Every Autumn I plant bulbs like crazy—I’m partial to Parrot Tulips—so the typically cold and rainy Portland spring will give me glorious color. It’s been so warm—really warm—that the bulbs are coming up early. Here is a little color for you friends on the east coast who are suffering through a brutal winter, trying to make it to spring. I see what is going on in the news and really feel for my gardening friends back east.
Hang in there everybody! It will change, and when it does, it will feel like heaven.
In the meantime, I could use a bit of help on my book planning. Do you have a minute to respond in the comments?
My book is about aging with grace and pizazz, a humorous and poignant collection of essays about gardening with an older body, love & loss, and ways to give back to the world. I’m writing like crazy. Does that “like crazy” theme sound familiar? Maybe this picture will help…
Yes, friends, that’s me. Why? Because it turns out that you can’t just write your book—even with traditional publishers—you have to be prepared to market your book too! So, here is my question:
Which social media spots do you like best? Do you use Facebook ? Do you use Twitter? Instagram? Pinterest? I’m on a few of these, but not all. And I need to make some decisions because there is only so much time in the day.
If you were me, where would you focus your marketing efforts on social media?
It would really help me to know. Also, fellow bloggers, what are the top five sites you know about for women over fifty? Humorous, poignant, a combination–it doesn’t matter. I’d like to know what else you are reading, so I can follow that site too and become an engaged reader and commenter.
Thanks friends for leaving your comments below. If you are curious about which story I’m working on now…. It is called “Letters to Jenny”, a collection of letters I wrote to my cousin/friend/like a daughter when I was in treatment for breast cancer.
I have to get up every half an hour to walk around because of the intensity of the work. But that’s the way it is to write as I’m sure many of you know.
Thank you for your help!
The websites I don’t have any ideas, but will think more about it. Book giveaways like Fran Sorin did in conjunction with fellow bloggers work too.
I use FB and if I were marketing I would use FB, Twitter (need to get my account active again) and be more present on Instagram. Although if you are targeting women over 50 I might switch to Pinterest.
Good Luck Susan and if I think of anything else I’ll let you know.
Thanks Donna. I am thinking of doing a giveaway of a few of the stories in an ebook for subscribers. (Stories from the original Growing Down Stories.) Probably everybody is going to say Facebook, and I guess I seriously have to change my attitude about that company. The manipulation, the constant changes….I didn’t like it when I tried. But I may have to try again. I’m on Twitter now and do Pinterest. Thanks for taking the time to comment Donna.
I use Facebook and Instagram, as far as social media goes. And I do use Pinterest. Twitter has never appealed to me and I doubt I would ever use it. I hope this helps! Best of luck with your book!
Thanks Deborah, good info. Pinterest is a lot of fun and there is a WordPress plug-in that allows my photographs to go directly into my Pinterest account, so that is easy. I took my time getting into Twitter–I can hardly ever say *anything* in 140 characters-:))
The only social media site I use is Facebook. I have a Pinterest acct but don’t use it. As for sites for people over 50, I’m 45 so I’m drawing a blank there. I think I’m adviceless on this topic.
Hey Tammy, the demographic I picked is just a rough idea. I remember when I sent “For the Daughter I never Had” into a journal for younger women, I got letters from the forty-somethings saying they had never had that perspective and thanked me for it. They said it was a “relief” reading a story that told them they could be full nurturers without having to have children. This was eye-opening for me–unexpected. I had anticipated hearing from older women. So, it’s pretty loose as to what will appeal and to whom. But there will be plenty of garden stories in this book!
Thank you Susie for your posting of colorful flowers. Just returned to New York from
Michigan- to find the same close to zero temps–and came back to a driveway of solid ice. That’s what happens when you don’t shovel your driveway.
Well I see I’m not the only one to offer NO advice on media choices-…in fact I just spent the last month ( in the Durang “Vanya and Sonia and …Spike”) ranting and raving about
the sad evils of our modern ( lack of ) communication…”There are no shared experience
any more”….oh wait- wait a minute THIS is a shared experience. I/ Durang stand
corrected. When I next see you I will give you the speech–.. it is 10 minutes and there will be no charge! Good luck in your media quest. Intense writing? Is there any other kind??—-
I bet you can use a little color John! How the heck did you get your car into your driveway?!? Your comments crack me up, I love them. Yes, I’ve learned that we have plenty of shared experiences, this is just one of many. So, now that you’ve told me about your speech, I expect to hear it, we could go back to that Deli, order lox and bagels and you can recite the whole thing. I can’t wait actually. And yes, you are right about writing. At least for me–and I’m sure you–writing pulls everything I’ve got out of me and then after that, I still have to go deeper. Take care on those roads John, per favore.
I spend a lot of time on Google Plus. David Amerland is a successful author.
His blog post http://davidamerland.com/seo-blog/1010-writing-the-book-on-practical-semantic-search.html
Reshared to a different audience on Google Plus https://plus.google.com/+DavidAmerland/posts/joGQPkJffEP
and so on …
Best advice I can offer is to target the social media where you can put your heart in with enthusiasm, and where you already have a support base.
If FB leaves you cold … then target what appeals to YOU.
I can’t offer you any blogs for women over 50 – as I don’t find any that I’ve come across, worth a second visit. Not their target audience – so not interested in endless – what shall I wear today?!
Perhaps look out for blog memes that fit. Beth at PlantPostings has a quarterly Lessons Learned meme for example.
I’ve noticed that you have a strong knowledge of Google+. I can’t figure out half of it! I do with it what I can though. My blog is very visual, so it does fit in with Google+, but I’m sure I’m not using it to its potential yet. Thanks for David Amerland’s info–I will check it out. And Beth at Plant Postings? Yes, I do participate with that meme, but not 100% of the time, but I always visit her. You are SO right about doing the social media that works for me and I thank you for saying it out loud. It’s going to be a challenge for me to figure out what to do about FB, since I dislike it so much and yet everybody uses it. There is an account for my blog, but can you believe it–FB won’t let me administer it because I don’t have a personal “Susan Troccolo” account also. The height of absurdity. I’m only interested in blogs that have something to say, so I won’t be following those “what to wear today” blogs, that’s for sure. There MUST be blogs that speak of aging with grace, our inner world, zest for life as we grow into older people…..
oh, and another Susan, Susan J Tweit has just finished the final edit of her memoir.
http://susanjtweit.com/2015/02/writing-postpartum-shift.html/
Well, that is interesting. I wonder if she is putting it out there to attract beta readers. I’ll have to go visit. Thanks very much for that link. Sounds interesting. Off I go now to check it out….
Diana, I just went to Susan Tweit’s blog. As I read it, I felt like I was reading myself. There is a person after my own heart. Thank you Thank you. I will be following her.
Susie I have a Facebook visual art business page. Idea for you: you could possibly make up a fake persona for your personal page just to get your foot in the door. Many people have fake personas.
My favorite writer for women over fifty is Anne Lamott. And you can follow her on Facebook.
I really like the website changingaging.org It doesn’t specifically target women but has the cutting edge of the leaders in the movement in the U.S. who are creating new paradigms of how to age in the U.S.
Oh Mary, this is really helpful information for me. I’m going to explore the website you recommend this morning. I’ve already found a few, one called FiercewithAge.com, that is very interesting. It is a combination of the spiritual and the practical. I want to tweet it out—my very first tweet—but I have to learn how to do it first! Such a learning curve….As for the fake persona on FB, that wouldn’t work, only because my NAME is my brand. I have to be my name or it doesn’t help me at all when the book comes out. In a way, I have done what you have with FB, by having my Life-Change-Compost name on a FB page, but there isn’t any buzz around it, because FB won’t let me manage it! Ridiculous. Anyway, I’m very grateful you left your message, makes me so happy. I miss seeing you at the pool.
Susie I was suggesting you create a fake persona on FB as your private page so you could manage your business page. Does this make sense? If you have already created a FB business page you can’t manage then I do not know if you can create a private page (real or fake) afterwards.
I know a life coach who specializes in marketing visual art and she stresses the importance of social media.
Thus far I am only on FB. But I do have a 62 year old self employed friend in the midwest encouraging me to learn Twitter. XO
Hi again Mary, Your idea just might work, I’m going to look into it. What I have learned about social media for book marketing is that it is absolutely essential. Consultants put it simply: “Social Media is your TownHall.” You have to tell people what you’ve got to offer. I REALLY like the site you recommended–thank you again. I also listened to Dr. Bill Thomas’ TED talk delivered in S. F. Powerful stuff. And I agree with him 100%. Oh, and I’ve been goofing around with Twitter–it’s FUN. Who knew? (Lots of folks apparently.) Then comes the challenge of not letting this stuff devour your creative time.
Mary, Hi again. I have found a terrific resource for you that is helping me a lot. It is from the website: http://socialmediajustforwriters.com/ This is Frances Caballo’s wonderful site focused specifically for writers, however, she has a free download on the right sidebar called “Twitter just for Writers: The Ultimate How-To Guide.” It is terrific. About twenty pages long maybe. Good luck with it, she is a real Pro.
Hi Susie, I am with you on Facebook I would not bother! Rather than explain my experience here we can talk about it a little more off-line if you like. Basically Facebook is advertising medium right now. It doesn’t matter how many followers you have they send out to only a handful each of your posts.check out good reads. That is the one I would recommend for you. I wish I had put my energy into it at the start instead of just recently. The readers are there!.I am in Ashland right now on my iPhone. Friend here going through breast cancer surgery. XO. Miss you.
Interesting additional info about Facebook. It seems that so many people use them, but everybody hates them. I wonder why users don’t revolt. They have become totally an advertising medium. I saw that just before I quit. It’s tough because many of my readers will be using FB. So, I’ll have some figuring out to do. We’ll be coming to CA in April, definitely want to see you there! I’m sure you are a comfort to your friend going through surgery–you’ve learned about it from so many of us. But everyone’s road is different, isn’t it?
First of all, Susie, congratulations for writing up a storm…enough to have to get up every 30 minutes for a break! I wish I could help you with your questions but FB is the only social media I use and that not even with my blog (too private for Astrid). I’m sure you’ll figure it out. So many friends in the know will help you! Much success.
Thanks Ginnie. I’ve been getting some great advice. Since I wrote the post, I’ve also uncovered a whole lot of sites that are fun and interesting and have some depth to them. It involves striking a real balance in life. I think the way you and Astrid preserve your travels and memories results in a beautiful site. I love visiting. Thank you for coming by. As always, Susie
Susie, you’re getting lots of good advice here, the heart of it being to do what appeals to you. If you loathe Facebook, go other routes. That said, though, authors have been reporting that a professional FB page is well worth doing. There are some things to watch out for, such as how you define yourself when you sign up, as it dictates how many viewers you can have without paying. I only have a personal page, but I’ll open an author’s page soon. Goodreads is an excellent way to go, and I see you already have Pinterest. I think Twitter is iffy, but for you it could be just right, a couple of minutes a day telling your followers the latest. They’d all retweet you, and thousands see these things. Yes, it’s a learning curve, but I say don’t bother trying too hard. Just do what’s fun and write. 🙂
I think when the book is ready, I’ll do a professional FB page. I think I just have to. I really appreciate the advice and the tips Marilyn. This is the kind of stuff I need to learn. Goodreads is wonderful, but boy, is it ever hard to understand for some reason. I’m in the process of learning twitter and finding it kind of fun. But you are so perfectly right…it’s the writing that matters. That and having fun at it. I have a stickie on my computer: “Have an easy joy about it all.” I read that everyday. Thanks as always, Marilyn, for being here for me.
I love facebook. Especially when not bombarded
by a site. One post a day is such a peaceful, easy
feeling to me. I dislike getting a steady stream of feed.
Feels like a constant knocking at a door.
I so enjoy space and so don’t do a lot of social media.
Facebook and Instagram are plenty enough for me right now.
Wonderful tulips! So glad you’re warming in the sun:)
-Jennifer
This is very interesting to me Jennifer. How do you set it up that way? I felt bombarded by FB posts. And I’m like you, I don’t want that constant knocking at the door. I know that there will be a period when there will be a push on social media to let people know my book is out there—and I’ll be doing a free giveaway to subscribers and people who subscribe now, but then I expect things to quiet down. I will make sure it happens that way. I love my peace and quiet too much-:)
Hi Susan, I’ve come late to the party. The only thing I can offer is to have a group page on FB.
You can’t do shares from a group page but people can comment and I find the ability for conversation attracts readers. You also have more control on what is showing up on your page. All group members see when you have added a post to the page. They can invite other people to join. From my experience it quickly builds up.
Hi Susan, I’m hoping you might tell me a little more about this option. Are you able to administer your group page on FB? It seems odd that people can leave comments, but I can’t respond?!? That, a “conversation” doth not make! Can you send me your link and I’ll take a look at how it works. I’m VERY interested in all these possibilities and thank you for giving me an idea. I just found an interesting site called Sixty and Me, and the only way I can comment on the site is through FB. It’s frustrating. So I may need to join FB, but how I set it up is going to be key. Thanks so much Susan.