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| (The cover image and header on our FB page. https://www.facebook.com/JenniferInnesAndrewGrace) |
We don't have a lot of traffic yet but I'm not too worried about it since we are in the process of polishing the first book and should have it ready to sell a few months from now. Getting the page up and running was important so that when the book is ready we will already have people waiting. It's also given us the opportunity to get some awesome feedback from future readers on both cover design and potential editors. Ultimately, I think there are a lot of interesting things a Facebook page can do for any author who is willing to take the time to set one up and maintain it.
The best place to start is to look at pages made by other authors and see how they built their page and what updates they make. Since there is two of us I decided our page needed both of our photos, but our faces are too big to fit in the tiny box given for personal photos so I made our cover image a picture of us. We also didn't have any good pictures of the two of us together so I had to cut and paste two different pictures and add an artsy effect so that it appeared seamless. In the smaller photo I posted a potential book cover for our first book in the series. Why I decided to do a joint author page was because a page for a book only works for that book (not easy to cross promote) and a page for a series alienates readers who enjoy your other works (also hard to cross promote when you start publishing other books or series). So an author's page seemed like the best option. Here we are able to promote our series and our own works.
Just like on Twitter where it's important to engage with others, Facebook requires a level of engagement because it is a "social" media. It's hard to engage others through a Facebook page but once you do you are reaching more individuals than you probably are through a blog or other media outlet. Every time a person shares your FB page, all of their friends/family will be exposed to it unlike your blog which is harder to share with everyone your readers know.
A final comment, keep it professional. Writing is fun but marketing/promoting your work is a job and to be successful you need to be professional. Maybe that's not the rule for everyone, but it's the rule for most people. Keep your photos clean, keep your content kind, and keep active online. :)
Do you have an author/book/series Facebook page? How has it worked out for you? Let us know in the comments! :)
1 comment:
I have one. And combined with my blog, Twitter and the Yahoo Groups I belong too, it works out fairly well. I don't maintain it, like I should, but I'm working on it! Good luck!
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