The first piece of advice most self-publishers hear is that they must be active on social media, all the time. It\u2019s not enough for them to have their own websites and blogs \u2013 they have to be on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Tumblr and Goodreads and a dozen other social media platforms. Authors have to be friendly, funny and confident while endlessly and cleverly promoting themselves and their work \u2013 at the same time, \u2018being themselves\u2019. This is despite the fact that the majority of authors are introverts, happiest when reading or writing or thinking in quiet solitude or, at their most sociable, gathering with a couple of close friends to have meaningful conversations. The whole \u2018promoting yourself\u2019 thing is not only anathema to many authors, but practically forbidden in Australia, unless you\u2019re a white sportsman (and even then, there are limits).<\/p>\n
I started this blog seven years ago, because a novel of mine was being published in the United States and my publishers had been a bit taken aback to learn I didn\u2019t have a proper \u2018online presence\u2019. I was hesitant at first, but once I\u2019d overcome the technological challenges of setting up a WordPress blog on my own site, I started to enjoy it. I could write about anything I wanted, in as much detail as I liked, whenever I felt inspired to write. And people who liked books would join in the conversation! The only limitation I placed on myself was that each blog post had to be related to books and writing \u2013 but as pretty much every topic in existence has some tangential link to books and writing, this was not much of a limitation (see, for example, my blog posts on scones<\/a>, giant squid<\/a> and quilting<\/a>). <\/p>\n I was never interested in joining Facebook, because I didn\u2019t like their privacy policies or business practices. I might have considered LiveJournal, back in the olden days \u2013 before it was taken over by Russians<\/a>. Dreamwidth is touted as the new LiveJournal, but is less popular and doesn\u2019t appear to offer any advantages over my own blog. Instagram and Tumblr seem to be for people who like looking at pictures \u2013 I just can\u2019t see how any meaningful, language-based communication can happen on those platforms, although I\u2019m happy to hear otherwise from people who are fans. <\/p>\n As for Goodreads, it\u2019s for readers, rather than authors. I try to avoid it, especially when it comes to my own books. My blog does appear on my Goodreads page (it\u2019s an automated feed, I didn\u2019t have anything to do with it) and I\u2019ve found the Goodreads librarians to be helpful whenever I\u2019ve needed to have book entries corrected. However, I\u2019m not very enthusiastic about becoming a Goodreads Author, especially since reading their Terms of Use<\/a>. Here\u2019s a snippet of it, explaining that whenever you post anything on Goodreads, including an excerpt of a book, you give Goodreads:<\/p>\n \u201ca royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, list information regarding, edit, translate, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, and make derivative works of all such User Content and your name, voice, and\/or likeness as contained in your User Content, in whole or in part, and in any form, media or technology\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Mind you, Twitter users have to agree to similar conditions. The difference is that I wouldn\u2019t be posting anything substantial on Twitter, so I don\u2019t care as much about them owning my content for eternity. Still, I\u2019ve been a Twitter sceptic for years. How can you communicate meaningfully in 140 characters? Isn\u2019t it just people shouting slogans at each other? What about all those women who\u2019ve been forced off Twitter after serious harassment and abuse? True, they have cute animals<\/a> on Twitter, but I can get my fix of cute animals in many other places on the internet.<\/p>\n On the other hand, lots of authors and writing-related organisations are on Twitter. It\u2019s probably easier to chat with these people on Twitter than via blog comments (I say, looking meaningfully at authors who use Blogger, which refuses to let me leave any comments). Maybe Twitter will be a useful means of connecting with the writing and reading world?<\/p>\n So, as you have probably gathered, I\u2019m now on Twitter. You can find me at mini_memoranda<\/a>. (There were already about fifty Michelle Coopers on Twitter. The nerve of them, using their own names for their own Twitter accounts!) So far, I\u2019ve accidentally liked one of my own tweets when I clicked on the wrong symbol, attracted one dodgy follower, and had Twitter tell me I ought to follow Tony Abbott. Please tell me you\u2019ve had better experiences on Twitter and how to do it properly.<\/p>\n More in Adventures in Self-Publishing:<\/strong><\/p>\n Why Self-Publish?<\/a> The first piece of advice most self-publishers hear is that they must be active on social media, all the time. It\u2019s not enough for them to have their own websites and blogs \u2013 they have to be on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Tumblr and Goodreads and a dozen other social media platforms. Authors … Continue reading Adventures in Self-Publishing: To Tweet Or Not To Tweet<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-writing-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5363"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6082,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5363\/revisions\/6082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhat\u2019s This Book About, Anyway?<\/a>
\nEditing<\/a>
\nDesigning a Book Cover<\/a>
\nTurning Your Manuscript Into A Book<\/a>
\nAll the Mistakes I’ve Made (so Far)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"