Hello, all. I wondered if any of you had tried using various social media outlets (i.e., social networks, blogs, videos, podcasts, etc.) to publicize your work? If so, how did that go? Did you find it effective?

Also, I'm trying to figure out ways of actually integrating social media into my writing efforts, perhaps by creating blogs for fictional characters or incorporating parts of a plot into a video. I'd love your feedback on this. Things seem to be going online. I'm a big fan of holding a book in my hands, but have always been open to new ways of creating content in addition to those wonderful words on a page.

Any thoughts?

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Yes, I've been trying that off and on for a few years now. It does add to the amount of writing to do, though, since I have to create content for text as well as online stories. It's a good way to go, though.

Tansy said:
I like the idea of creating a blog for a fictional character. I did something like that just for fun a few months ago, but it never occurred to me to use it as a way to publicize my work.
I follow several book bloggers and thus far I've been interviewed by two them, and a few more interviews are scheduled before my novel is released in January.

There are lots of people to meet via the various social media sites. I've made numerous contacts and have developed friendships with booksellers, librarians, journalists, and bloggers. Overall I've found that She Writes, Red Room, Facebook, and Twitter have been wonderful for meeting great people and book lovers from all over the world.
I've browsed around Red Room, but am also a member of quite a few other social networks. I use a Facebook page to promote my mystery series and that's been going quite well. I also just joined a new site for writers who want to incorporate elements of social media into their work. I'm really enjoying that one.

I'm experimenting with different ways of giving my fictional characters their own "voice." I've started blogs for them, for example. The Facebook page is "owned" by the two main protagonists in the mystery series. It's a lot of fun!

Beth Hoffman said:
I follow several book bloggers and thus far I've been interviewed by two them, and a few more interviews are scheduled before my novel is released in January.

There are lots of people to meet via the various social media sites. I've made numerous contacts and have developed friendships with booksellers, librarians, journalists, and bloggers. Overall I've found that She Writes, Red Room, Facebook, and Twitter have been wonderful for meeting great people and book lovers from all over the world.
You create it as a Facebook page, rather than as a profile. This is designed for businesses, so you can put whatever you want there. It does not link to your personal profile page. It's really a separate entity.

Tansy said:
Doesn't Facebook have some kind of rule that you cannot use an alias - that you have to use your real name? So how can a fictional character have her own Facebook page?
I love the idea of a fictional person's blog.
It seems it would be an interesting excercise and a sort of Avatar like way.
The idea of a character making inroads to what people think draws me and
in a weird twist of fate, this morning I saw the cast of Murphy Brown interviewed on
a talk show ( wait cause many of you are too young for this reference) but what they were focusing on
was that Dan Quayle, the then very stupid VIce President who famously couldn't spell potato, made the character of Murphy Brown into a gigantic cause as she was a single mom.)
SO this is the perfect time to bring back edgy, fictional women to whom readers, viewers can relate and now interact with.
Just thoughts
Wicki Boyle
Thanks for your reply. I'm fooling around with a Facebook business page for my mystery series, and am also setting up Facebook accounts for the characters as well. We'll see how it goes!

Wilson Sherwin said:
Hi Margy,

Thanks for posting this question, it's one we're pretty preoccupied with here at SheWrites. You may be interested in checking out some of our webinars related to writing and social media: Coming up November 16th we have Courtney E. Martin's Blogging for Writers (sign up now for an early registration discount!). You can also download Sarah Milstein's Twitter for Writers. Both of which offer great, innovative ideas on how to use these social media platforms to get your writing out there...

Warm Best,
Wilson
I agree completely. I'm not too young to remember Dan Qualyle! In fact, I'm old enough to remember John F. Kennedy!

I'm trying out some things on Facebook, and am having quite a bit of fun there!

Wickham Boyle said:
I love the idea of a fictional person's blog.
It seems it would be an interesting excercise and a sort of Avatar like way.
The idea of a character making inroads to what people think draws me and
in a weird twist of fate, this morning I saw the cast of Murphy Brown interviewed on
a talk show ( wait cause many of you are too young for this reference) but what they were focusing on
was that Dan Quayle, the then very stupid VIce President who famously couldn't spell potato, made the character of Murphy Brown into a gigantic cause as she was a single mom.)
SO this is the perfect time to bring back edgy, fictional women to whom readers, viewers can relate and now interact with.
Just thoughts
Wicki Boyle
Hi Margy,
You said, I also just joined a new site for writers who want to incorporate elements of social media into their work.
I'm curious what this site is? Can you share the link please. I'm a poet and looking for ways to promote and expand my work with words and sound.
Thank you,
Julene

Margy Rydzynski said:
I've browsed around Red Room, but am also a member of quite a few other social networks. I use a Facebook page to promote my mystery series and that's been going quite well. I also just joined a new site for writers who want to incorporate elements of social media into their work. I'm really enjoying that one.

I'm experimenting with different ways of giving my fictional characters their own "voice." I've started blogs for them, for example. The Facebook page is "owned" by the two main protagonists in the mystery series. It's a lot of fun!

Beth Hoffman said:
I follow several book bloggers and thus far I've been interviewed by two them, and a few more interviews are scheduled before my novel is released in January.

There are lots of people to meet via the various social media sites. I've made numerous contacts and have developed friendships with booksellers, librarians, journalists, and bloggers. Overall I've found that She Writes, Red Room, Facebook, and Twitter have been wonderful for meeting great people and book lovers from all over the world.
My pleasure. The site's name is New Writing Media and the URL is: http://newwriting.ning.com/

Enjoy!

Margy

Julene Tripp Weaver said:
Hi Margy,
You said, I also just joined a new site for writers who want to incorporate elements of social media into their work.
I'm curious what this site is? Can you share the link please. I'm a poet and looking for ways to promote and expand my work with words and sound.
Thank you,
Julene

Margy Rydzynski said:
I've browsed around Red Room, but am also a member of quite a few other social networks. I use a Facebook page to promote my mystery series and that's been going quite well. I also just joined a new site for writers who want to incorporate elements of social media into their work. I'm really enjoying that one.

I'm experimenting with different ways of giving my fictional characters their own "voice." I've started blogs for them, for example. The Facebook page is "owned" by the two main protagonists in the mystery series. It's a lot of fun!

Beth Hoffman said:
I follow several book bloggers and thus far I've been interviewed by two them, and a few more interviews are scheduled before my novel is released in January.

There are lots of people to meet via the various social media sites. I've made numerous contacts and have developed friendships with booksellers, librarians, journalists, and bloggers. Overall I've found that She Writes, Red Room, Facebook, and Twitter have been wonderful for meeting great people and book lovers from all over the world.
Margy & Beth,
Thank you for your response to my question. newwriting at ning is new to me, so I'll check them out. I'm on all the others but Redbook, had some problems getting logged on there. Also, I'm registered on Poets & Writers which surprisingly gets me invites to submit my poetry.

Have a happy New Year.
Julene
I too have thought about creating a fiction blog. Since I'm also a screenwriter, I've been planning to create a web series and incorporating a blog written by one (or some) of the characters of the series, as well as creating a Twitter account for one or more characters. Creating a Facebook Page would be great to promote it as well.

Things do seem to be going online. Even if I love the feeling of reading a book in my hand, the web is very powerful tool to at least showcase your work to a lot of people.

Here is an example of the great opportunities social media can bring to us writers: http://mashable.com/2009/11/09/from-twitter-to-tv/

I've been following @shitmydadsays on Twitter for awhile now, and thought that it had some pretty funny/awesome tweets. It turns out that Justin Halpern, the guy who created @shitmydadsays has not only landed a book deal, but an option deal from CBS too!
Yes, very interesting. I'm fascinated by your background in screenwriting. I've been playing with the idea of trailers and realize that straight text doesn't quite cut it. You have to incorporate visual as well as textual elements. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that. Any thoughts or suggestions, based on your background?


Bianca Filoteo said:
I too have thought about creating a fiction blog. Since I'm also a screenwriter, I've been planning to create a web series and incorporating a blog written by one (or some) of the characters of the series, as well as creating a Twitter account for one or more characters. Creating a Facebook Page would be great to promote it as well.

Things do seem to be going online. Even if I love the feeling of reading a book in my hand, the web is very powerful tool to at least showcase your work to a lot of people.

Here is an example of the great opportunities social media can bring to us writers: http://mashable.com/2009/11/09/from-twitter-to-tv/

I've been following @shitmydadsays on Twitter for awhile now, and thought that it had some pretty funny/awesome tweets. It turns out that Justin Halpern, the guy who created @shitmydadsays has not only landed a book deal, but an option deal from CBS too!

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