Creating Content for an Author Facebook Page

Sorry to all of you who are tired of hearing from me how to publicize yourself and your work as an author through social media. For those of you interested in this topic, I've got another tidbit for you.

While I've seen a lot of authors approach their FB pages in different ways, one thing that makes any FB page "successful" (i.e. gets more traffic/more likes) is viral content. Viral implies that it is shared across the web (or FB) reaching more people than just a single share by your page. Content can be anything that applies to your brand (i.e. you as an author, your book, your interests).

Take into consideration what types of things are often shared on FB.

Quotes are pretty common among FB content and FB shares. Here are two quotes I added to images and shared on my FB page. Notice how they apply to my brand (fantasy author).

I also created this one with my own text because it applies to my brand (fantasy books and strong female characters).

Lastly, I created this to help promote the series in particular. I have more of these cat photos/text to share on the page. I chose cats because they are popular and they are featured in our book.

So consider what your brand is and what content you can make to add to your page and get people to share. Also note that when it's time to promote your book asking family and friends to share any posts about your book is helpful. Don't ask them to share every post you make (unless you want to be annoying) but getting them to share your posts about your actual novel will get more eyes on that post and more potential sales.

One Thousand Reasons Why I Need to Stop Buying Pens and Pencils

I recently unpacked some of my office boxes and found multiple boxes labeled 'pens and pencils.' I wasn't surprised until I started dumping them out and I realized just how many I really had. Now it's important to note that I also keep multiple pens in a variety of bags, purses, backpacks and drawers that never really see the light of day (or not much of it) and those were not taken into consideration when going through what I had packed and subsequently unpacked.

So here is some of my collection:

(Part of my pen/pencil collection.)

(The collection a little more organized but still missing a boxful.)

One of the reasons I have so many, is because I love so many different kinds of pens for different reasons. When writing, drawing or editing, a variety of colors is always helpful:

(I love colors!)

I also enjoy pens that have minimal friction. They allow me to write faster such as gel pens and felt-tip pens. So I buy a lot of those when possible.

(I especially love colorful felt pens.)

I've also found that pens can last a long time. After 20 years the collection continues to grow steadily.

(I've had these two pens since the 5th grade, also known as 1993 AND they still work!)

I also like to collect pens while on vacation. I have a cool cat themed space pen from Hemingway's house in Key West (not pictured) and a replica pen from Gettysburg, PA (pictured below):

On occasion I've also received pens as gifts. While I do love all pens, I will say that some of the pens gifted to me have been more unique and thoughtful than others.

(My father made me these quills a few years ago.)

So long story short, I need to stop entering any store that sells any sort of pen ever because my addiction is getting out of control. ;)