Purple Prose:
social media

©Stina Lindenblatt

Quiz time. Who knows what SEO means? Ten points if you said Search Engine Optimization. Hundred points if you know what the heck that means.

I’ve heard the term bounced around quite a few times, but mostly by social media experts. All the writers I know just shrug their shoulders, having no clue what it is. It’s important, that’s all I know. The higher you’re ranked by some obscure and highly secretive mathematical equation, the better. If you google your name and it shows up on the first page, you’re doing great. If you google your name and it shows up on page twenty, then you’ve got some work to do.

Last week I pointed out a benefit of blogging. Frequent blogging helps your SEO ranking. Blogging once a month doesn’t. Another thing I discovered last week in my social media workshop has to do with links in your posts. You see, if you have dysfunctional links, it hurts your ranking. The more bad links there are, the worse your ranking. I checked my blog using Broken Link Checkand discovered I had well over 100 broken links. It didn’t take long to discover most of them were from my Cool Links Friday posts. They used to work but not anymore.

Because it would have taken more hours than I care to think about to fix the problem, I deleted all my Cool Links posts. I then went back and cleaned up as many of the remaining posts as possible that had broken links.

This took me over two hours, but at least I’ve made the SEO gods happier. In fact they were so happy, when I entered ‘New Adult damaged characters’, my blog is on the first page, right above the reviews for some of my favorite NA novels. Exactly where I want to be, especially when my books are released.

Have you done anything to increase your SEO ranking? Or is this the first time you’ve heard the term?

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.

©Stina Lindenblatt

I’m currently taking an online social media workshop through the YARWA. So far it’s been interesting. Last week we came up with keywords that describe us and what we write. We then used Google Adwords to determine the level of competition (low, medium, high) that uses the same word or phrase. I have no idea why we’re doing this. The relevance will be revealed this week (I hope).

While I was goofing around (aka procrastinating from what I was supposed to be doing), I searched for ‘Stina New Adult.’ The result showed my blog, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest accounts, and several guest posts I’ve done. That wasn’t a surprise. The surprise came when I scrolled down to the bottom of the second page. I’m not the only Stina who writes YA and NA. That’s right. There are two of us, but the other Stina lives in the US. I live in Canada. She writes paranormal stories. I write contemporary romances.

This discovery leads to an important point. Why is she buried on page two and I take up the majority of the first two pages (and beyond)? The reason is because I’m more active with social networking, or more specifically, because I blog. She showed up because her book is on Goodreads.

As an author, you want to be easily found if someone googles your name. If they can’t remember your full name, will they still be able to find you, or will you be buried somewhere where they are less likely to see you? While looking for you, they might discover another author and buy her book instead.

What are you doing to make sure your name appears at the top of the list if someone googles it?

Last month, Natalie Aguirre (Literary Rambles) interviewed Chuck Sambuchino about his new book, Create Your Writer Platform. Natalie was excited about the book, so I had to check it out.

Unlike other promotion-based books I’ve reviewed, this book doesn’t focus solely on social media. Chuck talks about what platform is and why it’s necessary. He shares twelve fundamental principles of platform (the book is worth it for this chapter alone), and he discusses platform for fiction and memoirs. Topics also include choosing the platform avenues that will work for you, as well as information on the use of websites, blogs, newsletters, non-fiction articles, public speaking, and social media. At the end of the book is a section with author case studies that showcase what several authors did to make the most of their platforms.

Create Your Writer Platform is one of those books you don’t have to worry about being out of date before you finish reading it, because Facebook decided to add another feature, or because there’s a new social media site that’s suddenly become popular. And it’s one of those books you’ll want to review again and again.

* * *

If you’re interested in learning more about crafting YOUR social media strategy, the YARWA (YA chapter of the Romance Writers of America) is offering a month long workshop during April. This workshop is for both the newbie and individuals experienced with social media. For more information, please check out their website. You don’t have to be a member of the YARWA or RWA to register.

Have you given much thought to your writer platform?

I’ll see you in April, when I return to blogging after spring break. XOX

©Stina Lindenblatt

As writers, we know the benefits of social networking. It enables you to build a platform and develop relationships that will help you when you publish your book(s). Unfortunately, not everyone understands the purpose of social networking. They see it only as a way to (shamelessly) promote their books or service. They miss the meaning of SOCIAL.

I recently discovered that there’s a software that tells people with Twitter accounts when people aren’t following them back. And what do they do if you don’t immediately follow them back? They dump you faster than you can say, “Twitter.” Are we heartbroken? Nope, because these people obviously didn’t care about us to begin with. They only followed us to up their follower numbers. They are users. And notice how ‘user’ rhymes with ‘loser.’ Need I say more?

Now when someone follows me, I wait two weeks before checking out their profile. If it still says, “Follows You,” I follow the individual back. If it doesn’t, I move on.

What are some of the more annoying abuses of social networking that you’ve seen? What strategies have you used to counter poor social networking etiquette?

For many writers, once we’ve made the decision to pursue a writing career, we become so focused on finishing our book, we often don’t think about what comes afterwards. And with more options available to us than a few years ago, it’s important that we look at the big picture, no matter where we are in the pursuit of publication.

How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! By L. Diane Wolfe is a thorough guide that will benefit writers, no matter where they are in the writing process. It covers everything you could possibility want to know about writing and beyond. In total, there are eighty-four chapters, each ranging between two to three pages. Topics cover all aspects of traditional and self publishing, social networking, marketing, and promotion. And with each topic, the book explains everything you need to know so that you can make the choices that are right for you and your project.

Chapters include:

• Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishing

• Going the Traditional Route

• Business Setup (i.e. what you need to know if you’re self publishing)

• Developing a Website

• The Media

• Reviewers

• Where to Send Review Copies

• What to Expect From Reviews

• Newsletters

Because each chapter is short, you won’t find the level of information that you might find in a book or online workshop focused on that specific topic (for example, writing newsletters). But it is a great resource for figuring out what you need to do to succeed. The book is also filled with links you can click on for additional information on various topics. This makes the book invaluable, regardless of which publishing route you choose.

Have you thought much about promotion, regardless of where you are on the publishing path? (and that includes those of you writing the first draft of your first novel).

Note: I’d like to thank L.Diane Wolfe’s publisher for providing me a copy of the book for the review.

Available February 5, 2012
Publishing/Marketing, 214 pages
$14.95 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-9827139-5-2
$4.99 Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-9-0
Available in all Ebook formats

Barnes and Noble -
Amazon -
Amazon Kindle -

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.