Tag: facebook groups

Do Book Posts in Facebook Groups Work as Marketing?

Facebook-GroupI am a heavy user of Facebook personally. I belong to a lot of writer groups, and several groups that allow book promotion (you post a spiffy description and link to your book — typically the Amazon link). Several authors I’ve encountered have expressed great disdain at these promo groups, saying they’re a waste of time and filled with other authors posting promos, not real readers. The critics also argue that posting on these sites just clutters your news feed, showing your friends your crappy, lazy marketing efforts.

However, my newsfeed has been cluttered by several authors doing this, and to me, it seemed crazy that people would continue to do something that is completely ineffective. So, being the evidence monger that I am, I decided to conduct an experiment to see if these Facebook marketing posts actually work. My conclusion — sorry Charlie, I’m gonna make you read to the end to find out. Or maybe I’ll tell you at some point before the end so you have to keep reading and can’t just skip to the bottom (I’m laughing maniacally right now). Continue reading “Do Book Posts in Facebook Groups Work as Marketing?”

Google Plus Groups

Google Plus CommunitiesLike many folks, I spend a lot of time on Facebook (probably more than is good for me, actually). And like many authors and other small business owners, I’ve become frustrated with Facebook’s pay-to-inform-your-followers setup and have thought about moving house to another social network – say, Google Plus.

But I also spend a lot of time in Facebook groups. (Sometimes it seems like posting in a Facebook group is the only way to be sure people will see your post, doesn’t it? But I digress.) Wouldn’t it be neat if Google Plus had a similar feature? Continue reading “Google Plus Groups”

The Power of a Crew

Being an indie author can be a very lonely endeavour and I have very quickly learned how important it is to work with other authors.

Since joining a few key Facebook groups, I have noticed chatter about my books increase. It has been so cool to help each other out. Promoting is made easier as they all tell their followers about your stuff and you return the favour. Your audience is instantly mutliplied with very little effort on your part. Promoting another author’s work is a privilege for me and to have them promote mine is an extra bonus. There is power in working together.

We don’t have big publishing companies promoting us. We don’t have bookstores stocking our novels and putting up mammoth posters and advertising. What we do have is the power of mutual promotion. Continue reading “The Power of a Crew”

Tutorial: Facebook Documents

I have to admit, when I first joined groups in Facebook, I had no idea what a Facebook document was, how to use it, or how to add my information to it. In fact, I still sort of dislike them (although I couldn’t tell you why) even though they are extremely useful.

Groups use Facebook documents to share information – like the Twitter handles, web sites, blogs, genres, and other kinds of data about their members. Some writers/reviewers groups use them to list books to be read or reviewed, and available reviewers and what genres they prefer.

One thing that may be confusing to some is that Facebook changed the nomenclature from “Documents” to “Files.” If you want to find the ones in your group, scroll up to the top of the page, to the right, and click “Files.” (see above, left) Continue reading “Tutorial: Facebook Documents”