offer some good advice on what sorts of social media accounts a new author needs. I included checklists for other things that you'll find handy.

Accounts Checklist

What you need will be different from what other authors need. Adjust and fine tune your account checklist until it fits your current books. Keep in mind your needs may change with each book. Why? Because your core audience may change, depending on the genre you write, and changes in the industry.

These are basic accounts you will need as an author. The top are listed by name:

Facebook profile / author page

Twitter

Pinterest

Goodreads

Google+ (vital -- authors with a Google account rank higher in searches)

Amazon Author Page

Sign up for other social media as needed. I recommend you claim your name on each, even if you don't use the accounts -- you might want to use them later.

Memberships and Business Accounts

Marketing for Romance Writers

Indie Romance Ink

PayPal

Bit.ly

Newsletter (MailChimp, iContact, Constant Contact, etc.)

Email list

Items to create for each book

Sample Chapters

Email signature

Website Pages or Info

Blog

Free Reads

Media Kit

Tarthian Empire
Companion 

News / Press Releases

Optional items on a per-book basis

Podcast

Audio clips

Book trailers

Whatever programs, software, and applications you use, keep track of the names and URLs. Record your passwords. As you grow in your profession as an author, you will be in and out of these for years to come. Trust me, it pays to be organized.

---

Kayelle Allen, MFRW Founder
Author of the Tarthian Empire Companion
A World-Building Bible and Guide to Writing a Science Fiction Series
Amazon http://bit.ly/companion-az  Smashwords http://bit.ly/companion-sm
Website http://kayelleallen.mobi Blog http://kayelleallen.com/blog
Twitter http://twitter.com/kayelleallen  Facebook http://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author
Google+ https://plus.google.com/+KayelleAllen/

How NOT to Promote #MFRWAuthor

I remember, from back when I watched television, a cable show named "What Not To Wear." The British version featured two snarkily delightful women. The American version gave us Clinton and Stacy, who had their own version of snarky, with a softer tone. The idea was the hosts would completely revamp the victim's  guest's wardrobe, to give said guest a more fashionably correct look. I sometimes felt they were attempting to reduce individuality in their guests but that's a matter for another time. Like watching a train wreck I found myself clicking on that show no matter when it aired.
Along the same lines I've observed author self promotions for several years and more than once I've wanted to force encourage those authors to take a clear look at how they were presenting themselves

BUY  MY BOOK

LOOK WHAT I DID

Over and over and over. If they belonged to multiple Facebook groups I saw their not so clever promotional announcement numerous times in the same day. And after a while I ceased actually seeing it, I simply deleted as soon as it showed up.
Slightly more subtle authors would insert links to their own books in replies to another writer's blog,whether relevant or not.
All of this adds up to the same feeling I got from the kid who sat behind me in the school auditorium and insisted on kicking the back of my chair. Distracting me from his actual message, which was probably somewhere along the lines of "Hi, I'd like to get to know you better." Another potential romance lost in the dust of miscommunication.

To avoid this, what do we NOT want to do?
Don't shove your book into every conversation.
Don't put your notices on automatic share across the virtual universe.
Don't self promote where it's not allowed.
Don't put your links into someone else's blogs or discussions unless asked.

What SHOULD we do?
Funny you should ask.
If you're not already an MFRW member, join and take advantage of the many offers to help you promote your book.
Become a part of Triberr so you can help promote others while they help promote you.
Invite other authors onto your blog (you do have an active blog, right?) so you can promote their books.
Have an active blog. Write from your heart and your convictions, whatever those might be.
Respond to other blogs that interest you with comments relevant to that blog. If it's a blog hop, all the better then you can get name recognition multiple times.
Join blog hops, write clever blogs relevant to the hop theme. Here you can mention your book, without  making it the entire blog.
Write a good book. Then write another good book. Keep that promise to your readers that they will find happiness in your words. 

Notice, none of these suggestions have you pushing your book? Instead you are gaining name recognition for yourself. You are NOT one book, you are an author of many wonderful books.

Seek, Teach, Share, Learn, SUCCEED

thoughts shared from  Mona Karel

Blog Hop Coordinator

In addition to occasional curmudgeonly outbursts, Mona writes Romance both normal and paranormal as a way to share her daydreams with the rest of the world. When not writing she wraps her world around her Salukis, her home in the New Mexico high desert, and photographing the quirky, the unusual, and the just plain gorgeous. 

#MFRWorg Newbie's World: Does Social Media Help to Sell Books?

And by work, I mean, does it actually sell books?

There are many different theories out there about what actually sells books in terms of social media, but as far as I can determine, there is no direct correlation between numbers of social media followers and book sales.  For instance, even if you spent time to amass 20,000 Twitter followers, how many of those will actually buy your book? Perhaps 1%?

We tend to look at the followings of best-selling authors and think "wow, they have a lot of followers, they must sell a lot of books that way." But really, when do we usually follow other authors? After we have already read (and liked) their books.

There are always exceptions, of course, but pinning our energy (and hopes) onto gaining a large following will probably not get us where we want to be.

There are few who will  stand up and say:  don’t waste your time on social media. And far be it from me, either, to say that it is a waste of time. Social media is a good way to make ourselves available to our fans, to communicate with other authors, and to find like-minded individuals. As a social tool, it is invaluable.

But as a book marketing tool, we would be better off applying ourselves to the tried and true methods of marketing.

Find Your Mavens:

Find influencers to promote your work for you. If you’ve ever read the Tipping Point, or heard about how Stephen King’s tweets sent asldjf onto the best-seller lists, then you know what I mean. Use (in the nicest possible meaning of the word) other people’s networks to promote your work.

How to do it? Well, by being social, of course. The first approach is always email, of course, and should consist of the following:

1.      A reason you are writing – what does this person mean in your world – do they write the same genre, share an affinity for hat-wearing cats or gnomes, let them know whatever it is that connects you.

2.      Brief (incredibly brief) intro of you and your work

3.      Call to Action (what would you like the influencer to do? Review? Tweet about the work?)

If you don’t get anywhere with email, though, try social media. Reach out via Twitter or Facebook and be relevant.

Making your book(s) as awesome as possible:

Of course, the other part of marketing is having a product that people really, really want. Your book, in all of its facets, has to be as awesome as possible (writing, cover, and editing.)

Another thing to consider here is the power of a series, and the power of free. Putting out a series in rapid succession, including a free novella, can be a great way to garner sales.

What do you think? What ways have you used social media to garner sales (or not)? What do you think has helped you to sell the most books?

Erin writes sensuous paranormal romances set in exotic locales. Her latest book is a sexy minotaur shifter story set in Crete.  A regular blogger for Marketing for Romance Writers as well as Heroes and Heartbreakers, Erin lives in Atlanta with her two little paranormal beings and one unruly husband.

Erin also now offers editing services, including help with bios and queries, on her website.  She's giving away a critique of a first chapter with a subscription to her newsletter!