Centipede Dragon
  • About
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Crafts
  • Where to buy
  • Contact
  • Medical art

Some nuts and bolts about social media

8/18/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
​I did want to get back to marketing and selling your self-published book. The last post pertaining to these topics was the categorization of your book within the market so that people can find your book ("Categories, part 2," Feb. 26, 2017). A final word is: remember that you can change these from time to time, and then take note if sales numbers are impacted immediately after changing the categories. It's probably best to do this for a few cycles just to see if there is a pattern.
 
With all the different social media outlets available to us, the problem lies in how much time it takes to sustain these outlets. ALL of them require you to be a consistent presence on the platform. Now, for some outlets like a 140-character limit for twitter or image posting on Instagram, this might be easier. But if you decide to blog, for example, be prepared for an investment of time.
 
I had a friend who did social media for her livelihood, and she said if you are not consistent with your postings, you may as well not do them at all. She also said do as many as you are likely to sustain. So if you can do 4 outlets, keep to that. Some outlets allow you to link up to others, as you'll see in my diagram, where my Mailchimp campaigns get automatically posted to my twitter feed and FB personal page, which I then share with my Centipede Dragon FB page.
 
I haven’t even begun to touch on the traditional ways to advertise and market, like talking to local libraries to carry your book and businesses for presentations, and newspapers to review your books. But those are avenues definitely worth exploring as you may be able to build community relationships that become key avenues of reaching an audience.
 
This is a very overwhelming part of the book business, and the only thing I can say (since I haven’t figured it out myself), is that you have to follow through with the goal/s you’ve set. For me, blogging seemed to be a way to "talk" to readers, to share more in depth the hurdles I have had to overcome, and those that have knocked me down. But it also has required a tremendous effort to think about how to tell this complex experience in a way that is not only interesting, but maybe even helpful to you in your own journeys.

Let me know if it's working, or not working, for you! Do I need to make my posts shorter? Do I sound too authoritative? I'd love the feedback!
0 Comments

    Alice Y. Chen

    is the author of Centipede Dragon A Benevolent Creature, the first of a series of children's picture books for ages 3-7 (and up).

    Archives

    December 2020
    October 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    November 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.