As a writer, I blog, I tweet, and I post on Facebook regularly. I have 200 followers on Twitter, but that’s more about politics right now. I have 450 followers on WordPress for my writing blog. I have 68 followers on my Roxanna Haley FB page and 14 on my D.L. Hungerford page. That page I recently had to shut down the original one because Facebook was making changes to their scheduling codes without telling anyone. I started this one but not many people caught that I was switching pages. I think I can merge them now, so I will see if that brings my numbers up.
The bottom line here, is that when I go to pitch my story to an editor or publisher or agent, I may be asked if I have a fan base on social media. I will proudly say that I have about 600 over several platforms. Why is this important? Because the publisher or whoever wants to know about how many copies of my book they can expect to sell right away. And that makes me more likely to be picked up by a traditional publisher.
You may be asking yourself how I know this. I may have mentioned it in a past post, but someone I talk to on line had interest from a publisher on her book. When they found out she had no social media presence at all, they rejected the book. Sure, that seems like something the publisher should have made clear on their submission guidelines and also something they can work on with the author.
To see how other authors are handling this requirement, go to Amazon and find a book similar to yours. Search by the category to get suggestions. I picked Race Against Time by Sharon Sala. Romantic Suspense is my category. Now I click on the Follow Author button, then click on her name to get more details about Ms. Sala.
What do you know, she’s a mature author just like me! And a long time member of RWA. She has blogs and a Facebook page. She is friends there with people in my life. I should have been following her a long time ago. On her About Page on FB she has a link to a web page but it’s still under construction. She’s been a published author since 1991, so the social media drive didn’t happen until she already had a fan base.
Then I looked for Regency Romance Authors, and picked the book, In Bed with the Earl (A Lost Lords of London series, Book 1) by Christi Caldwell. Same process, click on her name, follow, and then go to her Amazon Author page. She has a link to a newsletter subscription site, but it’s not working at the moment. I searched Facebook and found her Author Page and her Street Team page, Chirsti’s Corner. Perfectly done, and I am encouraged by seeing the names of people I actually know as friends of hers.
The best thing you can do as a writer who wants to be traditionally published some day is to have a Twitter account (You need that for PitchMad anyway), a Facebook Author Page that will be separate from your personal page, and if you have the inclination to chatter away about various writing subjects, start a blog. Then be sure to share a sneak peek of your work in progress now and then, put up pictures of the models or actors who inspired your characters physically, and share workshops or other writerly adventures. RWA meetings, Book Festivals, and Library authors signings.
Have fun and don’t be afraid of the people. They want to love you and your writing. Thanks for reading, I’ll be back on Sunday.
Romance-ology 