By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Sometimes I spend so much time thinking about really big ideas that I forget about some of the small things we can do to either gently promote ourselves/get our names out there, or just make life easier online. Here are a few of those things…and a sort of interesting note at the end of the post on something Wattpad is doing.
Gravitars. Gravitars, Globally Recognized Avatars, are basically avatars that are used to identify us online (primarily blogs and web forums). I was having coffee with my author friend Lauren de Lanier and she mentioned that she would likely spend more time commenting on blogs if she had a more personal way of appearing on sites, particularly WordPress sites. This is one of those things that we can quickly take care of through
WordPress (you’ll have to sign up for WordPress in the process, but you’re not setting up a blog, only a profile). This WikiHow will lead you through the process if you’re not sure how to do it.
Pen names and Facebook…when we have too many profiles. As someone with more than one name, my advice is that it’s tough enough to update social media platforms with only one name. I couldn’t keep up with updating a Twitter and Facebook account under my pen name, too. If you have a pen name as a profile on Facebook and a profile under your real name and would like to link them, you can do so without much trouble. Here Facebook shows us how. When you select the type of name, choose ‘other’ and be sure to check the box that states ‘show at top of profile’ to ensure that the pen name shows alongside your real name.
Have you looked at your Amazon Author page recently? Are all of your books on your page? Is your author photo there? Are you making full use of all the elements on the page (blog stream, events calendar)? Can you record a short video about your series on your phone and upload it to the page?
Periscope: This is a new app that’s currently getting a lot of buzz. It’s live video where followers can ask questions via chat. It’s not going to appeal to everyone (I’m not sure it appeals to me). But the idea is that it doesn’t have to be as polished as YouTube. It won’t be as polished as YouTube since it’s live and unedited. It’s also ephemeral and disappears in 24 hours on the site (or earlier, if you delete it). Periscope is owned by Twitter and has some cool tie-ins with Twitter. You can tweet your live video, for one. And your followers on Twitter will receive a follow suggestion on Periscope on the People Tab (under “people you’re following on Twitter) if they’re on the app. Because of this set-up, if you have a large profile on Twitter, you may do very well on Periscope.
There are also not many authors on the site since it’s brand new—and since writers can be too introverted to go for this kind of thing. Anyway…it’s something to check out.
Wattpad: I’ve been doing Wattpad updates a good deal lately, but that’s because they’re doing some interesting things. I’d read that they were rolling out some monetization using native advertising (see this article by Edward Nawotka on the Publishing Perspectives blog). Wattpad CEO and co-founder Allen Lau stated that one effort included working with 20th Century Fox to commission three stories about “extraordinary love” to tie-in with the film adaptation of John Green’s The Fault in our Stars. “In that case, the promotion of the movie is subtle, but also explicit and it was super successful: we reached close to a million people reading it and had 60,000 comments.”
I was contacted by a Wattpad representative earlier this week, not for a paid commission, but for exposure. There is a cross-promo effort between Universal Horror’s upcoming movie release The Visit and Wattpad mysteries, thrillers, and stories about “vacations gone wrong.” My book Body in the Backyard has a digitally imposed promo sticker on it and it’s listed on the movie’s official profile on the site and their sponsored reading list. I’d never have thought Myrtle would hang out with M. Night Shyamalan. I’ve already got quite a few reads from the promo…amazing that my gentle mystery could cross-promote with horror. Am I reaching a different audience? Without a doubt!
Any small tips to pass along (Facebook, blogging, etc.)? Have you thought of using cross-promotion to expand your audience (and I can’t take credit for my cross-promo, since I didn’t instigate it).
Gravitars,pen name linking on FB, and Wattpad Updates: Share on X
Hi Elizabeth – all so useful ideas for those of us who have books out there. How fascinating about Wattpad .. it may not have been your idea – but you told us about cross promotion …
Thanks once again .. cheers Hilary
Hilary–Thanks for coming by today! Hope you’re doing well and have a great weekend. :)
That’s awesome about the cross-promotion with the movie! (Hopefully it doesn’t just suck.)
Still trying to figure out a way to use Wattpad. I’d have to write a story prior to my first book to hook people into the series, but not sure I want to do that.
Too bad Amazon doesn’t let you link to videos on YouTube. I did try uploading one of my book trailers, but even with a compressed file, it was still too big.
Alex–Ha! Yes, I know…Shyamalan. It might, but then I still have my Wattpad reads!
Short stories are fine there. Technically, you could upload a *portion* of your first novel to Wattpad, but that generally doesn’t work as well there because readers won’t be as invested in the story, knowing they’re not getting the full read.
Oh yes, I know what you mean about Amazon’s video requirements. I taped a very short segment on my Android phone (me explaining very, very briefly my 3 series), dragged the video file to my laptop, opened it with Windows Movie Maker, and then saved it as “a file to email.” I didn’t email it, but that compressed it enough for Amazon to accept that file. Pain in the neck, but it didn’t actually take that long once I figured it all out.
No doubt about it, Elizabeth; those smaller ways can help ‘spread the word.’ And I think if an author has one unique online presence – a brand – that you see in different places, this adds to visibility and author recognition. In other words, it’s not just being in a few different places, it’s the unified message you send in all of them.
Margot–You’re so right, I think consistency is very helpful with branding. That may be why promoting ourselves as authors is usually more successful than promoting different titles.
Thanks so much for these tips, Elizabeth! I just created my Gravatar… so we’ll see if it automatically links to this blog response:) I’m intrigued about the short film idea for Amazon as well, but I’m not sure what I’d say.
Rebecca–Looks like it worked! :)
The film I made for Amazon was really more like an ad. I gave a sentence summary of each of the three series (“if you like crafts, you might want to check out my Southern Quilting Mysteries. Or, if food…especially barbeque…is more your style, try my Memphis BBQ mysteries, etc.) The time goes really fast since you can only upload something short.
Just checked it out – nice job!
Rebecca–Thanks!
I love M. Night Shyamalan, but that movie looks super scary. I’m looking up the things you mentioned that I’ve not heard of. Great tips.
Thanks!
Teresa–It looks way too scary for me. My daughter said it kept popping up as an ad when she watches YouTube and scaring her to death! But it’s actually only PG-13, so must just be scary and no gore? Not sure about how the whole PG-13 thing works.
I’m the lucky lady who had coffee with Elizabeth to discuss numerous aspects of promotion including pen names and creating a gravatar. Not only was she gracious in sharing information one-to-one, she has posted a blog about it without blinking an eye. Elizabeth is fast and unselfish and a big friend to writers.
I’m off now to create my gravatar, no more anonymous comments for me. Thanks, Elizabeth.
Lauren–Oh, it was my pleasure! Thanks for the kind words. :) And good luck with the gravitar!
Wattpad is the only one I’ve heard of. I haven’t posted there, maybe some day. Thanks for all the tips.
Dolorah–Thanks for coming by!
Hi Elizabeth! I long ago decided not to do any automated cross-promotion so I can keep my postings personal and specific to each site. The downside was the need to limit the number of venues I’m active on as well as the way I use them — for instance, I only have one page on Facebook and it’s not an author page. The Wattpad concept, however, sounds fascinating. I’ll have to take a much closer look that that one. Thanks!
Patricia–I hope you’ll give Wattpad a go. In comparison to other genres (especially YA and fanfic) there isn’t a lot of mystery on there and I’d love to change that!