11 Tips for Writing a Great Blog Post

By Iola Goulton

Some authors love blogging. Some loathe it. But an author blog is often considered a necessary part of an author platform (especially for non-fiction authors).

If we're going to put time and effort into blogging, let's do it properly. Here are my 11 Tips for Writing a Great Blog Post:

1. Plan Ahead

Yes, I know this sounds boring. But it will cut down on your blogging stress in two ways because it means you won’t be scrambling to write and edit a blog post at the last minute. Planning ahead also means you can write when the urge hits you … even if that’s several weeks ahead of your scheduled post date. As an example, I’m drafting this post on 22 November. I know December is going to be busy, so I’m trying to get ahead while I can.

For those of us who contribute to group blogs, planning and scheduling ahead of time makes life a lot easier for the blog admins. 

A missed post can take an hour or more of admin time in checking the blog, checking the schedule, contacting the other admins, contacting the blogger, waiting for an answer, and trying to find a substitute post.

I’m an administrator for two group blogs (this and International Christian Fiction Writers) as well as having two blogs of my own (Iola Goulton and Christian Editing Services). It gives me a good feeling to check the calendar on Monday morning and find all the posts are scheduled for the week. All I have to do is promote them (see point 10 below).

2. Find the Perfect Topic

Sometimes you’re writing a blog post with a specific goal in mind: to share a cover reveal, a pre-order, a new release, or a specific time-sensitive promotion. These are easy posts to plan and write ahead of schedule, and should be part of your regular book launch marketing plan.

Sometimes you’re writing a post that has to fit a particular theme. For example, here on Australasian Christian Writers, Monday is a craft post and Thursday is a book review. We're introducing something new for Tuesday's next year, and I'll talk a little about that in my next post (yes, planning ahead).

But more often you’re faced with a blank slate. I find those blank slate posts harder to write than when I’ve got a topic in mind. So … plan ahead. Plan out what topics you’d like to cover and when. Then you can write to cover those topics, or (if the muse hits you) you can write to please the muse.

What makes a great blog post topic? I suggest:

• Something that interests you (so you’re going to enjoy writing it)
• Something that’s not going to date quickly (so you can continue to promote the post in the future).
• Something that’s relevant to your target audience. You do know your target audience, right? Do they ever ask questions? Yes? Then write an answer. You’re likely to get the same questions over and over, and having the answer in a blog post means you can direct future askers to the post.

(Kick Start Your Author Platform has more great tips on choosing the perfect post topic.)

3. Write at least 300 words

One of our objectives as writers is to be read. Which means writing words people want to read. But first people have to find what you’ve written. This means making your blog post as appealing to Google (and other search engines) as it is to your target reader.

Which means writing a blog post that’s at least 300 words long. More words are better, but only if they are good words. No padding!

(P.S. In a group blog, that's 300 or more words of content. Not 300 words including your bio.)

4. Make Your Post Scannable

As you write, make your post scannable. Many people read blog posts via a reader (such as Feedly), or on a mobile or tablet.

In an online world, scannable equals readable.

To make your blog post scannable:

• Use short paragraphs (no more than four lines).
• Use headings and subheadings.
• Use bullet points or lists where relevant. Like here.

5. Ask a Question

As bloggers, we need to engage our readers, to keep them coming back. A great way of doing this is to ask a question.

This could be like my Bookish Question, or like #FirstLineFriday posts (what’s the first line of the book nearest you?).

Or you could ask a question that’s relevant to theme of your post. If the post is sharing your favourite novels, ask your readers their favourite novels. If you’re about Christmas, ask your readers to share their favourite Christmas memory. You get the idea.

The blogs I enjoy reading most are generally conversations where the comments are as important as the blog itself. So work out how you can turn your blog post into a conversation.

6. Revise. Edit. Proofread

We’re writers. We can do this. (If you can’t, Christian Editing Services can help you!)

7. Add a Killer Title

Feedly delivers me over 100 blog posts every single day. I don’t have time to read 100 blog posts. No one does. So how do I decide which posts to read? Based on the title.

Some people don’t want to use clickbaity titles such as 11 Tips for Writing a Great Blog Post. However, it’s only clickbaity if the post doesn’t actually deliver on the promise (or makes you click through 32 screens to get the 11 points).

Also, I’m reliably informed (thanks, Margie Lawson) that people subconsciously like numbered posts, because the numbers show us how much longer until the end of the post (not long now, people).

8. Include a Relevant Image

People like images. Search engines like images. Social media likes images—experts will tell you posts with images get more attention.

Include images. (But make sure you are using them legally.)

Your main image should be centred at the very top of the post. This is the image Blogger will pick up for social media shares (if you use WordPress, you can select a Featured Image. WordPress will display that at the top of your post, and use it for social media shares).

Intersperse images throughout a longer post—it breaks up the text and makes it more readable. 

Use design software such as Canva to brand your images, so your images stand out to someone randomly scanning through Feedly. And include your killer title with your image—that will help when you’re sharing to visual sites like Instagram and Pinterest (see 10, below).

If you’re posting on a group blog like ACW, include your author photo, bio, and social media links at the bottom of the post.

9. Add Your Byline

Tell your readers who wrote the post. This is especially important if you’re writing for a group blog with multiple contributors. Some people will choose to read the post because you wrote it. Make it easy for them to know they want to read this post.

10. Promote Promote Promote

Note: promote promote promote does not mean spam spam spam.

Promoting means sharing your post with your target audience using relevant social networks.

If your post is about your multi-author romance giveaway, share in places where romance readers congregate (hint: not LinkedIn).

I use Buffer to share to Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter—Buffer's Power Scheduler means I can even schedule multiple posts at once. A few clicks, and it’s done, with a unique message for each network (e.g. one or two #hashtags on Twitter, but more on Instagram).

Why these networks?

• For my reader-writer-reviewer posts, my target reader is on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Many are also on Twitter, and it takes only a few extra seconds to get Buffer to share to Twitter as well.
• For my writer-editor posts, my target audience is on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. The beauty of Pinterest is that people can follow specific Boards, so people who aren’t interested in writing can choose not to follow my writing-related Boards.

I share on Google+ because that is indexed for SEO purposes. Translated: sharing to Google+ means Google is more likely to show my blog post (or Google+ share) to someone who is searching for posts on my topic.

The other reason for sharing or promoting is that some blog posts get more traction on social media than on the actual blog. For example, my weekly Bookish Question often gets no comments on the actual blog post, but always gets Likes and Comments on Facebook and Instagram (especially Instagram).

One request: if you’re a member of a group blog like ACW or ICFW, consider using a programme like Buffer to share everyone’s posts, not just your own. Because this is a community. Let’s work together and help each other.

11. Engage

You finished your blog post with a question, right? Now it’s important to check back and make sure you respond to answers (and other comments). And don’t forget to check your social media networks and respond to comments there as well.

Readers want to connect, to engage. That means responding to comments in a timely manner.

That’s it. My top blogging tips. Is there anything you don’t understand or you’d like more information on? Or anything you’d like to add? Let me know in the comments.

If even the thought of establishing a blog or an author platform fills you with dread … I can help. Click here to sign up to be notified about my March Marketing Challenge: Kick Start Your Author Platform.

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. She is a member of the Sisterhood of Unpronounceable Names (Iola is pronounced yo-la, not eye-ola and definitely not Lola).

Iola holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting, and currently works as a freelance editor. When she’s not working, Iola is usually reading or writing her next book review. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat. She is currently working on her first novel.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

An Exciting Opportunity for Your Facebook Author Page

A guest post from Jebraun Clifford.

Facebook just made it easier to create visually engaging content on your author page with a new feature: a video instead of a static image for your cover picture. You could play a book trailer. A very short interview. A montage of all your book covers. You’ve got 20–90 seconds to grab your visitors’ attention, and the possibilities are endless.

I made a video on http://lumen5.com. 

The process is simple, even if you’re not a superstar with technology. I played around for an hour or two and ended up with a 38 second video that I feel represents my brand well. The website is very self-explanatory and coaches you through each step.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Collect images. 

These can be stock photos (I like stocksnap.io for a good, free selection), or use your own photos. This website also suggests photos to go with your text, though—lookout!—there were some dodgy photos! I recommend including a recent head shot and certainly pictures of your book covers if you’re published. Each image runs for about 4 seconds in a slide-show format.

2. Figure out what words you want your video to say. 

I briefly described what genre I write and then organised the images to go with my chosen text. Don’t try to squeeze too many words on each picture as your visitors will only have 4 seconds to read each frame. Other ideas include brief testimonials or endorsements, a blurb of a chosen book broken down into several sentences (you could do one trailer for each book you’ve written if you’re so inclined and rotate them through!), or your tagline which I also included at the very end of my video.

3. Upload your images onto the website.

Then drag and drop them in the order you want. It’s easy to switch them around until you’re happy with the placement. Keep in mind that your Facebook cover photo area will only show two thirds of your video (top, middle or bottom two thirds since you can shift the video up or down to place it), so make sure the important parts of the images are in a consistent location.

4. Type in the correct text to go with each image. 

Choose ‘title’ ‘text’ or ‘quote’ to format the text (though there’s only one font), and decide the placement of all your words. There’s a grid for upper left, upper middle, upper right, middle left, etc. for you to put your text in. Here’s where I messed up: because only 2/3 of the video fit on my Facebook cover photo area, I had to go back and switch my text to show at the top of the photos so it was all visible. I actually ended up making four videos, changing the word placement here and there, until I was satisfied with how it looked on Facebook. You can also have your text in different colours (including custom colours!), so play around and have fun with it.

5. Choose your music. 

There’s a melody for almost any mood or style you can imagine!

6. Preview. 

Make sure the music fits with your pictures. I even added an extra photo to take advantage of the music’s timing for some extra punch.

7. Publish your video. 

Wait for them to email it to you (it can take up to an hour), then upload it onto your Facebook page.

8. Admire your awesome looking Facebook page!

What are you going to put on your video?

About Jebraun Clifford

Growing up, Jebraun Clifford always wanted to step through a door into an imaginary kingdom, so it's no surprise she now calls Middle Earth home. Too short to be an elf and too tall to be a Hobbit, she lives in the centre of New Zealand where she and her preacher husband planted a church over a decade ago. She has three children, a crazy Jack Russell named Bree, and Gidget, a tortoiseshell kitten. She studied English Literature at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and the Central Coast of California is still one of her favourite places ever.

You can find out more about Jeb at her website, or on Facebook:

www.jebraunclifford.com

Jebraun Clifford on Facebook

Reader Question: Should I Hire Someone to Build my Social Media Presence?

By Iola Goulton

An agent liked my manuscript, but said I needed to build my social media presence before he’d consider representing me. I work full time. Should I hire someone?

Short answer: Maybe. 

Long answer …

Maybe. It depends on what your agent means by a social media presence, the kind of books you write and plan to write, on your brand, and on what God wants for your writing.

Let me explain.

I don’t have an agent. I’m not seeking representation from an agent. (I’ll tell you why some other time, if you’re interested.) I’ve lurked on a lot of agent blogs over the years, and one thing I’ve found is that agents are all different.

• Some only accept electronic submissions; some only accept paper.
• Some want a query letter first, others think a query letter is a waste of time and want a full proposal.
• Some seem to think numbers are the only important aspect of a writer’s platform, others make no mention of the subject.

That’s an extended way of saying that for every agent who reads this blog post and thinks I’ve got something right, another will think I’ve got it wrong. The right answer to this question depends very much on the agent you’re talking about.

What is a Social Media Presence?

If your agent thinks a good social media presence is 100,000 engaged Twitter followers, then I can make some suggestions. Start by reading Rayne Hall’s book on building your Twitter following, and implement her suggestions. Then read Ian Sutherland’s book. He built a following of over 100,000 people in around a year, and he offers support services to help other authors do the same. That might be something you could consider … but only if that’s what your dream agent is thinking of.

What does this agent expect in terms of building your social media presence?

But this might not be what your dream agent means. So you need to know what he means before you invest your time or your money in developing a social media presence. Does he mean social media or does he mean a platform—your entire online presence including social media, your website, and your email list?

Also, what manuscript did you submit that he liked?

• Fiction or non-fiction?
• What genre?
• Was it written for adults, teenagers, or children?

You’ve got the basics of a social media presence although it could do with refreshing, updating, and perhaps expanding (depending on your book):

• Website and a blog (although they should be combined onto one site).
• Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.

You also need to consider developing an email list and regular newsletter to subscribers, as this might be what your agent is looking for).

Build Your Brand

But how you do this will depend on what you are writing, and who you are writing for. You need to decide who you are, and build your author brand around that persona. Then you need to attract and engage with potential readers.

I believe you should do this yourself.

Because you can’t hire someone to tell you who you are.

Once you know who you are and who you want to be online, you can hire someone to help you broadcast that message. But you’re going to have to do some of the hard work up front.

It’s generally agreed that a non-fiction author needs more of an author platform to interest an agent than a fiction author. That’s especially true in the case of true-life stories—for example, I’ve read that agents aren’t interested in cancer stories. They’re all too common.

Once you’ve decided who you are, and once you know what kind of platform your dream agent wants you to build, then you have another decision: is that what you want to do? Is it what God wants you to be doing? (I ask because your social media profiles make it clear you’re a Christian.)

Should you hire someone to build your social media presence?

The answer is going to depend on the answers to other questions:

• What does this agent mean by “build a social media presence”? This is the most important question.
• What manuscript is he interested in? What’s the genre? Is this the same as the books you’ve previously published, or different?
• What is your brand? In other words, who are you? How do you want people to see you?
• What does God want for your writing? Is this closed door a challenge for you to get past, or is it a door God doesn’t want you to open? Is chasing this agent God’s plan for you and your writing?
• How much is hiring someone going to cost? What results will you get? Is that return on your investment worth it to you?
• Could you find a way to do this yourself, perhaps by investing in online tools such as Buffer or Hootsuite?

Once you've answered those questions, then you can get back to your original question: should you hire someone?

I suspect the answer is no.

That might change in a couple of weeks or a couple of months, when you find the answers to some of my other questions. By then, I suspect, the answer to your original question will be obvious.

If you’ve got a question you’d like me to answer in a future blog post, please email me via www.christianediting.co.nz/contact, or tag @iolagoulton on Twitter.

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nz to download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more at www.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
Facebook (Author)
Facebook (Editing)
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter

Writers Supporting Writers ~ Group Blogs

By Narelle Atkins

I’m a big fan of group blogs, and blogging in general. Blogs provide a platform for writers to share and interact with readers. Blogging platforms are public and accessible to everyone who has a web browser. Unlike other social media platforms, the blog reader has full control over the blog post content they can access online. They can also choose how they want to read and interact with different blog posts.

Writing group blogs are a fun way to network and meet other writers and readers. They provide an opportunity for writers to hone their article writing skills. They also provide an opportunity to create an online community that’s inspiring, supportive, and encouraging. A community that is welcoming, inclusive, and works together to achieve a common goal.

How can you support your group blogs? 

1) Participation 

Being an active member of group blog is a great first step. This may involve joining a group blog as regular member of the blog posting team, guest blogging, commenting on blog posts, and sharing blog posts on social media. 

Australasian Christian Writers (ACW) has an active Facebook Group that’s linked to the blog. The Monday-Friday blog posts are shared in the ACW Facebook Group. We welcome guest bloggers and we also invite writers who have guest blogged to join our blogging team if a regular posting spot becomes available.

2) Commenting on blog posts

Last year Paula Vince shared an excellent post on her personal blog titled Why don’t we leave comments on blogs? Ironically, her blog post has 70 comments. I encourage you to read her post and comments if you haven’t seen it. Paula tackles the elephant in the room and covers this topic in-depth.

Blog post comments are one way you can support other writers. Sometimes we can over think what to write in a comment. A simple thank you or a few words of encouragement can mean a lot to the author of the post who has invested time and effort in writing the post.

I believe it’s important for all of us to consider taking a step outside our comfort zone by reaching out and commenting on blog posts written by Bloggers who we don’t know. This is how we can create a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive blog community. If we only comment on group blog posts written by our friends, the group blog could look like a clique to readers who follow the blog posts and notice the pattern in the comments.

Blog comments provide a chance to give feedback to the author of the post. If there are no blog post comments, the author may assume their post isn’t engaging or reaching their target audience. Writers may quit blogging if they think no one is reading their posts.

3) Sharing blog posts

Many of us have busy lives and find it hard to schedule time to read blog posts. This can be more difficult if the blog post content is outside our area of interest.

We can support the authors of blog posts by sharing their posts on social media. Wordpress offers an option for blog readers to like blog posts. Liking a blog post is a fast and easy way to show an author that you value their blog post. Carolyn Miller recently wrote an excellent blog post titled Please Like Me! that explores the question of why people don’t press like on Facebook posts.

Blogger and Wordpress have made it easy to share blog posts on social media. For the examples below I’ve taken screenshots from Iola’s ACW blog post on Monday.

• M symbol – Email the blog post link to a friend via Blogger. You need to have a Blogger profile to access this option. 

• B symbol – Blog This. You need a Blogger blog to reblog the content. 

• T symbol – Share to Twitter. A fast and easy way to tweet the blog post to your Twitter followers. The blog post text is automatically created, and all you need to do is sign into Twitter and press share. 

• F symbol – Share to Facebook. You can share the blog post to your Facebook profile timeline, a Facebook group, or a Facebook page you manage. 

• P symbol – Post to Pinterest. You have the option to select the boards where you want to pin the post. 

• G symbol – Share to Google+. Pressing the G symbol creates a ‘plus one’ (which is the equivalent of a like) and the option to share the post to your Google+ profile. Last year I wrote a blog post for ACW on Google+ ~ Is it relevant and useful for writers?

I share group blog posts via Buffer and Social Jukebox. Please see Iola Goulton’s ACW post How to be on Twitter 24/7 Without Being on Twitter 24/7 to learn more about sharing blog posts using social media tools. 

My daily routine for social media group blog post sharing

I use the paid version of Buffer and share group blog posts to 1) Twitter 2) Google+ profile and 3) Facebook Author Page (if the content is relevant to my target audience). 

I may not have the time to read the daily posts from my list of group blogs, but I can find five or ten minutes each day to support the writers by sharing their blog posts on social media. 

Is there something new you can try to encourage and support the writers of group blog posts? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

A fun loving Aussie girl at heart, NARELLE ATKINS was born and raised on the beautiful northern beaches in Sydney, Australia. She has settled in Canberra with her husband and children. A lifelong romance reader, she found the perfect genre to write when she discovered inspirational romance. Narelle's contemporary stories of faith and romance are set in Australia.

Website: http://www.narelleatkins.com

Blog: http://narelleatkins.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NarelleAtkinsAuthor

Twitter: @NarelleAtkins https://twitter.com/NarelleAtkins

Please Like Me!

Please Like Me

A few months ago Paula Vince posted a fascinating article at vincereview.blogspot.com.au about why people don’t leave comments on blog posts. The discussion was illuminating. Many people commented (ironic?) offering various reasons from previous comments being misunderstood to the challenges of technology. What was agreed was the need to continue to support each other in promoting and encouraging each other on this writing (and publishing) journey.

I have a similar question. Why don’t people press like on a Facebook post?

It’s a simple thing. Press the like button, or if you want to invest a little more, hold the like button to get an emotion (love, haha, wow, sadness, anger). Hey, if you really care, write a comment. What puzzles me is how people can ‘see’ an article and just move on, not even acknowledging they’ve read it. Especially when it’s such a simple thing to press ‘like’.

I’m a relative newbie to Facebook, having only been on since 2014. Prior to that I couldn’t really see the point, as I felt social media had the potential offering a sheeny-shiny, shallow artificial connection that made users think they really were connected, at the expense of real deep relationships earned over years. Turns out I was right. And wrong. Wrong because Facebook can be more than just a friendship-meter, tracking your popularity (ugh! who wants to revisit those high-school days? Oh wait…) It has the opportunity to connect acquaintances (those from Omega conferences, etc), to share useful information (I’ve learned HEAPS about writing from my ACW friends) or track how a loved one far away is doing (not in some creepy stalker-like way!). My sister has lived overseas for the past four years, first in England, now in Canada. Her photos of her many trips have been (literally) eye-opening, and something that Facebook expedites, as opposed to an email with a link to download her photos via the Cloud or Onedrive or some other method of streaming photos. Facebook can be good. But it has a downside, too.

Did you know social media can be like a drug? In 2012, a Harvard University study on social media found that talking about oneself through social media activates a pleasure sensation in the brain usually associated with food, money and sex (www.pnas.org/content/109/21/8038). Dopamine – that organic chemical in our brains – is released when we get a response, whether it’s a ‘like’, or a text, or our tweet re-tweeted. Dopamine – that same sensation that occurs for gamblers, smokers, drinkers – is highly addictive. We want more, more, more – we become insane by greed! (to quote Barbara Cartland 😁).

Getting likes makes us feel good. (Hello?) But what if we don’t get the ‘likes’ we crave? What if the post we craft, or the news we think so amazing, earns the social media equivalent of a dismissive eye-rolled ‘whatever’?

The drug that makes us check our status before saying good morning to our spouse, that makes us upload photos of meals or check our phones instead of talking to our dates, that makes us think about our emails rather than actively engage in work discussions – this drug has the potential to cost relationships. Motivational speaker Simon Sinek explains it clearly here: youtu.be/jeAtNduPFmI

Rather than listening to people to truly hear we listen to craft our reply. Rather than spending time, lots of time, with those who see us at our best AND worst – those who truly know us – we look for affirmation from those we barely know. Those very same people whose indifference is revealed by their scrolling past your post to find another more titillating, more worthy of a ‘like’.

Have you ever had to ‘go dark with social media? Take time away because it just doesn’t make you feel good anymore? I have. (Honesty time here). Sometimes I’m just not secure enough to cope with the plethora of information Facebook bombards my feed with. Sometimes I’ve unfollowed people because my ‘highlight reel’ cannot compare to theirs, and instead of getting that ‘feel good’ hit, I get a shot of ‘feel bad’ 😢. Sometimes I re-follow them, sometimes not. I know my posts have the potential to make others feel the same way. I try to make my posts positive, to be light and salt, to not add to the negativity so prevalent in certain circles (aka the news). I don’t actively go out of my way to make people feel less (does that sound arrogant? SO don’t mean to be; hear my heart). My sister told me about a Facebook ‘friend’ who posted about her amazing boyfriend who just graduated medical school, finishing her elation with a breathily snide ‘what has YOUR boyfriend done recently?’

Ouch.

Narcissistic, perhaps?

Insensitive, much?

People who spend more time on Facebook suffer from higher rates of depression than those who don’t. ‘Seeing everyone else’s highlight reels: how Facebook usage is linked to depressive symptoms’ was published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology in 2014. In it, there’s a clear link showing studies provide evidence that people feel depressed after spending a great deal of time on Facebook because they feel badly when comparing themselves to others. (Read more: http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/jscp.2014.33.8.701)

I’m an introvert by nature. Sure, I can put on a smile and, given the right circumstances, act like the life of the party (I’m not pathologically introverted!) – even if I find myself exhausted at the end. Being introverted means I worry about what others think. Sometimes I can even obsess over it, wondering what people REALLY meant, rather than taking their words at face value. Sometimes I feel emotionally fragile, and can go to a dark place, my ‘cave’ where I can only cope with those I know who truly love me, despite my flaws.

Some of you may be aware that in a few short weeks my debut Regency ‘The Elusive Miss Ellison’ releases in the US. I’m very aware that there will be negative reviews and potential for 1 star ratings - not because I think my book is bad! – but because that’s the nature of putting your creativity out into the world for assessment. What one person loves another loathes. I get that.

I’m learning (still learning!) that my security is not to be found in other’s opinions, not to be found in comparing myself to others, but to be found in Jesus Christ.

I am not the sum total of ‘likes’ received.

I am the child of the King. Chosen for His purpose. Appointed, anointed to share His love and light and hope, especially through the medium of words.

Australasian Christian writer – you are, too. Beloved, anointed, appointed by the King.

When I remember this, when my focus is on God, who truly has my best interests at heart, then my heart lifts, and I’m reminded of the bigger God-picture, the bigger God-purpose that instills confidence and hope in my future. I need to feed on the truth of His word rather than the feeds of the often faceless popularity-pollsters in the virtual world. When I notice I’m addicted to other’s opinions, ‘going dark’ on social media might be the detox I require to get the balance right, aided by an increased dose of Bible, prayer and praise.

My prayer is as I continue this writing journey, with all its ups and downs, that I – and you – will know deep within our soul that ‘likes’ don’t need to matter as much as His love.

His love – the true hope for all the world.

Your turn:

What makes you ‘like’ or simply pass by a post?

Have you ever had to ‘go dark’ to save your soul? If so, what helped you ‘rebalance’?

Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of romance, especially that of the Regency era, Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature, and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her Regency novel 'The Elusive Miss Ellison' will be published in the US by Kregel in February 2017. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Connect with her:    www.carolynmiller.org    

                                 http://www.pinterest.com/camillering

                                                                     https://www.facebook.com/CarolynMillerAuthor

                                                              https://twitter.com/CarolynMAuthor

Promoting Your Book on Facebook: Three Tips

By Iola Goulton

What do people use Facebook for?

Yesterday I looked at the three types of Facebook pages: Profiles, Pages, and Groups, and the three types of Groups: Public, Closed, and Secret. I also gave some examples of each. Today I’m going to look at how you should—and shouldn’t—use Facebook for self-promotion. First, let’s look at what users want from Facebook.

What do people like on Facebook?

The American Christian Fiction Writers Facebook course I’m currently taking assigned us a task: to survey our target readers and ask them five questions:

1. How often do you check your Facebook newsfeed?
2. What do you most like to see in your newsfeed?
3. What do you least like to see in your newsfeed?
4. Why do you "like" a page?
5. What is your favorite "fan" page? Why is that?

I have two groups of target readers, one for my fiction and one for my non-fiction. I posted these five questions on my personal author page and in the Australasian Christian Writers group, and got sixteen responses. I know these aren’t statistically valid samples: the respondents are biased towards people who use Facebook a lot, and there is self-selection bias as well.

But my results are consistent both with what I would have expected, and with the results my ACFW classmates posted (what I found unexpected was how many of my classmates were surprised by the results. This could explain the content of some of their Facebook feeds …).

How often do you check your Facebook newsfeed?

Responses ranged from “daily” to “several times an hour” (to the person who blushed at admitting to ten times a day: you have nothing to be embarrassed about). This sample is probably biased in that people who aren’t on Facebook at least daily probably wouldn’t have seen the post.

What do you most like to see in your newsfeed?

There were a lot of similarities in the answers to this question:

• News from family and friends
• Inspirational posts (e.g. memes and videos)
• Book or reading jokes (I also like grammar jokes)
• Prayer requests (well, I did ask Christians)
• Updates from favourite pages
• Information and articles about writing and publishing (from the writers)
• Information about personal interests (which vary by individual but include jewelry making, TV shows, science, craft ideas, and recipes).

Oddly enough, no one said “advertisements for books”, although people did mention links to free books or links to great books they could share.

What do you least like to see in your newsfeed?

There were also a lot of similarities in the answers to this question:

• Political posts and rants
• Whining
• Advertisements and excessive self-promotion (although a post or two to announce a new book appears to be fine)
• Swearing
• Selfies, especially duck-face selfies (I do like classy selfies. But I agree about duck-face selfies)
• Disrespectful posts or vitriol or posts that attack individuals (which is different from respectful disagreement over real issues)
• Disturbing pictures (e.g. smut, cruelty to animals)
• Scam posts (click this to win or share this if you want a blessing or repost this to show you care)

Why do you "like" a page?

Most people like pages either because they’re interested in the product or service or information provided, or because they want to support the page owner. This is good to know: your friends and fans want to support you.

What is your favorite "fan" page? Why is that?

One person asked “what is a fan page?”. I hope I answered that yesterday! The most common response was that they don’t have a favourite page.

Many writers said they like to visit writing groups (such as ACW). Others named specific pages, either author pages or the pages of other relevant communities. One person commented that they like the pages where the author interacts with fans and shows something of their personality, but don’t like the pages which are “into shameless self-promotion”.

Overall . . .

The results were consistent between the ACW members, and the people who answered via my personal page, suggesting that writers aren’t too different from non-writers in the way they use Facebook as individuals . . . which raises questions about the writer I mentioned yesterday, who posts to 100 groups each day.

How not to self-promote

As an aside, while I was procrastinating over writing this blog post, I checked out the 100+ groups this author is a member of (thanks to the fact the author doesn’t seem to avail herself of Facebook’s privacy settings). I’m a member of a few of the same groups, which are all promo-free or restrict self-promotion to once a week. One group had only two likes—one from the author herself, and another from her author page.

1. Focus on Engagement

Most of the groups were nothing but self-promo and the posts had little or no engagement, suggesting all the posters follow the same spam-and-run model of self-promotion, and no one is looking for books to buy (which reflects the results of my highly unscientific survey).

Facebook rewards people who post engaging content (i.e. content which people react to, comment on, or share). By continually posting content which gets no engagement, this author might unintentionally be pushing herself further down the Facebook algorithm to the point where Facebook doesn’t show her posts to anyone. Instead, she should:

2. Focus on Original Content

It was also evident that she—and others—are posting the same content over and over, something Facebook doesn’t like. Better to post less often, but to focus on posting original content her audience will engage with.

3. Target the Right Users

Most of the groups she posts in aren’t genre-specific groups: the author writes contemporary Christian women’s fiction, but her promotional posts were sandwiched between book covers featuring half-naked men and topless women, all in those shades of black and white so beloved of erotica authors. If this is the demographic these groups target, I’m not surprised members aren’t interested in down-home Christian women’s fiction.

If anyone would like a list of almost 100 groups that allow endless self-promotion and show little reader engagement, leave a comment! (Almost 100, because I’ve taken out the groups that don’t permit self-promotion, and the group she’s the only member of.)

There are ways of effectively self-promoting on Facebook. This is not one of them.

So how should we promote on Facebook?

Remember, it’s a social network. Be social:

• Have a personal profile and an author page, and don’t post the same content on both.
• Focus on engagement with posts over quantity of posts. Look for ways to connect with your target reader.
• Focus your content on your followers want: inspirational quotes, book sales and recommendations (not just your own books), personal news, and articles on relevant topics. You can use your Page Insights tool to see what specific posts get the most engagement.
• Self-promote only when you have something new to say: a new cover reveal, a new book available on pre-order, a new release, an older book on sale for a limited time.
• If you choose to pay for advertising, make sure you do it properly: aim for email list signups or book sales not page Likes, do some training first, learn how to target your ads, use targeting pixels, and calculate ROI on each campaign (if you don’t know what pixels are or why they are important . . . well, that’s why you need to get some training first).

(If you want information on Facebook advertising, check out this brilliant blog post—well, essay—from author Jeff Posey: Facebook Advertisements)


Overall, remember that spam is in the eye of the beholder (you might think you’re not spamming, but it’s not your view that counts. It’s the view of your current and potential readers). Focus on connecting with readers, ensure every post is something they will want to Like, Comment on, or Share.

Are you a Facebook fan? If not, which social network do you prefer, and why?

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction, and you can find out more about my services at my website (www.christianediting.co.nz),  subscribe to my monthly newsletter at CES Newsletter or follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christianediting), Twitter (@IolaGoulton) or Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/iolasreads).

Introducing Facebook: Profiles, Pages and Groups

By Iola Goulton

Facebook is a social network founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and a team of classmates at Harvard University. The site has around 1.6 billion users worldwide, with around half accessing the site through mobile devices such as smartphones. In the US, 62% of adults have a Facebook account, and 91% of them visit the site at least weekly: more than any other social network. This level of engagement means it’s a great platform for marketers.

Users can post updates themselves (either directly or through third-party apps such as Hootsuite and Buffer), and they can Like (or react using other emoticons), Comment or Share update posted by others. Facebook also has direct messaging and video applications.

If you read my post last week then looked at Twitter, you may have found the number of self-promotional posts close to overwhelming—although that might depend on who you follow. I follow a lot of authors, and many of them do nothing on Twitter except self-promote. Guess who I ignore or unfollow or both?

Unfortunately, a lot of authors use Facebook in the same way, as a way to endlessly self-promote.

For example, American Christian Fiction Writers are currently offering a free one-month course for members on using Facebook. In the introduction, the teacher asked the class what questions they have around Facebook. One self-published author replied that she wanted to know how to get better sales results from Facebook, as she was currently promoting her books in 100 groups each day and not seeing much return.

Yes, you read that right. She’s spamming one hundred Facebook groups each day.

I’ll attempt to answer the question of why endless spamming doesn’t work tomorrow—and what works better. For today, I’ll take a step back and cover some of the Facebook basics (for the non-addicts out there).

First, Facebook is a social network, an online network of social interactions and personal relationships:

Facebook is also described as social media, an application that allows people to participate in social networking:

In both cases, the key word is “social”.

Some people liken Facebook and other social media platforms as being like a party, and says the “rules” are similar: you wouldn’t walk into a party and start trying to sell your product or service to friends and strangers, so you shouldn’t do this on Facebook either (Facebook is not a Tupperware party, where the sales pitch is implied from the invitation).

The party analogy ignores two important facts: some people would walk into a party and try and sell their product or service. And Facebook is not a party. It’s a business. A profit-making venture. In this respect, Facebook is more like a free newspaper—it has enough useful content to ensure people open and read it, but its purpose is to distribute paid advertising.

Facebook is the same.

It is are a business who has taken the long-term view. They invested years into building and marketing a free social networking platform that would make it easy for people to connect with friends old and new, near and far. And they’ve succeeded. But now they are seeking to capitalize on that investment by selling advertising space.

From what’s I’ve observed as a regular (*cough* heavy-bordering-on-addicted *cough*) user, Facebook has two main tactics to achieve their goals:

1. Instead of showing users every post from every profile, page and group, Facebook are showing the posts they are most likely to engage with (by liking, reacting, commenting or sharing).
2. Facebook are getting tougher on unpaid advertising—they penalize spammers, and encourage users to pay to boost posts, or to purchase pay per view (PPV) or pay per click advertising (PPC).

This makes perfect sense if you think back to my analogy of the free weekly newspaper: Facebook have to have enough genuine content to keep us interested and visiting the site on a regular basis, but enough paid advertising to fund the free platform. But not everyone can advertise on Facebook: that’s a privilege (?) reserved for Pages, not pages.

Types of Facebook pages

Not all Facebook pages are created equal. There are actually three kinds, and the easiest way to remember the difference is to look at how you connect with people:

Profile

Your personal profile (which was originally referred to as an individual page).
You FRIEND or FOLLOW a profile, and you are limited to 5,000 friends (which should be more than enough for most of us). Officially, people can only set up personal profiles using their actual name, but it is possible to use a pen name. Users have the option of making their profiles Public or Private (in theory, only Friends can see Private profiles).

Note that “internet privacy” is possibly an oxymoron: while I can’t see a direct message, or a post on a Private page or in a Secret group (below), I’m sure any halfway competent hacker can. The usual internet rules apply: don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to be public information. Even in a private Direct Message (because while people can’t Share, they can still cut and paste).

Regardless of what you do on Facebook, you need a personal Profile because you can’t set up a Page or a Group without one. Unless, of course, you decide you’re not going to be on Facebook at all.

Page

You LIKE a page. 
Pages were originally called fan pages, and can be set up by public figures, organisations and businesses. Pages have some marketing advantages over a personal profile:

• You can have multiple pages (Facebook frowns on people having more than one personal profile)
• You can choose what kind of page to have: I have an Author page (Iola Goulton Author), a personal blog page (Iola's Christian Reads) and a Professional Services page (Christian Editing Services).
• You can have an unlimited number of followers (LIKES), while you are limited to 5,000 Friends
• Pages are indexed, which is a fancy way of saying they will come up in Google searches
• You can sell from a Page (selling from your personal profile is against Facebook’s Terms of Service)

Group

A group is just that: a group, and you JOIN a group.
A group is set up by one person, but may be managed and maintained by a team of administrators. Anyone can post to a Group, but (usually) only administrators can post using third-party tools (e.g. Buffer), and only administrators can delete posts.

Most groups have user guidelines, often displayed in a pinned post at the top of the group. These guidelines cover whether a group permits self-promotion, and under what circumstances. Some are no self-promotion ever, while others allow one self-promotional post per week or per month, or on a specific day of the week. Break the rules at your own risk: most groups have little patience for hit-and-run spammers (i.e. people who self-promote and never return to the group).

Types of Groups

There are three type of groups: Public, Closed, and Secret.

Public

Anyone can join a public group, anyone member can post to the group, and any member can add other Facebook users to the group. Personally, I steer clear of most public groups as they are often full of advertising . . . as if I don’t see enough already.

Closed

Closed groups have a degree of privacy, in that while anyone can search for a Closed group and request to join, only members can see posts, can post to the group and only administrators (usually) can add people to a group. Posts made to a Closed group usually can’t be shared beyond the group.

Some Closed groups are formal membership groups. For example, I’m a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Omega Writers, and Romance Writers of New Zealand, groups which only paid-up members can join. I find them to be a useful networking tool, and an easier way of keeping up with news than long email loops.

I’m also part of several groups where all members have taken the same training course (e.g. Shannon Mattern’s WP BFF group, for those who have taken her Five-Day Website Challenge). These groups allow members to work together to offer technical support, with the group owner chiming in where necessary. I think these groups are excellent—everyone in the group has a similar level of knowledge on the topic and is working on a similar project, so it’s an easy way to get advice.

Other Closed groups are informal membership groups, and this includes a lot of reading, writing and editing groups. Australasian Christian Writers has a Closed Facebook group—because we want our group to be Australasians (wherever they live) who are Christians (of any denomination) who write (anything—book reviews, books, blog posts, articles, poetry). Without wishing to sound exclusive, we don’t want our group filled with non-writers who want to sell us coastal properties in landlocked countries, or any of the other strange ‘offers’ we see on the internet.

Secret

Yes, Facebook also has secret groups. You have to be invited to join a secret group, as they don’t come up in searches (well, it wouldn’t be a secret if everyone knew about it, would it?). The Secret groups I’m part of tend to be highly specialised. One is an editing group which chose to become Secret so posts wouldn’t show up in searches (editors need to be able to ask advice or vent without worrying that the author in question might come across the post). Another is an author’s street team.

The Facebook News Feed

Most users access Facebook through their News Feed, which shows what Facebook believes to be the most relevant posts based on previous user interactions (Like, React, Comment or Share). For example, I’ve heard people claim they don’t want to join Facebook because they don’t want to be inundated with pictures of what everyone else had for dinner. That’s easy: don’t interact, and Facebook will gradually learn not to show you these posts.

The News Feed doesn’t show you every post made by every friend or on every page or in every group. You can select to always see posts from particular people, pages or groups, but otherwise you will only see what Facebook thinks you want to see. One way it works this out is to show a post to a small percentage of personal or page followers. If enough people interact with the post (by Liking, Reacting, Commenting or Sharing), then Facebook will show the post to more people—effectively rewarding people for posting interesting content. Facebook also “rewards” users for posting unique and engaging content by showing these posts to more people.

This ‘curating’ of the News annoys some long-time Facebook users. 

There was a time when they saw everything in their News Feed, while now they only see what Facebook thinks they want to see (which makes sense. The average Facebook user receives 1500 messages a day even with a filtered feed. I don't know about you, but I don’t need that much information).

Facebook now take action against people who routinely promote themselves without paying by restricting them from posting for up to two weeks. I often see authors complaining about these sanctions, about being sent to “Facebook Jail”, and I’m sorry but I have little sympathy. Facebook is not a place to self-promote, advertise, or spam. If I wanted wall-to-wall advertising, I’d watch the Shopping Channel.

Facebook is a social network: the key word is “social” not “self-promote”. 

Facebook is a venue to be social, a place to connect with family and friends, with readers and writers, with other people with similar hobbies and interests.

So how do people use Facebook, and how should authors use Facebook to promote themselves and their books? I’ll be back tomorrow to consider the answers to those questions.

Do you use Facebook? What are your favourite features?

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction, and you can find out more about my services at my website (www.christianediting.co.nz),  subscribe to my monthly newsletter at CES Newsletter or follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christianediting), Twitter (@IolaGoulton) or Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/iolasreads).