social media
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Libboo: A New Social Media Platform that Might Actually Help Authors
When it comes to social media for authors, I’m skeptical at best. The average conversion rate for B2B companies on social media is 1.6 percent and they’re selling a solution to some kind of problem. Authors are selling a commoditized experience, something that depends on recommendations – word-of-mouth – more than anything else. In part,…
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Why Authors Shouldn’t Pay for Social Media Services
I accidentally clicked a press release the other day. This release announced an exciting new “social media system” to help independent authors create buzz for books. A noble goal, albeit a lofty one. Dog Ear Publishing, one of the many self-publishing platforms in the indie author world, offers the service with a nice little bonus:…
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Does Giving Away Your Music for Free Really Get People to Buy It?
In October 2012, I was inspired to start this website (at least in its current form), because I talked to a musician. Specifically, I talked to Owen Packard, the guitarist for UK-based metal band, Earthtone9. I was trying to figure out whether eBooks and mp3s could still make authors and musicians some kind of money.…
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Download “Technology & Culture Stink” for Free!
Today’s the last day of my KDP Select promotion of my short story collection, “Technology & Culture” stink. So if you’re remotely interested in reading short stories about topics that few authors have covered yet, like: social media ebooks cloud computing global warming a political race full of lawyer-reporters, a popular new profession Then check…
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Social Media, iPhones, and Memory
I had a friend in high school who had garnered a lot of attention after high school. Because we went to college and he did other things that seemed a lot more exciting, like climbing rocks all day. Collectively, those of us doomed on the coast often lamented that this friend seemed to be doing…
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Writers Stink at Social Media (And Why That’s Bad if You’re Self-Publishing)
I’ve talked about how bad writers can be at Facebook before. It’s pretty obvious if you just take a look around. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but in general it seems that us writerly folks tend to not like social media that much, particularly the insta-smile networks of Facebook, Twitter, and their…
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How a Self-Published Author Got 1,213 Followers on Twitter
Twitter. You’ve probably heard of it. People call it a “micro-blogging service,” whatever that means. If not, they’ll casually lambast it as something that adolescents use to inform friends of their latest Teenage Adventures. Twitter is more than that. In fact, it’s one of the handiest tools to promote your blog, your book, your band,…
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Facebook’s IPO: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Today marks a new low in Facebook’s share value as the initial lock-up for employees ended and some key people left the company. This has prompted a flurry of speculation about whether Facebook is doomed or not. I’m not going to add my arrow to said flurry, but I’d like to take a step back…
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Getting Arrested for a Tweet: The Age of the Post-Anonymous Internet
Can saying terrible things on the internet land you in jail? Thanks to social media, it looks like the answer is creeping closer to “yes.” In March, a 21-year-old who drunkenly tweeted racist remarks was charged with “inciting racial hatred” in the United Kingdom. He was sent to prison for 56 days. Two British boys,…
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