Posts Tagged With: social media

PNWA: Connections and Reflections

Posted on July 31, 2016 by Kate Policani

I have been honored this weekend to participate in the PNWA Writer’s Conference, and let me tell you, it is an amazing experience! Never in my life have I attended an event where everyone there has something amazing in common with me, and where I can walk up to a total stranger and know exactly what to say with a guaranteed enthusiastic response. “Oh, I see by your nametag that you write Literary Fiction. What are you writing now? Are you pitching?” (If you don’t know about literary conferences, we pitch our books to agents, not baseballs.)

Hi to all my amazing new PNWA friends, and sorry/not sorry that I am here on the couch instead of driving down to SeaTac again to join you for the last day. I just exhausted myself and had to sleep in and sit at home on my couch instead of those chairs from hell. (Well, I guess they are not actually from hell unless you sit on them for almost 16 hours for multiple days.)

One important thing, though: I was astonished how many of my new writer friends had zero social media presence! As a self-published author, that seems like an impossible thing. But they don’t and it gave me an idea to resurrect my Author Services pages with some new options:

Twitter setup

Facebook setup for authors who “Don’t do Facebook” (This will offer and option with NO Facebook presence except related to books.)

WordPress blog setup

WordPress social media connection activation

BlogSpot social media connection activation

and more!

I will start on my page in Author Services after I have had my coffee with pricing and details. If I met you at PNWA I would love to trade services with you instead of charging you money!

Until my information is up, if you just can’t wait for my help, email me at katepolicani (at) gmail.com.

Cheers!

Categories: My Books, Resources | Tags: conference, Friends, networking, pitch, PNWA, resources, social media, writers | 3 Comments

More Social Media for Bloggers

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Kate Policani

On my latest foray into blogging success, I found some more social media sites that bloggers can use to promote their blog. I know. Do I really need more of this? Well I’m trying it, since promoting my blog is also promoting my books.

Bloggers.com: This seems like Facebook for your blog page. You discover and follow others on the site based on their blog. I’m not sure of the value of it yet. I have a lot of “followers” simply by signing up but they don’t seem to have anything in common with what I blog about. I think the idea is to browse for blogs through their site and connect that way. Three blog views have come my way through Bloggers in the past month.

StumbleUpon: Take note of what you like on the web. That’s what this is. It’s a like and share generator for websites. It’s simple and elegant. I haven’t seen any views yet since I started it. You can plug it in to your WordPress site.

Tumblr: Tumblr is similar to Stumble Upon except that you can syndicate your own blog through it. It has lots more features, too, none of which I have used yet. You can add pictures and other content to your existing posts too. Are you starting to see a pattern of replicating work. Yep, me too. You can also plug Tumblr into your WordPress site.

Digg: They should call it “Ditto”. Digg is all about reading blogs and letting everyone know you read them. You can mark blogs down on your “reading list”. I need a nap.

Reddit: Reddit looks like a site made in the 1990’s and never upgraded for style. You can’t link to your own blog, but you can share your own posts. Manually. It’s supposed to plug into WordPress, but I haven’t seen any indication it works unless someone hits the “Reddit” button about one of your posts. You can also do a “search”.

Here is blogger John Rampton’s suggestion on being a top blogger: http://www.johnchow.com/how-to-become-a-top-blogger-in-social-media/

If anyone has any awesome tips on these or any other social media sites, I’d love to hear them.

No, I don’t know this girl. It’s just a fun pic.

Categories: Publicity | Tags: Author, blogging, digg, information, publicity, reddit, social media, stumbleupon, tumblr | 2 Comments

Library Thing

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Kate Policani

Library Thing has been mentioned in my web readings here and there, but didn’t really take the time to look. Since an author of a book I reviewed requested I put my review up there, I signed up. Here is my page: http://www.librarything.com/author/policanikate

Library Thing is a lot like Goodreads, but slightly less flashy with more emphasis on information. There is a lot more room for detailed information too. For example, if you write with multiple pen names, this would be a great place to clarify that. There is a forum and they have groups just like Goodreads, but no alerts or mail (that I could see).

It was pretty easy and quick to sign up as an author and it was automatically connected to all the information I input before the approval. There is no block, that I could see, from anybody out there inputting information about any author or book. This was interesting and a little scary. Aside from the author page, they have an Author Chat area and an Early Reviewer section to review books before they are available to the public.

I feel more and more like I am just repeating information on all these sites, but I figure that if I get another reader, it was worth it. Overall, I am focusing on the blogging and Goodreads because there is no great way to use them all to their fullest unless I man the sites full time and stop writing. Since I signed up because of the writing, that would be nuts. And since I don’t want my kids turning feral (and mine would), I won’t be doing anything else full time anytime soon.

Categories: Resources | Tags: Author, books, ebooks, library thing, reading, review, social media, Writing | 2 Comments

Tag Shralping

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Kate Policani

I am aware that it is obvious that my surfing terms are completely lame and found on Google. Don’t care!

Here is what I found today, and it is excellent!

http://indiebookwriters.com/2011/11/27/7-secrets-of-successful-self-published-authors-5th-installment-know-the-power-of-social-media/ A good article on social media and self-publishing.

http://jwmanus.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/new-issue-of-the-carnival-of-the-indies-is-out/ had an interesting article on the Carnival of the Indies which is really intriguing. His links lead you to http://www.thebookdesigner.com/ who is all about greasing the Slip-N-Slide of independent publishing so you don’t get a friction burn.

http://precariousyates.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/editing-for-the-self-published-author/ More good editing advice!

http://staceywallacebenefiel.com/2011/11/26/reviews-and-the-self-published-author/ Excellent advice about book reviews and how not to get them. You should read this one.

http://glencstrathy.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/why-online-bookstores-make-life-easier-and-harder-for-the-99-of-authors/ Thought-provoking and worth the read, but a little depressing.

http://gemstatewriters.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/can-anyone-be-published-by-delle-jacobs/ a great article from a smash-hit indie author!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my post for the Whirlwind Tour! Also, today and tomorrow you can still get my ebook free! You’re welcome!

Categories: Tag Surfing | Tags: Author, carnival of the indies, gemstatewriters, glencstrathy, indiebookwriters, jwmanus, precariousyates, Self-Publish, social media, staceywallacebenfiel | Leave a comment

Tag Surfing! Posts I liked:

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Kate Policani

I use the Tag surfer to connect with other bloggers on WordPress, and it works pretty well!

I liked:

this author interview http://andrewbutterworth.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/self-published-author-interview-simon-fox/ Simon did a good interview and had some good stuff to say about being an Author .
This short blog about including the sense of smell in writing setting descriptions http://3by3writingmethod.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/dont-forget-to-smell-the-noses/
This blog post from an author who I found once in a different blog post from another author http://dlmorrese.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/my-self-publishing-adventure-episode-three-building-a-platform/

I read lots of others and commented too, but these have new information I haven’t posted and fit what I am discussing in my blog: writing and self-publishing.