Twitter, Facebook, and I Really Should Update My Website

Q: Why do people have blogs?

Kassia: "I've never had an opinion I didn't want to share." It's the kind of writing she's been doing her whole life. It's a platform that works really well for her. Blogging has helped her establish herself in her career.

Christina: Blogging is living out loud. She prefers to keep certain things "inside" until they are ready to come out. Daily bloggers have a mindset that when they have an idea, they post it.

Kassia: "No one in the publishing industry new my name when I started by blog."

Jane: This is a topic that comes up a lot. (She's got a post on why to blog on her blog. She the blogroll at the right for the link to There Are No Rules.)

Q: If you're just starting a blog how to people get to you?

Jane: One of the most effective things you can do is comment on other people's blogs. If you are on Facebook and Twitter definitely link to relevant blog posts.

Kassia: Link to other blogs and sites.

Christina: There's also traditional connecting. Link, meet people, go to conferences, engage in professional development. It all creates a synergy. Do a little bit of a lot of things when it comes to connecting with others.

Jane: Look at things you can do online that will help other people, and they'll come back to you.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Twitter, Facebook, and I Really Should Update My Website

Q: (for Christina) How much time to do you spend writing vs. platform?

Christina: They was she uses her time depends on where she is in the process of a book project. You need to learn to steer your own ship and prioritize and don't drop your craft time.

Q: Do any of you pre-post your tweets?

Kassia: She times out her posts depending on what audience she's getting to. The average lifespan of a tweet is 5 minutes. When you tweet you're only getting an audience if they're online and they're reading you. If you think something is important, you may want to post is several times over a day or several days to have more reach.

Q: What determines how ou respond to Facebook posts?

Jane: When I'm prompted, I respond. She uses Twitter in a really intergrated way because she feels like her personal and professional lives are meshed.

Kassia: I feel like a lot people do Facebook wrong. She only accepts a friend request on her personal Facebook page if they are not her actual friends. She does not want people to know personal information about her.

Christina: She uses Facebook for professional purposes only. She doesn't want to hang out with people in her personal life online. She enjoyed connecting with other writer mamas. She finds it interesting to see how people respond to her posts. Nobody really used these tools in the exact same way.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Twitter, Facebook, and I Really Should Update My Website

Christina: Set up Google alerts on yourself so you know what other people are saying about you. These can be viewed in Google reader as well.

Kassia: She has allerts set up for her full name, her last name, and common misspellings of her name.

Christina: Has approximately 10 Google alerts set up.

Jane: What's something that you find essential on a daily basis?

Kassia: Twitter. She rarely reads email newsletters anymore. She can accomplish on Twitter and 15 minutes what used to take her an hour and a half.

Christina: Facebook. She's visual. If she had to choose between Twitter and Facebook, she'd probably choose Facebook. But she uses Twitter to expand her reach. She uses Tweetdeck to organize her Twittering.

Jane: She interacts on Facebook and used Twitter as a listening post.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Twitter, Facebook, and I Really Should Update My Website

Jane Friedman, Christina Katz and Kassia Krozer are offering a session on managing time when it comes to social networking.

Kassia: "I live my life online. I check my email before I pour my coffee."

Christina: She has 3 e-newsletters, 3 blogs, 3 websites, a -year-old daughter. She suggests weaving into your day the things that you feel will advance you as a writer.

Jane: Do you use an RSS readers?

Kassia: She uses Google reader on her iPhone at the gym. She has a process by which she reads blogs and info online. RSS, she says, is the best invention. She subscribes to the information that she needs and is interested in. (RSS stands for "really simply syndication.")

Christina: You asked what could be a big time suck--that would be Google reader. She's now a convert, but she had to recognize that she only needs to read on her focused topics.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Blog Hogs, Social Twitter and Online Tools for Authors: Writer Websites (Continued)

As Kassia Krozser mentioned earlier that the writer website is THE most important tool for writers. Here's her take on why: The writer website allows writers to own their fans.

Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms may change or fade in popularity (think MySpace), but the writer website should be considered the constant that survives all these changes and is always ready to receive visitors from the new platforms.

One last quote from Kassia: "Nobody cares about your website until they need it."

POSTED BY ROBERT LEE BREWER

Blog Hogs, Social Twitter and Online Tools for Authors: Blogs and blogging (continued)

Kassia Krozser endorses topical blogging. This means, pick a topic and focus your blog around that topic to establish yourself as an authority.

An audience member asked, " How do I get people to my blog?" Kassia answered that she believes in generous linking (to the blogs and websites of others).

POSTED BY ROBERT LEE BREWER

Blog Hogs, Social Twitter and Online Tools for Authors: Writer Websites

Here are a few (of several) things Kassia Krozser advises making sure is on your website:

• Author bio
• Decent author photo (make sure it represents you as a writer)
• Complete book list (not just most current release)

And Kassia advises (strongly): Keep your website as up to date as possible. If the information gets old or out of date, then readers, editors, etc., will find wrong info when they visit your site.

Kassia: "Keep the private stuff private."

POSTED BY ROBERT LEE BREWER

Blog Hogs, Social Twitter and Online Tools for Authors: Blogs and blogging

Kassia Krozser on blogs: "Not just for navel gazing."

Three types of blogs:

1. Personal blog. Good for developing voice.
2. Group blog. Pros: multiple writers producing more content (like this blog). Cons: these blogs can be a little scattered (not like this blog hopefully).
3. Blog tour. This is where you can post on other bloggers' blogs. Make sure you have original content and that it's relevant to the blogger's audience.

Q: How long should a blog be?

Kassia: As long as it needs to be--and in your writing style. There are no rules.

POSTED BY ROBERT LEE BREWER

Blog Hogs, Social Twitter and Online Tools for Authors: Social networks

Robert Lee Brewer (me) introduced Kassia Krozser for her session on social networking, and she's already rolling into her presentation.

For Kassia, social networking is about bringing people together.

Here's her take on a few social networks:

Facebook: A gated community. It's about developing a system of relationships.

Twitter: Free-for-all. A never-ending cocktail party. "Conversations flow in several different directions."

POSTED BY ROBERT LEE BREWER