Purple Prose:
Facebook author pages

As mentioned last week, I’m currently taking an advanced social media workshop. A recent assignment had me contemplating my author brand. Our instructor talked about company logos, but I’m not Apple or McDonalds. I didn’t need a logo. What I did need was an image that was uniform across my social media platforms and was a reflection of what I write.

I write steamy New Adult contemporary romances about emotionally damaged characters, and wanted to reflect that in my image. To create the picture, I took my husband’s jeans and ripped the petals off a pink tulip. Originally, I was going to use red roses, but the ones in the store looked like some sort of plague had attacked them. Nothing says I love you than wilted, blacken roses. But that was okay. The tulip petals ended up working better than I imagined. I tweaked the picture in Photoshop Elements and added the “glowing” effect to the petals. Now I had the right look for my brand. The jeans and petals are symbolic for the stories I write. Did I mention I love symbolism?

I decided to take things one step further. I used a petal from the banner to design the social media buttons for my blog.

*click here if you would like to ‘Like’ my author page. Chocolate kisses if you do.*

So as you can see, it’s not difficult to create the right image to reflect your author brand. If you’re not a photographer, that shouldn’t stop you. You can hire someone, or you can find the right stock photo on sites like Shutterstock. Some pictures are free, but even if you end up paying for a photo, they aren’t expensive. And if you hire someone, you’ll still have to pay for the stock photos they use.

Have you given any thought to your author brand and the look you want to convey?

PS. I now have a new cover reveal policy.

It doesn’t matter if your books are traditionally published or self-published (or both), you’re the main force responsible for marketing them. One of the best forms of marketing available is social media. But with so many different ones available, how do we know which will benefit us the most when promoting our books, and how do use them for maximum benefit?

In her book Social Media Just for Writers, Frances Caballo focuses on several popular social media sites*. She explains how each one works and the ins and outs of them, provides step-by-step instructions for setting them up (including screen shots so you know what she’s talking about), and shares tips for promoting your books through the individual sites. Her advice is sound and I liked that she’s against spamming. She warns you when certain activities are considered spamming. Some of this is subjective. There are a few things that she suggested that I prefer authors don’t do. For example, I’m tired of the countless number of Facebook or Goodreads event invites that land in my inbox. Most are deleted unread.

One thing I appreciated with this book is the easy to follow format. This is perfect if you are not technically inclined. Also, Frances includes lists of apps for each of the social media sites and explains the pros and cons of them. Until Social Media Just for Writers, I didn’t realize there were so many of them. For those of you who blog, there is a list of resources you can use for locating royalty free photos. This is very important if you don’t want to end up being sued by the owner of copyrighted material.

In addition to the chapters on social media, there is a chapter on offline promotion with some helpful suggestions. A glossary has also been included to make your life easier when figuring out the different terms associated with the different social media sites.

Overall, I loved this book and am thankful I had the opportunity to review it. I recommend it to everyone who is a writer, no matter where they are in the publication process. The sooner you get started being seen the better.

Have you read any social media how-to books created for writers? What forms of social networking do you enjoying using?

I’d like to thank Frances Caballo for sending me a copy of Social Media Just for Writers: The Best Online Marketing Tips for Selling Your Books for an unbiased review.

*The following are covered in the book: Facebook, Facebook author pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Picasso and Pinterest, and blogs. Unfortunately she doesn’t cover Tumblr, which is now popular with teens.

GIVEAWAY: If you are interested in winning a copy of the book and live in the USA, please let me know in the comments. And make sure you include your email address if it isn’t attached to your blog account.