You’re reading a blog post now. That means you either opened an email, clicked on a social media link, or found this on Google. FWA’s marketing plan is working—you found us! Now how can you get readers to find you online, and even better, buy your books? The three must-haves for an author’s digital marketing plan include: a website, blog, and newsletter. Let’s take a look at all three and how they work together. Your Author Website This is your … Read More »

When I first joined the Florida Writers Association this year, I spent a few weeks connecting with as many other members as I could on social media. One thing I noticed is how nearly everyone had Facebook pages, but only a handful were on Instagram. With over 1 billion users every month, now’s the time to get started on Instagram. It’s currently the second most downloaded app after YouTube and while it’s true Instagram usage skews younger, 60% of users … Read More »

Social media is the bane of an introvert writer’s existence. For the extrovert writer, social media is a personal time siphon. Either way, social media has become an obstacle course every writer must negotiate, whether as a hobbyist looking to learn more or as a professional trying to build a platform. Here are a few suggestions for your writing life: Explore all the options. Facebook is the largest of the social sites, with Twitter and Instagram right on its heels. … Read More »

Do you know what people find when they Google your name? Do they find you? Do they find out that deep, dark secret you’ve tried to keep hidden all those years? (We know what you did; we still love you.) Or do they find someone with a similar name to yours? Maybe they’re in the same line of work, maybe they’re well-known in their own field, or maybe they’ve got their own deep, dark secret they’ve been trying to keep … Read More »

As a writer, Twitter is going to be your best friend and your worst enemy. Because it’s the best, most fun waste of time you’re ever going to have. I’ve wiled away many an hour on Twitter, responding to tweets, retweeting clever remarks, or coming up with something funny and thinking, “I’ve got to send this out right now!” all while my deadlines dripped slowly away. But rather than treating Twitter as a den of inequity to be shunned and … Read More »

When I was a travel writer for the State of Indiana, one of the marketing principles we preached was “photos get more traffic than text, videos get more traffic than photos.” In other words, visual elements will always attract more readers than a text-only article. I’ve found this to be true myself: if I can include a photo in my article, that photo will appear when I link to the article on Facebook. And if a photo appears, more people … Read More »