#give me 5 minutes i'm writing down the main blog post with the links to the pages

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hello. Do you have any advice on how to promote yourself as an author via social media like writing blogs? I'm struggling greatly to keep myself active in any of these because I don't know what to share. My life isn't very interesting and any free time I have for writing I spend working on my novel so I also don't have any extra short stories to share like some guides tell me to do and I don't want to post many details about my novel before publishing it. Thanks in advance.

Guide: How to Promote Yourself as a Writer/Author via Social Media

1) First and Foremost, Don’t Overthink It.

I’m starting here, because this is a subject that can be very overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Some writers/authors seem to have limitless time to dedicate to social media, but most of us don’t, and that’s okay. It’s better to prioritize your writing, but there are things you can do to work social media into your routine. Also, don’t feel like everything you post has to be related to writing, your writing life, or some super interesting event or adventure. Content is content. It can be just about anything.2) Your Main Social Media Options, Just to Get Them Out there- Tumblr- Facebook- Twitter- Instagram- Pintrest- YouTube- Goodreads- Google Plus- Writer/Author Blog2) Get to Know Your FavoritesIt’s better to have good visibility on a few platforms than it is to spread yourself thin across all of them. Even if you set up accounts on all of them, you don’t have to be active on all of them. Focus on the ones that work best for you, even if it’s only two or three of them. I recommend choosing at least two, if not three, then dedicate a week to each one. Set up your account (if you haven’t already), find and follow other writers/authors, especially in your genre. (Hashtags are helpful for this. Google will provide lists of hashtags for writers/authors on each platform.) Try to spend ten to fifteen minutes a day on that week’s chosen platform. Make a post, then spend some time liking and commenting on the posts in your feed. This helps to build relationships with other writers. And don’t be bashful. Anyone who has a public writer/author page is hoping for likes and comments, even from people they don’t know yet.3) Choose a Primary Platform and Stick with ItAs the saying goes, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” The same is true of social media, so even once you’ve narrowed the field down to your favorite two or three platforms, you may want to choose one that you use daily, for ten to fifteen minutes per day. Then, try to dedicate a little time to the other two, maybe on the weekends.

4) What to Do About Content

It depends on the platform, obviously, but here are some ideas:

Re-Blogs/Re-Posts: - writing advice/tips- writing-related quotes- motivational quotes- book/reading related quotes- pictures that relate to what you write- pictures that inspire what you want to write- pictures that relate to reading/writing- posts from other writers/authors that are shareable- writing/reading related memes- aesthetics of your favorite books 

Original Posts:- personal writing-related anecdotes- writing tip/advice posts (share what you know!)- photos of your writing space/reading area- pictures of handwritten quotes or tips that you want to share- aesthetics of your WIP- photos of coffee, tea, stationery, books, pets, nature- your monthly goals- end of month review of which goals you completed and which you didn’tTags/Challenges/Questionnaires:- “tag” challenges are sort of like hashtag photo prompts. Search for an existing tag challenge or create your own and tag your followers to join you.- monthly photo challenges give you a prompt for each day. These can be related to books/reading, writing, both, or anything else.- prompt challenges inspire daily short poetry or micro fiction- you’ve seen questionanaires here and probably on facebook, too. Often you can find some geared toward reading and writing.Book Reviews, Movie Reviews, TV Show Reviews, Video Game Reviews- book reviews make for great content. It doesn’t have to be anything long and drawn out. Just a picture of the book, how many stars you give it, and a few things that you liked (or didn’t like) about it. - did you watch a movie over the weekend that you really enjoyed? Tell your followers about it in a spoiler-free review.- did you binge-watch a new TV show? Let others know about it with a spoiler-free review.- did you play a new computer, phone, or video game? Talk about it!Support Other Writers/Authors:- if a writer/author you admire or follow posts something you can help promote, do it! For example, maybe an indie author your friends with has just posted that their book is on sale this week. Sharing that can promote audience sharing between you and them, it gives you content for the day, and it’s awesome to support other writers/authors, especially indies.Arts, Crafts, DIY, Cooking, Adventures, and Other Hobbies- share your grandmother’s recipe for pumpkin pie- share a picture of the sweater you’re knitting along with your three favorite knitting tips and tricks.- share a picture of your bujo or planner layout for the month- share a picture of the cabinets you re-finished and talk about what the process was like.- share pictures and stories from the antiquing road trip you took over the weekend.- share a picture of the painting you’ve been working on.- share a picture of the room you cleaned out along with some de-cluttering tips- share a pretty picture of a flower you took on your afternoon walkSpend some time looking at the content of other writers/authors on the platform you want to focus on. This is a great way to see what’s most common, what you can mimic, and what you can jump in on.5) Set Up a Schedule

Whether you focus on one platform or three, it can sometimes help to set up a posting schedule. For example:Monday - Blog post on author blogTuesday - Re-tweet two or three writing-related tweets on TwitterWednesday - Post a writing/book related photo on InstagramThursday - Re-blog writing tip on TumblrFriday - BreakSaturday - Twitter re-tweetsSunday - Instagram tag challengeThat’s just an example, of course. If you focus on one social media platform, it might look more like this…Facebook Posting Schedule:Monday - Re-post writing adviceTuesday - Post writing/reading related quoteWednesday - Share personal writing tipThursday - Link to interesting writing-related articleFriday - Book reviewSaturday - Picture from weekend adventureSunday - Break6) Social Media Management Apps

If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, you may want to look into a social media management app like Hootsuite, Pagemodo, or Sprout Social. (There are many others, too.) These sometimes cost money, but they can be well worth it if you need help managing your social media presence. Ultimately, these allow you to plan out posts in advance, so instead of worrying about it every day, you take maybe an hour every week to pre-plug in all your tweets and other posts for the week. When you see writers/authors who seem to post on all social media every day, this is generally how they do it.7) Don’t Neglect your Writer/Author Blog

Last but not least, make sure you set up a writer/author blog and try to make a post in it at least once a month. Not only will this give you content you can share on the platforms you focus on, but it’s a great way to keep track of your writing journey and to keep your growing audience up-to-date with the latest news. Even just a short post to talk about your progress for the month and your goals for the next month is better than nothing.8) Try to Relax and Have Fun with It

It may take you a little while to establish a routine that you’re comfortable with, but it will happen eventually. Just remember not to overthink things and not to feel like you have to do everything. Like I said, it’s better to choose one platform and post on it every two or three days than it is to be sporadic on all the platforms. Just do the best you can, and it’ll all make sense in time. :)

[sawyersscribbles]

Um I'm really sorry to do this but I'm a new writing blog and I was wondering if you could give me some tips on how to get followers?

Hello there, welcome to the writing community! First off, awesome url, but secondly, here are a couple tips that might help you out:

1. Say Hi to People!

This tip definitely belongs at number one, because it’s not only the easiest to do, but the quickest way to build connections with people with not a lot of effort. 

The writeblr community is so awesome because we all engage with one another, and by mixing yourself into the fray of people who talk with one another often, your name will slowly gain recognition, and people will start to do things like tag you in games, mention you in posts, tag in writing, all that fun stuff. Here are a couple bullets of what to try:

Respond to “send me an ask about ____” posts

Send asks about characters and WIPs even when not prompted

Comment, comment, comment! Leaving a nice message below a WIP page makes a huge difference

Tag blogs you would like to be friends with in games

Send people DMs about their WIPs if you find them interesting and be sure to ask them questions. People love talking about their projects :)

2. Make a WIP Page

This one’s a little bit trickier, but is definitely worth it if you want to gain more followers on writeblr. Not every writeblr has a WIP, but having one under your belt can help people connect with your writing and characters, which precedes the asks about characters that people always love. A couple things to include on a WIP page are the summary, characters, moodboards, (optional) face claims, and maybe even a short “profile”, as in likes and dislikes, age, sexuality, things like that, if you’re feeling up for it.

Here are the steps to making a basic WIP page:

1. Go on a computer or desktop (anything that’s not mobile) and click on your blog. Go to “Edit Appearance”

2. Scroll until you find “Edit Theme” and click it (P.S if you don’t have a blog theme right now, don’t worry!)

3. Scroll aaallll the way down until you see a plus sign with “add a page” next to it. Click it and fill in whatever you want about your WIP!

4. When you’re done, make sure you’ve hit “Show a link to this page” so that people clicking on your bio can see it right away

5. Make an intro post separate from that one on your main blog (this is so that it can appear on peoples’ dashes – the one you just made doesn’t appear like that)

If you’re good at programming, then you can also make a master list later on to archive your posts, but starting out, I don’t think it’s a necessity. After you’ve finished making a WIP page, the next thing is to bring on the pressure!

3. Talk About Your WIP Frequently

This is something that I’m actually just starting to learn myself, but this one’s quite important. When I made a writeblr, I thought I would start with writing advice and the questions about my WIP would just magically follow, but that’s not the case, but more on that in a second.

I’m not saying you have to post every day, but even short, original thoughts about your process can help people hook on. Even something as small as “oh my god, I love _____ but can she like,,,,, take five minutes?? Have a time-out?? I can’t work with her right now, ugh” can be funny and relatable enough to make someone say “man, I gotta follow this dude, they’re rad!”

It’s going to be frustrating at first to have people not ask about your story or OCs, but I promise that with enough time and enough blog attention focusing on your WIPs the fans, even if there are only one or two of them, will come.

4. Start With Something

Something I tend to see in a lot of rising writeblrs is the fact that a lot of them become very good at their craft, and as a result spread their talents to bring their WIPs more full circle. For example @ava-burton-writing does professional quality edits and moodboards, and they always look amazing! Their talents help broaden the characters of To Bet Your Life (wonderful WIP by the way, go check it out!) and help show them in an artistic way.

Another example, @idreamonpaper is very good at characterizing her characters and does an incredible job at making them come to life (From the Shadows is another incredible WIP, check that one out too!). She does this with asks and rambles, and it really works for your advantage.

I, myself, started with advice. I’m not really artistically inclined, so I started with helping people with their writing problems and helping answer asks to try and further their journeys, much like this one :). From there, with the follower base I already had from writing advice, I was able to branch out and (finally) talk about my WIP. This strategy helps because you’ve already made a name for yourself and it’s a lot easier to have people notice your WIP once you’ve already been here for some time.

~

It’ll seem like an uphill battle for quite some time, but believe me when I say that it gets easier. When you find yourself becoming more comfortable in this community, it’ll start to get easier and easier to reach out, make friends, and make your blog into everything you want it to be. Until then, good luck, and happy writing!