Social media needs to be organic

I've been looking at my time management because suddenly I'm very busy.  As I prepare for my book launch -- which is months away -- I've been preparing my web site, a media kit, business card, a book trailer and other items I'll want or need.

As part of this, I've decided to write a many short stories as I can and put them in collections.  I've not done this before because short story writing is hard for me.  Ironic.  I can write a multi-book fantasy series, but short stories somehow elude me.

Well, not really.  Short stories need to be focused and to the point and I prefer a wide canvas, showing the way life is, pleasant or not.

As part of my time management review, I've concluded that social media as it is now, it a waste of time.  There is no way I can keep up and go to all the forums and sites I should and post something meaningful unless I give up a good portion of my writing.  And some sites seem completely pointless.  Foursquare comes to mind here.  After using it for a few weeks, I just don't see the point.

To be effective, social media needs to be more organic, like breathing.  I shouldn't have to think about it; if I blog it should automatically go to all the sites I want it to.  Currently that's not true because Blogger doesn't interfere with Tumblr and Tumblr doesn't talk to Blogger.  To get post on Goodreads, I had to set up a pull from the blog's RSS feed, when I would have preferred a push from here, the way Facebook and Twitter are set up.

So I'm going on a social media diet.  Perhaps when this thing is like a Frankenstein's monster and all the pieces fit better together I'll do more.  But right now I'm too busy writing and getting ready for the release of my first novel.

Web site review: Tumblr

I should have known better than to think that after my last post I could put the topic of blogs and blogging behind me.  But no sooner had I posted the entry than I went to check out the site called Tumblr to see what it was all about.

In a word it is a blogging site.  But it's not like any blogging site I've ever seen.  You can post all kinds of content, links, text, images, video, audio, and chat are among them.  They all mix together into the blog, which is kinda nice.

You also get to follow your friends and their blogs merge into your blog, like the Facebook news feed.

But there is little support for integrating the site with other social sites.  If you're like me, then you want this, in fact, you need this so that you can single source posts and send them out into the world.  But Hootsuite, my social media management site, does not let me post to the Tumblr stream which defeats the purpose of using Hootsuite.

Tumblr lets me post to Facebook and Twitter and they provide code so I can add a put into my real blog; see the column on the right for an example.

But the lack of support isn't Tumblr's fault and I find that site kinda nice and easy to use.  It has got me thinking about blog content in new ways.  Perhaps I should include more images or the occasional video here.

Perhaps.  It is something to think about.

I suppose if I wasn't so heavily invested in Blogger, I would use Tumblr for my blog.  But as it is, I'm not sure Tumblr holds any value for me.  If the integration were better I think my opinion would be different.  So I think I'll wait and see if that aspect improves before abandoning Tumblr completely.

And this serves as a reminder that social media is very much a work in progress.  None of us know where it is going but like reality TV it seems to be here to stay.  The question is how do we use it?  And I don't know that even the so-called experts have that answer.  That's one reason I've begun to experiment to see how well it all works together and how far I can push it.

I hope you will welcome these experiments.  I'm sure to blog about them here.

Blogs and Blogging

I've been looking at social media again and my presence in that sphere of sites, trying to assess what changes I might make.  So far, I've been focused on blogs and blogging because I'm not sure I'm using it effectively or blogging correctly.

Supposedly there are no rules for blogging, but I don't think that's true.  You've got to have some to say and it has to be interesting and valuable to the reader.  After all, with a glut of content available why waste your time if the post says nothing.

As far as my blog goes, an analysis of which topics are popular shows that readers want posts on how to do things, and reviews on software and technology.  But that's not all I write about so respond to my posts is uneven at best.

I've also looked at the software I'm using: Blogger by Google.  I can't tell you exactly why I started using Blogger, except that it was free and I didn't do a very big search for free blogging sites.  Since that time, I've learned that WordPress appears to be more popular and perhaps more powerful.  I certainly see more support for WordPress at other sites like GoodReads and HootSuite.  Additionally, you can integrate WordPress into your web site so that it is seamless.  But WordPress also has bugs.  I've seen one that forced me to rollback to older versions of the application to get the desired plug-ins to work.  That's not good at all.

At the same time, Blogger has been overhauled recently by Google and provides some nice features.  I was able integrate the blog into my web site by tapping the blog's RSS feed and using a free RSS reader called Magpie to show that last five posts on the main page of the site.  I did this so that content of the home page was always changing without my doing extra work.

More recently, Blogger integrated usage stats into the data it provides me which I like and it now shows me the number of visits each post gets.  That's a really helpful to me so I can see which posts were popular and which ones weren't.

I also thought about moving my blog, but dismissed it because I don't need to take on that kind of work.  I've got over 200 posts now.  It would take a long time to move that I'm sure and I'd rather work on my novels.  Plus I'm not sure moving the blog is necessary.  Google seems to have decided to pay attention to Blogger so I'm hoping to see some cool new features in the future.  Additionally, Blogger is easily to use and for that reason better in my mind.  I don't worry about new software versions from WordPress or bugs in the code, or plug-ins that don't work.  I just show up and start typing each post as the mood hits.

But all that aside, does blogging work?  Is it necessary?  God knows, there are days I curse when I realize I need another blog post the next day.  And yet I continue to do it.  I ask myself why?

And I can't answer that question.  I have no idea if blogging is necessary for me.  Since I now push the posts out to Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and LinkedIn, more people are seeing that I have something to say.  In that sense it keeps my name on their radar, which I assume will help me when I announce my novel is in print from my publisher.

But am I saying anything important or meaningful?  That depends on who is reading the blog.  I don't expect to change the world by blogging.  But I can pass on a few things that I know to others and capture a part of myself for posterity.  I think that's important.

In similar fashion, I don't expect to influence or change person's opinions by blogging.  I can inform them a little but they will form opinions about Blogger and WordPress, for example, based on more than a few words from me.  I expect anyone interested in either program to try it out first and see what each has to offer before committing to one or the other.

But ultimately, I think blogging has disappointed me.  I expected to attract a larger audience with my blog and I've got less than 100 people directed subscribed to it.  If not for Twitter and the other social sites, I think my blog would be a failure.  But I've got nearly 150 Twitter followers and that's growing faster than I would have believed.

The moral:  Blogging + Twitter appears to be a huge win.  We'll see if it is possible to tap that potential audience when the time comes.

Social Influence

A Facebook friend invited me to join Klout this week.  For those who don't know, Klout is a site that measures one's social influence.  They give you a score from 1 to 100 and then monitor the content you create or items you share and people's reaction to it.  The more you make and the more comments you receive the higher the score.

I'm not sure that's a valid assess of influence, however.  For example, will this post influence anyone?  I doubt it.  In fact, I have a hard time believing I influence anyone to do anything.  On the other hand, if I give an honest assessment of something, a software tool or a web site, for example, you are likely to believe me so long as I am unbiased. That could end up influencing you in some small way perhaps.

But if I make a pithy comment that generates lots of other comments, I don't see how I've influenced anyone at all and yet that is what Klout is targeting if I understand their site correctly.  Seems like a weak method for artificial intelligence.

Regardless, it is interested to watch and see if anything I do affect my score.  But it is like any other measure or score, a best guess.

Still, I was impressed by the number of social sites it takes into account.  Some I've not heard of.  As a result, I opened a foursquare account and have begun playing with that for a bit.  Not sure how important foursquare is exactly for my needs but I can experiment and see.

In the meantime, I'm planning to deliver the first third of Book 2 to the publisher for review next week.  And they apparently liked my storyboard for the book trailer.  "Very detailed," was the main comment.  I laughed.  For those who know me well, that's to be expected.  I am nothing if not thorough.

Keep writing, everyone.

Blogging 102

I've been told by various people and sources the same thing about blogging:

• I need to provide useful information to the readers of the blog.
• I need to sound like (or be) and expert on the subject or subjects upon which I blog.
• I need to blog frequently enough to attract an audience.

Seriously?  Is this right?  I'm thinking only in part.  Sure, I want to provide useful information to my readers.  But how do I know what you will find useful?  Sometimes I strike a nerve, but I'm guessing I miss the mark as often as I hit it or perhaps I don't hit the mark very often at all.  I really don't know since I almost never heard from my readers.

And in regards to being or sounding like an expert, please.  Who is going to believe that I, a struggling writer with only a few successes to his credit is an expert on writing, publishing, and technology?  Sure I can give you my opinion, and what I learn as I go, but an expert?  More importantly, I notice that the people who I consider experts on writing, for example, don't give advice.  They write books.

And lastly, regarding the frequency with which I blog, I've been writing Mondays and Fridays, for almost two years now.  The audience I've attracted (assuming I've done that) I think is more from my asking people to follow the blog on Facebook than anything else.  And I've connected the blog to GoodReads and Twitter and that doesn't seem to have helped.  Although, as an aside, the number of Twitter followers is growing but I don't think that has anything to do with the blog, per se.

The bottom line here is I doubt the three points stated at the top of this post are completely correct and accurate.  It sounds to me to be poor advice but the only advice people have to give because they really don't know what works.

And in this world of mis-information that we live in I think a healthy dose of skepticism is in order.  What do you think?

P.S.  I also been told to end blog posts with a question for readers and voice an opinion.  In the words of Rocket J. Squirrel.  "The trick never works."

Reruns or Greatest Hits?

I've been tempted to repost some old blog entries for folks who recently decided to subscribe and haven't combed through the 165 posts I've written.  But then I thought, are reruns permitted while blogging?  Isn't the point of blogging fresh new content?

What about a list of greatest hits (posts)?  Again, I don't think so.  I'm reminded of a recent link a friend of mine shared on Facebook about what atheists and christians have in common.  While the post was interesting it was four years old, which upset me.  This wasn't a new thing, it has been collecting dust for a few years.

And it's not that the post still didn't apply, it was that the post was four years old.  I suppose I'm making more of this than I should and but it gives me pause.  What are the rules here?  Are there rules?

I suppose it depends on the purpose of the blog and what you, my audience, want out of this blog.  Why are you reading this?  I know, I invited you.  But besides that.  What keeps you coming back?  Are you too polite to unsubscribe?  Do you think everyone has something to say and you want to hear it?  Are you a friend and you're curious as to what I've been up to?

Obviously, I have no idea why you read my blog.  But I know its purpose and reposting content from last year seems like cheating.  Perhaps when the blog is a little older and I have more like 300 or 400 posts here, revisiting my views on something like writer's block or burn out or handling rejections making some sense.  Perhaps.

But until then I will keep delving into the recesses of my mind hoping to find some nugget or vein not mined.

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to work I go ...

Which dwarf am I?  About now I'm sort of mix between Dopey, Grumpy, and Sleepy.

Social Media Strikes Again

I've been investigating social media to get more use out of it and to my surprise, a few simple changes in my Twitter account has got me receiving unsolicited follows.  That really a surprise because up until about a week ago, my Twitter account was kind of like my appendix: it's there but largely ignored.

What changes did I make?  Mainly, I changed my profile to reflect what I'm about: that I am a writer of a fantasy series with a link to Smashwords in case they want to purchase a copy.

I also changed the background to include a custom image.  This image is the cover of Aure the Topaz, my first novel, with the text of the short pitch over it.  I don't think that has done anything however because you can't search on this image.

For each follow, I reciprocate with a follow of them and a thanks, tweeted directly to them.  The end result of this is that more people see these posts since all my blog posts are automatically tweeted to my Twitter account.

So the reach of this blog is much broader than I realized.  The odd part is that none of this generates sells for my novel.  The reason I began investigating social media in the first place is to see how I might use it to generate sales of my novel.  But there does not seems to be a correlation.  Just because you've got followers and they read your posts don't mean they will buy your book.

This makes me think I'm doing something wrong or I'm missing a piece.  Guess I've got to dig deeper into the murky depths of this technology.

Site review: Authonomy

Authonomy is a web site where writers can go to post part or all of a book they want to here published.  Once posted, people on the site are expected to see and comment on the work.  The best works are supported (backed is the site jargon) and rise in rankings.  Writers are also ranked.  The most you read and comment on the higher your personal ranking is.

The site is run by HarperCollins.  Every month they take the top five books and review them.  In some cases this leads to a publishing deal.  Most often it doesn't.  And in my experience, the entire site fails to achieve the promise set out by the publisher.

Initially I used the site on my first novel is get some feedback to see if I could get high enough in the rankings to warrant a review from the publisher.  As it turned out, I couldn't get above 1000.  Additionally, what I found was the site is more about wheeling and dealing, making bargains with others so that if they back your book, you back theirs.

So the more you play that game the better off you are.  Ultimately I gave up on that because that's not how I want to spend my free time.  I want to write not play politics.

So I don't recommend the site.  It seems pointless.  I've had better luck elsewhere.

Is Social Media Really an Improvement?

As a thought experiment, I found myself wondering the other day whether social media is really an improvement for writers and our readers.  Here's my thinking on the subject:

For readers, social media is large improvement because of all the information about writers and novels that is now available.  You can find your favorite writers' blogs and learn about new work that will be releasing.  You can also subscribe to blogs and newsfeed for your favorite booksellers and learn about special events, author signings, author readings, and when new novels that might interest you will be available.  For readers, there's a treasure trove of information, a literal glut of data of the subject.

The picture isn't as rosy for writers in my view.  For writers, social media is both good and bad.  For example, social media let's you tout your work and attract an audience.  That's good because it should mean sales.  Without sales, we won't last long.  But promoting your work can also be bad if you find it a chore or have no marketing skills.

Likewise, blogging, tweeting, and all the rest can be good or bad depending on whether you have something to say or not.  As writers, the natural assumption is that we do have something to say or can find something, but the simple fact is some people are more comfortable with it than others.  Some people are naturally shy and would prefer a quiet room to write in than composing a tweet.

Another concern is loss of privacy.  To a certain extent, writers need to make themselves public figures so that readers can learn about them.  That's good; when readers connect with writers the potential for sales goes up.  The problem is some people might use that information inappropriately.  So writers need to be careful about the information about themselves that they release to the public.

Bad reviews and ill-informed comments are another issue. Dealing with the public can really suck.  Ask anyone who has given technical support or who has to answer phone calls all day.  With social media, all these comments are visible and public.  Depending on the site you might have control over these comments and you might not.  So be careful and remember everyone has a right to free speech, even if the comment being made is lame or silly.

Lastly, there's the risk of intellectual property theft.  By this I mean social media enables such theft to go viral.  A stolen book on a torrent can spread around the world is seconds.   There's not much you can do about this if it happens to you and you can't really protect yourself either.  All it takes is one person paying for one legal copy to post your work on a site and recommend it highly.  Other avid readers/computer users will do the rest.

But even though I cite many drawbacks stemming from social media, the truth is all these things existed before.  Writers are always facing a loss of privacy as their recognition increases and they become more popular among readers.  Likewise, bad reviews have always been an issue; they used to be printed in the newspaper now they are electronic.  So you'll need to learn how to deal with the criticism.  And theft of our work has always been an issue.  It is easier now because of the technology but corrupt people at print shops have stolen the work of popular writers for years.  That's why there are copyright laws in the first place, to help protect us.

So where does that leave us?  Well, when I came out of my reverie, I realized that is not social media that is the issue.  It is people.  That no matter how much change we endure and what the tools we are using, people are still people, good, bad, and indifferent. And the struggle of getting along with each other has not stopped, it's just changed a little.

Blogging from my Smartphone

As an experiment, I thought I'd try to write and post an entry from my smartphone. Personally I don't think this is good idea, but I constantly look for new workflows. By doing so I learn what works for me and what does not. Slowly over time, this leads to changes and improvements.

For example, but experimenting with different authoring tools I found could write novels with Scrivener and export any format I require including Word, PDF, ePub, Kindle, and HTML. This makes for a very efficient process since I can author once and reuse/convert the text as needed without major effort. 

Blogging is a little different, at least for me. I don't need to repurpose the entries although I do repost them on Twitter, Facebook, and Goggle Buzz. I've posted a few on GoodReads, Delicious, and Digg. But some reposed are automated and some are simple copy and pastes. I've not given any thought to how I compose my blog posts in the first place. 

Up till now I've been typing them from a desktop or laptop keyboard. Sometimes I write them in advance and sometimes I don't, depending on whether I get an idea for post or I just improvise. But this post is being cobbled together from my smartphone using an app called blogwriter. The app is a good one but I miss the full keyboard and the use of all fingers typing as I wordsmith. I also don't know how well Blogger handle this text until I send it.

So if it turns out that integrating this post is really hard I won't be repeating this experiment. On the other hand, if the post comes without too many problems, I may decide to look for another to type the text into the phone or buy a tablet because my thumbs hurt from typing all this text.

Welcome to the 21st century I guess.

So What's This Blog Thing All About?

I've been blogging now for four months now and I am still scratching my head over it. Is it really necessary to blog in order to sell books or attract an audience? I'm guessing the answer is yes but it is probably a lot harder without one because the technology reaches deep into our society and our lives.

Another benefit of blogging is, I suppose, based on the premise that if enough people gather round the electronic campfire of their computer screens to read what I have to say, one can assume there's a certain level of interest my opinions and musings.  Although writing fantasy novels is very different from writing a blog; being able to do either does not necessarily mean I can do the other.

I can also see that a blog is a form of self-expression. What better way for someone to prove to others he or she knows what he/she is talking about than to show it? For me, however, the way I prefer to do this is give them a book I've written and say, "Enjoy."

And, of course, there's the rant posting too. I've done a few of these myself because getting my book written, ready for publication, and sold has been a roller-coaster. I've hit potholes the size of  watermelons on more than one occasion and have been angry at the setback. Of course, better to make these mistakes now so that I never make them again.

But these points aside, there is something about blog that bothers me and I'm not sure I can put it into words. In its simplest form, I think what concerns me is this: blogs make private information public, by their very nature.  Depending on the blog, you can find anything from very private posting to items that more befit a newspaper column. And it is the sharing of overly personal information that bothers me. We already have more content to deal with in a given day than we can deal. Sharing personal information inappropriately just adds insult to injury.

There's more to it than that I think. Increasingly I see the average worker is busier than ever before. At the same time, the technology that makes all this social networking possible is everywhere. We are forced to squeeze out social connections in short bursts because we don't have time for anything else. Humans are social creatures by nature; we need to interact with others but socializing takes more time that we don't have. Is it any wonder that social networking is now huge.

And so blogging is one way for the writer to make a connection with his or her readers. The blogger must find a way to pierce the veil of the computer screen can grab your attention in order to connect with you. Ironically, I never know if I succeed. So I keep pitching and hoping at least one of these topics goes over the plate so you can hit it out of the park.

If I succeed, I'll let you know.