• Welcome
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
    • Book Coach
    • Book Proposal
    • Classes, Workshops & Retreats
    • Editorial Services
    • Literary Consultant
  • Why Work With Us
  • Contact
  • Blog
Twitter
Top 10 Tools for Authors in the Digital Age
by, Jill Swenson
October 10, 2017

What should be in your digital toolkit for the business of being an author? Google Suite for your email. Do you wonder why your emails don’t get a reply? It may be they were never delivered. If your account is with AOL, Hotmail, or Yahoo, there is a strong likelihood if you send someone you don’t already have a connection with they will never receive… [Read More]

Filed Under: Bitly, Facebook, GoodReads, Google Suite, Instagram, LessAnnoyingCRM, LinkedIn, MailChimp, Twitter, WordPress
No Comments
Sockpuppet Armies Attack Authors
by, Jill Swenson
November 22, 2016

When your writing is published, expect to go public. Positive engagement with your audience is critical to the success of your book. Readers want to connect with authors. And writers like to hear feedback from their readers. During the last decade publishers have come to expect authors to create and manage their online personas on various social media platforms to promote and market their books…. [Read More]

Filed Under: Amazon reviews, anti-Semitism, catfishing, Cathryn Prince, Deborah Lipstadt, Denial, internet trolls, Laura Silverman, Megan Kelly, Twitter
2 Comments
An Interview with Elaine Mansfield on using social media as an author.
by, Jill Swenson
February 9, 2016

Elaine Mansfield is the author of Leaning Into Love: A Spiritual Journey Through Grief (Larson, 2014). Gold Medal Winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award 2015, her memoir captures your heart—from the extraordinary closeness of Elaine’s marriage to how she and Vic transformed their struggle with cancer and despair into a conscious relationship with mortality. After Vic’s death, Elaine leaned into her ongoing love as… [Read More]

Filed Under: Facebook, Google, hashtags, LinkedIn, Pinterest, reader engagement, Twitter
5 Comments
ARROWS author Melissa Gorzelanczyk’s unusual road to publication
by, Nikki Kallio
January 26, 2016

The launch of Green Bay author Melissa Gorzelanczyk’s debut Young Adult novel ARROWS (Delacorte Press, 2016) is one example of how social media can play an important role in author success. Melissa’s novel ARROWS is a modern cupid story set in present-day Wisconsin combining the fantastical elements of Greek mythology with the contemporary drama of MTV’s Teen Mom,” according to Melissa’s website. Her novel also has… [Read More]

Filed Under: #PitchMad, Arrows, Brenda Drake, Carrie Howland, Delacorte Press, Donadio & Olson, hashtags, Melissa Gorzelancyzk, Pitch Fests, Query letter, Twitter
2 Comments
Tips for Building Your Audience Platform
by, Jill Swenson
March 24, 2015

How can you spend your time wisely with social media? Based on current research,  best practices for frequency of social media posts: Twitter – 3 times a day, or more. Facebook – 2 times per day, at most. LinkedIn – 1 time per business day. If you’re on Pinterest – 5 pins per day. Blog at least once a month, no more than once a… [Read More]

Filed Under: blogging, Facebook, frequency of social media posts, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter
4 Comments
How to use Twitter for research and writing
by, Jill Swenson
December 9, 2014

Nearly a billion people have registered accounts on Twitter and 100 million of them use it every day. Three quarters of them on a mobile device. As a writer, it’s easy to dismiss Twitter. If you’re an author, it’s a mistake to do so. If your readers are over 50 years old or under 10, you won’t find them on Twitter, right? Wrong question. If… [Read More]

Filed Under: Cathryn Prince, Death in the Baltic, hashtags, marketing plan, query, reviews, search, Twitter
4 Comments
Why Most Social Media Widgets Will Break Your Heart
by, Claire Webber
July 16, 2013
social media heartbreak twitter

There was no warning for the average writer when their WordPress Twitter widgets went silent on June 11th, 2013. Suddenly, all their posts and retweets disappeared from their website. Their engagement went haywire as tweets no longer seamlessly streamed into sidebars, and footers, and landing pages. The developers knew what was coming – Twitter was updating their API (Application Programming Interface) from v1 to v1.1…. [Read More]

Filed Under: Facebook, plugins, Twitter, widgets, WordPress
No Comments
Twitter is a research tool for writers
by, Jill Swenson
June 1, 2013

Many authors simply dismiss Twitter. They imagine Brooklynites and Los Angelinos strolling city streets while on their smartphones punching tiny keyboards. If the demographics of your book’s readers don’t match those who use Twitter, why bother? No one seems interested in tweeting what they ate for lunch, where they went shopping, or the funny thing their kid said. How can you say anything meaningful or… [Read More]

Filed Under: hashtags, Keywords, market research, research, search engines, Twitter
No Comments
Time to update your bio. It’s January, Authors.
by, Jill Swenson
January 8, 2013

Now is a good time to update your biographical profile. January starts a new year and every author needs a short (i.e., 250-500 words) description of themselves in addition to a good head shot. The Bio is a big part of an author’s brand. Your book is the product, but you are the brand. And to keep your brand fresh and current, it’s time to… [Read More]

Filed Under: About the Author, Amazon Author Page, avatar, Biographical profile, Facebook, headshot, LinkedIn, personal profiles, Tumblr, Twitter, updates
1 Comment
Identify your readers, dear writer
by, Jill Swenson
July 21, 2012

When you write a query letter and book proposal to an agent or acquisitions editor, there are certain things they want to know before considering your manuscript. They want to hear about you and your book, but what they really care about is the audience. What audience is your book intended for? Describe your readers in demographic detail. Where do your readers live? Work? Learn?… [Read More]

Filed Under: audience, Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Platform, Readers, social media metrics, Twitter
1 Comment

Posts navigation

Older posts
NEWSLETTER
RECENT ARTICLES
Writing Retreats to Inspire in 2023
Dec 20, 2022   |   Audrey Arnold
Keeping History Alive—an Interview with Bett Fitzpatrick
Nov 15, 2022   |   Audrey Arnold
Reading in Duluth
Oct 25, 2022   |   Jill Swenson
Fall Forecast
Sep 13, 2022   |   Jill Swenson
August is for Reading
Aug 9, 2022   |   Jill Swenson
view more

ARCHIVES

Growing Good Ideas Into Great Books

CONTACT US

    LINKS

    • Blog
    • Contact
    • Welcome
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • Why Work With Us

    TWITTER

    • Lurking? Who me?
    • The good stuff.... https://t.co/IxzBIsq5fT
    @swenbooks
    Copyright © Swenson Book Development - All Rights Reserved
    Privacy Policy